august 26, 2021, during the evacuation of citizens of the united states and afghan allies at hamid karzai international airport, the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 41 -- h.r. 5142, a bill to award posthumously a congressional gold medal, in commemoration to the service members who perished in afghanistan on august 26, 2021, during the evacuation of citizens of the united states and afghan allies at hamid karzai international airport, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters, and the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. wagner, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman fr

was with president karzai at the time.inistration when president ghani came to office, and his colleague sent me a message and said, "he wants you to stay in the office." and so if i say, with great confidence, a lot of it — and it was not only for me, and i think for most of the younger generation who worked with him — we did believe in him at the initial stage, because i remember my first year when i worked with him in his office, i thought, "this is the end of our misery "and we have a leader who has a vision, who is optimistic "and he knows so well." and there were times i really thought i shouldn't even go to home, and stay in the office, work until midnight, wake up early morning and do the work again. but it took quite a few years to start to realise that, "there are challenges," and i think corruption was much bigger, much... it was not only specifically to one administration, and you said it really well. i think it was a combination of so many factors. but, and in our part, and i think as my contribution, it was,

and he was saying that in particular, he was singling out karzai's half brother, ahmed wali karzai, aandahar in southern afghanistan, you need to remove him from power, he's corrupt to the core. karzai was, of course, furious about this, because this was in part his brother. his comeback was, you're the guys giving him all the money. he's on the cia's payroll, and the defense department is giving him all these contracts. why are you blaming me? you're the guys -- he's your best friend down there. of course, what can you say to that? on one hand we lecture the afghans that they need to clean things up, but we were responsible for a lot of those problems. now, the question is, if we had eradicated corruption, would things have been successful? i think it was too difficult to eradicate corruption both because of our role in it and because the afghans saw this as a way -- they didn't know when the money was going to go away and they were trying to get a piece of it because they didn't know how the war was going to turn out. i think it would have been very hard. the most devastating part o

injured. 11 marines, one navy corps man and one was killed by an isis-k bomber outside the hamid karzai international airport on this terrible day in august. mr. speaker, i represent the people of missouri's second congressional district. on august 26, my state lost a hero. lance corporal jared schmitz. this courageous young man had been stationed in jordan on his first deployment when he was called into afghanistan to defend the civilians fleeing the taliban's advance. he was eager to be one of the brave men and women on the front lines, making a real difference for the americans and allies trapped in a terrifying and dangerous situation. lance corporal schmitz felt a calling to be a united states marine. so much so he had gotten his parents' permission to enlist at just 17 years old. he was just 20 years old when he lost his life in the terrorist attack at the airport in kabul. lance corporal schmitz and the 12 others we lost in august went above and beyond the call of duty to protect those stranded in afghanistan. i sadly don't believe we will truly understand why lance corporal schm

and then to be a karzai government.hen to with us now in the mountain alongside pakistan and that would have been a perfect time for them to pull out and then there are several others in an me take advantage. the administration started to turn in succession and second once you do that there wasn't enough center of gravity in the administration left of afghanistan. it is difficult for the us government to have major issues simultaneously. >> . >> that i lead ask that we keep hearing about their nation building to get al qaeda to the nation building may have all this usaid money and personnel and resources that some are in response to the military. but they seem so disjointed if they have been more coordinated and efforts instead of one off across the spectrum. >> i will take a crack at that. congresswoman the heart of the issue is that my colleagues have spoken of the corruption is certainly true so the hard truth is an those institutions and their body of law that goes with. . . . . it has got to be broader than the ins

even though we hear that experts in karzai and dr. abdullah may have been invited.hey decided just to have a conversation with the taliban. there are other venues, as you know, being used on a patient's to meet with the taliban. -- on occasion to meet with the taliban. doha is one of them. the americans met for t days with the taliban and had discussions over agenda issues that both sides wanted to bring out. in other western countries, european countries including germany, have also met with the taliban in doha under the past few weeks. you are seeing the inability of the taliban to turn kabul. ev though me reasonable -- regional countries have visited kabul. instead, they are using venues outside of afghanistan to interact with the international community. >>pressure today did not offer to recognize the taliban as of afghanistan. it did say it plans to hold the taliban responsible for keeping terrorist out of afghanistan and letting history repeat itself. which is more likely, that the taliban would allow terrorists to come back, or, a country like russia would ke

hamid karzai's reelection worsened the deluge that engulfed afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. dark money cascaded over the country. money launderers left suitcases loaded with a million dollars or more on flights leaving kabul, so quickly businessmen and politicians could keep their ill-gotten fortunes. we asked mr. whitlock to expand on this, and other stories from his book, the afghanistan papers. >> washington post investigate reporter on notes. you can listen to notes plus and all podcasts at c-span now app. >> next week on the c-span network, the u.s. supreme court starts its new term on monday. listen to the oral argument on line at c-span.org, or on c-span now app. house of representatives is out but the senate will be in session, working on executive nominations. watch live because frisian c-span2. on tuesday at 10 a.m., two committees hold hearings. the judiciary committee on the administrations desire for the financing is women act which expired in 2018. you can watch on c-span. on c-span3, watch as the subcommittee hears from a former facebook employee who provided

government -- prop up the karzai government in particular, but also the ghani government. we are introducing hundreds of millions of dollars into that economy. to my previous points, that was a recipe for corruption. i don't think we fully appreciated that for the depth of the corruption, even though there were honest efforts, like the one a charming master -- hr mcmaster left in afghanistan. >> thank you. with that, i yield back. >> i now recognize the vice chair of the floor committee for five minutes. >> i want to start by quickly pushing back on a comment that my friend made at the very beginning of this hearing, when he suggested that trump's deal with the taliban, conditions faced and the president never would have withdrawn our troops, which i think is a pretty shameless form of revisionism. the conditions in that deal, as i think all of us know, were limited to the taliban not shooting at our troops as we left, log two, help al qaeda strike -- i think former president trump was itching to withdraw and tried to withdraw even in the final days of his administration.

craig whitlock begins chapter 15 in his new book the afghanistan papers this way, quote, karzai fraudulent reelection worsened a deluge of corruption that engulfed afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. dark money cascaded over the country. money launderers lead suitcases loaded with $1 million or more, more on flights leaving kabul the crooked businessmen and politicians could stash their ill-gotten fortunes offshore, unquote. we asked him to expand on this and other stories from his book, the afghanistan papers. >> "washington post" investigates reporter craig whitlock on this weeks episode of booknotes+. >> you are watching booktv with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. booktv, television for serious readers. >> welcome to the free library of philadelphia online. my name is jason freeman and i'm pleased to be or to introduce the next guest randall kennedy. celebrated for his courage and his convictions in tackling sensitive issues, randall kennedy is what the "washington post" calls a quote member of that small culture of our most lucid big thinkers about race. that michael klein pr

behind me, you can see the flags of the taliban, the islamic emirate flying over the former hamid karzai international airport. the taliban is in control of the city and the country. people are afraid. they have seen what the taliban is doing across afghanistan and they're trying to get out of the country. there are emerging threats from groups like isis-k, just on friday, in kandahar, there's was a bombing that killed 47 afghan civilians. many of the people that will leave on an evacuation flight to qatar will leave in a few minutes, it's an opportunity for people to get out of afghanistan after weeks of waiting amid this new country, a new chapter for the afghan people. we continue to get messages from special immigrant visa holders and applicants, people who worked with the american military over the past 20 years during the war, who say they are desperate for any help to get out of the country. i received a message just last night from one man who said hello, i have worked with the u.s. army and i submitted all of the documents to the special immigrant visa program. he goes on to say

the second time we had dealing with the taliban was when the ex-president of afghanistan, hamid karzaietween the government and the taliban a few years back. we asked the taliban if they would break the relationship with al-qaida at the time and they refused. so this is our issues with the taliban. how they're going to deal with the united states, we'll have to wait and see. eric: what do you think the biden administration and the international community should do? >> i can't hear you very well, sir. eric: what do you think the biden administration and the international community should do? i mean, can the taliban be reasoned with or from your experience is that not possible at all? >> well, it's been -- since 1990 1990s that i dealt with them, they may have changed. they said that they have changed. we'll have to wait and see if they perform on their promises. i think the world community should continue to provide humanitarian aid if possible to the afghan -- [lost audio] eric: we're getting a technical issue with his royal highness for a second. sometimes these things happen. it's fa

hamid karzai who's got my back? nobody. he did is see steals in exchange for their political fealty so that's why these networks were hobbling out and weakening the state institutions that they were trying to build and we didn't take the time for the political drivers of this and the fundamental way to address it was a long-term commitment and orders that were necessary. these again afghanistan didn't need to be deadlocked. afghanistan just needed to beat afghanistan with a political settlement and put akel structure in place that was anti-jihadist terrorist and that's what we had and the reason why afghan forces collapsed and i go into great detail of this in my record we delivered psychological after psychological to them from the capitulation t agreement on intervention time allowing afghans to be part of that negotiation to forcing the afghan government to release 5000 most heinous people on earth who went in it may delay back to terrorizing the afghan people and announcing the data lowest drawl and the troop limits. th

reporter craig whitlock begins chapter 15 in his new book the afghanistan papers this way quote, karzai's fraudulent reelections worsen the deluge of corruption that engulf afghanistan in 2009 in 2010. dark money castigated over the country. money launders put suitcases loaded with $1 million more on flights leaving kabul so crooked businessmen and politicians could state their ill-begotten fortune offshore unquote. we asked mr. whitlock to expand on this and other stories from his book, the afghanistan papers. >> the five reconciliations were the confederacy and just trust and acclaimed because they made an alliance with the confederacy they no longer had valid treaties with them so they withheld money that they need after a war unless they signed the treaties and they do and they were forced into it. the treaties are called the treaties of 1866. they serve as a diatribe and a reconstruction document. one of the most extreme items in the treaties is a section of land. they are forced to give up a majority of the land as they had just moved 30 years earlier. the other three big items in t

and also to assist turkey to maintain the hamid karzai international airport and transition the u.s. mission to over the horizon counterterrorism support and security force systems. it is clear, it is obvious to all of us the war in afghanistan did not end on the terms that we wanted. with the taliban now in power in kabul. although the neo was unprecedent and the largest air evacuation in history, it was a tactical operational and logistical success evacuating 124,000 people. the war was a strategic failure. it came also at an incredible cost in the end, with 11 marines, one soldier and a navy corpsman. these 13 gave their lives so that people they never met would have an opportunity to live in freedom. and we have to remember the taliban was and remains a terrorist organization and still have not broken with al qaeda. i have no illusions who we are dealing with. it remains to be seen whether or not the taliban can consolidate power or if the country will further fraction into civil war. but we must continue to protect the united states of america and its people from terrorist attac

reporter craig whitlock begins chapter 15 in his new book the afghanistan papers this way quote, karzai'sudulent reelections worsen the deluge of corruption that engulf afghanistan in 2009 in 2010. dark money castigated over the country. money launders put suitcases loaded with $1 million more on flights leaving kabul so crooked businessmen and politicians could state their ill-begotten fortune offshore unquote. we asked mr. whitlock to expand on this and other stories from his book, the afghanistan papers. >> the five reconciliations were the confederacy and just trust and acclaimed because they made an alliance with the confederacy they no longer had valid treaties with them so they withheld money that they need after a war unless they signed the treaties and they do and they were forced into it. the treaties are called the treaties of 1866. they serve as a diatribe and a reconstruction document. one of the most extreme items in the treaties is a section of land. they are forced to give up a majority of the land as they had just moved 30 years earlier. the other three big items in the t

reporter craig whitlock begins chapter 15 in his new book the afghanistan papers this way, quote, karzai fraudulent reelection worsened a deluge of corruption that engulfed afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. dark money cascaded over the country. money launderers lead suitcases loaded with $1 million or more, more on flights leaving kabul the crooked businessmen and politicians could stash their ill-gotten fortunes offshore, unquote. we asked him to expand on this and other stories from his book, the afghanistan papers. >> "washington post" investigates reporter craig whitlock on this weeks episode of booknotes+. >> you are watching booktv with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. booktv, television for serious readers. >> welcome to the free library of philadelphia online. my name is jason freeman and i'm pleased to be or to introduce the next guest randall kennedy. celebrated for his courage and his convictions in tackling sensitive issues, randall kennedy is what the "washington post" calls a quote member of that small culture of our most lucid big thinkers about race. that micha

reporter craig whitlock begins chapter 15 in his new book the afghanistan papers this way, quote, karzai fraudulent reelection worsened a deluge of corruption that engulfed afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. dark money cascaded over the country. money launderers lead suitcases loaded with $1 million or more, more on flights leaving kabul the crooked businessmen and politicians could stash their ill-gotten fortunes offshore, unquote. we asked him to expand on this and other stories from his book, the afghanistan papers. >> "washington post" investigates reporter craig whitlock on this weeks episode of booknotes+.

they hadad to draw down the tros to keep hamid karzai. we have to admit this was the state department and white house that caused this. ie. will yield back, mr. chairm. my constituents and i have a lot of questions about the planning that led up to this and i will admit that i am concerned based on the conditions on the ground recommended against the withdrawal i wish the administration had been more thoughtful. i have yett to hear the answer why did we not start withdrawing the american citizens sooner? we knew we were going to be withdrawing in january or may or sooner than the actual execution. given the concerns about pushing theen withdrawal back in the criteria and the agreement to ensure that we did the handoff correctly. we already were not going to fully withdraw by may of 2021. when they are not the strongest in the fighting season as opposed to waiting until the winter months when there is more of a fighting season so relatively low. >> and i'm sorry, we are going to stick to the five minute rule so we are going to move on to o

reporter craig whit lock begins chapter 15 in his new book the afghanistan papers this way quote hamid karzai's fraudulent reelection worsened a deluge of corruption that engulfed afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. dark money cascaded over the country. money launderers lugged suitcases loaded with a million dollars or more on flights leaving kabul so crooked businessmen and politicians could stash their ill gotten fortunes offshore unquote. we asked mr. whit lock to expand on this and other stories from his book "the afghanistan papers." >> "washington post" investigative reporter craig whitlock on this week's episode of book notes plus. you can listen to all of our podcasts on our c-span now app. >>> two house homeland security subcommittees held a joint hearing on cyber threats and the may ransomware attack on colonial pipeline. several topics were discussed including improving cyber security, this hearing is just under two hours. >> maritime security and the subcommittee on cyber security, infrastructure, protection and innovation will come to order for today's hearing titled cyber threats in the

"hamid karzai's fraudulent reelection worsened a deluge of corruption that engulfed afghanistan in 20090. dark money cascaded over the country. money launderers loved suitcases loaded with a million dollars or more on flights leaving kabul so crooked businessmen and politicians could stash their ill-gotten fortunes offshore." >> washington post investigative reporter craig whitlock on this week's episode of but noakes -- oak notes -- book notes plus. >> you can be part of the national conversation by participating in c-span's studentcam video competition. your opinion matters. we are asking you to create a five to six minute document rate that answers the questions how does the federal government impact your life. your documentary must show supporting points of the. c-span's studentcam competition. and you have a shot at winning the grand prize of $5,000. competition rules are to get started, visit our website at studentcam.org. host: every week at this time we take a look at an aspect of the covid comes to issues of vaccination or even today as we talk about issues of testing. our gues

and assist turkey to maintain karzai airport. this is clear, it is obvious the war in afghanistan did not end on the terms we wanted. with the taliban now in power in kabul. although the neo was unpresented as the largest air evacuation in history, evacuating 124,000 people, it came an incredible kous. 11 marines, one soldier and a navy coreman. those 13 gave their lives so people they never met will have an opportunity to live in freedom. and we have to remember the taliban was and remains a terrorist organization and still have not broken ties with al qaeda. i have no illusions who we are dealing with. it remains to be seen whether or not the taliban can consolidate power or if the country will further fraction into civil war. but we must continue to protect the united states of america and its people from terrorist attacks coming from afghanistan. a reconstituted al qaeda or isis with aspirations to attack the united states is a very real possibility. and those conditions to include activity in ungoverned spaces could present

of state could coordinate contractor security support, and also to assist turkey to maintain the karzai international airport and transition the u.s. military to an over-the-horizon counterterrorism support and security force assistance. it is clear, it is obvious the war in afghanistan did not end on the terms we wanted, with the taliban now in power in kabul. although the n.e.o. was unprecedented and as the largest air evacuation in history, evacuating 124,000 people, it came at an incredible cost of 11 marines, one soldier, and a navycorpsman. those 13 people gave their lives so that people they never met will have an opportunity to live in freedom. we must remember that the taliban was and remains a terrorist organization, and they still have not broken ties with al qaeda. i have no illusions who we are dealing with. it remains to be seen whether or not the taliban can consolidate power or if the country will further fracture into civil war. but we must continue to protect the united states of america and its people from terrorist attacks coming from afghanistan. a reconstituted al

interpreters who worked for nato or worked for the united nations and because of the chaos at the karzai airport, it appears that many who did get evacuated and admitted to the uchbs, is do not have a record of working with the u.s. government or our partners and yet they are not being subject to normal security screening and vetting procedures. . we have a moral responsibility to welcome the afghan evacuees who have stood by us and who have had to flee their country because of the feckless actions of biden administration. i agree with that. we also though have a moral responsibility to do everything in our power to ensure the safety and security of american citizens and american communities by doing the proper vetting, so we are not releasing terrorists or criminals into our ranks. i'm disappointed, as the administration knows, that despite my request since september 1st, the day after the withdrawal, members of this committee have yet to receive a classified briefing on vetting procedures. even as we were told that evacuees were being resettled in our states. we cannot do proper oversi

"karzai's fraudulent re-election worsened a deluge of corruption that engulfed afghanistan in 2009 andark money cascaded over the country. money launderers led suitcases loaded with $1 million or more on flights leaving kabul so crooked businessmen and politicians could stash their ill-gotten fortunes off shore." we asked him to expand on this and other stories from his book, "the afghanistan papers." >> "washington post" investigative reporter craig whitlock. listen to podcasts on our c-span app. >> next week on the c-span networks, the u.s. supreme court starts its new term on monday. listen to the oral arguments live online at c-span.org or on nur c-span now app. the house of representatives is out but the senate will be in session working on executive nominations. watch live coverage on c-span 2. on tuesday, two senate committees hold hearings. the judiciary committee hears from the deputy attorney general on the administration's desire to re-authorize the violence against women act. you can watch that hearing on c-span. on c-span 3, watch as the commerce subcommittee hears testimo

maintain a small contingency force to protect the industry in kabul for security support and also with karzainternational airports and with the rise of counterterrorism support and assistance. it is clear. it is obvious the war in afghanistan tonight and on the terms that we wanted with the taliban now in power it was unprecedented to evacuate 124,000 people. it came at an incredible cost of 11 marines and one soldier and one navy corpsman. those 13 gaveld their lives to people they never meant to have an opportunity to live in freedom and we must remember the taliban remains a terrorist organization and they still have not broken ties with alnd qaeda. i have no illusions who we are dealing with. it remains to beee seen whether or not the taliban can consolidateda power or if the country will further fracture into civil war. we must continue to protect the united states of america and its people from terrorist attacks, coming from afghanistan. a reconstituted al qaeda or isis with aspirations to attack the united states is a very real possibility. those conditions to include activity in ungov

"karzai's fraudulent re-election worsened a deluge of corruption that engulfed afghanistan in 2009 and dark money cascaded over the country. money launderers led suitcases loaded with $1 million or more on flights leaving kabul so crooked businessmen and politicians could stash their ill-gotten fortunes off shore." we asked him to expand on this and other stories from his book, "the afghanistan papers." >> "washington post" investigative reporter craig whitlock. listen to podcasts on our c-span app. >> next week on the c-span networks, the u.s. supreme court starts its new term on monday. listen to the oral arguments live online at c-span.org or on nur c-span now app. the house of representatives is out but the senate will be in session working on executive nominations. watch live coverage on c-span 2. on tuesday, two senate committees hold hearings. the judiciary committee hears from the deputy attorney general on the administration's desire to re-authorize the violence against women act. you can watch that hearing on c-span. on c-span 3, watch as the commerce subcommittee hears testi