WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Defense Secretary Robert Gates looked over his shoulder Friday, not at the craggy, snowcapped peaks of Afghanistan or men in tribal dress behind him, but at his own role in walking away from the country years ago.
Gates was a deputy national security adviser and CIA director during the late 1980s and early 1990s as then-President George H.W. Bush pulled the plug on years of U.S. aid.
It was only a few years later that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, operating out of Afghanistan, ordered the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Eight years after that came 9/11.
"If there’s one lesson I draw from the past, it is the importance of our staying engaged,” Gates told reporters.
"And if there’s a lesson for Americans and the international community, it’s that we don’t dare turn our backs on Afghanistan. This will work if we stay engaged.”
Gates’ attention to Afghanistan draws on a personal sense of regret for abandoning the country when America was still considered a reliable ally.
"We weren’t attacked out of any place else,” he said. "We were attacked out of Afghanistan. And if Afghanistan becomes a safe haven (for terrorists) again, we and others will be attacked again.”
There are some encouraging signs. Gates was at an Army base to meet with Wardak province officials who in March created a security force of local tribesmen to assist the Afghan police and army. The U.S. is largely training, outfitting and paying the $125 salaries of the security guards who have proven themselves talented at finding IEDs and other bombs before they explode.
Province Gov. Halim Fadai said explosives on the main highway have gone down by 80 percent.
by the associated press
Gates was a deputy national security adviser and CIA director during the late 1980s and early 1990s as then-President George H.W. Bush pulled the plug on years of U.S. aid.
It was only a few years later that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, operating out of Afghanistan, ordered the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Eight years after that came 9/11.
"If there’s one lesson I draw from the past, it is the importance of our staying engaged,” Gates told reporters.
"And if there’s a lesson for Americans and the international community, it’s that we don’t dare turn our backs on Afghanistan. This will work if we stay engaged.”
Gates’ attention to Afghanistan draws on a personal sense of regret for abandoning the country when America was still considered a reliable ally.
"We weren’t attacked out of any place else,” he said. "We were attacked out of Afghanistan. And if Afghanistan becomes a safe haven (for terrorists) again, we and others will be attacked again.”
There are some encouraging signs. Gates was at an Army base to meet with Wardak province officials who in March created a security force of local tribesmen to assist the Afghan police and army. The U.S. is largely training, outfitting and paying the $125 salaries of the security guards who have proven themselves talented at finding IEDs and other bombs before they explode.
Province Gov. Halim Fadai said explosives on the main highway have gone down by 80 percent.
by the associated press
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