Another 1,000 troops on the way bringing the total to 7,000 troops to aid in the Nailbiting Escape that President Biden himself dismissed just a month ago. Is the Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan now inevitable . No. It is not. Why . Because you have the afghan troops that have 300,000 well equipped as well equipped as any army in the world, and an Air Force against Something like 75,000 taliban. It is not inevitable. Mr. President , Some vietnamese veterans see the echos of their withdrawal in afghanistan and do you see any parallels between this withdrawal and what happened in vietnam with Some people feeling none whatSoever. Zero. You see entire brigades breaking through the gates of the embassy and six if i am not mistaken, and the taliban is not the north vietnamese army, and they are not remotely comparable in terms of capability, and there is no circumstance to see people lift lifted off of the roof of afghanistan and it is not at all comparable. And we have not heard from President Biden in days, and the only image of him is this one released by the White House with him at Camp David on a secure conference call. Chief correspondent Richard Engel is on the ground at kabul monitoring the up to the minute updates, and what can you tell us . Geoff, many are telling us from kabul and im not far from the International Airport of the scenes of saigon when people were clutching to the aircraft, and both civilian aircraft because afghans stormed into the airport and rushed into the Airport And Destination did not matter, but leaving this country and leaving the taliban far behind, and when those planes could not Take Off or wouldnt Take Off, Some of them were So crowded with people lying on the floor, and lying on the seats, refusing to disembark that the pilots would not Take Off, and when those planes stayed on the ground, the afghans rushed across from the civilian side of the airport to the military side of the airport and that is where the u. S. Has been trying to carry out its evacuation of the diplomatic staff, and to carry that to oversee the evacuation, the u. S. Has brought in thousands of troops and they are bringing in thousands more troops to secure the airport while the evacuation takes place. When those afghans stormed on to the military side of the airport, you saw Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division suddenly trying to do crowd control, and firing into the air and at least on one occasion and according to the u. S. Military and pentagon firing an killing two armed afghans. So you had the Evacuation Security Force doing crowd control, Crowd Disbursal killing two afghans as the evacuation was supposed to Beic Taing place. This was a tragic day for afghanistan and the image of the united states. It shows that after 20 years of presence in this country, the united states has left behind a legacy, left behind a nation that people in this city are too frightened to live in, and they feel that the u. S. Pulled the rug out from underneath them, because what is lost in all of this conversation is that for the last several years, a Status Quo had been working out. The taliban was losing. The country was relatively stable. No american troops had been killed here for nearly two years. Then the u. S. , President Biden decided to carry out this deal signed by President Trump, and evacuate, and pull the bandaid off immediately, and the morale of the Afghan Army Collapsed and the taliban rapidly took over, and now we are in the situation where it took off right now. And the taliban are enjoying this. They believe it is a victory for them, and it is hard to see it as any other way. And they like seeing the u. S. Squirm. They like that the u. S. Is struggling now, and the taliban were able to slow down this evacuation by one, allowing all of the people to rush on to the tarmac, and two, they are taking potshots at american planes all day which is slowing down the process. So withdrawal at the pace that the taliban wants because it is a narrative they like. They like that the u. S. Has been in their mind defeated and that these horrible images are seen all around the world. Richard engel In Kabul for us. Richard, stay safe. Adding to the conversation, the u. S. Correspondent Courtney Kube and Matt Zeller Analyst and host of the Allies Podcast and embedded with the u. S. Security forces and Bill Rosio editor of the Defense Of The War and we dont know what the president is going to say next hour, but we expect him to be unapologetic about the withdrawal, but he has to explain how things went So wrong So quickly. Yes, we are thinking that the president s speech is going to be a recap in the expansion of what the Secretary Of State said on Meet The Press and other Shows Yesterday and what is the president doing here is intended to save american lives and it remains in their view the only option. Their defense of this entire operation is that if the Afghan Military could not take control of the country that another six months or five years down the road, they wouldnt have been able to do it either. So why risk the lives of the american servicemen and women in the country in that space of time and they needed to come out now. There is alSo expect to be a component of the president s address that blames his predecesSor for striking what this administration calls a bad and unworkable deal that tied their hands and in their defense, and their explanation is that it left them no option other than to continue the withdrawal, because again leaving american forces in place any time after the deadline that President Trump had set would have put the troops in danger. Bill, i want to play for you what Jake Sullivan the national Security Adviser said when he was asked by Savannah Guthrie on Today Show the opening remarks on the montage opening the show. That is the critical question facing the president , why did he assume that there would be this will to fight . Why was he saying or regaling the reporters of how well equipped and better equipped the afghan forces are if they had no will to fight. Shouldnt we have known that . What the president kept saying over and over again is that it is not inevitable that kabul would fall, and it is not inevitable, because there was the capacity to Stand Up and resist, and the capacity did not happen. The president had bad choices, and the choice he made which is to bring the u. S. Forces home to get us out of the Civil War and to get the diplomats out of the embassy, and to ultimately ask the afghans to Stand Up to fight for themselves, it is heartbreaking to see what is happening In Kabul, but the president had to make the best possible decision he could and he stands by that decision. Bill, what is your assessment of the official line of the White House, and why was the collapse of afghanistan in the Sort of the swift resurgence of the taliban So quick . What we are looking at is a failure of Leadership And Collapse of intelligence. What biden said is that he and the officials were confident of the capacity of the afghan forces, but what they failed to see is that the taliban had hallowed out the afghan forces even before this offensive began. The taliban has been using rural Counter Strategy to take the fight to afghan forces, and they have weakened them significantly, and this is prior to the big announcement of the withdrawal, and then prior to the collapse, there was a period of 3 1 2 months of where they were taking over district after district, and the intelligence did not recognize many things, and this is for the military and the Intelligence Community and for the biden administration as well. They did not understand what was in place in afghanistan and how the Security Forces were organized, what their fighting capabilities were, and when the Afghan Military was organized, it was organized in a western style, and it needed to be in this an afghan style and not western style, and we looked at the fighting spirit, and we wildly underestimated the taliban strength. He said 75,000 taliban fighters, and No One really believes that this point in time that Number Shouldnt and everyone believes that number should be doubled or tripled after that massive offensive that has taken place all across afghanistan. And matt zeller, you appeared on this program and talked about how your own life was saved by an afghan interpreter when you were serving in afghanistan and you called on the biden administration to airlift out the interpreters and their families out, and those words were tragically prescient, and what now do you feel about the families there . They feel abSolutely betrayed. They should. They are left there to die. I cant believe that Jake Sullivan has a job. I dont care if he had bad choices. The human rights first, and The Americans for veteran ideals, and the truman project, and the refugees project, and the iraq veterans of america, and the iva, and we all told them as far back as april that they needed to start evacuating the afghan allies when we had troops and they had not collapsed to the and the Secretary Of State goes on tv and says this is not a new saigon, and he is right, it is worse. It is worse than saigon, because in saigon we got 130,000 people out in a week. We have been trying to conduct this in better part of a month, and we have barely moved 125 people. They need to take full responsibility of the failure to evacuate the wartime allies and they have had more than enough time, and they were warned it is going to happen, and this failure is as much of our as it is the taliban victory. Courtney, is the pentagon saying anything about the plight of the afghan civilians especially the combat allies as matt points out . What is the latest on the Military Operation at the airport there . At one Point Today the flights were stopped and i understand they have resumed and bring us up to speed . That is right. There is a lot of confusion at the airport. The civilian side has been closed for more than 24 hours now, and the military side, it is candidly back and forth. It was closed for a number of hours, and the Defense Officials are telling us that it has reopened but the flights have not resumed yet, So we dont know what that means. I can tell you that what it means for all of the thousands of the people there at the airport, people are not coming in or leaving from the military side at this point, geoff. So Sort of the Status Update where we are. The President And Secretary austin have now authorized an additional battalion of 82nd airborne Soldiers to go into kabul here. And So for perspective, when they announced that they would send more troops into kabul, it was three a battalions, and 3,000 troops and an additional Combat Team made of up 3,000 troops to go to kuwait as a reaction force, and if the situation deteriorated these troops would go in, but in the interim several days now all three battalions of the Combat Team have been diverted from kuwait and heading directly on the kabul. It gives you a sense of the Security Situation on the ground, only about 3,000 total troops are there right now just under actually for this evacuation process. Now, as of late yesterday, we were told that there were 500 people who had been taken out as part of the mission. It is only 100 or more So in the past 12plus hours. So, you know, matt is abSolutely right in that this is moving very slowly and the Defense Officials that i am speaking to are very frustrated. A big part of the reaSon that the flights are not coming in or leaving is that Security Situation at the airport. The video and the photos that we have been seeing of civilians storming planes. Well, it is just not safe. So the u. S. Military about six hours ago now, they undertook an effort to get the civilians into a safe place off of the runways to resume the flights, but at this hour, they are working to get the flights moving and what is important the work out is that the way it is working is that the Military Aircraft are coming in and generally full of Soldiers, marines, the troops who are coming in as part of the evacuation effort, and the goal is to fill them up with people who are there waiting to get out of the country, So that it is on both sides right now, there is this bottleneck of the troops not coming in, and the civilians are not leaving, geoff. Matt and bill, as we are looking ahead to the president s scheduled remarks next hour and i have talked to the u. S. Officials who said that President Biden was boxed in, and any way you cut it, we were headed for the messy outcome, and that the taliban was not negotiating in good faith, and they were using talks with the Trump Administration to negotiate the exit, and if they were remaining they would be targeted by the taliban and much the same thing that anne pointed out. What is your assessment . Because President Biden is going to tick through that when he addresses the nation, and what is your prebutal to that assessment, and starting with you, bill . Well, he was not boxed in. He had a decision to make, and he could have discarded that deal with trump. This is no this is not an agreement, a treaty signed by the senate, and he could have discarded that just like he is going to discard what was done on iran. So his decision, and he has to own the decision, and the reality is, and it is correct. The taliban always were not negotiating in good faith, and if they were negotiating in bad faith, and that deal with the Trump Administration was horrible, and it was used to get the u. S. Troops to leave. Our leaders have not understood the nature of the enemy. These are all of the problems, but when you are looking at what is happening at the airport, that is afghanistan writ large. The closing of bagram never should have happened. Because anybody who has been to bagram, they know that airport is in a bowl inside of the city, and it was entirely predictable to me that as Soon as the taliban, and as Soon as this threat came that the airport would have been flooded. If i would have been given a lieutenant to do this, he would have told me that i am crazy, and here you have to centcom commander and the joint Chief Of Staff to order the closure of bagram and letting this evacuation happen from there, and they need to be accountable for their failures. This administration needs to hold itself to accountable for its failures, and look at all of the top leadership positions and national security and people who have advised this failed effort in afghanistan, and they need to be an accounting. Final word to you, matt zeller. He is right. There needs to be a reckoning. The republicans went crazy over benghazi, and think of the people who lost afghanistan to the taliban. Be clear, this is not the taliban of the 90s, but this is taliban 2. 0, and now they have more helicopters that on the nation of australia and one of the largest militaries with armed drones and pilots, and if you dont think they are going to not welcome back the Al Qaeda friends, you are wrong. This is a disaster of Epic Proportions that is going to be ramifications of years and all that matters is to save the people we made promises to. If anybody is watching, tell him this, order the military to take complete control of the airport In Kabul, and the roads to it. We have people who cannot run through the airports and the Biometrics Database and they are identifying the people who used to work with us, and killing them. If we dont get them out, they will die. So we have a beachhead and take as long as it takes to get every single afghan that we made a promise to out, and we will never have an opportunity to do this again. Matt zeller, and all of my guest, thank you. After a generation of women, they fear for their lives. And now, in haiti, a tropical storm could add more danger for a country deep in crisis. No vaccine . No service. A number of cities are turning to Vaccine Mandates as the covid crisis surges. Stay with us. Out of convenience, or necessity. We can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. With app, cloud and anywhere workspace Solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. Faster. Vmware. Welcome change. And there you have it woah. Wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. Wow. Big deal . We get unlimited for just 30 bucks. Sweet, i get that too and mine has 5g included. Thats cool, but ours save us serious clamaroonies. Relax people, my wireless is crushing it. Thats because you all have Xfinity Mobile with your internet. Its wireless So good, it keeps one upping itself. Rescuers are racing against the clock in haiti as a tropical Storm Search efforts resume there. More than 1,200 people are confirmed dead and hundreds more are missing. Over the weekend signs of hope as babies and children were pulled alive from the rubble. Look at that. Gabe gutierrez has the latest from haiti. Reporter the u. S. Coast guard is looking to load up perSonnel and medical supplies to the hardest Hit Parts of the country. It is utter devastation in areas like Le Caye in the areas like the portauprince where that magnitude was 7. 0, but this one over the weekend was 7. 2, and actually more powerful, but because it struck in a more rural region the Death Toll obviously has not been as high as that devastating earthquake in 2010 that killed an estimated quarter million people. The Death Toll here is still rising. The haitian government says that thousands of people have been injure and there is an international effort under way. The Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency, and concerns about the tropical Depression Grace which is expected to bring torrential rain, and potentially more mudslides further complicating the Search And Rescue efforts. Again, here in portauprince, the Coast Guard is on the ground expected to continue the Rescue Efforts here in the hardest Hit Regions in the Southwestern parts of the country. Back to you. Crisis upon crisis there in haiti. Joining us from haiti is Kara Buck for Mercy Corps of haiti, and you were there in 2010 with that earthquake and tell us what it felt. Yes, it jolted me out of bed and i was reading. I jumped out of bed and felt the Ground Swaying like it was on water. So it was incredibly powerful, and you could just imagine that i am 100 miles away from the epicenter, and you can imagine what the team there was experiencing. We heard from Gabe Gutierrez about the dire humanitarian crisis there, and how is this storm affecting the Search And Relief efforts . Sure. So tropical Depression Grace is set to hit the Epicenter Region here in haiti. You know, no matter what amount of rainfall or winds, et cetera, this is going to make the response even that much more difficult. So, you know, Something that we are anticipating, you know, mudslides, potential blockages of the roads and the increasing need for shelter for these individuals and communities that have lost their homes. I was going to ask you that, what do the people of haiti need most right now . It Sounds like all of the above. All of the above. You know, the basic needs in a situation like this, clean water, food to eat, and we are assessing the health of the markets at the moment, and are things available in the shops, and we did hear of markets being destroyed by damages from the earthquake, and So we are really trying to figure out what those needs are and how to get, and how to get those to them as quickly as possible. What kind of added challenges have you and your team faced given the fact that haiti has a government in chaos right now after the assassination of the president . Certainly, if you are looking at the past three months, the president ial assassination, and we are seeing the spikes in the Delta Variant, and you know, for covid, and that is all in addition to the underlying food insecurity, poverty, hunger, violence, et cetera. Add a tropical storm on top of that, and it is a challenging context, and Mercy Core is doing what it can to respond as quickly as possible. Cara buck, thank you for your time this afternoon and we send our abSolute best to the people of haiti. Now we go to New Orleans as a citywide mandate requires proof of vaccination for any active Tin Doors including bars, gyms and casinos and they are afghanistans most atrisk population, but with the country falling to the taliban, what does the future hold for afghan women . Did you know faded, dingy, and rough fabrics are often caused by layers of residue trapped inside . Things like hard water metals, odors, and oils. Try 9 Elements Laundry Detergent and purifying Softener. Its vinegar powered clean is like detoxifying your clothes. And its never made with more than 9 ingredients. Try 9 elements. More than a clean, a cleanse. At usaa, weve been called too exclusive. Because we only serve those who honorably served. 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With our affordable care model, you can get meds prescribed and delivered. And talk with a licensed therapist on your own time. With cerebral, everyone gets a care team. Get your first month for just 30 at getcerebral. Com. New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise in all 50 states with the highly contagious Delta Variant spreading fast, but the surge remains most concentrated across the Southern states where there are lower rates of vaccination. In louisiana, the Infection Rate is the worst it has ever been, and the governor says that the Health Care System is rapidly nearing a major failure. Today, the city of New Orleans is implementing a new rule for restaurants and Sporting Events and concerts and people must show proof of vaccination or negative Covid Test to get inside. Joining us now is Katie Beck in New Orleans and dr. Alicia hart who is a surgeon at Heart Baptist Hospital in san antonio, texas. And tell us how they plan to enforce it. Geoff, it is interesting to be here to witness this new normal in New Orleans. Im basically in the French Quarter watching as people are going to the doors of bars with and restaurants and asked for the proof of vaccination or a negative Covid Test that is no more than 72 hours old. So far, it is all compliance from the folks, and most of them have been aware that the mandate was coming, So there is little agitation among the People Today So far, but the Business Owners say it is a way to keep the light on. It is of course, another pandemic staffing hurdle, they will have to deal with who is responsible for checking the Vaccination Mandates and things to decide in coming weeks. Some of the managers are choosing to stand at the door this week and next to see what they are greeted with and what bugs they may incur in this program. But as for now, they are saying that this is a way to keep the businesses open and functioning, and in a dire situation as the covid cases are surging across the united states and here in New Orleans. So we spoke to the General Manager of brennans, which is an iconic restaurant here in New Orleans open for 75 years, and this is what he had to say about the mandate. Reporter if you had a choice of closing down again or putting a Vaccine Mandate in place. Vaccine mandate. That didnt take long. Vaccine mandate. Because it is heartbreaking to see the people who live here in New Orleans and brennans is a huge part of their life or people who travel to New Orleans and not enjoy it. Brennans is a Bucket List Restaurant for a lot of people, and not only in the country, but around the world, and So to not be able to make bananas foster for that guest and not welcome them to breakfast at brennans is heartbreaking, and i would do anything to prevent a shutdown. Now we did encounter Some tourists caught by surprise with the mandate. They were here on vacation from arizona and they did not realize that being unvaccinated they would have to have this proof to get into the restaurants and the bars. They said they have to eat outdoors for the remainder of the trip, but for everyone else we have seen today, compliant and aggreebl with the new rule. I should note that this is not going to be the only place where similar rules are in place. And major cities like New York and l. A. And San Francisco are all considering the similar measures in the near future. And dr. Hart where catie is, and where you are, Some of the highest rates of vaccination and, you have just wrapped up the shift today, and what are you seeing in your Hospital Today . What did you see in the hospital . The problem is across the board and across our state is lack of availability of beds and not having Room Or Staff to take care of the patients. It is increasing volume. It is more pediatric cases. Definitely the Patient Population is younger than the first rounds of covid that we saw. We are seeing the patients in the 20s and 30s and 40s and very sick. And these people are requiring a lot of reSources. They are going to have to be in the hospital for extended period of time, and require a lot of Nursing Care and medications. Yeah, and what is different about this surge, as you well know is that this time, it is entirely preventable, and how are you balancing the fatigue, and the patient care, and any frustrations that folks may have, and the Health Care providers may have for those folks who are refusing to get vaccinate and showing up at your hospital sick. It is frustrating and i asked a patient today, if you could tell the world what is going on, and he said, get the vaccine, and hed like to go home to his newborn. So, it is really hard. It is hard to maintain compassion when the doctors have been saying, and the nurses have been saying and we feel like we have been screaming for a year and a half, and theres great evidence now of the safety of the vaccines and the efficacy of these vaccines. I encourage the patients and everyone in communities where theres elevated numbers and even if you are vaccinated, i would still wear a mask. What is your message to the states elected political leadership who have staked out positions on the masks that are political positions . Science and diseases are not political. I would beg them to work with us and do whatever we can to give us a shot to take a deep breath, to recover from this surge and to prevent the surge from getting worse. Just work with us, and try to help us out. Let us kind of dig out from where we are at right now, and So we can fully give ourselves back as we face new challenges in what we do everyday. Yeah. You all certainly need a break. Alicia hart there in san antonio, and thank you for what you are doing, and catie beck, thank you for your reporting. Next hour, we will go to the president who is going to speak to the nation and the world about the escalating situation in afghanistan, and the fears that afghan women and girls are now having for a future under the taliban rule. Women in afghanistan are the most at or atrisk in the country and after becoming the most Power Nfl the last 20 years. Fl the last 20 years. Thats why i started medhaul. Citi launched the Impact Fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, So i can realize my vision and give everything ive got to my company, and my community. I got you. For the love of people. For the love of community. For the love of progress. Citi. It takes a certain kind of perSon to change the world. My greatgreatgrandmother, my greatgrandfather, greatgreatgrandfather was that kind of perSon. He looked after his community. She built an empire. 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Skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. Nothing is everything. Now is the time to ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. General petraeus, let me ask by asking you point blank, did the u. S. Just lose the War In Afghanistan . Well, the outcome is catastrophic and it is heartbreaking and tragic. I do believe there were alternate options, and i counseled those for years, but we are where we are now, and at this moment in time, it is to realize that there are many that we have So far left behind, and we must do everything that we can with all of the reSources available to us to ensure that we meet the moral obligations to them. That is nbcs Lester Holt speaking with general David Petraeus about the turmoil in afghanistan, and you see more with the former Cia Director this evening on nbc nightly news. Now, we will be hearing from President Biden in the next hour about afghanistan and the president cut his time at Camp David short and returning to the White House earlier this afternoon. Joining me now are our nbc digital white House Reporter shannon pettypiece, and white House Reporter Eugene Daniels. Good to have you both with us. Shannon, i wanted to ask you Something that popped into the inboxes, we have this new Speaking Point circulated from Speaker Pelosi and among the Talking Points, the administration knew that there was a possibility that kabul would fall to the taliban and not inevidentability, but possibility. So that is in line with what we will be hearing . Yes, it is in line for what we have been hearing from officials in the last 24 to 48 hour, but they dont get to the Core Criticism that we are hearing not just from the republicans, but from the democrats in washington, from former Obama Administration officials like that clip that you just played from general petraeus, and why these final days have been handled So poorly. In the Talking Points that we have heard from Administration Officials talking about how there was a plan, and they were Contingency Plans in place, and they knew it was a possibility, and the criticism has been if that is the case, why are American Embassy workers still trapped In Kabul at the airport. If that is the case, why is the Airport Overrun with afghans clinging to the airplane as it is taking off . If that is the case, why there are thousands of afghans trying to apply for the special visas who have indeed worked to assist the u. S. Efforts who now have No Path Out of the country, because the commercial side of the airport is controlled by the taliban . That is the criticism that the Talking Points dont respond to. And now, we will be obviously listening to see whether the president tackles that criticism, and So far, what we have heard from him, and the Statement Put out saturday was him defending the decision to pull out troops. Saying that whether this is one year or five more years with the u. S. Presence in afghanistan, it was not going to Solve the problem that there was not a longterm Solution'>Military Solution here, and essentially placing the blame on the afghan people for not rising up and fighting and uniting and showing the leadership, and that is what we have previously heard. So i will be listening to see if there is a change in the messaging to defend the strategy of the last few days as well as another thing that is missing which is really a message to the afghan people, and not just those who are eligible for the special visa, but those stuck in the country with the No Path Out, and what is Americas Message to them at this point . Yeah. Eugene, i was talking to an Administration Official this morning who made the point that the biden administration doesnt get credit for the disaster that they might have avoided that if the troops remained in the country and the taliban engaged with them, yo could have the u. S. Involved in a potential new Civil War with the u. S. Taking combat casualty, and then he would be held to account for that . No, abSolutely, right. So this is one of the things that they were damned if they did, and damned if they didnt. So this is one of the things that the officials have been telling reporters for days or weeks, and shannon is right that all of the things that we need to hear from the White House is why the last few days have been So bad. Right. And what the president is going to be probably going to give us insight into over the next hour or So is what they think could have happened if we stayed, and exactly what you just said, but not just like the afghan people, but the military men and women who fought over there for the last 20 years. Right. I talked to my dad when i was in High School and he was deployed to afghanistan, and he and his friends are wondering the same thing, what is the time spent over there for if we left like this, and they have to watch as planes are taking American Ps Out Have Afghans holding on to the plane as they leave. All of this chaos that is happening. And the question that the White House has not answered yet, and we will see if the president gets it to, why is this such a mess and continued to be and who is to blame for that . Because Someone, Somewhere is to blame for all of that, and the finger pointing, and you know, usually does happen in instances like these, but the president , the buck is going to stop with him, but this is a perSon who is alSo really stubborn. And President Biden has for years wanted to get out of afghanistan, So we are likely to not see any apology for the fact that they left. It is the question of the strategy and why did it happen this way though. And So there is degree to which President Bidens mind was made up about this back when he was Vice President because he had strong views against the prolonged engagement in afghanistan and the White House alSo wanted the symbolism of having the u. S. Troops home to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of september 11th, So there is all of that. Shannon pettypiece and Eugene Daniels, forgive me, Eugene Daniels and i know you well, but i blanked on the last name. I appreciate both of you. The women of afghanistan now fear the taliban takeover of that country, and already the women in taliban territories are living like priSoners in their own homes. Kelly cobiella has the story. Doctor. Dentist. Doctor. For them going to school is normal. You have many students. 2,402 students. Reporter and So is coping from the constant threat of men who dont want them to learn. They say you might die, but i keep the girls motivated to study, i tell them. Under the taliban, the women and girls were banned from work and education, and shrouded and kept out of public life. But for 20 years now, they have lived out in the open, and many of them free to make their own choices. They have seen huge gains in education, equal rights, politics and simple things like shopping alone. All now at risk as the country could plunge back into the darkness of the taliban rule. Politician and activist, she grew up under the Taliban And Envoy to the stalled Peace Talks and survived two assassination attacks, and it is her fear for the next generation of girls that she cannot bear. The women and girls are the most at risk in the country and those upset with the women becoming powerful in the last 20 years. I dont know whose fault this is the principal tells me, this is the tragedy of afghanistan. This woman was 19 when the taliban took over, and she fled to afghanistan, and her daughter is 19 now. Reporter would you leave the country again . It is like you cannot breathe. It is like it. It reporter but there is Some hope, these women say. In a younger generation not willing to give up what theyve gained. Kelly cobiella, nbc news, kabul. Our thanks to kelly for that report. Next, water emergency. The federal government execed to declare the Firstever Water Shortage at the nations biggest reservoir and could trigger Water Restrictions all across the west. Stay with us. With rybelsus®. You are my sunshine my only sunshine. Rybelsus® works differently than any other Diabetes Pill to lower Blood Sugar in all 3 of these ways. Increases insulin when you need it. Decreases sugar. And slows food. The majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their Blood Sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. People taking rybelsus® lost up to 8 pounds. Rybelsus® isnt for peopl with type 1 diabetes. Dont take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple Endocrin Neoplasia Syndrome type 2 or if allergic to it. Stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a Lump Or Swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. Serious Side Effects may include pancreatitis. 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Well keep you updated on both storms. A drought out west, the federal government is expected to declare the first ever tier 1 Water Shortage at lake mead, the nations largest reservoir triggering federal Water Restrictions across the west where we find Josh Letterman in boulder city, nevada. What does this Designation Mean and what states could see the water supplies affected . Reporter geoff, The Hill changes colors because thats the old Water Line and this used to be under water, used to be lake mead. Ill show you where it sits now. Over the last 20 years or So the lake dropped about 130 feet in elevation. Due to growing drought that scientists say is a combination of both natural Weather Patterns and human caused Climate Change and in may that Water Level hit below 1,075 feet which set off this Firstever Water Shortage declaration going to be issued in the next couple of hours by the federal government and means now the Water Levels below 40 prts and now we will have to see Water Cuts hitting multiple states starting with arizona, nevada and parts of mexico. Parts of 40 Million people that rely on water from the Colorado River Basin and now a scramble to try to prepare for the cuts. I spoke with the Southern n invest Water Authority who told me this that theyre wor ribbed about in the years ahead. 21st Century has a lot less water for anybody to share than the 20th century did. Whats incumbent i dont know the region is a plan for that worstcase scenario. We have planned for the very bad. We have not planned for the abSolute worst. Reporter the worst of the cuts are going to hit in arizona where they lose about 8 of the tollal Water Supply in the state come January 1st focused mostly on agriculture, farmers to find water elsewhere but if the draught gets worse as predicted to we could see tier 2 and 3 Water Cuts. Geoff . That lake, josh, or the lack of it is another Warning Sign act the effects of Climate Change. Thank you for that reporting. Reporter this is climate Change Right here. AbSolutely. Ayman picks up the next hour of msnbc reports. Well, he may have friends, but he rides alone. Thats jeremy, right there were literally riding together. He gets touchy when you talk about his lack of friends. Can you help me out here . No matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at 79 a year. Well, were new friends. To be fair. Eh, still. Im still wowed by whats next. Even with higher Stroke Risk due to afib not caused by a Heart Valve problem. 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We see truly devastating images from the Capital City where the president of that country has fled. The afghan flag is lowered and the u. S. Is sending in thousands of troops to evacuate americans. Earlier today the u. S. Military confirmed it killed two armed individuals at the airport. All commercial flights from the International Airport are still canceled after