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So far the u.s. has air lifted about 7,000 people out of afghanistan. not all of them american, which by the way, has been a herculean effort by the u.s. air force, the 82nd airborne, the marines there and others. national security adviser jake sullivan just referred to one of the biggest obstacles to evacuations. taliban fighters and their armed check points surrounding the airport. today the pentagon acknowledged the tense conditions on the ground confirming that jet fighters indeed flew over kabul to provide security for the some 5,000 troops overseeing the evacuations. >> f-18's from the r...

Forward. today they said in the last just 24 hours about 2000 people were evacuated. actually, that is very far from being great news, because the goal is not 2000. the goal is to try and hope to fill five to seven or 9,000 seats a day. that's the capacity they want to get going. not even close to that as you say, a trickle. kirby, john kirby, the pentagon press secretary then talked about f-18 s armed flying over kabul with a lot of military jargon. overwatch. pressed him on what exactly he means by all this. >> you say close air support, but to be clear, what you are saying is you're prepare...

They still are trying to get more people out and getting them through the taliban checkpoints and through the gates and on to the airport and actually getting the correct names to the military to manifest these people on. there was another very important thing we learned in the briefing here today and that is that the u.s. military is flying armed f-18 fighter jets over kabul. they're flying off of an aircraft carrier in the region. they're there for overwatch and security, but it also shows that the u.s. military not only has the capability, but they have it very quickly if they need it to co...

Drawdown -- we had overwatch capabilities. >> but right now armed f-18 s over kabul, there's concern that there could be a threat at the airport, say they. they want to be able to respond on a moment's notice to defend u.s. troops and concern also about isis and al qaeda in afghanistan right now. thank you. among the challenges right now, getting people safely to the kabul airport. last hour the pentagon says progress is a struggle. let's get to the state department and kylie atwood. it's the state department's job to organize who gets out. how is it going? >> the question is how can the fol...

Once you manage to get to the airport though, it's not completely over yet. you still have to make sure you're on one of the state department lists or the list that's allow you to be brought into the airport. so there are two different things going on right now. the pentagon is making every effort to open up the bottle neck. you have a lot of flights going out now. they established -- they said this morning they're flying f-18