On the recordJuly 26, 2011
Last week, General David Petraeus relinquished control of the Afghanistan command. He did this as he prepares to take over as CIA Director this fall. We are all grateful to General Petraeus for 37 years of honorable and distinguished service, but the fact remains that the fundamental realities in Afghanistan haven't changed. The New York Times put it plainly, noting that the general is ``leaving behind a country racked by deep political instability, whose fledgling security forces are fighting a weakened but deadly insurgency that kills coalition troops and Afghan civilians and officials nearly every day.'' That's a pretty damning assessment, Mr. Speaker, and it's accurate. In recent weeks, two of President Karzai's most powerful allies, including his brother, have been gunned down by the Taliban, and ordinary Afghan citizens are caught in the line of fire as never, never before. The U.N. recently reported that more Afghan civilians were killed in the first half of 2011 than in any other 6-month period since the war began. Some of these casualties are the accidental result of errant attacks and night raids by U.S. and NATO forces, but the overwhelming majority of civilian deaths came at the hands of insurgents who were often using suicide bombers.…
