Senators Pessimistic About Afghanistan

As they prepared to confirm Ryan Crocker as our new ambassador to Afghanistan, the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sounded off:

Jim Risch (R-Idaho): What we’re trying to give to the Afghan people and have worked at for 10 years, and given them in blood, sweat and tears – you really, really wonder whether they want what we’re trying to give them.

Bob Menendez (D-N.J.): When I see the reports, both public and private, about where our money has gone here, where the corruption is at, and when I see [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai talk about the United States as an occupying force, I have real problems having American lives shed and having American treasure continuing to be shed.

John Kerry (D-Mass.): Our current commitment in troops and in dollars is neither proportional to our interest nor sustainable.

Ambassador Crocker himself was also rather gloomy:

Enormous challenges remain,. Governance, rule of law, including corruption, which undermines the credibility of the Afghan state, narcotics, sustainable economic development... along with the capacity of the government to provide basic services such as education and health care. We’re not out to clearly create a shining city on a hill,. That’s not going to happen.

It's a sad business for the people of Afghanistan, who are going to be left with a corrupt government, an ongoing civil war, and a real threat of Taliban takeover. On the other hand this talk bodes well for America, since it suggests we will be bringing our troops home and reducing the crazy amount of money we are spending on this war.