(SOUNDBITE) (English) ARIZONA SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, SAYING: ” The United States’ effort to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight ISIL is clearly and unfortunately failing. The goal was 3,000 fighters in the first year. Instead, this program has trained and equipped only 54 fighters, some of whom were killed or captured by Al Qaeda as soon as they returned to Syria. This program the administration promised would result in a viable indigenous ground force in Syria has yet to produce any significant effects on the battlefield.” (SOUNDBITE) (English) GENERAL LLOYD AUSTIN, COMMANDER OF THE U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND, SAYING: “We said at the outset that the military — military campaign to counter ISIL would take time and it will take time. And we should expect that there will be occasional setbacks along the way, particularly in the early stages. We also need to keep in mind that we are supporting and enabling this effort. And our partners, not us, are in the lead. It is taking a bit longer to get things done, but it must be this way if we are to achieve lasting and positive effects. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEBRASKA SENATOR DEB FISCHER, SAYING: “General Austin, when Senator Carter was here before this committee in July, he testified there were only about 60 Syrian fighters that had been trained in our Train and Equip Program and reinserted. We’ve heard reports about the attacks on those individuals when they were reinserted back into Syria. Can you tell us what the total number of trained fighters remains?” (SOUNDBITE) (English) GENERAL LLOYD AUSTIN, COMMANDER OF THE U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND, SAYING: “It’s a small number. The ones that are in the fight is we’re talking, four or five.” (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEBRASKA SENATOR DEB FISCHER, SAYING: “So with the fighters that we’re training and equipping, is it still the goal to have about 12,000 of them there? Is that still the goal? What’s the expectation then for them? (SOUNDBITE) (English) GENERAL LLOYD AUSTIN, COMMANDER OF THE U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND, SAYING: “Well, we certainly at the pace we’re going, we won’t reach the goal that we had initially established for ourselves. But the overall goal is to make sure that we enough mass to be able to get work done on the ground and whether it’s YPG elements or other elements that they’re able to help us with. You know, we can still achieve and are achieving the same effects. It’s not aspirational, we’re actually doing this today and I think that’s lost on a lot of people.”