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7,800 Evacuees Waiting to Depart U.S. Air Base in Germany; Concerns of Long-Term Terrorist Threats to U.S.; Data Suggests Israel's Booster Policy Making Impact; Trump Booed After Telling Supporters to Get Vaccinated; Paralympics Opening Ceremony Just Hours Away in Japan. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired August 24, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. has accelerated the pace of evacuations out of Afghanistan, but about 6,500 mostly Afghans are inside the Kabul airport right now waiting to leave. And for thousands of others who have already escaped the country and the Taliban, they are now waiting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany for their flight to the U.S. Journalist Atika Shubert is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST (voice-over): In the last three days at least 39 evacuation flights have landed at Ramstein Air Base, the number of evacuees now waiting here has swelled to nearly 8,000. All of them desperate to get to the U.S. To speed up mobilization, the Pentagon ordered some extra help.
SHUBERT: Delta Airlines waiting for passengers to board, but as you can see, this is no ordinary flight. We're at Ramstein Air Base and that's part of the civil reserve air fleet that has just been activated. What's happening here is that military planes are bringing evacuees from Afghanistan to U.S. bases and now commercial airliners like Delta will be flying those evacuees back to the United States.
SHUBERT (voice-over): But as we wait for a departure, the planes stay put. As of Monday night, the U.S. government says only one flight had left this base to bring evacuees to the U.S., from Ramstein, a military plane with 60 passengers. That's nearly 8,000 in, 60 out -- a bottleneck.
The State Department responsible for processing Afghan evacuees says the combined resources of U.S. bases in Germany, Italy and Spain alone will be able to shelter about 15,000 Afghans as they wait transit to the U.S. But for now, what was supposed to be a 48-hour transit stop is taking much, much longer.
Atika Shubert, for CNN, at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And earlier I spoke with Afghan filmmaker Sahraa Karimi about her escape from Kabul just after the Taliban took control. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAHRAA KARIMI, AFGHAN FILMMAKER: When I went to airport with my family, and my brother, and his daughters and two of my assistants. So, then they -- after a few hours they closed and all employee of airport, Afghan employees, they just left airport. And then thousand, thousand people, they just ended. I couldn't catch the flight at 4:30 because we miss because a lot of people without any checking, they just get inside the airplane to get out. So, we missed.
Then with the help of Ukrainian government, president of Ukraine and also Slovak government and also Turkish government, they just help me to get to next day flight.
But about my future, I'm still in a big shock and I'm still solving some issues. So, I lost everything. I lost everything. I was working with -- in different projects. They were in some in post-production, so I left everything. I did not even time to get even one cent from bank. So, what I did miss, it was humanitarian cries.
It was like people that when they heard -- because we -- we had very bad memory we talk about in past. So, for us, it is nightmare to leave under the regime of Taliban.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And Karimi says she will return to filmmaking once she recovers from the trauma of her departure from Afghanistan.
Well, along with the Taliban's rise to power is a growing worry about terrorist threats to the United States. Those fears are intensified by the declining intelligence capabilities on the ground. Brian Todd has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:35:00]
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are expressing concerns about a potential long- term terror threat to the U.S. homeland amid the fallout over the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan. An ISIS affiliate already posing a threat to U.S. personnel on the ground.
JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: What is present in Afghanistan right now to our forces at the airport is a serious threat from ISIS-K, which we're trying to deal with. And, of course, there is the possibility that Al Qaeda could reconstitute an external plotting capability in Afghanistan.
TODD (voice-over): There's particular concern tonight that America's intelligence capabilities in Afghanistan have been dramatically cut back in recent weeks as U.S. military and intelligence units withdrew, especially Americas human intelligence assets on the ground. MARC POLYMEROPOULOS, FORMER CIA BASE CHIEF IN AFGHANISTAN: What we have now with the closure of the U.S. embassy and really with the devolution of the Afghan intelligence service is that key human piece really dissolving. And that's something that's really going to be hard to replace.
TODD (voice-over): U.S. officials briefed on the matter tell CNN, the sudden collapse of Afghanistan's government has prompted U.S. intelligence agencies to move some resources to the region from elsewhere. CNN is told that in the longer term, there is concern that Afghanistan could spiral back into what it was before 9/11, a safe haven for terrorists to set up training camps again and to recruit.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): It is just a matter of time before Al Qaeda rises again in Afghanistan and the threat to the homeland has gone through the roof.
TODD (voice-over): As we approach the 20-year anniversary of 9/11 and the ramped up tensions associated with that, officials and analysts say the Taliban's victory doesn't mean an attack on America's homeland on the scale of 9/11 is imminent, but with groups like Al-Qaeda now reenergized.
POLYMEROPOULOS: What we're seeing is conditions that allow groups that would plan such an attack to reconstitute, to strengthen.
TODD (voice-over): Another security concern tonight regarding the Taliban's victory, the threat from domestic extremists inside the U.S. A U.S. law enforcement official telling CNN they have been surprised by the show of support for the Taliban in white supremacists and antigovernment forums online. An example of how groups like the Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS, once they have free territory, can inspire attacks anywhere.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: This will be tremendously energizing for any Jihadi-minded person around the world. Some will go travel there to join the great victorious holy warriors. And some would just radicalize at their computers.
TODD: Former CIA base chief Marc Polymeropoulos says another recent development that he's really concerned about, is the Taliban's release of inmates from prisons all around Afghanistan. Many of them are already hardened terrorists, some America's worst enemies, he says, who have only got more radical in prison.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The head of Airbnb is stepping up to help Afghan refugees. CEO Brian Chesky says that the travel community will house 20,000 Afghans globally free of charge. Airbnb will be paying, but it's thanking hosts for offering up their homes. Chesky is also asking other businesses to follow suit and help respond to what he calls one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. Well, the former U.S. president says he's been vaccinated and
halfheartedly urged his supporters do the same. But they don't seem to be listening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Have you got your vaccine shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope, don't want it.
No, why not?
O'SULLIVAN: They ain't tested it enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Israel may be turning the tide against the COVID Delta variant. Early evidence suggests its policy of offering a third booster vaccine dose is having an impact. The government is also imposing new restrictions ahead of schools reopening next week and the upcoming Jewish new year holiday.
So, let's bring in journalist Elliot Gotkine. He joins us live from Jerusalem. Great to see you, Elliott. So, what all is this data revealing about the impact of this third COVID booster shot policy in Israel?
ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, it seems to be quite encouraging. 1.5 million Israelis, that's about 16 percent of the population, has now received a third dose of the vaccine. And one of the key most watched for numbers if you like is the R rate, the kind of infection coefficient, how many people each infected person is infecting. And that has been declining since this third dose was rolled out on August 1 initially to over 60s and then subsequently to everyone over the age of 40.
And there was a study carried out by Maccabi Healthcare. This is one of the big HMOs, one of the big healthcare providers in Israel. And it found that for over 60s who received the third dose, at least seven days previously, they were -- the vaccine, the third dose, was 86 percent effective against infection. And the leader of that study one Dr. Anat Ekka Zohar said quite categorically the triple dose is the solution to curbing the current infection outbreak. So that's the good and encouraging news.
On the flip side the number of cases in Israel is still rocketing. There were almost 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours. That is the second highest on record. And in addition to that, Israel has now hit the 1 million mark, 1 million people in Israel out of a population of just over 9 million, have now been infected with COVID-19. And there are just over 1 million Israelis who have yet to be vaccinated because they have simply decided that they don't want to and haven't been persuaded to do so just yet.
Now, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is adamant that Israel is not going to go into fourth lockdown. And as Israel heads towards the start of the new school year on September 1, and the Jewish holiday season, they are imposing new restrictions, new mask mandates, new testing of students and peoples and the likes to try and ensure that that fourth lockdown does not need to happen -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Joining us live from Jerusalem, any thanks.
Well, we told you at the top of the program about the FDA's decision to fully approve the Pfizer COVID vaccine and how it could convince people on the fence to get the shot. But in a recent Donald Trump rally, many of the people who came to hear him did not appreciate Trump suggesting they get vaccinated. CNN Donie O'Sullivan was there and spoke to Trump supporters about the vaccine just before it received full FDA approval.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VICKY SIMS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: No. Not getting that vaccine. No, no, no, no, no. Them vaccines are not good, huh?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you vaccinated?
JERRY RAMSEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: No. But I have a lot of hydroxychloroquine in my house.
O'SULLIVAN: So, have you got your vaccine shot?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nope, don't want it.
O'SULLIVAN: No? Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They ain't tested it enough for my opinion.
O'SULLIVAN: Yes. The Pfizer shots is about to get full FDA approval, would that change your opinion on it at all?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not until they do a whole lot more investigating, you know.
O'SULLIVAN: Yes.
[04:45:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing's going in me until then.
O'SULLIVAN: Right. Do you think that would take a long time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 10 years or so.
SIMS: I don't trust the government, I don't trust CDC, I don't trust none of them.
O'SULLIVAN: What is it about the vaccine that (INAUDIBLE)? SIMS: Because I've watched Dr. Tenpenny and she's done a lot of research on it.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Dr. Sherry Tenpenny is a discredited conspiracy theorist who pushes dangerous misinformation about vaccines.
SHERRY TENPENNY, AMERICAN PHYSICIAN: I'm sure you've seen the pictures all over the internet of people who've had these shots and now they're magnetized and put a key on their forehead it sticks. They can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Those and other unhinged false claims landed Tenpenny on a list known as the disinformation dozen, super spreaders of COVID misinformation.
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: These 12 people are out there giving misinformation. Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by. It's killing people. It's bad information.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): But Tenpenny and others in the disinformation dozen are finding appeal among some Trump supporters.
SIMS: My own doctor tried to get me to get the shot and I told him to go watch that Dr. Tenpenny.
O'SULLIVAN: So, you trust this woman on the internet more than your own doctor.
SIMS: Aha, I do.
JUDY SMITH, AREA ADMINISTRATOR, ALABAMA HEALTH DEPT.: To listen to the internet or to listen to rather than the professionals, the scientists, the CDC, the FDA, if you look at the history of vaccine, it's been again, the greatest gift we've ever been given. People today wouldn't be at any of these events. It -- they would either have polio, they would have smallpox, they would have many other diseases. Vaccines have saved us.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Trump came here to Alabama Saturday. It's the state with the lowest vaccination rates in the nation and at the time of this rally every ICU bed here was full. His timid suggestion his supporters should get the shot was matched with jeers.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And you know what I believe totally in your freedoms. I do, you got to do what you have to do, but I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It's good. Take the vaccines, but you got -- no, that's OK. That's all right. You got your freedoms. But I happen to take the vaccine. If it doesn't work, you'll be the first to know. OK.
O'SULLIVAN: Trump got the vaccine, though.
SIMS: Yes. They keep saying that. I don't know that. I mean, I'm not fully convinced to that.
O'SULLIVAN: You don't think Trump (INAUDIBLE)?
SIMS: I don't think he did. I really don't.
O'SULLIVAN: And so many peoples mind, so many people who don't want to get the shot. This is a Republican-Democrat thing.
SMITH: Oh, absolutely. You know, we know but I will tell you, I don't personally see that that virus came over here on a donkey or on an elephant. And, and it's affecting everybody.
SIMS: I watch Prophets of God and Newsmax and maybe a little Fox that's about it. That's about it.
O'SULLIVAN: Right. That's --
(CROSSTALK)
SIMS: But I've kind of turned away from news. I don't want to listen to it. I want to listen to what God's saying, what he's fixing to do. That's all I'm concerned about. I think it is time where God is separating the sheep from the goats. You know.
O'SULLIVAN: What are you?
SIMS: I am a -- I'm a goat because I ain't a sheep. I'm not doing what I tell me to do. I'm fighting against it.
O'SULLIVAN: And Judy Smith the Alabama public health official that you heard from there in that piece said for some anti-vaccine people, for some vaccine hesitant people, the only way that they become convinced of getting the shot is when they see a family member or loved one ending up very, very sick in hospital with this virus.
Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Birmingham, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And just ahead, as the Paralympic games here up in Tokyo, some Afghan athletes will be missing from the competition. But officials have found a way to show them support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will include the Afghanistan flag in the ceremony as a sign of solidarity. We have invited the UNHCR representative here to act as the flag bearer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
The Tokyo Paralympics officially begin today. CNN's Patrick Snell has our minute in sports -- Patrick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well thanks, Rosemary. We're now just hours away from Tokyo 2020 Paralympics official opening ceremony. There is so much to look forward to over the next couple of weeks. Almost 540 events scheduled across 22 sports at 21 venues. Japan's capital becoming now the first city to stage two Paralympics having also hosted in 1964.
American golfer Tony Finau is celebrating his biggest career win at the Northern Trust Open after a final round that was delayed until Monday due to tropical storm Henri. The 31-year-old Finau keeping his cool to win a playoff against the Australian Cameron Smith. Finau finally snapping a winless drought that had stretched back to 2016.
To England, where West Ham's Michail Antonio has become the Hammer's all-time leading scorer in the Premier League era. He scored twice in the 4-1 rout of Leicester. Antonio then lifting up the cardboard cutout of himself and then sealing it with a kiss as well.
And in top flights of Italian football Milan opening up with a victory with Sampdoria, a Spanish youngster, but Brahim Diaz with the only goal of the match in Genoa there. All three points for the (INAUDIBLE), Rosemary, as I send it back to you this Tuesday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Thank you so much, appreciate it.
And as Patrick mentioned, the Paralympic games opening ceremony will begin in the coming hours. But like the Olympics, these games are happening under the shadow of the pandemic as cases sky rocket across Japan.
Our Blake Essig joins us now live from Tokyo. Good to see you, Blake. So, how's Japan going to keep its citizens and Paralympic athletes safe in the midst again of this surge in COVID cases and how are the athletes preparing?
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Rosemary, Paralympic organizers say the playbooks in place that line COVID-19 countermeasures worked well in preventing the spread of infection within the Olympic bubble a few weeks ago. And organizers are saying that once again they plan to lean heavily on the playbooks to ensure the safety of athletes throughout these Paralympic games.
[04:55:00]
And while there's no question that the movement of people increased as a result of the Olympics, organizers maintain that there is no connection between the games and rising cases in Tokyo.
But since the Olympics started about a month ago, cases in the capital have skyrocketed with the daily case count now about three times higher than it was back then. And just last week Tokyo's governor called the situation a disaster level emergency. But currently only 41 percent of Japan's population is fully vaccinated and medical professionals say the recent surge in cases has put the medical system under immense pressure.
Now at this time 19 prefectures, including Tokyo, are under a full or quasi state of emergency through mid-September. And as a result of ongoing state of emergency orders in the prefectures, holding Paralympic competition no general spectators are allowed to attend any events.
And while health and safety was the story throughout the Olympics and will continue to be the story throughout these Paralympics, in just a few hours the Paralympic flame will be lit inside the national stadium right there behind me as the city prepares to host its second Paralympics games, first time being back in 1964.
And now compared to the somewhat festival like atmosphere surrounding these Olympics, which we saw here just a few weeks ago, it's clearly not quite that level of excitement surrounding these games. But it is still early, Rosemary, and we've talked to several people throughout the day who say that they are more excited about this event, one that highlights diversity, equality and inclusivity, especially in a country where prejudice against people with disabilities still exists.
CHURCH: Absolutely. Blake Essig joining us live from Tokyo, many thanks for that report.
And thank you for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves is wonderful day.
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