fought the taliban. denied al qaeda sanctuary and protected our homeland for two consecutive decades. over 800,000 of ufs in uniform served in afghanistan. most importantly, 2,461 u.s. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines paid the ultimate price. 20,698 were wounded in action and countless others suffered the invisible wounds of war. there is no doubt in my mind that our efforts prevented an attack on the homeland from afghanistan which was our core mission. and everyone everyone whoever served in that war in afghanistan should be proud. your service mattered. beginning in 2011, we steadily drew down our troop numbers and quon sol dated and closed bases and retrogradeed equipment from afghanistan.
in action and countless others of us suffer the invisible wounds of war. there is no doubt in my mind that our efforts prevented an attack on the homeland from afghanistan which was our core original mission. and everyone that served in that war should be proud of your service because it mattered. beginning in 2011, we stead lie drew down our troop numbers consolidated and closed bases and retrogradeed equipment from afghanistan. at the peak in 2011, we had 97,000 u.s. troops alongside 41,000 nato troops in afghanistan. 10 years later, when ambassador signed the doha agreement on 29 february, 2020, the united states had 12,600 u.s. troops with 8,000 nato and 10,500 contractors.
abandoning the $800 million u.s. embassy in kabul. the taliban will help protect the last americans leaving the airport from attacks from isis for al qaeda. roughly speaking you need at least several days to get the amount of forces and equipment that we have at the airport to get that safely and effectively retrogradeed. yesterday two members of congress both combat veterans flew unannounced to kabul airport in the midst of this chaotic evacuation stunning forces on the ground who had to protect them. those evacuation flights will begin to slow down as the u.s. military withdraw their teams. dana: the evacuation of thousands of americans and allies is taking on new urgency for six days until the august 31 deadline. griff jenkins from the state department. it is a race against the clock and a desperate attempt for americans, their families
real around the airport so i will be equally as judicious about the kind of information we give out. roughly speaking you need at least several days to get the amount of forces and equipment that we have at the airport to get that safely and effectively retrogradeed. i won t get into a specific tiktok. this will be the pace and whatever the daily extraction is going to be, that will be up to the commanders ton ground to determine what they will move and how and when they ll do it because we have a mission to continue the evacuations. you have to be able to do both. it is a balance. the secretary will trust the judgment of our come anders on the ground. we are still aiming toward the end of the month. are the public statements by the taliban the same as the private statements being made to u.s. officials about the