On the recordMay 31, 2012
Later today I will join a bipartisan group of Members at a panel discussion about the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Joining us as a special guest will be Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, one Afghanistan veteran who has spoken the devastating truth about conditions on the ground. During his second tour of duty in 2010 and 2011, he interviewed or interacted with 250 soldiers at all levels in several Afghan provinces. He also spoke with Afghan security officials and with civilians. He prepared both a classified and an unclassified report about what he saw and what he heard. Here is some of what he concluded in his own words, Mr. Speaker. He said: What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders. He said: I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level. I heard many stories of how insurgents controlled virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a U.S. or international security assistance force base. And he said: From time to time, I observed the Afghan security forces collude with the insurgency. Davis tells us that one Afghan police captain actually laughed at him when Davis asked about how they responded to a Taliban attack. No, we don't go after them, said the captain. That would be dangerous. One senior officer told Lieutenant Colonel Davis: How do I look a soldier's wife in the eye and tell her that her husband died for something meaningful? Mr.…
