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More than 90 Afghans, 13 U.S. Service Members Killed; Biden and Harris to Get New Briefing on Afghanistan; ISIS-K Claims Responsibility for Suicide Bast; U.K. Enters Final Stages of Evacuation from Airport; Security Challenges Amid Evacuation Chaos. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2021 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

U.S. military leaders warning that the deadly suicide bombings outside the Kabul Airport are likely just the beginning. More than 90 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were killed at the airport's main entrance for evacuees and at the nearby Baron Hotel.

We're about to show you some graphic video of the scene but we think it is important to document the brutality of what is happening. The jihadist group ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for the attack. One of the bombers detonating his explosives in a sewer drench where many were waiting in line hoping to be processed for flights. The cement surrounding most likely intensified the blast. The U.S. President Joe Biden vowing that the attacks won't stop the airlift that has now brought more than 100,000 people out of Afghanistan and he is ordering the U.S. military to go after ISIS-K targets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this, we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile the U.K. ministry of defense says its armed forces have entered the final stages of their stay at that Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul and no more people will be called forward for evacuations.

CNN has correspondents standing by live to cover this developing story from around the globe, from Washington to Hong Kong. We'll also go live to Germany where many Afghans are now refugees. We begin with CNN's senior international correspondent Sam Kiley who was at the Kabul airport just a few days ago with more on the terror attack in this report which contains some very graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 13 U.S. personnel and scores of Afghans have been killed in a terror attack at the Kabul airport. U.S. central command says the 18 other service members were also wounded. In a complex attack, which the Afghan ministry of public health said injured more than 100 other people. The scenes of horror come in the waning days of America's unprecedented civilian airlift. Central command's General Kenneth McKenzie said that more attacks were anticipated.

GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks and we expect those attacks to continue and we're doing everything we can to be prepared for those attacks.

KILEY (voice-over): The bombings targeted many who were trying this vein to get into Kabul airport and get on one of the last evacuation flights. The Taliban condemned the murders and pledged to punish those behind it.

The blasts were just outside an Abbey gate, one of the main entrances to the airport and near a hotel controlled and occupied until recently by British forces. It is an area packed for days with Afghans wading through sewage canals, bounded by blast walls. Those conditions would surely have amplified the explosion. American officials have been warning about potential ISIS-K attacks for days.

On Wednesday they stepped up the alarm talking about a very specific threat stream from ISIS-K and about planned attack on crowds outside the airport. The Americans were killed when in close contact screening and searching evacuees at the Abbey gate. General McKenzie pledging that this atrocity would not affect the evacuation efforts.

MACKENZIE: ISIS will not deter us from accomplishing the mission, I can assure you of that.

KILEY (voice-over): But this is a dangerous time for the US-led coalition mission. It's due to end by an August 31 deadline. As troops withdraw, they become more vulnerable. And it's damaging for the Taliban too. Sworn enemies of ISIS-K, they promise the U.S. airport security and safety at home for Afghans. These attacks suggest that they have delivered on neither.

Sam Kiley, CNN, Doha.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh recently spent time in Afghanistan. Arlette Saenz with reaction from the White House. Let's start with you there and Doha, Nick. And tell what more your learning about, you know, what happened, what might be yet to come and how it could impact evacuations?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, I mean it's very hard at this stage to know exactly where this first explosion detonated. It seems to have been at the outside of Abbey gate. And that is where we've seen of course the very crowded scenes you saw in Sam's package just there. Obviously, the bomber wearing a suicide vest went into the crowd there.

[04:05:00]

It seems to have been picked out by Marines for searching. Now that's an important detail because they're not searching everybody who's there, they simply don't have the time. And General McKenzie, the CENTCOM commander, was clear that the search was very up close, they could smell the breath of the person who they were searching. So, this suggests possibly that this suicide bomber, a man who ISIS say came from Logar, may have been selected from the crowd for some reason for searching. So that will of course would be part of the U.S. trying to work out how that possibly happened.

Then it seems after that first blast there was a second blast possibly a little further down the road toward the Baron Hotel, unclear exactly where that was. And all these explosions related in at least 90 Afghans losing their lives and over 100 being injured. Startling numbers frankly even for the tolls we often hear coming out of Afghanistan.

Then according to General McKenzie of CENTCOM, there was gun fire that hit civilians. So, we are possibly talking about three certainly two, maybe four, because of the reference to gunmen by CENTCOM attackers in this, that is a major question for security, a major question for the Taliban to answer. Because they are supposed to be filtering, searching people before they head toward the airport.

What now for the evacuation? Well you know, we are obviously talking about a heighten the security threat here, an accelerated time table. The White House very clear that they will continue evacuations up until the point that they can, but not specifying when they will slow down these large-scale evacuations, we reported yesterday that should start tomorrow. But some pushback from the Pentagon on that. They are dealing with a very limited window here.

They are now also dealing a literal retrograde that has to happen under this heightened ISIS threat. And of course, the severe problem that it is very hard to get people now on to the airport. Because you have this heightened security situation and of course the fact that frankly for their own protection so many of the Americans and the remaining NATO allies dwindling fast in number have to worry about the persistent ISIS threat -- Michael.

HOLMES: Yes, Nick, thanks. Nick Payton Walsh there in Doha. Let's turn now to Arlette Saenz in Washington. In just a few hours from now the President and Vice President will meet with their national security team. Similar question to what we were talking about with Nick there, the attack obviously prevented a lot of Afghans from making it to the airport. Do you hear that it will impact the U.S. plans to have the drawdown complete by the 31st?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, President Biden really has really remained steadfast in that August 31 drawdown. In fact, yesterday at the White House the president even argued that the threat of possible terror attacks is one of the reasons why that mission needs to continue on that time line. And you've heard the president and top military officials warn that another attack from ISIS-K may be possible especially as this mission to evacuate and drawdown from Afghanistan quickly approaches.

But President Biden has also vowed to retaliate against those who perpetrated this attack. And insisted that these actions by those terrorists will not change the American plans. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation. I've also ordered my commanders to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities. We will respond with force and precision at our time at the place we choose and in the moment of our choosing. Here is what you need to know. These ISIS terrorists will not win. We will rescue the Americans in there. We will get our Afghan allies out. And our mission will go on. America will not be intimidated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ (on camera): Now, that drawdown mission certainly will take heightened importance over the course of the next few days especially as that security situation around the Kabul airport becomes more precarious. Now, the president has said that they are in contact with the majority of Americans that they know to be in the country and are working with them to try to get those who want to leave Afghanistan to the Kabul airport so that they can be evacuated.

But there are also other steps that will need to be taken before that August 31st drawdown. It's not just the evacuation of Americans. They're also trying to get as many Afghan allies out as possible and then there is the actual military drawdown that needs to be taken into account as well.

Now the president has said that even after the U.S. military leaves Afghanistan, that there will be efforts to evacuate others who are still trying to get out of the country.

[04:10:00]

But it's unknown exactly how that will all take place without a U.S. military presence on the ground. Now the president and vice president are set to be briefed in just a few hours by their national security team. Certainly, a host of these issues will be coming up at that briefing as they are trying to ensure the safe evacuation of American personnel on the ground there and also those military capacity that we currently have in the country.

HOLMES: All right, Arlette, thanks. Arlette Saenz, there in Washington. Appreciate it.

We'll take a quick break here on the program. When we come back, the growing threat of ISIS-K, we'll take a look at where the group came from and what threats it poses to Afghanistan and beyond. Also, the U.S. president wants military options to strike back at

ISIS-K. The terrorist group responsible for that deadly attack. We'll have details on that and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The flag above the White House at half-staff this hour. It was lowered Thursday to honor the victims of the deadly bombings just outside Kabul airport.

[04:15:00]

Meanwhile, British officials say the U.K. has now entered the final stages of its evacuations from Afghanistan. CNN's Anna Stewart is in London joining me now live. Speak to the timing of this announcement. Has it been influenced by the attack and has the U.K. gotten everyone out who was entitled to get out? Anna Stewart clearly not hearing us here. We will move on and come back to her a little later.

Now the terror group that is claiming responsibility for the attack is known as ISIS-K. They are an offshoot of the Islamic state that swept through Iraq before the U.S. pushed them out. The militant group, a bitter rival of the Taliban, and has a long record of murderous atrocities. We'll be talking a little later with our Jomana Karadsheh about that.

Now one expert says the relationship between ISIS-K and the Taliban is by no means clear cut. A short time ago I spoke with Sajjan Gohel from the Asia Pacific foundation, a security think tank.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAJJAN GOHEL, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION: ... gray between ISIS-K and the Taliban. They will fight and kill each other on one day and they will potentially then cooperate the next day for strategic reasons, mutual interest, convergence such as, for example, trying to force the western troops out of Afghanistan.

And you also have to remember that ISIS-K are made up of Pashtuns from both Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are ethnic tribal clan lineages with the Taliban. Some ISIS fighters are married to Taliban fighters or families and vice versa. So, it is a much more murkier nexus then perhaps looking it from a black and white perspective.

HOLMES: Yes, that's fascinating. I guess when it comes to this attack, tactically it achieves exactly what ISIS likes to do, American casualties primarily, but also chaos on the ground. What else might ISIS-K be looking to do, and what does this attack suggest about its reach and capability in Afghanistan?

GOHEL: Well, if we look at some of the attacks that they have carried out over the last year, you mentioned the attack on the maternity ward. They murdered women who are in the process of giving birth. They targeted a girl's school. And dozens of young children were murdered, and of course, now this very awful and horrific attack at the airport. It's about power. It's about control and intimidation. They want to show the Afghans that they are there, that they have a stake in Afghanistan's very dystopian future now that the West is leaving, and that they are going to compete with the Taliban for control of the country. And unfortunately, the Afghan people are sandwich now between the Taliban on one side and ISIS-K on the other side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (on camera): Now Gohel also said ISIS-K grew stronger in just the past few week after the Taliban freed its prisoners from various jails in Afghanistan.

Now as we were saying before, British officials say the U.K. has now entered the final stages of its evacuations from Afghanistan. CNN's Anna Stewart in London for us. We've re-established contact. Anna, good to see you. Speak to the timing of this announcement and whether it was influenced by the attack.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Actually, it wasn't influenced by this attack. Already like many other nations, the U.K. decided that the heightened risks surrounding Hamid Karzai airport was enough that these missions needed to get wrapped up and that is the announcement we've had this morning. This terrible sadness here, Michael, is that not everyone who wanted to get the U.K. airlift has been able to. Here is what the defense secretary in the U.K. said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WALLACE, UK DEFENSE SECRETARY: We will process those people that we have brought with us, the 1,000 people approximately inside the airfield now, and we will seek a way to continue to find a few people in the crowd where we can, but overall, the main processing has now closed and we have a matter of hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART (on camera): The U.K. had been able to evacuate over 13,000 people in just two weeks. But joining other European nations including Denmark, Poland and Belgium and the Netherlands who also ended their evacuation missions, at least in terms of airlifting.

There were some interesting comments yesterday from U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson who said that of course time was very much running short and clearly now this is wrapping up in just a matter of hours. However, he said that he hopes in weeks to come they would be able to establish some sort of safe corridor for those people they haven't been able to evacuate. That would be with the cooperation though of the Taliban.

[04:20:00]

And he did hold a sort of large carrot for the Taliban saying if they want to unblock the billions of dollars that are at the foreign reserves, that they want a return to international financial aid, this is the sort of language they want to be hearing. They want to know that some people can still return to the U.K., can return to other countries, can leave Afghanistan in the weeks to come. And that this is something that the Taliban will probably need. At this stage the economic picture is dire and the next phase for the Taliban of course is how to govern the country -- Michael.

HOLMES: And real quick, Anna, what's the public opinion on this in terms of leaving now, did they get enough people and so on?

STEWART: I think like many countries around the world there is just a sense of terrible sadness and actually shocked at what we've seen over just two weeks. The scenes outside the airport, I think for the military that have been involved, particularly U.K. troops. We're hearing actually from the general today speaking to the "Daily Telegraph" newspaper, saying how traumatic it will have been as an operation even for the armed forces who of course are so used to this sort of situation.

But the guilt that you will feel leaving people behind at the airport, knowing that they wanted to get out but couldn't, will probably stick with many people. But I think there is just a general sense of sadness and a hope that this isn't the end of evacuations in the coming weeks.

HOLMES: Yes, and the knowledge that those who are left behind are probably facing death for what they did for the various countries they worked for. Anna Stewart in London, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thanks.

Now Tom Foreman has a closer look for us now at the security challenge of securing that airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What the U.S. military is dealing with here is really a challenge of time and space. How in a very chaotic environment, do you move forward, complete the withdrawal, getting people out, especially with these violent events, upsetting things the way they have, at this moment.

Let's look a little bit closer at this map to see what we're dealing with here. Here's the main road that comes up from Kabul to the Airport, there's a checkpoint by the Taliban in here where they're trying to theoretically watch people coming up, check them out.

But they're hitting this barrier around the airport, and they're spreading out, going hundreds of yards in different directions thousands of people. And this is where these two main attacks have occurred. The Abbey Gate and a stone's throw away the Baron Hotel. This has been an area through which many Westerners, Americans, Brits, people from Europe had been brought out including a lot of Afghans. It happened by the gate opening according to the Pentagon very briefly, and then people coming through being checked and then the gate closing again.

Here's the problem. There are thousands of people, there's virtually no standoff. So, when it comes to that moment of people coming through U.S. troops have to actually check them according to the Pentagon. They have to be right next to them. So, if someone gets through the ability for a bomb blast to have a tremendous impact is really right there.

What do they do going forward from here? Well, that's really the challenge. What they have to do is figure out some way to manage that pass through while they deal with still a lot of people. Remember we have about thousand U.S. citizens believed to still be in the country who may want to come out and there are about 5,000 troops who still have to be withdrawn.

Now we know the system is set up according to the Pentagon to operate under stress operate under attack, we know it's going to have to if they want to do this successfully, based on what we've seen so far.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Tom Foreman there.

Let's turn our attention now to Anna Coren who has been keeping in contact with Afghans from her home base in Hong Kong. And you know, I've been getting a lot of messages, I know you have too, from people still inside the country worried that they are not going to get out.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are absolutely terrified, Michael, and clearly, they are not going to get out. That is the harsh cold truth because we know now that evacuations have basically stopped. No more people will be getting through those gates. Perhaps the Americans might let through American citizens, those with U.S. visas, but as far as the Afghans holding those SIVs, those special immigrant visas that say that they worked for America, for foreign companies, that has now ended. That window has closed.

I'm in touch with women who I met when I was this Kabul last month, Michael, who were planning on going to the airport yesterday. Their company which is a U.S. based company out of Washington, D.C. funded by the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. State Department, had promised them on the 7th of August that they would start evacuating the 128 staff. Not one single person has been airlifted out of Kabul.

[04:25:00]

These women and their families were on the way to the airport yesterday afternoon when those blasts went off. Killing you know obviously those 13 U.S. service members as well as more than 90, you know, the toll rising by the hour of Afghans. Not to mention, you know, the 150 plus that have been injured. They said that our window has now closed.

And one of those women, she wrote to me just a few hours ago and I want to read to you something that she wrote. This absolute sense of hopelessness and that everything is now lost.

She said, freedom has died. Happiness has died. Hope has died for Afghans.

And that is the overwhelming sense that I am getting. I mean, like you, Michael, I'm being inundated with messages, messages from people I met last month, messages that people who've heard that CNN has managed to get, you know, people out, our staff out, our local producers out. You know, these are coordinated missions that have taken a lot of manpower, a lot of people on the ground. That window has now closed. And the harsh now, Michael, is that these people are stuck in Afghanistan, they are trapped, and they don't know if they will ever be able to leave. Or if they are just going to have to live under Taliban rule.

HOLMES: Yes, live under the rule or if they are on a death list, that's the thing. There's a lot of people whose very lives are at stake now. Anna, got to leave it there. Thank you. Anna Coren in Hong Kong for us.

Now despite Thursday's deadly terror attack in Kabul, evacuations are going on at the city's airport. We've been seeing planes taking off over the last couple of hours. We'll bring you the latest on efforts to get people out while they can.

And later, how will the attack in Kabul and evacuations from Afghanistan affect President Biden's political future? We'll speak with our political expert after the break.

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