What exactly does the Obama Administration mean by saying that we’ll begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July 2011? It depends on who asks. That’s the analysis from McClatchy today.

It would appear that the Obama Administration is giving different reasons to different people.

WASHINGTON — 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.

The conflicting versions suggest that the administration is trying to reassure U.S. allies in the region and elsewhere that the U.S. won’t cut and run, while telling a concerned American public, Congress and Democratic Party that it has an exit strategy.

So…which version is the truth? McClatchy proceeds to list examples of dissonance. I’ll send you over there to check them out.

Bottom line:

The deadline has triggered Republican charges that the Taliban-led insurgents will be encouraged to intensify the war while running out the clock on the U.S. military presence. It also has sowed dismay in the region, especially among Pakistani officials, who are concerned that the U.S. will walk away from Afghanistan, as it did after the Soviet Union withdrew in 1989 and set the stage for the Taliban’s emergence.

Our allies are concerned that we’ll abandon them once again. Why would they side with us if we’re going to leave soon and they’ll be left with the enemy? It causes them less pain to just ally with the side that’ll be staying in the region in the long-term.

And why would the moral of the Taliban fighters degrade if they know we’ll be leaving them alone in the near future? They’ll just wait us out until the deadline.

The Obama Administration has publicly announced the day we’ll stop fighting our enemy regardless of ground conditions. Or maybe not. It’s not quite sure itself.