kirby: no. reporter: [indiscernible] mr. kirby: i wasn't aware of that. reporter: are you worried about this triggering panic in kabul? mr. kirby: this is about safe movement of our people in afghanistan. reporter: the civilians who live there are going to see a large number of americans being whisked away by the military while they are stuck with the taliban. mr. kirby: afghan forces have advantages. they have capability to protect their territory and people. they have the capacity to do that. what i think the afghan people want to see and deserve to see is the leadership and the will to use those advantages to their benefit. thanks, everybody. [speaking foreign language] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] chair: -- mr. kirby: i can't predict from there, right now they are going to qatar, and 3000 at the airport and then there will be a reserve force out of fort bragg that will stage in kuwait, rou

kirby: no. steve. >> thanks for doing this. are any additional air force squadrons or aircraft heading to the middle east for this? could you also speak to any of the rules of engagement troops on the ground will have? mr. kirby: i have nothing to announce or speak to with respect to additional air force assets. i have told you -- i've given you the laydown of exactly what we are sending to support this movement. that said, i also said in my opening statement that there will be errorless. there will be an air force role with air lifts. with combat aircraft, i know of no such moves to do that and i have laid out for you twice what the movements would be and will not speak about rules of engagement. we never do that from the podium. >> speculating on movements on kabul but how would you describe the situation there? is kabul under threat? is kabul isolated? what is it? mr. kirby: right now, without getting into a battlefield assessment everyday, i don't want to do that. but kabul is not right now in an imminent threat environment

kirby: i do not know. obviously, we have a responsibility to return the child to the child's parents. i do not know who the child is and whether they are an applicant, i do not have that level of detail. i think it was a very humane act of compassion by the marines, and exactly the kind of skill and professionalism we talk about. >> i have a question for the general. now that the airport is secured, can you take us back to the breach that occurred on monday. what is the assessment of what occurred? what forces were in the area at the time? maj. gen. taylor: as we built combat out, in the early stage, it was very dynamic. we assessed that, after that happened, obviously it was reinforced, and throughout those days, we have ensured that the three under 60 degree perimeter -- 360 degree perimeter, i do not have the tactical assessment to pass along, but that was quickly fixed. the commanders there were able to use the assets immediately, and as we build more combat power, we have ensured it has not happened s

kirby: i don't know.e will have to take that question and get back to you. >> thank you very much for your hard job, good job. afghan people -- some of them are not eligible for visas. they are not in kabul, they are hiding, they move from one place to the other place. they contact with me, more than 100 people, but can we do? do you have any plans from the state department, the pentagon, because they are the target of the taliban. the spokesperson has said we are not allowing the people to leave afghanistan, they are in jail. on the other hand, the taliban is not one group. they are not eligible for those visas. is there any other option for them? mr. kirby: i can't speak for each and every afghan who wants to leave and is dealing with their own individual circumstances to get out. we know there are a lot of desperate people who want to leave. that is why we are working as fast as we can. you saw the numbers that we continue to get out, we are working as fast as we can to get out american citizens, speci

kirby: ok. the deadline-dirnl' going to miss some of these -- dead line, i'm going to miss some of these. you're right, there's been no change to the timeline of the mission, which is to have this completed by the end of the month. we continue to make progress every day in getting americans, as well as s.i.v. applicants, and vulnerable afghans out. you heard the numbers that the general briefed just a minute ago. and the vast majority of these individuals are afghans. we remain committed to getting any and all americans that want to leave to get them out. we still believe certainly now that we have been able to increase the capacity and the flow, we believe that we -- we have the capability, the ability to get that done by the end of the month. you asked for bases here in the united states was another one. reporter: would you need to increase the number -- mr. kirby: it's possible we might be looking at additional u.s. military installations here in the united states. right now we are looking --

kirby: it's -- gen.aylor: it's important we do the full screen process all the way to making a final decision to where somebody goes. i know we will continue that. going back to right now, the guidance in's and continues to be to increase our outlook to make that happen. >> is the american flag flying at the airport in kabul right now? gen. taylor: yes. >> there is some talk that the u.s. embassy, which caused nearly $800 million to build, why was that closed and the flag taken to the airport? shouldn't they flag come down last from in embassy one -- when conducting an evacuation question mark -- conducting in evacuation? gen. taylor: i can speak to that. operations continue to happen at the airport. at headquarters where u.s. personnel continue to execute the mission, the flag flies. >> when evaluating a country, does not the american flag come down from the embassy last? that is what a lot of veterans are saying. gen. taylor: i will say the fact that the flag continues to fly and the mission continues

kirby: good afternoon. we will get started, today we are delighted to have join us, general vanherck, commander of norad. the general has some opening comments about the comments northern command is extending to help our interagency colleagues process afghans in the special immigrant visa program. i'm going to turn it over to him for a second. he will have some opening comments come up that will go to q and day. -- q & a. before you ask your question of the general, identify yourselves and your outlet. general, can you hear me ok? gen. vanherck: i have you loud and clear. press sec. kirby: thank you for joining us. i will turn over to you, sir. gen. vanherck: it is great to be with you and the press corps today. before i go on, i want to remind everybody to keep those warriors and heroes who lost their lives yesterday in our thoughts and prayers, along with their families, the folks who continue to serve in afghanistan and around the globe doing our nation's business, we should keep them in our thoughts and

kirby: absolutely. will just leave. >> general, i think you said you would do up to one aircraft -- to clarify when you said about these talks with the taliban, it is u.s. military personnel who are talking to taliban commanders? sec. kirby: our commanders in the operation have had communication with taliban leaders. >> and could you explain, apparently you put the 82nd air corps headquarters there. can you walk us through that? sec. kirby: sure, barb. number one, this is what the 82nd airborne does well. their job is to be ready to assist in a very expeditious manner, and the task of securing and operating an airfield is actually a task they can do, so the general has experience in that. number two, we have someone commanding on the ground with a spate of other duties he has to attend to, to include liaison with the state department, our allies and partners also on the ground in kabul, the turkish support element. there's a lot of things to do, so we felt like this division of labor made the most sense

kirby: tony?eporter: do you have a breakdown by gender, roughly how may women, girls, boys, men have been processed by dod. are they in separate facilities? -- local kitchens -- gen. vanherck: we are seeing about 50% -- 50-50, male-female. we are seeing 15% of children. a lot of females were pregnant. i do not have a specific detail for what you asked about for the total number with children, male, female, we are seeing right now 513 children at one location for a total of about 30% of that location. regards to your second question, we contract to provide support, multiple males out -- multiple meals, breakfast is hello. -- halal. we will do the same for dinner. most locations will or do have a 24 hour grab and go, culturally come up for the afghans as well. i hope that enters your food question. reporter: laura. politico. med price said earlier you did not -- price said earlier you did not know how many evacuees had been evacuated. can you square that with the number you gave earlier? is there di

kirby.e have a lot of additional details to offer you about the attack yesterday at the abbey gate that i can confirm for you that we do not believe there was a second explosion at or near the hotel, that it was one suicide bomber. we are not sure how that report was provided incorrectly but we know it's not any surprise that in the confusion of a very dynamic event, it can cause information to sometimes be misreported or garbled. we felt it was important to correct the record with you all here. you have now seen we have updated our casualty list to include a 13th servicemember killed in action. our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families and to the teammates we have lost. this is a devastating time for these goldstar families, a title no one wants to hold, but we absolutely hold in the utmost respect. i can also report that two flights landed at ram stein today carrying our wounded personnel from the attack. these personnel had been transferred to the medical center and are

kirby: i cannot confirm that reporting. you are getting information i don't have, but it would not surprise me in the least that commanders will be taking a look at what happened this morning with respect to the c-17. i won't get ahead of that process. you can expect we will take a look at this to see what happened and what we can learn from it in the future him a that is absolutely consistent and it would not surprise me if there was a formal investigation, i just can't confirm that. reporter: looking at the images, was the u.s. too late? did the decision come too late? sec. kirby: we flew these forces and as fast as we could, and it was aided by the pre-positioning that was done in previous weeks. you all reported yourselves about the iwo jima, the neighboring -- the navy ship where these troops were extended for several weeks. that was made several weeks ago because it was part of the contingency planning for the need to maybe do evacuations. to make that faster, we moved those marines are sure and saw the benefit. those

kirby: i don't know. we will have to get back to you. >> on behalf of the young kim people thank you for your -- the afghan people thank you for your hard job. the afghan people, some are not eligible for a visa. they have a serious problem. they are not in kabul. they are hiding. they move from one place to the other place. they contacted me. what can we do? do you have any plans from the state department or the pentagon? they are the target of the taliban. a spokesperson said wife with the united states make a problem for us? we are not allowing the people to leave afghanistan. on the other hand, taliban are like five groups. a lot of people there but they are not eligible. is there a possibility for any other option for them to be safe? mr. kirby: i can't speak for each and every afghan who wants to leave and is dealing with their own individual circumstances to get out. we know there are a lot of desperate people who want to leave. that is why we are working as fast as we can. use all the numbers we c

we will be speaking with john kirby, admiral john kirby, the spokes person at the press secretary at the pentagon. lots to talk with him about today. with the fda given full gold standard approval to the pfizer vaccine against covid-19. that cleared the way within hours today, for the pentagon to institute a new requirement, that all active dewy u.s. troops must be vaccinated. that's fascinating new developments, that the defense department. will a big implications in terms of how quickly it's roll out and what happens to service members who may refused to get vaccinated, even though they are required to get other lots of vaccines as part of their service. admiral kirby is also been the main explainer to the public and the press, on the urgent and increasing the massive u.s. airlift after. to evacuate after americans and allies out of it -- between yesterday and today they got nearly 11,000 people evacuated in 1:24 hour period. they had said last week that their maximum range was 5 to 9000 people being evacuated per day. they have evacuated nearly 11,000 in the last 24 hours. that me

a man named john kirby. john kirby was the voice of the joint chiefs during the height of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. john kirby can also be seen here in this photo with former defense secretary chuck hagel. john kirby was his spokesperson at the pentagon for a while, too. that was before mr. kirby went on to become spokesperson for the secretary of state, when john kerry was secretary of state under president obama. he's had these very high visibility jobs at the pentagon, at the state department, he's also a rear admiral in the united states navy. john kirby served in the nave eas the public affairs officer for the blue angels. he served as the editor in chief of the navy magazine, he serves as the spokesperson for the navy. these days he's back at the daapartment of defense, revising his role as press secretary, this time in the biden administration for a defense department that is now led by secretary lloyd austin. john kirby has been a very, very high-profile person in washington for a long time.

you heard the pentagon briefers, john kirby, retired u.s. admiral major general start, assume the >> if they don't continue after we withdraw, we don't win. i guarantee you everybody in my world is not asking about withdrawal, they're asking how do you maintain an intelligence picture to conduct lethal strikes. i would lay any money that you will see, i don't care what the taliban says or what happens with the taliban after the withdrawal, i don't care what the conversation the u.s. government has with them and i don't care what they ask, there will be lethal strikes after september 1st, bet on it. we have to take out isis-k. it is going to happen. >> and i suspect you're 100% right. general wesley clark, let's talk about what you heard. you listened closely to the pentagon briefing. what jumped out at you? >> most important thing is we are continuing with the evacuation. now, obviously we have choked down access, so we're trading off the flow for the security of the marines and soldiers there. that's the command tradeoff. we've obviously go

john kirby taking the microphone. we'll listen in. >> give you an update this morning on our operations in afghanistan at the hamid karzai international airport. i'll ask the general to come back up here. i think i botched his title, deputy director of the joint staff for regional operations j35. i got that wrong yesterday. i apologize for that. before i ask the general to give you an update, there is a couple other things i want to get out there first on haiti in support of the u.s. agency for international development, bureau of humanitarian assistance. u.s. southern command develop common operational pictures and provide life-saving support for the people of haiti. they stood up a joint task force haiti led by rear admiral keith davids, special operations commander there at southcom, currently operating from homestead fair base. jtf will be moving to haiti today we are flying eight helicopters to haiti later this morning to help with providing a picture overhead, the "uss arlington navy amphibious shape will get un

no exact inventory, l but mr kirby had this hope.ant to see any weapons or- but mr kirby had this hope. we don't want to see any weapons or systems j want to see any weapons or systems to fall into the hands of people that would use them in such a way to harm our interests. the americans may not want that — but what they want and what's happening in afghanistan at the moment are two different things. and the risks were known. injuly, the us completed its withdrawal from bagram airbase. across the country, it took home many of its planes and weapons. but it couldn't take everything. this report by the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction found that the afghan military had more than 150 aircraft, including 23 a—29 ground—attack aircraft a5 black hawk helicopters, and 50 md—530 helicopters. it's not clear what has happened to all of them. but here are the taliban with an a29 — this was posted on twitter. also posted on twitter was this video of taliban fighters next to a black hawk — to which the biden administration

and obviously kirby-- john kirby was extraordinarily frustrated and what do you make of it. >> i wantwers proud in there. i asked john kirby, on august 13th, friday the 13th when john kirby sat the podium and stood there and said there's no imminent danger of kabul falling, we know what happened, two days later it fell and we've seen cities fall over afghanistan that week. i asked him how could you get that so wrong? and he said, he stood by every word. he said that was the best assessment at the time and of course our viewers and americans wondering how much can people trust the intelligence community with these assessments because, you know, people had whiplash hearing about it's going to be 90 days, 30 days, the whole country ended up falling in six days. john kirby said he stood by every word. he also said right now that the data to update people. 17,000 people have been evacuated in the past week from afghanistan, but out of those 17,000, charles, only 2500 are americans. and in earlier we received estimates there's between 5 and 10,000 americans. jen psaki at the white house at

kirby said earliers with we talk about troop numbers and capability. capability has not changed for us to secure all of the gates, to be able to process evacuees and our ability to rapidly turn aircraft as they arrive and get -- as we about forced protection at the gate, i'm not going to get into the specific ttps that those junior leaders are taking down there other than we continue to learn every day from the day before. and we work within all of the capabilities we have to ensure, one, that we could continue people to come in, but also stay safe. >> when you say continue to learn, does that mean you have to switch things up in order to make it more safe. >> i would say patterns are things that we try not to, you know, get into. so, i would just say as the most simple operational piece that we're always doing things that we can to keep us safe and not create patterns. >> i would only add to that, as mentioned, we still have active threat streams and we're taking steps that we believe are appropriate to those streams. and i think i'd leave it at that.

kirby for the opportunity again to give you an operations update of current operations in afghanistan. my goal is to provide you with details from my last time in here to ensure that you have as much information as possible. a number of evacuations occurred overnight which i'll provide you more details here shortly. as we speak, we're continuing air operations and air operations continue throughout the night. i'm tremendously proud of the herculean effort we've seen but the u.s. military so far. the rapid insertion of marines and soefrmds and a number of enabling forces moving from within the sent com aor and from the united states. yesterday the u.s. military foot print in afghanistan started at about roughly 2500. and by the end of today, there will be more than approximately 4,000 troops on the ground in kabul. forces will continue to flow in and reinforce the state department and d.o.d. effort there. the operation is ongoing and i'd like to give you a few more details on that operation. h kai remained secure. it is currently open for military flight operations as well as limited c

kimberly, we heard it from john kirby moments ago. these pentagon spokesman, we heard it yesterday from jake sullivan. it sounds like the us line is strengthening towards the we will get out by august 31st. as the taliban digs in their heels. is that what's going on? well, certainly appears that way. however, the person making that decision, if you are the president, joe biden, the commander in chief of the us military. and he is expected to speak in the coming hours following his virtual meeting with g 7 leaders. as we've been reporting, joe biden, under a lot of pressure to extend that august 31st deadline, so that the evacuations of those who wish to get out of afghanistan can continue. so the us president deliberating on that, but he has to make that decision today because as early as friday, those 6000 us soldiers that are assisting in that effort would need to begin their withdrawal. it cannot happen overnight. and so this is something that is being discussed widely here at the white house. but in the midst of all of this, john

what admiral kirby just said. for those who are the afghans that helped us, we think the number is around 7% of 122,000. that's roughly 10,000. the others are afghans able and fortunate enough to get on board the plane. what happens to them is anybody's question. canada is saying they'll take 5,000 immigrants from afghanistan now. watch to see how these countries clock in on that. in the meantime we have this giant overflowing refugee camp in qatar that we talked about a week half ago. the question about the equipment is well taken. they may have disabled it but equipment all over the country which admiral kirby confessed to as well and we've seen it. it is clear to all of us after some of the questions and answers the commander-in-chief made the call about today's date august 31st, 2021 and that's what was executed. >> dana: indeed. take a look at this, also. >> this water was flowing so fast and then it started coming underneath the baseboards and seeping in and before you know it, it was three feet and then fou

kirby just said with that constant communication. i know the most senior commanders on the ground are out and discussing with the taliban leaders that are manning these checkpoints exactly what the documentation needs to look like, times and coordination, details of that. as we know, though, there are reports that some aren't able to get through there. i can tell you that the department of state, the consulor affairs are working with commanders there to ensure that documentation, names and those things, as often as required, are being communicated to the taliban that are at those checkpoints to allow transition in there to get into the gates. >> tara, on contingency plans, obviously i'm not going to get ahead of the planning process. we are a planning organization. one of our main jobs is to make sure that the president has options. as he made clear yesterday, he wants to see this mission complete by the end of the month. we are still working towards that goal, but we will be drafting up potential -- what we call in the military, bra

kirby also said the remaining 3,000 u.s.ops, the two infantry battalions of the marines, and one infantry battalion of the army will be in place by the end of the weekend, and as peter alluded to a few minutes ago, frankly, just a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. when pressed, is kabul surrounded right now, john kirby said the taliban are trying to surround it. but you don't need a top-secret clearance to realize that's exactly what happened. over ten days ago the taliban-controlled zero provincial capitals, now they control more than half the country's provincial capitals. you see the map of afghanistan that we've been showing throughout the day, the taliban essentially taking a vast majority of the country already, martha. >> martha: lucas, you are pressing him on whether or not the head of our department of defense, general austin, wanted this withdrawal. can you give us a little sense of why you were questioning him about that? >> because officials tell me the defense secretary, the chairman of the joint chiefs

. >> and let's listen in, because the pentagon briefing is beginning with john kirby. let's listen in. >> and to rekt as quickly as we have within the day or so, because we had plenty of contingency planning in the works, and in fact, a lot of it complete. because we were and as i have said many times from the podium watching consistently the security situation on the ground. >> so, i can give you a few brief updated details from yesterday. now, as i do this, i think that you can understand that i am not going to have every detail that you might want. there is operational security that is still a concern, and we will observe that here just like we have in the entire drawdown process, but i can tell you a couple of things. the first u.s. forces will provide security at the kabul airport, and these are the existing security forces already in kabul, and that is the infantry, and security personnel and some intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance at the airport. they will stay there, and do their jobs in terms of the internal security there at hamid karzai airport. th

we're waiting, john kirby is updating via twitter. there is supposed to be a pentagon briefing at 10:30. as with everything on the ground has changed and what is going on with the administration right now has changed. let's get over to kylie atwood at the state department. what are you hearing from there? >> reporter: two bits of new news in the tweet from spokesperson john kirby. first of all, this is a complex, in his words, attack. that demonstrates this wasn't just a one-off but many multiple parts to it. and saying there were two at least two explosions. there could have been more. this is clearly an unfolding situation. we're talking to the sources closely monitoring it but it is significant to note that the state department put out an alert to all american citizens saying there was an explosion and saying there were reports of gunfire. so clearly this isn't just the explosions but there are gunfire happening. also, important spokesperson said that one of the explosions happening at the abbey gate. it is significant because that

kirby just said it. we're wear, we're tracking costs but we're nowhere close to accumulating that data for public dissemination. >> i'm sure, laura, when all is done, i mean, at the appropriate time, we'll certainly be able to provide an overall sense of what the cost is. i just would add that the real cost that we're focused on now is human life. that's the cost that we're focused on. >> if i could just follow up, general lyons, are you concerned about the taliban's ultimatum that they issued, that if the u.s. has to stay past august 31st to complete the evacuation? and what is the plan to protect our forces and evacuees in that case? >> as i said, we watch all risks and threats very closely. and i would defer to u.s. central command on most of the parts of those questions. we're in direct contact with them, regularly, continuously. and then we have, you know, our own processes and defensive measures and tactics and procedures to take -- you know, to protect our cruise and to protect our aircraft goes i

at the top of the show we heard lucas tomlinson talking about john kirby said.s our enemy, they hate us what you have here is a total disconnect, a political agenda by the white house and the democrat to leave afghanistan regardless. all the individuals who gave blood helping us from we are deserted them. what is that say about america's credibility? integrity overseas. we have an joe biden does not care. >> joey, i want to ask you because one of the things this man said his video, he said i feel like what we are all thinking, we are the united states of america, we do not ask permission of the taliban anything yet it feels like that's what has happened every single step of the way. how do we get to this race? when did the rules change on this? did we start accepting the taliban is this legitimate organization? >> desperate people do desperate things in our government is desperately right now. they know they are responsible and it fire breathing, it was a clear i. what happened so far from losing 13 names i've read, i do not leave that it had to be that way. reg

he was pressing john kirby on a number of issues including is this a combat mission? what do you do when you get these folks out if the airport, if the designated 600 or so people to keep the airport security is not enough? how much backup will you provide? lucas, your thoughts. >> mark that, there's some questions that john kirby would not call this a combat mission when i pressed him. just to go over what is happening here. 3,000 troops are going to kabul, going to karzai international airport to help evacuate hundreds and thousands of americans and almost afghan interpreters. three infantry battalions, two from the marine corps on warships right now steaming to the area and also an army infantry battalion. there's the alert battalion from fort bragg flying to kuwait. that will be a stand-by force being deployed to kuwait just in case more assets are needed. and then enablers, electricians, different folks going to qatar to be able to help evacuate the interpreters. certainly as brett mentioned, 24 hours ago, there were no plans to deploy this many people. now today

joining me now is pentagon press secretary john kirby. thanks so much for being with us. you know, i'm cognizant of the fact that you spent your life in public service, a big chunk of it in the military. what's it like for you to wake up this morning and after 20 years, for the first time in 20 years, to have no u.s. troops in afghanistan? >> yeah, i think we're all still processing that, john, to be honest with you. it is something that for two decades we've all been connected to, without question. and i think it's going to take time for every veteran to sort of process this on their own. what i can tell you is here at the pentagon there's a mixture of relief we were able to get everybody out safely in those last few hours, all the last remaining 800 troops, and we were able to evacuate 600 americans, 123,000 total people out. there's concern, obviously, over the ones we couldn't get out. that time and space and the security threat simply wouldn't allow us to reach. although we don't think the numbers are large, we are obviously concerned about our friends, allies and am

john kirby did say that. they have the right to self-defend.hat means the situation could change very quickly. our reporting is that the taliban is trying to lock in kabul. they are growing around them, growing around kabul rapidly. they are not necessarily going to try and over run kabul. we don't know what their plans are. sending u.s. troops there could have to change. >> we also know the big headline from that briefing is that u.s. forces are in route, as we speak. thank you. >>> new guidance from the cdc means some americans should get a third vaccine shot. what you need to know. we have those for you, next. [zippers fasten] [engine revs] woo-hoo! it's time for your extracurriculars. ¡vámanos, amigos! if you have this... and you get this... you could end up with this... unexpected out-of-pocket costs. which for those on medicare, or soon to be, is a good reason to take charge of your health care. so consider this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. why? because medicare alone doesn't pay for everything. and w

well maybe you will notice if you listen carefully to the pentagon press secretary john kirby. while he described the 2 individuals who were killed by this drones dragon one who was injured as high profile members of ice or k. he would not commit to saying that they were in any way behind the planning of the deadly attack on the cobble air, air base. cobble airport that killed 13 us service members, and many, many africans over a $170.00 afghans. he would not say that you would not go that far. so we don't know at this point officially whether these individuals were involved in planning that or whether they were more or less targets of opportunity, that the u. s. was able to identify through intelligence of various types and then on least the drone strike against them. some other items that we learned from this, kirby saying that there is an active and dynamic threat at the, at the airport in cobble of that. the u. s. forces there are aware of this and are taking every step they can to prevent any further attack to prevent loss of life. he also said that the the, the us will co

kirby didn't seem to have a whole lot of detail on? >> so we know of at least two other countries that have gone out on several occasions at least to go get their citizens and bring them safely to the airport. that includes the british and the french. we know they had been doing that. this is the first time we had heard that the u.s. had left the perimeter of the airport at all, throughout this week-long or so operation. john kirby was very quick to say they did not travel far, it was a foot movement, so, you know, people may not be particularly familiar, but there are a number of different gates going into the military side of the airport. and it's a very residential area, in fact there's even more western sort of hotels very close to some of those gates. we don't know exactly who these people were or where they were. all we know so far is it was very close movement. there was apparently no interaction with the taliban. but again, it's significant because it's the first time that we've heard that any u.s. military have left the wire.

that is something that john kirby did not necessarily answer. he toldous barbara starr there is still time to get americans out. a few hundred americans are thought to still be in afghanistan. but he would not say if planes will fly tomorrow. so the next several hours in the white house, across washington, when the state department, to the pentagon, very tense as america's longest war is closing they hope in a quiet and peaceful way but they're certainly standing by prepared for the opposite of that, kate. >> let's get over to barbara starr at the pentagon for us. who was in the briefing. this is a particularly dangerous time, something that i wrote down of what john kirby as well as general taylor were saying about the tail end of this evacuation operation. what did you hear that stuck out to you? >> well i think they are going minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour until this is over. because of the dangerous situation they -- john kirby also talked about an active threat presumably from isis-k still ongoing. i want to endorse what jeff zeleny just sa

kirby said. that is not -- those demands have not been brought to the commanders. >> the president opened up that possibility. stands to reason that the commanders would lay the ground for that -- >> we all heard the same comment from the president to ensure that we use all the capability we have to meet the mission. >> as of now, they're not asking for that specifically or planning for that? >> as of this point. you said two things. you said planning and asking. as i always said, prudent military planning is always continuously happening. we're always forecasting for those types of things. request? no. that hasn't yet. we have not received those. >> couple questions. the communications with the taliban, general, are these really regular calls to the taliban? like a de-confliction with the syrian army. are the calls regular? is there fairly good communication? do they speak good english? do they understand what we're saying? >> communication from high tore lower, i think those continue regular ta

admiral kirby, thanks for joining us. >> you bet. the president said the administration had planned for every contingency in the interview with george stephanopoulos yesterday. are you aware of any plans that involved several thousand americans left to fend for themselves out of security zones through the taliban to get to the airport in the contingency? >> well, we certainly did plan for a noncombatant evacuation, bret. in fact, planning began for that as far back as early may. now, we didn't know exactly what the conditions were going to be like. and as you heard the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff say yesterday, there was nothing that we had seen that would indicate a total collapse of the government in 11 days. and as fast as it was. but, even two weeks ago, bret, we did a table top exercise at the pentagon to further refine what ended up us executing noncombatant out of harmid karzai airport. >> we have fluid situation. things happened faster than we anticipated they would happen. luckily we had preportioned forces in the