you can watch online at c-span.org. >> we are at an important tipping point. what we do matters and i believe the 1776 project is an important historical moment. we need people to get behind us. we need to make sure our message reaches white, black, asian is everyone. america is a great country and we need to fight for it. >> september 5, carol swain is our guest on in-depth. her recent book is "black eye for america." join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, text and tweets for carol swain on september 5 at noon eastern on in-depth on book tv.

♪ host: good morning and welcome to washington journal. the united states has lost some members in afghanistan and killed a member of isis-k that killed the dozen americans and more than 100 afghan citizens. this comes as the white house imposed deadlines of leaving the country this week. but with an active terrorist threat now and afghanistan some in washington are calling a president joe biden to leave boots on the ground to protect american lives and our afghanistan allies. our question for you this morning, should we extend our exit deadline in afghanistan? we open up regular lines. that means republicans, we want to hear from you at

(202)-748-8001. democrats, your line is (202)-748-8000. independents, we want to hear from you at (202)-748-8002. we open a special line for afghanistan veterans. if you were part of the conflict in afghanistan, we want to hear from you at (202)-748-8003. keep in mind you can always text us at (202)-748-8003 and we are always reading on social media on facebook at facebook.com/c-span, twitter @c-spanwj, and you can follow us on instagram @c-spanwj. the deadline set by president joe biden to leave afghanistan comes up this week but the bombing in afghanistan at the airport yesterday has american politicians saying perhaps we should extend that deadline until later until all americans

and american allies have left the country. president joe biden came out yesterday and talked a little bit about the situation in afghanistan. here is what the president had to say [video clip] >> let me begin by acknowledging the bravery and sacrifice our military makes every single day and the loss of americans and marines and sailors and army personnel is tragic. as i said yesterday, losing a son, daughter, husband, wife, is like being sucked into a big black hole in the middle of your chest. my heart goes out, our hearts go

out, to all of those we have lost. but look, the mission being performed is dangerous and now has come with loss of american personnel but it is a worthy mission because they continue to evacuate folks out of that region. evacuated more than 12,000 additional people out of the airport in the last 24 hours. i met with my commanders this morning, got a detailed briefing about yesterday's attack, and the resources to complete the mission and we will complete the mission. host: here is from the new york times on the drone attack in afghanistan. the situation left on the ground, the u.s. military

announced its first reprisal strike in afghanistan since the attack on the kabul airport killed 13 u.s. service members, as many as 170 other people. as u.s. officials warned americans to leave the airport because of security threats. the attack at the airport was one of the deadliest in the nearly two decades since the u.s. invasion. american officials believe another terror attack in kabul is likely. the white house press secretary set on friday, "the threat is ongoing and it is active. our troops are still in danger." a warning from the american embassy in kabul said u.s. citizens at the airport who are at the eastgate, northgate, or ministry of interior gate should leave immediately. two key allies, britain and france, and it evacuations at the airport which crowds continue to reach as they seek to flee the taliban.

french officials blame the rapid disengagement of the american forces for the lack of security. well, we bring in the senior pentagon correspondent for defense to explain to us what is going on this morning in afghanistan. tara, good morning. guest: good morning. host: we know the u.s. imposed deadline to leave afghanistan comes up on tuesday. is the u.s. on track to actually finish operations by tuesday? guest: i have talked about this with multiple a fenced officials -- defense officials and they have options. they could, like france and great britain, decide to get out early or they could use up until the very last minute kabul time and wrap up as we are waking up to get everyone they possibly can out.

what we have been told is that even as they get those final troops and equipment out any available space for civilians, they will put somebody in it. host: is it possible on wednesday that there will be americans who are left behind in afghanistan? guest: it is possible and also likely. you have heard the administration say they do want americans to stay behind. these people might be those who have dual citizenship or not been able to get their family out. there will be a continued diplomatic and economic effort to continue to help those people. you also saw yesterday the state department talking about how the taliban requested a continued diplomatic presence and whether the u.s. will have some embassy or consulate remains to be seen. but you will have to have some way of continuing communication with the taliban to get out whoever else needs to get out. host: what can or what will be

done to protect americans who are left behind in afghanistan after the troops leave on tuesday? guest: that remains to be seen. it looks like it is going to be mostly diplomatic and economic. however, you have seen all sorts of independent efforts. abc news had a fantastic story last night about the pineapple express, which a special forces veterans who have been out there on their own and able to rescue 500 afghan interpreters and their families. maybe independent efforts like that or maybe it will be through economic means to ensure that the americans who to get out can. host: what is the latest on the evacuation process going on right now in afghanistan? are we seeing private charters? are we seeing the american troops evacuating people? tell us what is going on right now. guest: it is a combination and the commercial and charter and

coalition aircraft have outnumbered the u.s. aircraft. you have seen a lot of private charters, people who paid to get their own interests out whether it is the veterans groups who wanted their people out. i have seen fundraisers for planes for veteran groups in afghanistan trying to rescue animals. it has been this huge effort of everybody who has the means to get out trying to get out. host: what is the current level of threat for another attack by isis-k on american interests in afghanistan? guest: yesterday afternoon john kirby said they were credible and specific and those are two very important words. they have intelligence that they know there is likely to be another explosion like we saw on thursday and i think that is why you saw the state department issue that dire warning in the exact same words to immediately leave the areas.

that first warning was issued hours before the attack. host: with the taliban now controlling major parts, if not all of afghanistan, is the united states considering them to be an enemy or an ally in a fight against isis-k? guest: it is an interesting question and one i will try to dig into today. the enemy of my enemy is my friend. however, the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy. the taliban have not been trusted. they have targeted u.s. forces. they were in charge of perimeter security that led to the attack. i think it is going to be a very precarious relationship moving forward. they will be in charge of governance of afghanistan and whatever relationship the u.s. seeks to have, particularly in getting americans or afghans out, there will need to be ongoing lines of communication.

the fact that isis-k is a problem for the taliban too is interesting. will the u.s. share intelligence to assist the taliban in targeting isis-k? host: which brings me to my next question. what intel is the department of defense getting on potential threats? is that intel coming from the taliban or coming from somebody else inside of afghanistan? guest: we had a 20 year presence there. we have cia stations, networks of our own of human intelligence, although i do not know the status of those anymore. there are lots of streams of information that have flowed into the u.s. government and state department. the department of defense's sent its own arms to issue these warnings. host: what can we expect coming up over the next couple of days as we meet that deadline for leaving afghanistan? are we expecting more attacks? will we see more people leaving

the country? what can we expect the next couple of days? guest: 41, you will see these controlled -- for one, you will see these controlled detonations. that is the military destroying the bigger, heavier equipment to keep it from getting into the wrong hands. they are making decisions. they know they have limited time, limited aircraft, and they are choosing lives over equipment. if they have the space, they will put people on the airplanes and if they need to, they will destroy the equipment on the ground so they do not have to take up that space. host: we would like to thank tara, senior pentagon correspondent, for walking us to the situation on the ground in afghanistan. thank you so much for your time. guest: thank you.

host: we want to know what you think. should we extend the exit deadline in afghanistan given what we are seeing right now on the ground? is president joe biden doing the right thing sticking to that deadline? or are members of congress correct, that we need to change our minds and keep boots on the ground? see the numbers on screen. we want to hear from you this morning. tell us what you think. we start with the ruby calling from wilmington, north carolina on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am a veteran with 21 years of service and i absolutely support the president. having done two periods of service in the middle east it is the right time to pull out.

a lot of people are saying this deadline means we lost. does the united states leaving afghanistan like this, is that an admission of defeat? caller: no. our soldiers went and gave the very best. host: a lot of the afghanistan allies who were leaving united states are coming to the united states through an airport near here in washington, d.c.

holloman air force base in new mexico and marine corps base in virginia had been added to the installations already part of the operation. the airlift had carried more than 110,000 people out of kabul and entering the last four days with urgency after the airport is reeling from a terrorist attack. the vast majority of them are afghans.

do you think the exit deadline should be extended? let's start with derek from port charlotte, florida. good morning. -- he can also change it. would you say he should not be pressured by the taliban to stick with that deadline? caller: he should not be listening to the taliban. what kind of projection of power is he saying? we will take orders in the taliban? host: what do you think should be done? caller: the international community should come up with

something about this problem and not have united states having to figure out everything around the world. host: you think it should go to the un? caller: the u.k., the british, the united states, this affects everybody. it has to be an effort from the international community that everybody needs to figure out. >> will from chicago on the democratic line. good morning. are you there? caller: sorry. i am not going to pretend like i am a genius. i am a 24-year-old at columbia in chicago.

i don't know everything. i think we shoulextend the deadline. from what i have observed -- i watch your program a lot -- i think it is important to remember that this war was started over -- you can go back and forth -- but it was started based on oil and the reason why people are -- members of congress are based on oils because they have big oil donors. host: let's go to ron from arlington, virginia on the independent line and he is a veteran. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing today? host: i'm fine. go ahead. caller: there is a lot of talk of extending or what should have been done but if anybody says exnded they have to also say they are willing to accept more

deaths of u.s. service members. it is not that easy. we have to decide what we are going to do. i believe that the corporate media is -- they are sensationalizing this. there is nothing we can do because no one is discussing anything. where is congress? any congressperson who says we should stay or take over bagram -- what have they done -- why haven't they not passed the bill saying we must go and say that country or any other country? terrorists are in more than 60 nations. we just made a strike with a drone. that is how we are going to make sure we can take these terrorists out but we are not being honest as a country. how much blood, sweat and tears of our veterans must we have?

yes, thehey are volunteers but everyone is being dishonest about the problem. are we the policeman of the world? host: we have been in afghanistan for 20 years. we have made promises. by leaving the country don't we leave behind the allies who, for two decades, have depended on the united states for security? caller: i can answer that question in a way of my own personal opinion and experience. i remember checkpoint charlie. i understand what we are talking about but we never declared war. this is not a war. i want to hear from real journalists. i want to hear from experts. we never declared a war, ever. this was not a war. if it is true, you can look at the presidential reserve call up

authority used by president bush and every president after him. we never declared war. i feel sorry for those people. we should negotiate. i agree with the other caller. it is a united nations problem. we do not use these tools to secure the world. we are not using the tools currently there. if we want to make new rules, i am all for that, but we must stop the infighting. it is like a football team or baseball team. we are just following our team's jersey to win at all cost at the sake of, i think, that the united states crumbling in moral authority. host: speaking of new rules being made, house minority leader kevin mccarthy is one of the lawmakers who have been criticizing joe biden for the exit deadline and here is what

house minority leader kevin mccarthy had to say about his view of keeping a continued military presence in afghanistan. [video clip] reporter: is there a bill you would like to see passed about keeping american troops there only if the situatn becomes too dangerous, which would give the white house discretion as to whether or not the troops should be there, and could you make the argument the situation is already too dangerous? does that bill achieve the goal you want of keeping troops there beyond the 31st deadline? rep. mccarthy: the only way we want troops to be there is make sure americans get back safely and that the troops are safe. the number of troops you bring for safety, ior to the biden administration, he had 2500 troops. he had bagram air force base. 18 months without one casualty. he has more troops on the ground today and he has the most casualties in the last decade. instead of allowing the state department to run this i would

allow the military to run it. what does it take to get them out safely and do it with american men and women and not the taliban? there is no other answer. reporter: just to clear this up, you said you believed the u.s. should have a permanent force in afghanistan. rep. mccarthy: i would have checked and maintained the bagram air force base. why? because of the proximity. the proximity to the region it is in from russia, china, pakistan. the ability when the president tells me to look over the horizon. how can you look over the horizon if you don't have the opportunity? i believe we could have maintained it safely. we have gone 18 months with no casualties and we could have maintained two runways, 30 nautical miles from kabul and i think it gave us an opportunity

for the future to maintain peace. host: let us see what social media followers are saying about whether the united states should extend its exit deadline in afghanistan. here's a post from facebook that says, "unfortunately, there is no deadline. the only deadline is the lives of americans trapped in that hellhole. this is a bad situation and being played down severely." here's the text that says, "no, it is time to go. 20 years was too long. we were invaders into their country. why do republicans want to keep spending money in afghanistan and not infrastructure in the u.s.? if republicans want to keep fighti, they should join the military and fight in afghanistan." here is another text that says, "what happened to i will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy? " one final text that says, "they should consider whether the u.s.

has protected those that associated with and assisted our interest and cause. if necessary, flood with 30,000 soldiers and arms." we want to know what you think. should the united states extend its exit deadline in afghanistan? let's talk to rod calling from new york on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. yes i agree there should be a , deadline. obviously if there are americans left in the country, i have faith the military and state department will try to get them out. however, i do not agree with mccarthy. bagram air force base was shut down by the military. they deced to leave first and exit all personnel and then the state department decided to stay

at the embassy and move to the perimeter of the airport. i think there is a contradiction here. the military has done an amazing job moving over 100,000 people, allies, americans, afghans out. jfk airport three times over a day from the pictures i can see. that is an amazing effort. however, we spent 20 years there and the effort was for not.

i heard we were flying money in daily to keep the economy running. so much corruption in afghanistan. the mission was accomplished once we got bin laden. i do not know what we were doing there. the graveyard of empires comes to mind. i think there will be an investigation why the military was selling this to congress. there was money to be mamade. as eisenhower said, it is a military-industrial complex. host: william calling from honesdale, pennsylvania on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i believe it would be appropriate to extend the deadline and take possession of the air force base and if any attempt to harm any further civilians or our military personnel, we should in fact be capable of taking over the entire country if we care to. i just can't believe that such

issues have actually occurred without a plan to evacuate all the people necessary to evacuate. thank you. host: before you go, how long do you think the deadline should be extended? should it be another week, another month, another year? how long should the deadline be extended? caller: i would say as long as we can substantiate the citizens of our country who are subject to potential death. it means that we should take initiative to gethem out. host: let's go to jeffrey calling from indianapolis, indiana on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i got a whole new twist on all of this. i feel sorry for t the people or in afghanistan, i really do. what kills me is we spent 20

years over there. and what makes me mad is african-americans built this land from scratch from slavery this day and they ain't never put 20 years into us. i truly feel sorry for the people in afghanistan because nobody should have to go through that, but i think we need to start thinking about our own problems. the president is doing a great job. host: let's go to janet calling from west virginia on the republican line. go morning. caller: good morning. yes, i don't understand how this country got in this shape and biden is not capable of running this country. how in the world can we expect people like them to run our country and it is just not right. they should help the people over

there get out regardless of what it takes. i just can't understand them getting biden out of there. as bad as harris is, she would be better than him. they think if them people come over here, they will kill them first. they do not care who they kill. i am not kidding. we need to wake up. host: you heard several people on the show say already we spent 20 years in afghanistan now and according to what we have seen the taliban is back in charge. how ch longer should we spend american lives in afghanistan before it is time to go? caller: as long as it takes. they weren't killing people and the taliban taking over. biden is incompetent and those

people in their do not realize when they get over here they are going to be suffering, these people in congress. they don't care who ty kill and the border been open and people coming in, i cannot believe this. god help us. host: when you see those people, do you mean afghan refugees? caller: i am talking about people coming over the border and we do not know who it is. i don't understand. i remember world war ii and my dad was in the navy. i prayed the leader, hitler, would be gone, killed, and he was. we just need to pray more. and also, we need new leaders. we have got to get them out. host: tracy calling from

leesburg, virginia on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say to the woman who called, the reason there has not been deaths the last 18 months is because trump made a deal with the taliban and the talibaagreed to not slaughter americans left on the ground. i think that is important to remember. we need to recognize there is a strong u.s. military on the ground that advised president biden to close bagram, that advised the biden administration to what military steps it should take. i trust -- i am a patriot. i trust my american government i trust my american military. i am not there and neither is kevin mccarthy so it is very easy to set up here and talk about what you should have, could have, what have done when you are not there.

i am going to give kudos to the biden administration for having the situation dumped in their lap and taking swift and effective measures to get it done. i know he is regretful of the americans that passed. i am regretful but i am not going to sugarcoat and say we should have never been in this situation with the taliban had there not been a contract signed on american letterhead by an american president, by no other president in the world, in the history of america that signed a deal with the taliban and for us to respond in the way we have has been remarkable. host: let's go to jay calling from north carolina on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. [indiscernible] no administration from the

beginning until now has addressed how do we make this where we are using this to improve the human capital over there? what if we improved their health care? make it so their lives are better so you don't have the situation of i wonder why they don't like me. maybe it is because i am trying to get their minerals. [indiscernible] thin like that. host: before the events, the bombing that happened this week, politico and morning counsel -- consult took a poll on what americans that we should do about leaving afghanistan. i want to bring to you the results.

let's see if i can pull this up. 45% of registered voters said the u.s. definitely should or probably should still withdraw if it provides an opening for al qaeda. 40% said the possibility met u.s. military presence in the countrshould remain. this comes from morning consult and politico and happened before the bombing at the afghanistan airport. even before the bombing 40% of americans said the possibility of some type of terrorist action meant the u.s. military presence should remain while 45% of registered voters said the u.s. definitely should or probably should withdraw, even if it provides an opening for a group like al qaeda. we want to know what you think. given what happened in afghanistan, the bombing that took 13 american lives and

hundreds of afghan liveswe want to know if you think that means america should extend its exit deadline. let's go to we go to raul. i cannot hear him so we go to robert calling from gaithersburg, maryland on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning to everyone. let me tell you something. when god told them people in the bible, you got to get rid of everything in the country and the people didn't want to get rid of everybody, what happened to them? the same people came back and did damage to their whole army. that is what is going to happen. afghanistan don't care nothing

about nobody in america and you say trump is behind them? man, i hope god pays him a visit and let him know he keep his mouth shut. host: tiny calling from texas on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning to everyone and to you and god bless america. as far as us on the deadline, biden has already made his decision. that decision was made, i believe, before he even became president and i believe the entire democratic party is part of the taliban themselves and al qaeda. sending guys out and bringing, just like the man said, you have to look at their ideology. they don't care nothing about

america. anytime you done trained an afghan army for 20 years and you run off and leave your post? you have the weaponry to defend yourself. they are not standing for america. the only thing they want to do is be able to come over here in order to start bombing again and killing up america again and our government is behind them. host: do you think american troops should stay in afghanistan or is it time to bring them home after 20 years? caller: i can't answer that because i don't want any more americans to die, but regardless, they are going to die on afghanistan soil or they will be dying here on american soil. thank you. host: let's go to bobby calling

from fitzgerald, georgia on the republican line. good morning. bobby, are you there? caller: yes. this is bobby from fitzgerald? host: yes. go ahe, bobby. caller: personally, when i am watching c-span these days, i can still see the sanitizing. you are sanitizing joeoe b bide. we are focusing on what we want to happen instead of what is happening. they removed the military and left the people there and they left the equipment there. if trump was in office he would be saying, how come trump gave the list of american names and locations to the taliban? that would be your focus today. you can save face if you want to, c-span, but you have got to do more than take your

eyeglasses off. host: what do you think? should american troops stay on the ground in afghanistan after the 20 years we have already spent or is it time to b bring them home? caller: they have a military. what you do is you make a plan and if you withdraw, you withdraw orderly. you do it with a plan. i am not going to sit here and try to answer your questions because i know what your questions are designed to do. it is designed to keep me from talking about joe biden because you would rather blame trump. host: you do not have an opinion on whether american troops should stay in afghanistan be on -- beyond tuesday or not? caller: i do have an opinion but i will not give it to you. host: all right. we go to elise calling from

woodridge, virginia on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i'm a democrat but more importantly i am an american. i feel there should have been an orderly way to exit afghanistan. if you look throughout history, many countries have tried to wage war there. none have succeeded. you cannot fight an enemy you cannot see. as far as what happened with biden, there are things that we don't know and we are not privy to. it will come out later but as of this time we don't know. as far as extending the deadline, i don't think we should but if we can, i think we need to set up a perimeter. that move they pulled as far as killing our people, we should've tore some stuff up. i feel like they are punking us and we have to set a precedent. we are slowly dwindling down as a nation. now other nations will try to challenge us and test us.

this is a good point to set an example. we said we were going to get out of there. this is when we are going to be out of there. touch us again and see what happens. host: the pentagon press secretary john kirby came out on friday and expressed some of his thoughts about what the future afghanistan would be. here is a portion of what he had to say. [video clip] mr. kirby: i wish i had a crystal ball and we could know for sure what is going to happen in afghanistan. we don't. we obviously don't want to see the country torn asunder through civil war but that is why whatever the future of afghanistan is from a governance perspective, we are going to stay engaged with the international community to make sure that afghan leaders are held the proper account for the way they are governing and that

afghanistan's neighbors try to play a constructive, productive role and whatever the future of afghanistan is going to be. though we will not have a military presence there, the united states government will still want to see what we can do with the international community to make sure that afghans can have the best of all possible outcomes for their future. but i think it would be foolish for us to try to be to predictive about what is going to happen right now. host: let's see what our social media followers are saying about extending the exit deadline in afghanistan. here is one text that says, "we never should have left afghanistan as evidenced by the current chaos and tragedy. keep permanent military bases

there for everyone's good." this tweet says, "american troops have been killed in action every year of this war. time to get out now." here's another text that says, "i honestly believe we need to pull out our resources out of all hostile territories of occupied countries and focus on our own problems in this country. we must care for our needs and there is more an enough to focus on in this country. we are letting our country go. we must fight to get it back." another tweet says, "let's leave this up to the experts. " one final text that says, "of course, extent until our people are out and then go after taliban, isis. level the place, destroy everything we left behind to prevent them using it." we want to know what you think. should we extend the exit deadline in afghanistan? we start with randy calling from ohio on the independent line.

good m morning. caller: hello. i am a pro-life independent and not pro-war but we should have started this thing with an endgame. we were just going in there to do three things, take care of the taliban, to get them out of power r so al qaqaeda could not train there anymore, and to get bin laden. we only accomplished one thing. i think our resources now should be to get the world involved. not just have us be the policeman anymore, we just cannot do it. that is pretty much all i've got to say. i think both presidents has made us look weak. biden for letting the taliban designate what we can cannot do and trump for negotiating the deal without the afghan government involved. i think those are the two biggest mistakes i have seen out of this whole thing.

host: let's go to leona. lenara, sorry, from dayton, ohio on the democratic line. good morning. caller: morning. i think we should remember religious wars has been in existence for generations. the reason why we were there is the wrong reason. nationbuilding i think was a mistake. we have different ideologies. i think we should get out. i think we should have never been there past bin laden, particularly because the prololiferation of heroin in our country has been 20 years since we have been in afghanistan. i think we should have never been there. i am a 100% service-connected veteran. i go back to desert storm days. we should have never been there. we should get out now. host: let's talk to rodney calling from clarksville, tennessee, and rodney is an afghanistan veteran. good morning.

caller: good morning, sir. how are you? host: i'm fine. go ahead. caller: it was time to pull out of afghanistan. we should've been out a long time ago. even though it falls under president joe biden, he has to take some responsibility. but as you look at 20 years or -- of war there has been a lot , of politicians that kept passing this and profiting and we should have been out a long time ago. this could have been prevented by getting our military out -- military and equipment out first, civilians, and then leaving. i think we also could have kept a presence there like we did in iraq. just a small group. we had 3000 holding things down and when we pulled t them out tt is when the talin ran us over and we gave key airports away.

bagram, katman airfield, we should have never given our air authority away. americans are focused on pushing theories and it cost us. it cost us a lot. host: what should weo now? should we stick to the august 31 deadline? should we scrap the august 31 deadline and risk going to an all-out conflict with the taliban who says that deadline is a redline for them? caller: that is the tricky situation. we cannot leave americans behind because if we do, we are going to see them in orange jumpsuits and they are going to be beheaded. we are in a sticky mess. we need to get everybody out but it is going to cost us again. then we just need to leave as fast as we can. we are in a very bad predicament. we are in a pickle and we have to pull up our bootstraps and do something.

host: let's go to laverne calling from texas on the democratic line. laverne good morning. , caller: good morning. yes, this is a very sad situation we find ourselves in but first, i think the country as a whole should band together and support our leadership. they are doing the best they can i do believe. the other thing i find very interesting is that people are calling in and talking and i am a veteran of 28 years. people calling in and talking about, the military should do this, the military should do that. what we need to understand is that less than 1% of our population are in the military. i support bringing back the draft not only for men but for women. and for those who come to our country. if you want to come here, show us that you support and are here

for more than the opportunity to make money. we need to have a strong military. i believe in that. i am also concerned about hearing those in congress talk about all of the money that was spent, all of the money that was spent, but yet, those in our government refused to sign legislation that would support our country's infrastructure. the other thing i find very disturbing is the fact that we have people talking every single day about their concern for the girls and women of afghanistan. i too am concerned about them, but the other thing we can draw from this is that if you have concern for those women and girls in afghanistan, why do you want to suppress the women of this country by trying to support voting suppression in this country?

host: let's go to shirley calling from new castle, pennsylvania on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. you know what? i believe that we can no longer honor this deadline because we are going to leave some of our military there and i am telling you, that can't work. we are a military family. my fatr and brother both served in world war ii and my son in the marine corps. i am telling you, this won't work. we have to make sure every one of our americans are out of there. whatever it takes, we have to do. it is just a shame what is going on in this country. it is just a shame. host: shirley, would you make an open-ended exit? would you say american troops need to be there for however long it takes, whether that is another month, three months,

another year? caller: you know, if it was handled properly, i believe we could be out of there in a month to six weeks, but we need somebody in there who knows how to do the job. that's the problem. they can say what they want to say but i know if trump was still there, they would have feared him because they knew he did not mix words. he got up there and said the way it was going to be and that is how it was going to be. they knew if they went against him what was going to happen. i thoroughly believe if we can get somebody who knew what they were doing, i believe this could be handled properly. we cannot keep policing the whole world. we cannot afford to do that. host: let's go to ray calling from aurora, colorado on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

i am a registered libertarian. good to talk to you for the first time hope to see you on a weekday but that aside, i do not think we should extend the deadline. i disagree with one of the prior callers about bringing back the draft because i do not think you were going to bring a strong military. you just require everyone to serve and you will have people who do not believe in it. but i hope withdrawing from afghanistan is the first step in eventually withdrawing every single military force and shutting down every military installation outside the united states. we need to bring an end to this really flawed and bad military empire. host: let's get a perspective

from a member of congress on the situation in afghanistan. joining us is representative rob wittman who is a member of the house armed services committee and he is here this morning to give us his perspective and discuss with us the situation in afghanistan. representative wittman, good morning. guest: great to be with you this morning. great to hear your callers exerting their thoughts and ideas and asking those questions and giving your response to your listeners. it is a great morning. thank you for the opportunity. host: thank you for being here. first of all, what is your take on next week's deadline on ending u.s. military operations in afghanistan? guest: jesse, i think the number one focus for the biden administration needs to be getting every u.s. citizen safely out of afghanistan. job that should be the sole one. focus and i think the president

has to make it clear that we are going to evacuate every u.s. citizen. if the taliban stands in our way, our military will retaliate and it will be swift and it will be severe. i want to make sure we are doing everything possible. i was concerned last week when the secretary of defense austin said the united states would rescue every citizen that they can until the clock runs out. the clock runs out on august 31, he has not changed the deadline. i believe that empowers the taliban. why is the taliban setting our date for getting our citizens out? we ought to set the timelines, not the afghans, and august 31 is an arbitrary deadline. it should be outcome basased. it should be based upon us getting every u.s. citizen out. since when have we as a country abandoned our principal of leaving no one behind? i think it is critically important those things happen.

there have been a number of missteps by the biden administration to get to this point. if the planning was done properly ahead of f time in the -- and the transitioning was done to make sure you are getting americans and afghans, special immigrant visa persons, the p1 and p2 recent individuals and then brought the , military out, that is the way should be done. you took the military out first which creates this vacuum and empowers the taliban. i thinthe bottom line is the president nes to say unequivocally and without artificial deadlines that we are going to get every u.s. citizen safely out of afghanistan. host: representative wittman,

they will be some americans who want to stay voluntarily and keniston and we know there will be some afghani citizens -- in afghanistan and we know there will be afghani citizens that want to get out. will there be enough personnel to ensure their safety? >> i believe having some element of force, just as our ability to

counterterrorism, will be critically important. it does not have to be a force that has offensive capability but completely taking out our forces and the president saying we have over the horizon capability. let me tell you, it is way over the horizon. our ability to now prosecute counterterrorism operations in afghanistan is extraordinarily difficult because we are having to operate at long distances because we did not take the time prior to the withdrawal to have agreements with countries close by to be able to do counterterrorism operations. to me, if you are to me, if you are going to negotiate, we know the taliban is going to do. they are sympathetic to these terrorist groups. isis-k is going to operate there. the key is this, they may be enemies in and amongst themselves but they do have a common adversary and that is the united states. when you see a common enemy all of a sudden you see enemies willing to work together. i think there should be some type of presents that should've been negotiated to begin with. not for offensive purposes but purely for the opportunity for us to prevent another 9/11 attack with these terrorist groups setting up operations in afghanistan. in that vacuum, jesse, i believe there will be these types of operation setups. >> we have heard about military

equipment being left behind. we have had 20 years of military equipment going to afghanistan and now is the troops are pulling out with us august 31 deadline not all of that equipment is coming back home. what realistically can the taliban do with the equipment that has been left behind >> by the troops? i think they can use every single bit of it to their benefit. hundreds of thousands of small arms, they can use those, millions of rounds of ammunition, armored vehicles, blackhawk helicopters. the taliban now has more blackhawk tell comforters -- helicopters in australia. they are pretty resourceful, so whether they are able to get the assistance from other countries that are not our friends to help them with the

blackhawk, or if they take those assets and sell them, either way, it is the advantage to the taliban to have that $85 billion worth of weapons. that is just a best estimate that we n come up with. that is the best estimate that i have come across to this point, and that is 85 billion in direct aid to the taliban. i am deeply concerned about that, again as part of a proper withdrawal plan, first of all you should have gotten everybody out on a timeline that you could control and then withdraw the military. then get as much of that equipment out as we can. we saw what we did in iraq, and i visited there multiple times, and it was a big effort to get that equipping out because we did not want it to fall into the hands of people that did not have our best interest in mind. i believe at some point what we have left behind to used against us.

>> can we expect hearings when congress resumes next month? >> absolutely and also from others. one thing i also want is not just a hearing of the armed services committee, but we need to have a 9/11 style commission. i believe all those that have served over these past two decades deserve answers to why this withdrawal failed and i want to make sure it is not just about what happened in the last month. i want to make sure we conduct a full review on

america's involvement from our initial invasion to what we did to assist the afghan government to this withdrawal. we spent trillions of dollars they are thousands of american lives lost. you must understand what we have done, what are the things that went well and make sure we do not repeat them. i hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me to create this afghanistan commission in the same way we did that 9/11 commission because there are some important questions that need to be asked, facts that need to be brought to the forefront, and we want to get did the truth -- to get to the truth and we want to be able to learn from it. >> we would like to thank

representative rob whitman for coming on with us and talking about the situation in afghanistan. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> coming up, the immigration clinic director at the university of law center will be here to discuss the supreme court going against the biden administration on a trump immigration policy, and our spotlight on magazine segment, our guest will be here to talk about the timeline of the pro-life mement. we will be right back. ♪ >> weekends bring you the best on american history and nonfiction books on american history tv, james baker reflects on leadership and his career serving a secretary of state for george h w bush and as ronald reagan's chief of staff and treasury secretary. and a historian and best-selling

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