Troop withdrawl in 2011? Not exactly.

While Obama said the plan was to begin withdrawing troops in 2011, it's become clear this week that the plan is not so simple. In fact, nothing is definitive.

As Milbank nicely wrote up yesterday, when Gates, Mullen, and Clinton were questioned by Senate Armed Services Cmte on Wednesday, their responses made clear that there's really little promise at all -- that the plan is just a goal, and depends on circumstances.

And now comes word from the good folks at McClatchy that it's even worse:

The Obama administration is giving different explanations of its July 2011 deadline for the start of an Afghanistan troop withdrawal, assuring foreign officials that it applies only to the 30,000 to 35,000 additional U.S. troops that President Barack Obama is sending next year, but suggesting to Congress that it covers all U.S. forces.