there are about 10,000 foreign fighters in afghanistan, but it doesn t mean isis is 10,000 foreign fighters, but there are a lot of foreign fighters. and i think a key here is when the taliban rolled in to places like bagram air base or the prison, every prisoner got released. that means isis-k, al qaeda, the taliban, all the ranks were replenished by these presumptive nominee they prisoner releases. and many afghans are trying to keep the airport at great personal risk. in a video a man says he was beaten by the taliban while attempting to get to the airport. he can be heard saying they hit me bad. but despite these reports of violence, threats and beatings, thousands of afghans are persistent. sam kiley reports from the kabul airport. reporter: in the closing moments of america s longest war, a desperate legacy. a day after the taliban announced that they would stop
welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i m kim brunhuber, this is cnn newsroom. it is 1:00 in the afternoon at the kabul airport in afghanistan where the evacuation push is being hampered by a terror threat by a group known as isis-k. u.s., uk and australia are warning citizens to avoid traveling to the airport. concerns are based on a very specific threat stream from the terror group against crowds that have gathered there and just a couple hours ago, a british official says there is now credible reporting that an attack could be imminent. all this amid a race to evacuate as many people as possible ahead of the august 31 deadline. cnn s oren liebermann has
burning school records for her students protection. she fled with her students to rwanda. in the crowds outside the airport, one afghan woman tried about a dozen times to get through so she could join her husband in the united states. finally she dressed her baby in yellow and managed to send a photo through to marines who were able to spot the baby in the crowd. the family made it in. on tuesday, the first u.s. troops began leaving afghanistan, a mix of headquarters staff and main na nance no longer required. in those last couple days, we will begin to prioritize military resources to move out. reporter: for now the mission remains focused on the evacuation, but with time racing down, it will soon transition to the wall of u.s. forces and equipment before the august 31 deadline. joining me now live from kabul is our los angeles bureau chief. thank you for being with you.
i want to start with the terror threat from isis-k, what more can you tell us about that, and i m wondering all those people lining up outside the airport and those dense crowds, are they aware that they might be in danger here? they have been in danger for these last weeks really. every every day you have shootings, you have beatings, and of course there is a risk of you are talking about thousands of people. people were contending with taliban guards shooting in the air all the time and you also had sewage water. so a terrible situation made even worse. so, yes, it is very credible that you could have a threat like this and it would be easy for an isis-k fighter to come in with a suicide vest and blow himself up. and it is worth noting that the isis is an enemy of the taliban and would happily create chaos
refugees from getting to the airport, the numbers here are down. there will be a day maybe two before the military effort will have to focus on its own withdrawal. amid detailed threats from isis-k who sources tell cnn have the capacity and plans to commit and you trocities against despe afghan crowds. such fears are now behind those. on the plane, relief. this u.s. citizen with his family of six, he was able to make it through the taliban blocks. nobody want to leave their home easily. but there are a lot of challenges around. reporter: landing in doha, a muted joy. now they are safe, but on a long journey into the unknown. sam kiley, cnn, kabul international airport. as we heard some afghans are going to extraordinary lengths just to get into the kabul airport. one woman and her two children