we never have and we never will know how to do that. that is tonight s last word, the 11th hour with brian williams starts now. good evening once again, i m chris qian sitting in for brian williams. day 220 for the biden administration, which is now trying to turn the page on the exit from afghanistan and the chaotic evacuation. this afternoon about 24 hours after the last 17 cargo plane took off from kabul, president biden stepped to the white house dining room to offer a defense of his decision to end america s longest war. no nation, no nation has anything ever done like this. the success of this mission was due to the incredible skill and bravery of the united states
not get too close to cause contamination with the coronavirus. it s a very tough situation. because the solution chris, is that you need twice as many shelters. because we have to keep people separated. and we don t really have that in very many places. now before i let you go i have to ask you about this new research from south africa, that flag then you see one to variant for the world to monitor. what do we know about. it should we be worried? i m not worried. most people are not worried about. it we ve noted sit, it s not even a variant of interest. no less a variant of concern. which are the words that we start to pay attention. right now it s just a newly identified very, and we will have to see how that unfolds. hopefully it will not be a cause for too much concern or trouble. but we will have to watch. it s a reminder that variants are constantly developing. constant mutations. and we have to track in surveil those, as carefully and as effectively as we possibly can.
afghanistan is not just about afghanistan. it is about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries. yeah, i think, chris, the bet that joe biden is making, is that this is about bringing an into the post 9/11 period. that these missions that set an achievable objectives and have cost rulings of dollars and are unsustainable and what he is saying is that i am not going to continue those policies that have demonstrably not succeeded at huge cost. and also, importantly, he is saying, look, part of the reason we need to end these wars, is that we need to focus on a new set of challenges. we need to focus on the challenge from china and the threat to democracy from russia. we have to focus on climate change. we have to do work on our democracy at home. and i think the biden presidency, as it interacts with foreign policy, is saying,
intelligence and, in some cases, cooperation from partners, is ultimately a more sustainable way to defend the country, then having this kind of ground presence like we had in afghanistan. i think that holds up if you look at the experience in recent years, with one big question mark, chris, which is that we don t know with the taliban is going to do when they are in charge. are they going to passively allow for a group like isis safety? are they going to allow groups like they have had connections to in the past? they are for making a case for more military action. we don t know that. and we will have to watch that in the coming weeks and months. to determine whether or not obviously the taliban poses risk to the afghan people. but whether they impose a terrorism threat? i think it is backed up by a loud of evidence. trillions of dollars spent
founding director of the national center for national preparedness, advises us on public health, he s also a professor of pediatrics at uber einstein college of medicine first of all the threats besides the fact that this is absolutely outrageous, i thought, if you haven t gotten vaccinated yet. chances are you are probably a little hesitant. you finally decide you re going to go. and there are threats there s harassment what do you make of what you ve heard from the good doctor there? chris it was just stunning to hear those words in those reports. this whole anti-vaccine movement has reached a new uninsured way of insanity. that i simply have to worry about. it was bad enough when people were hesitant in legitimately waiting for new information and assurance that the vaccines were effective and safe. we got that and emphasize that with the full approval from the