fairly consistent story, that there was a complex attack in the area between the baron hotel which is right up against the air base where the evacuation is taking place and built practically against the outer perimeter, and in the area exiting that hotel leading to the abby gate and there is a corridor 2 hun yards long and in that corridor flanked on either side by very tall, concrete blast barriers, afghans have been gathering and they ve been gathering there since the fall of kabul, since the evacuation began, and that in this corridor is where we understand this attack took place and the videos we ve seen show bodies that have been thrown into a sewage drainage canal that runs right along right in this corridor between the blast barriers and between the baron hotel and the
presence at that gate to allow people in so if the explosions, as we are hearing now took place in that corridor, the u.s. personnel wouldn t be directly impacted. they would have been on the other side of the gate, but these apparently were quite large explosions causing massive casualties and as courtney s reporting, apparently wounding at least three marines. these bases have a lot of corridors and presumably isis was able to infiltrate this one corridor, carry out this attack and that would limit access to the base and it would put isis back on the map. if you remember, isis was defeated. isis was yesterday s story, and isis is not from afghanistan and from iraq and syria. they were pushed out of their caliphate, but there were many isis prisoners inside the jails in afghanistan and as kabul fell the taliban were breaking into
either side by concrete blast barriers and in that, if you slow down the video you can see there is a drainage ditch, i believe it s on the right-hand side in the video over my shoulder that drainage, sewage ditch, that would be a possible infiltration route where a suicide bomber could come in through the wade through the sewage and debris in that ditch, and that is where we have seen videos showing a number of bodies floating in that filthy water. so when you come out of the baron, you leave and go a couple of hundred yards down this for phied corridor. afghans were gathering there, hoping they could get into the abbey gate. when we went there it was a coordinated effort. we drove and we arrived at the abbey gate and they were expecting us and u.s. personnel and other foreign nationals, other foreign military personnel allowed us through, but that means that there is a military
many people on to the base who are qualified to leave afghanistan, primarily u.s. citizens and other afghans who have the right paperwork. so if one gate is no longer op raugzal or is taken out of operation or not operational for the time being there are two others that are still working so it certainly limits the ability to get on to that base, but it would not impact the ability to carry out the airlift. while you were talking to courtney we were able to find a video and actually drove through with our colleagues here with our reporting team. that exact corridor a few days ago, and i think you have that video, and i can help put some of the geography together. we are showing it as you speak. the baron hotel that video, and i can t see it right now, but i can describe it. when you leave the baron hotel you drive through this corridor, a narrow corridor flanked on
0 wants to leave, but you want to get every american citizen who wants to leave out of that country before the military departs. my thanks to john brennan and congressman gallego, a big thanks to all of the other correspondents and guests who joined me this hour. we will take a quick break. we will continue our coverage there in afghanistan. again, 60 people hurt, at least 13 dead according to the taliban. we are not going to take a break, but andrea mitchell reports does start right now. and thank you to craig melvin. good day. this is andrea mitchell reports in washington with breaking reports out of afghanistan. two separate bombings one near the southeastern abbey gate where thousands of people have been waiting to gain entry and escape taliban rule and the second at the nearby baron hotel. taliban news saying 13 people were killed some of them children by the suicide attack. two u.s. intelligence officials tell nbc news while they have no attribution for today s suspected