Come up a discussion about three women from afghan female tactical platoon who trained and worked alongside u. S. Special forces and are now facing potential deportation hearing this discussion is hosted by the womens Foreign Policy group. Getting everybody and welcome. I am Alexa Chopivsky the executive director of the womens Foreign Policy group. All behalf of our board and our staff and importantly our valued coorganizers coorganizers as i call you names please stand. The penl fed foundation and its afghan Refugee Resettlement program. Paul hasting, sister service, and with honor action. We thank you for being here and very much look forward to this important and timely discussion. Special gratitude to our wfpo people aboard cochair Crissy Rogers for being the initial engine behind this collaboration of partners and coorganizers. From 2011 to the fall of kabul in 2021, a remarkable unit of highly skilled soldiers carried out more than 2000 Critical Military missions. The female tactical platoon, or ftp, composed of 60 afghan women trained by the u. S. Military, embarked on dangerous High Profile Missions in pursuits against the taliban. With the distinct ability to contribute tactical strength and communication expertise, these women exercised relentless spiritir and unmatched strength during hardship. The ftp worked alongside the Cultural Support Team consisting of highly trained american female soldiers to interact with women and children during u. S. Special operations missions. Over the first days of the fall of kabul in 2021, 41 members of the female tactical platoon were evacuated to the u. S. Now, following their servers and theirfi sacrifice, they face a w set of challenges in this country, from citizenship and economic inclusion to ensuring the survival of their families still living in afghanistan under taliban rule. They continue working alongside their American Partners to bring the remaining 27 ftps and family members to safety. We are deeply honored to have here this evening with us as our keynote to begin the conversation our leader who is integral to supporting these brave women Freedom Fighters who served alongside our u. S. Servicemen and women, including our green berets, our navy seals, and our army rangers. General joseph patel as a retired u. S. Army 4star officer and former commander of u. S. Central command u. S. Special Operations Command, and joint special Operations Command. During his 39 years and military, he commanded special operations in conventionall military forces atry every leve. His career included combat in panama, afghanistan and iraq. During his extensive time in afghanistan, general votel made a personal impact on the afghan female tactical platoon. His steadfast leadership empower female soldiers, both afghan and american, to succeed at all levels. In january of 2022 general votel became president presf Business Executives for National Security. During the afghan, afghanistan vanquish in 2021, general votel advocated for numerous afghan partners and their families including the female tactical platoon. His support and his advocacy are major reasons why over 40 members of the female tactical platoon are safely in the United States and here with us in person this evening. Thank you for your leadership. We are so incredibly grateful to you for sharing your time with us this evening. General votel, the floor is yours. [applause] well could evening to everyone and alexa thank you very much for that very kind introduction. Its great to be here. Christie, thank you very much for the invitation to join this evening. I know we have a number of other very special guests in the audience, and welcome to all of you and especially welcomed the members of the american Cultural Support Teams that are with us tonight and especially our afghan female tactical platoon members that are here this evening. Ladies, its wonderful to see you. Thank you for joining us. [applause] as always we are so honored to have you with us this evening, so thank you very much. I took command of the armys Ranger Regiment just a few months before the events of 9 11, back in 2001. Almost immediately after that we were involved in planning for Contingency Operations that would take us to afghanistan, and i was honored to deploy as part of the very first wave of u. S. Troops went to afghanistan in october 2001. Over the course of my career i served multiple tumors with both conventional special operations organizations across the country of afghanistan. Over 18 years of Service Since 9 11 before i retired i helped orchestrate our plan to dismantle alqaeda and other organizations like them or supporting them to include the taliban who were operating across the afghanistanpakistan region. Along the way i gained a great appreciation for the goodness of the Afghan People and their sincere desire for peace and stability after decades of conflict. Our operations to dismantle Terror Networks were very aggressive and required us to confront terrorist organizations where they operated, which is often in villages, and especially among the Afghan People. Over time we understood that our ability to have the impact we wanted against the networks required at tempo and emotive operations that was unprecedented when compared to all of her of the military experiences. This resulted in dozens of operations every day almost exclusively conducted at night. As we came to appreciate while this was an effective military approach to fighting terrorists, it also brought undesirable impacts for the Afghan People, in treat into private homes, exposure to the hazards of combat, tactical mistakes, segregation of families during our operations, and the wrath of violent extremist organizations imposing their will on peaceful afghans who seemm to be actively or passively supporting our american and nato operations. We worked very hard to reduce these impacts using technology to keep people safe, information approaches to inform people, and eventuallys altering our tactis on the ground. One of the impacts we were most keen to mitigate was the effect of our t operations on women and children who were often times on the object is where we were operating. While our principal focus was always on safeguarding afghan civilians, we recognize there could be somesa very practical military advantages to this approach as well. Once this need was identified, our system swung into Rapid Response acting on the direction of the then u. S. Special Operations Command commanding general admiral eric olsen. We undertook a rapid effort to identify, recruit, and train female officers anddi noncommissioned officers all of the u. S. Military services, but predominantly from the army, to serve as Cultural Support Team members. Their job was to accompany our strike forces, to be on the objectives t within an use their skills to not only safeguard women and children but with appropriate to gather information that would support our military mission. Their training was rigorous and comprehensive. Theynd were required to meet evy standard required of their male counterparts on the strikeforce, including carrying heavy loads, and when necessary, employing their weapons to defend themselves and their fellow special operators. The program was an immediate success, and when combined with modify tactics and other approaches helped to further minimize but not complete unfortunately not completely eliminate civilian casualties. Information gathered by our Cultural Support Team members from family members often aided our tactical operations, and i personally witnessed on a number of occasions while accompanying our strike forces, they enabled as we often hurt our ability to talk to the other 50 of the population, and i personally witnessed on an objective when eating an afghan woman after talking to one of her Cultural Team members pointing directly to her husband saying, thats the name man you want righ. Very kind of a form of righteous justice therefore her, im sure. Afghan women were also very surprised to see other american women on the objectives with them, and this had a huge impact on them and provided an example of empowerment to them. This approach was not without risk and several of our Cultural Support Team members were killed or wounded in combat operations. Their stories are well told in the excellent book ashley zwart by my friend gail litman who of course we see the examples here the pictures of ashley white and Jennifer Marino here as well as her afghan counterpart, but overall the program was so successful that we continued to develop, but as we continued to develop and expand the mail Afghan Special operations units, we encouraged and afghan leadership listened, then to create an afghan version of the Cultural Support Teams, knowns the female tactical platoon who wouldsu especially serve with Afghan SpecialOperations Forces but especially the afghan units. As you can imagine the introduction of this approach in a culture that helde women to a very particular role was a challenge, the one that was overcome largely through the perseverance and discipline and professional excellence of that only the afghan women aside to the female tactical platoon but also to the professionalism of the u. S. Cultural support team members who trained and developed them, and leaders in the afghan army who not only believed in the program but inherentlyly appreciated that it was the right approach. The impact was legend. Safeguarding afghan civilians, and breaking down cultural barriers. The female tactical platoon served as an example of the positive leading role women could and were already playing in modern Afghan Society. For me, the example of the Cultural Support Teams and the female tactical platoons were a significant factor in my 2015 recommendation to the then secretary of defense to open up all combat specialties to female Service Members and in doing that, we talked with our cst partners and they were the most influential factor in my recommendations to the secretary of defense. As if the example of courage and bravery was not enough, this Extraordinary Group of women of afghan and american women saved their greatest lesson for when the going was most difficult, during the evacuation of kabul nearly two years ago. In a lifetime of service, mostly in combat and around combat troops, i was never more inspired than by the efforts led by american women, military and civilian, to successfully evacuate their afghan counterparts under arduous, dangerous conditions, and of the sheer bravery and courage of the female tactical platoon members to get themselves and some of their family members out. Americans have no reasonable frame of reference for the fear absorbed and the tenacity demonstrated during that evacuation. We can never forget those who were lost or gave so much for their freedom, and we must tonight and on the upcoming second anniversary of this evacuation rededicate ourselves to helping them and their families. Their sacrifices cannot have been made in vain. We have no reasonable recourse but to do the right thing. Today, afghanistan is in a humanitarian political crisis that demands international attention. The taliban believes it is doing the will of god. Purifying Afghan Society to create a perfect islamic emirate. The combination of these efforts these taliban purification efforts along with poverty and extremism and lack of education is a toxic combination that is not good for the Afghan People or the region. The rollback in rights, Democratic Values and human rights is eye watering. Women and girls have officially been denied the opportunity to education. The taliban has issued over 60 decrees reducing space for women in Afghan Society, including most recently ordering the shutdown of hair salons across the country, denying an important cultural opportunity for women to gather among themselves and talk outside the home. Outside of their homes. Females previously served as military or Civil Servants are being deliberately targeted. Overall, freedom of expression and of the press is severely restricted. If even existence. Civil society is all but nonexistent. Exclusion is widespread. Minorities, not just women, are being persecuted. Across the country. There is a spike in Child Marriage and child labor. We cannot afford to turn our eyes away from the situation in afghanistan today. The fact is, the diminishment of human rights and Democratic Values in afghanistan is a National Security threat for the United States, our partners in the region, and all our friends around the world, and if you do not believe me, you just need to travel less than two miles from this location to visit the pentagon 9 11 memorial and be reminded once again of the cost of taking our eyes off the threats to our citizens and to our friends and interests. There are things that can and must be done. We must draw attention to the deteriorating situation in afghanistan. Accountability begins in the court of public opinion. We must clarify pathways and properly support the visa process to ensure those who help us are served quickly and effectively, and we should prioritize our females, partners in the female tactical platoon and their families for this progress. We must support nongovernment organizations and government elements, including from the united nations, who is working to relieve the crisis in afghanistan. We must support organizations like Freedom House and others that work to support human rights defenders and pursue a diplomatic process that holds the taliban accountable and has as its goal to peacefully restore Democratic Values and human rights for all citizens of afghanistan. We must confront the abuses we see in afghanistan and support our friends and partners. We must honor those who stepped up and did their duty. We must aspire to the example that has been set for us by the brave women of the afghan tactical platoon, putting country and family first, it being willing to put skin in the game, and willing to exhibit that resilience to see it through. I am very proud of all of our afghan female tactical platoon members and Cultural Support Team members. I think they represent the very best in all of us. Thank you for the opportunity this evening, and i look forward to the rest of our time together. [applause] thank you, general, as always. What an honor to be here representing the penn fed credit union. Im the president and ceo. I think what i represent tonight on behalf of the credit union and foundation is the commitment to service. As a former military officer, i learned at a young age coming out of west point what it meant to train men and women to go into harms way on behalf of a what it meant to go into harms way on behalf of a nation. I learned after graduate school during my time in the pentagon how we can never forget the men and women we asked to go into harms way to fight on the half of our nation. So were here tonight because of the pin fed foundation. We dont just thank veterans for their service. We demonstrate that through our actions. Two years ago as joe votel said during the tumultuous pullout of american troops from afghanistan, we knew our afghanistan allies in danger. The women youre about to meet are just a few of the courageous afghans who rest their lives to serve alongside our u. S. Troops. These women members of the female tactical platoon were personally and directly recruited and trained by an elite group of american servicewomen known as our Cultural Support Team. These american heroes exemplify bravery and loyalty. About ten members of the Cultural Support Team worked relentlessly around the clock to evacuate their sisters when we evacuated. On the current and missed the gas the airport they succeed in bringing 43 afghan women and their immediate family members to the United States. Iha cant thank my board enough for their support [applause] i cannot thank my board of directorsei enough for the suppt to provide the funding and our donors that are it providede funding to allow us t to take perfect care of these women who deserve to be taken perfect care. For two years these families have faceded tremendous hardshi, grieving the loss ofad loved ons they had to leave behind while adapting to a new environment in a new life here in america. Put yourself in their shoes. Drastically middle of the night come out of the country, come here to learn a new language andng to secure employment move forward with their lives. And many of them have their Young Children here with them. Our foundation is on her template a small part in supporting these families, that the reason were here tonight is because the struggle is not over. Only 11 of the 43 female female tactical