{"id":30596,"date":"2022-01-04T21:28:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T21:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/04\/austin-to-testify-on-afghanistan-next-week\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:34:42","slug":"austin-to-testify-on-afghanistan-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2022\/01\/04\/austin-to-testify-on-afghanistan-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin to testify on Afghanistan next week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin<\/a> is scheduled to testify in Congress next week on the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan \u2015 but the briefing is set to happen out of public view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken<\/a>, will address the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee in a top secret Senate facility on Tuesday, Jan. 11, the committee announced<\/a> Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appearance will come as defense officials acknowledge small gains made by al-Qaida<\/a>, the extremist group that used Afghanistan as a staging base to attack the United States 20 years ago. Austin has asserted the U.S. military is able to contain threats emanating from Afghanistan using surveillance and strike aircraft based elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the Biden administration has faced tough bipartisan criticism and questioning over the chaotic end to America\u2019s longest-running war. Even lawmakers sympathetic to President Joe Biden\u2019s decision to end the 20-year war have expressed concern over the hasty withdrawal, in which 13 American service members were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t