days i m jonathan lemire on this tuesday, august 17th. we ll start with the news. we begin with the chaotic scenes coming out of kabul s international airport where tens of thousands of afghans surrounded planes in an desperate attempt to escape taliban control. richard engel has the latest from kabul. reporter: tens of thousands of afghans swarmed into kabul airport, desperate to leave at any price. they burst through security. climbed over walls. and spilled onto the tarmac. searching for any airplane that would take them far away from afghanistan. away from the taliban. so many managed to cram into one plane, the pilot refused to take off. people on board refused to disembark. but it was across a barb wire divide where it turned really ugly. on the military side of the airport, american troops trying to evacuate u.s. embassy staff
for more than a decade. he believes it s time for the american presence to leave afghanistan. this is something he firmly believes in. he doesn t want another son or daughter american life lost over there. how it happened, how the evacuation went down, that s another matter but there are few people defending it. the president said yesterday i ll take criticism on this because it s part of his convictions. it is definitely just past the top of the hour on this tuesday, august 17th. and president biden addressed the nation for the first time since the taliban takeover of afghanistan, expressing surprise it happened so quickly, but defending his decision to end american involvement after two decades. nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander has more. reporter: rushing back to washington as images emerge of chaos in kabul. president biden defiant and without regret.
sustained military mission in afghanistan is over. we ll be joined this morning by a top voice at the defense department when pentagon spokesman john kirby joins us as chaos grips a country now ruled by the taliban. plus new developments in the fight against covid. the biden administration has decided that most americans should get a booster vaccination eight months after they received their second shot. we ll have the details on that just ahead. good morning, and welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, august 17th. and we re going to begin this morning with the chaotic scenes from kabul s international airport. with thousands of afghans surrounding planes in a desperate attempt to escape taliban control. richard engel has the latest from kabul. reporter: tens of thousands of afghans swarmed into kabul
safety and the latest numbers with all of that. stay with msnbc for the latest from the pentagon as it pertains to the ongoing crisis in afghanistan. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up coverage right now. hi there, i am stephanie ruhle. it is tuesday, august 17th. we start this morning with fast moving developments out of afghanistan and the ripple effects across the world. any minute, we expect the secretary general of nato to address the situation from brussels. european union officials will have an emergency meeting in about an hour. all of this coming as crowds are gathering once again at the airport in kabul. these are new pictures from this morning, showing people being held behind barbed wire outside the airport. so far, we are not seeing the chaotic scenes we saw yesterday,
and one that was actually carried out with remarkable success. a few months after that we began to pivot to invading iraq and have been distracted and sort of misled for most of the 19 years ever since. garrett, i know that you have been watching this for the 19 years since and i appreciate you being with us today. thank you. thanks so much for having me. new day continues right now. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. it is tuesday, august 17th, and we do have some breaking news in the fight against covid. the biden administration finalizing a booster plan for most americans. anyone who received the pfizer or the moderna vaccine will be able to get a third dose of the same vaccine eight months after they have been fully vaccinated, and these shots could start rolling out next month after the vaccines are fully approved by the fda.