Senator Tillis (
01:56:52):
Secretary Austin, I think we do owe a debt of gratitude to the people that got 120,000, 124,000 people out. It was a logistical success, but this is a strategic failure. General McKenzie, General Miller said 2,500. I've heard you and General Milley also say, you agreed with the idea, you personally agreed, you didn't necessarily say that you recommended to the President, the 2,500. I understood from General Miller that there was a broader context within that recommendation. There were 2,500 fighters, US fighters, but I understand almost 5,000 NATO allies, or 5,000 others that were willing to remain on the ground. And as General Miller said, "Keep the hand on the shoulder of the Afghan national forces, so that we could have a counter to the Taliban." Is that correct? That it was bigger than that, it was probably the 7,000 range?
Gen. McKenzie (
01:57:50):
Senator. You're correct. Our NATO allies, would've been on board
.........
Senator Tillis (
01:58:03):
Okay. Now I know that you won't say that you advised the President, but is it fair to say that when General Miller, he said that he advised all of you on his recommendations, it sounds like two of the three of you agreed with it, is it at least fair to say that in the interagency discussion that those recommendations were made and that in your best military advice, it would've kept the situation stable in Afghanistan?
Gen. McKenzie (
01:58:29):
Well, I've stated consistently that my position was, if you go below 2,500, you're going to look at a collapse of the Afghan milita
Geez, that transcript is loaded with the miltary saying they recommended to keep the Trump levels of troops