As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade as well as Co-Chair of the Democratic Study Group on National Security, I am particularly well positioned as a leader in Congress on the issues of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My highest priority is to protect our nation from terrorists. Al - Qaeda, who orchestrated the September 11th terrorists attacks, is regaining strength in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is stronger today than they were prior to their attack on our country eight years ago. Moreover, after losing the lives of 4,265 American soldiers and with over 31,000 more wounded, Osama bin Laden, the architect of 9/11 is still alive and at large and on video continuing to threaten the American People.
America must only commit our young men and women into battle when all other means are exhausted and only against those who attack us or pose an immediate threat to the safety of our nation. The Obama Administration has expressed that they understand our war policy needs a new direction. While President Bush’s policy was to continue to advance the War in Iraq and then hand the war over to the next President to deal with, President Obama understands the strategic necessity to shift our forces and resources from Iraq to Afghanistan. Our troops have performed admirably. However, only Iraqis can solve Iraq’s problems. We must move our soldiers out of Iraq and move quickly to redeploy, reconstitute and refocus our military.
Victory in Afghanistan can be achieved with more resources and a broad set of security, governance and development policies. While I agree that an open ended commitment in Afghanistan is not desirable, the Obama Administration's plan to add 17,000 U.S. troops to the 38,000 there now will help the war effort, as will a major boosting of intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities. Most of the extra resources will go to troubled southern Afghanistan, where the country shares its border with Pakistan. Pakistan, with its political turmoil, weak governance, ethnic divisions and nuclear weapons, is also a major U.S. focus because its loosely governed tribal regions are havens for al Qaeda and Taliban extremists.
Winning in Afghanistan will require some of the same mix of military and political policies that helped stabilize Iraq, focusing combat against hard-core militants while opening a dialogue with the more moderate. With our support, the Iraqis have already achieved great strides. They have held free and open elections, developed a constitution, created a permanent government and each day the Iraqi military and police forces become more capable of protecting their own country. Likewise, we can achieve similar results in Afghanistan by supporting, providing additional training and eventually shifting the burden of fighting from U.S and international forces to the multiethnic Afghan National Army, which enjoys trust across the country.
