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Sobering Report on Afghanistan (#354)
Watch Video | | May 4, 2010 | |
| Madam Speaker, last week the Pentagon released its 6-month status update on the war in Afghanistan. It is a sobering report indeed, one that should make all of us question the very legitimacy of this mission.
There has been a huge uptick in violence, including a 240 percent increase in roadside bomb attacks. The Karzai government's support has sunk to embarrassing lows as more than 80 percent of Afghan citizens say government corruption has an impact on their lives and barely one in four Afghans rate U.S. and NATO forces as ``good'' or ``very good.''
This isn't Lynn Woolsey or the Congressional Progressive Caucus talking at this moment, this is a report from the very people responsible for the strategy. And yet at the same time contrary to all apparent evidence, we continue to get the same spin and happy talk from the Pentagon.
After the report was delivered to Congress last week, one senior defense official said: ``We have the beginning of the potential for real change.''
Madam Speaker, it is long past the moment when we should be talking about the ``beginning of the potential for real change.'' I think 8 1/2 years is plenty of time for real change and not just the beginning of its potential.
We have been patient. We have seen more than a thousand of our fellow Americans killed. We have seen about $270 billion in taxpayer money fly out of the Treasury. And after all that, Afghanistan is still a terrifyingly dangerous place that can't stand on its own two feet, unable to handle its own security, with an incompetent government that enjoys little confidence or credibility.
The whole point of our counter-insurgency strategy was to get the people on the side of the government and our military forces. But, Madam Speaker, continued instability is instead driving the civilian population straight into the arms of the Taliban. Again, don't take it from me. The Pentagon report notes a ``ready supply of recruits is drawn from the frustrated population, where insurgents exploit poverty, tribal friction and lack of governance to grow their ranks.''
Mr. Speaker, with the Kandahar offensive about to begin, the situation figures to get even worse, especially given that more than 80 percent of the Kandahar population embraces the Taliban as ``Afghan brothers'' while 94 percent oppose U.S. troop presence. That is according to the Army's own research, as cited by defense scholar Michael Cohen. The security situation in Kandahar is already bad enough that the U.N. has pulled its people out.
Madam Speaker, we need a complete reorientation of U.S. policy towards Afghanistan. We need a smart security approach that rebuilds the country instead of tearing it apart. We need to send legal scholars who can help establish rule of law and a functional judicial system. We need to send agricultural experts who can give Afghan farmers an alternative to the poppy trade which is controlled by the Taliban. Most of all, Madam Speaker, we need an immediate military redeployment. It is time to bring our troops home. |
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