the entire village youth becomes taliban. they are searching for the taliban to recruit them and give them weapons. >> narrator: general mcchrystal knew that night raids could turn the afghan population against american soldiers. he restricted conventional troops from conducting them, and instead ordered the elite forces of jsoc to take the lead. now they are doing six times as many night raids as they were two years ago. >> get over here, an open area. >> where? >> an open area, right over here, right behind him. >> narrator: jsoc has taken measures to reduce the offence these operations cause by involving locals. this military video shows afghan soldiers being trained by special forces to conduct a night raid. >> afghans accompany our forces on every one of these. they do the callout-- in other words, "come out, we've surrounded the house." they do it, obviously, in the native tongue that's appropriate to that area. >> they do the entry operations. they do the searches, if it's required, and so on. we make mistakes. what we

that is certainly seen as a victory by the taliban. >> you know the discussions the taliban are having. what is the best way to join more of them to join the political process within the timeframe that nato forces will remain? how do we pull more of them into the political process? >> i think their are two ways. one is to defeat them on the battlefield. in areas where nato and afghan forces are fighting them, including local forces, did defeat them on the battlefield. we have seen them willing to -- to defeat them on the battlefield. we have seen them willing to reintegrate in those areas. secondly, more broadly, put more pressure on pakistan, the biggest outside government supporter of the taliban. if they were to suddenly decide they wanted to cut a deal, that would put pressure on the taliban. unfortunately, we are not seeing across-the-board big three in all locations, nor we seeing pakistan put pressure on them -- a cross-led dashboard victory -- across-the-board- victory in all locations, nor are we seeing pakistan put pressure on them. we're seeing the taliban lose ground in the

since 2001. >> the taliban buy in small units. they said booby traps and suicide bombings were more effective. a new generation of television militants saw their chance. by 2006, the insurgency was in full force. the international security assistance force, isaf, found it increasingly hard to stabilize the country. american combat troops were deployed in the north for the first time to battle a resurgent taliban. >> was clear is that the whole strategy in all -- in the north has had little success. that means that the german troops there remain in great danger. the more than 130,000 foreign soldiers are stationed in afghanistan. 90,000 of them are from the u.s.. president obama inherited the afghanistan war, but he says progress has been made and that the death of osama bin laden has weakened al qaeda. >> i just want to say a few words -- we are being successful in those emissions. the reason we are in a position to draw down 10,000 troops this year and a total of 33,000 troops by the end of next summer is precisely because of the

the truth is when you read the book these girls did everything they could to stay within the taliban rule. they never worked with men or talked with men, they were the burba on the street. they did everything they could to find opportunities within the rules and to take care of people all around their community. so when i asked hershel to use your real name she said of course i'm an entrepreneur and i want people to know how much work i did on behalf of my community and i worked a very hard to stay within the rules and i wanted to know my business now because all entrepreneurs she's very self promoting any smart and savvy way. >> host: in a nut shell, to entice people to read the book, but explain how much her life changed before and after the television to give us a sense of what transition was like for the women. >> guest: it was dramatic because these young women in this book were just like the young women that so many of us know and our families. they went to school, they went to universities, they have plans for working in the future and all of a sudden overnight, that was the e

the taliban assassinates more high ranking officials in afghanistan as nato you begin to undo the control of the country's provinces to local forces facing a huge question mark save their ability to cope. calls for not is the crisis in golfing rupert murdoch's media empire spreads to the perseus police but the resignation of the country's most senior officer. and russian security forces for well a major terror plot in moscow which leads could of course huge loss of life. and the former head of b.p. zion oil assets in russia serbia where does the looking at the snow and sebastian it will that happen find out more of them so i feel. very warm welcome this is coming to you live from moscow the taliban has claimed responsibility for the assassination of the afghan president's senior adviser in the capital kabul along with one of the country's them peace local security forces say they've already killed the militants you carried out the attack well the mothers come less than a week off the hum of cars lies half brother who around the south of the country was gunned down the taliban is stepping

there is an incentive on the taliban to a join a political process because taliban mid level and high level leaders are being killed in ever larger numbers and what you see now is in some sense lowering morales of the taliban within afghanistan because they're brave mid-level and high level leaders are cowering over the border in pakistan. that is what has happened and we keep that pressure. of course we need to work with the afghan citizens of long-term capability that the afghans can go on dealing with an insurgency if it is still continuing even in a minor way into the future along the lines he suggested. the taliban are under huge pressure because of the surge and the effectiveness of operations in which we are engaged. >> frank white. >> in afghanistan, we will not drawdown on the people who get diplomatic -- in the country. >> it is hugely important we secure those who work in our embassy. are had the fortune of meeting many people in the kabul embassy, one of the biggest embassies in the world. they have to make huge compromises to work out in such a difficult location and secu

the taliban have claimed responsibility for this but it's not clear that the taliban are responsible many people are saying and what i heard in talking to people in kandahar this morning is that it could very easily be a power struggle there could be other clans other tribes that are jealous of karzai is increasing power throughout the region and may have wanted to do him in don't forget he's also been on the payroll it is alleged the cia very close to many drug dealers and i've also heard and others have reported that he was responsible for perhaps starting to bring the taliban together with the united states to negotiate therefore someone would have had a definite reason perhaps pakistan perhaps the taliban to stop this we don't know yet who is responsible because they kill the person who had all the information it's going to take time before we find out who's responsible but in the short term we do know that there's a power vacuum throughout all of southern afghanistan he who holds kandahar holds that country. and now of course there's a power vacuum is there a likely successor. t

they did find a taliban and decisions-in a melon patch. -- a taliban munitions patch they were sniping at the soldiers operation we joined. the afghan forces lacked much and british officers say privately they are -- there is still a big problem with corruption. nato's deployment has peaked. the question now is will the afghans be able to do the job of the british soldiers have been doing as they start to leave? >> that is the question indeed. on the ground, the fighting continues. in washington, three american senators, three -- two democrats and one republican pended op-ed in the "new york times" which called for a more rapid withdrawal of all american combat troops. tom udall is among those arguing the case. thank you for joining me. you criticize president obama for not bringing back american troops fast enough from afghanistan. what would you like him to do? >> the thing we have to realize is the thing we went in with objectives. those objectives were displacing a government that was harboring terrorists. terrorist camps, al qaeda was hooked up with them, and osama bin laden was i

they did find a taliban and decisions-in a melon patch. -- a taliban munitions patch they were sniping at the soldiers operation we joined. the afghan forces lacked much and british officers say privately they are -- there is still a big problem with corruption. nato's deployment has peaked. the question now is will the afghans be able to do the job of the british soldiers have been doing as they start to leave? >> that is the question indeed. on the ground, the fighting continues. in washington, three american senators, three -- two democrats and one republican pended op-ed in the "new york times" which called for a more rapid withdrawal of all american combat troops. tom udall is among those arguing the case. thank you for joining me. you criticize president obama for not bringing back american troops fast enough from afghanistan. what would you like him to do? >> the thing we have to realize is the thing we went in with objectives. those objectives were displacing a government that was harboring terrorists. terrorist camps, al qaeda was hooked up with them, and osama bin laden was i

>> taliban pou >> he came under fire from his allies -- taliban. >> he came under fire from his allies, too. there are reports that you support the taliban. >> that is in the past. >> never he did, -- whatever he did, ahmad wali was the point man for the allied forces. >> for more on the power vacuum the assassination leaves, i am joined by david ignatius. thank you for joining us. with ahmad wali karzai gone, who will fill his shoes? >> we do not know yet. the key strong man in this area of kandahar has been ahmad wali karzai. he said that wali karzai, who has been such a problem for the u.s. and coalition -- a corrupt or lower, -- corrup warlord -t d -- with him gone, they will look for somebody else, but it is not likely they can fill the role quickly. >> why did he say they worked too closely -- he worked to closely with the taliban? >> we do not know that the taliban did this. it is entirely possible there is some feud we do not know about. there is an assassin -- the assassin was an elder from a village. it could be a very complicated dispute. one factor in the current relative s

haqqani, taliban, dtp of pakistan is a taliban, tnsm of pakistan is taliban. his brother leading, now he's been killed, all of them are not in tandem with each other. in fact, many in afghanistan fight each other. so, therefore, it's not a monolith. so maybe we go back to 1989 where there'll be chaos, confusion and anarchy, everyone fighting each other. pakistan alone, again, fending for itself. so this was why, as i said, an antipathy against the united states. why is there a confidence and trust deficit between the united states and pakistan? which has got exacerbated all along, no trust at all in the last one and a half years, i think, finally leading to the action of osama bin laden which absolutely displays the lack of trust, lack of confidence between the two countries. very briefly, partially maybe it started back in be my time, in 2004 or '5 when i had a, i had a strategy of weaning the pashtun from the taliban, and, therefore, we started by addressing, putting together local jirgas, a tribal meeting of elders. thought we'd hold tribal jirgas and drew

pakistan is fighting the taliban on its own territory but by some accounts it's supporting the taliban in afghanistan. a new book playing with fire, pakistan at war with itself. by "washington post" correspondent pamela constable dell ofs into all of this. and joins us now, it is good to you have with us. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: a provocative title, playing with fire, pakistan at wore with itself. what dow mean by that? >> it mean bes-- many layers of meaning in that. playing with fire in the sense that pakistan has always flirted with dangerous notions. it's always sort of had this nuanced subtle, denied unclear relationship with all these militant groups mostly because they want us to use them as proxies against india which is their long-term adversary but now it has come back to haunt them and many of these same militant islamic groups that they sort of thought they could manage or handle have gotten way out of control and not only moving against afghanistan but in many cases turning against the pakistani state itself. >> you spent a lot of time in the country reporting f

-- taliban kill those that work so closely with them? >> it is possible that there is some feud that we do know about. the assassin of was an elder from his village. this could be a very complicated dispute. one factor has been knocked away. >> it raises the challenges of trying to create stability in this area. will it have any affect on plans to withdraw u.s. troops? >> no. it will show the effects of the u.s. and the coalition allies throughout the area. many prominent people have been killed in kandahar in the north. tracking those people as an extremely difficult. this adds to the feeling of stability. >> is the threat to these key political figures growing? >> the numbers are about the same as last year. the most powerful police chief warlord in the north was recently assassinated. that sent shivers in the north. but it gave us the sense of vulnerability. the people that were charged with providing this seem to be here. >> thank you very much for joining us. now to the hacking scandal which continues in britain. but those even furt

have claimed responsibility for this but it's not clear that the taliban are responsible they could very easily be a power struggle i've also heard and others have reported that he was responsible for perhaps starting to bring the taliban together with the united states to negotiate therefore someone would have had a definite reason for. pakistan perhaps the taliban to start this we don't know yet who is responsible because they killed the person who had all the information. now was journalist gerry van dyke commenting on the killing of the afghan president's half brother. new it nato airstrikes have hit the suburbs of the libyan capital tripoli as colonel qadhafi val's he'll never leave his country this comes after his opponents have been recognized as the legitimate governing authority by over thirty nations led by the u.s. they said they wouldn't deal with the rebel transitional national council until an interim government is in place new measures to give the insurgents access to gadhafi has assets including billions of dollars which have been frozen in american banks but as a po

reason perhaps pakistan perhaps the taliban to stop this we don't know yet who is responsible because they killed the person who had all the information. that it was a journalist gerry van dyke commenting on the killing of the afghan president's half brother. a new nato airstrikes have hit the suburbs of the libyan capital tripoli as colonel gadhafi val's he'll never leave his country and this comes after his opponents have been recognized as the legitimate governing authority by over thirty nations led by the u.s. they said they would deal with of the rebel transitional national council until an interim government is in place the measures that give the insurgents access to gadhafi the assets including billions of dollars which have been frozen in american banks but as a political commentator ted rall says the move marks the radical shift. the united states usually doesn't extend to diplomatic recognition to a regime that is not in the capital that is region it doesn't even seem likely to be able to achieve power any time soon but you can look at the situation in afghanistan during th

over the volatile region on the border with pakistan he was often accused of having links with the taliban and afghanistan's illegal drug trade earlier we spoke with independent journalist and author gerry van dyke who was held for forty five days by the taliban in two thousand and eight he says the killing leaves washington without anyone to rely on when it comes to regional security. well the cars it was not just the governor or the shadow governor of kandahar he was the most powerful and the most popular person throughout all of southern afghanistan this shows that right now with the canadian troops pulling out and with the u.s. trying to now focus on eastern afghanistan feeling that they have controlled the south there is now a vacuum who is in power who can the west rely upon you know what end i've also heard and others have reported that he was responsible for perhaps starting to bring the taliban together with the united states to negotiate their force someone would have had a definite reason perhaps pakistan perhaps the taliban to stop this we don't know yet who is responsible beca

i think the writing on the wall is that if we leave afghanistan the taliban is going to be in charge and i think another thing to look at graphically is the power vacuum is being created in some respects or in the south along the iran border there could be a manufactured justification for the united states to put troops there and that would actually support some other things that are happening in the region of the iran well let's talk more about american policy in the region the white house and the pentagon well they don't actually even seem to be seeing eye to eye on how files u.s. troops should be withdrawing from afghanistan do you think that the killings approve if you live the military may actually be right to want to keep nato forces on the ground longer. well you could interpret it that way but i have a feeling looking at what normally happens when you know occupying forces leave is there is a new adjustment in who's in charge and so in some ways this is pretty predictable . the alternative as you might propose it would be well american forces could stay there if that's the ca

next the taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination of the afghan president's senior adviser in the capital kabul along with one of the country's m.p.'s local security forces say they've already killed the militants who carried out the attack or those murders come less than a week after how many cars i was half brother around the country was gunned down the taliban's stepping up its assault on afghan officials right now just as name. combat troops begin to withdraw indeed on sunday the alliance handed over control of the first of seven designated areas to local forces with more on the situation unfolding in afghanistan let's talk to on the war. here brian very good evening chief thanks for being an r.t. international these latest attacks on senior official show that the taliban is still a substantial force to be reckoned with without the mind of nato forces doing the right thing by withdrawing now. well the nato forces are facing. a dilemma they're on the horns of a dilemma they can't win by staying in fact their presence is becoming the main catalyst for the armed insurgency

well the taliban certainly is. to itself and certainly has killed a lot of afghans also done a lot of harm but remember the taliban is somewhere around fifteen to eighteen thousand strong in southern and eastern afghanistan so not a major part of the population but it's more of the mindset of trying to control things so basically as the taliban comes into the peace process comes into the afghan government the taliban will begin to reconcile itself with the population and become more congenial simply because it has to if it wants to be taken seriously by the population we've seen this across the world it is a reign corporation study shows. violent groups are brought to peace significantly as they're brought into the peace process so it's not uncommon and it's confusing but it's it will happen ok well there are a lot of ifs and there are a lot of contingencies in the meantime you know we don't know exactly how it's going to play out and you have an afghan army that is less equipped than u.s. forces they have a fracti

have claimed responsibility for this but it's not clear that the taliban are responsible it could very easily be a power struggle i've also heard and others have reported that he was responsible for perhaps starting to bring the taliban together with the united states to negotiate therefore someone would have had a definite reason perhaps pakistan perhaps the taliban to stop this we don't know yet who is responsible because they killed the person who had all the information. that was journalist gerry van dyke commenting on the killing of the afghan president's half brother. now let's have a brief look at some other stories from around the world at this stage of the day egypt's former president hosni mubarak has suffered a stroke and is in a coma according to his lawyers doctors were reportedly working to bring the eighty three year old leader to consciousness but health officials and state t.v. have denied the information saying condition is stable it comes after the country's prime minister reshuffled his cabinet in response to renewed public protests demanding political reform. but i

karzai hey don't know whether or whether he was an agent of the taliban the taliban claims he was but it may have been. internal. power struggle with you know it could have been it could have actually been a. rival drug dealers or. any number. of power struggles that we're not really aware of so a little certainly that may have killed him knew that he would pay with his life and that kind of. committed and usually only comes from the child does the backdrop here this is a big blow isn't it this is a high profile killing to and it's and it's happening at the same time as america says it wants to withdraw and leave a stable afghanistan yeah this is a high profile killing a man killed in his own house. you have to differentiate between stated policy and real call said you know. has been saying that it wants to withdraw for ten you know i mean going on for ten years they've been wanting to clear victory and leave but if the united states policy is actually to stay you have for the considerable future to control its natural resource you think they'll be there after twenty fourteen you. thi

have claimed responsibility for this but it's not clear that the taliban are responsible it could very easily be a power struggle i've also heard and others have reported that he was responsible for perhaps starting to bring the taliban together with the united states to negotiate therefore someone would have had a definite reason perhaps pakistan perhaps the taliban to stop this we don't know yet who is responsible because they killed the person who had all the information. ahmed wali karzai was often accused of lengths were the taliban in afghanistan illegal drugs trade they have russia's federal drug control service victory even off says a decade of military failures of the coalition forces in the country aren't helping watch his full interview in around ten minutes time but here's a quick preview. for you. this september will see the tenth anniversary of that interference it's longer than world war two the situation in afghanistan hasn't improved it's become even worse and even senior officials like general petraeus for example the military operation in afghanistan says that the nu

on the back food tackling the taliban. the clock's ticking for america's rival politicians to agree on the next move in sorting out its soaring debt congress needs to raise the current fourteen point three trillion dollar debt ceiling to avoid the folding and president obama wants parties to ignore their differences to avert armageddon but leading credit rating agencies are already threatening to downgrade america's aaa credit score for the first time in over ten years they say there is a risk the u.s. could fail to resolve the deadlock quickly or effect that way alice maxwells believes america's debt addiction means there won't be a quick cure. america's been running on debt for years this is a disaster in the making and i would liken the situation here to a cancerous tumor inside a body there's no better time to cut the cancerous tumor out quickly as you possibly can that said the u.s. government has been running on debt for many many years and we've been raising the budget the total debt ceiling for many many years as a

the taliban has grown as a result of continued u.s. presence in the southern afghanistan and we get eggs about opinion on how the pullout of u.s. troops on the country couldn't bring security there. just imagine this piece is about four and a half billion years old not the earth. space or wrongs but is it cosmic passion or busy to profit we explore what lies behind the need to write fever that's spreading in central russia. while turning from countries causing trouble for the european union to others still have to join it so he is expecting a progress on its ear you integration is following the arrest of crime suspect goran hardage but harper made the key hurdles membership is still needed clearing out it may be extradited to the hague on saturday r.t. sara first reports south of the serbian capital belgrade. the governments very much looks to the west the public opinion actually does this quite significantly now the last time i was in belgrade at the end of last year i spoke to the deputy prime minister head i asked him why there's st

. >> they use mortars first, aiming for taliban dug into the hills. but the incoming fire is very accurate here. >> go. go. go! >> they range cover from heavy machine guns. >> but the bullets are too close. >> that was the scene in an isolated american military outpost in afghanistan's kunar province. troops were assaulted by taliban insurgents hiding in the hills above. our reporter was there and covered the fire. tonight he joins us from another combat outpost in kunar province. so, nick, the obvious question is what is it look? you were there with the servicemen in that outpost. what is it like to come under siege like this day in, day out in afghanistan? >> reporter: well, i think there is a very large barrier. for me, it is sedentary, for the troops themselves, it's a fairly harrowing ordeal to have this constant potential threat of large attack. in the back of their minds, there is always the possibility that it could get overrun. there have been two serious ininstances in which outposts like that surrounded by taliban and they've been attacked

well the taliban have grown in strength the americans are talking to the taliban it is almost certain that whatever settlement eventually comes in afghanistan it will involve the taliban in some capacity nearly everybody now recognizes this so what is the point of continuing this war the point of continuing this war is because the americans and the british and their allies camel admit defeat in the second country all through what happened in iraq but is why they're there they are they in order to prop up a government that they have no real confidence in they all day in order to save their own faces they all they have to protect their interests they're not there to protect the ordinary afghans and we've seen this again this way all right thank you very much for your insight families see a german from the stop the war coalition thank you. now the last serbian fugitive wanted by the u.n. war crimes tribunal has appeared in court got on how to face as a fourteen at charges including crimes against humanity during the balkans war and the nine hundred ninety s. surveyed officials hope his a

, al qaeda and taliban, is to lie low, let time pass, and then rise again. so declaring... giving a timeline, i have always been saying that it ought to be effected, what effects do we want to create? you can't have it time related because then you'll be in the hands of the enemy, i would say. and if you leave in 2014 without stabilizing afghanistan, what will happen then? we need to visualize. >> well, the problem is... the difficulty i think for america is afghanistan hasn't been stable since, i guess, hannibal. (laughter) so the idea that we could stay there... (laughter). they don't appear to want to be stabilized so i mean... i guess the problem is can we really do that? can we do that for a country and is pakistan going to give them the room that they would need to do that or would they perhaps try and have some influence with the taliban adds well? >> well, first of all, i think afghanistan was stable since centuries. >> jon: well, obviously i was being humerus. (laughter) ... humorous. >> they had an agreement. the ethnic groups decided to stay toget

for taliban assassinates more high ranking officials in afghanistan as they to begin sunday between shoulder of the country's provinces to local forces facing huge question mark save their ability to cave. cops and how good is the crisis in the gulf in rupert murdoch's media empire spreads to the british police that with the resignation of competence in a senior officer. and russian security forces the will of major terror plot near not scale which is believed could have caused huge loss of life and. a very warm welcome this is live from moscow now the taliban has claimed responsibility for the assassination of the afghan president's senior adviser in the capital kabul along with one of the country's m.p.'s local security forces say they've already killed the militants who carried out the attack or the murders khan estell we call it a hundred calls lies half brother who round us out of the country was gunned down the taliban is tech not of the salt on our town officials as major combat troops begin that with school on sunday the alliance hundred overcontrolled with the first of seven designa

where the taliban's a biggest achievement in ten years that's what the group called the assassination of the half brother of afghan president hamid karzai the other half brother karzai head of the kandahar province a volatile region on the border with pakistan jerry van dyke who back in two thousand and eight was held by the taliban for forty five days says the killing leaves washington was no one to rely upon when it comes to securing the region. well they karzai it was not just the governor or the shadow governor of kandahar he was the most powerful and the most popular person throughout all of southern afghanistan this shows that right now with the canadian troops pulling out and with the u.s. trying to now focus on eastern afghanistan feeling that they have controlled the south there is now a vacuum who is in power who can the west rely upon you know what the taliban have claimed responsibility for this but it's not clear that the taliban are responsible it could very easily be a power struggle i've also heard and others have reported that he was responsible for perhaps starting t

the taliban has grown as a result of continued u.s. presence in the southern afghanistan so by the u.s. leaving you're going to see the taliban basically not want to fight as much because their base to be fighting is afghans you're going to see an afghan peace process take place because afghans generally speaking don't want to silly fight with each other they just simply want to live in coexist for the most part now as the taliban comes into the peace process comes into the afghan government the taliban will begin to reconcile itself with the population and become more congenial simply because it has to if it wants to be. taken seriously by the population generally speaking the afghans are better off with governing themselves without the united states or the coalition forces providing security for them because as we've seen we have unintentionally killed a lot of people and i think that we would be foolish to sit here and think that the u.s. is leaving we're not leaving there will be permanent u.s. involvement in nato involvement for a

on the back food tackling the taliban. libya's rebels have become the legitimate power holders in the country in the eyes of more nations after the u.s. and more than thirty other countries recognize them on friday at a diplomatic meeting in a stamboul the alliance of western and arab nations working on the crisis announced it would deal with the opposition until an enter a must already is in place the recognition by the contact group also gives the rebels access to billions of dollars of gadhafi is frozen assets in u.s. banks but political commentator ted rall says the money and status won't change the situation on the ground. that this is really a radical shift from an international standpoint the united states usually doesn't extend diplomatic recognition to it a regime that is not in the counting all that isn't an hour and doesn't even seem likely to be able to achieve power any time soon but you can look at the situation in afghanistan during the one nine hundred ninety six to two thousand and one civil conflict there

ahmed wali karzai was often accused of lying the taliban in afghanistan illegal drugs trade the house russia's federal drug control service victory even off says a decade of military failures of the coalition forces in the country aren't helping watch this i wonder you know around ten minutes time but here's a quick preview. of this september will see the tenth anniversary of that interference that's longer than world war two but the situation in afghanistan hasn't improved it's become even worse and even senior officials like general petraeus for example the military operation in afghanistan which says that the number of arms clashes there increases year after year the number of armed clashes over the past ten years has increased more than one hundred times and so have the assigned tasks been achieved but we see that the security in afghanistan has only gotten worse and it's said that drug production cannot be fought because the damage of the security situation so it's a kind of closed circle. scandal surrounding rupert murdoch's media empire has gone international after u.s. senator