Washington, October 18: Senator John Kerry says it is “irresponsible” to send more US troops to Afghanistan at this time amid a deepening election crisis that has placed the Kabul government’s legitimacy at stake.
The United States should not proceed with new Afghanistan strategy committing a potentially major increase in US resources, including tens of thousands more troops, without first securing a clear partner in Kabul, Kerry told CNN during a visit to Afghanistan, in a interview to be aired today.
“It would be entirely irresponsible for the president of the US to commit more troops to this country, when we don’t even have an election finished and know who the President is and what kind of government we’re working in, with,” said Kerry, chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“When our own commanding general tells us that a critical component of achieving our mission here is, in fact, good governance, and we’re living with a government that we know has to change and provide it, how could the President responsibly say, ‘Oh, they asked for more, sure — here they are’?”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government has been plagued by uncertainty and questions of legitimacy after allegations of widespread fraud in the August elections, whose preliminary results put Karzai on top.
Kerry, a Democrat who lost his 2004 bid for the White House to former Republican president George W Bush, was in Afghanistan ahead of an anticipated announcement on whether a run-off election would be held between Karzai and his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
–Agencies