{"id":102315,"date":"2020-07-16T09:22:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T13:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=102315"},"modified":"2022-01-13T20:31:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T01:31:15","slug":"house-panel-votes-to-constrain-afghan-drawdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=102315","title":{"rendered":"House panel votes to constrain Afghan drawdown."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It appears that Democrats and some Republicans did learn something from Barak Obama after all.\u00a0 Because of the Obama administration’s disastrous decision of suddenly turning tail and running from a War Zone,\u00a0 Congress has tied the hands of President Trump.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The House Armed Services Committee voted Wednesday to put roadblocks on President Trump\u2019s ability to withdraw from Afghanistan, including requiring an assessment on whether any country has offered incentives for the Taliban to attack U.S. and coalition troops.The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment, from Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), would require several certifications before the U.S. military can further draw down in Afghanistan.The amendment was approved 45-11.<\/p>\n

Rep.\u00a0Liz Cheney<\/span>\u00a0(Wyo.), the No. 3 House Republican, argued the amendment \u201clays out, in a very responsible level of specificity, what is going to be required if we are going to in fact make decisions about troop levels based on conditions on the ground and based on what’s required for our own security, not based on political timelines.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is crucially important, and I think it is our number one priority,\u201d she\u00a0added.<\/p>\n

The amendment comes as Trump\u2019s withdrawal deal with the Taliban remains precarious as high violence levels persist in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military has said it is down to 8,600 troops, in line with the agreement to get to that level by mid-July. But military officials have insisted any further drawdown will be based on conditions on the ground that are not yet met, even as Trump\u00a0pushes for a speedy withdrawal.<\/p>\n

The amendment also comes amid a firestorm in Washington over intelligence showing a\u00a0Russian military unit offered bounties\u00a0to Taliban-linked\u00a0militias to kill U.S. and coalition\u00a0service members in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Among the amendment\u2019s requirements is an assessment of whether any \u201cstate actors have provided any incentives to the Taliban, their affiliates, or other foreign terrorist organizations for attacks against United States, coalition, or Afghan security forces or civilians in Afghanistan in the last two years, including the details of any attacks believed to have been connected with such incentives.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Obama administration seemed to have just turned tail and ran… there were no viable agreements with anyone.\u00a0 But now…<\/p>\n

Rep.\u00a0Seth Moulton<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(D-Mass.) framed the measure as particularly important in light of the revelations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s been bipartisan criticism of what a weak deal [Trump] got with the Taliban, a deal that is already falling apart,\u201d Moulton said. \u201cNow we learned that he was making this deal at the same time as there were bounties on the heads of American troops, American sons and daughters. We clearly need more oversight over what the president is doing in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow\u2019s amendment would block funding to dip below 8,000 troops and then again to below 4,000 troops unless the administration certifies that doing so would not compromise the U.S. counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan, not increase risk for U.S. personnel there, be done in consultation with allies, and is in the best interest of the United States.<\/p>\n

It would also require an analysis on the effects of a drawdown on the threat from the Taliban, the status of human and civil rights, an inclusive Afghan peace process, the capacity of Afghan forces and the effect of malign actors on Afghan sovereignty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Never thought I would see the day Democrats joined forces with many Republicans to stop a President, that they all said would escalate War, from putting an end to a 20-year-old war.<\/p>\n

Rep.\u00a0Matt Gaetz<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(R-Fla.), a staunch Trump ally, argued the amendment would unfairly tie the administration\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great nation does not force the next generation to fight their wars, and that’s what we’ve done in Afghanistan,\u201d Gaetz said. \u201cI think the best day to have not had the war in Afghanistan was when we started it, and the next best day is tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

“I don’t think there’s ever a bad day to end the war in Afghanistan,” he added. “Our generation is weary of this and tired of this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We most certainly should have gone to war in Afghanistan.\u00a0 That War has been over for a long time.\u00a0 I wish they would stop calling a civil occupation of a Police State… a war.<\/p>\n

Maybe its just me but,\u00a0 Congress seems a bit too\u00a0 egar to shackle the arms of our current President while refusing to hold the previous one accountable for its failures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: House panel votes to constrain Afghan drawdown, ask for assessment on ‘incentives’ to attack US troops | TheHill<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It appears that Democrats and some Republicans did learn something from Barak Obama after all.\u00a0 Because … House panel votes to constrain Afghan drawdown.<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":667,"featured_media":102319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[430,301,469,131,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2020-election","category-afghanistan","category-donald-trump","category-i-hate-hippies","category-liberals-suck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102321,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102315\/revisions\/102321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/102319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}