you don t risk your life for a lost war, no matter how much you believe in the cause. that produced the rapidity of the collapse. clearly things were not as well managed as they could be. that s a diplomatic understatement. but i think the focus now has to be on getting people out. help me with your deep experience here, answer a question i think everybody around the world is asking. certainly, especially americans either waiting for a loved one to get out or american servicemen and women trying to help their former translators. afghans get out their with their families. the administration says it s in daily communication with the taliban trying to ensure safe passage of people to the airport. doing business with the taliban is risky business. is that the only choice at this moment? it is absolutely the correct thing to do. the taliban are the government of afghanistan, and having dealings with a government, whether no matter how much
remember, the president told abc news, quote, the intention community did not say back in june or july that, in fact, this was going to collapse like it did. that from the president the other day. today proof that american diplomats in afghanistan, meaning americans closest to the crisis point warned of collapse. t the wall street journal breaking news of a cable dated july 13th warning of the taliban s rapid advance and afghan forces folding as the american forces withdrew. with us, vivian, the reporter who broke the news. again, this puts the president s credibility in question, and more importantly, it tells us those cloeest to the crisis saw this coming and warned the secretary of state? john, this is something that we ve been asking now for a couple weeks is who knew what and when tdid they know it? obviously the administration sort of parsing words and saying this cable said that probably kabul could collapse shortly
refugees who have crossed into neighboring countries to escape the taliban. and to bring international pressure on the taliban with respect to the treatment of afghan people overall but including afghan, particularly women and girls. the past week has been heartbreaking. we ve seen gut-wrenching images of panicked people acting out of sheer desperation. you know, it s completely understandable. they re frightened. they re sad. uncertain what happens next. i don t think anyone i don t think any one of us can see these pictures and not feel that pain on a human level. now we have a mission. the mission to complete in afghanistan. it s an incredibly difficult and dangerous operation for our military. we have almost 6,000 of america s finest fighting men and women at the kabul airport. they re putting their lives on
chaos because of the situation on the ground. obviously, kabul falling last sunday and so the situation is just getting harder and harder. and so a lot of questions now about why did you not start those mass evacuations a month ago before things were falling apart in kabul. before things before the taliban was getting that close to the city. the diplomats that signed the cable two dozen in total, saying that it was imminent, the taliban were moving quickly. the afghan military was weak to stop it. and so they were really sending this urgent plea to the white house, to the state department, pardon me, to say get us out of here quick. and you see some of the ramifications or what they warned about playing out right now. the air base in qatar nearing capacity. no flights have left in at least eight hours. maybe other locations. places to bring these afghans. that was part of the cable. was it not? that we need a better plan, because when this collapse is,
and, of course, as he did on monday, as he did in the interview on wednesday, i have no doubt that we will hear him recommit to his overall strategy here that it is the right course for the united states of america, and the u.s. national security interests to pull all forces out of afghanistan. david, there have been multiple press briefings this week with the pentagon, the state department, the daily white house briefing, of course. what questions still haven t been answered? there are a number. one is why is this process we re seeing now of getting the allies, those who worked for the american forces out of kabul really revving up now instead of back in april or may after the president announced the deadline for the american withdrawal? the timeline just doesn t add up. because the pace at which they were moving before the taliban