[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 145 (Thursday, October 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H11149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         AFGHANISTAN: IN TO WIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCOTTER. Madam Speaker, right now, people are fighting and dying 
for a free Afghanistan. They deserve an answer to the crux of the 
matter: Are we in to win? I believe we must be.
  My answer stems from a broad strategic vision focused by three 
fundamental principles: One, America's security is from strength, not 
surrender; two, our greatest strength rests in expanding liberty to the 
oppressed to ensure freedom for ourselves; and three, we are targets of 
tyrants and terrorists not because of our actions but because of our 
existence.
  Helping the Afghans free themselves from the Taliban's tyranny and al 
Qaeda's terrorism is a moral good unto itself. To retreat from or 
compromise this noble goal in the cause of human freedom will not only 
be a betrayal of the Afghans, it will endanger our own birth right as a 
free people.
  Our allies, our rivals, and especially our enemies will witness our 
lack of conviction; and, by so dishonoring ourselves, we will squander 
our allies' trust, lose our rivals' respect, and incur our enemy's 
emboldened depravities.
  Our primary nation-state enemy, Iran, imperviously continues its 
pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to wield them. A defeat in 
Afghanistan will condemn generations yet born to the capricious 
terrorism of an Iranian regime protected by a nuclear umbrella. 
Alternately, victory in Afghanistan will further Iran's necessary 
containment by democracies opposed to terrorism.
  Unable to expand its sway, Iran's ability to coax our rivals into 
opposing sanctions and, worse, aiding its nuclear pursuits, will ebb 
and end; and, within its own borders, the regime will falter and, like 
the Soviet Union, ultimately implode between the weight of its own 
oppressed people's aspirations for freedom.
  Regarding Afghanistan particularly, General Stanley McChrystal has 
affirmed victory remains within reach. What form will it take? My view 
is the richly diversified people of Afghanistan desire a decentralized 
democracy that is opposed to terrorism and is engaged with their 
neighbors and allies.
  To this end, America, NATO, and the U.N. must renounce the recent 
fraudulent election and schedule a scrupulously monitored, honest 
election. This is essential to reassuring the Afghans that their 
nascent representative government and the coalition's intentions in 
their homeland are legitimate and benevolent.
  As this process proceeds at pace, we must make clear the new 
democracy's governing principle is local control. Every Nation, 
especially one as tribal as Afghanistan, has traditional roots of order 
springing from and connecting the individual and family to the local 
community and larger country. Without an enduring history of or trust 
in a centralized, bureaucratized rule from Kabul, only an explicit, 
enduring commitment to local control will soothe Afghans' resistance to 
their federal government's existence. Moreover, local control also 
intermeshes with coalition forces' counterinsurgency operation.
  Emulating General David Petraeus' brilliant counterinsurgency 
strategy in Iraq, coalition forces must be increased to provide the 
force necessary to defeat the enemy's violence and intimidation of 
Afghans. As the security situation is stabilized, coalition forces and 
steadily increasing Afghan national police and army personnel must live 
amongst the people to facilitate sustainable local economic 
developments and democratic institutions. In sum, the coalition will 
separate Afghans from the enemy by concretely proving the moral and 
practical superiority of locally rooted democracy over nihilistic 
terrorism and tyranny.
  Importantly, reconstruction efforts must not be limited to 
Afghanistan. With the enemy infesting western tribal regions of 
Pakistan, the coalition must also engage with that nation's people and 
government in ``preemptive reconstruction.'' Rolling blackouts, food 
shortages, and other persistent problems affecting Pakistanis must be 
ameliorated at the national and, critically, the local levels. This 
will stop Pakistanis from viewing themselves as unwilling conscripts 
into a ``proxy army'' being used by the coalition; it will stabilize 
Pakistan's Government; it will demonstrate the coalition's commitment 
to the well-being of Pakistan citizens; and will empower the Pakistani 
army to more actively and effectively coordinate with coalition forces 
to eradicate the enemy's safe havens in their Nation--safe havens 
which, I note, constitute an existential threat to democracy in 
Afghanistan and Pakistan. Surrounded by free Afghans and coalition 
forces, the enemy will be uprooted from its havens with nowhere to hide 
and will be crushed.
  This is the synopsis of the broader strategic context and immediate 
recommendations of those who support victory in Afghanistan. May we all 
ever remember America's greatest security as liberty, and let us pray 
the Obama administration supports General McChrystal's plan for victory 
so that we and future generations in this world never confront the 
prospect of a wider war and endless threat from abandoning Afghanistan.

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