Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, warned the administration on Sunday not to quit and leave Afghanistan before the job is done.
“It’s essential that we do not repeat the same mistakes in Afghanistan that we made in Iraq. Before the end of this year, the Obama administration must reach a bilateral security agreement with the Afghan government that reinforces our commitment to the Afghan people and its security forces,” he wrote in a CNN op-ed less than a month after his trip to Afghanistan.
This means maintaining a small number of troops to stop terrorist threats, as well as providing training and advice to the Afghan forces that are taking over the mission, Mr. Boehner said.
While he said that everyone wants to bring home the troops as soon as possible, Mr. Boehner noted how parts of Iraq previously won by Americans have slipped back into terrorist control, and said both lawmakers and the president can’t let the same thing happen in Afghanistan.
“There is a shared, bipartisan legacy in Washington for Afghanistan. I am convinced history will judge both the executive branch and the legislative branch not on whether we ended wars, but how we ended them,” he wrote.
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.