U.S. is working directly with Taliban leaders on the ground trying to salvage Biden's crisis in Afghanistan

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

News

3.7 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2021

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Admn. Peter Vasely, is leading the effort to negotiate with his Taliban counterpart to maintain security at the Kabul airport and ensure the safety of both Americans and Afghans hoping to escape. Ryan Crocker is a former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria. He tells Anderson Cooper he thinks the Admiral is “doing the right thing.” Plus, Miami-Dade County, Florida’s largest school district, voted 7-1 in favor of a mask mandate, in defiance of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order that blocks mask mandates in schools. Alberto Carvalho is the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He joins AC360 to explain why he thinks he’s doing the right thing and says he will wear the consequences of his decision as a “badge of honor.” Airdate: August 19, 2021 Guests: Amb. Ryan Crocker Alberto Carvalho 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 nine seconds of video that speaks to the chaos and
0:05.5	desperation in Afghanistan.
0:07.4	Take a look.
0:12.4	What you see happened at the airport perimeter in Kabul, that's a baby being handed to
0:26.0	American troops on top of the wall.
0:30.4	We don't know why the child was handed over or where the child's parents are or if
0:35.2	they were in the crowd.
0:36.4	We asked the Pentagon for comment, we haven't heard back.
0:39.5	We've got breaking news as well, new details of negotiations between the top American
0:43.5	commander in Afghanistan and his Taliban counterpart.
0:47.0	To be clear, these are not the ongoing talks between diplomats in Qatar.
0:50.9	This is a rear admiral in Navy SEAL speaking directly with the Taliban, seeking a way to
0:55.0	secure the evacuation of Americans and presumably Afghans from the country.
0:59.7	Also tonight new reporting on a group of American diplomats who foresaw the chaos unfolding
1:03.7	today.
1:04.7	They'll tell you about the extraordinary action they took to warn their boss, the secretary
1:08.4	of state that the situation in Afghanistan could rapidly deteriorate and that they feared
1:13.2	a catastrophe, which is exactly what came to pass, which is exactly why the Biden administration
1:18.9	is scrambling and why it's now necessary to negotiate with the Taliban and why despite
1:23.4	evacuation efforts speeding up some of the growing number of transport planes are leaving
1:27.4	Kabul less than full.
1:29.6	People who want to leave simply cannot safely get through Taliban checkpoints to the airport.
	...

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