The Glenn Beck Program - Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Hollie McKay & Allyson Reneau ｜ 8⧸24⧸21

00:00:00.000 Coming up on the podcast today, we talk about what's going on in Afghanistan, the latest.

00:00:04.780 We have reporters on the ground who are helping to get people out of Afghanistan, people who

00:00:11.940 have seen and been at the airport.

00:00:13.980 We go into all of that today.

00:00:15.760 We also are going to celebrate a little bit.

00:00:19.440 Andrew Cuomo is out of office.

00:00:20.900 We get into that today.

00:00:22.440 And I want to remind you one more time, if you can, the Nazarene Fund.org is the place

00:00:26.860 to go to help the effort to get Christians who are vetted, going to third-party nations 0.85

00:00:31.340 out of Afghanistan.

00:00:33.080 We've donated over $28 million, which is an incredible amount of money in such a short

00:00:38.980 time.

00:00:39.800 We really, really appreciate that.

00:00:41.440 The Nazarene Fund.org is the place to go to get involved in that effort.

00:00:46.320 Here's the podcast.

00:00:46.980 Some of the other stuff that is going on today is really important, but we are trying

00:01:12.840 to stay focused on what's right in front of us, and that is this debacle of the Biden

00:01:21.680 administration in Afghanistan.

00:01:26.540 I wish I could get on the ground at the airport of Kabul.

00:01:30.360 I'd like to see the faces of our troops, because I'm imagining that they are not happy at all.

00:01:43.620 And would just love to see them.

00:01:46.000 You know, if somebody would just bring a camera and just pan, see what they are feeling.

00:01:52.800 I imagine they want to do a lot more than they're being allowed to do.

00:01:56.820 Oh, you've got to believe it.

00:01:58.840 We have heard some reports over the past few hours that there have been some excursions

00:02:05.620 into the city to pick up some people.

00:02:08.780 Again, it seems like what we're doing is begging the Taliban to allow us to do these things.

00:02:16.280 Reportedly today, the CIA director met with the Taliban to try to, I guess, negotiate.

00:02:21.280 Excuse me?

00:02:22.280 Say that again. 0.71

00:02:23.140 I didn't.

00:02:23.440 I think what I thought I heard you say was our CIA director met with the Taliban.

00:02:29.000 So what did you really say?

00:02:30.640 Like, what did I actually say?

00:02:32.280 Yeah, just now.

00:02:33.240 I misheard.

00:02:34.780 Here, I'll just read this for you.

00:02:36.640 CIA director secretly visited Taliban in Kabul.

00:02:40.260 Okay.

00:02:40.580 A couple of problems with that.

00:02:42.240 One, it's not a secret if we're reading about it.

00:02:45.440 Well, the meeting's over.

00:02:47.440 Yeah.

00:02:48.480 Again, not something you should broadcast.

00:02:53.200 I'm glad they did because the other problem I have with that is, what is the CIA director

00:02:58.260 doing meeting with the Taliban?

00:03:03.380 Zay? 0.69

00:03:04.220 Zay? 0.69

00:03:04.880 He's a former diplomat.

00:03:07.860 Mm-hmm.

00:03:08.620 Met on Monday with Abdul Ghani Baradar.

00:03:12.200 I love that.

00:03:12.660 I got to say, the president's name was Ghani.

00:03:16.300 Now, we've got Ghani and the Taliban. 0.53

00:03:18.040 I'm never going to be able to keep these people separate.

00:03:20.020 I'm never going to know what anyone's talking about.

00:03:21.800 I-

00:03:22.140 Change your names.

00:03:23.180 I got news for you.

00:03:24.100 I don't know who anybody is anyway.

00:03:26.360 I know.

00:03:28.180 Yeah.

00:03:28.740 I mean, this is-

00:03:29.740 Can you just-

00:03:30.280 I want you to take a moment, Glenn, to bring yourself back in time a little bit.

00:03:35.500 Okay, yeah.

00:03:36.120 We started this show in-

00:03:38.320 Before, I mean, we started doing the talk show in, like, 98 or 99.

00:03:41.760 Mm-hmm.

00:03:42.280 But, the syndication deal we signed, should go national, we signed in August of 2001.

00:03:48.340 One.

00:03:49.200 So, just weeks before the September 11th attacks.

00:03:51.400 Yes.

00:03:52.080 And then, we were supposed to start the show in January 2002.

00:03:55.560 2002.

00:03:56.060 But they moved it up because of the attacks.

00:03:58.120 Yes.

00:03:58.140 So, we've been basically on the air since September 11th.

00:04:00.700 Yes.

00:04:00.820 The arc of the show.

00:04:01.960 Yes.

00:04:02.080 Yes.

00:04:02.140 A 20-year arc of the show.

00:04:04.060 Yeah.

00:04:04.260 Can you imagine, let's say, November 2001.

00:04:08.740 I bring you back a heck of time to that period.

00:04:11.220 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:04:11.300 And I say, you know what's going to wind up happening?

00:04:13.660 Is we're going to negotiate with the Taliban to basically give them the country. 0.84

00:04:19.760 And then, we're going to strand, and yes, Jen Psaki, I said strand thousands of Americans

00:04:24.860 and the Afghans who helped us in the 20-year war.

00:04:28.180 Okay.

00:04:28.200 All right.

00:04:28.500 Yeah.

00:04:28.700 Wait, wait, wait.

00:04:29.300 I got an answer for it.

00:04:30.100 And then, hold on.

00:04:30.680 And then, we're going to have the CIA director go negotiate with the Taliban to hopefully move

00:04:38.900 the Taliban's red line to the United States.

00:04:43.560 If I were to give you that scenario, let's say, November 2001, how do you feel about that?

00:04:48.800 Let me give you the scenario and my response.

00:04:52.060 Let me give you the response I would have made in November.

00:04:56.300 Stu.

00:04:57.360 Stu.

00:04:58.100 I know every empire has died in Afghanistan. 1.00

00:05:04.100 I know that the British, the Soviet Union, there has never been anyone that has won a war

00:05:12.420 in Afghanistan.

00:05:15.100 But I believe in our troops, and I believe our troops will win the war.

00:05:20.980 Okay?

00:05:21.620 If you would have said to me, well, Glenn, yes, we're going to win the war, but then we're

00:05:31.020 going to elect a president who's just going to abandon everything on the ground, including

00:05:39.120 our billion-dollar embassy that we built because we won the war.

00:05:44.020 And for 20 years, any girl under 20 knows the power that she has, the inherent rights that

00:05:55.840 she has.

00:05:56.540 But our president is just going to hand it back over to the thugs and killers that we 0.66

00:06:03.560 killed and ran out 19 years ago.

00:06:07.340 Then I would say, that's a fantasy.

00:06:11.240 That's a fantasy.

00:06:12.400 There's no way that could happen in America.

00:06:14.660 I have terrible news.

00:06:17.560 Wait, I thought we were talking about just hypothetically.

00:06:20.940 Yeah, no, this is, it really is incredible.

00:06:24.160 I mean, I remember when the Obama administration first sort of pitched negotiating with the

00:06:30.200 Taliban.

00:06:30.660 And it's been a bad idea from president to president since day one.

00:06:35.860 Day one.

00:06:36.180 It's never been a good idea to negotiate with the Taliban, ever. 0.93

00:06:40.060 No.

00:06:40.260 And, you know, sure.

00:06:42.940 I was, I was crazy angry with Donald Trump when he did it.

00:06:47.520 I thought it was an embarrassment when he did it.

00:06:52.260 Um, but that's nothing compared to this.

00:06:57.320 And anybody who thinks that Donald Trump would have allowed this to happen.

00:07:01.180 No way.

00:07:01.960 No way.

00:07:02.540 Just, just let me just say this.

00:07:05.220 Let's just say, and I don't believe this for a second.

00:07:07.580 Let's just say he doesn't care about America at all.

00:07:11.400 Now, obviously that's not true.

00:07:12.680 Yeah, that's not true.

00:07:13.780 But Donald Trump is not going to allow Donald Trump to be humiliated, embarrassed that way.

00:07:21.580 No way.

00:07:22.240 No way.

00:07:22.740 No way.

00:07:23.220 This is special.

00:07:23.980 This is special skill of Joe Biden.

00:07:27.180 Taliban Joe.

00:07:28.600 To be able to go down this road.

00:07:30.840 It really is.

00:07:31.580 Because I don't, I, he does not even seem to have the interest in protecting his own presidency.

00:07:41.740 No.

00:07:42.100 Let alone caring about the American troops, or let alone caring about the Afghans that helped

00:07:48.320 us, or let alone caring about religious minorities there that are being murdered.

00:07:52.140 Let alone, forget all of that.

00:07:53.620 Forget all the women and girls that you say.

00:07:57.300 I mean, guys, the left has absolutely no room to talk about the treatment of women and the

00:08:07.320 treatment of girls and how we have to protect.

00:08:10.380 They have no credibility.

00:08:13.260 They have exposed themselves as not caring at all.

00:08:18.260 At all.

00:08:19.580 The people who should be screaming the loudest are the woke community.

00:08:24.040 Yeah, where's the Me Too and this?

00:08:27.280 Yeah.

00:08:27.500 And not to mention, we've taken the Taliban from a bunch of people who basically were, you 0.97

00:08:35.000 know, fighting in caves against us during the war, to one of the best and most well-armed

00:08:40.660 militaries in the world.

00:08:42.220 Well, they're well-armed because we left everything behind.

00:08:46.380 75,898 vehicles, 599,690 weapons, 208 aircraft, reconnaissance equipment, 16,191.

00:09:01.740 This is from OpenTheBooks.com, by the way.

00:09:04.000 Communications equipment, 162,643 items.

00:09:08.560 Think about this, Glenn.

00:09:10.600 We used to go back this, go back again to 2001 for a moment.

00:09:13.320 What is one of the greatest advantages?

00:09:15.120 This doesn't work out.

00:09:16.940 This doesn't work out for us.

00:09:18.460 What's one of the reasons why we do so well in warfare when our military-

00:09:24.680 Because we have communications, we have night vision.

00:09:27.560 Night vision, right?

00:09:28.580 Just take night vision for a moment.

00:09:30.700 Tens of thousands of night vision goggles and associated equipment-

00:09:35.100 That, by the way, you-

00:09:36.760 You paid for.

00:09:37.480 And you cannot buy in stores.

00:09:40.980 You can't buy it.

00:09:41.740 You can't buy it.

00:09:42.700 You bought it.

00:09:43.480 You just can't use it.

00:09:44.580 Yeah, Americans can't buy it for your use.

00:09:48.460 And so we gave that to the Afghan military, who then promptly turned it over to the Taliban 0.89

00:09:52.780 here as this has developed.

00:09:55.140 And now, if we, God forbid, if it gets out of control again and we have to go back in,

00:10:00.740 which is totally possible, by the way.

00:10:03.500 Totally possible.

00:10:04.360 If they again build an area that is free passage for terrorists and they start blowing up our buildings, we're going to be back in there again.

00:10:12.240 Don't dismiss this as if it's over because that's the whole problem with leaving.

00:10:17.380 Don't count on Joe Biden to actually find a spine.

00:10:20.020 It might not be Joe Biden.

00:10:20.260 Oh, it might be.

00:10:20.820 Yeah, no, I'm not saying Joe Biden.

00:10:22.080 It might be 10 years from now.

00:10:23.560 But eventually, we're going to go back in there and we're going to have to deal with a Taliban that has all this equipment. 1.00

00:10:29.120 Well, they'll have all that equipment anyway, because Joe Biden's son is allowing Chinese to come in and spy on our military and buy things, you know, through bribery, et cetera, et cetera. 0.80

00:10:44.880 That's another huge part of this.

00:10:46.000 And China is going to give them all of that.

00:10:48.900 I mean, did you see that China, I think Saudi Arabia and Russia and Iran have just made a deal and China and Iran, I'm sorry, China and Russia have also made a deal with the Taliban.

00:11:06.580 I think there's an axis of evil that is being formed.

00:11:11.860 And we strangely are trying to form our own apparent axis of evil.

00:11:17.400 Well, where's the allied power here?

00:11:20.040 Don't copy their organizational structures.

00:11:22.740 Can I also say, too, Glenn, we have this idea of arming other countries and it doesn't always seem to work out the best possible way.

00:11:30.120 May I rephrase that a little bit?

00:11:31.460 It never works out.

00:11:34.260 But can I at least this is just an idea.

00:11:37.060 And, you know, can we float?

00:11:38.140 Is this a safety tree?

00:11:39.020 Hey, safety tree.

00:11:39.860 You can do it.

00:11:40.860 I'm not going to.

00:11:41.420 I'm not going to cancel you.

00:11:42.900 Safe space.

00:11:43.680 Yeah.

00:11:44.340 Can we at least put self-destruct buttons in these things?

00:11:47.400 I want a self-destruct.

00:11:48.800 The Taliban takes over.

00:11:49.920 We blow up all the weapons from one remote button.

00:11:52.360 I want why I want a drone that when they take off with a drone and they go to bomb somebody, it just flies back to the United States and lands safely.

00:12:00.600 Why?

00:12:01.300 I want a button that makes I want it to just you know how they have those like ink packets that when you steal money from a bank, they explode.

00:12:09.700 I want basically some version of that in every weapon we give to anybody else.

00:12:14.100 So at some point when we decide they've gotten to the wrong hands, we just press the button and they all just go away.

00:12:19.280 I don't think that you've gone far enough.

00:12:20.980 No.

00:12:21.860 I would like the night vision goggles that if you steal it or, you know, we just leave it behind, you push a button and knives go through your eyes.

00:12:30.800 That's what I would like.

00:12:32.080 Like, but maybe it's just this is the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:12:42.200 Let's go to Holly McKay.

00:12:43.860 She is a journalist and war crimes investigator.

00:12:46.240 She's also the author of the book.

00:12:47.780 Only cry for the living.

00:12:49.820 She has just returned out of Afghanistan and we welcome her to the program.

00:12:57.980 Hi, Holly.

00:12:58.460 How are you?

00:13:00.140 Hi, I'm doing well.

00:13:01.100 Thank you for having me.

00:13:02.200 Good.

00:13:02.500 Where are you?

00:13:03.220 Can you say where you are now?

00:13:04.480 You're safe.

00:13:06.200 Sure.

00:13:06.720 I'm I mean, I mean, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and I am probably going to be in the region for a little while.

00:13:12.320 I'm covering the situation from neighboring countries and some of the fallout and just kind of hammering in these twilight days of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

00:13:23.380 So, first of all, tell us what you think is going on.

00:13:27.180 What I mean, what is America doing?

00:13:30.320 I wish I could tell you, Glenn.

00:13:33.960 It's an absolute.

00:13:35.380 I haven't seen anything that could be more of a mess than what we're seeing right now in in the situation in Kabul airport.

00:13:44.160 Just people have been trying for days and they physically cannot get there and people are terrified and being injured.

00:13:50.940 And they're just at their wit's end.

00:13:53.160 I'm receiving calls and emails really just every 20 minutes from somebody new just in desperation of how do they get there.

00:14:01.680 But but, you know, what I'm seeing from other countries, though, I received notifications today from Australian government who are actually mobilizing the Australian citizens and visa holders there to a particular place,

00:14:14.560 a hotel near the airport and actually physically taking them in a in a helicopter.

00:14:21.280 So we're seeing that being done also by the Brits.

00:14:24.080 And it's frustrating to see that the U.S., the mighty U.S. is not able to do that.

00:14:29.140 And we're not allowing our great men and women who serve this country to leave the wire to do their job that they're there to do and that most of them want to do.

00:14:37.860 So we're talking to Holly McKay.

00:14:39.500 Holly, the the it's not that we can't do it.

00:14:42.720 It's that we're not.

00:14:45.020 I mean, when I read that when I read that, you know, Joe Biden is saying that, oh, you can get through the gates.

00:14:51.680 Americans getting through the gates.

00:14:53.140 Well, then why did you take two helicopters and fly them 200 meters outside of the gates to pick up 170 Americans? 0.88

00:15:05.060 Why didn't they just go through the gates?

00:15:07.740 Yeah, exactly.

00:15:08.800 I just this is sort of a collective denial that's happening from the administration.

00:15:12.140 And it's extremely frustrating because, you know, I'm one of the people that has to look at these Afghans and speak to these Afghans every day and try to explain to them why my government is not able to help them,

00:15:26.420 even though they are citizens or they're people that that have supported the U.S.

00:15:30.100 or they have the correct paperwork and visas.

00:15:32.660 And it's just like banging your head up against a brick wall.

00:15:36.700 I'm just not sure why the president is digging his heels in like this and refusing to acknowledge the brevity of the situation.

00:15:44.020 So they said the White House says we're going to be able to get all Americans and everybody who holds a proper visa out by the 31st.

00:15:55.020 I don't think there's a prayer of that happening unless something changes today dramatically.

00:16:03.100 Yeah.

00:16:04.080 Go ahead.

00:16:04.920 And my really, in my opinion, what that is going to take at this point is Khalil Azad's office in Doha to have some very serious and stern discussions with the Taliban leadership that they have been talking to now for several years.

00:16:19.220 The only way I see that becoming is, you know, if the Doha leadership is able to somehow rein in many, many rogue elements, which, you know, we could spend all day talking about that, too, and allowing people to get through.

00:16:33.280 And what I what I sort of foresee happening is possibly American citizens being allowed through.

00:16:39.640 But Afghan Americans or Afghans with American visas, they're going to be the ones that the Taliban is basically not wanting to leave.

00:16:48.800 And the Taliban have been very open about that thing.

00:16:50.840 We do not want Afghans leaving. 0.99

00:16:52.700 We need as much, quote unquote, talent here in our country.

00:16:56.540 And they've been very adamant about that.

00:16:58.380 So unless Khalil Azad's office can do some serious diplomacy, I don't see that happening by the end of this month.

00:17:03.900 So my audience last week, we raised we're at, I think, twenty eight million dollars now.

00:17:10.000 And we have 20 airbuses and Boeings at an airport.

00:17:16.420 We're very close and we can't get the State Department to clear them.

00:17:23.780 And we also, you know, can't can't seem to get outside of the gates and get any permission from anybody to help bring these people in.

00:17:35.120 And I sat there last week when all this money was coming in.

00:17:40.480 And I I thought to myself, and it must have been the way people were that were saving Jews back in Germany.

00:17:45.820 These people mean nothing to you. 1.00

00:17:48.040 You're just going to kill them. 1.00

00:17:50.360 Why won't you just let them go? 1.00

00:17:53.020 They mean something to us.

00:17:54.520 Let them go.

00:17:55.460 No, it's clearly not that they're trying to keep all the talent in Afghanistan. 1.00

00:18:02.120 These are just people they're going to kill.

00:18:04.340 Am I wrong? 0.99

00:18:05.580 Exactly.

00:18:07.020 No, not wrong at all.

00:18:08.280 Or people that they can exert, you know, a terrible control and a terrible life over.

00:18:14.340 You know, if they want to keep them alive, it would be in a power trip basis.

00:18:17.800 And to to really, you know, put them in jail, talk to them, make their lives incredibly miserable.

00:18:23.700 So I guess the more people that you can control, you know, the more power the Taliban seems to think it has.

00:18:30.720 But, yeah, they just they won't let them go.

00:18:32.600 And I think that is it's just it's sort of terrifying.

00:18:35.780 And I think, you know, part of the problem, too, is that the leadership has been in Doha.

00:18:41.740 And so they don't really have any control over the many rogue elements.

00:18:45.080 And mind you, 7000 of the most hardened Taliban fighters who have been sitting in Bagram prison for the past 10, you know, upwards to 20 years have just been released last week by the Taliban when they took over the air base.

00:19:00.900 I mean, you know, we're seeing the release of Bagram.

00:19:04.420 I'm not we're seeing the release of Taliban prisons all over the country.

00:19:07.140 But the release of the Bagram ones, that's the bad of the bad.

00:19:09.920 So mind you, they're in their first week of freedom.

00:19:12.100 So, you know, it just gives me chills to think what's what's happening there.

00:19:17.480 The the women and children.

00:19:20.440 I mean, I actually heard somebody say, oh, these people know what it's like over there.

00:19:25.420 That's the way they've lived.

00:19:26.400 No, not for the last 20 years.

00:19:27.920 They haven't a 20 year old girl right now has not been raised to think that that's the way it is.

00:19:34.100 She thinks that, you know, she's a powerful woman and can do things that guys can do everything that we know in the West to be true. 1.00

00:19:42.200 And now she's being faced with a life of absolute hell.

00:19:47.760 Where are the people that are shouting about women's rights and and the rights of children?

00:19:53.620 Where is the the outrage from Americans that are constantly saying that that is their goal to help?

00:20:02.960 It seems to be awfully quiet.

00:20:05.960 Yeah, it's sickening.

00:20:07.400 It's sickening.

00:20:07.980 I know so many women who have gone to become doctors and lawyers and teachers and just doing really incredible things. 0.66

00:20:15.100 And now to think that their lives are going to be relegated to a dank basement.

00:20:20.320 And every time they step out of the house, they're going to have to be completely covered and accompanied by a male relative.

00:20:25.780 They're not going to be able to work or go to school or to really have any sense of be seen or heard.

00:20:32.060 So it just is it's just an unfathomable thought.

00:20:35.960 It's just especially in urban areas like Kabul, where women have just yeah, they have grown up to have these these rights or just to think that that has been stripped away from them like that. 0.89

00:20:47.680 I just I can't even wrap my head around it right now.

00:20:51.180 Tell me about your your escort of the Taliban out. 0.94

00:20:57.760 Tell me about that.

00:20:59.460 Yeah.

00:20:59.840 So what happened was my photographer, Jake and I, we were we had a base in Kabul and we're actually planning to be both of us have spent considerable time in Afghanistan before and we were planning to be here through to November.

00:21:11.180 So about three months really capturing the end of the era in terms of the US and then, you know, how Afghanistan was going to survive in that first little chapter.

00:21:21.420 We we weren't quite envisioning things to to fall the way that they did.

00:21:25.820 So we were there working Kabul for a little while and decided to go up to Mazar Sharif, which is the northern province.

00:21:32.780 And it was actually the province where the US first came in after 9-11.

00:21:37.620 And it was the first one taken back from the Taliban. 0.82

00:21:40.380 And if anyone's seen the movie 12 Strong, I think it's called, you'll see that there is a Marshall Dostum who was sort of heralding that first group.

00:21:48.200 And he's someone I spent a little bit of time with a couple of years ago interviewing in Turkey.

00:21:53.200 And so coming back, we thought we would I would go and visit him again and do another interview.

00:21:58.920 And there was sort of this lot of hope that his forces combined with some other northern alliance leaders in the north were joining with some of the Afghan SF commandos and look to be a viable fighting force against the Taliban who were quickly taking a lot of the northern provinces.

00:22:15.840 But Mazar is an extremely anti-Taliban place.

00:22:21.040 And so it wasn't like that they had any community support that they may have had in other provinces that are in the south or along the Pakistan border, which tend to be a little bit more sympathetic to the Taliban.

00:22:31.180 Mazar wasn't like that at all.

00:22:33.040 So we went north.

00:22:34.380 I believe it was Thursday of the week before last.

00:22:37.360 And, you know, we got there and it was just it was this vibrant city that I'd grown to know and love and the markets were full and people were out and we were I was going around interviewing the shopkeepers and I was outside there sort of very have a very famous blue mosque.

00:22:53.520 And I was outside there in the park and sitting with the women, talking to the men, talking to people that have fled other northern provinces who were escaping the Taliban.

00:23:01.840 And and things just felt very full of life.

00:23:04.040 And I'm I was sitting there just trying to think, how is this place on the verge of being attacked by the Taliban?

00:23:10.480 I, you know, nobody sort of seemed too concerned.

00:23:13.200 And I thought, well, you know, maybe everything's fine.

00:23:15.300 And I I kept in very close contact with a lot of my Afghan security officials who said, no, there's no way Mazar is ever going to fall.

00:23:22.480 And if it does, it's going to be a long way away.

00:23:25.680 So I felt very confident being there.

00:23:28.040 And then the following day, Friday, you noticed a shift.

00:23:31.280 And it was quite bizarre.

00:23:32.480 And I we still went out.

00:23:33.840 We're still in the streets.

00:23:34.660 I'm still doing interviews and things.

00:23:37.220 But less people were around.

00:23:39.040 And you just sort of started to see that there was something.

00:23:41.880 And people kept telling me shopkeepers are like they're coming.

00:23:44.520 And I thought, you know, there's still a fair way away.

00:23:48.160 And I thought, no, they're really going to push them back.

00:23:50.360 You've got this incredible fighting force.

00:23:53.260 And then by Saturday, it was just bizarre.

00:23:56.820 And I woke up and we went out and there were just people lined up around the bank.

00:24:01.280 Trying to get their money out so that they could flee.

00:24:03.820 And I was trying to get hold of so many of my interpreters and fixers and things to help me out with some stories.

00:24:09.280 And everybody just kept saying, everybody's left.

00:24:11.140 Everybody's gone to Kabul. 0.97

00:24:12.180 Everybody's ran away kind of thing.

00:24:14.040 And it's a 10-hour drive between Mazar and Kabul.

00:24:17.320 So I was a bit stuck.

00:24:19.360 And then I ended up finding someone who was able to come out and do some translations for me.

00:24:25.580 And I got into a cab.

00:24:26.900 And I started to see all these people fleeing from the outside villages.

00:24:30.220 And they were coming into the city.

00:24:32.200 And we were trying to interview them.

00:24:33.940 And we're driving along this very abandoned road outside the city.

00:24:37.140 And this cab driver just turned and looked at me.

00:24:39.640 And he said, I'm scared.

00:24:40.480 I don't want to go any further.

00:24:41.600 And I said, oh, okay.

00:24:43.420 We'll go back.

00:24:44.220 No problem.

00:24:45.360 And the interpreter was sort of on the phone.

00:24:47.320 And he turned around.

00:24:48.200 And he had this very bizarre big smile on his face.

00:24:50.380 And he said to me, oh, they've broken through the front line.

00:24:53.240 They're coming to Mazar. 0.64

00:24:54.240 And I thought, there's no way this is happening.

00:24:56.580 You know, this place was just alive yesterday.

00:24:59.640 And the afternoon kind of continued.

00:25:02.060 And my photographer and I went out to this kebab cafe.

00:25:04.460 And there was just not a soul on the street.

00:25:06.040 It was very eerie.

00:25:08.100 And we sat down.

00:25:09.440 And then we just looked at each other and went, something is really wrong.

00:25:12.200 Something we don't know is really, really wrong.

00:25:14.260 Let's go.

00:25:15.260 And so we hurried back to the hotel we were staying.

00:25:17.740 And just as I'm hurrying back through these streets, I see this swarm of motorcycles coming into the city.

00:25:23.780 And that was the Taliban. 0.62

00:25:24.820 And they basically were able to come in and take over that city without a shot.

00:25:30.200 So we kind of made it in just in time and sort of holed up on the roof of where we were staying.

00:25:36.420 And we were able to kind of look down and see basically the way that they were just able to come through and take over a complete city.

00:25:43.320 And so from there, it was kind of, we were completely surrounded.

00:25:46.880 And it was a very unnerving feeling because I thought, oh, my goodness, what am I going to do next?

00:25:52.060 So why didn't they fight?

00:25:55.880 We're back with Holly McKay.

00:25:58.100 Why didn't they fight?

00:25:59.980 So the night before, I actually spent the night before with the Afghan Special Forces Commandos.

00:26:05.160 And what I'd been gathering and what they were able to affirm to me and also affirm to me after the fact when I went back to them.

00:26:11.600 And they're all in hiding now, of course, running, running for their lives.

00:26:14.700 When they explained to me what happened was that they were basically sold out, Glenn.

00:26:19.360 So this is how corrupt the Afghan, you know, within the ranks of both the government and the military. 1.00

00:26:25.260 And I really feel that the U.S. throughout this entire occupation turned a blind eye to the level of corruption.

00:26:30.840 And that was a big factor.

00:26:31.960 And so what happened was there was a deal struck between one of the top ANA, Afghan National Army leaders in the area who was just appointed by Ghani, mind you, a week before this happened.

00:26:45.120 He was appointed and he and a bunch of other kind of leaders all struck a deal with the Taliban in advance to basically hand over the city.

00:26:55.220 They got their money or whatever it is they got.

00:26:56.800 They got to flee.

00:26:57.540 They're all gone.

00:26:58.200 They were all off into Uzbekistan or whatever, they'd all left the country.

00:27:03.460 These poor men, and this is what upset me most when President Biden was blaming the Afghans for running away.

00:27:10.200 These poor men, some of them very young kids, some, you know, boys, young men, I should say, some of them being very experienced fighters, were basically left to the slaughter.

00:27:21.540 They didn't know a deal had already been struck for them to surrender.

00:27:25.320 They didn't know that.

00:27:25.900 So they're fighting.

00:27:26.480 And my contact in the commando said to me, you know, he got to four o'clock that afternoon and they were just being overwhelmed and overrun.

00:27:34.000 And he said, then somebody came in and told him that basically everybody had left.

00:27:37.920 And he just said the morale.

00:27:39.420 He just said, you know, basically they were just told you guys just need to run because the city's already been handed over. 0.92

00:27:44.580 So if you keep fighting, they'll just kill you.

00:27:46.360 So these poor young men and women are fleeing toward the Uzbek border and then they sort of get there and they're dumping, you know, whatever, you know, this is a sad bit, too.

00:27:56.520 You know, they're having to dump their weapons and dump their vehicles and things.

00:28:00.880 And they're trying to get into Uzbekistan, which I think had to end up shutting the border because it was so overwhelmed.

00:28:06.760 So they were really left to the slaughter.

00:28:08.400 And I and I can't blame them at that point for wanting to run away when they know that their own leaders on their side had already sold them out.

00:28:15.840 Yeah.

00:28:16.080 Yeah.

00:28:16.420 And I mean, what are you going to what are you going to do at that point?

00:28:19.260 You're going to run for your life.

00:28:20.960 Who are you fighting for at that point?

00:28:22.560 You're not fighting for your country anymore.

00:28:24.120 So so the Taliban, the Taliban says to you that, you know, hey, we're not the Taliban of 20 years ago.

00:28:32.980 We've got about three minutes to finish the story.

00:28:35.220 I'm so sorry.

00:28:36.160 I'd love to have you on.

00:28:37.480 Oh, of course.

00:28:38.840 So, yeah.

00:28:39.500 So basically, long story short, the only way we realized that we were actually going to get out of the city was to to have the Taliban take us out.

00:28:46.300 There was too many checkpoints.

00:28:47.800 There's no way we could have passed those ourselves safely.

00:28:50.100 So the Taliban, through some very careful diplomacy, thankfully, some really great State Department people, plus the Uzbek consul in Mazar was extremely helpful.

00:29:00.120 We were able to to get an escort.

00:29:02.120 Yeah.

00:29:02.300 And immediately the first thing that, you know, the Taliban driver says to me is he just got out of Bagram, too.

00:29:07.540 That was, you know, very nonchalant.

00:29:09.400 And basically, he wanted to tell me, he wanted to welcome me.

00:29:12.140 So the governor, the governor wished he could have been there to talk to me, but he was busy and then sort of said, we're not the same.

00:29:19.600 There's a lot of propaganda about us.

00:29:21.680 But then I started to obviously read through the lines that I probed and I wanted to know, well, what is your future for Afghanistan?

00:29:27.680 And it was very clear.

00:29:28.640 And they made nothing, no effort to hide the fact they wanted a very stringent interpretation of of Sharia and that, you know, women were going to be covered and stuck into their basements. 0.55

00:29:40.900 And, you know, anyone who steals was going to get their hand cut off.

00:29:44.080 So they were pretty blunt about that.

00:29:45.440 And having said that, they were very polite to me because I was a foreigner and I recognize that I know that my Afghan friends and colleagues are not going to be given the sort of treatment that I received, you know.

00:29:59.960 And that's what sort of scares me.

00:30:03.080 So I was lucky, but that luck won't be extended.

00:30:07.260 I would love to have you back on, maybe even perhaps later this week, just to talk about some of your other experiences and to be able to, because you've been everywhere.

00:30:15.320 You have seen the worst of the worst.

00:30:18.120 And I'd love to hear how this compares to what has already happened elsewhere.

00:30:24.440 What is coming for Afghanistan? 1.00

00:30:27.660 Holly McKay, the name of her book is Only Cry for the Living.

00:30:32.200 She's a journalist and war crimes investigator and an amazing storyteller.

00:30:37.220 Holly McKay, thank you.

00:30:38.540 The best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:30:54.040 Ten years ago, I started Mercury One, which is a charity because I saw a need.

00:31:01.340 A need of really teaching people to stand for themselves again, not waiting for the government to help.

00:31:09.480 So we started Mercury One to be the first one to help the last one out.

00:31:17.760 First one in, last one out.

00:31:20.560 We're continuing that now with the Nazarene Fund.

00:31:24.740 We are the first in.

00:31:27.060 Yesterday, we had two planes take off with 700, about 700 Afghani women, children, and families.

00:31:38.740 And it's all because of you.

00:31:41.300 Last year, the ninth anniversary of Mercury One, we introduced an initiative, the American Journey Experience, which is all about history.

00:31:51.620 We have our 10th anniversary that is happening this year.

00:31:57.640 We've decided to make it kind of a real cool event.

00:32:00.480 It's happening on Saturday, October 9th.

00:32:03.280 It's the power of one, renewing kindness.

00:32:07.780 And there's going to be a lot of things that are happening.

00:32:11.080 It's at the Toyota Music Center or factory here in Dallas.

00:32:15.560 And you can go to mercuryone.org or monextchapter.com.

00:32:21.440 I am going to be announcing a new initiative.

00:32:24.120 And this is a big one.

00:32:25.340 And you're already seeing it in play because we need it.

00:32:30.140 The power of one.

00:32:32.500 And that's what we're doing.

00:32:35.820 And I want to lay out a vision for America and the next chapter of Mercury One.

00:32:40.300 And you will see artifacts that have never before been seen in public.

00:32:46.500 Artifacts from the Pilgrims and from Jamestown.

00:32:50.860 1619.

00:32:52.140 You don't have to reimagine.

00:32:53.760 We have all of it.

00:32:56.720 Also, Heroes of History will be there.

00:32:59.780 Some amazing people.

00:33:01.520 It's an incredible event.

00:33:02.720 I'd love for you to come.

00:33:04.700 Tickets start at $25.

00:33:06.860 So bring your family.

00:33:08.280 Bring your friends.

00:33:08.940 This is the event that pays for the light bills and everybody's salary and everything else.

00:33:15.860 So when I go on the air and say 100% of the money goes to, I can say that with assurance because I've put on a show or something that people will buy tickets to to come and help us.

00:33:30.020 Mercuryone.org or monextchapter.com.

00:33:33.980 Make sure you join us.

00:33:35.460 It's, I think, the first Saturday in October, maybe second Saturday in October.

00:33:39.380 Make sure you join us.

00:33:40.320 It's going to be an incredible thing.

00:33:42.200 Now, speaking of the power of one, this is a great example of the power of one.

00:33:47.180 Allison Runeau.

00:33:48.460 She's an Oklahoma mom that saw the Afghani robotics team, the girls on the Afghani robotics team, and she thought, these kids are in trouble.

00:34:08.660 She wanted to help get them out, and she did.

00:34:11.040 So how did this mom do it? 1.00

00:34:15.080 We have her on the phone with us now.

00:34:16.580 Allison, hi.

00:34:17.440 How are you?

00:34:19.180 Hi, Glenn.

00:34:19.680 It's a pleasure to be with you today.

00:34:21.060 Actually, it's an honor.

00:34:22.340 Thank you.

00:34:23.000 I appreciate this opportunity.

00:34:24.020 Thank you.

00:34:24.640 So, Allison, I mean, so many people feel like I'm just a mom or I, you know, what do I, what can I possibly do?

00:34:31.960 You didn't think that.

00:34:33.860 You just did it.

00:34:36.980 Well, I'm the mother of 11 biological children, and nine of those children are girls, and all with one man, by the way.

00:34:44.720 Good for you.

00:34:46.540 And, you know, I met these, I worked in the space industry in Washington, D.C. after obtaining my master's at Harvard at 50, 55 years old in 2016.

00:34:56.340 Wow.

00:34:56.780 And the doors swung open for me to walk into this field.

00:35:01.920 It's been an honor to work with our best and brightest and humble and genius people.

00:35:08.500 And one thing they taught me was failure was not an option.

00:35:11.700 They make science fiction fact, and they are really unstoppable.

00:35:18.600 I was invited to be on a very prestigious board of directors that I actually don't even deserve to be on called Explore Mars.

00:35:25.440 They advocate in Washington, D.C. for human space exploration.

00:35:29.240 And each year we have a conference in D.C. where we bring in a lot of leaders to promote and to talk about exploration.

00:35:38.160 We decided we would bring over these five girls on the Afghan robotic team. 1.00

00:35:43.860 And Elon Musk actually paid their way.

00:35:47.620 These girls came, and our goal was to allow them to immerse themselves in the space industry, to brush shoulders with astronauts, and to dream big. 1.00

00:35:57.180 And I immediately had a connection with these girls, having so many daughters, and I think it was vice versa.

00:36:03.900 And one of the things they requested after going to the White House and museums was, Allison, we just want to go to an amusement park.

00:36:10.960 And I thought, and so I quickly raised the money in about 15 minutes for all these girls to go. 1.00

00:36:16.040 And I had video of them there, and they just had an amazing time.

00:36:20.140 You know, sometimes kids just need to be kids.

00:36:22.400 But I kept in touch with them for a couple of years through text.

00:36:25.980 And in December of 2020, they began to request, hey, we're going to graduate high school.

00:36:30.460 We'd like to come to the United States to get our degrees in engineering.

00:36:33.940 Could you help us with scholarships?

00:36:35.180 And we've been doing a lot of groundwork in that area.

00:36:37.160 But I woke up on Tuesday, August 3rd, with an overwhelming, dreadful feeling that they were in great danger.

00:36:44.740 At this time, nothing had quite collapsed yet or anything like that.

00:36:48.240 And I thought to myself, this must be a divine warning.

00:36:53.320 I couldn't shake it.

00:36:54.460 I tried to.

00:36:55.500 And I immediately began to reach out to people way above my pay grade.

00:36:59.120 I knew I would have to find some power and some influence.

00:37:01.700 And I didn't know where to start.

00:37:02.940 I just was armed with courage and a cause and a cell phone.

00:37:06.100 And I just began to, for two weeks, night and day, try to find something.

00:37:13.400 I kept running into brick wall after brick wall after brick wall.

00:37:16.140 A lead would go hot like if something was going to happen, and then it'd go cold.

00:37:19.680 I was working in conjunction with their leader and mentor, who is from Afghanistan, who lives in the United States.

00:37:26.080 So she was working hard on her path of influence, and I was going hard in my U.S. area.

00:37:31.800 There's sometimes when you have a dream and if nothing is working, you need to take drastic action.

00:37:35.800 And you need to do something wild.

00:37:38.160 And I decided I would fly to Qatar.

00:37:42.080 It was a good chance they might be flying there, evacuated by the Qatari government.

00:37:47.400 We tried India.

00:37:48.140 We tried Canada.

00:37:49.060 We tried a lot of different places, and we just weren't getting anywhere.

00:37:52.540 So on Tuesday, a couple of weeks ago, or a week ago, I had a one-way ticket.

00:37:59.220 And I thought, wow, when I get there, I don't know anybody.

00:38:01.800 I'm traveling alone.

00:38:03.420 And so I called.

00:38:04.240 I remembered I had a former roommate in Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago that had been transferred there with the military.

00:38:09.760 And I thought, I need to ask her, you know, where do I eat?

00:38:11.800 Where do I stay?

00:38:12.600 Can I go jogging in the mornings?

00:38:13.940 What do I wear in public?

00:38:15.280 Head scarves?

00:38:15.960 What's proper?

00:38:17.260 And she said, what's going on?

00:38:18.540 And I told her.

00:38:19.660 And she said, do you know I work in the U.S. Embassy in Qatar?

00:38:23.700 I go, I had no idea.

00:38:25.540 And she said, yeah, I have the ear of the high officials there.

00:38:28.940 I can help you.

00:38:29.860 Send me their passports.

00:38:30.980 Send me their information.

00:38:32.420 And I'll prepare it all and present it.

00:38:34.820 She stayed up all night.

00:38:35.800 She went back to the embassy, stayed up all night from midnight to six, and presented this.

00:38:40.260 And our U.S. officials really jumped on it.

00:38:42.440 It began to alert people on the ground in Kabul.

00:38:45.440 And the Qatari government got the girls to the airport.

00:38:50.120 Our officials were right on top of it the whole way, flanking the operation.

00:38:54.060 We're at the airport in case something went wrong.

00:38:56.520 And somehow in a sea, chaos of the pictures you saw of 8 million people plus all the refugees. 1.00

00:39:03.880 Miraculous, these girls were evacuated.

00:39:06.100 And I didn't have to make the trip to Qatar, by the way.

00:39:09.260 My friend said, no need to come.

00:39:11.580 You need to stay on the phone.

00:39:12.740 You need to stay on the ground.

00:39:13.700 You don't need to be flying 20 hours and being silent with these girls. 1.00

00:39:16.840 So it was reported that I did fly there, but I think it was just assumed.

00:39:21.500 So anyhow, the girls are safe.

00:39:24.720 They're in Qatar.

00:39:26.060 And hats off to that government for stepping up.

00:39:29.360 I will tell you, there are a lot of very brave Muslim countries that are stepping up.

00:39:37.020 And they are terrified because they know the weakness of the West right now.

00:39:42.700 And they also know if they're outed, they will have all kinds of problems from Hezbollah and ISIS and, you know, the new Al Qaeda, et cetera, et cetera.

00:39:54.840 And they're doing remarkable things, just truly remarkable things.

00:39:58.800 You're right.

00:40:00.580 I have to tell you, Allison, it's amazing to see.

00:40:07.220 And I can relate entirely.

00:40:10.880 Yesterday was not a good day for me.

00:40:12.720 And at one point I said, you know what, it's just not supposed to happen.

00:40:17.620 I mean, maybe because every single door is closing and maybe it's just not supposed to happen.

00:40:25.100 Let's go another direction.

00:40:26.920 And I stopped myself and I thought, that is so defeatist.

00:40:30.240 No, keep moving forward.

00:40:33.740 And it's hard, especially like you when you were completely alone.

00:40:38.420 I commend you.

00:40:39.300 Thank you.

00:40:41.360 But, Glenn, there's nothing that happens unless there's a team.

00:40:44.380 And it wasn't just me.

00:40:46.380 Okay.

00:40:47.200 So I just want to commend all the people that were involved.

00:40:50.240 What a tremendous job they did and how fast they leapt into action.

00:40:54.680 You know, sometimes you think it's someone that's full of power and influence that you're going to get a hold of that's going to do the job for you.

00:40:59.840 But here was this little roommate of mine that God connected me with.

00:41:04.880 And suddenly it exploded and it began to work.

00:41:09.300 And I'm just shocked how one willing person who cares, God can use them.

00:41:15.260 Yep.

00:41:15.860 It's really remarkable.

00:41:18.080 Allison, thank you so much.

00:41:19.740 God bless.

00:41:20.360 I hope to meet you someday.

00:41:22.120 We're not that far, just down the street.

00:41:25.180 We are.

00:41:25.580 And I just want to mention real quickly, if you have one more minute, is that okay?

00:41:29.100 Yeah.

00:41:29.260 Because of the media coverage I've had over the last few days, the cries for help from within Afghanistan from women who are in hiding, professional women who've been fired, who are being hunted, who are being tortured.

00:41:41.220 Reports last night of two killed and shot.

00:41:43.360 And these are professional, educated women. 1.00

00:41:45.860 One beat to death, one blinded.

00:41:47.480 And I was back on ground zero again.

00:41:52.080 What worked for the girls that I helped was not going to work to evacuate these people that are in hiding.

00:41:57.580 And I said, send me the list.

00:41:58.960 I'm not going to leave one behind.

00:42:00.180 How can you help?

00:42:01.000 I thought it would be, I thought there'd be 20 people, and it was 212 women Afghan judges in hiding, Supreme Court, that are, and I asked my commando friends on the ground that are helping me, and they said, yes, they will be the first to die. 1.00

00:42:13.580 They'll be the first to die because they have imprisoned men.

00:42:17.720 They have imprisoned people who are beating their wives.

00:42:20.200 Right.

00:42:20.640 And all those prisoners have been released, and these women are being hunted.

00:42:24.820 And it was 212 women. 1.00

00:42:26.520 How can we help you?

00:42:27.860 How can we help you?

00:42:28.760 You know, we've got a NASA, former NASA general counsel friend of mine working on this, along with the Yale Law School, who are assembling all the data of these women, submitting all their information to state department.

00:42:43.160 It's turning fast.

00:42:44.780 I've got an extraction team on the ground, and I think, and I've got an ambassador that reached out to me over the European Union that says, I'm going to find asylum.

00:42:53.820 He's already called so many countries, and they're working on it as well.

00:42:56.460 But the one thing I'm missing is planes.

00:42:59.380 A plane?

00:43:00.100 Plane.

00:43:00.880 You're talking to a guy who has 20 of them.

00:43:04.260 Yes.

00:43:05.260 You get them to the airport.

00:43:07.120 I'll need to have my team get in touch with you.

00:43:10.460 You need to work it out because of the State Department and everything else.

00:43:13.560 But you get them to the tarmac.

00:43:15.440 I'll get them on a plane.

00:43:17.340 Good.

00:43:17.800 Well, we're Americans, and we figure it out, don't we, Glenn?

00:43:19.840 Yeah, we do.

00:43:20.900 Yes, we do.

00:43:21.640 You get them to the tarmac.

00:43:23.480 I'll get them to another country where they'll be safe. 1.00

00:43:28.600 And I just want to say, Mr. President, if you hear this message, we need more time.

00:43:32.020 We need more time.

00:43:34.280 Please give us more time.

00:43:35.960 Thank you, Glenn.

00:43:36.760 Allison, thank you.

00:43:37.840 God bless.

00:43:38.360 Na na na na na na.

00:43:39.980 Na na na na.

00:43:40.900 Na na na na na.

00:43:42.360 Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na naonal na na na na na na na na na na na na na wa na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na ba na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na

The Glenn Beck Program - August 24, 2021

Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Hollie McKay & Allyson Reneau ｜ 8⧸24⧸21

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript