Let me be clear.

The evacuation of thousands of people from Kambol is going to be hard and painful no matter

when it started, when we began.

It would have been true if we had started a month ago or a month from now.

There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss of heartbreaking images you see in television.

It's just a fact. My heart aches for those people you see. We are proving that we can move

thousands of people a day out of Kabul. We're bringing our citizens, NATO allies, Afghans who had helped us in the war effort.

But we have a long way to go, and a lot could still go wrong.

But to move out 30,000 people in just over a week, that's a great testament to the men and women on the ground in Kabul and armed services.

Amid mounting criticism over his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, President

Biden yesterday arguing the exit from that country was always going to be difficult.

Good morning and welcome to morning, Joe. It is Monday, August 23rd. We will have full coverage of the situation in Afghanistan, including a report from the ground in Kabul in just a moment. But first, what could be a big day in the fight against COVID, the FDA is working to approve Pfizer's two-dose vaccine as soon as today. According to the New York Times, the goal was to get the approval by Friday, but regulators are still getting through a substantial amount of paperwork and negotiation with the company.

People familiar with the matter told me the outlet that some components of the review could possibly

push the approval date beyond today. The Times says a spokesperson for the FDA declined to comment

about the report. Well, there's very exciting news, Mika. Very exciting news because we've talked to some

people that are close to us that have said they're

not going to take the vaccine until they get FDA approval. We're very excited about the FDA

approval that's coming. And I'm sure their vaccines will also be coming. Maybe that'll pump up

the number, the percentage of Americans who are getting a vaccine. And we can, oh gosh, we won't have to spend

as much time on this show talking about the terrible tragedies that continue to happen across

this country because of unvaccinated Americans. Let's bring in physician and fellow at the

Brookings Institution, Dr. Kavita Patel. She's a former Obama White House Health Policy Director

...