Lynn C. Woolsey: “The violence rages on in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, suicide bombers struck in three different cities, in each case…”

“The violence rages on in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, suicide bombers struck in three different cities, in each case targeting Shiite worshipers who are observing a religious holiday. The death toll is at least 63, according to a news report; and a Pakistani extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. One eyewitness told The New York Times: ``We saw 30 or 40 people on the ground missing arms or legs.'' Another said the Kabul blast was timed to wreak the maximum havoc, as the bomber detonated at the moment that the crowd was largest, when one group was going into a mosque and another was exiting. In the 10 years of this war, it's the first attack specifically against Shiites, adding a sectarian angle and religious tension that hadn't previously been prevalent in the Afghanistan conflict. Mr. Speaker, how can we call our occupation of Afghanistan a success when, after 10 years of attacks like this and making a young woman like BiBi who was talked about on the other side of the aisle earlier this morning, make her victimization and her terrorization commonplace. When this is commonplace, we cannot be having success in Afghanistan. The truth is our continued military presence is aggravating the violence, not containing it, and certainly not stopping it. I'm not saying that Afghanistan will be magically transformed when the last of our troops leaves; but our best hope for peace, for security and stability there is a swift end to this war.…”