In a statement released Wednesday morning, Senator Russ Feingold, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee, had some tough words regarding President Obama’s Afghanistan policy.

The New York Times reported Monday, “Four American soldiers were killed by a roadside explosion in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, making July the deadliest month for American service members in the country since the 2001 invasion and underscoring the frightening rise in the sophistication and accuracy of roadside bombs.”

“With the four newest fatalities, at least 30 Americans have died in the first three weeks of July, surpassing the highest previous monthly toll, 28, reached in June 2008,” the Times article continued.

Feingold said, in his statement, that he was “sad that this has been the deadliest month for our service members in Afghanistan since the war began nearly eight years ago.”

“I continue to be concerned that the troop increase in Afghanistan will lead to more grim milestones like this one and will not have a lasting impact on our ability to deny al Qaeda a safe haven in that region,” Feingold added. “Indeed, I am concerned that the so-called surge may actually make matters worse by pushing militants into Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation which is still not effectively dealing with terrorist sanctuaries in that country."

Even the Defense Secretary seems to have concerns over the mission’s success in Afghanistan. Over the weekend, the LA Times reported

After eight years, U.S.-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next summer to avoid the public perception that the conflict has become unwinnable, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a sharp critique of the war effort.

Gates said that victory was a “long-term prospect” under any scenario and that the U.S. would not win the war in a year’s time. However, U.S. forces must begin to turn the situation around in a year, he said, or face the likely loss of public support.

“After the Iraq experience, nobody is prepared to have a long slog where it is not apparent we are making headway,” Gates said in an interview. “The troops are tired; the American people are pretty tired.”