troops on the ground, that the role for the u.s. military is to protect u.s. national security interests, and at this time they don't see a u.s. national security threat developing because of the situation that's currently unfolding in afghanistan. now, that could change down the road certainly, but they believe that this is now the role of the afghan people, of the afghan security forces, of the afghan government to step up, and show some leadership for the country to unite and that this is a situation for the afghan people to solve, not for the u.s. military. >> all right, shannon pettypiece getting us started right now in the 7:00 hour here in the east coast, from the white house. shannon, thank you. do want to bring in right now nbc news correspondent kelly cobiella who will be in afghanistan for us, and also with us is kevin barron, the executive editor of defense one. and kristen rous is a u.s. army veteran and founder of new york city veterans, welcome to both of you.