Politics & Government

Rep. Duncan D. Hunter Sees U.S. in Afghanistan for 'Next 30 or 40 Years'

The congressman, who represents East County and Poway, says military won't be an occupying force but limited to 5,000-10,000 intelligence and special forces.

Ten years after 9/11, America still has more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, and Rep. Duncan D. Hunter—a former Marine who fought in Fallujah—says the United States may need to have a military presence in that Mideast country on the 50th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.

“I think we need to have military there for the next 30 or 40 years,” Hunter told six Patch editors Wednesday in a 50-minute meeting in Rancho San Diego.

He said the force level would be reduced, however: “Whether it’s 5,000 or 10,000—a much smaller level, mostly intelligence and special forces—and the ability to make sure people can’t train in the No Man’s Land of Afghanistan, Pakistan or the border areas again, without us knowing about it.”

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Hunter, the Alpine Republican in his second term representing the 52nd Congressional District of East County and north inland San Diego County including Poway, noted in a wide-ranging interview that 9/11 “changed my life a little bit.”  

He joined the Marines shortly after the al-Qaida attacks on America.

Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He said he envisions U.S. troops in Afghanistan operating out of secure bases, “where we can use our technology. That’s the big leverage we have when we’re out driving the roads and walking among the people.”

In a perfect world, he said, America wouldn’t still be in Afghanistan, the nation that hosted Osama bin Laden’s terror network and had bases U.S. troops attacked in October 2001.

“You would have killed the people that needed to be killed,” Hunter said.

He said that as the lone superpower, America’s “job is to make sure that countries that have people that are hostile to the U.S. to the point where they’re willing to go blow themselves up—and not just burn effigies of George Bush or Obama, but who actually want to do bad things to us—to make sure the people can’t focus on us.”

Hunter applauded President Barack Obama’s decision to use U.S. airpower in Libya.

“I think what the president did in Libya was a good thing—without putting a single troop on the ground,” Hunter told Patch editors at the Press Box Sports Lounge. Libya won't be worried about Libya for the next 20 years, he said.

He also volunteered that “Turkey is going to be worried about Libya for the next 20 years. Turkey’s not going to be worried about going up through the Baltic states to the Balkans and take its old empire back—as one of the old Persian countries that had an empire to speak of.

“I think Turkey isn’t going to be messing with Libya for a while.”

Hunter returned to the topic of the Afghanistan force, where the United States suffered its biggest monthly loss of life in August (67 died, including 30 in the SEAL helicopter crash).

“In a perfect world,” he repeated, “we wouldn’t be conducting the size and scope of the military operations we’re having to do in Afghanistan right now. However, I think we need to be there indefinitely as far as I can see—as long as you have people in that area who will take their focus off their internal problems and focus on striking us just because we are who we are.”

Still, he said, U.S. troops in Afghanistan won’t be “an occupying force on the streets in the future.”

Hunter—whose sprawling congressional district will lose La Mesa, Spring Valley, Poway and Rancho Bernardo in the 2012 elections—said it was an honor to represent these areas following his election in November 2008.

“It’s an honor to have this job,” he said, “and to represent the people of America and San Diego East County. … I grew up here. I see myself as a normal East County San Diegan who happened to join the Marine Corps and run for Congress.”

Hunter, the son of 28-year congressman Duncan Lee Hunter, added: “I’d say I relate to my district a lot better than other politicians that I know relate to the average American.”

He labeled himself an average American.

“In truth,” he said, “I’ve done a few things that are interesting—Congress and tours overseas. But I’m an average guy” who rides bikes at Ocotillo and goes to Hooley’s with friends.

A transcript of Hunter’s interview with Patch editors will be posted in coming days.


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