Press Release - Crowley Criticizes Administration's Missteps In Afghanistan

CROWLEY CRITICIZES ADMINISTRATION'S MISSTEPS IN AFGHANISTAN

Washington, DC - Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-Queens & the Bronx) today joined fellow members of the House International Relations Committee to comment on the lack of progress in Afghanistan, five years after the attacks of 9/11. In recent months, violence and fighting have surged in Afghanistan, while efforts to wipe out growing opium production have been unsuccessful. Despite being toppled in 2001, the Taliban remain a threat in the region, frequently engaging with Afghani and US and NATO forces. Rep. Crowley's statement follows:

The success of eliminating the Taliban is quickly evaporating because the Administration is losing site of the greater goals. The progress we made in defeating the Taliban in 2001 has been replaced by miscalculations and missteps.

Have we caught Osama bin Laden? Have we created a democracy across Afghanistan? Have we decreased the level of drug cultivation? Have we made our country and Americans safer?

It has been five years since 9/11 and attacks on coalition forces by al Qaeda and Taliban forces have increased while there has been a 60 percent increase in drug cultivation. This Administration is failing in Afghanistan and this Congress has failed the American people by not using our Constitutional power to provide oversight.

Our country cannot afford another two years of this. It is time for a change.

http://crowley.house.gov/news/record.asp?id=887