[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3102-H3103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SOBERING REPORT ON AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, last week the Pentagon released its 6-
month status update on the war in Afghanistan. It is a sobering report 
indeed, one that should make all of us question the very legitimacy of 
this mission.
  There has been a huge uptick in violence, including a 240 percent 
increase in roadside bomb attacks. The Karzai government's support has 
sunk to embarrassing lows as more than 80 percent of Afghan citizens 
say government corruption has an impact on their lives and barely one 
in four Afghans rate U.S. and NATO forces as ``good'' or ``very good.''
  This isn't Lynn Woolsey or the Congressional Progressive Caucus 
talking at this moment, this is a report from

[[Page H3103]]

the very people responsible for the strategy. And yet at the same time 
contrary to all apparent evidence, we continue to get the same spin and 
happy talk from the Pentagon.
  After the report was delivered to Congress last week, one senior 
defense official said: ``We have the beginning of the potential for 
real change.''
  Madam Speaker, it is long past the moment when we should be talking 
about the ``beginning of the potential for real change.'' I think 8\1/
2\ years is plenty of time for real change and not just the beginning 
of its potential.
  We have been patient. We have seen more than a thousand of our fellow 
Americans killed. We have seen about $270 billion in taxpayer money fly 
out of the Treasury. And after all that, Afghanistan is still a 
terrifyingly dangerous place that can't stand on its own two feet, 
unable to handle its own security, with an incompetent government that 
enjoys little confidence or credibility.
  The whole point of our counterinsurgency strategy was to get the 
people on the side of the government and our military forces. But, 
Madam Speaker, continued instability is instead driving the civilian 
population straight into the arms of the Taliban. Again, don't take it 
from me. The Pentagon report notes a ``ready supply of recruits is 
drawn from the frustrated population, where insurgents exploit poverty, 
tribal friction and lack of governance to grow their ranks.''
  Mr. Speaker, with the Kandahar offensive about to begin, the 
situation figures to get even worse, especially given that more than 80 
percent of the Kandahar population embraces the Taliban as ``Afghan 
brothers'' while 94 percent oppose U.S. troop presence. That is 
according to the Army's own research, as cited by defense scholar 
Michael Cohen. The security situation in Kandahar is already bad enough 
that the U.N. has pulled its people out.
  Madam Speaker, we need a complete reorientation of U.S. policy 
towards Afghanistan. We need a smart security approach that rebuilds 
the country instead of tearing it apart. We need to send legal scholars 
who can help establish rule of law and a functional judicial system. We 
need to send agricultural experts who can give Afghan farmers an 
alternative to the poppy trade which is controlled by the Taliban. Most 
of all, Madam Speaker, we need an immediate military redeployment. It 
is time to bring our troops home.

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