is there any scenario where we would see american forces on the ground? that s another place that was really a window of daylight there. i think it s very clear. for weeks we have been hearing that the u.s. has no interest in sending combat forces in to go to war with russia in ukraine, and you know, what we are not hearing is that there is any indications that putin has any interest in invading the nato partners, and he s fixed on ukraine right now. secretary austin left open a been dough for the deployment of u.s. forces into ukraine for a noncombatant evacuation. i know it s an analogy the biden administration may want to hear but it s what we saw in afghanistan, right? the u.s. told americans to get out of afghanistan, and thousands did not listen, and the u.s. military went in and
blinken and sullivan all urging americans to get out while commercial travel is still available. and kyiv is offering options, and we are hearing about the city in western ukraine near the polish border, the embassy staff are going to move there, and there will be most likely ground roots out of ukraine through the western part of the country into poland. that s one place where we may see u.s. military presence. they may be helping out if necessary at checkpoints, and they will do things like logistical support. they may provide food, shelter, probably tents, not anything too fancy, and that s one thing where we may see the military, but one thing is certain, this administration, the biden administration has made it clear they do not want to send troops in for any noncombatant evacuation, and that s why we
0 to see this entirely different set of arguments played around the same set of facts in this case. thank you for covering it, and thank you for being with us for the hour. chuck will be back tomorrow with more meet the press daily. katy tur has more news now. in a facebook post, february 16th, we were told will be the day of the attack, and we will make it a day of unity. we will hang national flags, wear blue and yellow ribbons and show our unity. again, this is from president zelensky, the president of ukraine in a facebook post to ukrainens, telling them that february 16th will be the day of the attack. good to be with you. i am katy tur. today the diplomatic efforts to avoid a conflict are being led by germany s new chancellor who will meet with vladimir putin in moscow tomorrow. even as the negotiations continue, more than a dozen countries are urging their citizens to leave ukraine as soon as possible, including the u.s., israel, britain and australia. only france has yet
part of the mission to pull troops out, maintain the embassy, bagram was never part of that. the argument that keeps being made over and over that it has two runways and larger and more people can come in and out. that also doesn t make sense. if you re talking about a noncombatant evacuation, bagram is about 30 miles outside the city. the military in order to have a success out of bagram would have to secure the road to go there. that would take potentially thousands of troops and secure the entire perimeter of bagram and thousands of troops and somewhere in the neighborhood of seven gates to bagram and then also push out from the perimeter to have safe space for any potential rocket attacks into bagram. now you re talking literally thousands of troops that are needed to secure bagram and that doesn t even address the need to
trucks, automobiles and we can count those from space but you can t measure the human heart with a machine. you have to be there. reporter: joint chiefs chairman mark milley said it was an open question whether an evacuation to move 124,000 people should have begun earlier, but ultimately, it was a state department call. you and i have discussed this. would you use the term extraordinary success for the for what took place in august in afghanistan? that s the noncombatant evacuation. and i think one of the other senators said. 2 was a logistical success but a strategic failure. reporter: the pentagon knew the afghan government and armed forces critically relied on u.s. military and financial support. what surprised everyone was the speed at which it all fell apart in a matter of days. not months. we certainly did not plan against the collapse of a government in 11 days. reporter: the biden administration defended the president s decision, not to heed the advice of his gen