Kerry going to Afghanistan to assess troop needs

[ProSense]

Kerry going to Afghanistan to assess troop needs

By Jordy Yager

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is preparing a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan next week to meet with Gen. Stanley McChrystal and local government and tribal officials to assess what the next course of action by the U.S. toward the region should be.

As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry has not endorsed the leading military commander in Afghanistan’s recommendation of sending as many as 40,000 additional troops to the country, saying that while more troops may be useful it could also be expensive and spur higher levels of violence.

“(I’m going to Afghanistan and Pakistan) to really try to sink into my gut what’s possible here, what do we believe we can achieve…and I’m not telling you there won’t be a way to use more troops intelligently,” he told an audience of several hundred on Wednesday night at the National Cathedral.

“But you have to calculate, every thousand troops is $1 billion. … And will that be the last request for troops, if that’s the footprint that we take? Because other people tell me that one thing the Afghans know how to do, particularly the Pashtun, is rise to the fight, and if more people come in and they’re perceived as just being more kinetic troops on the ground, they will find a way to rise to that fight.”

Kerry’s comments came as he sat beside Pakistani Ambassador Husain Haqqani, who also declined to take a stand on what the American troop presence in neighboring Afghanistan should be, other than to say that that a removal of troops from the country would leave Americans vulnerable to another attack like the ones on Sept. 11, 2001.

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[Cha]

1. What a job and so much responsibility

Kerry and all of them have!

[karynnj]

2. Stay safe Senator, we need you

[Metta]

3. How can he assess troop needs when there's been no intelligence estimate of the war?

Ray McGovern on same, etc. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x385119

[ProSense]

4. Based on reality? n/t

[politicasista]

7. **crickets** n/t

[karynnj]

9. He has held at least 5 hearings on Afghanistan

and he has met with the leaders there for at least 3 years on a regular basis. He did not say, assess troop needs, he said he wants more to get more information to get a better handle on the POLICY that would make the most sense. From the hearings one thing several experts repeated was that a counter insurgency required in the words words of one (that many than adopted) "good enough governance. This is something that many did not feel existed. Testing that assumption could include meeting with people there.

Go to SFRC website and read the opening statements and you will see that Kerry has done a very good job in setting up a series of hearings that do address critical questions, define the alternatives better and get a diverse range of opinions.

Kerry is one person who will give Obama his opinion.

[Engineer4Obama]

5. Good

Kerry has a pretty unique perspective on this and I greatly respect his insight and opinion.

[YvonneCa]

6. You bet he does. And his insight will help President...

...Obama get this right. I am THRILLED Senator Kerry is going. I have nothing but the greatest respect for his judgment on foreign policy issues.

Be safe, Senator...and thank you for what you are doing to get our country back on track.:patriot:

[JohnnyLib2]

8. Reassuring.