Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair John Kerry said
regarding troop levels in Afghanistan
Saturday:
"It would be entirely irresponsible for the president of the
United States to commit more troops to this country when we
don't even have an election finished."
The August elections have been panned as corrupt. Two possible
reported resolutions exist: a run-off election or a power sharing
agreement between President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger,
former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Today, a UN panel
called for a run-off, and Afghan law recognizes the U.N. panel as
the final arbiter in fraud investigations.
If the run-off is pursued, it creates a serious political dilemma
for the Democrats. It sounds convenient to say that more troops
should not be sent before the election is resolved, however, such
an election could take several months, and even if another
election takes place its outcome remains uncertain. Meanwhile,
the Taliban still retains a presence in the majority of
Afghanistan and controls much of the territory. It was
reported today that Al-Qaeda is using Taliban safe ground to
train increasing numbers of foreign terrorists for operations in
Western countries.
Senator Kerry and the Democrats might want to hold off and wait
for democracy to take action, but Al-Qaeda and the Taliban will
not reciprocate that idealistic gesture.
topics:
John Kerry, War on Terror, Afghanistan War
