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Thank you Mr Chairman and thank you to 

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the witnesses for your service and 

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testimony today . One comment Mr 

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Chairman before questions over the last 

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month including yesterday's Senate 

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hearing . We heard a lot of in my 

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opinion over the top claims that the US 

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had lost all credibility with its 

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allies in the wake of the withdrawal 

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from Afghanistan last week . Mr 

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Chairman . We saw firsthand in 

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Washington . How mistaken that claim 

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was . On Wednesday last week I attended 

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a ceremony over in the Senate where the 

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Australian prime minister scott 

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Morrison said that Australia was 

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proud to go into Afghanistan together 

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and leave together degrading al Qaeda 

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and preventing a major terrorist attack . 

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And then very heartfelt terms thank the 

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United States , particularly the 11 

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marines , one navy Corman and one 

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soldier who perished while safely 

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evacuating 4100 Australians from Kabul 

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Boris johnson last week who was also in 

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town when asked about the US standing 

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post uh withdrawal said what I said to 

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joe biden biden is how grateful I am 

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for the amazing work of the U . S . 

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Military and helping us extricate in 

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two weeks 15,000 british nationals from 

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Kabul to whom we owe debts of honor and 

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gratitude . The U . S . Military were 

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heroic of course they were in town to 

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enthusiastically endorse Aucas the new 

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defence agreement in the pacific which 

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has political reported despite all the 

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hand wringing over the last couple of 

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weeks was a powerful reminder that an 

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american security guarantee with our 

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allies still reigns supreme And in the 

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stroke of a pen has reaffirmed our 

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engagement and collaboration with 

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allies in the region that the National 

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Defense strategy has identified as our 

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number one priority . Um Secretary 

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Austin , I just want to follow up on 

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the August 29 um Drone Strike and 

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and General Mackenzie and the 17th 

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again gave I guess the Central Command 

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investigation report which described it 

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as a tragic mistake . You also that day 

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announced that there was gonna be a D . 

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O . D . Uh follow up investigation . 

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Can you tell us what what is the 

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difference between what you described 

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and what set centcom did ? And when can 

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we expect to see results from that ? Um 

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You know that investigation that you 

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described ? Well , I directed a three 

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star review of the of of the 

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incident and certainly will take into 

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account all of the things that um 

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General Mackenzie and his team have 

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done . But we'll look at the , you know , 

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soup to nuts policy procedures . 

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Whether or not we followed our own our 

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own practices are outlined practices uh 

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and uh and we'll certainly look at 

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accountability as well . If somebody 

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should be held accountable for 

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something that they did that was 

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outside of standard practice . And uh 

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then we'll take a look at that . Yeah , 

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you are Jerold Mackenzie , you 

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mentioned on the 17th at the department 

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is exploring the possibility of ex 

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gratia payments for as compensation for 

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the individuals who died in that strike . 

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And again , That's a $3 million 

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2020 , 

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despite 23 civilians that were killed , 

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um there was no payments made last year . 

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Can you give us a , you know , some 

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feeling that , you know , this is that 

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this agreement is sufficient to address 

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this issue , which I think really is 

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our country's responsibility . So I 

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agree with you . I believe we have a 

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significant responsibility here and I 

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know that even as we speak right now , 

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uh undersecretary of Defense for policy 

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is engaged in finding the best way to 

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move forward on an expression 

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appropriate ex gratia payment and 

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whatever other measures may be 

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contemplated in regard to that family . 

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And I just leave it at that . Thank you . 

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And I just would reflect that that 

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certainly is a high volume concern in 

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my district . Um General Milley again , 

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uh we first met in 2013 and a coddle . 

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You were in Jalalabad Afghanistan . And 

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I think many of us had that same 

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experience of seeing you in country 

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there and certainly your service is 

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something that I think is should be 

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unquestioned in commitment to our 

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nation . Um in your testimony , 

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you talked again about the the Doha 

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agreement . The conditions that were 

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put into place by the for the Taliban 

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to perform and that only one out of the 

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eight actually had been complied with 

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even up through uh February . 

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Nonetheless , 80% of the troops in the 

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US were drawn down from the date of the 

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Doha agreement to January 21 . Um can 

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you can just talk about you know , the 

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non compliance of the Taliban 

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throughout 2020 and the predicament 

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that I think this administration was 

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left when it took office with just a 

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fraction of the troop level that was 

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there in February 2020 . We had almost 

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13,000 US troops there in February 2020 . 

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Uh You got the numbers for inauguration . 

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But the bottom line is reduction in 

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violence nationwide ceasefire and all 

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series of other . I apologize but the 

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gentleman's time has all respond to the 

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record on that . Thank you . Mr Lamborn 

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is recognized . Thank you . Mr Chairman . 

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We on this committee have repeatedly 

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expressed our concern that the U . S . 

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Military does not have regional basing 

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and cooperation agreements required for 

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an effective over the horizon 

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counterterrorism capability . In May . 

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Mr Hell v in response to my question in 

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here confirmed that this administration 

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had not yet secured the necessary 

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agreements with any of the governments 

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in the region to establish these over 

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the rising capabilities . So General 

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Mackenzie has the administration as of 

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today secured any necessary agreements 

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with a neighboring country to provide 

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the basing and overflight requirements 

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needed to perform over the horizon 

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counterterror operations in landlocked 

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Afghanistan Representative as of today , 

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I have the ability to enter Afghanistan 

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and to fly missions . It's a long haul 

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in . But I have the ability to do that 

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today . But we don't have an agreement 

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with a neighboring country . Is that 

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true ? Isn't that true ? Obviously it's 

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a neighboring country that's allowing 

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us access but we are not based in we're 

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not based in any neighboring country . 

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That's correct sir . Okay . So we can 

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safely assume that as of august 31st 

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we did not also have an agreement at 

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that time in the past . Okay . Thank 

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you . General Milley at the june 23rd 

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hearing here , you've testified to this 

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committee that bagram was not necessary 

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tactically to the military's withdrawal 

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plan . You dismissed my and other 

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people's concerns about the military 

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value of bagram . And you seem to base 

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that on an assessment that the taliban 

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at that point and not yet taken major 

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districts . Um Yesterday though you 

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told Senator Blackburn that one of the 

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courses of action you provided the 

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commander in chief was to keep bagram 

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airbase open , which sounds different 

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from what you told us in January 23 . 

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But for the record , wasn't your 

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professional military opinion and 

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advice that we should abandon bagram 

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airbase . And if not , was this 

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decision forced on you by the arbitrary 

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troop cap of roughly 650 . 

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Once the president's decision was made 

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uh in mid April 14 April . Um And 

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we were we had a change of mission to 

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go to zero and bring the troops down to 

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a number that was only required to 

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maintain an embassy . The bagram 

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decision was made at that point because 

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at that point there's no way you could 

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defend both program and h chi but one 

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additional point . Uh the most of the 

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people that were required to be in a 

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neo we're going to come out of Kabul . 

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Um draw had that been in 

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play ? Well , in order to hold Barbara 

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might have needed probably pushing 5000 

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more troops on the ground . So that 

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would have been a significant decision 

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to hold bagram and we were under the 

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direction to go to zero . So it would 

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require a basic policy uh directive to 

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change the plan . If you're going to go 

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to zero and you're going to keep enough 

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forces to hold your embassy in the 

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airfield , it is income 

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to go out and hold bagram under that 

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case . Let me just further added , I 

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did not see any tactical utility to 

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bagram . Uh General 

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Mackenzie . Uh Isn't it true that the 

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president rejected your best military 

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opinion and advice as to how quickly to 

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withdraw american troops from 

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Afghanistan ? Well , I will say this , 

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it has been my view that we should have 

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that we that I recommended a level of 

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2500 A . Level that would have allowed 

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us to hold bagram and other airfields 

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as well . Once you go below that level 

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and make a decision to go to zero , it 

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is no longer feasible to hold Barbara . 

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But that was your best opinion and 

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advice . That was that remains my view 

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now , as it was then . Thank you . And 

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Uh you said to hold Bagram would have 

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taken 2500 a minute ago . You said 5000 . 

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Uh it sounds like it was 2500 . Well , 

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it depends on the situation , if if 

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you're talking about a situation where 

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you're not fighting the Taliban and you 

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have the full assistance of the Afghan 

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government or the Taliban's attacks 

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against you at a minimum , yes , you 

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can hold it at 2500 . If however , you 

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posit that you're in Afghanistan Say 

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beyond August the 31st without the uh 

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without the tacit agreement of the 

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Taliban and without the assistance of 

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the government of Afghanistan , who 

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provided most of the physical security 

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at bagram , then you have to put a big 

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footprint in just as we did at H chi is 

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exactly the same . There , the two 

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situations are analogous . Gentleman's 

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time has expired . Mr Garamendi . Yeah , 

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the gentlemen , thank you so very much 

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for your testimony . Before I go any 

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further . I want to acknowledge an 

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extraordinary effort and successful 

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effort made by the US military , 

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particularly the Air force in the most 

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awesome and successful evacuation of 

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civilians ever in the history of this 

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world . Well done . Very , very well 

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done and compliments to all involved in 

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that . Obviously the loss of The 

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13 members of the military was a 

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great tragedy . And you and all of us 

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regret that the fog of war is only 

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repeated by the fog of the committee . 

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So let me lay out some time frames here 

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In mid-2018 . President former 

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President Trump ordered formal and 

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direct us Taliban negotiations without 

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the Afghan government participating In 

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February 2020 . and Excuse Me August 

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2019 President Trump said that He would 

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withdraw all as all us troops as 

274
00:10:54,780 --> 00:10:57,380
quickly as possible . In February 2020 , 

275
00:10:57,420 --> 00:10:59,309
the United States and the Taliban 

276
00:10:59,309 --> 00:11:02,390
signed a formal agreement in which the 

277
00:11:02,390 --> 00:11:05,110
United States committed to withdraw all 

278
00:11:05,110 --> 00:11:07,530
of its troops , contractors and non 

279
00:11:07,530 --> 00:11:09,810
diplomatic civilian personnel from 

280
00:11:09,810 --> 00:11:12,850
Afghanistan . No later Than May 

281
00:11:12,850 --> 00:11:14,260
one , 

282
00:11:16,450 --> 00:11:18,990
In June 2020 the US troop levels 

283
00:11:18,990 --> 00:11:22,540
reached 80 600 in october . 

284
00:11:22,550 --> 00:11:24,383
President former President trump 

285
00:11:24,383 --> 00:11:26,606
tweeted we should have the small number 

286
00:11:26,606 --> 00:11:28,650
of remaining brave men and women 

287
00:11:28,650 --> 00:11:30,960
serving in Afghanistan home by 

288
00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,510
christmas in november 17 

289
00:11:34,510 --> 00:11:37,000
2020 . Then acting Secretary Defense 

290
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,222
Miller announced that we will implement 

291
00:11:39,222 --> 00:11:41,167
President former President trump's 

292
00:11:41,167 --> 00:11:44,260
orders to continue repositioning forces 

293
00:11:44,270 --> 00:11:48,160
from Afghanistan and the 2500 U.S . 

294
00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,460
troops will remain there by January 15 

295
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,430
On January 15 . He announced that there 

296
00:11:54,430 --> 00:11:57,720
were indeed 2500 troops left on january 

297
00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,460
20th , biden became president , 

298
00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,650
2500 troops were then in Afghanistan 

299
00:12:05,660 --> 00:12:08,180
on April 14 , President Biden announced 

300
00:12:08,180 --> 00:12:10,410
his intention to continue the 

301
00:12:10,410 --> 00:12:13,010
withdrawal . All regular U . S . Troops . 

302
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,120
Bye september 11th four 

303
00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:20,320
months after the preplanned May one 

304
00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,950
deadline On July two Italy and Germany 

305
00:12:23,950 --> 00:12:27,210
withdrew their troops on July 17 , We 

306
00:12:27,220 --> 00:12:30,520
have had specific testimony here on 

307
00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,200
what then happened from July 17 on and 

308
00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,790
if I recall correctly , The Afghan 

309
00:12:37,790 --> 00:12:39,957
government completely collapsed on the 

310
00:12:39,957 --> 00:12:43,840
20th of august , wasn't there any 

311
00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,730
longer and from there ? The evacuations 

312
00:12:47,730 --> 00:12:50,860
commenced . Yeah , A general Mackenzie 

313
00:12:51,410 --> 00:12:54,160
With the 2500 troops on the ground 

314
00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:59,110
sufficient as agreed by the with the 

315
00:12:59,110 --> 00:13:02,800
Taliban . Were they there In 

316
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,820
accordance with the agreement , It 

317
00:13:05,820 --> 00:13:07,960
would have been had we held the 2500 

318
00:13:07,970 --> 00:13:11,090
which I stated was my position as the 

319
00:13:11,090 --> 00:13:13,312
secretary has articulated . There would 

320
00:13:13,312 --> 00:13:15,534
have been a clear risk that the Taliban 

321
00:13:15,534 --> 00:13:17,534
would have begun to attack us as we 

322
00:13:17,534 --> 00:13:19,368
move past the one May deadline . 

323
00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,440
However , it was it was my judgment 

324
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:23,496
then that that would still give us a 

325
00:13:23,496 --> 00:13:25,662
platform to continue negotiations with 

326
00:13:25,662 --> 00:13:27,384
the Taliban to perhaps force a 

327
00:13:27,384 --> 00:13:29,430
political solution . My concern was 

328
00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:31,662
that if we withdrew below 2500 and went 

329
00:13:31,662 --> 00:13:33,718
to zero that the Afghan military and 

330
00:13:33,718 --> 00:13:35,662
government would collapse . And of 

331
00:13:35,662 --> 00:13:37,329
course that's not a potential 

332
00:13:37,329 --> 00:13:39,329
counterfactual that is in fact what 

333
00:13:39,329 --> 00:13:41,384
happened . So we have objective , we 

334
00:13:41,384 --> 00:13:40,780
have objective data to understand what 

335
00:13:40,780 --> 00:13:43,670
happens if you go to zero several of us 

336
00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:45,902
attended a luncheon here in the capital 

337
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:50,220
in late june with President Afghan 

338
00:13:50,230 --> 00:13:54,090
Ghani and abdullah dullah and they were 

339
00:13:54,100 --> 00:13:56,470
very , very confident that they would 

340
00:13:56,470 --> 00:13:59,220
be able to maintain their government 

341
00:13:59,230 --> 00:14:02,060
through the uh with the reduction and 

342
00:14:02,060 --> 00:14:05,770
the withdrawal of american troops . If 

343
00:14:05,780 --> 00:14:08,270
they had , they specifically said that 

344
00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,280
300,000 troops , they could do it . 

345
00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,613
They needed continued financial support . 

346
00:14:12,613 --> 00:14:14,840
They needed to necessary intelligence 

347
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,380
from the United States . And they also 

348
00:14:17,380 --> 00:14:21,010
needed to have certain airstrikes 

349
00:14:21,060 --> 00:14:24,930
drone strikes . That was their 

350
00:14:24,930 --> 00:14:27,097
promise . They also said that they did 

351
00:14:27,097 --> 00:14:29,860
not want to allow afghans to leave . 

352
00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,350
That's what they specifically told us . 

353
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,460
They did not want afghans to leave . 

354
00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,350
Obviously Ghani decided that he would 

355
00:14:39,350 --> 00:14:42,930
leave . Um Well further 

356
00:14:42,930 --> 00:14:46,640
questions . Uh my time has 

357
00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,400
expired . I'll yield back . Thank you . 

358
00:14:49,410 --> 00:14:51,466
Mr Whitman . Thank you . Mr Chairman 

359
00:14:51,466 --> 00:14:53,466
gentlemen , thanks so much for your 

360
00:14:53,466 --> 00:14:55,577
testimony today . Generally I want to 

361
00:14:55,577 --> 00:14:57,799
begin with you and I want to build on a 

362
00:14:57,799 --> 00:14:59,799
question that ranking member Rogers 

363
00:14:59,799 --> 00:15:02,021
asked On August 18 President Biden said 

364
00:15:02,021 --> 00:15:05,160
that there's no way possible that U . S . 

365
00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:07,390
Troops could be withdrawn from 

366
00:15:07,390 --> 00:15:09,501
Afghanistan without the chaos that we 

367
00:15:09,501 --> 00:15:12,540
saw unfold . And your best military 

368
00:15:12,540 --> 00:15:15,350
judgment , was there a way to extract 

369
00:15:15,350 --> 00:15:17,406
the troops without the chaos that we 

370
00:15:17,406 --> 00:15:21,300
saw unfold ? I 

371
00:15:21,300 --> 00:15:23,411
just want to be clear , we're talking 

372
00:15:23,411 --> 00:15:25,133
to different missions . Uh the 

373
00:15:25,133 --> 00:15:27,078
retrograde of the troops of 2500 . 

374
00:15:27,078 --> 00:15:27,060
Everybody's talking about those are 

375
00:15:27,060 --> 00:15:29,060
advisors . That was complete by mid 

376
00:15:29,060 --> 00:15:31,282
july and that was done actually without 

377
00:15:31,282 --> 00:15:33,393
any significant incident . That's the 

378
00:15:33,393 --> 00:15:35,560
handover of 11 bases to bring out of a 

379
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,782
lot of equipment etcetera That was done 

380
00:15:37,782 --> 00:15:36,760
under the command of General Miller . 

381
00:15:37,340 --> 00:15:39,507
The non combatant evacuation operation 

382
00:15:39,507 --> 00:15:41,910
is different noncombatant operation 

383
00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,330
that was done under conditions of great 

384
00:15:44,330 --> 00:15:46,330
volatility , great violence , that 

385
00:15:46,340 --> 00:15:48,980
great threat . And we inserted 6000 

386
00:15:48,980 --> 00:15:50,869
troops on relatively short notice 

387
00:15:50,869 --> 00:15:52,813
because there was some contingency 

388
00:15:52,813 --> 00:15:54,924
plans to do that . That's a different 

389
00:15:54,924 --> 00:15:56,924
operation . Uh And I think that the 

390
00:15:56,924 --> 00:15:59,147
first two days of that , as we saw were 

391
00:15:59,147 --> 00:15:59,080
not only chaotic , but violent and high 

392
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,080
risk , but because of the skill and 

393
00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,136
leadership of our troops , they were 

394
00:16:03,136 --> 00:16:05,358
able to get control of the situation in 

395
00:16:05,358 --> 00:16:04,980
the airfield in a country that was 

396
00:16:04,980 --> 00:16:07,110
falling apart and then execute the 

397
00:16:07,110 --> 00:16:09,270
operation . So , um I think it would 

398
00:16:09,270 --> 00:16:10,937
have been difficult under any 

399
00:16:10,937 --> 00:16:12,714
circumstances , and I think our 

400
00:16:12,714 --> 00:16:14,937
soldiers performed extraordinarily well 

401
00:16:14,937 --> 00:16:17,159
actually In 48 hours getting control of 

402
00:16:17,159 --> 00:16:19,214
an airfield in another country , 8.5 

403
00:16:19,214 --> 00:16:21,548
time zones away . But I understand that . 

404
00:16:21,548 --> 00:16:20,990
But you're talking about a very 

405
00:16:20,990 --> 00:16:22,990
compressed time frame . I'm talking 

406
00:16:22,990 --> 00:16:25,212
about the full extent about what you're 

407
00:16:25,212 --> 00:16:27,212
looking at . You can talk about two 

408
00:16:27,212 --> 00:16:26,700
missions , but I'm talking about in 

409
00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:29,200
totality of what we're looking at . 

410
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,730
There was a chaotic and disaggregated 

411
00:16:31,740 --> 00:16:34,360
effort . It seems like to me that 

412
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,250
your professional military judgment 

413
00:16:37,260 --> 00:16:39,960
would probably not have been 

414
00:16:40,540 --> 00:16:43,620
focused uh in your recommendations . 

415
00:16:43,630 --> 00:16:45,852
And seeing this outcome , I just wanted 

416
00:16:45,852 --> 00:16:47,963
to get your recommendations uh at the 

417
00:16:47,963 --> 00:16:49,963
time , in my analysis at the time , 

418
00:16:49,963 --> 00:16:52,130
were aligned actually with What you've 

419
00:16:52,130 --> 00:16:54,297
heard from General Miller previously , 

420
00:16:54,297 --> 00:16:56,463
and General Mackenzie was flatlined at 

421
00:16:56,463 --> 00:16:58,540
about 2500 and go for a negotiated 

422
00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:00,707
solution and make sure it's conditions 

423
00:17:00,707 --> 00:17:03,660
based and we all render our advice . 

424
00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:05,911
Presidents make decisions and then we 

425
00:17:05,911 --> 00:17:09,170
execute sure . This morning , you 

426
00:17:09,170 --> 00:17:11,110
stated that the withdrawal was a 

427
00:17:11,110 --> 00:17:13,110
logistical success but a strategic 

428
00:17:13,110 --> 00:17:16,160
failure . And I would say that probably 

429
00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,049
american citizens and the special 

430
00:17:18,049 --> 00:17:20,160
immigrant visa holders would probably 

431
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,327
disagree . Those that were left behind 

432
00:17:22,327 --> 00:17:24,216
would probably disagree with your 

433
00:17:24,216 --> 00:17:26,382
assessment of the logistical success . 

434
00:17:26,382 --> 00:17:28,438
That being said , I want to focus on 

435
00:17:28,438 --> 00:17:30,604
the strategic failure aspect of that . 

436
00:17:30,604 --> 00:17:32,771
You said yesterday that all you can do 

437
00:17:32,771 --> 00:17:34,938
and you just said it now you can do is 

438
00:17:34,938 --> 00:17:37,160
provide your best advice and it's up to 

439
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:36,140
the president to make the ultimate 

440
00:17:36,140 --> 00:17:39,360
decision in your best military judgment 

441
00:17:40,340 --> 00:17:43,360
did President biden's decisions cause 

442
00:17:43,370 --> 00:17:46,810
this strategic failure ? I 

443
00:17:46,810 --> 00:17:48,866
think as I said yesterday , first of 

444
00:17:48,866 --> 00:17:51,199
all , I'm not gonna judge the president . 

445
00:17:51,199 --> 00:17:53,421
That's the job of the American people . 

446
00:17:53,421 --> 00:17:52,990
That's the job of Congress . I'm asking 

447
00:17:52,990 --> 00:17:55,370
for your best military judgment for the 

448
00:17:55,380 --> 00:17:57,670
judgment . My my assessment , this is a 

449
00:17:57,670 --> 00:18:00,660
20 year war and it wasn't lost in the 

450
00:18:00,660 --> 00:18:02,990
last 20 days or even 20 months for that 

451
00:18:02,990 --> 00:18:05,212
matter . There's a cumulative effect to 

452
00:18:05,212 --> 00:18:07,500
a series of strategic decisions that go 

453
00:18:07,500 --> 00:18:09,611
way back . You know , bin laden right 

454
00:18:09,611 --> 00:18:11,778
on the tora bora for example , we knew 

455
00:18:11,778 --> 00:18:13,778
where he was 1000 m away . It could 

456
00:18:13,778 --> 00:18:16,000
have ended up perhaps right there . The 

457
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,167
shift from going into Iraq and and and 

458
00:18:18,167 --> 00:18:19,833
pulling all the troops out of 

459
00:18:19,833 --> 00:18:21,833
Afghanistan with exception of a few 

460
00:18:21,833 --> 00:18:23,778
other major strategic decision Not 

461
00:18:23,778 --> 00:18:25,944
effectively dealing with Pakistan as a 

462
00:18:25,944 --> 00:18:28,111
sanctuary ? Major strategic issue that 

463
00:18:28,111 --> 00:18:30,167
we're going to have to really unpack 

464
00:18:30,167 --> 00:18:29,510
the intelligence piece . Pulling 

465
00:18:29,510 --> 00:18:31,566
advisers off three or four years ago 

466
00:18:31,566 --> 00:18:33,510
out of canned axed . So we blinded 

467
00:18:33,510 --> 00:18:35,510
ourselves to our ability to see the 

468
00:18:35,510 --> 00:18:35,070
world and around the leadership 

469
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:36,858
training . This whole series of 

470
00:18:36,858 --> 00:18:39,191
decisions that take place over 20 years . 

471
00:18:39,191 --> 00:18:41,247
I don't think that when you ever you 

472
00:18:41,247 --> 00:18:43,413
get some phenomenal like a war that is 

473
00:18:43,413 --> 00:18:45,524
lost and it has been in a sense of we 

474
00:18:45,524 --> 00:18:47,469
accomplished our strategic task of 

475
00:18:47,469 --> 00:18:49,580
protecting America against al Qaeda , 

476
00:18:49,580 --> 00:18:51,747
but certainly the end state is a whole 

477
00:18:51,747 --> 00:18:53,913
lot different than what we wanted . So 

478
00:18:53,913 --> 00:18:53,160
whenever the phenomenon like that 

479
00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:55,049
happens is an awful lot of causal 

480
00:18:55,049 --> 00:18:57,216
factors and we're gonna have to figure 

481
00:18:57,216 --> 00:18:57,060
that out . A lot of lessons learned 

482
00:18:57,060 --> 00:19:00,060
here . Thank you . And I want to build 

483
00:19:00,070 --> 00:19:03,470
with your answers to Secretary Austin . 

484
00:19:03,470 --> 00:19:06,300
Secretary Austin . Imagine that you had 

485
00:19:06,300 --> 00:19:08,189
a number of opportunities in your 

486
00:19:08,189 --> 00:19:10,356
capacity as centcom commanding general 

487
00:19:10,356 --> 00:19:12,189
to brief President Obama . And I 

488
00:19:12,189 --> 00:19:14,790
imagine that Vice President biden was 

489
00:19:14,790 --> 00:19:17,120
probably privy to these briefs . Was he 

490
00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:19,287
a regular attendee when you gave these 

491
00:19:19,287 --> 00:19:22,850
briefs , the 

492
00:19:22,860 --> 00:19:26,670
Vice President was frequently in and in 

493
00:19:26,670 --> 00:19:28,840
the situation room and we had we 

494
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,720
conducted meetings . Yes . Okay , let 

495
00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,887
me go from there then to the battle of 

496
00:19:33,887 --> 00:19:36,010
Konduz which we know the Taliban took 

497
00:19:36,010 --> 00:19:39,040
over Afghan forces retreated . Uh did 

498
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,207
you recognize that is the beginning of 

499
00:19:41,207 --> 00:19:43,630
the weakness in the Isaf mission . And 

500
00:19:43,630 --> 00:19:45,574
were there issues at that point of 

501
00:19:45,574 --> 00:19:47,519
intense interest to Vice President 

502
00:19:47,519 --> 00:19:51,220
biden ? I'm sorry . That's going to 

503
00:19:51,220 --> 00:19:53,276
have to be a question for the record 

504
00:19:53,276 --> 00:19:55,276
because the time has expired . Miss 

505
00:19:55,276 --> 00:19:57,387
spear was recognized . Thank you . Mr 

506
00:19:57,387 --> 00:19:59,276
Chairman , thank you all for your 

507
00:19:59,276 --> 00:20:01,442
extraordinary service to our country . 

508
00:20:01,442 --> 00:20:03,609
I want to just set the record straight 

509
00:20:03,609 --> 00:20:05,776
on a couple of points . It was in 2017 

510
00:20:05,776 --> 00:20:07,998
that then President trump relaxed rules 

511
00:20:07,998 --> 00:20:10,164
of engagement for airstrikes and there 

512
00:20:10,164 --> 00:20:12,109
was a massive increase in civilian 

513
00:20:12,109 --> 00:20:15,810
casualties . A 330% increase during 

514
00:20:15,810 --> 00:20:18,250
trump's administration compared to the 

515
00:20:18,250 --> 00:20:21,630
previous 10 years . There was a 95% 

516
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,520
increase in civilian deaths from 2017 

517
00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,760
to 2019 . It was then President trump 

518
00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,560
who in mid 2018 ordered the Taliban 

519
00:20:30,570 --> 00:20:33,880
order talks with the Taliban without 

520
00:20:33,890 --> 00:20:36,057
the Afghani leadership . And it was in 

521
00:20:36,057 --> 00:20:38,410
February 2020 when that formal 

522
00:20:38,420 --> 00:20:41,860
agreement was made . Now Chairman 

523
00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,700
Millie , you identified the taliban as 

524
00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:48,860
a terrorist organization . Can you 

525
00:20:49,540 --> 00:20:52,360
tell us anything about former President 

526
00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:54,630
trump's intent to invite the Taliban 

527
00:20:54,630 --> 00:20:56,741
leadership to the United States or to 

528
00:20:56,741 --> 00:21:00,580
Camp David specifically , I have 

529
00:21:00,580 --> 00:21:02,247
no personal knowledge of that 

530
00:21:02,247 --> 00:21:04,469
invitation . I start in the media , but 

531
00:21:04,469 --> 00:21:06,524
I was not part of any discussions or 

532
00:21:06,524 --> 00:21:08,524
decision making on that . I have no 

533
00:21:08,524 --> 00:21:10,636
personal knowledge . Secretary Austin 

534
00:21:10,636 --> 00:21:12,413
did the previous administration 

535
00:21:12,413 --> 00:21:15,040
developed plans for withdrawal . And 

536
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,770
was there any hand off to you of those 

537
00:21:17,770 --> 00:21:20,570
plans ? There was no handoff to me of 

538
00:21:20,570 --> 00:21:23,670
any plans for withdrawal . So then 

539
00:21:23,670 --> 00:21:26,750
President trump Calls for a total 

540
00:21:26,750 --> 00:21:30,440
withdrawal by May one , and no 

541
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,162
plans had been made during his 

542
00:21:32,162 --> 00:21:35,870
administration for withdrawal . I would 

543
00:21:35,870 --> 00:21:38,400
say that uh you know , I'm confident 

544
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,740
that General Miller who was 

545
00:21:40,740 --> 00:21:43,590
anticipating uh you know , and 

546
00:21:43,590 --> 00:21:46,970
a decision one way or the other was 

547
00:21:46,970 --> 00:21:48,914
making plans and I certainly would 

548
00:21:48,914 --> 00:21:51,081
defer to General Mackenzie in terms of 

549
00:21:51,081 --> 00:21:53,414
what he might have been might have done . 

550
00:21:53,414 --> 00:21:56,120
But in terms of handoff from 

551
00:21:56,130 --> 00:21:58,020
administration to Administration 

552
00:21:58,020 --> 00:22:00,131
Secretary to Secretary , uh there was 

553
00:22:00,131 --> 00:22:02,720
no handoff to me . All right . Um It's 

554
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,270
not true that on April 27 President 

555
00:22:06,270 --> 00:22:10,200
biden through the uh State Department 

556
00:22:10,210 --> 00:22:13,460
called on all americans in Afghanistan 

557
00:22:13,470 --> 00:22:16,170
to leave by commercial flights . 

558
00:22:18,140 --> 00:22:20,251
Can any of you answer that question ? 

559
00:22:23,340 --> 00:22:25,562
Well , that was in fact what happened ? 

560
00:22:25,562 --> 00:22:27,618
I don't have knowledge of that . All 

561
00:22:27,618 --> 00:22:29,896
right . That was in fact what happened . 

562
00:22:29,896 --> 00:22:32,062
So , we put on notice all Americans in 

563
00:22:32,062 --> 00:22:34,280
Afghanistan on April 27 . It was time 

564
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:37,300
to get out . Let me ask you this . 

565
00:22:37,300 --> 00:22:39,522
General Milley , what was the impact of 

566
00:22:39,522 --> 00:22:41,600
President Trump's draw down to 2500 

567
00:22:41,610 --> 00:22:43,890
troops despite the Taliban's 

568
00:22:43,890 --> 00:22:46,360
noncompliance with much of the peace 

569
00:22:46,370 --> 00:22:48,640
agreement and how did that affect our 

570
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,610
intelligence gathering ? Uh 

571
00:22:52,620 --> 00:22:54,676
So there's two questions there . The 

572
00:22:54,676 --> 00:22:56,453
first question I think the Doha 

573
00:22:56,453 --> 00:22:58,620
agreement itself because of the nature 

574
00:22:58,620 --> 00:23:00,842
of it . And this is More 2020 hindsight 

575
00:23:00,842 --> 00:23:02,970
perhaps . But we now believe that the 

576
00:23:02,970 --> 00:23:04,637
door agreement itself perhaps 

577
00:23:04,637 --> 00:23:06,526
undermined has contributed to the 

578
00:23:06,526 --> 00:23:08,748
undermining of the morale confidence in 

579
00:23:08,748 --> 00:23:08,230
the government because it was a 

580
00:23:08,230 --> 00:23:10,310
bilateral agreement etcetera . But 

581
00:23:10,310 --> 00:23:12,477
having said that there were conditions 

582
00:23:12,477 --> 00:23:14,643
built into that , one of which was met 

583
00:23:14,643 --> 00:23:16,866
many which were not In the draw down to 

584
00:23:16,866 --> 00:23:20,490
2500 proceeded because of the 

585
00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:22,611
fundamental condition if they weren't 

586
00:23:22,611 --> 00:23:24,833
attacking us was being met to draw down 

587
00:23:24,833 --> 00:23:26,944
to 2500 . The impact that that had on 

588
00:23:26,944 --> 00:23:30,260
the morale , the will of the 

589
00:23:30,260 --> 00:23:34,210
Afghan military . I believe that 

590
00:23:34,220 --> 00:23:36,630
it was a negative impact , but I don't 

591
00:23:36,630 --> 00:23:38,741
know that yet . We need to go through 

592
00:23:38,741 --> 00:23:40,908
all of our intelligence and analyze it 

593
00:23:40,908 --> 00:23:43,130
in in an after action review . But I do 

594
00:23:43,130 --> 00:23:45,352
think that was a contributing factor to 

595
00:23:45,352 --> 00:23:47,241
the morale of the Afghan security 

596
00:23:47,241 --> 00:23:49,297
forces . General Milley . Um there's 

597
00:23:49,297 --> 00:23:51,519
been a lot of talk about retaining 2500 

598
00:23:51,519 --> 00:23:54,250
service members in Afghanistan . Um I 

599
00:23:54,250 --> 00:23:56,306
think we all forget that there was a 

600
00:23:56,306 --> 00:23:58,361
negotiations with the Taliban and we 

601
00:23:58,361 --> 00:24:00,340
would have to get them to agree to 

602
00:24:00,340 --> 00:24:03,460
allow 2500 troops to remain in the 

603
00:24:03,460 --> 00:24:06,370
country . Um having said that In your 

604
00:24:06,370 --> 00:24:09,750
view , would a small force of 2500 be 

605
00:24:09,750 --> 00:24:13,590
sufficient two achieve 

606
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,390
anything of value ? I think that um 

607
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,920
2500 would have been at great risk in 

608
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:21,864
terms of the talent that I have no 

609
00:24:21,864 --> 00:24:23,753
doubt that the Taliban would have 

610
00:24:23,753 --> 00:24:26,070
reinitiated combat operations or 

611
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,750
attacks on U . S . Forces And the 2500 

612
00:24:29,750 --> 00:24:31,806
would have been an increased risk to 

613
00:24:31,806 --> 00:24:33,972
debt . What's the value of keeping the 

614
00:24:33,972 --> 00:24:36,028
2500 ? It has as much to do with the 

615
00:24:36,028 --> 00:24:38,083
morale and the keeping advisers with 

616
00:24:38,083 --> 00:24:40,290
them and having the morale of the 

617
00:24:40,300 --> 00:24:41,810
Afghan security forces and 

618
00:24:41,820 --> 00:24:43,598
demonstrating confidence in the 

619
00:24:43,598 --> 00:24:46,330
government going to zero . Uh it's 

620
00:24:46,330 --> 00:24:48,552
clear to me that one of the big lessons 

621
00:24:48,552 --> 00:24:50,497
learned we have to unpack from the 

622
00:24:50,497 --> 00:24:52,663
military side is the mirror imaging in 

623
00:24:52,663 --> 00:24:54,830
the development of the Afghan military 

624
00:24:54,830 --> 00:24:56,774
and they became dependent upon our 

625
00:24:56,774 --> 00:24:58,941
presence apologized , generalized time 

626
00:24:58,941 --> 00:25:00,750
has expired . Miss Hartzler is 

627
00:25:00,750 --> 00:25:03,420
recognized . Thank you Mr Chairman . 

628
00:25:03,420 --> 00:25:05,309
It's imperative that we have this 

629
00:25:05,309 --> 00:25:06,976
hearing today because the box 

630
00:25:06,976 --> 00:25:09,200
withdrawal from Afghanistan I believe 

631
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,890
is the most significant foreign policy 

632
00:25:11,890 --> 00:25:14,230
failure in a generation . And it's 

633
00:25:14,230 --> 00:25:17,260
going to have ramifications for years 

634
00:25:17,270 --> 00:25:19,437
to come . And so we need to get to the 

635
00:25:19,437 --> 00:25:21,437
bottom of this . And for someone to 

636
00:25:21,437 --> 00:25:23,700
start off to General Milley a question 

637
00:25:23,940 --> 00:25:26,780
that you you made a comment earlier 

638
00:25:27,070 --> 00:25:30,740
that you'd be , Well , I wanted to ask 

639
00:25:30,740 --> 00:25:33,690
you , did you tell General G when you 

640
00:25:33,690 --> 00:25:35,801
talked to him on the phone that if we 

641
00:25:35,801 --> 00:25:37,801
were going to attack china that you 

642
00:25:37,801 --> 00:25:39,746
would let him know ahead of time . 

643
00:25:53,140 --> 00:25:56,860
Clearly , I'm sorry . 

644
00:25:56,870 --> 00:25:58,981
Could you get the microphone a little 

645
00:25:58,981 --> 00:26:01,148
more in front of you there , make sure 

646
00:26:01,148 --> 00:26:02,814
its own . So this is a longer 

647
00:26:02,814 --> 00:26:04,870
conversation . You know , it's a Vtc 

648
00:26:04,870 --> 00:26:07,800
with generally and there's a body of 

649
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,440
intelligence that leads up to this . Uh 

650
00:26:10,450 --> 00:26:12,394
that was persuasive to Secretary , 

651
00:26:12,394 --> 00:26:14,617
asked for myself and many , many others 

652
00:26:14,617 --> 00:26:18,170
that the chinese thought wrongly that 

653
00:26:18,170 --> 00:26:20,226
the United States is going to attack 

654
00:26:20,226 --> 00:26:22,392
them . I am certain guaranteed certain 

655
00:26:22,392 --> 00:26:24,503
that president trump had no intent to 

656
00:26:24,503 --> 00:26:26,670
attack . It was my task to make sure I 

657
00:26:26,670 --> 00:26:28,840
communicated that and the purpose was 

658
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,400
to de escalate . You shared all that 

659
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,678
earlier . I understand as part of that , 

660
00:26:33,678 --> 00:26:36,350
just say , did you or did you not ask , 

661
00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:38,249
tell him that if we were going to 

662
00:26:38,249 --> 00:26:40,360
attack you would let him know as part 

663
00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:42,582
of that conversation . I said generally 

664
00:26:42,582 --> 00:26:44,638
there's not going to be award is not 

665
00:26:44,638 --> 00:26:46,916
gonna be attacked between great powers . 

666
00:26:46,916 --> 00:26:46,450
And if there was the tensions would 

667
00:26:46,450 --> 00:26:48,561
build up there because going back and 

668
00:26:48,561 --> 00:26:50,283
forth from all kinds of senior 

669
00:26:50,283 --> 00:26:52,283
officials . I said , hell generally 

670
00:26:52,283 --> 00:26:51,630
I'll probably give you a call but we're 

671
00:26:51,630 --> 00:26:54,000
not going to attack you . Trust me , 

672
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,111
we're not going to attack you . These 

673
00:26:56,111 --> 00:26:58,600
are two great powers and I am doing my 

674
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,933
best to transmit the President's intent . 

675
00:27:00,933 --> 00:27:03,156
President trump's intent to ensure that 

676
00:27:03,156 --> 00:27:05,322
the american people are protected from 

677
00:27:05,322 --> 00:27:07,322
an incident that could escalate . I 

678
00:27:07,322 --> 00:27:09,378
understand your intent , but I think 

679
00:27:09,378 --> 00:27:11,544
you articulating that , that you would 

680
00:27:11,544 --> 00:27:13,600
tell him you would give him a call I 

681
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,300
think is worthy of your resignation . I 

682
00:27:16,310 --> 00:27:18,710
just think that's against our country 

683
00:27:18,710 --> 00:27:20,654
that you would give our number one 

684
00:27:20,654 --> 00:27:23,470
adversary that information and tell him 

685
00:27:23,470 --> 00:27:25,740
that . But I'd like to go on to General 

686
00:27:25,740 --> 00:27:28,500
Austin and ask you a question according 

687
00:27:28,500 --> 00:27:30,556
to President Biden , he chose you to 

688
00:27:30,556 --> 00:27:32,389
serve as his defense secretary , 

689
00:27:32,389 --> 00:27:34,556
primarily because That you oversaw the 

690
00:27:34,556 --> 00:27:37,540
full withdrawal of us forces in 2011 

691
00:27:37,540 --> 00:27:40,610
from Iraq . But ironically , the 2011 

692
00:27:40,610 --> 00:27:42,832
Iraq withdrawal left similar conditions 

693
00:27:42,832 --> 00:27:44,810
of governmental failure . The 

694
00:27:44,810 --> 00:27:46,699
empowerment of regional terrorist 

695
00:27:46,699 --> 00:27:49,130
organizations , most notably ISIS and a 

696
00:27:49,130 --> 00:27:51,260
humanitarian crisis of refugees and 

697
00:27:51,260 --> 00:27:52,982
internally displaced people in 

698
00:27:52,982 --> 00:27:54,760
desperate need of international 

699
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:56,780
emergency assistance . The 2011 US 

700
00:27:56,780 --> 00:27:59,002
military exit from Iraq was short lived 

701
00:27:59,002 --> 00:28:01,410
with President Obama redeploying US 

702
00:28:01,410 --> 00:28:04,380
forces into Iraq and Syria in 2014 to 

703
00:28:04,380 --> 00:28:07,010
defeat the Islamic state . Despite the 

704
00:28:07,010 --> 00:28:08,954
administration's reassurances , it 

705
00:28:08,954 --> 00:28:11,560
seems we may be a similar trajectory in 

706
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,790
Afghanistan . After US forces abandoned 

707
00:28:14,790 --> 00:28:17,540
bagram air base in july , the Taliban 

708
00:28:17,540 --> 00:28:19,762
quickly took over the base and released 

709
00:28:19,762 --> 00:28:22,450
5 to 7000 ISIS K . And Taliban 

710
00:28:22,450 --> 00:28:24,730
prisoners when the last U . S . Troops 

711
00:28:24,730 --> 00:28:26,730
evacuate from Afghanistan on august 

712
00:28:26,730 --> 00:28:29,130
31st , this administration handed over 

713
00:28:29,130 --> 00:28:31,463
total government control to the Taliban , 

714
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,640
a known terrorist organization with 

715
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,473
leaders of the Haqqani terrorist 

716
00:28:35,473 --> 00:28:37,696
network now in key positions within the 

717
00:28:37,696 --> 00:28:39,640
Taliban's de facto government . In 

718
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:41,751
recent weeks , the Taliban has deemed 

719
00:28:41,751 --> 00:28:43,862
education irrelevant barred women and 

720
00:28:43,862 --> 00:28:46,029
girls from school and work , committed 

721
00:28:46,029 --> 00:28:48,251
horrific retaliatory attacks on members 

722
00:28:48,251 --> 00:28:49,918
of Afghan security forces and 

723
00:28:49,918 --> 00:28:51,973
interpreters and established suicide 

724
00:28:51,973 --> 00:28:54,640
bomber schools within the country . We 

725
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:56,862
also know that Al Qaeda and ISIS K both 

726
00:28:56,862 --> 00:28:58,973
have re established a presence within 

727
00:28:58,973 --> 00:29:00,862
the country even before the U . S 

728
00:29:00,862 --> 00:29:03,029
withdrew , ISIS . K . Claim credit for 

729
00:29:03,029 --> 00:29:04,973
a suicide bombing , which you have 

730
00:29:04,973 --> 00:29:07,140
mentioned took the lives of 13 service 

731
00:29:07,140 --> 00:29:09,251
members on august 23rd . So Secretary 

732
00:29:09,251 --> 00:29:11,330
Austin , Is it true that the suicide 

733
00:29:11,330 --> 00:29:13,441
bomber who attacked the Kabul Airport 

734
00:29:13,441 --> 00:29:16,410
on August 23 was a CIA prisoner at the 

735
00:29:16,410 --> 00:29:18,230
bagram airbase whom the Taliban 

736
00:29:18,230 --> 00:29:21,120
released after biden's administration 

737
00:29:21,130 --> 00:29:22,460
left bagram in july . 

738
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,610
I uh let me just say a couple of things 

739
00:29:27,610 --> 00:29:31,130
first on why the president selected me 

740
00:29:31,130 --> 00:29:33,590
or nominated me to be his Secretary 

741
00:29:33,590 --> 00:29:37,140
Defense . Uh You have to certainly go 

742
00:29:37,140 --> 00:29:39,029
back to the president and ask him 

743
00:29:39,029 --> 00:29:41,140
specifically why he did that . But it 

744
00:29:41,140 --> 00:29:44,460
wasn't I'm sure solely based upon 

745
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,680
my oversight of the evacuation of of 

746
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:50,840
Iraq . But I would point to you that 

747
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,062
there is a government in Iraq right now 

748
00:29:53,140 --> 00:29:56,280
that that's holding elections . There 

749
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,336
are the United States military is in 

750
00:29:58,336 --> 00:30:00,558
Iraq at four seconds . Could you answer 

751
00:30:00,558 --> 00:30:02,540
my question was suicide bomber . 

752
00:30:02,540 --> 00:30:04,540
Gentlemen's General Ladies time has 

753
00:30:04,540 --> 00:30:06,651
expired . I'll take your question for 

754
00:30:06,651 --> 00:30:08,873
the record . Thank you . Thank you . Mr 

755
00:30:08,873 --> 00:30:10,818
Diego . Thank you . Mr Chair . And 

756
00:30:10,818 --> 00:30:12,818
generally I don't see why with many 

757
00:30:12,818 --> 00:30:14,873
generals and certainly General Mills 

758
00:30:14,873 --> 00:30:16,870
and I have had disagreements but I 

759
00:30:16,870 --> 00:30:19,100
think what was said earlier was in a 

760
00:30:19,100 --> 00:30:21,500
perp in its nature to accuse a member 

761
00:30:21,500 --> 00:30:23,722
of the military that they would tip off 

762
00:30:23,722 --> 00:30:26,950
our opposition in any way . Uh And I'd 

763
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:28,682
like to give General Milley an 

764
00:30:28,682 --> 00:30:30,738
opportunity to respond to that if he 

765
00:30:30,738 --> 00:30:32,516
wants . If not then I'll gladly 

766
00:30:32,516 --> 00:30:35,650
continue to my questions as I set up 

767
00:30:35,650 --> 00:30:37,872
front . I'm not gonna tip off any enemy 

768
00:30:37,872 --> 00:30:39,983
to what the United States is going to 

769
00:30:39,983 --> 00:30:42,150
do in an actual plan . What I'm trying 

770
00:30:42,150 --> 00:30:44,261
to do is persuade an adversary that's 

771
00:30:44,261 --> 00:30:46,206
heavily armed that was clearly and 

772
00:30:46,206 --> 00:30:48,428
unambiguously according to intelligence 

773
00:30:48,428 --> 00:30:50,261
reports , very nervous about our 

774
00:30:50,261 --> 00:30:52,428
behavior and what was happening inside 

775
00:30:52,428 --> 00:30:54,594
this country . And they were concerned 

776
00:30:54,594 --> 00:30:56,650
that we president trump was going to 

777
00:30:56,650 --> 00:30:58,817
launch an attack . He was not going to 

778
00:30:58,817 --> 00:31:00,817
launch an attack . I knew he wasn't 

779
00:31:00,817 --> 00:31:00,260
going to launch an attack at the 

780
00:31:00,260 --> 00:31:02,482
direction of the Secretary of Defense . 

781
00:31:02,482 --> 00:31:04,371
I engaged the chinese in order to 

782
00:31:04,371 --> 00:31:06,316
persuade them to do that . I would 

783
00:31:06,316 --> 00:31:08,482
never tip off any enemy to any kind of 

784
00:31:08,482 --> 00:31:10,816
surprise thing that we were going to do . 

785
00:31:10,816 --> 00:31:12,871
That's a different context than that 

786
00:31:12,871 --> 00:31:14,816
conversation . Thank you general , 

787
00:31:14,816 --> 00:31:16,871
thank you to all three witnesses for 

788
00:31:16,871 --> 00:31:18,760
taking the time testified today . 

789
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,982
Obviously the resurgence of the taliban 

790
00:31:20,982 --> 00:31:20,740
is devastating and it's difficult for 

791
00:31:20,740 --> 00:31:22,710
many of us to watch . But sadly it 

792
00:31:22,710 --> 00:31:24,766
underlines the reality that after 20 

793
00:31:24,766 --> 00:31:26,654
years four U . S . Presidents and 

794
00:31:26,654 --> 00:31:28,710
billions of dollars , the conditions 

795
00:31:28,710 --> 00:31:28,640
for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan 

796
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,696
could not be created . That is why I 

797
00:31:30,696 --> 00:31:32,862
believe President biden made the right 

798
00:31:32,862 --> 00:31:34,473
decision to withdraw stay in 

799
00:31:34,473 --> 00:31:36,362
Afghanistan a prolonged installed 

800
00:31:36,362 --> 00:31:38,529
conflict would require more troops and 

801
00:31:38,529 --> 00:31:40,751
more resources with no clear timeline . 

802
00:31:40,751 --> 00:31:42,862
And I don't believe that we could ask 

803
00:31:42,862 --> 00:31:45,029
our servicemen and women to give their 

804
00:31:45,029 --> 00:31:44,720
lives permission that in the end 

805
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,240
wouldn't have been successful . I do 

806
00:31:47,250 --> 00:31:50,010
like many of you here plod plod uh our 

807
00:31:50,010 --> 00:31:51,788
troops photographer to evacuate 

808
00:31:51,788 --> 00:31:53,899
American citizens are allies , afghan 

809
00:31:53,899 --> 00:31:56,150
citizens and everyone threatened by the 

810
00:31:56,150 --> 00:31:58,372
taliban . And I still believe we have a 

811
00:31:58,372 --> 00:32:00,594
moral imperative to help those who help 

812
00:32:00,594 --> 00:32:02,761
us in Afghanistan and I and I and many 

813
00:32:02,761 --> 00:32:04,872
of us will do everything in our power 

814
00:32:04,872 --> 00:32:06,928
to continue to do that . I have some 

815
00:32:06,928 --> 00:32:10,010
questions to begin with General Milley 

816
00:32:10,020 --> 00:32:12,020
and your testimony , you know , the 

817
00:32:12,020 --> 00:32:14,131
speed and scale scope of the collapse 

818
00:32:14,131 --> 00:32:16,353
of the Afghan army . The government was 

819
00:32:16,353 --> 00:32:16,320
a surprise . Yes , the Taliban was 

820
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:18,098
clearly gaining ground june and 

821
00:32:18,098 --> 00:32:20,153
especially july before the rival for 

822
00:32:20,153 --> 00:32:22,700
before their arrival in Kabul . As we 

823
00:32:22,700 --> 00:32:24,478
not only look toward the future 

824
00:32:24,478 --> 00:32:26,644
Afghanistan , but also think about our 

825
00:32:26,644 --> 00:32:28,589
operations across the globe . What 

826
00:32:28,589 --> 00:32:30,644
lessons specific to our intelligence 

827
00:32:30,644 --> 00:32:32,756
gathering and analysis . Do you think 

828
00:32:32,756 --> 00:32:34,922
deity can learn from this experience ? 

829
00:32:34,922 --> 00:32:36,922
Do you think it's do you think it's 

830
00:32:36,922 --> 00:32:36,810
time for a larger rethink within the 

831
00:32:36,810 --> 00:32:38,532
department about how to assess 

832
00:32:38,532 --> 00:32:40,310
intelligence and a very rapidly 

833
00:32:40,310 --> 00:32:44,280
changing environment . I do . I think I 

834
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,447
don't know the full answer yet , but I 

835
00:32:46,447 --> 00:32:48,669
think that the primary reason we missed 

836
00:32:48,669 --> 00:32:50,836
it was because we essentially cannot . 

837
00:32:50,836 --> 00:32:52,613
We have yet to develop a really 

838
00:32:52,613 --> 00:32:54,669
effective technique to read people's 

839
00:32:54,669 --> 00:32:56,724
hearts , there will their mind their 

840
00:32:56,724 --> 00:32:56,050
leadership sort of skills . Those are 

841
00:32:56,050 --> 00:32:57,939
intangibles . The moral is to the 

842
00:32:57,939 --> 00:32:59,994
physical is 3 to 1 in the conduct of 

843
00:32:59,994 --> 00:33:02,550
war . So very difficult to measure when 

844
00:33:02,550 --> 00:33:04,280
we pull our advisors off of 

845
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,260
organizations at lower levels . You 

846
00:33:07,260 --> 00:33:10,270
start missing that fingertip touch for 

847
00:33:10,270 --> 00:33:12,381
that intangible of war . We can count 

848
00:33:12,381 --> 00:33:14,590
the trucks and the guns and the units 

849
00:33:14,590 --> 00:33:16,701
and all that . We can watch that from 

850
00:33:16,701 --> 00:33:18,701
different techniques , but we can't 

851
00:33:18,701 --> 00:33:20,757
measure human heart from a machine . 

852
00:33:20,757 --> 00:33:22,923
You got to be there to do that . And I 

853
00:33:22,923 --> 00:33:25,146
think that was probably one of the most 

854
00:33:25,146 --> 00:33:24,970
significant contributing factors to 

855
00:33:24,980 --> 00:33:27,270
missing the deterioration in the morale 

856
00:33:27,740 --> 00:33:30,800
of the Afghan army . And I guess one of 

857
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,022
the things that I'm deeply disturbed by 

858
00:33:33,022 --> 00:33:35,189
and this can be either to , you know , 

859
00:33:35,189 --> 00:33:37,411
john Mackenzie's are also certain child 

860
00:33:37,411 --> 00:33:39,900
can jump in . Uh , speaking to a lot of 

861
00:33:39,900 --> 00:33:41,844
service members , enlisted service 

862
00:33:41,844 --> 00:33:44,780
members that have served for decades , 

863
00:33:44,790 --> 00:33:47,400
uh , in and out of Afghanistan . Uh , 

864
00:33:47,410 --> 00:33:49,521
they were always telling me something 

865
00:33:49,521 --> 00:33:51,521
extremely different from what I was 

866
00:33:51,521 --> 00:33:53,632
getting from reports from many of you 

867
00:33:53,632 --> 00:33:55,799
generals here that the Afghan army was 

868
00:33:55,799 --> 00:33:58,021
not ready , that they were not going to 

869
00:33:58,021 --> 00:34:00,077
be sustainable on their own . And so 

870
00:34:00,077 --> 00:34:02,188
that how did we miss that ? How is it 

871
00:34:02,188 --> 00:34:04,410
that a lot of , you know , 18 , 19 year 

872
00:34:04,410 --> 00:34:06,470
old , mid 20 year old E fives were 

873
00:34:06,470 --> 00:34:08,600
predicting this . But yet some of our 

874
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,270
greatest minds , uh , both on civilian 

875
00:34:11,270 --> 00:34:13,420
side and uh , you know uniform side 

876
00:34:13,430 --> 00:34:15,486
absolutely missed this . And I think 

877
00:34:15,486 --> 00:34:17,374
that's something that concerns me 

878
00:34:17,374 --> 00:34:19,374
because , you know , Afghanistan is 

879
00:34:19,374 --> 00:34:19,110
done . But we're going to be obviously 

880
00:34:19,110 --> 00:34:21,166
engaging all over the world and this 

881
00:34:21,166 --> 00:34:23,054
type of intelligence failure uh , 

882
00:34:23,054 --> 00:34:25,390
repeated could be , you know , it could 

883
00:34:25,390 --> 00:34:27,557
be an existential threat to the United 

884
00:34:27,557 --> 00:34:29,557
National Security . United States . 

885
00:34:29,557 --> 00:34:31,779
Don't know , McKenna McKenzie . We want 

886
00:34:31,779 --> 00:34:33,946
to try that . Sure . So I think that's 

887
00:34:33,946 --> 00:34:33,740
a I think it's a reasonable criticism . 

888
00:34:33,750 --> 00:34:35,861
Um , we'll have to take a look at how 

889
00:34:35,861 --> 00:34:38,028
we actually uh remain connected to the 

890
00:34:38,028 --> 00:34:40,028
people who are down at the advisory 

891
00:34:40,028 --> 00:34:42,530
level . I think that's something that I 

892
00:34:42,540 --> 00:34:44,651
uh , I'm conflicted by that as well . 

893
00:34:44,651 --> 00:34:46,984
I'll be very candid with you . And well , 

894
00:34:46,984 --> 00:34:49,096
we will certainly take a look at that 

895
00:34:49,096 --> 00:34:48,940
because I've heard that same strain 

896
00:34:48,950 --> 00:34:51,172
myself . It's harder to get the truth . 

897
00:34:51,172 --> 00:34:53,339
As you become more senior . We perhaps 

898
00:34:53,339 --> 00:34:55,339
need to look at ways to ensure that 

899
00:34:55,339 --> 00:34:57,339
that's conveyed in a more rapid and 

900
00:34:57,339 --> 00:34:59,172
effective way . I'll accept that 

901
00:34:59,172 --> 00:35:02,210
criticism that thank you for you guys , 

902
00:35:02,210 --> 00:35:04,700
testimony you back . Thank you . Mr 

903
00:35:04,700 --> 00:35:06,850
Scott is recognized . Thank you . Mr 

904
00:35:06,850 --> 00:35:08,970
Chairman and gentlemen , I need uh , 

905
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,607
your help fairly immediately on on two 

906
00:35:11,607 --> 00:35:13,773
issues , one of which can be discussed 

907
00:35:13,773 --> 00:35:15,996
in this setting , but the other one can 

908
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,450
And they're 145 Afghan air force 

909
00:35:19,450 --> 00:35:22,740
personnel in Tajikistan . They flew 16 

910
00:35:22,740 --> 00:35:26,170
aircraft Into that country on August 13 . 

911
00:35:26,540 --> 00:35:30,530
It's now September 29 . We need to get 

912
00:35:30,530 --> 00:35:33,350
them out of Tajikistan . These are 

913
00:35:33,350 --> 00:35:35,239
people who trained with us . They 

914
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:36,961
fought with us that they did . 

915
00:35:36,961 --> 00:35:39,570
Everything that we ask of them and we 

916
00:35:39,570 --> 00:35:41,681
have gotten no assistance at all from 

917
00:35:41,681 --> 00:35:44,240
the State Department it took to move 

918
00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:46,540
them . And and I'm asking all three of 

919
00:35:46,540 --> 00:35:48,780
you for your help in addressing the 

920
00:35:48,780 --> 00:35:52,670
issue . Um Secretary Austin . No . 

921
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,560
Uh huh . We need the help 

922
00:35:57,740 --> 00:36:00,190
acknowledge sir . And uh and we will 

923
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,900
get what state right away uh to see if 

924
00:36:03,900 --> 00:36:06,230
we can move this forward . Thank I 

925
00:36:06,230 --> 00:36:08,810
share your concerns and thank you and I 

926
00:36:08,810 --> 00:36:10,810
do want to mention this and I think 

927
00:36:10,810 --> 00:36:12,977
this is where the frustration of every 

928
00:36:12,977 --> 00:36:15,199
member of the committee comes in . That 

929
00:36:16,130 --> 00:36:19,070
we had people in Uzbekistan . The State 

930
00:36:19,070 --> 00:36:21,070
Department ignored them as well and 

931
00:36:21,070 --> 00:36:23,181
said they would get to them when they 

932
00:36:23,181 --> 00:36:25,200
got to them . But we have a lady in 

933
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,478
Tajikistan that's nine months pregnant . 

934
00:36:27,478 --> 00:36:30,040
That that's one of our pilots . And and 

935
00:36:30,050 --> 00:36:32,460
and we need we need help removing them . 

936
00:36:32,930 --> 00:36:35,770
We also need to make it clear to uh 

937
00:36:35,780 --> 00:36:39,660
Rebecca uh Pakistan and Tajikistan uh 

938
00:36:39,670 --> 00:36:41,837
that that is us military equipment and 

939
00:36:41,837 --> 00:36:45,570
it is not to be returned to Afghanistan . 

940
00:36:45,580 --> 00:36:47,900
And so uh I would appreciate if we 

941
00:36:47,900 --> 00:36:49,956
could put that in writing to both of 

942
00:36:49,956 --> 00:36:51,900
those countries that the equipment 

943
00:36:51,900 --> 00:36:54,650
belongs to the US not to Afghanistan . 

944
00:36:55,030 --> 00:36:58,960
Uh And and and you 

945
00:36:59,330 --> 00:37:01,052
you know with with that said I 

946
00:37:01,052 --> 00:37:03,219
appreciate your commitment to help . I 

947
00:37:03,219 --> 00:37:05,386
do want to mention one thing Secretary 

948
00:37:05,386 --> 00:37:09,050
you The State Department We're using 

949
00:37:09,050 --> 00:37:12,970
the number 124,000 124,000 

950
00:37:12,980 --> 00:37:16,640
is us and NATO allies correct ? That's 

951
00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:20,590
correct . Uh We had provided a 

952
00:37:20,590 --> 00:37:22,730
list of names of people who were P . 

953
00:37:22,730 --> 00:37:26,440
One P . Two S . I . V . S . To central 

954
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,040
command to everybody when you to get it 

955
00:37:29,050 --> 00:37:32,380
to . And yet our people were not 

956
00:37:32,380 --> 00:37:36,340
allowed into and 

957
00:37:37,130 --> 00:37:39,130
but they were not allowed into HK I 

958
00:37:39,130 --> 00:37:41,241
even though they were on the manifest 

959
00:37:41,241 --> 00:37:43,408
and yet so many people came out of the 

960
00:37:43,408 --> 00:37:45,574
country that appeared not to be on the 

961
00:37:45,574 --> 00:37:49,250
manifest . So how 

962
00:37:50,230 --> 00:37:52,397
was the determination made and who got 

963
00:37:52,397 --> 00:37:54,452
on the plane and who didn't get on a 

964
00:37:54,452 --> 00:37:57,520
plane ? I 

965
00:37:57,530 --> 00:37:58,660
can't . 

966
00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:19,650
Yeah . Yeah . 

967
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:23,320
Yeah . 

968
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:28,920
Yeah . 

969
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,880
Uh And they helped us with with some 

970
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,310
security issues . Uh and and other 

971
00:38:38,310 --> 00:38:40,477
things while they were there Secretary 

972
00:38:40,477 --> 00:38:42,699
I'm close on time . But I will tell you 

973
00:38:42,699 --> 00:38:44,866
I do think that that's a question that 

974
00:38:44,866 --> 00:38:44,450
is going to linger and that the 

975
00:38:44,450 --> 00:38:46,394
committee wants answers on because 

976
00:38:46,394 --> 00:38:48,728
because we have P one P . Two S . I . V . 

977
00:38:48,728 --> 00:38:50,728
S . That were left behind and other 

978
00:38:50,728 --> 00:38:52,950
people that were not Or should not have 

979
00:38:52,950 --> 00:38:55,061
been on the manifest seemed to seemed 

980
00:38:55,061 --> 00:38:57,172
to have gotten out . I will just tell 

981
00:38:57,172 --> 00:38:59,339
you we're going to continue to work to 

982
00:38:59,339 --> 00:39:01,760
try to get as many out as we can in the 

983
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,640
last 48 hours . I think we've we've 

984
00:39:04,650 --> 00:39:07,760
brought out an additional 63 American 

985
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:11,650
citizens 169 uh legal permanent 

986
00:39:11,660 --> 00:39:13,827
residents . So we're going to continue 

987
00:39:13,827 --> 00:39:15,882
to work this general Mackenzie . You 

988
00:39:15,882 --> 00:39:18,170
you answer the lighting testimony uh 

989
00:39:18,180 --> 00:39:20,860
you did say that in April is when you 

990
00:39:20,860 --> 00:39:23,380
were given a effectively a change of 

991
00:39:23,380 --> 00:39:26,360
mission to the 6 50 what date in april 

992
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:30,220
was that ? He was on the 15th , 

993
00:39:30,230 --> 00:39:33,920
15th mid April . When did we inform 

994
00:39:33,930 --> 00:39:37,250
our partner forces that we had a change 

995
00:39:37,250 --> 00:39:39,810
in mission And that we were going to 

996
00:39:39,810 --> 00:39:43,310
retrograde from the 2500 down to 6:50 

997
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,376
that followed immediately . And that 

998
00:39:45,376 --> 00:39:47,376
was immediately headquarters on the 

999
00:39:47,376 --> 00:39:49,940
ground process of outreach , both to 

1000
00:39:49,940 --> 00:39:52,107
President Ghani and other members that 

1001
00:39:52,107 --> 00:39:54,218
might have taken a couple of days for 

1002
00:39:54,218 --> 00:39:56,384
that , but it was not kept , it wasn't 

1003
00:39:56,384 --> 00:39:58,218
secret very quick . Was the 6 50 

1004
00:39:58,218 --> 00:40:00,330
included in the 2500 or is the 6 50 ? 

1005
00:40:00,330 --> 00:40:02,650
In addition to the 2500 , number 6 50 

1006
00:40:02,650 --> 00:40:05,130
were different capabilities in the 2500 . 

1007
00:40:05,310 --> 00:40:07,600
So it would be in a total of 31 50 . No 

1008
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,490
no no no . When we went from 2500 down 

1009
00:40:10,490 --> 00:40:12,760
to an effective zero , we said we would 

1010
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:15,210
keep 650 . They went from 25 embassy 

1011
00:40:15,220 --> 00:40:17,220
Gentleman's time has expired . They 

1012
00:40:17,220 --> 00:40:19,387
went from 2500 to 6 50 as I understand 

1013
00:40:19,387 --> 00:40:21,570
it on their way to . That is correct 

1014
00:40:21,570 --> 00:40:23,348
sir , but the capabilities were 

1015
00:40:23,348 --> 00:40:25,514
different . They were different forces 

1016
00:40:25,514 --> 00:40:27,792
to do different things . Crucial point . 

1017
00:40:27,792 --> 00:40:29,959
Thank you . Mr moulton is recognized . 

1018
00:40:29,959 --> 00:40:32,181
Thank you . Mr Chairman General Million 

1019
00:40:32,181 --> 00:40:34,403
Secretary Austin ? My first question to 

1020
00:40:34,403 --> 00:40:36,626
you at our hearing on june 23rd was why 

1021
00:40:36,626 --> 00:40:38,792
have you not started the evacuation of 

1022
00:40:38,792 --> 00:40:41,014
our allies already . You responded that 

1023
00:40:41,014 --> 00:40:43,014
we have a quote moral imperative to 

1024
00:40:43,014 --> 00:40:45,348
save the afghans who worked by our side . 

1025
00:40:45,348 --> 00:40:47,348
Secretary Austin . You said earlier 

1026
00:40:47,348 --> 00:40:49,348
today that moving too slow with the 

1027
00:40:49,348 --> 00:40:51,681
evacuation would put our troops at risk . 

1028
00:40:51,681 --> 00:40:53,403
So I want to know what you did 

1029
00:40:53,403 --> 00:40:55,960
personally All three of you between 

1030
00:40:55,970 --> 00:40:59,240
that June 23 hearing And August 15 when 

1031
00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:01,010
Kabul fell to meet that moral 

1032
00:41:01,020 --> 00:41:03,020
imperative . Now I hope it's a long 

1033
00:41:03,020 --> 00:41:05,187
list of things . So I'll take that for 

1034
00:41:05,187 --> 00:41:07,409
the record . But let me ask you this do 

1035
00:41:07,409 --> 00:41:09,409
you believe you did enough Chairman 

1036
00:41:09,409 --> 00:41:12,620
Millie ? I do I think that we provided 

1037
00:41:12,620 --> 00:41:14,676
the advice necessary at the time . I 

1038
00:41:14,676 --> 00:41:18,390
think . Yes . Yes I think you heard me 

1039
00:41:18,390 --> 00:41:20,557
say in the open at my opening comments 

1040
00:41:20,557 --> 00:41:23,490
that we engaged state early on 

1041
00:41:23,500 --> 00:41:27,370
uh two provide input to the 

1042
00:41:27,370 --> 00:41:29,537
terror decision making process on when 

1043
00:41:29,537 --> 00:41:31,592
to move the S . I . V . S . And uh I 

1044
00:41:31,592 --> 00:41:33,759
understand that this sector . You said 

1045
00:41:33,759 --> 00:41:35,703
that you this that the U . And the 

1046
00:41:35,703 --> 00:41:35,390
State Department followed the advice of 

1047
00:41:35,390 --> 00:41:37,668
the Ghana government that taking out S . 

1048
00:41:37,668 --> 00:41:39,446
I . V . S . Would precipitate a 

1049
00:41:39,446 --> 00:41:41,390
government collapse . Yet the vast 

1050
00:41:41,390 --> 00:41:43,501
majority of these heroes weren't even 

1051
00:41:43,501 --> 00:41:45,334
working for us or the government 

1052
00:41:45,334 --> 00:41:47,501
anymore because they supported a force 

1053
00:41:47,501 --> 00:41:49,446
of up to 100,000 US troops over 20 

1054
00:41:49,446 --> 00:41:51,723
years and we only had 2500 troops left . 

1055
00:41:51,723 --> 00:41:53,946
So why on earth did you trust President 

1056
00:41:53,946 --> 00:41:57,200
Ghani again , not my 

1057
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,150
decision uh to your point I had input 

1058
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:02,760
to that decision making process but 

1059
00:42:02,770 --> 00:42:04,780
it's not as if I was influenced by 

1060
00:42:04,780 --> 00:42:06,780
President Ghani . I understand . Mr 

1061
00:42:06,780 --> 00:42:09,002
Secretary . So you said this repeatedly 

1062
00:42:09,002 --> 00:42:11,113
that this is state's responsibility . 

1063
00:42:11,113 --> 00:42:13,336
What responsibility do you have for the 

1064
00:42:13,336 --> 00:42:15,502
afghans who stood shoulder to shoulder 

1065
00:42:15,502 --> 00:42:17,613
with our troops ? And how many do you 

1066
00:42:17,613 --> 00:42:19,836
commit to getting out by the end of the 

1067
00:42:19,836 --> 00:42:19,750
year ? I have a responsibility to get 

1068
00:42:19,750 --> 00:42:22,340
out as many as I can over time . And 

1069
00:42:22,340 --> 00:42:25,210
I'm and how many do I commit to getting 

1070
00:42:25,210 --> 00:42:27,870
out ? Everyone that I can ? General 

1071
00:42:27,870 --> 00:42:31,080
Mackenzie there D . D . Reports that 

1072
00:42:31,090 --> 00:42:33,034
there are reports that D . O . D . 

1073
00:42:33,034 --> 00:42:35,257
Reduced airstrikes as early as May when 

1074
00:42:35,257 --> 00:42:37,423
troops were just beginning to withdraw 

1075
00:42:37,423 --> 00:42:39,646
then had to ramp them back up after the 

1076
00:42:39,646 --> 00:42:41,812
taliban gained ground . There are also 

1077
00:42:41,812 --> 00:42:43,757
reports that you sat down with the 

1078
00:42:43,757 --> 00:42:43,490
Taliban leadership in august drew a 

1079
00:42:43,490 --> 00:42:45,657
circle around Kabul and told them that 

1080
00:42:45,657 --> 00:42:47,657
if the taliban fighters went inside 

1081
00:42:47,657 --> 00:42:50,060
that circle circle they would get hit 

1082
00:42:50,060 --> 00:42:53,420
with us airstrikes . So why did you let 

1083
00:42:53,420 --> 00:42:55,142
up on the Taliban first at the 

1084
00:42:55,142 --> 00:42:57,364
beginning of May and then at the end of 

1085
00:42:57,364 --> 00:42:59,531
our withdrawal in august right when we 

1086
00:42:59,531 --> 00:43:01,753
should have been hitting them harder to 

1087
00:43:01,753 --> 00:43:03,976
give americans and afghan partners time 

1088
00:43:03,976 --> 00:43:06,198
to evacuate . Representative the report 

1089
00:43:06,198 --> 00:43:06,000
about me meeting with ? 

1090
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,167
Well it's simply factually incorrect . 

1091
00:43:14,167 --> 00:43:16,790
Okay what about May in May as through 

1092
00:43:16,790 --> 00:43:19,680
the rest of our uh redeployment period . 

1093
00:43:19,690 --> 00:43:21,746
We continue strikes on the Taliban . 

1094
00:43:21,746 --> 00:43:23,960
Those strikes , however , were limited 

1095
00:43:23,970 --> 00:43:26,360
to support of Afghan forces in close 

1096
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:28,850
combat . We were not striking deep and 

1097
00:43:28,850 --> 00:43:31,017
we did not have a tremendous amount of 

1098
00:43:31,017 --> 00:43:33,072
resources compared to resources that 

1099
00:43:33,072 --> 00:43:32,920
we've had in the past . So those 

1100
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:34,976
strikes , while effective in certain 

1101
00:43:34,976 --> 00:43:37,087
tactical situations at no time , were 

1102
00:43:37,087 --> 00:43:39,309
enough to change the strategic calculus 

1103
00:43:39,309 --> 00:43:41,420
of the campaign , John McKenzie , you 

1104
00:43:41,420 --> 00:43:43,810
went from 2500 troops in Afghanistan in 

1105
00:43:43,820 --> 00:43:46,720
April to 650 in July and then turn 

1106
00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:49,060
around and put 5000 back into Kabul . 

1107
00:43:49,070 --> 00:43:50,848
You've said repeatedly that you 

1108
00:43:50,848 --> 00:43:52,514
personally believe the Afghan 

1109
00:43:52,514 --> 00:43:54,459
government would fall if we didn't 

1110
00:43:54,459 --> 00:43:56,626
maintain a certain number of troops in 

1111
00:43:56,626 --> 00:43:58,848
country . So why didn't you plan for an 

1112
00:43:58,848 --> 00:44:00,959
evacuation and leave enough troops on 

1113
00:44:00,959 --> 00:44:03,126
the ground to conduct it ? So let's be 

1114
00:44:03,126 --> 00:44:05,237
very clear . The evacuation has to be 

1115
00:44:05,237 --> 00:44:05,090
ordered by the Department of State . 

1116
00:44:05,100 --> 00:44:07,044
The drawdown of U . S . Forces was 

1117
00:44:07,044 --> 00:44:09,156
ordered by the president in april and 

1118
00:44:09,156 --> 00:44:11,211
completed in july . The noncombatant 

1119
00:44:11,211 --> 00:44:13,156
evacuation operation is a separate 

1120
00:44:13,156 --> 00:44:15,378
mission and it was not completely under 

1121
00:44:15,378 --> 00:44:15,170
the control of the department . You're 

1122
00:44:15,170 --> 00:44:17,392
going to fall back on the bureaucracy . 

1123
00:44:17,392 --> 00:44:19,337
The divide between D . O . D . And 

1124
00:44:19,337 --> 00:44:21,337
Representative I might fall back in 

1125
00:44:21,337 --> 00:44:23,392
order to get out and then had to put 

1126
00:44:23,392 --> 00:44:25,503
more back in . I'm going to fall back 

1127
00:44:25,503 --> 00:44:24,780
on the orders that I receive 

1128
00:44:24,790 --> 00:44:28,560
Representative Secretary Austin you 

1129
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:30,782
presided in part over the withdrawal of 

1130
00:44:30,782 --> 00:44:33,004
forces from Iraq though ? I know you at 

1131
00:44:33,004 --> 00:44:34,949
times requested more troops on the 

1132
00:44:34,949 --> 00:44:37,171
ground . Two years later we had to send 

1133
00:44:37,171 --> 00:44:39,393
thousands of troops back into Iraq . Do 

1134
00:44:39,393 --> 00:44:41,504
you believe we will ever have to send 

1135
00:44:41,504 --> 00:44:44,310
troops back into Afghanistan ? Well , I 

1136
00:44:44,310 --> 00:44:47,220
certainly want to uh engage in a 

1137
00:44:47,230 --> 00:44:49,286
hypothetical . I would just say that 

1138
00:44:49,286 --> 00:44:51,508
obviously that's a decision that has to 

1139
00:44:51,508 --> 00:44:54,300
be made by the president and you know , 

1140
00:44:54,300 --> 00:44:56,800
while I won't rule anything out , I 

1141
00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:58,800
would I would just say it's not pre 

1142
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:00,911
ordained that we will go back or have 

1143
00:45:00,911 --> 00:45:04,080
to go back into Afghanistan again . But 

1144
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:06,800
if we do , the military will provide 

1145
00:45:07,290 --> 00:45:09,457
good credible options to be able to do 

1146
00:45:09,457 --> 00:45:11,450
that and to be effective on this 

1147
00:45:11,450 --> 00:45:13,561
Gentleman . You and your predecessors 

1148
00:45:13,561 --> 00:45:15,394
asked tens of thousands of young 

1149
00:45:15,394 --> 00:45:17,506
americans to fight in Afghanistan and 

1150
00:45:17,506 --> 00:45:20,250
they did thousands died . And now you 

1151
00:45:20,250 --> 00:45:22,361
keep saying that our troops should be 

1152
00:45:22,361 --> 00:45:24,139
proud of that . Well , here's a 

1153
00:45:24,139 --> 00:45:26,139
question sent to me by one of those 

1154
00:45:26,139 --> 00:45:28,250
soldiers 20 years . Our troops on the 

1155
00:45:28,250 --> 00:45:30,472
ground never lost a single battle yet . 

1156
00:45:30,472 --> 00:45:32,639
We lost the war and the gentleman over 

1157
00:45:32,639 --> 00:45:34,694
and over again longer we leave . Our 

1158
00:45:34,694 --> 00:45:36,861
Gentleman's time has explained what is 

1159
00:45:36,861 --> 00:45:39,040
left to be proud of Seth . We were 

1160
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,262
trying to run a meeting here and if you 

1161
00:45:41,262 --> 00:45:43,484
wanted to read that letter , you should 

1162
00:45:43,484 --> 00:45:43,060
have read it in the first five minutes 

1163
00:45:43,060 --> 00:45:45,360
when you have time . So I I think it's 

1164
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:47,304
something we need to hear and it's 

1165
00:45:47,304 --> 00:45:49,416
something we should have heard during 

1166
00:45:49,416 --> 00:45:51,416
the five minutes that you had . The 

1167
00:45:51,416 --> 00:45:53,582
gentleman's time has expired . Miss uh 

1168
00:45:53,582 --> 00:45:56,210
sorry Mr Vanek is recognized . She is 

1169
00:45:56,210 --> 00:45:58,820
appearing virtually Mr Funny . You're 

1170
00:45:58,820 --> 00:46:01,420
recognized for five minutes . Thank you 

1171
00:46:01,420 --> 00:46:03,364
Chairman smith's . I want to first 

1172
00:46:03,364 --> 00:46:05,420
start off by saying that I'm honored 

1173
00:46:05,420 --> 00:46:07,531
and privileged to represent fort Drum 

1174
00:46:07,531 --> 00:46:11,380
home with the attack out division , 

1175
00:46:11,390 --> 00:46:13,446
the most deployed division in the US 

1176
00:46:13,446 --> 00:46:15,501
Army since 9 11 . And I want to take 

1177
00:46:15,501 --> 00:46:17,870
this opportunity to thank every soldier , 

1178
00:46:17,870 --> 00:46:19,740
every service men and women for 

1179
00:46:19,750 --> 00:46:21,861
deployment after deployment after the 

1180
00:46:21,861 --> 00:46:24,680
past two decades . The north country , 

1181
00:46:24,690 --> 00:46:28,480
this committee country , we are 

1182
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:30,591
forever grateful for your service and 

1183
00:46:30,591 --> 00:46:32,813
sacrifice about you and your families . 

1184
00:46:32,813 --> 00:46:34,813
Um I want to direct my question the 

1185
00:46:34,813 --> 00:46:36,813
first question to any of you on the 

1186
00:46:36,813 --> 00:46:38,536
panel today and it's about the 

1187
00:46:38,536 --> 00:46:40,758
evacuation and force protection efforts 

1188
00:46:40,758 --> 00:46:42,647
at the Hamid Karzai International 

1189
00:46:42,647 --> 00:46:44,758
Airport Force protection efforts were 

1190
00:46:44,758 --> 00:46:46,924
made specifically as the ISIS K threat 

1191
00:46:46,924 --> 00:46:49,036
intelligence came in before and after 

1192
00:46:49,036 --> 00:46:52,690
the suicide bombing at the airport . So 

1193
00:46:52,690 --> 00:46:55,640
it represented first of all , the 10th 

1194
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:57,807
mountain was a key part of our defense 

1195
00:46:57,807 --> 00:47:00,029
uh there at at the at the airport and I 

1196
00:47:00,029 --> 00:47:02,251
certainly appreciate their contribution 

1197
00:47:02,251 --> 00:47:04,362
to it . Force protection is something 

1198
00:47:04,362 --> 00:47:06,584
we we balanced all the time against the 

1199
00:47:06,584 --> 00:47:08,696
requirement to let people come in and 

1200
00:47:08,696 --> 00:47:08,630
be processed and get on the airplanes . 

1201
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:11,070
So we looked at that every day and as 

1202
00:47:11,070 --> 00:47:12,848
you know , those two things are 

1203
00:47:12,848 --> 00:47:15,014
intention and you have to balance them 

1204
00:47:15,014 --> 00:47:17,760
every day . We had over 300 credible 

1205
00:47:17,770 --> 00:47:20,340
intelligence reports of ISIS K . 

1206
00:47:20,340 --> 00:47:22,451
Attacks . Plans to attack the airport 

1207
00:47:22,451 --> 00:47:24,618
turns out that they were able to carry 

1208
00:47:24,618 --> 00:47:27,290
out one successful suicide vest attack . 

1209
00:47:27,300 --> 00:47:29,244
They also launched rocket status . 

1210
00:47:29,244 --> 00:47:31,356
There were many other attacks that we 

1211
00:47:31,356 --> 00:47:33,640
were able to either vector uh , taliban 

1212
00:47:33,650 --> 00:47:35,539
elements known to , to prevent or 

1213
00:47:35,539 --> 00:47:37,372
perhaps the taliban were able to 

1214
00:47:37,372 --> 00:47:39,428
prevent those by the outer court and 

1215
00:47:39,428 --> 00:47:41,317
that they established . But force 

1216
00:47:41,317 --> 00:47:43,261
protection was a key thing that we 

1217
00:47:43,261 --> 00:47:43,200
balanced throughout the entire 

1218
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:45,422
operation . And we thought the risk was 

1219
00:47:45,422 --> 00:47:47,210
very high at all time . Again , 

1220
00:47:47,220 --> 00:47:49,250
principally from ISIS K . And I'll 

1221
00:47:49,250 --> 00:47:52,360
pause there , man , um , I'm going to 

1222
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:54,193
follow up . We depended upon the 

1223
00:47:54,193 --> 00:47:57,230
taliban for security to get to the 

1224
00:47:57,230 --> 00:47:59,360
evacuees and americans behind enemy 

1225
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:01,870
allies into the airport . Did the 

1226
00:48:01,870 --> 00:48:04,600
United States or coalition forces 

1227
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,810
provide money , any form of payment or 

1228
00:48:07,810 --> 00:48:11,030
assistance to the Taliban to expedite 

1229
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:13,680
the evacuation of americans as the 

1230
00:48:13,690 --> 00:48:15,380
security environment in Kabul 

1231
00:48:15,380 --> 00:48:18,740
deteriorated ? No , we did not . We 

1232
00:48:18,750 --> 00:48:21,190
what we did was we asked the taliban to 

1233
00:48:21,190 --> 00:48:23,830
establish a coordinate about 1000 m one 

1234
00:48:23,830 --> 00:48:25,790
kilometer beyond each of the gates 

1235
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:27,800
where we could reduce the number of 

1236
00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:29,633
people that were coming down and 

1237
00:48:29,633 --> 00:48:31,800
showing up at the gates so we wouldn't 

1238
00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:34,022
have the possibility of a mass attack . 

1239
00:48:34,022 --> 00:48:36,244
They did that they were not compensated 

1240
00:48:36,244 --> 00:48:35,860
or rewarded in any way for that . It 

1241
00:48:35,860 --> 00:48:38,350
was a very uh , it was a very pragmatic , 

1242
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:40,582
businesslike discussion . I don't trust 

1243
00:48:40,582 --> 00:48:42,804
the taliban . I didn't trust him then . 

1244
00:48:42,804 --> 00:48:45,027
I don't trust him now . So that was the 

1245
00:48:45,027 --> 00:48:47,082
method of the way we approached it . 

1246
00:48:47,082 --> 00:48:48,971
Thank you . General Mackenzie and 

1247
00:48:48,971 --> 00:48:51,082
Secretary Austin . I just want to get 

1248
00:48:51,082 --> 00:48:53,304
the department on record in addition to 

1249
00:48:53,304 --> 00:48:55,416
General Mackenzie's answer . So there 

1250
00:48:55,416 --> 00:48:57,527
was no form of payment by the U . S . 

1251
00:48:57,527 --> 00:48:59,693
Or coalition forces at any time during 

1252
00:48:59,693 --> 00:49:03,210
the evacuation to the Taliban . To my 

1253
00:49:03,210 --> 00:49:07,210
knowledge , there there was none . And 

1254
00:49:07,210 --> 00:49:09,810
Chairman Millie , I have no knowledge 

1255
00:49:09,810 --> 00:49:12,120
of any money that transmitted from any 

1256
00:49:12,130 --> 00:49:14,352
element of the United States government 

1257
00:49:14,352 --> 00:49:18,180
to the Taliban whatsoever . My next 

1258
00:49:18,180 --> 00:49:21,180
question is , we are 20 years from the 

1259
00:49:21,180 --> 00:49:24,000
attacks on 9 11 and I obviously I'm 

1260
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,260
from the state of new york . And uh it 

1261
00:49:26,260 --> 00:49:29,230
is a very very solemn occasion for all 

1262
00:49:29,230 --> 00:49:31,063
americans , but particularly new 

1263
00:49:31,063 --> 00:49:34,220
Yorkers uh every year as we commemorate 

1264
00:49:34,230 --> 00:49:36,490
that date . Uh I would like to get your 

1265
00:49:36,490 --> 00:49:38,712
assessment is the terrorist threat from 

1266
00:49:38,712 --> 00:49:42,510
Afghanistan greater today or lesser 

1267
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:44,850
than it was pre 9 11 . I'll start with 

1268
00:49:44,850 --> 00:49:48,800
you , Chairman Millie , I think right 

1269
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:50,967
this minute , it is lesser than it was 

1270
00:49:50,967 --> 00:49:52,633
in 9.11 however , I think the 

1271
00:49:52,633 --> 00:49:54,810
conditions are set or could be set and 

1272
00:49:54,810 --> 00:49:56,921
I testified to this yesterday . I say 

1273
00:49:56,921 --> 00:49:58,921
it again . I've said in public many 

1274
00:49:58,921 --> 00:50:01,143
times , the conditions could be set for 

1275
00:50:01,143 --> 00:50:03,143
a reconstitution of Al Qaeda and or 

1276
00:50:03,143 --> 00:50:05,310
ISIS and I gave some specific times in 

1277
00:50:05,310 --> 00:50:07,421
my statement and I stand by those . I 

1278
00:50:07,421 --> 00:50:09,720
think that the it's a real possibility 

1279
00:50:09,730 --> 00:50:12,120
uh in the not too distant future . 6 , 

1280
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:14,500
12 , 18 24 36 months at that time . The 

1281
00:50:14,500 --> 00:50:16,500
time frame for reconstitution of al 

1282
00:50:16,500 --> 00:50:18,740
Qaeda ISIS and it's our job now in 

1283
00:50:18,740 --> 00:50:20,851
under different conditions , but it's 

1284
00:50:20,851 --> 00:50:23,073
our job to continue to protect american 

1285
00:50:23,073 --> 00:50:24,740
citizens against attacks from 

1286
00:50:24,740 --> 00:50:27,780
Afghanistan . Secretary Austin . Your 

1287
00:50:27,780 --> 00:50:30,610
response to that question , I would 

1288
00:50:30,610 --> 00:50:34,490
agree with general melody that um 

1289
00:50:34,860 --> 00:50:37,500
that al Qaeda has been degraded over 

1290
00:50:37,500 --> 00:50:40,450
time . Now , terrorist organizations 

1291
00:50:40,450 --> 00:50:42,960
seek ungoverned spaces so that they can 

1292
00:50:42,970 --> 00:50:46,650
uh train and equip and thrive 

1293
00:50:46,650 --> 00:50:49,760
and and so there there is clearly a 

1294
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:52,710
possibility that that can happen here 

1295
00:50:52,720 --> 00:50:55,620
going forward . Our goal is to maintain 

1296
00:50:55,620 --> 00:50:58,000
a laser like focus on this so that it 

1297
00:50:58,010 --> 00:51:00,177
doesn't happen . And I apologize , the 

1298
00:51:00,177 --> 00:51:02,232
general ladies time has expired . Mr 

1299
00:51:02,232 --> 00:51:04,177
Carver Hall is recognized for five 

1300
00:51:04,177 --> 00:51:07,940
minutes . Thank you mr Chair , thank 

1301
00:51:07,940 --> 00:51:10,107
you to all our witnesses that are here 

1302
00:51:10,107 --> 00:51:13,980
today . And I want to start by um just 

1303
00:51:13,990 --> 00:51:16,157
uh you know , one of the things I like 

1304
00:51:16,157 --> 00:51:18,101
about this committee is that we're 

1305
00:51:18,101 --> 00:51:20,323
pretty bipartisan , but every once in a 

1306
00:51:20,323 --> 00:51:22,379
while , the partisan beast comes out 

1307
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:25,830
and I'm sure it happens from both sides 

1308
00:51:25,830 --> 00:51:28,520
of the aisle . Uh this is my third term 

1309
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:31,190
here , uh the administration from the 

1310
00:51:31,190 --> 00:51:34,690
other party , uh not empowered 

1311
00:51:35,260 --> 00:51:38,510
ah is oftentimes 

1312
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:41,127
depending what perspective you come to 

1313
00:51:41,127 --> 00:51:43,840
it . Uh one is doing everything right 

1314
00:51:43,850 --> 00:51:45,961
and the other one is doing everything 

1315
00:51:45,961 --> 00:51:47,961
wrong and I think it's important to 

1316
00:51:47,961 --> 00:51:51,300
shed light on things irrespective of 

1317
00:51:51,300 --> 00:51:53,950
the partisanship . one can argue that 

1318
00:51:53,950 --> 00:51:56,470
the agreement that president trump 

1319
00:51:56,480 --> 00:52:00,410
reached with the terrorist taliban In 

1320
00:52:00,410 --> 00:52:03,080
February 2020 was less than perfect and 

1321
00:52:03,080 --> 00:52:05,024
we should call that that from both 

1322
00:52:05,024 --> 00:52:07,020
sides of the aisle and we can also 

1323
00:52:07,020 --> 00:52:10,480
argue that the exit uh 

1324
00:52:10,490 --> 00:52:13,270
from the withdrawal was less than 

1325
00:52:13,270 --> 00:52:16,770
perfect . I certainly uh 

1326
00:52:17,750 --> 00:52:20,430
can say that I supported the trump 

1327
00:52:20,430 --> 00:52:22,050
administration and divided 

1328
00:52:22,050 --> 00:52:25,460
administration in its goal to withdraw 

1329
00:52:25,460 --> 00:52:29,400
from Afghanistan . But again it's been 

1330
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:32,250
less than perfect . And so for me , I 

1331
00:52:32,250 --> 00:52:34,472
just want to shed a little bit of light 

1332
00:52:34,472 --> 00:52:36,890
on and refresh some of the memory on on 

1333
00:52:36,890 --> 00:52:39,210
some of the numbers going back a little 

1334
00:52:39,210 --> 00:52:42,780
ways . So General Milley uh I want to 

1335
00:52:42,780 --> 00:52:44,891
make sure that I understand our troop 

1336
00:52:44,891 --> 00:52:48,060
levels since the Doha agreement that 

1337
00:52:48,060 --> 00:52:50,227
was reached with the terrorists and by 

1338
00:52:50,227 --> 00:52:54,070
President trump Between February 2020 . 

1339
00:52:54,650 --> 00:52:56,872
When the agreement with the taliban was 

1340
00:52:56,872 --> 00:53:00,450
signed To January 2021 . And how many 

1341
00:53:00,450 --> 00:53:02,561
troops did the United States withdraw 

1342
00:53:02,561 --> 00:53:06,430
from Afghanistan ? How many 

1343
00:53:06,430 --> 00:53:09,480
troops were withdrawn from January 2017 

1344
00:53:09,950 --> 00:53:11,770
To January 2021 . 

1345
00:53:14,050 --> 00:53:18,000
12,600 U . S . troops . uh 

1346
00:53:18,010 --> 00:53:20,121
when the door agreement was signed on 

1347
00:53:20,121 --> 00:53:22,454
that day , 8000 , you repeat that again , 

1348
00:53:22,550 --> 00:53:25,790
12,600 U . S . troops 

1349
00:53:26,750 --> 00:53:30,570
On 29 , February 2020 With 8000 NATO 

1350
00:53:31,140 --> 00:53:33,260
and 10,500 contractors and the 

1351
00:53:33,260 --> 00:53:35,427
contractors are particularly important 

1352
00:53:35,427 --> 00:53:37,860
here With respect to on inauguration 

1353
00:53:37,860 --> 00:53:40,880
day , I'm showing 3500 us troops , 

1354
00:53:41,450 --> 00:53:43,672
That's the 2500 advisers and then there 

1355
00:53:43,672 --> 00:53:45,783
was some additional enables that were 

1356
00:53:45,783 --> 00:53:48,860
there 3500 us troops on 20 January 50 

1357
00:53:48,860 --> 00:53:52,110
400 NATO and 6300 contractors in 

1358
00:53:52,110 --> 00:53:55,480
Afghanistan on that day . Thank you . 

1359
00:53:55,490 --> 00:53:57,546
And I only draw attention to that to 

1360
00:53:57,546 --> 00:53:59,680
show the withdrawal that started many 

1361
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:02,410
years before Secretary Austin and 

1362
00:54:02,410 --> 00:54:04,920
Secretary Millie General Milley , Over 

1363
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:06,587
the course of the 20 years in 

1364
00:54:06,587 --> 00:54:09,480
Afghanistan , the United States Special 

1365
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:11,369
Inspector General for Afghanistan 

1366
00:54:11,369 --> 00:54:13,530
Reconstruction estimates that the 

1367
00:54:13,530 --> 00:54:16,950
United States spent $83 billion dollars 

1368
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:19,520
equipping and training the Afghanistan 

1369
00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:21,576
National Defense and Security forces 

1370
00:54:21,940 --> 00:54:23,829
Which included almost $10 billion 

1371
00:54:23,829 --> 00:54:26,480
dollars in aircraft and vehicles . We 

1372
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:28,960
all saw the unexpected and appalling 

1373
00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:31,810
rate of how quickly the afghan military 

1374
00:54:31,810 --> 00:54:34,360
folded under pressure from the taliban . 

1375
00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:37,790
What do you as train and equip efforts 

1376
00:54:37,790 --> 00:54:40,540
in Afghanistan suggest about security 

1377
00:54:40,540 --> 00:54:43,560
cooperation operations going forward 

1378
00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:46,407
and what aspects about train and equip 

1379
00:54:46,407 --> 00:54:48,518
efforts . Do you think the department 

1380
00:54:48,518 --> 00:54:49,518
should reassess , 

1381
00:54:52,540 --> 00:54:54,484
you know , turn it over to General 

1382
00:54:54,484 --> 00:54:56,850
Miller here very quickly . But I think 

1383
00:54:56,860 --> 00:54:59,050
we should reassess everything soup to 

1384
00:54:59,050 --> 00:55:02,600
nuts . I think we put a valiant effort 

1385
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:05,150
into providing the afghans with a great 

1386
00:55:05,150 --> 00:55:08,790
capability uh , and uh , and 

1387
00:55:08,930 --> 00:55:11,970
at the end of the day , that capability 

1388
00:55:11,980 --> 00:55:15,360
was not employed because 

1389
00:55:16,140 --> 00:55:18,029
the security forces fractured and 

1390
00:55:18,029 --> 00:55:20,196
essentially evaporated . So we need to 

1391
00:55:20,196 --> 00:55:22,307
look at ourselves to see , you know , 

1392
00:55:22,307 --> 00:55:24,590
what we did and whether or not that's 

1393
00:55:24,590 --> 00:55:27,470
the right thing to do going forward . 

1394
00:55:28,140 --> 00:55:31,610
Mark in my view , congressman , I think , 

1395
00:55:31,620 --> 00:55:33,898
um , when we do security force systems , 

1396
00:55:33,898 --> 00:55:36,064
one of things we have to guard against 

1397
00:55:36,064 --> 00:55:38,176
his mirror imaging . I think from the 

1398
00:55:38,176 --> 00:55:37,520
very beginning with the army , the 

1399
00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:39,950
Afghan army , we wanted to create them 

1400
00:55:39,950 --> 00:55:42,006
in the image of the U . S . Army . I 

1401
00:55:42,006 --> 00:55:43,728
think our success story is the 

1402
00:55:43,728 --> 00:55:46,061
commandos with the special forces piece . 

1403
00:55:46,061 --> 00:55:48,117
But the broader army became a mirror 

1404
00:55:48,117 --> 00:55:48,090
image and attacked and our doctrines 

1405
00:55:48,090 --> 00:55:50,034
etcetera . That's one point . Uh , 

1406
00:55:50,034 --> 00:55:52,201
Second point is the police forces that 

1407
00:55:52,201 --> 00:55:54,312
was assigned under the bond agreement 

1408
00:55:54,312 --> 00:55:56,368
in 2002 to the Germans . The Germans 

1409
00:55:56,368 --> 00:55:58,534
wanted to make bullets I and that sort 

1410
00:55:58,534 --> 00:55:58,190
of thing . And the third and last point 

1411
00:55:58,190 --> 00:56:00,357
is they became a they became dependent 

1412
00:56:00,357 --> 00:56:02,412
upon us contractors , us air support 

1413
00:56:02,412 --> 00:56:04,190
etcetera . And we have to avoid 

1414
00:56:04,190 --> 00:56:06,412
dependency on U . S . Forces generals . 

1415
00:56:06,412 --> 00:56:09,020
Time has . Thank you Dr Desjarlais is 

1416
00:56:09,020 --> 00:56:11,610
recognized . Thank you chairman and 

1417
00:56:11,610 --> 00:56:13,721
thank you all for being here today to 

1418
00:56:13,721 --> 00:56:15,943
answer our questions . I've had so many 

1419
00:56:15,943 --> 00:56:17,943
questions come from constituents in 

1420
00:56:17,943 --> 00:56:19,999
Tennessee that there's no way we can 

1421
00:56:19,999 --> 00:56:21,888
even begin to get through in five 

1422
00:56:21,888 --> 00:56:23,943
minutes . But let's jump right in uh 

1423
00:56:23,943 --> 00:56:25,666
general million bagram in your 

1424
00:56:25,666 --> 00:56:28,040
professional military opinion , which 

1425
00:56:28,330 --> 00:56:32,030
facility H chi or bagram airfield would 

1426
00:56:32,030 --> 00:56:34,460
have been most efficient in conducting 

1427
00:56:34,460 --> 00:56:37,750
the evacuation that were forced to do H 

1428
00:56:37,750 --> 00:56:40,240
chi and and there's a reason for that . 

1429
00:56:40,730 --> 00:56:43,060
Uh , the majority of the vast majority 

1430
00:56:43,060 --> 00:56:45,227
of those personnel that we expected to 

1431
00:56:45,227 --> 00:56:47,449
have to conduct a neo with were located 

1432
00:56:47,449 --> 00:56:49,710
in Kabul . That's .1.2 is we were 

1433
00:56:49,710 --> 00:56:51,850
directed to maintain an embassy open 

1434
00:56:52,230 --> 00:56:54,452
and also the international zone for the 

1435
00:56:54,452 --> 00:56:56,619
other allied nations . So we had to do 

1436
00:56:56,619 --> 00:56:58,952
it out of HK to bargain would have been , 

1437
00:56:58,952 --> 00:57:01,063
you know , a plus , but it would have 

1438
00:57:01,063 --> 00:57:02,786
required exceptional levels of 

1439
00:57:02,786 --> 00:57:04,841
resources to do that . Okay . Um , I 

1440
00:57:04,841 --> 00:57:06,897
think all of you testified yesterday 

1441
00:57:06,897 --> 00:57:09,390
that it wasn't a matter of if the 

1442
00:57:09,390 --> 00:57:12,370
Afghan army would fail and the Taliban 

1443
00:57:12,370 --> 00:57:14,592
would take over as a matter of when you 

1444
00:57:14,592 --> 00:57:16,703
were all shocked by the rate at which 

1445
00:57:16,703 --> 00:57:19,470
it happened of the billions of dollars 

1446
00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:23,150
in equipment that was left behind has , 

1447
00:57:23,160 --> 00:57:26,420
has been under much scrutiny knowing 

1448
00:57:26,440 --> 00:57:28,384
that they were going to fail . Why 

1449
00:57:28,384 --> 00:57:30,440
we're more steps not taken to secure 

1450
00:57:30,730 --> 00:57:32,850
that military equipment or destroy it 

1451
00:57:33,330 --> 00:57:35,441
knowing that now it's a well equipped 

1452
00:57:35,441 --> 00:57:39,320
Taliban army . So the number 

1453
00:57:39,330 --> 00:57:41,690
is a big number . So let me unpack that 

1454
00:57:41,690 --> 00:57:44,400
a little bit . first of all , the 84 

1455
00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:46,900
billion included ? All of the I 

1456
00:57:46,900 --> 00:57:49,067
understand that , let's just cut right 

1457
00:57:49,067 --> 00:57:51,289
to the equipment that was left behind . 

1458
00:57:51,289 --> 00:57:53,456
Why was so much left behind aircraft m 

1459
00:57:53,456 --> 00:57:55,622
wraps , weapons , Why was that there ? 

1460
00:57:55,622 --> 00:57:55,440
When you knew they were going to fail ? 

1461
00:57:55,450 --> 00:57:57,506
The , the other thing I would say is 

1462
00:57:57,506 --> 00:57:59,672
that , you know , all of the equipment 

1463
00:57:59,672 --> 00:58:01,783
that we had that we were using , as I 

1464
00:58:01,783 --> 00:58:04,006
stated earlier was evacuated by General 

1465
00:58:04,006 --> 00:58:06,680
Miller . Now the reason that the 

1466
00:58:06,680 --> 00:58:08,791
afghans had the equipment they had is 

1467
00:58:08,791 --> 00:58:11,013
because we wanted them to be successful 

1468
00:58:11,013 --> 00:58:12,847
and they could not be successful 

1469
00:58:12,847 --> 00:58:14,791
without without the appropriate if 

1470
00:58:14,791 --> 00:58:16,569
they're watching these hearings 

1471
00:58:16,569 --> 00:58:18,791
yesterday and today . I'm guessing that 

1472
00:58:18,791 --> 00:58:18,100
they probably feel like they were 

1473
00:58:18,100 --> 00:58:20,156
played as fools because you all just 

1474
00:58:20,156 --> 00:58:22,378
said you knew they were going to fail . 

1475
00:58:22,378 --> 00:58:24,489
So here we have an army we built up , 

1476
00:58:24,489 --> 00:58:26,600
we use them until we didn't need them 

1477
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:28,433
anymore to to accomplish biden's 

1478
00:58:28,433 --> 00:58:30,378
objective and trump's objective of 

1479
00:58:30,378 --> 00:58:32,600
getting out of Afghanistan . However it 

1480
00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:34,433
it went horribly wrong as we can 

1481
00:58:34,433 --> 00:58:36,767
probably all agree to um General Milley , 

1482
00:58:36,767 --> 00:58:39,420
you started today and and talked about 

1483
00:58:39,430 --> 00:58:42,940
uh your commitment to your office . 

1484
00:58:42,940 --> 00:58:45,070
You're the principal military adviser 

1485
00:58:45,070 --> 00:58:47,810
to the president , correct ? That is 

1486
00:58:47,810 --> 00:58:50,032
correct . And that's to President trump 

1487
00:58:50,032 --> 00:58:52,199
and President biden . That's correct . 

1488
00:58:52,199 --> 00:58:54,088
And the Secretary Defense and the 

1489
00:58:54,088 --> 00:58:56,254
National Security Council . Okay . And 

1490
00:58:56,254 --> 00:58:58,366
Senator Blackburn yesterday asked you 

1491
00:58:58,366 --> 00:59:00,477
about your conversations with several 

1492
00:59:00,477 --> 00:59:03,590
book writers and you were fine with 

1493
00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:05,767
giving them your opinion . And I think 

1494
00:59:05,767 --> 00:59:07,822
you said that you had a rather blunt 

1495
00:59:07,822 --> 00:59:09,933
forward phone call with House speaker 

1496
00:59:09,933 --> 00:59:13,100
nancy Pelosi true . And you were can 

1497
00:59:13,100 --> 00:59:15,156
she was concerned over the safety of 

1498
00:59:15,156 --> 00:59:17,720
nuclear weapons , correct ? Okay . Um 

1499
00:59:17,730 --> 00:59:20,530
in a transcript obtained from CNN 

1500
00:59:20,530 --> 00:59:24,070
political Woodward and Costa quoted 

1501
00:59:24,070 --> 00:59:26,570
Pelosi is saying and this was to you , 

1502
00:59:26,580 --> 00:59:28,630
What I'm saying to you is that they 

1503
00:59:28,630 --> 00:59:30,797
couldn't even stop him from an assault 

1504
00:59:30,797 --> 00:59:32,852
on the capital ? Who even knows what 

1505
00:59:32,852 --> 00:59:34,963
else he may do ? And is there anybody 

1506
00:59:34,963 --> 00:59:37,019
in charge of the White House who was 

1507
00:59:37,019 --> 00:59:39,186
doing anything but kissing his fat but 

1508
00:59:39,186 --> 00:59:42,050
all over this is that you recall that I 

1509
00:59:42,060 --> 00:59:44,282
don't I haven't seen the transcript . I 

1510
00:59:44,282 --> 00:59:46,504
think that would be firmly imprinted on 

1511
00:59:46,504 --> 00:59:48,671
my mind . It was a lot of I would just 

1512
00:59:48,671 --> 00:59:50,504
say there's a lot of disparaging 

1513
00:59:50,504 --> 00:59:52,750
comments made and and that my focus was 

1514
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:55,740
to assure her that the nuclear system 

1515
00:59:55,740 --> 00:59:58,020
and weapons were under control . Okay . 

1516
00:59:58,020 --> 01:00:00,076
And according to cost and Woodward , 

1517
01:00:00,076 --> 01:00:02,131
she went on to say , you know , he's 

1518
01:00:02,131 --> 01:00:04,353
crazy . He's been crazy for a long time 

1519
01:00:04,353 --> 01:00:06,409
to which they say . And I'm sure you 

1520
01:00:06,409 --> 01:00:08,520
haven't had a chance to read the book 

1521
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:10,742
yet . Milli responded Madam Speaker . I 

1522
01:00:10,742 --> 01:00:12,631
agree with you on everything . If 

1523
01:00:12,631 --> 01:00:14,631
you're the principal advisor to the 

1524
01:00:14,631 --> 01:00:16,853
President and she said that to you , do 

1525
01:00:16,853 --> 01:00:18,964
you think that you were doing service 

1526
01:00:18,964 --> 01:00:18,920
to a president by agreeing with the 

1527
01:00:18,920 --> 01:00:21,340
speaker that your commander in chief is 

1528
01:00:21,340 --> 01:00:23,980
crazy . I actually said , I actually 

1529
01:00:23,980 --> 01:00:27,090
said I'm not qualified to assess the 

1530
01:00:27,090 --> 01:00:29,201
mental health of the president . What 

1531
01:00:29,201 --> 01:00:31,423
I'm agreeing to is that we have to have 

1532
01:00:31,423 --> 01:00:33,534
a secure nuclear system . So have you 

1533
01:00:33,534 --> 01:00:35,701
had any conversations with the Speaker 

1534
01:00:35,701 --> 01:00:37,757
any of our foreign leaders about our 

1535
01:00:37,757 --> 01:00:39,979
current President's medal capacity . We 

1536
01:00:39,979 --> 01:00:41,923
have a physician right here on the 

1537
01:00:41,923 --> 01:00:44,201
panel ? Who was the personal physician , 

1538
01:00:44,201 --> 01:00:46,201
the prior three presidents who said 

1539
01:00:46,201 --> 01:00:48,257
President biden should take a mental 

1540
01:00:48,257 --> 01:00:47,930
competency test and we see it in the 

1541
01:00:47,930 --> 01:00:49,880
press is lack of ability to answer 

1542
01:00:49,880 --> 01:00:51,491
questions . Have you had any 

1543
01:00:51,491 --> 01:00:53,602
conversations with anybody concerning 

1544
01:00:53,602 --> 01:00:55,547
his ability to carry out a nuclear 

1545
01:00:55,547 --> 01:00:57,410
order or any other uh serious 

1546
01:00:57,410 --> 01:00:59,577
engagements ? No , and my answer would 

1547
01:00:59,577 --> 01:01:01,521
be the same . I'm not qualified to 

1548
01:01:01,521 --> 01:01:03,632
violate the President's mental health 

1549
01:01:03,632 --> 01:01:05,632
or your mental health or anybody is 

1550
01:01:05,632 --> 01:01:07,799
mental health . I'm not a doctor . But 

1551
01:01:07,799 --> 01:01:07,070
you were concerned about trump . You 

1552
01:01:07,070 --> 01:01:09,237
said you were concerned about him when 

1553
01:01:09,237 --> 01:01:11,292
you made the calls of china . No , I 

1554
01:01:11,292 --> 01:01:13,292
didn't . What I said to the call to 

1555
01:01:13,292 --> 01:01:15,660
china was I guarantee you that 

1556
01:01:15,660 --> 01:01:19,100
president trump is not going to attack 

1557
01:01:19,100 --> 01:01:20,933
you in a surprise attack . I was 

1558
01:01:20,933 --> 01:01:23,270
carrying out his intent . President 

1559
01:01:23,270 --> 01:01:25,510
trump's intent in order to protect 

1560
01:01:25,510 --> 01:01:27,700
american , prevent an escalation or an 

1561
01:01:27,700 --> 01:01:31,660
incident . Uh huh . That was 

1562
01:01:31,660 --> 01:01:35,290
helpful . Uh , Mr Brown is recognized . 

1563
01:01:35,300 --> 01:01:37,244
Thank you mr Chairman . Each of my 

1564
01:01:37,244 --> 01:01:39,411
questions have been asked and answered 

1565
01:01:39,411 --> 01:01:41,411
this morning . Therefore , I'll use 

1566
01:01:41,411 --> 01:01:43,467
this seldom opportunity with the two 

1567
01:01:43,467 --> 01:01:45,578
most senior officials of the pentagon 

1568
01:01:45,578 --> 01:01:47,800
to make a statement . We cannot ask our 

1569
01:01:47,800 --> 01:01:49,689
men and women in uniform to fight 

1570
01:01:49,689 --> 01:01:51,856
forever wars . And I commend president 

1571
01:01:51,856 --> 01:01:54,078
buying for recognizing this reality and 

1572
01:01:54,078 --> 01:01:56,244
bringing our troops home . But we know 

1573
01:01:56,244 --> 01:01:58,356
the threats facing our country aren't 

1574
01:01:58,356 --> 01:02:00,300
solely on distant battlefields for 

1575
01:02:00,300 --> 01:02:02,522
decades . We've grappled with extremist 

1576
01:02:02,522 --> 01:02:04,467
ideologies within our own civilian 

1577
01:02:04,467 --> 01:02:06,633
communities and our military ranks and 

1578
01:02:06,633 --> 01:02:08,744
there are no signs that we're winning 

1579
01:02:08,744 --> 01:02:10,467
this fight as FBI Director Ray 

1580
01:02:10,467 --> 01:02:12,578
testified before the Senate Judiciary 

1581
01:02:12,578 --> 01:02:14,689
Committee earlier this year , january 

1582
01:02:14,689 --> 01:02:16,467
six was not an isolated event . 

1583
01:02:16,467 --> 01:02:18,411
Director Ray stated the problem of 

1584
01:02:18,411 --> 01:02:19,967
domestic extremism has been 

1585
01:02:19,967 --> 01:02:22,078
metastasized across the country for a 

1586
01:02:22,078 --> 01:02:24,189
long time now and then it's not going 

1587
01:02:24,189 --> 01:02:26,840
away anytime soon . We know Now that 

1588
01:02:26,840 --> 01:02:29,700
12% of those charged in the riot on the 

1589
01:02:29,700 --> 01:02:31,811
capital have military experience with 

1590
01:02:31,811 --> 01:02:34,650
at least one indicted rioter on active 

1591
01:02:34,650 --> 01:02:36,761
military duty . That's well above the 

1592
01:02:36,761 --> 01:02:38,872
participant patient rate of adults in 

1593
01:02:38,872 --> 01:02:41,120
the military . The last time you both 

1594
01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:43,656
uh where before this committee , you 

1595
01:02:43,656 --> 01:02:45,767
spoke about the issue of extremism in 

1596
01:02:45,767 --> 01:02:47,989
our Armed Forces . General Miller . You 

1597
01:02:47,989 --> 01:02:50,156
stated from private to general there's 

1598
01:02:50,156 --> 01:02:52,267
no room for extremist behavior in the 

1599
01:02:52,267 --> 01:02:54,433
United States military . And I commend 

1600
01:02:54,433 --> 01:02:56,656
you , Secretary Austin for ordering the 

1601
01:02:56,656 --> 01:02:58,878
extremism stand down this past february 

1602
01:02:58,878 --> 01:03:01,100
to deal with the threat . You recognize 

1603
01:03:01,100 --> 01:03:03,211
this issue within the ranks . But I'm 

1604
01:03:03,211 --> 01:03:05,267
grateful to concern that too many of 

1605
01:03:05,267 --> 01:03:07,620
our military leaders do not . In april . 

1606
01:03:08,200 --> 01:03:10,256
At a Senate Armed Services Committee 

1607
01:03:10,256 --> 01:03:12,311
hearing Stratcom Commander . Admiral 

1608
01:03:12,311 --> 01:03:14,190
Richard said he was quote very 

1609
01:03:14,190 --> 01:03:16,412
confident that the number of extremists 

1610
01:03:16,412 --> 01:03:19,060
in my forces . zero . And at the same 

1611
01:03:19,060 --> 01:03:21,282
hearing , General Dickinson , Commander 

1612
01:03:21,282 --> 01:03:23,616
of Space Command echoed that assessment , 

1613
01:03:23,616 --> 01:03:25,671
claiming in the formations that I've 

1614
01:03:25,671 --> 01:03:27,782
had throughout my career . I have not 

1615
01:03:27,782 --> 01:03:29,949
seen that . So I believe it's close to 

1616
01:03:29,949 --> 01:03:32,171
zero in my organization . If not zero , 

1617
01:03:32,171 --> 01:03:34,393
this ignores the clear evidence on this 

1618
01:03:34,393 --> 01:03:37,330
issue 2019 military time survey found 

1619
01:03:37,330 --> 01:03:39,274
more than one third of active duty 

1620
01:03:39,274 --> 01:03:41,330
service members have witnessed white 

1621
01:03:41,330 --> 01:03:43,290
nationalism or ideal ideologically 

1622
01:03:43,290 --> 01:03:45,290
driven racism in the ranks . You're 

1623
01:03:45,290 --> 01:03:47,457
yourself secretary often spoke of your 

1624
01:03:47,457 --> 01:03:49,890
experiences with extremism while you 

1625
01:03:49,890 --> 01:03:52,350
were in uniform , the army C . I . D . 

1626
01:03:52,350 --> 01:03:54,650
S . 2020 gang and domestic extremist 

1627
01:03:54,650 --> 01:03:58,040
activity threat assessment found a 66% 

1628
01:03:58,050 --> 01:04:00,670
increase in gang or domestic extremist 

1629
01:04:00,680 --> 01:04:02,791
activity from the previous year . And 

1630
01:04:02,791 --> 01:04:06,080
then in october of 2020 . A pentagon 

1631
01:04:06,080 --> 01:04:07,858
report to Congress detailed how 

1632
01:04:07,858 --> 01:04:10,480
domestic extremists actively recruit 

1633
01:04:10,480 --> 01:04:13,220
military personnel . We have a problem 

1634
01:04:13,690 --> 01:04:16,850
the scope of which we don't understand 

1635
01:04:16,860 --> 01:04:19,082
but democrats or republicans have asked 

1636
01:04:19,082 --> 01:04:20,916
the department for definition of 

1637
01:04:20,916 --> 01:04:22,650
extremism , improved screening 

1638
01:04:22,650 --> 01:04:24,483
processes and a status report on 

1639
01:04:24,483 --> 01:04:26,706
implementation of recommendations . You 

1640
01:04:26,706 --> 01:04:28,720
still have not yet received it . We 

1641
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:31,070
have not received it . Which is why 

1642
01:04:31,070 --> 01:04:33,590
just last week the house passed the 20 

1643
01:04:33,590 --> 01:04:36,250
to the fiscal year 22 . Nd a given D . 

1644
01:04:36,250 --> 01:04:38,194
O . D . Additional authorities and 

1645
01:04:38,194 --> 01:04:40,139
resources to counter extremism the 

1646
01:04:40,139 --> 01:04:41,917
department . So I was extremely 

1647
01:04:41,917 --> 01:04:44,083
disappointed to see the administration 

1648
01:04:44,083 --> 01:04:46,194
statement of policy which opposes the 

1649
01:04:46,194 --> 01:04:48,417
counter extremism provisions in the N . 

1650
01:04:48,417 --> 01:04:50,670
D . A . Citing overburden some training 

1651
01:04:50,670 --> 01:04:52,837
and data collection requirements , not 

1652
01:04:52,837 --> 01:04:54,837
a single sentence suggesting how to 

1653
01:04:54,837 --> 01:04:56,950
improve the provision Just opposition 

1654
01:04:56,950 --> 01:04:59,230
to Congress Congress is about to 

1655
01:04:59,240 --> 01:05:02,880
authorize and appropriate $768 billion 

1656
01:05:02,880 --> 01:05:05,940
$25 billion 

1657
01:05:05,940 --> 01:05:09,640
yet the administration 

1658
01:05:09,640 --> 01:05:12,020
views additional data collection and 

1659
01:05:12,020 --> 01:05:14,076
training requirements to counter the 

1660
01:05:14,076 --> 01:05:16,830
threat of extremism as onerous , we 

1661
01:05:16,830 --> 01:05:19,052
heard the same pushback when it came to 

1662
01:05:19,052 --> 01:05:20,886
addressing sexual assault in the 

1663
01:05:20,886 --> 01:05:22,719
military for 10 years before the 

1664
01:05:22,719 --> 01:05:24,663
department finally realized it was 

1665
01:05:24,663 --> 01:05:26,608
failing and that it needed greater 

1666
01:05:26,608 --> 01:05:28,608
tools and we've documented systemic 

1667
01:05:28,608 --> 01:05:30,441
racism under the uniform code of 

1668
01:05:30,441 --> 01:05:32,719
military justice for at least 50 years . 

1669
01:05:32,719 --> 01:05:34,830
Yet . The department is making little 

1670
01:05:34,830 --> 01:05:34,500
if any progress to address that , 

1671
01:05:34,690 --> 01:05:36,801
whether it's sexual assault or racial 

1672
01:05:36,801 --> 01:05:38,912
injustice . The department repeatedly 

1673
01:05:38,912 --> 01:05:40,801
tells Congress we can handle it . 

1674
01:05:40,801 --> 01:05:42,746
Commanders are responsible , we're 

1675
01:05:42,746 --> 01:05:44,690
studying it . We're ready to fight 

1676
01:05:44,690 --> 01:05:46,746
tonight . We cannot wait years , let 

1677
01:05:46,746 --> 01:05:49,860
alone decades in the face of obstinance 

1678
01:05:49,860 --> 01:05:52,027
from the department before meeting the 

1679
01:05:52,027 --> 01:05:54,082
challenges of extremism in the armed 

1680
01:05:54,082 --> 01:05:56,138
forces . The time to address it is . 

1681
01:05:56,138 --> 01:05:58,420
Now as this hearing reveals there are 

1682
01:05:58,420 --> 01:06:00,690
many important issues for our military 

1683
01:06:00,700 --> 01:06:02,960
to address . In addition to the ongoing 

1684
01:06:02,970 --> 01:06:05,430
american afghan evacuations in 

1685
01:06:05,430 --> 01:06:06,990
anticipated over the rising 

1686
01:06:08,480 --> 01:06:10,790
operations , we've got to care for our 

1687
01:06:10,790 --> 01:06:12,660
troops and the families and that 

1688
01:06:12,660 --> 01:06:15,640
includes combating extremism in your 

1689
01:06:15,640 --> 01:06:18,040
formations in a way that we can take 

1690
01:06:18,040 --> 01:06:19,929
care of our troops and secure the 

1691
01:06:19,929 --> 01:06:21,910
nation . So please stop fighting . 

1692
01:06:21,910 --> 01:06:25,120
Congress partner with us and accept the 

1693
01:06:25,120 --> 01:06:27,670
tools that you need to fix the problem . 

1694
01:06:28,030 --> 01:06:30,086
Thank you Mr Chairman . I yield back 

1695
01:06:30,086 --> 01:06:32,308
the balance of my time . Thank you . Mr 

1696
01:06:32,308 --> 01:06:34,363
Kelly is recognized . Thank you . Mr 

1697
01:06:34,363 --> 01:06:36,586
Chairman . Thank you all for being here 

1698
01:06:36,586 --> 01:06:38,641
and Chairman Millie , I just want to 

1699
01:06:38,641 --> 01:06:42,020
start uh understand the conversation uh 

1700
01:06:42,030 --> 01:06:44,240
with with with the chinese leader . 

1701
01:06:44,250 --> 01:06:46,417
What I don't understand is you go into 

1702
01:06:46,417 --> 01:06:48,583
the press Chairman Million , that that 

1703
01:06:48,583 --> 01:06:50,583
disappoints me that you talk to the 

1704
01:06:50,583 --> 01:06:52,639
press about that . None of the other 

1705
01:06:52,639 --> 01:06:54,639
stuff . I think you were . I'm okay 

1706
01:06:54,639 --> 01:06:56,528
with that . I'm not okay with you 

1707
01:06:56,528 --> 01:06:58,694
talking to the press or authors . Uh I 

1708
01:06:58,694 --> 01:07:00,972
want to talk a little bit about bagram . 

1709
01:07:00,972 --> 01:07:03,139
There's two runways at bagram and only 

1710
01:07:03,139 --> 01:07:07,000
one at H chi is that correct ? That is 

1711
01:07:07,000 --> 01:07:09,222
correct . So there's strategic value to 

1712
01:07:09,222 --> 01:07:11,167
two runways versus one . You would 

1713
01:07:11,167 --> 01:07:12,944
agree with that ? It's entirely 

1714
01:07:12,944 --> 01:07:15,056
dependent on the mission . Yeah . And 

1715
01:07:15,056 --> 01:07:14,800
the other thing is their standoff 

1716
01:07:14,800 --> 01:07:16,967
versus the urban environment and there 

1717
01:07:16,967 --> 01:07:18,578
are strategic advantages and 

1718
01:07:18,578 --> 01:07:20,800
disadvantages that you would agree with 

1719
01:07:20,800 --> 01:07:20,660
that General Makin , that's correct . 

1720
01:07:20,670 --> 01:07:22,900
Ok . I want to talk a little bit about 

1721
01:07:22,900 --> 01:07:26,800
the strike On August 29 , I think . 

1722
01:07:28,080 --> 01:07:31,800
Who set the rules of engagement ? Who 

1723
01:07:32,280 --> 01:07:34,391
where would the rules of engagement ? 

1724
01:07:34,391 --> 01:07:36,502
At what level ? So under the rules of 

1725
01:07:36,502 --> 01:07:36,080
engagement and it would need to get the 

1726
01:07:36,080 --> 01:07:38,136
details in a classified setting . We 

1727
01:07:38,136 --> 01:07:40,358
have no , I don't want to know what the 

1728
01:07:40,358 --> 01:07:42,413
rules of engagement were . I want to 

1729
01:07:42,413 --> 01:07:44,524
know who's rules of engagement , were 

1730
01:07:44,524 --> 01:07:46,691
they ? The United US military rules of 

1731
01:07:46,691 --> 01:07:45,880
engagement . What was that President 

1732
01:07:45,880 --> 01:07:47,991
biden's ? Was that Secretary Austin's 

1733
01:07:47,991 --> 01:07:50,102
was that centcom's their holy neutral 

1734
01:07:50,102 --> 01:07:52,213
as to the party in power . Okay . Has 

1735
01:07:52,213 --> 01:07:53,991
nothing to do with the rules of 

1736
01:07:53,991 --> 01:07:56,102
engagement . And I want to refer to a 

1737
01:07:56,102 --> 01:07:58,102
new york Times article on March 3rd 

1738
01:07:58,102 --> 01:08:00,213
described a policy change of the body 

1739
01:08:00,213 --> 01:08:02,158
administration that placed greater 

1740
01:08:02,158 --> 01:08:04,380
restrictions on drone strikes and raids 

1741
01:08:04,380 --> 01:08:06,102
conducted outside conventional 

1742
01:08:06,102 --> 01:08:08,324
battlefield zones previously authorized 

1743
01:08:08,324 --> 01:08:10,547
by ground commanders . These operations 

1744
01:08:10,547 --> 01:08:13,360
now require White House approval . Did 

1745
01:08:13,360 --> 01:08:17,030
the strike on august 28th or 29th ? The 

1746
01:08:17,040 --> 01:08:20,180
one that killed 10 innocent ? Did it 

1747
01:08:20,190 --> 01:08:22,357
require presidential approval prior to 

1748
01:08:22,357 --> 01:08:24,430
the No , it did not . Okay . At what 

1749
01:08:24,430 --> 01:08:26,486
level Who was the approval authority 

1750
01:08:26,486 --> 01:08:28,708
for that strike ? The target engagement 

1751
01:08:28,708 --> 01:08:30,930
authority was forward in the theater at 

1752
01:08:30,930 --> 01:08:33,152
the over the horizon sell that oversees 

1753
01:08:33,152 --> 01:08:35,374
those activities . What at what level ? 

1754
01:08:35,374 --> 01:08:37,486
What ? One star , two star three star 

1755
01:08:37,486 --> 01:08:39,819
flag officer level . Flag officer level . 

1756
01:08:39,870 --> 01:08:42,580
Okay . And at what point ? General 

1757
01:08:42,580 --> 01:08:44,691
Mackenzie ? And this is for all three 

1758
01:08:44,691 --> 01:08:47,120
of you , At what point did you know 

1759
01:08:47,120 --> 01:08:50,490
that the strike was bad , that it hit 

1760
01:08:50,500 --> 01:08:52,590
civilians ? Well . So we knew the 

1761
01:08:52,590 --> 01:08:55,000
strike hit civilians within four or 

1762
01:08:55,000 --> 01:08:57,167
five hours after the strike occurred . 

1763
01:08:57,167 --> 01:08:59,333
And U . S . Central Command released a 

1764
01:08:59,333 --> 01:09:01,389
press release to that saying that we 

1765
01:09:01,389 --> 01:09:03,810
did not know though , that the target 

1766
01:09:03,810 --> 01:09:05,754
of the strike was in fact an error 

1767
01:09:05,754 --> 01:09:08,060
until a mistake until sometime later 

1768
01:09:08,070 --> 01:09:10,181
took us a few days to run that down . 

1769
01:09:10,181 --> 01:09:12,181
Okay . But we knew pretty soon Good 

1770
01:09:12,181 --> 01:09:14,403
Secretary Austin , when did you know it 

1771
01:09:14,403 --> 01:09:16,681
was a bad strike that killed civilians . 

1772
01:09:18,070 --> 01:09:20,240
Uh as soon as General Mackenzie 

1773
01:09:20,250 --> 01:09:22,990
reported that they were civilians uh 

1774
01:09:23,000 --> 01:09:25,167
that that had been injured and so four 

1775
01:09:25,167 --> 01:09:27,333
or five hours timeframe ? That's all I 

1776
01:09:27,333 --> 01:09:29,444
need . Right . Typically , as soon as 

1777
01:09:29,444 --> 01:09:31,389
that happens , we investigate , We 

1778
01:09:31,389 --> 01:09:33,500
begin an investigation . When did you 

1779
01:09:33,500 --> 01:09:35,722
know that civilians were killed in that 

1780
01:09:35,722 --> 01:09:37,944
strike ? That's my question . It's real 

1781
01:09:37,944 --> 01:09:39,889
easy . It's a time , it's not a it 

1782
01:09:39,889 --> 01:09:39,470
doesn't take much to answer that . 

1783
01:09:39,480 --> 01:09:41,313
Right , several hours after that 

1784
01:09:41,313 --> 01:09:44,700
General Milley saying same thing . Okay , 

1785
01:09:44,860 --> 01:09:48,610
So I'm assuming there's 15 

1786
01:09:48,610 --> 01:09:50,777
6 is at multiple levels that we'll get 

1787
01:09:50,777 --> 01:09:52,999
to see those investigations . There's a 

1788
01:09:52,999 --> 01:09:55,221
lot of questions I have that have to be 

1789
01:09:55,221 --> 01:09:57,221
in a classified environment , but I 

1790
01:09:57,221 --> 01:09:59,490
hope that you guys know , uh also sit 

1791
01:09:59,490 --> 01:10:01,546
on a different committee that has uh 

1792
01:10:01,546 --> 01:10:03,768
different insight to this . And I think 

1793
01:10:03,768 --> 01:10:05,546
it's important that we know who 

1794
01:10:05,546 --> 01:10:07,730
authorized at what level and that we 

1795
01:10:07,730 --> 01:10:09,730
take accountability . Listen , I've 

1796
01:10:09,730 --> 01:10:11,841
made strikes , I've lived under rules 

1797
01:10:11,841 --> 01:10:13,730
of engagement . I've had rules of 

1798
01:10:13,730 --> 01:10:15,841
engagements I liked and didn't like , 

1799
01:10:15,841 --> 01:10:18,008
I've had to make hard decisions . Hope 

1800
01:10:18,008 --> 01:10:19,786
most of them were right , but I 

1801
01:10:19,786 --> 01:10:19,700
understand . I'm not , I don't wanna 

1802
01:10:19,700 --> 01:10:22,980
blame some oh six or some 05 . I want 

1803
01:10:22,980 --> 01:10:25,147
to make sure we get the level and that 

1804
01:10:25,147 --> 01:10:27,369
the rules of engagement were proper and 

1805
01:10:27,369 --> 01:10:29,369
that they were followed at whatever 

1806
01:10:29,369 --> 01:10:31,591
level who didn't follow those or either 

1807
01:10:31,591 --> 01:10:33,647
wrote those because that just uh , I 

1808
01:10:33,647 --> 01:10:35,702
think the strike was done to show we 

1809
01:10:35,702 --> 01:10:37,813
had over the horizon capabilities and 

1810
01:10:37,813 --> 01:10:39,591
we didn't because we reported a 

1811
01:10:39,591 --> 01:10:41,813
secondary explosion . That was not . We 

1812
01:10:41,813 --> 01:10:43,924
reported all kind of stuff . Now , my 

1813
01:10:43,924 --> 01:10:46,147
next question is the other strike , who 

1814
01:10:46,147 --> 01:10:45,470
did we kill ? 

1815
01:10:49,960 --> 01:10:52,016
I prefer to pass with that name in a 

1816
01:10:52,016 --> 01:10:54,016
classified setting . Okay , can you 

1817
01:10:54,016 --> 01:10:56,238
tell me was it an H . B . T . Or just a 

1818
01:10:56,238 --> 01:10:58,182
low level tears ? I think it was a 

1819
01:10:58,182 --> 01:11:00,516
facilitator . Uh , it was a good strike . 

1820
01:11:00,516 --> 01:11:00,370
I think we got , we got someone who 

1821
01:11:00,380 --> 01:11:02,491
while not directly involved in the in 

1822
01:11:02,491 --> 01:11:04,547
the attack on Abbey gate on the 26th 

1823
01:11:04,547 --> 01:11:06,769
certainly fell within that surface of a 

1824
01:11:06,769 --> 01:11:09,047
comet . A classified like to know that . 

1825
01:11:09,047 --> 01:11:11,047
And then my next question is I just 

1826
01:11:11,047 --> 01:11:10,850
don't understand . I guess maybe I went 

1827
01:11:10,850 --> 01:11:13,570
to union public high school of 1100 . 

1828
01:11:13,960 --> 01:11:17,220
Uh , my math 11 to 15,000 US citizens 

1829
01:11:17,230 --> 01:11:20,400
5400 out that leaves thousands not 

1830
01:11:20,400 --> 01:11:22,456
hundreds left that want to get out . 

1831
01:11:22,456 --> 01:11:24,678
And I know for a fact every office here 

1832
01:11:24,678 --> 01:11:26,900
we had people calling us wanting to get 

1833
01:11:26,900 --> 01:11:28,844
out U . S . Citizens that were not 

1834
01:11:28,844 --> 01:11:30,789
allowed to get in the gate or were 

1835
01:11:30,789 --> 01:11:33,067
kicked off the base or not allowed out . 

1836
01:11:33,067 --> 01:11:32,190
And with that I just ask guys , we 

1837
01:11:32,190 --> 01:11:34,412
gotta get our folks home . Are you back 

1838
01:11:35,860 --> 01:11:38,250
german yields back . Mr Khanna is 

1839
01:11:38,250 --> 01:11:40,780
recognized . Thank you . Mr Chairman 

1840
01:11:41,560 --> 01:11:43,727
General Milley . I want to first thank 

1841
01:11:43,727 --> 01:11:46,450
you for your 42 years of service for 

1842
01:11:46,450 --> 01:11:48,617
your principled commitment to civilian 

1843
01:11:48,617 --> 01:11:50,910
rule , for your commitment to military , 

1844
01:11:50,910 --> 01:11:53,021
to military communication . That kept 

1845
01:11:53,021 --> 01:11:55,021
this country safe for three decades 

1846
01:11:55,021 --> 01:11:56,799
during the Cold War and for the 

1847
01:11:56,799 --> 01:11:59,190
sacrifice and patriotism that you and 

1848
01:11:59,190 --> 01:12:01,600
your family has shown is the son of 

1849
01:12:01,600 --> 01:12:03,880
immigrants . I'm in your family's debt 

1850
01:12:04,650 --> 01:12:07,170
and I want to thank the three of you 

1851
01:12:07,550 --> 01:12:10,540
for ending America's longest war in 

1852
01:12:10,540 --> 01:12:12,950
executing the largest airlift in 

1853
01:12:12,950 --> 01:12:15,550
history . Now , Secretary Austin , 

1854
01:12:15,550 --> 01:12:19,290
you've testified that Had 2500 troops 

1855
01:12:19,290 --> 01:12:22,320
stayed past the deadline , the military 

1856
01:12:22,320 --> 01:12:24,542
would likely have needed reinforcements 

1857
01:12:24,950 --> 01:12:27,117
and I want to just make this clear the 

1858
01:12:27,117 --> 01:12:29,339
choice . But for President Biden wasn't 

1859
01:12:29,339 --> 01:12:32,730
zero troops Or 2500 troops , It was 

1860
01:12:32,730 --> 01:12:35,960
zero troops or potentially many more 

1861
01:12:35,960 --> 01:12:38,820
troops . General Milley just briefly , 

1862
01:12:38,820 --> 01:12:41,370
would you agree that At some point more 

1863
01:12:41,370 --> 01:12:43,930
than 2500 troops would have been needed 

1864
01:12:43,940 --> 01:12:46,360
had the Taliban engaged in offensive 

1865
01:12:46,360 --> 01:12:50,160
strikes ? I'm sorry 

1866
01:12:50,160 --> 01:12:52,327
there's a reasonable prospect we would 

1867
01:12:52,327 --> 01:12:54,438
have had to increase forces past 2500 

1868
01:12:54,450 --> 01:12:56,672
Given that the Taliban were very likely 

1869
01:12:56,672 --> 01:12:58,783
was going to start attacking us . And 

1870
01:12:58,783 --> 01:13:00,894
there was , there's a range of forces 

1871
01:13:00,894 --> 01:13:03,061
that really we're really talking about 

1872
01:13:03,061 --> 01:13:05,339
2540 500 in that range appreciate that . 

1873
01:13:05,339 --> 01:13:07,394
I want to talk about the strike that 

1874
01:13:07,394 --> 01:13:09,561
killed civilians and I know , look , I 

1875
01:13:09,561 --> 01:13:11,783
think our military cares more about the 

1876
01:13:11,783 --> 01:13:14,006
loss of civilian life than any military 

1877
01:13:14,006 --> 01:13:16,006
in the world any superpower ever in 

1878
01:13:16,006 --> 01:13:18,006
history . And that's why I think we 

1879
01:13:18,006 --> 01:13:20,228
ought to talk about this candidly and I 

1880
01:13:20,228 --> 01:13:23,020
brought pictures of the seven Children 

1881
01:13:23,020 --> 01:13:25,076
who were killed along with the three 

1882
01:13:25,076 --> 01:13:27,770
adults to remind us that this is not 

1883
01:13:28,150 --> 01:13:30,317
what America wants . This is something 

1884
01:13:30,317 --> 01:13:32,539
that we need to prevent in the future . 

1885
01:13:32,750 --> 01:13:34,806
Press Secretary Kirby who did a fine 

1886
01:13:34,806 --> 01:13:37,780
job during those 10 days said you would 

1887
01:13:37,780 --> 01:13:40,002
support evacuating these family members 

1888
01:13:40,002 --> 01:13:42,180
as they have requested and resettling 

1889
01:13:42,180 --> 01:13:44,730
them in the US is that correct ? 

1890
01:13:44,730 --> 01:13:48,310
Secretary awesome . It is my my 

1891
01:13:48,310 --> 01:13:50,450
question is can we get the family and 

1892
01:13:50,450 --> 01:13:52,720
the co workers evacuated now and 

1893
01:13:52,720 --> 01:13:55,190
brought to safety ? Get the legal hoops . 

1894
01:13:55,190 --> 01:13:57,740
But could that happen after ? Can we 

1895
01:13:57,740 --> 01:14:00,140
just get them in the U . S . Or some 

1896
01:14:00,140 --> 01:14:03,860
safe place ? Well , we'll continue to 

1897
01:14:03,870 --> 01:14:06,380
uh work through state Department 

1898
01:14:06,380 --> 01:14:09,370
channels to engage the family and uh , 

1899
01:14:09,380 --> 01:14:11,491
and if they desire to leave and we'll 

1900
01:14:11,491 --> 01:14:13,380
certainly do everything we can to 

1901
01:14:13,380 --> 01:14:15,602
facilitate getting them out . I hope we 

1902
01:14:15,602 --> 01:14:17,824
can just expedite that and expedite the 

1903
01:14:17,824 --> 01:14:19,991
compensation . It's the moral thing to 

1904
01:14:19,991 --> 01:14:22,158
do . It's the right thing to do is how 

1905
01:14:22,158 --> 01:14:24,380
America conducts itself . And so I hope 

1906
01:14:24,380 --> 01:14:26,602
you will take that into consideration . 

1907
01:14:26,640 --> 01:14:28,473
General Mackenzie . I admire and 

1908
01:14:28,473 --> 01:14:30,700
respect your leadership . But I want to 

1909
01:14:30,700 --> 01:14:33,990
see how we can improve the intelligence 

1910
01:14:33,990 --> 01:14:36,340
to prevent these kind of strikes in the 

1911
01:14:36,340 --> 01:14:39,900
future . One aspect you said is that 

1912
01:14:39,910 --> 01:14:42,021
there was a white Toyota Corolla that 

1913
01:14:42,021 --> 01:14:44,400
led to the attacks , I'm sure you're 

1914
01:14:44,400 --> 01:14:46,640
aware is there any car more common than 

1915
01:14:46,640 --> 01:14:50,290
a Toyota Corolla in Afghanistan , it's 

1916
01:14:50,290 --> 01:14:52,290
a very common car . Of course there 

1917
01:14:52,290 --> 01:14:54,457
were many other factors that went into 

1918
01:14:54,457 --> 01:14:56,623
that decision . Not simply the fact it 

1919
01:14:56,623 --> 01:14:58,734
was a Toyota Corolla according to the 

1920
01:14:58,734 --> 01:15:00,957
stars and stripes , roughly 90% of cars 

1921
01:15:00,957 --> 01:15:02,957
registered in Afghanistan have been 

1922
01:15:02,957 --> 01:15:05,179
corollas . One of the other things that 

1923
01:15:05,179 --> 01:15:07,290
concern me is based on my reading and 

1924
01:15:07,290 --> 01:15:09,457
obviously you know more , uh , Corolla 

1925
01:15:09,457 --> 01:15:11,401
was parked next to a registered us 

1926
01:15:11,401 --> 01:15:14,090
registered California based NGO that 

1927
01:15:14,090 --> 01:15:16,368
was delivering humanitarian assistance . 

1928
01:15:16,640 --> 01:15:18,973
And I guess the question is , did the D . 

1929
01:15:18,973 --> 01:15:21,480
O . D know about the NGO in advance of 

1930
01:15:21,480 --> 01:15:24,150
the strike ? I would prefer since 

1931
01:15:24,150 --> 01:15:26,317
that's under investigation . Now , I'd 

1932
01:15:26,317 --> 01:15:28,428
like to defer that question . I would 

1933
01:15:28,428 --> 01:15:31,480
just hope that we can make sure going 

1934
01:15:31,480 --> 01:15:34,230
forward that our department will cross 

1935
01:15:34,230 --> 01:15:36,750
check its and intelligence to make sure 

1936
01:15:36,760 --> 01:15:39,640
that aid organizations are on no strike 

1937
01:15:39,640 --> 01:15:42,120
list . So I assume that if there is a 

1938
01:15:42,130 --> 01:15:44,186
aid organization or hospital , those 

1939
01:15:44,186 --> 01:15:46,790
are on no strike list as representative 

1940
01:15:46,800 --> 01:15:48,967
as our mosques which are often used by 

1941
01:15:48,967 --> 01:15:50,950
ISIS K as training sites as well . 

1942
01:15:51,140 --> 01:15:53,550
Right again , I believe that our 

1943
01:15:53,550 --> 01:15:55,580
military goes through extraordinary 

1944
01:15:55,580 --> 01:15:57,720
lengths to prevent this . It's not to 

1945
01:15:57,730 --> 01:16:00,100
try to be an indictment of anyone . I 

1946
01:16:00,100 --> 01:16:02,211
just want to make sure we continue to 

1947
01:16:02,211 --> 01:16:04,450
improve the processes and that we do 

1948
01:16:04,450 --> 01:16:07,570
right by the families who were suffered 

1949
01:16:07,570 --> 01:16:09,870
this unspeakable tragedy . Thank you 

1950
01:16:09,870 --> 01:16:11,960
again to the three of you for your 

1951
01:16:11,960 --> 01:16:14,016
leadership and thank you to everyone 

1952
01:16:14,016 --> 01:16:17,180
who served regardless of one's view in 

1953
01:16:17,180 --> 01:16:19,910
Afghanistan . Uh , I find the attacks 

1954
01:16:19,910 --> 01:16:22,700
on your integrity and patriotism to be 

1955
01:16:22,710 --> 01:16:24,760
a dishonor to this committee and a 

1956
01:16:24,760 --> 01:16:26,260
dishonor to your service