Thats 1880851177. Call now leaks lives cia secrets, maori play nali plane dollars, playing lives were at stake. Yes, my children. This is horrifying United States of scandal with jake tapper. New Episode Sunday at nine on cnn this, is cnn. He news. We are monitoring Breaking News this afternoon on cnn news central, top generals in charge of the chaotic us withdrawal from afghanistan back in 2021, are testifying on capitol hill former Joint Chiefs Of Staff general mark milley and former commander of Us Central Command general Kenneth Mackenzie our testifying before the House Foreign Affairs. Thats right. Both laid some blame for the chaos on the State Department. And its choice not to call for evacuations soon enough. Lets listen back in im not sure even today about the accuracy of all those numbers are they in jail dead . Some of them i think some were killed afghans. I dont know about the american, i dont think americans were, but i think some of the afghans were tracked down that worked with us. And i think some of them were killed in pretty certain, some of them in pretty brutal ways. Some were managed to escape through various means all those just laid low and keeping a Heads Down Jim was time expired. Chair recognizes mr. Sherman thank you mr. Chairman, i wish we were having a hearing with these excellent witnesses on whats on peoples minds which is whats going on in gaza where we could discuss the incredible difficulties of Urban Warfare and how the top expert on Urban Warfare at west point has said that israel has done a, at least as good a job as any other military in minimizing civilian casualties, giving the incredible difficulties of urban war warfare. Instead, we have what appear a highly politicized hearing trying to blame biden in. This hearing began with the title biden strategic failure. I its my understanding that our witnesses refused to testify with that title in any case, they should have. Weve now retitled the hearing, but we havent repurposed it. It continues to be politicized, but a highly partisan hearing shouldnt be held. If youre in the party that made most of the mistakes let us we had lets put this in context. We had a real dispute as to whether we should leave 2,500 or so american servicemen there for perhaps this decade in the following decade. The Dissent Cable argued for that a lot of the Foreign Policy establishment argued for that but trump promised the American People every single american soldier would be out and from that point, we had no Bargaining Position thats why kalisa, called the chief negotiator, said that it was well by 2018, by the end of 2018 that we are hell bent to get every person out and so what kind of agreement did we enter into in doha . Supposedly by the best negotiator in the world. Then president trump. It is an agreement that says its okay for the taliban to treat 12yearold girls like sex slaves, no provision prohibits that nothing prohibits the taliban from killing and people, because theyre part of the Lgbt Community nothing prohibits them from killing someone because they convert from islam. Dick all their required to do is talk to the Afghan Government. They talked perhaps, and then they assumed total power and we could do nothing about it because we had promised the American People that absolutely every soldier would be out. And of course, right before the election, trump promised to have them all back by christmas of 2020. The Trump Administration lost 59 of our service men, 152 of our contractors accomplishing absolutely nothing. We surrendered in 2020. We could have surrendered in 2017 but perhaps the most extreme partisans part partisan ship has arrived when so many members of this committee have attacked President Biden supposedly for not bringing back the quote, 85 billion i think its closer to 8 billion of equipment that we left behind now, this equipment was in the hands of afghans who had plenty of use for it. They could keep it for their own defense. They could sell it to the taliban. They did not chose to bring it back to us and return it so, ill ask general millie had we was there a way for us to go all around afghanistan and demand the return of our equipment. This is assuming i realized that at the time we hoped that the Afghan Armed Forces would use that to resist the taliban. But if we had real july that there were going to cave immediately. Could we have taken that equipment away from all these afghans with no casualties no, of course not so we would have incurred vary substantial casualties if we had done what so many on the other side of the aisle have suggested, and thats somehow get back our equipment now, how does are withdrawal from afghanistan compare to our withdrawal from well, actually i have another Question Biden came in in january 2021. Was there a comprehensive plan at that time . To both withdraw . Absolutely. Every one of our servicemen because that was the promise trump had made to the American People while withdrawing in an organized way with no american casualties, was there a complete plan ready to go at that time . So two points, if i go back to equipment just very quickly as i recall, i think its laid out in the crs report, the special ig for afghanistan is about 80 some odd billion dollars worth of military aid total. Thats everything from food and building barracks and uniforms and boots to include equipment over 20 years, run any sites. I think its 7. 2 billion of Military Equipment us manufactured Military Equipment that is what the Afghan Security forces thats afghan owned equipment, not American Equipment. Every piece of American Equipment that the American Military owned came out with us with scott miller or he destroyed onsite thats a fact. So the idea that the emeritus of this, this attack on biden for nadia takehome these round it backfires recognizes mr. Wilson, south carolina. All right. We are watching the House Foreign AffairsCommittee Hearing on the withdrawal from afghanistan, which obviously was it . Faster as it happened in the summer of 2021 but were seeing this devolve obviously into a political event. And i guess thats not surprising here. In an election year. Lets bring in someone who really knows the story of the entire war. Retired army colonel liam collins, he is a former Green Beret A who served in afghanistan, including in the month following the September 11th attacks. Hes also the coauthor of understanding Urban Warfare in kernel. Youve been watching the hearing. I just wonder what your observations are of what youve heard so far. Yeah. I mean, as representative meeks said, right. The call to leave afghanistan was correct, but the manner in which biden decided to do it was clearly flawed and as pointed out, right. He didnt follow the advice of his military professionals who recommended leaving 2,500 forces on the ground, right . We still forces in germany in korea, we have special Operations Training militaries around the world. So this request was not based on past precedents. But if you examine the military is 20 year history and afghanistan, its professional Military Advice is extremely suspects, so its understandable why biden might be hesitant to follow that advice is i think it was makes also pointed out that really theyre focusing on the last six months as they should be. But really, what set the stage is a 20 year history for what happened during the exit. So you definitely have to do a broader look to understand that the exit itself so kernel looking at the broader picture here, it seems like at several levels, there were issues, there were issues with the intelligence, there were issues with decisionmaking that that intelligence was based on. And then there were more logistical or tactical issues with equipment that was left behind. Confusion about who to get out of the country after the withdrawal where do you see the biggest issues when it comes to the overall picture of the withdrawal from afghanistan i think the biggest picture really, like i said, was set way back in 2000 to 2003, 2004 when you the us made a decision, right . We had political and military leaders. It didnt understand the history of the polity, the culture, the Social Structure of afghanistan, to creating a strong central government, having a large conventional presence in afghanistan lets fan leading operations for far too long right . And then building a Strong National army when you needed local security, that kind of set the stage for what you had and then yeah, once you get to it, yet clearly was not planned and executed properly but i think youve got to look at the underlying condition since it kind of set that stage yeah. It was interesting to hear mily talking about that. He was looking back when two winter of 2001, he said that if there if that had been the time when bin laden head really been zeroed in on. He thought that that was something that would have obviously changed the trajectory of the war. But when you are looking at the hand that biden was dealt and to be clear, during the Obama Administration he wasnt a fan of obamas surge in afghanistan. But he, this was what he was dealt, right . And thats what a president has to deal with, which is he was going to bring the troops out of afghanistan. And he was tasked, his administration was tasked with figuring out how to do it. When you look at what happened there in August Of 2021 as you pinpoint how this could have gone more smoothly. It seems here as theyre talking to the military, theyre really zeroing in on the State Department for culpability what do you think about what youre hearing there yeah. Without a doubt. I mean, thats what youre going to get if you could be at the State Department and here theyre probably going to point the finger as somebody said, right at the Defense Department but you know, the finger point, you can go back and forth all day, but clearly there was not a good plan whether that was the militarys falter State Departments fault. Its clear that there wasnt a good a good plan for this scenario or the or the call was made at much too late of a date those obviously led to the conditions. Write an essay said, right, having two small presence in country that had to then come into Security Airfield and conduct that noncombat evacuation operation. Anytime you got to conduct a usually under duress, usually those dont happen in advance and things go badly and it went very badly, but again, to keep in mind why some people might not have been able to forecast it or understand it despite the intelligence, the taliban is not a sophistic sophisticated foe. Write, this government just collapsed in the face of a foe thats not a sophisticated or they could have clearly defeat of the taliban if they had in any will to fight whatsoever. Again, just look, look to ukraine and thats a nation thats fighting what many have ranked as the second most powerful nation in the world. And fighting toe to toe with them because they have the will. But we had partners there that had absolutely no will and no stake in their own governance. So its taught to be successful in those circumstances. Hello, in the context of what happened at abbey gate, i think chairman mike mccall was making the point that theres an intelligence from a sniper that was on the ground there who alleges that he had of a Suicide Bomber that killed more than a dozen Us Service Members and others in his sights. And that his calls is request to engage age with that person were ignored. Mccall was calling for a documents to be released to congress to further that investigation. Im not necessarily asking about the details of that specific report, but im curious from your perspective, what Accountability Looks like for that incident in which some 13 Us Service Members were killed yeah, that without a doubt, i mean, its really sad, right . That those should be released to congress, right . I mean, they have a role obviously in the military and their actions and they shouldnt have that information withheld from them. At the same time, i wasnt there at time. I dont under state understand what the Rules Of Engagement that they had there. But if a sniper is in a position and hes doing his job he should never or she should never have to ask higher headquarters to engage at target they should be able to go out there and be able to make that decision at that time. Because if they do have calling requests, thats whats going to happen, right . Theyre never going to get the word back down quick enough to engage the target. And so thats not surprising that if they had to make that request, that the Suicide Bombers able to get off the charge colonel thank, you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your expertise and thank you so much for your service thank you. Were going, to go back to the hearing i think Congressman Jason Crow was just asking questions and is continuing to do so obviously, served in afghanistan himself as an army ranger. Lets listen stay in keeping 2,500 beyond. We thought it need to be mated to be coupled with an aggressive Negotiation Program with the taliban, one that was perhaps had a few more sticks and not all karatay. So i think you needed to change your approach to negotiation if you decided to stay, your what well never know. Youll never know. I think i grew joe millie is very poor possible that we could have been fighting the taliban, but its just thats just a counterfactual that we wont know the answer to. Him. Thank you on the issue of a neo, i actually was one of those voices that joined you and called for an earlier neo. And it was something that i thought would have been better and could have led twice smoother evacuation, but not not a perfectly clean one because nios are hard and one thing i want to talk about is this issue of who we evacuated. Your talked about getting accounts on us citizens, but the simple fact of the matter is the United States, nowhere ever requires its citizens to register with the taint department. So in no instance, do we ever fully know what americans are on the ground in any situation . Is that correct . I think thats 100 correct. And youll see it playing out today in haiti, you start in the sudan, you started and ukraine start in many other places. Very, very difficult. Its a voluntary thing. People are encouraged to register with the embassy, but i dont know of any compulsory requirement to do that. And also when we evacuated american citizens, in efficacy and many of those were in fact dual citizens. Is that accurate, general mckinsey thats correct, yes and many of those folks actually had nonamerican Citizen Family members. Is that right . That is correct. So many of them not until the last moment wanted to evacuate until they knew that there was a crisis because they didnt want to leave their family. Is that accurate . I think you were resolutely, correct. So even if even if we had started a neo earlier that doesnt mean at the end of the day, there wouldnt have been a rush in a crisis as the Afghan Government and Security Forces claps because people finally realizes, realized they needed to get out that that probably wouldnt have changed even if we had started the neo earlier hard to know, but thats certainly possibility glass pieces, the part of the story that is not yet written, and that is our partners, our friends, our afghan allies who are still there we have an obligation to get them out. Theres a bill called the Afghan Allies Protection can act bipartisan bill. Im going to thank mr. Barrett over here, who is a cosponsor of that now, but to encourage all my colleagues who are here, who are not yet cosponsors of that bill to signon because we can still do right. And save lives by passing this bill and providing a pathway for our friends to get out with that, i yield back builds. Cheer recognizes mr. Perry from pennsylvania. All right. We are watching the House Foreign Affairs committee this hearing about supposed to be about accountability for this us withdrawal from afghanistan from almost three years ago now. But we have some Breaking News. We want to interrupt with the Supreme Court. Moments ago ruling that texas can begin enforcing sb for this is that controversial Immigration Law that was passed by G