Behind the Scenes from Afghanistan

by: Chris Murphy

Thu May 05, 2011 at 18:29:16 PM EDT

On Monday night, I returned from a congressional delegation trip to Afghanistan.  I truly believe that in order to deeply understand a foreign conflict like those in Iraq or Afghanistan, you need to see it for yourself.  Of course, with your military escort never more than a few feet away, you have to take what you're seeing with a pretty big grain of salt, but there still isn't anything to compare with talking to generals, soldiers, and local citizens in person.  

So I want to give you a short, behind-the-scenes report from my recent trip to Afghanistan.  For me, the trip reinforced my view that it is time to begin withdrawing American combat troops, and I'm interested whether my observations or the news of recent days has changed your perspective on the war. You can let me know here:

http://www.chrismurphy.com/afghanistansurvey

 

Advocate Inaccurately Asserts Himes' Position on Afghanistan, Himes Still Seeking Input at Meetings

by: LizKerr

Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 13:48:08 PM EST

But today's article in the Stamford Advocate titled "At Stamford town hall meeting, Himes backs strong troop presence in Afghanistan" mistakenly asserts that the Congressman has already decided to support sending more troops to Afghanistan. Today's article gets the Congressman's position wrong. Mr. Himes has yet to decide if he will support sending more troops to Afghanistan and encourages your continued input as he works to better understand the many sides of this complex and challenging issue.

As the article states, the Congressman did ask those who oppose an increased troop presence in Afghanistan to explain "...how an unstable Pakistan and an Afghanistan in chaos fits into our security interests."

However, the Congressman also asked an equally important question of those who would support sending more American troops to the Afghanistan region: If you support the president's plan, do you believe the roughly $100 billion necessary to fund that effort should come from increased taxes, increased debt, or cuts to other programs?

The Congressman is holding three more town hall meetings on Afghanistan this week. Please come to share your thoughts on this topic if you were unable to attend last night's meeting. Click below the fold for more info.

My op. ed. on Afghanistan from 12/6/09 Danbury News-Times

by: David A Stevenson GRI

Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 06:54:18 AM EST

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Sunday debate: America in Afghanistan Good can mitigate horror
Published: 09:22 p.m., Friday, December 4, 2009
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Let me begin this opinion piece by advising you the reader of my personal perspective.

I was born into a Republican family in 1953, and to this day I consider Dwight Eisenhower a fine president. As a retired General, he had an unique perspective on the subject of war and peace. Like other Generals who preceded him, Robert E. Lee comes to mind as a good example, Eisenhower knew what it was like to send American children into battle to slaughter and be slaughtered. He understood the true cost of war, and understood that nations should use war only as a last resort.

Additionally, I consider myself to be a pacifist -- at least as much as a person can attempt to be. Many Christians like myself, many Jews, many Muslims, many Buddhists, many Atheists and many agnostics also share this spiritual goal.

Along with many other Americans who respect Republican Presidents like Dwight Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln and even Gerald Ford, I watched in horror as the National Republican Party went from being the party of the aforementioned three presidents to being the party of Jerry Falwell, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, Sarah Palin and George W. Bush.

I mention George W. Bush in particular, because he reacted in a very measured way immediately after September 11th, 2001, setting out what appeared to be a careful strategy to attack those who attacked us.

As we all know, that strategy was thrown by the wayside when America was lied into an invasion and occupation of Iraq by the Bush Administration.

Regardless of individual Americans' political persuasion, it is nearly universally agreed that Afghanistan was the war we should have waged, and Iraq became a misadventure which has caused the death of over 4,000 of America's children, fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers.

It also caused debilitating physical and mental injuries to tens of thousands American heroes. A president who avoided military service during Vietnam could never know the horrors of war the way that Generals Eisenhower and Lee knew them.

It also has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens through the bunker-buster bombs dropped during "Shock and Awe" and six years of occupation and a civil war that followed the end of the Saddam Hussein's regime.

It also emboldened the government of Iran, which no longer has its long-standing enemy Saddam Hussein counter-balancing them.

It has added what will likely be well over a trillion dollars to our national debt, as the Bush Administration and a Republican Congress never factored the cost of the war into the annual budget.

Back to the question of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan had been a wound festering for seven long years when President Barack Obama replaced George W. Bush as commander in chief.

What had been an opportunity for both America and for Afghanistan -- had become a country without strong leadership, a country without other strong international allies, a country without hope.

President Obama, as he pledged during his campaign for President, had shifted America's focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. As troop levels have been reduced in Iraq, troop levels in Afghanistan have been increased.

Progress has been slow. The cost has been high.

Americans like myself have been saddened by the deaths of both American service people and Afghan civilians. And my personal feelings -- all the while knowing that Jesus Christ would not agree with me on this matter -- is that the good which can come out of this effort to help the people of Afghanistan may mitigate even the horror of war.

I stand with good and dear friends of mine at Rogers Park on Saturday mornings from 10:30 until noon, led by the heroic group Veterans for Peace.

There is some obvious disagreement on President Obama's decision, but I personally believe that if America's allies do their part to help America and Afghanistan, Afghanistan can be the country it has never been in its thousands of years of history.

As I've said to both those who agree with me and those who disagree with me -- if they (our allies) don't, we can't win.

The Soviet Union fell partly because of its misadventure in Afghanistan, and I don't want my country to suffer the same fate.

Until we know how those other nations will react, I believe this is worth the effort.

David A. Stevenson is a Bethel resident and a participant in weekly anti-war protests at the War Memorial in Danbury.

A pivotal moment in Afghanistan - our chance to get it right

by: Rosa DeLauro

Sun Mar 01, 2009 at 09:52:10 AM EST

Last week, I went to Afghanistan to get a first-hand look at conditions on the ground. During my time there - and in Italy, where I travelled first to be briefed by American, European, and NATO leaders - I met with countless brave men and women in uniform.

I met with Major General Richard Formica from Cheshire who, as Commander of the Combined Security Transition Command, leads our efforts to build a professional Afghan National Security Force. And at the Aviano Air Force Base, I talked with Airman First Class Wilvier Medrano from Ansonia who is part of our work everyday to stabilize the region.

I asked all the soldiers I met for their perspective - how they saw America's role in the region and what it was going to take to turn things around. We talked about some of their toughest experiences living and fighting a war zone.  We joked around, took pictures, and shared stories to bring home.

I came back from those meetings thinking about the path ahead: We cannot follow the same broken approach that the Bush Administration used to define its own foreign policy around the world. We cannot let Afghanistan and Pakistan become a safe haven for terrorists. And we cannot go it alone.

This represents a true test of the NATO alliance and a defining moment for the United States and its allies. It is time to recognize that this is a regional problem requiring a regional response.  The United States and its allies must engage Pakistan, work to improve India-Pakistan relations - such as mediating the conflict over Kashmir - and find common ground with China, Russia, and Iran to bring lasting stability to the region.

No doubt: this is the pivotal moment. A military solution alone will not end the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We need to use every tool we have - military, economic, diplomatic and political - to bring stability to the region.

Which is why I keep thinking back to our soldiers: Everywhere I went in Afghanistan, it was clear that our courageous armed forces can do anything we ask of them. Our responsibility is to define the mission - to lay out a clear strategy going forward and give our soldiers the tools to pursue it.

President Obama does not have any simple choices in the weeks and months ahead. But with our national security at stake, we cannot afford to get them wrong. We nearly lost Afghanistan - this is our chance to get it right.

[update]CIA Edits Leverett - NY Times Prints Anyways

by: Connecticut Man1

Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 22:55:11 PM EST

It should be interesting for the Blogosphere to play a game of "Fill In The Blanks" as the NY Times prints the OP-ED anyways, but with the edited parts blacked out.

A Sample of some of the material:

The argument that Iran helped America in Afghanistan because it was in Tehran's interest to get rid of the Taliban is misplaced. Iran could have let America remove the Taliban without getting its own hands dirty, as it remained neutral during the 1991 gulf war. Tehran cooperated with United States efforts in Afghanistan primarily because it wanted a better relationship with Washington.

But Tehran was profoundly disappointed with the United States  response. After the 9/11 attacks, xxx xxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xx set the stage for a November 2001 meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's six neighbors and Russia. xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx  xxxxx xxxx xxxxx Iran went along, working with the United States to eliminate the Taliban and establish a post-Taliban political order in Afghanistan.

In December 2001, xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx x Tehran to keep Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the brutal pro-Al Qaeda warlord, from returning to Afghanistan to lead jihadist resistance there. xxxxx xxxxxxx so long as the Bush administration did not criticize it for harboring terrorists. But, in his January 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush did just that in labeling Iran part of the "axis of evil." Unsurprisingly, Mr. Hekmatyar managed to leave Iran in short order after the speech. xxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxx the Islamic Republic could not be seen to be harboring terrorists.