[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3105-3106]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       OUR FUTURE IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon we had a serious and earnest 
debate about our future role in Afghanistan. I firmly believe that 
there are respectful differences of opinion on this war, and that 
support for a war is not a litmus test for one's support for America. 
However, I'm grateful that this House has overwhelmingly rejected 
running from America's vital interests and the people of Afghanistan.
  Our debate today presented a stark choice to Members, quite 
literally, to stay or to go in Afghanistan. It is one

[[Page 3106]]

in which there is no middle ground, no hedging, no fudging. In the most 
unequivocal terms I can muster, I resolutely oppose our retreat from 
Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, more times than I can count in the past few years, we 
have been reminded that the war in Afghanistan was the good war, that 
it was the war of necessity over the war of choice. I stand here today 
to remind my colleagues of their many statements in that regard. We did 
not seek this war. Our enemy sought us out. We did not march into 
Afghanistan for profit or pleasure or plunder. We went to ensure that 
Afghani soil is never again used to wage war or terrorize civilians.
  We did not ask for this war; but now that it's come, we cannot loosen 
the amount of responsibility that we have taken up. To be certain, our 
goals in Afghanistan are difficult. Continuing to forge a partnership 
with the Afghanis will take military might, diplomatic finesse, and our 
hard-earned taxpayers to succeed.

                              {time}  2015

  However, these are costs that we must bear and should bear. The 
President and our military leadership understand the seriousness of our 
task. Time and again in speeches and testimony and interviews they have 
repeated that Afghanistan is the epicenter of Islamic extremism, and 
that defeating al Qaeda in central Asia is essential to securing peace 
both in the region and here at home.
  Our partners in bringing peace to Afghanistan are the Afghan people 
themselves. It is their homes that have been destroyed and their 
children who have perished in 30 years of war. Yet these beaten and 
downtrodden people have stood next to our soldiers to fight for their 
future and their country because we told them that we will help them 
bring order to the chaos of their homeland.
  Many of my colleagues have discussed the costs of war, and they are 
right to consider what we have paid in blood and treasure to fight this 
fight. However, they have failed to weigh what giving up would cost us. 
Practically speaking, to retreat today means the Afghan central 
government will fail. When it fails, the Taliban will return to reclaim 
what was theirs and again plunge the country into the despotic darkness 
of blind religious zealotry. The Taliban will welcome home radical 
Islamic jihadists back to their soil to again plan their acts of murder 
and destruction. They will also expand their fight to the tribal areas 
of Pakistan, which has the potential to destabilize a nuclear power, 
and inflame the simmering tension between Pakistan and India, another 
nuclear power.
  While it is relatively easy to estimate what we have spent so far and 
what we will spend in the coming years in Afghanistan, it is impossible 
to know the value of the calamities that have been prevented because we 
remain. There is no value that can be put on the growth of a civil 
society, no cost that can be put on stabilizing Pakistan, and no price 
that can be put on the recent rapprochement of Pakistan and India. 
Failure in these developments will hurt our national security, yet a 
retreat will make them more likely.
  I believe, as we all do, that Americans want peace above all else. 
None of us desires our friends and families to be deployed overseas, 
battling among the rocks and caves of the foreign countryside. However, 
peace will not come until our enemies end their drive for our 
destruction. Until that day, talk of leaving Afghanistan means only 
that our enemies will bring the fight back to us.
  There can be no peace in Afghanistan without a cessation of 
hostilities. Whether we leave today, tomorrow, or at the end of this 
year, this war does not end simply because we choose not to be engaged 
in it. The Taliban will return. With their return, they will expand 
their efforts to destabilize our ally Pakistan, and again provide 
sanctuary for radical Islamic jihadists who will continue to try to 
murder Americans in the name of their faith.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope and pray fervently for a day when our Armed 
Forces do come home. However, until our enemies lay down their arms and 
give up their fight to destroy our civilization, our military must 
remain out there on the wall, doing their duty to uphold America's 
democracy and our safety.
  That we have spent so much time today discussing abandoning our 
allies deeply saddens me. Halfway around the world I know that our 
Afghan partners were watching what was said and trying to divine our 
intent by holding this debate. It is my firm hope that they see today's 
vote for what it is, the unqualified, overwhelming voice of the House 
of Representatives announcing that we will not abandon our friends in 
their deepest hour of need.

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