President Obama’s selection last week of General David Petraeus as Afghanistan’s top commander was widely seen as a doubling-down on the current military strategy there, and an indication that, as desired by Petraeus, the withdrawal set to begin in July of 2011 could be more gradual and take longer than many people would like. Nancy Pelosi is one of those people. She tells the Huffington Post that “a serious drawdown” will occur in July of 2011, and that she doesn’t know “how many votes there are in the caucus, even condition-based, for the war, hands down.” Congress is already starting to use the power of the purse, with New York’s Nita Lowey withholding $3.9 billion in reconstruction funds for Afghanistan over reports of fraud and corruption.
Pelosi: There Will Be ‘A Serious Drawdown’ From Afghanistan In July 2011 [HuffPo]
House Dems, Citing Corruption, Block Reconstruction Funds For Afghanistan [HuffPo]
