i think it will happen in afghanistan. we just have to be patient and not give up because once you get up, you have to start from scratch all over again. the mac talking about the nonsecurity side in an issue that is very dear to the heart, barbara from pad for most of use they are implementing the largest rule of law program of its kind in the world in him. what should be its focus in the next five to 10 years particularly as it pertains to women and girls. do not take a shot at that one? >> like i mentioned earlier, the rule of law, we have laws. many laws need to be enforced. we need to learn how to enforce laws and use eyes. i remember i did have a person in my ngo for two. this is probably 10 years ago. it is very interesting for me to find out that one of the lawyers, she was being abused by her husband at home but then she would get out and go to court and try to defend everybody else. when i found that out, i sat her down. i said if you cannot defend yourself, how can you defend others? she started crying. even whe

in afghanistan, iraq and elsewhere. but even as the united states winds down its wars, these workers remain critical to american facilities around the world. >> the problem doesn't go away, because we're still going to have needs of support both for department of defense and department of state. now they're starting to use third country nationals for bases in djibouti and other parts of africa as well. >> al jazeera america, proud to give voice to the voiceless. >> we are creating a class of adults exposed to mediocre education. >> there's bad people out there in these sports. >> we call chicago "chiraq" because we have more killers than iraq. >> in order to save my children, i had to try to save everyone else's. >> i had to encourage them... to tell them, there's a better way. >> i have to do my one hundred percent best so i don't end up in a place like this again. >> you have kids here who've killed someone? >> yes we do. >> my homie got shot five times. >> have you ever seen anybody get shot? >> highlighting threats

there are hindus in afghanistan. there has ben day back-and-forth and so many people and how they go on their honeymoon because it was not offered in india but not where they need to catch up. but with that community they have been there for centuries. there are practical considerations. for example, the funerals in the government has preached an agreement for more modern facilities as kabul has thoroughly expanded and there are no places to be able to do these. so there is some friction in their. afghanistan is an exclusive country. for example, the have no problem unlike our neighbor. the country is very hospitable. >>. >> with those democratic institute date for the speech. my question is on in sustainability. making some great progress across different sectors encouraging women political engagement to the council are these efforts are sustainable? how sustainable are these efforts? >> there are sustainable as the women themselves. but the work has to be done by the people itself. so there they have the chance in

but it's not obvious in afghanistan. so we did the teamwork and eventually i think after that i let go because i so she was really taking the reins and she was going to do it. it's her project. it's her ministry. i'm glad that she came to me for some advice and i was able to help her in a small way. but that was essential. so yes, i do the same with ministry of counter-narcotics. i also have some dealings with ministry of higher education, but not really much. ministry of education wanted to me to be an ambassador for later see, but they are undergoing a very big reform and that has been shelved. so it probably will, you will probably will hear that i'm doing -- i mean, all i'm doing is talking when i see people, telling people the way i see it, and hoping that somebody will pick up the project and run with it. >> great. please, yes. please stand up so they can see you to give you the mic. >> i'm excited direct of u.s. afghan women's council at georgetown university. we are so grateful that you are here and i would also

i think it'll happen in afghanistan. we just have to be patient and not give up, because once you give up, you have to start from scratch all over again. >> here here. this, talking about the nonsecurity side and an issue that's very dear to the heart of usip, this is a question from barbara from pae for both of you. the u.s. government is implementing the largest rule of law program of its kind in the world in afghanistan. what should be its focus in the next five to ten years particularly as it pertains to women and girls? mina, do you want to take a shot at that one? >> sure. [laughter] >> good luck. [laughter] >> like i mentioned earlier, the rule of law, we have laws. we have many laws. needs to be enforced. we have to learn how to enforce laws and how to use laws. i remember i did have in my ngo for two months i had a training for women lawyers. this was probably ten years ago. and it was very interesting for me to find out that one of the lawyers, she was being abused by her husband at home, but then she would get

it was actually in another location in afghanistan. the situation in kunduz as a result of the place attack that took there, really presented a? -- a significant security threat. link up structed to with an afghan partner force on the ground, and so he did that. an advisey clearly in and assist role there but of do se, they are having to that from locations that brought he and his team and the afghans they were supporting under direct fire. and so they were very much in an situation here. udience: the report in the predecessor by john campbell, a number of critical problems with the ac 130 communication system you alluded to, some sort of technical problem that resulted in bad targeting after a maneuver. ing an undertak evaluation or audit of the ystem of the ac 130 to see how systemic this is, or that eyes sight before a ac 130 strike? general votel: we always look at processes, and we're in a constant effort to look at he things we're doing and ensuring they match the situations we're operating and are applicable to it. aircraft, ct

government facilities in afghanistan. in fact, in a memo from june 2011, then tfbso director paul brinkley directed all tfbso personnel in afghanistan to move back to us military base s. it remains unclear as to why mr. brinkley's directive went unimplemented for another two years. the third issue, you wished us to address has to deal with goats. and as i think ranking member speers and congresswoman has mentioned, you may wonder why i'm talking about goats in the armed services committee and not the agriculture committee. but they spent millions of dollars to bolster the cashmere industry. the purpose was to bring lighter haired afghan goats which would yield a higher price on the international market. to do so, tfbso paid to have nine italian goats and ten tajik goats imported to afghanistan. ultimately, this program also failed. because it was overly ambitious, poorly staffed, poorly managed what they tried to do in a couple of years would normally have taken decades. it also as i said was a failure. tfbso in these thr

afghanistan is the country. they are more than welcome to come and now that the of seeing the situation elsewhere is not much better, maybe they will feel more motivated to contribute to work for building up their country. so i don't see any problem with the coming back. as far as, i don't know the second question is not really a question from it's a statement and i welcome this. it's kind of -- that's okay. yes, why not? anything that can help women, i am for it. >> yes. this young lady here. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> let me just very quickly because it's a very long. basically, the lady was very kind to thank me for the work i've done and how i've given hope to every woman in afghanistan. that she can become, she can take part in the decision process in afghanistan. the question is, is there a plan for our affirmative action to allow women to have more, i'm not quite sure because this is not som

military presence in afghanistan. these new ground deployments, president obama says, are afghan security forces. question, will afghanistan ever find stability? pat buchanan? >> i don't think the afghan government can survive on its own, john. they've had tremendous numbers of american troops in there and couldn't defeat the taliban. now we've got about 9500 there. obama is supposed to bring it down to 5,000 by the end of the year. i don't think that's going to happen. i mean, the taliban are in helmand, active in konduz, blowing things up in kabul. i think what we got here is a situation where the united states is going to have to remain there indefinitely. if we don't, i think the taliban may not have the power to take over the whole country, but they've got the ability to knock down that government i think and create chaos and tak over parts of it for themselves. we've been there 15 years. the effort to build an independent and free afghanistan i think is a failure. groundhog day quality to this reporting. every y

ambassador to afghanistan. i'm very proud to have him at the atlantic council holding this role and to have him now introduce a woman who has shown the formidable will and unmatched leadership needed to advance the conditions of women, children and internally displaced people in afghanistan. so ambassador -- ambassador cunningham. [ applause ] >> thank you, fred, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. and for the many of you who are in the audience who have been engaged for a long time in afghanistan, i want to thank you for your support. we have a lot of distinguished guests here so i'm glad you took -- very pleased that you took time out of your busy schedules to join us today to hear mrs. ghani and i want to say a special word of welcome to ambassador of norway cory oss and ambassador mohib and his wife. i'm not going to go into mrs. ghani's bio, you have that in the documents. i also want to thank ambassador azad for joining us today. the session is on the record after mrs. ghani's remarks the ambas

government facilities in afghanistan. in fact, in a memo from june 2011, then tfbso director paul brinkley directed all tfbso personnel in afghanistan to move back to u.s. military bases by august of that year. it remains unclear to this day as to why mr. brinkley's directive went unimplemented for another two years. the third issue you wished us to address has to deal with goats. and as i think ranking member spiers and congresswoman has mentioned, you may wonder why i'm talking about goats, and the armed services committee and not the agriculture committee. but tfbso spent millions of dollars to bolster afghanistan's cashmere industry. the purpose of the program was to breed lighter haired afghan goats, which would yield a higher price on the international market. to do so, tfbso paid to have nine italian goats and ten tujeek goats imported to afghanistan. ultimately, this program also failed, because it was overly ambitious, poorly staffed, poorly managed by tfbso, and in essen essence, what they tried to do in a coupl

i visited afghanistan just a couple weeks ago. and there is fighting, the afghan national army has good forces. they have lost many soldiers, and taliban is trying to control different parts of the country, and we have many other groups, al-qaeda, different terrorist groups, isil in afghanistan, and it's in no way an easy situation. but having said that i think we also have to remember that it hasn't been easy in afghanistan in decades. so the starting point is not a peaceful, stable country. the starting point is the country which was safe haven for international terrorists. the taliban in kabul during the country. and what we have achieved is that we have enabled the nato presence there for many years to build a strong national afghan army and security force which is capable, professional, and strong enough to take responsibility for the security of the whole country. that's the not a small thing. that's a big thing. so we been able to end our combat mission because we have enabled them to do the fighting. and i think very much

i was in afghanistan at the time of the operation. a source called me to tell me that soldiers had beaten a man to death. he also told me it was too dangerous to go to charkh, so i drove as close as i could - to the provincial capital. this is the video i shot just days after the operation. >> at first it seemed like another footnote in the war. but after i returned home to copenhagen, more details began to emerge from my contacts in charkh. then six months later the un came out with its 2014 report citing civilian casualties. i found a short reference to the operation in it. >> the operation resulted in 28 civilian casualties (15 deaths and 13 injured). >> fifteen dead. how could fifteen civilian deaths from a joint us and afghan military operation go by almost unnoticed to the outside world? the report said that the international and afghan security forces denied civilian casualties. i knew i needed to go back to afghanistan if i'd any chance of finding out the truth. in 2009, eight years into the war in afghanistan, the united nati

as we currently are doing in afghanistan. i went to kabul, and i met with the men and women of the air force, pilots and mechanics trained by nato. they were all very proud of what they are doing. i also met a group of remarkable young women who are working hard to become pilots in the african air force. it is that resolve that makes me optimistic about what we can achieve. until a few years ago, there's hardly any afghan air force at all. last year, the afghan air force flew 20,000 missions, providing transport, resupply, medical support, and engaging the enemy. they are part of the 350,000 strong afghan security forces will do by nato trainers over the years. and they are now responsible for the country's security. we continue to support them, but we have ended our combat mission, and this demonstrates what we can achieve by building local capacity. we also recently launched training and capacity building initiatives in georgia, moldova, and jordan, and we will soon begin advising on counterterrorism and helping to improve

they are regressive against afghanistan and africa. even but they have a lead on us and everything, i do not think they are prepared at this time. they do not want the confrontation. >> wouldn't it be a risk to find out? >> no, it would not be that big of a risk. i have been to that part of the gulf. in my judgment, the situation in iraq, with the rock pulled away from the soviet union has a bearing on this. my judgment of the situation in pakistan, both china and's concern about afghanistan for different reasons. the chinese with their special relationship with pakistan where you have islam concerned, almost united in their concern about the soviet with the soviet union is over -- overcommitted and afghanistan. i do not believe your thought process is correct. i do not think it will escalate. that is an option that the president should give very serious consideration to. you are not talking about -- once you mind, no matter how many, insurance rates skyrocket. commerce screeches to a halt. i think it should be considered. it is for th

first, afghanistan. we have got a new government there since your friend, or the one you knew best left. there is talk of negotiation with the taliban. the taliban seemed to be gaining, but there is more strength in terms of the central government's military force . where are we? .almay: it is a mixed picture afghanistan is a better place than it was prior to 9/11 and right afterwards. it did not have an army that is holding, although we reduced that forced dramatically, there has been some shift in favor of the taliban. they have gained territory. the unity government that we helped put together to carry is having difficulties working well together. the negotiation -- donnie is a good friend. i went to school -- we were in school together. we came to america together in the 1960's. believe it or not. the discussion about talks for the taliban has not made significant progress because the taliban would like to talk to the united states, not to the afghan government. and we say, no, either we should talk

does afghanistan stand. are the taliban continuing to make gains in afghanistan? >> they have made some gains. >> afghanistan, still? yeah, still. so we know how this goes now. the u.s. military has been doing this for long enough that we know how this goes and it goes like this. in afghanistan every year a miraculous thing called winter slows down the fighting literally because it's snowy and cold. the fighting ebs. the snow cuts off mountain passes and trails that the taliban uses for supply routes and transit so winter slows down the war and then we know how this goes, every year spring means the fighting starts back up. and now it is spring. it's spring here and it's spring there. so like clock work the taliban this week announced the sort of this year's spring fighting season. they proclaimed in an e-mail to reporters that fighting season this year started at 5:00 a.m. local time on tuesday. and the reason that doesn't strike us as weird any more, the reason we expect this and we know how this cycle goe

government facilities in afghanistan. in fact, in a memo from june 2011, then tfbso director paul brinkley directed all tfbso personnel in afghanistan to move back to us military base s. it remains unclear as to why mr. brinkley's directive went unimplemented for another two years. the third issue, you wished us to address has to deal with goats. and as i think ranking member speers and congresswoman has mentioned, you may wonder why i'm talking about goats in the armed services committee and not the agriculture committee. but they spent millions of dollars to bolster the cashmere industry. the purpose was to bring lighter haired afghan goats which would yield a higher price on the international market. to do so, tfbso paid to have nine italian goats and ten tajik goats imported to afghanistan. ultimately, this program also failed. because it was overly ambitious, poorly staffed, poorly managed what they tried to do in a couple of years would normally have taken decades. it also as i said was a failure. tfbso in these thr

. >> it came from experience but i was living in southern afghanistan. i covered the following the taliban and for national public radio. in january 2003, saying i really need to shut up already. i have no intention of focusing on corruption. i was doing standard reconstruction type work but in the very first project i wanted to do was rebuilding a village destroyed in the american bombing in 2002, we were trying to rebuild mudbrick houses but in order to build a mudbrick house -- if you have seen a picture of southern afghanistan you will know one of the few abundant resources is stone, but it turned out we couldn't get any stone to the foundation of mudbrick houses because the governor awarded a monopoly to himself so he could crush it into gravel and sell it to the americans who were building their military base for ten times the going price. not a good introduction to corruption but as it went on it was clear that what was actually driving people back into the arms of the talent and was not religious fanaticism or deep-seated hatred of western cultur

as we currently are doing in afghanistan. i went to kabul, and i met with the men and women of the air force, pilots and mechanics trained by nato. they were all very proud of what they are doing. i also met a group of remarkable young women who are working hard to become pilots in the african air force. it is that resolve that makes me optimistic about what we can achieve. until a few years ago, there's hardly any afghan air force at all. last year, the afghan air force flew 20,000 missions, providing transport, resupply, medical support, and engaging the enemy. they are part of the 350,000 strong afghan security forces will do by nato trainers over the years. and they are now responsible for the country's security. we continue to support them, but we have ended our combat mission, and this demonstrates what we can achieve by building local capacity. we also recently launched training and capacity building initiatives in georgia, moldova, and jordan, and we will soon begin advising on counterterrorism and helping to improve

afghanistan is facing severe problems and challenges as we all know, but there is a new afghanistan are leading and emerging. the future is in the hands of the afghans themselves and they are taking charge of their future. they need time and space and millions of courageous afghanistan -- afghans are working everyday to take advantage of the time and space. i am convinced that there is an opportunity for this country if the community maintains its commitment. and i am also convinced there should be no further reductions in u.s. international forces in support for a guinness and until commission conditions on the ground and afghan capabilities make that possible. i've been consistently reminded over the course of my career is important that the individual has reappeared to propitious occasion occasion when the right person is at the right time and place to influence developments larger small and rula ghani is one of those people. april 6 she takes the stage at the annual women of the world -- women in the world summit in new york city. the senate tagline is meet the women who change the

the one thing you talked about, afghanistan, and the number 5,500 has been mentioned in , afghanistan. -- mentioned by the chairman. the last thing i would like to see, and i know you would too all the efforts for so many , years, just kind of be thrown away because of a number. as opposed to what conditions require. i know you said it will be conditions-based. we want to make sure you give us your absolutely 100% unvarnished opinion of what actually needs to be done there. as you take a look at it. mr. scaparrotti: i absolutely commit to you that if confirmed i'll do just that. mr. donnelly: thank you very much. as we looked at what just happened with the russians recently, you know, doing a barrel roll over one of our ships there. or over one of our planes there. is there a point where this has happened time after time after time, where we tell them in advance, enough? the next time it doesn't end well for you. mr. scaparrotti: senator, i think it's important that we're, as i said, strong, clear and consistent with them. and we should engage in and make clear what's acceptable opera

those are happy taxi drivers just like they're happy goats and afghanistan. but as any of it sustainable? the purpose of this program is not to make a bunch of taxi drivers rich at u.s. taxpayer expense. you go back to the document so we do have some documents of what the purpose was and we did not obtain it. the input, we know how much was spent, the output was they did do it a guy station and convert cars. that the outcome outcome was to create a market and all over northern afghanistan and that never occurred. the reason reason is because no one ever looked and there is no infrastructure. >> so i wanted to clarify because earlier in the hearing you said the project failed. in your opening comments, but yet it is operating. so you're just using that terminology. >> what would it was supposed to accomplish. >> so just for the record i just wanted to clarify. >> i want to get into the testimony of the department of defense that was submitted regarding the cost. i know you and the department of defense have been disagreeing on that. the number, 43,000,000 doll

not all, but most troops out of iraq and afghanistan. and i think -- we haven't talked about it, but i think an issue that people ought to think about is whether we really want the executive branch of the government keeping a list of people who we are willing to kill based on evidence that no one outside the executive branch sees, based on a process of deliberations that may be well intentioned, but i think needs some oversight either from the congress or from the judiciary. we don't wiretap people in the united states without the fbi going to a federal judge and offering a reason this is necessary. and i think that in a democracy we shouldn't pill people in target -- kill people in targeted killings without the cia or the justice department having to go to a federal judge and present the evidence and say this is why this is justified. >> very good, very good. i think we have time for one short question, and then i think we're going to have to conclude. so please step to the microphone in the center. thank you, sir. go ahead. >> thank yo

came to afghanistan? well, al-qaeda are back and thriving. a big threat finding safe haven here according to afghanistan's defense chief. even u.s. officials here admit at the moment they don't know and there could be hundreds of al-qaeda members here. >> they are very active. they are working organizing and preparing themselves. they are working and giving them the support and the experience they had in different places. they are not talking too much. they are not making too many statements. it is a big threat. >> a big threat, they say, because the taliban who is said to have regretted harboring bin laden decided to get close to al-qae al-qaeda. >> they are enable aing the al-qaeda and isil. >>. >> because as you know they need the fighters, support, experience and recruitment from other places. >> reporter: alarms were raised by a 30 square mile camp found obliterated by afghan and u.s. forces in a remote part of kandahar last year, revealing al-qaeda's true strength to u.s. and afghanistan officials.

nowhere has that been clearer than in afghanistan. our allies have sacrificed blood and treasure fighting alongside us for 15 years. now the balance of our shared mission and indeed the fate of afghanistan hangs in the balance. the president has announced he intends to reduce u.s. forces in afghanistan from the current level of 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of the year. such reduction will have profound consequences, especially the end of the u.s. trained -- train, advise and assist mission and the highest levels of the afghan military. this is at the same time isil is on the battlefield, al qaeda is resurgent and the taliban is on the offensive. just this week, the taliban conducted a suicide bombing in kabul that killed over 60 people and wounded more than 300, most of whom were civilians, including women and children. the president has a decision to make. maintain or increase the current level of u.s. troops given conditions on the ground or continue with a calendar base withdrawal? the right answer is clear, but whatever his decision,

i was in afghanistan at the time of the opera.

>> i think they should commit to supporting afghanistan for a long time. i don't think it should have a set in date anymore than we had for helping, for example, the colombians dealing with narco trafficking in colombia. i don't think it should be a large-scale intervention. that can prove to be counterproductive or good money after bad. but the key capability means to be in a strong position should there be a viable political process. that is something we should be open to staying with. >> do you think it is creating uncertainty, that 10,000 troops are american there to the end of 2016, and after that, they withdrawal? >> my preference would be that we are there supporting the afghan government for the long-term without much reference to what the numbers would be. that could vary, depending on the situation. as they get stronger, perhaps they need fewer troops but maybe they need more specialized capabilities, more care power and things like that. the question is, are we committed to afghanistan being able to get through what's going to be a very rocky ti

. >> -- to make gains if afghanistan? >> they have made some gains. >> afghanistan still? yeah, still. so we know how this goes now. the u.s. military has been doing this so long. in afghanistan every year a miraculous thing called winter slows down the fighting, literally because it's snowy and col. the fighting ends. the snow cuts off mountain passes and trails that the taliban uses supply routes, ends, so winter slows down the war then you know, every year, spring means the fighting starts back up. now it is spring here and it is spring there. like clockwork the taliban this week announced the start of this year's spring fighting season. they've proclaimed in an e-mail to reporters that fighting season this year started at 5:00 a.m. local time on tuesday. and the reason that doesn't strike us as weird anymore, the reason we expect this and know how this cycle goes is because we have been doing this such a long time. this is the 15th straight year that the brave men and women of the united states military have done this. this is fighting season number 15 that we have put

he's written extensively about afghanistan, and in 2011 was a special advisor to u.s. special operation forces there. seth jones, welcome back to the program. so what does this attack today is it stronger than it's been, or, as abdullah abdullah says, is what it's doing failing? >> well, judy, i think what it shows is the taliban does have the ability to conduct attacks in most any part of the country, and they actually said this in their twitter feeds today and in their internet announcements after the attack of the purpose of doing this. at the same time, it's probably also worth noting that the taliban does not control urban terrain like isis does in iraq, for example. they don't control kabul. they don't control any major provincial capitals. so these kind of urban attacks are done more for psychological operations rather than criminal of territory. >> woodruff: what's the distinction? you say they don'tio control urn areas, but they're able to pull off something like, this almost 30 people killed, hundreds badly hurt. >> what it. shows, they do control a fair amou

starting in afghanistan in 2010. tfbso was supposed to catalyze economic development in support of the military, but according to sgar, they had received more complaints about fraud, waste and abutte over the last two years than any other organization operating in afghanistan. even compared with the old boondoggles in afghanistan, the shortsightedened and sheer absurdity is mind-boggling. we will also discuss poor practices it is defense logistic agency which put our men and women at risk. at the core of this hearing, what do we have to show for our money? i can say the answer to this question for tfsbo, not much a defunct kashmir goat farm, private villas for staff, and an outrageous lit expensive gas station. is that it? you were there any successes or sustainable accomplishments from tfsbo, 0 instead of using the military an untrained aid workers. as ig -- recently said, tasking dod to do development is, quote, like giving the postal service the mission to run our drones in afghanistan. unquote. the dodig's report

attackershree of the emblems of the afghanistan intelligence service. it looks like at least 32 people were killed, more than 327 injured. one of the things that is still happening at this time is the walls that collapsed after the powerful explosion is being removed, and at least two security officers on the ground confirmed to me that they have been able to take bodies of the members of the afghanistan , from the rubble. , wepresident of afghanistan expect to hear more from them later on. went off a fewst hundred meters from the presidential palace. what kind of reaction was there from the afghan president? >> this is less than a mile away, very close to the ministry of defense, who said this was a terrorist attack, and that the taliban and other groups could not face the afghanistan national security forces face-to-face, which is why they are resorting to this sort of attack. when people see attacks like this in the heart of cobble -- , they willt of kabul continue to lose their confidence in the government. thatis also interesting is a statement was

air strike on a doctors without borders hospital in afghanistan. this is general joseph o'dell, commander. u.s. central command. he is speaking right now. l let's listen in. >> i can assure you we are committed to minimizing casualties in future combat operations. as many of you know, general john campbell, the u.s. forces afghanistan commander, directed the investigation into this incident and appointed u.s. army major general william hickman as the lead investigator, along with two deputy investigating officers, brigadier general shawn jenkins and brigadier general robert armfield. they were selected because of their years of professional experience and understanding of the complex operational environment in afghanistan. they were also selected because they came from assignments outside of afghanistan and could bring an objective and independent perspective to the investigation. these officers and a supporting staff of more than a dozen associated subject matter experts visited the doctors without borders trauma center in afghanistan and various

>> how about afghanistan? congressman sam stratton of new york who has been to the pakistan border with afghanistan says the afghan rebels are using ancient weapons, rifles of world war i vintage and he feels we should sent them very considerable aid since the russians are accusing us of it anyhow. you believe we should? >> absolutely. i have said it from the very beginning. look, if you have a brutal aggression and you are not willing to help and i think the way to do it was through pakistan, if you are not willing to help, what possible hope do countries have that want to be free of this kind of aggression? you have to start in foreign policy with your definition of what the soviet union intends. now, i believe the evidence is overwhelming that they seek superiority, not parity, and i believe when they see us weak, saying [ inaudible ] in africa are a stabilizing influence, they will go in there and using that influence to spread hegemony as the chinese would say. my view is the soviets are aggressive, they

plans to withdraw nearly half of the 10,000 troops stationed in afghanistan next year. joining me now via skype from kabul, afghanistan, to discuss secretary john kerry's trip is reuters' state department correspondent, arshad mohammed. so, first, it seems that there are two sets of problems that keri and the afghans are trying to tackle. on the domestic side and the big giant security concerns with the taliban now headed into its 15th year? >> reporter: that's exactly right. on the political side the problem, essentially, is whether the current national unity governor between president ghani and chief executive abdullah, can continue on beyond what's widely believed to be the end of its two-year kind of mandate in september. the security problems are well known. the taliban has been resurgent over the last year. the fighting season is about to start again. and the u.s. government is planning to cut the number of its troops to 5500 from 9800 toward the end of this year. >> sreenivasan: so what happens on that political front come september? does that mean the government

have no doubt, nato will follow america's lead on troops and afghanistan. it's up to the president of the united states to show that leadership. general robertson, the committee looks forward of hearing your assessment on threats of homeland tasked to defend of advanced missiles capable of carrying nuclear by russia, iran and north kree yachlt we'll be interested to hear your views on the importance of u.s. mexico security relationship, heroin, largely produced in mexico continues to ravage communities across our nation and demands are renewed effort to combat discouraged both in our streets and in it's source. must wrecken with the fundamental truth that the real driver of drug trafficking is demand for drugs here at home. while it is clear the mexican government must do more within its borders, our government needs to finally get serious about border security. as former south commander general john kelly testified about our southern border, and i quote, the border is not wide open, open enough to get what the demand requires inside of the country. while b

i am not sure we mastered that yet, in the iraq, afghanistan, to what we learned in vietnam. i have shared this, and i have a lot of friends still on active duty, and i support what we are doing because the decisions have been made in afghanistan. with a south vietnamese perspective, i am not -- ifhe american military you look at our training and , we are and victories built to kill and win. if you ask a young marine, a combat unit to go to vietnam, and take ahanistan, one-page note out of the vietnam something we took out of general abram's latter years in vietnam, build it so we can leave and they take over. i am not sure that is the model. i only know when you have an allied military like the south vietnamese, the iraqis, the afghanistan, and a first world military like the united states, -- the drones and weaponry if you really want to train the military, you take away the fancy stuff. compatard to do big operations in third world countries and expect them to perform. if you read the newspapers, when things go bad, there are three things they say. the government is corrup

you grew up in a world different to america. >> i grew up in north ern afghanistan. a small town of about 50,000. historic area of the world. he was one of the great centers of world trade of education, of civilization in central asia. over time it had become relatively poor isolated country on the boarder of then and the soviet union. >> what brought you to the united states? >> there is a program called the american field service that brings high school students, junior in high school from around the world and i was one of those who were selected from afghanistan to come to the u.s. i had never left afghanistan and moved from the 50,000 city to the 500,000 town city which s m seemed like a cosmopolitan city. then to come to new york from afghanistan was a huge shock. >> so one of the things i saw when i was reading about when trump said he was going to ban all muslims from entering the united states somebody wrote would that include you and fareed too? what do you think when you hear donald trump whose the republican front runner and the leader of a party you've se

serious warning to the soviets not to invade afghanistan. he used the term serious consequences will follow. we were not ready to put in troops. in the world's is still standing here just as we are still standing. we accepted it. feeling is what i said at the ame was that we ought to have plan, we are to have a strategy of our own. we ought to have contingency plans. i propose that there might be pressures we could exert on the soviet union with the logistics are not against us. give oneet me hypothetical idea and there may be better options. soviet satellite off our sure. instead of pressing sanctions are threatening the olympics, why couldn't we blockade cuba and say to them, when your troops get out of afghanistan, we will drop the blockade? [indiscernible] [applause] >> it was not cubans that invaded afghanistan. problems today it seems to me. if you go back and look, become more purity he used the word quarantine -- to quarantine cuba it would require today because of the decline in the united states navy according to a former chief of

and the past couple years in afghanistan the current president of afghanistan, trying to bring the taliban and other parties to the negotiation with peace talks but it never worked out and afghanistan doesn't have to provide security inside the country or its borders. what do you think is the solution left with afghanistan. what can they do to the talent and? can they bring this part of power in? >> the nobel peace prize. >> exactly. i oversaw coverage of the war in afghanistan and i wish i had a good answer. i think you are right there has to be a negotiated solution. all the parties are right to work towards that. even though they give the talent and safe haven they don't have control or tell them what to do. i do believe pakistanis want the talent and to come to the peace table. they are not able to do it. on the other hand if they say we are not giving you any safe haven whatsoever and we are kicking out all the leaders or we will arrest you then i think they might change their mind but pakistanis are not ready to do that yet. the only thing, the one positive development i have seen so

we talked about afghanistan and afghanistan, too, needs to be

: these artifacts on display at a university and museum in tokyo are part of afghanistan's priceless culture heritage. some of them are more than 2,000 years old, but more recent history brought them here. they're all smuggled artifacts that later turned up in japan. >> reporter: nhk was able to talk about an afghan journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity about how afghan artifacts enter japan. >> reporter: long-standing conflict in afghanistan fostered a shady trading route for a artifacts and relics were taken out of the country. this man was part of a team recruited by a famous painter to locate and retrieve the artifacts. over the past 14 years they've collected more than 100 pieces. >> translator: our aim is to keep the stolen artifacts in japan and return them to afghanistan when peace arrives there. >> reporter: experts say the registration numbers are often erased, which makes it hard for collectors to know what's legitimate. we met a woman who purchased an artifact stolen from an afghan museum without realizing. she said someone showed her a 000-year-old roman glass v

. >> 11 people have been kill while clearing landmines from afghanistan. they said that military operation to recover them is under way and tribal elders have tried negotiating for their release. >> in afghanistan four days of heavy rain combined with a lack of proper drainage has led to parts of the capital being submerged under 50 centimeters of water. half of the international aid over the past 15 years has been earmarked for infrastructure development. but in the report many are asking where all that money has gone. >> it said the best way to get to know a city is to walk it. but that's a tall order for the nearly 6 million residents of kabul. the afghan capital seems to always be soaking in rainwater, mud, and even sewage. up in editorial suggests that residents who want to go anywhere use a boat. >> our children are stranded inside the school, and there is no one to help them out. it's difficult for sick people to access hospitals, and many people are having lots of trouble trying to go anywhere. >> whenever it rains, damaged roads during streets int