♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, the real cost of war. one family grappling with their staggering loss in afghanistan. a son, a brother, a father to be. >> he thought he would be back in time for the birth of his baby. >> his sister refusing to meet the president. >> i have zero respect. absolutely none. plus the final hours. president biden doubling down on his decision to leave. >> the war in afghanistan is now over. >> with the last u.s. forces gone, the president saying the u.s. will not abandon americans left behind. >> we remain committed to get them out if they want to come out.

♪ thanks for joining us. president biden today declared an end to america's longest war, a conflict that over nearly 20 years cost the lives of 2,461 americans. and $2 trillion. now the abc news documentary for hulu, examining the events leading up to the final hours.

>> my fellow americans, the war in afghanistan is now over. >> reporter: on the day after the last soldier left the longest, costliest war in american history, president joe biden today fiercely defending his withdrawal from afghanistan. >> to those asking for a third decade of war in afghanistan, i ask, what is the vital national interest? >> reporter: while highlighting the 120,000 people evacuated from afghanistan, president biden also acknowledging the americans left behind. >> the bottom line? 90% of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. and for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. we remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. >> reporter: his presidency forever marked by a chaotic close to a decades-long war he

inherited. one of the final searing images, that horrific suicide bombing at the airport last week as thousands desperately tried to get on any plane they could. the mccollum family is painfully familiar with the ultimate sacrifice paid during the tumultuous withdrawal from afghanistan. >> everybody that he met, he touched their life in some way. he was special. any time you would talk to him, you knew he was genuine, wise. >> reporter: riley mccollum was 20 years old, one of the 13 american service members who died in the kabul airport terror attack. >> riley wanted to be a marine since he was 3 years old. he would run around in a diaper and my pink princess cowboy boots or snow boots with his toy rifle. he was either pretending to be hunting or pretending to be a

marine running through the bushes. it was something he wanted to do and talked to everyone about. >> he wanted me to be proud of him. which i was. he just didn't know it. so he enlisted. and on his 18th birthday, he said, i'm going. >> riley got married on valentine's day. it was a small wedding. he wanted to make sure they were together before he left. >> gigi confirmed that they were pregnant. it changed him immediately. he was ready. and he embraced it, just like he did everything else. they ended up actually deploying in april. he thought he would be back in time for the birth of his baby. >> his commander came in his room and said, pack your bags, we'll be in afghanistan within the next 24 hours. >> we lost contact with riley. >> about three weeks. >> about three weeks ago. i would get online every day. if his little facebook messenger icon had the green light next to it, i knew he was good.

last week, the light never came on. 3:30 that morning, i got the knock on the door. the two marines were standing on the porch. i knew as soon as i looked out the window that riley was one of the marines that had died. >> of those 13, 12 were in 20s. the oldest was 31. they were brand-new to what they were doing. it is the commander in chief who ultimately makes the decision where to send people, why to send them. his own son served. it is not his fault, there was a terrorist attack, but every commander in chief knows that they are the ones who send the

military. o that hangs heavy in their heart. >> reporter: the mccollum family went to delaware on sunday to receive riley as case ket. >> it was too difficult for me to speak, really, to any of the other families. >> and he died a hero. and he died doing what he wanted to be doing. and i can't ask for any more than that. >> reporter: the mccollum family now one of 13 families grieving. marine corps sergeant johanny rosario. staff sergeant darin taylor hoover. marine corporal hunter low bez. marine corporal degan william taylor page. marine lance corporal david espinoza. navy corpsman markston soviak. marine lance corporal jared schmitz. marine corporal humberto sanchez. marine lance corporal dylan

merola. marine lance corporal kareem nikoui. army staff sergeant ryan knauss. marine sergeant nicole gee. she was just 23 years old, featured in a defense department photo cradling an afghan baby, posting on instagram, i love my job. >> they came in and just -- selfless. selflessly put themselves at risk. selflessly worked themselves to the bone, trying to get people they've never met, knew nothing about, just knew that they were americans or knew that they'd helped americans. >> any american looks at that suicide bombing and 13 young americans dying while holding babies in their arms and says, how could that happen? why were they? such a vulnerable position? >> i don't think the military should have been so close to that gate, but i don't think that was a military mistake, i

think that was a policy mistake. the military was there doing their best, doing what they thought was right. >> i am a little angry with president biden over this. i don't put all the blame on him and it's not one administration. there's several administrations that are involved in this. it's been one bad decision after another. >> reporter: jim mccollum refused to meet with president biden at the dignified transfer ceremony. >> part of it's political. and part of it is the absolute, utter failure of what they did and how they did things after being in afghanistan for 20 years. i do believe some of this was all for naught. >> i did not see the president at the transfer. he came in, and i chose to go sit in a separate room with another family who wasn't interested in seeing him. i came out for just a moment and i saw him. and i broke down completely at the thought of him kneeling at our flag so many times. then to come in and say he cares about our soldiers and to say

that he has sympathy for our marines -- i have zero respect. absolutely none. >> you stand by your decision to pull out? >> yes, i do. >> the administration in all these press conferences is sort of conflating everything. was the evacuation mission a success? they got out more than 120,000 people. it is an historic airlift. but that is not the issue. it's that the president said, we are not going to leave people behind. and we did. >> reporter: isis-k taking responsibility for the blast that killed those 13 american troops, raising the fear that afghanistan could become a safe haven for terrorism once again. president biden ordering a counter strike immediately. >> we will not forgive. we will not forget. we will hunt you down and make you pay. >> reporter: america's so-called forever war finally over.

yet up to 200 americans still remain in the country. >> there's a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. we did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. >> there are two outcomes for u.s. citizens left in afghanistan. one is the taliban rounds them up, throws them in prison, or worse. the other is that the taliban sees that it's in their interests to find those american citizens and see them safely back to the u.s. and they're going to have to show that there's a new taliban, despite everybody believing they're still the old taliban. >> when the taliban was last in power, has created an enormous level of panic, that this is the same taliban that's coming back. people feel that this is actually a more menacing and a more strategic taliban. it's devastating to see yet another generation lose their homes, their identities, their pasts, and face an uncertain and insecure future. >> the afghans were never left with a choice. they believed us when we said

that we would help rebuild their nation. we gave them hopes and dreams. and the rug has now been pulled from beneath their feet. >> "final hours: america's longest war" chronicling america's withdrawal from afghanistan streaming only on hulu. up next, how the afghan community in the u.s. is trying to help those still there. we do it every night. every night. do it. run your dishwasher every night with cascade platinum

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earlier i spoke to congressman ro khanna, whose fremont, california, district is home to the largest afghan-american community in the u.s. congressman khanna, thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me on. >> we know that you've worked to help evacuate americans and afghan allies in the recent weeks. we understand that there are at least 50 afghan families in the bay area in your district area, asking for help evacuating loved ones. so how is your office providing resource to those not only who have arrived, but for those who have been left behind? >> juju, i'm very proud of my team. we've helped numerous families get on the state department

list. they were able to get to the airport. some faced beatings, some had to go multiple times before they could actually get on a flight. but we've had about 17 cases where families have been able to come. but in candor, there are still people who have written to us who are unaccounted for. we still have american citizens that we're trying to get out. there are still green card holders that are trying to get out. there are still s.i.v. applicants trying to get out. we are working to make sure that happens. we want to work with the state department to see what specifics we should tell these families. >> when you're communicating with families, what's your message to them as they're arriving, what's your message to american communities that are taking them in? >> my message first is that, come visit my district. the afghan-american community is an extraordinary community. i represent the heart of silicon valley. they're leading as entrepreneurs, they're leading in technology, they're artists, poets, doctors. this community will enrich

america, and we should stop the demagoguery, we should stop the fear, and come and actually see what the afghan-american community has to contribute. but we still have a hard job in making sure that our commitment is fulfilled to afghan-americans and to those afghans who have worked with us in this 20-year war. i have been working with the state department. we need to see, we need to put pressure on the taliban, at least to open the borders. we need to still have perhaps special operations to help rescue american citizens. we need to see whether they can go across the border to pakistan or that judge stan, see how they can be evacuated. our work is not done. >> the president today repeatedly praised the success of the american withdrawal, yet so many critics are pointing to failures in planning, failures in logistics and coordination that led to the chaos, including the 13 deaths of u.s. service members. where, in your mind, did policy go wrong? >> juju, first let me say something about those service members. they're heroes. my heart is with their families.

they really died in a valiant cause, to save american lives, to save afghan lives. and i have so much admiration for them and so much empathy for their families. i do believe the president was correct to bring this war to an end. that was a courageous decision. and this war had cost us a lot of lives and it would have cost us more service lives had we stayed. and we saw the risks based on the isis bombing that occurred. i'm on the armed services committee. we're going to have a full oversight. but that oversight can't just be about the last 20 days, it needs to be about the last 20 years. why were they general after general that came to my committee, saying they were winning the war, knowing full well they were losing? that's one of the reasons there was a mistake made in seeing how guil quickly the afghan army fell, and the administration acknowledged that was a mistake and that led to some of the

problems with the evacuation. >> you initially applauded the withdrawal plan when the president announced it in april saying, "it will help bring peace to a country that for decades has been ravaged by war." after this swift taliban takeover, do you still have that same optimism? >> i do. believe that it will put american service people at less risk. i believe it will have less of a cost. we've spent over $2 trillion in afghanistan. then we don't remember all of the civilians in afghanistan that have died. i am clear-eyed about the taliban, they obviously have had an oppressive history with women, they have had an oppressive history with girls. we need to continue to put economic, diplomatic pressure on them. they need to know very clearly that we have over the horizon capability, we will strike there if they start to harbor terrorists that are a credible threat to the united states. the president has shown he will do that. he's taken decisive action twice, and they should not underestimate the resolve of the united states in taking action

if there is any threat to our homeland. >> i want you to expand a bit on over the horizon capability. what do you mean by that? in addition, what are you hearing from the afghan refugee families? what are they telling you about what they saw and heard under taliban rule before they evacuated? >> over the horizon capability as i understand it means we have the capability of launching strikes. we can launch with tremendous precision to take out terrorist threats that affect our homeland or that impact our troops. we have also special counter-terrorism operations. we have them across the world. that doesn't require a permanent troop presence. so the american people should be assured that even though we have withdrawn our troops, that doesn't mean that we have withdrawn our commitment to make sure that terrorism doesn't sprout up again in afghanistan. this president is aware of the risks of isis-k. he's aware of the risks of al

qaeda. he's made it clear to the taliban that if there is such a threat, we reserve the right to strike and take that threat out. >> there are a lot of thorny issues ahead, congressman khanna of california, thanks for your time. >> juju, thanks for the opportunity. >> our thanks to congressman khanna. up next, a celebratory family reunion in nebraska. press start and consider the job finished. finish quantum's three-chamber detergent works with bosch's precisionwash technology to clean, degrease and shine every dish, every load. for a sparkling clean, from bosch to finish. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love, more adventure, more community. but with my hiv treatment, inll i talked to my doctor and switched to fewer medicines with dovato. dovato is for some adults

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♪ finally tonight, a family eunion in the heartland. cherafat rae, an afghan-american translator, returned to omaha after visiting his home in kabul a week before the taliban takeover. he feared for their safety. >> it's like, good-bye, we'll never see you again. but thank god they're here. >> his brothers, their wives, and his 14-year-old sister managed to get to the airport in time, traveling 10 days through four different countries with very little food. now they're together. and that's "nightline" tonight. you can watch full episodes on hulu. tomorrow.ack here same time - thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.