Eternal War: Petraeus ‘Doubts’ 2014 Drawdown Date For Afghanistan

12-07-2010 • AntiWar.com

Following a number of other Pentagon officials making it a point to downplay NATO’s goal of ending the Afghan War by the end of 2014 (which will be over 13 years after it began), Gen. David Petraeus has chimed in, rejecting the date as unlikely. Noting that the Taliban remain “resilient” through repeated US escalations of the war, Petraeus told ABC News that he doubted the end of 2014 date and said no commander would ever express confidence in that date. While insisting that the US troops are “doing everything we can” to reach that date, he went on to say that he isn’t even sure how much of Afghanistan remains in insurgent control, saying “I don’t think there’s any sure things in this kind of endeavor.” Recent reports have indicated that one year after the last Obama Administration escalation of the war things are still going poorly, but President Obama insisted this weekend that there would be no policy changes in the war going forward.