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.

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.

Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military.

Four years ago I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan and in 2014 our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead.

As the daughter of a 25-year veteran of the armed forces I am incredibly thankful for the sacrifices our women and men have made in Iraq and continue to make in Afghanistan.

Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States.

I think we need to just be very clear about what we're trying to do in Afghanistan. Frankly we're not trying to create the perfect democracy. We're never going to create some ideal society. We are simply there for our own national security.

There are tens of thousands of interactions every single day across Afghanistan between the Afghan troops and International Security Assistance Force. On most of those every single day we continue to deepen and broaden the relationship we seek.

And across Afghanistan every single day Afghan soldiers Afghan police and ISAF troops are serving shoulder-to-shoulder in some very difficult situations. And our engagement with them our shoulder-to-shoulder relationship with them our conduct of operations with them every single day defines the real relationship.

There is a direct line relationship between what happened in Afghanistan in the work up to 11 September 2001 and what we're doing in Afghanistan today.

Afghanistan is going to be here a long time and what's critical is that Afghanistan's relationship with its neighbors are to the maximum extent they can be constructive and operationally useful.

I believe in the transformational power of liberty. I believe that the free Iraq is in this nation's interests. I believe a free Afghanistan is in this nation's interest.

Well Australia's been in Afghanistan from the get go way back in 2001 but we have been resolute throughout and with support from both sides of Australian politics.

The experts who managed the original Marshall Plan say Afghanistan needs a commitment of at least $5 to $10 billion over 5 to 10 years coupled with occupation forces of 250 000 Allied soldiers to keep the peace throughout the country.

We as the Afghan people and government are willing to help Pakistan work for peace in Afghanistan and work for peace in Pakistan together.

People in Afghanistan want peace including the Taliban. They're also people like we all are. They have families they have relatives they have children they are suffering a tough time.

Afghanistan is very satisfied with Croatia's participation in the NATO-led peace mission and expects Croatia to expand its contribution to peace restoration in Afghanistan to other areas as well.