safety and the latest numbers with all of that. stay with msnbc for the latest from the pentagon as it pertains to the ongoing crisis in afghanistan. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up coverage right now. hi there, i am stephanie ruhle. it is tuesday, august 17th. we start this morning with fast moving developments out of afghanistan and the ripple effects across the world. any minute, we expect the secretary general of nato to address the situation from brussels. european union officials will have an emergency meeting in about an hour. all of this coming as crowds are gathering once again at the airport in kabul. these are new pictures from this morning, showing people being held behind barbed wire outside the airport. so far, we are not seeing the chaotic scenes we saw yesterday,

people climbing onto planes, flooding the tarmac. the u.s. military has managed to secure its half of the airport and flights are taking off, both military and commercial. according to the pentagon, this is happening but the situation is still tense and very, very desperate. chief foreign correspondent richard engle has the latest from kabul. richard, what are you seeing? >> reporter: the evacuation flights are coming in frequently now. you can sense there's urgency about them. they land, they're only on the ground a few minutes before they take off again. it is clear the u.s. wants to wrap it up as quickly as possible. kabul airport this morning is back up and running, evacuation flights for u.s. embassy personnel and contractors in full swing. flights were stopped yesterday and tens of thousands of afghans stormed onto the runways desperate to leave, clinging onto aircraft, trying not to be left behind as the americans pull out. u.s. troops found themselves

overwhelmed, as they tried to clear the airport, firing warning shots. the pentagon says american troops killed two armed afghans, some afghans were able to get out. on one flight so full, it may have set a record for the number of people can fit on an american c-17. afghans are running from the taliban now in full control, setting up check points with the weapons american taxpayers bought for the afghan army which clamsed instead of fighting after the u.s. pulled out of bases and left them without air support. the taliban told afghans they have nothing to fear. the group called on civil servants to return to work. offered a nonspecific general amnesty, called on women to join the new government. but the taliban also said they'll always be guided by strict islamic sharia law. all beauty salons are now being painted over.

many don't believe the promises of tolerance. a translator is in hiding, they have been marked for death by the taliban. he has no visa to the u.s., no way of getting to the airport if he had one. we are not showing his face. >> i am in kabul. kabul is surrounded by the taliban. i am not safe here, these are the documents to prove. >> reporter: the taliban trying to show they're an open government ready to engage with the world, now they have to prove it to a skeptical, frightened nation. the taliban offered to work with the government they just overthrew. the question is, can they be believed? >> that is the question. i want to bring in courtney kube, she covers the pentagon. mike memoli, and james satisfy read he is, former officer and allied commander at nato.

we know americans wanted to leave afghanistan, but they didn't want it to fall apart the way it did. your thoughts on what we're seeing now? >> first and foremost, strategically the president has made a choice and the military will execute it. but frankly, no one wanted these scenes. partly it is because we didn't anticipate the speed of the taliban response. we didn't anticipate the complete collapse of the afghan army. and frankly, stephanie, these scenes are so reminiscent for those of us old enough to remember saigon. that's what it looked like yesterday. what's important at this point is what happens next. if we can continue to secure the perimeter, which should be doable with 6,000 u.s. troops around an airport and if we can convince the taliban to continue to protect the perimeter on the other side, hopefully allowing people through, i think that's

the big question, we could conceivably in the next couple weeks get out the majority anyway of people we are trying to move. but clearly the execution has been very poor. >> if we can convince the taliban, admiral, what's the likelihood that could happen. this has been a tremendous win for them. >> indeed, it has, and let's reflect on the fact that for them to consolidate this win, the best thing that could happen is for the people who opposed them, who worked with us, to get out of the country. they have incentive to allow that to occur in my view. secondly, they're trying to present themselves as taliban 2.0, kinder, gentler, listening to better angels. i doubt that's how it is going to land in the coming weeks and months, but for the immediate period, stephanie, they want to project a sense of being in control. we could hopefully see them not

turn this into an even worse route than thus far. >> courtney, what's the latest on the evacuation? >> reporter: evacuation flights have begun after a pause, hours-long pause monday due in large part to the security situation at the airport that we heard a little about from richard earlier. to tell viewers, the airport there is split into two sides, civilian and military side. the civilian side was shut down several days, that was a combination of security and issue with radar there. the military side was shutdown because of what we've been seeing in images, afghan civilians storming the runways, making it unsafe for planes to take off and land. the u.s. military pushed civilians back to a safer place. flights began late yesterday afternoon local time, our time. now they have been coming and going. we now know the u.s. had been talking about being able to

evacuate about 5,000 people. we heard from pentagon press secretary john kirby this morning, he gave an update and explained they're hoping to get even more out than that each day. here's what he had to say. >> just on the military craft alone, we believe we can get between 5 and 9,000 out per day. weather dependent, security dependent. that's just the military side. we want the civilian side of the airport to remain open as well so commercial flights can and are now able to get themselves in and out as well as charter aircraft. i am just talking about the military side, we can move thousands per day. >> this would be huge up tick where they were. first few days, only got 700 people. we know now that the u.s. military is prepping two bases in the u.s. to take up to 22,000 afghans as part of that special immigrant visa process should they make it to the united states. >> michael, we wanted president

biden to come out and speak yesterday. he didn't. he said the buck stops with him and seemed very confident that he can survive any criticism here that comes his way. why is he so confident, criticism seems to be coming from all sides and all around the world. >> steph, this is an administration and the campaign before that believes to its core that the instant reactions in the media, particularly on social media, do not match the opinions of the vast majority of the american people. polling indeed up to this point has shown overwhelming support by the public for the decision to withdraw from afghanistan. i emphasize, up to this point. the white house is well aware that that support could be effected by scenes we have been seeing play out the last few days. they made the decision to have the president interrupt his time at camp david, go back to the white house to speak directly to the american people, explain his decision, to stand by his decision. you heard him accept responsibility. i thought it was striking to

hear the president not shy away from sharing some blame for what we have seen happen in afghanistan. i want to play some striking comments we heard from the president yesterday about his view of failings of the afghan government. take a listen. >> truth is this did unfold more quickly than we anticipated. so what's happened? afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. the afghan military collapsed sometimes without trying to fight. if anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that ending u.s. military involvement in afghanistan now was the right decision. american troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.

>> recognition on the part of the white house of the need to keep getting out their side, their message during the course of the week. the white house press secretary jen psaki supposed to be on vacation this week, back at the white house. she will be briefing there later this afternoon with national security adviser jake sullivan. >> admiral, why does it have to be we're in 100% or out 100%. could we not have kept a small number of troops to keep things from completely falling apart the way they have? >> stephanie, you should be a military strategist in the pentagon. you are exactly right. this is not an on and off switch with an either or choice. it is a reestablish. we could have dialed in, kept a smaller presence, and certainly there are counter arguments to that. i would maintain at this point we need to look forward. three big problems the administration had. one, we're talking about it in depth here, the evacuation.

that's got to go smoothly. one c-17 crash away from a significant problem. tactically, it is the evacuation. operationally going forward, it is the intelligence. how are we without any boots on the ground, without our soldiers, how are we going to know what's happening, whether al qaeda is coming back, what the taliban are doing. and lastly, strategically, how does this play in capitals of the world. you will hear from the nato secretary general shortly. we, the united states, have to contend with people that say are you still as reliable an ally as we thought. >> admiral, thank you. i want to go deeper and bring in the massachusetts democratic congressman. he served in the marines in iraq and is a member of the house armed services committee. congressman, is there a lane between ending a forever war but not completely walking away? i just asked the admiral, we've got troops in italy, germany,

japan, south korea. why did it have to be like this? >> yes, there is. the admiral is correct. there were more deaths at one single base, camp pendleton in california in the marine corps than there were in all of afghanistan for u.s. personnel. so the administration will certainly make the case that the taliban was planning an offensive, things were going to get worse, and there's a legitimate argument there. there's a legitimate argument that kotsz of withdrawing are higher than costs of staying, even if you agree we shouldn't have been in the war so long, shouldn't have committed so many resources and lives to it in the past. but the admiral is also right that today the issue is not to have the strategic debates, the issue is to save as many lives as possible. there are amazing afghan heroes who risked their lives not just for afghanistan but america, alongside our troops, who are

fearing for their lives. they know they'll get raped, tortured, killed if the taliban find them before they're able to get to safety. we owe it to them, we have a moral imperative to get them out. i heard reports from people on the ground that there are people with american passports, american citizens, trying to get to kabul airport to get to safety, so the next few days are absolutely critical as far as the evacuation goes. and obviously the administration is behind. >> the next few days are critical. the last few days seem to have been avoidable. given all you just said, who do you think president biden is listening to? >> well, he is not listening to me. for the last few months, i have been telling the administration they need to start the evacuation immediately. but if you simply did the math with the number of people we need to get out and number of days that we had before u.s. troop withdrawal is complete, they should have been conducting the evacuation for months.

this is the first question i asked secretary austin when he came before the house armed services committee two months ago. i said mr. secretary, why have you not begun the evacuation. all the scenes of total chaos we saw play out on the tv yesterday could have been avoided if the administration had planned for this in advance. i am shocked that they're talking today about finding u.s. bases here in america to house the afghans. we've known for months, in fact we've known for years we need places to put these folks when they immigrate to the united states. there's been a special immigrant backlog since before i came to congress. there's no excuse for planning for the evacuation and starting it sooner. >> do you believe the u.s. mission in afghanistan was worth it? >> i am certainly not going to sit here today, stephanie, and

make that argument to the incredible heroes, the afghanistan veterans and families, many of whom lost loved ones in this 20 year war. some will find solace in the fact that millions of afghans for at least 20 years had a brighter future. infant mortality was cut in half. millions of afghan girls were able to go to school, they experienced liberty and freedoms they never would have had under former taliban rule. sadly won't have in the future. others will remember that we did, in fact, get osama bin laden and there hasn't been a terrorist attack launched from afghanistan which used to be a terrorist training ground in the last two decades. but others will say if you look at what's happening today and the fact that we're right back to where we started with the taliban in control of the country, that it simply wasn't worth it. historians, military strategists

will have the debate for a long time to come. what matters now is that we save as many as we can. i heard from so many afghanistan veterans reaching out to me for the last several days especially, but really over the last several months, saying seth, please help me with my translator, my interpreter, my driver. he has a young family. he is going to get killed. just help us get him out. that has to be our focus today. whether we do that part well will be a huge part of president biden's legacy when it comes to pulling out of afghanistan. >> we're right back where we started, 2500 lives and trillions of dollars. i want to ask. poll after poll shows the american people want us out of afghanistan. you look at polling in july, early august, public supported withdrawal by an average of almost 40 points. can you make the case to stay in

a war the public is so overwhelmingly against? >> stephanie, i want us out of afghanistan, too. i would much rather have our troops at home. what i always said is the worst thing would be to withdraw troops from afghanistan and have to send them back. that's already happened. we have more troops on the ground at kabul now than we had all across the country, just a month ago. and we certainly don't want to have to send more troops back if there are more terrorist plots planned, terrorists trained on the ground in afghanistan in the future. the president's fundamentally right here that we have threats from all over the globe and we can't be bogged down in an endless war. but he could also have come to congress and made the case to the american people that a small sustained presence, special operations troops, diplomats, just to have a strategic base in

afghanistan, prevent training going on there in the future would be better than chaos we see playing out on tv today. that's an important debate to have. the reason why the public is so behind the president now is because we've never really had that debate, we never had it in congress, congress hasn't had a vote on reauthorization the war. basically 20 years. and successive presidents haven't made the case to the american people for why we're there. >> congressman, perhaps it is time for the president to start listening to you on this one. thank you so much for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you, stephanie. coming up, new this morning, news on covid booster shots. health officials are expected to recommend most americans get them. timing and what you need to know this morning. timing and what you need to know this morning (vo) at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. whether it's ensuring food arrives as fresh as when it departs. being first on the scene,

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breaking news this morning in the fight against the coronavirus. federal health officials and medical experts are expected to recommend a covid booster for most americans 8 months after the second dose. guidance would reportedly apply only to those that received two shot pfizer or moderna vaccines. and the biden administration is developing a plan to start offering covid vaccine boosters to some americans as early as next month. i want to bring in experts, peter alexander, shaquille

booster, and dr. vin gupta. what can you tell us about the plan for boosters, peter? >> reporter: let's walk you through it. you laid it out well. they are expected to recommend most people eligible for covid vaccinations should get booster shots eight months after a second dose. importantly, that would only apply to those folks with a two shot pfizer and moderna regimen. could be into effect middle of september with expectation that nursing home residents, older americans, health care workers would be the first ones eligible. they were the ones first vaccinated last winter. all of this against a backdrop of the delta variant and its surge across large parts of the country. last week as we saw the fda change the emergency use authorizations for moderna and pfizer vaccines to let those immuno compromised get third doses, assist patients whose

systems haven't mounted the same immune response against the virus. >> vin, these boosters are only for those that got pfizer or moderna. what about people that got johnson & johnson vaccine? >> that's an important point. i am a firm believer we should allow those individuals to get a second shot now, not waiting a few months to finish the clinical trial. johnson & johnson is coming out with a two dose study in the next month, hopefully will have clarity for the 13 million that first got the shot. you bring up an important point. let me zoom out and say it is important we focus on data that we have now. two doses of pfizer or moderna, if you're otherwise healthy, less than 65 years of age, continue to provide strong protection against hospitalization. yes, there's waning of protection with immuno compromising position or older. we need to be narrow who we give

them to, 80% of the world remains unvaccinated. >> shaq, you're in detroit where some are getting the third shot. who qualifies, how does it work. >> reporter: yes, it is a drive up vaccination clinic, but it reopened to allow people to get a third vaccination dose. what are the requirements. you have to be fully vaccinated six months, vaccinated with pfizer or the moderna vaccine, and you have to say that you have a compromised immune system. i spoke to the health director here. there's not a verification process. they want to cut through bureaucracy, have people come in and say they have that compromised immune system. the mayor is describing it as a new phase of the pandemic effort but one thing they're seeing, although they're not seeing the surge you have in the southern part of the country, their vaccination rates in terms of people partially vaccinated in detroit are lower than the rest

of the state. rest of the state is at 60%. detroit is just over 42%. they are focused getting people to get the initial vaccine dose because as the mayor said, the surge you're seeing in other parts of the country, says the florida, the july you saw in florida will likely make its way to michigan by november unless people come and get the vaccine dose. they're showing they can do multiple things at once, providing a third booster for those with suppressed immune systems. >> before we go, i have to ask. this is about many of those people that are unvaccinated by choice. many, many are not taking the vaccine because they argue it is not fully fda approved. yet, when the same people get very sick, they go to our hospitals and they want treatments like regeneron and antibody therapy. those are experimental. how does the argument make sense? >> well, it doesn't, stephanie. and you bring up an important point here which is often,

especially i speak as a critical care provider, we provide advanced therapies in the hospitals to people like organ donations. we expect those people to make responsible decisions, you need a liver transplant and can't drink. here we are providing critical services like ecmo, dialysis to let 99% of people in icus that are unvaccinated, we think how to ration care, there are other things leading to being in the icu, nonrespiratory viruses. we need to prioritize and think how we ration care. >> what do you do, people that come to the hospitals, want beds when there are not many beds and have chosen not to be vaccinated. should they slide down in the priority scale? >> yes, they should. if you tell me if i have to choose between a 70-year-old individual fully vaccinated and needs a critical care service

like ecmo circuit, something we don't talk a lot about, versus 30-year-old unvaccinated individual, why give it to the 30-year-old unvaccinated individual when the 70-year-old made responsible decisions. we have to make hard choices and standardize them. >> should that people get their insurance covered, they're choosing to be at risk. thanks so much. we have to leave it there. to texas, where the covid surge is so bad, state officials tell nbc news they're requesting five mortuary trailers from the federal government because they expect a major increase in dead bodies in the coming weeks. the seven day average of covid deaths is currently at the highest since march of 2020, at around 80 per day. anyone that says this is the flu, share that number with them. the same time that's going on, requesting mortuary trailers, texas supreme court sided with the republican governor greg abbott, temporarily blocking local mask mandates as the

school year begins. priscilla thompson is live in austin. also joining us, the superintendent of the austin independent school district. priscilla, it is first day of school in austin. what are they doing to keep kids safe? >> reporter: steph, in addition to offering rapid covid testing on campus, austin isd does temperature checks and screening. and they're one of the districts in the state requiring everyone on campus to wear a mask. and when that announcement came out last week, more than 700 parents switched their child enrollment from virtual learning to in person learning as a result. i was here this morning, speaking to parents. i want to play some of my conversations with them about the mask requirement. take a listen. >> as long as you have the mask on, we're good. stuff like that doesn't scare me, it is life, something we have to go through. >> as a father, i'm excited, generally concerned still on how

the procedures will be, how they're going to be able to be safe around everything else. other than that, i trust it. give it to the lord. >> reporter: and as you mention, the texas supreme court did halt some mask orders in dallas and bear county near san antonio, but hours later a judge in bear county issued an injunction on that order, allowing the mask mandate to stand. this is something that's changing by the hour, making it somewhat complicated for parents working to make decisions for their students. steph? >> complicated for you, stephanie. what is your plan now that the texas supreme court is siding with the governor blocking mask mandates? >> great to be with you, stephanie, i certainly should be able to remember your name. we're going to keep focused on what our main job is, that's to educate our students with academic and social and emotional opportunities and

experiences. right now we're going to continue ensuring that we utilize all of the protocols available to us because again, the health and safety of each and every member of our community is in the forefront of our decision making. >> have you been in touch with the governor? >> no, ma'am, i have not. >> what is the reaction you're getting from the majority of students and parents? you're always going to have outliars on the fringe, but the majority of the student body? >> the majority of our community have been extremely supportive and i want to reiterate a word i just used, stephanie, supportive. it doesn't mean everybody has agreed. other folks may have differing opinions. our community has been extremely understanding and is working with us. so we're having a wonderful first day in austin isd. it is great to see our kids, teachers, staff. there's truth to the saying that

we can see smiling eyes. >> that is absolutely true. good luck to you and all your students and teachers on the first day back. thank you for joining us. up next, u.s. intelligence warned that the afghan government could collapse in 30 to 90 days. well, took less than a week. how were they so wrong and what is the terror risk now? we ask the former cia director john brennan next. john brennan next. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. welcome to allstate. where our new auto rates are so low, ♪ you'll jump for joy. ♪

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now to the fallout from the taliban rise in afghanistan. we knew we would eventually see photos after president biden announced our withdrawal, seems that nobody expected how fast it happened, including the president himself. it is unclear how we got the timing so wrong. now it is raising questions for the u.s. intelligence community. this headline says it all. intelligence reports from afghanistan missed one key element. speed. let's bring in former cia director john brennan. director brennan, i'll ask you bluntly, was this an intelligence failure? >> well, stephanie, i think there's a difference between an intelligence failure such as happened when we said there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq which precipitated the invasion of iraq and forecasting the future. it is my understanding the u.s. intelligence community assessed there could be rapid unraveling of the situation in afghanistan, depending how things went in the immediate aftermath of those

withdrawal of u.s. forces from different parts of the country. so yes, i think it happened much faster than people expected, but again, i think the u.s. intelligence community believes and has long believed that if you take out u.s. military troops, the intelligence officers and u.s. contractors, you remove the glue from that military and security apparatus of the afghan government. therefore, i think it was anticipated there would be this unraveling. but again, speed was something that caught even intelligence observers by surprise. >> we spent $88 billion to train and equip the afghan army. they're four times the size of the taliban, but barely fought back, sometimes without a single bullet being fired. how does that happen? >> well, i think it demonstrates how dependent they were on the u.s. military in terms of air support, in terms of advice, direction, confidence, but also there was the psychological impact that was felt throughout

the afghan military when it was announced the u.s. would withdraw and it started happening. therefore, i think in some respects i'm glad there wasn't a bloodbath in streets of kabul with military fighting off the taliban. i do believe that there was this dependency on the u.s. military that unfortunately i think was underestimated by many observers. >> one group that's very confident is in fact the taliban. how worried are you about terrorism rising again. what's the threat at home. we are weeks away from the anniversary of 9/11. >> one of the reasons we stayed in afghanistan, principal one, we would be able to monitor developments inside that country and along the afghan pak border. now that we pulled out, we don't have eyes and ears we depended on so long, and frankly, it is

unknown what will happen as far as the taliban attitude towards al qaeda and some other extremist terrorist organizations in the region, whether the extremists, hard liners in that organization will provide protection and support to them. i think weeks and months ahead will give us better insight into longer term effects of the u.s. withdrawal. again, there can be honest debate whether we should have remained in afghanistan with a few thousand troops or had this complete withdrawal. >> now the taliban is embolden, was no longer have eyes and ears on the ground. director brennan, thank you for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. >> thanks. coming up, days after an earthquake that killed at least 1400 people. haiti dealing with a dangerous tropical storm. we take you there for the latest. ake you there for the latest mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man.

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by the hour. overnight, the island nation slammed by a tropical storm as the death toll climbs past 1400 people, days after the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake. gabe gutierrez is in haiti with the latest. gabe? >> reporter: stephanie, good morning. when we traveled to one of the hard it hit regions, mothers had to hold up ivs for their children in the hot sun. international aid organizations are struggling to bring in relief surprise because of treacherous roads. now overnight, the weather didn't help the relief efforts at all with tropical storm grace dumping heavy rain on parts of haiti's southern peninsula. overnight, tropical storm grace drenched haiti, raising more fears of flash flooding and mud slides. and slowing urgent rescue efforts after this weekend's powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake. the haitian government says the

death toll is more than 1400 people, at least 6,000 injured, many desperate for medical treatment. we traveled to near the quake epicenter. this hospital is overwhelmed, they set up beds outside with men, women, children, hooked up to ivs under the hot sun. some of them are still searching for family members days after the quake. this man with a broken arm said he was fortunate to survive and hoped he would be evacuated. another choked back tears wondering where she will live now. 37,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. we are told this was a massive hotel, five stories, where untold number of people died. local authorities are trying to assess the damage. some critically wounded are being evacuated to an air strip where the u.s. coast guard is airlifting them to safety in port-au-prince.

there's mounting frustration in the impoverished country still reeling from pass disasters, from the 2010 earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands to hurricane matthew in 2016, to the assassination of its president just weeks ago. >> help has to come from within. we need to organize ourselves. we need to stand up together as a nation to address the needs of our country. >> reporter: tropical storm grace overnight dumped heavy rains to the exact place we visited yesterday, with many people still living outside their home because they feared aftershocks. now this morning, the u.s. coast guard is back at work, delivering medical supplies, trying to evacuate critically ill patients from haiti's southern peninsula. >> gabe, thank you so much. devastating news from a country already so vulnerable. up next, china. china could be laying the ground work for a friendly alliance with the taliban. what does it mean for our global

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like russia and iran take advantage of this moment, too and watching china after their state media ripped the u.s. over our withdrawal and said they are laying the groundwork for "friendly relations" with the taliban. janis mackey frayer on the ground in beijing and ian bremmer. what is china doing to build up a relationship with the taliban? what would that look like? >> reporter: china had been laying the groundwork already, just over two weeks ago, the foreign minister hosted talks with the taliban delegation, led by mullah baradar. china has investments in infrastructure, mining as well as oil. the taliban sees the economic benefit of cooperating with china, especially with the belton road initiative through central asia. for china what is driving the warming ties is security. it fears ex-supremeism in the western part of the country in

xingiang, how they justified thousands of uighurs. they said they would not allow fighters to use afghan territory as a base for attacks inside china. the problem for china of course is having a radical militant group take over a country is seen as inherently threatening. there are also concerns about an inspiration effect that atal been resurgence could have regionally. chai is not recognizing the taliban as the legitimate government of afghanistan but recognizing the taliban is in power. in that sense they appear ready to extend cautious support and among the few countries to do so.

>> china just watched a world force oust the afghan government. there's no way they're cool with that. >> they want the americans to stay, because the americans are paying for it, and it was maintaining a level of stability, the likelihood for the taliban to take over the country very high. likelihood they can keep it, they can maintain some sort of stability and not have a failed state that becomes warlordism, that becomes a haven for massive extremism for lots of refugees, destabilizing the region, that's a serious problem for china, and i actually think one of the things the biden administration should have done, knowing that the chinese really didn't want us to leave was say look, we're getting out but if you were to maintain, if you bring peacekeepers in, maybe we could engage in drone strikes or provide humanitarian aid or support, at least have the conversation so that when the chinese say know we can blame

them say they weren't interested in doing anything either. you don't want all of this on biden. that's the problem we face with the chinese as well as with the ally. >> russia said they'd benefit from the taliban being in power. what does that mean for them? >> they benefit from chaos in the region. remember, the russians are the second largest arms exporter in the world, after the united states, even though the russian economy is not even the size of italy, and so i mean, certainly a lot of the weapons that the afghans have going forward despite the ones they stole from the united states and afghan forces will be coming from russia, a lot of the drug trade will be going through russia. i don't actually think that the russians are happy with the potential for instability in central asia, which is a problem in terms of afghan refugees by the now tens of thousands, but soon hundreds and thousands of millions that will be streaming through. so the russians are the ones

that most like the americans to show we're in decline, that we really screwed up. they want to see a weaker transatlantic relationship. that's what facilitated for example their gains in ukraine, but on balance, there are very few around the world that benefit in terms of government that actually benefit from what transpired over the last 72 hours. >> european leaders were hoping for more stability with biden, they did not trust president trump. you said this is the worst foreign policy mistake since the iran hostage crisis in the 1970s. how much damage has this done to our credibility? >> not the decision to leave. i actually think biden's very made clear that the united states needed to go and the status quo wasn't sustainable, but the execution of it and in particular, the unilateralism. you have to remember, stephanie, we've been fighting with our allies side by side for 20 years

now. we're the ones that asked them to come in with us after 9/11 and they did so, and they spent a lot of money and they lost a lot of lives, and the decision made by the american was an afghan policy review done completely by the americans. at lies were no part of it. they were informed, and the intelligence failure on the ground is owned by the biden administration, the fact that we left and the taliban took over and the airport was not secured and those horrible photos we saw yesterday of afghans clinging onto an american transport plane and plummeting to their death. at lies were no part of that. i think they feel like american unilateralism is much more consistent. >> ian bremmer, thank you. with ian we are ending the show with the same question we started it with, who is president biden listening to when it comes to how he's executing all of this?

that we don't know but it is not working. that wraps up this hour. i'm stephanie ruehl. hallie jackson picks up breaking news coverage on the other side of the break. she's watching the pentagon, where any minute now official also give an update on the situation in afghanistan. do not go anywhere. i'm still wowed by what's next. even with higher stroke risk due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin,... i want that. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin. and has less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis has both. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding.

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