[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 8 (Thursday, January 20, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E94]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            AFGHANISTAN WAR

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                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 20, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, Afghanistan continues to sink deeper into 
political crisis.
  Afghan President Hamid Karzai's legitimacy and effectiveness as a 
leader is again being tested by the winners of last September's 
parliamentary elections. More than 200 parliamentarians have agreed to 
conduct a parliamentary session this weekend despite calls by President 
Karzai to delay the opening session due to complaints of fraud during 
parliamentary elections. Karzai appointed a special court to examine 
charges of fraud despite unanswered questions of massive fraud in his 
own reelection in 2009.
  A May 2009 report by the United Nations, UN, estimates that the 
majority of the Afghan population lives in poverty, despite the country 
having received almost 40 billion in aid between 2002 and 2009. The 
report blames widespread corruption and abuse of power as a main cause 
of Afghan suffering, leaving ordinary people without even the most 
basic services.
  If we accept the premise that we need to be in Afghanistan until 
corruption falls by the wayside, we will be in Afghanistan forever. We 
cannot afford to continue pouring billions of dollars in Afghanistan to 
prop up a hopelessly corrupt Afghan central government. It is time to 
end this war.

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