afghan al lies and as a rule herbal afghans. i want to provide a brief update on the situation in afghanistan. since i spoke to you on monday we made significant enabling the flights to resume, and not just military flights, but civilian charters from other countries and the ngos taking out civilians in vulnerable afghan, vulnerable afghanis and now we have almost 6,000 troops on the ground including the 82nd airborne providing the runway security, the army 10th mountain division standing guard around the airport, and the 24th marine expedition division securing the departure. this is one of the largest and most difficult airlifts in history and the only country available of projecting this much air power on the other side