what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have. it's crazy going from taishan. let it be an arms race is on often very dramatic development. only personally, i'm going to resist. i don't see how that strategy will be successful, very critical time time to sit down and talk the top headlines with this. our breaking news continue that are the international lead. double kyra, attack, carpool. that was killed, 60 and interest, 150. the evacuation effort with for us soldiers confirmed among but that of correspondent on the ground also says he heard a 3rd law. now the time about earlier said an attack on cobble airport was possible and might be aimed at harming the color bands. image the problem is that a huge number of people are gathered near the airport and there was

a threat that the single person, one person alone can carry out and killed people in order to damage the taliban reputation. and it's all mix data affiliate and i've got a thought known as i'd fish and k is to be behind the twin explosions in coddle as the taliban condemned to the terror attack. and in the way coffee can cobble germany analysis at the last of its military aircraft, has left kindness on while other nations, including the u. k. and from pledge to carry on with their l. ah moment talk to 10 pm here in the russian capital. of course, this is the international research we do continue this hour without breaking news on this channel, of course, from afghanistan, according to our correspondent on the ground, there's been a 3rd bloss near campbell's intern national airport. earlier,

there were 2 confirmed explosions outside the hub where a k all take evacuation if it was under way. of course, all of this ahead of the u. s. military pull out. according to the gotten health ministry, at least 60 people have been killed in a 150 injured. now the updated number, say 10 american soldiers are among the dead. now the attacks come just hours off. the western governments had warned of a security threat. so far as we know, serious claim responsibility the taliban early a downplayed terror threat warnings as a provocation. and it's now saying several of its own taliban militant members were injured in the blast, along with several women and children. now, there are unconfirmed reports that a terrorist group called isis k, which is an ask, an affiliate of islamic state, may have been responsible early report suggest the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber. then a gun fire was also subsequently heard during a recent media conference, a taliban post post and warned of

a possible attack on the combo lap ward. my. busy problem is that a huge number of people have gathered near the airport and there was a threat that the single person, one person alone can carry out an attack and killed people in order to damage the taliban reputation. this is not a significant, not a big threat. we're monitoring the situation at the airport just i just moments ago i spoke with our senior correspondent in the regional artes morale, i guess df who told us he was with a group of journalists when they believe they heard a 3rd explosion. we all heard that we've all heard explosion before and had was definitely a blas coming from the direction of the airport. we compared to the maps maps and campuses the no. 2 no news yet what it could be that you may be able to hear sirens now blaring again. vehicles. nato jets by the way. ceaseless. the drone for jet

engines overhead is ceaseless. it doesn't. and you could tell the difference between the jets in cargo planes by how high they on the sound they make those jets words up there just a few hours ago. nevertheless, the situation is still tads, the americans and others have warned that there is a persisted ongoing high threat of more terror attacks here in campbell when the airport presents itself as, as the target that many terrorists perhaps would be able to walk by because the oppressive bodies that is indescribable, the number of be the number of people circling that airport, which is kilometers and kilo, but isn't circumference is astounded. there's no video that shows you just how many people they are there are and they are everywhere. you may have seen the grizzly footage coming out of the after the aftermath of the 2 blocks that we had earlier,

the northern gates of the airport were apparently a suicide bomber designated. he's device his exclusive, the bus, and the car bomb in the eastern area of the airport between the baron hotel, which was used by american and british forces as well as that diplomat put to vent afghans to give out jesus for evacuation. the 2nd bloss cobble allegedly occurred that that hotel is very near the check for just across the road. and that distance between the hotel and the check would also be packed with the afghan. we, we expected the worst, you know we, we arrived yesterday, but when we drove out of the airport, it struck even us just how many people there were, how desperate they were to get inside and how heedless they were. of the danger with taliban fighters ringing the perimeter outside of the airport, carelessly shooting him in the air to get these people away to warn them away

inside the airport. again, he swiftly shooting american troops, trying to get people to stop climbing over fences, lose courageous, and yet desperate to harm themselves in order to get to the jets and to flee the country. i leave today, we spoke to the new information, minutes diminished of information of the taliban, his 1st interview, and he told us that they would nato, that there was a threat. they at the top this morning they told us it was, it was new, but it was there, unspecific, they didn't know what it would be. a bomb guided to the crowd or perhaps someone spraying the crowds. the crash of people, the press of buddies with, with the garden fought was a stamp deed which could have caused even more casualties. as we've heard from our sources, many of the people who died today died not from shrapnel rules or direct damage with a bomb blast, but again, from the stampede. because that because that is how tight,

how tightly packed the bodies and the people off at the airport. we also hearing that people are still being delivered to the moves to the airport. initially we heard about just a few few casualties that doesn't so, but we understood that that but could quickly ross, given that any explosive device of any yield, no matter how low could have substantial great cottage at the airport. but as i say, the situation is developing, things are very hectic here. you, judging by the height and activity of the in the air and they to activity jets coming to support the support the brown forces stationed at the air, both the taliban. to blame the situation, the pandemonium and tale on americans and the allies. they said that it was them in the early days of the evacuation that urged people to come and congregate at the airport to try to get in and to evacuate. so you know, there's, there's

a blame game going on around here. but the taliban has confirmed has said that it condemns this active terror targeting civilians. and then we'll try to get to the bottom of this. once american ford says leave, you know, it is, i'm or it. but i guess the reporting us all day and all night from coupled with the fluid breaking news. we have on this charlotte's now nearly midnight in the afghan hopital, we're hoping that the evening comes down just a little bit. but so short time ago in this program, i did speak with ali hasanti. he was actually at the cobbled airport when the 1st explosion happened to dave into the airport of coverage i was. is standing and is good. i will need to get to and they used to sort of like 5 minutes away. i just saw there was like 4 to 5 minutes they had and they had to run. it was looking look danish people renewed the duration parliament, a difference of them,

the type of the type of goods they're waiting. we're looking very suspicious. they didn't have guns. what they was looking for the airport, they was looking to be used to it. will it 100 the mentors when they get back to my line? i, when they get back to the line, elizabeth, the people look after 12 or 2 minutes. an explosion happened when they began. it was near, it was near to the left 1st then away. an accident happened, gone 1st of the year, the gun for the victim, the 7th. the gunfire was in the attic and when they get to the line, they use it to i think they call those guys that there was behind the youth looking guns. i mean with your camera after the used through, they call the people that stay away, stay away with the people that didn't move. they told me they are joking because they did distinct money pants. they was always getting serious. and then the used

tubing, gas, gas, and smoke when the people, the day they to like 6 to 7 gas people. the people who really need to gets dangerous. i saw there was like 5 to 6 woman danger dear face was born and it was sitting there was going on the grounds. i live out a line leave virginia and the pentagon, which is briefing the press on the lead explosions nick campbell airport. let's listen. i cannot tell you how impressed i am with the daily heroism of the men and women that are out there doing this work. typically solar sailors and marines doing that work. and they're right up close to thousands of people that are flowing through the field. you've all seen the images and be able to get them do it day after day. is remarkable. and this time looks like somebody got close to us. we'll find out why we'll try to improve our procedures. it is 121212 service members, 9. nobody feels that more closely more directly to me and everyone else in the

chain of command. and we recognize that we need to continue to evaluate our procedures as we go. for the same time, there's a tension there. we have to continue to let people own the airfield because that is why we are there. we're not there to defend ourselves. we're there to defend ourselves while we process american citizens 1st, but also the other categories of people that i've mentioned. get them to a place where we can fly him out to a safer, better future. so just to be clear this, this suicide bomber was going through the gate being search checked by us service numbers when he detonated his vast david, that's, that would be my working assumption. i know this, he did not get inside the he did not get only installation, it was at the interface point where they try to come in with this attack occurred. and we just don't know more right now we're gathering that information as you will, understandable. we're investigating that right now, our focus really, we have other active threat strings, extremely active breast cancer, the airfield. we want to make sure that we've taken the steps we need to take. so

there are focuses on that over the next few hours a day or 2. we'll learn a lot more about what happened here, and i'm sure we'll be able to share that with right now. our focus is actually going forward ensuring that another attack of this nature does not occur because as you know, typically the pattern is multiple attacks and we want to be prepared be ready to defend against that. courtney. you take out mckenzie. it's courtney to be from the scene is. can you tell us a little bit more about the, the, these extremely real additional threats from isis is concerned about more suicide attacks. and also about some of the steps that you may be taking to mitigate future attacks. i mean, would it include putting us troops or marine outside the gates or outside of the airport for additional perimeter, security? and then finally, with all of this, is there any discussion about sending any additional us troops to cobble airport for additional security measures? let me actually answer the last part of your question. first we assess,

we have the, the forces, we need to protect ourselves there. i'm always in a constant dialogue with a secretary. if i needed anything else, i'd be talking to him immediately. but i think we have what we need to protect ourselves. so let's talk a little bit about the restaurants. so it's very, very real threat streams very, very what we were told tactical. that means it could occur at a moment and they range from rocket attacks. we know that they would like to lock it in there if they could. now we actually have pretty good protection against that . we have our, our and i'm rocket and mortar system, the gun systems that those you, you've been out there are very familiar with that are pretty effective against these kinds of attract. we are well positioned around the boundary. the are feeling we feel that would be we will be in good shape. sure. that kind of attack occur. we also know they aim to get a suicide vehicle born suicide attack in if they can from a small vehicle to a large vehicle. they're working all those options. and then we just seen their ability to deliver a walk in a best wearing a suicide. who aside attackers,

all of those things we look at. now the other thing we do is we share versions of this information with the taliban so that they can actually do some searching out there for us. and we believe that so much and have been forwarded by then. again, we've been doing this for a lot. we've been doing this since the 14th. this is a, this is attack has been carried out. we believe it's possible the others have been thwarted, wish cut down the information we give the child around, they don't get the full range of information we have, but we give them enough to act in time and space to try to prevent these attacks. the other thing we try to do is we try to push out the boundary even further. so that there we don't get large crowds massing at the gate clearly. abigail, today we had a larger crowd there that we would like, which goes show you that the system is not perfect, but we have gained large elements of stand off the other gates. and we want to keep that kind of stand off in place. as you know, stand all we're tax like this is always the best defense. unfortunately, we just don't have the opportunity given the geography of the on their own. always gain that trying to stand off. so we say let me close up your question by saying we

take these the 1st of these attacks very seriously. ready we're working very hard, we were doing a variety of things we got, as you know, we have age, 64 attack helicopters on the ground that we're flying to take a look. a very good irma and optical imaging systems. we've got aircraft overhead that also have very good imaging systems. we have unmanned aircraft m tonight that have the ability to load all of these systems from the pen to combat. we've been watching a press conference there. my apologies for some small technical issues just now here on our t international though, the officials that talking about the latest violence of the cobble international airport, of course, and the afghan capital to confirmed explosions at the airport. we understand 60 people possibly now confirmed that 120 are injured. and then of course we have what i got the senior correspondent in the region who has reported a 3rd possible explosion. we are working to confirm that for the meantime. now we can cross live to miami in florida ortiz john hardy joining us, john,

it's just after 3 pm now in washington dc. we've been watching a brief press conference from langley virginia from the pentagon. they're essentially discussing us reaction to the latest blasts in cobble. what can you tell us from where you are now? well, that was, we were listening to us general kenneth mackenzie, who is the head of saint com, which is central us central command. and what he confirmed it was that 12 us service members were killed, 11 us marines, one navy medic. and he said that the attacks, the explosions were then followed by he said, isis gunman, opening fire on both civilians and u. s. military personnel as well. he said the isis threat quote remains extremely real. it manifested itself, there'd been warnings, it manifested itself with these explosions and cobble today. he believes he said, we believe the attacks will continue. he said, at this point, at least 20,

there were 24 casualties as well. and that number, as i said earlier, rory remains fluid. it really continues to change. so the death toll could certainly increase of us casualties. along with the, the number of wounded pentagon spokesman john kirby tweeted out a statement earlier, confirming also the death of us service members and what he called today's complex attack at cobble airport. adding that a number of others were being treated for wounds along with many afghans who fell victim to the heinous attack. and then the statement goes on re than our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones and teammates of all those killed and injured . and this of course follows the tweet from earlier about news of the explosions as they brought from cobble with kirby confirming the 2 black one at the gate entrance . and this is something that the con general mackenzie was also talking about. what at that entrance to abbey gate entrance to the airport and another at a nearby barren hotel?

the question is how it was carried out. they said they're, they're continuing to gather the evidence to investigate exactly the circumstances . but what it sounds like is that there's this sewage drainage dish that did that horribly that runs along the side of the road and goes basically to that gate that hundreds of people, if not more wading through the, you know, the need deep water and that it's possible that this isis attacker basically mixed in with the crowd and a designated those explosives and that there are probably government by the sound of it also mixed in with the men women and children, many of whom were injured and many dad. and again that, that's all the exact numbers continue to come in. president vine and has been in the situation room at the white house, basically all day meeting with senior us officials, including sect, f, secretary defense austin, secretary of state antony blake and, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. general mark, milly, president bonham postponed a meeting earlier today with israeli prime minister natalie bennett. we're hearing

until tomorrow. also german chancellor angle merkel is canceled her trip to israel in light, of course of the ongoing situation. cobble nato chief install timber condemned. the attack tweeted, i strongly condemn the heretic, terrorist attack outside cobble airport. my thoughts are with all those effected in their loved ones, our priority remains to evacuate as many people to safety as quickly as possible. well, there were certainly warnings. we've been talking about this that it could happen. the u. s. embassy in cobble issued warnings to americans late wednesday to avoid going to the airport, and particularly the airport gates and to leave a mediately, australia, britain, likewise issue and comparable warnings saying there was a high threat of a terrorist attack. you know, and this is something that the biden administration, particularly with isis k isis in the chorus on, has warned about and is likely based on us officials and their evidence likely the culprit behind today's attack. so again, how is it carried out?

how many bombers, how many gunmen those remain? some of the, some of the questions as this press conference at the pentagon continues. we're also waiting some kind of word, some kind of statement out of the white house press briefing was supposed to happen around 1 o'clock. obviously that's been delayed several hours. it's entirely likely, rory, that president, biting, considering the escalating number of us casualties will likely speak about the ongoing situation that's not confirmed, but it's certainly possible and not entirely out of the question roy back as you say, any possible, oppressive with the president joe biden has already been delayed by a couple of hours, i guess he's putting his head together with his top advisors to see, to basically say, what am i going to say to the american public when i come out and make a speech. so we appreciate that john will be in touch with you soon. thank you for that. well, that's delve deeper. max blumenthal is the editor of the grade zone and is often doing stories more around the world that essentially lift the lid on the very sensitive and hard truth. people don't like to talk about, please welcome to the program. it's great to have you on today really appreciate

your work as well. the attacks now of being blamed on a terror group called isis k. well, why haven't we heard anything about this group? well, we've heard sporadically about this group, but we've also of course, heard very little about afghanistan and joe biden announced withdrawal in u. s. media. we did hear about this group for example, and i believe, april 2017. when trump and essentially authorized the pentagon to drop the mother of all bombs in eastern afghanistan, i believe in the non ga har province on ices k. but the roots of this group in its existence is poorly understood. and of course, when we hear these press briefings at the pentagon, there's very little context. this group actually is a direct byproduct of the us invasion and occupation of afghanistan. it grew out of the pocket, donnie taliban, who were disgruntled taliban members who wanted to carry out attacks on us targets inside pakistan and afghanistan. one of their most spectacular attacks was on

camped camp chapman, u. s. military base where they used a c. i turn coat to attack us soldiers. there are several other attacks on american assets. and this all led to a rise of terrorism inside pakistan directly related to the u. s. presence in afghanistan, 6 years ago, the pakistani taliban, which was widely suspected of being used by the african government, backed by the u. s. against pakistan turned into isis k. and today it is led by a very interesting individual show har shahab willhide year shabamo hygiene, who is actually not african. he is an arab, and he signals the return of the kind of foreign jihad to afghanistan and a direct link to the anti soviet jihad of the 1980s. and now we see afghan. it's then becoming increasingly a base for foreign jihadists directly as

a result of the u. s. d stabilization of the country max, do you think? do you think you think going to continue this? do you think the beginning? i mean, i've kind of started, okay. it's been the grave out of m pause, but it's also been a, a melting pot of various milliken grids for many, many years as you were suggesting as well. what is the future of afghanistan? will it continue to be some sort of a militant training ground and boiling port? well, unless some of the regional partners can impose stability. and i'm thinking about china, for example, or even russia, which has its own history and i've chemist. and what we will see is a return to a war of the warlords. like we saw after the red army was forced out of afghanistan and cobble was destroyed in a war between the warlords, who had been backed by the ca, were overflowing with weapons. heck, but you are mad sharma, sued figures,

who could have cared less about the welfare of their people and who were basically being guided by foreign intelligence services. it's a very troubling situation, and we heard the pentagon spokesman refer to stand off attacks by the us. the u. s . will continue to main, maintain a presence using proxy drones. do cruise missile attacks and special forces to continue carrying out attacks inside afghanistan. and we have to remember, these are the very same attacks that led to the rise of isis k via the pakistani taliban. that is what inspired there extremist wave of violence beginning in 2010. you say maximum ca, it's been evolve for many decades. and i've got this dawn, of course, as you mentioned, going, going back to the neutral d and, and so on and so forth. of course, when we were talking with analyst earlier talking about isis. and of course, when i say it was in syria, isis was essentially an army of mercenaries being used by western powers to achieve regime change. is it possible now those who are in charge of isis during those

times of have kind of the handlers have lost their grip on ices? while there are many times when the handlers lost their grip on isis. but now we have a situation where the handlers could seek opportunities to attack. i don't know, iran or china in a country that borders both. we have a jew in 2021, united nations general assembly report that finds that hundreds of fighters, weaker separatist fighters from the shins. young region have flocked to afghanistan . they have been carrying out attacks on chinese infrastructure projects already in pakistan. this july, for example, would be handlers of arcade, or the free syrian army and in syria seek opportunities with these groups to attack the new target of the united states. and it's great power competition. well,

that's entirely possible. and we've seen china tell the taliban, look, we want to have diplomatic relations with you. all you have to do is shut the back door on these weaker separatists an extremist groups. can the taliban contain them? that's very questionable. because there was a ton of delegation, a few weeks ago the did was welcomed actually by the chinese foreign minister in t. n gen and the taliban is now obviously trying to pursue as future as a political entity. max, what about the, what about the wealth of chemist on lithium and, and all the cobalt and the mineral wealth of water, warm country. do you think the taliban as a political entity could use the african wealth to try and by friends, by or entice governments around the world to gain political traction? credibility? absolutely, and that's, that's just, that's a great fear of the western powers. is that they will begin to taliban will take your asian as turn and begin trading with regional partners. we recently saw

headline and cnn. afghanistan has one trillion dollars of rare earth minerals that the world needs and by the world. cnn, of course, is referring to the west. there are also the, there's also the chinese talk is donnie economic corridor, which will bring dams and infrastructure projects through afghanistan if completed . so the united states has already taken the extraordinary step of freezing some $8500000000.00 of assets in foreign banks that actually belongs to the taliban, which is now the legitimate government in gunnison. so we can already see the economics war, beginning to limit afghanistan's ability to emerge as a kind of your asian is trading partner. what's going to take, what's going to take marks for the afghan government, the taliban governments to get legitimacy around the world. you've already heard

how people are boris johnson and then just intruder of canada, saying that nobody must rush to recognize that taliban is in charge of the government and being a political entity. what do you think? well, you know, if you are walking around hotel in doha, qatar for the past 10 years or so, you might have bumped into in the lobby to into a high level taliban official. they've been being coached by ca, tar, and other other gulf entities. and we can see that reflected in the p r campaign they've attempted to wage in the past week, where they've claimed that they will allow women to continue to participate in public life. that they will not impose the bercher that women merely need to wear the job which allows their faces to be seen. they have made signals to the shia population of afghanistan that they will not attack their shrines or seek to force them out of public. and this but this to me signals that dough high coaching them

the same way they've coach tomas in an attempt to win to, to appeal to the international community. so it'll take really 2 things to the taliban. they have to make good on these pledges, and they have to impose military force over the country so that it does not become . afghanistan does not become a star wars bar for international extremists. and the big challenge i was just gonna ask you, are you buying the words of the taliban when they say that they want they, they hope to allow women to get a job to get an education the taliban saying they wouldn't be any revenge attacks against those for example, translated to work with western allied forces. are you buying words at the time? the band man? i get. i don't have much interaction with the taliban. i can tell you that the press conferences they gave back in the ninety's looked a lot different from the one they gave in, sharp granny's presidential palace. they're attempting to put on a more professional face. they're attempting

a public relations campaign because italy, bonds, leadership control the taliban rank and file. that's another question. and we have seen attacks on has our, as we have seen attacks on girls schools. so it's an open question. maxwell is a really appreciate your work. you've done some really good stories more around the world. max blumenthal editor of the grades are in joining us here in 19 to national . appreciate it. max, thanks for your time. thanks a lot. well, for days there had been warnings of an eminent terror attack outside cobble that board with multiple european leaders now readjusting their plans in the wake of today's blast. it comes out the 31st of august deadline fost approaches past which no western forces ought to remain in cobble. earlier i heard from europe correspondent peter oliver and u. k. r t z e to ali who brought us both brought us up to speed on the latest international reaction. peter will start with you, have we heard anything concrete yet from the.