【正文】 justify the slaughter of Qaeda’s base of operations was in Afghanistan, where they were harbored by the Talibana ruthless, repressive and radical movement that seized control of that country after it was ravaged by years of Soviet occupation and civil war, and after the attention of America and our friends had turned days after 9/11, Congress authorized the use of force against al Qaeda and those who harbored themanauthorization that continues to this vote in the Senate was 98 to vote in the House was 420 to the first time in its history, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invoked Article 5the mitment that says an attack on one member nation is an attack on the United Nations Security Council endorsed the use of all necessary steps to respond to the 9/11 , our allies and the world were acting as one to destroy al Qaeda’s terrorist network and to protect our mon the banner of this domestic unity and international legitimacyand only after the Taliban refused to turn over Osama bin Ladenwe sent our troops into a matter of months, al Qaeda was scattered and many of its operatives were Taliban was driven from power and pushed back on its heel place that had known decades of fear now had reason to a conference convened by the ., a provisional government was established under President Hamid an International Security Assistance Force was established to help bring a lasting peace to a wartorn , in early 2003, the decision was made to wage a second war, in wrenching debate over the Iraq war is wellknown and need not be repeated ’s enough to say that for the next six years, the Iraq war drew the dominant share of our troops, our resources, our diplomacy, and our national attentionand that the decision to go into Iraq caused substantial rifts between America and much of the , after extraordinary costs, we are bringing the Iraq war to a responsible will remove our bat brigades from Iraq by the end of next summer, and all of our troops by the end of we are doing so is a testament to the character of the men and women in uniform.(Applause.)Thanks to their courage, grit and perseverance, we have given Iraqis a chance to shape their future, and we are successfully leaving Iraq to its while we’ve achieved hardearned milestones in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan has escaping across the border into Pakistan in 2001 and 2002, al Qaeda’s leadership established a safe haven a legitimate government was elected by the Afghan people, it’s been hampered by corruption, the drug trade, an underdeveloped economy, and insufficient security the last several years, the Taliban has maintained mon cause with al Qaeda, as they both seek an overthrow of the Afghan , the Taliban has begun to control additional swaths of territory in Afghanistan, while engaging in increasingly brazen and devastating attacks of terrorism against the Pakistani , throughout this period, our troop levels in Afghanistan remained a fraction of what they were in I took office, we had just over 32,000 Americans serving in Afghanistan, pared to 160,000 in Iraq at the peak of the in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not that’s why, shortly after taking office, I approved a longstanding request for more consultations with our allies, I then announced a strategy recognizing the fundamental connection between our war effort in Afghanistan and the extremist safe havens in set a goal that was narrowly defined as disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al Qaeda and its extremist allies, and pledged to better coordinate our military and civilian then, we’ve made progress on some important al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed, and we’ve stepped up the pressure on al Qaeda Pakistan, that nation’s army has gone on its largest offensive in Afghanistan, we and our allies prevented the Taliban from stopping a presidential election, andalthough it was marred by fraudthat election produced a government that is consistent with Afghanistan’s laws and huge challenges is not lost, but for several years it has moved ’s no imminent threat of the government being overthrown, but the Taliban has gained Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same numbers as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the our forces lack the full support they need to effectively train and partner with Afghan security forces and better secure the new mander in AfghanistanGeneral McChrystalhas reported that the securitysituation is more serious than he short: The status quo is not cadets, you volunteered for service during this time of of you fought in of you will deploy your CommanderinChief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined, and worthy of your that’s why, after the Afghan voting was pleted, I insisted on a thorough review of our , let me be clear: There has never been an option before me that called for troop deployments before 2010, so there has been no delay or denial of resources necessary for the conduct of the war during this review , the review has allowed me to ask the hard questions, and to explore all the different options, along with my national security team, our military and civilian leadership in Afghanistan, and our key given the stakes involved, I owed the American peopleand our troopsno review is now as CommanderinChief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 to 18 months, our troops will begin to e are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of do not make this decision opposed the war in Iraq precisely because I believe that we must exercise restraint in the use of military force, and always consider the longterm consequences of our have been at war now for eight years, at enormous cost in lives and of debate over Iraq and terr