{"id":18441,"date":"2019-07-19T16:31:35","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T16:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/19\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:43:10","slug":"graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/07\/19\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham warns against Afghanistan withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2015 U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LindseyGrahamSC\/status\/1152217398730272769\" target=_blank>called<\/a> any plans for a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan \u201cabsurd\u201d and warned the U.S. presence is an \u201cinsurance policy against the reemergence of al-Qaeda\/ISIS types,\u201d using an acronym for the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI hope the Trump Administration will not give into absurd Taliban demands for US withdrawal within 18 months \u2015 regardless of conditions on the ground,\u201d Graham, R-S.C., said in a series of tweets Friday morning. Graham posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-afghanistan-draft\/foreign-troops-to-quit-afghanistan-in-18-months-under-draft-deal-taliban-sources-idUSKCN1PK0DG\" target=_blank>Reuters<\/a> article from January that said the U.S. had offered a troop withdrawal over 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The comments came a day after U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorDurbin\/status\/1151896268760899586\" target=_blank>visited<\/a> Capitol Hill and several weeks after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the U.S. is prepared to remove American forces from Afghanistan, but did not say when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month, Khalilzad opened a new round of talks with the Taliban in Doha, which were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/us-envoy-afghanistan-khalilzad-taliban-negotiations-qatar\/30027002.html\" target=_blank>expected<\/a> to focus on formulating a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, and on a Taliban guarantee that militants will not plot attacks from Afghan soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/06\/11\/us-envoy-launches-new-push-on-afghan-talks-with-taliban\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19153683198886.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US envoy launches new push on Afghanistan peace talks with Taliban<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Renewed efforts are underway to jumpstart stalled peace talks with the Taliban as a U.S. envoy is in Kabul and Pakistani and Afghan officials are meeting in Islamabad.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Graham, an ally of President Donald Trump and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has over recent months tried to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/12\/21\/politics\/lindsey-graham-afghanistan\/index.html\" target=_blank>convince Trump<\/a> that pulling out of Afghanistan too soon might trigger a second 9\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe now have a small US military footprint, along with our allies, that is an insurance policy against the reemergence of al-Qaeda\/ISIS types and help hold Afghanistan together,\u201d Graham tweeted. \u201cHow Afghanistan turns out is vitally important to our own national security interests as this is the place it all started on 9\/11. We need a good deal, not a fake deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As recently as June 21, Trump said he wanted a withdrawal from Afghanistan. \u201cI said I want to get out of these endless wars, I campaigned on that. We\u2019ve been in Afghanistan 19 years. As you know, we\u2019ve reduced very substantially in Afghanistan,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly all of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have come out in favor of withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/02\/16\/us-lawmakers-meet-ghani-warn-against-big-afghanistan-troop-pullout\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19047545726411-1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US lawmakers meet Ghani, warn against big Afghanistan troop pullout<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Afghan President Ashaf Ghani met separately with US lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Khalilzad met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He visited with the Senate\u2019s No. 2 Democrat and senior appropriator, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, in the senator\u2019s office to discuss the status of peace talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe war in Afghanistan is now the longest in US history and I support Khalilzad\u2019s efforts to find a negotiated resolution,\u201d Durbin tweeted alongside pictures of the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gen. Mark Milley, Trump\u2019s nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in congressional testimony July 11 that there had been \u201csome progress\u201d recently toward the end of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, through a negotiated settlement with the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ongoing peace talks are being underwritten by the U.S. troop presence, and leaving prematurely would be a strategic mistake, Milley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it is slow, it\u2019s painful, it\u2019s hard, but I also think it is necessary,\u201d Milley said. \u201cWe went to Afghanistan for a single purpose: to make sure it never again becomes a platform for a terrorist strike in the United States of America like 9\/11. There hasn\u2019t been one, and we\u2019ve been successful to date.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Lindsey Graham called draft plans for a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan \u201cabsurd\u201d and warned the U.S. presence is an \u201cinsurance policy against the reemergence of al-Qaeda\/ISIS types.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[8,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3446],"class_list":["post-18441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VY5PUVNWIJF7JOKO2IZRKN4NWE","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2019\/07\/19\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Graham warns against Afghanistan withdrawal - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sen. Lindsey Graham called draft plans for a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan \u201cabsurd\u201d and warned the U.S. presence is an \u201cinsurance policy against the reemergence of al-Qaeda\/ISIS types.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graham warns against Afghanistan withdrawal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sen. Lindsey Graham called draft plans for a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan \u201cabsurd\u201d and warned the U.S. presence is an \u201cinsurance policy against the reemergence of al-Qaeda\/ISIS types.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/07\/19\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-19T16:31:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T21:43:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Gould\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Gould\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Graham warns against Afghanistan withdrawal\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2019-07-19T16:31:35+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T21:43:10+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 542,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP_19178709560993.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Congress\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Graham warns against Afghanistan withdrawal - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/19\\\/graham-warns-against-afghanistan-withdrawal\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP_19178709560993.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2019-07-19T16:31:35+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T21:43:10+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Sen. 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