Congress should act quickly on bilateral free trade agreementssigned between the United States and allies Peru and Colombia. Suchagreements benefit the economies of all partners and enhance agrowing free trade bloc. Extending trade preferences for a shorttime to Bolivia and Ecuador could sustain market openings whileleaders decide on permanent reciprocal agreements.
number, passing that on to the state accident. now i have concerns that in some of the early chaos around the airport when many crowds rushed toward it, that possibly tens of thousands if not thousands of afghans who went through less official routes ended up on the tarmac and ended up being flown out. but we ll obviously see in the days ahead and that is clearly something that the pentagon did not want to get into it. and interestingly enough, they were not in a position to dispute the reports of civilian casualties as a result of the drone strike which hit a car in a compound. and that appears to, as we understand it, from local reporting on the ground, taken as many as ten lives, possibly including six children. a stark reminder of the violence that has been in afghanistan for quite sometime. and of course john kirby there saying that no military makes greater efforts to try to protect americans than the u.s.mill does. but but clearly we re in the closing
on planes, but very fraught closing window here and, of course, that deadline of the 31st of august. a lot of activity, i m sure, in the hours ahead. nick paton walsh, please stay safe. thank you so much. coming up, courageous female activists who refuse to quit fighting for women s rights in afghanistan. cnn speaks with them about what is at stake as the taliban returns to power. and we re staying laser focussed on hurricane ida. the storm strengthening to a powerful category 4 overnight. the national weather service warns of catastrophic winds and flooding rains. the latest on the track and impacts coming up.
there is a limited capacity of those on the airport to pull them out of these heaving crowds at the gate, already perilous. some of the scenes remarkable with people walking around in sewage dumps. this closing window is accentuating all that tension and the fears of those who think they have literally hours left to try to get onto the airport. they may be right. nick, thank you for that. peter, there s also this new reporting, and it was spoken to tangentially, if you will, at the pentagon briefing, there s a very specific threat stream from isis-k about planned attacks against crowds outside the airport. you know afghanistan so well and the many different terror and extremist groups that have been in and out for years. how does isis-k play into the dynamic that we re watching play out in afghanistan in the power struggle now with the taliban? i think the concerns are very legitimate. isis-k has shown the ability to