From kabul to canada har and fallujah. Hundreds of thousands of americas sons and daughters who answered the call to serve in our Armed Services have brought us to this point. Their efforts and sacrifice will go down in history as showing the strength, commitment of a force that is unlike any the world has ever seen. Just last night, i joined Vice President pence and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to have the soldiers who perished in the middle east. This was a somber and hum bling moment that reminded us of the tremendous sacrifices of the men and women of the United States military of our Armed Services take an oath to defend the constitution of the United States. They serve not for personal gain but for the protection and wellbeing of their fellow americans and their homeland. They are champions for peace, liberty and the rule of law and unrelenting when called upon to defend our people and values. We owe them and their loved ones an enormous debt of gratitude. This is why im blessed and privilege to stand before you today to outline the next phase of our campaign to defeat terrorists who have prerp traited attacks on our homeland and to prevent future acts of terrorism against our nation. We owe this moment to the many patriots who made the sacrifice and their comrades to Carry Forward their legacy. We have mourned the loss of 6,900 american troops who gave their lives in afghanistan and iraq. And we will never forget the more than 52,000 who bear the wounds of war and all those who carry its scars, visible and invisible. In light of these tremendous sacrifices and with great humility and gratitude, i am formally announcing we will will continue our repositioning of those two countries. By january 15, 2021, im thinking where this started in 2001. By january 15, 2021, our forces, their size in afghanistan will be 2,500 troops. Our force size in iraq will also be 2,500 by that same date. This is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives, supported by the American People and does not equate to a change in u. S. Policy or objectives. Moreover, this decision by the president is based on continuous engagement with his National Security cabinet over the past several months including discussions with me and my colleagues across the United States government. I have spoken with our military commanders and will reexecute this repositioning that protects r fighting men and women and diplomatic corps and our allies that are critical to rebuilding iraq and afghanistan for lasting peace in troubled lands. Just this morning, i spoke with key leaders in congress as well as our allies and partners abroad to update them on our plans. We went in together, we adjust together and when the time is right we will lead together. I met with the attorney general and president general of afghanistan who expressed his gratitude who fought for peace and extended the long standing friendship. He president highlighted the troops which has been more important. We continue to stand with him as his Government Works towards a negotiated settlement for peace. Meanwhile, let us remind those who question our resolve or may seek to interfere with this coordinated transition. The United States armed forces remain committed to protecting the safety and security of the American People in supporting our likeminded allies and partners worldwide. If the forces of terror, division and hate begin a campaign to disrupt our efforts, we stand ready to have the capabilities to thwart them. As a veteran whose life was changed in iraq and afghanistan along with the hundreds of thousands of u. S. Troops who have fought there and transformed by their experiences, i celebrate this day as we continue the president s consistent progress incompleting the mission we began two decades ago. I thank the afghans and iraqis and carry the bulk of the fighting. I thank our nato allies and other partners who fought along side and taken the lead on training and advising the afghan and Iraqi Security forces. We will continue to support their efforts. And thanks to our more than 80 partners in the defense isis coalition. We will ensure they never gain a foothold to attack our people. In closing, we sent out to accomplish three goals in twin, first, go abroad and destroy terrorists, their organizations and sactuaries. Two, strengthen our defenses against future defenses and three, prevent the continued growth of islamic are terrorism and them taking the lead in the fight. Today is another critical step in that direction and resolve of president trumps bold leadership with the blessings of proved in the coming year, we will finish this generational war and bring our men and women home and protect our children from the hold of perpt tall war and service to peace and stability in afghanistan, iraq and around the world and celebrate all those who helped us secure freedom over oppression. God bless our women and men in uniform. Indiscernible chatter] captioning performed by the nati announcer coming up wednesday on cspan, the house is back in at 10 00 a. M. Eastern for general speakers, legislative business at noon. Legislators take up several bills on the Foreign Affairs committee, and they vote on working out differences that on legislation that sets defense programs and policy for fiscal year 2021. The senate returned on cspan2 at 10 00 a. M. Eastern for judicial nominations. On cspan3, a confirmation hearing to pick members of the federal election commission. They are today, it a look at federal agencies and how they telework handle telework during the coronavirus pandemic. That gets underway at 3 00 p. M. Eastern. The ceo ofjoined pfizer and the head of the Vaccine Confidence project for a discussion on the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to develop a vaccine. They talked
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