0 retrograde our equipment and that was accomplished. general miller executed the plan in accordance with the plan. a key part of the plan was to maintain an embassy in kabul and maintaining that embassy would allow the government to continue to provide resources to support the afghan security sources. so it was, the plan was to leave a diplomatic presence there and in conjunction with that plan, we were going to leave a small military force there to help secure the embassy. that was the plan, senator. >> but you didn't address the issue, you made, it was your plan, you acknowledged it was your plan and your plan said you would do all these things before we got our civilians out. when in the history of this country have we had the military say, have a plan we will take military out first before we take our civilians? i can't imagine that. >> when you say civilians, american citizens? >> american citizens, yeah. >> american citizens would come out once noncombatant evacuation is declared. until that point, we don't evacuate all citizens in the country. >> we didn't hear, there is american citizens still there. >> and we continue to remain engaged and work to get those citizens out, senator. >> but why would you propose a plan that didn't get all american citizens out? i can't imagine ever our u.s. military would propose to leave a country without our citizens coming out first? have we ever done that before? >> all of the american citizens wouldn't leave, senator, unless there was noncombatant evacuation and the plan was to leave the embassy there to continue to address the needs of our american citizens to engage with the government and so that was a part of the plan, not to again, the plan was never to evacuate the american citizens and leave the embassy there. >> did it bother you when the president went on national television and said he would not leave until all american citizens were taken out? did it bother you when he said that, that clearly is not truthful. >> senator, i -- 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. we continue to do that to this day. >> well, i'm running out of time. one thing i want when we have next round, i want to understand what decisions would you make differently today to save those 13 lives of servicemen and women we lost at the kabul airport. thank you very much. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator, if i can comment on your first opening comment, if i may. >> go ahead, sir. officer. >> i am happy to layout every detail in all the intel to you, an individual, any other member or committee or anything you want on the china at your convenience. >> happy to hear that. thank you. >> thank you senator scott. senator duckworth. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i assure my colleague's concern about rapid collapse of the afghan national defense and security forces and the afghan government and failure of intelligence, we need some answers. after investing two decades, nearly 2 trillion dollars and lives of almost 2500 of american troops, our nation must conduct thorough and honest review of the united states government involve ments in afghan since september 11 2001 terrorist attacks. for the sake of current and future war fighters must capture hard lessons from afghanistan to ensure these lessons are not forgotten or repeated on a future battlefield. this is our moral responsibility as a nation. gentlemen, all three of you have been involved in the war in afghanistan multiple times in multiple different capacities throughout your careers. secretary austin, was the situation on the ground in afghanistan influenced by previous decisions made over the course of several years? >> i absolutely believe that, senator. foremost among those decisions is the doha agreement, i think that is severely impacted the moral of the military. >> thank you. secretary, also, if that is the case, is it possible to have intellectually honest exercise that looksats most recent events in afghanistan last couple months or must any effective review look at the whole 20 years since september 11th? >> i think you have to look at the entire 20 years, there are great lessons learned that we're going to take away once we do that, i believe you got to look at the entire time span. >> thank you. i agree effective review must be comp hencive, shaped by four different administration and 11 difference congresses. no party should be looking to score points off nation-building failure that was bipartisan in the making. congress should authorize effort solely devoted to bring accountability and transparetchesy to the afghan war and lessons to be learned. on thursday, i will introduce the afghanistan war study commission. my bill would establish bipartisan independent commission to examine every aspect of the war, including the political and strategic decisions that transformed the mission into vast nation-building campaign. this commission must produce actionable recommendations designed to guide development of reform, ask the 9/11 informed law-making efshts in the years after publication. secretary austin, would you agree such an independent long-term study could serve as an effective complimentary effort to more targeted lesson learned that dod conducts? in shedding light on how congress and civilian leaders from multiple government agencies can do a better job defining scope of military missions and actually enforcing legal limitation on the use of force? >> i would. i did, the point you are making, my view, it needs to be interagency approach to this. >> thank you. i want to note that my family and i were in cambodia until the very end. i'm an american, but my father worked for the united nations. to answer my colleague's question, my father chose to stay as long as possible to help the cam bodian people as long as possible and he left after american troops had left. the american ambassador stayed behind and after the last military transport left, i know this, my father was on the last transport to leave cambodia and the ambassador had to travel over land. we leave americans behind, that is planned, that is why it is so important that we have an independent investigation. maybe the failure here we didn't have neo-plan in place and didn't activate before troops left. if that is the case, we need to learn that. i would ask for my colleague to consider this independent commission. we put somebody in charge who is not in decision-making capacity during the 20 years, make it nonpartisan and get lessons learned so we don't make the same mistakes over and over again. our troops deserve better and the families of the 2500 american troops who laid dun their lives to defend the constitution, defended lawful order much the presidents, they deserve better than partisan fights. thank you, i yield back. >> thank you, i will recognize senator blackburn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. gentlemen, we thank you all for being here with us today. as you've heard from awful us, the american people, tennessee, want answers, they deserve to hear your testimony and i think it is unacceptable that this is the first time that i'm hearing from you in any forum, despite attemptss at outreach by both me and my staff, save a few short all senator phone calls that we have had. i want to emphasize, all of us here, every one of us answer to the american people. and they deserve transparency and information regarding this administration's botched and disgraceful withdrawal. tennesseeians are angry and as you know, general milley, tennessee is home to 101st airborne, one of the most deployed divisions in the u.s. military, also home to specialized 160th store who were among the last on the ground extracting u.s. citizens from danger in kabul. tennessee national guard deployed to afghanistan at high operational tempo, as well as providing vital logistical services such as refueling. we are home to more than 400,000 veterans, many of whom have lasting physical and psychological wounds from the time they have spent in service and tennesseans are heartbroken over the loss of ryan kanass, who represented the best of all of us in the august 26th suicide bombing at hamid karzai international international airport. we made the ultimate sacrifice. how did we get here and to what has been a complete let down to most tennesseans. i have a few questions, these are yes-or-no questions. quick answers are appreciated. general milley, were options given for keeping american troops in afghanistan rather than the unconditional chaotic withdrawal? >> yes. >> you presented options and those options were declined? >> there were options presented and debated. >> yes or no? >> decision was made. >> yes or no, did you grate options for keeping bagram open beyond july 2? >> yes. >> did you provide options for keeping bagram open directly to the president? >> yes. >> had bagram stayed open, would our support to the afghan air force been more effective in your review? >> if bagram had stayed open, would our support to the afghan air force have been more effective in your view? yes or no? >> frankly, not sure on that one, most afghan air force was different base specifically at haky. >> president biden keeps calling it extraordinary success, we've discussed this today, is leaving americans behind an extraordinary success in your view, secretary austin? >> we're not leaving americans behind. >> yes or no is fine. is the killing of 13 american servicemen and women while trying to secure chaotic evacuation of the president's own making an extraordinary success? >> the loss of any civilian life is always tragic. >> the fact we failed to evacuate most of our afghan partners an extraordinary success or the fact that we have afghans bringing child brides, people who are hardly vetted, is that an extraordinary success? >> again, these are issues we continue to work to get our american citizens out and afghans -- >> let me move on. per article 2 of the constitution, president may require opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the executive departments. did the president ever require or request written recommendations related to the withdrawal of the afghan forces, yes or no? secretary austin and general milley, then general mckenzie, yes or no? >> we provided, i provided input as part of -- >> in written form? >> process that was very well and deliberately -- >> you didn't completely answer that. general milley, any written form? >> yes. >> would you make those available to us? >> make it available to the committee upon request and accordance with appropriate classifications. >> we doll so. general mckenzie, yes or no? >> yes. >> you will make those available? >> based on guidance from the secretary. >> each of you committed that when you went through processes we will come back to you for those. general milley issue yes or no, did you talk to bob woodard or robert casta for the book? >> woodard, yes, casta, no? >> did you talk to michael bender for his book, frankly we did win this election, inside story of how trump loss, yes or no? >> yes. >> were you accurately represented in these books? >> i haven't read any of the books, i don't know. i've seen press reporting of it, i haven't read the books. >> let's have you read the books and us know if you are accurately portrayed. >> senator blackburn, five-empty rule. thank you. >> senator rosen, please. >> thank you, chairman, reed for holding this hearing, important hearing, oversight responsibilities, an opportunity for the american people to get answers about our withdrawal from afghanistan and how we planned to counter terrorist threats in the future. i want to sincerely thank the brave men and women who serve our country in afghanistan, many who made ultimate sacrifice and of course, their families, as well. secretary austin, general milley and general mckenzie, i appreciate you all being here to address lingering concerns we have about the last two decades of war, generally and past two months in particular. you are all men of honor and integrity, who served our country nobly and your candid responses to my questions, even if they require admitting serious mistakes were made. all senates offices, taliban approached kabul and took over the city and the country, my team and i worked to help vulnerable individuals evacuate. these were people who in many cases had the state department's approval to leave afghanistan for the u.s. or third-party country, due to crowds, taliban checkpoints or fear of being killed along the way, they could not physically get to a gate to present their paperwork. no matter how many times they tried or no matter how long they waited. my office worked with sitcomand the task force to coordinate opportunities to grab these people from the crowd so they could present paperwork and flee to safety. unfortunately, these efforts were to no avail. these individuals continue to wait for help that may never come. i remain frustrated that the u.s. did not set up perimeter arndz around kabul or create safe corridor for the s-1 visa holders to get to the airport for their families, asylum seekers seeking to escape and near certain death. continued support, general milley, i appreciate the state department taking the lead on evacuations, like our military, the state democrat no longer has presence on the ground in afghanistan. so i'd like to ask you, sir, does the u.s. military recent experience facilitating the evacuation from kabul give you the confidence that the taliban will be honest broker necessary working with diplomats to help afghan nationals leave the country? >> i think that while we've seen so far and since the 31st, some americans have gotten out to diplomatic means and reached safety through either overland routes or through aircraft. i don't know all details, i can't imagine that didn't happen without taliban facilitation. >> siv holders and others who supported us. secretary austin, administration said they will utilize every tool available to hold taliban accountable, if they fail to meet their committments to provide safe passage for anyone who wants to leave the country. we know their economic lovers, but can you elaborate on what the military tools are and could there be a shared interest in targeting isis-k? >> in terms of military tools, senator, as you know, we have the ability to offer a range of options depending on what the president's objectives are. so we can do most anything that is required of us because we have substantial resources. but in terms of our cooperation with the taliban against counter isis-k, i won't venture to make any comments on that. i would just say that we have coordinated some things that are very narrow in scope with them to get our people out, as you know and to continue to further evacuate american citizens, but i don't think it's right to make assumptions to broader and bigger things from that coordination. they are still the taliban. >> thank you, i'd like to in a few seconds i have left and take these second round or off the record, future counter terrorism operation, reorganize counter terrorism capability and assets in the region as we move to over the horizon scenario, secretary austin, general mckenzie and we'll take these second round. like the answer to what is the plan for enduring counter terrorism and influence of violent extremist organizations in afghanistan. thank you. >> senator holey, please. >> let me sum up where we are based on this extraordinary hearing. president of the united states lied to the american people about the advice that you gave to him about the military judgment that you provided for him. i think you all testified to that effect repeatedly. appeared to have pushed back the evacuation to such a time that became a catastrophe, against your advice, like to learn more about that. third, we don't understand the pentagon failed to plan for potential collapse of security forces or collapse of the afghan government despite being lot of warning, senator mccain referred to this earlier. ill traind and not up to the job, i don't happened that and like to explore this in this round or the next. senator austin, i i've heard out of the mouth and others we are not leaving americans behind, your quote a minute ago. with all due respect, you have lest, past tense, americans behind, we have no presence any longer in afghanistan. hundreds of americans, not just americans generally, civilians you left behind. against the president's explicit commitment not to leave until all american citizens were out and to safety. that is not what happened and now we have people who are desperately, frantically trying to get out of this country coming to me and members of the committee asking for help, they are stuck behind enemy lines. don't tell me we are not leaving americans behind, you left them behind, joe biden left them behind. let me ask you this. >> thank you for your help continuing to get american citizens and afghans out of the country, we continue to facilitate -- >> i didn't ask a question, you want to address the issue, since you do, isn't it true you left americans behind on august 31st? >> there are americans that were still in afghanistan and still are, we continue to work to get those americans out. >> that is a yes. let's not repeat, please the falsehood we didn't leave americans behind. let me ask you this, secretary austin, you eluded to the fact the military was ready, you said in prepared remarks, by late april, military planners crafted number of evacuation scenarios and refer to the fact you were waiting for the state department to make a decision about evacuations, nbc news reporting that the military wanted to begin evacuations earlier buts the state department and white house intervened and said no, we are delaying the evacuation of civilians, can you help us get to the truth. was it your judgment and opinion that the evacuations of civilians should have begun before the middle of august? >> we provided input to the state department. it is call to the state department to -- >> i understand that, mr. secretary, asking for what your judgment was, asking specifically about your testimony that in april, you developed evacuation scenarios reported by multiple sources in the news. as of late april, was it your opinion that the evacuation of civilians should begin earlier than they did? >> it -- we provided input to try to get out as many afghans who have helped us along the way as early as possible. but again, the state department has made its decisions based upon the fact that even president ghani engaged them and said, we're concerned about the mass exodus of civilians from the country. >> general milley, let me direct to you, did you ever advise interagency process that the rapid withdrawal timeline that the white house pentagon signed off on, general miller proposed, middle of july, would negatively impact getting out our civilians. if we dropped to zero by july, had civilian evacuation ordered, we would be in trouble. did you advise to that effect in the interagency process? did you warn about that possibility of drawing down so quickly before a civilian evacuation was underway? >> the -- yeah, but it is more complicated than that. the drawdown of the forces under miller, those guys are advisors, not the neo-guys. the special purpose, second airborne division is what you need to do neo. those are plans i believe that the secretary is referring to developed early on. there are specific triggers required in the state department calls time of the neo. secretary on the 12th of august, start pushing for forces and orders and on 14th ambassador called neo. should that have been called earlier, that is open question. the april piece and the drawdown of the advisors that is separate and distinct task and retrograde, they weren't bringing o