Wolfowitz Says U.S. Dedicated to Liberation of Afghanistan

(U.S. is mindful of history as it carries out its mission, he says)


(3600)





"We want history ultimately to judge [the United States] as having


been dedicated to liberation, not occupation" in Afghanistan, said


Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.





In his prepared testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign


Relations in Washington June 26, Wolfowitz said the United States has


"no intent of 'colonizing' Afghanistan," as it continues its military


operations against terrorists.





He said the United States has been careful to avoid creating the


expectation that it will solve all of Afghanistan's problems and to


avoid taking sides in Afghanistan's political disputes.





"In fact, we have seen that Afghans are good at solving problems when


they must; and we must let them deal with as many as they can," he


said.





In shaping the military campaign against terrorism and playing a role


to help establish long term-stability, "we have been very mindful of


the historical Afghan animosity to foreign armies and foreign


occupiers," said Wolfowitz.





"Afghans are an independent, proud people. For that reason," said


Wolfowitz, "we have emphasized from the beginning that we intend to


minimize the number of troops there."





The deputy secretary warned that although the military was encouraged


by many remarkable successes so far, Operation Enduring Freedom "is


far from complete."





He praised the coalition's partnership with indigenous Afghan forces,


saying that it has generally been "very positive," and said Pakistan's


President Musharraf has also made his country "a much less friendly


environment for the Taliban and al Qaeda."





Wolfowitz highlighted several humanitarian and economic assistance


projects being carried out by U.S. troops on the ground, such as


repairing schools and hospitals, digging wells, and repairing


irrigation canals.





Over 48 schools were repaired or built in eight different regions of


Afghanistan, reported Wolfowitz. "For over 30,000 children for whom


the sound of gunfire was a natural part of life, school is open,


certainly one of the most far-reaching ways we have helped shaped


their future," he said.





Following is the text of Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz's prepared


testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:





(begin text)





TESTIMONY OF DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PAUL WOLFOWITZ 


PREPARED FOR THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: 


AFGHANISTAN 


JUNE 26, 2002





Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the Committee: This


Committee has long provided our country strong leadership and


bipartisan support, especially now as the United States wages the war


against terrorism. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you


today the Defense Department's perspective on how the campaign in


Afghanistan to kill, capture and disrupt terrorists has helped us


protect the American people, and how we are helping the Afghan people


help themselves to ensure Afghanistan does not once again become a


terrorist sanctuary.





I. How the Campaign in Afghanistan Has Helped Protect the American


People





From the beginning of the war on terrorism, President Bush emphasized


that the United States must use "every resource at our command, every


means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of


law enforcement, every financial influence and every necessary weapon


of war, to the destruction and defeat of the global terror network."


Each has a role; each reinforces the others. The military is only one


of the instruments that we need to wage this war on terrorism. The


military cannot do its job without the support of other elements,


particularly intelligence, and its role is frequently to support the


efforts of those other instruments of national power.





This hearing is focused -- and appropriately so -- on Afghanistan and


our military effort there, but it's important to emphasize, as we have


from the beginning, that this campaign is not about a single country


or a single terrorist network. Al Qaeda alone is spread throughout the


world; it is a network. A network, by its very nature, is based on the


idea that should one node be eliminated, the network can still


continue to function.





Well before September 11, 2001, al Qaeda had burrowed into some 60


nations, including the United States and Germany, France and Morocco,


Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. It had critical nodes in Hamburg,


Germany and Jacksonville, Florida as well as Afghanistan. The pilots


who flew the suicide attacks were not trained in Afghanistan; many got


their training in the United States.





Afghanistan was an important node in the network, but by its nature a


network does not have a headquarters. So, while we focus on


Afghanistan today, we must understand that Afghanistan is only one


node of this terrorist network. The very name of this organization, al


Qaeda, which means "base" in Arabic, indicates that the entire


organization is the base of terrorist operations. It is spread


throughout the world and it needs to be eliminated, root and branch.





In Afghanistan, where al Qaeda's malignant plots and plans flourished


under the protection of the tyrannical and corrupt Taliban, America's


armed forces went to work to root out both. Our intent, as Secretary


Rumsfeld said, was to deprive the terrorists of a sanctuary in


Afghanistan where they could safely plan, train and organize -- not


only to capture and kill terrorists, but to drain the swamp in which


they breed. Over the last eight months, with our coalition partners,


we have defeated a vicious and repressive regime that gave refuge to


evil. We have killed or captured many of its ringleaders. And we have


others on the run, where they are more vulnerable.





Even in Afghanistan, our work is far from complete, although we are


encouraged by the many truly remarkable aspects of the campaign to


date.





Our military campaign in Afghanistan has had some striking features,


some surprising, others less so. Not surprisingly, we have seen


America's Armed Forces conduct their operations with great bravery and


skill, as we saw at Mazar-e-sharif, Tora Bora and in Operations


Anaconda and Mountain Lion. What may have been a surprise to some was


the remarkable speed with which military plans were put together, the


swift success of the military operations -- in weeks rather than


months, and with relatively few troops on the ground. On September


11th, there simply was no war plan on the shelf for Afghanistan.


General Franks was starting from scratch on September 20 when he


received the order to begin planning, but less than three weeks later,


on October 7th, we commenced the military operations. And less than


two weeks after that, troops were operating on the ground. In many


ways, it was a remarkable feat of logistical and operational agility.





Another element of our success, which was undoubtedly a surprise to


the terrorists and barely noticed by many others, was something that


did not happen, something that calls to mind Sherlock Holmes' famous


observation about the dog that didn't bark. We did not become bogged


down in a quagmire unlike the British in the 19th century and the


Soviets in the 20th century. Nations that arrive in Afghanistan with


massive armies tend to be treated as invaders, and they regret it.


Mindful of that history, General Franks deliberately and carefully


kept our footprint small to avoid just such a predicament. On balance,


our partnership with indigenous forces has been very positive.





From the beginning of the war on terrorism, we have stressed the


importance of understanding the nature of our enemy as a world-wide


network. Al Qaeda is not a snake that can be killed by lopping off its


head. It is more analogous to a disease that has infected many parts


of a healthy body. There is no one single solution. You can't simply


cut out one infected area and declare victory, but success in one area


can lead to success in other areas as well. The bottom line, as


President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld have repeatedly cautioned, is


that this campaign will be a long and difficult one.





Coalition forces have eliminated the secure operating environment that


al Qaeda enjoyed in Afghanistan and degraded cohesion of the worldwide


network. Well over 500 enemy -- including somewhat less than half of


the top 30 leaders-have been killed or captured -- as a result of


operations in Afghanistan and are currently held in Guantanamo or in


Afghanistan. Equally important, if not more so, the world-wide efforts


of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, in cooperation with


more than 90 countries, have resulted in the arrest of some 2,400


individuals ....





Our military success in Afghanistan has contributed to that success by


encouraging others to cooperate. Our efforts in Afghanistan have also


helped law enforcement actions more directly. Abu Zubayda, one of bin


Laden's key lieutenants, driven out of his sanctuary in Afghanistan


and was captured last March; his partial cooperation in turn


contributed to the detention of Jose Padilla, who came into the United


States with the intention of planning and coordinating terrorist


attacks. A Moroccan detainee in Guantanamo told of three Saudis


planning terrorist acts in Morocco, all of whom were subsequently


arrested, including one top al Qaeda operative. In December, the


discovery of a videotape in a safe house in Afghanistan led to the


arrest of an Al Qaeda cell in Singapore that was planning to attack a


U.S. aircraft carrier and U.S. personnel in that country.





President Musharraf's leadership has made Pakistan a much less


friendly environment for Taliban and al Qaeda. Since last fall, the


U.S. has sent the government of Pakistan about 1,500 requests for


assistance on terrorist suspects. They have responded to most of them


and continue to work on others. In the course of numerous raids on


foreign terrorist suspects, some 370 arrests have been made.





These developments are encouraging. However, it is important to


remember that al Qaeda is still dangerous and active. This network


still poses threats that should not be underestimated. However, when


the network as a whole is under pressure and on the run, it becomes


harder for them to carry out their evil plans and more likely that


they will make mistakes that permit us to capture more of them.





II. Helping to Build a Stable Afghanistan





While our primary mission in Afghanistan has been to kill or capture


terrorists who threaten the United States or those who have harbored


them, it is also important to help the Afghans establish long-term


stability in that country, so that Afghanistan does not once again


become an outlaw country that provides sanctuary for terrorists. While


the success of those efforts will depend most of all on the Afghans


themselves, the United States and its coalition partners have a


critical role to play in achieving that goal. In shaping that role, as


in shaping the military campaign itself, we have been very mindful of


the historical Afghan animosity to foreign armies and foreign


occupiers.





We have always viewed our mission in Afghanistan as one of liberation,


not one of occupation. So with this in mind, we have tackled the


challenge of striking the balance between keeping Afghanistan from


reverting back to a terrorist sanctuary, and keeping our footprint


small. Afghans are an independent, proud people. For that reason, we


have emphasized from the beginning that we intend to minimize the


number of troops there, and to focus instead on helping the Afghan


people to help themselves in their journey to representative


self-governance.





We have made it clear, and we need to continue to do so: we have no


intent of "colonizing" Afghanistan. We have been careful, through our


actions and through our words, to avoid creating the expectation that


the United States is going to solve all of the Afghanistan's problems.


We have made a determined effort not to take sides in Afghanistan's


internal politics. In fact, we have seen that Afghans are good at


solving problems when they must; and we must let them deal with as


many as they can.





If a representative government is to take hold, Afghans themselves are


the only ones who can make self-government a reality. President Bush


has said that the United States does not intend to create the future


government of Afghanistan. "It is up to the Afghans themselves," he


said, "to determine their future." As they do, the United States and


our allies will continue to support the new Transitional Authority and


the people of Afghanistan. Their success will contribute, not only to


the long-term stability of Afghanistan, but to the peace and security


of the world at large.





There are positive signs that the Afghans are making progress. Just


last week, the Afghan people made a significant step forward when more


than 1,500 delegates from all 32 provinces and ethnic backgrounds came


together under one roof. When this traditional Loya Jirga, or Grand


Council, elected Hamid Karzai president of the new two-year


transitional government based on Western-style ideas of control and


accountability. A Karzai senior advisor captured how extraordinary was


this first step, saying that, for the first time in 23 years, the


people of Afghanistan are acquiring a voice.





Along with self-government must come self-sufficiency in terms of


Afghanistan's security. That task is made more challenging by the


formidable geography of Afghanistan. It is a country roughly the size


of Texas, with peaks in the Hindu Kush (or "Indian Killer") Range that


reach some 24,000 feet -- ten thousand feet higher than the highest of


the Rockies. The sheer size and unforgiving terrain of the country has


been a major factor in the planning of our military operations and


remains a key factor in planning long-term security arrangements.





Encouragingly, the situation is becoming more stable. Out of 32


provinces in Afghanistan, our forces have experienced harassment


attacks mainly in five provinces, in the Taliban heartland of southern


and eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban have so far failed to mount their


often predicted spring offensive. The Loya Jirga convened with no


serious security incidents -- despite numerous threats -- and clashes


among militia leaders have been limited.





The Taliban regime collapsed quickly with no successor. Not


surprisingly, criminal activity revived faster than police forces


could be created. This activity tends to be localized along routes


through which international aid flows: from the North and from


Pakistan -- incidentally, traditional areas for banditry.





Afghanistan's lack of infrastructure is another hindrance, not only to


maintaining security, but also to distributing humanitarian aid. From


the beginning, humanitarian operations were a key part of our military


operations -- a concerted effort to reverse the desperate conditions


created by the Taliban regime. Just one week before September 11th,


the U.N. warned that 5.5 million Afghans, surviving on cattle feed,


grass and insects, were facing death without immediate help. The


defeat of the Taliban and the ending of civil war conditions have


brought food to more than five million people who were facing famine


last fall.





Even before last September, the United States was the largest


contributor of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. When military


operations began last October, those efforts were stepped up, and,


from the beginning, humanitarian missions were an integral part of our


military missions. Today, the picture is vastly different. Easing the


plight of widespread starvation was a humanitarian duty before the


war. Today it is one of the keys to bolstering political and civil


stability.





Coalition partners are also contributing to stability through their


humanitarian work. It is especially worth noting that Jordanian


personnel have been running a field hospital that, to date, has


treated 77,000 Afghan civilians. The Spanish and others have also


provided assistance through their military hospitals. The Indians have


provided a contingent of military medical personnel





The improvement in the situation is demonstrated by the fact that


people are voting with their feet. In just the first five months of


the year, 1.2 million refugees are recorded as having returned to


Afghanistan already, which was the UN's projection for all of 2002.


The UN has now doubled the target to two million.





One crucial factor in the success of a representative government in


Afghanistan is, first and foremost, a stable and secure environment in


which it can gain a firm hold and ultimately flourish. The U.S. is


committed to working with the Afghan Transitional Authority and the


international community to find effective solutions to the remaining


challenges to Afghanistan's security.





One of the most important pieces is training the Afghan army. At the


beginning of May, U.S. Army instructors took on the task of helping


build an Afghan national army, by initiating the training of the


initial group of Afghan recruits for the new Afghan National Army


(ANA). Coalition partners are assisting in this effort. France has


already begun training a battalion, and other countries, including the


U.K., Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland, Korea, India, and Romania, are


assisting with personnel or funding or equipment. In the process, we


are also "training the trainers" so that the process can become


self-sustaining.





To further enhance regional stability, the 18-nation International


Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been helping to stabilize the


situation in the capital city of Kabul since January. The British did


a splendid job leading that effort in its first six months, and we


expect the same from our Turkish allies who have now taken over the


lead.





Last month, the United Nations Security Council extended ISAF's


mandate in Kabul until the end of the year. ISAF forces helped train


the Afghan National Guard to protect Kabul during the Loya Jirga,


which was held without incident. Other important efforts to provide a


more secure environment include the German-led police training program


and British counter drug operations.





However, the most important instrument that the Afghan Authority and


we have to establish a stable security situation is the leverage


provided by economic assistance. It is in our interests to provide


such assistance, and to help Afghans rebuild their country after


almost a quarter century of war so it will not again become a haven


for terrorists.





The leadership provided by the State Department as described by


Secretary Armitage, has been key to that effort. Particularly


important was the organization of the Tokyo Donors Conference that


Secretary Armitage has described.





Our troops on the ground are also making a direct contribution to


economic assistance, implementing humanitarian projects across


Afghanistan that include repairing hospitals, digging wells, and


repairing irrigation canals. We repaired or built 48 schools in eight


different regions of Afghanistan. And for over 30,000 children for


whom the sound of gunfire was a natural part of life, school is open,


certainly one of the most far-reaching ways we have helped shape their


future. In Herat, with just a few U.S. personnel, a U.S. Civil Affairs


project, using local labor, de-silted over 250 kilometers of


irrigation canals, allowing thousands of farm families to do their


spring planting. The Department is allotting $10 million dollars for


more than 75 such projects, anticipated to continue through the next


12 to 18 months. These activities have been coordinated with civilian


relief organizations and have already begun to positively impact the


lives of many Afghans.





In support of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, CENTCOM is


also executing a plan to co-locate personnel from the U.S. Agency for


International Development and the State Department with our special


forces and civil affairs teams that are operating throughout


Afghanistan. This will allow USAID's people to get out beyond Kabul


and better monitor U.S. assistance, while also providing them some


protection in what remains an insecure environment.





CENTCOM's humanitarian efforts have been undertaken to reduce the


suffering of the Afghan people, and in the process, have helped build


the conditions for a stable peace -- an outgrowth of health, food,


educational, and economic security. The U.S. military is proud of its


contribution to the important efforts of USAID, the U.S. Department of


State, the U.N. and other international agencies and nongovernment,


organizations to provide a better life and a better future for the


people of Afghanistan.





Conclusion





Along with the many other law-enforcement, diplomatic, financial and


intelligence efforts now underway, the campaign in Afghanistan has


contributed to the disruption of the global terror network in tangible


and far-reaching ways. But, our task extends well beyond Afghanistan


and will be a long and difficult one. The stakes are enormous.





As President Bush said, speaking to cadets at West Point two weeks


ago, "we have our best chance since the rise of the nation state in


the 17th century to build a world where the great powers compete in


peace instead of prepare for war." We can do this is not by imposing


our own model of human progress on other nations of the world. But, as


he said, we can support this effort "when we reward governments that


make the right choices for their own people. In our development aid,


in our diplomatic efforts, in our international broadcasting, and in


our educational assistance, the United States will promote moderation


and tolerance and human rights. And we will defend the peace that


makes all progress possible."





In Afghanistan today, we see a democratic spirit rising from the


remnants of a once-failed state that is trying to defy the ravages of


decades of war and misrule. Despite a beginning that will, at times,


be rocky and no doubt suffer some setbacks, the Afghan people are


hopeful for a new tomorrow -- hopeful they, too, can have a chance at


peace instead of war. We remain committed to doing our part to help


them on their journey. And we want history ultimately to judge us as


having been dedicated to liberation, not occupation. We appreciate


this Committee's continued leadership and guidance in these ongoing


efforts.





(end text)