WASHINGTON – Fresh from a tour of Afghanistan, Sen. Al Franken expressed modest support this week for the president’s plan to drastically expand America’s presence in the war, now in its eighth year.
The Minnesota Democrat previously was uncommitted on whether the U.S. should deploy 30,000 more troops to the region. Speaking to reporters Wednesday from an airport in Dubai, Franken said he will back Obama’s plan and is “cautiously optimistic” about the war’s progress.
Franken made the taxpayer-funded trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich. It was Franken’s fifth trip to Afghanistan, his first as a senator.
“I do support the president’s plan,” Franken said, adding that he will vote for additional funding. “I may have done it a little bit differently myself but I … came away from this trip feeling that we already have momentum from the president’s speech.”
Franken noted that officials in the area told him local police recruitment spiked after Obama’s announcement – likely, they think, because of the stated deadlines for withdrawal.
Though he eventually offered his concrete support, Franken repeatedly tiptoed around explicit declarations. Before saying that he would support Obama’s move, he noted that the president’s plan is “probably the best of a series of options that weren’t so great.”
Franken said he has attended 13 military funerals. “I don’t want to see one more soldier go [to Afghanistan] than has to go there,” he said.
