US Senator John McCain blasts the Obama administration for setting July 2011 as the beginning for pulling US troops out of Afghanistan, describing it as a "bad idea", Press TV reported.
The Republican lawmaker said setting a timeline for troop pullout would undermine the US commitment to Afghanistan.
"I'm concerned about the perception of our friends and our enemies as well as the people in Afghanistan, as to the depth of our commitment," McCain told ABC news in a Sunday interview from Kabul.
"I'm all for dates of withdrawal, but that's after the strategy succeeds, not before. That's a dramatic difference," he added.
McCain also expressed concerns that the departure of US troops might encourage the Taliban militants to fill the gap.
"If you tell the enemy that you're leaving on a date certain, unequivocally, then that enemy will wait until you leave," McCain said.
Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, reaffirmed on Sunday that President Barack Obama's administration plans to start bringing forces home in July 2011.
General David Petraeus, the new US commander in Afghanistan, said last week that he would recommend delaying the pullout if conditions in Afghanistan warranted it.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief, Leon Panetta, recently admitted that the Afghan war has proven to be much harder and longer than anticipated. He also alluded to serious problems in the US-led war, acknowledging that the Taliban are gaining an upper hand in the battle.
The US-led invasion of Afghanistan was launched with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the country. Nine years into the invasion, the country still remains a hotbed of militancy, with civilians continuing to pay the heaviest price.