On the recordJune 14, 2010
The war in Afghanistan is now 104 months old, passing Vietnam, to make it the longest war in United States history. And as it reaches this dubious milestone, it's hard to imagine things going much worse. The much-hyped military campaign in Kandahar is now way behind schedule, with the Secretary of Defense saying it's more important to get it done right than to get it done quickly. That kind of plea might have worked 80 months ago, Mr. Speaker, but do they not see the irony or the disconnect in preaching patience about a war that is now the longest the Nation has ever fought? Do they not see that the American people, who have given a thousand or more of their best young people and a quarter of a trillion dollars to this war, are long past the point where they are willing to cut some slack and take a wait-and-see approach? And if that's not bad enough, it turns out the campaign we thought we had just finished in Marja never really took in the first place. What seemed to be a quick and decisive military triumph turned out to be an illusion. The Taliban hadn't been crushed; they had gone into hiding, laying low for a while, taking part in the opium harvest, and regaining their bearings, so to speak. Now the Taliban is back, with a campaign of violence and intimidation, planting bombs, attacking marines, and terrorizing the population.
