[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H2805-H2806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I am back on the floor 
again to talk about the failed policy in Afghanistan.
  This poster beside me, Mr. Speaker, is a cartoon that I got from the 
paper, and it says, ``CIA ATM.'' Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, The New York 
Times broke an article, a story that the CIA, over the last 10 years, 
has been giving hundreds of millions of dollars to Karzai, and I want 
to quote what Karzai said in that article. Karzai said he was assured 
that the CIA would continue delivering bags of cash--bags of cash--
going to Karzai, the corrupt leader, in Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, what really makes this cartoon sad is in the background 
is an American soldier, and what he is thinking as Karzai is taking his 
cash money away from the CIA ATM machine, the solder is thinking, ``I'd 
like

[[Page H2806]]

to make a quick withdrawal from here.''
  I hope that during the debate in July on the appropriations bill 
dealing with the Defense Department that we will start passing 
amendments that say we need to stop this out-of-control spending in 
Afghanistan with very little accountability.
  I am one that agrees with my party and some of the Democrats that we 
need to hold hearings on Benghazi and the Internal Revenue Service. But 
I have written to the leadership of the Armed Services Committee and 
the subcommittee chairmen asking for a hearing on this out-of-control 
waste in Afghanistan. Not only did the CIA acknowledge that they have 
been giving tens of millions of dollars in cash to Karzai for 10 years, 
but, Mr. Speaker, we are also authorizing $8 billion a month to go to 
Afghanistan. We are holding no hearings on the waste, fraud, and abuse 
in Afghanistan.
  I hope that after we get through the appropriations process that we 
will start holding hearings. It's not fair to the American people that 
we borrow money from China to send to Karzai in Afghanistan. And, Mr. 
Speaker, we all know that Karzai is not going to survive. The Taliban, 
whom we are fighting, who are killing Americans today, will be the 
future leaders of Afghanistan. Every expert that I've spoken to, 
military and nonmilitary, has said that the Taliban, which primarily is 
made up of Pashtuns--that's the largest tribe of Afghanistan--in time, 
they will be the leaders of Afghanistan.
  It is time for this Congress to wake up and join the American people. 
Seventy-five percent of the American people say, We want out of 
Afghanistan. We want to bring our troops home. We want to stop wasting 
money.
  So, Mr. Speaker, before I close, I would also like to reiterate this 
cartoon. It's Karzai standing at a CIA ATM machine. He's got bags of 
cash down at his feet, and the little guy has a credit card that he's 
going to put into the machine, like we all do here in America to get 
money from our own accounts. But he's not getting it from his own 
account; he's getting it from the CIA account. And then I see this poor 
soldier standing behind him who's saying, ``I'd like to make a quick 
withdrawal from here.''
  Mr. Speaker, I ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform. 
I ask God to hold in His arms those families who've given a child dying 
for freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. I ask God to please bless the 
House and Senate, that we will do what is right in the eyes of God. I 
ask God to please bless the President, that he will do what is right in 
the eyes of God. And three times I will ask, God, please, God, please, 
God, please continue to bless America.

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