general mark millie _ groups. is interesting. general mark millie gave _ groups. is interesting.groups. is interesting. general mark millie gave a press - mark millie gave a press conference at the pentagon, and he was asked whether this failure to recognise the rapid advance of taliban forces came down to a lack of intelligence orjudgment or what. he basically said whilst they had for seeing the potential the taliban could take over in this way, they had not foreseen it happening so rapidly within the space ofjust ii happening so rapidly within the space ofjust 11 days. a lot of head scratching going on amongst officials in the biden administration at the moment. they're trying to work out what went wrong, but more to the point, how to plot the path forward from this.- forward from this. david willis, with _ forward from this. david willis, with excellent. willis, with excellent analysis, thank you so much for joining us on newsday. marvin weinbaum is a former intelligence analyst at the us state department and director for afghan and pakistan studies at middle east institute in

you know, joint chiefs chairman mark milly said today that u.s. government had no indication the afghan military and government would collapse in 11 days. you've been on the ground many times throughout this conflict. was there any indication? >> reporter: i don't think anyone could have predicted this would happen in 11 days. i was on air about three days before kabul fell, and there was a news bulletin from our colleagues in d.c. that intelligence officials had said kabul could be surrounded in 30 days, and my actual response on air was i think that might be h hyperbole because it is calm and stable in kabul. three days later, the taliban took this city of 6 million people in a matter of hours without firing hardly a shot. i mean, you could never conceive of something like this. now the argument that a lot of people here on the ground would make is, okay, maybe you couldn't have conceived of that but when your're executing withdrawal like this and planning to end a 20-year war, you plan for every eventuality from the subline to the ridiculous. t

participating in the dignified transfers president joe biden, first lady jill biden, lloyd austin, mark millie joint chief of staff general david h berger, james mcconnell chief of staff at the united states army, admiral michael gill day chief of operations into public or commander of the air force march await affairs operations and they are on hand at dover to greet the family members of the fallen service members that were lost this week. jacqui: there for the dignified transfers secretary of state anthony blinken deputy secretary of defense kathleen hicks, chief master sgt ramon lopez senior advisor to the joint chief of staff. christine warmath secretary of the army . jacqui: continuing to watch dignified transfer of the 13 fallen service members at dover air force base. mike, i recall the images that we have seen of these heroes over the last few days as we begun to learn their names, how young they are, one image that stands out to me a young woman cradling a baby posted to her instagram a few days before she was killed i love my job. mike: heartbreaking. one young man about to become a

general mark millie, i assumed that you were among them, did you get any of the answers you were lookingnfortunately this briefing we heard a lot of the same platitudes that the media got i there were some key pieces of information that were classifie in we can't disclose that. we are doing such a great job, but to be honest all of this is triple. the one thing that came out ver clear from the members is the extension of this august 31st deadline. it's not possible to evacuate the american still in afghanistan out of afghanistan in that time period. i think it's pretty much unilateral that we want an extension to that timeline in w want the president to do what i necessary to make sure american have safe or at a minimum get out of afghanistan. >> there was a virtual meeting of the chief sites of leaders this morning according to reuters, boris johnson has said that the g7 had in agreement that it would tell the taliban that it's going to take longer than august the 31st to get everybody out in the taliban just has to deal with that. in then, that whole thing was undercut by the white hou

austin, secretary of state antony blake and, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general mark. milly will a group calling itself isis. k claims or what's behind the attacks. it's apparently a splinters you hot as group based on the east and off can providence on. according to your reports, it has up to 2005 is isis k carried out a 100 attacks on civilians and i've gone on and pakistan between 20172018. it's also reportedly targeted the taliban in the past as well. well. busy during the program this evening here at our t t, i was speaking with max blumenthal the highway, very well known editor of the gray zone. he says, isis k is a direct byproduct of the us invasion. we did hear about this group, for example, and i believe, april 2017 when trump and essentially authorized the pentagon to drop the mother of all bombs in eastern afghanistan. i believe in the non ga har province on isis k. but the roots of this group in its existence is poorly understood. and of course, when we hear these press briefings at the pentagon, there's very little context as group actually is a direct by produ

austin, secretary of state antony, blanket, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general mark, milly, along with commanders on the ground in afghanistan, who had been updating the president and officials, security officials, the ongoing situation their president biden postpone his meeting this morning with israeli prime minister, natalie bennett. and chancellor merkel has canceled her trip to israel in light of the ongoing situation. cobble french president, i should mention a manual. my crown has said that the french embassy and cobble will be evacuated to the situation and also likewise, british pm. morse. johnson has also been meeting in a crisis, meeting with senior intelligence and security officials in london as well. nato chief install a stone burned condemned me attacking. tweeted just a short time ago. i strongly condemn the heretic terrorist attack outside cobble airport. my thoughts are with those affected and their loved ones. our priority remains to evacuate as many people to safety as quickly as possible. look, there were certainly warnings that this could happen. the u

austin, secretary of state anthony blake in and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general mark, millie le group calling itself isis k claims. it was behind the attacks. it's a splintered g. hottest group based in the eastern providence of a horizontal according to you and reports it has up to 2005. as i said, k carried out about a 100 times on civilians and i'll be honest on packets. on between 20172018. it also talk to the taliban in the past. as well. or short time ago, i spoke with a max blumenthal editor of the gray zone, who says isis k is a direct by product of the us invasion. we did hear about this group, for example, and i believe, april 2017. when trump and essentially authorized the pentagon to drop the mother of all bombs in eastern afghanistan, i believe in the non ga har province on isis k. but the roots of this group in its existence is poorly understood. and of course, when we hear these press briefings at the pentagon, there's very little context. this group actually is a direct byproduct of the us invasion and occupation of afghanistan. it grew out of the pocket study

austin and the secretary of state antony blank and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general mark milly, were awaiting more information from both the white house and pentagon press briefings from the white house and the pentagon are supposed to start any moment. now both have been understandably delayed in light of this ongoing situation, but we know that pentagon spokesman and john kirby did confirm in a tweet the explosions at. c the abbey gate entrance to the home id cards. i international airport there. cobble and also the baron hotel, which is a couple 100 meters, basically across the street from the airport, adding that it was a quote unquote complex attack. and as you were mentioning, were also hearing that isis k, which is basically splinter group of isis isis, of the course on may at this point be responsible though that is not confirmed. this is a very fluid situation. as we continue to get updates about the number of dead, the number of injured absolutely a catastrophic and her epic situation. we're also hearing. likewise, you reported that as many as 5 us marines may have be

the press conferences i heard with mark millie he said this the other day, that is a policy decision and we are ready to execute. that tells me he wants to do it, he wants to act but needs approval from the commander-in-chief and this commander-in-chief is lost touch with reality. you pointed out many contradictions directly from president biden himself. granted state department have utterly failed. i've done tons of friends in the military telling me they've been executing the missions the commander has given them but the state department has been asleep at the wheel. >> one of the biggest statements would be for him to resign. because you are not being want to and it is that dangerous. nancy pelosi said something on a phone call you are on, you were involved in a phone call that shocked what nancy pelosi said. >> thank you for your coverage of this. it is ludicrous where we find ourselves. we were on a call with austin and secretary blinken and general lily, the first question when opened up to matters of congress went to speaker pelosi. she praised the leadership at the white hous

general mark, milly, president bonham postponed a meeting earlier today with israeli prime minister natalie bennett. we're hearing until tomorrow. also german chancellor angle merkel is canceled her trip to israel in light, of course of the ongoing situation. cobble nato chief install timber condemned. the attack tweeted, i strongly condemn the heretic, terrorist attack outside cobble airport. my thoughts are with all those effected in their loved ones, our priority remains to evacuate as many people to safety as quickly as possible. well, there were certainly warnings. we've been talking about this that it could happen. the u. s. embassy in cobble issued warnings to americans late wednesday to avoid going to the airport, and particularly the airport gates and to leave a mediately, australia, britain, likewise issue and comparable warnings saying there was a high threat of a terrorist attack. you know, and this is something that the biden administration, particularly with isis k isis in the chorus on, has warned about and is likely based on us officials and their evidence likely the culprit

so offensive about this and other press conference like i heard yesterday with lloyd austin and mark millie, getting so much criticism this morning. here's a piece of it. listen. >> we don't have capability to collect large numbers of people, working hard to get as many people through as possible. it is obvious we are not close to where we want to be in terms of getting numbers through. we work that 24 hours a day 7 days a week. todd: every statement is internally inconsistent, that window different and it is chilling because it is creating lack of confidence in those watching trying to fight for survival and according to military personnel we've heard from it is also incorrect. we do have the capacity to do these withdrawals, we know how to do them and one final note, in the 4:00 am hour, all this blaming of intelligent services is a lie, the insult was there, we knew what could happen, they chose to ignore it for political purposes. jillian: on "fox and friends" yesterday an american trapped in afghanistan his family was there, he went to care for a sick family member. let's take a listen

in the press conferences i've heard with mark millie, he said this the other day, that's a policy decision in we are ready to execute. that basically tells me that he wants to do it, he wants to act but he needs approval from the commander-in-chief. this commander-in-chief has los complete touch with reality. you pointed out many contradictions that are directl from joe biden himself. granted, state department, they have utterly failed. i've got tons of friends in the military in they are telling me they've they been executing the missions that the, but the stat department has been asleep at the wheel. >> one of the biggest statement you could make forward before him to resign. >> absolutely. >> you should resign because your not being listened to and it's that the interest rate congresswoman pelosi said something on a phone call today that you were on because there are things going on behind the scenes, the media isn't necessarily there. you were involved in a phone call today the shock to you wit what pelosi said. what was that exactly? >> tammy, thank you so much for your passionate cov

wasn't the only one cleaning up and defense secretary lloyd austin and chairman of the joint chiefs mark milly was briefing lawmakers, the house and senate this morning on what is happening in kabul. the very, very fast deteriorating situation and those briefings didn't go well. lawmakers were curious why administration had not an anticipated this rapid collapse and the timeline for the reconstituting of terrorists has moved up. >> does the white house look at this as an intelligence failure or logistics failure? what are they saying? >> this was not an intelligence failure per se. the intelligence was there. they knew based on the assessments the taliban was aiming for a complete military takeover of the country. cnn reported these intel assessments were showing they were not serious about peace talks. they were aiming to fully control the government no matter whether the u.s. statement or when. that was their objective. in addition, it has always been intel assessments over the last couple months and years even that a full withdrawal of u.s. troops would per sip tate the collapse of the afgh

i want to play for what you mark milly had to say about that yesterday. >> i stood behind this podiumrity forces had the capacity and by that i mean they had the training, the size, the capability to defend their country. this comes down to an issue of will and leadership. and, no, i did not, nor did anyone else see a collapse of an army that size in 11 days. >> i know you can't speak on untell jens efforts. but there are efforts to build up the forces. should what we saw from the afghan army been a surprise for anyone? >> i think the speed of the collapse. before i say that, thank you very much for inviting me. always a pleasure to meet sarah again. i don't think anyone should have been overly surprised. we've been identifying problems with the capability of the afghan military for years. i think the speed of it caught everyone by surprise. >> how much do you think, john, you no he that responsibility lies on how the americans trains the afghan forces and how much is on the afghan army? afghans you speak to say they lost 60,000 soldiers fighting the taliban during this time. they sai

there and due to the rise of the taliban the fact that they control virtually the whole country, mark milliecede that, yes, that time line has changed and it is now possible that that has been sped up. of course, one of the major questions that the biden administration has been grappling with during this withdrawal is how they're going to keep their counter terrorism capability on the ground when removing all of the forces from the country that we've had there from the last two decades. they've said repeatedly there are going to be over the horizon capabilities that troops are going to be stationed around afghanistan and can launch conversations from there. this raising new questions about whether the u.s. is prepared now and has answers as to how quickly they will be able to respond if these terrorist groups do reconstitute themselves as expected. >> natasha bertrand, thank you so much for that. we'll be right back. uld have the perspective to see more? at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by

elizabeth: you know, this poor planning, there's also growing concern that president biden and general mark milli chiefs of staff, inflated the size of the afghan army's strength than more than double it was to support their case that they could defeat the taliban. so there's that, there's also -- is this a concern for you, that this will set the u.s. back on the world stage and undercut its deterrent force? pleasure. >> it does, but here's how it happens. we have withdrawn our intelligence, our military and our diplomatic capability from afghanistan just when the taliban is going to turn afghanistan into a terrorist-sponsored state. we know in spite of what the president said today that al-qaeda is still homesteading on that'llen banter story. the leader of al-qaeda is still there, and isis is still there. and we might think the war is over, but it's not. the taliban and al-qaeda and isis have us in their crosshairs. and so when they launch attacks against us from afghanistan, that is going to drive a wedge between the united states and our allies and create opportunities for iran, russia and ch

now the joint chiefs chairman general mark millie telling senators that he is moving up that timelineember new york congressman. congressman, thank you for bein here today. first of all, what are you anticipating we will hear from president biden moments away? >> i think what we're going to hear of lots of trying to equivocate, deflect, blame for his colossal blunder that is no listening to his military commanders who told him he should be shouldn't be doing this. he's clearly out on a limb on his own in he owns this. he owns 20 afghanistan back in the pre- 9/11 which has bad consequences for the united states going forward. >> remember former secretary of state robert gates said there had never been a foreign policy decision that joe biden then senator had been right about an i think that that criticism is coming back to haunt him today and what he's going to say remains to be seen. i want to play this. this is from michael wilds who served and who is very upset about what he sees playing out in afghanistan. >> the fact that we are heading into the 20th anniversary of 9/ 11, where we

mark. >> millie made those comments over the weekend while briefing senators on the situation where kron four's dan kerman with a closer look at that part of the story. well, the u.s. decision to withdraw troops from afghanistan is being called into question now that the taliban is taking over kabul. >> questions are also being raised as to whether the taliban takeover increases the chances of terrorism in this country. >> i believe that at least in the short to medium term the would be engaged with consolidating their own power over the country and during this time we will have a lower likelihood of attacks. san jose state university political science professor car because she kamar says it's important to remember why the u.s. went into afghanistan in the first place. the gold with a simple it was to show the was that a country that terrorists who would plot against the u.s. will be punished and that goal was accomplished. she kamar says the u.s. has received assurances from the taliban. they will not harbor terrorists and she thinks it's in their best interest to live up to that commit

news, secretary of defense, lloyd austin, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general mark millier very first public appearance since the fall of afghanistan to the taliban. the two are saying right now, and we've been monitoring this , that about 4,500 military personnel are now in place in kabul, but so far, have had "no hostile interactions with the taliban." secretary austin is saying moments ago that the u.s. does not have the capability to go out and get large numbers of americans located outside of the kabul airport, general milli e adding he did not expect to see the taliban take over the nation in just 11 days. this as the rescue efforts do continue, the administration says that some 2,000 people have now been evacuated in just the past 24 hours, but you can hear all kinds of gun shots, so it's a very very disturbing situation right now. we do hear that 325 americans have been airlifted out so that is certainly good news. in the meantime on the financial front, treasury secretary janet yellen is making a move to prevent the taliban from accessing any funds for its regime.

here's john mark millie, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff speaking alongside lloyd austin.ntly fight and defend their country. and we will continue to support the afghan security forces where necessary. >> colonel jacobs, how did the u.s. military, the top people in the pentagon, get this so spectacularly wrong? >> well, frequently you focus on numbers. the president himself said that well, they've got 300,000 troops in afghanistan. they ought to be able to take care of themselves. they've got top quality equipment and good training from americans and so on. the trouble is that there's a big difference between having the capability to defend yourself and having the will to defend yourself and the afghans did not have the will to do it. and in addition to that, the military and just about any professional organization always has the capability when presented with an opportunity to do something, to say they can give enough resources. they can do it. can you do this mission? yeah, we can do this mission if you give us enough resources. unfortunately, the reality on the ground

will say that the defense secretary, lloyd austin, and the chairman of the joint chiefs general mark milliee , anthony blinken and all those meetings taking place in the west wing of the white house so all of that is happening. the phone calls are happening but again publicly the conversation is about covid. a lots been said about the president possibly having overruled some of these military leaders and other advisors and deciding to pull out of afghanistan and the way that the pull-out happened. we will hear from secretary austin today. we haven't heard from him this week at the pentagon we're told there's a briefing later this afternoon so the evacuation continues today. to the point trey was making we're trying to figure out how many americans are in that country upwards of 10-15,000 has been floated on capitol hill as a number of americans, but we're not entirely sure. we know when we were told that 1,100 were evacuated yesterday, it's still tough to get some of these people who want to get out though to that airport, and you know, even some democrats here in washington started to get

mark millie, the general had this quote yesterday. think about this now, okay?bout the events in realtime as they transpire when the president comes out to talk about it. this is a long-term statement. terrorist groups like al qaeda could reconstitute in afghanistan sooner than the two years defense officials had previously estimated to congress because of the recent rapid taliban takeover of the country. all of this now, sir, needs to be re-examineed pronto. sir. >> yeah, bill, i completely agree. what general milne said there before the armed services committee now for years as other military leaders have. this isn't just about the taliban. it is about the situation on the ground in afghanistan, the rise of al qaeda the last time that i was in afghanistan, just a couple of years ago as a member of congress again i served there five or six years ago. back a couple of years ago as a member of congress the military leadership were informing us about the rise of isis k in afghanistan. the true threats. >> bill: what does isis k stand for? >> a rise of radical isla

cheryl: i think a lot of that would like to get into mark millie's head right now, i mean, those imagess face trying to deal with this crisis over the last week. it would be interesting to see what he has to say down the line. christopher, thank you. good to see you. >> thank you. cheryl: let's stay with the media because guess what, chris cuomo came back to work. >> i'm not an advisor. i'm a brother. i tried to do the right thing. i just want you all to know that. cheryl: is there a violin playing in your head right now? we will look at how he addressed the handling of his governor brother at the height of the pandemic. you are watching "mornings with maria" live on foxbusiness. ♪♪ this isn't just freight. these aren't just shipments. they're promises. promises of all shapes and sizes. each with a time and a place they've been promised to be. a promise is everything to old dominion, because it means everything to you. up here, success depends on the choices you make. because it means everything to you. but i know i've got this. and when it comes to controlling his type 2 diabetes, my d

dagen: i will point to what mark millie was a saying that groups like al qaeda could reconstitute soonerfficials had said it would be two years that they had previously estimated, but because of the rapid takeover by the taliban, the reconstitution of terrorists groups like al qaeda could happen much sooner than that. also, to add to that and this is according to reporting i believe in the "washington post", a u.s. defense official has confirmed that the power one presenter that-- near the bagram air base has been busted open releasing thousands of hardened extremist from both the taliban and the islamic state, so all of this is going on as we move forward towards the 20th anniversary of 9/11. >> it's awful. one-- the reason why you will have more terrorism activity is because with the taliban fully in power it permits an ecosystem of terrorism, so we should anticipate another growth of a powerful terrorist group coming out of afghanistan, but now you have the taliban with all of our equipment because joe biden didn't have any deals, didn't have any plans to secure our humvees, tanks, ua

letter demanding the resignation of defense secretary boyd austen and the chair of the joint chiefs mark millie. republicans are sharply critical of the president's leadership, senator tom cotten said biden could promises to the taliban but not americans. democrats and their allies in the media are putting out a positive spin. the headlines mention the end of america's longest war. the president makes a statement at some point this afternoon. we don't know if he will take questions. moments from now donald trump joins us to answer any and all questions. stocks powering to record highs. the pace of new delta infections continues to slow, it has hit another high monday, it is almost doubled since donald trump became president in 2016, the s&p hit its umpteenth monday up twee 7 months in a row. it open slightly lower. and not this morning but certainly the last couple days, apple is worth $2.5 trillion. it is august 30 first 2021. "varney and company" is about to begin. let's get right to it. joining me on the phone donald trump. welcome to the program. >> good morning. stuart: the media is spinni

under the bus about the withdraw from just abandonment of bagram air base and it was clear in what mark milliehiefs of steff said a week and half ago or so that when he was saying that we were given a certain troop level and it didn't really have a choice, so that is just part of what's going on, but also the "washington post" has reporting yesterday that it was very clear about what happened with the taliban taking over and just before we go, "washington post" yesterday reported that taliban offered to stay out of kabul and let u.s. forces secure the city and then we told them we only need therefore. we could control the airport in the city and evacuated everyone, but we chose not to. that was in the "washington post" yesterday. >> i think if you look at the situation in bagram air base and couple-- kabul is a clear case of cut and run, wanted to get out of afghanistan as fast as they can and for some cases for sake first taken any responses from the taliban in leaving americans and our allies add to the. dagen: don bramer, thank you for being here this morning. coming up, a shot in a booth,

mark resigned over afghanistan. >> the us military leaders right that austin and millie should have done everything in their authority to stop the hasty withdrawal including resigning in protest if the president ignored their warnings. >> ronnie jackson and former army general, the last united states soldier exiting kabul while hundreds of americans and thousands of allies remain stranded intel and occupied territory. >> a small number of americans under 200, might be closer to 100 who remain in afghanistan. we worked to relocate afghans who worked alongside us. we've gotten many out but many are still there. >> what happens now? to discuss is gerald kean and his afghan interpreter who served beside our troops for five years, thanks for your amazing service. what do the next 24 hours look like in afghanistan? >> thank you for having me and sharing our story. the next 24 hours probably to me is critical americans still on the ground and afghan interpreters who helped us during our war there for the last 20 years. to try to get out of afghanistan is going to be very hard and the next 24 hours will be very critical to k

millie. those cowards knew this was going to happen. you can't just walk out of afghanistan. the airport will be attacked, mark my words. host: you say you called this in april. are you talking about the announcement that president biden made in april, about the september 11 withdrawal date? caller: absolutely. i was talking to my brothers then. i said there is going to be a saigon moment. all of us know the culture, there. we know the enemy. host: was yesterday the saigon moment? caller: absolutely. the taliban will have a ceremony at our embassy. this isn't over yet. they know biden is a coward. they're going to start attacking western europe, and then the united states again because he is not going to do anything. millie and those generals are not going to do anything either because they are nothing but politicians. host: what years were you there, and what capacity did you serve in? caller: i was in afghanistan in 2009, 2010 and 2013. i flew tactical air vac. i was in the infantry before that in iraq. i spent a lot of time working with afghans and nato forces. everybody knew, this commitment was not for 10 years, no

book that alleges the nation's top general mark milley feared donald trump would wage a coup after losing the november election. >> ty became harrowing when millieaw parallels between trump and hiller and the information he was spewing about election fraud. he continued to be a boebert, a safegud in at he thought was preventing president trump from staying in power. nermeen: plu the latest on stopping palestinians from being infected from their homes but only if they pay an organization cannot all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh. amy goodman is off today. the united states has finally hit the biden administration's goal of administering covid-19 vaccines to 70% of u.s. adults one month later than it had , hoped. the milestone came as the us reported more than 135,000 new the highest number of daily cases infections since february. , on monday, louisiana governor john bell edwards re-imposed a state-wide mask mandate, as his state set a record for new infections and hospitals become overwhelmed with covid patients. governor bell edwards: we are the worst in the cou

during the obama administration, mark milley was among the generals who cap threatening -- complete faith in the afghan forces. reports they were not doing that well, millievouched for them in public. yet the afghanistan papers show u.s. army officials knew there were fundamental flaws with the afghan security forces and did not have any faith it would be able to defend their country. that is the paradox we see again and again in the afghanistan papers, the generals kept telling the american people that were making progress, that they would emerge victorious in the end. and in private, many of the same people were saying they did not see a good outcome, that this war was not winnable, and the truth was relieving help from the u.s. people. amy: craig whitlock, thank you for being with us, investigative reporter for "the washington post" and author of the new book "the afghanistan papers: a secret history of the war." it is out at the end of the month. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to (tnder ruming)

retired generals and admirals demanding lloyd austin and mark milley resign over the mess in afghanistan. in a letter, they argue austin and millieerous withdrawal in the strongest possible terms. if they cannot do everything within their authority to stop the hasty withdrawal, they should resign. their must be accountability at all levels nor tragic and avoidable debacle. joining us right now is retired army ranger congressman brian mast who joins us from d.c. congressman, good morning townchts good morning to you. steve: yesterday was a tough day for all of us to watch. it wasn't supposed to end that way. >> yeah. it's tough for me to just watch the exchange, our fighters coming off the aircraft underneath the flag draped caskets. you know, just preparing to speak to you right now. i just sit here and wipe the tears out of my eyes just because i saw those caskets coming off the plane. [clearing throat] i have tried to hold myself together here but i have seen it so many times. it is impossible to watch. especially when it was this senseless, this preventable. and entirely the result of something that none of our service members

millie. those cowards knew this was going to happen. you can't just walk out of afghanistan. the airport will be attacked, mark my words.ost: you say you called this in april. are you talking about the announcement that president biden made in april, about the september 11 withdrawal date? caller: absolutely. i was talking to my brothers then. i said there is going to be a saigon moment. all of us know the culture, there. we know the enemy. host: was yesterday the saigon moment? caller: absolutely. the taliban will have a ceremony at our embassy. this isn't over yet. they know biden is a coward. they're going to start attacking western europe, and then the united states again because he is not going to do anything. millie and those generals are not going to do anything either because they are nothing but politicians. host: what years were you there, and what capacity did you serve in? caller: i was in afghanistan in 2009, 2010 and 2013. i flew tactical air vac. i was in the infantry before that in iraq. i spent a lot of time working with afghans and nato forces. everybody knew, this commitment was not for 10 years, not