The Washington Post quotes Zalmay Khalilzad Chair on Afghanistan and Resident Senior Fellow James B. Cunningham on the debate surrounding whether US forces should be maintained in Afghanistan at current levels:
Al-Qaeda appears to have staked out new ground outside the remote mountain areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where its fighters have been relegated in recent years.
“That’s what this debate is about: how much we are willing to invest in preventing Afghanistan’s return as a serious threat to the region,” said James Cunningham, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul until 2014. “I’m convinced that’s what’s going to happen if we withdraw too rapidly.”