Washington, December 02: US President Barack Obama’s new Afghan policy today drew mixed reaction at the Capitol Hill with leading Congressmen welcoming it, while several members of his own party were reluctant to support it, if not directly oppose it.
Led by the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representative, several US lawmakers welcomed the new policy announced by Obama, but a senior Democrat Senator Arlen Specter opposed President’s decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
Another senior Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Robert Menendez, expressed his dissent by stating that he would have preferred exerting more pressure on Pakistan by the Obama Administration.
“My preference has been toward a targeted military operation that emphasises counter-terrorism and focuses on routing al-Qaeda, rather than engaging in other flare-ups around Afghanistan.
–PTI