Afghanistan Withdrawal Hearing

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committee on Foreign Affairs will come to order the purpose of today's hearing is to hear directly from secretary

blinkin America's top diplomat and get his assessment of his State Department's

withdrawal from Afghanistan I now recognize myself for an opening

statement I want to say good morning to all the members as most of you know uh

this will be my last hearing as chairman of this very important committee that uh

I say is the committee of War and Peace it goes back to the Continental Congress Benjamin Franklin was the first chairman

historically um and it's been an honor it's probably been the honor of my entire Congressional career 20 years to

serve as your chairman on both sides of the aisle Republican and Democrat I'm

extremely proud of everything that we've accomplished most of it on a bipartisan

basis we've been the most productive Committee in the 118th Congress um and I want to thank Mr Meeks

my ranking member but he's more than that he's more than a colleague he's my

partner and friend we've worked together on matters of foreign policy National

Security um most of the time we agree and when we don't we agree to disagree

civy and that's the way it should be and uh I would say I'm G to miss you but

I'll be around I'll still be known as Mr chairman and uh I I plan to be a voice

of reason in the next Congress and also a voice strong voice on National

Security sir and foreign policy and and sir I want to thank you for your service

uh as well um and I know you're getting ready to go to uh the Middle East with

the fall of Assad and Syria which I believe brings great brings great

opportunities uh to the United States but also our allies around the world for freedom and democracy I also want to

congratulate the incoming chair the subcommittee chair of oversight accountability chairman Brian Mast who

is selected as the next Chair by the steering committee Mr Mast thank you for your service now I don't want to this

[Applause]

committee not only to this committee but to the nation your service in Afghanistan your sacrifice that we all

know every time we see you uh I pledge my support to you uh and I hope uh we're

going to work hand and glove in the next Congress to do good things and congratulations to you finally five

o'clock will be a get together to rename this Committee hearing room is the Benjamin Franklin Committee hearing room

and we will also it will also be a Christmas party and also my farewell uh

address to the committee so I hope to see all of you there um and with that

I'd like to begin this hearing um secretary I'm pleased that you are

here today and over the last four years we've enjoyed a I think cordial relationship

we worked together on many many issues of great importance um however

today your appearance here today and I have to be honest with you it comes after six

months after I've requested your testimony following my comprehensive report into the catastrophic withdrawal

from Afghanistan I have constitutional Authority and I have to I have that

constitutional Authority that I as chairman am responsible for and I also have a responsibility to the American

people and to the 13 servicemen and women who died and all the the many

other service members who died and the Afghan allies Left Behind who died and

the women who were left behind this this under article one of

the Constitution is congress's greatest role of oversight and

transparency I would have to say I've I've been U disappointed that you've

ignored my request for your testimony forcing me to subpoena you not

once but twice and rather then accept my good faith efforts to accommodate your

schedule you fail to show up for your September hearing and I don't like this probably any more than you do but while

your presence here is duly noted you are showing up only after violating a

congressional subpoena triggering consideration of a resolution holding

you in contempt of congress I've been more than accommodating during the

process but you and your staff have fought this committee every step of way the fact you're here today on one of the

last weeks of the 118 Congress clearly demonstrates my commitment to this

critical issue even in the face of persistent delays you insist you have appeared

before Congress 14 times but the truth be told that number is really misleading

you've not appeared once during my chairmanship to testify about the

disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal before this committee twice you have appeared

on the budget and as a head of the state department it was your duty to appear before this

committee to inform us about legislative solutions to the issues outlined in my

Afghanistan report so that this never happens again my only goal has been to

work together with you sir to help prevent that such another C catastrophic

event to prevent that from ever ever happening again instead you prioritized

this administration's political agenda touting the failed withdrawal as a

success on April 14th 2021 President Biden announced his decision to withdraw

from Afghanistan no matter what the costs go to zero were his words as

Secretary State you're entrusted with the protection of American interests and

citizens overseas you ignore igned the taliban's violations of the Doha

agreement you ignored objections by our NATO and Afghan allies you ignored the

security risk in keeping the US Embassy in Cabell open despite warnings from our

top military advisors you ignored the warnings of cats by your own personnel

as evidenced by the July 2021 descent Channel cable one that I call a cry for

help that was unanswered and now tragically more than three years after

this administration's disastrous withdrawal you're finally here to take

responsibility your secretary overviewed thousands of pages of documents produced

and Discovery by the state department I've conducted 18 trans transcribed

interviews LED eight hearings on the Afghanistan withdrawal I do not take the

issue of subpoenas lightly but today's hearing your department provided these

only after the committee was forced to use its oversight oversight Powers my

comprehensive investigation reveals that President Biden's unconstitutional

surrender to the Taliban that you had plenty of opportunity to plan for the inevitable

collapse of Afghanistan instead even with the warning Bells sounding

loudly ringing loudly you Deni the imminent and dangerous threats to

American interest American citizens and our decade long Afghan Partners all the

while the talban captured Province after Province on their march to Cabell and

rather than step up as America's Chief Diplomat you delegated this

responsibility and as the Taliban surrendered and surrendered

Cabell uh was surrendered to the Taliban on August the 14th

2021 you sir were vacationing in East Hampton New York I do not say that with

delight I say that as a fact Mr secretary to preserve Optics you

sacrificed the Safety and Security of our service members diplomats citizens

and allies you treated terrorists as diplomatic

partners and created an environment ripe for chaos and on October 26 2021 an Isis

K terrorist detonated a suicide bomb at the Hamad carai International

Airport murdering 13 heroic US service members and over 170 Afghan civilians my

heart goes out to the gold star families and I pray for them every day every day I've been chairman of this committee it

was the deadliest day for the United States presence in Iraq I mean in Afghanistan since 2012 and the saddest

thing Serv it did not have to happen Mr secretary it's

time that we again remember the fundamental principles of diplomacy

peace may only be obtained through strength this catastrophic event was a

beginning of a failed foreign policy that Lit the world on fire I welcome your testimony and I hope

we take the opportunity for you first to take accountability and second for us to move

forward so this never happens again as you are aware we cannot fix a problem without first admitting that there is a

problem I've dedicated my 10 as chairman of this important committee on this very

important issue and your testimony here today will help guide the work of the next Congress and the incoming

Administration the American people the US service members the veterans and most

importantly our gold star families who are present here today deserve better

they deserve your cander commitment and transparency with the chair now

recognizes the ranking member of Mr Meeks thank you Mr thank you Mr chairman

and let me first say to you that it has been a distinct honor privilege and

pleasure of working with you we've worked together now for over four years two years of which I was the chair and

two years of which you were the chair and really there's been no difference our relationship only

intensified we worked Collective together on behalf of the people of the United States of

America you're a man of integrity you're a friend it has been an honor and a

privilege to serve with you and to continue to serve with you because we know as you've stated you're not going

anywhere you will still be here as a member of the United States House of Representatives I appreciate uh the fact

that we've always even when we disagree as we will disagree on this hearing um

but we've always been able to talk about it be honest with one another and that's what's really important you know when

you have honesty and truth and can talk you can disagree but it never becomes personal because of you and the

character that you have so um I just have to say for the record that it been

uh an honor you have been a fair chair uh as well as when you were the

ranking member you have been a fair ranking member because you are a fair

individual that's who you are at the essence and I want to also

congratulate Mr Mass uh the incoming chair and I look

forward to working with you there's no question in anyone's mind that you're loyal to the United States of America

you have done everything uh in the military and otherwise to represent this country and I look forward to working

with you uh come January 3D or 4th when this committee resumes uh as the next

chair of this committee and look forward to working with you in the same manner that I've worked with Mr

mcco now thank you for those kind now I want to thank you uh

secretary uh blinkin for being here today and I know that we want to get you out there's a lot that's going on in

Syria and around the world and you will be leaving here or on a plane immediately uh post this here so uh uh

your you your departure will take you straight to the Middle East uh where

there's uh dealing with the related situations of Syria but thank you for being here and for me Mr secretary uh

this will be if I recall correctly your sixth time being that you've joined us to provide testimony including your

appearance in September of 2021 you were the very first cabinet official from the

Biden Administration to testify to Congress immediately after our

withdrawal from Afghan understand and I will even before you testified before the Senate you were right here in the

house to testify about that and despite insisting that they needed to hear

answers from you and repeatedly accused you of stonewalling my Republican colleagues

nevertheless released and what I see as a partisan and misleading report on the

US withdrawal from Afghanistan in September that distorts the facts received in their own investigation from

16 State Department Witnesses and thousands of pages of documents that you

made available to us sadly on this brand as I have pointed out at every term and

every hearing the Republicans so-called investigation has been nothing but a

cral aimed at partisan politics in my opinion to claim now that it's a it's

aimed at a real and legislative purpose when I don't see any Tang they

have not introduced a single bill there's not been a bill at all introduced from this in in this

investigation but there is perhaps no better example on how dishonest and polit how

well I would say politically motivated this exercise has been than how the Republicans misled the public on

the ISIS attack at abig gate for months Republic an publicly suggested the abig

gate bombing could have been prevented and that a marine had a bomber in his

sites privately however they received information from the Department of defense's investigation dating back as

far as February of 2022 and again reinforced in April of

2024 findings that the bomber and the person the Marine identified were two

different people and that the attack was not

preventable because the GOP had this information you would think it would be logical to assume that the gop's report

would make those facts crystal clear so does a report do that no instead of

being straightforward with the American people or the goldar families who have

suffered so much and who we all keep deeply in our prayer is they continued

to muddle the facts not withstanding dod's clear evidence the GOP report

tries to S doubt in the minds doubt on the dod's findings by asserting on page

27 that quote many who were on the ground that day still believe they were

one and the same the full report remains classified end quote to my colleagues

across the aisle beliefs are are not facts information

that the Department of Defense publicly reported for which I asked unanimous consent to submit for the record without

objection so ordered is not classified the two men were not the

same so changing or twisting the truth seems to me only happens for political

gain and that not only hurts the Integrity of this committee it hurts the families of the 13 service members who

lost their lives during the horrific terrorist attack who have

been led to believe that there are some greater truth to unearth that when in

reality that just is not so I also ask unanimous consent to

submit for the record the minority memorandum

that I released in September of this year that report summarizes the actual

facts of the committee's investigation without objection order which were remarkably consistent across

20 Witnesses and found the following the full us withdrawal from Afghanistan was

set into irreversible motion by President Donald Trump when he concluded

the Doha deal with the Taliban and ordered the withdrawal of troops per that agreement first from 14,000 to

8,600 and then all the way down to 2500 by January 15 2020 and after the Trump

Administration failed to plan for the withdrawal they started the Biden Administration conducted a thorough

policy review acknowledged that we would again be at war with the Taliban if they

abandoned the DHA deal and finish the work his predecessor started by building

a withdrawal and contingency plan from the ground up through

2021 and after president ghani's decision to flee Afghanistan led to the

rapid collapse of the Afghan government and security forces creating the chaos

on the ground the men and women of the state department acted heroically

alongside their military colleagues to conduct the largest airlift in US history relocating more than

124,000 people so I believe that President Biden ultimately made the

right decision to end our 20year war in Afghanistan and not ask another

generation of Americans to make an ultimate sacrifice for a war that no longer had a purpose no one here has

argued that our withdrawal was perfect so I want to be clear I'm not saying that I know any withdrawal that has been

perfect but we owe it to ourselves and our military and diplomatic Personnel on the front lines to learn

from it and from those 20 years those 20 years of war in which

they served and to incorporate those lessons of 20 years in the future but we

do them a disservice when we do not examine all of the facts if we are to

honor the 800,000 Americans who served in Afghan fistan since 2001 including the

2,461 military personnel killed over the two decades of War we should have

conducted proper oversight of the policy decisions made across not one

Administration but four administrations not only for the months in which President Biden was in office for the

sole purpose of politics for the honest

bipartisan assessment we will have to await the Afghanistan War commission's report due in 2026 because what we have

here today is not the the TR true complete

fact finding and my estimation is politics and finally let me just say this though I want to conclude by

thanking chairman mcco for honoring a request that I made

publicly uh I ask that he publicly release all of the transcripts from

closed door uh interviews that were part of this Afghanistan investigation and I asked

the chairman to do the same for all other remaining transcribed interviews conducted as part of the committee's

oversight investigation and the American payers American taxpayers paid for this work I

asked and you responded and you did cooperate and make them all public and

for that I thank you and with that I yield back I appreciate the ranking members comments on that I intend to

release Le all of this to the American people we do we are negotiating a

interview with Jake suvin the National Security advisor um it may be in a classified setting to the extent we can

uh release that to the American people uh we certainly will I also want to state that um there are two pieces of

legislation currently in the National Defense authorization that deal with

this uh withdrawal from Afghanistan uh one from me on having one

point of contact uh who's in charge if you will another one by Warren Davidson

on evacuation um so with that I'd like to um say to

the members that uh opening statements may be submitted for the record I want to welcome the 71st Secretary of State

Anthony blinkin uh someone I I do have admiration for we disagree on this one

strongly uh but we have traveled abroad um and at the end of the day when we travel abroad we're all

Americans um but as you know sir I have issue with you over the handling of this

matter um and I recognize you for your testimony here

today Mr chairman uh ranking member Meeks distinguished colleagues on this

committee um first of all let me just say I have very much appreciated working

with you these past four years working working with the ranking member I think we've done good and important things together Lin Secretary of

genocide Butcher of remind the audience members

disruption of committee proceedings is against the law holding up signs or

making verbal outbursts during the proceedings is disruptive and will not be tolerated any disruption will will

result in a suspension of the proceedings until the Capitol Police can

restore order this includes the raisings of hands and other forms of

disruption with that I now recognize the secretary thank you Mr chairman uh and

just to say how much I valued and appreciated uh working with you these past four years uh the dialogue that

we've had including with this committee where we've agreed where we disagreed including on

Afghanistan I want to recognize everyone who served in Afghanistan including on

this committee our thoughts are with the gold star families of the

2461 American Service members as well as state department and US Aid employees

stop I have kids you're a father I don't know how you can sleep at night when

you're killing so many kids in will suspend while the capital police restore order to this committee

the gentlemen we'll continue as I said our thoughts are with

all of the gold star families uh they're with the state department and usaid

employees who lost their lives over the course of 20 years of our military involvement in Afghanistan and I think

today especially of the 13 Heroes that we lost at abig gate and I deeply regret

that we did not do more and could not do more to protect them and to those who families who are here with us

today you're in my thoughts in my prayers I wish that Nicole was here with

us today I'm deeply sorry that she's not I'm also deeply grateful to the

dedicated professionals from the state department from the defense department from across the government from Civil

Society other partners who did so much to support the people of Afghanistan

over those two decades you SC the blood of your victims will will come

to order people will never let you forget will suspend your Co

littleice slidee will come to

order the gentleman will continue I'm here today to continue the

Department's extensive cooperation with this committee as you know Mr chairman the Department's provided over 20,000

pages of documents to you we've conducted nine high level briefings for members we facilitated transcribed

interviews for more than 15 people I personally testified before the House and Senate committees 14 times with

questions on Afghanistan including four times before this committee now I believe that any attempt

to understand and learn from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has to be put in the proper context of what

preceded it both in terms of the two decades following 911 and the decisions and events of 2020 to 2021 that

culminated in the removal of our Personnel when President Biden took office he inherited an agreement the

previous administration had reached with the Taliban to remove all US forces from Afghanistan by May 1st of

2021 at us insistence the Afghan government had released 5,000 Taliban

prisoners including top war commanders the United States reduced our own troop levels from 14,000 to 20 500 in December

of 2020 in return the Taliban agreed to stop attacking us and partner forces to

refrain from threatening Afghan Afghanistan's major cities and to pursue intra Afghan negotiations toward a

ceasefire and a political settlement but it continued a Relentless March in the

countryside so that it controlled or actively contested territory containing three quarters of Afghanistan's

population by December 2020 in January 2021 the Taliban was in

the strongest military position it had been in since 911 and we had the smallest number of US forces in

Afghanistan since 2001 despite the profound effects of the Doha agreement President Biden

ultimately opted to implement the previous administration's decision to withdraw American troops and honor his

pledge to end our nation's longest war to the extent President Biden faced a

choice it was between ending the war or escalating it had he not followed through on his

predecessor's commitment attacks on our forces and allies would have resumed and

the Taliban assault on the country's major cities would have commenced that would have required

sending tens of thousands more US forces back into Afghanistan to defend ourselves and prevent a Taliban takeover

with at best the prospect of restoring a stalemate and remaining stuck in Afghanistan Under Fire

indefinitely President Biden inherited a deadline but but no plan to meet it at

his Direction beginning in the spring of 2021 the administration the state

department in particular engaged in extensive planning for a whole range of outcomes we pursued a sustained campaign

to urge any Americans in Afghanistan to leave we restarted and dramatically

increased resources to what had been a morun special immigrant Visa program to bring Afghans who had worked by our side

over 20 years to the United States even the US government's most most pessimistic assessments did not

anticipate that the Afghan government and security forces would collapse so rapidly in the face of Taliban advances

nevertheless because of the administration's extensive inter agency planning coordination when cabul fell on

August 15th the United States was able to evacuate our Embassy and relocate our diplomats to the airport within 48 hours

and then conduct the largest airlift in US history helping approximately 120,000

Americans Afghans and citizens valid Nations depart Afghanistan in just two

weeks in the three years since the end of our country's longest war all of us

including myself have wrestled with what we could have done differently during that period and over the preceding two

decades I asked retired Ambassador Dan Smith one of our most senior diplomats to lead an after action review of the

state Department's actions between January 2020 and August 202 1 in

response to Ambassador Smith's report the department has taken more than 40 concrete initiatives and identified

steps to guide our response to Future crises the actions we've taken have already made a difference in subsequent

emergencies including in Sudan and Israel in Lebanon even as we work to address the

places where we fell short I firmly believe the president's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was the right

one American troops are no longer fighting and dying in Afghanistan the the American people are safer and more

secure in fact many of the most pessimistic predictions have been thoroughly disproven we were told

Afghanistan would once again become a Haven for terrorists and that as the majority report contends we would be All

But Blind to the situation on the ground in fact al- Qaeda the group that attacked us on 911 has not regrouped in

Afghanistan and in August 2022 we launched a Precision strike in downtown Kabul that took out its leader I'm an

alaah herei with no American boots on the ground we were told that our allies would no

longer trust us well having just returned from more NATO meetings in Brussels and my 20th trip to the

indopacific Secretary of State it's clear that our alliances our Partnerships are stronger today than

they've been in a generation you can see that in the more than 50 countries that we brought together to defend Ukraine

against Russia's ongoing aggression and in the unity of purpose and action that we built for contending with the

challenges posed by CH we were told hundreds of Americans and Afghan Partners would be left behind yet today

every US citizen who told us that they wanted to leave during the evacuation has now had the opportunity to do so and

to those Americans who entered the country since August 2021 and have been detained by the Taliban we will not rest

until we bring you home since September 2021 the administration's resettled more than

185,000 Afghans we've approved or welcome to the United States States more than 68,000 Afghans under the special

immigrant Visa program that is nearly half of all of the sivs issued since the

program's Inception in 2009 this is a profoundly difficult

period for the Afghan people especially Afghanistan's women and girls but I

believe the Final Chapter has not been written on Afghanistan just last week I had the chance to be with many partners

who supported the evacuation effort including members of Congress we were joined by a resilient and resourceful

young woman who left Afghanistan in August 2021 and is now an aerospace engineering student at MIT she aspires

to be the first Afghan woman astronaut in part because of our two decade

commitment to Afghanistan there are many more women who have the opportunity to go to school to connect with a wider world to imagine a different life for

themselves and these women their experiences their hopes will I know one day help pave a path to an Afghanistan

where all people can actually choose their own Futures thank you thank you Mr secretary I I personally um and other

members we got four bests of of of girls at the American School of Music

out after abig gate who are now u in Portugal uh they performed um at carneg

Carnegie Hall in the Kennedy Center um but there are many women unfortunately

who are now enslaved under sha law by the Taliban

I now recognize myself for questions uh Mr secretary in September of this year

your state Department's Inspector General revealed that Embassy cble under your leadership abandoned quote

sensitive security assets unquote during the deadly Afghanistan

evacuation those lethal assets included Firearms armored vehicles and other

weapons your IG concluded the embassy left them in act for the Taliban and if

that wasn't bad enough documents classified documents many that I

subpoenaed also revealed that you left behind droves of the embassies again

classified documents to the Taliban your own diplomats described

desperate attempts to burn documents on the rooftops and in the embassy while

helicopters took off the embassy's roof very reminiscent in my younger life of

Saigon all because the administration failed to prepare finally

your chief of mission kicked out the embassy's Afghan employees from hkaya

telling them to come back later leaving them to the Taliban who never made it back who never

survived who we gave our trust to that we were protected them you left weapons

behind to the Taliban classified documents to the Taliban you left behind Embassy employees to the Taliban and now

three years later your own IG Inspector General conclude that your state department has been unwilling and unable

to learn from its mistakes my question is have you read the IG report and have

you held your own State Department accountable Mr chairman first with uh

regard to to uh the documents uh we have in place at every Embassy including in

Afghanistan a process by which sensitive documents are destroyed in the event of an evacuation and shutting down the

embassy we began that process on August the 1st and then when we got to August

the 12th before the collapse of cabul uh we proceeded with the emergency destruction of all of the remaining

sensitive documents and that process was complete by the 14th a day before Cal

fell uh that's a process that we engage in wherever we have an emergency and

that's exactly my time I mean the fact is they should have been evacuated long before I mean you were still negotiating

as a Taliban entered Cobble uh the embassy should have been as the military advised you to do evacuate that Embassy

uh let me ask you this when um President Biden announced his unconditional surrender to the Taliban on April the

14th 2021 you demanded that Embassy Cowell remain open no matter what the

cost your personnel um opposed that in fact they did so in a a cable descent

that we were able to get from you in our Discovery process a cry for help the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs to the centcom commander Millie McKenzie said

this was a fundamental mistake a fatal flaw and their biggest regret is keeping

the MC open despite the advice of your own people on the ground and Military advisers why did

you do that very simply because no one anticipated that the government and the

Afghan armed forces would collapse as quickly as they did we anticipated and every intelligence assessment that we

had anticipated that cabul would remain in the hands of the government in the hands of the Afghan Armed Forces through

the balance of the year and iaim my time because I want to please let me finish I will let you finish chairman of the

joint Chief Mark Millie said nothing I or anyone else say saw indicated a

collapse of the army or the government in 11 days the dni AAL Haynes said in the days leading up to the Taliban

takeover uh intelligence agencies did not see collapse as imminent this unfolded more quickly than they

anticipated including uh in the intelligence Community okay reclaim my time I I hear what you're saying uh that

no one saw the collapse coming however I've read The Descent cable your Embassy

Personnel that you provided to me that they sent to you in July before the

collapse in 2021 warning of Afghanistan's imminent collapse fearing

for their safety you personally read this sir and cleared it your deputy

secretary Brian mckin testified before this committee that you took no step to

answer the cries for help and as you know know Secretary of State you have a responsibility to protect Americans and

diplomats Mr chairman that's incorrect why did you ignore the cries for help

why did you leave this embassy open and finally who was in charge was it you or

Mr Sullivan because seems to me you delegated all your responsibility on

this you had very little to do with it and it was Jake Sullivan and the National Security Council at the White

House calling all the shots however under law sir you're the captain of the

ship Sherman that's incorrect on a number of counts as is the report that I've read first when it comes to uh a

Neo uh the evacuation that is a decision that's reached by the entire inter

agency and ultimately by the president State Department initiates it by asking the Department of Defense uh to proceed

with it but the decision itself is reached as a result of inter agency deliberations and we did not as an inter

agency and that includes the um Secretary of Defense the chairman of the Joint Chiefs the the who's in Char this

is going to help us legis were you in charge of this evacuation I was in

charge of the state department the in the government the administration was in charge of the evacuation specifically

the state department and the Department of Defense together on any Neo work closely together with clearly assigned

responsibilities and that's exactly it is the statutory responsibility Ser for you to execute the plan

correct the Neo the Neo was executed by the state department and the defense department and I would have to say Sir

waiting till the last minute is not executing a plan at all and it led to the deaths of many Americans and Afghan

people and Afghan allies Mr chairman the record reflects that again this decision was reached collectively no one uh urged

initiating the Neo until we decided to do it on the 14th I think in my review

of our investigation there was so much confusion coming out of your Embassy

coming from the top military advisors who told me testified that they told you

to close down that Embassy in advance to protect Americans and American assets and class do they were left to the

Taliban you were in charge by law you may have delegated this I don't know but

to legislate moving forward I need to know who was in charge and that's why it is so important that Mr Sullivan the

National Security adviser come before this committee and give his testimony

about what the hell was going on during this disastrous evacuation with that I now

recognize a ranking member thank you Mr chairman you know I do

recall a meeting here in the capital

bipartisan downstairs and we were meeting with

president ghani of Afghanistan and we had talked to some

folks and president ghanani was very

vehement that he was not going to leave

Afghanistan he was vehement

that the Afghan troops with there and he would stay there to all these members of

Congress and to everyone that I talked to from almost anywhere was clear that

that was his position no one knew that one week later not one month

one week later he would get on a plane and get out and all the troops were gone

everybody at that moment in time was

surprised that's a fact let me ask some yes or no questions real

quick because I believe that you got to look at this whole thing you talk about

so Mr secretary president Trump's Doha

deal explicitly committed to the United States to withdraw

all us and Allied troops as well as contractors by May 2021 yes or no that's

correct but the speed of that withdrawal outside of an initial reduction to 8,600

troops was not specified by the deal is that correct that's correct and despite

that President Trump unilaterally reduced the US presence twice beyond

that leaving just 2,500 troops when President Biden took

office is that correct that is correct so and we've seen that President Trump

was prepared to go to zero in fact Ambassador kazad testified to the

committee that the messages coming out of the Trump White House led the Taliban

to conclude that Trump Trump was getting out regardless of what was agreed in the

Doha deal so let's be clear about the conditions if we're going to be factual

about this you've got to consider the conditions that Trump handed over to you

in the Biden Administration a firm commitment for a total withdrawal with

no allowance for a residual force of or contractors a limited number of troops on the ground and no real prohibition or

attacks on our Afghan allies we've heard testimony from General Mee Ambassador

cazad and others that if we had tried to reopen the Doha deal the Taliban would

have resumed attacks against us do you agree Mr secretary with that assessment

yes or no I do so that was the fundamental Choice facing President Biden

a complete to complete the withdrawal that was initiated by President Trump or

re-escalated the conflict is that correct that is correct so what do you

think President Biden's decision to complete the withdrawal and end this

so-called Forever War gained us it gained us an end to America's

longest war it gained us not having another gener generation of Americans going off to fight and die in

Afghanistan it gained us the opportunity to refocus and rededicate our resources to the challenges of this moment from

the Russian aggression against Ukraine to the many challenges posed by China uh

to many other issues around the world where we were able to free up resources free up Focus free up time you just hit

something because just months after to withdraw from Afghanistan we did face a new threat and that was Putin's illegal

and unjust Justified renewed invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 so yes or no

do you see any connection between Putin's reinvasion of Ukraine and the

United States withdrawal from Afghanistan no um on the contrary I think uh our adversaries including

Russia would have been delighted if we had doubled down and remained stuck in Afghanistan for another 20 years now in

2008 we had between Afghanistan and Iraq back about 200,000 forces deployed

you'll recall what else happened in 2008 Russia invaded Georgia in 2014 we still had about 12,000 forces in

Afghanistan you recall what else happened in 2014 Russia for the first time invaded Ukraine because we were

able to refocus our time our resources our efforts we were able to build this

Coalition in more than 50 countries that has stood up to Russia's aggression and I must I must say say uh the chairman

has done a remarkable job over these last three years age we work very closely Coalition chairman and I and

making sure Ukraine has everything that it needs in fact you know sometimes he was in front of me and other times we

went together but he has been a champion on Ukraine but the issue that I'm trying

to make sure and I think this is what you said that the withdrawal from Afghanistan did not hinder our capacity

or our credibility to lead our allly in a robust response to the invasion in

Ukraine that's correct that is correct as well as uh the withdrawal uh did not

uh inhibit our relationships with our allies that is correct in fact just the

other opposite um it maybe my last question your assessment of the strength

of NATO and our alliances system today has the withdrawing from Afghanistan let

us focus on the most threats to Global Security yes or no NATO is stronger it's

bigger it's better resourced it's more focused than it's ever been J swn has expired let me just say with the fall of

Afghanistan within months chairman she and Putin made an agreement at the

Olympics in Beijing and we saw satellite imagery of the Russian Federation moving

towards Ukraine I don't think that was by accident that was by Design Putin saw weakness and he was took aggression and

he invaded Ukraine and then the ayat reared his ugly head in the Middle East and chairman CH is on fire in a Hot Zone

in the Indo Pacific with that the chairman now recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey Mr

Smith thank you very much pardon me Mr chairman and welcome Mr secretary now I

have a number of questions and I I um we've asked I've asked some of those in the past and so I won't repeat those but

I I chair the China Commission I've chaired 105 plus hearings on human

rights abuse in China xiin Ping's absolute malevolent Behavior towards the Wagers and all the other atrocities that

are committed each and every day uh but what concerned me with our I believe

egregiously flawed Exodus from Afghanistan was how dictators around the

world especially xiin ping looked at that and his propaganda organs like the

global times and said to the people Taiwan here's one editorial why the US

will abandon Taiwan eventually another one was Afghan abandonment as is a

lesson for the taiwan's DPP and when you read it they're telling the people over

and over again in Taiwan that America's resolve was questioned is questionable

uh that we will we will leave them too and you know I won't read the editorial but it editorials because um they are

very very disturbing you know dictators love weakness they probe with

bayonets and if they can get away with something they will and I think the chairman is right when he talks about Putin as well uh and you had said before

how you thought they would be happy if we were bogged down for you know the next 20 years but I I I look at it a

different way they look at how it was done yes we were going to get out of Afghanistan but the way we did it led to

the loss of American lives which we've seen the pictures again shown here U and we've all met with those families of

those loved ones and countless numbers of Afghans so the impact of this can you

at least admit that to the dictatorships of the world uh they saw that and they saw it as weakness and they they go to

avoid if they think there was one secondly um how many Americans are still

in Afghanistan and post Exodus how many were jailed killed tortured um um Left Behind

I know that there was a lot of talk that you know we encourage people to leave but we all remember that Reuters broke

that story about how um the president had in a conversation with ghani had

said very clearly uh that uh even if we have to make it up uh in terms of the

situation to project it as if it's better than it that it is uh the way here's the way he put it this is

President Biden and there's a need whether it's true or not there's a need to project a different picture and that

was done on July 23rd so while we May admonish people to leave they're

listening to our own president who says there's a 300,000 man army well Tred uh

you know but meanwhile in back Channel talking on the phone to GH he's saying project a different picture very very

disturbing I mean we got to be truthful thank you uh two things on this

first um we engage in a sustained campaign to get every American in Afghanistan who was still there to leave

19 messages uh to that Community between Fe February and August uh and by the

time the evacuation took place there were still about 6,000 Americans left in Afghanistan now who are they uh they're

almost all dual citizens most of whom almost all of whom had lived worked had their families in Afghanistan for

Generations uh and so you were still down to 6,000 despite every effort to get people to leave including offering

to pay for their travel the airport remained open until August the 15th in the weeks of the evacuation the two

weeks of the evacuation almost all of those ,000 remaining we were able to get out we were left with a few hundred uh

on August the 31st there were a couple of hundred and this is what I testified to who had identified themselves to us

and keep in mind as you know when you travel to a foreign country or you leave a foreign country as American you don't have to register you don't have to make

yourself known we made every effort uh to get uh in contact with everyone but by the time of the uh end of the

evacuation there were still a couple of hundred American citizens left who had identify themselves to us and told us

they wanted to leave and who couldn't uh get to the airport or get into the airport there were several hundred

others who were there uh and we knew of who did not want to leave either because they didn't want to leave extended

family members behind or they just chose not to leave so after August 31st as I

said and committed to this committee and to this country uh there is no deadline on getting Americans out of Afghanistan

who want to leave in the ensuing three months till the end of the year we got 500 American citizens out of Afghanistan

who was identified themselves to us and said they wanted to leave to my knowledge every American who identified

themselves and said that they wanted to leave has been given an opportunity to do so uh and we've carried that out every single day as to those who went

back and some who got detained we are working uh every day to get them out to

get them back uh and we will not stop for the duration of this Administration and I know that the incoming Trump

Administration will carry that on if we're not successful in getting them back a tell are any in jail today yes

they are they are we have these are Americans who went after the evacuation

for a variety of reasons uh we're talking I am going to keep the five

minute rule to uh strictly because I want every member to be able to have time to ask questions chair now

recognizes Mr Sherman um Mr secretary thank you for your service to our country you bring up

the fact that Americans in a war zone don't have to register with the embassy I think we've talked in the past about

requiring Americans in designated uh dangerous countries to register and I

look forward to working with your successor to to do that because you point out how difficult it is for the

embassy and uh uh to deal with these situations before I get to Afghanistan

back in May um you agreed that you would look at designating the popular

resistance committees the third biggest terrorist group operating in Gaza

as a terrorist organization they are responsible for so many deaths including three Americans This committee voted for

uh my bill to so designate them do I have your commitment that the next two

weeks your department will make a decision as to whether to designate the

popular resistance committees uh a terrorist organization uh if we can complete the work necessary to go into

that yes I don't know if well I asked you to do it in May uh how how many years does it take well as you know

there's a lot that goes into these designations sure we uh meet the law uh and if we can complete that work we

will um when you were here in the past I think you correctly told us you

inherited a deadline you did not inherit a plan um the gentleman from New Jersey

argues that we should have stayed but that's after Trump released five th000

bloodthirsty terrorists had we stayed would those terrorists including the current head of

Afghanistan who was also released by Trump um been able to would would they

have been willing to risk the lives every one of those 5,000 risk their lives in order to kill as many Americans

as possible that seems highly like that I can't speak to every one of the 5,000 but certainly many of them went back to

the went back to the fight so we stayed in we went into Afghanistan we drove

Al-Qaeda out we accomplished something in the Bush George W Bush Administration in Obama administration we got uh killed

Benin Laden we stayed in Afghanistan for the whole Trump

Administration 63 of our best and and died uh 57 came back without the

president bothering to be at the ceremony wor at their return the

question is did we accomplish anything during the Trump Administration did we get a better deal

in 2020 than we could have gotten in 2017 now the deal we got in 2017 was

total surrender the only requirement was that that uh the Taliban not be a center for

international terrorism they have that obligation anyway uh the they did not commit

themselves to protecting our troops on the way out or our Embassy on the way out and moreover the Taliban is not not

in violation of the Trump agreement when they hold 12-year-old girls as sex slaves kill every LGBT person they can

uh kill any uh afghan that converts to Christianity so the the deal was the

weakest ever and it had no enforcement so if it if so couldn't we have gotten that same

deal in 2017 and would 63 more American soldiers

be alive if that had if we had done that then look In fairness I think we have to ask ourselves uh about our ongoing

presence in Afghanistan after we got Bin Laden uh we had uh dismantled al- Qaeda

we'd removed it as a threat we've got the leader the guy that t us so I think we need back we need to look back at the

entire at this entire period decis clearly the Trump years four years of

death of American troops and we accomplished absolutely nothing we signed an agreement under which the

Afghan government is free to use 12 girls as sex slaves and to kill those

who convert uh to Christianity um some 20 some uh 11 to 13 billion

dollars of Us weapons were sent by Trump and scattered all over Afghanistan and

this committee has put forward the idea that we should have somehow collected those weapons from men who wanted to

keep them and who were armed with those weapons could we have accomplished that without any significant American

casualties all over Afghanistan collecting the weapons no we could not would there have been hundreds of

American casualties in your estimation I can't give you a number but certainly there would have been

casualties um I yield

back gentleman yields let me announce also that Mr SVA the National Security

advisor has agreed to testify before this uh committee um on December

the 17th at noon um and I insisted on

behalf of the members that all members be able to participate in that um in

that briefing uh chair now recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina Mr

Wilson thank you very much chairman Mike McCall and thank you for your four years of leadership on this committee has just

been so effective for the American people and then we all know uh that uh chairman Brian Mass elect will do a

excellent job continuing the tradition of serving the American people and uh it what what an exciting time in history uh

that uh as we Face such uh positive changes with the removal of dictator

Assad from Damascus what what can occur and What needs to occur but sadly uh the

uh Assad departure and and anything that's been positive is despite the Biden administration because hey until

last week there was an effort to try to some level of normalization um with uh

Assad uh which is but but that's not what we're here today but it's a continuation and that is the Biden

Administration surrender uh in Afghanistan has actually set the stage

for foreign policy disasters around the world with mass murder shamelessly being conducted around the world our allies

who stood with us for decades watched as the Americans capitulated to terrorists

creating safe haven for terrorism and abandon allies it was so incredible that

this catastrophic decision of American was the worst ever for uh American

Military and SEC National Security uh and sadly President Biden on August 26

2021 claimed that he had letters quote had letters from the military uh

indicating they supported his decision and Mr uh secretary I'll be giving you copies that evening I sent a letter

respectfully to the president asking for copies of the letters and every couple of months I've sent uh letters to the

president respectfully asking for copies of the letters of um where the military he alleged um supported his decision

with the Doha agreement president Trump stated from day one that any withdrawal would be conditions based and would M

would uh actually maintain control of bam Airfield which is so critical the

disorder and Chaos that led to the the murder of 13 of our service members at kabell airport uh just should not be

forgotten and then countless civilians uh we understand uh were the first

Domino to file to fall in the Biden Harris appeasement policy and also this

year it should be remembered we lost 13 at cell airport but we also had three reservist from Georgia who were killed

on January 28th by the Hamas puppets uh excuse me Hezbollah puppets of Iran uh

and and 60 were injured and uh and many with traumatic brain injury uh it's just

heartbreaking to think of the loss of life uh and the lifelong um injuries

that people will have today in Afghanistan women have effectively been banished from public life unable to

speak in public or hold any job including nursing and I still cherish seeing little girls uh couple I visited

Afghanistan very frequently to see little girls going to school uh with their uh Jeeps or whatever and then

little guys going to school uh with something not indigenous uh to people of Afghanistan and it was a baseball caps

and so that doesn't occur now terrorists have a free reign to regroup and work with their backers to coordinated

additional attacks on American families as we know the FBI has said uh attacks are imminent history reminds us that

when America withdraws from the world our enemies filled the vacuums we now

face a war we did not change shoes of dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law it began

February 2024 of 2022 when war criminal Putin invaded Ukraine and then on October 7 uh

Iran threw its puppet Hamas uh invading Israel and uh we all see that uh the

risk that we have and it's personal to me Mr secretary uh my appreciation of the people of Afghanistan I was grateful

to serve with the late Sheila Jackson Lee as co-chair of the Afghan caucus and we met with so many wonderful people who

uh uh it's bipartisan uh our concerns and then I'm grateful my former National

Guard unit 218th recognized infantry Brigade of the southy Guard served for a

year under General Bob Livingston uh and uh they developed a real fondness for

their Afghan brothers and finally uh I'm really grateful my number four son

Hunter first lieutenant Hunter Wilson served for a year uh as engineer in Afghanistan and so I would just uh

really want to let you know that uh I I'm just so disappointed hey we I I

really get trouble at home I said I wanted Biden to succeed uh but this has not occurred and uh we've just got to

address this and with that I yield back my time gentan yields the chair recognizes

Mr Celly thank you Mr chairman and thank you for your tenure and for your

friendship and decency serving as chairman of this SES committee I'd like

to put a picture up um which seems to suggest Mr secretary that the Republican

narrative is correct about you there you are with a prominent uh Taliban

negotiator do our tech people have that

picture well I have it here isn't that you with the Taliban negotiator Mr

secretary I'm afraid I can't see the picture but I'm not aware of having spent any time with a Taliban negotiator

oh I'm sorry that's secretary Pompeo

um was he your predecessor in the Biden Administration as Secretary of State in

the Biden Administration no he was my my predecessor in the previous administration the Trump Administration the Trump Administration and there he is

in Doha with the chief Taliban negotiator H I guess I got that wrong

well Mr secretary all things seem to flow from Doha secretary Pompeo and president

Trump appointed a chief negotiator on behalf of the United States for the negotiations in Doha what was his name

Al kazad Ambassador khazad and he of course testified before this committee and I can remember an exchange with him

in which I expressed deep concern about the direction of the US posture and the

ramifications with Allied Afghans would work for us or work with us and women

and he kind of brushed them off at the time tell us about the details of the agreement he uh forged in Doha what were

the chief elements of that concisely if you would yeah in essence the agreement

provided for this it provided that the U Taliban would not use Afghan soil to

attack uh us or our interest right it would start an inra Afghan negotiation

and as part of that negotiation there would be discussion of a ceasefire and a political road map for the future of

Afghanistan uh and during the time between the agreement and the commitment that we made as part of the agreement to

leave Afghanistan by May 31st a firm a firm date was set yes to

for all US troops to get out is that corre all US troops were to be out by May 31st uh in the meantime 5,000

prisoners were released from Taliban prisoners and as Mr shman points Out Among those 5,000 were terrorists

Fighters and people who returned to the battle field against the Afghan government which allegedly we were

supporting at the time now speaking of that Afghan government were they in Doha at the negotiating table as equal

Partners they were not they were not they were not why were they excluded that's the government we were

supporting I can't answer that I wasn't there at the time but they were not well well if the government we

supporting is not allowed to have a voice at the peace negotiations where a

deal was in fact agreed to by the United States could that conceivably undermine

confidence in that government and by that government in itself in terms of its future yes and indeed I think

General McKenzie has testified to exactly that point that Doha created a tremendous crisis in confidence and the

future for the Afghan government and presumably to some extent for the Afghan Security Forces themselves could it also

have a morale effect on The Afghan military that we were training and equipping to in fact fight the Taliban

yes it could so here we are cutting a deal with Taliban while at the same time asking the Afghan military and the

Afghan government to resist is that correct correct that sounds like a contradiction in in diplomatic policy to

me uh that's that's kind of hard to follow and it seems to me that we we by

agreeing to that in the Trump years with secretary Pompeo your predecessor and Ambassador gilad we actually set in

motion an untenable but probably irrevocable kind

of you know folding of events is that a fair statement do you think once the once the deadline was there all troops

out by May 31st of 2021 and as part of that an agreement from the signing of

Doha to that date not to attack US forces but with the uh obvious

conclusion to be drawn from that that if that deadline was not respected the Taliban would resume its attacks on us

forers on Partner forces and its attacks on the cities so so in other words Mr secretary we cut a deal to get out and

cut our losses at the expense of the Afghan government the Afghan military and ultimately the Afghan people and

that was all set in motion before you took the oath of office or president pres Biden took the O of office is that a fair statement I think that's where

the uh the Doha agreement LED I thank you and I Y back let me just state that

the Taliban was not in compliance with the Doha agreement when the evacuation was ordered in your own uh

senior advisor Ned price said that the Doha conditions were quote unquote

immaterial immaterial to the evacuation that speaks volumes I now recognize Mr

Perry thank you Mr chairman secretary thanks for being

here a statement from you in 2024 Senate hearing where it's you said no one has

done more to support Israel than Joe Biden now during the Obama term Joe

Biden was the vice president so I understand it's difficult it was difficult to say something but he didn't

say anything about the US funding the campaign to Al Netanyahu and I get it while

President Obama was the president he's vice president that's a difficult thing to do but he was unburdened when he became president so he could have said

something then immediately upon taking office he redesignated the hoodies hotis from a

foreign terrorist organization we see what they've done that hasn't been helpful to Israel He

restored the sanctioned waiver a sanctions waiver I in mind everybody that Iran exports are at a 5year high

with 3.4 million barrels being sold every day funding their terrorist activities all

across the Grove he the president made a red line for Israel going into arafa to

defend itself withheld armed shipments to

Israel so it couldn't defend itself continually called and calls for Israel to lay down its defenses in demanding a

ceasefires ceasefire continues at this time to undermine Netanyahu in this time

of War again I think I already said about

the sanctions waiver but the president didn't even go to greet the Prime Minister when he came to

the United States he didn't even send the vice president actually used Israel funding

to get Ukraine funding used Israel

again oil exports at our fiveyear high and that money goes directly to support

Iran Israel's mortal enemy and all their proxies including

the houis Islamic Jihad Hamas Hezbollah you name

it continues to support United Nations relief and works

agency and the activities of those within involved in the terrorist attack

on Israel on October 7th that's just a few things that I

quickly found knowing that you would be here Mr secretary and you said no one starting with President Biden has done

more to make sure they have what they need to defend themselves from Hamas to deal with the threat Hamas poses and

that's also from a 2024 Senate hearing Mr secretary no one has done more to

support Israel than and Joe Biden I I'm I'm thanking the good Lord

that he's not against Israel Mr secretary I don't know if you have anything to say I'm sure you're going to have a list of all the wonderful things

that he's done to support Israel but you can't support Israel while you're at the

same time supporting their mortal enemy you can't support Israel at the same time demanding that Israel support Hamas

you can't support Israel when you're allowing Iran access to billions of

dollars used to fund terrorism not only in Israel but around the globe threatening not only Israel our greatest

Ally but also the United States of America and its interests abroad so if

you want to defend all that you're welcome to it Mr secretary thank you uh

I'll say simply this when Israel was attacked on October the 7th president of

the United States rushed there the first president to go to Israel during a time of War when Iran mounted attacks

unprecedented attacks on Israel not once but twice the first time we've seen direct attacks by Iran on Israel the

United States for the first time ever actively participated in Israel's defense and rallied other countries to

do the same making sure that those attacks couldn't succeed and enabling Israel uh to take the strikes that it

took to debilitate uh Iran's air defenses uh if you want to go back uh

more years than that the memorandum of understanding the 10year memorandum of understanding that provides the money

for Israel's defense that was negotiated by President Obama and Joe Biden was a

lead in that effort to get it and as a result the equipment the Munitions the arms that Israel has had as a result of

that agreement have enabled it to deal with Hezbollah to deal with Hamas to deal with Iranian line if I may sir in

the remaining 10 seconds if this President weren't on both sides of this war providing Iran

all that it has provided maybe those people in Israel that died on October 7th would still be alive I yield that

that that is simply Incorrect and gent yield chair recognizes Mr keing thank

you Mr chairman uh first to uh gold star families that are here uh I appreciate

your being here uh Everlasting gratitude for your sacrifice uh I come from a gold star

family and my own family uh even decades afterwards

uh the were members of my family went back through military records and yearslong painstaking research just to

find out exactly what happened to him uh as he was killed serving our country uh

and I understand the need and for that and uh and hope that you take advantage

of what the ranking member has submitted take advantage of what is there publicly and I hope there's further opportunity

to declassify because it's important as it was to my own family to get the facts

not just beliefs about exactly what happened so secretary thank you for

being here in your last hearing uh I want to thank you for your selfless uh Public Service uh your

integrity uh your personal sacrifice I came across some uh I was

researching Budapest agreements the other day just trying to get more detailed information uh including Our

obligation to Ukraine uh in those agreements uh to defend a ression that

they had and the name that kept cropping up through the whole research was your father uh and I know your father would

be very proud of your service uh and I want to thank you for that I want to congratulate uh Mr Mast and I want to

thank uh my colleague chairman McCall for working together we when I first came into Congress uh he was the

chairman I was the ranking member of a subcommittee we worked together uh on the investigating the Boston Marathon

bombing uh finding out what happened happened what mistakes were made uh and we saved lives as a result of that

report and it was comprehensive uh I dare say though that

the particular report that he issued here had things in it but they it was certainly not

comprehensive in fact they it was really the report was painstaking uh in

avoiding facts that involved that intrical to seeing what happened here why we got to the point we got to uh the

involvement of president Trump uh he had committed the United States to a a full date certain

withdrawal in a deal he negotiated with talban as we've heard without the Afghan

government even being part of that uh without discussion of Rights of women's or children in

Afghanistan uh forcing the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban fighters back into the battlefield

before a final uh withdrawal uh these are the things that should be looked at

in a compreh apprehensive report if we really want to get to the answers and sadly it's lacking uh here in that uh

time frame too something we should draw attention to is when President Trump unilaterally did this he he left out his

own military people uh when he announced that he left out senior officials in his own office and he left out our allies

who were fighting in this battle in communicating to them so I'd just like you briefly to talk about the importance

uh for the first time under Article 5 and the importance of NATO uh our allies came and the only time came to our

assistance in fighting this War I visited them in Afghanistan along with our own troops uh so could you talk to

the importance of that NATO alliance how important it was uh in this how

important it is in the future thank you very much congressman and thank you for the reference to my my father I deeply

appreciate it um as you said the first time the only time Article 5 has been

invoked was in defense of the United States after 9/11 and NATO allies came

uh far and wide to join us in Afghanistan in dealing with al- Qaeda uh

in dealing uh with Bin Laden and dealing with the people who attacked us and

attacked democracy on that day and that's something we'll forever be grateful for I'm very proud of the fact

that as we leave office that Alliance is stronger bigger and better resource than

it's ever been when we took office of the Allies only nine were meeting the

pledge that had been made in 2014 to dedicate 2% of GDP to defense Now 23

allies are meeting that pledge and the remainder uh are on route to do so we

have two new allies in Finland and Sweden making the alliance stronger and more effective and I'll just say this in

conclusion I think what um the American people need to understand about the alliance and it's I understand it's easy

to forget is what makes it so unique and why it's so important going forward when countries came together to join NATO

they made this commitment under Article Five that an attack on one is an attack on all and that means that any wouldbe

aggressor thinking about attacking any one of these countries knows that if they attack one they've got to take them

all on that is the best way to prevent war in the first place it's the best way to deter aggression it's the best way to

make sure that we don't have a world of conflict Americans don't want to be at War um NATO has been the best guarantor that

we can have of making sure those Wars don't happen in the first place but if they do that we are not fighting them

alone thank you so much has expired I will agree and Mr meai that NATO has

never been more united or stronger and I do think Mr Putin had a strong role

chair now recognizes Mr Mast thank you Mr chairman sometimes we speak about

decorum in here and I would say that it it doesn't take a four-letter word to violate decorum we insult every single

person that served when we come in here and we say words like uh we're sorry that the Afghanistan withdrawal was not

exactly perfect uh you know but uh you know maybe we could have done a few things that is a violation of decorum

against every person that put on a uniform and this place absolutely lives up to being a swamp when we try to cover

up the fact that 26 of your your diplomats told you directly that if you

continued down the path that you were going that it was going to be a

disaster and we should not be covering that up I want to talk about a couple of

things today you are our top Diplomat that's not in dispute have you been in Afghanistan since 13 American Service

members were were murdered uh no I have not have any of your staff visited the

US Embassy in Afghanistan since that day um we've had people in Afghanistan I do

not believe they visited the embassy do you know who is currently residing in our Embassy uh the embassy is not under

our obviously not under our control we uh don't have the ability not being in Afghanistan to control it do you have

any information on anybody that has spent any time residing in our Embassy

since our departure um no doubt if we do or in any event the intelligence

Community does and I'm happy to share that as appropriate yet we are still giving the

Taliban tens of billions of dollars there's an American citizen out there literally woke up this morning losing

30% of their paycheck and a good percentage of that is going to the Taliban or other programs abroad and

this is something that we all need to think about and we will be thinking about deeply for the next two years

there's a joke that's made often out there about kids going to college to learn basket weaving and and what a joke

that would be but the United States right now is literally sending tens of millions of dollars to the Taliban uh

14.9 million to be exact to teach Afghans how to do carpet

weaving let's think about that we are giving $280

million to the United Nations to do cash transfers for food in

Afghanistan yeah we're not sending an ear of corn from Iowa a sack of potatoes

from Idaho or a cucumber or an orange from Florida and that discounts the fact

that there's no American tonnage going through our ports to send those things out of here either it's just cash

transfers another line item these are D directly from seagar reports $75 million

to teach Afghan women to be Farmers I don't believe that we spend

$30 million in the United States of America to teach women to be

Farmers my colleague Mr Wilson brought up that they can't even dance in the streets or speak to one another or go to

school I'm not sure that we can trust that that $75 million is being used to

teach the Agriculture and as you pointed out we don't have any diplomats on the ground to confirm the validity of these

programs here's one that I was entirely curious about and maybe you could explain it to me three and a half

million dollar transferred to the Afghan fund that is tended to protect the macro

Financial stability on behalf of the Afghan people what the hell does that

mean can you tell me I don't know I that's bunch of gibberish to me happy to

address all of this um Congress thank you I'll give you one more okay before you address it please even

worse by the Numbers we spent $9 billion to resettle 90,000 rough

Afghan refugees here since the fall of Afghanistan my simple Army math tells me

that's about $100,000 a

person that's absurd so my question for

you we do not even have an an embassy in Afghanistan we have no diplomats there

what are we doing giving them $1 so Congressman as I believe you know the money money that we provide and the

International Community provides is done through Partners implementing Partners un agencies NOS they have yes we could

say that about all the statement doll Department dollars foreign NOS foreign countries foreign companies and in this

case foreign adversaries so each of these institutions as verified by the

department has in place processes to make sure that the money that we provide and others provide is spent

appropriately and the money that has been spent in Afghanistan and I think internationally it's about eight billion dollars over since the evacuation has

helped avert famine uh it's helped prevent the collapse of the health system it's helped prevent the collapse of the entire economy it's helped avoid

bringing even more disaster Mr secret suffering you know for a fact that people literally especially outside of

this country they directly lie to us your people had to come back and correct hey it turns out we were in fact

spending half a million dollars to expand Atheism in Nepal uh through the third party implementer of humanist

International they were lying to us they didn't show show us the exact slideshow that they put together for half a

million dollars and all this they lie to us we have no eyes on the ground and I would simply close with this we do again

we do not have even have an embassy there we have no business putting one1 dollar into that place I yield back yeah

and I respectfully disagree I think that the work that we have done through these partners and many other countries have done has saved many many lives and an

incredibly difficult situation recogniz Mr Castro uh thank you chairman secretary Lincoln welcome

and thank you for being here today and thank you so much for your testimony and for your years of service as Secretary

of State to our country and speaking of refugees before I get to the question I want to note that my city of San Antonio

my hometown and the place I represent is home to a growing and Vibrant Community uh of Afghan Americans many of whom are

from the coast Province and fled Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country I appreciate the

work the state department and other government agencies and nonprofits have done to help them adapt to their new

lives in the United States I wanted to ask you a question about the 2001 aumf

uh secretary Blinn one of the legacies of the Afghan war is the 2001 authorization for the use of military

force which authorizes military force against Al-Qaeda this law continues to

be enforced 23 years after it was first enacted and has been used by this Administration for military action

across the world in a sense the war that began on 911 will not end as long as this Authority continues to be in use

and our nation remains at War across the world with little transparency for the American people while much of this is

reported to the Congress too much remains classified and unavailable to the American people the Obama

Administration in which you served released in its final days a comprehensive legal and policy framework

on the use of military force will the Biden Administration do the same and release a report so the American people

know where we are still at War uh I appreciate what you're what you're

saying and the point that you're making I can't speak to what we will do in the remaining weeks of this Administration

um on something like that do you think that it's a good idea in the same way that the Obama Administration I think we

should uh in any event as we've been very open to doing uh revisit various

authorizations uh and authorities to make sure that they are right for the moment we're in not the moment we were

in 20 years ago uh I want to speak also to a very important issue it was mentioned that

you're headed to the Middle East after perhaps right after this committee meeting and that is the war in Israel

and Gaza and uh I have and I think you know I've said it both publicly and privately I have great respect obviously

for our president for your service for the work that others like um uh Bill

Burns have done in trying to reach a ceasefire agreement uh at the same time

this will be one of the defining foreign policy um legacies of this time

and I'm profoundly disappointed in how it's been handled uh all of us on this dice have

supported Iron Dome to protect the Israeli people over the years we've supported the money and the memorandum

of understanding that goes for 10 years uh we have condemned uh in the harshest terms

October 7th we have sanctioned Hamas and other terrorist groups and warned anybody

about associating with them around the world and at the same time what we've seen by

the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu has been inhumane in fact it's

amounted to war crimes when an army targets civilians in

refugee camps in hospitals in schools in churches in religious institutions and

does it repeatedly over and over again those are war crimes and the

people of Israel is many people in Israel have said so former ministers in

the Israeli government have said so and I wish that this had turned out

differently I wish y'all had been successful in getting the ceasefire but when you weren't I wish

that we had used more leverage with the far-right nyaho government the same way that Ronald

Reagan did years ago The Leverage of withholding offensive weapons to get them to change

what their doing because what they're doing has been inhumane and the world

has seen it we live in a different world now this is no longer the world of the Vietnam War certainly not World War II

not even the world of the Gulf War in the early 1990s the world is much more transparent

now people can all of us are essentially social demographers and

documentarians who can record the world around it and then send that out to

everybody else around the world world and that's why the world has become more transparent and people can see the

inhumanity on both sides but again we have taken action to go after Hamas to

label them as terrorists to sanction them to do what we can to stop them we have not done enough to stop Benjamin

Netanyahu and what he's doing to the Palestinians and my question is whether you believe we should have done anything

differently uh and I see I'm about to be out of time I'm happy to take that up I'm happy to respond if you want to give

me uh uh more time but chairman can I get a few seconds on a response uh

yes uh for us for me there'll be a lot of time to look back and ask ourselves

whether we could and should have done things uh differently from day one we've sought to accomplish uh several things

one to make sure to the best of our ability that we helped Israel ensure that October 7th would never happen

again two to try to prevent a wider war from taking place that would result in

more death more suffering and likely prolong the war in Gaza including a potential war with Lebanon and Hezbollah

with Iran with Iranian aligned militia groups and with others and we have actually successfully done that third to

do our best to make sure that civilians caught in a crossfire of hamas's

initiation who didn't start this and can do nothing to stop it are protected um

and we've worked every single day to do that I've also been to the region 12 times since October 7th I'm heading back

in an hour or two uh to continue uh the efforts to get a ceasefire and hostage

agreement to get the hostages home to get the guns to stop firing to put Gaza on a better path and meanwhile to try to

make sure that people have the assistance they so desperately need gentlemen time has expired and we wish you well us every single day chair I

recognizes Mr burett thank you Mr chairman I'll miss your your leadership appreciate your friendship brother um Mr

secretary 13 Brave Americans lost their lives one of them uh his people live in

my area and I live on the street named after him staff sergeant Ryan canal and I remind folks that 13 Brave Americans

lost their lives and there's a lot of moms and dads that lost their kids because of this and I the blood is on

your all's hands and that needs to be acknowledged but Mr secretary in your opening remarks you stated that Al-Qaeda

is not regrouped in Afghanistan a friend of mine who just returned from there wants you to know that at al-Qaeda in

fact has thousands of fighters in Afghanistan and eight new bases there one of those bases is in the panser

valley which is the home to Afghan resistance in July of 2024 a call was issued to foreign Fighters around the

world to migrate to Afghanistan and join the ranks of the Jihad this was widely covered by the media and in fact there

is video evidence of al-Qaeda fighting alongside the Taliban knowing all that is ham Ben

Laden still alive I can't I couldn't tell you definitively well it was he was if

people don't know he's the leader of al-Qaeda and his father Osama bin ladden was killed Hamza was thought to be dead

sometime uh in 2019 but new reports suggest that he is alive and still charge of al-Qaeda what is the

relationship between Taliban Al-Qaeda and Isis when it comes to Isis uh which is

the group that is of greatest concern in Afghanistan the relationship between the Taliban and Isis is deeply adversarial

um Taliban sees Isis as its number one enemy and it has the uh will but not

necessarily the capacity to deal effectively with it alaa is a different story uh this is obviously a group that

the Taliban in the past has collaborated with given shelter to uh and otherwise

aqu we has to okay what has the state department done briefly to unify the Afghan resistance groups who want to

drive out the Taliban uh there is not much of a resistance active in trying to

do that all right well my friend Legend an afghan-american and former US army non-commissioned officers traveled to

Afghanistan after the collapse and reports that Taliban has been benefiting from us cash shipments sent to the

Afghan Central Bank this is American funds and that was sanction and that sanctioned terrorists are diverting us

Aid meant for the Afghan people why are we giving the Taliban millions and taxpayers dollars while they held

Americans hostage and are killing the Afghan people and in my opinion sir they will hate us for free we don't be need

giving them money we're not giving the Taliban anything as I discussed with um Congressman M we are providing money as

many other countries are to un agencies NOS to help the Afghan people and these

agencies are funding the Taliban reports are saying between sir reports are say between 40 and 80 million us tax dollars

are given to the Taliban every dadgum week I mean is that acceptable under according to the report that I read and

that Congressman referred to the the cigars report of the approximately $8 billion that the International Community

including the United States is dedicated to Afghanistan about $10 million of that that is

0.1% has no doubt gotten to the Taliban in ter I don't care if it's that Penny I don't care if it's a penny I mean for

you to sit up here and admit that the that our enemies I mean these people swear to hate Christians and Jews and

that takes care of about everybody in this Dad room um and and we're sending them I don't care if it's 1% you can but

let me tell you $10 million is a hell of a lot of money the people I represent sir and it needs to be something that

you all let me get on my questions of running out I've invited president s and and commander massud of the Afghan

resistance to of the us to meet with myself and colleagues will the state department work to facilitate their

entry uh into the country to meet with Congress I'll be happy to follow up with your office on that all right just for

the record this state department has funded our enemies and they've turned a blind eye to our open Southern border US

border patrol has caught known terrorists sneaking into our country likely using our tax dollars to do so

and this disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan was not a solution it was a beginning of a much bigger problem

waiting to happen um let me ask you one more question the

committee asked Mr secretary according to Ambassador kazad I don't sure to say that you believe the T do you believe

the Taliban B the Doha agreement and you perp purportedly advised President Biden

during the inter agency review to embor the agreement conditions and not withdraw until the Taliban

complied the Taliban was in violation of the uh Doha agreement in a number of

ways it was in violation when the previous administration Drew Down forces repeatedly it was in violation uh during

the time that we were in office before the evacuation why did you advise condition conditionally um when it comes

to the agreement what we tried to do was to get them to abide by the conditions notably

to engage in a negotiation with the Afghan government to produce uh a uh a new government that would bring everyone

together they didn't do that but because we had the deadline and because we have the prospect of the Taliban resuming

attacks on US forces which would have required us to put tens of thousands of Americans back into Afghanistan we

followed through with pulling them out thank you Mr chairman it's it's clear to me that this group is clearly out of

their league and um the new Administration couldn't get here fast enough thank you Mr chairman gentan

yields chair recognizes Miss Titus thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr

secretary uh just bring things back a little bit to the realm of reality

throughout this do nothing congress which has been led by the Republicans we've seen time and time again the

majority's lack of interest in actually solving problems on this Comm the Republicans have blown a lot of smoke

about the process they've tried to hold you in contempt and they've ignored our

uh kind of foreign policymaking responsibilities by just not paying any

attention to democratic backsliding in Georgia What's just happened with the toppling of Assad in Syria uh just just

to do nothing but Yammer about who's qualified and who's not to make these

kind of decisions you know Democrats on the other hand have been focused on real solutions we

took the after action report and introduced legislation codifying some of these recommendations in an effort to

support the state Department's crisis response to protect our Afghan allies

which they claim they want to do and to position our national security apparatus to address the landscape and this uh

kind of new Afghanistan situation many of those proposals and in

fact made it into the ndaa that just came out over the weekend uh I was glad

to see some of those provoke proposals in the state Department's uh uh

appropriation or authorization and one of those that I was especially pleased with was my care authorization act that

this would codify the coordinator for Afghan relocation efforts at the state department for the next three years I

wonder uh Mr secretary if you could talk about the importance of the CARE program

this measure to codify and how it can impact the work that you're doing in the new

landscape well thank you very much and I deeply appreciate the support that you've shown and other members have

shown for these efforts uh we have an obligation that I believe is a strong

bipartisan um obligation and sense of responsibility to the many Afghans who stood beside us for 20 years in

Afghanistan and we worked very hard as I said to revitalize the SIV the special immigrant Visa program we brought in

more people more visas uh in the last three years almost as many as in the

entirety of the program going back to 2009 but part of that of course as well as refugees who come in under other uh

parts of the law uh needs a tremendous amount of support when it comes to relocating them uh resettling them uh

here in the United States and the department established uh this uh effort and this office uh to do just that uh to

work to make sure that we could bring AF an out get them to so-called Lily Pad countries where we could finish processing them then to bring them to

the United States and then to work with resettlement agencies to make sure that they could be resettled and integrated

into communities and we've also seen an incredible outpouring from Americans all across this country through a

sponsorship program we set up so that private individuals and groups could also uh welcome Afghans to this country

and we've seen uh tens of thousands of people stand up to do that uh but we do need the I think ongoing support from

the Department to make sure that we have the people in place uh to continue uh this effort and so we welcome uh

Congressional efforts to to support that thank you I'd like to follow up about the sivs you know the report from the

majority said that or alleged that President Biden abandoned our allies but

the numbers tell an entirely different story as you referenced during Trump's time in office the SIV coordinator role

was vacant for the entire time Trump just to give the numbers to the point you make Trump only issued

7,116 sivs in a three-year period and processing time uh increased from 480

days in January of 2017 to 996 days in January of 2021 when you

were here in 2021 you spoke to us about this immense backl backlog I'm sorry

that uh the administration had inherited of more than 17 18,000 applications of

sivs Ambassador Smith affirmed that the Trump administration had taken this is a

quote taken no steps to reduce the backlog in just its first eight months

of the administration however President Biden issued 8,760 Afghan sivs and haved the

processing time so you know the success is in those numbers and it's very clear

what the emphasis has been under the previous administration not what's been alleged and can you just talk a little

bit about how you were able to accomplish this well I think you've covered it very well but simply to say that yes we inherited a program that was

um basically stuck uh nothing was happening there hadn't been an interview uh for someone uh to get their uh Visa

going back to March of uh of 2020 we had a backlog of about 17 18,000 people uh

and uh as soon as we came in we restarted uh the interviews the President issued an executive order one

of the very first uh instructing us uh to look at what we could do to uh cut the delays uh to beef up the uh the

Staffing uh we cut the uh the time in half for processing uh sivs I uh

quintupled the resources at the state department going to um uh look at the

applications so that we could get people through the uh the system uh and as a result I won't repeat the numbers that

that you cited uh we rebooted a program that had been more abundant uh and we

brought many many many Afghans here but that didn't stop after the evacuation and as I noted since then almost 70,000

Afghan sivs and that was as many years all du

respect time has expired chair recognizes Mr be thank you Mr

chairman and I'd like to start my comments I appreciate you being here Mr secretary but I want to express my

appreciation to the gold star families that are here today and I I also want to

express my sorrow for for your loss and one of those was uh Corporal homberto

Sanchez from my area Logan sport Indiana so I just want to make that on the

record because of their sacrifice but Mr secretary um I have I have questions

about uh whether or not you've expressed opposition uh to the unconditional

withdrawal to the president or Mr Sullivan or to Nato because on April

21st you made a visit to Brussels to talk with NATO and after your visit you made

an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on April 15 2021 could you give us some idea what

was the purpose of that visit and then what information did you bring back and share with the president from this

unannounced visit thank you uh the purpose of the visit was to see from

myself situation on the ground in Afghanistan to hear directly from our Embassy

uh how they were pursuing the mission our diplomatic Mission uh our mission to

bring more uh sivs out uh and also to talk to Afghans not just from the

government but from across society which I did on that trip to hear from them how they saw uh the situation as it was uh

as it was evolving and that was a very informative trip uh as were my many discussions at NATO with our allies and

partners throughout that period now I'm not going to share the advice counsil that I gave to the president that's

between me and him uh and um having said that uh I think what we were looking to

do uh was to see if we could get the Taliban to meet its um uh requirements

under the agreement particularly to engage in a negotiation with the Afghan government to have a uh not only a an

enduring ceasefire but also to have a political transition in Afghanistan we worked on that until the day that the

Afghan president gani fled in fact I was on the phone to him the night before he fled on August the 14th in which he told

me uh that he wanted to continue working on getting an agreement with the Taliban but if he couldn't he would stay and

fight to the death and he left the next day so that my my trip back then obvious

helped to inform our diplomacy uh our approach to what we were trying to do and I wish we could have gotten

obviously um the Taliban to agree to meet its commitments but we

didn't so thank you the the thing I'm also interested in do you feel that the

president uh acted on any of the information that you brought back to him from that meeting and uh was it any any

coincidence that the president announced an unconditional withdrawal just six days after you had that meeting with him

uh the president absolutely factors in I know for uh firsthand the information

the ideas the recommendations that I bring to him that many others in the administration bring to him and we have

a very deliberate process for working through all of these issues and he's insisted from day one on hearing from

everyone on making sure that we're all questioning our assumptions are our biases going in that's the way he

operates But ultimately he has to make uh the decisions we can all give our recommendations and advice he's the one

who has to make the the judgments he's the one uh that makes the uh the final call again uh it was our effort and our

policy to see the Taliban meet its obligations it didn't but I remind again

that we had a deadline that was bequeathed to us and during that period from the Doha agreement to the

evacuation the Taliban agreed that it would not attack our forces or partner forces it would stay away from the

cities had we not fulfilled the Doha agreement in terms of removing our

forces from Afghanistan those attacks would have resumed on us on our part Partners on the cities and as I said it

would have required sending in thousands more Americans to defend against those attacks and to try to hold on to

Afghanistan thank you I yield back gentan yields chair recognizes Miss

Jacobs thank you Mr chairman thank you uh Mr secretary for being here thank you

to the gold star families who are here for your sacrifice um and for representing the gold star families that

we know have sacrif so much over the last 20 years I represent San Diego the largest military community in the

country and my community has has borne the cost of this 20year war um and so

secretary blinkin rather than repeatedly uh you know revisiting the events of three years ago I'd really like to look

ahead and consider what we actually learned from America's two decade $2.3

trillion investment in Afghanistan an investment which was intended to Foster

Democratic growth democ governance and state capacity but which ultimately fell short um as evidenced by the fact that

the government instantly collapsed after our departure and uh is long-standing

ranked as one of the most corrupt states in the world so the global fragility act

a law which was signed by President Trump was designed to incorporate some of these lessons from Afghanistan and to

Pilot a more integrated strategic approach to how we deal with fragile and confli deflected regions reflecting on

the shortcomings of our 20-year War and the withdrawals aftermath what key insights have guided the Department's

evolving approach to conflict prevention and stabilization and how have these Le lessons shaped the implementation of the

global fragility act to ensure that future engagements emphasize building resilient accountable institutions

rather than just propping up uh Hollow corrupt ones well I think you said it very well I think one of the lessons

that I at least take away from the 20 years is that that while very well-intentioned uh and Noble in

aspiration uh the idea of uh nation building and trying to uh impose a

democracy on a country by in effect by military means alone is simply not going

to work uh and that while security uh is necessary it's not sufficient to getting

the job done and unless you have uh a whole of of government and really a whole of society approach uh that looks

at um the things that are likely to drive people apart and create conflict within a

society you're unlikely to stop it uh and you're unlikely to see the emergence of a stable never mind uh democratic

government and I think uh what you and others have done in uh your work and support for the global fragility act

very well reflects that uh that Insight uh because if we're not operating uh

across society and across the government and not only us NOS the private sector

and others um again we're unlikely to actually prevent these countries from failing uh never mind building something

uh successful so we've now had some beginnings of experience with the global fragility act but as you know very well

the other Insight is that this doesn't happen overnight doesn't happen by flipping a light switch these are engagements and Investments that we have

to sustain over a decade uh so we're in the the early years of this but I think

this is a much better approach to trying to get the results that again are extremely well-intentioned but but I

think Afghanistan and in different ways Iraq shows us are unlikely to be achieved just by focusing on security in

the military well I couldn't agree with you more and um you know I know one of

the other things that the Afghanistan withdrawal revealed was a sort of systemic vulnerability in the

Department's ability to manage urgent high-risk situations so I was also wondering if you could talk about um

what sort of organizational measures you've implemented to streamline decision-making Authority improve inter

agency coordination ensure rapid accurate communication during future emergencies and and how these reforms

address some of the issues identified in the after action review yeah thank you very much this is something we've taken

very seriously and um as uh as you know I think as the the chairman knows very well members of the committee know we uh

we undertook an after action review I brought back um very senior um retired member of the department bassador Dan

Smith he conducted uh interviews of 150 current and former uh State Department

uh officials myself included on this period uh basically from January of 2020

through the evacuation to look at the state department what we did right what we did wrong uh and as I mentioned

earlier a number of important recommendations came out of that to uh strengthen us going forward uh we had 34

recommendations in 11 categories uh we've taken 40 actions since then and just very quickly one was to the need to

strengthen our overall crisis um uh preparedness and our response capabilities we didn't have before this

a common operating picture of what was going on in a given emergency situation

we still have something called the Orion platform we bring together everything in one place the cable traffic news sources

uh intelligence risk indicators accountability for our engagement with US citizens all in one place before we

had a dispersed staff we didn't have the um uh proper uh capacity to Surge our

people during a during a crisis we opened uh a new uh modernized Operation

Center with that capacity with the flexible spaces to have task forces uh

uh develop overnight um we had before no comprehensive system for tracking or

deconflict the status of American citizens who were caught in the middle of a conflict so we stood up a

streamlined and cloud-based system to track to communicate with American citizens in real time to avoid

duplication uh overlap there are a number of things I'd really commend you time has expired chair now recognizes Mr

bar thank you Mr chairman thank you for your service as chairman of this committee and thanks for the great job you've done uh for us uh uh as chairman

uh secretary blinkin thank you for your service uh in this your last appearance before this Committee of Secretary of State I I I do want to ask you some

tough questions though about um what I see as not only a chaotic Retreat from

Afghanistan but but probably uh the the biggest foreign policy blender

of the administration over the last four years but I would argue maybe even the last generation the the failure was not

the 20-year fight against terrorism in Afghanistan that was not the failure in

fact that was a success where the brave men and women of this country who wear our uniform kept the Homeland safe

because they took the fight to the terrorists and in fact uh we eliminated

terrorists like OB Osama Bin Laden because of their Valor and their bravery that was not the failure the failure

that Dishonored their 20-year service was the chaotic and disastrous Retreat and so from your opening statements you

said it's important to put it in context the the events of August of 2021 important I agree so let's talk about

the Doha agreement Mr secretary according to Ambassador kazad you believed the Taliban violated the Doha

agreement and you purportedly advised President Biden during the inter agency review to enforce the agreement's

conditions that secretary Pompeo your predecessor and secretary Trump had had

entered into and not withdraw until the Taliban complied why did you advise on this

conditionality to be very clear what uh and again I'm not going to get into my advice to the president I can tell you what our our policy was uh the policy

was to seek compliance with the agreement and to get the Taliban to live up to what it had promised to do I'm

going to reclaim my time yes I agree with that but the Taliban failed to live up to the agreement the Taliban failed

to engage in intra after negotiations correct that is correct the Taliban was

inflicting violence on Afghan forces correct that's correct and the Taliban conducted indirect fire attacks against

American forces is that correct uh prior to uh the evacuation that may have been

incidental but everything else you said is is certainly correct well I don't think President Biden listened to you

and I don't think he was implementing the Doha agreement it was not that he was bound by the Doha agreement he

disregarded the Doha agreement and he he said we're going to retreat regardless

of the Doha agreement and that's what happened here let me talk about NATO because just to be clear the Doha agreement said we would be out by May

31st 2021 B on conditions Mr secretary and you know that in fact you

acknowledged that the that the Taliban was failing to live up to the conditions and so Doha did not bind your

Administration to retreat the way you certainly not the way you did certainly not the way you did now Mr secretary I

want to talk about about NATO because you all talk about andout this great strength in NATO alliance I was just in

Europe in October I agree NATO strong but it's not because of your retreat from Afghanistan it's because of

Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine that required NATO to get stronger despite

the invitation to aggression that the retreat from Afghanistan gave to Putin

let me ask you about NATO and what how NATO felt about the policy of this Administration back in 2021

according to the state department docu documents that we subpoenaed our NATO allies wanted the Biden Harris Administration to enforce the conditions

of the NATO of the Doha agreement you met with former NATO Secretary General stoltenberg in March of 2021 at the NATO

ministerial meeting correct that's correct yes and according to State Department docu documents Mr stoltenberg

opposed an unconditional withdrawal and you in response stated quote I share your view that it would be preferable to

reach a political settlement before foreign troops depart we've also learned

that you were jolted by how strongly NATO officials argued against a complete withdrawal did you share NATO's concerns

with the White House um I shared everything I heard from NATO allies and partners uh with uh with the White House

with my colleagues uh with the president that's that's my job uh General Miller testified that NATO leaders were quote

unhappy unquote with the president's unconditional withdraw and they quote voiced that that unhappiness in

different Publications then you're number two Mr cholette lied to

this committee stating NATO itself didn't take a position uh we're told by

public sources that NATO Secretary General stoltenberg was quote livid informing secretary Austin and yourself

that he quote strongly disagreed with the decision and felt that NATO's Collective position had hadn't been

taken into account unquote I'll let Mr Stenberg speak for himself some I have but NATO's stronger

today but not because of you all NATO is stronger because your weakness invited

Putin to move against Ukraine you signaled you weren't going to stand with our NATO allies you didn't care

President Biden didn't care about our NATO allies and what they thought about a retreat from Afghanistan instead what

it did is it signaled weakness and Putin took advantage of it the reason NATO is

stronger today is because of the invasion it's not because of US policy now that's incorrect the reason they

stronger today is because of President Biden's leadership this is bigger it's better resourced it's got more members

because of his leadership but if you ask any NATO Ally that's exactly time expired chairel recognizes Miss Man U

Miss Manning also I'd like to ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Wisconsin Mr van Ordon be allowed

to sit on the dis and participate in today's hearing without objection so order Miss Manning and uh we will

certainly miss you and thank you for your service thank you very much thank you chairman McCall thank you ranking member Meeks thank you thank you

secretary blinkin for your service and for your answer to that last question uh I want to express my appreciation for

the gold star families in the room today I have a gold star mother on my staff

and I do understand the terrible sacrifices those families make I must

say I am disappointed that we are having yet another hearing on the now

three-year-old withdrawal from Afghanistan it seems to me that the fall

of the Assad regime in Syria and what happens next including the potential Resurgence of Isis or other terrorist

groups has major consequences for our security and the future of the region

and it would be a much better use of our time to talk about that topic today so Mr chairman I would respectfully suggest

that the committee hold a hearing and a classified briefing on this critical situation the situation in Syria next

week thank you very much running out look forward to that meeting before I'm no longer on this committee Mr secretary

uh in your view what are our core interests that are at stake in Syria uh

a number of them first and foremost of course is protecting our forces that are that are there that remain there second

is making sure the best our ability that Isis does not reconstitute um through

the Obama Administration then the Trump Administration we were successful in eliminating the territorial caliphate

that Isis had developed in Syria we don't want to see that uh revive and in particular there are there are thousands

of foreign terrorist fighters who are detained in A dissension center that is being uh pleased by uh our Kurdish

Partners in Syria we want to make sure that that's prod third uh there may be and I very much hope there is an

opportunity to move Syria away from the disaster of recent decades toward a

country that is Unified uh that reflects all the different communities that make up Syria and so that we get a political

transition that's inclusive uh and that brings everyone together we have an interest in seeing that because if Syria goes the

other way if it fragments then we're likely to see more mass migrations we're likely to see more places in Syria that

became that become centers for uh terrorism and extremism none of which is

in our interest Mr secretary the president elect has suggested that we

have nothing no interest in Syria that he doesn't want to get involved there when he takes over what impact would

that have if the United States were simply to step aside and wash our hands of what's going on in Syria well again

as I just said in fact there was a I think a very important success uh through the Obama Administration that

was completed by the first Trump Administration in uh eliminating this

territorial caliphate that Isis had established in uh in Syria uh that was a

uh a job very well done over two administrations and I believe that the uh incoming Administration uh will have

an interest in preserving the gains that it helped achieve to what do you attribute the Resurgence of the of the

um rebels in Syria and the fall of the Assad regime I think what we're seeing

is um a result of a number of factors but first all of the outside patrons of

the regime Hezbollah Iran Russia uh were at the very least distracted and in some

cases on the ropes because of problems of their own making and problems that we helped exacerbate uh for them uh second

Assad's utter refusal to engage in any kind of political process to try to

bring the country together despite everything he' inflicted on the country I think that sold the Seas of his of his downfall I do want to address one thing

that we're seeing happen in in Afghanistan and since the fall of kabell in 2021 we've witnessed the tragic

consequences of the Takeover of the of the Taliban particularly on The Afghan

women and girls they uh women who had high ranking positions who had good

productive jobs are no longer able to work girls who were attending school are no longer able to attend school um when

I read the Trump Doha agreement I was shocked by how few conditions there were

in there for the Taliban there were no protections uh requested for Afghan women and girls since the withdrawal

we've seen the Taliban issue more than 100 edicts targeting women and girls

restricting not just their education and their abil ility to work but also their ability to leave their homes their

ability to seek health care services from male providers and just recently uh

the Taliban issued an edict suspending medical education for women we know what this means Afghan women will eventually

be unable to get medical care that they need this will be a disaster not just

for the women of Afghanistan but for the country what steps have you taken to push back on those edicts and help the V

vulnerable Afghan women and girls these edicts are aor and they would take Afghanistan back to the Dark Ages um

from day one we've worked to do everything we can to uh defend support

and where we can Empower women and girls in Afghanistan including having senior officials whose mission is to do just

that uh including setting up different mechanisms so that their voices can be heard in our policy deliberations and in

the international policy deliberations including when it comes for example to recognizing the Taliban uh we'

sanctioned many members expired recognizes Miss Salazar thank

you uh thank you Mr chairman and thank you Mr blinkin for being here with us and you know the disastrous withdrawal

from Afghanistan had ramifications around the world not only in the Middle East and all only uh including the um

messages to uh dictators just like the Taliban but to other people specifically the Western Hemisphere and just want to

concentrate my time time and three countries that are highly important for my constituents starting with Venezuela

sir I hear that you're planning to cancel the oil licenses to actors like Chevron and rep oil and others and my

question is are you planning to cancel those oil contracts before or after

January 10th which is when madur is supposed to be assuming the presidency I can't speak to the actions

that we'll take in terms of when uh when we'll take them I'm happy to follow with your office you know you can take this

opportunity to announcer that we are not going to be doing business with the dictators anymore and then you the whole

world is looking at you so why don't you send the right message to Maduro and saying if you steal the elections we're

you're not going to make any money of well I think we've been sending very clearly the message about how we see the uh the election how we see the abuse of

the system by uh by Maduro the work that we've done to support Mr Gonzalez uh and

but the problem is that if the madur regime has money from Chevron that is

that goes to besta goes to the treasur and then they have more money to for the repressive apparatus you know that and

as you know the opposition supported all the efforts that we took to see if we could get an election that would reflect the will of the people we got an

election we saw the will of the people unfortunately it's not been recognize it and now he's going to be sworn in on

January the 10th and but you can send the message to Chevron saying no more oil for now we will take the necessary

steps to make clear but I I hear that you are thinking about doing that is that correct again everything is on the

on the table right now including in terms of the licenses good now let's go to Colombia sir uh president Petro from

Colombia has asked President Biden to Pardon a guy but most people here won't know who he is his name is Simon

Trinidad he's a terrorist he serving 60 years in prison uh at a federal prison

for kidnapping three American contractors what was your recommendation

to the president to Pardon Simon I'm not aware of that request but I'm happy to follow up I'm not aware you're not aware

I'm not aware of that but you know that request should go through the state department that's you imagine so you have not heard about that but if that

were to be the case within the next hours what recommendation would you give the president I'd have to make sure that

I'm fully informed uh well he's a terrorist again I want to see if there is something I want to see it understand

it and read it uh but certainly his record his record speaks for itself wait understand but you understand that if

you were to Pardon Simon trinad you will make every single Colombian living in the United States a republic repan right

and we don't want to do that I mean we're happy about that but but that's not the honorable thing to do so make

sure that President Biden doesn't make a mistake just it's a humble opinion let's

go to Cuba Cuba is Cuba under review to be removed from the list of countries

sponsor of terrorism is it is it under review sir um I don't anticipate any

changes in our policy toward Cuba during the pendency of this Administration all right I'm I'm happy you're saying that

laudable to hear that but specifically is it under review right now because if

you're going to remove a country from a list of terrorists of this country's sponsors of terrorism you need to start

a review and my question is is that yes or no is Cuba under review under the law

depending on the the different uh authorities of this kind some mandate a

regular review uh others don't all I can tell you right now sitting here today is I don't anticipate any changes in our

policy so you are telling me that between now and January 20th the

president of the United States is not planning to remove those bastards the

Cuban regime off the list of countries that sponsor terrorism as I said I don't

anticipate any changes you don't anticipate so how can I interpret anticipate can you commit right now that

that's not going to happen you know why because all I'm doing is is trying to prevent to give money to the repressive

apparatus that has been uh taking everything away from the Cubans you're

aware of that right so I just need to make sure that you understand the message from my community do not do that

don't give them the oxygen that they want to continue we greasing the

repressive apparat tell me you have 20 seconds I can't I do not make decisions

uh for sure you do come on sure you do you're at the state department give the recommendation

all I can tell you is I don't anticipate any changes in our policy toward Cuba between now and the end of this

Administration thank you I'm going to take your word as your bond let's keep it that way I appreciate

sir thank you thank you very much Mr chairman

secretary blinkin I'd like to focus my questions on a topic of great importance to my home state of Arizona the US

Mexico relationship I believe we're at a make or break moment for the region our two countries face significant shared

challenges and there remains a lot of work to do to address migration securing our borders against illicit drugs

traffic north and arms traffic south and to fight pervasive organized crime but

the US Mexico relationship is more than just migration and security our economy

our economies are fundamentally intertwined Mexico recently surpassed China to become us largest trading

partner supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs in my home state of Arizona and

I am particularly excited about the vast economic potential of nearshoring moving Supply chains closer to the United

States Market as hundreds of businesses uh including semiconductor supply chain Enterprises critical to our national

security move from Asia back to America or to um North America or even Latin

America meanwhile the upcoming World Cup gives us an opportunity to forge a durable security relationship to address

International threats there's a choice in front of us now do we choose to forge a strategic path forward together rooted

in mutual respect and cooperation or do we each go It Alone the Mexican

Government recently pass a series of sweeping constitutional reforms that will harm the US Mexico relationship

overhauling its independent Judiciary eliminating Independent Regulatory Agencies and closing access to its

energy markets these changes could undermine Mexico's obligation under the usmca and

I've heard from Business Leaders in Arizona and around the country who are anxious that these reforms will hurt

investor confidence and their ability to do business in Mexico secretary blinkin

how do you see these constitutional changes impacting our economic relationship with Mexico well first

you're exactly right about the importance of that economic relationship uh it's vital to this country it's vital

to Mexico and our citizens benefit from it every single day second uh the Mexicans of course have the Sovereign

right to make their own laws amend their own Constitution uh that's not for us to

uh say as their friend and partner and as countries that are bound together by the

usmca uh though we do have uh opinions on some of the steps they're taking and

we have raised concerns about certain aspects of the Constitutional reform the judicial reform uh in particular and we

shared those very clearly and very directly with the Mexican Government both with president former president L oor and with President Shin bound but

the Mexicans will make their uh their own decisions about this but the concerns that we've underscored or

exactly what you just cited which is what effect does this actually have on private sector and investment that's so

critical to actually meeting the full potential of this relationship including things like near Shoring including

having a supply chain where the Mexico and the United States are joined and the most critical things necessary to our

economies uh and even to our security and I want to commend Ambassador Ken Salazar for speaking so with such

Clarity on this most important issue um there were a recent discussion about

sweeping 25% tariffs on All Imports from Mexico and Canada by the president elect

secretary blinkin uh in your opinion how would these proposed tariffs impact us and diplomatic interests in Mexico look

I don't want to speculate on what the incoming Administration will uh will do uh or or or not to that's really not my

place I think uh what I can say is just to underscore what you said a few minutes ago which is this economic

partnership is so vital and we want to maximize it not minimize it um they're

Mexico is now the US it's our our top uh trade partner for goods we've got 800

billion dollar uh traded in the last year we have accounting for 2023 um that's more than a million

dollars every single minute of every single single day so I think we just want to make sure whatever we do and

whatever the incoming Administration does how do we strengthen that how do we build on that because it's good for both

of our countries I mentioned the upcoming World Cup as a unique opportunity North American World Cup for

us Mexico Canada to work together to build a obviously an incredibly important security partnership to make

sure the World Cup is as safe as possible but then make that a durable security partnership and relationship uh

how should the United States government work with the Shane Bond administ ation um on a security partnership to counter

the drug cartel's violent crime well we've been working incredibly closely together over the last uh almost four

years now on exactly that and I think that works continuing with the new Shrine bound you saw one of the results

just the other day uh the Mexicans seized uh with uh with our help um 20

million fentanyl pills um each one could have killed an American citizen they've

seized more fentanyl at the border over the last two years than in the previous five

combined recognizes Miss K the work that we're doing together thank you thank you secretary good luck thank you chairman

mall I'm ranking member for holding today's hearing uh the American people

and the families of our 13 Fallen service members and the Afghan allies are demanding

answers secretary blinkin um your appearance before our committee today's

long overdue as we s to understand the role that you played in the Biden ad uh

Harris administration's failed and disastrous Afghanistan withdraw in August

2021 and in your previous conversation with my colleagues before me you claimed

that you have done everything you can to support Afghan women and girls yet you

excluded them and Afghan Civil Society from telban talks with the UN in Doha so

why why do you continue to to deprioritize Afghan women and

girls sorry just the contrary we've done everything we can to integrate them

their voices their views into everything we do including any engagements that we've had uh with the Taliban including

in the engagements that we have with Partners around the world particularly when it comes to decisions being made about recognizing or otherwise engaging

with the Taliban so it's exactly the opposite we made to hear from those families and also this committee has

heard Gravely concerning stories of what it was like trying to get through

hkia as an evacuate uh your own personel testified that there was little to no

guidance from you on who qualified to be evacuated from Afghanistan So based on documents we received and Witnesses we

interviewed at no point did you identify who the US would be responsible for

getting out during the non-combat evacuation operations so did you ever

determin which populations were eligible to be evacuated yes absolutely and that was that was very clear there were were

they then very discreet populations uh American citizens uh legal permanent

residents uh and Afghan allies and partners uh particularly those how did

your department determine which populations were eligible for evacuation who was responsible for making those uh

decisions uh these are determinations that are made by the administration uh by the state department and when it

comes to Afghans at risk there were many uh Afghans at risk that we were seeking to get out and because

this was such a dynamic situation with conditions changing uh by the hour at different moments during the evacuation

we had greater access to certain parts of that population than others so we focus secretary what documents did those

uh evacuates have to provide to prove their eligibility uh are you aware of a hall

pass that your department provided instead of legal document identification documentation we sought to do everything

possible to get them the um documents or identification that they needed in order

as necessary to get through the Taliban which had control of the area around the airport and of course documentation is

necessary our own that hall pass that we're talking about were reprinted in droves that was then sold to people

outside of hkia so did you direct them to replace legal identification

documents with a forgeable Word document no we provided as best we could legal

and enforceable documents because apparently they were shared I I have I I

have not seen that but I'm happy to look at whatever information you have about that okay um you know during the uh

evacuation over 80 Afghans who risk their lives to work with the United States government contacted my office

for assistance so when you include their families that's more than 526 Afghans

who claim they faced a direct or personalized threat but despite the referral to SIV program my office is

only aware of only like 80 applicants who are able to complete the requirements and file and of those three

none have been approved and are still awaiting processing hearing from those

uh Afghans the SIV verification process has been difficult and tedious and

according to your Deputy one of the biggest obstacles to the verification process came from as IV applicants who

have been employed by the dod contractors and that was well documented yet you did not ask the dod for uh

support until the end of July 2021 so why' you wait until just weeks

before the Afghanistan withdraw to fix that obvious issue no these were

long-standing issues and problems with the SIV program going back many years and as I said earlier we inherited a

program that was totally moravon there hadn't been a single interview for an SIV going going back to March of 2020 when we came to office we immediately

rein reinstituted the interviews I immediately surged resources to go through the SIV applications we cut the

the time in half to process the applications we went from issuing a 100 visas a week uh on sivs to a thousand a

week all of that happened in the space of just five or six months because of our dedication to the program but we inherited a program not only more

abundant but that had 14 different steps required by Congress uh to make sure

that the SIV was issued in the appropriate way and of course security

usually usually uh important we want to make sure that we're not bringing threats into the country that's that's

important being able to document effectively yes that they had uh been working with us and the challenge as you

rightly point out was that uh because it was with DOD it was contract many of were out of I agree this is a very

important issue we can we like to follow up with you Mr secretary CH recognizes Miss Maline Dean thank you Mr chairman

uh and Mr chairman I want to Echo the words of many others on on both sides of the aisle uh I feel lucky to have had

the chance to serve with you on this committee as uh you were our chairman you are our chairman look forward to the

renaming of this room uh I thank Mr Meeks as well it's been a pleasure I do

acknowledge the attendance of Goldstar families and other military families uh and Veterans thank you for your

extraordinary sacrifice and service and thank you secretary blinkin for being here uh for being in front of us and

being available uh to tell us uh sometimes harsh truths uh and also to

just reveal the thoughtfulness that your department has taken over the course of these years so I thank you for that uh

and it is important to understand what happened uh with the withdrawal of

Afghanistan it's important to understand what happened before after during after

uh and my only problem with this report and the set of hearings and the set of questions that you are facing is that

sadly this became a partisan investigation and never should have uh this committee sadly came up with a

report uh digging into evidence that would only focus on the Biden Administration a 20-year war of

withdrawal set in place by the previous administration the cherry picking was

clear the report's own methodology says quote the US withdrawal from Afghanistan

is understood to Encompass the US military retrograde beginning with the go to zero order officially announced by

President Biden on April 14th 2021 that's a strange very narrow window

if we really want to understand what happened what went wrong what went right

so secretary blinkin just to set the record straight the Doha agreement was entered into under the Trump

Administration is that correct that is correct signed on February 29th 2020 the

inre the agreement included a commitment to reduce US forces uh in Afghanistan to

8,600 troops in 135 days is that correct it is yes the only other Force reduction

commitment in the agreement was complete withdrawal of US forces within 14 months is that correct that's correct then

president Trump uh despite not being required by the agree agreement ordered more troop drawdowns as he was uh

eligible to do as president of the United States those being in September mber of 2020 reduction to 4,500 troops

am I right that's correct and then strangely to me in January of 2021 on

the administration's way out the door a reduction to 2500 troops is that correct

it is puzzling absolutely puzzling so th those were all actions taken before Mr Biden was even uh sworn into office

January of 21 what effect did the significant reductions have on the

administration and um on uh the withdrawal well I think the combination of the release of 5,000 Taliban

prisoners under the agreement and the reduction in US forces to 2500 put the

Taliban in the strongest position had been in since 911 and uh the United States in arguably the weakest position

we've been in because we had the fewest number of forces on the ground that we'd had since 2001 what a terrible uh deadly

combination of factors uh and also again uh so much good was able to be done

under those horrifying circumstances uh but nothing can can take away uh the

tragedy of Abby gate uh I'd like to move just as uh Miss Manning did to other

issues of the day very critical issues of the day Ukraine I have always believed uh that the United States must

do everything in our power to be sure that Ukraine has everything it needs to

win uh what is going on in these last few few uh weeks of the administration

lifting of any more restrictions uh imposing any more sanctions on Russia or

Russian Banks what is the administration able to do uh we're determined in the time that we have left to make sure that

uh to the best of our ability Ukraine has everything it needs to be as

successful as possible and continue to push back on the Russian aggression uh to make sure that it has what it needs

if it chooses by necessity to fight through 2025 or uh if there's to be a

negotiation that it can negotiate from a position of strength and so that means making sure that it has uh the weapons

the Munitions Etc that it has the resources the money uh and also that it has mobilized forces uh to deal with the

aggression I appreciate all that my time is limited uh Israel Gaza where are we

on a ceasefire uh it has been 431 days since the horrific Hamas attack 431 days

hostage is still held where are we when will we get them home we want to get them home now yes uh

as we speak there are uh intense efforts underway to see if we can reach finally

a hostage ceasefire deal um again uh it's ongoing that's as much as I can say

right now and I hope that uh humanitarian Aid uh is Flowing more uh fully I appreciate your letter please

see our letter to you again thank you for your service and I yield back thank you yields back chair recognizes Mr

Davidson thank you chairman Mr secretary I want to review a couple dates first on

February 29th 2020 the Trump Administration signed the Doha agreement with the Taliban the agreement promised

a conditions based incremental withdrawal and the Trump Administration delayed that withdrawal precisely

because those conditions were not being met on April 11th 2021 the go to zero

presence in Afghanistan was given by the Biden Administration and that was given um freely by the administration despite

not being in compliance with the Doha agreement your own Deputy assistant secretary Mark Evans testified before

this committee that the decision to go to zero was not contingent upon the Doha agreement secretary one of the dates I

really want to focus on is uh July 8th 2024 um that's the date that the total

withdrawal was finalized by the administration in the date certain it shifted from a conditions base to a date

certain is that correct uh the date the date certain was there I believe starting in April when the president

said we would follow through on the withdrawal that uh the previous administration had agreed to except it

was extended from May 31st to September so it was always always going to be dates certain not conditions based well

the that was what the uh so that's what you look that's what you said so um when

you when you made that decision did the state department block American citizens

from departing from the Airfield in Missi share Afghanistan absolutely not

they didn't who did then who blocked them I'm not aware of blocking any US citizens on the contrary we were doing

everything they were blocked you know they were blocked I'd be happy happy to look at any information you have on that

I'm not aware of any American citizens who were blocked um and in fact we were doing everything possible and by the way

I want to thank you and thank every member who's been involved in this and the work that they did Mr secretary your

state department blocked American citizens and Afghan allies from leaving there I personally worked with your

state department during those days I have the emails I have the photographs of American Blue passport holding

American citizens who were on the Airfield awaiting departure that got clearance for safe third countries to

depart to and the order came down from the United States government was it the state department I'm not aware of any uh

such uh such orders I'm happy to follow up and uh and look at that I'm certainly not aware of it we were doing everything possible last year Francis Hong my

classmate testified before this committee that due to the Fiasco and Cabell many Americans and allies were

forced to conduct a dangerous 400 mile journey to Maui sharief Airbase where they were delayed for weeks Colonel Hong

testified quote that we spent three weeks hiding these nearly 400 people from the Taliban keeping them alive and

fed using funds from American donors all this while the state department delayed and frankly blocked American citizens

from leaving secretary blink and I have communication as I said that show this

happened and you're saying that didn't happen why would we block Americans from

that's the problem I have I had it at the time why and here's the thing Mr secretary information as I was working

with your state department while you were Secretary of State and relaying this information someone said to me

which tail number which tail number you mean there's more than one plane you guys are blocking are you freaking

kidding me and then your state department wanted to deny it and here today you won't even acknowledge the

truth of that it's disgusting to try to blame this on

Donald Trump when we all know there is no way that anyone forced you guys to do

the dumbest thing possible you don't have to AV warn our nation's uniform like I and other people did to know that

first you get the civilians out then the military not the other way around this has to be one of the dumbest most poorly

executed paths to depart any country country possible my only hope is that in

the 11 Embassy evacuations that have happened on your watch and unprecedented

number you've somehow gotten better at it it's appalling to see you sit here

and say oh I express sympathy and yet have never acknowledged the failures or

own the consequences of it in fact to this date the only person that's been fired was a lieutenant colonel in the

Marine Corps who spoke out none of you have been held accountable none of you even express shame or embarrassment have

you learned anything have you learned anything from this we've first of all on the planes just to come back to the

Taliban was blocking planes we work to clear them and I'm happy to go over that with you with your office and also to

see any information you have to make sure that we get to the bottom of what you're saying but we were certainly not in the proc in the business of blocking

Americans we were in the business of getting them appreciate create a position after that to address the problem so you clearly had to be aware

of it you you created a position to facilitate the coordination after after you left them behind of of course we

were determined to get every American who wanted to get out out and that didn't stop on August 31 we got 500

Americans out between then and the end of the year because of that ongoing

commitment thank you chairman uh and thank you secretary blinkin coming before the committee voluntarily and

providing your perspective and um helping address the the questions of the committee uh as you know I served

multiple combat tours in Afghanistan and like the the tens of thousands of Americans that did you know we left

pieces of our heart uh behind in that country uh and even though the military

chapter and the Diplomatic chapter are largely closed although there are still issues that are in America's interest um

you know those of us who served in combat roles with the Afghans um feel a special obligation to

make sure that we are protecting uh those friends and those folks who in many

cases saved Our Lives I mean there's a lot of Americans and I know you know this well secretary we've had these

conversations and I know this is a sentiment that you share very deeply as well I mean these are Fe these are

people who at Great personal risk to them and their families took on jobs

that helped bring Americans home and and the story of that is

not a finished story so with that in mind I would love to hear from you can

you speak to the number of uh currently eligible SIV Afghans who are in that

country how many do we think are still there and what are we doing to help get them out what does the pipeline look

like and what more do we need to do thank you very much and thank you for your uh enduring commitment to this so

we have right now about 63,000 uh SIV applicants who are in the

so-called pre- chief of mission phase that is they've um expressed interest they've started to compile uh the

necessary documentation We Believe based on uh experience that roughly 20% will

uh become fully documented that's 20% of 63,000 there are 54,000 who are actually

at the chief of mission uh phase right now again based on our analysis We

Believe roughly 35% of those will likely be approved because as you know unfortunately many people wash out uh

either because they simply don't qualify or because of documentation issues which

we've tried to remedy uh over the last uh couple of years finally we have right now 10,000 who have chief of mission

approval the only thing they're waiting for is their interview which they need to do out of country of those 10,000

about 9,000 are in Afghanistan we have six flights a week now that are going uh

out of Afghanistan to different places um and so we're working expeditiously to

move people out finish the process with an interview and then get them on uh to the United States that's roughly the the

current population and uh I know these averages change but um can you give me a

snapshot of a typical month how many folks are we getting out of Afghanistan we're working uh to get roughly a

thousand a week okay and at the current rate I I worked with um house leadership to get 12,000 additional visas

authorized earlier this year at the current burn rate when do we run out of authorization and

and I obviously will make a pitch to my colleagues here to join our effort uh to push for 20,000 additional visas in the

next appropriation which we're advoc we need that we will run out of our uh of the allotment we have That's the basis

for our support for getting another 20,000 when when do you think we're going to run out let me come back to you with the exact time based on our most

recent analysis okay um the the last piece is um the state department did a a

pretty extensive and thorough after action review there was a classified version of that a public version of that

I've spent a lot of time reviewing both documents uh and as a result of that I've uh I have introduced legislation

the crisis act to help codify some of the changes can you just tell us very briefly you know what are some of the

reforms and changes you made within the department to you know ensure that the problems and the shortfalls that we

experienced in the withdrawal uh we're learning from those lessons and we're ensuring that uh we're we're fixing

things going forward yeah and very briefly uh and it's much of this is in the uh report including the unclassified

version we now have um a a common operating picture that we didn't have before we're refusing all of the

information that we need in a crisis whether it's cables whether it's open source uh whether it's intelligence um

we now have what we didn't have before which is a modern Operation Center so that we can surge resources stand up a

task force immediately bring in the uh other agencies to do that uh we now have what we didn't have before which is a

streamlined cloud-based system to track all of our engagements with American citizens to make sure we're not

duplicating to make sure that um we're uh in near Real Time Communication uh

with them uh we're working to better uh utilize our own Personnel we stood up a

100 person roster of rapid response Corp people sign up for six months that means

that they're ready on a moment's notice to become part of a a task force they get training throughout that period on

what they'll need to know if there's an emergency we stood that up there I see my time is up I'm happy to go over I'm

just trying to make sure you keep you stay on schedule for your Mr chairman your flight to the Middle East I don't want you to miss that appreciate that

secretary thank you chairman Jone's time has expired Mr Green is recognized thank you Mr chairman uh thank you for your

leadership on investigating this I'm over here secretary thank you um uh this

catastrophic withdrawal and I want to thank you secretary blinkin for attending today u i I'm going to preface

my comments with something very similar to what the the chairman pref prefaced his comments with we worked well

together on nearshoring and stuff like that U getting the Tennessee and out of Venezuela yeah uh Roger Carson's my

classmate did a fantastic job with that but today my comments are going to

be um you as a global war on terror veteran who served in

Afghanistan I want to once again recognize the sacrifice of all the Americans that fought for our country in

Afghanistan I lost friends there uh but those of you who came home your

your service was not in vain those of you who who died there your service was not in vain uh you helped keep our

country safe for two decades and I am grateful for your sacrifice and uh the sacrifices of your

families as a night stalk or flight surgeon and an Army Ranger Infantry officer I remember our most sacred Creed

Leave No Man Behind secretary blinkin you and our commander-in-chief left

people behind you you left those in your care behind you left Americans and our

allies behind your delayed appearance before this committee I think is a is a disgrace to

those Americans who did die in Afghanistan and your decisions or the absence of leadership

on this issue during the withdrawal of 2021 are directly responsible for the

disaster prior to President Biden's goto zero approach the Taliban had ignored us

attempts for a smooth exit and shown themselves totally ignoble negotiators

we knew the dangers and yet as the military withdrew you told us Embassy

cabul to remain furthermore you actually increased Personnel when senior security

advisers and leaders at DOD and Embassy staff said it was time to make a

non-combatant evacuation operation plan an Neo plan you said no instead when the

day came for the embassy to evacuate there was no no plan you left your personnel high and dry to figure it out

on their own in fact you never even issued the Neo as secretary of state

that is your responsibility but instead the NSC had to make that call did you

step in no the NC continued to lead the initial response including

decisionmaking regarding Afghan population eligible for evacuation which

should have been State's responsibility because you weren't at the helm there was little documentation

or communication State Personnel had to rely on spur ofth the moment decision making just to get to the airport and

thousands of evacuees were left in limbo now I also want to share a story I

a conversation I had with the leader of one of our greatest allies Britain I had

a conversation with Boris Johnson six eight months ago was at dinner with him

and I asked him I said hey could you confirm a rumor Mr Prime Minister did you confirm

the rumor that the commander-in-chief of the United States Joe Biden you called

him and asked him to stay an extra five days just five days so that all the

Brits could get out and Boris Johnson told me mar uh you

know chairman green I remember exactly where I was when I made the phone call I asked for five more days and President

Biden told me no this is our greatest Ally on on the planet participating in

the Red Sea with us against the houthis when few others would I pulled wounded British SAS guys

off a Target in Iraq their blood was on my

hands and I'm going to tell you that relationship is I mean it's one of our

greatest if not our greatest and yet we slapped them in the face and said no you don't get five extra days to get your

people out this according to the prime min Minister of England at the time I I just I find that

unconscionable um and Senior leaders at DOD have come here and testified senior

Le leaders at DOD have testified on the Hask and told us we were telling the

state department four five months in this draw down period get your stuff together and they

didn't why uh Mr chairman I hope you give me time to respond because uh I dispute

virtually everything that was said with great respect though for uh the member and particularly uh for his extraordinary service to our country

first uh did we leave people behind no we got them out including after the

deadline of our evacuation uh by the time we got to August 31st uh we had as

I said several hundred Americans who were left who had identified themselves to us as wanting to leave but could not

get to or into the airport I committed to make sure we got them out and between the evacu the end of the evacuation and

the end of the year we got the 500 remaining Americans out who either then or after August 31st identified

themselves as wanting to leave we made good on that commitment um telling the embassy to remain open uh yes we all

wanted the embassy to remain open it was fully our expectation that the Afghan government and the Afghan military would

not collapse it was the desire of Congress to make sure that we remained engaged in Afghanistan including to look

out for our own citizens including to make sure we were doing right by the sivs and it was fully Our intention to

continue to bring them out by keeping the embassy open and as I've said earlier and as many others have

testified no one anticipated the collapse of the forces no one anticipated the collapse of the

government when it comes to the Neo again let me be very clear the state department initiated the Neo we did

that's what the record reflects but this is a collective decision as an as a

instrumental matter the state department initiates it by requesting a DOD the decision to initiate it was a decision

taken by the NC and ultimately by the president not once before we initiated

uh the Neo Did anyone say you need to do this among the principles in the administration it was a collective

decision on the 14th of August those capitals proval capitals started to fall on the 6th and by the 14th we decided

that the Neo was imperative now there's a reason Congressman that it was so important uh that we focus on

this the GH government was pleading with us throughout the summer don't engage in

an evacuation that will uh actually precipitate exactly what we're trying to

prevent which is a collapse of the government a collapse of confidence people fleeing the countries in

uncontrolled ways so that was also part of our our thinking but in terms of preparing yes we started preparing

intensely going back to April multiple exercises with different agencies

tabletop and otherwise planning through different scenarios we had trip wires we had indicators all of which came into

effect we moved the embassy in 48 hours to the airport that wouldn't have happened without a plan we got control of the airport because we had

pre-positioned forces we were able to start moving people out in 72 hours we moved 12 120,000 people out the largest

evacuation in the history of this country Mr secretary I will tell you that the D your DOD colleagues don't

remember it that way and and and I I remember your face when we got that SU secret briefing

during the midst of this during the height of it we all gathered in hvc and I and I'm going to tell you

I I I I just I I I think our our memory here isn't as

accurate as it could be and I I'll just leave it at that Mr chairman I I just I'll never

forget the fear in your face and the

um I just I don't have anything else to say G let me just add I think this is a

very important issue the gentleman raised from Tennessee and I appreciate

your perspective Mr secretary I'll tell you what our investigation revealed that

Ambassador Wilson did not want a Neo in fact he punished his staff for even

mentioning the word Neo and it wasn't you know we got from the dod as you

indicated on August 6 21 that the NSC

said National Security Council said a Neo equates to failure quote unquote

that is what was going on and Neo equates to failure maybe that's because president ganian as you said Mr

secretary but that those are really the facts and only until August 15th the day

that Cabell fell think about that the day that kabble

falls is the the first time that Ambassador Wilson request a Neo and by

that time sir it was too late with that I recognize Miss Comm logger Dev thank

you Mr chair and thank you secretary blinkin for um gracing us with your

presence again um I have actually some questions about the Sudan but because um

uh we have continued to talk about Neo I will also ask a question

um on this so Ambassador Wilson testified to the committee during a transcribed interview about the

specified reasoning for why he called the Neo on August 15 describing the situation that included thousands of TB

Fighters streaming directly into cabul a flow that contradicted orders that we assurances that we had received from the

Talib and orders that we believed had been given for them to stop by Taliban

senior leadership the expected seizure of two prisons later that day in the

release of thousands of inmates T Fighters Isis Fighters common criminals and the abandonment oversight of

checkpoints into and within cabal's green zone that were vital to our security we had been striving to

maintain Embassy operations in accord with the direction given to us this was no longer possible and at that point I

recommended to secretary blinkin our immediate evacuation he agreed and the White House subsequently approved a

non-combatant evacuation the majority has repeatedly pointed to the testimony

of military leaders to argue that the state department waited too long to initiate the Neo but Ambassador Wilson

had a clear rationale for his timing and that calling for the Neo too soon would

have complicated our ability to get out if we had left earlier several thousand

SIV applicants that we got out in whatever the number of days that you want to talk about would not have been

able to leave the country we would not have been able to provide support to American citizens trying to get out our

eyes and ears about what was happening around us would have been drastically

degraded secretary blinkin would you agree that Ambassador Wilson's testimony

reflects a detailed and realistic understanding of the conditions on the ground yes I would thank you what would

have been the repercussions if the state State Department had called a Neo before

conditions on the ground warranted one yeah it would have actually precipitated uh those very conditions and it would

have made it more difficult for us to get people out including American citizens the airport was open until

August the 15th we were trying to Avail ourselves and push people out to take commercial flights it would have made it

much more difficult to get SIV eligible people out of the country other Afghans

at risk all of that uh would have been made more difficult by precipitating the very kind crisis we ultimately saw and

again I come back to a fundamental proposition which is that no one and I say this collectively this is the state

department this is the intelligence Community it's the dod in terms of the consensus view on where this was going

there was no uh consensus view that the government the Afghan forces were going

to elapse our military having worked with them for 20 years believed that they would stay in fight they needed to

have the sustained support to do that General McKenzie has said that including financial and logistic support um we had

no indication that the government would fall the intelligence Community didn't see that we have very remarkable people

at the state department including those who wrote the uh so-called descent Channel cable who were very concerned

about what would happen after we left in terms of the durability of the government I read that cable uh

immediately I responded to it almost immediately and many of the measures that they called for in the cable were

already in train because what they were focused on was trying to make sure that we got uh people out of the country

especially the sivs and as I've T talked about earlier that's exactly what we were doing having taken a program that

was dead in the water revived it and um accelerated it dramatically thank you also for just

even mentioning The Descent cable uh and the fact that regardless of if you agree with them or not there is still a space

for folks within the state department to register discontent I certainly hope that that is a practice that will

continue in this next Administration I would now like to ask in the few moments

that I have left about the war in the Sudan which is a catastrophic humanitarian crisis impacting innocent

civilians I think it is a moral outrage over 150,000 have been killed 11 million

have been displaced the evidence of genocide in darur is significant and I

believe an official genocide determination against the rsf and Allied militia is long overdue why has the

administration refrained from making a genocide determination and do you intend to come to a decision

about a determination before the end of this year first very quickly your your right to put a spotlight on it on on

Sudan is the worst humanitarian situation in the world by far by orders of magnitude uh we're working uh

intensely to try of course to bring an end to it but in the first instance to get assistance to people who desperately

need it we've made some progress on that in the last few weeks with both the saf and to a lesser extent with the rsf uh

but in in terms of uh atrocities uh war crimes genocide we've been making

determinations already uh about atrocities and war crimes we're looking

at the question of genocide whether we complete that review in the time that we have I can't trying to be respectful

times expired let me just if I could comment I mean you did not see it coming I've heard that over and over I perhaps

we were getting different intelligence briefings but uh I certainly saw it

coming in your own employees in the embassy saw it coming when they sent the Descent cable to you a cry for

help that Cobble falling and the embassy will fall soon and I don't know um how

you can say that honestly Sir with a straight face the chair recognizes Mr

heising yet uh thank you Mr chairman and appreciate your work as uh leading this

committee but um secretary blink uh how many US citizens are still in

Afghanistan I can't give you uh an exact number because we never know for uh for sure there are several do you believe

they're all Vol they're voluntary you I you're going to start to say there's several thousand uh no I believe that

the any American citizens who are left there several as you know as noted before who have actually been detained

these are people who went there after the evacuation for one reason or another have been detained by the Taliban we're working every day to get them out are

are you hold on a second are you saying that the only people detained are those who went after the evacuation I'm saying

the ones that we know of who are detained and that were actively working we can clud you in I got to give you

credit you are successful in doing this you have completely pulled me off of what I was going to ask you about much

to my staff and everybody else is Chagrin but the crap that you are throwing out here about this is

unbelievable I will tell you I was in that same briefing when you said that you thought there was quote several

hundred citizens who were staying in Afghanistan voluntarily my caseworker had

185 individuals alone in my district the fourth district of Michigan that were

asking us for help to get out including those who did make it to hkaya and were

beaten by the Taliban and were known by the US troops and the troops that are being shown up here including one of my

constituents who I've referred to as as Jose and Carlos and Juan and various things because I haven't wanted to use

his real name at his request who was blown up and injured and knew every single one of

those uh those Marines and those Navy cormen up there on that screen right now they have not gotten satisfactory

answers and I will tell you secretary blinkin that we have citizens there who are not there

voluntarily and they want to get out and this state department has utterly failed

them failed them Congressman if there are citizens

that youve identified that have been in communication with you and that want to get out please if you haven't already

share that information with us we' shared it we'll share it again and and we'll keep asking and we're happy to sit

down and go through each at sometimes at some point the exercise and futility gets a little frustrating as a member

secretary blinkin when it does not feel like you're answering Mr Green's questions or Mr Warren's questions or

you're going to have a couple of other military folks that who were there had friends there well I had a friend who was in Doha and he's telling me that

there was no damn plan to have all of those planes divert to Doha so they got caught flat-footed

there was no place for them to go it was a bungled bungled bungled uh exit so I

have to hit on a couple of the things that I have here and I'm going to try to truncate this uh recent report by

Inspector General of Afghan uh reconstruction uh John sepco found since August of 2021 implementing partners of

yours uh from the state department have paid at least $1.9 million in US taxpayer funds to the Taliban in form of

taxes fees and duties in fact the cigar noted that while conducting its

investigation your state department repeatedly refused to cooperate they

then requested that the state department attest to and that it had distributed a questionnaire to all the relevant

implementing partners that responses were not altered and that no attempts were made to influence the implementers

responses however at the time the report was published your department refused to

sign the attestation Mr secretary did you instruct your employees to obstruct the

cigar investigation of us tax dollars going to the Taliban and if if and then

since then has that changed uh to the contrary we've done everything possible

to cooperate with seagar 13,000 staff hours dedicated why would the Inspector General say is Inspector General lying

Sear's report of uh I believe uh in 2023 said that the department was cooperating

with uh with sear so so well I

I so I I got to skip all kinds all a whole bunch of stuff I just will say Mr

chairman I've got a bill HR 9503 protecting taxpayer dollars from Taliban Theft Act which makes us policy at tax

dollars US taxpayer dollars do not be paid to the Taliban in form of taxes duties and fees I would I wish I had a

few more M I've got a couple of seconds here I have to hit on this um uh this is about Iran thanks to Congressional

notification we know that on November 8th just days following the Democrats election loss you signed off on a

sanction waiver providing the Tran access to 10 billion doar in funds of Iraqi electricity payments um last dated

December 2023 Congress is aware of two releases of funds for humanitarian purposes to Iran have there been any

other additional transactions since that period so you've been you have been allowing them access to the dollars we

know that there was two that had we were got testimony had problems they asked

for the uh explanation to be in uh uh in behind closed doors there was nothing

that was top secret about that it was just that egg was on their face have there been any more withd draws I assume

you've asked the previous administration about the waivers that it issued oh okay okay complet yes actually we did

actually we did and the explanation of why this Administration allowed Korean funds the funds that were used that were

shipped to Korea that were supposed to stay in Korea why were they shipped to Oman why were they allowed to have given

a treasury license and the state department license oh now you're conflating what had been going on I'm

saying that the waivers that we issued were the same waivers issued they were not absolutely 100% not see this is the

thing a group of us are actually on the financial services committee I'm one of them you you can't throw this crap out

because we actually write the sanctions we actually know what the law is and when you and treasury come in here and

say oh don't worry your pretty little head about all these confusing sanctions things guess what we wrote the damn

things we understand and here you are throwing these load of I wish I could

curse more Mr chairman but I won't this this is so unbelievable I am so glad to

see this Administration and you leaving because you have failed the American people with this with that I'm

and for the record let me say that I personally in the emergency wartime supplemental that dealt with Israel the

deal with Indo Pacific and Ukraine put the sanctions that was waved or not en

forc back into law that would be on energy and on

missiles and drones coming out of Iran funding their Terror operations killing

Israelis and killing ukrainians and sir I have to say I age with my friend here

that uh it's very disappointing that that has not been in and Mr chairman last Administration did not authorize

any releases of those funds this Administration did that's the problem gentleman yields back Mr Schneider is

recognized uh thank you Mr chairman before I start if the secretary wants to address the previous thing at all I

would be interested in your I'm happy to share with the the congressman uh everything we've done we can uh go over

this we don't have time to do it now now I'm happy to do that happy to show you exactly what we've done what we haven't

done happy to get any information that you have to the contrary and work through this all right thank you all right thank

you and let me thank uh the chairman uh chairman McCall and and ranking member

Meeks uh having had the privilege to again wave on this committee for this term it's been an honor working with you

um and and I appreciate that I I want to thank the outgoing Biden Heritage Administration and directly you uh

secretary blinkin for your tireless efforts navigating some of the most critical challenges in recent history I

looked up the definition of the Drake Passage why it's so treacherous and it's un unimpeded currents large waves strong

Waters frequent storms rough and unpredictable Seas you have navigated I think exactly that rough and

unpredictable seeds and as has been said even by the chairman our relationship with NATO our relationships in many

places around the world are stronger uh I also earlier there was talk about uh

President Biden's Legacy Visa uh Vis Israel and I think it is a defining

element fact of the matter is since the invasion by Hamas on October 7th last year President Biden has stood with

Israel longer than any president in United States history ensuring Israel's security and strengthening its position

in a very dangerous n uh neighborhood as you noted he was the only president to visit Israel during a time of War not

just the first but the only he supported Israel in immeasurable ways including sending aircraft care carrier thwarting

not one but two attacks from from Iran and today as we sit here um there are

still talks as a chair of the Abraham Accords there are talks of bringing peace to the region it's putting on a

better course no one has worked harder than I in trying to make sure we get Aid

into and throughout Gaza I hope we can find a path to continue to to move it in a better Direction turning to the topic

at hand um the majority's partisan report recommend in Congress pass legislation require a certain descent

Channel messages be shared with the Secretary of Defense the intelligent Community other relevant agencies and

the chairs and ranking members of the congressional committees Salon akmed the director of policy planning testified

that you personally read every decent cable that comes in and personally clear the response is that correct yes it is

director Ogman also testified about the reaction to The Descent cable quote what I can say is that I think that those who

read it at the time their immediate reaction was there's a lot here I agree with there are a lot of things raising that in here that in fact

we are already working on doing they've added some details that are very helpful so I think it was more a question of

like of like having information that the drafters didn't have in some cases in other cases getting information from the

drafts that was helpful end quote does that testimony comport with your own reaction namely

that The Descent Channel cable pointed to issues that were already under discussion with the Department it does

but I want to underscore how Val valuable it was both in reinforcing some of the things we were doing as well as

appointing some things that we then subsequently pursued yeah and if the cable had been more widely shared do you think it would have changed the outcome

no okay so although you made a single descent cable available to us on this

committee as part of a truly extraordinary I want to emphasize again truly extraordinary accommodation to the

committee's investigation do you think an expectation that descent cable messages

descent Channel messages would be shared widely out inside the department what impact do you think that would have on

the willingness of Department Personnel to utilize The Descent channel in I'm very concerned it would have a chilling effect and it would cause people not to

engage in The Descent Channel which is a deeply honored tradition of the department going back to the Vietnam War

one I take very seriously I read every single descent Channel cable I respond to every descent Channel cable it

informs My Views but people need to know that they can come forward without uh fear or without favor uh and knowing

that this will be shared Beyond uh the secretary and and my immediate office is

something that I fear would have a chilling effect Not only would it possibly chill or make it uh people more

reluctant to share that if you don't get that information what are the implications to what you're trying to achieve the implications are we will not

be as well informed as we need to be uh and it will make our decisions less effective than they otherwise would be

all right um thank you and and you know if I expand this hearing address is one of

the most significant and complex issues in in recent memory and I do want to recognize the families of the gold star

families that are here and all the gold star families of um great Americans who made the ultimate

sacrifice in Afghanistan and and other conflicts uh defending our nation the withdrawal was in no small part shape by

the 2020 Doha agreement that as we have discussed was negotiated not by this Administration but the preceding ad

Administration and handed over by the time you received it the administration Biden Administration

received it what the Taliban had gained significant ground options were limited

the recommit to a conflict without C clear goals or complete to a withdrawal

commit to a complete withdrawal it was an extraordinary achievement more than 124,000 people were airlifted in just 17

days yeah and keeping in time with the other members gentleman's time has expired Mr Mills is recognized thank you

Mr chairman and I want to thank you for your continued leadership throughout this entire time it has been an honor to

serve in this uh committee so I want to continue to thank you for that uh

secretary blinkin are you familiar with USC 22 section 4802 please tell me it's basically your

obligation in order to try and protect and provide security and safety for American citizens now in one of your

statements you said we did not leave Americans behind well see unlike other members on this I actually went overseas

and was conducting rescues of Americans left behind in Afghanistan I actually conducted the very first successful

Overland Rescue of Americans that were left behind which was marryam and her three children these are Amarillo Texas

American Born natives who was at the front gate waving their passport trying

to get inside while we were on the phone myself and Senator Mark Wayne Mullen trying to get your state

department task force to let them inside your telling me you didn't leave

them behind I'm telling you Congressman that we got every American out that we could and when we got the completed the

evacuation I said we're not leaving anyone behind we're keep doing this until we get every American who says

they want to leave and identify themselves to us out and as I you also said though that I'm reclaiming my time

you also told Congressman Davidson that the US government was not blocking

aircraft is that correct I have no knowledge of the US government block my aircraft who had five approved tprs

which are prior permission required Landings to H Kaa to rescue 28 Americans

was denied five times saying that it was at the behest of the Department of

Defense and the Department of State to prevent us from coming in to rescue Americans that was what was told to us

over the radio from the ATC Towers but yet to your knowledge no one was being blocked let

me tell you that is a farce and it's a complete lie I will also tell you that in a Neo state department does not take

ultimate control once it is declared is the Department of Defense who actually supposed to yet your task force still

try to hold operational control which led to a lot of disruption and that has been reported multiple times by

commanders on the ground so I will tell you I'm going to finish sir the other thing is is that in Israel a horrible

incident occurred where 12200 people lost their lives and yet the state department had

done nothing to come in and actually rescue Americans who had Left Behind how

do I know that because the very first rescues conducted was on October 11th from Nazareth tiberias and hia how

do I know it because I was the one who conducted them 32 Americans that day then into the West Bank then into

Jerusalem then out towards glaza I got 255 Americans out by myself before the

state department lifted a finger and did anything to bring a plane in meanwhile other nations were already flying aircraft in and out rescuing their

citizens again another failure of 22 USC 4802 correct I will also it is correct

and the reason I know it's cuz I was there were you there sir I had an enti embassy there you were not let's go ahead and start that there and I've been

there 12 times yeah what how many how many Americans did you rescue sir yeah we've gotten many you personally rescue

sir none correct so don't try and talk to me about ground truth you couldn't even control what was happening in

Afghanistan let's start there the next thing I want to talk about is under your leadership we have allowed Iran the

regime to to grow stronger than it's ever in its life I'll give you some facts here the Energy Information agency

said that Iran petroleum exports in Iran sold $144

billion in the first three years of your Administration now why is that number important well because that is a hundred

billion dollar more than what was permitted in the full two years of the

Trump Administration you talked about we had to go forward with the Doha agreement that that was part of the even

though it was a conditions based agreement you couldn't prevent from pulling out of that but you had no

problem pulling out of remain in Mexico that's led to an increase in sex trafficking fental deaths and illegal

migrants more angel families than ever you had no problem but again you can't pull out of

it and trying to delist the houie rebels from a terrorist organization now has resulted in 12% of global trade through

the Red Sea being disrupted do you agree that dlis the houthis as a terrorist organization was

a good play in terms of making sure that humanitarian assistance could get to the people of Yemen and that the houthis

were designated under multiple so endangering American citizens while now that they're getting increased attacks is a result of your actual failures and

I can tell you with absolute Clarity sir reclaiming my time I can tell you with absolute

Clarity that Hezbollah got stronger while you were in office Hamas was

funded because of your failures to be able to impose necessary sanctions so that the Iranian regime could

I'm still talking Mr secretary you've had your time you've had four years to destroy this nation you and this

Administration I will tell you with absolute certainty sir that America is better off with you not in office that

the Iranian regime will now finally start to weaken with stronger sanctions

and with us being able to do our jobs for the Iranian people who are actually trying to lead a free democracy I can

tell you that Hezbollah Hamas hamas's leadership under sinir would not have been eliminated if they would listened

Israel to what Biden had advised which is ceasefire and stop h no of hezb would

not have been the eliminated if they would listen to your leadership and I can tell you right now that we are better off as a nation we are safer a

nation and our American citizens will be safer with you not sitting in that seat back Mr for your judement I wish you

very good luck Mr C is recognized thank you thank you very much Mr chairman I first of all

like others want to acknowledge the Gold Star Mothers families that are here my

grandmother was a Goldstar mother and uh I have a bit of an understanding of of

of the difficult difficult situation that you've been through and Mr chairman I want to thank you for your tenure as

the chair here I've enjoyed serving with you and working with you Mr secretary

you've done a good job in my opinion uh in the four years that you've been there under difficult challenges we can all

have different perspectives but um uh we're in a simal moment in American and world history I believe and um I want to

talk about that as it relates to uh our efforts with Ukraine Clear and Present

um I know you're doing a lot of things but I think that I want to have some assurance that in the remaining weeks

allow that we do everything possible to move uh the uh necessary military

equipment material and authorizations that Ukraine needs to win this War uh

with that in mind there's a transfer currently and I think you have the information your staff does of a dozen

Blackhawk helicopters from the United States they're waiting approval from the state department to complete this

transfer um I'm going to add up a letter but can you comment on that quickly um

Congressman I can't speak to a specific transfer I can just tell you that we are trying to push out the door everything we possibly can to make sure the

ukrainians have everything they need to deal with the ongoing aggression we continue to do draw Downs um and uh I

signed off on another one as recently as a day ago I can't speak to the specifics but I can tell you we're making sure

that dollar been authorized and appropriated we're using these 12

Blackhawk helicopters they you have the information off on and please do um how

about with other efforts in terms of uh the money that's been appropriated that we ensure that uh Ukraine is in the

strongest possible position it's not clear to me what this next Administration is going to do and I

think that it's incumbent upon on us to set uh to keep our promises and also to maintain that leadership with our NATO

allies yes we're determined to do everything we can and it's fully our intent as I said every dollar that's

been appropriated uh we want to see get out the door um as it relates to

Afghanistan and I was there numerous times uh what would you say to the lessons that have been learned I mean

it's easy to Monday Morning Quarterback this I think and obviously we have people with strong opinions but you

inherited a treaty that had already been signed by the previous administration you talked in your opening comments

about your efforts to try to implement it it clearly didn't go the way uh all

of us wanted it to what are the lessons to have been learned and most important what changes would you make and why I

think their lessons to be learned over the 20 years their lessons to be learned over the year preceding the evacuation there lessons to be learned from the

evacuation itself uh as to the latter uh and actually the the the year preceding

it the report that I commissioned the after action review that I commissioned

looks at least at what the state department could uh and should have done differently and how it could set itself

better up for was the department aware of any Americans in Afghanistan after August 31st who asked for assistance to

depart the country but not had not been previously did so yes we had um about as

I said at the time at that time we there were about 200 or so Americans who had

identified themselves to us and wanted to leave but who either could who couldn't get to the airport or couldn't

get into the airport there were several hundred others who we knew of who did not at that point want to leave because

either they couldn't bring extended family with them or they decided that they wanted to stay after August 31st

the 200 or so who couldn't get to the airport we were able to get out several

hundred others came forward seeing the success of our ongoing efforts to get Americans out and said actually now we

want to leave and between August 31st and December 31st we got another 500 495

I believe American citizens out of Afghanistan because of that enduring commitment to leave no one behind does

it make sense that all Americans you may have heard of subsequent August 31st or 2021 wherever in Afghanistan and then

assumed that you you had been there that the department had known waiting for

your help to get them out prior to that date I'm I'm sorry can you repeat the question I missed the the question I said it does it make sense to uh just to

add up that all the Americans you may have heard subsequently uh prior to the August 31st date were ever in Afghanistan and then

assume that that you knew that they were there and that they were going to have an option and the challenge we the

challenge we've had as you know is that our citizens in any country around the world don't have to tell the government

that they're there they don't have to register with us when they leave the country they don't have to deregister and in Afghanistan we had many thousands

of people who are in effect dual Nationals who were had made their lives in Afghanistan so thank you for your

service thank you for gentl it's all members I'm going to keep a very strict five minute uh rule uh secretary I know

you have a plane to catch to go to the Middle East uh chair recognizes Mr Caine

thank you Mr chairman and I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for your leadership in this Congress as well

as of this committee um Mr secretary you are here with us today to discuss the

Biden administration's failure in the disastrous withdrawal from the after Afghanistan in August of 2021 and your

role in the sad chapter that our country witnessed during President Biden's time

in office and your tenure as Secretary of State our country has seen many International crises that have become

more inflamed this Administration has slow walked critical arms and the

capabilities to Ukraine and has prolonged this war into what will be soon its third year this Administration

is also intentionally delayed vital assistance to Israel and that has eroded confidence around the world about

American continued support for our strongest Ally in the Middle East we need to and in addition you and your

president uh lack of accountability and ownership for withdrawal from Afghanistan is

inexcusable Mr secretary why did you believe that the Taliban would negotiate with the Afghan government despite

President Biden's unconditional surrender on on April 14th

2021 as I said earlier the Taliban had made commitments under Doha we wanted to see them fulfill those commitments

including negotiating with the government on the transition we made every effort diplomatically throughout

that period to hold them to that but it became clear that they wouldn't and it also became clear that when the deadline

expired the deadline negotiated by the previous administration they would go back to attacking our forces attacking

our partners attacking the cities it would have required us to send tens of thousands of American back to Afghanistan that's not a decision the

president to make during that entire time what leverage did the United States have over the Taliban once President

Biden announced that he would abandon our allies no matter what the taliban's violations of Doha agreement would be

again we had a a deadline negotiated by the previous administration and the choice was not between the status quo uh

and ending the war the choice was between ending the war and escalating it because again they would have gone back

to attacking us we had only 2500 forces in Afghanistan at that point we would

have had to have reinforced them dramatically had the Taliban gone back to ATT directly attacking our forces directly attacking our partners going at

Afghanistan cities that was the choice before uh the president do do you agree that your powers sharing agreement

further destabilized and delegitimized the Afghan government I'm sorry Congress can you

repeat that the power power sharing agreement do you do you agree that your power sharing agreement further

destabilized and delegitimized the Afghan government there wasn't a power sharing agreement it was the intent of

the Doha agreement uh that the Taliban negotiate with the government a

ceasefire and a political transition something that they didn't do but that was what was in the Doha agreement that

was the objective it was clear that didn't happen that the Taliban was going to violate and they did the um on May

8th 2021 your state department held a rehearsal of concept drill with the

defense department plan for the withdrawal from Afghanistan and during that meeting the military warned against

keeping Embassy Kabul open your Deputy Brian mcken responded quote we at the

state department have a much higher risk tolerance than you guys Mr secretary it

was you who tasked Mr mcken with puror leading the state Department's neop planning is that correct that I'm I'm

sorry again I had trouble hearing that please repeat that it was during this meeting MH where you were you know you

warned not to keep Embassy Kabul open your Deputy Brian mck responded quote we

at the state department have a much higher risk tolerance than you guys Mr secretary is your who tasked Mr mckin

with purportedly leading the state Department's neop planning is that correct and do you agree with his

assessment I I can't I can't speak to that conversation or to that meeting what I can speak to is the fact that

starting in April we worked on every scenario with our colleagues from DOD we did multiple exercises we planned out

what we would need to do including in the event uh of AO and as I said before the decision to actually initiate the

Neo is a collective decision made through the inter agency process by all of the uh cabinet level members and

ultimately by the by the president the state department technically initiates it uh and it was on August 14th that

everyone agreed that we should initiate the Neo and for reasons that we've discussed uh before um we didn't want to

precipitate a panic we all we n no one believed that or the the government and Military would collapse we wanted to

sustain our diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan respectfully your decision to keep US Embassy cover will open

against military advice put people's lives at risk and and people were killed

and I wanted also express my sympathy it was a colle my SYM the families of the

13 uh service members who who were killed uh at at Abby gate who I know

many of the golds St our families are here today thank you Mr chairman I yield Back My

Time gentleman yields chair recognizes Mr rmo thank you Mr chairman and uh I

certainly want to thank you for your leadership as I've started my time in Congress on this committee and I

certainly look forward to working with you in other ways in the future um I certainly also want to recognize the

gold star families uh adding to the comments of my colleagues we are grateful to you thank you secretary

blinkin for being here today uh and thank thank you for your extensive cooperation uh with our committee's

oversight of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan over the past three years your state department

provided thousands of pages of documents and facilitated countless interviews with many career and political officials

I understand this is one of many appearances that you've had on this topic before our committee and you know

I can relate despite only being in Congress uh for just over a year this is my third hearing on Afghanistan in this

committee uh unfortunately for my friends on the other side of the aisle uh the quantity

of these hearings is not really correlated with the quality of them uh their so-called investigation

selectively airbrush the full picture of what happened in Afghanistan the report

ignores any of the actions that Donald Trump took to negotiate the withdrawal the report claims we abandon our allies

but fails to mention how Trump uh folks left behind a backlog of more than

177,000 applications made by our Afghan allies for special immigrant visas a

backlog that forced President Biden's Administration to speed up Visa processing bring in temporary help and

work around the clock to protect our allies during the withdrawal of all the

errors in this flawed report its worsen is that it refuses to let facts get in the way of a good story the report

repeatedly claims the state department waited too long to initiate the US non-combat an evacuation operation but

the US ambassador to Afghanistan at the time Ross Wilson has testified that initiating this evacuation operation too

soon quote would have complicated our ability to get out if we had left earlier several thousand SIV applicants

that we got out would not have been able to leave the country we would have not been able to provide support to American

citizens trying to get out our eyes and ears about what was happening around us

would have been drastically degraded unquote secretary blinkin do you agree that Ambassador Wilson's testimony

reflects the conditions on the ground at the time and after you initiated the non-combatant evacuation operation were

there any additional steps that you personally took to ensure that our personnel and allies had the help and

resources they needed yes thank you I agree with Ambassador Wilson's assessment and once the uh evacuation

was underway the Neo was underway we surged resources to the Embassy including dozens of Consular officers to

make sure that we could uh process anyone getting to and into the airport American citizens and others eligible to

come to the United States and I have to tell you Congressman I have immense pride in the people of my department I

had hundreds raise their hand and volunteer including dozens who ran into

the burning building of hkaya uh airport during the evacuation uh to look out for

their fellow citizens to look out for our Afghan Partners uh and to do everything possible to to bring them out

of Harm's Way yeah well secretary I'm grateful for your leadership and I

frankly just wanted to give you an opportunity uh to correct the record on any claims uh that we've heard today uh

and really just you know communicate uh some lasting thoughts about this as you

uh depart the state department look all I can say is we don't have uh time to go through everything I think we've

addressed a number of these uh questions throughout this uh this hearing um and I'm always happy to pursue these

conversations I just hope that somehow we can find ways to work effectively

together to shed more light than heat on these very difficult issues I think

that's the spirit in which we should approach things and for my part I've been determined to learn the lessons

from this experience not only to learn them but to act on them and we've made the state department stronger and better

able to respond to crisis than it was when we found it or it was during the Afghan uh evacuation uh and I think that

spirit is the one that I would hope would apply to everything we do um I've

uh worked so well with so many members of this committee on both sides of the aisle I hope that that continues even in

places where we have deep disagreements uh we can uh question each other's uh

judgments that's totally appropriate I hope that we can get out of the business of questioning each other's motives

thank you Mr secretary and with that I yield back gentleman's time has expired I recognize Mr Lawler from New York

thank you Mr chairman Mr secretary have you read this report in full I have read

the executive uh summary of the report I haven't read the entire report yet read the executive summary I hope that you

will take this copy with you on your flight to the Middle East and read it because this is your

legacy this is your legacy starting with the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan that resulted

in the death of 13 US service members creating 13 gold star

families families our vice president hasn't even been bothered to meet

with then the Russian invasion of Ukraine the terrorist attack on

Israel the illicit oil trade between China and Iran to the tune of $200

billion do under your watch that that is what is funding Hamas

Hezbollah the houthis and other Terror networks in the

region China threatening Taiwan this is your legacy and this

stems from this disastrous withdrawal so I hope you read the report

in full and reflect upon that you talk about the Doha agreement it's condition

based this administration had no problem

reversing policy decisions that it disagreed with President Trump on in

fact Joe Biden revoked 94 executive

orders to open up our Southern border and create an absolute

Calamity 70,000 Americans die every year from fentanyl

overdose as this Administration has has allowed fentanyl to pour into our country drug

trafficking gangs human trafficking women and children being sold into

prostitution not a care in the world this is the

Legacy so don't sit here and tell us having not read the report that you

disagree with it or it's not true saying to my colleague from Florida oh it's not

true we left people in Israel at after October 7th it most certainly

is I had constituents calling in a full-fledged

panic and we called the state department and we told there is nothing we can

do don't tell us that that didn't

happen this administration had no problem trying to

renegotiate the Iran new nuclear deal no problem lifting sanctions on

Iran allowing for the illicit oil trade So when you say that the previous

administration negotiated the Doha agreement and therefore we were Bound by

it that is complete and utter and you know

it you absolutely had the ability based on the

conditions on the ground to keep our troops there to

ensure the safety and well-being of American

citizens and to make sure what happened did

not Mr secretary on August 26 2021 who was the president of the United

States Joe Biden on August 6 2021 who was the Secretary of State I was okay

take responsibility don't Sherk in your responsibilities don't try to shift

blame the reality is you guys allowed the conditions on the ground to

deteriorate you did not hold the Taliban to account and as a result 13 US service

members are dead and the world is a Tinder Box we

are in the most precarious place since the leadup to World War II that is your

legacy period full stop and if Israel listened to this

Administration and didn't go into Gaza and didn't go into the

South sinir would still be alive and if Israel listened to this administra

nzala would still be alive and Assad would still be in power in

Syria and Iran would be stronger than ever that is your legacy this Congress

has passed the ship Act and the Abraham Accord special Envoy you didn't fill the

special Envoy and you didn't enforce the ship act you've had over a year to do

both that is your legacy you leave the world worse off today than it was when

you inherited it gentleman's time has expired recognize enjoy reading this this is your

legacy thank you I have a very different Legacy one that I'll be happy to reflect on I won't have the time to do it today

because of course you don't provide any time to do it it's it's very nice to make a speech leave me no time to

respond Mr chair thank you Mr chair secretary blinkin um let me just

say that hearing ings such as this one probably will Aid you in getting over uh

this job very quickly um I do think that you have served commendably I think also

that you have panded um an unprecedented set of world

affairs and that you've handled them very well and I thank you for that um I

too along with so many of my colleagues want to express um my tribute and my

thanks to our gold star families and of course to our service members who lost

their lives in all of Afghanistan's War not just on the day that we

withdrew um but that's really the at the heart of what we're discussing today Americans who wore our country's uniform

those who were injured those who lost their lives and of course their families that served alongside them um and I do

so wish I say to all the families that your loved ones had not been there on

that day um I personally feel strongly that we should not have been in that war

at that time and I'm sorry for your losses and that that happened um

secretary blinken um I do want to ask you the same question I asked Ambassador

alizad when he testified here a few months ago because I think it really gets to the underlying reality of why

we're here today why over the course of 20 years in Afghanistan did administrations of both

parties fail to correctly assess the level of dedication and cohesion of the Afghan forces and their political

leadership I think that's a critical question I hope that the bipartisan

commission that is looking into the 20 years of Afghanistan gets it exactly that and as someone who served in

several of those administrations um I also take responsibility for for that that we did

not um I think see with with Clarity uh the not only the durability of the

Afghan government the Afghan Security Forces but see with Clarity how

difficult if not impossible it would be for us from the outside to somehow build

a cohesive um country and society and that is something that uh you said took

place over multiple administrations and I think that is a critical question that we get a better understanding of and I'm

My Hope Is that the commission will look into that well thank you I hope so too you know I have grave concerns about the

politization of intelligence um that somehow seems to fit a predesigned agenda over several

decades of US military involvement that is by no means any kind of critique of

our troops ever it's the people who are making decisions at a much higher level

and I worry that we have a cherry-picking of intelligence and data um that and I hope that's something that

the commission will also look at because I think it's vital to make sure that we don't end up in any more forever Wars um

how do you account and I know we're running out of time but um are you can

you comment on the intelligence failures in specific to Afghanistan look

I think this is this is collective which is to say the state department had

knowledge and perspective on this the defense department having worked with the Afghan military for 20 years had

perspective of knowledge and of course the intelligence community did so the judgments that we we we reached I would

say were were Collective judgments and as I said before and we've said

repeatedly um as a as we looked at the preponderance of of of views

there was not no one anticipated the collapse of the government the collapse of the Afghan forces uh when it happened

as quickly as it happened can I just stop you real quickly because I wanted to ask you were you personally surprised by president gan's decision to flee I

was because I think as I I mentioned earlier I was on the phone with him late at night on the 14th of August um and he

told me we were we were working on trying to get an agreement to move

forward between the Taliban and the government to negotiate some kind of transitional government as a way of

averting uh all of this and moving Afghanistan to a better place uh he told

me that he would was determined to try to do that but if the Taliban refused he

was going to stay and fight that was on August 14th he was gone on August

15th well thank you I I do hope we as a country learn from this experience there

is obviously a great deal of information to be gathered and hopefully will be gathered in a nonpartisan or a

bipartisan manner so that we can learn in the future thank you Mr chairman I yield back the gentle lady yields I recognize

myself for five minutes um you've mentioned probably five times today the

fact that uh your Intel failure to know what was going to happen there's an old

book you need to read it's called group think it examines disasters exam L like

this uh in the past probably is worthwhile reading because that's what happened uh group thing

now those of us on this committee who served in

Afghanistan and Iraq understand that evil still stalks

the world we saw it and many of my

colleagues on this committee served far deeper into

Afghanistan and Iraq than I did but evil still stalks the world and I've also

heard you say several times here about humanitarian assistance uh there is an

old military political concept that says military use is a failure of diplomacy

it's the last Bastion of it well as expected Mr secretary uh this has been

an interesting back and forth as I knew it would be and since I'm uh fairly low on the totem pole here uh We've Cloud

that ground well I want to talk about the consequences of this in the world

following uh the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan I think one of my colleagues on the other side of the

aisle talked about repercussions there have been many I'll just mention two uh

following this botched withdrawal and the Taliban takeover our adversaries

have been on the March around the world encouraged by this error this strategic error words failed to capture the

magnitude of the consequences that have been suffered across the globe uh because of this uh withdrawal yet

according to President Biden himself the emergency evacuation that cost 13 American Service members lives left

behind seven billion at the low end of military equipment was an extraordinary

success yet our perceived weakness following Afghanistan I think it was two months uh later Putin started moving

troops toward Ukraine also said set the scene for the horrific attacks on October 7th Hamas terrorists and thugs

obviously invaded uh Israel in unprovoked assault that left uh Israeli

men women and children dead wounded and hostage and Americans as well I might

add that was a critical unforced error by Hamas since that day Iranian hemony

has faltered Hamas has lost its leaders and uncontested control over Gaza while

hezbollah's senior leadership has been eradicated setting their ambition back for decades and I will stop here and say

that both unra and unifil did not do their job in Gaza and in southern

Lebanon um to disastrous consequences We Now find ourselves in

the midst of a yet another serious issue which is Syria the fall of Bashar

el-assad both Russia and Iran have lost leverage in the Middle East and while it's good that his reign of terror is

over gassing torturing slaughtering thousands there's still looming questions like who's keeping the lights

on in Syria today and who's going to control the levers of government in

tomorrow amid the chaos our steadfast Ally Israel remains strong they have

significantly weakened Hamas and Hezbollah directly diminishing Iran's

influence in this region with without Israel's hootspa and determination the

threats to the United States in the Middle East would be far greater Israel over the past few days

has done the necessary work of destroying the military power of rump Syria so whoever does emerge to rule

Syria cannot threaten Israel according to the White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby it is an

open question who is currently running Syria yes uh I and Russia have failed

but I am have lost influence in the area but I am very U eager for the leadership

of the incoming National Security adviser Mike Waltz and I want to make sure that's Mike Waltz the incoming

National Security adviser not our recently failed vice president candidate so couple of questions for you first of

all Mr secretary are you confident that the leader of HTS will be able to will be able to keep his word to protect

Christians and Islamic women in rump Syria uh Mr chairman I'm not confident

I'm encouraged by the fact that they've said the right thing but what we have to focus on is whether they do the right

thing including protecting minorities the second question is do you expect Syria to uh descend into a terrorist

Enclave uh we certainly need to do everything possible to avoid that um and

the coming days uh the coming weeks will be critical uh to that that's why and by

the way uh I very much appreciate you keeping this hearing on time along with chairman McCall um I need to leave to

get on a plane to go to the region to see King Abdullah of Jordan uh and I'm

appreciate that there's some other members here who've not yet had a chance to ask questions I'm happy to take those questions uh record and get back to you

quickly Mr secretary I yield back to the chairman and he will recess

this thank you sir chair recogniz is Mr M Witch uh Mr chairman thank you I I I'll

be quick uh Mr first let me thank the the chairman uh chairman McCall for his

bipartisan work on this committee this has been one of those bright spots of of

this Congress I want to thank you Mr secretary for for your sacrifice uh and your service to the

country these jobs uh are uh unforgiving uh and have deep impacts on

everybody's individual families and so I want to thank you for your service I want to thank the Gold Star Family for

being here and and like I have before apologized to them for what happened to

their loved ones in Afghanistan I I'm not going to go into all the stuff that's been said by 30 people but I do

want to say this Mr chairman you know the the official Twitter account of this

committee put out a tweet at 11:27 and it says at this committee's

final hearing this Congress we brought in Secretary blinkin to testify on the disastrous Biden Harris withdrawal from

Afghanistan after months of stonewalling sadly many of the democratic seats are

empty at this important hearing I I don't know what inter put this out but

it is misinformation and it is literally a lie first of all you look at the picture

half the seats on that side of the aisle are empty and I'm not blaming them that's how these committees work we all know this people come in and out of

these hearing rooms but let me give you the numbers 20 of the 23 Democrats on this committee were here today 23 of the

28 Republicans we're here today of the ones that were here 17 Democrats ask

questions 17 Republicans ask questions so the official account of this

committee is making it appear that we don't care about what happened in Afghanistan it is not

true and that tweet should come down because while our enemies are trying to divide us abroad in social media we're

just giving them a gift by saying hey half the party half the country doesn't care there were major mistakes made in

Afghanistan I've said that in previous hearings so I appreciate everyone going on their

soap boox about morality and truth and facts and trying to hold the secretary

to that high standard but then we got to do it ourselves in this committee Mr secretary a lot of things were said I

know you have to leave I just wanted to give you the balance of my time to close about your

legacy thank you look I have to leave it to others to make those judgments but from my perspective

um we have worked from day one to

re-engage re-energize and even reimagine our alliances and Partnerships around the

world we've done just that and as a result we are in a much stronger position than we were to deal with a

multiplicity of challenges uh more more complicated than at any time in the 32

years that I've been engaged in this work we demonstrated that with the work

of bringing more than 50 countries together in support of Ukraine as it dealt with the Russian aggression we've

demonstrated that in building extraordinary convergence that we've never seen before in terms of purpose and action when it comes to dealing with

the challenges posed by China among European allies and partners and among partners and allies in the indopacific

and Beyond we've seen that in bringing countries together to tackle everything

from covid to fentanyl to food security uh across the board

that's a result of our engagement of our diplomacy of bringing countries together

in common purpose and in ways that Advance the national interest that's how I've seen it others

can make are free to make their own judgments uh about it uh but I think in doing that one of the sources of our

strength and success is the ability to work closely with Congress we're

stronger at home because we've made remarkable investments in things like infrastructure the chips and science act

uh the IRA that goes directly to our strength abroad other countries see that

they see that we've reinvested in our own competitiveness they want to work with us they want to engage with us they

want to partner with us and because we've been so attentive to our alliances and Partnerships we now have countries

that uh before were looking to do things on their own without us that are now

United with us in common purpose uh that doesn't just happen it happens because

we have extraordinary men and women at the state department among other places who are out there every single day

building those alliances building those Partnerships and then using them when we need to to deal with challenges like

Russia and Ukraine like China uh like so many of the other challenges we face around the

world thank you thank you I yeld the balance of my time back Mr chairman gent y's chair recognizes Mr McCormick thank

you Mr chair and thank you for being here Mr secretary uh I know that your main

responsibility as a secretary is to execute the president's foreign

policy as an Afghan veteran and as a guy who's got tons of friends that served over there even longer than I did years

away from their family uh the guys who lost their limbs uh the families who sacrificed the people who lost their

lives my my hat's always off for those uh families who are gold stars and even

the families who just served and uh made that sacrifice away from their families I I really have great respect uh I know

we're here there for about 20 years in Afghanistan so you can't take responsibility for 20 years but you could take responsibility for those four

years uh I know that we spent about two trillion of that dollars a lot of that wasn't on your watch uh that's also a

lesson learned that we we had to live with I know 2,462 lives roughly passed

because of that war uh that we sacrifice as Americans but most of those not on your watch uh what I do want to hold you and

and our leadership accountable for is is the stuff we left behind very specifically uh yesterday I had the

ambassador of Pakistan in my in my office and we were talking about terrorism in his nation and how we create stability in that region I'm

foreign affairs guy who that's my region and uh they had over 600 terrorist

attacks in their Nation last year and I was like why why so many he said because a lot of the weapons that we left behind

in Afghanistan are now being used for attacks in Pakistan and other areas around there

um and as Munitions we we left behind uh I personally thought it was a horrible

withdrawal I've talked to mil I've already had you know a breakdown he he went down and step by step went through

the process of the withdrawal um but quite frankly it wasn't just the $4

billion dollar of our troop supplies that we left behind but the 90 billion that we had given to the afghanis That

Was Then used now to sustain their country and the evil empire that's basically spreading terrorist is M

throughout the region um I don't really accept the the premise that they're not

harboring bad guys I know we have terrorist cells there I know that they're training we we've been briefed on that uh we don't need to get into

specifics but I quite frankly think in a in a real sort of way the the the

equivalent of me of of equipment that we left over there which is probably similar to what we just gave to Ukraine

in Aid and to fight a first world Army the Russians is now being used to spread

terrorism throughout the world and that's on us the United States is literally sponsoring terrorism around the world

using the weapons that we gave to them we didn't hold accountable for and one thing we learned in the military whether

it was 16 years in wrinkle or four years in the Navy or or training with the Army accountability is our first step we we

take responsibility for what we do uh how would you answer to that so uh two

things Congressman I appreciate very much appreciate the question um first the weapons you're referring to

built up over 20 years the hard reality is that in order to

avoid extending the war escalating the war sending tens of thousands of Americans back into Afghanistan would

have been impossible to with take out all of those all of those weapons all of

that equipment much of it uh was dismantled or otherwise made inoperative

much of it that remained um is almost certainly iner operative because it had to be maintained and they don't have the

capacity to maintain it but I grant you there are no doubt some number of uh weapons are equipment that yes are being

used by the regime but the Taliban government itself is not in the business

of for all of the horrific things that it's doing inside Afghanistan to its people is not in the business of

exporting terrorism uh In This Moment uh and that at least is a is a good thing

uh and so I don't see this equipment such as it is being used for that purpose it is very regrettable that

equipment was left behind but I think it's a reality of 20 years trillions of dollars of equipment to the so I I would

disagree with one premise and this this where I think the Crux this is use because I want to learn from this we

should never set a date or time to be political about anything we do this is about the survival of our troops what's

best for our investment return on investment and I think we got locked into a date if I could learn anything

from this we got locked into AE let us make some really bad decisions planning wise that left a lot of equipment behind

and and quite frankly when I was there we had fewer people there then we have Spain we never fought a war in Spain and

we're so in a hurry to to say I want this feather in my cap that I got out of Afghanistan that we forgot to do it

right when you forget to do it right shame on us and I think we should never be locked into a date or a time or a

situation where we're not in control because we are the biggest baddest country on the planet and shame us shame

on us for not doing it right because I think that cost us a lot of reputation that you gentlemen's time has expired

we're going to try to keep this brief I know the secretary uh has to go the Middle East to meet with the King of

Jordan Mr Moran from Texas recognized thank you Mr chairman uh Mr secretary thanks for being here today I want to

start where Mr moscowitz left off just a second ago speaking about the withdrawal he said and I quote there were major

mistakes made in Afghanistan first of all do you agree with that statement by Mr MTZ I do uh could you specify the

mistakes that you believe were made in the withdrawal from Afghanistan yeah I think the uh most fundamental mistake

was again not recognizing that the the fragility of the Afghan government the

Afghan security forces and not uh anticipating across the government and I

take responsibility for this along with uh the other Departments of government in recognizing that uh there was uh

potential more than the potential likelihood of uh very quick Collapse by both the government and the security

forces how would you advise a president in the future under similar circumstances to do something different

what would what different advice would you give to him or her I think we have to do what we did but obviously we

didn't see this piece of it which is to continuously question the the assumptions uh to continuously prod and

push on any assumptions including about the durability of a government uh or the

military forces do you think it was a mistake to withdraw even though the conditions preceding in the Doha agreement had not been met by the uh by

the factions in Afghanistan I do not I believe it was the right thing to do to end America's longest war uh I believe

that our country is actually better for it stronger for it I believe our adversaries have seen that we were not

going to get bogged down into another decade of war in Afghanistan and that has been a good thing and again I just

remind you that the the basic choice to the extent there was a choice was

between ending uh the war and leaving or escalating it because part of the Doha

agreement was a commitment by the Taliban not to attack our forces between the time the agreement was signed and

the withdrawal date that was set in the Doha agreement was reached once that was breached they would go back to attacking

us they would our partners our military determined we would have to send tens of thousands of forces back to Afghanistan

I think I heard you say earlier that you didn't think there was a connection between between the bot to withdrawal and the aggression the increasing

aggression by Russia as against Ukraine earlier did I hear you correctly say that that's correct when when the uh

withdraw occurred former US ambassador to Nato Evo doder warned a few days after President Biden's unconditional

surrender to the Taliban that quote Moscow and Beijing will look closely at how we react in one situation to set the

stage for the other so do you did you disagree with that then or do you disagree with that now so what we saw

first of all is that of course Russia had massed all of these forces well before our with uh the withdrawal or the

decision actually to go forward with it we saw that take place in the spring second Russia has a long experience with

Afghanistan it probably knows better than anyone uh the Folly of getting bogged down uh in that country H and

what we've seen since is the United States marshing more than 50 countries coming to the defense of Ukraine and

doing tremendous damage to Russia's efforts in Ukraine let's look at what the the Chinese said about this on the

second anniversary of the withdrawal Chinese foreign Ministry spokesman Wang WN Benin said quote on this date two

years ago the whole world witnessed the quote Cabo moment when the H us hastily withdrew its troops from Afghanistan

what happened in Afghanistan marked a military political and counter ter terrorism failure of the US in

Afghanistan that's a quote by a Chinese government official do you think that our withdrawal from Afghanistan in the

way that we handled it precipitated additional aggression by the China towards Taiwan I don't in fact we've

seen this build up for more than a decade and again as I as I said earlier in 2008 we had 200,000 troops between

Afghanistan and Iraq that's when the Russians invaded Georgia in 2014 we still had 12,000 troops in Afghanistan

that's when the Russians first invaded Ukraine these decisions are made for their own reasons uh and with Russia and

Ukraine or with China and Taiwan this long predated any things we decided or

did in I want to ask real quickly as my time expires about uh before and after our withdrawal so if we're looking

before and after the with withdraw do you think that the situation in Afghanistan is better inside Afghanistan

today or before withdrawal as it relates to number one the Safety and Security of women and young girls I think the

situation is worse for women and young girls there's no question about that what about the access and opportunity for education for women and young girls

today or or before withdrawal worse no and the opportunities to enter the workforce for women today or before

withdrawal worse do you think a lead behind Force even a small Force may have created stability in the region or would

that was not the choice the choice was not leaving 200 people there the choice was whether we were going to send tens

of thousands of Americans back uh indefinitely with no guarantee of better results it's also important to remember

that by December 2020 the Taliban either controlled or contested territory that

had 75% of the population of Afghanistan life for them then including women and girls was not good but I agree with you

it's gotten worse do you agree we need to to take additional steps to protect the lives of women and young girls in

Afghanistan yeah we're I I agree we need to maximize every effort to do that chair recognizes Mr moing Mr

chairman I'm very sorry uh to interrupt but um as we as we said before this hearing I had a hard stop at 2 o'clock

if we keep this limited we have Mr Mo Mr I'm happy to take I I very much respect

the members and their questions I'm happy to take the questions and respond within the next week why don't we uh ask

both of you I want to give you the opportunity ask one question one question uh thank you Mr secretary thank

you Mr chairman General Miller the was our last commander of US forces in Afghanistan Mr

secretary and he came before this committee and the important thing that

General Miller wanted to relay to us was about the characterization of

your state Department's attitude toward the military Mr Secretary General Miller was saying to

this committee that there was this assumption the state Department's

assumption that we don't need the military it was the state Department's

assumption according to General Miller that why don't you know this General you're withdrawing why don't you get out

of here all of you just go

away that's General Miller our last commander of US forces in Afghanistan

what he felt important to share with this committee Mr secretary in institutions like the state

department your state department such attitudes often come

from the top I'm an army officer myself and it's all up to the

leadership so is it your assumption sir did you

assume to your state department that your Embassy in Afghanistan and did not need the

military absolutely not uh and on the contrary Congressman first of all I have tremendous respect for General Miller

everything he's done everything he's put at risk himself second I've had the

incredible honor of serving this country in various capacities State Department White House National Security Council

for the better part of 30 years now and throughout those 30 years one of the things I take the most pride and

pleasure in is the work that I've been able to do with our military um I I

understand that Mr secretary my department um in my time uh certainly in

terms of my my own uh instructions to them has been uh has done nothing short

of do everything possible to strengthen and continue this essential

collaboration we can't do our job the United States military I take back my time and in this case Mr secretary I

understand what you're saying here now but the generals of Miller our last commander of US forces this is what he

had to say to us and sir you may be saying this now but however the example

that your employees understood is different than from what you're telling me it's as if there was an absence of

leadership that put the state department of employees in America and America at

risk I'm sorry to say Sir that this type of attitude that your state department has had

regarding I would ask the gentleman to please expedite the question yes sir Mr chairman B basically sir it it didn't

work out according to General Miller our last commander of US forces thank you Mr

chairman now y back Jo Ys chair recognizes Mr van Orton thank you Mr chairman thank you for having me on your

committee and thank you for your leadership throughout the years uh Mr secretary thanks for coming here I'm I'm

just going to establish some Bona fees I'm going to ask you couple quick series of questions and then I'm going to actually give you the chance sir to uh

make sure that you could leave with your last hearing by doing something good for

your legacy um I i' have served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq including

one where I held one of my friends hands as he was dying listening to his wife crying through a satellite phone into

his ear because she knew she would never see her husband again and the gold star families here have my greatest sympathy

and we owe you a debt does not go away it's not a mortgage it's not a 30-year commitment it's forever um I'm the

longest serving and listed member of the United States military to ever be elected to congress in the history of our nation I was responsible for writing

contingency plans for the entire continent of Europe and making sure that they worked um so with that said I mean

I want you to know that because a lot of the stuff that you said um to my colleagues is either not true and that's either on purpose or due to incompetence

I would encourage you to hand to your successor uh joint publication three Tac 68 and have them open up to chapter CH 5

page 1 paragraph C because what you told these guys about who can do this um is just not true um so you said that there

was a plan when was it written okay you're referring to the to the the plan through the course of the

spring okay through the course of the spring that should have but that should have been done years before um when when

was it rehearsed can I can I add to that I'm sorry uh Congressman just to be very precise we have a team of people that go

to Every Embassy especially embassies are concerned every year including Afghanistan I know sir I participated in those teams

so um did it include removing the military and leaving civilians to fend

for themselves against terrorists and then reinserting the military in a panic to help rescue the Americans that you

abandoned in Afghanistan was that an Annex on the plan it was based on the premise that it wasn't government coll

did it include flying over 170,000 unvetted Afghans and distributed

them throughout the country including the 13,000 that you sent to my district in Fort MCO

Wisconsin no okay um where are those Afghans by the

way we don't know and and I was just giving this not what you just testified under oath is not true uh the Ambassador

who led the NATO excuse me led the Neo said they weren't operating on a plan so

you just lied on under oath that is not true okay did your plan include intentionally abandoning abandoning

American citizens and greed card holders to terrorists in Afghanistan of course not did it include unintentionally

abandoning abandoning American citizens and green card holders to terrorists in

Afghanistan no of course not well it happened didn't it were American citizens and green card

holders left in Afghanistan the answer to that is correct how many you can't tell

me you know Hey listen man I I forgot to mention that like my colleague Corey I

was one of the guys who went to go rescue American citizens so I know you couldn't tell me we knew and you either

didn't know or you lied and here is my question you're the Secretary of State

now can you with secretary Marcus Grant a green

card to someone who can absolutely 100% be verified for saving hundreds and

hundreds of American Service members and risking his life for over a DEC decade who is currently here under humanitarian

parole can you guys do that I would be happy to work with you on that his name is alula aiz happy happy to receive that

with you com thank you very much sir and I tell you right now you get this done it is going to go uh it's going to be

one of the best things you could possibly do to redeem your reputation

and your legacy as Secretary of State and with that I yield back Joan yields let me just say Thank you Mr secretary

for being here I want to thank you for your service as well um I think you'll be pleased to know this will be the last

time you'll appear before this committee as secary state and me as chairman um

and there's been a lot of talk about Legacy I know we've been working on legislation together uh called the

overseas crisis response implementation system and immediate strategy act or

overseas crisis I hope that could be part of your legacy and mine as we close

the chapter on Afghanistan uh sir and I wish you God's feed to the Middle East um and again

thank you for your service pursuing to committee rules all members may have five days to submit questions without

objection the committee stands adjourned

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genocide your legacy is genocide is no you're a war criminal Blinn you're killing thousands and thousands of

Palestinians how dare you something about genocide is happing because of you

your legacy genocide sh

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being

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