Ground Inside Kabul News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Airport gates already. there's no doubting the success of the second biggest airlift in the history of mankind. yes, there are thousands still to get on these planes. there are many people stuck in kabul. but for most of these people, this is a moment of celebration in terms of their freedom, but also bittersweet because of what they're leaving behind. >> reporter: that bitterness is immediate to this brother who has a visa for the u.s. and has been trapped outsidehe airport. she's moments from flying. marines do their bt to help as these gates are still controlled by the taliban. but her plan...

May start seeing the americans looking at leaving, being seen to leave, and that small window for those they still have out in kabul, radically shrinking. remember, there are thousands of local afghan employees of the u.s. embassy who have to get on the airport. tens of thousands of siv applicants. sam talked about scenes at serena hotel trying to get on, you know, there was always going to be the moment where the panic turned into worse panic because the chaos at the airport was beginning to disappear and withdraw and we have to be obviously very hopeful that the days ahead remain calm and th...

Into the city of kabul and providing safe corridors so people can travel to the airport more easily or the decision to leave august 31st. so many of these decisions are driven by the desire to not have one more service member be killed in afghanistan. they are very worried about a terrorist threat there, as somebody on the ground there, how real and credible does a terrorist attack seem as a possibility? >> reporter: well, judging by the attitudes struck by military personnel here, they're taking it extremely seriously. they don't feel particularly safe. they are anxious that as the numbers dr...

Relationship with while the gates are still closed. there are efforts being made on an almost individual basis to get people through the gates, if they've got these siv visas, but this is all being conducted during a period of extreme tension. at about 5:00 this morning, 45 minutes or longer, just off to the west here, there was a substantial fire fight. we don't know who this was between but there was a very sustained exchange of gunfire. there is also now large crowds c coalescing around the hotel, helping small numbers of people, even the ambassador himself driving people to the airport to ...

Constant communication with taliban officials in kabul and around kabul to try and ease the pathway for individuals, both mesh americans and afghans with special immigrant visas to get to the airport. there is every reason to believe that that coordination would cease to exist post-august 31st. there is also the terror threat. a very real, very acute threat, they believe, will come to pass if they stay longer from groups like isis-k who they believe are a very real threat at the moment and a very real threat for u.s. personnel. >> phil mattingly at the white house, thanks so much. today the ...