This is a rush transcript from "Justice with Judge Jeanine," August 28, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: Breaking tonight at this hour in Kabul, U.S. military scramble to evacuate those still trapped in Afghanistan, all, as President Biden says commanders tell him, another attack is likely in the next 24 to 36 hours.
Hello, and welcome to JUSTICE. I'm Judge Jeanine Pirro. Thanks so much for being with us tonight.
National security officials and the President warning another attack is likely just days after a suicide bomber killed 13 American service members at the airport. The attack coming as the Biden administration continues to rely on the Taliban to bring our men and women home safely.
And despite the deadly scene, the President is refusing to budge on his deadline, insisting we will be out by August 31st, although the administration is admitting that Americans will be left behind.
At no time in American history, am I aware of an administration leaving Americans behind, let alone admitting that they are willing to leave Americans behind because of the deal they cut with a terrorist organization.
Tonight we'll look into why the airport was selected as a point of evacuation where Americans and our Afghan partners are literally going through a chokehold in an open exposed area, leaving them vulnerable to an enemy attack.
Why did the Biden administration warn that a terror attack was coming two days ago, and yet couldn't stop that attack? Why the American government is even negotiating with terrorists? Why the American government seems not only befuddled, but willing to lie to the American people about what's happening on the other side of the world that will inevitably impact Americans in the near future?
And why is Jen Psaki objecting to the word "stranded," when that is exactly what is happening to Americans?
Why did we leave $85 billion worth of military equipment to a mortal enemy who we have been fighting for 20 years, and who harbored the al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans?
Why out of over 100,000 evacuated or only 5,000 Americans evacuated?
Why? And who made the decision to abandon the Bagram Air Base so that the embassy could be manned? And why was the Taliban allowed to review manifests of those coming to the airport? Why was the Taliban given biometrics of our Afghan partners? Essentially a death sentence to those who assisted America.
And why is the President of the United States giving legitimacy to a terror organization?
Reaction from South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham moments away as we begin with FOX team coverage, David Spunt on the latest from the White House. But first to Lucas Tomlinson at The Pentagon on the heroes who died trying to complete the mission and the brand new information on America striking back overnight -- Lucas.
LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Judge, U.S. officials saying American drone strike killed two ISIS fighters part of a planning cell trying to kill more additional American troops at the airport in Kabul ahead of President Biden's August 31st deadline.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby would not name the fighters, but he instead just called them planners and facilitators, words normally reserved for low ranking fighters -- Judge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY (RET.) PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: They lost a planner and they lost a facilitator and they've got one wounded.
Make no mistake. Nobody is writing this off and saying, well, we got them, so we don't have to worry about ISIS-K anymore. Not the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOMLINSON: President Biden approved the strike less than two days after the suicide attack that killed these 11 U.S. Marines, a Navy medic, and a soldier. The average age of these 13 Americans just 22 years old.
Twenty other Americans were wounded. A U.S. military Reaper drone launched from Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE carried out the strike in Nangarhar Province, where the ISIS branch in Afghanistan is based not far from the border with Pakistan. The drone fired a missile at a car killing the two fighters and wounding a third.
Pentagon officials are not calling these fighters leaders. The Pentagon is refusing to say exactly who they killed in eastern Afghanistan in the drone strike and tell the targets were not on any of the U.S. military is kill list.
The suicide bombing killed over 160 Afghan civilians as well, families desperate to leave their country following the Taliban takeover. The drone launched hours before another warning from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul urging any Americans at the gates of the airport to quote, "leave immediately."
Now, by Tuesday, all the remaining 3,500 U.S. troops that remain at the airport will be gone. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the U.S. military will not have a presence in Afghanistan -- Judge.
PIRRO: All right, Lucas, first of all, kudos to you for pressing Pentagon spokesperson Kirby on a connection if any, between the Taliban and the Haqqani Network, obviously the Haqqani is the most extreme of the terrorists, and it's appears that Kirby told you, well, there's certain commingling and there's certain marbling, which is the exact opposite of what Ned Sullivan said from the State Department who said they're not connected.
So two things come to mind, either the line -- three, they're not connected, or they're not competent, or they don't know what is going on.
TOMLINSON: What was notable across the river at the State Department yesterday when Ned price said that the Haqqani Network and the Taliban are separate entities when the facts just say otherwise, judge, the deputy leader, the Vice President, if you will, in western Argo is Haqqani.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is -- there's a $10 million bounty on his head from the State Department. He's the number two in the Taliban. His uncle is running security in Kabul and, you know, shaking down not just Americans, but Afghans desperately trying to flee their country.
There are reports that they're seeking, you know, $1,000.00 a family to get into, you know, the airport and of course, those suicide bombers went through a Taliban checkpoint to get to the gate, the abbey gate where that deadly suicide bombing took place that took 13 American service members.
It's very clear there is a connection.
Today, I wanted the Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby, just to confirm there that there was a connection and he used the words marbling and commingling. I'm not sure if that's a legal term -- Judge.
PIRRO: Well, commingling pretty much is Anyway, Lucas, you've been doing great work. Thanks so much.
TOMLINSON: Thank you.
PIRRO: All right, our team coverage continues with David Spunt live at the White House with the latest -- David.
DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Judge, President Biden spent most of the day today in the Oval Office in the Situation Room with his National Security team talking about this big news of an imminent threat in the next 24 to 36 hours.
I'm just looking here at a new threat actually, threat assessment released by the State Department in the last few minutes warning all Americans that are near the airport in Kabul to get away as soon as possible. The State Department says due to a specific credible threat, people should leave the area immediately.
Now President Biden put out a statement today to the American people, really the world, talking about the next 24 to 36 hours. I want to read part of that statement to you. When talking about that threat, he said, "I directed them to take every possible measure to prioritize force protection and ensured that they have all the authorities, resources, and plans to protect our men and women on the ground. They assured me that they did and that they could take these measures while completing the mission and safely retrograding our personnel."
In a statement, the President also mentioned the strike that we initiated that Lucas mentioned against those two ISIS-K operatives that the U.S. is holding, partially responsible for the planning of the airport attack. The President said in part, "This strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay. Whenever anyone seeks to harm the United States or attack our troops, we will respond that will never be in doubt."
There is an increasing chorus of calls for the United States military to retake Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. We left in the middle of the night early last month. Critics of the President say we need Bagram to help get people out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I believe we could have maintained it safely. We've just gone 18 months with no casualties, that we could have maintained two runways.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SPUNT: And the latest numbers from the White House show that about 8,800 people just under 9,000 people have been evacuated in the last day or so. Judge, that brings the total since July when some of those initial evacuation started taking place to around 119,000.
But no question, the clock is ticking and the pressure is on here at the White House.
Back to you.
PIRRO: All right, David. Thanks so much.
And right here on JUSTICE last Saturday night. My next guest said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I'm worried about an ISIS attack at the airport that could kill thousands of people, including Americans who are sitting ducks. If we don't change this plan quickly, we're going to get a lot of people killed by ISIS, not the Taliban.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: Senator Lindsey Graham joins me now. Senator, those words were quite prescient. Look where we are now, the attack by ISIS, as far as I'm concerned, facilitated by the Taliban. Let in this suicide bomber, it happened, just as you predicted, and now we've got the thousands at the airport. What is your prediction now? What's going to happen for those people at the airport?
We just heard the President sent out a directive, don't go to the airport. How do we get Americans home?
GRAHAM: Well, we just don't have the security footprint to bring our people home, the French and the British went outside the airport to go get people and they were successful. This has been a failed strategy from the very beginning.
Here's the problem, the Taliban are using ISIS, maybe not directly, but indirectly to give President Biden a reason to leave. I mean, if you push the perimeter out, you'd have more control. So there's another ISIS threat coming, I'm sure of that.
In the last 48 hours, we've lost American servicemen, God bless them and their families, we're going to wind up leaving thousands of Afghan allies behind and hundreds of American citizens and it all started with a very bad strategy to begin with.
PIRRO: Well, why would they possibly say, we're going to leave an air base, so that we can man an embassy? What is the embassy doing?
GRAHAM: All I can say is, they will probably be talking about this in military classes for the next thousand years of things not to do. The first thing you should do is take the military out first, leaving civilians behind.
Bagram is great evacuation platform. It has multiple runways. It is out in the middle of nowhere. And you could take that airbase tonight, if you wanted to. If you had any will in the White House militarily, we could take Bagram Air Base, and it's very close to the resistance over in Panjshir Valley. They're about 30 kilometers away.
So, then you'd have a footprint to continue to get people out and you can make the Taliban's life difficult. But we're choosing to do none of that. This is a dark, despicable, and depressing chapter in American history.
PIRRO: Well, it's not only depressing, I mean, it is -- it's shocking. It is absolutely shocking. This is not the American ethos that we leave Americans behind.
But the whole concept -- Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister from the U.K. today, asked, specifically, that the United States not recognize Afghanistan, or the Taliban, as the legitimate leaders of Afghanistan. And he said that we should take -- we should join together in our effort. That's NATO.
And so here, we've got Biden, who decides that Taliban should be the recognized leader of Afghanistan. What does this game Biden to be enemies with NATO?
GRAHAM: Well, all I can say is it would be a terrible decision for the Biden administration to recognize the Taliban is the legitimate government. This was a coup d'etat by the Taliban. They took over a constitutionally elected government by military force. We should recognize the resistance, the lawful constitutional leaders of Afghanistan in Panjshir Valley.
And if you start bargaining with the Taliban to get our people out, well then ISIS will hit us in Syria and Iraq, and we've got people in Africa. The last thing you want to do is start legitimizing a terrorist organization like the Taliban, allow them to use military force and legitimize it.
And here's what I worry, the Taliban is slow walking us tonight. They're holding people back, and these people will soon be hostages. And if the Biden administration begins to negotiate with the Taliban to get Americans and allies out, you're setting a template for other terrorist groups to follow. It would be a disaster.
PIRRO: And you know, holding them hostage. I mean, there's talk about, you know money and other countries paying money. I mean, all these rumors that are going on, a terrible, terrible precedent for this great nation.
Anyway, Senator Lindsey Graham, thanks so much for being with us.
And still ahead, one group of veterans desperately trying to evacuate those still trying to escape Kabul. A live update from Afghanistan on their efforts.
But first, the father of one of the fallen Marines speaks out. His emotional message you need to hear.
Plus, will this mission be completed by Biden's deadline? Former Acting Director of National Intelligence, Ric Grenell, and retired naval commander Kirk Lippold join me next to discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE NIKOUI, FATHER OF U.S. MARINE KAREEM NIKOUI: He had voiced some worry, too, to the family earlier prior to him going. The way that the Taliban had, you know pretty much infiltrated the whole country so fast, and we were just kind of it seemed left to just this one little airport.
It was just basically so chaotic and not -- not really planned out. Now, I'm a carpenter and even I could spot that with my untrained military eye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: That's the father of U.S. Marine Kareem Nikoui, who was just 20 years old, killed at the Kabul bombing.
My heart breaks for him and all the Gold Star families grieving tonight. America grieves with you. I grieve with you, and the sacrifices of the men and women who have given their lives will never be forgotten.
Retired USS Cole commander Kirk Lippold knows the sacrifice all too well. He joins me now along with former Acting Director of the National Intelligence, Ric Grenell.
All right, Kirk, I'm going to start with you. You were on the USS Cole. We you lost 17 on the USS Cole. And thereafter, you were able to identify through Intelligence who was involved and you were able to apprehend three of the main players in terms of the attack on the Cole, correct?
KIRK LIPPOLD, FORMER USS COLE NAVY COMMANDER: Yes, Judge, within days, the F.B.I. and N.C.I.S. team knew exactly who had carried out the attack. They had found the safe house, they had found all the equipment, then it was a matter of putting together the DNA, the explosive evidence, and the fiber evidence necessary to confirm that it was them.
From there, that DNA evidence expanded out to where we knew the three principal conspirators that were involved, and over the years, two have been hit by drone strikes and al-Nashiri is still down in Guantanamo Bay awaiting his trial by military commission.
PIRRO: All right, and the drone strike that the Biden administration is talking about hit very low level people, a facilitator and a planner, they were not on the kill list. They were not individuals that they would even name which tells us that, you know, they're not a high priority in terms of the kill. And so that's really not the answer to what happened. But it's just an action that the government took.
So Ric Grenell, former head of the D.N.I. -- was that done, you know, to kind of make Americans feel like, hey, we're going after them. Is that real in terms of what we need to do to get Americans out?
RICHARD GRENELL, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Look, whenever we can take out ISIS members, it's a good thing. It's very troubling that they wouldn't name who the people are. Obviously, that means they're very low level.
But the fact is, Judge, this was not an Intelligence failure. This was a political failure. We knew April, that the Taliban was on the march. They were breaking the conditions that were stated. And we saw them take city by city.
I don't understand that on July 1st why we were pulling our troops when the Taliban was on the march? More importantly, for me, as somebody who served at the State Department for 10 years, why did our Secretary of State allow troops to be withdrawn -- American troops and NATO troops -- before he had cleared the embassy? Before we had removed the local hires that had worked with us?
This is unacceptable. I don't understand that.
When you're in a Cabinet meeting, that you don't speak up, and you don't say, wait a minute, don't remove the U.S. troops and the NATO troops until I have Americans out. This silence from our Secretary of State is just absolutely atrocious and he should really resign in disgrace for leaving Americans there and not speaking up in a Cabinet meeting.
PIRRO: Well, all of them should. And I know Kirk Lippold, you have spoken to that already in terms of causing people to resign. And we've even got some bills now to impeach starting Antony Blinken. Kirk, is that correct?
LIPPOLD: We do, Judge, and right now, what it really comes down to is the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as all of our heads of the services met together in what's called the Tank in The Pentagon. They got together, the plan was briefed on what they were going to do. They were told the risks, they chose instead to go to the President, acquiesce to his demands.
None of them felt that we could do this safely, but yet, all of them decided to comply, go along with the President. And now we have 13 dead. We have a number of Americans in jeopardy. They'd hadn't even released how many Americans may have been killed and injured in the attack. So, at this point in time, you're having a military failure, as well as a political failure.
PIRRO: Well, and you know, and final thought to Ric Grenell, you know, Donald Trump destroyed the Caliphate, all right; Joe Biden ended up giving our enemy the treasure, which is a sad commentary. You agree, Ric?
GRENELL: Yes. The thing for me, Judge, is that it's not bad or wrong to talk to the Taliban. The issue was what does the Taliban hear? And clearly what they heard from Donald Trump is, is that they made a move, they would be wiped out. They didn't make a move. They didn't take city by city. But all of that changed when Joe Biden took the keys to the White House.
PIRRO: The whole world changed. Commander Kirk Lippold, Ric Grenell, thanks so much.
And coming up, thanks to Biden's completely inept rescue operation in Afghanistan, U.S. veterans are now risking their own lives, yet again, to save desperate Afghans amid the ongoing chaos. We speak to one of those heroes live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHLEY STROHMIER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: This is a FOX News Alert. I'm Ashley Strohmier live in New York.
President Biden warning another terror attack in Kabul is quote "highly likely" within the next 24 to 36 hours. The President's warnings comes two days after a suicide attack at the Kabul Airport, which killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.
The President is also vowing to expand a U.S. air campaign against ISIS-K. A drone strike early Saturday killed two ISIS-K planners and facilitators.
And switching gears to this, Louisiana bracing for Hurricane Ida. The storm is expected to be a monster Category 4 storm before making landfall late Sunday or early Monday. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations have been called for communities across the state including New Orleans.
Ida is expected to hit the Gulf Coast 16 years to the day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
I'm Ashley Strohmier. Back to JUSTICE WITH JUDGE JEANINE.
PIRRO: U.S. military veterans on the front lines tonight in Kabul risking their own lives yet again to rescue desperate Americans and Afghan allies evacuated.
Joining me now by phone, Bryan Stern, a Navy reserve officer whose private civilian organization is conducting rescues through Project Dynamo.
All right, Bryan, thank you so much being with us and thank you for the work that you're doing in Afghanistan.
Now, how was it that you were able to get the Americans and our Afghan allies out, and the American military cannot?
BRYAN CAMERON STERN, NAVY RESERVE OFFICER, CONDUCTING RESCUES IN AFGHANISTAN (via phone): Thanks for having us, Judge. We're very big fans, as you would imagine.
Really, what we did was is we -- my team and I, we decided that we could not be spectators. So it's not a matter of doing what the military cannot do, it is a matter of helping where help is needed.
Just like on 9/11, after the towers fell, I was a first responder there. The original first responders were not all Fire Department, lots of civilians helped. It was a public-private initiative, if you will, where citizens help their fellowmen, and they dug in the rubble to try and find survivors.
So to Project Dynamo, it is an exact same thing that the U.S. military and the U.S. government is doing the best they can with what they have, with what they can do. But the reality is, is the volume of what needs to happen, they just simply can't do it alone and that's kind of where we come in where we are unhindered by bureaucracy. We can fly in, come in, and do things at the speed of the private sector, not necessarily the speed of government, which is what is needed in this case.
PIRRO: All right, but Bryan, how is this being paid for?
STERN: We are privately funded -- privately run, donor funded. Most of the expenses so far are paid for on my team's credit card. I'm one of the founders, my good friend, Matt Herring in business partner, and my other good friend, Sean. We bought tickets on our credit cards, flew into the area and started working right away.
And so far, that's how we've been doing everything, frankly.
PIRRO: Wow. I have to tell you, I'm impressed. And just very quickly, how do people find out about you? How do they find out where you are, if they're in Afghanistan?
STERN: Yes, the best thing to do is get a projectdynamo.org. We're doing fundraising. Very important. Nobody pays for a seat. We do not charge anyone for anything. There's no price for loyalty. We are not -- we could not be spectators and we do not expect our Afghan friends and partners who saved our lives, worked with us every single day for the last 20 years, we do not expect them or ask them to pay a fee.
We are fundraising because helicopters do not fly themselves. We need gas, we need parts, and all the maintenance and things that go with aircraft. But the reality is, nobody pays for a seat. This is purely on our own.
PIRRO: Well, first of all, you know you're doing God's work, Bryan Stern, thank you so much. Be safe. God bless you. And thank you.
Now my next guest knows too well the risk and sacrifice our military men and women make. This week Congressman Mark Green, who's also a combat veteran who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq joins me now.
All right, good evening, Congressman, thanks so much for being with us tonight.
REP. MARK GREEN (R-TN): Thanks, Judge.
PIRRO: Now, I've been watching you over the course of this, and you demand an infinite extension of the withdrawal. But more than that, you demand what a lot of Americans are demanding. And that is, you know, for them to get out of the way if they can't figure out what they're doing. But what do you think the chances are of that happening?
GREEN: Well, thanks for having me on, Judge. I honestly believe that the best shot we have here is to just communicate to the country and convince the Cabinet that Joe Biden is incompetent to do the job.
You look at his deceitfulness. I mean, he's basically lied to the American people about many, many things throughout this process. He's made horrific decisions. You talk about the decision to leave Bagram Air Base, he made that decision. I know for a fact they gave him packages, they recommended - - the military, the generals recommended increasing the footprint, the number of soldiers, bring in another brigade, keep Bagram Air Base, and Biden said no.
The death of those 13 service members is on Joe Biden's hand, 200 Afghans dead, Joe Biden's hands. He needs to go.
PIRRO: Well, there is no question. They were sitting ducks. So now that Americans are told not to go near the airport, very quickly, how do they get out? Are we just going to leave them?
GREEN: Well, I think there are a lot of -- the organization you just talked to, there are many other organizations like that, former veterans who are just not sitting down and taking this. There are organizations that are directing and guiding people. I don't want to go into too much detail about that. But, the failure of our government is being answered by the people of America.
GREEN: You know what, Congressman Mark Green, I have goosebumps. You know what? Americans are good people and I'm tired of this administration and the people on the left and the woke crazies telling us that we're bad people and we're racist people. And you know what, I've got another point.
This Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State. He is asking the U.N. to investigate whether we're racist. You know, he should have been doing his work so 13 people didn't die and 200 altogether.
Anyway, Congressman Mark Green, keep fighting. Thanks.
GREEN: Thanks, Judge.
PIRRO: And coming up, a former Defense Secretary's chilling warning that U.S. troops will end up returning to fight a new war on terror in Afghanistan. Retired Army Colonel David Hunt reacts next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO: New warnings tonight as the President says another attack is likely in the next 24 to 36 hours actually now 24 hours. The warning comes two days after a suicide attack killed 13 U.S. service members.
U.S. CENTCOM Commander General Frank McKenzie had this to say just a few hours after Thursday's attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: We assessed we have the forces we need to protect ourselves there. I am always in a constant dialogue with the Secretary. If I needed anything else, I'd be talking to him immediately. But I think we have what we need to protect ourselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: But did we really have what we needed to protect those fallen heroes? And now some former Defense officials believe we may end up right back to where we began 20 years ago.
All right, my next --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: We are going to have to go back in to get ISIS. We're probably going to go have to go back in when al-Qaeda resurrects itself, as they will with this Taliban.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: All right, retired Army Colonel David Hunt here. So you've got Panetta saying we're going to have to go back in and you've got McKenzie, saying we pretty much knew everything we needed to know and they're going to coordinate with the Taliban. So, what say you?
COL. DAVID HUNT, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MILITARY ANALYST: Well, first of all, I've got to say it's terrible that we lost 12 Marines and one Navy Corpsman. And the people that killed them is ISIS-K, but the responsibility and the compounding factor is where leaders like McKenzie, who is a Marine Corps, a four-star general, who did not do what they claimed they want to do, which is do force protection.
This job was rushed because of a late decision by the President. The military did a phenomenal job of evacuating as many as they did, they should not have had to do it. Now, they could have been a month ago and when you put people on to this kind of pressure, mistakes are made. And we were frisking -- we were frisking people in seven different gates, rather than backing them up.
We violated very basic principles of force protection. And the consequence of those violations is the 12 Marines that were killed and one Navy Corpsman and the four-star Marines general in charge of CENTCOM decided to add that point at the end of his briefing before he decided to pat himself on the back of how well they're doing, and they don't need any more help.
It was -- it's disgraceful to hear that. This is what -- this is an example of a four-star that needs to go down the road.
PIRRO: Well, what about all the other needing to go down the road? We knew the Taliban was expanding. We watched in April, May, June. I mean, we've seen the maps all week. I mean, they were taking over. I mean, its not Intelligence -- go.
HUNT: The Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense got this right. They gave the President options, he chose the latest one possible. It's been rushed since the beginning. Guys have done a great job, but in the middle of that rush, security measures were lessened for speed, and the people have -- and soldiers and airmen are the one who had to make this up and we lost 13 of them.
That is not forced protection having enough soldiers. That's an F. We lost -- this is the largest loss of life since 2011. This is a big deal. It's terrible when you lose one, when you lose 13 like this, you cannot have a four-star Marines general talking about it at the end.
PIRRO: All right, now what we've got is the President saying, get away from the airport, the abbey gate, this gate, that gate, they are all closed. Get away from the airport.
They've already admitted they're not going to be able to get all the Americans out. Is there a hostage situation? What comes next? Do the Americans can killed? Our Afghan partners get beheaded?
What's next?
HUNT: The answer is we don't know. We do not know. When we pull out on the 31st, we're going to have to settle and see what the Taliban does. The people that are still in that country that we want to get out are going to have to hide. There are going to be private contractors that are going to have to help and the government, but we -- the President has promised, let's hope he can keep his promise to go back and get people that we need to get out, that want to get out. That will be a complicated operation and dangerous.
This is because we decided way too late to do this, and then lied about it, and now we're not even paying attention to it. We've got a storm coming into New Orleans that's getting more attention than 13 guys -- men and women that were killed two days ago.
PIRRO: Okay, but to rely on a President who you yourself said has been lying to us and whose administration admitted they're going to leave Americans, who gave the treasure to the Taliban two weeks after we're fighting them? I mean, we're giving them $85 billion in equipment. You really believe that this guy, Biden has the -- what's the word? I can't say it. The chutzpah -- how is that -- to go back in?
HUNT: I think the public pressure is going to be enormous because of the press coverage. We already know -- the answer is yes. I think there's going to be force, there's going to be so much pressure to do it. If the U.S. government doesn't do this, there will be private people that will do it. There is no excuse for leaving U.S. citizens in Afghanistan. Period.
PIRRO: Right. While this guy, Blinken, goes to the U.N. and says, please, we're a racist nation. Help us and criticize us because we're racist, as opposed to focusing on Afghanistan.
Anyway, David Hunt, my friend, good to see you tonight. Thanks so much.
And next, Biden continues to blame Donald Trump for his botched Afghanistan withdrawal claiming he can't do anything about the Taliban. But isn't it his choice to coordinate with them instead of treat them like the terrorists that they are? FOX Nation host, Lara Logan reacts next. You don't want to miss this. She's great.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO: A new warning tonight telling Americans to leave the airport immediately over a credible threat. This, as the White House continues to warn that the threat to U.S. forces is acute and ongoing in Afghanistan.
So as our troops remain in danger trying to desperately evacuate Americans and Afghan allies, the question remains, will Americans be left behind enemy lines? And will the Biden administration ever stopped trusting the Taliban?
FOX Nation host and investigative journalist, Lara Logan joins me to react. All right Lara, what is your reaction to the latest warning?
LARA LOGAN, FOX NATION HOST, "LARA LOGAN HAS NO AGENDA": Well, I've never seen anything like it because I've been working with Americans here and on the ground in Afghanistan, to try to evacuate people. And every single time, they have been staged at a gate and feel like they're making traction, and they're going to get the guards, U.S. soldiers to let them in.
What have they done? A credible threat and everything gets shut down.
And this is the playbook that has been really repeating itself over and over and over again for the last 12 days and I find it absolutely staggering that the United States Intelligence Services, and the military, and the Joint Chiefs and all those smart people could have missed everything that the Taliban in Pakistan and Qatar were planning, all of the staging of forces inside Pakistan, the movement of troops by the Pakistani military, when they were sending Taliban fighters up in their helicopters to infiltrate Afghanistan from the north, and the movement of supplies and logistics across the border. We missed all of that.
But we suddenly have the most robust Intelligence apparatus in the world. Boy, I tell you, Judge, they don't miss a trick right now. And this idea that there's a threat to U.S. forces, you didn't put a perimeter. You let the Taliban tell you what to do. You gave them billions of dollars' worth of weapons. You haven't taken one single action to actually protect your forces.
All you've done is lie to the American people, betray the American people and the American soldiers on the ground and betray the Afghans. And in doing so, the lights of freedom today are going out all over Afghanistan.
And I can honestly say, as Winston Churchill said, we don't know if they will ever be led again, in our lifetime, and Afghanistan is just the beginning.
PIRRO: Well, clearly, with the Taliban having all of the military equipment that we have, and people say, well, it's sophisticated, they don't get it, they'll figure it out with Iran or with China or anyone else.
LOGAN: Yes, exactly.
PIRRO: But you know, this whole idea that the Biden administration is trying to make us believe that you know, that they have to get out because the Taliban is telling us, I mean, this is so against the American ethos of leave no one behind. It's just -- America is upside down now. How is the rest of the world looking at us?
LOGAN: Well, exactly as was designed, right? I mean, as if we are without moral power, or authority, without any form of power. We're weak. We are untrustworthy. We can't be relied upon. And believe me, you know, Hezbollah is celebrating, Hamas is celebrating, al-Qaeda is celebrating.
I mean, why on earth would anyone ever in the world do to the United States what the Biden administration has done? That is really the question. You know, there isn't a military person that you could speak to that won't tell you all the things that you could be doing right now to protect American troops.
You can't do nothing to protect your forces, and then stand up there and say you care when they're killed. Because if you really cared when they were killed, you wouldn't be doing what you're doing, and if it was a genuine mistake, then when you realize your mistake, you would take action that would correct your behavior.
You could stop this instantly by stopping Pakistan's support for the Taliban. You could have used any number of your military technology to attack the Taliban leadership. Why do you need to negotiate with them? What did the head of the C.I.A. agree to with Mullah Baradar? What did Zalmay Khalilzad agree to with the Taliban? Did they promise them recognition? Did they promise them American money?
Because the Taliban doesn't care one little bit about, you know, America or global institutions or recognition. They are not interested in that. Ideologically, you know, they have to be the only power. In their vision for the world, there is no one else, right, there is no other way of life.
So there is no compromise and that's been true from day one. It's never ever, ever changed.
And these people, you know, they have a special place in history, Judge. They will go down as the most evil people that have ever led this country and ever led the American people to their deaths, because when one of us is -- you know, when you have betray one enemy -- one ally, you betray all of your allies and when you empower one of your enemies, you empower every single one of them.
And so there is an American alive today that isn't less safe because of what this administration has done. And the fact that they can stand up there and lie about it the way they are, I have spent the last 18 hours leading Afghans, you know, talking to Afghans speaking with other Americans who have been desperately trying to help, being led on and led on and led on; and in the end, they stood there at those gates, Judge. They stood there at those gates and they listened to the Taliban say, we're coming to get you and the American soldiers said, no, you can't come in because the Biden administration would not open the gates. They had the power to open the gates, that's all they had to do, and they didn't do that.
PIRRO: I've got to go. We have got a hard break here. Lara, thank you. Lara, thank you. God bless you for what you do. Thanks.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO: Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next Saturday night. Don't forget.
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