Kerry Rebuts Cheney: No Grounds To Criticize On Afghanistan

Reported by Huffington Post on Monday, 26 October 2009 (on October 26, 2009)

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry warns that a major U.S. troop pullout could trigger civil war in Afghanistan, adding that a small-scale counterterror campaign is not an alternative to the broader military campaign under way.

Kerry also dismissed criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney on the Obama administration\'s handing of the war.

\"This from the man who in 2002 told America, \'The Taliban regime is out of business permanently.\' I think this is one time I wish Dick Cheney had been right, but tragically he wasn\'t, and he isn\'t today, and that\'s why we have to make the tough choices about Afghanistan now,\" Kerry said. Make no mistake, because of the gross mishandling of this war by past civilian leadership, there are no great options for its handling today.\"

Kerry\'s stance on Afghanistan appears to repudiate anti-war Democrats and others who question calls to deepen the U.S. stake in the eight-year war. But Kerry wouldn\'t endorse a major military increase as advocated by the commanding U.S. general in Afghanistan. Kerry says Gen. Stanley McChrystal\'s plan goes too far, too fast.

Kerry told the Council on Foreign relations any backpedalling by the U.S. would destabilize Pakistan.

Kerry is just back from Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he helped persuade Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accept a presidential runoff vote.

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