Page 57 - Combat Operations News Today

Here with us. what is your reaction to 5,000 american troops to afghanistan? what kind of intelligence led the president to make this move? >> hi, pamela, thanks for having me on. this is the right move, a surge of troops to make sure were protecting u.s. citizens and military personnel. no one anticipated the speed of the collapse of the afghan army and defense forces. i certainly didnt. i knew this would be a very difficult time as we ended our combat operations. i anticipated challenges. i ce...

Haven for terrorists. after relative stability— haven for terrorists. after relative stability afghanistan was not perfect — stability afghanistan was not perfect but a pretty good investment for relatively little cost, the us had not — for relatively little cost, the us had not been engaged in combat operations since 2015 and it had not been _ operations since 2015 and it had not been front—page news years so theres— been front—page news years so theres been a push, biden has wanted...

Kinds of problems. there are many fragile countries around the world. afghanistan is not unique. what is unique, we went into afghanistan, took responsibility for it, invested an enormous amount and defended the progress we made with limited investment. we could have kept that “p investment. we could have kept that up for many years to come. there have been very few us and uk casualties in the last five years. we talk about this as though it is a vietnam war where we have been losing lives han...

Reason for and is no longer a problem at this present time. it might change. thank you very much for that. rory stewart is a senior fellow at yale university and former international development secretary, who lived and worked in afghanistan: thank you forjoining us. what is your assessment of what is taking place in afghanistan? we are hearing about humiliation of some people in the uk, abandonment in afghanistan? it is a betrayal. we were not an active combat operations in afghanistan. maybe p...

Dropping a push to remove the filibuster as the battle over election reform heats up on capitol hill? our political panel will send off on that and just moments. but first, iraqs prime minister heading to the white house where he and president biden are and about to announce the official end to the combat mission in iraq by year end but until then, it will keep several u.s. troops on the ground shifting from a training to advisory mission. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon on that. >> the...

Iraq by the end of the year. lets talk about what this actually means on the ground. senior international correspondent arwa damon joins us and jeremy diamond. jeremy, lets begin with you and what will happen in a matter of hours. this was 18 years after u.s. troops were sent into iraq. the role changes pore those 2200 troops or so but does not mean theyre leaving. is that right? >> reporter: thats exactly right. what were expecting today as president biden meets in the oval office with the iraq...

Significant shift for the u.s.s role in the region. it comes as the u.s. is in its final stages of ending its combat operations in afghanistan as well. this will be a political boone to the iraqi prime minister, who has been under public priessure to end the u.s. combat mission in his country as well. so, this also follows a series of meetings. last week, senior iraqi commanders were at the pentagon, mapping out exactly how this will happen. you will see more cabinet-level meetings this week bet...

Combat operations. its been a long time since it was seriously a war that involved american troops. what were talking about is making sure that terrorists dont take sufficient base in afghanistan or -- trying to attack the united states. >> youre trying to say we the u.s., the u.s. hasnt been at war in the conventional sense with the involvement of u.s. troops. >> im saying the terrorist threat to the united states is not a conventional military threat. and it takes a different kind of response....

All of a sudden the taliban have become 10 foot tall and seem to be about ready to take the country over. im surprised that people dont understand this was in the cards. the military and intelligence service was certainly broadcasting the potential for what were seeing. why is this happening? so our viewers understand, we stopped direct combat operations in 2014. the ground force then was the afghan security forces and has been ever since by themselves. but we provided -- there are two significa...

You, just as you stood with us. >> reporter: in kabul, i met tom, which is what u.s. troops called him. did you hear president bidens promise -- >> i got a lot of news. a lot of announcement, but theres no action. >> reporter: tom lived in close quarters with u.s. troops and has reams of recommendation letters. he helped translate for and stums defend u.s. forces on 150 combat operations. >> he told me, hey, tom, just get behind me and show me the enemies. >> reporter: you are pointing out where...