The first new US troops should reach Afghanistan in two to three weeks, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday as a leading senator questioned President Barack Obama's plan for a speedy but limited surge to turn the tide against the Taliban.
Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mike Mullen, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before a Senate committee to build support for Obama's plan to send 30,000 more US troops into the conflict - but to start bringing them home after 18 months.
"The essence of our civil-military plan is to clear, hold, build, and transfer," Gates said. "Beginning to transfer security responsibility to the Afghans in summer 2011 is critical and, in my, view achievable." It was clear that many influential senators, including Obama's 2008 Republican rival for the presidency, John McCain, had serious doubts about the withdrawal timeline.
"I support the president's decision, and I think it deserves the support of all Americans, both Republicans and Democrats," said McCain, ranking Republican on the Senate Arms Services Committee.
"What I don't support, and what concerns me greatly, is the president's decision to set an arbitrary date beginning the withdrawal ...(a) date for withdrawal sends exactly the wrong message to both our friends and our enemies," he said. Obama's speech on Tuesday unveiled a politically risky strategy that would see US troops levels in Afghanistan quickly rise to nearly 100,000, anchoring a multinational force which seeks to secure the country and train Afghan forces to take over.