operations, afghanistan is land locked. we have no reliable partners on the ground, and we don't have any agreements with neighboring countries. secretary kahl, in the months since secretary austin, general milley, and general mckenzie testified, have we secured any basing agreements or arrangements with any country bordering afghanistan? secretary kahl: we have not secured firm basing arrangements. we have had extensive conversations. senator fischer: since president biden made the decision to withdraw in april, he's touted over-the-horizon c.t. operations as our strategy going forward. can you share with the committee any tangible steps the administration has made in trying to secure basing agreements with those countries, and keep it short, please, i have a number of questions. secretary kahl: sure. we've rainingments already in the gulf, as you -- we've rainingments already in the gulf, as you know. we have conversations with pakistan to keep the lines open. we have conversations with oou beck stan and -- uzbekistan and

military forces from afghanistan.s is the sixth event in a series of committee engagements seeking to a success u.s. military 20 year mission in afghanistan. understand factors that led to the tolerance for takeover of the country and afghan forces, overseen dod operations afghan evacuees and recalibrate counterterrorism operations in light of emerging threats and broader national security priorities. joining us today, doctor colin powell and lieutenant general james mingus, director of operations joint staff. thank you for being here. there may be a tendency to focus on final months in afghanistan's, our withdrawal the summer in the event surrounding could not happen in a vacuum, lead to this outcome of catastrophic give it to iraq or failure to effectively grapple with support for the taliban. this is not a democrat or republican problem, please have manifested over four presidential of ministrations willingness to recognize and impact the operation of today and the future. one fundamental question that requires clo

no one told us we are going to go to afghanistan and be there 50 years and remake afghanistan and incur 20 casualties a year for the latter 40 of the 50 years. they told us we were winning and creating something so i don't know whether american is incapable of doing what they did maintain offensive force along the river for hundreds of years. i don't know whether we are incapable of doing that because of our people or our leaders. there should have been a better plan for withdrawal in response to my questions demonstrating there was no trump plan. he's had the administration currently inherited a deadline, it did not inherit a plan. now the general testified as if they had a plan for an effective withdrawal but has pointed out, it wasn't there withdrawal plan, it was a plan to stay there with at least 2500 of our forces released -- but perhaps 25 years. when you leave the 500, that means they get in trouble you have to be prepared to deploy more. historians will argue perhaps we should have stayed in afghanistan. the last ten years we were there, the cost of casualties or 1% of what we

troops in afghanistan?current administration is insisting they are disappointed to see us leave. is this an assessment that measures with reality in your opinion? >> i think beijing and moscow will fill the boy in central easia and the time not qualified to talk about the strategic -- but you can see what the china pakistan economic quarter and the solidification of that servile relationship with the pakistanis. that's going to carry over a think into central asia with an eye towards afghanistan and is connected to the frontier in mongolia as part of the road initiative to gain a position of predominant requiring power plus the eurasian landmass frankly. russia has been the source of fighting to the taliban. you have more information about that than i do. so is china and in the rush to accommodate the taliban weight gain strategic advantage. this is handy as well so the idea that disengaging from afghanistan makes us more competitive with china makes no sense at all because these other regions including --

afghanistan.s is the sixth even in a series of committee engagements isaac to assess the u.s. military's 20 year mission in afghanistan. understand factors that led to the taliban a rapid takeover of the country on its last day of forces, oversee dod operations before the fat-- afghan evacuees and operations in light of emergency threats. joining us today are doctor collins, under secretary of defense for policy lieutenant general james mingus director for operation joint staff. thank you both for being here appear i know there may be a tendency to focus on our final months in afghanistan and i was stressed that our withdrawal was somewhere in the event surrounding did not happen in a vacuum. a path that led to-- years of mistakes primary catastrophic pivot to iraq or our failure to grapple with support for the taliban. this is not a democratic or republican problem, these failures have manifested over four presidential administrations with both parties and our willingness to recognize and correct

troops had all but withdrawn from afghanistan, he was asked could there be a saigon moment in afghanistang you'd have an evacuation off the roof of the u.s. embassy and helicopters? biden was very zis miss sive of this. no way, that's ne not going to happen. that's not what's going on. of course, a few weeks later, things actually looked worse than a helicopter off the roof of the embassy. you had images of u.s. air force c 17 transport plane with these afghans running down the runway trying to cling to it. the images were terrible. we ended up evacuating, helping to evacuate more than 100,000 people in just a few weeks. yes, there are parallels to saigon and vietnam. certainly there are differences and different aspects of it, but the overall perception and the way we had to flee really while the enemy, meaning the taliban is taking over, those are strong parallels and those are images that are hard to get out of your head. >> i want to ask a couple more questions before i go to -- i'm looking at these very good questions from the audience. and one is, how much -- i hope this is not too

because the women, the 18 million women of afghanistan, are not dead, and 18 million women of afghanistand i will be that for as long as i can. and i would love to sit down with them and talk to them. i would really love to. >> narrator: while najibullah was at her office, a visitor came in seeking help. she was concerned her granddaughter had been abdted by the taliban. (phone ringing) >> (speaking dari): >> (speaking dari): >> (speaking dari): >> (speaking dari): >> narrator: she told najibullah that her granddaughter had been hoping to leave the country before the taliban took over. >> (speaking dari): >> (speaking dari): >> (speaking dari): >> you can't do anything? >> no, nothing. what am i supposed to do? >> narrator: she was worried the woman would be out after dark and encouraged her to stay home. >> (speaking dari): >> i cannot protect her, najibullah! i cannot protect any woman. >> in the previous regime, you had power? you could have do something? before the taliban, if... >> yeah! >> if somebody had such problem? >> yeah, of course! i could have called, i could have got them i

i lived in afghanistan until 200a. there during the civil war. the taliban regime and i was a young girl. i remember the afternoon when they came to afghanistan and the next morning when i heard from the radio that i cannot go to school and keep in mind for a young girl, for a young afghan girl coming from a pashtun family, which the only hope to the outside world is your education, because this is the key to your success. this is the key to your future. this is your key to brightness. and suddenly, one morning you wake up, it's taken from you. and that's hard. and i remember as a young girl, i would wake up at midnight and do prayers because ijust wanted to wake up to a miracle that reality has changed for me and it didn't change. it took five years and five years i stayed at home and then later on, my father passed away and my mom was a widow and i really, really hear the voice of those widows right now in afghanistan as the breadwinners because my mom was one of them and she wasn't allowed to work. i wasn't allowed

whether it's vietnam or iraq or afghanistan.t bush, president obama, president trump all say they would not engage in nationbuilding and yet they did, over 20 years. why? >> that's a a really good quen and i think one that our leaders haven't answered. there there was one interview in the afghanistan papers with a former navy seal made jeffrey eggers who worked at the white house on the nationals could he staff under bush and obama and he served in afghanistan, too, and he raised that same question. said why do we think we can transform societies like this? why do we take on these enormous tasks as a country? he said it really gets, is a question of human psychology. why do we think we can do this, accomplish these things? why don't we take a a step bak and question some of these basic assumptions? what were we thinking trying to transform not just create a new afghan government, new afghan institutions, but in some ways transform afghan society. yet this was a country that americans knew very little about going in and we never

but for afghanistan. my fear is for afghanistan. seraj was offered a flight out of the country, but has chosen to stay. the face of this town has changed. there used to be women walking around the streets of kabul, there used to be a feeling that, you know, we are all the citizens of the same country, and we are in this city, men and women. but now it's no longer that. she's waiting to see if the taliban will keep their promise to be more moderate this time round. if they really have changed, they have to prove it. i am here in afghanistan, i want to tell them, and i'm not going anywhere. i'm sitting right here. because the women, the 18 million women of afghanistan, are not dead, and 18 million women of afghanistan, they really need a voice. the interview is interrupted by a woman asking for help. we agreed to hide her identity because her grand—daughter has gone missing. the woman says her grand—daughter had been hoping to leave the country before the taliban took control. it's getting late, so mahbouba tells the woman to go home.

forces in afghanistan? >> so, senator, these discussions were occurring in january, february, march. they're separate from the late august discussion, so i want to make that point clear. >> in your best military judgment, do you believe that the recommendations that general miller put forth was some 2500, and i think general milley said maybe up to 3500. do you believe that would have sown the seeds for ultimately having to send tens of thousands of u.s. service members back to afghanistan, as the president has said publicly? >> senator, i believe there was a risk you would incur increasing a tax by the taliban. that was a risk at holding at 2500. i'm really humbled recently by my ability to deduce what the taliban would or would not do, so i think it's hard to know. >> thank you. i'll get to my questions later about the people still stranded in afghanistan. thank you, mr. chair. >> i'm leaving for the vote. senator hirono will take over. senator warren. >> it's hard to look at afghanistan without viewing t

development assistance in afghanistan. it is my hope that the committee continues holding hearings to discuss what went disastrously wrong with the u.s. withdrawal and what the future implications are for u.s. national security. almost $145 billion has been appropriated for afghanistan relief and reconstruction since 2002. and while many important gains were made during these years to support the people of afghanistan, especially to advance the rights of women and children, increasing their access to education and supporting civil society, there not supporting civil society, there were also failures impossible to miss. the series of reports released by the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction on lessons learned from our 20-year mission offers important takeaways. in the aftermath of the botched withdrawal, however, we do need to seriously question why the biden administration did not heed those lessons, and we need to ask why, even now, our priorities seem to be misplaced. today it's clear what our numb

but our exit from afghanistan was a disaster. and the missteps that are already outlined had consequences that struck close to home. as an a nebraskaen, corpsal dagen paige was one of the 13 service members killed in actio dagen paige was one of the 13 service members killed in action. global credibility with allies and partners would suffer and the narrative of abandoning the afghans would and a narrative of abandoning the afghans would become widespread. 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 advise 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 the military voice was heard. and it was considered. >> it was considered but not followed. correct? >> we have -- presidents are elected for reasons. they make strategic decisions -- >> i would say this committee, general, has always stressed t

forces in afghanistan? >> so, senator, these discussions were occurring in january, february, march. i want to make that point. >> but in your best military judgement, do you believe that the recommendations that general miller put forth was some 2500 and i think general milley said maybe up to 3500. do you believe that would have sewn the seeds for ultimately having to send tens of thousands of u.s. service members back to afghanistan? as the president said publicly? >> senator, i believe there was a risk you would incur increasing attacks by the taliban. that was a risk withholding at 2500. that was a very clear risk. i'll tell you, senator, i'm humbled by my ability to deduce what the taliban would or would not do. i think it is hard to know. >> senator war snen is. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to begin by zooming out. it is not possible to understand our final months in afghanistan without viewing them in the context of the 20 years that led up to them. in 2015 the taliban conquered the first prob

lessons from afghanistan. without objection, the chair has authorized to declare a recess for the committee at any point and all members will have five days to submit statements, extraneous materials and questions for the record, subject to the rules. to insert something into the record, please have your staff email the previously mentioned address for contact full committee staff and keep your video function on at all times, even when you are not recognized by the chair. members are responsible for muting an un-muting themselves. remember to meet your -- and you to yourself after you finish speaking. staff will only mute members and witnesses as appropriate when they are not under recognition to eliminate background noise. they see we have a quorum and i will not recognize myself for opening remarks. again, thank you for joining us for today's hearing on afghanistan. and specifically the lessons that are -- that they hold for the nation's deponent programs. like many americans, i reacted to the events of augu

afghanistan is not the afghanistan of the 1990's. i would hope 20 years of education has empowered and changed the people of afghanistan. again, i would hope that people just don't rollover, even given the brutality of the taliban. what can we do to support the people of afghanistan in trying to come up with a better outcome? >> congressman, i would like to weigh in on that. i thing we see in the next year, so the most immediate challenge here will be the humanitarian crisis, which may happen with or without the taliban taking power, but the combination of financial resources, lack of financial resources, a largely unvaccinated population against covid, so health concerns. there's a major drought that's been playing out over several years, so food security is at an all-time low, combined the fact that we have a taliban government, this transition government, that does not know how to govern. i mean, we know how to fight. they have proven themselves effective in that, but they do not know how to govern, so incompetence and lack of exp

afghanistan strategy. they played significant roles throughout this war and i hope you are forthcoming in your answers today. i would ask you provide an accounting of the television though the key assessments that factored into the viability of the afghan government and forces and how those trends changed over time. i'd like to know any lessons you identified or how we can work with and through forces in the future. additionally i would like aato understand what factors you contribute to the tower bands success and whether we missed indicators and warnings . finally while we have trance for it our military from afghanistan after largely achieved dark factors we must in short afghanistan can never againbe used for a base for terrorist groups to conduct operations against the us and our allies . we must be sure we establish aneffective, counterterrorism architecture moving forward . nsto that and i would ask you update the committee on your plans for counterterrorism operations. the united states is facing e

of lives in northern afghanistan and southern afghanistan.he taliban since 2015 have been fighting i.s. k. both sides have lost a lot of people in this war. that is going to continue, in my opinion. whether the taliban wants to use this as leverage or not, it depends very much on whether they think that they can get something out of the others. the others -- what is -- that is what they are looking for. the taliban would like access to the money that has been frozen. the international community is using that leverage. i don't think the taliban is losing terrorism as leverage or the fact that afghanistan has some enemy is going to produce much result at the state. knowing that they themselves are on shaky ground. >>former samad, the former afghan ambassador to france and canada, -- omar samad, the former afghan ambassador to france and canada, we appreciate your insights tonight. thank you. afghanistan's economy is unraveling. a looming humanitarian crisis is facing the country. nick connolly reports from the afghan capital. >>customers are th

and people of afghanistan and women in afghanistan in the last 20 years had still exposure to the outsideducation and suddenly, overnight, that right is taken from them. learning of your personal experience is important, and it obviously lends a great deal of weight to your suspicion of the taliban and their promises. on the other hand, i'm also very aware that your husband, abdul matin bek, he, like you, was a very successful and senior figure in the ashraf ghani government going back the last few years, and he actuallyjoined the negotiating team that was prepared over the last 18 months to talk to the taliban and clearly believed that there was some worth in reaching out to the taliban and treating them seriously as potential political players in the future of afghanistan. so why are you now telling me that you absolutely rule out talking to them, working with them when your own husband was actually in a dialogue with them? look, erm... i did not say rule out to...to talk to them. but you wouldn't even take their zoom call. look, because in the current position, i am, as the ambassador,

those that are now in charge in afghanistan sees their takeover. the tale been ev at various times. brom is afghan citizens, including women, children, minority to communities, former government employees that they would protect their rights since all to those promises was the possibility of women to move to work and to enjoy their basic rights. and for girls will be effective, accessed through all levels of education, the same as boys gender equality is always been an absolute priority for me. and then my visits left gun is that i was deeply moved by the credit, the resilience and the thin me nation of afghan women and girls. i am. but the clearly alarm to see promise made to f than women and girls by the taliban be broken. broken promises leads to broken dreams for the women and girls of afghanistan. since 2000 and when's city 1000000 girls have enrolled in school and evidence schooling as increased from 6 ears took them. women and girls need to be the center of attention that ability to learn work own assets and to leave with rights and dignity

development assistance in afghanistan. it is my hope that the committee continues to hold hearings to discuss what exactly went wrong with the u.s. withdrawal, and the future implications for u.s. national security. almost 145 billion dollars has been appropriate for afghanistan relief and construction since 2002. while many important gains were made during these years, for the people of afghanistan, to actually advance the rights of women and children, increasing access to education civil society, there were also in failures impossible to miss. the reports released by the special inspector general on lessons learned from our mission offers important takeaways in the aftermath of the bost withdrawal, however, we need to seriously questioned why the biden administration did not heed those lessons. we need to ask why and how the priorities are misplaced. it's clear now what our priorities should be, ensuring the safety and security of u.s. citizens, are lawful permanent residents, and at risk afghans, who supported policy ob

sivs are not unique to afghanistan. people working with us, human intelligence on the ground, keeping our forces safe is something that's standard operating procedure in a lot of dangerous areas. i hope we recognize that we owe it to the people in afghanistan, but we owe it to our people in uniform to get it right. thank you. >> thank you, senator tillis. let me recognize senator warren. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general milley, our military executed a massive operation during the month of august. as i understand it, it was larger than the berlin airlift. for the record, can you just tell us how many americans you evacuated? >> almost 6,000. i can get you a precise number for the record, but about 6,000 >> let's get the right number for the record, but that's helpful. and how many did the u.s. in totally coalition forces evacuate? >> 124,000, totally 44,000 on non u.s. aircraft, the rest on u.s. aircraft. >> an extraordinary effort, but still it's hard to get everyone. >> largest airlift in history. >> right. hard to

withdrawal from afghanistan. he testified along with defense secretary lloyd austin and general kenneth mckenzie, head of u.s. central command. >>> call hearing to order. good morning. this is a hybrid hearing. we have some members participating remotely in addition to the members who are present. there are rules for that. i need to read a statement that sets out the rules before we get going. members must be visible on screen for purposes of identify establishment. those members must continue to use the software platform video function unless they experience connectivity issues or other problems that render them up able to remain on camera. they should contact committee staff for assistance. they will be prod cast in the room via the television/internet speeds. members must seek recognition verbally and asked to mute microphones when not speaking. they are reminded to keep the software platform video function on. members may leave and rejoin the proceeding. if members depart for short reasons for reasons other t

>> the war in terror is not over and the war in afghanistan is not over. >> has the exit from afghanistan made the war more challenge for us or less challenging? with respect to continuing to try to protect the homeland and u.s. interests abroad. >> it's made it more challenging. >> an article published said the military lost 90% of the intelligence collection capability it is had using drones. do you agree with that? >> i didn't see the report. >> it said we have lost 90% of our intelligence collection capabilities it had using drones before the drawdown. >> i would have to look at the math. we are doing that right now to determine the level. it is significant, i don't know if it's 90%. >> on the sibs and folks stranded in afghanistan, is it fair to say that our human intelligence network given the current status and the fact that many were left behind, is it fair to say that's been stressed even more so than our drone sur lans capabilities. do we have much today? >> we can explain that in a classified session, but there's still yes. >> back to secretary austin, i think it's so important

i. ~ ., afghanistan. do you think that will be enough? _ afghanistan.hanistan. do you think that will be enough? if you - afghanistan. do you think that will be enough? if you are - will be enough? if you are effectively bypassing the taliban and those in control and relying on other organisations to get cash directly to afghans, is there enough capacity that way to get enough capacity that way to get enough to stave off an economic catastrophe? £31 enough to stave off an economic catastmphe?_ catastrophe? of course not. afghanistan _ catastrophe? of course not. afghanistan economy - catastrophe? of course not. afghanistan economy has i catastrophe? of course not. i afghanistan economy has been downgraded from a fragile economy to a failed economy. right now, inflation is ever increasing, afghanistan currency is losing value against other major currencies, specifically the united states dollar and the euro. 0n the other hand, there is no school teachers, hospitals, workers, doctors, all those who are part of the government have not received a monthly sa

withdrew from afghanistan. there are still american citizens trying to get home to safety, still behind enemy lines. with no u.s. presence on the ground, what mechanism are you using to ensure the safety of americans that the biden administration but behind in afghanistan? brian mckeon: we're working every day to try to bring out the americans who wish to depart. we are working with a couple of airline companies that are willing to go into kabul airport, to bring people out on chartered aircraft. those -- there is no commercial air service right now to kabul airport. we expect to go this week to bring out several dozen americans. >> several dozen. why do you believe all americans who want to leave afghanistan will be able? brian mckeon: the number of people ready to depart is over 200, at the current pace, if we continue to have success with chartered flights, all the people who say they are ready to depart will be offered an opportunity in the next couple of weeks. >> we have american still trapped in afghanis

afghanistan is in crisis. no us civilian, diplomat or military presence in the country other than those being held, the administration wants to continue to provide foreign assistance including economic support funds to afghanistan. during his testimony before the house subcommittee on national security the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction stated, quote, the reduced us, civilian and military presence in afghanistan, among deteriorating security environment could create new challenges for conducting effective oversight of us funded grants, programs and contracts reconstruction work so the question is given the fact there is now no us diplomatic ordinary presence in afghanistan is there any way to ensure us taxpayer resources will be used appropriately and go to the intended recipients? >> the primary assistance is humanitarian assistance through nongovernmental organizations, un agencies like the world food program. all of these organizations have long experience working in challenging en

withdrawal from afghanistan. general milley testified along with defense secretary lloyd austin and general kenneth mckenzie, head of u.s. central command. [background noises] [background noises] [background noises] >> good morning. this has been a case for a while this hybrid hearing we have some members participating remotely inhi addition to those who are present for their rules for that i need to read a statement that sets out those rules before we get going. members who are joining remotely must be visible on screen for the purposes of identity verification establishing and maintaining a form, participating in the proceeding and voting those content you choose esop where platform video tenets while in attendance unless have connectivity issues of the technical problems that unable to participate on camera. they should contact the committee staff for assistance. video of member's participation would broadcast in the room via the television/internet feeds. embers participating must seek a recognition verbally

withdrew from afghanistan. there are still american citizens trying to get home to get to safety, still behind enemy lines. with no u.s. presence on the ground, what mechanism are you using to ensure the safe evacuation of americans that the biden administration left behind in afghanistan? secretary mckeon: senator barrasso, we're working every day to bring out the americans who wish to depart. we're working with a couple airline companies that are willing to go into the kabul airport to bring people out on chartered aircraft. there's not normal commercial aircraft service right now at the kabul airport. we have some flights we expect to go this week to bring out several dozen americans. senator barrasso: when do you think all americans that want to leave afghanistan will be evacuated? secretary mckeon: the numbers of those ready to depart is 200. on the current pace, if we continue to have success with these charter flights, i think all these people who say they're ready to depart will be offered an opportunit

we have 0 presence in afghanistan. it could be as little as 12 months before al kato will use afghanistan as a base conduct as a base to conduct airstrikes or strikes against united states. frankly, after this debacle of a withdrawal. i don't think anyone control anything this president says about afghanistan. we need to consider some uncomfortable truce that we did not fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership and their senior ranks. that we did not grasp the damaging effect of frequent and unexplained rotations by president ghani of his commanders. and that we fail to fully grasp why there was only so much for which and for home. many of the afghan forces would fight. so after an entire war aimed to eliminate a terrorist threat to america, that threat could now be worse to real possibility in the not too distant future, 612182436 months that time the time frame for re constitution about kite are isis terrorist organizations seek ungoverned spaces so that they can train and equip and thrive. and the

>> the war on terror is not over and the war in afghanistan is not over. >> has the exit from afghanistan made the war more challenging for us or less challenging with respect to continuing to try and protect the homeland and u.s. interests abroad. >> senator, it's made it more challenging. >> general milley, you agree. >> absolutely. >> a "wall street journal" article published on august 31st said u.s. officials acknowledged the military has lost 90% of the intelligence collection capabilities it had using drones befores draw down. do you agree with that? >> i didn't see the report. it said -- say again what it said. >> it said we have lost 90% of our intelligence collection capabilities it had using drones before the draw down. >> i would have to go look at the actual math. i've got my j 2 actually doing that right now to determine the level of isrs in the statistics. it is significant. i don't know if it's 90%. but it's significant. >> on the sivs and folks stranded in afghanistan, is it fair to say that our human intelligence network given the current status and the fact that many wer

military mission in afghanistan. we are trying to get as many afghans and americans out of the country as we can. i am looking forward to what i hope will be an important policy discussion. at the center of our examination, there is the desire to learn from our 20-year involvement. we must have an open and honest analysis of everything that went into that, adjust the events of the last year or months. before getting into that, we should take a moment to recognize the service of the over 800,000 men and women who served in afghanistan over the last 20 years. i would like to remember and honor the 2461 who made the ultimate sacrifice along with the over 20,000 who bore the physical wounds of war. we will vigorously debate policy decisions related to the u.s. military mission in afghanistan, but i believe i speak when we express our gratitude to those who have sacrificed so much. we are owing a debt that cannot be repaid. i agree with the decision that was made to end our military presence in afghanistan. it was the rig