By Tom Udall and Two Other Senators
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CodeManBob
Jul 8, 2011, 10:08:26 AM7/8/11
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From 7/5 NY Times:
Op-Ed Contributors
Let’s Not Linger in Afghanistan
By JEFF MERKLEY, RAND PAUL and TOM UDALL
LAST month President Obama announced plans for withdrawing by next
summer the approximately 30,000 American troops sent to Afghanistan as
part of the 2009 surge.
We commend the president for sticking to the July date he had outlined
for beginning the withdrawal. However, his plan would not remove all
regular combat troops until 2014. We believe the United States is
capable of achieving this goal by the end of 2012. America would be
more secure and stronger economically if we recognized that we have
largely achieved our objectives in Afghanistan and moved aggressively
to bring our troops and tax dollars home.
After Al Qaeda attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, we
rightly sought to bring to justice those who attacked us, to eliminate
Al Qaeda’s safe havens and training camps in Afghanistan, and to
remove the terrorist-allied Taliban government. With hard work and
sacrifice, our troops, intelligence personnel and diplomatic corps
have skillfully achieved these objectives, culminating in the death of
Osama bin Laden.
But over the past 10 years, our mission expanded to include a fourth
goal: nation-building. That is what we are bogged down in now: a
prolonged effort to create a strong central government, a national
police force and an army, and civic institutions in a nation that
never had any to begin with. Let’s not forget that Afghanistan has
been a tribal society for millenniums.
Nineteen months ago the president announced the surge strategy in
hopes of stabilizing Afghanistan and strengthening its military and
police forces. Today, despite vast investment in training and
equipping Afghan forces, the country’s deep-seated instability,
rampant corruption and, in some cases, compromised loyalties endure.
Extending our commitment of combat troops will not remedy that
situation.
Sometimes our national security warrants extreme sacrifices, and our
troops are prepared to make them when asked. In this case, however,
there is little reason to believe that the continuing commitment of
tens of thousands of troops on a sprawling nation-building mission in
Afghanistan will make America safer.
National security experts, including the former C.I.A. director Leon
E. Panetta, have noted that Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan has
been greatly diminished. Today there are probably fewer than 100 low-
level Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has a much larger
presence in a number of other nations.
Our focus shouldn’t be establishing new institutions in Afghanistan,
but concentrating on terrorist organizations with global reach. And
our military and intelligence organizations have proved repeatedly
that they can take the fight to the terrorists without a huge military
footprint.
We have urgent needs at home: high unemployment and a flood of
foreclosures, a record deficit and a debt that is over $14 trillion
and growing. We are spending $10 billion a month in Afghanistan. We
need to change course.
A week before the president’s speech, 24 of our Senate colleagues
joined us by signing onto a bipartisan letter urging the president to
announce a sustained and sizable drawdown from Afghanistan with the
goal of removing regular combat troops. This group includes
progressives, moderates and conservatives united behind one
conclusion: we’ve accomplished what we set out to accomplish in
Afghanistan, and we can no longer afford the lives and money it is
taking to pursue an ambitious open-ended nation-building mission.
It is not too late to change course in what has become the longest
American war in history. In light of our considerable national needs,
both security and domestic, we urge the president to bring our troops
home at last.
Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky,
and Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, are United States senators.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on July 5, 2011, on page A21
of the New York edition with the headline: Let’s Not Linger in
Afghanistan.
.
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Reprints
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Connect with The New York Times on Facebook.
Op-Ed Contributors
Let’s Not Linger in Afghanistan
By JEFF MERKLEY, RAND PAUL and TOM UDALL
LAST month President Obama announced plans for withdrawing by next
summer the approximately 30,000 American troops sent to Afghanistan as
part of the 2009 surge.
We commend the president for sticking to the July date he had outlined
for beginning the withdrawal. However, his plan would not remove all
regular combat troops until 2014. We believe the United States is
capable of achieving this goal by the end of 2012. America would be
more secure and stronger economically if we recognized that we have
largely achieved our objectives in Afghanistan and moved aggressively
to bring our troops and tax dollars home.
After Al Qaeda attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, we
rightly sought to bring to justice those who attacked us, to eliminate
Al Qaeda’s safe havens and training camps in Afghanistan, and to
remove the terrorist-allied Taliban government. With hard work and
sacrifice, our troops, intelligence personnel and diplomatic corps
have skillfully achieved these objectives, culminating in the death of
Osama bin Laden.
But over the past 10 years, our mission expanded to include a fourth
goal: nation-building. That is what we are bogged down in now: a
prolonged effort to create a strong central government, a national
police force and an army, and civic institutions in a nation that
never had any to begin with. Let’s not forget that Afghanistan has
been a tribal society for millenniums.
Nineteen months ago the president announced the surge strategy in
hopes of stabilizing Afghanistan and strengthening its military and
police forces. Today, despite vast investment in training and
equipping Afghan forces, the country’s deep-seated instability,
rampant corruption and, in some cases, compromised loyalties endure.
Extending our commitment of combat troops will not remedy that
situation.
Sometimes our national security warrants extreme sacrifices, and our
troops are prepared to make them when asked. In this case, however,
there is little reason to believe that the continuing commitment of
tens of thousands of troops on a sprawling nation-building mission in
Afghanistan will make America safer.
National security experts, including the former C.I.A. director Leon
E. Panetta, have noted that Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan has
been greatly diminished. Today there are probably fewer than 100 low-
level Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has a much larger
presence in a number of other nations.
Our focus shouldn’t be establishing new institutions in Afghanistan,
but concentrating on terrorist organizations with global reach. And
our military and intelligence organizations have proved repeatedly
that they can take the fight to the terrorists without a huge military
footprint.
We have urgent needs at home: high unemployment and a flood of
foreclosures, a record deficit and a debt that is over $14 trillion
and growing. We are spending $10 billion a month in Afghanistan. We
need to change course.
A week before the president’s speech, 24 of our Senate colleagues
joined us by signing onto a bipartisan letter urging the president to
announce a sustained and sizable drawdown from Afghanistan with the
goal of removing regular combat troops. This group includes
progressives, moderates and conservatives united behind one
conclusion: we’ve accomplished what we set out to accomplish in
Afghanistan, and we can no longer afford the lives and money it is
taking to pursue an ambitious open-ended nation-building mission.
It is not too late to change course in what has become the longest
American war in history. In light of our considerable national needs,
both security and domestic, we urge the president to bring our troops
home at last.
Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky,
and Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, are United States senators.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on July 5, 2011, on page A21
of the New York edition with the headline: Let’s Not Linger in
Afghanistan.
.
Reprints
.
Connect with The New York Times on Facebook.
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