Congressional Progressive Caucus Releases Recommendations for Afghanistan

[bigtree]

Congressional Progressive Caucus Report Highlights Key Findings on US Role in Afghanistan and Pakistan

WASHINGTON D.C. – With the Fiscal Year 2009 War Supplemental Appropriations Bill debate on the Floor of the House this week, today, Congressman Michael Honda, member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), along with CPC co-chair, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), issued a report summarizing the key findings, concerns and recommendations that have emerged from the CPC’s six-part series “Afghanistan: A Road Map For Progress”.

After listening to testimony and engaging in dialogue with some of the world’s leading experts on security issues in the regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Reps. Honda and Grijalva have produced a report, which represents both a summation of their panelists’ key concerns, as well as recommendations for consideration by the Progressive Caucus.

Reps. Honda and Grijalva’s letter to members of the Progressive Caucus summarizes key concerns and findings that emerged from the Afghanistan forums.

Background:

“Afghanistan: A Road Map For Progress” was the first of many policy conversations that will occur as part of the CPC’s Seeking Global Security project, a project that allows policy makers to examine what constitutes real national security for America, on a variety of security issues, with input from some of the world’s leading experts on these issues.

“Afghanistan: A Road Map For Progress” covered the following topics: Afghanistan’s History/Culture/Peoples; Defining America’s Strategic Interests; Role of the Military; Comprehensive Strategy for Afghanistan; US Foreign Policy vis-à-vis Pakistan; and International Diplomatic Strategies.

Experts ranged from Colonel Wilkerson (Colin Powell’s former chief of staff), General Paul Eaton (commander of Iraq’s security forces), Hekmat Karzai (director of Kabul’s peace and security centre), Ambassador Dobbins(President Bush’s special rep to Afghanistan) and Ambassador Akbar Ahmed (the UK’s High Commissioner to Pakistan), among others.

read: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/05/13



Here is a preview from Katrina vanden Heuvel of just a few of the recommendations in the report: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/435265/?rel=hp_picks

"Require an 80-20 ratio (political-military) with all future US funding, with a special inspector general to monitor the implementation of this ratio"

Even Gen. Petraeus calls for this 80-20 ratio in his counterinsurgency strategy, but a panelist on the Afghanistan Forum, Gen. Paul Eaton, former commander of Iraq's security forces,pointed out that funding in Afghanistan is 90 percent military.

"Require the immediate cessation of drone attacks

Many of the panelists, including Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson--Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff -- pointed out that the high number of civilian deaths from drone attacks creates more enemies and fuels the insurgency rather than undermining it.

"Require UN involvement in overseeing and mandating the role of US and international military operations.... Require any increase in US troop presence is oriented to training and support roles for Afghan security forces...not for US-led counterinsurgency efforts."

The report reads, "17,000 additional troops are neither sufficient to manage the conflict nor a useful contribution because the already deployed US/international forces are not being presently utilized." It is worth noting that the Petraeus counterinsurgency strategy calls for upwards of 400,000 troops. Col. Wilkerson recommended the support/training role of any additional troops.

"Require the initiative of a dialogue process, with Saudi Arabia--who initiated previous talks between Afghan government and ethnic/tribal leaders--taking the lead, or with other international organization taking the lead."


A pdf. link to a summary of the report is posted on the caucus web page, but it appears to be corrupted: http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?ContentID=410&ParentID=0&SectionID=66&SectionTree=66&lnk=b&ItemID=408

[bigtree]

1. crickets?