schmid from missouri was on first deployment abroad. >> corporal dagen page of nebraska joined marines out of high school and hoped to go trade school. staff sergeant tennessee devout christian and staff sergeant darren taylor 11 years his father said he served the united states and gave everything for it we remember their souls today. ♪ ♪ ♪ neil: this says it all. initial indications are that we killed the target of the words of the central command spokesperson referring to a late raid to take out a suspected isis k planner of that attack on u.s. soldiers and afghans a little more than 48 hours ago. welcome, everybody, i'm neil cavuto. we got the very latest on that attack. and if it did get its desired target, how many were taken out, and how it affects the ongoing

evacuation from afghanistan in the latest spirit 68 people have been flown out of the country and the last 24 hour period mark that would represent about half the pace that we were seeing the day before. and it is expected to slow. but by this latest count, we are at about 110,000 who have evacuated afghanistan since the taliban took over. we have got you covered because we are waiting to hear from the pentagon and they will detail us on that evacuation plan and this latest terror threat that seems real enough for them to keep issuing it day in and day out. it goes something like this. and it came late last night from our embassy there that u.s. citizens who are at the abby georgia tech, the east gate, aby gate. north gate. that should leave immediately that complicates how many can get to the airport and ultimately out of the country. we'll get a read on that from

top generals on the ground very, very shortly. first to trey yingst following all of this in doha, qatar, trey? >> neil, good morning. overnight a u.s. drone strike took out isis k terrorist allegedly planning more attracts against u.s. troops. according to spokesperson for u.s. central command in a statement they said quote the unmanned airstrike excuse me occurred in province of afghanistan. initial indications are that we killed the target. we know notify civilian casualties. now this was direct response to the suicide bombing that killed 13 service members and injured 18 others on thursday. the state department is still advising americans to state away from the gates of kabul's airport as officials believe another attack is likely. the taliban has tried to distance itself from isis k off chute of islamic state that does have fighters in eastern afghanistan. asked about friday john kirby told fox news jennifer griffin that thousands of military

twrants released from prisons when taliban took over. enemy of the taliban but given the current security situation in kabul and across the country even with good intelligence it can be hard to stop a terror attack with three days left until american forces are set to leave kabul, we have already seen key u.s. allies like italy and germany say they are done with air evacuations. as you note, neil, hard tore americans to get to the airport and the u.s. state department is telling them to stay put. neil? >> that's a tough position to be in as you say trey. thank you very much for that trey yingst. we don't know much about what the president's plans are today. we do know he is with the vice president and will be monitoring developments of the situation room there let's go to david spunt at the white house with more. hey, david. >> hey, neil, good morning. no public events announced from the president's team as far as the president speaking out in public today about that isis k commander attack last night. but we do know he is going to be meeting as you said with the

vice president, other national security officials in the situation room. what's interesting is the white house is keenly, keenly aware of the new terror threat put out by the state department telling people to get out of the way, getting away from those different gates near hamid karzai international airport. before the attack on thursday there was also a warning from the state department so we're seeing something very similar now telling people to leave the area. i want to put up a map showing you what the airport looks like showing you what those gates look like. we are talking about the abbey gate, the site of thursday's bomb. the east gate, north gate, or new ministry of interior gate. just leave those areas immediately. the president and his team will be meeting at some point to get that latest update on the intelligence from afghanistan. >> the threat is ongoing and it is active. it is -- our troops are n danger that continues to be the case

every day that they are there. this is the most dangerous part of the mission. >> this is the retrograde period of the mission. what that means is that this is the period of time when the military, commanders opt ground and forces begin to move not just troops home but also equipment home. and that is often a very dangerous part of any mission. >> neil, speaking of equipment. >> the taliban already stole tens of millions just keep multiplying that numbers of dollars in equipment that we provided to afghan security forces over the past 20 years. obviously we don't want them to get anymore. those evacuations continue but the clock is ticking loudly. and the window continues to close. the white house continues to provide evacuation numbers every day from 3:00 a.m. until 3:00 a.m. the next day. so from 3:00 a.m. on august 27th yesterday to 3:00 a.m. today. we know that 4800 people were able to evacuate. that brings the total number of evacuated people, whether it's civilians, or whether it's afghans to just under 112,000.

neil? neil: thank you very, very much, my friend david spunt at the white house. i want to go to lieutenant general retired air force commander. maybe you can help me with this, general. we were in a catch-22 for those trying to leave the country, right, if they're being advised not to go to any of these gates because of this terror threat. and we have at the same time a at this particular time i can presence or the number of personnel who could process paperwork shrinking to a skeletal unit at the time being. and this tuesday deadline. that's a tough combination. what do you make of it? >> well, yeah, neil. it really is before i jump in there on that, specifically though, right up front i wanted to make it clear that we owe the united states military a definite gratitude in our unwavering support for their dedication and commitment. as you mentioned, over 100,000

people have been air lifted out to date. and unfortunately our military pays a price for this effort. so i would like to add my condolences of the families 13 service members who lost their lives. now, to your question, unfortunately, i'm afraid that without a significant change, there may be more. there is a square corner here that has been built. because of the situation that we find ourselves in. it was absolutely irresponsible decision to abandon bagram airfield as a u.s. strong hold because bagram is defendable and as we see kabul's civil errant is not. ba brahm has two runways versus kabul's one. throughput could be doubled. i have got to tell you, neil, the option to shift off of ba brahm air base should be seriously considered that would require staying beyond the 31st of august.

and the president appears committed to that date. neil: so, if it sticks to the 31st, and that's when we are out, including the troops doing the rescuing, what do you think we are looking at in afghanistan after that? >> well, looking at afghanistan after that is a bit of a different question. the bottom line is if we stick with the 31st deadline you are going to see a rapid decrease in the number of personnel being evacuated from that airport and it's extraordinarily unfortunate because central command had 20 years develop a sound evacuation plan but they clearly didn't. now, as to what is going to happen follow-on in afghanistan. i have got to tell you, the president is not ending the war. he is just changing the character of it. and unfortunately, we're going to need to go back to the equation that worked so well in

the opening months of enduring freedom and that's the use of smart use of air power in conjunction with small elements of special operations forces to control the terrorist threats to the united states that not only remain but, unfortunately, because of the situation, i'm afraid are going to metastasize and only grow. neil: maybe you can help me dr. w. this isis k fighter we took out purported to be among those in the planning of the thursday attack. we don't know for sure. we know that this particular guy is dead. but we also know that it was along the border with pakistan and that keeps coming up again and again. not only in the case of isis k, where this renegade group the past six years, you know, calls itself home. but, it invariably includes pakistan. and i'm just wondering what you make of that and the two

countries and their role going forward? especially in these ongoing terror threats. >> well, it's an interesting point. and one of the situations that we face is these tribes, if you will, don't really respect or adhere to modern arbitrarily set international borders. and, so, they're used to operating across the region, regardless of political borders. and, frankly, that's the way we have to deal with counter-terrorism and the terrorist threat is regardless of the borders, we need to act. and, in fact, that's the way that historically we have been operating, particular whether i air power. which essentially we're going to have to rely on more on as it has been our a symmetric

advantage and it will continue to be as we try to control the terrorist elements that unfortunately now are going to grow. neil: you know, speaking of those terrorist elements, general, i appreciate you are just trying to educate us on what we're looking at here, i have heard explained, you know that isis k, they don't get along with the taliban at all. but i have heard others say, you know, as much as they hate each other, the thing that bonds them is that they hate us more. and that that will be the galvanizing force going forward. as it's lit up extremist social media, across the board. with huge differences between these various terror organizations. should that be our greatest concern right now. >> yeah. i mean, parsing threats into various degrees is a interesting endeavor for academics and pundits.

but the fact of the matter is we need to deal with those who pose a threat to the united states. and quite frankly, isis k becomes -- starts to float to the top of that list simply because isis has made threats in the past. they are largely groups of people who used to be associated with the taliban but who felt that the taliban weren't radical enough. so, i think you are going to see a greater focus on this group of terrorists and trying to control them. neil: all right. i want to thank you for bring us up to date. lieutenant general david deposit do you la retired air force. deptula. who they took out and how involved he was in the attack on our troops and of a quans on

thursday. we are monitoring another storm brewing nothing that's going on in afghanistan and everything to do with mother nature and now what's barreling on the gulf coast. hurricane ida knew hurricane one storm it could make landfall as category 4 storm. we're on it. on all of it after this. thank you. that was fast! one call to usaa got her a tow, her claim paid... ...and even her grandpa's dog tags back. get a quote.

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neil: only a few days left until american personnel are going to be out of afghanistan and growing that the pace slowed and already has maybe dramatically because of this ongoing terror threat that prompted this warning from the state department late last night to those trying to get to these various entrances that they should leave immediately that is very, very dangerous that probably an understatement but it is now directly affectioned

the number who are coming over here as a result. 6800 people in the last 24 hour period, which brings us up to north of 110,000 people who have been evacuated from afghanistan. since the taliban took over. but, again, that is about half the pace we had in the prior 24 hour period. it's going to get tough and doesn't my next guest know it? he is worried about it. a former foreign correspondent for the telegraph of the "times" of london, the author of "first casualty" untold story of the ci mission to avenge 9/11. toby, you are worried, obviously, about a lot of the people you talked to and know very, very well. but particularly an interpreter who is having a devil of a time getting out of the country, right? >> yes, hi, neil. good to be with you. thank you for having me on the show. interpreter, young man 29-year-old old. i'm identifying probably only as r. who has been desperately trying to get out who has been

trying to get out of kabul nearly two weeks now. yesterday and today stuck on a bus outside of one of the gates 26 hours. crammed in, unable to sleep. and you have covered very comprehensively the terrorist threat and the danger around those gates. and obviously we saw, i think, some 200, including 13 american service members who were killed. so, very, very extreme danger. and it speaks to the desperation and also the ominous nature of the taliban regime that the people of afghanistan have experienced before. knowing all those danger, it's the future of the taliban that means it's worth risks those dangers, risking lives hour by hour to get out of the country. and r is highly educated young man with fluent english and we

have done everything we can. we have applied for an siv visa p 2-visa. absolutely no reply from the state department. but he is in touch with one of these private organizations who i'm actually in contact actually by a former cia officer who was one of the first americans inside afghanistan after 9/11 who is portrayed in my book first casualty. those guys first in to afghanistan are now helping these afghans trying to be the arrest out of afghanistan. it's kind of erie symmetric with everything that's going on now. neil: to put it mildly. >> ivs special immigrant visas if you have a one it's a green light to get out of the country. now we're told increasingly maybe not. the taliban will ignore it and ignore you. if that is the case, and he has got such documents, what is his

fate and so many others who might not be able to get out? >> well, this is the -- this is the dilemma. and it's kind of spine-chilling. because, he is carrying with him his applications siv. his p-2. it's kind of heart-breaking. is he carrying photographs working with me in the fort it the first casualty of america after 9/11 where he was killed in november of 2001, where r and i worked last november. he has those photos with him. he was asking me i had kind of a sleepness night interrupted by lesser pains and cars from r. he is like shall i destroy the documents? you know, we discussed it. it's his potentially his passports to freedom but it's also potentially his death warrant if the taliban get ahold of it he decided to hang on to

them for the time-being but he is ready to stuff them down the side of the seat or throw them out the window. these are the life and death sort of calculations these these people are having to take sort of hour by hour as the clock particulars away to tuesday when it seems like the shutters are going to come down and that's it. they will be left to their fate under the taliban. neil: oh my gosh, i can only imagine. toby, thank you very, very much. i hope everything works out for your friend. >> thank you very much. neil: to put it mildly. toby hanner den it's important to get those if you have them ty are as good as gold. you have that document in the past you showed that document, it was like, you know, a rush state department visa granted to you this country or a passport if you want to get out of this country real quickly. you pay for it but, man, if you

have it it's as good as gold. you have that our state department is telling you don't go to any of these gates to escape. taps catch-22. your life on the line there or staying behind after we are all gone? pentagon briefing addressing all of that. we are also taking a look at that storm brewing in the gulf. so many storms, so little time. after this. that's how we've become the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. i booked our hotel on kayak. it's flexible if we need to cancel. cancel. i haven't left the house in a year. nothing will stop me from vacation. no canceling. flexible cancellation. kayak. search one and done. ♪ ♪ life can be a lot to handle. ♪this magic moment,♪ but there's plenty of magic in all that chaos.

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♪ neil: described as life-altering storm for those not prepared. that's come from the national weather service we are talking about hurricane ida category 1 storm but expected to slam the gulf coast some time tomorrow, maybe into the wee hours of monday morning with winds in excess of 140 miles per hour.

senator bill cassidy of louisiana joins us right now. senator, thank you for taking the time. this looks like a monster, senator. >> neil, now it's hitting st. mary's parish further west jefferson parish and/or liens and when we call the river parishes, the maximum strength hurricane winds will be a little further west than the populated areas worried about morgan city but gives a blissitt respite to those more densely populated areas. neil: you know, it all comes on the 16th anniversary of katrina. of course, we all remember that one.

neil: what are people being urged to da. >> of course, depend on locality. i'm telling folks, whatever your local officials say to do, please do. and a couple other pieces of advice, neil. more people died from hurricane laura from carbon monoxide poisoning or wind damage or flooding. you name it one thing for folks to realize if your electricity goes down, don't bring that generator in. push it away from the window. because sometimes the fumes come in through the window and they can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. so, not just be prepared but in your preparation think about the consequences of where you are placing things such as generators. neil: if you don't mind. i would like to address the other storm and the one that is the violent one going in afghanistan right now, senator we took out this isis k fighter. we don't know all the details of this drone attack.

it looks like according to our jacqui heinrich that the strike was against a fighter or figure, isis k figure who was planning future attacks, not necessarily behind the thursday attacks. bottom line, he is dead. but, there is a growing concern and the terror threats are still out for follow-up attack. there is clearly impacting the, you know, the evacuation effort. are you worried that it will slow it too crawl and many more people who want to get out will not get out now? >> i think it's already slowed it to a crawl. i was on a call this morning with someone, again, are the connection is to a group of people in afghanistan, who have their papers to get out. who have a flight that will take them and a country that will accept them in europe. but they -- and they're beyond the taliban check point but they can't get into the airport itself so what isis k. has done has already stopped the flow of folks who need to get out.

it just one more sorry chapter in a sorry set of events that have been initiated by president biden's decision to withdraw in the way we have. neil: do you think we should extend that deadline, that august 31st deadline? >> i don't know that -- i don't know what the security is on the ground. the safety of our troops and the american stipulates is paramount. it may be that after august 31st that safety cannot be guaranteed. we really have a bad hand again created by the way the president decided to do this. the planning of and the poor execution of the planning. that said, if we can extend the deadline safely and get more americans out because there still might be some left. those of our allies and those who helped us while we were there, then i would support that. neil: you know, general you skew

politics and what you make of it here, many of your republican colleagues have been saying this warrants president biden to be impeached. he is so badly bungled this that he should go. what do you think of that? >> well, it will be up to the house to decide if this is a high crime or misdemeanor but just a couple practical things now speaking of the conservatives. kamala harris would become president. and a lot of folks are very nervous because she is clearly one of the more -- one of the most liberal senators one estimates more liberal than bernie sanders when she was in the senate. i do think we have to think that through. it also seems unlike delay speaker pelosi would impeach president biden but on the other hand the frustration this is expressing, the kind of incompetence associated with this the incompetence of the control and the u.s. mexican border. and the high rate of inflation and now they're pushing for this

$3.5 trillion package, which will further worsen inflation. i think the american people very disturbed about this presidency. neil: republicans are also claiming that this would have never happened under donald trump even though he wanted to leave earlier and struck this deal to begin with the taliban. do you buy that? >> definitely inponderrable we do not know this. there were tactical decisions in this withdraw by this administration that made it worse. for example, among those who were first withdrawn were those that were providing maintenance for the flight crews that gave the afghani army air expire or the over the taliban. once it lost air expire or the. their collapse began. and so how the withdrawal was handled was, again, almost program failure.

how the trump administration would have handled that we don't know. we can't know. that's a theoretical. neil: you are right about that. all right, senator. thank you very much. >> we have good seeing you here. we might get more on this and how we get people out of the country when the pentagon briefs us in less than half an hour. we are trying to get an indication as to how this process goes. but it has been slowed dramatically. more after this. ent.

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neil: all right. you have to the the terror threat and that is affecting how many can leave the country right now. pentagon briefing coming very shortly, this on word that we are now down to fewer than 4,000 u.s. troops at the kabul airport as we speak and so that's from close to 6,000 at our height as this evacuation process began. it seems to be trimming the size of the personnel there by about 500 a day, if my math and timing on this is right. we are also learning a little bit more about that drone strike on the afghan pakistan border that took out an isis k. operative. not believed to be a senior isis k official not necessarily a planner behind the attacks but the guy is dead and the terror threat remains. lucas tomlinson has more at the pentagon. lucas? >> good morning, neil. u.s. intelligence believes this isis planner was planning more attacks kabul airport just three

days before president biden's august 31st deadline. i'm told a u.s. reaper drone launched from air force base in the united arab emirates carried out the strike. the strike coming less than two days after deadly suicide attack that killed 1 u.s. troops and wounded over 20. the strike took place nor nangarhar province. vehicle carrying isis planner -- neil, excuse me, ablopg one of his associates. >> located along the border of pakistan the same place where president trump dropped the mow hab the mother of all bombs against this same isis affiliate three months after taking office. launched the raid to kill usama bin laden three years ago. president biden approved the strike last night. on thursday, hours after the attack at the kabul airport. president biden vowed revenge. >> to those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone wishes america harm know, this we will

not forgive. we will not forget. we will hunt you down and make you pay. >> drone strike came joust hours after another warning from the u.s. embassy in kabul urging any americans gates airport leave immediately. article similar warning was issued the night before the attack that killed american troops over 160 afghans desperate to escape their country from the taliban takeover were also killed. now, most of those 4,000 u.s. troops will be departing in the coming days will be the first time in nearly 20 years there will be no u.s. military presence in afghanistan. we're about 30 minutes away from that briefing here at the pentagon where we hope to here more from this grown strike from cop u.s. officials, neil. ally kneel thank you very much, my friend. lucas tomlinson following all of that my next guest knows i

believe left last week. what was that journey like, what can you tell and recommend to those who want to leave now? >> well, thank you very much for having me. it was a horrible experience leaving experience when the whole government had collapsed. it was chaotic inside the airport because nowhere to go and at that time it was difficult to find american marines or american evacuation team because people were looking for civilian airplanes and there were no civilian airplanes at all. there was only one. which was located to the government officials. by the time i found american officials to evacuate me, it was smooth and they took us for evacuation but all of a sudden the came in and things have changed from that moment until now. things got so chaotic and it didn't went well. my recommendation for people who are still waiting for

evacuation, they have to wait for the emails getting from the u.s. embassy or the evacuation team. they should not go to the airport or the parameters of the airport because the potential threats going on there right now i heard that there was another explosion took place near the perimeter of the airport. that is a very dangerous spot right now. please wait for your turn. it's going to come to you. and the united states has vowed to take everybody out. and there may be some people who will remain if they're undocumented. but potentially many people who are in the system you will be evacuated. as u.s. officials are saying. neil: we have not heard confirmation of the explosion you talked about. such a crazy situation there we don't know. what we do know is that initially when you get to the checkpoints, you show whatever documents you have, initially to

taliban soldiers outside the perimeter, right? i mean, how did that process go for you? >> well, at that time, when i entered the taliban were not in inthe vicinity vicinity of the airport. they were just on the roads. they did not come to the airport. but, later, when they came in and it was difficult for people to get into the airport, they had to use other ways to enter because they came from backyard and they to break walls to enter the airport parameter. so that was a difficult. people are not able to come in. they're not even advised to come to the parameter or perimeter of the airport. so they have to wait for a call or an email. and i think if they show it, it shouldn't haven't v. a problem because as we heard, the names are already shared with the taliban that these guys have to be or should be allowed to enter the perimeter of the airport.

neil: hanif, i'm glad you are back and safe. scary times for those folks trying to do what you did. hanif, thank you very, very much. the pentagon will brief us on the situation. you can see the storm clouds gathering here, right? they are recommending that shouldn't be going to these checkpoints because very dangerous. there is a threat. the diplomatic staff there is down to sort of like a skeletal staff at that the number of troops in kabul has now gone down to roughly 4,000 from the high of close to 6,000. fewer and fewer people to process you. fewer and fewer options at exits to get you through. and a deadline that is now just days away to say that it is hairy would be an understatement. we're on it. after this. e brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance.

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happening pretty soon right now at the white house the president and the vice president are going to be meeting in the situation room assessing with military commanders where things stand in afghanistan. and then a read from the pentagon on exactly how things are going to roll out in the next few days ahead of that august 31st deadline in afghanistan. we are on top of both. we will keep you posted when anything starts. in the meantime, keeping an eye on a storm much, much closer to home. and that is ida. right now a storm feared to maybe clock twhantsdz would make it a category 4 when it hits the gulf coast some time tomorrow maybe into monday morning. rick reichmuth with the latest on that. rick? >> hey, neil, so, yeah, in fact, at 11:00 we should be getting the latest out of the national hurricane center to see if any changes have happened with the storm. i think there are visible changes. this is the satellite get an idea right here the center of the storm. right in the last couple of loops there starting to see an eye pretty clearly form. when we look at the

infrastructure satellite can you see that in the last little frame right there. an eye becoming visible. that is likely is an indication that we're starting to see that rapid intensification that we are expecting to see with the storm. and because of that officially, the national hurricane center keeps it -- brings it to a category 4 storm landfall. that's some time tomorrow late afternoon into the evening, maybe monday early. if it goes a little bit farther off towards the west. right now though, all of our model guidance has been in really good agreement. it's also moving over really warm water. the water temperatures the closer you get to the shore are pushing 90 degrees. that's the fuel that this kind of a storm needs. we talked about the track of the storm. this is an idea of how big this storm is. so, the impact of the storm will be felt very far away from where the center of this track is. especially off to the east of this. we will see storm surge across areas of mississippi, even parts of alabama, maybe a little bit in towards the florida panhandle and then the hurricane warnings extend far inland because we see a category 4 storm make landfall, it's going to take a

while for those winds to get down below that 47 mile-per-hour range. we have hurricane warnings as far as north as baton rouge, does include new orleans. we are probably seeing hurricane force winds there at least and then we're going to be talking about a lot of moisture. one thing that does happen with this storm, while finance moving really quickly right now in its forward movement. that expected to slow down quite a bit once it gets here towards land. that means we are going to be talking about a pro-congress will longed period of very heavy rain. 15 to 20 inches of rain. a lot of inland flooding and very heavy rainfall goes far to the north in place like waverly, tennessee that saw record breaking flooding and deadly flooding last weekend. more rain coming for them a little bit farther off towards the north. we will have pretty much everything with this storm. sometimes you have storms, it's more of a rainstorm or wind storm this one is going to be all of it, storm surge along the immediate coast, 10 to 15 feet. pleases like homa and morgan city, louisiana, likely seeing a lot of that storm surge. grand isle you have to be

evacuated from there. this would be the first really big test of the $16 billion live system put in place around lawyers after katrina 16 years ago tomorrow is when that storm made la salle. live systems put into place. this storm likely maybe landfall not too far away from it anywhere outs outside of the live system. neil: huge refinery responsible for 255 barrels of oil a day. the longer that is shut down, obviously the less available oil comes to the market which could explain why oil prices jumped close to 10%. usually gas prices follow. even if you are not in the path

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♪ neil: all right, minutes away from a pentagon briefing that will feature john kirby. also the joint staff deputy director for regional operations general william hank taylor that should be coming up momentarily. are honor strod douglas luke with us. former deputy national security adviser for iraq and afghanistan under president bush 43. panama city, very good to have you. you know, the pentagon is between the rock and a hard place here. you want to get people out. warnings are going out not to go

and have people questions to those checkpoints where the threat is real. and then there are fewer troops now. we are down to 4,000 to get them through and out of the country. that's a pretty tough environment, what do i make of that? >> well, this has always been a really tough mission in and around kabul airport itself. of course, the suicide bombing just the other day, obviously meant that they had to adapt again and this latest adaptation has been to issue warnings, to keep american citizens outside of the potential bombing zone just outside the airport. so it must have solid intelligence that the attack would that we witnessed is not the only one. so, you know, we don't want to give away anything that could compromise anyone's safety. if they're told to avoid that is those trying to get out, these various checkpoints, you know, then i wonder where they are going and can we still keep up the numbers in the latest signs

are that it's slowing down, not to a trickle but certainly half the pace it was in the prior 24 hour period. what do you think? >> right. so, look, as we approach the deadline on the 31st, it's clear that we're going to have to shift gears' into some alternate means of evacuation. perhaps land routes, perhaps a day when commercial travel is again allowed -- safely allowed into kabul international airport. it's just not clear. i think it is clear that we're reaching the final days of this method of the current method of evacuation. neil: so, if we continue drawing down our troops, ambassador, that is yet the latest indication that we're certainly not intending on building them up or certainly going beyond the 31st deadline as things would appear now. right? >> that's how i read it i read it that we're going to abide by

the agreement that has us coming out on the 31st and then as i said, i think we will begin to shift and look for adaptations, alternative ways to evacuate. both whatever remaining u.s. citizens might have chosen to stay but also to continue the evacuation of afghans who have worked closely with us over the last 20 years. >> now this isis k fighter we took out in this drone strike, we don't know a whole lot but might have been behind future plans, future terrorist incidents. are you worried about isis k in general? >> well, it's certainly a concern very much a localized taste threat. they have not proven the to ability strike beyond afghanistan's borders. but, i'm very much encouraged by the strike, for two reasons. first of all, continued indicates that our intelligence networks must be still active

and must be precise enough to cue the strike. and then on the second count we have just demonstrated the over the horizon strike capability from bases outside of afghanistan. these are the two key ingredients. neil: got it ambassador, thank you very much. are waiting to hear from the pentagon very, very shortly what will happen now after this. se o. (woman) wow, that's something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [echoing] get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ ...

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neil: >> minutes away now from a pentagon briefing. we could tell you everything in afghanistan appears to be shrinking. a diplomatic staff that's now down to skeletal size. the number of troops there from a height of close to 6,000, little more than a week ago, to about 4,000 today. and a warning from our state department of those trying to get to the very gates to leave and get through to the airport that they can't. the security threat is such

that the warning went something like this, u.s. citizens who are at the abby gate, east gate, north gate, new minister of interior gate now should leave immediately in light of the latest terror threat even though we took out a key isis operative along the pakistani-afghan border. so if you want to get out the window is closing and so are the people who can at the point you close it. let's go to trey in doha, qatar with the latest. >> overnight a u.s. drone strike took out an isis-k terrorist who was planning to take out troops. and we spoke with bill urban that an unmanned air strike occurred in the nangarhar province and no civilian casualties. this was in direct response to

the strike that took out u.s. service members and others on thursday. they're advising americans to stay away from the gates at the airport as officials believe that nor attack could be. and on friday, the press secretary john kirby told fox's jennifer griffin that thousands of isis-k min militants were released from prison when the taliban took over. with three days to go before the american forces are set to leave kabul we've seen key u.s. allies like italy, germany and spain withdraw from the ground in afghanistan and ending evacuation. neil. neil: thank you very much for that, trey, and your incredible reporting throughout this tragic saga. i want to go to christopher miller, the former acting

secretary. tell us with the math. we had fewer personnel to process paper work and fewer soldiers as each day goes on and the normal access afforded to those to leave the country is limited with very, very dire warnings with those trying to get out not to at least use those gates to get out. that seems to be a building problem for getting everybody out. >> neil, thanks for having me, i know we need to go up to the pentagon. sorry i'm a mess right now, and we're in the quarter, and got to tell you the first time in a few weeks it's meshing and there are opportunities here and wish it would have happened two weeks ago, but that's

neither here nor there. outpouring of american support. we've got to lean in and push and a great audience. neil: general, secretary i should say, thank you very, very much. let's get the latest where things stand. >> the update for today. yesterday u.s. military forces conducted an over the horizon counterterrorism operation against an isis-k planner and facilitator. the air strike occurred in the nangarhar province of afghanistan. i can confirm, as more information has come in, that two high profile isis targets were killed and one was wounded. and we know of zero civilian casualties. without specifying any future plans, i will say that we will continue to have the ability to defend ourselves, and to

leverage over the horizon capabilities to conduct counterterrorism operations as needed. we continue to evacuate american citizens and vulnerable afghans out of kabul. in fact, there are approximately 1,400 individuals at the kabul airport who have been screened and manifested for flights today. as i said yesterday, we have the ability to include evacuees on military airlift out of afghanistan until the very end. this is a massive military diplomatic security and humanitarian undertaking for the united states and our allies. and so i'll give you a specific update of the last 24. yesterday 32 u.s. military aircraft, 27 c-17's and five c-130's departed with approximately 4,000 personnel. combined with 34 coalition aircraft, departures, an additional 2,800 personnel left

kabul for various intermediate staging bases. 66 flights left out of kabul yesterday in that 24-hour period with 6,800 evacuees. today i can report an updated total of evaluation, that's more than 117,000. the vast majority of which are afghans. of this total number approximately 5,400 are american citizens. this is an incredible number of people who are now safer thanks to the heroism of the young men and women who are putting their lives on the line each day to evacuate american and vulnerable afghans out of kabul. threats to our forces and to this operation remain real and significant. i'm sure you can appreciate that and now with the military mission begins to end in kabul, thousands of service members are working across the globe and within the united states to

complete this incredibly important mission. out of the u-com aor, six flights will transport about 2000 afghans to the united states. the u-com aor has received about 30,000 vulnerable afghans and evacuees. a good example of how we're building out capacity as we execute this incredibly important mission, a flight from italy will fly to philadelphia international airport the second u.s. onward location to receive flights. as north com commander general said in his brief yesterday, our total capacity across multiple u.s. installations is approximately 21,000 and growing. we're steadily working to increase the capacity to 50,000 by september 15th. right now we are hosting approximately 8,000 afghan applicants at fort mccoy, fort bliss, fort lee and joint base

mcguire-dix-lakehurst. a dedicated team of military civilian and contract personnel are working closely with numerous agencies both government and nongovernment to ensure further requirements and additional capabilities are available. we will keep you updated on this effort. south com since to conduct humanitarian operations in haiti, and fema is a lead federal agency for tropical storm ida and lastly the department of defense will shortly announce the names of 13 service members killed in service to their country. we grieve with the gold star families, friends, and loved ones of our fallen. they will be remembered and revered among americans who have served in afghanistan in operation freedom sentinel and

enduring freedom. >> okay. i don't have anything to add so we'll go right to questions. >> thank you, john. a couple of questions on the strike last night in afghanistan. general taylor just said that two high profile targets were killed and one wounded, the official announcement i think said someone. this was all the same strike? was it a single strike? can you explain more about whether these individuals were directly involved in the thursday bombing at kabul airport? >> so, it was-- without getting into too much tactical detail in terms of munitions used, i would tell you it was a single mission and to get these targets and as the assessments and information flowed over time, we were able to recognize that another was

killed as well and one wounded. so, i mean, final damage assessment as you know sometimes takes time and information comes in. as we had more clarity, we wanted to be transparent about that. >> the planner and facilitator does that mean they were directly involved in the attack? >> they were isis-k planners and facilitators and that's enough reason there alone. i won't speak to the details of this-- of these individuals or what their specific roles might be, but as the general said, we have the ability and the means to carry out counterterrorism capabilities and leave it at that. >> thank you, i'd like to ask you another question about the airport situation at the moment. >> yes. >> is it true that only u.s. passport holders are being allowed through the gates? >> any u.s. pat port holder that wants to get in, can get in, passport holder.

and we're still, i don't think i'm wrong, we're processing and getting on planes siv applicants as well as vulnerable afghans. >> are allowed onto the airport? >> as far as i know, yeah. >> okay, thank you. i don't think that's changed. >> can you give us the names of the two individuals killed in the strike? >> no, we're not going to release the names. >> okay. >> we're just not going to release the names. >> if i can go back to thursday's suicide bombing, there appear to be images and reports from the ground that some of the afghan civilians killed may have been shot by the marines at the gate. at this point in time since we're 48 hours do you have any evidence that the marines or any of the u.s. troops may have shot injured or wounded any-- >> we can't confirm that and we certainly are not in a position to deny it either. we're investigating this and as we get more information that we can reliably communicate to you about the incident, we will.

yeah. >> a dire warning saying don't approach the gates. did this air strike have anything to do with that potential for future attacks? can you talk about what capabilities isis may have lost in this drone strike? >> well, a couple of things. i'll let the state department speak for the advisory they sent out, that is not uncommon for them to do that, particularly in a country like afghanistan and they're constantly watching the threat environment, as are we. and they're doing the prudent responsible thing, to inform americans there in kabul what's best for their own safety, but i think i'll let the state department to speak to the rationale and they believe they're doing what they need to do to keep people safe. i'm not going to talk about specific capabilities isis may have lost in this strike. they lost a planner and lost a facilitator and got one wounded and the fact that two of these

individuals are no longer walking on the face of the earth, it's a good thing, it's good for the people of afghanistan and good thing for our troops and forces at that airfield and i think i'm going to leave it there. >> to follow up. can you discuss the level of threat at the airport? we've seen a number of allies bring their evacuations to a close early. will the u.s. still stay through the 31st? >> we're going to complete this mission by the end of the month and we've said that. nothing has changed about the timeline for us and we will do this as safe and orderly way as possible, and that includes being able to continue to evacuate right up until the end. >> what about the threats at the airport? can you discuss-- >> the threats are very real, they're dynamic and we're monitoring them literally in real-time and we're taking the means necessary to remain focused on that threat stream and do what we can.

>> have u.s. troops begun retrograde withdrawal from the airport? >> we have begun retrograding. >> can you say anything about the number who have left? >> no, i cannot. >> and general taylor, for you, please, the numbers of military aircraft who have left are relatively consistent with where they've been for several days, but the number of passengers is down from where it was. does that mean that the u.s. is now starting to move some equipment, military equipment on those or planes are going out not full? >> as we've said, you know, our mission to continuing evacuating those as required and to meet the mission requirement by august 31st, is what the commanders are executing. >> does that mean you're start to go take some equipment out on the aircraft or do you not have enough passengers-- >> there is equipment leaving on those flights that was originally planned. >> and if i could ask one more. since-- have there been any attacks that can be talked about how the taliban had thwarted

attacks before thursday's attacks. have there about any reports that taliban have stopped attacks at the airport? >> i don't have specific reports of that other than as you can see, as we just talked, the security of the base is the most important thing that we're doing to allow us to continue our mission. >> thank you. >> john, you said the threat at the airport remains active and dynamic. is it fair to say that whether or not those people killed last night deserve to be on the face of the earth or not, that the threat at the airport remains unchanged? >> i wouldn't say that it remains unchanged. i didn't say that. i said it remains active and dynamic. >> is it as serious as it was yesterday? >> it's a serious threat. i'm not sure what -- how any potential terrorist threat can be anything other than serious or that we shouldn't take it

seriously. it's serious. >> yesterday, you denied taliban claim that they had assumed responsibility for security in some parts of the airport. is that still the case, that the taliban do not provide security at the airport itself? >> that's still the case. >> and is that going to remain the case until the end or at some point do they have to move into the airport to keep the crowds at bay while those last planes take off? i'm not going to talk about the specifics as we get closer to the end. we-- let me just say this, as clearly as i can, we will maintain the ability to defend ourselves and our operations all the way through. lucas. >> john, did the taliban in any way provide any intelligence or support with this drone strike that killed those two isis terrorists? >> i'm not going to talk about

intelligence matters one way or the other. >> rule it out? >> i'm not going to talk about intelligence. >> taliban and the drone strike in-- we had useful intelligence on our own to conduct this strike. >> do you consider the taliban and the haqqani network straight entities? >> lucas, i'm not going to give you a break down here of characterizations of the taliban or-- you've got to remember what we're focused on here, that's on getting more people out and getting our troops out, completing this mission and i'm not sure what benefit it does for me to try to characterize one group or another. we know that the-- >> the people that the deep leader of the taliban is surging haqqanis with a $10 million bounty on his head. are these separate entities? >> we know there's a certain matter of co-mingling here. there's a marbling, if you will, of taliban and haqqani.

what i'm pushing back a little bit of that, lucas, the relevance of what we're discussing today, completing an evacuation safely and to get our troops and our forces at the airport out safely. that's what we're focused. >> one more question. every major newspaper and television news outlet said that the u.s. military brass recommended to the president to leave 2500 troops in afghanistan, not pull out. have you asked any of those outlets for a correction? >> i'm sorry, say that again. >> every major newspaper and television news outlet reported that top pentagon brass from the top secretary to, military forces in afghanistan chairman of joint chiefs recommended to the president 2500 u.s. troops should stay in afghanistan not been pulled out. have you asked any news out let for a correction to those stories. >> thanks for repeating it. we don't make it a habit to talk publicly one way or the other, right, wrong, up, down, more, less, about the advice

and counsel that pentagon leaders give the commander-in-chief. >> what about correcting the record? >> louie. >> has there been another helicopter evacuation recently? >> no, i don't think there has been, no. >> okay. can i follow up on the discussion about the drone strike yesterday? it's been characterized as being retaliation, as being reprisal for the bombing at the airport. is that accurate? or was this something that as part of your over the horizon counterterrorism planning you were already planning. >> this was a little bit of both. i mean, we have the ability to conduct over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities and we've talked about that. this certainly fits this that mold. but it's not coincidence that

it happened just a couple of days afterway lost 13 brave service members. you're calling one a planner and another a facilitator. i believe you're saying that's correct, that's the characterization of the individuals. what is the difference? i mean, what makes them targeted? >> actually, thanks for the question, but that's the clarification, planner, facilitator, that our -- those that would have the ability to facilitate or help plan in attacks and that, as we said, gave us the ability and the authority we had to conduct those missions. and were they involved in planning an imminent attack? >> we're not going to go into, you know, detailed intelligence information that led to that attack or that strike or future operations. >> thank you. >> yeah, mark. >> a couple of things on the

strike. you put, the first thing, you called them high profile. could you explain, but not senior? and then i have a follow up on the strike. what makes you say they're high profile? >> based on the intelligence collected and activities in the past, that was the classification used for those. >> general taylor, could you just clarify, were you actually targeting both of these individuals or were you targeting one and the other one happened to be there and got struck? >> we had the intelligence that led us to the target area, that allowed for that strike to happen with the bda as briefed. >> we've had the intelligence that allowed us to take the strike on the multiple individuals. >> john, if i can ask you,

also, now that you've done this strike what is the assessment or feeling about the impact of this strike on isis-k in afghanistan? do you -- have you degraded them in any fashion? can you explain that if they're high profile? have you deterred? have you degraded? what is your conclusion about what the impact of this strike actually has been? >> they have two high profile planners or-- one planner, one facilitator that are no longer on their must errol-- muster roll. so they've lost ability to plan and to conduct missions. but, barbara, make no mistake, nobody's writing this off and saying, well, we got them so we don't have to worry about isis-k anymore. not the case. as i said earlier, the threat strain is still active, still

dynamic, we're laser focused on that and force protection and we're not thinking for a minute that what happened yesterday gets us in the clear, not a minute. but do we believe that we hit valid targets, bad guys who can do bad things and plan bad missions? absolutely. do we think that will have some impact on their ability going forward? absolutely. what and to how much we're going to have to keep watching the intelligence going forward. >> i don't know if you can answer, but does the united states have a sense, even if you can't say names, do you have any sense who was in command of isis-k right now? >> i'm not going to get into specific charts and intelligence what we know about the organization. obviously, we put a lot of time and effort into learning as much as we can and i think i just for security purposes, i'm just going to leave it at that. >> so first of all, where the

unmanned aircraft come from? a drone, a predator drone, any information. >> over the horizon. >> and-- >> came over the horizon. >> and was there -- were there reports that the target was in a vehicle? is that accurate or was there any other damage to isis infrastructure? >> as i think the general said right at the top, we're going to be loathe to release a lot of tactical level bda detail here. we want as much flexibility as we can. i hope you can understand that we're not going to answer a lot of that detailed stuff right now. >> just to follow up, what do you think of the isis-k cells in kabul itself? clearly these attacks are coming from kabul, or the terrorists have gone underground, you can't target the city itself with air strikes right now. >> what i can tell you, we're watching the threat stream carefully, laura. clearly they have the ability

to operate inside kabul and we're mindful of that and we're watching as closely as we can and we're obviously trying to make sure that we have available to us as much information and context as possible, so as to prepare for any future attacks, and that's certainly-- we have to assume, could come from or be planned out of or sourced out of places that they might have established themselves in kabul. i think that's really as far as we're going to be able to go right now. >> okay. >> and a couple of questions about the airport. and when are we officially handing the airport over to the taliban? is the taliban going to be running the airport? are they going to be running it with the qataris and the turks as i believe has been reported? >> we're going to continue to run the airport up until the end and those details as they

continue to be worked out will come forward, but right now we will continue to run that airfield to make sure that we can execute our operations. >> and are the gates welded shut as reported. >> there are gates closed as we said earlier, we do have gates that are continue to be open as we coordinate and still work with the department of state to get people in for evacuation. >> yes, sir. >> howard altman. >> first of all, i want to express my condolences to the family who lost loved ones in kabul. there despite this massive effort to evacuate, there were a number of organizations, including, you know, current and former military that feels a level of frustration not to get people out and they're working in many ways, there have been many reports about

that. my question is, is dod cooperating with any of these organizations? can you talk about that? and then, what is your message to these organizations? are they helping? are they hindering? and given what you know about how this is unfolding, should they continue their operations? >> well, it's certainly not for us to tell them to stop caring about individuals that they know that are in afghanistan, howard. we are, as you might imagine, we are working off many different streams of information about various vulnerable afghan groups, not to mention applicants in the special immigrant visa program and american citizens and i don't want to speak for the state department, but the state department has really been liasing with a lot of groups

who identify with those who need to be evacuated. we are primarily responsible for helping provide that secure area at the airport for them to be able to get through the process and get through to properly manifest them and to get them on flights out of there. but look, i mean, i think a lot of us are getting e-mails and calls and texts from friends and colleagues, many of them are veterans who are passing information to us to try to help get additional people out and we're doing the best we can when we are contacted to get that information in the right stream, to the right people on the ground there at the airport to continue to facilitate movement, and as the general said, we're going to try to facilitate movement evacuees right until the very end. >> have these efforts helped or are they adding to the

confusion? and does the dod cooperate in any way specified? >> i think to the degree that they have brought to light information that we can act upon, to get additional people out, of course, that's been helpful and we certainly share the concerns that these groups have for these individuals. we feel the same obligation that they do to it. so to the degree that they've been able to help us latch on and identify, then, yes, that's been helpful. gordon. >> a few different things. one question with the taliban, it's not an intelligence question, but was there any kind of coordination? did you share any information prior to the strike on the isis targets with the taliban? >> no. >> no, question answered. and turning to the preparations for folks coming back, is there a number, a total number of

people you have, evacuees you have on domestic bases here, plus those kind of in -- on to come back all different hubs plus the bases? do you have a total number there? >> i don't have it with me, gordon. i think you heard the general yesterday, just under 7,000siv applicants at u.s. military installations across the country and he's opened up additional installations to try to get to us capacity of maybe as much as 50,000 if we need it. i think, but he gave that number yesterday and i would -- i don't think that number has changed appreciably over the last 24 hours. before i jump off let me see if i have i've got an updated number in europe. got it here somewhere, i think.

no, i don't think i've got it across europe. so, we'll have to -- we'll have to come back to you on that. >> and two other quick ones, do you expect the troops to come into dover as soon as today? >> what i can tell you is that the remains of the 13 individuals who were killed are on their way back to the united states, but i am not at liberty to give you a precise arrival. >> and final clarification, struck in the target from last night a planner and still facilitator or considered both? >> the capabilities of those struck and killed last night were a facilitator and planners, we're not going to get into this one was this and

this was. >> facilitators and planners. >> were you aware of them before? >> we're not going to discuss the intelligence that led up to, and with the intelligence that we had allowed us to conduct that strike. >> you can't say if they were individuals already on the u.s. radar as high profile people. >> we had intelligence on the target set that led us as we continued to work up that, conduct that strike. >> just one of the over the horizon efforts, if i'm not mistaken, the last time announced a counterterrorism strike in 2020. were you aware of any other specific, not taliban, but specific strikes since 2020 in afghanistan? >> i don't have that information readily. >> general, the reason you're getting questions about intelligence, two days before kabul fell, the country didn't show it was about to fall to the taliban and that's why you're asking questions how

serious these isis fighters were. >> i understand that and i understand that we're not going to go into the details of the intelligence that goes in. >> an attack on u.s. troops at the kabul airport in the next few days? >> the intelligence that we had was -- allowed us to conduct that strike and as mr. kirby said we now have two members of isis-k that are no longer able to facilitate or plan attacks. >> were they planning attacks on u.s. troops. >> i'm not going into that. >> the secretary and the president to greet the caskets at dover? >> i don't have any scheduled announcements to make with respect to that. >> i'm a little unclear on i think what each of you said when you were talking about the presence of the taliban at the airport. are you saying that there are no taliban on the airfield beginning the transition to control on either the civilian or military-- >> so what this -- there was some reporting yesterday that the taliban were in control of

the gates and then there was reporting that we were shutting down all evacuation operations in the course of the day. my point is that's not true. we're not shutting down evacuation operations. we're going until the end. we're still in charge of the airport and we're still in charge of security at the airport and what has-- what was true a few days ago is still true today, the taliban have check points around the airport in a loose perimeter, if you will, but they are not manning gates. they are not -- they are not at the airport doing security roles or anything like that. >> at the airport. >> not at the airport. >> and going back to the drone strike, obviously can't give specific names of countries, but did you notify any country for which they have the drone to fly through before the strike and which committees on the hill did you notify prior to the strike, if at all.

>> as far as i know there was no notifications that did or needed to happen beforehand. >> and-- no notifications that were needed to be done beforehand. yes. you're not giving the names of these individuals, but you know them, right, and do you know the nationality of the individuals killed in the drone strike. >> we know who they are. >> and one wounded planner or facilitator. >> i don't have that information. >> and one more question, the conversations that the taliban have, have they given you any or indicated that they will not let afghanistan to be used as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against u.s., its friends and allies? >> can you say that again. >> during the negotiation with the taliban leadership have they indicated or given any evidence to you they will not let afghanistan to be useled as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against u.s., its

friends and allies? >> they made assurances as part of the doha agreement about affiliation with al-qaeda and terrorist groups in afghanistan. >> and they said that publicly as part of the doha agreement. >> do you have any indication as to the level or types of foreign fighters that may have flowed into afghanistan in recent days and weeks? >> i do not. >> okay, i think we're going to call it a day. we're going to call it a day, lucas, i appreciate it very much. i appreciate it very much. >> were released in jail from the taliban, is that evidence of isis-- >> all right, there you have it here. we didn't get a lot more details on that strike to take out two isis-k operators, facilitators, names have not been mentioned. we knew it was a single mission and not a multiple mission. and we knew there are 1400 afghans at the kabul airport as

we speak. i say afghans because they kept referring to that, so, it's safe to say that the overwhelming majority of those trying to get out right now are indeed afghans, that would be following on the heels of the numbers we've been getting. the 110,000 or so who have flown out of the country. the overwhelming majority are afghans. right now in the last 24 hours we've seen 6800 flown out of the country. that's an impressive number, maybe owing to how tenuous, it's half of the past 24 hours and that's continuing with 1400 waiting on kabul airport grounds to leave the country. nothing changed about the timing of withdrawal according to general william taylor and also from john kirby that that august 31st deadline seems to be sticking, but the takedown of these two isis-k unnamed

targets, you know, it's seen as a promising development. don't get too ahead of our proverbial skis on it. the threats, according to mr. kirby, very real and dynamic and the intelligence to take them out, they wouldn't say where they're getting it, but largely on our own so no coordination, at least at face value, with the taliban. chris miller with us, former acting secretary of defense. mr. secretary, the pace is slowing for understandable reasons, security threats and terror threats and even with the strike appear very, very real and the drawdown in troops, so, to follow on the pace that we've had, it's going to be difficult. where does that put up, do you think, on tuesday, the deadline? >> yeah, you nailed it, neil. it's going to be really difficult. so kind of where we are right now is we've got to think about the future.

let's do everything we can to get as many people out as we can, but the bubble is collapsing in on hamid karzai international airport, a lot of people are still trying to get out and messages that are motivating. the guy, one of the commenters brought up all the great work that veterans are doing. you're seeing that, so wow, these are tough days. could i just say something? you know, i've tried to be positive. my heroes were green berets and veterans from vietnam and then the journalists that were there, you know, remember sheehan, dan rather and hal, they were my heroes and that seemed like 5:00 folly stuff from vietnam. you've got to keep pushing and get better answers what's going on. >> so it's interesting, obviously, they're keeping the identity of these isis-k

operators, facilitators, whatever you want to call them secret. i read it it's at face value here, this was not coordinated or checked with the taliban. if that is indeed the case, there is still an inherent level of, i don't know distrust is the word, but skittishness about sharing too much with the taliban. what did you make of that? >> yeah, so you should never start your sentence with yeah, i know at that and i watch your show. and our counterterrorism forces, this is a level 101 mission, they did this eight times a night back in the day when we were active. and the question is good, where is this coming from? we can't do it over the horizon, it's a heck of a lot easier when you're in the country and why we thought we should maintain a small footprint there. we have a good insight into isis. i was with the national

counterterrorism for a while and at the white house counter trim. we got the sources worldclass, best in the world at this. i was not surprised. i was gratified that we finally got the hit in. one could conjecture, why didn't we do it beforehand, but i don't know the situation on the ground and you know, you never want to second guess the commanders on the ground and i'm serious about that because they've got a lot on their plate so i'll take it at face value. >> you know, secretary, one thing that came up was this idea of any more follow-up helicopter rescues. i believe, sir, there have been three and usually night rescues. we know in the past, the taliban has not interrupted those rescues. the fact that we've not followed up, does that tell you we're increasingly concerned about the wisdom of such rescues in this heightened terror environment? >> sounds like i'm dodging your question, neil, i'm not. i'm know the on the ground. i know we had the capability, we had the professional forces there, we have the most

unbelievable pilots from our special operations aviation regiment and others, and this is easy for them. so, i don't know what he is going on regarding that, but we have the capability and we have the ability to absolutely dominate. some of the criticism or you get is like the military can't dominate the specific areas, that's completely false. we have incredible troops that can do that. i just don't know the leadership decisions going on right now there. neil: all right. and if you don't know something, you just say i don't know. >> okay. neil: i kind of admire that, you know? i should have done that in school more often. secretary, thank you very, very much. acting secretary of defense, former, christopher miller on that. again, we're trying to get a handle on not only how many are leaving, but what they're showing as proof that they can leave. i told you about this roughly 1800 number that they seem to be floating back and forth,

1400 more specifically who are at the airport right now. others have attributed another few hundred that were not counted in that mix, i don't know what the breakdown is of that. i want to go to charles on this, the normal homeland security advisor specialized in law enforcement. charles, how are these people being vetted? we heard yesterday about this flight from kabul that arrived at dulles in washington and you know, they weren 0 the tarmac on the ground at the gate, i guess, for a good 10 hours, so obviously we were going through, as we should, pretty scrupulously, is everybody okay to get off the plane. do you worry about maybe questionable characters who should not be getting off those planes? >> hi, neil, yes, it's a very important question, and why i'm greatly concerned about what's going on the past seven months at the southwest border.

your system is only as strong as the vetting you're getting. although we're getting out of afghanistan quickly less than ideal circumstances, the strategy has not gone fluid. the administration has admitted that. this is the part in time of the process where we need to take a deep breath as a country. we need to slow things down. we need to make sure that we are vetting every single person that's coming to this country. the last thing this administration wants to be responsible for is bringing a group here that wants to do us harm, right? we've learned something very important from the september 11th commission following the attacks of 9/11 and that was we had a failure of imagination as a country in terms of the great lengths that these terrorist organizations, isis, al-qaeda, the taliban, you name it, will go to do us harm. and we need to be reminded of that, especially at this point in time. so right now, customs and border protection are taking the lead through the national vetting center as your previous

guest said. they're working with the national counterterrorism center, the fbi and they're making sure that they're running the system checks that they can to make sure that all of the people are vetted. >> so, when they get this paperwork, those who have the good and gold special immigrant visas. s siv's, once you get them they're supposed to be almost bullet-proof, no pun intended. you're good to go. but now and then the data or material on them can be altered. there were earlier, you know, charges that the taliban if this he weren't stealing the documents, they were just throwing them out. if that is the case, if the taliban is sort of okaying who gets through based on that paperwork, that they could decide can be dismissed or thrown out or given to someone else, i understand is not that easy, then it does make you wonder about the first entry

point in the process because you go through the taliban first, then you go through the u.s. personnel. what do you make of that process? >> well, you're exactly right and we have to assume that the promise has been compromised and that, you know, ill filtration has taken place, planned or coincidental. we saw the vigil of the 600, 700 people in the c-130's, the first flights coming out of afghanistan. we have to assume that infiltration took place because of what you said, counterfeits or the taliban being the first line of check points. these are not reliable systems and processes that we have in place and again, back to my point, this is what happens when you have a weak strategy. everything gets sloppy, right? and a trickles down. that's not what we want to have happen here, related to the vetting. because this is going to be problematic and we don't want to have problems in this country further down the line.

again, back to the southwest border, that's my biggest fear. right now we don't know what we don't know. we have over a million people, right, that we've made contact with, we still don't know the people that have escaped detection from cvp. so the question is who is in the country and what proet motivation do they have to be here? >> do you think that terrorists have slipped through? >> i think that there's a possibility. and i think that's what has law enforcement here especially the fbi on pins and needles right now, especially in light with what's going on in afghanistan. you know, you're looking at kind of two different situations, as relates to the border. the border being facilitated by the cartels in terms of getting people here, you know, the assumption is that they are tied to transnational criminal organizations to further create criminal acts although that assumption is not 100%. we know at that cartels are only in it to make money,

right? so they will get anybody they need to across the border to make money, further their initiatives and what they want to do and if terrorism happens to come along with that, so be. it afghanistan same situation, right? who exactly are these people coming in, what's their motivation and are there already people that may be in the country that they are going to align themselves with to furtherance of a future attack. all of this is worrisome, i'm surprised we haven't seen an enhanced terrorism advisory bulletin come out from the homeland security. the last one focused on domestic extremism, listen, granted, it's one of the many threats that we face, but i think if you were to talk to the law enforcement and intelligence agencies here domestically. they would tell you what's going on in afghanistan right now and going on at the southwest border is bringing great concerns about.

neil: got it. and charles moreno, thank you very much. we'll monitor the number of getting to the airport and also getting out, that could begin to dwindle in this phenomenon where you have fewer troops now down to 4,000 from a height of 6,000 last week at this time and those are doing the processing, the diplomatic staff down to a precious few. congressman john katko joins us, republican sits on the homeland security committee, the ranking member there. congressman, thank you for taking the time today. it could slow maybe in light of the latest terror threats that are very real despite taking out these two isis-k operatives. what do you make of that? and how things are looking for tuesday, the deadline? >> well i'm hearing that coming out of afghanistan right now that it's going to trickle to a halt even as early as today, so, it's a certainty that not everyone's going to get out that wants to get out and it's direct contravention of what

the president is saying, so that's going to happen and no question that americans and people with siv visas will be left behind. and there was a fox news report during the show there are suspected people on terror watch lists are intercepted at the third party, third country stations where we're bringing some of the afghans before we bring them to the united states. that's concerning and we need to make sure it's extremely thorough. the on the home front no question about it, that everybody's antenna is up because our country is much less safer because of what's going on in afghanistan. neil: and i know it's a mug's game would it be different under the prior administration and the earlier deadline and a political back and forth, i don't know how productive that

is at this stage. i'm wondering going forward what it says about whether we could deal with the taliban. the last administration, you know, brokered this agreement with the taliban that president trump said since would have never produced would have seen what we're seeing now. this administration, because it's the only game in town, has to deal with the taliban and issues of control and what have you. but going forward, apparently the taliban has been saying we want you to maintain some diplomatic presence in the country, and so, they're in this weird stage where we're working with each other, we don't trust each other. we don't necessarily like each other, but we kind of both need each other. do you agree with that? >> if that is in fact true, and i'm not sure it is, but if it's in fact true, it's pathetic stance in afghanistan and we should never have gotten to this point. the previous administration has measurables in the agreement

and the taliban hadn't met those and so wouldn't have gone through. so for the president of this administration, president biden saying he's doing, on what happened with the previous administration, it doesn't hold water. he could have -- and i think back to world war ii. we're still in germany. we're still in japan, and in the korean war, we're still in korea and all three places have had enduring peace since and having a small presence there, which i think this president was advised to keep, he adamantly refused and instead a precipitous withdrawal and now a mess on our hands. and being in homeland security and head of homeland securities or the republicans is a tremendous task sure we have the never oversight to keep the country safe. no question, that the commissioner of the new york city police and head in the past said as recently as yesterday that everyone's

antenna is up because everyone is fore seeing a much higher threat. >> and with the previous administration would have had no presence. >> i'm not sure that a measurable concern and secretary pompeo has been saying as well. neil: and to understand that, we did enter into an agreement-- i understand what you're saying, sir, but i want to be clear on what happens now. if we are looking at, you know, not trusting the taliban and keeping our distance, apparently, not informing a strike on isis-k, there's a limit how far we'll go talking to them, enit looks like there's no way we can min maintain or would want to maintain relations with this new afghan government after we leave. the taliban is so evil and untrustworthy we're not going to deal with you, we're not

going to talk to you. >> at this point i think any information is helpful, if we can continue to have some sort of dialog with them although we don't trust them, i don't see how that's going to hurt us. we've got to have a very strong filter, but the bottom line is, we're relying on the words of people who are beheading people in the streets and going to go back to a much different way of life for women there and who we fought to get out there have because they provided a breeding ground for terrorism. so it's not going to be helpful even if we're having a dialog with them and one thing for sure, we're not going to have intel on the ground about the isis groups, isis maneuvering there and al-qaeda maneuvering there, and probably going to grow in stature going forward and bad for the u.s. homeland security standpoint. the taliban was in control pre-9/11 and allowed the groups to metastasized and launch the

attacks on the u.s. so deadly 20 years ago. neil: do you think it was a mistake then to have entered into any sort of agreement with the taliban at all? >> i don't necessarily think -- negotiating with the taliban to me is not the right move. i think projecting strength instead of weakness and then talking to them would have been okay. i think that's what the previous administration was trying to do, but i do think that they set measures that weren't met and i'm trying to weave in, if the previous administration got-- let's no forget, one of president biden's campaign promises again and again and again we're getting out of afghanistan come hell or high water and he overruled his leaders' advice in that regard by all accounts and now we have this mess and we have terrible number of soldiers that have been killed and my heart goes out to their families as well for that. neil: understood. we will never know a lot of what could have beens. congressman, thank you very much for joining us.

fair and balanced want to go to representative scott peters, a democrat, a caucus member, and republicans and democrats try to come up with a way to get things done and move the ball forward and congressman, the problems wanted to push the deadline back from august 31st, just maybe keep it slightly more open-ended. that looks unlikely now, does that worry you? >> because, neil, it worries me the mission is to get our people out. and we have to remember that we're not done on the 31st. and mission completed, we have americans, we have allies, we have contractors, we have afghan allies that need to get out and that's got to be the mission and i don't think we're done until that's done. neil: so the numbers are trickling down, those trying to get out and it might change to your point, but between the terror threat, which is alive and well, even with the killing

of these two isis-k members, it is slowing traffic down, right? as far as trying to get out. do you worry that it's going to feed on itself, it's going to lead to a trickling of those leaving now and the roughly 110,000 we're at now, maybe a little more won't grow that much? . well, i would give some credit to the administration for getting that number up, i think it was slow to get started and i think they may have underestimated that the probability that the taliban -- that the governments would fall and that the taliban would be in control, but 117,000 as you've noted are out and i think we've got to keep that going. it does worry me. i don't think it's easy, i don't think that anyone is saying that it's easy. i think this kind of problem is also probably associated with the policy decision that both president biden and president trump decided to make, which was to get us out completely and so, i would not suggest that this would ever be easy although be able to look back

and see what we could have done better. neil: do you think we should maintain relations with the new afghan government. the taliban thrown out the possibility, united states, maybe you should have an embassy here, you should stay here? how do you feel about that? >> i'd -- i'm good friend with mr. katko and he's suggesting that trump had no authorship in where we are. he made a deal with the taliban. that was his negotiating partner that did not include the afghan government, release thousands of taliban fighters without condition and announced a pull out date and drew down troops before the biden presidency and didn't process special visas. and that's why we're on there. i happen to agree with john katko like with europe, japan, or with korea, there was probably a reason for our purposes, for our national

security not for nation building, to keep a presence in afghanistan. that's behind us. now what's the relationship, we need a relationship on the ground. trump was the one who chose the taliban as our negotiating partners. it's a big bet that-- it's a long bet that they're going to be stable that they're going to be able to push back on isis-k and al-qaeda, but that's who we've got and i think we'll have to maintain a relationship. neil: all right, congressman, i want to thank you very very much. scott peters, democrat of california and again, the fact that the political responsibility, who was responsible for this, who isn't, and probably now is not the time to get too much into that, but to explore the inconsistencies in that argument no matter if you're talking this president or the former president. right now the focus is trying to get people out of the country and as you've just heard there are fewer of them getting to the airport to get out of the country in the first place from 6800 who did so in the last 24 hours period to about 1400 who are at the airport now trying to do the

same thing. the numbers trickle down. the troops trickle down, 4,000 from 6,000 and the staff little more than a dozen. hard to say where it goes, other than it's complicated how the exodus goes. we'll be on top of it throughout the day at fox. that will do it. more. >> a fox news alert as we report on two major breaking news story, the work to get the americans and afghans out of the kabul airport after two isis terror plotters were killed in a drone strike overnight. and hurricane ida is headed to the gulf coast and evacuations when ida is expected to make landfall tomorrow 16 years to the day that hurricane cat slammed