Congressional Moves to Get Out of Afghanistan Begin with a Whimper Posted by Jacob Stokes

As the world and the Washington foreign policy community focused on unrest in the Middle East for the last couple of weeks, some members of Congress moved to stop funding the war in Afghanistan. On the House side, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced a bill that would “end combat operations in Afghanistan and limit funding to the safe orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops and military contractors.”

On the Senate side, Sen. Barbara Boxer, introduced the “Safe and Responsible Redeployment of United States Combat Forces from Afghanistan Act of 2011.” Along with the bills, Reps. James McGovern (D-MA) and Walter Jones (R-NC) wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post titled, “The solution in Afghanistan: Get out.” (Rep. Jones is also a co-signer on the Lee bill. Full list here.)

No doubt the bills come from the left flank of both parties, and completely de-funding the war represents probably the most ham-handed approach to ending American involvement. But it’s still amazing that, as far as I can tell, the House bill was mentioned in only one article by the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Senate bill was mentioned only by what appears to be a community blogger for the San Jose Examiner – and nowhere else that comes up in a Google news search. The House bill was dropped in tandem with Huffington Post op-eds from several representatives (here, here and here), Afghanistan Study Group member Matthew Hoh and Brave New Films’ Robert Greenwald. But those seemed to get lost in the shuffle as well in terms of broader coverage. Same goes for the McGovern-Jones op-ed.

At first glance, it seems weird how little attention two bills and an op-ed in the Washington Post received, given the high cost of the war, budget-cutting fervor and the increasing perception among Americans that the mission isn’t going well. Numbers suggest that these bills should be – and ostensibly are – rather popular pieces of legislation. As the San Francisco Chronicle story explains, “A recent CBS News poll showed 72 percent of the public favors a faster withdrawal; while a Gallup/USA Today poll this month showed majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans favoring a speedier pullout.” 

But upon closer look, aside from the fact that the Middle East is taking up most of the foreign-policy-following public’s attention, the reason for this lack of attention is clear: Afghanistan is not really a priority. As Jamie Fly notes, “In a late October 2010 poll done by the Pew Research Center, only 12 percent of respondents said that the war in Afghanistan was the first or second issue most important to their vote, and only 9 percent cited terrorism.” 

Given the low priority placed on the war by voters, lawmakers who want the legislative branch to bring an end to American involvement in Afghanistan will have to be louder than this.

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"The solution in Afghanistan: Get out"
Why is this so hard to understand for some guys on top?

Just pull out those men out there and let them go home to their families.

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The glass is half full. If the war is of low import that makes it easier to defund, he said hopefully.

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It's time to let go. If we can't prove our real motives then justification of being there and causing fear to many people there isn't possible.

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