i'll play a little bit of what clarissa saw there.n declined and told that they can't enter the gates or if they simply don't have the wherewithal to get inside. you can see this is a pretty large crowd who formed around us already because this is slightly unusual situation to be doing live shots from here, i think. but, it's definitely chaotic. it's definitely dangerous. i will say this, the taliban appears to be trying to disperse the crowds and there are crowds there of young men who seem to be engaging in criminal activity. i don't know if you heard that they're kind of running towards the taliban and then running away from them almost like a game. but when there's bullets firing like that brianna and john, it's clearly not a game. >> all right. our clarissa ward there not far from the airport. you can hear the gunshots there. clarissa and her team are doing fine and also spoke to a man at the airport, who spoke perfect english who said he worked for the americans and can't get out because he's been told he doesn't have the right

as clarissa said, you know, clarissa, i think you're back with us now. but you were saying the future for so many of these afghans -- we need to be clear, these are afghan allies of america. right? these are afghans who served as translators and cultural advisers, who kept americans safe and alive throughout their service and this is their family. right? these are people who qualify legally to immigrate from afghanistan. and i did notice when your camera man was panning around, there was a little girl who was skipping. and it just made me realize the difference between what the future holds if you are an afghan inside the airport walls or you're outside. >> reporter: that's what's so heart breaking. you know, we're actually traveling with a local member of staff of our great translator and a great friend. and last night it dawned on him as we were getting ready to try our luck getting into the airport this morning, he said, what will happen to me? what will happen to me? where do i go? what happens when i get off the plane? who will meet me? where will i

clarissa has been speaking with afghans, trying to get out.ople brave enough to say on live television broadcast around the world that they worked with the americans. stay with us. are we still exclusive? absolutely. and that's exactly why you should join. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. in the race to succeed, does somebody always have to fail? let's give everybody a fair shot. because when that happens, we've all made it. ♪ introducing xfinity rewards. our very own way of thanking you just for being with us. enjoy rewards like movie night specials. xfinity mobile benefits. ...and exclusive experiences, like the chance to win tickets to see watch what happens live. hey! it's me. the longer you've been with us... the more rewards you can get. like sharpening your cooking skills with a top chef. join for free on the xfinity app and watch all the rewards float in. our thanks. your rewards. >>> as the worl

>> clarissa, i can't speak to the process itself.is not a process that the defense department owns. i know the state department is very, very focused on this and working very hard to process these applications as fast as possible. the secretary of defense spoke with the secretary of state last night and they talked about this very thing. secretary blinken and his team are working on this very, very hard. it has the attention of the top levels at the united states government. nobody is just dancing around on this. we understand that time is a critical factor here. we understand that numbers are a critical factor here, and i can assure you we're working on this as hard as we possibly can. >> john kirby, pentagon press secretary. >> thank you your time. >> we do appreciate you being willing to speak to both of us on this, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> clarissa, briana, i think we know a lot more about the limits of what the u.s. is going to do now this morning. the threat of devastating force, the promise of military assistance se

how long will it be possible for western journalists to be where clarissa is. president biden defended this decision, returning from camp david to deliver this message to the country and the world. >> i stand squarely behind my decision. after 20 years i've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw u.s. forces. that's why we're still there. we were clear eyed about the risks. we planned for every contingency, but i always promised the american people that i would be straight with you. the truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. >> joining us now to talk about this is david singer, cnn political and national security analyst and white house and national security correspondent for the "new york times." david, it's really interesting because the president really pushing his decision to completely withdraw troops from the u.s., that's something that's popular with americans. it's also kind of a moot point because there's no going tobackn it. right now what's happening in afghanistan, is afghan allies trapped in kabul,

clarissa, what is the latest? what are you seeing. >> reporter: well, kate, we've been at the airport now for 12 hours and on the inner field for eight hours. and during the last eight hours, the time that we've been waiting here, we have not seen a single u.s. flight evacuate people. and so one u.s. flight took off about half an hour to an hour ago but it was filled with u.s. service men and women. the people who have been sitting on the tarmac for the last ten hours have not been able to get on a flight. which means, kate, because we did the whole process today, that all of the other bottlenecks are now even more choked because if the flights r aren't moving and the people aren't moving then they can't bring in more people. so what is emerging taking place here is -- it is a chaotic scene. you have people lying on floor, with babies and this is incredibly loud here, we're on an airfield and there is aircraft around, mothers trying to put their hands over baby's ears and it is one thing to be here for a couple of

[risas] clarissa: ¿es un acto de magia y todo? clarissa: ¿es un acto de magia y todo?iÁn: david valadez hablÓ con el cantante y aquÍ todo lo que nos preparÓ. daid: rÉgulo caro estÁ de regreso sobre los escenarios y tambiÉn haciendo nueva mÚsica y entre ellos algunos corridos. pancho y arturo que en su contenido puede que no sea del agrado de muchos. >> pues se dedican al negocio prohibido, es una historia de venganza. arturo le puse nombre de la persona que asesinÓ a pancho. david: aunque rÉgulo caro es fanÁtico de grupo firme, Él tambiÉn al igual que otros artistas por ahora se va a quedar con las ganas de grabar con los muchachos. eduin declarÓ que ya no quiere hacer duetos con nadie. >> ya hicieron mucho. obviamente como mexicano y como mÚsico y colega, pues nos da gusto que en estados unidos estÉn triunfando. david: le va bien con su mÚsica ya que eso presumiÓ con su casa que recientemente adquiriÓ, que estÁ a pasos de las playas. >> es mÁs grande de la Última casa que tuvimos y ya cabemos los cuatro perfectamente david: el hombre nos confesÓ que ya no piensa tener

we spoke to clarissa a few hours before she departed on that plane. >> clarissa, you're at the kabul airport. what are you seeing there? >> i mean, anderson, it's just chaos. right now we're actually on the airfield, which is the privileged place to be. that means you have reached the final prolong and you are in principle about to get on a bird and out to safety, although we've now been here well over 10 or 12 hours. others have been here two days and still haven't managed to get on a flight yet. i'm looking around now. people are sleeping on the ground, on the gravel. it's a very chilly night. a woman just came up to me and asked me for a blanket. i gave her my scarf. there are babies everywhere. and the situation with the washrooms is not good at all. i had a couple of families come up and complain to me that it wasn't sanitary. they couldn't wash their children or keep them clean. i'm looking around now. inside there's an inside processing area. it's just children lying all over the floor. mothers desperately trying to stroke their backs and calm them. and this is what we've been

clarissa, the white house said today another terror attack in kabul is likely. i know you have got some sc exclusive reporting coming up tonight on isis-k. knowing what you know, how likely do you think it is that they will attempt more during this evacuation? >> reporter: well, it's not just the u.s. who is saying it, anderson. there are several western allied intelligence agencies, all, warning of the same thing. that now is the time for increased attacks because at this moment in the evacuation, the u.s. is essentially at its most vulnerable. this is the moment -- um -- where you are sort of finishing the evacuations of personnel. and you are beginning the sort of picking up of your own equipment and departing. and that leaves you very vulnerable to attacks. you heard alex describe there about how the taliban had been pushed back. setting up that perimeter further away. you know, when we went to the airport just a week ago, anderson, you could just get by the taliban by waving your documents and saying we have authorization to get through to the next checkpoi

l let's bring in our clarissa ward live in kabul. there are conflicting situations of how close the taliban are in the city. >> reporter: we know they are in the city. they want to enter peacefully. the group's spokesperson delineating the rules of conduct inside kabul saying they'll not come and search your homes or ex tort money. they'll not fire on you unless you fire on them, guaranteeing the protection, he said of businessman and also afghan soldiers and those working security services provided they do not try to stop the taliban from entering the city peacefully. of course this has been graded on the ground here with chaos. people desperately trying to get out of the city. we had a team at the passport office this morning, huge lines of hundreds and hundreds of people trying to organize their paper work. the streets of the capitol now is clogged with traffic and people driving the wrong way down the street, desperately trying to get out. at this point in time there is not really anywhere to get out. the only way out is from the

clarissa, i understand that you were able to hear the president's remarks. how do they reconcile with what you've watched there over the last several days? >> reporter: well, i mean, victor, this is obviously a growing recognition, the enormity of this catastrophe that we've seen play out on the ground. i think in the beginning, we heard the administration try to say that, oh, you know, in the beginning, the embassy wasn't going to close, it was going to be a partnership, and then sort of doubling down on the policy, maybe the planning could have been better, et cetera. it seemed like there was a slightly more humble and sober tone today and perhaps more recognition of the enormity of the task that lies ahead. which is certainly, based on what i'm seeing here on the ground, just to give you some perspective, i have been here since, well, i mean, like midnight, and the last -- the last u.s. plane i saw take off with evacuees on it it was at 3:00 a.m. there was one other plane that flew out a few hours ago, but it had only u.s. military personnel. so that's ba

clarissa, thank you so much. >> reporter: thank you. >> we'll be coming back to clarissa.ut first let's go to doha, qatar where many afghans are arriving. nick paton walsh is there. what are you seeing in qatar? >> reporter: this is obviously where clarissa eventually and all the afghans will end up arriving. the scenes on tuesday was a growing number of afghans at the base here. they have to be processed. they arrive in different conditions of documents, no documents, permission, et cetera. it seems like more people are being to be turned away. i should tell you, speaking to various sources of my mine, there appear to be other individuals getting on simply through connections that they have. so that process is it seems a little chaotic. the numbers, too, are going to have to be very carefully and transparently explained by the white house. they talked about 14,000 since july. they also said at the state department that they had 6,000 people on that base processed and ready to fly. now, 3,000 flu out, according to the white house. then maybe 3,000 still stuck there. but th

>> clarissa, we're looking at scenes from the airport in kabul. obviously the frenzy of people trying to get on planes there. but can people even get to the airport at this point? >> reporter: so we had several teams of colleagues who tried to get to the airport yesterday. and it was mayhem. essentially the entire road was km completely blocked with car. you had people driving down the wrong side of the road. one american friend told me there were scenes of chaos, this crush of people trying to get through and then there was shooting. it's not clear whether the shooting was targeting somebody or whether it was simply someone trying to scatter the crowd because the chaos was too much. but, as you well know, when ever you have a scene like that where you have a crash of humanity, where you have absolute chaos, where you have bullets flying, that's when people get hurt. and i think those images that you're seeing, they're seared into all of our minds, speak to this desperation, how desperate, how petrified does an individual have to be to risk everyt

as long as we have clarissa, let me go first to you, clarissa.gain, what we heard -- we heard a little new sound from president biden there that we had not heard before and it had to do with the well did the military tell us to keep troops there or not and then transitioned into the now, into what is going to happen for the people getting out now which i still think is the most important thing to discus at this moment because there's a crisis with tens of thousands of people to get out of the country, and president biden is promising that u.s. troops will stay as long as it takes to get americans out but not as far as i can tell extending that same promise to the afghan allies. >> reporter: yeah. i mean, that's what it's sounding like, john. that will be met with some real deep, unease and anxiety and frankly resentment and bitterness by a lot of people on the ground here who are still desperately scrambling by the way to get their paperwork in order. some are having to try to track down the hr departments of companies that were here in 2017 but

cnn's chief international correspondent clarissa ward us the latest. clarissa, welcome. guess the big question is the taliban seems certainly poised to take kabul. will it fall, and if it doesn't, is that because the taliban are being restrained for some reason? >> well, i think right now there are talks ongoing at the presidential palace between the government and various taliban representatives from the doha contingency. but it appears that the city is poised to fall to the taliban. people here woke up to the news in the morning that the taliban was at the gates just outside kabul. there was chaos in the streets, fareed. people double parking, people were driving down the wrong side of the road. people were just absolutely panicked. there was a run on the banks. there were people waiting outside in long lines outside of the passport office. so now everybody is just waiting to see what emerges from these talks, what, if anything. we're just learning, forgive me for reaching out, fareed, that a spokesperson for the taliban has now confirmed that the taliban are in the ka

what do you understand that leverage to be, clarissa?d about this? >> reporter: well, first of all, john, you raise such an important point. i have americans reaching out to me all the time at the moment who are in afghanistan. in fact, i've been on the phone this morning with a family of four from houston, texas. i have seen pictures and videos of all of their american passports. i have spoken with the mother who said that they have gone to the gates every day for two weeks and they have a problem in that the taliban will not let them pass. they have tried to reach out to the u.s. military and the u.s. military has said they are doing everything they can to find a way for them, but so far they haven't been able to find that way and they're in a complete panic right now. this mother told me no one is helping us. what are we supposed to do? we just want to go home. these people live in the u.s. they had gone to afghanistan to visit her parents and just happened to get caught up in this whole situation. we're hearing stories like that all

clarissa, thank you so much for your critical reporting from kabul. we really appreciate it. >>> president biden also said the chaos that we're all seeing in kabul was inevitable, but that is not the message that he himself has been sending since announcing the u.s. withdrawal. we'll discuss that next. >>> we're also seeing heart breaking scenes from the evacuations along with moments of compassion. the story behind this photo that has gone viral. >>> unvaccinated married couple died hours apart from coronavirus. we'll speak with the man who took in their children. when you have metastatic breast cancer, what does it mean to be a thriver? it means we grab a hold of what matters most. we sweat the details. ask for wh we want. t what we need. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. living longer possible and proven with kisqali when taken with a nonsteroid aromatase inhibitor in premenopausal women with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus a nonsteroidal aro

let's go now to cnn's clarissa ward, live for us in neighboring pakistan.l us the latest here, clarissa, as we are seeing this final stage of evacuations and draw drawdown. >> despite that huge blast on thursday, despite isis car bombs driving around the area, one being hit with a drone strike, despite five rockets being fired off. in spite of all of that, and the continued threat, the evacuation is continuing. and i think at any moment, frankly, it could be drawing to an end, because we've always understood that tomorrow is the d deadline before then. we're definitely seeing a steady decline in the numbers, something like 2,900 from saturday to sunday. that's dropped to just over 1,000 it appears they're in the final throes of this operation. that's one of the most vulnerable moments. that is when you're pulling back the perimeter, extracting your own people, extracting any sort of weaponry that you might have to or destroying anything that might be left behind. and in terms of who may be left behind, we are learning a little bit more about that. i've been

anderson. >> clarissa is back with us.spoke, you were at the airport about to leave kabul. you said you were -- said you were one of the lucky ones. we have a picture of you that you took on the plane. what -- what -- what was that journey home like? >> i mean, it's just surreal, anderson. you're walking in the sort of dead of night through the airfield. there's hot jet engine air being blasted into your face. and you walk onto this huge c-17. everybody has to stand facing the same direction because there's, you know, so many people packed in so tightly. and then, at a certain point, you're given the word and you all sort of sit down, simultaneously. and, you know, what really stood out to me is that because i'm a westerner, all these people were like, excuse me, please, can you tell me where are we going? excuse me, please can you tell me what happens when we get will? how can i call my loved ones? i left my family outside the airport. we got separated. can i charge my phone? and you just -- this overwhelming sense of eve

clarissa ward, cnn, kabul. >> and clarissa has since tweeted that she has landed in doha, qatar, along with her team and nearly 300 afghan evacuees. she thanked those involved saying, we are the lucky ones. >>> well, we're learning more about just how many afghans are at the kabul airport right now, hoping for a chance to leave. but they're not necessarily all eligible to be evacuated. cnn's nick paton walsh joins us from doha. nick, i understand the situation may be even more dire in terms of numbers than we might have previously thought. you have got some new reporting on this. what can you tell us? >> i have to say, the numbers have been hard to follow since the start of all of this. who's been taking off, who is ready to go, who is trying to get on. i have heard from a source familiar with the situation on the airport that there are currently 14,000 people on the airport trying to get out on the planes. that is utterly startling. and 4,000 higher than the number 10,000 clarissa heard yesterday from marines on the ground. how do they get to this situation? well, the source said esse

can they get out without that, cl kw clarissa? >> reporter: there's no plan in place to evacuate these people safely. the u.s. barely able to keep a hold on the situation at the airport right now let alone try to extend some kind of corridor for people to leave through. so that is simply out of the question. the other problem you have is that there's this crush of humanity descending on the airport. vehicles clogging both lanes of traffic. scenes of people firing in the air to stop sort of stampede almost. people have been shot by stray bullets. it's absolute pandemonium at the airport. if you don't have you visa or passport ready because a lot of people were trying to prepare for this moment, brianna. we saw it yesterday, long lines outside the passport office but no one imagined it would happen this quickly, that they would have a matter of hours to pack up their lives, get together their paperwork, book a ticket, get to the airport. it's completely unfeasible for the vast majority of afghans. and so they are now left in this de

clarissa ward, cnn, kabul. >> thanks to clarissa and her team from some extraordinary reporting the last week or so. and to continue on this story, u.s. greencard holder hanif sufizad endured a harrowing five days trying to get back to the united states from kabul. on sunday he went to the u.s. embassy, but found it closed. so he went to the airport to try to get a flight. by then the hamid karzai international airport was already chaotic. this is him in the middle of your shot there. in the end, he got out, but it was not easy. the six-day ordeal saw him go from kabul to an air base in qatar, then on to kuwait. he then flew from there to washington, and then on the dallas, and finally on friday he made it home to omaha, nebraska. and that's when he was reunited with his family. hanif sufizada joins me now share his extraordinary story. you're still trying to process it and need some sleep as well. what was the one moment that will never leave you? >> well, the moment that i dodged some bullets. i said okay, this is the end of my life here. and what should i do if my kids become an orpha

let's get back to kabul and cnn chief international correspondent clarissa ward.ing on the streets there in the last few minute? >> things are getting very, very quiet on the streets, brian. and that may be because the taliban spokesperson actually announced that people should stay in their homes. he urged everyone not to go out, saying that that would only contribute to a sense of chaos, that the taliban is trying to keep this as peaceful as possible. and as far as we can hear, people are certainly adhering to that advice, staying at home, staying hunkered down. we've moved our live shot position yet again inside now because there was quite a lot of gunfire outside. and we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. but people for the moment are bracing themselves for the worst. what tomorrow will bring, what the future will look like. there is no transitional government announced. so, president ashraf ghani basically left without really putting anything in place in terms of his successor, the taliban says they will now begin assuming responsibility for key minis

clarissa ward has been at the airfield and says not one flight has left kabul in the last eight hours. let's get to kylie with the breaking news. >> the u.s. is pretty urgently examining other locations that they can fly out the evacuation flights. because most of them have been going to qatar. they are now close to capacity there. so they're looking at other locations. including in europe, including potentially germany for the flights to go. what this tells us is that capacity is hampering these evacuations. you can't get these people out if these flights have nowhere to go. of course, telling that on the ground clarissa ward hasn't seen any flight take off from the kabul airport in the last eight hours. one thing complicating this is the fact that the u.s. was in discussions with multiple countries to relocate afghan sieves. that's just one group of the afghans they're going to be flying out of the country, because it's not just the folks who applied for the special visas, but there are also other groups of afghans flying out. that's complicating things. they're having to go back to

clarissa ward, e we'll be right back with amanda peet!pay a little less and enjoy the ride a little more. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ now, get new lower auto rates with allstate. because better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. you're in good hands with allstate. t when heartburn hits, ck fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast heartburn relief in every bite. crunchy outside, chewy inside. ♪ tums, tums, tums, tums ♪ tums chewy bites itchy? scratchy? family not getting clean? get charmin ultra strong. it just cleans better, so your family can use less. hello clean bottom! enjoy the go with charmin. oh! you're doing it wrong, man! what's wrong with action figures? nothing, except buying them without capital one shopping. what's that? samuel... mr. l... jackson. capital one shopping instantly searches for available coupon codes and automatically applies them. just download it to your computer. whoa! you're my hero. yeah... i can tell. you like it? i look good in miniature. capit

clarissa, thank you to your team on the ground for all the reporting, to you. as the afghan people face this incredible dang us that clarissa just laid out, we just learned that the president ashraf ghani has just arrived in the uae. >> let's bring in cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood and cnn white house correspondent jeremy diamond at the white house. kylee, we're talking thousands, perhaps tens of thousands that the country wants to get out of there, might have some claim to it. but they have a two-week deadline. what's happening? >> reporter: you've got a few complicating factors here that are basically fueling the reality, that the administration isn't giving us any clear answers as to if they can successfully pull off this massive evacuation operation and how they can do it. you have, first of all, this expectation that the u.s. military is going to pull out of the kabul airport at the end of the month. national security adviser jake sullivan said the u.s. is discussing that timeline with the taliban right now, wouldn't get into the details.

clarissa ward for us.you. >>> with us this morning to discuss the situation in afghanistan is cnn militariable list and retired major general james spider morris. general, always great to have you on. we very much appreciate your perspective. i want to ask you about what that official told clarissa in kandahar when she asked him what do is in that do or die equation. he said, convince them to seek peace, convince the taliban to seek peace. peace negotiations with the taliban have not led to any significant change in afghanistan. what should we expect out of trying to continue these talks? is it worth it for the u.s. especially to stay engaged moving forward? >> well, you always want to stay engaged. first of all, boris, thank you for allowing me to join you this morning. you should always try to stay engaged and leave the door open for some possible negotiation but let's be level headed about what the potential outcome looks like. it's not going to look good frankly. the afghan forces have not made any sig

kylie atwood and barbara stair and clarissa ward in kabul with the latest. and what are you hearing from state department this hour? >> reporter: we are highwaying that there is a growing sense ever urgency among biden administration officials over these taliban games that are happening at an accelerating pace in afghanistan. this is prompted a number of meetings and phone calls to happen this morning. we know that secretary of state tony blinken spoke with his counterpart at pentagon earlier today. we know that he had a phone call at least last night with national security adviser jake sullivan. all about afghanistan. and this comes as we have reported that there have been ongoing discussions within the state department about a further drawdown of u.s. embassy personnel at the embassy in kabul. the safety of those diplomats and those contractors is essential here. and that is one thing that is under discussions right now. what is the biden administration going to do. now the state department issued an alert today, it is the second alert that they've issued

clarissa, you're talking about the taliban and their intentions.as very interested in something you said earlier, which is that as of now, the taliban only too happy to have the united states, the u.s. troop presence at the airport in kabul about have the u.s. running these evacuations. what's going on with that? >> reporter: well, let me caveat that by saying they want the u.s. to leave as soon as possible, and they believe that the fastest way to get the u.s. out of here is for the u.s. to evacuate its people as soon as possible. so, as long as the u.s. is solely engaged in evacuating people from the airport, i am guessing, and it's speculation, that some kind of a deal has been struck behind the scenes whereby the two sides sort of avoid each other until that process is done and the 6,000 troops can leave again. the problem is, john and brianna, as you can well imagine, when you have 6,000 u.s. soldiers and i'm sure hundreds if not thousands of taliban fighters in relatively close proximity to each other and a chaotic scene all around t them, th

clarissa ward, thank you for being there. please, be careful. >>> let's get perspective now from thomas friedman, "new york times" foreign affairs columnist, best-selling author of many books including the revised edition of "from beirut to jerusalem." you see clarissa's reporting, what do you make of how things are unfolding? >> well, you just have so many crosscurrents right now, anderson. i think, i would be just really humble about making any predictions. the thing that really strikes me is -- um -- the taliban, clearly -- um -- initially, are being very careful what they say, what they try to impose. i think that's, partly, because -- um -- they want, first, the americans to leave. and get that process over. but secondly, i think they don't know. um, you know, they are taking over a country that is very different from the one they left, 20 years ago, power from, i should say. millions of women have been educated. um, people have been working with the west. universities have opened. and i think they've got to really figur

kim, i want to talk about that report where clarissa just left off.fidence that the taliban can become that commander they hope to be? >> almost no confidence that they can keep isis-k from growing. and the other complication, as pointed out in clarissa's reporting is that group being in existence robs the taliban of anyone who gets angry with their moderation. u.s. officials have been working on taliban officials in doha for two years now to try to keep them how to run a modern government. and to try to convince them not to declare an islamic emrate. to have women in high positions of governance. some members of the taliban have considered doing that, especially those who have lived in doha, qatar, where there's a woman in a high position. they send their girls to school. but other member of the taliban are in the ranks and fighting and far more of the islamist brand that feel that women should stay hidden. and every time the taliban tries to do something moderate they're going to be accused of kowtowing to foreign artists. and initially launch what

we're joined again by cnn chief international correspondent clarissa ward there.s always, we want to know exactly what you're seeing what the change is this morning and also just shed some light on what we just saw there the photos, if you can, of what's happening when afghans try to get to the airport which is the only way out of the country. >> reporter: so essentially at the airport what you have is this bizarre situation where the u.s. and also british forces are cooperating and communicating with the taliban to try to lessen the sort of crush of people that have been descending on that entrance of the airport everyday. the idea, of course, is to prevent chaos, to prevent pandemonium but what's actually happening as you heard there from the very brave and talented photographer, marcus llam is that the taliban is put in charge of crowd control. the way they carry out crowd control is different. they've been whipping people, firing shots in the air, firing shots at people. you saw that spectacularly harrowing image that he captured of a woman and a child who wer

clarissa ward, cnn, kabul. >> thank you charissa. president biden is saying what we're seeing in afghanistan is an example of american power and precision. i'll ask former nato supreme ally commander general wesley clark if that is how it looks to him. ck to school is confidence. at cvs, we have it in all shapes, sizes and forms. transform back to school into the great school comeback. with savings on hundreds of products today. only at cvs. i want some premium ideas for land o' frost premium sliced meats. land o' frost premium... so much goodness it'll make you cry! very nice, very nice. land o'frost premium. fresh look. same great taste. hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at

clarissa, you're there in kabul. first of all, what's your reaction to what we just heard from the president of the united states? >> well, i think my reaction is less important than what i would imagine the reaction will be of many afghan people, which is, if this isn't a failure, then what is? because the scenes that we have been seeing throughout the day, the desperation, the complete chaos, shots being fired, tear gas, the nightmare that has become many afghan people's living reality is ongoing. and there isn't an end in sight. i do think that afghan people will also latch on to that sort of glimmer of a commitment that we heard there, that i believe he said 50 to 60,000 was the total that he thought of afghan nationals who have worked closely with the u.s., that there was a commitment to ensure that they would be safely taken or given safe passage out of the country. but again, there's still so many questions as to how that happens and what's the timeline? you heard him say very clearly that u.s. troops might st

you just heard the exchange with clarissa and the pentagon spokesperson john kirby. the assurances of the pentagon to get these people out and to safety? >> i do. i know that the pentagon and the biden administration is doing everything they can to get people out. i and many others in congress continue to urge them to do as much as possible and to not let these paperwork and processes get in the way of getting people out. and we stand ready to do what we need to do from congress to help facilitate that. >> and if they're not all out by august 31st which is the deadline that the president put in place, should the president extend that deadline to deal with the conditions on ground in order to allow all of these people to get out safely? >> i believe that we have an obligation to get our afghan allies and partners, women leaders, politicians, people who really bought into the american mission in afghanistan out and i think we have to stay and get as many out as possible. recognizing that this is not about redeploying and getting back into a fight with the taliban. i be

ward in kabul, afghanistan, thank you very much, clarissa.fareed zakaria, host of cnn's "fareed zakaria gps." fareed, you just saw this powerful story about what's unfolding on the ground there. the president is saying it's not a failure. what do you think? >> i think you put it very well, don. the way the president described it in the last three months was completely different from what unfolded. obviously it's a screw-up. i think rather than trying to justify the unjustifiable, what the administration should do is try to get phase 2 of this withdrawal right. they botched phase 1. there is simply no other way to describe it. there was no contingency planning. there did not seem to be a process -- they should have preplanned so that the roads were secure, access to the airport was secure, lists of applicants were prepared. if they knew these people were going to be evacuated, they now say we knew we wanted to evacuate but we didn't want to start evacuating for the last few months because we didn't have a panic. you could have had visas, you c

joining us now to discuss, cnn's kaitlan collins and clarissa ward.red lieutenant general douglas loot, former coordinator for afghanistan at the national security council under presidents obama and bush. he's also the former u.s. ambassador to nato. kaitlan, let me start with you at the white house. what are you hearing from the white house about the tone of his speech, which at times seemed rather defiant? >> reporter: it was very defiant, jake. i think actually throughout a lot of that speech, a very defiant and forceful response to some criticisms of the way that the handling of this exit has gone. he also defended of course the idea overall the bigger picture that the u.s. is leaving afghanistan and now it has now left afghanistan. of course, a decision he made back in april. and the president was saying that he does not believe that there is any better way that this exit could've gone. he said he respectfully disagrees with the critics who say that this is an evacuation, mass evacuations, should've started sooner. he said that he believes that t

clarissa ward in kabul, afghanistan.ly great to get your reporting there, on the scene, as this breaking story develops. thank you so much. >>> and we have more on our breaking news out of afghanistan, as the taliban are at the gates of kabul, when we come back. you're watching "cnn newsroom." well, would ya look at that! it was an accident. i was— speaking of accidents, we accidentally left you off the insurance policy during enrollment, and you're not covered. not even a little bit? mm-mmm. no insurance. no. when employees can't enter and manage their own benefits enrollment information, it can be a real pain. not even— nope! with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in a single, easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com and schedule a demo today. >>> the taliban have swept across afghanistan to the gates of kabul, and say they want to enter the city, peacefully. and people who don't trust the militants, and want to flee have just lost one way out. cnn crews shot this video, a short time ago. it's believed

behold how swiftly this is moving, clarissa. >> reporter: it truly is. i don't think anyone could have predicted this in their wild imagination. and the thing that is so striking here on the ground in kabul, brianna, is the deafening silence from the afghan government. we haven't heard any from them -- anything from them literally as this country is unraveling. you mentioned all these provincial capitals have fallen. kandahar, the second largest city in the country, a city with huge strategic significance, huge spiritual symbolism for the taliban. that used to be the capital of their islamic emirate, and yet we are not hearing anything from the government about how they plan to deal with this situation. as a result of that, we're seeing the u.s. taking swift action. we know those 3,000 u.s. troops arriving in country here today and tomorrow. they are going to be withdrawing u.s. embassy personnel on military aircraft to get them out of here as the security situation continues to deteriorate. we don't know yet how many of them are being evacuated, and the

does this just come down to a matter of will, clarissa? >> no. there are some other factors at play here. resupply is a big up, okay. the idea was to have these afghan bases all over the entire country. this is a vast country, and what happens is when the -- even when the get-go resupply was the issue and now with the military under such strong pressure it becomes even more of a central issue. we actually recently were talking to some taliban fighters in ghazni province who said they were able to take over an afghan base because the afghan soldiers inside the base ran out of food because it was no longer possible for them to get resupplies. another thing that i would say is a really key issue is morale within the afghan forces. they don't have the same level of commitment to the cause. there's disenchantment. there isn't the same cohesion and coherence. a lot of people feel resentful about corruption within the afghan government. then you compare that with a taliban soldier whose very goal in life is to die in battle to enter paradise and you can

clarissa, you are there. specifically the sense of urgency there and the significance of the pressure placed on kandahar by the taliban? >> reporter: well, kandahar really would be the jewel in the crown for the taliban, victor. this is the birthplace of the entire movement. we have been speaking to an mp on the ground there. he says that the front line position we visited just last week is now completely under the control of the taliban, that groups of 12 to 15 taliban fighters have managed to penetrate the front line and essentially have been causing chaos in the city center, outside the governor's house, in the central square, basically shooting, creating a sense of chaos, people not knowing exactly what is going on, what to do. he told me it hasn't fallen yet, but it will. mark my words, victor, if, indeed, it does fall as it appears may happen imminently, this is a significant turn in the tide. it would be almost impossible to envisage the afghan army being able to reverse these kinds of gains. people he

we want to bring in clarissa ward live in kabul.orting from there and watching the taliban takeo takeover. what are you looking to hear from president bide n in a few minutes? >> reporter: the question is what do people on the ground expect. people want answers. they want to understand why this withdrawal was done in such a hastty and chaotic way. they want know what will be done to help the tens of thousands of people who have worked closely with the u.s. military, who have worked closely with the u.s. embassy, worked closely with journalistic organizations like our own, who have worked closely with american and european ngos. there's a lot of anger and resentment here from people who did work with the u.s. they felt the execution of this withdrawal was handled so poorly. they plooef that the u.s. team were hoodwinked by the taliban. they they were not able to extract real meaningful concessions from the taliban side. it's a much more complex picture and it remains to be seen what leverage the u.s. has in talks and the afghan gover

clarissa ward, everybody! we'll be right back with amanda peet!heers and applause ) ♪ ♪ last things last by the grace of the fire and the flames ♪ ♪ you're the face of the future, the blood in my veins, oh-ooh ♪ ♪ the blood in my veins, oh-ooh ♪ ♪ but they never did, ever lived, ebbing and flowing ♪ ♪ inhibited, limited ♪ ♪ 'til it broke open and rained down ♪ ♪ pain! you made me a, you made me a believer, ♪ pre-order now and get up to $200 in samsung credit. ♪ does scrubbing feel like a workout? scrub less with dawn platinum. pre-order now and get up to $200 in samsung credit. its superior formula breaks down and removes up to 99% of tough grease and food residue faster. so you scrub less. tackle grease wherever it shows up. scrub less. save more. with dawn. [sfx: radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. ♪ [band plays] ♪ a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with a

cyril, i want to go back to that last line from clarissa's excellent report.n all but certain victory. is that the way it looks? >> reporter: certainly, the fighting today, the taliban have all the momentum at the moment. the afghan national army says it has increased the pace of air raids against the taliban, especially in the south of the country. unclear if that's making an advance. this morning, taliban claims it has breached the defenses of other provincial capital. and paktika, closer to the capital. again, the taliban gaining ground. it is not clear whether they can be stopped. it is not clear whether the afghan army is making any inroads into their advance. now, a senior u.s. administration official who is familiar eye were the thinking of the community on this, told cnn earlier this week, it was expected kabul could fall within one to three months. however, the u.s. has severely miscalculated the speed of the taliban in the last few days. could this be another misclarm misclassification, kim, we don't know. certainly they fear a possible advance on th

it certainly takes priority, clarissa. we have seen images of armed u.s. forces along the perimeter of the airport. and all week the pentagon has said that troops have not -- u.s. troops have not been involved in any hostile interactions at the airport. but, of course, any wrong move could quickly change the situation. and i have to believe that that's one of the considerations as to why u.s. service members have been basically told to stay where they are within the perimeter because of the real legitimate risk to service members from not just the taliban but any one of the terrorist groups in the area. >> i mean, there are so many different threats here and so many different potential scenarios where things could rapidly escalate to a very, very bad place. that's why there's a lot of tension in the air because everybody knows that this moment cannot last, it's going to be short-lived and they've got to get it right and they've got to get out as many people as they possibly can. because they can't just go outside the wire and start bringing people in manua

our clarissa ward spoke with an isis-k commander before the carting twags -- attack.n and what happen his group is hoping to do once other nations pull out of afghanistan. >> reporter: two weeks before the attack, just days before kabul fell to the taliban, we were in touch with a senior isis-k commander who said the group was lying low and waiting for its moment to strike. words that turned out to be eerily prophetic. so this commander has said that he'll do an interview with us at a hotel here in kabul, and he says it's no problem for him to get through checkpoints and come right into the capital. to prove his point, he let us film his arrival into the city. abdul maneer, as he asked to be called, is an isis-k commander from kunar, the heart of the terrorist group's operations. he agreed to talk on the condition that we disguise his identity. in a kabul hotel, he told us he's had up to 600 men under his command. among them, indians, pakistanis, and central asians. like many of his foot soldiers, he used to fight with the taliban but says they've fallen under the inf