Donald Trump on War & Peace : Sep 10, 2024
Got involved with the Taliban to stop the killing

TRUMP: At that period of time, the Taliban was killing our soldiers, a lot of them, with snipers. And I got involved with the Taliban because the Taliban was doing the killing. They don't bother doing that because, you know, they deal with the wrong people all the time. But I got involved. And Abdul is the head of the Taliban. He is still the head of the Taliban. And I told Abdul, "don't do it anymore, you do it anymore you're going to have problems." And he said, "why do you send me a picture of my house?" I said, "you're going to have to figure that out, Abdul." And for 18 months we had nobody killed.

[Fact Check: The Hill, 9/11/24]: It's not clear who Trump was referring to. Hibatullah Akhundzada is the Taliban's leader since 2016. Trump has talked about an "Abdul" before in discussing the Taliban, which could be a reference to top Taliban policy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Tim Walz on War & Peace : Aug 6, 2024
Visited Afghan troops to ensure they had what they needed

More recently, Tim and I met at the observances marking the 80th Anniversary of D-Day in June. As soldiers, we both intrinsically understood the sacrifice made by those brave Americans in WWII fighting to overcome extremist right-wing fascism. Tim & I reconnected because he & I recognize we are both Americans, happily married husbands, proud dads of great kids and Army veterans.

JD Vance on War & Peace : Jul 29, 2024
I saw when I went to Iraq that I had been lied to

He essentially accused his colleagues of getting fooled, just like he was when he believed in the Iraq War. "My excuse is that I was a high school senior. What is the excuse of many people who were in this chamber or in the House of Representatives at the time and are now singing the exact same song when it comes to Ukraine? Have we learned nothing?" he said.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Jul 11, 2024
FactCheck: Opposed Afghan war after 2009; supported earlier

Facts First: Biden's claim that he was "totally opposed to the occupation" of Afghanistan is misleading at best. In the early years of the war, Biden, then a Senator, was a vocal public supporter of the US having a sustained military presence in Afghanistan–and he explicitly rejected the idea of a narrow military mission targeting terrorists.

Biden did eventually change his mind, becoming a sharp internal critic of the war as President Barack Obama's vice president beginning in 2009; he opposed Obama's "surge" of additional troops into the country. But Biden has repeatedly suggested he always opposed the idea of a US military presence and nation-building efforts in Afghanistan, and that's incorrect.

Nikki Haley on War & Peace : Jan 18, 2024
In Afghanistan way too long; never negotiate with Taliban

HALEY: I think that there's a little bit of fault to go around to all sides. The pressure by the American public to get out of wars was important. We had been in Afghanistan way too long. My husband served in Afghanistan; they will tell you, "you can't go and build a new country." And I think that was a terrible mistake. But when you know you want to pull back, you do it in a way that's smart and sensible. Biden wanted to hit it by a certain date. He wanted to do it by September 11.

Q: Trump ultimately negotiated with the Taliban.

HALEY: What Trump did, we never want to see Taliban on U.S. soil ever. No agreement, no anything. I don't want them at Camp David or anywhere. I think it was a mistake to even try and negotiate with the Taliban because this is a group that you can't negotiate with.

Ron DeSantis on War & Peace : Jan 16, 2024
Hold military leaders accountable for Afghanistan debacle

DESANTIS: I don't support a draft. Our recruiting is at the lowest level since the end of the Vietnam War when they got rid of the draft. I think the way you solve that problem is to inspire young people to want to join. I do think when they see commander-in-chief hold the brass accountable, because no one's been held accountable for Afghanistan, not one person has been held accountable for one of the worst military debacles in American history. When they see us getting rid of some of the social stuff and the woke ideology, saying, "no, it's about mission first," and you're going to be promoted based on merit, that, I think, inspires people to want to join. You know, when you join the military, you want to know that the people in charge of both the civilian and military levels are only going to pursue the mission. And they're not going to let these other considerations cloud that out.

Nikki Haley on Principles & Values : Aug 23, 2023
Troops protect America overseas; we should fight for it here

Will Hurd on War & Peace : Jul 2, 2023
Both Trump and Biden to blame for Afghanistan withdrawal

Donald Trump on Free Trade : Feb 28, 2023
Listen to voters: fight outsourcing manufacturing to China

Some DC commentators have opined that Trump's nomination represented a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. But this analysis gets it exactly backward. Since Ronald Reagan [retired in] 1989, the GOP grass roots had been longing for someone who rejected the old-guard way of doing business and who could speak to their concerns and aspirations. Trump supported policies that appealed to the base in a way that GOP leaders in the DC swamp had been either incapable of doing or unwilling to do.

Larry Elder on War & Peace : Mar 3, 2022
Biden should have done more to prevent Ukraine invasion

Joe Biden on Homeland Security : Mar 1, 2022
More benefits to veterans for toxic exposures

Nikki Haley on War & Peace : Aug 22, 2021
Have to negotiate from strength, Biden surrendered

Joe Biden on Homeland Security : Apr 28, 2021
Most lethal terrorist threat: white supremacist terrorism

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Apr 22, 2021
Criticized Trump on Russian bounties; then did nothing

PROMISE BROKEN: (CNN, 4/15/21): A senior Biden administration official said the US intelligence community had only "low to moderate confidence" in the information about bounties, and said Biden was not taking action to punish Moscow on the issue. "We have conveyed through diplomatic and intelligence channels strong direct messages on this issue," a senior administration official said, saying that if a pattern of behavior continues--presumably with a greater degree of confidence--the US would respond.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Apr 14, 2021
Final withdrawal from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021

PROMISE KEPT: (Reuters, April 14, 2021): Biden plans to announce at the White House that all U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be withdrawn no later than Sept. 11, senior U.S. officials said. The Democratic president had faced a May 1 withdrawal deadline, set by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who tried but failed to pull the troops out before he left office. Biden's decision will keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan pas

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 15, 2020
Trump has more troops in Afghanistan than 2016

BIDEN: A little, but not a whole lot. We find ourselves in a position where we're more isolated in the world than we've ever been.

Q: Peace is breaking out all over the world. Our troops are coming home--

BIDEN: They have more people there now, by the way, than when we left in Afghanistan. And we find ourselves in a situation where Trump has talked to Putin six times, but hasn't said a word to him about bounties on American military's heads in Afghanistan. And NATO is on the risk of being cracked because they doubt whether we're there. You see what's happened in everything from Belarus to Poland, and the rise of totalitarian regimes in the world. This president embraces all the thugs in the world. I do compliment the president on the deal with Israel recently. But if you take a look, we're not very well trusted around the world.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Sep 17, 2020
Support Afghan counter-terrorism; oppose counter-insurgency

BIDEN: Yes, I would. It's now public knowledge: I was opposed to the significant increase in our presence, at the time [of Obama's "surge"], in Afghanistan, and because I thought the only presence we should have is a counterterrorism presence, not a counterinsurgency presence. The idea that we're ever going to break up the counterinsurgency network in Western Pakistan is just not going to happen. But we have to be in a position where we can make it clear that if need be, we could respond to terrorist activities coming out of that region, directed toward the United States. It does not require a large force presence. We got that presence down to lower than it is now. This President is the one that has increased the number, not reduced the number.

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Sep 15, 2020
Soldiers don't want to be in Afghanistan

You know, there's no sadder thing than to sit with a widow or a mother, and these incredible Marines are walking off a casket and they were killed in the Middle East. Going there was the worst decision in the history of our country. We've spent $8 trillion and we've lost thousands of lives.

Iraq did not--Saddam Hussein did not knock down the World Trade Center. They said they had weapons of mass destruction. They made a mistake.

So we've been in there almost 20 years in Afghanistan. And we're bringing our soldiers back home. Nobody expected that from me. And people are so happy about it. And you know who's the happiest? The soldiers, I see them all the time. "What do you think, should we be here?" "No, sir, you shouldn't be here." "Why?" "They don't like us, sir."

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Sep 15, 2020
I'm bringing troops back, when advisers wanted war

Look at North Korea, how that's worked out. We haven't--the sanctions are on. Everything's the same. We haven't spent anything. We're getting along with him. I get along with Kim Jong-un. That was supposed to be a war.

If President Obama were president, if Hillary Clinton ever got in, that would be a war, probably a nuclear war with North Korea. In the meantime, I'm getting calls all the time from friends of mine in South Korea. Thank you. We love you. Thank you. It's really been rather amazing.

Joe Biden on Homeland Security : Aug 21, 2020
Don't turn a blind eye to Russian bounties on US soldiers

Dean Phillips on Health Care : Apr 28, 2020
Provide VA resources for physical & mental health care

America built its middle class post-WWII in large part with a generous and effective GI Bill. Those education benefits have eroded in the ensuing years, presenting less opportunity to today's veterans. America owes opportunity to those who have served honorably and must provide sufficient education benefits that enable our returning veterans to reintegrate into civilian life and continue to make contributions to American society.

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Mar 5, 2020
Afghanistan: We don't want to stay there for 100 years

Mike Pence on War & Peace : Mar 1, 2020
Taliban committed to oppose terrorists; now hard work begins

PENCE: The agreement represents a historic step forward on the path to peace. I wouldn't gainsay what the Taliban has literally put in writing. It is the first time ever that they have been willing to commit publicly to oppose the presence of al Qaeda in their region. They have made a commitment to oppose the presence of terrorist elements and organizations using Afghanistan to launch attacks. Now the hard work begins.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Mar 1, 2020
Afghanistan: against surging troops; not nation builders

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Feb 7, 2020
Only deal with terrorism in Afghanistan, not nation-building

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Feb 4, 2020
Fact-Check: Trump has sent more troops to MidEast

Fact -Check: Notwithstanding Trump's desire to shrink American commitments in the Middle East, he has been sending more troops to the region and keeping in place many of those already posted there. Trump also has sent thousands more troops to the region as a hedge against a potential conflict with Iran following the U.S. killing of its top general and in the aftermath of re-imposed U.S. sanctions.

Donald Trump on Foreign Policy : Jan 21, 2020
South Asia policy focused on Afghanistan not India

As with most foreign leader meetings, Trump had been briefed but didn't seem to have retained the material and instead tried to wing it. Modi tried to focus on the threats India faced from Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan. His mention of Afghanistan led Trump off on a lengthy tangent about how stupid it had been for the US to have maintained its military presence in Afghanistan.

When Modi mentioned his concerns about China's aggressions in the region, Trump revealed a stunning ignorance about geography. "It's not like you've got China on your border", seeming to dismiss the threat to India.

Each time Modi tried to get Trump to engage on the substance of US-India relations, the American president veered off on another non sequitur trade deficiencies and endless war in Afghanistan.

Bernie Sanders on Foreign Policy : Dec 19, 2019
Address root causes to end these endless wars

Joe Biden: Since 2009, I was on the opposite side of that with the Pentagon. I can speak to it now is because it's been published. I'm the guy, from the beginning, who argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to Afghanistan, period. I argued against it constantly.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Joe, you're also the guy who helped lead us into the disastrous war in Iraq. What we need to do, is I think, rethink the entire war on terror. We have lost thousands of our own men and women, brave soldiers. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, have been killed abroad or forced to leave their countries. It is time right now, that we bring this world together, to try to end these endless wars and address the root causes, which are causing these wars.

Bernie Sanders on War & Peace : Dec 19, 2019
I was wrong on my vote for Afghan War; remove all troops

Bernie Sanders: Well, only one person, my good friend Barbara Lee [U.S. Rep, D-CA-13] was right on that issue. She was the only person in the House to vote against the war in Afghanistan. She was right; I was wrong. So was everybody else in the House. But to answer your question, I don't think you do what Trump does and make foreign policy decisions based on a tweet at 3AM in the morning, or desert your long-time allies like the Kurds. I think you work with the international community, you remove all troops over a period of time, a short period of time, within one year.

Bernie Sanders on War & Peace : Nov 20, 2019
Rethink War on Terror and make deal with Taliban

SANDERS: After spending trillions of dollars on these endless wars, which have resulted in dislocation and mass migrations and pain in that region, it is time to bring our troops home. Unlike Trump, I will not do it through a tweet at 3 o'clock in the morning. I will do it working with the international community. If it's necessary to negotiate with the Taliban, we will do that.

Q: What about other military spending?

SANDERS: One of the big differences between the vice president and myself is he supported the terrible war in Iraq and I helped lead the opposition against it. And not only that, I voted against the very first Gulf War, as well I think we need a foreign policy which understands who our enemies are, that we don't have to spend more money on the military than the next 10 nations combined.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 8, 2019
2009 Afghan surge does not reflect our national interest

At a National security meeting in March, Biden reminded his listeners of the historical pitfalls of foreign intervention in Afghanistan; he noted that American success was not in sight even with the number of troops already on the ground; he argued that committing more troops was irresponsible amid the worsening conditions, with an unreliable Afghan government, it would result in more casualties, cause a political backlash, and further sink public sentiment toward the war. By sending in reinforcements, he said, "we're just prolonging failure."

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Sep 12, 2019
Can't put Afghanistan together: it's 3 different countries

BIDEN: I've been in and out of Afghanistan, not with a gun--and it's an open secret that I was opposed to the surge in Afghanistan. The whole purpose of going to Afghanistan was to not have a counterinsurgency, meaning that we're going to put that country together. It cannot be put together. Let me say it again. It will not be put together. It's three different countries. Pakistan owns the three provinces in the east. They're not run it. I will go on and on. But here's the point. The point is that it's a counterterrorism strategy. We can prevent the United States from being the victim of terror coming out of Afghanistan by providing for bases-insist the Pakistanis provide bases for us to air lift from and to move against what we know.

Marianne Williamson on War & Peace : Aug 16, 2019
Protection of women must be part of any Afghanistan deal

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Jul 11, 2019
End "forever wars" in Afghanistan & Middle East

Bernie Sanders on War & Peace : Jun 27, 2019
Used War Powers Act to get US out of Saudi-Yemen war

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I was responsible for getting 150,000 combat troops out of Iraq. I also think we should not have combat troops in Afghanistan. It's long overdue. It should end.

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: One of the differences that Joe and I have in our record is Joe voted for that war, I helped lead the opposition to that war, which was a total disaster. I helped lead the effort for the first time to utilize the War Powers Act to get the United States out of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, which is the most horrific humanitarian disaster on Earth. Let me be very clear. I will do everything I can to prevent a war with Iran, which would be far worse than disastrous war with Iraq.

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

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."

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.

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.

Donald Trump on War & Peace : Jan 5, 2018
Afghanistan is a military quagmire; no need to dwell further

The president's distaste and rancor for McMaster grew on pace with the approaching need to finally make a decision on Afghanistan, a decision he continued to put off. His position on Afghanistan--a military quagmire he knew little about, other than that it was a quagmire--had always been a derisive and caustic kiss-off of the sixteen-year war. Having inherited it did not make his feelings warmer or inspire him to want to dwell on it further. He knew the war was cursed and, knowing that, felt no need to know more. He put the responsibility for it on two of his favorite people to blame: Bush and Obama.

Bernie Sanders on Foreign Policy : Sep 21, 2017
Foreign policy is directly related to military policy

Foreign policy is about U.S. government budget priorities. At a time when we already spend more on defense than the next 12 nations combined, foreign policy is about authorizing a defense budget of some $700 billion.

Jill Stein on Homeland Security : Aug 25, 2016
$6 trillion to pay for wounded veterans from failed wars

Jill Stein on War & Peace : May 9, 2016
War in Iraq created Frankenstein's monster of ISIS

Bernie Sanders on Foreign Policy : Nov 14, 2015
Moral responsibility to reach out to Syrian refugees

SANDERS: I believe that the US has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the US should take its full responsibility in helping those people.

Q: Gov. O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000.

O'MALLEY: I was the first person on this stage to say that we should accept the 65,000 Syrian refugees that were fleeing the sort of murder of ISIL, and I believe that that needs to be done with proper screening. But accommodating 65,000 refugees in our country today, people of 320 million, is akin to making room for 6.5 more people in a baseball stadium with 32,000.

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 : Oct 13, 2015
Support force only when we are threatened & have coalition

Donald Trump on Foreign Policy : Oct 4, 2015
Good that Russia is involved in Syria

TRUMP: I want our military to be beyond anything, no contest, and technologically, most importantly. But we are going to get bogged down in Syria. If you look at what happened with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, that's when they went bankrupt.

Q: So, you think Putin's going to get suckered into--

TRUMP: They're going to get bogged down. Everybody that's touched the Middle East, they've gotten bogged down. Now, Putin wants to go in and I like that Putin is bombing the hell out of ISIS. Putin has to get rid of ISIS because Putin doesn't want ISIS coming into Russia.

Q: Why do you trust him and nobody else does?

TRUMP: I don't trust him. But the truth is, it's not a question of trust. I don't want to see the United States get bogged down. We've spent now $2 trillion in Iraq, probably a trillion in Afghanistan. We're destroying our country.

Chris Christie on Homeland Security : Sep 16, 2015
On 9/11, I wondered whether I'd be a single parent

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.

Bernie Sanders on Foreign Policy : Apr 30, 2015
Focus on domestic needs instead of international conflict

Sanders backs President Obama's negotiations with Iran and sharply criticized Republican senators who signed a letter warning Iran against a potential deal. In a statement, the Jewish senator pushed back against the idea of tougher sanctions and was critical of Netanyahu's speech to Congress. Sanders was the first senator to announce he would not attend the speech.

Bernie Sanders on Homeland Security : Jun 1, 2014
Don't let released terrorists get back onto the battlefield

BERNIE SANDERS: I suspect that if you ask Bergdahl's feelings about what happened, they will feel very, very good. I think we need to have more information about the long-term consequences, and do everything that we can to make sure that these terrorists do not get back onto the battlefield.

Jill Stein on Energy & Oil : Oct 22, 2012
Fight against climate change instead of fighting for oil

STEIN: Instead of fighting wars for oil, America will be leading the fight to put an end to climate change. In Afghanistan and Iraq, we have spent about $5 trillion. We have seen thousands and thousands of American lives lost, hundreds of thousands of civilian lives lost, about a trillion dollars a year being spent on a massive, bloated military-industrial-security budget. Instead, we need to cut that military budget, rightsize it to year 2000 levels, and build true security here at home, bringing our war dollars home.

Jill Stein on Foreign Policy : Oct 16, 2012
Get tough policy has opposite effect of what was intended

STEIN: The tragedy in Libya, I think, is a very good case in point that really shows how this "get tough" international policy has really been extremely unproductive, has really produced the opposite effect of what was intended. And we're seeing this now not only in Libya, but in the demonstrations against U.S. embassies across the Middle East, in the fact that the Afghanistan army is shooting at U.S. soldiers. The war effort really is not being turned over to an Afghan army. The Afghan army itself has a very high desertion rate. We need a foreign policy based not on "tough guy" militarism, but on international law and respect for human rights, not on wars for oil.

Joe Biden on Corporations : Oct 11, 2012
Same rules for Wall Street as for Main Street

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.

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.

Jill Stein on War & Peace : Feb 3, 2012
End the Oil Wars

Redirect the trillions wasted on Wall Street, war & tax subsidies for the wealthy to...
• Stop climate change by creating millions of jobs in green energy, manufacturing, agriculture & public transportation.
• End the Oil Wars that are killing soldiers and civilians, and draining our national treasury. Obama is leaving thousands of private forces in Iraq and has twice as many troops in Afghanistan as George Bush.
• End unemployment by investing in green jobs.

Jill Stein on War & Peace : Jan 25, 2012
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were illegal

Instead of austerity, we can end the Wall Street bailouts, cut the bloated military and tax the bloated rich.

Jill Stein on War & Peace : Dec 21, 2011
We should not be in Afghanistan; no military solution

A: As in Iraq, in Afghanistan likewise we should not be there. If we hadn't been training militaries in Afghanistan to start with 30 or 40 years ago, there never would have been an Osama bin Laden. Afghanistan is a symbol: military solutions are not solutions. They don't end.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Dec 13, 2011
Iran is isolated, and will be more so when Syria falls

BIDEN: Well, the argument was made early on that we removed two of Iran`s most greatest concerns, Saddam in Iraq, and the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the result now, in part because of some really outrageous moves that Iran has made, it actually has lost power in the entire region. The fact of the matter is its only ally left in the region is about to be toppled. That is in Syria with Bashar Assad. But the biggest thing that`s happened is the president has been able to unite the world, including Russia and China, in continuing to ostracize and to isolate Iran. So, the truth is, the capacity of Iran to project power in the Gulf is actually diminished. They are less feared. They have less influence than they have had any time, I would argue, in the last 20 years.

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.

Chris Christie on War & Peace : Jun 26, 2011
I'm not a nation-building guy; we've achieved Afghan goals

A: You know, as the governor of New Jersey, I got to tell you, I'm not going to put my judgment in place of the president of the United States who is briefed on this much more extensively than I am. And so I'm just not going to go there with that.

Q: You said that you wouldn't have pulled troops out.

A: I'm not a nation-building guy. And I do think that we have achieved a lot of what we wanted to achieve in Afghanistan, especially after the murder of bin Laden. But he knows a lot more about this than I do. I'm not going to go down that road.

Chris Christie on War & Peace : Jun 15, 2011
Don't pull troops out of Afghanistan until military says so

A: You know, I wouldn't do it now, but I would be guided by what our military advisers told us to do. But I do think that capturing bin laden and killing Bin Laden was one of the real goals of the original Afghanistan intervention. and I'm not a nation-building kind of guy.

Q: But Americans have to be by default the world's policemen. and a lot of Americans I talked to are getting a bit fed up with spending all this money when there are so many problems at home, on being the world's policemen. There are other superpowers emerging. Would you like to see a spreading of that load going forward where America's not the go-to country? For military support, for helping out with despotic regimes and so on?

Q: Well, America's always got to be the leader in that regard.

Q: Does it have to be?

A: I think it does.

Bernie Sanders on Homeland Security : Dec 10, 2010
War in Iraq will cost us $3 trillion including veteran care

So when we talk about Iraq, it is not only the terrible loss of life that our soldiers and the Iraqi people have experienced, let's not forget what it has done to the deficit and the national debt. We did not pay for the war in Iraq. We just put it on the credit card.

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.

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

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Oct 5, 2010
Enemy is Al Qaeda, not Taliban; timetable for withdrawal ok

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.

Jill Stein on War & Peace : Sep 29, 2010
End our military misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are costing Massachusetts $3.4 billion per year. That money could go a long way toward creating jobs here in Massachusetts. Rather than serving as a Pentagon propagandist and obediently sending our National Guard off for yet another tour of duty, the Governor of Massachusetts should be telling President Obama that we need to end the wars, bring our National Guard home, and heal our economy.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : May 18, 2010
We're in Afghanistan because of Al Qaeda, period

Or was it? Joe Biden took a trip there just before the Inauguration at Obama's instruction and reported back to the president that if you asked ten people on the ground what we were doing in Afghanistan you got ten different answers. Counterinsurgency. Nation-building. Protecting population centers. Routing the Taliban. Helping the Kabul government. Building democracy. And so forth. "We got to decide why we're there," Biden told the president when he got home. "It's al Qaeda." Biden figured, "If there was no Al Qaeda, we would not be there. Period."

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Aug 4, 2009
2007: Supported funding Iraq War, against Obama

Obama said, "I opposed this war in 2002 precisely because I feared it would lead us to the open-ended occupation in which we find ourselves today. We should not give the president a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path." Just fourteen senators opposed the measure.

Mike Pence on Foreign Policy : Nov 1, 2008
Foreign aid for US security interests & disasters

Pence indicates support of the following principles regarding international aid:
• Support the United States granting aid to countries when extraordinary circumstances cause disaster and threaten civilian lives.
• Support the US granting aid to countries when in the security interests of the US.
• Increase United States military support and financial support for Afghanistan

Joe Biden on Homeland Security : Oct 2, 2008
We spend same in 3 weeks in Iraq as 7 years in Afghanistan

BIDEN: While Barack & I have been calling for more money & more troops in Afghanistan, McCain was saying two years ago, "The reason we don't read about Afghanistan anymore in the paper, it's succeeded." We spend in three weeks on combat missions in Iraq, more than we spent in the entire time we have been in Afghanistan. That will change in an Obama administration.

Mike Pence on War & Peace : Mar 9, 2008
Afghanistan is and will continue to be a NATO and US success

PENCE: I really do. You know, Afghanistan is going to have its own challenges. And there's concern right now that there may be something of a counteroffensive by the Taliban this spring. And so some Marines are being transferred into the southwest provinces.

Q: Do you think the NATO and US forces are ready to deal with that?

PENCE: Our military personnel are not going to be surprised. The Taliban has already been operating with military violence in about 10% of the provinces. They see it coming, but look, Afghanistan is and will continue to be an extraordinary American and NATO success. Iraq right now is going in the right direction, but the fight is far from over.

Joe Biden on Drugs : Feb 25, 2008
US should focus on disrupting Afghanistan drug trade

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Feb 25, 2008
Afghanistan must never again be haven for al Qaeda

Helping Afghanistan become self-sustaining is going to be a monumental task. It's going to take up to a decade, and more blood will be spilled and more treasure will be spent. But I think it's important to put this in perspective. It's nothing, nothing, nothing compared to the blood and treasure we've already devoted to Iraq. And, notwithstanding that, it is much more doable than, I think, what we have done thus far in Iraq.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Dec 13, 2007
Muslims don't like us because they do not trust us

A: The reason why we are disliked so much is because we are trusted so little. I'm talking about the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world who look at us and, when we say and do things as we're talking about now with Iran, conclude that this is a war on Islam. When we went into Afghanistan, we did it the right way. They knew al-Qaeda were bad guys & supported us. When we do things that don't sound rational to them, it undercuts our legitimacy.

Joe Biden on Homeland Security : Aug 9, 2007
Don't Ask Don't Tell is antiquated & unworkable

A: Sen. Biden supports ending the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. It is antiquated and unworkable. According to recent polls, 3/4 of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan said that they had no problem serving with openly gay people. 24 of the nations serving alongside US forces in Iraq permit open service which has had no negative impact on these forces or the morale of our brave soldiers. Finally, the US does not have enough troops to fulfill our current missions--it is ridiculous to turn away brave and patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve solely because of their sexual orientation--especially in light of the Defense Department's recent decision to extend tours of duty in Iraq. Sen. Biden believes that we should treat everyone serving in the military by the same standards regardless of orientation.

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Jul 31, 2007
Bush invaded Iraq as the weakest of the Axis of Evil

I thought this approach was flawed. The facts showed that terrorist groups didn't base their training camps in countries with strong governments or dictators; they found safe haven in failed states & grew stronger in the vacuum of power.

There was a lot of noise about overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Of the three Axis of Evil countries, Iraq was the country that could put up the least military resistance, and I believed Cheney & Rumsfeld were pushing the president toward an invasion

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Jul 31, 2007
End neocon fantasy of remaking Iraq in our image

Joe Biden on Civil Rights : Jun 3, 2007
Nobody asks if you're gay in a foxhole

Joe Biden on War & Peace : Feb 21, 2007
Vote for Iraq War was mistake; assumed Bush competence

A: First of all, I think that I vastly underestimated the incompetence of this administration. I really mean it. Remember, they did it pretty well in Afghanistan. They acted responsibly. Almost every major network, almost every major editorial board in America said that they were acting responsibly. And when [Bush] came forward with this plan for Iraq, his wanting this authority, we assumed he'd act equally as responsibly. But they have been absolutely irresponsible.

I wrote a report six months before we went to war, called "The Decade After Iraq." It stated we would not be greeted with open arms. There would not be enough oil to pay for the war. We'd be there for five to 10 years, and we better not go unless we're prepared to go with a lot more forces. And so I assumed they would understand that. And that was a giant mistake I made -- assuming their competence.

Howie Hawkins on War & Peace : Jun 30, 2006
End the War in Iraq