Appeared in "The Hill" on September 25, 2002

A Firsthand Account of our Role in Afghanistan

By Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12)

After a swift American-led military victory over the Taliban regime and the signing of the Bonn Accord in December 2001 that installed a transitional democratic government in Kabul, Afghanistan is finally poised to lift itself out of decades of political strife, violence, and poverty. It will take a committed investment of American resources and manpower over many years, however, for Afghanistan to achieve real political and economic stability.

In the fall of 1977, I backpacked through Afghanistan. At the time, the country was suffering from severe underdevelopment and political instability. Two years following my visit, the troubled Afghan Republic would crumble and the Soviet Union would invade and launch its now infamous occupation. As we know now, things would only get worse.

When I returned last month to Afghanistan for a weeklong bipartisan Congressional mission, conditions were reminiscent of what I saw twenty-five years ago. Afghanistan remains impoverished. The buildings, land, and people are scarred from years of warfare. Roads are crumbled and often simply not passable. Industrialization, let alone globalization, has passed over this country of 23 million.

As I toured Afghanistan with my fellow Members, however, I discovered that beneath the country’s desperate surface was a palpable feeling of hope. Nowhere was it clearer than on the faces of the Afghani children who greeted us.

With the Taliban out of power, an international peacekeeping force in place, and humanitarian aid flowing, there is a sense that Afghanistan has arrived at a moment of renewed potential. This is true in the buzzing bazaars where people actively buy rebuilding supplies or at the newly opened school for girls in Kabul filled with smiling, eager students. Afghanistan finally has an opportunity to join the family of free and economically growing nations. Such a possibility would have been unthinkable without Operation Enduring Freedom.

As U.S. Special Commander Tommy Franks told me, the American military campaign in Afghanistan has been a resounding success. The Taliban regime fell. Al-Qaeda operatives were captured or killed, and their training camps shut down. General Franks attributed our success to our overwhelming military superiority, our highly trained troops, and extensive allied support. Turkey is leading the international peacekeeping force, while regional allies Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Pakistan and others are allowing us to use their military bases, ports, and fueling stations. Our international forces dominate from the air and the ground. We can place our special forces anywhere in the country and bring them back alive. Without the cooperation of surrounding countries, the operation would have cost much more both in dollars and lives. This is an important lesson as the Administration and Congress consider a possible unilateral invasion of Iraq.

Our military success is reflected in the mood of the American troops I met at Bagram and on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. As I ate dinner with America’s sailors, it was clear their spirits were high and their resolve unshaken. They can see the tangible results of their efforts and they feel the appreciation of their fellow citizens back home. They were noticeably affected when I presented them with a “thank you” banner signed by central New Jerseyans from my district.

Still, America's job in Afghanistan has in many ways just begun. The country remains precariously unstable. President Hamid Karzai, who narrowly avoided an assassination attempt the week after our visit, told me that Afghanis lack a sense of security. Warlords in the countryside have not yet fully accepted the new regime and the country's competing ethnic groups share power uneasily.

President Karzai also pointed to his country's other vital needs such as the building of roads and schools and the development of the economy. Many projects are underway and are receiving financial aid from the United States and other nations. The Bush Administration allocated $509 million for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan for fiscal year 2002. But more is clearly necessary. I hope that the President's recent refusal to spend the contingent emergency funds in the supplemental Foreign Operations bill, which includes $134 million for Afghanistan and refugee aid, does not reflect a weakening of his commitment to rebuilding the country.

The future of Afghanistan is by no means secure. It will take a long-term U.S. commitment to rebuild Afghanistan, develop its economy and consolidate its nascent democratic institutions. We in the U.S. Congress have a responsibility to ensure that Afghanistan does not fall into the ways of its troubled past. The United States cannot afford to make the same mistake we made when we lost interest in Afghanistan after the Soviet occupation ended in 1989. From the chaos and inattention that followed came the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Call it nation building or call it protecting American interests; whatever one calls it, we must provide it to Afghanistan.

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