Murtha said he has cautioned Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, if elected, to avoid the same mistakes in Afghanistan that the Soviets made more than 20 years ago. "I told Obama's people, 'Don't get your feet too far in Afghanistan,'" Murtha said. Obama has said he wants to send more troops to Afghanistan.Murtha remembers visiting Afghanistan when small bands of Mujahideen were routing the better-equipped Soviet Army. They're professional soldiers, different from those fighting U.S. forces in Iraq, Murtha said. More troops won't be enough to stabilize the country, he said.
Murtha, who is respected by members of both parties for his defense expertise, energized opponents of the Iraq war three years ago when he called for a U.S. withdrawal from the battlefield.
He said then that it could have been done in six months. Now it will take longer, but it's still the right thing to do, he said. "We can't solve it for them," Murtha said, noting that Iraqi leaders are calling for the United States to set a withdrawal timetable, and that they haven't asked the United Nations to renew its mandate authorizing the troops' presence. "It's their problem."