u.s. war started in afghanistan in 2001. this was, you know, a decade into the war at that point. and this whole new neighborhood in kabul built from scratch was what people sort of derided as narco palaces. people derided this sort of architecture and what you d see in this very garish neighborhood as, you know, sort of gangster chic. they were these big, garish, gigantic, strange looking places. places designed to look very, very rich and of course in a very poor country. these are houses that were often rented out as villas to westerners. you know, visiting afghanistan, visiting kabul as part of the war effort or diplomacy around the war or journalism. all of these places in this neighborhood in kabul had guards and gates and would rent for lots and lots of money but none of those houses, the whole
so to speak. they were battling looters because that happened here. there was a collapse of law and order when ashraf ghani the president fled, when all the police fled, even local security guards fled. anyone who wore a uniform or had a gun was frightened the taliban would come in, think they were a soldier, and attack them. so that created a power vacuum. kabul is not a small city. there are millions of people here. so the taliban have slowly been out showing their presence, battling looters, trying to re-establish some degree of law and order, because that is the taliban s main selling point. they say they are the law and order candidates. they will be here to bring order to the streets. severe order under islamic justice. we will see now that some order is being established. what happens next? will we start seeing the real taliban emerge? will they start showing their true colors? so far, they ve been saying
in the coming hours and days to make a difference? joining us is major matt zeller, dedicated to bringing interpreters safely to the u.s. thank you for being here. i know you haven t slept and it s been a difficult time. thanks for having me. yeah, i have family in kabul right now. this has been tough. tell me about what can be done. i ask you that first because i am so clear that you have been sounding the alarm, warning that it was going to go this way for so long. you were right. for weeks and months before this finally happened. now that we are here and everybody s scrambling to figure out what can be done, i feel like we owe it to you, who has been right, to ask what can be done now. the first thing i d ask is that the president of the united states take a meeting with our team. we want to be pro active partners and have wanted to be the whole time.
grenades and everything. we have just created a very, very, well armed taliban fighting force. the military, the afghan military we spent all these years building did not want to fight in the end. they walked away. the taliban takeover of the country was not a military takeover. the taliban walked into kabul without firing a shot. the military and the government and all the provincial capitals all surrendered to the taliban or just walked away. in kabul the central government there and the security forces supposedly defending kabul, they did the same just as they did out in all the provinces. the washington post reported in detail on how that came to be over the weekend. you see the headline there. afghanistan s military collapse. illicit deals and mass desertions. the spectacular collapse of afghanistan s military that allowed taliban fight toers walk into the afghan capital sunday despite 20 years of training and billions of dollars in american
order when ashraf ghani the president fled, when all the police fled, even local security guards fled. anyone who wore a uniform or had a gun was frightened the taliban would come in, think they were a soldier, and attack them. so that created a power vacuum. kabul is not a small city. there are millions of people here. so the taliban have slowly been out showing their presence, battling looters, trying to re-establish some degree of law and order, because that is the taliban s main selling point. they say they are the law and order candidates. they will be here to bring order to the streets. severe order under islamic justice. we will see now that some order is being established. what happens next? will we start seeing the real taliban emerge? will they start showing their true colors? so far, they ve been saying nothing but positive things, that they want to have peace and inclusion and that they are