WEBVTT

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After three weeks in Afghanistan,

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we join the crowds at Kabul Airport.

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Now, the only way 
out of the country.

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There is a huge block here.
Lots of cars.

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Hundreds of people wait
in the blistering heat,

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hoping for a flight out.

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So, we just managed
to get into the airport compound,

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and uh, I have to say,

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it was pretty intense.

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It was just, like, 
this crush of desperate people,

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and screaming children,

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and women and babies,

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and um, yeah.

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It's not often you see
desperation like that.

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The few people that do make it

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are exhausted and scared.

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But, they are the lucky ones.

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They've made it past
the Taliban checkpoints,

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Afghan security guards,

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and, finally, the airport gate.

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But, they can't forget those
who they left behind.

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We are getting out.
We are happy for that.

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But we are heartbroken
for our country,

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especially for those who can't get out,

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those who are stuck here.

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We are really heartbroken.

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Our heart bleeds for them.

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What do you feel for all the mothers,

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with young daughters who will now

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be growing up under Taliban rule?

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Pain. Lots of pain.

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[Airplane engine roars.]

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The back of a pretty long line now.

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Uh, transportation is under strain,
they said.

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Obviously, the priority

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is getting children and babies
out, as soon as possible.

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But, I think we will probably
be here quite a while.

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Do you work for the U. S. military?

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Not military, but we are

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working with the Ministry of Defense
in Afghanistan.

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But we also work with
foreign people, too.

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So you have a visa?

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Yes. We have documents,
and a visa, too.

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As we interview this couple,

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suddenly (there are)
shouts behind us.

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A vehicle speeds through.

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[Car engine sputters past.]

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That's a newborn baby,

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that just flew past,
in that vehicle.

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That was a newborn.
Did you see the baby?

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It was this big.

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The baby, we find out,
has heat stroke,

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and needs treatment.

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A reminder, for these families,
that they are close to safety,

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but not there, yet.

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We stand in the blazing hot sun
for hours,

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everyone seeking what shelter they can.

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[Child screaming, crying.]

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Patience wearing thin.

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It's an agonizingly slow process,
but finally, we're allowed inside.

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Out on the tarmac, now safe,
but the chaos continues.

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I have been waiting for two days.

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Yesterday, since 3 a. m.

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Yesterday since 3 a. m.?

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Yes.

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Tell me what the situation was like,

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trying to get in to the airport.

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It was really busy, and a lot of people

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were just fighting, and trying to 
make way for themselves.

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But, we pushed through.

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We are certainly some of
the very lucky ones, here.

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Others, as you heard
from that young man,

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have been waiting for two days.

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Others we saw getting turned around,
sent back,

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told, "you don't have the
appropriate paperwork."

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There is no question: 
everybody here is doing their best.

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But, it's not clear
if it's fast enough.

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If enough people can get out.

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And how much longer they have,
to finish this massive operation.

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[Jake] I want to bring in CNN's
Clarissa Ward.

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She is on the phone,
inside the Kabul airport.

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Clarissa, the Pentagon, today,

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put out several images

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that really get at the humanity,
the sea of humanity there,

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and the compassion of

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the U. S. service members
at the airport.

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You saw, of course, the Marine
holding the baby.

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Another, 'fist bumping' a child
going through processing.

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The lines of Marines on guard,
directing a woman and child

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where to go for processing.

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Obviously, everyone doing
the best they can, as you noted.

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The scene inside the perimeter,
strikingly different

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than the one outside the gates.

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[Clarissa]
Yeah, Jake. I mean, there is no question

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that everybody here is just 
doing their level best

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to try to mitigate the 
suffering and misery

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of the situation.

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We also saw, I saw,

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a young female soldier

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carrying an Afghan toddler boy.

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I've seen people 
helping those in wheelchairs.

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All sorts of acts of kindness
and gentleness.

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But, the reality is
that this situation

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is horrifying.

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I'm looking around now,
at a sea of people

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lying on the floor.

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They are lying outside
on the gravel.

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There is nowhere 
for them to sleep

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other than a cardboard box.

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They are cold. It's very chilly.

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There is no blanket.

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The bathrooms here are 
in a very bad state indeed.

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And there is no sense
of how long these people

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are going to be here.

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For over eight hours today,
no U. S. planes even left.

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So, there is now 
even more of a backlog,

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and a bottleneck, than there was.

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[Jake]
Is there any sense of order,

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when it comes to
the effort to determine

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who gets to come into the gates,

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that last perimeter
where the U. S. is?

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And who does not?

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[Clarissa]
I think, in the initial process...

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you know, there are so many
"No's," along this chain...

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initially, it's sort of like,

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who can flash a document
In the air,

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and who can push the hardest.

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Who has a young baby,
or something like that.

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Or (who) is vulnerable,
and at immediate risk.

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Then, as you get further
along the chain,

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and closer to the air field,

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you go through
State Department processing.

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And you really do have to show
the appropriate paperwork.

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And that is where we saw

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quite a few people
being turned around.

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They are all sort of manually
escorted off the base.

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It does break your heart
a little bit, to see that.

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Because, you can imagine,
you know,

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you don't have all your paperwork
in order,

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but you are still petrified 
of the situation.

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Ugh! To get that far, 
and get in,

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and still not be able to get out
of the country,

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after all of that.

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It's a heartbreak.

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Jake, I'm walking outside now,

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because I am being told
that our birds, our flights,

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might be taking off soon.

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So, forgive me if it's a little loud.

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[Jake] Okay. That certainly
takes priority, Clarissa.

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We have seen images
of armed U. S. forces,

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along the perimeter of the airport,
and all week,

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the Pentagon has said,
that U. S. troops

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have not been involved in
any hostile interactions at the airport.

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But, of course, any wrong move
could quickly change the situation.

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I have to believe

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that that is one of the considerations,

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as to why U. S. service members have been

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basically told to stay where they are,
within the perimeter,

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because of the real, legitimate risk
to service members,

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from not just the Taliban,

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but any one of
the terrorist groups in the area.

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[Clarissa] There are so many
different threats, here.

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So many different
potential scenarios,

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where things could rapidly escalate
to a very, very bad place.

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That's why there is
a lot of tension in the air.

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Because everybody knows
that this moment cannot last.

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It is going to be short-lived.

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And they have got to get it right.

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And they have got to get out
as many people as they possibly can.

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Because they can't just
go outside the wire,

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and start bringing people in manually.

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This is why the negotiations with
the Taliban are so important.

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But the Taliban has a limit
to how much they will tolerate.

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And a limit to how much those
burly, surly fighters

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on the outer perimeter 
will tolerate.

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And so that's what makes it

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a potentially very dangerous
situation.

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It is like a powder keg.

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One thing goes wrong,

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and it all goes very wrong.

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[Jake] Well, Clarissa,

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I am so glad that you 
are getting on a plane to get out.

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I just want to say,

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on behalf of everybody here 
at CNN,

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and everybody who has been
watching CNN,

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your reporting has been brave,

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and amazing, and with empathy,
and with courage.

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We are so lucky to have you
as a colleague.

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Thank you for what you have done

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to tell the story
of what is going on there.

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[Clarissa] Thank you so much, Jake.

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Thank you from all of us,
very much. Thank you.