Political Quotes

“Reclaiming my time, let me just be clear up front, that our service men and women have performed with incredible courage and commitment in Afghanistan. They have done everything asked of them. But the truth is that they have been put in an impossible situation. In fact, this concern of 'war without end' is why I opposed the resolution. I know we disagreed with that, but many of us agree now that we should not have this war without end continued. But I opposed the use of military force on September 14 because it was a blank check, I believed then, and it remains one now. There are a few things we know with certainty regarding the situation in Afghanistan. We know corruption persists unabated, and in many cases has been fueled by the U.S. occupation and influx of foreign cash. President Karzai has proven himself time and time again unwilling, or at least unable, to meaningfully root out corruption within his own administration. We know that the United States troop presence has increased from somewhere around 5,000 troops in 2002 to more than 100,000 troops in 2011. At the same time, military and civilian casualties have increased at record rates. 2010, unfortunately, was the deadliest year in Afghanistan. We also know that al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan has been all but eliminated. The administration has been consistent in its assessment that there are maybe between 50 and 100 members of al Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan.”