Oh my god. Bill thats the first of many pictures throughout the day. Thats southwest of New Orleans. Ida tearing the roof off the top of the building. Dana one person confirmed dead. Millions of people without power and that includes the entire city of New Orleans. Bill ida moving over mississippi. It has weakened to a tropical storm. Officials saying the Threat Level remains quite high. Dana team fox coverage. Senior Meteorologist Janet Dean is tracking the storm. Jeff paul is live in New Orleans and where are you now . Were in downtown. As The Sun comes up here in New Orleans were starting to get a better idea of the damage caused by Hurricane Ida. This building here knocked down by the powerful winds of that storm sending bricks all over onto the ground. You see metal and pieces of wood on the nearby buildings in downtown, New Orleans. Something were seeing throughout the area. We saw another building in the French Quarter with its roof ripped off. Whether its a building that is falling apart or trees in the road the devastation from this storm is wide. We know A Million people right now throughout New Orleans are without power. Were also learning that at least one person was killed when a tree fell down on a Mans House just outside of Baton Rouge. The other thing were keeping our eye on is all the flooding that is happening throughout the area. Of course, the downed trees and Power Lines are causing headaches for crews trying to get people back on their feet. The governor here in louisiana telling folks they need to be patient. This will take quite some time. There is No Doubt that the coming days and weeks are going to be extremely difficult for our state and many, many people will be tested in ways we can only imagine today. But i can also tell you that as a state we have never been more prepared. Officials say just because ida has been downgraded to a tropical storm doesnt mean theyre out of danger just yet. We still have Flash Flood warnings and with all of this ground being so saturated, trees can fall down. So well be learning more just how much this storm has impacted the state of louisiana and the region. Right now many people without power. Dana well see how long that lasts. Jeff paul, thank you. Bill want to get to Janice Dean Tracking that. It is moving northward. What has happened so far and where is it headed . Up towards the midsouth, mid atlanta, northeast areas that have seen incredible amounts of rain over the last several weeks. Tennessee last week 17 inches of rain. That wasnt a tropical system. Concerned about those areas. Some of the Wind Gusts. I just got a report but a Wind Gust in excess of 172 mileperhour. Crews will assess the damage. This was a category 4 storm. Very strong cat 4. In terms of the strongest storms that have hit the u. S. Were tied for number 5. That was Hurricane Laura last year that Hit Louisiana and in terms of intense pressure were definitely top 10. When you see the pressure, i think we got to 930 mill bars. We see the lower the pressure goes the more intense the storm is. This will go down as a catastrophic storm. Always a lag between Storm Coverage and once we get the aerial photos that come up throughout the day. I guarantee well see some of the coastline completely destroyed. Well see the threat for tornadoes. A Tornado Warning just southwest of mobile. Tornado Watch in effect for several hours with the land falling tropical storm. We have the potential for weaker tornadoes that could cause structural damage on top of heavy rainfall. Over a foot of rain. Storm surge 12 feet in some areas. This will be an ongoing situation and threat. Radar estimated rainfall easily over a foot. 13, 14 inches. Well get you updates on that. Thats the second part of this storm. It made landfall and now creep North And East very slowly. A frontal Boundary And Lift in the atmosphere and more heavy rainfall in the forecast for 30 Million under some sort of Watch'>Flood Watch or warning through the next couple of days. The greatest Flash Flood risk over the next three days tennessee, kentucky, toward the midatlantic and northeast. Well be talking about this storm until friday. Bill how strong are the Winds Inland in mississippi . At least 30 to 40 miles per hour in some areas. The Wind Threat is going down. Now its the flood threat. You can see where we have all these flooding advisories. Even if its a remnant low the danger is still going to exist for some of these folks. We had devastating flooding across tennessee that was not tropical storm related at all. Thats my concern going forward. Bill i was seeing the storm moving at 8 miles per hour. Thats not very fast when you are inland that far. Its not. It has slowed down and one of the main concerns. Once it made impact yesterday, now its moving very slowly so you can see the timeline tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday. Just relentless rainfall over some of these areas that have saturated ground. There is nowhere for this water to go. Bill thank you. Well talk to you later. Dana incredible work this weekend by everybody in the fox weather team. Bill one of the things about New Orleans we should point out. Lake pontchartrain was the problem during katrina 16 years ago yesterday with that lake filled out and nowhere for water to go. The Levee System didnt drain the water out as planned. It does not appear yet, however we shall wait throughout the rest of the day to see whether or not the Levee System held this time. Right now it seems to be okay. Dana well keep you updated. President biden was getting briefed on the storm along with afghanistan. Yesterday the president was at Dover Air Force Base for the transfer of 13 Service Members killed in thursdays kabul terrorist bombing. Overnight the u. S. Missile Defense System intercepted five rockets fired at the Kabul Airport. In casualties reported there. Fox Team Coverage with Peter Doocy at the White House. Lets go to Lucas Tomlinson at the pentagon and hear from Pentagon Leadership in about 90 minutes. Thats right. U. S. Forces continue to be attacked at the kabul air fort. Five rockets intercepted one day before the August 31 deadline. The Blame Game over who Lost Afghanistan has begun. Here is sullivan blaming the generals for the decision to close Bagram Air base. On the tactical decision of which is the right airport to have for an evacuation, of course any responsible president would give significant weight to the advice of the commanders on the ground and their advice was to close Bagram And Focus on kabul. Officials ive spoken to Say Sullivan isnt being accurate. The orders from President Biden were to go to zero and leave only a small Embassy Presence behind. Over the weekend two attacks on u. S. Forces. Last night five rockets shot down. A Mortar System that fires 3,000 rounds a minute. Another attack thwarted yesterday. A Reaper Drone destroyed a car filled with Suicide Bombers less than two miles from the front gate of the airport where troops still stand guard. Another reefer flying from the United Arab Emirates killed two isis planners. Two of these individuals not walking on the face of the earth. It is a good thing. Flights continue out of the kabul air base. By tomorrow there will be no u. S. Troops on the ground for the first time in 20 years. Dana thank you. Bill from the pentagon to the White House. President biden spent the weekend dealing with both matters here, afghanistan and ida. Lets get to Peter Doocy with more. Begins his day on the north lawn. Good morning. Weve been hearing a lot about the likelihood of Terror Attacks in kabul before u. S. Troops leave. We are now hearing from policymakers here in washington about new concern of Terror Attacks stateside after they go. Our heroic military is doing the best they can with a horrible policy decision. This is one of the worst Foreign Policy Decisions in american history. Much worse than saigon. After we left saigon, there werent vietnamese terrorists planning to attack us here at home. There are hundreds of american students and Alooum Neu from the American University from kabul stuck. They waited seven hours in a safe House But Werent guaranteed safe passage to the airport. Theyre terrified the u. S. Shared their Passport Info with the taliban. The White House is coordinating with even while they say they are bad guys. You say you dont trust the taliban. Now you tell me we should trust what the taliban says. Those people in hiding. Im not saying we should trust the taliban on anything. Im simply reporting what one of their senior leaders said to the afghan people. President biden has spoken extensively about afghanistan in the last few days but his attention this weekend did shift to responding to Hurricane Ida. The only thing he wanted to talk about during a trip to fema. President biden im not supposed to take any questions but go ahead. In afghanistan President Biden im not going to answer afghanistan, no. The president will be briefed today about Hurricane Ida and also about afghanistan. The day after attending a solemn movement in delaware, the dignified transfer for the 13 Fallen American Service Members. Bill thank you, peter. The beginning of another long week there at the White House. Thanks. Dana as we mourn the 13 Service Members killed in last Weeks Attack in kabul here is what we know about those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. Navy corpman from ohio enlisted in 2017. The last time he and his mother spoke she told him to be safe and he replied dont worry, mom, my guys got me. He was 22 years old. 20yearold Lance Corporal david on twitter. He exemplified american values and the brave never die. The family of Lance Corporal mccollum. He said he wanted to be his wife is due next month. Bill 20yearold Lance Corporal always wanted to be a marine. His hometown honored the fallen hero with a memorial Hike And Procession and more to come in that town like that. Dana 22yearold corporal Hunter Lopez of california was the son of two members of the Riverside County sheriffs department. He planned to become a deputy himself once he returned home. Army Staff Sergeant Ryan knauss of tennessee. Served a 9 Month Deployment in afghanistan. He received numerous awards and decorations including a purple Heart And Bronze star. Dana Gerald Schmidt 20. The missouri native decided to join the marines in High School and enlisted the same year he graduated. Bill the family of marine Corps Staff Agent hoover was 31, preteen when the 9 11 attacks took Place And Father says from that moment his son knew he wanted to serve his country. Hoover had been in the marines for 11 years when was killed last thursday. Dana she was praised by Senator Warren for her bravey. Her selfless service represents the best of our country. Bill Marine Corps Agent Gee of carl carl. She graduated High School in 2016. Enlisted. She was holding a baby with the caption i love my job and posted another photo of herself helping with evacuations at the airport. Dana the family of Corporal Daigian page. The 23yearold planned to go to Trade School and possibly become a lineman after his enlistment ended. Bill this man is being remembered for his bravery as well in kabul. Dana lance corporate Dylan Marolla of california. 20 years old. His mother describes him as kind and selfless. Students of his old High School honored him during the first Football Game of the season. The strength of them is only by the strength of their families talking about how it feels to lose a child. It is really, really tough stuff. Well do that every day this week. Dana we lift them up. Bill to let you know we wont forget them. Dana absolutely not. Bill the sacrifice was ultimate. Here we go back to the southeast now. Tropical storm, one death. Entire city of New Orleans has no power. Complete coverage on that throughout the day coming up. Plus this. I said to my family i am going to die for you guys. It doesnt matter if i get blown up, im doing this because i have a Mother And Father im trying to get out of here. Dana interpreter worked for u. S. Troops. Well give you updates on the efforts to give him out. Bill the Blame Game over afghanistan is intense. Karl rove weighs in on that in a moment. Ue. Thats why they customize your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Oh, yeah. Thats the spot. Only pay for what you need. 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Bill a lot of questions on this. Jake sullivan with Chris Wallace over the weekend now leaving bagram early. A lot of questions about that mood amid the ongoing debacle in afghanistan. The Washington Post reports the taliban offered to stay out of kabul and allow the u. S. Forces to secure the city. The u. S. Turned down that offer saying that we only need the local airport. Karl rove joins us. Good morning. Look at some of the Abc Polling numbers over the weekend. Theyre devastating. Republicans, democrats, independents for this White House. Good morning on a monday. What do you think . The polls overall have shown since the beginning of august the president has dropped 7 points and 535 rolling average 6 points. Close to 7 and in both of them its either dead even or upside down. It may be other things are contributing to it but clearly driving it is afghanistan. There is a reason why. American people do not like what they are seeing played out in front of them and mr. Sullivan going on television and basically blaming the military for the president s decision. This is the president s decision that brought us to this point. The president limited the number of troops that the military had available. Said this is what you can use. It is enough to either do bagram or kabul. Not both. You decide. He is ultimately responsible for the decision to give up bagram by doing so and our inability to say yes to the taliban and take control of kabul. It is amazing. Think about that. The taliban says you can hold onto kabul and evacuate or well have to take and establish order in the town, which is it going to be . Because he, the president , has limited the number of american troops on the ground and refused to give them more, we end up where we are. Dana to that point, i want to read from the Wall Street Journal the wreck of mr. Biden as afghanistan withdrawal but harms his credibility and americas when he refuses to acknowledge mistakes. He should take responsible for his own bad decisions instead of hiding behind the military brass. Here is Mark Milley and how he carefully answered this. Bagram has two runways, a lot easier to get people inside. Any thought of retaking bagram in order to expedite this evacuation . And if not, why not . I wont great question. Im not going to Discussion Ban muchs and sequels off our current operation and leave it at that. Dana last week you wrote about the processes the White House has in terms of dealing with national security decisions or even domestic ones. In your opinion it needs to be improved. You already have the White House and military perhaps at odds and the military trying to be respectful and not answer that directly. How do you think that plays out for other Security Issues . I dont think it plays out well. The administration, the president has made decisions that the military obviously disagrees with. He is the commanderinchief. The Policy Making Process at the White House is broken. After my article on thursday, the White House went out this past weekend and said we had 10 deputies meetings and Ex Number of meetings of the cabinet about the decision like weve had 15 meetings. Well, this has been going on for months. The president made his announcement about withdrawal in april. Were talking about theyve had over the period of six Months Theyve had 10 deputies meetings to discuss this kind of thing. Thats ridiculous. Thats not the kind of attention, that is not the kind of purposeful meeting of the government to go through these tough decisions and obviously they didnt dig in depth on this. Think about three simple things. Bagram was the center of Air Support for the afghan government which is what kept the taliban in check. When we ended our Air Opations and withdrew from bagram we removed a Big Block to the taliban rushing through the country. Second of all, it was the center for intelligence collection. You remove that place that was really essential to that and you will have a diminution of the amount of intelligence you get. Morale. When we abandoned bagram we did so overnight without letting a single afghan know we were leaving. What do you think that did to morale among the Afghan Fighting Forces and afghan government . The previous administration had an agreement. That agreement was already being violated by the taliban. The three times during president trumps last year in office the department of Defense Inspector General said the taliban and Al Qaeda were working Hand In Glove in violation of that agreement. That agreement had a commitment by the taliban not to take over the 34 provincial capitals. They were doing that this year on President Bidens Watch and if he was so felt so obligated to live up to the agreement his predecessor had made with the taliban why didnt he hold the taliban to account for their failure to live up to it and let the enormous power we had at Bagram Rain down power from above. Bill the polling abc news. 84 say stay until americans and afghans are he vac waited. Evacuated. It is hard to find that many people agreeing in our country. Dana Fox News alearn. The governor of louisiana says he expects the Death Toll to rise as Rescue Crews assess the damage. We check where things stand this morning. A u. S. Strike back in afghanistan after thursdays deadly bombing in kabul. What about protecting the homeland . General Jack Keane on that next. The president will stop at nothing to make isisk pay for the deaths of those american Service Members at the Kabul Airport. The Newday Two and a Quarter Refi is the lowest in their history. 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Ida made landfall in Louisiana Yesterday as a category 4 hurricane. It has left millions of people without power including the entire city of New Orleans. The storm is blamed for at least one death. John Bel Edwards said he expects the number to rise considerably. Bill another big story Watching this. Frantic race to get out of afghanistan. You have americans an afghan allies from taliban controlled territory in its final hours. Clock is ticking down to a full Withdrawal Tomorrow 8 31. Trey yingst live in qatar who is taking in thousands of evacuees. Hello to you. Good morning. The pentagon says around 1200 people were flown out of afghanistan in the past 24 hours during the final rounds of evacuation. We also know according to u. S. Officials the core diplomatic group helping to process many of the Visa Applicants has departed the country. This comes after the Rocket Attack early this morning painting a very grim picture of the dangers that american forces on the ground in Country Face in their final hours. There were some disturbing reports that afghan American University students are being turned away from the airport. The new york times said a group of students gathered yesterday at a Safe House and took buses to the airport. After waiting 7 hours they were told they couldnt fly out. One student received an email saying i regret to inform you the High Command has announced no more rescue flights. It comes as hundreds of american citizens we main in afghanistan. The acting u. S. Ambassador took to twitter tweeting this is a highrisk operation. Claims american citizens have been turned away or denied access by Embassy Staff or u. S. Forces are false. Reality is there are still american troops on the Ground But Set to depart afghanistan tomorrow. With not only afghan civilians who have been promised safety and also american citizens they will simply not be able to evacuate everyone before the August 31 deadline. Bill thank you. Dana lets bring in retired Four Star General Jack Keane, Fox News senior strategic analyst. One piece of sound i want you to listen to and react. Jake sullivan on Cnn Yesterday about the possibility of future attacks. Watch. We have to be attune to the possibility that isisk or any other group within afghanistan would look to extend its reach beyond afghanistan itself. The Intelligence Community has briefed us over time that their current capability to threaten the homeland is not there but thats a capability theyre seeking and well continue to pay close attention to that. Dana general, your thoughts on that. Well, he just provided the justification for why we should have kept a modest force inside afghanistan, which is what the military and Intelligence Service have been saying all along, that there is an Al Qaeda presence, the u. N. Reports as much as provinces have Al Qaeda in it. Isisk is there 1500 to 2,000 before they got another 1,000 released from the Detention Center at the taliban opened up and clearly Al Qaeda has aspirations to attack america, always has. Isisk obviously has aspirations greater than afghanistan. Thats why they have fundamental disagreements with the afghan taliban. I dont think they have the wherewithal yet to conduct an attack against america. Why would we permit them to acquire it and why we wanted to keep the modest force there. Remember, c. I. A. Bases were focused on these organizations. Al qaeda and isis. That was their primary focus and the intelligence capability. That capability has been very successful in striking down Al Qaeda and preventing them to rise up and be a threat to the united states. Weve killed multiple levels of their leaders. Bin laden the most notable but also successive leaders one after the other. The Presence Weve had there has been our guarantor that it is our Insurance Policy America Wouldnt be attacked again. He just gave the argument for why we should stay. Thats stunning. Bill a few things here. General milley said a few weeks ago the target was to get down to 600 to 700 troops in country prior to tomorrow August 31. I dont know what you can do in afghanistan with 600 or 700 forces. It is the Embassy Or Bagram or local airport. Cant be all three. Were those the guidelines that people on the ground were given . Yeah, well, there is a lot of Blame Game going on here as you correctly identified. It is sad to see and all driven by the fact that they have had significant failure here. And it is undeniable and the american people are very much aware of it. But what happened clearly, weve seen the Biden Administration blame the Intelligence Services for not telling them that the taliban could very rapidly take over afghanistan. Intelligence services are now saying to the contrary. Now theyre blaming the military about Bagram Airfield and security numbers. The military went to the administration in may and said were prepared to begin the evacuation of american citizens and our afghan partners. Bagram airfield would be used for that. The State Department rejected that recommendation. The military then focused on leaving. The 600 number you brought up, bill, has to do with the Security Forces for the embassy. They were going to draw down making sure there was security for the embassy. That was the choices they were dealing with at the time. Bill do you know why we have not been given the identity of these socalled planners that were hit over the weekend . Yeah, its a little odd because usually what happens is our Intelligence Services pick up on the radicals Communications Net who died. They start grieving them and honoring them as martyrs and using their full names, etc. I think that communication is going on but they may not be the people they were targeting. That could be an explanation for why we havent heard from them. Also they may not have been as high profile as we thought they were going to be. Nonetheless i dont think we have the kind of clarity that we usually have in one of these afteraction post attacks in getting the specific names. That i think is the problem. Im only speculating. Im surprised the Pentagon Hasnt given us an explanation as to why. Bill maybe we get an answer 50 minutes from now. Jack keane, thanks. Ida no longer a category 4 hurricane moving inland with strong winds for mississippi and tennessee. Monster of a tropical storm with the threat it could spin off tornadoes. 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Reporters will get out throughout the area now. A million people are without power. White House Chief of staff tweeting just now Search And Rescue, the top Hurricane Ida priority today. In addition to state and local efforts the federal government has Search And Rescue teams, 950 people deployed. U. S. Coast guard has prepositioned planes. We hope they dont need that. Fema administrator brock. Give us an idea how you surveilled the area so far. What are we looking at . Now the greatest concern is the hit that the coastal communities took along close to where the eye made landfall last night. I know the frustrating part of how the storm attacks it doesnt allow Search And Rescue and first responders to get into the area in the middle of the night and they have to wait for the impacts to pass. I know they will be uncovering a lot of damage and some pretty tough situations as daylight is there today. The other thing that concerns me is any time a storm slows down and recurves back to the northeast a lot of rainfall. You will see probably inland louisiana and mississippi, Alabama And Tennessee and as you know tennessee took a hard hit several weeks ago from other Inland Flood issues. Dana brock, when you look at a situation like this and it slows down and dumping all this rain and its not even september yet. We have three or four more months of Hurricane Season and these storms are coming fast and furious. They are about to have to deal with an Infrastructure Bill in congress but the Flood Insurance Bill at The End of the month in september. A lot to do in congress. Yeah. The program as ive said before is a broken program. It needs to be rethought and redone. I think you need a lot of private Sector Influence to make it work. In regards to recovery, whats really difficult is these communities will be flooded with funding from multiple several Government Agencies and not only that but they have multiple disasters theyre working with. It is hard for communities to understand what they are entitled to. How to get to all the funding and put it to work to do the greatest good and become more resilient. When you look at the infrastructure i hope congress talks about community lifelines. To help the private sector who owns the insurance. They own the infrastructure like the Power And Fuel lines and everything else. How to work with them to become more resilient to stop this negative cycle were in, the constant Response Cycle Weve been in for many years. Dana the Delta Surge in regard to covid making it difficult as well in terms of hospitals unable to evacuate because there were no other hospitals to go to because they were full as well. And in the future when we build health and medical facilities we have to build them to a much higher standard and make you they dont exist, or that theyre elevated properly and proper Emergency Supplies and generators to sustain sheltering in place. We need to get smarter about where and how we build. If you look at the residential Construction Statistics for 2020 theyre off the charts. Weve built more homes and infrastructure in the last year but not to a standard to withstand the Hazards Mother Nature throws at them. Bill gulf port, mississippi, substantial flooding. Well see how it winds up here. 16 years ago we thought New Orleans dodged a bullet and 24 hours after it was very different. Now its holding but the Death Count could go higher than what were considering now. Were waiting on all the news. We wont get ahead of it. Well take it a step of a time and when necessary well bring you back. Thank you for coming on today. Dana good to see you. Fox News Alert now as we await a Pentagon Briefing after the u. S. Stopped another Terror Attack on the airport in kabul just under 30 hours and counting to the final deadline for full u. S. Withdrawal. Congressman and afghanistan War Veteran Michael waltz will join us live coming up. Newdays low Rate Refi offers their lowest rate in history. Two and a quarter percent. Just 2. 48 apr. Save thousands every year and there are no upfront costs. Not one dollar. The newday low Rate Refi. Take advantage of these record low rates so you and your family can save. You have the best pizza in town and the worst wait times. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. Indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. Visit indeed. Com hire mm. [ clicks tongue ] i dont know. I think they look good, man. Mm, smooth. Uh, they are a little tight. Like, too tight . Might just need to break em in a little bit. You dont want em too loose. 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We brought you his story last week hoping to be evacuated. Were being told an operation is underway to get him out after he risked his life to help the united states. A reminder what he told us on friday. I will know i will be Left Behind and i know i will be killed. The good things is i wont die for a bad thing. I will die for a good thing. What i did i will never regret it because i have tried to help people. Dana if you remember Jen Wilson was on at the same time and said carl, well get you out. Ive been trying to avoid bugging anybody but weve been checking in a lot over the weekend. A lot of you asked about carl and well keep you posted. Hopefully it works out. Bill a somber moment On Sunday. President biden paying respects to 13 u. S. Service members whose remains were returned from kabul. He met yesterday at Dover Air Force Base with some of the Family Members before the dignified transfer of those american heroes. With us now is gold Star Wife ursula. Her husband died in afghanistan years ago and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Ursula, thank you for being here today. You give voice to the fallen. With so many families trying to understand whats next, what can you share from your experience that could be of high value to them in their own lives . Well, thank you so much for having me. Definitely these two weeks have been very difficult for the Gold Star community. We have been asking ourselves what was it for . Was the service and the sacrifice of our Loved Ones worth it . And i am trying to answer that question to myself by talking to different people who deployed with him and who deployed before and after him and have been there for many, many years. And i was able to come to the understanding that it was indeed worth it. They went there, they accomplished a mission, and their Service And Sacrifice was worth it. That for 20 years they kept us safe and we need to believe that to continue going on and to continue teaching our children, those who are now growing up without their parents that their service and their sacrifice was worth it. Dana ursula, was there anything that you found helpful to you when you were freshly grieving as these 13 families are now that they should know about or that might be able to help them in the next little while as this is extremely raw at the moment . It is very raw. The main thing that helped me was actually allowing people to help. There are so many organizations now that are there to help us that they are there for whatever they need whenever they need it. They may not even know what they need at this point but they are there. So for me it was very difficult to allow anyone to help me because i had been on my own trying to raise my children, trying to just be strong and i found out i couldnt do it all. When this happens everything shatters, there is wonderful people and organizations out there that they will be there for them at any point for whatever they need. Bill it has been 13 years for you. What has the journey been like . Was it at the one Year Mark, five Year Mark or when do you think you are able to accept and understand . Well, i dont know. Every year brings a different dynamic. The first year i was completely numb. I barely remember what happened. The second year was raw because i realized that he is not coming back. My daughter and his daughter from his previous marriage are growing up without a father. So every year it brings its own challenges. The year that they finish elementary school, the year that they graduate from High School. Every year brings something different. What has hit me at least personally up until now was the belief that his service was worth it. And that was a little shaken in the last two weeks. And that cant happen. That is what has kept us going and allowed me to teach my child we need to be strong, we need to move forward because we are honoring his Fathers Memory and sacrifice and what he did. So that was helped me keep going and helped the families keep going and we need to insure that those who now are unfortunately facing this horrible news of their Loved Ones not being with them anymore that their service and their sacrifice was also worth it. Without that belief we cannot move forward. Bill your voice is so important. Dana thank you so much, ursula. Great to see you this morning. Thank you for the encouragement you give us as we think of you and lift you up today. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. Dana you bet. President biden facing two big challenges this morning. Tropical Storm Ida ripping across mississippi after coming ashore as one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to lit the united states. Meanwhile the dangerous moment in american history. Isis terrorists launch a Rocket Attack on the Kabul Air Force as u. S. Forces spend their final hours in afghanistan before Tomorrows Deadline to get out. Welcome to a new hour of Americas Newsroom im dana perino. Bill last week was a big week and this week a big week as well. First in afghanistan we hear more about that Rocket Attack where the Pentagon Briefing set to get underway in 30 minutes. Well bring it to you live when it begins. Ida leaving more than A Million without power. That number will go higher throughout the day. The entire city of New Orleans without power. The damage in some areas described as catastrophic but with the outages and spotty communications we may not know the full extent of the damage there for days. I feel okay. Im worried about my family. Dont know what to do from here. Just trying to just trying to let it all sink in and try to figure things out. Dana Jackie Heinrich is live with an update this morning. Good morning. President biden facing dual crises this week. One day left before american troops withdraw from afghanistan. Hundreds of americans needing rescue. The rescues here at home just beginning with those Recovery Efforts after ida battered the Gulf Coast. Yesterday the president really wanted to keep the focus local. President biden im not supposed to take any questions but go ahead. Mr. President , with afghanistan President Biden im not going to answer afghanistan now. He will face plenty of questions this week. 250 americans who asked for help still need help leaving. They are waiting for their calls to be answered. Another 280 are still undecided. This is also the most risky period for the military as u. S. Troops move out their equipment and forces. Evacuation numbers are winding down. Just in the last 24 Hour Period 1200 people were taken out. We were seeing numbers almost 10 times that figure last week. The Biden Administration is now trying to make the case that even without a Military Presence there is enough financial pressure on the taliban to continue to let refugees leave and american citizens leave since the u. S. And western allies have frozen billions of dollars in assets that the taliban will need. First of all, chris, billions of dollars is not soft power. Thats real cold hard cash that matters. The question is whether or not they will see it in their interest to let americans through. A lot of people suggested 12 days ago they wouldnt. Still unclear if the taliban would be able to operate the airport after the u. S. Pulls out. It is not a huge comfort to the folks who are just confronting the reality that they might be among the people who are, in fact, Left Behind. Amid all of this is the ongoing threat of another attack in the final hours of the evacuation. Dana thank you. Bill Secretary Of State Antony Blinken facing pressure to explain the fate of allies who will be Left Behind after the Deadline Tomorrow to get out. 3 29 p. M. Eastern time the final moment there. Griff jenkins at the State Department to pick things up today. Good morning. Youre right. There is enormous pressure on Secretary Blinken Today with just hours to go before that airport under attack, under immense threats is set to be turned over to the taliban with some americans and thousands of afghan allies certain to be Left Behind. Blinken is reassuring everybody he is confident we heard Jake Sullivan in the previous report. Blinken who is in charge State Department has the lead on the noncombatant evacuation. He is confident those Left Behind wont be stranded. Watch. 114 countries have made very clear that it is their expectation that the taliban will permit Freedom Of Travel going past August 31st. We have very significant leverage to work with over the weeks and months ahead to incentivize the taliban to made good on its commitments. Now as of yesterday this weekend, bill, the State Department said 250 american citizens were seeking to get out. When he talks about leverage. Thats something we expect to hear today from the secretary. Incoming taliban government will be heavily dependent on the international funds now frozen as jackie mentioned. Still complicating matters is that airport is expected to close temporarily by Wednesday September 1st with no international agreement to keep it open, that means evacuees have to go through Overland Routes to neighboring countries. Finally, while the airport is critical and were determined to see that it remains open and reopens quickly, there are other ways to Leave Afghanistan including by road and many countries border afghanistan. Here is the problem. A tough neighborhood. Iran to the west, pakistan to the east, and even getting through the country internally you are on a dangerous journey in Taliban And Isisk infested territories as we have seen the taliban reverting in some outer provinces already to their old ways. This as the u. S. Is still trying to determine how they will have a relationship with this new taliban government. The secretary saying at least for now temporarily there will be no diplomatic presence Left Behind. Bill thank you, griff. More to come from the department of state. Dana The Sun is setting on afghanistan. The deadline to get u. S. Troops out now one day away. Earlier this morning five rockets were fired at Kabul Airport. The final Evacuation Efforts wind down. The u. S. Intercepted all five. No reported casualties. Hundreds of americans and thousands of allies still stranded Antony Blinken had this warning. There is a high likelihood of additional attacks between now and the 31st. This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission, these last couple of days. And so we will do everything possible to keep people safe but the risk is very high. Dana Florida Congressman Michael Waltz is a republican and former green beret, afghan War Veteran and a strong voice. As we start another week lets get your overall thoughts. It will end at 3 29 tomorrow in kabul. Yeah, dana. So many people i know, congressional offices, veterans groups, nonprofits who had to step into the void here of this series of disastrous Policy Decisions. I think were all somewhere on the spectrum between Rage And Grief at any one given moment. Just this morning literally just a few hours ago, we were in touch with american citizens and their children that were denied access To Kabul International and were trying to get them through other routes. As Griff Jenkins pointed out, it is a very difficult neighborhood. Pakistan is heavily aligned with the taliban in the tribal areas. The difficulties with Iran And Uzbekistan and others are heavily influenced by russia and not very cooperative. So were in a terrible situation. This notion that we have leverage over the taliban. Let me tell you having sat across the table from these thugs. They will turn it on this team very quickly. Every time they dont get access to the billions in foreign reserves or economic assistance or international recognition they can walk down the street and take another hostage. They are the ones with leverage. This administration has handed it to them on a silver platter. Bill two points to be made here then a question, michael. First one of the points, Mitch Mcconnell with Chris Wallace On Sunday. Were looking at the exit and over the next two days our heroic military is doing the best they can with a horrible policy decision. This is one of the worst Foreign Policy Decisions in american history. Much worse than saigon. After we left saigon, there werent vietnamese terrorists planning to attack us here at home. Bill thats one point from 1975. He is right about that. The other thing he said was they are excited and emboldened. Come wednesday the first of september, how often do you think there will be a strike on behalf of the u. S. Instied of afghanistan to eliminate let me tell you why this is worse than saigon. I can completely agree. Were in a worst place now than 2001 because at least then we had a northern alliance, we had the agreement from countries in the region to base our forces. We have given all our bases away. Not a single country surrounding afghanistan will base our forces or allow lethal strikes to go after Al Qaeda. Our local allies are being hunted down as we speak. There are a few left but they have heard nothing from the White House. Number three we have a Terrorist Army now with the functions of a state and billions of dollars of our own equipment. Our most sophisticated equipment. This is a far worse situation. Those future american soldiers that i do believe will have to go back are going to have to deal with it and bidens own Intelligence Community just this week was very clear that Al Qaeda intends to roar back and hit us again. What you are going to hear under the unfolding weeks is the administration will try to prove the point the taliban have moderated, they can be dealt with. These are the good terrorists to help us with the bad terrorists and its a bunch of garbage. This is the same team around biden that has been around obama and was around obama. Dana i just wanted to jump in here before we lose the time. Want to ask you about you said hostages. What do we need to know about that situation because that could turn pretty quickly. The taliban and their allies Haqqani Network have been holding a Navy Veteran Hostage for the last year and a half. If they are so amenable to letting americans go after we leave them behind and our afghan allies, why havent they let him go . Why . Theyre using him for some things that they want and they are going to use future americans as well. Again, they have the leverage here because this administration gave it to them and letting terrorists dictate the terms. Michael, thank you. Well speak again later in the week. We are awaiting, dana, a briefing from the pentagon. Thats coming up at 10 30 eastern time. A lot of questions. Maybe well get some answers. Hours to go until the final u. S. Withdrawal. Well bring the briefing to you. There is a shot at the camera there. Stand by for more on that. Another big story. Dana latest on tropical Storm Idas Path Of Destruction in Gulf Coast states with more than A Million people in the dark including the entire city of New Orleans. Looking At Gulfport there. Another hospital which had a portion of its generator go out they had to move patients. 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Improve your home, pay down debt, or just put it in the bank for the financial security every veteran deserves. Bill here we go. Lets begin with louisiana now. Assessing the damage after a direct hit from ida. Casey stiegel is live in louisiana. How is it going and how was the night and what does it look like today . Bill, hello. A pretty rough night obviously here in the state of louisiana. Now that The Sun is up, people are seeing the damage firsthand and trying to get an assessment in terms of how bad things are. I have to say just from driving here from Baton Rouge roads were sometimes difficult to pass and this is why. Look at this right here. A big Tree Right in the middle of louisiana 73 bridge. So this has made the road impassable. Many, many roads across the whole region are littered with downed trees, debris, water and also Power Lines as my photographer continues panning over, you can see that Power Line there just tilting to the side. Of course, this area one of the huge chunks without power. Again, this is ascension parish. Were close to prairieville. The only fatality with the storm we know of after a tree fell on a Mans House crushing him. This tree fell across the bridge. Some of the heaviest rain didnt fall here but east of us. This is what it looks like in denim springs where you had over 10 inches of rain fall. We met up with a man who was able to get back into his neighborhood and see things up close and personal for the first time since he evacuated. He got emotional talking to us. Listen. I feel okay. Im worried about my family. Dont know what to do from here. Just trying to just trying to let it all sink in and try to figure things out. Your heart just breaks for these people. Clearly things are worse in the city of New Orleans and around New Orleans specifically south in some of the coastal areas. Look at this dramatic new video into fox from louisiana. Coastal part of the state down south of New Orleans before and after. The building, a restaurant we believe or a home. A Security Camera was rolling and showed the before and after once ida made landfall. It just shows how quickly the Storm Surge inundated the property and that is what so many people experienced as this thing made landfall and then it just really parked itself and sat over us for much of yesterday dropping an incredible amount of rain and bringing in an incredible amount of Storm Surge. We can tell you at this hour more than 1 Million people across the state of louisiana are without power. A big chunk of those are in the metro new Orleans Area as weve been saying because some major arteries in terms of transformers and infrastructure that feed The Big Easy were damaged. One tower even falling into the mississippi river. So the energy company, the group that does most of the power here, says that they will be able to get a better assessment of the Damage Today and they should have a better idea in terms of how long it will take to repair. But governor John Bel Edwards has said that people need to be prepared for what he called longterm Power Outages. And i know when we were here last summer covering Hurricane Laura but over in Lake Charles to the west of us, they were out and without power some areas for more than a week and multiple weeks down in cameron and some of the coastal areas where the infrastructure is so limited and you only have one road in or out. So again very fluid here on the ground in louisiana, bill. But man, your heart just breaks for these people even though theyve been used to going through this. Bill a couple of things. You are west of New Orleans. I dont know if you were at the eye in your location. I dont know how easy for you to drive around the streets. Behind you you arent getting past that road for sometimes. Sometimes they cut the power intentionally to preserve it for a later time. Have you gotten word of that . Yes, weve heard about some controlled Power Outages that happened before landfall and during landfall. Specifically at some of the hospitals. Those were planned outages so they could convert over to generator power. So you have a number of hospitals across the region that are running on generators at this point. That did happen. Roads are mighty tricky. You look at the map and it is just nothing but red and trying to get from point a to point b is very difficult which is why the governor and also the leaders of the parishes are asking folks to still stay away and not come back just yet because the conditions are dangerous especially with Power Lines and such across a lot of the roads. Bill thanks. Well see a lot of you stay. Casey stiegel live in louisiana. Thank you. Be well. Dana growing number of republicans say President Biden should either resign or face impeachment over his handling of afghanistan. Aishah hosni has the story from capitol hill. Good morning. Not a single democrat has called for any action to be taken against any administration officials so far, at least not openly. Behind closed doors reportedly that might be a different story. More on that in a second. First republican pressure mounting this morning. 40 members of the house and 4 senators are calling for the resignation, impeachment or raising the 25th Amendment against President Biden. House Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy not joining those calls but said this On Sunday. To allow the taliban to dictate our foreign policy. To allow the State Department to run this instead of the military, these are mistakes but these are answers that well have to hold people accountable later. People have lost their lives. Calling on democratic leadership to return to washington to address afghanistan. Speaker Pelosis Office pushed back on this last week underscoring the focus right now should be on those evacuations but keep in mind she did bring the house back last week to push infrastructure. The president s domestic agenda. Very few democrats have been openly critical of how this has ald played out. The Washington Post is saying a number of democrats are quietly discussing whether secretary of State Blinken or Jake Sullivan should be fired. A member of the house said many in the caucus believe the lower chamber of congress is already lost in the midterms. Other democrats said they are bracing for the prospect of republicans making double Digit Seat gains. A very interesting piece right there. Leader mccarthy still in town and he plans to hold a Round Table on afghanistan later on this evening with some ranking members and republican veterans. Well be Watching that. Dana even the senate considered possibly very much in play for republicans. 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Dana were awaiting a Pentagon Briefing. Kabul tomorrow 3 29 p. M. Thats it. Were gone. A lot of questions that the pentagon has to answer today. Well bring it to you live as soon as it happens. Bill the long weekend for everybody there and continues today. Stand by on that. Biden administration saying the rapid fall of kabul came as a surprise, the u. S. Had to depend on the taliban for security. However, a Washington Post report on the taliban offering to allow the u. S. To take over security At Kabul raising some questions on that. Here is the headline. Surprise, panic and fateful choices the Day America lost its longest war. Marc thiessen, former Speech Writer for president bush. Good morning to you. You write editorials for the newspaper and read a quote here from the article. An understanding was reached according to two other u. S. Officials. The united states could have call for one. The united states could have had the airport until August 31 but the taliban would control the city. Fighters were now moved throughout kabul. The taliban had not intended to take kabul that Day But Ghanis exit gave the group no choice. What can you expand on that, marc . So basically the Biden Administration lied to the american people. They told us they were taken the taliban Takeover Of Kabul took them by surprise and put them in a situation where we had no control and which we were dependent on the taliban for security as we carried out evacuations. That turns out to not be true. The taliban had no intention of entering the capital on August 15th according to the Washington Post reporting and they actually offered the united states the opportunity to be in charge of security in the afghan capital. And we turned them down. We decided not to control to take responsibility for security at the capital. General mckenzie the commander of central come and had a meeting with the taliban where he said either you have to do it or allow us to do us. Note the word allow. Bill the pentagon started. This question may come up. U. S. Military forces successfully employed Force Protection measures to thwart the attack. They retained the right of selfdefense and are authorized to meet threats with a swift and forceful response. Force protection is paramount in this phase of the operation. Over the weekend and into Today Evacuation operations continued. Yesterday 26 u. S. Military aircraft all c17s departed with approximately 1,200 evacuees. In total, there were 28 flights out of Kabul Airport in the last 24 hours which included the remaining coalition departures. As of today, more than 122,000, including 5,400 americans have been evacuated from afghanistan. U. S. Military troops have shown tremendous Briefsh Re and Kam Passion putting themselves in Harms Way to evacuate as many american citizens and afghans as possible during this operation. That work by u. S. Service members continues across the globe at a number of intermediate staging bases and d. O. D. Installations. Centcom more than 27,000 passengers await Followon Movement from six active locations. In U Com three active locations currently have more than 22,000 passengers and today 17 flights will transport about 3,700 passengers to both Dulles Airport with 11 flights and Philadelphia International Airport with six flights. In North Com there are nearly 13,000 passengers that remain at five different u. S. Installations. These numbers are a snapshot in time and movement of personnel is very fluid. We do not expect these Passenger Totals to match the total number of evacuees from afghanistan nor will they match the total afghans arriving to the united states. The mission of the Evacuation Operation was to help as many people as possible Leave Afghanistan. Some of these evacuees included american citizens, third country nationals or afghans whose credentials permitted them to otherwise depart without processing at a military installation. Military Civilian And Contract personnel continue to work closely with both government and nongovernmental agencies for families continuing their transition. While operations in afghanistan will conclude soon, the d. O. D. Effort to support the interagency is ongoing. Additionally the Department Of Defense continues to support humanitarian relief operations in response to national disasters here closer to home. In haiti, the u. S. Military assets have flown 560 missions providing rapid logistical and Airlift Support including delivery of more than 348,000 pounds of aid. On the Gulf Coast with Hurricane Ida North Com as of this morning in coordination with fema and National Guard has activated more than 5,200 personnel in louisiana, mississippi, texas, and alabama in response to the hurricane. They bring a variety of assets including high water vehicles, Rotary Lift and other Transportation Capability to support Recovery Efforts. U. S. Army corps of engineers is operational in New Orleans and assessing the storms impact. D. O. D. Stands ready to assist as requested by fema. Thank you. I dont have anything to add so well go to questions. General, one quick follow up and then a question. Did they strike and hit all the five rockets or did some land in areas where there were no casualties . The reporting from last nights Rocket Attack we assess five rockets were in the air and three landed off the airfield, were no effect. C ram was able to affect and thwart the attack of one and the other rocket landed with no effect to the mission or any danger to our personnel. Secondly, on evacuees, does the u. S. And the u. S. Military assess that the number of americans still in the country are only the ones that no longer want to leave or the ones who want to leave are they largely out now and the evacuation of afghan largely complete also. Are you now solely concentrating on just getting u. S. Troops out and equipment . Just going back. Total 122,000 were evacuated. Approximately 5,400 americans. We continue to have the capability to evacuate and fly out those until the very end but as you talk about active well continue to work with department of state on that and continue evacuation and Military Operations. Refer you to the State Department on the numbers of americans still in contact with. Thats something for them to speak to. Could you both speak to the continuing Rocket Threat to the final planes leaving and C Ram is playing. Will it be Left Behind since its so vital to protecting the planes, what will happen to the C Ram after we go . We certainly assess there is still an active threat in various ways that we have to be prepared for. And what i will tell you without getting into specific systems and their availability, which i think you can understand why we wouldnt, we continue to have and will maintain the capability to protect ourselves and defend ourselves as we continue to complete the retrograde. I think thats probably the best place to put it. A number of us have gotten reports from american citizens or vulnerable afghans still on the Ground And Cant get through The Gates anymore. Did they get notices the evacuation is over. What happens next for those that are Left Behind . Will there be any sort of Military Operation to help get them out of the country . You heard Secretary Blinken talk about this. That for americans and other individuals that want to be able to Leave Afghanistan after our withdrawal is complete, the State Department is going to continue to work across many different levers to facilitate that transportation. As i said earlier, right now we do not anticipate a Military Role in that effort. John, general taylor, you just said one rocket landed with no effect to the mission. You mean it landed inside the Airport Perimeter . It did not affect the mission. It landed inside the perimeter and had no effect whatsoever. The isisk fighters or planners you targeted with Drone Strikes in the last few days, are any of them were they released from the Bagram Prison or the other prison. Known combatants inside those prisons . I dont think we have that information. Lastly, if 5800 americans were left in afghanistan when you pulled out of bagram at The End of july, why did the u. S. Military not begin evacuations of americans before pulling out of the country . We talked about this quite some time ago and im happy to revisit it. We were already baked into the retrograde Plan Way back in the spring with the possibility for noncombatant evacuations and helping people get out. And we were in constant conversations with the ghani government as well as colleagues across the interagency about what that would look like and when would be the right time to do that. And in anticipation of it, well before the provincial capital started toppling toward the middle of august, Secretary Austin Preposition edforss closer into the region to the degree of taking on entire Marine Battalion Off Of The Uss Eye owe Jeem Yeah and moving them to kuwait. The timing of these things is always very delicate as you might imagine. Bill you were stopped by the State Department from beginning those Vaek Waitions . I wouldnt say that and i dont think its to get into internal deliberations. We were in close contact with the ghani government. He was still the president of the country and you have to have you have to be able to have those conversations, too. Our expectation was that the ghani government would stay in place. Nobody could have imagined how quickly that government would have literally just dissipated almost overnight. There was simply no way to predict that. A couple of questions on The Gates. Are any of The Gates still open and are any of The Gates under taliban control . Right now as we get into the this has always been a dangerous operation but in a particularly dangerous time right now i think you can understand we wont be detailing the status of any particular gate right now. As the general said we still have the Ability And Capability to conduct Evacuation Operations even while we are completing and working to complete the retrograde of u. S. Forces. You have now had two incidents. One on thursday and one On Sunday where there may have been civilian casualties or reports of it. Beyond investigating it, do you have any indication that those reports may be accurate . Were not in a position to dispute it right now. And as the general said, were assessing and investigating. Look, make no mistake, no military on the face of the earth works harder to avoid civilian casualties than the united states military. And nobody wants to see innocent life taken. We take it very, very seriously. And when we know that we have caused innocent life to be lost in the conduct of our operations were transparent about it. Were investigating this. I wont get ahead of it. But if we have verifiable information that we did take innocent life here we will be transparent about that, too. Nobody wants to see that happen but you know what else we didnt want to see happen . We didnt want to see happen what we believe to be a very real, a very specific and a very imminent threat to the airport and to our troops operating at the airport as well as civilians around it and in it. And that was another thing that we were very, very concerned about. The president had said that the likelihood of an attack within the next 24 to 36 hours was highly likely. He had been told that by his military commanders. Then after that there was the strike on this vehicle. After that strike, is another attack still considered highly likely . We are operating under the assumption that we need to be prepared for future potential threats. And as the general detailed for you in his opening statement, there was, in fact, after we took this Air Strike against this vehicle, there were Rocket Attacks. On the airport. The Threat Stream is still real and active and in many cases it is still specific and we are taking it very seriously and we will right up until The End. You didnt specifically answer the question whether the taliban you said you werent going to talk about who was at what gate. Are the taliban on the airport . Not to my knowledge, no. I have a few today. Sorry. You mentioned 122,000 have been evacuated. How many of those are sivs and their families. I dont have a good breakdown how many in the 122,000 are that. Thats a better question for the State Department. We know 5400 of the 122,000 are american citizens and the vast majority are afghan. I just dont have a breakdown of that. Our reporting is saying that there are about 7,000 of the 88,000. That leaves more than 80,000 sivs and Family Members Left Behind. Does the pentagon see that as a success leaving 80,000 sivs who worked alongside our troops behind. I cant verify the Number And I cant tell you what the breakdown is right now between the more than 112,000, maybe more afghans that we were able to evacuate in the course of less than a couple of weeks. I cant give you the breakdown right now. I honestly cant. And what i will tell you is that obviously we wanted to get as many people out as we could and in the course of a short order of time 122,000, the largest airlift that the u. S. Military has conducted, got 122,000 people to safety. Now, there will be a time when this is complete that the State Department can do the Math And Figure this out. But i think were all focused right now on continuing the mission that the general described us doing and making sure that right up until The End that we can get people out safely, including evacuees. Secondly, we have sources that say marines guarding the Airport Allowed Relatives and extended Family Members of Kabul Staff despite not having documentation. Meanwhile thousands children of afghans who show resident Status And Citizenship were turned away. Have you heard this as well and can you confirm it . I have not heard that and i cannot verify them. Without speaking to these reports, the marines and soldiers that have for the last couple of weeks been helping consular Officers Man these gates and Help Process people in did heroic work and they had to make decisions in realtime about trying to help people get out and the numbers speak for themselves, 122,000 plus, that is significant and a lot of lives were saved and a lot of lives are now in a better place. They will have opportunities they couldnt have had before thanks to the work the troops did at these dangerous gates. One more not on afghanistan. Beijing has come out with a south China Sea policies that forces people to selfidentify while approaching the selfclaimed maritime territories. It goes into effect on wednesday, does the d. O. D. Plan on following the policy . I havent seen the report. I wont take it nou. I will take the question back and try to get you a better answer. You are hitting me up with a statement from the chinese i have not seen and i wont speculate at this time. There is a question that many afghan ask me want me to ask you. They say why President Biden not warn the taliban that if any u. S. Citizens are killed the leadership would be targeted just like isis was targeted recently. Thanks for the question. I think the president has been very clear that what our expectations are once this retrograde is complete with respect to the Safety And Security of american citizens. I think weve been very clear about that and as you heard Secretary Blinken say we will continue to pursue a variety of means to help those americans who want to get out after were gone get out. You talked about flights heading to dulles and philly. Give us a sense of how many people are on the flight and the breakdown of afghans and u. S. I cant give you the by manifest. Ballpark. What we think is today 17 flights, 3,700. The majority of those are afghans. Now as priority at these Lily Pads that are done immediately to get the american citizens there first and then, you know, other Green Card Holders, but the majority of the flights of those 17 are afghans. I understand congressional people are being briefed that you are starting to destroy a munitions as well as equipment. Can you give us a sense of that effort . At kabul . You know, what i go back to commanders on the ground retain that authority and the capability to remove or destroy equipment and weapons to insure that those dont fall into the hands of anybody else. Are we going to get an accounting of what has been destroyed, blackhawks or other equipment . I think when the time is right well be able to try to help better flush that out. Time is not right for that right now, tom. Two quick questions if i may. On the strike against the vehicle, the central command talked about secondary explosions in that. Do you actually have visual evidence that there were secondary explosions . Are you convinced they were . That seems to be one of the potential contributing factors to civilian casualties. Are you certain there were secondary explosions . Yes. I have a follow up on a different part of this. Can you say how youre sure . No. My other question is this. As we come down to the final hours, what advice or thoughts for american Passport Holder or Green Card Holders who might be trying to get to the airport and get through . Is there still time for them . There is still time and the State Department is in touch, we know, with additional american citizens. Again, given the tense Security Environment were dealing with i think it would be better to not talk about it much more than that but they are in contact. Will flights continue on the 31st . I wont get ahead of the actual operational schedule, courtney. Not going to do that. A little bit more on the continuing strike from isisk. After the u. S. Is completely out on the 31st will you coordinate with the taliban or give them notice if you plan to conduct more strikes against isis . I dont think its useful to get into hypothetical operations, future operations one way or the other. The only thing i will tell you is the president has made it very clear well maintain robust Counter Terrorism Capability that youve seen us use in the last 24 or 36 hours and well have the ability to act in ways that are in keeping with our national security interests and help prevent attacks on the homeland. We still have that capability and will use it. What is not hypothetical the u. S. Military has been coordinating with the taliban on the ground for two weeks. To ask if you are going to continue coordinating with them in this case against Isis Kisnt hypothetical. Are you continue to coordinate with them . I beg to differ. It is hypothetical about something that is entirely different than what weve been coordinating on the last two weeks. To help us get as many people onto that airport as possible. I do appreciate the sense of the question. Im not trying to mock it. It is just that i dont think its helpful for us to talk about what over the horizon Counter Terrorism Capability will look like going forward and how well execute it. Suffice it to say we have the capability and demonstrated it in strikes not coordinated with the taliban and we have the ability to go forward. Does the Pentagon Or Centcom or whoever have the authority to continue to conduct strikes against isisk after August 31 or do those decisions have to go to the president . The commander on the ground has the authorities he needs right now. I wont talk about authorities going forward. I will say this in terms of i know what you are asking specific Approval Authority for each and every strike. I wont talk about Policy Decisions going forward except to say that the entire interagency, certainly the entire Military Chain of command understands the existence of this threat and the possibility of this threat to continue to exist over time and we have the capability to deal with it. In talks with the taliban. Have there then contacts with the taliban about the u. S. Withdrawal taking place now to insure there are no misinterpretations of what is going on . The short answer is yes. Without getting into detail our commanders on the ground remain in communication with taliban leaders around the airfield to deconflict and to prevent miscalculations and misunderstandings. So far that communication has been effective. Does that apply to the withdrawal going on right now . It does. I want to talk to you about in the initial readout from centcom on the strike over the weekend on the Car Bomb and the suspects in it the u. S. Said initially assessment was no civilian cash tee. S on what basis did the u. S. Make that assessment. The initial statement said were assessing and have no indications at this time of civilian cash casualties and it was true when it was said. We also put in there and centcom put in there were assessing and we continue to assess. What basis in the over Horizon Capability are you making determinations on that . How is that being done . We are looking at a variety of means of information and we are collecting open Press Reporting and were doing the best we can to try to understand the situation locally as best we can and that would include discussions with the taliban about what they might be seeing. So there is a variety of ways were trying to do this assessment. Can i get more clarity why we cant know the names of the isisk suspects that were hit on thursday . They were described as high Profile Planners and facilitators. The president said well hunt you down. Why cant we know who they are . Probably a time we can talk to you about the names. Thats not the time right now. Were dealing with as we saw from last nights Rocket Attacks real and ongoing threats. I think were doing what we believe to be the prudent thing with respect to the release of information. Were giving you as much as we can in as close to realtime as we can. We wont be able to give you everything. We talked about that a couple of days ago when we talked about the retrograde beginning. That there was going to be a more judicious approach about information release. There will probably come a time we can be more forthcoming. Now is not that time. Let me go to the phones here. I havent done this at all yet. Alex. Okay. Well come back to you, alex. Jeff. Thanks. I have a question and it is difficult but i hope you can entertain it. According to politico the u. S. Knew where the attack roughly where the attack would take place on thursday and when it would take place. Why were there u. S. Troops at that gate at that time . Jeff, what i can tell you is that we have been monitoring as close as we can intelligence that led us to believe that we were in a very dynamic and in some cases specific threat environment. Number one. Number two, as General Mckenzie said, we are going to investigate and we are going to get to the bottom of what happened last thursday. 13 precious lives were lost. We wont investigate it in public. Three, i am not going to speak to a Press Story that was informed by the unlawful disclosure of classified information and sensitive deliberations here at the pentagon. Just not going to do it. Conducted in the