Democratic congressman addresses fellow veterans: I'm 'too honest' to say Afghanistan 'sacrifice was worth it'

U.S. veterans who fought in Afghanistan are questioning what their service in Afghanistan meant now that the Taliban has retaken control of nearly the entire country 20 years later, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a Marine veteran who served in Iraq, doesn't have a straight answer for them, but in a statement Sunday night he addressed his fellow veterans and their families, saying he is "too honest to stand here today and try to convince you that your sacrifice was worth it." He said some people "may find solace" in the fact that millions of Afghans, particularly girls and women, received "two decades of a taste of freedom," but others "will forever ask that haunting question I heard too often from my own Marines in Iraq: 'Why are we here?'"

The best answer Moulton said he's always been able to give is simply: "So nobody has to be here in our place." Read more veteran reactions to the Afghanistan withdrawal at The Wall Street Journal.

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