US House rejects pullout from Afghanistan
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U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to reject a bill demanding President Barack Obama to pull troops out of Afghanistan.
The House defeated the bill by a 356-65 vote, introduced by Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich. 60 liberal Democrats and 5 Republicans supported the bill.
The bill demands Obama to pull all troops out of Afghanistan 30 days after the bill becomes law, or by the end of the year, should he deem the 30-day timeline too much of a risk.
Kucinich argued if Congress doesn't act, U.S. troops would "stay in Afghanistan for a very, very long time at great cost to our troops and to our national priorities."
Afghan war is a centerpiece of Obama's foreign policy. He announced the decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to that country last December, and foreign troops there are now in the middle of a major push against Taliban militants in the south.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer opposed the bill, saying "abandoning Afghanistan just when a new strategy and a new leadership has begun to bear fruit... would be a mistake."
Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said a hasty withdrawal would return the Taliban to Kabul, once again providing a safe haven for al-Qaida.
"I'm keenly aware that even if we remain in Afghanistan... there's no guarantee that we will prevail in our fight against al-Qaida, but if we don't try, we are guaranteed to fail," he said.
Polls have shown although the majority of U.S. public don't support the war, they approve Obama's surge.
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