'Your World' on foreign response to Afghanistan

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UK in final stages of Afghanistan evacuations

House of Lords conservative member Lord Daniel Hannan tells 'Your World' that Joe Biden 'prioritized' the Taliban over Boris Johnson.

This is a rush transcript of "Your World with Neil Cavuto" on August 27, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. 

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:  Thank you, Martha, very, very much.

Well, we're getting some mixed signals out of the Pentagon briefing right now. When the Taliban was claiming earlier that the airport is under Taliban control, we just heard from John Kirby at the Pentagon, who says that that is not true, that U.S. forces still are, but all of this on the same day we discovered that now we're up to 105,000 since the government fell in Afghanistan who have been flown out of that country.

It can be a bumpy process, but it's going along a lot more swiftly than was earlier thought. We are on top of that and the pace picking up and the pressure building now ahead of the Tuesday departure from the country of all remaining American personnel. 

Welcome, everybody. What an incredible week it's been. We're closing out this one with some questions. Where the heck are we going from here? 

We have got you covered with Lucas Tomlinson at the Pentagon with the latest on this maybe dislocated story, with what the Taliban saying and what we are saying. We have also got Peter Doocy at the White House, Trey Yingst in Doha, Qatar, and also Navy SEAL Rob O'Neill, the man who took out Usama bin Laden, on whether this could prove to be a breeding ground, potentially for the next Usama bin Laden. 

Let's first go to Lucas Tomlinson at the Pentagon on confusion over who's running things at that airport. 

What are you hearing, Lucas? 

LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS PENTAGON PRODUCER:  Well, Neil, Pentagon officials say that U.S. forces are still firmly in control at the airport. 

Over 5,000 remain on the ground. 

But let's go across the river to the State Department, where State Department spokesman Ned Price denied that the U.S. government is giving any names to the Taliban, names of not only Americans, but critical Afghan allies who the U.S. is trying to bring on to the base.

Here's Ned Price.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN:  The notion that we're just providing them with names upon names of individuals who may stay behind in Afghanistan or in a way that would expose anyone to additional risk, that is simply, simply false. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOMLINSON:  The Pentagon corrected reports from yesterday of two suicide bombers, saying there's now just one, adding there was no explosion at the Baron Hotel. 

One suicide bomber approached those Marines and soldiers at the Abbey Gate. 

Then gunmen opened fire. The attack was blamed on ISIS. The Pentagon would not say if any U.S. troops were killed by that ISIS gunfire. The death toll among Afghans rose to 130. The Pentagon says there is a risk of more attacks. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY:  We're monitoring these threats very, very specifically virtually in real time. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOMLINSON:  And our own Jennifer Griffin spoke to John Kirby earlier today. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT:  How can General McKenzie say with such certainty that the Taliban were not involved in the suicide bombing? 

I understand that you're reliant on them for protection around the airport. 

But are you ruling out them being involved because you're so dependent on the Taliban right now? 

KIRBY:  Actually, I didn't hear General McKenzie put it that way, Jen. In fact, I think, in one of the questions he got, and I think it was Idris' 

(ph), he said -- Idris asked, was there a failure? And the general said, of course, there was a failure somewhere, obviously.

GRIFFIN:  And in terms of ISIS-K, how many ISIS-K prisoners were left at Bagram and are believed to have been released from the prison there, and why weren't they removed before the U.S. pulled out to someplace like Gitmo? 

KIRBY:  Well, I don't know the exact number. Clearly, it's in the thousands. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOMLINSON:  Now, Neil, on the question of how many Special Immigrant Visa holders have been evacuated from Kabul Airport, you mentioned over 100,000 people have been evacuated from that airport.

At the State Department, Ned Price was asked for those figures. He said he does not have those -- that information. Just moments go at the Pentagon, General VanHerck, who's the head of U.S. Northern Command, said more than half the Afghans that have come to United States, some 6,000 in all, do not

-- or not Special Immigrant Visa holders. 

There's about 6,000 here in the United States at four different U.S. 

military bases, Neil. 

CAVUTO:  Got it. Lucas, thank you very, very much. 

Meanwhile, the president says the mission will be completed in Afghanistan, regardless of yesterday's attack, and now concern of another one that could be pending. 

Let's get the latest from Peter Doocy at the White House.

Hey, Peter. 

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT:  Yes, Neil, the president has been briefed by his national security team that another terror attack in Kabul is likely. That's the quote. 

So that is what the White House is looking at while they still have Americans on the ground and as they mourn the 13 service members who were killed yesterday.

The most compelling sound bite out of the president's prepared remarks yesterday about Afghanistan were that he is not going to forgive or forget the people responsible. He's instead going to hunt them down.

I followed up about what exactly that means a few minutes ago. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY:  When the president says we will hunt you down and make you pay, what does that look like? Is he going to order a mission to kill the people responsible? Or would he be satisfied if they are captured and brought to trial? 

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:  I think he made clear yesterday that he does not want them to live on the earth anymore. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY:  So, that's that. 

And we know that the White House is careful not to say they have a partnership with the Taliban in the final days of our time at Hamid Karzai international airport. But they are coordinating with them, including some members of the Haqqani Network wanted by the FBI. 

So I asked the White House exactly what is going on with that. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY:  Some of the people running security for the Taliban in Kabul are terrorists with millions of dollars worth of bounties on their heads.

Are we going to try to bring those known terrorists to justice before we leave the country? 

PSAKI:  Peter, I think our focus right now is on doing everything we can to get the remaining American citizens who want to depart out of the country, to get our Afghan partners out of the country. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY:  So, the White House remains confident that they can establish a so- called over-the-horizon capability to take these terrorists out if they remain in Afghanistan without Americans on the ground -- Neil. 

CAVUTO:  All right, Peter Doocy, thank you very much for that.

Now, we were going in and out of various press briefings, the State Department, the Pentagon. But one little item that might have been overlooked is Ned Price at the State Department when he said that the Taliban has asked the United States to keep a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan of beyond August 31, when we are supposedly leaving Afghanistan. 

This comes at a time when we're trying to get to the bottom of yesterday's attacks, and this ISIS-K fringe element that's been around for close to six years and its potency there, and the argument that it is a lethal enemy, not only of the United States, but of the Taliban that now controls the government of Afghanistan.

Trey Yingst on all these developments in Doha, Qatar. 

What are we hearing about this ISIS-K? You have covered the region for a long time. And a lot of people are just hearing about them, and now we're looking for them. 

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT:  Neil, good afternoon. 

That's exactly right. ISIS has taken responsibility for this suicide blast yesterday outside of Kabul's airport that killed 13 U.S. service members, along with dozens of Afghan civilians. ISIS-K is a splinter cell of the Islamic State, ISIS Khorasan, what it stands for.

And the Taliban is an enemy of the group, obviously, along with the United States. President Biden has pledged to track down those responsible for the attack, along with the Taliban. This group says they will go after those who committed this atrocity outside of the Abbey Gate at Kabul's airport, because they don't want to be seen as aiding and abetting terror, at least as it stands right now. 

This comes as dozens of people wounded in that attack yesterday, Neil are being treated at local hospitals, hospitals completely overwhelmed last night. But yet evacuations from Afghanistan are continuing. We know more than 12,000 people were airlifted from Kabul in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to more than 100,000. 

The clock is ticking, though, on those evacuations. Tuesday is the date that American forces are supposed to leave Afghanistan, and you still have thousands of people trying to flee. One source in Kabul did explain that the situation could deteriorate rapidly. 

And we have seen new video of the Taliban actually extending their security perimeter around the airport following yesterday's attack. There is a humanitarian crisis developing amid all of this happening, as the United Nations believes more than half-a-million Afghans could flee on foot once these evacuation flights cease -- Neil. 

CAVUTO:  Trey, you mentioned the Taliban and the airport and maybe expanding their ring around it here. 

There are separate reports that the Pentagon shut down here that they, in fact, control the airport, that the Taliban controls the airport. What's the real skinny on that? Do you know? 

YINGST:  Look, we have seen some images from the military side of the airport just outside the gate where cars can actually drive onto the facility. And there were Taliban Humvees. They used to be Afghan security force Humvees. They look like American military infrastructure. 

But it's an indication the Taliban is preparing very rapidly to take over the airport when U.S. forces leave. Now, the Pentagon is trying to tamper down on those reports that the Taliban is prepared to take over the airport. But the reality is, we are just a few days away from when American forces are scheduled to leave. 

And it opens up this big question of who will control the airport and the air tower there. We have heard initial conversations about possibly Turkey or Pakistan stepping in to play the role that the United States has played over the past week, controlling the air traffic in and out -- Neil.

CAVUTO:  But it would be a Taliban-run country, so you would imagine that the Taliban would have disproportionate control over that, so fascinating. 

Trey, thank you very much.

On that same issue Trey was wrapping up on, the Taliban official that is now trying to clarify this position that got the Pentagon all riled up, saying that: "Our team is ready to take full control of the Kabul Airport as soon as the U.S. leaves. It's just a matter of time."

And that might strike you as odd, when you think that whoever is running the country kind of runs the airport. It isn't quite that simple. Remember, the Taliban inherited, well, air travel, planes, jets. They have no experience in this field. And that is the question that comes up, that Turkey would play a prominent role here in doing that, or Pakistan, as Trey said.

But it's a mess and confusing, especially now when you have got ISIS-K. 

They too, will claim that they can exert some control of the country and, in fact, do know a thing or two about planes and jets and that sort of thing. 

Let's go to Rob O'Neill, the retired Navy SEAL, the man who shot Usama bin Laden.

Rob, this back-and-forth on who controls the airport is more than just an academic debate, isn't it? I mean, if you are the Taliban, you want to make sure that you're calling the shots there, right?

ROB O'NEILL, FORMER U.S. NAVY SEAL:  Well, they have been planning what to do when we withdraw in Pakistan for 20 years right now. 

And this Taliban, ISIS, ISIS-K, Haqqani, all this stuff, this is just stuff that they can use against us. They know what they're doing. They can say they're against each other. But when they do some B.S. negotiation, they being the Taliban, and then somehow ISIS-K comes in, the Taliban can say, oh, that wasn't us. That was ISIS. 

And it's all the same news. They're just waving different flags. I mean, these are warlords and warlords and warriors that have been doing this for a long, long time. Yes, there are guys in there from Syria and some foreign fighters, but these are many of the same group of people. 

And they're just -- it's -- it baffles me right now that we're even considering negotiating with the Taliban. It seems to me it's pretty simple. Everyone outside the wire right now with Humvees and guns is Taliban. They're all right there. Why don't we just go kill them? That's a good idea. 

We shouldn't be negotiating with these guys. They're not a legitimate government. The fact that we're trying to legitimize them as a government is an insult to everyone who's fought and died in that country. They're just out there. They're doing this. They're laughing at us, and they're going to attack us again, because they brought the perimeter. 

They're not -- they're not extending the perimeter. They're just encircling it further and further. They know that they can get close to us like they did yesterday. They can let the dudes in with the suicide vests and the guns. They're going to do it again. And it's going to get worse.

The more people we evac, the worse it's going to get for the Americans on the ground. And it's sad that we're doing this. It's shameful to see it. I haven't talked to one veteran that approves. It's disgusting. 

CAVUTO:  I have a feeling the president isn't going to take you up on that advice. 

And if he gets out on the 31st, Rob, he indicated in an interesting reference here that, historically, any time we leave a war area, we leave people behind. I'm paraphrasing here, but his message seemed to be to telegraph that, look, when we go, there are going to be some we leave behind, maybe quite a few. 

What do you think of that? 

O'NEILL:  Well, it's very easy to say that when you're wearing a suit and you're in the Beltway.

I mean, sometimes, we leave some things behind. Those are people with family, real people that really die. I mean, he would know. He was a senator during the fall of Saigon. He was a vice president when we ditched them in Benghazi. Now he's a president during probably the worst day in military history. 

And he can just say, yes, we left him behind. It's a shame he should do that. And you're going to notice with these people saying we're getting adviser -- from crappy advisers. You're going to hear things like, let me be clear. Then you will hear over the horizon. 

The next one will be the next ridge line. You're going to hear cute stuff like that, because that's what they say, because they don't know what they're talking about. They don't listen to their people. And they don't listen to people on the ground. 

And that's all they're doing right now. And, hopefully, they're thinking we can leave and during this very, very quick news cycle, we will just forget about it. Once the Taliban turns off TVs, the Internet, no one has cell phones, we don't really know what's going on and who's getting beheaded over there. It'll be fine. We will forget about it at least by the next midterms. 

CAVUTO:  You know, I'm Rob, I'm curious, though, if you don't mind.

I'm like a bone on this ISIS-K thing. So, forgive me. But I do remember when the Taliban took over and emptied out prisons and all. One of the first people they shot and killed was this presumably ISIS-K leader. And there were similar such incidents we heard around Afghanistan.

So, all right, they're not close buds or friends. Are you saying now that they will be so, because, as much as they dislike and compete with each other, they really hate us? That's what -- that bonds them?

O'NEILL:  Well, they need us out of there. And that is what bonds them.

And they have a similar ideology. But you got to figure this happened in the early '90s, when the -- when the Russians left, and then you get seven warlords with their countrymen trying to fight over Kabul. They're going to get there, they're going to take the country like they did now.

Then they're going to fight each other. And this has been the case for a couple hundred, if not a few thousand years in that part of the world. It's not going to change. They pretty much know each other. They don't like each other. But a lot of people in power positions don't like each other. 

It just so happens, in this part of the world, which is nothing like the West, by the way, some of the negotiations end in death. 

CAVUTO:  Do you think, Rob, as things stand now, that this country once again becomes a breeding ground for trouble, much as, in Pakistan, it was with Usama bin Laden and elsewhere, that this is going to become the new launching bad potentially for attacks on the United States and elsewhere?

O'NEILL:  Yes, there's going to be training grounds there. 

It's always been a place like that. But this is going to get worse, because they will have the Islamic militants moving in starting training camp. But what you got to look out for is the Chinese coming in now taking advantage of the natural resources, and then moving stuff in between China, which does border Afghanistan, into the sea right there. 

And that's no joke. I mean, if you take a look in Kabul, it's chaos, except for two places, which is the Chinese Embassy and the Russian Embassy. 

There's probably a big picture plan there. And, again, we have talked about this before. 

Can't get into it in this segment. But wait and see when someone like Taiwan needs an ally. It's not going to be us because we don't have the stomach for it. 

CAVUTO:  Rob O'Neill, you call them as you see them, the retired Navy SEAL, the guy who shot Usama bin Laden.

And, if he's right, this could be a breeding ground for the next Usama bin Laden. 

We have a lot more coming up after this, but a moment of silence today in the world of Wall Street at both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq to remember the terror of yesterday. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CAVUTO:  All right, well, the president has been warned by his military advisers right now that another terror attack on the compound around the Kabul Airport, where Americans are gathered and our troops are staged for the time being to help Americans and Afghan nationals get out of the country, that an attack could be imminent in the next few days, only four days before we supposedly leave the country. 

And that would include our personnel. 

Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann joins us right now, retired U.S. Army, former Green Beret. 

Colonel, great to have you.

This threat, obviously, it seems credible enough. And it's by the same folks who had warned about the threat that obviously resulted in the deadly explosion yesterday. What do you make of this latest one? 

LT. COL. SCOTT MANN (RET.), U.S. ARMY:  Well, like Rob O'Neill, it shouldn't surprise us that this is happening.

Push the perimeter out. I mean, that's not me telling the Department of Defense what to do. This is me asking the Biden administration to let the military do what they know how to do. This is a noncombatant evacuation. 

That means we need to go in and get our people out. And if someone gets in the way, we roll over them. 

We don't go in and negotiate with an insurgent group to get citizens. And I will tell you the other thing too, Neil. Right now, there's veteran Green Beret, SEALs and Marine raiders like me who are doing what the government ought to be doing, which is coordinating with Afghans to get onto the airfield and to get to safety through rat lines out of the country. 

It's happening all over the place. And we're not going to stop. 

CAVUTO:  Well, that's the incredible part, what guys like you do, Colonel. 

But the one thing that has been curious to me about this perimeter that the Taliban set up originally around the airport -- and I guess it's expanding out. They say they're the ones expanding it out. We say we're the ones looking to work with them to expand it out. I don't know what the truth is. 

But I do know that on the outside part of the fence, it's the Taliban. On the inside, it's us. That seems a dangerous mix right there, doesn't it? 

MANN:  Well, yes, especially if your parameter is set up so small, and it's being managed by the Biden administration on the 24-hour news cycle. Yes, that's probably an ill-advised thing to do when you have ISIS-K, Al Qaeda and the Taliban, like, you can throw a rock at them. 

And we have got right now Afghan commandos, Afghan special forces and other very well-trained individuals who are postured in various locations who can get on that airfield and be removed. I mean, push the parameter out and bring some of these people in. 

These are not just people huddling in the cold. They are doing that. But we have our partner forces right now who are ready to come in, and they need to come in. And there's coordination under way. But we can't get through. 

They can't get in. And it doesn't make any sense to have a parameter, if you're not going to bring in the people that you're there to get out. 

CAVUTO:  Colonel, what do you think of the fact that the Taliban says of ISIS-K and these rogue ISIS elements that they're no friends of theirs, yet, when I learned a little bit more about the details of yesterday's attack, it wasn't just a single suicide bomber?

Either simultaneous with that bomber or shortly thereafter, there were ISIS-K fighters firing on American troops. That wasn't only complex. That sounded pretty coordinated. 

MANN:  It's very coordinated.

But we have a parameter that is so small and so defensive in nature, it's super obvious. And, right now, we're not conducting a noncombatant evacuation, or a NEO. We're simply sitting in defense hoping it all works out. And that's not a fault of our military. They need the authority to do what they need to do.

I -- people need to be calling their congressmen, demanding that our military get the authority that they need to go do this job.

CAVUTO:  Colonel Scott Mann, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for your continuing service as well.

Following all those latest developments, but it has created an outcry globally among other foreign leaders, who are wondering what the heck is going on and what are we sacrificing, including from no less than Great Britain, a conservative leader there who wonders about where the president is taking the world here. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CAVUTO:  Here comes Ida, now Hurricane Ida, a Category 1 storm. 

It could be a Category 3 by the time that whips through the Gulf Coast, already evacuation orders in effect, emergencies called, and still days away -- after this. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CAVUTO:  All right, Britain the latest country right now to indicate it is winding things down in Afghanistan. 

But Boris Johnson came the closest any foreign leader, ostensibly a foreign leader friend, to say that he could be botching it here and that, by not extending the deadline, he's imperiling not only this country and friends of this country, but a whole bunch of other countries that have people they want out of that country. 

Sometimes, politicians can be a little circumspect, a little vague in their writing and in their thinking, but not my next guest, Daniel Hannan, the House of Lords Conservative member, U.K. Conservative Party, at that. 

And he's been -- he's been taking on the president of this country and how he could be endangering this country and other countries. 

Daniel, it's very good to see you again. 

DANIEL HANNAN, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER:  Great to be back with you, Neil. 

CAVUTO:  Is the issue for you, Daniel, the quick retreat, the leaving on the 31st, everything that's been leading up to it? What? 

HANNAN:  Yes, I mean, I'm not any kind of neocon. I wasn't a supporter of the Iraq War. I get that, with a trillion-dollar deficit, you have to retrench. You have to pick your fights. You have to be careful about maintaining open-ended commitments. 

But a horrible realization hit me last week, which was that, when it came to the effecting of this withdrawal, the Biden administration was listening to the Taliban, rather than to their closest allies, right? 

So the British wanted a slight delay, so that we could get everyone else. 

And Boris Johnson directly asked the president for a delay. But Joe Biden decided to prioritize what the Taliban was saying. 

And that is an extraordinary thing, that he was -- he was more swayed by the people who have been shooting at U.S. troops for 20 years than by the people who were supplying the second biggest contingent in Afghanistan and who suffered the second biggest number of casualties. 

CAVUTO:  That's a very good point, Daniel. 

But I get more and more feelings from the notes and all these reports anecdotally and some who will go on the record who were advising the president, push this back, or be careful, or warning him about the coming collapse of the government, could it be a matter of less adhering to what the Taliban is saying, and just him being stubborn and not listening to what anyone was saying?

HANNAN:  I mean, I feel sorry for him in this sense.

He's maneuvered himself into a very bad place. If the Taliban wanted to make trouble, they could do it. They could imagine how easily they could kidnap some U.S. nationals, some U.S. military. And they would then hold his presidency in the palms of their hands, just as surely as the Iranian ayatollahs held Jimmy Carter's. 

So I get that he's put himself into a bad position where all his options are bad. And I think we should -- we should all be adult enough to sympathize with him, to the extent that all the options were bad.

Going into Afghanistan was a choice among bad options. Extending the mission there was a choice among bad options. Leaving was a choice among bad options. There was no perfect solution. 

But it has still been botched in the way it's been done. And what worries me is that there is now a feeling among the rest of the Western allies that the U.S. is unreliable. The U.K. tried to put together a coalition to stay for a few extra days. But it became clear that, without U.S. logistical support, that simply wasn't feasible. 

And I'm afraid that that may lead some other countries to reconsider their procurement and their defense outlook. 

CAVUTO:  And I'm wondering if it goes beyond just the defense outlook, Daniel, because I'm reading in a lot of your British press growing concern about how united everybody is, that is, among the G7 countries, led by the United States, about climate change, about a global corporate tax.

I know you're not particularly a fan of the latter. But I'm just wondering here, is the president seen in your country and elsewhere, by increasingly liberals and conservatives alike, as maybe so wounded, he can't lead this charge, and they're worried?

HANNAN:  Yes, I get all that. 

But I think there's a bigger issue here, right? After the last four years, we can't pretend that isolationism is just some quirk of Joe Biden's. I have been very struck by the fact that none of the likely contenders for the 2024 presidency has criticized the fact of the withdrawal, as against the manner of it. 

And, I mean, I have heard American commentators saying things like, well, if you Brits are so keen on staying in Afghanistan, you stay there. 

But we were only there for one reason, right? The only reason we were there is because America had been attacked. And we took the attacks in New York and the Pentagon as an attack on us, attack on our tribe, on our side, on our interests, on our values. 

So it alarms me that there wasn't the basic agreement among allies before a decision of this magnitude was made, it looks to me like for reasons of domestic political timing. 

CAVUTO:  Do you worry about your safety going forward? I mean, I'm talking about safety and security that the global leaders espouse to keep the globe happy?

HANNAN:  You and I have grown up in a blessed period, which was made secure by the ascendancy of the English-speaking peoples and by the Anglosphere alliance. 

Now, we can take that for granted. And I get that people are tired of it. I get that people don't want to maintain these constant overseas garrisons. 

But don't imagine that, if the U.S. pulls out, that nobody else moves into that space.

Russia, China, Pakistan are the three countries that have already got embassies with the Taliban. More malevolent and darker forces will move into the place that we have vacated. And the idea that we have the option of being left alone, if you believe that, you haven't really been watching. 

CAVUTO:  That's very well put.

Daniel Hannan, thank you very much, House of Lords Conservative member, U.K. Conservative Party, an uncanny read of global developments, to which he knows no political lenience. 

All right, we have got a lot more coming up. 

He doesn't have a British accent, but Joe Lieberman has a very clear tone and a tough tone when it comes to this sort of thing. Although a supporter of this president, he's not a supporter of this policy, and not just because of what happened this week. What he saw coming earlier last year -- after this. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  I don't think Joe Lieberman is the kind of guy to say, I told you so. 

But to be fair to the former vice presidential candidate back in 2000, he was warning about pulling our troops out of this country, by the way, not just with this president, but the last president. Early last year, he was saying that this could lead to a lot of volatility, and worse. 

Joe Lieberman with us right now.

Senator, sadly, it's played out as you feared it might. Now reports of a real terror attack possibility in the next few days. Where do you see this going? 

FMR. SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I-CT):  Nowhere good. 

And, last year, General Jack Keane, the former vice chief of the Army, and I worked together for a long time. We were talking about it. General Keane was respected by the Trump administration, so -- among many others.

So, we did a letter, an open letter to the president, President Trump, and we said, please, Mr. President, don't go ahead with your plan to withdraw from Afghanistan, because it would amount to surrender to the Taliban, an enemy of ours that we have defeated, and it would be a great strategic error, because we're not at war. 

This is what President Trump said, and President Biden says it all the time

now:  This is an endless war. 

But we were not at war anymore. We were down to 2, 500 American troops from over 150,000 when we were at war. And their mission was counterterrorism, to keep the terrorists out of Afghanistan, from which we were struck on 9/11. 

And, of course, what's happened tragically now is, you pull back, as President Biden ordered, and what happens naturally, the counterterrorist forces are gone. The terrorists come back. 

I mean, look, the Taliban is a terrorist operation that hates us and wants to kill Americans and has done so for 20 years. I mean, to think about Haqqani, who's on our terrorist list, as the head of security in Kabul, is just outrageous, really. 

CAVUTO:  Right. 

So, when you -- you ignore this, we have nothing to worry about because the terrorists, the bad guys are fighting among themselves. ISIS-K, this splinter group that -- part of the Pakistani Taliban that's now been doing its own thing for five or six years, they're fighting and -- they're fighting it out. We don't have to worry about that. This is the country that will develop with these guys destroying it. No worry here.

You say?

LIEBERMAN:  It's nonsense. 

I mean, it's like saying that there are two drug gangs at war in some American city fighting for turf, and, somehow, one of them is good and one of them is bad. They're both terrible. They're both poisoning Americans, killing each other, killing bystanders. 

And that's the case here. The Taliban and ISIS are both radical Islamic terrorist groups. And if they have disagreements, it's only over turf, who's going to be in control. Make no mistake about it, these groups and a lot of the others, Al Qaeda and others who are going to pour into Taliban- controlled Afghanistan now, they're our enemies.

They want to kill us. They want to bring down our civilization. And this is what the removal of the American troops has invited to happen. And it's happening. 

Now, I just want to one thing, Neil, that, in June, apparently, when President Biden met with President Putin of Russia, he -- in foreseeing the cost of withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan and not having a counterterrorism base there, he told President Putin that he was planning to relocate that function, very important, to another Central Asian country near Afghanistan. 

And Putin said no. And I think that was the end of it for President Biden. 

But it shows that President Biden himself, as he got close to the actual withdrawal, knew that he was sacrificing something. And, boy, how difficult it's going to be now for the United States, from far away, not on the ground, not with a friendly government, to counter these terrorists from killing a lot of people in their country and outside, including in the USA.

CAVUTO:  I hope you're wrong. I'm not -- but you have been eerily prescient on these other things. 

And it's so odd, when you mention the Putin story, Senator, because he was nixing up a plan in countries over which he had no control, which is the double irony of that.

LIEBERMAN:  You are absolutely right. 

I mean, look, we have been allowing the bad guys to tell us what to do. 

We're the strongest country in the world. We stand -- we have values. But President Biden clearly and should have kept our troops on the ground after August 31 for the evacuation, because we're not going to get everybody out by then. 

And the Taliban, our enemies, terrorists, say no, and we withdraw and say, OK, we will do our best to get everybody -- as many people as we can by August 31. 

CAVUTO:  Yes. 

LIEBERMAN:  A great country doesn't do that. 

And I agree with the people who have been on today before me who said we should move the perimeter out. We're the U.S. military. And at least one thing we could do over the next four days to protect Americans and Afghans is let the American military beyond the perimeter further out, not the Taliban terrorists, who are not our friends. 

CAVUTO:  Right. 

And that's the next step. And we're going to -- that could be tested as soon as tomorrow, Senator. We will see if we have any success in trying to expand that perimeter. 

But thank you, Senator. Always good seeing you. 

LIEBERMAN:  Neil, thank you. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid -- I think...

CAVUTO:  Yes, this time, Senator, I hope you're wrong as well, but it's with great respect.

LIEBERMAN:  OK.

CAVUTO:  Thank you very much. 

LIEBERMAN:  Take care. Be well. God bless.

CAVUTO:  Have a peaceful, safe weekend, as I do -- and I hope for all our soldiers, all our people, all people there in Kabul and around Kabul. 

In the meantime, we are monitoring Ida, this tropical storm, what started out as a tropical depression now a Category 1 storm with winds north of 75 miles an hour. 

They say it could get up to a Category 3 storm. They're already evacuating parts of the Gulf Coast, for which it's really kind of targeting right now. 

But it's a wide swathe and a worrisome one.

The latest -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, Hurricane Ida, a Category 1 right now, but it could hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 4 with winds in excess of 140 miles per hour. 

This has very, accelerated a lot just today. 

Adam Klotz has been following it very, very closely. 

Adam, what are we looking at? 

ADAM KLOTZ, FOX NEWS METEOROLOGIST:  Just in the last couple of minutes, we actually saw that upgrade. It was forecast to be a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall, now a Category 4 hurricane, which means winds up to

130 miles an hour. 

Currently, it's spinning just to the south of Cuba, winds at 80 miles an hour, and lifting to the north at about 15 miles an hour, wind gusts up to

100 miles an hour right now. This is that track, where we start to see it really rapidly intensify once you get out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Think of a Sunday afternoon to a Sunday evening landfall, likely just off to the West of New Orleans. That's going to be areas we're paying attention to, with some of those winds getting up to at least 130 miles an hour. 

Why does something like this intensify so rapidly? Well, it takes, for one, very warm water. And we're seeing that currently in the Gulf of Mexico. 

These are where average temperatures would be. You start to see those yellows and reds. These are numbers above average. 

So, when you get right up close along the shoreline, these temperatures are really high. And that's going to help strengthen this storm. We have already got some of the hurricane warnings in place, watches, warnings, as this system gets a little bit closer -- excuse me -- our tropical storm watches and warnings. 

The gust winds, again, some of the most intense winds, and, again, these are major hurricane winds, perhaps 130 miles an hour, that's getting in there Sunday afternoon and evening, again, along the Louisiana coast, just off towards the West of New Orleans. 

And then it's going to linger for a little while. So, just because you're not in an area where this makes landfall does not mean you won't see some of these big impacts. And with such a large storm, this is going to bring a wall of water, on the high end, some of these areas seeing as much as 11 feet of storm surge. 

That could be a real dangerous issue with this. And, again, here are our tropical models. So we have a pretty good idea of the direction this is heading. 

Neil, a couple of these do drift over towards New Orleans. Again, we have got a couple of days. This is going to be something that's happening later on Sunday afternoon into the evening. And we will be watching it very closely as it continues to intensify -- Neil. 

CAVUTO:  Just incredible.

All right, Adam, thank you very much. 

We will also be monitoring this tomorrow live 10:00 a.m. Eastern time, monitoring how far and how quickly the storm is moving, again, 10:00 a.m. 

Eastern time on FOX News. 

In the meantime, keeping you updated on the tens of thousands who are making it out of Afghanistan, the overwhelming majority seeking asylum and safety, but are some slipping through the cracks? Exactly who is getting out of that country?

After this. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CAVUTO:  You know, you can certainly understand the rush to get everyone out of Afghanistan, or as many as you can. They need papers. They need all of that stuff. 

But, sometimes, it gets to be an administrative nightmare, so people just say, come on, come on, come on, come on. But we got to be careful here. 

Some could slip through the cracks, of the 105,000 who have already left, a good chunk of them Americans, but a good chunk of them.

Nathan Sales is the former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, the Vandenberg Coalition Advisory Board member. 

And, Nathan, thank you very much for coming. 

I want to stress here that my fear is not that everyone who is coming here is dangerous, but are we making sure everyone who's coming here is good to come here?

NATHAN SALES, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM COORDINATOR:  I think that's an important priority as we continue this evacuation.

Our goal has to be to protect the Afghans who put their lives on the line for the U.S. military during the war. These are people who believe in America, who believe in America's values. 

CAVUTO: Absolutely.

SALES:  So we can't turn our back on them in their time of need. 

At the same time, it's also important to make sure that the people who are coming to the United States are, in fact, our Afghan allies, and not people who might be trying to exploit our hospitality. So the State Department and DHS and the intelligence community run a rigorous process to do background checks on all Afghans who are coming here. 

And I would look for that process to be spinning up as the evacuation continues. 

CAVUTO:  Can you fake a lot of this paperwork, though, or these Special Immigrant Visas? 

I only ask because the handoff outside the perimeter, that's first controlled by the Taliban, who then brings them inside the perimeter, presumably controlled by U.S. soldiers. I'm worried about the handoff part. 

SALES:  Well, it's a great point, Neil.

And I think it shows the folly of the Biden administration's decision to rely on the Taliban to provide security at the airport. We saw yesterday in very tragic and dramatic form what happens when you outsource security to a terrorist group like the Taliban. Things get through the cracks.

Suicide bombers make it past the perimeter and end up slaughtering innocent civilians and taking the lives of 13 brave American service members. So, no, absolutely not, we should not be relying on the Taliban to do anything that could affect American national security. 

CAVUTO:  You know what I worry about too -- and maybe just too paranoid -- Nathan, is that if they are saying this person's good, how do I know that they haven't secreted their own person through to get to the United States? 

SALES:  Well, one of the things that our armed forces and other civilian actors in Afghanistan did over the years was develop biometric databases, fingerprints, retina scans...

CAVUTO:  Right. 

SALES:  ... and various other measures, so that we can verify that the people who are appearing before us actually are who they say they are. 

Now, one of the problems is, that information has now found its way into Taliban hands. And they're using it not for immigration screening purposes, like we would in the United States, but as a kill list, to go around and identify people who cooperated with the United States, soldiers, government officials, aid workers, whose biometric and biographic information is in the U.S. database. 

And the Taliban is going to use this to find what they consider to be their enemies and exact vengeance against them. 

CAVUTO:  Got it. 

Nathan, thank you very much. 

To your point, we have big hearts in this country. We also use our heads in this process. Hard to do in this rushed environment, to your point.

Nathan Sales thank you very, very much. 

We're going to be on this and the points that Nathan raised. The Pentagon will be having a briefing tomorrow morning. We will be getting some of the latest figures about how this evacuation process continues. Better than

105,000 now have been flown out of the country. 

So, the process is on. It's picking up steam. We might get an indication tomorrow where they go from here on that perimeter and who controls it.

For now, here comes "The Five."

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