When we were attacked on September 11th, we were forced to defend ourselves and to remove the threat of Al Qaeda and their sponsors, the Taliban. The Taliban no longer rule Afghanistan, and we have fractured the leadership of Al Qaeda. We have also given the Afghan people a chance to elect their own government.

Now, our focus should be on maintaining the security of the United States, and all of our decisions need to be made within that context. We need to make a good faith effort to support the elected Afghan government as it attempts to build democratic institutions and to provide opportunities to its people. However, we must not write a blank check for never-ending nation building in this precarious part of the world.