could present their paperwork and flee to safety, but, unfortunately, again, these efforts were to no avail. as these individuals continue to wait for help that may never come, i remain frustrated that the u.s. did not set up a perimeter around kabul or at the very least create a safe corridor for the s-1 visa holders to get to the airport and their families and potential asylum seekers who were attempting to escape a near certain death. so continued support, general milley, i appreciate the state department now take the lead on evacuations, but like our military, the state department no longer has any presence on the ground in afghanistan, so i would like to ask you, sir, does the u.s. military s recent experience facilitating the evacuation from kabul give you the confidence that the taliban will be honest brokers in working with our diplomats to help vulnerable afghan nationals leave the country?
in this after action review process so that we clearly understand exactly what happened. sorry for taking that you will time but i thought it was necessary. thank you, senator hauly. senator kell, please. thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, let me begin by expressing my gratitude to each of the over 100,000 americans, many of them arizonans who served in afghanistan over the past 20 years and to their families. i also commend our service members support of one of the largest airlifts in our country s history. we will never forgot the achievements of the men and women who worked 24/7 in kabul, managed impossible conditions on the ground and above all those who made the ultimate sacrifice protecting innocent civilians. 124,000 people are safe today because of american troops and diplomats. still, after decades of
the american people, and they deserve transparency and information regarding this administration s botched and disgraceful withdrawal. tennesseeans are realliagery, and as you know, general milley, tennessee is home to the 101st airborne, one of the most deployed divisions in the u.s. military. we re also home to the specialized 160th soar who were among the last on the ground extracting u.s. citizens from danger in kabul. tennessee national guard units have deployed to afghanistan at a high operational tempo as well as providing vital logistical services such as refueling. we are home to more than 400,000 veterans, many of whom have lasting physical and psychological wounds from the time they have spent in service, and tennesseeans are heartbroken over the loss of one of our own
the embassy, transition that off to contractors and then all the military would be out and it would be a diplomatic mission and a money in over the horizon fund. none that have happened because that army and government collapsed very rapidly. as soon as those indicators became fractured, secretary austin and others throughout government executed and implemented a neo plan in which there were contingencies that were build. there was a plan for the rapid collapse and that was the neo plan that general mckenzie had come up, and it s what was executed. that s why those 6,000 troops could deploy as rapidly as they did. those why all the aircraft showed up. that wasn t done without planning. that done with planning and that was done from an operational and tactical standpoint. that was a success. strategically, strategically the war is lost. the enemy is in kabul so you have a strategic failure while you simultaneously have an operational and tactical success by the soldiers on the ground, s
that the white house press secretary is going to get peppered with a lot of questions. i don t remember, just taking a step back here, last time we ve seen a hearing like this with sitting members of the administration, in this case the defense secretary, sitting military leaders, being so candid and open if decisions in a have been made in recent times and very consequential decisions, very can dirksd all the things you talked about, and maybe one of the most blunt assessments came from general milley which is that they what they saw was a logistical success meaning getting everyone out last minute but a strategic failure. that s a very, very big statement. and on the way he put, that i want to bring in our next guest. general milley said it was a strategic failure. quote, the enemy is in charge in kabul. i ll bring in leon panetta the former defense secretary and cia