Republican Congressman Walter Jones made a pointed remark during Defense Secretary James Mattis' testimony Tuesday: "Why are we still shedding our soldiers' blood for pedophiles?" The Hill reported.
Jones, a longtime opponent of U.S. participation in Afghanistan, asked the rhetorical question during his opening remarks before questioning Mattis during the DOD chief's appearance before the House Armed Services Committee.
Rep. Jones, R-N.C., cited a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report from last month stating that the U.S. uses a loophole in a law to keep funding, equipping and training Afghan security forces despite their predilection of sexually assaulting children.
The Leahy Law is designed to prevent the U.S. military from aiding countries that are known to commit "gross violations of human rights," but the Pentagon uses the "notwithstanding" clause in the law to get around it by not reporting it, according to the SIGAR report.
Jones wasn't happy about that or the lack of successes in the war-torn country.
"Blood and treasure is lost and we have nothing to show what we've gained, except we still have trouble with the leaders of Afghanistan having sex with little boys," Jones said, before finally allowing Mattis to speak.
"What we're doing to earn the trust of the American people is to ensure another 9/11 hatched out of there does not happen during our watch," Mattis responded.
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