Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), in a telephone interview from Afghanistan, said that McChrystal declined to criticize Obama’s nearly three-month review of the general’s request to send up to 40,000 more troops to the war-torn nation. Instead, McChrystal — whose opinion many Republicans have treated as sacrosanct — told the group that U.S. forces could still achieve the goal of routing the Taliban.

“He believed that the mission was accomplishable,” Price said after meeting the general and other top U.S. officials in Kabul. Some of the lawmakers pressed McChrystal on Obama’s lengthy decision-making, but the general described it as a “thoughtful process and wouldn’t go any further,” Price said. “I was a little surprised he didn’t voice frustration with the delay.”