Asking the Right Questions of Afghanistan

Floor Speech

Mr. QUIGLEY. I rise today because when it comes to Afghanistan, we are asking the wrong questions. And with the wrong questions come the wrong answers. Back in December, we asked, Should we send more troops to Afghanistan? We should have been asking, Will a greater military presence make America safer? Then we asked, How can we get millions of pounds of supplies to our troops scattered in remote areas of Afghanistan? We should have been asking, Could getting those supplies to the troops be fueling the very insurgency we are fighting, and is having thousands of U.S. troops stationed throughout Afghanistan making America safer? And now we are asking, Can a new commander in Afghanistan ensure we win the war there? We should have been asking, Is this war winnable, and will it make America safer?

We have to start asking the right questions. The first of these questions is, Where are the terrorists? We have put our blinders on and are so focused on the details of Afghanistan that we are missing the larger picture. The terrorists that we are fighting are no longer only in Afghanistan. They are operating in the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and even right here in the United States.

The Christmas Day bomber was from Nigeria. The Times Square bomber was Pakistani American. An increasing number of terror attacks are being plotted right here on American soil. Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, was born in Virginia. An increasing number of extremists from around the world are being connected and motivated by ``the virtual Afghanistan'' through the Internet.

We are fighting an enemy without borders, and so we must have a strategy without borders. In a world of limited resources, the next question we need to ask is this: How can we best spend our precious tax dollars to make Americans safest? Unfortunately, right now we are allocating most of our resources to Afghanistan, where at most, only 50 to 100 al Qaeda are operating, according to CIA Director Leon Panetta. And every day we read a new report that the billions we are investing are simply flowing to drug lords, corrupt local officials, and even the Taliban.

According to a recent eye-opening report by Subcommittee Chairman Tierney, we learned that the U.S. military is funding a multibillion-dollar protection racket. A good portion of a $2.16 billion transportation contract is being paid to corrupt public officials, war lords, and the Taliban to get needed supplies to our troops. We are funding the very insurgency we are fighting. And we recently learned that at least $3.18 billion in cash has been transferred out of Afghanistan since 2007, mostly to line the pockets of the nation's elite. On top of that, it has also been reported that those same Afghan elite are being shielded from attempts to investigate these cases of corruption.

We simply cannot afford to continue to send billions to Afghanistan only to see it end up in the hands of corrupt officials and the same insurgents we are fighting. We have got to start fighting smarter, not harder, and that starts with asking the right questions. A reassessment of our strategy in Afghanistan is due in December, and one question must be answered: Is this the best way to fight terrorism and keep Americans safe? I fear that with each report of Afghan corruption and each account of terrorism taking root worldwide, the answer to that question is becoming increasingly clear: no.

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