U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones: Time to leave Afghanistan

I read your March 26 editorial “A longer stay” with great interest. I’ve been concerned and open about the continued waste in Afghanistan for many years.

On the House floor recently, I quoted a 2014 Politico editorial by Roger Simon titled, “Down the opium rathole.” Simon wrote, “If you spent 13 years pounding money down a rathole with little to show for it, you might wake up one morning and say: ‘Hey, I’m going to stop pounding money down this rathole.’ Unfortunately, the U.S. government does not think this way.”

We have spent over $686 billion in Afghanistan, and the waste, fraud and abuse are worse now than ever. The waste of taxpayer money in Afghanistan needs to be stopped.

The commitment the Obama administration made with the Afghan government last year to keep American troops in Afghanistan for nine more years with a $25 billion yearly price tag is unfair to taxpayers in North Carolina and the rest of America.

Afghanistan is a graveyard of empires that has resisted change since Alexander the Great.

The United States has a staggering $18 trillion debt, and rather than borrow from the Russians and the Chinese in a futile attempt to change Afghanistan, it’s time for us to focus on our own needs.

The writer, a Republican, represents N.C. District 3.

This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones: Time to leave Afghanistan."