Conversations are about how were going to pay bills and what were going to do if our paychecks are going to be docked if we have to quarantine once or twice. So theres a lot of anxiety. Theres a lot of worry, which led to the tears because starting school is stressful enough, and we just we wish more than anything that there could be better Safety Protocols and procedures in place to keep our unvaccinated students safe, to keep our staff safe. So thats to be clear, you are vaccinated, correct . So is your concern primarily with your own health or with the health of the students who might not be vaccinated . I have mitral valve prolapse. I have some Family Members who have health issues. I have Family Members who are unvaccinated because theyre too young to get the vaccine. I have colleagues who have young children. And those are, those are all concerns. I have students who are going to come in who will be unvaccinated. So its all of that above. And school is coming back, its always a time of high pressure, high anxiety, and now one more thing to worry about. Jenny gillis, thank you so much for coming On And sharing your thoughts. Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate it. New day continues right now. Announcer this is cnn Breaking News. A very good morning to our viewers here in the United States and Around The World. I am Brianna Keilar alongside john berman, and we certainly do have Breaking News this morning. Chaos and gunfire at the airport In Kabul. Moments ago taliban fighters opened fire to disperse large crowds that had gathered hoping to get out of afghanistan. This is the one way that they can get out if they can get through. Cnns Clarissa Ward speaking to us a short time ago in the middle of this increasingly dangerous situation. Reporter were about 200 yards, even less than 200 yards away from the entrance to the kabul airport. We just drove through it quickly. Its absolutely impossible to stop there. I say we drove through it quickly. You Cant Drive through it quickly. Its bumper to bumper. Cars are barely moving. There are taliban fighters all around. We actually did see them physically trying to get them back. We have seen them and heard them a lot as Well Firing on the crowds to disperse the crowds. Its a little difficult to see from this Vantage Point and its a slightly edgy situation so i dont want to push our luck. So all along the Road Side over there, theres just hundreds of people who are basically waiting, desperately trying to get out of the country. Its not clear if they have their paperwork in order, if theyve been declined and told that they cant enter the gates, or if they simply dont have the wherewithal to get inside. A Cameraman Will is panning now. You can see its a pretty large crowd who has formed around us already because this is slightly unusual situation to be doing live shots from here, i think. But its definitely chaotic. Its definitely dangerous. I will say this. The taliban appears to be trying to disperse the crowds, and there are crowds of young men who seem to be disengaging in criminal activity. I dont know if you heard that. Theyre kind of running towards the taliban and then running away from them again, almost like its a game. But, you know, when theres bullets firing like that, brianna and john, its clearly not a game. Clarissa and her team are perfectly safe now. We should note and heard some remarkable stories from some people in that crowd. Tens of thousands of afghans and up to 15,000 americans are still in the country trying to get out. Just about 80 miles away in jalalabad, taliban fighters had clashed with protesters for removing the taliban flag in the main square and replacing it with an afghan square. Witnesses fired into the crowd and some protesters were beaten. Lets Go Back to kabul right now and bring in cnns chief correspondent Clarissa Ward. Clarissa, every time you come up on the screen were excited and interested to find out where you are this time. You keep on moving around giving us a different look at whats going on. So what do you see . Reporter so, we had to move away, john, because the situation where we were when we did our last live shot was pretty chaotic. But then after the live shot we got very close to the airport and it was extremely chaotic. We had taliban fighters all around approaching us, shouting, One Man Shouting at me to cover my face or he wouldnt talk to me. He was carrying this huge makeshift whip. It was a Bicycle Lock that had basically been split in two, so the heavy Metal Padlock was in the middle. And hes just using it to just get anybody out of his way who gets in his way. There was a consistent stream of gunfire. We also were just accosted by people. John, its so heartbreaking. Everybody coming up to us with their papers and passports, saying, please. I worked at camp phoenix. I was at this camp. I was a translator. Help me get in, help tme get to america, i have my siv. The taliban would come through. At one stage this firefighter lifted his gun in the air as if he was about to start firing rounds. So we had to run and take cover. And then, you know, the most fright Ming Moment for our team came when Producer Brent swales was taking some video on his iphone. Two taliban fighters just came up with their Pistol Ands they were ready to pistol whip him. We had to intervene and scream. There was another taliban fighter who came in and said, no, no, no, dont do that, theyre journalists. I mean, really, you know, i covered all sorts of crazy situations. This was mayhem. This was nuts. This was impossible for an ordinary civilian, even if they had their paperwork. No way theyre running back, no way theyre going to be able to navigate that. Its very dicey. Its very dangerous. And its completely unpredictable. Theres no order. Theres no coherent system for processing people those who have papers and those who dont have papers. To me its a miracle more people havent been very seriously hurt. It is truly a miracle. And, you know, you say that a lot of people, theyre just not going to be able to run the gauntlet here. We heard you talking to one man who said the paperwork he needs he would need from sounded like a contractor who closed up shop in 2014. Impossible to get certainly when you have no wifi, youre in a different country, and you have a failed state. Do you get the sense that any of that is going to stop people, though, from at least trying . Reporter i think theyre trying. But if theyre sending emails to a former employer and theyre not replying or you have the email address wrong, what do you do . Because as the americans prepare to really pull the Rip Cord here, were not talking about leaving a small footprint. Were not talking about having a downsized embassy. Were talking about all americans will be gone. So for people like that man that you referenced, there is no recourse. There is nowhere to go when you get stuck with your paperwork. There is No One to call to find out how to get that letter of recommendation you need, or why it is that your application was rejected, or how you can start that application again. And thats what makes it feel so tragically unfair frankly, is that these people thought they had longer, brianna. They thought they had months to prepare for this moment. And instead they had a matter of hours. Of coularissa, we actually he the tape of you speaking to the young man who spoke perfect english about his attempt to get out of the country. Lets listen to that. Reporter the people in the same situation . Yeah, all the same, they have they dont have their income ledger. Most of them lost their badge. Reporter right. So reporter whats your message to america right now . Our message, we help the America People so thats their job to help. Right now here. It is a very bad situation. Its their job to help us right now right here. Clarissa, there is a disconnect and its not small. Its huge. There is an Epic Chasm right now between the promises the United States is making and the ability for anyone in that country to really realize those promises. It doesnt matter if the airport is open if you cant get in the door. And so far, i have not heard a solution about how theyre supposed to get there other than, well, we think the taliban is going to let it happen. Reporter i mean, you know, what was interesting when we were pushing up very close to the entrance of the airport, and this taliban fighter came out and he was just high onion what. He was really, really hopped up and quite scary, i must say. He was like, what are you doing here . And brandishing this sort of makeshift we told him we were journalists, we were westerners. When he knew we were from america, he was ushering us through and he was trying to get us through then we had to explain we werent actually trying to leave the country. We were trying to cover the situation, the mayhem that was unfolding. But if you are a foreigner and youre willing to brave it, you can get in. They will let you in. Theyre not interested in having you stay around, but they are equally uninterested in having afghans leave because the taliban are not stupid. They know that these images are bad. They know that thousands of people flooding a runway, clinging to the fuselage doesnt look good for them because it speaks to the fact that so many people here are petrified. So many people here feel that their future has been just ripped away in a matter of moments. And im speculating, but im guessing Thats Part of the reason that they are desperately trike to really discourage ordinary afghans from trying to get close to that airport. And they know, the americans will be gone August 31st, it will all be over. They will be in full control of the airport and they will be the ones to have the final say on who comes and who stays. Clarissa ward, you and your team please stay safe. Thank you so much for showing us whats happening on the ground there. Well let you get back to reporting. Thank you, clarissa. Joining us now to discuss the unfolding situation in afghanistan is retired general David Petraeus who, of course, commandeds u. S. And coalition forces in afghanistan. Hes also the former c. I. A. Director. Sir, thank you so much for being with us this morning. You know, first, i would just like to get your reaction to the conditions there that clarissa is reporting on In Kabul. Well, its heartbreaking. Frankly, its also shameful because there are three successive american administrations that failed to meet our moral obligation to these individuals who qualify for the special immigrant visa, a program that was really started at the very end of the bush administration. For those who have served two years on the ground with our soldiers, sharing Hardship And Risk as Battle Field interpreters, and then there are many, many others. There are probably Hundreds Of Thousands, not just tens of thousands. Who put their lives and the lives of their families at risk by serving with our forces, with our diplomats, our Development Workers and so forth. And obviously its a scene of complete chaos and it reflects the fact that we moved so sluggishly, the bureaucracy around the Siv Process was glacial at best, and now we are seeing the results of that. And we have to do everything we can. Ive said that this is a dunkirk moment. These are friendlies who are stranded and we must help them get out. And youre not going to do it, by The Way, by Micro Managing it from washingtOn And having names. Youre going to have to have people there in power on the ground to whom delegation of authority has been given, military, State Department and department of Homeland Security since they do, of course, visas and so forth, and allow them to make these terrible choices that are going to determine who gets to get on a plane and get out of a country that is now going to be ruled by Ultra Conservative Islamist Emirate leaders, and those who have to stay and find out whether the taliban is going to be a kinder gentler version of their old self, or if they will revert to form. Im somewhat skeptical as to how that will transpire. I am curious about your skepticism on that. I do want to ask you about this process of trying to identify atrisk afghans, eligible afghans, because youre right, it does seem that this is largely being done from the United States, which obviously is not ideal. Ive heard from honestly, there is not a veteran ive heard from who isnt trying to get someone out, isnt trying to send names to nonprofits, ngos, the State Department. Is it clear to you who is in charge of this situation there at the airport . And what does the biden administration need to do to get a handle on this . Its not completely clear to me. I am also getting innumerable emails and linked in messages from individuals trying to get out or individuals who are trying to get others, Family Members out. Some have figured out how to navigate this system and it generally is, as always, you have to figure out a way around all the different obstacles. Some found a back gate, they found a way to link up with the intricate Control Point. There are atrisk individuals i wont identify, a group of westpointers were able to figure out how to get them through this chaotic scene outside the entry Control Point through it and actually on a plane and now are in safety. Again, this is not something that you can run from washington. Youre just going to have to put your trust in these great people who are on the ground, who have reestablished security and a perimeter at the Air Field, give them some broad guidelines and tell them to make the decisions. And again, it would be military, State And Department of Homeland Security. I think perhaps some other agencies in there as well. Yesterday the spokesman for the pentagon told us that once the american efforts are fully operational, theyre looking at a capability of maybe 5 to 9,000 people they can evacuate per day, a mix of americans and afghans. But yesterday we found out they were only able to evacuate 1100. So theyre very far from being fully operational. Can america get this done or even close to complete by August 31st . I doubt that we can get it done by that deadline. And obviously they need to consider that is something that washington can do, and that is to determine that we should extend that deadline. By The Way, keep in mind, were just talking about what were seeing at kabul. What about all those out in Kandahar And Bagram and all the other Air Bases around the country . It might be a test of the taliban to say, how about letting us Go Back into bagram or into kandahar . Huge airports, by The Way, much bigger than what you have at kabul, which is a Postage Stamp compared to those in capacity and capability. But, look, if we can put over 600 afghans on a single c17 by The Way, that can easily lift that. It can put two m1 tanks on there. The question is not the weight. A lot of people are fixated on the image, rightly, understandably, the tragic case of afghans trying to hang onto a c17 as its Taking Off. Id like to focus on the photo of 650 afghans inside a c17 where a Pilot And Air crew decided to put as many on there as they could and Taking Off and landing safely. That expresses what americans will do in a situation like this. I believe firmly that we can do this. The question is can we authorize the individuals on the ground to make these very, very tough choices . Or are we going to stay with the bureaucracy, in which case were going to leave tens, if not Hundreds Of Thousands of individuals in significant risk. Yeah, i mean thats what it came down to in saigon in the final moments, right. We saw certainly the State Department, they did take some action before the last moments. But it was really people on the ground who were making those calls and really asking for forgiveness, not permission. Sure. And by The Way, people on Aircraft Carriers shoving helicopters off so they could land the final individuals. By The Way, they did apparently on a number of different ships. Unbelievable images. And those were just Rank And File guys making the calls. Its really amazing. I do want to ask you, because the president has talked about what went wrong here, and this is what he said. This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So whats happened . Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan Military collapsed. Some without trying to fight. Americans cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. You were skeptical of president trumps draw down plan. You were skeptical, of course, of bidens draw down plan. I do wonder what you thought and think of how he is communicating on these final days to the american people. Well, on the issue of whether afghans will fight, it is very important to remember that well over 25 times as many afghans have been lost in combat as have americans, way over 60,000. So the idea that they wouldnt fight if someone had their back, and the problem here is the psychological blow. And i did talk about this months ago, and i did say that i feared that we would regret this decision, and i certainly do. I think an awful lot of others do as well. With the psychological blow of the announcement of the u. S. Withdrawal, really the psychological blow of the Trump Administration sourcing afghanistan to accept a negotiated agreement which was one they didnt even participate in, they werent allowed to, and then forcing them to release over 5,000 detainees who, many of whom went back to fighting with an adversary like the taliban. And then with this administration saying that clearly, again, were going to get out. Then we actually did get out. I think people still thought that they would look into the abyss, the administratiOn And say, whoa, this could be really ugly. Lets not do that perhaps after all. And then it was the withdrawal of the contractors who kept the afghan Air Force going. You know well, your husband is a special Forces Officer who served with afghan commandos. They will go to the fight. They just have to get there. And as the afghan helicopters and fixed Wing Aircraft Readiness eroded, they no longer could provide the kind of reinforcements, regency supply, at posts around the country. Yes, theyre more numerous, but the taliban could mass where they chose to do so and they could achieve local dominance over those organizations. And then once afghan soldiers and local leaders see that No One is coming to the rescue, i think its almost predictable at that point, especially, again, as they see others surrender, cut a deal or flee, that that then just follows. And it becomes infectious. You have this kind of infectious psychological collapse that led to this very rapid collapse of the state overall. And the senior leaders will have to answer for what they did for themselves later on, but for right now we have to recognize what the situation is, that we do own this at the end of the day. Yes, others failed to do their duty. Yes, On And on. Yes, there was an agreement by a previous administration, although this administration has reversed many other of the Policy Decisions by the previous administration, not the least of which was the withdrawal from the paris climate accord, Iran Nuclear Deal and the w. H. O. But again, lets focus on where we are now and lets focus on this moral obligation that we have, that we have not discharged properly over a period of several administrations, not just this one by any means. And now lets try to make this good. Lets try to start reestablishing our reputatiOn And our credibility Around The World by what we do now. And we can argue later on about whether or not this was the right decision to take and who is to blame for that. You know, where is that credibility . Because when we see what happened with the abandonment of the kurds under president trump, were seeing this happen now in afghanistan, you know, thats actually something that affects really just a very small percentage of the american population. Not very many people fight. And President Biden is well aware that most americans want out of this war. You know, his finger is on the pulse when it comes to that. But i wonder what your message is to americans who, yeah, they are tired of this war going on. Most of them want to leave, but theyre watching all of this unfold In Kabul right now. Well, this was not vietnam. This is not a war that we could not sustain. We have not lost an american military in the last 18 months in afghanistan. There were sustainable sustained Commitment Options that were they were recommended, in fact, as is very publicly known by the military and so forth. But, again, where we are now is, needless to say this is disastrous. I dont think there is any other way that you can describe it. To see a government, however flawed and however many shortcomings it had, at least provided enormous freedoms for its people, and those are about to be extinguished. In fact, women by and large are staying off The Streets right now as i think clarissa reported yesterday. So lets Focus Forward, though. Lets figure out how do we start rebuilding credibility, which dhaen a china and russia, by The Way, are having a field day. This is your partner. European leaders are questioning despite the success of Eu Summit and g 7 meeting and all the rest of that, because they, many of them, if not all, wanted to stay. So but Focus Forward and figure out how we do take this forward. And then meet that moral obligation that i described earlier, because it is a very significant one. And, by The Way, one last comment if i could. All that our young Men And Women In Uniform who have called the americas new greatest generation, all that they did, all that they sacrificed, all that they bled for should not be discredited by The Way we have left afghanistan. We provided 20 years of real hope for afghanistan and the afghan people. Their leaders may not have capitalized on all the opportunities. There were shortcomings and so forth. But at the end of the day, they saw something and experienced something that they had not had before. And i certainly hope, frankly, the taliban recognized that this is a different afghanistan. This is not the afghanistan that they ruled up until the 9 11 attacks or planned on Afghan Soil by Al Qaeda, allowed to have a sanctuary on their watch. And, by The Way, they need to help us now, supposedly they agreed that they would cut ties with Al Qaeda, so why dont they prove that . Why dont they invite us back to bagram Air Field and establish a Terrorism Force and coordination with our authorities and make sure Al Qaeda and now the islamic state are not able to establish a sanctuary once again on Afghan Soil. Sir, i think i might safely say i do not see that happening, certainly even if you think that that is something that should happen. You know, its going to be very interesting to see how the taliban does relate to the international community and how america relates to the taliban. Well be seeing that in the future. Well be talking more about that with you, general. General david patetraeus, thank for being with us. Thank you, brianna. The future starts here and how we react to the tens, if not Hundreds Of Thousands whose lives are in jeopardjeopardy bf their service with us. We will keep watching. General petraeus, thank you. We want to pickup on the last thing General Petraeus said, there is a now issue in afghanistan. There is a lot of discussion about what went wrong and who is to blame. There is a now problem, a huge urgency with thousands of lives in the balance and were seeing it through the eyes of our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward who has been on The Streets with her team over the last several days, heroically. And this morning they went near the airport to try to see how thousands of afghans are trying to get out of that country, and theyre not really able to right now. And i want to play one exchange she had with a man who had worked with the americans, and now wants what he was promised. Reporter lots of people in the same situation . Yeah, all the same. They have they dont have their income ledger. Most of them lost their badge. Reporter right. And whats your message to america right now . Our message america, we help the America People, so thats their jobs to help right now here. There is a very bad situation. So, joining us now is david sanger, cnn political and national security analyst, of Course Reporter at the new york times. David, from what weve seen from clarissa this morning illustrates a huge issue, a huge problem for what is going On And how the United States will fulfill the prove is made by President Biden. Thats absolutely right, john. I think that the Core Issue here is that in april when President Biden reaffirmed that the United States would leave, though we gave it some more time under the trump era agreement, thats when they really needed to go put into Hyper Drive the effort to go get these former interpreters, aides and others through. And the White House has made the case, not illegitimately, that its a big bureaucratic problem governed, in part, by a law that they actually had to go get congress to go amend some. But the fact of the matter is that the rushed effort right now to get people through the gates, which clarissa has shown, could have been done in a much more paced way in those months between april and the collapse of the government. Everybody thought they had the benefit of time, and thats where this concept that there was 18 months or six months, and that there would actually be a fight for to defend kabul went wrong. But youre seeing the Human Cost now of the fact that we just got the timing here wrong, and we didnt move fast enough when we had the chance. Just so people know what this man on the screen is showing us right now is what he says is his Green Card. Its his documentation that should get him through that gate right now. He has every right by the documentation he apparently has to get out of the country right now and hes showing to clarissa and he cant get through that door. Sorry, brianna. I didnt mean to jump in. Im so glad you pointed that out because were hearing all of these stories of people, whether they worked with americans i mean, they have they can rightfully live in america. Its really stunning to see. You mentioned, david, that one of the things the biden administration did back in the spring was basically say, yeah, get a lot of bureaucratic Red Tape and thats not really our wheel house. But now with this crisis, we see them circumventing the things. We see them now doing the things that they said even weeks ago, even months ago we couldnt do. Turns out they can do it. They are doing it. Maybe too late. Why didnt they do that sooner . Was it an issue of will . Was it missing the threat . What was it . Its a really good question, and there are probably going to be a lot of congressional investigations and other investigations into that. I think it was a combination of three things. First of all, from an immigration viewpoint, they were already taking a lot of heat for what was going on down on the southern border. And while these are very different cases, and i think you can argue that people who have given their lives and gone at great risk for the United States are in a totally different category. In fact, legally theyre in a different category. I think there was in the background, there was a little bit of concern about that. The second was you had an afghan government that made clear that they did not want to see the United States, at least in a very public way, take a lot of people out of kabul and the rest of afghanistan because it would seem as if it was an absence of confidence in the Staying Power of the government, an absence there should have been an absence of confidence as it turned out. In fact, when president ghani came to the White House in june for his last meeting with President Biden, he said to him outright, can you be do this, if whatever youre going to do, do it in a quiet way and dont do much of it at one time . Now, White House maintains that they moved as fast as they could still, and got 2,000 people out. But we now know the universe is 20,000, 25,000, and then there are an unknown number of american citizens and Green Card holders like what you saw. And then i think there was the third factor, which was they simply had all the time frame wrong. Now, whether thats their mistake or whether thats the mistake of the afghan government that didnt put up any kind of fight, i mean, we thought when the crunch came In Kabul, thats when all of the afghan Special Forces would be out there. We didnt see them. And one of the big questions is why was there really no plan for the defense of kabul . Yeah. Well, this is not quiet for sure what we are seeing. That did not happen. This was never going to be its always going to be messy, but this is really messy. Ridiculous. David, thank you so much. David sanger. Coming up well be talking to a u. S. Combat veteran who lost his limbs on the Battle Field in afghanistan. So what does he say about the takeover by the taliban . Covid cases taking hospitals past the brink, with some some cases negative room in intensive care units. See which states are getting hardest hit next. 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. Were talking a new allamerican club, delistyle ovenroasted turkey and. Oh, thats the new steak cheese. Oh yeah, i knew that. Thats the one with the new. Seasoning. And that was the new mvp parmesan vinaigrette. Right. Which makes a next level foot. Hold up. The Subway Logo . Wait im out of time . 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Crafted with clinically studied plantbased ingredients that work naturally with your body. For restorative sleep like never before. I. C. U. Units in five states are more than 90 full as unvaccinated covid patients are pushing hospitals to the brink. Its a dire situation in alabama. There are no i. C. U. Beds available in the state, and the demand for i. C. U. Care is rising. According to the president of the Alabama Hospital association, the state is at negative 11 i. C. U. Beds. Joining us is the director of the division for special diseases at the university of alabama birmingham. Doctor, thanks for being with us this morning. Can you explain, what is a negative 11 beds . Does that mean theyre converting other spaces into i. C. U. Units . What is that . Yeah, good morning, brianna. Unfortunately it means several very bad things. So, first of all, it means that you have patients who qualify for Entry Or Admission into the i. C. U. , but simply cant be accommodated. So where do those patients go . Unfortunately they stay in the emergency room. They may even stay on the regular floor where youre already stretched for capacity to take care of these people because so many of our staff are out with covid. And its really just a Domino Effect that then clogs up our e. R. S, clogs up everything else. So you can imagine when youre trying to take care of i. C. U. Level patients in an emergency department, how are you going to be able to accommodate people coming in, again, not just for covid, but for all the usual things that people use the e. D. For . So its a very, very tenuous situation. Yeah, the e. D. And other procedures, weve heard of people who need Cancer Surgery who cant get in in states that are having this kind of issue. And i wonder, you know, what do you see coming your way in alabama . Because alabama has reported more than 4,000 new cases just yesterday alone. More than 4,000 new cases, which is a new high for us. The other issue is that we have now 2800 people, as you noted, hospitalized with the i. C. U. Capacity issue. If you project these numbers out, you can expect that we will at some point, probably around september 1st, have at least 5,000 people in our hospitals. If the ratio of people who have to go to the i. C. U. Remains stable and i will say it seems to be higher for the delta variant. I think its going to be interesting to see if this is the case. That means that probably about a third of those people are going to require i. C. U. Beds. That is frankly untenable given the infrastructure, the resources and really importantly, the staff that we have. So i think it is basically potentially apocalyptic. I do not use that word lightly. We are thinking about creating new spaces to accommodate this surge. But it really is like not exactly like we were talking about in the early days of the pandemic, only worse. You are here sounding an alarm, worse than the early days of the pandemic in alabama. Doctor, i really thank you coming on this morning and talking to us about this. Thank you for having me. This morning the Death Toll from the earthquake in haiti is growing to nearly 2,000 people, around 1. 2 million have been affected by the quake according to unicef. This video shows the state of desperation on the ground. Food supply so thin people are digging up debris with their bare hands to get to what had been a grocery store. Joining us now is cnns Anderson Cooper who spent so much time reporting in haiti over the years including after the 2010 earthquake. Anderson, its great to have you on for this. I thought about what your impressions of this are, having spent so much time there and just thinking about how much suffering can one country take between the earthquake and the storms and the assassinations and now this . Yeah, its really, its extraordinary to think about the kind of successive waves of agony that have hit haiti. The storm obviously has just added misery to people who have been sleeping on The Street since the earthquake. Youve got some 10,000 people, nearly 10,000 people said to be injured. 60,000 buildings destroyed in the Southwestern Parts of haiti and lakay. The thing about it is just the difficulty of getting there. You know, when the Earthquake Hit in portauprince which killed the exact number will never be known, but anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 people, it was at least the capital. There was an airport there, you could directly fly into as soon as the airport was open. This is in a region that is very difficult, if not impossible right now to get to by road. The main road from portauprince, the south, has been cut off by armed gangs for quite sometime now. Theres also debris in the roads making parts of it impassable, particularly for large trucks. So this is a really difficult task and the tropical storm pouring like 10 inches of rain or so on the area, certainly hasnt helped. And with attention, anderson, focused on haiti, i want to ask you, because so many people look back not even a decade ago. They see what happened. And is this just what is going to happen in haiti every time there is an earthquake . What can the international community do to not have this just be on repeat . Yeah, i mean its a good question. You know, building theres a lot of structures in haiti which have just been put up by individuals. Theres not zoning codes as there should be in a lot of places. There are so many layers of things that have failed in haiti over the years and were really never there to begin with. And certainly a lack of leadership, you know, their parliament has been dissolved after years of paralysis. The president , as you know, was assassinated. There is a new Prime Minister now. It seems overwhelm, the obstacles, and theres a lot of people, lot of organizations on the ground trying to do what they can. And making a difference in peoples lives. Obviously it would be far worse if all the, you know, commitments that had been madmade, the people who hadnt been working for years were there. Its easy to look at haiti and say why does this keep happening . And really theres a lot of, you know, a lot of people who played a role in it and a lot of systems that play a role in it. Its tragic. Nevertheless, you have Hundreds Of Thousands of people in need right now, and its a desperate situation. What has stuck with you the most, anderson, about the haitian people after these years . You know, everyone talks about the resilience and certainly i mean, that is an absolutely true statement. You know, its almost i dont know. Its hard to even talk about that at this point, how much resilience can anybody be expected to have. Were talking about a level of poverty in this hemisphere, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. You know, its got an incredibly proud history. They overthrew the french and, you know, gained liberation, and yet it has been beset in modern times by just repeated tragedies and Mismanagement And Corruption and dictatorship. You know, its an incredibly the people are incredibly strong there. But, of course, its not fair to ask people, you know, to be this strong all the time. No, resilience is great. No one should have to be this resilient. Anderson, thanks so much for joining us this morning and having this discussion. Thank you. More now on our Breaking News out of afghanistan. Cnns Clarissa Ward on The Streets of kabul as the taliban opened fire to disperse crowds at the airport. Clarissa has been speaking with afghans, trying to get out. People brave enough to say on live Television Broadcast Around The World that they worked with the americans. Stay with us. Are we still exclusive . Absolutely. And thats exactly why you should join. Find your rhythm. Your happy place. Find your breaking point. Then break it. Every emergenc gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergenc. In the race to succeed, does somebody always have to fail . Lets give everybody a fair shot. Because when that happens, weve all made it. Introducing xfinity rewards. Our very own way of thanking you just for being with us. Enjoy rewards like Movie Night specials. Xfinity mobile benefits. And exclusive experiences, like the chance to win tickets to see watch what happens live. Hey its me. The longer youve been with us. The more rewards you can get. Like sharpening your Cooking Skills with a top chef. Join for free on the Xfinity App and watch all the rewards float in. Our thanks. Your rewards. As the world witnesses the break down of the two decade u. S. Effort in afghanistan, thousands of desperate afghans remain stranded and the u. S. And its allies still desperately trying to evacuate personnel from the citys airport. People cant even get to the airport. Joining me now is retired Travis Mills on his third tour of duty in afghanistan, he lost both legs and arms. Travis, its great to see you this morning. One of the reasons we like speaking to you is you are relentlessly optimistic. Thats hard looking at whats happening in afghanistan. You know, it is. Its terrible whats going on there. Unfortunately, we all knew this day had to come, and, you know, my main Goal And Concern is with the people that helped us and getting them out, and obviously it was the right decision to leave afghanistan. I still think we should have held onto Kandahar And Bagram Air Bases. It would have made a lot more sense to fly people out that need to get out. I wasnt part of the planning. Im a lowly enlisted guy. In truth, its important that the veterans that did serve and the families that lost Loved Ones over there understand that we did good. We did make a change, and the impactful one at that. And we were able to build the schools, Dig The Freshwater Wells and give education to little girls and women. And i think hopefully, you know, that continues on. I know its probably not going to, but you cant unteach people things. So we did make an impact, and i just my heart goes out for the people right now that are trapped there, but at the same time, unfortunately we had to let them stand on their own and see what happens. And it just didnt go The Way we would have hoped. So, travis, you seem to be trying to answer the question i know a lot of veterans are asking. And some feeling, you know, mixed emotions, which is was it worth it. Was it worth it. Is that what youre trying to answer . You know, for me like i said before when i was On And grateful for the opportunity, i dont look back at whether it was worth it. I know this is my life, its The Way it is, lets keep pushing forward and doing good in the world. For me, i want to make sure people real eyes yes, it was definitely worth it. Unfortunately if im being completely honest with you, after your first deployment when you go overseas, you realize not much is going to change in that country. Its been that way forever. Unfortunately for the mission that we had, we always were going to leave. And the afghan population, they had a really tough situation to live in. They were between a rock and a hard place because they had to deal with the taliban that lived there all the time. And then they had to deal with the americans that were coming over for a year, 15 months, and then leave, and replaced with somebody else. Always in the back of my mind realizing one day they are going to leave and we will be left here in this country that we live in with the taliban. So what are they to do . We had a lot of Corrupt Village Elders we knew were corrupt, and the people were just trying to survive and live their life to the fullest and do what they need to do to get their crops, feed their families and take care of their livestock and animals. So for me it was definitely worth the good i was able to be a part of and i was able to do with my unit, my soldiers that served next to me. But i want people at home that are wondering what was it all for to know, we did do a a will the of positive things. The way its unfolding now is terrible. But it was a planning issue. We did have to leave eventually. So obviously there is a now issue, right . How do people get to the airport . How do they get out . And then theres the question of what americans, not just the biden administration right now, the military should be doing on the ground, but what americans as a nation should be willing to do going forward. You hear people critical of what the biden administration has done and the choices they made and how theyve handle it. People say look at the mess you created, all these refugees. How could you let all these people down. Some of the very same people say, we dont want them here. We dont want them here. Whats your message to americans about trying to accept to bring in some of these people, these afghan allies that you served with . Well, i mean, you know, weve had some really amazing Afghan National Army fighters i would put next to my men every day of the week that fought hard. We had one called ram bow, he wanted to be called rambo. He was just as crazy as i was, i guess. They fought for their country, did everything we trained them to do. They risked life and limb for their families to help us. I have a few of my facebook friends i community indicate that were with us that got to come over here on Work Visas and work their way into being american citizens. I think we have to put that aside and figure out, you know, who did help us, who is really in jeopardy and danger, and give them something for all theyve done for us. I mean, you cant build a foreign country and not speak their language and try to get around and try to do good without people there believing in us and helping us along The Way. Travis mills, as i said, somehow talking to you about of It Times when things dont look so hot puts a smile on our face. I appreciate you joining us this morning, i really do. Thanks so much. Thanks for your time, and hope this i was trying to spiff it up for you. Youre fetching. Thank you. Hell always put a smile on your face even in tough times. Its true, the american troops did what they were asked, i think a lot of them i know a lot of them are struggling right now. And how quickly actually i think afghanistan fell was kind of a testament to the work that they were doing, right . But theyre having a difficult time with this. It is a hard war to make sense of. Its a hard war to look at the costs and the benefits of. You know, travis is a guy who has, i think, dealt with or confronted this notion of futility for sometime. So i think that his words on this speak volumes. And hopefully ring true to other veterans who might be asking questions right now and need some support and hes providing it. I hope so, too. All right, weve been watching all morning long. Shots fired, reports of taliban fighters turning violence on protestors in afghanistan. Our reporters have seen it. Our live coverage from the scene after this. 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