because the security in afghanistan the stability of afghanistan is not only for afghanistan it took effect disability and security of the region including russia so wonderful our product in war foreign policy the fight against terrorism and extremism and stability of afghanistan in the region is regional cooperation because the fight against terrorism and extremism is not only individual afghanistan it is a regional issue so if you cannot find a solution in addition to a solution for it we'll be in deep trouble because that will continue until the longest time is nato presence threatening your internal security in relations to your immediate neighbors who we have. being working through day one to ensure assure our neighbors that the presence of new to a life force in afghanistan is for security and stability in afghanistan for the fight against terrorism and extremism is not directed against any other country and so far you have kept out reassuring god we need to have a regional cooperation as i mentioned to defeat terrorism extremism kabul has very good relations with washington an

occupation of afghanistan you have to realize there is more pashtuns in pakistan than in afghanistan so it affects pakistani society just as badly as it does in afghanistan and every drone attack every time there is civilians killed which is on a daily basis these days it sets back. to you know to. improve the u.s. image every every person killed every single drone attack it's just sad to see all effort back and it's going to make it much more difficult to know months of billions of aids or. can ever fix that ok in robert you know in looking at the sort of cold war on terror i mean i was explained to my my colleagues here at on the cross talk a little you use the word war on terror i love the way you. are a war on terror i know how you feel about that term and it's why you. don't usually use it all but yeah ok anyway i was explain to my colleagues here in the crossfire team in a phrase that came from the vietnam war we had to destroy the village to save it and is that what's happening to pakistan they did to win afghanistan the americans are willing to watch pakistan be to stabled. y

afghanistan is interested in upgrading of its technology equipment. take for example the attitude of military people in afghanistan they get used to the soviet weaponry in the russian weaponry they prefer this weaponry i mean mostly light weapons. from russian produce it's more convenient for them to use it so i think of it all so they're interested in just ability in terms of supplies of energy of any kind and russia is very near much closer than other countries and it's and your potential is well known so these are all bits and objective reasons why afghanistan is so interested in economic relationship with russia it's not a metal turn it if it's more convenient there of course icac i can see in the future when i'm going to istanbul be become a prosperous country that there can be competition not now of course but you mentioned the illegal drugs trade little bit early and our present because i says the afghan people tend to harvesting open out of desperation with no economic stability inside that you're mentioning what's the way out of this problem

an unsustainable political system afghanistan a democratic system afghanistan after thirty years of war and lawlessness and no government practically were different kind of government has now system to democratic process is taking root as you know you cannot make democracy in one day in your country especially in a country that had been a war for fifty years so i think that there are probably going to be problems and i think the problem on election is not only in a specific when afghanistan a lot of countries even more developed countries have had has had problem in their direction but the process is going on and people. believing in democracy that's the reason people are complaining millions of people anybody difficult condition of security when to vote a lot of women for the first time in afghanistan or will know in the election to be men a lot of priests there are good news with afghanistan but afghanistan cannot be switzerland or sweden in nine years mr foreign minister thank you very much for this interview and i wish you and your people every success in achieving peace and democra

inspired off the presence of nato forces in afghanistan in those of the i saw of forces in afghanistan. in two thousand and two. i had a visit to russia as i had visits to other countries of the world and since then there has been a steady miss trying to link and improve been to relations primarily because. russia also shared. the concerns and dangers that the dentist office and the rest of the world shared in that part of the world in afghanistan and in parks on and in the region as a whole and also because russia understood well as you just heard the president made a bit of talk about the need for afghans on stability the need for afghanistan's progress into a silv reliant country and and and government so relations are not new relations or old we are adding to the strength of this relationship in view of the country ality in the view of the good will and good in the standing shown. by the russian federation tours of ghana stan and in view of the fact that we are. neighbors not only close neighbors but next door neighbors and the expansion of the sort of this ship is only good for bo

peace for afghanistan and. afghanistan in close contact. with its neighbors and the new neighbors the country that progress into better economy. better living standards. children who were deprived of education for so many decades would have a chance to go to school some of those are spruces have been with some of them have not been moved so that was my my aspiration at the time but what would you say precisely seven years or what are you willing to achieve and where did you fail maybe you managed to achieve a better economy we were more than twenty universities right now term vision china . construction industry and the afghan flag flying all around the war and independent sovereign of. the rest of the world of course one of the greatest aspirations of us security for the afghan people peace for the afghan people for the whole country. to come in that is our continued effort and strive. for the past couple of years sorry you have been subject to much criticism both personal and professional how do you deal with it when i was attacked very s

in afghanistan though, afghanistan is a political problem. it can only be solved politically. it's not a military problem where you can defeat the taliban. we have to recognize that negotiate with the taliban is the always solution. the problem though is that trade is gotten better. that might seem like it's a good thing, but these taliban commanders are the ones who have ties to both sides of the committee and our that for much more moderate. are able to be pressure by the community and the tribal elders. and upon have much more inside with the taliban commander in pakistan. by killing these guys you're replacing them with much younger more radical guys who don't have these ties and don't have the tiger tell you much, much harder to dig osha within. right now the taliban in afghanistan are totally different than taliban in pakistan. totally different from al qaeda. the taliban in afghanistan our afghani controlled, have afghan interest and goals. pakistani taliban are different of course find the pakistani government come in some places moving to a kind of. but you've only ha

the presence of nato forces in afghanistan in those of the eyes of forces in afghanistan since then there has been a steady. strengthening and improved been you know relations primarily because russia understood the need for afghans on stability the need for of councils progress into a self reliant country. and. president karzai was so sad that he would like to rely on help from washington why with one way or another even after the withdrawal of u.s. troops from the country i can't tell you many thanks for the updates are to tell you no they're reporting to us on the last trip yeah cause i see many. and we'll have an exclusive interview with the afghan leader in an hour's time here on r.c. all conway that log on to our web site com and see it right now for a different perspective altogether on president karzai that are now joined by you got a lot of from these you to well the call to me on international relations but it has of being with us here on r.t. and i posed to me that if there are one hundred calls they said that drugs trafficking was the top priority that both countries needed to

peace for afghanistan a stable afghanistan afghanistan in close contact. with its neighbors and the near neighbors a country that would progress into a better economy. better living standard where the afghan children who are deprived are a future occasion for so many decades we would have a chance to go to school some of those us processions have been with some of them have not been made so that was my my aspiration at the time but what would you say precisely seven years or what do you want to achieve and where did you fail maybe you managed to achieve a better economy we were more than twenty universities and there right now in china all. construction industry and afghan flag flying all around toward an independent sovereign afghanistan and big the rest of the war of course will have to read to stuff spirituals are for us security for the afghan people peace for the afghan people for the whole country house dot com and that is our continued effort and struggle for the past couple of years sorry you have been subject to much criticism both personal and pr

afghanistan doesn't. and the fact that we try this one-size-fits-all approach, we're going to go in, we're going to wring in a government in a before bring in a government in a box. they even called it that, so demeaning. doesn't work. what are you going too far, a jumping jack box that the government pops out and says, here we are, we're the government now. surprise, that doesn't work. they don't have the loyalty of the population, they don't know what they're doing. these afghans who were brought in to be the local government in marjah, for example, the place that was supposed to be the practice for going after kandahar for u.s. troops, we're going to go after marjah, and we're going to clear it of the taliban, and then we're going to bring in the government in a box. well, the guy they brought in to be mayor had spent the years of war not living through the years of war or the years of taliban repression, he had spent those years in this germany. so what a surprise, he was the same tribal links as the

unsustainable political system afghanistan is a democratic system afghanistan after thirty years of war and lawlessness no government practically were different kind of government has now system to democratic process is taking root as you know you cannot make democracy in one day in your country especially in a country that had been a war for fifty years so i think that there are probably going to be a problem and i think the problem on election is not only in a specific in afghanistan a lot of countries even more do.

good news with afghanistan but afghanistan cannot be so it's a long war and nine years as a foreign minister thank you very much for this interview and i wish you and your people every success in achieving peace and democracy in your country. soon which will brighten. song from months to. start totty dot com.

because the security in afghanistan the stability of afghanistan is not only for afghanistan it took effect disability and security of the region including russia so wonderful our product involved foreign policy in the fight against terrorism and extremism and stability of afghanistan in the region is a region of cooperation because the fight against terrorism and extremism is not only individual afghanistan it is a regional issue so if you cannot find a solution their vision or solution for it will be in deep trouble because that will continue and take longer time is nato presence threatening your internal security in relations to your immediate neighbors we have been working since day one to assure assure our neighbors that the presence of new two and allied forces in afghanistan is for security and stability in afghanistan for the fight against terrorism and extremism is not directed against any other country. and so far you have kept it reassuring gordon it would be neat to have your regional competition out there mention to defeat terrorism and extremism the couple has very good

to liberate afghanistan from different of the taliban. afghanistan is fierce internment. this challenge is to rebuild itself. because for thirty years for the country which solidly was a poor country has been completely destroyed so the challenge is hard rebuilding the country giving the normal life toward people how our children go to school to have a health care target you cation. that is what you're trying to do now or prince british defense chief general sir david richards said that nature should prepare for another thirty forty years to stay in afghanistan which makes and mockery of their plans transition in two thousand and fourteen why do you think need to change that strategy and do you think that strategy defeating the tribal opposition was right in the first place number one it's not a tribal position it is a fight against terrorism and extremism and the tribal chief in the tribal people of the first victim of the terrorism which are being killed if you get a. date of two thousand and fourteen it's afghan proposal president karz

and so, al qaeda lost its base in afghanistan. and one of the things, you know -- when people say there's only 60 members of al qaeda in afghanistan, and triggered 50 in pakistan, sure, that is factually true but it's also sort of irrelevant. there are only 200 members and al qaeda on 9/11. it's always been a small group, and some, but what they had before 9/11 was a country after disposal and they had thousands of people going through their training camps. and to focus only on al qaeda in this context is a mistake because of a muslim terrorist group and insurgent group in the world was either headquartered or had a major corporation in afghanistan before the taliban. and of course al qaeda stood up the apex of this. so if we, you know, if the taliban came back from afghanistan, it wouldn't gist be al qaeda. it would be mohammed, the more islamic liberation front, the list goes on and on. it would be kind of welcome back into the fold. >> host: absolutely. what about the decision to invade iraq? obviously that was a more controver

iraq coming to afghanistan. iraq is a forgotten subject in the media nobody cares about it. it's hard to get people interested. i'm grateful to see a large crowd here. afghanistan a little bit more because there's more americans, so when americans are [inaudible] we can't understand what's happening in afghanistan with the americans think they're doing in afghanistan without understanding what happened in iraq and what they think gilpin in iraq so i would like to start with a discussion about iraq and the implications for afghanistan. the narrative which is impossible to challenge is that iraq was going fairly poorly because of poor planning and then in 2006 you had bombing al qaeda and iraq blew up the shrine north baghdadi and suddenly all hell broke loose in the war started in iraq is falling apart front office physically fit ph.d. general quote david petraeus arrived and saved the day of the new american hero and now he's going to save the day in afghanistan using the same brilliant tactics. but all that is

in afghanistan, afghanistan is a political problem. at some point you have to recognize negotiating with the taliban dissolution. little taliban commanders might seem like a good thing but these taliban commanders of the ones who are much more moderate, able to be pressured by the community and tribal elders and also probably have more ties with the taliban commander in pakistan. you are replacing them with more radical guys who don't have these ties. it will be much harder to ago she with them and you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that they will be tied to al qaeda. the taliban in afghanistan are different from the taliban in pakistan. the taliban in afghanistan are afghan controlled. pakistani taliban a little bit different. in some cases more links to al qaeda. you only had in history one afghan who tried to attack the u.s.. he was tied to the pakistani taliban and lived his life in the u.s.. obviously to people in afghanistan. you have to recognize negotiating with them is the only solution. the hamid karzai government, n

that's able to provide the development over afghanistan for decades to come. u.s. led coalition forces have been in the country since two thousand and one and are planning to withdraw combat forces in three years leaving afghanistan on its own russia has been watching u.s. operations very closely from afar while providing necessary transit routes for supplies and plan to continue support once the pullout is complete there is both the ability to russia and the the need for russian afghanistan to engage with. not only in the manner of russia helping afghanistan rebuild itself and re re develop its institutions capacity but also by the off trade biography investment by interaction between or businesses which is very strong but you countries signed a trade in business cooperation deal over the past few years russian afghan trade turnover has increased more than four fold and it's now half a billion u.s. dollars president carter's i mentioned that his country's developing economic relationship with the united states but that the relationship with russia is developi

i ran into him when i was in afghanistan. when you see these things, you cannot believe they are happening every day. people have no idea. it is extraordinary. >> how many years now with abc? >> this will be my 13th year with abc. >> and the job you had? the pentagon for how many years? >> the pentagon with abc. i covered the white house for about three years. i started covering the pentagon in 1993. >> the secretary of defense that you really new? >> i knew secretary william perry. that was during the bosnia years. secretary gates. william cohen. we have been through a lot of secretaries of defense. >> secretary gates made a speech in kansas in the middle of 2010. this is the eisenhower library speech. i want to give you some lines and have you interpret them. he said, "secretary rooms filled lamented that there were 70 levels of staff between him and a line officer. the defense business board recently estimated that in some cases the gap between me and an action officer may be as high as 30 players. he goes on to say some o

there are a lot of questions about afghanistan. the american public, more than half of them at this point do not think that the war was worth fighting. iraq, i think they are still crossing their finger on iraq. >> say it was not worth fighting, what did we get out of it? >> i think you have a relatively stable government in iraq. let me tell the good news, you have parts of afghanistan and look back and the days of taliban rule, the people are much happier. and in my last trip, about a month ago, talked to people that think that it's worse. and they are in that stage of war that they where that's going. you can take the same set of statistics, and have the strategy review, and wow, things are going better in the south. if you have that many boots on the ground and can't hold an area, then we are really in trouble. i think that the concern is what happens when those forces start to move out. and that's what you have to look for. when we spoke in 2006, we were in the worse time in war in iraq. >> how many troops in afghanistan? >> 4

. >> afghanistan. due to the blockage of supplies by air on, they're has been increasing gas prices in afghanistan. are you aware of it, and has many implications there? i know it will not have on the aberrations, but -- >> i don't have a particular comment. clearly we have a substantial post and presence in afghanistan, sure we are aware of it, but i'm not particular -- i don't have a particular comment at this point. >> and in neighboring pakistan, the security guard who assassinated the punjab governor is being treated like a hero's will come over there in the country. is it -- are you concerned about such signs of [inaudible] >> well, we have been concerned about increased extremism in pakistan for some time. it is at the heart of our strategic dialogue and our strategy with respect to pakistan. as we've made clear, violent political violence is a threat to the civilian government in pakistan, and obviously this is just the latest example. >> and now are you comfortable with the government getting