Secretary Defense nominee Llyod Austin on Afghanistan in his confirmation hearing:

Hawley's exchange with Austin on troop levels in Afghanistan on this link. The gist is that Austin says he will go to Afghanistan to make a judgment on the troop levels required before making a recommendation to the president. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4939187/user-clip-trooplevels

From transcription of the Hawley-Austin exchange (which is not great), here is Austin's response:

In written responses submitted before the hearing, Austin was non-committal on keeping/revisiting the withdrawal timetable if the Taliban fail to meet their commitments by May 2021.

Austin notes senior military officials have "expressed concerns about the Taliban and current levels of violence" and that the current force level (of 2500?) is sufficient for "core missions" of CT and support to ANDSF.

Austin says "Taliban have longstanding ties to al Qaeda" and that he will review progress on their commitments with regard to al Qaeda.

Written-up responses submitted before hearing on this link: https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Austin_APQs_01-19-21.pdf