Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Car Used as Improvised Launcher in Rocket Attack on Airport; Pentagon Gives Update on Afghanistan U.S. Troop Withdrawal. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 30, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm joined by Arian Sharifi. He was the former director of National Threat Assessment for the Afghan National Security Council. Arian, good to have you on this morning.

ARIAN SHARIFI, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL THREAT ASSESSMENT, AFGHAN NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Hi, Jim, good to be here, thank you.

SCIUTTO: I want to begin with something that we've heard a lot from the Biden administration about how they've been working with the Taliban on security around the airport. They're discussing with the Taliban plans for evacuations following the U.S. withdrawal. Can you U.S. trust the Taliban's word on any of this given your experience with the Taliban?

SHARIFI: I mean, it is difficult to say, really. I mean, the Taliban have been signaling a lot of positive things to the world, to the Afghan people. But I think the actual -- the ultimate test of what they're saying and what they're promising is very near, it is very close. As soon as the U.S. forces completely withdraw, we will actually see their real actions and see what they're going to do.

But I think it is also important to, trust aside, I think it is important for the United States to clearly communicate it to the Taliban right now that they cannot go around shooting and persecuting people just randomly those at risk. I think the United States government still has quite a lot of leverage left with the Taliban because what I'm hearing is one of the main things that the Taliban are concerned with is the potential lack of fund and support from the international community to their future government.

So, using that leverage, I think it's important for the U.S. government to really clearly communicate to them that people addressed, that individuals addressed should not and cannot be persecuted.

SCIUTTO: There are reports already though of exactly the kind of attacks you're saying the U.S. should be warning against and preventing, stories of for instance a well-known comedian and entertainer kidnapped and killed. I've heard from Afghans who worked for the U.S. government or military in some ways about the Taliban coming to their house every day looking for them. So my question is, does the U.S. have real leverage with the Taliban? Do they actually listen to those kinds of demands?

SHARIFI: I mean, the thing is, one is sort of ad hoc activities that have been happening over the past two months as Taliban were advanced through the cities across the country. They have persecuted people. They have killed people. What I'm really worried about is more of a systematic approach. And that systematic approach, we saw it in the past in Afghanistan at various times. That is what I am afraid of. And I think with the leverage that I talked about, I think the United States government can at least prevent that systematic approach.

But beside that, I think it is important to continue the evacuation in a different way, the phase two that they're now talking about of at least providing and making it --

SCIUTTO: Sorry, apologies. Hold that thought. The Pentagon briefing is starting. Let's listen in.

MAJ. GEN. HANK TAYLOR, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, JOINT STAFF REGIONAL OPERATIONS: -- U.S. military forces conducted an unmanned, over-the- horizon airstrike on a vehicle known to be an imminent ISIS-K threat. The self-defense strike successfully hit the target near Kabul airport. Significant secondary explosions from the targeted vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.

We are aware of reports of civilian casualties and we take these reports very seriously and we are continuing to assess the situation.

Separately, at approximately 11:00 P.M. Eastern Time last night, as many as five rockets were fired at the Kabul airport. U.S. military forces successfully employed our force protection measures to thwart that attack. U.S. forces retained the inherent right of self-defense and are authorized to meet threats with a swift and forceful response. Force protection is paramount in this phase of the operation.

Over the weekend and into today, evacuation operations continued. Yesterday, 26 U.S. military aircraft, all C-17s, departed with approximately 1,200 evacuees. In total, there were 28 flights out of Kabul airport in the last 24 hours, which included the remaining coalition departures.

As of today, more than 122,000, including 5,400 Americans, have been evacuated from Afghanistan. U.S. military troops have shown tremendous bravery and compassion as they put themselves in harm's way to evacuate as many American citizens and Afghans as possible during this operation.

[10:35:05]

That work by U.S. service members continues across the globe at a number of intermediate staging and DOD installations. In CENTCOM, more than 27,000 passengers await follow-on movement from six active locations. In UCOM, three active locations currently have more than 22,000 passengers, and today, 17 flights will transport about 3,700 passengers to both Dulles International Airport with approximately 11 flights and Philadelphia International Airport with six flights.

In NORTHCOM, there are nearly 13,000 passengers that remain at five different U.S. installations. These numbers are a snapshot in time and movement of personnel is very fluid. We do not expect these passenger totals to match the total number of evacuees from Afghanistan nor will they match the total Afghans arriving to the United States.

The mission of the evacuation operation was to help as many people as possible leave Afghanistan. Some of these evacuees included American citizens, third country nationals or Afghans whose credentials permitted them to otherwise depart without processing at a military installation.

Military civilian and contract personnel continue to work closely with both government and nongovernmental agencies to meet requirements and provide additional capabilities for families as they continue their transition.

While operations in Afghanistan will conclude soon, the DOD effort to support the interagency is ongoing. Additionally, the Department of Defense continues to support humanitarian relief operations in response to national disasters here closer to home. In Haiti, the U.S. military assets have flown 560 sorties, providing rapid logistical and airlift support, including delivery of more than 348,000 pounds of aid.

On the gulf coast, with Hurricane Ida, NORTHCOM, as of this morning, in coordination with FEMA and our National Guard has activated more than 5,200 personnel in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama in response to the hurricane. They bring a variety of assets, including high water vehicles, rotary lift and other transportation capability to support recovery efforts. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is operational in New Orleans and is assessing the storm's impact. DOD stands ready to assist as requested by FEMA. Thank you.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Okay. I don't have anything to add so we'll go to questions. Lena?

REPORTER: General, one quick follow-up and then a question. The C- RAMs, did they strike and hit all of the five rockets or did some land in areas where there is just no casualties?

TAYLOR: So we could assess the reporting from last night's rocket attack, we assessed that five rockets were in the air and went, three landed off the airfield, were no effect and C-RAM was able to effect and thwart the attack of one and the other rocket landed with no effect to the mission or any danger to our personnel.

REPORTER: And then, secondly, on evacuees, are -- does the U.S. and the U.S. military assess that the number of Americans still in the country are only the ones that no longer want to leave or the ones who want to leave, are they largely out now? And it is our understanding that the evacuation of Afghans is largely complete also. So are you now solely concentrating on just getting U.S. troops out and equipment?

TAYLOR: So, just going back, total, 122,000 were evacuated, approximately 5,400 Americans. We continue to have the capability to evacuate and fly out those until the very end. But as you talk about active peace, we'll continue to work with Department of State on that and continue evacuation in military operations.

KIRBY: I'll refer you to the State Department on the numbers of Americans that are still in contact with. That is something for them to speak to. Tara?

REPORTER: You could both speak to the continuing rocket threat to the final planes that are leaving and the role of the C-RAM is playing? Will the C-RAM be left behind? Or is -- I mean, since it is so vital to protecting the planes as they're leaving, what will happen to the C-RAM after it goes?

KIRBY: We certainly assess, as the general said, that there is a -- there is still an active threat in various ways that we have to be prepared for.

[10:40:05]

And what I would tell you without getting into the specific systems and they're availability, which I think you can understand why we wouldn't, we continue to have and will maintain the capability to protect ourselves and defend ourselves as we continue to complete the retrograde. And I think that is probably the best place to put it.

REPORTER: Just one follow-up please, if I may? A number of us have gotten reports from either American citizens or vulnerable Afghans that are still on the ground and can't get through gates or they've been getting notices that the evacuation is over. What happens next for those that are left behind? Will there be any sort of military operation to help get them out of the country?

KIRBY: I think you heard Secretary Blinken talk about this, that for Americans and other individuals that want to be able to leave Afghanistan after our withdrawal is complete, that the State Department is going to continue to work across many different levers to facilitate that transportation. And as I said earlier, right now, we do not anticipate a military role in that effort. Jen?

REPORTER: John, General Taylor, you just said that one rocket landed with no effect to the mission. You mean it landed inside the airport perimeter but it did not affect the mission?

KIRBY: It landed inside of the perimeter and had no effect, whatsoever.

REPORTER: And these ISIS-K fighters or planners that you have targeted with drone strikes in the last few days, are any of them -- were they released from the Bagram prison or from Pole Charkhi Prison? Were they known combatants who were inside of those prisons?

KIRBY: I don't think we have that information. REPORTER: And, lastly, if 5,800 Americans were left in Afghanistan when you pulled out of Bagram at the end of July, why did the U.S. military not begin evacuations of Americans before pulling out of the country?

KIRBY: Jen, we talked about this quite some time ago. I'm happy to revisit it. We were already baked into the retrograde plan way back in the spring was the possibility for noncombatant evacuations and helping people get out. And we were in constant conversations with the Ghani government as well as our colleagues across the interagency about what that would look like and when would be the right time to do that.

And in anticipation of it, well before the provincial capital started toppling there towards the middle of August, Secretary Austin propositioned forces closer into the region, to the degree of taking an entire Marine battalion off of the USS Iwo Jima and moving them ashore to Kuwait so that they would be ready. So, this was something that we had been planning for and preparing for.

The timing of these things is always very delicate, as you might imagine.

REPORTER: But you were essentially stopped by the State Department from beginning their evacuations?

KIRBY: I wouldn't say that. And I don't think it is important right now to get into internal deliberations. We were obviously still in close contact with the Ghani government, which was still -- he was still the president of the country. And you have to have -- you have to be able to have those conversations too because our expectation was that the Ghani government would stay in place.

Nobody could have imagined how quickly that government would have literally just dissipated almost overnight. There was simply no way to predict that. Adriss (ph)?

REPORTER: I have a couple of questions on the gates. Are any of the gates still open and are any of the gates under Taliban control?

KIRBY: I think it's -- right now, as we get into the -- this has always been a dangerous operation. But we're in a particularly dangerous time right now Adriss (ph). I think you can understand that we're not going to be detailing the status of any particular gate right now.

As the general said, we still have the ability and the capability to conduct evacuation operations even while we are completing and working to complete the retrograde of U.S. forces.

REPORTER: A quick follow-up. You've now had two incidents, one on Thursday and one on Sunday, where there may have been some civilian casualties or reports of it. Beyond investigating it, do you have any indications that those reports may be accurate?

KIRBY: We are in -- not in a position to dispute it right now Adriss (ph). And as the general said, we're assessing and we're investigating.

Look, make no mistake, no military on the face of the earth works harder to avoid civilian casualties than the United States military. And nobody wants to see innocent life taken. We take it very, very seriously.

[10:45:01]

And when we know that we have caused innocent life to be lost in the conduct of our operations, we're transparent about it. We're investigating this. I'm not going to get ahead of it. But if we have verifiable information that we did, in fact, take innocent life here, then we will be transparent about that too. Nobody wants to see that happen.

But you know what else we didn't want to see happen? We didn't want to see happen what we believe to be a very real, a very specific and a very imminent threat to the Hamid Karzai International Airport and to our troops operating at that airport, as well as civilians around it and in it. And that was another thing that we were very, very concerned about.

David?

REPORTER: The president had said that the likelihood of an attack within the next 24 to 36 hours was highly likely. He had been told that by his military commanders. And after that, there was the strike on this vehicle. After that strike, is another attack still considered highly likely?

KIRBY: We are operating under the assumption that we need to be prepared for future potential threats. And as the general detailed for you in his opening statement, there was, in fact, after we took this airstrike against this vehicle, there were rocket attacks, indirect fire rocket attacks on the airport.

So, the threat stream is still real, it is still active, and in many cases, it's still specific. And we're taking take it very seriously and we will right up into the end.

REPORTER: You didn't specifically answer the question about whether the Taliban -- you said you weren't going to talk about who was at what gate. But are the Taliban on the airport?

KIRBY: Not to my knowledge, they are not. Yes?

REPORTER: Thank you. I have a few today. Sorry. You mentioned 122,000 have been evacuated. How many of those are SIVs and their families?

KIRBY: I don't have a good breakdown of how many in the 122,000 are SIVs and their families. That is really a better question for the State Department. We know that roughly 5,400 of the 122,000 are American citizens and the vast majority, of course, are Afghan and I just don't have a breakdown of that.

REPORTER: Well, our reporting is saying that there are about 7,000 of the 88,000. So that leaves more than 80,000 SIVs and their family members left behind. Does the Pentagon see that as a success, leaving 80,000 people, SIVs who worked alongside our troops behind?

KIRBY: I can't verify that number, the math you just gave me and I can't tell you the breakdown now between the more than and, what, 112,000, maybe more, Afghans that we were able to evacuate in the courts of less than a couple of weeks. I can't give you the breakdown right now. I just -- I honestly can't.

And what I would tell you is that, obviously, we wanted to get as many people out as we could. And in the course of a very short order of time, 122,000, the largest airlift that the U.S. military has conducted, got 122,000 people to safety.

Now, there will be a time when this is complete that the State Department can do the math and figure this out. But I think we're all focused right now on continuing the mission that the general described us doing and making sure that right up until the end that we can get people out safely, including evacuees.

REPORTER: And then, secondly, we have sources that say Marines guarding the airport allowed relatives and extended family members of Kabul embassy local staff despite having -- not having documentation, but, meanwhile, spouses and children of Afghans who hold American citizenship and legal permanent resident status were turned away in some cases. Have you heard this as well and can you confirm this?

KIRBY: I have not heard those reports and I cannot verify them. I will tell you that, without speaking to these reports, the Marines and the soldiers that for the last couple of weeks have been helping counselor officers man these gates and help process people in, have been -- did heroic work. And they had to make decisions in real-time about trying to help people get out.

And the numbers speak for themselves. 122,000-plus is -- that is significant. And a lot lives were saved and a lot of lives are now in a better place and they're going to have opportunities they couldn't have had before thanks to the work that these troops did in concert with their State Department colleagues at these very dangerous gates.

REPORTER: And one more, if I may, on -- not on Afghanistan. Beijing has come out in a new South China Sea policy, which forces people to self-identify while approaching their self-claimed maritime territories.

[10:50:04]

This policy reportedly goes into effect on Wednesday. Does DOD plan on following that policy?

KIRBY: I haven't seen this report, Carla (ph), so I'm not going to take it from the podium. What I will do is take the question back and we'll try to get you a better answer. But you're hitting me up with a statement from the Chinese that I have not seen and I'm not going to speculate at this time. Nazir (ph)? REPORTER: Thank you, John. There is a question that many Afghans ask me to -- want me to ask you. They said why President Biden not warning the Taliban that there any U.S citizens or Afghan allies are hurt, are killed after our departure from Afghanistan. Their leadership will be targeted, just like ISIS was targeted recently.

KIRBY: Nazir (ph), thanks for the question. I think the president has been very clear that what our expectations are, once this retrograde is complete with respect to the safety and security of American citizens. I mean, I think we've been very clear about that. And as you heard Secretary Blinken say, we're going to continue to pursue a variety of means to help those Americans who want to get out after we are gone get out.

Yes, Tom.

REPORTER: You talked about flights heading to Dulles and Philly. Can you give us a sense of how many people are on those flights and the breakdown of Afghans and U.S.?

TAYLOR: I can't give you the -- by manifest.

REPORTER: Ballpark?

TAYLOR: So, what we think is of today's 17 flights, 3,700. The majority of those are Afghans.

Now, as priority at these lily pads that are done immediately to get the American citizens there first and then other green card holders and those piece, but the majority of the flights, of those 17, are Afghans.

REPORTER: I understand congressional people are being briefed that you're starting to destroy ammunitions as well as equipment. Can you give us a sense of that effort?

TAYLOR: At Kabul? Yes. You know, what I go back to is, commanders on the ground retain that authority and the capability to remove or destroy equipment and weapons to ensure that those don't fall into the hands of anybody else.

REPORTER: Are we going to get an accounting of what has been destroyed, let's say Blackhawks or other equipment?

KIRBY: I think when the time is right, we'll be able to try to help better flush that out. Time is not right for that right now, Tom.

Barb?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGONN CORRESPONDFENT: Two quick questions, if I may? On the strike against the vehicle, do you -- the Central Command talks about secondary explosions, I think, in that, but do you actually have visual evidence that there were secondary explosions? Are you convinced that there were because that seems to be one of the potential contributing factors to civilian casualties? So are you -- are you certain there were secondary explosions? KIRBY: Yes.

STARR: I have just a follow up. You could say how you're sure?

KIRBY: No.

STARR: My other question is this. As we come down to the final hours, what advice or thoughts for American passport holders or green card holders who might be trying to get to the airport and get through, is there still time for them?

KIRBY: There is still time. And the State Department is in touch, we know, with additional American citizens. Again, given the tense security environment that we're dealing with, I think I'm just -- I think it would be better to just not to talk about it much more than that, but they are in contact.

Court?

REPORTER: What do you mean by there is still time that flights will continue tomorrow on the 31st?

KIRBY: I'm not going to get ahead of the actual operational schedule, Courtney. I'm not going to do that.

REPORTER: And then a little bit more on the continuing strike from ISIS-K. After the U.S. is completely out on the 31st, will you coordinate with the Taliban or give them notice if you plan to conduct more strikes against ISIS?

KIRBY: I think don't it is useful to get into hypothetical operations -- future operations one way or the other. The only thing I would tell you is that the president has made it clear that we will maintain robust, over-the-horizon counterterrorism capability, the kinds of capabilities that you've seen used in just the last 24, 36 hours, and we'll have the ability to act in ways that are in keeping with our national security interests and help prevent attacks on the homeland. We still have that capability. We will use that capability.

REPORTER: What is not hypothetical is the fact that the U.S. military have been coordinating with the Taliban on the ground for the last two weeks or so. And so to ask if you are going to continue coordinating with them, in this case, against ISIS-K is a hypothetical, will you continue to coordinate with the Taliban after August 31st?

[10:55:06]

KIRBY: I beg to differ. I actually think your question is entirely hypothetical about something that is entirely different than what we've been coordinating with the Taliban on over the last two weeks, which has been to help us get as many people on to that airport as possible.

I do appreciate the sense of the question. I am not trying to mock it. It is just that I don't think it is helpful for us to talk about what over-the-horizon counterterrorism capability is going to look like going forward and how we're going to execute it.

Suffice it to say, we have the capability. We've demonstrated that over just the last couple of days in strikes that were not coordinated with the Taliban and we have that ability to go forward.

REPORTER: And then does the U.S. -- does the Pentagon or CENTCOM or whomever it would be, have the authority to continue to conduct strikes against ISIS-K after August 31st or do those decisions have to go to the president on case-by-case basis?

KIRBY: The commander on the ground has the authorities he needs right now. I'm not going to talk about authority going forward. I will say this in terms of, I know what you're asking, specific approval authority for each and every strike. I won't talk about policy decisions going forward, except to say that the entire interagency, certainly the entire military chain of command understands the existence of this threat and the possibility of this threat to continue to exist over time and we have the capability to deal with it.

REPORTER: In talking to follow-up on these contacts with the Taliban, have there been contacts with the Taliban about the U.S. withdrawal that is going to be taking place right now and over the coming days to ensure that there are no misinterpretations of what is going on?

KIRBY: The short answer to your question is yes. Without getting into detail, our commanders on the ground remain in communication with Taliban leaders around the airfield to de-conflict and to prevent miscalculations and misunderstandings. And, so far, that communication has been effective.

REPORTER: -- to the withdrawal that's going on right now?

KIRBY: It does.

Nancy?

REPORTER: I'd like to ask you about or a follow-up to Adriss' (ph) questions. In the initial readout from CENTCOM on the strike over the weekend on the car bomb and the suspects, the U.S. said that, initially, the initial assessment was there were no civilian casualties. On what basis does the U.S. make that statement?

KIRBY: The initial statement that we are assessing and we have no indications at this time of civilian casualties, if I remember the statement exactly. And that was true when it was said. We also put in there, or the CENTCOM put in there, that we are assessing and we continue to assess.

REPORTER: But what I'm trying to understand is on what basis in the over-the-horizon capability are you making assessments on civilian casualties, how is that being done?

KIRBY: Because we're certainly -- we're looking at a variety of means of information and we're obviously collecting open press reporting and we're doing the best we can to try to understand the situation locally as best we can, and that would include discussions with the Taliban about what they might be seeing. So, there's a variety of ways that we are trying to do this assessment.

REPORTER: And then can I get more clarity on why we can't know the names of the ISIS-K suspects that were hit on Thursday? I'm having a hard time understanding. They were described as high-profile planners, facilitators. The president has said that we will hunt you down. Why can't we know who the you is?

KIRBY: Well, there will probably be a time when we can talk to you about the names. That is not the time right now. We are still dealing with, as we saw from last night's rocket attacks, very real, ongoing threats. And I think we're doing what we believe to be the prudent thing with respect to the release of information. We're giving you as much as we can and as close to real-time as we can but we're not going to be able to give you everything. And we talked about that a couple of days ago when we talked about the retrograde beginning, that there was going to be a more judicious approach about information release.

So, there will probably be become a time when we can be more forthcoming. Now, is not that time.

Let me go to the phones here. I haven't done this at all yet. Alex Horton?

Okay. We'll come back to you, Alex. Jeff Shogul?

REPORTER: Thanks. I have a question and it is difficult but I hope you can entertain it. According to Politico, the U.S. knew where the attack would -- or roughly where the attack would take place on Thursday and when it would attack, when it would take place. Why were there U.S. troops at that date at that time?

KIRBY: Jeff, what I could tell you is that we have been monitoring as closely as we can intelligence that led us to believe that we are in a very dynamic and in some cases specific threat environment, number one. And number two, as General McKenzie said, we're going to investigate, we're going to get to the bottom of what happened Thursday.