{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/karzai%E2%80%99s-playing-dangerous-game-threatens-undermine-stability-afghanistan-ahead-us", "Karzai\u2019s Playing a Dangerous Game, Threatens to Undermine Stability of Afghanistan Ahead of U.S. Drawdown, Says Ros-Lehtinen", "2013-12-11", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Ileana Ros-Lehtinen", "R000435", "ros-lehtinen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON) \u2013 U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, made the following statement at a Full Committee hearing entitled: \u201cAfghanistan 2014: Year of Transition.\u201d Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:\n\u201cAs Chair of the subcommittee of jurisdiction over Afghanistan, and together with Chairman Chabot and the Asia and Pacific subcommittee, we held two hearings this year that examined this very issue: the transition in Afghanistan and the way forward for the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan.\nI also led a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Kabul this past Memorial Day weekend with my wonderful colleagues Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Bera, and we had the honor to meet with our brave men and women who serve our country in Afghanistan \u2013 both as Armed Services and State Department personnel \u2013 and they do a tremendous job day in and day out.\nWhile in Afghanistan we had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Karzai, and you never know what you\u2019re going get. From our conversation, it seemed like he was pretty optimistic about the final bilateral security agreement and was looking forward to its completion.\nNow, however, Karzai is balking at signing the bilateral security agreement\u00a0 - which his grand council endorsed - and, as recently as this past weekend,\u00a0 lashed out at the U.S. and accused us of threatening him. I\u2019m extremely concerned that these latest developments will damage our national security interests in the region, further destabilize the region, and Karzai\u2019s flirting with Iran is quite dangerous for our national security interests so we remain perplexed and concerned.\n***\nIn our delegation we raised concerns about his neighbor the Iranian regime and the threat that poses to our interests in the region. \nMr. Kennedy and Dr. Bera will probably agree with me that he dismissed the threat that Iran poses, but Pakistan, that\u2019s the real threat to stability for Afghanistan, he said. So it shouldn\u2019t come as a big surprise that this past weekend, Karzai and the leader of Iran, Rouhani, announced the agreement of a long-term strategic pact that ranges from political cooperation to economic and security partnerships, once again undermining and jeopardizing the U.S.-Afghanistan relationship.\n What is Karzai\u2019s calculus here \u2013 is he trying to hedge his bets by cozying up to Iran and being outwardly defiant to the U.S.? What is his thinking?\n While in Afghanistan, and during our hearings, I also expressed my concerns about the status of our counternarcotics operations in a post drawdown Afghanistan. We were told that due to the lack of personnel, these U.S.-led counternarcotics operations will be severely limited in scope, and the latest numbers indicate that this was a record year for poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.\nI believe this issue of counter narcotics operations is not getting the attention it rightly deserves considering that terrorist activities are typically funded through narcotics. \n If we can\u2019t conduct the kind of operations needed to reduce the poppy production and we don\u2019t have enough manpower now to combat this issue, what are we going to do next year and post-2014 to stop the illicit drug trade that generates over 100 million dollars a year for terrorist groups?\n I\u2019ve been concerned that we are allowing the post-2014 residual force size to be decided politically and that it is purely numbers driven, rather than focused on the task and what is needed, what is the mission that still needs to be done in Afghanistan.\nMr. Dumont, you testify that it is a significant accomplishment that, since taking the lead, the Afghans have been increasingly able to maintain the gains made by U.S. and coalition forces:\n That may be true now, but what about in the post withdrawal Afghanistan when they won\u2019t have quite a robust international force in support, or possibly with no U.S. presence at all if the President goes with the zero option \u2013 when the extremists no longer see us as an impediment to their goals and come at the Afghan forces in full force \u2013 will they be able to sustain those gains?\nWhen do you predict that the White House in coordination with the State Department will decide on the troop level number?\u201d\n NOTE: This is an edited version that combines Chairman Ros-Lehtinen\u2019s statement and questions.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/karzai%E2%80%99s-playing-dangerous-game-threatens-undermine-stability-afghanistan-ahead-us"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7590369787067175, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}