Notes from Afghanistan

By Matt Southworth on 08/17/2011 @ 10:32 AM

Tags: Afghanistan

"The view of Kabul International Airport from my plane. The haze in the photo is not a product of the window but the air itself."

Kabul — I arrived with a small delegation a couple of days ago to do some research here on the ground. This unfiltered view of what's happening is the best way to try to make sense of it all. It has been quite the experience so far, filled with very constrictive, informative meetings.

My backdrop for Kabul is Mosul, Iraq in 2004 when I served there with the U.S. Army. It didn't take me very long to see just how different these places are. There are lots of similarities—the script on the signs, some of the conservative dress, some of the structures. The most immediate difference I noticed was that the streets here in Kabul—at least the main roads I've been on—are much cleaner than the streets in Iraq in 2004.

My goal in being here is to learn as much as I can from the people both implementing and being affected by U.S. policy in Afghanistan. I see what I learn here fitting into a larger framework of legislative efforts from now through the spring of next year.

Spring 2012 will be very big for Afghanistan. In addition to much of the budget process which will carry through next spring, I expect the DoD will need more money for Afghanistan in the form of an "emergency" supplemental spending request, a request likely to be made in March or April. There's also the Chicago NATO summit in May which will "chart the future course of peace in Afghanistan" according to President Obama. FCNL will also host its annual Young Adult Spring Lobby Weekend—intentionally well timed—from March 17-20 to lobby on Afghanistan Policy issues.

What I see are several great opportunities in the next several months to shift the conversation on Afghanistan from a predominately military orientation to a more tangible policy of political reconciliation both local and regional. This, as we're hearing so far this week, is what Afghans want to see most. More to come soon; stay tuned.