Graham: I'm almost ready to 'pull the plug' on Afghanistan

Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, March 6, 2012 - 3:56 PM Share

If Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai doesn't change his tune fast on two key U.S. demands, the U.S. military should just pack up and go home and leave Afghanistan for good, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said today.

Graham, who has been one of the strongest congressional supporters for continuing the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan beyond 2014, said today that unless Karzai relents on his demands that the United States immediately hand over control of Afghan prisoners and end night raids against insurgents, there is no way the U.S. can achieve its objectives in Afghanistan and therefore should just end its involvement there.

"If the president of the country can't understand how irrational it is to expect us to turn over prisoners and if he doesn't understand that the night raids have been the biggest blow to the Taliban ... then there is no hope of winning. None," Graham said in the hallways of the Capitol Building just before entering the GOP caucus lunch.

"So if he insists that all the prisoners have to be turned over by March 9 and that we have to stop night raids, that means we will fail in Afghanistan and that means Lindsey Graham pulls the plug. It means that I no longer believe we can win and we might as well get out of there sooner rather than later."

Graham acknowledged that those two issues were crucial in ongoing negotiations over a U.S.-Afghanistan Status of Forces Agreement, which would provide the legal basis for the ongoing presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond the end of 2014, the deadline President Barack Obama has set for transferring full control of the country back to the Afghans.

"I am going to pull the plug on Afghanistan from a personal point of view if we don't get this strategic partnership signed," Graham said. "Karzai's insistence that all detainees we have in our custody be turned over by Friday to an Afghan system that will let guys walk right out the door and start killing Americans again is a non-starter."

Graham, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations' State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, visited Kabul and met with Karzai late last month. Today he said he supports a U.S.-Afghanistan agreement for a post-2014 presence of about 20,000 U.S. troops, with three or four U.S. airbases and coordination in the military, political, and economic spheres.

"But I'm not going to support signing that agreement if Karzai insists that we end night raids, which are the biggest blow available to our forces against the enemy," he said. "If he requires that we end night raids, we'll have no hope of being successful."

Regarding the prisoners, Graham said that any follow-on U.S. force would be put at risk if U.S.-held prisoners, currently numbering over 3,000, were placed under Afghan control.

"I cannot go back home to South Carolina and tell a mother, ‘I'm sorry your son or daughter was killed today by a guy we had in custody but let go for no good reason.' We want Afghan sovereignty over prisoners but they're not there yet," he said. "That's not good governance. That hurts the Afghan villagers that have been preyed on by these people and it sure as hell puts our people at risk. I want an agreement but not at all costs."

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

EXPLORE:AFGHANISTAN, DIPLOMACY, MILITARY, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, STATE DEPARTMENT, U.S. CONGRESS, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
 

WINSKI

9:34 PM ET

March 6, 2012

Grampy McSame JUNIOR.....

So Spanky, what you're really saying is that you want to pull them out go Afghan and move them over to Iran... Why don't you just say that !! You want MORE war not less..

So the take away from this hours 'trail spew' you are on, is you're a LIAR. It's really to spend More billions of US treasure trying to blow up another middle-eastern country for YOUR goals??

F*CK YOU. Leave today and don't come back.

 

CFOUNTAIN72

10:54 PM ET

March 6, 2012

Crazy Ron Paul

Holy crap! Another dispatch from the Ron Paul Was Right Dept.: Lindsey looking to leave Afghanistan!?

So let's add it up. If we'd listen to the good doctor, we'd have $1T plus saved from not invading Iraq, and maybe $400B from a more focused mission in Afghanistan. Never mind the thousands of war dead and wounded, along with millions of refugees...

But we are told Lindsey and McCain and Lieberman are Serious Foreign Policy figures, while Paul is the Crazy Uncle? Dear God, what will it take...

Peace be with you.

 

MARTY MARTEL

10:33 AM ET

March 7, 2012

As Graham knows, Pakistan is the problem, not Karzai

‘Controlling the prisoners’ and ‘continuing the night raids’ have not led to much success for US/NATO troops in Afghanistan either as Senator Graham has to know.

The problem for US/NATO troops is NOT in Afghanistan at all as Senator Graham knows just as well.

As Senator Graham knows very well, it was spelled by Adm Mike Mullen when he told the foreign news media on 1/13/2011 about America’s primary ally in America’s fight against terrorism, that: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it [Pakistan] is the epicenter of terrorism in the world right now. It is absolutely critical that the safe havens in Pakistan get shut down. We cannot succeed in Afghanistan without that. It’s not just Haqqani Network anymore, or Al Qaeda or TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan), the Afghan Taliban, or LeT (Lashkar-e-Tayyeba), it’s all of them working together.”

As Senator Graham knows very well it was spelled out by previous US ambassador Anne Patterson to Pakistan, wrote in a secret review in 2009 that ‘Pakistan's Army and ISI are covertly SPONSORING four militant groups - Haqqani‘s HQN, Mullah Omar‘s QST, Al Qaeda and LeT - and will not abandon them for any amount of US money‘, diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show.

As Senator Graham knows very well, Ambassador Patterson had NO reason to mislead her own State Department and U. S. government.

As Senator Graham knows very well, problem in Afghanistan was spelled out by former Pentagon official Gen (rtd) Jack Keane who said at a discussion on Afghanistan organized by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank on June 30, 2011: "The truth is, the (Pakistani) ISI aids and abets the sanctuaries in Pakistan that the Afghan (Taliban) operate out of. They provide training for them, they provide resources for them and they provide intelligence for them. From those sanctuaries, every single day Afghan fighters come into Afghanistan and kill and maim us (US/NATO troops)". General Keane also added that “There are two ammonium nitrate factories in Pakistan. 80 per cent of the explosive devices that are used to kill our soldiers, kill Afghan security forces and kill Afghan people come from Pakistan."

 

MOHAMMED COHEN

3:40 AM ET

March 8, 2012

"Pakistan is the Problem not Afghanistan"

You must be a zionist cabale member! Why? Here'swhy. "“The world Zionist movement should not be neglectful of the dangers of Pakistan to it. And Pakistan now should be its first target, for this ideological state is a threat to our existence. And Pakistan, the whole of it, hates the Jews and loves the Arabs. This lover of Arabs is more dangerous to us than the Arabs themselves. For that matter, it is most essential for world Zionism that it now take steps against Pakistan. Whereas the inhabitants of the Indian Peninsula are Hindus, whose hearts have been full of hatred towards Muslims. Therefore, India is the most important base for us to work from against Pakistan. It is essential that we exploit this base and strike and crush Pakistanis, enemies of Jews and Zionism, by all disguised and secret plans (1).”
David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, laid out the blueprints to destroy Pakistan in 1967.

So why is Pakistan a problem? After reading the above what the founding father of Israel has said to its followers is the answer! It's the master plan by the criminal zionists to not only undermine any and all Muslim countries but to demoralize and destablize the Christian countries as well. Case in Point... UA!

 

CHIROPRACTOR

7:46 AM ET

March 8, 2012

I would rather the fight be there than here.

Its easy to say pull out and not get involved. Save the money and live in a bubble. But bubbles do not stop evil men and their quest for power. Bubbles do not stop the spread of terror around the world. History has shown us that again that this is the fodder of follies. It historically appears that the Muslim terrorist is going to fight. What we must continue to do is choose the place of that fight. If we don't, he will choose us. I do not understand however, if our goal is to "drain the swamp" then why don't we just put the cards on the table and tell Pakistanis and its ISI, "you are either our friend or foe." (I know the Pakistanis have nuclear weapons.) I have always thought that excuse was moot. Once you have declared governments as foe, then we can deal with them a more forthright manor. That instead of sending that mixed message of here take our dollars in foreign aid but its ok to harbor, train and help kill American troops. Its not ok to me. I am just a Chiropractor so I don't have the facts and data to support field ready policy or conclusions. But I do feel its time to let the big dog get off the porch without putting it on a leash. I want the job done. But I don't want to loose one more american life than necessary.

 

MAXIMB

9:37 PM ET

March 22, 2012

Half the country would be

Half the country would be speaking German, the other half Japanese because it would have been divided by those two. So foreign policies would have been in line with the those two empires..

"Is rio orange war always forfait sms illimite inevitable ?"
MaximB

 

SELDONCIPRIAN

5:26 PM ET

April 4, 2012

The world Zionist movement

The world Zionist movement should not be neglectful of the dangers of Pakistan to it. And Pakistan now should be its first target, for this ideological state is a threat to our existence. And Pakistan, the whole of it, hates the Jews and loves the Arabs. This lover of Arabs is more dangerous widecalfboots to us than the Arabs themselves. For that matter, it is most essential for world Zionism that it now take steps against Pakistan.

 

John Hudson reports on national security and foreign policy from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, the White House to Embassy Row, for The Cable.

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