Issue Position: Iraq, Afghanistan & Foreign Policy

Issue Position

Ann McLane Kuster opposed the Iraq war and opposes escalation of the war in Afghanistan. She believes that we must do whatever it takes to protect the American people from terrorism, but that we cannot afford to let the same broken mindset that got us into Iraq to get us bogged down in Afghanistan.

Throughout the world, Annie believes we must to approach problems first with development, diplomacy, and then defense.

Iraq

* Ann McLane Kuster opposed the war in Iraq because it forced us to take our eye off the ball in Afghanistan, and because it cost thousands of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without making our country safer

Afghanistan

* Ann McLane Kuster is worried that the cost in dollars and lives of sending more and more troops to Afghanistan is not making us any safer.

* Much of the terrorist threat has already spread form Afghanistan to Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere, so we can't afford to get pulled deeper into Afghanistan.

* Rather than a broad counterinsurgency that could take years, Annie thinks the U.S. needs a narrowly focused mission of counter-terrorism in Afghanistan designed to attach and disrupt Al Qeda with increased accountability from the Karzai government.

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