But Afghanistan is directly connected to our vital national security interests and we must get this right.

In my view, the President's approach is fraught with unnecessary risk.

if we do, the Afghan government will never truly be sovereign, will never truly be stable and will never truly have the respect of the Afghan people that it needs to be the sustainable government that we need it to be.

I think the single most important thing right now is to get that Bilateral Security Agreement to eliminate some of that uncertainty as to what exactly our role is going to be post-2014.

I share in your comments about the outstanding job General Dunford has done and the job that our troops have done in a very, very difficult environment.

I think it is important that President Karzai understand that Afghanistan actually needs the Bilateral Security Agreement more than we do.

I have seen the progress, and not just in Kabul, not just in the capital, but out in some of the tougher regions.

I think this committee is well aware of these problems, but I don't think the whole Congress is.

As a Congress, we need to stop sequestration. Mindless across-the-board cuts is simply the wrong way to run a government.

I don't think the whole Congress is, and I am convinced that the Nation really doesn't understand the severity of the cuts that we have been imposing.

I hope that you will highlight your concerns regarding this issue in your testimony and provide more detail about where you see this trend going into the future.