[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 13, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5429-S5430]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             MEASURING PROGRESS IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN

  Tonight I rise to discuss the administration's supplemental funding 
request for the ongoing challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 
administration is putting in place a new strategy for that region, and 
it comes at a crucial time. U.S. diplomats, military servicemembers, 
humanitarian groups, and our coalition partners have all worked to 
battle terrorists and establish more stability in that region since the 
terrorist attacks of 9/11. Yet today, al-Qaida and the Taliban, along 
with other extremist allies, remain a destabilizing and dangerous 
force. Across the region, there is too much violence, too much social 
and economic turmoil, and too little opportunity in the lives of the 
Afghan-Pakistani people.
  The administration's strategy is undergoing modifications as we 
speak. I support the move this week by Defense Secretary Gates to 
select a new United States military commander for Afghanistan. In my 
view, it is vitally important we get both the evolving strategy right 
and that we have the right way to assess the strategy going forward.
  Since early this year, I have pressed the administration and military 
officials on the issue of developing progress measurements for 
Afghanistan and Pakistan. I have been pleased to hear their support. We 
have heard the administration is developing standards and measurements 
to evaluate a strategy for the region, at least internally. We need to 
go further.
  My purpose is straightforward. It is an outgrowth of bipartisan work 
that I undertook several years ago during the war in Iraq. I was 
troubled because many people seemed to be looking at the same set of 
facts during several sessions of terrible violence, but one group 
concluded that we were losing while another determined we were winning. 
In response, I helped draft bipartisan legislation with Senators John 
Warner, Susan Collins, and Senator Carl Levin that Congress approved 
and President Bush signed into law. We established 18 benchmarks or 
measurements of economic, military, and diplomatic efforts in Iraq. The 
benchmarks helped Congress and the American people gain a better 
understanding of our successes and our challenges in Iraq. They helped 
play down a partisan debate over whether we were winning or losing.
  One important point I would like to make tonight is we didn't dictate 
what the benchmarks should be. They were suggested by the 
administration, military leaders, and the Iraqi Government. We did 
require the administration report to Congress, and the reporting 
provided valuable and objective information to the American people 
about how things were going in Iraq, from efforts to reduce insurgent 
attacks to the Iraqi Government working out distribution of oil 
royalties.
  Just as I didn't support tying the previous administration's hands in 
Iraq by

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setting arbitrary time lines for troop withdrawal or dictating specific 
measures in progress, I don't support that approach with this 
administration either. Still, I will continue working with this 
administration to bring specific progress measures or benchmarks out 
into the public eye.
  Last week I wrote a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee 
Chairman Inouye and Ranking Member Cochran urging them to include a 
requirement for progress measurements in the fiscal year 2009 
supplemental appropriations bill. I was pleased to learn today that the 
committee markup of the supplemental bill we are scheduled to take up 
tomorrow does include the two elements I have sought. I understand that 
the bill will require the President to submit an initial report to 
Congress this year and subsequent reports to assess whether the 
Governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan are doing enough toward 
continuing the President's new strategy. In short, are they doing their 
part?
  The bill also outlines general areas to measure the success of that 
strategy or what I refer to as benchmarks. Timely and regular status 
reports will enable the American people to gain an understanding of 
whether the strategy is working or should be altered. In fact, it will 
be transparent.
  I look forward to the administration defining more clearly the 
progress measures to evaluate that strategy and to them becoming 
public. We all want the mission of the United States in Afghanistan and 
Pakistan to succeed. The more we know about whether we are achieving 
goals tied to the mission, the more Congress and the American public 
will be able to support our military, economic, and diplomatic efforts 
going forward. For too long our standards to measure success in Iraq 
were vaguely defined. That led the to partisan disputes over U.S. 
strategy and uncertainty in the minds of the American public. The 
controversies didn't provide American servicemembers fighting the war 
with the unity of purpose and support they deserve. Now in Afghanistan 
and Pakistan, the American people should receive a clear explanation of 
the mission, an objective set of measures by which to evaluate it going 
forward, and regular status reports on the mission's progress.
  As the Federal Government asks for further sacrifice from our 
citizens and as we are forced to continue putting our men and women in 
uniform in harm's way, Congress must provide all available tools to 
achieve success. We should provide nothing less.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bennet). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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