This just in. A bulletin from kabul. Taliban fighters have entered the afghan capital. This represents the collapse of the afghan government. The end of american nationbuilding dreams and the beginning of a frightening new era for many afghan civilians. Im brian stelter. This is reliable sources. Its 7 30 p. M. In kabul. Darkness is falling on the afghan capital. There is a rush now taking Place And Evacuation at the u. S. Embassy. A u. S. Official just now telling cnn that a majority of the u. S. Embassy staff are out of the diplomatic compound In Kabul. Some of them now at the airport, some are being taken off in airplanes out of the country. Others are staying at the airport for the time being. Reporters In Kabul are reporting new developments basically every minute of every hour. There has been gunfire heard in the capital. There have been Traffic Jams in some parts of the city. Other parts of the city look like a ghost town, according to witnesses who are there. As you know, withdrawal has turned into an evacuation in just the past few days. These are stunning developments that are unfolding, and we are trying to bring you all the details as we can minute by minute. So lets begin by going to Clarissa Ward who is there In Kabul getting a sense of what is happening. Clarissa, can you tell us what you know about these Taliban Fighters that have entered the city . Reporter well, weve heard from the taliban spokesperson. He basically said that originally the plan had been to hang back out the gates until there was an agreement. But because the government were deserting their posts, he said that Taliban Fighters had been, essentially, forced to come into the capital to begin taking over responsibility for some of the ministries. We cant see them from where we are, but we can certainly hear quite a lot of gunfire going on over the course of the last hour or two, particularly, i should say. Again, very difficult to know what exactly that gunfire is because you do hear a lot of it In Kabul. But certainly fair to say theres a lot more of it tonight than we are used to hearing. And certainly also fair to say that people here in the capital are utterly petrified and essentially have nowhere to look to now. President Ashraf Ghani has fled the country. He has left. He is no longer the president of afghanistan. That obviously leaves a pretty huge vacuum that one can only assume the tail been is going to fill. We heard a report from our colleague who was out on the streets earlier that afghan Security Forces have taken off their uniforms, police as well that theyre just wearing civilian clothing now. And so there is a sense of real concern that things could get can a on theic on the streets. The taliban has said that they wont allow that to happen. But given that all the prisoners in one prison were released earlier today, thousands of inmates now in the city, its safe to assume that there is a huge specter of a possibility of some chaotic moments. And was he hear some of that Firing Right behind you as youre on. This sense of rumor of speculation, people not knowing whats going to happen and then these rumors fill the void. Is that what its like for civilians that they dont know whats true, they dont know whats false . Its so hard for ordinary people here because, yes, they dont have great channels of information. There is a lot of rumor, a lot of speculation we may have just something starts out oh, have you lost me . Am i still with you, brian . Youre back. Go right ahead. Sorry. Im back, okay. So a lot of cases of people sort of playing telephone Passing Rumors around. And that leads to this sense of panic. You had a run on the bank this morning. Security officers actually had to fire shots because people were just desperately trying to get in to take out all their money. Lines of thousands of people waiting outside the Passport Office blocks long. There was a crush of cars earlier trying to get to the airport. Frantic scenes there. One american who was there to be evacuated telling me that there were actually shots fired because there was such chaos at the entrance to that airport, although im hearing now that its relatively orderly now in terms of how those evacuations are going. But really just giving you that sense, brian, of the fog of war, if you will, when people dont know exactly whats going on, a lot of people now just hunkering down. The streets were chaotic earlier, but now they are very quiet except for those gunshots. Do you have any Freedom Of Movement there . Are you able to go, for example, from your location to the airport . Reporter i think if we were going to the airport right now, that would be illadvised because its dark. But if youre going to the airport now youre probably not coming back. For the moment we would like to continue to report here, and weve put outlines to the taliban to that effect requesting that we be able to continue to do our jobs as journalists. Theres no sense at the moment that western journalists are being targeted. I think the main people here in terms of journalists are afghan journalists who are absolutely petrified, particularly women journalists. There are so many of them across the country, and theyve been doing bold and incredible reporting for many years. And now there is a very real fear that they might face retaliations for that or that certainly they wont be able to do their work anymore. And those afghan journalists, television journalist, radio journalists, some of those stations have been taken off the air waves. Those stations were replaced by Taliban Propaganda in the past few days. What do you know about the state of these independent News Rooms in afghanistan that are under threat now . Reporter i would say most of them are pretty much hunkered down at the moment waiting to see whats going to happen. Some of these journalists and reporters know that they have a Big X on their backs, that they are big targets because they have been so outspoken against the taliban in the past. And while the taliban is trying to adopt this more mature tone, that they want things to be peaceful that, there will be no retaliation, there is also the reality on the ground that when you have a bunch of fighters roaming around, things can very quickly get out of control, and it can be extremely difficult from doha or from quetta to actual actively. Was this inevitable, clarissa . I think the american people accepted this defeat a long time ago. Thats my perception based on polling, based on all the experiences we have as reporters. They accepted that the u. S. Lost in afghanistan. But now here we are sunday talking about the taliban actually entering the city taking control of Security Checkpoints in the afghan capital. Was this inevitable . Reporter i dont think Anybody Couldve predicted this. I think it was inevitable that the war was going to be lost and that the taliban would make huge gains and that afghan forces would be facing some serious challenges. But it was just three days ago, brian, i was on Air Reporting that u. S. Intelligence officials were saying the capital might be surrounded in 30 days. Fast forward three days, here we are, Taliban Fighters are in the capital. I mean, this has happened at such an exponential speed that No One i think really couldve predicted. And i think there is a lot of resentment from afghans who do feel that the u. S. Withdrawal has been mishandled. Its not so much that they resent the fact that the u. S. Left. There is a widespread acceptance of the fact that this War Couldnt continue to be fought by The Americans for decades more. But the chaos, the rapid speed of the withdrawal, a lot of people here feel has really contributed to the chaos that were now seeing on the ground. Im getting a lot of emails from viewers asking if youre safe. I know safe is a relative term right now. But theyve noticed that youve changed locations or at least youre no longer you dont have the background behind you. How safe are you and your team right now . Yeah, we moved our live Shot Location because our other location was quite high up. And so potentially attracting a lot of attention with those lights. Were definitely being exceptionally cautious and trying to ride this thing out in a calm manner and reach out to all the people that we need to reach out to, to guarantee our safety. And if it becomes apparent that we need to get out of here, we will certainly be doing that and looking out for all the afghan people who are working with us and other journalists who dont have the luxury of just getting in an armored vehicle and booking it to the airport and evacuating on a military flight. And Thats Something i think that many of us are really cognisant of. Its okay for us. We get to leave when we want to. We get to leave when the going gets tough. But for so many afghans, thats simply not an option. They are here, they have to stay, they have to live with the consequences of this next chapter. An entire generation of reporters will be lost if there is not more of an aggressive effort to evacuate them from the country. Do you see signs that thats happening . Do we have a sense that, yes, the u. S. Government is intensifying its efforts to get people to safety . Reporter so, i think the u. S. Government is intensifying its efforts to get anyone out of the country who has worked with the u. S. Military, who has worked with the u. S. Embassy, who might be in the process of getting their civ, basically like a pass that allows them to go to the u. S. , but maybe they havent finished their paperwork, theyre trying desperately to expedite that. Theyre trying to get out afghans who dont have u. S. Green cards or passports but who have been working at the embassy. And thats already a lot of people. Thats arguably more than 10,000 people. Then, perhaps, you might be looking at the next wave of, you know, journalists who were trained by u. S. Ngos or who have close relationships with the u. S. Embassy or various different organizations on the ground. But for now there is such a desperate rush to evacuate the immediate personnel from that embassy that i dont think anyone yet has really given a lot of thought to what the next phase of evacuations might be. And, to your point earlier, clarissa, theres a fog of War Effect right now. I guess i would say its the fog of The End of war. But theyre starting a whole new chapter right now In Kabul. Its this fog of war. Theres a lot we dont know. There is a lot were not seeing. We dont have a great Vantage Point all around the city or the surrounding region. Is that fair to say that, you know, were going to be in this fog for a while . Reporter i think thats fair to say, especially during this chapter where people are frightened to leave their homes, where the taliban has really told people just dont leave, stay at home, everything will be fine, but there is a sense that everybody needs to be very cautious and that life is not going to return to normal tomorrow. The markets arent going to be open tomorrow. People have been going and gathering water and foodstuffs and all those sort of provisions that they might need in order to hunker down for a few days. So whenever you have a city of people who are basically hunkered down, its really difficult to get substantive and accurate information. But well be trying to get it as much and as often as we can. And of course well be sharing it with our viewers on cnn. Clarissa, thank you very much. Dont go far. To recap the Break News in the last few minutes a taliban spokesman has confirmed that the fighters have entered kabul. So weve heard about this for days, this possibility for the past few hours. Now in fact it has happened. Taliban fighters in the afghan capital. Theres a lot we dont know. But the more we find out, were going to bring it to you live here on cnn. More in just a moment. Before treating your chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more, youre not the only one with questions about botox®. Botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start, with about 10 minutes of treatment once every 3 months. 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The freedom to go where you want, knowing your doctor can watch over your heart. That Delicious Scramble was microwaved . Get outta here. Everybodys a skeptic. Wright brothers . More like, yeah right, brothers get outta here its not crazy. Its a scramble. Just crack an egg. Back here on cnn. Reporting on The Fall Of Kabul. That is what it appears to be as the taliban has now entered the city. They are controlling some Security Checkpoints. They say the other troops, the afghan troops have left. The taliban now taking over In Kabul. We have this from a u. S. Official saying the majority of u. S. Embassy staff are out of the diplomatic compound. That means theyre either at the airport or on the way out of the country. We will continue to look for updates every minute here and bring you the very latest. Moving to other stories now. The Coronavirus Crisis is, at its core, an information crisis. Big and little lies have dragged down the u. S. Vaccination effort as the New York Daily News states on todays cover. Wifi so many unvaccinated getting sick, its clear that Mis And Disinformation is causing information suffering. Dr. Vivek murthy joins me now. Dr. Murthy, thank you for coming on the program. Well, good to be with you, Br Brian its been several weeks since you issued a Surgeon General warning about misinformation about what companies, platforms, governments can do. Have you sensed any improvements in the last few weeks since you issued your warning . Weve certainly seen much more awareness around the risk and consequences of health misinformation. We see more engagement from some of the Technology Platforms and growing Awareness And Interest from the public and the steps that they can take to reduce the spread of misinformation, including by being more selective about what they share online. So thats all good news. But the challenging news is that we still have a long way to go. We are still seeing Misinformation Spread like Wildfire On Social Media sites in particular. Were still seeing many people in our communities, twothirds of our unvaccinated individuals who believe myths about Covid19 Vaccination or think those myths might be true. So weve got a lot of work to do. The biden administration has been very critical of tech platforms, definitely less so of rightwing television and radio. Let me play a remain example of some of the kookiness. This was on one America News talking about the vaccine somehow making you magnetic. Obviously not true but lets watch it and hear your reaction. Its like this section. Yeah, your arms straight down right now. It fell off but it still hung for a bit and the other one didnt. I keep an open mind but i dont know. You hear the socalled anchor say he is not going to get the shot as if he somehow believes this magnet nonsense. What do you hear when you watch or hear a clip like that . Well, it reminds me that journalists and the media have an incredibly important Role And Responsibility in preventing the spread of misinformation. While we all have the right to make our own choices, we dont have the right to irresponsibly spread misinformation. I believe in my conversations with Media Outlets that this doesnt have to be a partisan issue. Ive had many conversations with folks across the political spectrum in terms of journalists who absolutely want to do the right thing in terms of getting accurate information out to the public. This doesnt have to be partisan. But what we do Need Journalists and Media Organizations to look at is their current practices. We need them to make sure that they are putting forward credible sources when they do their interviews and when they push out coverage. We need them to make sure that they are providing context also, not just, for example, reporting on a Side Effect. Were making sure people understand that that Side Effect might be incredibly rare and much more rare than the consequences of actually getting ill. And we need them to provide context. I know sometimes people can be taken in by headlines that are designed to grab attention, even though they may not necessarily be accurate entirely or may not give context. And we need to inform, not alarm, when it comes to our coverage. And weve got to avoid what i think of is a False Equivalency of putting an incredible source up against a source that is clearly not credible and saying were just hearing two types or points of view. That gives people i think the false impression that some of these myths and misinformation are believed by a large portion of people or by the scientific community. And thats absolutely not the case. These are all places where i think the media can play and it has to play a really important role. I think a lot of journalists are trying to do that. I think all of us though need to do more. And weve got to take responsibility for the information thats conveyed on our air waves. I agree the critiques about headlines, about False Equivalency. Certainly what we just saw from one America News, thats nonsense on the fringe, not in the mainstream. Isnt the problem deeper than what youre addressing when you have people on tv talking crazy stuff about magnets . Well, i think the problem of misinformation is a deepseated problem because its not just about misinformation, brian, its about disinformation, the willful spread of myths and falsehoods. That is dangerous and we know that that is amplified on Social Media and on traditional media. Have you reached out to one America News or News Max or these other Fringe Sources . Weve reached out to many. I dont name the specific ones. But we have reached out to Media Organizations across the political spectrum. There are many more out there that we need to engage with and that more broadly need to hear from their consumers about the fact that this kind of, the coverage that is putting forward false information is simply not acceptable. Its not just that it offends our sensibilities about whats true or not. The problem is that it creates a real risk to our health. Health misinformation harms people, it costs people their lives when they dont take actions that could otherwise protect them, especially from covid19. Lets listen to One Unvaccinated man who told cnns donie osullivan his reasons for avoiding the shot. Have you been vaccinated . No. Why not . Not going to. Any particular reason . God gave us natural immunities to everything. Why would you want to interfere . Youre an older man than i am. Youre probably what the government would say as the risk category. Well, who come up with that . The scientists and the doctors. Who told them to say that . What would you say to him, doctor . Well, first, what i would say is that, first i wouldnt say anything, i would listen, i would try to understand what his concerns are, what hes heard about natural immunity compared to vaccinerelated immunity. And then id try to talk to him about what we have understood actually from the studies about natural immunity. We are seeing more and more data that tells us that while you get some protection from natural infection, its not nearly as strong as what you get from the vaccine, especially with the delta variant, which is the heardiest and most contagious Variant Weve seen to date. We need all the protection we can get. Thats why the vaccines are so effective. But i also hear that man saying he doesnt trust anybody. He thinks that doctors and scientists are being told what to say. Its this profound loss of social trust that obviously predates the pandemic. And i wonder if at The End of the night you say theres only so much we can do to win back peoples trust. Well, its a really important point because this is about trust. And you can repair trust overnight or in one conversation. And so sometimes the conversations we have may not seem to move the needle at all, even if we are armed with the facts and with the science. And thats why the messenger matters in addition to the message. This effort to protect our country against covid19 by getting people vaccinated, this has to be a peoplepowered effort that we build all across america. This is not just about what the government can do, this is not just about what hospitals can do. Its about the choice we make to pick up the phone, call our family and friends, ask them if theyve been vaccinated. If they havent been, help them get the facts and get a place where they can get vaccinated which they can easily now find at vaccines. Gov. Clearly the biden administration is trying to get through the unvaccinated. But what about the majority of americans who did the right thing and got their shots . Are you worried about losing their trust . Well, i do think that for those who have been vaccinated, number one, not only did they make the right decision but their decision is being validated every day. When you look at the numbers about deaths and hospitalizations going up, the vast, vast majority of those deaths and hospitalizations are taking place among those who are unvaccinated. What i do worry about, brian, is fatigue. I do think that many of those who did make that right decision to get vaccinated are thinking, gosh, i did the right thing, but here we are still in the middle of this pandemic 18 months later. And thats a really tough reality. And i sympathize really with folks out there, especially parents who are trying to keep their kids safe at the same time as managing this new pandemic. I think its important for them to also recognize is that we get through this pandemic when a critical majority of us get vaccinated, and we havent hit that critical number yet. Now from Vaccine Nonsense to election fraud noise. Because there are connections between the two. I was scrolling through facebook last Night Scrolling through posts from friends and family when i saw a relative posting about Mike Lindell promoting that socalled Cyber Symposium from the other day. It reminded me that almost everyone experiences the Big Lie on a personal level. These are friends, these are Family Members that have been caught up by this craziness. When it comes to lindell, his late last fantasy in front of South Dakota this week. The danger lies in the power that he has and the power that these Big Lies actually hold. Factcheckers, experts try to chip away at it. There are all these different variations of Voter Fraud Nonsense that continue to get ample air time all across protrump media. Maybe thats why Dominion Voting systems keeps filing lawsuits. We saw dominion pushing forward with legal battles this week suing one America News and newsmax as well as the former ceo of overstock. Com. Dominion is claiming that all of these entities defamed the company last winter when trump promoted the fraud claims. Also in the past week a federal judge cleared the way for Dominions Defamation lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani and others. That means these cases are moving forward even though Lindell And Powell tried to get them dismissed. So, here we are more than six months after the Big Lie took formation, and these battles are being waged in the courts against Lindell And Fox and News Max and others. So lets talk about the implications here for the rightwing outlets that are being sued. We have a lawyer for dominion. Thank you for coming on the program again and giving us an Ut Date on the status of these cases. You have a lot of complaints youve filed. Is this the first time now with Lindell And Rudy that youve actually passed a motion to dismiss, and now you can enter the Discovery Phase . Thanks for having me, brian. Yes, those are the first set of cases that have passed the motion to dismiss. And we will be getting into discovery. I will say even though theres a pending motion to dismiss filed by fox in the Delaware Case against fox, we have started discovery there as well. So, will any of this will there be transparency so we can hear your depositions . Typically depositions are not public, brian. But there will be court filings im sure that will be coming out as the cases move along. And im ooh sure there will be excerpts of depositions attached to court filings and the like. And our courts, both federal courts such as in Washington And State courts in delaware will have access to those proceedings. What about the proceedings against News Max and one America News . Is that why dominion is suing now . So dominion has continued from the beginning to take an evidencebased look at all the participants in these campaigns in the campaign of lies against dominion. And we are bringing suits when were ready. Oann continues to this day to give a platform to people like Mike Lindell despite knowing about his lies and about how false everything he is saying about dominion is. We continue to look at other potential targets. Does that include the former president . Because theres been speculation ever since last winter that dominion would sue donald trump. But so far you have not. Well, we havent ruled anybody out and were continuing to look at everyone who participated in this campaign. I will say that while the president did participate in this campaign, the News Organizations that we sued, theyve tried to say they were just reporting on the president , but as you can see from our complaints, they were not reporting on the president , they were coming up with their own lies, putting on unreliable sources that they knew would tell these lies about dominion, and they were doing that to Court President Trump and to Court President Trumps viewers. It was out of a Profit Motive they were doing that. Here on screen all the faces and names of outlets and people that are being sued by dominion. Heres what News Max said in response to this Weeks Lawsuit in its coverage of the election News Max simply reported on allegations made by wellknown public figures including the president , his advisers, members of congress. Dpinons action is a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press. Why is News Max wrong . Its completely wrong. Its wrong as a factual matter. Newsmax went well beyond any just reporting on what the Prize Mightve been saying or what his advisers mightve been saying. We explain in detail how newsmaxs own anchors endorsed the lies including saying things like, the truth is finally told, and falsely claiming that they had done their own investigations. So its just factually not true that Newsmax Or Fox or any of these outlets we have sued were simply reporting on the news. Brian, there is a line between responsible reporting and defamation. But all of these News Organizations blew far past that line in november and december into the present day. You cant even see the line from where they are now. If any of the defendants were to propose a settlement, would dominion look at those . These cases are about accountability. So im not going to talk about legal strategy. But i can tell you we all look forward to holding all of these defendants accountable including getting through the Discovery Process into a trial against all of them. And youre not ruling out trump, youre not ruling out anybody else. So youre really trying to right these wrongs even, you know, the better part of a year after it started. Is this how its going to be from now on . Were going to have all these crazy lies out in the world about the different stories. And the only thing they can do is sue . We Cant Control what other people do. But as you pointed out earlier, this is a problem that is getting worse, not better, including for dominion, for dminors customers and for election officials across the country. We hope that by holding these entities and these people accountable we can do something about it. But the best we can do is resort to the legal system and rely on it to hold them accountable. What i see is a really clear connection between the Vaccine Disinformation i was talking about ten minutes ago where oan is on there talking about magnets. And then this disinformation. So its a sad through line that people are being deceived. The same viewers are being deceived on multiple fronts. Thank you very much for being here on the program today. Thanks for having me, brian. Back to our Breaking News now. The taliban In Kabul as the president of afghanistan incflees the country. Thats the Banner Headline on cnn. Com right now. Were going to go back live to kabul in just a moment. Theres no other snack like a planters cashew. What else can go from your Cars Cup Holder to a Crystal Bowl and seem equally at home . I guess the most wellrounded Snack Isnt Round at all. Its more cashewshaped. Planters. A nut above. Washed your hands a Lot Today . Probably like 40 times. Hands feel dry . Like sandpaper. Introducing new dove handwash, with 5 x moisturizer blend. 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Things are getting very, very quiet on the streets, brian. And that may be because the taliban spokesperson actually announced that people should stay in their homes. He urged everyone not to go out, saying that that would only contribute to a sense of chaos, that the taliban is trying to keep this as peaceful as possible. And as far as we can hear, people are certainly adhering to that advice, staying at home, staying hunkered down. Weve moved our live Shot Position yet again inside now because there was quite a lot of gunfire outside. And we didnt want to draw attention to ourselves. But people for the moment are bracing themselves for the worst. What tomorrow will bring, what the future will look like. There is no transitional government announced. So, President Ashraf Ghani basically left without really putting anything in place in terms of his successor, the taliban says they will now begin assuming responsibility for key ministries. And only tomorrow, i guess, will we really get a sense of what that is going to look like, what Fallen Kabul will look like with the taliban in full control, brian. Clarissa, thank you. While you were speaking we have some brand new reporting from the pentagon. Barbara starr and Oren Liebermann reporting that the u. S. Military is considering the possibility of sending additional u. S. Forces to afghanistan. This is coming from two sources, one a Defense Official and a u. S. Official familiar with the discussions. Both the officials cautioned that no decision has been made. They said the head of u. S. Central command arrived in the persian Gulf Region earlier today to directly oversee the situation in afghanistan, according to the Defense Official. This person declined to publicly name his location, but said he is not in afghanistan currently. So, the news there from the pentagon. There are discussions about whether 5,000 troops is enough or whether the u. S. Is going to need to send in more military Asy Et Cetera to assist in the evacuation of the embassy In Kabul. Turning now to the host of gps, fareed zakaria. Fareed, when we started the weekend, we did not expect to be covering The Fall Of Kabul. Now that fighters are in the city, what do you think american viewers and viewers around the world should know about what happens next . Well, first its important to recognize this is one of the greatest Military Collapses that i think exists in history. The fall of the Afghan Army, the fall of afghanistan, The Fall Of Kabul has happened at a speed that is really stunning. And for the most part, the Afghan Army and police, supposedly 300 to 350,000 strong with extraordinarily sophisticated weaponry provided by the united states, 83 Billion spent over 20 years, just all melted away. By contrast, one has to say the South Vietnamese Army fought pretty hard in 1973, 74, 75, took two or three years for that military to get defeated. This is extraordinary. And it begs the question, what was the scale of Intelligence Failure in the united states, the u. S. Military . How much were we diluting ourselves about the capacity of afghan forces about their capabilities if, without, really the kind of psychological protection of The Americans, they just collapse because the united states had by and large quit the field several you know, a couple of years earlier. I think that is probably you know, this is something that we should be spending a lot of time trying to understand because, as i say, this may be one of the fastest Military Collapses in history. But does this collapse suggest that the u. S. Shouldve pulled out ten or 15 years ago, that this would have happened all along . Well, it does suggest that we have been thinking to ourselves that we were building up this afghan force that was going to be able to keep this country together and that that may have been an illusion. In a sense, if you look back ever since The End of the surge, remember there were 130,000 Coalition Forces in afghanistan in obamas first couple of years, the military asked for more troops, he gave them. Ever since The End of that, the taliban simply kept steadily, slowly advancing. They controlled by 2016, 2017, 35 of the country or so, 40 . And so we were never able to really defeat the taliban. And the question is can a foreign force without what is seen as a legitimate local partner, ally, government that has deep legitimacy, can it impose its will on the people . Just seems very tough, and, yeah, in a sense what youre asking, brian, is have we really lost the war a long time ago, and were we just diluting ourselves . And we can do that because we have enormous Air Power and Counterstrike Capacity and missile and drones but we were never able to really defeat the taliban . And for years this was the forgotten war. People in the u. S. Talked about afghanistan like it was the forgotten war. And i feel like now theres all these viewers turning on the tv, suddenly its everywhere, afghanistans the Lead Story all of a sudden. And theyre wondering what happened . They believe this was over a long time ago, and now we are reckoning with the consequences. Hey, fareed, let me bring in cnn global Affairs Analyst Susan Glasser And Writer for the new yorker. Lets compare afghanistan to texas, its roughly the same size. Weve seen El Paso and abilene all fall to the taliban. And now the capital, austin in this analogy, although kabul has 4 Million people so its a much bigger city. A size of texas is afghanistan. We are seeing the taliban take over essentially the entire space, the entire terrain. Is this one of those News Stories that is surprising but not shocking, meaning this was going to happen but its still shocking to see how quickly its happening, susan . Well, i think youre right, brian. There is a grim inevitably to this once President Biden announced his decision in april that he was going to withdraw. The speed, as fareed said, i think the collapse of the Afghan Army in such a short amount of time, you know, literally in a matter of days every major city in the country has fallen. I was typing my column on thursday and first came the news that herat, the biggest city in the west of afghanistan had fallen before it was done and published, kandahar had fallen, kabul, which, by the way, both President Biden and Tony Blinken assured americans in their public statements as recently as a few weeks ago that you werent going to see some kind of hasty, dramatic american withdrawal over the course of a weekend. That is exactly what has happened. Its frustrating because you hear this sort of endless blame game. Is it Bidens Fault or trumps fault . Theres enough blame to go around. What im shocked by is theres not enough discussion about whats going to happen now, whats happening to the Security And Safety of those who are on the ground who helped The Americans, why was there no plan to evacuate the thousands, literally thousands of afghan interpreters who helped the u. S. Military over time . It just seems like theres two different debates. One, about the policy and the withdrawal decision. But then, two, the question of the execution of it, which, you know, appears to an extraordinary debacle. My concern is all these Keyboard Warriors out there on Social Media who have never been to afghanistan who think they know what to do. And i fear, susan, that people start beating the War Drums Carelessly in a moment like this as if more troops and more assets is the only way to go after weve just seen what 20 years of those assets might do. I want to just have a cautionary note because theres a conventional wisdom in some corners of the media to always think more, more, more, more war, more war. And i think we need to push back at times on that. Well, brian, i think youre seeing the conflation of two different issues. One is the question of securing the evacuation. Right now as is happened so quickly, the biden administration announced just a couple days ago they had to send in several thousand u. S. Troops to secure the departure of the u. S. Embassy and american citizens. That doesnt mean that those troops are staying. I think thats the other discussion is when youre Hearing Talk right now from the pentagon and your reporters at cnn that you might need to send in thousands more troops, thats not to occupy afghanistan, that would be presumably to secure a safe evacuation. Right now where is the diplomacy for the thousands of afghans who have flooded into the capital, who are terrified for their lives . Where is the international diplomacy . Where is u. S. Leadership on the question of negotiating a Safe Corridor Out of afghanistan with the new Taliban Regime . I mean, thats the part that seems absent while we have this Selfflagellating Debate over whether it was trumps fault or Bidens Fault. Susan, thank you very much. Fareed, thank you. Lets stay with international news now as we monitor the Breaking News out of kabul. We are going to stay on, were going to stay live every hour of the day with more on whats going on in afghanistan. But i want to turn to europe and what may be a crushing blow to poland. Thousands of people took to the streets in protest. But the rightwing government is pushing forward. The Lower House of the Polish Parliament passed a bill this week that would restrict countries from outside the e. U. To purchase and own Media Outlets in poland. The u. S. , the e. U. Are slamming this as an Infringement Oppress Freedom because the bill seems to target one channel in particular. You can see here the u. S. Secretary of state saying the u. S. Is deeply troubled by the potential law. So heres whats going on here. One of the few remaining independent Tv Channels in poland is called tvn 24. Its a News Network doing pioneering journalism. Its owned by the u. S. Company discovery, which now plans to take legal action trying to protect its channel because it says this proposed law would violate international treaty. The Polish Governments yet to respond to the companys pending legal action. But heres the context for whats going on. Discovery is one of the biggest Media Companies in the u. S. And in the world. It is currently seeking to merge with Cnns Parent Company warnermedia. So this time next Year Discovery and warnermedia likely to be together. But to the point in poland, there is a clear effort on the part of the rightwing government in poland to clamp down on the media and to cast out foreigners or outsiders or anybody who has a different opinion from the government that happens to be in charge right now. Its a trend were seeing in other countries as well. Youve heard about hungara and david, whats the current status of tbn 24 . Its still on the work, trying to do its work. There are courageous journalists going in every day to report the news, investigate the news and communicate that to their audiences. We did take a very extraordinary action last week where we began notification under a u. S. Bilateral treaty signed by the first President Bush in 1990, that guarantees investments with nondiscriminatory protections. Weve seen nothing over the last several years other than intimidation, harassment, arbitrary threatening of our journalists, denying of access. So we felt we had to take a step. I appreciate you fitting us in today. Its a big Breaking News day. Polish democracy and the free and open media in that key eastern European Country has to be on our to do list here. We felt like we had to take action to defend our journalists, defend u. S. Business economic interests and hopefully bring poland back from that far right lurch as you were talking about. On this program were covering this autocratic turn in numerous countries where the press is under threat. You see in poland, theyre moving in that direction. This bill has not become law yet. I hear you saying theres still time to try to avoid this. The response from lawmakers, theyre trying to make sure China Or Russia or other meddling Governments Cant come in and own a tv knews channel. Why is that a bunch of pull . I cant speak to the threat that the Polish Government feels its under, but i think it defies logic that the chinese will come in and buy polish media assets. This is so selfdefeating for poland. Its a great country, a young, educated populous, vibrant Media Ecosystem prior to the new government, a key ally to the u. S. In iraq and afghanistan. So i think theyre putting their own narrow political interests ahead of their constituents. This will cost polish jobs. This will cost u. S. Investment. This will weaken polish security. This will weaken trance atlantic alliance. If youre raytheon, lockheed martin, google or microsoft, i think you have a really tough time investing in poland. If the government, as theyre trying to do with us, can exproep yat assets, it compromises the stable Business Environment in poland. Its Nothing But Disaster for the polish people if this bill goes through. David, thank you for exp explaining it. We will continue to stay on top of this. Thanks, brian. When we come back, more reliable sources in just a moment. Summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. Savor your summer with lincoln. man ive made progress with my Mental Health. 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Man Talk to your doctor about austedo. Its time to treat td. Td is not ok. Visit askforaustedo. Com Real Progress . When youre affected by schizophrenia, you see it differently. Its in the small, everyday moments. And in the places, youd never expect. A little sign of hope. The feeling of freedom. And once these little moments start adding up, thats when it feels like so much more. It feels like Real Progress. Caplyta effectively treats adults with schizophrenia. And its just one pill, once a day, with no titration. Caplyta can cause serious Side Effects. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles or confusion, which can mean a Lifethreatening Reaction or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be permanent. Dizziness upon standing, falls, back with more Breaking News out of kabul. Were getting updates every few minutes. Well bring them to you kiley says the withdrawal of embassy personnel is happening incredibly rapidly today and the process is now expected to conclude by this evening minus the small number of diplomats who will stay at the Kabul Airport for now. The u. S. Flag down from the embassy In Kabul. Were bouncing back and forth. Let me bring you a few Media Stories coming up that you should know about beginning with what might be new York Governor andrew cuomos apology tour. The soontobe former governor gave the first interview to new York Magazine on friday. You see the front cover there showing people removing his framed likeness, taking it off the wall. Lets talk about cuomo and more with lock Land Cartwright from the daily beast. Cnn Anchor Chris Cuomo back on Tv Tomorrow after a preplanned vacation. Do you think Chris Cuomo should talk about this . The rule has been he doesnt talk about his brother on tv. He absolutely has to. The show is cuomo prime time. Its primetime. The viewers expect him to talk about it. Hes been off the air, and before that he was Radio Silent about this issue. Its the biggest political scandal of the year. If he doesnt talk about it, it becomes a bigger story for him and for cnn. You broke the news this week that Rachel Maddow might be leaving msnbc. You said shes seriously thinking about leaving wiechlt . My colleague and i broke the story. Lets be clear, this isnt about the money for her. This is about a more balanced lifestyle. Shes had talks about starting her own thing that would cost podcasts and streaming and potentially newsletters. As you know as you were chasing the story, shes dead serious. This wasnt a plant from her representatives. In fact, i think they would have preferred if we didnt write about it. This isnt a Bargaining Chip or negotiating tactic. Shes deadly serious about potentially leaving. That has Nbc Universal scrambling. The talks have become very heated im told. Theyre going to have to throw a Bucket Load of cash at her and make concessions on her workload if they want to keep her. They have to keep her, brian. They have no succession planning. Without her it will be diabolical for msnbc. My sense was the same as yours. This wasnt an intentional league by her side to get more money. Your other scoop was about jeopardy. Mike richards and Mayim Bialik becoming the hosts. I think some of the controversy seems to be playing out on Social Media. The Jeopardy Audience Isnt scrolling through twitter all day. I think while these choices some people are a little upset right now about them, by the time this show comes out for the 38th season, people will be pretty happy with sitting down and watching mike hosting jeopardy every night. Youre betting on the long term, always a Frack Cuss In The Beginning and long term it works out. Yes. Theyre Bank Choices by sony. The show many people made the st point. The star is the show. A lot of news we couldnt get to today. Weve got it in the newsletter at reliablesources. Com. Cnns live coverage continues now. This is cnn Breaking News. Im Jake Tapper live in washington where the state of our union is watching a tragic foreign Policy Disaster unfold before our eyes. We begin with the Breaking News, in just the past few hours the situation in afghanistan has gone from threatening to dire as the taliba