(tense music)

- [Jenna] Tonight,

(bomb explodes)

clear and present danger.

The dramatic evacuation operation

underway at the Kabul airport

a day after explosions killed US troops

and scores of civilians.

- We will not forgive.

We will not forget.

We will hunt you down and make you pay.

- [Jenna] The Americanswho remain in Afghanistan

four days from a US withdrawal deadline.

And, as the fall ofAfghanistan presents a threat

to stability in the Middle East,

the new Israeli prime ministervisits the White House

for a meeting with President Biden,

now a day off schedule in thewake of the ongoing crisis.

All this and more tonighton "Faith Nation."

(rhythmic music)

The scramble to liftmore Americans to safety

amid warnings of another attack.

I'm Jenna Browder.- Good evening

and welcome to "Faith Nation."

I'm John Jessup.

Evacuation flights have resumed

at Kabul International Airport

after Thursday's deadly explosions

that left 170 people dead.

- And with only four daysleft to leave the country,

the US is now relying on the Taliban

to secure the situation.

CBN's Brody Carter joins us now

as soldiers race to accomplish the mission

ahead of the August 31st deadline.

Brody.

- John, Jenna, the WhiteHouse has not provided

an official tally on the number of people

still needing to be rescued.

An estimated 1,000 Americans remain

alongside tens ofthousands of Afghan allies.

It has said, as we enterthe retrograde period

of this withdrawal, the mostdangerous parts of this mission

are still to come.

- The national security team

the president met with this morning

advised the president and vice-president

that another terrorattack in Kabul is likely,

and they are taking maximumforce protection measures

at the Kabul airportand in surrounding areas

with our forces as a result.

- In the past 24 hours, morethan 300 American citizens

were evacuated from Afghanistan,

bringing our updated totalto approximately 5,100.

- [Brody] With thoseevacuation flights resuming

after Thursday's terror attacks,

the Pentagon says it's now relying

on the Taliban for securityafter losing their ability

to hold down the airport's perimeter.

- We believe it is their desireto continue those attacks

and we expect those attacks to continue,

and we're doing everything we can

to be prepared for those attacks.

- [Brody] Those attackskilling 13 US troops

and as many as 150 Afghansin a suicide bombing

and terrorist gunfire.

(people speaking in foreign language)

- [Brody] The Pentagonconfirming those casualties

resulting from a single suicide vest,

exploded near a crowdedgate filled with families

waiting to board evacuationflights at Kabul airport.

- I bear responsibility for,

fundamentally, allthat's happened of late.

- The fighting has just begun.

- [Brody] Thursday, ISIS-K,

short for the IslamicState of Khorasan Province,

admitted to carrying out the attack.

This group is consideredthe Islamic State's

most feared Afghan affiliate

known for imposing theharshest form of Sharia law

and executing anyone opposing.

ISIS-K now fighting theTaliban for Afghan territory

while posing a threatto ongoing evacuations.

- We will not forgive.

We will not forget.

We will hunt you down and make you pay.

- [Brody] So far, thereare no reports of collusion

between the Taliban and ISIS-K forces.

- 89 flights total yesterday out of Kabul,

totaling approximately 12,500 evacuees

now safely out of Afghanistanin a 24-hour period.

- [Brody] With final evacuationsprepared for Tuesday,

America is preparing for amassive flood of refugees.

- The Defense Department

will continue to supportthe State Department

in providing temporary housing,sustainment, and support

inside the United States for a capacity

of up to 50,000 Afghan specialimmigrant visa applicants,

their families, and otherat-risk individuals.

- With US forces laser-focusedon rescuing Americans,

lawmakers are pressedto join growing calls

for the president'sresignation or impeachment

led by House MinorityLeader Kevin McCarthy.

The White House say now isnot the time to play politics.

A recent poll shows

the president's approvalrating stands at 41%.

John and Jenna, back to you.

- CBN's Brody Carter. Thank you, Brody.

Well here with us now, Sam Brownback,

former ambassador-at-large

for international religious freedom

under the Trump administration.

Ambassador Brownback, thankyou so much for joining us

on "Faith Nation" today.

Ambassador, the crisis inAfghanistan grows more desperate

by the day, even as theUS nears its self-imposed

withdrawal deadline for all US troops.

Ambassador Brownback, how would you advise

the Biden administrationto turn things around?

- Well, I think whatthey've got to do right now

is to get everybody outthat wants to get out

that is in harm's way.

And that's the biggestthing you gotta do right now

is get that done.

And so what I've beencalling for is saying that

if you're a religiousminority in Afghanistan,

we need to be granting them visa rights

to be able to come to the United States

because they're sitting ducks.

They're gonna get killed.

They will be hunted down inAfghanistan, given the situation

that now is taking place in that country.

If you were a Muslim thataccepted Jesus as Lord and Savior,

if you're a messianic Muslim,they're gonna hunt you down

and you're gonna be killed.

And we need to get thosepeople out as well.

We need to get them outeither through land bridges,

through special airlifts.

But any religious minority right now,

the Biden administration

needs to provide passagefor them to get out

'cause otherwise they're gonna get killed.

- We're hearing horrificstories on the ground

of the Taliban going door todoor, threatening women, girls,

and to your point, people of faith.

Talk about the threat theTaliban poses to people of faith,

not just Christians, but anybody

who doesn't share their beliefs.

- If you don't agree withthem on their theology

of this radical Sunni theology,

and you've got to agreeright with them on that,

if you're outside of that boundary,

you're fair game to be shot and killed.

If you're a convert to Christianity,

you absolutely are gonna be hunted.

If you're a Sikh,

if you're a Shia Muslim,

these, all people that arein the minority faith now

to this group that'sin power are threatened

and many of them likelyto be killed, maimed,

the women taken as forcedbrides to Taliban soldiers

or other radical groupsthat are in Afghanistan.

This is gonna happen.

We saw this genocidehappen in northern Iraq

when we pulled out of northern Iraq,

and we shouldn't have done that,

we shouldn't have done this one.

But when we pulled out ofthere, you had a genocide

against the Yazidis and theChristians in northern Iraq

and thousands of peoplewere killed during that

and we're seeing that replayed now.

- Ambassador, as you said earlier,

you've called on the StateDepartment to grant visas

to Afghan religiousminorities immediately.

I hate to put you on the spot,

but some are pointing out thatyou took a different approach

in 2015 as governor ofthe great state of Kansas,

signing an executive orderbarring state agencies

from relocating Syrianrefugees out of a concern

that terrorists would enter the state

under the guise of refugee resettlement.

Ambassador, in the 30 secondsor so that we have left,

what's different this time around?

- Because I was asking forinformation at that time

to resettle them, and if theyhad given me the information,

I would've resettled them.

The State Department wouldn'tgive me the information

that I needed to have at that time.

And I'm just saying, if you'renot gonna give it to me,

then I'm not gonna work with you.

That's what we've gotta have,is that information flow,

and we can have it and we can do it,

and that's consistent withwhat we should be doing.

Plus the Syrian situationwasn't one of our making.

This one is one of our making,

and you're gonna have a lotof these people get killed.

- Ambassador Brownback, again,we so appreciate your time

and your insights onthis very tragic topic.

Thank you so much for being with us.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Well, the Capitol Hill police officer

who shot and killed AshliBabbitt, a 35-year-old woman

involved in the January6th breach of the Capitol,

is speaking out.

Lieutenant Michael Byrd telling NBC News

Babbitt posed a threatto members of Congress.

Byrd also says the factthat he was not aware

of whether Babbitt was armeddid not alter his decision

to fire the single fatal shot.

- We are taught to aim for center mass.

The subject was sideways

and I could not see her full motion

of her hands or anything.

So I guess her movement,

you know, caused the discharge

to fall where it did.

- [Jenna] An attorney for Babbitt's family

says in a statementthat Babbitt was, quote,

"not brandishing a weapon,not in close proximity

to members of Congress, andwas not an imminent threat

of death or serious injury to anyone."

Now, seven Capitol Policeofficers have joined in a lawsuit

charging former President Trump

and Stop the Steal rally organizers

of inciting the Capitol riot that injured

more than 140 officers on January 6th.

- Well even as Americansgrapple with the fallout

of COVID-19, evictions acrossthe country could resume

as early as next week.

The Supreme Court Thursday

rejected the Biden administration's

federal moratorium on evictions

In a 6-3 majority opinion,

the justices said the CDCexceeded its authority

in granting the nationwide moratorium,

adding that it specificallymust be authorized by Congress.

The court's three liberaljustices dissented,

with Judge Stephen Bryant fault,

Bryant rather, faulting the high court

for the quick decision amida public health crisis.

- And joining us now, Ray Suarez,

veteran Washington journalist.

Ray, thank you forjoining us on this Friday.

You know, we want to start with the story

that everybody's talkingabout, and that is Afghanistan.

Last week was bad.

This week, even worse.

Yesterday, 13 US troops died.

Our hearts certainly goout to their loved ones

who are grieving today.

Ray, if you have to look at this,

you know, from 30,000 feet,

how do you frame what we've seen unfold?

- Well, it was policy of 20 years

that finally led toits logical conclusion.

The United States had done alot of things over a long time,

and very few of them worked.

And finally, the weight ofall that came crashing down

in the last two weeks.

From the time that country was invaded

with a too small force andoccupied with a too small force,

from the time that Osama bin Laden evaded

the special operatives chasing him

through the mountains ofAfghanistan early on in this war,

it's been one dry hole dug after another.

We tried a lot of things in alot of places in Afghanistan:

setting up civil society,setting up civic institutions,

setting up schools, andbuilding infrastructure,

and finally, traininga sizeable Afghan army.

The fact that so many ofthese initiatives failed

finally came to a headin these latest months.

- Ray, as Jenna just mentionedprior to this interview,

the lawsuit that's being broughtby Capitol Police officers,

about seven, againstformer President Trump

and those involved in theJanuary 6th riots at the Capitol,

your thoughts on this?

Does it have legs?

- Do I think that the president,

then-president is ever going to be held

directly responsible for January 6th?

No, I don't.

But there will be found, in discovery,

there will be found in the investigations

that surround the court cases,

there will be from the January 6th inquest

in the House of Representatives,

a lot of information that will come out

that will not flatterthe Trump White House

and will leave us with somereal hard thinking to do

about our parties on Capitol Hill,

who supports governing and government,

and really, what those peoplethought they were doing

when they breached theCapitol on that day.

If they thought they were going to stop

the operation of government,

the confirmation of thealready certified votes

of the 50 states, we gota problem in this country,

and it's much bigger thanDonald Trump's reputation.

- This week, we saw acouple of major blows

to the Biden administrationfrom the Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court striking down

the Biden administration'seviction moratorium.

Ray, was there any hopethat the continuation

of the eviction ban underthe CDC could actually stick?

- It was really a long shotthat the court was going to find

that the CDC had the powerto continue the moratorium.

When it was first askedto rule on this question,

it declined the requestto end the moratorium then

because it gave Congress,

it said, "Well, Congressis about to go into recess.

When it comes back, it'llhave some time to pass a law."

Congress has done nothing.

The president is not a legislature.

The Supreme Court is not a legislature.

The fact that too many national questions,

really important national questions,

end up in the court is becauseour national legislature

is not doing its job asa national legislature.

You want to do a moratorium,

something that really hassome serious questions

embedded in it about property rights

and about debt and aboutindividual families' fates,

the Congress has to get involved.

That's what they're for,

and this is what thecourt is finally saying

in this majority decision.

- All right, Ray Suarez,

we appreciate having youon this Friday evening.

Thank you.- Thanks, Ray.

- Good to talk to you.

- [John] Coming up, whythe crisis in Afghanistan

makes President Biden's delayed meeting

with the Israeli prime ministermore important than ever.

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Saturday night at 7:30on the CBN News Channel.

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- [Announcer] Life.

It's meant to be lived fully.

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- Welcome back.

Well today, President Bidenmet with Israeli Prime Minister

Naftali Bennett at the White House.

- While the world isfocused on Afghanistan,

Israel's new leader camewith another priority.

CBN White House CorrespondentEric Philips has more

on the first officialmeeting between the two.

Eric.

- John, Jenna, though this meeting

was chiefly about the futureof US-Israeli relations,

the two leaders could notignore the elephant in the room,

the more than dozen US troops killed

in those suicide bombings in Afghanistan.

And the president began the meeting

by empathizing with loved ones.

- Losing a son, adaughter, a husband, a wife

is like being sucked into a big black hole

in the middle of your chest

and you don't think there's any way out.

- On behalf of the Israeli people,

I want to extend our condolences

and deep sadness for the lossof American lives in Kabul.

- [Eric] While the twoleaders appeared friendly,

they clearly have major differences

between them to work out.

The Iran nuclear deal tops the list.

Biden plans to reenter the agreement

his predecessor, formerPresident Trump, abandoned.

Israel is against it.

- Iran is the world's number one exporter

of terror, instability,and human right violations.

The first goal is to stop Iranon its a regional aggression

and start rolling them back into the box.

And the second is topermanently keep Iran away

from ever being able tobreak out a nuclear weapon.

- But we're putting diplomacy first

and seeing where that takes us.

But if diplomacy fails,

we're ready to turn to other options.

We also are gonna discuss ways

to advance peace and security

and prosperity forIsraelis and Palestinians.

- There's also a gap in how the two view

Israeli-Palestinian relations,

which boiled over earlier this year

with military action along the Gaza Strip

between Hamas and Israeli forces.

Biden wants Israel to help Palestinians.

Bennett wants to lower expectations.

And for his part,Bennett's main agenda item

was to build a bridge with the president

and Democratic leadership,

one that was severelydamaged by his predecessor,

long-time Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And in a good sign, the twoleaders did pledge today

to be in support of one another.

The latest from the WhiteHouse, Eric Philips, CBN News.

- [Announcer] Too often, wecarry baggage from our past.

You know what it's like.

It affects everything andeveryone in our lives.

It's always there weighing us down

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But do you know God never meant

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You can be free of your baggage.

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Call the 700 Club.

- [Efrem] I'm Efrem Grahamand this is "Studio 5."

Cruise with me as I discoverthe good things happening

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- [Announcer] Wednesday night at 8:30

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- [Terry] Remember for a moment

what it was like to be a child.

You believed every story you were told.

You saw a world full ofendless possibilities.

What stories will the world's orphaned

and at risk children believe?

We believe the Bible tells the only story

truly worth believing.

We believe that every child

should have the opportunity to dream,

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They have their whole lives ahead of them.

Theirs is a world ofendless possibilities.

They are looking for a story to believe.

We will tell them that story.

Will you join us?

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- Welcome back.

A federal judge is reversing a ban

by Florida Governor Ron DeSantison school mask mandates.

School districts can nowimpose mask requirements

after a Florida district judge ruled

that the governoroverstepped his authority.

The ruling in the Sunshine State,

which now leads the nation in COVID cases,

clashes with a ruling in Texas,

which put a halt to a mask mandate

in the city of San Antonio.

Well, a surge of COVID-19 cases in Israel

could mean another lockdown

over the upcoming Jewish holidays.

- Even with the talk

of a possible third round of vaccinations,

some positive news asIsrael develops a treatment

showing a lot of promise.

CBN's Chris Mitchell explains.

- [Chris] With COVID-19 cases on the rise,

Israeli healthcare leaders took the lead

in recommending a thirddose of the Pfizer vaccine.

- It's working, it's safe,

and it's the way to defeat this virus.

- [Chris] Although morethan 60% of Israelis

are fully vaccinated, this latest surge

could lead to a fourth lockdown

over the upcoming Jewish holidays.

- As I said, what we'reseeing in Israel right now,

even though there is a surge in cases,

the level of severe COVID hospitalizations

and death is much lower inpeople that are vaccinated.

- [Chris] Doctor Yair Lewis,

a former member of Israel'snational coronavirus response,

believes there could yet be another surge.

Lewis says while the vaccine is important,

treatments are crucial.

- Obviously, developingtherapeutics to treat people

who have been infected is something

that we should be able toactively protect people

who have been infected.

- So we have to have a drugas the second line of defense.

- [Chris] And that's the goal

of Hebrew University professor,Yaakov Nahmias and his team.

CBN News met him lastyear after they identified

that fenofibrate, a drugon the market since 1975,

could possibly fight the disease.

Clinical trials now show it's working.

- And we looked at 15severe COVID-19 patients.

These are patients thathad to have oxygen.

What we saw is that inflammation,essentially pneumonia,

disappeared in just the first 48 hours.

- [Chris] COVID-19 creates an overreaction

of the immune systemknown as a cytokine storm.

Instead of fighting lung infection,

it destroys the lung tissue itself.

- 93% compared to about 25%in the general population

could go home without oxygensupport in less than a week.

- [Chris] Nahmias saystwo clinical studies

on four continents are alsousing the drug for treatment.

- One of the things

that makes us veryexcited about fenofibrate

is that it has anexceptional safety record.

The second thing is thatit's incredibly cheap.

- [Chris] At Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital,

Professor Nadir Arber continues work

on an Israeli drug called XO-CD24.

Earlier this year, he told CBN News

about his first round of trials.

- And we give it by inhalation.

It's very simple.

So, we enrolled 30 patients in phase one.

We checked for safety, andthe drug was very safe.

No side effects whatsoever.

- [Chris] A clinical trialin several Greek hospitals

has shown similar results on 90 patients,

with about 80 leaving thehospital within five days.

In the near future, hebelieves it will be used

as an at-home therapy andpotentially a platform

for treating other similar ailments.

Chris Mitchell, CBN News.

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- I am Regent's firstROTC graduate student.

(women laughing)

- Finally tonight, a bittersweet moment

as we congratulate oneof our own on a new move,

which regrettably also meanswe have to say goodbye.

- We do.

In just over two years, EricPhilips has become a vital part

of the CBN News team,tackling news in the field,

at the White House,and on the anchor desk.

From his start as our nationalsecurity correspondent

to covering the 2020 presidential election

and asking tough questions asa White House correspondent

in the briefing room,we, like you at home,

have benefited from Eric's fair, balanced,

and insightful reporting.

- We've also gleaned fromhis spiritual maturity,

always armed with anencouraging word, ready to pray,

and his ability to make uslaugh with his wit and charm.

Eric, we're gonna miss you a whole bunch.

Anything you'd like tosay before you sign off

and take the helm at theanchor desk in Richmond?

- Well, I just want tosay how grateful I am

for this opportunity.

Coming to CBN was really afull circle experience for me

because I had my first exposure to TV

by being in the live studioaudience at "The 700 Club,"

and look where I am now at theWhite House for the network.

I'm thankful to God for this experience

and I'm thankful to all of my coworkers

for their love and support,

and of course, to the viewers as well.

It has been my pleasure.

- Eric-- Well-

- Go ahead, Jenna.- Oh, I was just gonna say,

Eric, we are so thankful for you,

and, yeah, bittersweet is the word.

They are getting a goodone there in Richmond.

- Thank you so much.

I appreciate that, Jenna.

Love you both.

- Eric, you're gonna be sorely missed.

And as our news director said earlier,

the door is always openfor you to come back.

- Make sure you keep,

you know, just keep a footin it 'cause you never know.

You never know what couldhappen in the future.

So keep that foot in the door.

- Well you'll definitely

always be part of the CBN News family.

- Absolutely.

Don't be a stranger, Eric Philips.

- All right.

- All right, and that is going to do it

for "Faith Nation" this evening

and what has been a very busy news week.

- Thanks so much for watching.

We'll see you next week.

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