judy: jane ferguson reporting for us once again from kabul. jane, please stay safe. jane: thank you. judy: so what should the world make of the promises the taliban made today? our lisa desjardins has that. lisa: and for that, we get two views. ali jalali was afghanistan's minister of the interior from 2003 to 2005 and afghanistan's ambassador to germany from 2016 to 2018. he was a military officer in the afghan national army when the soviets invaded and was a military planner in the resistance against the soviets. he's now a distinguished professor at the national defense university in washington, d.c. and torek farhadi was an advisor to the governor of the central bank of afghanistan, and a senior economic advisor to former afghan president hamid karzai. he is now an independent analyst. i want to start off with something jane ferguson reported. the taliban is clearly fighting on the field of public relations, using buzzwords, thgs like inclusive. torek, what do you think this means, and is it having an effect? torek:, the messaging is right -- look, the messaging

jane ferguson reporting again from kabul. please stay safe. thank you. ♪ the white house announced today several new actions in an effort to combat the resurgent spread of covid-19. the most significant is the recommendation of booster shots for l vaccinated adults, to be available starting september 20. other actions include, requiring vaccinations for workers in long-term care facilities. directing the u.s. department of education to help schools open safely. and extending federal reimbursement to states for covid-related expenses. the moves come as the u.s. reported more than 1000 people died from covid on tuesday, the first time the daily count has been that high since march. it also comes as the delta variant accounts for more than 98% of new cases. u.s. surgeon general dr. vivek murthy is a member of president biden's covid task force, and he joins me now. doctor, thank you very much for being here. explain for everyone watching and listening exactly what is it that the administration based this decision on to offer boosters? dr. murth

jane ferguson, thank you for your reporting. jane: thank you. ♪ judy: it is another critical time for president biden, facing twin crises -- exiting afghanistan and a massive hurricane at home. all amid a major covid search. yamiche is joined by our politics monday duo. yamiche: thank you. th are amy walter, editor-in-chief of the political report, and tamara keith for npr. thank you for being here. america's longest war is finally over, amy, and it is by a deadline president biden set himself. what do you make of this historic moment given there is heartbreak about the people that we left behind, but also a sense of accomplishment on their part? amy: that is right. i think that is a good way to phrase it. you have the success of the airlift but most of what we have seen for the past two weeks or so has been chaos and carnage. that, i think, is what is really driving, at least for americans, the way they are interpreting this moment. how we ar going to interpret afghanistan a year from now, 10 years from now, really unclear. i

jane ferguson reporting again from kabul. jane, please stay safe. thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: the white house announced today several new actions in an effort to combat the growing spread of covid-19. the most significant is the recommendation of booster shots, which will be available starting september 20th. other actions include: requiring vaccinations for nursing home workers. directing department of education to help schools open safely. extending federal reimbursement to states for covid-related expenses. the moves come as the u.s reported more than 1,000 people died from covid on tuesday, the first time the daily count has be that high, since march. it also comes as the delta variant accounts for more than 98% of new cases. >> woodruff: u.s. surgeon general dr. vivek murthy is a member of president biden's covid task force, and he joins me now. dr. murhty, thank you very much for being here. explain for everyone watching and listening exactly what is it that the administratn based its ecision on to offer boosters? >> well, than

again with the support of the pulitzer center, here's jane ferguson. >> the completion of our withdrawal from afghan, and the end of the mission to evacuate american citizens, and vulnerable afghans, the last c-17 lifted off from hamid karzai airport at 3:29 p.m. east coast time. and the last manned aircraft is clearing the air space above afghanistan. >> reporter: general frank mckenzie, the commander of u.s. central command. >> tonight's withdrawal signifies both the end of the the military component of the evacuation, and also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in afghanistan shortly after september 11, 2001. >> we did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. i think if we stayed another 10days, we wouldn't have gotten everybody out that we wanted to get out. >> reporter: blood stained the hood of a car destroyed in a kabul neighborhood sunday by a u.s. drone strike. president biden last week promised action against the terror group isis-k after they launched an attack outside kabul airport that killed at least 170 afghans and 13 american servicemembers. american

. >> sreenivasan: newshour correspondent jane ferguson is in kabul. we spoke after president ghani had left the country and as the taliban reportedly entered the streets of the city at about 9:30 p.m. local time there. jane, what have you seen in kabul tonight? >> reporter: scenes in the city have been pretty remarkable today. we've seen thealiban actually enter the city with our own eyes as we were leaving to go out towards the airport area and see around the airport where the evacuations are happening. around about sunset, we saw the taliban moving in. we knew there were taliban elements insidthe city, but that largely on the outskirts of the city, taliban soldiers had been gathering that the taliban leadership had told them to wait until there's been a negotiated transfer of power before they entered the city. later in the day, that leadership told them to enter. aney're saying that's because they want them to prevent looting. let's not forget that tonight no one's really in charge of this ty. and that's a very, very scary prospect for the several

. >> hill: i spoke with newshour correspondent jane ferguson earlier today-- it was after 9:00 p.m. in afghanistan. she is reporting from kabul, with the support of the pulitzer center. jane, the u.s. allowed you in on their side today. what did you see there? >> they wanted us to see with our own eyes, people were boarding these flights, and with relative regularity. so we saw people lining up as they were getting onto the c-17s on the tarmac. we also saw some pretty remarkable and touching, and quite sad scenes of young children that had been separated from their parents, and that were basically being-- were in the care of the u.s. military. and this has been an increasing problem because of those chaotic scenes of crowds, of people, some getting trampled, some families getting separated. outside of the compound, an increasing problem is children just being found by soldiers, by american soldiers, or people handing their children to a soldier, to get them out of the crush of the crowd. and so they end up with-- with children, from anything from tiny tots to teenage boys, where the

jane ferguson reporting live tonight from kabul. thank you, and please stay safe. jane: thank you. judy: now, for perspective on the afghan situation from the biden administration. jon finer is the deputy national security advisor, and i spoke with him moments ago. thank you very much for joining us. our reporter in kabul, jane ferguson, is describing for us panic in the streets in kabul. she is describing the taliban preventing most people from getting to the airport. are these evacuations going as the administration had hoped? jon: it is a very serious security situation in kabul, and we are well aware of reports that people are having difficulty reaching the airport. a lot of people are reaching the airport in spite the challenges, and a number of people we have been able to put on evacuation flights out of afghanistan has increased steadily day by day, and we expect that to continue. but i do want to point out there's an extraordinary degree of problem-solving going on in the ground, both military personnel and diplomats, to address the situation you are describing. to get peop

joining us tonight, jane ferguson, special correspondent for the "pbs newshour" joining us from qatar. and joining me in studio, sahil kapur, national political reporter with nbc news, ayesha rascoe, white house correspondent for npr and yance, national security correspondent for "the wall street journal." jane, you did incredible reporting in afghanistan over the last few days and weeks. what are your sources telling you about what led to the attacks and how the situation got so dire? jane: if we start with the second part of the question, it's important to remember how vulnerable this spot was. i've never really seen anything like it in all my years covering conflict. you had thousands of civilians essentially in the street. it's an open street around the perimeter of the airport. you had them initially filtered through by taliban checkpoints. they weren't really searching people, they weren't carefully monitoring people or anything like that. they were trying to keep the crowds from crushing in and basically causing a stampede towards the gates. then they would get to american, bri

amna: jane ferguson reporting to us from doha. thank you, jane. jane: thanks, amna. amna: for more now, we turn to retired colonel market kantian. he had a 38 year career in the marine corps and was involved in the evacuation of saigon in the early 1970's. he is now a senior advisor at a washington think tank. welcome to the newshour and thank you for making the time. a lot of comparisons being made between the way the u.s. left the vietnam war and the way they are leaving this one. as you watch the events unfold, do you see those same similarities? guest: absolutely. there are a lot of parallels and a few differences. the parallels are that you have rapid collapse of regimes. the united states had supported for many years, collapsed after the united states withdrew its support. you have these panicked people fleeing the capital. you have an evacuation that's allowed by the opposition. and then you have the staging in the third country transit points before they reach their final destination. amna: there is a more complex system. but it was a very different time. we

amna: jane ferguson, who just evacuated from kabul herself, reporting from doha. thank you. jane: thanks. amna: and our lisa desjardins joins me now to talk about the president's remarks. lisa, you have covered him from years. what did you make of this? lisa: i think this was real insight into his thinking, something a lot of us have wanted to see for days. this was the senator joe biden who was the chairman of the foreign relations committee. this is an area he has a great amount of depth on. however, he was very blunt about where his thinking is coming from. a lot of people are wondering where this is coming from. he said his military commanders were unanimous. should they have stayed longer? no. should we trend more troops -- send more troops? no. he also stressed it is this strange dance with the taliban that is underway rht now that is part of this thinking, that he wants to leave by august 31 because he taliban, that coordination has allowed people to flow out of the airport in a certain way. it is also notably have that joe biden who was reaching out as the mourner in

again with the support of the pulitzer center, our jane ferguson is in kabul. >> reporter: relative calm prevailed over kabul this morning, a day after chaos gripped the afghan capital's international airport. in the taliban's first news conference since they overran the country, spokesman zabiullah mujahid, who has never shown his face publicly until today, sat down with afghan and intl journalists. the messaging was clear: a second taliban government would be a softer, more globally acceptable one. this was the friendly face of e movement. >> reporter: with an interpreter translating the spokesman's words into english, he announced a pardon for those they once called traitors. >> we are assuring the safety of all those who have worked with the united states and allied forces, whether as interpreters or any other field when they worked with them. >> reporter: he promised the taliban would respect women's rights under islamic law. >> women will be afforded all their rights, whether it is in work or other activities, because women are a key part of society. we are guaranteeing all their r

. >> woodruff: we have two major stories tonight-- our jane ferguson will be live from the kabul airport on the chaotic fall of afghanistan. but first, the u.s. food and drug administration gave full approval to pfizer's covid-19 vaccine today. almost immediately, the pentagon announced vaccinations will now be mandatory for u.s. service members. and, in new york, the nation's largest public school system ordered all staff to get shots, without the opt-out provision that it previously allowed. following today's announcement, a number of public health officials say they hope full approval will encourage people who had been reluctant, to get a shot now. we turn once again to dr. anthony fauci, he's director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases and the chief medical advisor to the president. dr. anthony fauci, thank you very much for joining us. so let me just start and ask you in brief, what does this full approval mean? because we know this is many months after the f.d.a. had given emergency approval, and after, what, more than 90 million americans have already had

. >> woodruff: we have two major stories tonigh- our jane ferguson will be live from the kabul airporon the chaotic fall of afghanistan. but first, the u.s. food and drug administration gave full approval to pfizer's covid-19 vaccine today. almost immediately, the pentagon announced vaccinations will now be mandatory for u.s. service members. and, in new york, the nation's largest public school system ordered all staff to get shots, without the opt-out provision that it previously allowed. following today's announcement, a number of public health officials say they hope full approval will encourage people who had been reluctant, to get a shot now. we turn once again to dr. anthony fauci, he's director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases and the chief medical advisor to the president. dr. anthony fauci, thank you very much for joining us. so let me just start and ask you in brief, what does this full approval mean? because we know is is many months after the f.d.a. had given emergency approval, and after, what, more than 90 million americans have already had the

jane ferguson reporting live for us again tonight from kabul. thank you, and please stay safe. >> reporter: thank you, judy. >> woodruff: >> woodruff: now, for the perspective on the afghan situation from the biden administration. jon finer is the deputy national security advisor. i spoke with him moments ago. jon finer, thank you for joining us. our reporter in kabul, jane ferguson, is describing for us panic in the streets of kabul. she is describing the taliban preventing most people from getting to the airport. are these evacuations going as the administration had hoped? >> so, judy, it is a very serious security situati in kabul, and we are well-aware of reports that people are having difficulty reachinthe airport. a lot of people are reaching the airport, in spite of those challenges, and the number of people we have been able to put on evacuation flights out of the afghanistan has increased steadily day by day, and we expect that to count. continue. i want to point out there is an extraordinary degree of problem-solving work going on with

again, with the support of the pulitzer center, jane ferguson reports from doha, qatar. >> reporter: a day after yesterday's deadly attack by isis-k near the kabul airport, some afghans attempted to resume daily life, and attended friday prayers. the message from the imam: one of anger at the u.s. >> ( translated ): you have seen the americans, in the past 20 years, that they haven't done any fundamental thing for us to be self-sufficient, while they leave the country. >> reporter: others openly wept outside a hospital, with body bags of victims from the blast. and some buried the dead. >> ( translated ): our hearts are on fire. how long should we lose our lives and be humiliated? this is really a big loss for all of us. >> reporter: badly injured survivors reflected on what they experienced as they laid in hospital beds. >> ( translated ): it was evening around 5:30 p.m. that the incident took place. as i had fallen in the stream, i thought only i had remained alive, and i saw all the other people were killed. >> reporter: meanwhile, evacuation flights continued out of kabul. satell

with the support of the pulitzer center, special correspondent jane ferguson is in kabul. jane: few images capture the frantic american withdrawal from afghanistan quite like this. desperate and terrified afghans trying to stop a u.s. military plane from leaving. on sunday, crowds stormed the tarmac of the hamid karzai international airport, anxious to board one of e last commercial flightsut of the country. scenes like this quickly spread on social media across afghanistan and the world, a symbol of the u.s.'s disastrous withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war. cctv cameras filmed the massive crowds blocking the runway. as people rushed to the airport, trying to escape a sweeping taliban takeover, anger was palpable across the city and a sense of complete abandonment by the u.s. the crowds made it difficult throughout sunday and monday f evacuation flights of u.s. and other foreign embassy employees to take off, delaying chaotic -- fntic efforts to get diplomatic staff out of the country as the taliban moved into the capital. after top aides fanned out in defens

jane ferguson reportsrom kabul. >> with just a week to go before the u.s. remission expires in afghanistan, president biden is aiming for his august 31st deadline but left open the option to extend the mission beyond that date. he said it came down to the safety of american forces. >> we are currently on pace to finish by august 31. the sooner we can finish, the better. each day of operations brings added risk for our troops. i have asked for the pentagon for contingency plans to adjust the timetable should that become necessary. i am determined to ensure that we complete our mission. >> the taliban has been against any such extensions. >> we are not in favor of allowing afghans to leave and after august 31, we will not allow the americans to be here. >> this comes among word that william burns secretly met face-to-face with the taliban's leader on monday in kabul. pentagon officials reported at least one flight is departing from kabul every 45 minutes. john kirby said they expect to build on that momentum. >> we still believe that we have been able to incr

jane ferguson, we are all so glad that you are safe and out of the country. just descre for us, if you can, what was that process like? what did i take to leave? what did kabulirport look like as you were leaving? >> reporter: i am still not at thevery far end of my destination, it has taken that long. but kabul airport itself was more orderly on the inside than it had been before. you could see the uptake in those planes coming in and out. it is still a six, seven-hour wait once you make it through the gate and you register. and the register system is fairly system. they're taking passports and data. but once you get registered for a flight, anticipate six or seven hours, which is a vast improvement. there are people who have gone to the airport and waited for days for a flight in the past. and then, essentially, once the flight comes for you, you're only allowed to bring limited luggage. so we see several hundred people are guided down the tarmac towards this huge d-17, these massive, massive military aircraft, which can carry massive amounts of people and

now, again with the support of pulitzer center, jane ferguson reports from kab. >> reporter: with just a week to go before the u.s. military mission expires in afghanistan, president biden is staying firm to his august 31 deadline. he said that decision came down to concerns about the safety of american forces. >> we are currently on a pace to finish by august 31. the sooner we can finish, the better. each day of operations brings added risk to our troops. in addition, i've asked the pentagon and the state department for contingency plans to adjust the timetable should that become necessary. i am determined to ensure that we complete our mission. >> reporter: the taliban has been adantly against any such extensions. >> ( translated ): we are not in favor of allowing afghans to leave, and after august 31, we will not allow the americans to be here. >> reporter: this comes amid word that c.i.a. director william burns secretly met face-to-face with the taliban's leader on monday in kabul. but, no details were released. pentagon officials reported at least one flight is departing from kabu

special correspondent jane ferguson is in kabul. >> reporter: few images capture the frantic american withdrawal from afghanistan quite like this: desperate and terrified afghans trying to stop a u.s. military plane from leaving. on sunday, crowds stormed the tarmac of the hamid karzai international airport, anxious board one of the last commercial flights out of the country. scenes like this quickly spread on social media across afghanistan and the world, a symbol of the u.s.'s disastrous withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war. c.c.t.v. cameras filmed the massive crowds blocking the runway. as people rushed to the airport, trying to escape a sweeping taliban takeover, anger was palpable across the city, and a sense of complete abandonment by the u.s. the crowds made it difficult throughout sunday and monday for evacuation flights of u.s. and other foreign embassy employees to take off, delaying chaotic efforts to get diplomatic staff out of the country as the taliban moved into the capital. after top aides fanned out in defense of the president and the withdrawal, and as b

our own jane ferguson is here to up date us on this fast-evolving situation. is jane, thanks so much for joining us. as we reported earlier in the program the united states is expanding its refugee program, who is eligible. is there any sense that everyone who wants to get out, who feels threatened by the advance of the taliban is going to be able to get out? >> there is a sense, john, that those who want to get out who have worked with u.s. agencies or any agencies sponsored by the u.s. government now might have more of a chance of getting out. their timing is everything. what we are hearing now from the state department is that those who have applied for siv program, the the intempletter, the mility interpreter program and who haven't been successful, perhaps haven't been eligible, didn't do enough service, that they may have another chance. that there may be a slight widening of the categories of basically the requirements necessary to get them on to that program. on top of that, we're also hearing that those who have worked with u.s.-sponsored development

again with the support of the pulitzer center, our jane ferguson reports tonight from doha, qatar. and a warning: this report contains graphic images that will upset some viewers >> reporter: bodies lay in a sewage canal, running now with blood, just outside the kabul airport following the bombings. plumes of smoke could be seen as planes took off, the evacuation continuing through the carnage. and sirens could be heard as night fell. chaos in the streets quickly ensued as people tried to help those injured from the blasts. bloodied victims were rushed to hospitals witnses described what they saw. >> ( translated ): people were standing at the airport gate for evacuation when the blast happened. they ambulances are carrying injuries and deaths. my cousin was also wounded on his leg so we brought him to the hospital. >> ( translated ): it was time for the evening prayer when an explosion happened near the airport, i saw about 70 vehicles carry around 150 injured to the hospital. >> reporter: u.s. officials >> reporter: an affiliate of the islamic state, the so-called isis-k claimed

joining me is jane ferguson, special news correspondent. appreciate you being here. let's talk about this. the number we were given at the outset, there were about 80,000 people that needed to come out. they're on track, it seems to make it, by the one week deadline. so where is the pressure coming from to keep troops in longer? is this more -- i don't know, where is the pressure to keep troops there beyond august 31st? >> well, what we know, joy, is there are still americans in afghanistan that the biden administration haven't said how many are still to come out. don't forget, they're not necessarily in kabul. they could be anywhere across the country. the taliban takeover of the capitol was so rapid very few people predicted it, but beyond that you have to remember that a lot of those numbers were put together before the biden administration announced an unconditional withdrawal from afghanistan. if you're looking at the special immigrant visa applicants, interpreters and their families that worked alongside the u.s. military, there will be many who hadn't applied

video taken by pbs correspondent jane ferguson days before the blast. you could see just how close, how dense, the crowds of afghans and u.s. troops are. they are literally touching each other. joining me right now is award winning correspondent for pbs and news hour jane ferguson. thank you for coming in. the videos that you've shared and you've taken are really important i think to kind of understand what has happened. the area where the expositions happened, you know it well. we could see it from your videos. could you describe for me what we are seeing and hopefully we could play the video again at the marines touching and holding back a group of afghans trying to gain access to the airport. what are they doing there? >> it is hard, kate, to over state just how chaotic the scene was in terms of security. people talking about it having been secured by the taliban and was basically not really a reflection of how the chaotic the scene was with the checkpoint. so in that footage, you could see the soldiers trying to control crowds of americans or afghan

jane ferguson reporting for us for another day from kabul. think you, jane, and please stay safe. -- thank you, jane, and please stay safe. >> thank you. stephanie: we will return to the full program after the latest headlines. according to congressional lawmakers briefed today by defense secretary lloyd austin, american citizens have been beaten by taliban fighters at airport check points. earlier today, president biden told reporters americans were able to travel safely through the check once. in pandemic news, san francisco became the nation's first ager city to enforce vaccination checks at restaurants, bars, and gyms. patrons using indoor facilities must prove they are fully vaccinated. new york city ordered public high school athletes and coaches in close contact sports to be vaccinated, and the u.s. extended a ban on non-essential travel along the borders with canada and mexico until late september. the food and drug administration is ready to grant full approval to pfiz's covid vaccine. we confirmed it will happen early next week. up

amna: as you just heard, lisa and not jane ferguson narrated our lead story. that's because jane and producer and videographer eric o'connor were flown from kabul this morning on the u.s. air force evacuation flight, to an american air force base outside of doha, qatar. they're working with the support of the pulitzer center, and i spoke with jane just a few minutes ago. amna describe what this like? wed out of the country. describe if you can, what with the process like, what did it take to leave, what did kabul airport look like as you were leaving? jane: i am still not at the far end of my destination, it has taken that long, but kabul airport itself was more orderly on the inside than it had been, you had reallyeen the uptick in planes. it is still a six or seven hour wait once you make it through the gate and you get registered. the registration process was fairly simple. they are giving passports, giving people wristbands, taking bubio data. six to seven hours is vast improvement. there have been people who got to the airport and waited for days for a fl

our own jane ferguson is here to bring us up to -- been as on the siation. thanks so much for joining us. as we reported earlier, the united states is expanding its refugee program. is there any sense that everyone who wants to get out, who feels threatened by the advance of the taliban is going to be able to get out? >> there is a sense that those o want to get out, who have worked with u.s. agencies or any agency sponsored by the u.s. government now might have more of a chance of getting out. timing is everything. what we are hearing from the state department is those who have applied for the program, the military interpreter program and who have not been successful perhaps have not been eligible, did not do enough service, they may have another chance. maybe a widening of the categories of the requiements necessary to get them onto the program. on top of that, we are hearing those who have worked with u.s. sponsored development projects, perhaps those who have worked on anything from usaid sponsored programs to those who have worked with the u.s. media in

joining me now, for more is jane ferguson, a special correspondent for pbs news hour. she's on the ground in kabul as the evacuation unfolded. thank you for coming on. clarissa lays it out well. since there is no way out by air, the only option is land and she's reporting on kind of this crush of humanity trying to get through the main border crossing with pakistan. what are you hearing about how hard it is going to be now that the united states is gone to get anyone out of afghanistan? >> getting people out now, kate, is going to be very, very different. it is going to be the opposite most likely of what we've seen in those scenes at the airport where it was a huge public crush, people who are fleeing the taliban had to brave the taliban to get there. so there were almost leaving very publicly. now i think what we're likely to see is those most at risk. there is a sliding scale. there are people whose lives are difficult and careers will likely collapse as a result of perhaps being a woman and working in certain industries. but there is going to be people who need to

. >> i mean, it's extraordinary just looking at these images from jane ferguson. i mean, the closeness with which, you know -- >> right. >> i know the u.s. general who was speaking was saying there's no other way when it gets down to brass tacks of it's got to be troops searching with their hands the bodies of people who are trying to get into this secure airport. >> it is. i mean, you know, it essentially is the equivalent of a potential combat zone, which it became today. over the years, we have all seen the images of troops going through villages on raids, looking for suspected terrorists. and when they go through, they have to search the people. it is very tough business. and it's especially heartbreaking right now because we have seen so many images over the last several days of the troops, you know, taking off their helmets, going up to children, offering them water, toys, walking along, playing with them, going into the crowds of people. and trying to render humanitarian assistance. you know, it is the afghan people that have continued to suffer so badly in

this comes from pbs news correspondent jane ferguson who recorded it in the days before the attack. she says it is the entrance point to abbey gate and she says taliban are in the front trying to sort through the crowd. u.s. also has troops there totally exposed obviously, risking their lives for this mission. very little separating them and afghans from potential terrorists. our correspondent who shot that footage joins us tonight. also with us is a former assistant secretary of state for political military affairs. jane, i appreciate you being with us. the video you took, it is so important to see this. it really gives you a sense of just the close quarters, the sheer number of people, and the lack of any real safety for u.s. troops there. can you just explain? i mean, was there actual screening being done by the taliban? because i can't imagine that folks who are walking around with, you know, pieces of pipe to beat people with are necessarily great at screening people. >> anderson, it wasn't really a screening or any kind of security screening by the taliban. what we really were

our chief washington correspondent jon karl, our adjunct senior fellow, and jane ferguson, pbs news hour correspondent and contributor to "the new yorker" just back from kabul. jon, i want to talk to you first here. listening to president biden in his top national security advisers before the horrible bombing, they were making this sound like a smashing success, but you heard what secretary blinken just said. >> yeah. i mean, it is -- they have been describing something that isn't reality. this has been an incredible air lift. more than 100,000 people evacuated, but what a disaster. clearly thursday was the worst day of the biden presidency, and we don't really know, martha, how bad it really is. we know the disaster that has unfolded. now the big question is does afghanistan once again become a safe haven for terrorist attacks on u.s. interests around the world or at home? >> which is of course, why they said they were getting out. that was solved. >> and maybe part of the reason why afghanistan had not been such is there was a military presence in afghanistan, but now we will have this

. >> i mean, it's extraordinary just looking at these images from jane ferguson. i mean, the closeness with which, you know -- >> right. >> i know the u.s. general who was speaking was saying there's no other way when it gets down to brass tacks of it's got to be troops searching with their hands the bodies of people who are trying to get into this secure airport. >> it is. i mean, you know, it essentially is the equivalent of a potential combat zone, which it became today. over the years, we have all seen the images of troops going through villages on raids, looking for suspected terrorists. and when they go through, they have to search the people. it is very tough business. and it's especially heartbreaking right now because we have seen so many images over the last several days of the troops, you know, taking off their helmets, going up to children, offering them water, toys, walking along, playing with them, going into the crowds of people. and trying to render humanitarian assistance. you know, it is the afghan people that have continued to suffer so badly in

host: you talk about the chaotic scene at the airport, this from jane ferguson on twitter. a correspondent for pbs newshour, some of the scenes at the kabul international airport. we will show that to you as we hear next from joe in maine, it democrats, good morning. -- a democrat, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to make a few comments. first off, trump was on, the ex-president, twice impeached. last year, trump and pompeo forced the afghan government that they would not allow at the meeting to release 5000 taliban prisoners. second thing i would like to say, listening to all of these republicans scream we've got to save, look at what they did. they don't want to investigate the insurrection, they fought payments to the fire and police and emergency workers for 9/11. what did that take, 20 years to get that? they fought it and they are screaming now and everyone of them that has the nerve to ask for an investigation when they are boding to not investigate january 6, what the heck is that ? host: do you think this country right now is on the right