Official Says DOD Is Shifting to a Strategic Readiness Posture

U.S. and Qatari defense leaders discussed events in Afghanistan as well as a wide range of issues in the Middle East during Pentagon meetings.

The Defense Department has the capacity and the capability to move as many people out of Afghanistan as possible, and the number of aircraft is not a limiting factor, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said.

The U.S. military footprint at Hamid Karzai International Airport has expanded to 5,200 troops, and there are now more gates for entry onto the field, a Defense official said. This will help ensure safe and efficient operations for evacuees.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both served in Afghanistan and spoke of their feelings during a news conference focused on the non-combatant evacuation operation underway in Taliban-controlled Kabul.

The Department of Defense is laser-focused on operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said during a Pentagon news conference.

The crisis in Afghanistan remains fluid and dynamic and it is ever-changing, Pentagon Spokesman John F. Kirby said in an operational update of U.S. military operations in that country.

Within 24 hours of a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hitting Haiti, U.S. Southern Command had teams on the ground assessing damage and saving lives.

A U.S. Southern Command joint task force has already begun working to aid the people of Haiti, which was recently hit by a devastating earthquake and is now being flooded by a tropical storm.

Air operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, continued through the night, getting between 700 and 800 people out of the country, the Joint Staff's deputy director for regional operations said.

Johnny Bench played his entire Major League Baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds, leading the Big Red Machine to four National League pennants and two World Series championships. He also served in the Army Reserve, becoming a field wireman in a unit that included Reds' teammate Pete Rose.