Gov. Bill Ritter described pockets of progress in Afghanistan but offered a mostly bleak outlook Monday after returning from a week-long trip to the Middle East.
“Over in Afghanistan, there is great concern about the progress we’ve made in the past eroding,” said Ritter, who visited Colorado troops in Iraq and Kuwait before ending his Department of Defense-sponsored trip in Afghanistan.
Ritter was more optimistic about his visit to Baghdad, saying the Iraqi military and police were beginning to stabilize and violence was less rampant than a year ago.
But in Afghanistan, the governor found no widespread sense of progress. While parts of the country are safe enough for vacationers, others are slipping back into unrest, he said.
In one sign of hope, Ritter said Afghan President Hamid Karzai told him the infant mortality rate had declined since the fall of the Taliban. Karzai credited the fact that more 14- and 15-year-old girls are attending school instead of getting married and having children.
Ritter did not get specific about whether President Bush’s war strategies are working. He said his role was to check on Colorado troops.
He ate his meals in cafeteria-style mess halls. The governor — traveling with Republican Govs. Donald Carcieri of Rhode Island and Michael Rounds of South Dakota — slept near Saddam Hussein’s palace in Iraq and on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
The trip included classified briefings with Pentagon chief Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Ritter said he could not form an opinion on the war “based upon all the evidence” since his trip lasted only a week, but he said he was confident making some judgments because descriptions were similar from top officials in Washington and troops in the mess halls.
Ritter met Guard members who had to leave their businesses in someone else’s hands while on 12- and 15-month deployments. He chatted with troops about their connection to the Iraqi and Afghan people and toured their bases.
Colorado has about 600 Air and Army Guard members deployed in the Middle East.
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
Help troops call home
Coloradans who want to help troops in Iraq and Afghanistan call home for the holidays can pitch in for phone cards through the Colorado National Guard Foundation. Gov. Bill Ritter put in a plug for donations during a news conference Monday. To donate, go to .
