1 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,960 We're all products of where we come from and how we're raised. 2 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:22,060 I'm from sadness and darkness, the land where they kill a girl before she opens 3 00:00:22,060 --> 00:00:23,060 her eyes. 4 00:00:23,700 --> 00:00:29,220 At a very young age at CIA, you can be making decisions that are life or death. 5 00:00:30,300 --> 00:00:33,360 I feel they cut my wings and put me in prison. 6 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,720 We are in tenuous situations. We are taking risks. 7 00:00:38,350 --> 00:00:41,410 We have to put lives on the line for a greater goal. 8 00:00:42,730 --> 00:00:44,810 I'm a girl in the land of the men. 9 00:00:45,090 --> 00:00:47,130 Beat me, kill me, bury me. 10 00:00:47,390 --> 00:00:48,810 I don't have a right here. 11 00:00:49,630 --> 00:00:51,130 I don't have a voice here. 12 00:00:51,450 --> 00:00:55,490 At the airport in Kabul, thousands of Afghans also trying to flee. 13 00:00:55,870 --> 00:00:57,890 We're watching the country crumble. 14 00:00:58,250 --> 00:01:00,310 You've got to get people to the airport and get them out of the country. 15 00:01:00,910 --> 00:01:04,290 Now all of a sudden there's a credible threat about a suicide bombing. 16 00:01:04,629 --> 00:01:05,930 It is a ticking clock. 17 00:01:06,950 --> 00:01:10,830 This is what authoritarianism leads to, these impossible choices. 18 00:01:11,730 --> 00:01:14,690 I will raise my voice. I will get out of the grave. 19 00:01:15,210 --> 00:01:16,770 I will stand for my rights. 20 00:01:17,510 --> 00:01:20,050 One day, I will show you my power. 21 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:02,020 I remember I was watching the news, and I remember seeing people 22 00:02:02,020 --> 00:02:08,780 fleeing from crisis and grabbing onto anything they 23 00:02:08,780 --> 00:02:11,680 can to create a better life for themselves. 24 00:02:12,180 --> 00:02:17,620 The one image that I'll never forget is the image of the lady passing her baby 25 00:02:17,620 --> 00:02:20,280 over the walls at the Cobble Airport compound. 26 00:02:24,300 --> 00:02:30,620 And having my own child and just thinking what sort of desperation must a 27 00:02:30,620 --> 00:02:32,880 be in to do that. 28 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,020 And that's incredibly moving. 29 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,280 I'm Laura Thomas, and I spent over a decade at CIA. 30 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:49,500 I left the agency just a few months before the U .S. government announced 31 00:02:49,500 --> 00:02:52,280 it would be withdrawing from Afghanistan. 32 00:02:53,290 --> 00:02:56,150 My first assignment was in western Afghanistan. 33 00:02:56,650 --> 00:03:01,470 The CIA originally was there to root out al -Qaeda because al -Qaeda had used 34 00:03:01,470 --> 00:03:07,590 Afghanistan as a base to plan the attacks of 9 -11, but it was also to 35 00:03:07,590 --> 00:03:12,530 the Taliban from coming back to power. Unfortunately, that all came to a halt 36 00:03:12,530 --> 00:03:16,370 during the 2021 U .S. military withdrawal. 37 00:03:16,930 --> 00:03:21,610 Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31st. 38 00:03:22,140 --> 00:03:24,780 The Taliban immediately pushed forward. 39 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,900 Ghazni is the 10th provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in only a week. 40 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,140 And a lot of the Afghan government collapsed. 41 00:03:33,980 --> 00:03:40,680 We could see on the maps, it looked like one of those election nights where the 42 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:45,460 counties are turning color for who they voted on. All these provinces, they're 43 00:03:45,460 --> 00:03:47,560 just turning over to Taliban control. 44 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,120 And it happened super quick. 45 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,140 My name is James Mulligan, and for 20 years, I was a special agent with the 46 00:03:56,140 --> 00:03:58,960 Diplomatic Security Service, U .S. Department of State. 47 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:06,320 As the timeline was drastically compressing, everybody knew that those 48 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,640 falling dominoes were stopping Kabul. 49 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:17,500 I went to the office, and I was busy with my own job when I heard that the 50 00:04:17,500 --> 00:04:20,300 Taliban are in town, being a girl, working. 51 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,880 With a humanitarian development organization living the life that the 52 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:30,300 are against that, it was really scary for me. 53 00:04:31,180 --> 00:04:35,500 My family is still in Afghanistan. I don't want to put their life in danger. 54 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:38,860 Therefore, I'm not using my personal name. 55 00:04:39,140 --> 00:04:44,100 We start talking to the people in the office and asking them to get to the 56 00:04:44,100 --> 00:04:45,100 secure places. 57 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,360 We were looking at the situation and saying, 58 00:04:49,260 --> 00:04:50,480 It's getting dicey now. 59 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:53,620 We're watching the country crumble. 60 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:59,020 Everyone was screaming, and our security guards were trying to help them to get 61 00:04:59,020 --> 00:05:04,000 to their house. But one of my colleagues, she was with me. We both 62 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,760 wearing the long black hijab that the Taliban wanted women to wear. 63 00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:13,440 And I was really scared about going out, and they would shoot us on the street. 64 00:05:18,380 --> 00:05:21,640 The airport is America's last toehold in Afghanistan. 65 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:26,840 The Taliban has overrun the capital city, Kabul, and taken over the 66 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:27,840 palace. 67 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,200 I'm at the airport inside the terminal. 68 00:05:34,020 --> 00:05:35,440 Thousands of people. 69 00:05:37,540 --> 00:05:43,340 They had literally rushed the civilian terminal like what you see in a zombie 70 00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:45,580 movie and broken through the doors. 71 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,160 and run out onto the flight line. 72 00:05:54,120 --> 00:06:00,880 I was in Europe with my family on vacation when I saw stampede -like 73 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:01,920 conditions at the airport. 74 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:04,500 It was just a madhouse. 75 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:09,860 There were Taliban roaming in the area and beating people. 76 00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:15,240 For people who had worked with the U .S. government for decades, we're in 77 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:16,240 danger. 78 00:06:16,260 --> 00:06:21,100 The Taliban, they're going to take retribution. They're going to take 79 00:06:21,100 --> 00:06:22,100 these people. 80 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:28,160 So for many of the Afghans, this was their one chance at getting out of the 81 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,900 country before potentially being found and executed by the Taliban. 82 00:06:34,260 --> 00:06:39,740 It didn't matter that I was on vacation. I mean, I need to find a way to help. 83 00:06:45,260 --> 00:06:47,600 We knew we already lost our rights. 84 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:53,420 That failed to encourage other Afghans to go to the gates. People from all over 85 00:06:53,420 --> 00:06:57,300 Afghanistan, from different provinces, even the people who never worked on 86 00:06:57,300 --> 00:07:01,500 behalf of the U .S. government before, they all get together inside the airport 87 00:07:01,500 --> 00:07:02,920 so they can leave Afghanistan. 88 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:09,560 The only way out is through Kabul's airport, where desperate scenes play 89 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,740 I was glued to a screen. 90 00:07:13,370 --> 00:07:18,990 for 18 hours straight trying to figure out how we can help people. And at that 91 00:07:18,990 --> 00:07:23,950 point, I connected with Laura. My name is Michael Moreno, and I was a case 92 00:07:23,950 --> 00:07:24,950 officer at the CIA. 93 00:07:25,530 --> 00:07:30,830 Laura and I worked together in the Middle East, and we were collecting 94 00:07:30,830 --> 00:07:36,130 intelligence, recruiting spies to tell us secrets. I was a counterterrorism 95 00:07:36,270 --> 00:07:38,470 She focused on different topics. 96 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:44,380 It was a natural connection to make because you very quickly realized that 97 00:07:44,380 --> 00:07:49,820 had to get everyone who was competent and had an understanding of this type of 98 00:07:49,820 --> 00:07:54,120 crisis and how to manage it, you needed to get them together and talking and 99 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:55,120 working on this. 100 00:07:59,500 --> 00:08:04,900 I remember seeing the airplane take off with Afghan 101 00:08:04,900 --> 00:08:08,120 clinging to the landing gear. 102 00:08:09,420 --> 00:08:15,540 Hanging on for dear life, trying to escape that country and the fate that 103 00:08:15,540 --> 00:08:18,000 thought awaited them at the hands of the Taliban. 104 00:08:24,140 --> 00:08:29,460 The first thought in my mind was, I wonder if my interpreters are out. 105 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:36,000 So my interpreters, I mean, they were always the first people that went out to 106 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:37,620 greet sources. 107 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:43,020 And it was essentially their way of searching the source. And they would 108 00:08:43,020 --> 00:08:46,240 them a hug to see if they had a suicide vest or not. 109 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,020 I couldn't forget that. 110 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,640 They were out there risking their lives for me, and I wanted to make sure that 111 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:53,640 they were okay. 112 00:08:54,380 --> 00:09:00,280 The CIA is totally dedicated to the safety of its assets and 113 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:04,780 getting them out of harm's way when things go bad. 114 00:09:05,180 --> 00:09:07,700 And even though this wasn't actually our job, 115 00:09:08,750 --> 00:09:13,290 This was long after I left the CIA, but it's almost a professional obligation. 116 00:09:14,350 --> 00:09:20,070 So we were like, how can we get people out? You would need to exfiltrate 117 00:09:20,070 --> 00:09:22,490 someone. Well, Laura can do that. 118 00:09:23,670 --> 00:09:28,830 At CIA, I did have an experience with exfils, and if there were an opportunity 119 00:09:28,830 --> 00:09:31,230 that I could help, I wanted to do it. 120 00:09:31,530 --> 00:09:34,990 An exfiltration is getting someone safely out. 121 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:37,760 of a place where they're no longer safe. 122 00:09:38,020 --> 00:09:41,700 If it was someone that you worked with while you were there, that's the person 123 00:09:41,700 --> 00:09:42,700 you're going to go after first. 124 00:09:43,060 --> 00:09:48,300 The next day, we were able to push the people outside with the airport and gain 125 00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:53,840 control of the footprint, which would allow the consular officers to safely 126 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:57,020 adjudicate as many people as they could for flights out. 127 00:09:57,450 --> 00:10:00,430 So I reached out to my interpreter and asked, are you OK? 128 00:10:00,730 --> 00:10:04,990 He said he was fine. He was in the U .S., but his fiance was still in 129 00:10:04,990 --> 00:10:11,330 Afghanistan. And she had turned in her Afghan passport to the U .S. embassy 130 00:10:11,330 --> 00:10:16,630 weeks prior because they were worried that this could be the eventual result 131 00:10:16,630 --> 00:10:18,090 that the Taliban would take over. 132 00:10:18,490 --> 00:10:23,590 But she hadn't received her passport back yet. So she had no documentation 133 00:10:23,590 --> 00:10:26,880 whatsoever. He asked if there was anything I do, and I said, I'll check. 134 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:32,260 At the airport in Kabul, thousands of Afghans who helped fight America's 135 00:10:32,260 --> 00:10:34,280 war are also trying to flee. 136 00:10:35,020 --> 00:10:38,840 Those are those Afghans who worked for the U .S. as translators or helped the U 137 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,160 .S. in some way over this 20 -year conflict. 138 00:10:42,540 --> 00:10:46,260 This interpreter and I, we had worked together in Afghanistan for a long time. 139 00:10:46,300 --> 00:10:49,940 He knew that I would need as many details as possible. 140 00:10:50,620 --> 00:10:52,980 So immediately I asked him, I said, please send me. 141 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:58,940 a copy of your passports and me, every photo that shows a copy of her Afghan 142 00:10:58,940 --> 00:11:04,320 passport, any documentation she's ever had about a U .S. visa, all her contact 143 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:10,260 information, her address in Afghanistan, your address in the United States, all 144 00:11:10,260 --> 00:11:14,120 your phone numbers, your email address, her email address, all the phone numbers 145 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:15,960 of all family members, what she's wearing. 146 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,100 Laura is methodical in her approach to planning. 147 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:21,840 She's thoughtful about... 148 00:11:22,569 --> 00:11:27,970 resources and contingency. So she was uniquely suited to do these types of 149 00:11:27,970 --> 00:11:28,970 operations. 150 00:11:29,590 --> 00:11:31,650 I'm no longer part of the government. 151 00:11:32,010 --> 00:11:33,870 I have no say in anything. 152 00:11:34,070 --> 00:11:37,930 I'm certainly not in Afghanistan on the ground. I'm certainly not a policymaker 153 00:11:37,930 --> 00:11:41,930 in D .C., but I would do everything in my power to try to get her out. 154 00:11:42,790 --> 00:11:48,470 But there's tens of thousands of people, and not all of them can get rescued. 155 00:11:52,460 --> 00:11:56,620 I was trying to coordinate getting all of my interpreter's fiancé's 156 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,880 And then that led to me reading a lot of different message boards and being on 157 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:02,880 Slack channels. 158 00:12:03,380 --> 00:12:10,220 A group of Tillman scholars created a Slack workspace that grew from 159 00:12:10,220 --> 00:12:14,840 20 people on day one to, at its peak, 1 ,800 volunteers. 160 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:22,860 People would turn to Laura and I and say, hey, this situation is happening. 161 00:12:22,860 --> 00:12:23,860 want your opinion. 162 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,960 It was all -consuming. 163 00:12:28,300 --> 00:12:34,640 A lot of what I saw was Afghans reaching out, explaining their connection with 164 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:36,940 the U .S. government, the work that they had done. 165 00:12:38,180 --> 00:12:42,400 There were thousands, tens of thousands of them. 166 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,880 Mike and I started sharing information, who we were talking to in the military, 167 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:54,860 former colleagues, trying to strategize how could we work together and how could 168 00:12:54,860 --> 00:12:55,860 we help. 169 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:57,440 I'm in France. 170 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:02,860 We had rented an Airbnb, and I had a little makeshift command center in the 171 00:13:02,860 --> 00:13:03,860 Airbnb's bathroom. 172 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:09,060 I began calling the Afghans on the ground, calling their relatives in the U 173 00:13:09,060 --> 00:13:13,420 and some of the individuals that I was passing the information to, when they 174 00:13:13,420 --> 00:13:19,280 heard that it was me who was vetting some of these Afghans, they said, keep 175 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:20,280 information flowing. 176 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:26,100 I think it was because I worked at CIA and I had the recommendation of those 177 00:13:26,100 --> 00:13:27,100 working on. 178 00:13:27,550 --> 00:13:31,250 Afghanistan that this was Lauren, and we trust her judgment. 179 00:13:33,970 --> 00:13:38,630 I grew up in a very small town of North Carolina, one stoplight down in the 180 00:13:38,630 --> 00:13:39,349 middle of nowhere. 181 00:13:39,350 --> 00:13:43,710 My parents were very much service -oriented people. Just the way I was 182 00:13:43,790 --> 00:13:47,730 it was very much about giving back to others. I know that that influenced me 183 00:13:47,730 --> 00:13:50,650 want to be in a role where I could help other people in some way. 184 00:13:51,070 --> 00:13:55,350 I remember my freshman year was when the 9 -11 attack occurred. 185 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:01,140 I just thought, what can I do to help prevent something like this from ever 186 00:14:01,140 --> 00:14:02,140 happening again? 187 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:08,340 So I started studying Arabic with the hopes of making it more likely that CIA 188 00:14:08,340 --> 00:14:09,340 would hire me. 189 00:14:10,420 --> 00:14:15,120 You know, the goal is to protect Americans, but also help protect all of 190 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,460 collectively want peace in the world. 191 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,420 At one point in my tour in Afghanistan, I was made the chief of base. 192 00:14:24,940 --> 00:14:28,100 I was in charge of all the personnel on the base and the facility. 193 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,160 Certainly, I was young. That was my first tour. 194 00:14:31,580 --> 00:14:35,440 I heard some grumblings, like, she's young, she'll get us killed. 195 00:14:35,780 --> 00:14:37,680 Is there a feeling that you have to prove yourself? 196 00:14:38,300 --> 00:14:43,680 Absolutely. I remember there was one new GRS officer, and I think he was 197 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,080 probably quite shocked in that I was in charge. 198 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:50,420 As chief of aid, the potential that you could make a decision that ends up 199 00:14:50,420 --> 00:14:53,420 getting someone killed is a pretty heavy thing to carry around. 200 00:14:54,090 --> 00:14:55,150 I took it very seriously. 201 00:14:56,250 --> 00:15:01,050 A while later, we were driving around, and we see an Afghan in the distance 202 00:15:01,050 --> 00:15:07,350 waving his hands frantically. The one GRS officer that was worried about me 203 00:15:07,350 --> 00:15:11,870 being chief said to me very clearly, Chief, do I have your permission to 204 00:15:11,870 --> 00:15:16,610 the seal? Breaking the seal means opening the car door, rolling down the 205 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:22,500 I believe it was his way of saying that I recognize now that you're the one in 206 00:15:22,500 --> 00:15:23,500 charge and that's okay. 207 00:15:25,860 --> 00:15:30,680 During the time of the withdrawal, I was communicating directly with my 208 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:36,160 interpreter in the U .S. who was then communicating with his fiancée. 209 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,560 I also began compiling her documentation, and I would put the 210 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,640 together, and I started passing it to colleagues. 211 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:46,540 There was one other lady. 212 00:15:47,180 --> 00:15:50,640 who was truly an absolute hero in all of this. 213 00:15:52,540 --> 00:15:57,900 She was helping escort a number of Afghans on the ground. She helped keep 214 00:15:57,900 --> 00:15:58,900 calm. 215 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,400 I was connected with them because I was working with a humanitarian 216 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,900 organization, and I was asked to help a group of people. 217 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:12,320 I had to provide them a place to get together. That was my house. I had to 218 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:14,860 gather all of them and took them to the airport. 219 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:17,080 They were scared. 220 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,880 The women were all wearing hijab. The kids were crying. 221 00:16:20,180 --> 00:16:21,180 It was really hard. 222 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,800 I had to sit with them, talk to them, and give them the feeling that they will 223 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:26,800 be safe. 224 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:31,220 By working on behalf of the U .S. government, I knew I'm putting my 225 00:16:31,220 --> 00:16:35,160 life in danger, but I couldn't stop myself from helping. 226 00:16:41,460 --> 00:16:45,910 When I was growing up, It was not easy to go to the school because of the 227 00:16:45,910 --> 00:16:48,370 Taliban. We faced lots of challenges. 228 00:16:50,390 --> 00:16:55,350 When the war started, everything changed. The life of Afghan girls 229 00:16:56,150 --> 00:16:58,710 As a girl, I started going to the school. 230 00:16:59,890 --> 00:17:03,370 I still remember the first day that I went to the school. 231 00:17:03,610 --> 00:17:05,349 Life was full of joy. 232 00:17:06,690 --> 00:17:11,430 Because of the experience, while I was growing up, I didn't want another kid 233 00:17:11,430 --> 00:17:12,569 to have access to their rights. 234 00:17:17,099 --> 00:17:19,680 In the early morning, we had to leave for the airport. 235 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:35,380 This is the layout of the airport. North is this direction. 236 00:17:35,780 --> 00:17:37,580 North gate was here. 237 00:17:39,460 --> 00:17:41,500 East gate, the Abbey gate here. 238 00:17:42,540 --> 00:17:44,120 At these gates... 239 00:17:44,330 --> 00:17:48,850 First things they did were lay out concertina wire. Then they would put 240 00:17:48,850 --> 00:17:53,230 because the crushing just got so much. You needed something substantial. 241 00:17:54,750 --> 00:18:00,170 And we were that front door that said to people, you're either coming in or 242 00:18:00,170 --> 00:18:01,170 you're not. 243 00:18:02,310 --> 00:18:04,310 So we start moving to the airport. 244 00:18:04,710 --> 00:18:08,250 When I shared my location, they were checking that on satellite. They were 245 00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:10,030 tracking basically my phone number. 246 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,980 Because they were checking to see which way would get us closer to the airport. 247 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:19,940 And also the gate that we were going to, it was my first time going to that 248 00:18:19,940 --> 00:18:20,940 gate. 249 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:26,020 What I was hearing from folks in this Slack channel was that there was a CIA 250 00:18:26,020 --> 00:18:28,220 gate, which didn't surprise me at all. 251 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:33,220 The CIA were operating a Liberty Gate or Freedom Gate. It had various different 252 00:18:33,220 --> 00:18:36,960 names. It was right here in the vicinity of the western edge of the airport. 253 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:39,600 It was my understanding. 254 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:44,380 They would move certain barriers and only open the gate when they needed to. 255 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:51,880 It was also guarded by their own security forces, and they kept everyone 256 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,620 shooting at the ground or shooting over their head. 257 00:18:55,580 --> 00:19:00,820 People that knew about this and had contact there were having way more 258 00:19:00,820 --> 00:19:07,260 than at many other gates. And so there was this kind of quiet effort to put 259 00:19:07,260 --> 00:19:08,260 folks... 260 00:19:08,970 --> 00:19:11,170 In front of that gate, in front of the CIA gate. 261 00:19:12,970 --> 00:19:17,830 We took the bus there and waited out of the gate for more than nine hours. 262 00:19:18,990 --> 00:19:24,990 Eventually, I'm put in touch with an individual who identified himself as 263 00:19:25,850 --> 00:19:27,890 I believed him to be GRF. 264 00:19:30,230 --> 00:19:31,710 He was working a gate. 265 00:19:33,030 --> 00:19:35,510 They had a specific location for staging. 266 00:19:35,810 --> 00:19:36,990 They passed it to me. 267 00:19:37,390 --> 00:19:40,570 and I am the person who's ferrying the messages. 268 00:19:41,090 --> 00:19:45,250 We were asked to stay at the gas station, so people were coming to our 269 00:19:45,510 --> 00:19:50,390 I gave Ryan a list of families that I had, and then he would send me up the 270 00:19:50,390 --> 00:19:53,550 queue of which family, okay, send them across now. 271 00:19:54,070 --> 00:19:59,010 And there was a family, it was Fiancio, one of the interpreters that was already 272 00:19:59,010 --> 00:20:00,010 in the U .S. 273 00:20:00,050 --> 00:20:05,850 I didn't have 100 % guarantee that they were certainly on a list. 274 00:20:07,310 --> 00:20:11,910 But I told them to follow all the directions that they got from the 275 00:20:12,150 --> 00:20:13,270 I send them across. 276 00:20:13,590 --> 00:20:14,830 I tell them to walk. 277 00:20:15,050 --> 00:20:16,690 And then I wait. 278 00:20:17,410 --> 00:20:24,150 And I'm sitting there waiting for probably 10 minutes before I get 279 00:20:24,150 --> 00:20:29,770 another message from them that they had gotten successfully on the other side of 280 00:20:29,770 --> 00:20:30,950 the gate. They were okay. 281 00:20:32,470 --> 00:20:34,110 Obviously, I felt relieved. 282 00:20:34,870 --> 00:20:40,830 Anytime someone makes it through such a harrowing situation, I was relieved for 283 00:20:40,830 --> 00:20:43,830 them that they got across and that it worked. 284 00:20:44,330 --> 00:20:47,290 There are a lot of quiet successes in the CIA. 285 00:20:47,550 --> 00:20:51,790 You don't necessarily celebrate those, but it's not like, hey, good news, I got 286 00:20:51,790 --> 00:20:53,810 someone else out. She was doing her job. 287 00:20:56,890 --> 00:21:03,830 It was just past midnight, and I was about to go to sleep, and I... 288 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:10,200 I remember picking up my phone one last time and scrolling through a Slack 289 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:16,760 channel, and I saw a post that said, U .S. Citizen Baby Stuck in Kabul. 290 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,760 And I opened it, and I looked at it, and I put my phone down, and I closed my 291 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,180 eyes, and I said, I need to just go to sleep. 292 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:31,980 I lay there for about a minute, and I just couldn't turn my brain off. 293 00:21:32,970 --> 00:21:34,830 All I could think about was my own child. 294 00:21:36,050 --> 00:21:41,370 I sleep peacefully, happily in the next room, and not wanting to take that for 295 00:21:41,370 --> 00:21:47,710 granted. And so I got back up, and I just got back to work with vetting the 296 00:21:47,710 --> 00:21:50,530 story of the lady with the baby. 297 00:21:53,670 --> 00:21:57,330 So the baby had a U .S. passport, but the mother did not. 298 00:21:57,970 --> 00:22:01,410 And I am working with the mother. 299 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:07,320 As well as the husband, who was in the U .S., on how to direct her to get her to 300 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:11,100 the right location so we could get that U .S. citizen baby out, along with the 301 00:22:11,100 --> 00:22:12,100 mother. 302 00:22:18,980 --> 00:22:23,220 What assurances can you give to women and girls that their rights will be 303 00:22:23,220 --> 00:22:26,000 protected? Our women have the same rights. 304 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,780 They're going to be working shoulder to shoulder with us. 305 00:22:29,020 --> 00:22:32,580 We want to assure the international community there will be no 306 00:22:32,580 --> 00:22:35,840 against women, but of course within our religious framework. 307 00:22:36,500 --> 00:22:40,840 That's a lie if I've ever heard one. A complete window dressing as the Taliban 308 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:42,080 started to take power. 309 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:50,720 I mean, this is the same regime that was stoning women in stadiums publicly for 310 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:54,260 their perceived violation of the law. 311 00:22:56,170 --> 00:22:57,430 Girls couldn't go to school. 312 00:22:57,690 --> 00:22:59,850 It was just a human tragedy. 313 00:23:03,030 --> 00:23:05,690 The actions were different from their words. 314 00:23:05,910 --> 00:23:09,310 One of my colleagues called me, and he was beaten really badly. 315 00:23:10,770 --> 00:23:11,950 Kids were crying. 316 00:23:13,370 --> 00:23:14,570 Women were crying. 317 00:23:21,090 --> 00:23:22,790 They're threats. They're... 318 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:27,300 suicide bomber en route to this gate. 319 00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:32,260 The challenge is that often the rumor. 320 00:23:33,300 --> 00:23:38,720 In my tour in Afghanistan, we would get the same threat reporting almost every 321 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:44,200 day. It felt like Groundhog Day. You just never knew which day it might be 322 00:23:45,500 --> 00:23:48,860 I'll never forget the first Taliban member I met. 323 00:23:50,190 --> 00:23:52,670 Just a very imposing -looking figure. 324 00:23:54,130 --> 00:24:00,290 At CIA, we are not social justice warriors. We're out to collect 325 00:24:00,630 --> 00:24:03,650 You have to put your personal opinions aside. 326 00:24:04,030 --> 00:24:10,750 I'm there to get information, not to argue about women's rights with the 327 00:24:10,750 --> 00:24:11,750 Taliban. 328 00:24:12,030 --> 00:24:16,990 As we were in the debriefing, the Taliban member tells me, yeah, I have a 329 00:24:16,990 --> 00:24:18,610 suicide vest in my car. 330 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:25,740 And I remember very explicitly telling him, if you ever do that again, all of 331 00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:28,660 security, they have my authorization to shoot you. 332 00:24:29,860 --> 00:24:33,000 Laws can change overnight, but culture rarely does. 333 00:24:33,500 --> 00:24:40,140 And so as soon as they claimed that they would respect human rights, women's 334 00:24:40,140 --> 00:24:44,040 rights, they would allow women to go to school, they would allow women to work, 335 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,840 I knew it was a lie. 336 00:24:47,450 --> 00:24:51,430 to say whatever needed to be said in order to continue raking in foreign aid. 337 00:24:52,170 --> 00:24:57,050 And they would renege and they would change course as soon as the world 338 00:24:57,050 --> 00:24:59,810 its attention and the media news cycle moved on. 339 00:25:00,730 --> 00:25:05,430 So I'm on the phone with a number of Afghans on the ground. 340 00:25:06,210 --> 00:25:10,950 And I am talking with the father in the United States. 341 00:25:11,370 --> 00:25:15,950 I told him, your wife should only bring the clothes that she's wearing. 342 00:25:16,650 --> 00:25:21,070 enough formula and medicine, anything for the baby, the baby's documentation. 343 00:25:22,030 --> 00:25:23,490 She was four months old. 344 00:25:24,050 --> 00:25:25,150 She was lovely. 345 00:25:25,930 --> 00:25:29,050 I would think her future differently from other kids. 346 00:25:30,490 --> 00:25:35,070 Her smile, I still remember, but after a few hours, she just started crying. 347 00:25:35,350 --> 00:25:41,070 She was tired, and I could feel that, tired of all the noise happening around. 348 00:25:41,610 --> 00:25:42,610 The mom. 349 00:25:43,310 --> 00:25:47,070 could not figure out how to get onto any of the other gates. She could not get 350 00:25:47,070 --> 00:25:49,050 close enough to show her baby's passport. 351 00:25:49,570 --> 00:25:51,170 The mother was really scared. 352 00:25:53,530 --> 00:25:59,970 As I was talking with the father in the United States, I told him, 353 00:25:59,990 --> 00:26:02,510 send your wife and child to this location. 354 00:26:03,250 --> 00:26:07,290 Don't bring anyone else. No one else will be allowed to go with her. 355 00:26:08,050 --> 00:26:12,290 And within a minute, he was calling me back. 356 00:26:12,900 --> 00:26:18,060 lobbying for his brother, the uncle of the child, to be the escort and saying 357 00:26:18,060 --> 00:26:22,120 why she and the baby couldn't leave without the uncle. 358 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,440 It was literally life or death for these people. 359 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,880 We were the judge, the jury, and in some cases probably the executioner of not 360 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:39,080 allowing people to come in. 361 00:26:39,820 --> 00:26:43,060 And literally saw these like cheerful goodbyes. 362 00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:54,040 Seeing her in Afghanistan, I was looking a dark future for her. 363 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:56,820 A girl who has no right. 364 00:26:58,220 --> 00:27:04,160 A girl that in future, when she will, she grow up, people even won't count her 365 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:05,160 as a human being. 366 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,600 I had to tell him many times, the uncle will not be able to go through. 367 00:27:11,180 --> 00:27:16,820 He responded as I think anyone would, denial and why? 368 00:27:17,540 --> 00:27:24,080 I can't do it any other way. I absolutely empathized and understood why 369 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:28,140 were pushing the bounds of the guidance that they were being given. 370 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:34,920 Where I come from and how I was raised was to connect with people and to... 371 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,660 to care about the feelings of others. 372 00:27:40,620 --> 00:27:47,020 At the same time, you can never really predict how someone's going to react in 373 00:27:47,020 --> 00:27:51,660 such an intense situation that's incredibly emotional because you're 374 00:27:51,660 --> 00:27:56,180 someone to give up essentially everything they know and to never look 375 00:27:56,180 --> 00:27:58,000 mean, that's a very weighty decision. 376 00:27:58,460 --> 00:28:03,320 He threatened that he wouldn't let the wife and the baby go through the gate. 377 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:05,000 if his brother couldn't go too. 378 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:10,840 And that's when I had to be very direct with him and also had to appeal to the 379 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:11,840 emotional side. 380 00:28:14,300 --> 00:28:15,940 I sent this message. 381 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,060 Aja Jan, you hold the world in your hands. 382 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:20,740 You're in charge of your family. 383 00:28:21,060 --> 00:28:24,460 You know as well as I do that there are two types of people in this world. 384 00:28:24,980 --> 00:28:27,440 There are those who wait, and there are those who act. 385 00:28:28,020 --> 00:28:29,660 You're the type of person who acts. 386 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,220 This is your wife and daughter's last chance, and you hold their future in 387 00:28:34,220 --> 00:28:38,220 hands. If you don't let your wife and child walk through that open airport 388 00:28:38,220 --> 00:28:40,360 right now, they will never get a second chance. 389 00:28:41,060 --> 00:28:45,080 Your little girl will grow up under Taliban rule and never know her father. 390 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,060 You can't go back. You'll be killed. 391 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,160 They might be killed because of you. 392 00:28:51,100 --> 00:28:54,100 You have only two options right now, and they aren't negotiable. 393 00:28:54,700 --> 00:28:58,660 Let your wife and child proceed without the uncle, or leave them behind forever. 394 00:29:05,290 --> 00:29:07,150 Eventually, she let him through. 395 00:29:21,670 --> 00:29:28,590 News from Afghanistan, where there are significant casualties, including some 396 00:29:28,590 --> 00:29:32,350 Americans from a suicide attack outside the country's main airport in Kabul. 397 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:38,000 When I heard about the Abagate bombing, it was gut -wrenching. 398 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:45,860 Over 180 people were killed, 13 U .S. service members, in one 399 00:29:45,860 --> 00:29:51,560 of the most catastrophic losses of U .S. life since 2011 in Afghanistan. 400 00:29:52,260 --> 00:29:54,180 You know, it was horrific. 401 00:29:54,420 --> 00:29:57,840 I mean, these were the grains that we worked with every day. 402 00:29:59,300 --> 00:30:04,180 It was such a target -rich environment between the amount of people that were 403 00:30:04,180 --> 00:30:08,800 physically in that footprint of the embassy perimeter and the amount of 404 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:09,820 that were there. 405 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:15,980 I mean, there is a lot of irony in the situation where people are crowding 406 00:30:15,980 --> 00:30:22,460 around these gates for the chance at getting out and having a shot 407 00:30:22,460 --> 00:30:26,520 at a life very different than the life they would live under the Taliban. 408 00:30:27,340 --> 00:30:33,180 Yet at the same time, they're going into the lion's den as far as a threat 409 00:30:33,180 --> 00:30:35,300 scenario. It was really scary. 410 00:30:35,980 --> 00:30:40,780 And I had to leave the gate. And because of the security to treat, I was asked 411 00:30:40,780 --> 00:30:41,780 to go back to home. 412 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:50,920 I was in touch with the mother of the child right before she went through the 413 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,160 gate. A few hours later, I called her. 414 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,220 She said she was on the aircraft. 415 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:02,640 and she sent me a selfie of her and her child on the aircraft. 416 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:08,400 I don't think that I had the time to really think about, well, I'm not going 417 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:15,140 send them to a location for staging because there could be a 418 00:31:15,140 --> 00:31:17,500 suicide bomber. I mean, there could have been a suicide bomber anywhere. 419 00:31:18,020 --> 00:31:19,320 It is always... 420 00:31:19,820 --> 00:31:22,760 You're thinking about the risk versus gain in any scenario. 421 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,800 Today, desperate Afghans returned, hoping to get a seat on one of the last 422 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:29,460 evacuation planes out. 423 00:31:29,700 --> 00:31:33,960 Almost immediately, the regular operations kind of stopped. 424 00:31:35,020 --> 00:31:40,780 At this point, it was clear that we're kind of like on borrowed time. 425 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:47,940 It is a ticking clock. And even if formal handover isn't happening for a 426 00:31:47,940 --> 00:31:48,940 days out. 427 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:53,100 The likelihood of it being sooner is high. 428 00:32:17,660 --> 00:32:20,760 Never left her family behind at the age of 25. 429 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:25,400 And then I talked to my family, and my mom was thinking about my security. 430 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,020 She asked me to leave. 431 00:32:32,220 --> 00:32:33,880 She wanted me to be secure. 432 00:32:35,540 --> 00:32:41,700 All the stories, how they are killing people secretly, being in trouble with 433 00:32:41,700 --> 00:32:44,540 family, makes it more dangerous. 434 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:51,080 I had to leave my family behind and go back to the gate. 435 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,740 They only gave me 13 minutes to come back to the gate, and that was the last 436 00:32:58,740 --> 00:33:01,420 chance. And my house was far from the gate. 437 00:33:01,980 --> 00:33:04,660 It seems impossible for me to go back to that gate. 438 00:33:06,060 --> 00:33:10,900 I didn't have a car. I wasn't allowed to get a taxi as a woman. 439 00:33:11,140 --> 00:33:12,720 But my dad drove me back. 440 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,000 Because of the traffic, we couldn't make it. 441 00:33:16,510 --> 00:33:19,210 to come to the gate by the car, so I had to run. 442 00:33:22,650 --> 00:33:27,590 We know that it's only a matter of time before the gates close and that the 443 00:33:27,590 --> 00:33:30,130 messages we're exchanging could be the last. 444 00:33:30,490 --> 00:33:37,490 As I recall, I had about five families that I had laid out in order of 445 00:33:37,490 --> 00:33:42,410 who was going to walk and in what order across the gates once I got the go 446 00:33:42,410 --> 00:33:43,389 -ahead. 447 00:33:43,390 --> 00:33:49,600 And one family Went through. I got confirmation where I got to another 448 00:33:51,100 --> 00:33:55,580 And they wouldn't walk towards the gate because the guards were shooting. 449 00:33:55,980 --> 00:33:58,760 And they were afraid they were going to be shot. And they kept telling me, the 450 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,900 guards are threatening to shoot us. We can't walk. We can't walk. 451 00:34:02,460 --> 00:34:04,880 They're going to shoot my son. We can't walk. 452 00:34:05,860 --> 00:34:09,840 The family talking to me is frantic, saying that they're shooting. They're 453 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,860 shooting at us. They're shooting at us. They're going to kill us. 454 00:34:12,270 --> 00:34:15,770 And I said, walk. They will not shoot you. They were shooting because they 455 00:34:15,770 --> 00:34:18,090 trying to do crowd control. They're trying to keep people back. 456 00:34:18,330 --> 00:34:23,070 You must walk. I'm assuring you, I have it on good word from the American on the 457 00:34:23,070 --> 00:34:25,830 other end, that they won't actually shoot you. 458 00:34:26,090 --> 00:34:32,110 How do you convince a person that you're talking to on the phone to walk towards 459 00:34:32,110 --> 00:34:35,230 a person holding a gun, threatening to shoot them? 460 00:34:36,010 --> 00:34:38,590 How do you convince them to trust you? 461 00:34:39,310 --> 00:34:44,330 How do you convince them that just beyond that barrel of a gun is freedom 462 00:34:44,330 --> 00:34:45,330 them and their family? 463 00:34:45,510 --> 00:34:47,330 All they have to do is walk. 464 00:34:52,710 --> 00:34:54,790 The family talking to me is frantic. 465 00:34:55,070 --> 00:34:59,010 Meanwhile, I'm trying to get a word in and saying they won't kill you. They're 466 00:34:59,010 --> 00:35:01,170 not going to shoot you. They're shooting over your head. 467 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:02,760 Continue walking. 468 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:03,940 You have my word. 469 00:35:04,300 --> 00:35:08,420 You have the word of the American on the other side of the gate that they will 470 00:35:08,420 --> 00:35:09,420 not kill you. 471 00:35:09,980 --> 00:35:15,800 When I think about if I were in their shoes and someone is pointing a weapon 472 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:21,920 me and shooting, I would be terrified. Would I want to take my small child and 473 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,640 I'm just going to walk towards the gunfire? 474 00:35:26,340 --> 00:35:30,040 Just because someone on the other end of the phone tells me it's okay to trust 475 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:31,040 them? 476 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:32,920 I don't know what I would do. 477 00:35:33,820 --> 00:35:37,660 This is what authoritarianism leads to, though, these impossible choices. 478 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,700 We know that the gates are likely to close very soon. 479 00:35:43,980 --> 00:35:45,920 Go back to the family. They're afraid. 480 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,920 And I argued with them for probably 30 minutes. 481 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:56,160 And I was trying to say it in every way that I could think of that would try to 482 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,100 get them to act, and I just couldn't do it. 483 00:36:01,180 --> 00:36:04,640 They just refused to walk, and they didn't get out. 484 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,340 I think back of what could I have said differently, what could I have done 485 00:36:11,340 --> 00:36:14,600 differently. I don't know. All I know is I couldn't get them to walk. 486 00:36:18,140 --> 00:36:20,960 I went to the next family on the list. 487 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:28,520 It was a father who had served as an interpreter and his wife and his three 488 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:29,520 children. 489 00:36:29,870 --> 00:36:36,050 One, I remember a very young little girl. He had sent me pictures of 490 00:36:36,050 --> 00:36:40,410 him with his family all holding their Afghan documentation. 491 00:36:41,510 --> 00:36:46,410 I was texting him saying, you're up next, you're on deck, you're about to 492 00:36:46,410 --> 00:36:48,250 through in 10 minutes. 493 00:36:48,750 --> 00:36:55,430 As I was telling that family that it was their turn to walk, I got 494 00:36:55,430 --> 00:36:57,910 a text back from the father. 495 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:04,460 The Taliban just arrived. It looks like control of the gates has been passed 496 00:37:04,460 --> 00:37:05,860 over to the Taliban. 497 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:11,700 And then right after that, I received word that the gates closed. 498 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,120 We finally get told, that's it, we're done. 499 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:17,000 I knew that was the end. 500 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:21,560 And then I had to tell that father and that family that they weren't going to 501 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:22,560 make it in. 502 00:37:25,060 --> 00:37:29,700 The last U .S. troops have left Afghanistan, officially marking an end 503 00:37:29,700 --> 00:37:30,960 America's longest war. 504 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,160 Social media showed the Taliban celebrating their return to power 505 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:36,160 heavy gunfire. 506 00:37:36,240 --> 00:37:41,500 We knew it was coming, and we knew that we had a limited amount of time, but it 507 00:37:41,500 --> 00:37:46,320 was brutal having been immersed in that for two weeks and doing everything we 508 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,120 could. And at a certain point, you're like, well, okay, like, we can't help 509 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:50,120 anyone else. We're done. 510 00:37:54,590 --> 00:37:57,610 Children, their pictures, especially the little girl, and just thinking to 511 00:37:57,610 --> 00:37:59,670 myself, now she's going to grow up under the Taliban. 512 00:38:01,730 --> 00:38:07,230 And if only the order had been different, maybe her life would be very 513 00:38:07,230 --> 00:38:08,230 different. 514 00:38:09,690 --> 00:38:12,170 I never thought that I would leave my family in that situation. 515 00:38:13,030 --> 00:38:15,070 I even couldn't say goodbye to my siblings. 516 00:38:15,530 --> 00:38:17,090 I just knew that I'm leaving. 517 00:38:18,850 --> 00:38:20,130 Leaving everything behind. 518 00:38:20,490 --> 00:38:21,490 My hometown. 519 00:38:22,410 --> 00:38:23,410 My friends. 520 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:29,000 My family, the people that I love. 521 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:36,740 Sometimes we don't recognize the enormity of situations at first 522 00:38:36,740 --> 00:38:43,720 until you see something so visceral and moving as someone falling from 523 00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:47,540 an aircraft or passing a baby over a wall. 524 00:38:49,420 --> 00:38:54,040 Everything in a mother pushes us to protect our children. 525 00:38:54,590 --> 00:38:58,410 giving up your child in hopes that they have a better future than you. 526 00:38:58,830 --> 00:39:03,490 It is absolutely the depth of desperation, but it's also the depth of 527 00:39:09,030 --> 00:39:14,590 I had to run half of the way for a few miles, but I made it on time. 528 00:39:15,070 --> 00:39:16,390 It was a long flight. 529 00:39:18,090 --> 00:39:19,770 I was worried about my future. 530 00:39:20,150 --> 00:39:21,150 I was scared. 531 00:39:31,140 --> 00:39:37,960 Once I got the last message that the U .S. government had left, I flew back to 532 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:41,640 the United States and walked down the jetway and walked in the immigration 533 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:46,620 terminal and see all these people huddled in front of me. 534 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:51,760 And I knew these were the Afghans on all of those. 535 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,180 that were being evacuated. 536 00:40:03,500 --> 00:40:08,880 I see just rows and rows of Afghans. 537 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:15,840 It was extremely emotional for me because I 538 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:18,780 saw them all standing there. 539 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:24,240 I had some sense of what they had gone through and what they had left behind. 540 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:30,720 And I also kept thinking about the children that 541 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:35,480 were on my list that didn't make it out and how they weren't standing there. 542 00:40:37,460 --> 00:40:40,780 Still keep a photo of that family on my phone. 543 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:47,820 I thought a lot about why did I keep arguing with the one family who wouldn't 544 00:40:47,820 --> 00:40:49,800 walk? Why did I not put this family? 545 00:40:50,300 --> 00:40:54,560 Up before them, I wish I had done things differently. 546 00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:05,740 I can't bring myself to delete it because I do want that reminder. And it 547 00:41:05,740 --> 00:41:08,840 reminds me of the state. 548 00:41:09,740 --> 00:41:15,820 It reminds me what authoritarianism leads to, what fanaticism leads to. 549 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,640 That's a lesson I don't ever want to forget. 550 00:41:23,220 --> 00:41:27,640 We are nearly three months into the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, and the 551 00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:31,040 list of human rights violations against Afghan women is growing. 552 00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:36,660 Women have been denied the right to work and a secondary education, and there 553 00:41:36,660 --> 00:41:38,700 are also reports of widespread harassment. 554 00:41:39,820 --> 00:41:42,020 I see the future of Afghan women differently. 555 00:41:42,700 --> 00:41:44,300 I still have hope for them. 556 00:41:44,660 --> 00:41:48,260 I see the kids going back to school, maybe not soon. 557 00:41:49,420 --> 00:41:55,520 But in a few years, when I moved to the U .S., I still continue working for 558 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:57,340 humanitarian organizations. 559 00:41:58,300 --> 00:42:02,060 I'm still helping people around the world, including Afghanistan. 560 00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,300 That's my goal, to inspire women around the world. 561 00:42:06,820 --> 00:42:12,220 How lucky are we in the United States that we have someone like that who is 562 00:42:12,220 --> 00:42:17,000 getting her American citizenship? She is the type of person that makes this 563 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,000 country what it is. 564 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:21,120 And we're the lucky ones for having her. 565 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:32,360 When I first met Laura, I thought I'm connected with her. I thought I know her 566 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:33,360 for ages. 567 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:38,820 And I see that we had the same hope for Afghanistan, for Afghan women. 568 00:42:39,900 --> 00:42:45,440 I feel privileged that I was able to be the person making some of these 569 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:46,440 decisions. 570 00:42:48,490 --> 00:42:51,130 the right thing, the ethical thing, to the degree that I could. 571 00:42:51,610 --> 00:42:56,730 In many ways, it was very rewarding to have a chance to serve again, doing some 572 00:42:56,730 --> 00:42:59,930 good in the world. You know, that's the whole point. The whole point of this 573 00:42:59,930 --> 00:43:01,030 career is to help. 574 00:43:01,390 --> 00:43:05,830 The idea that in very small ways I could help shape a little bit of that role 575 00:43:05,830 --> 00:43:10,510 that the United States was playing and still plays is very important to me, and 576 00:43:10,510 --> 00:43:14,570 I think important to almost anyone who spends most of their... 577 00:43:14,890 --> 00:43:19,650 career and life, working in service of something that's bigger than themselves.