Rohrabacher slams Ambassador Crocker's comments on Afghanistan rebuilding

By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/30/12 10:39 AM ET

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) last week criticized Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, for making comments that Rohrabacher said imply that Congress should not be holding open discussions about how best to structure Afghanistan's fledgling government.

Rohrabacher was responding to comments crocker made on Jan. 24, when he said rumors that the United States has a plan to change Afghanistan's form of government are "lies that dishonor the sacrifice of more than 1,800 American service members who have died in the cause of a unified Afghanistan."

Rohrabacher said a discussion about Afghanistan's form of government has been going on for a long time. Rohrabacher himself was one of several members of the House who have criticized the Obama administration for negotiating with the Taliban about that group's participation in Afghanistan's government.

"Ambassador Crocker seems to want to stifle the debate on how to reform and improve the Afghan structure so as to leave behind a more sustainable and legitimate government in Kabul when the U.S. and its allies withdraw in 2014," Rohrabacher said. "It is not a 'lie' that such a debate is in progress, nor is the debate a 'dishonor' to those who have died fighting enemies of the United States."

He added that many think the current government is doomed to fail because it does not represent many of its tribal people.

"Crocker's attempt to insult and discredit those who engage in an honest dialogue is not what one would expect from a professional diplomat and trouble-shooter with his reputation," Rohrabacher added.

He also criticized Crocker for implying that the main U.S. goal in Afghanistan is to establish a democratic, united country. Rohrabacher said this ignores the real reason the United States went to war in that country.

"We did not go to Afghanistan to indulge in a nation-building social program," he said. "What we have done in Afghanistan must be justified on the grounds of whether it has made America more secure."