By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses the role of the State Department and USAID in these challenging global times during her testimony about the 2010 budget proposal before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (1:39)
by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio New Service
This morning at a discussion on issues related to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-MO) broke away from his Republican colleagues by praising one of President Barack Obama’s policies.
The plan that was unveiled last Friday would increase U.S. support in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bond says the only way to address the long-term threat of terrorism in the region is to take a “smart power-counter insurgency approach.”
Recent attacks in Pakistan “underscore that the threats emanating from the region are one of the greatest national security threats and challenges of our time,” Bond said.
“The reason my optimism is guarded is because the President has split the baby between two competing camps in Washington and I believe in the White House today. The first camp focuses strictly on counter terrorism, or CT, and the second which takes a counter insurgency or coin strategy approach,” Bond said.
“We will not have success eliminating extremist elements in Afghanistan if we cannot confront them in western Pakistan. To do this we must fully engage Pakistan,” he said, adding that cooperation from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is vital to success.
“NATO must supply more military and civilian assistance personal and remove cumbersome constraints on their people in the field,” Bond said.
But, Bond said, the U.S. “must work with Pakistan to find out what will be required to achieve genuine and measurable progress against terrorists and insurgents in the federally administered tribal areas and other border regions in Pakistan.
“There are three legs of the stool that need to be addressed in the region; security, development and governance,” said Bond, adding that security will only be truly established when local Afghan and Pakistan security forces are able to hold territory themselves and when they have the incentives to do so.
Additionally, “We need to have USAID and other development organizations coordinate better with our military forces to provide what local leaders want and not just deliver to them, one year later, what we tell them they need. This means working with local councils or tribal gurges to insure we are meeting their needs.”
Panelists discussed “Humanity as a Weapon of War,” a new report on the military’s role in humanitarian assistance written by Reuben Brigerty, at the Center of American Progress. Brigerty, Director of the Sustainable Security Program at CAP, said decisions being made at the Pentagon suggest the military is realizing that force alone is not an effective strategy in warfare.
Brigerty said his paper outlines the US military’s shift from a direct line of approach in times of conflict, a “kill or capture” technique, to a softer approach that recognizes the causes of insurgencies and works to alleviate them. He said the Department of Defense is beginning to see that humanitarian efforts are not only moral undertakings, but also national security operations. According to Brigerty, the US military benefits from humanitarian ventures by showing American goodwill to skeptical populations and by planting people in the field that can observe local sentiment. He also said the US public must realize, despite written evidence, that US security interests rely on diplomacy and the military equally.
Elisabeth Kvitashvili, deputy assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, expressed discomfort with the military’s role in humanitarian efforts. She said USAID has called upon the military in the past to assist in a supportive role and added that civilian agencies like USAID and the Department of State should continue to lead development efforts. Kvitashvili said workers at the DoS and USAID have been trained development methods and that large-scale military participation in humanitarian assistance may cause recipients of aid to doubt the neutrality of non-military organizations.
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
MS. PERINO: Hi. The President had his normal briefings at 8:00 a.m. At 11:35 a.m. he will interview with Mike Allen for a Yahoo.com news interview in the Roosevelt Room. And then at 5:30 p.m. he and Mrs. Bush depart the White House on their way to the Middle East. We’ll go to Jerusalem tonight.
(more…)
Pentagon press secrtary Geoff Morrell, after describing U.S. military resources including two strike groups and one carrier, 23 helicopters, and 1,800 Marines in the region of Myanmar, says that the U.S. is ready to help if the government of Myanmar asks for assistance. (0:41)
