Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to testify on Afghanistan

Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to testify next week before a Senate panel on the U.S. departure from Afghanistan last year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also scheduled to take part in the closed-door hearing with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday.

The hearing comes four months after the United States concluded its involvement in the 20-year Afghanistan War.

In August, the withdrawal met with large-scale efforts to evacuate more than 122,000 people from Afghanistan. It was the largest airlift in U.S. history.

Former President Donald Trump made an agreement with the Taliban in early 2020 and promised to withdraw all U.S. forces by May 1, 2021. After Biden became president, he put the deadline off by four months.

The United States began the process of evacuating troops and diplomatic staff when the Taliban attacked the Afghan government in Kabul, eventually seizing control of the capital on Aug. 15.

The United States and allies then ramped up efforts, also working to evacuate interpreters and other Afghans who aided U.S. forces during the war or were in danger from the Taliban.

Austin previously testified to the Senate Committee on Armed Services that the most significant problems in Afghanistan were the depths of corruption in the Afghan government and negative impact of Trump's peace deal with the Taliban, which didn't involve the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

The Pentagon said that al-Qaida has made some gains in Afghanistan since the pullout, Defense News reported. Austin testified in September that the U.S. military could attack the terror groups from outside of Afghanistan if necessary.

"Over-the-horizon operations are difficult but absolutely possible," he said.