this has been a really tough news day so thank you very much. we appreciate all of your coverage and we ll try to keep it going and make some sense of what s going on. thank you. all right, we begin the reidout with the two deadly explosions near the kabul airport. the pentagon confirmed 12 u.s. service members were killed and 15 wounded. these are the first u.s. casualties since the evacuations from afghanistan began in july. according to the taliban, at least 60 afghans, including children, were also killed and more than 65 were injured. one of the explosions occurred outside the airport at the southeastern abbey gate where thousands of people had been waiting to gain entry, hoping to get out from under the taliban s control following that attack. gunmen opened fire on civilians and military forces there. the second explosion was at the nearby baron hotel, a gathering point for many evacuees, including americans, before making their way to the airport. isis-k, a break-off isis grou
how do you get as many of those people out as fast as you can while you re also beginning to evacuate the military, which creates further risk in the coming days. that s a very difficult task and dealing with a complex security environment. i think part of what you ve seen in recent days too is less clearing of people at the check points and more trying to find ways to bring people into the airport in convoys so there s less exposure of people having to be cleared in a chaotic scene at the gates of the airport. you re right. even overnight given all that s happened, 13,400 according to official figures coming out of the white house. they re talking about 104,000 people. less than a thousand americans at least according to the state department still remain in the country. talk about the logistical challenge now of isis now knowing what s vulnerable, now feeling motivated that they have been able to attack and kill americans and kill afghans, and for whatever they think their end game
the u.s. presence in afghanistan. looking at all the different complications and the threat matrix of what s happening around the airport, there s an awful lot more to worry about, first, because afghans are trying to get to the airport. they have to get through taliban checkpoints. some are having success, some are blocked, some are getting through because they re escorted through the southern entrance that the taliban control. i understand today we ve seen a significant rise in the number of afghans on the airport. it was 1,000 this morning. we heard from the pentagon it s got to 10,000. a source family iar with the situation say that makes sense. who are these people? it seems like quite a few may be siv applicants. they may also contain some local embassy staff as well, which will be a huge relief.
on the role of women in a culture. this isn t a well disciplined, thoughtful military. this is a terrorist organization that have now found themselves in charge. all of that presents danger to u.s. troops. this isis-k are going after these afghans they know want to flee the country because they ve had some relationship with the united states. looking at where we are just today, increasing concerns within the white house not surprising. at the pentagon briefing a short time ago there was a specific question about what else on august 31st. what do you envision happens on september 1st once the taliban has control of the airport? what we re talking about are phasing of the n.e.o. operations, the noncombatant
trying to move people who have worked with the government and even american citizens because the taliban did stop them from getting to the airport, they ve kind of sprung into action. there are some land bridges being created. this is all being done outside of the government purview to try and save these people. it s courage of afghans and people who supported american trying to do the right thing and get people out. it is a difficult prospect indeed to do exactly that. remember, when this is done, i don t care what they say and what briefings they give, we will leave. the united states will leave people behind who have committed themselves to helping the united states and our western allies bring freedom to afghanistan. there s prices on their head.