states and france and the u.k., the u.k. who left the european union but is so closely aligned with all of us to make sure that his next stop isn t the nato country. seth molten, thing you very much for being with us. joining us is a senior fellow and former deputy national security adviser to president george w. bush and now a senior national security analyst. we re going to hear from the president about sanctions. i know you also worked at the treasury and worked on sanctions in other countries but what can you do without risking too much blowback, which some people would argue the s.w.i.f.t.
call them and say we have a safe way to get you into the airport, they don t know how to get out. some of them are getting taliban night letters, which are letters that say we believe you worked for the americans, you must appear at this court court to defend why you worked for the infidel crusader invaders, one of the translation i was given. that s what we re up against. plus all the military folks serving in former who worked with afghans and developed these close relationships, i m watching them go through the heart break of knowing they re leaving people behind. they re leaving deserving people behind, which is the word now from officials at the white house. nic, it s interesting two u.s. congressmen seth molten and peter mayor made this unannounced visit to
afghanistan. seth molten says he went wanting the u.s. to extend the august 31st deadline after seeing it on the ground, he basically said, you know what, we couldn t possibly extend it long enough to get the jobident biden told s not extending it. what s the reaction from u.s. allies to this at this point? i think the reaction is one that plays out over a longer period. there s a real concern about an influx of refugees coming from afghanistan. you know, probably would happen under this sort of scenario even if all the people that had worked for the united states, worked with british forces, german forces, dutch forces, et cetera, even if they could all get out, they would still be a lot of refugees leaving. but this sort of fast and hasty transition that afghan people are experiencing is one that s going to precipitate many of them to leave the country, one u.n. agency estimates 3.5 million people displaced inside
folks. $3.5 trillion that number in and of itself is that something you can support? i said i think that s aggressive. but again, when we look at all the details, that s when we ll come back and we ll talk about that. i would like to ask you a question about two of your colleagues. democrat seth molten and republican peter myer made this unannounced trip to afghanistan to assess the situation on the ground they say. it s been harshly criticized by some people within the administration who say it diverted resources and whatnot. how appropriate do you think that trip was? well, i just read about that. both of them are good friends of mine, so i got to learn more. and i think getting facts is always important. the speaker has now put out and the administration put out notification that we shouldn t take those trips. so, listen, i think i got to talk to them. i m really curious to learn what they saw on the ground and a huge issue we have to deal with to help get american personn
so i m not one of those who think thinks that people are overreacting. i m sort of with lindsey graham on the substance of this. but it s so discreditable to play that impeachment card the way he did. and i think you played seth molten earlier. some of the best criticisms sound tough but measured some of the best criticisms have come from democratic congressman, a lot of the younger veterans, like seth molten. but jason crow and several others, a obama state department official. there is a decent level of discourse in washington except lindsey graham, who knows a lot about foreign policy, and who i tend to agree with on some issues, who just can t really resist this ridiculous mentioning impeachment and turning it both of these gentlemen have agreed to stay with us. coming up on the other side of this break, when our