>> i mean, i can speak to that and certainly secretary flournoy as well. the exact year would be hard for me to pin down but there's been a training effort almost as long as i have been there. my own personal experience is, it was well underway underresourced in 2006/2007. so it's been a number of years. >> and how many would you say we have trained -- who have gone through the training program that we have had or our allies have had in total during this time? >> about 300,000. >> 300,000. >> 302, 300,000. >> according to the information that we have in front of us, we have 305,000 total target end strength for this year of the ansf. >> right. >> so there's been -- so we've trained 300,000 and we still have 300,000 so nobody's gone away, like in iraq where they walked away with arms. they walked away -- they didn't come to the fight. they went back to their villages. you're saying we have 100%, admiral? >> certainly, we've had retention programs -- >> but i asked you how many have we trained during the total time? >> i'd have to go -- >> okay. i would like

flournoy -- miss flournoy -- excuse me, admiral mullen. >> distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss with you the president's decisions regarding the beginning of our drawdown only afghanistan. our continued transfer of responsibilities to the afghan national security forces. i support the president's decisions, as do generals mattis and petraeus. we offered our views freely and without hesitation and they were heard. the commander in chief presided over an inclusive and comprehensive discussion about what to do next. i am grateful for that. i can tell you that, foremost on everyone's mind throughout the discussion, was preserving the success of our troops and civilian counterparts have achieved thus far. back when the strategy was establish in december, 2009, we believe it would be about now, this summer, before we could determine whether or not we had it right, whether the resources were enough and the counterinsurgency focus was a bridge. now we know we did have it right. this strategy is working. al qaeda is on their heels. the taliban in the so

flournoy said 120,000 forces, i think, that's been trained and fielded. some 35,000 are in training literally this week. by the end of next year, we will have afghan units that are manned at the n.c.o. level to the 85% level across the board. extraordinary changes with respect to that. when we talk about whether gains are reversible and fragile, these gains can only be made irreversible by the afghan national security forces and the afghan people. in the end. so that is where this is headed and we've made great progress with respect to that. the secondary effort was the east. and i would not describe it over the course of the last year as a holding action as all. in fact, what dave petraeus and others have done out there is reconfigure forces to deal with the challenges of that very rugged territory, and in fact it is not to take a lot -- the plan is not to take a lot of our forces and put them in the east, but it is as dave petraeus says, it provides the jet stream between the safe havens in pakistan for the ikani network in particular and getting to kab

admiral mullen, secretary flournoy, thanks again for your service and dedication to this country. counterterrorism and counterinsurgents they are not absolutes. it's more of a continuum. and how would you gauge the current strategy? are we then shifting a little bit more to add more counterterrorism elements as we draw down forces? how would you state that, admiral mullen? >> again, i think where we are a year from now is going to determine how it goes this year. it's heavily focused on both as we speak. the c.t. effort inside is significant. and general petraeus asked for and got more forces to do that. will there be a different balance a year from now? probably. how much, i think it's hard to say. i think again what forces the commander on the ground recommends taking out next year is going to be determined by what happens this year. and we are not even halfway through this fighting season. so it's really difficult to say exactly how it's going to look a year from now. >> admiral mullen, i think you stated, quote, in a counter insurgency, firepower is manpower, unquote. could yo

flournoy? >> mr.guished members of the committee, thank you for inviting us both here today to update you on afghanistan. as you all know in his december 2009 speech at west pointe, president obama announced a surge of 30,000 u.s. troops with the clear objectives of seizing the initiative from the taliban and reversing the momentum for the campaign on the ground. at that time, the president specified the surge would not be open ended. he would begin to reduce u.s. forces beginning in july 2011. last night true to his word, president obama announced that the united states is beginning a deliberate, responsible drawdown of our surge forces in afghanistan. an official drawdown of 10,000 troops will occur over the course of this year. with a further drawdown of the remainder of the surge by the end of the summer 2012. secretary gates believes this decision provides our commanders with the right mix of flexibility, resources, and time to continue building on our significant progress on the ground. even aft