Ed Royce: “I must again thank the gentlewoman for her efforts around the country to get the information out, the truth out about…”

“I must again thank the gentlewoman for her efforts around the country to get the information out, the truth out about what has happened and this gross violation of the rights of women in Afghanistan. I do believe that there are more and more of our colleagues now who are committing themselves and saying we are not just going to try to attack al-Qaeda and then leave. My belief is that unless we see this through and see the Taliban government catapulted out of power there, we risk having this cancer, that the al-Qaeda network and the Taliban expand beyond Afghanistan. I think for the hope of civilization, for the hope of the next generations, it is very important that this broad-based coalition that the President and that our Secretary of State Colin Powell have put together in order to wage this effort stay the course until we see that the Taliban rule is extinguished, and that we make certain that the international community plays a role in afterwards bringing peace and restoring fundamental rights and showing by example why the United States stands for principles of human rights, rule of law, the importance of liberty. We have to follow through. I believe we did not do all that we should have done after the Soviet Union left Afghanistan.”