Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise this morning to speak about the visit this week by Afghan President Karzai and many of his ministers, as well as the policy that is unfolding all these many months in Afghanistan. I rise in the midst of a debate we are having in the Senate on financial reform and continuing efforts and strategies to be put in place to create jobs. Even in the midst of all those domestic concerns that are economic in nature--and we are still very concerned about and working on the problems of those who are out of work--we need, in that context, to also be concerned about what is happening in Afghanistan. So I wish to discuss President Karzai's visit and, as I mentioned, the visit, as well, by other Afghan government officials. The other reason I rise in connection with that topic is to talk about the continuing threat our troops face from improvised explosive devices known by the acronym IEDs. They continue to pose a threat to our troops, and we have to continue to be concerned about the nature of that threat. In a broader sense, when it comes to this policy, we have to get this right. We have to make sure our government is continually focused on getting this strategy right in Afghanistan, as it relates to security, governance, and development--all aspects of the strategy, working with our coalition partners in doing that. First and foremost, on the question of IEDs, the Los Angeles Times reported last week that three-fifths of the 602 combat-related deaths of U.S.…”