secretary flournoy and general petraeus. want to welcome both of you and thank you for your distinguished service to our country. i also want to associate myself with the remarks of senator lieberman. you truly are a role model about what it means to be a public servant and we're deeply grateful and honored to have you erving us in afghanistan and what you have done for our country. i also want to thank you for the a sa sacrifices that serve underneath you serve on our behalf. i was very encouraged to see the progress that has been made there. and i think sometimes the press focuses often on the bad things that happen, and the progress that is being made there is not reported about enough. in particular i was very impressed with the military training center as senator inhofe mentioned, particularly the work done by general caldwell in standing up the and work with you and then, of course, when we transition to allow them to protect their own country. i also had the opportunity to meet with so many of our brave soldiers who a

. >> secretary flournoy, i want to quote from you.ou said just right to the point, the threat to our national security, and the security of our friends and allies that emanates from the border land of afghanistan and pakistan is not hypothetical. there is simply no other place in the world that contains such a concentration of al qaeda senior leaders and operational commanders. this remote region has served as a crew's bell for the most catastrophic terrorist actions of the past decade as we learned at great cost after abandoning the region in 1989, staying engaged over the long term is critical to achieving lasting peace and stability in this region and securing our national interests. i don't think we can say it better and have to keep saying it about why we're there. second, general petraeus, i think your presentation today tells us, again, nobody is under any illusions that this is turning around. i can tell you that i've been going to afghanistan since january, february of 2002, after our initial victory there, overthrowing the t

secretary flournoy, i want to quote from you.ou said just right to the point, the threat to our national security, and the security of our friends and allies that emanates from the border land of afghanistan and pakistan is not hypothetical. there is simply no other place in the world that contains-a-a-a commanders. this remote region has served as a crews bell for the most catastrophic terrorist actions of the past decade as we learned at great cost after abandoning the region in 1989, staying engaged over the long term is critical to achieving lasting peace and stability in this region and securing our national interests. end of quote. i don't think we can say it better and have to keep saying it about why we're there. second, general petraeus, i think your presentation today tells us, again, nobody is under any illusions that this is turning around. i can tell you that i've been going to afghanistan since january, february of 2002, after our initial victory there, overthrowing t >> i've been going to twice a year and so for a

secretary flournoy, i want to quote from you.ou said just right to the point, the threat to our national security, and the security of our friends and allies that emanates from the border land of afghanistan and pakistan is not hypothetical. there is simply no other place in the world that contains such a concentration of al qaeda senior leaders and operational commanders. this remote region has served as a crews bell for the most catastrophic terrorist actions of the past decade as we learned at great cost after abandoning the region in 1989, staying engaged over the long term is critical to achieving lasting peace and stability in this region and securing our national interests. end of quote. i don't think we can say it better and have to keep saying it about why we're there. second, general petraeus, i think your presentation today tells us, again, nobody is under any illusions that this is turning around. i can tell you that i've been going to afghanistan since january, february of 2002, after our initial victory there, overt

and secretary flournoy, and transport we appreciate your appearance here. once again, and i don't know how many more appearances there are going to be. but you have been just a tremendous leader for us and we all appreciate that. i want to complete the questions that mr. andrews asked about the capability, afghan capability in the field by the chart that you provide. and i too am looking for one that was. so you said that does not include enablers. where does -- >> to be precise, the independent activity requires a sufficient level of afghan enablers so that they can be independent. and the challenge right now is that in many cases, although the capabilities are building, but in many cases afghan units still depend very heavily on isaf elements of our contracts or other vehicles to ensure their logistics, maintenance and other -- >> in order for that to change, on what are they dependent in terms of funding? >> again, the u.s. provided afghan security forces find is far and away the bulk of the funding. certainly there are other major contributors. japan fo

thank you very much. >> thank you very much, secretary flournoy. general petraeus. >> mr. chairman, senator mccain, it is a privilege to be here with undersecretary flournoy to report on the situation in afghanistan. before i proceed, however, i would like to offer my sincere con doleances to the people of japan, as they work to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in their history. for many years now, japan has been a stall wart partner in afghanistan, an important contributor to the mission there. now our tughts and our prayers are with our long-time allies and with all those in japan effected by the earthquake and tsunami. >> i can say i believe every person on the committee and every american as well. thank you for doing that. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> as a bottom line up front, it is isaf's assessment that the momentum achieved by the taliban since 2005 has been arrested inch of the country and reversed in a number of important areas. however, while the security progress achieved over the past year is sigficant, it is also tragedy i will and reversible

west, try to give equal -- >> thank you, secretary flournoy and general petraeus. i spend 2-1/2 years in afghanistan and i am looking forward to getting back over to visit but based on my recent trip to guantanamo bay and the issues we know we are having, how is the administration planning to handle the transfer or release of high value detainees and third country nationalss when withdrawal occurs? how are we planning to release or transfer these populations of detainees who are members of al qaeda and affiliated splinter groups in putting national security at risk? >> thanks for what you did do. we look forward to getting another master paratrooper out with us. with respect there has been substantial improvement. there is an article in the washington post that individuals who are in charge of helping the afghan and state department individuals with providing updated information for them. there are still significant areas in which there need to be improvements but we have focused a fair amount with the joint task force not just on insuring that the detention facili

first of all, secretary flournoy, i want to thank you for your message on behalf of the administration and you restated it and that is we are not abandoning afghanistan, that there's an enduring partnership, strategic partnership that i interpret that we will stop terrorism there to protect american families at home. i find this reassuring to the people of afghanistan. i know that it's appreciated by our allies and our troops serving there, and i hope it's a warning to our enemies around the world that we will not abandon the people of afghanistan. general petraeus, it's an honor to be back with you. i always like to point out that i'm very grateful personally. i've had two sons serve under your command in afghanistan. i'm very grateful my former national guard unit, the 218th brigade, they are proud they were there. 1,600 troops, the largest deployment of troops since world war ii in afghanistan to help build the afghan army and police. and you trained our new general, bob livingston, very well. we're very grateful. i know your success in iraq as the co-chair of the victory in iraq ca

i think in both under-secretary flournoy and i tried to remind folks of this i think it is important to recall again, why we went there and why we are still there. as i mentioned up front, to remember that it is a vital national security interest, that the transnational al qaeda and other transnational extremists not able to reestablish the sanctuary in afghanistan as they had prior to 9/11. >> one of the questions is afghan a tough one country that is to you have reasons to be the fourth year the social political changes you are instituting will not remain after we depart? >> first of all we are not about the social and political change. we are doing is helping our afghan partners develop what is right for them and that is our goal. we often say as well i actually remind the troopers this isn't about winning the hearts and minds for us. we'd like to have the hearts and minds. to become everybody likes to be left but what matters is the hearts and minds for the of ken partners so we can transition to them so they are seen as legitimate in the eyes of the people. that is the true meas