00:00Five years ago, I watched Kabul fall.
00:03So did every veteran of the war in Afghanistan.
00:07Two decades of us, the ones who deployed in 2002
00:11and the ones who were in grade school when it started and grew up to fight there themselves.
00:17Entire generations of Americans gave their years, their bodies,
00:21and in too many cases, their lives to that country.
00:24And five years ago, we watched it come apart in a matter of days.
00:29Every veteran of that war carries it.
00:32The friends we buried, the ones we couldn't save,
00:35the years we gave that suddenly seemed to vanish into a headline.
00:40And if you fought in Afghanistan or if you love someone who did,
00:44you know exactly what I mean.
00:47And I want to say this plainly to every one of you,
00:50what you did there mattered.
00:52The way it ended does not erase what you gave.
00:57In the middle of that collapse at Abbey Gate, 13 Americans gave their lives.
01:04They died protecting people they had never met.
01:07Strangers frightened with no claim on them except that they were in danger
01:12and our people were there to stand between them and the mayhem that was coming.
01:17That is who they were.
01:20That is who all of you were across 20 years, the ones who ran toward the danger.
01:27To the families of those 13 and to every Gold Star family from that war,
01:33the country moved on fast.
01:35But I know you didn't get to.
01:38I know five years is not a number that means anything when it's your son,
01:43your daughter, your husband, or your wife.
01:46We have not forgotten them.
01:49I will not let this country forget them.
01:52And you deserve more than remembrance.
01:55You deserve the truth about what happened in Afghanistan,
01:58told fully and told straight.
02:02So let me tell you where that stands.
02:05I have the privilege of chairing a team with extensive military service in Afghanistan.
02:11These patriots commanded troops, they took fire,
02:15they carried the wounded, and they buried their friends.
02:19They knew how decisions in Afghanistan became consequences
02:22because they are the ones who lived with them.
02:27We are conducting a thorough review of what took place in Afghanistan,
02:30and I'm going to be honest with you about what that's turning up.
02:34The deeper we look, the more there is to look at.
02:38We are finding things that we did not expect.
02:42Recently, my team recovered highly relevant classified documents,
02:46material that should have been disclosed,
02:50stashed, and hidden away in safes where they would not be found.
02:55And after the team reviewed these documents,
02:57it became clear why someone tried to hide them.
03:01I'm not going to give you a convenient version of the truth,
03:05nor will I give you a rushed one.
03:07Here is my commitment.
03:09We are following the evidence to wherever it leads and to whoever it touches.
03:14We're not accepting incomplete or comfortable answers.
03:18The American people and the families who sacrificed everything
03:23are owed the full picture of how and why those decisions were made,
03:28and we're going to give it to them.
03:31That's a promise.
03:33Not just for today, not just for an anniversary,
03:36but until it's done.
03:39To everyone who served there, thank you.
03:42To the families who gave the most, we are with you.
03:55God bless you all, and God bless this great country that we call home.
