A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, July 25, 2021 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.
MARTHA RADDATZ: Secretary Blinken, the president is saying that the threat of a further attack of the Kabul airport remains highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours. What more can you tell us about that, and are you satisfied that our U.S. forces and others are now protected given Thursday's tragic bombing?
ANTONY BLINKEN: Martha, let me address that in a second, but if I could, I just want to say one thing at the outset. You know, I think every American is feeling deeply the loss of our men and women in uniform in this terrible terrorist attack at the airport in Kabul. Men and women who were working to bring people to safety. 110,000 people evacuated from Kabul. But I have to tell you at the State Department, we feel this loss in a particular way. I think you know this, so many of those lost were Marines. If you go to any of our embassies around the world, the first person you're going to see is the U.S. Marine, standing sentry, guarding the embassy. We couldn't do our jobs as diplomats in any place around the world, without the Marines and of course, we certainly could not have done the job that's been done in Kabul without these extraordinary men and women, including the 13 who gave their lives a couple of days ago. So I just wanted to share with you and others how deeply we feel this, especially at the State Department. When it comes to the risk going forward for the next couple of days, the president’s exactly right. This is very high risk, and as he said, there is a high likelihood of additional attacks between now and the 31st. What I can tell you is this, and we met again this morning with the president and our top commanders both in the field, and, of course, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense. And I know that they're taking every possible precaution to keep our men and women safe, but this is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission these last couple of days. And so, we will do everything possible to keep people safe. But the risk is very high.
RADDATZ: And you talk about the risk, there were urgent alerts from the State Department before Thursday's bombing telling people to immediately get away from the gates yet as you know, we've lost those 13 servicemembers, more than 170 Afghans. I know force protection has since been increased, and that's a military decision, but as a member of the president's national security team, do you have any idea why that didn't happen sooner, given the urgent alerts? And you talk about embassies -- embassies have outer rims, and they're not guarded by the Taliban, that's what happened there.
BLINKEN: I'm going to let my colleagues in the Defense Department, you know, address this. I think you've heard General McKenzie speak to this in some detail the other day. The hard reality of this mission is that at a certain point, direct contact was necessary between our people, our men and women in uniform, and those coming into the airport. And that was part of the mission. Every effort is being made to make sure they are as safe as possible. But of course, whenever you have something as horrific as this -- anytime we have a loss of life, we're going to go back and look very hard at what was done, and whether anything could have been done better. But the fact of the matter is, from the get go, this was an extraordinarily dangerous mission. And in these last few days with ISIS-K clearly and actively plotting against us, the danger went up even higher.
RADDATZ: And the Pentagon launched a drone strike on what was described as an ISIS planner. That was late Friday. Were they involved in some way in Thursday's bombing, or were they suspected in planning these attacks that could come in the next day or so?
BLINKEN: The ISIS targets that were taken out involved two individuals who were significant planners and facilitators for ISIS -- for ISIS-K and I think we'll have more details on exactly what they did and what they're responsible for in the days ahead.
RADDATZ: And we know this is a dangerous period, the Pentagon does say that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Kabul Airport has already begun. We know more than 100,000 people have already been evacuated, an historic number which did take an incredible amount of work, but can you get all the American citizens who want to leave, and our Afghan allies who are at risk out by the Tuesday deadline, especially given this threat?
BLINKEN: We're doing everything possible to do just that. We have about 300 American citizens left, who have indicated to us that they want to leave. We are very actively working to help them get to the airport, get on a plane and get out of Afghanistan.
RADDATZ: The administration keeps saying the commitment to our Afghan allies doesn't end on the 31st, but your spokesman said the airport will not be open on September 1 and the Taliban obviously can't secure its safety, even when U.S. forces are present. So how do you realistically think any American citizens or Afghan partners who are left behind will be able to fly out? What would you say to them on how to get out?
BLINKEN: Martha, few things -- first, just about 24 hours ago a very senior Taliban leader spoke on television and on the radio throughout Afghanistan, and repeatedly assured the Afghan people, that they would be free to travel after August 31st, and he --
(CROSS TALK)
RADDATZ: But -- but-- Secretary Blinken they do not trust -- I mean, I know you say you don't trust the Taliban, but now you're telling me we should trust what the Taliban said?
BLINKEN: No, I'm not --
RADDATZ: Those people in hiding --
BLINKEN: I’m not saying that Martha. I'm not saying we should trust the Taliban on anything. I'm simply reporting what one of their senior leaders said to the Afghan people. He specifically cited, as well, those who worked for Americans, and any other Afghan for whatever reason. So that's point one.
RADDATZ: Okay but I want to go back to that, you're trying to reassure our Afghan allies, they're not reassured. Those interpreters who are not getting out, they're not reassured by a statement like that. So what more can you tell them to get out -- how to get out?
BLINKEN: Certainly, and Martha that was just point one. Point two is this, 114 countries have made very clear that it is their expectation that the Taliban will permit freedom of travel going past August 31st. So, that is a clear expectation across the entire world, across the entire international community. Third, we have very significant leverage to work with over the weeks and months ahead to incentivize the Taliban to make good on its commitments. Fourth, we've been very actively planning for what would be necessary to keep the airport functioning, either to have it function right -- immediately after the 31st or if necessary to take the steps required to reopen in a timely fashion, working with countries in the region who have very interested in helping. The Taliban have a strong interest in having an airport that functions, the Afghan people have a strong interest in an airport functions, the entire international community has that interest. Finally, while the airport is critical, and we're determined to see that it remains open or that it reopens quickly, there are other ways to leave Afghanistan, including by road and many countries border Afghanistan --
RADDATZ: That's a very dangerous trip.
BLINKEN: Again, if the Taliban is serious about the commitments that it’s repeatedly made in public, including nationally across the country, as well as in private -- commitments that the international community intends to hold the Taliban to -- then we'll find ways to do it. And we, for our part, Martha, are making sure that we have in place all of the necessary tools and means to facilitate the travel for those who seek to leave Afghanistan after August 31st.
RADDATZ: You will not have an embassy there but is the likelihood that it will open again given you won't have U.S. forces there?
BLINKEN: We're going to have to see exactly what happens in the weeks and months ahead in terms of how the Taliban conducts itself, what the security situation is in the country. But we're going to be very, very actively engaged diplomatically, certainly in the region, and we'll see what the prospects are and possibilities are down the road for being in Afghanistan itself. But we're also working very closely with dozens of countries that are similarly situated, that have a strong interest in making sure that people can continue to have freedom of travel to leave Afghanistan if they choose, and working in close collaboration with those countries, we are going to find ways to ensure that freedom of travel is meaningful.
RADDATZ: Ok we’ll hope that all happens. Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Secretary.
BLINKEN: Thanks, Martha. Good to be with you.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC HOST: Let’s get a response now from Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a member of the Intelligence Committee.
Good morning, Senator. I know you called for President Biden to extend the deadline but you heard Secretary Blinken, they are not moving that deadline, which means there will likely be people left behind. How do you think these Afghans and American citizens will get out?
SENATOR BEN SASSE, (R-NE): Well, first of all, Martha, that interview was disgusting and the American people have a right to be livid about it. There is clearly no plan. There has been no plan. Their plan has basically been happy talk.
People have died and people are going to die because President Biden decided to rely on happy talk instead of reality. And so they decided to outsource security around the perimeter of the airport to the Taliban. They passed a list of American citizens and America’s closet allies, people who fought alongside us, they passed those lists to the Taliban, relying on them, thinking they could trust on them. It was stupid then. It’s insane now. And their plan still seems to be let’s rely on the Taliban because the Taliban cares a lot about what world opinion thinks of them at French restaurants. It was -- it was a disgusting revelation of yet again no plan.
RADDATZ: So what do you think we do now? I know we have a lot of unofficial groups.
SASSE: Yes. So, Martha, let’s just -- let’s distinguish between a number -- among a number of different groups. We have American citizens who are being left behind. We have American green holders who are being left behind. We have Afghan allies who are SIV holders, folks who fought alongside us, drivers, translators, people who actually fought with us. These people are people to whom we made commitments. We have NATO allies who are livid at us.
There are some groups, I’m on the Intelligence Committee, as you know, and there are some small ways to try to do things around the margins. But what we need is a commander in chief that actually has a big plan and a big way to solve this problem. President Biden has been repeatedly disconnected from reality.
He once happy talked for some political talking point he still wants to execute on or a fight he’s been having with Obama administration alums since 2009.
I'm not sure what's driving the happy talk, but I know what the consequences are going to be. The consequences are going to be a return of the Taliban that has been willing to provide safe haven to terrorists in the past. And right now they don't even have the power to make a decision about who they are or aren't going to provide safe haven to.
We've got al Qaeda and al Qaeda affiliates. We've got the Haqqani network. We've got ISIS-K. We've got Talibani (ph) folks themselves who are killers. We have so many different groups who want to turn Afghanistan into the global capital city of jihad, and the administration doesn't have a plan. They're got all this over-the-horizon talk that is laughably shallow. If you actually sit in Intelligence Committee meetings and you hear what over-the-horizon looks like, it is a pittance compared to what we just had on the ground.
RADDATZ: And, Senator, but given that the Taliban said this date was a red line, given that ISIS is now carrying out these horrendous bombings and threatening more violence, wouldn't staying have put our forces more at risk?
SASSE: Joe Biden put our forces at risk by having no plan for how to evacuate. We are absolutely at risk. And we are at risk because the president has been so unbelievably weak, abandoning Bagram base will be read about in military textbooks for decades as one of the stupidest military blunders ever. And the president has tried to claim that somehow his military advisers were for this.
That isn't true. What is true is that the Biden politics at the White House told the military we're going to get down to only a couple hundred folks and then we're going to get down to zero quickly, therefore they couldn't defend Bagram. And so we've been relying on the Taliban to provide security around the perimeter of an urban, mostly civilian airport that has a single runway.
We have been in a ridiculously untenable position for the sake of evacuating these folks and keeping our word. Americans keep their word. Thirteen servicemen and -women died this week, and our families across this country are in prayer for those families and for the ultimate sacrifice they have made, but they were doing something to make sure that no one was left behind. The commander-in-chief should be doing the same, which is make sure that no one is left behind.
RADDATZ: Thank you so much for joining us this morning, Senator Sasse.
The "Roundtable" is next. And later, Dr. Fauci on the timeline for those booster shots. Plus, a live report on Hurricane Ida, catastrophic damage expected as it intensifies and barrels toward the Gulf Coast. We'll be right back.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC HOST: President Biden floating (ph) quicker access to booster shots as the Delta variant surge continues across the nation. Almost every county now reporting high community transmission.
For more, let’s bring in the president’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Good morning to you, Dr. Fauci.
The latest data is really struggling. The daily new case average up 153 percent in the last month, COVID hospitalizations surpassed 100,000 for the first time since January, and daily COVID-related deaths steadily increasing, besides increasing, in fact, -- increasing vaccinations. So what needs to happen at a time when COVID fatigue seems off the -- off the charts?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, PRESIDENT BIDEN’S CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISOR: Well, we can't let COVID fatigue overcome us, Martha. We still are in a situation where there's a lot that we can do about it. We have now about 80 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not yet gotten vaccinated. We need to get those people vaccination. We have the highly effective and safe tool to really get down those numbers that you just accurately portrayed.
Those are numbers that are really quite startling. We are still in an upsurge. The numbers that you gave are very, very alarming. But we can do something about it. If it was a situation in which we had no recourse or no tools, you could see how frustrating it would be. But it's even more frustrating when you have this situation where we do have a vaccinate that's highly effective, highly safe, accessible, free, and it works. We've really got to get those people who are not vaccinated in that group vaccinated.
RADDATZ: I really want to concentrate on school kids with you this morning. As we transition into the fall, of course, we have all these kids going to school. And pediatric hospital admissions are at the highest point of the pandemic. Does the Delta variant just hit them harder than we expected? What's happening?
FAUCI: Well, what we're seeing is that this variant, Martha, is -- is highly transmissible. The ability to transmit from person to person is much, much greater and more efficient than the prior variants, the Alpha variant that we had. That's affecting both adults and children. So you're going to see more children infected. And quantitatively, since more children are infected, you're going to see more children, unfortunately, getting hospitalized. And that's what we're seeing.
We're seeing that we've got to cut down the community spread. You can protect children who can't get vaccinated because of their age yet. We can protect them by surrounding them with a community of people who are vaccinated. That's how you protect children. And you also do it by complying with the CDC guidelines about masking, particularly masking in school even though you have vaccinated teachers and vaccinated personnel, you want to give that extra added level of protection to the children. That's the way we can protect them.
RADDATZ: And what's the latest timetable for getting vaccine shots for children under 12?
FAUCI: Well, right now the data has been collected and we should have enough data by, I would say, the end of September, middle to end of September, early October so that those data can then be presented to the FDA to examine for the risk/benefit ratio of safety and effectiveness. So at least they're going to be able to look at the data as we get into the middle and end of September. Hopefully we'll be acting quickly, depending on the data and their assessments of the risk/benefit ratio.
RADDATZ: And, Dr. Fauci, President Biden, you heard him say there that they're looking at whether booster shots should be given sooner than eight months, perhaps as early as five months, what's your recommendation?
FAUCI: Well, we're still sticking with the eight months, Martha. However, as we've said even in the original statement that came out, we're going to have to go through the standard way of the FDA looking at the data and then the Advisory Committee on immunization practices. So although we're sticking with eight, we're remaining flexible that if the data tells us differently we'll make adjustments accordingly. But for now we're stick with the eight.
RADDATZ: And finally, Dr. Fauci, the intelligence community delivered that review on the origins of Coronavirus. It was inconclusive. Will we ever know?
FAUCI: You know, I hope so, Martha, because it will help us to avoid this in the future. But we will need the cooperation of Chinese scientists and Chinese public health officials if we're going to do the proper surveillance, serologically, of people who were infected in China, as well as the animals. Being able to access whether or not animals have viruses that are closely related to SARS-CoV-2. We’ll need to do that in China with the cooperation of the Chinese.
RADDATZ: Well, we’ll hope we get that done. Thanks so much for joining us this morning, Dr. Fauci.