first thanks to president biden for ending the u.s. combat mission in afghanistan after 20 years. it took guts and the right thing to do and it should have been done earlier. a virginia service member whose wife is expecting said this recently. i m so glad my baby isn t being born into a country at war. i want us to stay on permanent war footing in afghanistan and elsewhere. some will suggest that troops are still carrying out limited military strikes around the world. the fam leels of those who have beemployed to iraq and afghanistan over the last 20 years, they are relieved that america is now turning the page and rejecting the notion that we should be a nation in permanent war. second, the effort to evacuate more than 120,000 people to safety under chaotic circumstances was remarkable. i visited the dallas expo center where 80% of the afghans and fort lee.
0 retake bagram then? thank you, senator. you are right, the tempo had picked up significantly. the taliban continued to make advances. our entire chain of command, myself, the chairman, general mckenzie, routinely engaged in after began leadership to encourage them to solidify their defensive plans, to make sure they were providing the right logistics to their troops and stiffen their defenses to no avail. and to compound that, president ghani continued to make changes in the leadership of the military and this created further problems for the afghan security forces. mr. secretary i don t mean to interrupt but my time is lapsing. this gets to the overestimation, i think the overly optimistic assessment. even as late as july you are still encouraging the afghan special forces, you are expecting the ghani government to remain, but that was not the case. in december of 2019 the washington post reported the u.s. military commanders privately expressed a lack of confidence that the a
the united nations to align our efforts and fifth we ll continue to support the afghan people. consistent with sanctions. this aid will not flow through the government, but rather through independent organizations like ngos and un agencies. yesterday we announced that the united states has provided nearly 64 million in new humanitarian assistance to the people of afghanistan to meet critical health and nutrition needs to address the protection concerns of women and children and minorities to help more children including girls go back to school. this additional funding means the united states has provided nearly $330 million in assistance to the afghan people this fiscal year. in doha and ramstein, toward the facilities where afghans that we evacuated are being processed before moving on to the next destinations. here at home, i spent time at the dallas expo center where more than 45,000 afghans have been processed after arriving in