Joe writes for NYT:

[elleng]

The Op-Ed page asked those who have since left the race to describe one issue that is not getting as much attention as it would if they were still out on the trail talking about it. These are responses from eight of them.


Afghanistan. Pakistan. Forgotten.
By Joe Biden

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/opinion/02candidatesintro.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

[Tashca]

1. Please post Joe's

I went to the site. I read Dodd's .....which was very good and an issue that certainly needs attention now and his idea was good to address it. Then I read Richardson's....it was already being addressed...So then I clicked on Joe's. It wouldn't let me read it without signing up. I guess it's just a tease to get you to sign up. I'm not interested in signing up at this point. The other essays were fairly short.

Could someone cut and paste at least part of Joe's?? If I had known this would happen I would have read his first...
Thank you!!
:)

[WheelWalker]

2. Here

Op-Ed Contributor
Afghanistan. Pakistan. Forgotten.
By JOE BIDEN

THE next president will have to rally America and the world to “fight them over there unless we want to fight them over here.” The “over there” is not, as President Bush has claimed, Iraq, but rather the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

That is where those who attacked us on 9/11 came from, where the attacks in Europe since originated and where Al Qaeda is regrouping. It is the real central front in the war on terrorism.

Afghanistan is slipping toward failure. The Taliban is back, violence is up, drug production is booming and the Afghans are losing faith in their government. All the legs of our strategy — security, counternarcotics efforts, reconstruction and governance — have gone wobbly.

If we should have had a surge anywhere, it is Afghanistan. And instead of eradicating poppy crops, which forces many farmers to turn to the Taliban, we should go after drug kingpins.

We also need to make good on President Bush’s pledge for a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan. In six years, we have spent on Afghanistan’s reconstruction only what we spend every three weeks on military operations in Iraq.

Afghanistan’s fate is directly tied to Pakistan’s future and America’s security. When President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan concluded that we were not serious about finishing the job in Afghanistan, he began to cut deals with extremists in his own country.

As a result, the border area remains a freeway of fundamentalism: the Taliban and Al Qaeda find sanctuary in Pakistan, while Pakistani suicide bombers wreak havoc in Afghanistan.

The recent Pakistani elections gave the moderate majority its voice back and gives the United States an opportunity to move from a Musharraf policy to a Pakistan policy. To demonstrate to its people that we care about their needs, not just our own, we must triple assistance for schools, roads and clinics, sustain it for a decade, and demand accountability for the military aid we provide.

If Afghanistan fails or Pakistan falls to fundamentalism, America will suffer a terrible setback. The candidates should tell Americans how they will handle what may be the next president’s most difficult challenge.

Joe Biden is a Democratic senator from Delaware.

[Tashca]

3. Thank you so very much!!!

[Muttocracy]

4. thanks for posting - enjoyed Dodd's and Biden's nt