Dem lawmakers challenge Pentagon on Afghan war

June 17, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

A schism deepened Wednesday between U.S. war leaders and Congress as lawmakers — crucial Democrats among them — challenged Pentagon assertions that progress is picking up in Afghanistan.

“I wouldn’t call it eroding,” Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said of once-solid Democratic support for President Barack Obama’s war strategy. “But there’s a lot of fair concern.”

Congressional hearings stepped up pressure on the Pentagon, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates complaining about negative perceptions taking root in Washington about the war. Another top military official acknowledged feeling “angst” about the conflict.

But military leaders said the U.S. effort is advancing. “I think that we are regaining the initiative,” Gates told a skeptical Senate panel. “I think that we are making headway.”

The debate comes six months after Obama ordered 30,000 more Americans to the fight with the promise that troop withdrawals would begin in July 2011. That promise helped to placate Democrats who did not want an enduring troop commitment in Afghanistan.

But with the intervening months proving to be a long and deadly slog and November elections approaching, it’s becoming questionable whether Democratic backing can hold. And lawmakers were reminded Wednesday that there is no deadline for completing a troop pullout and that the pace of withdrawal will depend on circumstances at the time.

Nowhere were congressional concerns more evident than in Wednesday’s hearing by the Senate Appropriations Committee with Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said she was frustrated by the number of deaths among the Army Stryker units from her home state, and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., asked whether it was even possible for the Afghan government to gain control of the country’s disparate tribes.