good day. this is "andrea mitchell reports." i'm garrett haake in washington where president biden is feeling intense political pressure two critical fronts. first, on afghanistan the president getting a briefing from defense secretary lloyd austin and joint chiefs chairman mark milley this morning as the mass exodus of americans, foreign nationals and afghan citizens with visas continues. with some people arriving at dulles airport in northern virginia. and new from the u.s. embassy in afghanistan, a message from kabul that they cannot ensure safe passage to karzai international airport for flights departing the country. there are serious concerns over whether taliban forces will allow thousands of u.s. citizens and afghans outside of the country before the august 31st withdrawal deadline. on the coronavirus we will hear from the president this afternoon as the delta variant is fueling the largest seven-day average in cases in six months, spurring the nation's top health

officials into action with the announcement of a third dose for moderna and pfizer vaccine recipients subject to an independent review from the fda. >> it is now our clinical judgment that the time to lay out a plan for covid-19 boosters is now. we planned to start this program the week of september 20, 2021. i want to emphasize that this decision was not made lightly. it was made with careful consideration by the top medical and public health experts and it was made by data, thoughtful analysis and collective years of experience addressing illness and epidemics. >> the 900,000 new u.s. covid cases in the last week include texas governor greg abbot, a fierce opponent of mask mandates who were fully vaccinated and there are bombarding icus with

children filling the beds. >> please get vaccinated. the best action you can do to protect yourself and others is to get vaccinated in the first place. >> we begin this hour with the situation in afghanistan, and nbc national security and military correspondent courtney kubi and weekend today co-host peter alexander, david ignatius and retired four-star army general mccaffrey. let's go to foreign chief correspondent richard engel. >> garrett, things here are looking more orderly than a couple of days ago, this is the kabul international airport and on monday this is where we saw thousands of afghans climb on to the fence, storm on to the runway and hanging on to civilian planes and u.s. military transport jets stopping the evacuation process. more troops have been brought

in. more military vehicles are on display and there are fighter jets above and all day we've been watching groups of afghans escorted on to base, taken to processing centers and planes taking off in a somewhat regular schedule. a much smoother evacuation process than the absolute bedlam that we saw here a couple of days ago. but this is an island just outside of this space, the taliban controls and around the perimeter of the base itself there are afghans who are desperate to get out. afghans do not want to live under taliban rule who are trying to get in, pushing to get in. the taliban is continuing to promise people, continuing to say that everything will be all right and once again today they said that women can work, that there will be free expression saying that it has to be in accordance with islamic law, but many don't believe the taliban which is why they want to leave and yesterday we saw the first tiny protest, a few very brave

afghan women going out on the streets holding placards saying women's rights must be defended and today in the city of jalalabad, some afghans went out and they were carrying the old afghan flag, the multi-colored afghan flag saying that's their flag, the national flag and not the taliban flag. according to witnesses, taliban opened fire and killed at least three of them. so far on this base today things seem to be moving more smoothly. >> richard engel with the situation on the ground in kabul and general mccaffrey, i'll go right to you picking up from what we heard from richard that the taliban leaders seem to be saying all of the right things rid now, but in less than two weeks, this air light of and extraction operation is supposed to be over. i guess my question is is this over when we decide it's over or when the taliban decides it's over and do we have the military and logistics capacity to get everyone we need to get out before that happens?

>> i think the ability to airlift people out of kabul international is enormous. we literally could fly tens of thousands out now between the 31st of august so the only real question at hand is will the taliban, who have all the cards, who have a perimeter around this single runway at the foot of mountains and with an encroaching major city, will they allow the americans, 5,000 to 10,000, to come from throughout afghanistan and get into the airport? i think they probably will. i don't think they're likely to attack the full brigade of the 82nd and two marine battalions. however, they can interdict that air evacuation at any moment. it's hard for me to imagine that it will be a focal point for the successful evacuation of these siv category afghans. we're not going to be able to

process those applications on the runway, and nor is it likely that any smart interpreter would show up with his family, present all his documents to a taliban fighter and say how about letting me on. so this is a grim situation. i cannot really imagine us going much beyond 31 august. it will be over. from then on, it's millions of refugees into the adjoining states. >> so enormous logistical challenges still ahead, but courtney, we were starting to see some people who were in kabul a few days ago in the united states arriving today. can you catch us up on how the military is trying to ramp up this evacuation effort and what can we expect to hear from secretary austin and joint chief chairman milley this afternoon and this will be the first time that we've heard from them since the situation collapsed? >> that's right. the evacuation efforts have ramped up in the last 12 to 24 hours and we know in the last 24

hours there have been 19 u.s. military transport aircraft that have come in carrying troops and some equipment and 19 that have gone out. they've carried about 2,000 passengers out. the numbers are confusing, garrett. so i'm not going to go too much into them and we know that it includes hundreds of american citizens and it includes afghans and nato ally partners. so the efforts to get people out of the country are flowing now. the ultimate goal here or the ultimate capacity that the u.s. military has is they could fly one plane in and out every single hour within a capacity of upwards of 9,000 people every day out of kabul international airport. it's not an airlift issue that they have to get these people out. it's the other issues and the other logistical problems that we've been hearing about and one of the biggest ones is getting people to the airport safely so they can get on these aircraft and get out. once they get to the airport, if

they can get there safely there's the bureaucratic wrangling of do they have any paperwork and how did they get on the plane and do they have the documents that they need? >> it's a difficult situation on the ground there, but i think one thing we will hear from secretary austin and chairman of the joint chiefs general mark milley is they are ramping up this evacuation effort. i don't anticipate that they will talk about any changes to the ultimate timeline of this mission. it still remains that it will go until august 31st and that's when all u.s. troops are supposed to be out. as of now the u.s. military officials say they will continue that evacuation effort until then and get as many people out as they possibly can until then. one thing i'm hoping to hear from them is more detail about the conversations that the u.s. military on the ground in afghanistan are having with the taliban. it's an interesting development that we've just learned about in the past couple of days and that's that military commanders there are talking to essentially

their military counterparts in the taliban and talking about safe passage to get to the airport and potentially have safe passage to afghans and that opens up an entirely new set of problems with having the afghans move through as general mccaffrey was explaining can they move through the taliban check points and it doesn't appear to be the case yet. >> i'm glad you mentioned those conversations in theater and that was one of the most fascinating things we saw in the briefing. peter, the biden administration is trying to send the right messages responding to the circumstances on the ground including a joint statement today calling on afghanistan's new leaders, the taliban to protect women and girls. you know how it is, the politics of this when you are responding you're shally losing and the president is trying to respond to pretty rough politics at home and take us through what the white house is reviewing these developments and what they'll do next. >> the white house has said that politics is a side issue and that's yet president, we know in

the last couple of hours has been meeting with austin and the joint chiefs chairman milley ahead of that briefing that they will hold later today. we expect to hear from the president and he's to speak this afternoon. the covid boost, and that would give some updates as it relate to afghanistan afg and that is a huge challenge and they do it with political rid out, and there are leading democrats on the house foreign affairs committee, the senate foreign relations committee. the senate side want to have a full accounting according to bob menendez, the democrat. they want to hear from the secretary of defense and the secretary of state tony blinken. on the house side they've been saying effectively that this is disappointing and concerning. there's a lot of tough language being directed this way and also new information as it relates to our reporting over the last

several hours. the cia having intelligence assessments and dated back to the last several weeks about the potential for a very quick taliban takeover. we are now getting the first administration acknowledgement that they had received assessments to that effect and i'll put that up on the screen for you to read along. from the senior u.s. intelligence official we identify the risk of the collapse of the afghan government and we grew more pessimistic of the survival as the season progressed. this was less an issue of afghan military capabilities and more a reflection of afghan leadership, cohesion and willpower. that said, the afghan government unraveled even more quickly than we anticipated. a little bit of nuance there that may be notable to you. you'll remember the president had seemed to place some blame on the afghan security forces and this statement places much more of the blame on the government and has a big acknowledgement about the understanding that existed here among members of the

administration and the real risk of the taliban taking over so quickly, garrett? >> it is interesting to do the forensic journalism saying this was not our mistake, we had this information. david ignatius, let's keep the focus on the president here for a minute, and i want to read to you back something you wrote from your latest column where you say in part, biden is being played both for his decision and its sloppy execution. many of us had without a transition plan he was unwisely ending a low-cost insurance policy against a disaster now unfolding. biden owns the final decision, for better or worse. david, i wonder if you think this decision will follow him for years or whether if this airlift will go well, the forgotten war as afghanistan was so long known as just goes back to being forgotten in a year or two? >> so far, garrett, this is the landmark decision of his

presidency. it was one taken because he had such intense, strong views. he overwrote objections from his military advisers and has been building in joe biden since 2009 in which he was almost alone saying our being in afghanistan should be to counter terrorism and preventing a 9/11 attack. many people think biden was right back then and he he lost that fight and we added 30,000 more troops in 2009. the problem is that in the last several years our military mission in afghanistan has been focused on the very thing that biden wanted to emphasize. it's been a counter terrorism mission. we had a platform with a very small number of troop, under 10,000 for the last two years. i quoted former general of the

jints exists and this was an insurance approximately see to proprotect, and he does own that, and i think we're seeing in the chaos in the kabul airport the lack of adequate planning. the u.s. managed to get the military side of the airport under control now, it siege, but outside the wire in kabul itself there's just complete chaos and an impossible situation. the simple answer to your question is this is joe biden's decision and he does have to answer the consequences. >> we'll find out how those end up being and to much smarter foreign policy and talk about the idea that you can't talk about afghanistan in a serious way without talking about pakistan. david does so in his column and we've obviously had a pretty

mixed relationship with afghanistan's neighbor. what changes now with the taliban back in control and how does that change the terror profile between afghanistan and pakistan and their nuclear-armed neighbor? >> i don't know. every time i went in and out of afghanistan as a defense analyst sponsored normally by centcom i started by going to islamabad for several days and got briefed at 2:00 in the morning by the head of the intelligence service and the generals would grab me and want me to understand their view of what was going on. they were trying to manipulate my own thinking. they wake up every morning worrying about one thing and that's the indians and the potential indian confrontation. they see afghanistan as their strategic rear area. they're in there big time.

they may regret their support for the taliban in the coming year or so. they've got their own taliban inside the ungoverned spaces and the tribal area. i don't know what's going to happen. i don't think the continuing counter terrorism mission in afg was worth staying any longer. i think we have other tool, the fbi, local law enforcement, the cia, special ops, but having said that david ignatius is the best voice on this issue every time. the chaos in afghanistan is brutal. biden does own it. i personally think he had very political option to get out when he did. >> we'll be following it for a long time. courtney, peter, david, general mccaffrey, thank all of you. we'll be on this story for sure. >> coming up, abbott in isolation. the texas governor who blocked mask mandates in his state now has a breakthrough state for covid.

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♪♪ we're back with breaking news. the u.s. national hurricane center now says grace has officially become a hurricane. tropical storm conditions are expected over the next few hours over the cayman islands as the storm begins to pull away today and will make landfall early tomorrow morning on the yucatan peninsula where hurricane conditions are expected as early as tonight. texas governor abbott who band mask mandates in his state has contracted covid-19. the fully vaccinated governor was at a packed indoor event in colin county with no masks in site just as deaths by covid have spiked by over 100%. the governor confirmed the news on twitter last night. >> as you may have heard by now

i have tested positive for covid-19. the good news is that my wife continues to test negative. also, i want you to know that i have received the covid-19 vaccine and that may be one reason why i'm really not feeling symptoms right now. i have no fever, no aches and pains and no other types of symptoms. joining me now is nbc news correspondent morgan check of ney dallas where icu beds are running out and morgan gupta, brings up to speed on the governor's position and the latest on the pushback there on masks and schools. yeah. garrett, as for governor greg abbot he is self-isolating in the governor's mansion in austin, texas. as we heard from the video statement yesterday he is asymptomatic currently experiencing no issues as a result of covid-19 which he credits that could be, maybe because he is vaccinated, but as it relates to the governor's vaccinations, there is some

question and that we know he's vehicles aid, but sources close to the issue say that the governor has said he has received a third shot, although his office is not acknowledging that at this time. in the meantime, we do know that the governor is being treated with regeneron, an antibody treatment typically reserved for people experiencing severe systems on the onset of covid that prevents hospitalization, however, we heard greg abbot say himself he's currently doing just fine. as far as these districts go that are pushing back against the governor's ban on mask mandates, a paris independent school district in the northeast part of the state largely conservative county there has decided to find a loophole of sorts in that they've now made masks a part of the student's dress code, and in doing so, are able to essentially have students and staff abide by that when they come to campus and therefore, they're not defying

the governor's order which has prevented any mask mandates going into effect. however, we've seen districts from across the state in houston, san antonio and austin and openly challenge the governor there with a bit of back and forth happening in the courts, but as it stands right now, the governor not changing his tune and keeping that ban in place as he recovers from covid-19. garrett? >> that's interesting, morgan. my public high school had a strict dress code and that they couldn't control what students were wearing including on their faces is an interesting one. thank you for that report. morgan chesky in dallas. dr. gupta, the irony of governor abbott's case while he's been opposing mitigation efforts like masks isn't lost on anyone. what do you make of his likely prognosis and the fact that morgan pointed out that he's asymptomatic, but taking regeneron. >> good afternoon, garrett. first of all, let's hope that

the governor remains asymptomatic and continues -- >> absolutely. >> -- with the course that progresses first and foremost. the indications for monoclonal antibodies that medication that president trump received way back when in october last year have broadened as we learn more about this therapy. if you've been exposed and you're high risk and if you've been exposed and you're someone with covid-19 and at high risk and even if you're fully vaccinated that you can get this therapy that you can prevent testing positive. i think what's wrong here and what feels difficult to swallow and reconcile is that he's not changing his tune, and you just look at the individual, potentially three shots of the vaccine, getting monoclonal antibody the day he tests

positive, he's taking it very seriously. he's concerned and he's taking it seriously for his own health. he should be thinking through that same lens for the health of all texan, encouraging everybody to get vaccinated and encouraging every school district because kids cannot access vaccines right now. he should preach and practice as a governor the way he cares for his own health and he's not doing that. >> let's talk about the breaking news for today on these booster shots. this comes as these breakthrough cases rise, 342 breakthrough cases and that's a tiny fraction of the overall case load we're seeing across the country and clearly concerning and here's what the surgeon general and dr. fauci said in the last hour about the booster shots. >> we believe that that third dose will ultimately be needed to provide the fullest and continual extent of protection

that people need from the virus. >> you don't want to find yourself behind playing catch up. better stay ahead of it than chasing after it. >> it sounds like we'll see booster shots on a pretty large scale beginning september. what can people expect if you've had two shots and going to get a third? how should people be getting the booster shots sooner rather than later. >> i would respectfully disagree in making this available based on the date that we have publicly to everybody. i think it's a smart decision on their part to make this available to those high risk, 65 and older, pre-existing conditions and we can talk about what that means and if you have an immunocompromised condition. i was among the first to get vaccinated. i'm a critical care doc as well as my colleagues and emergency room colleagues to help in icus

and ers. nine months ago i got my vaccine as have many of my peers. we have real world data. it's not like this is a black box here and so to say that we could need it, let's just wait for the data, and right now all of the data suggests that if you're otherwise healthy less than 65 we can give our third shot to people that really need it, the unvaccinated that we're trying to reach and they're going to confuse our messaging or to the rest of the world where it is clear that the w.h.o. and every country in the world has basically said the u.s. can do more, we should do more. i don't see any need as an intensive care doc as a civilian to take the third shot based on the data that's been made publicly available and that's where you will see controversial discussions about this particular policy decision to make it widely available? >> i think that's interesting. we should put a pin in that thought and it's the second time and we've had policy decisions that may be ahead of the data that's available to the public

and i suspect we will hear more from the president tonight, dr. gupta, thank you very much. coming up, more on kids and covid as the school year gets under way across the country and cases spike. live reports from two school districts making very tough calls, but first, split decision. house democrats divided on how they're backing the president on the afghan withdrawal. marine corps veteran congressman jake auchincloss on who remains accountable. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. we can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change-- meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. faster. vmware. welcome change. this is the sound of change from pnc bank.

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as provincial capitals fell the cia was warning about a rapid and total collapse of the afghan military and government. that's according to current and former u.s. officials one of whom told nbc news the worst case description of what it could look like is pretty close to what happened. the white house won't confirm whether president joe biden received this warning from his national security team. joining me now is congressman jake auchincloss from massachusetts. he's a marine corps veteran who served in afghanistan and is a major in the reserves. i don't know about you, but in the last few days that i talked to afghan vets who are borderline depressed to seeing the withdrawal, to those grateful who finally pulled a plug on a war that cost them limbs and some of their friends' lives.

what's the conversation life among the people you served with? >> this president came into office facing a wrenching decision. he could go big or go home. based on the parameters of the negotiations he inherited from the trump administration, he either needed to fully draw down u.s. forces and recognize the plain truth with the counter insurgency without the political solution could not succeed or he would need to ramp up the troop presence in afghanistan by order of magnitude to prepare for an onslaught of the taliban advance and the new fighting season, basically sheparding in a new decade of the failed war. it's a lonely decision, and not a glorious one, but the right one. i can't help, but notice that some more senior of the democratic party haven't been and the senate side, bob menendez was someone who put out

a critical statement and do you think a generational divide between those who might have voted for this war as opposed to members like yourself who fought for it for whom the afghanistan war is just always a part of their adult life? >> my vantage point is as a young veteran in congress who recognizes the hazards of some bias in the national security decision making in the last 20 years, excuse me. in situation room after situation room the national security leadership of this country asked for more time, more troop, more treasure thinking they could fix it if they had one more year, and i know i'll be prepared years from now when some bush-like president wants to wage a war of choice and tries to blunder and bluster their way to approval i'll be ready to say no. not on our watch, you will not launch another boon doingel.

>> as someone with a pretty specific experience in this theater what would be your questions for milley, and so much seems to ride on the successful evacuation of kabul and of this airport. >> there are two critical questions right now for the united states military. one is given that we have the airports secured we're able to do commercial and military evacuations, what is the progress working with ngos and taliban to ensure safe and expeditious access to the airport? so that's number one, and then number two is what's the status of our over the horizon counter terrorism capabilities. we need to ensure that afghanistan cannot be a base of operations for terrorists going forward. folks may remember that the mission in afghanistan began as a tightly sculpted counter terrorism mission.

to bring to justice the architects of 9/11 and that's a successful mission. >> you guys will be in town for a couple of days and i would be remiss not to ask you about infrastructure. the two dueling bills in the house. the speaker and those nine moderates are going back and forth about what the order of action should be. there has been letters from speaker pelosi, peter defazio and moving forward, how do you see this getting resolved so the two domestic priorities can move through the house sooner rather than later? >> speaker pelosi is a chess grand master and i'm sure she'll be making the right moves. my focus is on climate resilience and getting to a carbon neutral economy. the bipartisan transportation infrastructure bill makes important investments in this nation's roads and ridges and high-speed internet, clean water and we need to do more to be fully climate resilient in the

coming generation and that's the opportunity inherent in the reconciliation package. >> congressman, thank you for your time and thank you for your service. we appreciate you being with us. coming up, super spreader schools turning into a nightmare for parents and health officials after hundreds of students test positive for covid, most too young for the vaccine. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we won't stop. that's why we're calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices. and tonight's winning number, 43 yes! noooo... quick, the quicker picker upper!

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of school for kids in broward county. they're currently defying governor ron desantis' orders by instituting their own mask mandate. what are you hearing and seeing on the ground there? >> garrett, broward county kicks off the school year in the middle of a political tug-of-war over masks. this district requiring them despite the governor's executive order banning mask mandates in schools and this tension came to a head last night in an emergency state board of education meeting where the superintendent of broward was questioned over this decision. it did get heated at times and ultimately, this district and another district also requiring masks were sanctioned by the state in the and the first fun tiff measures taken on these issues and it is not clear what those sanctions will entail. broward is not budging on this. they're looking at the data. last year they had 31,000 covid

cases under the age of 19. this week this county lost three educators to the virus. i've been talking to parents here dropping off their kids and every single parent was in support of this mask mandate and garrett, i also spoke to some students. i spoke to sophie, an 8-year-old third grader, who like many third graders, had a lot of opinions to share. i want you to hear from her. take a listen. >> sophie, how excited are you for the first day? >> i'm so excited and i'm a little nervous and i'm, like, shaking. >> how do you feel about going to school in a mask. >> i feel the same way about my mom. i'm happy that i'm wearing masks. i'm comfortable in it, and it also covers up germs. >> do you know why you're wearing the mask? because no one wants to get sick, and because of the coronavirus. >> garrett, i've been tramping across the country talking to

parents about this issue and many of them have pointed to kids like sophie, to their 7, 6, 5-year-olds who are willing to wear the mask and they seem to understand that it prevents the spread of germs and they're hoping that the grown-ups in leadership positions will listen to kids like sophie. >> sophie gets it. you're in pickens county, south carolina and greenville, where school opened nine days ago and there are something like 600 students in quarantine and two teachers in the hospital. that district was originally following governor mcmaster's orders not having a mask mandate. i wonder could that surge lead to a change? >> yeah. such a strong contrast, garrett between what worked and what is not working and yet here, officials say that they're being forced to continue to do what is not working. the students here were sent into virtual because of that massive outbreak here, garrett, but they only have a week until the state

legislature says they have to go back in, and here in pickens county and throughout south carolina there's not only a mask mandate, but a mandate that schools could lose significant funding if they keep more than 5% of students in virtual. so we've been speaking with patients and speaking with teachers. there's a lot of anxiety and here it is from one parent who talked about what it's like every morning to drop her daughter off at school, garrett. >> yeah. it is -- like i said, as a parent it is very frustrating. i know when i was walking away from dropping my daughter off i was literally almost in tears thinking is this the right thing because you kind of know that these people are not recognizing the risk that's going on here. it's almost knowing the house is going to catch on fire, but we're going to let our kids sit in there and burn. i feel like the governor is making a political statement and my daughter and other kids are collateral damage to that political statement and they don't care.

>> garrett, officials and parents say they are hoping for an intervention, but right now they've got a difficult decision. do they send their kids back in there knowing they'll get sick or go against the state legislature and the governor who until now have said nothing about their intent to change this. >> if you're in a school district who can't require masks and can't send kids to virtual learning your hands are tied. tough situation there, heidi, and dasha burns in florida. thank you both. coming up, race to escape. afghan women being turned away from the airport despite being cleared by the u.s. government. the massive breakdown on the ground is next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. for onl! only at t-mobile. voiceover: riders. wanderers on the road of life.

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earlier this hour the united nations announced they are moving 100 staff members out of afghanistan. the u.n. high commission on refugees also voice concern about human rights violations there especially when it comes to women and girls. that concern expressed by the uk, european union and several other countries in a joint statement that says, quote, we are deeply worried about afghan

women and girls. their rights to education, work and freedom of movement. we call on those in positions of power and authority across afghanistan to guarantee their protection. joining me now is an adjunct senior fellow and also the co-author of the book "awakening need to and fight for women's rights." i want to get your reaction to the statement from the international community. it's a lovely statement, but what more needs to be done to protect women and girls on the ground in afghanistan? what more can be done? >> thank you for having me to talk about this important and urgent situation on the ground, garrett. we need more than statements, i get it. we need to put out cohesive statements with our partners, but that is not going to change what's happening right now on the ground for afghan women and girls who need to be protected. i'm in contact right now with a variety of groups. women activists, young women students, everyone to voice of america female journalists that

cannot seem to get answers or clear process to get to safety or get out of the country. today we're learning that the taliban checkpoints are tightening both around the airport in kabul and throughout the city and around the country. we're hearing reports of physical violence, there were riots today in you jalalabad. being pulled from cars and denied the ability to go to work or school and even their electronics being taken from them seeing if they're doing anything illicit or unapproved. we need to be clear how to serve the women in danger. we are used to seeing chaotic scenes at a time like this maybe. there's not a perfect approach, but we have 13 days until this august 31st deadline and things need to change on the ground in the next 24 or 48 hours and we'll see women and girls in escalating danger. >> let's be clear.

what kind of help could the u.s. government and u.n. and other activists still on the ground provide to these women? do they need logistical help and transportation to the airport? what needs to happen? >> i welcome your focus on what's going to work today instead of assigning blame. i think the bidenly powerful thing. this special visa status. but what that then requires is additional resources to process those applications so that girls and women can get on evacuation flights. i think the airport coordination on the airport side of the airport has got to be a priority. many reports of women going to the gate there. they're cleared through security by the u.s. government to get on planes, to get into the military part of kabul airport. and they can't get through the gate. so, there's a break down in communication that needs more attention. deep concern about places like other provenshal capitals. no safe way to get to kabul airport.

i spent all days reaching out to other activists and other groups working on the ground. you know, a network of safe houses and kind of underground railroad that sprung up from women activists in afghanistan to get women to safety and move them around and deal with the immediate threats. but we need to start talking about how to serve women, girls and other people in places like harat because kabul airport is truly the only way to get out of the country right now. the biden administration needs to appoint a clear lead on helping serve girls and women in afghanistan. this is half the population there. they're incredibly capable women right now in the white house from the gender policy council to administrator samantha power at usa id. please, i hope the biden administration will give these incredible women leaders what they need to get these women out. they have the relationships and the know how, and we need to put more resources against this as a priority. >> i only have 30 seconds left. how concerned are you about the prospect of after august 31st our window into this country

might close for you even to be able to see what is going on there. >> i think because of social media, you know, unless all social media is shut down, the power of social media is that women activists around the world are able to make these violations and these issues public. but we then need to protect and partner with these women. but i think right now we need to look at august 31st as a critical deadline and not assume we have more time. >> a major difference from when the taliban was last in control in 2001. meighan stone, thank you for the work you're doing. that will do it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online and on twitter. you can follow me @garrett haake. chuck todd is up next only on msnbc. here. new aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme.

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if it's wednesday the fingerpointing and blame game over afghanistan is intensifying. with military and intelligence officials telling nbc news the white house ignored their advice and warnings about the situation on the ground. we've seen the situation, afghans afraid for their lives to flee the country acetal been takes over. now, the global community is bracing for an influx of refugees. for those that can get out, where will they go and how will they be received? and it's now official. the white house announces a plan to begin administering booster shots or a third dose to americans in just a few weeks.

it's not a new