Tuesday, December 01, 2009

McConnell statement on Obama's Afghanistan speech

Here is the statement from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of President Obama's address on Afghanistan:

I support the President’s decision to follow the advice of Generals Petraeus and McChrystal in ordering a surge of forces into Afghanistan. The additional forces in support of a counterinsurgency strategy will allow our commanders to begin the difficult work of preparing and deploying the ground forces necessary to reverse the momentum of the Taliban. The president was right to call for building a sufficient "Afghan capacity" that will allow for our troops to come home, rather than setting a hard withdrawal date that’s not based on conditions on the ground or the advice of our generals.

We owe it to the American people to ensure that Afghanistan never again serves as a sanctuary for Al Qaeda. We owe it to the brave Americans who are now or will be deployed in pursuit of this objective to provide every resource necessary to prevail. As this surge of forces produces results in security, governance and in capabilities of the Afghanistan Security Forces, we must ensure that the transition of responsibilities is based on conditions, not timelines.

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