good evening. today, president biden seeked to defend his attempt to close the book on this country's involvement in afghanistan. tonight, we'll look at what happens, now. to all those, still, struggling to get out. and to how, or if, the u.s. will live up to its promises to them. # we begin with the final fiasco. the images we have been getting all day tell the chaotic story. rushing to the airport. afghans desperate for a way out of the country. trying to get in, any way they can. for all the talk from the administration, be no images like from the fall of saigon in 1975, well, these pictures are, certainly, bad enough. crowds mobbing the tarmac, climbing onto jet ways, trying desperately to board outgoing flights clinging onto the outsides of planes. that's an air force's c17. people are grabbing onto, as it

taxis off. there are people holding onto the aircraft, as it takes off. and as it flies away. at least two people were seen falling several hundred feet from one of the planes. sickening. haunting, as well. this photo posted on the website defense one. about 640 people, according to defense one, on an aircraft designed to carry 102 troops. afghans, desperate to leave. right now, according to the pentagon, there are about 2,500 u.s. troops securing the airport. late today, the president said their number will rise to as many as 6,000 but only to secure the evacuation. before that, in words laying blame squarely on our former ally, the president justified his decision to end all-military involvement. >> so, i'm left, again, to ask of those who argue that we should stay, how many more generations of americans' daughters and sons would you have me send to fight afghan --

afghanistan's civil war? when afghan troops will not. how many more lives, american lives, is it worth? how many endless rows of headstones at arlington national cemetery? >> the president, also, spoke to the mess we are seeing now, saying the buck stops with him. he had less to say, though, about precisely how the administration got things so wrong. just six weeks ago, you will recall, president biden called the taliban takeover of the entire country, quote, highly unlikely. we will talk more, shortly, about how in the space of just a few days, unlikely became inevitable. first, cnn's clarissa ward with the latest from kabul. clarissa, where do things stand right now with the evacuation of u.s. and allied personnel? >> so, basically, what we're hearing is that hundreds of u.s. personnel from the embassy have been moved, via helicopter, to the airport. evacuations have been going on, pretty much, nonstop.

at least 700 afghan siv-card holders or visa holders have, also, been evacuated. but there is a lot more work to be done. the americans have, also, reportedly, now secured the perimeter of the airport. of course, those harrowing, devastating scenes that, i think, none of us will ever forget, anderson, of people spilling onto the runway. indeed, flooding onto the runway, climbing on to the fuselage, desperate to get out of afghanistan. everyone, desperate to avoid that happening, again. but they do say they have now secured the perimeter. it's a very different story, i should say, in the center of kabul, than it is at the airport. those chaotic scenes are not being replicated here. we went out on the streets for the day. keen to see what life felt like, in this new-islamic emirate of afghanistan. and we found a mixture of emotions. there was heartache, desperation, fear, and, also, some jubilation. take a look.

as soon as we leave our compound, it's clear who is now in charge. taliban fighters have flooded the capital. smiling and victorious, they took the city of 6 million people in a matter of hours. barely, firing a shot. this is a ssight, i honestly thought i would never see. scores of taliban fighters and just behind us, the u.s. embassy compound. some carry american weapons. they tell us, they are here to maintain law and order. everything is under control. everything will be fine, the commander says. nobody should worry. what's your message to america right now? america already spent enough time in afghanistan. they need to leave, he tells us. they already lost lots of lives and lots of money. people come up to them to pose for photographs.

they are just chanting, death to america. but they seem friendly, at the same time. it's utterly bizarre. almost everywhere we go, it seems, the taliban want to talk. a lot of people are very frightened that you might engage in revenge attacks against security forces. since yesterday, we've proved that nothing will happen and we give assurance to everyone that they will be safe, he tells us. and we follow our leaders. once we make a promise, we stick to it. maintaining law and order is top of that list of promises. at the presidential palace, the taliban are, now, guarding the gate. they say they're here to fill the vacuum left when the government fled. but the welcoming spirit only extends so far, and my presence, soon, creates tension. >> it's because of you. >> they have just told me to stand to the side because i'm a woman.

>> reporter: the taliban have yet to implement their draconian version of islamic law. but many are, already, preparing for it. you can see, this beauty salon, and many others, have actually painted over images on their storefronts of uncovered women. taliban commander says islamic rule will be implemented, gradually. how will you protect women? because many women are afraid they will not be allowed to go to school. they will not be allowed to work. >> the female, the woman can continue their life and we will not say anything. they can go to their school. they can continue their education. >> so, like i'm wearing? >> not like you. but covering their face. >> cover the face? so you mean -- why did they have to cover their face? >> because islam. >> is it in islam, though, that

you have to wear? >> of course, of course, it is in islam. >> reporter: most ordinary afghans we meet are in a state of shock. struggling to process the last-24 hours. this man tells us his father was in the afghan army and was killed this summer. now, he doesn't know what to do. >> i have lost everything. i -- i don't feel secure in here. >> you're afraid? >> huh? >> you're afraid? >> yeah, i'm afraid. i lost my dad. i lost my mom. >> i'm sorry to hear that. >> just i'm with my little sister. we are living at home. that is why i'm afraid from everything. big problem for us. >> reporter: it's a feeling shared by so many. walking along, one has a sense that the real story may be the people who are not on the

streets. those, too afraid to leave their homes. waiting to see what tomorrow will bring. >> clarissa, we heard in your report and first of all, it's fascinating to hear the taliban say, when we make a promise, we stick to it. obviously, things were said in doha, qatar, negotiation table that did not turn out to be true on the battlefield. and their track record, as you know better than anybody, is -- is pretty horrific in afghanistan when they were in power, before. um, you know, the taliban making statements about women being able to continue their educations. is there really any reason to believe them? because it's one thing to -- okay, allow a girl to go to school. it's another thing, what they actually are allowed to learn. >> yeah. and i think there's also an important distinction between what they say, and then their ability to implement it. so, on the topic of women's education, for example, every taliban commander i have spoken to, over the course of the last couple weeks, and there's been a lot of them, has said the same.

resoundingly, the taliban is changed. we learned from our mistakes. women will be educated through high school, through university, and even beyond if they want that. however, when you start to talk about the logistics of what that, actually, looks like, you run into problems because, then, suddenly, they say once women hit puberty, they can't actually be educated in the same building as men, as boys, because they need to be segregated. so then, there need to be girl schools which haven't, actually, been built, yet. ergo, these women don't end up getting educated. the other thing you see a lot, anderson, particularly not in a place like kabul but in these rural areas is that there's just a different mentality. so, people think they're just supposed to send their daughters, their little girls to a religious school for a few years. maybe, she'll learn the numbers, a few letters of the alphabet and she'll learn how to recite quran. but beyond that, there isn't really an appetite to educate girls and so even if the taliban

did say that it was permissible, will they actively promote it in the way that the afghan government and the u.s. here, to the extent of its presence, have been actively trying to do for the last two decades? or will we, as the fear is, the very real fear and probably the more likely scenario is, see a huge decline in women's education, once again? >> yeah. i mean, the fear in that young man's voice talking to you, staying at home with his sister. his parents, dead. it's -- it's just so sad. clarissa ward, thank you for being there. please, be careful. let's get perspective now from thomas friedman, "new york times" foreign affairs columnist, best-selling author of many books including the revised edition of "from beirut to jerusalem." you see clarissa's reporting, what do you make of how things are unfolding? >> well, you just have so many crosscurrents right now, anderson. i think, i would be just really humble about making any predictions. the thing that really strikes me is -- um -- the taliban,

clearly -- um -- initially, are being very careful what they say, what they try to impose. i think that's, partly, because -- um -- they want, first, the americans to leave. and get that process over. but secondly, i think they don't know. um, you know, they are taking over a country that is very different from the one they left, 20 years ago, power from, i should say. millions of women have been educated. um, people have been working with the west. universities have opened. and i think they've got to really figure that out. um, i'm -- i'm not particularly optimistic but i think they, also, realize they broke it. they now own it and if the sun doesn't shine, if the rains don't come, if the plumbing doesn't work, if the sewers back up, they're going to be responsible now. and for that, they're going to need a lot of foreign aid in investment to replace the money the americans put in. i -- i think they're just feeling their way, right now, trying to figure out exactly where they land. >> in terms of their basic ideology, though, they -- i mean, they haven't changed their

interpretation of the quran. they haven't changed the kind of medieval mindset that they -- they ruled under, you know, some-20 years ago. >> no, there's, certainly, no sign of that. and -- and i wouldn't expect it. this is a -- this is a really isolated country, if -- if you've been there. you know, always struck in the times i've been to afghanistan, just how isolated it is. and that's kabul. and you really getting to the, you know, outside the big cities, it's even more isolated. this is a medieval country. it's gonna find its own course. >> you write, tonight, about the biden administration in "the new york times" and you say, in part, its failure to create a proper-security perimeter, transition process in which afghans who risked their lives to work with us these past two decades could be assured safe removal to america. do you think the president fully owned that today? because, you know, the -- the -- they are still claiming that they are going to be able to get out the tens of thousands of

afghans and their families. who have sacrificed themselves and helped the americans, over these last 20 years. that seems hard to imagine. >> well, they certainly made clear that they had made mistakes and they weren't prepared. it's interesting to read some of the stories that the taliban -- um -- were prepared. they, clearly, were bribing, intimidating, and inducing officials in the central government and in the provincial governments. to take this thing down much faster than we realized. that's an intelligence failure. um, why and how it happened, i don't really know. but -- um -- i do get the sense, in -- from what the president said today, anderson, that they're going to put whatever troops they need in there. i think there is an understanding with the taliban -- um -- you lay a finger on anyone at the airport and you will pay a heavy price. i think the taliban don't want to do that. and so, i hope that we've seen the worst of it. um, again, the worst was not

expected. it was not -- it was embarrassing but i hope we won't see any more pictures like we saw at the start of your show today. >> yeah, it is interesting, whether the taliban would allow, you know, this group of people who -- who have helped the u.s. to leave. there's arguments, really, arguing for that. that they -- they want them to leave. but also, at the same time, that if there is a lot of educated people leaving and, you know, people with management experience, et cetera, they might, at some point, decide they don't want those people leaving. but you -- you brought up a really central and fraught question in a column that you wrote tonight. and you write, was the u.s. mission there a total failure? you go on to say, when big events happen, always distinguish between the morning after and the morning after the morning after. everything really important happens the morning after the morning after when the full weight of history and the merciless balances of power assert themselves. it's an interesting idea. the morning after the morning after. to that end, i mean, we've seen the morning after and it hasn't been pretty. do we know what the -- the --

the -- the following metaphoric morning after looks like? >> we don't and that's what i think people should be really careful about, either, praising or damning joe biden. you know, a friend wrote me this evening, anderson. he said, you know, if -- if you could talk to lyndon johnson today and he watched -- and he watched joe biden's speech. would lyndon johnson be saying today, boy, i wish i had given that speech in 1967 about vietnam? i wish i had cut the cord. so, this is going to play out over a long period of time. um, and i think what -- when i talk about the weight of -- of sort of geopolitics, i am talking about the taliban regime, now, in afghanistan. it's surrounded by iran. a shiite country hostile. it's got pakistan, in the north, very worried because pakistan is worried about the pakistani taliban, now. the chinese are worried that this energize their own uighur muslim population. they're going to have to navigate a balance of power

there. i wouldn't be surprised, in fact, i would encourage them to keep joe biden's phone number on their speed dial. because -- um -- you know, going forward, they may need the -- american help, american balancing. not to mention, american aid. a million things can happen, and i think always respecting the -- the morning after the morning after, when everything settles in. the power, the weight of responsibility, that's when you'll really see the real story. and so, i'm keeping my -- my powder dry. you know, afghanistan's been the graveyard of empires and a lot of commentators. >> and we are watching just a really historic moment. tom friedman, appreciate you being with us. thank you. we are going to look ahead to the political price to be paid, as well as the potential reward for doing what none of the past-three presidents would do. and later, a live report from the devastation in haiti. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc can take one to four days to fully work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast.

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could have misjudged or mishandled the end game, badly. the other is the justification, both domestically and geostrategically for ending our 20-year commitment there and what happens now. president, so far, has done little to explain the first but a lot on the second. the question of pulling the plug. >> there are some very brave and capable afghan special forces units and -- and soldiers. but if afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance at the taliban now, there is no chance that one year, one more year, five more years, or 20 more years, of the u.s. military boots on the ground would have made any difference. >> in a moment, a senior adviser to one of three presidents who decide to stay in afghanistan. first, cnn's kaitlan collins, at the white house. so what is the sense at the white house of where things stand tonight? clearly, they were concerned enough that president biden came back to make this speech today. do they think it went well? >> well, i think they realize that there was no option,

anderson, besides making some kind of address. given that on replay, over the last 72 hours, it's been the president's comments from six weeks ago where he said it was, quote, highly unlikely that the taliban would take over. and given they have not only taken over but the former-afghan president has fled, they really believed that he needed to come back and make a statement. but i was told they wanted to wait, until they believed the situation had stabilized some, before the president was addressing the nation. my colleague, jeff zeleny, has told they didn't want it to be at nightfall so there weren't images playing out next to the president speaking about this. and so, today, when he did come anderson, really the focus of president biden's speech was advocating for this withdrawal, overall. something that we have long known was going to be his position. though, he did acknowledge that their expectations were not what, actually, happened. listen to what he said. >> we planned for every contingency. but i always promised the american people that i will be straight with you. the truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had

anticipated. >> what was missing from following that, anderson, is why it changed -- why it was different. why it unfolded differently than they had expected because that's when a big question facing the white house is, was this an intelligence failure? was this a strategy failure? was it a combination of the two? because it has put a lot of scrutiny on his foreign policy and the way they withdrew, not the fact that -- that they withdrew, which is what he spent a majority of the speech today defending. >> if, in fact, it was an intelligence failure, if the u.s. did not know that the -- the afghan national army wouldn't fight. that -- that things would -- would fall as quickly as they did. i guess, supporters of the policy and -- and the white house would -- would say, well, that shows that the difficulties operating there and one more reason why the u.s. shouldn't be involved there. if we don't know who it is, you know, the capabilities of the people that we've been funding for the last 20 years. that's, certainly, a sign of something. >> well, and i think that raises the question with, then, why did

the president say it was highly unlikely the taliban would take over? i mean, he did talk about their competency. he talked about how equipped and trained the afghan security forces were. though, we know when we have heard from colleagues like barbara star with the pentagon that when you talk to u.s. soldiers, they knew there were a lot of complaints actually within the afghan security forces over whether or not they were even actually on the payroll. whether they got time off. whether they were actually properly supplied, properly fed. complaints like that, that were real complaints that they had. and so, i think that's part of the question that's facing the white house over this decision is given that, you know, they say they've prepared for every possibility, every contingency. clearly, not. given we saw the airport overrun, overnight. there was a scramble to evacuate u.s. personnel, who were still at the embassy in kabul. a really expensive embassy that the united states had built there that, now, the state department says is not being guarded. and so, i think those are the questions facing them is what, exactly, how was this planned? why was this not done sooner? the -- to where it wasn't where

you saw a helicopter hovering over the u.s. embassy trying to get u.s. personnel to the airport. >> kaitlan, just briefly, the -- do you know what the plan is, now? i mean, are they -- does the white house still claim that they are going to be able to get out the tens of thousands of afghans, who have helped the u.s. over the years? >> president biden said, today, that they are going to work to do so. they sound confident about it. but if you look at the situation, on the ground, and the deterioration there. the question is whether or not people who are -- who do want to leave are going to come forward and are going to be able to get out of there. given -- look what's happening at the airport. imagine the people who aren't, actually, at the airport, yet. how do they get there? of course, it's not really popular, right now, to make known that you were someone who helped the u.s., for the better part of ten decades. given, of course, it's now being run by the taliban. that people are targeting those very people. and so, that's really the big question. and that really is going to be a big point for the white house, going forward. >> kaitlan collins, appreciate it. cnn senior political commentator, david axelrod, joins us now.

david, what do you make of president biden's speech today? did he do enough to take responsibility? how do you think it played? >> i thought the part of the speech -- the bulk of the speech, in which he made the case for why we had to leave afghanistan was very powerful and very compelling. and it was familiar to me because i -- i heard biden make similar arguments 12 years ago when president obama was formulating his policy. but i do think, anderson, he could have done more to take responsibility for what is -- was manifestly a failure. everyone is watching these horrific images on the screen. and -- and everyone remembers what -- what the assurances that he gave the country, back in april. and i think there is nothing wrong with saying we got that wrong, and i own it. you know? john f. kennedy, after the bay of pigs, said victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan, and i am the

responsible officer of government for -- you know, so he took full responsibility. actually, benefitted from that. but clearly, things went wrong. and he kind of glossed over that, today, and i think he made a mistake doing that. i think people would have accepted, if he had said, yeah, we got this wrong. we got to find out why but mostly what we have to do, now, is make up time that we lost here. >> you know, you worked, obviously, in the obama administration. president obama, with iraq, sent troops back in. which was not very popular among -- certainly, among a lot of the president's supporters, at -- at the time. joe biden was vice president from there. and do you see any potential for a similar repeat? because i mean, as you said, joe biden was, then, as vice president, i assume, he wasn't for sending troops back in? >> well, look. the policy had drifted for seven

years because the attention had shifted to iraq. and so, president obama was trying to formulate a strategy for afghanistan that was missing. the pentagon felt, strongly, that to stabilize afghanistan, we needed to have a surge and this was a huge debate, within the administration. and joe biden was concerned that the mission was shifting away from its intention, which is what he talked about today, which was to disable al qaeda and go after the people who had attacked the u.s. and he felt that we should limit our mission there because we would get bogged down, endlessly. he turned out to be right about that. and i think most americans accept that argument. you look at polling, and by something like a two-to-one margin, americans supported the idea of getting out of afghanistan. but, you know, i do think that these images, today, are going to have some impact on that. in the long poll, i think biden was -- was right about that. 12 years ago. and -- and he, you know, clearly, feels strongly today. he is not gonna send troops

back, and i don't think the american people are of a mind to send troops back. >> from your experience in the white house, i mean, how does a president get information -- i mean, biden, you know, a month ago, was saying he doesn't think the country's going to fall so quickly that they are going to take over. clearly, i guess, that was base on information he had been given on the capabilities of the -- the army from intelligence sources or from the military. how does a president get information that is that's just -- turns out to be wrong? >> well, look. i think, first of all, we are going to get the answer to that question because it seems clear that, both, republicans and democrats in congress are eager to find out the answer to that question. and they should, because if the intelligence was really deficient, that's a big concern. you make life-and-death decisions, based on that intelligence. so what went wrong? the other thing, anderson, is the president said today, we're going to continue to fight terrorism where we find it in afghanistan and elsewhere. and we're going to keep eyes on what's going on there. well, they kept eyes on what was going on in the last year and

got it completely wrong. >> yeah. >> so, this is a big -- there is a big reason to want to know this. and i think some acknowledgment that there was -- that mistakes were made, on the part of the president today, would have been appropriate. >> david axelrod, appreciate it. thanks. coming up, as we digest chaotic scenes like that at kabul's airport, we will discuss the question of what is next. specifically, what one top-u.s. general believes that could mean for terrorist groups in the region.

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thousands in kabul, afghanistan, desperate to get out, still. many at the airport. many in their homes. afraid to try to make it to the airport. the images on the ground in kabul bear repeating and, certainly, raise the question of exactly what comes next for those people and for the country. areas once secured by u.s. forces like this one outside the evacuated u.s. embassy in kabul, now patrolled by taliban forces celebrating their decades-long return to control of the country. more concern is what the taliban's takeover means for counterterrorism efforts. general mark milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told senators in a briefing sunday, terror groups like al qaeda could reconstitute in afghanistan sooner than the two years that u.s. defense officials had, previously, estimated to congress, according to a senate aide briefed on the comments. want to get perspective now from peter bergen, national security analyst who spent decades chronicling al qaeda and

afghanistan as author of the new book "the rise and fall of osama bin laden." peter and i have traveled in afghanistan together. also, retired general, who served as assistant secretary of state during the bush administration. general, you wrote today that the route will go down in history as one of the greatest-military defeats of the past century. in the end, despite the billions of dollars, the 20 years of training by u.s. special forces and others, what happened? >> well, i think, what we couldn't calculate and what we couldn't measure is the fact that the average-afghan soldier was surrounded by corruption. didn't really have a cause that bound him to, either, his unit or his country. and candidly, the taliban had a tremendous strategic-communications campaign that kept their people together. and the sciops that was executed on the average unit inside of

the afghan military caused them to, either just give up or melt away into -- into the sunset. >> peter, the way the u.s., you know, botched the evacuation of american and allied citizens, clearly, didn't expect this to happen so fast. is there any, good reason why intelligence agencies would have missed signs the taliban was poised for -- for a rapid, you know, control of kabul? >> look, the taliban probably are surprised by how well they've done. um, i'm not excusing the intelligence community but i mean, whenever there's some, significant event, think about, you know, the events of the arab spring. you know, the agency, the cia, tends to -- to miss it. and the people involved in a revolution don't, often, understand how successful they're going to be. so -- but as soon as, you know, when we started seeing falling and then, also, ghazni, which is crucial to kandahar highway, it was clear the game was up. and the -- the intelligence assessment of 30-to-90 days should have, immediately, been adjusted to several days. as the general says, you know,

the collapse of the afghan army is also, i think, one element here is the -- the country's been at war since 1978, even before the soviets invaded. and most afghans want to retain their heads on their bodies. and they will switch sides not because they're bad people but because they have seen so many people -- so many forces come and go. and they want -- there -- there's a strong desire for survival. >> peter, do you share the concern that al qaeda could reconstitute in afghanistan, quickly? >> yeah. i mean, general milley. i mean, he's -- he's in a pretty good position to make that assessment. and, you know, every jihadi group in the world, not just al qaeda but isis and the 20 other foreign terrorist groups that are already in afghanistan. they are all going to be pouring in to celebrate this great victory. >> general, just in terms of, you know, the fulfilling any obligation that the u.s. feels to afghans who have helped them and to their families and people who are, understandable, you know, having understandable fear tonight about what may happen to them.

um, just logistically, the u.s. has the airport. they are sending in up to 6,000 troops, which seems like an awful lot to be able to, you know, enough, probably, i assume, to secure an airport. at least from a direct attack. i don't know about, you know, mortars or shells coming in from -- from distances. but what do you make of the ability? is -- is the u.s. able to, given all that's going on, actually, fulfill promises made to -- to people that have helped us? >> well, i'd ask the taliban. the simple fact is that the taliban will, now, have to let those potential-u.s. citizens come into the airport. while we have control of the airport, we don't have control outside. and while it'll be a very simple, logistics effort to bring those people that are inside the airport perimeter now into a series of airlifts. what about the tens of thousands that aren't at the airport? um, and the only way they're going to get there is if the

taliban open the doors and let them come in. but i think that's going to be in -- problematic. >> yeah. i mean, peter, you know, i guess, you know, some might, i guess, you could argue the taliban, you know, would not want to antagonize. you know, if they want foreign aid from a lot of countries, they might let foreign citizens and -- and other afghans leave. the -- the flip side of that is they may not want an educated class of afghans who are civil servants or whomever leaving and taking, with them, you know, the -- the ability to actually help run -- run the country. do you -- peter, do you -- you know, when you hear the taliban on the streets of kabul telling clarissa ward, oh, girls can still go to school. things like that. we've changed. do you buy any of that? >> i don't. i have a great deal of skepticism. i spent a fair amount of time in taliban-controlled afghanistan when they were in power. and, you know -- you know, exactly what they did. i don't think there is a great deal of countervailing evidence and claims they simply make that we've changed. um, let's see how they -- you

know, they are going to declare their emirate. they are going to wait us out till -- till we leave. and then, they have a free hand. and i -- you know, anticipate ethnic cleansing. i anticipate reprisals against anybody who have had any help with the americans or their allies. and a pretty bleak future. >> yeah. i mean, these are thugs with a very medieval ideology. >> oh, absolutely right. i think, both, peter and i would agree that we would expect this country to be in a pre-9/11 state within the next year. they have a wonderful strategic-communications campaign, as i have said, bringing flowers to the negotiators in doha. using social media, very, very well. the taliban spokesman was over all the channels. you would have thought these were the sundays, he was on so many channels today. trying to tell everybody how things would be safe. things would be better. >> yeah. >> but, you know, behind all of this, their ideology hasn't changed and their objectives haven't changed. >> yeah. peter bergen.

retired general mark kimett, thank you so much. re appreciate it. just ahead. a tragedy unfolding in another country with ties to the u.s. we will have a report after a massive earthquake in parts of haiti. (upbeat pop music in background throughout)

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breaking news tonight. the death toll from the massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake in haiti has risen in the last few hours, haitian officials now report that at least 1,419 people have died. thousands more are injured. with tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, haiti tonight is also facing the prospect of flash flooding and mudslides, as a tropical depression threatens a country still reeling from the chaos caused by the assassination of its president. mat rivers is in haiti for us, with the details. >> reporter: getting to the hardest-hit area of this earthquake means a helicopter ride 100 miles away from port-au-prince. land and the reality of haiti's latest trauma greets us on the tarmac. a waiting truck, filled with people injured over the weekend, still, waiting to be evacuated. first to come out, a young child held by a relative, carried into a waiting plane. next up, an elderly woman in a

wheelchair, unable to walk, lifted out of her chair. she is carried up, step by cautious step, on her way to the help that still eludes so many. things are out of control, at the hospital, he says. not enough doctors, not enough medicine, serious injuries. we need urgent help, before things get worse. at least 1,400 have been killed, and thousands more injured in the worst earthquake to strike here since 2010. not far from the airport, this is what remains of a multistory hotel. officials say there could, still, be bodies in this rubble. some here, digging trying to help. others, digging for scrap metal and air conditioners. what you don't see here are haitian authorities. there is no police presence. there is no firefighters. there are no search-and-rescue crews here. there's just people from the community and this lone excavator that is not, currently, in operation. it's very indicative of what we are seeing, as we drive through this area, near the epicenter.

aid, simply, isn't arriving quickly. part of the reason? blocked roads, like this one, impassable for some convoys. >> the response effort. it is taking time to actually get there. i mean, we should have been there already. we -- we are getting started but we're not satisfied. >> reporter: back at the airport, first responders, desperately, look for a way to get this young girl out. she's stoic but her leg is gravely injured, and she's clearly in pain. this plane is full. another helicopter takes off, without her. and so, after walking around the tarmac, she is placed in another truck. a painful wait for help goes on. >> matt joins us now from port-au-prince. matt, there's concern, now, about the tropical depression grace's impact on the search and recovery efforts. thousands, without homes, tonight. what's the weather situation there right now? >> reporter: yeah. the fact is, anderson, there could be some parts of these communities that were hardest hit that could receive 5, 10, maybe 15, inches of rain,

overnight, tonight into tomorrow. that, of course, raises the risk of flash flooding, of mudslides, makes it harder for search-and-rescue teams to do their work. and you are also talking about thousands and thousands of people who have been displaced from their homes, who are spending the night outside, anderson. during a tropical depression. >> wow. it's just awful. matt rivers, appreciate you being there. thank you. up next, what pfizer told the fda, today, about its covid-booster shot. and what it could mean for how quickly they're available. without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme.

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tonight as covid cases surge in 40 states, pfizer submitted initial data to the fda from a clinical trial shows that a booster of their vaccine works well against the original coronavirus and the beta and delta variants. this is part of their application seeking authorization of a vaccine booster for everyone 16 and older. joining us is leana wen, author of the new book "lifelines." how significant is the news from pfizer? initial data is one thing, getting the data authorized is another. do you think they will? >> well, i don't know.

but here's what i think based on the data, that it's good news, but actually it's not really surprising because what they found is that a third dose increases your antibody levels and the antibodies appear to be effective against the delta variant. all of that is commonsense. we know that the two doses of the pfizer vaccine are effective against delta, why wouldn't a third dose be better? that's not answering the key questioning we have right now. the key question is, how quickly does immunity wane after the first two doses? how soon to the rates of hospitalizations begin to increase and i think not only that, even if you don't have severe illness, is it more likely that immunity to symptomatic disease also begins to wane? that's the question that i think will really determine when a booster is going to be needed. >> how do you square this data with the fact that the cdc and nih have not yet seen proof that a booster is needed for the general public? >> there are two different

questions being asked right now, one is a question of is a booster going to be effective. i think we can say, yes, a booster is going to be effective. but do we need a booster is a separate question. for example, right now, we don't know, there are data coming out of israel that say maybe you need a booster because the protection against symptomatic illness may be decreasing from 90 something percent to 40% or 50%. but i think the cdc and fda are saying that the vaccines protect very well against hospitalization and death. we haven't seen that decline yet and maybe we'll wait until then. i think the data from pfizer are promising, even if they're not surprising. >> we don't know the length of time at which a booster might be necessary, there's not enough data you're saying, or conflicting data? >> right, i think there are conflicting data and conflicting values. some people might say, i don't want to get a vaccine unless it turns out that i'm more likely to be hospitalized or die.

but other people will say, i don't want to get sick at all. if the likelihood of symptomatic illness begins to increase, i want to get a booster at that time. it's not just the science, but also the values. >> interesting. dr. wen, appreciate it. tropical storm fred strikes part of the gulf coastline with two other storms in the atlantic. latest forecast ahead. stal serve is changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide, and returns right from the doorstep. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's 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 i've 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.

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and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. tonight tropical storm fred is moving inland after making land fall along the florida panhandle. they could see flooding, dangerous storm surge and possible tornados. the storm is heading north into alabama and western georgia with rapid weakening expected by tomorrow morning. fred is one of three atlantic storms that's being watched. tropical storm henry is threatening the bahamas. and tropical depression grace is off the coast of haiti. this saturday on cnn, don't miss we love nyc, the homecoming concert. bruce springsteen, paul simon,

ll cool j. patty smith to name a few. you'll see it here on cnn saturday night, 5:00 p.m. eastern time. news continue right now. let's hand things over to chris for "cuomo primetime." chris? >> welcome to "prime time." it's good to be back. some reached out about my brother's situation and i have a note on that. first tonight, i want us to deal with the crisis that is coming at all of us. this is afghanistan. and it is a nightmare. innocent masses begging america not to leave them to vicious extremism. but that is what has happened. this picture is also making the rounds. proof of america saving hundreds on a cargo plane. but be clear, 640 men, women and children make for a good photograph. but this is not a good reality. this is a drop of humanity