abc's nick schifrin joins us live from kabul with new information about who may be to blame. good morning, nick. >> reporter: good morning, lisa. yeah, afghan officialing believe these fighters came from pakistan. this base was only a few miles from the border and fighters can cross easily. the terrain is difficult for the u.s. to manage blue it's the insurgents' backyard. hundreds of fighters left a mosque in a nearby village a few miles from the pakistani border. they attacked two different u.s. bases in a bold and coordinated assault with massive firepower including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. outnumbered and in danger of being overrun u.s. troops called for backup, more troops and helicopters and fighter jets. abc's karen russo landed with medics who rescued soldiers. >> we flew in the cover of darkness and circled above to avoid fire before quickly corkscrewing to the landing zone below. we landed in a valley at the bottom of steep mountains making us vulnerable to attack even more so because medevac helicopters do not have any weapons. once on the grou

nick schifrin is in afghanistan tonight. >> reporter: eastern afghanistan has some of the least hospitable terrain on the planet. it is dangerous and difficult for the u.s., but it is the insurgents' backyard. early saturday morning, hundreds of fighters left a mosque and a nearby village just a few miles from the pakistani border. they attacked two different u.s. bases in a bold and coordinated assault with massive firepower, including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. outnumbered and in danger of being over-run, u.s. troops called for backup, more troops and helicopters and fighter jets. they repelled the assault, but the fighting lasted the entire day. abc's karen russo landed in nuristan with medics who rescued injured soldiers. >> when we entered this landing zone, you sort of have to corkscrew down so it was a quick and tight decent. when we landed, soldiers on the ground there quickly brought down there the people that needed to be medivaced out. we were completely open to any sort of attack. you could see the smoke rising up. the smell was really intense. one of the sol

nick schifrin, abc news, kabul. >>> next, we turn to health care. the nonpartisan congressional budget office said today the key version of the health care reform bill now before the senate finance committee will cost $829 billion and will cut the federal deficit $81 billion over ten years, meeting president obama's pledge to reduce spending. under the bill, 29 million more americans would have health insurance. >>> the government said today more than 400 schools have been closed for a day or more since the school year began, because of the h1n1 flu. for students and parents alike, the advice is the same. if you feel sick, stay home. but for millions of workers, staying home means losing pay. maybe the loss of their job, for they do not have paid sick days. here's steve osunsami. >> reporter: brian and suzi milbee say they are praying the swine flu stays away this winter, and their three children stay healthy. >> if the kids get sick, i can't take off from work. >> reporter: he's a butcher, she works for the military, and they're heading into the wi

abc's nick schifrin joins us again from afghanistan. nick? >> reporter: ron, u.s. troops were badly outnumbered in this attack. hundreds of taliban fighters launched the attack early saturday morning, it was still raging more than 36 hours after they left a local village to attack a joint u.s./afghan base as well as multiple bases in the area. the u.s. responded with quote, anything it had available, according to a spokesman, including airstrikes and additional u.s. troops. this was the deadliest day for u.s. troops in afghanistan in more than a year. last june, nine soldiers were killed. just a few miles from the base that was attacked yesterday morning. this attack could have not come at a worse time in this country. the political situation is extremely volatile. president hamid karzai has been accused by his rivals of quote, stealing this election. by the end of the week, we'll know the final results of this election and we'll know if president karzai has been re-elected. ron? >> thanks, nick. >>> and in other news, israeli police say palestinian protesters hurl

with more on the battle, here's nick schifrin in kabul. >> reporter: nuristan province has some of the least hospitalible terrain on the planet. it is difficult and dangerous. it's the insurgents' backyard. it was 2:00 a.m. when hundreds of fighters left a nearby mosque in a local village. they attacked two separate u.s. bases using rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. u.s. troops were badly outnumbered. it was a coordinated and bold assault. the troops called for backup, more troops as well as helicopters and fighter jets. abc's karen russo landed in nuristan in the middle of the night with a medevac team who rescued injured soldiers. >> it was low in a valley. as a result, when the helicopters fly in they sort of have to corkscrew down. very dangerous maneuver in daylight, never mind in darkness. >> reporter: u.s. troops in eastern afghanistan have been fighting on remote bases that ardifficult to defend. the new u.s. policy calls for some of those bases to be closed and the troops moved to more populated areas. >> we must focus our resources and prioritize in those areas wh