Menendez on Ten Year Anniversary of Afghanistan War

Washington - US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today released the following statement on the 10 year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan.

"Ten years ago, Al-Qaeda brought its war to the heart of our nation, killing more than 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. Today, I encourage all Americans to pause and consider the sacrifices that our brave men and women in uniform have made to protect our country and to bring to justice the cowards who attacked us on that day. Our military personnel, and their families at home, have paid a huge price to guarantee our freedom, and for this all Americans owe a debt that cannot possibly be repaid.

In that ten years, we have made great progress toward dismantling Al-Qaeda and weakening its Taliban protectors. The death of Osama bin-Laden in May and of senior cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi last week have weakened the al-Qaeda leadership. We have worked to drain the swamp and our task now is not nation-building, but ensuring that the swamp does not fill again through a tailored counter-terrorism strategy that protects our narrow national security interests and meets our fiduciary responsibilities.

At a time when we are scrounging for money at home to get Americans back to work and to keep police and firefighters protecting our home towns, the $10 billion a month war effort is simply not sustainable.

The time has come to allow Afghans to draw on our nearly $40 billion investment in the 290,000 strong Afghan National Security Forces who have committed to securing their country's future and allow them the opportunity to defend their nation and their people.

The withdrawal plan that President Obama announced on June 22, 2011 is a significant step that reflects the progress we have made, but we also need to begin the conversation about bringing home our remaining 68,000 troops as quickly as possible. I believe that if we reform our mission, target our unique military resources, and refine our assistance mission to focus on sustainable and achievable outcomes, we will be able to eliminate threats to our national security with fewer troops and less money."

###