Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made the following statement in response to former-Vice President Dick Cheney’s comments that President Barack Obama is “dithering” in regarding the war in Afghanistan:

“It appears that after he helped run one of the worst administrations in American history, former VP Cheney has learned nothing.  By precipitate and dishonest action, the Bush-Cheney administration got us into a war in Iraq that we should never have gotten into, that isolated us from much of the world community, that cost us the lives of over 4,300 troops and up to $3 trillion in taxpayer costs.  That’s precisely what happens when you follow the Cheney approach of rushing into action without understanding the reality on the ground, or having coherent long-term goals or an exit strategy.  In terms of Afghanistan, after eight years of the Bush-Cheney doctrine, we ended up in a situation where the Taliban was on the offensive and where the government we helped put into office was widely disrespected by the Afghan people because of the widespread corruption which presently exists.  The situation in Afghanistan is enormously complicated and fraught with danger. I applaud President Obama for doing his best to think this through and to hear as many ideas as possible.  The Bush-Cheney approach gives us a very clearly warning of how we do not want to proceed.”