Afghanistan is over. The last american troop boarded an aircraft shortly before midnight in kabul Last Night, marking The End of a chaotic and deadly exit from the country. In total the State Department says more than 122,000 people were evacuated since late july. Including more than 6,000 americans. But officials estimate between one and 200 u. S. Citizens have been Left Behind. Look, theres a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. I think if we stayed another ten days we wouldnt have gotten everybody out that wanted to get out and there still would be people disappointed with that. Its a tough situation. I want to emphasize again that because we have left that doesnt mean the opportunities for both americans that are in afghanistan that want to leave and afghans who want to leave, they will not be denied that opportunity. The United States leaves afghanistan in the same position as when the mission started in October Of 2001, and that is with the country under taliban control. That group stormed back to power this month at a speed that surprised top american generals. As the last plane took off yesterday, taliban fighters could be seen shooting fireworks and artillery in the sky in celebration they say of the defeat of another super power. Joining me now is Ralph Sanchez and Mike Memoli. Good morning to you both. Ralph, i begin with you, what is the feeling on the ground in afghanistan . We saw the celebration on the ground by the taliban and by the final americans who lifted off in the c17 yesterday. Reporter willie, good morning. A taliban official telling Nbc News today, afghanistan has its independence. As far as they are concerned, they have outlasted and outfought the worlds major super power. They are now fully in control of that country as they were in october 2001, this morning we have seen taliban Special Forces doing something of a Victory Lap at an airport that just 24 hours ago was controlled by u. S. Forces. These fighters decked out in American Tactical Gear that was taken from the collapsed Afghan National Army are waving their white flag on that Airport Runway after Last Nights celebrations with celebratory Gun Fire. There are still somewhere between 100 and 200 americans left in the country trying to get out. Secretary blinken says the effort to get them home does not finish just because u. S. Forces have withdrawn. Americas Fortress Like Embassy In Kabul is relocated here to doha, qatar. And the secretary says, the United States and its allies, will bring all levers of political and diplomatic pressure to bear to make sure the taliban gives safe passage to both americans and afghan allies trying to get out of the country. But thats not a straightforward proposition, even assuming the taliban cooperate, which is a big if, the airport, the civilian side is not operational right now so not clear folks could get out if they could get to the airport. Which leaves the possibility of a treacherous and dangerous Land Journey through taliban controlled territory to get to a Neighboring Country and potentially fly out from there. So a lot of work still to do, willie. Raf to that point we did hear from The General, the White House, saying we are committed to getting those remaining americans out of the country. They talked about some of the special Immigrant Visa candidates really there are american Passport Holders that cant get out. What are they thinking here with military troops gone, no diplomatic footprint, are these Extraction Missions by the United States military, what is the plan to get The Americans out of the country that were Left Behind . Reporter that is the question looming over this situation. These are folks for whatever reason were not able to get to the airport. So some of them may have been outside kabul, unable to travel through taliban controlled territory, get through the crowds at the airport, get to the tarmac and get evacuated. Others may be people who hold u. S. Citizenships themselves but have large extended families that are not american citizens who they thought couldnt get on the plane, so that leaves the choice do they stay in a country controlled by the taliban or leave . Secretary blinken said this part of the mission is over, we are moving to a diplomatic phase. The west clearly lost a lot of leverage in afghanistan by withdrawing troops, but there are things that the international community has that the taliban wants. It wants international recognition, wants help getting the airport functioning again and wants the national assets of afghanistan in the federal reserve and other places unfrozen so it has access to them. So the west has a few cards to play here in terms of getting the talibans cooperation. But it is going to be a very difficult and winding path to see what happens both with these americans and these afghan allies trying to get out of the country. The United States put an awful lot of faith in the taliban to help get american citizens out of the country. Raf, thanks so much. This afternoon, President Biden will address the nation on his decision to honor the withdrawal on this date August 31st, of american troops from afghanistan. In a statement Last Night, President Biden thanked the Service Members who aided in the evacuation, writing in part, the past 17 days have seen our troops execute the largest Air Lift in u. S. History. Evacuating over 120,000 u. S. Citizens, citizens of our allies and afghan allies of the United States. They have done it with unmatched courage, professionalism and resolve. Now our 20 year Military Presence in afghanistan has ended. So mike were going to hear from the president today. Hell explain in his own words, his own voice, why he did decide to go ahead with the August 31st deadline. But what about those remaining americans . That question lingers over the White House. There are americans, there are afghan wartime allies and special Immigrant Visa holders who couldnt get on any of the planes before the last one left yesterday. Reporter it was just a few weeks ago the president made a commitment to those americans still in afghanistan that anybody who wanted to get out would be able to get out. But the mission now, as of 3 30 eastern time yesterday, midnight in kabul, is now a Diplomatic Mission for this president. It was around that time yesterday when the president was sitting in the Oval Office when an aide came in with a note to tell him the military had cleared the airspace, ending this mission of 20 years. It was interesting we did not hear from the President Yesterday in person. By that point the White House called a travel photo lid. We heard from General Mckenzie a few hours later and a few hours after that from Tony Blinken, the secretary of state, outlining a diplomatic effort to get The Americans out and see forward the u. S. Mission in afghanistan and relationship with afghanistan. I think its interesting, though, to look back at how the president arrived at this decision. And this is what hes going to be explaining to The American people today. It was actually 12 years few days before he was sworn in as Vice President , when then Senator Joe Biden was in afghanistan, met with leadership on the ground, met with Hamid Karzai karzai, then president of afghanistan and then met with Rank And File american troops. And it was those conversations in which he asked what the u. S. Mission was and as biden would later tell president Elect Obama each one came back with a different answer that cemented to this president what the future of the mission needed to be, there was no Military Operation that was going to build an afghan state that was worth the commitment the u. S. Was making at that point. Now the rational from the president has been that the u. S. Needs to focus elsewhere. It needs to focus on autocracies like china and russia. It was the u. S. Involvement in afghanistan, he argued, that was distracting us from the urgent missions of the 21st century. Its clear that this decision he made has knocked the White House off course somewhat. This was a month the White House was hoping to focus on infrastructure, moving the president s Signature Domestic Agenda Forward but this decision the president made months ago and which was implemented finally in full yesterday is likely going to be the defining issue of his presidency. Its going to be one which the White House acknowledges will be second guessed which will be the subject of considerable discussion, not just through the rest of his term but throughout american history. And its one that is going to complicate the white Houses Agenda moving forward, willie. Well be watching closely to see if the president , the State Department, then the Department Of Defense live up to that promise they made again yesterday to get every last american out of the country. Mike memoli at the White House for us. In total the United States lost 2,461 Service Members in the nearly 20 Year War. 47,000 afghan civilians were killed, along with 66,000 afghan Military And Police. Nearly 52,000 taliban and other Opposition Fighters were killed. Those numbers are according to brown Universitys Cost of War Project which reports its also estimated that 241,000 people have died as a direct result of the war. These figures do not include deaths caused by disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure and or other indirect consequences of the war. Joining us now former nato supreme Commander Admiral james stavridis. Also with us, Richard Haass and former aid to the george w. Bush White House and State Departments Elise Jordan. Admiral, let me begin with you, someone who has spent most of his life serving the country, what were your Thoughts Yesterday as the last c17 lifted off . Tactically i felt a great sense of relief as the last c17 cleared. Lets face it, the extraction has been very, very difficult, very challenging, tragic loss of 13 service men but the real nightmare would have been a shootdown of one of those c17s or a massive Truck Bomb inside the wire. I felt relief as i saw the c17 lift, i bet the president did too when they handed him the note you mentioned a minute ago. Operationally, willie, im worried about those american citizens, of course, but also the 100,000 to 200,000 afghans who stood with us through much of those 20 years and im waiting to see more details on the plans to get them out. I think theyll be diplomatic, but i think theyll also be clandestined operations, there are a number of ways to do that. Finally, strategically, very concerned. I think we all should be, about the potential for afghanistan to become, again, a haven for terrorists. The thing that also hasnt changed in 20 years, its not just the taliban being in charge, its the presence of Terrorist Groups like isisk, like Al Qaeda. So, strategically we are going to have our work cut out for us trying to manage that problem going forward, maintain intelligence, conduct over the horizon missions, a lot of work ahead in afghanistan. A Big Question for the morning after, admiral. There will be books written and thoughts put into this. As you look at what america got out of the war, of course went in after 9 11, pushed the taliban out, Osama Bin Laden into pakistan where he was killed a decade later. From your military eyes, strategic eyes, was this effort worth it . I would look any afghan veteran in the eye and say, your sacrifice was worth it. Your time in afghanistan. I would look any survivor, Gold Star Family in the eye and say your service member, their sacrifice mattered deeply. And the reason is, for 20 years, there was no attack out of afghanistan. We did find Bin Laden, we extracted justice, if you will, on Bin Laden Bin Laden. He sleeps at the bottom of the indian ocean. So thats comfort. But its small comfort, willie, compared to the numbers that you put up, the loss of life, the cost. Its immense. So in a very personal way to the veterans today, i would say your sacrifice mattered and will continue to matter for the country going forward. But overall, its been a tragic 20 years for the United States. In that sense im glad to see this end. Were going to talk to some of those veterans coming up later in the show to get their thoughts on this historic day. Richard haas, what were your Thoughts Yesterday . Someone whos been involved in the beginning through the Bush Administration, what were your Thoughts Yesterday when it was announced this mission has ended . My own reactions, willie, were a mixture of relief and sadness. Relief that obviously our troops are out and so many people are saved. But sadness i dont believe it had to be this way. And i think that has to do with how we fought this war. I think a lot of critical decisions over the last 20 years were simply wrong, were unfortunate. Obviously some of the decisions surrounding the withdrawal, the tactical decisions. Look, in my experience, all wars are fought three times, first you have the decision over whether to engage the war, whether to enter it, then you have the war itself, the war fighting. And now were in phase three. This is the debate over the lessons to the war, and i think we need to have it. Whether we were right to engage in afghanistan, i think the answer is yes. Whether we engaged it correctly, and i think more often than not the answer should be no. And then whether we were right to leave. And again, wise Men And Women disagree on that, but i think its important we get this right. Because this is not going to be the last time the United States is going to face the challenge of governments unable or unwilling to meet their obligations, be it against terrorists or anything else. And the question then is what do we do . What do we do . Because what 9 11 taught us is what happens in remote places like afghanistan matters to us directly. Just because its foreign, distant doesnt mean its irrelevant or disconnected. So we need to learn the right lessons and im worried, willie, a lot of people may say the message is we should never intervene, never get involved. I think what history teaches is doing too little can be as dangerous as doing too much. The problem with afghanistan is at various times we did too much and various times we did too little. So i think its important we learn and learn the right things from this. Theres been a lot of Armchair Analysis but its easy to forget what some people felt likes on september 11, 2001 and why we went into afghanistan, to find the people who perpetrated that horror on our country. Whats up for debate is the years that followed, the decisions that came after that. What are your feelings and thoughts this morning as the final american troop walked onto a c17 and left afghanistan . President biden should be commended for making a hard decision. I disagree with how he chose to tactically unveil it and the leadership that was shown over the execution of the draw down and how were taking care of our afghan allies. And i think thats really the Big Question now, for all the sacrifice over 20 years from americans and from afghan, I Cant tell you how many american veterans and other people who worked in afghanistan over the years just the despair over the last few weeks over how were exiting and treating those who worked with us bravely for so many years. And its going to be a huge, ongoing moral stain if the biden Administration Cant make good on their promise to help extract our afghan allies who stood alongside us. Just the psychological impact that its having on so many Men And Women who served over the last 20 years in that theatre and then to know that the afghans who worked so closely with them, that are just being a second Thought And Cast aside is just unconscionable so i really hope the steps are taken that need to be taken to secure our allies and show that americans are good for our word. Richard, philosophically, as americans in leadership going forward think about war and the objectives of war and accomplishing your initiatives first, which was to root out Al Qaeda from afghanistan to chase Bin Laden out of the country and ultimately get him, they did those things. We can talk about afghanistan, iraq, back to vietnam, down the line. Do you think, because it seems like lessons are not learned from generation to generation, afghanistan could lead to a change about The Way wars are planned and executed. In other words, not staying for 20 years and trying to change and fix a society . Thats an interesting question, willie. Its an important question. I think there will be lessons about certainly before you wage war the imperative of understanding local, cultural realities, and i think we got that wrong in iraq, we got that wrong in vietnam. But i also think that weve got to understand that there are, sometimes, like after 9 11, grounds for going to war. In this case the taliban wouldnt hand over the terrorists who killed 3,000 people in this country in an afternoon. And as weve seen in other parts of the world, there are times the United States has gone in not to fight the war as a combatant but mostly to help locals we work with to fight the war, to build up ability and capacity, we did it in columbia, historically in other places and we have Left Behind, not perfect, but more stable situation. But i also think the lesson of afghanistan is to keep our goals limited. United states has to be really, really careful and maybe more humble about the idea of using the military as an instrument to transform other societies and i think thats the lesson in a large part of iraq and some extent afghanistan. Military is good at certain things besides what they do in war, its good at Building Capacity but its up to the locals to build the nature of their own governance, their economies, societies. And i think we have to be, again, careful about getting too ambitious in some of these situations. Limited goals with limited means is a sustainable approach to foreign policy. Ambitious goals with unlimited means can be dangerous. Thats one set of lessons. But i think we learned in libya to remove an authority as we did in libya, then to do nothing afterwards that paves The Way for anarchy, total failure. There is a bit of a goldie locks thing here, so i think the debate we need to have is what is too much, what is too little to do with our military and foreign policy. I think the immediate danger over time is probably more likely if one looks at the obama, trump and now biden administration of the United States that perhaps theres too little in the world rather than too much. That might have been the criticism of 43s administration, george w. Bush, the United States tried to do too much. As the War In Afghanistan hits the rear View Mirror this morning what lessons do you think we should take from this as a country, what lessons should future president s take, admirals and generals like yourself take . I think Richard Hit a couple good points. But ill use a line under them. One is a greek word, hubris, its an arrogance and a certainty that youre right and the gods will find you. I think we went into afghanistan, as we did into vietnam, too much in our own image and thus we built, for example, an afghan army that looked like a kind of a miniature version of the u. S. Army with intelligence and fantastic precision guided weapons. And we built that, then we withdrew those enablers and it all fell apart. So i think going in and adapting to local conditions extremely important. Columbia is a good example of that, our work in the balkans is another good example where we got the balance roughly right. And secondly i think its about coalitions and alliances. I think its going to be important. This may sound crazy this morning, but to look at what we got right in afghanistan. One of the things we got right was working with allies, partners, coalitions, i commanded 50 nations, 150,000 troops from 50 nations. Coalitions can help in these situations. And then third and finally, values matter. I think values matter. Again, what did we get right in afghanistan . Women and girls, how they are treated. Literacy training. Lets see what happens with taliban 2. 0. But there may be some light In The Darkness of the taliban takeover. If there is, itll be because of literacy, because of the empowerment of women. Well see how that unfolds. But all together, i think if you take richard and his fantastic collection of globes in the background looking at the world and maybe add those few thoughts youve got a pretty good plan. Admiral, i want to underscore something you said earlier which was the gratitude we all have for our veterans including the 2,461 fallen in afghanistan. They dont get to make the policy but when those planes flew into the buildings they packed up and went and did something about it. Our thanks to them and were going to talk to a few of them later in the show. Thank you, admiral. And president of the council on foreign relations, Richard Haass, thank you as well. Elise stay with us if you can. We have more, Press Secretary John Kirby will be our guest. And republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger who served in afghanistan. Also this morning in louisiana the major storm is over but the recovery from Hurricane Ida has just begun. The latest on The Path Of Destruction across that state. Plus the European Union takes the United States off of its safe Travel List amid a surge here in covid cases. What that means for american travelers. Youre watching Morning Joe. Well be right back. Back. 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Hurricane ida caused catastrophic damage across louisiana, at least One Million people still are In The Dark with no power anywhere in the City Of New Orleans and they say it could be weeks before it comes back. The Death Toll currently stands at 2 but the governor Of Louisiana warns that number likely will rise. Tom yamas reports from new orleans. Reporter desperation in louisiana. It came, took everything. You dont have anything left . It took everything. Reporter entire communities cut off, power down, and for many, no Cell Signal to call for help. Officials in an urgent race to find terrified families still trapped. It was the weirdest thing, ever. I got my baby out, though. I wasnt going to stop until i got my baby out. Reporter in laplace people rescued in high water vehicles and boats. Including dawn brown, who is pregnant. How high was the water . To my stomach. So your stomach, carrying your baby was under water . Umhum. Her message to officials tonight. Im a mother of 7 we have nothing, i need help. Reporter Tiffany Miller begging for help while trapped in her attic In The Dark. The water came in, it came in quick so the only thing we could do was climb in the attic. Reporter so far 5,000 National Guard troops have been acty indicated. 25,000 clean up troops on The Way. And the Death Toll here is likely to rise. What i can tell you is that the last couple of days have not been good for our state and for the next several days and weeks, they will not be easy either. Reporter the damage to the Power Grid alone is described as catastrophic. The entire City Of New Orleans without electricity. Some outages could last for weeks. This is a massive electrical tower that collapsed during Hurricane Ida with several Feeder Bands throughout new orleans. A lot of people think this may be one of the epicenters of the Citys Power problems. So many anxious about how long this could last. You look at this and think were not going to have power for weeks if not months. Exactly. Exactly right. Itll be a long time before we have power here again. Reporter all of it beginning sunday as the powerful storm made landfall. The Eye Wall is now approaching new orleans and we are feeling those Hurricane Gusts somewhere around 85 miles per hour and the sad part is things are only going to get worse. Reporter and they did, winds reaching more than 170 miles an hour on the coast. Power lines like these stood no chance. The rain relentless. Testing the states upgraded levies which appear to have held. This woman, a nurse, had to be pulled from her car. With daylight the damage revealed roofs torn from building after building, trees down everywhere. Mass i have debris seen across new orleans streets. This boat tossed into the middle of the highway. We know that Hurricane Ida had potential to cause massive, massive damage. And thats exactly what we saw. Reporter some communities like Grand Isle along the Gulf Coast completely cut off. And with power out and communications down, its still impossible to assess the full impact of this monster storm. Stunning images there. Thanks to Tom Yamas for that report. Lets bring in bill karins. When you look at the pictures and consider power being out for weeks or perhaps months in some places you start to get a grasp p, as we tried to Yesterday Morning when the sun first came up of how deadly, how serious The Storm really was. Yeah. Fifth strongest storm to ever hit our country and the pictures youre seeing is what you expect with a storm of that magnitude. We have breaking news on two fronts one with ida another with the Caldor Fire which ill get to in a second. Heres what were watching currently. We have problems with water still. A lot of river flooding. We have reports out of mississippi, Highway 26 warned out Last Night, vehicles drove into that area that was flooded. Two fatalities, ten injuries, three of those injuries are critical. So Highway 26 is both lanes washed out, that was overnight in mississippi. We still have Flash Flood warnings in areas from biloxi to Gulf Port to mobile. We were talking obviously about A Million people still without power, yesterday it was hot and humid, it is still that way today. The Heat Index this afternoon will feel like 100 in new orleans and thats not going to change. Thats not going to change any time soon its not until The End of september where it begins to cool off a little bit so even Tomorrow Itll feel like 101. Whats left of The Storm or whats going to happen now because were not doechb with the serious flooding. Yes, its a tropical depression and a Rain Maker but we have already had Flooding Problems in tennessee. 79 Million people still impacted by the heavy rains in ida. Another one to three inches, tennessee and kentucky. Look what happens when we get it into the mountains, through pennsylvania, watch out in the poconos, the catskills new York City has the potential to get four to five inches of rain. Thats one story. And the Caldor Fire in south lake tahoe. This area made runs to populated areas. Firefighters are using Ski Lifts to battle the blaze. Sierra has their Snow Making guns on trying to protect their long from the advancing flames. The mist is trying to help. So that will be a Breaking Story during the day today. I heard reports that numerous structures have been burned overnight and firefighters are doing the best they can in gusty wind situations. Incredible on both of those stories, bill. Keep us posted well talk to you again shortly. Thank you. Many hospitals across louisiana were already facing an overflow of covid patients now also dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Lets bring in the director of the pediatric intensive Care Unit in baton rouge. Thank you for being with us this morning, doctor. We appreciate it. How did your Hospital Hold Up through ida . Have you seen patients coming through because of it . , you know, we are very lucky that our hospital did fared pretty well with the hurricane. We have some facilities that lost that were on generated powers for a couple hours but for the most part we are running on regular power now, except for two. So our facilities did not suffer major Wind Damage or water damage. So that has been good news, unlike some other hospitals in louisiana. Thats great news. Just the fact that you have power is great news, considering some of the news and the pictures we just saw there. What were the preparations like for you, doctor, because, as i said, you are facing an overrun of covid patients how do you get a hospital ready thats already full for perhaps an influx of new patients because of a hurricane . Unfortunately hurricanes are common in louisiana, so our team has had practice preparing for such events. And we were ready. We had generators that were ready and prepped, we have supplies, and we have staff. Actually, for the past 48 hours we have had two shifts at the hospital at all times. So while one shift worked, the other slept and they have remained in the hospital. Were hopeful this morning that our Recovery Team will arrive and those Staff Members who are able to safely return home will do so. They have been here for 48 hours working really hard taking care of our patients. We are also prepared to accept patients from outside hospitals if needed. You are the director of the pediatric unit there at the hospital. Lets talk about covid and what youve seen in the last couple of weeks and months. How much has it changed inside your hospital, and what age, what kind of patients are you seeing . We continue to see increasing number of covid positive children in our hospital, and just as a recent, the number of patients who present with covidrelated complications, one called mic, that has also increased. This coincided with School Starting and our state unmasking. Luckily our governor has reinstated the Mask Mandate so were hoping well see some results from that. Elise jordan, you said you dont mind my sharing so i will. Were sending you and your family good health. I know youve been sick. I know michael has been sick and i know your sweet baby, mary clyde, whos 10 months old had covid. How are you doing right now . I know you want to ask the doctor a question about it, perhaps. Willie, I Cant overstate, this is serious business. I am so grateful that we had been vaccinated. I cant imagine how we would have felt if we hadnt been vaccinated. I just still cant stop asking myself what else could we have done to have possibly prevented our sweet little Baby Girl from getting infected with covid. And luckily shes on the mend and her illness didnt seem to affect her as much as it did her older parents. But just to the doctor, what can parents do to help prevent their children from getting covid, especially when, in the case of my Baby Girl, she got it from someone who is vaccinated . , you know, its thats unfortunate and im sorry about that. We have had kids at the hospital who are as young as three weeks of age with covid. The message and the prevention is the same. Its masking and its social distancing and getting vaccine also helps. I think those things are the only weapons that we have against this virus. Doctor, as you look at this School Year, kids are back in school across the state Of Louisiana, perhaps contributing to the spike in cases getting all these kids back in also the low overall Vaccination Rate in your state which leads to community spread. What is your message to parents . What is your message to School Districts about what efforts youd like to see taken so that you dont see more kids inside your pediatric intensive Care Unit . Our message is that covid affects children. And we are seeing a huge rise in the number of pediatric patients with covid. We would like everyone to continue to be vigilant, in terms of masking, we would love for the schools to be vigilant in terms of having the kids wear mask and socially distance as much as they can. We do believe that Inperson Learning is the best thing for our children but we know it can be done as safely as possible and we would love for that to happen. We dont want to see the kids in the hospital. We dont want to see them sick. And i know, parents, you dont want that as well. The only thing we can do is vaccinate everyone those kids come in contact with, especially since they are not able to some of them cannot get the vaccine so they have no protection except what we offer them, that is through masking, social distancing and getting the vaccine. Get the vaccine if youre 12 or older. Doctor, thanks so much for your time this morning. We certainly appreciate it. The European Union recommended Member States reinstate Travel Restrictions for Unvaccinated Americans due to rising Coronavirus Infections. The European Council removed the United States from a safe list of countries whose residents can travel without requirements like quarantine and testing. Change is not mandatory, each Member State imposes its own Travel Rules and chooses whether to follow the guidelines. The council updates the safe Travel List based on criteria related to Coronavirus Infection levels every two weeks. Coming up here, while pushing false claims about the election, a republican congressman compares the protrump rioters to political prisoners. Those new remarks and the republican Senate Hopeful who agrees with those comments. Morning joe is coming right back. Morning joe is coming Ri Back [sfx radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. [band plays] a place where everyone lives life wellprotected. And even when things go a bit wrong, weve got your back. Here, things work The Way you wish they would. And better protection costs a whole lot less. Youre in good hands with allstate. Click or call for a lower Auto Rate today. To make my vision a reality my varilux progressive lenses provide seamlessly transition from near to far. With every detail in sharp focus. Thats seeing no limits. Varilux lenses by essilor. Without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is Three Thousand Dollars per month. Prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. Aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we wont stop. Thats why were calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower Prescription Drug prices. Madison cawthom said that elections were rigged in the United States and there could be quote bloodshed. He made the comments on sunday evening. The paper quotes the Freshman Congressman as saying, quote, the things that we are wanting to fight for, it doesnt matter if our votes dont count because if our Election Systems continue to be rigged and stolen its going to lead to one place and its bloodshed. He also suggested hes prepared to take up arms against his fellow americans if necessary to combat the imaginary Voter Fraud hes talking about. Quote i will tell you as much as i am willing to defend our liberty at all costs Theres Nothing i would dread more than having to pick up arms against a fellow american. The way we have recourse is if we all passionately demand we have Election Security in all 50 States Cawthorn said to applause. A spokesperson said the lawmakers was in no way advocating for any violence and he was calling for Bidens Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office saying Vice President harris should be removed as well. The 26yearold Cawthorn said i will remove Joe Biden from office and when Kamala Harris screws up ill take them down one at a time. He used the term political prisoners and political hostages to describe those arrested in the January 6th attack on the capitol hill. At one point a member of the crowd asked, when are you going to call us to washington again. Cawthorn replied, quote, that, we are actively working on that one. I dont have an answer to that one right yet but we are working on this. We have a few plans in motion that I Cant make public right now. Jd vance, the author tweeted out, correct in response to an article entitled cawthorn calls jailed January 6th rioters political hostages, political prisoners. Obviously this 26yearold Congressman has made a career on inflammatory remarks trying to own the libs as a policy position, but saying this could lead to bloodshed if theres not something done to fix rigged elections. And even invoking the idea of taking up arms against fellow americans about, again, this imaginary Voter Fraud hes talking about. In an alternative universe, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, you would have had gop leadership doing something to clamp down Madison Cawthorn from his violent fantasies but today it gets him slots on cable news, juices his fundraising and hes allowing to say and do whatever he wants, no matter how damaging and if its inciting violence which we saw from the top, Donald Trump and what he brought and how plenty of republican leaders did nothing to clamp down on Donald Trumps calls for repeated violence. He doesnt seem like the brightest bulbs, seems like hes going for the Attention And Isnt a Master Mind of planning an insurrection. But this is the rhetoric republicans need to decry. And the fact that they arent and the fact that hes seemingly operating in a consequence free universe within the republican party its very troubling and it shows the state of the republican party right now. No condemnation that weve seen so far, and obviously this is the currency of many republicans right now, say the most inflammatory thing you can, wait for the response from the other side of outrage, raise money off it get reelected. Still ahead, The End of the War In Afghanistan from the veterans perspective. Well talk to two prominent veterans about their thoughts on this August 31st, the official day circled by President Biden for The American withdraw which is now complete. Plus with The American military gone, how are afghans who want to leave the country going to get out now . Its a critical question. Julia ainsley joins us with her latest reporting and how those americans will leave as well. Morning joe is coming right back. S well Morning Joe is coming right back at usaa, weve been called too exclusive. Because we were created for officers. But as weve evolved with the military, weve grown to serve all whove honorably served. No matter their rank, or when they were in. A marine just out of basic, or a petty officer from 73. And even his kids. And their kids. Usaa is made for all whove honorably served and their families. Are we still exclusive . Absolutely. And thats exactly why you should join. Are we still exclusive . Absolutely. We are the next. The next generation of visionaries. Rule breakers. Game changers. And world beaters. We were built to perform on the biggest stages. But we certainly arent here to do whats been done before. And neither are we. At Palo Alto networks, we are ready to secure our digital future. As companies innovate to transform, we innovate to outpace cyberthreats. So you can embrace technology with confidence and make the next day safer than the one before. Weve got next. Does your deodorant keep you fresh all day . We put dove Men Deodorant to the test with nelson, a volunteer that puts care into everything he does. It really protects my skin. Its comfortable and lasts a long time. Dove men, 48h Freshness with triple action moisturizers. 11 ma reaps, an Army Staff Sergeant and a Navy Comans were the last killed in afghanistan last week. We have a look at those heroes that made the ultimate sacrifice. Reporter behind every name is a story and a family in grief. It would be a better world. Reporter days before her Death Sergeant Nicole gee wrote i love my job posting this picture. For Nicoles Dad Shell also be his little girl. Let the world know shes my hero. Shes a warrior, shes very compassionate, very caring, loving. Reporter 20yearold Dylan Morale was one of the best kids ever. Just an infant when troops first arrived in afghanistan. Ryan Mass Wife said her husband would have no regrets. It was the ultimate honor he could give back to his country. Reporter these Service Members now home their sacrifice honored in cities and towns across a grateful nation. Navy corpsmen maxton. We will always remember her as the hero that she is. Reporter the town of Missouri Remembering Lance corporal gerald schmidt. And like rylee mccollum, set to be a father in just weeks. Patriotism doesnt go by area or state. Reporter taylor Hoovers Dad said he was a natural leader. He was helping those less fortunate that cant help themselves. Reporter the ultimate sacrifice in service of others, Peter Alexander Nbc news. You know, Elise Jordan you look at those 13 faces, 2,461 americans killed in the nearly 20 years in the War In Afghanistan, 800000 of our fellow americans served in that war over 20 years, im thinking about the veterans that served there, whose lives were changed forever. I know them, many of them well, some of them were my friends whose lives were up ended. Whether its ptsd, or wounds, some of them terribly disfigured as they rolled over an ied in a vehicle. Its time to stop and think about those 800,000 people who raised their hand and volunteered and as i said when the planes hit the buildings 20 years ago, they were the ones packing up to leave and go do something about it. These young Men And Women, its such a heartbreaking huge loss. What they offered so much to our country, being so young and what they would have continued to contribute, you know, would have been so great just because of what they did to date. And I Cant imagine the bravery and the courage of holding the line of manning Those Gates. The stories that ive heard from Men And Women who have been there at the airport and of how we put the power in these young Men And Women, of picking out from the crowd who was supposed to go on the plane to safety, to freedom. Its a task that I Cant imagine the heaviness. And these Men And Women did it and they did it with honor and they did it for a better world and they did it sending so many Men And Women onto freedom. Yeah, some of those five of those killed last thursday were 20 years old, meaning they were newborns, they were infants on september 11, 2001. Elise jordan great to see you and your family on the mend. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Well be back in 30 seconds with craig whit lock, whos out with a new investigative book looking into what went wrong in many ways in afghanistan from the Wars Inception to the talibans rise back to power. Morning joe is coming right back. K to power Morning Joe is coming right back a unicorn in training. A corner to build a legacy. A vision for tomorrow. A fresh start. A blank canvas. A second act. A renewed company culture. A temple for ideas. And a place to make your mark. Loopnet. The most popular place to find a space. Now u. S. Military flights have ended and our troops have departed afghanistan. A new chapter of Americas Engagement with afghanistan has begun. Its one in which we will lead with our diplomacy. The Military Mission is over. A new Diplomatic Mission has begun. Secretary of state Tony Blinken speaking yesterday as americas longest war came to an end. Welcome back to among its tuesday, August 31st. The final american military plane carrying americans left kabul Last Night bringing an end to Evacuation Efforts that Left Behind an estimated 1 to 200 United States citizens. Chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has the latest. Reporter United States ended its 20Year War in afghanistan with the conclusion of the largest noncombatant Air Lift in american history. Im here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from afghanistan and The End of the Military Mission. Reporter 123,000 people flown out of the now taliban controlled country. The taliban firing barrages of Gun Fire after the last aircraft departed. But not all americans were able to get out. The citizens not brought out number in the very low hundreds. I believe that were going to be able to get those people out. Reporter its been two decades of military deployments. 2,461 americans killed. 1,144 nato allies, killed. More than 48,000 afghans killed. 300,000 afghan soldiers trained only to collapse when confronted. About a trillion dollars spent and more to come to care for the wounded. Afghanistan handed back to the very same islamic fundamentalists the United States drove from power just weeks after 9 11. A generation of afghans raised with expectations of freedom and fundamental rights under an umbrella of american protection. Isis taking parting shots, hoping to etch their Dark Name in history, Firing Rockets at the airport to no effect. The u. S. Firing back, the military says against an isis car bomb. Afghans say ten civilians were killed. A war once called Operation Enduring Freedom proving to be neither enduring nor leaving a legacy of freedom. Richard engel reporting for us. Joining us now John Hudson and yamiche alcindor. Good morning to you both. John, let me begin with you on the evacuation, we heard Secretary Blinken say yesterday now america will lead with diplomacy. We heard General Mckenzie say were going to count on the taliban to maintain some level of security. All this with perhaps 200 americans Left Behind with afghan wartime partners and allies Left Behind. What is the plan to get those people out now that every last american troop has left the country . Thats the Big Question right now. So one of the main sources of hope that these remaining 100 to 200 americans have is trying to get a flight out of the country. Now, obviously, the airport is going to be down for a period of time. The taliban dont necessarily have the expertise to get it up and running immediately. And thats why the United States has been working with partners in the region, the turks, the cutries and private sector folks to try to see if they can get the airport up and running as fast as possible. The other opportunity is land routes, potentially to pakistan. U. S. Officials have not wanted to be extremely specific about how they plan to get people out of the country. I think in some ways, because they havent completely worked it out. I think in other ways they dont want to give logistical information to people who might come attack these people, thats why a lot of these people have been called at risk for such a long time. It was it was clearly a devastating reality for The General to have to admit yesterday that americans will be Left Behind after this 20Year War. No one wants to pick up and have the final Evacuation Flight leave americans behind but thats exactly what happened. So they are going to try to get the airport up and running, but i think theres significant damage thats going to you know, thats done to the airport. Think about the runways. You have to think about radars, all of the other things that go into a modern airport. And its probably the size of a mid Size City Airport so theres a lot to be done and unclear how its all going to be resolved. Yamiche, President Biden said in an interview a couple weeks ago with george stephanopoulos. If there are any americans left we are going to stay until they get out. Obviously that did not happen there are still americans in afghanistan and the United States military has left the country. What is the white House Discussion right now . What are they thinking, what they doing about getting those people out of the country . Were going to hear from the president this afternoon. Hes going to stand firm on the idea this was the right decision to withdraw from afghanistan but hes also going to double down on the commitment to get these americans out as well as to get afghans out who helped americans during this 20 Year War. I think yesterday was a historic day, it was a War Ending On A Deadline Set by President Biden. You heard some of the heartbreak in military leaders, voices including General Mckenzie who was speaking from the pentagon saying look, this is not The Way we wanted to leave, we dont like to leave people behind. He said he used the Word Heartbreak because he wanted to talk about the idea even if they stayed ten days or stayed longer, they didnt think they were going to be able to get everyone out that they wanted to get out. That i think is a key idea theyre making the case that even if we stayed longer, our goal of getting everyone out would not have been met now it becomes a Diplomatic Mission, a Mission Working with our partners to get out as many people as possible. Ive been talking to some veterans who are hurt and embarrassed that there are afghans that helped america that are Left Behind. But people at the White House as well as defenders of the president say this is what war is, its messy, dangerous, volatile and at times you have to leave people behind. John, lets talk about some of what was Left Behind in the physical sense. Billions of dollars of equipment meant for the United States military and also the Afghan Military that stepped aside and let the taliban roll across the country. Weve seen pictures of the taliban entering the airport, surveying what was left. We saw them wearing american uniforms, carrying american weapons, figuring out how to run the helicopters, all the things Left Behind there. General mckenzie was careful to say that The American military tried to demilitarize, as he put it, a lot of equipment there, but a great deal Left Behind in taliban hands. Thats right. Extraordinary images of the taliban waltzing into the airport wearing u. S. Hand me downs. The fatigues, looking into all this new, basically, war bounty, The Spoils Of War that they are going to obtain. Now there were this was a rapid evacuation that included a lot of, you know, controlled destructions of various weaponry, things they didnt want the taliban to have. Also, at the same time, though, they did leave some equipment that would be necessary for the running of the airport, again, as this in this landlocked country, an absolutely essential aspect of getting americans out and other afghan allies to have an airport there. So that was the very interesting thing we saw there. Again, a mix of coordination with the taliban at the same time of departing. Leaving some things behind theyll be able to use to have a functioning airport. There was some hand shakes that we saw on The Way out. Which is just an extraordinary difference from 20 years of fighting, you know, a war with so many casualties and so much death. Thats been the almost disorienting things from so many veterans ive been talking with, to Watch Americans Side By side working with the taliban, the very people they fought when they went in and now leaving the country to the taliban The Way it was when the United States went in 20 years ago. John hudson, thanks so much. Joining us Investigative Reporter for the washington post, craig whitlock, author of the book the afghanistan papers, out today. Also with us Mike Barnicle. Craig, theres a lot to talk about and reflect on, and thats what your book does with more than 1,000 interviews that you conducted to put this together. What did you find in part one as you break this into pieces . The initial mission. Just from the Beginning Sort of a disagreement about what the mission should be and what it turned out to be nearly 20 years later. Right. So i think people remember 20 years ago the original objective of the War In Afghanistan was pretty clear. It was to retaliate for the September 11th attacks. Make sure that Al Qaeda could not attack the United States again. To try and destroy Al Qaeda. It was really a defensive war in that sense. And within six months the war was pretty successful. The taliban had been removed from power, Al Qaedas leaders were killed, captured or fled afghanistan, like Osama Bin Laden went to pakistan. So Al Qaedas presence in afghanistan had been removed. But it was at that point that the mission really began to blur and Mission Creep began to set in. Then it became clear we had to help afghanistan get on its feet, this was a devastated country, but we kind of drifted pretty soon after that where we werent quite sure what we were doing in afghanistan, how long we were going to stay or what exactly we were trying to accomplish. Really rapidly, the United States became distracted by planning for the War In Iraq and we forgot about afghanistan and let that drift. Yeah, Mike Barnicle, six months in, craig writes and in his interviews finds the United States felt its mission had been accomplished Inside Afghanistan and began to turn its sights on the War In Iraq in many ways, which obviously would be disastrous. Yes, willy. Its a sad history of our involvement in afghanistan. And craig you correctly just pointed out that within six months the mission in afghanistan that began in October Of 2001 was deemed successful militarily. Can you, in your incredible recounting of our history in afghanistan, can you point to other periods where success could have meant we could have withdrawn honorably, and could you also talk about the Siren Song of one more battalion, one more brigade that kept us floating well into afghanistan over 20 years . There were a number of opportunities in retrospect where the United States could have tried to bring some sort of political solution in afghanistan, to try to bring the taliban into the political system, which is what the Trump Administration, biden Administration And Obama administration had tried without success to do in recent years. But early on, there were indications that the taliban leadership after having been defeated in 2001 and 2002, was willing to put down their arms and become part of the system. But at that point the United States had declared the taliban defeated and vanquished and had no interest in trying to legitimize them. We lumped the taliban in the same basket as Al Qaeda, as terrorists and Bush Administration officials made it clear they werent going to negotiate with terrorists they were going to give up. That was the original mistake, the Original Sin as some officials put it and over the years we never really recovered from that. Theres a lot in your book about Nation Building and a lot of discussion about that just in the last few weeks about the futile efforts to create a central government in afghanistan. Something that the country had never had and didnt apply to a country that was largely rural. What did the people you talked to in that Book Say and the lessons about how americans should think about the wars going forward. And trying to set up a government in a central place where there never has been one. Thats a good question. I think something people are trying to get their arms around now, after 20 years. Why did we try to set up this entirely new Government System that had no tradition in afghanistan. We really tried to model a new Afghan Government after our own system, after our own federal government. And this was something that was seen as foreign to afghans but over time it was seen as illegitimate our partners in the Afghan Government were seen as corrupt over the years and if afghan people never really had any allegiance to it. So this became a problem, clearly, within the last decade when we were fighting the taliban trying to stand up the afghan army and afghan Police Force and yet the afghan people, particularly in rural areas saw the taliban as the lesser of two evils. They didnt like the taliban but they really didnt like the Afghan Government. And this again was a fundamental flaw in trying to build up afghan. The figures are startling, we spent more than 130 Billion over 20 years trying to build up an Afghan Government, an afghan nation. Some of that went toward building schools, hospitals, things like that. But this was more money adjusted for inflation than the United States spent in europe with the Marshall Plan after World War ii. So it is extraordinary amount of money and we dont have much to show for it, neither does afghanistan. So i think this is prompting a lot of Soul Searching about the lessons we need to draw about what happened in afghanistan. But theres going to be another crisis in another faraway place and the United States is going to have a lot of hard choices in deciding how to react there or respond. Mike, in addition to the 2,461 american lives lost in afghanistan, some 2 Trillion of american Taxpayer Money spent over nearly 20 years. Money is only money but the lives lost can never be recovered. In this history you assembled of our history in afghanistan, did it ever strike you in your research and interviews that as with vietnam, so very few people at the pentagon, the State Department are working in the White House ever pause to use the phrase, lets remember that this is their country, not our country, in terms of Assembling Potential Peace Accords . Ironically at the start of the war, President Bush was asked this back in October Of 2001, almost 20 years ago, he was asked is this going to be another vietnam could we be drawn into a quagmire in Afghanistan And Bush was dismissive of this saying we learned our lessons from vietnam were not going to let this happen again were not going to founder around in afghanistan we have a clear mission were going to accomplish it. And his defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld would mock the idea that we could get stuck in afghanistan like vietnam. The key issue here is we had a lot of hue bris, because the war was seen as successful in a few months since we imposed our will in afghanistan we thought we could do what we want there and we had ideas about what he thought was best for afghanistan. But over time we got drawn in deeper and deeper and it became harder and harder to get out and fix the situation. President obama tried to double down with the Nation Building. He spent an enormous amount of money during his administration, the Trump Administration also promised not to do Nation Building in afghanistan. But the problem was we couldnt leave until we had built an Afghan Government strong enough to defend itself. That never work. We kind of kept kicking the can down the road, finally President Biden said enough. But its a lot easier to start a war than it is to end one, as you can see. Its good news our troops are out of afghanistan theyre not exposed anymore to the suicide attacks we saw several days ago but the legacy of the 20 years, its hard to hold up a lot of accomplishments that are going to endure. We have only scratched the surface of this book. This comprehensive account of afghanistan and the 20 years of war there. I know well have you back on to dig in more. The new book is the afghanistan papers, craig whitlock. Thank you so much. More on how the afghans and the United States citizens who want to remain in afghanistan will get out. Julia ainsley joins us and also christian roache, shes a veteran, part of a broad nerk of veterans, Government Officials and afghan americans working to save friends, family and allies from taliban threats and violence. Good morning to you both. Kristen, let me begin with you. Thank you for everything you gave. Before we talk about the work youre doing to get your interpreter out and other people out of the country, im curious what you felt yesterday when the announcement was made that the mission was over in afghanistan. I knew it was coming but i felt despair. Absolute despair. Because theres people who i worked with, my former soldiers have worked with, who wore our same uniform, who we worked Side By side with, who we depended on, who we got intel from, that protected us, people who enabled us to do our jobs overseas. The jobs that we were asked by our government to do, they served Side By side along side us and they have been explicitly, finally Left Behind by the United States government. And these are our friends. These are our colleagues. And it it feels i mean, we want the war to end. We dont want u. S. Troops to be in harms way. But i feel sick. So your team has a list of 175 afghans that youre working to get out and one particularly special and important to you, your own interpreter, can you talk us through your efforts to get your interpreter out of the country because its important for people to hear how difficult and dangerous a process this is. Thats right. We have more than 175 afghan allies on our list. Im one of thousands of veterans who have been compiing lists and trying to help friends get out. From the beginning of the Evacuation Flights at Kabul Airport, i was working within my networks within our friends networks to try to get my interpreter, his wife and his five young children out of the country. Again he is as much of a veteran as i am. We served Side By side for nine months he wore my uniform. Weve been working for more than ten years on his visa. This is the Siv Visas, many have successfully gotten the Siv Visas but many more have not been able to make the bureaucratic hurdles of the program. Its not because he didnt serve without integrity and honor. But we have tried to get him into that airport for ten days. I spent sleepless nights where i was, you know, up on a Messaging App talking with him directly saying somebody is going to come for you, you will be in, youre on the list. We have this arrangement, and then it never happens. And the last time that we tried, he messaged me, he said theres a suicide attack, there are bodies everywhere. He was outside one of the areas where there were just, you know, horrific casualties on the u. S. And afghan side from that suicide attack. And imagine witnessing that with your 2yearold, with your 5yearold, with your 8yearold, with your 13yearold. You know, its imagine going through this with your children. Imagine them going through scrums of people who are all desperate to get out. Like imagine these are your friends and that, you know, its like this isnt a matter of sorry, we cant take everyone into the concert. This is sorry, we are leaving you to be executed. The taliban knows your name. The taliban knows who you are. They have your id number, they have your name, they have your biometric information. All It Takes is catching you autoone of the checkpoints that are everywhere, all It Takes is a Doortodoor Search that theyre doing to actively hunt down people. All It Takes is them finding you, killing you and your wife and children. Thats what we are saying when we say we cant take everyone with us. We have Tens Of Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of allies who worked alongside us who we have left for execution. We are not giving up. We are still trying to find ways out. We need the government we need our government to at least make arrangements with neighboring countries. If we have wonderful relations with pakistan make an agreement so they can get across the border. Make arrangements so people can flee over the borders because borders are locked and people cannot get through. And the price isnt, you cant get into the concert. The price is, you will die. So kristen, what is the hope now for your interpreter and all those other people that need to get out of that country because of the risk that you laid out in such stark terms there to their lives . Literally to their lives if theyre found. American troops are gone, they cant go to the airport, thats controlled by the taliban and the airport is not functioning anymore. What can you say this morning to The American government . What needs to get done here . My interpreter messaged me Last Night and he said, we they have killed us mentally. Theyve been killed with bureaucracy over decades not being able to get visas. Even u. S. Citizens are not able to get their families out or expedite visas. This is such a broad range of people who cannot get out. It is locked down through State Department processes where State Department is saying, sorry, we cant do anything about your visa, as if people are sitting comfortably at home, you know, just chilling while a new you know, while a brutal new regime takes over. These are people theyre changing houses every few hours to get away from people who are saying, we know where you are and were going to kill you. They are fleeing and State Department officials, even as recently as sunday are sending out emails saying, sorry we cant do anything. I know this isnt the response you want. Good luck. And The Endless bureaucracybure imagine being trapped at the dmv because you didnt have the one thing with the one date that matches the other thing. Its outrageous the hoops that they are the paperwork they are demanding of people. Im still doing paperwork for some of these afghans. Doing paperwork while they are running for their lives. So it just raises the Question Weve heard yesterday again from General Mckenzie that yes the Military Presence is gone. We heard from Secretary Blinken as well, we turn to diplomatic efforts and rely on the taliban to get these afghan wartime allies out of the country. What does that mean . How are they going to get them out of the country . I hope they come up with something. There are airfields across afghanistan that flights can be brought to if they can make agreements with taliban to answer the airspace and evacuate people. Then this must be done. But agreements can be made with neighboring countries to admit afghans with at least a certain threshold of paperwork showing u. S. Alliship. Because all of these afghans, they have papers, they have all of these papers showing the work they did for our country. But again, its the State Department processes, its the bureaucratic stuff. We have told them, you have to keep applying for this multistep visa yet our embassy will have no presence there. They have to go to pakistan or another country to process their visas anyway. And there is theres no arrangements being made as we can tell yet for these allies and friends to get across the border so they are not killed. Taliban are pulling people out at checkpointcheckpoints, theyg their phone and murdering them if they have u. S. Numbers. Were telling them purge your phones, hide your documents, hide everything you can and dont show any american affiliation or you know english because they are being actively murdered. Can we, put to this rest this Idea Weve heard floated by the taliban that theyre a kinder, gentler taliban now than the one we came to know in 2001 and well before that Inside Afghanistan that theyre going to respect people and let people keep their jobs and theyre different . Most people i know think they were saying that to get to americans out of the country and then resort to their medieval ways. Do you have any hope this taliban is different than the one you witnessed with your eyes . We can only hope. They seem very good at pr. They seem to understand the message that they need to get across to The Americans, to the international community. You know, a nice Photo Op of shaking hand. Great. They have been beating people, murdering people, they have been just like the the level of harm that they have caused even as eyes of the world are on them, as been just atrocious. Atrocious. And as i said, they are hunting down our allies, they are killing them, they are murdering them, this is happening, this is not hyperbole. U. S. Army Veteran Board Member of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, Kristen Rouse, we feel your passion, frustration and your commitment as your service continues here. Please keep us posted, thank you for being with us. Julia lets get to the questions that kristen just raised for us. What is the plan from the State Department, to get remaining americans because there are a couple hundred of them left in afghanistan and also some of these afghan partners out of the country . Well, like kristen said, having those documents that once were helping americans and especially those siv special Interest Visa interpreters out of the country are those are now seen as targets. So so many people are told to destroy those documents. What was once your ticket out is now the target on your back. So when the State Department, Defense Department and dhs are leaning on those documents to process people, its harder. Its because these people are starting to turn away from any hope of being able to be processed and leaning now on nongovernmental organizations organizations like the united nations, High Commission on refugees if they can get across the Land Border and groups like kristens. These are private groups started sometimes by hedge funds, a lot of times by people who served in the armed forces. Theyre no longer able to turn to the institutions of the United States to help them get out. And right now when were speaking to groups like that, to ngos, estimating Tens Of Thousands, if not over 100,000 they are telling people to stay where they are because its such a confusing and ever changing situation at the borders. Afghanistan is bordered by six different countries. None of those have committed to taking in Afghan Refugees. Many already have millions of Afghan Refugees they built up over four decades if if you look at pakistan, for example, so a lot of ngos are telling people to stay where they are in their homes. But they have targets on their back. The taliban could come knock on their door at any moment. Its such a risky proposition to try to get to a Land Border when the taliban is checking people on roads as we know and if you get to a border, its not clear you can get across. And a lot of cases those people wont be able to have any of their paperwork processed until they leave afghanistan primarily because the u. S. No longer has an official presence there. As kristen said, staying where you are which is the guidance in many cases means being killed by the taliban, they cant afford to stay, moving houses by the hour. When you hear from the president in a few Hours Hell explain his justification for leaving now. We hope Hell Address the remaining americans and the afghan allies but also delivering on a promise that a lot of people in this country voted for and that is to get america out of afghanistan to end this nearly 20 Year War there. An object that President Trump, by The Way, also stated bringing americans home from that country. President biden is the fourth president to oversee the War In Afghanistan and he will be the one who ended it. Thats right. It was a bipartisan goal to withdraw from afghanistan. And this afternoon, based on my conversations with White House officials, President Biden is going to double down on this idea that he feels as though he made the right decision to withdraw american troops from afghanistan. Hes going to, of course, have to address the idea that we left some americans as well as some afghan partners behind but what well hear from the president is simply he did not want to send another generation of americans to die in afghanistan. You heard military officials say there is some heartbreak involved here but that overall there was this massive evacuation mission, 123,000 civilians taken out of afghanistan in the last 18 days. You can expect that the president is going to talk about that and talk about the fact that his commitment to The Americans and afghans who remain in afghanistan has not waivered that there will be a plan to try to get those people out. But the president here has really said he has no regrets when it comes to The Way this was handled even though there has been criticism of the withdrawal, we, of course, lost 13 u. S. Troops but the president said this is war, this is whats when you have a 20Year War that needs to end. The president has also, i think, felt very solemn and talked about the fact that hes going to keep in touch with the families of these troops who were who died in afghanistan. The president is someone who has often led with his heart, talking about this idea that he is a father who lost his soon, he understands the cost of losing a child. But we can expect the president is going to have the message i had a mission to get us out of afghanistan, that mission has been accomplished. Thank you both. We will hear from the president. You can see that live here on msnbc later this afternoon. Still ahead on Morning Joe. Well be joined by another veteran who served in afghanistan when republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger joins our conversation. Before that, pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby will be our guest. Plus one area hit particularly hard by Hurricane Ida was Grand Isle, louisiana. Well have the latest on the town that is still flooded this morning. Well be right back. Rning. 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With Comcast Business you get the network that can deliver Gig Speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it all backed by a dedicated team, 24 7. Every day in business is a big day. Well keep you ready for whats next. Comcast business powering possibilities. So far two deaths have been attributed to Hurricane Ida, that number is likely to increase. The Louisiana Department of health confirmed an unidentified man drowned after he tried to get his car through heavy floodwaters in new orleans. Hundreds of people trapped by ida were saved yesterday by Rescue Boats and helicopters and that effort continues today. Crews working on restoring power to more than 1 Million residents in louisiana, officials say it could be weeks before that power is back up and running. There is growing desperation in Grand Isle, a community on one of Louisianas Barrier islands, the area completely cut off by widespread flooding and damage. Miguel almaguer has the story. Reporter those who stayed feared they would die. The communities of Grand Isle, Golden Meadow and matthews taking a direct and unforgiving hit from ida. Dozens called for help to get out but no one could make it in. Josh rode out the hurricane on his barge in Grand Isle. Its like being in a blizzard, you couldnt see around you at times. I wouldnt want to go through it again, thats for sure. Reporter those who survived the impact are now struggling to escape the aftermath, emergency Teams Cant make rescues and can barely make Phone Calls to get the word out on local radio. Grand isle got hammered probably harder than theyve ever been hammer before. The road to rescue perhaps as dangerous as the choice to stay behind. Highway and back roads across louisiana are a Mine Field of downed trees and power lines. I had to get them to rescue me from my house to get out. Youre out here trying to open the roads. Thats right. Reporter this is where the only road to Grand Isle ends. Its in the community down this road here where neighbors were said to be on the roof tops waiting for help. Seven miles long, Grand Isle is and now was the only inhabited Barrier Island in louisiana. 1,500 live here, these before and after Satellite Images perhaps our clearest view of whats been lost. I think the first reconnaissance is going to be by air, because theres so much water there, were not going to be able to get in. Reporter trying to find whats out of reach as what comes into view is what no one wants to see. Miguel almaguer reporting for us. It could be weeks before they see power in louisiana. Well be back in two minutes with pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby. Our Retirement Plan with voya, keeps us moving forward. Hey, kevin hey, guys they have customized solutions to help our familys special needs. Hey, Graduation Selfie well done and voya stays by our side, keeping us on track for retirement. Giving us confidence in our future. And in kevins. 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The most popular place to find a place. New Dove Men, plant based Body Wash is different. With plant based cleansers. And moisturizers for healthy and hydrated men, skin, relax your body and mind, shower with new Dove Men. Joining us now pentagon Press Secretary, retired Rear Admiral in the United States navy, admiral John Kirby. Thank you for your time this morning we appreciate it. Do you have a sense this morning as you talk to people on the ground and across the Defense Department about how many americans remain in afghanistan today . I dont think theres an exact figure, willie. We believe we got the vast, vast majority of american citizens out. Something to the tune of 6,000 of them. And we think its probably in the low hundreds that are still there. There were also several hundred others that didnt want to leave. I know this is now a Diplomatic Mission as you all have said and this is for the State Department but if those 200 or so americans are going to be extracted from the country, it would make sense there would be some military effort behind it. Do you expect youll have a role in getting those people out of the country . Willie, right now i think the tools we have available to us and well use as a u. S. Government is going to be more in the diplomatic, economic lanes and we dont really see a Military Role right now. So what does that look like . How does diplomacy get those people out of the talibancontrolled afghanistan . Its not completely unlike The Way we do it elsewhere around the world. We have americans that get stranded in countries all the time and we do everything we can to try to facilitate safe passage and we have made it clear what our expectations are to the taliban and if the taliban want to govern and they say they do, and they want to not retaliate when they say they do, were going to hold them to their deeds not just words so there are Leverage Tools we have available to us to hold them to account. But thats the effort. Its going to be a whole of Government Effort but i dont see a Military Role at this time. So President Biden, as you know, said in his interview with abc news a couple of weeks ago that america would stay until every last american was out of the country. Was there any consideration of extending the deadline until you got The Americans out, the wartime partner gs out . You heard the president himself say he was willing to have the pentagon come up with contingency plans incase we needed to go past the 31st but you also saw in the last couple of days just how dangerous the environment was getting not just for the troops at the airport but for local citizens near and around the airport. There was a very credible, specific increasing Threat Stream by isis that was making the entire operation more perilous and we had to make decisions in the last couple of days to make sure we could get everybody out as safely as possible and not imperil civilians more than they were. With the last american troop now out of afghanistan as you look back on it now would it have made sense to start the evacuations earlier so you could hold to the August 31st deadline to get everyone out of the country that wanted to leave the country . I think there will be time to do the forensics here and see what might have been done differently and those are fair questions. Were asking the questions as you might imagine. Within 48 hours we went from believing we had a capable, long time ally in the government and the afghan forces to having to develop a pragmatic relationship with a longtime enemy, which is the taliban. I will tell you nonhpcombatant operations was not something the Pentagon Wasnt Thinking of. We were thinking about this to the spring to the point we flowed forces in off of ships so if we had to do it we could do it quickly. Thats why we were able to get 3,000 troops on the ground within two days and not only defend but secure and continue the operations of a major international airport. A lot of planning went into this willie and well have time to do the forensics but we moved as fast as we could. We had Kristen Rouse on the show a few minutes ago, part of a group called digital dunkirk trying to get interpreters, people they worked with, afghans who put their lives on the line, to try to get them out of the country, hopes are dimming shes not sure how to get those people out now that The American military has gone. What is your message to those afghans whose lives are in danger quite literally moment to moment who fought alongside us and believed they had a commitment from the United States to help them get out when it was time . I would tell them, they still have that commitment. We thank them for their service, grateful for what they did. And we moved out an incredible number in a span of two weeks, 123,000 the vast majority of which were afghan allies, people who helped us. Were heart broken we couldnt get everybody out but they still have our commitment, the commitment of this administration and the United States and were going to do everything we can to get them out of that country and out safely. Admiral, what does that look like to, ill use Kristens Example her personal interpreter, someone she considered family because of the work he did and the sacrifice he made, married with five children and moving hour to Hour House to house because the taliban is hunting him. Thats one story among thousands within that country. We have tools available to us across the range of the levers of power of the government. Were going to use those tools to the maximum extent that we can, and were going to hold the taliban to what theyve committed to, which is this safe passage of american citizens and our allies in afghanistan to get out. Were going to hold them accountable to that. What does it feel like to you from the Department Of Defense to put that level of faith in the taliban, the medieval cult that treats brutally women and children and anyone who is seen as working with america . Theres nothing about faith here, willie, nothing at all. Its not about trust. We developed a pragmatic relationship that we had to do over the last couple of weeks to help people get safely to the airport and get them out of there, and it worked. But believe me, nobody is resting on laurels here and nobody is just going to take it at Face Value what the taliban say. Were going to hold them accountable for their actions. Not just their words, their actions, and again, we have tools available to us across the range of our government to do that. Admiral Mike Barnicle is here with a question for you. Mike . Admiral, your career, your life and the building that you work in have been built on a core, a core corps, a corps built around the military, we leave no one behind. What is the mood this morning in the pentagon with people knowing thousands were Left Behind . And what is the relationship between the top brass at the pentagon and The American State Department . I think we are grateful for the incredible Teamwork Weve had with the State Department on the ground, certainly in kabul over the last several weeks, but it was a team effort. It absolutely was. At each of Those Gates at the airport, there were constable officers working alongside the marines and soldiers to process as many people as possible. As for the move here, were grateful we got everybody out safely yesterday. That was no small feat moving those last 800 troops out of the airport safely and efficiently with nobody getting hurt, so there is a lot of relief in that. But there is also, as you heard General Mckenzie say, there is heartbreak. Sure, we certainly would have liked and preferred to get more people out if we could, but the time just wasnt there. And i dont just mean the time on the clock, i mean the time in terms of the threat. It was something we had to keep mindful of all the time. You dont want to do anything thats going to put your troops in danger, but also people around the airport and more civilians in danger. It was a tough couple of days, but we are reenergizing our commitment to the entire government to continue to do what we can for those who werent able to make it out. Admiral, you mentioned we still have tools able to assist us in extractions, potential extractions, whatever. What is the cost of a reaper drone being flown over kabul . What does it cost . I couldnt give you a Dollar Figure on that, mike, but theyre very capable platforms, as you know, and we continue to be able to conduct over the horizon operations using unmanned aircraft. You saw the last couple of days where we used unmanned operations to help get them out and well use that today. We know all too painfully that isisk is there. What is the military posture of the United States now toward afghanistan . Does it look like something around pre9 11 where you maintain the ability to go back in if necessary . Can you see a scenario where american troops go back in if it does, in fact, become a Breeding Ground and a hotbed for terrorism . I can tell you, willie, our posture is definitely not what it was like pre9 11. We didnt have anywhere near the kinds of intelligence, Surveillance And Reconnaisance capabilities that we have now. We didnt have the footprint in the region that we have now, and that footprint will remain. As you saw again over the last couple of days, we have the capability to reach out and touch any piece of earth that we need to if we need to. And were going to do that. If there is a threat emanating from afghanistan, were going to do everything we can to prevent that threat from materializing as fast as possible. Again, we have that capability right now, and were working with partners in the region to see if we can develop more robust, more geographically aligned opportunities. We can do it and were going to keep at it. Our Intelligence Apparatus is far more sophisticated than it was pre9 11, and were going to take advantage of that. Press secretary John Kirby. Admiral, thank you for your time, we appreciate it. Well have much more on this historic day when we speak to Adam Kinzinger who served in afghanistan, along with two veterans who served until The End of americas longest war. Morning joe is coming right back. G right back woo you are busy. Working, parenting, problem solving. At new chapter vitamins weve been busy too. Innovating, sourcing organic ingredients, testing them and fermenting. Fermenting . Yeah like kombucha or yogurt. And we formulate everything so your body can really truly absorb the natural goodness. Thats what we do, so you can do you. New chapter wellness, well done. 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Kenneth mckenzie telling us that the War In Afghanistan is officially at an end. Im willie geist. After nearly 20 years, the u. S. Mission in afghanistan is over. The last of the troops boarded a C17 Aircraft shortly before midnight in kabul Last Night, marking a deadly and chaotic end to the devastation in the country. More than 122,000 people were evacuated since late july, including 5500 americans. But more than 2,000 citizens have been Left Behind. There is a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get out everyone we wanted to get out. But if we had stayed another ten days, we wouldnt have gotten everybody out that wanted to get out, and there would have still been people that were disappointed with that. Its a tough situation. But i want to emphasize again, simply because we have left, that doesnt mean the opportunities for americans that are in afghanistan who want to leave and afghans who want pho to leave, they will not be denied that opportunity. We leave afghanistan in the same position as it started in 2001, and that is with the country under taliban control. That group stormed back into power this month at a speed which surprised american top generals. As the plane took off yesterday, taliban could be seen firing fireworks and artillery in the sky in celebration, they say, of defeat of another superpower. Joining us now, Nbc News Correspondent Sanchez and correspondent mike memaly at the White House. Rafael, ill again with you. We saw the celebration by the taliban and by those final american troops who lifted off in a c17 yesterday. Willie, good morning. A taliban official telling Nbc News Yesterday Afghanistan has its independence. As far as they are concerned, they have outlasted and outfought the worlds major superpower. They are now fully in control of that country as they were in october 2001. This morning we have seen taliban Special Forces doing something of a Victory Lap at an airport that just 24 hours ago was controlled by u. S. Forces. These fighters decked out in American Tactical Gear that was taken from the collapsed Afghan National Army are waving their white flag on that Airport Runway after Last Nights celebrations with celebratory gunfire. As you said, there are still somewhere between 100 and 200 americans left in the country trying to get out. Secretary blinken says the effort to get them home does not finish just because u. S. Forces have withdrawn. Americas fortresslike embassy is relocating here to doha, qatar, and the United States says its allies will bring all levers of political and diplomatic pressure to bear to make sure the taliban give safe passage to both americans and to afghan allies trying to get out of the country, but that is not at all a straightforward proposition, even assuming the taliban cooperate, which is a big if. The airport, the civilian side, is not operational right now, so not clear folks could get out even if they could get to the airport, which leaves the possibility of a treacherous and very dangerous Land Journey through taliban Control Territory to get to one of afghanistans neighboring countries and potentially fly out from there, so a lot of work still to do, willie. Yeah, raf, to that point we did hear from The General saying were committed to getting those remaining americans out of the country. They talk about some of those special Immigrant Visa candidates, but really theyre american Passport Holders who just cant get out. What are they thinking about here . With military troops gone, no diplomatic footprint, are these Extraction Missions by the United States military . What is the plan to get these americans out of the country who are Left Behind . That is the question looming over this situation. These are folks who, for whatever reason, were not able to get to the airport, so some of them may have been outside kabul unable to travel through taliban Control Territory, get through those big crowds at the airport, get to the tarmac and get themselves evacuated. Others may be people who hold u. S. Citizenship themselves but have large extended families who are not american citizens who they did not think they were able to get on the plane, so they face an agoniing choice. Do they leave and leave their families behind, or do they stay in a country controlled by the taliban . The secretary of state blinken said the military component of this mission is over. We are moving to a new diplomatic phase. The west clearly has lost a lot of its leverage in afghanistan by withdrawing troops, but there are still things that the international community has that the taliban wants. It wants international recognition. It wants help getting Kabul Airport functioning again, and it wants the national assets of afghanistan in the federal reserve and other places unfrozen so it has access to them. So the west has a few cards to play here in terms of getting the talibans cooperation, but it is going to be a very difficult and winding path to see what happens both with these americans and these afghan allies trying to get out of the country. The United States putting an awful lot of faith in the taliban to help get american citizens out of the country. Nbcs Raf Sanchez in doha this morning. Raf, thank you so much. This morning President Biden will address the nation on his decision to honor the withdrawal on this date, August 31st, of american troops from afghanistan. In a statement Last Night, President Biden thanked the Service Members who aided in the evacuation, writing in part, the past 17 days have seen our troops execute the largest airlift in u. S. History, evacuating over 120,000 u. S. Citizens, citizens of our allies and afghan allies of the United States. They have done it with unmatched courage, professionalism and resolve. Now our 20year Military Presence in afghanistan has ended. So, mike, were going to hear from the president today. He will explain in his own words, through his own voice exactly why he did decide to go ahead with this August 31st deadline. But what about those remaining americans . That question lingers over this White House. There are americans, there are afghan wartime allies and special Immigrant Visa holders who just couldnt get on any of those planes before the last one left yesterday. And, willie, remember, it was just a few weeks ago the president made a solid commitment to those americans who were still in afghanistan that anybody who wanted to get out would be able to get out. But the mission now, once a Military Mission as of 3 30 eastern time yesterday, midnight in kabul, is now a Diplomatic Mission for this president. It was around that time yesterday where the president was sitting in the Oval Office when an aide came in with a note to tell him the last Transport Plane had cleared afghan airspace, ending this mission of 20 years. It was interesting we did not hear from the President Yesterday in person. At that point the White House had called a travel photo lid. We heard from the central command and a few hours later from Secretary Blinken outlining what would be a diplomatic effort to get those americans out and to see forward the u. S. Mission in afghanistan and the relationship with afghanistan. I think its interesting, though, to look back at how the president arrived at this decision, and this is what hes going to be explaining to The American people today. It was actually 12 years ago, a few days before he was sworn in as Vice President when thenSenator Joe Biden was in afghanistan. He met with some of the military leadership from the u. S. On the ground, he met with Hamid Karzai, some of his cabinet as well, and then he met with Rank And File american troops. It was those conversations in which he asked what the u. S. Mission was, and as biden would later tell President Elect President obama, each one came back with a different answer that really cemented to now this president what the future of this mission needed to be, that there was no Military Operation that was going to build an afghan state that was worth the commitment that the u. S. Was making at that point. Now the rationale from this president has been that the u. S. Needs to focus elsewhere. It needs to focus on autocracies between china and others in21st century. Its clear this decision that he made has knocked things off course somewhat. This office was hoping to focus on infrastructure, moving the president s agenda forward. But this decision the president made months ago and was implemented finally in full yesterday is likely going to be the defining issue of his presidency. Its going to be one which the White House acknowledges will be second guessed, which will be the subject of considerable discussion not just through the rest of his term but throughout american history, and its one that is going to complicate the white Houses Agenda moving forward, willie. And we will be watching closely to see if the president , the State Department, the Department Of Defense live up to that promise they made again yesterday to get every last american out of the country. Nbcs Mike Memoli at the White House for us. Mike, thank you so much. Coming up, republican Adam Kinzinger of illinois is standing by. He joins our conversation next on Morning Joe. Joe. The live better U Program basically just provides the answer to the question what if . With live better u, my what ifs were erased. 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And get the advanced Cybersecurity Solutions you need with Comcast Business Securityedge. Ask how to get Comcast Business Securityedge to help protect all your connected devices. And get started with a great offer on fast and reliable Internet And Voice for just 64. 99 a month. Plus, ask how to get a prepaid card up to 500. Call or go online today to learn more. Comcast business. Powering possibilities. In total the United States lost 2,461 at The End of the 20Year War. 66,000 Military And Police were killed, 47,000 civilians were killed, 51,000 Opposition Fighters were killed. It is also estimated that 241,000 people have died as a direct cause of the war. This does not include access to food, water, infrastructure or other indirect consequences of the war. Joining us now, former nato officer james devitas. He is an analyst for Nbc News and msnbc. Also Richard Haas and former aide, jordan. What were your Thoughts Yesterday as the last c17 lifted off and we got the information from General Mckenzie . Tactically i felt a great sense of relief as that last c17 cleared. Lets face it, the extraction has been very, very difficult, very challenging, tragic loss of 13 servicemen, but the real nightmare would have been a shootdown of one of those c17s and even more massive Truck Bmb inside the wire, so i felt relief as i saw that c17 lift. I bet the president did, too, when they handed him the note you mentioned a minute ago. Operationally, willie, im worried about those american citizens, of course, but also the 100,000 to 200,000 afghans who stood with us through much of those 20 years, and im waiting to see more details on the plans to get them out. I think they will be diplomatic, but i think theyll also be clandestine operations. There are a number of ways to do that. And then finally, strategically, very concerned, i think we all should be, about the potential for afghanistan to become again a haven for terrorists. The thing that also hasnt changed in 20 years, and its not just the taliban being in charge, its the presence of Terrorist Groups like isisk, like Al Qaeda. So, strategically, we are going to have our work cut out for us trying to manage that problem going forward, maintain intelligence, Conduct Overthehorizon missions. A lot of work ahead in afghanistan. Its a Big Question written the morning after, and there will be books written and a lot of thought put into this. When you look at what america got out of this war, 20 years worth of it, went in after 9 11, pushed the taliban out, pushed Osama Bin Laden into pakistan where he was killed a decade later. From your eyes, your strategic eyes, was this effort worth it . I would look any afghan veteran in the eye and say, your sacrifice was worth it. Your time in afghanistan. I would look any survivor, Gold Star Family in the eye and say, your service member, their sacrifice mattered deeply. And the reason is for 20 years there was no attack out of afghanistan. We did find Bin Laden, we extracted justice, if you will, on Bin Laden. He sleeps at the bottom of the indian ocean. And so thats comfort. But its small comfort, willie, compared to the numbers you put up, the loss of life, the cost. Its immense. So in a very personal way to the veterans today, i would say your sacrifice mattered and will continue to matter for the country going forward. But overall, its been a tragic 20 years for the United States. In that sense, im glad to see this end. Were going to talk to some of those veterans coming up a little later in the show to get their thoughts on this historic day. Richard haas, what were your Thoughts Yesterday . Obviously someone who has been involved in the beginning with wartime efforts through the Bush Administration, what were your Thoughts Yesterday as the announcement was made that this mission has ended . My own reactions, willie, were a mixture of relief and sadness. Relief, obviously, that our troops are out and so many people were saved, but sadness, i really dont believe it had to be this way. I think that has to do with how we fought this war. I think a lot of critical decisions over the last 20 years were simply wrong, were unfortunate. Obviously some of those decisions surrounding the withdrawal, the tactical decisions. Look, in my experience, all wars are fought three times. First you have the decision over whether to engage the war, whether to enter it. Then you actually have the war itself, the war fighting, and now were in phase 3. This is the debate over the lessons to the war. And i think we need to have it, whether we were right to engage in afghanistan. I think the answer is yes. Whether we engaged it correctly, and i think more often than not, the answer should be no, and whether we had the right to leave, and wise Men And Women disagree on that. But its important that we get this right, because this is not going to be the last time the United States is going to face the challenge of government unable or unwilling to meet their obligations, be it against terrorists or anything else. The question then is what do we do . What do we do . What 9 11 taught us is what happens in remote places like afghanistan matters to us directly. Just because its far and just because its distant doesnt mean its irrelevant or disconnected. So we need to learn the right lessons, and im worried, willie, that a lot of people might say the lesson is we should never intervene, we should never get involved. I think what history teaches is doing too little could be every bit of dangerous as doing too much, and the problem with afghanistan is at various times we did too much and various times we did too little. So i think its important we learn and we learn the right things from this. Theres been a lot of Armchair Analysis, but its easy to forget what felt like for some people, apparently, in 2001 of why we went into afghanistan. Whats debatable are the years that followed, the decisions that came after that. What are your thoughts this morning as the final american troop walked onto a c17 and left afghanistan . President biden should be commended for making a hard decision. I disagree with how he chose to tactically unveil it, and the leadership that was shown over the execution of the drawdown and how were taking care of our afghan allies, and i think thats really the Big Question now for all the sacrifice over 20 years from americans and from afghans. I cant tell you how many american veterans and other people who worked in afghanistan over the years, just the despair the last few weeks over how were exiting and how were treating those who worked with us bravely for so many years. Its going to be a huge ongoing moral stain if the biden Administration Cant make good on their promise to help extract our afghan allies who stood alongside us. Just the psychological impact that its having on so many Men And Women who served over the last 20 years in that theater, and then to know that the afghans who worked so closely with them that are just being a second Thought And Cast aside, its just unconscionable. So i really hope that the steps are taken that need to be taken to secure our allies and show that americans are good for our word. Coming up, an update from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Ida slammed the region, and we just begin to get a glimpse of the damage it Left Behind. Thats next on Morning Joe. 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Reporter you dont have anything left . Power down and for many no Cell Signal to call for help. Rescuers in an urgent hurry to find people trapped. I got my baby out. Reporter in laplace, people rescued from their homes using high water vehicles and boats, including Lakia Brown who is pregnant. Your stomach holding your baby was under water . Others turned to social media. Tiffany, also in laplace, begging for help In The Dark. The only thing we could do was climb in the attic. Reporter so far 5,000 National Guard troops have been activated. 25,000 cleanup crews from 30 states are on The Way. Officials warning conditions are still very dangerous, including possible alligatorinfested floodwaters. And the Death Toll here is likely to rise. What i can tell you is that the last couple days have not been good for our state, and for the next several days and weeks, they will not be easy, either. Reporter the damage to the Power Grid alone is described as catastrophic. The entire City Of New Orleans without electricity. Some outages could last for weeks. This is a massive electrical tower that collapsed during Hurricane Ida with several Feeder Bands all throughout new orleans. Reporter so many people worried about how long it could last. You look at this and think were not going to have power, if not months . Exactly. It will be a long time before we have power here again. Reporter the eyewall of Hurricane Ida is now approaching new orleans and we are feeling those Hurricane Gusts, somewhere around 80 miles per hour. The sad thing is things are only going to get worse. And they did. Winds reaching more than 70 miles an hour on the coast, the rain relentless, testing the states upgraded levees which, thankfully, appear to have held. This woman had to be pulled from her car. Roofs torn from building after building, trees down everywhere. Massive debris seen all across new orleans streets, this boat tossed into the middle of a highway. We know Hurricane Ida had the potential to cause massive, massive damage, and thats exactly what we saw. Reporter some communities like Grand Isle along the Gulf Coast completely cut off. And with power out and communications down, its still impossible to assess the full impact of this monster storm. Nbcs Tom Yamas reporting for us there. Speaking of the recovery efforts, we will talk to the cofounder of a Veterans Group whose members are taking a lead role in helping those hit hardest by The Storm. Morning joe is coming right back. Coming right back baaam. Internet that doesnt miss a beat. Thats cute, but my internet streams to my ride. Adorable, but does yours Block Malware . Nope. It crushes it. Pshh, mines so fast, no one can catch me. Thats because you all have the same internet. Xfinity xfi. So powerful, it keeps oneupping itself. Can your internet do that . Welcome to allstate. Where our new Auto Rates are so low, youll jump for joy. 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After about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didnt notice before. Its still helping me. I still notice a difference. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Woman 5, 6, 7, 8. [band playing] a new School Year begins. In the classrooms weve prepared. With the students we are devoted to. In concert with the parents and families we partner with every day. We cant do it without you. Were ready to teach. Our number one priority is student safety. Were determined to keep everyone safe. And excited to help all students succeed. Woman because we know quality public schools make a better california. These are live pictures from kabul, afghanistan where the taliban is now in control of the airport there along with the rest of the country. The airport is not operational now as The American troops who ran the airport left, officially ending the mission in afghanistan and turning it over to the taliban. The taliban provided some new video to nbcs producer there. The taliban claims this footage shows its leaders and fighters surveying the airport in kabul, many of them wearing american military uniforms. Five days ago, 13 u. S. Service members were killed while keeping that airport secure for Evacuation Flights. The terrorist attack also injured more than a dozen american troops, many of whom were flown to the u. S. Medical center in longsfield, germany for treatment. Thats where we find correspondent Matt Bradley reporting for us. Matt, good morning. Reporter good morning, willie. Actually, there were 31, and not just u. S. Troops, they included something around 10 afghan nationals who were also brought here. They were also treated, all of them with gunshot wounds and injuries consistent with an explosion, shrapnel. Thats what we heard from some of the doctors today. They described a scene weve been hearing over and over again, willie, which is medical personnel here in and around ramstein, germany, ramstein air base, all came in passionate about helping out in this situation because theyre all so invested in afghanistan. It really is just another indicator of how long this fight has gone on. Some of the people we spoke with, some of these officers, some of the people running this huge hospital, its the largest u. S. Hospital outside of american borders, they described how this really caused them to reminisce and brought back memories from earlier tours of duty, sometimes more than a decade ago when they were also, right here behind me, receiving patients not just from afghanistan but also from iraq. We spoke with a head of nursing here. Heres what she had to say. There is no other feeling like that than to know that you stand ready to support Service Members who have made the call. They know that from a military medical standpoint that were here, weve got their back, and they can go out and do what they need to do, what their country is asking them to do because weve got their back. So, yeah, it gets you a little choked up. Reporter so, willie, all of the soldiers and civilians, all 31 of them, they have all moved on. As of Last Night, the last of them moved on to walter reed in the United States where theyre all receiving more care. Everybody we spoke with, these officers, they said that everybody at that time were conscious, they were essentially in stable condition, even though quite a few of them had very, very serious injuries, but i want to end this, willie, by telling you we do have some news. There werent just five babies who have been born among the afghan population. The doctors here say that among the afghan evacuees so far since the beginning of the crisis, there have been nine babies born from among that group ever since the beginning. So amidst all of this sorrow, all of this sadness, there is a future here. These are Afghan Refugees who are looking with their children, their newborn babies, for new hope in the future, and thats a sacrifice that these servicemen have ensured. Willie . Sacrifice, 13 americans killed and 18, at least, americans injured in that attack. Matt bradley in germany for us. Matt, thank you very much. Aam kinzinger, senator of illinois, he served for american freedom in afghanistan. He has the current rank of lieutenant colonel. Congressman, thank you for joining us this morning. I appreciate it. Im interested in your thoughts about The End of mission yesterday. Real quick, the Ramstein Piece is interesting, because i remember in 06 being a pilot and watching all the bodies moved because that was the height of our casualties in iraq. When i listened to that report, it kind of brought that home. On a microlevel, its a relief. Yesterday is a relief. I, like a lot of people, are wondering what happens when youre down to one planeload of marines left and the danger. On the other hand, im very irate and im trying to keep my emotions in check, because i think as a legislator we have to move forward with kind of a cold approach to what did we do right, what did we do wrong . But i feel like we betrayed americans. I feel like the fact we were defending an urban airport in the middle of a city with one runway shows that this whole mission went wrong from the beginning, and i frankly think that we have fallen prey, fallen victim to the lolling of politicians like Rand Paul using terms like endless wars, and unfortunately havent had strong leadership reminding america of what could happen in afghanistan if we leave. So what does that look like in a better scenario to you, congressman . Weve heard many, many experts, including some leaks from the current Department Of Defense from leadership saying, we wanted to keep a force of 2500 or 3,000 american troops in afghanistan The Way we keep troops in Japan And South korea and germany. What does a good american troop presence, what does a good end to this war look like to you . Yeah, i think this is important to talk about now, willie, because well have questions going forward, and youll have people saying, now is not the time. It is the time. It wasnt when we had troops sitting in the middle of kabul, but now is that time. I think it would look like a religious force. America had like 2500, and keep in Mind Weve had 100,000 over there many times. Since 2015 the kabul missions were being done by the Afghan Military. When you have this president from the very beginning saying the war is not worth it, were going to leave, and giving pompeo over to negotiate with the taliban as President Trump is saying its not worth it, its not worth it. Its no wonder he got rolled like Neville Chamberlain and got a bad deal. Even when you saw the Afghan Government falling and collapsing, keep in mind these Afghan Military leaders were getting these night letters saying they are going to abandon you and were going to kill you and we know where you live. We does end up abandoning them. I think americans should have rushed troops to defend the city. The taliban had no intention of coming into kabul until the president basically fled and all defense forces of kabul collapsed and the taliban kind of walked in. I would have defended that till we got everybody out. But look, it is where we are now, but there are a lot of answers i think we need. As you know, President Biden, hes going to speak today in just a few hours to the country, but he has stood fast with his deadline and saying, im going to be the president that ends this war. 20 years is enough, i dont want to see another american die like 13 just did on thursday. What do you make of his argument that it is time to go . It is time to go and its messy and painful, but it had to end . If he truly believes it, thats one thing. If its for politics, thats another. Ill give him the benefit of the doubt that he truly believes its time to leave. Let me point out, as we are leaving afghanistan, we get nipped by isisk, kills 13 marines, injuries dozens more. The taliban we know now have under protection one of Osama Bin Ladens former guys, so if there is this idea that now the taliban is going to be the savior of us against isisk, its not true. But heres the point i want to make, and i think this is the key to all of it. For politicians, it is super easy to stand in front of people and tell them what they want to hear. This goes to members of congress. Even my colleagues and friends that were all for Donald Trump leaving afghanistan but are not for biden leaving afghanistan, like, the fact is, being a leader means you have to lead and convince people of things they dont want to hear. When Rand Paul talks about endless wars, and he does like your grandma did, telling you were tired, and then you are because you hear it over and over. The greatest generation that won World War ii that were so proud of, we have to be able to stick to fight sometimes even when they go long. I wish this wasnt the case. I wish i could bring everyone home. I hope im wrong. Im afraid im not. What happens next, then . American troops out of the country, there is no residual force as youve called for. What happens next . What are your fears out of afghanistan . So its two things. Number one, the psychological benefit that goes to terror groups from us running is innumerable. This is a huge Recruiting Area for isisk, for Isis And Iraq and syria, for Al Qaeda on the arabian peninsula because they made the u. S. Run. Thats number one. Number two, if you think the taliban is willing to cut a deal with the United States but not a deal with Al Qaeda and isis to survive as theyre trying to govern their country, they will cut a deal. They will allow isis to place a terrain. My fear is they will strike out against the u. S. Homeland again, against our allies. By The Way, all this talk about this capability, that is not near as effective as having troops on the ground. How did we defeat isis in syria . We had troops embedded. We didnt do it by flying a plane over and thinking that truck we see might be isis. Mike barnicle has a question for you. Mike . Hey, mike. Congressman, do you think Al Qaeda is as strong or nearly as strong today in afghanistan as it was on september 10th, 2001, or do you think that Al Qaeda is stronger and more global in parts of africa and other parts of the middle east . Well, look, you know, its a tough question. Al qaeda is certainly spread out more, and if you add isis to the mix and we see the growth of isis and the fact that it wants to do these kind of big, spectacular tacks. I think theyre specifically downgraded from what they were on september 10. The fact is they can grow and groups like them can grow. Its not even the name of the group that matters, its the ideology of largescale attacks to intimidate people and kill a lot of innocent folks. With the internet playing the role it does in Recruiting And Technology being so much different 20 years later, i have real concerns. We have better defenses, too, but i have real concerns about what this could mean in the long term, particularly with that psychological win. Congressman Adam Kinzinger of illinois who, as we said, served in afghanistan. Thank you for being with us this morning, we appreciate it. Lets turn to two more leading veterans, Jake Wood and paul rykoff. Jake is in charge of a nonprofit organization that sends troops. He was a sniper after graduating at the top of his class, marine sniper school. Paul served as an Infantryman Trooper in iraq and was awarded a United States Army Commendation Medal for his service. Paul is host of his own podcast. Im glad to talk to you the day after troops left afghanistan. Jake, ill start with you, given your long service not just of theater but all the work you do with veterans since then. What are you thinking about today . I think im probably joining many, many veterans across the United States today wondering how i should be feeling. You know, i had a brief Zoom Call Yesterday with a couple snipers that i served with in afghanistan, and there was just a lot of discussion about how should we be feeling in this moment. Honestly, i think im still trying to process everything thats happened over the last two weeks, and also, of course, over the last 20 years. Paul, you, of course, founded iraq veterans of america, the post9 11 Veterans Group. What are you hearing from your fellow veterans . What are you hearing from your Community Today . I think my Friend Jake nails it, willie. I think everybody is processing. The country is processing, the world is processing, but for The American veterans, were processing it in a very personal, very visceral way. There is a lot of pain, and we have to adjust to the fact its been a painful 20 years. The withdrawal has been exceptionally painful. Its been mismanaged in many ways. Its hurtful for people to see it end this way in a rush where the government is negotiating with the taliban and were leaving hundreds of thousands, potentially, of our allies behind. Its very painful. I think what im left with is Joe Biden may say afghanistan is over for him, and he may say its over for the military, but its not over for the veterans that served there, its not over for everyone who served since 9 11, and its definitely not over for the afghan people. For them the worst may just be beginning. I want to ask you more about that, paul. So many politicians and people in this country get to turn a page, they get to see the photo of the last american Soldier Boarding that plane, but for the 800,000 who served in afghanistan at some point over the last 20 years, this is an ongoing war. This is a war that they deal with each and every day, whether the scars are visible or invisible, this is something they will live with for the rest of their lives. Yeah. I mean, this is a really, really hard time. I think the stress on our military, on our veterans and on the extended military family is the highest ive ever seen since 9 11. Were binding together and were looking out for each other. We have incredible leaders like jake leading us forward. But i think there is a real need for closure and well probably never get that. In the meantime, i think we want to see accountability and not just tough talk from the president saying he wants to strike against isisk, but who is going to be responsible in washington for what we saw unfold the last couple weeks . The challenge is what is our next mission. Its important it doesnt become forgotistan. We need to focus on that even if our government does not, and as general dunkirk leads that, it needs support because all these afghan allies, these children youre showing on screen, they need our arms wrapped around them and they need to be resettled in this country and around the world, and i think thats the next mission that th would articulate, especially for veterans that need that next mission, need to know we are not leaving our friends to die. To that point, we had Kristin Rouse last hour, served three tours in afghanistan, passionate to say the least about the need to get some of these afghan wartime allies, interpreters, the people you both worked with during your time serving in the military, to get them out of the country. And the fact that they feel abandoned now, had implicit or explicit promise they would be taken care of if they sacrificed to work with american troops. What are you hearing about efforts, ongoing efforts to get some of those people out of afghanistan . Yeah, absolutely. I mean, america, you can say we can lose the war, cant afford to lose our integrity in the process. The way this unfolded the last two weeks, four weeks, we cannot afford to once again leave our allies on the battlefield. We did it several years ago in iraq with curds that fought so ferociously in the face of that threat as isis tore across that country. Last two decades, hundreds of thousands of afghans put their lives on the line. These Men And Women were often serving on the front lines, alongside our troops in the thick of it, in the fire fights, putting their lives on the line to pull our wounded soldiers, marines, sailors out of these situations. They were brothers in arms. Theyre transferring back to the United States. We cannot afford to fumble this at home. Team rubicon is working in partnership with dod, dhs to assist with Resettlement Effort here in the United States. We are currently supporting dod installations in three states. We anticipate that will grow significantly the next several weeks and months. Ultimately this will be out of the headlines within 7 to 14 days, but it will be 7 to 14 months that the afghans are moved off dod installations, integrated into our communities, until they find jobs, get banks, get their children in schools. I dont know a single american that can look at photos of the afghans walking through the airports, young children holding their mothers hands and cant have Compassion And Sympathy for what they have endured and cant just open our arms to these people, these human beings and welcome them into the United States of america to hopefully become part of the fabric of our communities. I know Team Rubicon will do everything it can to ensure that happens. Mike barnicle has a question for you. Mike . Paul, you graduated from a. M. Hurst college. Jake graduated university of wisconsin. You had many options with your lives upon graduation, yet both of you enlisted, paul in the army, jake in the marine corps. Now i am wondering 20 years we have been in afghanistan, we have buried our dead, we have cared for our wounded, perhaps not well enough and the cost of that car is going to go on for decades. I would like both of you if you could, reflect on the fact that while we were in afghanistan as you enlisted in two different services to this country, we had perhaps a majority of americans who have never met a veteran of this war, who have never encountered the grief, the pride, the relief that comes with having someone serving and surviving. If you could reflect on that a moment, both of you. Paul, you first. Sure, mike. Well, im at a. M. Hurst now, 20 years later, teaching a class on 9 11, on the 20th anniversary of 9 11 coming up. Most kids in my Class Werent born yet. I am keeper of the flame. I have to explain what that was like and force them to try to think about that idea of never forget. Everybody said never forget all the time. I dont want them to never forget about 9 11. I want them to never forget, 20 years, most of the country didnt pay attention to a place our friends were dying. For 20 years, there was no congressional oversight. For 20 years, politicians made promises they couldnt deliver on. For 100 years or more this country will pay for it, in terms of how we take care of veterans, foreign policy, in terms of human wreckage. This is a point for the country to remember our humanity and the politics has gotten blurred the last couple weeks. I am surprised how many people are dismissive of the humanity. To jakes point, there are plenty of kids that got out, are walking through airports and resettling. There are plenty that didnt get out and are there now. We need to step up again and save them, even if our president wont, even if our Department Of Defense wont, The American people have done it the last couple weeks, we need to do it again. Thats the call to action i felt after 9 11, thats a call to action i feel now and want to issue to everyone else watching. Yeah. Mike, i would just add, i enlisted in the marine corps in 2005, wanted to serve alongside my fellow americans. I served four years, two combat tours during the surge in iraq in 2007 in afghanistan, 2008. I still wear every single day a bracelet on my wrist with four names of four marines i lost overseas. I spent the last 24 hours thinking about whether or not america deserves those men i lost and frankly a lot over the last 20 months in this country has left me really believing america doesnt deserve its Men And Women in uniform, theyre too good, too loyal, too brave. Often i dont think we are living up to what america can and should be and i think thats really tragic for me to see because so many of my fellow americans left so much of themselves, whether they died or were wounded on the battlefield, left a part of themselves overseas. As theyve come home, i dont think america is always living and reflecting the values they wanted to defend. Talking to two of the best of them here now. Jake, before we let you go, ask you about Team Rubicons efforts down in louisiana, across the Gulf Coast in response to Hurricane Ida. Team rubicon is a group of veterans that charge in immediately to begin helping with relief efforts, clean up, getting people out. What does it look like for Team Rubicon . Yeah, the devastation is near tote. We are helping to clear roads as they execute their life safety mission. We are embedded in the operations in par ishs in louisiana and some in mississippi. We are moving large Scale Response in from the office in houston, texas. We will do so. We anticipate well be working in louisiana and southwestern mississippi likely the next several months as we try to help the community recover. Unfortunately this is hitting at a time when louisiana and mississippi are hitting near alltime record highs for covid surges, so this is going to dramatically complicate our efforts and put further strain in an already almost broken system. Americans cant forget their neighbors in the south. We need all americans to chip in, do their part, whether it is donating time, money, resources. Appreciate the opportunity. And if people want to help, go to Team Rubicon website. Great conversation. You two are the best of america. I am proud to call you friends. Thank you for continuing with your service to this country. Jake wood, paul reichoff. We are back tomorrow. Stephanie ruhle picks up coverage after a final quick break. Coverage after a final quick break. Without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is Three Thousand Dollars per month. Prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. Aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we wont stop. Thats why were calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower Prescription Drug prices. Before treating your chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more, youre not the only one with questions about botox®. Botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start, with about 10 minutes of treatment once every 3 months. So, ask your doctor if botox® is right for you, and if a sample is available. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or Muscle Weakness can be signs of a lifethreatening condition. 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More than A Million people still without power. This could last for weeks. Thousands rescued from flood waters. Entire communities cut off in The Storm. Rescue crews are working