CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Jason Crow

Interview

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COOPER: Yes, Kaitlan Collins, I appreciate it.

Joining us now Colorado Democratic Congressman Jason Crow, former Army Ranger in Afghanistan and a combat vet. Congressman Crow, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

First of all, just as a veteran, I'm wondering -- of Afghanistan -- what's going through your mind about what is happening there right now?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Hi, Anderson. Thanks for having me on. I'm still processing the events of the last five days to be honest with you. I have been so focused on the mission that we have on hand and that is to save American citizen and our Afghan partners and allies. I've been receiving hundreds of e-mails, texts calls. In fact, just a

few minutes before coming on here live video from the line of people trying to get into the airport in Kabul. It is, of course, a disaster that continues to unfold. It had been heartbreaking.

[20:25:18]

CROW: My message, though to veterans is that all my fellow veterans should be very proud of their service. You know, there's this reaction that a lot of veterans are going through right now questioning the nature of their service, trying to conflate what it means and associating their service with the politics and the policy of this war. Don't do that.

You know, my fellow veterans stood up, raised their right hand, and answered the call of service that this country put out after 9/11, and you should all be extremely proud of that because I am proud of you as well.

We will debate the politics and policy of this for years to come.

COOPER: What -- do you understand -- I mean, how is the U.S. going to live up to the promises that were made to Afghans, interpreters, others who have been working for the U.S. for so long? I mean, it seems like there's a whole bunch of people who can't even get to the airport. Secondly, who are sort of just still in this process, which is a bureaucratic process, understandably, there have to be checks, and there have to be background checks and references and stuff. But it doesn't seem like this is the time when that can actually really take place.

CROW: Yes, Anderson, you know, the Taliban respect Allah, and United States has him. Now, granted, they control the government now, but we have the power and the capability to combat power and the troops and the resources to actually accomplish this mission. But we have to have the will to do it and we have to make the commitment to do it.

That's why these arbitrary deadlines of August 31st, I don't believe in that. I think we should say we will do this until it's done. We will accomplish this mission because we have the resources to do it.

The Taliban have never defeated us on the field of battle, and they know that. They might have won the long term battle here, but that's different from the ability to take us on face-to-face. We have the ability to make sure we secure that airport, that we open up lines of communication, lines of movement to that airport, establish safe zones, and do it as long as we need to, to get everybody out.

We have the ability and capability to do it, we just have to do it. That's why I've been calling on administration to make that commitment.

COOPER: The other thing is, I mean, how long -- I guess, you could -- there are different sides of this. The Taliban could be motivated to allow the U.S. to evacuate the Afghans it hopes to evacuate because they may want foreign aid in the future, or foreign relations in the future.

The flip side of that is, do they really want, you know, educated Afghans leaving the country because, you know, somebody has got to make everything run.

CROW: Yes, I'm not really concerned about what the Taliban want. I think I could care less at this point. This is what we need to do.

We have an obligation, a moral one. We have a national security obligation. We have an obligation to provide the same level of security and commitment to our Afghan partners that they have provided to us over the last 20 years. But we also have the resources and capability to follow through on that commitment over the next couple of weeks.

So, I think we say what we're going to do. And you know, we work with the Taliban to the extent that we can are able to, but you know, they understand that we have a mission that we have to accomplish, and that we have the ability and resources to accomplish that, and I think if we show that power and will, I would be surprised if they tried to prevent us from doing so.

COOPER: I want to warn our viewers about some disturbing photos and we've shown them earlier. If you have kids, you may want to send them out of the room for a bit.

They are taken by a "Los Angeles Times" journalist in Kabul, showing what he says are Taliban using gunfire, whips, sticks, sharp objects against Afghans waiting outside the airport in the airport road, trying to get to the airport or kind of milling around.

How -- I mean, to see these images, it gives you a sense of the -- you know, the freedom the Taliban certainly feels to do whatever they want to people, to beat people to, you know, I should -- I don't know if this lady was shot, I believe the photographer said she was shot, she survived according -- as far as he knew, a child was hit as well.

I mean, this is what they're doing now, as they're trying to establish control. There's no telling what they will do. And it's pretty clear what we know from the past of what they'll do when they do establish control.

CROW: Yes, that's right. I mean, I know the Taliban well. I fought them during both my combat tours in Afghanistan as an Army Ranger. They obviously are extremely brutal, immoral group of folks. That's why we have to make sure we're doing what's necessary.

Flow of the troops and the combat power and the resources in, take total control of that airport.

[20:30:19]

Extend the security perimeter beyond the airport, establish some corridors to allow safe passage and make sure we're transporting American citizens first and foremost, but also our Afghan partners and allies and get them out. I mean, we have tens of thousands of folks that we need to get out. It's not going to happen overnight. But we have to make the commitment to do that. And I don't think we set a calendar deadline. I think we do it as long as we need to do it to get it done.

COOPER: You said, establish corridors, though. But I mean, if you're unless you are in control of the city itself, doesn't the Taliban control who gets access to those corridors?

CROW: Well, I mean, you have to establish lines of communication and open up some roads and the extent to which we do that the extent to which we forbid we expand those out to the city, how far we expand those out, obviously, is going to be a consequence of the security situation and how many troops we have on the ground. I'm not saying this is easy, right? I'm saying that we have to do it.

But I know the operational challenge. I know the (INAUDIBLE) of doing this, I know how dangerous and complicated it is. And, you know, I'm certainly very upset that we're in this position, because we actually didn't need to be in this position at the administration started the evacuation back in April and I and others prefer to call for, we could have had most of these folks out. And this would be a very different situation.

COOPER: Yes.

CROW: But that's not going to help us now. What we need to do is be singularly focused on the mission of getting folks out, we have the ability to do it. I don't think 5,000, 6,000 troops is going to do the job, I think we're going to have to send in some more as well, some additional assets, to make sure we're extending that perimeter out now.

COOPER: Yes.

CROW: It also opened up some (INAUDIBLE). I just got a video actually five minutes before coming on here, sent by a friend of mine of the line, trying to get into the airport in gunfire and the chaos and the Taliban checkpoints. And then the things that you described until pictures of can't allow that to happen. We have to extend that perimeter out. I don't put up some mechanism for folks to get to the airport.

COOPER: Yes. Congressman Jason Crow, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

CROW: Thank you.

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