Afghanistan Has Fallen (with Peter Bergen)
Skullduggery
Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti
4.0 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2021
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kabul has fallen. It was the last city under control of the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani until he decided to flee before it was lost. And now we are left with the striking images of the Taliban inside the Presidential Palace he once occupied. Disturbing video, which now plays on a loop across the news media, shows desperate Afghanis clinging to a US military jet as it departs from Kabul. Shocking footage that has instantly become a stain on the Biden administration despite being something that three presidents before him wanted to do, remove our US troops. It seemed universally what everyone wanted, but apparently not how everyone thought it should have been done. Biden boldly defended himself and the move in a press conference while placing blame on others even after admitting that the Taliban takeover happened more quickly than expected. Where do we go from here as we rapidly approach the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. The optics are not good.
GUEST:
- Peter Bergen (@peterbergencnn), VP at New America, CNN National Security Analyst, Prof. Arizona State, author, documentary producer.
HOSTS:
- Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
- Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
- Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)
RESOURCES:
- Bergen's new book: The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden - Here.
- Bergen's latest CNN article - Here.
- Shocking Video of people clinging to US plane as it departs Afghanistan - Here.
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| 0:00.0 | I stand squarely behind my decision. |
| 0:06.5 | After 20 years, I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time with draw |
| 0:13.9 | U.S. forces. |
| 0:15.9 | That's why we're still there. |
| 0:18.5 | We were clear-eyed about the risks. |
| 0:21.1 | We planned for every contingency, but I always promised the American people that I would |
| 0:26.2 | be straight with you. |
| 0:28.0 | The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. |
| 0:34.8 | That was a Defiant President Biden on Monday, offering his spirited defense and no apologies |
| 0:39.7 | for his decision to abruptly pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. |
| 0:44.7 | Even as he acknowledged, it didn't play out exactly as he had hoped. |
| 0:48.9 | Actually, the withdrawal, as an unfolded over the weekend, couldn't have been more disastrous |
| 0:53.6 | for the White House. |
| 0:54.9 | In the Afghan President fled, the Taliban marched into Kabul and seized control, and thousands |
| 1:00.4 | of Afghans rushed to the airport, in some cases clinging to departing aircraft as part |
| 1:06.1 | of a desperate attempt to leave the country. |
| 1:09.2 | Biden engaged in no small round of finger pointing. |
| 1:12.6 | The Trump administration he claimed had boxed him in, signing a peace agreement with the |
| 1:16.7 | Taliban that left him no choice but to pull out. |
| 1:20.1 | And the Afghan army refused to put up a fight, resulting in the chaos that followed. |
| 1:25.2 | Is Biden right? |
| 1:26.2 | We'll get some answers from veteran journalist Peter Bergen, who has spent as much time |
... |
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