0ur afghanistan correspondent, secunder kermani, is in kabul, and has more details. this is in malistan district in ghazni province, where we ve had for a number of weeks now reports of the murder of a number of civilians. in fact, i spoke to one family. they said that two of their sons had been accused by the taliban of working for the government, of working with army. it wasn t true. by the time they brought their id cards out to show to the taliban, the taliban had already shot them in the head. amnesty international detailing the murder of nine other civilians in that area. this is a couple of weeks back when the taliban took it over. and, as you say, there s particular concern about the treatment of the hazara minority. they are a community that has long been persecuted. i have to say that yesterday hazara minority are members of the shia sect of islam and yesterday was a holy day for them. they were holding rallies here. some members of the community saying
our afghanistan correspondent, secunder kermani, is in kabul, and has more details on the situation there and the amnesty report into the taliban killings of the hazara minority. this is in malistan district in ghazni province, where we ve had for a number of weeks now reports of the murder of a number of civilians. in fact, i spoke to one family. they said that two of their sons had been accused by the taliban of working for the government, of working with army. it wasn t true. by the time they brought their id cards out to show to the taliban, the taliban had already shot them in the head. amnesty international detailing the murder of nine other civilians in that area. this is a couple of weeks back when the taliban took it over. and, as you say, there s particular concern about the treatment of the hazara minority. they are a community that has long been persecuted.
i m poppy harlow. i m jim sciutto. the u.s. president defiant while kabul remains in chaos. president biden pushing back against criticism in a new interview saying the report by the wall street journal that he ignored advice from top generals to keep at least a small number of troops in afghanistan while seeking a peace agreement is not true. your top military advisers warned against withdrawing on this time line. they wanted you to keep 2,500 troops. no, they didn t. that was split. it wasn t true. they didn t tell you they wanted troops to stay? not in terms of whether we were going to get out in a time frame, all troops. they didn t argue against that. so no one told you, your military advisers didn t tell you, no, we should keep 2,500 troops, it s been a stable situation the last several years, we can do that, we can continue to do that? no, no one said that to me, not that i recall recall. the united states is increasing, ramping up its
captured police rangers, and they re being cheered by by standers and little children running after them. it was an extraordinary scene. what about the institutions, the authorities, the security forces in kabul, what happened to them? they have completely meanted away melted away, collapsed. it started today. there was a rumour the taliban were inside the city. it wasn t true, they were on the outskirts. but soon you saw police abandoning their posts and changing into plain cloths and soon the city was full of soldiers without their uniforms trying to get out, to not be the last ones killed in a war that was lost. and the taliban was sending people to government facilities to facilitate a handover, so they weren t in the city in the
problem, as opposed to having to be reactive as opposed to the proactive measures you are speaking about. but there s that combination you speak of that s going to be invaluable, and it starts with something as basic as following the guidelines, taking the vaccine. and i want you to know, in chicago as you know, they are hosting lollapalooza, which is a multiday music festival. you have got thousands of people who are gathering together. is this dangerous, given what we know about the delta event? even even though this event is outdoors and they are requiring vaccination or proof of testing? and by the way, starting tomorrow, masks in indoor spaces in chicago. is this, still, dangerous, based on what we know? i think it is dangerous and we now know something very simple. if you could smell somebody else s tobacco smoke, you can catch their virus. you think about that, for a minute. how many times have you walked down the street and smelled tobacco smoke outside? that is what this v