All language subtitles for Afghanistan.Getting.Out.S01E02.1080p.WEBRiP.x264-DARKFLiX_track3_[eng]

In the middle of that sofa,
if that's possible.

When we knew that President Biden
is going to give a speech

regarding Afghanistan,
we could hardly eat.

I think we all had mixed feelings.

We were both optimistic in one view,
but at the same time concerned.

The President's announcement
didn't impact the US life.

It impacted our life.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: I'm speaking to
you today from the Treaty Room

in the White House.

We went to Afghanistan in 2001
to root out Al-Qaeda, to prevent

future terrorist attacks
against the United States

planned from Afghanistan.

We did that.

Osama bin Laden's gone.

That was ten years ago.

Some of us could see
that this is the end.

I've concluded that it's time
to end America's longest war.

It's time for American troops
to come home.

Wow.

Leaving unconditionally?

Why would anyone do this?

REPORTER: The Taliban was in control
of 20% of Afghanistan's districts

in April. Now it's more than 50%.

US as a power, it's an elephant.

It walks in a room,
doesn't know what happens.

MAN SHOUTS, CROWD RESPONDS

Walks out.

The Taliban advance appears
unstoppable.

Regional capitals are falling
like dominoes.

You look at it from an Afghan's
perspective, it felt abandonment.

It felt betrayal.

We had a small window
for an imperfect peace.

That could have prevented
the humiliation we suffered.

It was a prescription
for a disaster.

BARACK OBAMA: For the first time
since 9/11, our combat mission

in Afghanistan is over.

APPLAUSE

Six years ago, nearly 180,000
American troops served

in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today, fewer than 15,000 remain.

REPORTER: Obviously, all UK combat
forces are out.

The US is leaving a rump force
of some 12,000 or 13,000 in country

but in essence... It's now Afghan
security forces who bear the brunt

of the fighting and the casualties,
in a conflict...

And welcome to Washington, DC.
A country which stands on the cusp

of making a historic decision...
When Americans vote tomorrow...

If he wins, America will have taken
a step into the unknown

with a leader who cast doubts
on international agreements.

Both America and the world will be
entering a new and uncertain world.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.

CHEERING

We will stop racing to topple
foreign...

And you understand this - foreign
regimes that we know nothing about,

that we shouldn't be involved with.
Instead, our focus...

I was in Kabul. I was very sleepy
and my husband wanted to stay awake.

He was convinced that Mrs Clinton
will win.

And I said, "I'm going to sleep
because I know Mr Trump will win."

My husband looked at me with a huge
surprise. "Why? Why would he win?"

I joked and I said,
"For my entertainment."

From now on, it's going
to be America first.

America first.

When I woke up and I see my husband
with a surprised face

that actually he did win,

and then for us in Afghanistan,

things changed
dramatically after that.

I retired from the US military
in February of 2016.

I got a phone call from
the Trump team.

He needed someone to make the
staff work better, and I said,

"I don't want to do this if I can
avoid it," you know, etc, etc.

And he said, "Well, why don't
you come see me Monday morning

"and we'll make a decision on it?"
And I thought, "OK, good.

"I can spend the weekend
thinking up excuses as to why

"I shouldn't be the Chief of Staff."

And then shortly after that,
I got a phone call.

Someone said, "Hey, he just tweeted
you're the new Chief of Staff."

Please place your left hand
on the Bible.

I was totally stunned
that he'd have done that.

I, John Francis Kelly...
I, John Francis Kelly.

Trump had a huge number
of preconceived notions.

You know, "Why are we there,
and what's the point?"

Afghanistan is a total
and complete disaster.

Let's get with it.
Get out of Afghanistan.

We've wasted billions and
billions of dollars.

It's startling to me how little
he understood about how our country

got to Afghanistan and what
we were trying to accomplish.

Just kept going back to these
campaign rhetoric rants

about, "They're not worth it.
Who cares?

"I know more than the generals.

"I know more than
everybody about this topic."

All right.

So several of us were in
the briefing room

getting ready
to brief President Trump,

and he just sort of looked at me
and rolled his eyes with a look of,

you know, "Do I really have to
focus on this right now?"

It's frustrating being a person
who's followed the region for many,

many years to hear, you know,
the President really looking

at the issue mainly through
a domestic political lens

and not really understanding
the very critical stakes

for the world, really.

My sense is this guy
really needed help.

Every president, more or less,
takes the month of August off.

Mr Trump would go to Bedminster
to play golf.

I brought in the CIA director,
Mike Pompeo, and they just talked

about Afghanistan the way
it is today, what it will look like.

Then General Mattis came
up to talk about the military

and how we were operating there.
What would be lost if we withdrew.

For sure, we don't want to give
the terrorists the opportunity

to have a safe haven again.

Eventually, at the end of
the Bedminster discussion,

he said, "I got it," and agreed.

When President Trump was elected,
then he relaxed authority.

The thing changed.

There was air support,
special operation.

But those days, we were able
to change the game.

I had mobilised 24,000...24,000

local people to resist
against Taliban

in entire north and northeast.

We were able to contain
Taliban back.

We did it.

I think General Kelly had a great
deal to do with moving the President

from a position of completely
opposing having US forces

in Afghanistan to a position
where he actually agreed to increase

the level of US forces.

But once General Kelly left,
everything really broke down.

I've had a lot of tough jobs.
I've never given up on any of them,

but I'd reached my limit
at the White House.

He was clearly not listening to me

as much as he once did.

He was less and less open
to these, you know, staff efforts

to get him involved in things.

That was the point at which I felt
as though I'd probably had enough.

I just said to him, "Sir, whoever
you choose to take my place,

"don't choose a boot-licker
or a yes man.

"That would be a disaster."

And the President said, "Well,
maybe what I need is a yes man."

After I left, I was surprised all
of a sudden that he changed his mind

again on Afghanistan.

And that's when we started
to talk to the Taliban.

I was in a car being driven
down to Fox News in Washington,

to do an interview.

PHONE RINGS

It was the White House operator,
and the president came on the line

and I said something inspiring,
like, "Hello, Mr President."

He said, "Look, I want to offer
you the most powerful job

"in the White House."

And then he said, "No, no, no,
I don't mean the chief

"of staff job,"
and we both broke out laughing.

To me, that signalled
that the current chief of staff

was in the room.

It was probably about a month later
I became National Security Adviser.

Mr Secretary, so good to see you.
Thank you for inviting me over.

But then, within a few weeks,
I took a call that would change

the whole situation.

Zal had been my successor

as US ambassador to the UN
and I'd known him for a long time.

I was born in northern Afghanistan
in a city called Mazar-i-Sharif.

I was selected in the 11th grade
to come to America

as a foreign exchange student,

and that year had a great impact on
the trajectory of my life.

I went to the State Department
during Ronald Reagan's period

and worked on
both Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

The United Nations overwhelmingly
has called for the withdrawal

of the Soviet troops,
unconditionally.

Zal was well known, certainly
in Republican circles, as somebody

who, having been born and raised
in Afghanistan, knew

the country well.

And he told me that he had been
approached by some people

who claimed they spoke
for the Taliban.

I was at the Four Seasons Hotel
in Abu Dhabi when someone presenting

himself as the head of the Taliban
office in Dubai said

that he has a message for me
from the Taliban leaders

and that they're interested
in a political settlement.

He said, "We believe you are well
connected in the US.

"If you could pass this message
to Washington."

Did they really speak for Taliban?

Would this be a channel
of communication?

I said, let's stay in touch
and let me know how it develops.

The day after the mid-term
Congressional election,

we had a big meeting in
the Oval Office to talk about

whether this diplomatic approach by
Khalilzad had any chance of success.

Trump believed that the announcement
of a settlement would meet

his campaign promises
to end the endless wars.

So what he saw was
that it was mostly

another PR opportunity for him.

I thought it was a bad idea.

I feared that it could result
in Trump flat out saying,

"you need to withdraw from
Afghanistan."

I got a call from the
Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

He told me what the president
was thinking about Afghanistan,

that he wanted to reduce
the burden dramatically.

"We would like you to lead
that effort."

I asked them what the reduction
of burden meant.

What did that mean?

And he said to withdraw.

Trump basically said you can have
until February the 14th and come

back with a way to get out.

We are not against the people
of America.

We are against their policy
of occupation.

We approached Mr Khalilzad.

They wanted an honourable exit
from Afghanistan, and we said,

we will provide you with that.

We had nonstop talks for six days.

Ambassador Khalilzad felt
he was under a lot of pressure

to make quick progress
because President Trump had become

very impatient
with the Afghanistan war.

The Taliban were sceptical
that the US would actually ever

withdraw after 20 years of war.

So he brought in some military
officials to provide briefings

to the Taliban, showing where US
forces were, what a withdrawal

would look like.

And as one of the military officials
was rolling out the whiteboard

with sort of the information on it,
the Taliban leader said,

"Oh, look, they're giving us
the crown jewels already.

"We haven't even started the talks."

Ambassador Khalilzad really was just
too eager to come to a peace deal,

any deal, whether it was a deal

that was good for US interests
or not.

We didn't hear from Zal
for long periods of time.

We'd hear rumblings about what
was being said and we wanted to hear

what was going on and why
this was being conducted in such

a secretive manner.

When I felt that the fact
that we were having discussions

with Taliban, to the exclusion
of the Afghan national government,

would come back to haunt us.

When I was a student at Brunel
University in London, I started

an Afghan students association.

And when Mr Ghani, then, was
in London, we invited him to come

and speak to our members.

I was really impressed
with his thoughts about Afghanistan.

He had a vision about what we could
do to be a developed country again.

And when he decided to run
for president, I volunteered

for his campaign.

Vacuums get to be filled.

Today they're being filled
by Al-Qaeda, by Taliban,

and by criminal
elements in local power brokers.

I had known President Ghani
since we were in high school.

He was from a rival high school.

There were lots of stories
of their rivalry.

I know them both
from a very long time.

Very, very long time.

Khalilzad is friendly,
accommodating, always very pleasant.

With President Ghani, you never knew
that what to expect.

One day extremely cheerful,
very friendly.

The next day, abrupt and nervous
and short.

It's just for...
No further comments. Please. No?

Yes. OK. Yeah. Let us do our job
rather than deal with the press.

So it was very different
personalities they had.

The insurgency in Afghanistan
is a multi-headed phenomenon.

He's very comfortable with analysis
and advocating, criticising,

even in the midst of this
deteriorating

security situation around
Afghanistan.

He felt more comfortable
in the discussion on the realm

of ideas than he was on some
of these other issues.

I think I was the first Western
leader to go and see him in Kabul.

He was a very capable man.

He'd worked at the World Bank.

He'd written books about failed
states.

He was clearly knowledgeable
and capable.

But sometimes when you spoke
with Ashraf Ghani, he would talk

about what he was going to do
in government.

And it sounded like he was
describing running a sort

of, you know,
Western European government

where things work and everything
is connected up.

What the public expects is the same
that what the Afghan public expects,

a functioning government.

The problem is he was pulling levers
and he'd find there was nothing

attached to them.

Just half an hour conversation
with President Ghani

will tell you that he is full
of illusions.

He's talking about an Afghanistan
which doesn't exist

and what he's saying will not
work in Afghanistan.

CHILDREN CHATTER INDISTINCTLY

I went to Kabul and I met
with President Ghani and his team.

He said that he had been consulted
on my appointment,

that he had supported it,
and he had put a stack

of briefing slides together.

President Ghani took personal
time to prepare a brief

for Ambassador Khalilzad,
and he sat across him,

he gave him the briefing.

He gave him the notes.

He laid his...his vision
for what peace,

how peace could be achieved.

But I got the impression
from the beginning that he wanted

to play a central role in
the negotiating process, personally.

I said that obviously that would be
great, but that was, as he knew

highly unlikely, because
for the previous 15, 16 years,

we had been waiting for the Talibs
to accept the Afghan government,

and they had refused.

I was in Ministry of Interior
and we met Khalilzad.

We told him nothing has changed.

The Taliban are deceiving you.

They are not honest about any
negotiation.

They are literally saying,
we defeated America

and America is leaving.

I said, "For God's sake...

"..don't do this."

And then you're, like...

"Open your eyes. Wake up.

"If you're leaving, leave.

"But don't give this terrorist
organisation a legitimacy."

In my mind, there was no chance
the Taliban were going to meet

any material commitment they made
once it was clear to the world

that we were withdrawing.

I had a meeting with the president
and I said to him,

"If you're going to make this
argument,

"don't do it by giving away
the store to the Taliban."

Ambassador Khalilzad seemed to think
he had an agreement

with the Taliban, that everything
was, you know, one and done.

He wanted to hold a press conference
and sort of shove the peace

agreement down Ghani's throat.

You are witnessing there
an historic signing -

an agreement between
the United States and the Taliban.

The deal could see all US troops
withdrawn from Afghanistan

within the next 14 months,
provided the militant group

upholds its commitment.

Watching things unfold the way
they did was extremely painful,

and I did consider leaving
my position.

We were just kind of pulling
the rug out from the Afghans.

You know, these people that we had
supported for the last 20 years

and we were just
sort of handing the country

over to the
Taliban like a birthday cake.

APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

When I saw the agreement,
I personally felt betrayed

on, on every level, and outraged
at what was in the agreement.

There was no mention of the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

No brackets, nothing,
not even a single mention

of the Afghan National Defence and
Security Forces who had made 70,000,

over 70,000 sacrifices...
as for this partnership.

The Taliban were given the status
of a government.

The last 400 of some 5,000 Taliban
prisoners are now being released.

These are the most dangerous
and hardened criminals.

Their release is a precondition
for the start

of intra-Afghan peace negotiations.

But lots of questions are
being asked about the wisdom

of releasing individuals
who might have carried out

very recent attacks.

We were forced to do this,
and although we were not willing,

there was a lot of
pressure from the American side

that this has to happen.

So, it happened.

We were always saying that this sort
of peace agreements are not

going to work in a country
like Afghanistan.

But unfortunately, no-one
was listening to us.

January 2020,
I became the corps commander

in the north of Afghanistan.

Our intelligence services noticed
that the Taliban were making

advances to those areas
that we already cleared.

Those 5,000 prisoners
who were released,

we arrested a few of them
that were newly released

in our operations in the north.

We got them with weapons and we got
them in an active firefight

in that operation.

I got a call from
General Scott Miller,

Resolute Support Commander.

"There is a lot of complaints
that you are violating the deal."

I asked them, what have I violated?

General Miller said,
"Look, you are violating the deal

"between the US and Taliban,
the peace deal."

I said, "This is not our agreement."

"If it was a deal between US
and Taliban, how did I violate that?

"What is my job as an Afghan
soldier?

"Should I defend my country?

"We can't leave Afghanistan
in hands of terrorists."

The thing that struck me
the most on arrival in Kabul

was how unbelievably intense
the security arrangements were.

Maybe three weeks or so after
I'd arrived in the country,

the Afghan Central Election
Commission declared Ashraf Ghani

the victor in the disputed
election.

I was chairman for the inauguration.

I had organised that event.

So I had not slept the whole night.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The atmosphere was normal...

..until about maybe 15 minutes

or so into President Ghani's
inaugural address.

HE CONTINUES HIS ADDRESS

While President Ghani
was giving his speech,

the rocket happened.

EXPLOSIONS

The one that was closest to us was,
I believe, less than 200 metres

from our location.

I was scared if people would rush
to leave.

So 100 people might die.

And some people tried to make a run
for it.

The women behind me were, were
trying to exit, but there was no way

for them to leave.

So I went to the stage behind Ghani
and called everyone to calm.

And President Ghani didn't move,
he didn't budge.

He stayed where he was.

Then it suddenly it turned
to a moment of triumph.

Everyone started chanting.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The president had demonstrated

a considerable bravery and courage
in going on.

You know, tearing open his shirt
to show that he had no vest

was a public demonstration of that.

I wished that could have continued.

But that was a small
moment of resilience.

I wish what he showed there, he
could have showed later on as well.

He didn't.

I was in London.

I had a telephone call and I was
asked to join a negotiation team.

"A dialogue with Taliban
is very important and you know

"how to talk to them."

And my answer was no, because I was
sick, I was tired, but I thought

about it - OK, it is a huge
honour to be one of the four women

and one of the only 21 delegates
to be there.

So, I accepted it.

I thought, why not?

Why not?

History in the making in Doha
as the Afghan government

and the Taliban sit down
for peace talks.

These are the first formal
negotiations between the Afghan

government and the Taliban
and are aimed at ending

a 40-year conflict.

I reached Doha on Thursday.

I am very frank about it
that I was extremely nervous.

I was so nervous that
there were times that actually

I felt dizzy.

Because I did work with Taliban,

but if I got in touch with them,
it was through phone.

It was not face-to-face.

I didn't know how to face a group
of people who would feel that women

are not equal to men.

This was my first time I was seeing
those who have killed my father.

I didn't want more Afghans to die

because I knew what it means
to lose...

a member of your family, you know?

So we should stop this bloodshed.

That's why I was there.

At the beginning of the talks,
President Ghani and people

very close to him had too
much optimism that they will win

and everything will be all right.

And I was wondering,
why do they have this illusion?

They say, "Oh, very soon
there will be an election

"and President Biden will win."

CHEERING

Hello, hello! Hello, hello!

CHEERING

It's a good night!

After almost half a century
on the national political stage,

Democrat Joe Biden has defeated
President Donald Trump to become

the 46th president
of the United States.

It's over!

With the new Biden administration,
things changed very quickly.

I reached out to Washington
and delivered my intention

that I would like to visit
and have discussions early on.

And what they said was reassuring.

It was that they are going to take
the US-Taliban agreement

for what it is, and there are
conditions the Taliban have not met.

And so that was music to my ear.

I think President Ghani hoped
and expected that there

might be a relook at the US-Taliban
agreement, and in particular,

a relook at the whole matter
of the withdrawal of US forces

by May 1st, 2021.

My response to him was
that he should be very careful

about making assumptions.

I said, "Are we forgetting that when
Mr Biden,

"was Vice President,
was encouraging President Obama

"to leave Afghanistan.

"Why would he change his mind?

"Why wouldn't he get out of
Afghanistan?"

He said that this
was a "God-forsaken country".

That was one of
his favourite formulations.

It wasn't going to end up
where we would like it to end up,

that he had
argued this many times before

and he launched a review
of the policy.

I turned to the
Secretary of State, Tony Blinken,

and I said,
"Do we really need the review?

"I thought we got
the president's decision."

We were sitting with Taliban,
talking.

When we knew that President Biden
is going to give a speech

regarding Afghanistan,
although we were sitting

in the dining room,
we could hardly eat.

We could hardly eat.

Good afternoon.

We were thinking
maybe he has some sanity

and he's an experienced
politician.

And he knows what are the
consequences of withdrawal.

I'm now the fourth United States
president to preside over

American troop presence
in Afghanistan.

I will not pass this responsibility
on to a fifth.

US troops, as well as forces
deployed by our NATO allies

and operational partners,

will be out of Afghanistan
before we mark the 20th anniversary

of that heinous
attack on September 11th.

Wow.

It was a shock and it was a shock...

And I said, "Wow, how our future
is dependent on others' decision."

I was asked by CNN immediately
after that speech

to give my comment.

What are you asking of
the US and other NATO members

that would help?

We have to work this together.

We have to.

We simply... Otherwise, Afghanistan
will go through a sheer hell.

We...

I don't think that the anger
that I felt,

that ever in my life,
I felt that kind of anger.

I'm not worried about the withdrawal
of troops.

I'm worried about the withdrawal
of troops without peace intact.

This is our way.

That night I was in Doha.

That point was a turning point.

Next day, Taliban was so smiling
and laughing and...

When he announced a complete
withdrawal, I think

it was devastating.

It was depressing to see the Biden
administration basically

going down the same path
that the Trump administration

had gone down.

The hope was that President Biden
would agree to keep a certain number

of forces there - there were about
3,500 US forces there at the time -

and this would have been enough
to continue to fight terrorism

and support the Afghan security
forces.

I could see Taliban was not
serious in negotiation, I left.

I left Doha for Kabul,

for preparing the ground for our
resistance.

At Bagram Air Base,

what was once a symbol of America's
superpower presence,

much of the complex is deserted.

The abandoned vehicles - a sign
of the hasty exit, which has seen

many troops head home for
the 4th of July.

When Bagram was vacated, the Afghan
security forces were not

informed in time.

The neighbours in Bagram had found
out first because they noticed

the lights were turned off.

And then we visited and heard
the stories of the first people

who arrived there.

One of the story was that when
they first arrived,

they saw vehicles on the runway
whose headlights were on,

the engines were on,
the doors were open,

and it was, it was parked
in the middle of the runway, meaning

that the last soldiers who left
literally ran for it.

From an Afghan's perspective,

the signal that sent was
abandonment.

It felt betrayal.

And those signals were then
amplified by the Taliban, who wanted

to see the Americans shamed and hurt
the morale of the Afghan forces.

The Taliban was in control of 20%
of Afghanistan's districts in April.

Now, it's more than 50%.

WHISTLING AND GUNSHOTS RING OUT

And the armed groups' grasp
is getting ever closer

to the capital, Kabul.

SHOUTING

Washington was very, very concerned
about the melting away

of Afghan forces.

In June 2021, we saw some advances
from Taliban side.

We realised Taliban has changed
their approach to the fight, and now

they are focusing on sending
elders on negotiations.

Our local leaders
approached the local military people

and that worked.

They started joining our forces,

because they were not
receiving their salaries for months.

So there was a lot of resentments.

I got a call at 9:00 in the morning
from President Ghani

and he was very pissed.

And he told me,
"Alizai, you promised me

"that none of the provinces
or districts

"will be fallen to the Taliban.
What's happening?"

I told him 37 district centres
fallen in last one month.

All of them were taken
in a result of local

negotiations, elders' involvements.

I don't control that.

And I said, "Sir, I promised Taliban
won't take any places by force,

"but I never promised that they
won't take

"any places without fighting.

"I'm fighting in more than
100 spots, every 24 hours.

"That's my job. It's not my job
policing every checkpoint

"in every base."

"Local commanders, local
politicians, who are not happy

"with the Ghani government."

A meeting took place.

President Ghani devoted maybe half
of his remarks to...

to the security situation

and then for the other half,
spoke at great length

on a whole variety of relatively
arcane economic matters,

that seemed incongruous, given
what was happening in the country.

MAN SPEAKS IN AGITATED VOICE

I would tell him,
"Shouldn't you actually be focusing

"on the military situation,
the security situation

"that is getting more
and more difficult?"

CHILD CRIES, WOMAN SPEAKS

Some of the advisers
to the president were telling him

that he shouldn't be seen
as solely focused on security,

that that would create more panic
and that there needed

to be an essence of normalcy.

WOMAN SHOUTS ANGRILY

He always would pick up
wrong fight in the wrong time.

But if you would tell him,
he would be angry.

As a chief of staff,
I have to work with him.

But as a president, he had already
lost credibility.

At the time, things were happening
so fast.

There really was no time for many of
the decisions that were made.

The Taliban have just seized
a provincial capital

as they make gains...

We have two eyewitnesses confirming
that the city of Zaranj has fallen.

360,000 people have been forced
to flee their homes

in the last week.

Half of them are children.

TRANSLATION: The reason for our
current situation

is that the decision to withdraw
was taken abruptly.

The fall of provinces was deeply,
deeply concerning to us.

Less and less was standing
between the Talib forces advancing

toward Kabul.

Unarmoured vehicles. We're focused
on the security situation

that we face now, which, again,
we've acknowledged is deteriorating.

Has your current plan to withdraw
US troops changed at all?

No. They've got to fight for
themselves.

At 7pm on 14 August,

we had a call
with Secretary Blinken.

And these reports are deeply
disturbing.

Ghani said to him, he is ready
to step down

for a political settlement.

I could hear from the other side
a relief, from the Blinken side.

He welcomed Ghani's decision.

And President Ghani agreed
that a delegation, including Karzai

and myself too, will go to Doha
and negotiate with the Taliban.

I was instructed to engage
the Talib, so I had a series

of meetings with the Talibs.

I wanted them to agree
to a political arrangement,

an inclusive government
that would have individuals

from the other side,
50-50 government,

with someone that was mutually
acceptable heading that government.

And we worked together on
a statement

that the Talibs would issue - one,
that they will not enter Kabul.

Two, that they would welcome
a delegation from Kabul to negotiate

on an inclusive government
and a transfer of power

to that government
from President Ghani.

The Taliban's statement
came out, that the statement

they will not enter Kabul.

We were kind of relieved -
all of us - finally.

OK, now things will be OK.

President Ghani had to keep
his promise, that he will stay

while the politicians come
to Doha and sign a contract

with the Taliban.

So you would have had a government,
not a chaos.

I believed him.

I believed that he will stay
till the end.

The moment where things changed
is the morning of August 15.

I was not expecting anything
big to happen that day.

Breakfast went so normal,
that day was normal.

I had to attend my 9am
meeting with President Ghani.

We said it's time for you to come
public and give a statement

to the nation.

People should feel assured
things are OK.

We said
we have to now project a confidence.

So, like, Taliban will not enter.

We have to control this chaos.

I'm in my office around 9.45
when the chief

of the President's Guards come
worried, tells me that Taliban

had been spotted in Kabul.

And then at 11:00,
we hear firings outside the palace.

RAPID GUNFIRE

Hearing shots in Kabul was a norm.

But this day, the assumption
everybody made was the Taliban

are now around the palace.

More worrying news starts coming up.

Districts around Kabul
have collapsed,

but I was in a good place, because
I was aware of the behind scenes.

Taliban was already telling us
"we will not enter the city."

I went back to my office,
and on the way, I meet my deputy.

He says, "People are panicking
and they're leaving.

"We're losing staff.

"People are making the run
for the gates."

And I see my assistant coming
in with a tray himself.

I looked at him, "Where is
the...the boy who serves the tea?"

He looked at me in a, in a funny
way and said, "Gone."

SIREN WAILS

Thousands of Taliban fighters now
were seen approaching Kabul

from all sides.

And there were reports that at least
some units were already in the city.

This was alarming in itself
because it directly contradicted

assurances that we had received
from the Taliban in Doha

that their forces would halt
before they got to the city.

We instructed our forces to remain
at the gate of the Kabul city.

But we heard very bad news
from the city that there are bandits

looting people, plundering
properties, killing people.

And the government officials
and police and military

have left their posts.

Everybody was worried. There was
a sense of...a sense of panic.

Decisions are being made at a fast
pace of, what can be done?

What can be done at this situation?

The Afghan security forces manning
the checkpoints and controlling

movements within Kabul's Green Zone,

those people had abandoned
their posts.

So, people and cars and trucks
are now moving through checkpoints

that were meant to stop them and
protect us.

Faced with the risk of finding
ourselves marooned,

I recommended our immediate
evacuation.

It has to have been terrifying
for our staff, you know,

that had to very abruptly stop
everything that they're doing,

abandon their apartments,
abandon their possessions.

Take a suitcase with them
to a future that was uncertain

as to where they were going
exactly.

It... It was an awful day.

There is news of the Americans
having left the Green Zone

and their embassy and burned
everything.

All of this is
unfolding very, very quickly.

Every minute, the realities
are changing,

and not just one reality.

There is multiple realities
happening -

political situation changing,
the military situation changing,

the negotiations tactic,
the Taliban, our negotiations

with the Americans.

I mean, we have just heard a nonstop
stream of choppers all morning

going back and forth from
the embassy to the airport.

The Taliban are now very much
outside the gates of Kabul.

A city in panic.

People desperate to leave.

Taking what they can,
fearing a bloody assault.

More signs of panic at the banks.

People lining up to take
out their savings.

It's something around ten or 15 past
one o'clock, we start walking

to president's residence.

To my surprise, I was expecting
more was there.

But it was not there.

I was at the area
where the helipads are.

There are four helipads made
for specifically

for the four helicopter fleet
that the president had.

The president's security
looked very, very nervous.

And they tell me that the third
helicopter could not even fly

because an armed individual entered
in another helicopter, was shot,

when it was trying to leave
the airport to go and pick

up the Minister of Defence.

He told me, "Take the president
now before it's too late."

I head to the president's residence
and take the first lady.

And I told him, I said,
"Mr President, it is time."

He understood.

My tone was very serious.

And so he said, "Fine, let me go
upstairs and gather some stuff."

And I said, "No, there is no time.
It's now or never."

After lunch we came out.

It's around, I think 1.45
or something.

Sound of a helicopter.

HELICOPTER BLADES BEAT

I received a call from
Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He called me,
he said, "Where are you?"

I told him, I'm in palace.

He said, "Where is the boss?"

I told him he was with us half
an hour ago and he went home.

And he told me, "No."

I was sitting in the lobby
of our hotel in Doha.

I was having a meeting about
this peace negotiations.

And when they are coming.

Matin called and I said to him,
"What's wrong?"

He said that the president
has run away.

When I say that,
"Really, he has run away?"

He said,
"Yes, the bastard has run away."

We had a small window

for an imperfect settlement.

President Ghani is responsible
for killing that small window

of peace that could have prevented
the humiliation we suffered.

When he ran away,
everything collapsed.

RAPID GUNFIRE

Gunshots have been heard at a number
of points around Kabul.

A crush of people pushing,
shoving, screaming, children.

People here in the capital are
utterly petrified and essentially

have nowhere to look to now.

I managed to get in a secure place
at the airport,

but I could see a lot
of horrible things.

Seeing thousands of people
storming the airport.

And I was there when I saw
the big plane took off

and the guy fall down.

Around noon or afternoon,
we managed to leave.

Our plane took off to Turkey.

My family was in Kabul.

All my friends, my colleagues
were in Kabul.

It was a feeling just I'm leaving
for a moment.

It was not a feeling of
I'm leaving the country forever.

As we fly over Kabul
from the palace,

we could see the smoke coming out
in a distance from Bagram Air Base.

The city looked deserted and there
was, there seemed chaos in parts

of the city.

Afghanistan has new masters.

The Taliban are back.

Hours after arriving in Kabul,
sitting at the president's desk.

And it was a very happy moment,
a moment of joy,

a dream being realised.

It was a tragic ending
for the Afghan people.

It's heartbreaking for families
who lost loved ones in Afghanistan

who worked so hard to give
that country a chance.

I have talked to people
here who have been waiting

for two days.

Two days.

21,000 flown out in the past
24 hours.

The clock is ticking because
rescuing refugees will soon

have to give way to removing troops.

I was one of four people
from the American embassy in Kabul

who stayed to the very end.

At around 10.30 on the night
of the 30th,

we were asked to come and get
on buses to go out to the tarmac.

We filed on board,
the engines revved up.

That was the last plane
out of Afghanistan.

It was very quiet
when we...when we took off.

You know, hindsight is 20/20.

We did the best we could with
the information that was available

to us at the time.

That effort wasn't successful.

And everybody who is involved
has got to carry that with them.

The US came for revenge.

We helped the US to go after
Al Qaida, and then they left us

on our own to be butchered.

GUNFIRE

Afghan people have made such a big
sacrifice.

We don't have an army.

We don't have a police,
the institutions have collapsed.

We should not talk about
a republic side or a Taliban side,

but what is good for the people
of Afghanistan?

The war has not ended for us.

It's still a continuing war,
and we're paying for that.

All the Afghans are victims of this.

So we are the victim of these big
empty promises.

Promises,
all those empty promises.