ok, i think we're getting some information in now about some of the victims in this explosion . okay, these are unconfirmed reports of course at this fairly, very early stage, but we're getting eye witness. accounts confirming that the have been fatalities in this explosion. this is news, it is only just commend nothing's been confirmed yet we can't unfortunately bring you any pictures of this very early stage. and we'll be hoping to speak to a correspondent shortly. but the pentagon has confirmed that has been an explosion, a massive explosion, an eye witness accounts are claiming that have been se itala to any explosion that would have happened at the airport. the concern would be that it would be inevitable that they would be fatalities because of the thousands of people that we have seen packed up against those barriers. such has been the desperation to escape afghanistan. many people, despite the obvious risks,

have been packing themselves up against the bar, is outside of that stage of security forces. western security forces have been doing their best to push these people back, insulting, from getting into the port as they faced. the actual establishment would be over run, should they just allow people to come in without controlling them? okay, this is, this isn't these new pictures that we're getting in now, unverified at this point that these are pictures that we believe the tray, the scene of this large explosion cobble international, hard to tell too much at the moment about what kind of damage is being done, but as you can see, somebody that whose clothes seemed to have been bloody suggesting that that has indeed been victims in this explosion. no doubt the numbers in the extent of it will unfold over the next half an hour to an hour or so. once we managed to get

kind of official confirmation from people that we were on the ground, not that many reporters, of course, you all there who were able to confirm what is going on that we do have. or i guess the, if he is that the ports communications not easy to establish at this point, as you would imagine, not a lot of infrastructure is up and running around that establishment. we all managing to get live reports now and then from murat. and we will hopefully be speaking to him, surely, joe biden, apparently, according to reports from white house officials, he's actually being brief drawing now about this explosion. so it's pretty clear that something has taken place that has been an explosion. eye witness reports claiming that there have been fatalities. the pentagon has confirmed that there was a very large explosion. the absolute, concrete information that was lacking at the moment, but it's pretty clear that we're going to be talking about a considerable event. and that it's very likely that will have been loss of life at

this point. we been reporting to throughout the afternoon that western intelligence agencies, in particular, the u. k. had said, they feared there was a very severe risk of a terrorist attack occurring at this particular airport. and from the information that we're getting at the moment it appears as though a western intelligence has on this occasion proven to be correct. so if you've just joined us, sir, just to remind you, we're getting breaking news. coming in that there has been a large explosion at cobble international apple, which of course has been the scene of desperate, frantic rescue efforts over the last few days. as people flocked to try and escape cobble prior to that deadline, that's been said of august 31st thirty's. when the united states will stop their rescue. of us with naval stop flying people out of the africa and capital,

and none is when the taliban has said they will be taking control. they'll be taking control of the apple. they will be in charge of the afghan capital. there will be no extensions. the taliban, they've said otherwise, that would be severe repercussions. and despite efforts from european leaders and from the u. k, to try to sway to the united states. otherwise, the show on the sway them to extend the deadline to keep their troops in cargo in a bit to turn rescue. yet more people, the united states said they will not be doing that. they've set the deadline the end of august, and they will not be going beyond not, not is suddenly going to mean that some people he would be entitled to leave. who would have the right documentation to get on a flight. they simply are going to be in a flights to get everybody out. it has been said, the entity lincoln said that those people will not be forgotten. what exactly that means in terms of the amount of hope that they will be getting, getting beyond the deadline that is absolutely unclear at this point. but of course,

people are desperate to get out. they flocked to the airport another's, made them a target for possible terrorist attack. and that's what we're hearing is half of these new pictures that are coming in. now this appears to be from a news agency that we can confirm the source of the moment. and we can see from these, these people walking through the street. so there's no, it doesn't really indicate either way whether there has been extensive damage cause or not pitching over the latest coming in those phone calls is the latest that we're getting from the capital. but pretty inconclusive. at this point, as i said, correspondence, my guess is that we will be speaking to him as soon as we can get a connection up. but as you can imagine, infrastructure is pretty thread for the moment. and especially if there's been some

kind of security incident that's going to be pretty chaotic seem that you mentioned at the moment. as we said, thousands of people have been crowded in around the airport. people desperate to try and get in soldiers from the united states in particular the u. k. they've been that securing the perimeter of the airport and bit to try and just maintain some kind of steady flow of people only so many planes, not enough. even the planes have been regularly taking off from carbon international heading back to the united states western countries and simply not enough plains to carry all the people who are wanting to get on them. and of course security issues as well. there's been a lot of screening of people turning up the documents. many people have turned up there is turned out that they were on no fly list. so not everybody turning up to get on the plane. he's even entitled to, to get on board of one security risk. some have been an issue that have been highlighted. and as we've been reporting to you throughout the day,

a western intelligence agency said that they feared that there was a severe risk of a terrorist search at the moment. campbell international apple. and now what we're hearing is that there has been an explosion that pentagon is confirmed by the information that has been an explosion. absolutely no information at this moment about just how extensive the damage might be. and whether there has been a loss of life. although it's very difficult, imagine how that would not have been given the sheer numbers of people who have been gathered outside it. we've seen them packed in people unable to move. some people reports that people have been crushed to death in previous days, pushed up against the barrier, which people searched for we're trying to get into the airport. so desperate where they to try and escape life under the taliban regime. the. okay,

we're hearing that these again unconcerned reports that the explosion might have taken place near a hotel where richey citizens been staying. other reports coming in saying that we're talking about multiple injuries here. it's in the dozens at this very early stage. just to remind you, there's definitely been an explosion of some con white house officials are briefing president blind and about an explosion that has occurred, which we believe unconfirmed report saying that it happened near a hotel near to the airport, where u. k. citizens. i'd been accommodated, so the exact location still to be us attain. we know that it's near the airport and we are getting multiple reports now of dozens of injuries that this very early stage. the numbers will be very precise. they can go up and they can go down, but it's hard to imagine that that will not have been many people injured. if that

has, as has been claimed by the pentagon, been a huge explosion to cobble international airports the. so we're waiting all correspondence or on get some kind of confirmation of what's happening there on the ground. try and keep you up with the latest information while we wait his arrival. latest information, just to tell you that there has been a suicide attack. this is unconfirmed but report saying that there has been a suicide attack in the location near to cobble international port. and that that has been shooting, taking place as well between fontas and the us led coalition troops. so that one could only present that house to the pallet on fighters and the west and troops

from the us led coalition who secured campbell international airport thus now about information coming in from an african journalists is in the vicinity. so if you're joining us here on our team, so national breaking news, this hour and explosion has been reported outside the airport in the afghan capital, sad as been confirmed by the pentagon. okay, let some bring in a guest. hopefully we can get a connection. i was scott richard, who's from old fort marine corps intelligence offices. scott, appreciate you coming on. it's very sketchy information at this point, but there's enough sources suggesting that there has been a terrorist attack cobble airport. we believe that's been confirmed by the pen is going to, if this turns out to be accurate information, it's gotta be tragic. this, presumably, it's inescapable that that would be fatal if he's given the sheer number of people who are packed in there. and we weren't getting warnings that this was going to

happen from western intelligence agencies. absolutely, i mean, the united states and the taliban have both been very concerned about the real potential for isis chorus on the islamic state affiliate operating in afghanistan. you carry out this very sort of action against you know, a lucrative target for them. you know, they don't care if they kill afghan civilians. they don't care if they kill coalition members. they don't care if they kill tell about they want to kill everybody because their, their goal is destabilization through acts of terror. so, you know, the united states has been saying that they have very credible intelligence streams . understand that what we see at the airport is only half the pitcher overhead. the united states is operating, you know, a number of aircraft, many of which are engaged in, you know, active intelligence collection. in particular,

collecting cell phone calls and things of that nature. that groups like isis course on been known to use. we've been tracking nice course on for years. so, you know, our intelligence is capable of tracking them capable of listen in our conversations . so when the pentagon issued warnings to, to american st, leave the gate, now it wasn't guesswork. it's because they knew it isis course and was preparing to carry out this very, very sort of attack. these are unconfirmed reports at the moment, but there is information coming and suggesting that the explosion occurred were us and british citizens had been chewing. would they be the high profile target? you said that the dice is not interested really and discriminating too much. they just want to kill people and get attention, but what those be high profile victims for them if they were to get west and citizens look, i saw that report as well. i mean, some,

some reports say were the explosion took place at the abbe gate. some say into police outside of the baron hotel, which is where british and american civilians have been told to gather, to congregate for extraction by, by coalition forces. because it's not safe for them to try and run the gauntlet between the bear and hotel and the gates. you know, but again, right now, i'm just guessing if they attack the bear and hotel. yes. then their target was clearly western british and american personnel. there's no doubt about it. more information coming in and confirm reports that at least 2 people have been killed and also that us soldiers have been a been injured in the blast. how will display back in the united states, joe biden has made it clear that the united states is getting out. the deadlines not going to shift will still be criticism that it didn't happen quick enough for

about the way it happened if, if there are some casualties or injuries. the us soldiers look the united states and all the coalition partners had and had been blessed with a 0 casually from their perspective operation, that it would have been fantastic. had they been able to pull this off with everybody extricated by august 31st and no casualties. and had it just been interaction between no coalition casualties. i me, tragically, many afghans have died because of because of the nature which is operation conducted. but had this simply been about interaction between the united states and the coalition and the taliban. i believe this would have been a 0 casually from the coalition perspective operation because the taliban doesn't want to keep the united states in but because of the involvement of isis chorus

on you know this now we have casualties. i don't believe this is going to change fundamentally anything other than further reducing the evacuation of civilians already the united states said they were going to shut it down by friday. this may cause it to shut down sooner. this will not exacerbate tensions between the united states, about both sides are actively cooperating against the ice of course, threat. what this will do is pause of the united states. you run security at the airport at night and things up even more in a force protection mode. now, not just simply securing an airfield but now protecting military personnel. if we took casualties, forced protection will become even more important. and this will also, i believe, expedited departure of the solution from, from couple international airport. so there was clearly a great confidence that there was going to be an attack. clearly,

whatever the information coming in was, they had strong confidence in it. the white house, the state department, the pentagon, the u. s. embassy incorporated all been wanting us citizen to stay away from the airport, where the people have listened to them. is another thing that because we've seen how desperate people have been to try and get out via carl international, wasn't this just a miserable target for islamic state? terrorists, we've seen the pictures of people crammed in the push them against the barriers, despite being told to stay away, the people weren't really listening. presumably the, the, is on the state. so this isn't a missile target. absolutely, i mean, one of the, the criticisms that were undoubtedly you'll be put forward in any future in investigation or, you know, committee look at this operation will be the inevitability of this, this kind of attack that, you know,

the united states created the conditions for this very incident in the manner in which this operation unfolded. so yeah, and we need to realize that just because, you know, the one bomb went off. there's real potential for additional attacks isis course on is a very sophisticated terrorist organization. and there are still many, many targets out there, you know, we, we went the way we went into come bull and the chaos that was generated, you know, lends itself to this, this kind of attack and, and these targets are still there. the citizens are still crammed in americans and british are still stuck in places outside of the airport, awaiting ex filtration. so this is a, this is a tragedy. i do think we're going to see increased cooperation between the coalition that identified pockets of foreigners. up until now the taliban has been

provide is been creating more obstacles than, than, than been facilitation. i think the child on once the americans out now and they will do everything in their power. now that just attack is taken place to help the coalition get it's identified. citizens out of cobol. i think that'll be one thing that comes out of this. no, because the taliban understands that the longer these, these pockets of americans and british and foreigners existing couple of the greater attack from isis. and it makes the terrible look bad. they're supposed to be engendering confidence among the afghan people and indeed of the coalition that they are in control of the security situation and both in a check like this only underscores that nobody's in control is security situation. and there's a few issues i think come up off the back of what you said. the 1st will use. you said us western countries who want to get the people out as fast as possible out

the fastest possible pay. but will that be possible given now, as you said, the heightened security risk? nobody's going to feel safe anywhere near that port. be more careful because of security. be more careful because of security risks will be able to speed up the process of getting people out, or will they have to go slower because of the risk of a loss of life, because nobody will be able to predict where any subsequent attacks might take place. up until now the, the operations out of the airport, of which we have very little information. so a lot of this is informed speculation as opposed to your absolute certain knowledge . but the operations that, you know, that had, had coalition forces leave the airport to gather up their citizens and bring them back to the airport. have been relatively slowly unfolding because there is a level of coordination that must take place with the taliban. and the taliban has

sought to exert as much control over these operations as possible. if the taliban loosens the control and gives american special forces and coalition special forces, a frere hand in carrying out these operations, they can unfold rapidly. this is what special forces do a rapid operations. this is basically a hostage rescue mission without the drama gunfights. and so no, i would say that is to tell about, loosens up the restrictions these pockets in be reduced very rapidly by the american and coalition special forces. but it does require the taliban to loosen up the security that they have placed at the day of imposed on this. yeah, just to remind of us getting multiple reports now saying that the us marines have been injured in an explosion that happens somewhere close to cobble international

airport. one of the concerns that was being expressed about the taliban taking control of afghan. his time was that terrorists will be able to infiltrate the country that they will be able to and relative safety. the bills got organized, make the plans if the, if this has been for example, and islamic states, terrorist attack is that not just going to add strengths to those arguments that the taliban are going to stop. terrorists within have gotten a son or, or unable to scotland. look there's, there's 2, there's 2 aspects to what we call terrorism. in, in afghanistan, the one, the united states and its coalition partners are very concerned about is tell a bunch historic links with al qaeda. given the fact that i was kind of was the perpetrator, the 911 attacks and indeed a key key focus of the negotiations in the united states. and the taliban has been guarantees that the taliban will not allow allocate to free service in

afghanistan. but what, what's happening here with isis chorus on is totally different. since 2016, the united states is actually been cooperating with the taliban in certain areas of afghanistan to, to, to eliminate neutralized isis core aside, is seen as a mutual threat. the telephone is not allied with isis core, so they are the enemies of isis for us on. so, all, all this shows is what a deadly threat isis course on is, you know, there's been many people that have said, united states is place too much emphasis on isis course. i think this, this terrorist attack shows that maybe not enough emphasis is placed on, in the criticize to tell about his sort of wrong headed, given the fact that united states has been engaged in isis course on now. and in direct combat for, for many, many years and refilled,

neutralize we failed. and suddenly, in the midst of some of the most chaotic moments in afghans canister in history, where the tell about have yet to fully exert their authority over your best qualities of ungovernable space. have isis course on. carry out an attack on this you know and say, oh shame on you tell about for letting this happen. no, it's just the, it's part of the reality and afghan stand. and unfortunately we have to be realistic. these attacks can happen, will happen and will continue to happen. ok, we're going to try and get an update now from our correspondence in carbo. so in the levy for now i really appreciate you joining me though. and scott ritter, that form of marine corps intelligence officer. let's try go live to the ask on capitol. of course we'll run guess dave is that we've got a pretty legacy delay between the 2 of those of course, just because of the technical issues. morale, we're hearing now. this is unconfirmed, but the getting reports coming in and that there been actually 2 explosions taking

place in cobble. just give us what information you've managed to gather together so far. what we've heard that there was just one explosion that took place between the the baron hotel and the checkpoint at the airport. the there isn't a big distance between the 2. but what i can tell you from the casualty count that's been reported to 2 people dead, 15 injured as awful as that is. i can tell you from my experience that that is on the lower end of the spectrum, considering the press of bodies that we saw at the airport ringing the airport kilometers and kilometers. people jam packed together, just waiting for an opportunity to get into the airport. we've also heard of, of casualties among the american troops. we, you know,

it's doubtful from what we saw because 1st there are multiple caliber checkpoints, outside of the airport. outside of the airport, we hadn't seen any nato or american troops that was all controlled by the taliban. so for a suicide bomber to get, for example, if that was a suicide bomber to get through to the american troops, would have he would have had the past. i would have had to pause multiple pat downs and checks by the taliban. what we've heard is there was what explosion between the baron hotel. the baron hotel is where british diplomats and british troops for a while during the initial early stages of the evacuation, where they stayed from what we have heard. they have since moved out of that hotel . again, the explosion apparently from what we've heard from our sources near the airport from the gym to see that it took place between the baron hotel and the check board at the eastern end of the airport. we had ourselves planned to visit the airport

just a few hours ago, but due to circumstances we were we were unable to earlier today we have spoken to the taliban minister of information, newly appointed minister them to and he gave us the press, his 1st interview where he also said, amongst other things that it was the taliban, the ward nato, that there wasn't a threat, a threat, not a specific threat that they didn't see it as a severe thread, the. but that they had information that someone could try to plug the bomb or apparently shoot up the crowd at the airport. the taliban had previously said this, the stage will persist until the americans leave the united states and nato, with its messages to foreign workers, to the afghans, to their own citizens. to come to the airport that they had exacerbated, made the situation worse,

because all these people had believed that if they got to the airport, if they waited long enough that they could board the flight to get out of, of got to start. and it drew a much better life elsewhere so far from it, many of the people at the, at the airport. now they are there just just to try to get out of, of get us on the are necessarily a threat. but because of the messages that they heard, they all chose to go and pack the exterior packs, the checkpoints at the airport, hoping to be let it occasionally they tried to climb over the walls. occasionally they tried to storm the taliban checkpoints outside the airport. that ends up shooting, shooting, that is, believe me ceaseless. we spent many hours with the airport yesterday. and the shooting didn't stop single shots or bursts, was about to burst coming from the fences from inside the airport, where the american troops off from outside whether where the taliban or we drove a few meters out of the airport, not even

a few meters. and we saw somebody to try to storm a check board. the taliban begin to wildly shoot. but even in the air, but just sideways. but you there's, there's no dealing with this situation. even the taliban with all its troops is unable dispersed the crowds at the airport. there's just so many people and that is what had been feared for many days, but somebody would try to use the orbit. well, take advantage of the situation rather than use the opportunity to meet and i accept theron attack babs, but for all manner of reasons the taliban today told us that somebody could try to do so in order to discredit the smith and to blameless on the taliban. that is what they believe the british had come out early as a there was a severe, a severe threat specific threat at the airport. and that was one of the reasons they were choosing to wrap up. the evacuation number of european countries have said the same thing that the situation is deteriorate to get it. he's deteriorating

because if you can now get through to the airport and if you have, if you have ill intent, you can cause all sorts of hot. this is why i said that the, if the figure of 2 people killed 50, you know, so injured. these are again preliminary figures that we're hearing reported. if that is true, that is on the low, low end of what it could have be able to suicide bomber with, with a modest payload, so to speak, to him with a modest suicide belt. the damage that they could have done could be catastrophic. and especially if there are multiple add some are putting multiple explosion. but from what we know now from what we've heard now from somewhat reliable sources that was just the one explosion near between the baron hotel, which was used previously by british diplomats, the british forces. and the checkpoint that distance is covered by crowds, oppressive crowds, but in circles. 3 the entire 2 capital airport greatly appreciate

the latest information that saw correspond the thing couple guys and just to add to watson round was saying that he's, he's only find out about the one explosion just the last few minutes. inflammation coming into the source, coming from the turkish ministry of defense that there been a 2nd explosion had occurred near calvo pool, thus going to need some confirmation. and yet it's very difficult to ascertain exactly what the scene is there. of course, as you imagine, it will be chaos. most reports now of injuries including at least 3 us soldiers. let's go to micro maloof now, former pentagon, unless to join soon, i'd appreciate it. michael, obviously hard facts pretty hard to come by this very early stage, but what he's pretty certain is that there's been some kind of explosion. almost certainly this has been a terrorist attack because of all the information that was coming in from.