PORTLAND (AP) – U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree supports an increase in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but she wants to make sure it doesn’t turn into a “repeat of Iraq or Vietnam.”

The Maine Democrat returned home Friday after a six-day trip in which she visited four nations in the Mideast with five other members of Congress. During the trip, President Barack Obama announced he was deploying an additional 17,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan to bolster the 33,000 already in the country.

Pingree said in a phone interview that she supports boosting the number of troops in Afghanistan. But she’s also reluctant to increase the numbers by 50 percent without a comprehensive review and a clearly stated mission.

“I’m just worried we’re going to get into this kind of endless repeat of Iraq or Vietnam where we don’t have a clearly stated goal or know how we’re going to get out,” she said.

While in Afghanistan, the delegation drove through the streets of Kabul while traveling between military bases. She was taken by the chaos and poverty, with a smoky haze and acrid smell hanging over the streets.

It’s clear there needs to be a “political surge” as well as a military surge, Pingree said.

“If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that we can’t do this all by military force,” she said. “This is a devastated economy; it’s a corrupt government. You have to have a little bit of a functioning culture and state there, and brutalizing people with weapons isn’t going to repair what’s going on.”

Pingree visited Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Kuwait with a delegation that included Reps. Bobby Bright, D-Ala.; Stephen Cohen, D-Tenn.; Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.; Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.; and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.

Pingree, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, spent time with U.S. troops, including some from Maine, in Iraq and Afghanistan. She also met with U.S. military commanders and Iraqi and Afghan officials.

The delegation toured U.S. military facilities in Kuwait and met with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa in Bahrain.

Pingree said she supports a significant reduction of troops in Iraq, especially if the U.S. plans to increase its presence in Afghanistan.

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