US Afghan withdrawal date gives enemy "sustenance"-Marines

WASHINGTON Aug 24 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's July 2011 date to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is giving the Taliban "sustenance," the head of the U.S. Marines said on Tuesday.

The comments by Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway are the most blunt comments by a top military official of a timetable widely criticized by opposition Republicans, who say it empowers the Taliban to wait out an eventual U.S. withdrawal.

"In some ways, we think right now it is probably giving our enemy sustenance," Conway said of the July 2011 deadline.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Sue Pleming; Editing by Bill Trott)

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