MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Afghanistan War

Interview

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SCHULTZ: Fight them over here instead of fight them here? I mean, it sounded so familiar. That kind of language makes it pretty clear, we"re not getting out of Afghanistan anytime soon.

For more, let me bring in Congressman Adam Smith of Washington. He"s a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, do you know what we"re doing in Afghanistan? Do you agree with what the president just said? And is that a winnable mission since we"ve been in there since 2001?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D), WASHINGTON: Right. What we"re trying to do in Afghanistan is we"re trying to stop the Taliban from getting back into power, because the Taliban is allied with al Qaeda. And last time they were in power, they launched a number of attacks against us, including 9/11.

It"s exactly what we"re trying to do, is to make sure that the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies are not back in charge of that country. Now, that is no easy mission, but I think it unquestionably is something that is in our national security interests.
And it differs a great deal from President Bush. President Bush was the one who moved us away from Afghanistan, away from the Afghanistan-Pakistan center, which was where al Qaeda was threatening us from, and moved our attention over to Iraq, which is what candidate Obama talked about endlessly as his foreign policy focus--shift the focus back over to where al Qaeda is.

SCHULTZ: Well, and I give the president credit, because that"s exactly what he talked about on the campaign trail. There are no surprises there.

SMITH: Absolutely.

SCHULTZ: But this seems to be dragging on and on--more casualties, billions of dollars--like there is no end to it. So, I mean, do you believe that the president knows what he is doing in Afghanistan and that this is a winnable mission? And if we do leave, that the Taliban is just going to be gone? I mean, we"re going to be in there forever.

SMITH: Absolutely, I believe the president knows what he"s doing. I believe that General Petraeus knows what he"s doing, and I believe they do have a plan. Because it is not what a lot of people have described.

We are not imagining that we"re going to turn Afghanistan into some perfect representative democracy abounding in economic prosperity. We simply--

(CROSSTALK)

SCHULTZ: But Congressman, if you"re going to keep the Taliban from coming to power, we are going to have to have a constant and consistent presence there.
SMITH: I think--if we"re saying--we"re not saying we"re going to completely eliminate the influence of the Taliban in that region. That is not our goal, that is not our objective.

We simply want to make sure that they are not strong enough and that the other institutions in power in Afghanistan are not so weak that they allow the Taliban to take over. The president does not have illusions on this front. He is not saying we are going to completely eliminate the Taliban, he doesn"t talk about some grand, complete and total victory.

We simply have to stabilize the country enough so that the Taliban don"t get back into power, which is why it is--

SCHULTZ: OK.

SMITH: -- important that the president has said we"re not going to be there forever and we"re going to start drawing down next summer. That"s why it"s important to set that date to make it clear it is not an endless commitment..

SCHULTZ: But if the conditions are right, we"re going to draw down next year. Isn"t that correct?

SMITH: Well, yes, but the point is--

SCHULTZ: OK. So, who knows?

SMITH: -- it is not an endless commitment.

SCHULTZ: It"s still a crap shoot. It"s still a war zone and a crap shoot, and we"re still there. And this is as open-ended as anything else.

SMITH: It is not as open-ended as anything else. I will disagree with that.
And Ed, you and I have talked about this a great deal. This is a very, very difficult mission. But the fact is, it is not made up that al Qaeda and the Taliban are allies and have plotted against us and continue to plot against us.

The president is speaking about a very real threat to this country and other western targets. And we cannot simply ignore it.

Now, it"s quite possible that as we go forward, having this number of troops over there is not the best way to confront that threat. I think the president"s review that he has called for in December is perfectly appropriate. But I hope that those of us on the progressive side of the aisle, in our concern about the excessive militancy under the Bush administration, don"t pretend that al Qaeda isn"t a threat.

They are. And this is primarily where they are.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
SMITH: Thanks, Ed. Appreciate the chance.

SCHULTZ: Coming up, the oil fumes must be getting to Marco Rubio. He wants to "Drill, baby, drill" as tar balls flood his shores.

The Republican golden boy slides into the "Zone" next on THE ED SHOW.
Stay with us.

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