0 for the allies being targeted in afghanistan and a safe withdrawal of everybody. leave nobody behind. my heart is troubled in that heart. let not your heart be troubled, laura ingraham is up next. have a great weekend. pray for our family in afghanistan. >> i'm pete hegseth in for laura ingraham. we start with a fox news alert. we learned a drone strike killed an isis-k planner that was believed to be carrying out future attacks according to the pentagon. also tonight, the state department warning americans at the kabul airport to leave immediately. the gates are closed. to the latest at the pentagon, lucas tomlinson is standing by. >> less than 48 hours after the deadly attack that killed 13 service members, the u.s. military has struck back launching a drone strike in eastern afghanistan. they left the headquarters of the isis group which has carried out the attacks. in a statement from the u.s. central command, captain irvin said "initial indications are that we killed the target. we know of no civilian casualties." if you remember president biden said he would hunt down and kill whoever is responsible. it was not clear when they would take place. the u.s. military is preparing to leave the country. breaking news at the pentagon, the u.s. military has struck back and killed an isis planner. i'm told he was killed in a vehicle and killed with an associate with him. an american drone strike killed an isis planner that is responsible for carrying out future attacks. not necessarily was he involved in the tack that killed 13 american service members. >> that was my next question. we believe he was the leader or a leader of isis-k? >> my sources say this was an isis-k planner. the isis branch in afghanistan, a splinter group from the isis group in the middle east. he was planning additional attacks, not necessarily the attack outside the kabul airport that killed 13 american service members. this was a planner, not necessarily even a leader. notice the statement from u.s. central command. doesn't say the isis-k leader. planner. >> words do matter. nonetheless, we're making them pay as the president promised yesterday. i saw the phrase very over the horizon." do we know whether this strike came from the kabul airport, came from somewhere else? >> there's no drones at the kabul airport. they play from the middle east in the united arab emirates. it's an eight-hour flight and have to go from pakistan. you only have ant four or five hours from overhead. that's where the drone strike was launched. the only air assets are apache gun ships. >> could be the indication of the over the horizon capacity necessary once the troops leave. any news as well on intelligence? where we got in information from? >> it's not clear right now. the u.s. military keeps a range of assets in the air, not just drones but other things. i'll just leave it there. the u.s. military is scrambling all assets to find out who was responsible and who might be responsible for other attacks. in your alert, the state department put out another warning telling americans if there's any outside the gates of the airport in kabul to exit immediately, leave immediately. it's clear the u.s. military and the state department do not want crowds outside the gates. the threat warning. general mckenzie, the head of u.s. central command warned that future attacks were likely and potentially imminent. perhaps this took out a leader planning a future attack in the next coupling days. we still have 5,000 u.s. troops on the ramp at the kabul airport, pete. >> these are initial records. so we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and speculate. at the same time, it wouldn't be inconceivable that intel from this type could come from taliban sources. do we know how linked or unlinked these groups are? people were jarred that the taliban was willing to let isis-k fighters out of jail. do we know how intel might be flowing on this? >> you struck on something important. earlier today jennifer griffin asked john kirby asked how many isis fighters were sprung from prisons around afghanistan when the taliban took over. john kirby said thousands. isis and the taliban have fought against one another. for years joint special operations command were launches raids in eastern afghanistan in nangarhar where isis branch in afghanistan is based. so in recent years, because of the isis fighting the taliban, they were also a defactor alliance. the u.s. was launching drone strikes. but you cannot rule out the suicide attack that killed 13, you cannot rule out taliban involvement. this isis bombers did manage to slip through taliban network. some are run by the haqqani network. there's a history of animosity. >> you and jennifer griffin have been doing yeomans work do we have any sense of isis-k fighters there are? when you take about make them pay what is the scope of that? >> there's hundreds of isis-k fighters. in 2016, there were 3 to 4,000. after president trumptook office, he dropped the mother of all bombs on isis-k in this province. devastated isis at the time. so based because of the rangers, joint special operations command launching the raids, isis was devastated. because the raids were so successful, a lot of isis-k's leadership is underground. as you saw from central command, they don't want civilian casualties. so in isis leaders are tougher to get to them in urban areas. this isis planner out for a drive, clearly his last one. >> that's how they change their tactics to shield themselves that way. the mother of all bombs that was dropped, i had not recalled that was isis-k. the beginning of our targeting back then. >> thanks. >> you're on it. thanks. we'll check back in with you. thank you. joining me now 2 afghanistan war vets, jim banks and pennsylvania senate candidate sean parnell. sean is the author of "outlaw platoon." congressman banks, your reaction to the killing of this isis planner. >> this is a good start. it would be naive to believe this is going to stop more attacks from isis. we've been briefed now for a few years about the growing threat of isis-k in afghanistan. we knew they were there. we knew they were building up in kabul after the trump administration pushed the call fair out of syria and iraq. we knew they were there and waiting for a moment like this and a president like joe biden for the right time to strike during a chaotic event. that's what we've seen. this strikes slows to home for me though. we just found out minutes ago that a hoosier marine was killed in the attacks yesterday. corporal humberto sanchez. this strikes close to home for many of us. we need to hunt down all of these isis perpetrators of yesterday's attack. i'm glad that one drone strike has occurred. it's going to take more than that to get it done. >> sean, you know about service and sacrifice in the hills of the border of pakistan and afghanistan. congressman just mentioned the boys we lost at that gate that we still think about whose names we're learning. >> well obviously i'm glad a terrorist is dead. in my heart of hearts, i'm thinking too little too late. would have been great had joe biden and this administration projected strength from the very beginning. but the fact that they did not project strength, that emboldened our enemy. it would have been great if the biden administration ordered a drone strike on isis as they were escaping from these prisons. would have been great in the biden administration wouldn't be partnering with the taliban who is undoubtedly passing intelligence to isis, the haqqani network. that undoubtedly led to the death of our troops. so i'm glad that we got a terrorist. i'm glad that the world is a safer place without these people on it. but i just wish that joe biden would have projected strength from the very beginning. >> too little too late is good way to put it. we talked about the difference between isis and the taliban. we heard the taliban released these isis fighters. there was a taliban checkpoint that this suicide bomber went past before killing so many americans? how does an average american make sense between the difference between alban, the al-quaida, the haqqani network, isis-k? what difference does it make as it comes down to our security? >> well, a significant difference, pete, as you know. >> jesse: but at the end of the day, they're all terrorists. we should designate them as such. next week we will go through on the house armed services committee the mark-up for the annual national defense authorization act. i'll have an amendment that will designate the taliban as a terrorist organization. currently they're not. the taliban in afghanistan has never been designated as a terrorist organization. you're seeing right now, they're complicit in the attacks that have occurred. they have taken over the country and allowed for this situation to happen. they should be held accountable for these actions as well. one way to do that is prevent material support in any way and punish them and designate them as a terrorist organization. let me tell you right now, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, pete, should be calling every member of congress back tonight, tomorrow morning, go back to work. right now her focus has to getting every american out of afghanistan before more blood is fed. it shouldn't be on passing $3.5 socialist spending sprees. do whatever we need to do on the part of congress to assist this administration to get every american out from behind enemy lines. as you said, if the embassy is telling americans not to go to the airport, there's no safe way out of the country and this administration still doesn't have a plan to get americans out from behind enemy lines. that's another complete failure on their part. >> i can confirm, congressman, there's no way out. the gates are closed. anyone attempting to extract people right now is finding course of against 2, 3 or 4. because it's closed. sean, i want to hit on something. he talk about designated the taliban as a terrorist organization. that's one side of the conversation. makes sense with us that understand the nature hoff the taliban. at the same time, we're hearing reports from some in the state department that would like to recognize the taliban as the legitimate government in afghanistan. explain the gulf in this view. 20 years after 9-11. one said says they want to kill americans. the other says accept reality. they're in control. maybe if we bestow legitimacy they'll behave and we can work with them? >> there's never a world that we can trust the taliban. i reject the notion that we could mainstream against them. i fought against them. believe me, they're the enemy. they gave al-quaida safe hey bore where they killed thousands of miles per hours on september 11th for 20 years, the taliban has been killing american troops. the taliban were the ones that released isis from the prison that killed american marines and a navy corpsman yesterday. joe biden believe me -- it's a -- it's such an insult that he's trying to mainstream them and having us believe that the taliban are sitting around in caves talking about climate change and decrease their carbon footprint and make the transfer from a toyota pickup to a toyota prius. >> and treat the women well now. the women will be treated well. >> it's insulting. absolutely insulting. >> we kicked off this hour that a drone strike has killed an isis planner. sounds like one planner was killed with an associate in a vehicle. no civilian attacks in what is considered a drone strike from u.s. forces. congressman, back to you. what relationship do the taliban and isis-k have? that matters to me. ultimately the next steps there talking about the taliban, relying on the taliban currently for the livelihoods of 5,000 americans at the air field. yet they have to decide how they manage or exist alongside isis-k. what does that relationship look like going forward? >> it's a complicated relationship. a at the end of the day, they have competing visions for the region. >> break that down for me. is that because you believe the taliban is internally focused and isis-k is externally focused? >> isis-k wants to build their new caliphate. again, the k stands for korizan. it's a region. it's not the just the borders of afghanistan. it's an entire region. keep in mind that isis-k and the taliban compete for fighters. isis-k being able to pay a lot more for the better fighters. so isis-k is more sophisticated and better technologies. isis-k poses a direct threat to the homeland of the us. >> very interesting to me. why are they able to pay more? why do they have better weapons? would they have inherited the we pops that we left behind from the afghan national army? talk about why they're more sophisticated. >> yeah, and that's it. they have the better talent. they already have sophisticated surveillance technology. isis-k wants to -- they hate america, they hate americans and want to destroy america. again, the taliban, not to diminish them but you're dealing with a different caliber and different goals. their end goals of taking over the government of afghanistan. as sean said, we have gone back in time to september 10, 2001 before the deadly attack when the taliban gave safe harbor to al-quaida and other terrorists groups, osama bin laden, to plot and plan their attacks. that's what we've gone back to. isis-k is who -- the taliban is a terrorist organization. isis-k's designs are so much more destructive and dangerous and what we have to pay attention to in the days moving forward. the situation that joe biden has created in afghanistan has empowered isis-k to a degree that we have not seen before. we'll be hearing more about isis-k sadly in the days to come. i pray and hope i'm wrong, pete. but isis-k will continue to build up in that region. i hate to say it, but i don't believe we've seen the worst of what we're going to see in the days to come because of joe biden's negligence and his failure to create a situation there. it's very dangerous for the world for a long type to come. >> i want to go back to the 5,000 american boys at the airport that were attacked 48 hours ago. ultimately does this strike make their job easier or more difficult especially when there's threat reporting and its not all confirmed. we're all seeing it and hearing about it that suicide bombers, vehicle-born ieds that could be headed in the direction of the airport where there's taliban checkpoints that didn't work well last time. so i know we're looking at the future of the terrorist threat and isis-k for retribution for what happened. but as we look at this as a retreat, how does this change what our troops are facing in the next three or four days as they leave? >> it changes everything. puts our troops in a far more dangerous position. this administration, our generals, by the way, who for the last six months focused on things like critical race theory and white rage on capitol hill. you know as a leader when you're a leader in the military, only so many hours in the day for your to plan. every moment that our generals were distracted by some forgive lust political argument on capitol hill, they were not planning for a responsible withdrawal from afghanistan. you're looking at what is happening now. marines, troops, the 82nd airborne are in the center of a city of 4.5 million people. they're not in a defensive position. this goes to show what a disastrous decision it was to give up bagram. we wouldn't be having this decision if we held on to bagram. a defensible position. i can't wrap my mind around is the biden administration putting the lives of americans in the hands of the taliban. right? i've got sources on the ground right now. we've been working around the clock to get american citizens out of that country. the taliban is playing joe biden like a fiddle. they're telling him what he wants to hear. yes, we're going to protect your people. on the other hand, they're out there setting up more checkpoints and making it impossible for our people to get to the airport. they're hunting them down, beating them, taking passports and in some cases shooting at them and making it i'll possible to get to the airport, this is what the taliban does. it's time for joe biden and his administration to play hardball. >> i got a report of people being pulled off a bus and beaten by the taliban. it's happening in real time. >> we don't know the details about the isis-k planner. we don't know how significant he was when he was driving alone. we will learn more. lucas will join more as he diggs for more details. when you look at the leadership, the brass at the pentagon from austin to milley and others, how would you thus far -- how would you gauge their response thus far? looking at the last two to three weeks, how they have managed what we've done as a military in this situation? >> pete, i hate to say it but it's a shameful failure open their part. they're going to go down in history as that, as failing our nation, failing our troops, failing our national security. they should be held accountable for that. right now we have to get every american safely out from behind enemy lines. at this point i don't have a high degree of confidence that they can get it done. yesterday when joe biden appeared before cameras with scripted remarks, i had hoped that he would appear before the american people and say he was replacing every one of them. instead of doing that, he doubled down. if he continues to double down and not put capable people in places that he will listen to, capable people in places of positions to get americans out of afghanistan, this will get worse and worse. that seem to be the fact at this point. i wish that were different. joe biden has proven he's incompetent and unable to provide the type of leadership that america needs in this moment. >> sean, when you were a platoon leader in afghanistan, it stopped with you. from the lives of your men to your mission to your equipment. when you look at who is being held accountable and who should be held accountable for where we are -- recognize the drone strike happened. there's a mission ongoing going forward. we hope they're successful in that mission. but we can still do this at the same time, recognize what could have been done better. is there accountability that exists at the pentagon, the state department, the national security adviser? where do you place it? >> of course. i was horrified to watch joe biden yesterday who instead of taking accountability for this botched withdrawal, because you're right, the bock stops with him. you're responsible for everything that happens or fails too happen under your command. joe biden owns this. the first thing that he did is blame president trump for this catastrophe. let me remind the viewers in seven or eight months of the trump presidency, isis and al-quaida were decimated. in the first eight months of the biden presidency, the taliban, al-quaida, haqqani network, they control a country. these terrorists, factions will be woven into the fabric of this interim government. i couldn't have botched the withdrawal in afghanistan worse than joe biden if i tried. he's an absolute disaster. the only people that have been blamed throughout this are the taliban right now for not conducting security good enough. pete, you and i probably know privates that were fired for misplacing ink cartridges but yet we have generals that botched withdrawal with a 20-year war and not held accountable at all. sites backwards and rock. sites hard to wrap your mind around. >> i spent days walking on line looking for a weapon lost inside a battalion. it's a reality of what we're up against right now. representative banks, want to ask you real quick, this idea that this attack on this isis-k fighter was an over the horizon capacity. as lucas shared with us. takes about eight hours for the flight to get on station. got four or five hours to fly over the target. the timing worked out tonight. we're glad. how capable -- how sustainable is it to believe that we can take out the threat from that distance going forward? >> you can't. we know this having served there, having been there many times. you can't sustain it that way. this is why giving up bagram was such a colossal mistake. we gave up the position before we got every american out of the country and gave up a bagram air field where we could have flown these types of strikes on the ground. it's not sustainable. we can't keep it up. i'm glad that the strike occurred and was a success tonight but it will take more of these strikes to eliminate the isis-k threat to be successful moving down the road. >> sean, how long is it before a lot of the on-the-ground sources that we've had that we've developed that have been central to evacuating so many american citizens and afghan partners the last few weeks, how long is it until those relationship, the intel sources run dry and aren't as effective as they were in this case where we have connections, we have intel operatives, agents capable of cultivating sources that the isis-k planner is dead? how long before we have no sources on the ground that we start to not have the eyes and ears that we need? >> i'd say 31 august tragically. i think that joe biden is wholly committed to this withdrawal. right now they're blowing up and destroying american equipment in prep for that withdrawal. my fear is because this surrender has been so botched, we've got allies on the ground, we have thousands of miles per hours still on the ground that are trapped there. my fear is we've invested 20 years of blood and treasure into that country, sacrifice into that country, gave them a shot at freedom but now we're creating a new generation of enemy that have a reason to really dislike us. he we abandoned them in their host of most desperate need. my heart breaks for those people after 20 years of sacrifice in that country thrown away. discarded in seven months of joe biden. it's a tragedy. >> that's the scary part. i don't know if it's a perfect analogy. the idea that if you're watching, thinking back on an northbound finals, a seven-game series, sometimes the only thing you remember is the last shot in the last 30 second. there was so much more that went into it the entire time and much of it has been discarded. sean parnell, representative jim banks, thanks nor being so generous with your time. thank you. all right. i want to bring back in lucas tomlinson. he brought us the story of the isis-k planner killed in a drone strike. what more can you tell us? >> i learned it was a u.s. reaper drone flying from the middle east in the united arab emirates that flew from the middle east to afghanistan over the air corridor in pakistan to kill this isis planner. it was not necessarily an isis leader. we know this was in retaliation for the deadly suicide attack that killed 13 american service members just yesterday and wounded another 20. in fact, the dignified transfer to dover air force because we're expecting that tomorrow and expecting president biden to attend that ceremony when the 13 americans return with honor to dover air force base. i'm told that president biden approved this strike. he claimed that he would be carrying out revenge, he would kill those responsible. the big question was, peter, that with 5,000 u.s. troops on the ground there kabul, would the strike happen with the 5,000 u.s. troops still at the kabul airport or wait until after they had departed president biden's deadline of august 31. less than two days after the deadly suicide attack that killed the 13 american service members outside the abbey gate, we know the u.s. has struck back launching this drone strike, a u.s. reaper drone killing an isis planner with an associate driving in a vehicle in eastern afghanistan. it's not far from the border with pakistan, pete. >> good news indeed. i know the pentagon and rightfully so is tight lipped about stuff like this. you have a sense of they feel confident that they have additional targets that they're going to identify, other isis-k members to be brought to justice? >> i'm told it's a challenge. you just don't have the partners on the ground ever since the u.s. military left and that includes the cia. you don't have the relationships. there's a resistance movement in the valley. we heard from the vice president that was on with sean hannity earlier, teaming up with the gorilla fighters that defeated the soviets. his son is leading the resistance forces that is a potential source of information. really pinned down right now in the valley just north of kabul. any kind of intelligence from eastern afghanistan, you don't have the same relationships because a lot of the afghan forces the last 20 years, the u.s. has partnered with, they're in hiding right now and not available. you don't have the same ground assets or same air assets. think about the aircraft that would listen to phones. they don't exist anymore. >> we don't have the eyes and ears. >> now move to the kabul airport. i'm sure you're seeing the same reports i am of threat assessments. the pentagon has been candid about it, a high threat level at the kabul airport. many gates have been closed. u.s. civilians have been told not to go to the gates at all. are you hearing anything more? i'm hearing -- hearing more about threats to the gates or inbounds? >> the u.s. embassy in kabul put out another warning, the second in three days warning americans at the three gates including abbey gate, warned americans to leave immediately. so -- >> the same warning that preceded the last attack, correct? >> correct. the previous warning on wednesday night, just hours before the suicide attack named the gate where the attack took place. the abbey gate. general mckenzie warned that the pentagon yesterday that to expect more attacks. the m.o. of isis-k is more attacks. not just with suicide bombers, potentially rockets. it's very chaotic,a very high threat environment. the general was very clear. expect more attacks. that's why the pentagon and the u.s. military went on the offensive to kill some planners. we'll see if there's more targets. >> you're right. general mckenzie was open about that can't rule out what the taliban knew what passed the gate. there's no trust there. i'm hearing reports that the perimeter around the airport has been pushed out by the taliban. i don't know what that means. does that comport with what you've heard and is there any increase or decrease of confidence in the pentagon? we're almost entirely reliant on the taliban to prevent isis-k or other groups from having these strikes. any change in their posture of what they think is possible? >> the u.s. military leaders have been telling the taliban to push the perimeter back. it was sunday that president biden in an address to the nation said that he negotiate add safe zone to push the perimeter back. different seem likely that it happened. as you mentioned, the isis blamed for the suicide attack, that suicide bomber went through the checkpoint and the haqqani network does man some checkpoints. while some of the fingers are pointed at isis, the first suicide attack that killed 13, it's important to remind people that that is superior suicide bomber went through a taliban checkpoint. was the taliban checkpoint complicit? did they have knowledge of it? don't know that. >> thanks, lucas. you provide a very important and glaring detail. the idea that the taliban checkpoint would be manned by haqqani a designated terrorist organization whose bounty we have on his head. what little insentive that they would have. >> the deputy of the taliban is a haqqani member. >> staggering to think where we are. thanks, lucas, for bringing thus information. u.s. drone strike killing a isis planner. thanks. we appreciate it. joining me on set is fox news contributor staff sergeant joey jones. joey, you served in afghanistan. you sacrificed as much as anything else. your reaction to this drone strike that we just got on the "the ingraham angle." no civilian casualties. what impact does it have? >> take a deep breath. we're all screaming, we aren't we on the offensive to establish a show of force so we don't look like sitting ducks and posture ourselves that way? one think about war is posturing. president trump was pretty good. it matters. posturing is the enemy getting the courage to attack you yesterday. >> like psychological warfare? >> that's what it is, 100%. in this world, posturing means you don't want to provoke your enemy. i'm going to be fair to the biden administration and military leaders. i have a lot of questions. the first is to understand this was not retaliation. this is prevention. make sure -- taking a strike so that they think twice or maybe taking out the person planning their next strike. that is the responsible thing to do. the right thing to do. obviously we can war game this and say if they had intelligence that something was going to happen and told everybody to get away from the gate and had enough intelligence to target and kill these guys, were we waiting on something to happen? the bush doctrine is preempt the strike. we have intelligence. we're going to take you out. i hope that's part of our strategy. i'm not accusing them. if we have intelligence now, i hope they take out whoever they need to. >> an interesting point. if we had an intelligence -- piece of intelligence that went out before the attack that killed our 3 soldiers and getting the same alert going out now who is telling us and when did they know? why are we not able to action on that intelligence in real time? >> maybe that's what tonight was. i'm going to swing the door wide open. >> we all should. >> i've been very critical and passionate. i appreciate the fact that we took action tonight. maybe this is a display of the over the horizon capability that joe biden has been bragging about. i understand you don't want to tell all the secrets. i'm glad tonight we can see there's a capability and hope it's used. i don't think this means we're going on the offensive. this is preventing something else from happening so we can get out of there. i don't think more americans will be brought in. i think we're going to keep the people at the airport safe so they can leave. >> i don't think anybody has done more commentary on the situation in afghanistan. you've cover it fantastically. what is your get check right now? three or four days away from this deadline. they're closing gates. threat reports are coming out. we dropped a bomb on an isis terrorist. calibrate where we are after all we have been through and the retrograde and getting our boys out in front of us. your thoughts. >> the hardest point of taking apart a bomb and you're standing over it and about to take action. if the enmany i did everything right, what you think you have you have the opposite. when you take the first action. it's quiet, still. not a lot of noise. the next action you take takes lives or takes yours. that's the moment we're in right now. praying is probably important and trying to hold this administration accountable for what we believe is the right thing is important. i hope everyone gets out safe. >> thanks, joe. stay with us. up next, two republicans looking to hold the biden administration accountable will join us. 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