Third District Congressional Candidate Robin Smith issued the following statement Tuesday evening following President Obama’s address to the nation on Afghanistan.

“Although his path to this decision was long and meandering, I believe that President Obama has, for the most part, arrived at the correct conclusion on providing our military professionals the resources they need to achieve mission success in Afghanistan.

For several months I have advocated allowing Generals David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal the opportunity to repeat the success they achieved in Iraq by trusting in their expertise and granting their requests regarding troop levels and strategy. I believe they are in the best position to evaluate the situation on the ground and provide the best path to bring about the opportunity for peace and prosperity for the Afghan people.

While the commitment of additional troops falls short of the 41,000 General McChrystal requested several months ago, I am confident that he and the other military professionals entrusted with bringing about success in Afghanistan will implement these additional forces in ways that will give the political solutions an opportunity to work. Only with adequate support and resources and without artificial political timelines or exit strategies that encourage the enemy to dig in and wait us out, can we achieve our goals.

In his effort to balance politics and policy, President Obama has allowed this situation to fester too long before making a decision on Afghanistan. It is encouraging; however, that he has ignored the noise coming from the fringe left of his party on this issue and made the right call.”

Chuck Fleischmann, another Republican Candidate For Congress, said, "While President Obama took too much time in making his decision, it seems he has taken much of the advice given by his generals in the field, and we now have a plan to win the war in Afghanistan and bring our brave soldiers home.

"Although the 30,000 additional troops being sent are less than what General McChrystal had asked for, the President has decided to make a substantial commitment in order to secure the peace in Afghanistan, and not allow it to fall back into the hands of the Taliban only to become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda once again.

"I am encouraged that the President has decided to do what is best for the security of the United States and the Afghan people, and not follow through with his rhetoric from the campaign trail to appease his liberal base. The President has upped the number of troops in Afghanistan and continued the process to finalize the security of Iraq – all of which are vital to our national security.

"We now must wait to see if NATO will help with this process, and that NATO forces will have effective rules of engagement to help secure the peace along side American forces. We must also wait to see how exactly the President’s timetable will work in regards to the goals we are working towards in Afghanistan. I also share Senator Alexander’s concern "that the administration is more focused on an exit strategy than a success strategy," and I hope the President will make sure our troops have the tools necessary to succeed in the field before he starts the exit process.

"While I wish the President would have come to this conclusion sooner, I am pleased that he is taking strong steps towards stabilizing Afghanistan and continuing to deny safe havens to terrorists around the world."