2nd Platoon of Outlaw Troop 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment on patrol in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. (photo: ISAFMedia via Flickr)

I’m honored to stand with my colleague Walter Jones (R-NC) with this editorial appearing in the morning’s Washington Post. I’ll let the full piece speak for itself, but I think it’s clear we can no longer afford to keep the current course in Afghanistan.

“Simply put, we believe the human and financial costs of the war are unacceptable and unsustainable. It is bankrupting us. The United States should devise an exit plan to extricate ourselves from Afghanistan, not a plan to stay there four more years and “then we’ll see.” This doesn’t mean that we abandon the Afghan people – rather, we should abandon this war strategy. It is a failure that has not brought stability to Afghanistan and has not enhanced our own security. As the retired career Army officer Andrew J. Bacevich has written, to die for a mystique is the wrong policy.

It is easier for politicians to “go along” rather than make waves. But we were elected to do the right thing, not what is politically expedient. The discussion of Afghanistan shouldn’t be about politics, which we acknowledge are difficult, but what is right for our country. And the right thing is to end this war.”

The solution in Afghanistan: Get out

Thanks,
Jim

Congressman Jim McGovern
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