0 readout on that and also if they discussed the regional implications with respect to china and russia and how they are seizing on this the withdrawal. >> sandra: jacqui heinrich. thanks for joining us. >> martha: thank you. good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum in new york. breaking moments from now, for the first time, we will hear from our two top generals. mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs and lloyd austin, the secretary of defense who reportedly advised the president against a complete withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan. we have not heard from either of these individuals since kabul fell sunday and the country of afghanistan with it. no word when we'll hear from the secretary of state, anthony blinken who has been very quiet while all of this has been unfolding. remember, blinken said "kabul won't fall from a friday to a monday. it won't happen like that." that's exactly what happened. senator tom cotton, an afghanistan veteran will join us in moments. first, retired general david petraeus. he once led the coalition forces in afghanistan and a former director of the cia. thanks very much for being here today, general petraeus. what questions would you have for the leaders of our military as you look at the situation that is extremely tense as we try to get thousands out of afghanistan at this hour? >> that should be the focus. put the blame game behind us for now. that can be handled later. how can we meet the moral obligation particularly to the battlefield interpreters. they're crucial elements of what we did. they qualified for a special immigrant visa if they served two or more years on the ground. we owe them now. they put their lives and the lives of their families in jeopardy because of that service. what are we going to do to expedite what has been a terribly bureaucratic process for three administrations. keep in mind, that sid was approved at the end of the bush administration. we've never accelerated the process the way it should have been the case especially as the present administration and the desire to withdraw and this one carried through with that withdrawal. so that's i think the focus. also, what about all of the others that put their lives in jeopardy by their support for the united states. what is the process going to be on the ground? will the commander -- the senior state department and department of homeland security officials be empowered to make decisions on the spot? this is not something that can be micro managed from washington. finally, will we really leave at the end of the month if there's tens of thousands of afghans trying to get in to the airport when that date arrives? i think those are the real areas of focus. there will be lots i'm sure about what was advised, what was the intelligence and analysis provided. i don't think that's as important right now as meeting the obligation to those that are in harm's way, that they can't get on an aircraft and get to safety. >> martha: obviously all of your points are really important in terms of what will and should be asked in there. the august 31 deadline i think is something if you're holed up in your residence or the safe place that you're trying to stay in afghanistan right now and you're an american or someone that stood by us and fought for the cause alongside us, you're wondering if i don't make it out by august 31, what happens to me? we don't have a definitive answer to that. i hope we're about to get one. with regards to these arrangements with the taliban and trusting what they say, seems like they hold the cards right now, general. we're hearing things like this, like what we heard from the national security adviser, jake sullivan. let's play this quickly and understand -- we can't play it right now. they have come to the podium. general, we'll watch this. here we go. the joint chiefs of staff and the secretary of defense. >> thanks, john. i'm going to speak briefly and then turn it over to the chairman for an operational update. let me start by saying that we remain laser focused right now on hamed karzai international airport in kabul and on doing everything that we can to continue evacuating americans, allies, afghans who have worked alongside us and also other courageous afghans at special risk. to that end, i'm prioritizing three key concerns. first, the safety and security of our people and the people that we're trying to evacuate. as the chairman will brief you, the final elements of additional military forces continue to flow in to kabul with about 4500 in place as we speak. they're trained and equipped to defend themselves and their operations. there's been no hostile interactions with the taliban. and our lines of communication with taliban commanders remain open as they should be my second focus is maintaining security at the airport itself. in concert with forces from our allies, our troops have set up defensive positions around the airport and the airport is able to function safely. we don't take this for granted and i continue to be in daily contact with general mackenzie and commanders on the ground to make sure that they have what they need to keep it safe. my third area of focus, of course, is the pace. increasing the flow of aircraft and people out of kabul. we have flown out several thousand since the 15th of august and our goal is to be able to increase our capacity every day going forward. as we build out this capacity, we work hand and glove with the state department, which is leading the whole of government effort to notify and process american citizens who are leaving. and to urgently identify and process afghan applicants as well. we've dispatched small military teams to two of the airport gates to assist state department efforts as they evaluate and process individuals seeking entry. we expect to be able to augment that capability in the coming days. this is truly a team effort across the interagency. throughout all of this our u.s. service members are making exceptional efforts under challenging circumstances. showing their humanity and their compassion. so i want to thank them for their skill and their professionalism. it's not lost on me that even as we conduct this very important mission, we also continue to help our fellow americans deal with a new surge in the pandemic and the citizens of haiti deal with the aftermath of an earthquake. let me also thank general mackenzie and rear admiral vasely who is the commander going forward and general donahue of the 82nd airborne division. it is making an enormous difference. they know has i do that there's a lot of work to be done yet. now, all of this is very personal for me, this is a war that i fought in and led. i know the country, i know the people and i know those that fought alongside me. as i have said, we have a moral obligation to help those that helped us. i feel the urgency deeply. so i want to end with the word for the force and our military. i know that these are difficult days for those that lost loved ones in afghanistan and those that carry the wounds of war. especially now we mourn those that made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan. let me say to their families and loved ones, our hearts are with you. the u.s. military stands as one to honor those that we've lost. now, afghan war veterans are not monoliths. i'm hearing strong views from all sides on the issue and probably the way it should be. what is important that each of us will work our way through this in our own way. we need to respect that and we need to give one another the time and space to help do it. our greatest asset as a nation is the extraordinary men and women that volunteer to keep us safe and their families. we honor your service, we understand your sacrifice and we will never forget it. so with that i'm going to turn it over to general milley that can talk about where we stand operationally. >> good afternoon. thanks, mr. secretary. what i'd like to do is give you an overall situation update as of today and what our next steps are. currently the united states military is focused on the specific mission of conducting a noncombatant evacuation operation from afghanistan. this is likely to be probably the second largest neo conducted by the united states. our key tasks are to establish and maintain security at the kabul international airport. defend the airport from attack, evacuate all american citizens from afghanistan who desire to leave this country. evacuate any third country national for allies and partners as designated by the secretary of state. evacuate personnel with state department designated special immigrant visas. evacuate any other evacuees that the state department designates. the president of the united states made a decision the withdraw u.s. forces from afghanistan on april 14. since that date we conducted a deliberate and responsible draw down of u.s. forces to less than 1,000 with a specific task of securing the u.s. embassy and our diplomatic presence in afghanistan. since then the security situation rapidly degraded. today the situation is still very dangerous, very dynamic and very fluid. all of us can be proud for the soldiers, sailors and air men in this mission. they're currently in harm's way. that's our focus. there's plenty of time to do aars. right now our mission is to secure that air field, defend that air field and evacuate all of those that have been faithful to us. there's many postmortems on this topic. right now is not that time. right now there's troops at risk. we are the united states military and we fully intend to successfully evacuate all american citizens that want to get out of afghanistan. all american citizens that want to get out of afghanistan. they are priority number 1. in addition, we intend to evacuate those that have supported us for years. we won't leave them behind. we'll get out as many as possible. our troops in kabul are taking high risk to accomplish that mission. every minute these troops are on the ground making difficult decisions with incredible skill, incredible bravely and incredible valor. currently the security situation at the airport is stable. however, there are threats. we're closely monitoring those at any moment they could happen. we can identify them, if we identify them, we will take immediate military action without hesitation. in accordance with our rules of engagement. the taliban and every other organization knows it. the taliban are in and around kabul right now but not interfering with our operations. through the state department, the taliban are facilitating the safe passage to the airport for american citizens. that is u.s. passport holders. we also have a risk as you saw the other day of unarmed innocent civilians massing on the air field where it is a safety hazard to our airplanes, crews and to themselves. we have that situation under control inside the air field. as many other risks out there and the troops are dealing with those every single day in the volatile environment which can and likely will change rapidly. let me make one comment on the intelligence. because i'm seeing all over the news that there's warnings of a rapid collapse. i have previously said from this podium and in sworn testimony before congress that the intelligence clearly indicated multiple scenarios were possible. one of those was an outright taliban takeover following a rapid collapse of the afghan security forces and the government. another was a civil war. a third was a negotiated settlement. however, the time frame of a rapid collapse was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months to years following our departure. there was nothing that i or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this government and this army in 11 days. central command submitted a variety of plans that were briefed and approved by the joint chief of staffs, the secretary of defense and the president. the plans are coordinated, synchronized and rehearsed to deal with these various scenarios. one of those contingencies is what we're executing right now. as i said before, there's plenty of time to do aars and key lessons learned and to delve into these questions with great detail. right now is not that time. right now we have to focus on this mission because we have soldiers at risk. we also have american citizens and afghans that supported us for 20 years also at risk. this is personal. we're going to get them out. we in uniform have a deep commitment to this commission. let me give you an operational update. the security situation as i said is currently secure at this time. since 12 august we deployed two united states marine battalions, one battalion from the minnesota national guard, all three of those were prepositioned in theater, centcom aor as part of the contingency planning. we deployed the 82nd division headquarters and a brigade of the 82nd airborne division consisting of three battalions and enablers. finally, an infantry securing the u.s. embassy in kabul. in addition, we're operating on the ground with a variety of special operations forces. that in combination with the ground forces, we have some of the best soldiers and marines the world has ever seen. in total, there's 20 u.s. maneuver companies currently on the ground with about 4,500 troops and the flow continues. the president has authorized as you all know up to 6,000. on top of them is the united states navy and air force. we have multiple squadrons of f-18s, av8s, f-16s, b-52s and mq9s. we have attack and left helicopters. we're working with our allies and partners through british infantry rifle country and special forces on the ground working with us. also turkish security force and other special operations forces. this force is capable of extracting a significant amount of people on u.s. air force aircraft. we're averaging 20 sortees every 24 hours. as the secretary said, we have already evacuated approximately 5,000 people and intend to increase it. in addition to the military air flow, there's commercial and charter flights taking out evacuees from various other countries and ngos. the military side of the air field is open and the civilian side is open and intend to keep them open for military, commercial and charter flights. one caveat is that the air for examples have to come in by visual flight rules only. the state department is working to rapidly increase the flow of passengers, available to get out on the aircraft and fully supporting them with our military personnel at the entrance gates. this highly dynamic department, there's unexpected challenges that will continue to occur. we rely heavily on the talent, skill and training of our troops. we've got great people across the ranks and services out there right now on this mission. in addition to afghanistan, which is our main effort, we're conducting humanitarian assistance in haiti in the aftermath of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake with a significant loss of life. on the west coast, we're fighting wild fires and conduct covid support and other operations around the world. as we reflect on these difficult and challenging times, every soldier, sailor, airmen, marine, coast guard that has fought or conducted operations in afghanistan, almost 800,000, should hold their head high. for more than 20 years, we have prevented an attack on the u.s. homeland. 2,448 lost their lives. 20,722 were wounded in action and many others suffered the unseen wounds of war. to each of them, i want you to know personally that your service mattered. as the secretary said, for both he and i, this is personal. i know it's personal for each and every one of you. thank you. >> we'll go to questions. bob? >> thank you, john. the question for each of you gentlemen, if i may. mr. secretary, you mentioned the urgency of ramping up the pace of the evacuation. so you have a safe passage agreement with the taliban. but in fact in some cases american citizens, afghans that are at risk are being advised to go to the airport are unable to get in the airport because of taliban checkpoints and so forth. so are you considering other ways that you can get around that problem by, for example, sending forces out beyond this airport to collect people and bring them -- escort them in to the airport? if i may ask general milley, with the rapid collapse of the afghan forces, there's large amounts of weaponry out there right now that were surrendered or abandoned by the afghan forces or captured by the taliban. are there ways you can -- are you considering ways that you might destroy some of that equipment to avoid it falling into the taliban's hands? >> thanks, bob. in terms of whether or not we intend to send forces outside of the air field to collect american citizens or afghans that are special immigrant visa applicants, the forces that we have are focused on security of the air field. you know how important that is and you know what happens if we lose the ability to provide that security. so i don't want to detract from that. we have to make sure that we secure the air field but defend it as well. because there are a number of threats still in the environment. i certainly don't want to do anything to make the air field less safe and we won't do that. but we will continue to coordinate and de-conflict with the taliban and make sure those people that need to get to the air field have the right credentials to ensure passage. the taliban has been checking those credentials, if they have them, they have allowed them to pass. >> on the equipment, bob, we have capabilities but i'd prefer not to discuss any operations other than what we're doing right now in order to get our evacuation and get that complete. there will be another time to discuss future operations. >> i would like to press both of you on the same points. general milley, you're saying one of your tasks is to evacuate all american citizens that desire to leave. there's americans clearly all over kabul, may be americans in other parts of the country. how can the u.s., the pentagon live up to that task of evacuating all americans? because we continue to see the violence just outside the airport and how would you get them and around the country unless you go get them? >> two things, barbara. one is the state department as you know, as i've said, is working with with the taliban to facilitate save passage of americans to the airport. and that's the primary means and under the current conditions that's the primary effort. we have capability to do other things if necessary. >> can i ask you what that means? you also said there's international special force there's that have the capability to extract in those words, you would go get people. >> that would be a policy decision and if directed we have capabilities to execute whatever directed. >> thank you. >> i would draw a distinction between extracting someone in an extreme condition or circumstances versus going out and collecting up large numbers of american citizens. >> do you have the capability to go out and collect americans? >> we don't have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people. >> you have 5,000 u.s. military personnel on the ground securing the area. you have small groups of taliban fighters outside there who are holding the potentially second largest neo that could be undertaken. you have the capability to get there. how do you get those people inside so that they can actually get on those planes? both of you have served in major command roles inside afghanistan. did you not see the possibility that the afghan security forces were not up to this fight? >> we continue to work with the state department, officials on the ground to improve the procedures, you know, at the entry points to make sure we can speed up the process of getting people in and move them onward. so the state is deploying more counselor officers to help with that. as i stated earlier, we're going to push more m