On Thursday, Karzai was out complaining about the Obama Administration's timeline for troop withdrawals.
Under a continued threat of a presidential veto, Democratic leaders stripped a timeline for troop withdrawal from the legislation.
American officials said they were close to an agreement on preventing terrorist attacks launched from Afghanistan, but that progress on a timeline for troop withdrawal had been slow.
The draft also sets a timeline for troop withdrawals from Iraqi cities by next June and a withdrawal of combat troops from the country by the end of 2011.
Indeed, the agreement represents a stunning reversal for the Bush administration, which until now rejected any timeline for troop withdrawals and clearly saw Iraq as an outpost and demonstration of America's military power in the Middle East.
Today, Democrats said that their attempts to seek a timeline for troop withdrawal had been vindicated by the president's own military planners, as well as the new government in Iraq, which is also calling for a timeframe for an American troop reduction.
But he added: "I believe we cannot choose to lose in Iraq, and I will do everything in my power to see that our commanders in Iraq have the time and support they request to win this war". Petraeus's embrace of a timeline for troop withdrawals -- no matter how modest -- appears to have shifted the debate on Capitol Hill from whether forces will come home to when and how quickly.
As these three Reps suggest, Congress shouldn't approve the supplemental until the administration offers clear benchmarks for measuring success, a timeline for troop withdrawal, and an exit strategy.
Next, someone raised the name of Jim Walsh, a Republican congressman from New York, arguing that A.A.E.I. should inflict more political pain on him for his refusal to support timelines for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
Although much of the draft agreement has yet to be made public, principal elements include a timeline for American troop withdrawals from Iraqi cities by next June and a withdrawal of combat troops from the country by the end of 2011.
