this is particularly true of bagram airfield. many of you have visited bagram at some point over the past 20 years, and were probably struck by two of its defining features. its sprawling size and its isolation. virtues for moe of its life span, they rendered it untenable under the circumstances. the guidance i received in april was to conduct the complete withdrawal of u.s. combat forces and plan for a diplomatic security force of absolutely no more than 650 service members. it was not feasible to preserve the u.s. embassy in kabul, hold and defend hamid karzai international airport, the embassy's key link to the outside world, and also defend bagram airfield with 650 soldiers and marines. this is important. the bagram option went away when we ordered to reduce our presence to the 650 personnel in kabul. i would like to shift briefly to the neo, which i have noted, was a completely different operation than the withdrawal. they were separate. the withdrawal began in april, following the president's direction. the decision to cond

this is particularly true of bagram airfield.y of you have have visited bagram at some point in the past 20 years and were probably struck by two defining features, it's sprawling size and its isolation. virtues for most of its life span they rendered it untenable under the circumstances. the guidance i received in april was to plan for a diplomatic security force of no more than 650 service members. it was not feasible to preserve the u.s. embassy in kabul, hold and defend the international airport, embassy's key link to the outside world and defend bagram airfield with 650 soldiers and marines. this is important. the bagram option went away when we were ordered to reduce our presence to the 650 personnel in kabul. i would like to ift briefly to the neo, it was a completely different operation than a withdrawal. they were separate. the withdrawal began in april following the president's direction. the decision to conduct a neo rested with the department of state and they made that decision on 14 august. in our neo planning centr

as you know, no time were our forces really away from karzai international airfield. there was nobody there on the ground to play that role. you can see from the graphic the position of the strike was three to four kilometers west, so there was nobody, us or proxy of ours involved. >> including special operations forces? >> explicitly. >> can you talk about challenges conducting the drone strikes without any u.s. troops on the ground? >> so we conduct successful drone strike two days earlier and got the target and i think that had a significant event on dislocating and suppressing isis-k's ability to attack us during this period of time. so we actually had success with that. this one we did not have success with, and we have been clear about owning up to our responsibility in this regard. >> we've got time for a couple more. >> thank you. general mckenzie, tara cop with defense one. since there are no u.s. forces on the ground, how would the payments be provided to surviving family members if they are provided, and i know you walked us through timeline at the beginnin

did they plan to give a biography airfield? if they plan on that was a intentional they made those decisions are was it reckless stupidity that god is here? i yield the floor.

a little less than 24 hours later, rocket will be launched in that point against the air airfield. the second part is whether this will affect future operations, let me be clear. this was a self-defense strike taken under self-defense rules of engagement based on an imminent threat to attack us. it's not the way we woud strike in an oth mission going into afghanistan against isis k targets. that would not be a self-defense strike. it will be done under different rules of engagement. we'll have a lot more opportunity than we had under this extreme time pressure to take a look at the tarpt. none of these things were available to us given the pressing nature to our forces. >> are you considering reparations for victims here and what happened to this strike say to you about the over the horizon capability we have been hearing about? what are the risks involved on the dprounds in afghanistan going forward? >> sure. as i said in my statement, we are considering reparations for this? ultimately the amount of policy. we're in consultation with the office of secretary of defense to determin

to do starting with why did we give up the most strategic airbase in the middle of asia, bagram airfield, why did we do that? it makes no sense. we owe it to the nation, those who served, their families and our allies to preserve the records of how our time in afghanistan ended for every people we and members of the armed service committee represent here in congress this is the biggest issue facing our military since vietnam. those that have given so much to this cause are demoralized and disheartened. i've talked to hundreds of them the last couple of weeks. al qaeda didn't defeat our military. the taliban didn't defeat our military. the complexities of rebuilding a country did not beat our military. this administration in washington, d.c. defeated our troops. never in american history have we seen a commander-in-chief leave americans behind enemy lines. it is unheard of. unheard of in the history of this country. i cannot think of a single fighting man or woman who would leave an american behind. it doesn't make sense. that is why they fight. we do not leave people behind to the soldie

it has two runways but it's not what you want to examine when you look at an airfield.thing called the ability to move aircraft on the runway and they had better facilities for that. additionally as the secretary noted, the distance where the people are had to be a planning factor and we were under the direction to go to zero, 650 to secure the embassy so it wasn't an option under those circumstances. if you have the assumption that there is no afghan army the 73 you have n to have a quick reaction and then secure the roads between kabul and the security issues clearly are different but it really was not a feasible option given the numbers of troops, distance and security requirements. >> follow-up you mentioned having to evacuate so quickly. do you trust of the information you are receiving from our intelligence community general austin? >> i have confidence in the information we get from the communities, yes. that doesn't say they will be 100% rightht all the time. >> you give and it seems as though they did not at all planned for a complete surrender of the afghan fo

the turks were there but they only actually secured a small fraction of the airfield. the rest of the long perimeter around the runway was secured by afghan military forces. our assumption was that they would continue to perform that function. but since we stated that as an assumption by the way we planned, we have to say if that assumption is wrong because an assumption is a future hypothetical condition we believe is going to occur, we felt that was always something we should challenge. we developed a plan if that assumption failed, if they melted away. we had a branch plan developed as part of the overall plan where we would introduce adequate combat forces to physically take over securing the perimeter of the airfield in case it did melt away. the first week of august it looked increasingly likely that they would melt away so i began, talk to the secretary and the chairman and we agreed to bring forces and for that contingency. >> thank you. my question for all three of you and perhaps with you, general, how long have you believed that the afghan military might not

did they plan to give up the airfield? did they plan to leave thef equipment for the taliban to use? was it intentional they made those decisions? or was it g reckless stupidity? smith is suitably good press of eyes on the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. live coverage begins 10:00 a.m. online at c-span.org or listen on the frequencies and radio app. >> the ronald reagan presidential foundation, chris christie speaking about his vision for the republican party. he said gop needs to embrace the truth even when it's painful.

got to be in afghanistan forever but i'm saying if any of you stated that idea to evacuate bagram airfield before we evacuated everyone. >> by making the comments public and putting them on social media summit was relaxed its able to incur likely among other things broke the chain of command. on saturday scheller posted on his facebook that his superiors had ordered him to stop posting on social media. he ended the post with i am ready for jail, then he was tossed into the brig. if anyone is truly guilty of breaking the chain of command or disparaging the military and his general mark millie. before and after the election he hopscotch over the commander-in-chief to coordinate with chinese counterparts and when nancy said donald trump is crazy millie said he agreed. but millie remains typically dismissive and defiant. >> at no time was i attempting to change or influence the process, usurp authority or insert myself in the chain of command, but i'm expected, i am required to give my advice and ensure the president is fully informed on military matters. >> it deserves to be held accountable

soldiers, whisked into the airfield. >> there were so many checkpoints. and no one would allow you to go through there. we passed many checkpoints. >> reporter: it would take two more days before they were airlifted out, with thousands of others. >> so many stories. so many families. we have to try to do the best we can and keep on plowing through. >> reporter: there are so many other families desperate for help. he said, he and other members of congress are hoping for more success stories like this one. you guys? >> we're waiting for those stories, as well. we appreciate you bringing us this story. like he said, so many families. so many stories of their own. hopefully we can bring you more success stories, as well. >>> coming up, holding a plank for nine minutes. wait, that's me. how about nine hours? >> "wait, what?" how this athlete made it into the record books. i can give you a solid 30 seconds. >> did i say nine minutes for me? i'm going to turn that down. 1 minute 30, maybe. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> time now for "wait, what?" starting with a record-breaking plan

such is why we turned over bagram airfield. >> in my view, there is no -- was no risk-free status quo option. >> i did not see any tactical utility to bagram. >> laura: imagine what china thinks of the great american war machine led by these men. if not being able to secure an air base long enough to do an orderly evacuation? forcing our troops to do and possible perimeter security doing i.d. checks with crowds crashing toward them back while, milley did admit the obvious, that the withdrawal was a strategic failure. you think? but he still doesn't believe anyone should be held accountable for it. and the pentagon has admitted they mistakenly killed ten civilians, including seven kids in that drone attack. same answer there, no accountability. they might as well just have said "arvada," but of course no one resigned, no one was fired. simply stunning. by contrast, scheller and his parents except that he broke the rules, even if his reasons were noble. >> while stuart broke chain of command, i contend general will mckenzie, general milley, secretary austin, they have broken the chain o

because they said there's navigation aid on washington reagan airfield. so take if you can imagine 360 radius coming out of it's one of the ways we navigate. you take those and take a mileage off of that radio. so for example instead of calling it national let's call it bull's-eye. after somebody who might be on that 090 radio of that vortex you 090 and for 30 miles what you call 090 4:30. then given altitude, 090 4:30 eight, 5000 feet but instantaneous these guys got it for their learning agility was phenomenal. they adapted and changed how they had been trained to operate and sequencing airplanes and separating them. learning how to bring airplanes together and affects and intercepts. how help give us a vector to intercept something they might see. or for example if we had eight radar hits in a city out there with the idea clear contact bull's-eye 030 for 25, 2000 feet. potomac would then say oh, that is a medevac flight 1363 he is squawking 5263. he is off of fredericksburg and headed toward easton. or something like that. and so they were very quickly

because they said there's navigation aid on washington reagan airfield. so take if you can imagine 360 radius coming out of it's one of the ways we navigate. you take those and take a mileage off of that radio. so for example instead of calling it national let's call it bull's-eye. after somebody who might be on that 090 radio of that vortex you 090 and for 30 miles what you call 090 4:30. then given altitude, 090 4:30 eight, 5000 feet but instantaneous these guys got it for their learning agility was phenomenal. they adapted and changed how they had been trained to operate and sequencing airplanes and separating them. learning how to bring airplanes together and affects and intercepts. how help give us a vector to intercept something they might see. or for example if we had eight radar hits in a city out there with the idea clear contact bull's-eye 030 for 25, 2000 feet. potomac would then say oh, that is a medevac flight 1363 he is squawking 5263. he is off of fredericksburg and headed toward easton. or something like that. and so they were very quickly

so all of this stuff, look, no one keeping people from coming to the airfield to be able to leave.y are not locking them. the agreement is we would be there until the 31st. the taliban was still the enemy until the 31st. so i don't understand how we are allowing all of this to go on, especially our generals. especially our generals on the ground there allowing these marines, these marines, army, navy, all of these warriors to be put in this type of danger. and then look what happened. they are not being held accountable? i don't blame the administration on this. i blame everyone in the top in the military. if they don't agree with this, then they need to resign. the lieutenant colonel is the only one that has had the courage to stand up and say "why are these things happening? "and you see what happened to him. >> rachel: absolutely, dakota we are coming up on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 appeared to be mentioned at the top of the segment, joe biden a great moment for him with the photo op clearly an embarrassment and humiliation for the country. more important, what will this anni

did they plan to give up bagram airfield? did they plan to leave all of the equipment for the taliban to use? did they plan on that? was it intentional that they made those decisions, or was it reckless stupidity that got us here? i yield the floor. mr. rubio: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: last weekend we lost a truly selfless public servant, mr. richard kinkwho have iii from my office. he joined our office in 2013 and he literally never left. he kept showing up after his internship had ended until we final lay had to hire -- final lay had to hire him full-time to work with us because he kept showing you every single day. he wanted to serve. he want to serve the people of florida. that's exactly what rich did for the past eight years, leading our team and graciously responding to hundreds of thousands of constituent inquiries. i think it's important to note, that's tedious work. for him, two not a formula or -- for him, it was not a formula or checking boxes. he was passionate ab

the original idea was to get to the area where there is an airfield.t was quickly taken about it taliban. you have to go over land and into uzbekistan. they're not going into pakistan. and certainly not into iran. they don't have pakistan's assistance in getting americans out. so those americans who are still and there are quite a few of them are still going to try to win their way over the hindu kush and get taken out. very difficult. >> so in the minute or so we have left, there is a lot of confusion over the flights that have been parked on this airstrip in northern afghanistan. the secretary of state today said that some evacuation flights out of afghanistan were prevented from taking off because they included passenger that's didn't have valid travel documents. i understand you have some reporting on this. help us make sense of what is happening here. >> it's a very confusing picture. here's why. this is not an official government sanctioned effort underway. i've been talking to the veteran groups who formed a consortium where they've been vetting

that i recommended a level of 2,500, a level that would have allowed us to hold bagram and other airfieldseral milley was also asked about reporting in the book "peril" about his phone calls to his chinese counterpart. >> you chose to talk to reporters instead of us and that's of great concern. no one in congress knew that one of two of the major nuclear powers thought that they were perhaps being threatened for attack. >> i guarantee that that intelligence was disseminated in the president's pdp, the director of cia, the secretary of defense, the assistant to the president for national security affairs, and others. that was significant and there was a lot of it. >> and joining us now is the chairman of the house armed services committee, congressman adam smith of washington. first, i want to thank you for your patience because you've been standing by for us as we've dealt with breaking news. general mckenzie reiterated his recommendations for the withdrawal, keeping 2,500 troops which would have kept bagram airfield. without relitigating the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan, what did you

>> the purpose of our force at the airfield was to bring american citizens and afghans at risk out. in order to do that you had to have the gates open. you had to process people. you're right, there were a lot of threats and we worked very hard to minimize those threats and you try to balance it. every once in a while the bad guys sneak one in on you. that's how this occurred. not a lack of attention to trying to find the cells or looking hard for them. we found a number. we did in fact enable and stop those attacks from oh curing. this one we were not successful. >> i want to drill down. the taliban was controlling the checkpoints around the airport. and you had indicated general mckenzie the u.s. at that time had you called it a pragmatic relationship of necessity with the taliban. did we share any information with the taliban about the isis-k threat and how did they respond and get in? is it possible they let them in on purpose? >> it is possible they let them in on purpose. the body of intelligence that indicates that is not what happened. one event happened and a terrible event

as far as our dealings with them at that airfield or in the past year or so, in war, you do what you must in order to reduce risk to mission in force, not necessarily what you want to do. >> this has been seen in the u.s. as a humiliating withdrawal. there are lots of questions these two gentlemen need to have answers for, such as how did the intelligence go so wrong? they publicly came out and said they thought the afghan forces could last six months up to a younger half. was there a contingency plan? they say there was and that's why we had all these troops near afghanistan able to deploy quickly, but there will be lots and questions about how this got so wrong so fast, how they were able to get all the americans out. i believe there are 200 or so still there. why the majority of afghans who worked in the united states were left in afghanistan. you could see with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he seemed as though this was very much painful for him. he talked about the number of troops that died in afghanistan and iraq under his command, and the message from the secretar

but the state department says they have no control over that airfield. then there is 25-year-old masria, an american from california who is pregnant and trapped in afghanistan, here speaking to voice of america. >> there has been days where, you know, i think to myself, i say am i going to make it home am i going to end up living here? am i going to end up dying here >> reporter: before u.s. forces withdrew, she scrambled to the airport with her american passport, but the taliban didn't let her through. >> i got a gun pointed to my head >> reporter: tonight she says the taliban are hunting down americans. now tens of thousands of vulnerable afghans were also left behind. international flights are still not taking off from kabul, and traveling over land is dangerous. here in pakistan, the government is really only letting people into the country who have all the right documents or who need serious medical care tom? >> molly hunter with that update from the region, molly, thank you. >>> in just 60 seconds, the crisis for millions of americans as unemployme

today, an airfield flooded with fighrs. first task, repairing the runways so commercial airlines can fly again. >> as you can see, these infidels destroyed the entire airport. they haven't left any machinery in good repair. we had a team ready to fix this mess ever since we came to kabul . now that the americans have left, we are ready to clean it up. >> all flights havstopped, but afghans still keep trying to get in to find a way out of this country. taliban guards turn them away. the last u.s. military flight lifted off last night after days of chaos and casualties. the skies exploded with taliban celebration when the last u.s. soldier was on his way home. today, when we drive through the streets of kabul, the city seems much the same. until we get to the banks. to the cues stretching down the street. most banks are shut. most don't have any money. some people have stood here for days, wondering if they can withstand this for long. >> i should build the future. i should study. if the situations are like that, you should s

because of the skill and leadership of the troops they took over the airfield in a country falling apart and execute the operation. it would have been difficult under any circumstances and our soldier performed very well in 48 hours getting control of an airfield in another country. >> you are talking about a compressed time frame. i'm talking in totality what they are looking at there is a chaotic effort. your military judgment would probably not have been focused in your recommendations and seeing this outcome. >> my recommendations at the time and my analysis at the time were aligned with what you've heard from general miller previously and general mckenzie. flat line at 2500 and go for negotiated solutions and conditions-based. we all render our advice. presidents make decisions and we execute. >> this morning you stated that the withdrawal was a logistical success but strategic failure. i would say probably american citizens and special immigrant visa holders would probably disagree. those that were left behind would disagree with your view of a logistical success. i want to focus o

billion dollars worth of arms that we left behind, not to mention the trillion dollars in the bagram airfieldously located between china and russia but i guess this was president obama's priority anyway because biden has a national security team of obama and obama did not want america to have eyes and ears on china and russia, did he. >> we don't have that in the bagram airbase before we got all of our citizens out and help their citizens over there in history will not look on that kindly. it does leave the back door wide open not only do we have the terrorist threat renewed in afghanistan but china and russia will happily tell, time is not stupid enough to do terrorist attacks and do things overtly except for on the side realm but they don't have the perfect proxy in the taliban they cannot prop them up financially in the tears activities in afghanistan and here in the united states. maria: which is leading some people to believe that the ccp, the chinese communist party will move into the bagram airbase and take over that airbase which would be an incredible blackeye on america internationa

your bazaar of entering graham airfield, lead directly to 13 merchant marines, murdered and cobbled you should resign. a grilling.

billion dollars worth of arms that we left behind, not to mention the trillion dollars in the bagram airfieldbetween china and russia but i guess this was president obama's priority anyway because biden has a national security team of obama and obama did not want america to have eyes and ears on china and russia, did he. >> we don't have that in the bagram airbase before we got all of our citizens out and help their citizens over there in history will not look on that kindly. it does leave the back door wide open not only do we have the terrorist threat renewed in afghanistan but china and russia will happily tell, time is not stupid enough to do terrorist attacks and do things overtly except for on the side realm but they don't have the perfect proxy in the taliban they cannot prop them up financially in the tears activities in afghanistan and here in the united states. maria: which is leading some people to believe that the ccp, the chinese communist party will move into the bagram airbase and take over that airbase which would be an incredible blackeye on america international security pro

past and whether or not they change remains to be seen and as far as our dealings with them at the airfield so anwr you do what you must in order to reduce risk not necessarily what you want to do. it's possible. tarja predict where this will go in the future with respect to the taliban. sharon: is the taliban begins planning for its new government in afghanistan we heard from the pentagon. if possible we could be working with the taliban in the fight against ice isis preceptor corda senator mike rounds serves on the senate armed services committee foreign relations and veterans affairs committee and joins me now. senator is great to have you here. what did you make of that suggestion from general millie that we could be working with the taliban in the future. >> general mellie -- general millie is doing the best he can under very difficult conditions. the strategic decision by our president to leave afghanistan on not on the conditions basis but a day certain put our military and a very tough position. he's doing the best he can undergo strategic decisions that have already been made. he a

today, an airfield flooded with fighters.iring the runways so commercial airlines can fly again. translation: as you can see, these infidels destroyed - the entire airport. they haven't left any machinery in good repair. we had a team ready to fix this mess ever since we came to kabul. now that the americans have left we are ready to clean it up. all flights have stopped, but afghans still keep trying to get in, to find a way out of this country. taliban guards turn them away. the last us flight lifted off last night, and the skies exploded with taliban celebration, after the last american soldier, major general chris donahue, was on his way home. when we drive through the streets of kabul, the city seems much the same, until we get to the banks. to the queues stretching all the way down the street. most banks are shut, most don't have any money. some people have stood here for days wondering if they can withstand this for long. i should build a future, i should study. so definitely if the situations are like that, you should

and as far as our dealings with them at that airfield or in the past year or so in war, you do it, you must in order to reduce risk to mission and force not what you necessarily want to do. any possibility of coordination against i ok. it's possible going going forward, bob, i again, i would not want to make any predictions. i would tell you that we're going to do everything that we can to make sure we remain focused on isis k. understand that network. and at the time of our choosing in the future, hold them accountable for what they've done since go to healthy and cooper. thank you for doing this. i have a question for you and then another one for general milly. mr. secretary, perhaps it's possible that there is no exit from janice and that was not has been chaotic given what we now know and for all the reasons that the administration has mentioned. but i would like to know now in hindsight, is there one thing that you wish that you or the pentagon had done could have done differently. thank selling. i would just tell you that there hasn't been a single operation that i've ever been i

will china go and take over the bagram airfield base?threat means for security here at home, just a few days away as we mark 20 years since 9/11. back in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ maria: welcome back. good thursday morning, everybody. thanks so much for joining us, i'm maria bartiromo. it is thursday, september 9th. a look at markets this half hour where we are expecting a decline at the start of trading this morning. take a look. dow industrials right now down 83, the s&p 500 down 11 and-a-half, the nasdaq lower by 31. recovery concernses are weighing on markets, dragging stocks lower as expectations for peak growth having been seen continue to resonate. dow industrials were down 69, nasdaq was down 87 and s&p 500 lower by 6 at 4:00 on wall street. european markets this morning are lower as well, ahead of news out of the european central bank. we will get the ecb decision in about an hour and-a-half and we will bring that news to you. the ft 100 going into the meeting is down 82, the cac is down 15 and dax index lower by 3

international airport in late august describes and desperate afghans tried to force their way on to the airfield . the footage was posted by us marine guarding the airport. it just picked service members throwing smoke grenades, firing warning shots, and pointing their weapons, asked civilians with women and children among them. american officials early confirmed that warning shots were indeed fired as a means of crime control will cripple airport is now devoid of western troops. and on the taliban control, the u. s. military tried to destroy whatever equipment they could before leaving, which can also be seen in the marines video. our senior correspondent, motor gas t f reports next from the airport. these place looks very different to what we arrived to during the evacuation that cleaning the plagues up. there's set enormous amount of work to do what with all the vehicles, all the armament tool, the i'm you mission that was left behind by us and allied forces as they retreated as above while there was of this tool as a person that is still being cleaned up, but as i said, there's a lot of work

and as far as her dealings with them at that airfield or in the past year or so, in war, you do it you in order to reduce risk, know necessarily what you want to do. fifty thousand people have been forced to leave the lake tahoe area of california, as firefighters continue to battle a huge wildfire in the region. the area is a popular tourist destination but it's largely deserted now, as strong winds fan the flames of a blaze that's destroyed more than 700 structures — most of them family homes. i'm joined now by our north america correspondent peter bowes. how are fire fighting efforts going — and what challenges are fire fighters facing? there are huge challenges, not least because of the size of this fire that covers the equivalent area of the city of chicago. so, you can imagine how difficult that is for firefighters to get containment around the perimeter of this fire which is what they're trying to do. there's some good news and that 20%, a fifth of the perimeter is not contained. and in the past few days, it is slowly moving in the right direction. but tremendous challenges, not