right, well i know the . ready this is al jazeera ah, hello, there i'm the start the attain. this is the news. our law from our headquarters here and coming up in the next 60 minutes. the crowds are cleared from outside couple airport as the evacuation operation, the end to the final stages hoping to ease tensions in the middle east iraq coast regional summit with saudi arabia and iran. high on the agenda. the fight for equal voting rights marches are underway across the us against new laws that make it

harder for some people to cross their balance. and why chile is largest indigenous rebel group says it no longer recognizes the government even as a new constituent assembly is from the thing. grace are right, i'm. we're harding with sports. christiana, rinaldo returned to his former club. manchester united the english side have reached a deal with you vented to resign the portuguese superstar ah, how the united states is now. one of the last remaining countries still evacuating afghan civilians trying to flee after the taliban takeover. but its efforts to fly . people out have been challenged by what the pentagon cause specific and credible security threats. now they follow those days explosion outside couple airport, which killed at least a $175.00 people, including that teen american service. members. over the u. s. carried out

a drone strike in eastern afghanistan against eiffel k, that's the group behind the bombing. the u. k. meanwhile says it's final flight for civilians is not left cobble and the remaining flight will only be for diplomatic and military personnel. that means hundreds of afghans eligible to fly to the u. k . will be left behind. and for afghans who didn't manage to leave or who decided to stay, life is getting more challenging. hundreds, as you can see, gathered outside a bank in cobble after failing to withdraw cash. many civil servants say they haven't been paid for months. even though it's almost 10 days that i've been waiting here to get my salary. i am an employee of the government. we have a patient at home, we have problems, we cannot take our salary is out a few days ago, the banks reopened, but closed again. give us our salaries so that we can be able to solve problems. while we have multiple reporters monitoring developments for us in afghanistan, rob reynolds is in washington,

d. c will be speaking to him about the us strike and just a few minutes. but 1st, let's speak to robert bride. he's on the ground for us in the afghan capital. couple, rob, i know people are still being warned to stay away from the airport area. what are you hearing about that now? yeah, you do get a real sense that at the airport so that finally we are getting into the game of what has beta very long and often chaotic and matic process. this holy vaccination exercise, we show as signs of that are coming with the taliban. now taking over a lot of the guarding duties from the us military, this is the process that began friday evening with the us. the agreement with the taliban withdrawing from some of the god post on the outer perimeter and withdrawing from some of that god duties inside the airport. and those jobs not being taken over by the taliban themselves as the us reduce the size of that perimeter in prep ration for the final withdrawal of the final boots on the ground

. if you like, it is not meant that people are staying away from the apple. you do get a feeling that a lot of people by now will have given up hope of getting onto a flight that they will realize that it is fairly hopeless. but as flights are still going for others, it will probably make it even more desperate quest to try to get on to some of these last remaining slides. but we do know from the noise is of cross set go and go ahead and so on. though we are seeing few flights now arriving few flights, departing as we're getting closer to this deadline for the end of this evacuation. and rob, we know that there are these warnings that another attack is still likely. how is security being handled across the capital? now, we remain still quite 10 after the bombing on thursday nights. it really puts the whole city on edge that was an increase in security and increase in just

a shots being fired into the by really very twitchy taliban in the streets. really a very fearful that there was going to be an attack in the city itself. this saturday, this is the end of the weekend. people are going back to work at the start of the working. we were interesting that to take you live to the pentagon. now where a briefing is being led by press secretary john cabby on the situation in this kind of on getting underway. let's listen. and as i said yesterday, we have the ability to include evacuees on military air lift out of afghanistan until the very end. this is a massive military diplomatic security and humanitarian undertaking for the united states and our allies. and so i'll give you a specific update of the last 24. yesterday 32 u. s. military aircraft 27. see 17 in 5. see one thirty's departed with approximately 4000 personnel combined with 34 coalition aircraft departures

an additional 2800 personnel left cool for various intermediate staging basis. $66.00 flights left out of the ball yesterday in that 24 hour period with $6800.00 evacuees. today, i can report an updated total evacuation that is more than 117000. the vast majority of which are afghans of this total number, approximately $5400.00 are american citizens. this is an incredible number of people who are now safer, thanks to the heroism of the young men and women who are putting their lives on the line each day to evacuate american and vulnerable afghans out of control. threats to our forces and to this operation remain real and significant. i'm sure you can appreciate that. and now with the military mission, trend begins to ending to bull. thousands of service members are working across the

globe and within the united states to complete this incredibly important mission. out of the you come a or 6 flights will transport about 2000 afghans to the united states. since august 20th the u. com, a o r has received nearly 30000 vulnerable afghans and evacuees. a good example of how we're building out capacity. as we execute this incredibly and more important mission, a flight from italy will fly to philadelphia international airport. the 2nd us onward location to receive flights. as north com, commander general van herc said, in his brief, yesterday, our total capacity across multiple u. s. installations is approximately 21000 and growing. we're steadily working to increase the capacity to 50000 by september 15th. right now we are hosting approximately $8000.00 and afghan applicants at fort mccoy. fort bliss,

fort lee and joint base mcguire dix, blank lake erst, a dedicated team of military, civilian and contract personnel are working closely with numerous agencies, both government and non government, to ensure further requirements and additional capabilities are available. we will keep you updated on this. on this effort. south. com continues to conduct humanitarian relief operations in haiti and north come while simultaneously executing evacuation flights as postured to support fema as the lead federal agency and preparing for tropical storm ida. lastly, i want to share that department of defense will shortly announce the names of the cert, 13 service members who were killed in service to their country. we agree with the gold star families, friends and loved ones of our fallen. they will be remembered and revered among americans who have served in afghanistan in operations. freedom sent no enduring

freedom from ok and or have anything to add. so we'll go read the questions. thank you, john. couple questions on the the stroke last night in afghanistan. don't tailor. it said that to high profile targets were killed and one wanted you to i think said one with this was all the same strike. was it a single strike? and can you explain any more about whether these individuals were directly involved in the thursday bombing a couple airport. so it was without getting into too much tactical detail. and in terms of munitions used, i would tell you it was a single mission and to, to get these targets. and as the assessments and information flowed over

time, we were able to recognize that another was, was killed as well. and one wanted. so, i mean, battle damage assessment is, you know, sometimes takes time, information comes in as we have more clarity, we want it to be transparent about that. but the planner, facilitator description, does that mean they were involved directly, and the couple they're part time. they were isis key planners, and facilitators, and that's enough reason there alone. i won't speak to the details of this, of these individuals, or what their specific roles might be. but as the general said, we have the ability and the means to carry out over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities and we're going to, we're going to defend ourselves and leave it at that. thank you. i'd like to ask you another question about just about the airport situation at the moment. yes. is it true that only us passport holders are being allowed onto the airport now for through the gates? any us passport, whole or that wants to get in can get in and we are still if i'm wrong,

i don't think i'm wrong, where we are still processing and getting on planes. s i v. applicants as well as vulnerable afghans ringing out onto the airport. as i know, yeah. ok, thank you. i don't think that's change. just give us the names of the 2 individuals killed in this right now. we were not going to release the names because we're not gonna release the names. and if i can just go back to thursday, a suicide bombing, there appear to be images and reports from the ground that some of the african civilians killed may have been shot by the marines at the gate. at this point in time, since we're 48 hours, do you have any evidence that the marines or any of the us troops may have shot injure, a wound that way we can confirm that and was certainly not a position to deny it either. we are investigating this and as we get more information that we can reliably communicate to you about this and that we will

yeah. tar dire worrying thing. don't approach the game. does this airstrike have anything to do with that potential for future attacks? he talk about what capabilities isis might have lost in the storm strike. well, couple of things. i'll let the state department speak for the advisory. they sent out that is not uncommon for them to do that, particularly in a country like african stand. and they're constantly watching the threat environment as are weak and they're doing a prudent, responsible thing to inform americans they're in cobble about what's best for their own safety. but again, i think that the state department speak to the rationale, they're obviously, again, they're, they're, they're doing what they believe they need to do to, to keep people safe. i'm not going to talk about specific capabilities isis may of last, and in the strike they lost a planner and they lost the facilitator and they've got one wanted. and the fact

that 2 of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the earth. that's a good thing, a good thing for the people who are the dentist and it's a good thing for our troops in our forces at that airfield. and i think i'm just going to leave it there and to follow up. can you discuss the level of threat right now? their port, we've seen a number of the allies bring their evacuation operations to close early. well, the us, those day, there's through the 31st. we are going to complete this mission by the end of the month. we've said that nothing has changed about the timeline for us, and we will do this in as safe and an orderly as way as possible. and that includes being able to continue to evacuate right up until the end. but what about the threats that the airport can you describe what we think are still very real? they're very dynamic and we are monitoring them literally in real time. and as i said yesterday, we're taking all the means necessary to make sure we remain focused on that thread stream and doing what we can for force protection. a couple questions. first for

your john to have us troops begun. retrograde withdraw from the airport. we have a gun retrograde you say anything about the number who left? no, i cannot. and then general killer for you please. the number's a military aircraft to have laughter relatively consistent with where they've been for several days. but the number of passengers on them is down from where it, what does that mean that the u. s. is now starting to move some equipment military equipment on this, or there are things that are going out just not full. as we said, you know, our mission to continuing evacuating those as required and to meet the mission requirement by august 30. first is what the commanders are executing. so does that mean that you're starting to take some equipment out on the aircraft or does it or, or, or do you not have enough? or there is equipment leaving on those flights to that was originally planned. and then if i could have one more absence, have there been any attacks on mckenzie talked about how the taliban had boarded

some attacks before thursdays attacked? are there been any other cases that you're aware of that the taliban had actually stopped attackers from getting in towards the airport? i don't have specific reports of that other than as you can see, as we just talked, the security of the base is the most important thing that we're doing to allow us to continue our mission. you said the threat of their names, active and dynamic. is it fair to say that whether or not those people killed deserve to be on face the earth? and i said this threat at the airport remains unchanged. i wouldn't say that it remains unchanged. i didn't say that i said it remains active in dynamic and it does. is it as serious as it was yesterday? it is a serious threat. i'm not sure what,

how any potential terrorist or community thing other than series or that we shouldn't take it seriously. it search yesterday you denied the taliban claim that he had to assume responsibility security in some parts of the airport is that still the case? the taliban do not provide security at the airport itself. that is still the case. and is that going to remain occasion till the end of at some point, do they have to move into the airport to keep the crowds at a while? those last planes take off. i'm not going to talk about the specifics as we get closer to the end. we let me just say this as clearly as i can, we will maintain the ability to defend ourselves in our operations all the way through. yeah, lucas, john to the taliban in any way. provide any intelligence or any support with his

drones? try to kill those 2 faces terrace. i'm not going to talk about intelligence matters one way or the other went out. i'm not going to talk about intelligence matters. one way the alabama supporting the strong, straight and we had useful intelligence on our own to conduct district. do you consider the taliban and how connie network, separate entities. they look at, i'm not going to give you a breakdown here. characterization of the taliban or an economy. you know, lucas, we are, you got to remember what we're focused on here, and that's on getting more people out, getting our troops out, completing this mission. and i'm, i'm not sure what benefit it does for me to try to characterize one group or another. we know that the people that the deputy leader of the taliban is charging her connie who has a $10000000.00 balance on the said people should know is there are these separate entities or we know that there are, there is a certain amount a matter of of commingling here, i mean there's

a marbling if you will of taliban and connie, what i'm pushing back a little bit on your lucas is that is the relevance of that discussion to what we're trying to do today, which is complete and evacuation safely. and to get our, our troops and our forces at the airport out safely. that's what we're focused on. every major. one more question. every major newspaper and television news outlet has said that the u. s. military brass recommended to the president to leave 2500 troops in afghanistan, not pull out and you ask any of those outlets for a correction? i'm sorry, say that one again. every major newspaper and television news outlet has reported that top pentagon brass, the defense secretary to the head of us forces, and then we can extend the chairman, joint chiefs recommended to the president at 2500 us whom should stayed in afghanistan. not been pulled out. have you asked any news outlet for a correction to the stores? thanks for repeating it. we don't make it a habit to talk probably one way or the other. right,

wrong up down more or less about the advice and counsel that pentagon leaders give the commander in chief for the revenue in the record. louis, has there been another helicopter evacuation recently? i don't think that has been kind of follow up in on the discussion about the drone strike yesterday. it's been characterized as being retaliation as being reprisal for the bombing at the airport. is that accurate or was this something that as part of your over the horizon counterterrorism planning, either already this was a little bit of both. i mean, we have the ability to conduct over there as in counterterrorism capabilities. we've talked about that this certainly fits in that mold,

but it's not coincidence that it happened just a couple of days after we lost 13 brave service members. and again, you're calling one a planner and another a facilitator. i believe that you're saying that's one. that's correct, right, that's the characterization individual. what is the difference? i mean, and what, what makes them pardon? actually, they should question, but that is the clarification planner, facilitator that are those that would have the ability to facilitate or help plan in attacks. and that, as we said, that gave us the ability in the authority we had to conduct those missions. are they involved in planning and the minutes the pack? we're not going to go into detail intelligent information that led to the that attack or that strike or future operations that you have. are couple of things to

strike you 1st thing you call them high profile. could you explain to us but not senior. so, and then i have a follow up on the strike. what makes you say their high profile based on the intelligence collected in activities in the past? that was the classification and used for those 10. okay. were, can you just clarify? were you actually targeting both of these individuals or were you targeting one and the other one happened to be there and got struck. we had the intelligence that led us to the target area that allowed for that strike to happen with the b, b a as, as briefed. were you targeting to individuals in the strike? we had intelligence that allowed us to conduct that strike on those multiple individuals. and john, if i could ask you also, so now you have

a strike. what is the assessment or feeling about the impact of this strike on isis k in afghanistan to you, you to great them in any fashion? can you explain that if they're high profile that you turn have you degraded? what is your conclusion about what the impact of this strike actually has been? they have to they have to high profile planners or facility 11 plan i want to go there that are no longer on their muster role. so they have lost some capability to plan and to conduct missions does. but barbara make no mistake. nobody's writing this off and saying, well, we got them. so we don't have to worry about isis k anymore. not the case. as i

said earlier, that the threat stream is still active, still dynamic. we're still laser focused on that and forced protection. and we are thinking for a minute that what happened yesterday gets us in the clear, not a minute, but do we believe that we hit valid targets, bad guys who can do bad things and can plan bad missions? absolutely. and do we think that that will have some impact on their ability going forward? absolutely. what and how much we're just going to have to. we're just going to keep watch in the intelligence going forward. i don't know if you can answer 5 to the united states have a sense even if you can't say named, do you have any sense of who is in command devices k right now? i'm not going to get into specific or charged and intelligence about what we know about the organization. obviously we put a lot of time and effort into learning as much as we can. and i think i just for security purposes, i'm just going to leave it at that show up itself. first of all,

where did be unmanned aircraft come from? a predator arise and okay, so no big reason arise. and then was there were there were reports that the targets were in a vehicle was, is that accurate and or was there any other damage to the infrastructure? as i think the general said right at the top, we're going to be lower to release a lot, a tactical level. be a detail here. want to preserve as much flexibility as we can. so i think you can understand, at least i hope you can understand that we're just not going to be able to answer a lot of that. a detailed stuff right now. and then just to follow up how, what are you doing about the i says k cells in couple itself says clearly these attacks are coming from couple all the terrorists have gone underground. obviously you can't target the city itself. the straits right now. what i would tell you is we're watching the thread stream very carefully. laura,

clearly they have the ability to operate inside cobble. we're mindful of that and we're watching it as closely as we can. and we're obviously trying to make sure that we have available to us as much information in context as possible, so as to prepare for any future attacks. and that certainly we have to assume could come from or be planned out of, or sourced out of places that they might have established themselves in cobble. i think that's really as far as we're going to be able to go right now. ok. couple questions about the airports and when are we officially handing their for over to the taliban? is the taliban going to be running the airport and they're going to running it with the categories. and the turks, as i believe have been reported. we're going to continue to run the airport up

until the end and those details as they continue to be worked out, it will come for. but right now we will continue run that airfield to make sure that we can execute our operations and are some of the gate to the airport. well then shot as been reported. there are gates that are closed. absolutely right now with it. so we said earlier, we do have gates that are continue to be open as we coordinate and still work with the department of state to get people in for evacuation. howard open 1st of all, i express my condolences to the families, the la la was in trouble there despite this massive effort to back to me. but there are a number of organizations including current and former military, that it shows a level of frustration and not be able get people out and they're. ready working in

many ways but. ready that's my question is di cooperating with any of these organizations? we talk about that and then what is your message to these organizations? you've been listening to major general taylor, the deputy director of the joint staff regional operations, as well as the press secretary, john kirby. give an update on the situation in afghanistan at the pentagon. now they've confirmed the 2 high profile i saw k member's was killed and another wounded. and a drone strike as part of the u. s. reprisal mission, and i've got a son. now the pentagon is declining to name them, describes them as one a planner and another as a facilitator for the group. they're saying that these evacuations, we're still seeing, will continue until the end of the month, despite ongoing real and dynamic threats in the couple airport area. well, let's now speak with rob reynolds. he's in washington dc, and he's also across this briefing for us. now, rob, we heard from the white house yesterday that president biden doesn't want those

behind thursday's attack to continue walking this up. and it does seem that the u. s. is making good on their promise. well maybe you will notice if you listen carefully to the pentagon press secretary john kirby. while he described the 2 individuals who were killed by this drones dragon one who was injured as high profile members of ice or k. he would not commit to saying that they were in any way behind the planning of the deadly attack on the cobble air, air base. cobble airport that killed 13 us service members, and many, many africans over a $170.00 afghans. he would not say that you would not go that far. so we don't know at this point officially whether these individuals were involved in planning that or whether they were more or less targets of opportunity,

that the u. s. was able to identify through intelligence of various types and then on least the drone strike against them. some other items that we learned from this, kirby saying that there is an active and dynamic threat at the, at the airport in cobble of that. the u. s. forces there are aware of this and are taking every step they can to prevent any further attack to prevent loss of life. he also said that the the, the us will continue. well, general taylor said the us will continue to control the airport right up until the 31st of august, which he indicated was still the end date for the operation of removing afghans and american citizens. and he said in an update that at to date more than

117000 of those individuals had been removed from cobble on these on these evacuation flights. and kirby finally saying, no one should be under any misapprehension that the drone strike there was carried out, has crippled or destroyed or eliminated the threat posed by ice. ok, he said that is a threat that is ongoing. so it raises some, some questions about what the us role will be going forward in afghanistan. will we see more of this type of so called over the horizon strikes on, on targets in afghanistan, that the u. s. is identified? how will that work.