Congress for a surge in Afghanistan?

After consulting commanders, it seems Sec Gates is leaning toward troop increases in Afghanistan. What about Congress, which has pushed back again an escalation in Iraq? Today The Hill featured a story on Congressional Democrats and their desire to shift attention to Afghanistan. Among those who say their committees will examine the issue:

• Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees .
• Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), Chair of House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.
• Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA), chair the House Armed Services Investigations and Oversight subcommittee, has said that he's solicited ideas from all the members of his panel on Afghanistan: “There has been a discussion but we have to agree on a plan to do that.”
• Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) have returned from a congressional delegations to Afghanistan and their observations should color today's debate.
• On the other hand, The Hill reports that Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) plans to refrain from calling for additional troops in Afghanistan "because he wants to ensure any effort is multinational." Some good details here...

Dems struggle to shift focus to Afghanistan from Iraq
WASHINGTON, (The Hill) Jan 17, By Roxana Tiron: Several top Democrats, including 2008 presidential hopefuls Sens. Joseph Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), said a troop increase should occur in Afghanistan rather than Iraq...MORE

Photo: Sen. Evan Bayh meets with Afghan forces.

 

Clinton, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) returned from a congressional delegation to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and are expected to talk about the trip today.

But congressional plans have yet to emerge for keeping a firm grip on Afghanistan, which is dealing with rampant poppy production and is at risk of sliding back into the hands of Taliban insurgents. Several lawmakers fear that the Iraq plan will overshadow any efforts related to Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan is the biggest concern, but I see no concerted effort” to deal with the issues there, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said. “Iraq is the dominant thing and we have to deal with that.”

Two years ago, Lautenberg sent a letter to Bush asking him why the United States had not captured bin Laden after then-CIA Director Porter Goss said he had an “excellent idea” where the 9/11 plotter was hiding. “I would like to continue that pursuit,” Lautenberg recently said of the military’s efforts to track down al Qaeda’s leader. “But the picture is so clouded by the discussion on Iraq that you can’t really be sure that it is going to be successful.”...

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the Pentagon could send more troops into Afghanistan despite the strain the military faces in Iraq.

Although he said the U.S. focus should shift to Afghanistan, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) plans to refrain from calling for additional troops there because he wants to ensure any effort is multinational. “Democrats feel very strongly that the war in Afghanistan is much more directly related to the war on terror,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “I am sad that they are taking another [battalion] out.”

Schumer last year passed an amendment to the 2007 defense appropriations bill, allocating $700 million for narcotics eradication in Afghanistan. Schumer was not alone in his victory. Two other Democrats, Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) were successful in reactivating a CIA unit dedicated to finding bin Laden in an amendment to the same Senate bill that provided $200 million for the mission...

“Everyone would agree that the effort in Iraq has diverted efforts from the operations in Afghanistan,” said Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee. “We are engaged in two simultaneous wars and we do not have the resources that we would have had on Sept. 12, 2001.”...

The key to finding bin Laden may not lie with spending more money on technology. Rather, dedicating Army Special Forces (known as white special operations forces) to missions wherein soldiers spend time in Afghan villages, establishing long-term relationships and building trust, could lead to information on the al Qaeda leader, according to André Hollis, a former Pentagon official with knowledge of special operations. Unfortunately, Pentagon deployment policy (12 to 18 months) limits soldiers’ ability to foster relationships with locals, added Hollis, who is now a vice president at Van Scoyoc Associates.