Congressman calls for quicker U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
Mar 13, 2012, 8:42 AM | Updated: 12:03 pm
Congressman Adam Smith (D-Tacoma) wants to speed up the timetable for withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan, following the massacre of civilians there.
The killings, allegedly by a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier, is further evidence of the need to get out, according to Smith.
“Our goal from the beginning has been to have a stable enough Afghanistan so the government can stand. Don’t have any illusions, this is a very, very difficult part of the world, but I think we’ve reached the point where the presence of foreign military is more de-stabilizing than stabilizing,” he said.
Smith has visited Afghanistan several times. “And the improvement the last time I was there, in terms of the number of districts that were run by the Afghan government, the lack of access to that area that the Taliban had, is significant,” said Smith, “We have weakened the Taliban.”
Smith tells 97.3 KIRO FM that President Obama’s two-year timetable for withdrawal could be sped up, perhaps by as much as six to 12 months.
Four soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord were recently convicted in the murder of unarmed Afghan civilians. Cong. Smith supports an investigation of JBLM, but he doesn’t want to “condemn the entire base because of the actions of a few.”
