Following President Biden's announcement of his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) released the following statement:
"On the President's plan for Afghanistan, I'm looking forward to the briefing for Members of Congress next week to get more details. The two critical things I'll be looking to hear come directly from the original goals of this war: first, what will the security architecture look like to ensure that terrorists don't reconstitute and prepare attacks against us or our allies? Many Michiganders want out of Afghanistan after 20 years of war, but they also want to know we aren't allowing terrorists to reorganize and threaten us again.
"Secondly, what is the diplomatic plan for maintaining some insight and leverage in Kabul? If preventing international terrorist attacks is connected to the country living up to basic international norms and standards, we'll need a significant diplomatic plan to ensure Kabul isn't descending into chaos. That diplomatic presence is what will likewise give us early warning if things are going in the wrong direction — because while most people I know want to get out, no one wants to have to go back in, as we did with Iraq.
"While there are no perfect options for getting out of Afghanistan, there are important factors that directly impact U.S. national security. That's what I'll be eager to learn about from Secretaries Blinken and Austin next week."
Original source can be found here.
