out. he extended the security perimeter around the kabul airport but admitted this operation is messy. there s a long way to go and a lot can still go wrong. i m joined by the former ambassador under president obama, ryan crocker. ambassador, you ve been very critical of this withdrawal process. what was your take of on what the president had to say just a few minutes ago? does it sound like they are trying to or starting to get on top of the situation there, do you think? in terms of the specific challenge at hand, jim, the evacuation of our citizens and others for whom we have responsibility, i think they are starting to get a handle on it. i would emphasize that that handle and the people getting it are not in washington. they are at kabul airport. the foreign service officers and the marines and soldiers out there are the ones doing this. and what we see is that they are they re dealing with the
reports of taliban on the city s out skirts, panic at a bank which seems to have triggered gunfire. but then without telling anybody, the president of afghanistan ashraf ghani left the country. quite startling as 24 hours earlier he d delivered a recorded message saying to everybody that he would stick on to try and get a negotiated solution, but he left with a small number of his own aides unclear where he actually is at this point. he seems to have gone to tajikistan to some sources. but he said he had a choice to stay and negotiate or face the armed taliban who are now inside what used to be his palace. what next? well, furious activity in the skies above me of u.s. aircraft, constant noise of helicopters. that is obviously them speeding up their evacuation air cover, protecting what is now likely 5,000 american troops here, double the number that were being taken back as part of the withdrawal process president joe
with a small number of his own aides. unclear where he actually is at this point. he seems to have gone to tajikistan according to some sources but he said he had a choice to try to negotiator face armed taliban who we now see are inside what used to be his palace. what next? furious activity in the skies above me, of u.s. aircraft. the constant noise of helicopters. that s them speeding up their evacuation, protecting what is now rescuing 5,000 american troops, taken back as part of the withdrawal process. president joe biden put underway. startling scenes at the airport. people desperate to get in. people desperate to be able to fight out of here and certainly troubling few days ahead as we see how this residual and growing american force accommodates itself alongside the taliban, who frankly, appeared in charge of most of the city.
afghanistan left the country. quite startling as 24 hours earlier, he delivered a recorded message saying to everybody that he would stick on to try to get a negotiated solution, but he left with a small number of his own aides. unclear where he actually is at this point. he seems to have gone saying that he had a choice to stay or face the arms of taliban who we now see are inside what used to be his palace. what next? well, furious activity in the skies above me of u.s. aircraft, constant noise of helicopters, that is obviously them speeding up their evacuation, protecting what is now likely 5,000 american troops here, double the number that were taken back as part of the withdrawal process president biden put under way. startling scenes at the airport, people desperate to get in, people desperate to be on a flight out of here. and certainly troubling few days
what they needed to do. clearly, that s not true. with lightning speed, the whole thing has fallen apart. howie: while you certainly can blame president biden for the way this withdrawal has been managed, he was carrying out a withdrawal process that was first negotiated by donald trump and public opinion, after 20 years, after the billion, after the people have died, the brave soldiers in iraq and afghanistan, there is a lot of war a fatigue out there. it s understandable. this was the inevitable result. the american people realized this was always going to happen at the end of our occupation and we have been lied to by our generals, by our intelligence officials. think of all the quotes from top generals over the years saying the government is stable, the military there is getting better every day, the situation s improving. all of those statements were false. mark mille has recently become a hero i think to some of the mainstream media for depend fending the teach of