Lawmakers call for reduced Afghan role

[ProSense]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers called for a reduced role in Afghanistan on Wednesday, piling pressure on the Obama administration to accelerate the end to a long, costly war as it debates an initial drawdown this summer.

Leading senators from both parties called the U.S. presence in Afghanistan excessive after nearly a decade of war as they considered President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the U.S. mission in Kabul.

"While the United States has genuine national security interests in Afghanistan, our current commitment in troops and dollars is neither proportional to our interests nor sustainable," said Democrat John Kerry, the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.

Ryan Crocker, the one-time U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Pakistan whom Obama tapped as the new envoy in Kabul, echoed military leaders in describing the military progress Obama's surge of 30,000 troops had enabled in the Taliban's southern heartland. Like them, he also said it was reversible.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-usa-afghanistan-idUSTRE7577EG20110608