Rice Wants to Follow Afghan Model in Iraq [View All]

[sabra]

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/10/19/ap/headlines/d8db5lp00.txt

Rice Wants to Follow Afghan Model in Iraq


WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday outlined a strategy of helping Iraqis clear out insurgents and build durable, national institutions as she sought to reassure jittery members of Congress about the path to peace in Iraq. Rice said the United States will follow a model that was successful in Afghanistan.

Starting next month, she said, joint diplomatic-military groups _ Provincial Reconstruction Teams _ will work alongside Iraqis as they train police, set up courts, and help local governments establish essential services.

...

Rice heralded the referendum on the charter as "a landmark" and said the US. strategy was moving from a stage of transition to a stage of preparing a permanent Iraqi government.

"Clear areas from insurgent control, to hold them securely, and to build durable, national Iraqi institutions," Rice said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Our strategy is to clear, hold, and build," she said. "The enemy's strategy is to infect, terrorize, and pull down."