And they re pursuing all kinds of different opportunities to make this happen. so i certainly wouldn t rule it out. but it is not the only way in which we are encouraging and trying to facilitate the safe passage of people into the airport. let me ask you about one very different perspective on this, which is, obviously, we saw the taliban takeover of the country. almost every province in the country. in some cases without firing a shot, including walking into kabul without having to be a military victory. it was essentially arranged as far as we can tell, but there is resistance to the pentagon. we have seen demonstrations first by women, by brave women in kabul, and then people in southeastern afghanistan. we re seeing organized resistance, speaking out, getting some international press. we saw anti-taliban fighters take back some parts of a different province over the weekend, although the taliban now says they fought and brought those back. if there is significant resistance to t
Need to pursue opportunities to bring people in. and one of the means at their disposal is rotary aircraft helicopters, and we have done that on a couple occasions. i certainly wouldn t rule out we would do it again if it was the best way. that s what it comes down to, what is the best, most effective, and safest way to get americans and other siv applicants into the airport. so again, sometimes helicopters are had answer. sometimes not. and they re pursuing all kinds of different opportunities to make this happen. so i certainly wouldn t rule it out. but it is not the only way in which we are encouraging and trying to facilitate the safe passage of people into the airport. let me ask you about one very different perspective on this, which is obviously we saw the taliban take over of the country, almost every province in the country, in some cases without firing a shot, including walking into kabul without having to be a military victory. it was essentially arranged as
You probably know has spent big portions of the last two decades of his life in afghanistan during the war there. richard also weeks ago reported on some of the last fierce fighting by elite afghan commando units fighting against taliban forces. we now know that was some of the last fighting like that that there was in afghanistan and richard was right there in the middle of it. but now that the taliban have been able to take control of, first, all the provincial capitals, and then the whole country including kabul, without fighting at all, not in a military operation but just in what appears to have been a negotiated surrender by afghan government forces and the afghan military, all over the country, as the taliban have now walked in to kabul without firing a shot, richard has been there reporting around the clock as they have taken over. again, as i mentioned be we have
It is 5:30 in the morning tuesday morning right now. nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel as you probably know has spent big portions of the last two decades of his life in afghanistan during the war there. richard also weeks ago reported on some of the last fierce fighting by elite afghan commando units fighting against taliban forces. we now know that was some of the last fighting there was in afghanistan like that and richard was right in the middle of it. but now that the taliban have been able to take control of, first, all the provincial capitals, and then the whole country including kabul, without fighting at all, not in a military operation but just in what appears to have been a negotiated surrender by afghan government forces and the afghan military, all over the country, as the taliban have now walked in to kabul without firing a shot, richard has been there
Melted away. the president fled the country. and without firing a shot in a matter of hours, the taliban were in power. everyone in this city, wolf, in kabul, woke up this morning i think in a state of shock. some people were horrified, terrified, desperate. we were out on the streets to see who we could find, who we could talk to and to try to get a sense of what the taliban sees things looking like going forward. take a look. as soon as we leave our compound, it s clear who is now in charge. taliban fighters have flooded the capital. smiling and victorious, they took the city of six million people in a matter of hours, barely firing a shot. this is a site i honestly thought i would never see. scores of taliban fighters and just behind us the u.s. embassy compound. some carry american weapons. they tell us they re here to maintain law and order.