John Doolittle: “Thank you to Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen and Chairman Lantos. I'm very happy to see the strong support for Afghanistan…”

“Thank you to Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen and Chairman Lantos. I'm very happy to see the strong support for Afghanistan manifested here by the statements on the floor and, obviously, by a bill like this with unanimous approval out of the committee. Mr. Chairman, we had some great initial successes in Afghanistan, and those are now threatened by subsequent developments that would be absolutely tragic and really intolerable for us to allow any reversals to occur. We need to build upon a solid foundation that has been laid, and I'd just like to briefly cite what I think the need for this legislation is. Others have alluded to it as well, but the fact is that remnants of the Taliban regime have regrouped and are using increasingly deadly tactics, including the introduction of suicide bombings against both U.S. and NATO troops, Afghan officials and civilians and international and Afghan assistance workers. Also, the poppy cultivation and opium production which directly support local warlords and sustain and finance insurgents, militias and terrorist organizations is increasing at a staggering rate. Indeed, the narcotics problem in Afghanistan threatens to overwhelm the entire country. More than 500,000 laborers and an unknown number of traffickers, warlords, insurgents and officials also participate in and benefit from the drug trade. The risk for Afghanistan to again devolve into a failed state is increasing.”