President for foreign policies here at the kato institute. Thank you for being here today and the outstanding conference stuff who do a terrific job organizing our many events. Welcome also to those of you watching at cspan and online at kato. Org. Following the september 11 terrorist attacks in october 2001 the United States issued combat operations inside afghanistan and against the taliban government that had harbored the terrorist there is. The ensuing 16 years, u. S. Goals have changed marginally but they typically include defeating al qaeda and other terrorist groups with global reach, strengthening the Afghan Government and Security Forces to prevent the taliban from retaking political power and denying terrorists a safe haven. Aassessments are mixed at best. In june secretary of state james mattis stated we are not winning in afghanistan right now. Estimates what have we spent prang from 840 billion to over 2 trillion plus over 2300 u. S. Troops killed and another 20,000 wounde
Good morning. Im christopher prebrle, the Vice President for defense and Foreign Policy studies here at the cato institute. Thank you for being here today and thank you also to our outstanding conference staff here at cato who do such a terrific job organizing our many events. Welcome also to those of you watching on cspan and online at cato. Org. Following the september 11th terrorist attacks in october 2001 the United States initiated combat operations against al qaeda targets inside of afghanistan and against the taliban government that had harbored the terrorists there. In the ensuing 16 years u. S. Goals have changed marginally, but they typically include defeating al qaeda and other terrorist groups with global reach, strengthening the Afghan Government, and Security Forces to prevent the taliban from retaking political power and denying terrorists a safe haven. Assessments of our progress to date are mixed at best. In june secretary of Defense James Mattis stated, we are not win
Vice president for defense and Foreign Policy studies here at the cato institute. Thank you for being here today and thank you also to our outstanding conference staff here at cato who do such a terrific job organizing our many events. Welcome also to those of you watching on cspan and online at cato. Org. Following the september 11th terrorist attacks in october 2001 the United States initiated combat operations against al qaeda targets inside of afghanistan and against the taliban government that had harbored the terrorists there. In the ensuing 16 years u. S. Goals have changed marginally, but they typically include defeating al qaeda and other terrorist groups with global reach, strengthening the Afghan Government, and Security Forces to prevent the taliban from retaking political power and denying terrorists a safe haven. Assessments of our progress to date are mixed at best. In june secretary of Defense James Mattis stated, we are not winning in afghanistan right now. One could s
U.S., coalition, and Iraqi forces have made substantial and durableprogress in providing security and stability for the Iraqi people;but security alone is an insufficient foundation for maintainingthe hard-fought successes achieved to date, and any assessmentshould be tempered by an understanding of the numerous economic,diplomatic, political, informational, rule of law, andcapacity-building challenges the Iraqis must still address.