the president pulling out, the presidential time line of pulling out of afghanistan, but lately, it s been crickets. reporter: that s exactly right. you heard from our colleague andrea mitchell earlier in this hour saying that the u.s. does, in fact, plan to close its embassy in kabul. that, of course, will be a big topic on that 9:45 call this morning that speaker pelosi announced overnight for all house members on both sides of the aisle. you will remember that she originally intended to have a briefing on monday, august 23rd, when congress returns. but that will be happening still, but ahead of that will be this briefing this morning and it s the first time that members of congress will be able to hear from cabinet officials, like secretary of state tony blinken, secretary of defense lloyd austin, and joint chiefs of staff mark milley. they will be sure to have a lot of questions for them there. that will be an unclassified briefing. it will be held virtually. and like i mentioned
0 jaw-dropping developments. thank you, dan. appreciate it. we are nearing the top of the hour right here on msnbc as we continue to watch these live pictures coming from the city of kabul. a city that is right now encircled by the taliban. by some reports, the taliban have been spotted within the streets of the city. there are reports that negotiations are taking place within the presidential palace there in the capital city. it s not clear if ashraf ghani who is taking part of those negotiations. also, we got word on that power will be transferred to a third-party, a temporary third-party soon. and we also know from our courtney kube s reporting there is gunfire in the kabul region. it s not characteristic of an all-out offensive. reports are there will be a peaceful transition there of at least temporary power here. we do know that the u.s. is going to be sending another battalion there to get troops out of the embassy, to get people also safely to the airport and get them out o