[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E573-E574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   AFGHANISTAN WAR POWERS RESOLUTION

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 17, 2011

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the sentiment behind this 
resolution. American and other NATO forces have been in Afghanistan for 
10 years. That is a long haul and at times it seems that we are making 
little progress in achieving our objective. Like many Americans, I have 
serious questions about our strategy in Afghanistan. That being said, I 
oppose this resolution for three reasons.
  First, the foundational argument of this resolution is simply wrong. 
Section 5(c) of the War Powers Act, the provision referenced in this 
resolution, states that Congress may, by concurrent resolution, require 
the President to redeploy troops out of the line of fire if the 
President had never received congressional authorization for the 
deployment. But the Congress did authorized military operations in 
Afghanistan in 2001. Consequently, there is no sound legal basis for 
this resolution.
  Second, the Secretary of Defense has indicated that an ill-timed and 
precipitous drawdown of forces could threaten the progress and the 
sacrifices we have made in Afghanistan. A withdrawal of troops in 9 
months, as this resolution requires, could create a total power vacuum 
and be a recipe for anarchy in Afghanistan. The likely result could be 
a bloodbath with a high probability that al Qaeda will once again 
establish itself in Afghanistan.
  Third, the President has announced that the United States will begin 
to redeploy its forces in Afghanistan this Summer. Last week, General 
Petraeus indicated that the redeployment would begin as planned. The 
goal is to steadily, but responsibly, withdraw U.S. and NATO forces as 
we accelerate the training of the Afghan National Security Forces. I 
will closely monitor the progress of that effort in order to ensure 
that we follow through as planned.
  Our decision to forcibly remove the Taliban regime in 2001 was the 
right one. The Taliban regime had allowed Afghanistan to become a safe 
haven for al Qaeda and a launching pad for the September 11, 2001 
attacks on the United States. The United Nations, the Atlantic Alliance 
and the entire international community agreed that the U.S. response 
was appropriate and justified.
  Although that decision was justified, serious questions remain about 
the best way forward in Afghanistan. I oppose this resolution. I will 
review similar future resolutions with a fresh eye based on the 
consideration of the situation in Afghanistan. We must see greater 
evidence that the Afghan National Security Forces are steadily assuming 
greater responsibility.
    

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