this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news on the end of america's longest war. we're standing by to hear directly from the secretary of state shortly after the last u.s. military flight took off from the kabul airport. it is now august 31st in afghanistan. that is the deadline for american forces to withdraw. all u.s. troops are now out of

afghanistan. we're told that 250 u.s. citizens still are on the ground. they are hoping to leave, along with thousands of afghan friends of the united states as the taliban tightens their grip on the country that's under threat by isis-k terrorists at the same time. let's start our coverage as we await the secretary of state. our senior white house correspondent phil mattingly is joining us right now. phil, just moments ago, president biden put out a written statement on the end of this war. >> reporter: that's exactly right, wolf, thanking the u.s. military commanders and service members on the ground for completing what he called the largest air lift in u.s. history, helping evacuate in coordination with coalition partners more than 120,000 individuals over a 16-day period. an extraordinary number. there is still significant questions the president and his team just address. some you hear addressed by the secretary of state in short order. the president in that statement goes on to say tomorrow

afternoon i will address the american people on my decision not to extend our presence in afghanistan beyond august 31st. for now i will report it was the unanimous decision to end our air lift mission as planned. their view was that ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead. it is that last piece of the statement that the secretary is expected to address but also raises the questions the administration will have to grapple with in the days and weeks ahead. president biden goes on to make clear this is now a very clear diplomatic effort that the u.s. will be engaged in with allalli with international coordination to help get is what is approximately 200 to 250 americans who want to leave the country that are still in the country right now. it is a very complicated moment given the fact the military commanders, as the president

says, recommended still ending the operation on august 31st. but this means that the president's pledge to get all americans out who wanted to leave ends up not coming to the forefront. ends up not coming true. so that effort will be where everyone is looking from here on out. the president says as it relates for americans who want to leave still having safe passage out of the country that the taliban made commitments to taliban officials, something they talked about repeatedly over the last couple of days, commitments the u.s. and international community will hold them to. it's a different question whether the international community has the leverage they made clear they believe they are, particularly on the economic front but also the diplomatic front to hold the taliban, not just commitments related to giving u.s. and taliban partners, citizens who are still in the country out but also for afghans that remain in the country and what that means for those and some of those freedoms that many expect to be taken away in the days and weeks

ahead, wolf. >> standby, phil. we will get back to you. i want to check in with our senior national security correspondent over at the state department right now. we're awaiting the statement -- the remarks from the secretary of state blinken. this is truly a historic moment for the united states, shall i say for the world. >> yeah. these remarks a little bit delay. we expected to hear from him about an hour ago. it is important to note who we are hearing from in the biden administration today. the announcement of the end of this war was made not by the president or the secretary of defense but the most senior administration official we are hearing from today is secretary of state antony blinken. that plays into this emphasis by the biden administration that this is now shifting to a diplomatic mission. it is moving from the military to the diplomatic round. so we are seeing a bit of a preview of what we expect to hear from secretary blinken in

this statement that you have referred to from president biden in which he emphasizes the need going forward to be able to get those americans, afghans and others out of afghanistan if they desire. he specifically talks about the airport which of course now is no longer under u.s. control. how will it function? who will be in the control towers? will it be the taliban? will they work with countries? these are all questions that need to be answered. wolf, as the u.s. president's end in afghanistan, as phil was saying, there are hundreds of americans who remain. and thousands more afghans who are desperate to get out of the country. general mckenzie said in the last few hours they were ready right up until the last minute to get those americans out, but those americans were not able to get to the airport. we have heard from the state department today. they said fewer than 250 americans remain in the country.

that's a similar figure that we got yesterday. meaning, in these last few hours, not many more americans were able to get out. and, so, now with the end of the u.s. presence in afghanistan, there are hundreds of americans that remain. 6,000 americans have managed to get out of the country. that is a fraction of the 123,000 mainly afghan nationals who have been evacuated over the course of the past few weeks. but one thing that many are hoping to hear from secretary blinken when he speaks is some clarity as to how these americans, these half afghans w helped americans will be spirited if they want to be evacuated out of afghanistan. another thing that we expect to hear from secretary blinken is what he is imaging not for the diplomatic presence because there won't be one. the embassy is now done in afghanistan. the most senior american diplomat was on that last flight out. what that american engagement

will look like with afghanistan. we did hear from a senior state department official earlier saying that they do have some concrete ideas of how that is going to play out. of course, we have seen that the u.s. does have direct diplomatic and military ties to the taliban. they have those direct conversations. they have repeatedly emphasized they will work outside these international partners. but the most immediate concern when it comes to how a u.s. diplomatic operation will work is are those activities, wolf. how to get those people out who want to get out when there is no longer a u.s. presence in afghanistan. >> yeah. no more military presence. we'll see how they deal with this. alex, standby. we will get back to you as well. i want to bring in oren liebermann right now. walk us through the final moments as the last planes actually departed. >> there was a general understanding between u.s. troops on the ground there and the commander on the ground about a general time frame in

which the u.s. would leave. not an exact time but an understanding that the u.s. would no longer be able to man the gates as it got on those flights. the last u.s. flights out of afghanistan. we tracked three of those flights. the last one took out at 3:29 p.m. local time. that is 11.59 p.m. in kabul, afghanistan. one minute before midnight on august 21st, 2021. the question -- the u.s. left quite a bit of military equipment back at the airport. but general mckenzie says it was not in working order. >> we have also demilitarized equipment that we did not bring out of the airport. that included a number of mraps that we demilitarized. 27 hum vees that will never be

driven again. additionally on the ramp for a total of 73 aircrafts. those aircrafts will never fly again. >> the two last people on the ground in afghanistan getting on to that last flight were the commander of the 82nd airborne. that was one of the main military groups there. essentially the commander on this ground as this wound down and the top diplomat there. as for how the afghans took this and the taliban, there was celebratory gunfire when the last u.s. flight took off and the taliban put out their statement on twitter celebrating what they called the end of the u.s. presence, essentially a declaration of victory as the u.s. withdrew. >> the u.s. will maintain what's called over the horizon military capability, in other words, capability not in afghanistan. but is it premature to say this war is over? >> the u.s. will maintain being able to strike afghanistan without being in afghanistan,

the ability to fly in drones or fighter jets or bombers from other bases, perhaps in the gulf to carry out counter terrorism strikes against isis-k or al-qaeda or even perhaps one day the taliban. the u.s. said that capability and that mission will continue. is this war over? i think you can say now that this war is over. the question about whether there emerges a terror threat in afghanistan that is able to emerge and threaten the u.s. hom homeland, right now nobody is ruling that out. >> we would assess that probably there are at least 2,000 hard core isis fighters in afghanistan now. and of course many of those come from prisons that were opened a few days ago. so that number is up and probably as high as it's ever been in quite a bill. that's a challenge for the taliban i believe in the days ahead. >> the question is how much of a challenge and what does the taliban do going forward now that it's fighting the u.s. and being forced to be put in a position where it is trying to

fight for the country. do they turn it elsewhere? and how does that affect the future of afghanistan? all of that is key as the u.s. continues to watch what happens there. of course, overall of this is just the fact at this point that the u.s. ability to monitor what's happening in the ground in the country to gather intelligence, all of that severely diminished when that last c-17 took off. >> i want you to standby as well. once again, we're awaiting the secretary of state blinken. you see the live pictures coming in from the state department right now. we will have live coverage. anxious to hear what he has to say. in the meantime, i want to bring in our chief international correspondent klaclarissa ward. sam kiley is with us. also retired lieutenant general mark hirtling. the reality is many were left behind on this mission.

i want you to watch and listen and our viewers as well to what the head of the u.s. military central command just said. >> no american citizens came out on the last what we call the joint tactical exfiltration. there is a lot of heart break associated with this departure. we did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. >> you have done excellent reporting on the ground in kabul. how crushing do you think this moment is for the 250 americans and so many others, thousands of afghans who were so desperate to try to get on? >> i think it is absolutely crushing. of course, wolf. i speak earlier on in the day with a family of four from houston, texas. they told me they had been going to the airport for two weeks trying desperately to get out. they all have american passports. they had gone to afghanistan to visit the mother's family. and essentially the issue was they couldn't get past the

taliban. they were in touch with the u.s. military. the military was trying to facilitate their departure. i spoke to another u.s. citizen, a translator, a female translator who worked with the military. she was told she could leave but her friend who was a siv holder, a special immigrant visa holder could not leave, so she made the decision so stay. there is so many people like that, wolf, who have either refused or had to make the wrenching decision to stay behind, to not leave others. and of course they are now awaiting to see what their future holds, what will the taliban do? will they stay true to their word? they have promised and engaged with the international community publically on this issue, that they will allow people to leave safely if they have the appropriate documentation or if they are foreign nationals. for obvious reasons, many people, particularly those from the u.s., who worked with the u.s. are deeply concerned that they may not be able to trust that. i do want to add that some

afghan nationals who were at great risk, including a female politician who i interviewed in her home in kabul has been allowed to leave the country th. so there are efforts continuing to try to get people out who might be in very vulnerable situations. and it does appear that potentially the taliban is willing and open to negotiate on those. but we're talking about very specific cases. we're not talking about possibly tens of thousands of people, wolf, who are still desperate to leave. >> let's hope that officials in qatar can continue to intervene and help those afghans get out that certainly we would all like to see get out. general, what goes through your mind on this historic day hearing the biden administration declare the end of this war after nearly 20 years? >> wolf, you have hit on something i have been thinking

about all week, all month, especially in the last few hours. first of all, i'm relieved that the war is over and the u.s. forces are out. but like many americans, i'm also mixed in terms of my feelings about what has happened over the last few weeks and what it means for the future. knowing what has gone into this operation, this noncombatant evacuation operation, i'm extremely proud of what the military and the state department has described by general mckenzie talked about how masterful this operation was in getting 120 lives out of that country that will be offered a new lease on life. i'm troubled by the sivs and partners left behind, as well as the few hundred americans that general mckenzie scribed. i'm wondering about the potential for dealing with the taliban in the future and what kind of terrorist activity may or may not come out of afghanistan.

and i'm also extremely concerned knowing many of my colleagues in the military fought for afghanistan and especially the women of afghanistan. my concern is about the future of that country and especially about -- about the bev si of afghan women who knew a new life for 20 years and now will have to revert to the old life. all of those things are part of my consideration as i look back over what's happened over the last 20 years. >> let me get your thoughts on this. we just got some video in, celebratory gunfire video. you can see it right there. the taliban really excited. they're pleased. you see them shooting into the air. the taliban press spokesperson just issued a statement on twitter saying tonight at 12:00 midnight afghanistan time, the last american troops withdrew from kabul airport and our country gained full independence. all praise and strength are due

to god. what do you think of this, the way the taliban is celebrating? >> well, i think it is natural that they would celebrate this moment. this is something they fought very hard for for 20 years. but i think also privately they would acknowledge that they understand now that the hard work begins because it is a lot easier to be an insurgency than it is to govern. they only have to be right once. we have to be right all the time. cnn has actually spoken to a tall ban source who has acknowledged that they have a real problem at the moment with isis-k militants, to use his words, melting in to taliban forces. essentially posing as taliban fighters, and it is almost impossible for them to distinguish who is taliban, who is not. so as they now take on this massive responsibility of governing this huge country, of trying to provide security across that country, they are going to be facing some very

tough times ahead. and they are going to be facing a significant threat as we have just had a taste of over the last few days since the large attack back on thursday from isis-k militants who are hell bent, wolf, on doing whatever they can to undermine and destroy the taliban and anybody who is seen to be working with them. and if the taliban can't differentiate between their own fighters and isis-k jihadists, they will have their work cut out for them. now i would say the real hard work begins. >> certainly does. how bizarre is it to hear the united states publically give some credit to the taliban after facing serious threats from emboldened isis-k fighters, al-qaeda terrorists, so many

freed from prison s in afghanistan in many months. >> it is a bizarre moment, but we have been building up to this remark made by general mckenzie when he paid tribute to the effectiveness of the relationship that they had developed over the last couple of weeks with the taliban. he described how he confronted them here in doha and said this is what we're going to do and we need your cooperation with it and they got it. the americans got it. yes, there was a terrorist attack. there was a failure of taliban security that allowed that terrible terrorist attack with 13 americans killed, 170 afghans. but that's happened in central paris and all around the world as well. so there is no perfect security system. but very clearly, the military found it relatively easy to deal with the taliban in kabul. but this was an element of the

taliban in all probability coming from the network that knows kabul extremely well. had conducted terrorist attacks in the past. they have a uniformed elite that's very, very highly trained that we have seen in social media now actually walking into the airport, walking up to abandoned american helicopters and so on. so it is an absolutely extraordinary moment. i flash back to the battle for b bora bora when the united states was dropping bombs. they were relatively small numbers of american special forces and northern alliance were able to drive al-qaeda out and taple the taliban in relatively short order. 20 years later, they're now talking to them face to face. there has been radio contact during what effectively is an american withdrawal from that country and the taliban are back in charge. but as klarissa said, this is where the hard work begins.

the issue now for the taliban is that over the next years, weeks and days, they will have to turn their attention to fighting against an insurgency rather than being an insurgency, wolf. >> good point. general, clearly we're all watching history unfold. 20 years of u.s. warfare in afghanistan now over. this was the largest also what's called noncombatant evacuation in u.s. military history. more than 120,000 people have got out over the last two weeks or so. but the country is still warning. our country is still mourning 13 service members who got killed in that terrorist attack last week. how are you reflecting, general, on this operation? >> well, wolf, you and i had this conversation yesterday that became quite emotional during that dignified transfer of remains at dover air force base. the 13 that gave their lives as they were getting 120,000 people

out of that country certainly should be honored. but my reflection has been on the 2,100 plus that gave their lives over the 20 years of this conflict as well as the many thousands of those who were wounded and take home the wounds of war not only physically but mentally. so that's where my reflection goes as a former soldier. that's what i'm thinking about. this has been a very difficult 20 years. you know, i was in the basement of the pentagon at the national military command center, the other situation room, when this war started. and watching our allies and the u.s. forces fight this conflict over the last 20 years with the ups and downs has brought a whole lot of thought and emotion and it's going to continue, i'm sure, for months, if not years from all of us who have served in the military over the last decade or so. >> certainly will. let me just get your thoughts. you're in the region. these reports that when the u.s.

launched this latest air strike against an isis-k terrorist car bomber, ten afghans, family members, kids, were killed in that u.s. air strike. what are you hearing? what are you seeing? what do we know about it? >> well, it was an extraordinary tragic accident effectively according to the pentagon. a vehicle either itself wide with the bomb, wolf, or carrying suicide bombers but containing explosives was struck by a drone. this was an isis-k plot. there was an immeinent attack exnexted against kabul international airport and then the vehicle was struck. then, according to the pentagon what happened, you have secondary detonations inside the vehicle blew up killing a family of ten, most of them children, including two two-year-olds.

absolutely catastrophic moment in a triumphant week of life saving rather than life taking forces. but it illustrates why it is so important for president biden to get out. these sorts of incidents are hard for a democracy to swallow, to get even worse, if they do start swallowing them, then the killing of civilians becoming routine, then something terrible is happening to the body of politic at home. particularly, as it would seem that at least one, possibly two adult victims of this air strike were actually people who had in the past worked with coalition forces, wolf. >> let me just remind our viewers, we're awaiting the secretary of state who will be making an official statement over at the state department. you see live pictures come in. we'll have that statement as soon as he shows up. in the meantime, i want to bring up our senior commentator david

axelrod and doug lay brinkley. after two decades, 20 years, america's longest war finally over, what does this moment mean specifically for president biden? >> this has never been joe biden's war. famously he dissented about our intervention. he wanted out. it is odd that he will be tied to the hip with a trump policy decision, the doha agreement that trump made in february of 2020 in that you will see these two presidents sort of extraction policy linked together. but biden cares so deeply about our troops. we have 2,500 plus americans to mourn who lost their lives in

this war. untold wounded warriors. former president george bush illustrating them. it brings our heart, you know, to tears. and, so, i think biden, after the debacle of earlier this summer, he seems in the last week to have found his sea legs. i think he's done what he could to bring out many of our afghan partners as possible. he's committed to relocating many to the united states. but i'm worried, wolf, about those 100 plus americans left behind, just like we had pows left behind in vietnam. we have some americans that are there. and i'm worried about something happening to them or being used as a kidnapping tool or executed by the, you know, isis-k forces. >> what does this say, david axelrod, to you that the official announcement from the u.s. that the war is over after

nearly 20 years was not made by the president of the united states but was made by the head of the u.s. military central command, the general mckenzie? >> yeah. it was interesting to me because i thought this would be the announcement that the president would want to make. but they dealt with it as the end of operations there, and they want to be -- the officer in charge to deliver that news, to have tony bilinken explain some of the diplomatic steps. and i think the president will step forward tomorrow and try to put this in some historical perspective. i think they want to get the details of what happened today on the way and give him a chance free and clear to speak to the larger issues. and doug is quite right. i sat through nine intense passionate meetings in the fall of 2009 in which the obama administration was trying to develop a strategy that didn't

exist for afghanistan, how with a goal of trying to figure out how we extricated ourselves from afghanistan, what is the end game? and those meetings were, as i said, quite intense and vice president biden was very much of the mind that we went to afghanistan to disable al-qaeda. we went to afghanistan to -- to bring to justice the people who had attacked us and we should keep the focus on that mission and not allow it to become something larger. well, it did become something larger. the argument was we needed to stabilize afghanistan, train up its military in order to keep it from becoming once again a haven for the taliban and particularly for al-qaeda. but, you know, his basic arguments then were the arguments that you're hearing now. i think that the tragic thing and the thing that saddens many is that we did, in fact, provide

some hope for millions of afghans for something better than what they had under the taliban and now there is a sense that, as we leave, they are to fend for themselves. and that is -- that is tragic. let me say one other thing, wolf. as part of my job with the president, i got to travel with him to afghanistan. and i spent some time with the young men and women in uniform there. and i was so impressed as i was when i went to iraq by these young people and their commitment and their understanding that they were putting themselves at risk in order to serve their country. and the one thing that i don't accept is the notion that their efforts and the efforts of those 2,100 plus who died or the 13 who tragically died this week were in vain. and i hope that we, as a country, honor them, their family and their families for that service.

>> yeah. you make an excellent point, david. the depressing thing is that the taliban controlled afghanistan 20 years ago on 9/11. once again the taliban control afghanistan right now as they just announced in their independent statement. you had a firsthand look at the situation on the ground as u.s. forces pulled out. how do you think the chaotic deadly final days of the war will shape the way we look back one day on president biden's decision to withdraw from afghanistan and the way he handled it? >> i think, you know, having sort of watched this whole thing play out, there is no question that there were no easy answers. there was no obvious solution or quick fix. there was no avoiding the fact that there would be bloodshed and heart break and desperation and fear and panic because if you started evacuating all of these people very early on then

you would immediately be sending a message that you were undermining the afghan government and anticipating the taliban takeover. it is important to remember that throughout this whole process and in peace talks with the president, the president was very, very stubborn about believing that the u.s. was really leaving and about entering into those negotiations with the taliban in any meanmeaning ful or substantive way. the biden administration made the best out of a desperately bad situation. the fact that they have been able to -- you know, when i was on that airfield wolf, and they evacuated 9,000 people and you thought how are they managing to evacuate 50,000 people? that is extraordinary. however, there are repercussions. there are repercussions in terms of how americans are now seen across the world.

when we first arrived here in pakistan, we immediately encountered a passport control guide who said to us, don't you see now? afghanistan is a free country. and that's the message that some people are taking away from this. that afghanistan is free, that the occupiers and the invaders have been defeated. and they have been defeated by what is essentially an insurgency. obviously there is b baggage th comes with that. it is always difficult as things are unfolding and everything is doing the best that they can and boy did we see that at that airport, every marine, soldier, they were doing everything they could to try to mitigate the suffering. dare i say it years, there will be time as well to reflect as a nation on what this meant and

what it was all for and what the residue is and what the repercussions could be and what will happen ultimately to afghanistan as it will now be under taliban control. >> and you're absolutely right. those service members who risked their lives deserve all praise from all of us and we thank them right now. everybody standby. i want to bring in republican congressman of texas, the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, thank you so much for joining us on this historic day after nearly two decades. the war in afghanistan for the u.s. is now over. so what does this mean for the people of afghanistan, as well as for americans and our nato allies who have been fighting there for the last 20 years. >> well, i commend our veterans and they're in a hard place right now. every veteran i talk to, particularly those with ptsd i'm

worried about suicide rates going up. but i want them to know that what they did was worth it. they stopped the 9/11 style terror attack for 20 years and that was worth it. but i talked to the ambassadors and others in the middle east. they see this as a victory for jihadists over democracy. i think our allies view this a little bit weaker. our adversaries certainly view us as a weaker force in the region. wolf, i know we're all saying this is the end of the war, and they are pulling out. we are pulling out. i don't think it's the end of the war. i don't think the war was over on september the 10th. and now with the flood of foreign terrorists, particularly from pakistan moving in to afghanistan with al-qaeda and isis-k in there with the safe haven, i predict the homeland will be under threat again. and i just think, you know, i

have been on the phone all last weekend with the top dod officials, the state department and white house trying to get these last people out, trying to get the americans left behind out. the sad thing is we are leaving americans in enemy territory. and it didn't have to happen that way. if we had planned for this and not set an arbitrary date and made it missions based, we could have saved all americans, plus those interpreters that you know worked so closely with our special forces. now they have been left behind and their fate unfortunately is very certain. >> but how much credit do you give the biden administration, the u.s. military, especially, congressman, for the past couple weeks, only about two weeks together when nato allies getting 120,000 afghans but more than 6,000 americans out of that country? >> well, i do think the air lifts were going to get intense at the end. but why do we have to wait until

the last couple days before this had to happen? i rejected the premise of complete withdrawal, no conditions based from the time certain. that's a prescription for disaster. we saw isis-k hit the airport. wolf, that's when all the gates were welded shut. so like the girls that were supposed to get in to our siv applicants to our americans sitting outside the gate for hours, if not days not being able to get in as we had calls flooding into our offices, this was not done efficiently. i mean, you guys hear a lot of stories, wolf, and some i can't talk about right now because operational security. but now that we will be out of there, you will hear a lot of stories about what really happened. >> yeah. the reason they started this air lift so late is because they were stunned that the afghan military and the afghan government simply collapsed and simply gave up, walked away and the taliban came in to kabul,

came in and took over the entire country. they were assuming, and maybe this was an intelligence blunder or whatever, but i want to get your thoughts, congressman. they were assuming that the afghan government would be in power and the afghan military, 250,000 or 300,000 troops would simply run away. >> i don't think this was an intelligence failure. i got the intelligence assessment since may. the ambassador and i wrote "the new york times" article saying this is what you have to do. the ic got this right every step of the way that the taliban is going to be fast, fast deterioration. taliban is going to take over. afghan army is going to implode. what happened with the army, they saw the united states abandoning. and then president gani basically left his own people in an act of cowardess. then when they have no governance, the united states is abandoning them, they're asking the question what are we fighting for? it imploded very fast. i thought it was very foreseeable. i think the intelligence

community thought so, too. the president, i think, ignored those warnings and went with this sort of fantasy that we will negotiate with the taliban and everything will be fine. >> yeah. i think they thought it would be a few months. they didn't think it would be a few days as it turned out to be. >> correct. >> as you know, the state department now says there are fewer than 250 american citizens still there in afghanistan but want to get out of afghanistan. how dangerous is this situation right now for any american who is still waiting to evacuate with the taliban now in control? >> it's a very dangerous situation. and i just got briefed. it is actually higher than that number. the reason is maybe they tried to get out at the last minute because of the security concerns they were not let into the airport. but a lot of them, wolf, have family members there that they can't get out with them. that's part of the problem there also. the ones that, you know, i think the americans the taliban were letting through their perimeter,

again it is the afghan interpreter. they view really the trade in their country because they worked with the americans and they have the bulls east eye on their mark and they will most likely be the ones that will die. >> we just got some video. ly show it once again to our viewers. they fired their weapons into the air celebrating what they call our country gained full independence, all praise and strength are due to god. when you see the way they're celebrating now, the taliban in full control of afghanistan after 20 years as i pointed out earlier, they were in control of afghanistan 20 years ago on 9/11. once again they're now in full control of afghanistan. what is your reaction? >> honestly, it's disgraceful, and i think it's very damaging to our veterans. it is damaging to the women left behind. you know what, wolf, this will

be one of the hardest 9/11 ceremonies to watch because, as you just saw in that clip, they are going to be celebrating a victory over the united states of america, an unconditional surr surrender, a victory just like they celebrated over the soviet union. unfortunately that will be the history here and the threat will continue, but they are going to celebrate. i fear watching that taliban flag being raised over our united states embassy. >> there is no more u.s. embassy in afghanistan. all the american diplomats have now left on that final flight. allest military personnel are out of afghanistan. what would you like to hear? we're waiting to hear from the secretary of state blinken and i know you know him well. he's about to make a statement. we will have live coverage. what would you like to hear him say? >> what we told him back in may. reassure the american people you will get every american. you will not leave them behind. reassure them that our afghan

partners and interpreters will be able to get out there. lastly, where are you going to put your intelligence, surveillance? it is so important because without that we can't see eyes and ears on the ground that's happening in afghanistan in terms of threats. but also russia, china and iran, we can't see them either, and that is a huge national security consequence that is not going to be positive going forward. >> congressman michael mccall of texas, thanks so much for joining us. we're following the breaking news on that united states now has completely left afghanistan. we're waiting to hear from the secretary of state antony blinken. we will have live coverage of that and we will get to that as soon as he shows up at the state department. other major news we're following right now. at least two people are dead. more than one million, one million customers are without power tonight after hurricane ida slammed into louisiana as a

category four storm. now it is a tropical depression. brian todd is on the scene for us just outside of new orleans. brian, tom of the damage we're seeing is really catastrophic. walk us through what you are seeing and hearing. >> a lot of catastrophic damage, wolf. and this area really getting its arms around the total devastation. you mentioned there are power lines down all over the place. people desperate for power and gasoline. check out this line here in louisiana. we have been talking to motorists who have been in line for two and a half, three hours. check it out. this goes way, way down, probably close to a mile down the road. these people will be waiting more than three hours because it was shorter when we first got here. the photo journalist will show you the gas station. i talked to the owner over here. he started out the day with 5,000 gallons. he's down to 2,800 gallons. he thinks he might be able to get more gas by tomorrow, but

he's going to run out in the coming hours tonight. he's already had to call the police to break up one fight here between motorists in line. it shows you the desperate straits people are in here in the new orleans area. you know, the power company said they had like 2,000 miles worth of power lines that were damaged or down. they had eight major power lines servicing the city of new orleans that were damaged. there was an electrical transmission tower in jefferson parish that got totally destroyed by the storm, collapsed into the mississippi river. that gives you an idea, wolf. it will take days, if not weeks, for the power to be restored here in the new orleans area. we just heard from the new orleans police a short time ago. as night fall will descend in a couple hours, that's a concern. there is a potential for looting. the police deploying antilooting teams tonight to guard against

looting. so a lot of people on edge here, desperate for gas, desperate for power and hunkering down as well. we don't see in the city or out here a lot of people milling around on the street. a lot of people are either hunkers down or coming out in situations like this trying to get situations for their families. >> brian todd just outside of new orleans, let's get more on the breaking news right now. the adjunct general of louisiana national guard is joining us. general, thank you so much for joining us. i know you are responsible for coordinating the entire louisiana national guard. can you give us a sense, general, of the scope of this rescue mission that is now underway? >> well, thank you, wolf. i appreciate you having me on this evening and having the opportunity to share our story with the nation and the world. as far as our response efforts, as far as search and rescue goes, that was our priority mission this morning. we started real early on the

ground search and rescue around 4:15 this morning. with air search and rescue we got up around 6:15. really we worked in 14 parishes, concentrated in southeast louisiana. and primarily the 200 plus that were able to evacuate out were in saint charles, st. john parishes and we rescued 27 pits. but i would say concurrently with the search and rescue missions, we have ongoing missions with the police department. our engineer assessment teams have been out in those 14 parishes, looking at the damage that's there. coming up with a plan how best the issue is that were caused by hurricane ida. and our engineered work teams have been working. we have some sent down to address a levy breach that

occurred in our particular area. we actually had it set and ready prior to the storm landing, and once we get the missions, which we anticipate going out this evening, hopefully we will be opening up three parishes starting tomorrow. >> general, i wonder if you could get into some specifics. how many people has the louisiana national guard rescued today? and do you have a sense of how many more people still need help? >> it's been about 220 plus, wolf. and with, like i said, 27, i think the bulk of it had been accomplished up to this point. but as we conduct secondary sweeps with the integrated search and rescue and all the local state and federal officials that will work inside, side by side or hand in hand with, i feel confident we're getting close. >> the governor of louisiana says he expects the death toll from this storm to continue to rise based on what you have

seen, what your teams have seen, general, you agree with that assessment? >> i mean, it would be unfair for me to comment at this time. i mean, we're focussed on our mission. we support civilian authority. you know, whatever happens happens. i would just ask for everyone's thoughts and prayers in support of our state. i know it is some very challenging times here in louisiana with hurricane ida. but the one great thing about louisiana is we're a very resilient state. i'm encouraged by that. we've got a great team assembled with our local state and federal officials. as you know, wolf, we have a lot of practice with emergencies and hurricanes here in louisiana, and we respect that every storm has its own identity. but a lot of the things in terms of lessoned learned, tactics, techniques and procedures, we apply these to different storms and improve our efficiencies, which helps our citizens. and that's what we're in the

business to do. i can't tell you how thrilled we are to get all the support that we've gotten from other states. we have compacts for national guards with some other states. we've got 13 states that are sending guardsmen here over the next couple of days on the title ten or the active component side. we also got some support. so we're just very grateful for everyone coming to us and helping us out with hurricane ida. as you know, one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to ever hit the state of louisiana. and i do want to thank the tremendous men and women we have in the louisiana national guard, their families, their employers, our civilian employees. without all of them, our louisiana national guard could not do all the great things it's done over the last 18 months specifically. but, again, i appreciate you having me on this evening, wolf. >> let me get your thoughts on something that's very unique to this hurricane and the aftermath, covid. you didn't have to deal with covid in earlier hurricanes but you clearly have to deal with it

now. how has that impacted your efforts? >> well, we actually last year with the hurricanes and three major hurricanes that hit louisiana with laura, delta and zeta, covid was a consideration. obviously it's greater right now with the delta variant. but all the mitigation measures that everyone talks about we emphasize those things with our soldiers and airmen as they go out and interact with the public and hope about stopping the spread and getting covid under control. but we still have about 240 soldiers and airmen that continue to do covid testing and vaccination throughout louisiana at the shelters, at the universities, mainly in north louisiana. and we will continue to try to stop the spread. >> well, we thank you for all your efforts. we thank all the men and woman working with you in the louisiana national guard. general, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. appreciate the time. >> thank you. all right. once again we're standing by to

hear directly from the secretary of state who will be making a statement on this historic day, the end, at least for the united states, of the war in afghanistan. offer in seconds...t a grt (all cheering) it feels too good to be true. it's kicking back and relaxing as we pick up your car. and when you get paid on the spot, it feels like scoring big. you know the feeling. you just never imagined you could get it from selling your car. well, with carvana, you can. experience the new way to sell a car. in the romo household we take things to the max oh yeah! honey, you still in bed? yep!

bye! that's why we love skechers max cushioning footwear. they've maxed out the cushion for extreme comfort. it's like walking on clouds! big, comfy ones! oh yeah! what happens when we welcome change? we can transform our workforce overnight out of convenience, or necessity. we can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change-- meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. faster. vmware. welcome change. lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. so you can enjoy it even if you're sensitive to dairy.

so anyone who says lactaid isn't real milk is also saying mabel here isn't a real cow. and she really hates that. without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we won't stop. that's why we're calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices.

with quality that's guaranteed for life, bath fitter doesn't just fit your bath, it fits your high standards. why have over two million people welcomed bath fitter into their homes? it just fits. call now or visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. ♪ ♪ welcome to allstate. where everything just seems to go your way. ♪ ♪ you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today.

once again we're waiting remarks from anthony blinken supposed to speak at the top of the hour. he's been seriously delayed. we're anxious to hear what he has to say on this day the u.s. pulls out of afghanistan. the military withdrawal after 20 years now complete. we'll have live coverage once the secretary of state arrives at the microphone. in the meantime, let's get

analysis what is going on on this historic day. general hertling, you're still with us. i want to show you video that came into cnn. this is a journalist that accompanied afghan troops into a military hanger there at the kabul airport. you see them, they joined the taliban. these are the taliban going into this what used to be the u.s. airport there in kabul with u.s. military equipment. taliban troops are in control. who is in charge of this u.s. military equipment left behind. >> it's unfortunate, wolf. there are people suggesting we left this stuff behind for the taliban and in fact, this was foreign military sales to the afghan army. and given the size and capacity of the afghan army, i mean, they

are going to have over 300,000 a.r. -- excuse me m 4s or m 16s, they're going to have machine guns, trucks, not all of the things have been destroyed. i've seen a rollup the other day about the amount of things we've provided to the emerging afghan army and it significant. in the last few days, i think the military that we're at airport attempted to destroy as much eaquipment as possible but that doesn't account for the amount of stuff across the country, weapons, trucks, humvees and helicopters given to the afghan army. those are going to be continuing reminders of how when you arm a foreign force, you have to ensure that the government of that foreign force, the afghan government stands up and uses that security for the betterment of the people as opposed to letting that force dissolve as

unfortunately after fighting so many years, the afghan army did when their government ran away from them. >> clarisa, we heard the u.s. military commander general mckenzie say earlier that they did certain things to the aircraft to make sure they will never fly again but still, there is no doubt these taliban troops did capture a lot of very important u.s. military equipment left behind. >> no, absolutely, wolf. first of all, take for a moment the symbolism of it, walking in as you saw l.a. times reporter navi walking into that hanger seeing those, i believe icopterg back and forth em bybassy officials. we saw on the grunt ound before

taliban took over the country, we visited two bases in the control of the u.s. the taliban is now completely in control. obviously, they seized them from the afghan army but took a huge amount of weaponry, ammunition. we saw ambulances. we saw rangers, those ford rangers, pickup trucks they have been using across the country, humvees. there is no question that they have acquired quite a large war chest as a result of this takeover and there is no getting around that and even the stuff that doesn't work, as i just said before, they understand it a photo opportunity. it a powerful symbolic moment for everyone in the world to see. >> let me get final thoughts this hour from david axelrod and david brinkley. what do you think as we await the secretary of state? >> i think that it's a sad day. it's a messy day, but i think as you'll hear from the president tomorrow we have to step back and ask what were the

alternatives? how long, it was 12 years ago joe biden asked the generals how long? i mean, how does this end? how long will we have to stay? and no one had a very good answer for that, and here we are 12 years later, we would have had to re-engage the taliban if we were going to stay, and how long would we have stayed? >> hold on a second. hold on. here is the secretary of state antony blinken. >> good evening, everyone. 18 days ago, the united states and our allies began our evacuation and relocation operation in kabul. as you just heard from the pentagon, a few hours ago, that operation was completed. more than 123,000 people have been safely flown out of afghanistan. that includes about 6,000 american citizens. this has been a massive military

diplomatic and humanitarian undertaking. one of the most difficult in the nation's history and feat of logistics and coordination under some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable. many, many people made this possible. i want to command our outstanding diplomats who worked around the clock and around the world to coordinate the operation. they volunteered for duty at the kabul airport. they flew to transit countries to help process thousands of afghans bound for the united states. they deployed to ports of entry and american military bases to offer afghans new homes. they staffed a 24/7 task force here in washington over seen by deputy secretary. and they built a list of americans possibly seeking to leave afghanistan, then worked to contact every single one of them repeatedly making 55,000 phone calls, sending 33,000 emails since august 14