A day in Afghanistan is like a week at home.
Soviet foreign ministers would come in to see the president all the time, routinely. Jimmy Carter stopped that after the invasion of Afghanistan. Ronald Reagan resumed it in 1984, I think. And so the fact of a meeting like that I think is not that big a deal.
I would have voted 'no' on the Iraq war and 'yes' to Afghanistan.
I try to get over to Iraq and Afghanistan as much as I can.
Most liberals I know were for invading Afghanistan right after 9/11.
Without U.S. troops, Afghanistan, like Iraq, could descend into chaos.
I would not like to be in President Obama's position in making choices on Afghanistan.
We have to be concerned that Russia is also increasing its military influence in Egypt, potentially in Libya, also in Afghanistan.
I think the emancipation of women in Afghanistan has to come from inside, through Afghans themselves, gradually, over time.
If the United States had not intervened in Afghanistan, then obviously, we would have then allowed the attacks of 9/11 to go unanswered. I don't think most of Americans wanted that to happen.
[ Iraq and Afghanistan] don't get better, they only get worse. Bombing them has only enabled them to grow and multiply.
I'm saying 9/11 was to get us into Iraq and get us into Afghanistan.
Now, here we are, and we have Obama in office, and he has drawn down forces in Iraq - which is a plan that was on Bush's desk the day that he left office. The forces in Afghanistan, he's going to draw down, too. But at the same time, Obama has also expanded a lot of the more unsavory, covert aspects of the wars, with the drone strikes and some of the night-raid missions.
2017 is going to be another tough year for the valiant Afghan Security Forces and the international troops who have stood and will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Afghanistan against terrorism.
Some have called Afghanistan 'the graveyard of empires,' and it probably is the graveyard of empires.
NATO is in our national security interests. And, yes, we pay a lot for it, but, when we had Afghanistan, NATO troops were by our side from almost all of the NATO members. And they put their life and treasure on the line for us.
Now, I know there are many Americans who say, 'Get out of Afghanistan. Bring 'em all home.' And there are others who say, 'Put in hundreds of thousands of more.'
It is very clear that the people in Afghanistan do not want the Taliban back.
If I could go to Kabul and not die, I would go back to Afghanistan as soon as I could. And, that was the most interesting place that I've been to.
My work to promote education and literacy in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan has become my life's mission. This takes a full-time commitment 365 24/7.
Something that is completely unwinnable. I mean, it becomes unwinnable if we decide to leave [Afghanistan].
The United States will not be in Afghanistan forever.
The future of Afghanistan is incredibly dark, and decisions are happening incredibly quickly.
I think all of us who have been in Afghanistan on the ground multiple times know that what we're doing there on the ground is just not sustainable.
The goal in Afghanistan is to find the terrorists and take them out.
