MINNEAPOLIS — We can tell you and show you video of it, but we have no idea what it must feel like for the Afghan people to literally be running for their lives to get to the airport.
Nor do most of us know what it feels like to have been a U.S. military member who served there, trying to build a future for that country, to see what it is becoming again.
"Going into Afghanistan, I think at the time was right," retired Marine Corps Capt. Paul Davis said. "Withdrawing, that's terribly complex. The way we are withdrawing, I think, has been not properly done."
Davis served with the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. When asked how he was feeling watching the chaos unfold he said, "Emotions are tricky things, right? Different for everyone. I guess for me, it really comes down to two emotions. The first is sadness. It's heartbreaking to see just how desperate the Afghan people are. Desperate for some sort of help -- just anything to help them with the tyrannical oppressive rule of the Taliban. And the second part is frustration that the country I love so much, that I have fought for, at least from all appearances, is not living up to its full potential right now."
"Complex" is the word Capt. Davis kept used to describe all things Afghanistan. But he also wants Americans to know something important about the Taliban that could help us begin to understand how this could have happened after 20 years.
"There is an old saying that goes, that the Taliban have adopted that says, 'You may have the clocks but we have the time.' I think what they mean by that is if it takes an extra 10 years, or two generations, or five generations, it doesn't matter because we are going to be here and outlast anyone and everyone who comes in and tries to help, invade -- whatever it may be," Davis said.
Davis says fear itself is one of the driving factors pushing Afghan people to risk their lives in order to flee.
"I would say it is living every second of your life in fear. For anyone who hasn't done that, myself included, try to think of a situation where you wake up scared, you go to sleep scared, every moment is filled with dread," Davis said.
When asked if Capt. Davis would go back and do it all again?
"Absolutely, I would do it again. I wish I could do it again right now," Davis said. "So I feel like I could help; so I could actually help."
Davis isn't one to lay blame in this moment, but he does have a strong opinion that comes from a core Marine Corps value: Don't leave anyone behind.
"The military should have been the last to leave. Once that decision has been made, we should have been the last to leave. 'Cause like you said, we have the clocks and they are looking out the windows. They have the time," Davis said.
Capt. Davis isn't doing nothing. He and many service members in the U.S. are working to get families who helped them -- Afghan families -- out of there.
Last night, he got six people to the airport, but he hasn't heard what happened to them since.