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Video: Robert Gates on Obama Afghanistan deadline: “There isn’t a deadline”

Posted December 6th, 2009 under Headlines, Video Tags: , , , ,

Face the Nation December 6.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday that President Obama’s 18-month time frame to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan “isn’t a deadline” during an interview for “Face the Nation.”

“Mr. Secretary, is there a deadline or is there not?” CBS News Senior Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer asked Gates.

“There isn’t a deadline,” Gates said. “What we have is a specific date which we will begin transferring responsibility for security district by district, province by province in Afghanistan to the Afghans.”

Flashback: Robert Gibbs: July 11 deadline locked in

After the briefing, Gibbs went to the president for clarification. Gibbs then called me to his office to relate what the president said. The president told him it IS locked in – there is no flexibility. Troops WILL start coming home in July 2011. Period. It’s etched in stone. Gibbs said he even had the chisel.

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