After three weeks in Afghanistan,
we join the crowds at Kabul Airport.
Now, the only way out of the country.
There is a huge block here. Lots of cars.
Hundreds of people wait in the blistering heat,
hoping for a flight out.
So, we just managed to get into the airport compound,
and uh, I have to say,
it was pretty intense.
It was just, like, this crush of desperate people,
and screaming children,
and women and babies,
and um, yeah.
It's not often you see desperation like that.
The few people that do make it
are exhausted and scared.
But, they are the lucky ones.
They've made it past the Taliban checkpoints,
Afghan security guards,
and, finally, the airport gate.
But, they can't forget those who they left behind.
We are getting out. We are happy for that.
But we are heartbroken for our country,
especially those who can't get out,
those who are stuck here.
We are really heartbroken.
Our heart bleeds for them.
What do you feel for all the mothers,
with young daughters who will now
be growing up under Taliban rule?
Pain. Lots of pain.
[Airplane engine roars.]
The back of a pretty long line now.
Uh, transportation is under strain, they said.
Obviously, the priority
is getting children and babies out, as soon as possible.
But, I think we will probably be here quite a while.
Do you work for the U. S. military?
Not military, but we are
working with the Ministry of Defense in Afghanistan.
But we also work with foreign people, too.
So you have a visa?
Yes. We have documents, and a visa, too.
As we interview this couple,
suddenly (there are) shouts behind us.
A vehicle speeds through.
[Car engine sputters past.]
That's a newborn baby.
That just flew past, in that vehicle.
That was a newborn. Did you see the baby?
It was this big.
The baby, we find out, has heat stroke,
and needs treatment.
A reminder, for these families, that they are close to safety,
but not there, yet.
We stand in the blazing hot sun for hours,
everyone seeking what shelter they can.
[Child screaming, crying.]
Patience wearing thin.
It's an agonizingly slow process, but finally, we're allowed inside.
Out on the tarmac, now safe, but the chaos continues.
I have been waiting for two days.
Yesterday, since 3 a. m.
Yesterday since 3 a. m.?
Yes.
Tell me what the situation was like,
trying to get in to the airport.
It was really busy, and a lot of people
were just fighting, and trying to make way for themselves.
But, we pushed through.
We are certainly some of the very lucky ones, here.
Others, as you heard from that young man,
have been waiting for two days.
Others we saw getting turned around, sent back.
Told, "you don't have the appropriate paperwork."
There is no question: everybody here is doing their best.
But, it's not clear if it's fast enough.
If enough people can get out.
And how much longer they have, to finish this massive operation.
I want to bring in CNN's Clarissa Ward.
She is on the phone, inside the Kabul airport.
Clarissa, the Pentagon, today,
put out several images
that really get at the humanity, the sea of humanity there,
and the compassion of
the U. S. service members at the airport.
You saw, of course, the Marine holding the baby.
Another, 'fist bumping' the child going through processing.
The lines of Marines on guard, directing a woman and child
where to go for processing.
Obviously, everyone doing the best they can, as you noted.
The scene inside the perimeter, strikingly different
than the one outside the gates.
Yeah, Jake. I mean, there is no question
that everybody here is just doing their level best
to try to mitigate the suffering and misery
of the situation.
We also saw, I saw,
a young female soldier
carrying an Afghan toddler boy.
I've seen people helping those in wheelchairs.
All sorts of acts of kindness and gentleness.
But, the reality is that this situation
is horrifying.
I'm looking around now, at a sea of people
lying on the floor.
They are lying outside on the gravel.
There is nowhere for them to sleep
other than a cardboard box.
They are cold. It's very chilly.
There is no blanket.
The bathrooms here are in a very bad state indeed.
And there is no sense of how long these people
are going to be here.
For over eight hours today, no U. S. planes even left.
So, there is now even more of a backlog,
and a bottleneck, than there was.
Is there any sense of order,
when it comes to the effort to determine
who gets to come into the gates,
that last perimeter where the U. S. is?
And who does not?
I think, in the initial process...
you know, there is so many nodes, along this chain...
initially, it's sort of like,
who can flash a document In the air,
and who can push the hardest.
Who has a young baby, and something like that.
Or (who) is vulnerable, and at immediate risk.
Then, as you get further along the chain,
and closer to the air field,
you go to State Department processing.
And you really do have to show the appropriate paperwork.
And that is where we saw
quite a few people being turned around.
They are all sort of manually escorted off the base.
It does break your heart a little bit, to see that.
Because, you can imagine, you know,
you don't have all your paperwork in order,
but you are still petrified of the situation.
Ugh! To get that far, and get in,
and still not be able to get out of the country,
after all of that.
It's a heartbreak.
Jake, I'm walking outside now,
because I am being told that our birds, our flights,
are taking off soon.
So, forgive me if I'm a little loud.
Okay. That certainly takes priority, Clarissa.
We have seen images of armed U. S. forces,
along the perimeter of the airport, and all week,
the Pentagon has said, that U. S. troops
have not been involved in any hostile interactions at the airport.
But, of course, any wrong move could quickly change the situation.
I have to believe
that that is one of the considerations,
as to why U. S. service members have been
basically told to stay where they are, within the perimeter,
because of the real, legitimate risk to service members,
from not just the Taliban,
but any one of the terrorist groups in the area.
[Clarissa] There are so many different threats, here.
So many different potential scenarios,
where things could rapidly escalate to a very, very bad place.
That's why there is a lot of tension in the air.
Because everybody knows that this moment cannot last.
It is going to be short-lived.
And they have got to get it right.
And they have got to get out as many people as they possibly can.
Because they can't just go outside the wire,
and start bringing people in manually.
This is why the negotiations with the Taliban are so important.
But the Taliban has a limit to how much they will tolerate.
And a limit to how much those surly, surly fighters
on the outer perimeter will tolerate.