Thomas Daschle: “in more than 20 weeks of operations in Afghanistan, our troops have liberated Afghanistan, decimated the Taliban…”

“in more than 20 weeks of operations in Afghanistan, our troops have liberated Afghanistan, decimated the Taliban, disrupted al Qaeda operations and captured hundreds of al Qaeda terrorists. Their success lulled much of the world into thinking that our work in Afghanistan was done. The somber news of earlier this week--that eight of America's finest soldiers had been killed in action--reminds us that there is much to be done in Afghanistan. Right now, our troops are doing that work. They are engaged in the largest ground offensive of the war, confronting the hardest of the hard core of al Qaeda. The resolution that we are about to pass reminds our troops that we are thinking of them and are praying for them. The 6-month anniversary of September 11 is next week. It expresses our condolences to the families of those who have lost loved ones in Operation Enduring Freedom. And it makes absolutely clear on the 6-month juncture, to the al Qaeda terrorists, and to all who of those who wish to take notes, that we will not stop until they have been defeated. But this resolution is also important for another reason. On September 14, we voted unanimously to send our troops into action against the perpetrators of the cowardly and heinous attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That was our constitutional duty, and it is one that none of us takes lightly.”