Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
GLORIA PENNER (Host): Let's turn to something a little more international.
Let's turn to the war in Afghanistan.
Tony, let me start with you on this.
What exactly is our mission in Afghanistan?
We're hearing a lot of talk about it lately.
Some people saying let's get out, but others saying send more troops in.
TONY PERRY (San Diego Bureau Chief, The Los Angeles Times): Sure,
we have a sort of supermarket of mission from A to Z. We're nation building,
we're trying to disrupt this international conspiracy called Al Qaeda, we're trying to prop
up the Karzai government in Kabul, we're trying to prop up the Pakistani government,
we're trying to attack the sanctuaries in the Hindu Kush.
You name it, we're trying to do it.
And also train up the Afghan folks' security forces so they can start
to fight their own war themselves.
We have things all over the plate, and that's why the talk in Washington is, ok,
how good is good enough, what exactly are our priorities, and what -
the buzz phrase is metrics - what are the metrics?
PENNER: I don't know whether we've seen any success - any recent success
in accomplishing any of these missions.
TOM YORK (Editor, San Diego Business Journal): Well I think that the mission
in Afghanistan was kind of lost during our foray into Iraq.
And now that that's winding down we're taking a fresh look at Afghanistan.
I must confess, I'm not the world's greatest expert on Afghanistan.
But from my reading, from my sort of role of being a history major,
I would say that Afghanistan is an invaded country, it has been for years,
and we have to go do something there or get out.
And if we get out it's going to be a huge public relations disaster for us all over the world.
PERRY: I think there have been achievements.
The Karzai government itself, with all of its problems it is an achievement.
They have a dually elected government.
Yes, there was a problematic election as there have been with our neighbor
to the south on more than one occasion.
So I don't think we can get up on our high horse too much about the Afghans' first election.
I think Al Qaeda has been, if not destroyed, put in great disarray.
The problem is, as one Marine told me, we're gaining six yards every time we carry the ball,
unfortunately the goal posts have moved back about a thousand yards.
Unlike 2001, where the mission was pretty clear - locate, close, engage, and kill the Taliban
and the Al Qaeda activists - now it's prop up Pakistan because we do not want Al Qaeda
or another band of crazies to destabilize that government
and get a hold of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
PENNER: We are a very large military community here in San Diego,
and what happens internationally certainly reflects on what happens locally.
What kind of impact have all these deployments had, let's say on San Diego,
on military families, even on the economics of the community?
YORK: Well, I think that San Diego has benefited greatly from having the military here.
And you know the military is the arm of the government
which goes overseas and does our bidding for us.
And so we're in a process now of upgrading the military, the housing stock, the facilities...
three to four billion dollars is being spent here.
Not to mention all the money that's being poured
into supporting our troops, supplies, that kind of thing.
So San Diego has really benefited greatly from these actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
PENNER: Well, next week KPBS on all its platforms is going
to do a week-long series on military families.
So we'll have much more to contribute.
But finally, we know that military leaders want more troops, Tony.
We also know that some members of Congress are resisting,
including our own California Dianne Feinstein, senator from California.
And the President says he's not ready to send in more troops.
Good? Bad?
PERRY: He wants to be convinced.
He wants to get some options.
What is being leaked out is he'll get three options: small, medium, and large.
Maybe 12, 25, or 40 thousand.
Any one of those options.
If he picks one of those options, we'll come right back here.
We'll need more troops from Camp Pendleton.
We have an infantry battalion there now, about a thousand, several hundred special operators.
Special Forces from Pendleton quietly went
over to Afghanistan recently, the North County Times reported.
A thousand Marines from Camp Pendleton will float away next week -
they could go to Afghanistan.
PENNER: Well thank you very much, Tony Perry.
And thank you, Tom York.
YORK: Thank you.