Official Pledges Commitment In Afghanistan

President Barack Obama’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that the proposed July 2011 troop withdrawal date marks only the beginning of a gradual, transitional phase for Afghanistan and its military.

Holbrooke was pushed to give members his own “vision” of when the United States can expect a “full, absolute withdrawal” of troops from Afghanistan after they argued that a three to five year prospective timeline made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was “too long” a period.

“I am very wary of setting a specific date for absolute withdrawal,” he said.

Holbrooke said that the United States must continue to support the economic development of Afghanistan and the training of the country’s police and military forces.

“A sustainable transition will be a gradual one [and] we continue to fulfill our obligation to train the police and the military,” he said.

Strategies regarding the transition from America’s military presence to a civilian assistance campaign are already being implemented but Holbrooke added that this process will be expensive and it will not happen overnight.

“This will not be cheap, but it will be a fraction of the money that is now being authorized for the military campaign,” he said. “If we walk away from Afghanistan again, as we did 21 years ago, the consequences will be catastrophic because of the unique strategic position of Afghanistan and the reaction that would have in Pakistan.”