and as you know, we face grave and growing threats from isis-k. staying longer that we did would have made it even more dangerous for our people. it would not have significantly changed the number of evacuees we could get out. as we consider these tactical issues today, we must also ask ourselves some equally tough questions about the wider war itself. and pause to think about the lessons that we have learned over the past 20 years. did we have the right strategy? did we have too many strategies. did we put too much faith in our ability to build effective afghan institutions, an army, an air force, a police force, and government ministries? we helped build a stage, mr. chairman, but we could not forge a nation. the fact that the afghan army that we and our partners train simply melted away in many cases without firing a shot took us all by surprise. and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise. we feed to consider some