as you mentioned, one of your colleagues, that they are in logar, logar is a very short distance away surround kabul, which they are trying to do, they have taken logar, and the route to the north is blocked, kabul would starve, so to speak, because all the roads that lead to kabul would be blocked. sorry tojump in — can that be stopped, is there something the international community can do now? unfortunately at the moment, no. unless they really enter very forcefully and tell the taliban that if they don't stop there onslaught, there will be a serious consequences, and i hate to say, but unless they really go back and with really strong force, there is no way that they can save afghanistan. here in the uk, a vigil has been held in memory of the five people killed by a gunman in plymouth on thursday, in the uk's worst mass shooting in over ten years. the dead include the mother of the gunman, who was the first to die, and a three—year—old girl, sophie martin, who'd been out for a walk with her father who was also shot dead. 0ur correspondentjon kay has the latest from keyham. plymouth

as you mentioned, one of your colleagues, that they are in logar, logar is a very short distance awaye taken logar, and the route to the north is blocked, kabul would starve, so to speak, because all the roads that lead to kabul would be blocked. sorry tojump in — can that be stopped, is there something the international community can do now? unfortunately at the moment, no. unless they really enter very forcefully and tell the taliban that if they don't stop there onslaught, there will be a serious consequences, and i hate to say, but unless they really go back and with really strong force, there is no way that they can save afghanistan. let's get some of the day's other news. at least 21 people are reported to have died in the central chinese province of hubei after torrential rains battered the region. the downpour caused flooding and landslides. hundreds of reservoirs have reportedly exceeded their flood warning levels. this comes after massive flooding killed hundreds in henan province last month. china has said it won't co—operate with the world health organisation's new plan to

as you mentioned, one of your . mentioned, one of your colleagues, that they are in logar, logar is a they surround kabul, which they are trying to do, they have taken logar, and the route to the north is blocked, kabul would starve, so to speak, because all the roads that lead to kabul would be blocked. so to kabulwould be blocked. so to kabulwould be blocked. so to -- to kabul would be blocked. so to —— sorry tojump in, can that be stopped, is there something the international community can do now? unfortunately at the moment, no. unless they really enter very forcefully and tell the taliban that if they don't stop there onslaught, there will be a serious consequences, and i hate to say, but unless they really go back and with really strong force, there is no way that they can save afghanistan. thank you very much for coming on the programme.— thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you for havin: on the programme. thank you for having me- _ development is moving quickly therein afghanistan, we will keep you up—to—date with events there later in the programme. a vigil

isis say he was from logar. and he detonated a bomb that killed 13 americans and over 90 afghans.from a second device detonated down further the road near the baron hotel which the british have been using to process and extracts their people. and then centcom say that there was gunfire targeting civilians and that gunfire seems to have killed others as well. this would suggest if you have two suicide bombers and what content com referred to as gunmen, we may be talking of two, three or even four attackers at this stage. so that will be a lot of what the u.s. is trying to assess, work out who the attacker was, how he got through with possibly his colleagues taliban checkpoints and security all the way up to the airport. that is an ugly key question because it essentially speaks to the terrorist, limited trust already that the u.s. has on the taliban and how they can continue to enable them to provide security on the outskirts. so that obviously an awful chapter, but one that will inform the remaining task ahead. it is very difficult i would imagine as a commanding base to have your

in logar province, there's some intense fighting. there has been for the past 24 hours. we understand one government force brigade is still in the capital city of logar, trying to fight off taliban forces there. that is 50 miles from kabul. in the neighboring province, we understand there's heavier fighting even closer to kabul about 20 miles away. so the situation just in the past 12 hours has shifted dramatically, ghani saying in that statement just about a half hour ago that -- expressing confidence in the forces, saying the priority was to keep the forces unified and also stop the violence. what he can do at this point, well, that's yet to be seen. we are expecting another statement from him shortly. >> and, kelly, we want to paint a picture of what's going on inside the embassy. the "washington post" reports they obtained a memo where they've destroyed documents and they called for the destruction of any embassy or agency logos, american flags, items that can be used for propaganda. kelly, how far is the airport from the embassy and how much danger could there be du

capitals are under taliban control, and there are reports of heavy fighting on kabul's doorstep in logar province, just 50 miles away lester >> all right, kelly, continue to stay safe. the stunning advance of the taliban has the president under pressure to do more to stop it. peter alexander has that >> reporter: president biden tonight publicly silent about the taliban's accelerating takeover of afghanistan. privately consulting with his secretaries of state and defense as well as his national security adviser. the rapidly deteriorating situation following the president's decision to withdraw u.s. troops for a war he believes has lasted too long and cost too many lives sparking fierce criticism. >> well, it's a disgrace and it's a national humiliation this didn't have to be this way. >> reporter: the president's aides today standing by his comments from just 72 hours ago. >> we're going continue to keep our commitment but i do not regret my decision. >> reporter: but now many are questioning the execution of that plan >> he owns this now completely it isn't donald trump's afghan policy.

the fighting is less than an hour from kabul now, in the neighboring logar province.nc many of the war from there have been coming to this kabul hospital. 14-year-oldmmet milliard was injured in an explosion.íh"si he's lost an eye and had his arm amputated. "one of my brotherst( was alsoo killed in the fighting one year ago. if my motherag finds out what'ss happened to me, she'll have a stroke," he says. more than 1,000 have been killed in the past month in a countrytr engulfed by suffering. bbc news, kabul. >> afghanistan's history has h been marked by great power rivalry, military invasions and disruptive foreign withdrawals.w back 2001, it was a u.s.-led military coalition that ousted the taliban from power for providing refuge t al qaeda.a. well, with e 20th anniversaryf the 9/11 attacks approaching, there are fears that the talibanre may soon be back in charge, thus completingl a vicious historical circle. our defense correspondent jan than biele has more. >> reporter: this was the capital, kabul, this morning. on the face of it, business as usual.us but the taliban advance is now

the fighting is less than an hourfrom kabul now, in the neighbouring logar province.ar wounded from there have been coming to this kabul hospital. this 14—year—old boy was injured in an explosion, he's lost an eye and had his arm amputated. "one of my brothers was also killed in the fighting one year ago." "if my mother finds out what has happened to me, "she will have a stroke," he says. more than 1000 have been killed in the past month in a country engulfed by suffering. yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. afghanistan's history has been marked by great power rivalries, military invasions, and disruptive foriegn withdrawals. back in 2001, it was a us—led military coalition that ousted the taliban from power for providing refuge to al-qaeda. with the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaching — there are fears that the taliban may soon be back in charge, thus completing a vicious historical circle. general david petraeus served as commander of us and nato forces in afghanistan and was also the director of the cia. he told the bbc that there is no good outcome now, u

the capital of logar province, puli alam, fell to militants this morning.es south of the capital kabul. heavy fighting also continues in the city of mazar—e—sharif. it comes as british troops have been flown out in order to safely airlift british citizens from the country. our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley reports. the taliban hoist their flag on the gates of kandahar, afghanistan's second largest city. the speed of their advance has left the afghan government reeling and millions of afghan people in terror and dread. as the militants now close in on the capital, kabul, the beleaguered president ashraf ghani gave a televised address. translation: in the current| situation, the re-mobilisation of our security and defence forces is our top priority and serious steps are being taken in this regard. but in many areas, it is too late. the man on the right, one of the most prominent local commanders fighting for the government, nicknamed because of his fearsome reputation the lion of herat. but he and his city, afghanistan's third largest, are now firm

just next to kabul is logar province. around him. translation: we have conflict in four of our districts, - we've lost two of them to the taliban. we also have people arriving from herat, kandahar and helmand. there's about 500 families. people from our province, they see people arriving and it makes them worried. citizens of kabul took to the streets, defiantly chanting against the taliban. this isn'tjust a war between army and militants, it is this struggle of civilians for safety and democracy. as wildfires rage on in turkey for seven days now, criticism of how the government is handling the situation is growing. fires have also broken out in other parts of the mediterranean as ramzan karmali reports. fires blazing on the hillside resorts near bodrum and marmaris. fire has been raging for seven days in turkey and these flames are closing in on the kemerkoy power station. strong winds and low humidity and scorching temperatures, the weather conditions that help the fire spread. they are likely to continue into next week

the fighting is less than an hourfrom kabul now, in the neighbouring logar province.14—year—old boy was injured in an explosion, he's lost an eye and had his arm amputated. "one of my brothers was also killed in the fighting one year ago." "if my mother finds out what has happened to me, she will have a stroke," he says. more than 1000 have been killed in the past month in a country engulfed by suffering. yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. here, borisjohnson says there is realistically no military solution to the conflict in afghanistan. the withdrawal of foreign troops has been criticised by some senior mps and members of the armed forces. the prime minister was speaking after a meeting of the government's cobra emergency committee to discuss the unfolding crisis and plans to repatriate british citizens. it's 20 years since a us—led military coalition, including british troops, invaded afghanistan and defeated the taliban following the 9/11 attacks. since then, the mission to support the afghan government has cost the lives of a54 british personnel or ministry of defenc

the capital of logar province, puli alam, fell to militants this morning.f the capital, kabul. heavy fighting also continues in the city of mazar—i—sharif. it comes as british troops have been flown out in order to safely airlift british citizens from the country. our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley reports. the and hoist their flag on the gates of kandahar, afghanistan's second largest city. the speed of their advance has left the afghan government reeling and millions of afghan people in terror and enjoyed. as the militants now closing on the capital, kabulthe as the militants now closing on the capital, kabul the beleaguered president ashraf ghani gave a televised address. translation: in televised address. translation: . translation: in the current situation. — translation: in the current situation, the _ translation: in the current| situation, the re-mobilisation translation: in the current. situation, the re-mobilisation of situation, the re—mobilisation of our security and defence forces is our security and defence forces is our priority and

and there are reports of heavy fighting in logar just 50 miles away, on cabals doorstep. brian? >> stay safe again, our thanks again to correspondent kelly cobiella in afghanistan. the administration maintains that the mission will be narrowly focused and they are not calling it an evacuation. republican member of congress adam kinzinger of illinois, who served in afghanistan in the military, had this to say about the u.s. troop withdrawal tonight. >> this was entirely foreseeable. and beyond, you know, judging the decision to leave, which i think is disastrous, we had nothing in place and have nothing in place for the evacuation of the 30,000 afghan residents who put their life on the line. who were promised a visa if they worked with us as translators, and people in those categories. and they're stuck in afghanistan now. how will you evacuate them when all the major supply routes and all the areas are controlled by the taliban now? it's a tragedy and one that was entirely preventable. >> presidents at camp david right now, white house says he will spend much of the weekend mee

i talked with some of my sources from the taliban in logar and they reviewed for me they had fought hardto convince the southerners to accept women education and women working. so you have these differences, opinions among them, but they don't let people know about them. they try to act like one force. they put so much pressure, according to the sources, they ended up accepting it for now. then you have the hi connie -- haqqanishat rebels, but also more by terrorist organization, some of the most extreme terrorist attacks beforeis showed up, they were carried out by the haqqanis. they have links to isi, pakistani intelligence, and influenced a lot by them also. the old school television and the television from eastern afghanistan, they hate isi. so you have like an umbrella called the taliban, but under that umbrella you have different kinds of taliban who have frictions depending on what subject you're talking about. and what kind of afghanistan are we going to have? that is a good should because the thing is, what i have learned my days here and also before i came here is they have not

earlier today, they seized the capital of logar province -- the city of pul-e alam -- which is about 50 miles from kabul. the taliban launched its sweeping offensive as the united states is pulling out its troops after nearly 20 years in afghanistan, the longest war in history. on thursday, the biden administration announced the u.s. is sending 3000 extra troops to afghanistan to help evacuate embassy staff in kabul. britain and canada are also sending in new troops. state department spokesperson ned price spoke on thursday. >> this is not abandonment. this is not an evacuation. this is not the wholesale withdrawal. what this is is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. this is a drawdown of civilian americans who will in many cases be able to perform their important functions elsewhere, whether that is in the united states or elsewhere in the region. so the message should -- the implications should not be outsized. amy: aid groups are warning of a humanitarian crisis in afanistan as tens of thousands flee their homes to escape the taliban. the united nations says more th

controlled by the taliban tonight and there's reports of heavy fighting on kabul's doorstep, ryan in logarvince, just 50 miles away. brian? >> stay safe, again, our thanks tonight to kelly in afghanistan. the administration maintains that the mission will remain quote narrow only focused and they are not calling it an evacuation. republican member of congress adam kinzinger of illinois who served in afghanistan in the military had this to say about the u.s. troop withdrawal tonight. >> this was entirely foreseeable and beyond, you know, judging the decision to leave which i think is a disaster of a decision. we had nothing in place and have nothing in place nor the evacuation of the 30,000 afghan residents who put their life on the line, were promised a visa if they worked with us as translators and people in those kinds of things and they are stuck in afghanistan now, and how are you going to evacuate them with all the major supply routes and area is controlled by the taliban. it's a tragedy and preventible. >> president is at camp david and the white house said he will meet with military

he's been identified by isis as possibly coming from the logar province. they have released a picture of him. now, he appears to have managed to get himself into a position near the abbey gate. often, very carefully selected. that's one of the main entry points for them onto the airport, if not the only remaining one yesterday. he appears to have got himself into a position near a significant number of u.s. marines. now, i'm not entirely sure where that would have been. i have seen pictures of u.s. and uk troops outside of the abbey gate. along that runs a very long sewage duct which is, obviously, full of horrific material and a lot of individuals have been crowding around that and the razor wire, which is used at times to keep people back from the main gate there. it's unclear whether there were marines, at that point, outside of the gate or inside. the extent of the injuries which are, i have to say, extraordinary. the death toll, horrific. might suggest that this explosion occurred in a more densely packed area. there is what's called a search lane wit

there appear to have been two explosions, the first a suicide bomber who isis have said was from the logar province of afghanistan. he seems to have got close to marines who were doing the vetting of people allowed into abbey gates. that's one of the fuggates neare baron hotel where the british have stayed. they're out of their now and on their way out of the country in a matter of hours. that particular search place is normally where people who have been selected get patted down. general mckenzie, the centcom commander, talks about how the marines doing the searching would have felt the breath of the person on them. that is unlikely to have happened unless the person in question had been selected from the crowd. they don't just search everybody on their way in. so questions will of course be asked as to how that person came to end up being searched. the bomb went off. in that area, there are quite a few marines close together. that may explain the horrifying number of dead from this. intensely packed crowds all bustled in, showing their paperwork, essentially their cases why they should b

province but the fact that they have made it into the provincial capital which the entire time that logar was considered unsafe over the last 10, 15 years it was at least the capital that people could rely on to be under government control and not to be as risky as the rest of the province but now that even that's fallen it creates -- you know, it only adds to the tension and uncertainty in the country, especially in kabul. >> how inevitable is it that kabul will fall, and if so, how quickly? >> you know, i think -- i mean, the thinking is if they are able to take can car and here rat and both of them in a 24-hour period then kabul shouldn't be that much more difficult but i think it really comes down to how much preparation forces have put into kabul. a lot of the theory is that they weren't sending backup into these other cities and provinces because they were preparing in case the taliban made it to kabul and if the taliban do come close to kabul that's when we will see if it's true and if it pans out, but there's also hope that some kind of a political settlement can be reached, you k

so this suggests possibly that this suicide bomber, a man who isis say came from logar, may have been selected from the crowd for some reason for searching. that of course would be part of the figuring out how that possibly happened. and then there was a second blast possibly a little further down the road toward the baron hotel, unclear exactly where that was, and all these explosions related in at least 90 afghans losing their lives and over 100 being injured. startling numbers even for the tolls we often hear coming out of afghanistan. and then according to general mckenzie, there was gun fire that hit civilians. so we are possibly talking about three certainly two, maybe four, because of the reference to gunmen by centcom, that is a major question for security, a major question for the taliban to answer because they are supposed to be filtering, searching people before they head toward the airport. what now for the evacuation? we are obviously talking about a heighten the security threat, accelerated time table, the white house very clear that they will continue evacuations up unt

named this person an gave him the last name logari which means in their speak, isis speak, is from logarrovince, about 30 miles from kabul so their message here is we haven't plucked out some suicide bomber, from you know, some wave, far flung province in part of afghanistan. no, the guy that did this lived his life just outside the capital. >> nic, obviously this evacuation effort that the u.s. military has been heroically performing, keep the airport as safe as possible, but it's been an international effort to get as many people as have left afghanistan out. last i heard it was more than 80,000. how are today's events likely to impact the international evacuation effort? >> you know, we were hearing through the day and in fact before this suicide bombing took place, reports were coming if i think from danish, canadian, from others who were essentially saying these were the last of their evacuation flights that were happening. the germans still had people they want to continue to -- to evacuate out. clearly for them, you know, it's going to heighten security concerns, but i think compa

they are truly on the doorstep of kabul in ghazni as kelly pointed out and threatening logar province next door to kabul. the big concern is if they threaten kabul, how strong will the afghan military be? will they be able to defend the city, and the real serious, the worst case scenario at this point is that if they move into kabul, they will move straight to the airport, they will take the airport and then there's really not a lot that the international community can do, that will be the worst case scenario. >> a huge game changer on that front. courtney kube, kelly cobiella, josh lederman you'll be watching closely in the coming hours on "msnbc reports." >>> we're talking more about this later in the show with a member of congress who served there. we want to turn to other big headlines this morning on the covid front. what happens in an hour or so from now. the cdc is getting ready for this big meeting on a third dose for americans, not all americans, right? they're looking specifically at people who have weaker immune systems. this green light for that third shot could come maybe

today, logar province fell, roughly 50 miles from the capital.map show areas where the taliban were severely threatening. this was back in april, when president biden announced the full u.s. troop withdrawal. this map shows, in red, the areas the taliban had captured as of monday. the squares are provincial capitals they had taken. and here's where they are today. the taliban released this video today, claiming to have seized afghan army helicopters in herat, the country's third largest city. herat and kandahar, the second largest, were taken thursday. and another video today showed the taliban had captured veteran warlord mohammad ismail khan-- he's the man on the right-- who'd been leading a militia resistance to the taliban in herat, but now seemingly forced to call for peace and stability. these advances by the taliban have forced the u.s. to scramble to protect american and afghan personnel who remain in kabul. the biden administration yesterday announced the immediate deployment of 3,000 u.s. troops to help with the evacuation process. offi

another one that is very important is logar province. it is right next to kabul. it is very strategic area. it is a straight shot into kabul if if the taliban take that, they're really on the kabul's doorstep. that's why officials are watching very closely to see if the taliban are able to take it. it would be the last one of the very last steps in this taliban offensive isolation of kabul. >> they expect the u.s. by the end of the weekend to have the bulk of the troops deployed for this narrowly defined mission. >> talk about the ramp up there and more importantly, he also eluded that the u.s. is carrying out air strikes to try to thwart the taliban offensive. but it seemed it's not necessarily slowing down the group. >> that's right. the very first small element of the marines infantry moved into kabul now. they're moving in now. but the rest -- vast majority of the 3,000, so it's two marine battalions, one is coming from a marine unit in the region and then an army moving in the next 48 hours or so. they will be in place, we don't yet know when they'll start he

the taliban are now in control in logar province, just 45 miles south of kabul, the capital.the regional warlords and militia groups that president ashraf ghani has turned in afghanistan's hour of need. evidence that his army — 300 soldiers, trained and equipped by the now departed americans and their allies — is inadequate to the fight against the taliban. one by one provincial capitals have fallen. clive, when we look at the picture 234 afghanistan. james used to be the director of national intelligence and worked withjoe biden in the white house, said today it was inevitable. once the american troops leave, it was inevitable, given we now have these evacuation flights for nationals and embassy staff for the british and americans, is that kind of an implied admission that the attempt to keep the taliban out has been lost?— out has been lost? yes, and the fact is the evidence _ out has been lost? yes, and the fact is the evidence on _ out has been lost? yes, and the fact is the evidence on the _ out has been lost? yes, and the fact is the evidence on the grouped - out has be

this morning, the group released this video claiming to have freed taliban prisoners in the city of logar, only about 50 miles from kabul. with the taliban well positioned for an attack on the capital, the u.s. announced a staff draw-down with the help of thousands of troops temporarily deployrom elwh >> this is not abandonment. this is not an evacuation. this is not the wholesale withdrawal. what this is is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. >> but as the u.s. also prepares to withdraw the last of its military forces by the end of this month, many afghans fleeing the fighting for kabul feel detried. betrayed. this man says, look at my children's situation here. they have been sleeping on mats for almost two days. no one is helping us. many of these people fled the taliban fearing the return to strict islamic law and brutal violence. for the millions of young people across afghanistan, their only life after the fall of the taliban two decades ago, their future and dreams are now in jeopardy. victoria fontan is a professor at the american university of afghanistan. >> they

just next to kabul is logar province.ahar and helmand. there's about 500 families. people from our province, they see people arriving and it makes them worried. citizens of kabul took to the streets, defiantly chanting against the taliban. this isn'tjust a war between army and militants, it is the struggle of civilians for safety and democracy. the situation in afghanistan. there is so much more detail on what is happening there on our website. let's show you the home page and the person who takes centre stage, look at that, sky brown. as you can see from the headline, she is team gb's youngest medal winner. just a few hours ago, she won the bronze. it is quite an incredible story. aged 13 years old. the gold and the silver went to two japanese competitors. the silver medallist is just 12. it is quite remarkable this year how we have seen such young athletes take part in the olympics in such an incredible way. cool, calm and collected. now it is over to the weather. carol kirkwood bring you right up to date. hello again.

there's also a report of some fighting still ongoing in logar about 50 miles from the capital. we understand an afghan government brigade is still fighting with the taliban trying to maintain control of the capital of that province. there's also some fighting reported in the big city in the north, the last large city in the north to be held by government forces. the forces, the u.s. forces who have been sent in to the city in order to facilitate the evacuation of embassy staff, the first of them are on the ground. the first 3,000 should be here by the end of the weekend. the question is how will the evacuation process take place? we haven't gotten details from defense officials how to do this. the airport is about two miles from the embassy but it is a wide road and a straight shot to the airport from the embassy. the question is, can they move quickly up and down that road given the crisis situation developing in the country with thousands of people coming into the capital looking for safety and a way out. the united nations and aid agencies warned of an escalating human tarp