Quotes a meeting of Foreign Affairs will come to order. Discuss how the biden administratiā i unconditionally handed over afghanistan to the taliban terrorist organization with his refusal to enforce the doha agreement. Todays hearing comes at a crucial moment in this committees investigation into the Biden Administration catastrophic withdrawal from afghanistan. Four months after President Biden announced a withdrawal the senior military advisors and its own Intelligence Community repeatedly issued dire warnings about the damage this would create. At the same time i a, along with other republica members of congress virgil President Biden shuffled the conditions of the doha agreement. Prepare for the eventual fallout of our withdrawal. He ignored us including his own state Department Personnel who issued a dissent cable in july warning of the dire situation on the ground. Instead the tr became imminent the white house and state Department Leadership stuck their heads in the center so
Conditioned on this question the incoming secretary needs to have the courage to speak truth to power to congress, yes but also to his commander in chief. Half. Mr. Durbin mr. President . Speaking in morning business, i rise to express my support for the president s nominee dr. Ashton carter to serve as our nations 25th secretary of defense. A few words of thanks first for chuck hagel our former colleague in the senate who served as secretary of defense. Hes a friend. Hes had a long career in public service. Hes a veteran from vietnam and the people of nebraska rewarded him by asking him to represent them in the United States senate. As our nations first person 6 enlisted rank he had a unique ground level view on matters of war and peace and a strong, strong commitment to our troops. I thank chuck hagel for his service. Dr. Ashton carter has an impressive distinguished record of service as well in government. An advisor scholar. He has what it takes to be a great secretary of defense.
It was either with you are chairman smith asking about working with faithbased organizations. We do work with that. In fact, we visited with the archbishop in kurdistan when we were there to talk about the work they are doing. I know the king and jordan has been very open in meeting with different religious leaders both sort of from an islamic perspective to reduce the lore of isil, but also how do we work with the various religious groups. Syria was one of the most tolerant countries in the entire middle east before all this took place. It is important but there are many groups we work with to try and reduce the tension that is going on. Is there a way to hold those areas that you have the refugees in going to school and being abused with whatever type of abuse that is. Gender abuse, we will say how do you go about making you said you are helping those countries deal with that and trying to make sure they are protected, but how do you go about holding that country or that government a
Highlight had the need for a conditionsbased approach. Like our National Military strategy written in 2012 president obamas calendarbased troop drawdown plan for afghanistan no longer accurately reflects the facts and conditions on the ground. Like the president s policy against isil, the president s afghanistan policy lacks of strategic disconnect, providing a list of goals or preferences but precluding the means necessary to achieve them. Perhaps it is time for the president to exercise strategic patience, as our witnesses yesterday unanimously agreed. Former u. S. Ambassador to afghanistan, james cunningham, having just served in kabul and left in december, said, quote, i think that under the circumstances, the timeline is probably too short and the rate of withdrawal is too steep. Former ambassador to both iraq and afghanistan, ryan crocker, said, i hope we will take the right decisions on force levels Going Forward based on conditions, not on calendars. Former commander of special
Good evening, everyone, im jeff glor. Syrian rebels tonight are ramping up their adult assault on damascus and a legalo the countrys largest city. The u. N. Peace envoy met with u. N. And Russian Diplomats trying to broker a ceasefire. At the same time there is growing concern tonight over al qaedas influence in the rebel ranks. David martin is at the pentagon. Reporter video said to show the aftermath of a syrian air strike provides graphic evidence of a lifeanddeath battle which high level diplomats say is bad and getting worse. Despite its air power the assad regime appears increasingly on the defensive against rebel forces which according to israels ambassador to the u. S. Include a growing number of radical islamist. The jihadi presence is big and getting bigger. And the longer the conflict goes on there, the bigger it will get. The jihadies are an offshoot of al qaeda in iraq which ones fought a no holds bar battle against american troops. According to Jeffrey White a former anal