today we are celebrating the international day of the girl. promoting the empowerment of millions of girls including afghan girls who face an uncertain future under the taliban rule. this morning savannah guthrie spoke with nobel peace prize laureate malala yousufzai, an advocate for afghan girls as part of the "today" show's special coverage. >> there are a lot of young girls who look up to you. what's your message to girls who want to make a difference in their own communities? >> believe in yourself. believe in your voice. believe in the dedication and determination that you hold for the things that you believe in. >> but we begin today with the coronavirus. joining me now, nbc's kerry sanders in florida and dr. vin gupta, pulmonologist and affiliate assistant professor at the university of washington. welcome both. dr. gupta, first to you. i want to talk about what the former fda commissioner and current pfizer board member scott gottlieb had to say about the timing of merck's new drug for our viewers. >> i would suspect that this is going to be perhaps a two-month review. i don't think it's going to be quite as fast as we've seen some of these vaccine authorizations, and so figuring that it takes about two months to get an emergency use authorization, which i think is an optimistic scenario, you could potentially have this on the market before the end of the year. merck does have the available supply. they're going to be ready to ship it as soon as it gets authorized almost immediately. they're starting to package it. they just need to get the labeling on. >> dr. gupta, how much of an impact could the merck drug have in the fight, and is there a potential downside with people thinking, well, there's a pill out there so i don't have to get vaccinated. >> good afternoon, andrea, thanks for having me. i do think that this is going to have minimal impact in the short to medium term for the reasons dr. gottlieb mentioned. we're not going to have this in our tool kit for a few months. two, there isn't a ton of supply. we're talking about maybe 2 million doses, advance allocated to the u.s. by the end of the year. that doesn't reach the 70 million americans who still need to be vaccinated. all these other alternatives are not nearly as effective as vaccinations. it might lead people to believe they have an insurance policy that frankly is not that effective relative to the vaccines. anybody who's had flu out there that's listening in, you might have heard of the drug tamiflu that if you get early diagnosed with flu-like symptoms, mild to moderate flu-like symptoms, within the first 48 hours of development we can give you tamiflu and there's a 40 to 50% chance that you'll stay out of the hospital if you have a high risk medical situation. this is virtually the same type of framework. we'll give you this drug if you have early mild to moderate symptoms. maybe this will keep you out of the hospital to the tune of 50% reduced risk. so nothing like the vaccines which are 90 plus percent effective at doing the same thing. >> and kerry sanders in florida, the cases have fallen within 50% the last two weeks. communities clearing the initial wave of children returning to schools, so what's the overall situation there. >> reporter: well, andrea when you consider back in august we had about 24,000 new cases every day in the state, and now we're down to about 3,800, this is very good news. remember this at one point was an epicenter in the country. let's take a look at some of the reasons why we have seen a 72% member of the population here actually getting the vaccine, and so the doctors and the health officials point to the fact that that many people being vaccinated is a clear reason why we've seen it. the positivity rate now about 4.8%, which is the lowest really in some time. then we take a look at what's happened just in the last 14 days as we look at this graph, you can see that 52 or 53% drop in just the past two weeks. all of this is encouraging news, leading some doctors to say we might be. they're very cautious, but we might be beginning to see the end of this pandemic. >> in the medical community, we have a sense of optimism, cautious optimism right now. i think for the most part, the pandemic has gone on for a number of months now, over a year and a half, and we're cautiously optimistic that this will be the tail end of the pandemic. nobody will say that for sure, and we cannot predict the future. >> and we can only wish that we could predict the future, andrea, and that we're heading there. one of the things beyond the vaccines that seemed to have made a difference in this state, is that even though there have not been mandates in many places, people seem to have masked up, and that masking in public areas when you're around other people has had a significant impact, according to public health officials. >> that's pretty significant coming from florida where it's been so politicized. dr. gupta, is it too soon to spike the -- >> i think it's too soon, andrea. i think we should take these hopeful signals as a sign that there is life at the end of the tunnel, but we're still losing upwards of 10,000 americans plus every week, so we've gotten used to some morbid headlines, doesn't mean we're fully past this. as a pulmonologist i'm worried about cold and flu season. all the various threats on our health system remain present for the next four months. i think we really can spike the football as we emerge into the spring. we should stay vigilant until then, continue with the precautions we have so we do not have a risk of a fifth surge. >> and kerry, i do want to get back to you on what are you hearing from parents, from families as there is the prospect of children, the children 5 to 11 being able to be vaccinated. the near-term? >> well, you know, this has been the biggest problem. this has been the biggest problem parents have -- in fact, there are parent who have found a way to get their children that are underage to get vaccinated, and so the anxiety is certainly there by people willing to work around a system, even without the go ahead from the fda to do that. i think it speaks to the larger question, which is people know that when their kids are going to school that they are interacting, and if they're not getting coronavirus, they're being exposed to it and bringing it home to the familiesment one of the things they have said according to public health officials that has been a significant change in the school system is not only wearing masks but the air filtration systems. they've spent millions of dollars to fix these systems to make sure that the air is not only circulating, but that it's going through hepa filters, so anxiety from parents who want to see the ability to see their kids get these vaccinations, but at the same time understanding that many things have progressed that did not exist certainly a year ago. >> absolutely. kerry sanders, dr. vin gupta, thanks to both of you for leading us off. and coming back here to washington, the failure of leadership. a capitol police whistle-blower's explosive claims of lying to congress and protecting those who should be held accountable. congresswoman debbie dingell joins us next with the scathing accusations and what happens now. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. reports" on m. amazon prime members get select meds as low as $1 a month. who knew it could be this easy? your new pharmacy is amazon pharmacy. at humana, we believe your healthcare should evolve with you, and part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. humana can help. with original medicare, you're covered for hospital stays and doctor office visits but you'll have to pay a deductible for each. a medicare supplement plan can cover your deductibles and co-insurance, but you may pay higher premiums and still not get prescription drug coverage. but with an all-in-one humana medicare 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capitol police whistle-blower is accusing the agency's two senior leaders who have since been replaces of intelligence in the days before and after the january 6th attack. the letter also accusing capitol police leadership of choosing not to help officers on january 6th, even going so far as to allege that then acting chief yogananda pittman lied to congress. the letter goes on to blast the congressional community for not holding the united states capitol leaders accountable. a statement today from the new leader responding in part saying, a lot has changed since january 6th, although there is more work to do. many of the problems described in the letter have been addressed. joining me now, congresswoman debbie dingell, the co-chair of the house democratic policy and communications committee. thank you very much. let's start with the whistle-blower letter citing the alleged failures of chiefs pittman and gallagher and taking on the so-called congressional community, i think it means the bureaucracy, the hierarchy should have done more to hold the capitol police leadership accountable. what can be done now? what needs to be done? >> well, i think happy monday to you, it's always good to see you. first of all, i think the january 6th committee is investigating everything, and this needs to be part of what they're looking at. i was always, quite frankly, stunned that we were not more prepared having been someone that has been a target of both former president trump's anger and ire. i know what can happen having seen it, it happened in michigan, and i always thought at the back of my mind the national guard were going to be there to back up any trouble that might have come and why were there failures at so many different levels. so that's a question. i have a story from january 6th that also sort of goes to this a little. i had been getting ready to walk over to the floor of the house, and i passed a group of people that were wearing maga hats, not wearing masks and quite frankly on january 6th i was more concerned about the lack of masks. and i said to the officer at that entrance, who are they? i thought we couldn't have visitors and they're not wearing masks, and he said to me i can't do anything. so i went back and yelled at the members -- or yelled at the people that were there and said, we have a mask requirement. you need to wear your mask, and the officer thanked me for doing that because he couldn't. those men and women keep us safe every day. i thank them. we need to all be a ware of what they're doing. they kept us safe on january 6th. they're as much a part of the capitol hill community as any member is. >> do you think that we're going to get answers? clearly what you're suggesting is that those visitors, they could have been scoping it for the insurrectionists, and that they could have been protected or invited wittingly or unwittingly by members. >> that actually is a story that -- i actually -- that's a well-documented story because i was so mad that day that i complained to every group that i was in including leadership, et cetera, and assured the next day that we would not have that happening. it now does become an important issue of saying, andrea, was that a group that was part of the capitol and for what reason. i focussed on them because they weren't wearing masks and we were right at the height of covid in those days, too. >> at the same time, the january 6th investigating group from the senate side, the judiciary committee, looking at what doj did has cited nine times that president trump tried to get the election overturned. nine times, there was pushback, universal pushback from some of the trump loyalists on the white house staff. what more do we need to know about that, what the senate judiciary committee has already referred to? >> what i wish is that we had people that wanted a credible, total -- people on all sides doing this study because i get too much of -- there are too many people, our democracy is being undermined. i was in belleville, michigan, talking to a group of union workers, spent 15 minutes with them. had a good discussion on many things, but at the end of it, they said to me, but we still think donald trump won the election, and that's what worries me. the fact of the matter is we have had state after state has gone in and done audits, president biden accepts what h is a fundamental undermining of people's confidence in their democracy. when that happens, your democracy is in trouble. so we really have to get at the answers of that and how people understand. we have a man that wanted to go back to the white house and a man who was trying to undermine our democracy and that we all have to fight back and which is he undermines people's belief in their government. >> talking about people's belief in their government, the negotiations on the hill, the divisions in the democratic caucus, the republicans refusal to back any kind of debt ceiling limit, which is unprecedented is just certainly undermining confidence in the way congress works as well. house is coming back tomorrow to vote on the senate approved temporary debt ceiling extension. but this is just kicking the can down the road. first do you foresee any problems in getting house approval for what the senate passed to get it delayed until december. but in december we're going to have the debt ceiling wells the continuing resolution to keep the government open. you're going to have a real crunch just a few couple weeks, two months. >> i was spending christmas with you -- >> that's one good side effect, debbie dingell. we will be coming back tomorrow, we will raise the debt ceiling tomorrow, but i think we've got a real problem. there was a time that we all remember that we're americans first, and there is a republican that take their hands and say this isn't my problem. it's all of our problems. when president trump needed to have the ceiling -- the debt ceiling raised, people knew that we had to. we couldn't default as a government, and we've -- i do believe when we get back there, i think everybody needs some deep breaths, been with people -- we're all we are united, failure is not an option. we cannot lose this chance to actually fix our roads and do something about our bridges and internet and getting lead out of pipes and a thousand other things. so it's not pretty. you know the will rogers saying, people with weak stomachs shouldn't watch law or sausage being made. failure's not an option on getting this build back better bipartisan infrastructure bill. we've got to figure out a way republicans and democrats are going to work together for the country, and when we come to the end of the year, we cannot have more theatrics and drama on what's going to happen to the debt ceiling because it hurts everybody and it hurts republicans, it hurts every american citizen. it hurts our reputation. it hurts our economy. it hurts a whole lot of things, and our job is to watch out for america. >> congresswoman, thank you very much, debbie dingell, appreciate you being with us today. >> thank you. and a submarine sandwich, state secrets hidden inside a peanut butter sandwich. the amazing spy stories shaking the intel community. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. reports" on msnbc. and you need it here. and here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean is now helping the places you go every day too. seek a commitment to clean. look for the ecolab science certified seal. if you have this... consider adding this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and let you see any doctor. any specialist. anywhere in the u.s. who accepts medicare patients. so if you have this... consider adding this. call unitedhealthcare today for your free decision guide. ♪ ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest to unveiin norway,the world. there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. this is straight out of an episode of "homeland" a navy engineer accused of feeding information to an undercover fbi agent he believed was a foreign operative in ebs change for $100,000 in cryptocurrency and using a peanut butter sandwich in one of his dead drops. nbc's ken dilanian covers intelligence and national security. there's some interesting and unique details in the documents now unsealed by a federal court. first of all, where was the jelly? >> that's a great question, andrea. jonathan toebbe and his wife diana are charged with charges that carry life in prison after they apparently allegedly offered this information on the nuclear reactors of virginia class submarines to a friendly country who then passed that on to the fbi. the fbi launched a sting operation, took total control of this. as a result we have an unusually detailed criminal complaint in which jonathan toebbe incriminated himself. said he offered this material to this country in exchange for $100,000. the fbi arranged these dead drops as they are called in the spy world including one where toebbe allegedly hid a memory card inside of a peanut butter sandwich between two halves of bread. they were arrested in west virginia on saturday, and they make their first appearance in federal court tomorrow. >> what was his job? >> he was a navy nuclear engineer with a top secret clearance. she has a ph.d. in anthology and was a teacher at a private school in annapolis. they have two children. in that sense, this is a very sad story. they are facing life in prison. >> wow. an extraordinary story indeed. ken dilanian thank you so much for bringing that to us. >> you bet. the house is going to vote on raising the debt ceiling tomorrow after the senate approved a temporary two-month fix last week. this as negotiations on president biden's agenda are intensifying behind the scenes. the latest compromise is zeroing in on a $2 trillion bill which would mean major cuts in climate and social programs that progressives have been championing. joining us now is sahil kapur, and donna edwards and a.b. stoddard. welcome all. you've been in touch with all the machinations on the hill, the twist and turns for all these weeks. are democrats getting any closer on agreeing on what should be in this bill, and do the house democrats have something that they can get manchin and sinema to agree on? they need all 50 votes. >> are they closer than they were two weeks ago, yes. but democrats are not where they want to be at this moment. president biden is trying to resolve this by identifying a sweet spot of 1.9 trillion to 2.2 trillion in terms of the overall spending level. but the rival factions of the party are the no moving yet. joe manchin, the west virginia senator is not moving up from his $1.5 trillion ask, and senator bernie sanders is not moving down from his $3.5 trillion ask. that suggests that they're both still jockeying for leverage. in terms of policy, the party has difficult decisions to make in terms of how to narrow this down. do they cut a bunch of programs out, focus on maybe three or four programs, and fund them for the long haul? that's what one side wants. another side, the progressive wing, says do all the programs but fund them over a shorter period of time, allow them to expire. let democrats run on them in the 2022 election, the 2024 election. how this gets resolved remains to be seen. it is squarely on the lap of president biden, speaker pelosi and senator schumer who have to make these big policy decisions and get everyone on board in the senate. in the house their margin for error is just three votes. they're hoping to get this done by the end of october. it's a very ambitious time line, but that's the goal right now. >> donna edwards, you know better than anyone having been a congresswoman on the hill the divide is so intense on these programs, and one of the programs that has to be extended is the $300 per child tax credit, that expires in december. that needs to be part of this package. and that has widespread support, and we've seen the economic benefits of that in terms of addressing poverty. so how do you get from here to there? >> well, i mean, i think it's a lot to ask when you're talking about cutting out more than a trillion dollars of the $3.5 trillion package, which is why i think it's, you know, really difficult for democrats to figure out whether everything just gets a haircut or whether you front load some of these programs, get them underway, fund them fully, and the child tax credit is one of those. not only does it enjoy widespread support across the country, it enjoys widespread support within the congress, and so, you know, a program that already the expiration was kind of cut short to make sure that it was fully funded, you really can't cut that much shorter and still get the overall benefit of that, and so those are the kinds of things i think democrats are weighing right now, and of course from the sanders way party among progressives, their view is they already cut $3 trillion out because they didn't have a $6 trillion package. they have a $3.5 trillion package. there's a lot in between there, but democrats have to get this done because if they don't, they're running out of time to run on this across the country so that people really understand the benefit to their individual families. >> and amy, look at the polls. the president's polling in that quinnipiac last week down to 38%. that's bad. that's trump territory for a first-term president in his first year, that really would put not only the midterms but, you know, the moderate seats in the house are in jeopardy as well as, of course what happens in 2024. >> it's true, andrea, these -- the polling across the board is terrible on questions of competence, on questions of whether or not this administration has accomplished enough, and it comes from a narrowing support among independents, most critically, and then even among democrats, and so this is really something the administration is grappling with, and there's widespread fear across the party about how they're going to fare in next year's elections. the most important thing to stop the bleeding is to get this package and get to a compromise. everybody knows cuts will be made. it's just picking this program or that and resolving the fight over sun setting short-term programs, moving to more universal benefits instead of targeted relief. as soon as they get that done, the president can focus again on covid. as soon as covid stabilizes in the pandemic, it feels more contained to the public, we'll see a rebound in the economy, and people will appreciate the programs the government has pass ed. right now because of the surge in the delta variant, if you look at polling, americans who were helped by the american rescue plan passed last winter do not feel and appreciate the benefits that came to them because they feel their long-term financial prospects are grim. that's all because of covid. the administration has to get this behind them so that people in the administration can focus on covid and containing the pandemic and focusing their messaging to the public on it and then hope by the midterms that the public feels an improvement from the programs that they passed. >> a.b. stoddard, thank you so much. and donna edwards and of course sahil on capitol hill. new threats from the january 6th committee against trump loyalists refusing to respond to document demands, it's a big test for the committee and the justice department. more coming up on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. from day one to graduation to your dream job, that's why we're keeping your tuition low for the 10th year in a row. - [student] the affordability and the quality of education, it can be enough to change your life. - [announcer] as a nonprofit university, we believe in making college more affordable for everyone. - southern new hampshire university, it was just amazing experience. - [announcer] find your degree at snhu.edu. people with moderate to severe psoriasis, are rethinking the choices they make like the splash they create the entrance they make, the surprises they initiate. otezla. it's a choice you can make. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. 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[beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ ♪i'm a ganiac, ganiac, check my drawers♪ ♪and my clothes smell so much fresher than before♪ of the bargain. switch to gain flings. one sniff and you'll be a ganiac too! the white house is blocking former president trump's attempt to withhold do you means from the house select committee investigating the january 6th insurrection. notably former trump strategist steve bannon says he will not comply with subpoenas citing executive privilege, even though bannon had left the white house years before the takeover of the capitol. according to the committee, former white house chief of staff, mark meadows and pentagon official kash patel are, quote, engaging with the committee, at least for thousand, and former trump aide dan scavino has reportedly been served with a subpoena. on saturday, donald trump continued to cling to the lie that he won the election, of course which he did not, as that lie was also being per pet perpetuated by steve scalise. >> so you think the election was stolen? >> what i said is there are states that didn't follow their legislatively set rules. >> the last time, i promise, do you think the election was stolen or not? >> it's not just -- it's states that did not follow the laws set, which the constitution says they're supposed to follow. >> and of course there was no proof of that. in response, liz cheney, the top republican on the january 6th committee slammed scalise tweeting republicans have a duty to tell the american people that this is not true. joining me now, former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade and "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker. barbara, let's talk about the law. can the justice department given the difference between this justice department and bill barr's justice department during impeachment, can the justice department pursue criminal contempt referrals against the trump officials who refused to cooperate with the process? especially bannon who wasn't even in the white house during the insurrection. >> it can, andrea. it would be a criminal violation to deliberately refuse to comply with a subpoena served by congress. that is one of the avenues to file criminal charges, but strategically i'm not sure it's the best choice because it could be time consuming. it might be better for the house to run into court and try to enforce this civilly, which could also cause bannon to be jailed as a method to sort of entice, if you will, his cooperation. >> but why would one not be as time consuming. both involve legal challenges that are going to go through the court system, and we know how the white house counsels appeal or fighting of the subpoena for the impeachment took, you know, two and a half years, i think. >> in a criminal case, a defendant has typically 70 days before their speedy trial rights run out and 30 days before they're required to stand trial. in a civil case, the lawyers for the house or for the committee could file a motion for a temporary restraining order demanding that he be ordered immediately to either comply or be jailed until he does. so i think it might be faster to go the civil route than the criminal route, but no doubt the criminal route does have teeth and provides for punishment for someone who ultimately fails to comply. they have both of those tools at the ready. >> peter baker, how do you see this playing out given that we're told that four of these officials are supposedly engaging, or three of them are engaging. they're set for this week. do we think they're going to show up? are they still going to resist? >> yeah, that's the big question. we don't know the answer yet. i sort of doubt that we'll see at least all four of them show up. i think that even those who are engaging doesn't necessarily agree they need to appear. they may be still negotiating terms. they may be negotiating some limitations. they may be trying to find some middle ground. they answer questions about this, not that. it's the idea that the hearing this week is still up in the air. these are just the first four. thing is an important test case. once you settle the matter with these, it's going to set a precedent for all the other people this committee would like to look at. >> steve scalise, how do you read the fact that steve scalise, the number two in the house republican caucus is, you know, still going along with donald trump after everything that's been said and done that, you know, kevin mccarthy also, the house leadership is completely enthralled. >> it was painful watching him, you saw him say the same answer three times, answer that he thought was a safe space between saying outright that it was stolen and saying outright that it wasn't, so he simply says, well, there were some procedural issues in some of the states. that really answers the question. the leadership on the hill has shown on the house side that it's still basically under the influence certainly of president trump, even if they don't believe it. and i think it's fair to say that most republicans, not all, but most republicans on the hill don't believe the stuff that president trump is saying and yet feel in some way or another, you know, wary about simply saying it out loud because they'll be punished by the base. they'll be punished by the president. they might lose fund-raising, face a primary challenge. nobody wants to have happen to them what's happening to liz cheney who's now fighting for her life with a republican primary back in wyoming. >> extraordinary. peter baker, barbara mcquade, thanks to both. and women helping women, this is international day of the girl, and it has a special focus on women refugees, particularly afghanistan. next, three incredible women working to empower these girls and others around the world, including one who just got out of afghanistan. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. hell reports" on msnbc. without frequent heartburn waking her up. now, that dream... . ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? 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>> tech: that's service the way you need it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ today is the international day of the girl, empowering girls around the globe. most recently as they lose hard-fought gains in afghanistan. 159 years old, malala yousufzai became known around the world when the taliban in pakistan tried to kill her, for simply wanting to attend school. malala survived and has gone on to become a leading activist for the education of girls, winning the nobel peace prize in 2014 and starting her own nonprofit. savannah guthrie spoke with malala on "today" about her hopes and fears for women in afghanistan. >> i wish that the biden administration and other world leaders had done more to protect human rights, womens and girls' rights, but it's never too late. so whether it is a political deal, negotiations, you know, recognizing the taliban government, they must be conditioned on the fact that the taliban recognized womens' girls' right to education. >> first lady laura bush has been an advocate for girls and women of afghanistan since her time at the white house. she and her daughter jenna bush hager recently met with two afghan women who arrived in the u.s. three years ago. these women watching in horror as the scenes of chaos unfolded in kabul after the u.s. troop withdrawal not knowing where any of their family members were and if they were safe. >> american women wanted to help. they really did. they looked at their afghan sisters across the world and worried for them, and many, many women started programs. >> joining me now is elise nelson, the president and ceo and cofounder of vital voices global partnership, and a former program director in the ministry of labor and social affairs in afghanistan who left afghanistan less than a week ago and is now in albania. let me ask you first, first of all, we're so glad and grateful that you're safe, but i know you must be feeling for the fact that the taliban are not including women in government, that they've eliminated the women's ministry and how difficult was it for you to leave? >> thank you, thank you for having me with you. i'm sure as you mentioned it's difficult, especially for women that they have took all their life. they have started working and they got positions. they worked so hard for what they lost right now, and then everything just collapsed, so yeah, it's much difficult expressions or difficult feelings of i don't know how to express, but i'm fortunate and i'm in better position right now that at least i made it and i'm here safe right now. >> let me ask you how did you get out. is it a flight? was it over land? what was your route, if you can say? >> well, that was the part that was more difficult and the team that were organizing all these, were not able to provide us all information we needed. we were just receiving like messages to move from this area to that area because it was necessary to just be careful with the security and to getting us out safely and to not bring us in danger position. so we just took some way through the land and from there we just took a flight and arrived. >> we're so glad that you at least are safe. elise, i know that you and vital voices and other ngos had worked so hard for the evacuation to try to get people out, flights were arranged, and it was so hard to get people to the gates and then when the suicide bomb happened on that thursday, then afghans had a much more difficult time, anyone who wasn't an american citizen, getting through to the airport. from your perspective, how difficult was this evacuation for all of the groups that have worked so hard? >> incredibly difficult, in fact, far more complex, i think, than any of us could have imagined. certainly it was complex the airport was a difficult situation when the united states was there. and then when the united states left, we had to look at other means of getting people out. now airports are -- some airports are back up and operating, and some flights are beginning to go out again, but it's been incredibly complex. we at vital voices have worked an incredible coalition of afghan women, american women as mrs. bush said, you know, women around the world want to step up and support their afghan sisters and be sure that they're not abandoned during this critical time, and i think for all of us at vital voices, georgetown institute for women piece and security, one of the founders of -- or the founder of women for women international, all of us really came together and could see that things were not going to go well for afghan women and girls. there was not a plan to get women who had really stepped up in these last 20 years and led great change and stability in that country, and so we decided to really create a coalition and a real system that holistically looked at not just evacuating women but getting them to a safe third country for relocation, and then looking at that on ward movement for resettlement, at least until one one day, my hope with maria is she does go back to afghanistan, as i know she wants to. >> and, what about those whom you had to leave behind? you had family members, colleagues who are potentially being targeted by the taliban. >> of course. i think that's the -- one of the points that we are more concerned. we all are in a fortunate position to be safe, but there are families over there, our colleagues, afghans. no one is safe there'ven if it's about women or men. they don't have the freedoms so they -- the tensions that right now we have. and it's important to look that how we can help them, how we can do that advocacy and call on the international community and different organizations as -- or the other organization that they are helping the u.s. government, the other governments, that how we can also help them or how we can make pressure on government to give some sort of freedoms, especially when it comes to women, to study, to educate, to work. and to live normally as human beings. so i think that's the point, that even although that we are in safe place, but we have concerns regarding the ones a are left there, and what we can do for them here. >> aria, the taliban say they respect the rights of women yet, they've already made it clear that women beyond sixth grade cannot go to school. they've closed universities to women, and there are no women in government. so where are the changes to the u.s. who are meeting with the taliban for the first time in doha over the weekend? what would you say to the u.s. government on how to cooperate with the taliban? i wish we could meet some pressure on them, but so far they don't make their promise. i think that was the point. when i decided to leave my country and whatever i achieved in my country, when i see that i cannot take my studies farther, when i see that i cannot work in a government position in a hiring position, i'm going to see that i won't be allowed to just be free as human being, as a woman. so i think we all really concede at they they're prohibiting different groups, especially women for just not letting them go to school up on the sixth grade and to the higher education, they're not letting them to work so far. so i think this is the opportunity that the international community should bring the pressure on them. at least they know how to do that through the different channels. the u.n. is much important here for advocacy for that and to the much proper lobbying for just bringing a much better position for afghans that they are living there. >> briefly, what would you say to the administration, the state department and white house about what they need to do. >> i think the state department and white house know very well you can't build a stable, prosperous community or country without the full participation of women and girls. that's been documented through research, and this administration knows that well. i believe that they are going to continue to push to make sure that women and girls are safe and respected, and they are able to go to school and go to work and pursue their dreams. >> well, thanks to both of you for your service and for all you're doing for women, for girls, because obviously without girls and women, families cannot survive anywhere in the world. thank you very, very much. and tonight on nbc nightly news, i'll be speaking with a woman who was an educator and founder of code to inspire, an afghanistan-based program teaching commuter coding to girls, and one of her students i'll speak to as well who is still in afghanistan. with the taliban in power they're more determined than ever to teach young students, including young women, but now they have to do it secretly behind closed doors. a full interview on nightly news. and on wednesday, the exclusive reports the first ever tv original havana syndrome victims. they are publicly revealing their identities. coming up, triumphant, the boston marathon sprinting back after covid cancellations and delays. we're live along the race route when andrea mitchell reports continues only on msnbc. ♪girl, i don't know, i don't know,♪ ♪i don't know why i can't get♪ applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. what do we want for dinner? applebee's. burger... i want a sugar cookie... wait... i want a bucket of chicken... i want... ♪♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ they waited 30 months to compete in the 125th boston marathon because of the pandemic delay, and now they're crossing the finish line today. the marathon looking a lot different because of the pandemic. only half as many runners are able to run and their start times were staggered from social distancing. this is the male and female winners. nbc shaq brewster is in boston along the route. how happy are the runners today? >> reporter: i'm about 22 miles into the race right now, and if you look at their faces, it's more of a grimace, but you get a lot of joy from the spectators who are here and trying to cheer up the runners as much as they can as they finish the race. you mention this is looking different than any other boston marathon. for one, it's not happening in april. this is happening in october. there are also fewer runners in this race. that's a nod to the pandemic. and they actually had a rolling start to this race, so you had runners starting at different periods to avoid the congestion on the race route. all the runners have either presented a negative covid test or proof of vaccination. you have a lot of the celebrations the boston marathon is back. >> wish we were up there with you, and all the marathon action on nbcsn and peacock today. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports". garrett haake is in for chuck todd when "mtp daily" starts. if it's 3407bd, it's a democracy in crisis, because as we've seen over the last few days, the lie that incited an insurrection over the last election is a rallying cry for republicans trying to take back congress and the white house in the next elections. plus a steady dose of hopeful news in the battle against covid as the u.s. sees declines in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.

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