Tom Udall: “I am a strong supporter of the AFGHAN Service Act, which I introduced with Senator Paul. It has been nearly 19 years…”

“I am a strong supporter of the AFGHAN Service Act, which I introduced with Senator Paul. It has been nearly 19 years since the United States entered this war in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, and we have had several Presidents--one a Democrat, one a Republican--say they want to end this war. They announced: We don't want endless wars. We want to end this war. Our current President has said he wanted to do this for the last 3\1/ 2\ years. He hasn't gotten it done. President Obama wanted to end it. This is the way--the responsible way--to end this war. We give a year timeframe. We make absolutely clear we are not against our American soldiers. We give them a bonus, and we say: You have done a good job. So don't listen to the distortions that will be talked about what this amendment is about. We have soldiers who are heading to fight in this war who weren't even born when it began, and most of the soldiers I have talked to who have come home from Afghanistan believe we should be out of there. That is one of the most persuasive things I have seen. Several of those soldiers have been elected to the U.S. Congress and have spoken up very, very strongly about continuing our war in Afghanistan. It has been nearly 10 years since I first came to the Senate floor in 2010 to call for the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan. We have accomplished our goal of routing al-Qaida and killing Osama Bin Laden.…”