As the military modernizes, it has become increasingly difficult to compete with industry for the skilled technicians needed to maintain modern weapon systems. The committee is aware of continued workforce challenges at the military depots. I look forward to working with the Congress to continue supporting our forces and veterans and on countering the challenges our Nation faces across the globe.Appointment of Recently Retired Members of the Armed Forces to Civil Service Positions They and their families have made incredible sacrifices for our Nation that we can never fully repay. Our NATO allies and operational partners, who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us for almost 20 years and who have also made great sacrifices, will now withdraw alongside our forces as we stand by our enduring principle of “in together, out together.”įinally, I want to acknowledge the tremendous debt of gratitude we owe as a Nation to the women and men who have served honorably in Afghanistan since 2001.
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We will withdraw responsibly, deliberately, and safely, in full coordination with our allies and partners. That is a recipe for staying indefinitely in Afghanistan.
But we will not allow United States troops to be a bargaining chip between warring parties in other countries. And we will encourage other nations in the region, especially Pakistan, to do more to support Afghanistan and to support stability in the country. We will continue to pursue diplomacy and fully support peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, facilitated by the United Nations. We will also continue to support the rights of Afghan women and girls and to maintain significant humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan. With the support of the Congress, we will continue to support the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces currently number close to 300,000, and they will continue to fight valiantly to protect the Afghan citizens. Over the past few decades, the United States and our partners have trained hundreds of thousands of Afghan troops. And we will refine our national strategy to monitor and disrupt terrorist threats wherever they arise. We will hold the Taliban and the Afghan government accountable to their commitments not to allow terrorists to threaten the United States or its allies from Afghan soil.
The United States will reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and assets in the region to prevent the reemergence of a terrorist threat in Afghanistan. Our focus and posture need to adapt accordingly.Īs we draw down United States troops, we will not take our eye off the terrorist threat in Afghanistan. Keeping thousands of troops concentrated on the ground in Afghanistan no longer makes sense as the most effective counterterrorism strategy when the threat has metastasized across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Over the last 20 years, however, the terrorist threat to the United States has become more dispersed around the globe. The terrorist threat from al-Qa’ida in Afghanistan is significantly degraded. It has been 10 years since we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden. We have long since accomplished the objectives that sent us to Afghanistan. Our original mission had overwhelming support in the Congress and our allies and partners rallied to our side and stood with us in Afghanistan. As a Senator, I supported sending our military to Afghanistan for those reasons. We went to Afghanistan in 2001 for a clear and just purpose: to apprehend those who attacked our country on Septemto root out al-Qa’ida and to prevent future attacks against the United States from Afghanistan. I reached this conclusion after conducting a rigorous policy review process and consulting closely with our allies and partners, with our military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with the Congress and the Vice President, and with the President of Afghanistan and many other leaders around the world. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283), I have determined that a waiver of the limitation under subsection 1215(a) is important to the national security interests of the United States.Īs I announced on April 14, 2021, after almost 20 years, it is time to end America’s longest war and bring our troops home. Consistent with section 1215(d) of the William M.
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