- Well, welcome to "The 700 Club."
Americans are being heldhostage by the Taliban.
That's according to a seniorRepublican in Congress.
So what does the StateDepartment have to say?
We don't know.
Oh, that's a isn't it?
Meanwhile, killing, attacking women,
and beating children, theTaliban is accelerating
its reign of terror in Afghanistan.
How many Americans arestill stranded there?
Will they and tens ofthousands of Afghans be killed?
And what about the thousands of refugees
who are now flooding the US?
CBN Washington correspondentTara Mergener has more.
- [Tara] A standoff at anairport in Northern Afghanistan.
The Taliban reportedly blocking six planes
from leaving Mazar-i-Sharif.
A top Republican telling Fox News Sunday
that the Taliban is keepingAmericans from leaving.
- Six airplanes with Americancitizens on them as I speak,
the Taliban is holding themhostage for demands right now.
- The State Department can't confirm
US citizens are being held up.
However, it did announcefour Americans arriving
in a neighboring countryby overland route.
Meanwhile, some of the Afghans who made it
out of the country lastweek are arriving in the US.
Prayers answered.
A successful escape to America.
Final groups of Afghansarriving at Dulles airport
outside Washington, DC likelyamong the last to arrive here
now that the US is out of Afghanistan.
Men, women, and children,old and young quietly filing
out of security checkpoints
and onto buses one after the other leaving
behind the Taliban's reign ofterror in their home country.
Once refugees arrive here at Dulles,
they are taken to military installations
to complete processingand then given assistance
if they need it.
They are the lucky ones.
Among an unknown numberof stranded Americans,
tens of thousands of Afghans.
- I believe they will kill me.
- [Tara] Have no way out.
- I love my country but I can't stay here.
- [Tara] Including manywho were helping the US.
This woman, who escaped at the last minute
with her children, asked us to hide
her identity fearing retaliation.
- They were just killing.
They were just meeting womens.
They're just beatingkids in front of my eyes.
They are the same Talibanthat they were 20 years ago.
Even more worse.
This time they are more experienced.
They have lots of technologyto find the people.
- [Tara] People like herhusband, father, and siblings
who worked alongside theUS government for years
left behind with no escapefrom the chaos and violence.
She also regrets not being able honor
her mother's dying wish.
- She request me to help two of my sister.
But I was not able to help them.
They are not only two of my sister,
They are millions of womenthat they paid a lot to be
in a situation or in a state
that they were before Taliban came.
But they lost everything.
(gunshots rattling)
- [Tara] In a race against time,
a nonprofit organizationcalled Jewish Family Service
of Seattle is trying to help her family
and others to safety.
- It's very important tokeep in mind the reason
why these folks are are in this situation
at all is because of their service
and their family serviceto the US military.
- [Tara] Do you feel likeAmerica let you down?
- I don't know.
- [Tara] What is yourmessage to Americans?
- We believe on their mission.
It is really hard to in the morning
you wake up and you seethat you lost everything
that you achieved in 20 years.
We did not achieve them easy.
We paid a lot.
We paid by our lives.
- [Tara] And she insistsanother disaster is just ahead.
- For now, they are thinkingto get out of Afghanistan,
but soon they will only thinking about
how they can find something to eat.
- [Tara] A world away,it's smiles and hugs
for those who defied the odds to get here
and start a new life in America.
- Tara Mergener joins us now.
Tara, some of these refugees are children
arriving with a no parents.
What's happening to them?
- Well, Pat, accordingto the State Department,
we've got about a hundredplus children in the US now
who came without a parentor a guardian of some kind.
Now what's happening iswe are told they're going
to state licensed facilities
in both Virginia and Chicago overseen
by DHS, the Department of Human Services,
which is also overseeingthe immigration crisis
at the Southern border and thekids coming over alone there.
So, Pat, already, there are concerns now
about human trafficking as more
and more children come through.
- What do we know aboutthe vetting process?
We are sure that the people who come
in are not some secret agents of ISIS?
- Well, the Bidenadministration is insisting
that everyone who comes hereis being vetted thoroughly.
The trouble is there's not a lot of detail
about the length towhich this is being done.
So we do know the FBI and theJustice Department are vetting
these refugees in other countries
before they're getting to the US.
They're using biometrics.
They're using fingerprinting.
They are using interviews.
If they make it that far in the process
and they get to the US,they're going to military
installations where Immigrationis waiting for them.
But we don't know if they're being further
interviewed before they leave there.
Again, short on information.
Once they leave themilitary installations,
we don't know where they're going
or where they're going to be housed.
So certainly, as you said,
there are concerns becausewe don't have a lot
of information that terrorists are going
to slip through or perhaps already have.
- Thanks, Tara.
Ladies and gentlemen, Ijust want to point out,
this is one of the great disasters
in the history of the United States.
We have abandoned anumber of our citizens.
They're being held by the Taliban.
Our president and his press aide refuse
to call them hostages but they are.
And it's a disgrace thatthese thousands of people
who've worked with us are being abandoned.
That we have left billions and billions
of dollars of valuable equipment.
So now the Taliban is oneof the best equipped forces
in the entire world thanksto about 90 billion or 69,
whatever billion it is,it's a lot of money,
$69 billion worth ofequipment left behind.
It's a disgrace.
And we've got to look at this
and you say spiritually what is happening?
It seems to me it's the judgment of God
on our country to give us aleader as feckless as we have
and a disordered governmentthe way it is right now.
And I think we've got to pray.
People need to repent andsay, "God, please help us."
This nation needs prayer becausewe are in a heap of hurt.
And this disaster hasemboldened our enemies
all over the world not toany longer take us seriously.
We no longer are a military threat
because the world knowsthat we have leaders
who are incapable all theway up and down the line
of doing the job thatthey'd been paid to do.
So it's hard rending, but ifthere was ever a time to say
it's time to cry out to theLord and repent, now is it.
Well, in other news, thereare heartbreaking images
of the havoc inflicted by Hurricane Ida.
At least 69 people have lost their lives
while more than half a millionare still without power.
The cost of the untold damage,
a whopping, get this, 95 billion.
We talked about a 1.8 billionor 18 billion the last time.
It's now up to $95 billion.
It may be the worst naturaldisaster in America's history.
So what's the presidentdoing to bring relief?
CBN's Jenna Browder has more.
- Just days after he visited Louisiana,
today, President Bidenwill see the storm's
devastating damage in the Northeast.
As Ida's death toll continues to rise,
the president will tour the damage in some
of New York and NewJersey's hardest hit areas.
The president approvingdisaster declarations
in both states.
- The major disaster declaration means
individuals are now eligiblefor money in those counties.
- [Jenna] This as we continue
to see heartbreaking scenes like this.
NYPD body cam footageshowing officers diving
into a flooded Queens apartment
where a little boy and his parents died.
In Louisiana, the NationalGuard is using floating bridges
to reach cutoff areas.
The city of New Orleans evacuating several
long-term senior nursing facilities
after residents werefound living in the dark
and sweltering heat, sometrapped on upper floors.
The mayor promising accountability
after five residents diedin privately run facilities.
- What we found was unacceptable
and accountability will be the board.
- [Jenna] Right now,power has been restored
to two thirds of New Orleans,
but other parts of the state could be
in the dark for several more weeks.
CBN's Operation Blessing is on the ground
in Houma, Louisiana helping with cleanup
and delivering muchneeded supplies and meals.
- Our volunteers havegone out to the field
to clean up debris, muckingout houses, put tarps on roofs.
And even today, we were able to go
to the Houma Louisiana Police Department
and deliver 150 meals to avery hungry police department.
- Reconstruction efforts are expected
to take more time and cost more due
to material delays caused by the pandemic.
- And, Pat, back here in Washington,
lawmakers from both sidesof the aisle are pointing
to all of this devastation as a reason
for passing infrastructure.
Pat.
- Well, it certainly isn't a reason
for passing themulti-trillion dollar thing
that they're talking about.
But I have said this over and over again,
we need to harden our electric grid.
But I don't think this isexactly the same thing.
Jenna, by the way, I understand another
storm is headed for the Gulf.
Can you tell us about that one?
- That's right.
There's another system overthe Gulf of Mexico right now,
mostly showers and thunderstorms
that's moving closer to the United States.
It's expected to hit midweekthe Southeastern states,
But you know what?
It's only about 30% chance that
that swarm will actuallybecome something bigger.
Pat, what's more concerning,
at least today is another system
over the Great Lakes and theupper Mississippi Valley.
That's dropping a lot of rain,more heavy thunderstorms,
and real concern for flash flooding
so we're keeping our eyeon both of those, Pat.
- Thanks, Jenna.
By the way, Operation Blessingis coordinating daytime
volunteers with LifeChurch in Houma, Louisiana.
And this is for daytime volunteers only.
They must be at least 18 years old,
have long pants, and hard-soled shoes.
If you want to helpand volunteer with help
from Ida in Houma, Louisiana,
it's 1-800-730-2537 or OB.ORG.
And remember, we want 18year old with hard shoes
and long pants to help
with the cleanup down there in Louisiana.
