Responding to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai‘s demand that the U.S. military leave the country’s village outposts by next year, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said the U.S. will not “abandon” Afghanistan.
“I want to let the region know we’re not abandoning Afghanistan, and I want Pakistan to know that America will have several air bases in Afghanistan and the Taliban will never win militarily,” Graham said at the Capitol Thursday. (RELATED: More on the War in Afghanistan)
“I want to tell the Taliban, you need to reconcile with your own country, but you’ll never take over Afghanistan militarily.”
When asked for his response to the Taliban suspending peace talks with America, Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, continued. “The way you talk with the Taliban is after you pound them. We’re pounding them now.”
“If the Taliban and the region understands that American counter-terrorism forces, NATO trainers, are going to be in Afghanistan well past 2014, that’s the end of their military aspirations,” he said.