Biden says McChrystal comment was not personalThe Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 18, 2010 10:49:03 EDT
WASHINGTON — Vice President Biden said on Sunday that he never viewed ousted Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s mocking comment about him as a personal attack, but rather a reflection of policy disagreements over Afghanistan.
Biden told ABC’s “This Week” that President Obama’s decision to fire his military commander in Afghanistan over McChrystal’s remarks in Rolling Stone magazine was “the absolutely necessary thing to do.”
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Biden said McChrystal viewed him as the “enemy” because he had argued for a strategy “different in degree” from the general’s counterinsurgency approach.
The vice president also said it is too early to judge whether the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan will succeed, but he said there is progress on the ground.
Biden also said that the number of U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan in July 2011 “could be as few as a couple of thousand troops.”