Country. Two decades after they were driven from kabul by u. S. And nato troops in the wake of the 9 11 attacks on New York and the pentagon. The collapse of the westernbacked afghan government was part of the big unpleasant surprise. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani quickly fled. The afghan flag has been lowered and devastating images are emerging from the capital city. Thousands of people swarmed the tarmac hoping to flee on a departing u. S. Military plane at kabul airport, while others clung to the side of the plane. Its among these scenes of chaos that President Biden Today made his first comments on the crisis since the fall of kabul on sunday. I stand squarely behind my decision. We were clear eyed about the risks. We planned for every contingency, but i always promised the american people that i would be straight with you. The truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So whats happened . Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan Mi
Government seemed to anticipate. At the airports perimeter, sporadic gunfire. Earlier u. S. Forces exchanged fire with a group of armed men, killing two. In kabul itself, Armed Taliban fighters, many of them carrying american weapons patrol the streets. Now there are growing fears that the revived taliban will again turn afghanistan into a Staging Ground for terrorism. Cnns nick Paton Walsh is on the ground In Kabul. Set the scene right now. Are you able to move freely . Is the city in lockdown . Reporter no. Its quite calm, actually. And even as foreigners, we were able to drive around the city freely. Its stunning to see taliban fighters in the city ive only known secured by afghan soldiers and u. S. Troops. The taliban walking around holding their guns, sitting on street corners. We moved out toward the airport where things are tragically completely out of control toward the airport you begin to see the traffic thicken, and then a lot of time theres shots fired in the air to get peo
Im Pamela Brown in washington. You are in the Cnn Newsroom on a very busy saturday evening. Additional u. S. Troops heading to afghanistan this weekend, at the same time taliban militants there appear on track to retake the entire country. President biden is sending 5,000 more forces to afghanistan. He says the added troops are to ensure, quote, an orderly and safe drawdown as they help americans get out. But millions of afghans are desperate to escape the escalation of violence in their country. As the taliban take over more ground at a speed that has jolted officials in the biden administration, five more Capital Cities fell to the taliban in the last 24 hours. Now 22 of the countrys 34 provincial capitals are under taliban control. Only two major cities, kabul and jalalabad, remain under the afghan government. Take a look. This timelapse shows the speed the taliban gained territory. See the Red Spread Starting in midapril after the president announced the u. S. Withdrawal. Last hour
Pay for Holiday Shipping is going up and she has been on the job over 70 years. The nurse inspiring america. Announcer this is Nbc Nightly News with Lester Holt good evening, everyone the Fda Tonight appears to be on the verge of approving Covid Booster shots for the first time the third doses would be reserved for certain vulnerable americans, opening a new avenue of defense against the aggressive Delta Variant. Meantime, the challenge of protecting our kids in the face of a growing Covid Wave is frankly all over the map tonight. From the south, where Classroom Mask requirements are being banned, to california, where the governor is Ordering School Employees to show proof of Vaccination Or Face weekly testing. But there is growing urgency to get this right. The daily numbers were watching, new infections now over 108,000. New deaths exceed 750. But the number we desperately need to climb, the fully vaccinated, not moving quickly enough just shy of 167 million. Still barely 50 of us Mo
Tape, of course, everybody remembers the early years of Morning Joe when you and Mika At Times had to Duct Tape me to the chair. We did. On an occasion or two, everything worked out okay. It didnt interrupt you. While we were doing it, you were still going. Kept talking. We have the white House Reporter for the Associated Press, Jonathan Lemire and we have Catty Kay. Something happened last night, like a haleys comet. The Red Sox won a game last night. I saw it. When Tampa Bay spotted us 19 runs going into the ninth inning it was hard not to blow it but we gave it the 617 chance. Didnt we . Blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while joe and we were able to get the win. We needed all 20 wins in the ninth we gave up more and more and more. We needed 20, they scored 7 or 8, i guess we missed the extra point. Lets be clear here, joe. These are dark times for the Boston Red sox. This is bad. The surging new York Yankees today playing in iowa, the field of Dreams Field where they will und