Goodlatte visits Afghanistan

Sixth District Congressman Bob Goodlatte was visiting Afghanistan on Wednesday as part of a Congressional delegation.

The congressman was in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Wednesday. The delegation was briefed by top commanders.

Goodlatte said substantial progress has been made in training a modern Afghan army that is becoming capable of fighting. The congressman said the two greatest problems confronting the country are training the police force due to rampant and age-old corruption and eradication of the heroin drug trade. Afghanistan is the producer of the world’s supply of heroin.

“Since the defeat of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan has held free and fair elections for the presidency and parliament,‘’ Goodlatte said. But the congressman said the U.S. military still faces a major challenge in eliminating the Taliban, which has found a new base of operations in the mountainous western provinces of western Pakistan.