Mike Conaway: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding the time. I have just recently gotten back from Afghanistan, and it is hard doing…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding the time. I have just recently gotten back from Afghanistan, and it is hard doing what we're trying to get done there, but the narrative we have in place today is better than at any point in time since I've been going to Afghanistan, and I've been going since 2005. I've visited the Arghandab Valley, I've visited Marja, I've visited in Helmand Province, Kandahar Province, and seen with my own eyes the successes that last year's very difficult work done by the Marine Corps, done by the Army, has done in pushing the Taliban out of the settled areas and back into the desert and protecting the citizens of Afghanistan, to give them the breathing space they need to take over for themselves. The work being done to establish the Afghan local police, that third layer of defense, that security by the Afghans, is in place and is working. The Special Forces teams that are co-located with those Afghan local police, particularly in the Arghandab Valley, have settled that and the Taliban has not come back this fighting season, as they expected them to do. We have hard work to do. I understand the emotions, I understand the heartfelt tug that the previous speaker has brought to us, Mr. Chairman. It's hard not to listen to that and not make decisions, but decisions can't be made just simply on those emotions. You cannot separate what's going on in Afghanistan with Pakistan.…”