[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 20 (Thursday, January 31, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 92. Mr. MERKLEY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 65 proposed by Mr. McConnell (for himself, Mr. Graham, Mr. 
Blunt, Mr. Burr, Mr. Romney, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
Sasse, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Tillis, 
Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Young, and Mr. 
Boozman) to the bill S. 1, to make improvements to certain defense and 
security assistance provisions and to authorize the appropriation of 
funds to Israel, to reauthorize the United States-Jordan Defense 
Cooperation Act of 2015, and to halt the wholesale slaughter of the 
Syrian people, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the 
table; as follows:

       Strike ``ON WITHDRAWALS OF UNITED STATES FORCES FROM SYRIA 
     AND AFGHANISTAN'' and all that follows through ``Syria or 
     Afghanistan'' and insert:
       ``SENSE OF CONGRESS ON TRANSITION OF MILITARY AND SECURITY 
     OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN.
       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) After al Qaeda attacked the United States on September 
     11, 2001, the United States Government rightly sought to 
     bring to justice those who attacked us, to eliminate al 
     Qaeda's safe havens and training camps in Afghanistan.
       (2) Members of the Armed Forces, intelligence personnel, 
     and diplomatic corps have skillfully achieved these 
     objectives, culminating in the death of Osama bin Laden.
       (3) Operation Enduring Freedom was the longest military 
     operation in United States history, and combined with 
     Operation Freedom's Sentinel the United States' involvement 
     in Afghanistan has exceeded $1,000,000,000,000 in costs to 
     the United States taxpayer and continues to cost taxpayers 
     over $45,000,000,000 a year.
       (4) Members of the United States Armed Forces have served 
     in Afghanistan valiantly and with honor, and many have 
     sacrificed their lives and health in service to their 
     country;
       (5) The United States has suffered more than 2,000 deaths 
     in Afghanistan (including at least 13 in 2018), and the 
     United States has dropped more than 5,200 bombs in 2018, a 
     record high.
       (6) Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, reflecting 
     consensus within United States and international security 
     experts, has concluded that there is no military solution to 
     the conflict in Afghanistan, stating, ``It's all working to 
     achieve a political reconciliation, not a military victory. 
     The victory will be a political reconciliation.''
       (7) Over the past 17 years, the mission of the United 
     States has evolved to include a prolonged nation-building 
     effort in Afghanistan.
       (8) Such nation-building efforts in Afghanistan are 
     undermined by endemic corruption, high illiteracy, tribal 
     fractions, and a historic aversion to a strong central 
     government in that country.
       (9) The United States Government will continue to support 
     the development of Afghanistan with a strong diplomatic and 
     counterterrorism presence in the region.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the announcement by Special Representative for 
     Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad that the United 
     States and the Taliban agreed on a draft framework that could 
     lead to the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from 
     Afghanistan and that ``[t]he Taliban have committed, to [the 
     Administration's] satisfaction, to do what is necessary that 
     would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for 
     international terrorist groups or individuals'' should be 
     welcomed and a reflection of an appropriate diplomatic 
     approach to end U.S. military involvement in the country.
       (2) the President should complete the transition of the 
     responsibility for military and security operations in 
     Afghanistan to the Government of Afghanistan as soon as 
     possible but no later than September 18, 2021, the 20th 
     anniversary of the enactment of Public Law 107-40, the 
     Authorization for Use of Military Force against those 
     responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001, in 
     conjunction with efforts to turn the draft framework into a 
     durable peace between the Government of Afghanistan and the 
     Taliban;
       (3) the U.S. should re-double diplomatic efforts to support 
     our Afghan partners as they prepare to hold presidential 
     elections in 2019;
       (4) any cost savings resulting from a troop withdrawal 
     should be re-programmed to increase bilateral humanitarian 
     assistance and to maintain gains in human rights to include 
     advances made for women and girls to Afghanistan in an amount 
     no less than one percent of the annual cost to the U.S. 
     budget of our military engagement in Afghanistan in fiscal 
     year 2018; and
       (5) not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
     of this Act, the President should submit to Congress a 
     report--
       (A) including a plan for the complete transition of all 
     military and security operations in Afghanistan to the 
     Government of Afghanistan.
       (B) assessing the likely humanitarian needs of Afghanistan 
     in the ten years following a U.S. military withdrawal; and
       (C) assessing efforts by Special Representative Khalilzad 
     to turn the draft framework reached with the Taliban into a 
     durable peace agreement between the Government of Afghanistan 
     and the Taliban.
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