isis has no state-sponsored. there is no nationstate saying "we are for isis. there." countries across the world, the middle east, europe, have all contributed money or forces, whatever is needed, and this campaign we are on is couched that policy of defeating isis. where we haveiraq a government we can work with after what thought did to his own people when they rose up against him. luxury int had that syria. however, we are there for one reason only. we will not be deflected. we have the right of self defense. we saw that with the pro-regime force for some reason without apparently telling the russians, withut coordinating anybody, came across the river and attack us. we will rebuff anyone who attacks us. that's natural. we are not going to broaden the war. that is not in our interest. choose to enlarge that mission. >> how are you going to defend of the territory? sec. mattis: what we are going to do is hold that territory, get it back in local leaders tods, use the geneva process come up with a post-conflict map plan for thelict way ahead and ensure isis does not r

there's been tough fighting in the past week with isis. we have the added complexity, april regime force -- a pro-regime force crossing the river. sometimes we cross the river. for example, coordinating with -- through the russians. in this case, they came across the river and went some attempt -- some 10 miles. they knew what was our position. how do we know that? they began shelling it. we had headquarters there. .e responded and stopped that force repeated back to the west side of the river. there's also been other firing going on there. we cannot give you a reason for it. we don't know. as you know, the deconstruction line has pretty much worked. the deconstruction communication line between us and the russians has stayed up for months, has never gone down. it was up throughout this latest series of incidents. the russians told us they have no forces -- had no forces initially. that's still the case, but we don't have full clarity on what the regime forces are doing there. , at least at this moment, it's calm. talking we will be about

in the past also even in iraq at times the united states would allow isis advance as they . did in ramadi and when hundreds of vehicles attacked the city of ramadi the united states did nothing about it even though it was a clear day so when isis attacks allies of the united states the united states reacts when it attacks opponents of the united states the united states allows that to happen in even facilitate that trumps policy by the way the only thing that changed was that when the tide had turned with the help of the iranians and the russians and has for law and others when the tide had turned in the favor of the syrian legitimate government and they were regaining their territory the americans wanted a piece of the cake and they wanted a place at the negotiating table and that's why they started helping. allied forces to take over. syrian territory. from isis just finally and briefly britain's ministers resumes minister others to bert in control tree ever to. you've been saying says that iran should avoid actions that threaten regional stability what do you think it mea

we cannot address isis in iraq we had to address isis in syria. point out the syrian regime is unwilling and unable to address this particular threat. they did you operations down in the middle of euphrates valley the have largely departed that area. they've taken the pressure off of isis and created more problems. >> see u.s. forces are still operating under the 2001 a u.s.? >> yes. >> and how does countering iran i've seen some contradiction of what the secretary of state is saying and what you stated to day it is not part of the coalition mission so as follow-up if it is then how does that fall in the 2000 that deals with countering al qaeda and its affiliate. >> my understanding is not u.s. objective. there are other ways in which we can address iran's activities through military means. the fact is even though iran is not our principal focus this campaign, our relationships with partners in iraq and syria puts us in a position where we can indirectly have an impact on the objectives that iran is pursuing in this part of the world. i characteri

isis. it is not enough and the objective that we are trying to achieve is to make sure that the conditions that can lead to a reemergence of isis or anything related to it no longer prevail. this will imply that we have to make sure that iraqis wherever they are have a sense of ownership after the political process and the economic process and so that they have a share in their country. it's not an easy thing to do given the backdrop of what we have but one of the first things that were trying to bring about to make this happen our elections. and the intent on holding them on time that sorry may not april that was three or four months now and we are doing things at the very last moment but what we will hold on to the [inaudible] and that's one thing but the other thing is of course reconstruction. i would like to go back to an incident i lived through that shows the importance of the iraqi government touches to this. when isis attacked iraq we were left three or four months actually standin

military can be in any country where there was an isis presence just so there will not be an isis presence going forward and i think that's a recipe for disaster. we will not have successful oversight or accountability or prosecution of that war because we cannot define its goals or the strategy. i yield back. >> general, what happened when we left iraq completely in 2009 after we had supposedly defeated al qaeda in iraq? >> well, chairman, we saw the rise of isis and we saw the inability of the iraqi security forces to effectively address it as it was growing. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> general, according to the worrell worldwide threat assessment, director coates and the intelligence community assessed that iran's support for the popular mobilization committee and shia militants remain the primary threat to u.s. personnel in iraq. do you agree with that assessment? >> congressman, i do think they certainly could pose a threat to our forces on the ground. this is something we are very vigilant for and are paying very, very close attention to. we have not seen that threat manifest itse

is cleared and isis and the midst of isis finally war against isis is almost nearing and turkey start to be very uncomfortable and it's your contention that major britain's nato ally turkey has been arming isis diaster according i mean there was a columbia university i mean we know we know from a lot of information that turkey has been. you know allowing for access in and out of the art of it and even jihad is some of the arrested sheriffs are saying and we know that there is turkey is only one way to get into for the jihad is to travel into syria and if that is the easiest way in which they've done are you encourage that the white house has not certainly not confirmed claims by the turkish foreign minister the dog. has said to mr one no more funding for the white p.g. so that could save another massacre using there may be a massacre being blurred the lines between the turkey and the groups that they're using isis and i says alleges and some of the isis militants are just changing clothes and becoming their owners for the next they kind of you know it is. a very easy conversion betwee

forces istead isis. the simple question no simple lesson well one that we got a non answer we got it we got to do exactly what inflection it was it was a deflection because he did not want to say that through the official american policy is very different from the neo policy that washington use and the real policy that washington pursues is aimed at eliminating assad is that he that of syria that's and that's one of the reasons by the way that isis florist is syria without the support that the assad forces initially got from the u.s. from britain some other countries some other allies of the us i says would not have flourished here i mean if there had been the illegal invasion of iraq in two thousand and three of course i'm here i'm. sure that's what you say as you know iran has been gaining more influence you know spread into july and that is why it's probably because of why because of what will now be able to speak clearly clear to our viewers it's weak is it because of what iran is doing or what other

isi. it basically has supported the taliban and other militant groups to pursue pakistan's idea that foreign-policy y interestsn its neighborhood, or at least the idea of its military, which is really in charge of isi and drudgery as, in the strongest -- directorate s, and has really country for many of its years of independence. the cia knows all about it because they worked with them during the 1980's to defeat the soviet occupation. ghost wars. the story here is after the u.s. winning to afghanistan, set up constitutional government led by hamid karzai initially, fears after that, starting around 2005, directorate s went back into action, not to defeat the soviets, but to undermine the american project in afghanistat. nermeen: could you say a little bit more for our listeners and viewers who don't know very much about the history of afghanistan during the cold war and pakistan? give us a sense of the expansion of inter-services intelligence, the premier intelligence agency of pakistan.

here america has said that it is in syria only to fight isis today isis has been all but defeated in syria but you don't see the pentagon packing its bags our military policy in syria has not changed our priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more than that the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring that isis cannot reemerge total withdrawal of american personnel at this time would restore assad who continue his brutal treatment against his own people opposed to principle if you have a lack of a fundamental commitment to our agreements that is typical of the current u.s. diplomacy including the reasons why the americans stay in syria rex tillerson peter he stated that the only goal in syria was the defeat of isis or now they've got farmland bush's plans with more of the most with the mixed messages here is the pentagon staying general mattis said that the united states will stay in syria will fight in syria for as long as the united states wants to fight in syria i

what isis did asked for a delay. the iraqi press asked many questions about why isn't the election being delayed? and, of course, you want to be able to say we want to keep it on time, we want to do it the right way, the elections are important. when, mr. ambassador, when you mentioned, you know, cross sectarian and cross ethic coalitions, we're seeing those and they need to win. the issue now is the fattah party, is that the right party that i'm talking about? the one led by -- >> yes. >> so currently that party has the militias that you warned about. ah, hezbollah, bahta core, participating in that party. and what we talk to ra hick ma, they said we don't want to work to moderate, we want to work with coalition parties to marginalize this party. am i saying it right? all right. the fattah party. the problem is now, if the fattah party -- the fattah party hasn't won yet, but it already has its minister in charge of the minister of the interior, it has the commander and deputy commander in hol lamb ray and a des egg

de-isis -- isis is not defeated. it remains a global threat. and we need the help of our allies and partners to ensure that we address it. reporter: any responses? dana: we are, we are. and then maybe i can tell you more once the secretary returns from rome. how about that? one more? ok. reporter: thank you. you said that you don't want to make war against syria, against the syrian regime. how are you going to avoid that? because they already said publicly that they are going fter s.d.f. and you're continuing to support them. dana: we support s.d.f. with respect to defeating isis. we will continue to support them. our goal is to ensure that our diplomats can negotiate from a position of strength with respect to the geneva process. it's our diplomats who will resolve ultimately what happens with respect to syria. reporter: if the fight is only tween the c.i.a. and the troops and s.d.f. and there is no isis there, you are not going to defend them? dana: isis is still there. and our mission is still to defeat isis. thank you all. >> ladies and gen

here america has said that it is in syria only to fight isis today isis has been all but defeated in syria but you don't see the pentagon packing its bags our military policy in syria has not changed our priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more than that the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring isis cannot reemerge total withdrawal of american personnel at this time would restore assad who continue his brutal treatment against his own people so as to put its ability to the lack of a fundamental commitment to our agreements that is typical of current u.s. diplomacy including the reasons why the americans stay in syria rex tillerson statement that the only goal in syria was the defeat of isis or with now they've got far more ambitious plans with more of the most with the mixed messages here is the pentagon staying general mattis said that the united states will stay in syria we'll fight in syria for as long as the united states wants to fight in syria i mean tha

policy, vis-a-vis, precisely, isi. they used isi to funnel all of these funds and arms to the human gene -- the u.s. government described the isi as a terrorist organization on par with al qaeda and the taliban. could you give us a sense of what accounts for this massive shift? >> it was the expense of being on the receiving end of isi covert action to overthrow the taliban in 2001. the taliban fell in december 2001. the agreement established a new constitutional government in afghanistan is the hamid karzai was elected president. was elected. afghans came home from abroad. there were a couple of years of relative peace. then the war started again. initially, i think the u.s., which was distracted by iraq, had gone off and invaded iraq, was tried to -- the bush administration was tried to turn the war over the nato allies. they did not release the isi coming for a while. gradually, the taliban revived and became apparent to the u.s. officials who would go over and try to study what was going wrong with the war that isi

you spoke at the very beginning about missed opportunities especially with isi. what are the tools that the think united states had that could have leveraged isi to do something different than what it did? i reflect back on the failure of withholding those f-16 how they gather dust in arizona. that was a very effective so what would you identify? >> it is different at different times of the story the counterfactual history is a fool's game but you cannot help but think about the question of the missed opportunities and in my mind that. of 2004 i'm sorry 2002 through 2004 after the islamic cameras fell the taliban leadership melted afghanistan was relatively peaceful many afghans came home to rebuild in the international community was united in support of that constitutional government, what happened? returned immediately to iraq, there is a scene in the book with the generals who were sent to afghanistan to send up a task force and they determine not to permit large-scale reconstruction aid because of the belief we are not nation builders but they go off and are

assure turkey that their weapons are not going to pick a aliment and also the kurds there to fight isis and they have a limited scope in syria although surance is that tell us and have provided tricky were not sufficient enough for the turks. agreed to obviously quite a way to cooperate but in the long run they will not trust each other neither side trusts each other we know that intel or sonos and the pentagon knows that turkey has more than twelve islamic groups that syrians would fight well with turkey now against the kurds these are former jihadi these are muslim brotherhood the isis group. group so so us knows clearly that turkey has a lot of support for islamist groups in the only way to stop that is using the kurds working with the kurds therefore you will see the differences that will continue and both sides will try to find a way to not clash because obviously turkey have threatened us and in the northern no match for the u.s. and obviously they need to find a way a mechanism to say. i guess their stature by threaten america and not acting on it and in our view the kurds will r

they had been making much against isis then the united states against isis then the united states led coalition or their partner forces the the s.d.f. the syrian government has of course called all of this an act of aggression unwarranted and unjust but just for you information all of this happened in there is or near a rich oil field and refinery conical it's called it was liberated last year by the u.s. led coalition very quickly and in fact the u.s. partner forces seem to have a knack for liberating areas with oil under them much quicker than they do those areas that don't have oil under them since since all the oil rich areas were taken in there as ordered by the s.d.f. progress against isis seems to have dropped to a snail's pace but you know regardless here america has said that it is in syria only to fight isis today isis has been all but defeated in syria but you don't see the pentagon packing its bags our military policy in syria has not changed our priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more t

she as part of a minority in northern iraq targeted by isis. in 2014, isis abducted 7000 women and girls in forced many into sexual slavery. nadia is a survivor. she shares her story with world leaders at the united nations and beyond, she advocates for women who are still not free, still at risk and is still struggling. wai wai nu is a pioneering peace builder in myanmar. ethnic conflict continues in the nation and the formal peace process is at a standstill. on the western border, the minority are facing a textbook case of ethnic cleansing at the hands of the military. wai wai nu uses her status as a former political prisoner to advocate for women's equality, and it justice and peace in myanmar. lyse doucet is a canadian journalist covering conflict in some of the most challenging places. from syria to afghanistan and beyond, she has demonstrated a fearless commitment to telling the stories of those caught behind the front lines. her reporting exposes the unique impact that conflict has on women and children and also the daring and vital work

in the cold dust that hides the remnants of isis. pinned isis down to smaller territory. where possibly their leader could be hiding out. but in this last stage of the fight, the problems and, indeed, the enemies, the syrian kurds here and american allies continue to mount. last night another new enemy emerged near here. tanks and 500 militants loyal to the syrian regime advanced on and shelled american commandos and their kurdish allies not far west of here. as these u.s. drone pictures help show, u.s. warplanes and gunships killed 100 of them. this artillery crew were also hit. many others then fled. what on earth just happened the night before and why haunts the u.s. special operations commanderer. . >> i am a little bit surprised. whoever that was knew that sdf were in defensible positions and knows that they're a fierce opponent. >> does your head begin to spin occasionally where does it end and begin? >> if you try to take into all those factors. the good thing about being in the military is that we usually have a military mission and the military mission out here i

reports, isis is adapting to the pressure. the islamic state is showing a willingness to work together with its enemy, al qaeda. there's also a shift in strateg strategy. territory and new recruits, isis counting on more terror attacks through individuals or small or. >> fighters from isis will try to return to their homes and take their fight to new fronts. together with al qaeda, isis cells and affiliates present a grave threat to expand the spread of terror. >> having lost more than 90% of its revenue from oil and gas, there is no concern isis could infiltrate construction companies. >> member states must step up their efforts to crack down on the sources. fox news obtained a second u.n. report calling al qaeda "remarkably resilient," saying that the terror group poses a greater threat than isis in several regions. including yemen and somalia. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula remains the propaganda hub. al qaeda touts usama bin laden's son as a new leader. recruiting more fighters in syria. affiliates in africa remain stro

said that it is in syria only to fight isis the very isis has been all but defeated in syria but you don't see the pentagon packing its bags our military policy in syria has not changed our priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more than that the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring that isis cannot reemerge total withdrawal of american personnel at this time would restore assad continue his brutal treatment against his own people the principle of the lack of a. fundamental commitment to our agreement is typical of current u.s. diplomacy including the reasons why the americans stay in syria rex tillerson peter he stated that their only goal in syria was the defeat of ice or now they've got farmland bush's plans would mark the most with the mixed messages here is the pentagon staying on general matters said that the united states will stay in syria we'll fight in syria for as long as the united states wants to fight in syria i mean that's you know pretty direct n

whom isis viewed as dissidents. isis killed many members of nadia's family and then abducted her. thousands of men, women, and children from the yazidi community were massacred or kidnapped by isis and hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the violence against their religious community. yazidi women have faced additional abuse, the abuse of sexual torture at the hands of their captors. many were sold into sexual slavery at slave markets. nadia is a survivor. she was one of the fortunate who managed to escape her brutal captivity and has since devoted her life to being a voice for those left behind. she said, it never gets any easier to tell her story. each time, she said, she relives it. is the bestd, it weapon she has against terrorism and she plans on using her voice until the terrorists are put on trial. she has recently written a book about her experience entitled, "the last girl: my story of captivity and my fight against the islamic state." i hope you will all buy it. she has joined forces with amal clooney to insist that the international community bring the perpetra

led coalition jets as they bombed isis that failed to explode on impact shelves mines there's also isis suicide vests and booby traps that they've left by the wall of this. still waiting for the kids to come and play and destroyed houses on wreckage for rescue is looking for bodies and clearing away the rubble for homeowners coming back to you know look through their destroyed homes to try to salvage something this is all still there rescuers tell as every day almost they get several new casualties coming into the morgues new victims of the battle of mosul seven months since it's finished but we were there from the onset from when us that coalition jets soared into the skies to bomb isis day in and when it got a little bit safer we went close and saw firsthand what these explosions causing and we saw for ourselves the price of the liberation of mosul. civilian casualties are a fact of life in this sort of situation. do you agree that some of the the high level of i think ridiculous standard that we had previously is now created this. behavior by isis that they now realize that they take

was secretly hoping that isi would destabilize afghanistan to justify keeping their military bases in the country. a diplomat in 2013 whose a special envoy and he rolls a theory else not the first time and said something to the effect of by now you've got the documents and materials, literally millions of pages. can you see in the documents any trace of this plan and he says maybe you don't know the plan. [laughter] there'there is a deep steeped in america. another episode that is dispiriting to recount in the fullness of this kind of retrospective reporting was the 2009 election. remember this is when hamid karzai was elected richard holbrook came in and was meant to be the special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan. he was immediately estranged from the white house when they didn't appreciate his style, but he thought diplomacy was his way in the washington lingo and he was going to try to shape the selection. he used to say that diplomacy was like shadows a little bit of improvisation that's required and he started to move towards the election date by basically talking to as many po