Afghanistan Funding Splits Democrats
House leaders are courting Republicans to get the war funding bill passed.
WASHINGTON, June 30, 2010 -- The ease of Gen. David Petraeus' confirmation by the Senate to succeed Gen. Stanely McChrystal and lead American and NATO forces in Afghanistan belies the very real problems that President Obama's strategy in Afghanistan faces on Capitol Hill.
"There is unease in our caucus, as you well know, about the situation in Afghanistan," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters last week, perhaps understating things. "I don't think that the change in command affects that."
House Democrats are uneasy voting to pay the $33 billion tab on the surge of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan. The bill is due this month, according to the Pentagon, just as the war in Afghanistan stretches into its 104th month -- longer than any other war in U.S. history.
When Congress authorized President George W. Bush to order U.S. forces to invade Afghanistan in 2001, all but one member of Congress supported the move. Nine years later, the appetite for that conflict in Congress among Democrats and a few Republicans has clearly waned.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., was the lone lawmaker to vote against invading Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
She and 18 other Democrats co-signed a letter to Obama Tuesday, pledging not vote for the war funding bill without a clearer vision of when and how the United States will pull out of Afghanistan.
The letter points to statements from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the vast majority of forces will not leave in 2011. And Sen. John McCain and other Republicans in the Senate have said that another surge, with even more American troops, could be required to attain stability in Afghanistan.
"The lack of clarity on when and how the U.S. will end its military commitment to Afghanistan has created confusion amongst U.S. service members and the public," the Democrats wrote.
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