Goodlatte Leads Congressional Delegation to Afghanistan

GOODLATTE LEADS CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO AFGHANISTAN
January 12, 2006

Met With Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. Troops Serving in Afghanistan

Washington, DC: As leader of a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to Afghanistan, Congressman Bob Goodlatte today met with U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan and with Afghani President, Hamid Karzai, at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Goodlatte brought a delegation to Afghanistan at the request of the Speaker of the House to meet with governmental and military officials and members of the armed services in order to assess the ongoing war on terrorism.

"Our Congressional delegation had an informative and productive meeting with President Karzai, who has been a stalwart ally of the U.S. in the war against international terrorism. While the Taliban has been defeated, it has not been eliminated, and the recent upsurge in attacks and terrorist activities in Afghanistan have made it clear that the U.S. military still has a crucial role to play in assisting Afghanistan to defeat this extremist organization," said Goodlatte.

The congressional delegation also discussed the issue of combating the production of illegal drugs in Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan is responsible for most of the world's opium production, and the U.S. can play an important role in working with Afghanistan to help its producers to develop alternative forms of agricultural production and move away from the production of illicit and illegal drugs," noted Goodlatte.

After meeting with President Karzai, Goodlatte's delegation met with members of the U.S. Armed Services serving at Camp Eggers in Kabul, and the U.S. Military Base in Kandahar. Goodlatte praised the troops and their service in the on-going war on international terrorism.

"Afghanistan has made significant progress since the autumn of 2001, holding both presidential and parliamentary elections and seeing their business economy begin to take positive steps forward. One of our goals was to ensure that our men and women in uniform have everything they need to do their jobs. I am pleased to report that after meeting and visiting with the troops in person, their morale is high and they are doing an outstanding job maintaining stability and order in this volatile part of the world. We can all take pride in their service," said Goodlatte.

The delegation consists of the following Members of Congress: Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Frank Lucas (R-OK), Jerry Moran (R-KS), David Scott (D-GA), Stephanie Herseth (D-SD), and Jean Schmidt (R-OH).

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/va06_goodlatte/011205.html