[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 165 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6649-S6651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Afghanistan

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, George Washington, in his farewell address to 
the Nation, warned us against foreign entanglements and costly wars. He 
and the other Founders knew firsthand the danger that enduring 
engagement abroad posed to our Republic and to the cause of freedom.
  Despite those warnings, we, the United States, have been embroiled in 
a directionless, trillion-dollar war in Afghanistan for the past 20 
years.
  And after all that investment--the American blood and treasure poured 
into that cause--Americans watched in horror as any semblance of the 
so-called progress and investment in a democratic Afghanistan crumbled 
in a matter of weeks. Haunting images demonstrating this failure 
tragically played out before us. Americans hadn't seen tragedy of this 
type since the Fall of Saigon.
  The Costs of War project at Brown University estimates that the total 
monetary cost of our war in Afghanistan amounts to $2.3 trillion, 
counting U.S. military spending, both on and off budget. U.S. manpower, 
resources, and expertise were dedicated for decades to the war in 
Afghanistan.
  So we must ask ourselves: What went wrong?
  I rise today to explain how the erosion of Congress's constitutional 
war-making role permitted and, in fact, enabled these failures.
  In the early years of the war, Congress shrugged as the President 
transformed the mission in Afghanistan. President Bush addressed the 
Nation and the servicemembers going to war in October of 2001, 
promising ``To all the men and women in our military--every sailor, 
every soldier, every airman, every coastguardsman, every Marine--I say 
this: Your mission is defined; your objectives are clear; your goal is 
just.''
  At the time, the mission was clear. The goals were to capture the 
terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks, neutralize the 
threat posed by al-Qaida in Afghanistan, and ensure the Taliban was not 
strong enough to provide a safe harbor to al-Qaida.
  In 2003, we had substantively accomplished each of those goals. 
Though killing Osama bin Laden would take until May of 2011, the 
Taliban had fallen and the leaders of al-Qaida went into hiding outside 
of Afghanistan. And yet, despite this reality, the Bush administration 
shifted the mission to physically rebuilding Afghanistan and reshaping 
the country's government and culture as if to mirror our own.
  Even as the mission in Afghanistan was changed dramatically and 
unrealistically, Congress did not repeal or replace or amend the 2001 
authorization for the use of military force in Afghanistan.
  The Constitution charges the legislative branch to not only fund but 
also declare and oversee wars, and yet Congress seemed unaffected by 
the rather dramatic change in mission and strategy.
  As a result, the war continued for longer than it should have--much 
longer--and the United States continued to lose tax dollars, lives, and 
any attachment to the original goals all at the same time.
  As building a democratic Afghanistan became the new mission, 
Presidents of both parties and the interagency apparatus ignored 
explicit evidence of failure and, in fact, doubled down on American 
investment and involvement.
  The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction--created 
by Congress to oversee and audit funds used for nation-building in 
Afghanistan--has delivered 427 audits and more than 250 reports to 
Congress since 2008, detailing the risks, the waste, and the 
mismanagement in the U.S. mission. Many of these reports pointed out 
contradictions of our aims and explained the waste, fraud, and abuse 
plaguing the funds Congress appropriated for the reconstruction 
projects of all sorts.
  Now, thanks to the investigative journalism of Craig Whitlock of the 
Washington Post, ``The Afghanistan Papers'' added another layer to the 
inspector general's reports, revealing evidence that high-ranking 
officials in the Department of Defense, in the State Department, and 
the White House knew that the U.S. mission had no focus, no metrics, no 
clear coordination, and no defined enemy.
  Douglas Lute, a three-star Army General who served as the Afghanistan 
war czar under President Bush and President Obama, is quoted in the 
published interview saying ``We were devoid of a fundamental 
understanding of Afghanistan--we didn't know what we were doing.''
  While I share the view with the majority of Americans that 
withdrawing forces from Afghanistan was the right choice and was, by 
all accounts, inevitable at some point, the Biden administration's 
disastrous withdrawal was the culmination of American failure in 
Afghanistan.
  Kabul fell to lawlessness and mass panic. Afghan security forces laid 
down arms to the Taliban. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled his 
nation. And the evacuation was so poorly directed that potential 
terrorists and men with child brides secured seats on U.S. evacuation 
flights while American citizens were left behind enemy lines. Our 
Nation lost 13 servicemembers, with many more seriously wounded, to a 
terrorist attack, and the administration ineptly responded by killing 
10 innocent civilians, including 7 children.
  President Biden's closing of the war in Afghanistan has been riddled 
with avoidable mistakes, resulting in both tragedy and embarrassment of 
historic magnitude. The President and other high-ranking officials must 
be held accountable for this failure. Anyone else engaging in such 
mismanagement of our actions in a theater of war would surely be held 
accountable, and they must too.
  Throughout 20 years of engagement, Congress itself has shamefully 
failed to respond to an executive branch plundering powers that 
constitutionally belong to Congress. It is time for Congress to do its 
job. It is time to ensure that such a grave mistake that cost us so 
much in American taxpayer resources, but most importantly in American 
blood, will never, ever happen again.

  Some of my colleagues and I may disagree on when and exactly how to 
use military force, but we should debate those matters in the light of 
day for

[[Page S6650]]

the American people to view and, even more importantly, for the 
American people to influence. U.S. engagement in Afghanistan over the 
last decade and the recent blundered withdrawal demand that we 
prioritize such a debate. It is long, long overdue.
  That is why I, along with my colleagues across the aisle, Senator 
Chris Murphy and Senator Bernie Sanders, introduced the National 
Security Powers Act, which would restore Congress's role in national 
security decisionmaking. This is an opportunity to protect our 
constitutional order. American citizens and especially those who serve 
in our military deserve nothing less.
  Despite our political differences, as members of the branch of 
government most accountable to the people, we feel the weight of 
American blood and treasure sacrificed in our Nation's wars. We may not 
have all the answers--I certainly don't claim to have them, but we put 
forth a really thorough, well-reasoned, much-needed set of reforms to 
ensure that America is not thrown into another endless war without 
continual congressional input--congressional input that is not just 
helpful; it is not just a good idea, but congressional input that is 
actually required by the Constitution itself.
  It is that kind of input that has been neglected. And, sadly, it has 
been neglected not just by the executive branch, but it has been 
neglected by the Congress, by the very people who are supposed to wield 
it.
  See, there is a big difference when it comes to war-making power 
between our system of government and the one we left behind--the one 
that was based in London. As Alexander Hamilton explained in Federalist 
No. 69, this was one of the key design features of the Constitution, 
one of the things that differentiates it from our former London-based 
system of government.
  There, the Chief Executive--that is the monarch; in those days, King 
George III--would take the country to war unilaterally. It was up to 
Parliament then to figure out how to fund it. Our Founding Fathers 
decided to make a break from that practice. They did not give this 
power to declare war to the Chief Executive, no. They gave that power 
only to the branch of government that would stand accountable to the 
people at the most regular intervals, the legislative branch.
  When we denigrate this role, when we minimize this responsibility, 
when we shirk this duty, we do so to our own everlasting shame and in 
violation of the oath that each and every one of us has taken to 
support the Constitution of the United States.
  In this Republic, Congress can no longer sit idle while the Executive 
alone decides the fate of our Nation's wars and those who fight in 
them. While we can't change history, we can live up to the ideals of 
our Constitution. I pray that we will. And I know that together we can, 
we must, and we will.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska is recognized.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, there have been a lot of discussions on 
the floor today--and I fully support them--about an important, 
important role of the U.S. Senate that we need to take on with regard 
to our oversight responsibility of what the entire country has recently 
observed as a fiasco, debacle, with regard to foreign policy in 
Afghanistan that is going to have consequences for years.
  Like all of us, I was home over August when all of these images on TV 
were unfolding. And I will tell you, I don't think I have ever seen my 
constituents madder about a single issue than this. It wasn't just 
Republicans. It was across-the-board Alaskans.
  Why?
  Because they saw our great country humiliated. They witnessed time 
and time again the President of the United States, the Commander in 
Chief, telling them blatant falsehoods that they knew were falsehoods, 
and there is yet to be any accountability on this.
  Now, the hearings have begun. We have had two hearings on the Armed 
Services Committee, but they continue to insist on keeping them 
classified. No reason to do that. We need to have these hearings out in 
the open. The American people want to see them.
  We had hearings on the Foreign Relations Committee this past week, 
and we started to see the beginnings of the Biden administration's 
strategy as it relates to explaining this fiasco, this debacle.
  What is it?
  Remarkably, it is to blame Donald Trump--if you watch the Secretary 
of State testify in front of the Foreign Relations Committee--and then 
blame the Generals, and then continue to quote the President of the 
United States that this withdrawal in Afghanistan was ``an 
extraordinary success.'' Let me repeat that: An ``extraordinary 
success.''
  That is what the President of the United States has called this. And, 
unfortunately, his Secretary of State, his Under Secretary of Defense--
who testified in front of the Armed Services Committee just a couple of 
days ago in a hearing that was the height of deniability on any 
responsibility--all of them continue to cling to this blatant falsehood 
that every American knows is not the case.
  This wasn't an extraordinary success, what we witnessed in 
Afghanistan. The whole country knows that. In fact, the whole world 
knows that.
  This is the cover from a few weeks ago of The Economist magazine--
pretty honest, well-respected magazine. Much of the world reads it.
  And that is what The Economist called it: ``Biden's debacle.'' If you 
look in the magazine, it goes into several articles about the 
implications of Biden's debacle. Here are some of the names, titles of 
the articles in this magazine: ``The fiasco in Afghanistan is a huge 
and unnecessary blow to America's standing'' in the world. That is not 
an extraordinary success. How about this one from another article in 
The Economist: ``Joe Biden blames everyone else.'' That is not 
accountability. And then perhaps most importantly: ``The big win for 
China in Afghanistan is seeing America humbled.''
  These are articles in an international magazine--a well-respected 
international magazine--that the whole world is reading, and this is 
what happened in Afghanistan. It wasn't an extraordinary success; to 
the contrary, it was a debacle. It was a debacle.
  Now, some things are becoming increasingly clear. The administration 
tries to defend this, tries to explain it. As The Economist magazine 
mentions, this is President Biden's fiasco. Despite attempts by the 
civilian leadership in the Biden administration to explain this away 
with regard to blame on Donald Trump or the generals, this was 100 
percent President Biden's decision and debacle.
  It is becoming increasingly clear even in the classified hearings 
that we have had on the Armed Services Committee that the President's 
senior military advisers said to the President: Do not do this, sir. Do 
not go to zero with our troops. Instead, you should keep a small force 
there.
  Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that the President's 
military advisers then said to the President: If you do go to zero, if 
you do get rid of all our troops--especially if they are pulled out 
before others leave--you are going to see many bad things happen 
tactically, operationally, strategically for our country.
  In essence, what Americans witnessed and saw on TV in August--this 
was predicted. The President was told this. He ignored this advice, so 
he owns this debacle. What he needs to do now is tell the truth about 
it. He and his administration need to tell the truth about it.
  There are many things that are disturbing about what has happened 
over the last several weeks in Afghanistan, but what has been so 
disturbing is not only how the President has been blaming everyone but 
himself; it is that when he talks to the American people about this 
issue, he has clearly not been telling the truth, and the American 
people know it.
  Let's start with the issue I just mentioned: the advice that the 
President received from his military advisers.
  President Biden was on a media interview show on August 18 as this 
whole fiasco was unfolding. He was asked:

       Your top military advisors warned against withdrawing on 
     this timeline. They wanted you to keep about 2,500 troops.

  That was the question from George Stephanopoulos.
  The President of the United States said:

       No, they didn't.

  Later, Stephanopoulos pressed: Your military advisers told you not to 
do

[[Page S6651]]

this, that ``we should keep 2,500 troops'' in Afghanistan.
  The President of the United States:

       No. No one said that to me that I can recall.

  That is not true. That is not true.
  During that same interview, George Stephanopoulos said:

       We've got, like, 10,000 to 15,000 Americans in the country. 
     . . . Are you committed to making sure that [American] troops 
     stay until every American who wants to [leave gets] out?

  That was the question.
  The President said:

       Yes.

  I am quoting him:

       If there's American citizens left, we're gonna stay--

  The military is going to stay--

       [until we] get them all out.

  That is a quote from the President of the United States. That wasn't 
true.
  In a later interview, the President mentioned that al-Qaida is all 
gone from Afghanistan. That isn't true. We know that.
  The President also said that our NATO allies:

       Every one of them knew and agreed with the decision I made 
     to end, jointly end, our involvement in Afghanistan.

  That is not true. That is not true.
  Then the President and his advisers--the Under Secretary of Defense 
for Policy most recently--have been highlighting this incredible, over-
the-horizon capability to go after terrorists whom we still have in 
Afghanistan. That, we know, has been greatly diminished. We have heard 
that from the military leaders who know these issues. So even on that 
issue, they are not leveling with the American people.
  These are not small, marginal misstatements I am talking about; these 
are dramatic, obvious falsehoods that go to the very heart of the 
foreign policy fiasco we have all witnessed. These are life-and-death 
deceptions that the President of the United States told the American 
people and he told the world.

  Here is the thing: The American people, the people in Britain, the 
people in our NATO ally countries, the leaders in countries that are 
adversaries--everybody knows that these statements were false.
  One of the many things that are so harmful to come out of this, 
because of these kinds of statements--when they come from the Commander 
in Chief, this undermines the credibility and honor of the United 
States of America in front of the rest of the world. That is one of the 
major reasons why so many of my fellow Alaskans and our fellow 
Americans are so upset by this Biden debacle.
  There are going to be more hearings next week in the Armed Services 
Committee. We are finally going to have open hearings. What we will 
need are straight, truthful answers from the witnesses, particularly 
those in uniform, who are not obligated to cover for the Commander in 
Chief's unwise decisions or blatant falsehoods. To the contrary, these 
witnesses will need to tell the truth--will need to tell the truth.
  Speaking of the truth, Mr. President, here is one truth that, to me, 
has been clear for months, and I have been talking about it for months, 
and it is even more relevant and urgent today in light of this foreign 
policy fiasco in Afghanistan. The Biden administration's budget is 
dangerous to America.
  Take a look at it, America. This is a $6 trillion budget--$6 trillion 
budget--where almost every Federal Agency in the U.S. Government gets a 
big increase in its budget; some 40 percent, 20 percent; all this 
green; double digits for most. Two Agencies--two Agencies--in this 
Biden budget blowout actually get cuts. Adjusted for inflation, they 
are cuts. Which are they? The Department of Defense and the Department 
of Homeland Security.
  If you are looking at the border right now, you know that Homeland 
Security doesn't need a budget cut, and we certainly, in this time of 
increasing danger globally, don't need the Department of Defense cut, 
but that is what this administration is doing right now.
  Like the President's actions and statements on Afghanistan, this 
budget is divorced from reality because here is the reality: We have a 
growing threat from international terrorism once again as Afghanistan 
once again has become a safe haven for some of the most dangerous, 
violent, extremist organizations on the planet. We know it. We see it. 
The Taliban, the Haqqani network, ISIS-K, al-Qaida--they are all 
celebrating, and they are all coming back to Afghanistan, and guess 
what they are doing. They are plotting against this great country. It 
didn't have to be this way, but that is the reality.
  Here is another reality: After watching this administration's chaotic 
withdrawal from Afghanistan, our adversaries are going to test Joe 
Biden's will in other areas of the world. It is going to happen--Russia 
with regard to Ukraine or the Baltics or Poland; Iran with regard to 
Israel, which the terrorist leaders in that country continue to say 
they want to wipe off the face of the Earth; and, of course, communist 
China, with Taiwan. As some of you may have seen, during the Biden 
Afghanistan debacle, China started rattling its saber as it relates to 
Taiwan for this very reason.
  Let me underscore this again. The weakness and lack of resolve 
demonstrated by the Biden administration in Afghanistan and this very 
weak military budget is likely, I think--very likely, unfortunately--to 
invite aggression by our adversaries in other parts of the world.
  Here is my message to the President and his team: You better be ready 
for this. You better be strong. And being strong starts with supporting 
a Department of Defense budget that is not cutting our readiness, as 
this one clearly does, and actually matches the realities of the more 
dangerous world we now find ourselves in because of this President's 
foreign policy incompetence.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.