home, the taliban, a couple of weeks ago carried out its own terror attack, attacking civilians. is that a plan that is all workable, that the u.s. can reasonably rely on? i have no idea. the taliban has already said our red line is august 31st. i don t doubt that is their view. mm-hmm. peter burgen, thank you so much. thanks so much for your guidance on this. stand by. we ll have an update. announcer: this is cnn breaking news. this is the breaking news this hour. this is what we know. there has been an explosion outside of the hamid karzai international airport. that is the kabul airport and the really only exit point for the evacuation flights we ve seen in recent days. pentagon press secretary john kirby tweeting moments ago we can confirm an explosion outside of kabul airport.
0 casualties are unclear at this time. we will provide additional details when we can. we also learned moments ago that president biden has been briefed on that explosion outside of kabul airport. a white house official tells cnn. and we are waiting on a pentagon press briefing which will happen in about 30 minutes from now. the back ground on this, as you look at a live picture from the kabul airport, that in recent days and yesterday we reported the u.s. has been very concerned about a credible threat stream about potential terror attacks targeting the gates to the airport and the crowds around those gates. the u.s. believing that terror groups had both the capability and the planning to carry out such attacks. there is still no attribution for these attacks or as we said, any confirmation about casualties. we have our reporters covering the story. let s begin with nick paton walsh in doha. we see now a confirmed attack. only the families of the u.s. serve men concerned about who
exit point for eu citizens and local afghans. we are interested in keeping it open as long as possible, but since the us has no military presence on the ground and depends on co operation among the eu member states, i will not go into details of all the ongoing efforts in order to ensure the airport remains operational and that the main priority is completed, the evacuation of eu citizens and local afghan staff working for the eu. if afghan staff working for the eu. if the deadline is not extended, what problems do you foresee in terms of people who want to leave afghanistan being able to get out in the future? are you concerned it may become more difficult? for are you concerned it may become more difficult? ., , difficult? for the eu it is important difficult? for the eu it is important that difficult? for the eu it is important that couple i difficult? forthe eu it is- important that couple airport remains operational for all those who need it, even beyond the originally set dea
number of people that have to be taken out. it s a big problem because people are coming in thousands and there s a long jam but there s an exit point. at one point there was no exit either. you had people rejected, where the people who hadn t been rejected were staying. we were talking to a state department person who s working on the ground here. we heard these figures of 20, 30,000 americans and people who have a right to go to the united states being sort of the figure that was being worked on. the real figure we believe is actually nearer to 150,000 people minimum. that is an absolute huge task. there simply has to be an extension. and it really is going to come down to a discussion between the united states and the taliban as to whether that extension will happen. let s bring in the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass and u.s. national editor at the financial times ed luce. good to have you both.
national security team as we learn of a potential emerging threat from isis. let s go to the pentagon. oren, what are you learning? the pentagon is aware that the airport itself, the crowds and the surrounding environment have been a target not only for, is-k, but other groups. they are preparing for alternative routes according to two defense officials, different ways u.s. citizens, siv applicants and others to get to the airport safely. this a response to a credible threat from isis, though a senior diplomat says it doesn t appear imminent at this point. but there s enough of a concern that the military has begun planning the routes to get american citizens who can t right now get to the airport from their current location to the airport, which of course is the most important piece of real estate in the country right now. it is the evacuation, the exit point for not only those u.s. citizens, but also for the afghan evacuees. this in response to what the