This year, the United States marks 18 years of combat in Afghanistan. We remember and honor the more than 2,300 brave U.S. service members who made the ultimate sacrifice and the over 20,000 who have been wounded in action. We thank the courageous men and women in uniform who are still abroad, a world away from their homes and families, fighting this war.
Soon, we will reach a watershed moment in Afghanistan, as American soldiers begin deploying to fight in a war that began before they were born. As we meet this solemn milestone, we must reexamine our approach to the longest war in the history of the United States and reconsider whether keeping tens of thousands of troops on a sprawling mission in Afghanistan will make Americans any safer going forward. And we must listen to the American people, who—overwhelmingly—oppose endless war in the Middle East.
That’s why we recently introduced a bipartisan joint resolution, the American Forces Going Home After Noble (AFGHAN) Service Act, to return our combat forces home from Afghanistan in an orderly and responsible way, while also setting a framework for political reconciliation in Afghanistan without a permanent U.S. presence.
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For nearly two decades, and under three presidents—both Democratic and Republican—we have committed America’s blood and treasure toward securing Afghanistan. On top of the thousands of American lives lost and forever changed, as the mission has dragged on, we have been left with the fraying of vital relationships and a bill greater than what our nation spent on the Marshall Plan—upwards of $2 trillion.
Despite the exceptional efforts and extraordinary sacrifices of our armed forces and diplomatic corps, we still face enormous obstacles that will not be solved by military force—ranging from rampant corruption fueled by billions of dollars in multilateral aid to a drug-trafficking problem that has upended the rule of law to deep-seated issues of governance that demand a political solution.
By now, it’s clear that American troops have achieved the mission they were sent to carry out in October 2001, including the removal of al-Qaeda’s base and the death of Osama bin Laden. But the continued commitment of our troops will not enable the Afghan people to rebuild their own nation or stabilize the central government. We should not risk more American lives, or continue squandering more than $51 billion each year on these impossible tasks.
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Endless wars require endless resources and endless sacrifices. We simply cannot maintain a prolonged military footprint in Afghanistan, putting more Americans in harm’s way and pouring billions of dollars into an endless war, while also addressing the urgent needs we face at home and abroad. The troops who have served valiantly in support of America’s mission in Afghanistan deserve no less. It is time for us to bring them home.
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More:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...nistan/584710/
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