Afghanistan

President Obama announced earlier this year that the United States would send an additional 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan in 2009 bringing the American troop presence to almost 70,000. Congressman Lynch expects the Administration to ensure that the United States goes into Afghanistan with a clear understanding of its mission, how it is going to operate and how it will measure progress. The U.S. deployment should not be open-ended.

In addition, as the United States increases its efforts in Afghanistan, the Congressman will continue to work to ensure that Congress exercises strong oversight to ensure that the United States learns from the mistakes that were made in contracting and reconstruction funding in Iraq are not made in Afghanistan. He has traveled four times to Afghanistan where he has met with Afghan political leaders and with the U.S. military leaders and our soldiers and will continue to do so regularly as the United States increases its involvement.

Pakistan

Congressman Lynch believes that the Administration must address the role Pakistan plays in the stability of Afghanistan. In order to give the Administration the tools to take this necessary regional approach, Congressman Lynch voted in favor of H.R. 1886, the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2009, which increased non-military assistance to $1.5 billion a year for the next four years to fortify democratic institutions and support sustainable social and economic development in Pakistan that will allow it to defeat extremists. The bill includes strong requirements for monitoring and evaluation so that the United States is certain that Pakistan is doing its part.