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Wednesday, Nov 17, 2010 8:52 PM UTC

In Afghan war, 2014 is the new 2011

The Obama administration sets a new non-deadline for leaving Afghanistan

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Topics: Afghanistan, War Room,

In Afghan war, 2014 is the new 2011A U.S. Marine from the First Battalion Eighth Marines Alpha Company patrols in the town of Nabuk in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, October 31, 2010. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)(Credit: Reuters)

Last week, several media outlets reported the new line coming out of the Obama administration on the war in Afghanistan: U.S. troops would be in the country until 2014, an update on the old top-line date of 2011, which President Obama had announced early in his term.

Of course the thing about that July 2011 date was that it was not a pullout deadline at all — it was when the U.S. would begin withdrawing troops (there are now roughly 130,000 NATO troops in the country). The 2011 date, while perhaps effective as part of a public relations strategy, was functionally meaningless. The administration has never said how many troops would be pulled out.

And today we learn that the 2014 date, too, is merely what a NATO spokesman is calling an “infection point.”

From the AP:

NATO’s Mark Sedwill said the end of 2014 was not a deadline. “It’s a goal,” he told reporters in the capital. “It’s realistic but not guaranteed.” …

“This is the point about 2014, it’s not an end of mission. It’s not even a complete change of mission, but it is an inflection point where the balance of the mission would have shifted.”  …

He said both 2011 — the date set for U.S. troops to begin drawing down — and 2014 are “intermediate milestones” in a larger mission that will last much longer.

Justin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott.

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