On Capitol Hill Tomorrow, Gen. David Petraeus Faces Confirmation
Gen. David Petraeus, President Obama's nominee to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the commander of the ISAF and American forces in Afghanistan. Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America hide caption
Tomorrow, Elena Kagan will return to Capitol Hill, for the continuation of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
Also tomorrow, not far from the Hart Senate Office Building where Kagan is scheduled to appear, Gen. David Petraeus, President Obama's nominee to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
According to NPR's Jackie Northam, Petraeus is not expected to face any stiff opposition.
"Senators are expected to focus on his plans for the current counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, and what timeline he sees for a drawdown of American troops there," she reports.
The hearing and the military shakeup come at a critical point in the U.S. war efforts in Afghanistan. Violence is up, the strategy has been faltering recently, and there is increased debate about the chances for success there.