martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >>> let's bring in jake tapper now from the white house. richard holbrooke was in washington to brief the president, and he met with his national security today team. >> reporter: that's exactly right. the president met with his national security team. the meeting started with secretary of state hillary clinton talking about holbrooke and thanking the president for meeting with holbrooke's family, saying how much it meant to them. the president said the team would really miss him a lot. then, in a business-like way, it was described to me, the team turned and started talking about the afghanistan-pakistan review. some good news from the review. that will be released later this week. it includes, there's been some progress in halting taliban momentum in parts of afghanistan. in addition, there's been some success killing senior al qaeda leadership. the administration won't say this, but that is mainly through drone strikes in pakistan, george. >> are they going to lay out some of the challenges, too? >> reporter: that's right. there have bee

thank you, martha raddatz, tonight. and once again, our special series, afghanistan, can we win, begins sunday and it runs all next week. >>> and, as jake tapper reported, afghanistan was featured today in the latest hemorrhage of documents by wikileaks. even as the walls are closing in on its founder, julian assange, who is wanted in a rape investigation in sweden. jim sciutto brings us up to date on all of this tonight. >> reporter: tonight, in britain, julian assange is awaiting arrest by british police. but the wikileaks founder remains defiant, suggesting the u.s. is out to kill him, saying in an online chat, "we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able with dealing with a superpower." world leaders stung by american diplomats withering assessments are taking their own shots. today, the russian president described as the robin to vladimir putin's batman, his country a virtual mafia state in another, said the leaks show the full measure of cynicism in u.s. foreign policy. officials from

thank you, martha raddatz. and, of course, theirs is the indelible legacy of the long war, the lives lost. 1,427 americans have been killed. 32,000 wounded. and you can see a portrait of the sacrifice, in all the cities and towns across this country, who gave their young men and women to the war and now honor their memories. and on this day of the report, abc's john donvan, on the fallen more than nine years in. >> reporter: it seems we need reminders, the "rest of us," that yes, there is a war. and when it intrudes, as it did on wednesday, this is los angeles, middle of everyone's day, that can still get, it did get, the proper amount of attention. and appreciation for a sacrifice that the rest of us, truthfully, only rarely let into our thoughts. at the start, of course, we all shared the wound. and when he made this vow -- >> and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> reporter: we were nearly all behind it. only 23 days later, the vow kept. the first strikes in afghanistan,

martha raddatz, who has traveled to afghanistan so often, is there again tonight with a commander and the men and women giving so much to try to make that happen. >> reporter: major general john campbell, from the 101st airborne division, commands all forces in the volatile eastern part of afghanistan, where the toll on his troops has been staggering. in july, just five weeks into his tour, he told us 27 of his soldiers had been killed. he carried cards with each of their names in his pocket. by september, there were so many, he had to keep them in his ruck sack. >> about 76 right now. >> reporter: and today? >> lost 96 heroes straight from 101st, and another 45 attachments from the 101st. so, it's been a big toll. >> reporter: the toll is especially personal for some. can you tell me his name? >> i can't even get it out. >> reporter: it's too painful to say? >> yeah. >> reporter: we later learned his friend's name was shaun mittler, 32 years old, the father of a young daughter. it seems everyone in these combat outposts knows someone who has died. and it seems everyone, including thi

and martha raddatz is in afghanistan. martha? >> reporter: good morning, ron. the president's visit came at a critical time here in afghanistan. a progress report is due out in the next few weeks to see if the strategy here is working. >> is everybody ready for the main event? >> it was a rousing welcome by general david petraeus, the commander of u.s. forces here. >> president barack obama. >> reporter: thousands of u.s. military personnel had been gathered at bagram airfield, for the president's unannounced visit. >> on behalf of me. on behalf of michelle. on behalf of malia and sasha. on behalf of more than 300 million americans, we are here to say thank you. >> reporter: the president awarded purple hearts to five soldiers. and met with the platoon that lost six of its soldiers earlier this week. president obama made clear that the additional 30,000 troops here have made a difference. >> all of those troops are now in place. thanks to your service, we are making important progress. we said we were going to break the taliban's momentum. that's what you're do

>> all right, jake, want to turn now to martha raddatz, because we wanted more on the view from the ground in afghanistan, and she has traveled there six times this year. she's just come back this week. and martha, give me, again, a general sense of how much ground the u.s. and the other forces have gained there and how much the taliban has pushed back. >> reporter: well, you know, the strategy is clear, hold and build. they are still clearing in most areas. now, even in the south, where they cited progress today, those areas, they're just clearing. they're not really holding and they're certainly not building. and as nick schifrin pointed out, in the north and the west, things have deteriorated significantly. >> so, as you read this report, what do you think the troops on the ground are saying tonight? >> reporter: well, i can tell you, diane, first of all, they don't pay much attention to politics or polls. they are fighting for the brother and sister next to them. and if this is very hard to believe after nine years, but they feel that the fight is just beginning. they now finally have

martha raddatz of abc news. and doyle mcmanus of the "los angeles times." >> award-winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill. produced in association with "national journal." corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> we know why we're here. to give our war fighters every advantage. to deliver technologies that anticipate the future today. >> and help protect america everywhere, from the battle space to cyber space. >> around the globe, people of boeing are working together to give our best for america's best. >> that's why we're here. >> there's one thing dave always wanted to do when he retires, keep working. but for himself. so as a financial advisor, i took a look at everything he has. the 401k, insurance policy, even money he's invested elsewhere. we're building a retirement plan to help him launch a second career. go, dave. >> this week, when you need a financial investor fully invested in you,

he was 69 years old. >> he was such a presence and such a force. >>> want to bring in martha raddatz, along with jake tapper at the white house. martha, you just came back from afghanistan and pakistan. what are the implications of our policy going forward now? >> well, robin, i think the stamp of richard holbrooke was already on that policy in a very strong way. and the review of the afghanistan policy is essentially done. so, it will go forward. admiral mike mullen just released a statement saying, i know richard holbrooke would want our work to continue unabated. and i know we will all feel his bully presence in the room, as we do so. as you know, robin, he was a very, very tough negotiator. but they want consistency. they want someone with a strong personality. he is going to be very, very difficult to replace. >> he earned that nickname, the bulldozer. jake, at the white house, the president will be meeting with some of his top afghan advisers and talking about having to move, of course, forward at this point. and how to best go about doing that. >> that's exactly right. and of t

but abc news martha raddatz talked to some of the soldiers who are working on it, who say it won't be easy. >> reporter: major general john campbell from the 101st airborne division commands all forces in the volatile eastern part of afghanistan where the toll on his troops has been staggering. in july, just five weeks into his tour, he told us 27 of his soldiers had been killed. he carried cards with each of their names in his pocket. by september, there were so many, he had to keep them in his rucksack. >> about 76 right now. >> reporter: and today -- >> lost 96 heroes. i've lost another 45 attachments from the 101st. so it's been a big toll. >> reporter: the toll is especially personal for some. >> i can't even get it out. >> too painful to say? >> yes. >> reporter: we later learned his friend's name was sean mittler, 32 years old, father of a young daughter. it seems everyone in these combat outposts knows someone who has died. >> i think there are a lot of people saying, wait, women are on the front lines? >> we are, ma'am. i love being able to say that i can go out there and fig

i'm joined by martha raddatz. one of the reasons for that, since the surge was completed here in september, the operations have really ramped up? >> they truly have, george, and as you know, we've been traveling all over afghanistan, especially in the volatile east, and that portion of the country in particular is a long way from being a success story. this is some of the deadliest terrain in the world. unseen enemies hide in the remote mountains that divide afghanistan from pakistan. >> still a lot of bad guys. but they still regenerate here. >> reporter: major general john campbell has 30,000 soldiers trying to find them. campbell estimates his soldiers have killed or captured an astonishing 3,500 insurgents in the last 4 months, but says there are probably 7,000 or more still operating here. this is camp joyce. there are about 700 soldiers who live here. it's nestled right up against the pakistani border and comes under constant fire. it is 1 of some 140 combat bases here in the east. in a counterinsurgency str

martha raddatz leads a panel discussion on mr. halberstam's impact legacy. at 9:00 third becomeq &a from london, a conversation with a filmmaker. it chronicles the -- the film chronicles the terror attacks of 2008. then we go to fort lauderdale, fla. for a pro-israel. forum that is at 10:30 eastern, all here on c-span. documentaryriginal on the supreme court has been newly updated. sunday, you will see the grand public places and those available only to the justices and their staff and you will hear about how the court works from all the current supreme court justices, including the newest justice, elena kagan. also, learn about some of the court's newest developments. the supreme court, home to america's highest court, airing for the first time in high- definition, sunday, at 6:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> the cspan networks are all available on television, radio, online and on social media networking site. find our content any time through the cspan video library. we take cspan on the road with our digitalbus, bringing our resources to your community

next to him is martha raddatz. she is senior foreign affairs correspondent, but the truth is that she has been one of nbc news's most distinguished reporters for many years. she has spent a lot of that time going to places like iraq and afghanistan and pakistan and doing the kind of journalism and reporting that david halberstam represented and loved. she has won zero awards -- she has won awards. did bill pearl, you'll remember, was "the wall street journal" -- daniel pearl, you'll remember, was "the wall street journal" journalist to was killed. moscow was not just the -- martha was not just a white house correspondent and foreign correspondent, she has done work that is at the heart of david halberstam. stephen engelberg has spent his career as an investigative reporter. now he is the managing editor of propublica, which is the most watched, admired, and worry about non-profited venture for journalism. it is focused on investigative reporting. this is a very distinguished group. i told them back in the green roo