Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) took to the House floor yesterday to call for an accelerated drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
“The time to accelerate our withdrawal from Afghanistan has arrived,” said Moran, a senior member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. “Afghanistan is not a threat to the United States — Osama bin Laden is dead and there are fewer than 50 al Qaeda operating along the border with Pakistan.”
Moran then referenced a week-long trip he took to the Afghanistan/Pakistan region last month.
“My recent trip to the region reaffirmed my belief that every day our brave men and women in uniform remain in Afghanistan is another day they risk their lives for an undeserving cause,” Moran said. “Our military has undertaken a valiant fight to do what we have asked them to do, we have a responsibility to make sure no lives are lost in vain. Ultimately, Afghanistan’s future will be determined by Afghans, not Americans.”
Yesterday the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan told Congress that the existing timetable to withdraw troops from the county is still on track, despite recent setbacks like the killing of 16 Afghan civilians by a rogue U.S. soldier.
As it stands now, 23,000 of the 90,000 troops in Afghanistan are scheduled to come home by the end of September, with a complete withdrawal by December 2014. Do you agree with Rep. Moran that the timetable for withdrawal should be accelerated?