Kerry: US in danger of losing in Afghanistan

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) delivered a speech on a new approach to fighting terrorism. Kerry cited a memo authored by Donald Rumsfeld in 2003 that asked if the United States was dissuading more people from becoming terrorists than radical clerics were deploying. Kerry said the United States still is not deterring terrorists, noting al-Qaeda’s strength along the Afghan-Pakistani border, the Taliban’s resurgence, Hamas’s grip in the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon.

Kerry said the United States should engage in a strategic reorientation already enacted by Saudi Arabia. He stated that the Saudi government has been able to gain the upper-hand in the fight
against terrorism by using counter-indoctrination. According to Kerry, the Saudi government has imams explain Islam’s opposition to extremist ideologies to detainees and sponsors messages at soccer matches featuring former terrorists who urge against radical jihad. Kerry said the United States was most successful in the fight against extremism when it provided post-earthquake aid to Pakistan and assisted tsunami relief in Indonesia. Kerry called the Administration’s policy of torture and indefinite intention “self-defeating.”

To win the global war on terror, Kerry advocated helping Pakistan fight al-Qaeda along the Afghan border and increasing American aid to the Pakistani people, a move he suggested would cause the population to grow tired of extremists’ presence. Kerry said “We’re in real danger of losing in Afghanistan” and said fixing problems in Pakistan is the only way to prevent a loss from occurring.