Washington, October 07: Amid a deepening rift in the White House over the war in Afghanistan, a senior US official has ruled out any consideration of a US withdrawal from the war-ravaged country.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that leaving Afghanistan was not “on the table.”
“I don’t think we have the option to leave,” Gibbs said, adding, “That’s quite clear.”
The remarks came as US President Barack Obama prepared to brief the country’s lawmakers on how to deal with the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.
The insurgency has skyrocketed in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban has stepped up attacks against US and NATO occupation troops with roadside bombs and ambushes.
The rise in casualties has made the current year the deadliest for foreign forces, as well as Afghan civilians, since the beginning of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, despite the presence of over 100,000 foreiegn troops in the country.
The mounting number of Western soldiers coming home in body bags has sent support for the war plummeting in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
Canada and several European countries seem to oppose further commitments to the mission in Afghanistan, despite the resurgent Taliban.
US Defense Secretary Gates has said that Obama’s decision on the future war strategy “will be among the most important of his presidency.”
The developments followed warnings by the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, that the US-led mission will “likely result in failure” unless more troops are deployed across the war-ravaged country.
However, Obama has expressed skepticism about whether sending more troops without a ‘strategy’ would make a difference in the war-torn country.
—–Agencies