'Special Report' All-Star Panel on Biden's exit strategy from Afghanistan

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Harold Ford Jr. on Afghanistan crisis: It's on Biden's watch now

All-star panel weighs in on Biden's exit strategy from Afghanistan on 'Special Report

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report" August 23, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It's tragic what's happened. I
think it's unnecessary. I think we made a serious mistake in doing this in
this way.

This is not just about the Afghan people. It's about us and our security.
Because you have now got this group back in charge of Afghanistan. They
will give protection and succor to Al-Qaeda. You've got ISIS already in the
country trying to operate at the same time. You look around the world, and
the only people really cheering this decision are the people hostile to
western interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Former British prime minister Tony Blair talking about the
situation currently in Afghanistan. Over the weekend you may have seen on
FOX NEWS SUNDAY current Secretary of State Tony Blinken talking to Chris
Wallace, asked about the contradictory statements of President Biden in his
various press conferences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Does the president not know what's going
on?

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is an incredibly emotional
time for many of us.

WALLACE: The president said Al-Qaeda is gone. It's not gone. The president
said he has not heard any criticism from the allies. There has been a lot
of criticism from the allies. Words matter. And the words of the president
matter most.

BLINKEN: Chris, all I can tell you is what I've heard. And, again, this is
a powerfully emotional time for a lot of allies and partners, as it is for
me, as it is for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Let's bring in our panel, Guy Benson, political editor at
Townhall.com , host of "The Guy Benson Show" on FOX News Radio, Harold Ford
Jr., former Tennessee Congressman, CEO of Empowerment and Inclusion
Capital, and Trey Gowdy, former Congressman from South Carolina.

Trey, I was struck by that answer by the secretary of state, that it was an
emotional time for all of us. Answered specifically about the president's
statements back and forth. It's a real emotional time for the Americans on
the outside of that Taliban ring.

TREY GOWDY, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA REPRESENTATIVE: If Tony Blinken thinks
it's emotional to be on Chris Wallace's show, try hanging on to the wheel
of an airplane that's taking off. But you know what, Bret, the only thing
that's been worse than the policy, the execution of the policy, has been
the explanation from the Biden administration. They can't agree with Al-
Qaeda is still there or not. They can't agree whether the airport is safe,
and they can't agree or whether or not Biden was given different military
advice. They're feckless, and the best debates in Washington right now are
the ones taking place within the Biden administration.

BAIER: It is quite something to see, Harold. This exchange with Peter
Doocy today about stranded Americans also raised some eyebrows. Take a
listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Most of the criticism is not of
leaving Afghanistan. It's way that he has ordered it to happen, by pulling
the troops before getting these Americans who are now stranded. Does he
have a sense of that?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: First of all, I think it's
irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not. We are committed
to bringing Americans who want to come home, home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: All right, Harold, clearly there are Americans who feel stranded,
and they haven't been able to get to the airport. We just to stipulate
that. And there are eight days until this deadline that the president
apparently is deciding on, on August 31st. So, what about that?

HAROLD FORD JR., FORMER TENNESSEE REPRESENTATIVE: First, it's good to be
with you.

I think the eight days from now, that's what worries and concerns me the
most. And we can parse words, and I know and like Jen Psaki. I do think
there are Americans that are stranded there, at least they feel like
they're stranded.

The context, I agree, as I often do, I agree with Trey that the -- we all
wanted to exit, or many wanted to exit, but the execution is the problem.
Serious-minded people have to be willing to set aside the politics here for
a moment, and let's focus on, Democrat and Republican, what resources will
be needed. If the Taliban is to be believed that they want us out before
the 31st and aren't for extending the deadline, what are we prepared to do?
I think the president has got to think long and hard about that and be
ready to articulate that to the country.

I listened to Prime Minister Blair, the former prime minister, and I like
him, too. But he also was part of an effort that diverted resources under
President Bush he agreed to from Afghanistan's counterterrorism efforts to
go war with Iraq, which I think history will prove probably was a mistake.
I voted for that war based on what was told to me in the Congress.

There is no doubt occupying forces in Afghanistan don't work. Alexander the
Great suffered his only defeat there, and obviously the Russians did. Now,
that gives no excuse why this president, and I would argue predecessor,
couldn't get a better deal to get the extraction of not only Americans out,
but our Afghan allies. But unfortunately for President Biden, it's on his
watch now. And as he shared the other day, the buck stops with him, and
they're going to have to have a better plan if it extends beyond August
31st to get Americans out of Afghanistan safely.

BAIER: Yes, and that thought now, guy, is that this decision has to be
made pretty quickly. If it is going to be a deadline of August 31st and the
next 24 hours, they need to come up with, yes, that is or no, that isn't.
The Taliban says that's a red line for them. Why we, as the greatest
military in the world, care about that, I don't know. Your thoughts?

GUY BENSON, POLITICAL EDITOR, TOWNHALL.COM: Not only care about it. It
seems like in some ways we are paralyzed or beholden to it, which is sort
of a shocking turn of events. You're right, that decision has to be made
very soon. Part of the problem here, Bret, it seems like many decisions
involving this withdrawal should have been made weeks or months sooner than
they actually were.

And going back to that clip of Jen Psaki today in that exchange with Peter
Doocy, I have been mystified repeatedly on the policy and the messaging
choices of this administration on this issue, and the withdrawal in
particular. I was particularly mystified by her choice, the White House
press secretary's decision that she made, to pick a fight on parsing the
word "stranded" involving thousands of Americans and allies who are
definitionally stranded right now.

They didn't say abandoned. Peter didn't use that word, abandoned forever.
Right now they are stranded. There is example after example pouring in from
people, Americans and otherwise, who feel and are stranded. And this is
once again going -- it goes back to the point that Chris Wallace was
hammering on, that the canyon between the rhetoric of the administration
and the reality on the ground, and they stepped in it again today.

BAIER: Yes. And quickly, politics is a part of this. It's always a part of
anything in Washington, Trey. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweets
out, "According to President Biden, Americans can easily get to the airport
in Kabul (They can't). Al-Qaeda is no longer in Afghanistan (They are). The
border is secure (It isn't)." Republicans, they have to want the solution,
but obviously, they are taking this moment to say this is screwed up.

GOWDY: I think part of what Kevin is doing there is just reminding the
media how fascinated they were with Biden's experience and this whole
America is back. And the reality is, America is leaving and Taliban is
back. And my guess is McCarthy was poking more at the media than he was at
Biden.

BAIER: All right, stand by, panel, if you will. When we come back,
tomorrow's headlines with the panel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, a look at tomorrow's headlines with the panel.
Harold?

FORD: Ella Bruning, the only girl playing in the Little League World
Series 2021, led her team as far as she could today until falling to a
great team from Michigan. Great job, young lady.

BAIER: All right, I like that one. Guy?

BENSON: My headline is Cuomo steps down. I think in light of the
governor's shamelessness, a lot of the us wondered if this day would ever
come, but it has arrived. It is tomorrow. And as I told Janice Dean
earlier, I think she may have earned herself a little bit of day drinking.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: All right, Trey?

GOWDY: My headline is Biden announces Kabul airport is safe and open for
flights. Please arrive three months early, bring your mask and your Kevlar.

BAIER: Can always count on you to round it out. Panel, thanks so much.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this SPECIAL
REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid. Thanks for trusting us.

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