Of lives, and billions of dollars, the entire u. S. Military effort is collapsing over the course of a weekend in embarrassing fashion with the type of scenes we havent witnessed since the Fall Of Saigon in vietnam in 1975. Cnns nick Paton Walsh is live In Kabul. Nick, all of this is so stunning. Youve covered this for so many years. We just learned that the president ial palace was officially handed over to the taliban. Did you ever think it would end like this . What can you tell us . Reporter i mean, look, it is utterly breathtaking to see those images of one of president Ashraf Ghani i should say former president Ashraf Ghanis main offices inside the president ial office where the taliban sat confidently holding their weapons at his desks. Its just startling to see. Briefly in those images filmed by al jazeera, lets just say we have over the last sort of Half Hour or so heard an uptick in helicopters in the skies. That normally means american activity. Thats quite a lot actually. Those images, though, utterly startling. The reporter who filmed those images asked one of the men with the weapons to talk a little. He spoke in english saying that he spent eight years guantanamo bay prison. They are very keen, it seems, to show how relaxed they are in the corridors of what was the other governments power. At the same time, president Ashraf Ghani i should say former, but we just simply dont really quite know whos in control at the moment although visibly on the streets, its the taliban. Former president ghani has released a statement from wherever he is. There were suggestions hed gone to tajikistan. He seems to have left without notice, without advertisement during the afternoon, and then news frankly leaked out from his, i would say, probably shocked officials. One saying to me theyve run away. Hes released a statement on facebook saying, today i came across a hard choice, if i should stand to face the Armed Taliban who wanted to enter the palace or leave the country i dedicated my life to caring for for the past 20 years, essentially saying it was Life Or Death for him and he had to leave. But 24 hours earlier, he had been extolling the need to stay in his position, to craft some kind of transitional power agreement. That, with his departure, evaporated. I think thats whats got so many shocked here amongst the afghan community, that the hope that maybe ghani might step aside and allow a transitional peace process, the possibility that might make their ascent to power let something that requires their guys to drive into kabul from the humvees that were seeing today. That disappeared. So its the Power Vacuum that suddenly the taliban have walked into here. And i say walk because while we have heard from some ngos reports of dozens injured as a result of clashes around kabul and just in the last Half Hour, i heard quite a lot of gunfire in that direction. This has not been pitched street to street fighting. This has been a comparatively calm entry for the taliban. Weve seen or heard reports of soldiers, police taking off their uniforms, putting on civilian clothing, a collapse of the Security Forces here. Frankly hard to see how they would not make that choice if their Commander In Chief has simply snuck out of the country without telling anybody. A man that the americans put a lot of stead behind. Clearly he wasnt happy with the american diplomatic process and seems here to Sinhave Felt Sticg around for some kind of transitional Government Isnt Something he wanted to accept. Yet more helicopters. The americans offten Use Night O make their moves. I cant imagine theres too many staff left inside The Embassy at this particular stage. Certainly it seems like the flag has come down here. But theres clearly a precipitous move to get whoever needs moving moved around. Jim. Nick, i suspect youre going to be hearing that sound a lot over the next several days. I think one of the most alarming things to think about, contemplate in all of this, is that there are u. S. Diplomatic personnel, military personnel, western military diplomatic personnel, journalists on the ground as the taliban are in control of kabul. And we know people are trying to flee the country. What more do you know about these evacuations, and are all these westerners and americans going to be safe with the taliban in charge . Reporter yeah, i think the american diplomats here probably have the least rough ride ahead of them. I mean as you can hear, theres a lot of air power, a lot of Preparation Put in. 3,000 marines, maybe more are coming in to assist their Safe Removal from here. So i suspect a lot of them are probably, if not all are probably already at the airport. In the sky, weve seen a patch of helicopters that provides a pretty substantial level of security, and possibly the 82nd Airborne coming in in a hurry. I think the american diplomats probably the least to be concerned about. Well also see ngo, expate re d. The afghans worked with the u. S. Military over a matter of decades, who are part of an Immigration Process which may possibly see them get on planes and being taken out of here. But things are happening so fast that a lot of the promises, a lot of the structure behind what was supposed to be an orderly withdrawal over two weeks seems to be evaporating simply because the taliban are making the narrative entirely here. Absolutely. So many of those afghans who helped the united states, helped nato for so many years, some of them are quite frankly just going to be abandoned, it seems, at the end of all this. Nick Paton Walsh with that report from kabul, thanks so much. We have also just learned the u. N. Security council will meet tomorrow morning. This comes as the american flag at the u. S. Embassy In Kabul has been lowered. U. S. Diplomats now operating from the airport, sent out an urgent warning that all americans still in Kabul Need to shelter in place. Cnns Kylie Atwood is at the State Department for us. Kylie, what more can you tell us right now . Reporter jim, all the u. S. Diplomats that were at The Embassy In Kabul have now been staged at the airport In Kabul. They are on their way out of the country, looking for those flights to get out of the country. That is one of the problems right now. There are some issues at the airport In Kabul. But there are a number of diplomats who are going to stay there for now. We dont know the precise nature, and they may eventually have to leave the country. Now, at The Embassy, i am told there are a small number of contractors, Security Contractors who are there. They will be leaving soon. As you said, the american flag has been taken down as the u. S. Diplomats left The Embassy. They have gotten rid of all classified documents. They burned those in recent days. Theyve also gotten rid of anything that could be misused as propaganda against america in recent days, things that, you know, had the seal of the u. S. Embassy on it. Now, as this is happening, it is abrupt. It is chaotic. But the State Department, Secretary Of State Tony Blinken is defending how this is going down, saying that it is orderly, and that this has been planned. You hear biden Officials Today saying that they got the u. S. Troops in place to help american diplomats safely get out. That process is under way. But you also heard Secretary Of State Tony Blinken this morning admitting that this happened, the taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan happened much more rapidly than biden administration officials expected it to. And there are going to be questions in the coming days, in the coming months, in the coming years about the conduct in which the biden administration went forth with this drawdown. Obviously we knew biden was going to get u. S. Troops out, but how this went down, how misorderly it appears right now, there are going to be questions about that. Now, we should also note that just as recently as last week, biden administration officials were talking with taliban officials. And so there are going to be questions about that too because the taliban are the ones who have taken over the country now. We are seeing these historic, shocking images of the taliban in the president ial palace. And so we are going to be asking the State Department in the coming days about what the u. S. Relationship with the taliban is going to look like going forth. Its an important question. Kylie atwood, thank you so much. President biden says this is now the afghan armys fight, and he is defending his decision to withdraw, saying one more year or five more years of u. S. Military presence would not have made a difference if the afghan Military Cannot or will not hold its own country. And an endless american presence in the middle of another countrys civil conflict was not acceptable to me. Those are the words from President Biden. Cnns Jeremy Diamond is at the White House for us. Jeremy, when is the president going to address the american people about whats happening . That seems to be missing right now. Reporter it certainly is as of this hour, jim. And we do understand that there have been discussions about when the president might address the nation on this. But as of now, there are no indications that that is going to happen today. The President Still at the president ial retreat at Camp David where the White House released this photo of the President Meeting earlier this morning at 11 29 according to the clocks in that picture with his national security team. The secretary of defense, Secretary Of State, his national security adviser, and others positioned at different agencies in washington and around the world, where he was discussing the situation, the Security Situation in afghanistan as well as this effort to evacuate u. S. Diplomatic personnel as well as those afghan interpreters who helped the united states and have been applying for those special immigrant visas. But, jim, theres no question here that this administration and this president were caught off guard by the speed and the breadth of this taliban advance towards kabul, which just a few days ago u. S. Intelligence estimated that it would take the taliban 30 days perhaps to encircle the capital. And instead it happens in a matter of days. And just listen to what the president himself said about a month ago when he was asked about the possibility of the taliban taking over the country. The afghan troops have 300,000 wellequipped as well equipped as any army in the world and an Air Force against something like 75,000 taliban. It is not inevitable. The jury is still out, but the likelihood theres going to be the Taliban Overrunning Everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. Reporter look, as kylie was saying, the administration is now arguing that ultimately while they may have misestimated how long it would take the taliban to get to kabul, you know, they were prepared for the contingencies, and thats why they were able to get these forces in there to withdraw u. S. Embassy personnel. But, again, there is a huge amount of daylight there between what the President Said about a month and a half ago versus what is happening now on the ground after nearly 20 years of u. S. Military involvement. The taliban appear to be in control of afghanistan. And lots of questions about whether there were some Intelligence Failures as well. Jeremy diamond, thank you so much for that. Up next, the imminent fall of kabul is echoing the fall of another city back in 1975, the Fall Of Saigon. The comparisons between the two chaotic u. S. Exits are eerie. Thats next. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. He used to have Gum Problems. Now, he uses therabreath healthy gums oral rinse with clinicallyproven ingredients and his Gum Problems have vanished. Crowd Applauding therabreath, its a better mouthwash. At walmart, target and other fine stores. Born to be wild born to be wild see disneys jungle cruise. Applebees and a movie, now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. When subway® opened they changed the fast food game. But sometimes you gotta refresh. To be fresh. Welcome to the eat fresh refresh. Refresh where there is so much new, some say that it Cant Fit in one ad. I say. 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Will the united states be responsible for the loss of afghan civilian lives that could happen no. After the Military Exit . No, no, no. Its up to the people of afghanistan to decide on what government they want. Joining me now is cnn global Affairs Analyst and veteran foreign correspondent kimberly dozier. She reported from afghanistan during the 2001 u. S. Invasion, also spent a lot of time covering the war in iraq. Kim, lets start with these pictures of the chaotic u. S. Exit that were all watching right now. What do you make of this comparison between whats happening in Kabul And Saigon in 1975 . Put them Side By side, it does appear to be a just comparison. Well, the biden administration may be saying this is not saigon, but i got a meme of those Pictures Side by side from an iraqi source this morning. Thats what the rest of the world thinks this is. And messages from people who are inside that airport, they are trying to get on planes. Theres confusion. Theres no one stamping passports. At one point, i was told by an afghan official, an empty plane landed and opened its doors and a whole bunch of people on the tarmac just rushed onboard and are refusing to leave. Its that kind of chaos. And the president is going to have to wear this. Yeah. The buck stops with the president. I mean thats how it works. You were there in 2001, reporting from afghanistan when the u. S. Invaded. 20 years. Here we are 20 years later. Trillions of dollars pumped into afghanistan and this effort. You understand, though, that the u. S. Did not just end up in this position all of a sudden today. How did we get here . One of the toughest things was we built a fairly good military, but we couldnt get the top afghan administration to stop being so corrupt. Over and over i spoke to u. S. Officials who despaired of their attempts at saying, you know, we know what youre doing. We see where youre putting some of this money. Stop. And basically afghan officials not all of them, but a lot of them leaving with suitcases of cash even right now. When you think about the Rank And File in the afghan military, theyve been watching headlines like this for years. Now theyre watching the taliban march over the country, and very shrewdly the taliban didnt kill all the soldiers if the soldiers gave up. But they did attack them brutally if the soldiers chose to keep fighting. I think thats why you saw so many soldiers give up so fast. Also they were watching their senior commanders desperately calling kabul for Air Support and backup and not getting it. And lastly, the taliban, from their perspective, beat the strongest military in the world. The u. S. Is leaving. So what are they to fight back . Right. And should the biden administration have anticipated how quickly the afghan military would collapse . Was that just a misjudgment on their part, or was there an Intelligence Failure here . Did our intelligence officials not equip the White House with the information that said, listen, if we make this decision to pull out, the afghan military these afghan Security Forces are just going to melt away . I think the u. S. Intelligence community has been warning for some time that this was in many ways a paper army, and they knew that the afghan people didnt support the government strongly. That said, theres a certain thing that can happen with momentum on the ground. I understand even on friday, multiple u. S. Officials were disagreeing with each other, that The Embassy was saying, oh, no, no. It will take at least a month. But some in the Intel World were saying, youve got days. So here we are. Clarissa ward got this chance to meet with some of the afghan women and children in kandahar before it fell. Theres some of the video there. Here is a bit of her report. Lets watch just a glimpse of this. Reporter ive been talking to some of the women in this room, and i promised that i wouldnt show any of their faces. But its interesting because, you know, the taliban talks a lot about how its changed and girls can go to school now. But i asked if any of these girls would be going to school, and i was told absolutely not. Girls dont go to school. And when i said, why dont girls go to school, they said, taliban says its bad. You know, kimberly, this is probably i mean this might be the most heartbreaking part of the entire tragedy that is now afghanistan, and that is we gave these expectations to women and young girls in afghanistan that they were going to have a different life. And clarissa is pointing out theyre essentially giving up on that now. So many of them are. Well, especially in parts of the country where it is always been relatively conservative. But i know one of the things that the u. S. Team in doha has been working with is to try to teach the taliban officials that they have been working Side By side with for a couple years now that, hey, if you want international loans from the international community, youre going to have to have X Number of women in the workplace. Youre going to have to have a good human rights record, or youre going to get cut off. And they say the taliban understands that. Ive had taliban officials tell me that they understand that. But i hear a very sophisticated message coming out of doha, and i dont think that always makes its way down to the different commanders in the different fiefdoms across afghanistan. Right. And to think that this is the new and improved taliban, its going to take a lot of convincing internationally for that message to get across. And its just going to have to be proven. Theyre on the ground. Kimberly, thank you so much for those insights. We appreciate it. Coming up, as the complete Takeover Of Afghanistan by the taliban appears imminent, will the country become a Safe Harbor for terrorists . That is another very important question this evening. Peter bergen, the first western journalist to interview Osama Bin Laden joins me next live to discuss. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Randfather, greatgreatgrandfather was that kind of person. He looked after his community. She built an empire. He protected this nation. They lived their lives in extraordinary ways. With ancestry, i learned the story of peter vaughters. William lacy. Madam c. J. Walker. They are the heroes in my family. Who are the heroes in yours . Retirement income is complicated. As your broker, ive solved it. Thats great, carl. But we need something better. Thats easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. And we can monitor to see that were on track. Like schwab intelligent income. Schwab introducing schwab intelligent income. 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Thats because you all have Xfinity Mobile with your internet. Its wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. And we want to get you up to speed on the rapidly deteriorating situation in afghanistan where the taliban are now inside the Capital City of kabul. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has fled the country and with the constant sound of helicopters overhead, sources tell us the majority of the u. Embassy staff are now out of the Embassy Compound and that the american flag has been lowered. Thats a sharp turnaround from six weeks ago when President Biden called it highly unlikely that the taliban would overrun the entire country. Joining me now is cnn national Security Analyst Peter bergen. Back in 1997, he was the first western journalist to conduct a Tv Interview with Osama Bin Laden. Peter, you wrote in this oped that just came out, biden is presiding over a debacle entirely of his own making in afghanistan, one that has unfolded more swiftly than even the most dire prognostications. Peter, to some extent, though, hasnt this debacle been in the making for years . Well, this is kind of a version of the white House Argument which is, the brilliance of Bidens Decision is simply underlined by the collapse of the afghan government and the military, right . Youre hearing that from the White House. We are. Its a kind of odd argument, and i think it was an avoidable debacle and fiasco. In the previous segment you were talking with Kim Dozier about the comparisons with Saigon In 75. Lets fastforward a couple of decades and compare to kabul in 1996 when the taliban took over. Lets use that as potentially a benchmark of whats going to happen next. You know, they banned music. They had their own radio station. The only thing on the radio station. No tv. The only diversions were the public executions of the people in the kabul soccer stadium. You know, they declared an emirate where the head of the emirate is the commander of all muslims. Were going to see every Jihadi Group in the world, of which there are 20 already in afghanistan, very excited by this victory. The Split Screen on 9 11 as we discussed before, the 20th Anniversary will be their celebration now in the president ial palace with bodies from every Jihadi Group and, you know, the memorializations of the attacks at the world trade center. There was one member of the taliban inside the palace who told journalists that he had been in guantanamo, and so i mean this is this is the new regime that is coming into place In Kabul. Peter, as you know, President Biden has put some of the blame on former president trump. As you know, trump wanted to bring the taliban to Camp David and so on to try to continue that Administrations Policy of drawing down the u. S. Presence in afghanistan. Mike pompeo, the former Secretary Of State, he was pushing back on what biden was saying yesterday. Lets take a listen to that, talk about it. Every president confronts challenges. This president confronted a challenge in afghanistan he has utterly failed to protect the people from this challenge. I wouldnt have let my 10yearold Son get away from this kind of pathetic blameshifting. What do you think of that, peter . Theres a lot of blame to go around, and it was the trump administration, secretary Pompeos Staff that negotiated with the taliban beginning in 2018, and they did a rather crucial thing that i think has been part of the failure here, which is they excluded the afghan government from the negotiations. But, you know, who lost afghanistan is going to be also blame, and obama started saying were going to withdraw back on december 1st, 2009. And bush went to iraq instead of staying in afghanistan. Thats something that a lot of people have sort of glossed over in recent days. Very true. The president has insisted, though, that we accomplished the united states has accomplished and nato accomplished the goal of stopping terrorists from using afghanistan as a safe haven. What do you make of that . Is that true . I suppose its true right now. Exactly. Its true right now. You know, isis killed 130 people in paris in November Of 2015 because they trained people in iraq and syria. So a year after they took over much of iraq and syria, they were able to train people to do attacks in western europe. Why would this movie be different . Were still protected by two oceans, so the united states is always safer from these kinds of things. But the other thing is people radicalize with just what they read online. So this is going to be seen as a tremendous victory. If you have these kind of Jihadist Ideas and youre sitting at this computer in the united states, the taliban is going to put out this propaganda. You can imagine this radicalizing people as well. They dont have to fly into the united states. Theyre here. We saw that with isis. People radicalizing because of Prong And Isis success on the battlefield. As somebody who interviewed Osama Bin Laden, what is the possibility, what is the likelihood that we could see a return of Al Qaeda to the point in afghanistan where they could launch attacks on western targets in the years to come . Western targets for sure. I mean the u. N. In june put out a report saying Al Qaeda and the taliban are very close. Thats the united nations. This is not some sort of rightwing crazy organization. I take that at face value, and i think Al Qaeda you know, the person who just orchestrated this is the Military Commander of the taliban, number two leader of the taliban. Hes always been close to Al Qaeda. I think getting to the united states is not easy for these groups. Doing something in europe is a lot easier just because of geography. And a former Senior Adviser to the u. S. Representative for afghanistan in pakistan tweeted, here is the most important symbolism of the fall of kabul. The taliban flag will be flying across afghanistan on the 20th Anniversary of 9 11. That is gutwrenching to think about. I mean nasr wrote for Richard Holbrook and he is right. Well be watching this unfold. I know you will as well. Were considering to monitor the dire situation in afghanistan and bring you the latest. Were also following the devastating impact of the 7. 2 earthquake in haiti has the Death Toll climbs there. A report from the Disaster Zone is next. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. D me, that i should get used to people staring. So i did. Its okay, you can stare. When youre a twotime gold medalist, it comes with the territory. Voiceover riders. Wanderers on the road of life. 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What youre seeing behind me, if you move forward a little bit here, this is the scene of a multistory hotel that obviously has collapsed behind me. Theres a lot of people here onscene. Youre seeing two things happening here at this scene. Youre seeing some recovery efforts, which that excavator presumably was a part of. Now that thats stopped, there is a lot of looting going on here at the scene. This was a relatively luxury hotel. A lot of people bringing out whatever they can find, dressers, air conditioners. It goes to the desperation of whats happening in this part of haiti right now. As i think you said in the beginning, at least 700 people have been killed as a result of this so far. Thousands of people are injured. But those numbers are going to go up because in all likelihood, there are still bodies in that rubble behind me. Theres a high likelihood of that. And this isnt the only scene like this around this area. You go Up And Down The Street thats just behind my camera, and you can see damage that goes Up And Down The Street. Is it as pervasive as what we saw in 2010 . No, i dont think so at this point because this is not as crowd of a place as portauprince, the capital, which sustained a lot of damage ten years ago. But the damage here, you can see why these numbers are as high as they are at this point and why they are going to keep going up almost assuredly. It seems like scenes like this are very much still active, very much still happening and theres also not a big Rescue Effort here at the moment. This is one of the more crowded scenes that weve seen here. Where are the police . Where are Security Agents . Where are firefighters . Where are Rescue Crews . Theyre not here. If theyre not here, where else would they be . And thats the open question that we have right now. Our thanks to matt rivers there on the ground in haiti. For more information about how you can help those affected by the earthquake in haiti, go to cnn. Com impact. Up next, former California Governor Jerry Brown joins me live as his Home State ranks in the top five states in weekly new covid cases. And a quick programming note, join cnn for we love new york city, a concert celebrating the Citys Comeback after covid. It airs next saturday starting at 5 00 p. M. Eastern exclusively on cnn. Iptions . Be conniptionfree, thanks to the Cartridgefree Epson Ecotank printer. A ridiculous amount of ink youre mocking me. Not again the epson ecotank. Just fill chill. All by yourself. You look a little lost. I cant find my hotel. Oh. Oh this is not normal. No. So . Right . Go with us and find millions of flexible options, all in our app. Expedia. It matters who you travel with. Like many people with moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis or crohns disease, i was there. Be right back. But my symptoms were keeping me from where i needed to be. 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Troops to afghanistan, bringing the total to 6,000 to ensure a safe drawdown there. But the news comes amid a chaotic scene as the taliban takes over the Capital City of kabul. U. S. Diplomats being evacuated to the airport. Well keep you updated on all of this as things develop over the next couple of hours. In the meantime, a grim warning this weekend from the head of the National Institutes Of Health that the u. S. Could pass 200,000 covid cases per day. Thats right. In the coming weeks. This as some politicians are claiming this surge is caused by undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border, a claim dr. Francis collins of the nih calls a distraction. Take a listen. Its certainly a cause of concern. They have very significant masking requirements there. But it is certainly possible. But, you know, let nobody try to say thats why the u. S. Is in trouble. The rate of infection in mexico is actually lower than it is right now in places like texas and louisiana and florida. I think thats a bit of a distraction. Weve got enough of a problem with our own citizens who have refused to roll up their sleeves. So maybe that would be a better thing to focus on if were trying to end this. That seemed like it was not going to get us where we need to be. Its an issue, but its certainly not the cause of our current dilemma. Joining me now is the former governor of california, Jerry Brown. Governor, great to have you on. Thanks so much. What do you make of this claim being made by some republican politicians that the Covid Surge is being caused by undocumented immigrants coming across the border . No basis in science whatsoever. Yes, there may be some cases coming across, and it emphasizes how important it is to get our Border Problems solved and taken Care Of. But this virus is insidious, its powerful. Its going from the alpha to the delta to the deltaplus. Its moved across the country and the world. Its incredible. Weve got to fight it. Vaccines, which many people are fighting. Masking, which is being fought by conservatives all over the place. Social distancing. Look, were up against a very serious biological threat, and we have to take prudent scientificallybased actions to deal with it. And San Francisco residents, as you know, 12 and older will be required beginning August 20th to show proof that they have fully vaccinated against covid to enter indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters, large event spaces. Do you agree with this . What do you think . Of course. In 1918, we had a mandatory vaccinations, mandatory masking, rather. We have mandatory vaccines for mumps, and tetanus and diphtheria, measles. Cant even go to school without it. This is a desperate response to a bankrupt movement that is only naysaying when we have to use science. We have to pull together and build our own country, which is increasingly torn apart. I want to ask you about the climate crisis. I know youve worked on this issue so much. You are an international environmental advocate, of course. In july, as im sure you read, was the hottest month ever on record. That just coming in from the biden administration. A u. N. Compliant report found the earths climate is warming faster than previously thought. The Dixie Fire in california has burned more than a half million acres, incinerated an entire town. How frustrating is it to see this crisis get worse and worse . How do we get on top of it . Well, we get on top of it by looking at it with clarity and honesty. The climate is warming. Its changing. Its getting more disruptive. Were facing that fact. Were at 1. 1 degrees centigrade from what it was when globaling warming starts. Its going to 50 more by 2030, 2035. We have to take action. You got to reduce Oil And Gas and coal. Youve got to get renewable energy to our whole economy. And yet we have people resisting controlling fossil fuel, resisting sensible regulations. Theyre similar people who are resisting masking, resisting vaccinations. Weve got to get with the 21st century. We have certain threats and dangers. We know what to do, but were so bitterly divided that many people find it in their interest or in their identity to fight what is really the only way to cope with these problems. Ive got to ask you about this. Were a month away from the California Governor recall election. Democrats have a supermajority in the state. Are you concerned about this outcome of this recall election, or do you think that Gavin Newsom can hold on . What do you think californians should do out there . Well, they should vote no on the recall. Just no question about that. This is not a smart move. Its not good for california. I not only think they should, but if you ask me to predict, i think they will. So this is just another example of how our Governing System is so disruptive. And now whats going on in afghanistan, there will be more incriminations and more blaming. Weve got to pull together as a country, face problems and do the kind of solutions that make sense based on science and are not just ideological in their foundation. Do you think Governor Newsom could have handled the outbreak, the pandemic differently in california . What do you think . I think if he had more knowledge, which he didnt have and nobody did, he could have maybe handled it better. But given what he knew, given what other governors and President S have done, i think hes definitely par for the course. But were up against an unprecedented biological adversary. So of course its not going to be perfect, and it will get better all the time. But throwing Newsom Out and these clowns running against him with their outrageous demands for zero minimum wage, take away completely a womans right to control her own body i mean this is we can go from the Frying Pan into the fire if we dont watch it. And you mentioned afghanistan. I want to ask you about this, governor brown, because youve been in politics for decades. You remember vietnam. You remember how that ended there. What are your thoughts about what were seeing right now in afghanistan . What would be your advice to President Biden right now . Well, biden was very courageous, and theres so much hypocrisy. Look, the afghan war, very soon after we went over there, it was over. We got rid of the we took out the Al Qaeda. We chased after bin laden. We stayed there too long. Bush should have gotten us out. Obama should have gotten us out, trump. But they were all afraid of exactly whats happening. They didnt have the guts that Joe Biden had. Now, maybe his army didnt Tell Him how bad it was. I mean after all, John Kennedy was fooled by the cia and his army when he launched the bay of pigs. That was an utter disaster. Vietnam, yeah, they were climbing off the roof because evidently the cia and the army didnt Tell Him. So these foreign adventures in totally different cultures are really not good. So weve got to strengthen the home base, make prudent actions abroad, and terminate them as soon as possible. Look, this was not a war that was fought. It wasnt being fought. We had firepower to kill taliban. But our friends, our allies gave up. They didnt have a rationale. Their only rationale was america there, and they were fighting. But when push comes to shove, they are more aligned with the taliban, or at least theyre not ready to die for them. So obviously biden had to get out. Are we going to stay another 20 years . Joe biden will be attacked by the very people that got us in there and got us to stay in there, and thats the key variable. Weve been there for three President S. Why didnt they do anything . Because theyre afraid. Theyre afraid exactly what happened. How do you get out of a quagmire . Its not pretty, but at least biden has taken the step, and the next step is to think through how do we get in these messes . What new messes are waiting for us in our 800 bases and absolute overextension where were meddling All Over The World and were not taking Care Of business at home at our own border with mexico. All right. Governor Jerry Brown, i knew you wouldnt hold back. We appreciate you coming on this afternoon. We appreciate it. Hope all is well. Stay safe out there in california. Thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Back to our top breaking story, the u. S. Defense secretary has just approved sending 1,000 more troops into afghanistan. This comes as the taliban have taken control of the president ial palace In Kabul, as the afghan president has fled the country. Well have the latest live from kabul next. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. As their best overall brand. Once again. Its easy to love a brand you can trust. Its easy to love a subaru. He looked after his community. She built an empire. Fought for his people. Protected this nation. M she built an empire. Fougy family. S people. Who are the heroes in yours . upbeat Pop Music in background throughout born to be wild born to be wild see disneys jungle cruise. Applebees and a movie, now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged kindness, honesty and hard work. Over time, ive come to add a fourth be curious. Be curious about the world around us, and then go. Go with an open heart and you will find inspiration anew. Viking. Exploring the world in comfort. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. You are live in the cnn newsroom. Im jim acosta. The hum of helicopters. An empty flagpole atop the u. S. Embassy. A Prime Time Television Appearance by the taliban. This is how the 20year war in afghanistan is ending today. At this hour, the taliban has taken over the president ial palace In Kabul. This was something we were told wasnt possible for at least another 30 to 90 days if at all. Now weve