afghanistan and said get ready to report to designated evacuation spots, the u.s. is working hard to get out as many american citizens as possible in the last few hours and days. kate? thank you very much for that. i want to go to sam kylie in kabul for us, again, this evening. sam, are the taliban emboldened tonight? reporter: they have been emboldened since they were able to race through the country, capture the capital city and humiliate a super power. we re watching a miraculous feat of logistics with 50,000 people being moved in a small amount of time, particularly over the last few days and a consequence the taliban perhaps have reasserted control over the situation by saying that local afghan people can no longer make their way to the airport. ironically, of course, making it easier ultimately for the americans to meet the deadline. that may have been part of the taliban reasoning in this. not only do they want to prevent
a brain drain and themselves be humiliated by this mass exist tis of some of the most educated people in the country but at the same time, they want to be able to make sure americans do leave so they don t end up in some kind of relationship with the americans at this state. they have been negotiating very, very closely and cooperating closely with the americans in order to get things this far. kate? sam, thank you for your continued reporting on the ground. appreciate it. outfront with me is a member of the house foreign affairs committee briefed earlier today by president biden s national security team and a former assistant secretary of state under president obama. congressman, thank you for being here. yesterday you called the august 31st deadline unacceptable and unexplicable. what do you think today in hearing the president s statement he s sticking by his deadline? i actually heard him say something a bit more ambiguous than that.