William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry: “The reason we have troops in Afghanistan is to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a sanctuary from which terrorists…”

“The reason we have troops in Afghanistan is to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a sanctuary from which terrorists will launch attacks against us. For us to one day be able to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, the Afghan people have to be able to stand on their own two feet, and this fund is designed to help them do that. The people there have to be able to resist the Taliban, al Qaeda and other groups that want to undermine their security and use Afghanistan once again as a terrorist base. This program, as has been mentioned, is a very high priority of our own military commander in Afghanistan, General Petraeus. Part of the reason it's one of his priorities is, as the gentleman from New Jersey said, this helps keep our own troops safe. When we are able to work with the Afghan people and develop the country, our troops in the country have a less danger opposing them. It is less likely that they will suffer some of the problems from the indigent population. But the second reason General Petraeus believes this is very important is that it's an integral part of his counterinsurgency campaign plan. So to withdraw this money at this point makes his job more difficult and increases the danger to our troops. I don't think that makes sense at any level.”