During the next week, our delegation listened to the concerns of the region''s leaders, thanked them for their support of the war against terrorism, witnessed first-hand the dangerous and Spartan conditions under which our troops are serving, and gained a much better understanding of the complexity of the battle against terrorism. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I was particularly interested in hearing from our troops and, most of all, in expressing our support and gratitude for their brave service.
After an eleven-hour flight on a noisy and drafty cargo plane, we arrived in Turkey at 7:30 a.m. local time for briefings by American embassy staff prior to meetings with the Prime Minister and other Turkish officials. Turkey, the only Muslim country that is a member of NATO, is strongly pro-American and has been a critical supporter of Operation Enduring Freedom. More than 4,000 flights have originated from Turkey, and Turkey has provided logistical assistance for U.S. Special Operations forces, plus transport and refueling support.
While strongly backing Operation Enduring Freedom, Turkey''s leaders expressed to us serious reservations about any potential military operation in Iraq. Turkey fears a break-up of Iraq and a flood of refugees that would threaten its own stability. Our conversations with Turkish officials suggest that maintaining the coalition against terrorism will be more difficult as military, diplomatic, financial, and law enforcement operations expand beyond Afghanistan.
In Uzbekistan, we met with the President and, separately, with human rights activists. Strong-willed and anti-Russian, President Islom Karimov pointedly told us that he offered access to Uzbek bases prior to Russian President Vladimir Putin''s expression of support. More recently, the reopening of the Friendship Bridge between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan has allowed more humanitarian relief to flow into Afghanistan.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island and I decided to test religious freedom personally by attending Mass at the only Catholic church in Tashkent, Uzbekistan''s capital. We arrived early to talk with the Polish priests serving the parish. They informed us that in the last four or five years, religious freedom has taken root in this former Soviet republic. The country still has a long way to go, however, in embracing other human rights that we take for granted.
Our delegation then journeyed onto Tajikistan, one of the poorest nations in the world, for a two-hour meeting with the President and his ministers. While Tajikistan has allowed us free access to its bases and airspace, its president struck me as an old-style Soviet leader, skeptical of democracy, human rights, and free markets.
Nevertheless, it is extraordinary to realize that we have American troops working side by side with Uzbek and Tajik military when only 11 years ago, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were part of the Soviet Union.
The most memorable part of our trip was visiting our troops and meeting with the new president of Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base, about 30 miles from Kabul. We flew in a cargo plane under cover of darkness. For security reasons, not a single light could be lit either inside or outside the plane, and our highly skilled pilot had to land on a unlighted, hard dirt runway. Wearing night vision goggles, the pilot executed a "spiral landing," a maneuver used to evade anti-aircraft missiles that involves a sharp descent from a high altitude.
Before we departed the plane, the base commander boarded warned us that the area was littered with land mines. We were cautioned to keep to the dirt paths and away from the grassy areas. This was more difficult than it may sound as the base was extraordinarily dark and dusty. The week before, a solider lost his foot in a land mine explosion.
Despite the dangerous and austere conditions, the morale of our troops is very high. It was wonderful to meet with the soldiers, including a young man from Winslow, Maine, to express our gratitude and to assure them of America''s solid support for their mission.
In addition to greeting our troops, we met with the charismatic new leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, and members of his Cabinet in a patched Army tent with a space heater in the corner and not enough folding chairs for everyone to sit down. The setting contrasted sharply with the elaborate government buildings and palaces of our other meetings with heads of state, and I could not help but think that it was a metaphor for the challenges facing President Karzai as he attempts to lead a country devastated by decades of war, harsh repression, a terrible drought, and abject poverty.
No translator was needed as President Karzai speaks perfect English. He pleaded with us to ensure that America stay involved in help rebuilding his country, and he listed agricultural aid, education, and health care as three critical priorities needing U.S. and international assistance.
During the Taliban regime, Afghanistan''s most significant crop was poppies, and the country became a major source of heroin. As President Karzai explained, Afghan farmers need to be redirected to growing crops that will help to feed the country''s impoverished people.
One of my chief concerns has been the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan, so I asked President Karzai what was being done to help girls to catch up on the education denied them during the Taliban years. He assured me that schools were being reopened and told me that the education of boys, too, had been neglected since, in many cases, their only option under Taliban rule was to attend radical Islamic schools that trained them to become terrorists and to hate the United States.
We left Afghanistan with our hearts filled with gratitude toward our troops and with a new appreciation of the daunting task facing President Karzai. Then it was on to Pakistan where we landed at 2:30 a.m. It was then that I realized that we had been in four countries in 24 hours!
In Pakistan, we took helicopters to the Kyber Pass where I stood at the "zero line," with one foot in Afghanistan and one foot in Pakistan. Although I saw dozens of men in the marketplace and throughout the small villages, I spotted only three women, and each of them wore the long, blue burqas designed to conceal women from public view. I was surprised to see women still wearing the burqas and wondered whether it was fear or preference that made them reluctant to shed the burdensome garment.
Back in Islamabad, we had an excellent meeting with Pakistan''s President Musharraf. President Musharraf has agreed to every U.S. request for assistance, including access to bases, airspace, and intelligence operations. He has done so at considerable risk to himself as a vocal portion of Pakistan''s population has been sympathetic to the Taliban.
We also discussed the rising tensions between Pakistan and India, a dangerous tinder box since both nations possess nuclear weapons. India has deployed its troops along the border with Pakistan in response to an attack on its Parliament by Islamic terrorists believed to be based in Pakistan. President Musharraf told us that he would be taking new steps to crack down on terrorists, and, indeed, his government has arrested hundreds of individuals suspected of terrorism.
After leaving Islamabad, we flew on another cargo plane onto the deck of the aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Landing on an aircraft carrier at full speed to be caught by the "tail hook" wire is quite an experience.
Aboard the carrier, a floating city of 5,000 people, I had lunch with 15 sailors from Maine. Despite being at sea for 113 consecutive days (normally, the carrier would go into port about every 14 days), the sailors''s morale was high. They were inspired by a flag that firefighters in New York City had hoisted over the wreckage at the World Trade Center site that was later given to the ship. The ship''s crew built a special display box for the flag, which is a constant reminder of the importance of their mission.
We also watched the flight operations from the deck where planes of all sorts -- jet strike fighters, cargo planes, and tankers -- landed every 45 seconds. The precision and skill demonstrated by the young sailors and pilots were astonishing.
We departed the carrier via the catapult that launches planes into the air. To avoid being injured in the process, we were strapped tightly into the seats, wore helmets, and braced ourselves for the jarring impact.
Our final stop was Oman, an Arab country that has long had ties with the United States. In fact, the first treaty between the U.S. and an Arab nation was the 1833 treaty with Oman. Oman''s sultan assured us of his continued support for the war against terrorism.
The next morning, we visited an Army medical unit stationed in Oman before departing for the 17-hour flight home. It was the longest flight that I have ever had and required us to be refueled en route -- another feat that is a tribute to the skills of the young boom operator and pilots of both aircraft.
I returned from my journey with a renewed sense of appreciation for the freedoms that we Americans often take for granted and with a conviction that the United States must remain engaged in Central Asia. We should not shoulder the burden of rebuilding Afghanistan alone; the international community must step up to the plate with financial assistance. But we ignore the country, and Central Asia in general, at our peril. We must help drain the swamp, as Senator Joe Lieberman put it, that has served as a breeding ground for those committed to the destruction of the American way of life.