CNSNews.com November 25, 2004
Many US Troops Aiding Afghanistan's Fledgling Democracy
By Kathleen Rhodes
(CNSNews.com) - While the war in Iraq attracts most of the media's attention, there are thousands of American servicemen and women still stationed in Afghanistan who routed the Taliban regime and are currently helping the Afghan people establish a democracy.
"The troops over there are doing a bang-up job. [The Afghan people] had historic elections and they are getting ready to inaugurate their president. They have a representative democracy. Taliban and terrorist elements are hiding in the hills," Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Defense Department spokesman, told CNSNews.com .
Venable indicated that the level of media attention to the troops in Afghanistan is unimportant. "We here in the Department [of Defense] fully recognize the contributions to the global war on terror that the troops in Afghanistan are making. We are cognizant of that each and every day, and are proud of their service."
Numbers vary on the current troop deployment in Afghanistan, but in July, Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, the joint staff director for operations, told the House Armed Services Committee that the figure was close to 17,000.
A Nov. 22 Department of Defense press release indicated that U.S. troops continue to hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in Eastern Afghanistan, carrying out raids, capturing terrorists and coming under fire from "anti-coalition" forces.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed and one wounded Wednesday when a bomb exploded while they were on patrol in central Afghanistan. But Venable indicated that the situation for these troops is calm compared to Iraq. "There are still attacks and engagements over there, but typically on a daily basis you can count them on one hand," he said.
Venable added that there have been "few" casualties in Afghanistan over the past month.
American forces helped to oversee the Oct. 9 presidential election in Afghanistan, in which Hamid Karzai was elected. They are also helping to train a new Afghan national army and approximately 25,000 Afghan police officers, according to the White House website.
Following the execution of Operation Enduring Freedom in the fall of 2001, Afghanistan now has a constitution that "guarantees freedom of expression, assembly, and religion," according to the White House website.
"There are still challenges to be overcome in Afghanistan, but it is the presence of these troops that [made] these historic achievements possible," Venable said.
Venable referred to Afghanistan's "dark ages," the period when the country was run by the Taliban Regime, and acknowledged that the challenges facing the Afghan people as they try to emerge from that period are numerous. "There are issues associated with the economy, government, politics, and the whole range of challenges that face an emerging democracy anywhere," he said.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, a security and defense policy organization, U.S. troops in Afghanistan are currently drawing from the U.S. Marines, U.S. Army, and the National Guard.
© Copyright 2004, CNSNews.com
