During a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in December, 2009, Obama pledged to boost the number of American troops in the country by 30,000. But he also detailed a plan to start a drawdown within 18 months. “Taken together … additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011,” he said. Supporters of the July 2011 date to start withdrawing forces, conditions permitting, say it conveys a needed sense of urgency to Kabul. Afghans must quickly ramp up the size of their security forces for a gradual handover.

This more nuanced assessment of Obama’s plans for the war in Afghanistan was in line with others in the administration, NBC News Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski said. “Nobody in (the Pentagon), nobody in this administration, except perhaps (Vice President) Joe Biden, nobody thinks that July 2011 will be the start of a great exodus” from Afghanistan, he said. The administration has been trying to appease the left of the Democratic Party, which largely supports a speedy exit from Afghanistan, he said. “The White House has been purposefully ambiguous … they wanted to have it both ways,” Miklaszewski said.

Critics in Afghanistan say Obama’s strategy has backfired. “There is still a threat which unfortunately has not been eliminated, and the withdrawal (deadline) will … invigorate the terrorists,” said Siamak Herawi, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
“Withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan should be based on the situation on the ground. When Afghan forces are enabled from every aspect, so it is obvious that international forces have to go home,” Herawi said. (link)

Officials said Tuesday that the week prior, in northern افغانستان (Afghanistan) a group of 21 Taliban fighters surrendered their weapons and gave up fighting last week. The surrender offered a glimpse of what Afghan and American officials hope might one day grow into a larger movement. The fighters, led by a Taliban commander named Mullah Obeidi, gathered Friday at a government building in Muqoor, a district in Badghis Province, and promised to fight no more. Each of the erstwhile fighters received a “re-integration certificate” and congratulations from several hundred tribal elders who had gathered to celebrate. Most important, the provincial governor, Delbar Jan Arman, promised to provide the men with jobs to help ensure that they would not return to fighting. “All of our angry brothers came in,” said Sharafuddin Majidi, a spokesman for the Badghis governor. “And we hope we will get some more.”

One of the fighters who gave up was Abdul Karim, a 45-year-old father of three who had been fighting with the Taliban for more than four years. In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Karim said he had lost heart over what the Taliban were doing to his fellow Afghans. Mr. Karim said he had initially been persuaded to fight by Taliban recruiters who told him the Afghan government was backed by non-Muslims. Mr. Karim said his salary was $12 per month, not enough to feed his family. His commander, Mr. Obeidi — as well as Taliban advisers who had traveled from Pakistan — urged him to attack construction crews upgrading the national highway. The road runs through Badghis and links the province to the rest of Afghanistan.

“ ‘If you see the engineers or the laborers, try your best to kill them,’ ” Mr. Karim said. “This is what our Pakistani advisers were telling us.” Also, Mr. Karim said, the Taliban’s local leaders were earning large sums smuggling opium. “When I heard all these things, I thought this is not the fight of Islam,” he said. “Why would we blow up a school or a clinic or a road — these things are for all of us?”(link)