US losing elite support in Afghan war

The Obama administration has lost support of Washington’s political elite for the war in Afghanistan, a senior political analyst has told Press TV.

“The political support in the elite has essentially dried up and there is really little chance that it could be successful in the future” said historian and investigative journalist Gareth Porter in an interview with Press TV.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday Washington would keep a large number of its troops in Afghanistan despite President Barack Obama’s 2011 deadline for starting troop withdrawal.

The remarks echoed those of Vice President Joe Biden, who had earlier hinted that the number of American troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2011 would be as few as 2,000.

Porter further said, “[Former president of the council on foreign relations] Richard Haass and [former deputy security advisor] Robert Blackwell have written articles stating that Washington should withdraw from southern Afghanistan and hand it to the Taliban and say “that the game is over, more or less.”

“There could be enough political support to carry out a successful strategy, even one which is reformed to recast as it was in Iraq in 2007,” Porter said.

With 66 fatalities, July set the record as the deadliest month for American forces stationed in Afghanistan since the start of the war in 2001.

The rising number of casualties has increased opposition to the Afghan war in the US and other European states.