Suozzi sees need for continued U.S. presence after visit to Afghanistan

Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said Wednesday he was convinced  of the need for continued American involvement in Afghanistan after returning from a congressional trip there.

Suozzi, who traveled to Kabul as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation, also said he supported American efforts to secure a reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban. The peace talks are aimed at ending the violence and allowing the Taliban a place in the Afghan government, he said.

Suozzi, who sits on the House Committee on Armed Services, left for Afghanistan on Saturday and returned early Wednesday after meeting with top military and diplomatic officials, including Gen. Austin Miller, commander of NATO's Resolute Support mission, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, and other top military and diplomatic personnel.

"I'm convinced more than ever that we need to be there  ..." Suozzi said in an interview Wednesday. He said there are 20 terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al-Qaida, trying to find a "safe haven [in Afghanistan] so they can build their organizations, so they can attack us in America and in Europe . . . We can’t give them a place to organize, which is what their goal is. It’s a long-term effort on their part."

He said Miller and other officials stressed the need for security in the region and a continued U.S. presence in the region to show the Taliban "we're not going anywhere," Suozzi said.

"There’s never going to be a military victory against the Taliban. Instead, it's going to have to be a negotiated political settlement." The Taliban will only realize that once they learn “they're not going to get away with killing people, and we’re not going away."

The Taliban "must realize we’re not going to go away. We’re going to keep on fighting with them unless they negotiate with us," Suozzi said.

Suozzi said that ISIS "remains a bigger problem than we thought" and that the Afghan government should work to have better support from its civilians. The Afghan government needs to "inspire support from their people that they not only can win battles and win armies, which is essential, but they also have good schools and pick up the garbage,” Suozzi said.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.