Small Wars Journal

26 Feb SASC Hearing on Afghanistan and Pakistan

Thu, 02/26/2009 - 8:00pm
From today's Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Strategic Options in Afghanistan and Pakistan - Testimony of Dr. Marin J. Strmecki, Senior Vice President and Director of Programs, Smith Richardson Foundation.

... In light of the opportunity and challenge that Afghanistan presents to the Obama Administration, the Committee's hearings are very timely. Today, I want to make five major points.

1. During the past three years, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, particularly in terms of security. The vast majority of Afghans oppose the Taliban, but local communities cannot defend themselves from insurgent intimidation and attacks. Reversing the negative trends requires rededicated U.S. leadership, greater resources, and an improved strategy and campaign plan. The fact that the Obama Administration is undertaking a wide-ranging strategic review is an encouraging sign.

2. In this review, it would be a mistake to revise our goals downward, giving up the current objective of enabling Afghans to establish an effective and representative government aligned with us in the war against terror. The United States needs an Afghan state capable of policing its territory to prevent the reestablishment of a terrorist safe haven. Helping the Afghan people succeed politically and economically will produce a significant positive demonstration effect in the wider region, thereby contributing to the war of ideas against extremism. Success will end the cycle of proxy warfare that has cost more than a million Afghan lives during the 1980s and 1990s. It will also open a route to global markets for the Central Asia states and create an economic zone that can be the basis for greater prosperity in Central and South Asia.

3. The focus of our policy should be to defeat a real and growing threat arising from a set of violent extremist groups based in western Pakistan and their supporters in Pakistan. The necessary conditions for success include the stabilization of Afghanistan, as well as strengthening elements in Pakistan opposed to extremism and finding ways progressively to narrow the areas in Pakistan in which the extremists can operate until these organizations have in effect been smothered.

4. A key task is to induce elements of the government of Pakistan that have historic ties to the Taliban and other groups to make a strategic choice to cooperate fully in eliminating extremist sanctuaries. This requires the United States to undertake sustained diplomacy that is cognizant of the motivations and interests that might underlie Pakistan's policies and that is designed to create a regional context conducive to the stabilization of Afghanistan. The Obama Administration's appointment of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy presents this opportunity.

5. U.S. efforts to "harden" Afghanistan against the insurgent threat operating out of the sanctuaries can succeed. To do so will require changes in our current approach, including development of a more robust political and state-building effort, shifting to a classic counterinsurgency strategy focused primarily on providing security to the population, and integrating Afghan and international civilian and military efforts in a phased campaign to secure contested areas.

Full transcript of Dr. Strmecki's prepared statement. Also see the prepared statements of Lieutenant General David W. Barno, USA (Ret.) and Ambassador James Dobbins.