A tectonic shift in the Senate on Afghanistan

Last week we saw a tectonic shift in the Senate on Afghanistan.

As part of a major defense spending bill, the Senate passed the Merkley amendment that asks the president to come up with a more rapid timetable for withdrawal.

The last time anything similar had been voted on (in May of last year), it received only 18 votes.

While we do not have an official vote count on the Merkley amendment because the Senate passed it by a voice vote, we know that 21 senators officially co-sponsored the amendment and helped push it over the top.

Thank the 21 senators who co-sponsored the Merkley amendment for working to end the occupation of Afghanistan.

CREDO members generated over 3,000 calls to their senators in support of this amendment, and going forward we will continue to make sure every senator hears from his or her constituents about the need to end the war in Afghanistan.

Even with the death of Osama bin Laden, and in the face of brutal budget cuts at home, we're scheduled to have troops in Afghanistan until at least 2014.

And if we stick to the current schedule, President Obama will have twice as many troops in Afghanistan at the end of his first term as when he came into office.

While the Merkley amendment is a non-binding resolution that does not have the force of law, the message it sends to President Obama is unmistakable -- it tells President Obama that the status quo, including the current timetable for withdrawal, is unacceptable.

And the rebuke is even stronger given that the Merkley amendment was passed by an ideologically diverse group of senators that included Democrats of all stripes as well as conservative Republicans.

We must work to strengthen and broaden this coalition. The first step in that is showing support for the leadership that was shown in the Senate last week with the passage of the Merkley amendment.

Thank the 21 senators who co-sponsored the Merkley amendment for working to end the occupation of Afghanistan.