what is happening, getting the latest information on the situation on the ground and the latest on casualties. on the ground and the latest on casualties- casualties. briefly, because a number of casualties. briefly, because a number of guests casualties. briefly, because a number of guests i casualties. briefly, because a number of guests i have - casualties. briefly, because a i number of guests i have talked casualties. briefly, because a - number of guests i have talked to in the last hour, very knowledgeable, making the point they now totally anticipate that the americans and others will not be able to get the citizens out by the 31st deadline. are you hearing anything from the pentagon about whether fights are continuing or have been passed? we re not hearing anything official about whether are being paused or are continuing. we know the flights are continuing. we know the flights are taking off or have been taking off from a secure place within the airport. that the milita
our future insole, i think we have to end this and get back to living life without being in war all the time. life without being iand david, s in the coverage now and car meditators and partisans is the august 31st deadline, tremendous pressure on the president to move the august 31st deadline, as if that s completely up to the president of the united states in the country we are being driven out of absolutely right again, there is no happy ending when you lose. the president of the united states and his team are negotiating, as jake sullivan said yesterday, daily with the taliban about this. the taliban have said you have until the end of the month the president has said again, to his credit, that we have to make contingency plans if we are not done, we may have to do other things to protect our citizens. and i think there is a substantial incentive that the taliban to enable us to get
on all of it. but i just want to begin with afghanistan because that s where the pace of evacuations is really at an all-time high on the day president joe bide anne nounss he is sticking to his august 31st deadline, one week from now. for u.s. troops to leave the country. we are currently on a pace to finish by august the 31st. the sooner we can finish, the better. each day of operations brings added risk to our troops. but the completion by august 31st depends upon the taliban continuing to cooperate and allow access to the airport for those who we re transporting out and no disruptions to our operations. so here is what the president is saying, that the u.s. has helped evacuate more than 70,000 people since august 14th. 12,700 in just 24 hours. that is the largest number in a 24-hour period so far. you see the video there. planes leaving kabul about every
of that. secretary panetta, it s interesting to watch this from afar, because it does seem like both the white house and the taliban are making public pron pronouncements to they re kind of sending messages to each other through public pronouncements. the president is saying there are contingency plans being developed if they need to stay longer. it sort of sends a message to the taliban that, well, there are other options potentially, and yes, we want to stick to this, but don t push too hard because we have other options. the taliban is saying we re cutting off the road. we can stop afghans from actually getting to the airport. that might actually, you know, help the u.s. in terms of reaching the sticking to the 31st deadline in a sick way, because if they stop afghans from getting to the airport, then there s going to be nobody to take out other than u.s. citizens and european allies.
said they re speaking to about 500 of them. the other 1,000 they re not quite sure. they re trying to reach them. secretary of state blinken said he s concerned about the terrorist threat, neil. operating in a hostile environment controlled by the taliban with the very real possibility of an isis k attack. we re taking every precaution but this is very high risk. isis k being the islamic state in afghanistan. at the airport, the air traffic controllers are around the clock. a race against the president s 31st deadline. 19,000 people were evacuated yesterday. 80,000 since august 14 and including 4,500 americans and 1,500 still need to get out, this video from the 18th airborne corps show 5,000 americans still remain at the airport.