The men and women of Afghanistan are building a nation that is free and proud and fighting terror - and America is honored to be their friend.

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains and the women come out to cut up what remains jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.

We did not go to war in Afghanistan or in Iraq to quote 'impose democracy.' We went to war in both places because we saw those regimes as a threat to the United States.

But the war on terror as I have repeatedly said in the past and the Afghan people believe in it in truth is that the war on terror is not in the Afghan villages or homes. Its in the sanctuaries it is in the training grounds its in the motivation factors and the money that comes to it.

What President Bush did in his doctrine of preemptive strike and in his war in Afghanistan and in Iraq was to turn even his allies in Europe negatively toward America.

Since the attack on the United States on September 11 2001 and the US retaliation in Afghanistan and Iraq there must be few people who have not felt a twinge of nostalgia for the cold war.

I would have voted 'no' on the Iraq war and 'yes' to Afghanistan.

Hurtling the Pentagon into an unprecedented budgetary meltdown is horrifically irresponsible. Obama doesn't care. This is war - not against the Taliban but war against the GOP. He has Republicans on the ropes and that's a victory he savors and desires - unlike Afghanistan where he seems only to want to turn tail.

I don't think the war in Afghanistan was ruthlessly enough waged.

I'm finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit. I'm finding myself really angry over what's happening in the Middle East the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I'm angry about cap and trade. And I've been on record for a long time on the failed war on drugs.