maybe i will move to the third question from centcom. what catalysts could trigger fragmentation within the taliban? >> i got the easy one. thank you everyone for coming. they to see so many faces in the audio -- great to see so many faces in the audience. the prospects of me opining on the afghan peace process until recently was a strictly behind closed doors situation so things -- thanks for the opportunity. i guess at the outset i should say first to temper expectations given the current conditions and afghanistan i don't foresee a situation where there is one or any combination of efforts that going to trigger some sort of fragmentation within the taliban i think as i stated earlier the more likely scenario is that we are going to continue with the slope uneven process of trying to get to substantive talks and we will have to withstand some setbacks along the way. comparatively speaking, the taliban is most likely the most cohesive entity in afghanistan. that stands to reason. we see this in a lot of insurgencies. it's much easier in

to be teful to centcom part of this distinguished panel. to start, i hope you have my voices there. >> we do. >> excellent. something to your question, one point i'd like to make before an g to the cease-fire is opportunity that afghanistan delivered at this stage. for lesson learned that out in afghanistan. united states of america as one of the largest and most dedicated partners of afghanistan over the past 16 years. we need to really draw the ystems in order an able to foresee a sort of -- envision our presence and future. for that, it's really a critical situate and lessons are to be learned from the last 16 years. or example, if i can say, like he one of afghanistan. or if we have more of that nature, there's an important another -- institution. and with more systems rather han individuals. and having a clear strategy, for example, or understanding of the economy. what are the economy forces? most importantly, that brings me to the cease-fire question pecifically. while we are there to draft, ry to end what was going on. this could be

we'll go to the fifth and final question from centcom. it's a big one so i want to give each panelist a chance to speak on this one. though i think it's in all of our interests to, despite the large sense of the question, to try and tackle it quickly and it's is our current approach, the united states current approach undermining the past instability of afghanistan. what are the drivers of instability and buffers against it and what u.s. actions could be counterproductive to stability in afghanistan? maybe i'll first go to kabul. >> well, the current acts to stability, i think the approach to current path to stability is-- i think there are some positive off moves like after 15 years of being engaged at world terror to come up with an idea of peace approach and contributing to peace and negotiati negotiation. this isn't highly welcomed by afghans in general, i think. so at least it's not entirely truly -- getting closer to peace. however, in this approach, like i just ended my comments earlier, russia is a major concern so coming up more

one since you mention the centcom region. can you just give us your thoughts on the stead of the arabian gulf now? when other was that big iranian plant exercise back in august but it's been relatively quiet reporting license then so i just like to get your status update on the security situation there. and then second question, we were told by the cno earlier this year that russian submarines are probably in the atlantic at a rate that is not been seen since the cold war. i was one if you'd seen any of these, if they meet over to the coast guard terrain and territories, of what you've seen the russian activity. >> regarding the centcom theater, , i would tell you the arabian gulf remains very dynamic, and you heard the number, i think 700 or something boardings here. that is a dynamic area. iranian presence. i'll say persistently aggressive behavior as we escort our army vessels, use army vessels, navy vessels in the region. we pay attention. i think the threat remains high. on the kindest to coming the centcom commander in

two quick questions and one is for the centcom region. can you give us the status of the arabian gulf now. we know there was the big iranian planned exercise back in august and it's been relatively quiet reporting wise, and i would like to get your status update on the security situation there. second question. we were told by the cno earlier this year that russian submarines were prouing and they'd not been seen since the cold war and i wonder if they've made it to the coast guard terrain or what we've seen of russian activity. >> i would tell you the arabian gulf remains very dynamic and you heard the numbers. i think we had 700 and something boardings here and that was a dynamic area, and the iranian presence, i will say persistently aggressive behavior as we escort army, the u.s. army vessels and the navy vessels in the region. the threat remains high and i'm not going to speak on behalf of the centcom commander or the ucom commander in those parts of the world. we are supporting there. we bring the maritime law enforcement expertise,

centcom is really -- and even from the secretary of defense at times, is really that we are deterred by the iranians. particularly because we fear that if we compete too aggressively in the military sphere with the iranians and syria, we will pay a price for that in iraq. we are not seeing, although we have we and the israelis are , saying we want exactly the same thing, and we are cooperating to achieve it, i don't see that cooperation in the military sphere, at least not to the level that one might expect given the otherwise level of agreement. then of course, finally with respect to how things are changed, we can see all that my colleagues here discussed about the changes and the attitude toward sanctions and the jcpoa and so forth. what really isn't clear to me about the new strategy is what its goal is. the obama administration sought an agreement with iran, some kind of accommodation. the trump administration has bent over backwards to say that it's not carrying out a regime change policy. the europeans, it is interesting don't believe us. , they look at mike pompeo's 12 points

and it is really a mystery, and it is a mystery why this massive increase in the number of pies to be centcom afri africa. and so it is that we should not expect troops to be serve ed d the hardship locations to be eating 10 to 12 pies per person. >> well, guys, who knows, but -- there must be a defense contractor and there is a pie contractor somewhere hidden in this who has contributed a gazillion dollars to some politician. >> and somebody has to make up a pie chart. >> and the pie spray, and good job job. >> well, we will be eating a lot of pie, but not provided by the dod, and courtney, you always come up with something fascinating. >> the tough questions. >> and happy holiday to you and your adorable twins, and no pie throwing here as well. so thank you, all. >>> and coming up, giving thanks and serious thanks and how one california town is banding together to help the victims of the california wildfires. and stay here for a wonderful thanksgiving story. i'm alex trebek here to tell you about the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed

ambassador to saudi arabia the former centcom commander john abizaid who remember from his time overseeing control during the iraq war he has to be confirmed though and this has to be done by the senate he is highly regarded as a four star retired army general but at the same time what many are saying with regard to this timing is that this is the attempt to least have the appearance of taking action even if it will take a while for him to be confirmed and certainly is far from the stronger strict action in terms of sanction that many in congress and the american public are looking for thank you for that can get in washington d.c. and don't forget we've got a special page up at al jazeera dot com with all the latest developments in the gym aha shoji measure investigation including the latest moves by u.s. lawmakers to push for a crocked on. dot com. now the u.s. is substantially under reporting the cost of its so-called war on terror according to researchers at brown university as watson institute they estimate that between september eleventh two thousand and one and october next year the

centcom commander joseph rotel. it was chilling to drive around naim circle, which became the focal point of the syrian democratic forces victory celebrations after rocka was liberated. just three months prior, the spikes on the fence around the fountain where people were celebrating had been used to display the heads of isis victims. to sit there, stand there, look at that, was chilling. despite our best efforts, the single greatest factor limiting the reach of our humanitarian assistance is access. the syrian regime has now regained control of the southwest. after that, they cut off the cross-border humanitarian operations from jordan. a major blow to our response efforts. similarly, aid groups struggle to reach people living in territories controlled by terrorist organizations. despite our best efforts, there have been failures which we have sought to learn from. u.s. aid has put risk mitigation programs in place to reduce the possibility of fraud, waste, abuse, and the diversion of assistance. we place the highe

centcom is where the ground decon fli deconflictonand it's responsible for iraq and syria. if you go to the next slide, that shows the deconfliction process actually works. the russian deconfliction, and the bottom center and the slide and that consists of four interpreters and three to four interpreters and usually a fairly senior army foreign area officer. it was me and then i think we're on our fourth person now. they tend to do three so six-month rotations and that cell is responsible for all ground deconfliction in syria. so the relationship forces it has, clearly, obviously into the russian reconciliation center which is later they named it for the center of deconfliction and escalation headquarters and they work directly for the three-star group of russian forces and also amir air base. we also have close relationships with the special operations task force because those are the u.s. folks that are embedded with the syrian and democratic forces and the u.s. partner force that's operating generally north and east of the euphrates and is conducting the isis fight there