The attack that Senator Hillary Clinton made in yesterday's debate for not conducting hearings on Afghanistan is a cheap shot. She said:
CLINTON: And I believe this is in the best interest. But I also
have heard Senator Obama refer continually to Afghanistan, and he
references being on the Foreign Relations Committee.
He chairs the subcommittee on Europe. It has jurisdiction over
NATO. NATO is critical to our mission in Afghanistan. He's held not
one substantive hearing to do oversight, to figure out what we can do
to actually have a stronger presence with NATO in Afghanistan.
You have to look at the entire situation to try to figure out how
we can stabilize Afghanistan and begin to put more in there to try to
get some kind of success out of it. And you have to..."
http://blogs.suntimes.com/...
In fact, it would have been showboating for the Chair of the SFRC sub committee on Europe to have held hearings on Afghanistan, because NATO is headquartered there. Afghanistan is not in Europe.
Her accusation would be fair, if there were no SFRC hearings on Afghanistan. This would happen only if the Chairs of the entire committee and the sub-committee that oversees Near East Asia were not doing their jobs, but both Senators Joe Biden and John Kerry are doing excellent jobs in these positions.
Afghanistan is being given the importance it deserves in the SFRC - there were 2 full committee hearings since January and at least one in the Subcommittee that Kerry heads that oversees Afghanistan. Both Kerry and Biden have been to Afghanistan several times and they are the ones with staff that is most expert in this area.
Here are links to the two full committee meetings, held since this January. They were held by the entire committee because of the importance of the issue - not because the chair of the area that oversees the near east (Kerry) or the chair of the area that overseas Europe and thus NATO (Obama) were not doing their jobs.
http://www.senate.gov/...
http://www.senate.gov/...
There was also a hearing in the near east subcommittee shortly before the January 31, 2008 whole committee hearing. The SFRC website appears to contain links just to the hearings of the whole committee. remembering reading of at least one hearing held in the subcommittee, I found this account of one such hearing. http://talkradionews.com/...
In addition to holding hearings, Senators Biden and Kerry have made several trips there to see first hand what is happening in Afghanistan. Last week, along with Senator Hagel, they met with President Karzi and even visited the forward bases in the mountains in Northern Afghanistan near Pakistan.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Here is a link from which you can watch the excellent press conference given by Biden and Kerry on Afghanistan and Pakistan yesterday. If you saw the press conference that Biden and Kerry held yesterday on Afghanistan, it is clear that these two Senators are coordinating their efforts on Pakistan and Afghanistan. http://www.c-span.org/...
Would it have made sense for Obama, with staffers who are expert on Europe, to have held hearing on this because NATO is there? It would have been showboating for Obama to call hearings on this when the two strongest Democratic Foreign policy experts are working very hard on the issue. HRC is insulting the SFRC, which looks like it is doing a good job holding hearings on this. Additionally, she is insulting Senators Kerry, Biden and Hagel, who are working very seriously on this issue.