0 readout on that and also if they discussed the regional implications with respect to china and russia and how they are seizing on this the withdrawal. >> sandra: jacqui heinrich. thanks for joining us. >> martha: thank you. good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum in new york. breaking moments from now, for the first time, we will hear from our two top generals. mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs and lloyd austin, the secretary of defense who reportedly advised the president against a complete withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan. we have not heard from either of these individuals since kabul fell sunday and the country of afghanistan with it. no word when we'll hear from the secretary of state, anthony blinken who has been very quiet while all of this has been unfolding. remember, blinken said "kabul won't fall from a friday to a monday. it won't happen like that." that's exactly what happened. senator tom cotton, an afghanistan veteran will join us in moments. first, retired general david petraeus. he once led the coalition forces in afghanistan and a former director of the cia. thanks very much for being here today, general petraeus. what questions would you have for the leaders of our military as you look at the situation that is extremely tense as we try to get thousands out of afghanistan at this hour? >> that should be the focus. put the blame game behind us for now. that can be handled later. how can we meet the moral obligation particularly to the battlefield interpreters. they're crucial elements of what we did. they qualified for a special immigrant visa if they served two or more years on the ground. we owe them now. they put their lives and the lives of their families in jeopardy because of that service. what are we going to do to expedite what has been a terribly bureaucratic process for three administrations. keep in mind, that sid was approved at the end of the bush administration. we've never accelerated the process the way it should have been the case especially as the present administration and the desire to withdraw and this one carried through with that withdrawal. so that's i think the focus. also, what about all of the others that put their lives in jeopardy by their support for the united states. what is the process going to be on the ground? will the commander -- the senior state department and department of homeland security officials be empowered to make decisions on the spot? this is not something that can be micro managed from washington. finally, will we really leave at the end of the month if there's tens of thousands of afghans trying to get in to the airport when that date arrives? i think those are the real areas of focus. there will be lots i'm sure about what was advised, what was the intelligence and analysis provided. i don't think that's as important right now as meeting the obligation to those that are in harm's way, that they can't get on an aircraft and get to safety. >> martha: obviously all of your points are really important in terms of what will and should be asked in there. the august 31 deadline i think is something if you're holed up in your residence or the safe place that you're trying to stay in afghanistan right now and you're an american or someone that stood by us and fought for the cause alongside us, you're wondering if i don't make it out by august 31, what happens to me? we don't have a definitive answer to that. i hope we're about to get one. with regards to these arrangements with the taliban and trusting what they say, seems like they hold the cards right now, general. we're hearing things like this, like what we heard from the national security adviser, jake sullivan. let's play this quickly and understand -- we can't play it right now. they have come to the podium. general, we'll watch this. here we go. the joint chiefs of staff and the secretary of defense. >> thanks, john. i'm going to speak briefly and then turn it over to the chairman for an operational update. let me start by saying that we remain laser focused right now on hamed karzai international airport in kabul and on doing everything that we can to continue evacuating americans, allies, afghans who have worked alongside us and also other courageous afghans at special risk. to that end, i'm prioritizing three key concerns. first, the safety and security of our people and the people that we're trying to evacuate. as the chairman will brief you, the final elements of additional military forces continue to flow in to kabul with about 4500 in place as we speak. they're trained and equipped to defend themselves and their operations. there's been no hostile interactions with the taliban. and our lines of communication with taliban commanders remain open as they should be my second focus is maintaining security at the airport itself. in concert with forces from our allies, our troops have set up defensive positions around the airport and the airport is able to function safely. we don't take this for granted and i continue to be in daily contact with general mackenzie and commanders on the ground to make sure that they have what they need to keep it safe. my third area of focus, of course, is the pace. increasing the flow of aircraft and people out of kabul. we have flown out several thousand since the 15th of august and our goal is to be able to increase our capacity every day going forward. as we build out this capacity, we work hand and glove with the state department, which is leading the whole of government effort to notify and process american citizens who are leaving. and to urgently identify and process afghan applicants as well. we've dispatched small military teams to two of the airport gates to assist state department efforts as they evaluate and process individuals seeking entry. we expect to be able to augment that capability in the coming days. this is truly a team effort across the interagency. throughout all of this our u.s. service members are making exceptional efforts under challenging circumstances. showing their humanity and their compassion. so i want to thank them for their skill and their professionalism. it's not lost on me that even as we conduct this very important mission, we also continue to help our fellow americans deal with a new surge in the pandemic and the citizens of haiti deal with the aftermath of an earthquake. let me also thank general mackenzie and rear admiral vasely who is the commander going forward and general donahue of the 82nd airborne division. it is making an enormous difference. they know has i do that there's a lot of work to be done yet. now, all of this is very personal for me, this is a war that i fought in and led. i know the country, i know the people and i know those that fought alongside me. as i have said, we have a moral obligation to help those that helped us. i feel the urgency deeply. so i want to end with the word for the force and our military. i know that these are difficult days for those that lost loved ones in afghanistan and those that carry the wounds of war. especially now we mourn those that made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan. let me say to their families and loved ones, our hearts are with you. the u.s. military stands as one to honor those that we've lost. now, afghan war veterans are not monoliths. i'm hearing strong views from all sides on the issue and probably the way it should be. what is important that each of us will work our way through this in our own way. we need to respect that and we need to give one another the time and space to help do it. our greatest asset as a nation is the extraordinary men and women that volunteer to keep us safe and their families. we honor your service, we understand your sacrifice and we will never forget it. so with that i'm going to turn it over to general milley that can talk about where we stand operationally. >> good afternoon. thanks, mr. secretary. what i'd like to do is give you an overall situation update as of today and what our next steps are. currently the united states military is focused on the specific mission of conducting a noncombatant evacuation operation from afghanistan. this is likely to be probably the second largest neo conducted by the united states. our key tasks are to establish and maintain security at the kabul international airport. defend the airport from attack, evacuate all american citizens from afghanistan who desire to leave this country. evacuate any third country national for allies and partners as designated by the secretary of state. evacuate personnel with state department designated special immigrant visas. evacuate any other evacuees that the state department designates. the president of the united states made a decision the withdraw u.s. forces from afghanistan on april 14. since that date we conducted a deliberate and responsible draw down of u.s. forces to less than 1,000 with a specific task of securing the u.s. embassy and our diplomatic presence in afghanistan. since then the security situation rapidly degraded. today the situation is still very dangerous, very dynamic and very fluid. all of us can be proud for the soldiers, sailors and air men in this mission. they're currently in harm's way. that's our focus. there's plenty of time to do aars. right now our mission is to secure that air field, defend that air field and evacuate all of those that have been faithful to us. there's many postmortems on this topic. right now is not that time. right now there's troops at risk. we are the united states military and we fully intend to successfully evacuate all american citizens that want to get out of afghanistan. all american citizens that want to get out of afghanistan. they are priority number 1. in addition, we intend to evacuate those that have supported us for years. we won't leave them behind. we'll get out as many as possible. our troops in kabul are taking high risk to accomplish that mission. every minute these troops are on the ground making difficult decisions with incredible skill, incredible bravely and incredible valor. currently the security situation at the airport is stable. however, there are threats. we're closely monitoring those at any moment they could happen. we can identify them, if we identify them, we will take immediate military action without hesitation. in accordance with our rules of engagement. the taliban and every other organization knows it. the taliban are in and around kabul right now but not interfering with our operations. through the state department, the taliban are facilitating the safe passage to the airport for american citizens. that is u.s. passport holders. we also have a risk as you saw the other day of unarmed innocent civilians massing on the air field where it is a safety hazard to our airplanes, crews and to themselves. we have that situation under control inside the air field. as many other risks out there and the troops are dealing with those every single day in the volatile environment which can and likely will change rapidly. let me make one comment on the intelligence. because i'm seeing all over the news that there's warnings of a rapid collapse. i have previously said from this podium and in sworn testimony before congress that the intelligence clearly indicated multiple scenarios were possible. one of those was an outright taliban takeover following a rapid collapse of the afghan security forces and the government. another was a civil war. a third was a negotiated settlement. however, the time frame of a rapid collapse was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months to years following our departure. there was nothing that i or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this government and this army in 11 days. central command submitted a variety of plans that were briefed and approved by the joint chief of staffs, the secretary of defense and the president. the plans are coordinated, synchronized and rehearsed to deal with these various scenarios. one of those contingencies is what we're executing right now. as i said before, there's plenty of time to do aars and key lessons learned and to delve into these questions with great detail. right now is not that time. right now we have to focus on this mission because we have soldiers at risk. we also have american citizens and afghans that supported us for 20 years also at risk. this is personal. we're going to get them out. we in uniform have a deep commitment to this commission. let me give you an operational update. the security situation as i said is currently secure at this time. since 12 august we deployed two united states marine battalions, one battalion from the minnesota national guard, all three of those were prepositioned in theater, centcom aor as part of the contingency planning. we deployed the 82nd division headquarters and a brigade of the 82nd airborne division consisting of three battalions and enablers. finally, an infantry securing the u.s. embassy in kabul. in addition, we're operating on the ground with a variety of special operations forces. that in combination with the ground forces, we have some of the best soldiers and marines the world has ever seen. in total, there's 20 u.s. maneuver companies currently on the ground with about 4,500 troops and the flow continues. the president has authorized as you all know up to 6,000. on top of them is the united states navy and air force. we have multiple squadrons of f-18s, av8s, f-16s, b-52s and mq9s. we have attack and left helicopters. we're working with our allies and partners through british infantry rifle country and special forces on the ground working with us. also turkish security force and other special operations forces. this force is capable of extracting a significant amount of people on u.s. air force aircraft. we're averaging 20 sortees every 24 hours. as the secretary said, we have already evacuated approximately 5,000 people and intend to increase it. in addition to the military air flow, there's commercial and charter flights taking out evacuees from various other countries and ngos. the military side of the air field is open and the civilian side is open and intend to keep them open for military, commercial and charter flights. one caveat is that the air for examples have to come in by visual flight rules only. the state department is working to rapidly increase the flow of passengers, available to get out on the aircraft and fully supporting them with our military personnel at the entrance gates. this highly dynamic department, there's unexpected challenges that will continue to occur. we rely heavily on the talent, skill and training of our troops. we've got great people across the ranks and services out there right now on this mission. in addition to afghanistan, which is our main effort, we're conducting humanitarian assistance in haiti in the aftermath of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake with a significant loss of life. on the west coast, we're fighting wild fires and conduct covid support and other operations around the world. as we reflect on these difficult and challenging times, every soldier, sailor, airmen, marine, coast guard that has fought or conducted operations in afghanistan, almost 800,000, should hold their head high. for more than 20 years, we have prevented an attack on the u.s. homeland. 2,448 lost their lives. 20,722 were wounded in action and many others suffered the unseen wounds of war. to each of them, i want you to know personally that your service mattered. as the secretary said, for both he and i, this is personal. i know it's personal for each and every one of you. thank you. >> we'll go to questions. bob? >> thank you, john. the question for each of you gentlemen, if i may. mr. secretary, you mentioned the urgency of ramping up the pace of the evacuation. so you have a safe passage agreement with the taliban. but in fact in some cases american citizens, afghans that are at risk are being advised to go to the airport are unable to get in the airport because of taliban checkpoints and so forth. so are you considering other ways that you can get around that problem by, for example, sending forces out beyond this airport to collect people and bring them -- escort them in to the airport? if i may ask general milley, with the rapid collapse of the afghan forces, there's large amounts of weaponry out there right now that were surrendered or abandoned by the afghan forces or captured by the taliban. are there ways you can -- are you considering ways that you might destroy some of that equipment to avoid it falling into the taliban's hands? >> thanks, bob. in terms of whether or not we intend to send forces outside of the air field to collect american citizens or afghans that are special immigrant visa applicants, the forces that we have are focused on security of the air field. you know how important that is and you know what happens if we lose the ability to provide that security. so i don't want to detract from that. we have to make sure that we secure the air field but defend it as well. because there are a number of threats still in the environment. i certainly don't want to do anything to make the air field less safe and we won't do that. but we will continue to coordinate and de-conflict with the taliban and make sure those people that need to get to the air field have the right credentials to ensure passage. the taliban has been checking those credentials, if they have them, they have allowed them to pass. >> on the equipment, bob, we have capabilities but i'd prefer not to discuss any operations other than what we're doing right now in order to get our evacuation and get that complete. there will be another time to discuss future operations. >> i would like to press both of you on the same points. general milley, you're saying one of your tasks is to evacuate all american citizens that desire to leave. there's americans clearly all over kabul, may be americans in other parts of the country. how can the u.s., the pentagon live up to that task of evacuating all americans? because we continue to see the violence just outside the airport and how would you get them and around the country unless you go get them? >> two things, barbara. one is the state department as you know, as i've said, is working with with the taliban to facilitate save passage of americans to the airport. and that's the primary means and under the current conditions that's the primary effort. we have capability to do other things if necessary. >> can i ask you what that means? you also said there's international special force there's that have the capability to extract in those words, you would go get people. >> that would be a policy decision and if directed we have capabilities to execute whatever directed. >> thank you. >> i would draw a distinction between extracting someone in an extreme condition or circumstances versus going out and collecting up large numbers of american citizens. >> do you have the capability to go out and collect americans? >> we don't have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people. >> you have 5,000 u.s. military personnel on the ground securing the area. you have small groups of taliban fighters outside there who are holding the potentially second largest neo that could be undertaken. you have the capability to get there. how do you get those people inside so that they can actually get on those planes? both of you have served in major command roles inside afghanistan. did you not see the possibility that the afghan security forces were not up to this fight? >> we continue to work with the state department, officials on the ground to improve the procedures, you know, at the entry points to make sure we can speed up the process of getting people in and move them onward. so the state is deploying more counselor officers to help with that. as i stated earlier, we're going to push more military assistance down through the entry points to facilitate these efforts. we're really working hard to get as many people through as possible. quite frankly, we're not -- it's obvious we're not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through. so we're going to work that 24 hours a day, seven days a week. we're going to get everyone that we can possibly evacuate evacuated. i'll do that as long as we possibly can until the clock runs out or we run out of capability. >> also the afghan security forces, did you feel that they were ever up to this fight or did you not see this coming that they were not up to the fight? >> i stood behind this podium and said the afghan security forces had the capacity. they had the training, the size, the capability to defend their country. this comes down to an issue of will and leadership. no, i did not, nor did anyone else, see a collapse of an army that size in 11 days. >> august 31 is the end date. at what point does the military think to carry out their owndeadline and do you regret not starting the evacuation earlier, about a day or two? get ahead of the curve. >> a great question. about what point do you we think about retrograding our own capabilities? that's the point before we put them in there. we know that we have to have the right mix of capabilities on the ground. we don't want to put excessive materials on the ground that are not relevant to what we're doing. we have to develop a detailed plan to retrograde our equipment and our people and synchronize that plan with our efforts to get as many people out as fast as we can, you know, with the time that we have available. that's something that we started thinking about very early on and something that we'll continue to think about and develop detailed plans for. >> are you regretting not starting the evacuation a few days earlier? >> who is that for? >> either one. >> we make plans for a number of things. as the chairman pointed out, as we did detailed planning throughout, we recognize there might be a point in time when we would have to conduct a neo. we position all the right forces in theater to be able to do that. we put forces on stand by in the united states to support that. you know, we also did -- were in support of the state-led siv applicant process throughout. we're doing everything we could at the right time. i think we've been pretty prudent in terms of thinking ahead and planning for contingencies and we're executing one of those plans right now. >> this question is for both of you. i'd like for both of you to answer. seems like i know we keep harping on the same thing. feels like the video is not matching the audio right now. seems to me like barring a lobotomy by the taliban, you have three pathways. one, expand the perimeter and get our afghan allies out. two, you can extend the august 31 deadline of withdrawing or three, you can just leave the tens of thousands of afghans is that helped us over the past 20 years behind. which one is it going to be? >> first of all, as i said, we're going to evacuate everybody that we can physically possibly evacuate. we'll conduct these -- this process for as long as we possibly can. we will continue to de-conflict issues with the taliban and we will stay focused on securing the air field. we cannot afford to either not defend that air field or not have an air field that is secure where we have hundreds or thousands of civilians that can access the air field at will and put our forces at risk. >> that doesn't answer the question. you say you're focused on the air field. these people can't get in to the air field. >> we're going to do everything we can to continue to try to de-conflict and create passage ways for them to get to the air field. i don't have the capability to go out and extend operations currently and to kabul. where do you take that? i mean, how far can you extend into kabul and how long does it take to flow the forces in to do that? >> so you're sounds like this depends on diplomacy with the taliban. that's our only option. getting them to agree to do this. >> let me add something here. we have a couple entry control points set up, a north one, east one and third one at the abby gate. they're manned with officers, marines. this is part of the perimeter. messages have gone out but various means of communication. they're being told to go to the gates. right now we're processing about -- the last report is 120, 130 an hour at the north, 350 an hour at the south gate. so right now there's a steady flow of people. now, as that goes on, i think those numbers will continue to grow and as those messages go out. i would tell you that for the american citizens, passport holders, the taliban and the state department are working out a facilitation measure. those numbers are likely to grow. for the others, state department is still working through exactly getting the procedures for the evacuees to get to the air field. >> okay. jen? how many us is taxpayer funded military aircraft have been flown out of the country and what are you doing to get those back? we've heard of afghan pilots taking the planes to third countries. general milley, you talk about the intelligence reports. there wasn't anything suggesting 11 days that kabul would fall. you mentioned there's some reports suggesting it could fall apart in weeks. if so, why did you abandon the bagram air field? why did the u.s. military pull out given the uncertainty? >> jen, in terms of the aircraft that have been flown out, that you mentioned earlier, i have received reports of a number of aircraft that were flown in to uzbekistan. how many, i don't have firm numbers on. in terms of what we're doing about them currently, right now, jen, we're focused on the air field and getting people out safely. so we're going to take that issue up at a later date. we're going to continue to try to gain greater fidelity on the issue as well. >> on your question of bagram. you know how big that is. securing bagram takes a significant level of forces and would take help from the afghan forces. our task was to protect the embassy. in order for the embassy personnel to continue to function with their services and all that. if we were to keep bagram and the embassy going, that would be a significant number of forces that would exceeded what we had. so had to collapse one or the other. a decision made from centcom and the commander on the ground to collapse bagram. that was all briefed and approved. we estimated the risk of going out of bagram about the same as kia. so kia was the better tactical solution. with the mission set we were given and accordance with getting the troops down to 600, 700 number. >> we have time for two more. i haven't gotten to the phones go to dan from "the washington post." >> thank you. general, a follow up on the bagram versus kia question. hkia has a single runway. we've seen that this week. bagram has two runways. it would have been easier to protect people once inside. is there any thought of retaking bagram to expedite this evacuation and if not why not? >> i won't -- good question. great question. i'm not going to discuss branches and sequels off of our current operation. i'll leave it at that. >> the last one goes to you. >> general milley, you keep saying nobody expected the collapse of the government in 11 days. the reality is the taliban started weeks ago. the question is if you think you had a moral obligation to the state department and the afghans for 20 years, should you have pushed harder when the offensive began to get these people out and the -- they may not be in the session they're in right now. if there's the de-confliction process going on right now, have you been asking them to allow the afghans through and has the taliban denied that request? is that why there's not some effort -- the embassy put out a statement today saying that there was -- the u.s. couldn't provide any safe passage for these afghans. is that because the taliban wouldn't allow that? >> it's a very dynamic environment as you imagine. of course, there's been things that have occurred that, you know, we do hear reports of people getting turned away from -- by checkpoints. we had gone back and tried to reinforce to the taliban that if they have credentials, they need to be allowed them. so that's working better than it was. quite frankly, we have -- you know, the major issue right now is processing the people that are there as fast as we possibly can. it's not a dearth of people getting there. it's being able to move the folks that are there through so that we can get them on aircraft. there's been some unfortunate incidents that i've been -- i've learned about. we continue to work to try to de-conflict and make sure that there's safe passage for the people that will try to get to the airport. >> have you asked the taliban to allow these afghans through and they declined? >> yes continue to work that. yes, we have. we have gone back and emphasized that people who are trying to get to the airport and have the right credentials need to be allowed through. >> right now the airport represents safety. the taliban are in kabul, worried that the longer they way to get there to security the airport, even if they wait there days to get on a flight. that's why there's this hurry to get them through. also the question of should you have pushed harder when it was clear that they were gaining momentum a month ago to kandahar and other places. >> well, like i said up front, there's plenty of time for this. focus on the mission, focus on the people getting out, the american citizens, the sivs, other afghans at risk. plenty of time to talk about regrets and et cetera. right now is not the time. >> thanks, guys. we have to go. thanks for your time. >> martha: all right. quite a lot there and a lot of questions that really still remain after this news conference. we're joined by general petraeus and in a moment we'll speak with general jack keane as well and also senator tom cotton is with us. first, to retired general david petraeus. what stood out to you here, sir? >> well, several items. first, let me come back to a question that you asked before this. do we have leverage? we have the might of the u.s. military. don't forget that. we can bring that to bear. second, their focus is appropriate on u.s. citizens. the commander announced that there couldn't be a more capable commander on the ground. he's done enumerable double digit duties to afghanistan. so huge capable individual. and this raises question. what are we going to do 31 august? should we go back to the embassy? questions about other air fields and the rest of that, which seem to be under consideration based on general milley. general milley and secretary austin, two extraordinary leaders and individuals with whom i was privileged to serve in combat on numerous occasions. >> general petraeus, thanks very much. good to have you with us today. the briefing was underway, the white house tweeting this photo of president biden being briefed by his national security team this morning. they were all in there. a lot of what we just heard was discussed in great detail in that room today. general jack keane is joining us in moments. first to arkansas senator tom cotton who completed a tour in afghanistan in the u.s. army. senator, a couple of things that stood out to me was one was sort of the phrasing that general milley said. he said the president made the decision on april 14 that we were going to leave afghanistan. so basically that's when they got their marching order and had to dial down the number of people at their disposal. twice we heard we don't have enough people essentially. we heard that we didn't have enough people to keep bagram air force base and the embassy safe. so we had to make a choice. the choice at that point was to go with the embassy. so they clearly said based on the prescriptive from the white house, they didn't have enough to do both. then we heard from general austin when it comes to going outside the airport, we could do that. we have the capability to go out and help lift people to safety in the airport but our primary objective is to defend the airport and we only have enough people to secure the airport. we don't have enough people at our disposal to go outside the airport. your thoughts on that and in general on what we just heard, sir. >> martha, the second point flows from the first point. it was joe biden's decision alone to pick 9-11 as what he viewed as a symbolic date. now the symbolism is the taliban flag flowing over the u.s. embassy on the 20st anniversary of 9-11. now we're trying to rescue thousands of american citizens behind enemy lines. it's important to get out the afghans that have helped out and vetted so as not to be a security threat but there's thousands in afghanistan. i'm glad to hear someone from the administration finally say that that is the first priority. as you heard secretary austin, we have no way of helping them get to the airport. the state department put out and advisory saying they cannot guarantee the security of americans getting to the airport. they're saying that our citizens are on their own trying to get to the airport we have secured. we've heard reports from people on the ground that's not the case with the british or the french. >> martha: that is incredibly frustrating and you can hear? general milley's voice, he said yes, we're going to get all americans out and all partners that want to leave. that is our priority. he said "we are going to get them out." i was disappointed we didn't have a more definitive answer to the august 31 question. they said we're going to do as much as we can with the resources that we have. what happens if you're not done and there's people that by that definition, americans or partners that we want to get out, they will get out. august 31 comes and goes. >> martha, i don't know. a very good question. august 31 is fast approaching especially when we have thousands of american citizens behind enemy lines that our government won't assure their safety. there's talk about whether this is like saigon in 1975. if we don't get the americans out, it could be like tehran in 1979 where a mere 52 hostages paralyzed america for more than a year. imagine if there were hundreds or thousands of effective american hostages that are trapped in afghanistan because of joe biden's chaotic disorganized ill-planned evacuation from that country. >> martha: let me ask you about this as well. the big story today is that the intelligence suggested that this could change rapidly, and that perhaps the taliban could force the afghan forces to fall and kabul to fall very quickly. we had push back from that on that by general milley. he said we basically looked at a lot of different scenarios -- paraphrasing here -- to a certainly extent. he said no intelligence said that this would happen in 11 days. we weren't prepared for that but we didn't have any input or intel that indicated that that was a situation that we had to prepare for. >> march that i don't want to get into classified assessments but i'll said anyone that has been involved on the inside whether in congress or the executive branch has known the situation is deteriorating rapidly. we pressed the biden administration first on how they planned to get american citizens out before the withdrawal and second how they planned to prevent afghanistan for becoming a safe haven for al-quaida and terrorists again. why never heard any answers. joe biden was acknowledging that he overrode the military advice, the department of defense. i think those chickening are coming home to roost now. his disastrous foreign policy judgment now that he's in charge after 50 years of not being in charge. >> martha: it's so clear this situation spun out of control. i think a lot of americans and a lot of people that fought in afghanistan as you did want there to be some accountability. our men and women on the ground, carry out the missions given to them, but they also want to know there's account ability in terms of what they expect at the higher levels. with regard to the state department, what do you think act the fact that we have not heard -- we heard from the deputy today. we haven't heard from the secretary of state anthony blinken at all at this point. there were some pointed comments made about the state department from the two generals that we just heard from saying that, you know, basically we can protect people once they get to the airport. the state department has to get them here. at this point we have planes that are leaving that are not full because the paperwork has not processed. we've been hearing stories about people waiting for months to get their visa paperwork processed. many have burned it because they're concerned if the taliban find it they'll kill them. >> it's time to hear from the secretary state. she shouldn't be hiding behind his deputy or a spokesman. it's the case that the military has gone into a very chaotic circumstance. they have secured the air field but only the air field. they have not gotten any americans out from behind enemy lines. it was the state department's responsibility for months to identify the americans and get them out just like any afghans eligible and vetted for security reasons to be able to evacuate as well. we have not heard from anthony blinken in three days now. >> martha: thanks. i'm join by phone by general jack keane, strategic analyst. did you hear anything in there that indicated to you clearly what the procedure is if they don't have everyone out as general milley said he was committed to do by august 31? >> no, i did not. that's the concern that i have here. clearly secretary is of defense austin and chairman of joint chiefs millie are committed to the mission. you can hear it in their voices. you can hear the fire in their belly about the frustration they're hearing over what is happening in afghanistan and the impact that it has. what i'm looking at is we've got a very challenging mission here. what we're going to have to come to grips with, do we want to accomplish this mission completely or not? if we want to do that completely and i suggest we do, it would be absolutely horrendous for us to leave these people behind. two things have to be done if we want to accomplish the mission. one is to make certain that we have all the resources that are available to accomplish this mission and even as contingencies arise. we don't have enough resources to do anything beyond defend the air field, then we must bring additional resources in to accomplish the mission. no matter what that is, whether we have to open up another air field, whether we have to have other gathering points where we can go pick people up from helicopters that we arranged with the taliban to do that or even if we have to open up corridors ourselves with our troops. are we going to accomplish the mission and we need more resources and get the resources in. the other thing i would have liked to have heard and i'm suspecting that the president hasn't given them a green light yet. he's holding that decision and maybe he already made that decision. the decision is we stay here as long as it takes to accomplish the mission. 31 august is no longer an end date. i heard secretary austin said we'll try to accomplish this mission within our capabilities or until the clock runs out. the clock runs out, i guess, 31 august. i know with confidence that austin and millie would want to stay there and accomplish this mission and get our people out regardless of how long it took or regardless of the amount of resources that are required to accomplish that mission. those are the two things that we still have to get some clarity on. >> martha: do you know -- i mentioned this earlier when i was asking general petraeus about and you're touching on it now and resources, numbers of people. they said we had to close bagram because we didn't have enough people based on what we were directed to do by the president of the united states, which is to draw down. he said we didn't have enough people to protect bagram and the embassy. so we did the embassy. then they said we don't have enough people to go outside the airport. we only have enough people to secure the airport. we can't help anyone out there. do you know if these generals have requested additional beyond the 6,000 or you think if they get 6,000 there they can start to expand that capability? >> i think that that comment -- the question and the response to that comment has absolutely nothing to do with what is taking place here. that is we were exiting afghanistan and wanted a task designed for the department of defense to make sure the embassy is secured. they took people out of their own resources that they had that did not go home to help security that embassy. that's what they're saying. what we have here is something that is completely different. now we have a major crisis on our hands and we have americans and our afghan co-workers, lives at risk. that changes everything. we have to get the right amount of resources in and take the time necessary to accomplish the mission. we don't need any arbitrary deadlines assigned to the pentagon to do that. it's what is required to accomplish that mission. get these people out alive. >> i sensed that there was more than general milley wanted to discuss or could discuss at this point with regard to the potential for reopening bagram, which has two airstrips as opposed to the one airstrip at karzai airport. we have reporting from john kirby off camera that said that an air force unit that can quickly reopen air fields is now in kabul. are you seeing any indications that reopening bagram is on the table? >> i haven't seen anything. i'm doing what most americans are doing, listening to the news. i never ever bother these people that are executing missions to find out what the hell is going on. that's troublesome for them. i don't do it. my sense is they have a number of contingencies that they're working. they can't tell us everything because the decisions haven't been received from the president. i'm sure they had a long meeting today and a lot of contingencies were discussed to include what do we need. do we need helicopter pickup points, another air field. i'm confident all of that got worked out. the decision surrounding that may not have been made yet by the commander-in-chief and authorizing them additional resources, additional time, et cetera. i suspect that is what is behind this. the other thing that i take away from it is the passion of both of them have for their own personal involvement in the 9-11 wars for 20 years and how many gold star letters these men have written over the 20 years. it's significant. understand, they feel the pain that many of our americans feel as well as what is taking place here. they're doing the best they can with the resources that they have. they need to get in my judgment more resources, more capability august 31 that will get the nd taliban's attention. the taliban knows we'll stay longer, they want us out of there. it will incentivize to help facilitate the movement of our people to the air field. >> martha: great point. as general milley said, we had 20 years with no attack thanks to the work of the men and women of the u.s. military service and also he said your service matters to those individuals that may feel despondent about what they're seeing right now. thanks very much. good to speak with you. so as we just heard, general milley says that the taliban are facilitating safe passive to the airport for american citizens that have their passports in hand. the state department concedes that that can't be guaranteed. in moments, jack carr says going forward in afghanistan, we would be wise to remember the past. first to rich edson with breaking news out of the state department. hi, rich. >> good afternoon, martha. sources on the ground in kabul tell us the idea, the trip of getting to the airport is extremely tenuous right now. there's taliban checkpoints they say throughout the city, around the airport and it's really hit or miss on who the taliban is going to let through, when they're going to let them through and reports of the taliban beating people trying to get to the airport. the state department told american citizens to shelter in place for some time. around 11:30 east coast time, this went out to american citizens in kabul "all is government provided flights are deporting. u.s. citizens should consider travelling to hamed karzai airport. the administration and the state department are ensuring that the u.s. and people there understand that the administration or the united states cannot secure safe passage to that airport. moving on beyond this. we've gotten accounts of what is happening today. this is from a former u.s. contractor. he's an afghan, he's in kabul. he said he worked with the state department for about a decade. he told us -- >> we have gotten no update from him since he sent us that this morning. meanwhile here at the state department, a brief ago short while ago. the deputy secretary of state wendy sherman acknowledged the problems in getting to the airport. >> there's military partners on the ground in kabul, engaging directly with the taliban that to make clear that we expect all people that wish to leave to do so safely. >> the state department has warned of consequences and has failed to detail the specifics of what that would be. back to you. >> martha: thanks, rich, at the state department. joining me now, jack carr, retired navy seal that led special operations teams and assault and sniper units in iraq and afghanistan. thanks for your service. thanks for being here today. you watched this news conference. you heard from the joint chiefs of staff, general milley and also from our defense secretary, general austin. what was going through your mind as you watched that? >> well, i'm going to try to remain respectful. they're making it very difficult on me these days. it was almost unbelievable. the one thing i liked that they talked about is having the evacuation of american citizens be their number 1 priority. so that -- i did like that. to hear that nothing indicated that the government was going to fallow this quickly, absolutely ridiculous. now we're relying on the good will of the taliban to get our citizens to the airport to evacuate them? there's a difference between being confident and being competent. these guys get up there time and time again and has done it for 20 years, acted confident, asked for more troops and more resources and more funding. said we're meeting our goals. now they're presiding over this disaster, a difference between acting confident and being competent. these guys, senior level military leaders have proven that they're lacking that competence. back in 2007, the colonel said as it stands now a private that loses a rifle suffers a greater consequence than a general that loses a war. that was 14 years ago. remains true today. >> martha: in terms of that, i heard you talk about that the other night in terms of accountability. we haven't heard from the secretary state, blinken. when you watch what unfolded in the last few days. the american people watch this closely as well. you know, if they make mistakes and people suffer, they can lose their jobs. what do you think should happen in terms of what has played out over the last weekend? >> as you know from your last book, "world war ii", before and during world war ii, we had general george marshall that held general accountable and fired people after he got people in the right places and that changed in vietnam. the last 20 years, nobody has been fired or relieved for their failures on the battlefield,