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

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

The simple justice that comes from that principled position cannot be overstated.

I am encouraged by the request for the Air Force's three most important modernization programs, the KC-46A tanker, the F-35A, and the Long-Range Strike Bomber.

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.