but we begin tonight with cbs's roxana saberi in kabul. roxana. >> reporter: good evening, jericka. in a single day, the taliban not only made it to the gates of the capital, they also made their way in without resistance. the president who just yesterday vowed to keep fighting, fled the country, and the afghan government essentially collapsed. videos posted online appear to show crowds of kabul residents warmly embracing the taliban as they arrived. in a statement this evening, the group said its forces have moved into certain districts abandoned by government security forces to prevent looting. also tonight, al jazeera has telegraphed inside the palace. ghani said he left to prevent further bloodshed. the taliban pledged other afghans who fled to kabul from the country side to escape the taliban say now they have nowhere else to go. tonight people here tell us they're shocked at how quickly everything changed and how fast their president fled, calling him a coward. jericka? >> roxana saberi for us, thank you. >>> today the white house released this photo showing president biden at

jericka. >> duncan: roxana saberi for us, thank you. the white house released this photo showing president biden at camp david meeting with members of his national security team by video conference. cbs' christina ruffini joins us from the white house with more on today's very fast changing events. christina. >> reporter: good evening, jericka. earlier today the american flag and the american ambassador were removed from u.s. embassy kabul and taken to karzai international airport which has essentially become america's last stand in afghanistan. >> in terms of what we set out to do in afghanistan, we've done it. >> reporter: secretary of state anthony blinken today defended u.s. policy in afghanistan and its repercussions. >> like it or not, there was an agreement that the forces would come out on may 1. had we not begun that process, we would have been back at war with the taliban. >> reporter: american diplomats are now they heavily fortified airport setting up a temporary embassy with limited staff trying to evacuate as many as 10,00

tony. >> dokoupil: roxana saberi in kabul for us. roxana, thank you very much. joining us now is former deputy and acting director of the c.i.a. and cbs news senior security contributor, michael morrell. mike, thank you for being here. >> you're welcome. >> dokoupil: the taliban seems to be retaking afghanistan faster than anyone predicted. how are they able to do it? >> without the u.s. militaryithy there, the capabilities of the afghan security forces to fight has been significantly degraded. but the bigger issue is the willingness to fight evaporated when president biden made the announcement that we were leaving. >> dokoupil: after 20 years of work from the u.s., hundreds of billions of dollars, more than 2,000 american lives, why are the folks that we allied with and trained walking off the job? >> because the will to fight is more important than the capability, and because the afghan government is one of the most corrupt in the world. >> dokoupil: now we have 3,000 troops going back in. the lead elements are already there on the ground. what concerns you m

cbs's david martin is at the pentagon, but we begin with cbs's roxana saberi in kabul. roxana, tell us, just how anxious are afghans tonight? >> reporter: major, the mood here is grim tonight, as each day taliban take over more and more key cities. but people here fear kabul could be next. with stunning speed, taliban fighters are sweeping across afghanistan. today, they took their biggest prize yet, the second largest city, kandahar, dealing another moral and strategic blow to the afghan government and their forces. the third biggest city, also collapsed. and after seizing ghazni, the taliban control a city 90 miles southwest of kabul. they are overwhelming afghan nat troops triggering the u.s. draw- down in the coming days. >> we will continue the enduring partnership between the people of afghanistan and it did governor of afghanistan. so this shouldn't be read as any sort of message to the taliban. >> reporter: but as the u.s. prepares to complete its prepares to military withdrawal by the end of this month, this latest move is sure to embolden the taliban even more.

>> roxana saberi in kabul, thank you. senior foreign correspondent charlie d'agata is also monitoring the latest developments from london. >> reporter: good morning, nancy. when i was last in afghanistan, just last month, the government had control of most of the country and all of the provincial capitals, but even that taliban militants were on the rampage, excel rating their offensive, until finally reaching the capitol itself today. with the shocking speed of the unstoppable taliban offensive, it soon became clear that the takeover of kabul itself was inevitable. it gathered pace as the militant group overran major cities, often without afghanistan forces even putting up a fight. the afghanistan military, around 350,000, trained and funded by america and its allies, surrendered or fled in the fti. about the only thing capable of stopping the taliban: u.s. airstrikes were all but removed from the battlefield. when we were last on theo3 front lines a few weeks ago, the militants were focusing on smaller, regional cities.

>> roxana saberi, thank you. feeling sluggish or weighed down?t could be a sign that your digestive system isn't working at it's best taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day. ♪ >>> this is the "cbs overnight news." >>> i'm jericka duncan in new york. thanks for staying with us. >>> the u.s. military is ordering civilian airlines to aid the ongoing evacuation from afghanistan. defense secretary lloyd austin has activated the so-called civil reserve air fleet. 18 aircraft from six different carriers have been enlisted. they won't be flying out of kabul, instead, helping move people who have already arrived at u.s. bases in the middle east. thousands of americans and tens of thousands of afghans are awaiting re

norah. >> o'donnell: roxana saberi, thank you. and on that note, tonight president biden said u.s. troops will remain in afghanistan until all american citizens are safely evacuated. moments ago, i spoke with the top republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell, about the administration's handling of the withdrawal. the president just said in a new interview tonight that he didn't see a way to withdraw from afghanistan without chaos-- in other words, he saw that chaos as inevitable. is that how you see it? >> well, we shouldn't have made this decision in the first place. only had we only had 2,500 troops there, light touch, no chaos, not a single american soldier killed in a year, in combat. we've now left 10,000 to 15,000 american citizens behind enemy lines with no plan to get them to the airport to get out. and ironically, we have more troops in afghanistan now, trying to rescue our people, than we had before this unbelievably bad decision to precipitously withdraw. >> o'donnell: do you think we need to put more forces on the ground in order to rescue those americans? >> well, the

norah. >> o'donnell: roxana saberi, thank you. president biden is the fourth to oversee the war in afghanistan as commander-in-chief and in his remarks he vowed not to turn the fight over to a fifth. the president said today staying in afghanistan is not in america's national security interests. the mission is to prevent another attack on the american homeland and it has been a decade since the death of osama bin laden. weijia jiang reports from the white house. >> i stand squarely behind my decision. >> reporter: president biden said the harrowing images from afghanistan prove he was right to withdraw u.s. troops. >> american troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. r men blad afghan forces and president ashraf ghani for the rapid taliban takeover. more quickly than we had anticipated. so what's happened? anghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. mr. ghani insisted the afghan forces would fight. but, obviously, he was wrong.

cbs news correspondent roxana saberi is in the region, and she filed this report from doha. >> reporterat this air base, thousands of evacuees have been flown in from afghanistan over the past several days. the pentagon says that u.s. troops have already air-lifted around 25,000 people out of the country. the facility here has been so overwhelmed by the influx, it hit capacity two days ago. and flights from afghanistan had to be suspended for several hours. there are now reports that the u.s. government will compel commercial airlines to help ferry tens of thousands of evacuees. several people have described for cbs news the conditions. one was a man we met on the flight from afghanistan last week, who said he was a former translator for the u.s. military. he said it was crowded, very hot, and one shower for thousands of men and women. now cbs news has learned the u.s. and qatar are building extra space and installing more showers and toilets to accommodate the evacuees. they're also trying to screen them faster and ease the crowding by flying them to countries like germany and the u.s.

cbs' roxana saberi will lead off our coverage tonight. inside kabul. >> reporter: tony, the pentagon spokesman said the bulk of the u.s. troops will arrive here in the capital this weekend. he also said the taliban are not yet threatening an immediate attack on kabul, but they're closing in fast. ( sirens ) more than two-third of the country is now in the hands of the taliban. today, they seized the capital of helmand province-- ( gunfire ) where u.s. troops once fought some of their bloodiest battles. >> we are certainly concerned by the speed with which the taliban has been moving. >> reporter: now they're eyeing what would be their biggest prize of all. for now, daily life here in the capital, kabul, appears to be carrying on more or less as usual. but many people here fear this way of life could soon come to an end. banafsheh rahimi says her family plans to remain here, but as a woman who studied on an american scholarship, she needs to flee. you're afraid of being killed. >> yeah! >> reporter: if the taliban come here. >> yeah, i'm a

norah. >> o'donnell: roxana saberi, thank you. back here in washington, president biden has been saying for weeks that it was unlikely the afghan government would fall to the taliban. but we're now learning, there was some intelligence to the contrary. cbs' weijia jiang is at the white house. so, weijia, that's the question: were they caught off-guard or did they ignore the warnings? >> reporter: well, norah, that is the key question, because that classified intelligence assessments painted an increasingly grim picture of the situation on the ground. and as recently as july, they assessed that the taliban could capture the capital, kabul, within weeks. but, of course, that raises the question: why then, around the exact same time, was president biden publicly insisting it was highly unlikely that the taliban could overrun the country? >> o'donnell: and weijia, what about all that u.s. equipment that has now fallen into the hands of the taliban? >> reporter: president biden's national security adviser, jake sullivan, has confirmed

. >> reporter: i'm roxana saberi in kabul where the taliban arean kabul now inside the city. >> alsohe political fallout. >> the idea that the status quo could have been maintained by keeping our forces there, i think is simply wrong. this is president biden's saigon moment. >> duncan: plus desperate search, haiti deals with disaster as the earthquake death toll soars. covid cases skyrocket

afghans, especially skilled afghans, from leaving the country, and one taliban spokesman told cbs' roxana saberiany attempt to extend the rescue mission would be considered a violation. >> so in light of that >> so in light of tha violation, it is up to our leadership to decide what to do. >> reporter: c.i.a. director william burns has been negotiating in kabul with the taliban's de facto leader as the u.s. military picks up the pace, evacuating 20,000 people a day from kabul's airport, the flights taking off every 45 minutes. that brings the total number of evacuees since mid-month to more than 70,000. >> we are currently on a pace to finish by august 31st. i've asked the pentagon and state department for contingency plans to adjust the timetable, should that become necessary. >> o'donnell: and, nancy, u.s. officials have been reluctant to give us a breakdown of how many of these tens of thousands of evacuees are american. but that really changed today. tell us what you know. >> reporter: that's right. a pentagon spokesman revealed for the first time that only american passport holders. that me

david martin has reactions from veterans in the afghan war but we're going to start with cbs' roxana saberi who is reporting from the afghan capital of kabul. >> reporter: good evening, with kabul under taliban control a sense of terror is filling the streets here. we saw the risks many would take to escape. with undeniable desperation, afghans clung to a u.s. military plane as it took off today from kabul airport, fleeing from the taliban any way they could, at least two fell to their death. on the ground, more pandemonium. and gunshots. the pentagon says u.s. troops shot and killed two armed afghans in self-defense, as 6,000 forces will be used to airlift americans out. america's 20-year war is ending as it started, with the taliban in charge, strolling through kabul's once fortified green zone, home to the now shuttered u.s. embassy, taking selfies and seizing the national tv station. like before, they pledged to punish looters and thieves according to sharia law. this video posted online appears to show just that. but this time, they're promising to allow girls to go to school and women

roxana saberi is in kabul. good morning. for security reasons, our hotel is under lockdown at the moment, that's why i'm speaking to you from my room. the situation outside is very volatile. not only for us, but even more so for every afghan. the desperation is undeniable as afghans fleeing the taliban scramble to climb on to a c-130 taking off from kabul airport. this video appears to show those who couldn't hang on. this morning, more chaos as gunfire rang out. [ gunfire ] but the u.s. is deploying 1,000 more troops to the airport as washington scrambles to evacuate americans from afghanistan. no one including us expected the taliban to reach kabul yesterday so in the past few days the taliban have taken city after city, and they've approached on the capital and with news that they are here, we are heading to the airport. with scenes like this and unable to get on a flight, we decided to stay. taliban fighters soon declared an end to the war from the comfort of the president's palace. just hours after strolling into kabul,

thank you so much, roxana saberi reporting from qatar. glad she's okay. >>> more than 30,000 people are under evacuation orders in northern california as a string of destructive wildfires continues to rage out of control. the caldor fire burning in el dorado county has burned more than 62,000 acres. it is 0% contained. that's zero. jonathan vigliotti is near the fires in pollock pines. >> reporter: the caldor fire is producing more smoke than flame this morning as it burns in largely remote areas. there are thousands of crews fighting several fires here in northern california, but with more than a dozen fires burning across the state, it's not nearly enough. gusty winds, dry conditions, and record drought are making for dangerous fire weather in northern california. this is all that's left of grizzly flats after the caldor fire tore through the area. the small town last a post office and dozens of homes including one that belonged to derek chaves. >> it was a beautiful, close, small, vibrant community. it's nothing now. >> reporter: all t

roxana saberi and her cbs news crew travelled with one group of refugees on an overnight flight. this morning she's in doha, qatar. >> reporter: crowded into this u.s. cargo plane, afghans fled the taliban last night carrying little but hope and relief. >> they're going to kill me. >> reporter: this man is a translator for the u.s. army. he just got american visas for him and his family. they left behind afghans so desperate to escape hundreds stormed the runways on monday, some clinging to this u.s. military plane as it took off. amid the chaos, the u.s. shut down the airport for hours. when some flights resumed, we headed there too. so, we're headed now to the military side of kabul airport, which has reopened for flights for foreigners like us to leave and afghans that the u.s. is trying to evacuate. looks like all these people are trying to get into the airport. inside, we saw some of the roughly 4,000 u.s. troops preparing to air lift afghans out. just after midnight, we joined them. we're about to take off from kabul in a u.s. military transfer plane with 300 afghans, men,

for "cbs this morning," roxana saberi, doha. >>> president biden said yesterday that the u.s.is speeding up evacuations of americans and afghans as the situation at the kabul airport, as you see, deteriorates. a cbs news poll finds that 63% of americans support removing the troops from afghanistan, but 74 -- 74%, rather, believe this withdrawal has gone badly. ed o'keefe is at the white house where he questioned the president at the news briefing. good morning. the video and the reports are so upsetting and disturbing. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, good morning. in addition to that situation in afghanistan, the white house is also closely tracking that deadly weekend weather. all of it part of arguably the toughest stretch yet for the biden presidency. while the situation in kabul grows even more dangerous, polling as you showed shows the president's overall support is slipping as he's facing criticism at home and abroad. >> we are proving that we can move thousands of people a day out of kabul. >> reporter: president biden tried to ease concerns sunday about the u.s. withd

. >> cowan: our roxana saberi is on the ground in afghanistan, where the news could not get much worse are numerous reports that the taliban are at the gates of the capitol. in a statement, the group said it ordered its fighters not to advance any farther as negotiations continue. the news comes after the fall of mazar-e-sharif, afghanistan's fourth largest city. in jalalabad, positioning the taliban to take control of the entire country. the group has seized city after city in just over one week, as the u.s. prepares to end its war of two decades. under pressure to resign, afghanistan's president, ashraf ghani, called on afghan security forces this weekend to keep fighting. but many of those u.s.-trained troops are surrendering to the insurgents, often without a fight, leaving behind the spoils of war and terrible scenes of brutality, as seen in this video. it appears to show a taliban member counting 14 bodies of men and a boy executed for fighting back. with each victory, the taliban come one step closer to kabul, the capital. daily life here seems to be carrying on as usual, but re

the taliban now controls most of the country outside the capital city of kabul, where roxana saberi joins us now. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, tony. it's been another devastating 24 hours for afghan security forces. there are now only a handful of major cities including this one that remain under government control. and many people here fear the taliban could attack within days. the taliban are retaking afghanistan raising their flag in city after city. sending u.s.-trained afghan forces scrambling, and showing off the spoils of war. last night, the insurgents took their biggest prize yet, the country's second largest city, kandahar. the birthplace of the islamic fundamentalist group in the 1990s. the country's third biggest city also collapsed. that means the taliban now control much of afghanistan's west, south, and north. in 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 th

roxana saberi has the latest from kabul. >> reporter: good morning.forces. he showed no sign of giving up, as the taliban keep advancing toward this city. across the country, afghan security forces have been surrendering to the insurgents, sometimes without a fight. the taliban had been seizing weapons left behind by the retreating troops who were trained by the u.s. the insurgents have also been replenishing their ranks with taliban prisoners they set free along the way. the group has seized more than half of the major cities, including the capital of helmand province, where u.s. troops once fought some of their bloodiest battles. now the taliban are eyeing what's essentially the afghan government's last stand, kabul. daily life here appears to be carrying on more or less as usual, but many people fear this way of life could soon end. and today heavy fighting reached the doorsteps of kabul in a city that's only about 30 miles west of here. >> roxana, thanks. >>> the uptick in coronavirus infections made worse by the highly infectious delta variant is

roxana saberi from our us partner cbs news is in kabul and sent this update.side the presidential palace. it showed a taliban spokesman saying the form of the new regime will be made clear soon. they have pledged not to harm civilians, foreigners and diplomats. but we have spoken to afghans who say they are now in hiding. one used to work for what was the former afghan government. he said last night taliban fighters came knocking on his door looking for him. he called us terrified, begging for help. let�*s discuss the latest developments in afghanistan with former nato secretary general — anders fogh rasmussen — who was in charge from 2009 to 2014. when you became secretary general, your first visit was to afghanistan. during your time there, it was probably the most significant deployment of nato troops. i wonder what your observations are on the developments and what comes next. yes, i deeply regret the return of the taliban power in afghanistan. it is yet another demonstration of lessons learned from history. when the americans and the west retreat, the ame