Senators question U.S. strategy in Afghanistan
By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The Bush administration defended its achievements in Afghanistan on Thursday as both Democratic and Republican lawmakers contrasted official accounts of progress with new studies warning of looming failure.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee grilled the administration's top diplomat for South Asia a day after two non-governmental studies said Afghanistan risked reverting into a failed state and a terrorist haven without new international efforts to win the war and bring about economic development.
Democrats on the panel restated their longstanding view that the war in Iraq had diverted U.S. attention from a more critical fight in Afghanistan, where the radical Islamic Taliban was staging a comeback after being ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
"The question here, in my view, is whether or not we've neglected Pakistan and Afghanistan because of our overemphasis on Iraq," said Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat.
That point was raised by the Atlantic Council in a report on Wednesday that called Afghanistan a "dangerously neglected conflict" that needed more U.S. and NATO troops.
"If we should be surging forces anywhere, it's in Afghanistan, not Iraq," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat.
The United States has 29,000 troops in Afghanistan -- a fifth of its force numbers in Iraq, which saw an increase in U.S. troops in 2007. Earlier this month the Pentagon ordered another 3,200 Marines to be deployed to Afghanistan after Washington was unable to convince other NATO members to send more troops.
NO PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN?
Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, gave the committee statistics and accounts of progress in counterterrorism, economic growth, opium eradication, education and governmental reform.
"I see all these efforts. Nobody can tell me it's not going in a positive direction," he said, rejecting the broad theme of impending failure in Wednesday's reports by the Atlantic Council and the Afghanistan Study Group.
But Boucher, who visited Afghanistan last week, told the panel "we've had many successes but we have not yet enjoyed success" and acknowledged that more work needed to be done.
Republicans on the committee gave Boucher no respite.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said he saw an "astounding number of contradictions about how much progress we're making" in the administration's presentation.
"If we are making so much progress, then why are we putting in 3,200 more Marines? Why are we to a breaking point in NATO on this issue?" he asked.
Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the panel, did not dispute reported successes in Afghanistan, but said he saw a "disturbing" lack of a clear strategy.
"I'm not certain we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said.
"Unless there is some goal out there, some overall plan, this situation is going to be a victim at some point of the politics of this country or others," Lugar added.
(Editing by Eric Beech)
WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The Bush administration defended its achievements in Afghanistan on Thursday as both Democratic and Republican lawmakers contrasted official accounts of progress with new studies warning of looming failure.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee grilled the administration's top diplomat for South Asia a day after two non-governmental studies said Afghanistan risked reverting into a failed state and a terrorist haven without new international efforts to win the war and bring about economic development.
Democrats on the panel restated their longstanding view that the war in Iraq had diverted U.S. attention from a more critical fight in Afghanistan, where the radical Islamic Taliban was staging a comeback after being ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
"The question here, in my view, is whether or not we've neglected Pakistan and Afghanistan because of our overemphasis on Iraq," said Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat.
That point was raised by the Atlantic Council in a report on Wednesday that called Afghanistan a "dangerously neglected conflict" that needed more U.S. and NATO troops.
"If we should be surging forces anywhere, it's in Afghanistan, not Iraq," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat.
The United States has 29,000 troops in Afghanistan -- a fifth of its force numbers in Iraq, which saw an increase in U.S. troops in 2007. Earlier this month the Pentagon ordered another 3,200 Marines to be deployed to Afghanistan after Washington was unable to convince other NATO members to send more troops.
NO PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN?
Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, gave the committee statistics and accounts of progress in counterterrorism, economic growth, opium eradication, education and governmental reform.
"I see all these efforts. Nobody can tell me it's not going in a positive direction," he said, rejecting the broad theme of impending failure in Wednesday's reports by the Atlantic Council and the Afghanistan Study Group.
But Boucher, who visited Afghanistan last week, told the panel "we've had many successes but we have not yet enjoyed success" and acknowledged that more work needed to be done.
Republicans on the committee gave Boucher no respite.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said he saw an "astounding number of contradictions about how much progress we're making" in the administration's presentation.
"If we are making so much progress, then why are we putting in 3,200 more Marines? Why are we to a breaking point in NATO on this issue?" he asked.
Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the panel, did not dispute reported successes in Afghanistan, but said he saw a "disturbing" lack of a clear strategy.
"I'm not certain we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said.
"Unless there is some goal out there, some overall plan, this situation is going to be a victim at some point of the politics of this country or others," Lugar added.
(Editing by Eric Beech)
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