Press Releases

Today, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following remarks to open the hearing entitled, "Afghanistan in 2016: The Evolving Security Situation and U.S. Policy, Strategy, and Posture:"

"The Committee meets today to hear from our U.S. and NATO Commander in Afghanistan, General John Campbell.

General, first I wanted to thank you for being here. You were with this Committee in October. I am not sure we expected to see you again so soon, but, I understand that you will be transitioning out of the Army, so we wanted to take this opportunity to get ourselves updated and get your insights on the status of Afghanistan.

As we do that, I want to express appreciation for your service to the country over many distinguished years. And, I especially want to express my appreciation and admiration for the way you have conducted this job—I believe it is your third deployment—in Afghanistan. It seems to me that you have walked something of a tightrope because it is clear to me that you appreciate the importance of Afghanistan to our country’s security, as well as the investment in lives and treasure that the United States has made there over the years.

At the same time, in many ways you have had your hands tied by the White House on what you could and could not do. It seems in some ways we have a contradiction for Afghanistan. It was known as the 'good war,' and yet, at least some in the White House are unwilling to allow the military take the steps to actually be successful.

My view is that this is a crucial time in Afghanistan. We all read the press reports about the growing presence of ISIS. We read about the Taliban being more aggressive, partly because of their internal power struggles, I suspect, and partly because they are trying to positions themselves for any peace talks that may come. There are some who believe that Al Qaeda is regrouping in the area, and there are a number of other groups. And yet, our commitment to Afghanistan seems to come a year at a time, which causes some question about how reliable a partner we are.

So, I think that the Committee and the American people are looking forward to an update of the status of the situation today in Afghanistan. I think we are all interested in whether the Afghans are making progress in developing their military and being able to handle their own security needs effectively. I also think the Committee and the American people continue to ask, 'why are we still here 14 years later? Why is it important?' So, I hope over the course of the day, you can help us explore some of the answers to those questions."