Source: United States Senator for Nebraska Deb Fischer
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the top Republican on the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, today participated in the committee’s nomination hearing for Lieutenant General Michael E. Kurilla to be the Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
During the hearing, Sen. Fischer referenced a recent article in the Washington Post about a U.S. Army review of the Afghanistan exit that outlines the administration’s poor planning resulting in danger and chaos for our service members. Fischer also asked General Kurilla about the challenges the United States now faces in conducting over-the-horizon operations in Afghanistan following the Biden administration’s withdrawal.
Click the image above to watch video of Sen. Fischer’s exchange
A partial transcript of Sen. Fischer’s exchange with General Kurilla is below:
Sen. Fischer: … General, this morning we read in The Washington Post about an Army review of the Afghanistan drawdown. The report highlights the extent to which the Biden Administration’s poor planning forced our service members into an incredibly dangerous and an incredibly chaotic situation during that evacuation. I know that you are not responsible for this report, but if confirmed do I have your word that if future reports like this are completed, that this committee will learn about them from you and not from the morning paper?
General Kurilla: Yes, Senator.
Sen. Fischer: Thank you. I wouldn’t think that members of this committee would have to make a FOIA request in order to learn information that should be brought forward in a positive way, to keep us informed, so that we can perform our oversight responsibilities. General, based on your prior experience that you’ve had in the region, your knowledge of the region, what do you assess to be the most significant challenges for CENTCOM to carry out an over-the-horizon counterterrorism strategy in Afghanistan?
General Kurilla: Senator, over-the-horizon capability is extremely difficult but not impossible. I think the biggest challenge for Afghanistan is that it is a landlocked country. We rely on another nation for an air line of communication to be able to enter Afghanistan. The distances required to fly is great, we spend approximately two-thirds of the time flying there and getting back versus over the target. So, it is resource intensive to be able to do the finding and then the fixing and the finishing of those targets that you’re going after. I think we need to reinvest in a lot of our intelligence capabilities, our human intelligence capability that was lost during the withdrawal.
Sen. Fischer: Do you anticipate that we will have more success in the future on being able to find those partners on the ground?
General Kurilla: Senator, if confirmed I will need to make an assessment of that.
Sen. Fischer: Do you know of any ongoing conversations about basing agreements with neighboring countries that would be helpful to us in being able to do the over-the-horizon?
General Kurilla: Senator, I’m not aware of any detailed discussions going on but I know that there are discussions happening right now that could ease the distances that are required.
Sen. Fischer: I would hope if you do you would contact us so that we can keep up-to-date on the progress or lack thereof in this regard because it is so vital to our commitment to those we have in Afghanistan and the needs that we have to meet in Afghanistan. I hope that you will do that review process. We heard from Secretary Kahl in October that ISIS-K could generate the capability to attack our homeland by April. That’s not too far away from today and if there needs to be a change in strategy, if CENTCOM needs to be resourced differently. I would hope that you would bring that to our attention as well.
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