(House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul. Photo by Zabiullah Tamanna / AP)
by Mark Silva and updated
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, arriving in Afghanistan on the heels of the Obama administration's envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, assured President Hamid Karzai today that the United States is committed to the rebuilding of the war-torn nation, according to a statement from the Afghan president's office.
"Nancy Pelosi repeated her country's commitment for accelerating the reconstruction process in Afghanistan as part of (a) new strategy in *the) war on terror," the statement reported.
Yet Pelosi's own statement released after the meeting said that Karzai had asked for no commitments in the meeting and none were given.
Pelosi's congressional delegation met with U.S. military leaders "to better assess the best course of action to further our national security interests in preparation for the completion of President Obama's strategic review of the Afghanistan policy,'' Pelosi said. And in their meeting with Karzai, she said, "President Karzai asked for no commitments from the Speaker's delegation, and none were provided.''
Pelosi was heading an eight-member congressional delegation in Kabul, with the Obama administration planning to deploy an additional 17,000 U.S. troops - 8,000 Marines, a 4,000-strong Army brigade and 5,000 support personnel - to a country where the U.S. already has deployed more than 30,000. President Obama, while calling the war in Afghanistan "winnable,'' insists that future deployments will depend on further analysis.
The delegation "pressed" Karzai on several concerns, Pelosi reported, including "the continued corruption and lack of effectiveness by the Afghan police, the level of support being provided by allies, the resurgence of the Taliban and other terrorist groups, how the effort in Afghanistan relates to U.S. national security, the need to increase the Afghan leadership role in building communities through vehicles, such as Provincial Reconstruction Teams, Improving efforts to reduce poppy cultivation and crack down on drug trafficking and the need to deal with the threats posed by extremists on both sides of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border."
So far, unlike the war in Iraq, Americans do not view the U.S. commitment to date in Afghanistan as a mistake.
Karzai and Pelosi talked about the U.S. strategy review of the situation in Afghanistan, and Pelosi reiterated America's long-term commitment to Afghanistan's security situation and economic development, according to Karzai's office.
Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who pushed and pushed for former President George W. Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq, never could get past his veto of any timeline-contingency in military spending, with Bush insisting that he would heed the advice of "commanders on the ground.'' Those commanders in Afghanistan now are calling for more troops, and Pelosi, Reid and Obama are heeding their call.
Karzai, for his part, has seen a lot of visitors come and go. But now, a U.S. commitment to Afghanistan that critics complain was inadequate during the Bush administration has a new sponsor. Obama says the U.S. took its eye off the ball.
(Photo of then- Vice President Dick Cheney with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the presidential palace two years ago this month, by Mark Silva)
Comments
Ah....Afghanistan.....The war that would have been over if not for the republican party and their leader Bush. Gonna be real hard to solve this after they let Afghanistan fester for years. One more disaster left for Obama to clean up.
Posted by: bill r. | February 21, 2009 11:02 AM
Nancy P visiting reminds me of "The Bottom of the Bucket"
PS Total waste of the Taxpayers money to send her anywhere.
Posted by: Inky | February 21, 2009 11:17 AM
I wonder how the moonbats are feeling now that their Savior Obama is affirming the very Bush policies on Gitmo, Iraq and Afghanistan that the Savior criticized during the campaign.
Obama. Mugged by reality.
Posted by: Change You Can Believe In | February 21, 2009 11:35 AM
Keep up the good work, Speaker Pelosi. Show the world, what American ideas, good, true American ideals can achieve. Mend the many fences that previous administrations have undermined, or weakened, if not obliterated !! Along with President Obama, you, Madam Speaker and Senator Reid, will have returned America to her place of respect, in the world community. At home, I know we can't miss succeeding with President Obama, Madam Speaker and Senator Reid, in spite of the ruinous state, ex-President Bush and his Republican crew, have left America !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | February 21, 2009 11:36 AM
I believe the dialog from the bottom picture went something like this:
Karzai: Vice president, it is important we not take our eye off of this war. My people can't take years of war or we will never win this.
Cheney: So!
Posted by: bill r. | February 21, 2009 11:36 AM
Hopes she bops on over to Pakistan and tells those wishy-washy dudes that there is a new sheriff in town and she ain't going stand for no Taliban safe havens on the NW border while she checks on the embarrassing, less than secret Democrat's Drone flights originating from their country. She should also drop in to the Bagram prison to make sure there is no violations of the civil liberties of the inmates. And on the way back to sunny San Fran, stop over in Russia, see Putin and demand that he put a stop to the closure of the Kyrgyzstin air base, a must facility to supply Obama's new mini-surge Afghan conflict. Love that new war hawk, go Nancy, go.
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 21, 2009 12:02 PM
Mr. Silva,
.
Thanks for putting in the picture of Vice-President Cheney - real American leadership. It was a good contrats to Speaker Dimwit Pelosi.
.
Bull R,
.
If, as you claim, the GOP and President Bush failed in Afghanistan, than I'm sure BO s/b able to wipe this little squabble up in less than year. What timeline do you think Bull?
.
KoolAid Drinker, Ghost Payroller, and Blago Supporter Fitz,
.
I hope you really don't believe the stuff you write and are just doing it to get a rise from us thinking conservatives.
.
BTW, when is BO going to "BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE?"
.
I thought it was a brigade a month - one month has come and gone, and no brigade has come home. Plus another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan.
.
Keep chugging the grape Kool-Aid.
Posted by: Terry | February 21, 2009 12:23 PM
I wonder how the moonbats are feeling now that their Savior Obama is affirming the very Bush policies on Gitmo, Iraq and Afghanistan that the Savior criticized during the campaign.
Obama. Mugged by reality.
Posted by: Change You Can Believe In | February 21, 2009 11:35 AM
Holy cow...talk about moonbats. What a joke this bozo is. You left the war in Afghanistan to fester and unravel before you finished the job for some lunatic reason to invade Iraq. And you have the ba**s to have some smug comment on your failures? What a jackass you are. You and your ilk have caused more damage to our country than a lifetime of people could fix.......yet Mr. Smug wants to play na na na na? Brother....I can tell your elevator doesn't go to the penthouse!
Posted by: bill r. | February 21, 2009 12:26 PM
Bubba Porter wants us to leave Afghanistan and Pakistan and let Osama and al Qaeda run free. Good plan Bubba Porter. Your whining is getting rather boring. Not to mention petty.
Posted by: Flo | February 21, 2009 12:34 PM
Pelosi is a total waste and couldn't give a rats ass about the American people.
"Hey - we HAVE to pass this bogus stimulas bill - so I can jet off to my dinner with the Pope!"
She is out of touch and has NO clue what she is doing. Thanks San Francisco for dumping her on us all!
Posted by: Ron | February 21, 2009 2:11 PM
Pelosi is a total waste and couldn't give a rats ass about the American people.
"Hey - we HAVE to pass this bogus stimulas bill - so I can jet off to my dinner with the Pope!"
She is out of touch and has NO clue what she is doing. Thanks San Francisco for dumping her on us all!
Posted by: Ron | February 21, 2009 2:11 PM
Last week it was a monkey cartoon making fun of a black President, today it's open season on a female member (Nancy Pelosi) of Congress.
The Rethuglicans on here and else where are to stupid to know that they are the one's that 3/4 of this country and the rest of the world are laughing at, not the other way around.
Posted by: Teresa | February 21, 2009 3:13 PM
Bull R,
.
If, as you claim, the GOP and President Bush failed in Afghanistan, than I'm sure BO s/b able to wipe this little squabble up in less than year. What timeline do you think Bull?
Gosh....I don't know Jerry(Lewis)....But I'd put dollars to donuts that it would have been over by now had we not taken our eye off the ball. Now that this has dragged on for EIGHT years....certainly will be tough as the Afghan people have grown tired of our incompetence. I guess they aren't as used to republican bumbling as we are.
Posted by: bill r. | February 21, 2009 3:56 PM
Reading some responses, wow.
I guess terrorist's of radical islam are not dangerous. That's the way some posts read.
Afghanistan, so the war would be over, I'd like to know how this is known, or is it like Holder USDOJ head, working race relations instead of the Law.
Afghanistan, is going to be a mess for years. Ask the Russians how they did.
So I imagine all the good intel came from career CIA Democrats ........ and the bad intel came from career CIA Republicans...... thats how stupid some posts sound.
Heck, who are the bad guys, Americans that have different opinions on everything because of the West's freedoms, or killer terrorists screwing 70 virgins after death who've killed soft targets in America and around the world.
Me, why not blowup Saudi Arabia. That's where the terrorists came from.
If the bad guys are in Pakistan now, why are we still in Afghanistan? Lets just say, "Afghanistan ,you know what, your free to do whatever you want, we're outa here. Go kill whoever you want. Maybe the Taliban in Pakistan".
They should hire the drug lords to kill for them. Works well in Mexico.
But one point, none of you Bush haters have ever said anything about Vietnam, and who was President that got 10's of thousands of Americans killed? Why is that?
Why am I saying this, because of the incessant trashing of each other here, while the killer terrorists are laughing there asses of at you.
Posted by: PG | February 21, 2009 4:41 PM
We could have had this Afganistan mess cleaned up by now if W, Darth and the Wingnut neocon war-monger clan hadn't decided that it would be a great idea to trump up reasons to invade and occupy Iraq.
Every single one of the messes that we are in right now are messes that could have been avoided if not for ignorant Repukelican "leadership".
HECKUVA JOB, WINGNUTS!
....and late at night when you're wondering why the American people have rejected you to the point of where you've almost turned into a defunct party you can look at messes like Afganistan and what King Boy George and Darth did to it as an answer.
Posted by: Hulk Smash! | February 21, 2009 5:03 PM
Me, why not blowup Saudi Arabia. That's where the terrorists came from.
Posted by: PG | February 21, 2009 4:41 PM
That's a good question, so why didn't you put down your Repug pom poms and ask W and Darth that back in 2002?
Posted by: Hamburglar | February 21, 2009 5:29 PM
"Stillbrow" Pelosi is wasting taxpayers' money buy jetting over to Europe.
Who else is in the "delegation"?
What family members accompanied "Stillbrow" and the "delegation" on the plane?
What is the total cost of this "fact-finding"- meaning spend taxpayers money and take a vacation- tour?
Oh, was this a bipartisan vacation or was it just democrats on the tour?
See a poster is trying to gain some respect for "Madame Speaker Pelosi".
Forget it.
Vote in 2010 and 2012.
Posted by: Denie | February 21, 2009 6:59 PM
Mark, some people have no idea.
Posted by: PG | February 21, 2009 7:15 PM
Flo, not whinning or petty. Just pointing out the inconsistencies in policy and planing, and the Dem"s. rhetoric, like "the surge will not work", or "the war is lost". Also those are important issues to be addressed for the success of the Obama surge. Can't leave our troops without ammo. Pelosi should have worn "camo" don't you think, more hawkish!
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 21, 2009 8:04 PM
"But one point, none of you Bush haters have ever said anything about Vietnam, and who was President that got 10's of thousands of Americans killed?"
Take your pick, PG: Johnson or Nixon? What's the relation to Bush? That he didn't get there?
Posted by: mort | February 21, 2009 8:38 PM
Bull,
.
I guess we will have to see what the Anoited One will do. Smart move on your part not to committ to a date. How about whic comes first, US Troops out of Afghanistan or unemployment under 5%?
Posted by: Terry | February 21, 2009 8:42 PM
Bubba Porter you didn't respond to my main point whatsoever once again. All you do is complain and don't say what should be done. Afghanistan. Pakistan. You don't want more troops, so what should we do?
Posted by: Flo | February 21, 2009 9:48 PM
President Karzai please do the good people of America and the rest of the free world.... Keep her in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Paul | February 21, 2009 10:19 PM
Yes, the women mock Nancy's curiously immobile visage.
I confess I've likened her to Loretta Young, with the Architectural Digest re do of the "Speaker's Rooms" and the entrances in a different gown every performance.
But seriously, that cape sort of out-does Hamid's. Isn't that a bit over the top??
Time for a skeptical view of her performance as Spkr. And of Barney (much as we love him). And Rangel.
Granted, she's better looking than Hastert.
More effective??
I guess it comes down only to a difference in what they inject--insulin vs. botox.
Posted by: ornery | February 21, 2009 11:40 PM
Hey, Botox Kid, if you had any more class, you could come on out of that sty, you're wallowing in !! What a moronic thing to say about the Speaker of our House of Representatives !! Oh, that's right, the Republicans were taught the graceless art of exploiting patriotism, in place of civility !! You ridiculous Republicans, are a real riot !! Keep up the good work, boys and girls, of the Republican Party, and don't let that flag touch the ground !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | February 22, 2009 8:36 AM
Flo, one point would be to quit using the Donald Rumsfeld approach, the lefties arch enemy of failure in Iraq. The commanders asked for 30,000 and they get the more political appeasing 16K. Get the job done or get out. Closing Gitmo, another lefty PC issue, and placing other PC restraints on our fighters is a recipe for disaster. War is not pretty or PC. The terrorist laugh at this folly and see it as a sign of weakness and something to be exploited. I also do not see the left supporting a long commitment and when the MSM starts to turn against it things will go south. Obama, being a political lefty, will not hang tough when the going gets rough. Obama is dropping the ball by appearing weak (not speaking out) about Russian attempts to close the vital Kyrgyzstin air base which is a main supply line for our troops. Russia is repeating what we did in Afghan against them. Not one bleep from Obama. Where is the campaign rhetoric about safe havens in Pakistan. Big tough talk, now the SWAT area of the NW is Taliban. And how about more troops from NATO and our supposed allies? Remember the big campaign, "when America is respected again" or " a leader who can bring the world together" to fight the "extremists" (dropping the not PC words terrorist, Islamic, maybe their Christians, jeez!) I object to this wishy-washy approach and the new hawkish lefties, who fought tooth and nail against supporting the Iraq war, will turn Afghan into Obama's Vietman. Don't worry, we have lots of time to watch this scenario unfold, I lived through it before and still carry the scars.
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 22, 2009 9:08 AM
Closing Gitmo, another lefty PC issue, and placing other PC restraints on our fighters is a recipe for disaster.
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 22, 2009 9:08 AM
Torture isn't a "politically correct" argument. It is a moral one. If you want to use the argument that one morally wrong way is OK against another, then strap a bomb on your back and head to your nearest mosque.
Posted by: bill r. | February 22, 2009 10:19 AM
Wow, Bubba Porter. Yet another rant against the 'left' and you still can't answer my question?? I guess you agree with the increase in troops, but you can't bring yourself to agree with anything Obama does. And the fact some of us disagreed with invading Iraq (and taking resources away from fighting al qaeda) has nothing to do with this.
Posted by: Flo | February 22, 2009 10:49 AM
billy,billy,billy...no one tortures anymore, haven't for years. That is not what I advocate, so get off that lame catchall and MSM hype. You might want to check on the Obama policy, still in place, rendering terror suspects to Egypt, Israel, and other nefarious locations or is that PC when the Dems are involved. Big dodge of your liberal idealism, huh. Your comment "bombed", no pun intended.
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 22, 2009 11:39 AM
I understand the Vietnam comparisons, but today inAfghanistan and Pakistan we have a real enemy that actually attacked us (unlike Iraq, unlike Vietnam) and that needs to be controlled and hopefully wiped out. Bubba seems to love steretyping all "lefties" with broadbrush generalizations as if none of us ever fought in a war.
Posted by: rupert | February 22, 2009 11:51 AM
Welcome to the Sunday funnies; thanks for this one Bubba:
"no one tortures anymore, haven't for years."
Posted by: rupert | February 22, 2009 12:46 PM
Yes rupert...to them......Bush and torture are long gone. Have been for years.
Posted by: bill r. | February 22, 2009 1:25 PM
Oh I get it, bill r.
They're still using the John Yoo/Dick Cheney definition, a/k/a "Anything Goes" (or 'if he's still alive it ain't torture).
Posted by: rupert | February 22, 2009 4:44 PM
Why Vietnam. There are so many who want to trash a President, over Iraq/Afghanistan ignoring 9/11 and only going back "8 years of Bush", I thought since you want to trash Presidents, you might want to start with JFK, then Johnston, then Nixon. We can add more if you wish but going after Presidents doesn't help the present day situation of "radical islam wanting to kill you, destroy any city, stop the freedoms of the West".
As to torture, in having a discussion about what is or isn't, I'd also say (in my opinion) the treatment in Gitmo, is probably the best these killer terrorist's have ever received. And I don't see water boarding as torture. Just as dogs, woman's panties isn't torture.
I will say I won't go after Pres. Obama, like Pres. Bush was/is. I wont a swift victory, and hopefully it won't turn into another Russian/Afaganistan but I will support him. Not degrade him. I'll criticize him but not degrade him. I can oppose his views but I won't degrade him.
Posted by: PG | February 22, 2009 5:04 PM
Oh, if you want to clear up the torture, Gitmo and where their going to be moved to try this. Take them (the killer islam terrorists) all back to a war zone, give them their weapons then kill them.
Solves everyone's problem, but I guess that wouldn't be nice. So, "coming to a town near you, the killer islam terrorists".
Posted by: PG | February 22, 2009 5:11 PM
Of course any thought of solving the embarrassing issue of Gitmo must certainly be met with the ridiculous generalization of "give them tea and cookies". Of course we want them to walk our children to school and come to Thanksgiving dinner....who wouldn't?
Posted by: bill r. | February 23, 2009 10:53 AM