Al Qaeda gaining control of Iraqi cities

Militants linked to al Qaeda have taken over parts of two Iraqi cities, adding pressure on the Obama administration to avoid a similar outcome in Afghanistan.

A report from Agence France-Presse that militants control half of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi come as the administration is negotiating a long-term security agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

{mosads}Some of President Obama’s Republican critics say the security situation in Iraq has gravely deteriorated since Obama’s failure to strike a deal that would keep a U.S. contingent in the country past 2011 and are pressing him to avoid a repeat in Afghanistan.

“We need to let the Afghan people know, and the Taliban and Pakistan, that America is not going to abandon Afghanistan,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said this summer during a visit to Kabul with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Late last month, U.S. intelligence officials offered a bleak assessment of Afghanistan’s future after most U.S. troops pull out at the end of the year.

The report, known as a national intelligence estimate, concluded that the Taliban will gain influence even if the U.S. leaves several thousand troops in the country past 2014; if all U.S. forces leave, the country will likely descend into chaos, the report predicted.

The administration has downplayed the significance of the report, with the Defense Department calling it “just one input into the … decision-making process.”

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