with a guy who put it all on the line along with afghans, understands how special that moment was and what makes this moment so tragic. ainsley: with the anniversary just run the corner. will: the politicians, the military brass, i want to hear from joey jones and pete hegseth and dakota meyer. pete: godless the ones on the ground. more fox news. >> do not head to the airport, warning for americans trying to make their way out of kabul in this hour, what is the situation on the ground, pentagon briefing moments away. welcome, i'm charles payne in for neil cavuto, fresh reports the taliban is strengthening its grip on couple. we have you covered with rob o'neill took down usama bin laden and what will take to

help folks escape and the oklahoma mother of 11 helped the group of afghan girls did just that and what our allies are really thinking despite the president's best efforts to say no one is criticizing. we begin at the pentagon where we await that briefing. >> reporter: 30 minutes from that briefing to get the latest on afghanistan and what the us embassy in kabul was warning when it instructed americans not to go to the airport, quote, because of potential security threats outside the gates of the couple airports we advise citizens to avoid traveling to the afforded of what airport gates at this time as you are receiving individual instructions from us government representative to do so. yesterday president biden said the evacuation is going well and americans were having a problem. >> no indication that they haven't gotten through the airport. we need an agreement with them,

allowed them to go through so we know of no circumstance where american citizens are caring american passports to get through to the airport. >> reporter: biden's defense secretary said americans have been beaten going to the airport and it was a dangerous late yesterday the pentagon wants to rescue mission, 200 yards away from the airport using three helicopters. powerful images like these show us marines and soldiers, sons and daughters holding the line at the airport keeping the perimeter safe with transport planes launching us forces helping comfort afghans, clutching these -- parents giving their kids over to the americans for chance a better life. these transports were able to launch after the 6 or 7 hour

pause because qatar is full to 1600 total evacuated. 's 47 other non-us missouri flights were able to launch yesterday. david: president biden will meet with his national security team in minutes, we have the very latest. >> reporter: we are waiting -- let me turn on my feedback here, the latest from the president's meeting with his national security team, the biggest headline we got from his address is extended the commitment to evacuate stranded americans stuck behind taliban checkpoints to afghan translators, allies and refugees. it was unclear by what means he intends to do that. he did not indicate whether he intends to use the us military. the president is considering rescue operations to recover american allies stuck behind a checkpoint, opening the door by using the word rescue

operation. it is unclear if it is a military rescue operation, they looking at my military ways to reach american allies at the airport perimeter the president said us forces of not reached that area because it could have unintended consequent is on people are not part of the taliban. nato secretary-general indicated allied nations are scrambling to meet the deadline set by the us. >> the timeline on the 30 first of august, several allies, the need to extend that to get more people out. our focus is to get our own staff people working for nato allied countries but also afghans. >> reporter: the president claimed there's been no challenge to america's credulity on the world stage but the headlines outside the us paint a different picture.

the uk daily telegraph holds the president in contempt condemning the dishonor of biden's withdrawal. >> i've seen the question of our credibility from our allies around the world. i've spoken with our nato allies, the fact is i have not seen that. the exact opposite. we are acting with dispatch, committing to what we said we would do. >> reporter: the president said when the mission is finished, the us will complete its military withdrawal and end 20 years of military action in that country and the words when the mission is finished pertaining to the rescue of american allies indicates the august 30 first deadline for the full military withdrawal may not hold, he said we may hope to be on track for but we will assess day today. charles: my next guest says the administration ignored his

plans how to safely evacuate afghan interpreters, now our allies art risk as the taliban is going door-to-door looking for those who risked it all to work with the united states. afghanistan war veteran cofounder of no american left behind, what can you tell us, what is the latest that is happening right now? >> pandemonium at the gates, thousands of people tried to get one airport with one functioning runway. pretty much a nightmare. the only thing worse than this is the trump scenario which would be complete abandonment of these people. we need more runway space, there's not enough runway space for all the planes that want to take people out, running out of capacity to move people onto the runway and went flying them to qatar or brain and others

running out of places to put them so we commend the people that are doing their best with the most difficult circumstances, they are doing a phenomenal job, they are held to account. charles: president biden said they accounted for every contingency, everything was on the board. i'm assuming what was your idea, how do you think it should have been accomplished, how could this have been done better? >> we publicized it months ago. if you go to evacuateourallies.org we want to get to the island of guam. we don't know why we are going hand-in-hand asking them to take our afghans when the island of quam from their official government saying send

them here, we have the experience, we did in vietnam with our iraqi allies and kurdish allies in northern iraq to guam. don't know why the administration has been so resistant, we are glad the president said we will take all our allies. it is not a matter of that, this is a matter of us and the reason we are in this mess is because the biden administration failed to plan this, the trump administration were the ones -- people like stephen miller shutdown the visa program the created a backlog that the biden administration took office. charles: let's deal with right now. the taliban intensified hunt downs of anyone associated with america and it includes the interrogators. we heard jackie saying we are

not clear how we rescue these folks. does it become a military operation to get them out safely? >> we need to tell the taliban like the trump administration allowed us to do, they made a deal with the people. the trump administration released 5000 fighters which helps them take over the country. we need to stop letting the talent and push us around like the trump administration. we need to tell them we will stay as long as it takes, take every single one of our people and are not leaving until that is done. we are the united states of america, the most powerful country in the planet, we have to start acting like it. charles: we didn't lose one of very light for 18 months. they got a lot worse in the last 7 days than they did anytime prior to that but appreciate what you are doing. a lot of hotel space, two military bases.

hopefully we can save those people. we are going to look at the pentagon where press secretary john hurley, as soon as he takes the podium we will take you there but how did we get here. lawmakers on both sides demanding hear about what went wrong, and what our allies are saying no matter what the president is claiming. a to. ...and even her grandpa's dog tags back. get a quote.

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charles: scenes of desperation, both sides demanding answers for our botched exit from afghanistan. griff jenkins from washington. >> week of powerful images the history books won't soon forget. the latest, children being pulled over the wall at the airport and there was absolute

chaos friday outside those walls 5 days after kabul fell to the taliban. one searing. that baby being passed over barbed wire into the hands of a marine of the 20 fourth marine expeditionary group. ultimately he was reunited with his family. the footage that stunned the world, the c-17 lifting off, afghans clinging in desperation, some falling to their deaths. even the president defending the evacuation, a different reality on the ground, admits this is hard to watch. >> president biden: they are frightened, they are sad, uncertain what happens next. i don't think anyone can see these pictures and not feel that pain on a human level. >> reporter: president biden is facing growing bipartisan anger

on capitol hill. 50 senators demand the president ramp up evacuations as multiple congressional committees are expected to hold hearings. senator bob menendez calling it a flawed execution asking secretary of defense austin and secretary of state blinken to appear this week as republican senator lindsey graham says this is reaching the level of impeachment. >> if we leave one american behind, don't get all those afghans who stepped up to the plate out then president biden in my view committed a high crime and misdemeanor and should be impeached. >> reporter: yesterday they briefed lawmakers on a conference call but that's not doing much too slow demand for these hearings. we will see them on the house and senate side. charles: the senate armed service committee among those

allowing to investigate what went wrong. dan sullivan sits on that committee and joined me now. thanks for joining us. it is difficult to know where to start, such a disaster, flawed execution, what do you think your committee will begin with? >> the biggest thing is incredible heart-wrenching frustrating themes in afghanistan and the president speaks to the american people and is disconnected from reality. he says the buck stops here with him and blames everybody but himself, he says the book stops here in won't make the most important decision he needs to make now wishes to authorize his military to

rescue americans held behind caliban lines and he says the buck stops with him and yet he won't level with the american people that his actions clearly made afghanistan once again the epicenter for global terrorism, he needs to level with the people of the united states. ainsley: two press conferences where no questions were taken and the spin doctors in charge of putting this together. mistakes are made and we can deal with that but don't -- minute to minute, that is adding fuel to our frustration. what would you like to see? we will hear from him again soon. everything at the pentagon will contradict words that came out

of his mouth 24 hours ago. what should the president do now? >> the president has one top priority, one responsibility, that is to make sure we bring every american citizen in afghanistan home safely and what this will require is for the president to authorize the military to go get these citizens. they can make military plans, would this be risky? of course paramilitaries trained to do these missions. you see these press briefings this arbitrary deadline being floated out there is a possible date on which we believe again. there should be no deadline --

>> getting done before september 11th is another big event where he can say we are out, we did it. a short period of time watching scenes of the talent and driving american-made humvees and machine guns, already tightened the circle around the airport beating people up and more soldiers than that than two weeks ago. there's going to be more fighting before this is solved? i don't think we can waltz in, it will be dangerous. should we be warned about the new reality because this debacle was so bad we. more american soldiers? >> when you level with the american people they understand the risks but i guarantee every american out there regardless of where you are politically knows we need to get our own

citizens, that's what the united states military is for in the final thing i want the president to do which he hasn't done yet is look in the camera particularly with regard to afghanistan and say this was not in vain. what your husband, spouse, wife did, if you are an afghan vet who has been injured the sacrifices you made the country safe for 20 years, this wasn't in vain. ainsley: i've got a hard break coming up but i agree 1 million%, no one should feel bad about their service and patriotism. press secretary john kirby is about to hold a briefing. we will take you there immediately. the president claiming none of our veterans questioned it, what is ritornello hearing? we will hear from him in a

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charles: americans told to stay away from kabul airport. the week starting with images of desperate afghans clinging to a plane ending with a baby passed over barbed wire to safety. my next guest is working to get more people out of afghanistan. and wilson is chief operating officer, tell us this remarkable story of yours. >> not -- in the last week every minute of every day becomes more unbelievable.

i'm at a loss for words for what is happening, what we are being told. charles: start from the beginning. the searing images folks who held onto the c-17 plane. when you see a 17-year-old kid fall off the plane we get it, we know the danger, the evil, what they are afraid of and -- for people who are stuck there. >> the thing is that visual happened when it was easy and things were good on the grounds. i can't emphasize enough exponentially worse, the taliban shooting civilians, please get us out of here, they

are shooting civilians and sending me pictures of it. it is exponentially worse now than it even was then and the longer we choke off kabul the worse it is going to get for all our guys on the ground. charles: you are working to get people evacuated, how can anyone get this done particularly without the military assistance we would normally think would be there? >> a ragtag group of veterans, this is very personal to them. these guys are no different than their marine brother or army brother. this is their guy, and we are literally just -- people putting us in touch with other people, infiltrating different things, getting konstantin tell from the ground. if anyone asks what we need

help with it is live indigenous intel because we are constantly sending this to people to move them safely through places. the snatch team going door to door. in safehouses they are moving every 3 hours. in caravans of one car or four cars going door to door. charles: the person they are looking for is in there, they are terrorizing and punishing family members. >> i can confirm that firsthand this morning. charles: how much time, the taliban officials are in kabul including the worst actors involved in all of this, the most feared militia fighters putting together this new government. it seems the timeline is

shrinking by the minute. >> it doesn't help airport gates are closed until we can evacuate the ones on the compound. we are literally choked off, we can't get them out or on and that how my band know that and hunting in the crowd and hunting door to door. there is one bright spot this morning, a group of fighters in the north that have taken back -- i know that firsthand, they are fighting, getting background in the north. charles: appreciate what you are doing and appreciate it. president biden saying our allies aren't questioning america's credibility. rick grenell is questioning that as we await the pentagon briefing next.

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if you're 55 and up, t- mobile has plans built just for you. switch today and get 2 lines of unlimited and 2 free smartphones. plus you'll now get netflix on us. all this for up to 50% off vs. verizon. it's all included. 2 lines of unlimited for only $70 bucks. and this rate is fixed. you'll pay exactly $70 bucks total. this month and every month. only at t-mobile. charles: you're looking at the pentagon where the press secretary is about to hold a briefing as americans in kabul are stayed away from traveling to the airport. we will take you there but first this. >> i have no question about credibility from our allies

around the world. i've spoken with our nato allies, national security adviser, as has the general or i keep calling him the general but my secretary of defense. the fact of the matter is i have not seen that. the exact opposite. we are acting with dispatch, what we said we would do. charles: president biden has not seen us allies question her ability over afghanistan but try telling that to the ones who have come out blasting. >> new and painful reality on the ground in afghanistan.

let me speak bluntly, this is a catastrophe. the credibility. charles: let's get the read on this from rick grenell, thanks for joining us. they are blasting america, blasting president biden, they are holding president biden in contempt. what are you hearing? >> this is an administration that told us diplomacy would be back, they disparaged the way donald trump did diplomacy but president biden is either not being briefed on what world leaders are saying or he's lying because the criticism has been vicious. i can tell you from the germans, the british, french,

eastern european's, balkan leaders, it is hard to explain how president biden can look into the camera and pretend he's not getting criticism and it is the opposite. he's getting compliments. i don't know what world he's living in the staff around him have a responsibility to speak truth to power and say that is not right. what is jake sullivan doing? i'm concerned about jake sullivan. here's the young man who has an academic record and i'm sure he's really smart, producing papers where you talk about crises and operations, foreign-policy on 1-dimensional level but you need information

coming up, that is what happened with the trump administration. i have seen donald trump frustrated that we could not keep two deadlines but what he was willing to do was change the calculus according to information on the ground. the president of the united states can goals. if people don't tell you what is happening and we've seen that with the biden administration. we have proof that in and july warnings coming from the state department, jake sullivan ignored those warnings and continued down the white paper roll. charles: you brought up his deadlines, the august 30 first hard deadline is giving them fits. does it make it worse when we

do these things for everyone involved including our allies? >> you want the united states to be strong, to not articulate what our plans are, that is basic strategy and we have to be smart enough to know about setting goals and deadlines but have to change them according to fact on the ground, the biden team is not hearing the facts, look at what president biden is saying and the people standing with him like robots it looks like they are unwilling to look at facts and move forward robotically no matter what they hear. ainsley: the facts will force them to change their way. according to the travel pool,

president biden will no longer travel to wilmington. he gave the first press conference without questions, went back to camp david, had another press conference and there was yesterday. you talk about all these things look intriguing but you can't be robotic. the taliban have a say in where we go and how this plays out, they are learning the hard way they are not going to go according to script. >> the point about the taliban. the most important thing is what the taliban hears, not what americans are saying. we can give some sort of threat of military action but if they don't have a credible threat that we are serious, if they don't understand they will face

serious consequences, it is in vain and you look the united states government articulated that we wanted to get out of afghanistan a long time ago but the taliban and did not start taking over cities under the trump administration, donald trump told them if that happened they would face very serious military action. the taliban believed that and fast forward to the biden administration somehow the taliban didn't hear a credible threat of military action, started to take over cities, they started moving in may, june and july. i've been talking to a lot of state department officials. it is troubling to see 22 of 23 american foreign service officers working in embassy kabul, working on political and

economic issues, on the thirteenth of july saying things are not going well. what i've been told by those individuals is they started complaining in may and june and there were deep concerns the situation was turned around. normally to the biden white house not listen to them but they doubled down and on july 1st complaints coming through may and june we closed bagram air base, that when the foreign service office said you cannot evacuate the us military while leaving us and a lot of americans. it's going to get really bad at that came out on july 15th.

secretary blinken largely ignored that cable. were not sure if president biden heard it and secretary austen said he never saw it. charles: the taliban not just listens the words but here's the true meaning but the afghan citizens did the same thing including soldiers who knew they no longer have air cover. they've been fighting hard, losing 50,000 lives but no longer have cover, the afghan people heard the same thing the taliban and heard and this might explain why it crumbled so quickly. president biden has been critical of them but if you say we cut off your air support what did they think was going to happen? >> really good points. we should articulate this was

not an intelligence failure, the political people not to listen to the growing -- the intelligence was out there. there were many warnings so we need to be clear american men and women who made the us safer because they went into afghanistan and got rid of the immediate threat the united states was facing. they did their job honorably, kept us safe, they won, did everything right. the political people at the end messed this up. i want to be clear to their men and women they should be proud of keeping america safe. charles: thank you, appreciate it. as we race afghans out, texas

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it's not crazy. help me, mother. it's an omelet. just crack an egg. >> do not head to the airport, the warning to americans, what is the situation on the ground? pentagon briefing is moments away but first, stocks suffering losses but not because of the turmoil over air, covid cases rising her retail plunging so where's this economy heading. here's austin goolsby and dallas said advisor daniel booth. you look at the typical things folks look at like bond yields, one of the members of the dallas fed acknowledging it is too early to taper because of the delta variant and feels

like something more on this, if you look at 2022 we could see a massive slowdown. >> we are in the midst of a massive slowdown for rent in the united states rising 17%, hard for us households. we see confidence collapsed in the space of the last 3 weeks, unemployment benefits run two weeks and use the money supply in the country begin to contract so we -- there are a lot of crosscurrents but it does not bode well for the future of consumption. the united states is 2 thirds spending consumption so we cannot contend that the slowdown.

charles: there's a thing called citigroup economic surprise indicators. it has plunged. almost every economic report outside morris and jobs report. are you concerned about that q >> we talked about my view that the virus is the boss and if we let the virus rage out of control the economy will slowdown. it doesn't have to be the kind of downturn that happened in march, april, may, it could be what happened at the end of the trump administration when the virus surged and jobs numbers went from strong positive to negative, everybody needs to keep their eye on this and

people who have been saying the economy is overheating it will lead to high inflation, take a step back and remember we've got to stop the disease before the economy will overheat. charles: it is a delicate balancing act, the virus led to the lockdown, when you shut down the world's greatest economy a lot of people are guarded about doing that again. masking is a big issue, vaccination rate is a big issue but the point is how far do governments go to fight the virus and see a repeat of the economic turmoil that came with it? >> i'm not as concerned about that but we've learned

fantastic protocols and how to safely socially distance and keep your big and small businesses open at the same time. my greatest concern, if one thing was a take away, we crossed the million threshold to get americans attention. the thing that concerns me is americans chose to stay indoors and not consume and go out, they were rimi more than anything. it's not governments telling them they can't get out and about, it is their own choice. charles: depends where you are, too many restrictions, two minutes, to daniel's point, the third-largest month-to-month decline in consumer sentiment, they are working on a gigantic tax hike. do we need to go down that road understanding it's not the same economy in 2022 we have enjoyed

this year? >> tax hikes on high income people who haven't had a recession at all, they didn't lose their jobs or reduce their income, their wealth soared. on that, it is not a big tax cut for ordinary americans. i don't agree with the premise of that. it's good idea to make those investments. charles: we are talking about a scenario of hundreds of thousands of businesses go out. a lot of people suffered, high wages have gone through the roof. the ceo of red robin so the quality of their business and hours of their business, major restaurant in this country, in an awful quarter because of inflation and wage hikes, do we layer on higher taxes

>> reporter: i'm not concerned about the wealthiest but this is the worst time with companies margins getting squeezed the difficulties they are having, turning a profit with the supply chain disruption we have with increasing corporate taxes at this juncture. it would be suicidal with the economy given the direction it is headed. charles: what do you want to see coming out of washington dc that we see certain slowdowns and restrictions. >> the first thing i want to see, addressing the public health crisis, catastrophe, we have to do everything we can to up the vaccination rate. if we get people to practice the mom pharmaceutical intervention of wearing masks and being safe, that is crucial for the run on the economy. on the build back better agenda. i've been saying for many years

we have neglected investments in infrastructure in healthcare and education and i hope we make those investments. charles: i don't -- i hope we don't have to argue what infrastructure is. i hope we can get back to what traditional infrastructure is. certain popular opinion, fix the pothole on the way to work at the bridge across every day, seems like low hanging fruit. >> it is. i would advocate a bipartisan infrastructure bill in the trillions of dollars multiple, not the social business they are talking about in washington dc. in these investments it -- not talking about things like boston where you get bogged down with unions and over expenses but partnerships that

create great paying jobs and ups long-term productivity of the economy that has been lacking in recent years, i'm all over good infrastructure spending, you can get lost in puddles that are so big. charles: some democrats, many of the cares act, encouraging some states to use that on unemployment benefits past september 6th. we have 2 million job openings, never had that many, 4 million people quit their jobs, and still encouraging states to keep paying people unemployment benefits on top of what they are getting. we will go to the pentagon. >> give you a quick operational update and answer your

questions as we look forward to that. before i described the situation in kabul for the last 24 hours i want to recap the past weekend present a holistic view of what has been accomplished. august 14th we began the evacuation operation which is one week ago today. since that we rapidly deployed thousands of troops into afghanistan which are footprint stand at 5800 troops on the ground continuing to secure the kabul airport to provide evacuation operations. they were in position, deployed from the united states. as forces steadily flowed in,

we successfully secured the kabul airport. the situation a week ago was different than it is today. the airport remains secure. us military personnel oversee flight operations, us military contracted aircraft as well as for an aircraft operate within kabul airport. additionally the us military has maintained gate security and supported state department colleagues in processing of individuals to prepare for evacuation flights out of afghanistan. critical to afghans at risk out of the dire situation in afghanistan requires additional space at intermediate safe havens and other locations. this impacts our throughput. the us military airlifted

nearly 6000 evacuees in a single day. in the last 24 hours, six us military see 70s departed kabul. through this combined effort into the passenger count, approximately 3800. in the past 24 hours, a number of see 70s are moving between cutter in germany providing critical relief that would increase our input to intermediate, in the past 24 hours three flights landed at dulles international airport. there are afghans in just one week since beginning this operation left afghanistan and transition to fort bliss for further processing in this process. as you can see this is a complex multi step operation.

we are committed to the important mission to bring american citizens who worked alongside us throughout our time in afghanistan and vulnerable afghans including women and children safely out of afghanistan. since the end of july we relocated 22,000 people. since the beginning of this operation on august 14th we evacuated 17,000. i would add that intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism professionals are conducting screening and security vetting for all vulnerable afghans before they are allowed to enter into the united states. these agencies surging resources to evaluate these evacuees to ensure protection

of the homeland. this is the result of teamwork, with cooperation of partners around the world who share this incredible effort, thank you. it looks like you're on the phone. >> thanks, for either you or the general. obviously, there's fewer people getting out of afghanistan over the last 24 hours and the embassy has issued a warning telling people not to go to the airport. can you talk about the security outside the perimeter? is it getting worse? and what are the key threats there? is it afghans trying to get in? is it isis? is it the taliban? can you just give us a clearer picture of the violence going on outside the airport? >> and the first part of the question is, i think, you talked about guidance going out to not come to the airport.

i'm not familiar with that directly. we're continuing to process people throughout the last 24 hours and the commanders are metering how many people come in and out of the gate to ensure the safe and ability to screen applicants as they come on. there has been no reported change to the current enemy situation in and around the airport at this time. >> yeah, of course. >> and this region was part of security that came out of the sy this morning, and outside of the gate was advising u.s. citizens to avoid coming to the airport or the airport gates unless you receive a specific call to come there. can you explain, what is this threat? is it taliban? is there an isis or an al-qaeda angle to this? >> look, i think you can understand, courtney, why we're not going to get into specific

details about the threat environment or what -- or what our intelligence has given us. we've said from the very beginning of this that we're going to try to do this in a safe and orderly way and that means making sure that nobody gets hurt to the maximum extent possible. so what you're seeing out of our state department colleagues, i think, is a prudent notification to make sure that whatever movement there is to the gates from outside the airport is done as safely as possible and that people have the information they need to make the best decisions for themselves going forward. so, i do understand the question and the interest, but i hope you understand that we're going to be very careful about what kind of extra context we're going to put out there in the information environment. >> there was a crowd threat that led to the evacuation via helicopter on thursday of some americans from right near the

airport so i guess what we're trying to figure out, is this just, there's large crowds and it's difficult for americans to get there or was there actually a threat against the airport? . >> again, i'm not going to get into specific threat assessments. the situation in kabul, in the whole city, is fluid and dynamic and you've seen the images over the last 24 to 48 hours yourself of the situation outside the perimeter of the airport and it changes. it changes almost by the hour and it changes in locations around the airport. it's very, very fluid and dynamic and so, and i don't want to speak for the state department, obviously, but like our military commanders, they are going to make decisions in real-time about what's in the best interest of innocent civilians that have need to get to the airport and want to get inside the security gates. this will change, you know, every day. there will be modifications to

our assessments of the security environment and what we think is in the best interest. >> can i ask you one other not related to this. there are some reports that the afghan military and maybe some others are rising up against the taliban, particularly some in the north and i'm wondering if there's been any request for u.s. military air strikes to support them, and if so, is that the kind of thing that the u.s. military would engage in? >> don't want to anticipate or talk about the future. as you know, no current requests for that have come in, but we continue to maintain the current capability that we've had on the ground and in the air since we began operations. >> and the only thing i would add, the mission hasn't changed. the mission of the united states in kabul is the airport, to keep it secure and lead air operations so we can continue to move it out, and that's the mission. >> a week ago there was a

mission to support of afghan military with air strikes and that was supposed to continue until august 31st so it stands to reason i know the situation has changed a lot in the last week, but stands to reason that the u.s. military would still have the authority, if not at-- to carry out strikes if requested by the afghan military. i guess at this point they have not been requested to this point, i guess, right? >> the general says. and the military mission that we're executing now is noncombatant operation, that's what we're focused on. >> in the last 24 hours, to taliban leadership has named haqqani's in the city of kabul. has that been part of the changing situation on the ground making it less safe for americans to try and travel to the airport? >> again, i'm not going to detail the threat assessments and what the intelligence is saying. it's very fluid and very dynamic. what i would tell you is that we continue to have regular

communication with taliban leaders there in kabul, particularly those that are manning or in charge of the check points around the airport. that communication and deconfliction occurs. it has not changed. >> is there concern while there's ongoing situation with taliban near the airport there's a lot less visibility the farther you go out in the city and possibly where there might be threats of kidnapping and is that really what we're trying to avoid here? >> there's a whole panoply of security concerns that we have and again, to my answer to courtney, this is a noncombatant, and that's what we're focused on and the general clearly indicated in his opening statement to get as many people out as we can, as fast as we can. and so that's what the focus is and clearly, in being able -- in trying to accomplish that mission, we're taking in a whole wealth of situation of what the security environment

looks like, but our presence is there at the airport. the mission is there at the airport, and that's the key focus. >> is there a sense though that the window of opportunity here is closing and closing maybe possibly quickly as the security situation on the ground-- >> i think we've been very honest about the fact that we know that we're fighting against both time and space. that's really what we're -- that's what we're -- that's the race that we're in right now. and we're trying to do this as quickly and as safely as possible. i'm not going to speculate about whether windows are closing or opening. we're focusing on accomplishing this mission as fast as we can. >> john two days before kabul fell, you said from that podium, quote, the city is not right now in any imminent threat environment. how could you get that so wrong? >> in the moment that i said it, lucas, it was true.

and i understand, i've seen the reactions out there on social media to what i said. >> the taliban-- >> in the moment that i said it, based on what we knew at the time, it was a true statement and yes, two days later things dramatically changed. i readily admit that. things moved very, very quickly, lucas, and as you heard the chairman up here just a few days ago say that, you know, that there wasn't any indication that, you know, that they had received that things could evolve as quickly as they did, but-- >> the cities have been falling all week every day. >> yes, i understand, lucas, i understand. i understand. all i can tell you is in the moment that i made those remarks, they were accurate. i'm committed 100% to be as truthful and honest as as transparent as i can be and i'm comfortable that while others may ridicule what i say and

take issue with it, i'm comfortable that what i'm giving you is the best information i have in the moment that i have it and i would hope and understand that people would see that events have -- did and have continued to evolve very, very quickly there. to courtney's excellent line of questioning, the assessment, the threat is going to change and it could change literally by the hour. so we're trying to give you the best we can and lean as far forward as we can in the moment, but that moment is going to change. >> it could be changing by the hour, you said there was no imminent threat of kabul falling. >> again, i think i've answered the question. >> 10 years ago then general lloyd austin head forces of iraq recommended the president not to remove troops from iraq and months ago, secretary austin recommended the same in afghanistan. is he frustrated that presidents are ignoring him? >> the secretary is 100% focused on the mission at hand right now, which is a

noncombatant evacuation operation and he's comfortable that throughout this deliberation, his voice was heard, that he had an opportunity to provide his best advice and counsel to the commander-in-chief and to the national security team, as did others here at the pentagon. it was a very inclusive, very deliberate process and the secretary believes that the president was given the benefit of a lot of different views, not just his, but a lot of different views and then the commander-in-chief made a decision. that's how it works. that's exactly how the process should work. a very calm and deliberate decision making process and once that decision is made, you execute. that's the way this building operates. you execute and that's what we're doing. >> is the secretary frustrated now not once, but twice his

advice has been ignored by-- >> the secretary is focused at the mission on hand and not revisiting past decisions one way or another. you give your advice and a decision is made and you follow that decision. an order is given, you follow that order and that's what we're doing and as you heard the secretary say just after the president announced his decision in mid april, that he fully supports that decision. he's been very clear about that. >> has the secretary thought about resigning? >> no. >> one factual question, how many of those 17,000 are american citizens? and have there been any further outside the wire operations by u.s. military? >> i do not have a breakdown of how many of the 17,000 are americans and there, to my knowledge, since you and i last talked yesterday, there have been no additional operations, as you put it, outside the

wire, outside the security perimeter of the airport, but look, without getting predictive here, we have troops in a very, as i said, dynamic environment, perilous mission and they understand that and they also understand why they're there, which is to help people and i'm not going to rule out the possibility that if they see a moment, if they see an opportunity to do it, that they won't do it. >> what is the sensitivity of going outside the perimeter, the brits don't seem to have any problems with acknowledging it and they seem to be doing it pretty openly. i saw a british soldier quoted as saying they were conducting joint patrols with the taliban.

is there something restraining u.s. forces from going out and getting people? >> do you want to take it. >> the numbers. just going back to, i think your first question, you talked to -- just can you give me the question again? you asked-- ments the question, how many of the 17,000 are american citizens. >> i think i can help with that, john, on the number of american citizens, is that what you were asking? >> total number of american citizens. >> it's approximately 2500. >> 2500. >> yes. >> when you talk about the operations, i'm not familiar with, you know -- as we look at the joint and coalition of what's operating on, those british forces at the gate are part of the entire kabul, you know, security zone, so, those patrols you're talking about, i don't have knowledge of people going outside the wire, as you

speak of as patrols. we see both the british marines that are on those gates are conducting what we'd call those local security operations to continue the best they can to make sure they're safe, that all of those, you know, the large crowds that are there that continue to try to ensure there's, you know, control. to allow the people that are allowed to and have the right documents to come into the gates. >> local security operations in or outside the-- no, i'm talking in at the gates. at the gates. >> and are british and other forces there under the operational command of the u.s. commanders at the airfield? >> those british forces that are there at the gates are part of the u.s. forward operational control of the commander that has kabul airport. >> he has operational control over the british forces.

>> yes, the-- >> here. >> general taylor, you talked about how the local commanders are metering those coming into the gate. does that suggest that the flow is continuing into that. >> absolutely, yes. >> and thus, if you are an american citizen in kabul or somewhere else in afghanistan and get to the airport, you should try and get to one of the entrances? >> what i'll say is that as american citizens come into the gates, we are continuing to process them and get them to safety. i mean, that's our mission. >> right. and have any of these gates been actually completely closed in the last 24 hours? >> let's make sure-- when you look at the gates and those, you know, we're ensuring, the gates always have the ability to be open in process, the right people that come to the gates. so that's, i think, very important to understand is that

the gates are always manned by forces there that can process the right people that come to those gates all the time. >> i'm still confused. you've got a u.s. embassy that's sending out an alert telling american citizen nz kabul, do not come to the gate if you want out of here because the security situation as john described is too threatening, and yet, you should come to the gates-- . i didn't say you should come. what i said was there are military forces at the gate, have the ability to continue to process those that come to the gate. >> how many gates are there? >> there's multiple gates. right now as we look at-- there's three, four main gates that we're processing evacuees through. >> overnight, the two were

opened, is that correct? two additional gates? >> you say two additional gates. i don't have that report of two additional gates. >> okay. >> let me get to the phone a little bit more. >> hey, john, thanks. just wanted to confirm, over the past 12, i guess 24 hours, how many gates have been closed and have they been for long periods of time or short? >> just to go back those gates are open and closed as required. there's been short durations throughout the last 24 where gates have been closed to allow the proper people to come in and out of those gates. >> okay. let's see.

kelly from next star. okay. any more in the room? louie. >> can i go back to the 2500 american estimates. that's a very small portion of the 15,000 that the president said may be the top number of americans inside. are you making efforts to try to bring more americans in? you're cautioning them to be aware of the threat environment at the gates, but at the same time, how do you get all of those-- that many americans into the airport if there really are that many americans in country? >> well, i think you've heard us say before we don't have a perfect figure of how many are in afghanistan, let alone kabul. as the general said if you're

an american and you're at a gate, you'll be let in that gate. the state department's doing the best job they can to advise americans who still haven't made it to the airport what the situation looks like around the airport and that would be the prudent thing to do, and as you also heard the president make clear yesterday, that we're going to continue to explore operations to assist americans as needed and we will do that. we will do that here at the pentagon. if there's a need-- if there's a need to do something different than what we're already doing to facilitate them getting into the airport, then we'll certainly consider those options. >> is there a separate advisory that goes out to afghan nationals who have the visas in hand? are they, too, being told, you know, is the threat dynamic, the dynamic-- i mean, the threat situation is dynamic right now, be aware, i

mean, are they getting similar messages? >> i would have to refer you to the state department. my understanding is that there's a -- that there's ways to communicate to that population, but how that's done, that's not a dod equity. i wouldn't be able to speak to that with any great clarity. >> since the mission with the three chinooks that rescued the americans, have there been any other airlift operations? is that maybe a way that other americans are still stranded might be able to get to the airport? >> no, and i won't speculate about potential future operations going forward. >> and a question for you, you talked about the through put and increasing the through put of afghans. can you talk about the different bases that are opening up and how is that sorting done? how did three aircraft go straight to dulles and then go straight to bliss and then some go to germany? how are those decisions being made? >> so as the flights are manifested, meaning the roster

that's put together of who is on those aircraft and that decision is made of where that, you know, could go to. let's say some flights were going into qatar and taking some there so that afghans could be held there temporarily and then waiting for other flights to go -- what we're trying to do is keep the airflow that's in the theater, right, from having to go far, that continue to drop people off to allow other flights to take from qatar forward to, for instance, into dulles. so, you know, we -- depends on how many folks we have, what is it, a full slight of siv. is it other afghans? is it americans? so that's just extremely dynamic and you know, with trans com and the commanders and those manifests are done, they make those decisions, you know, on the spot. so the idea that only siv's

have fully processed are going to be coming into the u.s. for now or will there be a situation where any of the afghans, evacuated with be brought onto bases and then worked through the system once they're here? >> so it's very important what we'll continue to do the full screening and vetting process that takes place from the beginning all the way to making a final decision of where somebody goes. i know we will continue that and then going back to right now, the guidance is and will continue, to continue to increase our outflows to make that happen. >>, is the american flag flying at the airport in kabul right now? >> yes. >> there's some talk from veterans and people that served in afghanistan that the u.s. embassy which cost over nearly $800 million to build, why was that closed and the flag taken to the airport? shouldn't the flag come down

last from an embassy when conducting an evacuation? >> i can't speak for the decisions the embassy makes and what they've done. i know that embassy operations and council operations continue on kabul airport, as you know, at the military headquarters where u.s. personnel are continuing to execute the mission the flag flies. when evacuating a country doesn't the american flag come down from the embassy last? that's what a lot of veterans are saying. >> i just-- i would say-- >> yes. >> i was going to say the flag continues to fly and the mission continues right now. >> just a couple more, courtney. >> one for each of you. john, congressman mccarthy put out a statement last night saying that within moments of president biden saying that we'd succeed in afghanistan, secretary and general milley

provide add bleak assessment on the ground and that secretary austin specifically acknowledged americans were being beaten on their way to the airport. can you give us any more detail about what -- who these americans are that secretary austin was talking about? >> courtney, we've ally been talking about this several days here at this particular podium. and we know of cases, a small number that we know of. we don't have perfect visibility, but we know the small number of cases where some americans and certainly as the secretary also said in that statement, afghans, afghans that we want to evacuate, not-- it wasn't just americans that he talked about, have been harassed and in some cases beaten. we don't believe it's a very large number and matter of fact, the numbers would indicate, and i've said this before, that most -- by and

large, most americans who have their credentials with them are being allowed through the taliban check points and on to the gate and onto-- into the gate and onto the airfield. so by and large, most americans are having no problems that we're aware of. now, i have to caveat it and i'll do it again and i've done it every day. we are an aware of sporadic cases where they aren't being allowed, where there's some harassment going on and yes, some physical violence has occurred and as the secretary has made clear, and he made clear in that phone call, that's unacceptable and the admiral made it clear to the taliban commanders that he's talking to that it's unacceptable. >> what i'm wondering the cases that the secretary was talking to the members about, were those occurring yesterday? i mean, are these recent? are we talking about cases-- >> over the course of the last week we have become -- we have been made aware of this. i mean. >> more cases since talking to the taliban and telling them

not to do it? >> i don't of an exact breakdown day by day, courtney. we've been in touch with the taliban for quite some time, over the last week, and we've certainly made our concerns known. i think equally frustrating is the fact that not -- what appears to be happening is that not every taliban fighter, either got the word or decided to obey the word. and i can't speak to taliban command and control, but by and large, and for the most part, americans with their credentials are being given the passage they need through the checks points and are getting onto the field. again, security conditions permitting. >> one more for you, general taylor. there were reports overnight on social media including pictures showing c-17's virtually empty when they're leaving. do you have any senses, are

some aircraft leaving kabul airport virtually empty and why? >> first, that flight cycle continues and what the commanders on the ground know is to continue to evacuate and ensure everybody gets out as fast as possible. what we don't know is, maybe on that situation what i'm not aware of that exact flight might have had a different mission to do something else. i can't answer that, but what i do know you've seen in our through put, we are getting those that are ready to fly, that have been fully screened, ready to fly on aircraft and moving to onward destinations. >> the 3800 you mentioned in your opening statement, that is-- those are including the 32 charters that went out and other-- >> that's correct. >> do we know how many of the six military 17's how many people. >> approximately 1600. >> thank you. >> last one, eric-- eric on the phone.

>> 17,000 evacuated, do you know roughly how many have gone to the initial way stop, qatar or now as we learned yesterday the uae in bahrain took some initial flights. is the qatar facility full at this point and transition to the other immediate way stations? >> as you know as we talk about the number that continue to move. i just want to talk about qatar specifically. there was time period yesterday where we delayed flights going in there to allow other flights to leave, to ensure that the current capacity of qatar, which was really well done there, to continue to build that capacity so fast, to allow those flights to depart before we bring flights in. and now that we have ramstein open like i mentioned earlier, that allow in the next 24 is the plan to assess to get back

into the numbers we saw the day before in moving them out. >> okay, thanks, everybody. >> quick one. >> we have to get going. >> the terrorist threat against the united states increased as the taliban took over the country? >> well, a lot to unpack there, you saw john kirby and general hank taylor taking questions, a variety of questions starting out the news conference, the press conference, actually taking a victory lap and then you can see the expressions there's a lot of frustrations and anxiety and i dare say, it felt like the tensions and the fear were pretty palpable. i want to go to trey who is watching closely from doha qatar. there is talk about qatar being backed up and gets back to the criticism of the planning process and now of course, fewer and fewer evacuees, in part because the entire system has been bogged down. what do you make of what you heard at the press conference and what do you know to be

happening where you are? >> charles, good afternoon. what we just heard there from defense-- from the top defense officials there in washington does not match up to the reality on the ground. it's important to note that the reports out of kabul, afghanistan, do not indicate a smooth and clear process. john kirby just said to the american people that most americans are having no problems getting to the airport. he said there's a handful that they've heard of reports being intercepted by taliban fighters and having some trouble. we just spoke with a group of university students who arrived here in doha and these students described scene of pure chaos and it didn't matter if you were an american citizen with a u.s. passport or not. the descriptions we're hearing out of washington are getting to the point of being dangerous for american citizens on the ground. people have to make daily calculations if safe passage to

the airport can occur. right now it cannot. and you see chinook helicopters to a hotel to evacuate 169 americans and then you have the reports of taliban fighters simply beating people outside the airport and continuing this process of making it extremely difficult for everyone, american citizens included, to get there. charles. charles: to that point, i want to stay with you on this, because it was tough. it was frustrating and again, it feels like the spin goes before the facts. again, john kirby saying that americans are given passage unless-- when security conditions are permitted. even within that sentence he's contradicting. obviously if there are serious security issues then americans are not being given free package passage on there. and down playing the amount of americans beaten. secretary austin brought it up. he downplayed it, may be a small number a few days ago. how important is it, trey, from the people you've spoken to, that the american public get

the full picture so we can take the proper actions? >> it's extremely important, and i think a lot of observers and media representatives have big questions about why the administration is doubling down day in and day out on these statements. they don't have to keep repeating this fallacy that everything's going fine in kabul. it's not and that's according to people on the ground. that's according to video evidence and it's according to the people we just spoke with this hour who just came from kabul and i mentioned the statement that president biden made yesterday about it being an easy process and organized process and the students i spoke with sort of chuckled because they're aware of the statements coming out of the united states and they just simply do not match the realities on the ground. i want to mention as relates to qatar because we heard the general talk about qatar a--

qataris, and those 17,000 evacuated. the amir of qatar actually spoke with president biden yesterday. the american president really making clear that this would not have been possible without the qataris, they're not only housing people at facilities like the villas behind me, but also continuing these military flights and conversations with the taliban to ensure that flights aren't attacked. i mean, there are serious, serious security concerns on the ground because you have the taliban, al-qaeda fighters who have just in many cases been freed from prisons across afghanistan and a number of extremist organizations now with millions of dollars worth of american weapons, american weapons that could be used to attack the people trying to evacuate these innocent civilians caught in the cross-fire and it's a major, major concern and i think that's why you see the u.s. military sort of offering these contradictions. because officials in washington are not aware. it doesn't seem, of what's happening on the ground.

while with that said, there are american soldiers who are putting their lives at risk to try to help evacuate these civilians and some heartwarming pictures out of kabul, u.s. forces and marines ands troops holding babies, and getting the women and children out of the way. >> there seems to be confusion amongst the agencies all involved when the general said he wasn't even aware of the embassy warning. that was a big red flag. trey, great work, thank you very much. awant to go now to lucas tomlinson, fresh off the presser at the pentagon. lucas, your reaction. you had fantastic questions and i thought they were amazing and i know where you were going with this. and obviously kirby-- john kirby was extraordinarily frustrated and what do you make of it. >> i want to make you and our viewers proud in there. i asked john kirby, on august 13th, friday the 13th when john kirby sat the podium and stood

there and said there's no imminent danger of kabul falling, we know what happened, two days later it fell and we've seen cities fall over afghanistan that week. i asked him how could you get that so wrong? and he said, he stood by every word. he said that was the best assessment at the time and of course our viewers and americans wondering how much can people trust the intelligence community with these assessments because, you know, people had whiplash hearing about it's going to be 90 days, 30 days, the whole country ended up falling in six days. john kirby said he stood by every word. he also said right now that the data to update people. 17,000 people have been evacuated in the past week from afghanistan, but out of those 17,000, charles, only 2500 are americans. and in earlier we received estimates there's between 5 and 10,000 americans. jen psaki at the white house at least 11,000 americans and on

capitol hill, more than that. there's a little confusion how many americans are on the ground, but of course, one of the biggest things we heard, the briefing right now is that john kirby and the pentagon say this is now a race against time and space. >> that's the race that we're in right now and we're trying to do this as quickly and as safely as possible. i'm not going to speculate about whether windows are closing or opening. we're focused on accomplishing this mission as fast as we can. >> one other thing, charles, just a day after the president said americans are having no problems getting to the airport, of course, we heard defense secretary austin told a different story and lawmakers said in some cases americans were getting beat up and that's one of the reasons the u.s. military had to launch three chinook helicopters, they're essentially flying school buses, they're armed, don't get me wrong. they were rescued two football

fields out of the gate. if things are so secure why you have to launch the rescue mission 200 yards away? you think you could set up a cordon and march or escort them. and the question, the brits and french are leaving the wire and leaving the base and rescuing their people and why isn't the u.s. doing that? and john kirby said the mission hadn't changed. charles: lucas, i don't want you to go yet. president biden was asked why the perimeter wasn't widened out the airport and i didn't make out. couldn't understand what he was saying. back to the number of americans there because this is perplexing. i'm paraphrasing here, but kirby said we don't have a perfect number. it doesn't even seem like they have a clear approximation and so, how can we effectively implement any sort of evacuation plan to save every american if we're not sure how

many we'll save? >> it's a challenge, charles. a great question. if you're an american citizen living in afghanistan you're not required to check in with anybody that's why the state department and the military are collecting names, wondering who else is out there and who is missing. we've heard stories about americans who tried to take their families to the base and they have been turned away, of course, there's massive crowds. you've seen the tape. and in some cases, chaos and so just yelling behind hundreds of screaming afghans, i'm an american. the soldiers and those marines guarding the gate they might not hear you and sometimes if they do, it's just too dangerous, charles. charles: and let me squeeze this in, you asked a lot of questions of secretary austin about his potential frustration, he's been against historically about the abrupt retreat we did this week and asked if he was even considering resigning. are you hearing something about that? certain kirby used the right

p.c. words like inclusive and this and that. but it's clear that secretary austin's advice has been i go ford. >> this isn't ancient history. 10 years ago, then general lloyd austin told "the washington post" in an interview, that he feared when u.s. left iraq that, al-qaeda and isis would, and they were advisors and u.s. air strikes started and the isis was moving on the consulate in rah bil and a few months ago in afghanistan, we know from our sources, general griffin and i, general milley, secretary austin and general miller, scotty miller head of u.s. forces in afghanistan recommended that u.s. forces stay. now, there's some dispute about who was the most vocal. charles: sure. >> but what we know is that

this decision was made by one man, the commander-in-chief, president biden, who we're told, went with his gut, charles. charles: and yesterday he suggested that he went with the consensus. lucas, thank you very much. obviously, this is a grave situation. so how do we get americans and our allies out? rob o'neill is a fox news contributor and you know him as a former navy seal who killed osama bin laden. and it's important to have you on this important day, rob. your assessment. you're watching this and you were in country and you fought, your brothers and sisters and fellow servicemen died. you're watching this unfold before your very eyes. what do you make of what we've heard so far today? >> it's sad watching retired officers, saying, yeah, maybe some americans have been beaten on the way to the airport. this is nonsensical. there's no reason that the men and women who support this country can't leave that airport, go out and trust the

enemy, get everyone who needs to get out and leaving. and the thought right there, leaving with them like we're being kicked out. this is the strongest military in the history of the world and we can crush anybody we want to. what we've done, we've got a lot of politically correct woke leaders in charge and all they care about is their own political aspirations, their own futures. they don't care about anybody else that's out there. they're-- when you think about the afghans, too, there's horrifying things happening right now that, you can't even imagine what people can do to each other and the taliban are doing it because we're weak. we're weak and at least we know which bathroom everyone can use. >> well, but rob, we've made the decision to be weak and i think that's where people are shocked, dismayed and extraordinarily sad. we've made this decision to that i can this approach. >> yeah, i mean, we've made the decision for sure, we've done it either at the voting box or, you know, whatever the ballot

box or whatever someone told us happened at the ballot box, we've decided that males are bad, masculinity is bad, and-- you know, masculinity shows up, and the taliban are-- the taliban are fighting right now and they're pressing people and it's shameful. where are the feminists right now wondering what happened to the women and girls in afghanistan? there's so much bad going on right now and breaks my heart to see it, knowing and seeing my men, my women in combat, that we are the good guys and we could be the good guys. we have our allies from france and from the u.k., from germany going in there and getting their people and we're too weak because we have weak officers, weak people who just, they refuse to fight. they've forgotten what a fight is, it's to realize that we're all on the same team and there

are bad guys out there. charles: that kind of introspecktion. it's sadly ironic we have more troops than we had a week ago and president biden said the main reason he did that if he'd followed a certain timeline or ignored it we'd have to put more troops in. right now we've got the co-founder of the taliban mueller and the hakari network most feared of the militias and put together a government and they've already said it's going to fall to sharia law. how bad is it going to get and how fast? >> it all matters now what the taliban shows up on social media and whatever this taliban allows us to say and our own government is going to lie to

us. how do they know the networks and we're not bombing them right now baffles me? it's an insult to everyone i've ever known who died in combat an insult to every marine who's been in combat for what? i talked to veterans every single day, hanging out with veterans right now and we're almost, you know, to the point with we're-- why do we waste our entire lives for. they know how to crush these people, they don't know how to fight us and people in the beltway and a couple of people in the media and manhattan and hollywood are telling us what's what. this is wrong, we know now who how to do it and shouldn't have taken this among and to me it's complete nonsense. charles: rob o'neill, tell us the veterans, we still love them. oh, i want to ask you-- i'm not going to let you go that quick, hold on a second there's been mixed messages to your point from the white house

on al-qaeda and whether they're still a threat in the region and so, is the president and of course pentagon spokesman, we just heard john kirby. i want you to listen to what he just m to say and i want your assessment about this. >> what interest do we have in afghanistan at this point with al-qaeda gone? >> we know that al-qaeda is a presence as well as isis in afghanistan. >> rob. >> joe biden was the vice-president for eight years and he was pretty much the only one who said we shouldn't go after osama bin laden. joe biden has basically been wrong on every foreign policy decision he's ever made in his five decades in washington d.c. maybe he's part of the problem, too. but, i mean, the only good news for me i'm pretty sure that joe biden is not in charge, someone else is, it's a shady, shady place, i'm amazed kirby hasn't

resigned yet either. charles: this administration very sensitive to the media and have a very good relationship with the mainstream media. i'm concerned that the media may buy into the taliban 2.0. taliban on the wire said they're looking for smooth passage of those at the airport and vital for law and order. putting these messages out for american consumption, my fear is that we start to get some folks in the media that start to take this line, hook line and sinker. >> i do, too. i've seen lately in the main street media, down is up, up is down and they're going to lie to you and tell you whatever you want to hear to keep you at bay, make sure you show your papers and you're going to be fine. i don't buy any of it. there needs to be a big change everywhere. who is the highest power in washington? nobody wants to admit the truth because we're worried about offending people's emotions. that's nonsense we see what

happens. we're the greatest country in the world, and now we're weak because we're woke. that's it. charles: make sure the folks you're with know we love them and appreciate their patriotism and american people will never forget. no matter how much the bureaucrats and politicians bungle this. we love them. and republicans are not the only ones criticizing the president. the democrats are demanding answers from the commander-in-chief what's going down in afghanistan and this isn't biden's only crisis. the covid surging across this country, the migrant surge continues, so what do all of these problems mean for the biden agenda as we move forward? i want to bring in the editor in chief of the hill, bob, it's great seeing you. let's start with this, the situation in afghanistan. i mean, every time there's a press conference, it leaves me wanting more, but also wanting to scream, this press conference moments ago began with a list of accomplishments.

a general with a list of accomplishments how well they've worked together and minutes later he wasn't aware of embassy communique about the warning not to go to the airport. that's how worried i am. how are you seeing this? >> i agree, as you mentioned this is not just republicans, it's bob menendez chair of the senate foreign relations committee which joe biden once upon a time did chair, a democrat in new jersey. and you can't with a straight face say that this has gone well and that's why democrats are holding hearings. you know, they haven't held hearings on the border or immigration, but they have to hold hearings on this because as you said earlier in your show, charles, presidents make mistakes. joe biden fancies himself a straight shooter. he has not been on this issue. there have been mistakes and you have to learn from them. number one, we have to get americans out and hopefully no american dies in the coming

days and how this never can happen again. the military talks about lessons learned. there are a lot of lessons to be learned here. charles: yeah, and obviously there will be a time, hopefully quite soon where you do the post-mortem on this. what did we learn? what can we admit and acknowledge and bob, when you do these sort of things, maybe you get out the civilians, maybe you get out the local folks who put their lives on the line for us and then maybe the military leaves last. that's the most common sense thing out of this. what are some of the harder lessons and what are you hearing from some of your democrat connections in washington d.c. that has them most frustrated? >> they're frustrated, a lot of democrats and republicans have constituents and they're very concerned about this and it does raise the basic question, why didn't they get out first? and how do you get them out now? don't believe anything the taliban says about reforming or women playing a role in government. that's not going to happen.

but also, the taliban does have incentive to have america get out because then they can-- they're running, completely running the show and they're completely running the airport there and the bagram was shut down a month ago, that decision has not been explained, i think that could have been-- we could have had more americans get out from that airport, but it was shut down go a month ago. so, democrats are concerned about their constituents, they're concerned politically, too, because you know, joe biden's poll numbers have been pretty good, but these headlines have been devastating, as they should be, because this was not handled well, you can't say it was and you've got to just admit that. people will understand, americans understands no one is perfect and you can't spin this issue, this is such a serious issue. charles: it really is. bob cusak, thank you very much, appreciate it. folks, we will be right back.

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>> in oklahoma, a mother is taking matters into her own hands to help save afghan girls. the amazing woman flew to afghanistan earlier this month to rescue 10 members of the paul girls robotics team and as the taliban take control in kabul. and with that amazing woman, she joins us now and first and foremost, the foresight to see this and to go and take control, take these actions, alison, into your own hands. share that with us. >> well, as you all may no, i'm a mother of 11 biological children, but one man, and i actually want to get this straight. i did not fly into afghanistan, but believe me if i could parachute in there right now i would. that was a false report.

but it doesn't take away from the miracle that's happened. i met the afghan robotic team in may of 2019 as i work in the space industry in washington d.c. i immediately took to these girls being the mother of nine daughters and stayed in touch with them for a couple of years and they're hoping as they leave hospital pursuing an engineering degree and with the sacrifice. i woke up august the 3rd with a dreadful feeling that they were in grave danger. and i leapt into action because i couldn't sit on my own hands, i'm a mom in oklahoma city, but i was armed with two things courage and a cause. the people i needed to contact to help are way above my pay grade. all i could not is not sit on my hands and just take action. charles: you know, alison, the foresight is remarkable what

you helped to orchestrate even more so. what are these girls telling you as the taliban come back and they've already said it's going to be sharia law and so we're talking about women that won't be allowed to study, won't be allowed to work, won't be allowed to travel alone outside the home. no tv, no music. covered head to toe. what are these women telling you that life is going to be? there won't be any more girls robotics teams for sure. >> neil, it's a great question, i'm glad you asked. because of the television coverage i've received, i've received desperate messages even this morning from professional educated people, talking doctors, lawyers, people who have had careers, and who have been threatened by the taliban. i have video they're sending me of the taliban going home to home and beating them almost to death and some have been shot and these women are crying out

desperately for help. so, i'm sorry, i'm just a little person, but i'm putting out a plea for anyone that can help. i will do everything i can to help these women. charles: is there any way our audience can help you? do you have a website set up? do you need funding? do you need logistics, anything we can do? >> my number one goal, i have a compiled list of these women that have secretly sent passports and et cetera, and the biggest thing we need to do is with the girls that first got out. i need to get these women flown out of planes on a secure flight and from there we can make decisions. i have a go-fund-me page on my facebook page and i appreciate all the people that donated what i really need is someone that take action and courage to get these people out on a plane and anyone that can help i'll make it happen. i'll make it happen. charles: well, we have an amazing audience and they're

going to definitely try to help you without a doubt. alison, again, phenomenal story. thank you so much. folks, that's a wrap for this particular show. stick around, of course, with the latest breaking news on fox and there will be a lot today without a doubt. the situations in flux. our prayers are out there with everyone particularly the vets and people like alison. do not forget to watch me every day fox business 2 p.m. with usaa safepilot, when you drive safe... ...you can save up to 30% on your auto insurance. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. get a quote today. (vo) singing, or speaking. reason, or fun. daring, or thoughtful. sensitive, or strong. progress isn't either or progress is everything.

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citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, so i can realize my vision and give everything i've got to my company, and my community. i got you. for the love of people. for the love of community. for the love of progress. citi. >> thousands of desperate afghans outside of kabul airport this hour as the u.s. advises american citizens against coming to the airport due to security threats. welcome to fox news live, i'm griff jenkins in washington. >> i'm anita voe-- vogel. hello, griff. we had a briefing from the pentagon a few moments ago. a dangerous