A democratic and stable Iraq and Afghanistan are essential to our broader efforts to make no place safe for terrorists and to win the War on Terrorism.
To me, what success looks like is not to believe that Afghanistan can become a unified, Western-style democracy with a developed-country economy just yet. I think success in the American interest is some level of assurance that it’s not going to be a place that again leads to an attack on the American homeland.
Security services, from Afghanistan to the United States, should be alert throughout the Ramadan period, but especially on the 27th day of the holy month.
I was distressed that after 9/11, when the United States was attacked by terrorists, the United States’ response was to attack Afghanistan, where some of the terrorists had been.
Al Qaeda is almost all in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And yet for every dollar we’re spending in Pakistan, we’re spending $30 in Afghanistan. Does that make strategic sense?
I do dream about Afghanistan. I wake up and think I’m still there.
If we are going to conduct a population-centric strategy in Afghanistan, and we are perceived as backing thugs, then we are just undermining ourselves.
One of the lessons of Vietnam, which we failed to heed in the Iraq war and the Afghanistan surge, is that before you commit U.S. military forces to aid or assist, it is essential to know what you want them to achieve.
Whether it’s a kid in high school who doesn’t have any friends and finds friends in my characters, or a guy in Afghanistan, who’s trying to forget what he did that day, and trying not to think about what he’s gotta do tomorrow… I give them a little bit of an escape.
Searches of al Qaeda sites in Afghanistan, undertaken since American-backed forces took control there, are not known to have turned up a significant cache of nuclear materials.
If American forces leave Afghanistan, the Taliban is going to do what to America? Don’t say you’re worried about what they will do to the Afghan people. If that was America’s concern, America’s operational presence there would be much different.
I don’t want to go and start trying to make jokes in places like India, Tanzania or Iraq. Afghanistan is not a funny place.
You know what I had a problem with? The war – the war in Afghanistan.
Losing their reproductive rights is the first step to how women live in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
From the bitter cold winter at Valley Forge, to the mountains of Afghanistan and the deserts of Iraq, our soldiers have courageously answered when called, gone where ordered, and defended our nation with honor.
Searches of al Qaeda sites in Afghanistan, undertaken since American-backed forces took control there, are not known to have turned up a significant cache of nuclear materials.
I want to study law, become a lawyer, and work in Afghanistan for human rights.
I believe in a strong national defense. But it’s my belief that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan poses a threat to national security, and we shouldn’t be involved in either area.
Sitting in America, we never get to know the other side in any kind of believable way. We have so many movies about Iraq, Afghanistan, and this and that, but there is never a character from that side.
We cannot allow Afghanistan to become again a haven for terrorists who inspire, plan and provide support for attacks like those of 11 September 2001, of 7 July 2005 in London, and more.
In his first term, President Barack Obama played a cautious manager navigating the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression and cleaning up the messes left by President George W. Bush in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s geographical location gives it the opportunity to become one of the biggest transit routes in the region. It can connect Southern, Eastern and Central Asia to the Middle East.
As you will recall, soon after the 9/11 attacks, an international coalition led by the United States conducted an impressive campaign to defeat the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other associated extremist groups in Afghanistan.
Look, I think the public generally understands that what’s at stake in Afghanistan is American security, number one.
I feel Afghanistan has a very strong social fabric and sense of family… what I would like to do is encourage everybody in the country to appreciate more the role of women at home and outside.
I’ve been in a position before where a president has turned to me in the Oval Office in a difficult moment, without any pleasantries, and said, ‘I’m asking you as your president and Commander in Chief to take command of the international security force in Afghanistan.’ The only response can be, ‘Yes, Mr. President.’
I mean Afghanistan is a very rugged, complicated country.
I decided in ’96 to dedicate my life to mostly promoting literacy and education for girls in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A democratic and stable Iraq and Afghanistan are essential to our broader efforts to make no place safe for terrorists and to win the War on Terrorism.
The war on terror is the war in Afghanistan.
The United States does not view our authority to use military force against Al Qaeda as being restricted solely to ‘hot’ battlefields like Afghanistan.
‘Duty’ is a refreshingly honest memoir and a moving one. Mr. Gates scrupulously identifies his flaws and mistakes: He waited too long, for example, for the military bureaucracy to fix critical supply issues like the drones needed in Iraq and took three years to replace a dysfunctional command structure in Afghanistan.
The president is being denounced for not taking the kind of pre-emptive action in Afghanistan that he has been so passionately denounced for taking in Iraq. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
The true credit for our safety and security goes to our men and women who are serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan in the global war on terrorism.
However, it does seem now that the international community, more importantly the powers that have influence, and, even more importantly, Afghanistan’s neighbors realize that it is high time that they work together, and not against one another.
I suggested that we had experience in helping other countries build their military forces, and we would be willing and happy to do the same for Afghanistan, together with the United States.
If low taxes were the way that people like me created wealth, then we’d be starting our companies in the Congo or Somalia or Afghanistan, but we’re not. We come to places where there are lots and lots of customers.
When I came to Afghanistan, I couldn’t choose the training camp; al Qaeda and the Arabs ran the camps. I said, ‘Hey, I want to help.’ They said I could not until I had training. I said, ‘OK, I’ll take the training.’
General Zia-ul-Haq, a dictator and unscrupulous political actor, used Islam as a pretext for waging war in Afghanistan and adopting an aggressive stance towards India. By advancing a more orthodox version of Islam, he was able to hold on to a repressive regime and quell any opposition.
The acronym ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. But increasingly, we see that it’s not limited there. We see it in Egypt. We see it in Libya. We see it in Afghanistan.
I generally don’t follow domestic news that much aside from how it relates to the stories I’m covering abroad, like what Americans think of the War in Afghanistan.
I’m saying 9/11 was to get us into Iraq and get us into Afghanistan.
If we can spend over $3 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, surely we can find the money to meet the long-term needs of our people.
I wore the cloth of the nation for over 31 years in peace and war, from the Vietnam and Cold War eras, to Afghanistan and Iraq, and the emergence of China.
Middle Eastern Muslim countries are not only important for Afghanistan due to common culture and faith, but also because of economic benefits.
The Huffingtonpost.com does not pay its writers. Tina Brown’s thedailybeast.com does pay its writers. You have to be paid because this is not a hobby. You have to keep that standard. You can’t ask grandpa to loan you money because you have to go to Afghanistan. I walked the picket line for that to continue.
A lot of the traveling that I have done is for work. I’ve been to spots in Afghanistan and Iraq that are lovely, too, but I wouldn’t put those on travel itineraries.
I would have voted ‘no’ on the Iraq war and ‘yes’ to Afghanistan.
Cults, or related social movements such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, result in massive military expenses.
We were spending American blood and treasure to liberate the people of Afghanistan from one of the most brutal regimes on the face of the earth. That we would not use that moment to press for women’s rights seems to me unthinkable.
As an infantry officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, I have led men in combat and trained them on tactics and strategy. The mission of the infantry is to ‘close with, and destroy, the enemy.’ Our job, in a direct way, is to fight and win wars.
We are not in Afghanistan because girls were not allowed to go to school, but helping them do so will give the Afghan people hope for a better future.
I am an activist and rapper from Afghanistan, and I use rap to speak out and help end child marriage.
