Interview with Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) on Cancelled Secret Taliban Meeting at Camp David.
CABRERA: Last night at Dover Air Force Base, a somber reminder that U.S. lives are still at risk in Afghanistan amid these discussions of troop withdrawals and peace deals. This is the dignified transfer of the remains of Army Sergeant 1st Class Elis Barreto Ortiz. Sergeant Ortiz, a 34-year-old soldier from Puerto Rico, died Thursday when a Taliban car bomb exploded at a checkpoint in Kabul. He became the 16th U.S. combat fatality this year in Afghanistan. He leaves behind a wife, two sons and a daughter. Now the president cited Sergeant Ortiz's death in his decision to cancel his secret meeting with the Taliban. Those tweets by the president were the first inkling that most Americans had of the President Trump's intent to meet with Taliban leaders at Camp David. That includes Republican congressman and Air Force veteran Adam Kinzinger, who flew missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. And Congressman Kinzinger is here with us now. Welcome.</s>REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): Thanks.</s>CABRERA: You say you were sickened when you read the president's tweet last night. Explain why.</s>KINZINGER: You know, it's a couple of things. There's nothing wrong with negotiating. Every war in history ends in some kind of a negotiation. Where I've been very concerned in this process is the idea that the negotiation, you know, "success," quote-unquote, is simply having the Taliban talk to the Afghan government. There actually needs to be a peace deal between them that's enforceable. But I think what really is beyond that and really struck me in really disbelief is the idea that Taliban leaders, in the week of 9/11, but even beyond that, Taliban leaders were going to come to really the area in the United States, not too far from New York, Camp David, that has been a place of such wonderful things that have happened in the past. You know, negotiations between nation states can happen there, but a terrorist organization that doesn't recognize nation states, that kills innocent women and children, that denies women the right to really even be in the same room as their husbands, is just a minor part of the terrible things that they do. To have them at Camp David is totally unacceptable. The president did the right thing by walking away. I'm very concerned, though, that we were really close to having Taliban leaders there.</s>CABRERA: And to be clear, CNN's reporting is that the White House is still trying to find a date in time to perhaps have this kind of a negotiation in the future.</s>KINZINGER: Again, nothing wrong with a negotiation, but the president should not be negotiating with these really evil people. We can't forget what they did. We can't forget what they continue to do. And I think, you know, we're at a moment where Americans, they think about terrorism, but it doesn't seem like an imminent threat. And there's a reason for that. It's not because terrorists have gone away. It's not because their desires have gone away. But it's because we fight them over there now. We are sending our fierce U.S. military, these men and women that raise their right hand to protect and defend us, we're sending them over there to do the fighting there so we don't have to do them in the streets of America. I'd love if terrorism went away. I'd love if we could walk away from this fight. But we can't, though, because you may not be interested in war, but war may be interested in you. And that's the case when it comes to terrorism.</s>CABRERA: I mean, think about this, 16 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan so far in 2019. Even after the 15th death, the president was willing to bring in the Taliban for the first time ever to Camp David. On the 16th death, though, he's tweeting to tell us about this secret meeting no one knew about and drawing a line now? What do you make of that?</s>KINZINGER: You know, I don't know. I don't know if there's more to the story or not. Again, I think the president made the right decision absolutely by canceling them coming. They never should have been coming in the first place. But I think keep in mind this. You know, we're engaged in a war in Afghanistan. The president has said a number of times, it's almost like a peacekeeping operation. But this has prevented Afghanistan. I'd love to see them much further long. This has prevented them from becoming another safe haven for terrorism, the Taliban from resurging, from ISIS -- from even getting a stronger foothold there as well as al Qaeda. This is going to be a long generational fight. I wish it was a microwave war where we could be over in a week, but it's going to be generational. And when we forget that, we're only going to have to make sure then that the next generation's going to have to do the same fighting. Right now, this is the first war where a father and a son can be a veteran of the same theater. And if we pull out and watch that resurge, again, without a peace deal that's enforceable, it's only going to be the next generation having to do the fighting again.</s>ANA CABRERA, CNN NEWS HOST: As someone who served in Afghanistan yourself, how do you think the troops on the ground are feeling right now about these new developments?</s>KINZINGER: You know, I think, probably, a little confused there, but they're fierce people. They're going to go deal what they're asked to do. They'll leave if they're asked to leave. They'll stay and fight is they're asked to stay and fight. Nobody wants to be there. I don't know any member of the military that enjoys being in Afghanistan or Iraq for that matter. But they know what their nation calls them to do. We have a generation. Every civilization is a generation of heroes away from extinction. And this is our generation of heroes that are willing to do what the vast majority of Americans aren't, and God bless them for being willing to do it.</s>CABRERA: You've expressed skepticism in the past of negotiations with the Taliban, really, from the get-go. You're saying, you know, there are circumstances in which you would support those negotiations. But I just wonder, I mean, if it's -- if you can't trust the Taliban and you're expressing concern that, if the U.S. pulls out, that we're going to lead to a similar situation that we saw previously when the U.S. has pulled out early, I mean, how does the U.S. then get out of Afghanistan? What should be the goal? What would tell you there's enough stability to bring the troops home?</s>KINZINGER: You know, I mean, when you have to see it, you'll know. And the bottom line is this, I think you have to have a ceasefire that's lasting between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The Taliban have to agree that the Afghan government has a right to exist. And they can run maybe for political office in that future government, you know, as you see some cases where terrorist organizations become political forces. But to say, you know, that we're going to leave and that condition is just simply that the two are going to talk, Afghanistan and the Taliban government or the Taliban, are going to talk, is not going to be in any way enforceable, and they will resurge. And they've always had the saying, we've all heard it, where they say, America has the watches, but we have the time. The only way the United States will ever be defeated is by defeating our will. Because we have -- we win these fights. But if we defeat our will and we determine that it's time to just go away because we're tired, that generation after World War II was exhausted, but they stayed in Europe and ultimately defeated the Soviet Union. We can't act like we're tired right now. We have to continue to press this fight to victory.</s>CABRERA: Before I let you go, as we were discussing in our last segment, there's a new GOP primary challenger for Trump in 2020, Mark Sanford, former congressman from South Carolina. That makes three now. Are you OK with states like South Carolina, canceling their Republican primaries?</s>KINZINGER: No, you know, I know Mark Sanford well. I like him as a friend. Trump's going to win the primary. I think every state should have a primary. Let people have their voices heard. That's a very American thing. And in the party, if there's people that are -- want to vote against President Trump, it will be their opportunity. And then they'll all unite behind him in the general. But, yes, I think cancelling a primary, it just sends a bad message and it takes away people's right to be heard.</s>CABRERA: Does Trump have your vote in 2020?</s>KINZINGER: Yes, he will.</s>CABRERA: OK. Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thanks so much for being here.</s>KINZINGER: You bet. See you.</s>CABRERA: Coming up, the desperate effort to save hundreds of cats and dogs as Hurricane Dorian sent water pouring into a Bahamas animal shelter.