Austin says "we're not close" yet on pace of evacuations from Afghanistan
In their first remarks since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley spoke to reporters about the mass evacuation of Americans and at-risk Afghans and addressed questions about the whether the U.S. was taken by surprise by the speed of the country's collapse. "We're not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through," Austin said. Milley, asked whether he had "seen this coming," that Afghan forces would not be prepared for the fight with the Taliban. "No, I did not," he said. "Nor did anyone else see a collapse of an army that size in 11 days."