Sen. Kerry responds to Pres. Obama's Afghanistan policy.

[wisteria]

I was hoping to see some coverage of this in the media, but found nothing, so I ventured over to Kerry's site and found these comments.

“President Obama’s new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan is realistic and bold in a critical region where our policy needs rescuing,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry. “Many of us have long advocated more troops for training Afghan security forces and a clear mission for our forces that are risking their lives, and this new policy is adown paymentt in that direction. I am particularly encouraged that the President has centered his Pakistan strategy around the legislation which Sen. Lugar and I will introduce in the coming days. It will be the keystone of a new ‘smart power’ approach to this vital nation. On the non-military side, it will authorize a tripling of U.S. aid to $1.5 billion annually for five years including funds that will build schools, roads, and clinics. On the military side, it will institute strict new accountability for security aid that has for too long been a blank check. This combined strategy will enable the U.S. and Pakistan to work together to root out Al Qaeda, quell the threat of violent radicalism, and give us a shot at building a secure future for the entire region.”

http://kerry.senate.gov/cfm/record.cfm?id=310648


I am still taking this all in, but one thing I did take note of and remember Senator Kerry mentioning in regards to Iraq was the training of their troops to do the fighting-not ours. It appears to me that this strategy is a good one. We unfortunatelyy did not have an opportunity to implement it fully in Iraq, but Afghanistan will be a different story. I hope the results are very positive. And,I failed to mention that Pakistan is included in the strategy- this too I think is a very good move.

[Inuca]

1. I don't think it is possible to know for sure

how things will turn out in the long run, but Thanks God the adults are finally in charge of foreign policy decisions. I listened to Gates and Petraeus this morning (Fox and CNN, respectively), both very supportive of the policy. They are both very smart and capable men, differences notwithstanding, and could not but wonder how they felt for the previous two years when they had to cooperate and work under directives coming from the previous administration.

[wisteria]

2. I wonder about that also. Foreign policy is no longer a farce and cover up for another agenda.

And, I read somewhere where Petraeus said we are not any less safe with Obama in office.

[Inuca]

3. He was asked about "less safe"

in the interview yesterday. I do not remember exactly his answer, except that it was on the diplomatic side, i.e., no "Cheney is BSing", but definitely in support of what Obama is doing.