(tense music)

- [John] Tonight.

(Taliban shouting in foreign language)

- [John] Left behind.

The final withdrawal of allUS troops in Afghanistan,

leaving behind militaryequipment and American citizens

in a country now under thecomplete control of the Taliban.

- This is an evacuation notice.

Please prepare to evacuate.

- [John] This as major disastersravage the United States.

- It's just scary.

Like, this is my home, you know.

- [John] From wildfires in the West.

- We finally got out the house.

- [John] To the aftermathof Hurricane Ida.

The massive search andrescue effort now underway.

All this and more tonighton "Faith Nation."

(rhythmic music)

- America's foreverwar now officially over

as the final US troops depart Afghanistan.

Welcome to "Faith Nation."I'm Jenna Browder.

- Good evening. I'm John Jessup.

Tonight, America's involvementin the war in Afghanistan

is officially over after a messy exit

that incurred the greatest loss of life

to American service membersin a year and a half.

The president tonight declared, quote,

"I take full responsibility,"

adding that it was time to end this war,

holding fast to his decisionto evacuate all US troops

in the now Taliban-controlled country,

leaving many Americans behind.

- CBN News Capitol HillCorrespondent Abigail Robertson

has the latest on the fall of Afghanistan.

Abigail.

- Well, as you said, President Joe Biden

defended his decision today

to leave Afghanistanbefore safely evacuating

all remaining US citizens and allies.

The president claimedthe mission was a success

and said it was time tobring the war to a close.

- For those remainingAmericans, there is no deadline.

We remain committed to get them out

if they want to come out.

Leaving August the 31st is notdue to an arbitrary deadline.

It was designed to save American lives

and I was not extending a forever exit.

(gunfire blasting)

- [Abigail] Celebratory gunfire

heard throughout Kabul Monday night

as the last US flight left Afghanistan

with Major General Chris Donahue,

who led the evacuation mission,

being the last to board the final flight,

ending the US's longest war.

- Every single US service memberis now out of Afghanistan.

I can say that with 100% certainty.

- [Abigail] 120,000 peopleevacuated in 17 days,

but as many as 200 US citizensremain in the country,

now under Taliban control.

- Many are dual citizen Americans

with deep roots and extendedfamilies in Afghanistan

who resided there for many years.

For many, it's a painful choice.

- [Abigail] The US StateDepartment sees diplomacy

as the main hope for getting US citizens

and allies left behind out of the country.

While many Republicans arecriticizing President Biden

for not keeping thispromise made two weeks ago.

There's American citizens left,

we're gonna stay till we get them all out.

- [Abigail] Also leftbehind, military weaponry.

Members of the Taliban seenhere inspecting helicopters

and war planes deemedinoperable by the Pentagon.

Former US Senator JimDeMint tells CBN News

we've left Afghanistan as bad off

as when we got there 20 years ago.

- For us to exit in humiliation

is just so hard for me to swallow.

- [Abigail] DeMint argueswhat's happening now

is not a surprise to ourintelligence communities.

- We knew especially in Afghanistan

that as soon as the Afghan army knew

that Americans would not be there

to back 'em up and pay their salary,

that they would disintegrate overnight.

It wouldn't happen over months.

They would immediatelyknow that the only way

for them to live was tomake peace with the Taliban.

- And just hours after theUS completed its withdrawal,

Al-Qaeda congratulated the Taliban

on its takeover of Afghanistan,

with both groups viewing it as a moment

to incite and recruit new supporters

to the global jihad movement.

John, Jenna.

- All right, thank you, Abigail.

And here with us now, Kirk Lippold,

retired US Navy commander of the USS Cole

and author of "Front Burner:

Al-Qaeda's Attack on the USS Cole."

Commander, welcome.

Thank you for joining us this evening.

So we heard the president speak today.

20 years in Afghanistan now all over.

Commander, just your thoughts tonight.

How are you feeling?

- Well, obviously, very mixed emotions.

Like a lot of veterans today,

I look at what has happened

and occurred over the last two weeks

as this debacle of awithdrawal has occurred.

I think that while most Americansdon't want a forever war,

what the Americans weren't given

was actually an understandingof why we were invested there.

When you look at why we went in

after the attacks on my ship in 2000.

The 9/11 attacks certainlydrove it in 2001.

We need to be invested inthat part of the world.

It sits geographically

in what's called the Arc of Instability,

between China, Pakistan, and Iran.

And there is no substitute

for having those eyes on the ground

that really give you that ability

to understand what ishappening in a society,

in a military, and throughout the country.

So how we withdrew was anabsolute disgrace for our nation.

- Government officials say

we still have both air and land options

to facilitate a passage out.

They seem to think theyhave a lot of leverage,

but, you know, the mantra forthe United States military

has always been to leave no one behind,

and the withdrawal leftmany American citizens

stranded in Afghanistan.

President Biden in his speech says

they'll still try to get them out.

What happens to these people, Commander?

- Well, I'm very concerned.

When the president says,"I'll try to get you out,"

that certainly is a shiftfrom what he promised

like you had at thebeginning of the show, Jenna,

where he said, "I will get you out.

We will remain untilall Americans are out."

But the reality is theTaliban does not control

all of Afghanistan.

They control large swaths of it.

In between that, that'scontrolled by ISIS-K,

that's controlled by Al-Qaeda,

that's controlled by warlords,drug warlords specifically.

So our citizens may have to navigate

trying to get out through Pakistan,

trying to go north toUzbekistan or Tajikistan.

The chances of them being able

to pass through those areassafely are slim and none.

And so consequently,Americans have been abandoned.

The administration doesnot want to admit that,

but when you look at whatis happening on the ground,

the intelligence servicesand the people that are there

knew that this was a possibility,and now the reality is,

with 80 to $100 billion worth of top notch

US military equipmentthere, we just created

the finest armed US-designatedterrorist organization

in history.

And the reason we went in 20 years ago

has now been wasted bythe Biden administration

because, if you don't thinkthese well-armed Taliban

aren't going to create safe havens

for these terrorist groups,

aren't going to engagein terrorism themselves,

they're sadly mistaken.

- Commander Lippold, youhad just mentioned earlier

about the Arc of Instability.

President Biden said earlier tonight

that he wasn't going to hand over this war

to a fifth American president

and that we shouldn't be fighting a war

based on circumstances of 20 years ago,

that the world has changed significantly

in the last 20 years.

There's been a lot of focusand shifting now towards China.

I want to get your thoughts on that.

- I think what the presidentunfortunately was handed

was a failure actually bythree previous presidents.

President Bush, PresidentObama, President Trump,

and now President Bidenhave failed to address

the root cause of what allowed the Taliban

to continue to exist.

Pakistan gave the Taliban safe haven.

They allowed them torecruit, to arm, to finance,

to train, and conduct terroristoperations into Afghanistan

that resulted in the deathsof American citizens.

But we would not holdPakistan accountable.

And so until you go to the root cause

of how this problem continuedto fester for 20 years,

then President Biden may be right

in saying we should get out, but the real,

real solution to theproblem would have been

to turn to Pakistan and say, "No more.

And if you won't get in

and govern your northwest territories,

we will govern them for you."

We had a policy for years

where we would do drone strikes in there,

taking out top Taliban leaders,

and we should have continued that policy.

Right now, you want to make Afghanistan

and the Taliban hurt?

Wipe out the poppy fields.

The billions of dollars that they get

from the drug trade aloneis going to handicap them

and not allow them to project power

that may endangered notonly the United States

and our global interests around the world,

but our allies as well.

And that should be

- All right.- a consideration

going forward.

- Retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold,

thank you so much for joining us

and thank you for your insights tonight.

- Thank you, John and Jenna.

Pleasure to be on.

- In other news tonight,

the aftermath of HurricaneIda is coming into focus

as the storm, now a tropicaldepression, heads north.

Four people are dead andmany more still missing

in an ongoing search and rescue effort.

- The effects of the storm'sdevastation still being felt

even as massive wildfirestear through the West Coast.

CBN's Brody Carter has the latest

on the major disasterssweeping across the country.

Brody, Ida's still far from over.

- Well, John and Jenna, asIda does track northeast now,

it could dump more rain overTennessee's Humphreys County.

That's where just last week 22 people died

after record rainfall and flash flooding.

Emergency personnel there tell me

they're preparing for the worstwhile hoping for the best.

(boat motor whizzes)

In Louisiana, hopes are being realized

as the search for life has ledto nearly 800 water rescues.

- The ceilings in every room caved in.

- [Brody] Many peopleremain unaccounted for

as towns sit in the heatof summer without power,

cut off from communication,

millions without cell phone service,

and the electricity couldremain out as long as a month.

Eyes in the sky showedthe swath of destruction

left behind from Hurricane Ida.

Only bare bones remain formany homes and businesses.

Now a tropical depression,

the forecast track means flashflood and tornado warnings

could threaten much ofthe Eastern United States

until next week.

- We've been in ouremergency operation center.

I slept here, I willcontinue to sleep here,

and my home's flooded and I lost my car.

- [Brody] The death toll fromIda rose to at least four,

two in Louisiana, and inGeorge County, Mississippi,

this highway collapse killed two

and injured a dozen moremotorists trapped on the roadway.

(plane roars)

Meantime, catastrophic fires

sweep the Western Plainsand Rocky Mountains.

Critical winds and drought conditions

are causing wildfires to stay ablaze.

19 fires currently rage in California.

- We have spotting and torching

and very dry fuels underthis drought conditions.

- [Brody] The Dixie Fire still burns

roughly a month and ahalf after it started,

only 50% contained.

- This is an evacuation notice.

Please prepare to evacuate.

- Tourists are nowevacuating south of the lake.

The flames have torchedabout 200,000 acres,

destroying more than 650 structures,

and it's only 15% contained.

In the South, heat-related illnesses,

they are an added threat.

Many don't have clean water;in some cases, no water at all.

As for California, the US Forest Service

and wildfires are so widespread

that all national foreststhere will be closed

until September 17th.

John and Jenna, back to you.

- [John] So much devastation.

Thank you so much, Brody.

Coming up, more dividing lines being drawn

in the battle againstCOVID-19, mask mandates,

and vaccine requirements next.

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Just be the best husbandand father I can be.

- [Shawn] Watch "Going theDistance with Shawn Brown"

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

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- Welcome back.

Tonight, the fight overmask mandates in schools

is kicking into high gear.

The Department of Education

now investigating Iowa, Oklahoma,South Carolina, Tennessee,

and Utah for discriminatingagainst students

with compromised immune systemsby banning mask mandates

in those states.

- We know the spread of COVID happens

when masks are not being used.

We need to get those students back in

'cause many times, those are the students

that really require the most support.

- And the government investigations come

as last week, nearly 204,000 new cases

of sick kids were reported,

the second highest week on record.

This as the FDA is set toapprove the Pfizer vaccine

for kids as young as fivepossibly this winter.

And joining us now is Todd Zywicki,

George Mason UniversityFoundation professor of law.

Todd, thank you for comingon "Faith Nation" tonight.

So you made news

when you fought GeorgeMason's vaccine mandate

and you ended up winning.

You stated that you'renot in the anti-vax camp.

Tell us why you feel the mandate was wrong

and why you didn't need the shot.

- Well, my case relies specifically on me,

which is I got COVID back in March 2020.

It was no fun.

Nobody needs to tell menot to get COVID again.

And so I'm very conscious of this,

and if there had been a vaccine back then,

based on what I knew, I wouldhave probably gotten it.

It would've been a lot betteroff than getting COVID.

But the reality is now I do have COVID

and it's very clearthat once you have COVID

and you've recovered, you'vegot a natural immunity.

And the evidence is clear now.

It used to be that it was at least as good

as vaccine immunity.

It quite clearly now isbetter than vaccine immunity,

as we saw in this study thatcame out from Israel this week

that showed that thosewho've been vaccinated

have a 13 times higher risk of infection,

27 times higher risk ofsymptomatic infection,

eight times higher risk of death

than somebody withnatural immunity like me.

And so I was very careful.

I got my antibodies tested.

My immunologist said myantibodies level was comparable

to somebody who had just been vaccinated.

And so I don't need the vaccinein order to protect myself

or those around me.

And the final thing I'llsay is the evidence,

it's also very clear thatthose who've had COVID

and recovered are at not justthe same risk of side effects

as anybody from any vaccine,

but we actually have anelevated risk of side effects.

So it really is all of, youknow, none of the benefits

and all of the risks,plus more of somebody

who might actuallybenefit from the vaccine.

And so based on that, Iargued that I should get,

based on my natural immunity,

my demonstrable natural immunity,

I should be exempted from theuniversity's vaccine mandate.

- Todd, along those lines,

dissenters say the jury's still out.

You just mentioned that Israeli study.

A number of studies aretouting natural immunity.

What do you believe that means

for calls supporting vaccine passports

and vaccine credentials?

- It's completely ridiculous.

There have now been 15 studies

that compare naturalimmunity with vaccines

and all 15 have shown in therange of 90 to 95% protection,

which is what the mRNAvaccines are at their peak,

and now, as we know,they wane very quickly.

Another study from Israelfound that vaccine protection

wanes 40% a month.

Natural immunity wanes 5% a month.

And we know that it's much better

than the more mediocre vaccineslike Johnson & Johnson,

which even in the clinical trials

was only about 66% protection.

There is literally nodoubt about this anymore.

It's also very clearthat natural immunity,

as we saw in the Israelistudy, is very resistant

to variants such as the Delta variant

because it recognizes the entire protein,

whereas the vaccine is only used to target

this narrow spike protein.

And now we're actually vaccinating people

against a spike proteinthat is now extinct,

and not only now extinct, has been extinct

for several generations of variants.

And so natural immunityhas proven itself on this.

And as we see more and morebreakthrough infections

throughout the country,

there are more breakthroughinfections in a month.

There are 35,000 breakthroughinfections a week

is what the CDC estimated.

There've been more breakthrough infections

just this spring- All right.

- than natural immunitybreakthroughs in the entire world.

- All right, Todd Zywicki,

George Mason UniversityFoundation professor of law,

thank you so much forcoming on this evening.

All the best.- Thank you, John and Jenna.

Great to talk with you.

- And up next, our "FaithNation" political panel

breaks down Afghanistanand the day's headlines.

Stay with us.

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Wouldn't it be great to boost your energy,

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- Welcome back.

Tonight, the stage is setfor a debt ceiling showdown

on Capitol Hill.

The two-year suspension of the debt limit

concluded at the end of last month,

resetting a prior cap of newborrowing to $22 trillion.

The Treasury Department has been resorting

to what it calls extraordinary measures

to prevent the US from going into default.

Experts expect theTreasury to run out of cash

by the end of the fiscal year,which is on September 30th.

When Congress returns,Democrats are set to tie

lifting the debt limit to amulti-trillion dollar wishlist

on infrastructure and social spending.

For their part, Republicans say

they will not support raisingthe nation's debt limit.

Well here with us now, our"Faith Nation" political panel,

Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher

of "Inside Elections," andCBN Chief Political Analyst

David Brody.

Welcome to you both this evening.

Let's start with you, David.

If Republicans hold fast

and decide not to castthose 10 votes necessary

to defeat that billthat ties the debt limit

to the Democratic wishlist,

what options, David,does that give Democrats

to avoid a government default?

- Well, they'll have to go it alone, John.

That's the bottom line.

And that's what Republicans

are saying to them publicly and privately,

say, "You know what?

You created this.

You want to do all of this spending.

You go ahead and raise the debt limit,"

(coughs) excuse me, "or raisethe debt ceiling yourself."

And of course,

we know that this has beenbipartisan, typically.

I say typically.

It pretty much has been bipartisan

throughout the decades here in Congress.

But this is a different timeright now in Washington.

So I think it's gonna be,

you're gonna be hard pressedto find 10 Republicans

to raise the debt ceiling in the Senate,

and for sure in the House,you're not gonna get the votes.

So I think Democrats

will probably end uphaving to go alone on this

like they've done most of theirlegislative agenda anyhow.

- Let's talk about Afghanistan,

the political ramificationsof the withdrawal

from Afghanistan.

We heard President Bidenspeak this afternoon.

Nathan, this question to you.

He said that he tookresponsibility for this decision.

Others are disagreeing with that though,

that he's pointing the blameat the Afghan government,

at the previous administration.

Your take on what we sawtoday from the president.

- Yeah, Jenna, well, I think this issue

has quickly kind of devolved

into another partisan issue,that, probably depending

on who you voted for in the 2020 election

depends on whether youthink Biden is to blame

or Trump or the other previouspresidents are to blame

for what happened in Afghanistan.

I think the bottom linepolitically is that I'm skeptical

that Afghanistan and thiswithdrawal as an issue

will be as relevant a year-plus from now

in the 2020 midterm elections.

But I think what PresidentBiden has to be careful of

is he has to be careful oflosing the benefit of the doubt.

If people no longer can trust what he says

or trust what our government says,

and that is a broader problem,not only diplomatically,

but politically when itcomes to making the case

to voters in the next yearor the next three years

in the presidential election.

- This question to either ofyou, whoever wants to grab it.

We're learning more about the interactions

between President Trump,or I'm sorry, pardon me,

I just had a flashback,

President Biden and the military families

at that dignified transferin Dover on Sunday.

President Biden's oftenpraised for his empathy

and his ability to grievewith those who are grieving.

This time though, it seemsa little bit different

from what we're hearing from families.

What do you read into that?

Maybe David first, and Nathan,if you want to chime in.

- Well, he's taking a lot of hits.

He looked down at his watch,

and of course we know thatone of the family members

of one of the fallen victims was banned

as it relates to censorshipon Facebook and Instagram

based on some of the criticism they had

towards this president.

Look, let's just be honest,

and there's no fact check needed.

Joe Biden told George Stephanopoulos

that he would not leave anyAmericans behind in Afghanistan.

That's what he said.

There are Afghanistans that,

excuse me, there are Americansthat have been left behind

in Afghanistan as we speaktoday, as we talk today.

So that's a lie.

He actually said that he would not leave

until all Americans are out.

So this is part of thismoral/immoral tap dance

that we've seen from Joe Biden.

Joe Biden rode in in 2020 as this guy

who was going to be themoral record setter,

the guy that was going tocome in and change the,

you know, everything thatwas wrong with Donald Trump.

But I think what we seeninstead is a lot of concern,

from a morality perspective,

as to how Joe Biden has handled things.

And I just want to point out something

that Nathan brought up whichI think is interesting.

I don't think people

are necessarily gonna betalking about Afghanistan

in 2022 as we move forward,but I gotta tell ya,

Afghanistan represents ineptitude,

and ineptitude can erode your poll numbers

on COVID, the economy, andcrime in many other places.

That's where

he's gotta be careful.- All right.

- All right.

Gentlemen, we have to leaveit there this evening,

but thank you so much.

Nathan Gonzales, DavidBrody, have a great night.

- And we'll be right back.- Thank you.

- Thanks.

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Cruise with me as I discoverthe good things happening

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- Well, we had a jam packed show,

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Thank you so much forwatching "Faith Nation."

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Have a great night.

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