Tampa area Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor says she would like to see the U.S. troops leave Afghanistan by 2014, and hopes for a "substantial" reduction of forces this coming summer. But a new Rasmussen poll shows a slight majority of Americans want a complete withdrawal of troops to happen sooner rather than later.
Castor has just returned to the U.S. after a three day visit to the war torn nation, where U.S. troops have been present for nearly 9 1/2 years. Speaking on a conference call with Tampa bay area reporters, she began by speaking positively about the situation, saying she believes that the U.S. and its NATO allies are making "substantial progress" in training the Afghan Army and police forces. She said she was interested in learning that the military effort is mostly led by U.S. Special Operations, which are based out of MacDill Air Force Base, also home of U.S. Central Command – and also in the Congresswoman's Congressional district.
Several times in the call Castor said that she did not want to see just a "token" number of U.S. troops leave Afghanistan this summer, when President Obama has said he would begin to withdraw troops. But that 2011 date seemingly has never been taken seriously, at least by our own military, and the new date that now being invoked is 2014, which would mean another three years of funding the war effort, though the question of "winning" always seems to be somewhat elusive.
When pressed about what would qualify as a substantial amount of troops that should be pulled out of the country this year, the Congresswoman demurred.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.