Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his leadership on this issue. My opinion is that we have done what we can do in Afghanistan. A substantial portion of the mission, which was very clear, was to try to contain the Taliban and contain al Qaeda so they could never again use it as a base to attack our country. And it is not easy work. As Mr. Jones pointed out, and others, there are many, many problems and challenges in Afghanistan, not the least of which is the corruption within the government. Our goal has always been clear: whatever the minimum is to get a government that can stand and deny a safe haven to those who threaten America. That was a fight worth doing. But we have done what we can do. We have trained hundreds of thousands of Afghan national security forces, and it is time to turn that responsibility over to Afghanistan. It will always be a challenging part of the world. In both Afghanistan and Pakistan, violent extremists are abundant, and we'll have to keep an eye on it. But we do not need to have the troop levels that we have now. We need to draw down in a very responsible way, and I think the gentleman's amendment lays out a plan to do that. Therefore, I support it, and, again, I support him for his efforts to get us out of Afghanistan as soon as we responsibly can. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chairman, how much time remains? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Massachusetts has 1\3/4\ minutes remaining. Mr. McGOVERN.…”