An influential Republican Congressman has opposed the idea of sending more troops to Afghanistan, saying this is unlikely to be successful and instead pressed for a more civilian approach with focus on development and democracy in tune with the local culture.
"Let us not send more combat troops there. Let us not put more of our people at risk or have our people killing more Afghans in the name of obtaining some illusionary victory,"
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said on Thursday night.
"How much will it cost us to deploy 35,000 more troops? USD 35 billion. What I'm talking about is a strategy that would cost a minuscule amount of that and have a much greater chance of success," Rohrabacher, who was speechwriter of ex-US President Ronald Reagan, said on the floor of the House.
During the Regan Administration, Rohrabacher was closely involved with administration's Afghan policy, meeting several Afghan leaders Mujahedeen who were fighting the battle. He himself joined them in one of the battles to win Jalalabad with the US supported Mujahedeen.
"We cannot and will not succeed if we believe our military forces, foreign fighters in a foreign land, can bring a recognisable military victory. Adding more troops feeds the illusion that we can win some kind of victory if we just exercise more power and send more military personnel,"he said.
"We cannot conquer and subdue the nation of Afghanistan. Only Afghans, from the bottom-up, can control and pacify their countryside," he added.
