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“Today, the House Armed Services Committee meets to receive testimony on ‘Afghanistan: Results of the Strategic Review.’ Our witnesses today are: the Honorable Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense; Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Honorable Jacob Lew, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. Welcome, all of you, and thank you for joining us.
“Let me begin by commending the President for his decision to commit an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to carry out a strategy for success in Afghanistan. In a lengthy letter and in private conversations, I urged the President to listen to our military leaders, and he did. So I am pleased that the President agreed to provide General McChrystal with the time and resources needed to get Afghanistan right.
“Al Qa’ida was, and continues to present, a serious threat to the United States. Their most egregious attack was September 11th, but it was hardly the only one. While the threat posed by al Qa’ida has been lessened by our actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it has hardly dissipated. In the long term, I do not believe that we can disrupt and defeat al Qa’ida if we cannot deny them the use of Afghanistan as a safe haven.
“Unfortunately, shortly after deposing the Taliban regime and forcing al Qa’ida out of Afghanistan in this war we were forced to wage, the previous Administration took our eye off the ball by choosing to invade Iraq. Due to the preoccupation with Iraq, the war in Afghanistan was under–resourced, with essentially no strategy for seven years.
“Unsurprisingly, the threat came back. President Obama’s decision to deploy another 30,000 troops in addition to the troops he ordered to Afghanistan earlier this year demonstrates that he understands the seriousness of the threat and the importance of the mission.
“In January 2009, there were about 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In about 7 months, there will be three times that. Media reports have been focusing a lot on these numbers, but more important than numbers is strategy. As General McChrystal pointed out, without a change in strategy, all the troops in the world won’t matter.
“President Obama conducted a rigorous review of the situation in Afghanistan that resulted in a realistic strategy designed to seize the initiative from the insurgency, build Afghan capacity, and ultimately to allow the Afghan government and security forces to take the lead in fighting this war.
“The President has appropriately called for additional troops from our allies—this is not just America’s war, and we must not allow it to become that. Perhaps more importantly, the President has put the burden of reform squarely on the Afghan government, laying out clear expectations of performance and promising support for those ministries and local leaders that perform.
“The President has also rightly acknowledged the importance of Pakistan. Pakistan remains a challenge, playing a key and often contradictory role in the region. Pakistan, by assisting in the pursuit of al Qa’ida and Afghan Taliban leaders, could help bring the war in Afghanistan to an end.
“Conversely, if Pakistan were to return to old habits of supporting the Afghan Taliban, the war may be almost impossible to win. More concerning, the continued ascendency of militant movements in the region could destabilize Pakistan, a country with nuclear weapons. This could be disastrous for all of us.
“I believe that we have a good strategy. But, we must be mindful that implementing this counterinsurgency strategy will be extremely complex and far from easy. Just the task of deploying an additional 30,000 troops will be difficult—supply lines to Afghanistan are long and difficult, bases are austere, and there is a shortage of every sort of infrastructure.
“And the job our troops will have to do once they get there will be even harder. Every member of this committee will have questions about the strategy and how it can be accomplished.
“For my part, I have numerous questions. What do we believe must be accomplished in the next 18 months? How will we move this substantial number of troops so quickly? How will we mitigate strains on the force? How will we convince the Pakistanis that their interests lie with us? How will we measure progress over time? And, how will we help the Afghan people build the sort of legitimate government that can end the insurgency?
“But while I do have questions about implementation, I do not have any doubt that we must succeed in Afghanistan, that the President is right to order the deployment of an additional 30,000 troops on top of the troops he already approved, and that the new strategy provides a good path for success.
“I hope our witnesses today can help us fill in the details of how the difficult, but realistic, goals of this strategy can be accomplished. At the end of the day, I believe we are all working for the same thing—the safety of the American people and the end of the threat from al Qa’ida.
“I now turn to my good friend Buck McKeon, the Ranking Member, for any comments he might care to make. Secretary Gates, the floor is yours.
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