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Biden Faces Deadline on Extending Afghan Rescue Mission; Afghanistan Evacuations Surge but Threats Persist; Fauci: Young Kids Could Get Vaccine by Christmas; House Dems Meet as Moderates Threaten to Derail Biden Agenda; Harris' Trip to Vietnam Delayed over "Anomalous Health Incident". Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 24, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Very good Tuesday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

A race against time in Afghanistan and, today, good news. Record progress in the evacuation effort. More than 21,000 people evacuated from the country in just the past 24 hours. It's a new record. It's also an enormous logistical achievement.

An estimated 4,500 people are now waiting for evacuation flights inside the Kabul airport this morning. And now President Biden faces a big decision today.

Will he extend the deadline to withdraw U.S. troops with that August 31st date fast approaching?

U.S. military leaders say the decision must be made today in order to provide enough time to withdraw the 5,800 troops on the ground in Kabul, as well as equipment and weapons.

Minutes from now, leaders of the Group of Seven nations are set to hold a virtual meeting, where U.S. allies are expected to ramp up pressure on the president to extend that deadline.

We are covering this story from all angles, like no one else can. Let's begin this morning on the ground in Kabul, where that dramatic increase in evacuations is unfolding as we speak. And Sam Kiley is there live.

Sam, tell us what you're seeing there. This is an enormous number of flights over the past 24 hours.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a gigantic number and they have been continuing all day today of course as well, Jim. So as of about two hours ago, military officials here were telling us the U.S. alone had flown out some 9,000 evacuees.

When I was on the main area, where the refugees and the evacuees were gathering yesterday, Jim, there were about 10.5 thousand had been evacuated, leaving behind about 10,000. That figure is now down to about 4,600.

The gates are closed at the moment but small numbers of people with the special immigrant visas are being filtered through, just in ones and twos. And then there are some covert extractions going on, partly run by some of the Afghan national army Special Forces, the former government Special Forces, trying to bring their friends and families in.

But also some more unorthodox routes being taken by the Americans to go out and get small pockets of people, who can't make it into the airport.

On top of that, military officials, Jim, are saying the cordon around the airport is extended and hardened by the Taliban. So there are fewer people pressing up against the gates; as of early, about midday today, there were 9,000, they believe.

But those numbers have been going down. This may also reflect an increase in a large number of people that have gathered at the Serena hotel following reports they might get some help from the Qatari embassy downtown. That now reportedly is overwhelmed.

On top of all that, Jim, there was a very extended firefight out to the west on the edge of the airport for about an hour in the early hours of this morning. And the Taliban -- we have information on the ground from Kabul -- have arrested at least four people they suspect of being ISIS infiltrators, who they suspect were filming targets for possible attack.

And that really is the security concern that is preoccupying not just the United States but also the Taliban, which, arguably, part of the reason why there was a meeting with the CIA director and Mullah Baradar on Monday to discuss reportedly a large number of modalities of what has to be achieved by the October 31st deadline so that it doesn't necessarily have to be extended, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Understood and that's a deadline we're going to discuss in a moment. Sam Kiley, good to have you at the airport. Please keep you and your team safe.

So let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond at the White House.

Jeremy, as you know, U.S. military leaders are advising President Biden that, if he's going to extend this deadline, these evacuations, he ought to make a decision today, because they have to then make plans for getting all those troops, thousands of troops managing the evacuation.

Are you hearing anything from inside the White House as to where the president stands on this?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, Jim, it does appear today will be decision day for the president on this decision of the August 31st deadline. As you mention, the military officials advising the president that

preparations need to get underway now, beginning today if, indeed, those 5,800 troops, who are assisting the evacuations, are going to get home by that August 31st deadline.

In addition to that, we have this G7 leaders meeting today, where the president will be sitting down in just the next half hour actually, virtually with those G7 leaders, many of whom have already been leading a kind of public pressure campaign on the United States, on the president, to keep U.S. troops in country past August 31st.

One of the things to keep in mind here is the fact that it is the United States that is facilitating the withdrawal, not only in the evacuations.

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DIAMOND: Not only of U.S. civilians and the Afghans who have helped the United States but also all of the other coalition partners, including France, including the United Kingdom. So they can't continue those evacuations unless this U.S. troop presence remains on the ground.

An administration official has told us that this decision could come today in this meeting with the G7 leaders. We also expect the president to deliver public remarks around noon today. So we could potentially hear from him on that decision.

It is important to keep in mind the president so far has said that he believes this can be done by August 31st and that is the goal that he has in mind.

But it's also important to note that the president has said, he is committed to bringing every American, who wants to come home from Afghanistan, to bring them home. And he also said last week, Jim, that that commitment extends also to all of those Afghans who have helped the United States.

And if this August 31st deadline is not extended, it is hard to see how the president maintains that commitment, even as the United States is ramping up these evacuations, 20,000 plus evacuated by U.S. military as well as coalition flights in the last 24 hours.

There are still potentially tens of thousands of Afghans, who want to get home or who want to get out of the country and to the United States -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: And the simple fact is -- and the White House has to be aware of that -- is that many of those Afghans cannot as much as get to the airport to get out. And time is waning here. We'll see how that factors into the decision. Thanks so much, Jeremy.

Let's speak now to CNN diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

Good to have you on, Nic. So the president will get some pressure today from G7 allies. They, of course, depend on the U.S. military presence there for the flights that they are doing, taking evacuees out.

How severe do you expect that pressure to be?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, these leaders, like Boris Johnson, who's hosting this virtual G7, have faced a lot of domestic political pressure for the way the withdrawal has gone down in Afghanistan.

You know, albeit, under the leadership of the United States, they still get pressure at home so that there is on them, you know, an increased focus on making sure they get all the Afghan nationals out, who helped them, and all their own nationals out.

So the pressure is on them, that if they feel they need more time. But I think the reality of the situation, the pushback we've heard from Mullah Baradar of the Taliban, the pushback that has become apparent from the Taliban in the past 24 hours, is a new reality here.

And we heard a reflection of that from the British defense secretary, Ben Wallace, speaking earlier today.

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BEN WALLACE, U.K. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE: I think it is unlikely, not only because of what the Taliban has said but also if you look at the public statements of President Biden, I think it is an unlikely -- it is definitely worth us all trying. And we will.

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ROBERTSON: You know, so what the G7 is going to focus on today is not just that number one top priority issue of getting nationals and Afghans out, who've helped the British, the French, the Germans, et cetera, et cetera, to get them out of the country. There is going to be an effort here.

We've heard this from Boris Johnson over the past week, saying we need to have a coordinated response about how to deal with the Taliban. And there are some really important underlying factors here.

Europe is very concerned about a massive influx of Afghan refugees. They are concerned because they witnessed what happened to Europe during that massive influx of Syrian refugees around 2014-2015.

It's very destabilizing. It's led to an increase of nationalism across Europe. So there are political costs, you know, associated with how Afghanistan press goes ahead from here. One of the things that they will try to get out of the G7 is humanitarian aid.

And this, Jim, is the real lever over the Taliban, one of the last remaining levers that there is. They need that international support.

What does the G7 say about the conditionality of this support they're going to talk about?

SCIUTTO: Nic, I want to ask you, I spoke with Rory Stewart over the weekend, a former British MP. And his criticism, much as you heard from Tony Blair, of course, the former prime minister, was blistering of the U.S., saying that European allies felt let down. They felt shut out of this entire decision in Afghanistan.

I wonder, are you hearing similar?

And how severe that damage is?

ROBERTSON: Yes, frankly, we are hearing some -- I mean, Rory Stewart, perhaps of all British MPs, knows Afghanistan better than anyone else. He walked across it. You read about those accounts; his insights were absolutely were then and remain today remarkable, as head of the charitable foundation there.

The pushback has come because there is a real sense that Britain's best interests would have been to stay engaged diplomatically, militarily and inside Afghanistan and that the rapid drawdown has been, you know, has allowed the Taliban to walk to power.

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ROBERTSON: And this was not something the British had any control over. So the prime minister has taken big pushback on that.

SCIUTTO: Nic Robertson, fissures within the alliance. Thanks very much.

We are learning this morning remarkably that CIA director William Burns held a secret meeting with the Taliban's de facto leader in Kabul on Monday. This marks the highest level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants took over the Afghan capital and, frankly, much of the country.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand now has more on this development.

It's interesting to say the least, given that the CIA was looking to help arrest this guy in years past and now the director is meeting with him.

What's the intention?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What a difference 20 years makes, right, Jim?

Yes, so what we are learning is that the CIA director did go to Kabul yesterday. And he met with the Taliban leader there in a sign that the Biden administration really needs a very seasoned diplomat, one of the most trusted veteran diplomats within the Biden administration, to really get a read on how the Taliban is perceiving a potential extension of the U.S. presence there past August 31st.

Now we heard, of course, the Taliban say that August 31st deadline is a red line and they want all Americans out of the country by then.

But it is seen, within the Biden administration, that if anyone can negotiate with the Taliban, it is William Burns. Of course, he's a very seasoned diplomat, former ambassador, now heads the CIA.

The CIA is viewed by the Taliban is a very credible interlocutor with the United States. So this is really an attempt to get a better read on the Taliban's intentions here and whether they will permit any kind of extension of the U.S. deadline there on the ground.

SCIUTTO: Big decision time today for the president. Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much.

The big question on many parents' minds -- perhaps you as well -- is when can children under 12 get vaccinated?

Dr. Anthony Fauci gave an important update on that. You'll want to hear it.

Plus, a house divided: House Democrats holding a key meeting, as moderates within the party threaten to derail President Biden's economic agenda. We're going to be live on the Hill for an update.

And the governor of Kentucky deploying the National Guard, requesting federal assistance as hospitals in that state are overwhelmed by COVID patients. The governor will join us.

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SCIUTTO: Dr. Anthony Fauci now laying out a new, perhaps hopeful timeline for a return to some form of normalcy.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: If we can get through this winter and get really the majority, overwhelming majority, of the 90 million people who have not been vaccinated vaccinated, I hope we could start to get some good control in the spring of 2022.

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SCIUTTO: So those are two key steps to make that happen: getting children under 12 vaccinated and full approval for the other main vaccines, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now.

Let's begin with children under 12. I'm watching this closely, because I have a couple of them. And I've heard different timelines, as I'm sure many folks listening right now have heard.

So what's the latest?

What's most likely? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, first let me explain why we've heard so many different things. And the reason why is that this is a whole new set of clinical trials, because you have to be super careful.

Kids come in different sizes and you have to make sure you get the dosage right. Too low and you haven't really vaccinated them. It has no effect. Too high and you may cause side effects. So you have to get this right. It's very, very precise and they're being careful.

So that's a good thing. So let's take a listen to what Dr. Anthony Fauci said when he was asked about the timeline for kids and vaccines.

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QUESTION: What's the likelihood that that group is going to be able to get the shot before the Christmas holidays?

FAUCI: You know, I think there's reasonable chance that that will be the case. I hope all of that process will take place expeditiously and that we will have it on the timetable that you just mentioned; hopefully, by the mid-late fall and early winter.

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COHEN: So that's actually very similar to timelines that Dr. Anthony Fauci has laid out before. Children by sort of this fall, by the end of the year.

I think one big issue is going to be, will children get -- will parents get their children vaccinated against COVID-19?

Let's take a look at the 12 to 15 -- that's the youngest age group right now. It's going OK but not great. So 7 million children, 12 to 15, have gotten at least one shot. That's about half of that age group. So half have and half haven't.

And remember, vaccinations for this age group started May 10th. It's been months, plenty of opportunity; only half have, Jim. If you look at adults, it's more like three quarters.

So I think while we're thinking about how do we get the right dosage and all of that, I'm really hoping that the CDC and others are thinking, how do we message parents they need to do this for their children for 12 to 15 now and younger when that's allowed?

SCIUTTO: I will say, 47 percent with at least one shot is higher than I thought it was in that age group. So these things move. Too slowly, but they move. So let's talk about the other two vaccines. You have full FDA approval for Pfizer yesterday.

What about Moderna, particularly Johnson & Johnson, right, because there have been questions throughout?

COHEN: There has. You know, it's interesting.

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COHEN: We sort of hear less and less about Johnson & Johnson. It's harder to get when you go on the vaccine finder online. It's harder to find. Johnson & Johnson hasn't even applied yet for full approval.

So let's take a look at where all these different companies stand. As we know, Pfizer just got their -- actually, first let's look at the numbers: Pfizer, 205 million doses have been given out; Moderna, 143; Johnson & Johnson, 14 million. You can see how it's just not such a big player in this field.

And now if we think for a minute about where all these stand, Moderna applied for full approval about a month after Pfizer did, about a month after. So we may be seeing full approval for Moderna in about a month. Johnson & Johnson hasn't even applied yet.

It sort of makes you wonder, are they ever going to apply. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Interesting but great to see those numbers on those first two. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

COHEN: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Let's speak more now with Dr. Ashish Jha. He's the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

Dr. Jha, great to have you back. Goodness, you know, a lot of folks thought, hoped, myself included, we would be back to some sort of semblance of normalcy now. Of course, the Delta variant as well as the vaccine hesitant has gotten in the way of that.

Do you agree with Dr. Fauci's assessment that, if you get full approval for these other two vaccines but also start getting children vaccinated at higher rates, that that means maybe springtime is something to look forward to?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, good morning, Jim. Thanks for having me back.

I do. I look -- maybe I'm a bit more optimistic and I'll tell you why. So I do think we're going to get kids under 12, 5 to 12 probably, vaccinated over the next couple of months; at least we should have an authorization by then. I think that will make a big difference.

That's going to add a bunch more obviously protection for the kids and add more population immunity. I think you'll see parts of the country, the Northeast with very high vaccination rates. Other places do reasonably well this winter. At least I'm hopeful that is going to be the case.

And so my hope is, if a lot more Americans get vaccinated -- with full approval, you're going to see a lot more mandates -- we're going to start getting some semblance of normal as we head into later into the winter and maybe early spring, as Dr. Fauci said.

SCIUTTO: OK, so let's talk about those under 12s, Dr. Fauci talking about maybe by Christmastime -- maybe you have approval before that -- but a lot of kids vaccinated by Christmastime.

What is your timeline on that?

I know, listen, at the end of the day, they have to do the science, right?

There's a reason you do these studies. It's for safety, for efficacy.

But just so folks at home have a sense, are we talking weeks, are we talking months?

JHA: It's a good question. The short answer is none of us know for sure. Last week Representative Ro Khanna and Katy Porter (ph) wrote a letter to the FDA, asking them to lay out the timeline more openly and transparently for the American people, a letter which I thought was fabulous.

My sense is we're going to have data in the next month. We're going to see data in the next month, probably by the end of September. And my hope is that the FDA acts expeditiously after that, assuming the data is good and strong.

And maybe by later October we might see an authorization. We don't know and I don't want to second guess the timeline of the science. But that's what I'm hoping for.

SCIUTTO: OK, we have seen, in recent weeks, something of an uptick in the daily rate of vaccinations. I think for three days in a row last week it was above a million; hadn't been that way since July.

And what you hear from doctors is that some people, who were hesitant prior, are now being scared into it, right?

Because they're seeing people around them go into the hospital, particularly in low vaccination states.

Is that uptick significant enough to take a bite out of what we're seeing from the Delta variant?

JHA: Yes, I think it's going to help. And I think what else is going to help is the mandates that are starting to come. Just yesterday, after the Pfizer full approval, you saw a whole slew of more mandates. I think you're going to see more this week. I think that combination is going to help a lot.

SCIUTTO: Yes, well, it's -- finally, you might say.

The other question, of course, is masking. You are seeing -- kids are going back to school, right, you've had this -- made a political issue when it's really a public health issue.

But a lot of school districts even in those states like Florida and Texas that are banning these mandates are going ahead with masking anyway.

What are you seeing from the data so far in terms of this, as kids go back to school?

JHA: Yes, first of all, Jim, like the fact we even turned masking of kids into some sort of political football is just crazy. It's a disservice to our children. We should be guided by the data here.

What I believe -- and the evidence I think is pretty good on this -- is that masking is helpful. It's not the end all/be all but it is helpful. And we should be doing it right now, especially in high transmission areas, where kids are getting sick in very, very high numbers and getting hospitalized in very high numbers.

So I think where you are see masking happening, you are seeing lower levels of infection. And that makes sense. Masking, along with a bunch of other things, can allow kids to get back to school safely.

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JHA: We have got to do the whole package.

SCIUTTO: By the way, the whole position is contradictory, right, because those same politicians who were banning it, they want the schools to be open. But then you're often seeing those schools that don't have masking, they have outbreaks and then they got to send the kids home. Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you so much.

JHA: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, House Democrats, they're meeting right now.

Can the party reach an agreement on President Biden's economic agenda or will moderates continue to hold up negotiations?

And we're moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures are edging higher, investors showing optimism over the FDA's full approval of the Pfizer vaccine. That good news.

Also bolstered markets on Monday with the Nasdaq composite reaching yet again a new all-time high. Seems like it happens every other day. We're going to keep an eye on it.

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