that sounds like a continuation of conflict on some level. but the president is perhaps talk about their is an intelligence effort to find those people and some limited military capacity to carry out strikes against them. not a massive military occupation of a country.

the president saying here today that he never believed that it was a good idea to use u.s. military power in a country that never had and is risen with tribal disputes for centuries now and the president thinks that is not a goal the united states should have ever had or should have going forward. but at same time he's ending the war, he's also promising to go after some of the members of isis-k in continuation of the conflict that does not want to end. >> that continuation would be from bases far and wide, i presume, from kuwait and doha and it is explained today by the pentagon it is quite complicated. >> i was emailing today with a former high ranking military official who served in afghanistan at a very high level that told me the difficulty of not having the bases in the area or in the country is that if you're conducting drone strikes

in afghanistan, you're going to use up about 60% of the drone's flying capacity just going to and from the target. that doesn't leave you a lot of time over target or in order to find the people that you're looking for with those drones. so it makes everything a lot more difficult and tenuous and more expensive to carry out going forward. that is the over the horizon capacity that you hear the president and the others in the military talking about. but it is not an easy thing to pull off as this official was explaining to me earlier today. >> you just wonder if they won't rely on the fact that americans have short memories and we have a lot of adoption concerns that may occupy a lot of our time. and after august 31st, after tuesday of next week, the soldiers are gone, the cameras are gone and jen psaki now. >> you've heard from the president but i wanted to provide the opportunity to answer additional questions from all of you. one thing to note. at the top, as a mark for respect, the united states flag

will be flown at half-staff and military and naval vessels and the district of columbia and throughout the united states and its trrtss and possessions until april -- august 31st in honor of the victims of the senseless acts of violence in kabul, afghanistan. with that, amir. >> thanks. one of my colleagues asked a question about what the president would say afghans that won't get to leave. the president said getting every single person out can't be guaranteed. was he lowering expectations for smaller but still significant population that is trying to get out but still there? >> that wasn't his intention, i think what he was conveying is that at a time where the taliban is taking over the country, certainly not our preference as you all know well. it is not going to be possible for every single afghan,

millions potentially, who want to leave afghanistan, to be evacuated. at the same time, i think you also heard the president make clear there is not a end to our commitment to getting american citizens out and who are not ready to leave and getting partners out and those who have serve add long side the united states over the last 20 years. >> real quick on the taliban. they are in the perimeter for the suicide bomber, they would presumably have to be beyond the taliban guard. so why do you think the taliban there part are responsible for what happened today? >> well i think general mckenzie addresses this this afternoon and he made clear and i understand your question is slightly different but i think it is worth repeating that we don't have any information at this point in time, and that has not changed over the last couple of hours to suggest that the taliban had knowledge of or was engaged in or involved in this

attack. obviously what happened today and the loss of lives of u.s. service members, of afghans is a tragedy, it is horrific, one of the worse things if not the worst thing we've experienced during president biden's time in office. but, again, we don't have any additional assessment at this point in time. go ahead. >> just a few things, jen, to clarify. he talked about the ongoing mission to get people out after the 31st. but to be clear, as of tonight, is it still the plan to get all u.s. forces out by august 31st. >> nothing has changed on that time line. >> okay. did the president, based on his public comments over the last few days, did the president see this coming. >> i think what you have seen the president say and members of the military and the national security is we've been watching the threat of isis-k and had increasing concern over the last couple of days. so this has been a concern that

we have been watching and we saw of course the tragic events happen today. >> and what does today's attack say about u.s.'s ability to keep the terrorist threat in check once the u.s. militaries military forces out of afghanistan. this is something he talked about in july when he reiterated what the plan was. >> you're right. and i appreciate that question. i think it is important for people to know and understand that the threat that is posed by having thousands of u.s. military on the the ground implea. ing a mission, committed to a mission as you heard general mckenzie and the president say. that is a threat. they are a target. people gathering around the airport, that is a threat. and it is very different from isis's ability to attack the united states and attack the homeland. and we will maintain and continue over the horizon capacity with presence and partnership with countries in

the region to ensure that they don't that ability. >> do you know yet if he would go to dover to greet the caskets of those that were killed. >> i'm sure the president will do everything that he can to honor the sacrifice and the service of the lives that were lost today. you didn't ask this question but some others have asked it and he didn't have the opportunity to answer it to provide an update on whether he's called the family members and for those of you who have covered this, you know the process. but for those of you who have not or people watching at home, the process would first go through the pentagon, there is a next of kin notification process. i know general mackenzie spoke to this today. that is the process still underway at this point in time. until that process concludes, the president would not make a call because that is in the first step in the process. and then dover, of course he would consider and want to be a part of any means of honoring the lives that were lost today.

go ahead. >> general mackenzie described this explosion of abbey gate happening at a point after someone had been searched by the taliban. how is the united states still going to work with the taliban the way that the president is describing or just in his remarks to get american citizens and afghan allies out if that is what we're working with. >> look, i'm not trying to sugar coat what we think of the taliban. the taliban is not a group we trust. they are not our friends. we have never said that. it is also the reality that the taliban controls large swaths of the afghanistan. and to date, because of coordination with the taliban, we've been able to evacuate more than 104,000 people and saved 104,000 lives and that coordination is necessary in order to continue our evacuation measures. now i understand your question, peter and what people knew or

their role was, there is no assessment of their involvement in this. obviously that is at this time. if that changes we'll let you know. >> and does the president think they're going to be reliable partners if we're already getting reports that they're not letting afghans to the airport and the u.s. is still at the airport. >> well i think you mean after the 31st or the next couple of days? >> we've heard that it is already happening. >> i note also that as the president just said more than 7,000 people have been evacuated over the course of the last 12 hours while there were active attacks happening. those were individuals who were let through gates and got us well over 100,000 people who have been evacuated. again, this is not about trust. this is not about relying on the taliban as an equal partner. no one is suggesting that. but because they control large swaths of the country including the perimeters around the airport, we have to coordinate with them to get people out.

and one more thing. we have enormous amount of leverage. this is our view our time, that includes economic leverage and leverage that we will make clear to the taliban as it relates to coordination and continue to get american citizens and our partners out. go ahead. >> there were reports of an explosion happening throughout the afternoon in kabul or evening now and this is a beginning of a process of the military beginning to destroy equipment on the ground. you could confirm that is what is taking place. >> i would defer you to the u.s. military on specific steps of their reto grade process which would have to take place in advance of a departure. >> and what the president just articulated the confidence that they have enough troops on the ground at this point to facilitate the mission. i guess the question is how could that be the case given what we saw today, the tragic loss of life, doesn't that call for additional and reinforcements needed on the ground and what is the concern for the ongoing threat that

isis-k continues -- >> there is an on going threat. and every day our troops are on the ground they are at risk and that is the reality. and the pentagon said today these were attacked that we had obviously had intelligence in terms of over the last several days of our rising concerns. but i will tell you that as it relates to your first question, mike, i've been sitting in these meeting as well. and every single meeting the president asked the pentagon, nearly every meeting before they conclude, is there anything else you need. do you need equipment or troops or resources and he asked that again today to complete the mission over the next couple of days and going after the individuals, the terrorists who killed service members today as well. go ahead. >> thank you. you just noted you were in some of the meetings today. was there ever a point where the president was reconsidering this deadline of having all u.s. forces out byy august 31st? >> no. and here is why. the president relies on the

advice of his military commanders and they continue to believe that it is essential to get out by the 31st. that is their advice and there are several reasons for that one is the ongoing threats and the second is that we need to be -- we want to be able to have the ability to get into those out who have been partners of ours after the 31st and the best way to do that is to stay on the the timeline. >> and will the mass evacuations end before the actual 31st. >> i'm not getting into an operational flight line and i don't expect the department of defense will either. we'll let you know twice as day as we have updated numbers. >> is there alternative plan to how to get the people seeking to leave to the airport given it is potentially perilous to go and wait outside of the gates to get in. >> there are a range of operations and operational approaches that are commanders and military on the the ground

have been utilizing over the course of several days if not more i'm not going to outline those from here but that is why they're in touch with american citizens, why they're in touch with partners we're working to evacuate to get them safely to the airport and evacuated at the appropriate time go ahead >> is it your opinion that the president has the authority he needs from congress or wherever else to continue operations beyond august 31st he kind of talked about pursuing isis-k wherever and whenever he needs to is there any expectation that they'll need any additional authority to do so. >> i don't believe there is expectation of additional authority needed. >> and what about for military commanders on ground, will they come back to conduct counter-terrorism operations to do anything of the sort. >> well again as the president just said in his remarks, he's asked them to draw up plans.

he believed he will not forgive and forget and hunt down these terrorists and kill them wherever they are. he ask asked for plans. >> and is it possible with do that with no military bases in the surrounding -- around afghanistan. >> would you note for you, as you know, we've covered the issues quite closely, we have a range of counter-terrorism capacities where we don't have military bases i'm not going to outline the approach from military and i will leave it to them to take and out line anything on their time line. >> you mentioned concerns about the terror threat and the president said each day of operations brings added risk to our troops today we saw the deadly consequences of that if the risk rose tomorrow and keep growing the next day and beyond that, how should americans feel about this operation continuing right now for the coming days? >> well, i would say first you heard general mackenzie convey

clearly that we had every intention of continuing this evacuation mission over the coming days. and that they plan for incidents of these kind. i mean to the degree that they can. they have every intention to continue the president has regular consultations every day, multiple times a day on days like this about how they see the circumstance on the ground but that is our expectation at this point in time that it will absolutely continue over the coming days. >> and could you give us details about how the president spent his day. he was expected to get briefed at 9:00 and that is when the first reports came in of this. walk us through what he did over the coming hours and the color behind the scenes today. >> sure. for people who are watching, color means additional details of what he was up to i will say, karen, that the initial reports of the attacks came in as members of his national security team were gathering in the situation room

for a regular meeting with the president. so they were just gathering and sitting down so gathering in the room those initial reports came in at that time. as the president arrived in the situation room, one of the first updates he received of course was about the attacks on the the ground in kabul. there were -- this was a developing situation as it has been through the course of the day and through the course of his briefing with his national security team this morning, his commanders on the ground also and in the region gave regular updates as they learned more information. once he left the situation room, those updates preceded through the course of the day. he's been in constant contact with his national security adviser and secretary of state and defense and military commanders both here and in the region, throughout the course of the day, receiving updates of what is happening on ground. >> was there ever a second meeting of that entire national security team in the sit room.

>> no, this is the members through the course of day. >> and to clarify, how was he? how was he mood, how was he in dealing with the incoming information, how was he in asking the questions of military commanders. >> well, i would say that anyone who has watched the president up close, which is most of you, knows that the -- putting the lives of service men and women at risk and those decisions that i have to make as commander-in-chief weigh heavily on him any day when you lose service members is maybe the worse day of your presidency and hopefully there is not more but we are early in the presidency at this point in time. so i would say he was somber and as he said today, outraged at the the terrorists taking the lives of service members and he wanted to make clear to the public, he wanted to have all of the information that he could before he spoke to the american

people so he could convey exactly what we knew at the point in time where he addressed the public and he has wanted very detailed updates of exactly what we know about what is happening on the ground and that is why he's been in constant contact with members of the national security team. >> could you confirm the reports that this is now 13 members that died. >> i would defer to the department of defense. >> and we heard from general mackenzie talking about the extremely active threat stream but how would you sum up now the level of confidence that the administration has, that there won't be another attack like this before the completion of the evacuation mission. >> i can't give you that assessment as i think our national security team have said these are orn going threats we're watching them closely. but i can't give you that assessment from here go ahead. >> speak a little bit on what the impact of flights has been

you have been touting u.s. and coalition flights but this attack has slowed some of the flights. other countries are now out. does this restrict band winl that you thought you would have or fewer americans in afghan, are they getting out because of this attack. >> it is a good question, josh, and one of the reasons we put out the numbers twice a day is because we want you to have an understanding of how many were able to get out. over 7,000 people were evacuated over the last 12 hours including members from coalition partners and we're working now and this is one of the piece the president has been focuses on, is getting as many people out and on to planes as possible even ooze we working to address the security threats on ground but i don't want to give you a prediction because our u.s. military is incredible and working even while their facing these security threats to continue the evacuation mission. >> -- the case at the airport now, at this hour, can americans

go or can afghan sivs getting through check points and to the airport or are you still discouraging them to do that what is the situation on the ground in that perimeter. >> we are giving very specific direction to american citizens and others on when they should come to the airport and where they should meet and how they come to the airport. we're not going to outline or detail those from here or in any public manner but that the the direction to pay attention to the security alerts and to pay attention to notifications and contacts that they are receiving from us or coalition partners. >> just to clarify there were warnings that led up to this attack other countries and the administration has warned this is a dangerous situation, et cetera you could speak as to whether there was specific indications this was being planned and do you have any specific indications that others with being planned now. >> i'm not going to get into specific intelligence, but i will tell you and reconfirm for you that the threat is ob going and we're continuing to watch

and assess the threat. go ahead. >> president biden has spoken a lot about the need to end the forever wars how do you add -- how do you add a forever war in afghanistan if you are still or if the united states is still continuing to attack isis-k. >> well, first i would say this is a specific case today where 12 individuals service members and 15 who were wounded today. and certainly i would expect any president of the united states would be clear that he would avenge those deaths and the acts of terrorists and i don't think that came as a surprise to anyone but the president stands by as he outlined to all of you, just in last hour, his commitment to bringing an end to this war, as he has implemented over the course of the last month and what we're talking about is avenging the deaths from terrorists we're not talking about sending tens of thousands of troops back for an endless war that we've been fighting for 20 years. >> if i may ask a bit of a

related question to josh when the obama administration was bringing in syrian refugees, there was a lot of pushback from various states and locals about refugees coming into their communities. how do you see that situation this time around is this going to be different? do you anticipate that same kind of pushback and hard feelings? >> we'll see but i will tell you that what we have been working to do is to work closely with governors, with localities, with local leaders to give them detailed briefings on what our vetting process looks like what the background check process looks like before any individual comes into the united states and that is a background check process that is thorough before they are allowed to come in and step on u.s. soil. we also know that there are some people in this country, even some in congress who may not want to have people from another country come as refugees to the united states. that is a reality.

we can't stop our prevent that on our own but we are going to continue to communicate our in tensive vetting process and we've been working hard to do that behind the scenes and we're going to continue to convey clearly that this is also part of who we are, part of the fabric of the united states and not back away from that go ahead. >> thanks, jen there is an american detained by the taliban since last year, his name is mark fredericks and i'm wondering if the administration has been in negotiations to release him as part of the prior negotiations with the taliban. >> we certainly raised his case in every opportunity and it has certainly by -- been raised but i don't have any update. >> and you said there is a threat for the remaining days that the u.s. troops are in kabul. are there any additional precautions taken to protect the troops you couldn't send in additional troops but other precautions that are taken. >> i don't think i'll get into operational details of what is happening on the ground. certainly there are steps taken to protect our troops on the ground by the commanders who are

leading the efforts on the ground go ahead in the middle >> thank you, jen. just last week the president said that we make clear that any -- [ inaudible ] was this an attack or were forces targeted was this at the airport or operations disr -- disrupted and would this qualify as a swift and forceful response. >> i think the gist addressed exactly that when he said we will not forgive, we will not forget and we will hunt you down. >> outside bombers, people who live so they could kill themselves. >> he's referring to the attack of terrorists from isis-k who launched this attack and killed u.s. service members. >> shouldn't he be going after that. >> i don't think he could have been more clear. go ahead. >> at least 67 how democrats have signed on to a letter asking the president to raise the refugee cap in fiscal year

2022 to at least 200,000 i think you're looking at about 125,000 right now. is that something that the white house is willing to accept >> i have not talked to the president about this specific question whatly tell you is that what we're trying to do is get our muscles working again both in our systems an the incredible refugee groups that are working on welcoming refugees from around the country and working on getting our vetting processes and systems around the world that need to be in good shape in order to welcome refugees to get as many as we can. but i have not had a conversation about him about raising the cap beyond the 125 i'm happy to do that go ahead. >> given that kabul has been the only departure point in the country, i wonder if the administration knows how many of the american citizens and green card holders an sivs in the country still are outside of kabul and if there have been or may be in the future efforts to

go out and rescue people from those places >> yes on your latter question i'm not going to get into more details an we'll continue to be. on your former question, the vast majority are within the kabul advicin the but as state department provided an update earlier today but i know there has been a lot happening today so let me reiterate. of the 1500 that they briefed on yesterday, roughly 500 have been evacuated. and so we're talking about roughly an additional thousand that we are -- we believe remain in afghanistan and the vast majority over two-thirds informed us they were taking steps to leave and we are in touch with, as what we're working through and what we're focused on every single day. >> so just to be clear you're saying that those missions, even if you have to be vague, they have taken place. >> i haven't confirmed whether they have or haven't i'll leave you that to the department of defense.

but we are committed to getting american citizens home and out of afghanistan should they want to leave and that includes people around the country. go ahead >> today general mackenzie said that right now they are focused on other active threats to u.s. service members there on the ground are all of the threats that the u.s. is currently facing from isis-k or are there other groups that may be bad actors >> i'm just not goingto detail about ongoing life threats. >> and are -- do we know if the president still feels as though the chaos and the violence that we've seen there on the ground in kabul was all unavoidable even at this point >> you mean from about 11 days ago? >> yes. >> well, would you say i think i have spoken to this a few times phoe , if we go back to days ago, if that is your question, we didn't anticipate that the leadership, the afghan government would leave in the manner or would

topple in the manner and the time line that they did or that the afghan national security forces would cease to protect the airport and parts of kabul that is not what we anticipated in that time line. that is true what i will say and reiterate again is that within 24 to 48 hours we have secured the airport and since then we have evacuated 104,000 people. >> how would you describe the relationship with the taliban and after the attack and are they still helping out with security and what are their relationship right now? >> again this is not a friendship or a relationship where there is trust it is based on trust but we are continuing to coordinate to move american citizens, to move afghan partners and our allies out and fact that we have evacuated 7,000 people in the last 12 or 13 hours now, is evidence of that go ahead >> so two republican senators so far have called on the president to resign over the attacks in afghanistan. what is the white house's

response to that. >> i would say first this is a day where u.s. service members, 12 of them lost their lives. at the hands of terrorists it is not a day for politicals and we would expect that any american, whether they're elected or not, would stand with us in our commitment to going after and fighting and killing those terrorists wherever they live and to honoring the memory of service members and that is what this day is for go ahead. >> hi, thank you yesterday, when i was leaving the white house, i spoke to a group at the white house gate who said that they were service members here in america and our armed forces, various branches and had their photos on posters and seeking help for their families we've prioritized what groups we are helping. namely those who have helped us in the mission but they are not, they are currently in military but they are not people who fit the description for the criteria for

getting assistance however, in our interview, they told me that they are getting assistance can you speak to this priority and who really is eligible to get assistance going forward considering what happened today? i know you've already spoken to them but can you drill down a little bit to make sure people know who we are allowed into the country at this point. >> i'm not sure that i understand your question but let me do my best. american citizens which i assume these u.s. service members are >> they serve here in our country and they're from afghanistan and they have family members there. so they said they went to the state department and the state department was helping them get their family members and they wanted to get attention so that other people in their situation could get their family members in and they didn't seem to fit the criteria so i'm asking to you to clarify. >> are you concerned that we're

helping the family members of those that fought by our side for 20 years and coming to the country through the vetting process or what is the root of your question. >> the root of my question is information for those that need help so i've been doing reporting around people getting correct information about the process. so i want to be able to say in my reporting if you meet these qualifications, you are the folks who could come into the country and i think people want to know that information. >> i think we've been very clear, mona, that u.s. citizens and family members that are dual nationals and some may have lived their whole lives in afghanistan. immediate family members and that means spouses and children and siv applicants and others and vulnerable populations. >> that does have a broad range of meanings because there are a lot of people who are vulnerable in afghanistan and we're going to work as many of those people out as we can. there is a range of programs if vids have questions, information

is available on the the department of defense website. >> over 65 democrats in congress are calling on biden to raise the cap to -- >> i think i just answered this question. >> i'm sorry. >> okay. >> and then the president cited that isis-k was planning attacks on u.s. personnel for quite sometime and that is in part why he was trying to get everyone evacuated by august 31st but that is f that is the case why did the administration make the decision not to do evacuation on military aircraft? >> first i would say that we have over the course of the last 11 days evacuated more than 100,000 people and that is a credit to the u.s. military and the men and women who are serving who have been able to conduct and over see this operation and done it at great risk. and that was an operation that began again just two weeks ago before that time, we had also

evacuated a number of people i can't sbeek to what the difference of the what the isis threat would have been but that is been increasing over time which we have spoken quite publicly about go ahead >> despite the lack of true trust that you and president and everyone is highlighting in this relationship with the aliban, it is understandable, having said that, a remarkable level of cooperation. some that no would possibly imagine. and as the president is saying it is ongoing now despite the incident, um, given that, after the 31st, is it actually conceivable that there could be some kind of long-term relationship on the the mutual interest that the president talked about, security and humanitarian aid and working alongside the taliban authorities in afghanistan long-term? >> well i would say first that we will continue to work to get people out of afghanistan.

even after the 31st. and we will need to coordinate with the taliban in order to do that i'm not going to label that a partnership or anything other than continued coordination. and we again believe we have a great deal of leverage to implement that commitment. >> on other issues, beyond the evacuations, say that gets done hopefully it is done, but there is also the security, the terrorism, the humanitarian aid, could you see this kind of mutual interest agenda continuing with them >> don't want to get ahead of where we are we are committed to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of afghanistan. there are a range of international partners who are committed to doing the same thing. united nations will continue to have a presence on theground which is a mechanism for delivering a great deal of that assistance and i would just reiterate again, we would need to have a continued coordination in order to continue to get people out and evacuate them as we are going to plan to do after

the 31st go ahead >> thanks. i have two for you this morning -- tweeted that the evacuation operations won't wrap up in 36 hours and that they'll be evacuating as many people as they can until the aentd of the mission. what is the administration define the end of the mission as is it the 31st or once we evacuate everyone that the administration has promised to get out. >> the end of this mission, yes, the 31st but our commitm to getting american citizens out who may not be ready to depart, continues. there is no deadline there is no end of that deadline, end of that timeline to getting our afghan partners out. and i think he put out that tweet, john kirby, put out that tweet because there was a great deal of reporting that was inaccurate, that we were ending evacuation flights tomorrow and that is not accurate. >> and the president promised that they'll continue to get any

american who wishes to get out of afghanistan after the 31st, how is the administration going to ensure the safe evacuation for u.s. citizens without troop presence when even with troop presence we just saw this attack happen. >> well, again, over the last 11 days we've evacuated 104,000 people including the vast majority of americans who were in afghanistan but our commitment does not end, right. we are continuing to work to get every american citizen who wants to leave out before the 31st we will need to have -- we will need to continue to coordinate the taliban in order to get people to the airport and out from the airport those operational details and discussions are ongoing and as we have more to report to all of you, we will provide that information. go ahead. >> thank you, jen. moments ago you said that the commitment doesn't end at the end of the month and despite august 31st, the commitment remains during the remarks moments ago

the president said that we were going to try to get, quote, as many people out as we can. is he trying to prepare the american public for a sort of harsh reality that some americans might still be left on the ground there when we leave >> there are some americans who may not have decided to leave by the 31st that is possible many of these americans who remain are dual citizens they may have extended family members, 20 family, 30 family members that they want to bring with them and not ready to make that decision yet. and our commitment does not end. we'll continue to work to get them out but his objective and focus and laser focus which he asked for many updates a day on is getting every american who wants to leave out now and in the next few days that is what our u.s. military is working to deliver on >> jen. >> go ahead. >> as a follow up to that. what are the americans supposed to do -- [ inaudible question ]. >> we've been reaching out in touch with every single american who has reached out to us and we

have contact for via phone, email, text, what's app and that will continue and our focus is on getting every single american out in advance of 31st. >> jen, given that you have intelligence about the attack even as i understand it down to the very gate but were they able to stop it, what hope do you have of thwarting further attacks, the president told us just now and i quote were inevitable and if not isn't the decision to stay potentially the wrong one, is my first question and i have a quick follow up. >> sure. would you say first that general mackenzie spoke to this today, our version of the question which is a very good question. and what he conveyed clearly that their committed, our u.s. military is committed to continuing the mission despite the fact that there are daily risks. and despite the fact that there are ongoing threats. that speaks to their occourage n commitment and service to this country.

obviously anything they need, anything that the national security team needs, our military commanders on ground need to thwart, to prevent these attacks to go after terrorists, they will be granted but i'm not going to get into more details than that. >> and just secondly, you mentioned earlier, i think in answer to katelyn that there were other operations or methods of getting americans to the airport. given what has happened today, what will you do for the thousands or tens of thousands of afghans with and without visa papers were finding it impossible to get to the airport prior to the attacks today who will now be presumably even more feared and confusion as to how they could possibly get out. what did you say to them. >> we are in touch with many of them and we are giving them clear instructions and where to meet, when to come to the airport, where -- how they could get out and evacuated from the country. we are also mindful and providing security threats when warranted as we did last night

to prevent a large gathering, that is a greater attraction to terrorist threats. but we are, for individuals in a are eligible for the program, whether they are siv, p-1, p-2 programs, other vulnerable afghans, we are working to get as many out as we can and continue to work with our partners and allies to continue to get them out. >> could ifollow up on that. it seems now that americans and afghan allies still in afghanistan are facing two choices. either they stay where they are and risk being hunted down by the taliban or they try to get to the airport and risk being blown up by isis how does this evacuation mission continue without evacuees risking this her lives. >> we're in direct contact with every american citizen we have contact information for. email, phone and text and what's app and we're working with each of them and families on how to get them evacuates to the airport. that is the process, i'm not

going to get into more details of how this works and it is not the in the security interest of our troops or those that we're trying to get evacuated. in the back. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> todayly have to check on that for you. that is a great question i'm not sure he has today. but i will check on that for you. and as you know he's meeting with the prime minister of israel tomorrow. okay, thank you, everyone. >> having secretary austin focus on a stand down or mark milley saying that the grettest threat to the -- >> jen psaki wrapping things up there and the news from that is a continuation of the same story. we're doing everything we can. we're contacting everyone american, we're doing everything we can for every vulnerable afghan we'll continue until august 31st and after august 31st we'll do what we can to fulfill our mission. but for now, the overall goal is

get out of afghanistan the evacuation flights will continue the terror threat remains. the pentagon tells us as recently as last few minutes, the threat is imminent the threat is urgent the threat is real and identified and they're working to stop it they're doing the best they can to get everybody out of afghanistan at long last our chief washington eamon javers she didn't make a lot of news but she made the point we're getting out and that is it and we're done on tuesday. >> shep, that is right i mean jen psakis a task was to deliver harsh truth to the american people and strategic vagueness about the situation on the nt ground in kabul harsh truths are that the united states is leaving this country and that the taliban is going to control it and ultimately american troops are still very much in harm's way here even as this mission is being undertaken she did not take several

opportunities to reassure the american public that this is going to stop now with this suicide attack that we saw today. in fact, the expectation is very much the opposite. there could be additional attacks. those are the harsh truths and she also delivered that with strategic vagueness in the sense that she couldn't offer very much specific information about when the last flights will be. she said that august 31st deadline continues to be in place. but left open at least to my ear the possibility that we could be out of there even before that. she said she won't say specifically when the last flights will happen and can't say exactly how americans are getting to the airport and she also can't say anything about the details of the americans military retro grate, are they scuttling their ammunitions. >> i don't know about you, but i get the sense when general was speaking from cent com when he said we're going to be out before the end of the month, you don't want them to -- you don't want to tell them at noon on

tuesday our last flight is going to fly out if you want to shoot at it -- that is not how you do this, you know. >> right the only element of surprise is to go sooner than the taliban expects them to go so that is one way that they could kind of continue to control the tempo here and the militaryez love to control and not let the enemy control the timing of everything that might be one option the other thing i would say, shep, from a communications perspective, i've covered a number of white houses over the decade or more it is very unusual for a white house to have the president of the united states come out and speak and take questions and then to have the press secretary come out and take questions. usually the white house will say the president spoke and he's taken questions an that is it from us for today. in this case they felt a need to put jen psaki out to take additional questions and i think, this is just my interpretation because this is a white house that has been criticized for not being

transparent enough about this operation and she's attempting to answer just about every question in the room not all of them. but a lot of questions from the correspondents in the room to convey to the american people that they're answering the questions of the press and by extension the american people about this they're sensitive to this idea they're not taking enough questions an not providing enough answers to americans. so that is why you saw this unusual arrangement where the president would speak and then the press secretary would speak. the danger in doing that politically is that you create the impression that you have to send your press secretary. >> i think your spot on. because for the first four and a half hours we got tweets from kirby at the pentagon. and then we got what was to me an extraordinary event where you have the head of cent com on a zoom call essentially answering questions with no hemming and hawing and laying out real truths from that moment on

we've gotten questions asked questions an answered for most of the day >> the white house benefits here by the timing. as you point out it is very early in the wee hours of the morning in kabul right now. so you could assume that things are in a holding pattern for the next couple of hours the timing of the president coming out and answering questions was that this was an ongoing event and it had to be sure that it was over for the moment before they could put the president of the united states out. you don't want to have the president of the united states out while there is an attack on going have that v that split screen image and they had to be sure that things were secure or tamped down for now. the fact that it is the wee hours of the morning in afghanistan might have given them the opportunity to take this moment in front of the united states, domestic audience, which is largely on the the east coast and back toward the west coast in the evening time frame and answer some of those questions while things are sleepy in bagdad, in kabul,

sorry. >> in sunrise and sunset are your concerns and sunrise is about three hours away ken delanian is with us. covering national security and intelligence ken, the intelligence was there. the intelligence was serious, specific and actionable. the intelligence was isis-k, this is what we told us at this time last night, almost exactly this time, isis-k wants to come to that gate and attack those marines. don't get near that gate we could not stop it that is exactly what happened. >> yeah, that is right, shep it was rather remarkable the fidelity that they did have with the intelligence and you could surmise that, look, the united states still has very good signals intelligence coverage of afghanistan. by that i mean they could intercept phone calls and computer messages. and they oeb the mobile phone network and that will continue so they will still have that fidelity and that may be where some of the intelligence came from and the other factor here is

that the taliban is a sworn enemy of isis-k. these are rival organizations. so this may be an instance where the taliban was cooperating and provide information to the u.s but it underscores the precarious security situation that even though they knew it was coming they couldn't stop it because they are inside of the gates and they just don't have the same kind of footprint that they used to have in that country and that really sort sort of underscores the situation going forward, shep. jen psaki as talking about standoff capability for counter-terrorism. well, it is true that the cia has waged a drone war against al qaeda and other terrorists groups very successfully, and we've done drone strikes, the united states in pakistan, iraq, syria, yemen, but in all of those countries, shep, we had people on the ground agents that were helping identify where the targets are,

where they're bgoing to be at a certain time it is noft just satellite and signal or intelligence and we won't have that in afghanistan because there is no embassy, so there are no cia officers or very few going forward in afghanistan. and so current and former intelligence officials tell me that it is going to be a difficult slog to go forward to gather intelligence on terrorist threats in afghanistan particularly related to al qaeda. perhaps they will find the isis-k people that carried out the attack because it is in the tal talibans interest. >> it sounds like they know who it is. >> yes, so i wouldn't be surprised if they found those people and eliminated them. because that is in the taliban's interest but when it comes to the hundreds of al qaeda figures, some of whom were let out of prison in recent weeks, who have a close ties with the haqqani network with a taliban organization, it is going to be really difficult for the u.s. to know what those people are up to, what they are plotsing and

to find them and to kill them, we're two hours from sunrise and at 5:22 a.m. in kabul in the morning. and i wonder, you cover intelligence i wonder what your intelligence sources are saying about their level of concern i mean they've told us openly and publicly, we believe these attempts will -- what is that, i'm sorry? oh, the flag is just been lowered at the white house as promised and we have a camera up there that has been watching it as ordered by the president. flags will be at half-staff all across the nation on all public facilities on military bases around the world to honor those who lost their lives who were killed in action today in this support of freedom. you see that and you think about the families who they have just three more days or five more days, my son, my daughter, they're coming home tuesday, it

is it finally and they died today. it is just heartbreaking but i do want to ask you about tomorrow morning because like i said, it is about two hours to sunrise and what is your intelligence saying about, a., their capability, and b., their intent. >> and their deeply concerned about isis-k and in fact, shep, two taliban officials told our local correspondent in kabul that they -- the taliban made a strategic error by allowing those prison breaks, particularly at bagram where hundreds of hardened siz fighters escaped and we reported this today, they acknowledged among those isis figures were sophisticated bomb makers so this is young fighters who believe the taliban is not extreme enough and they abhor any american presence and we have 6,000

troops still inside of the airport. so they are a target their absolutely a target and we have less capable than a month ago to collect intelligence around that airport. the one silver lining is there appears to be a functioning relationship between u.s. forces and the cia and the taliban. the taliban is even according to many reports helping americans get through. so, to the extent that the taliban, it is in the taliban's interest to find and stop and help the u.s. stop the isis attacks and there are a lot of dangerous people in afghanistan who want to kill americans. >> and there is also a network you mentioned the prison break in large part the taliban were letting their own people out as i understand it. but isis-k and others were mixed up in there and there is an isis-k network, they've been fighting the taliban in the eastern part of that country for years now. >> that is 100% correct.

and they are in many ways ethnically driven. there is a tribal divide but they're also younger and more radical and they have more of an interest in mounting terrorist attacks against americans right now than anyone else in the country. and they remain a threat, shep. >> can you give us a tick tock on the challenges that the intelligence community faces specifically as a result of today's attacks. >> well, of course, i mean, they are now trying to talk to any potential agent they have on the ground, anybody that the cia has been in contact with over the years, who is still in the country, to find out what they know about any potential plots they're combing through every bit of signals intelligence, every mobile phone call, every communication and they're looking and talking to the taliban as well and trying to get information from them about what they know about the locations of some of the these bomb makers.

but as we saw from today, even when they have great intelligence, it is really difficult to stop these kinds of bombing attacks, shep. >> yeah. do you have a sense for how much of a cia presence there still is is it minuscule or larger than that we seem to have some good intel aside from just the digital. >> so it is much less than it was. i don't have a full sense. we're in a kind of a middle ground right now when the u.s. fully leaves it will be a lot less there may be more than we'll have a week from now, but there is a lot less than there was six months ago there were based all over afghanistan where the cia was used to go out and recruit agents and talk to people. that is mostly gone. they're doing it remotely now. but there is still clearly an intelligence gathering presence in the country, shep. >> ken dilanian, as always thanks so much so we're coming up on news hour. there is so much to go through

of what has happened today we now that a thousand americans remain inside kabul and that they are working very hard to try to evacuate them along with all of our afghan friends. the process that will end in earnest on tuesday we're fast approaching 7:00 on the approaching 7:00 on the east coast, 4:00 p.m. on the west coast, 3:30 a.m. in kabul time for the news. >> good evening again from cnbc global head quarters president biden vowing to finish evacuations from afghanistan after a horrific terror attack that killed at least 12 u.s. troops, wounded 15 others and left scores of innocent afghan citizens dead at the airport in kabul. >> we will not be deterred by terrorists we will not let them stop our mission. we will continue the