♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: cfo. caregiver. eclipse chaser. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for amera's neglected s.

and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". ♪ ros: i am ros atkins with "outside source." more chaos at kabul airport as people scramble to leave afghanistan. a picture of a toddler being handed over to western soldiers. our corresponnt is in kabul. reporter: many don't have necessary documentation and visas and it is unlikely they will be evacuated. but they are still willing to put up with these awful conditions. ros: the u.s. military says it is ramping up evacuations, 7000 civilians taken out of the country in five days. evidence of an danced taliban campaign of threats, including

letters against those who worked with the west, and their families. ♪ the airport in kabul is t only way to leave the country by air. that is why thousandsf foreign nationals and afghans are heading there to try and do that. these pictures give you a sense of the desperation. we see a toddler being handed over to soldiers at the airport. she is eventually taken by them. and in other pictures, this woman is being helped over a wall, also by western soldiers. but getting close to the airport is difficult. the taliban control checkpoints on the route to the rport. to understand this further, the defense editor for "the independent" is in kabul. reporter: the taliban have got

every single checkpoint from the city center to the airport, the civil airport. they have also got the checkpoint on the road that leads to the military airport. and really, the chances of getting through these checkpoints depends on to a large extent the type of fighters they are. someave been ok, but there have been others where the fighters are extremely aggressive and quite violent as well. so, it is a real ordeal for these people to get through. people who have got foreign passports are finding it slightly easier than the ones with afghan passports, but it is still a horrendous journey. ros: not everyon of course, gets through the taliban

checkpoints. one woma with a valid visa was stopped on the taliban and forced to go home because she wasn't with a man. she has been speaking with the bbc's afghan service. >> i went to t airport because i had a visa. there were about two or three of them who came to me and asked why are you alone? and the situation was very scary, nightmarish. they are the same as before, the same brutal as befor and i didn't see any changes. ros: there has been violence near the airport, deaths reported, shots certainly fired. the taliban has accused foreigners of opening fire and other reports suggest the taliban has been doing that. here is more on the violence. reporter: when i was at the

airport wheree have seen these chaotic, awful scenes in recent days, one man running up to me and whispering in my ear, despite taliban fighters being around, said tell the world they have not changed. they are the same as they were in the 1990's. they are beating people, firing into the air. they are scaring us. so, you see these different sides and it is hard to resolve them. i was speaking with some of taliban fighters at the airport and they are quite frustrated with images projected around the world of so many afghansanting to flee the country. they want of course to project and image of stability. they were stopping us from filming on occasions. at times, they were aggressive and at other times, very friendly and we had conversations. ros: you canee one evacuation plane here taking off. we have other footage filmed on board and evacuation like to the u.k.. according to the government, at least two planes left today carrying hundreds of people. here is the u.k.'s defense

secretary. >> things are changing rapidly. that is why every hour counts. that's why i am putting in another company of soldiers today. if we are allowed to stay longer, and we can stay longer, than that is a real benefit to us al. ros: but in the rush to get to the airport, at least 12 people have died this week. myolleague has been talking to one woman who went there with her husband and four children on monday. her husband was shot dead. they are not naming her or showing -- we are not naming her or showing her face for security reasons. >> that morning, my husband read on facebook that americans are helping people to get out and accept them as refugees. he said people have written that the americans, really good out to. they want to help afghans d are accepting families and kids but we heard all this on facebook.

myusband and i and the children took a taxi. we went to the airport. it was busy. the taliban were outside and kept making fun of us. they said, when you go to america, you can say what you want about us, but here, we will suck your blood. we were scared. but inside, it was really busy. among the crowd, i lost my husband. we got separated. he was trying to get us to a safe corner, but fighting started. we stop bullets everywhere. my husband saw sent was running towards me to get me and the children and that is when he was hit. they shot him. he felt to the groun i ran towards him and left my children. reporter: w shot him? >> the americans at the taliban were firing. the taliban were shooting in the direction of the airplane, so americans also started shooting. he was facinghe americans and he got shot. it was a horrible time. i was in shock. i am still in shock. i held my husband and put him in a luggage tray that people put

their luggage and with thousands of hopes of going aboard but i was carrying my husband, and he was bleeding and shot. i was holding his hand. his leg would fall. if i was holding his leg, his hands would fall. i was in a terrible situation. nobody was helping me. people were watching, but nobody was helping me. i stood outside the car to take them to the hospital. i didn't care if i was hit and died. i wanted to take him to the hospital as soon as i could. i forced the driver to help me. i couldn't close the door the car. i was screaming. i wanted to take them to the hospital. when i took him to the hospital, he was still alive. he was wored about the children. my family called and said they had seen the kids at the airport and there were taken home. when your days, he died ad our lives were destroyed. ros: the pressure continuing on kabul airport. today, a u.n. document has been released saying the taliban is intensifying the hunt for people who worked with nato and u.s. forces. he says the taliban has lists of

individuals it wants to arrest. the document says that risk are people with positions in the military, police and investigative units per the letter is highlighted in the report written to an individual threatening, if you do not report to the commission, your family will be arrested and you are responsible. you and your family members will be treated based on sharia law. let's hear from wanted the u.n. report authors -- from one of the u.n. report authors. >> taliban in advance of moving into major cities in afghanistan, they have an advanced intelligence system, they have a list of individuals, and within the very first hours of moving into kabul, they began a search of former government employees, especially in intelligence services and special forces units. and this is not the action of random taliban groups seeking revenge. this involved issued, written orders from the military

commission of the taliban, and it involves actual intelligence photographs and so on of individuals they are looking for. i would like to stress the talin we are seeing is defitely a different animal than what we encountered 20 years ago. they are more advanced. they have a much improved financial system and intelligence system. and the fact that they can commence this hunt for former collaborators ordered the vegetables working with western intelligenceervices or special forces units, not just in kul elsewhere, shows the taliban were well prepared on this. ros: whave more on this report with bbc security correspondent frank gardner. frank: the evidence cing out, particularly in the report you mentioned from the norwegian center for global analysis, is saying there is a manhunt list that has been drawn up in advance of the taliban and even taking over provincial capitals. they knew they wanted to target

and they are threatening relatives, saying hand them over or you will get arrested and possibly killed. i am sure this will be denied by taliban leadership, who, it is in their interest to present an aspect of normality. they want them to stay in the country and build it according to their own strictures. it is not in their interests. but the practicality is that these other people who have been hunting down the taliban, as well as al qaeda for the last 20 years. of course their brie went to go after them, at the very least questioning them. worrying for the west is some other methods, sources, the roads into western intelligence are not want to be revealed. this is another blow for the west in its attempt to try to stop terrorism seeping out of afghanistan in the future. ros: in a few minutes on "outside source," we turned back to haiti. now five days on since the

earthquake there. many of the worst areas remain without help. we will have a report from near the epicenter. ♪ ros: a study by oxford university found both the pfizer and astrazeneca jabs still offer good protection against the delta variant of covid it suggests pfizer works best initially, but both are equally effective in the long run. here is more. reporter: the study showed the pfizer jab had 93 percent effectiveness two weeks after the second dose compared to 72% for the astrazeneca vaccine. researchers say the pfizer performance then falls faster, and they believe that after four-five months, the two vaccines may converge, having similar effectiveness. >> i would stress both the vaccines are still getting really, really good protection.

it is important to remember pfizer starts out at 15% better effectiveness than astrazeneca, which is far more than we could ever have imagined. so when it does decline, it is the clinic from a really high starting point. ♪ ros: i am ros atkins with "outside source," here as ever in the bbc news room. our top story, continued, chaotic scenes of the kabul airport as thousands tried to leave the country as u.s. ldiers used tear gas to control the crowds. there is evidence of an advanced taliban campaign of threats, including letters against those who worked with the west and families. joe biden has an august 31 deadline to get u.s. forces out

of afghanistan. but he is acknowledging he may go beyond that to get all u.s. citizens out. he made these comments in an exclusive interview with abc news' george stephapoulos. president biden: the commitment holes to get everyone out and everyone that should come out. that is the objective. that is the path we are on and i think we will get there. george: americans should understand troops might be there beyond august 31? president biden: no, americans are going to understand that we will try to get it done before. if we don't, we will determine at the time who is left. and, if there is american citizens left, we are going to stay until we get them all out. ro although some u.s. citizens and allies have managed to leave, many remain behind. it is estimated u to5,000 u.s. citizens are in the country. washington pledged to evacuate all remaining u.s. citizens. it is also promising to evacuate at least 50,000 afghans.

that includes former translators for the u.s. military. in the last three minutes, the state department has updated reporters on its evacuation plans. >> overnight, we significantly expanded how many american citizens, local staff, siv applicants and other vulnerable afghans who are eligible for departure, and we offered them to consider transit to the airport. we are aware of congestion around the airport. we are working with that apartment of defense to facilitate safe and orderly access for consular processing on the airport compound. ros: president biden has faced criticism at home and abroad for the way in which the evacuation and withdrawal is being handled. representative jason crow is a colorado democrat and veteran. he served in afghanistan. he said we didn't need to be in this position, seeing these scenes kabul airport with our afghan friends climbing aboard c-17's. the democrat was referring to moments like this, people desperately trying to on planes

any way theyould. on the other side of the political aisle, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell said the biden administration's botched exit is a shameful failure. in the abc interview, president biden was asked about the withdrawal. >> you don't think this could have been handled, this exit could have been handled better in any way? president biden: no, i d't think it could have been handled in a way -- we are going to go back in hindsig at look, but the idea that somehow there is a way to have got enough without chaos ensuing, i don't know how that happens. ion't know how that happens. >> that was always pricnto the decision? president biden: yes. ros: our state department correspondent barbara usher with her assessment of the interview. barbara: it was remarkable he refused to make any admission of mistake or failure, saying there had been no intelligence

assessment that things would collapsehis rapidly, that they had de contingency plans, and this is what we were seeing play out right now. furthermore, he said it would not have been possible to leave afghanistan without some sort of chaos, which is the opposite of what he said last month, in which he sd it would be an orderly withdrawal. at also, not an acknowledgment at least at that point of chaos being a danger to many afghans who feel they have to get up quickly to say there -- to save their lives. he did acknowledge concern for women's rights, b he said military power was not the way to get them, that they would need to be done through economic and diplomatic pressure. he said the military had not advised him to hold off on the withdrawal. it has been widelyeported the military wanted to keep a stabilization force in country. he said that had not been proposed, surprised -- a

surprise as well. he also talked about the possible threat of terrorism increasing, whether this would give more space to terrorist groups to grow. he said possibly, but he said the threat was greater elsewhere -- in syria, africa, isis and al qaeda had metastasized and moved elsewhere and it wasmportant to focus resources on those areas. ros: i want to ask you about something thaterhaps didn't come up as much and we saw ts yesterday dung the debate in the house of commonsere in the u.k.. i didn't get the sense that he or the interview wanted to talk much about the merits of spending 20 years tryingo do this. the focus seems to be how well or otherwise the withdrawal has gone, not wheer the americans were right in the first place to start doing this. our breath: -- barbara: well, there has been quite a bit of evaluation in the press about the failure of the war in afghanistan, or the intervention in afghanistan.

but that is really a collective failure of four administrations. you have had agencies here over the failures as they were. so, i think the interview was more focused on the moment, which joe biden can take responsibility for. the war is the collective failure of others, b the execution of the departure is on him. and he is going to bthe face of it. ros: i saw lots of people responding to this interview, and also the speech on monday, saying this is a continuation of donald trump's america first approach, just with a democrat president rather than a republican. is that something democrats off the record would accept? barbara: well, i think they would accept that president biden has wanted to get out of afghanistan for quite a while. for the past decade, he has been

advocating some form of withdraw and it was an open question as to whether he would stick with mr. trump's plan to leave. he did so and that probably discomfited some democrats. certainly, some of them are horrified by the way it turned out on the democratic chairs of no less than four congressional committees are planning an investigation into this. but mr. biden is still adamant he made the right decision in the big picture. he was asked in that interview, would you have withdrawn troops even if presidentrump hadn't pledged to do so in that criticized deal with the taliban? he said yes, he would have done so in some performance he said there is never a good time to leave afghanistan, but we achieved our counterterrorism goals and have never -- and never should have been engaged in nationbuilding. ros: the origins of the struggle against the taliban lie in the attacks on 9/11 wn nearly 3000

people were killed. al qaeda found a safe haven in afghanistan thanked of the balaban, which is why the u.s. decided to invade and remove them from power. some of those affected by 9/11 are now filling your fully again. -- now feeling fearful again. reporter: in the soaring skyline lower manhattan, a heartrending gap where the towers of the world trade center once stood. footprints turned into memorials for the victims, and on the month where their lives were taken, military action was being waged. on this spot nearly 20 years ago, trying to find the killers and trying to ensure an attack like that never happened again. but relatives left behind are now among those who are furious at how it has ended. 40-year-old catherine wolf was

working on the 97th floor of the north tower when it was struck by a plane. no remains of hers were ever identified. her husband charles says there is no question the war was justified. and he certainlyrated the death of osama bin laden, but has been shocked by recent events. >> the situation that just occurred in afghanistan was inexcusable, absolutely inexcusable. what they did was pull out. how they did it was absolutely wrong. after this debacle this last weekend, i do not feel proud of our leaders. i feel proud about our nation, but not our leaders. >> each room has a little piece of joe in it. reporter: christine feels a huge amount of pride for her husband joe. he was with new york police at the time of the 9/11 attacks and is one othose who pulled bodies from the rubble.

that date was the reason he reenlisted and went to fight in afghanistan, but it was there that he was killed. >> they went over there to make america safer after what happened on 9/11. so, how are we safer now with the taliban taking over? i am sick to my stomach. looking at a 20-year war where joe and over 2300 soldiers have died in the afghan war, all to be given back to the taliban. joe was specifically killed by a taliban suicide bomber. reporter: christine's son was just four years old when he saluted the coffin of his father. for all the sacrifice, there are suddenly fears that chaos faraway means a new more dangerous era here. bbc news, new york. ros: it is now five days since

the earthquake in haiti. let's bring you up-to-date. the prime minister says the country is on its knees. in many areas, medical help is scarce we are told. correspondent james clayton boards from near the epicenter. james: as you head out from this city to the rural area, the road is marked by landslides and deep cracks. the village is remote and the scale of damage, catastrophic. rose marie took me to her house. her 15-year-old son was chargin his phone when the quake hit. the wall collapsed on him. >> these are his books. he had recently got them so he could start a new year of school. and now, he is gone.

i wrapped his shirt around my waist. it keeps me strong. james: when you come to these rural areas, the level of descriptn -- destruction is absolute. almost every h is destroyed. five people were killed in this house alone. to understand, you have to look at the cement and rock these houses are built from. it is really hard to lift this. it is really heavy, and when those kinds of walls fall down, they can cause catastrophic injuries. with no sign of aid or help, many people are living on top of the rubble of what was their homes. >> do we have to scream r the government to hear us? or is life over? rejames: the people of haiti fel like they have been forgotten and in many ways, they have. james ayton, bbc news. ros: let's get more on the

humanitari aid situation from save the children. >> at save the children, we prioritize locations we know very well, where we already have interventions in education. d we have been in contact with communities in schools and fortunately yesterday, we were able to cross the river [indiscernible] and we were about to talk to the school principal to have an idea ofhe loss in those areas. most of the schools are destroyed, which means that people [indiscernible] there is a lot of homes lost. chdren and their families are sleeping outside.

they need shelter so they can be protected, they need water and they need food. ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs. ♪ da-da-da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: cfo. caregiver. eclipse chaser. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. fe well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.