Joe Sestak Calls On Obama To Produce Afghanistan Benchmarks

[unhappycamper]

Joe Sestak Calls On Obama To Produce Afghanistan Benchmarks
MARC LEVY | 10/ 4/10 05:48 PM | AP

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania's Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, called on President Barack Obama to put forth a clear measuring stick for military progress against al-Qaida on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and sparred with his Republican counterpart on policy toward Iran.

Sestak, a former Navy admiral, spoke three days shy of the ninth anniversary of America's attack on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. He is running against Republican Pat Toomey.

"We need to make sure our troops have a clear, narrowly defined mission, and that is to neutralize the threat of al-Qaida and eliminate their safe havens in the border region of Pakistan," Sestak said in remarks to several dozen people in the rotunda of Pennsylvania's Capitol building.

If the Pakistani government collapses, Sestak warned, the Taliban and al-Qaida could seize its nuclear weapons.

Sestak last year supported Obama's order to send more troops to Afghanistan, saying it was a crucial step to cut off al-Qaida from Pakistani safe havens. But, he said, the Obama administration hasn't provided any useful assessment of its efforts against al-Qaida in Pakistan and he warned against an open-ended commitment.



unhappycamper comment: I doubt Obama Administration will produce benchmarks on Afghanistan; they are all bad.