Kyl: GOP likely to back funding for Afghanistan surge

Republicans are likely to support funding for the Afghanistan surge despite their reservations, the Senate's second-ranking Republican said Wednesday.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the Senate GOP whip, said that while Republicans still believe that President Barack Obama shouldn't have set a timeline to withdraw from Afghanistan, Republicans would still fund the effort.

"I believe that we will, yes," Kyl said during an appearance on NPR when asked if the GOP would vote to fund the surge.

"I believe that we have some concerns...the fact that the president designated July of 2011 as the date when troops will begin to be withdrawn," Kyl said. "That makes this mission much, much more difficult than it otherwise would have been."

The whip asserted that Obama had issues on his own liberal flank when it came to funding the surge. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) had introduced legislation in early October to bar funding for such a surge.

"This was supposed to be the 'good war,' and the president called it a war of necessity," Kyl said. "But when it came time, then, to put your money where your mouth is, in effect, a lot of the president's supporters walked away."

While some liberal lawmakers in the House and Senate have announced opposition to the surge Obama outlined on Tuesday evening, it's not clear that they would make any move to defund the effort, especially as many Republicans have said they largely support the president's decision.