Inhofe pays New Year's visit to Okla. Guard troops

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? The ability of the Afghan National Army to effectively control and secure Afghanistan has improved dramatically over the last year, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Monday after returning from a visit with Oklahoma National Guard troops in Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Oklahoma's senior U.S. senator returned to Tulsa Monday after ringing in the new year in Afghanistan with troops from Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, many of whom have been working to train soldiers with the Afghan National Army.

"(The ANA) are rapidly getting to the point where they can take care of their own security," Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "They're now to the point where they can take care of their own needs.

"I feel that way, and that's what you'll hear from our soldiers over there."

Inhofe said he remains confident that most of the American troops in Afghanistan will be able to withdraw by 2014.

A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Inhofe left Friday for Kuwait, where he met with some of the roughly 800 45th soldiers stationed there. He then arrived in Afghanistan on New Year's Eve and counted down to the new year with troops at Forward Operating Base Gamberi in eastern Afghanistan, near the country's border with Pakistan.

During his visit, Inhofe delivered cards and letters to the soldiers from students at Grove Valley Elementary School in Edmond.

He said most of the 2,200 Oklahoma National Guard troops in Afghanistan with whom he talked are remaining positive and upbeat, despite the loss of 14 Oklahoma National Guard soldiers who have been killed since they arrived in June.

"It's ironic ? the closer you get to the hostilities, the higher their spirits," Inhofe said.

Inhofe said he did hear complaints from some Oklahoma soldiers stationed at Ghazni, Afghanistan, that they were not receiving the same equipment as their regular Army counterparts.

"That's something I'm checking into now," Inhofe said. "And that's the reason it's necessary for members of the Armed Services Committee to go over there. That would never have come up at a hearing in Washington."

More than 3,000 soldiers with the 45th went to Kuwait and Afghanistan in June in what was the Oklahoma National Guard's largest deployment since the Korean War. They are scheduled to return to Oklahoma in the spring.

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Sean Murphy can be reached at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5690260735

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