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Crisis Deepens as U.S. Scramble to Speed Up Evacuations in Afghanistan; U.S. Maintains Talks with Taliban Amid Chaos in Kabul; Delta Prompts U.S. Cities to Tighten Mask, Vaccine Rules; Deepening Divide Over School Mask, Vaccine Mandates; Hong Kong Allows Nicole Kidman to Skip Quarantine; Aid Trickles in Days after Devastating Tremor in Haiti. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET

Aired August 20, 2021 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: In the wake of the Taliban's rapid takeover, the U.S. remains in talks with the Taliban as evacuations continue.

And as COVID cases rise across the U.S., the pressure to introduce more vaccine and mask mandates is mounting.

Then, after an earthquake and a storm, Haiti desperately needs help.

Hello, I am Kim Brunhuber. Welcome to our viewer here in the United States, Canada and around the world. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

It's now 12:30, Friday afternoon in Kabul where the chaotic rush to evacuate thousands of Afghans, Americans and others is growing more desperate by the hour.

At times the crush of Afghans outside the Kabul airport grew so big and unpredictable that soldiers fired weapons in to the air to push the crowds back. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to address the deepening crisis in the coming hours.

Now this is a sign of just how bad things got on Thursday, a soldier lifting a child over the airport wall. The Pentagon says it's in daily communication with the Taliban about letting people with proper documentation through the gates, but for now, many who helped the U.S. and coalition forces are blocked from any hope of getting on a plane.

Thursday was also the country's traditional Independence Day. Some Afghans chose to defy the Taliban by flying the international flag. The Taliban reportedly reacted with whips and gunfire to disperse the crowds.

In places under firm Taliban control, only the group's flag was to be seen on the streets. The countless terrified Afghans, the airport is their only lifeline out. The U.S. says it's evacuated about 9,000 people in recent days including 350 Americans on Thursday.

But that is nothing compared to the thousands of Afghans now clamoring to get into the airport and the tens of thousands more who can't even get to the airport. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It is America's final act in Afghanistan and its longest war. And it involves getting many Americans, many Afghans loyal to America, to run a kind of gauntlet from the center of Kabul up to the main airport. Where they hope to get flights to the United States, maybe elsewhere, and start a new life in safety. But for that they must go through an extraordinary challenge.

WALSH (voice-over): What should be the easiest drive in Kabul is the reason the city is on edge. Head up the main airport road since Monday when I drove it and you run into the Taliban. Then they were beating people back, perhaps to clear the civilian runway crowded with desperate people then.

By Wednesday, it had gotten worse when they were clearly stopping people from using their escape to America and accosting CNN. Taliban controlled that road, the entrance at the end of it and the road to the left, now many are trying to get in from the north road. But that's led to devastating scenes at the north gate. When I was there, the crush was dangerous, but the numbers have grown further still.

At night stun grenades have been thrown when huge crowds still brave roaming Taliban in the dark in the hope the numbers at the gate have dropped. And in the day, it got nastier still. There were moments of hope, but they carry risk. When people see one success, they might want to try the same thing en masse.

Later in the day the U.S. troops had to repel the crowd. At other gates what seemed to be British soldiers struggled to push back crowds and huge queues have formed blocking the streets. America has a numbers problem, getting enough people on, but also claiming huge progress while not really knowing how many priority cases they are really seeking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many American citizens remain in Afghanistan?

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't know.

NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: What we do know is that 6,000 people are now at the airport, 6,000 people have been able to make it through the processing and as of a couple hours ago we had received only a handful of reports otherwise from American citizens.

WALSH (voice-over): Inside, it is messy, but there are flights often many of them where lives are walked on to C-17s and changed forever when the doors close.

[04:05:00]

The story of the airport the last place America controls in Afghanistan with the chaos outside the wire means the promises inside fall perilously short. WALSH: Now the U.S. talks of lofty goals of trying to get 5- to 9,000

people flown out every day. And they claim that they have now on that airport 6,000 people processed and ready to get on aircraft. That will be extraordinary if that had indeed occurred. But they do also admit as you heard there that they don't know how many Americans are out there in Afghanistan hoping to get out.

Extraordinary not to have that basic number there to quantify how big a task is ahead. And so, for the days ahead there are concerns. But once again in Afghanistan the reality on the ground, those terrifying scenes outside the airport even today are simply not matched or recognized by the statements from American officials.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Doha.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: But the U.S. has one more card to play as it tries to maintain security around the airport and provide safety and access to those who want to leave. As Oren Liebermann reports, U.S. officials are talking to the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There is direct and daily communication between representatives of the Taliban near Kabul International Airport and the commanders of U.S. forces on the ground at the airport. That's a way for them to talk, a way to, first of all, resolve if there are any issues there, but also a way of avoiding and preventing a breakout of hostilities between the Taliban and U.S. forces.

So far the situation has held. U.S. forces hold and control the airport, a situation that has stabilized, but the Taliban pretty much right outside the airport. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby says that he has no reports and got no information that American citizens have been slowed down or stopped or delayed or harassed on their way to the airport. But he acknowledges his information isn't perfect since U.S. troops are pretty much only at the airport at this point.

There have been reports of Afghan interpreters and their families, those who should be able to get on these flights, being detained, harassed, even beaten by the Taliban. The Pentagon says they are addressing those reports with the Taliban to try to make sure these people, those who have a right and an ability to get on these flights are able to do so.

Meanwhile the big hold up or the big bottleneck here is the ability to process these Afghans as quickly as possible through the airport and to get them on these flights. That ability is ramping up and increasing. Still not yet at the 5,000 to 9,000 a day that would be the maximum capacity. But that's where the goal is, that's what the military is trying to achieve. At the same time, the Pentagon acknowledges that there are fighter jets overflying Kabul overseeing what's happening on the ground there as this withdrawal continues.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right, let's take a closer look at the fate of Afghan translators who worked with U.S. troops. As you heard there from Oren, some are being blocked from getting to the airport and some aren't even in Kabul. They are making desperate pleas to the Biden administration to honor the pledge to leave no one behind. Here's a message from a translator shared by a human rights attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AFGHAN INTERPRETER, OBTAINED BY HUMAN RIGHT ATTORNEY KIMBERLY MOTLEY: Why are the American soldiers forgetting about us after everything we did, the sacrifices we made? Why are they leaving us behind? I don't want to be killed by the Taliban. They are going to cut our heads off if they find my location. Please help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is joining us from Istanbul. Jomana, as we heard there in that heartbreaking plea, so many Afghans who partnered with the U.S. and other Western countries are getting increasingly panicked about their situation, desperate to leave.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely heartbreaking, Kim. You just heard it there. I mean, this is how a lot of these people estimated tens of thousands who worked with the U.S. government, worked with the U.S. military, who risked their lives, the lives of their family members to be associated with foreign forces, they are really terrified of what is going to happen to them right now.

You've got the horror stories that we are hearing on a daily basis of people who are trying to get to the airport, that dangerous journey of physically getting to the airport. We've heard stories of people who were employed by the U.S. getting to their evacuation flights covered in blood. They lost their belongings, traumatized by what they have gone through.

But then on top of that, you've also got this chaotic messy slow process also dealing with the paperwork of getting people on the list, approving them to travel, giving them these special immigrant visa.

[04:10:00]

The U.S. has been really criticized, Kim, for how disorganized and how slow and bureaucratic this process has been. This is something that means it's a life-or-death matter for people like you heard there from that interpreter. They feel that they are right now being left behind. They feel that every single day that window to try to get out of the country, to try to escape, that window is closing and it is closing fast.

And despite all the assurances that they are hearing from U.S. officials in Washington, that messaging that they are going to ramp up the operations at the airport, whether it is the evacuation flights or the processing, it's a very different reality on the ground. And the message they have gotten from what they have seen play out over the past few days in Kabul is that they are not the priority. They feel that it is U.S. citizens who are the priority. A real fear right now that they are being the ones left behind -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. And now so many countries are talking about how to take in those Afghans as well what do about the influx of refugees. But in Turkey where you are, the president saying basically they don't want to get stuck with all of them, is that right?

KARADSHEH: Well, look, I mean, Kim, as the world has been watching these images played out at Kabul airport, a lot of governments are watching this with a lot of concern. They're worried about another refugee crisis. This is coming at a time where you've got, whether it is the government here in Turkey or European governments, who are still dealing with the political fallout from the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015. They're watching it and really worried about a new refugee crisis.

So, President Erdogan, his country has hosted nearly 4 million refugees. This country is the biggest host of refugees worldwide. But they are very worried about the influx of Afghan refugees. He's faced with a population a large part of it that doesn't want to see more refugees coming in because of the economic situation. They say he's under a of pressure from opposition parties.

So, yesterday we heard President Erdogan saying that, you know, they have also been dealing over the past two years with the irregular migrants coming from Afghanistan. They have fortified their border now to try and come stem any possible flow of migrants through Iran.

But he says it is Europe's turn right now to live up to its obligations. He says Turkey is not obliged to be, quote, a warehouse for refugees -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much, Jomana Karadsheh in Istanbul.

Still ahead, Haiti is still reeling following an earthquake and a tropical storm. We'll explain why it is taking so long to get help to thousands of victims.

Plus, actress Nicole Kidman skirts quarantine when arriving in Hong Kong. We'll explain why next, stay with us.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: More cities across the U.S. are tightening COVID restrictions as cases surge. Starting today, anyone over the age of 12 in San Francisco will have to show proof of vaccination before entering restaurants, bars and gyms. And in Chicago -- Chicago is reinstating its indoor mask mandate for all residents regardless of their vaccination status. It comes as a surge of COVID patients is pushing many hospitals to the brink. CNN's Athena Jones has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As COVID cases and hospitalizations rise across the country, pressure to introduce more vaccine and mask mandates is mounting. More than 91,000 people now hospitalized nationwide.

DR. ANDY JAFFAL, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, PIEDMONT ATLANTA HOSPITAL: I watched a 28-year-old previously healthy unvaccinated patient die from COVID complications. And while we value every life, that's -- that one was tough, because it could have been prevented.

JONES (voice-over): Hospitalization rates for children and adults under 50 setting new records. The biggest jump in adults ages 30 to 39 and children under 18, climbing more than 30 percent higher than their previous peak in early January according to the CDC.

In the two least vaccinated states in the country, Alabama and Mississippi, where just 36 percent are fully vaccinated, hospitals are strained. Hospitalizations in Mississippi setting a pandemic record, as the state reports the highest seven-day average of new COVID cases per capita in the country.

The surge in cases leading Washington Governor Jay Inslee to issue one of the strictest vaccine mandates yet, requiring all teachers and staff in public and private schools to be vaccinated.

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): We are well past the point where testing is enough to keep people safe.

JONES (voice-over): near Los Angeles, Culver City will now require all students 12 and older to get vaccinated by mid-November. Teachers and staff must also get the shots. But battles over masking requirements in schools continue, with kids stuck in the middle.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I mean, the masks are, like, uncomfortable, but it's for safety.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: If I wear my mask, that means I get to see my friends I'll just wear a mask.

JONES: In Florida, some 4,600 students and 1,500 employees across the 15 largest school districts have tested positive for COVID. And another 19,000 students and staff have been quarantined or isolated. Defying Governor Ron DeSantis, school boards voted to mandate masks in three additional counties. Miami- Dade and Palm Beach and in Hillsborough, where quarantining students is becoming a new focus of outrage.

Some parents are arguing it should be up to them whether they keep their child home from school after a COVID exposure. The governor agrees.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I think quarantining healthy kids deprives these kids of the ability to get an education. Now maybe a parent would want a healthy kid to be quarantined if there is an exposure, but I think that should be the choice of the parent. [04:20:00]

JONES (voice-over): It's an approach that flies in the face of public health guidance.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: We have a moral obligation to follow the science and keep our children safe.

JONES: And now Oregon state health authority will require all K-12 teachers, educators, staff and volunteers to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever comes later. Governor Kate Brown saying, children need to be in the classroom five days a week and in order to do that, masks need to be worn and adults around those children need to be vaccinated.

Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Here in Georgia, hundreds of doctors are asking for mask mandates in schools where many children aren't eligible for the vaccine. The state's second largest school system met Thursday to consider requiring masks in the classroom. CNN's Ryan Young was at the meeting where tensions ran high.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We had a lot of passion behind this debate here, whether or not kids were going to wear masks in school. Cobb County is one of largest school districts in the state of Georgia. And you had that passions on display as hundreds of parents showed up to let their voices be heard. Is that when you watch this video you can see some parents wearing masks, others parents not wearing masks. And they think that's how the school system should be.

You heard parents say over and over again though they are concerned about their kids going to school with kids who don't have masks on. And let's not forget they already had to remove several students from school just last week. Over 500 COVID positive cases have been counted in the last week and a half in the Cobb County schools, so you understand why some parents are a little worried about what's going to happen moving forward. Take a listen to parents from both sides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not worried and I'm not surprised. This is the south where the worst vaccinated area in the whole of the USA. But I feel like I've got to stand up for my children who cannot be vaccinated. They are 10 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband was in the hospital with COVID. I get COVID is real. This don't help. The vaccines don't work. These don't work and we need to listen to people. It's my body, my choice. I have choices. I live in a free country.

YOUNG: You have the passion from parents continues. In fact, not all the parents could even fit inside during the board meeting. The Cobb County Board of Education didn't take up this subject, did not change anything yet when it comes to the mask mandate. Some parents say they have to see change and they want to see something happen to protect those kids. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And CNN has learned the Cobb County School District decided to keep its mask optional policy but saying in a statement after the meeting that masks are strongly encouraged.

New Zealand and parts of Australia are tightening COVID restrictions as the Delta variant fuels a rise in cases around the world. Sydney is extending its lockdown through September, the state of New South Wales reported nearly 650 new infections Friday, but most of them in Sydney. And the nationwide lockdown in New Zealand will be extended until next week, the country's Prime Minister says its timeline will be reevaluated Monday.

Hong Kong continued to tighten its COVID restrictions but actress Nicole Kidman has managed to avoid the city's mandatory quarantine. CNN's Will Ripley is in Hong Kong where he is actually in quarantine himself. So, Will, you can understand why Kidman, might want to avoid those quarantine restrictions. You've gone through it yourself. And I understand it's quite hectic.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is. I arrived at the Hong Kong airport last night along with thousands of other people who had to cut their international travel short to try to get here just hours before a change in the rules requiring people from certain countries, including the one that I happen to be vacationing in. I would have had to quarantine in this hotel room for three week upon arrival. But because I cut my vacation short by two weeks and raced back here, rebooked everything, I'm only in quarantine for 14 days.

And it was a very long line, five hours at the airport, multiple COVID tests between now and the time that I'm released. You can't leave the hotel room. You can't send your laundry out, so you have to wash your clothes in the shower if you run out of clean ones. It is not the most pleasant experience for people who arrive in Hong Kong and for a lot of people it is just financially not viable. Because the hotel quarantine, whether it is two weeks or three weeks, is self-paid. So, people who can't afford do that, can't afford to leave the city to go visit their families. And that's certainly mentally trying for them certainly -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and so speak to the controversy around Kidman and members of her crew being exempted from this. How did that come about?

RIPLEY: Nicole Kidman's experience very different. She flew by private jet from Sydney and is not staying in a quarantine hotel, is not self- isolating. In fact, she has been spotted out and about around the city just a couple of days after she landed.

[04:25:00]

She and four members of her team while they are apparently engaging only in essential work-related travel, they've been in Siwan and other areas of Hong Kong shooting their series about wealthy American expats who do live a privileged life in a bubble. And it's a series that's being criticized as really tone deaf given the turmoil that people in Hong Kong have experienced both because of the pandemic and also because of the drastic changes in the city under Beijing's national security law.

And so, to have a Hollywood star come in, not be subjected to the same quarantine rules, shooting a show that some are accusing of being tone deaf candors, certainly a lot of outrage here.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Well, all right wishing you the best in quarantine there. CNN's Will Ripley, thanks so much.

Hurricane warnings are up for parts of Mexico's Gulf coast as tropical storm Grace takes aim at the country for a second time. Tourists were forced to evacuate hotels near Cancun after it hit the Yucatan Peninsula with heavy rain. Grace weakened to a tropical storm but now it's back over the water, strengthening. And almost a hurricane again with sustained winds now up to 70 miles per hour. It's expected to make landfall as a hurricane for a second time Friday or early Saturday.

Now before hitting Mexico, Grace slammed into Haiti just days after a devastating earthquake there. Hospitals in the worst hit areas have been overwhelmed with far more patients than they can treat. And aid has been slow to arrive partly because of the storm. The U.S. is reportedly sending a warship, the USS Arlington to help the humanitarian efforts, but as Matt Rivers reports that's far from enough.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, unfortunately, one of the themes of our reporting here in Haiti has been this idea that it is not easy for the people who want to be giving out aid to the people who need it most to get to those places. A lot of places that were really affected by this earthquake are more remote parts of Haiti, it's not easy to get to them. And we showed you one of those places recently, the town of Corail. It's a fishing village, roughly 30,000 people. Lots of damage and desperately needing of help.

A little bit of good news, after our reporting we were told by a U.S. Coast Guard official that at least one helicopter during the day on Thursday was able to make it to Corail. They took out four patients, brought them back here to Port-au-Prince for medical treatment. We also know that they were able to drop off supplies, a relatively limited number of supplies, but still anything helps at this point. That town obviously needs a lot more help.

The Haitian government also saying that they were able to send out a number of successful convoys to different affected parts of the country, that's also good news.

We heard from the U.S. Coast Guard as well that they were able to go to a remote village called Annette here in Haiti. They actually medevacked out at least 20 patients from that village, a very hard-hit area. All of that is good news. But it is not enough.

These are areas that need much more help than that. They need the kind of substantive resources, substantive supplies that will truly make a difference not only in the cleanup efforts but also in the recovery efforts and the treatment efforts of those people who were injured. And that's what we'll be looking for going into the weekend. How many more supplies, forces, troops can be mobilized not only by the Haitian government but also from outside governments, charity groups, to continue to reach those places to make the kind of impact that is needed at this point. It's an open question, but it's something we are going to be following very closely.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: We're learning American diplomats sent a cable warning to the United States of a potential catastrophe in Afghanistan. We'll have the latest after a quick break. Stay with us.

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