with me right now, tom ameta and dan blakely with the book called "20 year war" released on 9/11 dedicated to veterans of the global war against terrorism and they both served in the 75th ranger regiment including towards in afghanistan. good to see both of you. >> thank you very much for having us. >> you hosted a podcast called never left behind dedicated to sharing the stories of veterans. i want to play a quick clip from an episode. >> i think there's a lot of threads of shared experience. the reasons that people chose to serve. there's a lot of similarity across five or six major buckets, if you will. there's a lot of threads of similarity on how they transition. whether it was positive or negative, but everyone's journey really is, it's true but it was crazy. they were their own unique thing. >> that idea of a shared experience that everyone goes through who serves. is there a sense that this is heartbreaking, just as the general tweeted, is that kind of the shared response or assessment? >> well, let me be very clear. i can't speak for the entire veteran community and somebody who a

i want to bring in dan blakely. he is the coauthor of a book called "the 20 year war," that will be released on 9/11, it's a photo journal dedicated to vet veterans, and he served in the 75th ranger regiment including tours in afghanistan he was with us last weekend, if you recall, and he's back with us now with a look at all that we have witnessed this week. what goes through your mind, dan? particularly when we saw the first images this week of the desperation, people running after the aircraft, the barbed wire here, the reports now of people being beaten and we've seen video of the scuffles. what's going through your mind? >> again, my heartbreaks for the afghan people and the american people that are left in afghanistan. not only our partners and our allies, but everybody who has a connection to the united states. and it's something that's going to be images that will be engrained in many people's minds for months and months and years to come. i've heard multiple people say this, especially when you saw the peop

here now, former army ranger dan blakely, author of" the 20-year war." co-author, i should say. let's start with the president's comments today because they stand in stark contrast to the reporting that we've seen from the ground, that people are getting to the airport safely and that it's been easier than what we've heard. if you've actually ever had to go through a checkpoint, you know how scary, how terrifying it can be, especially when they're used to force you from proceeding. oh, it actually absolutely is. i don't know what reality or delusion president is living in, but it is currently not the actual real world that the rest of us are living in, and it's appalling, and it's horrible. to give you a perspective on how wrong he is, when i get off this interview, jackie, i'm going to pick my phone back up, and i'm going to continue to try and help coordinate between a relief agency in the united kingdom that a friend of mine is a part of and people that are currently trying to help get people out of kabul, afghanistan, for a pair of twins that are currently in hiding from the

. >> thank you, dan. appreciate it. we are nearing the top of the hour right here on msnbc as we continue to watch these live pictures coming from the city of kabul. a city that is right now encircled by the taliban. by some reports, the taliban have been spotted within the streets of the city. there are reports that negotiations are taking place within the presidential palace there in the capital city. it's not clear if ashraf ghani who is taking part of those negotiations. also, we got word on that power will be transferred to a third-party, a temporary third-party soon. >> and we also know from our courtney kube's reporting there is gunfire in the kabul region. it's not characteristic of an all-out offensive. reports are there will be a peaceful transition there of at least temporary power here. we do know that the u.s. is going to be sending another battalion there to get troops out of the embass