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let me call the hearing to order 

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first An administrative action since 

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the Quorum is now president , I asked 

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the committee to consider a list of 

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2993 pending military nominations 

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included in this list is the nomination 

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of General Jacqueline de Van overdosed 

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U . S . Air Force for reappointment to 

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the great of general and to be 

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Commander , U . S . Transportation 

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Command . All these nominations have 

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been before the committee that required 

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length of time . Is there a motion of 

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federal report this list of 2000 , 993 

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pending military nomination at the 

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Senate . Is there a second 

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all in favor ? Please say , aye . The 

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motion carriage . Thank you . Good 

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morning . The committee meets today to 

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discuss the end of american military 

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operations in Afghanistan . After 

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nearly 20 years of war , enormous 

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sacrifice by American and coalition 

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military , diplomatic and intelligence 

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personnel and vast us investment . The 

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Afghan state has failed and the Taliban 

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has taken control . We need to 

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understand why and how as part of this 

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hearing , we will seek to understand 

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the factors that contributed to the 

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Taliban's rapid take over the country 

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and the collapse of the Afghan national 

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defence and security forces . While 

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there is a temptation to close the book 

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in Afghanistan and simply move on to 

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long term strategic competition with 

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china and Russia , we must capture the 

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lessons of the last two decades to 

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ensure that our future counterterrorism 

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efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere 

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continue to hold violent extremists 

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that day . I don't know that much of 

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this hearing will focus on our final 

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months in Afghanistan . I think it is 

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equally important , however , that this 

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committee takes a step back and 

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examines the broader two decade mission 

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that shape the outcome we face today , 

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our thrall this summer and the events 

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around it did not happen in a vacuum . 

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The path that led to this moment was 

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paved with years of the stakes from our 

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catastrophic pivot to Iraq to have 

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failed to handle Pakistan's support for 

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the taliban to the floor Doha agreement 

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signed by president trump the members 

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of this committee and the witnesses 

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before us have overseen chapters of a 

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war that spanned four presidential 

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administrations , both Democratic and 

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Republican and we owe the american 

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people and honest accounting . I hope 

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that this hearing will be frank and 

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searching so that future generations of 

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americans will not repeat our mistakes , 

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witnesses today . Our Secretary Lloyd 

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Austin , Secretary of Defense General 

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Mark Milley , chairman of the Joint 

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Chiefs of Staff and General frank 

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McKenzie , Commander of US Central 

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Command . I welcome each of you and 

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thank you for your many years of 

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service . I also want to commend and 

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thank our military men and women for 

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their heroic efforts to evacuate more 

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than 124,000 American citizens afghan 

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special immigrant visa applicants and 

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other at risk afghan The 70 days in 

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chaotic and perilous conditions , 

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remarkable accomplishment . We 

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especially honor the brave american 

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servicemen and women who were killed 

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and wounded while selflessly protecting 

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those seeking safety . So how did we 

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get here ? There are countless 

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decisions and factors that could be 

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pointed to , but I would highlight a 

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few that clearly paved the way early in 

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the war . We did achieve our original 

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counterterrorism objective of 

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significantly degrading al Qaeda in 

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Afghanistan over time . However , that 

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mission morphed into convoluted 

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counterinsurgency and nation building . 

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While the U . S . Presence in 

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Afghanistan drew down significantly 

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over the last few years , the lack of a 

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defined strategy continue to erode the 

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mission . One of the clearest 

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inflection points was the ill fated 

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decision to go to war in Iraq . Just as 

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we began to achieve momentum in 

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Afghanistan , the Bush administration's 

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invasion of Iraq through critical 

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resources troops and focus away from 

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the Afghan theater . Our best 

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opportunity in Afghanistan was 

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squandered and were never able to get 

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back on track throughout the war . We 

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were also unsuccessful in dealing with 

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Pakistan support of the Taliban . Even 

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as american diplomats set down with 

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Pakistani leaders and our forces 

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cooperated on counterterrorism missions , 

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the Taliban and George sanctuary inside 

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Pakistan with time and space to regroup . 

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More recently , the Taliban's 

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resurgence can be tied to the floor 

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Doha agreement Which then President 

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Trump signed in 2020 . This deal 

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negotiated between the trump 

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administration and the Taliban without 

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our coalition allies or even the Afghan 

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government present promised the end of 

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the entire international presence in 

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Afghanistan , including contractors 

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critical to keeping the Afghan air 

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force in the fight with virtually no 

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stipulations , the Taliban with 

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momentum on the battlefield and no 

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incentives onto the Doha agreement used 

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the final year of the trump 

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administration to boldly escalate 

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violence to begin its faithful march 

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toward Kabul . Despite colossal efforts 

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over multiple administrations , both 

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democratic and Republican , we were 

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unable to help build an Afghan 

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government capable of leading its 

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people nor an Afghan security force 

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capable of defeating the Taliban Afghan 

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soldiers fought bravely in the face of 

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massive casualties but faced with the 

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loss of american military support and 

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hamstrung by corruption within they 

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were unable to stand on their own 

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against Taliban forces . Secretary 

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Austin , General Milley , General 

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Mackenzie . You've each led troops in 

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combat in Afghanistan commanded at the 

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theater level and advised our nation's 

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top leaders on our Afghanistan strategy . 

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You have played significant roles 

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throughout this war and I hope that you 

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are forthcoming and your answers today . 

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To begin , I would ask that you provide 

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an accounting of the intelligence and 

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other key assessments . That fact that 

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into your judgments about the viability 

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of the afghan government and Afghan 

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forces and how those trends changed 

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over time . I'd like to know any 

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lessons you have identified for how we 

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can more effectively work by with and 

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through partner Nation forces in the 

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future . Additionally , I would like to 

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understand what factors you attribute 

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to the Taliban success and whether we 

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missed indicators and warnings of their 

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imminent takeover . Finally , while we 

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have transitioned our military from 

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Afghanistan after largely achieving our 

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counterterrorism objectives . We must 

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continue to ensure that Afghanistan can 

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never again be used as a base for 

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terrorist groups to conduct operations 

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against the United States and our 

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allies . We must remain vigilant about 

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these threats , ensure that we 

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establish an effective counterterrorism 

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architecture . Moving forward to that 

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end , I would ask that you update the 

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committee on your plans for over the 

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horizon counterterrorism operations . 

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The United States faces new and 

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evolving threats around the world to 

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overcome them . We must first 

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understand what went wrong to our 

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mission in Afghanistan and learn from 

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those missteps . We owe it to the 

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american people . I want to thank you 

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again for being here this morning and I 

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look forward to your testimony . Now 

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before I turn to the ranking member in 

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Hawk for the benefit of my colleagues . 

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Because we have two rounds of open 

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testimony and a closed session 

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following I will strictly enforce the 

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five minute limit allowed for each 

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member . I intend to recess at one PM 

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for lunch and promptly resume at 1:30 p . 

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m . I would again remind my colleagues 

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that there will be classified briefing 

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immediately following the open session 

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and SPC-17 . The Office of Senate 

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Security Again before I turned a 

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ranking member in off . I want to note 

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that the rules of the committee state 

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that witness test um er should be sent 

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to the committee 48 hours in advance . 

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And it is customary that at the very 

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latest testimony arise the afternoon 

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before the hearing . I am disappointed 

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that the statements of all witnesses 

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were not sent to the committee until 

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late last evening giving senators and 

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staff very little time for review . I 

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hope that when these witnesses appear 

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again before this committee they will 

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allow the committee they will follow 

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the committee rules and customs . Now 

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let me turn to ranking member . Thank 

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you Mr Chairman . Let's make sure 

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everyone understands that the five 

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minute limit doesn't affect opening 

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statements . Yeah let me 

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say a little bit stronger . The 

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statement that was made by our chairman 

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that we should , there's no reason in 

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the world that they waited until late 

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last night to send this information to 

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us all these members . They want to be 

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well informed and they didn't have that 

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opportunity . Want to begin by 

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expressing my sincere gratitude to our 

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service members and our veterans are 

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men and women in uniform , bravely 

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volunteered to go into harm's way For 

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one reason to keep their fellow 

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americans safe . They represent our 

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very best Especially want to recognize 

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those who made the ultimate sacrifice 

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and their families . On August 26 we 

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were reminded so painfully of what we 

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ask our troops and their families to do . 

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They later all in the line for this 

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country . Those 13 men and women 

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died trying to evacuate their fellow 

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Americans and at risk Afghans from 

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Kabul under extremely difficult and 

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dangerous circumstances . So I I want 

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to be perfectly clear the frustration 

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on this committee about the chaotic and 

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deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan is 

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not and should never be directed 

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towards our troops . It was President 

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biden and his advisers who put them in 

258
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that situation . Even worse . This was 

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avoidable . Everything that happened 

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was foreseen my colleagues on this 

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committee and the commanders in charge 

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we saw it coming . So we were here 

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here today to understand what happened 

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and why that advice was ignored . 

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General Mackenzie , you said in 

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february before the president decided 

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to fully withdrawal from Afghanistan . 

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Quote , you have to take a condition 

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based approach . Um 

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You express your concern quote about 

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about actions that the Taliban had 

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taken up until this point , meaning 

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that the taliban was not constraining 

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al Qaeda as it had agreed to do so 

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under the circumstances , conditions 

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based agreement that it signed with the 

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trump administration . That was a 

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condition based statement in position 

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around the same time , General Miller , 

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Who was then the commander of the US 

281
00:10:57,820 --> 00:11:00,170
forces Afghanistan advised his chain of 

282
00:11:00,170 --> 00:11:03,550
command to keep approximately 2500 

283
00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:06,960
troops in the country . He warned that 

284
00:11:06,970 --> 00:11:09,260
the Taliban might otherwise take over . 

285
00:11:09,740 --> 00:11:11,660
General Mackenzie , you offered a 

286
00:11:11,660 --> 00:11:14,930
similar warning when you last testified 

287
00:11:14,930 --> 00:11:17,020
before this committee in april right 

288
00:11:17,020 --> 00:11:19,300
after the president made his decision 

289
00:11:19,300 --> 00:11:21,700
to withdraw . You said , quote , my 

290
00:11:21,700 --> 00:11:24,730
concern is the ability of the afghan 

291
00:11:24,730 --> 00:11:28,190
military to hold the ground that they 

292
00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,490
are now on without the support that 

293
00:11:31,490 --> 00:11:33,960
they have been used to for many years 

294
00:11:34,740 --> 00:11:36,760
throughout the spring , we saw many 

295
00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:40,380
districts quickly fall to the 

296
00:11:40,390 --> 00:11:43,050
taliban , many without firing a shot . 

297
00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,950
This is why I urged the President biden 

298
00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,170
in june to rethink his approach and 

299
00:11:49,170 --> 00:11:52,390
maintain a small force in Afghanistan 

300
00:11:52,390 --> 00:11:55,210
in order to prevent the collapse . We 

301
00:11:55,210 --> 00:11:58,300
ultimately saw . It was also why the 

302
00:11:58,300 --> 00:12:00,522
members of this committee on both sides 

303
00:12:00,522 --> 00:12:03,920
of the aisle spent months urging the 

304
00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,370
administration to evacuate americans 

305
00:12:07,380 --> 00:12:10,920
and our afghan partners sooner . But 

306
00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,142
President Biden and his advisors didn't 

307
00:12:13,142 --> 00:12:16,000
listen to his combat commander . He 

308
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,560
didn't listen to Congress and he failed 

309
00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:21,100
to anticipate what all of us knew would 

310
00:12:21,100 --> 00:12:24,900
happen . So in august we all witnessed 

311
00:12:24,910 --> 00:12:28,760
the horror of President's own making 

312
00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,740
afghans died as they desperately 

313
00:12:31,740 --> 00:12:35,200
gripped into the departing flights . 

314
00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,900
The Taliban is in a stronger position 

315
00:12:38,900 --> 00:12:42,900
that had been in 9:11 . The 

316
00:12:42,910 --> 00:12:45,800
terrorists , ogoni members are now 

317
00:12:45,810 --> 00:12:48,920
senior government in senior government 

318
00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,660
positions we went from where we 

319
00:12:52,670 --> 00:12:55,270
we will never negotiate with terrorists . 

320
00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:57,550
Do We must negotiate with terrorists . 

321
00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:00,407
You know , I've been in the years that 

322
00:13:00,407 --> 00:13:02,518
I've been here , we've heard over and 

323
00:13:02,518 --> 00:13:04,629
over again . You don't negotiate with 

324
00:13:04,629 --> 00:13:07,440
terrorists And now it's required Worst 

325
00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:09,551
of all 13 brave Americans were killed 

326
00:13:09,551 --> 00:13:11,662
in the evacuation effort . Three days 

327
00:13:11,662 --> 00:13:13,780
later , the Biden administration said 

328
00:13:13,780 --> 00:13:17,760
it was struck and ISIS operative . In 

329
00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,420
fact , it killed 10 Afghan civilians , 

330
00:13:20,420 --> 00:13:23,060
including seven Children . And then 

331
00:13:23,070 --> 00:13:25,800
President biden concluded they withdraw 

332
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,940
the drawdown by doing the unthinkable . 

333
00:13:28,940 --> 00:13:32,350
He left the americans behind . The men 

334
00:13:32,350 --> 00:13:34,900
and women who served in uniform , their 

335
00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:37,440
heroic families and the american people 

336
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:40,040
deserve answers . How did this 

337
00:13:40,050 --> 00:13:43,250
avoidable disaster happened ? Why we're 

338
00:13:43,250 --> 00:13:46,040
americans left behind ? President 

339
00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,460
Biden's decision to withdraw his 

340
00:13:48,940 --> 00:13:51,630
expanded the threat of terrorism an 

341
00:13:51,630 --> 00:13:54,040
increase the likelihood of an attack on 

342
00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,500
the homeland . The administration is 

343
00:13:56,500 --> 00:13:58,556
telling the american people that the 

344
00:13:58,556 --> 00:14:01,720
plan to deal with this . These threats 

345
00:14:01,730 --> 00:14:04,810
is something called over the horizon 

346
00:14:04,820 --> 00:14:07,750
counterterrorism and that we do these 

347
00:14:07,750 --> 00:14:09,820
types of operations elsewhere in the 

348
00:14:09,820 --> 00:14:13,100
world . That's misleading at best and 

349
00:14:13,100 --> 00:14:16,790
dishonest worse . There is no plan . 

350
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,380
We have no reliable partners on the 

351
00:14:19,380 --> 00:14:22,700
ground . We have no basis nearby . The 

352
00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:25,240
Afghan government is now led by 

353
00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:28,160
terrorists with long ties to al Qaeda 

354
00:14:28,540 --> 00:14:31,360
and and we're at the mercy of 

355
00:14:31,940 --> 00:14:34,820
Pakistan government to get into the 

356
00:14:34,830 --> 00:14:37,620
Afghan airspace . Even if we can get 

357
00:14:37,620 --> 00:14:41,100
there , we can't strike Al Qaeda in 

358
00:14:41,110 --> 00:14:44,390
Afghanistan because we're worried about 

359
00:14:44,390 --> 00:14:47,940
what the taliban will do in America to 

360
00:14:47,940 --> 00:14:50,051
the americans who are still there and 

361
00:14:50,051 --> 00:14:52,900
americans are still there . The 

362
00:14:52,900 --> 00:14:54,900
administration needs to be honest , 

363
00:14:55,140 --> 00:14:58,180
because the of President biden's 

364
00:14:58,190 --> 00:15:00,910
dishonest decision , the terrorist 

365
00:15:00,910 --> 00:15:03,730
threat to american families is rising 

366
00:15:03,730 --> 00:15:06,080
significantly . While our ability to 

367
00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:09,330
deal with these threats as declined 

368
00:15:09,330 --> 00:15:12,830
decidedly we will have another hearing 

369
00:15:12,830 --> 00:15:15,860
with experts witnesses on thursday . 

370
00:15:16,340 --> 00:15:18,330
That's just two days from now , we 

371
00:15:18,330 --> 00:15:22,180
understand we the under 

372
00:15:22,180 --> 00:15:25,530
secretary of Defense Colin Kahl has 

373
00:15:25,530 --> 00:15:28,350
agreed to testify in that hearing . So 

374
00:15:28,350 --> 00:15:31,310
today is really just a start . So in 

375
00:15:31,310 --> 00:15:34,530
conclusion , I would just like to say 

376
00:15:34,530 --> 00:15:38,280
this President 

377
00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:41,170
biden made a strategic decision to 

378
00:15:41,170 --> 00:15:45,070
leave Afghanistan Which resulted in the 

379
00:15:45,070 --> 00:15:48,730
death of 13 US service members . The 

380
00:15:48,730 --> 00:15:51,090
deaths of hundreds of Afghan civilians 

381
00:15:51,090 --> 00:15:53,201
including women and Children . That's 

382
00:15:53,201 --> 00:15:55,740
what terrorists do . And left American 

383
00:15:55,740 --> 00:15:58,270
citizens surrounded by the very 

384
00:15:58,270 --> 00:16:01,450
terrorists who attacked us on 9 11 

385
00:16:02,140 --> 00:16:04,530
and they're still there . Thank you . 

386
00:16:04,530 --> 00:16:06,810
Mr Chairman , Thank you very much . 

387
00:16:06,810 --> 00:16:10,560
Center in Hoff . Secretary 

388
00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,500
Austin and German Millie uh don't 

389
00:16:14,500 --> 00:16:17,060
har agreement . Okay , 

390
00:16:18,740 --> 00:16:22,110
excuse me . Uh we want to give you an 

391
00:16:22,110 --> 00:16:24,470
opportunity to have opening statements 

392
00:16:24,470 --> 00:16:26,700
as I've been reminded . So General 

393
00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:30,290
Austin , you're recognized Chairman . 

394
00:16:30,290 --> 00:16:32,930
Read ranking member . Inhofe members of 

395
00:16:32,930 --> 00:16:35,070
this committee . Thank you for the 

396
00:16:35,070 --> 00:16:37,650
opportunity to appear before you today 

397
00:16:37,650 --> 00:16:39,594
to discuss our recent drawdown and 

398
00:16:39,594 --> 00:16:42,360
evacuation operations in Afghanistan . 

399
00:16:42,940 --> 00:16:44,996
I'm pleased to be joined by generals 

400
00:16:44,996 --> 00:16:47,570
Million Mackenzie who I know will be 

401
00:16:47,570 --> 00:16:49,570
able to provide you with additional 

402
00:16:49,570 --> 00:16:52,020
context . I'd like to make a few points 

403
00:16:52,020 --> 00:16:54,353
before turning it over to you into them . 

404
00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:57,260
And first I want to say how incredibly 

405
00:16:57,260 --> 00:16:59,427
proud I am of the men and women of the 

406
00:16:59,427 --> 00:17:02,020
U . S . Armed forces who conducted 

407
00:17:02,020 --> 00:17:04,076
themselves with tremendous skill and 

408
00:17:04,076 --> 00:17:06,131
professionalism throughout the war . 

409
00:17:06,540 --> 00:17:10,440
The drawdown and the evacuation Over 

410
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:12,607
the course of our nation's longest war 

411
00:17:12,607 --> 00:17:16,100
2461 of our fellow 

412
00:17:16,100 --> 00:17:18,410
americans made the ultimate sacrifice 

413
00:17:19,140 --> 00:17:21,390
Along with more than 20,000 who still 

414
00:17:21,390 --> 00:17:23,640
bear the wounds of war , some of which 

415
00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,630
cannot be seen on the outside and we 

416
00:17:27,630 --> 00:17:29,797
can discuss and debate the decisions , 

417
00:17:29,797 --> 00:17:31,797
the policies and the turning points 

418
00:17:31,940 --> 00:17:34,210
since april of this year when the 

419
00:17:34,210 --> 00:17:36,580
president made clear his intent to end 

420
00:17:36,590 --> 00:17:40,090
american involvement in this war And we 

421
00:17:40,090 --> 00:17:42,320
can debate the decisions over 20 years 

422
00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,540
that led us to this point , but I know 

423
00:17:45,540 --> 00:17:48,040
that you agree with me that one thing 

424
00:17:48,050 --> 00:17:51,040
not open to debate is the courage and 

425
00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,151
the compassion of our service members 

426
00:17:53,151 --> 00:17:56,010
who along with their families served in 

427
00:17:56,010 --> 00:17:58,460
sacrifice to ensure that our homeland 

428
00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,440
would never again The attack . The way 

429
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:05,220
it was on 9 11 , I had the chance to 

430
00:18:05,220 --> 00:18:07,387
speak with many of them during my trip 

431
00:18:07,387 --> 00:18:09,442
to the gulf region a few weeks ago , 

432
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,696
including the marines who lost 11 of 

433
00:18:11,696 --> 00:18:14,180
their teammates at the Abbey Gate in 

434
00:18:14,180 --> 00:18:17,380
Kabul on the 26th of august and I've 

435
00:18:17,380 --> 00:18:19,770
never been more humbled and inspired . 

436
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:22,807
They are rightfully proud of what they 

437
00:18:22,807 --> 00:18:25,940
accomplished in the lives they say in 

438
00:18:25,940 --> 00:18:28,960
such a short span of time . In fact , 

439
00:18:29,340 --> 00:18:31,396
I'd like to talk to you a little bit 

440
00:18:31,396 --> 00:18:34,060
about that issue of time . The reason 

441
00:18:34,060 --> 00:18:36,227
that our troops were able to get there 

442
00:18:36,227 --> 00:18:38,393
so quickly is because we plan for just 

443
00:18:38,393 --> 00:18:40,560
such a contingency . We began thinking 

444
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:42,171
about the possibilities of a 

445
00:18:42,171 --> 00:18:44,338
noncombatant evacuation as far back as 

446
00:18:44,338 --> 00:18:47,050
the spring . indeed by late April two 

447
00:18:47,050 --> 00:18:49,217
weeks after the president's decision , 

448
00:18:49,340 --> 00:18:51,507
Military planners had crafted a number 

449
00:18:51,507 --> 00:18:54,640
of evacuation scenarios . In mid May , 

450
00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:56,529
I ordered Central Command to make 

451
00:18:56,529 --> 00:18:59,340
preparations for potential Neo and two 

452
00:18:59,340 --> 00:19:01,284
weeks later I began prepositioning 

453
00:19:01,284 --> 00:19:03,810
forces in the region To include three 

454
00:19:03,810 --> 00:19:06,920
infantry battalions . And on 10 August 

455
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,710
we ran another tabletop exercise around 

456
00:19:09,710 --> 00:19:12,570
a noncombatant evacuation scenario . We 

457
00:19:12,570 --> 00:19:15,630
wanted to be ready and we were in fact 

458
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:17,751
by the time that the State Department 

459
00:19:17,751 --> 00:19:20,150
called for Neo Leading elements of the 

460
00:19:20,150 --> 00:19:22,690
24th Marine Expeditionary Unit were 

461
00:19:22,690 --> 00:19:25,520
already on the ground in Kabul . And 

462
00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:27,631
before that weekend was out , another 

463
00:19:27,631 --> 00:19:29,798
3000 or so ground troops had arrived , 

464
00:19:29,798 --> 00:19:32,131
including elements of the 82nd airborne . 

465
00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,420
But let's be clear those first two days 

466
00:19:35,420 --> 00:19:38,080
were difficult . We all watched with 

467
00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:40,700
alarm the images of afghans rushing the 

468
00:19:40,700 --> 00:19:43,840
runway and our aircraft . We all 

469
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:45,673
remember the scenes of confusion 

470
00:19:45,673 --> 00:19:48,700
outside the airport , But within 48 

471
00:19:48,700 --> 00:19:51,050
hours our troops restored order and 

472
00:19:51,050 --> 00:19:54,950
process began to take hold our soldiers , 

473
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,600
airmen and marines in partnership with 

474
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:01,070
our allies and partners and our State 

475
00:20:01,070 --> 00:20:04,100
Department colleagues secure the gates , 

476
00:20:04,270 --> 00:20:06,437
took control of airport operations and 

477
00:20:06,437 --> 00:20:09,180
set up a processing system for the tens 

478
00:20:09,180 --> 00:20:11,440
of thousands of people They would be 

479
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,900
manifesting into airplanes . They and 

480
00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:16,910
our commanders exceeded all 

481
00:20:16,910 --> 00:20:20,550
expectations . We plan to execute 

482
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,980
Between 70 and 80,000 . We plan to 

483
00:20:23,980 --> 00:20:26,550
evacuate between 70 and 80,000 people . 

484
00:20:27,740 --> 00:20:30,860
They evacuated more than 124,000 . 

485
00:20:31,740 --> 00:20:34,390
We plan to move between five and 9000 

486
00:20:34,390 --> 00:20:38,010
people per day . On average , They move 

487
00:20:38,010 --> 00:20:41,060
slightly between more than 7000 per day . 

488
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:44,496
On military aircraft alone , we flew 

489
00:20:44,496 --> 00:20:48,110
more than 387 sorties , averaging 

490
00:20:48,110 --> 00:20:50,710
nearly 23 per day . At the height of 

491
00:20:50,710 --> 00:20:52,690
this operation . And aircraft was 

492
00:20:52,690 --> 00:20:56,230
taking off every 45 minutes and not a 

493
00:20:56,230 --> 00:20:58,008
single sort . He was missed for 

494
00:20:58,008 --> 00:20:59,841
maintenance , fuel or logistical 

495
00:20:59,841 --> 00:21:02,900
problems . It was the largest airlift 

496
00:21:02,900 --> 00:21:05,160
conducted in US history and it was 

497
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,740
executed in 17 days . Was it ? 

498
00:21:08,740 --> 00:21:11,950
Perfect ? Of course not . We moved so 

499
00:21:11,950 --> 00:21:13,950
many people so quickly out of kabul 

500
00:21:13,950 --> 00:21:16,172
that we ran into capacity and screening 

501
00:21:16,172 --> 00:21:18,339
problems at intermediate staging bases 

502
00:21:18,339 --> 00:21:20,620
outside Afghanistan . And we're still 

503
00:21:20,620 --> 00:21:22,770
working to get americans out who wish 

504
00:21:22,770 --> 00:21:25,680
to leave and we did not get out all of 

505
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:27,902
our afghan allies enrolled in a special 

506
00:21:27,902 --> 00:21:30,660
immigrant immigrant visa program . We 

507
00:21:30,660 --> 00:21:32,640
take that seriously and that's why 

508
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,751
we're working across the inter agency 

509
00:21:34,751 --> 00:21:36,473
to continue facilitating their 

510
00:21:36,473 --> 00:21:38,440
departure . Even with no military 

511
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:40,551
presence on the ground , that part of 

512
00:21:40,551 --> 00:21:43,860
our mission is not over and tragically , 

513
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,820
lives were lost . Several afghans 

514
00:21:47,820 --> 00:21:50,290
kill climbing aboard an aircraft on 

515
00:21:50,290 --> 00:21:53,720
that first day , 13 Brave US service 

516
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:55,887
members and dozens of Afghan civilians 

517
00:21:55,887 --> 00:21:58,180
killed in a terrorist attack on the 26 . 

518
00:21:59,140 --> 00:22:01,120
And we took as many as 10 innocent 

519
00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,550
lives in a drone strike on on the 29th 

520
00:22:04,940 --> 00:22:07,490
noncombatant evacuations remain amongst 

521
00:22:07,490 --> 00:22:09,490
the most among the most challenging 

522
00:22:09,490 --> 00:22:11,712
military operations even in the best of 

523
00:22:11,712 --> 00:22:14,240
circumstances and the circumstances in 

524
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,980
august or anything but ideal extreme 

525
00:22:17,980 --> 00:22:21,320
heat , landlocked country , no 

526
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,260
government highly dynamic situation on 

527
00:22:24,260 --> 00:22:27,430
the ground in an active credible and 

528
00:22:27,430 --> 00:22:31,160
lethal terrorist threat . In a span of 

529
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,600
just two days from the 13th to 15 

530
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:36,550
August we went from working alongside a 

531
00:22:36,550 --> 00:22:39,370
democratically elected longtime partner 

532
00:22:39,370 --> 00:22:42,560
government to coordinating where early 

533
00:22:43,140 --> 00:22:46,440
with a long time enemy we operated in a 

534
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,670
deeply dangerous environment and it 

535
00:22:49,670 --> 00:22:51,730
proved a lesson in pragmatism and 

536
00:22:51,730 --> 00:22:54,640
professionalism . We learned a lot of 

537
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:57,420
other lessons too about how to turn an 

538
00:22:57,420 --> 00:22:59,087
air force base in Qatar to an 

539
00:22:59,087 --> 00:23:01,420
international airport overnight now 

540
00:23:01,420 --> 00:23:03,642
about how to rapidly screen process and 

541
00:23:03,642 --> 00:23:05,587
manifest large numbers of people . 

542
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:08,496
Nothing like this has ever been done 

543
00:23:08,496 --> 00:23:10,496
before and no other military in the 

544
00:23:10,496 --> 00:23:12,662
world could have pulled it off . And I 

545
00:23:12,662 --> 00:23:14,884
think that is crucial . Now I know that 

546
00:23:14,884 --> 00:23:16,884
members of this committee will have 

547
00:23:16,884 --> 00:23:19,107
questions on many things such as why we 

548
00:23:19,107 --> 00:23:21,500
turned over bagram airfield and how 

549
00:23:21,500 --> 00:23:23,722
real is our over the horizon capability 

550
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:26,184
and why didn't we start evacuation 

551
00:23:26,184 --> 00:23:28,440
sooner and why didn't we stay longer to 

552
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,140
get more people out . So let me take 

553
00:23:31,140 --> 00:23:34,080
each in turn retaining Bagram would 

554
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,413
have required putting as many as 5000 U . 

555
00:23:36,413 --> 00:23:38,247
S . Troops in harm's way just to 

556
00:23:38,247 --> 00:23:40,500
operate and defended and it would have 

557
00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:42,611
contributed contributed little to the 

558
00:23:42,611 --> 00:23:44,667
mission that we've been assigned And 

559
00:23:44,667 --> 00:23:46,611
that was to protect and defend the 

560
00:23:46,611 --> 00:23:48,778
embassy which was some 30 miles away . 

561
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,807
That distance from Kabul also rendered 

562
00:23:51,807 --> 00:23:54,140
bagram of little value . Any evacuation . 

563
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:56,762
The staying at bagram even for 

564
00:23:56,762 --> 00:23:58,984
counterterrorism purposes meant staying 

565
00:23:58,984 --> 00:24:01,180
at war in Afghanistan . Something that 

566
00:24:01,180 --> 00:24:03,347
the president made clear that he would 

567
00:24:03,347 --> 00:24:06,000
not do as for over the horizon 

568
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,940
operations . When we use that term , we 

569
00:24:08,940 --> 00:24:11,010
refer to assets and target analysis 

570
00:24:11,010 --> 00:24:13,280
that come from outside the country in 

571
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,930
which the operation occurs . These are 

572
00:24:16,930 --> 00:24:19,360
effective and fairly common operations . 

573
00:24:20,140 --> 00:24:22,362
Indeed , just days ago we conducted one 

574
00:24:22,362 --> 00:24:25,120
such strike in Syria , eliminating a 

575
00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,640
senior al Qaeda figure over the 

576
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,110
horizon . Operations are difficult but 

577
00:24:31,110 --> 00:24:33,580
absolutely possible . And the 

578
00:24:33,580 --> 00:24:35,691
intelligence that supports them comes 

579
00:24:35,691 --> 00:24:37,970
from a variety of sources and not just 

580
00:24:37,970 --> 00:24:40,192
boots , just US , boots on the ground . 

581
00:24:41,340 --> 00:24:43,562
As for when we started evacuations , we 

582
00:24:43,562 --> 00:24:45,562
offered input to state to the State 

583
00:24:45,562 --> 00:24:47,870
Department's decision . Mindful of 

584
00:24:47,870 --> 00:24:49,870
their concerns that moving too soon 

585
00:24:49,870 --> 00:24:52,092
might actually cause a very collapse of 

586
00:24:52,092 --> 00:24:53,981
the Afghan government that we all 

587
00:24:53,981 --> 00:24:56,610
wanted to avoid and then moving to late 

588
00:24:56,620 --> 00:24:58,787
would put our people in our operations 

589
00:24:58,787 --> 00:25:02,330
at greater risk . And as I said , the 

590
00:25:02,330 --> 00:25:04,497
fact that our troops are on the ground 

591
00:25:04,497 --> 00:25:06,663
so quickly is due in large part to our 

592
00:25:06,663 --> 00:25:08,663
planning and our pre positioning of 

593
00:25:08,663 --> 00:25:11,160
forces . And as for the mission's end , 

594
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,120
my judgment remains that extending 

595
00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:16,120
beyond the end of august would have 

596
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:18,120
greatly imperiled our people in our 

597
00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:21,450
mission . The Taliban made clear 

598
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,662
That their cooperation would end on one 

599
00:25:26,662 --> 00:25:29,600
September and as you know , we face 

600
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:31,711
grave and growing threats from ISIS K 

601
00:25:32,940 --> 00:25:35,051
Staying longer than we did would have 

602
00:25:35,051 --> 00:25:37,051
made it even more dangerous for our 

603
00:25:37,051 --> 00:25:39,273
people and would not have significantly 

604
00:25:39,273 --> 00:25:41,496
changed a number of evacuees . We could 

605
00:25:41,496 --> 00:25:43,329
get out now as we consider these 

606
00:25:43,329 --> 00:25:45,550
tactical issues today , we must also 

607
00:25:45,550 --> 00:25:47,480
ask ourselves some equally tough 

608
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,550
questions about the wider war itself 

609
00:25:50,740 --> 00:25:52,796
And pause to think about the lessons 

610
00:25:52,796 --> 00:25:54,907
that we have learned over the past 20 

611
00:25:54,907 --> 00:25:57,670
years . Did we have the right strategy ? 

612
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,590
Did we have too many strategies ? Did 

613
00:26:01,590 --> 00:26:03,860
we put too much faith in our ability to 

614
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,760
build effective Afghan institutions , 

615
00:26:07,140 --> 00:26:09,084
an army and air force , the police 

616
00:26:09,084 --> 00:26:12,310
force and government ministries . We 

617
00:26:12,310 --> 00:26:14,366
helped build the state Mr chairman , 

618
00:26:14,366 --> 00:26:16,930
but we could not forge a nation . The 

619
00:26:16,930 --> 00:26:19,210
fact that the Afghan army that we and 

620
00:26:19,210 --> 00:26:21,560
our partners train simply melted away 

621
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,040
in many cases without firing a shot 

622
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,262
took us all by surprise and it would be 

623
00:26:26,262 --> 00:26:29,250
dishonest to claim otherwise . We need 

624
00:26:29,250 --> 00:26:31,410
to consider some uncomfortable truths 

625
00:26:32,540 --> 00:26:34,590
that we didn't fully comprehend the 

626
00:26:34,590 --> 00:26:36,812
depth of corruption and poor leadership 

627
00:26:36,812 --> 00:26:38,868
in the senior ranks . That we didn't 

628
00:26:38,868 --> 00:26:42,790
grasp the damaging effect mm affect 

629
00:26:42,790 --> 00:26:44,957
the frequent and unexplained rotations 

630
00:26:45,070 --> 00:26:47,170
by President Ghani of his commanders 

631
00:26:48,540 --> 00:26:50,707
that we didn't anticipate the snowball 

632
00:26:50,707 --> 00:26:52,873
effect effect caused by the deals that 

633
00:26:52,873 --> 00:26:54,818
the taliban commanders struck with 

634
00:26:54,818 --> 00:26:56,929
local leaders in the wake of the Doha 

635
00:26:56,929 --> 00:26:59,040
agreement and that the Doha agreement 

636
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,270
itself had a demoralizing effect on 

637
00:27:01,270 --> 00:27:05,240
Afghan soldiers . And finally , that we 

638
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,407
failed to grasp that there was only so 

639
00:27:07,407 --> 00:27:10,410
much for which and for whom many of the 

640
00:27:10,410 --> 00:27:13,550
Afghan forces would fight . We provided 

641
00:27:13,550 --> 00:27:15,717
the Afghan military with equipment and 

642
00:27:15,717 --> 00:27:17,828
aircraft and the skills to use them . 

643
00:27:17,828 --> 00:27:19,772
Over the years . They often fought 

644
00:27:19,772 --> 00:27:21,970
bravely tens of thousands of afghan 

645
00:27:21,970 --> 00:27:24,620
soldiers and police died . But in the 

646
00:27:24,620 --> 00:27:26,731
end we couldn't provide them with the 

647
00:27:26,731 --> 00:27:28,898
will to win at least not all of them . 

648
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,040
And as a veteran of that war , I am 

649
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:33,262
personally reckoning with all of that . 

650
00:27:33,740 --> 00:27:35,796
But I hope , as I said at the outset 

651
00:27:35,796 --> 00:27:38,018
that we do not allow a debate about how 

652
00:27:38,018 --> 00:27:41,240
this war ended to cloud our pride and 

653
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,240
the way that our people fought it . 

654
00:27:43,340 --> 00:27:46,120
They prevented another 9 11 . They 

655
00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:47,953
showed extraordinary courage and 

656
00:27:47,953 --> 00:27:50,510
compassion in the wars last in the wars 

657
00:27:50,510 --> 00:27:52,700
last days and they made lasting 

658
00:27:52,700 --> 00:27:54,644
progress in Afghanistan . That the 

659
00:27:54,644 --> 00:27:56,811
taliban will find difficult to reverse 

660
00:27:56,811 --> 00:27:58,867
and that the international community 

661
00:27:58,867 --> 00:28:01,810
should work hard to preserve . Now our 

662
00:28:01,810 --> 00:28:03,866
service members and civilians face a 

663
00:28:03,866 --> 00:28:05,940
new mission helping these afghan 

664
00:28:05,940 --> 00:28:08,051
evacuees move on to new lives and new 

665
00:28:08,051 --> 00:28:10,560
places and they are performing that one 

666
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,370
magnificently as well . I spent time 

667
00:28:13,370 --> 00:28:15,314
with some of them up at Joint base 

668
00:28:15,314 --> 00:28:17,481
McGuire Dix Lakehurst just yesterday . 

669
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:20,129
I know that you share my profound 

670
00:28:20,129 --> 00:28:22,462
gratitude and respect for their service , 

671
00:28:22,462 --> 00:28:24,684
their courage and professionalism and I 

672
00:28:24,684 --> 00:28:26,518
appreciate the support that this 

673
00:28:26,518 --> 00:28:28,740
committee continues to provide them and 

674
00:28:28,740 --> 00:28:31,000
their families . Thank you . Thank you 

675
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:32,889
Mr . Secretary General Miller , I 

676
00:28:32,889 --> 00:28:35,860
believe you overstatement . Chairman 

677
00:28:35,860 --> 00:28:38,780
read ranking member ran off and thank 

678
00:28:38,780 --> 00:28:41,002
you for the opportunity to be here with 

679
00:28:41,002 --> 00:28:43,058
Secretary Austin gentle Mackenzie to 

680
00:28:43,058 --> 00:28:45,224
discuss Afghanistan . As you mentioned 

681
00:28:45,224 --> 00:28:47,391
up front , we submitted matters uh for 

682
00:28:47,391 --> 00:28:49,558
the record , lengthy statement of this 

683
00:28:49,558 --> 00:28:51,780
cut down oral version and I know it got 

684
00:28:51,780 --> 00:28:55,260
too late During the past 20 years . 

685
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,007
The men and women of the United States 

686
00:28:58,007 --> 00:28:59,951
military along with our allies and 

687
00:28:59,951 --> 00:29:01,896
partners about the Taliban brought 

688
00:29:01,896 --> 00:29:04,480
Osama bin laden to justice , denied al 

689
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:06,369
Qaeda sanctuary and protected our 

690
00:29:06,369 --> 00:29:08,550
homeland for two consecutive decades . 

691
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,010
Over 800,000 of us in uniform served in 

692
00:29:12,010 --> 00:29:14,660
Afghanistan . Most importantly , 

693
00:29:15,140 --> 00:29:18,960
2461 of us gave 

694
00:29:19,340 --> 00:29:21,420
the ultimate sacrifice . While 

695
00:29:21,420 --> 00:29:24,950
20,698 of us were wounded in 

696
00:29:24,950 --> 00:29:27,940
action and countless others of us 

697
00:29:28,190 --> 00:29:30,550
suffer the invisible wounds of war . 

698
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,250
There's no doubt in my mind that our 

699
00:29:34,250 --> 00:29:36,194
efforts prevented an attack on the 

700
00:29:36,194 --> 00:29:38,417
homeland from Afghanistan which was our 

701
00:29:38,417 --> 00:29:41,650
core original mission and everyone is 

702
00:29:41,650 --> 00:29:44,170
served in that war should be proud . 

703
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,420
Your service mattered . Beginning in 

704
00:29:48,420 --> 00:29:51,350
2011 , we started , we drew down our 

705
00:29:51,350 --> 00:29:53,490
troop numbers consolidated and closed 

706
00:29:53,490 --> 00:29:56,040
bases and retrograde equipment from 

707
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,970
Afghanistan At the peak . In 2011 , We 

708
00:29:59,970 --> 00:30:03,240
had 97,000 US troops 

709
00:30:03,250 --> 00:30:06,820
alongside 41,000 NATO troops in 

710
00:30:06,820 --> 00:30:10,480
Afghanistan . 10 years later , when 

711
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,540
Ambassador calas aid signed the Doha 

712
00:30:12,540 --> 00:30:15,620
agreement with the Liberator On 29 

713
00:30:15,620 --> 00:30:19,050
February 2020 . The United States had 

714
00:30:19,050 --> 00:30:22,970
12,600 U.S . troops With 8000 

715
00:30:22,970 --> 00:30:26,170
NATO and 10 500 contractors . 

716
00:30:27,140 --> 00:30:30,640
This has been a 10 years multi 

717
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,260
administration draw down Not a 19 month 

718
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:38,820
19 day Neo . Under the door 

719
00:30:38,820 --> 00:30:40,987
agreement , the U . S . Would begin to 

720
00:30:40,987 --> 00:30:42,987
withdraw its forces contingent upon 

721
00:30:42,987 --> 00:30:45,042
Taliban . Meeting certain conditions 

722
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,360
which would lead to a political 

723
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,530
agreement between the Taliban and the 

724
00:30:49,530 --> 00:30:51,700
government of Afghanistan . There were 

725
00:30:51,700 --> 00:30:54,280
seven conditions applicable to the 

726
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,670
Taliban And eight conditions applicable 

727
00:30:57,670 --> 00:30:59,950
to the United States . While the 

728
00:30:59,950 --> 00:31:02,550
Taliban did not attack US forces , 

729
00:31:02,740 --> 00:31:05,010
which was one of the conditions , it 

730
00:31:05,010 --> 00:31:08,410
failed to fully honour any any other 

731
00:31:08,410 --> 00:31:12,240
conditions under the Doha agreement and 

732
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,040
perhaps most importantly for US 

733
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,360
national security , the Taliban has 

734
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,120
never renounced al Qaeda or broke its 

735
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,050
affiliation with them . We the United 

736
00:31:22,050 --> 00:31:25,170
States adhered to every condition 

737
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:30,060
In the fall of 2020 . My analysis was 

738
00:31:30,540 --> 00:31:33,080
that an accelerated withdrawal without 

739
00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,310
meeting specific and necessary 

740
00:31:35,310 --> 00:31:38,040
conditions , risks losing the 

741
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:40,860
substantial gains made in Afghanistan , 

742
00:31:41,540 --> 00:31:44,270
damaging us worldwide credibility 

743
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,520
and could precipitate general collapse 

744
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:51,170
of the NSF and the Afghan government 

745
00:31:51,540 --> 00:31:53,318
resulting in a complete Taliban 

746
00:31:53,318 --> 00:31:57,150
takeover or general civil war . That 

747
00:31:57,150 --> 00:32:00,440
was a year ago . My assessment remained 

748
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,260
consistent throughout . Based on my 

749
00:32:03,260 --> 00:32:05,670
advice and the advice of the commanders 

750
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,330
Then secretary of defense esper 

751
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:10,770
submitted a memorandum on nine November 

752
00:32:11,340 --> 00:32:13,562
recommending to maintain U . S . Forces 

753
00:32:13,870 --> 00:32:16,670
at a level between about 2500 and 4500 

754
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,500
in Afghanistan until conditions were 

755
00:32:19,500 --> 00:32:23,360
met further reduction . Two days later 

756
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,800
On 11 November 2020 , I received an 

757
00:32:26,810 --> 00:32:30,170
unclassified signed order directing the 

758
00:32:30,170 --> 00:32:32,670
United States military to withdraw all 

759
00:32:32,670 --> 00:32:35,600
forces from Afghanistan . No later than 

760
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,430
15 January 2021 after further 

761
00:32:39,430 --> 00:32:41,208
discussions regarding the risks 

762
00:32:41,208 --> 00:32:43,690
associated was such a withdrawal . The 

763
00:32:43,690 --> 00:32:47,490
order was rescinded On 17 November , we 

764
00:32:47,490 --> 00:32:50,460
received a new order to reduce levels 

765
00:32:50,460 --> 00:32:54,320
to 2500 plus enabling forces No later 

766
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,660
than 15 January . When President biden 

767
00:32:57,660 --> 00:32:59,271
was inaugurated , There were 

768
00:32:59,271 --> 00:33:02,380
approximately 3500 us troops , 50 400 

769
00:33:02,380 --> 00:33:05,720
NATO troops and 6300 contractors in 

770
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:09,220
Afghanistan with a specified task of 

771
00:33:09,220 --> 00:33:12,910
train , advise and assist along with a 

772
00:33:12,910 --> 00:33:14,966
small contingent of counterterrorism 

773
00:33:14,966 --> 00:33:17,560
forces . The strategic situation at 

774
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,070
inauguration was stalemate . The biden 

775
00:33:21,070 --> 00:33:23,070
administration through the National 

776
00:33:23,070 --> 00:33:25,126
Security Council process conducted a 

777
00:33:25,126 --> 00:33:27,070
rigorous interagency review of the 

778
00:33:27,070 --> 00:33:29,126
situation in Afghanistan in february 

779
00:33:29,126 --> 00:33:31,950
March and april . During this process . 

780
00:33:32,340 --> 00:33:34,507
The views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 

781
00:33:34,507 --> 00:33:37,450
all of US the centcom Commander General 

782
00:33:37,450 --> 00:33:39,760
Mackenzie the U . S . For a Commander , 

783
00:33:39,770 --> 00:33:42,940
General Miller and myself . All given 

784
00:33:42,940 --> 00:33:44,790
serious consideration by the 

785
00:33:44,790 --> 00:33:47,660
administration . We provided a broad 

786
00:33:47,670 --> 00:33:50,160
range of options and our assessment of 

787
00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,650
their potential outcomes . The cost 

788
00:33:52,660 --> 00:33:54,716
benefit risk of force and risk . The 

789
00:33:54,716 --> 00:33:56,660
mission were evaluated against the 

790
00:33:56,660 --> 00:33:58,660
national security objectives of the 

791
00:33:58,660 --> 00:34:01,820
United States . On 14 april , President 

792
00:34:01,820 --> 00:34:03,987
announced his decision and the U . S . 

793
00:34:03,987 --> 00:34:06,098
Military received a change of mission 

794
00:34:06,540 --> 00:34:08,484
to retrograde all U . S . Military 

795
00:34:08,484 --> 00:34:11,200
forces maintain a small contingency 

796
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,630
force of 6 to 700 to protect the 

797
00:34:13,630 --> 00:34:15,741
embassy in Kabul until the Department 

798
00:34:15,741 --> 00:34:17,797
of State could coordinate contractor 

799
00:34:17,797 --> 00:34:19,820
security support and also to assist 

800
00:34:19,820 --> 00:34:21,620
Turkey to maintain the Karzai 

801
00:34:21,620 --> 00:34:23,890
international airport and transition 

802
00:34:23,890 --> 00:34:26,168
the US military to an over the horizon . 

803
00:34:26,168 --> 00:34:28,279
Counterterrorism support and security 

804
00:34:28,279 --> 00:34:31,610
force assistance . It is clear it is 

805
00:34:31,620 --> 00:34:34,330
obvious the war in Afghanistan did not 

806
00:34:34,340 --> 00:34:37,100
end on the terms we wanted with the 

807
00:34:37,100 --> 00:34:39,670
Taliban now in power in Kabul . 

808
00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:43,090
Although the Neo was unprecedented as 

809
00:34:43,090 --> 00:34:45,146
the largest air evacuation history , 

810
00:34:45,340 --> 00:34:48,450
evacuating 100 and 24,000 people , it 

811
00:34:48,450 --> 00:34:51,900
came at an incredible cost of 11 

812
00:34:51,900 --> 00:34:54,560
Marines , one soldier and a navy Corman . 

813
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,080
Those 13 gave their lives so that 

814
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,024
people they never met will have an 

815
00:35:00,024 --> 00:35:02,310
opportunity to live in freedom . And we 

816
00:35:02,310 --> 00:35:04,900
must remember that the taliban was and 

817
00:35:04,900 --> 00:35:08,290
remains a terrorist organization and 

818
00:35:08,290 --> 00:35:10,770
they still have not broken ties with Al 

819
00:35:10,770 --> 00:35:13,550
Qaeda . I have no illusions who we are 

820
00:35:13,550 --> 00:35:15,830
dealing with . It remains to be seen 

821
00:35:15,830 --> 00:35:17,552
whether or not the Taliban can 

822
00:35:17,552 --> 00:35:19,760
consolidate power or if the country 

823
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,050
will further fracture into civil war , 

824
00:35:22,940 --> 00:35:25,490
but we must continue to protect the 

825
00:35:25,490 --> 00:35:27,860
United States of America and its people 

826
00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:30,380
from terrorist attacks coming from 

827
00:35:30,380 --> 00:35:33,500
Afghanistan reconstituted Al Qaeda or 

828
00:35:33,500 --> 00:35:35,890
ISIS with aspirations to attack the 

829
00:35:35,890 --> 00:35:37,970
United States is a very real 

830
00:35:37,970 --> 00:35:40,490
possibility . And those conditions to 

831
00:35:40,490 --> 00:35:43,070
include activity in ungoverned spaces 

832
00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:45,340
could present themselves in the next 

833
00:35:45,340 --> 00:35:49,020
12-36 months . That mission will be 

834
00:35:49,020 --> 00:35:52,010
much harder now but not impossible and 

835
00:35:52,010 --> 00:35:53,788
we will continue to protect the 

836
00:35:53,788 --> 00:35:56,000
american people . Strategic decisions 

837
00:35:56,210 --> 00:35:58,520
have strategic consequences Over the 

838
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,620
course of four presidents , 12 

839
00:36:00,620 --> 00:36:03,250
secretaries of defense . Seven chairman , 

840
00:36:03,630 --> 00:36:06,310
10 Centcom Commanders . 20 Commanders 

841
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,160
in Afghanistan . Hundreds of 

842
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:10,500
congressional delegation visits and 20 

843
00:36:10,500 --> 00:36:12,444
years of congressional oversight . 

844
00:36:12,444 --> 00:36:15,380
There are many lessons to be learned to 

845
00:36:15,390 --> 00:36:17,501
specific to the military that we need 

846
00:36:17,501 --> 00:36:19,668
to take a look at and we will is do we 

847
00:36:19,668 --> 00:36:21,668
mirror image the development of the 

848
00:36:21,668 --> 00:36:24,510
Afghan national army and the second is 

849
00:36:24,650 --> 00:36:26,594
the rapid collapse , unprecedented 

850
00:36:26,594 --> 00:36:29,140
rapid collapse The Afghan military and 

851
00:36:29,140 --> 00:36:31,760
only 11 days in August . However , one 

852
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,630
lesson must never be forgotten . Every 

853
00:36:35,630 --> 00:36:38,160
soldier , sailor , Airman Marine who 

854
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:40,660
served there in Afghanistan for 20 

855
00:36:40,660 --> 00:36:42,493
consecutive years protecting our 

856
00:36:42,493 --> 00:36:44,740
country from attack by terrorists and 

857
00:36:44,740 --> 00:36:47,460
for that . They should be forever proud 

858
00:36:47,930 --> 00:36:49,930
and we should be forever grateful . 

859
00:36:51,730 --> 00:36:54,080
Thank you Chairman . And if I could I 

860
00:36:54,090 --> 00:36:56,780
know that there's some issues in the 

861
00:36:56,780 --> 00:36:58,947
media that are of deep concern to many 

862
00:36:58,947 --> 00:37:00,947
members on the committee . And with 

863
00:37:00,947 --> 00:37:02,947
your permission I'd like to address 

864
00:37:02,947 --> 00:37:05,113
those for a minute or two again , I've 

865
00:37:05,113 --> 00:37:06,836
submitted a memorandum for the 

866
00:37:06,836 --> 00:37:09,480
committee to take a look at percy . Mr . 

867
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,702
Chairman . I've I've served this nation 

868
00:37:11,702 --> 00:37:14,850
for 42 years . I spent years in combat 

869
00:37:15,330 --> 00:37:17,330
and I buried a lot of my troops who 

870
00:37:17,330 --> 00:37:19,680
died while defending this country . My 

871
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,960
loyalty to this nation . It's people 

872
00:37:23,330 --> 00:37:25,770
and the constitution hasn't changed and 

873
00:37:25,770 --> 00:37:27,881
will never change as long as I have a 

874
00:37:27,881 --> 00:37:31,460
breath to give my loyalty is absolute 

875
00:37:32,130 --> 00:37:34,150
and I will not turn my back on the 

876
00:37:34,150 --> 00:37:36,830
fallen With respect to the chinese 

877
00:37:36,830 --> 00:37:40,010
calls . I routinely communicated with 

878
00:37:40,010 --> 00:37:42,420
my counterpart general lee with the 

879
00:37:42,420 --> 00:37:44,587
knowledge and coordination of civilian 

880
00:37:44,587 --> 00:37:47,750
oversight . I am specifically directed 

881
00:37:48,230 --> 00:37:50,640
to communicate with the chinese by 

882
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:52,696
Department of Defense guidance . The 

883
00:37:52,696 --> 00:37:55,550
policy dialogue system . These military 

884
00:37:55,550 --> 00:37:57,439
to military communications at the 

885
00:37:57,439 --> 00:37:59,330
highest level are critical to the 

886
00:37:59,330 --> 00:38:01,274
security of the United States . In 

887
00:38:01,274 --> 00:38:03,441
order to deconflict military actions , 

888
00:38:03,441 --> 00:38:06,210
manage crisis and present , prevent war 

889
00:38:06,220 --> 00:38:08,220
between great powers that are armed 

890
00:38:08,350 --> 00:38:10,683
with the world's most deadliest weapons . 

891
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:12,840
The calls on 30 October and eight 

892
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,970
January were coordinated before and 

893
00:38:15,980 --> 00:38:18,970
after with secretary esper and Acting 

894
00:38:18,970 --> 00:38:21,700
Secretary miller staffs and the inter 

895
00:38:21,700 --> 00:38:24,180
agency . The specific purpose of the 

896
00:38:24,180 --> 00:38:26,290
october and january calls were to 

897
00:38:26,290 --> 00:38:28,400
generate or were generated by 

898
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,180
concerning intelligence which caused us 

899
00:38:31,180 --> 00:38:33,180
to believe the chinese were worried 

900
00:38:33,300 --> 00:38:35,750
about an attack on them by the United 

901
00:38:35,750 --> 00:38:39,740
States . I know I am certain 

902
00:38:40,220 --> 00:38:42,650
that president trump did not intend to 

903
00:38:42,650 --> 00:38:45,110
attack the chinese and it is my 

904
00:38:45,110 --> 00:38:48,190
directed responsibility and it was my 

905
00:38:48,190 --> 00:38:50,500
direct responsibility by the secretary 

906
00:38:50,510 --> 00:38:53,830
to convey that intent to the chinese . 

907
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:58,300
My task at that time was to de escalate 

908
00:38:58,310 --> 00:39:01,380
my message again was consistent , stay 

909
00:39:01,380 --> 00:39:05,240
calm steady and deescalate . We are 

910
00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:07,250
not going to attack you 

911
00:39:09,820 --> 00:39:12,190
At secretary defense experts direction . 

912
00:39:12,230 --> 00:39:14,380
I made a call to generally on 30 

913
00:39:14,380 --> 00:39:17,290
October Eight people sat in that call 

914
00:39:17,290 --> 00:39:19,490
with me and I read out the call within 

915
00:39:19,490 --> 00:39:22,740
30 minutes of the call ending on 31 

916
00:39:22,740 --> 00:39:24,573
December . The Chinese requested 

917
00:39:24,573 --> 00:39:26,462
another call with me , the deputy 

918
00:39:26,462 --> 00:39:28,518
Assistant Secretary Defense for asia 

919
00:39:28,518 --> 00:39:30,520
pacific policy helped coordinate my 

920
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,260
call which was then scheduled For eight 

921
00:39:33,260 --> 00:39:35,420
January . And he made a preliminary 

922
00:39:35,420 --> 00:39:38,520
call on six January . 11 people 

923
00:39:38,530 --> 00:39:40,752
attended that call with me and readouts 

924
00:39:40,752 --> 00:39:42,808
of this call were distributed to the 

925
00:39:42,808 --> 00:39:45,610
inter agency that same day . Shortly 

926
00:39:45,610 --> 00:39:47,777
after my call ended with General lee , 

927
00:39:47,777 --> 00:39:49,999
I personally informed both Secretary of 

928
00:39:49,999 --> 00:39:52,430
State Pompeo and White House Chief of 

929
00:39:52,430 --> 00:39:55,270
Staff Meadows about the call . Among 

930
00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:57,980
other topics . Soon after that I 

931
00:39:57,980 --> 00:39:59,702
attended a meeting with Acting 

932
00:39:59,702 --> 00:40:01,924
Secretary miller where I briefed him on 

933
00:40:01,924 --> 00:40:04,410
the coal . Later that same day on eight 

934
00:40:04,410 --> 00:40:07,120
January Speaker of the House Pelosi 

935
00:40:07,130 --> 00:40:08,852
called me to inquire about the 

936
00:40:08,852 --> 00:40:10,963
president's ability to launch nuclear 

937
00:40:10,963 --> 00:40:13,810
weapons . I sought to assure her that 

938
00:40:13,810 --> 00:40:16,100
nuclear launch is governed by a very 

939
00:40:16,100 --> 00:40:19,300
specific and deliberate process . She 

940
00:40:19,300 --> 00:40:22,240
was concerned and made very made 

941
00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:23,796
various personal references 

942
00:40:24,110 --> 00:40:26,150
characterizing the president . I 

943
00:40:26,150 --> 00:40:28,570
explained to her that the president is 

944
00:40:28,570 --> 00:40:31,320
the sole nuclear launch authority and 

945
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,710
he doesn't launch them alone and that I 

946
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:37,530
am not qualified to determine the 

947
00:40:37,530 --> 00:40:39,690
mental health of the President of the 

948
00:40:39,690 --> 00:40:42,600
United States . There are processes , 

949
00:40:42,610 --> 00:40:45,520
protocols and procedures in place and I 

950
00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:47,900
repeatedly assured her that there is no 

951
00:40:47,900 --> 00:40:51,140
chance of an illegal unauthorized or 

952
00:40:51,140 --> 00:40:53,930
accidental launch by presidential 

953
00:40:53,930 --> 00:40:56,010
directive and Secretary Defense 

954
00:40:56,010 --> 00:40:58,240
directives . The chairman is part of 

955
00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:00,407
the process to ensure the president is 

956
00:41:00,407 --> 00:41:02,629
fully informed when determining the use 

957
00:41:02,629 --> 00:41:04,740
of the world's deadliest weapons . By 

958
00:41:04,740 --> 00:41:06,907
law . I am not in the chain of command 

959
00:41:06,907 --> 00:41:09,410
and I know that however by presidential 

960
00:41:09,410 --> 00:41:11,820
directive and D . O . D . Instruction , 

961
00:41:11,830 --> 00:41:14,380
I am in the chain of communication to 

962
00:41:14,380 --> 00:41:18,030
fulfill my legal statutory role as the 

963
00:41:18,030 --> 00:41:20,197
president's primary military advisor . 

964
00:41:20,810 --> 00:41:22,699
After the Speaker Pelosi call , I 

965
00:41:22,699 --> 00:41:24,810
convened a short meeting in my office 

966
00:41:24,810 --> 00:41:27,032
with key members of my staff to refresh 

967
00:41:27,032 --> 00:41:29,340
all of us on the procedures which we 

968
00:41:29,340 --> 00:41:31,560
practice daily at the action officer 

969
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:33,890
level . Additionally , I immediately 

970
00:41:33,890 --> 00:41:35,779
informed Acting Secretary Defense 

971
00:41:35,779 --> 00:41:38,590
Miller of sector of Speaker Pelosi's 

972
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:42,060
phone call at no time . Was I 

973
00:41:42,060 --> 00:41:44,171
attempting to change or influence the 

974
00:41:44,171 --> 00:41:47,630
process , Usurp authority or insert 

975
00:41:47,630 --> 00:41:50,500
myself in the chain of command . But I 

976
00:41:50,500 --> 00:41:54,380
am expected I am required to give my 

977
00:41:54,380 --> 00:41:57,180
advice and ensure that the president is 

978
00:41:57,180 --> 00:41:59,440
fully informed on military matters . 

979
00:42:00,100 --> 00:42:02,156
I'm submitting for the record a more 

980
00:42:02,156 --> 00:42:04,378
detailed an unclassified memoranda that 

981
00:42:04,378 --> 00:42:06,378
I believe you all now have a little 

982
00:42:06,378 --> 00:42:08,044
late and I welcome a thorough 

983
00:42:08,044 --> 00:42:10,044
walkthrough and every single one of 

984
00:42:10,044 --> 00:42:12,100
these events . And I'd be happy in a 

985
00:42:12,100 --> 00:42:14,156
classified session to talk in detail 

986
00:42:14,156 --> 00:42:14,030
about the intelligence that drove these 

987
00:42:14,030 --> 00:42:15,950
calls . I'm also happy to make 

988
00:42:15,950 --> 00:42:18,480
available any email phone logs , 

989
00:42:18,490 --> 00:42:20,657
memoranda , witnesses or anything else 

990
00:42:20,657 --> 00:42:22,768
You need to understand these events . 

991
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,670
My oath is to support the Constitution 

992
00:42:25,670 --> 00:42:27,892
of the United States of America against 

993
00:42:27,892 --> 00:42:30,210
all enemies foreign and domestic and I 

994
00:42:30,210 --> 00:42:32,620
will never turn my back on that oath . 

995
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,400
I firmly believe in civilian control of 

996
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:37,400
the military is a bedrock principle 

997
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:39,178
essential to the health of this 

998
00:42:39,178 --> 00:42:40,956
republic . And I'm committed to 

999
00:42:40,956 --> 00:42:43,122
ensuring that the military stays clear 

1000
00:42:43,122 --> 00:42:45,460
domestic politics . I look forward to 

1001
00:42:45,460 --> 00:42:47,793
your questions and thank you . Chairman , 

1002
00:42:47,793 --> 00:42:49,627
for the extra time . Thank you . 

1003
00:42:49,627 --> 00:42:51,793
General General Mackenzie , understand 

1004
00:42:51,793 --> 00:42:53,627
you do not have a statement that 

1005
00:42:53,627 --> 00:42:57,050
correct . So I'll waive my my statement 

1006
00:42:57,050 --> 00:42:59,161
in order to get us back on schedule . 

1007
00:42:59,161 --> 00:43:01,383
Thank you very much . General Secretary 

1008
00:43:01,383 --> 00:43:04,750
Austin . The dough har agreement 

1009
00:43:04,750 --> 00:43:07,710
represents direct negotiations with 

1010
00:43:07,710 --> 00:43:10,710
terrorists and not just negotiations , 

1011
00:43:10,710 --> 00:43:13,640
but an agreement with them that 

1012
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:16,930
excluded the Afghan government and 

1013
00:43:16,940 --> 00:43:20,090
the allies we've been fighting with us 

1014
00:43:20,090 --> 00:43:22,930
now since uh 9 11 . 

1015
00:43:23,500 --> 00:43:27,120
Uh it's set a fixed departure date 

1016
00:43:27,130 --> 00:43:30,990
uh with conditions um has 

1017
00:43:30,990 --> 00:43:34,280
been indicated where not really follow 

1018
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,120
consistently by the um taliban 

1019
00:43:39,300 --> 00:43:42,790
as you considered in april what to 

1020
00:43:42,790 --> 00:43:46,070
do . Did the intelligence suggest to 

1021
00:43:46,070 --> 00:43:49,230
you that reneging on the departure of 

1022
00:43:49,230 --> 00:43:51,560
the troops would lead to significant 

1023
00:43:51,570 --> 00:43:53,810
attacks against american and allied 

1024
00:43:53,810 --> 00:43:54,820
military forces ? 

1025
00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:00,230
Chairman , uh to my recollection , the 

1026
00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:04,090
intelligence was clear that if we did 

1027
00:44:04,090 --> 00:44:05,979
not leave in accordance with that 

1028
00:44:05,979 --> 00:44:08,670
agreement , the Taliban would 

1029
00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:11,700
recommence attacks on our forces and 

1030
00:44:11,700 --> 00:44:13,533
they would include blue on green 

1031
00:44:13,533 --> 00:44:16,470
attacks and any other means they could 

1032
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,020
use to attack American forces . That's 

1033
00:44:19,020 --> 00:44:22,780
correct . So the choice was 

1034
00:44:22,790 --> 00:44:25,830
uh in many respects , what were we 

1035
00:44:25,830 --> 00:44:28,950
going to incur additional casualties 

1036
00:44:28,950 --> 00:44:32,650
indefinitely in Afghanistan ? Is that 

1037
00:44:32,660 --> 00:44:34,910
that's when we look at it . That fair . 

1038
00:44:36,190 --> 00:44:37,968
That's correct . Chairman , you 

1039
00:44:37,970 --> 00:44:39,930
certainly would have to do uh take 

1040
00:44:39,930 --> 00:44:41,819
additional measures to be able to 

1041
00:44:41,819 --> 00:44:43,541
defend yourself if the taliban 

1042
00:44:43,541 --> 00:44:45,652
recommence their offensive operations 

1043
00:44:45,652 --> 00:44:48,130
against us . Now , uh General Milley 

1044
00:44:48,130 --> 00:44:52,000
did uh and General Mackenzie , did the 

1045
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,390
donor agreement affect the morale of 

1046
00:44:54,390 --> 00:44:57,990
the Afghan forces ? I was there a sense 

1047
00:44:57,990 --> 00:45:00,880
now that even though it was months away 

1048
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:02,824
that the United States was leaving 

1049
00:45:02,824 --> 00:45:04,547
since we had agreed to leave , 

1050
00:45:07,690 --> 00:45:10,000
I'll let frank talk the details . But 

1051
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:12,230
my assessment is yes , senator , it did 

1052
00:45:12,230 --> 00:45:14,008
affect the morale of the Afghan 

1053
00:45:14,008 --> 00:45:15,674
security forces . Gentlemen , 

1054
00:45:15,674 --> 00:45:17,786
candidates . So it's my judgment that 

1055
00:45:17,786 --> 00:45:19,674
the Doha agreement did negatively 

1056
00:45:19,674 --> 00:45:21,730
affect the performance of the Afghan 

1057
00:45:21,730 --> 00:45:23,897
forces by in particular by some of the 

1058
00:45:23,897 --> 00:45:25,619
actions that the government of 

1059
00:45:25,619 --> 00:45:27,730
Afghanistan was required to undertake 

1060
00:45:27,730 --> 00:45:29,897
as part of that agreement . And one of 

1061
00:45:29,897 --> 00:45:32,008
the critical issues was the agreement 

1062
00:45:32,008 --> 00:45:35,740
to withdraw contractors , which are 

1063
00:45:35,750 --> 00:45:39,480
basically the the engine that 

1064
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,960
maintains the Air Force of Afghanistan 

1065
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:46,310
and many other logistical operations 

1066
00:45:46,310 --> 00:45:49,360
and uh that was just as critical as the 

1067
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:51,193
troop departure , I would assume 

1068
00:45:52,690 --> 00:45:55,740
Chairman , It was uh we had uh plans in 

1069
00:45:55,740 --> 00:45:57,407
place to try to conduct those 

1070
00:45:57,407 --> 00:45:59,629
operations from over the horizon . They 

1071
00:45:59,629 --> 00:46:01,407
were not as effective as having 

1072
00:46:01,407 --> 00:46:03,573
contractors on the ground on site with 

1073
00:46:03,573 --> 00:46:06,690
the aircraft . Mhm . Uh the 

1074
00:46:06,690 --> 00:46:10,150
momentum appeared to be shifting uh 

1075
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,800
to the Taliban um 

1076
00:46:13,180 --> 00:46:16,960
indications were uh their penetration 

1077
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,182
or parts of the country in the northern 

1078
00:46:19,182 --> 00:46:20,682
sectors particularly which 

1079
00:46:20,682 --> 00:46:23,320
traditionally opposed the Taliban , the 

1080
00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:26,700
Northern Alliance . Uh and but that 

1081
00:46:26,700 --> 00:46:29,020
started to be fair , to be fair , that 

1082
00:46:29,020 --> 00:46:31,910
started long before Doha . There are 

1083
00:46:31,910 --> 00:46:35,660
some commentators who suggested since 

1084
00:46:35,660 --> 00:46:38,200
2014 , the Taliban have been 

1085
00:46:39,380 --> 00:46:42,750
mm surrounding provincial capitals , 

1086
00:46:42,750 --> 00:46:45,430
insinuating themselves into the 

1087
00:46:45,430 --> 00:46:48,010
politics of the local communities , 

1088
00:46:48,020 --> 00:46:50,370
striking bargains . Is that your 

1089
00:46:50,370 --> 00:46:53,550
impression too gentle Mackenzie ? So I 

1090
00:46:53,550 --> 00:46:56,610
think it is a good assessment from 2014 

1091
00:46:56,610 --> 00:46:58,940
on the Taliban did pursue that strategy 

1092
00:46:58,940 --> 00:47:00,940
and they had some success . And the 

1093
00:47:00,940 --> 00:47:02,884
government of Afghanistan also had 

1094
00:47:02,884 --> 00:47:05,051
success holding onto centralized urban 

1095
00:47:05,051 --> 00:47:07,218
areas and population centers . But the 

1096
00:47:07,218 --> 00:47:09,440
Taliban pursued a distinct strategy and 

1097
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:12,070
had some success with . Now , uh 

1098
00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:14,510
General excuse me , Secretary of Austin , 

1099
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,920
uh you did provide your best military 

1100
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:20,700
advice to the President regarding uh 

1101
00:47:20,710 --> 00:47:23,540
the situation Afghanistan and has been 

1102
00:47:23,540 --> 00:47:25,540
recounted several times . There are 

1103
00:47:25,540 --> 00:47:28,250
multiple meetings and he received 

1104
00:47:28,250 --> 00:47:30,361
advice from many different quarters . 

1105
00:47:30,380 --> 00:47:32,269
Do you feel that you you have the 

1106
00:47:32,269 --> 00:47:34,760
opportunity to make your advice very 

1107
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:38,630
clear ? Uh I do Chairman uh 

1108
00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:41,980
as I've said before , I always keep my 

1109
00:47:41,990 --> 00:47:44,410
uh my advice to the President uh 

1110
00:47:44,420 --> 00:47:47,340
confidential . But I am very much 

1111
00:47:47,340 --> 00:47:51,280
satisfied that we had a thorough uh 

1112
00:47:51,290 --> 00:47:55,210
policy review and I believe that 

1113
00:47:55,580 --> 00:47:58,580
all of the parties uh had an 

1114
00:47:58,580 --> 00:48:01,070
opportunity to provide input and that 

1115
00:48:01,070 --> 00:48:03,660
input was received . Thank you very 

1116
00:48:03,660 --> 00:48:05,900
much centered and hoarse . 

1117
00:48:07,370 --> 00:48:11,300
Thank you . Mr Chairman . It was 

1118
00:48:11,300 --> 00:48:14,150
two weeks ago that we had a closed 

1119
00:48:14,150 --> 00:48:16,150
classified hearing . We had General 

1120
00:48:16,150 --> 00:48:19,590
Miller's recommendation at that time . 

1121
00:48:20,070 --> 00:48:21,959
Well , let me , first of all just 

1122
00:48:21,959 --> 00:48:23,800
mentioned that during their 

1123
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:26,270
confirmation process . You committed 

1124
00:48:26,270 --> 00:48:28,048
and I'm speaking now to General 

1125
00:48:28,048 --> 00:48:31,120
Mackenzie and General Milley to give me 

1126
00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:33,287
your honest and personal views of this 

1127
00:48:33,287 --> 00:48:35,509
committee . Even if those views who are 

1128
00:48:35,509 --> 00:48:37,990
differed from those of the 

1129
00:48:37,990 --> 00:48:40,212
administration . And I'm confident that 

1130
00:48:40,212 --> 00:48:42,157
you will be doing that during this 

1131
00:48:42,157 --> 00:48:45,820
hearing that we had . We it was 

1132
00:48:45,830 --> 00:48:48,490
emphasized to us from General Miller 

1133
00:48:48,970 --> 00:48:52,960
That we that we he was recommending the 

1134
00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:56,510
2500 troops in Africa in 

1135
00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:59,260
Afghanistan . Now , we didn't receive 

1136
00:48:59,260 --> 00:49:01,810
the documentation from your office , as 

1137
00:49:01,810 --> 00:49:04,980
I say to the The witnesses today 

1138
00:49:04,990 --> 00:49:08,660
until well , actually 1035 

1139
00:49:08,670 --> 00:49:11,650
last night . So it really wasn't time 

1140
00:49:11,650 --> 00:49:13,706
to get into the lot of the details . 

1141
00:49:13,706 --> 00:49:15,817
But I asked General Mackenzie did you 

1142
00:49:15,817 --> 00:49:18,590
agree to the recommendation that 

1143
00:49:19,070 --> 00:49:22,700
General Miller , it had two weeks 

1144
00:49:22,700 --> 00:49:25,940
ago . Sen . 

1145
00:49:25,950 --> 00:49:28,210
again , I won't I won't share my 

1146
00:49:28,210 --> 00:49:29,932
personal recommendation to the 

1147
00:49:29,932 --> 00:49:31,877
president , but I will give you my 

1148
00:49:31,877 --> 00:49:33,988
honest opinion in my honest opinion . 

1149
00:49:33,988 --> 00:49:36,154
Interview shaped my recommendation . I 

1150
00:49:36,154 --> 00:49:38,043
recommended that we maintain 2500 

1151
00:49:38,043 --> 00:49:40,140
troops in Afghanistan . And I also 

1152
00:49:40,140 --> 00:49:42,460
recommended earlier in the fall of 2020 

1153
00:49:42,470 --> 00:49:45,280
that we maintain 4500 at that time . 

1154
00:49:45,370 --> 00:49:47,580
Those are my personal views . I also 

1155
00:49:47,580 --> 00:49:49,524
have a view that the withdrawal of 

1156
00:49:49,524 --> 00:49:51,636
those forces would lead inevitably to 

1157
00:49:51,636 --> 00:49:53,636
the collapse of the Afghan military 

1158
00:49:53,636 --> 00:49:55,469
forces and eventually the Afghan 

1159
00:49:55,469 --> 00:49:57,524
government . You understand that and 

1160
00:49:57,524 --> 00:49:59,747
general milia . I assume you agree with 

1161
00:49:59,747 --> 00:50:01,913
that in terms of the recommendation of 

1162
00:50:01,913 --> 00:50:04,050
2500 . What I said in my opening 

1163
00:50:04,060 --> 00:50:06,430
statement and the memoranda that I 

1164
00:50:06,430 --> 00:50:08,870
wrote back in the fall of 2020 remained 

1165
00:50:08,870 --> 00:50:10,981
consistent and I do agree with that . 

1166
00:50:10,981 --> 00:50:13,148
This committee is unsure is whether or 

1167
00:50:13,148 --> 00:50:15,520
not General Miller's recommendation 

1168
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:18,490
ever got to the president . Um you know , 

1169
00:50:18,490 --> 00:50:20,720
obviously there are conversations with 

1170
00:50:20,720 --> 00:50:22,942
the President . Yeah , but I would like 

1171
00:50:22,942 --> 00:50:25,230
to ask , even though General Mackenzie , 

1172
00:50:25,230 --> 00:50:27,508
I think you've all made this statement . 

1173
00:50:27,508 --> 00:50:29,508
Did you talk to the President about 

1174
00:50:29,508 --> 00:50:31,674
General Miller's recommendation ? So I 

1175
00:50:31,674 --> 00:50:33,508
was present when that discussion 

1176
00:50:33,508 --> 00:50:35,619
occurred . Mm hmm . And I'm confident 

1177
00:50:35,619 --> 00:50:37,452
that the President heard all the 

1178
00:50:37,452 --> 00:50:39,452
recommendations and listened to him 

1179
00:50:39,452 --> 00:50:41,619
very thoughtfully . So it's one of the 

1180
00:50:41,619 --> 00:50:43,674
recommendations that was made by the 

1181
00:50:43,674 --> 00:50:45,119
three of you would be the 

1182
00:50:45,119 --> 00:50:47,341
recommendation that originally was made 

1183
00:50:47,341 --> 00:50:51,180
by General Miller's uh 22 weeks ago . 

1184
00:50:51,860 --> 00:50:55,580
Um During the August 

1185
00:50:55,590 --> 00:50:58,270
18 interview on ACC George 

1186
00:50:58,270 --> 00:51:00,570
Stephanopoulos as President Bidenen 

1187
00:51:01,060 --> 00:51:03,080
Whether US troops would stay beyond 

1188
00:51:03,090 --> 00:51:06,030
August 31 if there are still Americans 

1189
00:51:06,030 --> 00:51:09,090
to evacuate , President biden responded . 

1190
00:51:09,090 --> 00:51:10,980
And this is a quote . If there's 

1191
00:51:10,990 --> 00:51:14,000
american citizens left , we're going to 

1192
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:17,630
stay to get them all out . Uh 

1193
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:20,940
This didn't happen . The President's 

1194
00:51:20,950 --> 00:51:23,240
biden's decision resulted in all of the 

1195
00:51:23,240 --> 00:51:25,290
troops leaving , but the american 

1196
00:51:25,290 --> 00:51:28,080
citizens are still trying to get out . 

1197
00:51:28,460 --> 00:51:32,000
Um How many how many american 

1198
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:35,010
citizens uh is that your opinion are 

1199
00:51:35,010 --> 00:51:37,520
still there ? Uh just just go down the 

1200
00:51:37,520 --> 00:51:39,760
line , each one of you . Yeah . 

1201
00:51:42,060 --> 00:51:44,490
Anyone center , I would defer to the 

1202
00:51:44,490 --> 00:51:47,130
State Department for that for that 

1203
00:51:47,140 --> 00:51:49,890
assessment . But that's 

1204
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:53,310
uh that's a dynamic process . They've 

1205
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:55,540
they've been contacting the civilians 

1206
00:51:55,540 --> 00:51:58,340
that are in in Afghanistan . And uh and 

1207
00:51:58,340 --> 00:52:00,229
again , I would defer to them for 

1208
00:52:00,229 --> 00:52:03,880
definitive numbers . Mhm . Go ahead . 

1209
00:52:05,350 --> 00:52:09,000
Others the same . 

1210
00:52:09,010 --> 00:52:10,920
Uh Secretary just said there were 

1211
00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:13,087
numbers at the beginning of this whole 

1212
00:52:13,087 --> 00:52:15,253
process with a The F- 77 report out of 

1213
00:52:15,253 --> 00:52:18,310
the out of the embassy . Um and we know 

1214
00:52:18,310 --> 00:52:20,540
that we took out almost 6000 , I guess 

1215
00:52:20,540 --> 00:52:22,707
it is American citizens . But how many 

1216
00:52:22,707 --> 00:52:26,170
remain do you do all of you agree that 

1217
00:52:26,180 --> 00:52:28,470
secretary of state blank and when he 

1218
00:52:28,470 --> 00:52:30,692
made his analysis as to how many people 

1219
00:52:30,692 --> 00:52:32,637
would be here , but would still be 

1220
00:52:32,637 --> 00:52:35,190
there ? He talked about the 10-15,000 

1221
00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:38,660
citizens left behind and uh 

1222
00:52:38,670 --> 00:52:42,530
the and then evacuated some 6000 . That 

1223
00:52:42,530 --> 00:52:46,380
would mean a minimum of 4000 would be 

1224
00:52:46,750 --> 00:52:48,750
would still be there . Now , would 

1225
00:52:48,750 --> 00:52:50,194
anyone disagree with that 

1226
00:52:53,550 --> 00:52:56,370
by your silence ? I assume you agree . 

1227
00:52:57,050 --> 00:53:00,650
I have no , I don't . I personally 

1228
00:53:00,650 --> 00:53:02,539
don't believe that there are 4000 

1229
00:53:02,539 --> 00:53:04,790
American citizens uh still left in 

1230
00:53:04,790 --> 00:53:07,110
Afghanistan , but I cannot confirm or 

1231
00:53:07,110 --> 00:53:09,940
deny that senator . So you think 

1232
00:53:09,950 --> 00:53:12,300
Secretary of State was probably wrong 

1233
00:53:12,300 --> 00:53:14,310
in his analysis . Thank you . Mr 

1234
00:53:14,310 --> 00:53:16,532
Chairman , thank you . And just for the 

1235
00:53:16,532 --> 00:53:18,754
record , the chair and the and the vice 

1236
00:53:18,754 --> 00:53:20,866
serious last ranking member have each 

1237
00:53:20,866 --> 00:53:22,866
abided by the five minute room . So 

1238
00:53:22,866 --> 00:53:26,470
there's fair , thank you . Mr 

1239
00:53:26,470 --> 00:53:28,500
Chairman and thank you . Secretary 

1240
00:53:28,500 --> 00:53:30,333
Austin . General Million General 

1241
00:53:30,333 --> 00:53:32,556
Mackenzie for being here this morning . 

1242
00:53:32,556 --> 00:53:34,889
And Secretary Austin and General Milley , 

1243
00:53:34,889 --> 00:53:37,000
thank you for your effort to put into 

1244
00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:38,833
some historical perspective what 

1245
00:53:38,833 --> 00:53:40,611
happened in Afghanistan and for 

1246
00:53:40,611 --> 00:53:44,290
recognizing the incredible service and 

1247
00:53:44,290 --> 00:53:46,400
sacrifice of the troops who served 

1248
00:53:46,410 --> 00:53:50,380
there . General Milley in a hearing 

1249
00:53:50,380 --> 00:53:52,213
before the Senate appropriations 

1250
00:53:52,213 --> 00:53:55,350
subcommittee on defense in june , I 

1251
00:53:55,350 --> 00:53:57,720
explicitly raised concerns about the 

1252
00:53:57,720 --> 00:54:00,360
plight of at risk afghans due to our 

1253
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:02,340
withdrawal and I ask about the 

1254
00:54:02,340 --> 00:54:04,670
department's plans to evacuate them . 

1255
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:08,630
Um Now , you indicated today that you 

1256
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:10,940
you thought we might be facing the kind 

1257
00:54:10,950 --> 00:54:14,830
of desperate situation that we saw 

1258
00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:18,290
in Kabul . Um but your response at that 

1259
00:54:18,290 --> 00:54:22,020
time was that , quote , lots of 

1260
00:54:22,020 --> 00:54:25,750
planning was ongoing and this 

1261
00:54:25,750 --> 00:54:27,972
is end quote . And the State Department 

1262
00:54:27,972 --> 00:54:29,861
was leading efforts pertaining to 

1263
00:54:29,861 --> 00:54:32,340
evacuating our afghan partners . And 

1264
00:54:32,350 --> 00:54:34,628
you explicitly told the committee that , 

1265
00:54:34,628 --> 00:54:36,794
in your professional opinion , you did 

1266
00:54:36,794 --> 00:54:40,760
not see Saigon 1975 in Afghanistan . 

1267
00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:44,930
So , I'm just trying to figure out 

1268
00:54:44,940 --> 00:54:48,860
why we missed . All right from 

1269
00:54:48,860 --> 00:54:51,980
a public perception , it appears that 

1270
00:54:51,990 --> 00:54:55,860
we didn't anticipate the rapid fall of 

1271
00:54:56,740 --> 00:55:00,480
cop Afghanistan and Kabul and 

1272
00:55:00,690 --> 00:55:02,890
the rise of the Taliban in the way we 

1273
00:55:02,890 --> 00:55:05,860
saw it play out on television . And 

1274
00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:10,660
what did we miss ? I think Senator , 

1275
00:55:11,240 --> 00:55:14,940
we absolutely missed The rapid 11 day 

1276
00:55:14,940 --> 00:55:18,200
collapse of the Afghan military and the 

1277
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:20,367
collapse of their government . I think 

1278
00:55:20,367 --> 00:55:22,422
there was a lot of intelligence that 

1279
00:55:22,422 --> 00:55:25,460
clearly indicated uh , that after we 

1280
00:55:25,460 --> 00:55:28,620
withdrew , um that it was a likely 

1281
00:55:28,620 --> 00:55:30,731
outcome of a collapse of the military 

1282
00:55:30,731 --> 00:55:32,842
and collapse of the government . Most 

1283
00:55:32,842 --> 00:55:34,731
of those intelligence assessments 

1284
00:55:34,731 --> 00:55:36,787
indicated that that would occur late 

1285
00:55:36,787 --> 00:55:38,787
fall , perhaps early winter . Kabul 

1286
00:55:38,787 --> 00:55:40,620
might hold till next spring . It 

1287
00:55:40,620 --> 00:55:42,620
depends on the intel assessment was 

1288
00:55:42,620 --> 00:55:45,460
written . Um , So after we leave , the 

1289
00:55:45,460 --> 00:55:47,850
assessments were pretty consistent that 

1290
00:55:47,850 --> 00:55:49,980
you see a general collapse of the 

1291
00:55:49,980 --> 00:55:53,460
government . Any military while we were 

1292
00:55:53,460 --> 00:55:56,350
there though , Up through 31 August , 

1293
00:55:56,740 --> 00:55:58,420
Uh I don't , there's no Intel 

1294
00:55:58,420 --> 00:56:00,531
assessment that says the government's 

1295
00:56:00,531 --> 00:56:02,642
going to collapse and the military is 

1296
00:56:02,642 --> 00:56:01,890
gonna collapse in 11 days that I'm 

1297
00:56:01,890 --> 00:56:04,670
aware of . And I've read , I think 

1298
00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:07,710
pretty much all of them . So , and even 

1299
00:56:07,710 --> 00:56:11,110
as late As three August and there's 

1300
00:56:11,110 --> 00:56:12,999
another one on eight August etc . 

1301
00:56:12,999 --> 00:56:15,110
They're still talking weeks , perhaps 

1302
00:56:15,110 --> 00:56:17,200
months , etc . General Mackenzie can 

1303
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:20,100
illuminate on his own views on the same 

1304
00:56:20,110 --> 00:56:22,770
topic . He gave his assessments at the 

1305
00:56:22,770 --> 00:56:26,190
same time . And although General Miller 

1306
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:28,520
did in many , many assessments say 

1307
00:56:28,530 --> 00:56:31,590
rapid , fast , hard for collapse . Um 

1308
00:56:31,590 --> 00:56:33,810
he also centered into the october 

1309
00:56:33,810 --> 00:56:35,720
november time frame as opposed to 

1310
00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:38,620
august . So how do we avoid that 

1311
00:56:38,620 --> 00:56:40,520
happening again ? I think the key 

1312
00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:43,300
senator that we missed , frankly , 

1313
00:56:44,330 --> 00:56:46,497
we had some indicators , but we didn't 

1314
00:56:46,497 --> 00:56:48,608
have the full wholesome assessment of 

1315
00:56:48,608 --> 00:56:50,830
leadership morale and will , there were 

1316
00:56:50,830 --> 00:56:53,100
some units and I don't want to Say 

1317
00:56:53,110 --> 00:56:55,221
negative things about these guys that 

1318
00:56:55,221 --> 00:56:57,277
60 , of the Afghan service that were 

1319
00:56:57,277 --> 00:56:59,610
killed in action over the last 20 years . 

1320
00:56:59,610 --> 00:57:01,832
Uh and many units did fight at the very 

1321
00:57:01,832 --> 00:57:04,120
end . But the vast majority put their 

1322
00:57:04,120 --> 00:57:06,520
weapons down and melted away in a very , 

1323
00:57:06,520 --> 00:57:08,520
very short period of time . I think 

1324
00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:10,631
that has to do with will leadership . 

1325
00:57:10,930 --> 00:57:13,190
Um and I think we still need to try to 

1326
00:57:13,190 --> 00:57:15,580
figure out exactly why that was and I 

1327
00:57:15,590 --> 00:57:18,320
have some suggestions but I'm not 

1328
00:57:18,330 --> 00:57:20,386
settled on them yet , but we clearly 

1329
00:57:20,386 --> 00:57:22,441
missed that . I think one of the key 

1330
00:57:22,441 --> 00:57:24,608
factors we missed it for was we pulled 

1331
00:57:24,608 --> 00:57:26,774
our advisors off three years ago . And 

1332
00:57:26,774 --> 00:57:26,650
when you pull the advisers out of the 

1333
00:57:26,650 --> 00:57:28,872
units , you can never you no longer can 

1334
00:57:28,872 --> 00:57:31,039
assess things like leadership and will 

1335
00:57:31,039 --> 00:57:33,094
we can count all the planes , trucks 

1336
00:57:33,094 --> 00:57:35,150
and automobiles and cars and machine 

1337
00:57:35,150 --> 00:57:34,970
guns and everything else . We can count 

1338
00:57:34,970 --> 00:57:37,192
those from space and all the other kind 

1339
00:57:37,192 --> 00:57:39,414
of intel assets . But you can't measure 

1340
00:57:39,414 --> 00:57:41,470
the human heart with a machine , you 

1341
00:57:41,470 --> 00:57:43,637
gotta be there . Thank you . Secretary 

1342
00:57:43,637 --> 00:57:45,859
Austin , I'm about to run out of time . 

1343
00:57:45,859 --> 00:57:47,914
So I make you may want to respond to 

1344
00:57:47,914 --> 00:57:50,630
this on the next round . But one of the 

1345
00:57:50,630 --> 00:57:53,910
challenges with getting special 

1346
00:57:53,910 --> 00:57:55,743
immigrant visa applicants out of 

1347
00:57:55,743 --> 00:57:58,360
Afghanistan has . And this wasn't just 

1348
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:00,527
a problem in the evacuation . This has 

1349
00:58:00,527 --> 00:58:03,040
been a historic problem that has gone 

1350
00:58:03,050 --> 00:58:06,760
over years has been having the 

1351
00:58:06,760 --> 00:58:08,690
documents that show they actually 

1352
00:58:08,690 --> 00:58:12,590
served with our military and D . O . 

1353
00:58:12,590 --> 00:58:15,660
D . Has been cited as the major problem 

1354
00:58:15,670 --> 00:58:18,480
in getting those documents . So again , 

1355
00:58:18,490 --> 00:58:20,712
how do we make sure that doesn't happen 

1356
00:58:20,712 --> 00:58:22,970
again in some future conflict where we 

1357
00:58:22,970 --> 00:58:25,960
need our partners on the ground to 

1358
00:58:25,960 --> 00:58:28,320
serve alongside of our military members 

1359
00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:31,530
and I'm out of time . So hopefully you 

1360
00:58:31,530 --> 00:58:34,740
will answer that . Thank you . Thank 

1361
00:58:34,740 --> 00:58:36,962
you very much . Senator Shaheen Senator 

1362
00:58:36,962 --> 00:58:39,129
Wicker , please Chairman read before I 

1363
00:58:39,129 --> 00:58:41,407
ask my questions . I have an objection . 

1364
00:58:41,407 --> 00:58:43,360
We've been having hearings in a 

1365
00:58:43,360 --> 00:58:45,640
classified setting on this our first 

1366
00:58:45,650 --> 00:58:49,200
public hearing . But in and I'm sorry 

1367
00:58:49,200 --> 00:58:51,530
Senator Kaine has had to step away but 

1368
00:58:51,540 --> 00:58:54,580
in a previous hearing , um he 

1369
00:58:54,590 --> 00:58:58,500
expressed frustration um in various 

1370
00:58:58,500 --> 00:59:00,930
hearings . He had been to a frustration 

1371
00:59:00,930 --> 00:59:02,880
that I shared that when the State 

1372
00:59:02,880 --> 00:59:05,660
Department is here and we asked them a 

1373
00:59:05,660 --> 00:59:07,827
question . They say , well you have to 

1374
00:59:07,827 --> 00:59:10,049
ask the Defense Department that and now 

1375
00:59:10,049 --> 00:59:12,271
today again , Defense Department people 

1376
00:59:12,271 --> 00:59:15,000
are before us and the question was 

1377
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:17,460
asked and the answer to center in half 

1378
00:59:17,460 --> 00:59:19,670
as well . You have to ask the State 

1379
00:59:19,670 --> 00:59:23,470
Department that Senator Kaine gently 

1380
00:59:23,470 --> 00:59:26,670
but fatherly sent a message to the 

1381
00:59:26,670 --> 00:59:28,781
administration at our last classified 

1382
00:59:28,781 --> 00:59:31,460
hearing that we need to cut that out . 

1383
00:59:31,470 --> 00:59:33,637
That members of the Defense Department 

1384
00:59:33,637 --> 00:59:35,980
need to be ready for the questions that 

1385
00:59:35,980 --> 00:59:38,091
we have asked and that we're going to 

1386
00:59:38,091 --> 00:59:41,270
ask . And so I object to uh to the 

1387
00:59:41,270 --> 00:59:43,326
continuation of that in this hearing 

1388
00:59:43,326 --> 00:59:45,560
today . While I'm at it . I would also 

1389
00:59:45,560 --> 00:59:48,990
point out General Milley , I appreciate 

1390
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,650
your statement and I've read it and I 

1391
00:59:51,650 --> 00:59:53,817
understand what you're trying to say . 

1392
00:59:53,817 --> 00:59:56,990
But further than than what 

1393
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:00,940
you um mentioned , 

1394
01:00:01,410 --> 01:00:04,480
the allegation is that you 

1395
01:00:04,490 --> 01:00:08,000
told combatant commanders to 

1396
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:11,370
report back to you . Our clear 

1397
01:00:11,370 --> 01:00:13,481
understanding is that they are , that 

1398
01:00:13,481 --> 01:00:15,648
they are not in the chain of command , 

1399
01:00:15,648 --> 01:00:17,870
you are not in their chain of command , 

1400
01:00:17,870 --> 01:00:19,703
that they report directly to the 

1401
01:00:19,703 --> 01:00:21,426
commander in chief through the 

1402
01:00:21,426 --> 01:00:23,537
secretary . And so to the extent that 

1403
01:00:23,537 --> 01:00:26,690
you told them to report to you , they 

1404
01:00:26,690 --> 01:00:29,023
were not in your chain of command . Now , 

1405
01:00:29,023 --> 01:00:31,530
let me see if I can get one question in 

1406
01:00:31,530 --> 01:00:35,440
here . Having Taken two minutes to to 

1407
01:00:35,450 --> 01:00:38,850
uh mentioned a very important 

1408
01:00:38,850 --> 01:00:42,760
objection . Um General Milley 

1409
01:00:42,770 --> 01:00:45,540
in in the fall of 2020 , you said an 

1410
01:00:45,540 --> 01:00:48,940
accelerant accelerated withdrawal um 

1411
01:00:49,510 --> 01:00:52,930
would risk substantial gains and damage 

1412
01:00:52,940 --> 01:00:56,570
us credibility . I want to ask our 

1413
01:00:56,570 --> 01:00:58,930
witnesses about us credibility . On 

1414
01:00:58,930 --> 01:01:00,950
july , a President biden said the 

1415
01:01:00,950 --> 01:01:03,117
likelihood there's going to be taliban 

1416
01:01:03,117 --> 01:01:05,228
overrunning everything and owning the 

1417
01:01:05,228 --> 01:01:07,339
whole country is highly unlikely . We 

1418
01:01:07,339 --> 01:01:09,450
now know he was advised actually this 

1419
01:01:09,450 --> 01:01:11,283
might happen turns out he it was 

1420
01:01:11,283 --> 01:01:13,394
completely untrue . That statement on 

1421
01:01:13,394 --> 01:01:15,720
July eight later in July , the 

1422
01:01:15,720 --> 01:01:17,442
President of the United States 

1423
01:01:17,442 --> 01:01:19,498
President biden says I trust the the 

1424
01:01:19,498 --> 01:01:21,800
capacity of the Afghan military , 

1425
01:01:21,810 --> 01:01:23,866
better trained , better equipped and 

1426
01:01:23,866 --> 01:01:26,150
more competent in terms of conducting 

1427
01:01:26,150 --> 01:01:28,760
the war . President biden was wrong on 

1428
01:01:28,760 --> 01:01:31,790
that . We told our interpreters are 

1429
01:01:31,790 --> 01:01:34,960
drivers are friends , the people who 

1430
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:37,070
had had our backs during this entire 

1431
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:39,650
period of time that we would not 

1432
01:01:39,650 --> 01:01:42,110
abandon them And that's exactly what we 

1433
01:01:42,110 --> 01:01:44,030
did . And in an interview , it's 

1434
01:01:44,030 --> 01:01:47,530
already been referred to um on 

1435
01:01:47,540 --> 01:01:50,150
network news , President biden says , 

1436
01:01:50,150 --> 01:01:52,110
and I quote , if there's american 

1437
01:01:52,110 --> 01:01:55,650
citizens left , we're going to stay and 

1438
01:01:55,650 --> 01:01:59,330
get them all out . Two days later , 

1439
01:01:59,810 --> 01:02:01,754
the President of the United States 

1440
01:02:01,754 --> 01:02:03,977
unequivocally said , any american wants 

1441
01:02:03,977 --> 01:02:05,977
to come home , we'll get you home , 

1442
01:02:05,977 --> 01:02:08,143
we're going to stay and get them out . 

1443
01:02:08,143 --> 01:02:10,199
The President of the United States , 

1444
01:02:10,199 --> 01:02:13,320
our Commander in Chief did exactly the 

1445
01:02:13,330 --> 01:02:15,780
opposite . Now , I think you were right , 

1446
01:02:15,780 --> 01:02:18,900
General Milley when you advised that 

1447
01:02:18,910 --> 01:02:22,700
that um our credibility would be 

1448
01:02:22,700 --> 01:02:25,760
damaged . Our credibility has been 

1449
01:02:25,770 --> 01:02:27,880
gravely damaged . Has it not General 

1450
01:02:27,880 --> 01:02:31,840
Milley ? I think that 

1451
01:02:31,840 --> 01:02:34,460
our credibility um with allies and 

1452
01:02:34,460 --> 01:02:36,404
partners around the world and with 

1453
01:02:36,404 --> 01:02:39,570
adversaries is being intensely reviewed 

1454
01:02:39,570 --> 01:02:41,737
by them to see which way this is going 

1455
01:02:41,737 --> 01:02:43,848
to go . And I think the damage is one 

1456
01:02:43,848 --> 01:02:45,959
word that could be used . Yes . Yes . 

1457
01:02:45,959 --> 01:02:48,620
And Secretary Austin , there's no 

1458
01:02:48,620 --> 01:02:51,610
question that this sends a disastrous 

1459
01:02:51,610 --> 01:02:55,250
message to china and Russia . 

1460
01:02:55,260 --> 01:02:57,910
What message does it send to our NATO 

1461
01:02:57,910 --> 01:03:00,077
allies and our other allies around the 

1462
01:03:00,077 --> 01:03:03,230
world about not only our credibility 

1463
01:03:03,600 --> 01:03:05,100
but our national resolve . 

1464
01:03:07,600 --> 01:03:09,378
Thanks Senator . What the world 

1465
01:03:09,378 --> 01:03:13,070
witnessed is United States military 

1466
01:03:13,070 --> 01:03:16,410
evacuating 124,000 

1467
01:03:16,420 --> 01:03:19,550
people Uh out of a contested 

1468
01:03:19,550 --> 01:03:22,850
environment in 17 days ? Well , you you 

1469
01:03:22,850 --> 01:03:24,628
testified that that was a great 

1470
01:03:24,628 --> 01:03:26,794
accomplishment . Our withdrawal in our 

1471
01:03:26,794 --> 01:03:29,017
evacuation . What about our credibility 

1472
01:03:29,017 --> 01:03:32,240
uh as I as I engage my my 

1473
01:03:32,240 --> 01:03:35,950
counterparts , uh I think our 

1474
01:03:35,950 --> 01:03:38,690
credibility remain solid . Clearly 

1475
01:03:38,700 --> 01:03:40,644
Senator , there will be people who 

1476
01:03:40,644 --> 01:03:43,360
question things going forward . But I 

1477
01:03:43,360 --> 01:03:46,050
would say that you know , we United 

1478
01:03:46,050 --> 01:03:48,450
States military is one that uh the 

1479
01:03:48,450 --> 01:03:51,240
United States of America people place 

1480
01:03:51,250 --> 01:03:53,400
great trust and confidence in 

1481
01:03:53,450 --> 01:03:55,561
relationships are things that we have 

1482
01:03:55,561 --> 01:03:57,506
to work on continuously and and we 

1483
01:03:57,506 --> 01:03:59,561
understand that we'll continue to do 

1484
01:03:59,561 --> 01:04:01,561
that . Thank you . Senator Worker . 

1485
01:04:01,561 --> 01:04:03,783
Senator joe Lebron , please thank you . 

1486
01:04:03,783 --> 01:04:06,870
Mr Chairman . Um I'm also very grateful 

1487
01:04:06,870 --> 01:04:09,092
to our service members who committed so 

1488
01:04:09,092 --> 01:04:11,860
much over the last 20 years and I do 

1489
01:04:11,860 --> 01:04:13,749
want to thank President biden for 

1490
01:04:13,749 --> 01:04:15,940
taking the tough yet necessary step to 

1491
01:04:15,940 --> 01:04:18,790
stop and end an endless war . Something 

1492
01:04:18,790 --> 01:04:21,650
that many of us have um pushed for over 

1493
01:04:21,650 --> 01:04:24,960
the last decade scans would become 

1494
01:04:24,960 --> 01:04:27,350
widespread . Would you agree that all 

1495
01:04:27,350 --> 01:04:29,517
of these things have happened over the 

1496
01:04:29,517 --> 01:04:31,239
last eight weeks are currently 

1497
01:04:31,239 --> 01:04:35,090
happening ? I think in the main uh 

1498
01:04:35,100 --> 01:04:36,878
yes Senator , most of those are 

1499
01:04:36,878 --> 01:04:38,720
probably happening right now 

1500
01:04:41,090 --> 01:04:44,600
and I hope that we see in the future um 

1501
01:04:45,190 --> 01:04:47,940
military advice , having more 

1502
01:04:47,940 --> 01:04:51,650
consideration by the administration 

1503
01:04:51,660 --> 01:04:54,940
on what will happen from what you and 

1504
01:04:54,940 --> 01:04:58,320
General Mackenzie have said today . If 

1505
01:04:58,320 --> 01:05:00,320
I may senator , I can tell you with 

1506
01:05:00,320 --> 01:05:02,800
100% certainty that the military voice 

1507
01:05:02,800 --> 01:05:05,350
was heard and it was considered . It 

1508
01:05:05,350 --> 01:05:07,260
was considered but not followed , 

1509
01:05:07,260 --> 01:05:10,670
correct ? We have presidents are 

1510
01:05:10,670 --> 01:05:12,892
elected for reasons they make strategic 

1511
01:05:12,892 --> 01:05:15,720
decisions . Um I would say this , I 

1512
01:05:15,720 --> 01:05:18,770
would say this committee general has um 

1513
01:05:18,780 --> 01:05:21,350
always stressed that commanders on the 

1514
01:05:21,350 --> 01:05:23,406
ground should be listened to . Would 

1515
01:05:23,406 --> 01:05:25,406
you agree with that ? I would and I 

1516
01:05:25,406 --> 01:05:27,572
would tell you they were listened to . 

1517
01:05:27,572 --> 01:05:29,794
Um I think there's a difference between 

1518
01:05:29,794 --> 01:05:31,739
us having an opportunity to have a 

1519
01:05:31,739 --> 01:05:34,670
voice and I think it's very important 

1520
01:05:34,680 --> 01:05:37,440
that the military has a voice . But I 

1521
01:05:37,440 --> 01:05:39,607
firmly believe in swing control of the 

1522
01:05:39,607 --> 01:05:41,551
military and I am required and the 

1523
01:05:41,551 --> 01:05:43,551
military commanders are required to 

1524
01:05:43,551 --> 01:05:45,773
give our best military advice . But the 

1525
01:05:45,773 --> 01:05:45,710
decision makers are not required in any 

1526
01:05:45,710 --> 01:05:47,710
manner shape or form to follow that 

1527
01:05:47,710 --> 01:05:49,654
advice . No , they are not . And I 

1528
01:05:49,654 --> 01:05:51,766
agree with you about civilian control 

1529
01:05:51,766 --> 01:05:53,766
of this country . But I think it is 

1530
01:05:53,766 --> 01:05:56,000
also important to realize when we 

1531
01:05:56,000 --> 01:05:58,270
continue to see missteps by an 

1532
01:05:58,270 --> 01:06:00,410
administration that's costing lives . 

1533
01:06:01,080 --> 01:06:03,630
Uh Secretary Austin , It's being 

1534
01:06:03,630 --> 01:06:05,620
reported right now that the biden 

1535
01:06:05,620 --> 01:06:08,080
administration reached out to Russia 

1536
01:06:08,090 --> 01:06:10,820
about using Russian basis in the 

1537
01:06:10,820 --> 01:06:13,550
Central Asian nations bordering 

1538
01:06:13,550 --> 01:06:16,440
Afghanistan to the north for our strike 

1539
01:06:16,440 --> 01:06:19,870
assets to fly out of for the um 

1540
01:06:19,880 --> 01:06:23,180
uh over the horizon counterterrorism 

1541
01:06:23,180 --> 01:06:25,210
missions . Is that true ? 

1542
01:06:27,680 --> 01:06:30,080
Uh Senator . Right . This is uh an 

1543
01:06:30,090 --> 01:06:34,050
issue that I believe came up during a 

1544
01:06:34,050 --> 01:06:36,050
conversation that the President had 

1545
01:06:36,050 --> 01:06:38,500
with President Putin uh where President 

1546
01:06:38,500 --> 01:06:42,320
Putin offered to uh to offer to 

1547
01:06:42,320 --> 01:06:45,410
provide assistance but have but have 

1548
01:06:45,410 --> 01:06:47,690
you reached out to the Russians asking 

1549
01:06:47,690 --> 01:06:49,930
specifically to use basis . General 

1550
01:06:49,930 --> 01:06:52,152
Milley just recently had a conversation 

1551
01:06:52,152 --> 01:06:54,319
with his Russian counterpart reports . 

1552
01:06:54,319 --> 01:06:56,530
So the reports are true that have been 

1553
01:06:56,540 --> 01:06:59,060
coming out today . I can assure you 

1554
01:06:59,060 --> 01:07:01,780
that we are not seeking Russia's 

1555
01:07:01,780 --> 01:07:05,650
permission to do anything . But uh I 

1556
01:07:05,660 --> 01:07:07,660
believe and generally can speak for 

1557
01:07:07,660 --> 01:07:09,771
himself . But I believe that he asked 

1558
01:07:09,771 --> 01:07:11,771
for clarification on what that what 

1559
01:07:11,771 --> 01:07:13,771
that offer was . I have a number of 

1560
01:07:13,771 --> 01:07:15,771
questions which I'll need to get to 

1561
01:07:15,771 --> 01:07:18,050
with General Mackenzie about over the 

1562
01:07:18,050 --> 01:07:20,630
horizon and the capabilities as we look 

1563
01:07:20,630 --> 01:07:22,770
to the future and what's available 

1564
01:07:22,770 --> 01:07:26,460
there . But I think it's what we're 

1565
01:07:26,460 --> 01:07:28,620
seeing in the reports today about 

1566
01:07:28,620 --> 01:07:31,450
asking to use Russian bases . That's 

1567
01:07:31,450 --> 01:07:33,940
just another example that we see the 

1568
01:07:33,940 --> 01:07:36,620
biden administration . They really left 

1569
01:07:36,620 --> 01:07:39,320
us in a terrible position that we have 

1570
01:07:39,320 --> 01:07:43,100
to ask the Russians um to be able 

1571
01:07:43,100 --> 01:07:45,080
to protect the United States from 

1572
01:07:45,080 --> 01:07:47,910
terrorists and we have to ask them to 

1573
01:07:47,910 --> 01:07:50,060
use their installations . And I would 

1574
01:07:50,060 --> 01:07:52,220
just re emphasize Senator , we're not 

1575
01:07:52,220 --> 01:07:54,790
asking the Russians for anything , but 

1576
01:07:54,790 --> 01:07:56,957
you're negotiating trying to get these 

1577
01:07:56,957 --> 01:07:58,623
bases to be able to use their 

1578
01:07:58,623 --> 01:08:01,580
installations because Afghanistan is a 

1579
01:08:01,580 --> 01:08:04,520
landlocked country . And when we have 

1580
01:08:04,530 --> 01:08:07,410
explanations from the military and they 

1581
01:08:07,410 --> 01:08:10,340
give examples for over the horizon and 

1582
01:08:10,340 --> 01:08:13,230
use countries like Yemen and Libya and 

1583
01:08:13,230 --> 01:08:16,030
and Somalia that does not take into 

1584
01:08:16,030 --> 01:08:18,370
consideration that Afghanistan is 

1585
01:08:18,370 --> 01:08:20,920
landlocked and we have to depend on 

1586
01:08:20,920 --> 01:08:23,130
Pakistan to give us airspace to get 

1587
01:08:23,140 --> 01:08:25,500
there . Thank you . Mr Chairman . Yeah , 

1588
01:08:25,870 --> 01:08:28,037
thank you . Senator official . Senator 

1589
01:08:28,037 --> 01:08:30,320
Blumenthal please . Thanks . Mr 

1590
01:08:30,320 --> 01:08:34,010
Chairman and I want to express my hope 

1591
01:08:34,020 --> 01:08:37,620
that this hearing is just the beginning 

1592
01:08:37,620 --> 01:08:40,680
of first step in an in depth analysis 

1593
01:08:41,370 --> 01:08:44,980
Going not just to the last 10 weeks Or 

1594
01:08:44,980 --> 01:08:47,170
even 10 months , but 10 years and 

1595
01:08:47,170 --> 01:08:50,470
longer back so that we can match the 

1596
01:08:50,480 --> 01:08:54,360
courage Of the men and 

1597
01:08:54,360 --> 01:08:56,970
women of America who have sacrificed 

1598
01:08:56,970 --> 01:09:00,100
during this 20 year war , all of them 

1599
01:09:00,110 --> 01:09:02,332
and all of their families , not just in 

1600
01:09:02,332 --> 01:09:04,500
Afghanistan but around the world . And 

1601
01:09:04,970 --> 01:09:07,650
we owe them veterans of America much 

1602
01:09:07,650 --> 01:09:10,290
more than we're giving them right now 

1603
01:09:10,290 --> 01:09:14,100
because they have earned it uh that 

1604
01:09:14,110 --> 01:09:16,280
in depth analysis looking backward is 

1605
01:09:16,280 --> 01:09:18,500
essential . But I want to look forward 

1606
01:09:19,670 --> 01:09:22,340
right now to what is happening in 

1607
01:09:22,340 --> 01:09:25,620
Afghanistan with respect to americans 

1608
01:09:25,620 --> 01:09:28,900
and our afghan allies after our 

1609
01:09:28,900 --> 01:09:32,580
withdrawal it was left to an 

1610
01:09:32,590 --> 01:09:34,910
unofficial network or coalition of 

1611
01:09:34,920 --> 01:09:38,400
Veterans , Ngos , 

1612
01:09:38,970 --> 01:09:42,250
some government officials . Mhm . I was 

1613
01:09:42,250 --> 01:09:45,850
involved in an effort through chartered 

1614
01:09:45,860 --> 01:09:48,890
planes in airports outside of 

1615
01:09:49,270 --> 01:09:52,810
Kabul to try to airlift on a 

1616
01:09:52,820 --> 01:09:56,600
makeshift ad hoc basis . Americans and 

1617
01:09:56,970 --> 01:09:59,890
Afghan allies still there . They have 

1618
01:09:59,890 --> 01:10:02,112
targets on their back . Their situation 

1619
01:10:02,112 --> 01:10:05,690
is increasingly urgent and 

1620
01:10:05,690 --> 01:10:08,920
desperate and I have been frustrated by 

1621
01:10:08,920 --> 01:10:12,300
the lack of someone in charge and lines 

1622
01:10:12,300 --> 01:10:15,700
of authority a point person . We need 

1623
01:10:15,710 --> 01:10:19,070
an evacuation czar . Somebody who 

1624
01:10:19,070 --> 01:10:22,790
will provide a plan and 

1625
01:10:24,160 --> 01:10:26,630
supervised actions so that we can get 

1626
01:10:26,630 --> 01:10:28,852
out of Afghanistan , the americans that 

1627
01:10:28,852 --> 01:10:31,074
remain there . And I will tell you , we 

1628
01:10:31,074 --> 01:10:33,130
don't have an estimate on the number 

1629
01:10:33,130 --> 01:10:35,970
because nobody is in charge right now . 

1630
01:10:36,660 --> 01:10:39,370
So let me ask you , Secretary Austin 

1631
01:10:39,380 --> 01:10:42,240
who at the Department of Defense as 

1632
01:10:42,250 --> 01:10:45,530
overall responsibility with overseeing 

1633
01:10:45,660 --> 01:10:46,980
the effort to evacuate 

1634
01:10:49,560 --> 01:10:51,560
as you know . Well , first of all , 

1635
01:10:51,560 --> 01:10:53,782
Senator , thank you for to you and your 

1636
01:10:53,782 --> 01:10:55,949
colleagues for all that you've done to 

1637
01:10:55,949 --> 01:10:57,893
help continue to help get american 

1638
01:10:57,893 --> 01:11:01,470
citizens out of Afghanistan . Uh The 

1639
01:11:01,470 --> 01:11:03,320
State Department , following our 

1640
01:11:03,330 --> 01:11:05,441
departure of the military , the State 

1641
01:11:05,441 --> 01:11:07,250
Department remained engaged and 

1642
01:11:07,250 --> 01:11:09,640
continued to work to uh to get american 

1643
01:11:09,640 --> 01:11:12,890
citizens out . And as uh as we've seen 

1644
01:11:12,890 --> 01:11:16,200
some 85 American citizens and and uh 

1645
01:11:16,210 --> 01:11:19,700
79 legal permanent residents have 

1646
01:11:19,700 --> 01:11:23,070
departed via the Kabul Airport . Uh and 

1647
01:11:23,070 --> 01:11:25,740
so that work continues on the State 

1648
01:11:25,740 --> 01:11:29,040
Department set up a cell uh to to 

1649
01:11:29,050 --> 01:11:30,990
continue this work and develop a 

1650
01:11:30,990 --> 01:11:34,520
mechanism that cell is uh is headed up 

1651
01:11:34,530 --> 01:11:38,310
by Ambassador Bass . As you may recall , 

1652
01:11:38,310 --> 01:11:40,421
Ambassador Bass was one of the senior 

1653
01:11:40,421 --> 01:11:42,532
counselors on the ground at HK area . 

1654
01:11:42,532 --> 01:11:44,866
As we were conducting the investigation . 

1655
01:11:44,866 --> 01:11:47,760
I have a general officer uh that is a 

1656
01:11:47,760 --> 01:11:51,630
part of that uh that sell uh And and 

1657
01:11:51,640 --> 01:11:53,890
we have reached out to our Ambassador 

1658
01:11:53,890 --> 01:11:56,680
Bass has reached out to veterans groups 

1659
01:11:56,680 --> 01:11:58,680
and others who may have information 

1660
01:11:58,680 --> 01:12:01,450
that uh that can help us continue to 

1661
01:12:01,450 --> 01:12:04,640
contact and eventually evacuate 

1662
01:12:04,640 --> 01:12:06,751
american citizens and L . P . R . S . 

1663
01:12:06,751 --> 01:12:09,080
So this work continues and we remain 

1664
01:12:09,090 --> 01:12:11,350
committed to continuing network until 

1665
01:12:11,360 --> 01:12:14,920
we get out as many american citizens 

1666
01:12:14,930 --> 01:12:17,041
that are willing to come out . Well , 

1667
01:12:17,041 --> 01:12:19,152
there was a point and you can call it 

1668
01:12:19,152 --> 01:12:21,270
the eye of the storm when the taliban 

1669
01:12:22,050 --> 01:12:25,200
had taken over the country , but really 

1670
01:12:25,200 --> 01:12:27,311
wasn't in charge . When we could have 

1671
01:12:28,050 --> 01:12:31,380
evacuated great many more americans and 

1672
01:12:31,380 --> 01:12:35,360
our afghan allies , the translators and 

1673
01:12:35,370 --> 01:12:37,900
others guard security officers . 

1674
01:12:39,350 --> 01:12:42,780
And I feel that the 

1675
01:12:42,780 --> 01:12:46,060
administration was on notice . In fact , 

1676
01:12:46,060 --> 01:12:48,171
a group of us went to the White House 

1677
01:12:48,171 --> 01:12:50,393
in the spring and urged that there be a 

1678
01:12:50,393 --> 01:12:53,890
plan for evacuation . And unfortunately 

1679
01:12:54,310 --> 01:12:56,270
the withdrawal 

1680
01:12:58,650 --> 01:13:00,761
prevented there from being anybody on 

1681
01:13:00,761 --> 01:13:02,817
the ground . And in the wake of that 

1682
01:13:02,817 --> 01:13:04,761
withdrawal , there was a vacuum of 

1683
01:13:04,761 --> 01:13:07,060
leadership and I would hope that there 

1684
01:13:07,060 --> 01:13:09,840
would be more effective action now to 

1685
01:13:09,840 --> 01:13:12,000
put somebody in charge and develop a 

1686
01:13:12,000 --> 01:13:15,380
plan because we know that there are 

1687
01:13:15,850 --> 01:13:19,830
many americans , whether it's uh green 

1688
01:13:19,830 --> 01:13:22,530
card holders or citizens or others 

1689
01:13:22,540 --> 01:13:25,680
still there uh in Connecticut we have a 

1690
01:13:25,690 --> 01:13:27,801
resettlement organization called iris 

1691
01:13:27,801 --> 01:13:30,480
Prince George who heads it has told us 

1692
01:13:30,480 --> 01:13:32,702
of individuals who are still there more 

1693
01:13:32,702 --> 01:13:35,070
than 40 in Kabul . I'm sure other 

1694
01:13:35,070 --> 01:13:38,300
organizations similarly know of such 

1695
01:13:38,310 --> 01:13:40,421
americans who are still there . Thank 

1696
01:13:40,421 --> 01:13:41,980
you . Senator Senator Cotton , please