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Top House Republican calls for immediate US withdrawal from Afghanistan
Amid escalating violence and growing doubt on the American transition plan in Afghanistan, one top House Republican is now calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.
"I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we can," House Defense Appropriations subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times.
Young has been a staunch supporter of the Pentagon and the Afghan war effort from his post on the House Appropriations panel.
But the Florida Democrat's call for a rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan is indicative of the war weariness many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are experiencing, as the conflict continues to fester over a decade since U.S. forces began operations there.
That weariness has been exacerbated in recent months, as reports of "insider" attacks by Afghan military and police against their American and NATO counterparts continue to mount.
Establishing a formidable Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) is the crux of the White House's strategy to have all American soldiers out of Afghanistan in the next two years.
Thousands of U.S. Marines have already begun to pull out of Southern Afghanistan as part of that plan.
But the rise in insider attacks, by either rogue elements in the ANSF or by Taliban operatives who have infiltrated the ranks of the national military and police, have begun to shake the faith on even the most ardent supporters of the war effort.
So far, 51 coalition soldiers have been killed by Afghan security forces. A majority of those casualties have been American.
Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has ordered the suspension of the Afghan training mission and most recently suspended most joint Afghan-coalition operations in the country.
"Something has to change," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said on Monday, regarding the fratricide among coalition and Afghan forces.
However, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters on Tuesday the attacks would not derail plans to have all American and alliance forces home by 2014.
His comments echoed those by officials at the International Security Force Assistance command in Afghanistan, who said the alliance "remains absolutely committed" training and advising the Afghan security forces.
Last Saturday, two British soldiers were killed by an Afghan policeman in Helmand province. A day later, four American troops were killed in a similar attack in Zabul province, according to reports by The Associated Press.
