♪ >> this is al jazeera and these are the top stories. in his first press conference since taking over afghanistan, the taliban says it will respect women's rights and forgive those who fought against them. the claims are being met with skepticism. the u.s. says the taliban has agreed to allow safe passage for civilians struggling to get flown out of kabul. evacuations have resumed a day after chaotic scenes on the runway. leaders have also agreed to hold a virtual g7 meeting to discuss

a common strategy for afghanistan. >> it was very significant. this was almost like a keynote. setting out the tone and the tenor for the forthcoming taliban government. i think what we were getting with what the taliban wanted us to get was the softer, more acceptable face of taliban rule. it actually started in a triumphant way talking about the ends met -- the emancipation of the country after 20 years expelling the foreigners as it was put. >> survivors of saturday's earthquake in haiti now have to cope with a tropical storm. heavy rain lashed makeshift shelters in southern city, one of the worst hit areas. a number of americans admitted into intensive care has seen

numbers last seen during the winter wave. 20% of hospitals have nearly all of their icu beds occupied. four new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in new zealand as the country begins a snap three-day lockdown. it brings the total number of cases to five. all confirmed to be the delta variant. for the first times, the u.s. has declared a water shortage in one of its western reservoirs. lake mead is the largest reservoir in the u.s. it supplies 40 million people across seven states and parts of neighboring mexico. those are the headlines. stay tuned for inside story. ♪

>> the right decision for our people. the right one for our brave servicemembers who wished their lives serving our nation. it is the right one for america. >> joe biden has defended his decision to withdraw from afghanistan. millions of afghans face an uncertain future. will the u.s. president pay a political price for pulling his troops out? how will that affect relations with europe? this is inside story. ♪ welcome to the program. it has been called the worst debacle in nato's history. the fall of afghanistan to the taliban turning out to bid biggest crisis of joe biden's presidency so far.

he is facing racism from u.s. politicians and afghan veterans. they say the ultimate beneficiary of the billions of dollars spent is the taliban. u.s. president is adamant he made the right decision and blames the afghan government and military for not being willing to fight for themselves. we have a lot to discuss with our guests. shortly, this report. >> joe biden attempted to keep public opinion focused on a promise kept. after 20 years, the u.s. was finally leaving afghanistan. >> i stand squarely behind my decision. after 20 years, i have learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw u.s. forces. >> neither the president or any administration officials have been able to address the chaotic manner of the withdrawal. despite bidens proclamation the look stopped with him, he lashed

out at the afghan political leadership and military that fled. even saying the u.s. wanted to evacuate earlier but was stopped by kabul. >> i know there are concerns about why we did not begin evacuating afghan civilians sooner. part of the answer is some of the afghans did not want to leave earlier. still hopeful for their country. part of it because the afghan government and its supporters discouraged us from organizing a mass exit is to avoid triggering a conch -- a crisis of confidence. >> the pentagon officials insisted they had role-played every eventuality. whether such a possibility had been communicated to the president. >> plans are not always perfectly predictive and as is well known military, plans do not often survive first contact. you have to adjust in real-time.

>> the penny gun says it expects the 2500 u.s. troops to be supplemented within 24 hours up to 1000 more in says airport operations have resumed. the u.s. says more than 700 afghans eligible for special immigration visas have left the country bringing the total to almost 2000. the opponents have been swift to deliver a withering commentary. >> honestly, this administration looks to me it could not organize a two car funeral. maybe it is not too late. i hope not for the president to put in enough troops around kabul to at least get out all the americans and as many of the afghans as possible who are our friends, who are our interpreters on whom we relied all these years. it is a sad day for the united states of america. >> when pressed, mcconnell as with many others suggested his favored option was a permanent military presence, which would

be against the wishes of the majority of americans. the biden administration appears to be wishing eventually the chaos of the last few days be forgotten. instead, the president will be seen as the commander-in-chief who finally brought america's longest war to an end. >> the german chancellor has criticized the way the u.s. troop withdrawal was handled. germany had the second largest military presence in afghanistan after the united states. >> the development in afghanistan is bitter for germany and the other allied nations that under the leadership of the usa and nato fought after the terror attacks of september 11 for 20 years against terrorism and for freedom. we have to realize that an independent role of germany or other european forces during the nato mission in afghanistan was not possible, we have always said we were fundamentally

depending on the decisions of the american government. >> afghans who worked for the u.s. and nato forces are worried for the safety of their fairly members. a former interpreter who lives in france says only a miracle could save his relatives in afghanistan. >> am in real trouble just because of my work. please, u.k. government. do not punish my family. do not leave them behind because that is going to cost lots of life. how can i live that life after? it is really hard. i am struggling. i am still struggling. i am kind of losing hope. i have not seen my family since 2014. can you imagine that?

this is the only beginning. i have pains. that is only the show. in the future, the world will know what will happen. there will not be a media to show to the world. if they take my two brothers with them to fight and i have an old mother and an old father and if somehow they come and forcibly marry my sister with one of them -- imagine these things. as an eldest brother. there are two ways. either you fight against them. or you finish your life. ♪ >> let's talk more about this now with our panel in washington, d.c. the president and ceo of the

truman national security project. in bethesda, maryland, a professor of the national defense university and the former director of nato in the u.s. to. kateri of defense in denver, colorado, a former republican congressman from georgia. welcome to all of you. jenna, let me start with you. even if you broadly support the decision by president biden to withdrawal u.s. forces, all u.s. forces from afghanistan, i think there is universal dismay and criticism of the way that withdrawal was handled and the images we saw over the last couple of days. >> thank you and good morning. you are right. there are a number of us across the national security community including a wide range of

veterans did support the president's decision to leave afghanistan after 20 years of loss and pain and combat and a trillions of dollars spent. it is not a withdrawal. it appears almost like an abandonment. the ks we are seeing now -- the chaos we are seeing now at the airport as americans, as afghan women and human rights defenders and interpreters who supported our military forces scrambled to leave the country, all of that was avoidable. there efforts underway for months to address this directly with the white house. this could have been prevented. now the key will be to keep the airport safe and open and those flights running until everybody needs to get out can. >> does this feel like an abandonment to you? >> oh yeah. there is no doubt it is. there were going to be more people regardless of how much capacity we have, guard less of

how much effort is put in. afghanistan is going to be a dark and brutal place for a long time. the demand to leave afghanistan is going to exceed the lift to get people out. it is going to exceed the ability of countries to accept and resettle these folks. some countries have given up trying. president macron said nobody forced these people to work for us. they made a choice and they have to live with it. that is a callous approach. the bed news is all -- the bad news is already starting and i fear it is only going to get worse. >> jack kingston, what is your view on this? i want to ask you as well whether you supported the decision, the initial decision that was made to withdraw u.s. troops from afghanistan. the deal struck by biden's predecessor in the trump administration. >> i would say i have been

supportive of an orderly and stable withdrawal with u.s. presence. that has to be another double. when we were leaving world war ii, people would have said you could have troops in germany 50 years later yet we still do. the same thing in south korea. having an american troop presence in areas where there have been conflicts is not unusual. what we are seeing now, not only the immediate humanitarian crisis of people clinging to a c-17 trying to get out. what we will not see just as the guest said whose family was over there, you are not going to see the taliban in the next 60 to 90 days in the next year going door-to-door looking for people who were sympathizers with the americans and fought against them. that is going to be horrible. the other thing and i pick this up time and time again when i was in afghanistan and spoke to

the afghan leadership and soldiers is they wanted to know, are you here to stay? we have a fear you are going to leave us high and dry, abandon us just as what is happening right now. the next time there is a conflict, how will you win the hearts and minds of the local people after they see what we were doing right here? it is very difficult. not to mention the other western countries who were allies in the coalition and perhaps other guests remember. i think the number was 48 countries involved in the coalition at some capacity. how do we get them to rally around the next cause? it is going to be very difficult. >> you share the fear that some have expressed that afghanistan now risks becoming a reading ground for groups like al qaeda and isil and so on? >> absolutely. prior to 9/11, we were still given something like 75 million in foreign aid to the afghan

country in one form or the other. we were engaged pre-9/11. they did not have any focus, bitterness toward us until al qaeda came in. now they are going to have more of a focus. there is going to be revenge. we have left a tremendous amount of military equipment there and a lot of trained soldiers who will flip sides. to say it is not going to be a bit of terrorism, with iran, china, russia. that actors are going to see this as a recruitment area. whatever you want to call it. they are going to totally reject american and western values on terrorism. >> president biden did acknowledge he was surprised by the speed of this collapse of the afghan government and said -- did acknowledge it was

messy. i was his administration caught so flat-footed? >> i think everybody got it wrong. i didn't think they would fall so fast either. i think the problem is we had a phrase at the pentagon, drinking urine bathwater. there is a self reinforcing cycle of expectations. . there is a focus on inputs rather than objectively measuring out but. everyone was aware corruption was a chronic condition. we were aware a lot of the warlords who we never really dealt with were capable of treachery, which was really behind the rapid fall of the northern part of afghanistan to the taliban. it was allegiances. what was remarkable to us was the depth of the treasury. there was only one military battle, perhaps two. the rest of these cities were surrendered without a fight. it is important to note the pen

sherry's are still there. they are used to to operating from their remote valley and expanding outward against the soviets and as they did yes he against the taliban. it is not a complete failure but this is a big issue. the biden team got it really wrong and any other president probably would have gotten it wrong too. >> what lessons do you think the u.s. can learn from this because there were those who will argue this battle was lost many years ago in terms of the way the united states approached the whole thing with their presence in afghanistan. what do you say to that? >> i think that is right. david is spot on. this failure has a thousand fathers and has been 20 years in the making. it is clear and ongoing

sustained presence would do little to continue to shape the outcomes we all desire to hear, which is a peaceful country and a reduced threat to the unit states -- the united states. that is not what we have at hand right now. we need to think about what this means for u.s. power, for our partners and allies. what i am concerned with cancer pulley is what kind of message we are sending to our partners and allies when if after 20 years of war and fighting alongside folks in afghanistan, we are not there to extend our moral obligation to save the. president ford did this under vietnam. it was usually unpopular at the time. . 130,000 vietnamese brought to the u.s. we have 2000 afghans who supported u.s. troops who have arrived in this country. 2000. if as senator mcconnell suggests he is concerned with the fate of our partners and allies, the next step will be for the u.s.

congress to increase refugee admissions levels and to bring as many people here to safety as possible. that certainly affects the lives of afghans but it also sends a really strong and important signal to would be american partners all around the world for years to come. it is important to our credibility to be able to say we will stand by those who stood with us. >> let's put some of that to david. as someone who has worked within the nato leadership, how does what we have seen in kabul over the last couple of days affect u.s. relations with european partners and nato partners and basically u.s. credibility? >> i am sorry. i have to go back and readdress eye remarks. -- readdress my remarks. i did not say the whole admission -- the whole mission was doomed for failure. nothing anyone pretty to the

government would fall so quickly. it was a chronic condition that could have been managed and acceptable rate for a long time. it does affect u.s. credibility. president biden acted the way critics accused president trump of acting. he made a unilateral decision. . he. did not consult with nato allies he said i'm going to go do this. i'm sorry, jenna. i'm going to have to eight disagree with you on the vietnam analogy. president ford did not unilaterally does to does -- unilaterally decide to withdraw troops. u.s. troops withdrew two years before the full of saigon. congress passed a law that said aid will not happen. i refer you to the lewis story book a better word for the details on that. what you have is a different situation. you had a unilateral decision by the president, which i think history will show in the fullness of time did not consult with anybody in the career bureaucracy in the pentagon or

state department because he was worried he would get rolled as what happen in 2009. he made a unilateral decision without consulting with allies that created a decision that snowballed beyond any recognition but that being said, nobody expected it to happen this quickly and i don't fault him for being surprised the rapid fall of the kabul government. >> i know jenna once to respond and then we will respond. >> if i may, certainly the conditions in vietnam at the time were different than afghanistan. nor the circumstance could possibly be the same is what we are confronting now. my point and to our viewers is there is a strong historic precedent for large-scale evacuation of partners and allies. that is the president. it is not what we are seeing here. it is factually inaccurate that state and dod were not consulted throughout this process. they were consulted routinely. it was the president's decision

and he has been clear the buck stops with him and he is owning it for good or for ill. there was a wide range of consultation throughout the process. >> i think history will show that. nato was not consulted. the nato secretary-general was surprised. >> jack kingston, it is your view if we go back way before biden and trump and back to the bush administration in 2001 after the taliban fell 20 years ago? there are those who say the campaign was lost a long time ago going back as far as that because of the approach the united states took to all of this. what do you say to that? >> i think once we were there with the idea of we need to fight the war against terrorism

on their territory not in the united states, which is one of the themes george bush said over and over again, we needed to convince people that effort is succeeding. if you look at troop loss, in 2019, it was the third highest year since 2013. 2013, you lost about 100 troops. 2015, 54. 2000 19, 22. the reason why i am bringing that up is you had reasonable stability. you did not have huge battles, huge warfare and slaughter. there was a grind appeared am not saying it was good because of that. i'm saying american congress did not so people on, we have sacrifices going on on a regular basis. we are spending millions upon millions of dollars. . on the other hand, we are keeping it from becoming a hotbed of terrorism. i think the prediction is that is what is going to happen to it

right now. i think that we in elected leadership failed by not talking about this each and every speech as to why troops are on the ground. what we are doing and what we are trying to accomplish. i think jenna is right. there are a lot of people who can claim the failure on this. at the same hand, american people want to go in, knock somebody off, come back home and live happily ever after. the world unfortunately does not operate that way. you have to remain engaged whether it is a clean picture or not. >> david, can the u.s. -- i will let you respond to that, jenna in a moment but i want to put this to david. can the u.s. remain engaged in this will not being physically present? can they make sure the taliban as they govern afghanistan do not allow the country to be overrun with these groups like al qaeda and isolated someone?

>> i don't think so. resident biden said he was the fourth president to preside over war in afghanistan. actual he is the fifth. resident clinton fired cruise missiles at al qaeda targets in afghanistan trying to track down al qaeda. that was characterized by president bush as shooting cruise missiles at tents, which is not far off what happened. it is possible but it is extremely more difficult. we will not have local intelligence networks. we won't have local bases. our weaponry is degraded. the operation is extremely expensive. i agree with representative kingston. it is more likely groups who want to do harm to the united states find a safe haven in afghanistan than it is likely we are able to identify targets and meaningfully obliterate these groups. i don't think the taliban is going to do it for us. >> go ahead, jenna.

>> ungoverned spaces, places without the rule of law the world over are constantly vulnerable to becoming hotbeds for extremism. we know this. what is also clear is ongoing presence in afghanistan was not going to change the nature of the situation on the ground. yes, the withdrawal looks like an abandonment. . and has been needlessly messy and i believe should have been done different. the notion that an ongoing commitment to continue to pour millions -- hundreds of billions of dollars into a country we saw so quickly fell and failed to make a series of advances is misbegotten and it is hubris. it has stretched our military, the largest in the world. all of these major militaries combined are still smaller than the u.s. defense budget. it has really strapped our forces and distracted the united states from addressing other

issues like russia, like china, like issues around the world like climate and pandemic response. it is time to divert resources to the many fold areas where u.s. interests are at stake. for right now, we must confront t humanitarian crisis at hand. >> will have to leave it there. thanks very much for being with us. and thank you as always for watching. you can see this program any time by visiting our website, al jazeera.com. for further discussion, you can go to our facebook page. facebook.com/a.j. inside story. you can join the conversation on twitter. from me and the whole team here, goodbye for now.

♪ >> more than 10 years after the global financial crisis -- >> you have ken home more than $480 million. your company is bankrupt. our economy is in atate of crisis. is this fair? >> millions have lost their homes in the u.s. alone. >> i will be fabulously wealthy and i will not pay any price for it. thank you, lord.

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