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KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, yes. And the big question for the interpreters is whether they will be able to survive in the time period between the U.S. leaving and the Afghan government taking over and beating back the Taliban, because their lives are in danger because they, essentially, worked with what the Taliban thinks is the enemy and they were disloyal to their country and their tribes in doing that. But unfortunately, the interpreter backlog in the United States for interpreters who served in Afghanistan even 10 years ago or at the beginning of the war, 20 years ago at this point, is years long, unfortunately. So, I think that moral imperative is absolutely there, but whether the United States can follow through on that, because it's not just interpreters who worked with U.S. forces. They have to have been loyal interpreters, and, of course, there has to be vetting of all those people as well. But in terms of the question about leaving Afghanistan, I think it's really important to point out that during the press conference today they made it very clear that although we are taking U.S. troops out of that country, we are still going to be paying, as American taxpayers, for Afghanistan. You talk to Secretary Bob Gates last night and he made that same point. He said when the Russians were propping up the Afghan government, they were successful. But as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed, the Taliban essentially gained a lot more control. So the United States taxpayer is still going to be in Afghanistan funding the Afghan government, and they are hoping that they can keep the Taliban at bay.
BAIER: Yes, that's always a big issue, too, when it gets to budget time about foreign aid and what that means and what the dollar amount should be. So this is one of those efforts. The interesting thing, and I used to cover the Pentagon. And when the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs went out there, it was every day when we were back there in the middle much the Afghan and Iraq wars. But this was asked to the defense secretary, what is your top priority? Take a listen.
LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our top priority is to defend this nation and to protect our interests. And today the most urgent challenge that we face is COVID-19. And so the department has stepped up to save American lives through vaccination.
BAIER: So, Amy, that's clearly a mandate that comes from the top in this White House.
WALTER: That is, yes. The priority right now is for eradicating the threat of COVID, but, obviously, in the next few months here as we get more and more people with their double vaccinations, the threat is going to lessen. That doesn't mean that other strains out there couldn't be problematic. But I think that the bottom line is the Biden administration has been very successful, at least voters see -- Americans see that he has been very successful, has high approval ratings on the issue of tackling the COVID crisis. And so keeping that front and center is certainly helpful.
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