deadline of september. and bagram which was a hustling hub for troops is now a ghost town. and this strategy is now leaving behind a complicated and troubling situation leaving the allies at risk as the taliban is gaining ground throughout the country. this is as afghan troops are trying to hold them back without support of the u.s. forces as richard engel saw exclusively from the front lines. and the consequences could be particularly dire for women and girls in the country who are facing harsh restrictions under taliban rule, but president biden is firm in the commitment to ending america's longest war, and he says that the u.s. is going to continue to support the afghan government, but after two decades of the so-called forever

war and thousand of civilian and military deaths, it is time for the afghan people to determine their own future. joining us now are the washington post correspondent ann guerin, and the supreme allied commander at nato and retired admiral james stravidis, and now you are saying that the biden administration has met the objectives. the threat is no longer on the homeland, and so now is the withdrawal now within the strategic interests? >> i would argue that you can make a very strong case to remain at least in a limited form in order to ensure that there is not a reflash. having said that, this is a tough call. the president has made a

decision. what is important, geoff, what happens now, and what should we be doing. so i'll say what happens now, potentially could be a meltdown. the wheels could come off of this thing, and 1 in 3 chance that it holds together, and the key is if the u.s. is going to be willing to support the afghani forces in the over the horizon missions and if we do that, there is still a 1 in 3 chance that it holds together, but unfortunately, geoff, 1 in 3, a civil war and potentially right back where we started. >> and so given all of that, anne, what should we expect to hear from the president biden and jen psaki said this is not a mission accomplished speech or celebratory speech, but the

president's decision on this is final. >> yeah, geoff, and another thing that she said that i was struck by is that the president is not going to be giving grace, and he is not going to be looking back at a 20-year war and saying that we should haven't been in there to begin with, and that it is not his view or that we should haven't been there, but what is clear is that saying it wasn't worth it is a little bit of the insult to the men and women who fought and worked the diplomats and supported the western nato mission for the last 20 years. so he is not going to say that, but every other thing that we expect him to say defning the withdrawal, and saying that he is not going to continue that the president has struggled with and not accomplishing the goals, and every other part of that context is as good as saying that he does not say that the war was worth fighting and

certainly not a war in his view is worth continuing to fight. >> and admiral, what about that? we have heard from the white house officials and our team has heard from the white house officials today, that because of the withdrawal deadline that trump agreed, that the taliban would attack any u.s. troops that stayed without any agreement to leave, and so, the trump administration had started the withdrawal, and now the biden administration said that it was not sustainable, and that is why now the president is about to give the speech that he shabout -- is about to give. >> that a fair analysis, and presidents have to make hard choices, and often, there is no good answer here. and again, keep it in perspective, and my command of that mission some years ago, and we have 150,000 coalition troops

there, geoff, and the vast majority came home on the obama administration, and few more under trump, and this is really the end of the forever war at least from the u.s. side of the perspective. i think that again, the president did not have a better set of options in front of him here, and what is important, and you will hear it in the speech is can we get back in there over to horizon if we need to, if there is a resurgence of al qaeda, can we support the afghan security forces, can we provide diplomatic humanitarian support, and will that contribute to a peace deal between the taliban and the government of afghanistan, and that is the hope. again, there's a chance that it will come out that way, and there is also a chance that it could go very badly. >> i want to come back to you on the question of the diplomatic effort, admiral, but i want to

bring in mark jacobson who is the former secretary adviser to ash carter and combat soldier in this 2006, and so i want to ask you if this is a full best choice or what is the best practice to deal with this resurgent taliban? >> far be it for me to disagree with my former boss admiral savridis, but we should have continued with some things that worked well like embedded partner, and i don't think that you had to increase the number of troops, but in particular, american air power was helping the afghan security forces with what they needed to do, and in fact, you have seen in the past couple of days a little bit of the walkback where centcom has

the authority to give more support, and now the u.s. contractors will remain to make sure that afghan forces can remain. >> and now we are looking at the presidential lectern, and white house aide left the remarks there for the president. we are within the two-minute warning. mark, what does the area look like without u.s. troops? >> a mess. without organizations like usaid or other groups without complex government structures and the challenge is if the afghan national security forces will be able to provide the security needed for the international groups to keep on working. if it is going to go poorly, the people are looking like it might look like saigon 1975, and i do believe there is a chance for

biden administration to provide the support that the afghans need, then it is back to where we were 2006, 2007, a level of violence, but the important thing is to keep the taliban at the negotiating table with the afghan government. if not, all of the development won't do anything. >> and now we will listen to president biden. >> national security leaders on the status of the drawdown of the u.s. forces and allied forces in afghanistan. when i announced the drawdown in april, i said that we would be out by september. and we are on track to meet that target. excuse me. our military mission in afghanistan is going to conclude on august 31st, and the drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of the troops as they depart. our military commanders advise me that once i made the decision to end the war, we needed to move swiftly to conduct the main elements of the drawdown. in this context, speed is

safety. than tox way in which we have managed the withdraw, no one, no one u.s. forces or any forces have been lost. conducting our drawdown differently would have certainly come with increased risk of safety to our personnel. to me, those risks were unacceptable, and there was never any doubt that the military perform this task efficiently and with the highest level of professionalism. that is what they do. and the same is true of the nato allies and partners that we are supporting and supporting us as well as they complete their retro grade. i want to be clear that the military mission in afghanistan continues through august. we retain personnel and capacities in the country, and we maintain some authority, excuse me, the same authorities under which we have been operating under some time. as i said in april, the united

states did what we went to do in afghanistan. to get the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and deliver justice to osama bin laden and to prevent the area from becoming a base. and we achieved those objectives that is why which went. we did not go to afghanistan to nation-build. it is the right and the responsibility of afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country. together with our nato allies and partners we have trained and equipped over nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military afghan military force and those beyond that who are no longer serving, and add to that hundreds of thousand more security forces trained over the last two decades. we have provided the afghan

partners with all of the tools, and let me emphasize all of the tools, training, equipment of any modern military. we have provided advanced weaponry, and we will continue to provide funding and equipment. that will ensure that they have the capacity to maintain the air force, but most critically as i stressed in the meeting two weeks ago with president ghaani and chairman abdullah, the afghan leaders have to come together and drive towards a future that the afghan people want and they deserve. in our meeting, i also assured ghaani that u.s. support for the people of afghanistan will endure. we will continue to provide civilian and humanitarian assistance including speaking out for the rights of women and girls. i intend to maintain our diplomatic presence in afghanistan, and we are coordinating closely with international partners in order to continue to secure the international airport, and we will continue to engage in a

diplomacy and peace and peace agreement to end this senseless violence. vi asked secretary of state blinken, and our afghan secretary of reconciliation as well as the regional and international stakeholders to support a negotiated solution. to be clear, to be clear, the countries in the region have an essential role to play in supporting a peaceful settlement. we will work with them, and they should help to step up their efforts as well. we will continue to work for the release of detained americans, including mark, excuse me, i want to correct the name correctly, fairex to return to his family. and we want to also help with

interpreters and translators and because we don't need military there, and they will not have jobs and vital to our efforts, and they have been very vital and so their families are not exposed to danger as well. we have dramatically accelerated the procedure time for special immigrant visas to bring td sta since i was inaugurated january 20th, we have approved 2,500 special immigrant visas to come to the united states. up to now, fewer than half have exercised the right to do that. half have gotten on aircraft and commercial flights and come, and the other half believe they want to stay at least thus far. working closely with congress to change the authorization so that we can streamline the process of approving the visas, and those who have stood up to relocating thousands of afghans and the families before the mission concludes so that if they choose, they can wait safely

outside of afghanistan while their u.s. visas are being processed. the operation has identified facilities the outside of the continental u.s. as well as third countries to hold them if they choose. starting this month, we will begin to relocate, and begin the relocation for the afghanis who choose to leave. we have a person at the white house, and a staff person who are coordinating all of the efforts. but the message to those women and men is clear. there is a home for you in the united states, if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us. when i made the decision to end the u.s. military involvement in afghanistan, i judged that it was not in the national interests of the united states of america to continue to

fighting this war indefinitely. i made the decision with clear eyes and i am briefed daily on the battlefield updates and for those who have argued that we should stay six more months or one more year and i ask them to consider the lessons is of recent history. in 2011, the nato allies and partners agreed that we would end our combat mission in 2014. in 2014, some argued one more year. so we kept fighting. we kept taking casualties. in 2015, the same, and on and on, and nearly 20 years of experience has shown us that the current security situation only confirms that just one more year fighting in afghanistan is not a solution, but a recipe for being there indefinitely. it is up to the afghans to make decision about the future of their country. others are more direct. their argument is that we should stay with the afghan and in

afghanistan indefinitely, and in doing so, they point to the fact that we have not taken losses in the last year, so the cost of maintaining the status quo is minimal, but that is ignoring the reality, and the facts presented on ground in afghanistan when i took office. the taliban was at the strongest, it is at the strongest militarily since 2001. the number of u.s. forces in afghanistan had been reduced to a bare minimum, and the united states in the last administration made an agreement that they, with the taliban to remove all of our forces by may 1 of this past year. that is what i inherited and that agreement is why the taliban had ceased major attacks against the u.s. forces. if in april i then announced that the united states was going back on that agreement made by the last administration, the united states and allied forces would remain in afghanistan for

the foreseeable future, the taliban would have again begun to target our forces. the status quo was not an option, and staying meant that the u.s. troops would have taken casualties and american men and women back in the middle of a civil war, and we would have run the risk of having to send more troops back into afghanistan to defend the remaining troops. once that agreement with the taliban had been made and staying with the bare minimum force was no longer possible. so let me ask those who wanted us to stay. how many more? how many thousands more america's daughters and sons do you want to risk? how long do you want them to stay? already we have members of the military whose parents fought in afghanistan 20 years ago. would you send their children and grandchildren as well? would you send your own son or daughter? after 20 years, a trillion

dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of thousands afghan security and national forces and 2,448 americans killed, and 20,722 more wounded, and untold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to the mental health. i will not send another generation of americans to war in afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome. the united states cannot afford tethered to policies to a world as it was 20 years ago. we need to meet the threats where they are today. today, the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond afghanistan. so we are repositioning the resourcessh and adapting our counter terrorism posture to meet the threats where they are now, and significantly higher in

south asia, the middle east and africa, but make no mistake that the military and the intelligence leaders are confident they have the capabilities to protect the homeland and allies from any resurgence from afghanistan. we are looking agent the over the horizon capability to keep our eyes firmly affixed of any threat against the united states in the region, and ask quickly and decisively if needed. and we need to look at shoring up america's core strengths to meet the strategic competition with china and other nations, and that is really going to determine our future. we have to defeat covid-19 at home, and around the world. make sure that we are better prepareded for the next pandemic or biological threat. we have to establish the international norms for cyber space, and the use of emerging

technologies. we need to take action to fight existential forms of climate change, and more formidable to the allies and if we fight the battles of the next 20 years and not the last 20 years. finally, i want to recognize the incredible sacrifice and dedication that the u.s. military and personnel serving alongside our allies and partners have made in afghanistan. i want to honor the significance of what they have accomplished and the great personal risk they encountered at incredible cost to their families. pursuing the terrorist threat through some of the most unforgiving terrain in the planet and i have been throughout the entire country, and ensuring that there has not been another attack on the

homeland from afghanistan in 20 years, and taking out bin laden, and i want to thank you all for your service and the dedication to the mission so many of you given. and to the sacrifices that you and your families have made over to long course of this war. we'll never forget those who gave the last full measure of devotion to their country in afghanistan nor those whose lives have been immeasurably altered through wounds sustained in service to the country. we are ending america's longest war, but we will always, always honor the bravery of the american patriots who served in it. may god bless you all and protect our troops. thank you. >> mr. president, do you think that the taliban -- >> mr. president, can you -- >> is the taliban takeover of afghanistan now inevitable? >> no, it is not. >> why?

>> because you have the afghan troops have 300,000 well equipped, and as well as equipped as any army in the world, and an air force against something like 75,000 taliban. it is not inevitable. >> mr. president, could you -- >> do you trust the taliban, mr. president? do you trust the taliban, sir? >> is that a serious question? >> absolutely a serious question. >> no, i do not. no, i do not trust the taliban. >> so why would you -- >> is the u.s. responsible for the death of thousands of afghans -- >> will you amplify the answer, please of why you don't trust the taliban. >> it is a silly question. do i trust the taliban? no. i trust the afghan people who are better train and more competent in conducting war. >> thank you, mr. president.

given the amount of money that has been spent and the number of lives that have been lost, in your view with making this decision, were the last 20 years worth it? >> you know my record, and i can tell by the way you asked the question. i opposed permanently having american forces in afghanistan. i argued from the beginning as you may recall that came to light after the administration was over, the last of our administration, no nation is ever unified afghanistan, no nation. empires have gone there, and not done it. the focus we had and i strongly supported and you may remember that i physically went to afghanistan. i was up in that pass where osama bin laden was allegedly

escaped or out of harm's way. we went for two reasons. one, to bring osama bin laden to the gates of hell. as i said at the time. the second reason was to eliminate al qaeda's capacity to deal with more attacks on the united states from that territory. we accomplished both of those objectives. period. that's what i believed from the beginning why we should have gone to afghanistan. that job had been over for some time. and that's why i believe this is the right decision, and quite frankly overdue. >> mr. president. >> mr. president. >> mr. president. >> will you -- >> the people of afghanistan --

>> mr. president, thank you very much, your own intelligence community has assessed that the afghan government will likely collapse -- >> that is not true. >> can you please clarify what they have told you about whether that will happen or not. >> that is not true. they did not reach that conclusion. >> so what is the level of confidence that they have that it will not collapse? >> the afghan government and leadership has to come together. they clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place. the question is will they generate the kind of cohesion to do it, and it is not whether or not they have the capacity, because they have the capacity, they have the forces, they have the equipment. the question is will they do it. and it is what i made clear to ghaani, we will not walk away

and not give them the ability to maintain that force, we are. we will also make sure that we help them from everything from food and necessities and other things in the region, but, but there is not a conclusion that in fact they cannot defeat the taliban. i believe the only way that there is going to b and this is now joe biden, and not the intelligence committee, but the only way to be peace and security in afghanistan is to work out a modus of operandi with the taliban and figure out how to make peace, and there is only one unified government of afghanistan is highly unlikely. >> thank you, but we have talked to your own top general scott miller who said that the conditions are so concerning at this point that it could result in a civil war, and so if kabul falls to the taliban, what will the united states do about it?

>> look, you have said two things. one that if it could result in a civil war, and this is different than the taliban succeeding is number one. number two, the question of what will be done is going to be implicate the entire region as well. there's a number of countries that have a grave concern of what is going to happen in afghanistan relative to their security. the question is how much of a threat to the united states of america and to our allies is whatever results in terms of the government or agreement. that is when that judgment will be made. >> mr. president, mr. president, some vietnamese veterans see echos of their experience in this withdrawal in afghanistan, and do you see any parallels of this withdrawal to vietnam -- >> zero. you have entire brigades

breaking through the gates of the embassy, and six of them if i am not mistaken, and the taliban is not the north vietnamese army, and they are not remotely comparable in terms of the capability, and no circumstance that you will see the people lifted off of the roof of an embassy of the united states from afghanistan. it is not at all comparable. now, the other side, and hang on a second. >> mr. president, how serious is the corruption of the afghan government to the mission failing there. >> well, first of all, the mission has not failed yet. and there is in afghanistan, and all parties, there has been corruption. the question is can there be an agreement on unity of purpose, what is the objective. for example, it started off that there were going to be negotiations between the taliban

and the afghan national security forces and the afghan government that did come to fruition, and so the question is where do they go from here? the jury is still out, but the likelihood that there is going to be a taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. yes, ma'am? >> and will the united states be responsible for the loss of afghan civilian lives that happen after your exit? >> no, no, no. it is up to the people of afghanistan to decide on what government they want. and not us to impose the government on them. no, no country has ever been able to do that. and as a student of history, as i am sure you are. never has afghanistan ever been a united country, not in all of its history. not in all of its history. >> mr. president, if this had

been a mission accomplished moment, what would it have been? >> no, no mission accomplished. >> this is the mission accomplished is that we got osama bin laden and no terror from that part of the world. >> and are you satisfied with the time line of locating afghan nationals and is that happening quickly enough to your satisfaction if it may not happen until next month? >> much of it has happen and over 1,000 people have gotten on the aircraft and come to the united states already on commercial aircraft and over 2,500 people as from january to now have gotten those visas, and only half have decided they wanted to leave. the point is that i think that the whole process has to be speeded up period in terms of being able to get the visas. >> mr. president, why can't the u.s. evacuate these afghan

translators to united states to await their visa processes as the immigrants in the southern border -- >> because the law does not allow that and that is why we are asking the congress the change the law, but they can guarantee their safety by taking wait in third countries or while the wait is taking place to come to and to hopefully while they are waiting there to bring them back to the united states if that is what they choose to do. >> sir, the taliban again -- >> and i'm aftergan woman, and the future, because of the achievement, they are concerned about the achievement. >> they are very concerned with good reason. when i was in afghanistan, and i have been there a number of times. i remember being in the school outside. by the way, the schools in afghanistan are not fundamentally unlike the schools on the west coast where they have, you know, an area that

looks like a playground and single-story buildings connected around it. i remember speaking to a group of young women and don't hold me to this, but maybe 14, 15 years old and in school, and there is a tiered classroom with single lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling as i know that you know. i said that the united states came here to get that terrorist osama bin laden so that he didn't come after our country, and the young woman said that you can't leave. you can't leave. it is heartbreaking, because the young woman said, i want to be a doctor. i want to be a doctor. i want to be a doctor. if you leave, i can't be a doctor. that is why we spent so much

time and money training the afghan security forces to do the work of defending that. if every -- so, yes, i'm aware. i am going to take one more question. >> about the with draw -- >> mr. president -- >> can you explain -- >> mr. president, thank you. with the benefit of hindsight, you have spoken to the fact that the taliban are sort of at the militarily strongest point that you have seen in 20 years, and how do you feel personally with that and the benefit of hindsight, and the benefit of the american troops sent there. >> with the relative of the training of the anf and the training of the police they are not close of the capacity. i am making the point, and the point is that here we were that i was, the argument is that we could stay because no one was

dying, no americans were shot, and why leave. once the agreement was made by the last administration that we would leave by may 1st, it was very clear that a taliban that had always been a problem was a more sophisticated problem than they were before, and not more sophisticate and that the anasf and the government, but more than they were, and the point being that it would have increased the prospect that they would have been able to take more lives of americans if they decided that we weren't going to go after them. that is the point that i was making. thank you all so very much. >> any taliban officials on the withdrawal -- and we have been listening to president biden defend his position to withdraw troops from afghanistan even as the troops were making gains. so there is a lot to unpack there, and swred retired admiral

james stavidas,and james carter and anne carter as well. so, i was struck that the president said it is not a foregone conclusion that the taliban will take control of the country, and what are your impressions? >> i think that he has it about right on both accounts. alexander the great failed to conquer it, and the british failed to conquer it, and the russians and the soviets, and now we are departing, and so historically, he is on firm ground there. in terms of how he thinks about the future, i will go with what i said before the talk which is that i think that there is still a chance that the wheels stay on the car, but it is going to depend upon precisely the things that he talked about the funding

for the afghan security forces and the over the horizon capabilities because we don't have bases close to afghanistan which is 600 miles from the sea, and so big challenges ahead, and as we talked about also, geoff, he laid out the case for what, why he made the decision moving forward. i will close by saying that i wanted to pick up a point that he made at the end of was it all a waste of time, and i would say no. i would bet my very good friend and colleague brett james that we accomplished the mission to prevent attacks on the united states and we also got osama bin laden and we accomplished that mission, and can we continue to

do that >> mark jacobs, the admiral invoked your name, and so the admiral is referring to the question of the question from npr and asked was it a waste and the president said no. >> it is not a waste, and i think that can you say that we did everything right, absolutely not. a lot of failures on the road from the bush administration's failure to recognize the insurgency, and the obama's administration failure of the surge, and the improper training of the troops, but afghanistan made a number of failures, too. so i do think it is worth it, but think that the president was strong in terms of the justification for the decision, and frankly, we don't always see great ownership of these decision bis presidents, and so he does deserve credit for that, but the real challenge is if we can withdraw by a way that we

don't increase the likelihood of a civil war, and that is incredibly dangerous for the men, women and children on the ground, and so would a collapse. >> and anne, as we are wrapping up the conversation here, two questions about the next step, and one of the evacuations of the afghan interpreters and the translators who have worked alongside the troops for the last 20 years, and one of the correspondents from this network asked if he was satisfied with the evacuations, and he said that most of those people have been moved out. and also, perilous situation of the women and girls as taliban will impart more gender issues. >> yes, we got more detail, geoff, of how the administration plans to handle both issues. on the question of the afghan interpreters and other vulnerable afghan employees who

have helped the u.s. military in 20 years and various capacities with the diplomatic mission, and we are talking about a large universe of people once you add in spouses and children who are also eligible for relocation. it is in the tens of thousands of people, and maybe 80,000 people in total. not all of the people will want to leave ultimately, and it seems pretty unrealistic that all of them could even with the steps that the president outlined to day, but this is the most detail of what we got about how the plan is to really in earnest begin next month with the relocation flights to third countries that are not the united states while these applicants who have not yet been approved for relocation to the united states which has been tortuous and deeply flawed situation of winning that

approval. he was complaining that the people who have been approve and as he said the people under his administration have done quite a lot to speed up the process and relocated some people who have made it all of the way through the process. now, that is different from the people he is talking about relocating to the third world country, and this is the part that is under way. on your point to the afghan women and girls and in the q&a portion, he started to argue against himself which is someone who is the now president as a candidate closely like you did, you know that he is tending to do once in a while, when he gets going on something, making that moving statement about, you know, what the young woman said to him about how she wanted to become a doctor, and the larger point is that it is up to the afghan government, and up to the afghans themselves to ensure

that young women can become doctors, but the point is that the only way this can happen is if somebody keeps taliban at bay and she can pursue this dream. >> good point, and the president saying today that the u.s. mission in afghanistan is going to conclude by august 31st. anne guerin, and admiral stavridis and mark jacobs. thank you. and now, we have more breaking news dealing with the assassination of the haiti president with new suspects captured or killed. stay with us. ay with us. ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪

[ "me and you" by barry louis polisar ] to d ♪ me and you justogy singing on the train ♪ ♪ me and you listening to the rain ♪ ♪ me and you we are the same ♪ ♪ me and you have all the fame we need ♪ ♪ indeed, you and me are we ♪ ♪ me and you singing in the park ♪

♪ me and you, we're waiting for the dark ♪ in south florida in the condo collapse, the death toll is now 60, and now 84 people unaccounted for and there is no longer hope for finding anyone alive. so overnight, it shifted from rescue and recovery to recovery

mode. they gathered with officials and prayer leaders to mark that moment with a moment of silence, but they are vowing to go with the recovery process until everyone is found, and process that could take weeks. joining us is sam brock, and what is the mood there and the scene there today and how is this rescue to recovery transition change the way that the search is being conducted? >> geoff, good afternoon. to the second part of the question, the two material changes are no more sonar on the pile of debris, and the canines being used are cadaver dogs and not the kind of animals searching for people who are alive. and this is the biggest change, and the family members say it is not like you can flip a switch, because it is goes from search and recovery that the process has closure, and they are not

going to be looking for their loved ones, and no one here is not looking for resolution here. and you can see that the motorcade and the police officer there, and a larger crane which is on the way here, and this is all going on, and i spoke with fema an hour ago, and they said that the two difference, and the rest of the process is identical, geoff, because they are searching for people's belongings, and remains and sifting through the rubble so delicately and carefully, because nothing has changed in terms of the respect of the people involve and what these rescue workers are trying to do, and you mentioned the moment of silence and what a powerful thing, and people literally lined up by the hundreds, geoff, shoulder to shoulder, and we hear about the faith that exists here in the community, and two moments of silence, one at 7:00, and one at 1:20 in the morning to mark the two-week mark of this search.

and so, full throttle, 200 search and rescue operators out there, geoff, and at this moment, we are reporting that there was a law passed in 2008 requiring condo associations to hire architects to have a five-year review for repairs, and that was repealed in 2008, and here we are today. >> thank you, sam. and also breaking this afternoon, investigation into who plan and carried out the assassination of haiti's president has taken twists and turns. there is word of a manhunt of suspects captured and killed and more surrounded at this hour. gabe guterres has more details. what can you tell us? >> hi, there, geoff. the u.n. security council met today, and according to the u.n. official, the arrest has gone up, and four arrested today, and

total of six taken into custody, and four have been killed in a gun battle yesterday. three police officers were actually freed after being taken hostage, and according to the u.n. official, the police in that country have now surrounded another group of potential killers. >> reporter: overnight, the first arrests after videos emerged of assassins outside of the residence of the president. it shows vehicles of heavily armed men move down the street at the time he was murdered. in separate audio a voice can be heard identifying the group as d.e.a. agents. do you believe they were paid by his political opponents? >> i believe it was some possibility and some consideration being made. >> reporter: haiti's ambassador to the u.s. tells me they were clearly not d.e.a. agents, but

paid assassins to kill the president and his wife who was flown overnight to a hospital. overnight, two were killed and four arrested as an international manhunt continues. there is a state of siege, and the port-au-prince airport is closed down, and the u.s. embassy there is telling the staff to shelter in place. >> we need more information, but it is just, it is very worrisome about the state of haiti. >> reporter: the poorest country in the western hemisphere ravaged by the earthquake a decade ago has grown increasingly chaotic as gang violence has exploded and inflation. and the president has accused the u.s. president of not

helping ahead of the elections. again, the u.s. security council has met and arrests have gone up, and they are given assurances that the elections in haiti will continue later this year as planned. geoff? >> nbc's gabe guterres is outside of the u.n. thank you. and now our pulitzer award winning journalist is with us now. it is good to have you with us. so these suspects have been captured or killed and they have not been i.d.'d, and what should we make of this investigation so far? >> well, to take everything with a grain of salt. be skeptical of any information coming out of the haitian government, because the government is not organized. there is not a clear leader taking over the country. the prime minister, interim prime minister was discharged by moise before he was assassinated

and the incoming president, there is a power struggle there, and so we have been chasing down all day a lot of leads about suspect, and they have said that some of them are haitian-americans, and one of them lives in fort lauderdale, and a fort lauderdale resident, so we have been chasing all of these tip, but the idea that these guys were what do you gather about this? >> absolutely. nobody got hurt as a security guard. the presidential guard, it is one of the best core of the police force. many of them were from the u.s. and so i doubt it that no one

got hurt in the process. so absolutely it was an inside job. and also, it was a crime of passion. the way in which the president was assassinated, i have to understand, eyes were plucked out. his arm cut off. it was a gruesome scene. this was not your run of the mill political acts. you know? and in haiti, politics is very dirty. the political parties in haiti are not able to carry out such an operation. i guarantee you that. >> haitian journalist garret pierre. we appreciate your insights. next, will your child be returning to in person learning this fall? secretary of education dr. mche will doana joins with what every parent needs to know after a very short break. stay with us. to know after a very short break stay with us some say this is my greatest challenge ever.

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a promising return to kids for school by the end of the past school year, 98% of public schools were open for some form of in person construction for children. as parents and students look ahead to the new school year this fall, many wonder if the numbers will hold or if it kids will be pushed back to remote learning in the face of a new highly contagious delta variant. with us now is the u.s. secretary of education. how you are advising public schools to proceed for the coming school year even given the threat of the more transmissible delta variant. >> proceed confidently with full in person learning opportunities for all students and all levels. we know our students have been working remotely for the last year and the data does show that as the year progresses, we have

more and more students learning in person. next year, every student must have an opportunity to learn in person. >> so what are the hurdles that they're facing when they look to reopen at full capacity while also keeping kids safe, especially those kids that are two young to get vaccinated? >> right. and you know, we're going to continue with what is working. we know that listening and working with the guidance of cdc helped us get to the numbers that we -- you reported a little while ago. and i know that the mitigation strategies do work. if they're used with fidelity. i'm confident that we're going to continue to put our students first and make sure they have an opportunity to learn in person where they learn best. >> when you say the public school kids must have the opportunity to learn in person, what will that look like? i mean how will will the biden administration enforce that degree that you might have to? >> it's really partnership with the states. we're working closely with states to share data. but also share the resources that they need to make sure that the schools are ready on day one

with proper ventilation processes. enough cleaning space where they need it. but really also to build confidence to make sure that families and students feel comfortable going in. that's why we're also promoting vaccinations to make sure that all who are eligible get vaccinations so they can go into school without having to worry about covid-19 and the spread of covid-19. >> yeah. for folks who might be unfamiliar, before you were education secretary, you started out professionally as a schoolteacher and then a school principal and then you were the chancellor of the education system. one thing about the pandemic is that it forced parents and educators to think differently about standardized tests. so many standardized tests were waived this past year. i'm sure over the course of your professional life, you had to give a lot of standardized tests and how to use them. has the pandemic made you think differently about how tests should be given, how they should be used and whether or not we should move away from them

entirely? >> i'm a parent too. i have two high schoolers. and i'm always a teacher at heart. i started as fourth grade teacher. i remember to use standardized assessmentes to drive instruction and help have conversations around which students need what support. i also have seen the misuse over the years. i think where i'm putting our country, where we have to start thinking about how to use them effectively to make sure that we're promoting good practices and not overrelying on them in ways that are harmful to students. i do think it's time for a conversation. but right now we want to make sure that our schools are open. that all students have an opportunity to be in person and that's the focus right now. we'll have those conversations soon. >> all right. thank you for your time g to see you. thanks to all of you for spending this hour with us. this hour full of news. my friend and colleague ayman mohyeldin has more coverage coming up after the break. n mohyeldin has more coverage coming up after the break. a hea. i needed him to be here.

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not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. president biden spoke about the withdrawal of afghanistan and the use achieved its objectives in the country. the president says even though u.s. troops are leaving, america will continue to do its part to help afghanistan. >> we'll continue to provide civilian and humanitarian asustance including speaking out for the rights of women and girls. i intend to maintain our diplomatic presence in afghanistan and we're coordinating closely with our international partners in order to continue to secure the international airport. we're going to engage in a determined