Political Quotes

“Madam President, this amendment requires the President of the United States to develop a plan to expedite the reduction of U.S. combat troops in Afghanistan and to accelerate the transfer of responsibility for military and security operations to the Government of Afghanistan. Before I speak to some of the details, I want to thank the original cosponsors who have worked hard on this amendment: Senator Mike Lee, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, Senator Rand Paul, and Senator Sherrod Brown. The United States went to Afghanistan with two main goals that were laid out by President Bush: to destroy al-Qaida training camps and to hunt down those responsible for 9/11. Our very capable American troops and their NATO partners have aggressively pursued these objectives. There are very few al-Qaida operating in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in June 2010 that there were at most only 50 to 100 al-Qaida members in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is no longer and has not been for some time a central arena for al-Qaida activity. American forces have also effectively pursued the second objective, which is capturing or killing those who attacked America on 9/11.…”