I believe in the transformational power of liberty. I believe that the free Iraq is in this nation's interests. I believe a free Afghanistan is in this nation's interest.
I supported the war in Afghanistan because 3000 of our people were murdered and I thought we had a right to defend the people of the United States.
This is a war of necessity...If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which Al Qaida would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting; this is fundamental to the defense of our people.
I won't repeat the mistake that I regret enormously, and that is, after we were able to help the Afghan freedom fighters and drive the Russians out of Afghanistan, we basically washed our hands of the region. The result was the Taliban, al Qaeda, and a lot of the difficulties we are facing today. We can't ignore those lessons of history.
It's clear that if I had been president, we would have never diverted our attention from Afghanistan. When I went to Afghanistan the first time and was met by a young soldier from New York, in the 10th Mountain Division who told me that I was welcomed to the forgotten front lines in the war against terror, that just struck me so forcefully. We have so many problems that we are going to have to untangle. It will take a tremendous amount of effort. What are we going to do going forward? Because day after day, what I spend my time working on is trying to help pick up the pieces for families and for injured soldiers trying to make sure that they get the help that they need, trying to give the resources that are required. We had to fight to get body armor. Bush sent people to war without body armor. We need a president who will be sensitive to the implications of the use of force and understand that force should be a last resort, not a first resort.
The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now. The ... things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that - Bin Laden is - is hiding out right now and ... and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement. There ... there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that ... a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq.
But Obama was very explicit about his foreign policy in Afghanistan. He said we should escalate in Afghanistan; we should have more troops in Afghanistan. And that's where the battle is, that's where the battle with the Al-Qaeda is, is in Afghanistan. But when he talks about Afghanistan, he talks about Pakistan as well and it's very weak. The American missiles sent off by our CIA with drones, ended up killing 22 civilians. So they said there were possibly a few Al-Qaeda suspects there, but some women and children were killed as well ... So really and truly, policies have not changed there, it's exactly the same. Escalation of war, Afghanistan will be Obama's war.
We do know, of certain knowledge, that [Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan or in some other country or dead.
The request for additional forces by the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, poses cruel dilemmas for President Obama. If he refuses the recommendation and General McChrystal's argument that his forces are inadequate for the mission, Obama will be blamed for the dramatic consequences. If he accepts the recommendation, his opponents may come to describe it, at least in part, as Obama's war. If he compromises, he may fall between all stools - too little to make progress, too much to still controversy.
