Resignation of President Biden. The committee will come to order. I want to thank all of you for being here with us today, representing the Service Members who were murdered in a terrorist attack. You also represent the goldstar families, all of them, through the conflict. The Service Members were murdered in a terrorist attack on august 26, 2021, at the airport in kabul. Their names are as follows. Marine Corporal Hunter love has, marine Lance Corporal riley jamie cohen. Lance corporal kareem. Marine corps Sergeant Johnny rosario. Marine corps corporal sanchez. Marine corps Lance Corporal will jareds mitch and Navy Petty Officer third class. Before we start, i would like to take a pause for a moment of silence, in remembrance of them. Thank you. These men and women were marines, soldiers and sailors. They were americans. They were patriots. They were heroes. But you, they were more than that. They were your sons, your daughters, your hearts. And they were ripped away from you in an act of violence, halfway around the world. As a father of five, i cannot begin to imagine your pain and suffering. Two years later, we are still here, seeking answers. How did this happen . What went wrong . Why couldnt this tragedy have been prevented . These questions remain unanswered because this administration wants to sleep sweep what what happened under the rug. They know that they bear the brunt of the blame, and they want to escape any accountability. I will not let that happen. For months, the president s own generals and Intelligence Committee warned that withdrawing all u. S. Troops would result in a catastrophe. Our nato allies begged the president to be considered. To reconsider. When he refused to relent, republicans and democrats in congress urged president to prepare this illadvised withdraw from the kenaston. This was a disgraceful surrender to the taliban. Through my investigation, we have learned that the state department and department of defense warned of increased violence that would threaten the safety of our american citizens. In february 20 21, before the president announced his decision to unconditionally withdraw all troops, the Regional Security officer warned that there was a clear sign that violence in kabul had risen sharply over the last 45 days. In may 2021, he began planning for a noncombatant evacuation operation. Stating that conditions in afghanistan were rapidly approaching the point of triggering the neo execution. The lead agency for neyo failed to request one from the department of defense. They only did so after the fall of kabul. There is an old adage. If you fail the plan, you plan to fail. This was the utmost failure. On june 14, 20 21, the Regional Security officer again warned of an increase in violence, noting that there was 325 increase in attacks from the same time during the previous year. Yet President Biden ignored all of this, and as a result, the world watched the horrors unfold at the kabul airport. People falling from airplanes, innocent men and women being beaten and killed by the taliban, attempting to escape to freedom. Your sons and daughters witnessed this, and then the unthinkable happened, a bombing, killing 13 u. S. Service members and injuring 45 more. Before this committee, Sergeant Tyler andrews we want to thank you for being here. He testified that marine snipers spotted the suicide bomber before the explosion. Yet they were told by their superiors that they could not engage the threat. They were not given permission to engage. The terrorist responsible for this horrific attack was released by the taliban, from a prison at the base that the Biden Administration abandoned. They see the investigative work, we learned the Biden Administration asked the taliban it was believed to be a staging ground for an imminent attack on the airport. Not surprisingly, the taliban did not agree. We also know that the u. S. Military officials sought to strike to be days before the attack. U. S. Intelligence even predicted the exact day and time of the bombing at addie gate, yet that request for an airstrike was denied. In a massive slab in the face to every person who served in afghanistan, the Biden Administration they were named as security allies during this evacuation. I have heard from many that they were told that they were the enemy and then they had to work with the enemy. It was a selfinflicted wound that also killed 170 innocent civilians and injured 45 people in a massive suicide bombing attack. Simply put, it was hell on earth. The saddest part is, it all could have been prevented. All i can do is offer you my promise. I will not relent in this investigation. I will fight with every fiber of my being and leave no stone unturned, until we have the foolproof as to how this happened. This committee will be interviewing the one who led after action review. In the coming months or weeks come in the coming weeks, after months of effort, we will finally be interviewing the commanding officer, the marine corps lieutenant general. I intend to be there personally, for that interview. I will hold those responsible for this catastrophic event accountable. I will get answers. You all, the goldstar families and our veterans deserve no less, and you deserve the truth. This committee will deliver. We have with us here today those who testified before the committee in march. We want to thank you for your service and your sacrifice, and your courage to come before congress and tell the American People and these families the truth about what happened. I would like to recognize all of the afghan veterans who are here with us today and for those veterans that are watching this, for those watching this today, i have a message for yo your service was not in vain. It is because of your heroism that we never witnessed a largescale attack by the terrorists, since 9 11, and the last 20 years. We will never forget and we will never, ever allow this to ever happen again. With that, i would like to recognize the ranking member. Thank you, chairman mccall. I am honored to be here with all of you, today. To the afghanistan goldstar families, both here in the room and those who are at home, many of whom are in my own district, suburban philadelphia. I offer my humble words of thanks for your sacrifice, your courage and your service to our country, alongside your sons and daughters, family members. I am so, incredibly sorry for this crushing set of losses, to these heroes, the loss of your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and so many loved relationships. Over the course of the 20 year war in afghanistan, 2461 u. S. Service members were killed, including 93 for my own home from my own home state of pennsylvania. I have had the privilege over the years to meet many goldstar families, and i am continually in all of your courage, strength in awe of your courage, strength and devotion. Your devotion to our country. I am in all of your strength. What happened at abby gate was devastating, obviously you, but to our country as well. I think you know that. In your own grief, and your own pain that is unimaginable, know that our country lost, and a crushing way, alongside each of you, even as we cannot fully comprehend the heartbreak that you have suffered and will continue to suffer, i humbly thank and acknowledge those men and women who served in afghanistan over the course of 20 years. The weight of these deployments. Those Service Members were wounded and many others suffer from the often invisible wounds of war, including ptsd. Marine corps sergeant, what an honor it is to be with you, yet again. Thank you for coming before this committee and explaining so much to us because we have an obligation to learn what happened to your family members from the Service Members that were there. Thank you for your service to us, this congress, and obviously, much more importantly, to our country. You know that your family Members Service was not in vain. To all men and women who served, you prevented another 9 11. It is an extraordinary feat. It involved a tremendous amount of sacrifice and suffering. Your loved ones ensure that more than 100,000 people were evacuated. Even as they themselves did not get to enjoy the same. Marine corps lance david espinoza, nicole d, marine corps Staff SergeantDarren Taylor hoover. Army Staff Sergeant ryan christopher, marine corps Corporal Hunter lopez. Marine corps Lance Corporal riley mccollum, marine corps billion. Marine corps Lance Corporal kareem. Marine corps corporal page. Marine corps sergeant, marine corps corporal sanchez. Marine corps lance quote jan schmidt. Navy petty officer. Their names will not be forgotten. I wanted to be sure that i said their names as well, so that they are forever on the hearts and minds of everyone in this country. We should never forget the sacrifice and service that they offered to this country, at the end of a 20 year war. What a heartbreaking horror. We have forever indebted to yo this war cost us so much, yet we could not continue to send americans to fight a war no longer in the nations vital interest. We could not continue to risk the lives of our young men and women. The end was devastatingly heartbreaking, a tragic terrorist bomb tearing away so many. Civilians, as well as our Service Members, your loved ones. It was necessary to bring this war to a close. We know that it was a series of decisions over multiple administrations that brought this war to an end, a very tragic ending. Secretary austin testified to congress, extending beyond would greatly have imperiled our people and mission. Staying longer than we did would have made it even more dangerous for our people and would not have significantly changed the number of evacuees to get out. It was a series of decisions made and executed. But we are here today to honor you, to learn from you, from your service, your sacrifice and your grievous losses, so that we in congress will only do better, in the future, for those who serve us. May god protect and continue to watch over you, your families and all the troops of the u. S. , and with that, i yield. Thank you for being here today to make this a bipartisan event, as it should be. I just want to thank you for being here. With that, i would like to recognize the chair of the oversight and accountability subcommittee. A veteran himself sacrificed greatly and lost limbs. Thank you, chairman. It is a debt that cannot be repaid. Literally, nothing. Nothing can repay it. Their names have been said. I will say their names again, because it is the only way that our falling live on. It is the only way, that we remember them. We remember their smiles, remember the ways that we could get under their skin, the ways that we can make them happy, the things that bugged them. That is how people live on is by remembering their stories, remembering what they did, what made them great, what they wanted the world to know and how they wanted the world to be better, and how they participated in that. Marine Sergeant Nicole killed in action august 26, 2021. Marine Staff SergeantDarren Taylor hoover on the killed in action august 26, 2021. Army Staff SergeantRyan Christian, killed in action august 26, 2021. Marine Corporal Hunter lopez, killed in action and august 26, 2021, Lance Corporal dylan, killed in action. August 26, 2021. Lance corporal kareem, killed in action. Marine corporal, killed in action, august 26, 2021. Corporal sanchez, killed in action, august 26, 2021. Marine Lance CorporalJared Schmitz. Killed in action august 26, 2021. Marine Lance Corporal david l espinoza, killed in action august 26, 2021. Marine Sergeant Rosario pichardo, killed in action august 26, 2021. Navy corpsman killed in action august 26, 2021. Not easy to say the names of those that you remember. Sometimes, a song, a smell or a restaurant to make us think of those that we lost. It is important to say their names. Our president will not say their names. He has not said their names out loud. People continue to do so, so that we never forget the sacrifices that were made, that can never be repaid. Thank you for convening this, convening todays roundtable. I cannot i pray that i never have to try to understand that very visceral, daily heartache of losing a son or a daughter. I have four children. I know the anger, the hatred of losing brothers. I think about it, i can recite their names and dates that they were killed. And i remember the moments that took them, whether it was sniper fire or a trip wire attached to an ied or the spray of an ak47. I lived through it in my own mind, and my own memories. I know what they were staying in their final moments. They were the most capable operators. They were deliberate and every action that they were taking, just like your sons and daughters. They would do anything for our country. They took pride in it. I also know that when one of ours fell, we would scrutinize every detail of what took place. How they fell, how do we do it better next mission . How do we adjust our tactics . What did we miss . Was it just some kind of bad luck of war . August 26, 2021 was not bad luck of war that took your sons and daughters. It was indifference by joe biden. He did something that i never experienced during my time in combat. He sought to execute a political operation to win political points, instead of a military operation to win a fight. That is why he chose september 11 as the withdrawal date. That is why he sent our soldiers home and the diplomats home, left the diplomats in place, only to have to bring back your sons and daughters and thousands more because of his foolishness. I did not say that he planned the military operation because we know for a fact that there was a failing to apply any common sense to any level of planning that took place. They operated on a mentality that counts on the best possible circumstances, not calculating for the worst Case Scenario at all. Anyone who has spent a day in the military knows that is not how we operate. He refused to acknowledge the warnings given by his own people on the ground. Many warned about what was happening. He did not read it and to my knowledge, he has not been a to has not read it to this day. He used our military as ponds for politics. Pawns for politics. He dishonored their duty to america. He decided when he did that, that they were as expendable as the equipment that he left behind. I have spoken to many of you prior. I know what you have expressed to me, that you hope for. That something be learned, that their friends that are still in uniform not suffer the same fate because of foolishness, because of an unwillingness to reflect on how to do things better or what went wrong. We will make sure. We will make sure that foolishness never happens again, that your sons and daughters are remembered. That what they fought for is what this country will always be. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, brian. That was very powerful. Before i turn to the families, i want to read a statement that i just received from general milley. Apparently, the pentagon and state department are watching. He says, we owe goldstar families everything. We owed them transparency and honesty. We owe them accountability. We owe them the truth about what happened to their loved ones. I trust army, navy and marine corps did their best and debriefing those who had loved ones killed at the abbey gate. If there were issues with that, we need to take whatever corrective action is next every. Is necessary. Our hearts go out to those families. He says, this is a personal thing for all of us in uniform. We do not like what happened in afghanistan. We do not like the outcome of afghanistan. We ask the families to take care we owe it to the families to take care of them. And he says, we owe them because their sacrifices were not in vain. For our soldiers, airmen, officers, anyone who served in afghanistan, the cost of blood was high, but every single one of us who served in afghanistan should hold our heads high. Each served with skill, dedication and honor. For two decades, our nation was not attacked by afghanistan, and that was our mission. Each one can be rightly proud of their service. General milley. I think the general for that comment and i know he cares deeply, but now we want to turn to the families to hear your stories about what happened to your children. And we will go in alphabetical order, and we will start with the family of nicole and ms. Christie will give remarks. Thank you. My name is christy and i am Sergeant Nicoles motherinlaw. Her mother becky is sitting with her in heaven, where she would be here today, to tell you about her daughter. Nicole was a proud, female marine. She and countless others like her put on a uniform to protect and defend our freedom. They gave up their own freedom to ensure a more freedom filled life for the rest of us and our allies. Nicole and the other heroes who have actuated over 120,000 allies did not have any part in starting this more, but they gave their very last breath to see it to the end. Nicole spoke about how proud she was to be rescuing vulnerable and careful people. I remember her telling me. These mothers are throwing their babies of her razor wire because they know we will keep them alive. Those men and women in uniform love their job and carried out this evacuation in the worst of circumstances. Those victories belong to the troops. There were failures, and i can count half a dozen opportunities to stop this tragic ending. Systems we have