Mattis Warns on Afghan Fight, Criticizes Congress in Testimony
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Will America Ever Leave Afghanistan?
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Defense Secretary James Mattis warned lawmakers that the U.S. isn’t winning the war in Afghanistan and he criticized Congress for treating the Pentagon’s budget “with lassitude, not leadership.”
Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that he expects to brief Congress by mid-July on a new strategy in Afghanistan that includes a still unspecified increase in U.S. forces, which now total about 8,400. More than 15 years since the U.S. sent troops to oust the Taliban leadership, the security situation in the country has been rapidly deteriorating, with terror attacks occurring in the heart of Kabul and U.S. troops continuing to perish.