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The Lead with Jake Tapper

U.S. Soccer Agrees To Landmark Equal Pay Deal For Women; Mean; Oz, McCormick Deadlocked In P.A. GOP Senate Race; Trump-Backed election Denier Wins GOP Primary For P.A. Governor; Rep. Cawthorn Loses His Seat In Congress After 2 Chaotic Years; Scandal-Plagued Rep. Cawthorn Loses In NC GOP Primary; Gasoline Prices Hit Record Highs And Continue To Rise; Trump And Biden Administration Decisions Drove Collapse Of Afghan Security Forces; Afghan Women Open Up About Life Under The Taliban. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 18, 2022 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'll show you what happened after the missile strike. His security cameras caught the missile strike as it happened. This is the first time it's been seen by the public. This is at full speed, then we slowed it down. You can see the missile low and straight from the direction of the Black Sea, where Russia has been launching its attacks on Odessa.

(on camera): So there was a direct attack from a missile right into your hotel, and no one was hurt or died?

SERGIY DEMIDOV, ODESSA HOTEL OWNER (through translator): Thank God no one was injured here because normally in this place, there were always children and parents.

SIDNER (voice-over): His once pristine seaside hotel used to be a favorite of Russian tourists and politicians. They spent good money here in the years before the war. He doesn't want to admit it, but he himself was once a member of the pro-Russian party here.

(voice-over): This is destroyed.

You blame the Russian soldiers and Putin. What did you think of Russians before this?

DEMIDOV (through translator): Since 2014 I felt they were bastards. But I didn't want to believe in that.

SIDNER (voice-over): 2014 was the year Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. 2022 the rest of Ukraine came under attack.

(on camera): Why do you think the Russians hit this hotel?

DEMIDOV (through translator): I can't explain this. There were no military, no mercenaries, no terrorists, no Ukrainian Nazis. There was no one like that here.

SIDNER (on camera): Will Russians ever be allowed to come back here and stay at the Seaside Resort?

DEMIDOV (through translator): I can only allow them to come back if they are taken prisoner and forced to rebuild.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SIDNER: And, Jake, you will hear this time and time again. This place, Odessa, there were many people who were very close to Russia and had very friendly ties from tourism companies that made tons of money on Russian tourists to the mayor himself who was a part of a Russian party, if you will, a pro-Russian party. But more and more as this place keeps getting hit, that sentiment has changed and it has changed greatly. Most people will tell you, this is now a European city, and they banish any of that talk about being friendly with Russia. Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Sara Sidner reporting live for us from Odessa, Ukraine. Thank you so much.

Turning now to Moscow, at a rare public rebuke of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine from within Russia. As CNN's Matthew Chance reports for us now, the mood in Russia has seemingly begun to shift as prominent figures warn the whole world is actually against them.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Defenders of Ukraine turn prisoners of war. Latest images released by the Russian military of Ukrainian forces surrendering after their defiant stand. Some limping with wounds or exhaustion.

As one of the most complex most grueling battles at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, finally draws to a close.

Nearly 1000 Ukrainians have surrendered so far. Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman announces triumphantly before detailing Russia's latest rocket attacks and what he says are U.S. supplied weapons on the battlefield.

As ever, no hint of any problems or setbacks in what Russia still refuses to even call a war. Shocking then, Kremlin controlled television would allow Russia's special military operation to be ripped apart on air by a respected military commentator and former Russian colonel and pulls no punches.

Let's not take information tranquilizers, the retired colonel advises, and pretend Ukraine's armed forces and nearing a crisis of morale because that's not even close to reality, he says.

The pro-Kremlin anchor pushes back, saying there have been individual cases that show otherwise. But the colonel is insistent.

With European military aid now coming into full effect, he says, a million Ukrainian soldiers could soon join the fight. Well frankly, the situation for Russia, he says will get worse. It is escaping.

But he went on, we are geopolitically isolated. The whole world is against us, even if we don't want to admit it, he says. Telling millions of Russians who get their news from this state channel, what many of them given the international sanctions on Russia must already suspect.

[17:05:03]

Recent days have seen the official veil of denial slipped too, like when the pro-Kremlin Chechen leader whose forces had been fighting in Ukraine tried to tell Russian students what's really going on there.

We're fighting Ukrainian nationalists backed by NATO, and the West is arming them, he says. That's why our country is finding it so difficult there, he reveals. But it's a good experience, he says.

Not the experience though Vladimir Putin, who presided over a slightly muted annual Victory Day parade early this month, is likely to have expected when he sent his troops across the border. Russia hasn't lost its latest war, but expectations of a quick and easy win are being rolled back.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHANCE: So Jake, no victory, no defeat just a long protracted war. That's what Russia seems to be knuckling down to do. It's also doubling down on that international isolation that the retired colonel mentioned, expelling dozens of European diplomats tonight in what the Italian prime minister has called a hostile act. Back to you.

TAPPER: Matthew Chance reporting live for us from London. Thank you so much.

It took for World Cup wins and years of fighting for women's soccer to finally get paid the same as the men's team. We're going to talk to the goalie for the '99 World Cup championship team, Briana Scurry.

Then, how do you fight multiple wildfires when there's not enough water for even drinking or farming? Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:11:06]

TAPPER: In our sports lead, an historic agreement for U.S. Soccer and equal pay the men's and women's U.S. national teams will both now receive equal pay and equal prize money including at World Cups, becoming the first soccer federation in the world to adopt that policy. As CNN's Brynn Gingras reports it has been a long fight for equal pay for the women of U.S. Soccer and they only had to win four world cups to the men's teams zero to get there.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a game changing deal.

CINDY PARLOW CONE, PRESIDENT, U.S. SOCCER FEDERATION: I am just so incredibly proud of what we've achieved.

GINGRAS (voice-over): In a new contract, U.S. Soccer women and men's player associations agreeing to equal pay for all players.

CONE: This is just a really historic moment that will hopefully lead to meaningful changes and progress, not only here at home in the U.S. but around the world.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Both men and women will now get around $450,000 a year, commercial and event revenue will be divvied up. The team's also shaking hands on sharing World Cup prize money, a first of any soccer organization in the world. That part of today's agreement, especially notable.

As the women's team clinched the last two World Cups, four overall, the men haven't won yet, but were still making more money just for playing. The women's 2015 win netted less than $2 million, while the men made more than 5 million losing the round of 16 the year before, that propelled the movement for equal pay captured in the CNN film LFG.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They heard people chanting.

MULTIPLE SPEAKERS (chanting): Equal pay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh, that's when I felt the movement. All right? It's not just us, but it looks as if the world is on our side.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Today's deal is the culmination of that battle between the U.S. Soccer Federation and prominent members of the U.S. women's team who filed a federal wage complaint in 2016. And the gender discrimination lawsuit in 2019.

MEGAN RAPINOE, SOCCER PLAYER: Every time a woman is not paid equally, sort of everyone is not and nobody's potential is able to be reached.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Player settled the suit earlier this year for $24 million.

ALEX MORGAN, SOCCER PLAYER: It is a huge win for us for women's sports, for women in general. And it's a moment that we can all celebrate.

GINGRAS (voice-over): The men's team back the women's efforts in that lawsuit. And today, player Walker Zimmerman saying,

WALKER ZIMMERMAN, SOCCER PLAYER: Sure, there was a potential chance of making less money, no doubt about it. But we also believe so much in the women's team. We believe in the whole premise of equal pay. And ultimately, that was a big driving force for us.

GINGRAS (voice-over): This comes at a pivotal time as the men had to Qatar later this year for the 2022 World Cup. The hope is this deal sets precedent in international sports and beyond.

(END VIDEO TAPE) GINGRAS: And this deal also encompasses child care, parental leave and mental health wellness, issues at the heart of so many discussions about workplace benefits. In addition, U.S. Soccer hopes this will incentivizes players to generate even more revenue because of course now, Jake, it's shared.

TAPPER: All right. Brynn Gingras, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, two-time Olympic gold medalist and legendary U.S. Women's Soccer goalkeeper Briana Scurry. She's the author of the upcoming book, "My Greatest Save, The Brave Barrier Breaking Journey of a World Champion Goalkeeper." Thanks so much for joining us. It's exciting to have you on.

So you were a member of the iconic '99 World Cup championship team that really catapulted women's soccer to new heights. Earlier this year, the women's national team reached an equal pay agreement, but this deal goes even farther than that one equally splitting tournament prize money and more. Since the FIFA World Cup -- Women's World Cup was established in '91, the U.S. team, the women's team has won at half the time emotionally. How does today's victory compared to the one that you had on the field in '99.

[17:15:09]

BRIANA SCURRY, LEGENDARY U.S. SOCCER GOALKEEPER: Hey, Jake, great to be with you. Thank you so much for having me. I got to tell you it's right up there. You know, this battle for equal pay has been going on for decades, and my '99 team and the '96 team as well before that have all been parts of the foundation of trying to get us there. And so, it's so gratifying now to have this happen today.

I mean, I am overjoyed. I am so happy for the women. I'm happy for the men. And it's so amazing now because all the players can be in the same boat and going in the same direction.

There's always been confrontation and difficulty and adverse conditions with the Federation for both the men's and the women's unions, and now we're all in the same boat in agreement, as opposed to being against one another. So, this is an amazing historic day.

And I have to tell you, I really appreciate with Walker Zimmerman, how he led his men's team, how Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan lead the women's team and how Cindy Parlow Cone, a former teammate of mine on the Niners lead U.S. Soccer to this point.

TAPPER: The deal also attempts to erase a disparity that's beyond the control of U.S. Soccer. That's the significant difference in prize money awarded for the men's and the women's World Cups, which is -- that's governed by FIFA. That's an extraordinary move. The U.S. is the first to do it. Do you think other countries are going to follow suit?

SCURRY: I sure hope so, Jake. I mean, this this is truly a watershed moment, in my opinion. And I really think that this -- the framework can definitely be something moving forward that other federations can consider because the mandate of a federation is to grow the game for young boys and girls for everyone in their country. And I think because we've come together in this unique way, and the men's team agreeing to do this, I think this definitely could be a contention of a new way to go about doing these agreements in other countries going forward.

TAPPER: So, the disparity, I should note, has not just been in pay, the women's team is much better than the men's team in the United States. Do you think this would have happened if that were not the case?

SCURRY: I don't think so, Jake. I think that was definitely a huge element of this deal. It always has been one of the things we've been able to fall back on and mentioned in the fact that we win a lot of things. We've won four Olympic gold medals. We've won four World Cups.

And so, the tradition of winning is there. And because of that tradition of winning, all these sponsors were getting on board because they also wanted to be associated with us. And so, we were also able to really -- I'm sorry? We were really able to move the game forward because of that. And so, I think now we're all on the same page and that was definitely a factor.

TAPPER: All right, Briana Scurry, great to talk to you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. She's the author of the upcoming book, "My Greatest Save, The Brave, Barrier Breaking Journey of a World Champion Goalkeeper." Thanks so much again.

Coming up, while the women's soccer --

SCURRY: Thank you.

TAPPER: -- team finally gets equal pay, women in Afghanistan are learning what it's like when 20 years of progress. However, minor is wiped out overnight. CNN is in Kabul with a look at women's education under the Taliban.

Plus, the Pennsylvania Senate primary that is still too close to call almost 24 hours later, how some Republicans are changing their tune about counting ballots. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:23:15]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, the Pennsylvania primary election is stretching into overtime. All eyes are on the 1000s of ballots still waiting to be counted. As of now, Dr. Mehmet Oz holds a razor thin lead over former Hedge Fund CEO Dave McCormick in the Commonwealth's Republican Senate primary race.

Let's get right to CNN's Athena Jones. He's live in Lancaster County where there was a printing error that preventing -- prevented scanning machines from reading some ballots.

Athena, you spoke with the chair of the Board of Elections today. How is the vote count process going? ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, they're moving at a pretty fast clip. If you think about the fact that it was yesterday morning that they discovered about 22,000 of those misprinted ballots printed with the wrong code so they couldn't all be read by scanners, those had to be remarked by hand so that they could be scanned, remarked on a new ballot so they can be scanned.

They were able to do about 7,000 yesterday, today another about 10,000. So they only have about four or 5000 ballots remaining.

You look behind me, things are beginning to wrap up here. But they only have about four or 5000 ballots to do tomorrow, which they expect to finish this count here in Lancaster County tomorrow.

And the reason they've been able to go so quickly is because earlier in the day, all of these tables were filled with 50 to 60 county staff, election officials and election volunteers, all of whom are working in teams of three to remark these ballots in a way that they could be observed. You also had a representatives from each of the parties, Oz and McCormick's representatives as well as Democrat and Republican parties watching what was going on today just to ensure as the Board of Elections chair put it, integrity, veracity and transparency. But they're feeling really good about the progress they've made today. Jake.

TAPPER: Athena, there are several other counties in Pennsylvania that are still counting ballots not because of any printing errors, but because there are mail in ballots still to be counted, right?

[17:25:06]

JONES: That's right. You know, the Secretary of State in the interview earlier today said that last night only about half of Pennsylvania's 67 counties managed to complete counting all of their ballots, not because of a specific error but because lots and lots of people were voting by mail. And under Pennsylvania law, they're not allowed to even open these ballots until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day, that is why they were late in discovering the error here in Lancaster County. And that is why in some of these other counties where a bunch of people voted by mail, they're still moving through those ballots. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Athena Jones in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Let's discuss this though with CNN's Abby Phillip and Kasie Hunt.

Abby, establishment Republicans are breathing a sigh of relief now that the primary winner is going to be either Dr. Oz or Dave McCormack, neck and neck right now. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell today told CNN quote, "My view is that either way this turns out, we are fully competitive in Pennsylvania and ready to win in November. So what happened to Kathy Barnette, that Fox News poll showing this giant Burnette surge really had an impact on the race, but it sure didn't come to fruition?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I think that that last minute surge for Barnette actually may have perhaps produced the opposite effect that for some Pennsylvania voters and the contingent of the Pennsylvania Republican Party that is kind of in the old sort of Pat Toomey mold, maybe that 35 percent plus they really came out for McCormick. But it was also coupled, and this is what I'm hearing from Republicans, coupled with what seems to have also happened, which is that the two candidates who were trying to lay the most claim to Trump's, you know, to be Trump's air, Dr. Oz, who has Trump's endorsement and Kathy Barnette, they actually ended up splitting that Trump vote.

We kind of know that because in the governor's race on the Republican side Mastriano did not split the Trump vote, he really took it home. And no one candidate in the Trump that sort of most Trumpy mold was able to do that. And that is why Oz is now running really neck and neck with David McCormick, when I think in the absence of Kathy Barnett's rise, he probably would have had a better chance of being further ahead right now.

TAPPER: Kasie, in the final days of the election, Kathy Barnette was campaigning with Doug Mastriano, who did, as Abby just noted, go on to win Pennsylvania's Republican primary race for governor. If he wins the general election, he would be tasked with appointing the secretary of state and he would himself would certify Pennsylvania's 2024 presidential election results. And this is a candidate who just say it plain, he pushed his election lies, he pushed for a resolution to toss out Biden's win in Pennsylvania, he pushed to disenfranchise almost 7 million Pennsylvania voters. How do you see this playing out?

KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, as you point out, Jake, whoever becomes governor of Pennsylvania potentially plays a critical role in the race for the White House in 2024 as they make a selection for secretary of state when we've seen elections in the counting of ballots become this political issue that Republicans are pushing. It's political because Republicans are lying about it, generally speaking. So, this is going to be a really critical race.

Now, I've seen a couple things going on. One, Democrats actually kind of encouraged Mastriano here at the end, Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate who is their nominee for governor, there was money spent to essentially cast Mastriano as a Trump voter -- as a Trump supporter to try and gin up support for him because they think that running against him is going to be the easiest path to a Democratic victory. There are a lot of Republicans in the state of Penn -- excuse me, the Commonwealth, I should correct myself with you, Jake, of Pennsylvania, who do not think that -- who don't support Mastriano, who don't think he can win. But you know, there was a lot of thinking like that in 2016 when Donald Trump was running for the Republican nomination, and look what happened there. So there are some Republicans who are saying, you know what, this was -- you shouldn't have done this, you shouldn't have tried to help this guy get elected, because now we could be faced with someone who is going to be in this position to push election lives. So that's a little bit of the conversation that's going on right now behind the scenes.

TAPPER: Abby, down in North Carolina, Senator Thom Tillis is also breathing a sigh of relief now that Congressman Madison Cawthorn has been denied a second term. Republican efforts to stop Cawthorn, despite Trump's support, really worked this time. What does it tell you that they went after Cawthorn and not so many other Republican House members that arguably have done and said more offensive things, more bigoted things?

PHILLIP: Maybe on the said, more bigoted things part of it, but I think that that's actually the point. They were willing to go after Cawthorn because they really just didn't like the guy. They thought that he embarrassed them. They thought that he sort of made a mockery of the institution, in a lot of ways with Cawthorn, it was very personal.

But I mean, I do think that there were some things about Cawthorn that were kind of unique. I mean, he was repeatedly kind of bringing weapons where he wasn't supposed to be bringing weapons. He had these videos that frankly, came right out of the APO files that were put out there and with the intention of torpedoing his political career.

I think Republicans on the Hill felt like they needed to deal with Cawthorn before he became even more of a problem for them. And he is in his mid-20s, he is young, and he clearly did not have the political support to withstand this kind of a full throttle assault.

And so it honestly in some ways, it's low hanging fruit for these Republicans in Congress. It's really an open question whether they see this as a case study for how they can potentially bring in line some of the other members who they might think are problematic. Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene, maybe Lauren Boebert.

But I think really, that remains to be seen because those others are just a lot more difficult. They don't actually have quite as much baggage as Madison Cawthorn data at the end of the day.

TAPPER: Kasie and Abby, thanks to both of you appreciate it. Good to see you guys. $4.50 for a gallon of gas may be considered cheap by August, the shocking gas price prediction that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:35:40]

TAPPER: Our money lead it was only Monday of last week that we were telling about warnings the gas prices could hit $4.50 a gallon. Well, I hate to tell you this, but $4.50 it's already in the rearview mirror.

Today's national average from AAA is $4.57 a gallon. That's up 17 cents a gallon from a week ago. Now this time last year, gas was just over $3 a gallon.

Let's bring in CNN's Matt Egan. Matt, we're seeing now predictions of $6 a gallon as the national average by August 6, is that going to also come through and perhaps even sooner than predicted?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Jake, the idea of $6 gas just a few months ago sort of unthinkable. But now JPMorgan is saying that this could be a reality by the end of the summer. The problem is that gasoline supplies are very low. And demand is really high as Americans get back to traveling again. And that means prices have nowhere to go. But up and they are going up as you mentioned the national average getting a fresh record of 4.57 a gallon up 48 cents in the past month.

It's now 28 percent more expensive to fill up your tank than it was the day before Russia invaded Ukraine. Six states are now at $5 a gallon or more, including Washington State, Nevada and California, which is now above $6 a gallon for the first time ever. And cheap gas is increasingly hard to find. There are, as of this week, no states that are below $4 a gallon.

Now I want to stress that no one can say exactly how this is going to play out. Not even JPMorgan and some experts that I talked to, they're skeptical that we'd ever actually get to $6 a gallon, mostly because some people would just refuse to pay that, people who have options. And not everyone does. But some people would choose to drive less or carpool or work from home or dust off the bike in their garage. And so that would ease demand. But the point is, is that gas prices are higher and some fear they're going even higher.

TAPPER: Let's turn to something else that we purchased by the gallon of milk. The latest government numbers show that milk is up by almost 15 percent in the last year. That's the biggest change since 2008. Recent analysis of milk prices in the UK points to prices rising by 50 percent compared to 2020. Could that happen here?

EGAN: Well, Jake, there's no doubt that U.S. farmers, much like farmers in the UK are facing real challenges right now. Fertilizer costs are through the roof. Feed costs are up significantly, diesel prices are at record highs, and the war in Ukraine is making all of that worse.

And as you mentioned, milk prices here in the United States rising at the fastest pace since 2008. But I do think it's important remember that milk is heavily subsidized in the United States so that does help ease some of the price pressures. And also the USDA is forecasting that milk production will increase slightly this year and next.

But I think bigger picture whether it's milk or food, or car prices, there's a cost of living crisis in the United States and around the world. And I think that the longer the war in Ukraine lasts, the more pressure we're going to see on inflation.

TAPPER: All right, Matt Egan thanks so much. Appreciate it. A look at life has how life has changed for women and girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. We're going live to Kabul, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:43:25]

TAPPER: In our world lead, plenty of blame to go around. A scathing new Watchdog Report released this week from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan reconstruction says both the Trump and Biden administration's share responsibility and blame for the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan which led to the collapse of the Afghan military and Afghan government.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us now live in Pentagon. Oren, the report also blames decisions made by the then Afghan president what are you learning?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the number one reason this report concluded that the Afghan military collapsed and the Afghan government in breathtaking speed last summer was because of the U.S. decision to withdraw. And it blames both the Trump administration for signing the Doha agreement with the Taliban that started the process of withdrawal and then blames the Biden administration for carrying it out.

It says those two one after the other crushed the morale of the Afghan military, the Afghan national defense and security forces, one after the other and that led to a crumbling slowly but surely, then very quickly, all at the end of the Afghan military as the Taliban swept across the country.

Now the report also does blame former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that is before he fled the country saying his decision to appoint loyalists to military positions was also a major problem that led to the fall of the military.

TAPPER: And Oren, will there be any fallout or any repercussions from this report you think?

LIEBERMANN: Jake, honestly, I think that would be very hard to believe that we would see any sort of accountability repercussions. And I say that because there wasn't equally scathing indictment of the U.S. coming from SIGAR the same agency last August in the middle of the withdrawal.

[17:45:08]

And that said the U.S. got the resources, the personnel, the goals, the strategy all wrong over 20 years. And we haven't seen any accountability from that.

TAPPER: Oren Lieberman reporting live for us from the Pentagon. Thanks so much. The Taliban is rapid takeover of Afghanistan has affected nearly every aspect of life for the Afghan people, especially sadly, for Afghan women and girls who had come to believe they could at the very least seek an education.

As CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports, 20 years of social progress were seemingly wiped out overnight. And now women, females, young and older, desperately seeking alternatives.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): Wednesday morning in Kabul, and we're going to girls school, through these plastic curtains and past prying eyes.

Yes, this fashion studio has become an alternate education facility since the Taliban stopped girls from attending government high schools. 17-year-old Rokhsar wanted to be a doctor. Now she's learning to be a dressmaker.

We're feeling very bad, she tells us, girls are not able to go to school, staying home doing nothing. We hope that this will change our life. So we can be self-sufficient, have a profession, learn, earn money to support ourselves and our families.

Neda wanted to be a professional soccer player.

(on camera): You're 17. You've never known the Taliban government. Did you ever imagine that this would happen to you that you would be prevented from going to school?

No, never. We tried our best for our future. But it's a dark one now because we're kept away from our schools.

(voice-over): Nageena Hafizi started this fashion business with her sisters four years ago. Today, she's running the resistance. When the Taliban slammed the door in their faces, she opened hers up to high school girls aiming to have them sufficiently trained to earn a living and support themselves within six to 12 months. She does this for 120 girls and women across three locations.

(on camera): You're helping them but they all want to be doctors or an athlete or, you know professionals, they want to go on to university. How do you feel about them having to be embroideries or dressmakers?

(voice-over): This is very upsetting says Nageena, when someone is following their own dreams, it's very good. It's different when they're forced into doing something else. And it's a bad feeling. Because most of these girls wants to go to university, become a doctor, a teacher, an engineer, it's very difficult for them. And I know that they can't do any other work, so at least they can learn the dressmaking profession for their future.

For the record, the powerful deputy Taliban leaders, Sirajuddin Haqqani told me that girls public high schools would open again soon, and that, of course, women have the right to work within the Islamic framework.

But 26 years ago, I had the same conversations about the same issues when the Taliban was first in charge.

(on camera): A lot of people want to know what you're going to do about the women issue. What about women's education, girls' education, women, working widows who have no other way to support themselves?

SHER MOHAMMAD ABBAS STANIKZAI, THEN DEPUTY TALIBAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I know that, especially in Western news media, it's the propaganda against that, that we are against women education, which is not right, not correct.

AMANPOUR: But the girls can't go to school. We've been to schools here that are all closed. STANIKZAI: We have just told them that for the time being they should not come to office and school. So till the time that we can come up with some sort of solution.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Even the youngest understand something is not right. 10-year-old Aziza (ph) complains about having to stay home all day. We just do housework, cleaning, baking bread and sweeping the floors, she says.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love my work. It's my right to work. And I need to work. Because I got education in this country, and the government spent money on me. And even my family, and I want to express myself to my society.

AMANPOUR: Brave then brave now. Only now after more than two decades of progress for their wives, their daughters and their family incomes, so many more Afghan men support them.

Haji Noor Ahmed tells us not even 1 percent of Afghan people are against women working. We don't want our people to grow up as if we're in a jungle. We want people to have culture, knowledge, we need food and work.

Back at the design studio, these classes are not only open to high school students, but to older women who are suddenly out of work like 30-year-old Rabia, who's a teacher.

We feel suffocated, she says, why can't we in our own country, our own place live freely, move freely, wherever we go. Whatever work we do they put barriers in our way.

[17:50:02]

We can't reach our goals in life. We're always afraid. Whether the previous government or the Taliban emirate regime. Rabia comes here to retrain, and like many of the mothers and wives to have some kind of social life, like Norjan (ph), whose daughter Neda (ph), wanted to become a soccer player.

When I'm really upset, she tells me, my husband says I should come here so that at least I can meet others. My husband is so kind. We are all sisters here.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

AMANPOUR: So Jake, imagine this is now after 20 years of U.S. and Western investment and have real genuine progress. The women's education was real, genuine progress from the U.S. time here. And yet, as you see, that's special government accountability report. And we talk to a female women's rights leader who said the same thing that the Doha agreement without any conditions on the Taliban that they actually met was responsible for this collapse.

And we've even talked to Taliban their associates who said that the President Ashraf Ghani, just leaving like that did in fact lead to the collapse. So there's a lot of thought, and hopefully accountability to go round after this because the girls and the people in the humanitarian crisis is the price that's been paid in Afghanistan, Jake.

TAPPER: Christiana Amanpour reporting live for us from Kabul, thank you as always. Farmers forced to give up their water so that firefighters can battle the very fires threatening their farms a look at the impossible choices made when fire season falls in the middle of a mega drought. Stay with us.

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[17:55:07]

TAPPER: In our Earth matters series today, there have been nearly 25,000 wildfires across the U.S. so far this year more than any previous year in the last decade as CNN's Rene Marsh reports for us now, this year as fires and the severe drought in many parts of the United States are forcing firefighters to take water from wherever they can get it which includes forcing farmers to stop watering their crops.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mobile homes and mansions on fire in Southern California. Flames also turning homes to ash in New Mexico. 11 large wildfires are currently burning across the U.S. so far more than 1.3 million acres have burned. That's more than double the same period last year.

MAYOR LOUIE TRUJILLO (D) LAS VEGAS NEW MEXICO: We've never had a fire this big.

MARSH: New Mexico has been in the bullseye of a mega drought. The state's largest reservoirs are at critically low levels. The Calf Canyon and Hermit Peak wildfire is the largest in the U.S. and bigger than New York City. Wind gusts as high as 70 miles per hour have been fueling it.

New Mexico recently issued an unprecedented order, mandating farmers in some areas stop irrigating their crops, quote in the interest of public safety to make water resources available for wildfire activity.

MICHAEL QUINTANA, QUINTANA FARMS: Right now all these sprinklers be running.

MARSH: Michael Quintana is a third generation farmer near Las Vegas, New Mexico.

QUINTANA: It's completely open. There is no water. As you can see. Right now we have a completely open and there is no water coming up.

MARSH: All of his irrigation lines are dry. The wildfire is miles away from his 600-acre farm. And yet it will wipe out all of his crops because of the State Water mandating he temporarily give up his water rights.

(on camera): Have you thought about what that means to your bottom line?

QUINTANA: It's non-existent. At that point, we have no revenue from this farm.

MARSH: The water stopped flowing to this farm just four days ago and this canal used to be full but now it's just down to a puddle and you still see the water line from where the water used to be.

(voice-over): This was the canal before the State stopped water flow to his property.

(on camera): You have no idea how long you'll have to forgo using your water or give up your water rights? It could be months.

QUINTANA: It could be years.

MARSH: New Mexico's early more intense fire season is sparking fear that extended firefighting activity could significantly deplete the area's dwindling water supply.

TRUJILLO: It's actually in the forefront of my mind. You know that another catastrophe could be taxing on our water supply.

MARSH: Climate change has increased wildfire risk and a new report for the first time maps areas with the greatest risk and how that is projected to increase over the next 30 years. A total 80 million properties are at risk with 10 million facing moderate to extreme risk. Data projecting this will become the norm and more farmers like Quintana will be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice relinquishing water rights to save the lives of those in the line of fire.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MARSH: Jake, several other farmers have also temporarily given up their water rights to ensure that there's enough water to fight these fires. And New Mexico's governor asked the federal government to cover 100 percent of the disaster costs including compensation for those farmers, due in part because of a prescribed burn set by the U.S. Forest Service that made this fire just intensify.

TAPPER: All right, Rene Marsh, thank you so much. This Sunday, be sure to tune in for a CNN Special Report. Finally Home: The Trevor Reed Interview. I'll sit down with Trevor Reed and his family for his first exclusive interview since returning to America after being held in a Russian prison so unfairly for 985 days.

[18:00:03]

I'm also going to talk to the families and loved ones of other Americans being wrongfully detained around the world. Again, it airs this Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the TikTok at Jake Tapper. You can tweet the show at THE LEAD CNN. If you miss a show, you can always listen to our podcast. Our coverage continues now with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I'll see you tomorrow.