0 about 100 americans and that figure doesn't change. we need a real accounting for how many people, big difference between 100 and 4000. my biggest takeaway, we have no counter terrorism strategy and milley and mckenzie testifyod this, mckenzie said he is not confident we can prevent al qaeda or isis. >> harris: i am rushing, it is top of the hour, kayleigh and emily, everybody on "outnumbered," quick one for us as we ark wait the panel to reconvene. thanks for watching fox news. our coverage continues on "america reports." >> sandra: the senate armed services adjourning for a break, set to resume 30 minutes from now. the nation's top military leaders facing tough questioning on capitol hill for the first time since the chaotic exit from afghanistan. hello and welcome, everyone, i'm sandra smith in new york. >> john: i'm john robert necessary washington. lloyd austin, and general mark milley and general frank mckenzie all testifying today before the senate armed everybodies iss committee, lawmakers questioning the generals on everything from plans leading to withdrawal to the drone strike in kabul that led to multiple civilian casualties, including seven children. >> sandra: fox team coverage and we'll speak with former national security advisor keith kellogg. martha maccallum is standing by. start with jennifer griffin live from the pentagon, hi, jen fer. >> jennifer: hi, sandra, the president's military advisors did not advise pulling all u.s. troops out of afghanistan, suggesting that the president made the decision to withdraw in spite of recommendation of his top military advisors. >> also recommended earlier in the fall of 2020, maintain 4500 at that time, my personal views. i have a view withdrawal of the forces would lead to collapse of the afghan military forces and eventually the afghan government. >> jennifer: general mckenzie said he recommended 4500 troops stay in afghanistan, that is not what president biden told four days after kabul fell. >> no one told your military advisors, no, keep 2500 troops, been a stable situation for the lasts 16r8 years we can do that and continue to do that. >> no one said that to me that i can recall. >> jennifer: all three withins said their recommendations and those of general scott miller in afghanistan, made it to president biden. >> just because we're generals and it would be incredible act of political defiance for commissioned officer to resign because my advice is not taken. this country doesn't want generals figuring out what orders we accept and do or not, that is not our job. >> jennifer: in unooshl detour general milley addressed criticism that resulted from reportss in the woodward costa book about actions in the final months of trump administration, including two phone calls to chinese counter part to reassure china the u.s. was nots preparing to attack. >> the calls on 30 october and 8 january coordinated before and after with secretary esper and acting secretary miller's staffs and the interagency. i know, i am certain that president trump did not intend to attack the chinese and it is my direct responsibility and it was my directed responsibility by the secretary to convey that intent to the chinese. my task at that time was to deescalate. >> jennifer: he says personally informed then secretary of state mike pompeo and chief of staff meadows about the calls, as well as acting defense secretary chris miller. milley pushed back on suggestions he went rogue inserting himself into the nuclear chain of command following a phone call from house speaker nancy pelosi. >> i am in the chain of communication issue at no time attempting to change or influence the process, usurp authority or insert myself in the chain of command, but i am expected, i am required to give my advice and ensure that the president is fully informed on military matters. >> jennifer: there were admissions today the way the war ended was strategic failure. frustration by lawmakers was palpable when it came to afghanistan, demands for accountability and sense they had been lied to for decades about progress being made in afghanistan, progress which evaporated august 15 when kabul fell to taliban without a shot being fired. sandra. >> sandra: live at the pent gob, jennifer, thank you. john. >> john: to capitol hill. >> any family watching this hearing, we didn't learn much, we heard frustration from democrats and republicans when asked how many americans are still stuck in that country, all three withins defer to the state department and defense secretary lloyd austin admitted that the evacuation was not perfect. thousands of afghans were evacuated during a botched pull-out. shockingly dhs secretary said sid holders, and hearing from families in u.s. complaining only having one side of communication with the government as they try to get their relatives out. house foreign affairs ranking more michael mccall subject a letter to the president asking for detailed call and a month later, hasn't gotten response. he's telling us he's been contacted by several active u.s. service members, texas service members who have family and friends stuck in the country and still nothing has been done about that. members of congress say following early briefings, they were confident of contingency plan, but we're not hearing about that plan today and democrats expressing concern about what the state department is doing as republicans press on the president's actions. watch this. >> did it bother you when the president went on national television and said he would not leave until all american citizens were taken out? it bother you? it clearly is not truthful. >> senator, you heard me say several times that we're going to work as hard as we can for as long as we can to get every american citizen out that wants to come out and we continue to do that to this day. >> senator josh hawley had a tense back and forth with secretary austin, as well. this will be brought back up again as soon as lunch is over. senator tillis will ask for questions about the sid applicants in round two. john. >> john: looking forward to round two in 25 minutes. thanks. sandra. >> sandra: bring in anchor of the story, martha maccallum, we have been watching every minute throughout the day. so far your take on the first believe accounting of that afghanistan withdrawal watching the top military brass? >> all these gentlemen and top military advisors advised president biden to leave 2500 troops on the ground. they did not get their wish. general milley said i will not resign because my advice is not listened to, giving advice is what i'm here to do. my father didn't resign at iwo jima and he stuck to carrying out his mission as he saw it. on three significant points, it is clear all this top military brass disagreed with president biden and things he's on the record for having said. one he said he didn't recall ever being told he should leave 2500 troops. he could have said, yes, that was advice i was given, that is not the decision i decided to make. he said, i don't recall anyone telling me that. he said al qaeda was gone. we heard today from the individuals close to the situation, they said al qaeda is not gone and presents a growing threat. they also took i think issue with the extraordinary success definition by president biden in saying it was a logistical success and strategic failure. there is a lot of daylight between the top military officials and president biden as much as they tried to carefully tread that ground. >> sandra: including change between cotton and austin on the input military leaders were giving the president. listen. >> president biden last month in an interview with george stephanopoulos said no military leader advised him to leave a small troop presence in afghanistan. is that true? >> i believe that first of all, i know the president to be an honest and forthright man. >> is that true or not? >> their input was received by the president and considered by the presidency for sure. >> exchange to that. >> that is contradiction. did tell him and he did listen to us. there is consekwens to the decision of not leaving people in. we have not gotten 4000 americans and sid's out of the country, accelerated threat with isis-k. they had argued could be contained or managed to greater extent if we left 2500 troops on the ground. the consekwens are ever changing. general milley said i was taught and raised to believe as military man for 42 plus years, you never set a date certain. president biden owns those decisions and can stand up for them. we learned today in more sharp clarity how deep the divisions were. >> sandra: here is chairman milley saying the enemy controls kabul. watch. >> outcomes like this are not determined in the last five days, last 20 days or last year for that matter. how comes like this, outcome that is a strategic failure issue the enemy is in charge in kabul. >> sandra: that we know today, martha, right? >> strategic failure, the enemy is in charge in kabul and we watchd that play out with great frustration. it was interesting, i think tommy tuberville said can the military defeat any force on the face of the earth essentially? the answer was yes. that puts you in situation where you say we had an option to not leave in charge of afghanistan, how we brought in more troops or secured maintained our presence at the airport, bagram air base, a lot of obvious questions you can go back and look at. bottom line, most americans feel if we wanted to, we could have defeated the taliban, decisions along the way, it is 20 years and four presidencys brought us where we are today. >> sandra: lots of notes from members of congress talking about the world stage as result of this botched withdrawal. joint chief chairman said because of withdrawal we have damaged our credibility here for america. as we ark wait this to continue, martha, stand by with us. john, to you. >> john: more on this now, general keith kelon, former national security advisor to vice president pence. general, good to have you today. let me go back and play something, this is sound clip number two from the hearing on the number of troops the chairman of the joint chiefs recommended to the president be left in afghanistan. listen here. >> i recommended we maintained 2500 troops in afghanistan. >> understand that. general milley, i assume you agree with that in terms of the recommendation of 2500? >> what i said in my opening statement and memoranda back in fall of 2020, remain consistent and i agree with that. >> john: talking to george stephanopoulos, the presidented none of my military advisors recommended leaving troops in afghanistan, he did give himself an out saying not that i can recall. there is constra diction there, general, who is telling the truth here? >> thanks for having me. president biden's comments don't age well. the military commanders, when we were in the white house, that was the agreement. the agreement all military commanders say we can hold the line at 2500, plus military support, well over 3000 and 5000 nato allys and bagram and air support, we could maintain the position we had, strateic stalemate while peace negotiations going on. they said that and holding that line. when they talked about the doha agreement, john, that agreements was conditions based and agreed there were conditions on that. if not met, the agreement was not fulfilled, meaning he would not leave the country. third of march, after signed on the 20th of february, president trump picked up the phone and called and told them that day if he violated the agreement, the agreement was not complete, we were not leaving and one may date put in there was not a date certain. we would keep moving to the right until conditions were made. we never intended to go below 2500 troops, recommended agreement by everybody in the intelligence community. they had it right. >> john: we heard general milley say there should never be a date certain for military withdrawal, it should be conditions based. general off theip did agree with milley and mckenzie the president did get the message from them about leaving troops in the country. when it came to american credibility damaged there was disconnect between what the civilian leadership and the military leadership thought. let's listen here. >> i think that our credibility with allys and partners around the world and adveraies is being intensely reviewed by the embassy which way this will go. i think the damage is one word that could be used. >> i think our credibility remains solid. >> general, you, like secretary austin had benefit of serving this nation militarily and as civilian, who is right? >> who is right is general milley, mark milley is correct. look, when the president of the united states does not pick up the phone when this is going on and call his allies like he didn't call boris johnson or macron in france, what kind of political credibility do you have when you don't talk to your nato alliance, you have a problem there and he didn't do it. problem on political side, sure milley was talking to counter parts, nato alliance counter parts. >> john: one other point here, that is general milleys involvement in reaching out to general li, chinese counterpart, he said he informed pompeo and mark meadows about the phone calls. were you ever in that loop? >> no, john, i was not, i was not told that. national security advisor was not told that. he made the comment, two associates of acting secretary of defense. what mark milley should have done, if he called me, pick up the phone and call the president of the united states before you make a phone call to adversary and the chinese, make no mistake are adversary of ours. look at the timeframe, 8 january, we know what was happening in the united states at the time. critical time. he should have picked up the phone issue not talked to mark meadows, talked directly to the president, that is his job, principal military advisor to president of the united states not the chief staff of the white house. >> john: good to have you, thank you for joining us, appreciate it. >> sandra: bring in marsha blackburn, joins us now straight out of today's hearing. senator, we heard you actually a few moments ago, line of questioning that involved yes or no requests for yes or no answers. one of the questions, you asked the general if bagram air base had stayed open, would our support to the afghanistan air force been more effective in your view? i was wondering if you were surprised by his answer, frankly i'm not sure on that. >> i think that what they're trying to do is give non-answers, which is terribly disappointing and what we need are some specific answers and sandra, big part of what we're trying to do is figure out where is the breakdown, what is guidance given, we know from the command team what they were telling mckenzie, who at sitcom, milley, austin, jake sullivan, susan rice, the president and we know the president was not abiding by this. now, we know, had we had those assets at bagram air field, that we would have been able to facilitate a more expedient withdrawal of our u.s. citizens, but our siv applicants and we would have been able to keep surveillance on the ground as the taliban, which was being encouraged by the chinese and iranians, they were moving very quickly around the country. but we need austin, milley and mckenzie to to say look, this is what we said, this is what they said, here is what they did and how they arrived at that decision. the men and women who have served there, who have sacrificed these families that have given their lives, they need these answers. >> john: senator, i want to play exchange between you and senator milley, cut number 13. you say that you thought they were giving not answers, this was a question that was surprising question that he gave fairly direct answers to. >> yes. >> john: here. >> general milley, yes or no to this, did you talk to bob woodard or robert costa for their book "peril," and -- >> woodward yes, costa, no. >> did you talk to michael bender for the book is frankly we did win this election the inside story of how trump lost yes or no? >> yes. >> were you accurately represented in these books? >> i haven't read any of the books, i don't know. >> john: interesting line of questioning, senator. did he surprise you with his candor? he surprised me with his candor? >> i think it surprised people he went to yes or no, had been batting around questions all day. i think this is mark milley being proud of his political aggressiveness he's displayed. i talked to a lot of people who knew him throughout his career, he is aggressive politically throughout his career. we'll have more questions for general milley when i step back in the hearing room. but here is the thing, he chose to put that time on talking to reporters, helping them write books, providing information when he should have been working on withdrawal plan to get our citizens, our troops, our allies out of afghanistan. he should have been watching the taliban advancement and paying attention to that, rather than trying to polish his resume and image. >> sandra: it's been clear from listening to this, advice by the military leaders was to leave troops on the ground in kabul to ark void a taliban takeover. milley said he will not resign over biden not taking his or their advice. what sort of consequences at this point, after listening to this hearing, what sort of consequences should there be and for whom? >> sandra, i'm one of those, i feel like yes, indeed, he should resign, so should general austin. there are ways to administratively separate individuals from the u.s. military. i am certain that after we are going through the hearings that you will see some shifting of leadership at dod. the white house can't be pleased with some of the candor we have heard today likewise, probably not pleased they are being given cover by the military generals, even though the generals are not giving straight answers. jake sullivan, susan rice, they can't be happy with this. can't be happy with this hearing and how it presented itself today. it looks like you have commanders on the ground saying one thing. joe biden saying isn't going to happen, no way, how ooh i'm out of there and a real cur if you havel in the middle with how they present information, nuance this information and because of that, people lost their lives, the taliban is in charge of afghanistan, terrorists have a safe haven and the world is less safe today than it was when joe biden took office and all of this responsibility, all of this blood is on their hands. >> john: on the issue senator, of accountability, senator sullivan was getting into it when the senator from hawaii reminded him his time was up. he may go back to it here. the theory is nobody will be held accountable for what happened in afghanistan because if they were, that would be acknowledgment by this white house things went badly. >> and that is one of the concerns. i hear this a good bit from our military and john, as you know, the 101 rs airborne, the fifth division special ops guys that is out of fort campbell in tennessee. we are hearing a lot about this. there is a lot of disgust with the command team at the pentagon and disgust that you have got a commander on navy ship that goes out and talks to the press about a covid outbreak and he gets separated. you have a lieutenant colonel with an issue how things are being happened, he gets separated, but you have got the chairman of the joint chiefs, you have the def, sitcomcommander and they are giving nuanced answers and not giving detail we need. there is inconsistency there. the u.s. military is a well trained military. they need strong definitive leadership, they deserve that, they are the best in the world. the guys at the top are messing this up. >> sandra: senator, you need to run back into the hea