Afghanistan: Security and Reconstruction

Federal News Service April 29, 2004 Thursday

HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE

SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN: SECURITY AND RECONSTRUCTION

CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA)

WITNESSES:

PETER RODMAN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS; LIEUTENANT GENERAL WALTER SHARP, UNITED STATES ARMY, DIRECTOR FOR STRATEGIC PLANS AND POLICY, THE JOINT STAFF; AMBASSADOR WILLIAM TAYLOR, COORDINATOR FOR AFGHANISTAN, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

LOCATION: 2118 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. RICK LARSEN (D-WA): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

A couple of comments. It seems that some generations may have their forgotten war. Korea was certainly-has the moniker of a forgotten war of a previous generation, and it seems that-at least perhaps in the minds of the American people what is going on yet in Afghanistan is not on the forefront and we need to be sure that we push that to the forefront because the takes are at least as high, if not higher, as they are in Iraq. And for every Karzai there's a Sayaf or Raheem and for every one ANA there's 10 militia members, for every one Pakistani president who's an ally in the war on terrorism, there's a Pakistani president who's slapped the wrist of a serial nuclear proliferator.

For every dollar of disbursed aid there's a dollar plus produced in the drug trade in Afghanistan. So it's sort of a this and that kind of story in Afghanistan. There's a lot of work left to do and we need to be sure that we push the hard work that's left to do out in the minds of the American people because you need our support and need to-and the American people need to know there's a lot of work left to do there as well.

I want to ask a few questions about some of that work, and I'm not sure-perhaps for General Sharp, we're expecting sort of accelerating the training of the ANA 10,000 by the end of this year. Our goal is 70,000. If I'm not mistaken and I'm just quickly doing the math, does that mean are we going to be taken then seven years to stand up a whole Afghan National Army? And what does that mean for our U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, related to that particular effort? That's one question.

Perhaps for Ambassador Taylor, we have a note-in our notes that is-about 1.8 million people registered so far. That's about-there's 28 million people in the country. I'm assuming maybe half are eligible to vote, so we're at about 15 percent -- 14 to 15 percent of eligible people are registered to vote. Can we realistically get the numbers we need registered by September and get them registered in various areas, rather than just in Kabul or Kandahar, rather than just the big cities, in order to create a legitimate election with widespread voting in that country? Can that happen by September?

And perhaps for Mr. Rodman, the Washington Post in a-if you saw the Post this morning, the front page is all about Iraq. And if you go to the back there's this little story about Afghanistan that said there were 40 Chinese made rockets confiscated in one of the cities, perhaps it was Kabul, and it happened yesterday or the day before. Where are those coming from? How bad is weapons smuggling in Afghanistan? How big of a problem is that combined with the other issues we're dealing with? So those are the three main questions that perhaps-and give us some direction as to the kind of work that we need to continue to do to support your efforts in Afghanistan. Let's start with the first question with General Sharp.

GEN. SHARP: Right. Thank you, sir. Let me start off with your overarching premise. I think you're exactly right. Afghanistan is important. We do have to keep it in front of the minds of the American people. I will tell you it has not lost any focus inside the Pentagon. Now, I attend every single day with the chairman a briefing that he goes through as far as intelligence and operations and every single day that is briefed to the chairman and to the secretary of Defense. As I said also, there are many, many different VTCs with General Barno and the other forces over there. So from a military perspective it is forefront and we have not lost any priority as far as that goes.

On the Afghan National Army specifically, as you said, right now there are about 8,000 soldiers that are out there more or less and we're going between a goal of 10,000 and 12,000 per year. That plan to get us to 70,000 will take to 2011. We are continuing to assess other ways to improve or to accelerate this process as it goes through, and then also concentrating very much on to making sure not only do we have quantity but we have quality also. And I think we've seen that in Iraq how important that is not to make shortcuts that-and make sure that they are properly equipped when they are employed out there to be able to do that. General Barno is continuously assessing whether or not we can speed this up in order to be able to get more forces out there on the field.

REP. LARSEN: Yes, "true presence implication" and that means?

GEN. SHARP: I think the plan that we have right now for forces-as you know, we're at a high of about 17,000 right now partially because of the additional MEU that's in there, and also because of the transition between 10th Mountain and 25th. We'll be down into the ballpark of 13,000/14,000 by the end of the summer. We will then continuously assess, just like we do in other places around the world, what is needed. It will be a combination of how much we're able to kill the Taliban and the al Qaeda, how much we are able to get both the police, which are critical parts of security there in the Afghan National Army, get those programs to continue to produce security out in the area, get through the elections in September and to be able to continue to move this country forward. So it's not, as you know, just a direct equation: more Afghan National Army, less U.S. coalition forces. But that's continuously assessed as we go along many, many times throughout the year.

REP. LARSEN: Ambassador Taylor?

MR. TAYLOR: Mr. Larsen, your question on the registration of the voters-your math is about right. We think there is somewhere between nine and 10 million eligible voters in Afghanistan and about 1.9 now-it's been a little bit forward-have been registered. That's actually on target for the plan. The plan had been to go to eight main cities, and you indicated that it is easier to do it in the cities, and during the winter it's-the transportation, the logistics of getting to voters in large cities is doable, is feasible. Now that the snows have gone and the passes are open and we can get-the U.N. is actually doing the registration and doing a pretty good job. A little-we'd like it to be a little faster, but now that they are able to get their teams out into the rural areas.

On May 1, so on Saturday, is the start of phase two which would accelerate these teams out into the rural areas and they expect to be able to over the next-a very intense month of May, but they're willing to go-extend it into June and they are-I believe they are on track for eight, nine, as many as 10 million registered voters by the middle of summer.

REP. LARSEN: The middle of summer.

MR. RODMAN: Weapons smuggling, I don't have statistics, but this is a country where weapons are plentiful, even if new stuff isn't coming in after all the wars. So gun control is not going to work very well. Our strategy is to defeat military challenges and to disarm militias and to deal with it strategically. I mean, I wouldn't expect to be able to prevent, you know, stuff coming in and the report-I saw the press report, which is disturbing and I don't have the details.

REP. LARSEN: Okay. I have-you've probably got a little more than me, but I have what I read and that's all I read as well. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.