"GOP may change Afghan endgame" - it should say "GOP may TRY to change Afghan endgame"

[Pirate Smile]

GOP may change Afghan endgame

Republicans have vowed increased oversight if they win control of either, or both, chambers of Congress next Tuesday — and with the war in Afghanistan, there’s little doubt they would seek more clarity from the administration on an endgame.
For starters, Republicans would almost surely press President Barack Obama to loosen the July 2011 deadline to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, as well as seek assurances that he would be willing to send in more troops if Gen. David Petraeus, his commander there, asks for them.

“Caps and deadlines are going to be very tough to defend with a beefed-up Republican majority in the House,” said Republican strategist John Ullyot, a former staffer for the Senate Armed Services Committee. “There is no question there will be a lot more pressure on the administration to give commanders as much time as they need; the summer deadline is going to be huge.”

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Republicans suspect that the administration is already planning to narrow the scope of its strategy in Afghanistan, limiting the number of troops that could be sent there and planning what could be a substantial drawdown beginning next summer.

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Republicans, however, want to know whether the president would support a request from Petraeus for more troops — especially so-called enablers to support the combat troops already there.
In his new book “Obama’s Wars,” Bob Woodward writes that the administration’s internal debate last year suggested that Obama will not entertain any additional deployments of troops to Afghanistan beyond the 100,000 there now.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44145_Page2.html#ixzz13SsydrY3