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it's part of a huge spike in violence at a critical moment for that country, and our own richard engel is there. >>> time is running out to find the black box for flight 370. tonight, underwater locators have reached the search area with just 48 hours to go until the batteries are expected to fade. >>> and shockwaves. the new concern during an already shaky time in southern california. the danger that runs through the heart of l.a. "nightly news" begins now. >> good evening. with a death toll of 4 and 16 wounded, all of them members of the u.s. military, all of them shot by one man on home soil, tonight the u.s. army launched a massive investigation into what went wrong and into security within the confines of ft. hood in texas. the massive home to so much of our nation's infantry and mechanized forces. for the ft. hood community and the u.s. army, it's a second tragedy of course in five years. for the families of the departed, there is only mourning and sadness along with the lingering question of why. we have it covered tonight from texas to puerto rico, the home of the alleged gunma

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in kabul tonight. richard? >> reporter: good evening, lester. that this election even happened is an accomplishment. for weeks the taliban has been trying to stop it with a campaign of violence, attacking journalists and election workers and threatening to kill voters. but that campaign failed. despite all the threats, afghans came out to vote -- men and women lined up. >> we feel today it's really important. >> reporter: security was tight, the roads closed. president hamid karzai cast his ballot, but he's not running, banned under term limits. the next president is likely to be one of three former government ministers. all say they want u.s. troops to stay here beyond 2014. the afghan government says voter turnout was roughly 45% with around seven million votes cast. that's high considering anywhere else today would have been considered a bloodbath. a thousand polling stations, one in seven, had to close because of violence. 146 attacks on voters. still, afghans defiantly showed off their purple fingers, the

chief foreign correspondent richard engel will join me live. >>> plus, police say they are concerned about a new app that may help suspected drunk drivers skirt the law. i will talk with the creator of this app. we're going to show you, and you can be the judge in our gut check. >>> plus, boomer esiason apologizes to mets' player daniel murphy for the comments he made regarding murphy's wife and the fact that she should have had a c-section, so he would not miss opening day. >> i truly, truly feel terrible about what i put them through, so for that, i certainly apologize. >> more from boomer, plus, murphy responds. we'll play both of them. and you can join the conversation on twitter. you can find us @tamronhall, my team @newsnation. wright brothes started in a garage. mattel started in a garage. disney started in a garage. amazon started in a garage. ♪ the ramones started in a garage. my point? some of the most innovative things in the world come out of american garages. introducing the lighter, faster cadillac cts. 2014 motor trend car of the year. ain't garages great? >>> this is

richard engel with us here tonight. thanks, as always. >>> after going several weeks without a u.s. casualty, we learned a u.s. army soldier has been killed in afghanistan. kerry danyluk of texas was killed when his unit came under small arms fire. he was a veteran of the tenth mountain division on his second deployment, a recipient of a purple heart and bronze star and survived by his parents. he was 27 years old. >> still ahead for us tonight, boom times in the marijuana business, specifically a delivery system among the proponents, whoopi goldberg as she herself will be happy to tell you. >>> and later, the unbelievable surprise so many people got together to make happen for a young woman who could not believe her good fortune. >>> this coming sunday, the 20th of april is easter sunday, of course, but for other folks, it's known as the day as 4/20 where people grow in large numbers to smoke weed. it's grown in popularity and a famous actress decided to write about being an enthusiasts. whoopi goldberg always said it helps with physical ailments and now she's advocating a specific

richard engel, thanks. >>> a strong warning to russia late today, in fact, by u.s. secretary of state john kerry. the stop interfering in ukraine or face more sanctio. this followed an escalation of the crisis just today as government security forces in the eastern part of ukraine moved against those pro russian insurgents. the fighting turned deadly and provoked more tough talk by the russia and the u.s. our report tonight from jim meceda in ukraine. >> reporter: violence today and maybe a tipping point. ukrainian special police booked by troops closed in aggressively on the key pro russian strong hold. clashing with militants, killing at least two at check points outside town. a battle that had ukrainians holding their breath, wondering if this could trigger a military invasion by russia to protect the fellow russian speakers. that's been the fear throughout the standoff. today president putin called the kiev government's use of force a grave crime against his own people and warned it will have consequences. and russia quickly launched new war games, ground and ai

richard engel, nbc news, kabul. >>> how about that to take us off the air on a tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams reporting tonight from los angeles. we hope to see you tomorrow night back home in new york. good night. >>> nbc bay area news starts now. >>> good evening and thanks for joining us. >> we have a lot happening at this hour. we start in the south bay. a homicide investigation just blocks away from regional medical center. police are trying to solve san jose's 13th killing of the year. officers were called to a home right off 680. you can see the map here. kris sanchez joins us from the scene. what do we know? >> reporter: we know that being that close to regional medical center did not make a bit of difference for the woman who was found stabbed in her home here. 911 was called by a neighbor just a few minutes before 3:00. by the time police and medical personnel arrived, it was too late for that woman. investigators remain here at the scene looking for any clues. they say they don't have a suspect description at this point, nor do t

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports from kabul. >> reporter: it's a wonder 2-year-old abu zar is alive at all. an attacker shot him four times, including in the head. doctors here fought to save his life. when he woke up from a coma, his 17-year-old aunt was there, but not his parents. they were dead, killed by the same men who shot him. these men, walking through the gate of kabul's upscale supposedly safe serena hotel. they were searched, but not thoroughly. they had pistols hidden in their shoes, undetected. they walked to the hotel restaurant and started shooting. >> the first thing i hear is just a bunch of popping. i hear gunshots. >> reporter: kim motley, an american lawyer, had just checked in. she represents afghan rape victims and works to free foreigners from afghan jails. she knows how dangerous it can be here. did you think you were going to die that night? >> i thought it was a possibility. it was the closest i've ever come to thinking i was going to die. >> reporter: by the time police arrived, six people were injured, nine were dead, including abu zar's

months of the year, or to reposition themselves and stay on for that new training mission. >> richard engel kabul for us, where he will be following the election tomorrow. thank you so much, richard. >>> and if you read only one thing this morning, you actually can't even talk about the afghanistan election without understanding just how little is functioning in that country. "the new yorker" has a riveting account of the influence of the taliban, of ballot stuffing. if you want to know more about this, it's up on our facebook page. let us know what you think. ity e and you'll see just how much it has to offer, especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for. tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity rollover ira. live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're u

nbc's richard engel in kabul. thank you very much, richard. >>> joining me is dean of johns hopkins school, and former special adviser, president obama's special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. good to see you again. how hopeful are you from what you have seen and heard so far today? >> i think so far the news is good. namely that the elections have been carried out, that people have shown up. that there is going to be a result that hopefully will be accepted by everybody. but there are some questions about turnout. it's important to see which parts of the country did not vote. does that impact the choice of the president and whether that creates certain legitimacy issues afterwards. >> yeah. how about the three leading candidates? we have abdullah abdullah and two others. did well in elections last time and pulled out knowing that hamid karzai was going to win. the future of afghanistan, what does it look like based on the motivations and experience of these men? >> well, i think they all bring a grea

richard engel has been reporting on a school in kandahar directly affected by the u.s. aid. richard, what is happening to this program for girls? >> reporter: well, this program, it's the kandahar institute for modern studies and has about 1600 students, it's a vocational school and has young men and young women. and for the young women in particular, it is unique because there is no other place like it in kandahar where women can learn computer skills and language skills and connected via skype to professors and graduate students all over the world. this school has been operated since 2002. it has changed hundreds if not thousands of lives for young women. it has been a way for them to get out of a very restrictive confined society. in many cases the women had to have enormous conflicts with their husbands and families and sometimes these women were beaten befofor going to school. as u.s. troops are being brought out of this country, as they go, the money is going with them. and this institute and many other institutes have lost their funding and we spoke to the school's dir

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it's part of a huge spike in violence at a critical moment for that country, and our own richard engel is there. >>> time is running out to find the black box for flight 370. tonight, underwater locators have reached the search area with just 48 hours to go until the batteries are expected to fade. >>> and shockwaves. the new concern during an already shaky time in southern california. the danger that runs through the heart of l.a. "nightly news" begins now.

joining me now, nbc's richard engel in kabul. richard, are we being too enthusiastic about how this election went? i mean, it seemed to go about as well as anybody could have imagined. >> reporter: well, i think the government here is absolutely putting the best face on it, and is very enthusiastic. we haven't quite -- i think it's too early to declare it a success, because the votes haven't even been counted yet. both of the two leading front runners, and there seems to be two front runners emerging, are claiming victory. and if that gets out of hand, you could have some potentially rivalries. but it is a very different mood than it was in 2009. i was here in 2009, and already at this stage, we had video of people stuffing ballot boxes, we were interviewing people who were watching blatant fraud. this time, the interviews we're conducting with people on the street and with analysts are that this was far more successful, that afghan security forces managed to control things themselves, that the violence level was about a fifth as

i'm going to start by turning to richard engel, our chief foreign correspondent embedded with troops cing this challenge all over the world. he joins us from afghanistan. richard thank you so much for joining us. specialist lopez served in iraq but never actually in kpat there. you've dealt with soldiers in combat and not in combat, is the latter as hard in some ways? what psychological effect does it have to not be in the fight directly? >> well, he was in iraq according to the reports in 2011 on that last convoy out of iraq. i was on that that convoy but did not meet him. this was a relatively peaceful time in iraq. u.s. forces weren't doing combat operations but they were mostly packing up and being in combat and seeing your friends and colleagues being killed and fearing for your own life is far more traumatic than just being in a combat zone. but ptsd is not a simple on/off switch, not like you have it or you don't have it. you can have a few symptoms of psd which will bring out other problems, financial problems, problems with your spouse, problems with your family, previous dru

. >> jim miklaszewski, and nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us and we are waiting for this news conference in lemoyne, pennsylvania, to start. you have more information about what happened at the hospital in kabul. >> we received information from witnesses in kabul, from hospital officials. this happened just around 10:00 this morning kabul time. a well-known physician. he's been identified by colleagues as a man from chicago and we'll get more details about him. >> jerry umanos. >> jerry umanos was receiving guests, three other americans. they arrived. they were dropped off in their vehicles and they were inside what is effectively the pound of this hospital, a well-known hospital treating mostly children and women with problems during pregnancies, prenatal care, after-delivery care and after they were dropped off dr. umanos was greeting them and then a security guard an afghan security guard assigned by the ministry of interior ministry, turned his gun and shot him. we're getting information about who they were. it appears that the three of them were maybe member

>> thank you, richard engel for that report. keeping our thought with richard and all reporters who are all too vulnerable in the field. the associated press was founded in the mid 1800s and since then 32 journalists have been killed while pursuing stories. during her own time with the ap anja niedringhaus used to cover the real and raw horrors of war and pakistan and syria and unexpected moments of beauty. she traveled the world for more than 20 years and she leaves behind a legacy seen through a lens. in other pieces of frightening news around the world we're seeing the united nations issue a stark warning about what they are calling one of the world's worst crises in the war torn african nation of south sudan, almost a third of the population is now facing starvation. relief workers there are in a race against time. nearly a quarter of a billion dollars of international aid is needed in the next 60 days. if it doesn't arrive, south sudan will face the worst since ethiopia where hundreds and thousands of people died. ongoing f

to discuss all this and more we have a rare in studio appearance by richard engel. thanks for joining us. >> first time i've been on your live, in person. >> you filed updates from all sorts of dangerous locations, i'm glad you're here and safe. >> my pleasure. >> let's start off with the rumor brennan is there. we don't know exactly rwhy. do you think that meshes with the para dime with cia backed coup attempts. >> it fits into their scenario perfectly, it says the revolution that happened in ukrainian was run by the cia and yanukovych, the pro-moscow thrown from power was thrown out by the cia. they say, russia says -- >> any basis for that? >> not as far as i know. somebody was paying for protesters down in the square. i don't know who it was. so maybe, maybe they had some support from intelligence but i haven't seen direct compelling evidence that says it was backed by the cia. i would like to hear what russia says it has for evidence but i haven't seen any of it. >> it is an interesting dynamic that protesters are bought and sold here on both sides of this conf

richard engel will share his memories of this fallen colleague, a fearless photographer. >> i do my job simply to report with my camera and with my heart. >> late show legend, after more than three decades as a fixture on late night tv, david letterman plans to call it quits next year, leaving a career full of countless highlights, too many to fit into one of his famed top ten list. >> what this means now is that paul and i can be married. [ applause ] >>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. attorney general eric holder says the army is taking the lead investigating the shooting at ft. hood. we're learning more about the three soldiers killed in shooting rampage. wtsb is reporting sergeant first class danny ferguson is among the dead. he died trying to hold a door closed to keep lopez from shooting anyone else. the mayor of puerto rico says carlos lazaney was also fwun gunned down and timothy owens. a ten-year army veteran who served in iraq and kuwait. there is some good news to report about some of the 16 people who were wounded on wednesday. three have been upgraded to fair

joining me now is nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. the hospital and know the area. this situation is so dire. tell me what you think is going on. >> i think there's a general order now, not just among the taliban but all of the different militant groups to try sean kill foreigners, especially americans if they can. this was an attack of opportunity. there was a -- the militant was a police officer and he was stationed at the gate of this hotel. he was assigned to be a guard of the hospital and he saw the opportunity and opened fire. we have more details about what happened. i just spoke a short while ago with a witness, a doctor who was inside the hospital at the time. he said he heard gunshots and ran out of his office and saw bodies lying in the parking lot in pools of blood. at 9:46 this morning, kabul time, dr. jerry umanos, went out of his office, inside the hospital grounds to receive five other american medical workers. they were visiting medical workers. he received them at the gate. they were walking in this parking lot area,

joining me is nbc news foreign affairs correspondent richard engelle, and our public ambassador to foreign aftfairs. richard, you have just returned from the region, and what are you making of the new reports from russia? >> if russia says that the term is descending into civil war and i would watch the next few hours and 24 hours closely. if the counter terrorism operation turns bloody and russia's statements start to look true, then russia could interve intervene. >> what does it say to you the new movements that we got reported to on the ground by our nbc producers there? >> yesterday, ukraine, and the government of kiev said it would do the counter terrorism operations, and it didn't happen, and so today, again, they said, well, the counter terrorism operations are under way, and it seems today that movements are under way. and that is the tanks and the troops are being put into position, and some helicopters have landed in the towns, and some reports of the shooting in a town in eastern ukraine, and if these counter terrorism operations actually begin, and y ukrainian forces go to fig

nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me now. we know this is under investigation and we are being told at this point this guard had recently started this job. >> we've been told he was assigned to protect the hospital just three weeks ago. he was a guard at the gate of the hospital, but he was assigned there by the afghan interior ministry. we also have details of how this event -- how this unfolded. around 10:00 this morning, actually just before 10:00 in the morning kabul time dr. jerry umanos was at the hospital, the man you just showed in the photograph earlier. the pediatrician who had been working on and off at the hospital for the last seven years was well known. he was receiving a delegation of five medical workers and these five medical workers, americans, arrived at the hospital, got out of their cars, were inside the perimeter when the guard at the gate opened fire on them, killing dr. jerry umanos. two others among the delegation were killed. a third of this visiting group was injured and two others -- two other amer

thank you, richard engel. we're going to continue checking in with you leading up to saturday's election. >>> up next on "rf daily," another big car manufacturer is announcing a huge recall today, even as general motors' ceo returns to capitol hill for yet more grilling from lawmakers. >> this, to me, is not a matter of acceptability. this is criminal deception. ♪ [ engine turns over ] [ male announcer ] the 2014 nissan altima. with 270 horses... ♪ ...blind spot warning... ♪ ...and advanced drive assist. ♪ nothing beats an altima. except another altima. ♪ nissan. innovation that excites. ♪  nissan. innovation that excites. the owner of a vehicle, with a bumper sticker, "turrible" your lights are on. you wanna get that genius? not mine. on the passenger seat, there is a collection of charles barkley highlight dvds. must be a big fan. and the license plate reads "sir charles." i'm gonna get some drinks with my capital one venture card. be right back. earn unlimited double miles with no blackout dates from the

our foreign correspondent richard engel has been talking to all those people.t do they have their eyes on the ground there? >> good to talk to you. there are three leading c contenders in these presidential elections. the favorite at this stage is probably abdullah. that was considered widely corrupt. he dropped out of a runoff. he didn't want to give karzai any legitimacy and that election process any credibility so he dropped out. he's coming back again and has a good shot. abdullah abdullah is very anti-taliban. he's from the northern alliance. he could be quite a divisive figure. he doesn't have much support in the east and the south. you could see intensity increase. another candidate is an academic, he spent a lot of time working financial institutions. >> very american-friendly. >> well known among the international donor community here. and ashraf is a unique personality. he's been very outspoken in his speeches. he's considered somewhat erratic. he's at times very pro-american. at times very anti-american. so his personality could work for or against h

chief foreign correspondent, richard engel.y women, this was pretty historic. i've been reading the information from election monitors and they are impressed? >> reporter: they are impressed and we spoke to election monitors during the polling and poll centers that we went to were orderly. we didn't notice any irregularities and but nationwide there have only been about a thousand complaints so far and most of them were for technical things, voting stations not opening on time, not having enough ballots and not the reports of massive widespread fraud and manipulation that we saw here in 2009. a very different picture. there was some violence. there were over 100 attacks on voting stations but there were no complex attacks, no majorly successful attacks from the taliban's perspective and it was only about one fifth of the violence that we saw in the last election. >> as you reference, there were 146 attacks according to the latest account, four civilians killed and 16 afghan security forces killed and 89 militants killed so far.

nbc's richard engel is following it all in kabul. richard?rter: presidential elections are scheduled for afghanistan this coming saturday. despite all of the violence that has increased over the last couple of weeks, officials in this country say the elections will go ahead on schedule. there are three leading candidates. abdullah abdullah, a former foreign minister who ran in presidential elections in 2009. he believes he was cheated in that presidential election by president karzai. many people, including the united nations, accuse president karzai of stuffing ballot boxes and of his campaign manipulating the votes in order to secure his victory. abdullah abdullah is coming back again, and he hopes to have a much better showing this time. the other main candidate is well-known to the international donor community. he is an economist. he taught in the united states. he is taking somewhat of a hard line nationalist position. the last candidate is much more of the leading candidates is much less known. he's close to karzai. he is one of the la

. >> richard engel, what the state department has said this weekend and what samantha power was saying at the u.n. security council emergency session last night was that this is first of all russian fiction part two, suggesting that this is the step by step slicing away of eastern ukraine as it was in crimea when you were there and covered all of this on the ground along with our other correspondents and that russia's claim that this is precipitated by ukraine supported by the u.s. is fictitious and also that the presence which no one is confirming but not denying of john brennan, the cia director in ukraine this weekend had nothing to do with any military response. >> russia and it seems quite clear that russia has a hand in all of this, pursuing four different strategies, one the diplomatic track with the russian foreign minister and kremlin saying, going around the world saying they want to have moral rights for the regions in ukraine. then there's the military pressure, 40,000 troops very well armed troops right on the border. then economic pressure by mostly with the natural gas p

more from nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. >> reporter: there was a time when bodies were left on everest. >> helicopter is landing. >> need more medical help. >> reporter: dozens of climbers voen toured up to the avalanche zone at 19,000 feet to search for victims, all sherpas from nepal. helicopters landed precariously on ledges of ice and hovered dropping long lines to hoist out the injured and dead. rescue workers straddled cables as stretchers spun in the cold, thin air. the disaster struck as a few dozen sherpas walked here under huge walls of ice. the sherpas were carrying tents and food to foreign positions for forwarding mountaineers who have arrived for climbing season but as the sherpas advanced, chunks of ice crashed down on them. >> there's big pieces of ice as tall as five story buildings. >> ben jones is an alpine guide on everest. >> as the sun hits these big pieces of ice hanging on the mountain, they start moving a little bit. if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, we have tragic accidents. >> reporter: amazingly this man survived, bruised b

nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, joins me from new york. also with me is former ambassador to russia, michael mcfall. richard, i'll start with you. it seems to be this interesting predicament the ukrainian military is in. it's woefully underfunded, it does not necessarily have the equipment that it needs. there's been anecdotes that the gas has been paid for by a local ukrainian billionaire, that's how in trouble they are to a degree. but if they do in fact try and go after these pro-russia groups within areas of the country that are receptive to that, it risks almost starting a civil war. >> reporter: yeah, it's amazing how quickly things can change. i just returned from this region, i know the road that albina was talking about. a few days ago that road was not controlled by pro-russian militias. there is a danger that the ukrainian forces could carry out this counterterrorism operation, to use their words, and then find themselves cut off, to find that they don't have supply routes, they don't have ways for the troops to go back home, and

tonight, richard engel on why doctors say it's one of the most challenging outbreaks they have son. >>> and horsepower, not even henry ford could imagine a classic with this much power. tonight a classic turns 50. nightly news begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >>> good evening. there's been another terrible outburst of violence, this time a shooting at a jewish community center. the 73-year-old man identified as a veteran of the ku klux klan is identified and it's being treated as a hate crime. in the face of this tragedy, one woman has come forward to talk about the loss of both her father and her 14-year-old son, both cut down by the gunman. mindy corpran talked about the loss while exhibiting strength. >> you know, it was a horrible act of violence and my dad and our son were at the wrong place at the wrong time for a split second. he was with us for a wonderful 14 years. he had a really full life for a 14-year-old, and we were very blessed. people keep saying, how come you're so strong? and i'm strong beca

tonight, richard engel on why doctors say it's one of the most challenging outbreaks they have son. >>> and horsepower, not even henry ford could imagine a

kate snow, richard engel and triple force. >> that's awesome. >> i recommend if you like this whole seriese interview after it with jimmy fallon. it is hysterical. brian williams just -- >> i wonder what they'll do next. >> that's the interview. brian williams was requesting rap songs he wants. it was really funny. good stuff. northwest is getting some of this good old rain. we're filling up the reservoirs and using your umbrella for the second day in a row. it is coming down now on i-5. portland, northward, rain. only snow at the highest elevations. quarter, half an inch of rain. we're going to add to this significantly over the next two days. we had one storm system that is kicking through now. then we'll have another little warm front trying to bring in some moisture later on tonight and that looks like a soaking rain with it. a storm behind it too. so the bottom line was this weather pattern is the green on the map is the rain. it shows you the rain as we go throughout tuesday afternoon, evening, right along the coast. and then as we go into wednesday, notice it really doesn't move muc

but it's not fooling anybody. >> let's bring in right now nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engelreporter: well, ukraine is faced with some very difficult choices. the government in kiev is weak and it is losing control of its territory, building by building. about nine towns and cities right now have pro-russian sympathizers occupying police stations, an air strip, government offices, and there are a mixture of russian troops, ukrainian russian nationals, these are people who have dual nationality, and sometimes just hired thugs who are paid by russian sympathizers or paid directly by moscow. the government in kiev has a choice. it can either go in by force and try and drive them out. one, it doesn't have a lot of force to do that so it might not even succeed. and two, if it does go in by force, then it just backs up russia's argument that these people, these russian sympathizers are being attacked by the pro-american government in kiev and could cause -- could be a provocation that moscow would use to intervene militarily. so the government in kiev has very, very hard choices. >

. >> i don't know but richard engel back there.ngs have become a viral sensation. williams is look nothing how to get -- how the team actually chooses the songs. >> you've done this to me seven times. >> we've done this to you. done this for you. >> oh, okay. i would like some pride of ow authorizeship what about some early pre-hearing foxy brown, what about some -- [ cheers ] >> how do you know foxy brown. >> any luda would be great. i'll do roll out. >> you mean ludacris? you know him that well, luda. >> i'll do -- who's your weed man. why you smoke so good? >> what is going on? what is going on? >> what is happening up on that floor, louis? what is happening above us? >> i have no idea. >> i don't know if i like it. jimmy's taking notes writing down all those requests. we'll see what he comes up with next. >>> stephen colbert is questioning whether last week's shoe-throwing incident with hillary clinton was planned. >> hillary's motivations for staging this shoe-spiracy are why. remembering the bush incident she may seem to thin

chief foreign correspondent richard engel is live in kabul this morning with the latest for us. richard, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. despite all the threats from the taliban, this election is going forward. the afghan government says that voter turnout has been remarkably high. for the first time since 9/11, since the american involvement in this country, hamid karzai is not running. he cast his ballot today. many men are coming out to vote. many women are coming out to vote. there has been some violence. there have been reportedly at least four attacks on voting stations in addition to several bombings, but so far, only one afghan policeman has been reported killed. that in any other country would be considered an unsuccessful day, but considering the level of expectation of violence in this country and the amount of security forces, just four attacks so far is considered relatively peaceful in this country. the voting is going to continue for several more hours. it's probably going to take weeks before the results are clear, and it is very likely that there will be

>> nbc's richard engel for us in kabul on this saturday.with the new supreme court ruling on big money in politics, what does it mean for the way campaigns are run? >>> first, it's dad time and how much time is enough time for new fathers to spend with their kids? stick around for this one. this is msnbc. [ male announcer ] first the cookie at check-in... then a little time to kick back. earn double hilton honors points with the 2x points package and be one step closer to a weekend break. doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. you're not doing anything as fast as you used to, which is funny, because i still do it better than her. [ afi ] i do not like sweeping. it's a little frustrating. [ zach ] i can't help out as much as i used to. do you need help? let's open it up. [ afi ] it's a swiffer sweeper. [ zach ] it's a swiffer dusters. it can extend so i don't have to get on the step stool. ♪ it's like a dirt magnet -- just like my kids. [ afi ] this is a danger zone. voila! i am the queen of clean! [ zach ] yeah, this

. >> all right, richard engel, thank you for joining me. joining me now is gail, author of the best-selling the dress maker of kirka flrks a. i'm so glad to have you here. what does a successful election look like? >> i think we're seeing pictures of it from all across afghanistan. people rating in line. going into a ballot booth. it looks like almost any other place in the world that gets to have an election. normal normalcy. an actual transition to power that's peaceful wuld be a huge step. i think washington is watching almost as much as people in afghanistan are. >> i though things have improved. give me your sense of the status overall. how that stands in afghanistan and what you think will happen when the u.s. withdraws. >> i have watched it since the early 2000s. you have seen women mobilize, vocalize that would have been unimaginable in 2001. women have political conventions where they wrought the candidates in to talk to them. what will you do for women? what will you do about the issue of violence against women? what will you do t

chief foreign affairs correspondent richard engel is here in new york and joins me in the studio. thank you for being here. there's no indication thus far that this is anything but a lone gunman, right? >> there's a pattern. i think there's probably standing orders now at this stage and we keep talking about the taliban. there's many different groups and this police officer who was assigned to protect the hospital had previously been serving in host province. it could have been affiliated with many different groups or one of many different groups or inspired by the groups or a lone gunman, not first time this happened. it seems to happen more frequently, which suggests that there's some sort of standing order. don't wait for an attack. if you see an opportunity, if you see foreigners and see americans, journalists, medical workers in this case do it. >> they seem to specifically targeting charities or you reported on our air, this is the second type of attack on a charity. >> this hospital was run by a faith based group, cure, they weren't engaged in any overtly religious activity

and joining us is chief correspondent richard engel, and i would like to bring in david rohde of roeutersnapped by the taliban and held captive for eight months. it is good to have you both here. and richard, i want the take on the election, but there is breaking news that there was an explosion in kandahar? >> yes, it appears that an american convoy was target bade car bomb, and then several afghan civilians, 13 civilians were killed. they were not killed by the actual explosion, but a bus was diverted off of the road after the americans set up a convoy, and then crashed, so it appears that it was a secondary knock-on effect of this official attack by the taliban. a number of afghans thought that the election went better than expected, and they were particularly happy that the aft afghan security forces were able to do it by themselves. a lot of the afghans are worried what will happen to the country in the future as the american troops drawdown and not in evident on the streets across the country, and this time, while the american forces were still providing logistics and intelligence a

joining me now from kabul is nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel keeping us updated on thisuation. first i want to ask about the voting process. back in 2009 as many as 20% of the ballots had to be thrown out. how do you think the fraud level was this time around? >> reporter: the voting that we saw looked like it was going quite smoothly but judging from the number of complaints, this is not a comparable situation to 2009. the process isn't over yet and there could be surprises, but compared to where we were right now, a few days after the election in 2009, it was a totally different scenario, i was here in 2009 and tonight if it were 2009 we would be working on a story about fraud. we had video of people stuffing ballot boxes. they were complaints coming in from all over the country. we're not hearing those kind of complaints right now. we don't have those kind of pictures. we're not out of this yet but it doesn't seem to have been anywhere near this situation that we had in 2009. >> early good news, so much hangs in the balance for afgs and actually for the united states.

nbc's richard engel was at the iraqi/kuwaiti border when the last troops left, watching the troops crossrder and cheer and celebrate that the 8 1/2-year-long war in iraq was done. but the official end of the war was december 15th, 2011. that same morning, december 15th, 2011, a gunman opened fire at a small courthouse in a northern minnesota town right up against the canadian border. he shot the local prosecutor multiple times and he wounded two other people. that was december 15th. less than two weeks later on christmas morning, it was a mass shooting in downtown chattanooga, tennessee. a crowd of young people leaving a christmas eve party after midnight when the gunfire fired into the crowd. nine people were shot. january 10th, philadelphia, pennsylvania, four teenagers riding in the same car were ambushed by an armed 30-year-old man. all four of the teenagers were shot. three were killed. february 21st, norcross, georgia, near atlanta, a man storms into a spa own and run by his family. he shoots and kills four of his own relatives then kills himself. february 26th, jackson, tennessee.

nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me now from kabul. also with me from new york is "time" magazine's international editor bobby ghosh. afghanistan is the current story on the cover of "time." what kind of position is the country in to hold a national election? >> violence has been increasing over the last several days with attacks focusing on election officials, and then today, there was this horrific attack in which two journalists from the associated press were shot. one of them german photographer, enya neederhaus, was killed. they were traveling with a convoy of officials as they were delivering ballots. the journalists were in the back of the car. in addition to the german photographer, a.p. writer kathy gannon was also in the car. and while they were waiting in the backseat, this convoy being protected by afghan security forces, an afghan police officer walked up to the vehicle, started shouting, "allah akbar" and opened fire. the german photographer was killed, she was 48 years old. she died instantly. kathie gannon was shot at l

nbc news richard engel is live in the afghan capital. >> reporter: the elections are scheduled to take a horrific attack. two female journalists were traveling in a convoy with election workers. they were delivering ballots to a voting station and while they were parked in this convoy the two journalists from the associated press sitting in the back seat of their own vehicle, an unarmored vehicle, one of the members of the afghan security forces, afghan police officer walked up to their car and started shouting and fired into the back seat. a german photographer 48 years old was killed instantlily. kathy gannon, a well known canadian writer for the associated press was injured. we were told she just arrived at bagram air base and she will get first class medical treatment. this took place in ghost and it raises questions about the reliability of the afghan security force that are now being trained by american troops. >> nbc's richard engel, thanks. you get a sense of what journalists go through. >> it has become so violent for journalists. >> it's impossible to cover the story. thomas

nbc' chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in kabul with the details. richard, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this was a horrific attack. these two women journalists, both of them veteran correspondents, well-known were traveling in a convoy with election volunteers. the convoy delivering ballots. elections are supposed to take place here tomorrow. and this convoy was protected by afghan security forces and then suddenly, one of the afghan security forces and afghan policemen walked up to the car, where the two reporters were sitting-- they were in the backseat and began shouting allah and firing into the car. the photographer, a german photographer, anja niedringhaus, 48 years old, was killed instantly. and kathy gennan a canadian one of the best-known correspondents who has covered this country for decade was injured. we are told she is in stable condition. natalie? >> horrific news. and highlighting the dangers ahead with the elections there. richard engel in kabul, thank you. >>> the desperate hunt is still on for the black box in malaysia

nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is here with more. richard, good morning. >> good morning, natalie. a strong message, but will it be enough? a truce has been in place for about a week to try and deescalate tension. the truce called for militias to disarm in ukraine, but that never happened, and now that truce could collapse. the ukrainian government said the pro-russian militias still occupying buildings in eastern ukraine will soon be targeted again. rooted out by renewed counterterrorist operations. if that happens, a truce with moscow would soon be over. the new confidence from ukraine to take on the militias followed a visit to kiev by vice president joe biden. >> we call on russia to stop supporting men hiding behind masks and unmarked uniforms, sowing unrest in eastern ukraine. >> reporter: in what sounded like the strongest warning yet, russia's foreign minister said moscow considers an attack on russians in ukraine to be an attack on russia itself. telling russian tv on wednesday, if we are attacked, we would certainly respond.

nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is here with more for us. richard, good morning. >> good morning. strong words from joe biden. he says that russia must withdraw all of its troops from ukraine's border, and says the time has come for russia to act. >> good morning. >> reporter: in ukraine, vice president joe biden said washington would stand with the government in kiev despite what washington says are russia's attempts to undermine it. ukraine, which toppled its pro-russian president earlier this year, setting off the crisis with moscow, is scheduled to hold elections in may. vice president biden said the vote should go ahead. >> the people of ukraine should have the right to choose their own future. >> reporter: but ukraine is set to hold that vote, even as its territory is being lost to men in masks. moscow and washington have both agreed that militias in ukraine should be disarmed, but the militias continued to occupy buildings in eastern ukraine. the ukrainian government says the militias aren't standing down because they are russian troop