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Top Pentagon Officials Speak on Afghanistan Withdrawal; Police in Winston-Salem, NC, Confirm Shooting at High School; Officials: 1 Million-Plus Without Power in LA, MS & Water, Gas Shortages as Temps Rise. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 01, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: And what I am curious about is, what do you see in the country with troops, with veterans, that makes you feel -- it's a rare thing -- that makes you feel these messages must continue. And you have put out so many in the last few days?

General Milley, you used the words "pain" and "anger" that you understood was out there. And as a combat veteran yourself of Afghanistan, can you help people understand that? Where does your pain and anger come from?

If you could both answer your views on this?

GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I will start by saying, Barb, that this is the longest war in our history. And so there have been a couple of generations that participated in this war.

And as we have gone about, I've gotten input and reactions that are from all sides of this issue. And as I said in my opening statement, that's to be expected. Of course, I respect that.

And I think we have to provide ourselves the time and space to adequately deal with everything that our veterans have been through.

And we will work through those issues. And the system will be there to support our veterans as we work through those issues.

I just think, again, we need to respect each other's views and be supportive of each other.

One thing I would say, Barb, is that people will process this differently. And for those who need help, please seek help. We are there for you.

You heard me say a number of times before, you know, mental health is health, period. So this will take time to work -- for people to work their way

through. And there are varying opinions on each side of the aisle and that's to be expected and respected, so.

STARR: Can you -- (INAUDIBLE)

(CROSSTALK)

STARR: There's a question for you both, General Milley.

GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: So, Barbara, you asked where my pain and anger comes from, I have all of the same emotions. And I'm sure the secretary does. Anyone who served.

And I commanded troops. And I was not born a four-star general. I walked through patrols and been blow up and shot at with RPGs and everything else.

And my pain and anger comes from the same as the grieving families and the soldiers on the ground. And last night, I visited the wounded up in Walter Reed.

This is tough stuff. War is hard. It's vicious. It's brutal. It's unforgiving.

And, yes, we have all pain and anger. And when we see what unfolded over the last 20 years and the last 20 days, that creates pain and anger.

Mine comes from 242 of my soldiers killed in action over 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, yes, I have that.

But I am a professional soldier. I will contain my pain and anger and continue to complete my mission.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to go, guys. Thanks, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER -- back to Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: General Milley --

(CROSSTALK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: That was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as well as the Joint Chiefs chairman, General Mark Milley. They are addressing not just the people but a message largely focused on the military with them in mind as the audience.

And I want to bring back my guests that we were discussing prior to those remarks, that briefing.

And let me start with you, General Clark, because you got interrupted as we went to that. As you were listening, I'm sure it stood out that there was victory

lap here. There was no talk about winning or losing. And the tone was somber and there was talk about pain. And there was talk about anger around the situation.

But there was also a lot of talk about pride in the members of the military. How do you think that message was received?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it will be very well received. It was a very strong message.

It did have a lot of emotional content in it. I think it did express conflicting feelings and concerns that all of the people that served there have had. And I think it's the kind of message that the troops can understand and relate to.

When Mark Milley says he's a professional soldier, that's what we are listening to. That's what our troops believe in. He's the symbol, the top man in uniform.

And I thought he did very well. I thought the secretary of defense struck just the right tone.

And I thought it was a good briefing. And they told of the magnitude of the operations as well.

And a lot of our allies and those that would wish us harm have to look at that. No one else could have done the mission the way we did it.

CABRERA: It's interesting to hear that message coming from the U.S. And there was still a lot of uncertainty how they responded to questions related to what is next in terms of the threat of the Taliban or the threat of ISIS-K in the region.

And already, Sam Kiley, I know the Taliban is coming out with a very different tone than what they had with the evacuations still under way there in Afghanistan?

[13:35:07]

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they remain -- they are still putting out a conciliatory tone.

And they are telling their troops to behave with respect towards the population. The populations of people that were on the other side of this war, particularly government officials but also journalists and so on.

A very different attitude than they back struck in 1996, when they came to power.

They are being held to that, particularly here in Doha, where arguably the diplomates out of Qatar have the best inroads. They've got the ear of the Taliban.

They're not allies of the Taliban at all. But they do and can relay messages from themselves and the international community for the Taliban to continue to act the way they said they will act, which is to moderate their whole approach, when they form a new government, one of civility.

The problem with it is that all of the Taliban's statements are in the context of their interpretation under Sharia Law, and that, of course, is open to interpretation. And in the past, it has been extremely draconian.

I think the combat veterans not only in United States and across Europe and NATO, they will struggle with, have they fought the 20-year war to only see Afghanistan return to the same place it was in 2001, or be it perhaps minus the capacity at this stage to allow groups to prosecute the 9/11-style international act of terrorism?

The Taliban will be facing continued insurgency from ISIS-K. And they are having to fight in the country north of Kabul, the last holdout of former government supporters. So they have a lot on their plate in Afghanistan.

But from a Taliban perspective, they won. They won and they will be saying nobody retreats quite as efficiently as the United States of America and its coalition partners.

They will inevitably and have been having victory parades, particularly in Kandahar today, which is the heartland of their support and where all their movement began -- Ana?

CABRERA: Oren, one thing that was interesting is when they discussed this new chapter in the mission regarding Afghanistan.

We heard from the secretary of defense that, you know, the next chapter looks like relocating, you know, the tens of thousands of people who have evacuated, the ones that did get out.

And yet, there was not a direct plan for the 100-plus Americans who are still trapped in Afghanistan, who, we're told, do want to leave. I thought that was interesting.

What do we know about that 100-plus that is still there, Americans in Afghanistan? Why weren't they able to get out?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There was some brief discussion about this in the course of the last few days and almost none at all from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley. They did not address this.

There were issues with they had to stop bringing Americans 12 hours before the last flight for operational reasons and the wrap-up of the U.S. forces there. But they acknowledged there's still 100 or 200 Americans in the country looking to get out.

But -- and this was something we heard just in the press conference here -- it's a diplomatic mission, such that the effort to get those Americans out are not going to rely on U.S. forces or Special Forces going in and grabbing them and getting them and putting them on a military flight.

It's now a diplomatic effort through the embassy working out of Doha, Qatar, working with other countries, perhaps the Bahrainis or others, to try and locate those Americans and get them out.

There has been in the course of the past few days of the evacuation, coordination with the Taliban to move Americans to the airport.

General Mark Milley addressed this. And he said you do what you have to do to minimize your risks, not necessarily what you want to do.

Is there a possibility that some effort of coordination with the Taliban to get those last Americans out continues? And of course, that's a possibility. But not through the military, as we understand now, but instead through the State Department, through a diplomatic effort.

Again, we certainly want to know more about the efforts to get them out but it simply was not something that came up a lot here.

And if it did come up, I suspect it would have kicked over to the State Department and viewed it as a diplomatic mission under State and not a military mission under Defense.

I'll point out one other thing I thought was interesting. They both acknowledged the end of war. Yet, the end of a war has winning and losing. But there was no talk of winning or losing, only references to it, both from Austin and Milley.

And I want to quote here. Austin said, "Lessons were learned. We will learn every lesson we can from how this ended."

And Milley said, "This moment will be studied for years. The military will approach this with humility and transparency. And there are many tactical, operations and strategic lessons to be learned."

[13:40:04]

I think that's a very clear statement that this is not how the U.S. wanted it to end or this is not what a U.S. victory looks like.

CABRERA: General, on those lessons to be learned, what stands out to you?

CLARK: I think the first thing is the need to be culturally adept when you go into a mission like this, to have clear instructions, to have -- as President Biden said, what is the end state that we are looking for? Is it realistic? Is it obtainable with the forces and capabilities we will put in there? That's the second thing.

The third thing is you have to have the ability to sustain the force and execute the other missions simultaneously.

Unfortunately Afghanistan, the mission there became what we would call an economy of force mission early on. People took their eye off the ball and got ready to go into Iraq. And

then they mixed up the counterinsurgency, the counterterrorism, the cultural efforts, trying to educate women, trying to build schools and other things.

They got the negotiates, in my view wrong. You negotiate when you are building strength, not when you are trying to come out and cut strength because you lost your leverage.

Of course, you could hope you never have a successful to something if you cut your allies out of the talks.

I know they were cut out because people didn't like Ghani, the president, because he seemed like too hard of a liner. Of course, he wanted to hold onto his position and keep the government in place.

And what we wanted was out, so we didn't have congregant objectives with our party, with our government that we put in place at the end.

There's a lot of lessons here about the military at the tactical and operational level as well as diplomacy on how you pull that altogether.

I want to say one other thing, Ana. The U.S. military would study this whether we came out with a victory parade or we came out the way we did, because this is what we do in the United States armed forces, we always do lessons learned through after-action reviews.

I think what Mark Milley was trying to say and Secretary Austin was saying, we are going to do it, we'll do a thorough job, and I hope it will bring together the whole interagency, the diplomats on this, some of the so-called gray beards who were there at the beginning and let them unload.

We've got a lot of pent-up lessons learned and emotions about this from all those who served at various times. And there are many valid points to be made and studied and, in some cases, refuted.

So it's going to be quite an endeavor.

CABRERA: General Clark, thank you for being with us. And thank you for your service.

And, Oren and Sam, thank you as well for being part of the conversation.

Now to the southeast. Out of power, dangerous heat. The situation there growing more and more dire, especially in Louisiana where residents are scrambling to find food and gas. I'll have the latest on Hurricane Ida's aftermath, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:32]

CABRERA: We're following breaking news out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Authorities are reporting on a school shooting.

CNN's Martin Savidge is following the details as they come in.

What do you know, Martin?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, this is occurring at Mt. Tabor High School, which is located northwest of the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Local reporting is that, around noon, there was a call that came in from that high school from a local resource officer of a shooting that had taken place on the school campus.

It's a fairly sized school, 1,600 students, grades nine through 12.

Winston police put out this statement saying, "Mt. Tabor High School is on lockdown. There was a shooting on the school property. We and the SWPD have secured the campus and are doing everything possible to keep students safe. We are actively investigating what happened. We will share confirmed information when that is available."

The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office also arrived on the scene.

What would typically happen in a situation like this, if there's no active gunfire, then officers would make a controlled entry to the campus. It's likely to have a number of buildings.

The sheriff's department would get one sector and the police get another. They would do a sweep, checking on where children are. If they can, put them in a central part of the school and begin to take them to other places off campus.

We don't know if that's happening at this time. It would be and has been the standard procedure in incidents like this in the past that we have covered.

Again, a shooting has taken place at Mt. Tabor High School. Winston- Salem police are on the scene with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department as well.

No reports of anyone wounded. No reports of anyone in custody. But authorities are there and working the scene. We will bring you more when we have that -- Ana?

CABRERA: Absolutely. We'll stay on top of that. Reports of a school shooting in North Carolina.

Martin Savidge, thank you.

Unbearable conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi now, days after Hurricane Ida's devastating impact. Over one million people still without power. And for some, it could stay that way for weeks.

Many also without water, without cell service. Gas stations are now running out of fuel. All of this as sweltering heat moves in.

The category 4 storm being blamed for at least five deaths since Sunday. High-water vehicles today are still searching parishes.

[13:50:02]

And just look at what's left behind of Grand Isle. It is now uninhabitable. And 100 percent of the structures there damaged.

CNN's Ryan Young is in New Orleans where the heat index is expected to top 100 degrees today.

It is obviously super humid and hot, Ryan. That's just compounding the misery for so many people where you are.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you just can't get comfortable, Ana. People come out and talk about they don't have air conditioning or a refrigerator to keep their food cool.

On this street alone, you have so many people who are senior citizens and they're trying to figure out exactly what to do with all the food they have that they'll have to start throwing out soon.

One of the other things people are looking for is ice. That's starting to melt in these coolers.

At night, when you try to sleep with no air conditioning, it's very tough to get a good night's sleep because it's so hot here.

It's stuff like this, trees on top of houses. In this house right here, we talked to a woman who was on the inside when it came down. She's been through dozens of storms and said there was nothing like the power of the storm when the wind came through.

This woman said she doesn't think she'll ever decide to go through a storm again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA GAIENNE (ph), RESIDENT: Believe me, I never -- I didn't stay for Katrina. And I don't think I'll ever stay again. This was catastrophic.

My heart aches because we've gone through so much. We've gone through Katrina. We got back on our feet. Then COVID and now this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Now, you think about all this being compounded with root systems like this, with trees everywhere. Crews are trying to get out to get these folks out. There's mud everywhere.

And then you think about the hospitals that are running low on fuel. The National Guard is now bringing fuel to the hospitals so they can get those generators energized because, obviously, you have that critical care that needs to be taken care of.

On top of that, EMS is seeing a spike of a 195 percent more calls into the center to get people out of areas just like this one. In fact, there was a house that was nearby here that 12 people had to

be rushed to the hospital. Why? There was a generator on the inside of the house. Seven children had to be taken to the hospital as well.

So think about that. People are running generators trying to stay cool. At the same time, you can't have them on the inside. But people are fearful because they know if they leave it on the outside, someone could try to steal it.

There has been looting. There have been warnings from officials that say, hey, look, we'll have police officers out there.

But you know if people get desperate and the lines get longer and longer at gas stations and people are looking for water, people are starting to do desperate things.

You can understand how dangerous this can be in the next few hours with people running generators and looking for some sort of rest from this heat that is pretty oppressive at this point -- Ana?

CABRERA: Ryan Young, thank you.

Let's bring in Tom Foreman for more on these power outages and gas shortages.

Tom, some people are facing the possibility it could take a month for power to be restored. Where exactly and why so long?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's take a look at the numbers. New Orleans, which is about a quarter of the population of the state of Louisiana, they're showing 983,000, a little bit more customers.

There may be more than one person connected to each customer so a tremendous number of people there. In Mississippi, a much smaller number there.

But let's talk about what Ryan talked about a minute ago. Let's look at some video.

There's some power coming on in a few places. New Orleans east, a little bit in mid-city, some over in the warehouse district a little bit, it's coming on slowly, very promising sign.

New Orleans and Louisiana has some of the highest electricity use per capita in the entire country, in part, because almost every place has some kind of air conditioning. That's the only way they endure the soaring heat and the humidity that goes with it.

Gas stations, that is a challenge. You're looking at one there.

If you look at the basic services, Baton Rouge right now, the percentage of stations that have no gas, 52 percent, almost 53 percent. Baton Rouge not hit as hard as New Orleans, where it's 52 percent, also. No gas there.

Lafayette, down at about 13 percent. Lafayette did much better than people thought at one point.

Beyond that, there were other difficult things to deal with here, beyond fuel -- dwindling water, food, medical supplies.

If you don't have electricity, you don't have air conditioning, you don't have freezing. Hard to keep a lot of these things flowing properly.

Limited flights in and out of the airport.

What they're trying right now is to get power back to the main services, first responders, hospitals, nursing homes, things like that, and then into supermarkets, ice suppliers, things like that.

It's taking time. They're making some progress. But, yes, for some people it may take a couple of weeks, for others, it may take a month.

[13:54:59]

CABRERA: Not fast enough for most people in that area. We saw the images in Ryan's report of all those downed trees on top of power lines.

FOREMAN: Yes, absolutely.

CABRERA: So you can see how much work there is to be done.

Tom Foreman, thanks for breaking it down for us.

FOREMAN: Thanks.

CABRERA: That does it for me today. Thank you all for joining us. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera, and we'll keep the conversation going there.

The news continues next with Alisyn and Victor.

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