[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 46 (Thursday, March 15, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1612-H1613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WE SHOULD DEBATE A NEW AUMF REGARDING AMERICAN TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, 1 week ago, Barbara Lee and Tom Cole sent a
letter to the Speaker of the House that was signed by 100 Members of
Congress, including myself, asking the Speaker to authorize the
committees of jurisdiction to bring an AUMF--that is an Authorization
for Use of Military Force--so that we can have a debate.
The last time we had a policy debate on Afghanistan was 2001, 17
years ago.
I have been on the floor for the last 5 years because I am frustrated
that we can't get a debate. It is our constitutional duty. And our
young men and women are around the world in different locations, half
we don't even know about, yet we can't debate an issue of war when
young men and women go and die for this country.
That 5 years included calling on John Boehner to authorize an AUMF.
Now we are calling on Paul Ryan. I think my name has been on 15 letters
going back to the days of John Boehner.
In the 17 years, we have spent over $1 trillion, over 2,300 Americans
have died, and over 20,000 wounded; yet we in Congress are not meeting
our constitutional responsibility.
I have Camp Lejeune in my district. I have talked to many Active Duty
marines who have been there five, six, seven times. It is so chaotic
now, that the Russians are working with Karzai and trying to get back
in with the Taliban.
It is a no-win situation. It is time to have a debate and let Members
vote whether they want to stay or come home.
Mr. Speaker, to make things worse than ever, on February 15, Pamela
Constable wrote an article in The Washington Post titled, ``Taliban
appeals to American people to `rationally' rethink war effort.''
They are our enemy, but it is not bad advice, to be honest with you.
Pamela Constable mentions many portions of a longer letter written by
the Taliban to the United States. I have a copy of this article and I
read it yesterday.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the article written by Pamela
Constable.
[From the Washington Post, Feb. 14, 2018]
Taliban Appeals to American People to `Rationally' Rethink War Effort
(By Pamela Constable)
Kabul.--Taliban insurgents on Wednesday issued an
extraordinary, 17,000-word appeal to the ``American people,''
asking them to pressure U.S. officials to end the 16-year-old
conflict in Afghanistan and asserting that the protracted
American ``occupation'' had brought only death, corruption
and drugs to the impoverished country.
The letter, whose authenticity was confirmed by a brief
telephone conversation with insurgent spokesman Zabiullah
Mujahid, was primarily aimed at a U.S. audience. Unlike
previous statements issued by the Taliban, it used statistics
and logical arguments--not just ideological harangues--to
convince Americans that their government's investment in the
war has been a dire mistake.
``Prolonging the war in Afghanistan and maintaining
American troop presence is neither beneficial for America nor
for anyone else,'' the document said, calling on U.S.
citizens, legislators and others to ``read this letter
prudently'' and evaluate the costs and benefits of continuing
to fight. ``Stubbornly seeking the protraction of this war;''
it added, ``will have ``dreadful consequences'' for the
region and the ``stability of America herself.''
The letter, sent under the banner of ``The Islamic Emirate
of Afghanistan,'' was issued just weeks after a blitz of
deadly insurgent attacks in the Afghan capital have left the
government struggling to cope with increased public anxiety
and anger. It also came as the Trump administration is
ramping up a new military strategy, involving thousands of
additional troops, to expand the Afghan security forces and
train them to defend their country independently.
While insisting that ``our preference is to solve the
Afghan issue through peaceful dialogues,'' the letter also
warned that Taliban forces ``cannot be subdued by sheer
force'' and that seeking a peaceful solution does not mean
``that we are exhausted or our will has been sapped.''
This combination of outreach and threat has been a hallmark
of Taliban statements, including a shorter one issued shortly
after the spate of attacks last month that killed more than
150 people in urban population centers. The insurgent group
has said it would not revive peace talks unless foreign
troops leave the country, and it has rejected feelers from
the administration of President Ashraf Ghani.
A spokesman for Ghani, Shah Hussain Murtazawi, responded
sharply to the letter, saying, ``We never negotiate with
groups who resort to crime and the brutal killing of people
and then claim responsibility for it. The door of peace is
shut to them, but the door of peace is open to those groups
who have expressed their hatred for such crimes.''
The letter's talking points included a list of goals that
the U.S. government had set out to achieve in entering the
war, including eliminating terrorism, establishing the rule
of law and eradicating drugs. It then systematically
presented arguments, backed up with international statistics
but also exaggerated for effect, to show that these efforts
had failed or had extremely negative consequences.
``As confirmed by your own military authorities, 3546
American and foreign soldiers have been killed, more than
20,000 American forces injured and tens of thousands more are
suffering mentally,'' the letter said, asserting that the
actual casualty figures were much higher but were being
``concealed'' by U.S. leaders. The casualty figures track
with those provided by the U.S. military.
A second argument said reports by the U.S. Office of the
Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction estimated
that ``sixty percent of Afghan territory is now under the
control of Taliban.'' The figure is actually much lower, but
the inspector general and other agencies have said that
insurgents control or influence more territory than at any
previous time in the war and that the area continues to
widen.
The letter also said that there had been 751 U.S.
airstrikes in September, which appears to be an accurate
figure. ``You should ask your generals that despite using
such force,
[[Page H1613]]
have you retaken even a single inch of land from the
Taliban,'' the letter suggested.
A third assertion was that previous U.S. administrations
had cited the ``prevention and eradication of narcotics'' as
a justification to ``invade'' Afghanistan, an inaccurate
claim. But the letter correctly cited figures from the U.N.
Office on Drugs and Crime showing that opium poppy
cultivation has ``skyrocketed'' in the 16 years since the
military intervention and that the number of Afghan drug
addicts has reached more than 3 million.
The overall message of these arguments was that the
American people should make a ``rational'' assessment of the
war effort, realize that it is backfiring and prevail upon
their leaders to withdraw.
``You proclaim to be a developed and civilized nation,''
the letter said. ``We leave it to your judgment to decide''
whether the prevailing conditions of ``insecurity, chaos''
and soaring drug problems in Afghanistan constitute ``reforms
or crimes against humanity.''
Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, it is ironic because many of us in the House
of Representatives do think and would agree with the Taliban: It is
time to rethink the policy in Afghanistan.
Mr. Speaker, I must have at least 35 or 40 posters that I have been
using on the floor of the House for the last number of years. This one
is of a woman who lost her husband, in tears, and the little baby girl
sitting in her lap. She doesn't know why there is a man in a uniform
kneeling before her mother with a folded flag.
There is just so much that we are missing as Members of Congress
because we won't debate the war in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is a graveyard of empires. I think one day that Afghan
graveyard is going to have a headstone that says, ``USA,'' because we
are going broke trying to fix a country that couldn't care less about
our values and our system. But that is the way it works around here.
You can't even get a debate on sending young men and women to die for
this country.
Mr. Speaker, I ask Mr. Ryan to please let us have this debate.
Members of Congress in both parties want to debate. You can vote for
staying in Afghanistan, or you can vote for getting out of Afghanistan,
but let us meet our constitutional responsibility.
I ask God to bless our men and women in uniform, and God to bless
America.
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