Toomey makes first big trip as senator
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pat Toomey, on a three-day trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan with other Republican senators, said Monday that he thinks the United States can achieve success and scale back its military presence in Afghanistan in the coming years.
Toomey said he and the other senators met with both U.S. Gen. David Petraeus and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He lauded the job being done by the American military, but cautioned that Afghanistan continues to have serious economic and political challenges, as well as a Taliban insurgency within its own borders.
“I think by the time my first term in office is up we could have a dramatically reduced presence in Afghanistan,” he said in a telephone conference call to reporters from Kabul. He added, however, that it is unrealistic to expect that all Americans will leave Afghanistan by then.
Toomey was sworn in to his first term less than two weeks ago, replacing Pennsylvania’s longest-serving senator, Arlen Specter.
The delegation also met with Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir of Pakistan and Pakistani General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
On the trip were Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Burr of North Carolina, as well as newly elected Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Marco Rubio of Florida. The group arrives back in Washington on Tuesday.
Toomey said he told Karzai that the Afghan government needs to do more to combat pervasive corruption there, and then stressed to reporters the heavy cost to the deficit-laden federal government.
“We’ve put so much resources, we’ve sacrificed many lives and the ongoing expense of this effort is very significant at a time when we have serious budget constraints,” Toomey said.
He described Karzai’s reaction as “a little bit defensive,” and Karzai responded with a long list of successes in fighting corruption, he said.
In recent days, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said more American customs and border patrol officers will head to Afghanistan to train Afghan officials to better manage the country’s porous border crossings. Such training is critical to preparing for the eventual exit of foreign troops, she said.
In addition, Petraeus said last week that the military push in the country’s most violent region is making headway and stifling the Taliban’s “central nervous system.”
Pennsylvania’s other senator, Bob Casey, also plans a trip to Afghanistan this year.
Casey, who took office in 2007, has traveled to the Middle East three times and Afghanistan and Pakistan twice since taking office in 2007, according to his office. He is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on near eastern and south and central Asian affairs.
Toomey last visited Afghanistan eight years ago when he served in the U.S. House, a little over a year after America attacked the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.