US Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed today that he will quit in 2011. Robert Gates wants to make sure that the planned troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is in working order before he leaves his office.
Gates says that “I think that by next year I’ll be in a position where — you know, we’re going to know whether the strategy is working in Afghanistan . We’ll have completed the surge. We’ll have done the assessment in December. And it seems like somewhere there in 2011 is a logical opportunity to hand off.”
Gates went on to mention that handing over power in 2012 would be tricky, as it is an election year. Further more, there’s the chance that the Administration could be voted out.
Gates has served under seven presidents, Obama included. His parting from his office comes at a pivotal point in the war in Afghanistan . There are about 30,000 troops headed over to Afghanistan , which increases the ranks of troops to over 100,000.
Other than serving as US Defense Secretary, Gates has also served the CIA, and was a “hawk” during the cold war era.
Photo: Department of Defense
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