tv Andrea Mitchell Reports MSNBC August 24, 2021 9:00am-10:00am PDT
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this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington where president biden is preparing to address the nation on the military evacuation of u.s. citizens and afghan allies from kabul. as the white house faces a critical decision with thousands of lives at stake the president could announce whether he will extend the august 31st withdrawal deadline set by the taliban as their red line as nato allies want no end to the evacuation or at least not ending it until early next week. nbc news confirming today that cia director william burns met
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with the taliban leader baradar in kabul as first reported by "the washington post." mr. biden has been meeting with his national security council along with g7 on a secure video line this morning and we are following breaking news from capitol hill. the house is back in session and now moving towards a procedural vote this afternoon to begin debate on a massive budget bill, the first step towards the democratic leadership's goal of trying to pass the budget before getting to the smaller bipartisan infrastructure bill and on the coronavirus, dr. anthony fauci saying today that the fda's full approval of the pfizer vaccine will bring new national enthusiasm for vaccine mandates and already today lsu announcing that the school will require fans 12 and older to provide proof of vaccination or a negative covid test before attending lsu football games, but let's begin with nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel in kabul, nbc news
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correspondent courtney kube and kelly o'donnell. back in kabul, a big change from when you first were there before going to do that, how are the evacuations ramping up? as the cia director made that surprise stop in kabul and the taliban providing some better security. >> reporter: so the taliban are now, i think, you can say onboard coordinating closely with the americans. i saw an extraordinary scene today as we landed at the airport. the airport is still under international control, mostly american forces and coalition forces there, as well. planes are coming in and out. it is orderly. i've never seen the airport there so busy and i've been there several times since this evacuation has begun. they've ramped up -- they are ramping up and they're moving quickly. it's hard to be on the runway and not see a plane coming in or taking off. then when you leave that security perimeter.
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you leave the american compound, american-led compound and you go outside of the military side of the airport, right away, you get into taliban control, and you see taliban soldiers dressed like american soldiers wearing american equipment, wearing american flak jackets, eye protection, they look like american soldiers because they are the elite taliban commando units that are right around the airport and you go deeper into the city and you see taliban everywhere, some in their traditional dress, some wearing american uniforms all with brand-new american weapons that they took as this country collapsed and the security forces collapsed. the taliban are trying to make this withdrawal go smoothly. the taliban are blocking people from getting to the airport or screening people from getting to the airport, i should say. some of the taliban have on their phones pictures of what visas should look like and as
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afghans arrive they will look on their phones and they will see if the afghans have these documents and they are trying to slow down the amount of foot traffic getting to the airport, and they are doing this sometimes just yards away from the american troops. like i said, look, these days quite similar when they have all of their equipment on and the relationship between the americans and the taliban just yards apart seems to be one of cooperation. they're not pointing their guns at each other. they're not yelling at each other, they're both trying to smooth this process along. just a short while ago the taliban reiterated that they do not want president biden, donts want the united states to extend this deadline. they said yesterday that august 31st which was the deadline to wrap up this evacuation set by president biden, they again said that they don't want to see that happening. they believe a brain drain is happening in this country, that afghanistan will need engineers and doctors and that the best and the brightest are leaving
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and they want it to stop and clearly are coordinating with the americans. yesterday that surprise visit of the cia meeting with baradar who signed the deal, in fact with secretary of state pompeo to start this withdrawal process. he is now the senior most taliban political leader here. so a lot of efforts under way to get this moving and everyone is watching to see if president biden will extend the deadline now that the taliban has made it clear it doesn't want it to be extended and is pushing hard to speed up the process so it doesn't have to be extended. >> but speeding up the process is from everything that we're being told for the american citizens priority and for the afghan allies, the sivs or american permanent residents who are not citizens and as many sivs as they can get out.
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that is leaving potentially millions of people if you talk about all of the women lawyers, engineers and the girls and families that want to get out, but also american allies who are not connected to the military who are not fully processed already in that siv program because of all of the red tape. >> reporter: so there is an enormous problem here. the u.s. by doing this evacuation process has also created an expectation that afghans who want to leave, who may have started the paperwork, may have never started their paperwork, may not qualify are trying to leave and according to senior diplomatic sources i've been talking to in the region, about half of the people who are turning up in these third countries do not qualify for these kind of visas. they're just people who decided or thought the door was open. they wanted to go through it. the taliban are saying that they
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are not going after people. they're not going after women. they're not going after translators. you can stay, if you want to leave at a later date fine, but we do not want this evacuation process to continue. there are many people who are in remote areas who do want to leave who may qualify to leave and who would be very frightened if that window were to close and they've now created this -- this -- this almost doorway out of this country, and it's a bit like trying to drain the ocean with a spoon as so many people move toward the airport, and that's what we are seeing right now. >> courtney kube at the pentagon, what did you learn from john kirby how americans will deal with the deadline as it approaches. >> right now we've been talking about the delays at the airport
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in kabul and right now they've been on a good flow in the last 48 hours. in the last 24 hours they got 12,700 people out. and their goal was 5,000 to 9,000 people. if they can maintain this pace over the next several days before this deadline they can get a lot of people out of there, americans and afghan, but that's a big "if" because you have the logistical hurdles that they've been facing all along. you have simple things like weather. weather can have a big impact there, but richard was talking about the taliban working with them on the ground. that's actually one thing that's been helping with this flow of evacuees out of afghanistan in the last several days. the u.s. has been working since last weekend with the taliban on the ground. they're coordinating with them to help americans and some afghan siv candidates get safely to the airport.
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basically what they're doing is they're having these groups of people meet at certain locations and coordinating it with the taliban and then they're getting them safely to the airport. so bringing small groups in intervals is helping with the choke points that are existing at the gates and getting more safely and securely and get them manifested and out of the country. that's been a good development over the last several days. if you can get that going before the august 31st deadline, but to your other point, andrea, there are thousands of others who will want to get out who will not be able to by the august 31st deadline. it's just a reality on the ground. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house, the president, as we know, spent the morning after the council meeting met virtually with the g7 and we know leaders including boris johnson have been urging for an extension, however, a few days or whatever to get their people
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out and to not have the americans withdraw. it's the americans providing all of the air cover there. what are you hearing about whether he's made a decision and whether this deadline that the taliban has set will be firm? >> as you lay out for other partner nations they need the u.s. to get their own citizens out and that is obviously a complex issue with obligations to those partners as well as commitments already made publicly for the president who has said every american who wants to leave will be taken out and he extended that commitment to those special immigrant visa holders and vulnerable afghans. we don't have a specific number on those. the pressure on the president is to try to get as many out through all of the work coordinated by the pentagon by that deadline while at the same time having to keep some operational flexibility if there is an incident that would hamper this. courtney was just talking about the various things that could be
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included in that, and at the same time, in terms of the president's public posture with the taliban to emphasize the coordination and the cooperation that's been going on to not prompt any acts that would make this more difficult or in any way hamper the u.s. efforts. from what we are learning from the white house, no change in the president's thinking that the august 31st deadline is key, but they have not ruled out the need for going beyond that, if, in fact there are conditions on the ground that would merit that. so we're in a bit of a holding pattern in terms of the president's thinking. we expect to hear more from him this afternoon and that may shed some more light especially after that meeting with his foreign leader partners. andrea? >> just briefly, courtney. i want to bring you in, and it will take a few days for the military to tick up. so technically, if we're going to leave by tuesday which is the 31st they'll have to stop evacuations a few days earlier, are they?
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>> as troops are leaving there will be flights that have a mix of both u.s. troops and evacuees with them in the last several days and there is a frantic effort to get as many people out as they possibly can before this august 31st deadline and we will destroy equipment in place on the ground in kabul because there's now a very real realization that if they can get more people in these planes and saving lives that's what they will do here, andrea. >> thanks to richard engel, courtney kube and kelly o'donnell around the world. vice president kamala harris arriving three hours after a delay that there is no havana syndrome to herself and her team. two suspected cases were reported over the weekend by the u.s. embassy personnel in hanoi,
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but these are personnel who were working from home because of covid. so the vice president has now arrived safely in the north vietnamese capital after it was determined there is no health risk. joining us now is ambassador karen pierce, the british ambassador to the united states and the former british ambassador to afghanistan. ambassador pierce, thank you very much. there are reports, of course, that the prime minister did not want the u.s. to withdraw. there was a discussion in parliament to the august 31st deadline. do you think that the final word is that the u.s. is going to pull out? >> they have been seeing if it is possible to stay beyond 31 august. i think as your reporter said the taliban have been cleared and they don't want to extend military beyond that day so the important thing is to ensure we have commitment that's safe passage for and we need all
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parties to recommit to that and we need to make that a reality in the immediate term in the next few days we'll be making sure every minute counts to get out nationals and those afghans who worked for us and those afghans and others most at risk of human rights abuses. so everybody on the ground in kabul, i pay tribute to our ambassador and also his military and other colleagues including u.s. colleagues and that's good coordination on the ground between us and it is an urgent task. >> and you've managed to extricate some of your personnel and some of your afghan allies to get them to the kabul airport. >> yes, that's right. we have a plan to call people forward. i think other countries including the u.s. are doing similar things. the congestion has typically been at the gates into the
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airport rather than the holding system bringing people forward. we've managed to get 8,500 people out. so far, i think the u.s. managed to get over 50,000 since the evacuation began and we're making every minute count in the hope that we can get thousands more out in the next few days and then we look to this commitment to safe passage to continue. it's very important. all parties on the ground in kabul work towards that so that those afghans who want to leave, who are still very vulnerable can actually do so. >> you know, bill burn, of course, such a veteran diplomat that you are and that he was before becoming cia director. are you encouraged that he met with mullah baradar the founder jailed in pakistan and then freed part of the doha negotiations that went nowhere,
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but are you encouraged that this may mean there is some accord to safe passage now and before the deadline. director burn, i pay tribute to himself also. he is an outstanding diplomat and public servant, and i know that he along with our people who are working with the americans on this will be trying everything they can to get that safe passage commitment solidified and there have been taliban statements that people will be allowed to leave and probably on commercial flights after 31 august. the important thing is to define solidify that commitment and to carry on with as many efforts as we can manage in the next few days and then there's something very important about talks looking to the future. that's one reason why boris johnson called today's g7 meeting. he wants to talk about not just about evacuation and resettlement and humanitarian
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assistance. he also wants the international community to come together with a clear plan for holding the new regime in kabul to account for protecting human rights and for looking to future engagement. he very much believes that this has to be something we can only do on a united and coordinated basis. >> and to that point, you were an ambassador in afghanistan. you know the realities of the taliban regime. we have also seen russia making moves to recognize the taliban as the government. the u.s. and the secretary of state had been telling us that our key leverage on the taliban was not recognizing them and not letting them have resources until they commit to these things, to human right, but how likely is that? that's the prime minister's hope. it's something g7 leaders will be discussing in great detail today, i think, in fact, a readout of the meeting should issue shortly and so i don't want to preempt what the leaders
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have said, but i do think it's important that everyone understands we will judge the taliban by their actions. it is important to uphold afghanistan's international human rights and other obligations. we will be looking very carefully at how human rights are playing out on the ground, particularly for those most vulnerable women and girls and that will be a very important factor in how we calibrate our relations with the new regime and eventually with the new afghan government going forward. it's important that that government is inclusive, that it's representative and that it upholds afghanistan's obligations and we will take all of that into account when reaching our decisions about what sort of relationship we want and can have with the new regime in kabul. >> there are voices in the uk that say this evacuation should have been planned and started a
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lot earlier under the u.s. leadership, at least. >> i think the speed and scale of the taliban advance, they took over the whole country including the capital in just 11 days, i think that did catch everybody unawares not just in the western capitals. i think probably in beijing and moscow. they were surprised by the speed and scale, as well. as soon as we being, we got evacuation plans under way and we've been evacuating people since 13 august. we're not letting up for an instant. we recognize there's more to do, but part of the future on this is that important commitment to safe passage that we were talking about earlier. >> dame karen, ambassador from the great britain to the u.s. we appreciate you being with us on a very busy day in all of our worlds, thank you very, very much. >> thank you, andrea. more ahead on the breaking news that the director of the
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cia sat down with the leader of the taliban in kabul yesterday just a week before a deadline before all u.s. troops have to get out. former cia director john brennan joins us next. stay with us. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. if you are actively deployed, a veteran, or you're in a military family, please stand. the world in which we live equally distributes talent, but it doesn't equally distribute opportunity, and paths are not always the same. - i'm so proud of you dad. - [man] i will tell you this, southern new hampshire university can change the whole trajectory of your life. (uplifting music) without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them.
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he won't do that this as the cia director traveled to kabul to negotiate with the leader of the taliban, a man imprifrped for eight years by the cia in pakistan. joining me now is john brennan, senior msnbc intelligence and security analyst. it's good to see you. boy, have i wanted to talk to you about the threat levels now that we know the prisons have released all of these terrorist prisoners, the worst of the worst from bagram and other places and now a meeting. how extraordinary is the fact that there was a meeting in kabul between mullah el baradar and william burns? >> well, i find it very encouraging that we had such high-level reachout to the taliban so that we can coordinate some of these moves at the airport in kabul to ensure the secure evacuation of u.s. citizens as well as others. so bill burns who has extensive
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experience dealing with afghanistan is one of our nation nation's most accomplished negotiators and diplomats as well as who have the expertise with the longstanding presence of the cia behind him as he meets with baradar, that sends a signal that we are serious about trying to ensure the coordination as best we can between at least now and the end of the month. i also think it's a good move not to have a senior state department person meet with the taliban because we don't want to send any unintended signals that this might portend diplomatic recognition. so i think having bill burns be that interloquiter, despite the misjudgments and missteps by the u.s. government that they're doing everything now over the next several days and next week to make sure this runs as smoothly and as safely as possible. >> now what we do know is at
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that time taliban today are not willing to extend the deadline even by a few days to get more people out and they're worried about the brain drain, the most people who are most anxious to leave, many of them women who couldn't be educated under taliban rule. so what you know of the taliban, what is the likelihood, first of all, that they will continue as they are to cooperate and work with us on these parameters and not attack their own citizens, especially half the citizens who are women. >> i don't think the taliban government will negotiate on when we'll depart in the public sphere. those are taking place with bill burns as well as with the commanders on the ground how we are going to effect this safe and secure evacuation. i don't think the government is
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saying yes, we're staying past the 31st of august if there hasn't been some understanding with the taliban that that will result in some kind of cooperation with some engagement. there are these back channel negotiations that are going on and so we may hear over the next several days that there will be an extension, but it does is take several days to move out the 6,000 or so u.s. troops as well as other civil zhans, u.s. civilians there at the airport. there are intensive discussions going on between ourselves and the taliban to see whether or not we can have some additional time to evacuate folks safely. >> the -- the word from the white house and the state department has been that we've accomplished our goal. we accomplished it ten years ago when we got bin laden, that we have decimated al qaeda. do you agree with that? there's plenty of evidence that al qaeda could resurge, is already there. other groups, isis k so have we
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actually eliminated the threat of terror groups of afghanistan again, becoming a safe haven for terror groups? >> a lot depends on how one defines our goals in afghanistan. yes, we are able to dismantel destroy much of the al qaeda infrastructure in afghanistan along the afghan-packed border and we were able to kill bin laden and we were able to bring to bring a sense of normalcy to a lot of afghan lives over the last two decades and something they didn't have during the taliban, but there is the near-term and then the longer term concerns that we have about the regeneration of some of these terrorist groups. i know the u.s. government has in place a lot of capabilities in the region that they can call upon to be able to try to suppress the re-emergence of these terrorist organizations, but clearly as has been said publicly by senior u.s. officials might not have the same capability on the ground
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throughout afghanistan and we've relied on it for so many years and the human source that works and other things so this will be a period of transition and also a lot depends on whether the taliban is going to allow the growth of these terrorist organizations once again to be able to threaten, not just our presence in the region, but even beyond here in the homeland. >> director brennan, what do you think about the decision to put the safety of our military and a very important goal, in other words, closing bagram and doing it in the middle of the night above getting the civilians, the diplomats and afghan allies out because once bagram was closed that denied air cover and resupply to the afghan military, they clearly felt that they'd been abandoned by their government, corrupt and not pulling them once the u.s. was pulling out. the fact that they caved in and
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flipped sides is not all that surprising, is it? couldn't we have kept bagram open longer and put a higher priority into an evacuation and a well-planned evacuation? >> looking back on it now, yes, there should have been better preparation and planning and i must tell you that the retro grade of thousands of the u.s. military and doing that safe and securely is an immensely complex exfort. you have to coordinate with the host government officials as well as air lanes and partners, i think that defeat, and coordination and cooperation did not go as smoothly as was hoped, and i do think that there was this snowballing effect of the taliban taking over and the priority was understandably on ensuring the safe evacuation of
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u.s. military civilians and at the same time we had responsibilities and obligations to the afghans and allied nations who also gave blood, sweat and tears in the afghan struggle over the last 20 years. >> director john brennan, former director of the cia thank you very much, and behind closed doors, key members of the president's cabinet on the hill, they were giving a classified briefing on afghanistan to house members. iraq and afghanistan war veteran jason crow joins us in a minute. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. on msnbc. ♪♪ ♪♪
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house members just received a classified briefing on the situation in afghanistan from the entire national security cabinet. joining me now is congressman jason crow, former army ranger and paratrooper who served in iraq and afghanistan and is on the intelligence and house services committee. thank you very much. i know the briefing was classified, but from what you were told, are we going to be able to get all of our americans and afghan allies out before time runs out? >> thanks for having me on, andrea. i'm obviously not going to talk about the specifics of any classified briefing, but what remains true right now is what remains true in the last week and that is no. it is not going to be possible to get american citizens out and our afghan partners and families out now between now and the end
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of the month. that is why there is broad ask deep bipartisan support in congress and across the country to extend the deadline, to make sure that we're doing what's necessary to get folks out. the end of this mission may come not just based on the calendar date and it should come when we accomplish the mission. >> i was just seeing that kevin mccarthy basically said the same thing when he came out of the meeting as you did that we should extend the mission. but should we extend the mission now that the taliban have said that is a hard and firm date? >> i don't think we should -- >> if you were commander in chief, would you do that? >> if i were the president i would do that because i'm not concerned about what the taliban thinks we should or shouldn't do. we have an obligation to protect american citizens and a moral obligation to protect partners and friends. then what are we willing to use it for. that is a core mission of the united states military. it's not without risk.
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it's complicated and i understand that from my time as an army ranger in iraq and afghanistan, but that is what has to happen and that's the reality of right now. we set the august 31st deadline, weeks ago, months ago in a different world, under different conditions. those conditions have changed and we are now in a different world right now and we'll talk about in the months ahead, and we have to make the changes and revisions to get the mission done. >> are you hearing from translators, drivers, other comrades, afghanal ryes with whom you worked? what are you hearing from the region from those who have re-settled. >> we've been processing special immigrant visas and i talked to a fellow member whose office received 4,000 requests. my phone is ringing off the hook nonstep. i'm getting text, signal
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messages and emails and people are sending me passport photos and photos of their children begging for help. that's what this is about. these folks, those numbers when we talk about siv numbers, special immigrant visas these people have names and faces to so many of us and that's why we formed the honoring forces group which is a bipartisan group in may to say these are our friends, those are our comrades. they protected us. they fought with us. they served with us, and now it's our obligation to do the same for them. >> how did you feel when the president and other top officials blame the afghan military for the collapse and the taliban takeover? do you think that from what you know, once bagram air base was closed and they saw that we had left. do you think that that was entirely fair to them? >> well, i certainly think at the leadership levels, i do think president ghani left his count rae men and i know history
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will be damning to him and no doubt about it and other senior leaders who got on private planes and left people to fight for themselves. there's no doubt that history will treat those folks well or could it. ware talking about the rank and file because let's not forget that tens of thousands of afghan soldiers have been fighting for 20 years and have given their lives of fighting for their country, for democracy and fighting for their families and i think we should not forget that. it is very hard to sit -- i'll say it's very easy to sit in the comfort of a living room in the united states of america and cast aspersions on an afghan soldier who is sitting at a remote checkpoint when the taliban roles up. it's very hard to predict on the hearts and minds of their men when they're thinking about their children and their spouse. we have to be careful about how we judge those folks.
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>> and what do you think is going to happen to them and other afghan allies and to the women with the taliban once we leave? >> well, that is a story that's not written yet, andrea and that's why we're talking about the mission right now. we don't know how this ends. we don't know how the story ends. that's a decision that's in our hands over the next couple of days. the administration has to make a decision to get that mission done and we the lives of our friends and the lives of our partners and i think we should do that. we don't know and sitting here today is the singular focus to save as many folks as we can. >> jason crow, former army ranger and paratrooper from iraq and afghanistan thank you for being with us. >> coming up, madam governor, women are leading nine states as
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resigned under pressure while facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, allegations he's consistently denied. joining me now is nbc correspondent ann thompson. what comes next for the new governor? >> andrea, she's hit the ground running. she said she spoke to president biden last night and he offered governor hochul his full support to help the parts of new york recover from the tropical storm henri that battered the state on sunday and monday and then she has got to deal with the issue of covid. kids are going back to school. will she issue a statewide mask mandate. will she follow bill de blasio's state in new york city. she sidestepped both those questions following her ceremonial swearing in saying she'd have more to say on that this afternoon when she addresses the state at 3:00, but she said the most important thing she wants to do as governor is restore people's
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faith in government. she says that is the thing she wants to be remembered for. that, too, like covid is a big job. andrew cuomo though he may be out of office is still facing several investigations. andrea? >> thank you, ann thompson. joining us now is kirsten gillibrand who serves on the arms services committee. the first task for the governor, what do you think? cleaning house. she's brought in top officials for her inner circle who are all women. >> i have great confidence in kathy hochul to lead our state. she has a wide range of experience including working as a member of congress on the federal level as lieutenant governor and working on the local level. she's somebody who understands the issues and she knows the dire consequences that are affecting the state because of covid, and so she has some pretty serious responsibilities. there's some damage from the storm over the weekend much less
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than we had expected which is a great relief. she has to deal with the fact that we are going to try to rebuild this economy with president biden, with our build back better investments and so she needs to steward those investments and making sure that jobs are created and we get back on our feet, but i think she is extremely well poised to do this and she has the kind of leadership that our state needs. >> just finally on andrew cuomo, he's got $18 million on money he can use for another statewide race. do you think he is going to try for a comeback some time? >> i don't know, but my job is to work hard to make sure our state does well over these next weeks and months ahead to recover from covid and that's something that senator schumer and i and the entire new york delegation are ready to do to support kathy hochul in her efforts to be our governor. >> turning to afghanistan, i
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know you are deeply invested as a member of arms services and what you've done with the mill tar, the tenth mountain division is there trying to do this evacuation. what do you think about the fact that it looks likely given the taliban's deadline that we'll start pulling people out of there on or before august 31st? >> well, president biden will address the nation shortly, and he will give us more guidance on his plan, but our job right now is to make sure that we get as many of our troops, our allies and our american citizens that have been serving in afghanistan out to increase the airlift capacity. president biden has begun to use the civilian aircraft reserve asking regular airlines like delta airlines, united airlines to help transport people in countries outside of afghanistan that are taking refugees. he is using every capacity as they evacuated 11,000 people
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over the weekend. there are still many tens of thousands more so our work is very difficult. the men and women who are serving on the ground are fearless including the tenth mountain division so he has the resources he needs to do this, but it's up to the president whether he wants to extend the deadline. if he feels he needs to, he should. we, at the end of the day don't have a regard for what the taliban wants and we have a regard for our men and women who are serving, our families who are there as well as our allies and all of the translators and after gans who have helped us and who have made a difference over the last two decades in afghanistan. >> it is very clear now that we won't be able to get everyone out who has been targeted and certainly not all of the afghans who have qualified for this siv program and what about the people being left behind? >> so this is the question that certainly i've asked in many hearings over the last several
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months. we've always had two missions, andrea. one was the national security mission to make sure that the terrorist threat could not emanate from afghanistan. that's something we've been diligent on on, great strides i undermining isis-k. the second one developed under president bush, to create stability and democratic institutions, to create a possibility for girls to be educated, for women to have rights. but that was always a secondary mission. president biden is clear, he thinks the national security commission is the only priority in afghanistan. if we hope to protect democratic institutions, it would mean we have to work with our allies and come up with a different aappropriate that we would do
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without the troop presence we had in the past. >> senator, thank you very much. really appreciate your being with us today. >> thank you, andrea. coming up on the house side, a powerplay with razor thin majorities. the key vote on spending headed her way. this is "andrea mitchell reports." rea mitchell reports. n their windshield got a chip. 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. ♪ fine, no one leaves the table until your finished. fine, we'll sleep here. ♪♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win.
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on capitol hill, speaker pelosi and moderate house democrats are working through to advance two critical pieces of legislation. garrett haake is on capitol hill. garrett, so far progress after last night's stalemate, moving to the rules committee, now voting on a rule and basically that rule will now commit to a vote on the infrastructure bill the progressives want by september 27th, on september 27th. is that correct? >> reporter: that's correct. the speaker is hopeful to land the plane today and extend her metaphor further, they're on final approach now. the package is back in the rules committee where they're inserting language that will basically say wherever else we are on reconciliation by september 27th, little more than a month from now, we will vote then on the infrastructure bill regardless. this is kind of a half victory for moderates that held out here. they wanted a vote right away on the infrastructure package as soon as this week.
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they're not getting that. they're at least getting a guarantee they'll get that vote, they believe is a guarantee, they'll get that vote regardless of where the reconciliation process, which is much messier and time consuming is on that date. this is the third time the bill has been back in rules. they hope to get it to the floor by the 2:00 hour. one vote, pass it. john lewis voting rights acts and members could be on flights home tonight. >> just an update. i know when they came out of the classified briefing, bipartisan support for extending the deadline in kabul. colleagues are reporting the president will say the deadline it holds contingent on taliban cooperation. the taliban don't cooperate, terror attack or other delays, he wants the mission completed. it is a foot in both camps. more to come throughout the day here on msnbc.
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thanks for all of your reporting. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." chuck todd up with "mtp daily" only on msnbc. ily" only on msnbc. tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can! this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12-weeks. oh! are you using liberty mutual's coverage customizer tool? so you only pay for what you need. sorry? limu, you're an animal!
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if it's tuesday, we have breaking news. multiple senior administration officials tell nbc news the president in tends to stick with the august 31st withdrawal timeline in afghanistan. less than a week from today. troops furiously scramble to get american staff, family out before it is too late. another hurdle for the administration, major covid déàa vu. cases climbing, deaths more than a thousand per day. could fda full approval contain the fourth wave? tempers may be running hot in the democratic caucus, a spar with speaker pelosi over the timing of president biden's infrastructure agenda, and
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