Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Wednesday he feels the United States is a safer place now than it was before the 9/11 attacks, but until the Taliban ceases hostilities and a ceasefire is reached, there is no way the U.S. can negotiate with their leaders and at least a residual U.S. force must remain there.
"It's been 18 years since that tragic fateful day,"McCaul told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The conflict still rages in Afghanistan. We just saw [Tuesday] that the Taliban tried to fire a rocket at our United States embassy in Afghanistan . . . I think that, at a minimum, we have to maintain a residual force in Afghanistan just like we are doing in Syria, to protect the homeland."
Former President Barack Obama withdrew 10,000 troops from Iraq, he pointed out, and then the rise of ISIS and its caliphate began.
"We cannot afford to see that again," McCaul said. "I think a residual force is the best way – not occupying countries, as those days are over – but rather a force to protect the homeland."
McCaul said he does think the terrorists' capabilities have been diminished so they cannot conduct external operations in the United States, but that does not mean they will not happen in the future.
"The problem with the Taliban is that they harbored al-Qaida before and on 9/11," McCaul said. "They were complicit with 9/11 and now we are trying to negotiate with them, and I find that to be a very difficult position to in. Al-Qaida is there, ISIS is on the rise in Afghanistan. It's important we maintain this residual force."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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