Sen. Reid: US Set for Big Troop Cut in Afghanistan

'Confident' Promised Drawdown Will Be Substantial

by Jason Ditz, June 17, 2011

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D – NV) today announced that he was “confident” that the July drawdown in Afghanistan will be “substantial,” predicting the announcement would be made two weeks from now.

Reid’s comments were made during an interview with PBS Newshour, and he added later in the interview that he had “no inside information” about the drawdown, despite meeting with Gen. David Petraeus just days earlier.

Which leaves open the question of how accurate Sen. Reid’s “confident” prediction is, particularly with outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates pushing to minimize the drawdown and the Pentagon openly advocating pushing back the drawdown through at least fall of 2012.

This was also only one of Sen. Reid’s predictions, as he also insisted, while defend President Obama’s lack of Congressional authorization in the Libyan War, that the conflict will be “over before you know it anyway.” This claim too appears to fly in the face of the evidence, with British officials saying it could continue through at least the end of the year.

Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz