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Kerry: too soon to send more troops to Afghanistan
2009-10-17
WASHINGTON - With Afghanistan's election crisis deepening, Sen. John Kerry says it would be irresponsible for the U.S. to consider sending additional troops to the region at this time. In taped remarks, Kerry said it would be misguided to have a troop buildup to achieve a mission of "good governance" when the election is not yet finished. Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was in Kabul on Saturday. His visit came as Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, resisted international pressure to accept fraud rulings that could force him into a runoff with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. Due to harsh weather, a runoff may not happen until next spring. Kerry spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," which airs Sunday. In a separate interview to be broadcast Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," Kerry said: I don't see how President Obama can make a decision about the committing of our additional forces or even the further fulfillment of our mission that's here today without an adequate government in place or knowledge about what that government's going to be."
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