0 also a key part of the plan was to maintain an embassy in kabul and maintaining that embassy would allow us to continue to engage the government, to continue to provide resources to support the afghan security forces so it was -- the plan was to leave a diplomatic presence there, and in conjunction with that plan we also were going to leave a small military force there to help secure the embassy, so that was the plan, senator. >> but you didn't address the issue that you made -- if it was your plan, you acknowledge it was your plan and your plan said you would do all these things before we got our civilians out. i mean, when in the history of this country have we ever had the u.s. military say and have a plan that we will take our military out first before we take our civilians? i can't imagine that. >> when you say civilians, are you -- are you talking. >> american citizens. >> american citizens, yeah. >> the american citizens would come out once a non-combatant evacuation is declared, and until that point typically we don't evacuate all the citizens in the country. >> but we didn't here. there's american citizens still there. >> and we continue to remain engaged and work to get those citizens out, senator. >> but why would you propose a plan that didn't get all american citizens out? i just can't imagine ever in the history of this country our u.s. military would propose to leave a country without our citizens coming out first. i mean, have we ever done that before? >> all of the american citizens wouldn't leave, senator, unless there was a non-combatant evacuation, and, you know, the plan was to leave the embassy there, to continue to address the needs of our american citizens, to engage with the government and so that was a part of the plan, not -- again, the plan was never to evacuate the american citizens and leave the embassy there. >> did it bother you when the president went on national television and said that he would not leave until all the american citizens were -- were taken out? did it bother you that when he said that, because it's clearly -- was not truthful? >> you know, senator, you know, you -- you heard me say several times that we're going to work as hard as we can for as long as we can to get every american citizen out that wants to come out, and we continue to do that to this day. >> well, i'm running out of time. one thing i -- when we have the next round, i want to understand what decisions would you make differently today to save those 13 lives of service men and women that we lost at the kabul airport, but thank you very much. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator, if i could comment on your first opening comment, if i may. >> go ahead, sir. >> yeah. i am happy to lay out every detail and all the intel to you as an individual, to any other member or to a committee or anything you want on these chinese calls at your convenience. happy to do it. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator scott. senator duckworth, please. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i share my colleague concerns about the rapid collapse of the afghan national defense and security forces, and the afghan government and the failure of our intelligence. we need some answers. after investing two decades, nearly $2 trillion and most importantly the lives of almost 2,500 of american troops, our nation must conduct a thorough hand honest review of the united states government's involvement in afghanistan since the september 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. for the sake of current and future generations of war fighters, we must capture the hard lessons from afghanistan to ensure that these lessons are not forgotten or worse repeated on a future battlefield. this is our moral responsibility as a nation. gentlemen, all three of you have been involved in the war in afghanistan multiple times in multiple different capacities throughout your careers. secretary austin, was the situation on the ground in afghanistan over the last few months influenced by previous decisions made over the course of several years? >> i absolutely believe, that senator. foremost among those decisions is the -- is the doha agreement i think that that severely impacted the morale of the military. >> thank you. secretary austin, if that's the case, is it possible to have an intellectually honest lessons learned exercise that only looks at the most recent events in afghanistan of the last couple of months, or must any effective review look at the whole 20 years since september 11th? >> i think you have to look at the -- at the entire 20 years, senator. i think there's some great lessons learned that we're going to take away once we do that, but, yeah, i believe you've got to look at the entire time spent. >> thank you. i agree that an effective review must be comprehensive. after all, the war in afghanistan was shaped by four different administrations and 11 different congresses. no party should be looking to score cheap partisan political points off a multi-decade nation-building failure that was bipartisan in the making. instead, congress should authorize a long-term effort solely devoted to bringing accountability and transparency to the afghanistan war and lessons to be learned. that is why on thursday i will be introducing the afghanistan war study commission. my bill would establish a bipartisan independent commission to examine every aspect of the war, including the political and strategic decisions that transformed a focused military mission into vast nation-building campaign. importantly this commission must produce actionable recommendations designed to guide the develop of real reforms just as the 9/11 commissions were informed congressional law making efforts in the years after its publication. secretary austin, would you agree with me that such an independent, long-term study could serve as an effective complementary effort to the more targeted lessons learned reviews that dod always conducts, particularly in shedding light on how congress and civilian leaders from multiple government agencies can do a better job in defining the scope of military missions and actually enforcing legal limitations on the use of force? >> i would, and i -- the point that you're making, in my view it needs to be an interagency approach to this. >> thank you, and i do want to note that my family and i were in cambodia until the very end. i'm an american. i was born in thailand, but my father worked for the united nations, and to answer my colleague's question, my father chose to stay as long as possible to help the cambodian people as long as possible, and he left after american troops had left. the american ambassador stayed behind after american troops had left and in fact after the last military transport left, i know this because my father was on the last military transport to leave cambodia and the ambassador had to travel overland. we do leave americans behind but this is all tied to operations and how it's planned which is why i think it's so important that we have an independent investigation. maybe the failure here was that we didn't have a plan in place and we didn't act straight before our troops left. if that's the case, we need to learn, that so i would ask for my colleagues to consider this independent commission. we put somebody in charge of it who is not in a decision-making capacity during the 20 years, make it non-partisan and let's get those lessons learned so we don't make the same mistakes over and over again. our troops deserve better and the families of the 2,500 american troops who laid down their lives to protect and defend this constitution, who followed the lawful order of all of those presidents, they deserve better than partisan fights. we need to get some real answers. thank you. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator duckworth. now i'll recognize senator blackburn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. gentlemen, we thank you all for being here with us today. as you've heard from all of us, the american people, tennesseeans are wanting some answers. they deserve to hear your testimony, and i think it is unacceptable that this is the first time that i'm hearing from you in any forum despite attempts at outreach by both me and my staff, save a few shot all senator phone calls that we have had. i want to emphasize all of us here, every one of us answer to 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 staff sergeant ryan kanass, a patriotic american who represented the best of all of us in the august 26th suicide bombing at hamid karzai international airport. he made the ultimate sacrifice. so, how did we get here and how did we get to what has been a complete letdown to most tennesseeans, and i've got a few questions. these are yes or no questions. so quick answers are appreciated. general milley, were there options given for keeping american troops in afghanistan rather than the unconditional chaotic withdrawal? >> yes. >> you presented options and those options were declined? >> there were options present and debated. >> yes or no. >> the decision was made. >> yes or no is fine. >> did you at any point create options for keeping baghram open beyond july 2nd? >> yes. >> did you provide options for keeping baghram open directly to the president? >> yes. >> had baghram stayed open, would our support to the afghan air force have been more effective in your view? >> i'm sorry, i didn't catch the last part. >> if baghram had stayed open, would our support to the afghan air force have been more effective in your view, yes or no? >> frankly i'm not sure on that one because most of the afghan air force was at different bases, specifically hkia. >> president keeps calling it an extraordinary success. we've discussed some of this today. is leaving americans behind an extraordinary success in your view, secretary austin? >> we're not leaving americans behind. >> yes or no is fine. >> is the killing of 13 american service men and women while trying to secure a chaotic evacuation of the president's own making an extraordinary success? >> the loss of any civilian life is always tragic. >> is the fact that we failed to evacuate most of our afghan partners an extraordinary success or the fact that we have afghans bringing child brides, people who are hardly vetted, is that an extraordinary success? >> again, these are issues that we continue to work to get our american citizens out and -- >> let me move on. per article 2 of the constitution the president may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the executive departments. did the president ever require our request written recommendations related to the withdrawal of the afghan forces, yes or no, secretary austin and general milley and then general mckenzie, yes or no? >> i provided our input as a part -- >> i can't -- >> in mitten form? >> a policy process that was very well and deliberately run. >> we'll note that you didn't completely answer that. >> general milley, any written form? >> yes. >> would you make those available to us? >> make it available to the committee upon request and in accordance with the appropriate classify kagsz. >> we will do so. general mckenz, yes or no? >> yes. >> and you will make those available. >> based on guidance from the. >> each of you had committed to make those available when you went through your confirmation processes. we'll come back to you for those. general milley, yes or no to this. did you talk to bob woodward or bob costa for their book "peril." >> woodward yes, costa know. >> did you talk about to the authors of the book alone can i fix it? >> yes. >> did you talk to michael bender his book "frankly we did win this election, the inside story of how trump lost." >> yes. >> and were you accurately represented in these the books? >> i haven't read any of the books so i don't know. i've seen press reporting of it. >> okay. >> i haven't read the book. >> let's have you read the books and then let us know if you were accurately portrayed. >> happy to do that. >> senator blackburn, we're adhering to the five-minute rule. thank you. >> senator rosen, please. >> thank you, chairman reed, ranking member inhofe for tolding today's hearing. the critical part of this committee's oversight responsibilities. it's an opportunity for the american people to get answers about our withdrawal from afghanistan and how we plan to counter terrorist threats in the future. i also want to sincerely thank the brave men and women who served our country in afghanistan, many who made the ultimate sacrifice and, of course, their families as well. secretary austin, general milley and general mckenzie, i appreciate you all being here to address lingering concerns we have about the last two decades of war generally and the past two months in particular. you are all men of honor and integrity who have served our country nobly, and i so look forward to your candid responses to my questions, even if they require admitting that in some cases serious mistakes were made. like all senate offices, as the taliban approached kabul and eventually took over the city and the country, my team and i worked to help vulnerable individuals evacuate. these were people who in many cased had the state department's approval to leave afghanistan for the u.s. or third-party country but due to crowds, taliban checkpoints or legitimate fear of being killed along the way, they could just not physically get to a gate to present their paperwork no matter how many times they tried or no matter how long they waited. my office worked with centcom and the afghanistan task force to try to coordinate opportunities just to grab these people from the crowd so they 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? >> i think that what we've seen so far since 391st is some americans have gotten out through diplomatic means, and they have reached safety through either over land routes or through aircraft. i don't know all the details, but i can't imagine that that didn't happen without taliban facilitation. >> well, we can get back to afghan nationals helping them leave the country as well, the siv holders and others who supported us, but secretary austin, the administration has said they will utilize every tool available to hold the taliban accountable if they fail to meet their commitments to provide safe passage for anyone who wants to leave the country. certainly we know there are economic levers, but can you elaborate on what the military tools are and could there be a shared interest in targeting isis-k. >> in terms of military tools we have the ability to take a range of options depending on, you know, what the president's objectives are, so we can do most anything that's required of us because we have substantial resources, but in terms of our cooperation with the taliban against -- to counter isis-k, i won't ven truer to make any comments on that. i would just say that we have -- we have coordinated some things that are very narrow in scope with them to get our people out, as you know, and to continue to further evacuate american citizens, but i won't -- i won't -- i don't think it's right to make assumptions to broader and bigger things from that coordination. they are still the taliban. >> thank you. i would just like to -- in the few seconds i have left and we can take the second rounder off the record, future counterterrorism operations, we have to reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and our assets in the reg op, of course, as we move to an over-the-horizon scenario, so second austin and general mckenzie, and we'll take these in the second round, i would like the teens what is the plan for an enduring counterterrorism strategy that's going to be able to address and counter the influence of the violent extremist organizations in afghanistan? thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator rosen. senator hawley, please. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me just sum up where i understand that we are based on what's been a fairly extraordinary hearing. here's what i've had learned so far. number one, the president. united states lied to the american people about the advice that you gave to him about the military judgment that you provided for him. i think you've all testified to that effect now repeatedly. second the state department and maybe the white house may have appeared to push back the evacuation to such a time that it became a catastrophe, apparently against your advice though i would like to learn more about that and third, the pentagon failed to plan for the potential collapse of a security forces or the collapse of the afghan government despite there being quite a lot of warning. senator kane referred to it this earlier, that the afghan security forces were ill-trained and ill equipped and frankly not up to the job. i don't understand and i would like to explore that in this round or the neck and secretary austin i have to take issue. i know this is an administration talking point. i've heard it out of the mouth of the press secretary and others. we are not leaving americans behind. that was your quote of just a minute ago. with all due respect, circumstances you have left, past tense, americans behind. we have no presence any longer in afghanistan. there were hundreds of americans -- not just americans generally, civilians you left behind against the president's explicit commitment not to leave until all american citizens were out and to safety. that is not what happened, and now we have people who are desperately frantically trying to get out of this country coming to me, coming to members of this committee asking for help. they can't get that help. they are stuck behind enemy lines so please don't tell me that we're not leaving americans behind. you left them behind. joe biden left them behind around frankly it was a disgrace. let me ask you this though. >> senator, thanks for your help and continuing to help get american citizens and afghans who have helped us out of the country but as you've seen we've continued to facilitate -- >> i didn't ask you a question. you seem to want to address the issue so since you do, isn't it true that you left americans behind on august the 31st? >> there are americans -- there were americans that were still in afghanistan. >> show yes. >> and who still are. >>