Sec. Austin: ‘Staying at Bagram ... Meant Staying at War in Afghanistan’

EXCERPT:

AUSTIN: “Retaining Bagram would have required putting as many as 5,000 U.S. troops in harm’s way just to operate and defend it, and it would have contributed little to the mission that we've been assigned, and that was to protect and defend the embassy which was some 30 miles away. The distance from Kabul also rendered Bagram of little value in the evacuation. Staying at Bagram, even for counterterrorism purposes, meant staying at war in Afghanistan, something that the President made clear that he would not do."