Fmr. Top General: Afghanistan Deadline May Be 'A Bridge too Far'

— -- Is President Obama's summer 2011 deadline for a drawdown of troops from Afghanistan reasonable?

The former top military man said he had his doubts about America's Afghanistan strategy in an exclusive interview on "This Week."

"I'm very, very concerned," retired Gen. Hugh Shelton told anchor Christiane Amanpour. "We couldn't ask for better military leadership. Our men and women are doing a great job. But we're dealing with a 14th century culture, with the second most corrupt nation in the world -- and now we've got to have Karzai be in the position, by 2011, to really maintain control as we start to pull our combat forces out," he said.

"And I'm not sure we haven't given our military a goal that is a bridge too far," the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Shelton also cautioned that the United States and the Afghan government have "got to be very careful" in thinking about negotiating with the Taliban.

"I believe that the Afghanistan people will be very, very concerned -- and we see reports now, the warlords are even starting to get concerned about how much control the Taliban will have," Shelton said. "Trying to strike some type of an agreement with them I think is a reasonable course of action, but Karzai's government has got to remain in charge and governing that country."

Questions about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Shelton also weighed in on the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military.

He said he looked forward to the results of a Pentagon review of the policy coming out in December. Shelton was particularly concerned about how men and women in the Army and Marines would feel about any change to the policy.

"I think it's extremely important that we find out from them whether or not this is going to change why they fight. If it does, we've got a problem," he said. "If it doesn't, then we will proceed."

Backsliding in Iraq?

It is "very, very disturbing but I would say not unexpected. I think that, you know, all along, we've said we were going to provide an environment that the Iraqi people could form a government, but that's up to them to really come to the [table]," he said.

Amanpour asked if there might be violence with Sunnis returning to al Qaeda.

"Without a doubt, Christiane. And I think all along," Shelton explained, "if you listen to the leaders in the Middle East, like King Abdullah, a great friend, who would say what it will take to rule Iraq will be a strong government, a strong man."

"Hopefully not like Saddam, but someone that can keep those three factions apart.