>> american citizens, yeah. >> american citizens would come out once noncombatant evacuation is declared. until that point, we don't evacuate all citizens in the country. >> we didn't hear, there is american citizens still there. >> and we continue to remain engaged and work to get those citizens out, senator. >> but why would you propose a plan that didn't get all american citizens out? i can't imagine ever our u.s. military would propose to leave a country without our citizens coming out first? have we ever done that before? >> all of the american citizens wouldn't leave, senator, unless there was noncombatant evacuation and the plan was to leave the embassy there to continue to address the needs of our american citizens to engage with the government and so that was a part of the plan, not to again, the plan was never to evacuate the american citizens and leave the embassy there. >> did it bother you when the president went on national television and said he would not leave until all american citizens were taken out? did it bother you when he said that, that clearly is not truthful. >>

it is this department and the secretary's top priority to continue to evacuate any american citizen who wishes to leave afghanistan. we believe there are between 100 and 200 americans who may have some interest in leaving, and the secretary is leading our diplomatic efforts to ensure safe passage for them and for any afghan partners and foreign nationals still want to leave. as the president said, there is no deadline to ensure the safe passage for those who want it. the afghan task force continues to work 24/7 on evacuation efforts, and since august 14, the task force has been engaged in evacuating american citizens in afghanistan. . we have made more than 55,004 calls and thousands of emails. this up which continues in the days and weeks ahead. and from the region, hundreds and hundreds of u.s. diplomats are coordinating with third countries, specifically those with active diplomatic presences in kabul to discuss safe passage and other consulate services. more than 100 countries signed onto a joint statement earlier this week expressing our expectation that the taliban will honor trav

and this includes our indices nearby, has a response ability to look after the welfare of the american citizens. our team has been intensely focused on assisting americans who may have been exiting afghanistan into to jicha stand --tajikistan in recent weeks. >> you are in contact with countries that still presence in double -- kabul. [indiscernible] what can they do that you can't? >> before we get into the dynamics of what engagements with any future afghan government might look like, couple things need to happen. first, there needs to be a government. of course, that has not been formally formed yet. more portly, the international committee needs to get a sense not only for what that government is in name, but what it does in heat -- in deed. we need to see what is and our national interest and shared national interest for any practical engagement or not with any such future government. we are doing now, rather than talking about who is going to have a presence on the ground or who is going to engage practically ended what way, right now we are establishing a set of shared expectations for a

exactly how many american citizens are in any country. it's something we can't and don't know, americans are not required to register when they go to a foreign country or if they reside there. and so from the start of this effort, we've been engaged in an intense effort to identify every american citizen that we could get them to be in touch with them in contact with them and to work with them if they want it to lead. we've also benefited greatly from information provided by congress to help us fill out this picture. but as of last week, there were about 100 who had we were in contact with who continue to express an interest to lead. we offered seats on the plains that got out last week to about 6030. came forward and use those seats. what happens in any, at any given moment, is that people are making decisions, hour by hour, if not day by day, about whether to leave or not. and as i said earlier, these are incredibly wrenching decisions. because for the most part, this is a community of people who've been living, residing in afghanistan f

. >> american citizens. >> american citizens, yeah. >> the american citizens would come out once a non-combatant evacuation is declared, and until that point typically we don't evacuate all the citizens in the country. >> but we didn't here. there's american citizens still there. >> and we continue to remain engaged and work to get those citizens out, senator. >> but why would you propose a plan that didn't get all american citizens out? i just can't imagine ever in the history of this country our u.s. military would propose to leave a country without our citizens coming out first. i mean, have we ever done that before? >> all of the american citizens wouldn't leave, senator, unless there was a non-combatant evacuation, and, you know, the plan was to leave the embassy there, to continue to address the needs of our american citizens, to engage with the government and so that was a part of the plan, not -- again, the plan was never to evacuate the american citizens and leave the embassy there. >> did it bother you when the president went on national television and said that he would not leave unti

this administration left american citizens behind enemy lines. we left $85 billion worth of equipment that the american taxpayers paid over and we created a sanctuary for terrorists to lot -- plot for years and years to come. it is amazing that we did this. i'll end it there, i know these guys need a break, but we'll see you after the break, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> we have completed the first round and as i indicated we will break at 1:00 lunch. you said if we stayed past august 31st we would certain i will be back at war with the taliban and you would have to reinforce the troops. and that will be seeing, today, casualties that could be accumulating at an unacceptable rate? >> i think the point left out out a lot of the conversation was had we stayed past that date that was agreed upon that the taliban would begin to attack our forces there and we would have to make some decisions on how to reinforce our forces so that we could continue to operate and that would include, quite possibly, increasing the forces. >> now in the greept, p

we also left american citizens behind. general milley, in your written testimony you state a withdrawal would increase risks of regional instability, the security of pakistan and its nuclear arsenals, a global rise in violent extremist organizations, our global correct would suffer, and the their tich of abandoning the afghans would become widespread. would you agree that all of these things have happened over the last eight weeks or are currently happening? >> i think in the main, yes, senator. most of those are probably happening right now. >> arnond i home that we see ine future military advice having more consideration by the administration on what will happen from what you and general mckenzie have said today. >> if i may, senator, i can tell you with 100% certainty that the military voice was heard and was considered. >> it was considered but not followed. correct? >> presidents are elected for reasons. they make strategic decisions. >> i would say this committee, general, has always stressed that commanders on the g

and the american citizens. yes, all of them we are abandoning american citizens. those texts which haven't been verified yet, were disclosed by michael young, a war correspondent and former us special forces soldier. he was among civilians working with the military and private networks to rescue stranded americans. and he gave us details of his conversation with a high ranking u. s. military officer. that colonel was not physically present, but he was in contact major general chris donahue who, who was the combatant commander on the ground. and so that colonel wasn't physically there. in fact, he was very frustrated. you can see from that tax, there was more tax those while he was really demonstrating a lot of frustration at one point you said 10, you ran the gate. in other words, had it with the car and get in. i mean, he wanted to rescue those people and you know, he, i hope that his tags don't cause him any problems. he's the kind of general we need . no, he didn't want to follow those orders. he wanted to g

this administration left american citizens behind enemy lines. we left $85 billion worth of equipment that the american taxpayers paid for and created a sanctuary for terrorists to plot for years and years to come. it's absolutely amazing that we did this. i'll end it there. i know these guys need take a break. but we'll see you after the break. i yield my time. >> thank you very much. senator. we have completed the first round. and as i indicated, we will break at 1:00 for lunch. so, we'll begin the stekd round. secretary austin, you said in response to senator warren that if we stayed past august 31st, we would certainly be back at war in afghanistan and you'd have to reinforce yourself. to that question, staying past the 31st was not sustainable at an acceptable level of risk to american personnel and that we would be seeing today casualties, which could be accumulating at an acceptable rate? >> i think the point is had we stayed past that date that was agreed upon early on, that the taliban would begin to attack our forces here. and we'd have

we have assigned case management teams to each remaining american citizen who expressed it -- interested in leaving. as you know, starting in march, we sent 19 separate notices to american citizens in afghanistan, encouraging, then urging them to leave. most of the remaining american citizens are dual nationals whose home is afghanistan, and whose extended family lives there. it is no surprise that deciding whether or not to leave the place they call home is a wrenching decision. we are also in touch with the governors helping to let -- help at-risk people leave afghanistan. that was our allies, partners, there are a lot of complex issues to address and negotiate. we are working through them as quickly and methodically as possible. let me say a few words about those afghans who applied for or may be eligible for special immigrant visas. there have been questions about the backlog of sib applicants, and why more of them were not already out of afghanistan by the time the evacuation operation began. let me give you more context. when we took office, we inherited a backlog of more than 17,0

we also left american citizens behind. general milley, in your written testimony, you stated withdrawal would increase risks of regional instability, the security of pakistan and its nuclear arsenals, a global rise in violent extremist organizations, our global credibility with allies and partners would suffer, and a narrative of abandoning the afghans would become widespread. would you agree that all of these things have happened over the last eight weeks or are currently happening? >> i think in the main, yes, senator. most of those are probably happening right now. >> and i hope that we see in the future military advice having more consideration by the administration on what will happen from what you and general mckenzie have said today. >> if i may, senator, i can tell you with 100% certainty that the military voice was heard and it was considered. >> it was considered, but not followed, correct? >> presidents are elected for reasons. they make strategic decisions. >> i would say this committee has always stressed that

the american citizens would come out, once noncombatant evacuation is declared. and until that point, typically we don't evacuate all the citizens in the country. but we didn't hear, there's american systems still there and we continue to remain engaged and, and work to, to get those services out center. why would you propose a plan that didn't get all american citizens out? i just can't imagine ever in the history this country or u. s. military would propose to leave a country with our citizens coming out 1st. i mean, is we, have we ever done that before? all of the american citizens wouldn't leave sen unless there was a non combatant evacuation. and you know, that the plan was to leave the embassy there to continue to address the needs of our american citizens, to engage with the government. and so that was a part of the plan, not again, the plan was never to evacuate the american citizens and leave the embassy there. didn't bother you. and the president went on national television, said that he would not leave until all american citizens were. we'll take it out

with regard to american citizens in afghanistan, a few things here. first, just to step back for a minute. going back to to march of this year, we issued $900.00 separate messages to americans registered with the embassy. encouraging them and then urging them to leave that ghana, stan, given the security situation again, that goes back to march. by the time the evacuation commenced in august, we believe there were somewhere in the vicinity of $6000.00 american citizens in afghanistan. and virtually all of them were evacuated in those couple of weeks that we were working out of a couple international airport. but it's, it's not surprising that despite the situation, despite the long encouragement people believe that some people did not or could not make the decision to do so. in part, because this is such an incredibly wrenching decision. because for these people, they are, for the most part, people who've been in afghanistan for years, decades, possibly even generations for them. afghanistan at home, their extended families are there and making that de

a briefing on efforts to evacuate american citizens who remain in the country. and later, just foreign secretary dominic raab testifies in afghanistan before the u.k. parliament's foreign affairs committee. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including this one. ♪ midco supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> defense secretary lloyd austin and joint chiefs of staff chair general mark milley, held a briefing on the end of the u.s. military mission in afghanistan. they discussed the evacuation of american citizens, and gave an update on the number of evacuees so far. [chatter] >> what will the u.s. relationship, if any, be with the taliban going forward? the u.s. is still getting americans and afghans out of afghanistan. [indiscernible] ed in leaving now. [no audio] sec. austin: secretary austin: good afternoon, and thanks for being here. it's been a busy time for all of us in this department. a proud one and a so

if there are american citizens left, we will stay until he gets out. he admits americans are stranded in afghanistan. lie. we are making the same commitment he said to afghanistan's who assisted america. an official confessed that the majority of afghans did not make it out of kabul. lie. the united states stands by its commitment that we have made to vulnerable afghans such as women leaders and journalists. truth: team biden did not ensure journalist made it to safety. lie: no parallels to vietnam. truth: not even a month later, the helicopter was flying over the american embassy. lie: biden vowed to continue -- continue to provide support to the afghan army. truth: the afghan military could not operate. lie: july 8, biden added that the likelihood is going to be that taliban are overrunning everything highly unlikely. truth: biden new the taliban were overtaking the afghan government and asked afghani to lie about it whether it is true or not. the advance military equipment led to the terrorists as comparable to all of the military equipment we provid

couple evacuate all embassy personnel evacuate all american citizens. they wanted to get out and evacuate other afghans as designated by the department of state and retrograde all of the u. s. military. in short, the united states military was task to conduct to highly complex missions simultaneously. a retrograde wall in contact with the enemy. and the neo in a non permissive environment. we executed that mission and a highly dynamic, dangerous operating environment, from a war torn country. and was conducted across 9 countries. and 26 in immediate staging bases and temporary safe havens. we deployed between $5.60 military personnel on the ground, some of whom were for deployed based on our contingency planning, these elements came from the 2nd airborne division, special forces, the marine corps, along with navy and air force personnel. flying and support combat aircraft from the air force in the navy as well as incredible support from the transport aircraft . the pilots and crews are the united states transportation command and afloat. we had an ark n

they worked around the clock to get american citizens, afghans who helped us citizens of our allies and partners, and at risk afghans on planes. out of the country, off the united states or the transit locations that are diplomats that arrangement to go seated in multiple countries or counselor team or 247 to reach out to americans who could still be in country making 55000 phone calls, sending 33000 e mails by august 31st and they're still at it. in the midst of the sharon effort and isis k attack killed 13 service members working the gates that h kaya wounded 20 others killed and wounded scores of atkins. our service members gave their lives so that others can continue till the there's in the end, we completed one of the biggest airless in history. with 124000 people evacuated to safety. and on august 31st in capital, the military mission in afghanistan officially ended and a new diplomatic mission began. i wanna acknowledge the more than 2 dozen countries that have help with a relocation effort. some serving is transit of some welcoming afghans evacuees for longer periods of time. an

>> and if they're american citizens amah we will get them all out. rward disdainfully get them all out. joe biden seen lying to the american people. it was terrific, thousands of people rushing to get in. many trampled, many eaten and cast at theea checkpoints, there were scenes of babies being passed tots u.s. soldiers, moths and fathers even throwing themnd over walls of our wire and razor wire, taking hours and sometimes days for anybody to get to the airport gates, american citizens, those with american visas weree all left to fend for themselves. countries like france, uk, dutch, they were sending special forces behind enemy lines to extract their citizens, u.s. forces were under strict instructions not to leave the airport walls. as a result, many turned to private security agencies, ofnding tens of thousands dollars to secure safe passage to the airport. make no mistake, there was no safe passage. the state department memos to people in afghanistan so that we cannot guarantee your state of trance cd, but you might want to make w your way to the

the majority of american citizens who got out were evacuated exactly this way. we also talk people through, one-on-one, walking into the airport with state department officials on the phone, on the other end of the phone, the whole time, facilitating safe passage, past checkpoints. this was incredibly labor intensive, but effective at resolving problems on the ground, one by one, in challenging environments. in limited cases, and some of this was reported, where people were trapped or in immediate danger, u.s. security forces went beyond the wire. sometimes you have a helicopter to pick people up safely. we didn't talk about these much, these helo-hops, at the time because they were dangerous missions. we didn't want to create the expectation that we'd be sending a helicopter for everyone who wanted to leave afghanistan. so i note those because i think it's important to understand the steps and the roles that our us military on the ground took far beyond just checking people off on a list at the gate to ensure we could get american citizens, our afghan partners

i don't see that there will be fair treatment of american citizens in afghanistan. have to work on getting americans out. i don't know that the taliban will be greatly assisting us in any way. and i do believe that we're going to have a growing threat out of afghanistan, especially with the terrorists at the helm. we have a world of mess on our hands. it pins back on to president joe biden's shoulders. >> martha: thanks, senator ernst. we saw the reports of a pregnant police officer, a woman in afghanistan who was reported religioned down by the taliban. so if that's any indication where it's going, you shouldn't be surprised about the interim makeup of this cabinet. thank you. >> thank you. >> martha: so two women that each lost their brothers on september 11th have a message for the white house on afghanistan and they are next. [♪♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and

>> on the american citizens who wish to leave the number is about 100. it is very hard to give a realtime number at any given moment because it is very fluid. by which i mean this, some people -- we're in direct contact with this group. some for very understandable reasons are changing their mind from day-to-day about whether or not they want to leave. others continue even now to raise their hands and say i am an american citizen in afghanistan, someone who had not identified themselves before. i think as all of you know very well, we do not require as a country our citizens to register or identify themselves to our embassies in any country in the world if they travel or reside there. >> do you have the numb berls for siv? >> that we're tabulating right now because we're trying to account for everyone who has come in. some people remain in transit countries, other people are now in the united states. we're putting all of those numbers together. the overwhelming majority of afghans are in one way or another at risk. some will be siv applicants, p1 or 2, o

they worked around the clock to get american citizens, afghans who helped us, citizens of our allies and partners, and at-risk afghans on planes, out of the country, and off to the united states or to transit locations that our diplomats had arranged and negotiated in multiple countries. our consular team worked 24/7 to reach out to americans who could still be in the country, making in those couple of weeks 55,000 phone calls, sending 33,000 emails. working the gates, wounding 20 others and killing and wounding scores of afghans. these american service members gave their lives so that other lives could continue. in the end, we completed one of the biggest air lifts in history with 124,000 people evacuated to safety. and on august 31 in kabul, the military mission in afghanistan officially ended, and the new diplomatic mission began. i want to acknowledge the more than two dozen countries that have helped with the relocation effort. some served as transit hubs, some welcoming afghan evacuees for longer periods of time. and i want to recognize the extraordinary efforts by congress as

if there are american citizens left, we will stay until we get the. ow to, biden himself admits americans remain stranded in afghanistan. lie. we are making the same commitment that biden made to america. to, senior state department officials confessed to nbc news that the majority of afghans did not make it out of kabul. lie. the united states stands by its commitment, to vulnerable afghans such as women leaders and journalists. to, biden did not ensure that journalists were making it. safety lie. -- none whatsoever. zero. not even a month later, it came from kabul and a helicopter flew over the embassy. lie. biden failed to continue to provide the afghan army with their support. true. in the wake of the decision, people who support intelligence and contractors, the afghan military couldn't operate. lie. july 8th. the taliban would be over running everything, that was unlikely. true. they ask president ghani to lie about it. whether it is true or not. thirdly, if this military equipment, who is left to the terrorists, and i and the quote of that artic

never in our history we would stand in a place where our president and government banned american citizensco reported the white house officials are saying they are horrified, appalled about how americans were abandoned behind terror lines so the leaks will keep on coming. we got this new deal political landscape how the administration handled it. we want to be dealing with this for years to come in the issue of china. white house tech secretary same basically it wrong to think china can undercut u.s. leverage with the taliban claiming china does not have the capacity for that. is that true? but the white house press secretary saying that. >> it's not true because china is closer tos. afghanistan the u.s. now that we've withdrawn off military forces, we have nobody nearby to monitor and surveilled. t who do you think is going to come in? china has brokered deals with the iranian government and roads and bridges and projects, you're going to see russia and china sweep and, he saw one of the china foreign minister's meeting with the head of the taliban. they are already starting to have discu

lie, if there are american citizens left, we're going to stay until we get them out. truth, biden himself admits americans remain stranded in afghanistan. line we're making the same commitment. truth, a senior state department official confessed to nbc news that the majority of afghans didn't make it out of kabul. lie. the united states stands by its commitment we have made to vulnerable afghan, such as women, leaders and journalists. truth, team biden didn't ensure journalists made it to safely. lie, do you see any parallels between what happened in vietnam. none whatsoever. zero. truth. not even a month later, pictures came from kabul of a helicopter flying over the american embassy. lie, biden vowed to continue to provide afghan army with air support. truth, in the wake of biden's withdrawal decision, he pulled the air support intelligence and contractors. the afghan militaries couldn't operate. lie. july 8th, biden added that the likelihood there's going to be a taliban over running everything is highly unlikely. truth, in fact, biden knew the taliban government an

and no american citizens would be left behind. what we're doing every single minute of every single hour of every single day is working to create safe passage for all civilians, including the afghans who worked for us to the airport to get them on planes and get them out. i think they're responsible to say americans are stranded, they are not. we are committed to bringing americans who want to come home homes. we completed one of the biggest err lists in history, extraordinary success. and this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravely and selfless courage of united states, military and our diplomats and intelligence professionals. after the evacuation, michael yon wrote a scathing letter to the armies high command, highlighting some of the missteps as he saw them. specifically, the us nationals were abandoned at the gates. well, 3 empty jet paid for by volunteers. we're currently waiting for them. we asked the pens again for clarity so far they've declined to comment on believes the lack of transparency has just made matte