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Firefight Breaks Out At Kabul Airport, One Person Killed; Source: About 20,000 Remain At Kabul Airport Amid Evacuations; Australia's COVID Outbreak And Anti-Lockdown Protests. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 23, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow live in Atlanta. So coming up, the United States ramps up efforts to help Americans stranded in Afghanistan. We'll tell you how that could affect the U.S. troop presence there.

Plus, CNN has learned of a change of policy at the Kabul airport that could make impact -- that could impact many Afghans trying to get out. We are live in Doha with the details of that.

And then also, protests in Australia where is talk of relaxing COVID restrictions despite cases continuing to rise. We're live in Sidney with the details on that.

Thanks so much for joining me this hour. So a week after the fall of Kabul, U.S. President Joe Biden says changes are being made to help Americans and their allies flee Afghanistan. A White House official now tells CNN around 5,000 people were evacuated in just a 12-hour period on Sunday, but some 20,000 others still remain at Kabul's airport.

Although the U.S. is ramping up the pace of evacuations, more and more people are trying to get out. The U.S. is also extending a safe zone around the airport and calling on civilian airlines to help move evacuees once they are out of Afghanistan. Mr. Biden says there is active talk about extending U.S. troop presence in the country past the deadline at the end of the month. But it's not clear if the Taliban will play ball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are working diligently to make sure we have increased the ability to get them out. We've changed the gate operations and a whole range of things and that's why we've been able to significantly increase the number of people who are getting out.

UNKNOWN: And will the Taliban agree to an extension past August 31st? Have you discussed that with them?

BIDEN: We discussed a lot with the Taliban. They've been cooperative in extending some of the perimeter. That remains to be seen whether we ask that question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Meanwhile, the source says hundreds of Afghan staff for the U.S. Embassy still remain trapped and haven't been brought to the airport. And as the Taliban tighten their hold (ph) on the country, their enemy say they are ready to negotiate.

Northern alliance leader, Ahmad Massoud, and his forces have clashed with the Taliban over the past week, and the militants gave him a Sunday deadline to surrender. Here's what he said in an earlier interview.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

AHMAD MASSOUD, NORTHERN ALLIANCE LEADER: We are not fighting one province. We are defending the whole country in one province. That's what's happening and we want to make Taliban realize that the only way forward is to negotiation and talk and we are talking to them and we want -- no, we do not want war to break out and to happen.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CURNOW: Meanwhile, we are following developments at Kabul's airport where a number of people trying to get out show no sign of subsiding. Nick Paton Walsh joins me now from Doha. Nick, hi. I understand we do have some new reporting on that situation there on the ground in Kabul airport.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes. I understand from a source close to the situation on the airport that as of today it will only be American citizens, green card holders or citizens of NATO countries that are allowed on to that airport. Now, that is to some degree not surprising, of course, given the difficulty they've had in filtering Afghans who have tried to get onto that base.

But it's also not that surprising because as of this stage, the gates of the airport remain closed. Now, Joe Biden talked -- President Joe Biden talked about the ultimate routes being used to get American citizens and those eligible onto the base. They sort of remain secret, but it appears to be that it's no longer the gates that they're going to let people on.

The numbers on the base, well, they still remain at roughly 20,000 or so, and I'm told in the next 24 hours it could be as many as over 30 C-17 cargo planes landing, which could make a significant dent in that 20,000. Well, it should. Although the source I spoke to said there is still some confusion as to how the sheer volume of cargo planes that have been coming in are not making a dent in that 20,000 figure significantly.

The source said possibly it may have something to do with Afghan security at the base, possibly allowing their friends in through a separate channel, really to some degree, speculation here. But it show still some degree of chaos on that particular base.

I should also tell you, too, about an instance that occurred at 4:00 this morning according to the German military. The source I spoke to says, essentially what happened was that sniper outside the base of an unknown affiliation fired a shot into the base at Afghan Security Forces who were helping the Americans secure the base. That shot killed one of those Afghans.

[02:05:00]

The Afghans returned fire in the general direction where that shot came from, but it wasn't the direction of the U.S. Marines who in turn fired back and it appears that four Afghans were injured in that exchange. No American casualties. Four Afghan casualties who are now considered to be in a stable condition.

But that tells you two things. Something it seems, outside the base wants to harass those on it, specifically the Afghans there and it shows you how volatile things are. A change, though, if those gates remain closed, that is of course, a huge blow to those thousands of SIV applicants out there in Kabul or Afghanistan somewhere who want to get onto the base.

Joe Biden has made loose promises to them, not as clear as his priority of getting American citizens out of Afghanistan. There are unknown number still at this point. One issue does still remain, though, for the days ahead. They have -- the main problem, I'm told, is scale -- 20,000 people.

Now, one of the issues amongst those 20,000 is that a lot of them, I understand, are military-age males with "no documentation." Now, that stems back from the early days of the airport sort of standoff in which filtration seems to have lapsed and many Afghans got on the base essentially because they were holding up, distributed by e-mail, visa- type permit.

It looks like a visa. It has no name, it has no number on it, but people were showing that and allowing themselves on the base as a result. It was chaos, it's totally understandable frankly, a humanitarian disaster at that particular point.

But the Americans are now left on that airport with thousands of these Afghan men who don't appear to have a legitimate claim to the American system, they would say they have a very (inaudible) claim to getting out because they are frightened and want a better life outside of Afghanistan.

But it does present a crisis at this point because they have three different levels of individual on that base. American, NATO citizens, who they are prioritizing leaving, Afghans eligible for the SIV program, and then Afghans who very through their own ingenuity managed to get on that particular base.

I understand at this point there is no plan to kick people off the base, but yet again, they are left with a fundamental question. How long does this go on for? Now, President Joe Biden did yesterday hint at the possibility of extending this, but it is unclear how long they would require in order to get all those 20,000 off, if for some reason those numbers keep going up again.

And President Joe Biden did also mention one key thing, Robyn, I should just say to you, that the safe zone as you mentioned earlier, was being extended around the airport. I could tell you possibly a little at more detail as to how that works. The source I spoke to says that the Taliban now are checking documents essentially for the Americans.

That may be the level of filtration that's outer most, and we've always been, you know, wondering quite when the Taliban and U.S. forces would come close to each other. Over (inaudible) that's been happening for some time, but it seems that the first level of filtration is Taliban. Now, that's good and it's also bad.

It's good because it means there is less of a risk of standoff between NATO and Taliban forces, but it's bad because it gives Taliban essentially the first say as to who is eligible and who is not. That maybe informing. I speculate here that may be informing the fact that U.S. passport holders are the ones who are being allowed on at this particular stage because as we know, we suspect, the Taliban aren't particularly sympathetic to the Afghans who have been loyal to the American presence there leaving the country.

But I think the key thing to remember here is we're still dealing with a very large number. The issue now, getting on the base is for American citizens and that gates are closed. So, if you're an Afghan, it seems out there in the SIV program, with the dream to get off -- get onto Afghanistan for now and it may change. It doesn't seems as though the base is open, too. Robyn?

CURNOW: Okay. Thank you. Nick Paton Walsh, for that very comprehensive report.

So, U.S. President Joe Biden says there is still a long way to go before all Americans and Afghan allies are out of the country, but pledges the evacuation effort will push on. Arlette Saenz is at the White House. She has more. Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden once again pledge to get all Americans out of Afghanistan safely and said the U.S. troops may need to remain in the country past the August 31st drawdown deadline in order to make that happen. The president said discussions are under way with his team about the progress of evacuations and he said he does hope they will be able to leave by August 31st, though it will be dependent on the status of Americans who are in Afghanistan. Now, the president's remarks came as he addressed the country for the

third time since Kabul fell to the Taliban. And while the president offered these assurances about evacuating Americans and Afghan allies safely and in a quick manner, he also said that there is still room for something to go wrong in this process. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: There's no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss of heartbreaking images you see on television. It's just a fact.

[02:09:58]

My heart aches for those people you see. We are approving that we can move thousands of people a day out of Kabul. We're bringing our citizens, NATO allies, Afghanis who had helped -- in fact, has helped us in the war effort. Bu we have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: The president is facing incredible pressure, not just to get Americans out of Afghanistan, but also to evacuate those Afghan allies who worked closely with the U.S. over the course of the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Now, the president said those SIV applicants will be able to come to the United States and insisted they will be thoroughly vetted before they travel to the U.S. These evacuees are leaving the Kabul airport and heading to a third-party site or operating base where that vetting is under way.

Now, President Biden later this week is also preparing to once again speak with foreign leaders. He will attend, virtually attend a G7 leader meeting where Afghanistan will be a focus as there are so many questions from allies about the U.S. response in Afghanistan and what the future holds. Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

CURNOW: Joining me now is CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger. David, hi. You're also the White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times." And as we look back over the past week or so, we have seen a lot of miscalculations, a lot of misjudgments, a lot of assumptions. How is that not different from the last 20 years in Afghanistan? Why are people surprised, that they were surprised by the failure of Afghan troops to stand up to the Taliban?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Robyn, I think you are right that the history of this war has been one of over assuming the degree to which the Afghan national security forces would make use of the capacity that they were given, and frequently underestimating how organized and strategic the Taliban were.

And, you know, as we did this large reconstruction of events that appeared in the Sunday "New York Times," what became clear to us is that back in April when the president made his decision that he was going to draw down to zero, the working intelligence assessment at the time was that the Afghans could hold off for one to two years.

By June that came down to sort of 18 months, six months, then later on, and then within a few days before Kabul fell, it came down to -- it's so close we can't guarantee we could give you any warning.

CURNOW: So, what is this then? A political failure? An intelligence failure? Or just American interventions gone wrong, a history of naivety, overreach, and a variety of other foreign policy mistakes?

SANGER: Well, President Biden has argued, I think accurately, that the reason he wanted to get out was because he was persuaded years ago that this was overreach, that we can't reform these countries, and that we completed the mission when Al Qaeda got driven out of Afghanistan.

And his next point was, if you are going to go focus the United States on true big threats these days, focus on China, focus on cyberattacks, focus on this competition in space, but the risk of another terror attack coming out of Afghan territory was pretty low, there were higher risks actually elsewhere, Africa and other places where we have seen terror groups active.

That all made perfect sense as setting a set of priorities. But then there was a question of if you know you are going to get out by a date certain, how do you prepare for it? And clearly they didn't get enough of the work done in advance, especially getting those Afghan interpreters and others who helped the United States, the sort of special visa applicants.

CURNOW: So this is a final act or maybe this is the beginning of another act. This is not a Hollywood ending. Americans are feeling ashamed and there is obviously this great sense of moral hand wringing, justifiably so about perhaps abandoning people particularly vulnerable people who worked or gave something to the Americans. How is this then a political -- politically impacting this president or is he gambling that this is really going to peter out?

SANGER: What he's gambling is that at the end of this whole process, American --

CURNOW: Whenever it is because at the moment it seems pretty endless.

[02:15:00]

SANGER: Yes, right. But whenever that moment comes, he will be given credit as the president who finally got us out. You know, Obama said he wanted to do it, but surge troops and never really could bring the numbers down.

CURNOW: We know and many people who read history know that Afghanistan is as, you know, I think was it Alexander the Great who said it was the graveyard of empires. You know, there's no surprise that Afghanistan is a messy, messy place by which to trying to create some sort of intervention. How much of an intelligence failure is this, or is this just a political failure or a military one? SANGER: You know, I think President Biden would argue that because it

is the graveyard of empires, because you can't change the (inaudible), this ratifies that he was right to get out, but that doesn't excuse the failures, some which were political, some of which were intelligence about how quickly the Taliban would take over.

And thus, without the luxury of time, the U.S. finds it's not able to rescue its own citizens in the way that it had in mind or get those 20,000 special interpreters and others out of the country. Now, he could still pull the rabbit out of the hat here. They are clearly thinking of something as the president said on Sunday that is the size and sophistication of the Berlin airlift, and if they could actually make that work, I think they'll get something turned around here.

CURNOW: David Sanger, always good to get your analysis. Thank you very much, sir.

SANGER: Great to be with you, Robyn.

CURNOW: I just want to bring you this information on the whole American support the decision to leave Afghanistan, but they believe, of course, that the withdrawal was mishandled. I want to show you the CBS/YouGov poll, found that 47 percent of people approve of how President Biden has handled the withdrawal, 53 percent disapprove.

But most Americans, 63 percent approve of U.S. removing troops overall. Meanwhile, 59 percent of people believe the U.S. isn't doing enough to help Afghans leave -- 81 percent want to see Afghans who worked for the U.S. be able to take refuge here.

SO coming up on CNN, in just a matter of hours, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could grant a COVID vaccine full approval. We'll talk to a doctor about what that means for the fight to end the pandemic.

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[02:20:00]

CURNOW: Welcome back. I am Robyn Curnow. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant full approval of the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID vaccine as early as the coming day. Senior federal official describes the decision as imminent. Full approval will likely pave the way for more vaccine mandates across the country. CDC data shows 29 percent of Americans who are eligible to receive a vaccine still haven't gotten any of the shots.

Meanwhile, the U.S. COVID deaths are rising. For the first time in nearly five months, deaths are once again averaging more than 1,000 a day. SO joining me now is Dr. Saju Matthew. He is a primary care physician here in Atlanta. So it's a pretty big day on Monday with the FDA giving full approval. What does that mean?

SAJU MATTHEW, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: Robyn, I'm really excited about this for a lot of different reasons. I think the biggest reason here would be that finally we are going to be able to get the CEO's of hospitals, universities, schools, you know, my hospital system to now actually have the confidence and the leverage to mandate vaccines.

And this is going to absolutely drive up the number of people that will get the shot. Also, believe it or not, a recent survey has suggested that one-third of people unvaccinated are waiting for a full licensure before they decide to go ahead and get the vaccine. They don't want to get a vaccine if it's experimental. So if it's fully licensed, I think that that move will also join the masses so on all fronts. I think this is absolutely good news.

CURNOW: Do you genuinely believe it that people who are unvaccinated to this point, they've had so much choice in the last almost year here in the United States to get vaccinated for a variety of reasons? Do you think this will change minds?

My experience of dealing with unvaccinated people is they are using any excuse. Do you think there will be something elsewhere they will say, listen, I'm still waiting for something else, or is this the final -- is this the final proof in the pudding for them?

MATTHEW: You know, I think it's a good question, Robyn. I would actually look at people who are unvaccinated in two groups just to broadly speak about them. You've got the anti-vaxxers if you will who just don't believe that this pandemic is true. They don't believe that the COVID vaccine is safe.

I think that they will be a difficult group to convince. But then I also see a lot of people that I call fence sitters. These are not necessarily people, Robyn, that are against science. They are just scared. I at least talk to three or four at work every week.

Dr. Matthew, I'm really worried. Is this going to affect my fertility? Will there be side effects a year from today or two years down the road? I think for them, Robyn, getting a full licensure is going to nudge them to get across the line and get vaccinated.

CURNOW: What about these boosters? So, we're looking at getting a third shot here in the United States. How demoralizing has it been that there is the -- there are these breakthrough infections, and how does that play into this conversation?

MATTHEW: Breakthrough infections I think are grossly under counted. I know people don't want to hear that, but it's true. I have seen more breakthrough infections in my practice in the last four weeks than I have in the last eight or nine months. And I think that we're under counting them for a lot of different reasons. If you are vaccinated you are not thinking that a cold is a need to actually get tested.

[02:25:00]

A lot of people are not getting tested. But eventually, though, if you really talk about breakthrough infections generally speaking, most of them are mild, people are recovering at home. And if you are going to get a break through disease or actually have to go into the hospital, we tend to find that those situations are mostly in people 65 or older with other comorbidity illnesses. But I think what this means is the vaccine immunity is definitely waning and that people over 65 and the vulnerable populations should be first in line to get that booster.

CURNOW: How concerned are you about the fall?

MATTHEW: Very concerned about the fall. It's interesting, Robyn, this virus is not supposed to misbehave during the warmer temperatures, not when it's 80 or 90 degrees out there. We have science to prove that this virus can be more easily deactivated during the heat, but it's already misbehaving to the point where we have surges in 99 percent of communities that Americans live in with the delta variant.

So can you imagine going into the cooler weathers. That definitely worries me enough. All the more reason, and I know people are tired of hearing about this, but you should roll up that sleeve and get vaccinated to bring the community transmission down.

CURNOW: Based on the delta variant and particularly other variants that might come along, the winter ahead, the number of people still unvaccinated particularly here in the south where we are, how long do you think this is going to be with us and how important is it to change behavior or at least change the way we're thinking about our lives?

MATTHEW: I think that we have to accept that COVID is here to stay. And I think that once this vaccine is fully approved tomorrow, we should look at this vaccine as just a regular vaccine, like people coming for the tetanus booster or for their regular annual flu shot.

I think if we look at COVID that way, we can co-habitate with this virus. It's going to be really important for us to learn how to live with this virus, Robyn. And I think it's important for people to realize that in order to be able to do more activities, go to the concert, hang out with other people that you have to get vaccinated.

We can't be scared of this virus. We have to live our lives, but we have to do it with layers of protection, wearing your mask when you go into indoor grocery stores or indoor stadiums or weddings, and always protecting our vulnerable. Remember, kids below the age of 12 and our elderly, they are the most vulnerable, and we have to protect them by getting vaccinated and using these layers of protection.

CURNOW: Dr. Saju Matthew, always good to speak to you. Thanks so much for joining us here on CNN. Thank you, doctor.

MATTHEW: Thank you, Robyn.

CURNOW: And the son of civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson, has given an update on his parent's condition after they were hospitalized with COVID over the weekend. In a statement through the Rainbow Push Coalition, which is the organization that his father founded, Jonathan Jackson said doctors were continuing to monitor his parents and that both were resting comfortably.

He added, "My family appreciates all the expressions of concern and prayers that have been offered on their behalf. We ask that you continue to pray for the full recovery of our parents." And still ahead, a tiny miracle amid the desperate scramble to escape Afghanistan, a baby is born in the cargo hold of a U.S. military plane carrying evacuees. We'll talk about that, next.

[02:29:59]

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: It's 31 minutes past the hour. I'm Robyn Curnow. And we are following new developments out of Afghanistan where in just the last few hours of firefight broke out at Kabul airport between U.S., German and Afghan forces and unknown assailants.

That word coming from Germany's joint forces Operations Command. They said began at the North Gate of the airport when an unknown sniper opened fire at Afghan security forces. One Afghan security personnel was killed. Afghan forces fired back but it was in the direction of the U.S. Marines. When those Marines fired back, four Afghan personnel were wounded. They are now in a stable condition. We'll continue to monitor that story.

Meanwhile, about 20,000 people remain at the airport in hopes of escaping the country and the Taliban. And we're now learning also of a change in policy. A source says, starting today the airport will only admit U.S. citizens, green card holders or citizens of NATO member countries. Special Immigrant visa applicants would not be allowed him. The source said the Taliban were helping check documentation.

And the heart-breaking images we've seen of Afghans trying to flee the country have certainly laid bare the desperation so many are feeling but amid the chaos and the despair there have also been some small moments of joy. Atika Shubert shares one such story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An image of hope amid the chaos, a baby girl born in the cargo bay of a U.S. Air Force C-17, carrying off gun evacuees. As the plane landed at Ramstein Air Base, the 86 Medical Group rushed in to safely deliver her.

Ramstein Air Base in Germany has become the latest hub for evacuation flights out of Afghanistan. CNN filmed as some of the first flights arrived. More than 6000 have been evacuated here with 17 flights landing in 24 hours Air Base officials say and more to come.

Here there is safety, basic shelter, food and water but it is only a temporary measure. Many here do not know where they will go next or how. But for the moment, there is relief and reason to celebrate new life. Now the capacity at the airbase is 7500 and even though flights are not coming in on Sunday evening, they are expected to continue Monday morning.

So it is filling up fast and it's still not clear where evacuees will go to next. Atika Shubert, CNN at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW: Australian police have made hundreds of arrests after anti- lockdown protests turned violent. Well, now the Prime Minister has revealed what will it take for the strict COVID measures to end we have a live report from Sydney. That's next.

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[02:35:00]

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CURNOW: Australia's New South Wales has reported more than 800 new COVID cases today though it's a slight drop from Sunday's record daily high. Meantime, the Prime Minister says the strict COVID measures will come to an end once the vaccination rates hit 70 percent.

Now that announcement comes after police arrested hundreds of anti- lockdown protesters over the weekend in major cities including Melbourne and Sydney. Angus Watson joins us now from Sydney with the latest from what the Prime Minister has been saying, perhaps admitting that things have not been going as well as planned.

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: That's right Robyn. The lockdowns like the one here where I'm in Sydney have been going on for weeks now almost two months here in Sydney but the case numbers keep getting higher. Meanwhile, the capital city of Australia Canberra is also locked down, Australia's second largest city. Melbourne is locked down.

There on Saturday you saw those violent scenes of protesters turning out angry about lockdowns while the vaccination rates in Australia are also very low making those lockdowns absolutely necessary to stop the spread of the Delta variant.

But Scott Morrison wants to give people in Australia something to hope for to say that these lockdowns won't go on forever and wants to shift the focus from these high case numbers to hospitalizations instead. He says that he wants to treat COVID-19 in the next coming months or next year at least like another other infectious diseases.

But the problem is Robyn, with those low vaccination rates here in Australia, that's not just possible yet. Just over 20 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. That goes up to 30 percent when you take out the young, the young population Robyn.

CURNOW: And talk us through what's happening in New Zealand. There's also some - some news on lockdowns there. What can you tell us?

WATSON: Robyn that lockdown, that nationwide lockdown in New Zealand is set to last until at least Friday after it was extended by Prime Minister Jacinda Arden just earlier. Now that lockdown came into force last week when there was just one case of COVID-19 in the community in New Zealand.

Now it's up to 100 active cases in New Zealand so unless numbers go dramatically down quickly that lockdown could be extended. But New Zealand has gone for this elimination strategy. [02:40:00]

Now the government's saying with the Delta vary that may no longer be possible. The country will have its borders sealed off until at least the end of the year to try to give the government some time to vaccinate its population. Just around one in five New Zealanders have had two shots of a COVID-19 vaccine, Robyn.

CURNOW: Thanks so much Angus Watson there in Sydney. Appreciate it. So thanks for joining us here on CNN Newsroom. If you're an international viewer, I'm going to hand you over to the good folks at World Sport. If you're watching us here in the U.S., I'll be right back with more news. Stick around for that.

[02:45:00]

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CURNOW: So it's been a busy day in Singapore for U.S. Vice president Kamala Harris. She met privately with the Prime Minister and joined him at a joint news conference. And in the coming hours, she'll meet with the American service members at a naval base on tour.

Now, journalist Manisha Tank is there in Singapore. And she joins us now live with the latest. Why is this important, this trip?

MANISHA TANK, JOURNALIST: Well, it's very important because I mean, it comes at a time of really shifting sands in terms of the era that we find ourselves in. In fact, the Vice President Kamala Harris, pointing this out saying, you know in this new era, our concerns are things like cyber security, the pandemic, climate crisis, and she was responding actually, to Prime Minister Lee's use of the term climate change. And they just said, you know, she's calling it a climate crisis, given the recent UN report.

But that very much being the backdrop for some of the talks that have gone on this morning, they had some bilateral meeting before that heavily delayed press conference. But what came out of it was the use of the word enduring, over and over and over again, to describe the U.S. his commitment to this part of the world. And that, again, underlines some of the importance of this. This trip is all about saying we as the United States are here, we have an enduring partnership and relationship with the region. And we're not going anywhere.

And she also talked about the reaffirmation of that commitment, the reinforcement of that commitment, and also about values, and shared values with countries like Singapore, using the words peace and stability to describe where the U.S. is coming from very much making a pitch to the region, but also reaffirming an ideology here that the U.S. wants to stand by.

But with all of the issues that were on the table for discussion, and certainly some experts talking to me were saying that certainly U.S.- China relations were going to play heavily into that. You have to not ignore what's been happening in Afghanistan, because that actually came up in the question and answer session that often comes after these press conferences.

Three journalists straightaway lining up to ask what were the whys and wherefores for how the U.S. ended up in this situation that it did and how the Taliban swept through the country so fast, and the U.S.'s response with the Vice President Kamala Harris would not be drawn on what happened or even her opinions over what happened. Here's what she's focusing on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right now, we are singularly focused on evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with us and Afghans who are vulnerable, including women and children. And that is our singular focus at this time. Understanding that we have a priority in making sure that the people that in particular helped America achieve its responsibilities in terms of our priorities and the reason we went to Afghanistan in the first place, that we have a responsibility and we feel a deep commitment to making sure that folks who helped us are safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANK: Vice President Kamala Harris speaking earlier at that press conference so very briefly, I do want to say so far as these efforts in Afghanistan go, the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong promising that Singapore will assist with the evacuations of refugees from Afghanistan, with some support from various air support vehicles that belong to the Republic's Airforce.

CURNOW: OK, thanks for that update there. Manisha Tank in Singapore. Thank you. So devastating scenes in the state of Tennessee after severe floods left at least 21 people dead over the weekend. Officials say around 20 others are still missing. The flooding was especially severe in Humphreys County, which is west of Nashville.

Video of the aftermath shows homes destroyed and cars damaged by the floodwaters. One resident told CNN the water rose so quickly, it was like a tidal wave. Now nearly all the people killed in Saturday's flooding were found in the small town of Waverly on Sunday and official summed up just how devastating this has been for the community. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF GRANT GILESPIE, WAVERLY DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: We've experienced a devastating loss of life over the last couple of days. We've lost more people in this event than we did in the train explosion in 1978. But we've seen the community come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Right now search and recovery efforts are still underway for those missing. Meanwhile, also residents are just beginning to try and pick up the pieces. Nick Valencia is there. He filed this report. Nick?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Governor of Tennessee called it devastating and looking at the images you can certainly understand why. We tried to make our way in safely to the hardest hit area but encountered washed out roads and downed bridges and the remnants of the severe storm system that moved through Humphreys County over the weekend. According to the National Weather Service, 17 inches of rain fell in the span of 24 hours and talking to residents, They say it felt like somebody was outside of their home with a fire hose and just relentless that water just continuing to come down, three inches of rain consecutive for three hours straight.

[02:50:00]

The devastation is all around and as the week begins, the cleanup will continue. Over the weekend, search and rescue crews went door to door trying to account for the missing. Dozens of missing are still unaccounted for and according to local eyewitnesses, there was a housing project behind $1 General Store where several residents they saw tried to make their way to the rooftops but were swept away by the water.

This week will continue with a lot of search and recovery effort in the days ahead. Nick Valencia CNN, Humphreys County, Tennessee.

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CURNOW: Thanks Nick for that, Sticking with weather in the northeastern U.S., Henri has weakened to a tropical depression but the storm is certainly still expected to produce heavy, heavy rainfall and flooding across parts of the region in the hours ahead. Henri remade landfall Sunday as a tropical storm along the coast of Rhode Island.

Flash flood warnings and watches were issued for parts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as well. Henri also downed trees and left more than 100,000 utility customers without power in four states. Well, Brian Todd is in Connecticut, where he's been assessing some of the damage from the storm. Brian?

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just before tropical storm on repass through this area of New London and Groton, Connecticut, we talked to local officials, mayors and fire chiefs who said they were worried about storm surge, about flooding in low lying areas, and also about powerlines down and trees being down.

Well, I just talked to the Fire Chief of New London. He says by and large, they may have dodged the bullet as far as flooding, storm surge and that kind of damage. But some houses he said had some damage like this one. Downed trees coming down on top of this house. This is on Montauk Avenue here in New London.

Look at that tree, came crashing down on this older house. I just talked to the homeowner Nate Hall, who told me he was home when this happened and heard the crash, went to the windows, saw that tree there came down and assessed some of the damage, he saw some of these power lines down around his house.

So still not quite a safe situation here even though he was uninjured. And no one in the house was injured by this. And no one in the town unfortunately, has been reported injured in the storm so far, by the way. But he said one fortunate thing is that this house is so solidly built that it didn't seem to cause a whole lot of damage on this roof up here.

It came crashing down and hit that part of the roof. But you can see it didn't collapse. And a large part of the tree snapped and came down here. So you've got that damage. And he's assessing that and getting ready to call his insurance company to come and try to help him out that way. Again, power lines down here and we do know that their power lines down throughout the city.

Over here is where the homeowner told me that the power got knocked out. You see the dangling wires up there on that pole. That's where the power got knocked out in this neighborhood. So you've got that to deal with in many of these neighborhoods here in New London. And again, this area was so saturated with water already with recent storms in recent weeks, that you had situations like this.

This is what people - local officials were worried about here in New London and Groton, Connecticut that they'd had so much rain The ground was saturated, that any small amount of wind could pick up a tree and - and bring it down on a house like this one. So that's what happened here.

But by and large officials here in New London and in Groton are pretty thankful right now that they dodged most of what they anticipated would be major damage from this storm. Brian Todd, CNN, New London, Connecticut.

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CURNOW: And let's talk about all of this with Pedram Javaheri. Pedram, hi. Talk us through what the SAT images are showing you right now.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know Robyn, the storm made landfall about 14 hours ago and incredibly on satellite imagery still seeing periods of heavy rainfall even in New York City, even in Philadelphia at this hour as the system essentially pushing on to the west, northwest and very gradually moving in that direction.

And we do expect it to make a sharp right turn and move off towards the east within the next 24 hours. But as you noted from that, as Brian noted in the previous story there, we were seeing wind gust close to hurricane force that is about 120 kilometers per hour, about 70 miles per hour and that is strong enough certainly after the historic rounds of rainfall to bring down plenty of foliage and plenty of trees across this region.

So we are still watching the flood watches that are prompted across this area, the flood warnings just outside of New York City as well. Rainfall amounts exceeding 200 millimetres. And keep in mind the month of July saw the wettest month ever observed in New York State and also in the state of Massachusetts.

And recently we've had a remnants of Fred move across this region as well, a tropical system so a lot of rainfall already observed. So this round of it here on Monday could be just as problematic because the system slowly pulls away. And finally we think on Tuesday, conditions begin to improve but a three or four there on the threat scale for heavy rainfall come Monday afternoon across some of the major Metro cities of the Northeast.

Lastly, this is central Tennessee where we've seen incredible amounts of rainfall Robyn, here Pushing over 30 to 40 centimeters at 17 inches on Saturday alone. That's a one in 1000 year event taking place there across the state of Tennessee on Saturday afternoon with the flooding there.

[02:55:00]

CURNOW: Well, thanks so much for that update there. Appreciate it. Pedram Javaheri, thanks.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

CURNOW: So now to Haiti, a week, a week after a devastating earthquake hit the country, we have reports of a rescue crew finding two dozen survivors trapped in a mountainous region about 60 kilometers from the quake's epicenter. Now four children, 20 adults were airlifted to a nearby town for treatment.

On Sunday, we learned the death toll from that August 14 earthquake is now past 2200. More than 12,000 people were injured and officials say hundreds of 1000s of Haitians still need humanitarian aid.

And in one day, the Paralympics kicks off in Tokyo. The torch relay is in its final stretch ahead of the opening ceremony. Torchbearers from five districts of Tokyo gathered Sunday as COVID concerns certainly remain high in Japan. The nation extended a COVID emergency in Tokyo as infections remain at record levels.

Now organizers say they will implement the same protocols for the Paralympics that were used for the Olympics. And on that note, goodbye. Thanks for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'm going to hand you over to my colleague Rosemary Church to pick things up -- to pick things up after the break.

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