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Biden Holds to August 31 Deadline to Withdraw; Taliban Not Allowing Afghans to Evacuate Anymore; Former Afghan Ambassador: Must Make Sure Access to Airport Isn't Blocked; Millions Under Heat Advisories Across Country; Man Rescues Multiple People from Floodwaters in Tennessee; FIFA, Other Governing Bodies Awarded $201 Million. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired August 25, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are currently on a pace to finish by August the 31st. The sooner we can finish the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops. But the completion by August 31 depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate and allow access to the airport for those we are transporting out and no disruptions to our operations.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: President Joe Biden there standing by next Tuesday's deadline to complete the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Several hundred troops did leave the country yesterday, but the Pentagon says it won't affect the current mission. The pace of the evacuations has ramped up with more than 21,000 people flown out from Monday into Tuesday. The Pentagon said military flights were leaving Kabul every 45 minutes.
Thousands of Afghans are still hoping to get out, but for many just trying to reach the airport, an ominous warning from the Taliban is raising concerns. Sam Kiley reports.
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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Afghans have been banned from fleeing their country on evacuation flights.
A Taliban spokesman said, the road that ends at the Kabul airport has been blocked. Foreigners can go through it but Afghans are not allowed to take the road.
This sudden announcement means that thousands of people who have worked for the international coalition and others who fear persecution under the extremist movement are now trapped. And these evacuees may be among the last flown to safety. The Taliban insists that there's no need to fear them. The spokesman went on -- Afghans are not allowed because the crowd in
there would grow even bigger and it increases the risk of Afghans losing their lives in stampedes, getting stuck in the crowd or being stepped on.
The number of Afghans crowding here are down because the numbers getting out have been going up. On this day, 9,000 people were put on flights by midday. In the day before, more than 21,000 were flown to multiple countries by an international coalition. The pace accelerated through new efficiency and the need to meet the deadline for the end of the evacuation just a week away.
JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: There has been no change to the time line of the mission which is to have this completed by the end of the month.
KILEY (voice-over): The Taliban move to stop Afghan nationals from leaving would drastically reduce the level of evacuations and it makes it easier for the U.S. to meet the August 31 deadline set by the Taliban. The State Department estimates that there are still thousands to be evacuated. At the airport military officers said that there had been a significant drop in the number of people trying to get into the airport gates already.
KILEY: There's no doubting the success of the second biggest airlift in the history of mankind. Yes, there are thousands still to get on these planes, there are many people stuck in Kabul. But for most of these people, this is a moment of celebration in terms of their freedom, but also bittersweet because of what they are leaving behind.
KILEY (voice-over): That bitterness is immediate to Hasnaa. Her brother Hyda (ph) who has a visa for the U.S. has been trapped outside the airport. She's moments from flying. Marines do their best to help as he is close to a gate still controlled by the Taliban. But her plane is due to take off and she is swept away with her younger sisters to a new life. Not knowing if her brother will ever join her there.
Sam Kiley, CNN, Kabul International Airport.
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CHURCH: Joining me now is Roya Rahmani. She is an Afghan diplomat who served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the United States. Thank you, ambassador, for talking with us.
ROYA RAHMANI, FORMER AFGHAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Thank you for having me.
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CHURCH: Well, more than 70,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan in ten days. But with the August 31st deadline fast approaching for the U.S. to get out of the country, it is looking less likely now that all remaining Afghan allies will be able to leave. Particularly given the Taliban will now no longer allow Afghans to go to the airport. Is there any sense the U.S. has some leverage left over the Taliban with this?
RAHMANI: Well, the leverage that the United States and the international -- the rest of the international community has number one, the question of the recognition of the upcoming government. Secondly, it is the international assistance and how it would be provided to the new Afghan government as well as the monitoring the commitment, terms and conditions of the engagement with the upcoming Afghan government. But most importantly to secure that leverage, it's very important to ensure that the Afghanistan airport remains open.
CHURCH: And Ambassador, you have been asking the international community to focus, strategize and think outside the box. What do you think is possible at this juncture?
RAHMANI: Well, at this juncture, the immediate essential is securing access to Afghanistan. And that is to having a functional airport. If you abandon Afghanistan, which it has happened to us before, of course once again we will be the primary victims. But the threat and the misery of it does not spare the rest of the international community. And that has been the unfortunate consequence of it that we have seen before.
So, at this juncture given that we have very limited options left, ensuring that access to Afghanistan is not completely blocked is absolute necessity and essential. And then approaches -- as I have been calling for out the box approaches or those that we haven't necessarily tried before. Those that we have tried and failed are not necessarily bound to succeed moving forward. So, we need to think in more creative ways with more limited resources and access to ensure that we can utilize the leverages that are remaining in the best possible ways that they can be utilized.
CHURCH: And Ambassador, as you mentioned, the Taliban have already targeted some Afghan allies who helped the United States despite them claiming to be a kinder version of the earlier fighting force that we knew through the '90s. What is your biggest fear when it comes to what will likely happen to Afghan allies left behind and of course Afghan women who have achieved so much over the last 20 years? Many of them very well educated with careers.
RAHMANI: My biggest fear is that we are just pushing the burden of this crisis to the next generation, to the next administration, to the next whatever is to come. Because by overlooking a crisis, it does not disappear. So, my biggest fear is that by losing the rights of women of Afghanistan, the very achievements that you spoke about, we are setting ourselves to another area and potential for growth of terrorism and extremism.
I am afraid that the majority of Afghan population who have been brought up thinking and aspiring to a better future would turn better and feel abandoned and betrayed in this new world where technology and multiplicity of the truth exists. That people find it so easy to group and regroup and find ways and causes to associate themselves.
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This is going to turn to a way bigger regional crises that we are seeing at this point.
CHURCH: Ambassador Roya Rahmani, thank you so much for your perspective.
RAHMANI: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: And still to come here on CNN, survivors who experienced catastrophic flooding over the weekend in Tennessee are describing the horrors they witnessed. And some of the heroic rescues.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was sitting on the top bunk, sitting on the karaoke machine, he was going to save his mother one way or the other.
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CHURCH: California is getting more help to battle wildfires. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration that will unlock additional resources for the state. Around a dozen large fires are currently burning across California. You are looking at the Caldor fire which has burned through nearly 200 square miles in just ten days. Officials say it's now their number one priority as the flames approach communities in the Lake Tahoe area. CNN's Tyler Mauldin takes a look at conditions across the rest of the country.
TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Rosemary, we have some late he for many across the U.S. Millions are under heat advisories from the lower Mississippi Valley all the way up through the Midwest. Where the heat index which we also refer to as the feels like temperature -- that's when you combine the dew point with the actual air temperature. Well, that heat index will be close to 110 degrees which is dangerous.
And then up here across the Northeast, we're seeing a heat index of nearly 100 degrees.
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That includes New York City which is under a heat advisory for this afternoon. Once we get this afternoon, that feels like temperature will be sitting at 107 in Wichita, 102 in Oklahoma City, 101 in Nashville and the nation's capital will be sitting at 100 degrees. We expand the view, and the air temperature will be about 110 degrees in phoenix. We'll be in the upper 90s in Texas. But notice some cooler air spilling down from Canada on into the Northern Plains. Minot will be sitting at 69.
Now with the heat out West and the drought, we continue to see fires. The wildfires right outside of Sacramento has led to historically bad air quality in Reno and Carson City. It doesn't look like we'll see any improvement over the next 48 hours. In fact, it may actually get worse.
If you see the orange here from Reno to Carson City, well that indicates some really thick smoke near the surface. And that thick smoke is what leads to the poor air quality. We could really use some rainfall in this area to help disperse the smoke and end those fires, but I don't see that happening within the next 48 hours -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, thank you so much for that, appreciate it.
Well, in Tennessee, rescuers are searching for three people still missing from the devastating floods during the weekend. At least 18 people were killed, among them a woman who posted a video on Facebook just moments before she was swept away. And what you are about to see may be disturbing. CNN's Nick Valencia spoke to her son.
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LINDA ALMOND BRYANT: TENNESSEE RESIDENT SWEPT AWAY BY FLOOD: Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This terrifying video might have been the last thing Linda Almond Bryant filmed before she died. You can hear the fear in her voice.
BRYANT: Well, if anybody see me on Facebook live, we're being flooded right now in Waverly. This is scary.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Her son wishes she had more time to help save her.
THOMAS ALMOND, MOTHER DIED IN FLOOD: I looked around, I screamed for my mom a couple times but I didn't see her. And at that instant, I knew I had to fight for myself.
VALENCIA (voice-over): The 55-year-old was among 18 people who died after unprecedented flash floods in this rural county of Tennessee, where Ricco Ralston was raised.
RICCO RALSTON, RESCUED PEOPLE FROM FLOOD: We probably helped 25 to 30 people.
VALENCIA (voice-over): As the water started to rise, Ralston drove to his childhood home looking for his mom. There he found Jeff Burkett, a man he never met, but who had a boat. Together, they jumped in and started pulling people out of the water.
RALSTON: I know we helped people and to hear them scared and in fear for their lives, I think we helped get them to safety.
VALENCIA: You heard those screams of desperation.
RALSTON: Yeah, that was the scariest thing, you know, hoping that you can get to them in time and hoping you actually get to them.
LISA FOX, RESCUED FROM FLOOD: This was my safe haven when Ricco rescued me. I was sitting on my top bunk, sitting on the karaoke machine.
VALENCIA: Ralston's mother Lisa Fox says, without her son, many more of her neighbors would have been killed, even though she told him not to come.
FOX: He was going to save his mother one way or another. But I knew it was a bad idea to stay. But them having to rescue me, that saved a lot of lives. So, I don't regret my decision, because there was still lives saved.
RALSTON: We just started lifting trying to find her and we never could.
VALENCIA (voice-over): While dozens did make it out thanks to his help, it pains Ralston that he wasn't able to help save everyone. Several who were ripped away by the rushing current are still missing, like 15-year-old Lilly Bryant.
VALENCIA: Tell us about your niece.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's 15 years old. She's got long, blonde hair. She weighs about 95 pounds. If anybody seen her, please contact the family or somebody.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Nick Valencia, CNN, Humphreys County, Tennessee.
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CHURCH: And the news continues in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Well, we will be watching U.S. financial markets for more possible records today. The Nasdaq passed 15,000 for the first time ever on Tuesday thanks to gains in the tech sector. The S&P 500 also hit a record high. And the Dow is approaching another milestone about 600 points just shy of 36,000.
Well, dozens of companies and government agencies in the U.S. have accidentally exposed the personal information of millions of people. A misconfigured setting in their Microsoft software caused the data leak. American Airlines and New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority were among those impacted. A cybersecurity firm detected the issue and the leaks have been plugged. At least 38 million private records were exposed.
Well, football's top governing bodies will receive millions of dollars following a massive corruption investigation. And New York Yankees have extended an historic streak. Patrick Snell has our minute in sports -- Patrick.
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, thanks, Rosemary. Today marking day one of official competition of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. But we do start with the very latest on the 2015 scandal that rocked the sport of football. Now after a six-year corruption investigation, the Department of Justice in the United States has awarded FIFA, our football's global governing body, along with other governing bodies, $201 million in compensation. It comes after the DOJ determined the organizations had been victims of decades-long bribery schemes.
To England where Premier League clubs have revealed that they won't be releasing players called up for international duty if they are playing games in a country on the UK's coronavirus red list.
Well, it was back in June that the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest during his country's Euro 2020 opener.
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The 29-year-old is thankfully continuing his recovery and now Denmark's captain Simon Kjaer and the entire medical team that saved Erickson's life are the recipients of the UEFA's President's Award.
And in Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees extending their longest winning streak in 36 years to 11 games after holding off the Braves right here in Atlanta on a dramatic Tuesday night. Yankees win it 5-4 in the end. And with that this Wednesday, back to you -- Rosemary.
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CHURCH: Thank you so much, Patrick.
Well, Charlie Watts was often called one of the greatest drummers of his generation. He helped the Rolling Stones gain global fame with hit songs such as this one.
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ROLLING STONES, PERFORMING SONG: You can't always get what you want, You can't always get what you want ...
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CHURCH (on camera): Charlie watts died at the age of 80. A statement from his publicist says Watts passed away peacefully at a London hospital surrounded by his family. The legendary drummer played with the Stones for more than 50 years. He anchored the band's blues rock sound along with bandmates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Woods. But he was always a reluctant rock and roll star. He joked that he used his day job with the Stones to support his enduring love of jazz. Charlie Watts is survived by his wife and daughter.
And thank you so much to your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Be sure to connect with me on Twitter @rosemaryCNN. "EARLY START" with Christine Romans and Laura Jarrett is up next. You're watching CNN. Have a wonderful day.
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