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Close to 20,000 Evacuees Remain at Kabul Airport; Deadly Firefight at Kabul, No U.S. Casualties; FDA Expected to Fully Approve Pfizer Vaccine Soon; Taliban Issue Death Sentence for Brother of Afghan Translator. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 23, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, August 23. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

[05:59:31]

And we do begin with breaking news. A deadly fire fight overnight at the airport in Kabul involving U.S., German and Afghan forces and an unknown gunman.

A source says it began when a sniper fired upon Afghan guards helping to secure the airport, killing one of them. At this point, we're told no Americans were injured.

This comes after President Biden's national security adviser told Brianna about the threat of a terrorist attack, the threat by the Islamic state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: The threat is real. It is acute. It is persistent. And it is something that we are focused on with every tool in our arsenal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Close to 20,000 people remain inside the perimeter of the airport still to be evacuated as outside Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover are growing increasingly desperate.

Over the weekend, at least seven Afghan civilians were killed in a crush of people stampeding outside the airport. And a source tells CNN that only American citizens, green card holders, their children and spouses, and NATO ally citizens will be permitted now through the gates.

Afghan special immigrant visa applicants and their families are not being allowed in. Those, of course, are Afghans whose lives are in danger because they helped American forces, many of them translators or cultural advisers.

President Biden says the U.S. may extend the Afghan withdrawal deadline past August 31 as evacuations continue. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're working hard and as fast as we can to get people out. We have made a number of changes, including extending access around the airport and the safe zone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, a senior administration official later clarified that it is the Taliban that is going to be opening these new entry points.

Also new this morning, CNN has obtained letters that the Taliban sent to the brother of an Afghan translator who worked with U.S. troops. One of the letters notifies the man that he has been sentenced to death in absentia, and he cannot appeal the verdict. We're going to have more on those here in just a moment.

I do want to go to CNN's Sam Kylie, who is at the airport in Kabul. He is joining us live now on the phone.

Sam, let's talk first about this firefight that happened overnight. What happened?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, amidst the intelligence reports, Brianna, of this real and persistent threat that is coming both from national security adviser but also the president and here on the ground, extreme nervousness and worry about the threat of ISIS, which is an organization pledged to ruin this process both for the Taliban and for international community and, of course, for the Afghans.

In the small hours of the morning, there was an exchange of fire beginning with a sniper attack that killed one Afghan soldier, had (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but four other -- people working with the coalition to secure the outer perimeter came under fire as a consequence, possibly, of friendly fire when they returned and shot back at the sniper, that it was mistaken by coalition troops as an attack on them, and they returned fire, so what is called a blue on blue attack.

So this is the (AUDIO GAP). This is the first known actual attack on the coalition and its allies here at the airport, Brianna.

BERMAN: I have to say, Sam -- it's John Berman here. And your reporting has been terrific at the airport. We're lucky to have you there.

But boy, could it complicate the process of getting people out if the people guarding that gate, that perimeter, come under attack. I do understand, Sam, you've also been able to speak with people who have gotten out. What have they told you?

KILEY: Well, John, they are very heartbroken but also very relieved to be able to get out. There are 20,000 people here. There are another many thousands pressing up against the only entry point, which is partial entry point at the British Camp Baron, where they are beginning to swell in numbers there. Before they can even get admission. These large numbers of people are being moved from the airfield. So this is what it looked like just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qatar (ph) Level 241, exiting the hold, inbound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two-four-one, copy. Follow your intervals. C-130, one-two-nine.

KILEY (voice-over): A massive multinational air evacuation is crowding the air space above Kabul. This Qatari flight is one of many coming to the rescue of thousands. The airplane brings its own security, as the airport is now under threat from ISIS terror.

(on camera): We've landed just a few moments ago here at Kabul International Airport, and clearly, the pace of evacuation has been picking up. There are planes leaving pretty regularly now, and large numbers of refugees, of evacuees getting ready to get on those flights.

This is a group that are heading into Qatar, where they're hoping then to either stay there or move on.

Qiam, you're about to leave. What is going through your mind and your heart at the moment?

QIAM NOORI, JOURNALIST BEING EVACUATED FROM KABUL: Yes. Actually I've told this many times that right now I have a mixed feeling, being a journalist myself, that probably I'm lucky enough to leave because of a lot of choices (ph) exist here. But I'm also leaving a family, a whole family behind and a lot of friends behind.

I don't know that -- how to describe this. Am I happy? Am I sad? With this government, with these new rulers, they -- I'm sure they will not leave us any space to be here.

KILEY: That must break your heart?

NOORI: Of course, certainly. That -- that has already broken. But that is reality.

KILEY: Your heart is already broken?

NOORI: Yes, yes, yes.

KILEY (voice-over): It's not just the personal tragedies that are so heartbreaking here. It is the tragedy of Afghanistan itself. For 20 years, so many millions of people believed that they would receive western support. They believed in the evolution of female education, of the arts of cinema. They thought they had a future.

Now, that future is getting on aircraft and leaving. As one of the evacuees just said to me, Afghanistan is seeing a total brain drain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KILEY: John, Brianna, there are now persistent threats around the airport, and it's -- as if tensions weren't high enough, there's also now statements coming from the Taliban spokesman out of Qatar, saying that as far as the Taliban are concerned, any plans that the United States have of extending the evacuation beyond the agreed August 31 date would be met with a negative response, in his words -- Brianna.

KEILAR: It would be met with a negative response. Do we have any sense, though, of what that is and what that isn't?

KILEY: Well, I think it's very clear that the Taliban are keen to integrate, to some extent, with the international community, to try to appear, at least, to be an inclusive government. So any kind of confrontation over a humanitarian mission at that time would have very negative consequences, frankly, for the Taliban. So I think they may well moderate their language, not least because they are in daily and regular contact with the United States, with Qataris, other members of the coalition as part of this humanitarian effort.

And they can all agree that the principle threat to the whole process at the moment is the so-called Islamic State, ISIS. But on top of that was the Taliban also have a growing potential insurgency just north of Kabul in the county of Veli (ph), where the Northern Alliance is beginning to regroup with certain members of the former Afghan army. And they have been clashing with the Taliban, and they've only got about 75,000 troops under their command to police a country of some 34 million.

So they need stability. They need friends. They need to be able to have the international community's help in order to move forward. So their rhetoric at the moment, in terms of making kind of veiled threats towards the United States and the coalition may be mitigated by the need to actually relate, in a sensible way, humanitarian disaster or to mitigate a humanitarian disaster, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. Which explains why you see the U.S. relying so heavily on the Taliban as they are coordinating. Definitely a new dynamic in Afghanistan at least for this moment of evacuation.

Sam Kylie, thank you so much for your essential reporting from the airport.

BERMAN: And I have to say, Brianna, in just a minute, we're going to have some of your essential reporting, which highlights the threats that are very real from the Taliban to Afghans and their families. Afghans who helped Americans here, including a death sentence to the brother of a translator. You'll break that in just a few minutes.

In the meantime, this morning we're standing by for official approval by the FDA of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. This is full approval, a step beyond emergency use authorization. It can't come soon enough in Florida, where the state is now seeing a record number of deaths.

Joining us now is Dr. Dave De la Zerda. He's ICU medical director and pulmonologist at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

Doctor, thank you for being with us. I know how hard you've been working. I want to get to the situation where you are. But first let me just ask about this looming, imminent at this moment, we think, full FDA approval for the Pfizer vaccine. What difference will that make to you?

DR. DAVE DE LA ZERDA, ICU MEDICAL DIRECTOR/PULMONOLOGIST, JACKSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL IN MIAMI: Good morning. So that is going to be a game changer for us. You know, some places including the hospitals, schools cannot enforce the vaccine for COVID. Now there is the approval to open that door to enforce vaccination here.

BERMAN: So we spoke to you a few weeks ago, and the situation was frankly bad where you were. What's happened over the last three weeks? What direction has it gone in?

DE LA ZERDA: It's continued to be very bad, worse than the last time that we spoke. Our ICU is now full of COVID. We have about 100 plus patients in the ICU, very sick all of them. And as we spoke the previous time, all of them have no vaccines.

[06:10:15]

BERMAN: No vaccinations among the people, for the most part, that you're seeing who are very sick. What's the range of ages?

DE LA ZERDA: So we continue seeing between 24 to 45. We're still seeing a few cases with older patients, but most of them continue to be 25 to 45.

BERMAN: What are the outcomes that you're getting from those 25- to 45-year-olds? Are they getting a hospital stay and then all getting out?

DE LA ZERDA: No. Unfortunately, around 50 percent are dying. And this is what we're seeing with the Delta variant. The mortality is much higher than previous times. I cannot fully explain why, but that's what we're seeing now.

BERMAN: Do you have a sense of how it is spreading around you at this point?

DE LA ZERDA: It seems like the Delta is pretty contagious, so one person can affect up to seven more of this. So here in Florida, as you know, we have no mask mandate. We have no social distancing. It's spread among the community.

BERMAN: How are you and your team holding out with all this -- all the people you're seeing?

DE LA ZERDA: We're trying our best. We give the best care we can. This time around, it's a little more upsetting in the sense like it's becoming a preventable disease. If you choose not to get vaccine, you choose to maybe go to the ICU. And that's what we're seeing now, a lot of people in the ICU with no vaccines.

BERMAN: And do you feel like the government -- the state government is working with you? DE LA ZERDA: Oh, I don't. We have a strong local government.

Unfortunately, the central government in Florida is not really working with us.

BERMAN: Dr. David De la Zerda, we wish you the best of luck going forward. I know it's tough. I know it's been long. I hope you get through and can see soon the other side. Appreciate it.

DE LA ZERDA: Thank you very much for having me. Thank you.

BERMAN: And I hope that full FDA approval is the game changer you hope it will be.

Coming up, we have brand-new audio of an Afghan air force pilot begging for help as the Kabul Airport has reportedly stopped accepting Afghans applying for special immigration visas.

KEILAR: Plus, I have some brand-new reporting about the brother of an Afghan interpreter who has been sentenced to death by the -- the Taliban. We're going to bring you excerpts of the threatening letters that he has received.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:48]

KEILAR: We do have some new details this morning about apparent retaliation by the Taliban against Afghans who worked alongside U.S. forces and their families.

I have obtained letters from the Taliban to the brother of an Afghan interpreter who worked with U.S. troops. And they accuse him of helping the Americans and providing security to his brother.

A final letter, the third of three, that he received notifies him of his guilt and a death sentence. It says this: "These court decisions are final, and you will not have the right to object. You chose this path for yourself, and your death is imminent, God willing."

These letters, of course, contradict assurances made by a Taliban spokesman at a news conference last week that they would not be retaliating against Afghans who helped America, as they were trying to project a more moderate image to the world.

And these letters are just one example of how the Taliban are directly threatening Afghans who did work with the U.S. We also have some new audio this morning of an Afghan air force pilot who worked, of course, alongside U.S. forces, and this pilot now pleading for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I worked shoulder by shoulder with the American guys. And saved many soldiers' life. Nowadays the American guys just left Afghanistan, and Afghanistan throw us into Taliban's hands. So the situation is getting worse and worse, and the Taliban is just trying to find us; and they're searching for us. And they called us, and they called me especially that we are (UNINTELLIGIBLE). They told me that anywhere I should go, anywhere I go, they will find me and they will kill me. I ask for American guys, please help us in this case. We need your help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That is audio that was obtained by international human rights lawyer Kimberly Motley. She has worked in Afghanistan for the past 13 years, and she's with us now.

You know, let's just talk about what we're seeing here. Let's first talk about the audio and what this means, Kim. What more can you tell us about what these pilots are going through?

KIMBERLY MOTLEY, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: Well, good morning, Brianna. Thank you for having me.

These pilots are extraordinarily terrified for their safety, for the safety of their families. I think that they don't believe that the amnesty that the Taliban is claiming that people are getting will really actually apply to them.

It's a very, very precarious situation, especially for, I think, the pilots and those that have fought alongside international soldiers.

KEILAR: Well, look, even speaking to the letters that I was able to obtain, this includes, as well, the family members of interpreters. You know, right now, you have interpreters -- it's unclear if they're all going to get out.

Their family members like, say, their brothers in the case of this letter, may not qualify, probably don't qualify for any relief from the State Department.

So not only do you have Afghans who actually are legally eligible for relief, you have those who aren't, who are very much living under threat. What is it like for them?

MOTLEY: I mean, again, I think it's very terrifying for them. And I think we really need to work towards, you know, helping those, as you said, that aren't -- frankly aren't going to leave the country.

[06:20:11]

You know, if this new government wants any credibility, then they need to basically really have some type of summit or something in Doha, which includes Afghan women leaders, Afghan women youth that can carve out exactly what their future means and what their rights are with the backing of the international community.

And I think that we as an international community, especially the diplomatic community, really needs to talk about conditional aid and to back up summit talk to happen in Doha with, you know, such leaders because, as you guys have been reporting on, you know, there's 77,000 Taliban soldiers for a company of -- a country of 38 million people. And you now are in charge of this country. So you now bear the

responsibility to make sure that there is order and protection that's maintained within the country. And obviously, that has been very challenging for this new government.

KEILAR: We have learned today special immigrant visa holders and applicants. So this would be the umbrella term for those Afghan translators and cultural advisers who worked with U.S. troops, as well as their family members. They're not being allowed inside the airport. What are your concerns?

MOTLEY: Well, my concern is, again, is for their safety. I mean, my -- my role is to try to do what I can to try to protect, you know, Afghans. That's extremely concerning. It -- it seems as though that's very contradictory to what the message is of those in the upper government, upper levels of this new government who are proclaiming that there's going to be amnesty for such people.

So I guess there needs to be more action, not just words by this new government. I think that they really -- obviously, they're engaging with the international community, it sounds like, that there needs to be sort of really conditions on how we're moving forward, because basically, a lot of the people, they're just doing a job. It's not as though they're trying to -- I mean, they were following along, doing a job. They have family members. And they have the right to have freedom of movement like everyone else in Afghanistan. So it's extraordinarily concerning.

KEILAR: Kimberly, I know that you're going to continue your work. I'm sure that you have just been working all hours on this. And we appreciate you being with us to talk about it. Kimberly Motley, thanks.

MOTLEY: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: So we're standing by this morning for the FDA's expected approval of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. What is this going to mean for vaccine mandates in schools and also businesses across the country?

BERMAN: Plus, an entire school district in West Texas in quarantine amid a huge coronavirus outbreak. We have that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:16]

BERMAN: This morning, we are standing by for official full approval by the FDA of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. Full approval appears to be imminent. I'm talking within minutes or hours.

How big of an impact will that have for some Americans who have not been vaccinated? CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now.

And Kristen, look, people have given a bunch of reasons for hesitancy. But one of them you hear is, Oh, there's not FDA full approval. I'm curious to see if this actually changes their minds.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, you're right. This is the big question here, but legal experts, health experts that we've talked to say that full approval will at least give these organizations, companies, schools, the legal cover they need to mandate the vaccine, thus forcing some unvaccinated Americans to get that shot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Flight 1754.

HOLMES: From businesses who say it could speed things up --

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: We're going to require everyone to be vaccinated if they work at United Airlines. October 25 or 45 days after the FDA has final authorization for the vaccine.

HOLMES: -- to government --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will vaccinations be required of state employees?

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D-LA): You know, that's not under consideration, unless and until the FDA grants full license to one or more of the COVID vaccines.

HOLMES: -- to everyday Americans.

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, PROFESSOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, BROWN UNIVERSITY: This FDA approval cannot come a moment too soon. With this full approval in hand, we're going to have a chance to message again about the safety and effectiveness of this vaccine.

HOLMES: Health officials expect the Food and Drug Administration's full approval of the Pfizer vaccine to be a game changer.

And now, administration officials tell CNN that full approval could come as early as this week.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: For businesses and universities that have been thinking about putting vaccine requirements in place in order to create safer spaces for people to work and learn, I think that this move from the FDA, when it comes, will actually help them to move forward with those kind of plans.

HOLMES: Currently, the COVID-19 vaccine has only been approved through emergency use authorization. The FDA says it has brought in extra resources and is working around the clock to work through the full approval.

In a statement attempting to assure Americans on the safety of the vaccine, quote, "The FDA conducted a thorough scientific evaluation of each of the authorized vaccines and can assure the public and medical community that the vaccines meet FDA's rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality." But government officials and businesses say full approval will give

them more legal protection to enforce vaccine mandates. The Pentagon planned to make the vaccine mandatory by the middle of next month or sooner, based on approval timing.

Alaska Airlines is considering vaccine mandates for its roughly 20,000 employees, but only when at least one vaccine is fully approved.