2% gets to be a lot. >> it's improving. the latest number we have, you said 2.0, it's 1.9. it's only a tenth, but over a year, that's not an insignificant number of troops. we are working hard within the ansf to fair out reasons for attrition. a variety of those reasons are issues of pay, quality of life, leadership, the missions in which those forces have been involved. to their credit, ansf has embraced many issues and are studying them with great detail and removing corrupt commanders. they are seeking to improve the quality of life of their troops. they're ensuring they get out on leave, which is an important dimension of the morale. all those things, i think have pushed down attrition and very shortly, with the expiration of a presidential decree, those individuals that go in an

unauthorized absence are going to start being held accountable for that, other than opposed to just coming and going as they previously had done. it's part of a disciplined force, a professional force. we are seeing all of that improve on a regular basis. thank you for that question. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. jones. >> mr. chairman, thank you so much. general allen, the last three years a former boss of yours has been advising me on afghanistan. i cannot say his name, but i will say that he has great respect for you. i would like to use a couple words he used. recently in an e-mail, a brilliant soldier statesman talking about you, general allen, and you are as honest as the day is long. those qualities uniform or out of uniform, you can't say anything nicer about an individual than that. over the past ten years, i have been hearing from the administration and those in your position prior to you being here

today, and dr. miller, your comments and general allen's is what i've been hearing for ten years. gains are sustainable, there will be setbacks, we are making progress but it's fragile and reversible. well, you know, going to walter reid and bethesda recently, i had a young marine, lance corporal, who lost one leg and he said to me with his mother sitting in the room, congressman, can i ask you a question? certainly, you may, sir. why are we still there? i look at this e-mail from your former boss and i would like to read a portion of it. attempting to find a true military answer to problems in afghanistan would take decades, decades, not years. drain our nation of precious resources with the most precious being our sons and daughters.

the united states cannot solve the afghan problem no matter how brave and determined our troops are. that gets me to the point that what is the metric? what is the event that the administration and general allen, you sir, are going to be candid with the united states congress and more important than the congress, the american people as we spend $10 billion a month that we can't pay for, the chinese is lending us the money to pay us the money we're spending in afghanistan. when does the congress have the testimony that someone will say we have done all we can do? bin laden is dead. hundreds of tribes in afghanistan and everyone has their own mission talking about the tribes. i hope that sometime in between now and 2014 if things are not improving or they are fragile

like they are now, somebody will come to congress and say the military has sacrificed enough, the american people have paid enough and somebody would shoot straight with the american people in congress. do you know what type of metric, i'll ask both of you, dr. miller and general allen, what type of metric you would see that you would come back to the congress and say, our troops have done everything, we can declare victory now, but there is one thing we cannot do and that's change history because afghanistan has never changed since they have been existing. and i yield to your 1:41 to you both, thank you. >> it's a very important question. i visited the wounded in bethesda as well. there are many of those young troops as the lance corporal you talked to the other day who are very, very dedicated to this mission. they want to see it be successful. they want their sacrifice to

have meaning. i think this campaign is going to give their sacrifice meaning. we are on track to have the ansf move to the lead. that's what we want. that's what we want success to be in afghanistan. >> general, if i may interrupt you one moment, if we get into 2014 and see president obama or a republican president and the afghans are not trained where they need to be, and we spending money and losing lives, will you be honest with the next administration and say to the next administration you need to stay to the timetable because we have done all we can do. you are not going to change history? >> congressman, i'll be honest with you now and i'll be honest with that next administration. it's my obligation, my moral obligation to ensure this force is resourced and committed into a strategy i think will work. i believe this strategy will work. it's not about american forces fighting right to the very end of 2014 and burying the burden of this campaign.

this campaign very clearly envisages that the ansf will move to the front, the ansf will have the lead, the ansf will secure the population of afghanistan. if i think it's coming off the rails, congressman, i will let you know that. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. miller, general allen, thank you for your testimony today. general allen, many observers have noted that corruption is endemic to afghanistan and that this corruption feed predatory power brokers and mafias, who have co-opted the state. over the years we made occasional efforts of combating corruption like setting up task force transparency in dari. judging from recent news stories about billions of dollars in cash being flown out of afghanistan every year, the former head of the kabul bank going free and afghan national

army helicopters possibly being used to smuggle drugs, it doesn't seem like we're making much progress. what can you tell us about successes to address corruption and do you believe these efforts will actually address corruption, especially the type of predatory corruption that feeds on common people, sufficiently to allow the afghan government to function after 2014? >> ma'am, that's a really important question. we should not be surprised there is corruption in afghanistan. after 30 years of virtually every institution in that country having been destroyed in some form or another, whether from the communist coup or the soviet invasion or the civil war or the taliban darkness, an awful lot relied ultimately on the wiles of patronage networks which became criminalized over time. the question isn't whether they exist or not. the question is whether we can oppose the influence of the

networks and restore a system of the rule of law and credibility and integrity to the country of afghanistan. i have no illusions about how difficult that will be. the effort that is we undertake in isaf to address those efforts, those influences, i think have begun to take shape in important and meaningful ways. since i have been in afghanistan through the use of task force transparency, through task force 2010, which has done a great deal about contracting and ensuring transparency and contracting -- excuse me -- and in direct conversation with president karzai, we have taken steps, and president karzai has appointed a presidential executive commission to partner with us. for example, to begin the process of removing organized crime from borders, customs depots and airports.

the process of being able to do that will recoup substantial amounts of revenue to afghan government coffers. it will reduce the very thing that you mentioned about the flying of cash out of afghanistan and the president, president karzai, who talks publicly and often about this culture of impunity, has, in fact, commissioned the presidential executive commission to partner with us in that process and we're starting that process now. importantly as well, both of the security ministries, the ministry of defense and ministry of interior led by the ministry of defense completed something called transparency and accountability working group. this has been a complete inventory of all of the functions within the ministry of defense, all the way from systems acquisition to personnel assignment. they are looking to remove criminal capture. and criminal influence from both of those insecurity ministries and that's a very important step as well, ma'am. >> general, i have a follow up question. general petraeus cited this case

as a success story over a year ago. has the afghan general been tried yet or have any high profile or senior officials who have been protected or members of these criminal patronage networks been tried? you didn't specifically mention this, but this was an afghan army surgeon general. >> short answer is no, ma'am. the longer answer is i went to see minister wardak. i wrote a letter to the president. i presented the evidence of this case to the palace and there is now a comprehensive investigation under way about the national military hospital, which we hope will ultimately result in irrefutable evidence for the prosecution of the commander of that hospital. the jurisdiction needs to be determined whether it will be tried through the attorney general's office or through

military jurisprudence. but the technical outcome and the investigation is under way at this time. i think that's a great step forward, frankly. >> it's been a year. >> the investigation has only been under way for several months. i'm glad to see that it is. >> thank you very much. and i yield back, mr. chairman. >> thank you. mr. forbes? >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. miller, thank you for being here. general, we appreciate you being here. i support what you do. the only thing, sometimes up here we talk about winning and losing and asking questions it american people will say that's not really the question i wanted to ask. you know, one of the things, the realities we deal with is that congress spent $825 billion on the stimulus package and we are spending $345 billion on the interest for that. we are taking almost that exact sum out of national defense out of the country. as a result, we're hearing that carriers are going to be postponed. we're taking ships out of commission. we are reducing weapons systems and force structure.

everybody that comes up says we have to do that because of the budget we are dealing with. the question i hear from a lot of folks around when i talk about afghanistan is this, you said earlier that the actions we had there made americans safer. you're the best person we have to articulate how that's happened. how would you tell the average american what we have done in afghanistan has made them safer and how would you justify the fact we should continue spending money there as opposed to the ships, the weapons, the force structure that we see being reduced here? then the final one is this, what assurances do you see or what are your projections as far as 2014 to be able to sustain the investments we have put there? i'm going to give you the rest of my time to respond to that.

>> i may call upon my wingman here to give me a bit of assistance on the policy side of this. we remain in hot pursuit of any presence of al qaeda in afghanistan. there is some al qaeda in afghanistan but we want them on their back heels. they know we are in pursuit and aggressively looking for them. when we find them, we will deal with them. that's the first way that americans are going to be kept safer. second, we are going to pressure the insurgency and continue to create the opportunity for the afghan national security forces to be the defeat mechanism of this insurgency because our goal beyond ensuring that al qaeda cannot use afghanistan as a launching pad for international terrorism is to provide the security to the state for the development of democratic institutions and ultimately economic opportunity. and so with a stable afghanistan, americans are safer.

with us in hot pursuit of al qaeda, americans are safer. i believe that americans can see that the results of the sacrifices that have been made by the american people to resource this war have, in many respects, and in many respects a direct line relationship, to 11 september, 2001, where unimpeded the taliban provided safe haven to al qaeda that executed the attack on the united states that day from the safety of afghanistan. it's going to be very difficult for that to occur today. it will be our hope that in the end, a stable afghanistan guarded by a credible ansf will make it impossible for it to happen in the future. that's in the future. we'll continue to work at that, sir. you asked about the money for the support of the campaign versus potential decisions for program trade-offs. clearly, they are decisions that will be made by the secretary of defense with service chiefs and joint chiefs.

same people in most cases. i have to thank you all and the congress of the united states as representatives of the american people for having so resourced this campaign. we really need nothing. we want for nothing, for the great support that you have given us. support that we have received through the cert program. and for the afghan infrastructure program. the great support we have received in the armor that has been provided through to us through the m-rap systems. we have been very, very well provided for. i know the service chiefs remain in their way committed to continue to provide us the weapons system, capabilities and well trained troops necessary. >> general, i only have 30 seconds. could you hit the last part about what is your forecast on the economy in afghanistan and whether you feel that's going to be sufficient in 2014 to be able to continue and be able to continue the investment we put there. >> i think we need to watch it very closely.

as you know, there will be a conference that follows the chicago conference, it will be in tokyo, in essence, an international conference that we'll look to gain money for development over the long term. after bond two, the con fence that occurred last year, there was a commitment by the international community to support afghanistan through what they called a decade of transformation that follows the lisbon transition. that decade of transformation, we hope, will see the international community provide the necessary support ultimately to the afghan economy in the period of time after 2014 so that we don't ultimately have the experience of an economic security issue as opposed to a security issue as it relates to a continued insurgency. >> thank you, mr. courtney. >> thank you for your testimony. some of the comment that is have

been made in this room and outside this room have focused on whether or not the president's time line he laid out is somehow sort of putting at risk our policy and the successes that you have fought so hard to accomplish in afghanistan. i would like to, again, if i could go deeper in terms of, you know, what's already happened in terms of troop recovery and drawdown. we now have completed initial 10,000 troop drawdown. i want to ask, general, now that we are some months past that, are you, in any way, do you have any concerns about whether or not that reduction in force has hobbled your efforts that you have been describing here this morning as far as accomplishing this transition to the afghan national army. >> the 10,000 that came out last year, i'm in the process of making the decision with respect

for the 23,000 that will come out. i will be balancing in those decisions the amount of combat power versus the headquarters and the general manning and some of the task forces et cetera. i have to tell you, those will be difficult decisions. i believe we can make that. >> the 10,000, which again is fait accompli, was that concentrated more on the headquarters end of the -- >> many were and they are gone. they were gone by the end of 201 2011. >> when we talk about the leadership that is critical for the afghan military, one way you stimulate leadership is with carrots and sticks. certainly, as we saw in iraq, having a time line can be a healthy thing in terms of also, when you are trying to accomplish a transition. again, you are telling people

they can't be dependent or count on the u.s. to always be there to provide their own security goals. i guess, i wonder if you could talk about that a little bit. about whether or not having a time line is incentive for the afghans to sort of step up their game. >> it has, indeed, sir. the -- the value of the lisbon transition process is that it is a process. it is something that is measurable. as you know, the lisbon transition process occurs over five tranches of terrain that comes off the map and goes into afghan sovereignty. each one of those tranches is accompanied by detailed conversations and conferences between isaf and ansf to ensure the security forces in those areas are postured and ready to

take over the lead for security, not to be finished in terms of security, but the lead for security in those areas. it has, i believe, a seriously focused conversation both in terms of the development of the ansf and the resourcing of the ansf and in that sense it has been positive. >> thank you. i would like to turn briefly to another topic, which when i visited with you last fall, we talked about, our group did, which was the issue of safe havens in pakistan and the challenge that that poses with, you know, all the good intent and great success in terms of training up afghans if the taliban can operate with impunity in and out of pakistan that really provides, you know, a real weakness in terms of accomplishing the goal of denying the taliban the ability

to overthrow the afghan government. i was wondering if you can update us in terms of what you're seeing right there in terps of trying to plug that hole? >> it continues to be a threat to the campaign. as you know, it's the nature of the taliban in those safe havens differs, varies according to where they are geographically. i believe in the south the southern taliban elements have been successfully -- their momentum has been successfully thwarted both by isaf forces and the forces of the ansf. it is in the east where i spend a great deal of my time focusing on the haqqani network and the taliban, pakistan and other of the taliban elements, the commander nazir group.

the haqqani network in north waziristan. so i spend a lot of my time dealing with that. as i said before, with respect to the numbers associated with the ansf, in the end, it's less of function or factor of what the numbers will be of the ansf. than it will be their posture over the long-term. if we don't see some political outcome from reconciliation, which can have the effect of reducing the effectiveness and the effect of the safe havens, if we don't see pakistani action to address the safe havens, then ultimately we're going to have to thicken the defenses of the afghan people to provide as much friction as possible to protect its strategic center of gravity, which is kabul and the security zone around kabul.

it's going to have to be an outcome. we'll watch the campaign unfold this year and next year to determine in consultation with our afghan partners how they will force it in the end. the chances are very good, if the issues in the pakistani safe havens don't resolve, we need a larger presence of the ansf to thin the ansf in other places in afghanistan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> committee will recess for five minutes. when we return, mr. wilson will be on for questioning. thank you.

>> committee will come to order. mr. wilson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and general allen, dr. miller, we sincerely appreciate you being here today. i'm very grateful that in my home state of south carolina, my former national guard unit, the 218th brigade served for a year in afghanistan, and, general, they felt like you, and commanded by our bob livingston that they were working with afghan brothers, that they were truly making a difference, they were helping train the security forces of afghanistan to protect themselves. additionally, this past weekend, i was honored to be at a

deployment of personnel from the army national guard with general livingston. they will be going as an agricultural team to help the people of afghanistan develop their economy. to see the military families there, the dedication, the service members, the veterans who came, it truly is the the new greatest generation. with that in mind, i'm concerned the wall street journal, last night, reported the administration is offering a compromise regarding night raids in afghanistan and specifically that it would subject operations by afghan judges. one option under discussion and talks would require warrants to be issued before operations got a green light. can you comment on the accuracy of the report why the compromise in the interest of the united states? >> first, sir, thank you very much for your comments on your troops. they are magnificent.

bob livingston is one that i had the honor to serve with over time. thank you for the service of those troops in afghanistan. i would like to decline answering the specifics of that question because we are in very sensitive negotiations now on night operations. we do intend that night operations ultimately acknowledge the afghan constitution and afghan law but the process specifically of the execution of night operations has yet to be negotiated. it is not my intention that they lose their momentum, which is what gives them their effectiveness. any specific conversation about the issuing of warrants or prior review of mission folders by judges, it's very premature at this point.

and, in fact, i have not been involved in any negotiations specifically about that at this point, sir. >> it always had been my hope it was mutually beneficial to have night operations for the protection of the people of afghanistan. and so best wishes on trying to get that point across. they are the primary ben officialries of having improved security. >> they know that, sir. they tell me that all the time. >> i hope they do. when i read about it, it's appalling they would give a green light to the other side. additionally you say iran continues to support the insurgency and fueling the flames of violence, particularly the iranian influence of training, supply weapons, munitions. which groups are they working with? where in the country? what is iran's goal? >> they have operated primarily or worked with the taliban elements in the west. that is the only area in which

we have seen the presence of support to the taliban. our sense is that iran could do more, if they chose to, but they have not. we watch the activity and the relationships very closely. there's an ancient relationship between the persian people of iran and the afghan people. in fact, today is the beginning of the persian new year. there is real potential common ground between our objectives and iranian objectives with respect to counternarcotics, arms, smuggling, human trafficking. there are a large number of afghan refugees in iran. interest the there is the potential to cooperate in iran, or

afghanistan, excuse me. i know they have a long relationship. it's a national relationship that president karzai pointed to on a number of occasions that could benefit afghanistan over the long term. the troubling part right now is the fact there is some assistance that is going to the taliban from iran and we seek to check that. >> again, i appreciate both your service. thank you very much. >> thank you. miss tsongas. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's a pleasure to have you with us. i wanted to address the status of women and the impact on their lives as we transition to the afghan national security forces and in time out of afghanistan. in november, i met with several female afghan parliamentarians who were here in washington, all were members of the opposition, and while they acknowledged that progress had been made towards female equality in the post taliban era, particularly with regards to female education, they also expressed a number of concerns with roadblocks towards