[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S3661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4594. Mr. GRAHAM (for himself and Mr. McCain) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2943, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities 
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for 
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military 
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which 
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle B of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1216. SENSE OF SENATE ON THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE 
                   ADVICE OF MILITARY COMMANDERS TO ENSURE FORCE 
                   LEVELS IN AFGHANISTAN AFTER 2016 ARE 
                   CONDITIONS-BASED.

       (a) Finding.--The Senate makes the following findings:
       (1) The United States vowed to hold those responsible for 
     the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks accountable, and 
     seeks to ensure that terrorists never again use Afghan soil 
     to plot an attack on another country.
       (2) Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 
     the United States decisively expelled the Taliban from 
     control of Afghanistan and sought to promote a multilateral 
     agenda to stabilize and reconstruct Afghanistan and rebuild 
     its institutions and economy.
       (3) The United States and Afghanistan signed a Bilateral 
     Security Agreement (BSA) on September 30, 2014, that provides 
     for an enduring commitment between the Government of the 
     United States and the Government of Afghanistan to enhance 
     the ability of the Government of Afghanistan to deter 
     internal and external threats against its sovereignty.
       (4) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has 
     metastasized beyond the borders of Iraq and Syria, announcing 
     its formation on January 10, 2015, in Afghanistan where it 
     carries out bombings, small arms attacks, and kidnappings 
     against civilians and security forces in a number of 
     provinces.
       (5) On September 28, 2015, Taliban fighters took over the 
     city of Kunduz, Afghanistan, after government forces fully 
     retreated, giving the insurgents a military and political 
     victory that had evaded them since 2001.
       (6) Since the beginning of 2016, current Commander of 
     Resolute Support and United States Forces-Afghanistan, 
     General John W. Nicholson Jr., former Commander of Resolute 
     Support and United States Forces-Afghanistan, General John F. 
     Campbell, and current Commander of United States Central 
     Command, General Joseph L. Votel--the senior military 
     commanders closest to the fight--have testified that the 
     security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating and 
     support a withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan 
     only when conditions warrant.
       (7) On April 19, 2016, the Taliban carried out a suicide 
     bomb and gun assault on a government security building in 
     Kabul, Afghanistan, killing at least 28 people and wounding 
     more than 320, marking the single deadliest attack in the 
     capital of Afghanistan since 2011.
       (8) In the first three months of 2016, the United Nations 
     reported that Afghanistan documented 600 civilian deaths and 
     1,343 wounded, with almost one-third of the casualties being 
     children.
       (b) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the future trajectory of security and stability in 
     Afghanistan is contingent upon the proper force levels of the 
     United States and coalition partners, which must be 
     conditions-based;
       (2) adjustments to force levels in Afghanistan should be 
     made with all due consideration to the assessment and advice 
     of military commanders on the ground;
       (3) decisions on force levels in Afghanistan should take 
     into account the capabilities required to preserve and 
     promote the hard-fought gains achieved over the last 15 
     years;
       (4) United States force levels in Afghanistan should be 
     determined in a timely manner and made known to allies and 
     partners to afford adequate planning and force generation 
     lead times;
       (5) the United States must continue its efforts to train 
     and advise the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in 
     warfighting functions so that they are capable of defending 
     their country and ensuring that Afghanistan never again 
     succumbs to the fate of being a terrorist safe-haven for 
     groups like the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State of 
     Iraq and the Levant (ISIL);
       (6) the United States must continue, in conjunction with 
     the Afghan National Security Forces, to operate a robust 
     counterterrorism force to deal with evolving and immediate 
     threats to the national security interests of the United 
     States;
       (7) the decision of the President in October 2015 to 
     maintain the current United States force level of 9,800 
     members of the Armed Forces in Afghanistan was in the 
     national security interests of the United States; and
       (8) Congress would support the President if the President 
     decided to maintain the current level of United States forces 
     in Afghanistan and adjust such level based on conditions on 
     the ground.
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