CBS "Face The Nation" - Transcript

Interview

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BOB SCHIEFFER: And from the war in Iraq to the war in Afghanistan. We
are joined now by Senator Lindsey Graham a key Republican on the Senate
Armed Services Committee. He is just back from Afghanistan. He's in
Clemson, South Carolina, this morning.

And I want to talk about Afghanistan, Senator. But you just heard what-
- what the General just said.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-South Carolina/Armed Services Committee): Mm-Hm.

BOB SCHIEFFER: If we get to the end of next year and the Iraqis want us
to stay longer, we would-- we would consider that. I think it would be
very, very far fetched to think that the Congress would authorize
sending more troops to Iraq at this point. What's your take?
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, I hope they do ask us to have an enduring
relationship politically, military-- militarily, and economically. We
have troops in Germany and Japan since World War II. I don't think most
Americans would care if we had troops in Iraq as long as they were safe
and secure.

What's happened in Iraq is transformative, a democracy in the heart of
the Mideast between Syria and Iran. We're all safer if they can
continue to make progress. So, I hope we will have an enduring
relationship of having some military presence in Iraq. I think that
would be smart not to let things unwind over the next three or five
years.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. Let's-- let's shift now to Afghanistan.
You're just back, another of many trips there. You're in the Army
Reserve. You were doing your reserve duty there this time.
Senator Graham, as most people know you were one of those who
encouraged the surge there. You thought it was necessary. You were
totally behind it. But you also were very much against the President
setting a deadline of pulling our troops out next year.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (overlapping): Right.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Number one, because you thought it was signaling the
enemy when we're leaving but the other part was--

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (overlapping): Right.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --you were not sure if we'd have the job done by then.
After this trip, what's your assessment now?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, after this trip I think we can transition
next summer some areas of Afghanistan to Afghan control. I see progress
I had not seen before.
So, it's-- I see a scenario, if things continue to develop the way they
are, that certain areas of Afghanistan can be transitioned to Afghan
control and we could remove some troops safely without undermining the
overall war mission. But at the end of the day the President has to let
the Afghan people, the regional players know, the American people know
that we're not going to leave until we're successful. But I do see a
path forward next summer to transition in certain areas of Afghanistan
but we will need substantial troops well past July of 2011 to get this
right.

BOB SCHIEFFER: This is a change in position for you.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Six weeks ago you were not saying you thought we could
safely begin to withdraw. You are now saying things have changed and
you think that's possible.
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah. It's due to progress I've seen on the
ground. It has to continue. It will always be conditions-based.
But there are areas of Afghanistan that this new commitment of troops
without the news-- without the surge of troops we couldn't hold it
together much longer. If we had no troops it'd go back into civil war
but this additional military capacity is beginning to show some effects
in certain parts of Afghanistan.
By next summer, hopefully, we're-- we're on offense now. We got the
ball back. For years we've been playing defense. By next summer I think
we can cross midfield and some of our troops can come home. But having
said that, there will be a substantial need for many troops there well
past July 2011. And the Afghan government has to do its part on
governance for us to be successful. There's a lot yet to be done. It
needs to be conditions-based.

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Yeah.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: The President needs to speak more openly about
why we can't lose in Afghanistan to get the American people behind
staying and being successful.

BOB SCHIEFFER: The unknown component here is Hamid Karzai, the
president of Afghanis-- of Afghanistan. One of your colleagues--

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (overlapping): Yes.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --on the Armed Services Committee said to me just this
week, this is a man who is still had a tribal outlook. He has no talent
for governing. And he has no strategic outlook. He said, basically,
we're stuck with him. What's your assessment of Karzai right now?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, he's an elected leader of Afghanistan.
We've recognized the results. Some people are saying they're stuck with
Lindsey Graham. That's the way democracy is. I think he has the
capability to rally his people. He's an articulate leader. He's got to
be all into win. His government's not at war with the insurgency. They
need to change their laws to allow us to detain people that are
security threats. He needs to fight corruption.
We have three major cases brewing from the Major Crimes Task Force,
kind of, the untouchables in our-- in Afghanistan. He cannot interfere
with those cases. We need corruption trials going forward. We need to
show that we're at war with the insurgency. And he needs to rally his
people. I think he's capable of doing that. But I'm going to make sure,
from a Congress's point of view that we have benchmarks and
measurements. It's now time to put him to the test. It's now time to
put ourselves to the test because we're running out of time here at
home.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. Senator Graham, thank you so much for being
with us this morning.

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