Sen. Mark. R. Warner is back from a fact-finding trip through Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan where he had the opportunity to meet with Virginia soldiers and sailors stationed abroad.
Warner is clearly getting his legs underneath him as a first-term U.S. Senator - and if there's anything you want to make sure you're fluent speaking as a political leader in Virginia it's probably military jargon.
Sure Warner can get some help from Sen. Jim Webb and his background with the Marines and the Navy, but international conflict is likely to dominate political discussions and Warner knows he wants a seat at that table.
The full release is available below the jump, but it is interesting to note how much focus Warner's release put on Afghanistan over Iraq. Warner spends 5 paragraphs talking about Afghanistan and only and single one on Iraq and another on Pakistan.
UPDATE: Apologies - it appears this release focused on Afghanistan because Warner's office sent out a full release on the trip to Iraq over the weekend. The release was unfortunately hidden in a pack of holiday weekend notes in the old inbox - but obviously it takes most of the wind out of the last paragraph.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner has concluded visits to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan today, where he met with Virginia-based military personnel, received briefings from top U.S. military commanders and diplomats, and met with the heads-of-state and senior officials in each of the three nations. Senator Warner was part of a Congressional delegation that included Sens. Patrick Leahy (Vermont) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island).
In Afghanistan, Senator Warner visited Kabul and Kandahar, and received briefings from U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who assumed his new post in Kabul earlier this month, and U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of the multi-national force. The senators also met with Hamid Karzai, the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the Afghan ministers of finance, agriculture, reconstruction and rural development.
“President Karzai and his ministers asked for continued American technical support to build economic capacity, especially in the areas of finance and agriculture,” Senator Warner said. “Afghanistan must continue to assume more responsibility for its own economic development so it can feed its people and continue on a path to self-sufficiency.”
At the Kabul Military Training Center, where international forces are training Afghan army recruits, Senator Warner shared lunch with several Norfolk-based U.S. Navy personnel. “These U.S. trainers emphasized that they really enjoyed their mission because they felt they were having a direct impact on training the Afghans,” Senator Warner said. “They say one of their biggest challenges in training the Afghan security forces is illiteracy, because more than 80% of the recruits lack basic reading and writing skills.”
The delegation visited a site where U.S. and international relief organizations are reconstructing a house for an Afghan family that was displaced by the war. “The family elder, Sayed Mohammad and his grandson, Zabihullah, showed me his new home and I had the privilege of breaking bread with them,” Senator Warner said. “They said they were grateful to the American people for our efforts to help his family recover from the conflict, including a small loan that will help revive the family business.”
In the more dangerous southern provinces around Kandahar, Senator Warner visited with more Virginia-based military men and women and heard their candid thoughts on how best to build-up capacity in Afghanistan. Kandahar is where the Taliban started taking over Afghanistan 13 years ago. “The troops I met with felt they were doing important work and believed in the mission. I was very impressed with their skill and dedication to their mission in such a dangerous place. They all deserve our thanks.”
On Monday, the delegation visited Pakistan, and met with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson in Islamabad. The prime minister briefed the senators regarding anti-Taliban operations underway in northwest Pakistan.
On Saturday and Sunday, Senator Warner traveled to Baghdad, Iraq to visit with military men and women from Virginia and to receive briefings from the Iraqi Prime Minister, the U.S Ambassador, and top U.S. military commanders in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the congressional delegation that while much progress has been made since the “surge,” there was still a lot of work to do. Senator Warner and Prime Minister Maliki discussed ways to build additional social and economic capacity so Iraq can continue working to develop a self-supporting economy as the U.S. military presence is reduced.
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