Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept for one second that the involvement of the US and its allies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya has contributed one iota to improving the lifestyles and conditions of the ordinary people in those countries. It has done the opposite. The more money the US and its allies spent and threw at the situation, the more problems they caused. The Minister has claimed that they are only training local security forces now. For a long time, they were "only training" security forces in Iraq. Many of those people are now working for ISIS. ISIS has captured a great deal of US equipment that cannot be used by anyone who has not been trained by the US military.

What sort of turmoil are we sowing in Afghanistan? Only last year, the Rolling Stonemagazine published a video showing Afghan security forces torturing prisoners. I wonder where they learned that? Afghanistan will be a better place when we move out of it. Actually, it is not just us, as our seven personnel are obviously just a token gesture. It is a small number compared with others. It is a token offering to show the Americans we support them. Some people have even suggested that the beef deal was almost in return for that.

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