Women and racial diversity are crucial for the strength of the U.S. armed forces, outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

“I have spent 41 years in uniform, three long tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and everywhere I went on a battlefield, there were women in our formation,” Austin, a retired four-star U.S. Army general, told NBC News in an interview as he prepares to wrap up his Cabinet post under President Joe Biden. 

“I would tell you that our women are the finest troops in the world,” Austin said. “Quite frankly, some of the finest in the world.”

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