>> life today, a briefing from the state department, expecting more briefings about the situation. we will bring it to you live when it starts here on c-span. it shouldn't be more than a few minutes and we will continue afterwards. at 10 a.m. we are expecting a department of defense briefing and that is where we will go on c-span in just under an hour. in this final segment we are asking for your reaction to president biden's defense yesterday of his afghanistan withdrawal, giving his address from the white house yesterday, coming back from camp david to do that. here he is from yesterday.

[video clip] >> i stand squarely behind my decision. after 20 years i have learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw u.s. forces. that's why we were still there. we were clear eyed and plan for every contingency, but i always promised the american people i would be straight with you and the truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. so, what happened? afghanistan's political leaders gave up and fled the country? the afghan military collapsed. sometimes without trying to fight. if anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that any u.s. military involvement in afghanistan now -- ending u.s. military involvement in

afghanistan now was the right decision. we cannot and should not be fighting and dying in a war that afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. we spent over $1 trillion. we trained and equipped and afghan military force some 300,000 strong. incredibly well-equipped. a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our nato allies. we gave them every tool they could need. we paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force. something the taliban doesn't have, the taliban doesn't have an air force. we provided close air support and gave them every chance to determine their own future. we could not provide them with the will to fight for that future. there are some very brave and

capable afghan special forces units and soldiers, but if afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the taliban now, there is no chance that one more year, five more years, 20 more years of u.s. military boots on the ground would have made any difference.

president biden's speech was just political salesmanship. this country for years has on and off dealt with the taliban. and mine correct that the clinton administration saw them as positive? the opium trade? and i think was -- and i

think trump was more out in the open. he continued would have been taking class years and years. the taliban have been the main force regardless of the government in afghanistan. i find them appalling. they are muslim heretics like the wahhabi cult. what they did with those buddhist statues years ago is appalling, but i think this was foreseen and trump understood that. i don't think everybody ever really revealed the power of the taliban. as i said, this goes back to the british empire. host: that's eric in new york. that line for afghanistan veterans. johnny in enterprise, alabama. when were you there? caller: i would like to know about the speech. he mentioned in over their horizon ability to counter terrorism, yet we couldn't predict what was happening the last 10 days.

the second item is opium. thank you. host: when were you in afghanistan? caller: enough. host: i am sorry? we last johnny. this is steve in norman, illinois, a republican. good morning. caller: to that lady before, she did not read the whole thing. they had to have conditions or trump would have went in. and our president should be -- the congress should invoke the 25th amendment on him. he don't deserve to be even dogcatcher. host: germantown, maryland, this is nate, a democrat. caller: there's no doubt this was a disaster for biden. he bears a lot of responsibility for what has occurred, if not all of it. he is president and should take

responsibility for what has occurred. post: that's nate. along with that address, plenty of coverage throughout the day on c-span about the various events, reacting to the fall of kabul, including the emergency you and security council meeting yesterday morning. the u.s. ambassador to the next steps for refugees in afghanistan. here's a portion of what she had to say. [video clip] >> president biden has made clear that any action that put u.s. personnel or our mission at

risk will be met with a swift and strong military response. the united states promises to be generous in resettling afghans in our own country and i am heartened by the pledges we have seen from other nations to do the same. we need to all do more and the time to step up is now. we urge afghanistan's neighbors and others in the region and beyond to give refuge, be it temporary or permanent, to afghans attempting to flee. and together, we must do everything we can to help afghanistan -- to help afghans who wish to leave and seek refuge. host: linda thomas-greenfield yesterday at the united nations. your phone calls this morning and this last hour of the washington journal. mohammed has been waiting in los angeles, democrat, good morning.

caller: thank you for taking my call. everybody is here blaming president biden for this impossible debacle, which i don't see that has happened, but this effort of drawing down our troops was precipitated by former president donald trump, and just as your previous guest mentioned, several taliban prisoners, hundreds, were released by donald trump. u.s. officials met with the taliban in doha, qatae prio to trump leaving government. during were to, we bombed germany, japan, but they became our allies with help through the marshall plan to rebuild germany. germans had resolved to rebuild their country. afghans have no such resolve. i have been to afghanistan on many occasions over the last 20

years. afghans identified by their tribe. they don't identify as an afghan. you cannot go and rebuild the tribal feudal society. we gave up over 2400 service members lives, tens of thousands injured, over $1 trillion spent in afghanistan over 20 years, and we could not teach them how to become civil and democratic. host: did you see have been to afghanistan? caller: on many occasions. i am in the area rug business. over the past 20 years, the u.s. [indiscernible] -- to help these farmers come off the opium. selling rugs all my life. this beautiful business. all the women were weaving the rugs. post: when do you think -- host:

when do you think you will be able to go back? caller: i don't think i will ever be able to go back. afghanistan has no natural resources, so the taliban will again cultivate the opium business. that is how they are going to make money. this is a problem for pakistan, iran. this is not a u.s. problem. the gulf nations have fun. they can help afghanistan if they want. we cannot pass a one point $2 trillion package for our own country to build our own country. two former presidents could not pass an infrastructure bill. we have spent over $1 trillion in afghanistan and look. they have no courage. they put down their guns. they fled the country. abraham lincoln did not flee the country. he gave up his life to save the republic. host: that is mohammed out of los angeles. edward is next out of nebraska.

good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just noticed yesterday and today, watching president biden give his speech, it looks like -- this is kind of off-the-cuff, but it looks like he must have fell or something because he has scratches around his eyebrows and nose. you know, i am 72 and i have fallen a couple times and it has done the same to me, but that is off the record. host: hard to be off the record on a live show. caller: ok. host: go ahead. i am not sure i noticed what you were talking about. your thoughts on the withdrawal? caller: ok. i think that trump and pompeo had it probably right. they made the deal with the taliban and they drew down from

25,000 or whatever it was down to 2500 without incident and they realized, i think, that the taliban was going to have to play a role in, you know, in the formation or reformation of afghanistan, and i think that president biden had it in his mind that, you know, he has been so anti-trump ever since day one, he was not going to stick to that and he just would go in there and do it his own way, and in the process, it just blew up in his face. host: that said in nebraska. a special line for veterans of the war in afghanistan, (202) 748-8003.

otherwise, the phone lines as usual. -- out of kabul from the airport. we will show you some of the front pages as we hear from jackenzie next. germantown, maryland, republican. >> thank you for my call. i just want to commend -- everything is fighting in america. we should not be. we should regret our withdrawal because america has invested enough. you can take a horse to the river but you cannot force the horse to drink.

we have done this for 20 years. we have given them everything they need, everything they needed to form a nation we gave them. we cannot do more than this. further delaying in afghanistan means that america is colonizing afghanistan, and that time is over. we are done. and it is time to move, so i don't blame anyone. i don't blame any president for pulling out of afghanistan. it is time. the time is now. host: >> actually, i was there several times. i was in there in 2000 -- four times, actually. truthfully, i want to talk about the senior generals, as opposed to the president of the united states. the president is

commander-in-chief, but i have really been disheartened by his decisions and the politicalization of senior leaders. these things did not happen in the past. i think the military is getting more and more politicized. with that, the senior folks are giving bad advice to the leadership. that is the only problem. that is my observation. host: what does it mean to be there in a supporting role? >> supporting it -- i do not want to get specific to my job. host: re-mostly in kabul? guest: no, i have been in bagram and many other places. host: as someone who has been there, what did you think of that scene from the international airport there? caller: it is heartbreaking. one of them is it -- one of the missions was a primarily ee back mission of noncombatants.

it looks disjointed. not looked, it is disjointed. that took me by surprise. that is a failure. that is a failure of senior leadership. obviously, the president is the commander in chief, but the senior leadership is very disappointing. they are getting involved in things we should not be. caller: is there anything have seen over the past 20 years in afghanistan that you think had it right? host: i am sure. actually, i was relieved. from the tactical decision-making, i think our decisions were right. we adjusted to the battle and the enemy. but the political and larger policy decisions always hampers the military action and i think that is where the disconnect was. a lot of our junior leaders are phenomenal. soldiers, unbelievable.

i want to include the afghani's. senior leadership really let us down. host: are you in touch with anybody still over there trying to get out? caller: anyone over there? no. most of the people i am still in touch with -- i have been out of there for a while. most of the people i have been in touch with our contractors and things like that. i'm getting reports. what you're showing on television is the accurate. a lot of chaos and uncertainty. unfortunately, they believe it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. host: from the contractor perspective, where they all out before this went down? what we know about contractors or what do you know of -- in your contacts? were they able to get out? caller: it is ongoing. most of them work for larger companies that are -- hello? host: i'm listening. caller: most of them are larger companies. they are still negotiating

getting their people out and things like that. was of them are out. i have two individuals i know of that are there by choice. host: why by choice, if you can say? caller: again, it is his business. i believe they are there for their company and seeing what their role can be, either post this madness or during this time. it is a wait type of attitude. they do have the means to get out of the country as long as the airport stays open. that is a critical thing. the airport must stay open. that is the only strategy that people have right now. host: is there belief that the taliban is going to leave them to you -- leave them? caller: they are working for the u.s.. i do not want to speculate on their jobs. host: we appreciate you talking about what you can talk about. thank you for calling.

kevin, kansas city, democrat. caller: here is something that people have not taken into consideration. the afghans who were trained by the american military, they head superior weapons than the taliban. what happened here? the american training afghans, they laid down their weapons, not because the taliban had or superior weapons, they laid down their weapons and turned them over to the taliban because of religious beliefs. they do not want to see afghanistan become a christian country. they do not want to see afghanistan become a christian country. they have more superior weapons than the taliban. host: where are you reading or seeing that? that that was done out of a religious decision? caller: when you have the

taliban in kabul, they have the old ak-47s, which they had 30 years ago. another thing is the same thing happened in the 90's, when america -- the umoja dean -- drove the russians out. then they turn on america. host: in terms of training, some $83 billion spent on training afghan forces over the years. >> good afternoon. apologies for the delay. i know that was a long two minutes. let me start with some updates on afghanistan. the department of state is working around-the-clock to facilitate the swift, safe evacuation of american citizens, special visa holders, and afghans. we remain committed to maintaining flights