[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11038]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to be on the floor again talking 
about the failed policy in Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, most people in my district know that I've signed over 
11,000 letters. They're condolence letters to families who've lost 
loved ones in Afghanistan and Iraq because of the unnecessary war we 
fought in Iraq. In the last 2 weeks, we were home for the July 4 break. 
There were two weekends. I've signed 16 letters to families in this 
Nation who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, it's almost like we in Congress don't know we're still 
at war; yet there are young men and women dying in Afghanistan and 
being wounded every day. The American people do not understand why we 
continue to fund this failed policy in Afghanistan. Each and every day 
the failures become clearer and clearer to the American people, but not 
to Congress.
  Most recently, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan 
Reconstruction John Sopko warned that the Pentagon is moving ahead with 
plans to spend $771 million on aircraft, including 30 Russian 
helicopters for an Afghan military team. This purchase comes despite 
the fact that only seven of 47 Afghan Air Force pilots are qualified to 
fly the helicopters. As reported by CNN, an audit by Mr. Sopko 
explained that the reason so few pilots are able to fly the aircraft is 
that ``it's difficult to find literate recruits who don't have links to 
insurgents or criminals.''
  Mr. Speaker, that should wake up the Congress, if nothing else.
  Unfortunately, this is only one of many examples of American money 
being wasted in Afghanistan. I've written multiple letters requesting a 
hearing to allow Mr. Sopko to testify before the House Armed Services 
Committee regarding this and other findings that he has made in 
Afghanistan and the abuse of American funds, but to my knowledge a 
hearing has not been scheduled. I will continue to push the chairman of 
the Armed Services Committee, which I serve on.
  Mr. Speaker, what is so sad, truthfully, is for the American 
taxpayer, that their Representatives in Washington will continue to 
spend money in Afghanistan with very little accountability. The 
American people are tired of this war in Afghanistan, and they're tired 
of seeing young men and women coming back in flag-draped coffins.
  While this administration is in the final stages of negotiating a 
bilateral security agreement with Afghanistan, Congress has had no 
debate on this strategic agreement. I realize that the President is not 
required to come before Congress for approval, but it is that we in 
Congress should have the concern that we would bring up the issue 
itself and debate it and vote up or down whether we should stay in 
Afghanistan for 10 more years.
  Mr. Speaker, before closing, I want to remind that in these 16 
letters that I signed in the last 2 weeks, some of these letters were 
addressed to children, whether it be two, three, four children, to say 
that I'm sorry that your father, your brother, your sister, or your 
mother has been killed in Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I ask God to please bless the men and women 
in uniform, to bless the families of our men and women in uniform, in 
His loving arms to hold the families who have given a child dying for 
freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  I ask God to bless the House and Senate, that we will do what is 
right in the eyes of God. I will ask God to bless the President and 
give him the courage to do what is right for the American people.
  And three times I will say, with the greatest respect, God, please, 
God, please, God, please, continue to bless America.

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