Biden praises military evacuation of Kabul, calling it an "extraordinary success"

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

News

3.7 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Biden defended his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan saying he refused to start another “decade of war.” Biden said that the U.S. government believes there are about 100 to 200 Americans remaining in Afghanistan and Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. remains committed to help Afghan partners who have fought alongside the U.S. She specifically thanked an Afghan interpreter, Mohammed, who was part of the 2008 rescue mission for then Sens. Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel and John Kerry. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mohammed currently has a Special Immigrant Visa stuck in processing. He tells Anderson Cooper he “trusts” Biden to get him out. Plus, CNN National Correspondent Gary Tuchman brings AC360 to Grand Isle, Louisiana, after Hurricane Ida devasted the town. Gary and his team are the first television crew to reach barrier island. Airdate: August 31, 2021 Guests: Mohammed Gary Tuchman To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good evening.
0:01.0	After two decades of war in Afghanistan, President Biden today tried to forcefully defend
0:05.8	how he ended it, when he ended it, and how the final chapter unfolded.
0:09.7	That's one headline from his address, the nation today, the one that's of immediate importance,
0:14.0	especially the domestic political sense.
0:16.5	The other headline could be far longer reaching with much greater impact on how this country
0:20.2	maintains its presence in the world and at what cost and dollars in lives of American
0:24.3	service members.
0:25.3	Namely, the president's commitment to avoid fighting another war like the one he just
0:29.7	ended.
0:30.7	We'll talk about both tonight.
0:32.2	Today, new polling from Pew Research showed that Americans by a 12-point margin, 54-42%
0:37.9	approved the decision to withdraw.
0:40.0	However, as the president's overall handling the situation, 42% said the president did poorly,
0:45.3	substantially more than those who rated either fair, good or excellent.
0:49.3	This part of his remarks spoke to that.
0:53.0	Let me be clear, leaving August 31st is not due to an arbitrary deadline.
1:00.9	It was designed to save American lives.
1:04.7	My predecessor had made a deal with the Taliban.
1:07.4	When I came into office, we faced a deadline, May 1.
1:11.8	The Taliban onslaught was coming.
1:15.7	We faced one of two choices.
	...

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