It was 2,500. The troop level Biden inherited. Once the truce expired those 2,500 would become targets for the Taliban.
Mr. Reed: Let me call the hearing to order. First, an administrative action. Since a quorum is now present, I ask the committee to consider a list of 2,99...
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Sec. Austin: (
02:01:55)
Well, Senator, again, I won’t address the advice I gave the President. I would just say that, in his calculus, this was not risk free. And the Taliban we said earlier in this hearing, were committed to recommencing their operations against our forces.
His assessment was that, in order to sustain that and continue to do things that benefited the Afghans, that would require at some point that he increase our presence there in Afghanistan.
......
Okay. So the military planned the evacuation. Did President Biden follow your advice on executing on the evacuation plan?
Sec. Austin: (
02:03:12)
He did.
Senator Warren: (
02:03:15)
Did President Biden give you all the resources that you needed?
Sec. Austin: (
02:03:21)
From my view, he did.
Senator Warren: (
02:03:22)
Did President Biden ignore your advice on the evacuation at he point?
Sec. Austin: (
02:03:30)
No Senator, he did not.
Senator Warren: (
02:03:32)
Did he refuse any request for anything that you needed or asked for?
Sec. Austin: (
02:03:37)
No.
Senator Warren: (
02:03:38)
So the President followed the advice of his military advisors in planning and executing this withdrawal. As we’ve already established, the seeds for our, or in Afghanistan were planted many, many years ago. So let me ask you one more question, Secretary Austin, knowing what you know now, if we had stayed in Afghanistan for another year, would it have made a fundamental difference?
Sec. Austin: (
02
05)
Again, it depends on what size you remain in at, and what your objectives are. There are a range of possibilities, but
if you stayed there at a forced posture of 2,500, certainly you’d be in a fight with the Taliban, and you’d have to reinforce yourself.