Campaign Statements — Afghanistan
Sunday May 27, 2012
“You know, I think without getting into the campaign rhetoric of what [Romney’s] asserting, I think you’ve got 50 nations in NATO that agree to a plan in Afghanistan. It’s the Lisbon agreement, an agreement that, you know, others, President Bush, President Obama, everyone has agreed is the direction that we go in in Afghanistan.
What is that direction? It’s to take us to a point where we draw down by the end of 2014. That is the plan that has been agreed to. And it’s a plan that is working.
And very frankly, the only way to get this accomplished in terms of the transition that we have to go through is to be able to set the kind of timelines that have been set here in order to ensure that we fulfill the mission of an Afghanistan that governs and secures itself. That’s what this is about.”
-Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |
Sunday May 27, 2012
“Well the most important point is that we’re not going anyplace. We’re gonna, we have an enduring presence that will be in Afghanistan. We’ll continue to work with them on counterterrorism. We’ll continue to provide training, assistance, guidance. We’ll continue to provide support.
We are making good progress. I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened. We have not seen them able to conduct any kind of organized attack to regain any territory that they’ve lost. We’ve seen levels of violence going down. We’ve seen an Afghan army that is much more capable at providing security. We’ve seen transitions take place where we’re beginning to transition. Now we’re at about 50 percent of their population that’s been transitioned to their control.”
- Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |
Saturday May 26, 2012
“When President Obama and I came to office, we were convinced that our nation had reached a strategic turning point, requiring us to rebalance our foreign policy. While we will maintain a substantial, vigilant presence in the Middle East—and partners with the Afghanis—that will outlast our combat mission, we are now able to begin to focus our attention and resources on other regions and other challenges that will be incredibly critical to our nation’s future in the 21st century.”
- Joseph Biden, Vice President
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |
Saturday May 26, 2012
“In Afghanistan, President Obama laid out a clear strategy. Our commanders refocused and redoubled their efforts on disrupting, dismantling and ultimately destroying—defeating al Qaeda, reversing the Taliban’s momentum and training the Afghan Security Forces to prevent extremists from gaining ground. Since then, you have taken out more than half of al Qaeda’s senior leadership.
And in a mission that will go down in the annals of intelligence and special operations, some of America’s most gifted security professionals tracked down Osama bin Laden—after the trail had gone cold. And in one of the most incredibly daring raids, they delivered justice to the architect of a harmful ideology—a hateful ideology with no place in the modern world and the man responsible for the deaths of almost 3,000 innocents on our soil. They got him.
And in the process, those warriors sent a message to the world that if you harm America, we will follow you to the end of the Earth.”
- Joseph Biden, Vice President
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |
Wednesday May 23, 2012
“My opponent has different ideas. He said it was “tragic” to end the war in Iraq, and won’t set a timeline for ending the war in Afghanistan. I have set a timeline. Our coalition partners and the Afghans agree with me. I intend to keep it. After a decade of war that’s cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, the nation we need to build is our own. We’re going to use half of what we’re no longer spending on the war to pay down our deficit, use the other half to invest in education and research and wireless networks and smart grids and broadband lines and new runways. And that’s the choice in this election.”
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | Iraq |
Sunday May 20, 2012
“I just want to stress my appreciation for the hard work that President Karzai has done. I think he recognizes the enormous sacrifices that have been made by the American people and, most profoundly, by American troops, as well as the troops of our other coalition partners. We recognize the hardship that the Afghan people have been through during these many, many years of war. Both of us recognize that we still have a lot of work to do, and there will be great challenges ahead. The loss of life continues in Afghanistan; there will be hard days ahead. But we’re confident that we are on the right track, and what this NATO summit reflects is that the world is behind the strategy that we’ve laid out.”
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama |
Tuesday May 01, 2012
“There will be difficult days ahead. But as we move forward with our transition, I’m confident that Afghan forces will grow stronger, the Afghan people will take control of their future. With [the Strategic Partner Agreement], I am confident that the Afghan people will understand that the United States will stand by them, and they will know that the United States can achieve our goal of destroying al Qaeda and denying it a safe haven, but at the same time, we have the capacity to wind down this war and usher in a new era of peace here in Afghanistan.”
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |
Tuesday May 01, 2012
“The United States has not come here to claim resources or to claim territory. We came with a very clear mission: We came to destroy al Qaeda. And we have enormous respect for Afghan sovereignty and the dignity of the Afghan people. Together, we’re now committed to replacing war with peace and pursuing a more hopeful future as equal partners.
To borrow words from this agreement, we are committed to seeking a future of justice, peace, security, and opportunity. And I’m confident that although our challenges are not yet behind us, that the future before us is bright.”
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |
Tuesday May 01, 2012
“Neither Americans nor the Afghan people asked for this war. Yet, for a decade, we’ve stood together to drive al Qaeda from its camps, to battle an insurgency, and to give the people of Afghanistan the possibility to live in peace and in dignity. The wages of war have been great for both our nations. But today, with the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement, we look forward to a future of peace.
Together, we’ve made much progress. We’ve reached an agreement to transition detention facilities to Afghan control, and to put Afghans in the lead on special operations. And today, we’re agreeing to be long-term partners in combating terrorism, and training Afghan security forces, strengthening democratic institutions and supporting development, and protecting human rights of all Afghans. With this agreement, the Afghan people in the world should know that Afghanistan has a friend and a partner in the United States.”
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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |
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Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013
