Afghanistan Getting Worse

I just returned from Afghanistan. It's a land like none other, and the stakes of our efforts there could not be higher. It's a country graced with remarkable snow-capped mountains reminiscent of the Colorado Rockies, but ravaged by levels of turmoil and poverty almost unthinkable to the average American.

I spent no more than 36 hours in the country, but having only slept a few hours in a retrofit shipping container on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, I managed to visit several areas of the country. I got a glimpse of what our men and women in uniform - and regular Afghans - face there every day.

If there is a message I want to convey, it is that we cannot allow the Taliban or Al Qaeda to defeat us in this part of the world.

The American people understand who attacked us on 9-11. They also understand that after nearly 7 years we still haven't fully defeated the Taliban, or Al Qaeda and we haven't eliminated Osama bin Laden. Finishing those jobs are critical, and we have to get them done.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the true central front of the fight against Islamic terrorism and I believe the U.S. needs to do more to counter growing instability in those countries. However, I am deeply concerned that the Bush Administration's focus on nation-building in Iraq has led us to neglect nation-building in Afghanistan.

I opposed the war in Iraq in part, because I was worried that this would happen -- and my fears have borne out. We are not losing in Afghanistan, but unless we can secure more resources -- including additional NATO forces -- we could lose ground in this critical part of the world, and the consequences would be disastrous.

The Administration is belatedly coming around to the view that we need more forces in Afghanistan. A 'surge' in Afghanistan makes sense, but it should be linked to a redeployment strategy I've called for in Iraq.

In other words, we should begin the process of a careful phased redeployment of forces from Iraq and deploy some troops where we can, to strengthen Afghanistan. That's the basis for a resolution I am supporting in Congress.

The Bush Administration has failed to make Iraq the world's project; but we cannot allow the same to happen in Afghanistan. Afghanistan should be an easier place for us to call on international support -- and if we can regain some of our diplomatic credibility in the region and globally by doing the right thing in Iraq, I believe there is still time to get it right in Afghanistan.

As I traveled through Afghanistan, with temperatures dipping to 5 or 10 below zero, I could not help but be in awe of our troops and the work they are doing with the Afghan people to make their country a stable and secure place to live. I cannot overstate how extremely grave it is that this Administration has missed so many opportunities in Afghanistan. That said, with the right priorities and a continued international presence, we can -- and must -- bring lasting stability to this country.

Learn more about Mark Udall at http://www.markudall.com

Comments

[Stirner]

We ain't seen nothin yet! Wait until "bomb-bomb" McLieberman gets into the White House and then into control of what is left of our military -- here comes WW3 (or WW4 as Norman Podhoretz would have it)!

[littleblackcat]

The U.S. thinks it can tell anyone anywhere in the world how to run their lives. The tolerance of the current "administration" and lemming-like following of its whims is proof to the thinking world that if we ever had any advantage over anyone else, it is long since gone. IF, and it's a mighty big if, our government did not have anything to do with 9/11 as a means of diverting attention from the collapse of Enron, which they knew was in the offing, then we were hit due to our on-going support of rogue, created nations who think they have the right to attack their neighbors for trumped-up bullshit reasons like "They are building a nuclear power plant! If they want, they can build a nuclear weapon about 30 years from now! If they have a weapon, they can dictate to us how much land we can have and we will not be able to grab any of theirs! Let's bomb them and take their land, wall them out of their sacred places and steal everything of value they have and make them as miserable as we can!" The U.S. has blindly and stupidly backed up whatever atrocious behavior was perpetrated upon whomever. You can't do this for 35 years without a lot of the world's people becoming totally out of patience with us and finally retalliating.
We all have this stupid idea that an American is more important and more valuable than anyone else on earth. I have news, we aren't. We're all the same and fairness has got to be the watchword or we will all die slow deaths. It's time we learned to mind our own business, and it's plain for all the world to see that we can't do this. More people than ever before live in poverty, a disaster strikes and next to nothing is done, our children are falling further and further behind in education, and intelligence is considered suspect. What a legacy. What a downfall for what was once the most magnificent nation of earth.

[BobOnThis]

Yeah, not much about Rep. Udalls article makes common or historical sense, though, I appreciate his efforts to see things with 'boots on the ground'.

Your article failed to mention the 3 major underlying problems with current afghan policy: Occupation, Opuim, and Hate!

Occupation: Muslims don't like jews or christians, and vice versa, especially those occuping their lands! And the middle east, with it's oil, opuim, whatever, is their land... so get out.

Opium: The u.s. drug war continues to favor u.s. drug companies and their legal synthetic drugs and refuses to allow natural, opuim based, pain medicine into the legal world market. And there is a huge, deliberate, shortage of pain medicine to keep prices artificially high throughout the world. This also naturally creates the highly profitable and often violent black markets.

Hate: There's no hate quite like religious hate... and it's been stewing for generations.

This atheist considers all religion hateful & extreme! I'm in favor of religious nuts annihilating one another... sooner the better... just keep your delusions and murderous deeds amongst yourselves!

[gekkobear]

Let me get this straight.

1) We cannot afford a loss in the Middle east.

2) Therefore cannot lose in Afghanistan.

3) Therefore, we MUST lose in Iraq.

So, where is Iraq again? Seeing as Udall has moved it out of the region that we cannot afford a loss in, I'm just curious, is it in Africa now?

[deminmo]

What about another cash crop other than the
poppy fields? Why not like was said in the
article, a re-deployment in Afghanistan. Why
not put pressure on Musharraf to go get
al Qaeda out of northern Afghanistan, or cut
off the funding.
Why? Because Afghanistan doesn't have oil
fields with contracts held by American oil
companies.

[Jonahson]

I think th US precison guided missile system need a rework. They hit everything in Afghan except Osama.

[geewhizes]

BY THE WAY, HOWS THE GERMAN TROOPS DOING OVER THERE?

[baghdadjoe]

Rep. Udall, I suggest that you talk to former Soviet Union officials about their failed long-term effort to do "nation-building" in Afghanistan.

The Soviets had just as many airplanes, helicopters, guns and bombs as we do. They were terribly unsuccessful in their attempts to conquer and pacify Afghanistan.

And so are we. The terrain there is extremely difficult for our people and equipment, and the Afghanis are excellent guerilla warriors, with plenty of experience repelling brutal foreign occupiers.

Your call for more troops in Afghanistan is very unwise, short-sighted, and ignores the history of the region. The Soviets, with far more people and firepower, were unable to successfully occupy Afghanistan. What on earth makes you think we can do it?

WHY SHOULD WE DO IT??

[raptor]

Nation building. Wasn't that a major Republican criticism of Clinton's presidency?

[rmwarnick]

Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer says that there is no way a US-supported Afghan government can compete with the Taliban for legitimacy in most of the country. Do you agree, and if so what strategy is going to accomplish the aim of denying Afghanistan as a terrorist base?

[ibsteve2u]

Iraq and Afghanistan have one very "hokie", but common, factor:

On the one hand, we in the United States are supposed to believe that we are being effective in the war on terror and that we will eventually eliminate terrorism altogether.

On the other hand, we as a nation - or rather George Bush, as our King - ignore the money that Saudia Arabia's citizens provide to finance the training and arming of terrorists and the spread of their beliefs - and even ignore Saudi Arabia's supplying of the terrorist trainees themselves.

All of this death and destruction and these trillions of dollars spent - while we ignore the source of the flow.

Forget evil, wrong, immoral - it is embarrassing, frankly.

(Yes, I purposely ignored Cheney et al's various "multi-gen­erational" Freudian slips. You don't seriously still think they want it to end, do you?)

[raptor]

How's that Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline going?

[rwe2late]

"I am deeply concerned that the Bush Administration's focus on nation-building in Iraq has led us to neglect nation-building in Afghanistan...
we should begin the process of a careful phased redeployment of forces from Iraq and deploy some troops where we can, to strengthen Afghanistan."
- Rep. Udall

Nation-building in Iraq? Apparently you are unfamiliar with Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine".
Moreover, apparently without shame, you claim some foolish chauvinist notion that the US has invaded and conquered two Mideast countries in order to combat "terrorism".
That is either appallingly naive or appallingly hypocritical for someone in your position.

Real "extremist terrorism" is invading two countries to control oil resources, bombing them to hell, and then claiming insurgents who resist our foreign occupation must be defeated because it would be "disastrous" for the US to "lose ground in this critical part of the world". Presumably, it is not at all so "disastrous" for the inhabitants to lose their "ground" to permanent US military bases, and their "critical" oil to US control.

[Greensleeves]

The way to reestablish stability is to start at home by electing a resposnible congress serving the people under a President both competent and compis mentis.

[hawkeye58]

I'd like to remind people that had the Taliban given in to the Bush demand that they turn over Bin Laden, we would never have invaded that country.
The Taliban would have been left in power, and likely would still be.