Reflection on Afghanistan War and Veterans

Five years ago, I watched Kabul fall.

So did every veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

Two decades of us, the ones who deployed in two thousand

and two,

and the ones who were in grade school when it started and grew up to fight there

themselves.

Entire generations of Americans gave their years, their bodies,

and in too many cases, their lives to that country.

And five years ago, we watched it come apart in a matter of

days.

Every veteran of that war carries it, the friends we

buried,

the ones we couldn't save, the years we gave that suddenly seemed to

vanish into a headline.

And if you fought in Afghanistan, or if you love someone who did,

you know exactly what I mean.

And I wanna say this plainly to every one of you, what you did there

mattered.

The way it ended does not erase what you gave.

In the middle of that collapse at Abbey Gate,

thirteen Americans

gave their lives.

They died protecting people they had never met.

Strangers frightened with no claim on them except that they were

in danger, and our people were there to stand between them and the

mayhem that was coming.

That is who they were. That is who all of you

were across twenty years, the ones who ran toward

the danger.

To the families of those thirteen and to every Gold Star

family from that war,

the country moved on fast,

but I know you didn't get to.

I know five years is not a number that means anything when

it's your son, your daughter, your husband, or your wife.

We have not forgotten them.

I will not let this country forget them.

And you deserve more than remembrance.

You deserve the truth about what happened in Afghanistan, told

fully and told straight.

So let me tell you where that stands.

I have the privilege of chairing a team with extensive military

service in Afghanistan.

These patriots commanded troops, they took fire, they carried the wounded,

and they buried their friends.

They knew how decisions in Afghanistan became consequences

because they are the ones who lived with them.

We are conducting a thorough review of what took place in Afghanistan, and I'm

gonna be honest with you about what that's turning up.

The deeper we look, the more there is to look at.

We are finding things that we did not expect.

Recently, my team recovered highly relevant

classified

documents, material that should have been disclosed,

stashed and hidden away in safes where they would not be

found.

And after the team reviewed these documents, it became clear why

someone tried to hide them.

I'm not going to give you a convenient version of the truth,

nor will I give you a

rushed one.

Here is my commitment.

We are following the evidence to wherever it leads and to whoever it

touches. We're not accepting incomplete or comfortable

answers.

The American people and the families who sacrificed

everything

are owed the full picture of how and why those decisions were

made,

and we're going to give it to them.

That's a promise,

not just for today, not just for an anniversary,

but until it's

done.

To everyone who served there, thank you.

To the families who gave the most, we are with you.

And to the thirteen, we say your names, and we will keep saying them

long after the cameras are gone.

God bless you all, and God bless this great country

that we call

home.