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U.S. Rep. Jim Banks said Wednesday that war-torn Afghanistan “feels like a more dangerous place” than when he was stationed there in 2014 and 2015 as an officer in the Navy Reserve.

Banks, R-3rd, led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Afghanistan this week to receive briefings and show support for U.S. troops deployed there. The lawmaker is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

“I learned a lot and saw a lot that I didn't anticipate. The rise of ISIS-K is potentially a greater threat at this point than the Taliban, and that's a new development there,” he said in a telephone interview.

Banks and his six colleagues in the House arrived in Afghanistan on Sunday and left Tuesday about the time they learned of a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital Kabul that killed at least 55 people. The Taliban rebel movement denied involvement, and ISIS-K – also called ISIS-Khorasan, the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist organization – is suspected in the attack.

Banks lived at a military base in Kabul for several months in 2014-15, when the Columbia City resident was an Indiana state senator.

“The base where I resided is very much the same,” he said. “The security situation is different, though. Now they fly everywhere by Blackhawk (helicopter). When I was there, we traveled almost everywhere by vehicles and convoys, and it's too dangerous to do that any more.

“It feels like a more dangerous place,” Banks said. He called ISIS-K “a serious, imminent threat” to the south-central Asian nation.

Banks called on President Donald Trump to visit Afghanistan, something Trump indicated this week that he might do.

“I think he would benefit tremendously by going to Afghanistan, seeing the situation on the ground. ... Not to mention going there to show support for the troops,” Banks said.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Banks urged Trump to visit Afghanistan and for his administration to issue “a serious progress report to the American people” on its 2017 strategy for South Asia.

Asked whether the Trump administration should add to the 15,000 American troops in Afghanistan, Banks said, “I didn't go there to play general.” He also said he was “greatly impressed” with the leadership of Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Banks' group met with Miller, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and John Bass, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. The congressional delegation sought “to learn more about what we can do to support our efforts there so that we can come to a successful conclusion,” Banks said.

He said officials are hopeful that ongoing talks among Afghanistan's government, the Taliban and U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will lead to a peace agreement among the government and the insurgency group.

“There is a sense of cautious optimism about that,” Banks said. “It's hard for me to believe that that could come to a reality, but if it does, reconciliation is a good thing and worth every bit of our efforts.

“Until Afghanistan can have a stable government and a civil society, which they will never have with the war with the Taliban, which appears to be at a stalemate, it will be harder than ever for them to push out ISIS-K or any other terrorist groups that reside within Afghanistan,” he said. 

“It remains a dangerous and tumultuous place, which is why our ongoing efforts and commitment there are as important as they've ever been,” Banks said. “That being said, the American people are weary of 17 going on 18 years of the longest war in American history.”

He said the presidential election in April “will be a test of whether Afghanistan can build a civil society and create stability.”

Banks met several U.S. troops from Indiana during his trip, including a couple from Fort Wayne. Banks, who easily won election to a second term in the House on Nov. 6, said he wants to return to Afghanistan to continue assessing prospects for a peaceful resolution to the war.

“It's something I want to do more along the way. I had wanted to do it for a couple of years,” he said. “Exposing other members to Afghanistan is healthy for our role.”

Joining Banks in the delegation were Reps. Larry Bucshon, R-8th; Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.; Darren Soto, D-Fla.; Connor Lamb, D-Pa.; Rob Wittman, R-Va.; and Bill Flores, R-Texas. Whittman and Suozzi are, like Banks, members of the House Armed Services Committee.

Brian Francisco
The Journal Gazette