In the Oval Office with President Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth discussed the ongoing probe into the deadly Afghanistan withdrawal under former President Biden.
00:00Mr. President, the Defense Secretary has ordered a review of the Afghanistan withdrawal that is ongoing.
00:07I'm curious if you have any update on that review.
00:10And then for the families, I know that there was frustration with previous investigations on Capitol Hill.
00:16Are you satisfied with the speed of this investigation thus far?
00:20Pete, do you want to answer that?
00:22Yes, sir.
00:23On behalf of this beautiful group, on behalf of these families, on behalf of your loved ones who fought for our nation,
00:30America deserves answers as far as what happened in Afghanistan.
00:33The military needs to answer for what happened in Afghanistan.
00:36So upon the President's direction, immediately we initiated an investigation which showed that there needed an even deeper dive.
00:43So Sean Parnell, our Pentagon spokesman, who himself is an Afghanistan veteran, is leading this effort.
00:48It's a top priority for us.
00:50We're getting access to all the documents necessary, why decisions were made, why they weren't made,
00:55why certain force protection measures were ignored.
00:57Again, there's never been accountability for this.
01:00It's something that Joe Biden allowed to happen that never should have happened.
01:04Anybody who, any objective observer knows that's not how you leave a country.
01:08And certainly these families know better than anyone else.
01:10These families deserve answers.
01:12We're going to be honest about it.
01:13We're going to get to the bottom of it.
01:14Sean Parnell, an Afghanistan vet, is leading it.
01:16And we're doing it on behalf of the American people.
01:18So I would anticipate middle of 2026.
01:21That's how thorough of a review we're doing.
01:23Hopefully a little bit sooner, but we're going into everything to get an understanding of what happened.
01:27So we remember these great 13 souls, but we also remember the people that were so badly injured, our soldiers, 32 of them, approximately.
01:38And we're in contact with them always also.
01:43But they lost arms and legs, and their faces were blown to pieces.
01:47And they're incredible.
01:48And they suffer with it.
01:50And so we understand that.
01:52It should have never happened.
01:53It should have never been allowed to have happened.
01:55And they were in the wrong place.
01:59Bagram was the place to be.
02:01Big, massive airfield with hundreds of acres surrounding it.
02:05Nobody could get near it.
02:06And who would not have done that?
02:08But we had a bunch of incompetent people running our country.
02:12So we are going to talk for a little while.
02:17We'll talk about people that I've gotten to know, the sons and daughters and others that died.
02:23And there were hundreds of people that died that day.
02:26Hundreds from many from the other side.
02:29Needless to say, also, they did nothing to hurt anybody.
02:33But that was a terrible day.
02:36And I think it was the worst day.
02:38And in many ways, the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.
02:41And yet, at the same time, we learned so much that it's, you know, we call it a big lesson.
02:47It won't happen again.
02:49A thing like that can never be allowed to happen again.
02:52Doug, would you like to say something, please?
02:54You've been so fantastic at the VA.
02:56I appreciate it.
02:57The thing, Mr. President, for these families here, I think you expressed the nation's grief of what happened.
03:02And we saw just a tragic mistake.
03:03I think it was there, someone that he's been in the middle of, I was in Iraq and others.
03:06But in Afghanistan, when you saw that withdrawal, what you suffered, went through.
03:10And for those that you've mentioned, Mr. President, who are injured, who took the VA, the Department of Defense, we're taking care of those folks.
03:16We're going to continue to do so.
03:18It's your direction.
03:18But with the families, it's just one of those things, it's a place that never goes away.
03:22But I know from this president, he's made a commitment that that memory will not be forgotten.
03:27And the cabinet understands that, and the American people understand that because of what we've done.
03:30And this is actually our biggest gathering today.
03:32So you must have heard Oval Office, and you said, I want to get there and do a talk in the Oval Office.
03:37And it is a special place, but this is our biggest gathering in terms of the numbers, everybody here, because there was always being, you know, somebody couldn't be.
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