♪ judy: good evening. i am judy woodruff. on "the newshour" -- >> thi is the right decision, a wise decision. judy: out of afghanistan. president biden defends the u.s. exit as the taliban celebrate their return to power. assessing the damage. recovery efforts begin in the wake of hurricane ida as more than one million remain without power. plus, disappearing act. how naturally dissolving pacemakers present a breakthrough in the treatment of heart surgery patients. >> all of the materials we are

using our a recommended part of the ily diet. judy: all of that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newsur has been provided by -- ♪ >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist, a raymondjames financial advisoraylor's advice to help you live your life. fe well planned. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular'goal hass been to provide wireless service that helps people connect. we offer a variety of plans and our u.s.-based team can help you find one that fits you. ♪ >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. ♪

>> the john s and james l knight foundation, fostering engaged and engaged communities. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: today brought a moment to take stock of two decades in afghanistan.

president biden address to the nation to mark the end of america's longest war. he again forcefully defended the decision to withdraw, claimed a messy exit was inevitable, and praised of the sacrifice of service members and their families. yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. yamiche: at the white house, president biden marked bringing america's longest war to an end. >> the w in afghanistan is now over. i am the fourth presidentho has faced at the issue of whether and when to end this war. when i was running for president, i made a commitment to the american people that i would end this war. today, i've honor that commitment. yamiche: after facing fierce criticism, the president defendedis decision to withdraw u.s. troops from afghanistan after 20 years of fighting. >> there is no evacuation from

the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges, and threats we faced. i give my word with all my heart. i believe this is the right decision, a wise decision, and the best decision for america. yamiche: the president spoke about the sacrifices made by american service members and pay tribute to those killed over the last two decades, including 13 who died last week. >> most of all, after 800,000 american served in afghanistan, i've traveled of that country. brave and honorable service. the loss of 2000 461 american personnel, including 13 lives

lost just this week. i refused to open another decade of warfare in afghanistan. yamiche: president biden addressed the global threat of terrorism in places like syria and somalia and yemen. al qaeda remains capable in afghanistan. he argues the u.s. has other ways to fight the groups and didn't need troops on the ground. >> we will maintain of the fight against terrorists in afghanistan. we just don't need to fight a ground war to do it. we have over the horizon capabilities, and isis-k, we are not done with you yet. as commander-in-chief, i firmly believe the best path to guard our safety and security lies in the tough, targeted precise strategy that goes after terror

where it is today, not where it was two decades ago. yamiche: this afternoon, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general mark milley spoke for the first time since the u.s. departure. >> today's an incredibly emotional day for any soldier, sailor, airman, or marine and their family. your service mattered and was not in vain. yamiche: the pentagon released c

>> we were just hopeful, and as it turned out, i think people are pleased that it wasn't another katrina. >> with power outages expected to last week'sthe and many of theirs gone. >> in laplace, residents are still trying to make sense of what has happened. >> and honestly felt like a movie.

i just kept thinking, it's going to be over in 30 minutes. i survived it, but it is not something i would want anyoneo go through. >> clearly, the area is battered and crippled. governor john bel edwards said it would be a long road to recovery. some of the work on the power lines, now happening. they will ha to repair thousands of powerlines. judy: we know what a hot day this is, what the weather is like. what are pple saying to you? >> the temperature was in the upper 90's. it felt well over 100. folks are still trying to reach out to their relatives. we've seen so many people being evacuated by boat. many of them got in the national guard vehicle. they didn't know where they were

going or what they were going to do next. judy: louisiana is one of the worst states in the country affected by covid, the pandemic. how is the hurricane affecting the state's ability to deal with that. >> many hospitals are still full. they don't believe that can go on forever. they've started to evacuate those patients to other areas, nursing homes having the same problem, some being evacuated as far away as texas. judy: we know this is going to take a long time to fix, repair, the damage across the state, people saying weeks to a month or longer. what does it look like? >> they have so many people who evacuated from the area. some people we spoke with were moving to other areas so they

could enroll their kids in scho. it is still big unknown. judy: robbie,hank you very much. let's hear from state and local leaders on the ground in louisiana. john yang starts with a look at the efforts and struggles to get help for residents. john: the immediate needs are great. basic necessities like power are gonna. earlier, i spoke with cynthia lee sheng who was perusing the damage. >> we still have been able to get to grand isle. a very difficult situation.

we don't have access to their. this is what we are dealing against. we have incredible first responder teams, but when you don't have the communication or are blocked by powerlines, it's diffult. it looks like the water has subsided. other areas of the parish are still underwater. they are still bringing boats to that neighborhood today. our issue -- it is supposed to be a hot day. we don't have electricity. we don't have many modern-day amenities. it becomes very difficult. >> i understand the was some talk of moving people out.

they've had a problem bussing people o to a safer place. what is the situation? >> many people are already leaving because conditions are deteriorating. theris no gas. until our communityan get resourced, i just got back from a shelter we had -- everybody is tired already, and we aren't coming into this. if you can't take care of yourself, we need to get you food and medical help, and it's better we use the state resources and get you away. my message for today and tomorrow, until we start getting more help, i can't take care of you because i don't have the resources here. it's got to be a little bit away from now.

>> you said you just came from a shelter. can you tell us about the situation? >> this is all about our local government and state working together. they're at the shelter right now. 4:00, and stately fix them up, and they will go to alexandria where they will have food. in a centralized location, they will have the needs that they need. hospital beds are already filled with covid. those basic amenities right now, if you are a vulnerable person, we cannot provide those basic amenities right now. >> you talk about the government, humanitarian groups. for viewers out here, what would you ask them to do? >> we need a lot of help. was heartbroken at the shelter

this morning. i met a man. the water started coming. he spent the night in the attic. he had to go to the hospital overnight. all he said is, i want to rebuild my house. people want to put their lives back together. put your life back together, start cleaning up. that makes you feel better, and that's difficult to hear, that people want to do something to recruit. it was a hard conversation for me to have. he will rebuild. i could see the determination, but he'd been through a harrowing 48 hours. i was glad he made it through

and survived. >> that was cynthia lee sheng. rebuilding and recovery from hurricane ida is going to be a long-term proposition. bill cassidy joins us from baton rouge. thanks for being with us. i understand you did a flyover of some of the hard-hit areas of the state. what did you see that may not necessarily translate? >> he flew over a place called laplace. it's the first area if you go past lake pontchartrain. there was flooding of the whole community. you don't see the ground. just seawater. lots of wind damage. the less expensive the housing, the more damage. trailer parks, just scattered

all over the place, but nicer neighborhoods, as well. as well as wind damage to some structures, but even going through new orleans, there isn't damage, but there weren't lights either. in the northern parishes, there was flooding all through those parishes, not every place but around lake pontchartrain, other areas that were still rising at the time. >> no power, no running water. what are we being told about when those systems will be back up? >> as far as i know, they are not committed to a date to getting them back up. can a generator continuedo work f all the things a

hospital needs it for. i will also mention, if you think of the human dimension, the person on home oxygen immediately comes to mind. she does not have the electricity. the gas station doesn't have electricity to fill up their galine to put in their generator. >> you menti you are a physician, louisiana having a bit of a sur of covid-19. as a physician, what worries you about this confluence of events, hospitals under stress, people being put together in shelters? >> the briefing we received from others is shelters want people separated from one another. they will be asked to wear a mask. ifeople wish, they can get

vaccinated. i think we've learned of the lessons of last year where there was some of this during covid in order to construct an environment to keep people safe. if someone is vaccinated, their risk of going to the hospital is far lower. >> earlier today, you tweeted a message that you thought congress nded to get back and pass a supplemental disaster aid bill. >> i was speaking about the one from southwest louisiana a year ago. we still have not passed that. it is so frustrang, and we've been working on it for a year. what i don't want to happen is a supplemental for this area to kind of linger as it has for

southwest louisiana, and we want folks in southwest louisiana to know they are not forgotten, still trying to raise their case. >> when you get back to washington, one of the items of business will be reconciling what the house and senate do. do you think what happened will help to bld support for that? >> i sure hope so. everyone was siding relief -- sighing in relief that they held. if we invest now not just in louisiana but around our nation, issues such as coastal restoration, hardening the grid so they don't topple again, $50 billion nationwide, $65 billion

to make sure every american has access to broadband internet. it turns out fema and local offices send out messages over social media. we need to make it now for hurricane, tornado, 10 years from now. >> senator bill cassidy, we are thinking of all of you down in louisiana right now. stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. we will return to judy woodruff after these headlines. nearly 4000 firefighters in northern california are racing to defend the lake tahoe resort

from the massive caldor fire. the inferno is just 16% contained and has destroyed 700 structures. thousands of residents and tourists evacuated. >> as soon i secure this area, which is my business. >> i can't believe california is going to let the jewel burnout. >> nevada has warned its residents near the california state line to prepare f possible evacuations. pennsylvania gov. tom wolf has issued a mask mandate for all public and private schools due to a surge in covid-19 hospitalizations. in colorado, all health care workers, nursing homes, and

hospitals must be vaccinated by the end of october. >> today, we are averaging 900,000. that's an 80% increase. importantly, we've accelerated the pace of first shots. in august, we got over 14 million. stephanie: the european union is celebrating its progress. the ee you announced it met its goal of fully vaccinating 70% of adults and it's blocked by the end of the summer. in texas, a gop bill to rewrite the states election bill is headed to the governor's desk. the bill will restrict voting hours and empower partisan poll

watchers, among other things. governor greg abbott said he would sign it into law. hundreds of survivors of the larry nasser sexual abuse scandal proposed a settlement in u.s. bankruptcy court today. usa gymnastics said it anticipates the plan will be confirmed later this year. virginia governor ralph northam granted posthumous pardons to seven black men executed in 1951 for the rape of a white woman. he said the states death penalty for rape was almost exclusively applied to black people. the martinsville seven was done in march.

she arrived at a federal court in san jose where 170 perspective jurors will be interviewed. more turmoil at jeopardy. mike richards is out due to offensive and sexist comments he made in the past. sony pictures announced he will no longer be the executive producer of wheel of fortune. home prices surged at a record annual price in june as homebuyers competed for a limited number of houses. prices spiked more than 19% compared to a year earlier. phoenix, san diego, and seattle recorded the biggest jumps. the head of the world food program on the dyer hunger situation in afghanistan.

a new book on the secret history of the war in afghanistan. plus, how pacemaker technology presents a breakthrough for heart surgery patients. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: as america leaves afghanistan, there remains the possibility of a humanitarian disaster. feeding millions of people is a top priority of the united nations world food program. it's director is david beasley who negotiated with taliban leaders last week over the continuation of aid. onhe nevada spoke with him from his home in south carolina. >> david, welcome back to the newshour. thank you for making the time.

today is the first day of taliban rule across afghanistan. you met with the taliban in delhi. >> they assured us of that. in the areas they've gained controlled over the last few weeks, they have assured us, protected our analysis, made certain we could operate independent. please don't get in the way of helping the innocent victims of conflict. we are working through many issues as we speak, such as

programs for little girls. they are insuring us we will be able to contue to do that. they are putting people into place now. couple is a small part of the issue. this fall, we are very concerned. >> let me ask you what they've been saying to you and what is ahead. this is the big question. there's a big gap between messaging we are hearing from the and their actual record. if those practices pick up, what can you do? can you not work with them? >> the more they cooperate, the better it is for everybody. so far, we've received the

cooperation. we are just getting out into the weeds. we are moving people back out into the field. i will speak the truth. if you become a problem, i will tell the world so. we're here to help the innocent people of afghanistan. in a couple of places, we've had people say, give them a little bit of time. they are putting their teams into place. i hope we can get all of that

resolved so we can get about our business to reach the people so they don't become vulnerable phthisis and al qaeda. >> this is a new government that has come in. they've inherited a budget that was 75 percent dependent on international aid. billions of dollars from the imf and u.s. has been frozen. based on what you've seen, do you think those leaders should trust the taliban, that they are building a different government to the one they had before? >> this is the dialogue,, the paradox. what is your alternative? if you aren't careful, you could have something a lot worse.

we can't just walk away. people can't go without food for a month. we have to work with whomever is in charge, and we are going to do everything we can to help stabilize and build a path forward. there are some other areas, explaining why we are doing it, and we want to reach women and men. so far, so good. we've got 14 million people right now, and we can't turn our back on them. we can create an incredible opportunity for extremist groups to recruit.

we've seen what has happened in syria when we've turned our back on innocent people. they've become victims. we don't want that. >> if they continue to restrict women's movement, if they go back to their ways of oppressing minorities and committing abuses, you will say you will continue to deliver aid to because you have no choice? why would they act differently? >> but we've found so far, we evaluate all of these dynamics, i can imagine there will be difficult areas. where there is going to be complication, we are going to deal with it. we think girls and boys, i can't

imagine that being tampered with. that would be a redline for sure. you and your team are doing such necessary work under incredibly difficult circumstances. we wish you luck ahead. thank you for making the time. >> we will get it done. that is the world food program. judy: despite american pridents and military leaders providing years of positive assessments that the u.s. was winning the war in afghanistan, behind the scenes, there were warnings that things were headed in another direction.

craig joins us now. craig, you interviewed over 1000 people. they tell a very different story in many cases from what the public has been told over the last 20 years. >> these documents were interviews with more than 400 officials who played a key role in the war. white house officials, diplomats, also afghans. they thought these were confidential interviews, and their assessments were brutal. they said the u.s. government didn't know what it was doing in afghanistan, and it misled the american people about how the war was going, so it was the opposite of the message being delivered in public.

judy: the u.s. goes into afghanistan to get osama bin laden, and it very quickly changes to nationbuilding, and you have a lot of behind-the-scenes information about what was being assessed. >> one of the earliest examples is president bush gave a speech to the virginia military institute. al qaeda was on the run. bush was addressing concerns afghanistan could turnnto a quagmire. he was dismissing these concerns, saying, don't worry, we won't get bogged down. his defenseecretary donald rumsfeld dictated a memo to

several generals and happy that the pentagon and said the exact opposite. he expressed a fear we could get bogged down. he ended the memo with one word "help! " judy: that was the late donald rumsfeld. >> this happened with all the presidents. president obama said that the war was coming to a conclusion. there was a ceremony at nato headquarters in which the u.s. official said the combat mission for u.s. troops was over, and behind the scenes, the pentagon and obama knew that u.s. troops would be in harm's way, and people were dying in combat for the ration of the war.

judy: craig, you cite one military leader after the other. general petraeus has been critical of president biden, saying he should've realized that the afghan military was helping fight off isis. you cite him and other military leaders telling congress. >> we heard this month after month, year after year. we heard that the afghan police forces were capable of defending their country, and yet in these interviews, in the afghanistan papers, military officials were sending up highly critical reports. they said there leaders were corrupt, and expressed doubt

that they could stand up in a fight against the taliban. the pentagon has known this for years, and in public they kept telling the american people everything was going according to plan. judy: when people are understanding what went wrong, you've got a chapter on corruption. you've got reports on the poppies. he reported in the change in leadership, how hard it was to get the results americans were looking for. >> that's right. most americans knew the war wasn't going well, but they always assumed there was a plan, that there was a strategy in place that was tough to carry out, but in these interviews, generals and other people, they were very blunt. they said, we didn't know what we were doing.

judy: what about the role of pakistan next-door? it has been hard for americans to understand what that has been all about, the connection between pakistan and the taliban. >> this is something the u.s. government has never figured out what to do. it took the bush administration several years to realize the government of pakistan was on one hand fighting alaeda, but lending support secretly to the taban. it took them a while to realize that pakistan was playing a double game. during the obama administration, they were dependent on pakistan for supply routes to u.s. troops. they couldn't get that tough on the pakistanis. same under trump. there was tough talk about eating pakistan to clamp down. judy: when we hear president biden say he really had no choice, president trump

negotiated this withdrawal date, and the alternative was to escalate, is that the whole story? >> i don't think it is the whole story. he was not obligated to accept president trump's deal with the taliban. i think he is right in one respect, that this is not a winnable war, and the taliban held off in attacking u.s. troops since trump cut his deal with them. if we were going to try to have a military victory over the taliban, we would have to commit more troops and double down on the fighting, and that is something biden didn't want to do. judy: what do we come away with as lessons for future leaders when we are tempted to go into another country to fix a problem, to fight an enemy? >> the parallels to vietnam are

very strong. at the beginning of the war, president obama -- president bush said, we've learned lessons of vietnam. we've had a lot of hubris in afghanistan, that we thought we could do something that in retrospect failed. judy: were there particular truth tellers that stood out to you in your research? >> in these interviews, there we truth tellers. people admitted the strategy was a failure. judy: after the fact. >> i wish there were more that spoke up. general david mckiernan was the war commander during the end of bush's term and the beginning of obama's, and he's the one general who said the war wasn't going well. he was fired in the obama

administration, and there was no concrete reason given, but he was the first war commander relieved since douglas macarthur in korea. there were military officials who said mckiernan knew he was telling the truth about what was going on. judy: based on what you've learned about the taliban, what is your expectation about what is can i happen now? >> this is fascinating. we foughthis war on the assumption that the taliban is the enemy. they've gotten everything they've wanted to kick out the foreign forces, but they crave diplomatic recognition from the united states. they want humanitarian aid to flow in a. the biden administratiois going to b slow to give diplomatic recognition to the taliban, but they have started to do business with them militarily. cia director bill burns made a

visit to taliban leadership. on counterterrorism operations against groups like the islamic state, the u.s. and the taliban will work together closely. they may keep it hidden from the public. judy: which is what so much of the book is about. a remarkable book. the afghanistan papers, a secret history of the war, craig whitlock. >> thank you, judy. judy: each year, millions of american spend weeks recovering from heart surgery and other operations to repair brain and bone injuries. as our correspondent reports from chicago, researchers are

looking into a novel way through it. >> is this the latest design? >> john's engineering laboratory at northwestern university is a pioneer in emerge -- in an emerging field he calls electronic medicine. as hardware goes, it does not get any softer. it is a transient pacemaker that will be laminated like a piece of scotch tape onto the heart after a patient has surgery, and it is controlled wirelessly by a module attached tohe chest. rogers says it is made from elements the human body actually needs. >> all the materials we are using for these pacemakers are the recommended part of the daily diet.

magnesium is what we use for the current carrying element. >> what the devices job is done, it will disintegrate and be absorbed, illustrated in this time lapse video filmed by the lab. >> if this device is successful and what it is accomplishing, it could be a game changer. >> cardiac surgeons estimate they do about 200 procedures per year that require temporary pacemakers. today's devices tether the patient through copper wires to an external box, wires that must be pulled out once the heart has regained its normal function. >> this wire has an electrode that sits on the surface of the heart. we put a suture there to keep it in place. >> with wires protruding through a patient upon's skin, there are inherent risks. >> there are risks of infection.

>> on rare occasion, when we pull the wire, it can cause bleeding on the surface of the heart. sometimes, we have to bring the patient back to the operating room in order to correct that. >> the wireless pacemaker is controlled with the same technology used for touchless credit card payments, for example. >> the idea of transient medical devices traces back not ta clinic, but to a military incident involving the u.s. and iran about a decade ago. in 2011, not long after iran downed an american military drone, rogers said he got a call from the pentagon. >> the vision was, if an adversary captured electronics, it would be powerful to trigger the disappearance or disintegration of that piece of

electronics. >> rogers gained the attention of defense department funding for research he began into building electronic devices that can self-destruct, and that research took a huge leap forward when a grad student in rogers' lab made they discovery about selection. it actually dissolves in water. >> nobody thought that was the case. silica and is a miracle macario -- material in a lot of ways. it is needed for natural body processes. it is almost like there is a vitamin tablet element to our dissolvable electronic devices. >> the team began collaborating with medical sciences looking to implant transient devices that can track the recovery from brain injuries or stimulate nerve regeneration. >> researchers at george

washington university had been testing the device on animals and even a huge -- a few human parts. >> we weren't able to capture the heart rhythm on the human. >> is expected to be a few years before the technology gets a green trial for human trials. -- green light for human trials. there is a lot still unknown, like what exactly happens to the materials when the pacemaker breaks up? >> what type of risk is associated with that. it's totally new. >> the promise is therapeutic and economic. it would be especially welcome in low resource settings. dr. chip bowman heads team heart that before the pandemic traveled to rwanda to perform

life-saving procedures. >> i remember a few cases where we weren't able to get the wires out without risking injury to the heart. i think of a setting like that or even a regular how parisian is much more difficult, it would be very beneficial. i think it will be another step in the long trajectory of technology improving medicine. >> and vastly reimagining the meaning of wearable technology. judy: just fascinating. we can all hope that it works. fred's reporting is a partnership with the under told stories projt at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. that's the "newshour" tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us tomorrow evening. for all of us, thank you.

please stay safe, and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist, a raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative technologies. ♪ >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant,

and peaceful world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs newshour west. from w eta studios in washington and our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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