[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3639]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, for the past few years, I have been on the 
floor from time to time railing on the loss of life and waste of money 
in Afghanistan. I believe we have too many in Congress who are not 
listening to our men and women in uniform and are actually not even 
listening to the taxpayers who are paying the bill to be in 
Afghanistan.
  From articles written about paying for ghost soldiers--that means 
that they don't exist--to the Department of Defense spending $6 million 
to buy nine goats, the stories just go on and on and on.
  There are so many examples of waste, fraud, and abuse, it is time 
that we in Congress realize that it is not in our best interest to stay 
there for 16 more years. We have already been there 16 years. And, you 
know, you get to a point that you just wonder. And so many of our young 
men and women who have fought for our country in Iraq and Afghanistan 
are special heroes to all of us, and we know that. This is about the 
policy of the Congress, not the military policy.
  Recently, I read an article that the former President of Afghanistan, 
Hamid Karzai, has actually been meeting with the Russians and asking 
the Russians to come back to Afghanistan, and he, Hamid Karzai, will 
set up meetings with the Taliban. But sometimes you just wonder who in 
the world is watching this absolutely wild crazy world of Afghanistan.
  Then this past week, there was another article, and I will read the 
title of the article, Madam Speaker: ``Chinese Troops Appear to Be 
Operating in Afghanistan and the Pentagon is Okay With It.''
  Again, I repeat myself: after 16 years of war in Afghanistan, hasn't 
the American soldier done enough? Hasn't the American taxpayer paid 
enough for goats and paying ghost soldiers? 200,000 Afghans who don't 
even exist are getting paid, so that means that the money ends up in 
the hands of the Taliban or the village leaders.
  You know, if the Chinese want to spend 16 years in Afghanistan, so be 
it. Let them have it.
  Think about the history of Afghanistan, Madam Speaker. Alexander the 
Great was the first, and then we had the Brits that went in. In fact, 
Winston Churchill was a young reporter when they were in Afghanistan 
and he was very disillusioned with that world. Then the Russians went 
in for 10 years and then they left, and now we have been there 16 
years. Afghanistan is a graveyard of empires.
  It is time for us to start looking at the sensibility of what we are 
doing there and does it make any sense, which is a better way of saying 
it.
  I think that at some time, Afghanistan being the graveyard of 
empires, there is probably a headstone that says ``Russia.'' After 16 
years, maybe there will be a headstone that says ``USA.'' And who 
knows? If the Chinese go and stay 16 years, there might be another 
headstone that says ``China.'' At that time, maybe the ghost soldiers 
can take the $6 million goats out to the graveyard and let them eat the 
grass or something.
  I don't know, Madam Speaker. It gets a little bit crazy. It really 
does. It is time for this Congress to debate whether our policy is to 
stay in Afghanistan or to come home from Afghanistan.
  I close with this. These two little girls from my district are Eden 
and Stephanie Balduf. Their daddy, Kevin Balduf, was a sergeant from 
Camp Lejeune, which is in my district. He and Colonel Palmer, from 
Cherry Point Marine Air Station, which also is in my district, were 
sent to Afghanistan to train Afghanis to be policemen.
  These two little girls are at the funeral of their daddy. Their 
daddy, Sergeant Kevin Balduf, emailed his wife the day before he was 
shot and killed, along with Colonel Palmer, and said: I don't trust 
them. I don't trust them. I don't trust any of them.
  So I say to these two little girls, your United States Congress needs 
to debate whether we need to stay in Afghanistan longer than the 16 
years we have been there, or is it time to say we have done our job and 
it is time to come home.

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