Red Rock On Air

Washington DC  – Congressman Jim Oberstar issued the following statement of opposition to a resolution to pull all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan by the end of this year:

“I voted against the second Iraq War in 2002 because I felt we should have fully engaged Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.  That’s where our enemies where and we should have concentrated our efforts there, finished the job and secured Afghanistan.  Instead, we engaged in an unnecessary and unreasonable war in Iraq without paying for it and it has cost billions and billions of dollars and tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi lives.  That adventure is now winding down and we are now able to exit that situation with dignity and respect.

We cannot precipitously pull out of Afghanistan.  In his campaign, President Obama committed to completing the task in Afghanistan and developing a strategy for getting out.  He spent several months carefully developing a strategy and is now in the process of implementing it.  It is the duty of Congress to monitor events in Afghanistan as they unfold and, if necessary, control the actions of the Administration through the appropriations process.  The Obama Administration will be submitting a supplemental funding request for Afghanistan; that is the context in which we can impose some conditions.  But to set an unrealistic target for exit will harm our credibility, put our troops in danger and likely not be successful in achieving our goals.”