Ted Poe: “When our forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the goal was simple: remove the terrorist group, the Taliban government…”

“When our forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the goal was simple: remove the terrorist group, the Taliban government that sheltered the plotters of the 9/11 attacks on America, and destroy al-Qaida, a terrorist group. This was a NATO operation. A little history is in order. The United States was attacked. The member nations of NATO agreed that this was an attack on one nation, and NATO agreed to retaliate to the terrorist attack under article 5 of the NATO agreement. Article 5 has been talked about recently in the press. So these 28 nations, NATO, went into Afghanistan, a haven for terrorists who sought to attack and kill Americans. That was 16 years ago. This is the longest war in American history, and yet it is still going on. Let's examine how all of this is taking place and center on one nation, Pakistan, and their role in all of this. The Taliban, since that attack, has waged an insurgency in Afghanistan, a neighbor to Pakistan, and destabilized the country, creating a perfect condition for terrorists to exploit in Afghanistan and spread that terrorist activity to other parts of the world. The Taliban and al-Qaida have launched many of their attacks in Afghanistan from their neighbor, Pakistan. Recently, a Taliban sneak attack killed more than 160 Afghan soldiers, prompting the defense minister and the army chief of staff to resign. The Taliban, a terrorist group, doesn't just stage attacks. They seize territory.…”