Desperation grows as thousands still wait to evacuate Kabul

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

News

3.7 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2021

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chaotic scenes played out at the Kabul airport as thousands desperately sought to reach evacuation flights out of Afghanistan. President Joe Biden pledged to get Americans who are still trapped in the country out. The President also extended that promise to Afghan translators who risked their lives to help U.S. troops and diplomats over the 20-year U.S. presence in Afghanistan. CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team were among some of the evacuees who were able to get out of Kabul. She joins AC360 to describe the chaotic scene at the airport. Plus, a senior federal official tells CNN full FDA approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is “imminent.” Dr. Jerome Adams is the former U.S. Surgeon General. He tells Anderson Cooper if the vaccine gets full approval, it “will pave the way for organization to have more aggressive tactics in terms of getting their employees vaccinated.” Airdate: August 20, 2021 Guests: Clarissa Ward Dr. Jerome Adams 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, we begin tonight with new developments in this country's difficult and still
0:04.7	troubled pull out from Afghanistan.
0:07.2	Evacuation flights are back up and running after being on hold part of the day.
0:10.9	The first Air Force transports landing a short time ago at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
0:15.8	At the White House and what some saw as an effort to project resolve and competence after
0:19.7	a chaotic week in Kabul and a punishing week in Washington, President Biden renewed his
0:24.2	promise to get any American home who wants to leave.
0:27.8	He made a similar commitment to evacuating all Afghans who helped in the war effort.
0:31.7	Additionally, the President also revealed that U.S. troops yesterday went outside the airport
0:35.6	perimeter to ferry Americans to safety.
0:38.2	We're breaking news on exactly how that operation played out.
0:41.2	When asked today, the President said he's considering operations as well as rescue Americans
0:44.7	and Afghan allies who might be stuck behind Taliban checkpoints.
0:49.1	He also continued to portray the country's sudden collapse as unforeseeable.
0:52.8	Downplaying the internal State Department memo, we reported on last night which warned of
0:57.3	such a fate as American forces withdrew.
1:00.5	We're going to have more on all of that coming up.
1:03.0	But first, we want to get to the reality on the ground for so many people.
1:07.2	CNN's Clurse Award and her team were among the evacuees today, taking their place aboard
1:12.0	a crowded Air Force C-17 transport.
1:15.4	Her producer, Brent Swells, took these photos and estimated 400 people on board.
1:19.6	Most of them Afghan nationals, their destination tonight, Doha Kutter.
	...

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