Kirsten Gillibrand, the junior senator from New York, gets it right on Afghanistan

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, (D) NY (photo from her website).

Remember when Caroline Kennedy, a devotee of Obama in ‘08, sought Gov. Patterson’s nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as senator from New York and how the left mourned when Kirsten Gillibrand got the nod?   

Keep in mind that Gillibrand won reelection in 2010 with 63 percent of the vote in a Republican year.

Today,  the left-leaning readers at the Huffington Post are applauding the junior senator, and some are even promoting her as presidential material. That’s in response to her recent demand for specifics from the Obama Administration on exiting from our 10-year war of choice in Afghanistan.

Amanda Terkel has the story at the Huffington Post:

 WASHINGTON -- While President Obama has said that U.S. combat forces will begin leaving Afghanistan in July 2011 and be fully out by 2014, the pace of that withdrawal is still up in the air. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is now pressing the administration for a clear redeployment plan so that the American public receives a degree of certainty regarding how much longer the war will last. Her announcement comes on the same day that Gen. David Petraeus will be testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Gillibrand is a member.

Gillibrand is calling for passage of the Safe and Responsible Redeployment of United States Combat Forces from Afghanistan Act, which would put Congress' backing behind the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces beginning on July 1. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and four other senators, would also require Obama to submit a plan to Congress by July 31 for the phased redeployment of U.S. combat forces, including a completion day.

“America cannot afford an endless war in Afghanistan,” Gillibrand said. “After nearly a decade at war, with still no equal commitment from the Karzai government, and after all the lives we’ve sacrificed and the billions we’ve spent on this war, it’s time to start bringing our troops home. It’s time to put the future and security of Afghanistan in the hands of its own leaders, and focus America’s national security on the emerging and more imminent threats from al Qaeda in other regions.”

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