U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (right) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testify during a hearing before Senate Armed Services Committee at Dirksen Senate Office Building September 28, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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UPDATED 12:41 PM PT – Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Top military officials testified on the Afghanistan troop withdrawal. On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he said the Biden administration was still working to get Americans out of Afghanistan.
Austin estimated around 100 Americans who have wanted to to leave Afghanistan were still in the country. However, he added the numbers fluctuated daily.
The Biden administration has failed us time and time again. The botched operation in Afghanistan is a new low. pic.twitter.com/rnjTAR6Px8
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) September 28, 2021
Speaking on the fall of the nation, Austin noted the administration did not plan for the Afghan government collapse in 11 days. He also admitted the administration did not have a full grasp of a number of factors regarding Afghanistan.
“We need to consider some uncomfortable truths that we didn’t fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in senior ranks, that we didn’t grasp the damaging effect of frequent and unexplained rotations by President Ghani of his commanders,” he explained. “We didn’t anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that the Taliban commanders struck with local leaders in the wake of the Doha Agreement and that the Doha Agreement itself had a demoralizing effect on Afghan soldiers.”
Austin went on to say, “we helped build a state, but we cannot forge a nation.” He added to claim as such would be a dishonesty.
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