There's some very brave and capable of Afghan Special Forces units and soldiers.

But if Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now,

there is no chance that one year, one more year, five more years, or 20 more years,

the U.S. military boots in the ground would have made any difference.

Here's what I believe to my core. It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan's

own armed forces would not. Despite the chaotic scenes at Kabul's International Airport, President Biden is standing by his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

The question is, how will the administration handle this foreign policy crisis moving forward?

Plus, federal health officials are expected to recommend COVID booster shots for most Americans

eight months after being vaccinated. The question is, what about all the folks who haven't even

received a first shot? And we're following two major storms. Fred made landfall in Florida

and is spreading heavy rain across several states. And Grace is bringing

rain and gusty winds to the Caribbean, including Haiti. The question is, how much is that storm

complicating Haiti's earthquake response? It's way too early for this.

Good morning and welcome to way too early.

The show that remembers when Augusts used to have slow news days.

I'm Jonathan Lemire on this Tuesday, August 17th.

We'll start with the news.

And we begin with the chaotic scenes coming out of Kabul's international airport, where tens of thousands of Afghans surrounded planes in a desperate attempt to escape Taliban control.

NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has the latest from Kabul.

Tens of thousands of Afghans swarmed into Kabul airport, desperate to leave at any price.

They burst through security, climbed over walls, and spilled onto the tarmac, searching for any airplane that would take them far away from Afghanistan, away from the Taliban.

So many managed to cram into one plane, the pilot refused to take off.

...