depages county. mr. foster: he knew instinctively what many of us have learned, that when you prioritize workers and their families, the entire community benefits. simply put, naperville community is a better place because of the work that he did and what he did to help build it up. so i'm proud to have called bill a friend and even more proud of the work that he accomplished for his community. we will all miss him dearly and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call o

we continue to strive on the ground and what we really want to do is continue to provide you details in a timely manner. as you know, recently, the secretary of defense activated stage one of the civil reserve air fleet. right now that activation includes 18 aircraft from six commercial airlines. this will increase passenger movement from the interneed -- intermediate staging bases, temporary safe havens, to the united states. while we continue to prioritize military aircraft for the

transportation of individuals out of kabul and out of harm's way. please note, as i said, these craft will not be flying into kabul. as of the last 24 hour, 25 u.s. military c-17's, three u.s. military c-130's, and a combination of 61 charter, commercial and other military flights departed kabul. the total passenger count for those flights was approximately 16,000. of that number, the u.s. military transported just under 11,000 personnel. our mission remains focused on getting people out of kabul to our staging locations, continue to build out capacity to ensure reception and providing humanitarian assistance. the use of temporary safe haven

locations across europe and the middle east and areas that include u.s. installations in qatar, u.a.e., kuwait, bahrain, italy, spain, and germany. we deeply appreciate the support from these countries. this is truly a testament to the importance of our alliances and our partnerships. in the past 24 hours, five flights landed at dulles international airport with approximately 1,300 passengers. at this time, four military installations as well as dulles international are receiving afghan as they come into the united states. these installations include fort mccoy, wisconsin. fort lee, virginia. joint base mcguire dix, lake hurt, new jersey. and fort bliss, texas. the total number currently at these installations is approximately 1,200 and north

come continues to -- northcom continues to build out capacity to ensure they're prepared to receive more flights that will come in the next few days. there is absolutely a worldwide effort which includes several country, multiple commands and thousands of service members across the joint force. over the weekend, the airport in kabul remained secure. however, as many have seen already, centcom released a statement regarding an incident, no u.s. casualties, partner force or coalition forces were involved but regrettably, an afghan security force member lost his life. as the president referenced last night in his remarks, we are in communication with the taliban for the establishment and sustainment of several check points to increase throughput and facilitate safe passage for individuals working to gain access to the airport. today the number of troops at the airport continues to stand

at 5,800. commanders on the ground continue to actively monitor threats. they are empowered to make the appropriate force protection decisions, as always. u.s. forces retain the inherent right to use force in self-defense. we are using all of our available tools to maintain the highest threat awareness, both in afghanistan and throughout the globe. while this mission is not without risk, the safety of our personnel, american citizens and afghan evacuees at risk is of paramount importance. to wrap up, we continue to make progress in the completion of this mission. since the end of july we have relocated 40,000 people. sthins beginning of oachtions we have evacuated approximately 37,000. all this progress stems from the teamwork, professional. i and dedication of our military, our interagency colleagues and our allies and

partners. we know more hard work remains in the coming days and we're absolutely prepre-paired to meet that challenge. thank you. >> just a couple of other points i'd like to make. as you all are aware, the f.d.a. approved full lince sure of the fiez -- full licensesure of the pfizer vaccine and it was the secretary's intent to mandate vaccines upon licenssure so now the department is prepared to update guidance to require all various members to be vaccinated. a timeline will be released in in the coming days. the health of our forces and

civilian and community employees is foremost. we promote the readiness of our force and the health and safety of communities around the country in which we live. schedule item, secretary general milley will be attending the funeral for former secretary of defense donald rumsfeld at arlington national cemetery. he served as the 39th secretary of state and the 41st. he served in the air force and continued to serve as reservist until 1975 when he became secretary of defense for the first time. we send our deep condolences to his family and loved ones and indeed to the country. with that, we'll take questions. reporter: on the fizer vaccine, the secretary's intention to require it, he has not yet made that direction, did you say there's not yet a deadline for

doing that? >> we're preparing now actionable guidance to the force. we're going to move forward. making that vaccine mandatory. we're preparing the guidance to the force right now. and the actual completion date of it, in other words, how fast we want to see it get done we're working through that guidance right now. >> can i ask you a question on afghanistan also? a couple of things, one is, you've said -- yen taylor said a number of times as well -- that the military's airlift capacity at the airport was in the neighborhood of 5,000 to 9,000. you've gone beyond that. at least yesterday. can you say what the capacity has grown to? and can you explain a little more about the perimeter issue the general alluded to briefly when the president yesterday said something to the effect of, perimeter has been moved back significantly to facilitate

entry. can you explain that? >> a couple of things. on the capacity thing, we had set a goal of 5,000 to 9,000 a day. yesterday we exceeded that. we're not taking anything for granted, bob. we're taking this day by day. we'd love to see those numbers continue to rise. but we're going to just take it day by day. there's a lot of factors that go into being able to reach that output capacity, to include temporary safe havens that you can bring these individuals to as they complete their screening. and the screening is a big part of that. we have intelligence and law enforcement personnel at these sites making sure robust screening is done to these individuals so that nobody come into the united states that hasn't been screened in a robust manner. there's lots of factors that affect through put. we were very glad to see we were able to get that number out yesterday but we're going to take it day by day. day by day. reporter: the number of aircraft

available? >> i think the number of aircraft was like 20 -- no, no. the same number of aircraft are about available on any given day. we can get up tornado warning a given day, get up to about 30c-17's. that doesn't mean that 30 or going to fly every day. we were under that yesterday. still we were able to get out more than 10,000. >> and the perimeter question? >> i think the general addressed this late -- this a little bit in his opening statement. without getting into tactical detail, i think you can understand why we wouldn't do that, we are very interested in making sure that access to the airport remains as fluid as possible, familiarly for american citizens trying to get in as well as our special immigrant visa applicants. there's -- there's a lot of factors that go into making sure

that access remains secure and that we can facilitate it and what the president was referring to was efforts to improve that access from a geodwraskal space -- a geographical space out beyond the perimeter of the airfield. i won't speak to the details of how we're managing that, but you can imagine, thus far, and going forward, it does require constant coordination and decon fliks with the taliban. it absolutely is -- it's requiring of us to keep these lines of communication with the taliban open who have check points beyond the airport and what we have seen is that this coordination, the decon fliks has worked well. in terms of allowing access and flow to continue, as well as

reducing the overall size of the crowds just outside the airport, and those crowds have been a factor, bob. you heard me talk about this the other night. when, you know, several days ago. one of our commanders used a helicopter to do a helicopter to bring people in, it was largely because of the crowd size outside the gates. crowd size matters here too and that's what the president was referring to. reporter: i would like to -- i have two questions. i would like to go back to the incident. can you be a little bit more specific and tell us if you can rule out that the attackers were taliban? first. and i would like also to go back to the deadline, the french foreign minister said today that there is, quote, necessary, to continue the afghanistan occupation beyond august. >> cannot rule out who the hostile actor was in the

shooting last night. you saw central command's statement referred to it as a hostile actor, we don't know more than that this just happened, i don't know when we'll have more forensics on. this our focus was on making sure that we could maintain security at the airport. it was maintained, sadly, it resulted in the loss of a life of one afghan soldier and wounded several others. that's our focus right now. on the deadline, i can't speak for other nation states, i can only speak for the department of defense. you heard the secretary address this over the weekend. the goal is to get as many people out as fast as possible. while we're glad to see the numbers we got yesterday, we're not going to rest on any laurels. the 230e focus is on trying to do this as best we can by the end of the month. as the secretary said if we need, if he needs, to have additional conversations with the command for the chief about

that timeline, he'll do that. but we're not at that point right now. >> has the taliban told you that august 31 is the deadline and you must leave then? are those communications happening? is that something you've agreed to with the taliban? >> we have seen the statements of the spokesman of the taliban and understand that view. reporter: is it only americans and s.i.v. holders allowed through the gate now? has that changed? what's the policy about afghans in need now? >> afghans in need are still being processed and facilitating. >> given the number of people who are in hiding, who were either s.i.v. recipients, americans, afghan allies, why not reopen bagram air base? why not get an agreement from the qataris to come and land in

kandahar and elsewhere? see we sue -- we saw the qataris help, why not use them to help bring people out from -- right now you're just bringing people out from kabul. it's a choke point. >> first of all, the throughput has improve and increased. and i'm not going to -- i don't think it would be a useful expenditure of our time to monday morning quarterback the whole issue with bagram. it was closed down as part of the retrograde. >> i'm not talking about monday morning quarterbacking, i'm talking about look at the situation now, you need airfields you can land on to get people out. >> jep, let me try it first and then i'll give it to the general clearly. we are improving or throughput at karzai international airport. we think that we'll be able to

continue to time trie to improve that, that's the goal. but what you're talking about if resources and personnel as well as an increase, most likely, to the threat they're under, to try to go back and as you put it, retake bagram air base which is the size of a small city. i understand a lot of people have views and opinions about this. it was closed down as part of the retrograde. it was always supposed to be closed down as part of the retrograde, it was the last base turned other to the afghans, and even as recently as three weeks ago, before we actually had to conduct and noncombatant evacuation operation, the leads for the this building ran a tabletop exercise on what it would be like to run an effective neo operation out of hamid karzai operation and we're running that play now. it's not without its challenges,

for sure. but we're doing that now. that's the focus is on making sure that we can get as many people out as possible using hamid karzai international airport. the numbers are showing that it's working. nobody is taking it for granted. don't want to be predictive about tomorrow but it's working. do you have anything to add to that? ok. reporter: the august 31 question is august 31, extending that deadline is it an option for the u.s. anymore? is it wholly dependent on whether the taliban would let a u.s. presence remain in afghanistan past that date? >> our focus is on getting this done by the end of the month, tara. what we do here at the build, the pentagon, is options. our job is to provide the president, the commander in chief, options. as you heard the secretary say, if he gets to a point, he and chairman milley, they believe they get to a point where they believe they need to provide that advice and counsel to the president about an extension

he'll do that. you heard the secretary say himself if he had more time on the clock, he would use more time on the clock. but we're focused on getting this done by the end of the month. >> for major general taylor you mention 4-d 2,000 evacuated since july. is that 42,000 just on military airlift? or does that include commercial and chartered planes? >> that total number is u.s. military plus u.s. civilian state department, some of that was state department, contract air that went out also early on. reporter: do you have any breakdown of the number of u.s. citizens in that number that have gotten out? >> i do, but i don't have it right now. reporter: a couple of quick questions. first, the vaccine. this would be specifically the pfizer that would be mandatory? >> right now we're focused on the pfizer vaccine because of the f.d.a. approval that came in this morning. reporter: how many, i guess,

afghan soldiers remain in the perimeter? i think you said 500 to 600 a week ago is that still the number? >> i believe that's the operative number. reporter: and how many americans have been evacuated, i believe you gave 2,500 americans, has that number changed? >> we think that overall we've been table evacuate several thousand americans. and i would be reticent to get more specific than that. but since the 14th, we believe we have been able to evacuate several thousand americans. reporter: very quickly, so the last table top exercise for the new operation from h.k. was three weeks ago? >> it was about three weeks ago, before kabul fell. it was something the pentagon had been thinking about for a long time, as far back as late april, when we held a rehearse oofl concept exercise here looking at the retrograde, how that would parse out through the

summer. part of that conversation was the potential for noncombatant evacuation operations, what that would look like and how we'd execute that. reporter: i want to know if you could clarify a couple of points you made earlier you said any extension beyond august 31 would be the secretary talking with the president. would that include inputs from nato allies, particularly those who say they need more time? is that a factor? >> i think we would absolutely consider the views and opinions of our allies and partners who also had people there and of ou, are very much part of moving people out. reporter: have those nato allies communicated that they need more time? >> i'm not aware of specific conversations with respect to the deadline. reporter: on the perimeter, i'm having a hard time understanding, when the president talked about expanding that perimeter, can you help me understand who is part of that? is that u.s. forces, have they

moved where they're positioned from where they were a few days ago? >> without -- i want to be careful here to talk about specific movements at a tactical level on any given day. i'm not going to do that. i know that will be largely unsatisfying but let me finish. so that as caveat, we continue to look at security on the airport itself as well as the immediate environs of the airport. because in those immediate environs outside the airport, that's where you have taliban check points, that's where you have crowds assembles. that's where access to the gates is critical. in that space. just outside the airport. where we don't have a military presence of a sustained nature. and what we're doing is that we are in constant communication with the taliban about that space and what that space looks like. and the only thing i would say is that as you heard the

secretary say this, you've heard general milley say this, we're going to do what is required on any given day, at every possible opportunity, to make sure that those who need to get out, can get out. that includes the monitoring and the accessibility of that space outside the airport. but what it looks like on any given day, nancy, is going to change. reporter: i'm not looking for tactical details, but is that u.s. forces, that's something the public has a right to know. i want to know how we should be think about the u.s. military in that environment. >> we already consider our troops in harm's way at the airport. it's a dangerous situation. there's no question aboutthat. and we're not taking any of these threats for granted. and the commanders on the ground have the wherewithal to move their forces as they see fit to

again do essentially three things. make sure the airport is secure and can be defended. make sure that air operations can continue to carry on at the clip we need them to carry on. and c, this is an important one, to make sure that american sit zepps, at risk afghans or s.i.v. applicants can get access to the gates to get entry process. those are the three primary tasks and our command thoarns ground know that that's where their -- that that's what their tasks are and can move forces, employ forces and assets as they see fit to do that. on any given day that could change. i don't think it would be helpful, particularly because the threat is so high, to talk with any great specificity about what that would look like. reporter: were you big deliberately vague when you said the number of americans was several thousand? was it because you're not sure of the number?

if you need to check the number, that's the most important number here. the number of americans. so if it's just a matter of checking the number, can you do that and give it to us? or if you're being deliberately vague, tell me why you're being deliberately vague? >> i think i'm going to leave it at several thousand right now, dave. reporter: then tell us why. >> because i think the number is very fluid. and it literally changes nearly by the hour. >> it's not more fluid than these 11,000, 37,000. >> i'm going to leave it at several thousand right now. reporter: you said you heard the public statement from taliban about the redline, august 31. does this mean you didn't hear it directly from them since you're communicating with them on a daily basis are you communicating with them on this issue? did you tell them, discuss with them the need for maybe extending the august 31

deadline? >> i'm not going to speak to specify -- specificity about the communications we're having with the taliban on any given day, it happens several times a day. we are well aware of the stated desire to -- by the taliban to have this mission completed by the 31st of august. i would tell you that we, too, are still planning on completing it by the 31st of august. that is the mission that was signed by the commander in chief assigned to us. that's what we're trying to execute. reporter: are the forces remaining now in kabul focusing on the evacuation mission? the u.s. forces, of course, are they maintaining that capability to maybe deal a threat from taliban beyond the august 31 deadline or maybe attacks? >> again, i appreciate the question in terms of hypothesizing past the 31st.

we just aren't there yet. our troops are focused on the fission -- on the mission, the three missions i just articulated. that includes being able to defend the airport. being able to defend themselves and those in favor say aye operations. we have assets in place to allow them to do that as well. i am not going to speculate about post-august 31. we are head down focused on keeping these numbers up as best we can, getting as many people out as we can by the end of the month. if there needs to be a discussion about extending that timeline, then we absolutely will have that discussion at the appropriate time with the command for the chief. let me go to the phones which i have not done yet. jeff, you get the first one. reporter: regarding the incidents, was the gunman killed and was it u.s. troops who shot this person? >> i do not know on either, jeff. you could certainly reach out to central command for more detail

at that level of the incident but again this just happened, jeff, so i just don't think we have that level of forensic detail to offer you today. do you have one more, jeff? reporter: yes, i'm sorry. from what we're larying on the ground, only american citizens and green cardholders are being allowed into the airport. do you know when that will change and when afghans at risk will be able to enter? >> as i mentioned to jen, it's for american citizens, s.i.v., applicants can be processed at the gate. at-risk afghans are absolutely being considered for entry. reporter: how many people have been killed at the airport? we have been hearing report os seven, nine, a nato official told abc there were 20 killed in and around the airport. what's that number? >> you're talking about afghans? at the gates? reporter: people killed on monday when the c-17 took off and two killed during skirmishes

inside the airport, the guy killed today, what's that total number of people who have died? >> i don't have exact numbers of that, i can't answer the exact number right now. reporter: can you take that question and get back to us? >> absolutely. reporter: and you mentioned, sir, that the capacity was 5,800 troops at the airport right now. and the secretary of defense told us last week that he did not have the capability to go out and do extractions because there's not enough troops, they're defending the airport. have you asked for authorization of additional troops to go in to the airport to help with potential extraction should it come to that? >> i think, the word capability and the actual troop number are two different things. we have 5,000, approximately 5,800 forces. and as i briefed over the week, as forces flew in, flowed in, capability continued to increase. initial security was the most

important. ability to establish. because without that security, the ability to do other things is just not possible. so as our capability increased and at that 5,800 number, as you've seen, we have the capability and have executed other operations to ensure that american citizens are being brought in safely and prepared for evacuation. reporter: just so i can understand what you're say, recap, you think 5,800 troops, the u.s. has the capability now to expand the perimeter at the airport and continue all this te president had mentioned with the opening of the perimeter and also to do extractions if needed? or are you going to ask for authorization of more troops? >> 5,800 were able to -- we're able to continue to secure the airfield, continue to increase safety there. and continue to do the operations we already have.

>> what the secretary said was where he was on last wednesday, we didn't have the capability to do large scale massive movements of people but he did say if there's an incident where somebody is in ex-tremendous mis-- extremis and we need to get them, we can do that. over the course of the ensuing days, more capability has flown, in more troops have flown in. so we do have the ability to help when we can and where we can to help americans move toward the gates. we won't talk about the details of each and every one of those but we do have those capabilities. reporter: do you perceive the need to authorize additional troops to go in? should you have a hard stop at august 31 and you have to ramp up capacity again, do you foresee authorizing adecisional -- >> i don't think it will be help to feel get ahead of where we

are right now. there are no plans at this time to request or to authorize additional u.s. forces to this mission. courtney. reporter: are u.s. troops leaving the airport on a regular basis? i don't understand what's going on. >> courtney, on occasion, as needed, our commanders have the authority that they need to use their assets and their forces to help assist americans who need to get to the airport, get to the airport on a case-by-case basis. your question was leaving on a -- it's not regular. i don't want to leave you with the idea that we're somehow patrolling the streets of kabul. but on ooccasion, where there's a need, and there's a capability to meet that need, our commanders on the ground are doing what they feel they need to do to help americans reach the.

and there is a variety of messages that can be effected and without going into details. we are using the methods at our disposal. reporter: have there been additional details? >> there has been one additional instance where are rot ari airlift was used to help americans get from outside the airport into the airport and i'm going to leave it at that. >> one more. reporter: when do you expect -- you are are looking at an august 31 deadline, when will you stop taking additional people into the airport. because you have to get the troopts out, right? and what is the deadline so you will be able to get the american

and get the people at the embassy out? >> it is important to remember we are not the only people flying people out. it is certainly kon seeivable without a military footprint there, people can get out of kabul. and i don't have a timeline to speak to today. we will work through that as appropriate as we get closer to the end of the mission. and as you will know, we deliberately plan in the movement out of assets and equipment and resources so we can preserve the capability we need as long as we need it. reporter: it took several days to fly these 5800 in. but it could take a day or two

to get everyone the military back out and could move the timeline back? [indiscernible] >> you have to do some backward planning for rett grow grade. i'm not prepared to speak to the specific dates or process by which that would occur. but we are thinking through that right now and a lot of that is going to depend on how far we get as fast as we can get by the end of the month. i don't want to speculate of what that is going to look like. the focus is getting as many people out as soon as we can and as fast as we can and secure the airport and we will factor all of those things into whatever the departure timeline looks like to continue to maximize as

best we can without getting anybody hurt. and thus far, some exceptions, some smaller exceptions. we have been fortunate that nobody has. reporter: any effort to tally up the number of u.s. weapons and equipment that are now under taliban control? and any program to mitigate this problem to destruction or confiscating them back? >> we talked about this before. i don't have an exact inventory of what equipment that the afghans had at their disposal that now may be at risk. obviously, we don't want to see any any weapons or systems that to fall into the hands of people that would use them in such a

such a way to harm our interests or those of our partners and allies. we have a vested interest in not wanting that to happen. but i don't have any policy solutions for you today about how we would or could address that going forward. i would remind you, though, mike, an awful lot of equipment, weapons, resources were drawn down even in the last years and months of the previous administration, as president trump decided to move down to a force of 2, 500. so there was a lot of rett row grade up to that point. after the president's decision in mid-april to complete this drawdown and we talked about this, a big part of the rett row grade was part of the disposition of weapons,

equipment and vehicles. some of them were destroyed and some of them were brought back home and some of them were redeployed and some returned over to the afghans. we are trying to get a better sense of what that would look like but i don't have any specific solutions of what we can or will do going forward on this. and to the degree -- i'll leaf it at that. reporter: let me ask a question of taylor. [indiscernible] >> i don't other than that communication is happening and that, like i said earlier, we are very grateful for all of our

partners and allies that continue to offer any assistance to allow the safe evacuation of afghans and american citizens. [indiscernible] >> i don't know how many republic of korea aircraft have been used. as i said today, a lot of countries have been supportive and we appreciate that. and i don't have the number offhand. [indiscernible] >> thank you very much. >> get to the phones here. [indiscernible] >> i wanted to ask if you were given the short amount of time left, just seven days are you going to allow private charters

to land in greater numbers to pick up afghans at risk. you can't move all the american citizens in seven days and are special operators, et cetera. also, private charter companies they have been told when they can land and only an hour to land and pick everybody up and some are leery because they don't think they can get it done that fast. >> the ability to continue through-put is very important. as we look at operations and air aircraft landing safely immediately in and loaded and if that drives what we call time on ground to maximize the amount of evacuees that we can get out. as you saw the numbers, that

required, as you just said less than an hour, which is very quick. i do know that transcome and the commanders on the ground who are doing that are using and want to use to use every capability possible to get people out of kabul. so that's all i have. >> one more on the phone. sam. >> give us an update on u.s. support on haiti and disaster? >> we can give you an update on that. >> question for the general. it sounds like what we are hearing from the podium but the u.s. is relying on taliban on

crowd control outside the gates. that wasn't part of the plan. what forces were were assigned to conduct security outside the perimeter and where are they now? and i have a follow-up. >> the 5, 800 forces were part of that force package to provide security for the airfield. within the last seven days and seen the ability to continue to coordinate and synchronize with taliban checkpoints. if you looked the last two days, that ability with the commanders on the ground to work with the taliban, tactical commanders has allowed and i would say the ability to throl better the access into that. >> you are saying u.s. troops were are planned to be on the outside of the airport but did not work out, is that what i

understood? >> the 5 nowsm 800 forces were to secure inside those gates. >> no plan on the inside? >> that's not what i said. what has changed is the coordination and using the use or the taliban being there. reporter: one last question if i might. given this arrangement, does this mean that the taliban is now in a better position to dictate when we leave? >> i can't answer. what i do know our continued mission which we were given was to secure the airfield and ensure to facilitate the evacuation by august 31 and i refer to the comments by mr. kish by. >> we covered this pretty well. august 31.

>> the vaccine rollout plan is pfizer will become the mandatory and the secretary will wait until mid-september to ask secretary johnson or will they become mandatory. >> with the f.d.a. approval on the vaccine and moving forward to implement a mandatory -- i don't want to get ahead of the decisions made ahead yet. [indiscernible] >> good question. medical personnel at the international airport are

conducting covid screening for those who are feeble or symptomatic and then as appropriate, depending on what the temporary safe haven, what the guidelines are at the safe haven, additional screenings occur and then upon arrival in the united states, all passengers are being tested upon arrival and then medical professionals make the proper decisions after that. >> are there any -- any soldiers testing positive? >> i don't have that level because i don't know what positive results may have come in for soldiers working at the airfield. but obviously their health and safety remains a top concern for all of us.

[indiscernible] >> but the ability to build out to 25,000 capacity. we aren't there. it is going to take days and weeks to get to that level, but that's the goal. and the other thing i would say, if the secretary in communication with the chairman and with the general at north come feels we need to add to that exoosity and add to the

list additional military installations. but we are at four. >> what are the current level of individuals? >> we can take the question and northern command would have a better number. reporter: i appreciate it. it is such an effort to get into the airport and some people are lucky to get in. but now we are hearing that the food supplies and water supplies, sanitation, hygiene are really bad inside the airport and so bad that some people are returning to go outside the perimeter. so my question is this, how can you prevent a humanitarian crisis inside the airport as this goes on and on? >> fair question. imgoing to let the general take

the question. >> 1, 200 have entered the united states. as we talk about the conditions and the ability to continue to provide ar humane and safe piece on the airfield. as you see some of those flights that continue to come into kabul, those are bringing those supplies in. as those supplies are used, we are continuing replenishing to ensure that we have food and all those things that are needed, water, for those that are preparing for evacuation flights. so the last 48 hours, we had a lot of folks on there, which is a good thing. that means we have gotten people through the gate and processed and people are safe and we can fly out. the commanders are assessing what the requirements are to

ensure that safe and humanitarian environment. >> i would add, we are mindful of these reports, too. it is not lost on us. there is a lot of people and they are desperate. and we are trying to do the best we can to get them out of harm's way as fast as possible. and when you have a through-put problem some people will be stuck whether in qatar, nobody wants to see this go on for any longer. and nobody, more than the u.s. military and our troops want to see anybody suffer more than they have to. and we are very aware that there are and some sanitation shoes as well as shoes of sustainment. and as the general said we are making a priority. some of these planes are coming in with that kind of support and

leaving with people. we are doing the best we can under extraordinary circumstances, the pain, the circumstances, the fear and anxiety, none of it is lost on us and our troops. reporter: the british evacuation in command has been locked out with the staff, 82nd airborne and taliban and there is tension between the britts who are sending people outside the airport and members of the 82nd airborne who want to join them. what is happening? is this report accurate? and there was supposed to be into ba gram air best and that was shut down by the white house, is that accurate? >> i have to go back and look at

this. the only -- the britts who want to go out, we are doing it as well. we are going out as needed and helping americans in the field. [indiscernible] >> she asked me about airlifts and using rotary air wing. and assist americans. we aren't going to detail them. as to these reports, first i have heard, you have to give us time to dies ect it and get back to you. [indiscernible] >> i don't have anything on that reporting that you got there. we have to take a look and take the question and get back to you

reporter: you said -- [indiscernible] reporter: what kind of coordination with taliban forces on the ground? is there joint patrols? >> there is no joint patrols. there is no joint patrols. no joint coordination. but we are in communication with the taliban about their presence and where it is on the field. and i think, nancy, for reasons, i hope you understand we aren't going to get into the details of what we are doing to help facilitate the passage of americans getting onto the field and we want to preserve as many options going forward because of the things going outside the airport are dynamic and dangerous and for good reasons we are not going to detail everything we are doing and every opportunity.

[indiscernible] >> no. we are not out there side-by-side with them. you can erase that visual. i have to get going guys. i appreciate it. your goal is to come back here again around 1500 for an afternoon update. thanks very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org. >> the house is now in recess, lawmakers are working on three measures, $3.5 trillion resolution, the infrastructure bill and voting rights and expected to vote on two bills.

when the house returns watch live coverage here on c-span. >> c-span's "washington journal" we take your calls live on the air and we discuss policy shoes that impact you. coming up on tuesday morning -- >> white house press secretary gave an update on the biden