By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, expert witnesses agreed that the U.S. should neither abandon Afghanistan or substantially increase U.S. military forces in Afghanistan in regard to a stable Pakistan.

Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. said, “a precipitous withdrawal would repeat the strategic mistake of the 1990s when the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan to the chaos that nurtured al-Qaida. Nor should the West risk being trapped in a Vietnam style quagmire, a war without end and with no guarantee of success.”

Steve Coll, President of the New America Foundation proposed a strategy that falls between withdrawal and militarization.

“It would make clear that the Taliban will never be permitted to take power by force in Kabul or major cities. It would seek and enforce stability in Afghan population centers, emphasize politics over combat, urban stability over rural patrolling, Afghan solutions over Western ones and it would incorporate Pakistan more directly into creative and persistent diplomatic efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and the region”, said Coll.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, that will triple non-military assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years.

Committee Chairman Kerry noted that “[U.S.] actions in Afghanistan will influence events in Pakistan and we must take that into account. But the ultimate choices about the country’s future will be made by the Pakistanis themselves.”

By Courtney Ann Jackson- Talk Radio News Service

Today former British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed to members of Congress his support of a two state
peace solution between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Speaking to the U.S. Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations, Blair said that he looks at the Middle East with the eyes of an optimist.

Significant arguments over territory, refugees, security and water in the region, Blair said, “although immensely challenging, are resolvable.”

He said that if the possibility of a two state solution became a reality, a majority of Palestinian and Israeli citizens would support it.

Blair currently serves as Quartet Representative and was in Washinton to promote the Quartet objectives. He is responsible for revitalizing the Palestinian economy and promoting the Quartet objectives. In his written statement to the Committee, Blair said “The opportunity is there. But it won’t remain if not seized. As President Obama has recognized, this is the right time to seize it.”

Committee member Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) said that “a peace settlement would require Israeli and Palestinian leaders with thin majorities to get beyond calculations designed to protect their own political interests.” Lugar also said the United States would have to be “very active and very creative” as they aided in the progress toward a settlement.

Blair said that leaders need to make sincere efforts to “reinvigorate the credibility” of a peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority need to “The only unity that works is a unity of genuine agreement,” he said.

“Hunger is not a partisan issue, but very much a political issue,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) The Alliance to End Hunger hosted a conference and released an exit poll from Tuesday that looked specifically at hunger issues. Senator Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Rep. McGovern both spoke on overcoming the global hunger crisis. Sen. Lugar contextualized the problem by saying that “our diplomatic efforts to maintain peace will be far more difficult wherever food shortages contribute to extremism and conflict.” McGovern spoke of a letter intended for President-Elect Obama that advocated the appointment of a “hunger czar” that would coordinate and cooperate between different agencies to minimize food shortages and hunger.

Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) says US cropland has the potential to reduce projections of world increases in carbon by seven percent and could create over half of the reduction needed under US carbon caps. (0:21)

 

 Standard Podcast [0:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The United States, a country with so much abundance, cannot sit back as impoverished nations suffer from high food prices, said John Hamre, President and CEO of The Center for Strategic and International Studies. (more…)

Noting Americans’ concern about oil prices, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee met to discuss energy potential in the Central Asian states. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said that Central Asia is strategic to US energy security. In his submitted statement, Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) said that Central Asian states would benefit by lessening their reliance on Russia and increasing trade relations with Europe and North America.

Lugar stated that finishing the East-West corridor, a pipeline that would carry oil from the Caspian Sea region to European markets, should become a priority of the transatlantic community. He advocated increasing diplomacy with Kazakhstan, supporting democratic transitions in the region, and linking energy from the Caspian Sea with Central Europe directly.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to President Carter, attended the hearing to discuss US relations with Russia. Brzezinski spoke of a long-term relationship between North America, Europe, and Russia, a relationship he characterized as “Vancouver to Vladivostok.” In this agreement, Brzezinski said that both sides would benefit; Russia would provide energy resources while Europe and North America would supply the necessary infrastructure. Brzezinski said that Russia’s desire to maintain a monopoly on Central Asia and repeatedly cutting energy to the Baltic states damage the potential of this relationship.

Brzezinski also spoke briefly on US relations with Iran. Brzezinski said that the US must recognize Iran’s energy potential, stating that Iran’s government is losing support among its modern and sophisticated youth. Brzezinski added that a military conflict with Iran would not only be extraordinarily destabilizing to the United States in the short run, but that it would also cause the US to become caught in conflict over a large region stretching from Iraq to Pakistan.

Actor and producer Michael Douglas visited with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) in Washington, D.C. to discuss the need to prevent proliferation of weapons and other materials of mass destruction through the Ploughshares Fund and the Nunn-Lugar Act.

Michael Douglas meets with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) to discuss the Ploughshares Fund and the Nunn-Lugar Act.

Michael Douglas and Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) pose for pictures before meeting to discuss the Ploughshares Fund and the Nunn-Lugar Act.

At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Negotiating a Long Term Relationship with Iraq,” Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) says that they know Iraq presents and “extraordinarily complex environment” for U.S. troops. Future scenarios include things related to ethnic strife, competing militias, internal territorial disputes, terrorist attacks, foreign incursions, or even coup attempts. The legal issues, he says, are not a reason to avoid talks with the Iraqis, but it’s essential that the Administration be fully transparent about their intentions and deliberations. (0:36)

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From Senator Biden’s perspective, the agreements made are going to make it more difficult for the successor to the Presidency to change course in Iraq. In his opening statement at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Negotiating a Long Term Relationship with Iraq,” Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE) expressed concerns that the negotiations and agreements being made now will not be in the same line of “vision” for two of the three presidential candidates. Not all security agreements, he said, are created equal. (more…)

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee met today to discuss policy in Afghanistan. Republican leader of the committee Senator Dick Lugar (Ind.) says that the U.S. must adopt a strong plan for reform in Afghanistan otherwise face a dangerous withdrawal.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download