bradley bowman, thanks forjoining us.ming up injust a moment, as us citizens leave kabul, we are going to speak to a former special assistant to president trump on his thoughts about the decision to pull those us troops out of afghanistan. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a huge job of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen - the last total- eclipse of the sun to take place - in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, . ending three hours later when the sun set - over the bay of bengal. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the taliban's lightning week—long offensive across afghanistan has culminated in their seizure of kabul, 20 years after they last held power. they took the capital after president ashraf ghani fled to uzbekis

bradley bowman is a senior director at the foundation for defense of democracies in washington.ears as an advisor to the us senate, and served more than 15 years on active duty as a us army officer, including time in afghanistan. he gave me his reaction to the views of some us veterans that the withdrawal has been a form of sabotage. to my colleagues in the us military who have served in afghanistan and our many nato allies who served bravely there, more than 1000 of our european allies who never returned home to their families, i say thanks to your service and that your service did great good. we prevented another 9/11 attack for 20 years, we allowed afghan women and girls to make gains that they had not seen in the history of that country, so there is much to be proud of. but unfortunately what we have seen here, the world is witnessing a vivid and painful display of what happens when leaders in washington, frankly, delude themselves regarding the persistent threats we confront, the nature of our enemies and our ability to end wars by simply going home. president biden has imp

we can now speak to bradley bowman who serves as senior director of the center on military and politicalof democracies. he previously served as a national security advisor to members of the us senate armed services and foreign relations committees, as well as serving in afghanistan as an active duty us army officer. thank you very much for being with us. i have to ask you, we were warned in the last few days of the potential imminent attack, but what for that? was the us and its allies blind to this? was there some kind of strategic failure? thank you for the opportunity to discuss this. ijust want for the opportunity to discuss this. i just want to express for the opportunity to discuss this. ijust want to express my deep sympathies to those that have been lost both afghans and american service members. and it is important, i think, to remember what is happening here. we have innocent families fleeing the taliban regime in trying to get to safety. us service are risking their lives to help them get to safety. and we had the islamic and murder them in cold blood. and attack are a great s

bradley bowman served more than 15 years on active duty as a us army officer including as a staff officerars and whether any of you the us did accomplish its mission in afghanistan?- of you the us did accomplish its mission in afghanistan? thank you for the question _ mission in afghanistan? thank you for the question and _ mission in afghanistan? thank you for the question and thank- mission in afghanistan? thank you for the question and thank you i mission in afghanistan? thank you for the question and thank you for| for the question and thank you for the opportunity tojoin for the question and thank you for the opportunity to join you. i believe and it is widely viewed the united states went afghanistan after 9/11 for two purposes. one, to bring justice to those who might murdered 3000 people in that horrible day and to make sure it never happened again. afghanistan was not used again. afghanistan was not used again as a self haven, training ground and launching pad for international terrorism. for 20 years we have accomplish that objective. for 20 years we have prevented that from hap