evacuate american citizens. third country civilians, afghan allies, in vulnerable afghans. want to provide the american people with a brief update on the situation in afghanistan. since i spoke to you on monday, we have made significant progress. we ve secured the airport. enabling flights to resume. not just military flights, but civilian charters from other countries and ngos taking out civilian in vulnerable afghan people. now we have almost 6,000 troops on the ground including the 82n airborne camera providing runwa security, the army tenth mountain division standing guar or on the airport, the 24th marine expo very assisting the departure. this is one of the most difficult airlift in history by the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the