Speaker Pelosi comes to Afghanistan

Kabul is beginning to feel more and more like Capitol Hill with the steady appearance of official visitors from Washington! Most recently, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, attended high-level meetings at ISAF (and I caught a glimpse of her). One thing that feels very different about being here is the lack of partisanship I sense and how being and American, not defined by party, predominates. We are grateful to see our elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, show such deep concern about the challenges facing this war-torn nation. They see for themselves the devastation and critical situation and can return to Washington with clearer perspective and deeper knowledge and understanding of what’s really happening on the ground.

It takes real courage to come to Afghanistan. It’s dangerous and definitely not a comfortable place to be. But their visits are tremendous morale boosters, for their trips here show concern and earnestness to us in the military as well as to the Afghan people.

What I look forward to are many more visits by elected officials and diplomats from the U.S. and other NATO countries. I am convinced that along with our military presence we can find a working solution to vastly improve the situation here. This is an extraordinary country with a rich past and proud people deserving to reclaim their nation.