Republican National Committee: Obama's Afghan Audacity

As Chairman Of The Subcommittee On European Affairs, Obama Could Have Held Hearings On The Role Of NATO In Afghanistan. "[A]mbassador John Ritch, who served for two decades as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's senior staffer on European affairs and East-West relations...[P]oints out that as subcommittee chair, Obama could have examined a wide variety of urgent matters, from the role of NATO in Afghanistan and Iraq to European energy policy and European responses to climate change..." (Joe Conason, "Obama's European Problem," www.salon.com, 12/29/07)

Obama Has Never Been To Afghanistan; Skipped The Opportunity To Go In 2006:

"Obama's Second Trip Abroad As A U.S. Senator Starts In Qatar And, In Addition To Iraq, Will Include Stops In Kuwait, Jordan, Israel And The Palestinian Territories, According To A Statement From His Washington Office." ("Obama To Visit Middle East, Including Iraq," The Associated Press, 1/4/06)

"[Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN)] Is Traveling With U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sen. Christopher 'Kit' Bond, R-Mo., And Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn. Their Weeklong Trip Including A Stop In Israel For Meetings With Israeli And Palestinian Officials. Other Stops Included Kuwait, Qatar, Afghanistan And Pakistan." (Rick Callahan, "Bayh: Next Six Months Crucial To Iraq's Future," The Associated Press, 1/7/06)

"After A Two-Day Iraq Tour, Obama Is To Travel To Jordan And Israel On His Own." (Jeff Zeleny, "Obama Making 1st Visit To Iraq," Chicago Tribune, 1/5/06)

Obama Has Said He Will Increase The Number Of Troops And Aid In Afghanistan, But Voted Against Providing Funding For Operations There:

Obama: "Perhaps most importantly, some of these troops could be redeployed to Afghanistan, where our lack of focus and commitment of resources has led to an increasing deterioration of the security situation there. ... By redeploying from Iraq to Afghanistan, we will answer NATO's call for more troops and provide a much-needed boost to this critical fight against terrorism." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks To The Chicago Council On Global Affairs, Chicago, IL, 11/20/06)

Obama Voted Against Providing $94.4 Billion In Critical Funding For The Troops In Iraq And Afghanistan. (H.R. 2206, CQ Vote #181: Passed 80-14: R 42-3; D 37-10; I 1-1, 5/24/07, Obama Voted Nay)

The Emergency Spending Bill Provided The Following For U.S. Operations In Afghanistan:

$40 million for new power generation

$314 million for rural road rebuilding

$155 million for rural development

$19 million for agriculture

$174 million for Provincial Reconstruction Teams

$25 million for governance capacity building

$10 million for a Civilian Assistance Program

$79 million to support Diplomatic and Consular Programs

$16 million for Migration and Refugee Assistance

$16 million for International Disaster and Famine Assistance for Internally Displaced Persons Assistance

$47 million for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement activities

(Stephen Daggett, Amy Belasco, Pat Towell, Susan B. Epstein, Connie Veillette, Curt Tarnoff, Rhoda Margesson, and Bart Elias, "FY2007 Supplemental Appropriations For Defense, Foreign Affairs, And Other Purposes," Congressional Research Service, 7/2/07)

Obama Said That Commanders On The Ground Would Rather Have More Agricultural Specialists Than Troops In Afghanistan:

Obama: "That's part of what we're missing right now in Afghanistan. If you talk to -- if you talk to commanders on the ground there, they'll tell you, 'Instead of having another platoon, I'd rather than a couple of agricultural specialists.' We need more troops on the ground in Afghanistan. But what we also need is to teach them to grow things other than poppy. Right? And that's something that we just simply have not focused on. So it's an excellent question. It's going to be one of the central challenges of my administration." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks On Memorial Day, Las Cruces, NM, 5/26/08)

Obama Said American Troops Were "Just Air-Raiding Villages And Killing Civilians" In Afghanistan:

Obama Said American Troops Were "Just Air-Raiding Villages And Killing Civilians." Obama: "We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there." (Philip Elliott, "Obama Gets Warning From Friendly Voter," The Associated Press, 8/14/07)

Obama Claimed That Arabic Linguists Needed In Afghanistan Were Being Sent To Iraq, But Arabic Is Not A Language Spoken In Afghanistan:

Obama Claimed That We Are Placing "All" Of Our Arabic Interpreters In Iraq When They Are Needed In Afghanistan. Obama: "Right now, we don't have enough troops and NATO hasn't provided enough troops because they are still angry about us going into Iraq. So we just don't have enough capacity right now to deal with -- and it's not just troops by the way, it's like Arabic interpreters, Arab language speakers. We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them, and obviously they may not speak Arabic, but the various dialects that they speak in Afghanistan oftentimes people who speak Urdu or Pashto or whatever th e languages are, they are going to be needed in those areas and a lot of them have ended up being placed elsewhere. So, we've got to focus on Afghanistan." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Cape Girardeau, MO, 5/13/08)

According To The CIA World Factbook, The Languages Spoken In Afghanistan Are: "Afghan Persian Or Dari (Official) 50%, Pashto (Official) 35%, Turkic Languages (Primarily Uzbek And Turkmen) 11%, 30 Minor Languages (Primarily Balochi And Pashai) 4%, Much Bilingualism." (CIA World Factbook Website, www.cia.gov, Accessed 5/13/08)

"The Vast Majority Of Military Translators In Both War Zones Are Drawn From The Local Population. Naturally They Speak The Local Language. In Iraq, That's Arabic Or Kurdish. In Afghanistan, It's Any Of A Half Dozen Other Languages -- Including Pashtu, Dari, And Farsi." (David Wright and Sunlen Miller, "Obama Gaffes On Iraq And Afghanistan," ABC News' "Political Radar" Blog, blogs.abcnews.com, 5/13/08)
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