WASHINGTON—Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele faced calls for his resignation from within his own party Friday after he described the war in Afghanistan as "a war of Obama's choosing" and suggested the U.S. mission there is unwinnable.

His remarks were made at a RNC fund-raiser in Noank, Conn., Thursday and posted shortly afterward on YouTube. "This was not something that the U.S. had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," he stated, adding that the mission in Afghanistan may be futile.

-Wall Street Journal