Wyden Statement on President Obama’s Afghanistan Speech

Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has issued the following statement on President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan.

“While I am pleased that the President is starting to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, as I have long been saying, I would like to see our forces transition from a broad counterinsurgency strategy to a more focused – and more sustainable – counterterrorism strategy.  By that I mean that American troops should continue conducting operations against al-Qaida – which still poses a threat to the U.S -- but should not be asked to keep fighting the Afghanis’ civil war for them.   Shifting from a counterinsurgency strategy to a counterterrorism strategy would allow the United States to cut troop levels in Afghanistan by two-thirds and save tens of billions of dollars a year, while continuing to protect American security.”

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