Pentagon chief defends execution of Kabul airlift

In first congressional testimony on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the military's execution of a frantic airlift from Kabul.

Speaking alongside Austin, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited “a very real possibility” that al-Qaida or the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate could reconstitute in Afghanistan under Taliban rule and present a terrorist threat to the United States in the next 12 to 36 months.

Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff  said "It remains to be seen whether or not the Taliban can consolidate power or if the country will further fracture into civil war, but we must continue to protect the United States of America and its people from terrorist attacks coming from Afghanistan. A reconstituted al-Qaida or ISIS with aspirations to attack the United States is a very real possibility.”

Both Milley and Austin have defended the U.S. military's execution of an Afghanistan withdrawal that Biden ordered in April.