cemetery to remember the fallen. it was an important message. today we deliver our own message to the afghan people. we re with you. we support you. and we re not going to give up the gains we fought so hard to achieve. thank you and now i ll take some questions. mr. secretary, what do you say to critic who is suggest that the 5,500 level isn t enough to do both the counterterrorism mission and the training and advise mission. do you see that number as an enduring long-term troop level for some years to come after that? we do look at enough. we do a lot of homework on this and it s the reason for that number of troop level, but also the locations that is important
the fallen. it was an important message. today we deliver our own message to president ghani and the afghan people, we re with you, we support you and we re not going to give up the gains we fought so hard to achieve. thank you. and now i ll take some questions starting with you. mr. secretary, what do you say to critics who suggest that the 5,500 level isn t enough to do both the counterterrorism mission and the training and advisement? is it enough and do you see that number as an enduring long-term troop level for some years to come after we do look at it as enough. we did a lot of homework on this. and it s the reason for that number of that troop level but also the location that is important. and i want to just make sure we all keep track of the funding
overrun, but the afghans were on the counter attack to go back after position ises that the taliban had invaded the town days prior and taken over many areas. obviously doctors without borders still furious, and furious it is called a mistake, and they say they were under attack for 30 minutes, and made phone call, and tried to get it stopped, but nobody stopped the attack on them. i don t believe that anybody believes that the u.s. wantingly went ahead to strike a hospital knowing it was a hospital, but the question is why did the u.s. commanders not know they were hitting a hospital? w wolf. it is a good question. the committee also originally was meant, an convened to talk about the overall u.s. presence, and the overall u.s. strategy in afghanistan, and right now the situation is to keep a troop level in afghan to secure and support the embassy in kabul. but general campbell say ss a l
the flags. clearly to andrea s point they were pushed into this and this is where you have the open question about where the president s heart lies when it comes to combatting terror and vets and things mostly middle americans care about. they seem ready to throw the country under the bus but when it comes to things he can rally and unify the nation around he takes the decisive road and that is bothersome from a guy that could have helped heal wounds. i think he is a smart guy and i think this is passive aggressive. the military feels that way. if you are on social media the military already feels like he has contempt for them. we have the lowest troop level since world war ii and he is cutting the budget. i think it says a lot we even have the question. as sandra pointed out you are
have more boots on the ground so you understand the targeting an coordination of troops. that s a whole combination of things. and i m not talking about massive invasionary force but many generals have suggested we have to double or triple the 3,000 that we have there right now to provide effective support for those who are fighting. senator santorum, this is williegeist. if you look at the credentials, you are by far the senior statesman of this field so far in foreign policy. eight years on armed services. you mentioned boots on the ground maybe something like 10,000. do you think the american public has the stomach to see body bags coming back home from these far away places with american soldiers in them after 14 years of war? i would say two things. we already have 3,000 people on the ground right now. so we re talking about an increase, but again not anywhere near the troop levels that we had when we were fighting where there were lots of body bags coming back. this is a troo