[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 12 (Monday, January 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H818-H819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TALIBAN RESURGENCE IN PAKISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on the eve of President Bush's State of the 
Union speech, in which he will undoubtedly be searching for support for 
his plan to send additional troops to Iraq, I fear that the President 
and his administration are neglecting the real front in the war on 
terror, and that is Afghanistan. It is because of this neglect that the 
Taliban has made a resurgence in both Afghanistan and western Pakistan.
  In October, President Bush said that ``al Qaeda is on the run'' and 
claimed that we are winning the war on terror. The fact is that attacks 
by jihadists have increased over the last 3 years. In addition to the 
tragic bombings in Madrid and London, violent incidents linked to al 
Qaeda have occurred in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, and elsewhere in 
the Middle East.
  Investigators discovered that the man behind the London bombings, 
Mohammed Siddique Khan, spent significant time in western Pakistan 
prior to the bombings. He was in the area of Pakistan that shares the 
border with Afghanistan, and this area has grown to be one of the most 
problematic regions in America's war on terror.
  Mr. Speaker, the problem stems from late 2001, when American forces 
pushed al Qaeda out of Afghanistan. The group did not disappear, but 
rather jumped the border to western Pakistan, where it has set up a 
network of training camps. A former American intelligence official who 
worked in Pakistan has claimed that over 2,000 foreign fighters are 
currently in the region.
  The details of insurgent attacks on the ground in Afghanistan are 
very disconcerting. Suicide attacks have increased from 27 in 2005 to 
an alarming 139 attacks in 2006. Instances of roadside bombs have more 
than doubled from 783 in 2005 to 1,677 in 2006. And, Mr. Speaker, we 
are hardly winning this war.
  President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice must push 
Pakistani President Perves Musharraf to take action against Taliban 
militants in the western region of his nation. After the attacks of 9/
11, President Musharraf offered his support to the United States by 
vowing to search for

[[Page H819]]

Taliban fighters and Islamic extremists in western Pakistan. However, 
he has failed to live up to his promise, as reports show that Taliban 
fighters seem to be flourishing in western Pakistan.
  And it appears that Pakistan's agencies, particularly the large and 
powerful ISI, have been promoting the Islamic insurgency. According to 
press reports, NATO has captured nearly 200 members of the Taliban, 
including Pakistanis, who have described in detail the ISI's support of 
the Taliban.
  Last week Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte said that 
al Qaeda ``continues to plot attacks against our homeland from their 
leaders' secure hideout in Pakistan.'' President Bush must listen to 
Negroponte and others who see the realistic side of the war of terror, 
a war that we are not winning because the President is too focused on 
the failed war in Iraq.
  By sending additional troops to Iraq, in a sense escalating the war, 
the President will continue to undermine the U.S. mission in 
Afghanistan. In fact, some reports have stated that a portion of the 
proposed 22,000 additional troops moving to Iraq will be pulled out of 
Afghanistan. It is simply unacceptable for the President to continue to 
risk American lives in Iraq in a war we cannot win while the real 
terror threat continues to grow in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  Mr. Speaker, if the goal of the war on terror is to prevent future 
incidents of terrorism in the United States and abroad, President Bush 
must shift his focus away from Iraq and return it to Afghanistan and 
Pakistan. He must work with President Musharraf to eliminate extremist 
training camps in western Pakistan and acknowledge that the real 
epicenter of the war on terror is Afghanistan and not Iraq.

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