Afghanistan Troop Withdrawals

After the shocking events of the past weekend in Afghanistan, we learn today that the Obama administration, although asking the military for a timetable for final withdrawals from the war-torn country, has as yet not received firm figures or schedule for withdrawals after the 22,000 already agreed on for this summer.
Apparently, the US military commanders want to keep as many troops in Afghanistan for as long as possible, shifting them to areas where the pacification program is not moving forward as quickly as hoped, while the President wants to maintain the 31 December 2014 timetable as strictly as possible. The military viewpoint is that too fast withdrawals will jeopardize gains already made, but the White House, facing election this November, wants to have a plan in place to use during the fall campaign.
Congressman Adam Smith, a Democrat with seniority on the House Armed Services Committee, is calling for a withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan, saying, “…it is time to bring our troops home.”
President Obama said today that the war must end “responsibly” and that the US must rush to the exit.
The American commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, has not made any decision concerning troop withdrawals beyond this summer, and his spokesman, Navy Captain John Kirby, says Allen is under no pressure to do so.
The office of the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says that no final decisions have been made about the details concerning how to cut the troop count from 90,000 to 68,000 by the end of this summer. There is ongoing planning for these cuts but no decisions have been made, according to Captain Kirby, who added that General Allen has received no demands for options or recommendations. White House spokesman Jay Carney has confirmed this.
White House personnel say that troop reduction discussions are under way and that they include how to shift the US presence in Afghanistan to a largely advisory role by mid-2013. This would enable allied forces to withdraw or assume advisory roles leading up to the end game in December 2014.
The killings and Koran burnings of the past several weeks have made these decision points more critical and at the same time harder to agree on, especially with France and Great Britain are under public pressure to withdraw their troops as soon as possible.
While it is too early to say that decisions about Afghanistan withdrawals and handovers are going to stall or be made on an ad hoc basis, for the time being, it seems, dear readers, that planning has started but that no one knows exactly what to goal is, except to get out of Afghanistan and turn the war over to President Karzai and his military.
I would say that this is proof, if we needed any, that things are not going as planned in Afghanistan, that the Taliban are more powerful now than they were a year ago, despite allied and US efforts to subdue them, and that 2014 will be a messy time for everyone.