Tulsi Gabbard on War & Peace : Jul 31, 2019
No arbitrary deadline, but out of Afghanistan in one year

Cory Booker on War & Peace : Jul 31, 2019
No military action by Tweet; out of Afghanistan later

John Hickenlooper on War & Peace : Jul 30, 2019
Don't turn our backs on Afghanistan by withdrawing US troops

BUTTIGIEG: We will withdraw. We have to.

Q: Gov. Hickenlooper, you disagree? You've said that you're open to keeping some servicemembers in Afghanistan beyond your first term.

HICKENLOOPER: I look at it as a humanitarian issue. If we completely pull our troops out of there, you're going to see a humanitarian disaster. We have troops in over 400 different locations around the world. Most of them are small, they're peacekeeping, they're not greatly at risk. We're going to have to be in Afghanistan. Look at the progress that has happened in that country. We're going to turn our backs and walk away from people that have risked their lives to help us and build a different future for Afghanistan and that part of the world?

Beto O`Rourke on War & Peace : Jul 30, 2019
Withdraw from Afghanistan within four years

BUTTIGIEG: We will withdraw. We have to.

Q: In your first year?

BUTTIGIEG: Yes.

Q [to Rep. beto O'Rourke]: Would you withdraw all 14,000 U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan during your first year in office as president?

O'ROURKE: I would in my first term in office. Agree that there is nothing about perpetuating this war, already in its 18th year, that will make it any better. We've satisfied the reasons for our involvement in Afghanistan in the first place. And it's time to bring those servicemembers back home from Afghanistan, but also from Iraq, also from Yemen, and Somalia, and Libya, and Syria.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Jun 27, 2019
I got 150,000 troops out of Iraq; do same in Afghanistan

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I was responsible for getting 150,000 combat troops out of Iraq, and my son was one of them. I also think we should not have combat troops in Afghanistan. It's long overdue. It should end. We cannot go it alone in terms of dealing with terrorism. I would eliminate the act that allowed us to go into war. That's why we have to repair our alliances. We put together 65 countries to make sure we dealt with ISIS in Iraq and other places. That's what I would do. That's what I have done.

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: Joe voted for that war;I helped lead the oppositio

Tim Ryan on War & Peace : Jun 26, 2019
If the US isn't engaged in Afghanistan, Taliban will regrow

RYAN: You have to stay engaged in these situations. Nobody likes it. It's long. It's tedious. But right now, I would say we must be engaged in this. We must have our State Department engaged. We must have our military engaged to the extent they need to be.

Rep. Tulsi GABBARD: Is that what you will tell the parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan? "Well, we just have to be engaged?" As a soldier, I will tell you, that answer is unacceptable.

RYAN: I don't want to be engaged. But the reality of it is, if the United States isn't engaged, the Taliban will grow. And they will have bigger, bolder terrorist acts. We have got to have some presence there.

GABBARD: The Taliban was there long before we came in. They're going to be there long before we leave.

Tulsi Gabbard on War & Peace : Jun 26, 2019
Troops home from Afghanistan; we're no better off than 2001

RYAN: You have to stay engaged in these situations. We must have our State Department engaged. We must have our military engaged to the extent they need to be.

GABBARD: Is that what you will tell the parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan? "Well, we just have to be engaged?" As a soldier, I will tell you, that answer is unacceptable. We have to bring our troops home from Afghanistan. We are in a place in Afghanistan where we have lost so many lives. We've spent so much money. Money that's coming out of every one of our pockets, money that should be going into communities here at home. We are no better off in Afghanistan today than we were when this war began.

RYAN: If the US isn't engaged, the Taliban will grow.

GABBARD: The Taliban was there long before we came in. They're going to be there long before we leave. We cannot keep US troops deployed to Afghanistan thinking that we're going to somehow squash this Taliban.

Steve Bullock on War & Peace : Jun 18, 2019
We've been in Afghanistan for entire life of young recruits

A: "Think about somebody joining the military right now--Afghanistan and the conflict has been going on for their entire life."

Seth Moulton on War & Peace : Jun 18, 2019
We've got to abandon nation-building in Afghanistan

A: "I'm sorry, but we've got to abandon nation-building in Afghanistan."

Q: Do you think Israel meets international standards of human rights?

Andrew Yang on War & Peace : Jun 18, 2019
May need more troops in Afghanistan

A: "It's impossible to know that for sure, given that reality on the ground might lead us to have more people there."

Marianne Williamson on War & Peace : Jun 18, 2019
Speak to Afghan women to decide about withdrawing troops

A: "I would make no move in Afghanistan until first I spoke to Afghan women."

Beto O`Rourke on War & Peace : May 26, 2019
End war in Afghanistan; even work with Taliban

Sometimes, you don't have the fortune of working just with your allies, your friends, or the people with whom you agree. In order to produce peace, you sometimes have to negotiate and work with your enemies. And that's true for Afghanistan.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Mar 27, 2019
Supported wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, but not Iran

• Biden at first endorsed full-scale nation-building in Afghanistan but when he saw it wasn't working, he changed his mind, arguing that the U.S. military should destroy al-Qaeda and then leave. As vice president, he was a lonely voice in the Cabinet opposing Obama's escalation of the war in 2009.
• Regarding Iraq, however, he was a hawk. He repeated false intelligence claims that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons and was seeking nuclear weapons, and therefore was a threat that had to be "eliminated." He later called his vote for the 2003 invasion a "mistake."
• Biden is a self-described Zionist. He has stated that the Democrats' support for Israel "comes from our gut, moves through our heart, and ends up in our head. It's almost genetic."
• He would disagree with the present Israeli government on Iran. He wrote that "War with Iran is not just a bad option. It would be a disaster," and he supported Obama's entry into the Iran nuclear agreement.

Kirsten Gillibrand on War & Peace : Mar 27, 2019
Withdraw from Yemen; Withdraw from Afghanistan

• Opposing runaway military spending, voting against 47 percent of military spending bills since 2013.
• Her Peace Action voting record is 80 percent, reduced mainly by the same hawkish votes on Iran as Sanders from 2011 to 2013.
• Gillibrand was an early cosponsor of Sanders's Yemen War Powers bill. She has also supported a full withdrawal from Afghanistan since at least 2011, when she worked on a withdrawal bill with then Sen. Barbara Boxer and wrote a letter to State Department Secretaries Robert Gates and Clinton, asking for a firm commitment that U.S. troops would be out "no later than 2014."
• Gillibrand cosponsored the Anti-Israel Boycott Act in 2017 but later withdrew her cosponsorship when pushed by grassroots opponents and the ACLU, and she voted against S.1, which included similar provisions, in January 2019.
• She has spoken favorably of Trump's diplomacy with North Korea.

Tulsi Gabbard on War & Peace : Mar 12, 2019
No more wars for regime change, like Syria and Afghanistan

Her biggest obstacle: Her foreign policy has also been a source of controversy. In 2017 she met President Bashar Assad in Syria and has questioned the international consensus that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own citizens.

"I served in a war in Iraq, a war that was based on lies," she said. "I think that the evidence needs to be gathered." She refused to label Mr Assad as a "war criminal"--a position that sets her well apart from the majority of US politicians and the American people.

Pete Buttigieg on War & Peace : Mar 10, 2019
U.S. not the guarantor of peace in Afghanistan

Pete Buttigieg on War & Peace : Feb 15, 2019
Pull troops out of Afghanistan, but not Syria

Pete Buttigieg on War & Peace : Feb 12, 2019
Afghanistan war was "outsourced" to the few in uniform

We might have had, in those years, a more serious conversation about what each of us owes to the country in a time of conflict.

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Feb 5, 2019
Afghani settlement: great nations do not fight endless wars

I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan. Our troops have fought with unmatched valor--and thanks to their bravery, we are now able to pursue a political solution to this long and bloody conflict.

In Afghanistan, my Administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban. As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be able to reduce our troop presence and focus on counter-terrorism. We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement--but we do know that after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace.

Kamala Harris on War & Peace : Jan 21, 2019
Time for a political solution in Afghanistan

• Afghanistan: Wants a "political solution" to end the war, bring troops home.
• After a trip to Afghanistan last month, Harris said she supports a "political solution" to the war that would allow U.S. troops to return home.
• She has not taken a public position on Trump's planned U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria.

Elizabeth Warren on War & Peace : Jan 17, 2019
Withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria

• Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria: U.S. should withdraw troops from those countries.
• Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, supports reducing the U.S. military's presence in some global hotspots.
• Last November, she called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
• Warren also says the U.S. should withdraw service members from Iraq and Syria, though she has not gone into detail about what timetables she would support for those withdrawals.

Kirsten Gillibrand on War & Peace : Jan 16, 2019
Withdraw from Afghanistan & Syria

• Afghanistan and Syria: Withdraw from Afghanistan. Do not arm Syrian rebels.
• For years, Gillibrand has pushed for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• She has opposed efforts to arm Syrian rebels and she slammed the airstrikes ordered against Syria in the spring of 2018, saying that Trump did not have the authority to order them.
• Gillibrand also argued that President Barack Obama did not have authority to send U.S. troops to Syria.

Joe Biden on Foreign Policy : Oct 24, 2017
2008: Pakistan is the world's most dangerous country

"Iran," said Obama.

"Iran," said Clinton.

Then it was Biden's turn. "Pakistan." The room did a double-take. As [Biden's long-time aide Ted] Kaufman explains, "Well, if Iran is a real problem because they MAY have nuclear weapons, Pakistan is a problem because they ALREADY HAVE nuclear weapons."

Plenty of national security experts agreed with Biden. As recently as 2017, the former CIA station chief of Islamabad said, "With a failing economy, rampant terrorism, the fastest growing nuclear arsenal, the sixth largest population, and one of the highest birthrates in the world, Pakistan is of grave concern. It probably is the most dangerous country in the world."

Kaufman concluded, "I absolutely think that the reason why Obama picked him for vice president was because of watching him on the Foreign Relations Committee, and going through the debates with him."

Tulsi Gabbard on War & Peace : May 27, 2017
Opposes fighting in Afghanistan & Syria; end arms to Saudis

Donald Trump on Foreign Policy : Dec 1, 2016
2012: Get tough on Pakistan; 2016: lavish praise on Pakistan

Previous remarks by Trump were not so effusive. Back in 2012, Trump tweeted, "Get it straight: Pakistan is not our friend. We've given them billions and billions of dollars, and what did we get? Betrayal and disrespect--and much worse. #TimeToGetTough". And in July 2012: "When will Pakistan apologize to us for providing safe sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden for 6 years?! Some 'ally.'"

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Nov 3, 2015
Blunder to announce withdrawal timetable from Afghanistan

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Oct 20, 2015
Afghanistan war made a mess, but troops need to stay

"We made a mistake going into Iraq. I've never said we made a mistake going into Afghanistan," Trump told CNN. Trump said on October 6 that he believed entering Afghanistan was a mistake and worried about U.S. forces getting stuck there.

"At some point, are they going to be there for the next 200 years? It's going to be a long time," Trump said, when asked about Afghanistan. "We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We had real brilliant thinkers that didn't know what the hell they were doing. And it's a mess. And at this point, you probably have to stay because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave."

Trump first signaled his backtrack when he said Afghanistan is "where we should have gone," meaning the US should have focused its attention on Afghanistan over Iraq.

Bernie Sanders on War & Peace : Oct 18, 2015
Keep U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan

SANDERS: Well, yeah, I won't give you the exact number. Clearly, we do not want to see the Taliban gain more power and I think we need a certain nucleus of American troops present in Afghanistan to try to provide the training and support the Afghan Army needs.

Bernie Sanders on War & Peace : Sep 13, 2015
Voted for Afghan War, to capture Osama bin Laden

SANDERS: No. I voted also for the war in Afghanistan, because I believed that Osama bin Laden needed to be captured, needed to be brought to trial.

Q: Yes, sir, I apologize for that, yes, you did.

SANDERS: But I am very concerned about a lot of the war talk that I'm hearing from my Republican colleagues, who apparently have forgotten the cost of war and the errors made in Afghanistan and Iraq. And what I believe, very much, is that the most powerful military on Earth, the United States of America, that our government should do everything that we can to resolve international conflict in a way that does not require war.

Barack Obama on War & Peace : Feb 12, 2013
Move into support role in Afghanistan; 34,000 troops home

Beyond 2014, America's commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change. We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates.

Hillary Clinton on Foreign Policy : Jan 29, 2013
Afghan women are better off, but we must prevent reversal

A: They're going to have to be given support from their own government and people, as well as the international community.

Q: It's grim for them.

A: For a lot of [Afghan] women, life is much better [than before the US invasion]. Girls are in school who never were before. Women are able to practice their professions and pursue their businesses. So for an increasing group of Afghan women, life is better. Still, there are all kinds of discrimination and difficulties. But for a large group of rural women, life has not changed very much. And what I worry about is that the security situation will keep a total lid on the aspirations and education of the rural women and begin to intimidate and drive out of the public space women who have seen their lives improve. And I think it's incumbent upon us and all the nations that have been in Afghanistan to do everything we can to prevent that from happening.

Tulsi Gabbard on War & Peace : Nov 6, 2012
End our involvement in Afghanistan

Eric Swalwell on War & Peace : Nov 6, 2012
Speedier withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

Barack Obama on War & Peace : Oct 22, 2012
We had forgotten why we went into Afghanistan

ROMNEY: Inside Pakistan you have a large group of Pashtuns that are Taliban, that they're going to come rushing back into Afghanistan when we go.

Kirsten Gillibrand on War & Peace : Oct 17, 2012
Al Qaeda has metastasized; get troops out of Afghanistan

Gillibrand said Al Quaeda has "metastasized" to other parts of the world. "I do not believe that we should continue our investment of troops, troops' lives and our money in Afghanistan because the threat has moved," she said; the US needs a "counter-terrorism approach instead of a counter insurgency approach. We need narrow targeted missions," she said.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 11, 2012
Out of Iraq as promised; out of Afghanistan soon

With regard to Afghanistan, he said he will end the war in 2014. Governor Romney said, #1, we should not set a date, and #2, with regard to 2014, it depends.

When it came to Osama bin Laden, the president, the first day in office, he called in the CIA and signed an order saying, 'my highest priority is to get bin Laden.' Prior to Pres. Obama being sworn in, Governor Romney was asked a question about how he would proceed. He said, 'I wouldn't move heaven and earth to get bin Laden.' He didn't understand it was more than about taking a murderer off the battlefield; it was about restoring America's heart.

And lastly, the president has led with a steady hand and clear vision. Governor Romney, the opposite. The last thing we need now is another war.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 11, 2012
Out of Afghanistan in 2014, period

RYAN: We don't want to lose the gains we've gotten. We agree with the administration on their 2014 transition. And that means we want to make sure our commanders have what they need to make sure that it is successful so that this does not once again become a launching pad for terrorists.

BIDEN: Let's keep our eye on the ball. The fact is we went there for one reason: to get those people who killed Americans, al-Qaida. We've decimated al-Qaida central. We have eliminated Osama bin Laden. That was our purpose. And in fact, in the meantime, what we said we would do, we would help train the Afghan military. It's their responsibility to take over their own security. That's why, with 49 of our allies in Afghanistan, we've agreed on a gradual drawdown so we're out of there in the year 2014. [Ryan & Romney] say it's based on conditions, which means it depends. It does not depend for us. We are leaving in 2014, period.

Elizabeth Warren on War & Peace : Oct 2, 2012
Bring US troops home from Afghanistan before 2014

Brown, however, said he wouldn't want to second guess the president. "I would rely on the guidance from the president and his generals," he said.

Barack Obama on War & Peace : Sep 6, 2012
End our longest war: out of Afghanistan in 2014

A new tower rises above the New York skyline, Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Barack Obama on Foreign Policy : Jun 14, 2012
Engage with Iran; but combat Al Qaeda in Pakistan

Hillary Clinton on War & Peace : Jun 14, 2012
Clinton-Gates combo won push for Afghan surge

Robert Gates gradually came around to supporting the McChrystal request, and Hillary Clinton did, too. During that period, the two often sided with each other in administration debates; they were happy to show that the secretaries of state and defense could work smoothly together, unlike their immediate predecessors, Donald Rumsfeld with Colin Powell & Condi Rice. The Clinton-Gates combine helped to win over the president to sending more troops, despite the skepticism of other senior administration officials such as Biden; the president was not prepared to override the recommendations of the two departments primarily responsible for foreign affairs. Obama approved the deployment of 30,000 more American troops for Afghanistan, bringing the total to about 100,000, and also called on NATO allies to provide another 5,000 or more of their own.

Barack Obama on War & Peace : Jan 24, 2012
Make sure Afghanistan is never again a source of attack

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Dec 13, 2011
Withdraw US troops continuously from Afghanistan until 2014

BIDEN: It has the potential to be wound down. It`s in direct proportion to how wound up the Afghan military is, how good they are, how quickly they come online. And how much responsibility the Afghan Government is able to exert politically within Afghanistan. For example, the president said that we were going to withdraw "the surge," 33,000 forces by the end of this summer. And we`re not going to slow this down. This doesn`t mean that we`re going to wait until the last minute to say the other 60,000-some folks are going to come out at the end of 2014. We are going to continue to drawdown forces on a continuous basis, continuing to turn over responsibility to the Afghans, because at the end of the day, our objective is to as responsibly as we can withdraw American forces from Afghanistan.

Elizabeth Warren on War & Peace : Dec 4, 2011
Get out of Afghanistan as fast as possible

Barack Obama on War & Peace : Oct 11, 2011
Afghan war: moral imperative against determined enemy

"Al Qaeda and the violent extremists who you're fighting against want to destroy. But all of you want to build, and that is something essential about America. They're got no respect for human life. You see dignity in every human being. They want to drive races and regions and religions apart. You want to bring people together and see the world move forward together. They offer fear. You offer hope."

By the time Obama finished his 20-minute speech, the troops' polite applause had turned to stomps and whistles.

Jesse Ventura on Drugs : Apr 4, 2011
While we fight "war on drugs", Afghans do our drug business

It's time we faced facts: fighting the Taliban over there is at the same time propping up the biggest drug-based regime in the world.

The World Bank issued a report in 2006 on "Afghanistan's Opium Economy." Isn't it interesting that we're fighting a "war on drugs," yet over there we have no problem with this? Certainly those drugs are going to get here eventually, again just follow the money. But obviously the Afghans involved can buy protection and continue their business.

Barack Obama on War & Peace : Jan 26, 2011
We've taken the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan, until July

We've also taken the fight to al Qaeda and their allies abroad. In Afghanistan, our troops have taken Taliban strongholds and trained Afghan security forces. Our purpose is clear: By preventing the Taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny al Qaeda the safe haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11.

Thanks to our heroic troops and civilians, fewer Afghans are under the control of the insurgency. There will be tough fighting ahead, and the Afghan government will need to deliver better governance. But we are strengthening the capacity of the Afghan people and building an enduring partnership with them. This year, we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an Afghan lead. And this July, we will begin to bring our troops home.

Michael Bennet on War & Peace : Oct 17, 2010
Commit to bring home troops from Afghanistan in July 2011

BENNET: My position is that we ought to begin bringing our troops home in July '11. And there will be troops there, they'll have to leave troops there, and I recognize that. But this is the longest shooting war in our country's history.

Q: But if a significant number of combat forces must remain to achieve US goals, you'd be for it or against it?

BENNET: I would have to look at it then, but what I want to make clear is that I believe the president needs to honor the commitment that he made to begin bringing our troops home. I don't know what "significant" is. I imagine that there will be a substantial number of troops there for the foreseeable future.

Q: And you could support that?

BENNET: I believe what the American people need to see that our commitment there is coming to an end.

Michael Bennet on War & Peace : Oct 8, 2010
Afghan exit after al-Qaida groups destroyed in Pakistan

Bennet's view was even briefer, saying U.S. goals in Afghanistan should be to destroy al-Qaida groups on the Pakistan border and then to support the Pakistan military to make certain that country's nuclear weapons are secure from terrorists. Then U.S. troops should be brought home.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 5, 2010
2008: Afghanistan is forgotten war, & Pakistan is neglected

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 5, 2010
Not necessary to defeat Taliban; it's part of Afghan society

I wrote to the president, a long, 20-page handwritten memo focused on making the case:
1. that this is a 3-dimensional problem--al Qaeda, Pakistan and Afghanistan;
2. that there be a limit on the number of troops so that this wouldn't be a constant, creeping escalation whatever troop level was announced;
3. that there be a date at which we would begin the drawdown of American forces with the aim of drawing down all combat forces out, a la Iraq;
4. that it was not necessary to defeat the Taliban because the Taliban was and is part of the fabric of the Pashtun society--20% to 30% of it is incorrigible and must be defeated, and the remainder should be integrated into Afghan society;
5. that the return of the ability of the Taliban to overthrow the Afghan government was simply not within their power;
6. that the Taliban was not seeking to establish a new caliphate, they were not an existential threat to the USA,
7. that al-Qaeda's return to Afghanistan was highly unlikely.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 5, 2010
2002: Iraq pivots from unfinished business in Afghanistan

Biden returned conveying a plea for urgent help, and Powell joined it, but while Bush "was agreeable and willing to listen, he was also noncommittal," Biden wrote later. Though Bush talked of a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, he had other ideas, and was already giving Cheney and Rumsfeld "the force and resources they requested for a new target"--Iraq.

By now it was becoming increasingly clear to Biden that a critical pivot was under way from the unfinished business in Afghanistan to the neoconservatives' vision of spreading democracy throughout the Middle East, starting with deposing Saddam Hussein.

Biden and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel introduced a bill providing more money for Afghanistan, but the administration opposed it.

Kirsten Gillibrand on War & Peace : Aug 11, 2010
Timetable for drawing down troops from Afghanistan

A: I support the recent removal of combat troops from Iraq, as agreed to with the Iraqi government. I also support a timetable for drawing down troops from Afghanistan as a political tool to help encourage the Afghan government to assume more responsibility for their own security.