CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Adam Kinzinger

Interview

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COOPER: All right, Kaitlan, we'll check back with you shortly. Joining me now is Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger who served as an Air Force pilot in Afghanistan. Congressman, your thoughts on what we're seeing so far?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Well, it's obviously awful. We were in a briefing in Congress a couple days ago. And we were warned of this exact threat. It was actually probably the only time I've had a briefing where there was such specific information. So obviously, we had it from good sources.

But look, the reality is, I think this needs to be a reminder to Americans, that when it comes to war, it's not just one side that can decide if they want that war to end, one person, one side can determine they want it to continue. And they get a vote on that. And as we're getting ready to leave, as we had a day certain to be out, we get hit by ISIS.

And by the way, anybody that believes the Taliban is now some magical new governance solution that actually is our bulwark against ISIS. That's not true. They -- this is in their DNA, even in their fervent religious belief. So look, every time every day a president has to make decisions, and sometimes those decisions lead to harder decisions. And I think the decision to leave Afghanistan felt easy. Now it's leaving to this hard decision of what do we do with those that we have to evacuate in this environment?

COOPER: Obviously, there's a lot, you probably can't say about the briefing you received. Are you confident that this was an ISIS-K attack?

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, I guess I can't say I'm confident that it was ISIS at this moment, it seems like that's the case. And I can't go into a lot of what we were briefed, but this seems to comport with what the warning was. But I mean, this is a big concern, because again, keep in mind, ISIS, the Haqqani Network, which is now we're going to be part of the governing coalition of the Taliban, all of these folks have made it clear that they want to do large scale attacks on civilians and everything else.

And now, as we exit Afghanistan, we're losing our ability to see into that decision matrix. So I would imagine that this warning that came about ISIS in the attack will probably not have that same stream of information available when we're completely out of Afghanistan. COOPER: The President had promised a quote, swift and forceful response, end quote, to any attack on U.S. forces. It's one thing to say that it's another thing to actually make that happen.

KINZINGER: So this is that, you know, escalating series of decisions that a President has to make. That's not a -- there's no good answer to this. But I think if the President does not respond where he can, if the President does not follow through on the commitment, even though this is going to slow up the evacuation to get every American out, and the promises we have made to our Afghan partners, the view of us not responding after this attack, and then fleeing from the Kabul airport, I think will do a lot to embolden those that now have a easy way to go out and recruit other radicals to fight the United States of America and our partners.

And this is, again, Anderson, like, I wish I could be Rand Paul, and come on T.V. and talk about endless wars and make you feel tired and tell you that America is doing all this stuff that isn't worth it. But this is reality confronted in the face when America makes easier choices, and decides we're just going to leave. The fact is there are people that no matter how much we want to go home. They want to kill us and we either fight them there or we'll fight them here.

COOPER: I just received something while you were talking that according to a senior U.S. official and another source briefed on initial assessments, U.S. officials say they believe ISIS-K was likely behind the attack are still working to confirm the group's involvement. What do you think U.S. options are? I mean, there are -- is certainly one option is continuing with the evac -- the withdrawal of trying to get, you know, more U.S. troops out basically trying to get out of Afghanistan, you know, as soon as U.S. forces can. How did they I mean, if they choose to continue this and continue evacuations, how did they reach out to Americans and get Americans to the airport, I assume gathering outside the gate for Americans that's not an option.

[12:55:09]

KINZINGER: Yes. I mean, it's going to be, you know, look, here's the reality where we're at maybe there's moments when they can get them through the gate when they know it's secure. Maybe it's going to be going outside the gate to get Americans. But the Taliban have acted like they're going to secure the perimeter, they obviously did not.

So I think there is a case for the United States to make that we are not leaving to all Americans and all the Afghans that have -- that are SIV's that we've promised are safe, and we will go outside of the gate to get them if necessary. Look, it's going to be dangerous. It's -- this is, again, every decision leads to other decisions. This is a tough one. But I think the best way to push back initially, obviously, if we know where ISIS assets are in the region, let's destroy them and kill those people.

Secondarily, though, if we leave now without following through on our mission and our commitment to Americans and our Afghan partners, that will actually do more damage than any suicide bomb did today. So I think double down in on our commitment to bringing those partners home, I think is going to be especially important, and I would encourage the administration then to double down their efforts to have intelligence in place so that we know these threats in Afghanistan in the future because we are significantly losing a line of sight into these terrorist groups.

COOPER: Congressman Kinzinger, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

KINZINGER: You bet.

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