noncombatant evacuation, we had been in the midst of drawing down our forces. i m asking i m sorry. i m asking specifically since operations with u.s. forces began at the airport since thenoncombatant evacuation. since it began at the airport. no. you say close air support, but you re saying you re prepared now to conduct air strikes other kabul? i m not going to talk about potential future operations. i do think it is important to level set here. that even throughout the draw down we had overwatch capabilities. throughout the draw down we had over watch capabilities. so the fact that we re flying overwatch missions now and have been since the 14th we were doing it before the 14th as you would think we would, and force
and others who can t get to the airport, that s unusual then for them to essentially say no here. is it a case that we don t have the military capability, or do we not have the political desire to engage in the country in that way? well, obviously, my statement there about they can do anything is a bit of an exaggeration. of course but it s the way they are trained basically to say if this is the mission, we re going to find a way to do it. now in this case, we have no troops in afghanistan outside of kabul, outside of the airport. you re talking about a mission that is beyond the level of difficult. but again, throughout this process, you know, the general position, and we ran into this in iraq and afghanistan, i m sure that secretary austin, if you want to put 50,000 troops in afghanistan and go get them, sure, but the cost of that is obviously way beyond what we want to pay. so, it s striking that balance. as far as where we re at right now, it s a difficult situation, you k
designated by the state department as siv applicants and other evacuees in coordination with the state department. we re ready to increase throughput and have scheduled aircraft departures accordingly. we intend to maximize each plane s capacity. we re prioritizing people above all else, and we re focused on doing this as safely as possible with absolute urgency. we have not experienced any security incidence nor interference since my last update. we recognize the inherent danger of operating in this environment but our service members in kabul remain agile, professional and are postured to continue mission and respond if required. we look at the last 24 hours, f-18s flew armed over watched