19 Years at War

McCaul Talks About the US War in Afghanistan and If It Will Ever En

October 7 will mark the 19th anniversary of the US War in Afghanistan. Congressman Michael McCaul, who represents Fayette County in the U.S. House of Representatives, has helped guide U.S. policy in Afghanistan as the current ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and former chairman on the House Homeland Security Committee.

The Record spoke with McCaul last Thursday about the status of the Afghanistan War, the longest conflict that the U.S. has ever been a part of.

“We’ve been there a long time, and a lot of Americans want to see our troops come home,” McCaul said. “I think the President understands that.”

McCaul said US negotiators are trying to broker a deal between the internationallyrecognized Afghan government based in Kabul and the Taliban, the fundamentalist Sunni Islam organization that ruled most of the country from 1996 until the US invasion in 2001. Despite 19 years of US occupation, the Taliban still holds power in many rural areas of the country.

“The Taliban controls about 35 percent of the territory in Afghanistan,” McCaul said. “We don’t want to see the Taliban completely overrun the country, because then it’s all for nothing. But at the same time we want to see some sort of agreement between the two.”

The US reached a ceasefire agreement with the Taliban on Feb. 28. The ceasefire, negotiated by US special envoy Zalmay Kahlizad, was supposed to pave the way for a prisoner exchange between the Taliban and the Kabul government. Afghan government officials were not part of the ceasefire deal and they have pushed against the prisoner exchange. Taliban fighters have not attacked American forces since the ceasefire, but they have resumed fighting Afghan security forces.

McCaul spoke about Kahlizad’s assessment of the Taliban:

“He said they are very serious, they debate, but then they stick to their word,” McCaul said. “When they say they’re going to do something, they do it.”

The 2001 Afghan invasion came less than a month after the 9/11 attacks. Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network, the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the attacks, was headquartered in rural Afghanistan at the time, even though 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia and none were from Afghanistan. The Taliban government failed to hand over bin Laden to the Americans, and the U.S. Congress authorized the invasion to bring bin Laden and his associates to justice.

American forces killed bin Laden nine years ago while he was hiding in Pakistan. Yet 8,600 American forces remained in Afghanistan as of this summer. Some of those might even include service members who were not yet born when the war started.

McCaul told the Record that President Donald Trump is working to reduce forces. At the same time, McCaul said the U.S. wants to establish strong economic ties with Afghanistan.

“There are a lot of rare-earth minerals in Afghanistan,” McCaul said. “Traditionally, the Afghans have let the Chinese come in and exploit them.”

McCaul said he recently helped draft an agreement with the Afghan government that would allow private American companies to develop those resources. He compared the situation to the one in Iraq and Syria,

“Remember with Iraq, Obama pulled out 100 percent and we had ISIS and the Caliphate.” McCaul said. “We had the same situation in Syria. I advised (President Trump) to keep a small residual force to protect the homeland because of the threats there. He liked the idea because there are oil fields in east Syria, and he agreed to do that. So we’re probably going to have the same discussion in Afghanistan about what level to have a small residual force, kind of like Iraq and Syria, to protect the homeland against any future terror threats to come out of the region like bin Laden and 9/11.

“The idea that we’re going try to occupy these countries, govern them and bring in a Jeffersonian democracy – those are very noble idealistic views,” McCaul added. “But we’re more into realism and the world of reality, and stabilizing them without a lot of terrorism is the goal here.”

The Record asked McCaul whether protecting access to resources in other sovereign countries is a proper role for the U.S. military.

“The military would not be there for that reason,” McCaul said.

McCaul referenced the U.S. assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in January of this year. He said the U.S. was able to counter Iranian influence in Iraq by carrying out that attack because America had established bases in Iraq after the 2004 invasion of that country and has kept residual troops there since then.

“In Afghanistan, that’s a good example of how it could play out with our countering China initiative,” McCaul said. “We put all this blood and treasure into Afghanistan, right? I didn’t agree with Bush when he let the Chinese go in. Why aren’t we getting something out of this?

“With this new agreement, they’re allowing United States investors to go in and develop these resources, and they have their own private security,” McCaul said. “And to counter China. It’s good for our alliances, it’s good for our host country and their workers because it provides jobs for them. And it also helps our companies make a profit as well. The only reason for the presence of troops, a residual force, would be solely to take out a threat that we see could attack the homeland.”

President Trump has pledged to decrease troop levels in Afghanistan to 4,500 by the November election. Troops are only one part of the war, as the U.S has relied extensively on drone attacks to fight the war.

Postal Service and PPP

In other news, McCaul recently broke with most other house Republicans and President Trump by voting in favor of a $25 billion funding package for the US Postal Service to reverse operational changes that have been blamed for slow mail service this year.

“This is an issue where I listened to my constituents,” McCaul said.

McCaul stated that many elderly residents in his district depend on the mail service to deliver vital resources like prescription drugs.

During the interview, McCaul also talked about helping to pass the Paycheck Protection Program at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. He said the program was instrumental in keeping vital businesses and non-profit organizations operating during the crisis, especially rural hospitals including St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange.