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Soon, Biden to Address Nation as Chaos Grips Afghanistan; White House: Pause on Evacuations Will be Lifted, Flights to Resume Soon; CA School District to Require COVID Shots for Students & Teachers; Biden Discusses Crisis in Afghanistan as Flights Set to Resume. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired August 20, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's something that the State Department, the Pentagon, and here at the White House, officials have been trying to get a better estimate of that. But they do believe the numbers are dwindling and are quite low.

We'll see if the president addresses that specifically when he talks shortly in the East Room of the White House.

But, Ana, I am told he is going to give an operational update. That means he's going to essentially explain exactly what the U.S. military is doing on the ground at the airport.

More than 5,000 U.S. troops are there. They've been working for the last several days.

I'm told he's not likely to say where the evacuees are going to be flying. They are looking for other locations.

As we know, there was a halt in operations for about eight hours or so because they simply could not find places to fly. So I do not expect the president to necessarily get in the weeds on that.

But he'll be doing through a list of how the U.S. military is trying to bring Americans and some Afghan allies to safety and get them out of the country.

But it also affords the president an opportunity to essentially reset what his administration has done and try and get on the offensive.

He's been essentially very defiant and defensive all week long about that -- his strategy for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. Widely popular, but the execution, many questions remain on that.

So his tone will certainly be interesting when he addresses the nation and the world shortly.

But that is one of the explanations why they can't say exactly why how many Americans are still there. Although, they do believe it's a small number. The bigger question is, how many Afghan allies and partners will be able to be airlifted out in the next two weeks?

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: And that's something he's supposed to address, according to what the White House initially put out the remarks were going to be specifically about.

David Chalian, the president has been under fire by not just Republicans but Democrats as well. Are you surprised more Democratic lawmakers aren't speaking out in the president's defense?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, I think you have heard from a lot of key Democrats on Capitol Hill who will be chairing committee hearings starting next week.

So there's clearly an opportunity here for Congress to perform its oversight function of the administration. And even though they are loyal Biden supporters, these Democratic chairmen and chairwomen, they are going to do their jobs in that way. They've made clear.

And as Jeff was saying, so many questions still linger about the execution that there's nothing that President Biden is going to say today that's going to make those committee hearings next week, when we see Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin go up to Capitol Hill, go away.

I mean, these questions are still going to be asked, and accountability is still going to be demanded from the legislative branch. And the White House is keenly aware of that.

This moment is for Joe Biden, on a third attempt this week, to show total command of what is going on right now, and the plan to bring it to a safe resolution by the time that August 31st deadly comes around.

And an opportunity also for us to hear from him. We know his priority, as everybody would say it should be, are American citizens.

We've heard from many in his administration about the moral obligation to also help the Afghan allies and families, those that helped the U.S. over the last 20 years.

We haven't heard as much about that from the president himself. And I'm curious to see if he addresses that today.

CABRERA: And, Nia, as we talk about the tone that this president has set since the fall of Kabul, he's been defiant and said there's been no mistake.

If were to step back and think about four U.S. presidents who have now overseen parts of this war in Afghanistan, President Biden says he would have brought all Americans home, even if former President Trump had not negotiated the withdrawal.

Why do you think he's digging into this?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, President Biden has long-thought that this war had spun out of control. That the initial mission had gone beyond what it was to a kind of nation building.

That's essentially where Americans are, too. If you look at polling, at least a decade going back now, Americans turned against this war, essentially saying it hasn't been a war worth fighting.

Even as Obama and his administration grappled with this and Biden, all along, had said this was not something America couldn't do and shouldn't do.

And we're seeing that on our screens now that nation building isn't possible in a place like Afghanistan. It might not be possible at all when you're trying to graft one culture onto another culture.

So I think you'll see him sort of remake that argument. It's probably the strongest part of his speech and the strongest part of his public statements over the last couple days, making that argument about why troops should withdraw.

[13:34:59]

And also saying that, listen, the United States can continue to do counterterrorism even if there are not boots on the ground.

That's something that will be interesting to hear him address, too, because I think we've heard from a lot of experts that it will be much more difficult to do that kind of counterterrorism if you don't have a real footprint in Afghanistan.

So we'll see what he says today, and if Americans are still with him in terms of believing that he is a competent president. Right? That's what he sold. And not only competence, but also expertise in foreign policy.

I think his credibility at this point is taking a bit of a bit, not only from Democrats but certainly Republicans as well --

CABRERA: Right.

HENDERSON: -- because of the poor execution of this withdrawal.

CABRERA: I mean, it is chaotic. It is messy. The pictures are heart breaking and infuriating.

But, David Sanger, the polling does show the majority of Americans say the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.

And coming back to something that you had said previously about, could this have started earlier in terms of the withdrawal and the evacuation and not just American citizens in Afghanistan but also Afghan allies.

The president has spoken a little bit about that in recent days saying that apparently it was the Afghan government who urged America not to do a mass evacuation prior to a larger withdrawal closer to the date, because they were fearful that that would create a sense of lack of confidence in the Afghan government.

And so I guess, you know, it's easy to be the Monday-morning quarterback. Right? What more could have been done to avoid this current chaos.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that tension was definitely there.

Ashraf Ghani, the now former president of Afghanistan -- he fled last weekend -- had been to the White House in late June.

Saw President Biden at that time and asked him to be pretty conservative about getting people out of the country, particularly those who have worked for Americans, and to be pretty cautious in how much they publicized it.

He was clearly sensitive to the thought that this could become a self- fulfilling prophesy if it appeared that the United States was giving up on Afghanistan, that then the Afghan forces would give up and the government would fall, which ultimately, of course, is what happened.

So the U.S. was being cautious on it. They did offer him, at that time, continued military backup. And they did that.

I think one of the big questions, Ana, that will be haunting us for some time is that even if you believe that the president's logic was solid here, that there wasn't much more we could accomplish in Afghanistan, that we hadn't already accomplished or failed to in 20 years.

That seeing the last Americans leave would basically kick the legs out from underneath a Afghan force that barely had much will to fight to begin with.

I think that's going to be one of the big questions we're going to have to go examine.

For the president today, you know, he's kept falling back on his original logic to get out of Afghanistan. As you pointed out, that is something Americans support.

I think the big question today will be, can he reassert the concept that he now has a plan for getting Americans out and for getting out the Afghans who had been loyal and had served the U.S.? And that second part is going to really be the hardest.

CABRERA: And again, that deadline is creeping ever closer, Barbara. If all Americans aren't evacuated by August 31st, that deadline, the president has indicated the U.S. will still continue those efforts.

How big of a deal would that be?

Barbara Starr, can you hear me?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry. I lost you for a moment there. I had a technical issue. Well, it would be huge, because, first, they have to start by

essentially getting the Taliban permission to do it.

And they don't even know how many Americans are really still there because not everybody registers with the embassy and then people leave the country and don't tell the embassy they've left. So working through that list of exactly who is there and where they are.

If there are people outside of Kabul, that is extremely problematic.

Even to go help people in Kabul get to the airport, you have to have vehicles. You have to have security.

How long do you wait for all of that? How long will the Taliban have patience to have the Americans there?

And don't forget, there's considerable concern about potential threats from ISIS and al Qaeda operatives in the country.

[13:39:59]

The Pentagon is very clear in its mind that they believe, even if there's not current intelligence about that, they have to plan against the possibility of that, of an attack against the airport.

So it's a tradeoff, because the longer you stay, the greater the risk -- Ana?

CABRERA: Sam Kiley, you say the president needs to address the anger and the discomfort around NATO. Explain.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, today, the NATO foreign ministers and NATO secretary-general met.

And if you sort of interpret the diplomatic language that NATO likes to use, the secretary-general saying there will have to be a serious examination of the role that NATO played in Afghanistan.

And that was actually in response largely to our own Melissa Bell's questions asking him whether the Chapter Five mandate, upon which the international community, particularly in the form of NATO, came in behind the attack on the United States, "one for all, all for one."

And joined the battle against al Qaeda and Afghanistan in that country, was matched by a similar commitment to allies when they're pulling out.

Now, the United States has been bitterly criticized by the next biggest force in Afghanistan, at least the government, members of the government, members of the ruling party in the United Kingdom.

Very bitter, indeed, about the manner in which the United States pulled out. Not least in the lack of communication with Boris Johnson.

It was not clear that Boris Johnson refused to even properly address questions as to when he was told whether or not he asked for more time and whether or not the United Kingdom was, in any way, part of the decision making to withdraw U.S. forces.

Of course, U.S. forces being the main force for security and air support in that country leaving NATO naked.

On top of that, NATO having an internal reckoning as to how it might conduct operations in the future without what, in the view of many generals -- and I've spoken to a lot of them -- they now see the United States as something of an unreliable ally.

Something within NATO that was once inconceivable and is now on the lips of many generals -- Ana?

CABRERA: And there's obviously so much more for us to discuss. I'm going to try to squeeze in a break.

The president was expected to make these remarks around 1:00 today -- 1:00 was the timeline we were given. We are still waiting for him to come to the podium. We will take those remarks, live, just as soon as we see the president.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN's special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:23]

CABRERA: Again, we continue to monitor and await the president's remarks on Afghanistan. As soon as we get those, as soon as he comes forward, we will make sure you don't miss a word of what he has to say.

Meantime, I want you to know about what's happening in other parts of the country today.

This may be a first nationwide. A California school district says, come November, coronavirus vaccines will be mandatory for all eligible students and staff.

Joining us now is the superintendent -- Quoc Tran, he's the superintendent for Culver City Unified Schools. This is the district requiring vaccines. And also joining us is the school board president, Tashon McKeithan.

It's great to have both of you with us. Thank you for taking the time. I know it's stressful time of year as you get ready for students to return.

Superintendent, let me start with you.

How did you come to the decision? And how many students does this requirement apply to?

QUOC TRAN, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, CULVER CITY UNIFIED SCHOOLS: Approximately -- well, first, let me address the -- why did we come to this point? I don't think it's anything new. From the beginning of the pandemic, we knew that mask wearing helped. But if you layer that with testing regularly, it also helps with the

containment of the virus.

And when the vaccine became available, then perhaps vaccine as a layer number three of protection should also help tremendously.

So our thinking was that to maximize everything that's available to us.

And CDC is already saying to protect those who do not have the vaccine available to them, those who are eligible for the vaccine should be vaccinated so that we can protect the entire population of students and staff in the school. So that's where we went.

Our district is about 7,100 students and about 950 teachers and classified staff altogether.

CABRERA: And, of course, it's 12 and up that are eligible currently for the vaccine.

Forgive me for interrupting. The president is about to address the nation.

Let's listen.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've just met with the vice president, Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, National Security Advisor Sullivan, and other members of the national security leadership team in the Situation Room to discuss our ongoing efforts to evacuate American citizens, third-country civilians, Afghan allies and vulnerable Afghans.

And I want to provide the American people with a brief update on the situation in Afghanistan.

Since I spoke to you on Monday, we've made significant progress. We've secured the airport, enabling flights to resume. Not just military flights but civilian charters from other countries and the NGOs taking out civilians and other -- other vulnerable Afghanis.

[13:50:15]

And now we have almost 6,000 troops on the ground, including the 82nd Airborne, providing runway security, the Army 10th Mountain Division, standing guard around the airport, and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, assisting with civilian departure.

This is one of the largest, most-difficult airlifts in history. And the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the United States of America.

We've already evacuated more than 18,000 people since July and approximately 13,000 since our military lift began on August 14th.

Thousands more have been evacuated on private charter flights facilitated by the U.S. government.

These number include American citizens and permanent residents as well as their families.

It includes SIV applicants and their families, those Afghans who have worked alongside us, served alongside of us, gone into combat with us and provided invaluable assistance to us such as translators and interpreters.

The United States stands by its commitment that we've made to these people. And it includes other vulnerable Afghans such as women leaders and journalists.

In fact, working in close coordination with the management of "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," the "Wall Street Journal," we have successfully evacuated all 204 of their employees in Afghanistan on U.S. military aircraft earlier this week.

We've established the flow of flights. And we've increased the number of people we're moving out of the country.

We paused flights in Kabul a few hours this morning to make sure we could process the arriving evacuees at the transit points. But our commander in Kabul has already given the order for outbound flights to resume.

Even with the pause, we've moved out 5,700 evacuees yesterday.

And we're working on a variety to verify that number of the Americans that are still in-country as we work on this because we don't have the exact number of people who are -- Americans who are there, and those who may have come home to the United States.

We want to get a strong number as to exactly how many people are there, how many American citizens, and where they are.

Just yesterday, among the many Americans we evacuated, there were 169 Americans who, over the -- we got over the wall into the airport using military assets.

We're also facilitating flights for our allies and our partners.

And we're working in close operational coordination with NATO on this evacuation.

For example, we provided overwatch for the French convoy bringing hundreds of their people from the French embassy to the airport.

These operations are going to continue over the coming days before we complete our drawdown.

We're going to do everything, everything that we can to provide safe evacuation for our Afghan allies, partners, and Afghans who -- who might be targeted because of their association with the United States.

But let me be clear. Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.

Make no mistake. This evacuation mission is dangerous. It involves risks to our armed forces. And it's being conducted under difficult circumstances.

I cannot promise what the final outcome will be or what it will be -- that it will be without risk of loss.

But as commander-in-chief, I can assure you that I will mobilize every resource necessary.

And as an American, I offer my gratitude to the brave men and women of the U.S. armed forces who are carrying out this mission. They're incredible.

As we continue to work the logistics of evacuation, we're in constant contact with the Taliban, working to ensure civilians have safe passage to the airport.

We are particularly focused on our engagements on making sure every American who wants to leave can get to the airport.

Where we have been seeing challenges with Americans -- for Americans, we have thus far been able to resolve them.

We've been able -- we've made -- look, -- we've made clear to the Taliban that any attack, any attack on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with swift and forceful response.

We're also keeping a close watch on any potential terrorist threat at or around the airport, including from the ISIS affiliates in Afghanistan, who were released from prison when the prisons were emptied.

[13:55:06]

And because they are -- by the way, and make everybody understand, that the ISIS and Afghanistan are the -- have been the sworn enemy of the Taliban.

I've said all along, we're going to retain a laser focus on our counterterrorism mission, working in close coordination with our allies and our partners, and all those who have an interest in sharing stability in the region.

Secretary Blinken is with me today. Met this morning with our NATO allies in consultation about the way forward so that Afghanistan cannot be used in the future as a terrorist base of attack to attack the United States or our allies.

For 20 years, Afghanistan has been a joint effort with our NATO allies. We went in together, and we're leaving together. And now we're working together to bring our people and our Afghan partners to safety. In the past few days, I've also spoken directly with the British prime

minister, Mr. Johnson, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, and President Macron of France.

We all agreed that we should convene, and we will convene the G-7 meeting next week, a group of the world's leading democracies, so that, together, we can coordinate our mutual approach, our united approach on Afghanistan and moving forward.

We are united with our closest partners to execute the mission at hand.

We've also discussed the need to work with the international community to provide humanitarian assistance, such as food aid and medical care for refugees who have crossed into neighboring countries to escape the Taliban.

And to bring international pressure on the Taliban with respect to the treatment of Afghan people overall, but including Afghan, particularly women and girls.

The past week has been heartbreaking. We've seen gut-wrenching images of panicked people acting out of sheer desperation.

You know, it's completely understandable. They're frightened. They're sad. Uncertain what happens next.

I don't think anyone -- I don't think any one of us can see these pictures and not feel that pain on a human level.

Now we have a mission. The mission to complete in Afghanistan. It's an incredibly difficult and dangerous operation for our military.

We have almost 6,000 of America's finest fighting men and women at the Kabul airport.

They're putting their lives on the line. They're doing it in a dangerous place to save other Americans, our Afghan allies and citizens of our allies who went in with us.

You know, I talk -- I talk to our commanders on the ground there every single day. As I just did a few hours -- an hour or so ago. And I made it clear to them that we'll get them whatever they need to do the job.

They're performing to the highest standard under extraordinarily difficult and dynamic circumstances.

Our NATO allies are strongly standing with us. There are troops keeping sentry alongside ours in Kabul.

As is the case whenever I deploy our troops into harm's way, I take that responsibility seriously. I carry that burden every day just as I did when I was vice president and my son was deployed to Iraq for a year.

There will be plenty of time to criticize and second guess when this operation is over. But now, now, I'm focused on getting this job done.

I would ask every American to join me in praying for the women and men risking their lives on the ground in the service of our nation.

As events evolve over the coming days, my team and I will continue to share the information and update the American people on exactly where things are.

We'll use every resource necessary to carry out the mission at hand and bring to safety American citizens and our Afghan allies. This is our focus now.

And when this is finished, we will complete our military withdrawal and finally bring to an end 20 years of American military action in Afghanistan.

Thank you. And may God bless our troops and our diplomats and all those serving in harm's way.

And now I'll take questions.

A.P., Zeke Miller.

ZEKE MILLER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Thank you, Mr. President.

[13:59:38]

You promise to leave Afghanistan but you also promised to bring out those who helped America in its war effort.

We've seen these heart-wrenching images at the Kabul airport of people trying to get there, to say nothing of the people who can't get to that airport.