Eighteen months since his first visit to Afghanistan, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley returned home yesterday from the war-torn region, with little in the way of optimism on how the transition efforts are progressing.
Merkley spoke with reporters earlier this afternoon about the three-day trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan, expressing dismay over progress with infrastructure and economic improvements, despite a renewed focus on transitioning the military out of that theater.
“I was extremely pessimistic after my first visit 18 months ago,” Merkley said. “It was that last visit that convinced me that the national building mission is off the mark.”
Merkley said efforts have begun to help reach the goal of getting U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, such as improving basic literacy skills; only about 16 percent of national police recruits are literate, Merkley said. But that all developments in infrastructure – economic, health care, education, etc. — are reliant on such a strong security force that they become extremely costly and challenging, and in some cases futile.
Equally undermining efforts to build a strong national military and police force is the general mistrust people have with the national government, Merkley said. He said the Pashtun leaders describe government to them as an “affliction,” with the positions bought and sold, and power exploited for personal gain.
Merkley also noted the scandal of more than $1 billion in missing “loans” through the Afghanistan National Bank. “You can think of that as a billion dollar bank heist. It’s devastating. It shows how corruption is in every sector and hurting the ability of the nation to go forward.
The senator said the strained relationship between the Pakistan and U.S. governments has resulted in direct harassment on the ground. “We’ve heard about staff members being stopped, held at gunpoint, and generally harassed for what clearly seems a coordinated strategy of targeting staff members o the U.S. government.”
Merkley has called for an accelerated redeployment of regular troops to address both the sanctuaries in Pakistan for the Afghan Taliban, and the related Pakistan Taliban that has targeted the Pakistani government.
The U.S. and Pakistan have fundamentally different views on how to go forward,” Merkley said. “The U.S. feels it’s essential to take out the sanctuaries of the Taliban in Pakistan. And the Pakistani military and government are not moving quickly to do that. We know that they’re clearly operationally maxed out. But it’s our desire they take on those strongholds, and Pakistan is resistant to take on those strongholds.”
The senator was asked if he felt confident that the billions of dollars in aid being sent to Pakistan was ending up in the right hands.
“I’m not confident at all,” Merkley said. “And I didn’t get a sense of confidence from anyone there.”
