Brian Jones: “Last week was another reminder of the chaos in Afghanistan. Tragically, 200 Afghan soldiers were killed by the Taliban…”

“Last week was another reminder of the chaos in Afghanistan. Tragically, 200 Afghan soldiers were killed by the Taliban; but, unfortunately, that is no surprise. After 16 years in Afghanistan, absolutely nothing has changed. If anything, it has gotten worse. The American taxpayer, United States military, and the marines in my district are frustrated with the 16 years of continued chaos. That is why Mr. Garamendi and I have introduced H.R. 1666 and have been joined by seven of our colleagues. Our bill asks that Congress be able to debate and vote on whether we should or should not continue our current policy in Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, I bring this poster on the floor as a reminder. Let me say to you today and my fellow colleagues that we have spent over 800 billion taxpayer dollars, over 2,200 American servicemembers have died, and over 20,000 of our troops have been severely wounded. The waste, fraud, and abuse is just as bad, if not worse, today than at the very beginning of 2002. Now, some 300 additional marines, mainly from Camp Lejeune in my district, have been deployed to Afghanistan this spring, and we have had no discussion of that on the floor of the House. Mr.…”