Top military advisers from the Biden administration fended off questions Tuesday from lawmakers as they struggled to defend decisions made in the weeks before the disastrous troop withdrawal from Afghanistan ended on Aug. 31.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, and head of U.S. Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie faced questions from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on everything from specific tactical movements to broad diplomatic strategies in the region during an hourslong hearing that, at times, grew heated.