September 8, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE, Vol. 155, Pt. 16 21103 our expanded military presence in Af- Rory Stewart, a former British diplomat who ants to the President, and they really ghanistan as a way to prevent al Qaeda teaches at Harvard when he is not running a haven’t been vetted. They haven’t been from ever coming back and estab- large aid program in Afghanistan. Mr. Stew- checked out thoroughly. lishing a safe haven, I would ask, are art describes the American military strategy One of those is a gentleman who was in Afghanistan as ‘‘nonsense.’’ we going to send more troops to Soma- I’m writing about these concerns because I appointed a special environmental ad- lia and Sudan and other countries that share them. I’m also troubled because offi- viser to the President. And, Mr. Jones, have provided safe havens for al Qaeda cials in Washington seem to make decisions who we have all heard about in the last in the past? based on a simplistic caricature of the few days, has been found to be an ad- Madam Speaker, there are no easy Taliban that doesn’t match what I’ve found mitted radical communist and leader. answers in Afghanistan. It is a com- in my reporting trips to Afghanistan and Now, that does not reflect well on the plicated place, from its people to its Pakistan. administration, and it does not reflect geography. I don’t pretend to have all Among the Pashtuns, the population is not well on the entire Government of the neatly divisible into ‘‘Taliban’’ or ‘‘non- the answers. Taliban.’’ Rather, the Pashtuns are torn by United States because we are not sup- But I do feel deeply that an esca- complex aspirations and fears. portive of the communist philosophy. lation of American military forces Many Pashtuns I’ve interviewed are ap- Now, Mr. Jones said that he was slan- there would be a mistake and would palled by the Taliban’s periodic brutality dered when he resigned, and that was not solve the many problems and chal- and think they are too extreme; they think the reason he resigned. So tonight I lenges of that country. I fear it would they’re a little nuts. But these Pashtuns also would like to put some things in the only further complicate matters at a admire the Taliban’s personal honesty and RECORD that show exactly why he very high cost to our troops and our religious piety, a contrast to the corruption should not have been appointed in the country. of so many officials around President Hamid first place. And I think it’s important Karzai. [From the New York Times, Sept. 6, 2009] Some Taliban are hard-core ideologues, that my colleagues understand that THE AFGHANISTAN ABYSS but many join the fight because friends or el- these czars and these people that are (By Nicholas D. Kristof) ders suggest it, because they are avenging being appointed really need to be prop- President Obama has already dispatched the deaths of relatives in previous fighting, erly vetted. And we certainly don’t an additional 21,000 American troops to Af- because it’s a way to earn money, or because want people that have a radical agenda ghanistan and soon will decide whether to they want to expel the infidels from their being put in positions of leadership. send thousands more. That would be a fate- land—particularly because the foreigners Jones was a founder and leader of the ful decision for his presidency, and a group of haven’t brought the roads, bridges and irri- communist revolutionary organization gation projects that had been anticipated. former intelligence officials and other ex- called Standing Together to Organize a perts is now reluctantly going public to warn Frankly, if a bunch of foreign Muslim troops in turbans showed up in my home- Revolutionary Movement, or STORM. that more troops would be a historic mis- That organization had its roots in a take. town in rural Oregon, searching our homes The group’s concern—dead right, in my without bringing any obvious benefit, then grouping of black people organizing to view—is that sending more American troops we might all take to the hills with our deer protest the first Gulf War. STORM was into ethnic Pashtun areas in the Afghan rifles as well. formally founded in 1994, becoming one south may only galvanize local people to In fairness, the American military has of the most influential and active rad- back the Taliban in repelling the infidels. hugely improved its sensitivity, and some ical groups in the San Francisco Bay ‘‘Our policy makers do not understand that commanders in the field have been superb in building trust with Afghans. That works. Area. the very presence of our forces in the The leftist blog Machete 48 identifies Pashtun areas is the problem,’’ the group But all commanders can’t be superb, and said in a statement to me. ‘‘The more troops over all, our increased presence makes STORM’s influences as ‘‘third-world we put in, the greater the opposition. We do Pashtuns more likely to see us as alien occu- Marxism (an often vulgar Maoism).’’ not mitigate the opposition by increasing piers. Speaking to the East Bay Express, troop levels, but rather we increase the oppo- That may be why the troop increase this Jones said he first became radicalized sition and prove to the Pashtuns that the year hasn’t calmed things. Instead, 2009 is al- in the wake of the 1992 Rodney King Taliban are correct. ready the bloodiest year for American troops riots, during which time he was ar- ‘‘The basic ignorance by our leadership is in Afghanistan—with four months left to go. rested. He said, ‘‘I was a rowdy nation- The solution is neither to pull out of Af- going to cause the deaths of many fine alist on April 28, and then the verdicts American troops with no positive outcome,’’ ghanistan nor to double down. Rather, we the statement said. need to continue our presence with a lighter came down on April 29. By August, I The group includes Howard Hart, a former military footprint, limited to training the was a communist. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Afghan forces and helping them hold major ‘‘I met all of these young radical peo- Pakistan; David Miller, a former ambassador cities, and ensuring that Al Qaeda does not ple of color—I mean really radical: and National Security Council official; Wil- regroup. We must also invest more in edu- communists and anarchists. And it liam J. Olson, a counterinsurgency scholar cation and agriculture development, for that was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a at the National Defense University; and an- is a way over time to peel Pashtuns away part of.’ I spent the next 10 years of my from the Taliban. other C.I.A. veteran who does not want his life working with a lot of those people name published but who spent 12 years in the This would be a muddled, imperfect strat- region, was station chief in Kabul at the egy with frustratingly modest goals, but it I met in jail, trying to be a revolu- time the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in would be sustainable politically and mili- tionary.’’ 1979, and later headed the C.I.A.’s Counter- tarily. And it does not require heavy invest- Trevor Loudon, a communist re- terrorism Center. ments of American and Afghan blood. searcher and administrator of the New ‘‘We share a concern that the country is f Zeal Blog, identified several Bay Area driving over a cliff,’’ Mr. Miller said. communists who worked with STORM, Mr. Hart, who helped organize the anti-So- VAN JONES’ RADICAL PAST including Elizabeth Martinez, who viet insurgency in the 1980s, cautions that The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a helped advise Jones’ Ella Baker Human Americans just don’t understand the tough- ness, determination and fighting skills of the previous order of the House, the gen- Rights Center, which Jones founded to Pashtun tribes. He adds that if the U.S. esca- tleman from Indiana (Mr. BURTON) is advocate civil justice. Jones and Mar- lates the war, the result will be recognized for 5 minutes. tinez also attended a ‘‘Challenging radicalization of Pashtuns in Pakistan and Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam White Supremacy’’ workshop together further instability there—possibly even the Speaker, one of the important func- challenging white supremacy. collapse of Pakistan. tions of a President is to make sure Martinez was a long-time Maoist who These experts are not people who crave that the people he puts into important went on to join the Communist Party publicity; I had to persuade them to go pub- positions have no real background USA breakaway organization Commit- lic with their concerns. And their views are widely shared among others who also know problems that will cause the adminis- tees of Correspondence for Democracy Afghanistan well. tration to founder. This administra- and Socialism, the CCDS, in the early ‘‘We’ve bitten off more than we can chew; tion, this President, has appointed a 1990s. According to Loudon, Martinez we’re setting ourselves up for failure,’’ said whole bunch of czars and special assist- still serves on the CCDS council and is VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:08 Apr 03, 2012 Jkt 079102 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 0688 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR09\H08SE9.000 H08SE9 wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD 21104 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE, Vol. 155, Pt. 16 September 8, 2009 also a board member of the Movement must begin to use all of the tools of Here are just some of the questions I for a Democratic Society, where she ‘‘smart power.’’ have been asked by the people of Texas.