mr. lugar:'s scathing attack on justice -- with mr. liu's scathing attack on justice alito's testimony. mr. liu admitted the language was unduly harsh, provocative, unnerks and was a case of poor judgment. mr. grassley: now, that's one statement of mr. liu's with wick agreement. i can appreciate that mr. liu now understands the unfortunate language he uses. the trouble i have with this, however, is that it shows that even when stepping out of the academic world, the nominee promotes extreme views and intemperate language. even if i accept his rationale for the tone of his work in the academic world, that does not explain his congressional testimony. that was one opportunity where he could demonstrate a reasoned, tempered approach, yet he failed the test. i think it may also indicate that we may expect from judge liewrks should he be confirmed, the same thing. to me, that's an unacceptable yowlt come. the fadge major area of concern is mr. liu's testimony and candor before the committee, which was troubling at times and lacked credibili

mr. lugar:'s scathing attack on justice -- with mr. liu's scathing attack on justice alito's testimony. mr. liu admitted the language was unduly harsh, provocative, unnerks and was a case of poor judgment. mr. grassley: now, that's one statement of mr. liu's with wick agreement. i can appreciate that mr. liu now understands the unfortunate language he uses. the trouble i have with this, however, is that it shows that even when stepping out of the academic world, the nominee promotes extreme views and intemperate language. even if i accept his rationale for the tone of his work in the academic world, that does not explain his congressional testimony. that was one opportunity where he could demonstrate a reasoned, tempered approach, yet he failed the test. i think it may also indicate that we may expect from judge liewrks should he be confirmed, the same thing. to me, that's an unacceptable yowlt come. the fadge major area of concern is mr. liu's testimony and candor before the committee, which was troubling at times and lacked credibili

. >> thanks very much, senator lugar. mr. secretary, i ask your indulgence. i have a meeting that i need to go to in a few moments. senator casey is going to preside in my absence. and i just want to thank you again. i think it's obvious through the tone here that there's no issue of you being confirmed, i think. and we want to try to move to get it done as rapidly as we can. and look forward to continuing our relationship with you once you get in there formally. >> thank you, mr. chairman. under secretary burns we're grateful for your public service and for your appearance here today and your ongoing commitment to engage in and accept the responsibility of public service yet again. we don't have time to list all of the positions that you've held but they've all been difficult. and they've all been positions of significant responsibility. and when you serve the public, they do as well by extension and i know the support that they give you so we're grateful for that. i want to turn first to iran. it needs no -- i don't need to recite for you the challenges tha

senator lugar. >> mr. chairman, i join you in welcoming our distinguished witnesses and we look forward to a very important hearing with them. afghanistan has been important and to still be a source of threat to the united states security. on that we are all agreed. the question before us is whether afghanistan is important enough to justify the lives, the massive resources that are being spent their, especially given our nation's debt crisis, or can we achieve the most important national security goals in afghanistan essentially preventing the taliban from taking over the government, and preventing afghan territory from being used as a terrorist safe haven at far less expense? at our first hearing on afghanistan last week, i offered four observations as a prelude. first, we're spending enormous national security resources in a single country. second, although threats to the u.s. national security to emanate from within afghanistan's borders, these may not be the most serious threats in the region and afgh

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator lugar. mr. secretary, your full statement will be placed in the record as if read in full. i look forward to your testimony. thank you. >> thank you very much, senator kerry, and senator lugar, and senator webb. it is a pleasure in front of this committee. i'm very humbled to come before you as president obama nominee to be the next united states ambassador of the people republican of china. it's the sign of the importance of the bilateral relationship between the two great nation that is they have nominated a current member of his cabinet to serve in the new capacity. i want to thank president obama and look forward to his confidence in my. i'm proud to be joined by my family, wife mona, and three children. no matter public service have taken us from the other washington to this washington and the if the senate confirms me on to beijing. they, especially mona, has been the con stance providing much love and much support. if my father jimmy, he passed away in january, he would be proud if i am co

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator lugar. sec general jones, we will put your full testimony into the record if you want to summarize. we look forward to engaging with you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. senator lugar, members of the committee, it is a special privilege to be here this morning, to talk about the very important country in a very important region for the united states and our allies. i appreciate this opportunity. it is something that i have been able to work on going all the way back to 2003 and 2004 when i became the nato commander in europe as we discuss ways in which nato could move into afghanistan. and what i like to do is very quickly just sum up essentially some of the highlights of how we got to where we are, and some of the milestones that we covered along the way. as you know, in 2003, nato and made the initial determination that it would be interested in participating in afghanistan. that became a reality in 2004. we had all of the of a bifurcated mission in the sense that nato was expanding to the nort

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator lugar. senator boxer? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you all for your testimony. it's very important, i think, for us to do this because we are in afghanistan now for a very long time. and i'd like to do kind of a reality check, and i'm going to end it with a question to dr. jones because his statement that a large scale withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan would reaffirm, quote, the regional perception that the u.s. is not a reliable ally is very troubling to me. so i want to press you on that, dr. jones, if i might. are you with me? >> yes. >> okay. so we're talking about what is the mission -- i would like to go back to why we went there because i think most of us sitting here, most of us were either in the house or the senate when we voted to go in to afghanistan. why did we do it? we have no interest in doing that. i had talked about the taliban for years. women's groups had come to me. they talked about the burka. they said you've got to get rid of the taliban. nobody was that interested. and he with passed legislation

mr. chairman, senator lugar, and members of the committee. i will try to give a perspective from much of my time on the ground as well as back in washington. i will lay out a couple of things and what i believe our objectives should be, which are fairly limited, look at a range of options to provide come in my view, costs and risks as remove forward. especially with the death of bin laden, we should be limited to two issues. the first is dismantling its and defeating cockeyed and allied groups in the pakistan region. the attack in times square was also from this region. they were trained near a porous border. the second is it denying al qaeda a safe haven and an ally. if we remember the taliban regime was not just providing a safe haven, but they were actually an ally. at this point, i will lay out three plausible loptions. the first is a counter-terrorism option. just coming for a special operation forces, this really is a direct action type of mission to capture or kill units on the ground. it essentially limit our focus to a very small dir

lugar. >> thank you, mr. commissioner, only this time he -- tammy and i join in welcoming back deputy secretary steinberg. the committee sought this witness from the defense department to join secretary steinberg at this hearing. the administration chose not to provide such a witness, in my judgment is inexplicable decision given the administration pledged to fully consult with congress, and the central of the united states military has played in the libyan operations. i'm hopeful the defense department witnesses will be provided at subsequent hearings on libya when requested. since our last libya hearing, more than a month ago, fighting between opposition forces and troops loyal to moammar gadhafi continued unabated. the united states is participating in the coalition of nations under the leadership and is opposing the gadhafi regime with military force. among other steps the obama administrations initiated a process providing at least $25 million in nonlethal assistance to the libyan opposition. it has dedi

senator lugar? >> mr. chairman, i just simply want to raise the question how pathetically today taking the advantage of this opportunity to talk about the state department funding in the coming months that is the rest of this fiscal year in the coming year. as you've noted, secure burns call before we have been occupied almost entirely through the year this far. the question of the budget deficits, debt ceiling, issues of this occupies almost all of our time a few interruptions for nominations in the votes on those sorts of things. on the other hand in the backroom here in our foreign relations committee hearings talking about very substantial challenges it comes as no surprise because you have been working through what we are going to be doing with regard to our embassy in iraq and likewise and in afghanistan as well as all of the contractors that are going to becoming a to do various things all of these things are budget items and cost money it would appear that about $8 billion in cuts in the state depa

mr. chairman. senator lugar, members of the committee.t's a special privilege to be able to be here this morning to talk about very important country and a very important region for the united states and our allies. i deeply appreciate this opportunity. it's something that i have been able to work on for several years. going all the way back to 2003-2004, when i became the nato commander in europe. what i would like to do is quickly, just sum up essentially, some of the highlights of how we got to where we are. and some of the milestones that we covered along the way. as you know, in 2003, nato made the initial determination that it would interested in participating in afghanistan. gnat became a reality in 2004. we had a little bit of a bifurcated mission. nato was expanding to the north in afghanistan, then the west, then to the south over a two on to three-year period. the u.s. was running its own operation under central command, primarily to the east and the southeast in the country. in 2004, when nato aflooifd afghanistan there was al

lugar. general jones, we will put your testimony into the record as if you read it. if you summarize, we look forward to engaging with you. >> thank you, mr. chairman, senator lugar, a special privilege to be here this morning to talk about a very important country and region for the united states and our allies three i deeply appreciate this opportunity. it is something that i have been able to work on for several years, and all went back to 2003, 2004 when i became the nato commander in europe as we discussed ways in which nato would move into afghanistan. what i would like to do is very quickly just sum up essentially some of the highlights of how we got to where we are and some of the milestones that we covered along the way. as you know, in 2003, nato made the initial determination that it would be interested in participating in afghanistan. that became a reality in 2004. we had a little bit of a bifurcated mission in the sense that nato was expanding to the north in afghanistan and into the west, and the to the south over a three-year period. and the u.s. was running its own separate operation, the united states, under central comma

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator lugar. secretary burns, as you know, we are happy to place your formal testimony in the record, and will be there as if read in foley and we appreciate probably just a summary if that is amenable to you, and we are happy to look forward to your testimony. >> yes, thank you very much and i promise i will be brief. mr. chairman, ranking member lugar, members of the committee, it truly is an honor to appear before you today as president obama's nominee to become deputy secretary of state. i'm grateful to the president and sector clinton for their confidence in me and in our diplomatic service in which i proudly served for 29 years. if confirmed, i will do my best to live up to their trust and work closely with all of you on this committee as i have throughout my career. i'd like to begin by expressing deep appreciation to my family, to my wife, lisa and our daughters lizzie and sarah. as and so many foreign service families around the world, your love and sacrifice are a very large part of why

senator lugar, my pleasure to turn the floor to you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank you in welcoming the distinguished witnesses. i thank you for holding the series of hearings on afghanistan and pakistan the days ahead. these hearing are especially timely, as you pointed out, giving the killing of osama bin laden, americans are gratified by the skill and encourage demonstrated by our intelligence professionals and our troops. this is an important achievement that yields both symbolic and practical value as we continue to fight terrorism globally. as a prelude to our series, i would offer four observations about the ongoing united states effort in afghanistan. first we are spending enormous resources on a single country. the president's budget request for fiscal year 2012 included more than $100 billion for afghanistan. we have approximately $100,000 american troops in afghanistan. and another 31,000 in the region that are supporting afghanistan operations. we spent $9.2 billion in 2010. we are spending more than $10 billion this year just to train afghan sec

senator lugar, my pleasure to turn the floor to you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank you in welcoming the distinguished witnesses. i thank you for holding the series of hearings on afghanistan and pakistan the days ahead. these hearing are especially timely, as you pointed out, giving the killing of osama bin laden, americans are gratified by the skill and encourage demonstrated by our intelligence professionals and our troops. this is an important achievement that yields both symbolic and practical value as we continue to fight terrorism globally. as a prelude to our series, i would offer four observations about the ongoing united states effort in afghanistan. first we are spending enormous resources on a single country. the president's budget request for fiscal year 2012 included more than $100 billion for afghanistan. we have approximately $100,000 american troops in afghanistan. and another 31,000 in the region that are supporting afghanistan operations. we spent $9.2 billion in 2010. we are spending more than $10 billion this year just to train afghan sec

senator lugar, my pleasure to turn the floor to you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank you in welcoming the distinguished witnesses. i thank you for holding the series of hearings on afghanistan and pakistan the days ahead. these hearing are especially timely, as you pointed out, giving the killing of osama bin laden, americans are gratified by the skill and encourage demonstrated by our intelligence professionals and our troops. this is an important achievement that yields both symbolic and practical value as we continue to fight terrorism globally. as a prelude to our series, i would offer four observations about the ongoing united states effort in afghanistan. first we are spending enormous resources on a single country. the president's budget request for fiscal year 2012 included more than $100 billion for afghanistan. we have approximately $100,000 american troops in afghanistan. and another 31,000 in the region that are supporting afghanistan operations. we spent $9.2 billion in 2010. we are spending more than $10 billion this year just to train afghan sec

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator lugar. >> we're going to go in the order of haass, slaughter, ambassadorneumann. as customary, we're happy to put your entire testimony in the record. if read in full, we'd appreciate to have a chance to have a good dialogue. i failed to mention i will be going to afghanistan not this week, be the other after. and hope to be able to get a good take on president karzai and others on how that will affect their calculations as we go forward. mr. haass, welcome. dr. haass, i should say. honorable. >> thank you, senator. thank you. thanks for having me back here to discuss afghanistan and as has been the case whenever i testify here over the years, my statement and testimony reflect my personal views and not those of the council on foreign relations. as you all know, much of the debate about afghanistan has focused on whether u.s. policy is likely to succeed with success losely defined as bringing about an afghan government that in several years time can hold off of the taliban with only a modest amount of ongoing american help. in theory least, several more ye

lugar will chair. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. let me thank you for your incredible help this weekend and your visit to islamabad and pakistan. we appreciate your leadership trying to calm things down. thank you. general jones, thank you for your service. appreciate it very much. after the bin laden mission, i think all of us, our initial response in regards to pakistan is, how can pakistan be so inept or so complicit? then we heard the response from pakistan that was some what encouraging for the first 24 hours. then there was an about face, very anti-u.s. rhetoric. i think the concern was did pakistan share our commitment to fight extremists? i think that was the main concern. we're going through an evaluation. whether they're our ally and friend or not. why are they fueling anti-american rhetoric. why are they accusing so much concern in that region? if they're not our ally and friend, should we be looking for alternative ways to deal with extremists in that region? sit worth the political and financial investment that america

lugar,n and senator luk thank you for this opportunity to address you. i welcome your questions and your comments. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i neglected to point out -- i think it is more properly that you do -- your status as the first american of chinese descent. that is an amazing part of the story. i am confident that it gives you a special level of credibility and a capacity to validate a bunch of issues. i think we are well served in that regard. i want to get your sense of how we manage the economic component at this point in time. there is a degree of anxiety within the congress with respect to the currency issues and the trade practices and some of the procurement practices. we have had these meetings with the chinese. we have discussed these things. some americans would suggest that this discussion has been going on for quite a while without the kind of results that impact their perception of the on the fairness of the playing field, what it is intellectual property or other things. -- whether it is intellectual property or other things. the progress seems slow. i was wondering if he will comment. is

mr. secretary, last week 45 senators from both sides of the aisle sent a letter to the president and earlier senator lugarhe administration to approve f-16 sales to taiwan as soon as possible. what kind of an impact will these letters have on the administration's decision whether and when to sell the f-16 c.d.'s to taiwan? thank you very much. >> thank you. obviously i'm not going to get into any specifics associated with arm sales. i would simply say that we take the executive branch through every administration takes the taiwan relations act very seriously. we with understand our responsibilities in that regard and we also recognize that the taiwan relation act requires in many respects a partnership between the executive and the legislative branch. we take that relationship very seriously, the feedback in this respect is important. all i can tell you is that the united states understands our role with respect to the maintenance of peace and stability across the taiwan strait. >> in the green jacket. >> thank you, assistant secretary. given the importance of you a -- asean to the region, you can tell us