Last week, Felton wrote a blog post for the The Huffington Post in which he advocated an immediate phased withdraw of US troops from Afghanistan and a refocusing of our mission there on Pakistan and anti-terrorism efforts. As part of the rational for this shift in U.S. foreign policy Felton noted, "Without a popularly supported government, it is extremely unlikely that the Karzai government ever will be able to exercise a level of control over the county that many failed governments before it were unable to exercise."

This theory was confirmed today in a very interesting article from the New York Times examining the failure of our civilian goals there and the need for a functioning Afghan government to achieve lasting peace. While these may seem like very obvious observations (which they are), the severity of the situation is anything but simple: the Aghan judicial system is so weak that many Afghans use the shadow Taliban court system because it is regarded as more effective than the government run system, aid workers are not able to leave Kabul to do their jobs because it's not safe. The debacle of the August 20th election has lead to a government riddled by fraud and corruption.

While these are all issues that the US would attempt to fix in an ideal situation, the long-term nature of that commitment makes starting a phased withdrawal from Afghanistan our best option. Indeed, the Defense Department noted in January that "building a fully competent and independent Afghan
government will be a lengthy process that will last, at a minimum, decades.”

We cannot afford to lose more brave men and women for that goal. We can not afford to spend billions of dollars for years to come for such an uncertain outcome. The Newell for Congress campaign urges President Obama to implement a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead.

--Newell For Congress Campaign

Read Felton's Editorial:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/felton-newell/out-of-afghanistan_b_312011....

New York Times Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/world/asia/12civil.html?hp