Newt Gingrich - The War in Afghanistan
Summary
Congressman Gingrich has not been vocal on Afghanistan in terms of his strategy if elected. He has stated that it is fundamentally misleading to try to isolate Afghanistan without understanding the role of sanctuaries in Northwest Pakistan. In July of 2010, Congressman Gingrich stated that the war in Afghanistan would likely not end well as the US continually underestimates the number of troops required to complete the job there.
Lessons from the First Five Years
In September of 2006, Congressman Gingrich released an article on the Human Events website dealing with lessons that were learned so far from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is an emerging third world war and any look at the active players and the centers of violence indicates just how worldwide it is. North Korea's missiles and nuclear weapons are potential assets for Iran, which is increasingly an ally of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Our enemies have to be seen in this global context.
- It is fundamentally misleading to try to isolate Afghanistan without understanding the role of sanctuaries in Northwest Pakistan.
- It is misleading to try to understand Iraq without understanding the role of resources, sanctuaries and leadership in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
- It is impossible to understand the role of Hezbollah in South Lebanon without examining the resources and support from Iran and Syria.
- Hugo Chavez has been in more than a dozen countries in the last few months. He is actively seeking an anti-American seat on the UN Security Council.
There is growing collaboration among our enemies and we have to design global responses to defeat that collaboration.
Highway Systems in Afghanistan
In April of 2009, Congressman Gingrich appeared on Fox News and stated that the first thing that could be done was to build a highway system to facilitate the transportation of goods. He stated that this would allow people to grow legal items profitably instead of growing drugs.
Afghanistan Won't End Well
In July of 2010, Congressman Gingrich stated in a speech that the US continually underestimated the level of commitment needed to succeed in Iraq. He states that the war there won't end well.
We are in enormous danger because we consistently underestimate how hard this is...
(The counterinsurgency doctrine created by Gen. David Petraeus) doesn't go deep enough for some place like Afghanistan.
You're dealing with Afghan culture that is fundamentally different than us, in ways we don't understand. (The war) is not going to end well.
CBS Foreign Policy Debate
On November 11, 2011 Speaker Gingrich participated in the CBS foreign policy debate. He was asked about the size of the force in Afghanistan and the possibility of negotiating with the Taliban.
Scott Pelley: Mr. Speaker, how do you achieve peace in Afghanistan if you don't negotiate with the Taliban?
Newt Gingrich: I don't think you do.Scott Pelley: Would you agree that the Taliban--
Newt Gingrich: Look, I-- I think this is so much bigger and deeper a problem than we've talked about as a country that we-- we don't have a clue how hard this is gonna be. First of all, the Taliban survives for the ex-- the very same reason that historically we said guerillas always survive, which is they have a sanctuary. The sanctuary's Pakistan. You're never gonna stop the Taliban as long as they can sort of hide. And you-- and you have proof every week in new bombings and new killings and new training. So I think this has to be a much larger strategic discussion that starts with, frankly, Pakistan on the one end and Iran on the other, because I-- Afghanistan is in between the two countries and is the least important of the three countries.
Sponsored and Cosponsored Legislation
This representative has not been identified as sponsoring or cosponsoring significant legislation related to this title.
References
[1] Website: Politico Article: Newt Gingrich: Afghanistan won’t 'end well' Author: Andy Barr Accessed on: 05/20/2011