i want to turn now to alex marquardt, who is at the pentagon for us., the united states central command, has put out a new statement about the strike. >> that's right, pam. it is quite the change in tone from central command, which does oversee this war in afghanistan. not long after we learned about the strike earlier today, they put out a statement full of confidence saying that they were confident that they had hit their target, there they were still assessing the possibility of civilian casualties though they did not at the time have any indications that there are any. of course now we are reporting that at least nine members of a single family were killed in this strike. and as sam alluded to, one possibility that centcom is raising is that it was the explosives in the car that could have led to the deaths of these civilians. i want to read to you part of the statement that we just did receive moments ago from centcom. it says, we are still assessing the results of this strike. we know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions

alex marquardt joins me with details.we've seen before. when these groups feel pressure, they come back under a different name. when dark side attacked colonial back in may, that led to gas shortages up and down the east coast. dark side was paid over $4 million in ransom by colonial. they then went away. they said they were feeling pressure from the united states, that their infrastructure was under pressurely law enforcement and they went away. right after that, the fbi was able to get back more than $2 million of that ransom that colonial pipeline had paid. now there's this new group called black matter. there are significant ties between the two. a cybersecurity group called coin analysis has established financial ties between dark side and black matter. experts who have delved into the code that black matter is using says they're using almost virtually identical encryption coding. this is not 100%. these are very, very strong indications. black matter, for its part, has denied it's dark side reincarnated. they say th

alex marquardt, cnn, state department. >>> and in part of the afghan capital, there were celebrations as the last u.s. military aircraft took off. a local reporter working with cnn said heavy gunfire could be heard and tracer fire out across the sky. taliban fighters were seen on the streets firing automatic weapons into the air. a video on social media purported to show taliban fighters walking toward the airport. later they could be seen in the airport hangar viewing the military equipment left behind. an l.a. times middle east bureau chief was at the airport when taliban fighters entered a hangar housing u.s. military equipment including a ch-46 helicopter and he spoke with cnn about what he witnessed. >> we took this video minutes after the last american plane had left. at that point you have the taliban going through the airport and when they saw that there were no more planes, they then went inside en masse. and we were able to go towards the gate and after a few minutes before manned by the americans. they were able to get in the hangars, the tarmac of course, and they were doi

alex marquardt also with us from the state department. and, barbara, it was very interesting when general mckenzie said that they did not get every american out, but he also thought even if they had ten extra days, he didn't think they would be able to get out everyone they wanted to get out. it has been an incredibly complicated logistically and also very dangerous process. we've all been hearing behind the scenes about buses full of people trying to flee afghanistan, not able to get through the gate because of the terrorist threat. >> well, jake, i think that's right. and i think, going back to your previous point, some of this may be the reason you saw general mckenzie be the one to make the announcement. make no mistake, president biden now has a four-star general in the marine corps senior commander putting his stamp on this withdrawal today, the completion of the u.s. effort, military effort in afghanistan. the terror threat from isis-k has certainly complicated it in recent days. mckenzie took, i thought it was interesting, he took

breaking news out of kabul where we've heard about rockets being fired at the airport, cnn's alex marquardtporter: good to be back with you, michael. what appears to be happening is things getting more dangerous in kabul in these final hours of the u.s. drawdown. that deadline of course is on tuesday august 31st. what we know is that as many as five rockets have been fired in the last few hours at hamid karzai international airport. that would be monday local time in kabul. and just before midnight here on the east coast of the united states. that's according to a u.s. official. now, the u.s. official also says that what's known as the c-ram defense system which has been installed at the airport engaged with those rockets. now, what that system is designed to do is essentially to shoot down incoming rocket artillery or mortar fire. that's what the ram in fact stands for. so that engaged with those rockets, presumably taking them out, because this same source is telling us there are no reports of casualties at this time. the source, michael, did not say who they believe to be behind these ro

>> alex marquardt, an amazing story. and there's a gofundme for ikbal and his family. discuss these evacuation efforts and those left behind with afghan national army colonel abdul rakmani. he's an afghan pilot and a former staffer. colonel, thanks so much for being here. it's an honor to meet you. we've kept in touch on twitter for quite some time. you've been scrambling to get friends and colleagues out of afghanistan after the taliban takeover. did you ever expect to find yourself in this situation after spending so many years, 19 years, working for the afghan military? >> thank you, jake, for having me here. yeah, it's an emotional state for all of us. but the time the taliban took over, i thought to not think about what's happening in afghanistan but think about what you can do at the moment for your colleagues, for your former pilots, flight engineers and special forces. so i immediately started contacting my pilots, where are you, some of them were in turkmenistan. some in tajikistan. and some of them were in kabul and kandahar, mazar-i-sharif. my own hometown.

alex marquardt has more. >>> there's new intelligence for president joe biden's ongoing and evolvingamerica's society and target the 2022 elections. current and senior officials say that russia has never stopped the disinformation campaign, but they're coming up with new and more sophisticated ways to cause chaos and to deepen divides. the intelligence on the evolving russian tactics is as significant enough to made its way to president biden's desk, something which he recently referenced in a speech to the intelligence community. >> i think we also need to take on the rapid disinformation that's making it harder and harder for people to assess the facts. be able to make decisions. in today's pdb you all prepared for me, look what russia is doing already about the 2022 elections in misinformation. it's a violation of our sovereignty. >> reporter: back in april, the united states sanctioned for the attempts. in june, at a summit, president biden warned president putin about interfering in the u.s. elections. clearly that message has not stuck. not a surprise according to a top intelli

cnn's alex marquardt joins us now.t do we know about the americans who may not make it out before the deadline. >> reporter: the state department says they have been in touch with those americans. there are fewer than 250 americans who remain who have expressed some sort of desire to get out. but, jake, that's the same figure that we heard yesterday. so very few have gotten out in the past 24 hours. now on top of that, there are some 280 americans believed to still be in the country who have not said that they want to leave. that could be for a number of reasons. they may be dual citizens or may have extended families who they want to stay with. but i asked the senior state department official if this means americans will be left behind after the u.s. military and diplomatic presence is gone, and the response was that the military is doing all it can while it still has time to get those americans out. all told, jake, some 6,000 americans have made their way out, whether it's on those evacuation flights or otherwise lik

cnn's alex marquardt joins us, now. so, what is he talking about when he says what they are seeing right in front of their face? >> well, anderson, there are a number of concerning factors that have been addressed in this dhs bulletin. the way they look at these potential terrorists is really in two camps. the first, people who could be radicalized by foreign groups, like al qaeda. the second is more domestic, inward looking, like you mentioned. people who are motivated by grievances. people who are motivated by -- by racial extremism. by an anti-government sentiment. in that first group, that's where dhs is worried that there could be attacks, violence, in the lead-up and around the 9/11 anniversary. of course, this is the 20th anniversary, and so they are looking at that very closely. they do note that al qaeda, for the first time in four years, has put out their english-language magazine called "inspire" which, of course, is meant to radicalize people to carry out attacks. and anderson, in that second group, the more

cnn's alex marquardt joins us, now. he says what they are seeing right in front of their face? >> well, anderson, there are a number of concerning factors that have been addressed in this dhs bulletin. the way they look at these potential terrorists is really in two camps. the first, people who could be radicalized by foreign groups, like al qaeda. the second is more domestic, inward looking, like you mentioned. people who are motivated by grievances. people who are motivated by -- by racial extremism. by an anti-government sentiment. in that first group, that's where dhs is worried that there could be attacks, violence, in the lead-up and around the

cnn's alex marquardt has more. >> reporter: the threat from the hackers was that thousands and teachers be released. phones, email and wi-fi had all been shut down in this school district near san antonio, texas. they felt so much pressure and so vulnerable this month they announced they'd made the painful decision to pay the ransomware attackers, a payment of over half a million of taxpayer dollars, the biggest known payment to an unknown hacking group with the hope they wouldn't do anymore. it's a story becoming all too familiar. baltimore county, maryland, the school buses had stopped. the schools quiet and empty. students at home doing classes online. >> we were the victim of a ransomware cyber attack. >> a catastrophic cyber aware attack which locked up the county's school district before thanksgiving. cindy sexton told us the devastating attack could not have come at a worse time. >> it was chaos. nobody knew what was going on, when we would find out information. >> reporter: classes were canceled for three days for 115,000 students at almost 200 schools. thousands of teachers los

i want to get straight to cnn's alex marquardt with the latest on the final u.s. troops leaving afghanistan. >> reporter: just as the day of august 31, the deadline to leave, began in afghanistan, the announcement was made. >> i'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate american citizens, third countries nationals, and vulnerable afghans. the last c-17 lifted off from hamid karzai international airport and the last manned aircraft is now clearing the airspace above afghanistan. >> reporter: central command's general frank mackenzie says the diplomatic sequel now begins, led by secretary of state tony blinken who insists the commitment to afghanistan remains. >> a new chapter of america's engagement with afghanistan has gun. >> reporter: the final hours were, u.s. officials say, the most dangerous. after a massive suicide bombing last week by isis-k that left scores dead including 13 american service americans. early monday morning five rockets were fired at the kabul airport. isis claimed r

. >>> we have a number of reports starting with cnn's alex marquardt at the pentagon. alex, the pentagon bracing for a likely second attack. what do we know about security measures to try to stop that from happening? >> yeah, anderson. the pentagon has said they are monitoring these very real threats in real-time. um, obviously, the focus is around the airport. one of the things that they had already been doing in the lead-up to the attack yesterday as we knew this threat stream was coming in was to secure the perimeter. make it much stronger. that, obviously, is continuing. but anderson, one of the major things that they are doing is coordinating with the taliban. the taliban is, obviously, the most powerful force there on the ground outside the airport. um, the u.s. has asked the taliban to extend the perimeter farther away from the airport. they have asked them to shut down some of the roads to prevent things like -- they're called vb ieds, so vehicle-born ieds from getting closer to the airport to prevent those suicide bombers from preventing -- from getting closer

cnn national security correspondent alex marquardt is at the pentagon for us tonight. tion about the strike? >> reporter: pam, that's right. central command says that this strike on an isis-k target did disrupt what they say is an imminent threat to the kabul airport. we've heard repeated warnings from the biden administration, including from the president himself over the last several days, that there was a high likelihood that another attack could come. so at least part of that threat has been neutralized, but we don't have any sense, of course, that the overall threat has been largely diminished. but, pam, at the same time, we are learning that civilians were killed in this strike. a journalist working with cnn on the ground in afghanistan spoke with the brother of one of those who was killed, and he told cnn that nine members of a single family were killed by this strike. six of them were children under the age of 10. now, central command says that they are looking into this. they're investigating. they say that they don't know what happened. i want to read you part

alex marquardt explains what was in that report. >> reporter: jim, the u.s.unity says that it has not come to a conclusion about the origins of covid-19. on friday the office of the director of national intelligence released a brief summary of the key findings of a classified report ordered back in may by president joe biden. the intelligence community had 90 days to pore over all the intelligence they could find as well as work with outside experts and foreign partners to answer this question of where the virus originated. but they said only that they all agree there are two possibilities. that the virus leaked from the wuhan lab or jumped naturally from an animal to a human in the wild. four u.s. agencies supported the hypothesis with a low level of confidence that it was naturally occurring in the wild, the report says. one intelligence agency has a moderate level of confidence that it leaked from the wuhan lab. other agencies felt they didn't have enough information to make a good assessment. now, what we got on friday from the intelligence community was

but i want to bring in now cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house and alex marquardt at the pentagon joining us on this really big friday -- news night friday. alex, breaking just moments ago, the u.s. has conducted an air strike against isis-k. please, tell me what you know. >> yeah, i mean, obviously, don, those tough words from president biden vowing retaliation. and -- and now, it appears to have happened at least the first wave of it. we are hearing from cent-com which is the area of command that covers afghanistan. they are saying that they have carried out what's called an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation. that means that it came from outside the country. that -- they also say that it was an unmanned strike, meaning it was carried out by a drone and the target was an isis-k planner so not your low-level grunt or any sort of facility they were targeting. it seems that they were targeting this specific individual, that this specific individual was killed and that no other civilians were -- were harmed. this is a major test for the biden administration, don. as u.s. tr

cnn senior national security correspondent alex marquardt is working this story for us. >> reporter:ulletin from dhs. what they usually do in these situations is put out these bulletins to tell the american public for the threats. and they break down the types of terrorists into two potential categories. those who are inspired from groups abroad like al qaeda, and those that have more of a domestic focus that are fueled by grievances that are anti-government or white extremists, for example. in that first group, they say that with the fast-approaching anniversary of 9/11, the 20th anniversary, that al qaeda could be looking to inspire potential attackers in the country. they note that al qaeda has just put out their english language magazine also called "inspire" for the first time in four years. and in that second category they say that the health restrictions that have been imposed because of covid, that could also fuel people to carry out some sort of attack. again, these are people who are motivated by racial grievances, these are people who might have grievances with the governm

we want to start with alex marq marquardt. kaitlan collins is also with us. it's a monumental day. one minute before the stroke of midnight in afghanistan, that last u.s. military plane took off. >> it did, erin. 3:29 eastern time, 11:59 kabul time and the day before this u.s. deadline was reached. erin, when we see secretary blinken, we're reminded he's the most senior biden administration official to speak and that is to make clear that now they see this when they look at afghanistan, they see it as a diplomatic mission. the general of command called this a sequel. he said it's no longer ending, not just in practice and purpose but physically they will be moving diplomatic operations to doha in qatar. one of the main priorities is getting out american citizens that want to leave as well as afghans who have worked alongside american forces and diplomats and who are -- who would be targets of the taliban. but what was really remarkable, erin, is how much seems to hinge on the coordination and cooperation with the taliban starting with how the airport will function, making the assum

marquardt and white house correspondent john harwood. also senior international correspondent ivan watson. gentlemen, thank you all for joining us on this friday evening with the breaking news. alex, i'm going to start with you. what are you learning about the strike? >> reporter: don, we heard these vows of revenge for yesterday's attack by isis-k from president joe biden, and now we appear to have seen some of it though we should be clear that we don't know whether there's a connection between yesterday's attack, which killed scores, and the targeting of this isis-k planner. so we're hearing from centcom, which is the part of the pentagon that is in charge of afghanistan. a spokesman for centcom saying an over the horizon counter-terrorism operation was carried out. that means it came from abroad, and that it was an unmanned air strike, so that means it came from a drone and targeted this i isis-k planner in nangarhar province. it says the strike was successful in taking out this planner and that it appears that no one else was wounded, that there were no civilian casualties. this is a major test, a moment for the biden administration to prove that once all these troops are pul