Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna calls for more debates on US military interventions abroad

The Democrat says that Americans need to know what they are getting from interventions in the affairs of other countries like Afghanistan.   

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) supported  a call by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) for debates on US military interventions on foreign land, in the House of Representatives’ general meeting on Friday. The California Democrat said that Americans should know where the country is heading through these military interventions.

“All you are saying Congressman Lee is we ought to debate these issues. That the American people ought to know what these interventions are getting us,” Khanna said. “Why they are not making us more safe. And why we are not having a thoughtful policy.”

Recalling the US strikes following the 9/11 attacks, Khanna said that when Americans were attacked by terrorists, the entire country stood as one to support for a befitting and forceful reply. However, that endorsement was not supposed to be an indefinite push for an unending war.

“When we were attacked, after 9/11, I, like many Americans, supported strikes on the people who attacked us,” he said, urging members of Congress to push for more restraint. “But no one, no one, in this country would have thought that a resolution would be used for perpetual war.”

Juxtaposing the disturbances in Afghanistan and India-Pakistan border conflicts, Khanna said that to control 3,000 terrorists on the India-Pakistan border, there are more 150,000 troops. “Does anyone thinks sending 10,000 [US] troops [to Afghanistan] again and again accomplish anything? It’s not. All its doing is further antagonizing people and putting our troops at risk,” he said.

The 40-year-old congressman, who represents the Silicon Valley, also criticized the US policy on Yemen. “And now in Yemen where we are aiding the Saudi Arabian government, which is aligned, ironically, with Al Qaeda,” he said, adding, “We are aiding and intervening in a place where we were actually supporting groups that are harming us.”

The Democrat reiterated support for Lee and said that the matters of peace and conflict should be open for debate, so that Americans are safer and better informed.

(This post has been updated.)