after the u.s. spent more than, you know, some $80 billion equipping and training the afghan-defense forces. biden administration officials are now saying they just couldn t have predicted the lack of resistance from the afghan forces in the face of this taliban assault. here s pentagon press secretary, john kirby, speaking earlier on cnn. what has been disconcerting to see is that there hasn t been that will, that political leadership, the military leadership, and the ability to push back on the taliban as they have advanced because quite frankly, the afghan forces have all the advantages they need. they ve got more troops, they ve got more equipment, they have got an air force. and he went on to say that money can t buy will. is that what this comes down to? the afghan s defense forces have the capability but lack the will? yeah, i mean, i i do think the argument about will is highly, highly compelling. there are a few other factors at play. but the afghan forces, for a long
and so you end up in a situation where you have an advancing taliban, soldiers out in the front sent to meet them at remote places out in the country who don t have the proper backing and they re falling and sort of one pentagon official said to me last night that you can spend as much money as you want to build up a military but you can t buy will. you can t purchase the will to fight and that will is gone. that is not going to be there if you have politicians who are corrupt and if you don t believe in the government, you are there to fight and lay down your life for. while the n u.s., while they kn they had american forces backing them with air strikes and american troops on the ground sort of as a spine, they were able to hang tough for a while even though they were losing territory to the taliban. but once the americans left, you ve seen what s happened and
0 latest on the situation. thank you. the fall of kabul appears to be imminent is the headline. we re sure courtney will be with us throughout the day, as well as our steam of correspondents to follow the latest. thanks for watching msnbc reports, velshi starts right now. i m ali velshi, we re departing from our normal format for the news out of afghanistan where the taliban is closing in on kabul. the biggest city in the country. it does appear to be surrounded. this map is the latest we have, but it is not fully updated because this shows mazar-i-sharif under government control and it s not. jalalabad is not under government control any more. kabul appears to be completely surrounded. this is a live look at kabul right nowk and here s where things stand. bagram air base which is typically 45 minutes north of kabul today because of traffic isl about two hours and now in the hands of the taliban. this ishe the base at which all americanic troops were headquartered in taliban. it
is all unfolding and how quickly it is all unfolding. one of the key questions has been given the advantage the afghan military has in manpower, strength and air force, why are they still falling so quickly to the taliban. they are using air force, jim, in fact, they re trying more air force than we are on a daily basis. but money can t buy will. will has to be there. the ability to exert leadership and exude leadership on the field has to be there. reporter: the u.s. and international are pushing for. this but add advance seems unlikely. putting 3500 troops in kuwait on standby for a security mission if needed. or if needed because of the rapidly and continually deteriorating security situation. where does this go from here. the u.s. is monitoring everything closely. of course, kabul as well.
they are using the air force. in fact they re flying more air strikes than we are on a daily basis, but money can t buy will. will has to be there. the ability to exert leadership and exude leadership on the field, that has to be there. 3,000 u.s. troops are arriving this weekend to help protect the u.s. embassy as they prepare to draw down personnel in that country. staff are also being told to destroy sensitive documents before they go. cnn diplomatic editor nic robertson joining us now. nic, the afghan president earlier today gave a brief statement where he said he would work with other leaders to try to stem the taliban surge. i mean this is a lifeline it sounds like that is being thrown. reporter: yeah, it s a lifeline but there s nothing on the end of it for the afghan people. he started his speech by saying, look, he understood that afghans were concerned. he shared those concerns, said that he was speaking with other