2021 buick suv models. arthel: we begin with breaking news, the fall of afghanistan, of the taliban, appears virtually complete. the president has fled his country as taliban fighters have entered the capital city of kabul, far ahead of every prediction. and u.s. troops are evacuating our embassy there. hello, welcome to "fox news live." i'm arthel neville. eric: thank you for joining us on "fox news live." i'm eric shawn. it's nightfall in kabul, 8:30 p.m. and afghanistan's collapse has been stunningly swift and dark as the night. u.s. and nato troops still not

able to fully withdraw from the country until the end of the month. there are a contingent right now at the airport after 20 years of american blood and treasure and sacrifice, critics today are slamming the biden administration's handling of this chaotic pull-out. here is secretary of state antony blinken this morning on the taliban takeover. >> we've known all along that the taliban was at its strongest position in terms of its strength since 2001 when we came to office, that was the fact. and we said all along including back then that there was a real chance the taliban would make significant gains throughout afghanistan. but on the other hand, i have to tell you that the inability of afghan security forces to defend their country has played a very powerful role in what we've seen over the last few weeks. eric: we have live fox coverage for you on the dramatic unfolding developments.

trey yingst with the very latest on what's happening on the ground in afghanistan. first let's go to kevin cork at the white house on the north lawn on the biden administration's response and seemingly lack of planning. kevin. >> reporter: i must say, it is not quite all hands on deck at the white house but senior administration officials are monitoring the circumstance and what's happening on the ground in afghanistan, the president receiving regular briefings including the very latest on what you just mentioned, that is the departure of the country's president. he has now exited the building. that he departure by the way among the most powerful symbols of the fall of a government that as you pointed out saw the u.s. spend 20 years and tens of billions of dollars propping up to no apparent avail. saturday, the white house released a statement that read in part our hearts go out to the brave afghan men and women who are at risk. we're working to evacuate thousands of those who helped our cause and their families. it is still a very stunning turn

of events especially for a president you may recall boasted just last month that predictions of a taliban overthrow were misguided. >> the afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped, as well equipped as any army in the world, and an air force, again, something like 75,000 taliban. it is not inevitable. >> reporter: not inevitable. but apparent especially at this hour. so now the work intensifies for the white house to ensure the safe transport of u.s. personnel and afghan partners an even that comes amid bittery sharp criticism that the administration has botched this effort spectacularly. >> it's worth noting, this did not happen on our watch. we reduced our forces significantly, the taliban didn't advance on capitals all across afghanistan. every president confronts challenges. this president confronted a challenge in afghanistan and has

you utterly failed. >> reporter: white house officials insist this isn't all on them, choosing to blame the trump administration's deal with the taliban and the afghan fighter as you heard secretary blinken say for their inability to fight back. in a statement we received in the last hour, the president has spoken to members of the national security team and we're told that he will continue to receive briefings and updates throughout the day, although there is no plan at this point it would appear for him to appear on camera. should that change, i promise to tell you about it. for now, back to you. eric: deep concern about the newer of the afghans -- future of the afghans, especially the 20,000 that helped us. arthel: as the situation on the ground in kabul rapidly deteriorates, u.s. forces are rushing to evacuate all personnel from the embassy. the afghan president's departure

signals they have all but handed power to the taliban. trey yingst, what more can you tell us. >> reporter: as we speak, taliban fighters are working their way through the afghan capital and it's extremely tense. according to reports, there are images online coming out right now inside kabul, the presidential palace overrun by the taliban. as you noted, u.s. officials confirmed to fox news that afghan's president fled the country. the question now is what happens next there. are a number of embassy personnel making their way to the airport in kabul, trying to ensure that the process to get all of the personnel out of the country runs smoothly but there are major concerns by u.s. officials that there could be attacks on the airports and even conversations happening right now in washington about reinforcing the 5,000 american

forces that are there. some concerning images, bagram air base, all of the prisoners released by the taliban today, among them, not only insurgents but also al-qaida fighters, certainly a concern to the civilian population in kabul and across afghanistan who will see very quickly the taliban reinforce their ranks and ultimately as the group has made clear reinforce shari law across the country, this is concerning for the population, especially would of men, who will be required to cover their face, not permitted to work in certain roles and you'll see the country take steps backwards for decades, a country that had seen a lot of opportunity will be under taliban control within the coming hours. arthel. arthel: it's absolutely extremely unfortunate. was the ghani administration

caught as flat footed with how quickly the taliban would overtake the country. >> reporter: i think everyone was caught on their heels with this situation. over the past eight days, we saw the taliban take over 31 of the 34 provincial capitals across the country and they implemented a plan that was extremely well-executed in a way that previously was down-played by u.s. officials. we heard president biden say earlier this year that the taliban had around 75,000 fighters who would be no match for the afghan security forces that numbered on paper around 300 you thousand people. the reality was different on the ground. the taliban quickly took over of cities in the southern part of the country which required afghan security forces to bring in reserve troops at which point the taliban took over cities in the northern part of the country. many of them actually they just walked in and claimed victory. so this was a situation that many could not have predicted

but you have to ask, did the u.s. intelligence community have any firm understanding of what could happen on the ground, just days ago their prediction was that kabul would fall in 90 days, then that was moved to 30 of days, and then just 72 hours and as we see now there are taliban fighters across the afghan capital. arthel: and now as you're reporting they released prisoners, thousands of them. do you anticipate any trouble with these evacuations? >> reporter: certainly concern for the american troops on the ground. that's why the conversations are ongoing about reinforcing the people who are trying to secure the kabul airport. one thing to note is the biden administration promised to implement a visa process. it's known as the special immigrant visa program and it would allow many of the people who have helped american forces over the past 20 years to get out safely because those are the people who will be targeted, the

interpreters, translators, people who helped american forces and afghan security forces over the past 20 years. according to reports, only a fraction of the people who have applied for these visas have been processed and ultimately air-lifted out of the country and the biden administration doing everything they can right now to make an already extremely difficult and hard situation easier but as it stands now, there is really no practical way the united states is going to be able to assure protection for the thousands of afghans who helped them over the past 20 years and the implications of this are really far-reaching because while the taliban has come out with these statements ensuring safety and security for any foreigners or locals who helped the americans over the past 20 years, the reality on the ground will likely be much different. once they take control and are able to implement their own justice system, we are likely to see the return of things like

public execution, a judicial system what that implements punishments like public stoning, cutting off limbs of people accused of stealing. really taking the country back decades. and that's the major concern, that these individuals who helped the american troops and forces over the past 20 years will be the first to face the brutality of this organization, the taliban. arthel: i have one more question for you if you don't mind. that is already reports that china is ready to swoop in and acknowledge the taliban as the official government of afghanistan. how does that impact the situation in the region? what does that look like for america on the geopolitical stage? >> reporter: well, it's a major, major loss for the united states if the chinese are able to quickly build relation was the taliban. they've tried to as an organization come across as a group that will ultimately be able to have a government that can engage with the

international community. the two big players that the americans should be concerned about are the russians and the chinese. the chinese have very quickly come out and indicated they will ultimately recognize the taliban as the legitimate government of afghanistan. the russians originally, there were reports about people in moscow and top kremlin officials saying they would recognize the taliban but they've since walked those statements back, tried to see how things play out with these evacuations and ensuring they're not getting ahead of what's unfolding on the ground but it's a major concern when you look at it from a 30,000-foot view because if you look to the west of afghanistan, you're looking at the country of iran. and iran is certainly of concern to the united states and its allies in the region. when you think about china's effort across the middle east and across east asia, this will give them an opportunity to actually have a pipeline of supplies, goods and other

relations with not only the taliban and those in control of afghanistan, but also a closer land bridge to the iranians. arthel. arthel: yeah. very complicated. i have more but we have to move on for now. trey, thank you very much. eric. eric: it seems that china will benefit from this as well as iran. for more on the imminent taliban takeover of kabul and what comes next, lieutenant douglas lutz is here, former deputy national security advisor to coordinate wars in iraq and afghanistan. your reaction, your thoughts, having worked at the highest levels of government in our country to the imminent fall of that country. >> well, it's stunning, stunning for me. i worked on this problem for years, many other american colleagues, hundreds of thousands of american troops and

civilians and intelligence officers who worked in afghanistan, most of all i think to our afghan partners, those who worked alongside of us. so recent days have really been nothing short of just stunning. i think i'd add, though, that for those of us who have been watching this for a long time, we realized that this is a product the last few days are a product of years of steady erosion inside the afghan state. so while it's surprising with its rapidity over the last several days, it's not a complete surprise because things have been slipping for years. eric: what went so wrong? first of all, for years, decades, why were we lied to about the capability of the afghan forces and what went so wrong the past few days, to see this even though the administration denies it as saigon 1975 redo? >> well, i don't know anything of american officials lying to the american public. i mean, the reports that i have

seen, the reports that i participated in, the testimony before congress and so forth reflects very sober and balanced approach. i think we made a mistake in terms of estimating the capability of the afghan forces, it's that we over-relied on things that we could count, the tangible factors of military capability. so numbers of troops, number ofs of units, equipment provided and so forth and we tended to discount those factors that are harder to calculate, harder to account for, things like leadership, discipline, legitimacy, connection to the central government and in the end it was those intangibles, those moral factors of war if you will, that made a big difference and i think led to the wholesale collapse of afghan forces. eric: do you think it would have made a difference if the biden administration had not pulled out the air power, that was the backbone for the afghan forces, if they had the air power still in place do you

think this would have happened? >> no, i don't think air power was decisive. this fight is a very close fight, a fight that takes place within 3 or 400 meters that is small arms range and it's a fight that saw the taliban fighters, the insurgents intermix with afghan forces and the civilian population. that kind of fight is not decided by air power. eric: president biden yesterday basically is putting the blame for this on his predecessor, on former president trump. here's what the president said about this. he says, quote, i inherited a deal cut by my predecessor, which he invited the taliban to discuss at the even of 9/11 of 2019 that left the taliban in the strongest position since 2001 and imposed a may 1, 2021 deadline for u.s. forces, and withdrew forces down to a bare

minimum. here is secretary of state antony blinken on this this morning. >> the previous administration negotiated an an agreement with the taliban that said our remaining force woulds be out of the country on may 1st and the idea that the status quo could have been maintained by keeping our forces there i think is simply wrong. the fact of the matter is, had the president decided to keep forces in afghanistan beyond may 1st attacks would have resumed on our forces. eric: the former president trump, they had the so-called talks with the terrorists, do you think it's fair to blame the former president? >> i think the stage was set for the events of the last two weeks, well before this administration or even the last administration. the stage was set when in the spring of 2011 we brought osama bin laden to justice and it

was al-qaida's presence that took us there 20 years ago. when we brought al-qaida to justice, when we killed bin laden, the stage was set 10 years ago for the events that we see today. eric: the former president is blaming the current president, president trump issued a statement saying of mr. biden, quote, he ran out of afghanistan instead of following the plan our administration left for him, a plan that protected our people and our property, the taliban no longer has fear or he respect for america or america's you power. is that fair? >> look, the taliban had been on the rise for at least a number of years. well beyond this administration and even into and beyond the last administration. the reality is that the taliban have stayed more coherent and more capable than we've been able to produce a counterpart afghan army and police. and the credibility, the legitimacy of the afghan

government did not extend sufficiently into areas where the taliban had legitimacy and it was those grass roots of the taliban insurgency on the political and military side that led to the events of the last few days. eric: finally, your thoughts, reflections on the legacy of what this means, $2 trillion, the lives of 2,312 brave american service men and women. i mean, they gave a lot, we honor them, we honor their sacrifice, their memory. we pray alongside their families. what are your thoughts, general, on the loss, the sacrifice that we have given, this country has given for afghanistan and would it have been worth one more young american from iowa or from north dakota or from alabama in the fight which basically as the president said is an afghan fight? >> well, those sentiments are

well-taken. our soldiers, our diplomats, our foreign assistants, workers, our intelligence community professionals have all sacrificed a great deal over these 20 years and today i think that as we begin to absorb the new reality, the reality of an afghanistan that we don't know the shape of yet, it's too soon to tell, my thoughts go back to them and their families especially those who gave everything in afghanistan. eric: michael murphy, on and on, we think of those and honor those, they are not forgotten, lieutenant general douglas lute, thank you. thank you for your service to our country. >> thank you. arthel: now from the man made disaster if afghanistan to a natural disaster in haiti, with more people confirmed dead in the massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake that shook haiti yesterday.

it killed more than 720 people, thousands more hurt. world leaders, global companies and other groups are promising to rush in with aid. alex hogan is live with more now. alex. >> reporter: hi, arthel. at as each hour passes by we've seen the release of more tragic footage of the earthquake's aftermath as the death told climbs to 720 people, 2800 people are wounded. initial reports by the u.s. suggest that at least 700 buildings including hospitals and schools and so far 3,778 homes are demolished. the 7.2 magnitude earthquake was ten kilometers or six miles deep according of to the u.s. geological survey, people rushing to the streets when the quake hit to rescue those trapped in the rubble. victims explaining the devastation in the last day. >> there have been two aftershocks following the earthquake. there are many injuries, a lot

of help is needed. there are many dead. the senator of lake kia is also needed. assistance from the international community, from the ngos are needed. >> reporter: this comes one month since the president was killed in his home following the earthquake, foreign leaders are expressing support and promising aid, although currently many of the roads to bring help are severely damaged. president biden tapping samantha power to lead the white house's response and the effort is underway, power updating after talks with haiti's prime minister, writing i received his assessment of developments on the ground and how the u.s. can best support haiti. on top of all of this, a fast-moving tropical storm is expected to hit the island tomorrow or the day after. arthel. arthel: alex hogan, thank you very much. we want to tell you there is

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arthel: we're back now with breaking news. in afghanistan, the u.s. embassy now telling americans to shelter in place. trey yingst is live in jerusalem with the very latest. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: arthel, this is breaking right now. the u.s. embassy, what's left of it, in afghanistan is calling on americans to shelter in place immediately, not to go the to the embassy or to the airport. according to reports, the embassy staff including the acting ambassador and his team are currently working out of the airport. there are reports of fire on this only facility that people are able to exit the country from right now in afghanistan. the reports, though, are quite broad and i do want to caution

our viewers this does not mean that the taliban is attacking the airport. we have not been able to confirm that information. it certainly could be related to something else. during these unfolding events, many things can happen. there were reports earlier of people looting across the city in parts of kabul and there were also reports of celebratory gunfire by taliban fighters when they entered the city. we don't know much about what exactly happened, certainly the americans want to take every precaution possible because they not only have embassy staff and personnel at the airport but they also have many of these u.s. allies a that we talked about earlier where they have promised to try their best to evacuate from the country as the taliban continues to work their way through kabul. but again, the information that we have right now, the u.s. embassy in kabul has issued a shelter in place for americans who are currently in the city. there are reports of the airport taking fire. certainly of concern to the many journalists who are on the ground right now, covering the situation and of course the

embassy staff who is working to evacuate all personnel. arthel: speaking of those evacuations, how does this new impede on that? >> reporter: well, it is certainly going to have the officials in washington who were looking at the possibility of reinforcing the 5,000 u.s. forces, they're going to look at that possibility again because the major concern amid all of the changing events right now on the ground in kabul, afghanistan, would be a scenario where the airport comes under attack from the taliban. we know behind the scenes there were reports about the u.s. envoy that was part of the conversation over the past year and-a-half in qatar, speaking directly total ban officials, telling -- to taliban officials telling them not to attack u.s. forces, we heard the president saying there would be severe consequences if there were any sport of opportunities

or efforts by the taliban to interfere with the evacuation process. but remember, it's not just the united states evacuating from kabul right now. you also over the past 24 hours have seen the canadians work to evacuate their personnel, also a number of u.s. allies including the british, trying to make sure their ambassador and embassy staff are safe amid the changing and volatile situation but it is really a nightmare scenario for the biden administration to have the acting ambassador and personnel at the embassy come under attack from the taliban. it's difficult to really pars through the information that we're getting right now and that is why all we can confirm at the moment is that a shelter in place order has been called for every american in kabul, afghanistan right now. they are calling on americans not to go to the embassy or to the airport but to remain put amid these reports about fire on

afghanistan airport in kabul. we're working to verify the other information that is making the rounds but certainly a concerning piece of information and development for those american embassy personnel trying to evacuate at this moment. eric: trey, you mentioned germany and the brits are at the airport, so then what does it mean if they do come under fire and the taliban has said that they have called for a peaceful transition. perhaps with a third party, there have been reports perhaps of turkey and they promised not to enter people's homes, they say that people will be safe. how can anyone believe that? >> reporter: well, look, i think everything is on the table right now for the americans when it comes to a possible response to fire on kabul's airport. because it's the last thing the biden administration wants to deal with right now is an attack on american personnel as they are trying to evacuate the last number of u.s. officials who are

on the ground in afghanistan, wrapping up this 20-year war. obviously, the scene's playing out across the country but specifically in kabul today are of major concern to the u.s. and its allies. we saw commercial airlines including fly dubai and also emirates basically saying they're not going to fly into kabul. those announcements were made early this morning and throughout the day but it's not even an option anymore of. the airport has one runway and it is being used by mainly the american military to evacuate personnel and those allies. in terms of a possible u.s. response to the reports of fire on the airport, we saw major warning by the americans last night that they would strike taliban units who are advancing on kabul if they felt it was going to interfere with the evacuation efforts and we actually saw air strikes overnight take place. certainly something that's on the table but again, i think we need to look at the possibility

of the united states even reinforcing the troops that are on the ground because while it seems like it would be a simple thing to get these personnel and these americans out of afghanistan, there's a lot of things that have to be wrapped up on the ground in kabul and the americans are going to be there until the very last minute if they need to be and the american military will be the last to leave ensuring the safety of all those involved. arthel: trey, when you talk about air strikes, if you have americans now being asked to shelter in place, that gets very tricky. of course you've got civilians there on the ground as well and you don't want to have any sort of casualties in that regard so there's that. the other thing is you reported earlier in this hour that the taliban had now released thousands of prisoners who could join forces with them. so how does that -- how might that impact the number of troops that are currently on the way to afghanistan to help -- american

troops, to help with the evacuation of americans there on the ground. >> reporter: we know that one of the set of troops sent in along this 5,000 u.s. forces group, had they were a combat unit for one specific reason because when you look at the equation that we're dealing with right now, eric and arthel, it is a recipe for disaster. the taliban has freed thousands of taliban insurgents and al-qaida fighters, many who fought against the americans over the past 20 years. many of them have a personal vendetta against american forces who are back on the ground, assisting with this operation to safely evacuate u.s. personnel and the allies of the united states. the other thing to consider is the weaponry. we have seen images circulating from towns, cities and provinces across afghanistan of taliban

fighters taking over weapons that were given by the american military and the american government to afghan security forces. everything from small arms, piles of small arms in certain cities to artillery to helicopters and you have to wonder what's going to happen to the jets that are at the airport in kabul once ultimately the taliban is able to finish their takeover of the afghan capital. but the equation we're looking at right now, not only do you have the taliban, you have now al-qaida fighters who were in prison next to bagram air base, a base where american troops were at for nearly 20 years and they have access to weapons and they have u.s. forces, what they see as targets on the ground and a small group of u.s. personnel looking to evacuate. so it's not surprising that the american embassy in afghanistan has put this order in place, asking all americans to shelter

in place until they're able to gather more information about the reports of the airport being targeted. but it is certainly a major concern and if confirmed a major escalation because everything's on the table for the american response. arthel: yeah, and have you to wonder what sort of disadvantage this puts the american troops there and on the way there to to help with this evacuation process there. trey yingst, you're standing by for us. you'll bring us new developments as they come up and we'll come back to you, trey. thank you very much. right now we're going to go to eric. eric: for more on the developing story, congressman andy biggs is with us, republican member from arizona. congressman, you're a member of the judiciary committee and war powers caucus. let me pick up on something that trey just said. we've seen the pictures of the afghan military driving our humvees and sophisticated equipment into iran. will iran get-and the taliban, will america's enemies now get ahold of all this equipment that hasn't been destroyed because of this rapid, sudden, quick

evacuation? >> i think that's a reasonable likelihood that that's going to happen. you know, historically in afghanistan when the russians left, the military took a lot of material. the same thing with us. so when we evacuated the bagram air base recently, we left a lot of material there for really the taliban and so don't be surprised if some of this gets taken over to either iran and used against us ultimately. that is one of the big fears that i have is that we are leaving the place in a dig organized fashion and not only are we putting our personnel in jeopardy that we're trying to evacuate right now but we're also fortifying potential enemies. eric: could this, in your sense, this disorganized, kai chaotic basic retreat from

afghanistan, could this have been prevented, not only leaving our equipment and leaving the country to the taliban but 20,000 of translators, helpers, cleaners and others who believed in america all these years and now we're high-tailing it out of there. >> yeah, i think -- i mean, there's going to be a lot of time for after action review, that's for certain but reality is we've got to get our security back in there and fulfill this mission. this mission was to be an orderly withdrawal and that's not what's happening today and so you've got a lot of our personnel and a lot of our immediate allies that are in jeopardy because of the way this was done and a lot of it was because there's lack of -- eric: what went on? why? exactly why? >> i think we'll find out after we do after action reviews. i think what went wrong was over-estimation of the will of the afghan fighting force, failure on the part of this

administration to understand the reality of what taliban might do, and the actual -- we'll see whether there was some chinese influence in there and i know that's odd to say but china already said they're going to recognize the taliban. did that weaken the will of the afghan fighters? the way we left zagraf, did that weaken the will of the afghan fighters, did they say there was no communication there, a middle of the night evacuation, and did that impede or dampen the will of afghan fighters against the taliban because they felt the u.s. was going to leave them without direction, without support and without guidance at all and so there's a lot of blame that we will find i'm sure going forward but the reality is we've got to regain security and organization right now so we can withdraw these people safely. arthel: congressman biggs, that's where i want to go.

there's going to be plenty of time to review what went wrong. what i would like to know right now, as far as i know the american people would like to know as well, we have american citizens on the ground there. how confident are you that we are going to -- our military is on the way there, will be able to evacuate safely all of the americans who are currently in afghanistan? >> well, i think ultimately i'm pretty confident that we will be able to get these folks out. it's just what will it take to get them out and what kind of stick are we going to have to have against the taliban to withdraw these people because i have a feeling that it's going to take some pretty onerous threats and some willingness to actually execute on some of those threats in order to get these people out. arthel: and finally, i want to ask you, threats are one thing, what about actions. because now you have as trey yingst has reported, our military at a disadvantage because you've got the taliban, taliban has you now released

thousands of prisoners, al-qaida prisoners who will more than likely work together. america is the target, the mutual enemy of both so that's what i'm wondering because now you've got -- they have advantage in terms of position, they have advantage in terms of equipment at this juncture so again this recipe for disaster, is there way, any ingredient to infuse at this point that will make this a better situation for the american military? >> you're going to have to come in with overwhelming fire power and strength. that's the way it is. you can't say red line or offer a threat without being willing to back it up and that's what's going to have to happen here because you cannot allow our people, our personnel to be basically held hostage here while we're trying to evacuate them. that's what's going to have to happen, perhaps necessarily so, but right now it's an all hands

on deck type of approach and i'm not seeing that kind of leadership right now in the white house and the administration and i'm really concerned about that. arthel: arizona congressman andy biggs, thank you very much for joining us. we are going to stay on top of this developing story. we're taking a short break but "fox news live" is back in a moment. ♪ someone once told me, that i should get used to people staring. so i did. it's okay, you can stare. when you're a two-time gold medalist, it comes with the territory. [engine revs] ricky bobby, today the road is your classroom. [engine revs]

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happening, it is deemed unsafe for americans to go to the airport. americans are told by the u.s. embassy to shelter in place, don't go to the embassy, don't go to the airport. eric: reports of tense talks between american officials and the taliban, saying the u.s. wants a peaceful transition, a peaceful situation in kabul to not attack american forces. the president was very strong about that. this as the british have moved their embassy operations with the ambassador to the airport, so the airport is now the center of what is going on in kabul and this comes as president ashraf ghani has fled the country and lots of anger against him. the defense minister of afghanistan says they tied our hands behind our backs and damn the rich man and his gang, a long-time top official saying that god will hold him accountable and that people of

afghanistan will judge him. lots of harsh words against the former president ghani. greg brunz is with us. talk about a global situation. looking forward, what does this mean, taliban back in control, china recognizes them. they get to plunder the resources of afghanistan. how does this shake up the international global situation in that part of the world? >> consequences are going to be catastrophic, eric. america's reputation and our credibility is badly, badly damaged. i think it will take some weeks and months to assess the extent of it but as you mentioned, china already moving in to take advantage, russia certainly looming large in this situation. let's not forget extremist groups around the world who will be celebrating this, who will be

profiting off of america's retreat from afghanistan, filling the ranks, filling their coffers. eric: seeing now the helicopter landing, reminiscent of saigon. secretary of state blinken said it's not a saigon redo? is he right? is he wrong? could this have been prevented? >> say worked alongside secretary blinken in the obama white house. a lot of respect for him but he is on this front unfortunately quite wrong. we are seeing not just a saigon moment. we are seeing a moment of american defeat on a scale that is unprecedented and we didn't have to be in this situation. the biden administration could have implemented an orderly withdrawal. we could have ensured that those who fought alongside of us, those who worked for the same principles and the same ideals

were not in harm's way right now. let's not forget there are were also american citizens who you are mentioning are being told fend for yourselves as the taliban is standing at the gate of kabul. arthel: speaking of president biden, what sort of damage has he done not only to his own administration, but to the reputation of the u.s. on the global stage, militarily and politically and also while we're speaking of presidents, your thoughts on afghan president ashraf ghani basically just bolt bolting and leaving his people behind and his country unattended to. >> the question that's being asked in foreign capitals right now is when in the world would we ever follow the u.s. into another situation like we did 20 years ago in afghanistan. let's not forget, they came to our defense, nato came to our defense because we were pursuing al-qaida where they were

operating, the next time there's a terrorist attack i fear we are not going to see the u.k., we're not going to see australia and some of those other of allies rally to our side. and pursue the terrorists, pursue the threat, because we abandoned their investment, we abandoned them on the battlefield and it is truly unfortunate, it is truly a tragic day for america's standing on the world stage. to your question about president ghani, i think it is the kind of leadership that he and other afghan politicians have offered or not over these last couple years. had they have been truly out for themselves. they have managed in a corrupt and quite frankly disinterested fashion and that's why we are partially in the situation we find ourselves now in afghanistan. eric: brett, the president is

blaming former president trump for a lot of this, saying he inherited this situation based on that so-called peace deal that the trump administration hammered out with former president trump setting the may 1st deadline. will you weigh in on that? >> look, i certainly was not supportive of the way that president trump negotiated the deal in doha. however, it was up to president biden to implement and he already extended that deadline from may 1st through to august 31st. he had the ability to do this in a much more responsible, a far less reckless fashion and we could have ensured that our people, that those who worked alongside of us in the pursuit of gender equality, in the pursuit of fundamental freedoms were not in harm's way and that is the most damaging part of what we're seeing play out right now, not just the consequences for afghanistan, the consequences for the region and indeed the world the next time that we tell someone be brave,

stand up for your rights, stand up for the future that you want for your children, they're going to be looking at these images you see on the screen and questioning whether or not the united states is the partner they should entrust their future to. arthel: will there be an impact on our homeland security because now you have the taliban in control in afghanistan, they have released thousands of al-qaida prisoners, pretty easy to surmise that they will work together because america is a mutual enemy. what happens to our homeland security here in the united states? >> we are more in danger today than we were yesterday. we are more in danger today than we were 20 years ago. because the taliban, because other extremist groups now have american military hardware, they have american military training. this is a very concerning situation both here at home and i think abroad for americans,

american interests overseas. we will return to a scenario in which al-qaida or the next extremist group is able to have safe haven, is able to garner support in afghanistan and beyond. so i worry that we are headed back down a very dangerous, a very difficult path and terrorists at this hour are regrouping, they are going to be able to profit off of this situation, to propagandize off this situation. arthel: right now we're going to bring in military analyst rebecca grant. she is also president of independent research. dr. grant, first off, your reaction? we don't have her yet. eric, as i said, the concern, reason why i asked the question,

because people watching this unfold there in afghanistan, of course we are very concerned about americans there on the ground. of course, we're also concerned about allies who worked closely with the u.s. military over these years and naturally we are concerned about the afghan people there as well and how they will now be subjected to an oppressive government, once again. and right now eric, i do understand we have dr. grant. dr. grant, i want to bring you in and ask you, just off the bat, your take, your reaction to everything that is currently unfolding right now afghanistan. >> arthel, it's heart-breaking and i think americans are angry and shocked and sad to see what is happening. that said, there are a lot of questions why did ghani leave, where are those afghan national security forces that we were told out-number the taliban. for that matter, where is the taliban force right now? we have a lot of questions about

the direct military situation on the ground and the risk to americans in kabul right now. eric: dr. grant, reports say they expect the embassy to be completely evacuated and americans out within the next 72 hours. with these reports of gunfire and the like. do you think they'll be able to stick to that timeline or is the situation too fluid. >> i think the timeline depends very much on if they can hold the airport in kabul there, if they can keep that going. it's a matter of the logistics, how do they get everyone out. i think the other -- as you reported, the calls to shelter in place, you don't like to hear that but they have to make sure to protect those communications in and out of kabul and the ability to move helicopters or better yet larger fixed wing transport that can move more people out and again, we need to know and i think pentagon probably knows really where are

the strong taliban forces right now, where are they if relation to americans in kabul. arthel: those are excellent questions, dr. grant, because president biden told the taliban, threatened them that if there's any sort of gunfire or any sort of interruption with the evacuations, there would be consequences to pay. was sort of leverage do we have at this point, realistically? >> yes, we do still have the ability to carry out air strikes. the taliban has said don't do it. but the fact is, if the taliban touched any americans, they have to expect some reprisals. we have aircraft on alert that can do a little bit in terms of support and president biden has said he does not regret his decision so he is really owning this decision. i don't think anyone thought it would be like this and i tell

you, i don't think president ghani is going to be missed. eric: you know, dr. grant, the president says an endless american presence in another country's civil conflict was not acceptable to me. was it time and was this the way to do it. >> i think it was time. i think it was time for america to be out but this was not the way to do it and there's been a big miscalculation here. ghani said he wanted to pull back and hold kabul and yet what we see is ghani fled the capital. that is not what he said he would do even a few days ago, so no, this was certainly not the way to do it. time to wind down, a long war, definitely, but not this way. that's why americans i think are very angry to see what's going on and of course concerned about the potential with the americans who he remain there and our allies who remain there in afghanistan. arthel: and as dr. grant the idea is to get the americans there evacuated as quickly as

possible. given what has unfolded, it is a complete disaster there now. might this somehow drag americans -- american military back into combat there on the ground? >> well, that's a question. the pentagon has prepared to deploy forces. they wanted to send in forces for an orderly evacuation. they may still be planning to do that. it's not a direct combat mission but could there be fighting? yes, there could be. that may be necessary to maintain an orderly withdrawal of americans, just don't know at this point. eric: what happens next? >> exactly, what happens next. there is a briefing this afternoon, the house of representatives will be briefed. they're going to look at the military situation. they probably know more about that than we do at this point and it really is a question of is the taliban, even though the taliban is in kabul, are they in a position that's strong enough that they can hold and will this

come down to talks. remember, the big picture here is power sharing between the afghan government, now the vice president's in charge, and the taliban, are they going to get to that point or not. and how blood hey will it -- bloody will it be. eric: chances are, they wouldn't want to power share. had they want the country. >> that's been a sticking point all along. ghani's government didn't want to do the deal when they had the chance, the taliban want to prove they can take the whole thing. all outside observers don't think either side can hold it and so then the tragic possible outcome, continued civil war. arthel: dr. grant, just really succinctly, how critical is what we do, how we respond at this point in terms of the evacuation, any potential combat that may take place on the ground, how critical is it as the world watches america? >> it's very critical.

we've got to set our clear goals for evacuation and it's got to go off smoothly and quickly. we have got to get this final piece right. arthel: dr. rebecca grant, thank you very much as always for your analysis. that does it for us. we'll be back in another hour. mike emanuel is in washington mike: fox news alert. sources telling fox news the united states embassy in kabul afghanistan has been evacuated and the american flag lowered. this is afghan president ghani flees the country after taliban forces enter the capital with plans to declare the islamic em rate of afghanistan. welcome to fox news live. i'm mike emanuel on busy sunday afternoon. team coverage in afghanistan with kevin corke at the white house and trey yingst in the middle east. trey, let's start with you. trey: mike, good afternoon. as we speak taliban forces are

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