this afternoon i will be speaking on the floor about max scobiak. he was one of 13 american soldiers, sailors and marines killed on the wall trying to help others escape from the tyranny of the taliban. he should never have been put in that position. it was an impossible position for our troops, for your diplomats, and the impossibility that they faced was due to our policy decisions. there was an alternative. baghram air base, which we shut down in the middle of the night. it was a surprise. i talk to more people who know about the military side of this that tell me, yes, the afghan troops were a disappointment because that's partly because they were used to americans provide that close air support. they had that and could have pushed back against the taliban. i think you will hear that. if general austin were here, we would hear this. but we just left, like just pulled out all the military under pinnings to without the cover of close air support, without military support, yeah. it became extremely dangerous and chaotic. and we left a lot of people