Some software problems tied up our time last night, so we didn't get around to post our own write-up of Friday's telephone press conference with Congressman Walz, who is in the Mideast as part of a congressional travel delegation. Here's a digest of news about the trip.
KEYC-TV reports (with video) in Tim Walz On Confidential Trip In Middle East:
Representative Tim Walz is part of a Congressional Delegation currently in the Middle East. His itinerary is being kept confidential, however we've learned about two focuses on his trip: the continued care of U.S. troops in the Middle East and the regional security in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Congressman says if the economic and developing goals in Afghanistan aren't stabilized, the security efforts of our troops will deteriorate. Representative Tim Walz says, "It's the same thing we've been saying all along: you can put these warriors in there, and open up a window of opportunity for peace, but if there's not a change in how we're viewing the situation, broader and, I think, much deeper, we're going to slip back. So, yes I think the situation is either to figure out how to get our NATO allies to commit to what they said they would do, or for us to figure out a way to get our development teams in there." Again, the whereabouts of Congressional delegation is being kept confidential; no word on when Walz will return to the U.S.
Congressman Walz had spent two days in Afghanistan, meeting with those charge of wounded soldiers' care, as well as learning about economic development and military efforts there. He did mention that he had a chance to talk to soldiers, including some wounded members of Afghanistan's military.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune goes somewhat more in depth in Walz takes sobering trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan:
In Afghanistan, any continued stalling of economic redevelopment efforts could "put our mission at risk," Walz said during a fact-finding trip. "I'm concerned Afghanistan isn't stabilizing as quickly as it should."
In Pakistan, Islamic militants threaten to destabilize the country, and pressure by the United States on the Pakistani government to act in the frontier regions "risks losing their public support."
During a conference call with reporters, the first-term congressman from the First District said the fact of a nuclear-armed Pakistan "obviously makes me nervous." But Walz said he was reassured by officials responsible for that arsenal that "they take the security of their nuclear weapons very seriously."
In a similar vein, Pakistan's religious affairs officials said they would take steps to rein in the madrassas, the private schools where militant Islam is taught, Walz said.
One of the steps that The government ministry is taking is having the schools teach the country's national curriculum from the public schools, in addition to religious education. In our opinion, this step isn't much different than state's expecting parochial schools to teach a general curriculum. We hope the measure will counter more radical religious instruction.
For AfghanistaN:
The solution in Afghanistan isn't more American ground troops, but ramping up the number of State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development personnel, Walz said.
In addition, he said, NATO allies who have pledged development aid to Afghanistan have to do more.
"Promises made by NATO are not all being kept," Walz said. "We need that and to get more development teams in there."
The Associated Press's story gets picked up by the Worthington Globe with the headline: Walz concerned about conditions in Afghanistan, Pakistan. The story is fairly close to von Sternberg's article in the Strib.
MPR has rewritten its midleading headline, Rep. Walz returns from visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan (which still turns up in Google searches) to Rep. Walz concludes visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, the headline writer at the Post Bulletin must have read the MPR head when he or she set the title for Walz, delegation return from Pakistan. Felker's lead makes it clear that's not the case:
Pakistan, reeling from the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and a fresh terrorist bombing on Thursday, remains tense but hopeful, Rep. Tim Walz said Friday following a four-day visit there and to neighboring Afghanistan.
Walz, a Mankato Democrat making his first overseas trip since taking office a year ago, told reporters by phone that the trip was originally planned to coincide with planned parliamentary elections. Those elections were postponed until next month after the Bhutto slaying on Dec. 27.
Walz was still out of the country on Friday and declined to specify the upcoming travel plans due to security restrictions. His staff said he will be in Washington for votes when the House reconvenes this coming week.
His group, which included other members of Congress, was to assist with international election monitoring, Walz said. Instead, they used their time to meet with senior leaders in the Pakistani government, along with U.S. officials in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.
"The feeling in Pakistan is obviously very tense, especially after the Lahore bombing," Walz said, referring to Thursday's suicide bomber attack that left 24 dead. "But it's still one that's hopeful." . . .
The Post Bulletin report is the most comprehensive of the article published so far. Go read the rest at the PB.
Representative Walz was to have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan in August, but excused himself from that trip in order help attend to the massive needs created by catastrophic flash flooding in Southeastern Minnesota.
It's not unusual for a news black-out to be observed for official travel in areas of conflict like the Middle East; such security precautions are in effect to guard not only the safety of the official delegations, but also to avoid putting military forces and civilians at risk.
We had speculated to ourselves that the congressman was out of the country, but hadn't shared those thoughts with our readers since we have friends deployed in the region. Kind of makes a heifer sensitive to security concerns.
On the other hand, our readers might have wondered why our content suddenly shifted to tales of Senator Klobuchar's wit and snapshots of albino squirrels. We considered Friday cat-blogging, but the Wege was unhappy enough already.
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