Congressional delegation supports troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

Sen. Max Baucus recently joined fellow lawmakers in saying it’s time to bring home troops from Afghanistan, and the sooner, the better.

“We simply cannot afford more years of elevated troop levels in Afghanistan. We are spending roughly $10 billion in Afghanistan each month at a time when we’re making tough sacrifices at home,” Baucus said in a March 7 letter to President Obama. “Your recent budget calls for $88 billion more for the war in Afghanistan in 2013. If this money is appropriated, we will have spent a total of $650 billion in Afghanistan. A majority of Americans worry that the costs of the war in Afghanistan will make it more difficult for the government to address the problems facing the United States at home. They’re right.”

Baucus and 22 other senators signed the letter, which was sent before news came from Afghanistan about an alleged massacre by a lone U.S. solder.

According to news reports, the 38-year-old soldier entered homes in the middle of the night and shot and killed 16 civilians in two Afghan villages outside of Kandahar on March 11. He was later identified as Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, an 11-year veteran on his first tour to Afghanistan. He completed three tours in Iraq, where he lost part of his foot in a roadside explosion.

Bales’ Seattle attorney, John Browne, denied reports on March 16 of a broken marriage having a role in the shootings but didn’t have any information on whether Bales had been drinking. Browne is known for defending serial killer Ted Bundy and Colton Harris-Moore, aka “The Barefoot Bandit.”

Sen. Jon Tester also supports a withdrawal from Afghanistan but did not sign the letter. Tester’s timeline calls for a withdrawal from the country by 2014. 

Rep. Denny Rehberg didn’t provide a timeline but also supports troop withdrawal.

“We must be certain that this withdrawal is done in a way that not only provides for the long-term security of the Afghan people but for the entire region as well,” Rehberg said in a statement last week. “Because ultimately, that’s a fundamental necessity of our own national security.”

The Afghanistan War has taken a toll locally. Pfc. Nick Cook, of Hungry Horse, was killed in combat in the Konar Province of Afghanistan on March 7, 2010. He received a Silver Star posthumously for bravery in a fire fight with insurgents.