HAPPENING SOON: Blinken to Testify on Afghanistan

Today on Sekulow, Secretary of State Tony Blinken will testify on Afghanistan.

What questions should he be asked? We'll talk about that and more today on Sekulow. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We expect lawmakers to press Secretary Blinken on how many American citizens and Afghan allies remain in Afghanistan. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. Lawmakers will want answers on the decision to pull troops out by the August 31st deadline despite Americans being left behind. They're also expected to ask why the US failed to heed warnings from some in the intelligence community predicting the Taliban's rapid takeover. And now your host Jordan Sekulow.

Welcome to Sekulow. We are going to take your phone call today right off the bat 1-800-684-3110 because the hearings, there's going to be two hearings. One today at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and then again tomorrow. The first hearing is before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. That's chaired by Congressman Meeks and then tomorrow the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee which is chaired by Senator Menendez.

Of course you've got Democrats chairing both but Republicans are on the committees. They'll have their opportunity to ask questions. What I pose to you as we begin the discussion today and I think these are very important hearings to finally put the feet to the fire hopefully of these administration officials and specifically here the State Department's role or lack of role in being able to get Americans and and the Afghan special immigrant visa holders and people like that out before including their State Department staff before this complete withdrawal. So you know those kind of questions should be asked should be explained. I expect some of it to be heated but we also always you know in Washington we put that you know these were members of Congress that a couple of weeks ago I'm talking about the Democrat side more couple of weeks ago sound like they'd be pretty tough at a hearing like this.

It remains to be seen if their rhetoric and their tone has completely shifted over the last couple of weeks as they don't really want the American people focused on this as a party. So we will see kind of do they do the right thing as Americans and ask the tough questions and there's going to be two opportunities at it one in the House side one on the Senate side that is going to be happening today. I mean there's some questions I know that I would like asked we'll get into that but I also want to hear from you if you want to give us a call 1-800-684-3110 what would you want your member of Congress or in the House or the Senate over the next couple of days to ask Secretary of State Blinken about the Afghan withdrawal? What would you want asked what questions maybe your military family or veteran family or veteran yourself of that the Afghanistan conflict give us a call at 1-800-684-3110 or you can put your questions in on social media Facebook YouTube Periscope Rumble wherever you're watching on even on Instagram you get your questions in that way but if you want to get on the show I'm telling you this time to call is now so we can get you ready and get those questions going and analyze that for you 1-800-684-3110 to talk to us on air that's 1-800-684-3110 I'll just give you a preview one of mine that I want asked immediately is why and Rick Renell wrote about this in a piece last week at ACLJ.org answer why Secretary Blinken was silent when President Biden pulled the 2,500 troops US troops 5,000 NATO troops from war-torn Afghanistan that we knew was going to be taking a ride the Taliban even at the best estimates around now the Taliban will be taking over and why was that done before evacuating State Department employees so just a basic question like that start off the hearing why didn't you speak up did you speak up did you express concern for those employees your questions your your thoughts what would you ask secretary Blinken 1-800-684-3110 to talk to us on air that's 1-800-684-3110 we'll go to the team as well to get their thoughts on secretary Blinken there's also a move already we'll get into this by China surprise surprise Pakistan Russia not far behind either already giving direct aid to the Taliban already working to utilize Afghanistan as a partner when the last 20 years there was no no role for them they're already they're already making an impact those are things you would ask secretary Blinken about well as his role as Secretary of State so I encourage you to get involved the show today got a couple phone lines open still 1-800-684-3110 what would you ask secretary Blinken or have your member of Congress ask secretary Blinken we will be right back on secular make sure if you're watching online share it with your friends and family the challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values our freedoms our constitutional rights are under attack it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice for decades now the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms defending your rights in courts in Congress and in the public arena and we have an exceptional track record of success but here's the bottom line we could not do our work without your support we remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms that remains our top priority especially now during these challenging times the American Center for Law and Justice is on your side if you're already a member thank you and if you're not well this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ org where you can learn more about our life-changing work become a member today ACLJ org only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive and that's exactly what you were saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life we've created a free powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ battle for the unborn it's called mission life it will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support and the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists the ramifications of Roe v Wade 40 years later play on Parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life request your free copy of mission life today online at aclj.org slash gift I will back to thank you we're taking your phone calls phone lines are busy right now but if you want to get on the air 1-800-684-3110 and I want to get to those quickly but first I want to go around to our team and then we'll start getting your thoughts as well let me go to fan in Washington DC fan just right off the bat with Secretary Blinken's testimony and to to kind of opportunities to question him so even the the senators will be able to see what he kind of answered today and what gaps there may be to answer tomorrow what do you think the tone is going to be like in this hearing if it was two weeks ago it felt like everybody was going to be angry and kind of aggressive towards blinking but I just wondered now if things have changed enough where the Democrats on the committee are going to try to keep this calm and even if they've got tough questions not be quite as aggressive as they all sounded when this failed withdrawal began yeah I think that's what's gonna happen Jordan I mean look I think it'll be sober I think it'll be a somber tone but I don't think it'll be overly aggressive when Democrats are questioning first of all just a couple of atmospherics I mean the House Foreign Affairs Committee which is the one that is up today Jordan this is a huge committee 51 members Democrats hold a three-seat majority tomorrow's hearing which will happen in the morning so maybe we'll have some of that sound by the time we go to air that's a smaller committee 22 senators evenly divided between Republicans and senators so you might be able to get a little bit deeper in the weeds on that one today's round of questioning Jordan will probably move rather quickly I hope they do get deep into some of the weeds I mean I totally agree with the questions that you talked about about timeline why did America turn their back on leaving no person behind but maybe a couple other questions I would pose to you Jordan questions that we asked in our Freedom of Information Act request why did you cancel the Crisis Response Bureau because remember it was the State Department that was responsible for making that cancellation and then second Jordan I really hope somebody pushes the secretary on how far up the ladder did that descent cable go you've talked about this a lot but the people inside the department who disagreed with the tactic we know it got to the secretary's desk I want to I want him to answer did I read it did I understand it thoroughly did I understand the gravity of it and Jordan who ultimately did I share it with I think he should answer the question did you make the President of the United States aware of this cable these were hairy diplomats that were saying you know do this withdrawal is not right we've got to change the pace here we're not ready the Taliban is too strong I say I think there were over 23 at least 23 State Department officials who signed on to this and their confidential reporting channel when they disagree and and as Stan brought up that is Secretary Blinken it was asked about a press conference when we found out about he said those are generally reviewed by him what we don't know he didn't answers if he shared it with the administration officials but what what else would you want asked right off the bat here in this hearing well I think your list and fans lists are a great start but in addition I would like the Secretary of State to explain whether he believes there was indeed an intelligence failure or on the other hand was there a failure of will by the Biden administration to leave no American behind he also needs to explain his rationale for not opposing the Bagram Air Force decision basically to close that Air Force Base before withdrawing or better said surrendering to the Taliban in addition to all of that of course we need to know how many Afghan ease were admitted to the United States without vetting for security purposes and without vetting for purposes of kovat infections so there are there are a raft of questions that need to be answered and my big fear is that a Secretary of State Blinken will engage in his usual duplicity and try not to answer questions directly so I hope members of Congress will press him vigorously and demand real answers and also demand access to cables and other information which will either confirm Blinken's claims or perhaps basically suggest that he is fibbing once again yeah I want to go to this bite this is from representative congressman waltz on Fox News kind of give you an idea of what maybe not only we're gonna hear but sort of the rhetoric that may come up I spent about an hour 45 minutes or so with representative waltz for new projects working on it's got a lot of great insights he was there on the ground he led the campaign to to try to find and locate a bow Bergdahl during that whole situation whether he liked it or not you can find that in the documentary we're working on right now the new series let's hear from representative waltz Biden and Blinken keep saying well we're gonna judge by their actions the Taliban are literally pulling out young boys and killing them so that no future generation can ever resist their rule and they're all partnered with al-qaeda and al-qaeda is going to come roaring back the intelligence is that on that is very clear representative waltz point of view certainly it may not even be a popular one but is one that not only is Islamic terror in general going to have a huge rise but also that we're going to have to go back in this is just delaying the inevitable and he definitely was one of the people who did not suggest the full pull out of Afghanistan so you have a lot of myriad of different people with different points of views but you can't help but sympathize a little bit with how his opinion is right now let's go phone calls though let's go to Marissa who's calling Washington on line three Marissa you're on the air hello thank you for keeping my call thanks person my question is what is China's role in the Afghanistan's people so we are already seeing Harry the Chinese as well as the Pakistanis moving quickly to what they're calling relief but they are directly funding the Taliban and with aid so they are they have taken a role that we haven't seen China take in to you know two decades while we've been in Afghanistan it's also opened the door for the Russians as well but they are they're saying kind of regardless of everything else going on we're gonna work directly with the Taliban we got no problem working with directly with the Taliban and I think what they see this is an opportunity to take a lot of US assets that were left behind there they're you know not just the equipment but also the the infrastructure that was built and utilize it to their advantage I mean that's what they're all about is utilizing it to their economic advantage ultimately I think that's correct and they they are already planning a road into Afghanistan which will be useful for purposes of trade but it's very very important to keep in mind that the Afghanis have been working with Pakistan and Pakistan is a strong friend of China so essentially China after they finish their celebration over the American defeat in Afghanistan will have a willing partner both with respect to the Taliban but also with respect to Pakistan which can now extend its influence deeper into Afghanistan and I think at the end of the day this may ultimately improve relationships between China and Iran which is close by so I think at the end of the day this is a huge loss for the American people strategically and tactically I think this is a huge win for China and they may indeed have greater access down the road to minerals and other resources which will strengthen their control of the world economy and increase American dependence on China so I think at the end of the day the State Department and the Biden administration they blew it they don't seem to understand Jill Pollitt political events very very well Marissa I would point you to this this is the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson you're getting the translation here take a listen China attaches importance to the Taliban's announcement of the establishment of an interim government and some important personnel arrangements which has put an end to a three-week anarchy state in Afghanistan and is an essential step for Afghanistan's restoration of domestic order and post-war reconstruction so there you go they want to get in there to be part of the restoration of domestic order post-war reconstruction fan that's money that's money so this is another question for four that would line up because I think what's important for members of Congress today and tomorrow is not to not to let him not to ask him questions that he's not the best person to respond to so if it's a millet very military focused he's going to keep pushing that to the Pentagon but this question on diplomacy inter of countries coming in like China like Russia like Pakistan that's right in line with it with what he should be able to respond to it's a great point Jordan and the funding question to a lot of that flows to the State Department as well he would have control over that look I would say to Marissa there's no doubt that China is trying to fill the void I mean we said that they would of course they would of course they would seek leverage and this goes back to something that we heard from Jen Psaki Jordan where she was asking you know how we gonna keep leverage in there she said she said well we have foreign aid well Jordan I mean the status quo is we were the protectors of Afghanistan we were not giving foreign aid that is actually a proactive grant that was one of the three main requests that the Taliban had so Jordan I go back to Harry's point this is the opposite of understanding how this works that's giving the Taliban what they want and Secretary Blinken is absolutely the correct person to answer that question all right folks we come back take more of your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110 just a couple lines open if you're holding on the line we get to those calls to a lot of great questions the question is simple is what would you want ask of our Secretary of State today and tomorrow these hearings on Afghanistan be right back on Secular only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive and that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life we've created a free powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn it's called mission life it will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support and the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists the ramifications of Roe v Wade 40 years later playing Parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life request your free copy of mission life today online at aclj.org slash gift the challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values our freedoms our constitutional rights are under attack it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice for decades now the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms defending your rights in courts in Congress and in the public arena and we have an exceptional track record of success but here's the bottom line we could not do our work without your support we remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms that remains our top priority especially now during these challenging times the American Center for Law and Justice is on your side if you're already a member thank you and if you're not well this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work become a member today aclj.org so this is breaking now a reporter this is good this could make things very interesting tomorrow so Republican staff I'm assuming that staff on on the committees have an audio recording of Tony Blinken the Secretary of State at a Hamptons gathering the weekend that Kabul fell to the Taliban in the recording Blinken is heard making several disparaging comments about the most senior members of the Biden administration now then I'll go right to you on this they've got to back this up you put the this kind of news out of course you got to back up that this is real and that that the audio is clear enough and that what he's saying about the people but if this is true that the Secretary of State was basically putting the blame elsewhere while allowing his staff and team to be put in harm's way this would be this would be game changing this is this is you don't we wait for these guys it's like a movie this may be like one of those situations is just now breaking well he's also got to shoot the Congress straight Jordan I mean if he did tell you know any group of supporters one thing and then goes in front of Congress tomorrow and says something different that would be a major problem for him and look it's not about embarrassing certain members of the administration it's about doing the duty the sacred duty of both the commander-in-chief and the Secretary of State look Secretary Blinken can't override President Obama as far as far as withdrawing troops from Afghanistan but Jordan he absolutely has an obligation to make sure that those decisions don't negatively impact his embassy staff or threaten their lives he absolutely has an obligation to go into the West Wing and tell the President of the United States look the decision that you are making very well could cost me the lives of the people who are under my control so you know I don't know what was said at this at this East Hampton gathering but Jordan he sure better be consistent in his testimony both today and tomorrow with whatever he told that gathering it'll be interesting to see look I'm not even that shocked I think before Afghanistan Secretary Blinken was largely kind of moderately accepted wasn't necessarily known as someone who was a universally failing at his job you kind of looked at him go okay well maybe there's some some rational people here obviously a lot of that changed with their response to Afghanistan but I wouldn't be shocked if he starts saying hey this wasn't me now what can that mean for his job that's another story let's take some phone calls speaking of something like this let's go to Erla in Oregon on line one I think she has a comment that a lot of people probably have yeah early welcome hi my comment and question was how are we going to believe anything Blinken says and just what you guys were talking about and if we he is found to be lying what will be the consequences to him well he's under oath yeah so there's consequence for lying but they're pretty careful about and I understand your your whole tone of ways why trust any of this because oftentimes we'll see if he does this kind of performance where he really never says anything here I mean this is he's got kind of two options here lay it out maybe maybe talk about some of the discussions that he may have disagreed with protect himself some or he's going to just play the line of the administration and just not answer things that they don't want to I think you're out your analysis is absolutely correct and I also would throw out a further option which is perhaps the Democrats will seek to postpone the hearing and so then they can throw a little fog or shade on the American people with respect to Blinken's comments if indeed they are validly being reported but I also think he is sufficiently skillful enough to basically engage in duplicity without directly lying and I think at the end of the day that's what the Biden administration is counting on you know Logan I think that this is it's one of those opportunities where people again if there's this information that kind of changes the way he was talking that's one thing but if if that doesn't exist if that's not played if they don't utilize we've heard a lot of this in Washington before where things get built up and then it's a whole lot of night so I'm not gonna put too much stock in it but it will be interesting to see the fact that we're getting this testimony this hearing essentially this soon after a crisis it's actually kind of impressive you know we actually get to have maybe have some answers like you said will Kenny dodge questions of course this is Washington they're gonna dodge whatever they don't want to reveal there are plenty of things he doesn't have to say but let's see how it plays out I find it interesting that we're even able to have this that you'll be able to flip on TV watch this know what's happening it's kind of an interesting time to be in I'm sure to be in Washington and to see what's happening I've been doing a an ongoing series on the situation in Afghanistan we've interviewed some great people including people in our staff including people like a Rick Rinnell Mike Pompeo and Colonel Smith but also people like representative waltz we're doing another one this afternoon with with Langford we you have people's genuine passion thoughts right now where people are still emotional still hot from the moment and I think it's important to capture that and hopefully something like this today with Secretary Blinken we can you know it's it's very fresh in our minds where if you've got two years down the road or a year down the road of six months now you kind of start you start the healing process if you will I think it's important to capture this kind of emotion hopefully coming from our representatives all right folks you can still get your questions into 1-800-684-3110 what you would like Secretary Blinken to ask we'll take one more of those before this break but one I want to know specifically is why he did not make sure that all of the specific State Department staff were evacuated before we shut down Bagram before we shut down other avenues to it why didn't we just get them all evacuated why it can't be because well they didn't think the Taliban was coming they knew the Taliban was coming they're best estimate was 90 days but that was their best estimate and they saw before you know there was time to make corrections to the plan well before the Taliban had taken Kabul but you had to be flexible you had to be willing to be flexible didn't seem like there was a lot of flexibility when it came to the Biden ministration this they were stuck through there what they were going to do this is how we'll play it to the media this is how we'll play it to the American people and we'll just let the cards fall hoping that you just kind of move on from this this is one of those opportunities where you say hold on we're not gonna let you just move on we're gonna pay attention to what the Secretary of State says in this testimony I think that's important yeah you Bagram getting shut down a place that's what a few hundred miles from China you know you for the borders I believe it's it's crazy to see that kind of thing happen let's uh let's go ahead well actually have two minutes we can take a quick call let's go to Aaron in Ohio on line two Aaron you're on the air hey thanks fellas appreciate your time my question would be and I know you made a comment earlier this may kind of gravitate towards the military intelligence side of things but with the suicide bomber that took out the 13 service members and injured you know a lot more how can they then turn around and explain that they had the Intel to not only know who planned that bombing that suicide bombing attack know where they were after the fact and then be able to confirm that they got the guy right well there's all these rumors swarming around that incident you know that it was a family with children and they're not really sure what this prone strike actually got but um how can you explain that you have that Intel that level of insight and then turn around and say we didn't know the Taliban was gonna overtake Afghanistan to comment on that I interviewed Secretary Pompeo last week about this specifically which was typically in this situation a terror threat is is uncovered it is then publicized and then that but by that means Ford because a lot of times they won't even attempt it because you've now publicized we know this is happening be warned problem is you had the Taliban you have al-qaeda and now and Isis you have these big terror threats there and you didn't have the people anymore to stop it so you had some of the intelligence but you didn't have the ability to go in and take care of it and you had a country and people that are no longer scared of you yeah that's right there because your troops are not there there and they were again don't be exposed the second part of that I would say is that they're gonna have to answer that question did they kill a family on accident yeah and was that just a move to look like they had Intel that they didn't have for decades now the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedom defending your rights in courts in Congress and in the public arena the American Center for Law and Justice is on your side if you're already a member thank you and if you're not well this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work become a member today aclj.org you keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is secular and now your host Jordan secular welcome back to secular just to reset a little bit for you the second half hour we're taking your phone calls 1-800-684-3110 so far great great comments great questions coming in from our audience and the question for everybody that they're responding to is what would they like to be answered by Secretary Blinken today or tomorrow the first time he's under oath before these hearings not just doing a press conference not just making a statement and it looks like fan and if people want to call in I know Tricia online if people want to call in they've got questions that they would want answered give us a call beyond the broadcast say 1-800-684-3110 that's 1-800 6 8 4 3 1 1 0 thing we can't confirm some of this reporting about audio that may exist but if that's the kind of the the tone or positioning it would appear then that Republicans are going into this with a more aggressive aggressive attitude which I think is a good thing I think they need to go in with an aggressive attitude because they're gonna have to ask the same question two three or four times to try and get at the actual answer yeah both parties really should Jordan I mean look it almost doesn't matter if this audio exists or can be confirmed or not because we know the facts on the ground are really horrific we know we left Americans behind we know we worked on a timeline that really deferred more to the Taliban's interest than whether or not we had accomplished the task that we had we know that we closed Bagram Air Force down of air base down before we really were done using it we know a lot of these things Jordan and the secretary is directly responsible for a number of them so yes if the audio is real if the audio can be used I think it'll be a more aggressive tone but we talked about this a couple weeks ago I hope that time passing doesn't diminish the intensity of both parties questioning on this you got people like Senator Blumenthal who said that they were incredibly dismayed by some of the decisions made by the administration will his party push on that tomorrow Jordan I think it remains to be seen I think there will be a temptation to give in to some of the distractions of the day they're drafting that three-point trail five trillion dollar bill right will they be more focused on that or will they be aggressive with with the secretary let's take it back to the phones let's go to Trish in Florida on line six Trish welcome welcome and I appreciate the work you do my question is when I heard conflicting reports did we disengage all that equipment that we left there did we leave it in working condition or do we take some parts away from it so I mean this is again part of the disaster and I think Trish the question that I think would be asked is we all want to know that answer Harry everybody wants to know why was it left behind the way it does it seems like some of it was not disassembled especially small arms we're not but he probably won't answer that because that's a military question not a not a diplomatic question I think your answer is absolutely correct Jordan but I think it is clear from the evidence at least that I've read that we did leave fully functioning military equipment including in some cases helicopters behind that's number one number two we talked about China earlier the Chinese government has a probably already sent in its military experts to disassemble and to engage in reverse engineering on much of this equipment and so they will probably be able to profit from the fact that we left tens of billions of dollars worth of equipment behind more likely than not what we should have done is we should have blown up the equipment if we could not get it out in time but the Biden administration engaged in a craven decision to essentially exit Afghanistan as a form of surrender to the Taliban with a out getting all of our people out B without getting their military equipment out and C without getting Afghanis who were very helpful to us in the past out so there are just tons and tons of problems with the way the Biden administration has acted in this entire disaster as they had said this is when you know this is a question for the Secretary of Defense they're gonna have to testify to and and those kind of questions the Department of Defense is going to have to answer it was so obvious to reporters on the ground it was obvious to people watching the Taliban with the equipment that all of it was not disabled humvees and the small arms you don't know about some of the aircraft yet how how what kind of condition that's in we've seen them trying to utilize some of it though so some of it they took right up into the air and we come back take more your calls comment 1-800-684-3110 what do you want Lincoln to have to answer to today the challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values our freedoms our constitutional rights are under attack it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice for decades now the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms defending your rights in courts in Congress and in the public arena and we have an exceptional track record of success but here's the bottom line we could not do our work without your support we remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms that remains our top priority especially now during these challenging times the American Center for Law and Justice is on your side if you're already a member thank you and if you're not well this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work become a member today ACLJ.org only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive and that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life we've created a free powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn it's called Mission Life it will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support and the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists the ramifications of Roe v Wade 40 years later play in parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life request your free copy of mission life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift right welcome back to Sec Hill we are take your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110 the question we've asked that we've gotten great questions and comments from people's what they would want Secretary Blinken to answer to today he is testifying at 2 p.m. Eastern Time House Foreign Affairs Committee and then tomorrow the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee the military leadership of the United States will also be testifying ultimately so get your questions in 1-800-684-3110 that's 1-800-684-3110 you know BBC reporting 20 civilians killed in Afghanistan because of fighting between the Taliban and some opposition forces communications have been cut I mean so while the BBC has evidence of these kind of attacks occurring with the Taliban that they're not they're not acting the way that maybe it's perceived they can't get the info out we talked about this Logan with one of the issue with Afghanistan was people are used to seeing everything even when that horrible bombing occurred we had all these reporters at the airport it's they've been cut down significantly I mean there's still some reporters there but their ability to get the information out especially if the Taliban is just playing decent I wouldn't say nice decent in Kabul at but then this is a huge country and we're not realizing what's going on right we're not seeing right it's moving off of the news you're seeing it less and less now things like today will hopefully bring more of a light to it but also I think people are feeling this pressure to move on the media is and to other topics look we can say it with our own coverage we know how many people watch and listen sometimes if something's breaking with Afghanistan a lot of people watch we also have seen it get a little less and less as time goes on just purely as news media does move pretty rapidly and as we head into the last quarter of the year you obviously have different news stories and different wants and needs of people have you still have a COVID you still have so many things that are breaking news it's what we got to make sure we do keep our eye on the ball though and talk about what's happening in Afghanistan and what ends up happening for that entire region of the world not just of Afghanistan what that relates to China what that relates to Iran well how that takes place Russia it all and obviously Israel the Middle East it all kind of could tie together very quickly if we're not careful we're not keeping our eye on the ball I think we saw that and we saw the disaster that came upon in the last few months of the by an administration you have seen major things we talked about unification we had Rick Renell on last Friday by the way if you want a really good episode of this show it's a go watch that's a good one to keep yourself educated but part of it was talking about whether there could be unification in this country you know it is it's hard to see that but there was at least some unification on people saying what we're seeing in Afghanistan is disturbing and disgusting and we're not just gonna take it people did respond and they respond aggressively as we do in America you respond aggressively as a unit and then you break apart and slowly move across like you said today will be sort of that telltale sign do the Democrats just protect their own or do they actually have the hard-hitting questions because partisan battle right because if it's just like impeachment trial if it's just like a lot of these things that have happened recently you're gonna have it split nothing's gonna get said nothing's gonna happen we're gonna move on or do you actually have representation of the American people which is what we ask for and the fact that you can see the poll numbers you can see the numbers of the way people are responding to this you can see the chance going on around the world you know in relation to the administration people want answers American people are compassionate people they are even the conservatives you're the compassionate conservative something that was obviously passed around a lot in the original Bush years people are as much as you want to see them as angry people on Twitter screaming and yelling that's not the mass majority of people we don't remember that that is the vocal minority that most people are compassionate they see what's happening around the world and they want answers they don't want to be a villainized because the American people are quickly villainized when you do something like this a 20-year war with I've said this a lot in the documentary series that we're working on right now is it's very hard to look back on a movie you watched and remember that you liked 95% of it but they the ending was terrible and that's gonna be the problem with this war the war on terror is gonna be very hard to remember that there was 20 years of really good at least 10 of really good work that got done by our soldiers we need to always remember that because all that's gonna be stuck in our mind is the very beginning of the war 9-11 and in the variant which was this botched disaster and we need to not forget the 20 years of good work that was done 20 years of relative freedom that was given to the people of Afghanistan it's really a shame to see it in this way and you know there are people gonna be searching for answers for a long time President Biden was in Pennsylvania at one of the 9-11 memorials in Shanksville where the flight went down and he talked about the 20-year war he talked about but you know he put in a different way Logan take a listen if you told anybody that we were gonna spend 300 million bucks a day for 20 years to try to unite the country after we got bin Laden after al-qaeda was wiped out there can I try to come back here but guess what it's already back other places what's the strategy every place where al-qaeda is we're gonna invade and have troops stay there he goes with his come on man first of all I love how they concerned about money while they're asking for three point five trillion dollars that's we had a million dollars a day is very little for the federal government if 2,000 u.s. troops who are not in horrid Rick Harms way which they were not the last ten years can work with NATO troops and we don't have to worry about terrorism in our in our own soil he also it took a decade to get to bin Laden to figure out the Intel that took you know half the time was just figuring out their networks to get to him but yet Harry you know this idea that it's about money that's how he's pitching it and he's trying to pitch that to conservatives that's also a pitch to independent voters had a lot of people as his broadcast right now is to try to put you off on the idea well this cost 300 million dollars a day as if he cares yes your your analysis is spot-on so basically it's a bait-and-switch approach by a President Biden he is pushing an initiative which would restructure so many areas of the country under this three point five trillion dollar Green New Deal approach and then he wants to restructure a voting in the United States he is now slamming the state of Texas with respect to abortion and so it goes on and on he is a person without principle at least in my limited experience with him and I think the American people should expect more unprincipled remarks by Joe Biden because at his core I think you will find a very very empty suit so at the end of the day I think the American people should make their own decisions but they should not rely on President Biden's analysis once you be part of the broadcast 1-800-684-3110 that's number you call you still got time to do it we got another segment coming up if you've got questions you want answered by Secretary Blinken in these hearings about the Afghanistan withdrawal give us a call 1-800-684-3110 another question I have you know fan this would this would go again right at the heart of something that Secretary Blinken would be responsible for is what's going on with the vetting is it true that people are being pushed through and then we'll figure it out on the quote back end we've got quotes like that we've heard statements like that from the administration from Blinken and I think they got to be pushed on that because we want to first of all I think there's a question about how many people that we leave behind that we were supposed to take out from there were Afghan but to everybody is concerned about the fact that we were just putting people on planes at that Airport and not checking who they were just so they could it looks like they were doing that to inflate their numbers and then didn't really know who these people were yeah Jordan I mean and look I you know I think there's probably going to be a temptation for him to blame it on fog of war blame it on chaos and there would be some justification for that maybe if all of the flights went to interim locations I mean that was the whole point of those interim locations like Ramstein base in Germany Jordan but look you have to follow the rules for refugee vetting for for a number of reasons number one and most paramount is the security of the United States you can't fly them into Dulles and then check and see oh by the way does this person have a terrorist connection for example Jordan you have to do that before they come to the United States for national security reasons but the second reason and you're probably the best position to talk about this Jordan it's for the people who actually are refugees and need safe harbor into the United States because if you don't follow the vetting process and the process is abused by people who do pose a national security threat to the United States who does that cast suspicion on it cast suspicion on the people who really are fleeing for their lives we really do have an obligation to seek resettlement for them in the United States or elsewhere Jordan those are the people it hurts the most because it casts suspicion on the whole wide range of the group that has been evacuated and again this is a question that that this week's hearing should absolutely focus on it's not probably something that Secretary Austin could speak to as directly but Secretary Blinken Jordan absolutely responsible for this yeah so we come back we're gonna take more of your phone calls we get to Bob and then Mary Alice right off the bat if you've got again a question you want to ask if you if there's a issue maybe some we haven't discussed yet that you want Blinken to discuss today or tomorrow these hearings on Capitol Hill let us know give us a call 1-800-684-3110 be a part of the broadcast also we get back we have got a case out of our office in Pakistan you know it's a good reminder as we talk about Afghanistan and also Pakistan's role that the we have an affiliate in Pakistan that works primarily of course you know in those issues of Christian persecution we've got another case here where Christian has spent four years in prison for nothing really I mean this even the prosecutor in Pakistan said it wasn't really blasphemy so what are we doing about it at the ACLJ and our European Center for Law and Justice and we fight for the persecuted church in Pakistan we'll get to that too we come back but we are focusing in on your thoughts your cause where you want the discussion to go and the questions to go today and tomorrow with Secretary Blinken as he appears under oath on Capitol Hill we'll be right back on secular only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive and that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center 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defending your rights in courts in Congress and in the public arena and we have an exceptional track record of success but here's the bottom line we could not do our work without your support we remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms that remains our top priority especially now during these challenging times the American Center for Law and Justice is on your side if you're already a member thank you and if you're not well this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work become a member today aclj.org now welcome back to secular just so you know about where things stand to with the vetting that's one of these yeah I just would like focused on because what we don't want to be doing is importing terrorists into our own country when we had a chance to stop it is that according to Washington Post and and vetting reports the u.s. has already flagged 44 evacuees as national security risk so that that's people that they already have caught their national security risk the question is how many more I mean how many people on the this is just a question that needs to be asked what was there no plan put in place or did everything just fall apart just answer questions because why why were you told you that these Afghans need these special immigrant visas special paperwork but it what it appears is that if you got through that airport as things were crumbling it didn't matter if you had that paperwork or not and they some of those people yes they went to third party third third countries but but others I went right to the United States so if already 44 were flagged as national security risk you've got to wonder how many more people it's just part of the questioning that needs to happen I want to go back to the phones Oh Logan I will start off with Bob yeah it's good Bob in Wisconsin line one Bob you're on the air hey I'm a former Black Hawk crew chief and I know this question doesn't really apply for Lincoln but as you said the military leadership is going to end up testifying before Congress I want to know who is going to be held accountable for all of the classified equipment that is left on a Black Hawk helicopter and China now has their fingers all over and they can reverse engineer it are they going to take it it's upper levels of the military leadership or are they going to drop a bomb on the heads of the brigade battalion and company level commanders well it's a question about where do they put the where do they put the blame yeah where's the military trade secrets that would come in from all I want one just thank you for your service to our country I thought you brought up an interesting aspect which said it's not just re-engineering maybe a helicopter that's existed for decades in the US and kids upgraded but it's what it was upgraded with Harry that he hit on it specifically it's not the fact that they could fly it's that they have potentially classified technology on them and we don't know that that was to save any or attack and we know the Chinese if it's there can do that they're experts in stealing stealing your proprietary information Bob raises a great point because it's very very possible that a Black Hawk helicopter would have sufficient classified information so that it could communicate directly in real time with for instance a drone or a drone commander for purposes of perhaps going after a terror threat or someone who poses a security threat to the United States and apparently China now has access to all of that information and to answer Bob's question directly and this reflects my skepticism my own view is virtually no one in the Biden administration will take real responsibility so no one will get fired but at the end of the day both Blinken of the defense secretary the the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Milley all of those individuals they need to resign because they have basically failed the American people they have failed their commander-in-chief and they should have pushed back more vigorously when Biden decided to go down this disastrous road let's go back to the phones yeah continuing on Mary Alice in California online too if you have a last-second call 1-800-684-3110 to try to get in Mary Alice you're on the air thanks for taking my call my question is what about these people these private entities that are going into Afghanistan and they're trying to get these American citizens and these allies that helped us out but the State Department is not allowing them to either take off or even land at any country around or even in the United States let me go to Santa's then because I think also one there's there's an answer could be given here because there's been an update some of the flights have been able to take off some of those efforts have been successful and we might be down to a much lower number of Americans that's a that's something that Blinken can answer tomorrow than is that one are we still seeing that the ability to get the Americans out and what number are we at yeah I think you should answer the number what number he thinks is left how many of them want to get out I mean they've always sort of conveniently fall back on this idea that if you are gonna choose to stay I'm sure that's true Jordan but that doesn't answer the question how many are wanting to get out that you have not yet been able to extract and look to the point about private groups trying to get Americans or SIVs out we know that is ongoing Jordan we have close proximity to some of those efforts and I I think he should be asked this question is there a different standard being applied to those charter flights than there was to the ones that the military was evacuating because Jordan again this goes back to the security conversation it is reasonable it is rational and it is actually appropriate for the State Department to make sure that there aren't national security threats on those flights but Jordan if you're holding planes in country now when you were not doing it then that doesn't seem appropriate to me it would seem to me that if there were some validation of who's on board they should go to an interim location the vetting should finish and then they should proceed from there it looks to me Jordan like there's a different standard being applied now and I think the secretary ought to be asked directly about it I want to get into a little bit about Pakistan but Harry just first and fan as well Logan anything else you want to see us today you know I really would just like to see some true answers some real responses from people because I think that the American people are frustrated and it look we're only about an hour out from when this is going to happen I hope this gets some eyeballs on it people can see whether the truth is coming out or whether you're gonna have someone dodging which is sometimes even more truthful to know whether or not the Biden administration is prepared to give the Taliban terrorists American money and and if so how much so is the Biden administration prepared to play ball with China with Pakistan and basically fund a terrorist organization so to me that is one of the more important questions then I would like him to be asked what the Biden administration is prepared to do now and in the days ahead for the religious minority including the Christian community still on the ground and for women and girls still in country Jordan we have got to look at history we know exactly what the Taliban and frankly al-qaeda and other offshoots do to these groups of people they might be behaving slightly better for now but Jordan we know we don't have to guess how those groups will be treated I want him to be asked directly what the Biden administration is prepared to do to protect those groups just so I you know folks again this hearing is about to begin we will cover it tomorrow there's another hearing tomorrow but I just want to spend this last minute of the broadcast this is for everybody watching this is our submission to the United Nations on the situation of Pakistan that our office there is working on just as a reminder to our supporters our office in Pakistan is still very much functioning and working mostly in the criminal law realm because of the cases involved criminal charges brought against Christians in this case we were brought in to assist a Christian Pakistani who has been in prison for four years off of a blasphemy charge the prosecutor in the case said it wasn't blasphemy he was talking about a friend of a friend statement about someone's name that had nothing to do with religion but he's been in prison for four years in Pakistan and why we're bringing it to the attention of the UN is that when the judiciary there is about to make a decision what we've seen in the past is that they don't even when the prosecutor says drop the case he's not out of prison he's still there in prison and if the public pressure is so high to condemn people for blasphemy to hold them even if the evidence isn't there and even if of course we believe these laws are wrong and unjust but we have to fight within the system so there's this concern that the judicial branches in Pakistan will buckle to that pressure so we're bringing this to the international community's attention there's information about it will be up at ACLJ.org we will talk to you tomorrow for decades now the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms defending your rights in courts in Congress and in the public arena the American Center for Law and Justice is on your side if you're already a member thank you and if you're not well this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work become a member today ACLJ.org