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Officials Say, U.S. Personnel Among the Wounded in Kabul Airport Attack; Taliban Says, 13 Dead, 52 Wounded in Kabul Explosions; Pentagon Says, Number of U.S. Service Members Killed in Kabul Attack. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 26, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:00:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome our viewers around the world. I'm Anderson Cooper in New York.

We continue our coverage of the breaking news out of Afghanistan, a horrifying chapter in the crisis, rwo explosions outside the Kabul airport. I want to warn you, some images that we'll show you are graphic and disturbing. These are new images from the aftermath of the attack outside the airport.

Sources telling CNN the U.S. personnel are among the wounded. The extent, we do not know. A Taliban spokesman says 13 people are dead, 52 wounded. But CNN was not able to verify that report nor the nationalities of the victims. The Taliban also says the culprits will be brought to justice. It remains to be seen whether or not they even have those capabilities.

There has been no claim of responsibility but a senior U.S. official says an initial assessment points to an ISIS affiliate. A terror group, ISIS-K, as it's known, had been vowing just such an attack in the waning hours of the U.S. vaccination. One explosion, an apparent suicide attack, took place at the Abbey Gate of the airport packed with Afghans desperate to flee the country.

Another blast was nearby outside or near a hotel called the Baron Hotel. Not clear what this means for the final stage of the evacuation. There have been reports dozens of Americans need a military escort still to the airport, through Taliban-held territory in Kabul and despite Pentagon warnings of more attacks being possible. The Pentagon has called the attacks a complex operation.

We have got CNN correspondents covering this in all points on the map. I want to begin with our Sam Kiley in Doha, Qatar.

So, Sam, for our viewers who were just joining, let's talk about the two locations that we know about outside the Baron Hotel and by the Abbey Gate. We've gotten some early horrific images, which we had shown earlier. Talk about what we know happened.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know, Anderson, is there were two blasts. The first, one of the blasts, we don't know what order they came in, but there was a blast close to the Abbey Gate. That's one of the southern perimeter points of access for evacuees going into Kabul International Airport.

Then the other blast was close to the Baron Hotel. That has been up until extremely recently the British base of operations with the air assault brigade there, also a point of access, a filtration of evacuees coming into the Baron and then were moved across from there into -- through the Abbey Gate and into Kabul International Airport.

Now, the road, that road at that point, is bounded on both sides by blast walls, which will concentrate any kind of the blast upwards and up and down the road. It's a way of actually accelerating or magnifying the capacity of any explosive devices to have it go off in a relatively confined space, but particularly inside walls that are designed to reflect back any kind of a blast. So, these scenes that we've seen, and we've had to blur the videos, but, unfortunately, I had to watch the raw versions, are of absolute carnage.

Now, there were reports from the Pentagon of a number of American casualties. We don't know how many. We don't know what condition they're in. And as you say, the Taliban have said that 52 wounded. The emergency hospital, which is an NGO in Central Kabul, said they have admitted 60 people. They also say that six Afghans were dead on arrival or died soon after arrival at that location. The Taliban saying 13 have been killed. We haven't had independent verification of that.

And as you say, the Taliban promising retribution against this group that now the Pentagon is saying is, in all probability, ISIS-K, the Islamic State in Khorasan, as they are known. These are mortal enemies of the Taliban in the fractious world of Islamist, violent and militant groups. They're considered even by the Taliban and Al Qaeda to be the lunatic, violent fringe.

But they had historically, as you know, been the kind of leading brand for the vicious and violence Islamist movement since they were operating outside of Syria. They've now spread themselves around the world. They've been trying to get a foothold in Afghanistan and they would love nothing more than to humiliate the United States and the Taliban in one deadly blast.

They have no regard for human life. They historically have attacked schools, particularly members of the Hazaras ethnic group, who are Shiite Muslims, and profligate in their murder, mass murder of Afghans, a long series of atrocities committed in the capital.

So, no great surprise that they would be assigned responsibility for this, Anderson, not least because there was detailed intelligence that was emerging last night with the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and others, warning their citizens to get away from the airport, get away from the airport gates, leave the area because there was a danger of an imminent attack. [13:05:05]

And about 12 hours later, that's just what followed, therefore, reinforcing -- the previous intelligence has clearly reinforced the Pentagon's view that this almost certainly was ISIS-K.

But this is a disaster, obviously, for the United States in terms of evacuating their citizens and people with the special immigrant visas who had already been told to try to stay away from the gate because of this threat and banned from traveling there anyway by the Afghan Taliban, Anderson.

COOPER: Sam, let me ask you. Within the airport itself with the U.S. forces there, British forces there, what are the medical capabilities that U.S. forces have or British forces have to treat wounded troops? Obviously, civilians who are outside the gate probably would not be brought into the airport because there's the security risk of is there another suicide bomber out there if often these things happen and with people going to rescue people there ends up being a second one. But for the forces behind the blast walls, what kind of capabilities are there from a medical standpoint?

KILEY: Well, the 82nd Airborne Division is running the airport and they or their support groups would have brought their own field hospital capability. Now, and, sadly, after 20 years of war in Afghanistan and also in Iraq, very jacked up operations, and the British similarly travel with their own mobile hospital as part of the air assault brigade.

But there is also a Norwegian military hospital already built and standing, which I've visited in the past. Indeed, I visited it when there were four wounded Afghan soldiers from the first incident, first attack on the airport, which was last Sunday with a sniper attack, and then four Afghan soldiers wounded in a subsequent fire fight, possibly a probe by ISIS-K. They were in the four-bed intensive care unit. There's a CAT scan capability, all the normal stuff you would see in a much bigger hospital, a kind of micro-hospital but very, very highly sophisticated.

So there's no great shortage of medical capability to deal with casualties of this sort of scale, at any rate, among the coalition troops. As you rightly point out, it's very unlikely, sadly, that civilians will be brought in because of the threat of somebody launching a terrorist attack using that as an opportunity to get in through the wire effectively and carry out a continued terrorist attack. And that's a very serious issue because this was clearly being described as a complex attack by the Pentagon, in other words, multiple elements to it.

Two bombs, there's a lot of reports of gunfire, that may well have been coalition or American gunfire as part of that. But it is absolutely typical of these terrorist groups to follow up bomb attacks or even press bomb attacks with gunfire, particularly if you're trying to distract people and soldiers guarding the gate, or whatever, in order to sneak a suicide bomber or take their eyes off a possible device, Anderson. COOPER: Yes. And, Sam, you make a really important point about possible probes earlier on. It's an important point, U.S. official calling this a complex operation. It's very possible if it was ISIS-K or whatever terror group did this that they had eyes on this area a number of times to kind of see the operations worked, to see where U.S. forces and other forces were, to see where the most vulnerable point would be.

KILEY: Yes. I mean, the Taliban announced when we were there at the Kabul airfield, I think about four days ago now, that they had arrested four suspected members of ISIS-K whom they caught red handed filming possible target locations, in all probability, locations around the airport. So that's the one point. The second point is, prior to that, there was a sniper attack on one of the southern gates.

Again, likely to be an effort to not only kill an Afghan soldier, which is what they did, but also see how the different military organizations that are guarding the perimeter react. These probing attacks delivered back to the attacker, important intelligence. Potentially important intelligence as to how they might go about carrying out attacks, particularly if it's more than one suicide bombing. If they had plans to follow it up with -- had they been able to penetrate the perimeter, for example, how would they have rushed the gate?

That has been something that ISIS-K have done very frequently actually in Kabul itself, send in a suicide bomber or suicide vehicle, smash through a gate, usually of a government institution, and then send fighters in. And, indeed, the Haqqani Network of the Taliban have also done that in the days they were fighting, the government not trying to be the government in Kabul, Anderson.

COOPER: We've seen those similar attacks with Al-Shabaab and Somalia of a blast at a gate and then forces run in to try to enter the area.

[13:10:00]

Sam, we'll continue to check in with you.

CNN Pentagon Correspondent Oren Liebermann joins us now. Any word on how this attack may or may not impact the withdrawal deadline or at least the execution of evacuations from now on?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's one of the key questions the president, Joe Biden, will have to make a decision on with the advice of his military leaders as well as the State Department and other security officials. Does this, and if so, how? Normally, after some large scale attack like this, certainly a complex twin explosion operation, you would expect more security to go in. But, normally, you're not operating on a timeline when there's basically 100 hours left. Five days until the U.S. is trying to complete its military withdrawal.

So, although, certainly there's an option and they will discuss what might be an option to send in more security, that's one end of the spectrum. The other end, of course, being wrap this operation now and get out as quickly as possible. Those would be two sides of where this could go, the two extremes, if you will. And the White House as well as the Pentagon will have to make a decision on where you fall on that spectrum if you change course at all, or do you try to continue this until the end.

A key question here is, following the attack, what level of coordination with the Taliban is there to see if they're increasing or trying to increase their form of security around the airport or what they know about this. Of course, one of the questions we're waiting to hear from the Pentagon is an update on what Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said earlier today, where a number of U.S. and civilian casualties, the extent of those injuries and, of course, the number. That's the key update we're waiting for at this point.

Other decisions, how this affects the operation, all need to be figured out. The Pentagon has planned for a number of different possibilities and, of course, we've known that there was an ongoing threat from ISIS-K and we've known the tactics they try to use, which is suicide bombings as well as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.

So, the Pentagon and the planners were aware of that. Now, that this has gone from just a chaos outside the airport to a catastrophe outside the airport, there are difficult decisions to make, but decisions crucial ones that will affect how the next 100 hours plays out from a U.S. perspective.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, trying to figure out how to extricate the remaining Americans at the very least who want to leave, that's a complicated task now.

LIEBERMANN: Complicated, I would say, is an understatement here. If it's unsafe to move them on the ground, be it by simply having them walk or simply by having them take a car, you really have another option other than helicopters. There have been limited helicopter operations into Kabul to bring out Americans and bring them to the airport. But those have been of short distance and of short duration. Meaning, the Americans were very close to the airport.

To expand that operation brings with it its own element of risk, especially now that it's absolutely clear that ISIS-K is ready, waiting and trying to carry out attacks against U.S. forces and others. But the planners may say, look, we don't have any other options at this point. All of these are incredibly difficult decisions to make weighing, of course, what is the benefit and the need to bring out Americans versus the risk of what could happen to any forces that leave Kabul International Airport.

COOPER: Yes. Oren Liebermann, I appreciate it.

CNN's National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood has more details on ISIS-K's possible role in the attack. Kylie?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, we're learning from U.S. officials that their early read of the situation here is that ISIS-K was to blame for this attack. But it's going to take a number of hours for them to figure out the specific people who were involved this, the individuals, so that they can really get a fuller understanding of what happened here.

But these threat streams had been coming in to the U.S. government to the intelligence officials for some time now. It's what prompted the State Department last night to tell all Americans in the country not to go to the airport because there were the threats to the crowds outside the airport there. And we also heard before this attack happened this morning from the top U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan talking about an imminent threat.

It's significant that he used that word, because it wasn't just a general threat, potential terrorist threat to those crowds outside the airport. He was talking about something imminent. And talking about how dangerous it was to be part of the crowds outside of the airport.

Now, the other thing to consider that you guys were talking about was these Americans that are still in the country. Yesterday, we heard from the State Department there are between 500 and 1,500 Americans still in the country potentially wanting to get out. And so the question is how many are there now. We know that there are flights going overnight. Presumably, there were some Americans on the flights. But as you guys discussed, how do you get those Americans to the airport?

Now, the top diplomat this morning said that the U.S. was working on other ways to get Americans to the airport. He was not very specific probably for security reasons, but staying there and getting them to the airport, of course, is key because President Biden has repeatedly promised that any Americans in the country who want to get out are going to get out of the country.

COOPER: Is -- what is the latest number? Do you have the latest number of how many people have been evacuated in all from Afghanistan by the U.S.?

[13:15:06]

ATWOOD: Yes. So, the figure is upwards of 80,000. That is a number that includes U.S. military flights, U.S. coalition flights, charters that have been going in. It's a really, really significant number. The other number that is important is that there are about 4,500 Americans as of yesterday that are among those who have been evacuated from the country.

So when you look at the numbers on a big scale here, the number of Americans in comparison to the total number is, of course, very small, but that small number is the focus for the Biden administration who feels, of course, that they have the responsibility to get out any of these Americans that want to get out. And, clearly, the situation on the ground is now growing more complicated.

COOPER: Yes. It's also growing more tragic. Just now learning from the Pentagon, a number of U.S. service members have been killed in this attack in Kabul. We don't know exactly how many service members. A number of others we're told were injured. We're going to check in with our Pentagon respondent in a moment. That

is obviously the worst possible news that earlier there were reports of some casualties among U.S. personnel, but, Oren, this is the first time we're being -- it's confirmed from the Pentagon that a number of U.S. service members were killed.

LIEBERMANN: And this was, of course, what everybody feared. The Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby putting out a statement just a short time ago saying a number of U.S. service members were killed in these twin explosions, what he called a complex operation, a complex attack at Kabul International Airport, where there are more than 5,000 U.S. Service members at the moment. We now know that a number of those were killed in this attack. This, again, the worst possible news. The press secretary is saying the thoughts and prayers of not only him but the Pentagon are with the family members of those loved ones.

To put this in perspective, a U.S. Service member hasn't been killed in Afghanistan since February of 2020, shortly before the signing of the Doha agreement that essentially started the wheels rolling in this entire withdrawal process.

We're now down to the last 100 hours of what was supposed to be the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, the withdrawal that former President Donald Trump started that President Joe Biden was finishing here right at the end of the month, and, of course, this horrible news, as the press secretary said just a short time ago in a statement, a number of U.S. service members killed. In this attack.

There were Marines and soldiers there, as well perhaps others, who were part of this, not only part of the security that guarded the perimeter of the airfield but also working as part of the evacuation. We saw those images of them helping out all the families that had come to the base, getting them on the airplanes and getting them out of the country, and now this news with five days to go, about 100 hours at this point, a number of us service members killed in the line of duty, in their service to the country in Afghanistan. Anderson?

COOPER: Oren, I talked to a number of retired military people who all talk about the difficulties of evacuations like this, that these kind of extraction operations are among the most difficult things to try to organize all the planning, whatever planning is done, the facts on the ground are constantly changing. There's always a level of chaos. This is obviously now adds another layer to what we have already witnessed over the last several weeks and days.

LIEBERMANN: Absolutely. A NEO, a non-combatant evacuation operation is one of the most difficult types of operation to execute. We've heard that over and over again. It's not just the sheer volume of people you're trying to move, something like 100,000 people at this point since the beginning of the operation. It's also the fact that it's a military working with a population that's not a military, that is inherently less structured, less disciplined, more chaotic. And all of that adds to the difficulty of executing this.

Plus, you're not only trying to evacuate those for whom you know their credentials, you're also trying to evacuate family members as well as others who have helped the U.S. throughout 20 years Afghanistan. And trying to do that in such a short span is incredibly difficult. We saw the chaotic scenes and we will continue to see those, especially with what just happened over the course of the past few weeks. All of that has contributed to what has made this so difficult.

And to add to that, it's in the middle of a war zone. There was effectively an understanding, an agreement and communication with the Taliban, but that's not the only presence there, as has just become horribly obvious. The threat from ISIS-K truly emerging over the course of the past four or five days, but there are other terror organizations in Afghanistan also trying to target the United States, Al Qaeda and others. All of that makes this difficult operation even more challenging from a logistics perspective, from a security perspective and more.

And that's why this was so difficult. The chaos of the last few weeks has just turned into the catastrophe of the last five days with a number of U.S. service members killed trying to execute this incredibly difficult mission right in the middle of Afghanistan as the U.S. presence there was winding down.

[13:20:01]

COOPER: Yes. And, obviously, Oren, for family members and service members who are there, this is just a terrible time of fear and concern and where information is -- it's -- people are obviously desperate to know -- make sure their families have been contacted. And so we're obviously being careful about it in the information we're giving out, but this comes directly from the Pentagon, the number -- what the Pentagon describes as the number of U.S. service members killed in this attack.

We'll continue to come back to you, Oren, with any new information.

Let's go to CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, obviously, just devastating news from Kabul on this day

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, it is the president's worst nightmare for something like this to happen. And President Biden had been saying for the last several days that he was concerned about the threats on the ground to U.S. service members, saying that he believed the longer they were there in Kabul, working on this evacuation effort, the higher the risk to them became. And now, of course, unfortunately, that devastating situation has become true.

And we know President Biden is aware of this. Obviously, he was probably one of the first briefed on it by top military aids at the Pentagon. He spent essentially all morning in the situation room with those aids. And the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, just left the White House here a short time ago. And now President Biden is in the Oval Office monitoring these updates.

And now that it is confirmed by the Pentagon that there have been a number of U.S. service members killed in this attack, Anderson, it is extremely hard to picture that we do not hear from President Biden at some point today.

He was scheduled to have a number of events not related to Afghanistan publicly, including a meeting with the Israeli prime minister. Those have all been cancelled or delayed at this point. And so, of course, it's a fluid situation but this is exactly what President Biden's fear had been when it came to this evacuation and when it came to the argument where he pushed back on lawmakers, other world leaders who said they wanted that deadline to be extended past August 31st. So, more of these evacuations of Afghan allies could continue.

One of the main reasons that he and several advisers in the west wing pushed back and never really even considered an extension was because they were worried about the security situation. And they have been monitoring the threats.

And we should note, Anderson, now that we know several of the service members have now been killed in this explosion, last night, the State Department sent out an update saying, if you're an American citizen, get away from these gates, these gates to get into the airport, the only gates to the only airport to get out of Kabul. Yet the service members were there anyway working on processing these people. And, obviously, that speaks to just how heroic they were. We don't have information on this but it is a devastating situation here at the White House. And we'll be waiting to see if we do hear from President Biden on their deaths today.

COOPER: Kaitlan, one of the things that stands out in my mind is something that our Clarissa Ward said the day she was leaving Afghanistan. She actually spoke to, I believe, it was a member of the British military forces who had served in Helmand Province. And when she was at the airport, he said to her he had done, I think it was two tours in Helmand Province, but that what he had seen at the airport in those last -- in that last week was harder than anything else he had seen in his time in Afghanistan.

What these troops, American and British and others, are having to witness just on a hour by hour basis, the desperation, the horrible choices that are made from the top of a wall about who gets in and who doesn't, babies being handed over, I mean, it is obviously that plus the constant, very real, as we certainly now see the results, security concerns and concern about their safety.

COLLINS: Yes. And I think this really only raises the stakes of what happens next because they're supposed to have about five days left on the ground there in Kabul. And there are thousands of U.S. troops there still on the ground. They started sending out a few hundred at a time, but didn't want to affect the evacuation effort, which, of course, is still underway overnight and was before this explosion happened in a large scale.

And so the question now is do they get out of there now? What is the next step the Pentagon takes given the level of concern here, of course, that they have for these service members? Because what we had been hearing and what our Pentagon team had been reporting was that, as this went on and as it was less -- fewer evacuations and more focusing on getting the thousands of troops out of there, getting the weaponry out of there, getting the resources out of there, was White House officials and Pentagon officials were worried that the attack, the risk of an attack could get higher if there were fewer troops on the ground.

And so those are going to be the big questions that are facing the president in these moments right now. What he does, of course, what his response is going to be, as you were noting earlier, he said if there was any kind of disruption to the operation underway or an attack on U.S. service members, there would be a swift and forceful response by the United States.

[13:25:04]

That was directed at the Taliban, but I presume it applies in all situations. But, of course, what happens to those who were still on the ground and what next steps that the president takes here, those are the options that are on his plate right now as he is monitoring those.

COOPER: Yes. I want to check in -- Kaitlan, thank you.

I want to check in with our Sam Kiley, who is in Doha, Qatar, who most recently has been reporting from the airport in Kabul.

Sam, this is obviously just terrible, terrible information that we have learned from the Pentagon, a number of U.S. service members killed. A number of others wounded and are being treated right now. Talk a little bit about the difficulties that U.S. troops have faced in the jobs that they have been doing over the last week or so.

KILEY: The principle difficulty that they face, Anderson, is that they are face-to-face with the Taliban, sometimes almost within touching distance, running the last checkpoints as they allow passengers or evacuees to come to the gates. And then they're completely exposed. And there are times when they reach over the walls. We've seen it time and again. They're very, very exposed there, often with their rifles at their ready.

But in order to pick somebody up or reach out into a crowd and get somebody out, you've seen British troops actually charge into the crowd with stretchers, when they had a crush tragedy outside. Camp Baron, there were seven people killed in the crush. But British troops ran, completely exposed, straight into the thick, among the Taliban to withdraw people. This is the sort of action the British, American and other troops have been conducting at these gates all the time. So, they're permanently physically exposed.

And I also spoke to the chaplain of the 82nd Airborne who said that very similarly to what the report you were quoting from Clarissa, that the emotional toll it takes on people, making Sophie's choice, who gets to come in and who doesn't, you know, it's a heartbreaking moment.

The moment when you've got a family and half the family has got the right paperwork and the other half of the family appears not to have the right paperwork, so you let the bit with the right paperwork in and you leave the others brokenhearted, possibly in the knowledge that they may die eventually. And this weighs heavily indeed upon the servicemen. So they were up on the walls outside the Abbey Gate, looking down.

Yesterday CNN aired film that we had filmed by our colleagues in Kabul, local correspondents from Kabul, who filmed people waving documents up to those troops on the Abbey Gate, standing in the sewage saying, let me in, I've got the documents, let me in.

Those troops able to let people in sporadically, sending little secret signals sometimes backwards and forwards to try to identify the people who had the right documents so they could be moved through, a terribly stressful environment emotionally anyway. And then you add to that, for the last five days, at least, frankly, since we got there Sunday, an absolute certainty of this terrorist threat.

There was no doubt in the minds of the intelligence community and it reached a peak last night when they were saying it's going to happen, get away from the gates. Messages went out from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and others to their citizens saying, get away from the gates. Get away from the gates. There is going to be an attack, or that an attack is likely to be imminent, and then there was an attack. But the soldiers can't get off the gates. It's their job to stay on those walls, to stay and guard that perimeter.

I think it's extremely unlikely that the president will accelerate the withdrawal now as a result of this attack. I think, sadly, these sorts of casualties are going to be built into the military plan itself anyway, Anderson.

COOPER: Sam, there are a number of representatives in Congress. I talked to a former Congressman Mike Rogers earlier, who talked about the idea of expanding actually the perimeter around the airport. That seems highly unlikely -- and correct me if I'm wrong. That seems highly likely at a point like this because there are blast walls in the perimeter as it is. If you expand the perimeter, you then -- I mean, there's not the same blast walls and you're obviously then exposing U.S. forces at a whole lot of more points to potential attack.

KILEY: Yes. I think it's inconceivable that you could expand the perimeter. You'd have to increase the number of troops exponentially to do that. If you push out 100 meters, your whole circumference gets bigger. You need a whole lot more troops and more man power to police it. I mean, they do have lots of assets. They've got what they called Einstein (ph), in other words, surveillance aircraft. They can see a great deal about what's going on.

[13:30:00]

But you can't tell a suicide bomber with a backpack from an evacuee with a backpack, unless they're physically searched.