Bachmann Reacts To President's Speech On Afghanistan

Statement

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann released the the following statement after President Obama delivered an address in which he called for a new strategy involving 30,000 additional U.S. forces in Afghanistan:

"After several long months of deliberation, I'm pleased that the President has not turned his back on Afghanistan. As the President has said, the war in Afghanistan is a war of necessity. However, I sincerely hope that the President is truly committed to victory. While it's important to acknowledge that U.S. forces will not be in Afghanistan forever, we must not have a concrete time line for withdrawal as it will ultimately hurt our effort and energize our enemies.

"Clearly, it's in the vital interests of the United States to defeat the Taliban, destroy Al Qaeda, and establish a free, sovereign Afghanistan that can govern and look after its own people. Anything less and we're guaranteeing almost certain instability and chaos in the region. But going forward, we must be in it to win it because if we engage in this effort halfheartedly, then the war is already lost."

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