kimmitt: they are a blunt instrument, for sure.the difference between having people on the ground to direct those strikes without balls -- with eyeballs. they are blunt, less accurate, they have less ability to discriminate civilian targets. that's the cost of is leaving. alix: can we get those 100 to 200 americans out without troops on the ground, realistically? brig. gen. kimmitt: i think the short answer is that some don't want to leave. of those who do, i would have your viewers remember what it was like and how difficult it was to do over the horizon operations into a friendly country, pakistan, to go after bin laden. if you look at the difficulties in that operation, you can only imagine how difficult it will be to extract people from the ground inside of afghanistan. particularly if the taliban is not going to be a friendly government or having good relationships with us. alix: we watch all of that with caution. thank you for the insight. the market continues to take afghanistan in stride boat you want to keep your eye on th

kimmitt: this was a long war.en going on since 9/11, and it is not going to stop anytime soon. you need to look at what your predecessors from the last 20 years have done to defend this country, and you better be ready to defend it as well. tom: we look forward to speaking to you again. our retired brigadier general, working with the bush of adminstration as the deputy assistant director of defense for the middle east. just ask ordinary comments thereby someone informed. lisa: the idea that going forward, this is not going to end anytime soon, is a key point. tom: the 8:00 hour upon us. two hours away from the speech of the chairman. this is bloomberg. good morning. ♪ 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

also retired general mark kimmitt, who served as assistant secretary of state during the second bushou wreet today, the route of the afghan defense and security forces will go down in history as one of the greatest military defeats of the past century. in the end, despite the billions of dollars, the 20 years of training by u.s. special forces and others, what happened? >> well, i think what we couldn't calculate, what we couldn't measure is the fact that the average afghan soldier was surrounded by corruption, didn't really have a cause that bound him to either his unit or his country, and candidly, the taliban had a tremendous strategic communications campaign that kept their people together and the cy-ops executed on the average unit inside the afghan military caused them to either give up or melt away into the sunset. >> peter, the way the u.s., you know, botched the evacuation of american allied citizens, clearly didn't expect this to happen so fast, is there any good reason why intelligence agencies would have missed signs the taliban was poised for a rapid control of kabul. >>

i was speaking thereto brigadier general mark kimmitt. let's get some of the day's other news.vince of hubei after torrential rains battered the region. the downpour caused flooding and landslides. hundreds of reservoirs have reportedly exceeded their flood warning levels. this comes after massive flooding killed hundreds in henan province last month. china has said it won't co—operate with the world health organization's new plan to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. the who has asked for more data, partly to continue looking into the theory that the virus escaped from a chinese laboratory. but on friday officials in china said the lab leak theory should not be investigated. clashes have broken out between police and protesters in thailand, after hundreds of people defied a ban on mass gatherings to march on the prime minister's residence and demand his resignation. the protestors claim the prime minister has mismanaged the country's covid—19 response. on friday, thailand saw a new record for daily cases. us government scientists have confirmed that july was the world

brigidier general mark kimmitt served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for middle east policyge w bush's white house. i asked him whether he was surprised by the talibans�* rapid gains. i really am, and i think any military observer would be surprised as well. it is not unprecedented throughout history to see this kind of collapse, but with the force that we have trained so well, and we have put so much time and effort into, it is coming as a surprise. and against this backdrop of america and its allies rushing now to evacuate citizens, we have heard from a number of people in the international community, former generals as well, and also from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell who called biden because my policy is reckless and is urging president biden to roll back on this and send more troops into afghanistan. is that a view you share? it really is. i went through the experience of iraqi withdrawal in 2011. that was done quite methodically and carefully, but within a couple of years, isis came across the borders, and at that point, the entire iraqi army collapsed, and it

he brigadier general mark kimmitt — served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for middle east policysh's white house. thank you for talking to us. we have seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban injust seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban in just seven days. seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban injust seven days. are seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban in just seven days. are you surprised by the gains they have made? i surprised by the gains they have made? ., , ., surprised by the gains they have made? . , . . ~' . , made? i really am, and i think any military observer— made? i really am, and i think any military observer would _ made? i really am, and i think any military observer would be - made? i really am, and i think any l military observer would be surprised as well. it is not unprecedented throughout history to see this kind of collapse, but with the force that we have trained so welcome and we have put so much time and effort into, it is coming as a surprise. and against this backdrop of america and its allies are rushing now to evacuate citizens, we have hea

i've been speaking to retired brigadier general mark kimmitt — he told me that the taliban should ber thursday's attack. the fault lies squarely at the feet of the taliban who have taken on responsibility for the outer cordon of the perimeter. it is them allowing the suicide bombers to get through and it is them who need to take the blame, which is why i think got to be very, very careful in considering the taliban a responsible ally that we can work with the inside of afghanistan. how will the us authorities be talking to the taliban at the moment about the situation at the airport? well, i suspect we have been trying to exchange intelligence that they have. let's be clear. and is expected that that the taliban are trying to demonstrate themselves as a more moderate organisation that can work with the international community, let's not fool ourselves. they probably had some collusion in letting the isis k bomber through. if not collusion they certainly had responsibility for not doing theirjob. so we need to be very, very careful about who were talking to among this group. going for

joining me now is retired brigadier general mark kimmitt. thank you for coming on the programme.t this imminent threat that president biden is talking about. they say that it is very likely. they say it could come as early as sunday. we have got this chaotic situation at the airport where presumably it is quite hard to stop somebody coming in intent on carrying out a suicide mission.- coming in intent on carrying out a suicide mission. that is exactly right _ out a suicide mission. that is exactly right and _ out a suicide mission. that is exactly right and the - out a suicide mission. that is exactly right and the fault - exactly right and the fault lies squarely at the feet of the taliban who had taken on responsibility for the outer cordon of the perimeter. it is them who are allowing the suicide bombers to get through and it is them who need to take the blame which is why you think have got to be very, very careful and considering the taliban a responsible ally that we can work with inside of afghanistan.— we can work with inside of afu hanistan. ., . ., ,, afghanistan. how m

let's speak now to retired brigadier—general mark kimmitt.e was also former assistant secretary of state for political—military affairs under president george w bush. thank you very much forjoining us. we are hearing so much change so fast, can i get your reaction to the news that taliban fighters are in kabul and the former president, ashraf ghani is not. from a military perspective everybody was shocked by the collapse of the afghan army. this will clearly go down as one of the great routs in military history, starting with rome, going all the way to france in 1940, to iraq in 2013, 2014. it was not only shocking, but enormously dismaying for all those coalition forces, including british and american, that worked so hard to train this army. we have heard quite a lot about the army looking very different on paper to the reality on the ground. shadow soldiers, and about the conditions for many of the soldiers, going without food sometimes, obviously scared, and elements of corruption. it is also shocking that this wasn't realised, wasn't real

let's bring in retired army brigadier general mark kimmitt.r general mark kimmitt. starting tot commander i'm starting to think of this us commander on the ground who has to somehow over the next few days continue this remarkable pace that they've set for bringing people out while at the same time shrinking its perimeter and getting the 6000 troops out of the country safely. i think the main thing that the commander is first focused on is getting as many as idus in out as safely as possible. everything else can wait for that is at once he has been given by the national command authority the opportunity to leave and shut the gates then he'll do a tactical withdrawal. but this really to a great extent is dependent upon the taliban, is that withdrawal is going to go safely. that's one of the reasons i suspect that william burns was in talking to the taliban this week is the director of the cia. ., . ~ , this week is the director of the cm. ., 4 y. ., this week is the director of the cm. ., ., ., ., cia. how quickly, you are a general, ou know cia

let's speak now to retired brigadier—general mark kimmitt. forjoining us. we are hearing so much change so fast, can i get your reaction to the news that taliban fighters are in kabul and the former president, ashraf ghani is not. from a military perspective everybody was shocked by the collapse of the afghan army. this will clearly go down as one of the great routs in military history, starting with rome, going all the way to france

joining me now is retired brigadier general mark kimmitt.ould be held responsible. the he told me the taliban should be held responsible.— be held responsible. the fault lies squarely _ be held responsible. the fault lies squarely at _ be held responsible. the fault lies squarely at the _ be held responsible. the fault lies squarely at the feet - be held responsible. the fault lies squarely at the feet of. lies squarely at the feet of the taliban who have taken on responsibility for the outer cordon of the perimeter. it is them allowing the suicide bombers to get through and it is them who need to take the blame, which is why i think got to be very, very careful in considering the taliban a responsible ally that we can work with the inside of afghanistan.— work with the inside of afghanistan. work with the inside of afu hanistan. ., ,, afghanistan. how will the us authorities _ afghanistan. how will the us authorities be _ afghanistan. how will the us authorities be talking - afghanistan. how will the us authorities be talking to - afghanist

matt: appreciate your time, retired brigadier general, mark kimmitt on this developing story.e will continue to cover the tragedies unfolding in afghanistan throughout the hour. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ matt: this is bloomberg markets. i'm matt miller. a headline we got in the last hour, bank of america announcing its chief operating officer thomas montag will retire at the end of the year. let's bring in our finance editor for more. a couple of big-name staff members stepping down. why are they leaving now? >> the news broke 30 minutes ago. we're also trying to figure out why now and the timing. these executives have been long tenured at bank of america. it is not all that a surprise. this is about the time they would consider leaving but why bank of america put out the news bid market today when the decision is not even happening until the end of the year is still unclear. like you say, these are two big moves. tom montag was instrumental in helping the revival of bank of america's investment bank. beasley started his career at goldman sachs, then went to merrill lynch before

tom: if i was to talk to some of the people we have talked to over the years, general kimmitt with suchat perspective. the thing i would ask is that many decades old belief in america and frankly in the soviet union of another time, that technology can win out. that has been destroyed across the territory of afghanistan. jonathan: the question for secretary blinken and the defense secretary and the president, what did they think was going to happen when they made this decision? what did they think was going to happen? tom: i will let them answer that. i am not surprised. after the rapidity of how the north vietnamese came down and across from cambodia into saigon, the two days before that i believe it was -- the fact is when you collapse, you collapse. jonathan: the tragedy is people are not surprised. when you ask people who know more about this than i do, they are not surprised. lisa: it is such a delicate place to be. what is the ultimate goal? to win against the taliban and al qaeda. right now there is a humanitarian crisis. if you look at the people fleeing into kabul to hide from

let's bring in general mark kimmitt — who served under president george w bush as assistant secretaryrs. the president was focused on the decision to leave afghanistan. there's a difference between the decision and the execution of that decision. a lot of the criticism has been the decision to move back 7000 us troops, to evacuate people who were still stranded.— were still stranded. well, you actually took _ were still stranded. well, you actually took my _ were still stranded. well, you actually took my nature - were still stranded. well, you - actually took my nature impression away~ _ actually took my nature impression away~ this — actually took my nature impression away. this was a classic red herring speech _ away. this was a classic red herring speech. what we are talking about or why he _ speech. what we are talking about or why he was_ speech. what we are talking about or why he was on the podium had absolutely nothing to do with the decision— absolutely nothing to do with the decision to withdraw. every president has wanted to withdraw. president — president has wanted to wi

i'm joined by retired army brigadier general mark kimmitt in washington dc it isa it is a particularlyryone in kabul and for the us military. i2 everyone in kabul and for the us military. 12 us service personnel. 15 wounded. i wonder if we could get your thoughts first of all. it is 15 wounded. i wonder if we could get your thoughts first of all.— your thoughts first of all. it is a particularly _ your thoughts first of all. it is a particularly tough _ your thoughts first of all. it is a particularly tough day - your thoughts first of all. it is a particularly tough day and - your thoughts first of all. it is a particularly tough day and will. your thoughts first of all. it is a i particularly tough day and will be your thoughts first of all. it is a - particularly tough day and will be a tough few weeks for the families that are getting the worst telephone call and worse is that of their life. i hope in all of this we do not forget that these are tough marines doing theirjob who gave their last full measure to get and evacuate needed personnel out of afghanistan. the evacuate needed

mark kimmitt was previously us deputy assistant secretary of defense for middle eastern policy and beforef the international airport. we know the gate the attack was focused on. in terms of the implications, in terms of what is going on, the evacuation, what do you think will be the considerations currently, both in the pentagon and the white house?— the white house? well, firstly, like frank, i the white house? well, firstly, like frank. i don't— the white house? well, firstly, like frank, i don't know _ the white house? well, firstly, like frank, i don't know what _ the white house? well, firstly, like frank, i don't know what is - frank, i don't know what is happening inside the airport. i would expect they have got into a full what they call threat condition, anticipating more attacks, so they are more focused right now on the defence of the air base than they are on the evacuation. i think the majorfear right now we'll be that this is going to be followed by mortar attacks by isis—k. that would be against the aircraft so it is more than likely that the defensive systems like the coun