Covid19. And most importantly, their conditions are far less severe. The overwhelming majority of people in the hospital of covid19 are almost all those dying from covid19 are not vaccinated. Not vaccinated. If youre fully vaccinated, both shots plus two weeks, your risk of severe illness from covid19 is very, very, very low. Now, i know that parents are concerned about covid19 cases among their children. Ill be addressing this soon with Secretary Cordona to discuss how we get our kids back to school safely. Cases among children are still rare, and severe cases among children are very, very rare. But i know that parents are thinking about their own kids. Its not as reassuring as anyone would like it to be. So, let me say this as parents to the parents. As you have you have the tools. You have the tools to keep your child safer and two of those tools, above all, are available to you. One, make sure that everyone around your child who can be vaccinated is vaccinated. Parents, adults, teens. Two, make sure child is masked when they leave home. Thats how we can best keep our kids safe. As ive said before, the pandemic of the unvaccinated is a tragedy that is preventable. People are dying and will die who dont have to. So, please, please, if you havent gotten your vaccination, if you havent gotten vaccinated, do it now. It could save your life and the lives of those you love. Now, the good news is that people are getting vaccinated. For the past several weeks, my administration has imposed new Vaccine Requirements on federal workers, the armed forces, people work in federal medical facilities and Nursing Home workers. Governors, mayors, and private sector leaders have done the same. We have also encouraged new incentives. For example, in some states, you get 100 if you get vaccinated. These new requirements and incentives are accelerating vaccinations once again. Giving us the hope that we can put this Delta Variant behind us in the weeks ahead. There are three Facts Everyone should know about where we are in this fight against this pandemic. First, even as the Delta Variant has ravaged the unvaccinated, the deaths have climbed. Deaths have climbed. The Death Rate is still 70 lower than it was last winter. Why . Because we did such a good job vaccinating those most at risk, senior citizens. America has about 54 Million senior citizens. About 50 Million have gotten at least One Shot. Thats almost 92 . Secondly, overall weekly new vaccinations are up more than 56 from where they were a month ago. Last week, we saw a record of vaccinations, more than 1 Million shots a day for three straight days. Thats the first time this has happened since june. Six million shots in the last seven days. The highest Sevenday Total in over a month and a half. Remember, remember when we were trying to get 70 of the people over 18, at least One Shot . Well, weve not only gotten that done. Weve gotten 71 of Everyone Age 12 and older their first shot. And thats over 200 Million americans. And over 170 Million are now fully vaccinated. Third, states that have been lagging are seeing their Vaccination Rates grow faster. In fact, in alabama, arkansas, louisiana, mississippi, more people got new vaccinations in the past month than in the prior two months combined. The progress were making on vaccinations now is going to produce results in the weeks ahead. The sooner you get fully vaccinated, the sooner youll be protected. According to the experts from the yale school of public health, the pace of our Vaccination Effort has saved over 100,000 lives and prevented more than 450,000 hospitalizations. This is critical progress. We need to move faster. As i mentioned before, ive imposed Vaccination Requirements that will reach millions of americans. Today, im calling on more companies in the private sector to step up with Vaccine Requirements that will reach millions more people. If youre a business leader, a nonprofit leader, a state or local leader, who has been waiting for full Fda Approval to require vaccinations, i call on you now to do that, require it. Do what i did last month. Require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements. As i said last week, Vaccination Requirements have been around for decades. Students, healthcare professionals, our troops, are typically required to receive vaccination, to prevent everything from polio to smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella. In fact, reason most people in america dont worry about polio, smal smallpox, measles, mumps and Rubella Today is because of vaccines. It only requires a vaccine to stop the spread of covid19. With todays fda full approval, theres another good reason to get vaccinated, so please get vaccinated now. If you go to vaccines. Com or text your Zip Code to 438829. 438829. You can find a number of Vaccine Sites near you. Just minutes away. Where you can get your shot without an appointment. All around the world, people want these vaccines. Here in america, theyre free, convenient, and waiting for you. So, please go today for yourself, for your Loved Ones, for your neighbors, for your country. Ill close with this. Were in the midst of a wartime effort to beat this pandemic. Its one of the biggest and most complicated challenges in our history. And its based on an unparalleled Vaccination Program that is saving lives and beating this virus. Its a Vaccination Program thats getting us back to our Loved Ones and a way of life we were used to. Its happening. And its going to keep happening. If you help it helps our economy. It gets everything moving. It keeps us growing. Together, weve made significant progress in just seven months. We just have to finish the job with sign, facts, and confidence. Together, together, as the united states of america, so please get vaccinated today. God bless you all, and may god protect our troops. Thank you. Weve been listening there to weve spoken to them, who says that you have been waiting for the full Fda Approval, todays your lucky day. Today, you can go out and get that shot. The president said the moment you have been waiting for is here. The question is, how many people have really been waiting for this moment that now, after all of these months, oh, weve got Fda Approval, now im going go out and get the shot. Well see if there is a tick up after theres now this full approval. Lets bring in our panel to talk about what this could mean for companies and for individuals. Senior white House Correspondent Phil Mattingly is with us, senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and senior medical Analyst Dr. Lena wen. Elizabeth to you first, what is the significance of this announcement, that its got full Fda Approval . Victor, i heard a bit of skepticism in your voice. Just a hint. I have to say that i share that because i have actually spoken to people who have not gotten the shot, and they tell me things like, oh, it will make me infertile, oh, my left arm will fall off, my hair will turn green, all sorts of crazy stuff. I dont know that full Fda Approval is really going to change things for them. Maybe for some people. I dont know that its going to be this tsunami of people who are going to start standing in lines that go around the corner, but lets talk about what the hope is that the effect that this full approval might have. First, as weve been talking about, hopefully, people will think, now ill get it because its been fully approved. Another possibility is that or another thing we know is true is that having full approval allows pfizer to advertise. They couldnt do that with emergency authorization. Pharmaceutical companies are good at advertising. Lets hope theyre really great at advertising the vaccine. Also, this is really the most important one is that having full approval encourages employers, restaurants, et cetera, to require a vaccine. Now, you folks know because were in New York that restaurants here have been doing that for indoor seating for, you know, a week or two now. But more places will probably feel comfortable, and thats where it might happen. You know, if your boss says, i dont care what you think about this shot, if you want to work here, you have to get it, thats going to encourage higher Vaccination Rates. Sure will. Dr. Wen, thats what you think the Game Changer is today. What do you think the significance of what we just heard is . I totally agree with elizabeth. I dont know a lot of individuals who are going to say, hey, i was just waiting for this final stamp of approval, now im going to get my shot. I think its more that companies are going to require vaccinations and thats going to give individuals the nudge, the push that they need in order to take that step. I also think that the significance here is a lot of people have been talking about the Covid19 Vaccine differently than they talk about other vaccines. I mean, all 50 states require, for children to get some form of immunization prior to entering school. They may have different optouts but they all have requirements for vaccinations. We need to start talking about the Covid Vaccine in the same way. Doctors always advise our patients about the flu vaccine, about pneumonia, shingles, tetanus. We now need to talk about covid not as something totally different but as part of the normal suite of vaccinations that are required and are part of everyday life. And i do think that the full approval paves the way to that. I was hoping, though, that the biden administration, that President Biden Today would say more. I wish that he would have said more about requiring vaccines on planes, on trains, in federal buildings. I think that will be an important next step, and thats up to the biden team to take that bold next step to really encourage vaccinations. Phil, he hasnt gone that far yet but we did hear more from the president , not hoping or anticipating that municipalities, that companies will require the vaccine. He said, do what i did. Make it mandatory or then start these strict testing regimens. What did you hear . Two keywords. Require it. Thats what the president said, flatly and bluntly, making very clear full Fda Approval is here, now you should act. Its interesting how theyve been building on this over the course of the last several weeks, obviously getting more aggressive in their posture across several fronts as it relates to the Delta Variant, as theyve seen the spread, seen the surnge, but the president very clearly, i would agree with what my two colleagues have made clear. Theres no assumption inside the White House that millions of people are All Of A Sudden going to get away from their hesitancy and go get vaccinated. They believe there will be some but i think when you talk to White House officials the thing that theyre keying on right now is that this opens the door for companies, for private businesses to feel more comfortable with mandates and requirements but also for governments as well and weve seen i. Theres been a Domino Effect in just the last couple hours, whether its new York City educators, new Jersey Government officials, the pentagon making clear that a plan that had been in place to mandate the vaccine is now moving forward. I think the expectation inside the administration is that will start to spread with more vigor over the course of the next couple of weeks because of the full approval and i think when they look at the numbers and you heard the president read them off, 6 Million vaccinations over the course of the last seven days, the most in six weeks, up more than 50 , in terms of vaccinations, yes, in part, thats due to fear of whats been happening with the Delta Variant and how transmissible it is but they also believe that is, to some degree, a result of the requirements that theyve started to put in place, the requirements that companies have started to put in place as well, something they hope will be Tu Turbo charged. Elizabeth, what does this mean for kids . People are waiting to know when 12 and under can get vaccinated. Thats right and this is completely separate. This doesnt really mean anything for kids, because for kids, for children under 12, they have had to do entirely different clinical trials, and thats a good thing. We want them to do that. Children may need very different doses. A 6monthold may need a different dose than an 11yearold and we want them to do these clinical trials so what happened today doesnt really mean anything. Those clinical trials are ongoing. Theyre looking out for efficacy and probably even more vigilantly, theyre looking out for safety. How long do you think those will take . I think its going to be, what they keep saying is sometime this fall. Hopefully it will be sometime this fall. Dr. Wen, the president also mentioned, not just the mandates but incentives, 100 if you get a shot. Is there any evidence that these incentives are working . Not really. I mean, i actually think that we need to be thinking about incentives differently, looking at what the nfl is doing and having a disincentive, if you will, for what happens if there are lots of infections in a team. Something like that might actually be a next step. So for example, i hope the federal government will be more aggressive with companies, maybe giving companies a Tax Break or some financial incentive for requiring vaccinations. But also, looking at the negative incentives, i do think that the requirements, potentially with the optout, are important too and essentially we need to make vaccination the easy choice and just giving somebody 100, i dont think, will quite do that. But imagine if youre told, you have to get tested twice a week in order to go to work and thats going to cost you. You have to pay for the cost of this testing. Or you could get vaccinated. Something like that will be a lot more powerful than a onetime incentive to go to a concert or get a voucher. You know what else seems to be working in terms of Vaccine Numbers going up . Fear. The million people a day for the first time in the past week, i can only chalk that up to the Delta Variant wreaking havoc. I think thats absolutely right. All of a sudden, people started not just hearing about it on the news but people also started knowing people who were in the hospital or who unfortunately died from this. And you can see these new Vaccination Numbers administered that it would really has gone up since earlier. Thats we dont want people to have to die in order for people to be inspired to get vaccinated, and apparently, people dying in huge numbers is not enough, so to dr. Wens point, there really needs to be more than just there needs to be something else in order to get people vaccinated. Im going to tell you a story about someone in israel who i know who did not want to be vaccinated. She was very, very hesitant. You know what made her get vaccinated . The restaurants required. The Movie Theaters required vaccination, and she was tired of her family going to restaurants and Movie Theaters without her. She couldnt be with her family. That made her get vaccinated. Thats the kind of thing that will help someone change their mind. Yeah, and we are seeing, of course, that uptick. So this is just pfizer with the full approval. Elizabeth, how far behind, potentially, are moderna, and is J J even applied yet . So, Johnson Johnson, its a little bit unclear, and in some ways, it matters much less. It is just harder to get a Johnson Johnson shot. Its harder. If you go on vaccines. Gov and you look around, and weve done this, its quite easy to find a Pfizer Or Moderna shot. Its harder to find a Johnson Johnson shot so theyre not as much a part of this game. For moderna, we dont know when theyre going to get their full approval. In some ways, it matters much less than this pfizer approval. This pfizer approval, i think, is going to be what makes employers say, all right, theyve made you know, they fully approved this. Im going to make you get a shot if you want to keep working here. Thats what will make more restaurants, et cetera, so moderna might get it but this is more of the Game Changer. Because there is one now thats fully approved. Correct. So, you can get a fully approved vaccine. No one can say, i dont want to get a shot because its not fully approved. There is a fully approved vaccine and pfizers all over the place. Its easy to find. Is there some new information about Vaccine Efficacy, the shots weve already gotten, about how long theyre lasting . What weve been told is eight months. Around six to eight months, the Vaccine Efficacy starts to wane. And that was repeated again today when the fda had a Press Conference, so around six to eight month mark, you start to see Vaccine Efficacy wane. For example, at the Press Conference that the fda had today, they said, you know what we thought in december, that it was 95 effective, but when we followed people for longer periods of time, it was actually 91 effective. Still incredible. Still great. But you can see it waning. Yeah. Dr. Wen, there are families who are watching who are excited about the full approval of pfizer. Theyve long been vaccinated. But their 9yearold, their 11yearold has not yet been vaccinated. What do we know about the timing of an Emergency Use Authorization for those under 12 . Well, im in this position, victor, i have a 1yearold and a son who turns 4 today but still well under the 12yearold range. Look, i think that the fda needs to be a lot more transparent about whats going on in these studies for younger kids because the timeline keeps on getting moved. We were hearing from pfizer that the studies were expected to be complete for the 6 to 11yearold group in september, october. Now were approaching September October and those studies are not in yet. Were told that pfizer is now being asked to submit more data, potentially longer Safety Data beyond two months and potentially including a larger group of kids. All that may be necessary but we want to understand what exactly is happening, and i think the Riskbenefit Calculation has also changed because we are now having more children hospitalized right now than at any point during the pandemic with kids going back to school in the midst of the delta surge. I think the riskbenefit has changed and maybe we dont need as many months or kids enrolled in these studies so i dont think we know right now about what that timing should be, but i really hope we get some clarity sooner and i hope that well get at least a 6 to 11yearold group but ideally also the 3 to 5year Age Group approved before The End of the year. Especially as kids go wback o school. Dr. Wen, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you both. Now to this. The u. S. Is racing to meet The End of August Deadline to leave afghanistan. But there are big questions about exactly how many people still need to get out. And this is being described as a tidal wave, the flood that happened over the weekend in tennessee. One town is trying to recover from the destruction that came so quickly. Weve got more for you. With quality thats guaranteed for life, Bath Fitter doesnt just fit your bath, it fits your high standards. Why have over Two Million people welcomed Bath Fitter into their homes . It just fits. Call now or visit bathfitter. Com to book your free consultation. What makes new Salonpas Arthritis Gel so good for Arthritis Pain . Salonpas contains the most prescribed topical pain relief ingredient. Its clinically proven, reduces inflammation and comes in original prescription strength. Salonpas. Its good medicine. In ways big and small, the world has changed. But our commitment to getting you safely out in it . That never will. Okay, update on afghanistan now. The pentagon says 16,000 people were flown out of the Kabul Airport in the past 24 hours. Most by military aircraft, some on chartered flights. But pentagon officials say several thousand americans and their Family Members still need to be evacuated, and thats not counting the Tens Of Thousands of afghan helpers trying to leave. The taliban declared that everyone must be out by August 31st or the mission must end by August 31st. Thats eight days from now. But a u. S. Defense department says that official says that extending the deadline is still an option. Im not going to speak to specificity with the communications that were having with the taliban on any given day. It happens several times a day. We are well aware of the stated desire to by the taliban to have this mission completed by the 31st of august. I would tell you that we, too, are still planning on completing it by the 31st of august. That is the mission that had been signed by the commander in chief, assigned to us, and thats what were trying to execute, and if there needs to be a discussion about extending that timeline, then we absolutely will have have that discussion at the appropriate time with the commander in chief. The danger at Kabul Airport is intensifying. Last count, 13,000 people, at least, there on site. Overnight, a Sniper Shot and killed an afghan guard, helping to secure the base. A Fire Fight involved american, G German and afghan force. Plus the terror group, isisk, Sworn Enemy of the taliban, may be planning an attack at the airport. That has forced the u. S. Military to set up alternative routes to the airport. The president s national Security Advisor calls the threat real, acute, and persistent. Lets turn now to cnn chief white House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins and Cnn Pentagon Corey barbara starr. Barbara, The Big Question here, will this be complete by August 31st . Any indication from the administration . Look, i think thats absolutely unknowable at this point and its probably important to be very candid and very precise that it is unknowable. They hope to. And thats what John Kirby is really reflecting. Publicly and behind the scenes. Many administration officials want to get this wrapped up for the very reason you talked about. The longer they stay, the bigger the risk. They know that isisk is out there hoping to attack them. All right, barbara, i have to interrupt you. I apologize for that. Weve got to go to the white House Press Briefing and heres Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Ill turn it over to jake. Thanks, jen. Good afternoon, everyone. Ill make sol comments and then as jen said, im happy to take your questions. I want to start once again by saluting our troops and civilians at the Kabul Airport. Kabul fell just over a week ago. Within 48 hours, they had secured the airfield. They had safely and effectively drawn down our Embassy Compound and retrograded our embassy personnel. They have now facilitated the evacuation of more than 37,000 people out of the country since august 14th. American citizens, Third Country Nationals, our afghan allies and afghans at risk of persecution or worse. In the last 24 hours alone, 28 u. S. Military flights have evacuated approximately 10,400 people from kabul. In addition, 61 Coalition Aircraft have evacuated approximately 5,900 additional people. That is more than 16,000 people in 24 hours, and the flights are continuing, hourbyhour, as we speak. We have established a network of Transit Centers in multiple countries in the gulf and europe. Where we are getting u. S. Citizens on flights home and we are running biometric and biographic background checks on afghan evacuees before bringing them to the united states or having them relocated to a third country. All told, 26 countries on 4 continents are contributing to this effort, one of the largest Air Lifts in history. A massive military, diplomatic, security, humanitarian undertaking. A testament to the Power And Purpose of the united states and our allies. I want to provide an update on american citizens. We have helped thousands of americans leave kabul already. Weve contacted americans still in afghanistan by email, by phone, by text. To give them specific instructions. We have developed a method to safely and efficiently transfer groups of american citizens on to the airfield. For operational reasons, im not going to go into further detail on this. Many people have asked, reasonably, why we cannot provide a precise number of american citizens still incountry. Let me explain. When americans have come to afghanistan over the years, we asked them to register with the embassy. Many have left without deregistering. Others never register at all. That is their right, of course, and its our responsibility to find them, which we are now doing hourbyhour. In the days remaining, we believe we have the wherewithal to get out the american citizens who want to leave kabul. This operation is complex. It is dangerous. It is fraught with challenges, operational, logistical, human, and its produced searing images of pain and desperation, but no operation like this, no evacuation from a capital that has fallen in a Civil War, could unfold without those images. The question is, are we on track to fulfill our objectives of this operation . To bring out our people, so many of those afghans who helped us, and so many of those afghans at risk. And we believe we are. As we conduct these operations, we are sustaining the highest level of vigilance for an attack against the airport by Isis K or another terrorist group. Our commanders on the ground have taken every step they can to prepare for such an attack. Our president has authorized every capability that those commanders have asked for to protect the airfield against such an attack. We remain in close touch with allies and partners to coordinate the evacuation of their own citizens and their priority personnel, as well as to respond to the ongoing political and Security Situation in afghanistan. The president has spoken twice now with the british Prime Minister. He has spoken with the german chancellor, the french president , the Spanish President , the italian Prime Minister, the emir of qatar and the Crown Prince of the uae. Tomorrow, he will participate in a G7 Leaders Meeting On Afghanistan to ensure the worlds leading democracies are aligned and united on the way forward. We are working with partners to address the acute humanitarian needs of the afghan people. And we will remain persistently vigilant against the Terrorism Threat in afghanistan and in multiple other theaters. We have proven in other places that we can suppress terrorism without a permanent Military Presence on the ground, and we will do the same in afghanistan. Finally, we are deeply moved by the outpouring of support from so many americans, so many of them veterans, to help afghan evacuees, those afghans at risk, our afghan allies, settle here in the united states. This is the best of the american spirit, and we look forward to working with them in the days, weeks, and months ahead. And with that, i would be happy to take your questions. Thanks, jake. A taliban spokesman has said that it would be a Red Line for the u. S. To keep troops in afghanistan past its own August 31st deadline. Are you engaged in talks with the taliban over extending that deadline, and how are those talks going . We are in talks with the taliban on a daily basis through both political and security channels. Im not going to get into the details of those discussions here to protect those discussions, which are covering a wide range of issues. We are also consulting closely with our allies and partners on the issue of the evacuation and its progress. In fact, the president just got off the phone with the british Prime Minister a short time ago. We are taking this Day By day. We believe we are making enormous progress, and taking a Step Back, a week ago, i dont think almost anyone in this Briefing Room would have thought wed be standing here today with 37,000 people already evacuated from the country. We believe were making progress. Were going to keep making progress, and the president will ultimately make his decision about the precise Shape And Scope of the operation. Has the president decided whether he is going to need more time beyond August 31st to get all u. S. Personnel and afghan people out of the country . As i said, the president believes we are making substantial progress. Dozens of flights, thousands, now Tens Of Thousands of people evacuated from the country. We believe today will be an efficient and effective day, and tomorrow and the next day as well. And as i said, he is taking this Day By day and will make his determinations as we go. Yes . Just to follow up. Does the administration think that they need taliban agreement to extend beyond August 31st . As i said, we are engaging with the taliban, consulting with the taliban on every aspect of whats happening in kabul right now. On whats happening at the airport, on how we need to ensure that there is facilitated passage to the airport for american citizens, sivs, Third Country Nationals, and so forth, well continue those conversations with them. Ultimately, it will be the president s decision how this proceeds. No one elses. Just checking. You said we have the wherewithal to Get Americans out, but you didnt forgive me if i didnt get the quote right. In your statement. You didnt say that we have the ability to get them out in the time frame, by August 31st. So, is that as ive said before, as the president has said before, we believe that we have time between now and the 31st to get out any american who wants to get out. Yes. Yes. I wanted to ask, you said that you have said multiple times and the president has said that you could not leave afghanistan without these chaotic scenes no matter when you left, that would happen. I guess my question is, why didnt the administration prepare the american public and say to the american public, there are going to be very chaotic scenes, you are going to see its going to be rough. Theres going to be a rough couple weeks before this happens. Instead, you had the president saying, dont worry, were not going to be, you know, evacuating ambassadors or diplomats from the roof of the embassy. Dont worry about that. Why, if he knew there would be chaos, did the administration not prepare the american public for the chaos . So, first, im glad you asked this question and i want to take a Step Back and address the nature of an evacuation in a circumstance like this, and then ill come to your specific point on messaging. Whether kabul fell in august or september or december or next august, the fact is, whenever it fell, there were going to be american citizens in kabul who needed to be evacuated. There were going to be Third Country Nationals in kabul who were going to be evacuated, have to be evacuated. There were going to be afghans still in the fight who had supported the u. S. War effort over the last 20 years who were going to have to be evacuated. So, an Evacuation Operation in a dangerous situation was going to have to happen at some point, and when you run an operation like that, when you are trying to position assets to go in and secure an airfield in a city that has been taken by opposing forces with a government thats collapsed, your Contingency Plan is going to hit headon with reality and there are going to be complexities and challenges and difficulties, and you work through them. You make adjustments and you ultimately get an operation going that is moving out thousands, if not Tens Of Thousands, of people daily. That is what we have accomplished over the course of the week. It has not been without its immense difficulties and we are very mindful of those difficulties. We are cleareyed about those difficulties but that is how we have watched the last week unfold. Why the president didnt walk out and say, let me explain to you exactly what is going to unfold in afghanistan, all along, the president has been clear that the united states was not going to enter a third decade of american Military Deployment in the middle of another countrys Civil War and in his speech in april and in his speech in july, and in comments he has made since then, he has been clear that that could mean difficult times in afghanistan. We have been cleareyed about this from the start. But what we were not prepared to do, what the president was not prepared to do, was to say that, for that reason, we need to keep american Men And Women Fighting and dying in this Civil War. Yes . Yes, jake. Whether its August 31st or shortly thereafter, its clear that all of the eligible afghans who worked for u. S. Forces and the u. S. Government are not going to be able to get out. For those watching, what do you say to them . What advice do you give . Should they try to get to a third country on their own . Should they wait for some diplomatic solution . So, first, were in touch with the afghans at risk, eligible for special Immigrant Visas and other categories of support from the u. S. Government. We are trying to get as many of them to the airport as quickly as possible to get them on flights home, and as i said yesterday, in comments on the sunday shows, we will continue to get afghans at risk out of the country even after u. S. Military forces have left. Yes . Thank you, sir. The president has criticized his predecessor. Hes criticized the afghan army, the afghan government for all of their failures. One group that he has seemed to criticize at length, though, is the taliban. Why is that . And then also, why does the president continue to say that the taliban is facing an existential question about how theyll be viewed on the World Stage . I mean, theyre going doortodoor, going after the families of these translators. Dont they already know who they are . So, first, the president has been very clear about his views of the taliban. Youve asked him repeatedly, do you trust these guys . And he has told you repeatedly, no, i do not. Of course he does not. Of course none of us do. Because weve seen the horrific images from the last time they were in power, because weve seen the Way Theyve conducted this war. Because weve seen the fact that they have been responsible for the deaths of american Men And Women through two decades of war, a war that the president was not prepared to continue for a third decade. So, we have no illusions about the taliban, and from our perspective, what we need to do right now is focus on our task at hand, and our task is to get thousands and thousands of people out of the country as safely and efficiently as possible. That is what we are doing and what we believe that we can achieve. Jake thank you, jake. So, friday, the president said that we got rid of Al Qaeda in afghanistan. Sunday, the Secretary Of State said there is Al Qaeda in afghanistan. So, are you presenting the president with the full picture, or is he just misapplying the intelligence when he makes these public statements . The president was referring to Al Qaedas capability to attack the united states, which the Intelligence Community tells us today is not present in afghanistan. Today, it is not present in afghanistan. What is present in afghanistan, right now, to our forces at the airport, is a serious threat from Isis K, which were trying to deal with and of course theres the possibility that Al Qaeda could reconstitute an external plotting capability in afghanistan. Thats why youve heard from the president about the need for an over the Horizon Capability that would allow the united states, working with partners, to continue to suppress the Terrorism Threat in afghanistan. From Al Qaeda or Isis K or anyone else. Just as we work to suppress the Terrorism Threat from Al Qaeda and isis in yemen, in syria, in somalia, in the Islamic Magreb and many other countries and let me just finish by saying, the president has been clear that from his perspective, american counterterrorism capabilities have evolved to the point where we can suppress that Terrorism Threat without Keeping Thousands or Tens Of Thousands of troops on the ground in a country. We have proven that out in other countries, and that is exactly what we intend to do in afghanistan, and the president has spoken about the Terrorism Issue in afghanistan repeatedly on multiple occasions. Does anyone regret not moving quicker to evacuate more afghan civilians . Im very glad you asked that question. This refers to the special immigrant Visa Program. The special immigrant Visa Program has been around for a significant number of years and it was never designed as conceived by congress for a mass evacuation circumstance. Your individual applicant for a special Immigrant Visa typically took, under the law the way that it was applied by the various agencies in the u. S. Government, through multiple administrations, 18 to 24 months per person to get through the various vetting and other requirements to get their visas, sometimes longer, sometimes multiple years. When we took office in january, the Trump Administration had not processed a single special Immigrant Visa since march of 2020. In nearly a year. So, what we did when we came in was move as rapidly as possible to process as many applications as possible as fast as possible, trimming months and months and months off of that process, working with congress to get them to actually change the law over the summer to relax the requirements so we could move people forward. Even then, we put in place an Evacuation Operation using Charter Aircraft starting in july to begin Moving Sivs and their families out. Now, as i said the last time i was at this podium, we did contemplate a big, gray Tail Move of afghans and others in the july, early august time frame. We made the determination not to do so because not just afghan Government Officials but supporters of the afghan government in afghanistan, including many of the people who want to come out now, said that doing so would trigger a complete crisis of confidence in the government. As it turns out, not taking out the not doing that evacuation didnt exactly save the afghan government. We acknowledge that. But that was a considered judgment at the time. Once we faced a circumstance in which we needed to move rapidly to secure the airfield, to help get those folks out, thats precisely what we did, and that is precisely what we are doing now. Jake, does the president intend to fire, reassign or ask for the resignation of any White House personnel or administration officials who handled the situation in afghanistan . I have not heard him say so. Its, of course, your job to ask those kinds of questions. Its my job just to keep doing what were doing, which is, every day, trying to get as many people out as possible. What if the u. S. Cant Get Americans and afghan allies out of the country by August 31st . What happens then if the taliban says they are not willing to extend . Is the u. S. Going to abide by their Red Lines . So, im not going to take this on as a hypothetical question. What im going to say is what i said at the outset, which is, were in touch with the taliban daily. Were in touch with our allies and partners. Were reviewing our progress in this particular operation, which we feel has been substantial over the past few days, and the president will make his own determinations. Can you say approximately the number or percentagewise the number of evacuees that are american citizens thus far . And then secondly, i know you dont want to get deep into operational details, but the president s made clear that the area around the airport, theres been an expansion in the safe zone. Does that mean american troops are operating outside the Pripr Perimeter of the airport . American troops are not operating outside the perimeter of the airport. What has happened is through these military channels of communication with the taliban, they have extended the perimeter from the Point Of View of their checkpoints to allow americans through, to allow Third Country Nationals through, to allow siv holders through. That is what is happening now, not right at the gate but rather a substantial distance away from the gate. Im not going to get into the precise details of those distances, but that is what he was referring to with respect to the extension of the perimeter. On the question of relative ratios, the significant majority of those coming out are afghan evacuees but a the total number of americans incountry was a relatively limited number of folks, so in terms of the percentages, the substantial bulk of them are afghan evacuees but there also have been a few thousand americans who have already been evacuated and were working on the rest now. Do you have anything more specific . Are people traveling with passports or other kind of documentation and is that why you Cant Answer that question more specifically . Again, the reason we cant give you a precise number is because not every american who comes into afghanistan goes and puts themselves in a database at the u. S. Embassy. They dont have to. Many of them choose not to. So, its our responsibility to put out The Call to every means we know how, try to work through to get in contact with them and ultimately build as credible a list as we can of folks who are holding those passports so that we can bring them to the airport. Number of americans who are in afghanistan waiting to get out. How many americans have you so far taking out . We can get you the precise number on that. Jake, one, just a clarification. You had said that All Americans In Kabul who want to get out can get out. Did you mean kabul or did you mean the entire country . And second, one of the things that you all bragged about over the weekend was the rapidity with which you guys negotiated over the last several days with third countries the ability to bring flights in to, you know, to expand the number of places throughout europe and the middle east. Why wasnt that done months ago . I mean, you yourself have just said, you knew exactly that this chaos was going to erupt at some point. Why would there be the need to negotiate on the fly with these countries if couldnt that have been done before . Ill take your second question first. I have to tell you, i bristle at saying we bragged, okay . I havent bragged about anything. Im trying to give you the straight dope from here, the good and the bad, and that means a lot to me. Secondly, it is certainly the case that we have had to add countries and tried to Add Capacity in places. We did spend months negotiating Transit Centers to set up as part of our Contingency Planning in both the gulf and europe. As it turns out, we have been able to produce a throughput that exceeded even our optimistic expectations in terms of the number of folks who could get out, so the fact is, we are actually overperforming in terms of the evacuation numbers, and therefore, we need a higher ceiling in terms of the number of beds and other facilities at Transit Centers, so were simply adding capacity. But you cant go from a standing start. You cant go from zero to yes in 24 hours. This is something that we have prepared, prepositioned, engaged with allies and partners on over the course of time. So that when we pick up the phone and call, they dont say, what are you talking about . They know what were talking about. They know that the ask has gone from a 5,000 cap to a 10,000 cap. They adjust accordingly and that reflects the work of painstaking diplomacy over the course of many months. Jake. The first question . The first question about afghanistan versus just kabul. Oh, i see. Yes, we are trying to Get Americans out a goal for how many you intend to bring to the united states . Whats the long term plan, outside of that designation, what else is the administration doing to expedite the process of getting sibs out of afghanistan. Were not putting an exact number on it. There isnt an exact number of sids. If you think about 20 years of conflict in afghanistan, the sheer number of afghans who One Way Or Another have worked for the united states. Im not going to put a precise number on it. Im not going to put an estimate on. Im only going to put a principle on it. The principle is were working to out out as many afghan allies we could. How much is it going to extend that August 31st deadline . Did he make that ask in The Call . And what mr. President biden tell him . Im not going to speak for prime Minister Johnson or read out the precise details of The Call. All im going to say the president continues to consult with the Prime Minister and other allies how the evacuation should proceed from here and ultimately make the decision. And what prime Minister Johnson says, reportedly, for the ask . So, im not going to preview what the president will say in the g7 meeting tomorrow. At the moment, hes focused on private conversations with foreign leaders. He will have the opportunity to have that engagement in the private session with the g7 leaders tomorrow. Im not from the podium going to read out what are sensitive conversations among leaders between the united states and others. Is there a determination how the administration determines who is still left, what americans are still left . Were there some that did not register with the embassy, how can the administration try to determine moo is there, who is not . Sure. So, what we have done is we have put out, through multiple different means, telephone, email, text, and publicly on radio, online, through every possible broadcast and targeted means possible to americans who may potentially be in afghanistan. Please respond. Please contact us. Please tell us your location. Please tell us if youd like to leave. Please tell us how many there are with you. So, weve gone through that process. And then weve done a series of calls through all of the folks who responded to then have a refined conversation with each of them. We have tried to take that and then match it up against a plan to, as i said before, put americans into groups to officially transfer them on to the airfield. But, of course, when youre trying to ultimately determine a precise fixed number that is a dynamic and ongoing process. Its ongoing today and ongoing tomorrow. And im just going to take one more question. What about the response are you asking to make sure theyre not incapacitated or captured or something like that . For those who didnt respond, are you making sure theyre not . So, we have gone through our list of everyone who we believe is in country and reached out and tried to communicate with them in every way we know how. And as far as were concerned, theres two universes. One universe is those who registered and the second is those who never registered in the first place and were negotiating negotiating discussing with them, the best way to get them to the airport, if in fact they want to come to the airport. Last question. Thank you so much. Two questions, with the communication with the taliban, would President Biden consider himself speaking with leaders of the taliban . And the second question, President Biden seems to be keeping the america first policy. How you can say that america is on a lower stage after this and how do you think it looks to everybody . So, on the second question, you look at the scenes at the Kabul Airport, and what i see is the united states securing an airfield at the risk of several thousand american troops to pass T Pass facilitate not just the evacuation of americans but facilitate the evacuation of friends and foes alike. And facilitate, Tens Of Thousands of people, who for humanitarian reasons want to leave afghanistan. This is an enormous diplomatic undertaking. There is no other country in the world who could pull this off, bar none. Thats what i say to the second question. With respect to whether or not President Biden is likely to speak with the leadership of the taliban. That is not in contemplation at the time. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, everyone. Thank you, david. Let me just do another topic, well take plenty of questions. Today, a group on another topic, a group of 70 leading economists led by Austan Goolsbee announcing pillars of the president s economic agenda, the bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the build back better plan. The letter reinforces the case weve been making to american people that these historic investments are vital for the strength of our economy and financial wellbeing of Middle Class families writing, quote, these once in a generation opportunities will create millions of jobs, lower costs for american families and lead to significant growth. Both the Infrastructure Deal and the build back better will likely ease. And Vice President harris is in singapore. Her next step will be vietnam. The trip is important for the biden harris administration. Its about strengthening and deepening the partnerships with singapore and asia. Because these relationships are vital to the prosperity of the united states. And her meetings resulted in several deliverables across a range of key issues reaffirmed a strong commitment. Following the bilateral meeting they announced agreements on covid19 and prepping for the next pandemic. Climate change and resilient supply changes. Obviously, her trip will continue. Ahmed, go ahead. Whats your policy on the Biden Partson Deal and the 3. 5 trillion Budget Blueprint . I would first say that the president has every intention of signing each pieces of these legislation into law. What i want to be clear about, he supports Speaker Pelosis Path forward to get the process done. Id also note, and you follow this closely, but for those of you watching at home, this is a procedural vote. Important one, but there are a number of different ways forward here. And this is the debate currently. And a healthy one. And important on the democratic caucus on what different parts of president s Core Agenda should be passed in what order. In some ways thats a Highcost Problem to be debating. Thats what theyre discussing. And its not one that should be unexpected. Given there are disagreements about a range of issues even within the democratic caucus. Thats democracy. I would note that the president s view is not just 36 years in the senate. This isnt his first rodeo. Not even his first rodeo this summer. He had one in june and july. Were going to work closely with Speaker Pelosi. I would note that the president had multiple calls to Speaker Pelosi in recent days and a call to her Leadership Team and 15 Committee Chairs about how vital the build back better agenda is because it will lower Prescription Drug costs, strengthen care for veterans, take on climate change, help families and Support Care for older americans. We will continue to be fully engaged but we understand this is a healthy debate and were cough confident going forward. Thats Jen Psaki going through other issues including the Infrastructure Plan but for 30 minutes we heard from Jake Sullivan about the situation in afghanistan. Lets bring in juliette kayyem. Also a former secretary of Homeland Security Department and analyst retired army Major General James Spider marks. General, let me start with you, the basic with barbara starr, before i had to interrupt her, the question of time is there enough time to get out and the afghans who are want to get out, do they have the wherewithal, do you think this will go beyond the 31st, general . You know, victor first of all, thanks for having me no its difficult to determine the issue whether or not its going to be accomplished by The End of the month however going before on neos before, there are a number of issues between those suddenly determining whether they want to depart will come up before August 31st. The condition will be set with the taliban, im confident, it least at negotiations are ongoing. To make sure if were not mission complete by 31 August we will then describe what that looks like going forward. And the only way we determine if were mission complete is if declared, acknowledged american citizens are able to get out of the country. And we can give them a date certain when thats going to happen. What hes really saying is everybody else becomes a second or tertiary priority. Its getting those out, the most difficult problem. You just spelled out, spider, in a way i think hes been reluctant the White House has been reluctant to and the State Department has been reluctant to. Because its heartbreaking to think that were not going to get all of the sids out, all of the people, all of the afghans who helped us, who saved our troops lives. Juliette, that brings me to you. You understand the paperwork and how it could be. And i thought it was helpful how Jake Sullivan explained that not all told the embassy when they got there and left. The point is how will we know when the mission is complete