Graham on Afghanistan: Next 24 months will be critical

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday morning to discuss foreign affairs. Graham says as far as the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan is concerned the next two years will be critical. “If we follow the McChrystal plan to reinforce the 68,000, bring about better security, and come up with a game plan for better governance in 24 months will will change the security environment. We will also build up the Afghan army and police and begin to do in Afghanistan what we are now doing in Iraq. We can do it in 24 months, that’s what I think.”
Graham says President Obama is smart in continuing to push the Karsi Government.
Graham continues to support U.S. Commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrstal’s call for a minimum of 40,000 additional troops. graham acknowledges that the Bush Administration made some mistakes in handling the situation in the war torn country. “Iraq, whether it should have happened or not, became the central battle. We needed the surge there to prevent a loss. As the Karsi government failed, President Bush in my view did not push him enough. You had ambassadors on the ground and military commanders going to Karsi pushing him very hard on governance and President Bush would talk to Karsi and quite frankly undercut the effort.”
 The head of the British Army General Sir David Richard said in August that the U.K. may be involved with Afghanistan in a security and development capacity for the next 30 to 40 years. Graham was asked how long should Americans expect the U.S. to be involved in Afghanistan?
 “Well, I think the issue is how long will we be there sustaining casualties like we are today. We’ve been in Germany and Japan since World War II and most Americans don’t care because it’s made the world a more stable place and we’re not suffering casualties.”