Obama's 'Shift Of Focus' Falling Apart

Obama has recently been facing thinly veiled calls from the defence establishment to delay the Afghanistan exit date. The   paraphrasing of 'Mission Accomplished' has already started. But the war is increasingly unpopular with the US public, particularly the base of his own Democratic Party. He first mentioned the deadline in a December 2009 speech outlining an intensification of the war. Obama has tripled the US troop presence to 100,000 since taking office but says forces will start to leave in July 2011 while "taking into account conditions on the ground." Ever since, officials, and President Karzai have offered different interpretations.
Addressing Afghans, the White House has highlighted the deadline to coax President Hamid Karzai to take more responsibility. But to neighboring Pakistan, officials have stressed a long-term US commitment, fearing Islamabad may otherwise hedge their bets with the Taliban.
Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think-tank, said that Obama was almost pursuing a "policy of deliberate confusion" as to the timescale alleging that he deliberately wants some flexibility about what to do next summer.
The top US Marine, General James Conway, said Tuesday it would take "a few years" to hand over southern provinces to Afghan forces and asserted bluntly that the deadline was "probably giving our enemy sustenance."
A week earlier, General David Petraeus, the top Afghan war commander, left open the possibility of recommending to Obama that he delay a mid-2011 withdrawal. Such interventions, which come two months after General Stanley McChrystal was removed as Afghan war commander for disrespect to civilian leaders, have outraged American critics of the Afghan war.