Rep. Schakowsky's Statement on the President's Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal Announcement

Washington, D.C. (Wednesday, June 22, 2011) — Rep. Jan Schakowsky issued the following statement in reaction to President Obama's announcement of plans to begin withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this summer:

"I am pleased that President Obama has begun to articulate a plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. However, I am concerned about the pace of the drawdown, and I urge the President to go beyond the reductions he announced tonight and lay out a plan for a swift and sizeable redeployment of U.S. forces.

Our current level of 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan is costing American taxpayers $10 billion each month. There is little evidence that this enormous expenditure of American lives and resources has bought us added security. On the contrary, it has become unavoidably clear that we cannot achieve our goals in Afghanistan through military means.

I urge the President to build upon tonight's announcement and bring home greater numbers of U.S. troops as part of an overall exit strategy from Afghanistan. We should instead invest in diplomatic and economic engagement with the Afghan people....

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Contact: Adjoa Adofo, (202) 225-2111
adjoa.adofo@mail.house.gov