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Congressman Dave Loebsack, back from his first trip to Afghanistan, told Iowa Independent Friday that Afghanistan is “the forgotten war,” and said efforts to dislodge the Taliban and Al Qaida need a recommitment from the U.S. and the international community.
Loebsack visited Afghanistan last weekend as part of his work on the House Armed Services Committee.
“Clearly the Bush administration took its eye off the ball by invading Iraq, as many of us would agree, and the Taliban has made a real resurgence,” Loebsack said. “And also Al Qaida in Afghanistan in the last couple of years. It’s not a happy situation to have to commit more troops to Afghanistan, but it is time to make a recommitment and in that sense I support sending 3200 Marines, which will happen in the spring.”
More of our conversation with Loebsack below the fold:Deeth: To what extent are we spread too thin? Is Iraq hurting our effort in Afghanistan?
Loebsack: There’s absolutely no doubt that by maintaining 130,000 to 170,00 troops on a regular basis in Iraq, and many of them are on their second or third tour of duty, it really takes our resources away from, in many ways, the most important theater of action. And that’s Afghanistan, given that Osama bin Laden is in all likelihood somewhere on the border there, either in Afghanistan or Pakistan, given the rise of the Taliban and the outside fighters who have come into the country. They’ve actually taken over some areas in southern and central Afghanistan again. That’s just not acceptable for America’s national security.
I want to mention the international nature of this force. There are close to 40 countries that are participating in this, and it’s very different from the so-called `coalition of the willing’ in Iraq. These folks really are participating, militarily and economically as well. I visited a Turkish run ‘provincial reconstruction team,’ they’re called, to the west of Kabul. The Turks are running the show, and they’re doing a great job.
Deeth: What’s the outlook for Pakistani cooperation, with the turbulent political situation there?
Loebsack: That’s going to be problematic, there’s no doubt about it. The Pakistani government’s under tremendous pressure. They have been good allies to us for the most part. But whether it’s Musharraf or anyone else who’s president — or whoever else, I hope they do have free and fair elections soon — that person will be under a lot of domestic pressures. That part of Pakistan to the west, the federally administered tribal areas and further south – those are areas that are very difficult for the Pakistani army to penetrate and to carry out operations in. Even in the Pakistani army, there are elements who are very friendly to Al Qaida and the Taliban, so that presents a tremendous challenge too. So it’s always going to be problematic, I think, dealing with Pakistan. But we have to just keep pressing ahead and doing what we can to convince them to cooperate as much as possible with us in that party of their country.
Deeth: How is the Taliban managing to hang on, are they ever going to fade away? How long is this all going to take?
Loebsack: No one knows for sure obviously. There is a strategic review being undertaken now on the political front as well as the military front in Afghanistan by our leaders. And clearly, so long as there’s a safe haven in western Pakistan, there’s going to be a challenge I think, there’s no doubt about it. We can reduce the challenge, we can commit more resources, we can certainly dislodge the Taliban from the places where they’re now in control in southern and central Afghanistan. How long this will take, I don’t think anyone knows, but I think for our own national security we’ve got to make a recommitment.
Deeth: What about non-military efforts, non-military aid?
Loebsack: It’s huge. We’ve got to have more economic assistance, there’s no doubt about it. This is something that was a big part of the package that I voted for. This isn’t just military; it can’t be just military. It has to be economic as well. Also, it has to be political. Afghanistan is very diverse, ethnically and tribally. That presents a tremendous challenge. It’s in some ways more complicated than Iraq if you can imagine that. But we’ve got to do all we can to assist them in state-building, building the capacity of the government to do what it has to do, not only in terms of the military and police forces, obviously, but economically as well, to make sure that assistance comes in from us or the rest of the international community — and it’s significant from the rest of the international community as well – that it in fact makes its way to the people where it’s supposed to go.
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