WASHINGTON – Republican and Democratic senators on Tuesday questionedwhether President Donald Trump’s strategy in Afghanistan will bring an endto the nation’s longest war, which US officials estimated will costtaxpayers more than $45 billion this year.
In their first hearing on the war since the Republican president unveiledhis strategy in August, Senate Foreign Relations Committee membersexpressed concern to State Department and Pentagon officials that the planwill not achieve its goal of forcing the Taliban into peace talks.
Insurgents, they noted, control more Afghan territory than they have sincethe October 2001 US invasion, and a spate of attacks in Kabul last monthkilled scores.
Trump in August committed to an open-ended conflict in Afghanistan andsignaled he would send more troops as he vowed “a fight to win,” in areversal of his call during the presidential election campaign for a swiftUS withdrawalBetter strategy
Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the committee, calledTrump’s strategy “better” than that of the Obama administration because itis not limited by a timetable, it pressures Pakistan to end support forAfghan insurgents and promotes regional cooperation.
But he said lawmakers are struggling “to figure out a path forward when itis pretty murky right now as to how we get to a place where Afghanistan isable to function without significant support from the West and othercountries.” Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat, was more pointed.
“I don’t think there is a clear path out of Afghanistan and I worry thatthe Taliban will simply wait us out regardless of how long we are there,and as a result we may be there the rest of my life,” he said.
Sen. Bob Corker during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting inWashington on February 16, 2017. (AFP)
Republican Senator Rand Paul noted that while some 15,000 US troops arebeing deployed under Trump’s plan, the Obama administration failed to drivethe insurgents into negotiations with a 100,000-strong forceProgress governed
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and Randall Schriver, the assistantsecretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, defended thestrategy, noting that it is governed by progress on the ground rather thana fixed timetable set out by the Obama administration.
“We have a policy that we believe in,” Sullivan said, arguing that a USpullout could lead to a Taliban victory that could give al-Qaeda astronghold from which to attack the United States as it did on Sept. 11,2001.
Senator Chris Coons plans to have his amendment called up for debate onTuesday. (File: AP)
Neither Sullivan nor Schriver could give estimates for the number ofinsurgents fighting US-backed Afghan forces or how many may be willing toembrace peace talks with the Kabul government.
They also could not provide a precise cost for the strategy that Trumpunveiled in August, although they estimated that the American involvementwill cost more than $45 billion this year.
Sullivan said Pakistan is not heeding Trump’s demand to end the sanctuaryit gives to the Taliban and other extremists despite a suspension inJanuary of some $2 billion in US security aid and threats of furthermeasures.
“We may consider lifting the suspension when we see decisive and sustainedactions to address our concerns,” Sullivan said.
Pakistan long has rejected charges that it supports Afghan militants.