US lawmakers seek big Afghan withdrawal in July

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Eighty-one US lawmakers, mostly Democratic allies of the White House, pressed President Barack Obama on Wednesday to make a “significant and sizeable” drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan in July.

“Let us be clear. The redeployment of a minimal number of US troops from Afghanistan in July will not meet the expectations of Congress or the American people,” the group, all members of the US House of Representatives, said in a letter to Obama.

The lawmakers, just four of whom were Republicans, expressed support for Obama’s plans to start withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan no later than July 2011 with an eye to transferring security to Afghan forces by 2014.

But “we, the undersigned members of Congress, believe the forthcoming reduction in US troop levels in Afghanistan must be significant and sizeable, and executed in an orderly fashion,” they said.

The letter, crafted by Democratic Representative Barbara Lee and made public by the Peace Action advocacy group, came on the eve of a House of Representatives vote on a resolution calling for an end to the war.

The letter noted that polls show Americans overwhelmingly believe that the war is not worth fighting, and it cited the conflict’s high cost at a time when many government programs are on the chopping block.

And the lawmakers cited senior US officials who have said there was no military solution to the unrest, and said that a US drawdown would spur the Afghan government to make strides in battling corruption and pursuing good governance efforts.

“We must commit ourselves to ensuring that our nation’s military engagement in Afghanistan does not become the status quo. It is time to focus on securing a future of economic opportunity and prosperity for the American people and move swiftly to end America’s longest war in Afghanistan,” they wrote.

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