The Hill News

The United States should not attach a withdrawal date to the war in Afghanistan Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said today.

Rubio, one of the new incoming Republican senators, visited Afghanistan alongside Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a number of Rubio's fellow freshmen Republicans. During the visit the delegation met with U.S. military commanders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. 

Although President Obama and Sen. Rubio have both voiced support for the war, Rubio disagrees with Obama's plans to set a withdrawal timeline for U.S. troops sometime this summer. In the conference call Rubio said that attaching a date to ending the war could cause problems.

"I think we are on the timeline this year to have some real good news and make some significant progress," Rubio said Monday in a conference call on Monday according to the St. Petersburg Times. "But I think if you attach a date to it ... you are really creating a difficult situation. The bad guys, the Taliban and even al-Qaida, must know all they have to do is wait."

Rubio, a ready critic of President Obama policies for the war, said that progress was going well.

"There is no way to overestimate how serious the challenge is, but we are headed in the right direction," Rubio said.

From what he saw, Rubio said, 2011 will be an important year for the war in Afghanistan.

"One thing that's clear from these visits is that 2011 is going to be a critical year for Afghanistan security forces to step up and play a bigger role."