Preventing anybody from coming inside. So even if we re trying to get americans outside that perimeter the taliban has set up we can t get them in. The pentagon just told us the airport is secure so they have that. But nothing beyond it. The taliban has everything. The rest of the country. All u. S. Citizens remaining in afghanistan have been told to shelter in place until notified. The latest. Moments ago from the pentagon. A number of evacuations occurred overnight. As we speak we re continuing air operations and air operations continued throughout the night. Yesterday the u. S. Military footprint in afghanistan started at about roughly 2500 and by the end of today there will be more than approximately 4,000 troops on the ground in kabul. We have had no hostile interactions. No attack and no threat by the taliban. Harris: that s remarkable. Makes you wonder if some sort of a deal has been struck and could you trust it if you were. Trey yengst is in jerusalem. Is it possible at this p
The situation. And in haiti a race to rescue survivors of saturday s devastating earthquake as tropical storm grace bears down on the island. Thank you for being with us. We start with more breaking news out of afghanistan. Commercial flights from the capital, kabul, have been canceled leaving people fewer options as they try to flee the taliban. The capital surrendered to the militants on sunday triggering an exodus of civilians, diplomats and the afghan president. Ousted leader ashraf ghani has fled the country. The video from al jazeera shows heavily armed taliban leaders in that hasn t stopped chaotic scenes like this. Cnn cannot independently verify it, but video shows crowds storming the tarmac earlier scrambling to board any plane that will get them out of afghanistan. And cnn s ana coren has reported extensively from afghanistan including on a recent trip there. She joins me now from hong kong with the latest on the taliban takeover. Good to see you, ana. So what is happening a
Ghani relinquished just hours ago. He fled his country after the taliban advanced into kabul. He posted a statement on facebook saying he thought it was best to, quote, get out. President biden and vice president harris are monitoring developments by the hour, both were briefed by the national security team this morning. Biden remains at camp david tonight. But hundreds have gathered outside the white house, hoping to convince the u. S. Government not to abandon the afghan allies who played a critical role in the fight against the taliban. We have also learned the pentagon is sending an additional 1,000 troops to help with the deteriorating situation on the ground there and to help evacuate u. S. Personnel and allies. It means a total of 6,000 u. S. Troops are in or on their way to kabul. Nbc news has confirmed there has not been any contact between u. S. Troops and the taliban, nor has there been confrontation between u. S. Troops and the taliban. Over the koerx of the next two hours,
this is president trump tweeting this morning. this is how it began this morning. after consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the united states government will not accept or allow. transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the us military. and the reason he gives our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. the move rolls back on an obama administration policy which allowed transgender people to serve openly in the military. roughly 4,000 active duty and reserve service members are believed to be transgender. the white house press secretary was questioned about the change in policy in the last hour. the president has expressed concern since this 0bama policy came into effect but he has also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy and based on consultation he s had wit
Will they give one of our american citizens to them? it s a good question. i spoke with a high-level government official in uzbekistan yesterday. they said these are our neighbors. they are calling us to send back to deport almost 600 afghan military personnel of which the one i m talking about is included in. they have to deal with the government whoever it is because they re neighbors. it is a very tenuous situation. we need to evacuate them from there and i m calling on the biden administration to do the right thing and get them to safety. harris: when you look at the pictures now, congressman gallagher, that played out in the last 24 hours and taliban are massing outside the gates of the airport. so far no engagement with our u.s. forces according just moments ago to the pentagon, what does that communicate to you about the enemy? are they really deal makers or is there something else we need to see in all of this? well, i don t trust the taliban and i agree with august