WASHINGTON — As concerns grow about the war in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to South Asia on a mission aimed at refining the goals of the nearly 9-year-old conflict.
U.S. lawmakers are increasingly questioning the course of the war. The number of troops from the U.S. and other countries in the international coalition in Afghanistan is on the rise.
Corruption is a deep problem in Afghanistan, and members of Congress wonder about the utility of massive aid to both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Clinton will attend an international conference in Kabul on Tuesday where the Afghan government is expected to outline plans to improve security, reintegrate militants into society and crack down on corruption. She also plans to stop in Pakistan to push greater cooperation between Islamabad and Kabul.
Clinton, who left Washington on Saturday, will meet up in the week ahead with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in South Korea, where tensions with the communist North have risen after the sinking of a South Korean warship that was blamed on the North. She will finish her trip in Vietnam for discussions with regional leaders. Among the topics will be the upcoming elections in Myanmar.
At the Kabul conference, she will renew Washington’s commitment to support Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government but press him on reform pledges he made this year.
Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the conference “will be a very important international demonstration of support” for Karzai and his administration.
But Holbrooke acknowledges concerns that the war and the reconstruction effort are not going as hoped or planned. He told Congress this past week that “there are significant elements of movement forward in many areas, but I do not yet see a definitive turning point in either direction.”
Sidenote:The 24-year-old housewife had a cesarean section in March and gave birth to Ibrohim, a premature boy who died three days later.
