CLAY: We’re gonna go to Afghanistan and talk about the situation on the ground ’cause a lot of people are still not paying attention to the Americans that have been left behind there. We have a clip, right, of Jen Psaki.

BUCK: First, we have retired Lt. Commander Bryan Stern, who is the cofounder of Project Dynamo, up next. He is on the ground now in Kabul, in Taliban-controlled Kabul, Afghanistan. Here’s Jen Psaki trying to respond to the question about Americans there.

DOOCY: Why is it that there are still Americans stranded in Afghanistan?

PSAKI: The United States does not track or put a tracker on American citizens traveling overseas. Let me just reiterate something that Tony Blinken said back in August, which is that if Americans who are in Afghanistan wanted to leave, we would help them get out. I would note that since that time, we have directly assisted 479 American citizens to depart Afghanistan.

DOOCY: Four-hundred-and-seventy-nine left behind is a lot higher than the 100 to 200 that President Biden was talking about. So, how’d you guys get the number?

PSAKI: There were people who determined they wanted to leave since then, and it is our responsibility to help them depart.

BUCK: We’ll get the real deal coming up here from retired Lt. Commander Bryan Stern of Project Dynamo on the ground in Kabul.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL WALTZ: I can’t tell you how many veterans have reached out to me and just said they’ve never been more disheartened and disgusted with their own government — and the State Department in particular that they’re finding is more a part of the problem than helping them with the solution.

BUCK: What is the status of Americans left behind by the Biden regime in Afghanistan? We want answers. That was Michael Waltz, congressman, great guy, former lieutenant colonel, great dude. And he’s asking the question, we want to try to find some answers to now. We have Bryan Stern with us. He’s a multi-tour combat veteran who served in over 50 countries including Iraq and Afghanistan in the Army and the Navy. He’s a 9/11 first responder, a Purple Heart recipient, founder of Project Dynamo, a nonprofit that has been forward deployed conducting rescues and evacuations from Afghanistan since mid-August. Bryan, thank you so much for being with us.

STERN: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

BUCK: Bryan, tell us what’s going on, where are you, what is this problem set, how do we fix it?

STERN: Right now… (chuckles) Tough questions. The easy one is right now I’m in Kabul. I’m in Kabul, Afghanistan, right now. We’re in the middle of conducting a pretty sizable evacuation of 50 green card holders and American citizens. So, we are actually executing as I talk to you. We’re doing PCR tests right now. (chuckles) How do we fix it? I don’t know, is the answer.

BUCK: Let me… Before we get to the how we fix, let me come back here ’cause I want to understand. Who is it left behind and how is it to get out? Because the White House so seems to be playing games. They make it seem like, “Oh, if people want to leave, they can just leave. We’re not their keeper; they do what they want.”

STERN: Yeah. So, you know, it’s hard, right? When the State Department says that, yes, that’s true, kind of like when the State Department says there are X-amount of Americans who want to leave. Yes, that is true in the context of there are a lot of American citizens who are married to people who are visa holders or visa applicants, and they, their spouses and their families cannot leave.

So if I’m an American daddy and I’m married to an Afghan mommy and the Afghan mommy has three children and the three children are undocumented, when you ask me as an American do I want to leave, the answer is, “No, I’m not leaving my family.” It turns into, “Well, that guy doesn’t want to leave.” That’s not exactly accurate. Technically it is, but there’s a little more depth to it that changes things.

CLAY: Bryan, appreciate you coming on with us live from Afghanistan. And I just want to confirm what I heard. Did you say that you’re trying to get people PCR tests, covid tests so that they can get out of Afghanistan? So, let me get this straight. The United States government, are they still requiring covid tests for American citizens to leave Afghanistan while they’re not requiring illegal immigrants coming across our southern border to have covid tests?

STERN: Absolutely, and we do it as a matter of course. We do it as a matter of course so that there’s no reason when we arrive in the United States — that there’s no reason — anyone says “no.” So what we’ve experienced is any opportunity to be an obstacle or a challenge or a problem we try and address those in advance —

CLAY: And, by the way, sorry to cut you off, but we appreciate all the work you’re doing, but doesn’t that seem crazy to you that you’re trying to get American citizens out of Afghanistan and you have to worry about whether or not they have covid tests in order to get back in the country, and yet we have an open southern border where we’re doing nothing?

STERN: Really and truly of all the obstacles that we face, the PCR piece is actually one of the easy ones. So, yeah, the PCR test is a requirement. We don’t do just that. We do… We actually do covid vaccines here in Afghanistan. So, every person that flies in the Johnson & Johnson, Grade A American covid vaccine shot again as a defeat mechanism so that no one can say, “Well, we’d love to let ’em in but, you know, the covid thing, can’t have ’em, no, no, no. Everyone is tested. Everyone is vaccinated.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Bryan Stern. He’s a multi-tour combat veteran, founder of Project Dynamo. He’s on the ground as we speak to him right now in Kabul, Afghanistan. Bryan, are the Taliban allowing Americans to leave who want to leave? How is it…? I mean, you are now in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

STERN: I was walking the streets today, and it’s a very weird thing. It’s a surreal experience, I must say. I’ve been to Afghanistan a bunch of times. I’ve been to Kabul many times. I worked in Kabul for six months, longer. It’s a weird vibe on the street. The Taliban, their position, if you will, is they’re not gonna do anything to an American. They don’t want to rock the boat.

They’re trying to demonstrate to the world that they’re real and legitimate and all those things. So because of that I tell people, people say, “Wow, you’re in Kabul, that sounds crazy.” I tell everyone it’s like going to the South Bronx, it’s scary but not exactly dangerous. You know, probably it’ll be okay is very much the vibe on the street here in Kabul, it’s like that where it’s kind of awkward, kind of weird, you get some funny looks, but the reality is they’re actually not gonna do anything, probably not — until, until they do, and that’s what we’re all afraid of. And so when does the shoe drop?

CLAY: Yeah, what is the expectation, Bryan, in terms of when you’re in Kabul and you’re walking around, you say it has an eerie feeling but, you know, nothing really is become calamitous. When do you think that other sure, proverbially, drops, in terms of your experience in Afghanistan?

STERN: I think as the economy fails, as starvation becomes real. The winter is here. It’s freezing here. My flight was delayed because (chuckles) the runway was covered in show, then ice, then low visibility. They still don’t have snowplows at the airport still to this day. So, Afghanistan’s always been a complicated country, a poorly resourced country but for foreign governments. As the situation and humanitarian crisis goes from bad to worse, that’s really when you start to see things fracture.

People need to remember the Taliban — you know, right, wrong, or indifferent — they are a transitional government, no different than when we switch from Republican to Democrat presidents or vice-versa. There’s always this period of transition. And then the dust settles and then, you know, the honeymoon So every and then real life has to start. The Taliban don’t have a lot of experience governing. So they have their work cut out for ’em regardless of whether they’re good, bad, or anything else.

BUCK: Bryan, we gotta ask you, are you optimistic that all Americans who have been left behind in Afghanistan will get out in let’s say the next six months, and is the Biden administration taking this as seriously and doing as much as they should?

STERN: The answer to your first question is, will they all get out? I’ll tell you, on behalf of Project Dynamo, we’re donor funded. So a little plug for us, ProjectDynamo.org. Please help. We are 100% donor funded. As long as there are Americans or green card holders left behind and we are funded we will continue to bring them out ’til they’re all home. Will they tell all get out as long as we have funding? Yes, they will, I can make that commitment.

BUCK: And the Biden administration component of this, are they doing everything they can?

STERN: I think that until everyone’s home there’s always — there’s more to do. There just is. If the State Department did five flights today, I would say, “How come we didn’t do six?” But this is a very hard problem set. It really. It’s very difficult. There are so many pieces to it. You know, I’m reluctant to say it’s any one person’s fault or one person’s problem ’cause it really isn’t.

It isn’t. Were mistakes made? Definitely. Mistakes are always made. Were decisions made that shouldn’t have been made? Absolutely, for sure. Was this thing…? Could this have gone better than? It couldn’t have really gone any worse is what I would say. But, you know, are they doing all that they can do? We put a man on the Moon. We work see golf balls from outer space. We invented the internet. We are an incredible capable country.

In my mind, there’s no reason why a not-for-profit like mine is evacuating American citizens tonight. I have an 18-month-old little boy who has a U.S. of passport. His passport, I have it in my hands, says “We the People on it,” same as mine. I don’t understand why this kid has been trying to get out since August and we’re December and we’re having that conversation.

That was a hard pill for me to swallow as a patriot, as an American. It’s not political. It’s not political whatsoever. It’s just as an American, we don’t leave our people behind ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. It is beat into us in the military. And I’m looking at an 18-month-old little boy, and he needs me to get home. That’s very strange to me. Very strange.

BUCK: Bryan Stern, veteran, founder of Project Dynamo. Go support Project Dynamo, and, Bryan, thank you so much for being with us.

STERN: Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Thank you.