breaking overnight at this hour, the taliban's strangle hold on power continues to solidify. while more u.s. military forces arrive in kabul to evacuate our d diplomatic corps as quickly as possible after afghan forces failed to put up much of a fight against the taliban. >> we invested over 20 years, billions of dollars in these forces 300,000 of them, with an air force. something the taliban didn't have, with the most modern sophisticated equipment.

and unfortunately, tragically, they have not been able to defend the country >> joe biden remains at camp david where he's being briefed by his team. when he will speak to the nation just days after a devastating earthquake takes the lives of some 1300 people, rescuers and survivors are bracing for a tropical storm and mask mandates are fueling division and hospitals are filled to capacity and janessa webb is tracking three storms a busy monday ahead. "early today" starts right now glad you're with us. i'm frances rivera an abrupt and def d dech st- d devastating end to america's

longest war, as taliban fighters secure control of the country's capital. molly hunter joins us live from london good morning the capital city descended into chaos after the president fled why did he have no choice but to leave his country? >> reporays he had ns saving his life and the news came late afternoon, evening local time that the president and his most senior aides had fled the country, had left the presidential palace. we saw pictures last night of taliban inside essentially, their equivalent of the oval office, frances. there was one guy in a western suit who apparently was a palace official, handing over the palace to the new taliban rulers, who are now absolutely in control of the country. last night in kabul, absolute chaos. no one was in control of the security take a listen to what a former afghan ambassador to the u.s. told our colleague mehdi hasan

last night >> i feel betrayed i feel a loss. i feel hopeless. i feel very disappointed most importantly, it is just hard to pull it together and collect your thoughts again. >> reporter: really devastating, frances. president ashraf ghani had very little popular support, and trust is going to be in short supply across the board this morning. frances? >> the taliban has taken over in a little over a week so how did they assemble so quickly, and how did they get so powerful >> reporter: yeah, frances really yesterday was the final day, the crowning moment of the taliban taking over the country. we saw those headlines in major

provinces fall day by day over the last ten days. yesterday morgue started with the taliban at the dates of kabul. a spokesperson said they were waiting for a "peaceful transition of power. by late morning, early afternoon, our team on the ground, richard engel and other saw police and security forces leave as the taliban came in and the day ended after the former president ashraf ghani fled the country and taliban established themselves in the seat of power. >> so what's next for the afghan people, specifically women and girls? >> reporter: that's one of the big questions, the people in afghanistan do not know which version of the taliban they're going to get so the taliban spokes people have come out yesterday and said they are a different group they are going to rule differently than 21 years ago. 21 years ago when the taliban was in control, frances, girls couldn't go to school, women couldn't become lawyers or

judges or politicians, they couldn't pursue professional careers is that the taliban that will rule the country now or take into account the big changes that have happened over the last 20 years. we may get answer to those questions sooner rather than later. >> molly, thank you. let's turn now to the reaction in washington, d.c. top officials have admitted that they were caught off guard how quickly the taliban made gains the president is facing fierce criticism over the withdrawal of u.s. forces. we're joined now by nbc's jay gray jay, what are we hearing from the white house this morning >> reporter: not a lot, actually there are no public appearances on the president's schedule for the day. he remains at catch david right now, and he's briefing with his national security team, as well as his defense team. as they continue to move troops back into kabul right now, as security forces working security for those americans still on the

ground the secretary of state has insisted there wasn't much more the united states could do there, pointing to a deadline established to get troops out by the trump administration, and saying that the afghan security forces there simply did not do their job. but that reaction is getting a lot of backlash here in washington >> there's still no strategy, other than race to the airport and evacuate as many people as you can. >> so everybody who has been saying america needs to withdraw, america needs to retreat, we are getting a devastating, catastrophic real-time lesson in what that means. >> idea that we would sign up for remaining there in the midst of a civil war for another 5, 10, 20 years was not in the national interest. that is the hard decision the president made >> reporter: the focus continues to be on protecting the americans on the ground in afghanistan. u.s. troops have taken over air traffic control of the airport in kabul, hoping to expedite the

flight out of the country. >> the question, is how long will their mission be there, how long will they need to stay? jay, thank you american spent $2 trillion in the war in afghanistan, and with the taliban takeover, some of those two served in the war are asking what their sacrifices were for here's megan fitzgerald. >> reporter: more than 2400 flag draped coffins returned home from afghanistan the nation honoring our heroes who sacrificed it all in america's longest war, starting in 2001, when the world trade towers were attacked >> we will stay until the mission is done. >> reporter: the mission, to defeat al qaeda and kill osama bin laden, driving out the taliban and building an afghan government that could survive on its own. >> we will stand with you as your defend your new democracy >> reporter: it was a commitment lasting 20 years, skasting the u.s. more than $2 trillion

>> america's commitment to you and to a secure, stable, and unified afghanistan, that remains firm >> afghans will secure and build their own nation, and define their own future >> we have trained and equipped a standing force of over 300,000 afghan personnel today >> reporter: more than 600,000 troops deployed, multiple times, working to train the afghan army as american military leaders promised they would one day be ready. >> the bulk of this country today is secure. >> we are building afghan security forces that are on track to take the lead for securing the entire country. >> they have capable ground, air, and special operations forces [ gunfire >> reporter: but onl how do you feel about what's happening in afghanistan right now? >> i'm broken hearted about it

i hate to think that everything we did out there was in vain >> reporter: denise's son was a med whoiic who served four year afghanistan and killed on the frontlines her son and comrades will always be heroes. they fought to help a country that was unable to help themselves now to american service members on the ground in haiti a joint task force was established to assess the damage and planning a disaster response this as the death toll from saturday's massive earthquake rises to nearly 1300 nbc's gabe gutierrez has the latest from haiti. >> reporter: a frantic search for survivors is under way after the earthquake that ravaged southwest haiti. the race against time is even more urgent with tropical storm grace bharreling towards the country. >> a lot of damages. a lot of dead and injured people and for the moment, it's really

hard for the haitian people. >> reporter: the death toll here more than tripled, skyrocketing to more than 1,000 at least 3,000 people were injured. u.s. search and rescue teams and the coast guard are rushing in supplies, as the haitian government declares a state of emergency. a lot of help is needed this aid worker says, as he flies out victims. haiti was already reeling from the assassination of its president last month, intensifying gang violence and a spiraling economic crisis. the 7.2 magnitude quake saturday morning was stronger than the 7.0 quake that struck haiti in 2010, killing an estimated 250,000 people but this one's epicenter was not as close to the capital, the most populated area. still, there have been 17 confirmed aftershocks and there are fears the death toll could keep rising. >> it was unbelievable and then people just started screaming everywhere

on the streets and just out of, you know, panic and fear >> reporter: betty lives in jeremy near the epicenter. with an impending tropical storm, the situation is growing more dire. >> for people that have limited resources, have houses that aren't well constructed, and knowing full well that there was a tropical storm coming in the next three days. >> our thanks to gabe gutierrez for that report. we are tracking a triple threat of storms let's turn to nbc meteorologist janessa webb who has had a very busy weekend and now a busy start to the week. >> yeah, good morning. let's get right into this. i do have a tropical storm system that's sitting in the gulf, a tropical depression that is in the caribbean, and tropical depression eight that just formed across bermuda let's talk about tropical storm fred southwest florida dealing with a lot of rain right now. right now it's taking an east

trajectory, heading more to the north. so the florida panhandle later on tonight, we will see that landfall across panama city. right now, dealing with sustained winds at 50 miles per hour, with tropical storm warnings put in place, even for southwestern georgia the problem with tropical storm fred that it's going to be prolonged moisture across the deep south, into the southeast, making its way into sections of the northeast, as we go into next week. now you have tropical depression fred, starting to interact with some land. that's why it's died down to a tropical depression. but the problem is for haiti, dominican republic finally cooling off for the

great lakes into the northeast temps in the low 80s and then we do still have f tropical depression eight. >> janessa, thank you. t-mobile confirmed it is investigating claims that a hacker is selling sensitive data from more than 100 million of its customers. they have taken information, including social security numbers, naming, addresses and driver license info. they have had zata breaches in the past, the most recent in december of 2020 still to come, the new vaccine requires for a concert giant and the new rules in n york city as covid cases surge a whole lot more? cool. so what are you waiting for? mckayla maroney to get your frisbee off the roof? i'll get it. ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ whoa.

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when you l'eggo with eggo. in today's top stories, following the catastrophic collapse of the afghan government, the united nations will hold an emergency meeting today. it is unclear how the taliban will be regarded by the united nations should they declare legitimate power over the country. the u.n. has maintained an extensive aid operation in the country, employing nearly 3,000 afghans and 720 international staff members in afghanistan a search and rescue team from virginia arrived in haiti overnight. the team includes 65 people and they brought four dogs and 52,000 pounds of equipment they will join a federal

response teams already on the island where a massive earthquake has claimed more than 1200 lives tennis star naomi osaka pledged to donate any winnings from the western and southern open this week to relief efforts. her father was born in haiti seven years into a legal battle, the gunmaker remington is offering the families of the sandy hook shooting a settlement the ar-15 remington rifle was used to murder teachers and students in 2012 remington's lawyers have denied the allegations in court and another major company announced a vaccine mandate, live nation entertainment, one of the largest concert and ticketing company also require artists, fans, and employees to be fully vaccinated against

covid-19 in order to gain access to concerts and venues while fans have the option of showing a negative covid test, employees do not all employees must be vaccinated by october 4, which is the same day the new vaccination rules go into effect where permitted by law. and then here came elvis with a hot stomping, steaming, sexy kind of music that turned on young people as pop music never had before others came along, including the beatles, but they were all indebted to him around most said so he died today, even though he didn't drink, smoke, or drive his own car, he quit breathing at the age of 42 >> 44 years ago, the king of rock 'n' roll, elvis pressty, died at his graceland estate in memphis. he was only 42 years old but his legacy lives on strong to this day.

thank you for starting your week with us i'm frances rivera coming up on the "today" show, national security adviser jake sullivan will speak out amid the taliban takeover in afghanistan. and where the united states will t om here. your news contues here oin

breaking overnight the taliban controls afghanistan as security crumbles in kabul. panic grips residents as they rush to flee the city. the u.s. sending in up to 6,000 troops to ensure swift extraction of our diplomatic team it's those who are left behind, specifically women who fear for their lives with a return to the brutality of the past. in haiti a storm is causing chaos as they search for those who may be alive following saturday morning's 7.2 magnitude