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Biden: I Was Against Troop Surge in Afghanistan

Former US Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Thursday during a presidential debate that he fought within the Obama administration against surging troops to Afghanistan, saying it was a mistake to allocate forces to a conflict that the United States could not win.

Biden was challenged at the Democratic debate over a Washington Post article that reported the military misled the pubic over the war, publicly saying it was going well while internal reports suggested otherwise.

“I’m the guy from the beginning who argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to Afghanistan,” Biden said, “I argued against it constantly.”

“The first thing I would do as the president of the United States of America is to make sure that we brought all combat troops home and then enter a negotiation with the Taliban but I would leave behind special forces in small numbers to be able to deal with a potential threat unless we get a real good negotiation accomplished to deal with terrorists,” Biden said.

Other accounts of the Obama administration's approach to the war have noted Biden's opposition to the counter-insurgency doctrine, or COIN, championed by General Petraeus and others in Afghanistan and Iraq, in favor of a more limited counter-terrorism mission.

Biden: I Was Against Troop Surge in Afghanistan

Former US Vice President Biden says it was a “big mistake” to surge forces in Afghanistan.

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Former US Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Thursday during a presidential debate that he fought within the Obama administration against surging troops to Afghanistan, saying it was a mistake to allocate forces to a conflict that the United States could not win.

Biden was challenged at the Democratic debate over a Washington Post article that reported the military misled the pubic over the war, publicly saying it was going well while internal reports suggested otherwise.

“I’m the guy from the beginning who argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to Afghanistan,” Biden said, “I argued against it constantly.”

“The first thing I would do as the president of the United States of America is to make sure that we brought all combat troops home and then enter a negotiation with the Taliban but I would leave behind special forces in small numbers to be able to deal with a potential threat unless we get a real good negotiation accomplished to deal with terrorists,” Biden said.

Other accounts of the Obama administration's approach to the war have noted Biden's opposition to the counter-insurgency doctrine, or COIN, championed by General Petraeus and others in Afghanistan and Iraq, in favor of a more limited counter-terrorism mission.

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