By Adam Graham-Silverman CQ Staff
Congressional leaders offered broad support for the new plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan that President Obama announced Friday though some questioned parts of the overall strategy.
Democrats praised the plans focus on terrorism and its limited mission.
The presidents plan is the result of a detailed study and is wisely centered on dismantling al Qaeda and denying safe havens in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to those who would attack the United States" said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi D-Calif.
Some however said Obama should have gone farther. John McHugh of New York ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said that Obama should have promised 10000 troops beyond the reinforcements he announced Friday and earlier this year.
Today the president laid out a bare bones strategy for Afghanistan; and unfortunately it risks being all things to all people" McHugh said. Critics should not argue against a more robust approach to the conflict he said. We cannot allow this minimalist approach to creep into the new strategy and Congress has to ensure the strategy is fully funded resourced and executed."
Sen. Russ Feingold D-Wis. said military escalation in Afghanistan without adequate attention to Pakistan could actually make the situation worse.
I am concerned that the new strategy may still be overly Afghan-centric when it needs to be even more regional" Feingold said.
In an address at the White House Obama announced a massive overhaul of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan that includes new military diplomatic and development initiatives along with measures for accountability for both U.S. and foreign programs.
We are not in Afghanistan to control that country or to dictate its future" Obama said. We are in Afghanistan to confront a common enemy that threatens the United States our friends and allies and the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan who have suffered the most at the hands of violent extremists."
Obama announced that he will deploy 4000 troops this spring to train Afghan security forces. He said that the U.S. military mission there would shift to training and growing the forces so that they could take the lead in securing their country.
That is how we will prepare Afghans to take responsibility for their security and how we will ultimately be able to bring our troops home" he said. He set a goal of an Afghan army of 134000 and police force of 82000 by 2011.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid one of the lawmakers with whom Obama consulted before releasing the plan said the training goals are attainable.
The Afghans have a fairly decent compared to what we went through in Iraq a fairly decent military" Reid D-Nev. said Friday morning. Theyre real fighters. We all know how well the Afghans fight."
Obama said the 17000 troops he ordered deployed there earlier this year would tackle the Taliban in Afghanistans south and east as well as prepare security for elections in August.
Obama called for continued help from NATO allies but the missions he defined seemed to reflect the political reality that NATO countries are reluctant to commit troops to combat: They will support elections and train security forces he said.
Reid and others said that NATO needs to do its fair share to stabilize the country.
We also need our NATO allies to engage fully in the fight..." said Peter Hoekstra of Michigan the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. We do not want to get into a situation where several months down the line we are forced to expend more troops and treasure because political considerations overruled those on the ground."
On the development front Obama called on Congress to enact legislation (HR 1318 S 496) to create Reconstruction Opportunity Zones" in both Pakistan and Afghanistan that would allow duty-free imports of goods into the United States if the president determines that the countries are working to establish a the rule of law free trade and anti-corruption anti-poverty policies.
On Pakistan Obama urged Congress to pass legislation to be introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry D-Mass. that would authorize $1.5 billion in non-military assistance to Pakistan for each of the next five years. That closely follows a proposal that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. made while serving as a senator in the 110th Congress that would condition military aid on efforts to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Obama also said he would order a substantial increase" in development and humanitarian work in Afghanistan though he did not mention specific numbers. To advance security opportunity and justice not just in Kabul but from the bottom up in the provinces we need agricultural specialists and educators; engineers and lawyers" he said.
He argued for the importance of this effort even though it is non-military.
They save us an enormous amount of money in the long run because it is far cheaper to train a policeman to secure their village or to help a farmer seed a crop than it is to send our troops to fight tour after tour of duty with no transition to Afghan responsibility" he said.
Reid said he liked the plan because it is stressing things that should have been stressed before" including agriculture.
Given the waste that plagued the reconstruction effort in Iraq Obama also announced more funding for inspectors general at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) though he did not provide specific numbers.
Congress is considering legislation (S 615) to allow SIGAR to ramp up more quickly.
He said he would seek new measures to crack down on corruption in Kabul as well as set benchmarks on international assistance to measure its success.
Well consistently assess our efforts to train Afghan Security Forces and our progress in combating insurgents" he said. We will measure the growth of Afghanistans economy and its illicit narcotics production. And we will review whether we are using the right tools and tactics to make progress towards accomplishing our goals." Part of the effort in Afghanistan will include outreach to ostensible U.S. enemies much as the United States successfully allied with Sunni insurgents to fight extremists in Iraq. That will include a reconciliation process" in every Afghan province Obama said.
Obama reiterated the view that Pakistan must work to fight the extremists in its territory some of which Islamabad reportedly continues to support. But the president also suggested that U.S. strikes in its tribal areas would continue.
