The big nest was in Afghanistan, thats not quite cleared, then there are nests in the Philippines, there are nests in Indonesia, the Malaysians are clearing up their nests.
Trying to rebuild Afghanistan on the cheap has left the country in the hands of warlords and an impotent Northern Alliance puppet regime that runs Kabul and nothing else.
Afghanistan fortunately is one of the richest countries in terms of water, mineral resources, location and human capital.
Since 1945, no one in the U.S. military has liked the end result of the military conflicts we’ve been in: Vietnam, Korea, certainly Iraq, and probably Afghanistan. But in a democracy, you salute.
As far as Afghanistan is concerned, I’m not sure whether the United States and Pakistan have the same objectives. Pakistan would like Afghanistan to be under its control.
We’re pursuing a strategic partnership with Afghanistan on the case of the United States and Afghanistan where we’re going to push toward a future. It is the future that the Afghans desire with the United States. It is a future that the Afghans desire with the international community and we desire that as well.
The art of coalition command – whether it is here in Afghanistan, whether it was in Iraq or in Bosnia or in Haiti – is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect.
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?
We have been helping, trying to help Afghanistan in many ways, even from the beginning of… the beginnings of the ’20s, 1920s, when he we were fighting our own national struggle.
It is imperative that Afghanistan cricket does well. You cannot imagine how passionate Afghanistan’s fans are and how they live and die by every result.
A significant U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan has been continuous since October 2001, and President Obama’s short-lived ‘surge’ in 2009 was a continuation of his predecessor’s buildup there.
What I’ve said from the beginning is that I am going to try to help all the vulnerable populations in Afghanistan – and to a certain extent, that’s the majority of Afghanistan.
The first boots on the ground in Afghanistan were my colleagues.
Didn’t George Washington say, ‘He who controls Afghanistan will carry New Jersey?’
We don’t see that the Taliban ultimately can succeed, and it’s a combination both of what the international community can do to support Afghanistan, not just in the short term, but over the long term.
And the fact of the matter is there were thousands of people that went through those training camps in Afghanistan. We know they are seeking deadlier weapons – chemical, biological and nuclear weapons if they can get it.
There is a direct line relationship between what happened in Afghanistan in the work up to 11 September 2001 and what we’re doing in Afghanistan today.
Afghanistan was always a backwater in the Islamic world.
I have defended the interests of France at the G8 in Washington; afterwards I was at Chicago to announce the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan; I have participated in two European summits, so I have fully respected the engagements I made to the French.
Al-Qaeda, which means ‘the base’ in English, lost its base and training camps in Afghanistan, while its leaders were on the run, captured, or dead. One year after the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda was still on life support.
Afghanistan must never again be a safe haven for terrorism.
Bin Laden’s role in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s had made him a hero around the Middle East.
The war being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq is bringing about a fundamental change to the environment that has given rise and power to the extremists who export terrorism.
Peace cannot come without the government of Afghanistan speaking directly to the Taliban or the Taliban talking directly to us.
A Western-style democracy in Afghanistan is a dream. I don’t see that as a reality anytime soon. But I think some form of representative political process is not that far-fetched.
Running on the pledge to end two wars, President Obama has the country entangled in three: Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and that doesn’t include the American’s foray into Libya.
I went to Afghanistan in ’96 to write about terrorist training camps south of Jalalabad and Tora Bora, in the mountains. I was there right before the Taliban took over, literally a few weeks before they took Kabul. The frontline wasn’t terribly active, but it was definitely there. And they swept into power.
In Afghanistan, Biden’s woke generals tucked their tail and ran. He dishonored the sacrifices made by every American soldier who fought in the 20-year war, especially those who gave their life for the cause.
I’m a lucky boy! I could be holding a gun in Afghanistan. There’s boys out there doing what they’ve got to do, and there’s people digging holes, and there’s people driving buses. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
With U.S. support, Israel has developed a cutting-edge missile defense system that one day may be used to guard America, just as Israeli technology protects the vehicles that U.S. soldiers drive in 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.
I am always revolted when Islamic leaders, from Afghanistan or elsewhere, deny the very existence of female oppression, avoid the issue by pointing to examples of what they view as Western mistreatment of women, or even worse, justify the oppression of women on the basis of notions derived from Sharia law.
In December 2004, I travelled on the road from Uzbekistan across the Oxus River on which the first Soviet convoys had rolled into Afghanistan 25 years before.
It will require a sustained military and financial commitment by the international community, working with the government of Afghanistan, to create the environment in which enduring democratic institutions can be established.
Many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from serious, long-term, physical and mental health problems, due to their service. It is unconscionable to cut the already limited health care benefits available to these brave men and women.
Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military.
President Obama had voiced strong support for the effort in Afghanistan during his campaign, pledging to add two brigades, which he did. But since the inauguration… the administration had signaled that the U.S. commitment needed careful assessment, and we needed to recalibrate the strategy and objectives.
When I was in my third tour in Afghanistan, I was shot down. I was injured to the point where I couldn’t fly anymore, so I looked into what ground jobs I could do that fulfilled me as an adrenaline junkie and, more importantly, utilized my experience.
You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I’ve been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women.
And across Afghanistan, every single day, Afghan soldiers, Afghan police and ISAF troops are serving shoulder-to-shoulder in some very difficult situations. And our engagement with them, our shoulder-to-shoulder relationship with them, our conduct of operations with them every single day defines the real relationship.
Our presence in Afghanistan is not worth the price of any more American lives or treasure.
After all the sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq, why do we find ourselves in a more dangerous world?
The U.S. must continue to carefully withdraw troops from Afghanistan at a pace based on assessment of the ground conditions so we do not leave our Afghan partners unable to guarantee long-term security or risk Afghanistan becoming a terrorist safe haven again.
The mission – the overall mission is to dismantle and defeat and disrupt al-Qaeda. But we have to make sure there’s not a safe haven that returns in Afghanistan.
When I retired from the military, I come home. And the reason why I got into politics is, you know, I spent a lot of time away from my wife and my kids. And I come home, and I found out I have kids in my backyard that have it worse than the children I saw in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A few weeks after the planes hit the World Trade Center, I applied for a direct commission in the U.S. Army Reserve and ultimately served three active duty tours, including overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Really, my whole family served three tours.
The terrorist attacks of September 11th and the courageous actions of our armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq remind us that friends of tyranny and enemies of freedom still exist.
‘Horse Soldiers’ is the untold story of how a small band of U.S. Special Forces soldiers secretly entered Afghanistan in 2001, just five weeks after September 11, saddled up on horses, and rode to an improbable victory against a vastly larger Taliban and Al Qaeda army.
I want the troops from Great Britain and the U.S. to be successful, but by the same token, Afghanistan has always been a screw-up.
