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Pentagon Briefing on Afghanistan; President Biden Speaks Out on Afghanistan Withdrawal. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 20, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:19]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Brand-new hour. Thanks for staying with us. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Any minute now, the Pentagon will give an update on the crisis in Afghanistan. Lots of questions there. We will, of course, bring that to you live.

But just last hour, President Biden committed again to evacuating Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war out of the country. And while the State Department says it cannot ensure safe passage for Americans to Kabul's airport, the president said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To the best of our knowledge, the Taliban checkpoints, they are letting through people showing American passports.

Now, that's a different question, when they get into the rush and crowd of all the folks just outside the wall near the airport. That's why we had to, I guess -- was it yesterday or the day before, we went over the wall and brought in how many?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hundred and sixty-nine.

BIDEN: A hundred and sixty-nine Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Right now, at Kabul's airport, we're told that some flights have resumed after no planes took off for at least 10 hours, thousands of people there still stranded.

Soldiers on the runway told CNN that 10,000 people had their paperwork processed, they were ready to go. But they were stuck in the blistering sun after the country they were being evacuated to, Qatar, said that they had reached capacity and could handle no more.

Now the United Arab Emirates tells CNN that it will host 5,000 Afghan nationals on a temporary basis after a request from the United States government. Sources say the U.S. is scrambling to enlist other nations to accept evacuees. CNN's Oren Liebermann covers the Pentagon.

We're waiting for this briefing.

Oren, how do you expect the Pentagon will explain and then tell us how they're going to decrease this bottleneck?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, we know that the Pentagon and the military are working on decreasing the bottleneck because we have pictures of them getting Ramstein Air Base in Germany ready to host Afghan evacuees.

So they are expanding the options. The real question was, why is this being done right now after Qatar filled up? We knew that Qatar had capacity for 8,000. And even if at the beginning of the U.S. was only moving just over 1,000 a day, that's going to fill up pretty quickly.

The Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that it is a planning organization. But those plans seem to fall apart pretty quickly now that we're hitting the reality on the ground of needing to move this many people. It was always the goal to move 5,000 people or more a day. So why wasn't the Pentagon ready for this?

That's a key question. One of the other things we certainly want to know more about is, what is it when President Joe Biden said that U.S. military went over the wall at the Kabul International Airport to help get 169 Americans? We want more clarity on that. What does it mean to go over the wall?

Is it resources going out beyond the airport? Or is this just picking out 169 Americans out of the crowd to get them out of the thousands we have seen outside the airport and bring them inside just to speed the processing of Americans?

That is obviously the priority of the U.S. military at this point, but Biden putting an emphasis on getting Afghans out as well. From everything we have heard, from the reports we have heard, they're having much more trouble getting through Taliban checkpoints. That's something that the U.S. government is trying to work with the Taliban on in these lines of communication in the ground in Kabul to try to speed that up.

But this is very far from a perfect process, as you see the crowds there, the chaos. We hear the gunfire from videos we have seen. There is a lot of work to go before this process is moving smoothly.

BLACKWELL: Yes, clearly, a lot of questions about the logistical elements, but I don't want to skip over the humanitarian efforts by U.S. forces there at the airport.

We're seeing these pictures that the U.S. Marine Corps is tweeting out of Marines helping children. CNN's Jake Tapper says a source involved in the effort said that there have been at least seven medical emergencies involving infants and children outside the airport.

What's your understanding of what we're seeing and how those medical emergencies would be handled?

LIEBERMANN: Look, the Marines go to Kabul International Airport with medical personnel among them. They can handle some pretty serious medical situations. They prefer not to do that and simply to prepare somebody for evacuation, if it really is that serious, to a medical facility that can handle that.

But they are equipped with medical personnel and they are equipped to handle these situations. And that's what we're seeing. It is brutally hot there on the ground, we have heard from our Clarissa Ward. Infants, young children simply can't handle hours upon hours of standing in this heat.

And that's where the U.S. military, that's where these Marines step in. We saw stunning video of a crowd handing what is essentially a diaper-clad infant up to a Marine. And we then found out that was -- that infant was then taken to get some medical help, presumably hydration, as well as medical checks.

[15:05:05]

And that's part of this. These people are not arriving in tiptop shape. They need help. First, that help is to get through the Taliban checkpoints and onto the airport. And that, in and of itself, is a Herculean effort.

But at that point, many of them need medical help. And that is very much part of what's going on here, and probably not just there. As these Afghan evacuees are brought to different areas, whether it's Qatar, or Ramstein, the UAE, I'm sure there will be more medical checks and more medical help.

Keeping people safe and healthy on the conditions on the ground there is, in and of itself, just one more complicated task among so many out there as the U.S. tries to speed this whole process up.

BLACKWELL: All right, Oren Liebermann for us there at the Pentagon, thank you.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Doha, Qatar.

You heard the president there during this speech today and the questions thereafter. The idea that there could be an expansion of the perimeter, that there would actually be troops going out into Kabul's airport -- sorry, I got to go to the Pentagon right now, come back to you, Nick.

Here is Admiral Kirby.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: ... bring up the General Taylor.

He will give you an operational update, and then we will get right to your questions. General.

MAJ. GEN. HANK TAYLOR, VICE DIRECTOR FOR LOGISTICS, THE JOINT STAFF: Good afternoon, everybody.

Thank you for being here and for really the important work that you're doing.

We're all working around the clock right now. I know it's not easy, but I'm glad that, absolutely, we're in this together.

I'm pleased to report that our throughput has increased, and we continue to observe steady progress in Kabul.

I will run through some of those specifics here during that update.

First, the military footprint in Kabul is approximately 5, 800 total troops on the ground. Our mission to defend Kabul Airport and evacuate people from Afghanistan as quickly and safely as possible continues.

The airport remain secure. Evacuation flights are steadily increasing, and we are doing everything we can to maximize safe evacuations. In the past 24 hours, 15 C-17s arrived with the several hundred more troops that allowed us to get to that 5, 800 number and also some supplies.

As a 03:00 Eastern, EDT, today this morning and for the previous 24 hours, 16 C-17s and one C-130 departed Kabul. These flights contained nearly 6,000 passengers, including a couple 100 American citizens.

Since August 14, as the president noted earlier today, we have airlifted approximately 13,000 total evacuees, evacuees during the operation. In total, since the end of July, the cumulative number of people moved out of Afghanistan is greater than 18,000 -- 18,000.

There are SIV applicants, at-risk Afghans who worked alongside us throughout our time in Afghanistan, and other vulnerable Afghans, including women and children.

Many of the flights leaving Kabul have stopped in designated safe havens and staging bases in Qatar and others, where State Department and military personnel are actively processing passengers for their follow-on flights to other destinations.

We did pause flights earlier today leaving Kabul while we adjusted resources and personnel to ensure a temporary capacity issue at one of our stopover locations, although flight operations have resumed.

And U.S. military flights to Qatar and other locations are departing and other -- and departing Kabul as we speak right now.

We're looking at additional locations for these initial flights to land. We're grateful for our allies, including Germany, where flights will land today, who are cooperating with us in this global effort.

Aircraft availability is not an issue. We intend to maximize each plane's capacity. We're prioritizing the evacuation of people above all else. And we're focused on doing this as safely as possible with a great sense of urgency.

We have not experienced any hostile acts since my last update. The troops on the ground are steadfast in an extremely dynamic environment. We see a tremendous amount of discipline, humanity and professionalism in their mission.

We continue to assess the operating environment and we will aggressively address any threat to the mission. The safety and security of American citizens and service members, our partners who remain in Kabul alongside us, and the Afghan people is absolutely our top priority.

I want to reinforce that we are focused on the mission of this great national importance. The massive effort is the result of teamwork and the tireless commitment of U.S. military to supporting the U.S. government around the world.

Mr. Kirby.

[15:10:01]

KIRBY: Thank you, General.

OK, Bob, there you are.

QUESTION: John...

KIRBY: Not your normal seat.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Thank you.

President Biden, in his remarks earlier today, made a reference to having, forget what word he used, but essentially rescued 169 Americans outside beyond the perimeter, I believe he said.

Can you explain what that was? How that happened? What happened?

KIRBY: Yes, he's referring to a small number of people that our troops -- that were very close to the perimeter, the perimeter of the airport, very close.

And in a short amount of time with a short amount of distance, some of our troops were able to go out there and retrieve them and bring them in.

QUESTION: Just on foot, you mean?

KIRBY: Yes. Yes.

QUESTION: OK. And it's 169 Americans, or do you know the breakdown?

KIRBY: I don't have the breakdown of the -- of everybody. QUESTION: And then a related question would be, has there been any

further consideration to going beyond, going further beyond the perimeter to do that?

KIRBY: Well, you heard the president today say that he wants to do whatever is going to be necessary to rescue Americans and our Afghan partners in need.

I'm not going to speculate one way or another about potential future operations. The main focus is on security at the airport and making sure that, as the general said, that air operations resumed and continue as unimpeded as possible.

But, clearly, we will be prepared and postured if we had to do something additional. But I won't speculate right now.

Courtney.

QUESTION: Did the U.S. troops have to go through any Taliban checkpoints to go and get those Americans?

KIRBY: No.

QUESTION: And then can you -- General, can you talk a little bit more about this flight pause? How long did it last? And can you say when it started, when it stopped?

TAYLOR: Yes, it was early, early this morning. And it lasted about six to seven hours.

And it was allowed to ensure that flights at our intermediate staging bases could receive more personnel. And that has been cleaned up, as flights have departed there. It has allowed us now to continue with the -- those that are ready to fly on Kabul to leave.

QUESTION: This is Qatar, right? There was a backlog.

TAYLOR: Yes.

QUESTION: Were there any other locations that had a backlog or...

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: Not reported.

QUESTION: Just a quick follow-up.

TAYLOR: Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: Do you have permission to fly Afghans from Kabul to the United States, or only to a third country? And is that what the holdup was?

KIRBY: That was not what the holdup was. The sites at Qatar were just at capacity. There was just no room to flow in additional people. Now, Jen, for Special Immigrant Visa applicants who are already in

that process, they will be -- they will be flown back to the United States. And you have seen that we have done this at Fort Lee. We have announced Fort McCoy and Fort Bliss will be able to receive additional SIV applicants.

For those who aren't in the SIV applicant process, there's been no final determination about whether they will be able to come right back to the United States again or on what timetable. That's a whole different category that we'd be dealing with, essentially people that are not part of that -- technically part of that process.

So that's something we will be working out with the State Department.

QUESTION: What is your current estimate for? how many al Qaeda are inside Afghanistan?

KIRBY: I haven't seen an estimate on that. I would -- OK, I don't know that we have an exact estimate.

QUESTION: You district have military intelligence estimates about how many al Qaeda remain in Afghan?

KIRBY: We know that al Qaeda -- al Qaeda is a presence, as well as ISIS, in Afghanistan. And we have talked about that for quite some time. We do not believe it is exorbitantly high. But we don't have an exact figure for you.

As I think you might understand, Jen, it's not like they carry identification cards and register somewhere. We don't have a perfect picture. And our ability, our intelligence-gathering ability in Afghanistan isn't what it used to be because we aren't there in the same -- with the same numbers that we used to be.

QUESTION: But the president just said that there is no al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. That does not seem to be correct.

KIRBY: What we don't think is that -- what we believe is that there isn't a presence that is significant enough to merit a threat to our homeland, as there was back on 9/11 20 years ago.

QUESTION: The president also said there is no national security interest, no national interest in Afghanistan. I'm a little confused by that.

Can you explain why there's no national interest in Afghanistan? Why did we have troops there for 20 years if there's no national interest in Afghanistan?

KIRBY: We had a significant interest in being in Afghanistan to our national security 20 years ago. You have heard the president talk about this.

The goal was to defeat, decimate al Qaeda, also to prevent al Qaeda from launching attacks on the homeland from Afghanistan. And we did that. We did that and a whole heck of a lot more over the course of 20 years, and to include helping with social, political, economic, just progress in Afghanistan.

[15:15:15]

The president decided that it was time to end this conflict, that there was really only two choices, because of the May 1 deadline, either plus up, because, after May 1, we would come under attack by the Taliban. And we hadn't since the Doha agreement had been signed -- or go ahead and complete the drawdown.

And the decision was made to complete the drawdown. Now, obviously, we're still going to maintain an overwatch vigilance with respect to the counterterrorism threat emanating out of Afghanistan. And if we need to, we will take action to eliminate and defeat that threat.

QUESTION: You just said that there -- you don't have intelligence on the ground in Afghanistan anymore. How are you going to have overwatch? And you still have al Qaeda in country.

KIRBY: Jen, what I said was we don't have the degree of dexterity intelligence to be able to give you a head count, a nose count of exactly how many al Qaeda fighters are in Afghanistan.

Nobody's walking away from the fact that they aren't there. And we're certainly going to maintain as much vigilance as we can, absent a presence on the ground.

The other thing I would say, Jen, is our intelligence capability, certainly, it's more difficult if you don't have boots on the ground. But we have come a long way since 9/11 in terms of the way we collect, process, analyze and distribute intelligence information, a long way in the last 20 years.

And while it's never perfect, we do believe that we will be able to have appropriate warning, should there be that kind of level threat coming from Afghanistan towards the homeland. And we have also the capability in the region to deal with it.

QUESTION: Thank you.

KIRBY: Tara.

QUESTION: Thank you.

The president also suggested that extending the perimeter outside of HKIA might put U.S. troops at too great of a risk, although it was not therapy was meaning that the rest would be with the Taliban or with groups like al Qaeda or ISIS.

Can you talk about that risk? And is it because there was some sort of agreement with the Taliban that U.S. troops will not be on the streets of Kabul?

KIRBY: I don't think there was any agreement that we wouldn't be anywhere in particular.

But risk is a big part of managing any mission, Tara. And you're absolutely right. There are other threats in Afghanistan and in Kabul than those that might be posed by the Taliban. And we have to be mindful of that. We talked yesterday about overwatch flights that were flying over Kabul. That's to make sure that we're ready if we need to defend ourselves.

Any -- I'm not going to get into potential future operations one way or the other. I'm not going to speculate about whether or when or under what conditions we might expand the security perimeter that we're working with there.

But the president is absolutely right. An expansion does incur extra risk, and you have to balance risk vs. gain in every particular military operation you're conducting. And that will be no different for this one.

QUESTION: A follow-up on (INAUDIBLE)

We're also seeing reports that there might be food, water, sanitation shortages for the evacuees that are there.

KIRBY: Sure.

QUESTION: And so I was just wondering, General Taylor, are you making plans to flow in more supplies?

TAYLOR: Absolutely.

So, understand that that requirement to increase that throughput is there, so to ensure that we have food, water, health care, and all those things, absolutely. Those are part of those other flights. The supplies are being in there to make sure that we can take care of that.

QUESTION: To (INAUDIBLE)

TAYLOR: Yes, that's right.

QUESTION: OK.

QUESTION: John, a follow-up on expanding the mission and the risk to Americans.

Apparently, the Germans are sending helicopters out throughout Kabul to pick up their citizens and bring them to the airport. There are reports of the French doing something similar, getting their people out, commandos going in. So why can't the Americans do that? Is it because it's too risky for that kind of operation?

KIRBY: The president, I think, was clear that we will do whatever we have to do to rescue as many -- rescue as many Americans as want to leave Afghanistan.

And the secretary is not going to rule anything in or out in terms of what the possibilities might be there. I would also note, though, Tom, that, though there have been sporadic reports of some Americans not being able to get through checkpoints -- I fully admit that -- by and large, what we have been seeing is that Americans are able to get through those checkpoints and are able to get onto the airfield.

So we aren't seeing, we're not aware of indications that there is that big a need for that. But, obviously, now we have built out extra capacity over the course of just the last couple of days.

[15:20:00]

If there's a need to do something additional to what we're doing now to get Americans processed and on planes, the secretary is going to want to keep as many options open to him as available.

QUESTION: It sounds like what the president was saying today is, he doesn't want to risk American lives to save Afghans who helped Americans for the past 20 years. That seems like the message.

KIRBY: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: The president doesn't want to risk American lives to go and save Afghan -- Afghans who helped Americans during the past 20 years.

That would seem -- that was the message today, I heard.

KIRBY: I didn't hear it that same way, Tom. I mean, in fact, I think the president was very clear in his remarks that we know we have an obligation to the Afghans that have helped us over the last 20 years.

And, Tom, the numbers belie that impression. I mean, if you just look at the numbers of -- the general briefed, 13,000 since August 14, 18,000 total, the vast, vast majority of that number are Afghans.

So, I mean, the numbers speak for themselves.

QUESTION: Well, the numbers are all over the map, frankly. I mean, some are saying 35,000. Others are saying 100,000, 200,000.

KIRBY: In terms of what's left to get?

QUESTION: Right.

KIRBY: Yes, I couldn't give you -- be perfectly predictive about what that's going to look like, the total pool, because you also have to flow in families.

And we are moving and have been moving a lot of family members. But, I mean, just to give you an example, the general noted nearly 6,000 came out in the last 24 hours; 5,000 of them were Afghans; 5,000 were Afghans. So I just don't accept the premise that this administration and this government and our military is not prioritizing moving Afghan partners and people who have helped us out of the country.

Just the numbers don't say that.

QUESTION: Yes, Barb.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Can we go back to the 169, please? I have several follow-up questions. First of all, the president said

it was 169 Americans. You say Americans are having no trouble getting through checkpoints, to the best of your knowledge, except for any anecdotes that may be out there.

KIRBY: Thank you.

STARR: OK.

My questions are this. First of all, what was the situation of these 169 Americans that required U.S. troops to go outside the perimeter and get them? Why these 169 Americans? When did this happen? How long did the mission last? Was it 169 Americans altogether?

Did you feel you had safe passage from the Taliban? Tell us more about this.

KIRBY: I don't have that level of detail.

General, do you have any context?

TAYLOR: Not that...

STARR: I'm sorry.

U.S. troops went outside the wire at the airport to rescue 169 Americans. That's what the president said. And you -- neither of you have any additional information?

KIRBY: Barbara, I'm happy to take the questions that you have asked back and try to provide additional context. I do not have that level of tactical detail here today, but I'm happy to take those questions.

And I'm happy to go look and see if we can find answers for you on that, absolutely. But my understanding of what happened was, they were really just outside the wall. It wasn't very far to go. It was in a relatively short period of time. And it wasn't a rescue, so much as assisting them getting onto the field.

So I think that's the context in which I understand the incident. Your questions are fair. I will go back and see if we can provide additional context.

STARR: Can you also tell us then, have -- just for the record, have American troops in any other instance or circumstance gone outside the wire at the airport, gone into the city to get people? Have American troops at all left the airport to go get people?

And do -- you said you had extended capacity. So do you now -- the secretary said the other day you didn't have the capacity to really go get Americans. So do you now have the capacity to do that? And is there any other circumstance in which you have done it?

KIRBY: I don't know of any other circumstance.

And, yes, over -- since Wednesday, since the secretary spoke to you, we have flown in -- and you have heard the general update you literally every day. We have flown in additional capacity, additional forces.

Security is in a more stable position at the airport. So, if there would be a need to do something additional to help Americans or other people at risk that we need to get to the airfield, we would examine those options, tee them up, weigh the benefits vs. the risks, and then offer up opportunities to the secretary to make a recommendation.

And we would go from there.

STARR: So now, just to make sure I understand what you're saying, for the first time, this many days into the operation, the U.S. military has the capability and capacity to go into Kabul and get Americans for the first time?

[15:25:11]

KIRBY: We have additional capacity now, as we have flown additional forces in. But, as I said earlier, I'm not going to talk about potential future operations one way or the other. And every decision that is made has got to be weighed against the risks and the benefits of what you're doing.

The other thing I'd say, Barb, is, as I mentioned to Tom, there hasn't been that demand signal now. Most Americans -- Americans are going -- they're getting through the checkpoints, and they're getting on.

I'm not suggesting that, in every case, it's gone unimpeded.

STARR: But why did you wait so many days to have that capacity?

KIRBY: We didn't wait so many days, Barb.

We have been flowing in forces consistently over the course of the last week. And we have been nothing but transparent to you about what we have been flowing in. So, again, we will obviously do whatever we can.

And if there's a need to do this, and it's an operation that we can talk about, we will talk about it. OK?

Yes.

QUESTION: Defense Secretary Austin just now in a briefing call with House lawmakers said there are reports Americans have been beaten by the Taliban in Kabul.

Is the U.S. military under orders to stay at the airport and not go protect them?

KIRBY: I think we have been talking about this throughout the entire briefing. We're certainly mindful of these reports. And they're deeply troubling.

And we have communicated to the Taliban that that's absolutely unacceptable, that we want free passage through their checkpoints for documented Americans. And, by and large, that's happening. And as we have talked about before, the mission right now, as you and I are speaking, is to keep security at that airport sound and to keep air operations moving, even after this delay.

I'm not going to speculate about anything, any changes to that mission at this time. If there's a change, and we feel like we need to execute that change, then we will do it.

QUESTION: Wouldn't that require a conversation with the Taliban, coordination?

KIRBY: I'm not going to talk about potential future operations and what that would look like in any way, shape or form.

And we haven't gone to the phone yet.

Tracy Wilkinson.

QUESTION: Hi. Thank you.

Just to follow up on my colleague's questions, we have reports of American helicopters going out and picking up people from multiple locations, both Americans and Afghans. So, I want to know, I want to understand how that how that mission has changed that you actually, despite what Generals Austin and Milley said yesterday, you are actually going out of the airport and picking up people.

Can you can you elaborate on that?

KIRBY: Can't confirm those reports, Tracy, at this time.

Yes, Megan.

QUESTION: So, I feel like we're kind of bifurcating the issue between Americans and Afghans.

You said Americans are not having any issues and you have settled with the Taliban that they're not going to have any issues. But have you made that same negotiation over Afghans? Because that's where most of these reports are coming from, that Afghans...

KIRBY: Yes.

QUESTION: ... even credentialed, are not being allowed through.

KIRBY: We have seen those reports too, Megan.

And we have made it clear to the Taliban that these Afghans with the proper credentials should be allowed through the checkpoint. And, again, Megan, certainly, we recognize that there have been multiple cases of Afghans, even some credentialed Afghans, being assaulted and beaten and harassed, no question.

But, by and large, those Afghans who have the proper credentials -- and we have made it clear to the Taliban what those credentials look like, what they are -- by and large, they are getting through the checkpoint.

And we have not seen that become a major issue.

QUESTION: My other question is, now that the president has opened the door to possibly having some rescue missions into the city, are commanders on the ground now speaking with the Taliban about letting those missions go off unobstructed?

TAYLOR: First, I just want to say those discussions with commanders and the Taliban haven't stopped, right? That's a continuous piece of what's been going on.

So, I think the question you asked is, are we talking to the Taliban to go out and rescue folks? Like Mr. Kirby said, that is not -- those demands have not been brought to the commanders as of yet.

QUESTION: But the president has opened up that possibility, so it would stand to reason that commanders would start...

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: I think we all heard that. I think we all heard that same comment from the president today to ensure that we use all the capability we have to meet the mission.

QUESTION: So, as of now, they're not asking for that specifically or planning for that...

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: That's correct.

As of this point -- you just said two things. You said planning and asking.

QUESTION: Yes.

TAYLOR: As I have always said, prudent military planning is always continuously happening.