ronan: this is repeating itself and richard holbrook who ran the state department spent his final days and lost his life in that job, arguing that we had lost a moment of leveraging where we had military muscle on the ground in that country and the threat could have been continued and he thought that could be negotiations with the taliban and the things government didn't want to do that. that fits with a pattern of military-first approaches to afghanistan and even what we see is, yes, talks john going in doha about the taliban and its future but what we don't see is any coordination between our military withdrawal and those talks. and richard holbrook and many people may disagree with him that we are in a position where we squander the moment, once things are in talks with a complete withdrawal already underway, you don't have any teeth or anything to back the talks up with. and yet again, what we are seeing is a failure of diplomacy as well in this moment and the consequences are going to be on a human level. i think they are going to be held politically if cab you'll falls -- kabul f

i remember richard holbrooke working to look on how you change the kinds of products in agriculture that you had in the country to try to build a very different form of commerce in the nation. i heard david portray us had captains that were acting like maoris throughout the country. we saw a women, many of whom i know who were educated and promised and given a very different different element. and i guess my question to both of you, which is, which is another element of this question is, is, isn't disingenuous of the united states, you know, to go into places like this and talk about democracy, raise the aspiration of the people and say, you can have better because we seem to be walking away from that professor base of it. well, i mean, it's a version of imperialism. this was an imperial project. it, it, it began on the assumption that afghans need our help, that afghans are incapable of governing their own country. and so here come the americans with democracy and market economics and technology and human rights that we presumed we could bestow on these on this backward people and forgi

certainly, richard holbrooke, our former ambassador man i worked with. fortunately, i believe this was possible and it was really the only way to deal successfully with down the street and what he was given the authority to do it. maybe it would have been on doable in any case, but the child on always had a secure foothold inside pocket on. and the long record of insurgent warfare shows that if you can have a secure base area, you can eventually when. and so that's essentially what apple jewel, i think sharon explanation at least partly, but the other part is africa. it's not a nation and a conventional western since it's a collection of drives scattered over areas and people have made accommodations. some people don't like each oh, some drive don't like each other. oh, and for a long period of time there's been cordial. been pay off. all the king's was able to hold drives together with money, changing hands. now it's not dollars corruption. so a lot of people didn't like it didn't understand it. and the u. s. investment, the corruption. and so there were more reasons why the outcome w

of bring everybody's attention back to something that he said in a book that was written by richard holbrook when they talked about leaving afghanistan and the way he felt about the obligation that we had to the afghan people. he used salty language. he said f that, we don't have to worry about that. we did it in vietnam. nixon and kissinger got away with it. >> i don't like making this comment but there's a callous indifference that president biden has when it comes to the afghan people. a lack of a moral compass and empathy for the suffering taking place here and the obligation, we were fighting side by side here against radical islam. we were here because america was attacked. the taliban is complicit in being the host for the al-quaida who attacked us. the afghans have sacrificed 66,000 soldiers over 50,000 civilians in this fight. they're allies in this fight. there's all sorts of issues as we know in terms of how things could have been better, mistakes were made. there's no denies the fact that for 20 years they stood up against radical islamic movement for their own self-interests but

richard holbrooke had said this feels like 1973 saigon. he said f-them.ctually disgusting and callous and i believe joe biden and holbrooke were having the discussion in 2010. biden as vice president under the obama administration, they realized all of our efforts in afghanistan, talking about nation-building, growing schools, women's rights that was a failed effort. they knew that back in 2010. had we decisively pulled out in 2010, got all the americans out, got the allies out, think of how many trillions of dollars and how many lives would have been saved. instead we let the military industrial complex continue to slow roll us and run roughshod of duly-elected presidents. there needs to be accountability for unelected bureaucrats and special interests for making the war go on so long. elizabeth: no word from pelosi on republican calls for hearings just yet. she seems to be shutting this down. remember this from vice president bide. watch -- biden. >> you figure out how to live together like we do, you will never, never, never make it. america's strength

it was reported by richard holbrook, it was in his diary.s a special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan and the obama administration. the atlantic reported a revelation from his diary about joe biden. this was back in 2010. according to holberg's diary when he was asked about american obligations to afghans like the girls in the kabul school, biden replied saying "f that. we don't have to worry about it. we did it in vietnam. nixon and kissinger got away with it. "this was from a credible person in the obama administration from 2010 in these callous remarks in 2021. unacceptable. >> emily: the fact that that perspective and mind-set is occupying the commander in chief position of this country, it's absolutely abhorrent. it's disgusting and shameful. it is beneath the office of the presidency. many afghan christians are terrorized by the taliban's takeover. what will happen to them now under taliban rule and what will the biden administration do to help them? lp. we earned a lot of va benefits with our service, but the va home loan benefit is

but, one thing my mentor and late friend richard holbrooke always said is that the military, our military's we are not nation building in south korea or germany or japan. we are not propping up a government in any of those nations. we are supporting policy and supporting a government that support our policy. so, i think we should be clear about that. i have seen some of that and heard some of that criticism today. but i would be careful. the chinese foreign minister shouldn't be lecturing us about our military engagement. >> nation building in afghanistan for years. we're down to 2500 troops. that's not a nation building force. >> bret: ben, final word here? >> but -- okay. >> america's interest, america first policy would recognize that it's in america's interest to have friends who trust us when we make commitments to them, they should have faith news and not in china or in russia. turning them away, leaving them behind is not an america first policy. >> bret: harold, 10 seconds? >> bret, i would ask brit, who i respect greatly, do you think we should still be in afghanistan with a massiv

. >> i mean nasr wrote for richard holbrook and he is right. >> we'll be watching this unfold. we're considering to monitor the dire situation in afghanistan and bring you the latest. >>> we're also following the devastating impact of the 7.2 earthquake in haiti has the death toll climbs there. a report from the disaster zone is next. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." d me, that i should get used to people staring. so i did. it's okay, you can stare. when you're a two-time gold medalist, it comes with the territory. voiceover: riders. wanderers on the road of life. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. ♪ rock the boat don't rock the boa

i had a number of dinners with richard holbrooke, who was the december ig nats to be the special envoy for afghanistan and pakistan. i was present at the first dinner that hillary clinton held at the state department. >> wow. >> among afghan experts. and so all of them got this plan as well as military officials. and, frankly, i mean, that i spent the next, i would say, until about 2011, pushing this type of an approach really to no avail. interestingly i ended up being employed not by the civilian side but by the military, meaning two commanders of the international forces in kabul and then the chairman of joint chiefs of staff. and what was odd was it was the military that was begging for more of a civilian involvement and engagement with what was going on in afghanistan because from our perspective, the fundamental problems were civilian problems. they were the corruption of the afghan government and the united states' role in abetting, reinforcing, and enabling that corruption, and the instrumental role of pakistan, the pakistani government, in concocting and supporting the taliban

richard holbrooke who is democrat allied with president obama and clinton, obviously, really with hillarythe vice president was in afghanistan he was trying to tell him don't leave because there is going to be a huge terrorist threat to america. he said america's obligation to afghans like the girl news kabul school. you got to remember that biden responded with a history lesson for the u.s. final withdrawal from southeast asia in 1973, f that we don't have to worry about that. we left in vietnam. nixon and kissinger got away with it, we will, too. that's his attitude in 2010. don't say he is old and not as sharp as he used to be. evidence has always been dull as chairman. he has always been wrong. his instincts have always been folly. what's so terrible which is the anti- -- the anti-definition of leadership, is that he is blaming his aides and blaming trump in a way that's not even nuanced. he flat out is saying it. this is on you. and if general austin who is now secretary of defense austin doesn't come out and speak for himself or resign, what does he stand for? general milley, if you