Progressive War Vets 'Not Ready' To Back New Afghanistan Plan

VoteVets.org, which represents progressive American veterans reports its members are still ambivalent about President Obama's plan to add troops to the Afghanistan war -- and end the conflict by 2012.

From a statement by Jon Soltz, the chairman of VoteVets, released after Obama's West Point speech this evening:

"We have been supportive of every move the President has made since he was elected, and have supported an increased focus on Afghanistan since our inception, but given the serious questions that are unresolved, we aren't ready to support what he's laid out."

Soltz laid out three question he said his group needs answers to before they will support Obama's war plan:

1. By deploying an additional 30k troops, without speeding up the departure from Iraq, our force will remain overstretched. How does the administration reconcile this issue?

2. What increases in efforts can we expect from the State Department, CIA, other intelligence, diplomatic, and humanitarian arms of the US government?

3. Do we have a partner in Karzai, and are there guarantees that his government can be legitimized so we can leave?