troops in afghanistan. in the coming months we will withdraw our troops responsibly, deliberately, and safely with nato allies and operational partners. we have made it clear to the taliban if they attack us as we draw down, we will defend ourselves forcefully. we will reconfigure our counterterrorism capabilities to ensure our ability to monitor and address terrorism threats emanating from afghanistan. we will maintain assets in the region and will continue to work closely with afghan security forces and regional partners. we will hold the taliban accountable to their commitments to prevent al qaeda or any other terrorist group from using afghanistan as a base for attacks against us. if the terrorist threat emerges, we will be ready. even as we withdraw our military forces we will continue our diplomatic support for the peace process and urge all party, afghans and international stakeholders, to remain focused on securing a political settlement and permanent cease-fire. it is time for all concerned to aban

powers have an interest in afghanistan and perhaps influence with different groups in afghanistan, none of them have interest in civil war that could produce refugees flooding into other countries, extremism and terrorism directed potentially at other countries, drug trafficking spilling out even more, the consequences of that future are literally in no one's interest so that's one. second, as i said before, the taliban says it wants certain things putting international regulation, including international support for afghanistan, including the ability for leaders to travel freely and if it were to provoke civil war, none of those things would be possible so i think there are lots of things arguing against that and again, as i said a couple of times already, this is a very different country and it was 20 years ago so our focus is working to advance the prospects for clinical settlement and it has to start with meaningful negotiations and we've invested significantly in that from pretty much the first days of his administration and it was a topic today both of whom expressed their strong

of europe, united states and afghanistan alike. today we launch a transatlantic charter and will discuss the need for transatlantic cooperation in the afghan space. i'd like to take a moment to think our colleagues, rockefellers fund for partnering on the strategic dialogues and longtime advocate supporter of the afghan people and the afghanistan future. i want to give a special thanks nonresidents follows spearheading this incredible conversation that's culminated in the transatlantic charter that we will talk about today and the coming weeks. on our panel, we have cochairs in this dialogue, chairperson afghanistan rights commission, secretary albright, former secretary of state, united states and member of the atlantic council advisory board, former high representative for foreign affairs and security and the college bureau. my cochairs will go by, almost u.s. ambassador year israel and the un and the atlantic council. the conversation will begin with panel discussion moderated by my friend colin, one of the best journalists i kn

to report back on the state of the war in afghanistan i flew to afghanistan to the coun our valley a rugged mountainous region on the border with pakistan what i saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the afghans have the right and responsibility to leave their country and then more and less american military force could not create or sustain a durable afghan government i believed that our presence in afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went the 1st place to ensure afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again we did that we accomplish that objective . i said among with others we'd follow some of been led to the gates of hell of need be that's exactly what we did and we got him it took us close to 10 years to put president obama commitment of the form and that's exactly what happened with some of bin laden was gone that was 10 years ago think about that we delivered justice to been watching a decade ago and we've stayed in afghanistan for a decade sense sense then our reasons for remaining in afghanistan become increasingly un

united states planned from afghanistan. our objective was clear. the cause was just. our nato allies and partners rallied beside us. i supported that military action along with overwhelming majority of the members of congress. more than seven years later, in 2008, weeks before we swore the oath of office, president obama and i were about to swear, president obama asked me to travel to afghanistan and report back on the state of the war in afghanistan. i flew to afghanistan to the kunar valley, a rugged, mountainous reon the board we are pakistan. what i saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the afghans had the right and responsibility to lead their country and that more and endless american military force could not create or sustain a durable afghan government. i believed that our presence in afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the first place. to ensure afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again. we did that. we accomplished that objective. i said we wou

troops in afghanistan. today, there are about 6000 as part of a nato mission area correspondent gary o'donoghue has been listening to esident biden in washington and i asked how he thinks congress will react. >> the opposition will react very angrily. we have seen some of that in preview with senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, talking about the americans wrapping up afghanistan in paper and handing it back to their adversaries. other republicans will be less forceful than that, because a number of those who believe that america gets bogged down in these kinds of wars and needs to get out of them quickly. and there was the previous president's vw, who signed the agreement with taliban to withdraw american troops by may 1. so there will be a range of reactions, i am sure. after 20 years, those troops coming home, several thousand left in afghanistan, but there are a lot of questions about whether what has been achieved will be undone when american troops leave. the taliban is already on the rise again

not we had 98000 troops in afghanistan. and america's nato allies said afterwards they're joining the us in heading for the exits. i decided that we will start that would draw all of nato recess report mission forces by may 1st some afghans welcome the withdrawal of foreign troops but others fear their departure will leave people here even more vulnerable voters sort of whatever when he says the only thing that all people want but if foreign troops stay here the realization of peace in afghanistan will be impossible their presence will continue to cause problems what about it leaving in a time line we're. not there with the negotiations are we haven't received on that they meant with the fall of one would not be responsible and it would. cost us losing everything we we were put to that in the past 20 years afghanistan's president says the country's military is fully capable of defending the afghan people that pledge will likely soon be tested. for more on the story we can speak now with mari i'm sofie she's an international

efforts in afghanistan. which will help keep radical islamic terrorism intra and bizarrely they've decided to do so. up number the 11 apparently were to help our adversaries running on the out of our 3. and on 11 and give her up and the country and her and i got right back to andrew you're in the us a me ask you is this true what mitch mcconnell is saying and does it even matter to americans who after 20 years are simply tired and fatigued with war. well the fact is afghans themselves are doing the majority of fighting in afghanistan and they have been since the drawdown of the majority of u.s. and nato troops in 2014 and afghan officials themselves will tell you that something close to 98 percent of all combat operations are carried out by afghans and afghans alone and indeed u.s. and nato support has grown extremely limited in the past years so it's not clear to me that a troop withdrawal actually is handing the country over either to the taliban or anyone else it's not that dramatic of a change what would

but a forgotten war it was meant to make sure that the government of afghanistan which was run by the taliban at the time wouldn't be able to give safe haven to al qaeda again after the attacks of $911.00 but here we are 2 decades later with the taliban out of power but still a significant force in afghanistan late last year the taliban and the united states were very very close to a major summit in camp david when everything fell apart at the last minute former president set a deadline for the withdrawal of the last few 1000 american troops for this may but president biden doubts that's going to happen so what's keeping us leaders from ending this forever war joining me to figure this out is stephen walt professor of international relations at harvard university and one of america's leading political scientists he coauthored the israel lobby with john mearsheimer in 2007 and most recently wrote the hell of good intentions america's foreign policy elite and the decline of u.s. primacy dr weil is terrific to have you on with us today talking about this let us start for this is there ev

troops will be out of afghanistan. here's senate minority leader mitch mcconnell just this morning. >> bizarrely they have decided to do so by september 11th. apparently we're to help our adversaries ring in the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks by gift wrapping the country and handing it back to them. >> the white house press secretary was just asked during the briefing if there was any chance the president would reconsider if conditions on the ground in afghanistan change. she said no. so the president is set on this and he just really laid out the case that he believes it's time to focus on the threat of 2021 and not 2001. shift the united states's focus from afghanistan to countries like russia and china. one more thing, martha. if you look back ten years ago, vice president biden went to baghdad to preside over a ceremony commemorating the end of the u.s. military involvement in iraq. we know what happened after that. isis came in, took over large portions of the country and more u.s. troops had to go back in to ira

or might emerge from afghanistan. we have -- the capabilities that we've developed over the last 20 years are extraordinary with respect to intelligence and over the horizon military capabilities doctrine and weaponry, and i think we have the capability to deal with it should it arise. al qaeda does not have the capability to execute a external threat against the united states but bill burns said the other day in front of the congress that the united states would develop and we have the ability to develop the intelligence outlook to anticipate and contest al qaeda if it should try to reconstitute. and the mission, i think, has changed in terms of its focus to a diplomatic humanitarian economic mission. there is leverage in that case. so i think it is the right decision after 20 years of military operations. and there are limits at the end of the day that we discovered with respect to what the united states military could accomplish with respect to the internal dynamics and conflicts in afghanistan so i think it is a r

emanating from afghanistan. this september will be 20 years since afghanistan was used as a launching pad to attack america to kill almost 3,000 of us. the reason they killed 3,000 of us almost is they couldn't find a better way to kill more of us. does anybody doubt that if al qaeda or isis had nuclear capability, they would use it? so what have we learned in the last 20 years? when we allow sanctuary for radical islamic groups to train, equip, and get stronger, they come after us. they come after our way of life, and our allies. on march 22nd, i talked with mr. sullivan, and i said i know it is complicated, and there are no great choices. but count me in for the idea, we will not withdraw all forces in afghanistan until the conditions are ripe to tell the american people we left honorably and america is safer. i told mr. sullivan that i would support president biden's decision to accept military advice to keep a residual force of several thousand as an insurance policy against another 9/11. the result of this

troops from afghanistan. in closing, i'm confident in the department's capacity to contend with the range of dynamic challenges facing the united states in africa and in the middle east. we retain many advantages, including our economic power, dynamism, democratic values, military capabilities and global alliances. thank you to the members of committee for your continued support and i look forward to discussing the topics further and the rest of the hearing, thank you. >> thank you. general mckinzie. >> chairman smith, ranking member rogers, distinguished members of the house armed forms ready i appear before you probably representing the 70000 men and women of the united states and shall command. it's great pleasure to be with you here today and it's my duty to testify of course but i have to say it's a privilege to address this body and all the greater honor to do so sitting beside the acting secretary of defense ms. dori and the commander of u.s. africa command general state townsend. since my last us mone

ministrations decided to abandon us efforts in afghanistan. which will help you grow to call islamic terrorism and shock and bizarrely they've decided to do so. for the 11 apparently were to help our adversaries running on the anniversary of the non 11 attacks by gift wrapping the country and i got right back at them and through you're in the us me ask you is this true what mitch mcconnell is saying and does it even matter to americans who after 20 years are simply tired and fatigued with war. well the fact is afghans themselves are doing the majority of fighting in afghanistan and they have been since the drawdown of the majority of u.s. and nato troops in 2014 and afghan officials themselves will tell you that something close to 98 percent of all combat operations are carried out by afghans and afghans alone and indeed u.s. and nato support has grown extremely limited in the past years so it's not clear to me that a troop withdrawal actually is handing the country over either to the taliban or anyone else it's not that dramatic of a change w

went clear met plane from afghanistan. our objective was clear, the cause was just, our objective was clear, the cause wasjust, and our native our objective was clear, the cause was just, and our native allies partnered beside us. find wasjust, and our native allies partnered beside us.- wasjust, and our native allies partnered beside us. and i supported that alone partnered beside us. and i supported that along with _ partnered beside us. and i supported that along with an _ partnered beside us. and i supported that along with an overwhelming - that along with an overwhelming majority of the members of congress. more than seven years later in 2008, weeks before we swear the oath of office, president obama and i were about to swear, president obama he asked me to travel to afghanistan and report back on the state of the war in afghanistan. i flew afghanistan to the coup in our valley, a rugged mountainous region on the border with pakistan. what i saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the afghans have the ri

but 1st after 20 years in afghanistan the u.s. and nato say the time has come to end their military campaign leaders made the announcements on wednesday say after 2 decades it no longer makes sense to keep thousands of troops in the country white house correspondent kimberly harkat reports. after a generation of war in afghanistan u.s. president joe biden says it's time for american soldiers to return home we cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in afghanistan hoping to create ideal conditions i'm now the 4th united states president to preside over american troop presence in afghanistan to republicans to democrats. i will pass this responsibility on to a 5th the withdrawal of u.s. forces begins may 1st and ends by september 11th the 20th anniversary of the attacks on new york's twin towers and the pentagon the u.s. invaded afghanistan in 2001 attacking al qaeda training camps where osama bin laden coordinated the attacks but biden says since then security threats have evolved osama bin laden wa

ministrations decided to abandon us efforts in afghanistan. which will help the radical islamic terrorism intra. and bizarrely they've decided to do so. up time or the 11 apparently were to help our adversaries running on their anniversary of the non 11 attacks by gift wrapping the country and i got right back to. andrew you're in the us me ask you is this true what mitch mcconnell is saying and does it even matter to americans who after 20 years are simply tired and fatigued with war. well the fact is afghans themselves are doing the majority of fighting in afghanistan and they have been since the drawdown of the majority of u.s. and nato troops in 2014 and afghan officials themselves will tell you that something close to 98 percent of all combat operations are carried out by afghans and afghans alone and indeed u.s. and nato support has grown extremely limited in the past years so it's not clear to me that a troop withdrawal actually is handing the country over either to the taliban or anyone else it's not that dramatic of a change what woul

would withdraw troops from afghanistan by september 11th. the secretary spoke about the withdrawal plan at a news conference in kabul. >> .. >> threats from al qaeda and afghanistan is significantly degraded since osama bin laden has about to justice. even when our troops the innocent security partnership bipartisan that commitment to the afghan security forces. we will intensify our countries that have the economic investment development as they were more prosperous future and then to advocate for women she is and if tradition to editor in assistance and refugees. i shared that message in all my meetings today with representatives from civil society working every together the0 past 20 years because of their service and sacrifice and now we are embarking on a new chapter in our work here in partnership with the afghan people. thank you and happy to take questions. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> first things we know from our experience the last 20 is no. the only path forward to a durable lasting and just and cto the co

pulls out of afghanistan this year. you have to learn how to respect the process of extract and wealth which can take decades c.n.n. is really talking to my heart strings telling me to think of the profit lists war profiteers yes i think of them there are only $2500.00 american troops still there while there are $18000.00 contractors of which only about $6000.00 are americans don't be so insensitive to these multinationals further danger pay $18000.00 mercenaries are there excuse me that's a pejorative term for military contractors fine contract killers not all of them are doing security ok 18000 capitalist goons ok i can argue with that 18000 cabalist goods are making it so operations in afghanistan have no oversight they can kill with impunity they're basically a hired mafia and they haven't even been affective for the best 90 years well the plausible deniability makes the hired guys really good at helping the afghan army function so they can lose gracefully against the taliban and those hired guns are making a pretty

troops in afghanistan the white house admits it has very little to back up those claims he had still it demands answers from the kremlin. we felt the reports were enough of a cause of concern they assessed with low to moderate confidence as you alluded to that russian intelligence officers start to encourage taliban attacks against u.s. and coalition personnel in afghanistan so while there's a lot of moderate assessment of these reports we felt it was important for our intelligence community to look into it this information really puts the burden on russia and the russian government to explain their engagement here in june last year it was reported russian intelligence offered taliban linked militants bounties to killed u.s. troops in afghanistan in 2019 delegations were never proven and the pentagon itself said that it couldn't corroborate the reports but it didn't stop the mainstream media from going to town on the story vladimir putin is offering for the scalps of american soldiers in afghanistan now the european intelligence official called this callous shocking and reprehensible

i went to afghanistan in 2001 to rule out al qaeda, to root out plans from afghanistan. our objection was clear. our native allies rallied beside us. i supported that military about an overwhelming majority of members of congress. in 2008, weeks before we swore the oath of office, president obama and i, president obama asked me to travel to afghanistan and report back on the state of the war in afghanistan. i flew to afghanistan to the kunar valley, a rugged, mountainous region on the border of pakistan. what i saw on that trip reinforced my conviction, that only the afghans have the right and responsibility to leave their country, and that a more and endless american military force could not sustain a durable afghan government. i believe that our presence in afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the first place, to ensure afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again. we did that. we accomplished that objective. i said we would follow osama bin laden to the gates of hell if need be. that's exactly what we did, and we go

to leave afghanistan. no it's not we are not completed our mission we are not sure not going to start to people in afghanistan for an alliance and most importantly for our own national security interests that's why we went in to afghanistan 2 decades ago and unfortunately i fear we are sowing the seeds of the next rice is today's. and so what do you think that president biden should do at this point because of the sort of 3500 troops that were left or to around 3000 aren't really going to make a difference one way or another so what do you think the president should do now to try to at least stabilize the country and certainly help the afghan government well the whole in one important way in manny's to. getting our diplomats to get our development experts out into the provinces and to engage with the afghan people our mission is going to be severely hand strong starting on september 12th we're not going to be able to have the same ability to move around the country to engage with people outside of the capi

president is preparing to lay out his plan for leaving afghanistan. has confirmed that he will withdraw all u.s. troops from the country by september 11th we'll go live to washington to hear more also coming up another setback in south africa where the use of the astra zeneca vaccine and already been stopped now and the suspension of the johnson and johnson vaccine is another huge blow to the country and it's finding 19 and the tiny particles of making a very big noise in the world of physics move watching to make matter but scientists say what really matters is the way they move and it could help explain the biggest event ever to. go off it's good to have you with us u.s. president joe biden has announced that all american troops will we be withdrawn from afghanistan by september 11th speaking at the white house president biden said the troop withdrawal would begin on may 1st and be completed before the 20th anniversary of the $911.00 attacks on the us yet it that the withdrawal would be done safely and in full coordination with washington's allies t

and nato forces from afghanistan. this is presently the main effort of my commands and with the tools necessary to accomplish this task. with that i look forward to answering your questions. thank you very much, general mckenzie. general townsend, please. >> can you hear me? >> yes, , sir. >> thank you. it's hard to tell. chairman reed, ranking member inhofe and members of the committee good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear today. it's a privilege to represent america's exceptional men and women at u.s.-africa command who are dedicated to secure u.s. interests and preserving our strategic options on the african continent. this morning i'm accompanied by africom senior enlisted leader marine corps sergeant major richard thrasher and what mit staff advisors air force colonel jack. i'm also here this morning with my colleague and friend general frank mackenzie, centcom commander to discuss shared challenges and opportunities in the areas of responsibility and the high return the american people give th

leaving afghanistan in? >> reporter: yeah, it's not correct to call parts of afghanistan ungovernable, they are being governed by the taliban, the insurgency. that's what's occurring in much of afghanistan already, except for kabul, and that will continue to worsen for afghans. a couple of interesting things, though, in the details of what joe biden said. he talked about how they're going to begin leaving on may 1st. the taliban have said very clearly the u.s. has 16 days for a full withdrawal and then they might think about joining peace talks. and biden was very clear to say if they are attacked or their allies or partners are attacked during that withdrawal, then they'll strike back. it potentially provides a month's long period where the u.s. could hit taliban targets under the premise of this particular scheme as well. kaitlan also pointed out the sort of way he threw a lot of decision-making back towards president trump saying he wouldn't necessarily have done it this way himself. but i have to say i w

to report back on the state of the war in afghanistan i flew to afghanistan to the coun our valley a rugged mountainous region on the border with pakistan what i saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the afghans have the right and responsibility to lead their country and then more and less american military force could not create or sustain a durable afghan government. i believed that our presence in afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the 1st place to ensure afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again we did that we accomplish that objective i said among with others we'd follow some of ben laden of the gates of hell of need be that's exactly what we did and we got him it took us close to 10 years to put president obama commitment of in a form and that's exactly what happened with some of bin laden was gone that was 10 years ago think about that we delivered justice to bin laden a decade ago and we've stayed never again to stand for a decade sense sense then our reasons to remain in afghanistan become increasingly u

being in afghanistan is a choice. a choice to not focus on others that prevent serious threats to international norms. it bogs america down having 2500 troops there and billions of dollars. it just matters less to us today that it did years ago. russia is amassing thousands of troops on the border of ukraine. remember counterterrorism officials remind us that the most serious threat to america today is actually not from foreign terrorist organization but from domestic groups. we spend more money than any other nation. given the gargantuan size of our global military imprint, we cannot and should not be everywhere. we need to make choices every now and again. right now it is fantasy, not reality the argument to stay in afghanistan for another 10 years, five years, or even another year. part of being president is making tough choices. today, president biden has made the right one. i yield the floor. >> c-span's washington journal. every day we take your poles live on the air on policy issues that impact you. we will tal

defense department has concerns about completely withdrawing from afghanistan. it's been long believed that u.s. military leadership urging president joe biden to keep at least a small contingent of troops in afghanistan specifically to be able to have counterterrorism operations there's a big concern in this building about just how well and how long afghan forces will be able to continue their current level of readiness but yet the commander in chief has given the or giving them the order they have to be out of afghanistan by september 1st that's just under 5 months from now there are only $3500.00 u.s. troops there so far they're not giving very many if any details here in this building about just what that drawdown will look like but we do expect we'll get more details in the weeks and months ahead well the head of afghanistan's committee for reconciliation of beloved a less is the taliban needs to return to talks and good faith be to assure that if close to the people of afghanistan one thing that rights and freedoms protected they don't want the destruction

military had started the first air strikes in afghanistan, the opening salvos of the war in afghanistan, a prominent democratic u.s. senator at the time, a senator named joe biden, was interviewed on cnn just a few hours after president bush made his announcement. biden told cnn that night from delaware that he was in favor of the air strikes, he had in fast been in favor of the start of the afghan war. he expressed to cnn confidence that the taliban would not be in control of afghanistan much longer. but then he said, quote, the easiest part is going to be taking it down. the hard part is going to be putting it together. right. knocking them out of power in one place turned out to be doable and quickly. setting up something else to keep them at bay, to defeat them, to unite the nation of afghanistan under a different kind of government, that didn't happen, not with 100,000 u.s. troops there at a time, not with thousands of americans losing their lives there and tens of thousands of americans being injured there, not in a year of combat there, not in ten years of combat there, not in ne

satellites and help the government of afghanistan. security while it was negotiate with the taliban and unfortunately now it doesn't look like it's going to be the case anymore 'd but as they would say you know you know maybe this is a way to put pressure on the afghan government to actually get its act together and start creating the conditions to negotiate this would be the only way forward. because it is indeed a terrible. time for the afghan government to get its act together and end of the conditions that is agreed to but is it solely the afghan government that is to blame for the stalling of the peace process. well you know of course the american government has been important in the taliban's both the trumpet nice transition and now the buy in and use transition with its condition though an ounce of that was drawn at least the trunk at the station had with conditions follow it so it's definitely not just the afghan government's fault but you know the get the administration has been too busy fighting with all the political factio

we've had dramatic effect on the growth of women in afghanistan. 40% of the students in afghanistan now are women. they are in the academic life. they are in the military. they are in the police. they're in politics. this was kind of unheard of under the taliban regime. and, of course, for me personally, we also had the opportunity to launch the raid that got bin laden from afghanistan. so, you know, is it afghanistan going to be a military victory? are we going to have, you know, a surrender ceremony or victory ceremony on the u.s.s. missouri? no, we're not. here is what i would tell you, mehdi, i think of the remarkable sacrifice of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, foreign service officers that were there, ngos, none of that sacrifice will be diminished one bit by the outcome of this war. the heroism will not be diminished one bit. their patriotism will not be diminished one bit, by how this war ends up. >> okay. just before we run out of time, i do want to turn to another issue. you have said in the past you believe donald trump was the greatest threat to democracy and the rep

troops from afghanistan by the end of the year do you remember remember when all the troops came home and we were finally out of afghanistan that was a wonderful time i remember the ticker tape parades the celebrate dorie drink specials the vomiting festival in times square i remember grabbing a rained on young lady and kissing her in a bout of pure unbridled joy which lasted until i realized she was a man and he realized that he didn't know me and then he realized that counted as sexual assault and then i realized i better run for it he realized he should hire a lawyer and i realize dies you do the same but that is not the point the point is everything was right in the world war and finally ended that ridiculous morally reprehensible war in afghanistan now you remember. no we meet me neither. i think that because it never happened. trump did sign a draft of that executive order to bring the troops home but then he was met by the chairman of the joint chiefs mark milley who told him it was impossible so they compromised on half of the troops as gareth porter revealed at the gray zone

iraq, then afghanistan, and libya. the u.s. wasn't going to maintain a deep, lengthy 50 year involvement, etc. what americans don't fully understand is that once you have gone in and removed a government, and essentially destroyed the existing political institutions, it is a free-for-all. there are winners and losers, that will compete for power, and without a set of existing institutions, you are engaged in a massive social engineering project, trying to change not just the way people pick their leaders, but also the relations between different groups in societies. the relationship between men and women in the afghan case, one of the from the mental issues in any society. it inevitably creates enormous resentment and lots and lots of unintended consequences. because the u.s. is so powerful and so secure over here in the western hemisphere, we can do projects like that in a place like afghanistan, for a long time, without people here at home really feeling the hi t. butt has been costing us billions of dollars. and we do have o

as america depart our senior correspondent afghanistan has been looking at the announcements rather for cations. joe biden says this is it the end of the afghan war no more extentions apart from well these last one until september we cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in afghanistan hoping to create ideal conditions for the drawn and expecting a different result according to the deal struck between trump and the taliban america was supposed to be gone in a couple of weeks time by may 1st but the president the new president claimed that didn't give him enough time the new date is symbolically september 11th and the thousands of u.s. and nato troops on that date will have left in light of this and recognizing that there is no military solution to the challenges have ganesan faces elyse have determined that we will start their withdrawal of the residents are told mission full says by may fast new d.n.a. 2 wants to be in afghanistan nobody but they went to do a job to make sure that al qaida and its ilk never make it home again and the only thing w

troops from afghanistan. secretary of education miguel cardona discusses the nationwide return to in-person classes. we talk about republican resistance to the infrastructure bill with senator shelly moore capito. plus much more. >> woodruff: we return to the president's decision twithdraw from afghanistan by september 2021. for that we get three views: retired lieutenant general doug lute served in both the george w. bush and obama administrations focusing on afghanistan. he also served as u.s. ambassador to nato during the obama administration. annie pforzheimer had a 30 year career in the foreign service and was the deputy chief of mission in afghanistan from 2017 to 2018, and was acting deputy assistant secretary of state for afghanistan until 2019. and david sedney was deputy assistant secretary of defense for afghanistan, pakistan and central asia during the obama administration. until recently he was the president of american university of afghanistan. and we welcome all three of you to the "newshour".

is abandoning afghanistan to the islamist taliban but biden says time's up. and look i know there are many who a lot of the insist that the plan was he cannot succeed without a robust u.s. military presence to stand his leverage we gave that argument a decade. it's never proved effective. not when we had 98000 troops in afghanistan and america's nato allies said afterwards they're joining the u.s. in heading for the exits. of the cited. that we will start that withdrawal of may to risk the support mission forces by may 1st some afghans welcome the withdrawal of foreign troops but others fear their departure will leave people here even more vulnerable voters or whatever when this is the only thing that all people want but if foreign troops stay here the realization of peace in afghanistan will be impossible their presence will continue to cause problems forgot to leave me in the time line no we're. not a new year with the negotiations and we haven't received and that they meant with the taliban would not be responsible and it would come cost us losing everythi

and nato forces from afghanistan. this is presently the main effort in my command, and we have the tools necessary to accomplish this. with that, i look forward to answering questions. >> thank you very much, general mckenzie. general townsend, please. >> can you hear me? >> yes, sir. >> it's hard to tell. jermaine reed, ranking member inhofe and members of the committee, good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear today. it is a privilege to represent america's exceptional men and women in the u.s. africa command who are dedicated to securing the u.s. interest and preserving the strategic options on the african continent. this morning i am accompanied by africom senior enlisted leader marine corps sergeant richard thrasher, and one of my key staff advisors jacqueline braden. i'm also here this morning with my colleague and friend, general frank mckenzie, the centcom commander, discussed the shared challenges and opportunities and areas of responsibility and the high return of the american people around t

it's not about afghanistan alone. remember, there is also their standing prestige of the... of nato, of united nations, of the western civilisation as well. please do not belittle it as an afghan conflict. we still have resolute support here. we have numerous united nations resolution, security council resolutions in which it clearly says the rights of the afghan people, the rights of its citizens must be protected. but to say it's a purely afghan issue and, you know, afghanistan is stuck in the wrong place and it's stuck in a wrong time, that is like fooling ourselves. this was a global issue. it is a global issue, and it requires a global solution. the world managed to create a global alliance for the anti—terrorism within weeks. why are we unable to create a global alliance for protection and guaranteeing of peace within weeks? that's reachable. that's within our grasp. and if things go wrong, it will not be because of amrullah's stubborn position or his principled statement. it will be for escaping from moral re