that. but i thinkof the question of the leaving of afghanistan is worth a broader discussion than what we just heard. number one, the decision to leave afghanistan was made by the trump administration. when the president, then president trump entered into an agreement of february of 2020 with the caliban that we would leave by may 1 of 2021. all troops would be gone, i have read the agreement. in return the taliban said they would not attack our troops. they also said that enter into discussions with afghanistan and try to affect a peaceful transfer of power. of course that did not happen. i think it'sme very important for the american people to realize that the fundamental

decision to leave afghanistan was made almost a year before joe biden entered the presidencyhe. were joe biden entered the presidency he had a decision to make. the decision was a very straightforward and very profound one. it was whether to honor the agreement that his predecessor had made and keep the word of the united states, or whether to stay in afghanistan, tear up that agreement, subject our people there to attacks by the caliban. and then almost inevitably re- escalate the conflict. we were down at the time of the agreement and 2020 the something 15000 american troops. by the time president biden came into office they were only 2500 american troops. if he had decided to stay, it

was not a question of we will just stay with her 2500 troops. we would have been at war with the taliban. and we would have inevitably, he, president biden, but at inevitably been in the situation to increase our presence in afghanistan once again. after 20 years. president biden decided that our mission there was complete. the original mission of course was about osama bin laden and al qaeda. and he decided that the american people were not prepared to commit to a war that essentially had no end. so that is .1. point to, there is no question that the leaving was chaotic and difficult, and dangerous. but i think it is important to understand some of the surrounding circumstances. for example i was one who

stood on this floor in june and berated the administration are not moving aggressively enough to get the specialmm immigrant visa -- make those who helped our troops out. the presiding officer i think took that position. inam many of us took that position. we were hammering the administration. but then, the president met with president gandhi on june 25 in person. and gone he specifically said please do not start that evacuation in a major way because that in itself will lead to the collapse of our government. it will lead to a loss of confidence. then the question became, when, if we withdrew our troops with the afghan government fail? and we are going to be having hearings here this week, next week the week after what was

the intelligence? i am a member of the select committee on intelligence and i cannot talk about what i learned from the intelligence officials leading up to august of 2021. did the administration expect the afghan government to fall in a number of days, eight days i believe. clearly they are not. should they? what it a failure of intelligence? i don't think so. intelligence is about data. it is about how many troops, how many guns, who holds what territory? the most difficult intelligence questions are psychological. while the afghan armywi fight? will they have the will to fight? indeed the afghan security forces have fought for years and have for thousands.

how do we fight the government has gone? i have heard it said, my colleague from wyoming said we left over 200 americans were 150 trapped, at 100 or so have left in the last few days, left on a charter flight a couple of days ago. they're working to get them out. the question is, should the administration have stayed triggered with which did occur at the gate of the airport versus the evacuation of everyone. it was very difficult to determine who these people

were and whether or not some of them wanted to leave. they are dual citizens for thousand difficult decision and my understanding is by military advice to the president was it was in america's interest to abide by the august 31 deadline and continue to work izdiplomatically to enable american citizens to leave. my understanding from public reports is the caliban has essentially said if you are an american citizen if you have the paperwork, we will let you leave. so these people were not trapped. what bothers you about the conversation they were evacuated in 18 days, the largest airlift in history, 124,000 people including about 6000 americans. people from our nato allies and thousands of afghans

returned by 18000 of those siv's. we got out a 124,000 people. it is a logistical, it was an incredible logistical diplomatic achievement. so, there are plenty of questions left. they are questions to be answered. my problem is concluding it was a disaster break including the president did it all wrong. reaching conclusions without the facts. mutts have our hearings, let's find out what actually happened. what was the intelligence what did the administration know? what was the basis of the military advice to leave on august 31? but also, part of the fact is what was achieved #one or 24000 people will now be housed and fed, vetted and

treated for medical conditions let's talk about ready aim fire not ready fire aim. let's hold our fire and so we understand what actually happened. i believe that's what we should do in this country responsibly rather than immediately going on the offensive and declaring the president and competent in a disaster and it should and all of thosed things. we need to understand what happened and we will. that i have heard drawn over the last

week rick rex september 11, 2001 is a day that is seared in the memories of those of us who lived through that day and experience the trauma and the fear of that day. what has always struck me about that day and the days following, even standing here 20 years later is how the entire free world, they stood united against what we saw is a common threat. it came to us as naturally as breathing. we understood that as witnesses to mass murder we shared a duty to avenge those who had died. it may have been fear that forced us together. but in the days that followed the attacks, we as americans rediscovered the ties that had bound us for centuries and solidified our fate in the

common cause of freedom. but, the more time that passes an september 11 attack, the more obvious it becomes history slips away from those who fail to heed its lessons. : : : wake of the attacks was among the most forceful and effective the world has ever seen, but still, even 20 years later, it is obvious that our work in afghanistan and the middle east is far from over. now, my colleague from maine talked about the withdrawal from afghanistan, and i would say that as i talked to tennesseans, it is not withdrawing from afghanistan. afghanistan. it was manner in which the biden administration chose the

military mission in afghanistan that didn't seem to reflect the reality of what's going on on the ground. we sent a letter to chairman reed with several on the arms committee's every asking for former hearings on the withdrawal. we need to know exactly what happened, how they were advised without testimony from secretary austin and generalal milley and general mackenzie. we will never be able to untangle a chaotic forces that led to the deaths of 13 service members in kabul and abandonment of an unknown member of american citizens and our afghan partners. i ask unanimous consent at the

letter be entered into the record. thank you. beyond the fact-finding mission and on the hearings impressed upon my democratic hearings the importance of the words he used to describe our enemies, how we talk about them, how we frame their actions. day one of this administration. the biden administration has used their words to rehabilitate the hotel event taliban. there diplomatic holes or inclusivity and equality, this supports ally about who the taliban is. the taliban like isis and al

qaeda is a terrorist organization. they rule by fear and rule through public beheading, forced marriage, brutality against anyone who questions their regime. against anyone who disagrees with them for women and children are treated. in my opinion, and from a lot of tennesseans i have talked with, a view expecting terrorists to behave like normal people is reckless and stupid and they feel some of the actions that have come from this

administration that they would have an expectation would request stupidity. these are terrorist organizations. look at their approach to border security even before the transfer of power, massive migrant care become moving out of central america toward the southern border eager to take advantage of then canada biden with open borders and amnesty for all. where does that get us? this is what we have learned is migrant encounters along the us-mexico border reached a 20 year high in july. that is right.

they heard the promises. they got to work contacting cartel and they made this journey. most of the nearly 200,000 people with the border patrol caught were traveling alone and holding back national traffickers and they are not holding back. august.p 29, officers in this ad 3 kilograms in a shipment of furniture coming in because of the cartel. first week of september they repeat officers with two

separate catches of cocaine with a street value of almost $300,000ne. the month of july alone, cocaine seizures increased 91%. another seizure increased 20%. are they doing this? the borders open. september 8, troopers and cdc officers stopped cyclic attempts running just hours apart from each other. our officers have made a standard procedure for migrants, two of them were left to die by cartel transporters. why is this happening? it's obvious to everyone.us migrants, cartel and foreign

officials, they refuse to the borders biden administration wants to do anything to stop. tennesseans see this as reckless. it makes no sense. i talked to local law enforcement officers this week, kerosene and uptake in math, functional, all coming out of mexico. they repeatedly say secure the border. wegr live in the greatest natio, the world's best example for freedom and we are the last for millions of people suffering under authoritarian rule. it's important to understand this doesn't have to be the way it has been when you look at

withdrawal from afghanistan and the border and look the fact is year they have heavy-handed terrorists at the southern border. it doesn't have to be that way. leadership is not focused. disregard for the truth, i can and will destroy us. the actions of the biden administration have emboldened our enemies. our commitment to them and to the work they are trying to do to advance freedom, to look what we are doing to advance freedom here in this country and abroad. i take courage to resist the

urge with the white house on the issue on the afghanistan withdrawals and instead join me in demanding as many hearings as it takes to restore accountability and transparency to find out exactly what happened.ap what were our military advisors saying to present biden like president harris, sullivan, susan rice? antony blinken? what were they telling them? what was the expectation? do they plan to leave americans behind enemy lines? did they plan to give up the airfield? did they plan to leave thef equipment for the taliban to

use? was it intentional they made those decisions? or was it g reckless stupidity? smith is suitably good press of eyes on the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. live coverage begins 10:00 a.m. online at c-span.org or listen on the frequencies and radio app. >> the ronald reagan presidential foundation, chris christie speaking about his vision for the republican party. he said gop needs to embrace the truth even when it's painful.