the american people again. we no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in afghanistan. after 20 years of war in afghanistan, i refused to send another generation of america's sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago. this decision about afghanistan is not just about afghanistan. it's about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries. we saw a mission of counter-terrorism in afghanistan, getting the terrorists and stopping attacks, morph into a counter-insurgency, nation-building, trying to create a democratic, cohesive, and united afghanistan, something that has never been done over many centuries of afghans' history.