policy and not the fcc. of course, from the commission they say, well, convergence is happening. we have to react to it. so, you know, there's a continuous, you know, pressure and challenge there, and we're going to have to see how that plays out. >> host: and if you would in closing give us a thumbnail of your current work and the type of clients you i work with. >> guest: well, it's a telecom technology law firm. we also have a litigation side, and we tend to represent folks in the technology space as well as wireless entities, you know, providers and vendors. and some cable, broadband. no broadcasters. we love 'em but, you know, too many issues. [laughter] >> host: catherine mccullough. >> guest: i do represent broadcasters and also some wireless interests. >> host: catherine mccullough and trisha paole,tta have been our guests on "the communicators," juliana

gruenwald, thank you as well. >> "the communicators" also airs each monday evening. if you missed any of this discussion on how telecommunications policy may be affected by the new congress, watch "the communicators" again tonight at 8 p.m. eastern, 5 pacific. here on c-span2. >> next on c-span2, live coverage of a discussion on the future of sudan following yesterday's independence referendum. >> arizona governor jan brewer gives her state of the state address today. she's expected to comment on the weekendotunde u.s. representatie gabrielle giffords. coverage begins live at 3:15

p.m. eastern over on our companion network, c-span. >> thank you very much, mr. president, mr. vice president. you have honored me and my family by giving me an opportunity to serve you and to serve our nation. >> with more than 80 appearances by william daley and more than 100 by gene sperling, use the c-span video library to learn for the about the newest editions to the obama administration, just two of the almost 115,000 people you can search and watch anytime online at our c-span video library. it's washington your way. >> middle and high school students, it's time to upload your videos for c-span's student cam documentary competition. get your 5-8 minute video on this year's topic, washington, d.c. through my lens, to c-span by january 20th for your chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. there's $50,000 in total prizes.

c-span's student cram video documentary competition is open to students grades 6-12. go online to student cam.org. >> yesterday thousands of people in southern sudan began casting ballots this a weeklong vote to decide whether their region will remain united with northern sudan or become an independent nation. the referendum is part of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement that ended a 22-year civil war. we're about to show you a discussion on future scenarios for the country after the referendum. it's being hosted by the center for strategic and international studies. we expect it to start any moment, and this is live coverage on c-span2. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> well, good morning, everyone. thanks for rousing yourself out of bed so early and making it down here on a monday morning. we appreciate you coming along. i'm sure there'll be a few people drifting in as we get going, but i thought we'd try and make a start now so we have plenty of time for discussion. my name's richard downie, i'm deputy directer of the africa program here at csis and really grateful this morning for our panelists and a chance, really, to tackle the sudan referendum. probably being monday morning we get first crack at discussing the referendum which began over the weekend. so as we, as we sit here and discuss the sudan this morning, the people of southern sudan are in the middle of making historic decision as you know. voting began yesterday this referendum on their -- in the referendum on their future, whether to remain part of sudan

or to secede and form their own nation. millions of people appear to have taken that opportunity so far in the first day and a half of voting. many of them lining up outside polling stations hours before they opened, patiently awaiting their chance to play their part in settling the future direction of southern sudan. a few months ago it seemed unlikely we were even going to get to this point, at least on time. but we've seen a big push in recent weeks by the international community to get the arrangements on track, and, of course, the sudanese people themselves have taken the lead channeling their energies into making this process work. so the result in recent weeks we've also seen public statements by politicians both north and south that have helped to reduce tensions and create an environment where we can be more confident that the process will go smoothly and the outcome will

accurately reflect the will of the people who take part in it. so this is a momentous time, and i'd like to acknowledge the presence of our representatives from the government of sudan and southern sudan as well who in getting to this point today have traveled a long way through decades of civil war, of course, the peace agreement in 2005 and the subsequent six-year-long process of trying to make this deal work. so we're glad they can join us, and we look forward to, perhaps, hearing them speak as well this morning. but today we're going to reflect a little bit about, upon how sudan has arrived at this moment, but mainly we're going to look forward and think about the upcoming challenges as well. because while those who have worked on the referendum, of course, deserve a great deal of credit for the fact it's taking place on time and so far at least in a relatively orderly fashion, the referendum isn't

the end of the road. as was said yesterday as his vote was cast, it's premature to say job done. in many ways the real challenges lie ahead. particularly in the six month-long period following the referendum. if the vote comes out in favor of secession, this will be the time when the tough negotiations really begin in earnest on all the issues which will help determine relations between north and south for years to come. and, of course, the state of ab yea remains undecided. people there have been denied their chance to vote in a separate referendum on whether to remain part of the north or join the south, and we've had worrying reports of violence there during the past few days. so our speakers are going to discuss some of these big issues today and perhaps say something about the role of the international community and the role they can may going forward. the united states, sue tan's neighbors and the african union

as well. we're very pleased to be joined by two experienced analysts from international crisis group, an organization whose thoughtful analysis issues reports we always find useful here on the africa program. on my immediate left we have icg's new africa program directer comfort arrow. comfort oversees four different projects in africa covering central, southern, west and the horn of africa, 20 countries in all in these regions. comfort was previously directer of the africa program at the international center for transitional government, transitional justice, i apologize. we're delighted, also, to have with us, fouad hikmat who's special adviser and takes part in icg's work in relation to

sudan, and his professional background includes management of humanitarian and post-conflict programming. he's literally just touched down this d.c. this morning from sudan as well, so he can give us really the up-to-the-minute perspective on what's going on in sudan now. no pressure there as well. i'm going to hand it over to comfort who's going to give us an overview of icg's work, and then we'll have plenty of time for questions and comments from all of you as well, hopefully. thanks very much. comfort. >> thank you very much. and i would like to start by wishing you all a happy new year, but also thanking csis, especially richard and the staff of the center for hosting international crisis group on the day after the start of the important referendum. i also think it's quite telling

that the very first job for the new africa directers of icg is to come to washington and speak to a gathering here, and that shows you, also, the importance of washington in the question of the future of a new sudan and the future of north sudan as well. so it's a pleasure and an honor that we have been asked to come this morning, very cold morning, but this morning in washington to talk about a new dawn in the africa as well. just briefly, as richard was saying, i would start off by just introducing the international crisis group to all of you for some of you who don't know it. we are generally recognized as an independent, nonpartisan organization that services or provides analysis to governments and international governmental bodies like the united nations, the european union and the world bank, and we work quite closely with a number of organizations like the cics here in

washington. and we're founded about 15 years ago this 1995 -- in 1995 as an independent, nongovernmental organization on an initiative by a number of transatlantic figures who despaired over the international community's failure back in the 1990s on tragedies such as somalia, rwanda and bosnia and even at that time sudan as well. and we are quite well known for the reports that we publish. it wavers between 80 and 90 reports that we do, and i even in the sudan program, the sudan team if they were given a lot of leeway, they could write 80 reports in the space of three months in sudan because of the nature of the situation there. we also produce what we call the crisis watch bulletin which provides a monthly snapshot of what we consider to be the conflict alert countries at that moment in the month. we have several advocacy

offices, and most of you may know our washington office. we also have an office in brus ls and in new york as well, and the headquarters for the africa program is strategically located in nairobi which is a critical hub for us. and as richard has already said, as the africa directer, we operate in 20 different countries across the continent. before i joined icg, i was also working for the united nations in liberia as well. specifically on sudan, my colleague will go into more deeper details on sudan, but i also just want to acknowledge that this is a mow men powstous -- momentous moment in the history of the continent when you're looking for key moments, key dates on the continent we'll make reference to 1957, ghana z as the first independent country on the continent after the end of decolonization. we'll also note the freedom of

nelson mandela in 1990 and the end of apartheid in 1994. this is another historical moment on the continent, the birth of a new nation. and the key concern for us is how that is going to unfold. the voting for the referendum, as richard pointed out, started yesterday on the question of self-determination which may result in the independence of the south. two decades of war have come to an end in sudan in 2005 with the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement, but now we are at a stage where the dell delicate peace -- delicate peace is going to be tested. the long-term stability of the region lies in the ability of the north and south to forge a post-cpa relationship. and the situation, if it goes well, we'll see the smooth outcome of the referendum. and if results are respected by

the khartoum government, we should see some significant progresses being made. and this would provide a perfect platform for negotiations for post-referendum arrangements to go successfully. but should it go poorly, we might also witness a reignition of conflict in between the north and the south and also an escalation of the violence in darfur which fouad will talk about and again, also, the impact on the region will also be quite grave. so at this point the situation is quite fluid, and it's quite uncertain how things are going to go. the situation is quite tricky in creating a new and can independent southern sudan which already has been dubbed as a prefelled state. the borders remain undecided, and meanwhile institutions and services which urgently need to be regenerated and rebuilt, this is still a fundamental issue at stake for the new south sudan.

the future arrangements on citizenship, on nationality, on national resources, on wealth sharing, on management of oil and water, currency, assets and the liabilities, security and international treaties must be negotiated regardless of the referendum outcome. these are issues that we pointed out in the briefing we produced in december towards the end of last year. and, of course, the question of the future of abyei needs to be addressed. of course, we must congratulate ifis for their work in the last three weeks in bringing out the voter registration process. there will be a need for cohesive statement from relevant actors, in particular in this instance we'll call upon the african union and key leading space on the continent, nigeria, south africa, egypt also to make the necessary statements, positive statements in relation to sudan.

and be, of course, the secretary general's monitoring panel needs to take a more public leading role in the pronouncements made over the next three weeks. there must be a careful monitoring and communication over these next three weeks which we judge to be a tense period for sudan. the real challenge, the real issue that we need to avoid in this next three weeks is disinformation, is rumors, and these are real triggers for instability. and, of course, here in washington we can't forget the role of the united states' government. the u.s. incentives have been very helpful, however, ultimately limited given that khartoum is politically savvy enough to understand it's the u.s. congress and shot the executive that makes many key decisions on the table. the absence of a basic blue prohibit for the post-2011 referendum between the north and south constitutes the uncertainties about the political and economic future of

each and risks the referendum as a serious game that sustains affairs and smooths the conduct of the exercise and acceptance of the result. added to this is the deterioration situation this darfur and concerns about insuring a more credible and serious negotiation process ongoing in qatar. insuring stability in the south and improved relations between the north and the south in the post-referendum climate will be critical to softing the darfur problem -- solving the darfur problem. getting the situation right in sudan will be a significant and game-changing moment for the continent, but also for the international community also. we, therefore, welcome this opportunity today to engage in a debate with you all here on the future and how to guarantee stability in the north and south and a new north while we concentrate heavily on the future of south sudan, we mustn't forget the future of the

north is at stake as well. so i'll turn it back to richard. >> thank you very much for that overview, comfort. yeah, i'll pass it straight over to fouad. thanks very much. >> yeah, good morning. our protocol observed, i want to say that in my directive, it's impressed me very much. she's saying she's new, but the speech doesn't sound like she's new. [laughter] because i think she did half what i'm supposed to do. she already did half of my briefing which made things easier to me. but i would like to start by saying thank you so much for the cis to invite us for this event. and and it is difficult moment for me as a sudanese. if the i remove my hat from the ipg, at the end i am sudanese,

and this is about human relations. as far as i am very, very happy for suit sudanese to go and vote for this historic moment and to get their country. and if i am on that side, i will be happy and grouplating for a lot -- jukelating for a lot of reasons. and i am happy for that. but also as a sudanese to see the map that we knew from the primary schools, that we draw it now by half and the map of sudan, i don't know how we are going to draw it in this six months' time. the south will be very difficult to draw. it's very, very sad moment for us. for me it is not a surprise that sudan is going to secede because before going to talk about the challenges, i think one of the main reasons underpinning the current context is that the two parties simply failed to implement a comprehensive peace

agreement. it is the mistake of the two the fail to implement the comprehensive peace agreement. i don't hold the two parties only on the she she saying. we can go up from the government that took control of sudan after independence. the respondent goes from there, and i think -- responsibility goes from there, and i think all the government failed. but focusing on the cpa, it has got two important principles. one is democratic transition and included in that is the reconciliation process. and, hopefully, if democratic transition happened, reconciliation happened, that will force the principle of self-determination that makes it attractive. those two principles did not happen. for a lot of political reasons, and as we know that a benchmark

in democratic transformation was the elections that were supposed to happen in half of the interim period to leave another three years of the second half of of the interim period to foster the constitution and legal arrangements being done and then to work in these three years to make sure that unity is going to make attractive. elections didn't happen until third or fourth year. it happened sick or eight months -- six or eight months just before the end of the sewer rim period -- interim period, so three years being shortened to eight months for a lot of reasons. and, of course, they wanted to augment that influence of control, their power to remain in power x that's why, i think, they didn't want the elections to happen on time. so both, i think, failed in these three principles, the

democratic transformation if i could consider reconciliation has another principle. and the -- but the only success is that they reach the referendum. and so for me, then, when i look into the comprehensive peace agreement, all what i can describe is it became a grand cease fire for six years. there is a cease fire in six years and now after six years that the question here is can we maintain that cease fire? so, and the other reason is, also, and i may want here to draw specifically on islamist when they took power in 1989 they had their own vision for sudan. and, unfortunately, that region could not accommodate the preference because they saw the preference at marginal, ours as minority groups rather than groups of their own right.

and they wanted to maintain power. so the cpa which should have used their power from 100% to 52% will give the splm28% and the other political parties that are remaining, they saw that in these six years how they can continue maintain the power rather than looking into inclusive pluralism. and that is, i think, one of the problems that made the cpa to fail. so its operation is a logical outcome, and i don't think unity is going to be an outcome, and i don't think there is happy magic in sudan. what there is is sadness always, and i hope that one day this turns into some of happiness. so the challenges are immense. and let me focus on few things. the positive referendum issues, of course, we come to them. but it's a procedure. it's a procedure.

but it is happening in an environment where there is serious tension, there is serious nervousness and volatility. that is where this procedure is happening. and at the same time there is no full agreement on any of the referendum issues. none. and also there is a military buildup along the borders, and there is an economic embargo on the south. so if we see in the last weeks the government, or let me say president what sheer, it's not the government made this decision. let's make a distinction here. sometimes when president but she talks, he's not talking on behalf of the -- [inaudible] he made a decision that 20% of the southerners on the civil

service they are going to go home after secession. and refuse to give the sudanese people citizenship. only if there is a lit call arrangement. and to be dealt as foreigners. to give you an example, at least 24,000 southern sudanese students in khartoum, what is going to happen to these 24,000 if you send them home? and at the same time we know e that there is a lot of people going back, now, to south sudan, over 100,000, that they are really in a very dire situation as there is no humanitarian assistance, no shelter and is -- so on. and i question that question there the ncp. it is an ncp rather than a government unity decision. so on thely, for example -- recently, for example, there are, the transactions or

transfer of vital goods to south sudan have blocked. the cereal market for the government and so on. they got the message that not to transfer cereal to the south of sudan. the aspect of oil is becoming a very big problem. [inaudible] so over 100%, prices shot to 30 or 40% in south sudan. these are policies not favored for a mutual good relationship between the north and south. so this sort of direction, it will reflect negatively on the communities along the borders, especially -- [inaudible] because if the splm begets such policies by blocking -- who have

11.5 million heads of cattle that spend nine months along the borders of 1956, that is their livelihoods for the last 200, 300, 500 years. if south blocks that, that will be very serious, and they are very serious constituency of sudan. and these communities along the borders are highly militarized as we know that in abyei, but also the baa forward rah are highly militarized. they have been used, abused during the last wars. militias, popular defense forces, and they were, like, the front line of the regime the last 20 years in fighting the war against the south. highly militarized. so this kind of policies in the

last weeks meant some people and analysts in sudan to describe like this kind of policy direction from the ncp rather than from the government. it's a sort of like soft touch or the freshest steps to sort of on ethnic cleansing. and now it is debatable because that's a legal term. but when you deny your own citizens the right which is actually in the constitution of sudan, it says that sudan allows dual citizenship. sudanese can have citizenship of other countries and can even the president does not have the right to remove the citizenship of a person even by internationalization. and international law also doesn't accept that. so what i think it is important now for the north and south is to secure that strategic relationship to get these consequences of the political

separation. it is a political -- so they need to focus on the economic and financial union, unity and looking into the common markets. .. >> therefore, one the main conditions in the coming six months is how to avoid the confrontations along the borders. unfortunately, as i say, that both parties and particularly are creating the position along

the borders. they are actively mobilizing, tribes along the borders to rejoin the pdf, popular defense forces. and on the pretext they are going to lose their interest by the succession of south sudan. if it doesn't go well, and the results not accepted, it means the separation would not go safely. the transitional period would be full violence in my opinion, and the communities along the borders will aggregate the situation in abyei. and abyei configures the wall between the communities in the armed forces and into why the conflict on the process and two parties to conclude the cpa.

as i say in the last six months, we failed to find solution to the issues. although the framework presented by the african union high implementation which includes principals, but no solutions. and i think what is important now is to discuss the issue of the citizenship and economic relationship that it affects day-to-day lives of the people along the borders. if the issue of the citizenship is resolved, in the interest of both, i think it could open this place for political dialogue on the issues, and the kind of borders, and so on. i think that is an entry for the positive referendum. there's no need for this huge military buildup that we see now along the borders. north of the borders and south of the borders, a very serious one. and the second challenge which i want to draw the attention to

which people are not aware of it is the blue light. these two have good forces inside south sudan, and also along the borders of 1956. these with military forces that they fought with the splm for the last years. they fought for their rights, they have the protocols. it's called south sudan on the complaints of the peace agreement on the resolution of the conflict. it is a protocol blue nile that will go through the public confrontation, and into negotiate with the centers and once they agree then they protocol becomes a find binding peace agreement. at the moment, it's not a final binding for kurdufan and the blue nile. they have to go through

negotiation. now recently the government or again the national congress party asked the splm to draw the forces and disarm and they cannot come over the 1956 borders with arms. and to redeploy up to the borders in 1956 in a way to cut strategic depths between these forces and southern sudan. blue nile is going to refuse disarmament. because they know the public confrontation in the context now of the referendum is sort of a constitutional vacuum. it is not going to break the final solution that it is acceptable to the people in southern kurdufan and the blue nile. as we know it was supposed to be happening in the context of half a year of the interim period that was the democratic

elections and then people who are elected in the fair and free elections and then there is the public concern on the framework of the cpa. that's sort of the vacuum of the framework. you can imagine if the republican confrontation is going to bring any lasting solution. that's why they want to keep their arms, they want to keep their forces. because they know there's a future challenge meeting them. so -- and i think this is a very big conference. recently south sudan agreed president basheer. i think it is important. but the risk here is that ncp could disagree or change their mind from here until then. what happens if they try to move

their forces up to their borders of 1956 with not recognizing the specifics of blue nile. that's one the serious risk. the cease fire agreement which is in southern kurdufan, if you remember, the geneva cease fire. there it is still valid. it might be debatable if it's valid or not. but there's an agreement. but the cpa did not specify anything for this information for the forces in the blue nile. i think one the channels now is the two parties, they need to renew the cease fire agreement in southern kurdufan, and looking at how to maintain the cease fire in blue nile. i think this is one the very big challenges in the coming period. and that's the role of the

international community, and it's very important and look into the public confrontation cannot happen in a constitution and vacuum. because the constitution of sudan is going to end in july 2011, after that what is the constitution? after that, the public is going to work on what? that's why a lot of people argue that the constitutional arrangements have to be debated before the public consultation. and therefore, until this happens, the cease fire needs to maintained in southern kurdufan and blue mile. -- blue nile. people focus on abyei and they don't see this point. as we know that, all the time ncp wants to weaken it's part, because it's important to negotiate with a weakened splm. now with the referendum going, i

think it's not subsiding. because even the southerners who are opposing the splm now at the moment, they can't go around the current. the referendum is going in new country so even the opposition parties, in south sudan, they need to be careful. at the moment, there is no leverages to use and so on. splm is becoming more stronger. but they might get weaker along the line. and as we are going to talk about it in the challenges of south sudan. so in general, instability in south sudan is not -- but the political stability in south sudan cannot happen unless there is a stability north sudan. and if this is a stable advisory. if the south hits one area, the north will be able to hurt it and vice versa. it's important there is stability in both, and if people want the stability in the south

to progress, they have to seek the stability in the north. and i think pluralism is the direction. for both south sudan and north, given the diversity of cultures and regional interest. it appears the splm is aware of this. they had the south of all parties on the conference, they agreed during the framework, it is still on paper. it needs to be implemented after the referendum, and the referendum of the party is over, so they move towards pluralism. but the problem in the north even if that president basheer recently said he's calling for the national unity. it's a calling. but looking into the last 20 years and the six years, can we imagine that you had our 100% cpa to 28% or 48% of that and

now there is a possibility to go to 100%. they are going to go for the national government to reduce your power to what? and that's a very big question. it's going to create the reasons for continue struggle in the north of sudan. and this, of course,, -- an approach like this for the no option for darfur. the dialogue as we see cairo agreement, old agreements, sudan is governed by so many agreements, sudan, agreements, there are about seven or eight of them. they didn't go anywhere, includes cpa which became the cease fire. the option is very clear. the darfurians picked it up. the darfur is not going anywhere.

i think they did. if people lose the opportunity to go to the boxes to change the situation, they will go for the boxes of ammunition rather than the books of elections to change the situation. now at moment, the south sudan is -- succession is a reality. and the government will not oppose it. and the acceptance of the north of the referendum hopefully it will reflect in the north and south, and then the south will start to deal positively with the north and the north to try to deal responsibly with the pending issues. but, of course, that will be different dice if one or within one the two take a different approach. so if people use the secession

of south sudan for regime change, some political forces think so, including people from outside, that is very dangerous for sudan. i think people need to be thinking very seriously about these. and it shouldn't be a step for a regime change. and a lot of people argue that in the recent america international community, market twist the arm of the ncp to accept the referendum and the results. and this perhaps encouraged the opposition party, darfur rebel groups to say now this is the time since the bull has started to fall, it is time to take out the knife and kill the bull. i think that's very dangerous for sudan and stability, not only for sudan, but the southern is highly mobilized, and it is

highly mobilized and it will not be easy for them to let go. what is important here is to force a strategic cooperation and relationship between the north and south, to look into the constitutional arrangements that i talked about it and how can the north and south address this issue of pluralism, but also for the north if there's no discussion about the constitutional arrangement, the public consultation will not be resolved, the conflict in darfur is not going to be resolved. you know that doha, i don't know where it is. i mean if somebody could tell me what is a doha now? but there is an agreement. but that agreement if this is a genuine solution to darfur, then people have to address the cardinal issue in sudan, governance. the issue of the center. and as i say, that will not be easy issue that the ncp will

accommodate. that's why it is very difficult to go for vice president for the region, for the regional government and so on, because also the arabic tribes in darfur are seriously conflict, seriously conflicted, they want more districts and more states in southern darfur. now we know there is three. people are arguing for another three extra. because the idea -- the thinking of the division and so on that actually led to the conflict in darfur during the beginning of this regime when they were trying to put the pluralism dividing darfur into the districts and borders between the ownership of the tribe was divided with the others. with so many districts, everybody started to want to have the control of that

district which then led to the tribal differences. and that was the beginning of their conflict in darfur. it started from the beginning of the '90s, because there is historical beginnings. but that was the key point. i agree with many people that darfur needs to be resolved from the bottom up. definitely darfur dialogue is extremely important. it is burg djibouti, and now darfur, they talked about it the darfur forum. now the government came out with a new strategy in darfur, let's find the solution for doha, and bring it to darfur. in principal and theory, it is good. but if we look at it conceptually, it is very questionable. and i don't think it is a strategy that it will bring a lasting peace in darfur. because if it is to bring

lasting peace in darfur, then the elections could have, should have been a fair elections where they were presented in the counsel of the three states are two representatives. now it is a strategy put by the government to be discussed by the legislative states of the council of the three states which is actually the government, but the three governments, which is actually the government, but the tribal leaders who are corrupted by the government. so this is the government. it is the government with the government with the government, i don't know where the rebel groups and the rest of the darfur people. i think the african union high implementation plan now they are advocating for let's go since doha is not going. i think the americans have the approach that we go for the darfur forum, i think it is a grave mistake and will deepen the crisis in darfur. and so i suggest let me make it

short and just go over very quickly on the -- on south sudan before i go. for south sudan, the issues is the challenges are immense. as we know that now, the party will continue in couple of days until july 9. where then they became independent, and even the party will become more stronger, may finish maybe a dent of the year. there is one year of party jubilation and so on. but they need to look into the political instability. splm is not stable, it's not professional army. so the issue of the security sector is a very big challenge for the splm. this is what political stability, inclusiveness, what

they agree to is the south sudanese political parties. they need to force. they need really to implement it. first of all, the interim south sudan constitutional is ending in july, they need another interim or draft constitution for south sudan. that will be the law of the land. i think that is the first step. the ddr, disarmament of soldiers and so on, that's something that's not going very well. there's a lot of arms, a lot of militias, the disarmaments didn't go well. if you look that it comes actually from the oil revenue from the north. half of it is going through this big, big security sector. army and so on, nothing going for social services and so on. they need to reduce that army so that some of this money money -t

how they are going to do the integration and demobilization for people to do what in south sudan. even though coming from the north, we know there's nothing for them at the moment. so imagine the challenges in front of them. of course, they have to address the issues of accountability very seriously. corruption is very high. and i think during the jubilation period, they will have to be careful thinking of how they are going to use the money. if they agree with the government of the north or the ncp on the government of oil and so on. those issues are very, very serious. i'm not going to go into the details, as you all know, nothing has been agreed. but i think citizenship is very important. what i really see is that the way forward here and that brings me to the regional and

international players is that if we look into the region, egypt, libia, what is their interest on sudan? they want stability. i think so. the issue of the nile waters that people talk a lot about as far as egypt is concerned, that is a bigger issue. the secession is not going to affect it any my opinion. south sudan will take it's share from north, from sudan's 15 or 18 billion cuber -- cubic meters. and still the corporation framework that's signed by five or six countries is going to be an issue. i don't see how south sudan is going to affect this for a moment. egypt has been very good with south sudan all the way. actually working to make unify more attractive than the north. for utopia, it's a serious concern. they have borders with both countries, north and south. i think they are really looking for stability.

but, of course, kenya, uganda, they invest on the cpa, now they are reaping the benefit of their hard work on the cpa. and that business people, and they want the stability and, of course, they don't mind the secession because that will actually reaping their investment and reaping the investments of the last six years and so on. but, of course, people are generally concerned about the islamic discourse that the ncp might take. in my opinion, ncp became the middle-class business people looking into their interest of work, wealth, money, more than becoming, you know, islamic and iranian regime. they are different in concept and principal. now the recent called to go back to sudan and beating of the all of that is addressing the internal twenty sis -- internal

constituencies to keep them together. they are asking questions ab the leadership. it is not really solid. i think that call to go back is an important call to maintain the unity of islamic. you know that division happened in 2000 when they left, and the rest left, and it is divided. i think it will be a problem. even for the rest of sudan. and but it's still -- they have a very big challenge for the ncp to have the decision. because decision now is in the hand of five or six. the idea of sharia and the islamic course and process now it is very highly centralized. at the moment there's no shura. that will weaken the islamic behind the ncp.

they need to deal with them. i question the role of the regime change. so there's a lot of countries in the region, utopia, they think the region change shouldn't be the way to go forward. it's hard to maintain the stability because ncp has the stability of moneys, weapons, and for the north, ncp has the monopoly. you need to deal with the ncp and the major players and how to get strategic cooperation between the north and south and final political stability, political stability in the north cannot happen unless there is an openness for political dialogue for resolution of south sudan -- southern kurdufan and darfur, and resolution in darfur. i say this -- this cannot happen if there's no serious rethinking

of the political system in the center and the restructuring of the state. maybe something is saying that this person is talking on behalf of the splm or the opposition party. and i don't know if anybody of the presenters of the government of sudan might say this person just read a couple of newspapers of opposition. but it is a reality. if that doesn't happen, i think sudan is going to face serious challenges. finally, north thinks that in sudan, south sudan, we can see there's a lot of challenges. it might take time. i think so. but the problems in the north might not take time. where we see now the referendum is finished, everything is going very well. resulted maybe accepted, abyei might be the problem, and so on. but the problems in the north are going to erupt faster than in the south, and that might jeopardize the situation in south sudan. that's what i want to say.

thank you. and we have a discussion more. [applause] [applause] >> thanks very much, for your comprehensive analysis of the picture, the very confused picture right now. i'm going to open the floor up to questions in a moment. perhaps first of all, i could ask you to think about -- let's look at the very short-term picture and the actual referendum process itself and perhaps the role of the international community in that process. we're told it's going to take -- obviously if everything takes place over the whole of this week, the final outcome won't be known for several weeks after that. we might have some results trickling out, i suppose, in the mean time, all of which creates conditions for uncertainty and perhaps instability. and perhaps the worse-case scenario, the outcome itself

might be contested. face with the potential pitch, what's the role for the international community, do you think? and how -- particularly how should it be coordinating it's response if the outcome is somewhat uncertain or is challenged by perhaps the north or one of the other parties? who should be taking the lead in this process? while you think about that, i'll maybe take a couple of questions from the floor. please identify yourself, and microphones should be on the way around. up in the front here please. >> thank you. that was a great talk. i'm doug brooks with the international stability operation association, and to follow up on that question. specifically with the united nations, what should they be doing at this conture right now?

>> we'll take one more. gentleman in the middle there. >> thank you. i listened to priorities about the recent involvement from the ncp side. we all know that the ncp is reluctant to do any arraignments to the referendum, and even accepting the referendum results. the recent that the ncp started to publicly say and accept the results and be recognized, why do you think the southern shift? the second question, can you elaborate more about the african union implementation between doing the negotiation between north and south? thank you. >> okay. he wants to tackle some or all of those questions?

>> don't ask me challenges questions. [laughter] >> i want just to say hello to my friend there. it's good to hear you. i think that all of the international communities is extremely important for the results. the observers of the european union, the center, a lot of observers, plus the u.n. has a special place separate because they are working on the logistics and the technical support. so it cannot be the body that -- or to make a statement on their process. because it is part of it. that's why there is the part led by president in kabul, former

president, what is important for the international community and especially the role of the u.n. plus other observers and monitors to keep on the day day-to-day basis to the sudanese, on the international community, how is it going? i think this is very important. not to leave it until the end where then the results are going to be contested. in terms of contestation, i don't think so. if the ncp wanted to contest it, they could have derailed the whole process. some of the grounds second to the constitutional court, it could have derailed or they could have. i think thanks to the ncp president, and president bashir, he didn't want to stop that. he said that in a speech.

he wants the referendum to go. they are going to access the results. of course, the petitions are there. still it can appear in the coming days. it might surprise us. but i doubt and i hope not. but the international community, i think, is very important. especially the part coming together on the day-to-day basis. how is it going? if there's anything to mention it so then the results is not contested. :

>> so how to get that within the parties of the organization itself. the second thing is address the issues of the economy, economic situation. to build up reserves and also to negotiate the referendum to negotiate other things as we know. the issues of sudan, relation with the u.s. and all the issues in between, the terrorists and the other functions and so on. and also the issue of the icc. so to buy time, and also issues,

but it doesn't go anywhere. some counts have been provided that was very, very supportive. i don't think it speaks well. i don't think so. any thinking of another afghan, iraq or sudan doesn't work. so i don't think, but that was one of the reasons that they start to think that, okay, these issues is very difficult to delay, delay, to delay because of the region is going to go against, even they were going to lose leg of african -- lose the league of african nations. i think more they decided, more than pressures. they think more intelligent regions that may be beside let

it go, let it happen and then we deal with the consequences. >> thank you. comfort, is there anything you would like to say? in that case, we have another round of questions. anyone up front here? microphone is on its way. >> i am with csis. i must confess that i think there is pretty gross ignorance in this town about sudanese politics. and little understanding of problems of khartoum. i was interested in what you said, and i would like to issue a little further about what is probably the fundamental problems from the perspective of resident bush year. and that is actually the divisions within the ncp.

there is a tendency to see the ncp as a uniform block, and i think that's fundamentally wrong. there are serious fault lines. and that islam, as an ideology, is very attractive to many northern sudanese, not only in the nile valley but in the periphery as well in the 1990s. and that the islamists agenda still has many supporters who may well be mobilized by what they see is perhaps a compromise, a sellout, over the independence of southern sudan. and 200 years of sudanese history. so my question is, what do you see as the strains and the pressures from the islamists

within the ncp, and, indeed, without the ncp, those who followed to opposition? how potent a challenge are they? obviously par four, -- the door for, the blue nile are issues. but in the khartoum i would be much more worried about these guys. and what they are likely to do. and i think the international community does not pay attention to this problem that the regime faces. so i would be interested today in what you think about that. >> thank you. second question right at the back. >> i am jeremy. a question about the post-referendum reconstruction of the south. there's been a lot of criticism about world bank, the u.n. and ngo community in terms of some of the department activities that have occurred in the south

and that the limited success in going beyond just humanitarian service provision to get to actual development and reconstruction. and some recent criticism, particularly at the world bank. with the government of south sudan, as you pointed out, still spending upwards of 90% of its revenues on security sector issues, not able to invest very much in social service provision, what do you see as the prospects were actually getting beyond a paradigm assorted ngo provided services and getting to the point where the government of south sudan has both adequate revenue and adequate capacity, and will to start providing the services, funding the services? and what do you see as a donor structure aren't international funding structure that would be more effective than we've seen so far in getting both the aid community and the government of south sudan to that point?

>> okay, and let's take one more question. the gentleman at the front here. >> yes, marcus, u.s. department of state. i wanted to follow-up on part part of the question of the second gentlemen. i was a little bit surprised, by help pessimistic you were by the framework that the au had brokered. when moon was back here and spoke to a group, he was far more upbeat in terms of saying he felt that although no framework agreement had been signed, that there have been large agreement on major issues, including areas such as wall sharing. he cited citizenship and abyei as being the two outstanding areas, but he was upbeat.

for example, on demarcation. he uses the 80% figure in terms of agreement. the question really is how you view the au with all of this, particularly on north-south, specifically your thoughts on the role who serve has emerged as both the south and for door for in major role -- and darfur for a major role. at how do you think in a general will continue after the referendum? thank you. >> and let's also, we have representative from the government of sudan, deputy chief of mission. what you like to say something as well? >> thank you. thank you for -- sometimes your views might be having, you're

onerous is on some views that might give -- >> is the microphone on? >> i would like for us to in this critical time of sudan in history, there is both points which i think it might be raised on this. that political side of this historical moment, there is a friend which is recognize an outcome is expected to be recognized by the whole parties. the president said this, and vice president commented. at this moment also people should view optimistic about, before they were very worried about this critical moment, how it goes. positive direction of recognition of this time, the

piece of evidence on this time should be also recognized. there's also some worries, rumors and disinformation about this critical moment also here and there. but the challenge, this critical time, the challenge of the outcome which is coming in the coming weeks, and the worries about this new state might be in confrontation with the north. i think the visit of the president said it clear, the outcome we be recognized. the challenge of issues regarding the citizenship, the

security arrangements between the two in the area, abyei, and many other legal issues which you've mentioned here. the two sides now are negotiating. thabo mbeki is working with group, and the two sides now both are working on discussing these issues. vice president from center, they are negotiating. they are tabling these issues one by one. and one of the things mentioned, optimistic about many issues that we so go forward. but what you hear of it, now

people are optimistic that some of the overcoming the coming times. is this recognized, also did another satisfaction would be if the people of the citizenship also agreed upon, the constitutional vacuum which you mentioned, that there is now legislative in the south and the north. election come with parliament, regional parliament. and this issues also be discussed. of course, the other political, political parties as president said, that brought government, discussion with political. but also regional and central parliament that would be in power.

but this post-referendum issues is now under negotiations. locally between cut inside the country with the north and the south. these comments are waiting in abyei and now committee for us to get up to come with, there are many other challenges that you mentioned here, people know they are working. there's a delay also when the disagreement, so there is delay of, on, this is a challenge. but i think the people starting to flow within a week will give, people are optimistic, are optimistic about the results.

and how the people would respond to this would make the peace process, and not to go backwards. what i want to conclude, i think that the views which he shared, i think of it -- i hope that the people would adhere optimistic about themselves. president said and vice president also said it. i think there might be some good in the whole peace process. even in the north and the south. i hope that many will come, the other side, the politics, the

action. there will be peace in the coming time and we'll hear more cooperation between the north and the south in the coming times. spirit thanks for that, for those remarks. any responses to the questions we had, more details from ncp, internal dynamics and strength of the islamists, questioned long-term development in the south, whether the south will become economically self-sufficient, and then a question from the state department representative about are you being a little too gloomy about the efforts of the high level implementation and the post-referendum negotiations. >> thank you. let me start with the question from the state department, which is a little bit also touching on my brother here from the embassy.

actually i'm a little bit worried for what you say, because that's actually, to problems in sudan. but insurance of the au hiv, i'm not optimistic. the framework is very important but what i've seen, this is what happened so far. and it remembers the decision was taken in september last year when presented the report, the peace and security council mandated that a partner to become a high and limitation parliamentary and they did an excellent. much has been achieved and i think the framework itself, including the principles he is very important come and what important now is that those principles be communicated to people because a lot of people don't know actually what is in this and what were in those principles. for example, the communities at

the ground where now the recent active mobilization of the pdf of the tribes, along the borders, is that if that is communicated that there is no need, because issues are going to be resolved as my colleague here said. there is no need for military buildup. no need for -- on the contrary, efforts to go for something positive, something else. so those principles need to come. but still the referendum issues need to be discussed in the coming six months. and i think the african supported by the international community partners and so one is key, and is actually important that i think we saw that. but the point is that unfortunately it is not mandated. they cannot bring the two parties to say come here, i need

to discuss with you. there to facilitate the two parties to discuss and when they want, they can ask and they get to come at that process to give support. i don't mean here to imply they need to be mandated, but i think in the coming period the african union needs president to push these two parties to seek and discuss the referenda. i know there is this community, committees and so on, discussing a positive -- possible referenda. no discussion on referendum issues unless it is resolved. this is somebody that it sits next to the president. so anyhow, but still it is a very, very important, and so i don't pessimistic, but if there is strategic relationship of

which i alluded to in my presentation, if the two parties doesn't agree on what kind of form in principle, what is the former relationship? is a union? political separation but going into a union in terms of economics, the currency will be the same not only for -- will agree. the issue of citizenship we agreed. everybody remains if you want to be here or there, no need to keep the 24,000, no need to push the seventh or so one. so that is negative. it is not a positive. it is started by one of the senior ncp people saying not a single injection for southern. that is the government of national. but i don't think, it is ncp government.

then president bashir says no, no, no. we will protect with this, we will do that. and then comes, he merely followed by 20% have to go out from the secret service, consider them as foreigners. what kind of policy is this? i don't know how to describe it. if this is a policy for mutual and peaceful, you are setting a tone for very difficult confrontation on the positive round of discussions. >> i agree that there is a fundamental problems. and it's very difficult to shift from humanitarian assistance into, i have been in this field for a couple of years, and before coming to crisis group. and definitely people need to shift the assistance into

long-term, to adjust the pipeline of the human intelligence assistance and to get doctors for long-term so that it doesn't go out. and that's always the debate of that continuum. but for the south, get their independence, become a member of the united nation, the ss by their imf and in recommend world bank to give money for development, which is going to include employment. at the employment -- at this moment, there is no money for major development that can create jobs in south sudan. so the priority is to work with the security sector, to reform the security sector, to continue building the institutions. y. fostering date can political consensus to accommodate those against the splm, so that when they are finished at least they

can have a common ground where they can all move together. first, they need to address the issue of identity. a lot of people think seven is homogeneous. there is no south sudan identity i am again, when it becomes to elections, everybody goes to the constituency. that's why the issue top of some of the southerners say why do we need just because of that? small thing. but the people, the leaders at the top of the splm who are from abyei said no, no, no. this is very important. because imagining two years in south sudan, people say go to your constituents who are you? where are you from? if you say i am from part of the north, who will vote for you to be a member of the government? you go to your constituencies on the other side. so that's why they won't be able

to remain a part. so there is the issue of identity. they need to work. and the beginning of it is to set up the rule of the law. the rule of the land. where they need to agree and to put the political system for the inclusiveness, and then definitely if that is their we will be able to create the conditions from shifting from humanitarian assistance into a long-term rehabilitation, reconstruction, which is, it's going to be ideologically of course, on what ideology is the splm or is it an inclusive government to put that framework for reconstruction of government. definitely it is a challenge. finally, i come to the question i think which is a very serious question, and the issue of the islamists. and i agree with you, it's not the uniform block and not a lot of deep understanding to the

issues of sudan. people tend to think of ncp, south sudan. but if you want to really understand you have to go deeper into the islamic movement, then you'll understand why the cpa, it happened during the discussions, or maybe do a little, when there's possibility of fear agenda of sudan was lost and it was lost during the agreement. when the islamists didn't go on the agreement. that was the theory, for real united sudan, after the regime. islamists did want to go. then it was a transition come into the was an election. all forces in sudan agreed to postpone the elections, but a constitutional conference to discuss about the constitution

of sudan. the nature of the sudan a state and to abolish the september laws which is the sharia laws when they joined bashir. islamists refused, and when, imagine, when one became the prime minister, he formed maybe about five government, three of them are of them with islamists, brought back the islamists and that is where pdf and all these, splm was about to take. but when the international agreed support for splm, they were about to take these, that became a problem. and that's when they brought the military, route the message to prime minister singh either do something or we will change the regime. so they made the agreement. they agreed on the agreement to go and implement outcomes. they agreed.

and that, abolishing, not abolishing but to suspend the sharia laws come except to sudan as an array big, african but not an islamic. and to go for the constitutional review conference to review and put these constitution form an interim government with splm, political parties and all the civil society, the trade unions and so one can't add including the traditional. they all agreed. so after pressure, they moved from power from the government. he formed again i government. and he agreed finally on the constitutional conference. that would have led, but who then, really quickly, made it

coup? they did want that to happen. they removed a democratic. no, close the door for democratic conference and we know what happened. so that's why halfway the idea is to create that islamic country with the islamic organization of the islamic movement that, you know, how do i say, that it into that thinking, solidify the organization. of course, creating a system related to all the tribes and groups and so on. and then the rumors of the state. and then to go for federalism and decentralized, but they took it wrong.

the military was supposed to move after three months, three years. they disguised military, the islamists into military form with office. it was supposed to move after three years. that's what they agreed, to make the coup, put them in prison to nobody knows he has an islamist. but they were hiding. they were doing that. they were driving the whole thing. and then the military took a three years come and to start to put the constitution of sudan, federalism, decentralization. the military refused. they like it because they have been three years there. so they refused. so okay, president bashir become the president. his vice president who died later, forgot his name, vice president. and then the military became the power. president bashir remained and that continued until today.

and so they had discussion and division until when the agreed on the federalism, and the decentralization system. and also that the army could go back to the civilians to will and to go back to the shura. it is divided. and so what remains now with ncp, it was always a problem, always a problem when oil is discovered. and so that became a problem. and so when the money start to float up, the system became so strong, and it bit by bit that system, it went into ethnic pattern is -- patronization. you will see whose type is this, to the government, to the position, to everything. they clinched the secret services, the army. they fired the generals, the police, the civil service and everything. that's a system now very

serious. but now with the cessation coming of course people are asking questions for coup so. you ruled for 20 years. you did a couple of agreements. the cpa came. you didn't maintain sudan and you want to continue ruling sudan. on what basis? on what basis do you want to continue growing sudan? so the ncp have got a question. the present versus the future of the party and the political party. the party versus the future of sudan and its affiliates again. also the stability of finding solution to darfur. and also the president versus the whole future of sudan. between brackets and issues, those three fundamental questions need to be asked. we think islamists, if they want to maintain, to continue as a viable political party to play,

that's why there is a those divisions within even the current. and i can go further ,-com,-com ma but i can see eyes looking at me. but it's a major, major question so that's what i question here talking about the present so on. i understand i'm cities. it is about what are the key issues you want to do in the coming very. possible referendum issues you have to address the full of the other partners to become state. that state has to be separated from the party. are they willing to do that? if not, that will continue to struggle to find a viable lasting peace in sudan. spectacular much. i'm very reluctant to stop in mid-flow. i very much appreciate your analysis. i'm afraid we're pretty much out of time now. do you have anything to add? fair enough. look, i would just like to thank

you, both of you, for coming and going to take part on what is a momentous time right now with a referendum on the way. and i'm sure you'll agree, despite the notes of some gloominess and pessimism that sudan has come a long way to this point at least. but, of course, as the challenges, big challenges lie ahead, both internally within north and south, and how these two areas, if they are two separate, manage the diverse people, the interest within their borders. so please join me in thanking our guests fouad hikmat and comfort ero. [applause] spin and thanks for your interest and we will be following the referendum and beyond and you can find more information on our website. they will be putting out a new report on sudan shortly within -- [inaudible] >> there is a report that someone is working on it.

actually on the big question. islamists and the future of sudan after secession. that's the key question i think for me. >> great. thanks very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> "the communicators" also airs each monday evening. if you missed any of this discussion on how telecommunications policy may be affected by the new congress. watch the teenagers again tonight at 8 p.m. eastern here on c-span2.

but ÷???ñ? >> connecticut governor dan malloy address a joint session of the connecticut legislature on january 5, the same day he was sworn in as the state's governor. governor molloy had been the

mayor of stamford connecticonnecticut from december 1995 until december 2009. he became the longest-serving mayor of the city during his 14 years in that position. this is just under 25 minutes. >> mr. president, mr. speaker, senator mckinney, representative cafaro, my fellow state officials, ladies and gentlemen, of the general assembly, honored members of the judiciary, honored guests, a special mention to my close friend and the world's best running mate, lieutenant governor nancy wyman. [applause] >> and another special mention to my friend, the first, former first lady nikki o'neill, the wife of the late great governor o'neill. [applause]

>> to all of the former speakers and leaders of the senate who are here, thank you very much for joining us as well. to my very extended family who are with me today, and to all of my friends have joined us today, and to all of the citizens of connecticut represented in this room and watching as on tv. i want to thank you for joining us. and to the for people who mean the most to me, my wonderful wife, my partner and best friend, kathy, and our three sons, dannel, ben and sam. thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you for being here to mark a crucial cornerstone in

our democracy, the transfer of responsibilities and the conveyance of hope for our collective future from one gubernatorial administration to the next. before i begin i would like to make three important notes. first is to acknowledge the great service of governor rell who stepped in to the role of governor in a different type of crisis, crisis of confidence and character, a crisis, confidence in the character and intentions of its leadership. she worked tirelessly to restore that sense of respectability come and she will hold a special place in our hearts and our history because of her efforts. governor rell. [applause] >> second, i would like to congratulate all of you seated here today for your victories in last year's elections, both returning members and newcomers. you are seated in the hall surrounded by history that

echoes lawmakers who, over the centuries, recalled the same higher purpose, that is public service. i want to congratulate each of you. thank you for your service. [applause] >> and thirdly i would like to acknowledge the heroic service of the brave men and women from our great state of connecticut serving in the armed forces. they are serving in two wars and across the globe today. i hope and pray that we will have peace some day soon, and i want to thank them for their dedication to the country. thank you. [applause] >> i believe that what is in our history and what is in our hearts is intertwined to great idna of sorts that defines us as a people. connecticut has a storage 375

year history, one rooted in the political and military founding of this great nation, one driven by and social, political and artistic innovation that has become the signature of our people over time. today though as has happened from time to time over the centuries, we are faced with considerable challenges, a crisis of historic proportions. we are indeed at a crossroads of crisis and opportunity. we will need to reach deep to our roots, those of strength yet compassion, steadfastness, yet innovation. and most importantly we will need to solve our problems together, by person with great urgency come in the republican ideas or democratic ideas, but good ideas that know no political master or agenda. we will do these things so that in our future we can celebrate shared prosperity for us all. which on balance can only come

from shared sacrifice from each of us. today denmark's quite a bit more than a singular act of transition from one gubernatorial administration to another. it is a demarcation between where we have been and where we are going. about remembering who we are and what we are capable of when it counts the most. perhaps connecticut's governor wilbur cross captured it best in 1936, thanks getting proclamation when he wrote to the people of connecticut and gave thanks. thanks for the blessings that have been uncommon lives and have placed our beloved state within the favorite regions of earth. for the richer yield of labor of every kind that has to stay in our lives, for honor held above pride, for steadfast courage and zeal in a long, long search, to the as governor across the eloquently pointed out, we the

people of connecticut are blessed. we come from good stock, and it is within a struggle context that i stand before you a deeply humbled man. many observers say that this has been a six-year journey for me, from the point when i first started considering a run for this office, but in many ways it started much earlier. growing up as you know i had learning disabilities that might have left me on the fringes. back then they were not programs to identify and support children with disabilities. but likely for me there was the inspiring dedication and skill of schoolteachers who touched my life, and there was a sheer willpower of a mother of eight children. my parents both worked while raising a large family, but my mother was a nurse knew i was different. she knew i had challenges, but she never let those challenges overshadow my strengths. she focused her children on the importance of character, hard work, dedication, and love of

family. and she repeatedly challenged us to lead this world a better place than we had found it. not unlike what we need today for our great state. i believe we need to focus on our strengths and acknowledged that there are no challenges before us that we cannot fix with hard work, dedication, and getting in touch with the collective character which is our heritage. [applause] >> in many ways the adversity that i face going up and the adversity connecticut faces today are intersecting at this crisis, this crossroads of crisis and opportunity. so today we gather to talk about how to lead connecticut a better place than how we found it. we must reach back to our heritage, our fortitude, to make

an honest assessment of where we are, and to join together to define our collective future as a people took it will require us to think differently, to compare how things have been done in the past, and to take a different path forward. i am reminded of renowned poet robert frost, a fellow new englander when he wrote the road not taken. two roads diverge in the woods, and i took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. today, i see a crisis, and economic crisis and an unemployment crisis fueled by an unfriendly employer environment. a lack of educational resources, a deteriorating transportation system, and an enormous budget crisis of historic proportions. all kabul by habit of political sugarcoating that has passed our problems onto the next generation. well, ladies and gentlemen, the next generation is here. [applause]

>> we will conjure up the true grit and courage of our heritage and take the road less traveled. because connecticut has met great challenges before. in the war of 1812 when the british blockade crippled our import business, we pivoted to innovating machine tools and industrial technology. thanks to the likes of eli whitney and other world-class inventors they sparked a string of first in the cotton gin to the portable typewriter to color tv, from the lollipop to the frisbee. in our innovative heyday we had more patents issued per capita than any other state in union. we defined the american industrial revolution and became the arsenal of democracy that president roosevelt called for in world war ii. only we started a century earlier i played a pivotal role in the civil war, and continued through both world wars and the

cold war. in the 1960s after all, we built the first nuclear submarine. and our mighty economic presence in a toy with a different kind of strength here in the mid-1800s, prudence crandall ran a school for african-american girls in the face of discrimination and death threat. and in doing so she defined at the edges of equality and the power of education to change as all for the better. we shattered the glass ceiling of gubernatorial history thanks to al as the nation's first female governor, elected in her own right. our heritage also includes literary artistic year old of global proportion. we became the home of harriett beecher stowe, mark twain, p.t. barnum, and the founder of webster's dictionary. and, of course, we are still home to america's oldest continuously published newspaper, our own hartford current. [applause]

>> we have after all overcome events beyond our control. ferocious hurricanes, blizzards and devastating floods. and more recently when the planes hit on 9/11, and i remember this as my of stanford at the time, i remember how we all went into rapid response mode, ramping up our hospitals and preparing for the wave of transported victims we would be receiving. that, of course, they never came. instead we counted the cars there remained and commuter parking lots. we mourned and we persevered. we have is a standing histories, this heritage. you know, as i've traveled around the state for many years meeting amazing people in churches and diners and have picnics, one of the consistent messages was this feeling that maybe our best days are behind us. that economic security, let alone prosperity, is a thing of

the past. that maybe we won't, or that we can't leave this place better than we found it. and even while they were sending me that message, there was a context to it. they were asking me to help them do something about it. and that tells me the true grit that is connecticut, that can do this. still alive and ready to engage in the fight for a better future for everyone. because as our -- thanks. [applause] >> anytime someone is hooping and it's not my family, that's a good sign. [laughter] >> because as her own harriett beecher stowe said, and she knew a thing or two about adversity, when you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though it seems you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up. for that is just the place and a time the tide will turn.

i can sense it. it is our time. never give up. the tide will turn. it's not just the story of my life. it's the story of connecticut. so if you believe like i do that connecticut best days are ahead, i hope you'll join me in what must be a shared emerging moment a rational, on his perceivable change and movement that restores economic vitality, create jobs and returned to fiscal solvency. we will put in place and economic develop a strategy that makes sense for the 21st century economy. aggressively competing with other states and nations for lucrative biotech, nanotechnology will sell technology, and stem cell research jobs. we will join connecticut with the energy economy contracting companies that reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. we will aggressively develop our three deep water ports to spark commercial activity and to decrease our reliance on heavy

trucking and congestion that it brings to our highways. we will make -- [applause] >> we will make bradley international airport an independent entity, frame it to better grow its passenger base. [applause] >> cities and towns will have a partner and we will marshal all of our resources, the resources of state government to help local projects with an economic impact. you know, i've been -- [applause] >> -onto municipal side of this equation and i know firsthand how important a partnership could be. we will work to remove the barriers that keep us from attracting employers by lowering the highest energy costs in the

nation, lowering -- [applause] >> lowering health care costs and reforming our regulatory system to protect the public while building our economy. [applause] >> i also hope you will join me in a movement to once and for all resolve our out of control budget crisis, and retired gimmicks and one time solutions. we must instead i bought a responsible tell it like it is approach to balancing and managing our budget. and treat it just like any company treats a budget, with generally accepted accounting principles commonly known as gaap. [applause]

>> thank you. honestly, i did not there were that many icons serving in the legislation. [laughter] >> that's why minutes before i stepped into this chamber to give this speech i signed an executive order which begins the process of requiring the state to keep its books according to gaap principles that we require every city and town in the state to do it, and that we will require the state to do it. we will make state government make sense, to serve the people better, to shorten the distance between what they need and when they get it. and in the coming weeks and months you will hear a lot about reducing the size of government. from the size of my own office to the number of state agencies. and not just cutting for cutting say, but we conceding government so that their decisions are made

and implemented faster. and as we go through this together i believe it is imperative that we not lose sight of who we are, and who we have always been. not unlike when our own beloved governor brosseau said during her inaugural grip address in this very room, we must provide government that is official, efficient, compassion, that is humane. but we will fulfill that role mindful of the lives that are touched by every program, whereby heritage and our responsibilities to the people. to get there together is going to take courage, conviction and shared sacrifice. i believe we have that. i believe we have the conviction. after all, we are not good at being last in anything. and i believe in our hearts we are willing to make sacrifices if, if we understand where we are going. what's at stake, and that shared sacrifice is really shared, that there is a fairness factor

applied. [applause] >> but this is not sacrifice without pay off. is a sacrifice with the purpose. this is the kind of sacrifice i think my mother was talking about that will lead the world a better place for our having been here. it is a time of historic proportions when we as a people must ask ourselves who we collectively want to be and what separates us as a people. do we believe in every woman, child and man for themselves? or do we believe as president kennedy did that a rising tide floats all boats? [applause] >> do we believe that we can be a mighty economic force?

do we believe in the education of our children? do we believe and the social safety net for our most vulnerable, our most vulnerable citizens? and that it should be a hand up instead of a handout. it -- [applause] >> it's going to be tough to find address our most intractable problems while being true to ourselves, but the question is not whether it can be done. we already know we can from our history. and i know from personal experience that we can. i remember when we transform stanford which was an international city and made a world-class financial center. sparking an economic cultural and environmental besant that gained national attention. the question is whether we want to do it. i want to do it. i hope you do too and we will together. in the coming weeks my

administration will be developing detailed proposals to set and fund priorities for the state, which i will outline in my budget address to the legislature later next month. we clearly face big problems, and in my estimation big problems call for a big table. i will be meeting with the legislature, labour leaders, economic advisers, private industry, and the not-for-profit sector so that we have a well-rounded perspective on the best solutions to our problem. and then i will begin working with the legislature to adopt a budget. with your help and a shared sense of responsibility and sacrifice we will realize shared prosperity for all. future generations will look back on this particular crossroads of crisis and opportunity, and say that we rallied, that we reached deep, we chose well to lead this great state better than we found it. after all, we know as the people of connecticut, it is in our nature to do so.

i would look forward to serving the people of connecticut with you. may god bless you. may god bless the great state of connecticut. may god bless the united states of america. thank you. [applause]çsysysys >> coming up next the january inauguration of scott walker, the governor of wisconsin. this is about 25 minutes. >> please raise your right hand and repeat after me. icon and state your name. >> i, scott walker do solemnly swear that i will support the constitution of the united

states, and the constitution of the state of wisconsin, and that i will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of governor, to the best of my ability, so help applause] ♪ ♪ ♪

>> good afternoon. our dad has worked hard to become the governor of wisconsin. he's going to work even harder to get this state working again. >> he's been with us through all of our schooling, our sports, and church events. >> he's been with us to all the packers games, badges gains, brewers games and bucs games, too. >> when i was right on the back of his harley, we, all over the state of wisconsin with our dad spirit he and our mom has taken us to the state fair every year and we can't at all kinds of can grant all across the state. >> we've learned to love wisconsin through our father out now we get to share him with the rest of the state. so ladies and gentlemen, it is our pleasure to introduce to you the 45th governor of the great state of wisconsin, scott kevin

>> i want to commend and you the first lady for your incredible support during this transition and your service of this great state. [applause]

>> governor shriver, governor earl, governor thompson, governor mcallen, senator, senator-elect johnson. [applause] >> representatives sensenbrenner, kind, moore, and representative-elect duffy. [applause] >> lieutenant governor clayfish. [applause] >> attorney general van holland. [applause] >> professor shoal. [applause]

>> superintendent eggers. [applause] >> members of the state legislature. [applause] >> tribal leaders, general dunbar and other members of the armed forces, both those who are serving today as well as those who have served our country in the past. >> reverend clergy, state employees, family and friends and most importantly, fellow citizens of wisconsin. [applause] >> it is with great honor that i stand before you today, i am your servant. i want to thank god for the privilege of living in such a

remarkable country and for growing up in the greatest state in the entire nation. [applause] >> i also want to thank my family, tonette, my support, my rock, she's going to be a great first lady. [applause] >> our two sons -- i can't say boys anymore. our two sons, matt and alex you just heard from. i marvelled how they've grown up right in front of our eyes and it's an honor to have them introduce me to the rest of the state. thank you, guys. [applause] >> to my parents, lou and pat walker who always set a powerful example for me and my brother of how to serve others. i love you. [applause]

>> my brother david, my sister in law maria and my two beautiful nieces, i love you guys. thank you so much for being here. [applause] >> my father-in-law tony and for all my family members who are here across wisconsin and across this country. and i thank you for love and devotion. thank you. i love you. [applause] >> thanks to also all the participants in today's ceremony but i particularly am grateful to the members of the 132nd army bad, my band now, thank you so much for your performance. [applause]

>> to them and to all the other members of the wisconsin national guard, not only for their services today but for their ongoing support of the men and women who are deployed all across the globe, we're not going to forget you. you're in our prayers each and you get back home safely. we love you. let's give them a round of applause. [applause] >> most importantly, i want to thank the people of wisconsin. so many of you have offered your support and you are prayers during the last couple of weeks leading up to today. and in the years even before that and tonet and i want to thank you. we really appreciate it. today i stand before you not as the governor of one political party or another, not as the governor in one part of the state or the other, today, i stand before you as the governor of all of the people of the great state of wisconsin. [applause]

>> as your governor i make this pledge, wisconsin is open for business. [applause] >> we will work tirelessly to restore economic growth and vibrancy to our state. my top priorities are simple. jobs, jobs and more jobs. we will right size state that government is providing only the essential services our citizens need and our taxpayers can afford. [applause] >> and my fellow state workers, i invite you to partner with me in this necessary work. we will also focus on the long term, creatively improving our education system so that our children can compete in a global marketplace. we will protect our vital

natural resources and we will honor and respect the foundational role of the family in our society. citizens, that is my pledge to you. a pledge for a new and a better wisconsin that we build together. just moments ago, i took a solemn oath to defend our constitution which rests right here. a document of, by and for the people. it is bigger than any government, any legislature or governor. when the citizens of the our constitution in 1848, they envisioned a brighter future for themselves and their children. it was a constitution bourne of conflict, of controversy. first rejected then approved as the people came together to form a pioneering vision to drive our forward. it began simply and speaks to of our liberties. we the people of wisconsin

to almighty god for our freedom in order to secure its blessings, form a more perfect government, ensured domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare to establish this constitution. powerful words. our rights as free people are given by our creator, not the governor. among these rights is the right to nurture our freedom and vitality through limited government. these rights were articulated in our original constitution. they were never amended nor revised and these rights are evident and expressed in our cherished freedoms. among them freedom of press, free speech and freedom of religion. article 1 section 22 of the state constitution reads so eloquently, the blessing of a free government can only be maintained by a firm adherence to justice, moderation,

temperance, frugality and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. today in this inauguration we affirm these values and fundamental principles. it is through frugality and moderation and government that we see freedom and prosperity for our people. [applause] >> now, more than 162 years after the writing of this constitution, we stand ready to chart a new course for our great state. we look to the past, not to lay for inspiration. and we look forward to the solutions that will help us reach new levels of economic prosperity. our first step is to rebuild wisconsin's economy. we open wisconsin for business.

nearly two years ago i met a couple who ran a metal fabricating company. times were tough and they had to lay off all their other employees, sell their building work out of their own garage. still, like the spirit that they wanted to get and maybe even more in the future. they had a dream of renewal. the dream bourne gives me hope for the future of great state. it's their dream and the dream of our fellow citizens that we build a plan for renewal. [applause] >> and it starts today. to begin our transformation, we will work with our legislative partners in both political parties. to pass a series of bold reforms

that will send a clear message wisconsin indeed is open for business. we have an ambitious goal, 250,000 new jobs by 2015. i know we can do it. because we did it a generation ago. in january of 1987, governor tommy thompson declared in this rotunda, our grateful priority will be jobs. more jobs, better jobs, and most importantly, secured jobs for wisconsin's workers by the end of his first term, the people of our stated created 258,000 jobs. >> to kick start our plan to create a quarter of a million jobs, i will call a special session of the state legislature starting today. [applause]

>> here is the official call that i will present to our new leaders of the state assembly and state senate. we will present a bold set of reforms aimed at helping businesses create jobs. we have worked with lawmakers and leaders all across the state to develop a blueprint to improve our business climate and spur job-creating economic growth. today i ask my friends in the legislature to unite and pass these reforms into law to unleash the power of economic freedom. to create more jobs for our citizens. our message is simple. act shiftily, act decisively, and pass our jobs plan by the end of february. let us get wisconsin working again. [applause]

>> our jobs plan provides relief from taxation, regulation, and litigation costs for employers. and it makes it easier for workers and farmers to afford health care. we will transform the department of commerce into a public/private partnership that will effectively promote commerce throughout wisconsin. we need more commerce. our citizens are hurting. let us come together and work for passage of these reforms. we're in a state in a position to hire new workers in the short term but time and time employers who could hire people who are uneasy about the future and what the government might do they mean next. the changes we promote as part of our special session on jobs will send a clear message to job creators, now is the time to invest. to the business owners of the

state, i say simply this, stay here. grow here. invest here. and to businesses all across the world, i say bring your jobs here. we have the most talented work force in the world. men and women who work tirelessly and deliver the highest quality. [applause] >> creating a more vibrant economy, however, will not return to government. returning to our fundamental constitutional principles. [applause] >> soon, we will lay out our plans for the next state budget. and we will successfully tackle the $3 billion deficit. we will do it without raids on segregated funds or excessive borrowing but let me be clear about one thing.

increasing taxes is off the table as it will counter our efforts to provide economic growth. [applause] >> instead, we will make tough, tough but compassionate decisions to balance the next state budget in a way that will get wisconsin working again. under our administration, state government will do only what is necessary. no more, no less. we have -- we will fight any action that keeps our employers from creating more jobs. but we will not abandon our fundamental responsibilities to protect our families and our property. high quality education for our children. to ensure care for the most vulnerable amongst us and to enhance the quality of life for all of our citizens here in wisconsin. a high quality of life, however, is not the result of a bigger,

ever expanding government. as president ronald reagan said in his farewell address, there's a clear cause and effect here. that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics. as government expands, liberty contracts. [applause] >> and wisconsin, we will define our quality of life as the expansion of liberty, freedom, and economic opportunity in neighborhoods all across this state. our government will not only be smaller, it will be better. more responsive, more efficient, more effective. in january of 1971, governor patrick lucy said in this rot d rotunda that public officials and civil servants must expect to do more with fewer resources than in the past.

his words ring true today as well. in wisconsin, and all across america, state government is facing the toughest challenges of our generation. but with these great challenges great opportunities. we are up to the task. this is wisconsin. we can do better, we will do better, we will lead the way. [applause] >> tonette and i have often said to travel all across the state has allowed us to fall in love with wisconsin again. you know, from superior down to platville and all the way up to hudson, wausau down the way and

everywhere in between this is a wonderful state. we have employers who treat their employees like family. we are a state blessed with abundant natural resources. no other state in the union is surrounded by too great lakes and the greatest river in the u.s. we're filled with 15,000 inland lakes. i love this state. i love the scenery and the attractions, the citizens who live here and the employers who choose to do their business here. what is failing us is not our people or our places. what is failing us is the expanse of government that we can do something about it right here right now today. [applause] >> we, we the people of

wisconsin have every right to reclaim our rightful place in history. we can make this a wisconsin we can believe in. more than 162 years ago, our ancestors believed in the power of hard work and determination. they envisioned a state with endless potential. now it is our time to once again seize that potential. we will do so at this turning point in our history by restoring limited government that fosters prosperity for today and for future generations. [applause] >> justice, moderation temperances, frugality, virtue, these are the values upon which our state was formed and the values upon which our state will journey forward. god bless you. thank you for being here and may

god bless the great state of wisconsin. [applause] [applause] >> thank you very much, mr. president. mr. vice president. you have honored me and my family by giving me an opportunity to serve you and to serve our nation. >> with more than 80 appearances by william daley and more than 100 by gene sperling you can use the c-span video library to learn more about the newest additions to the obama administration. just two of the 115,000 people you can search and watch anytime online at our c-span video library. it's washington your way. >> middle and high school students, it's time to upload

your videos for c-span studentcam documentary competition. get your 5 to 8-minute video on this year's topic washington, d.c. through my lens to c-span by january 20th for your chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. there's $50,000 in total prizes. c-span's studentcam video documentary competition is open to students grades sixth through twelve. for complete details go to studentcam.org. >> coming up next, the communications director from the u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan, on efforts to combat anti-american propaganda. david-inser describes how to bring them sports facilities, and english teaching. this is just an hour and 15 minutes. >> thank you very much for coming to the new america foundation. it's with a great deal of pleasure that i get the honor of introducing my long-time friend

and colleague at cnn, david ensore who is the director of director of communication and public policy at the u.s. embassy in kabul in afghanistan. the job he assumed in january of last year. david -- the title of this talk is about building an effective civilian communications strategy in afghanistan so david is going to really focus on that. he questions that don't fall into that area he may entertain but he may not. he's really talk about what his job entails and what he hopes to achieve and he will show a 9-minute video of some of the projects that he has set in motion, he and his team. he will then do a powerpoint and then we'll open it up to q & a. so with that, david is going to come and do his presentation. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you for coming. it's an honor to be here and thank you, peter, thank you to

the foundation for providing -- for hosting today. i suspect that most in the audience and whether here in the room or from one of the cameras watching what we're doing still remember where they were on september 11, 2001, when they heard that two hours had been hit by two aircraft. i certainly remember. and i was in a traffic jam in virginia. the first call came from cnn where i was then national security correspondent and the second call came from my wife and she said, i'll never forget the way she put it -- she said, these two towers have been hit, do you know that yet and i said yes and she said i think it's your people. that's the wrong tone and that's the point. i had spent much of the summer because my job was national

security hearing from sources in u.s. intelligence one who is prominently remembered to have had his care on fire all summer very worried about the intelligence suggesting that the united states might be attacked, some u.s. target might be attacked with a major terrorist attack. and, of course, it did come to pass. and that sort of leads to where i am now and why i'm there. i think it was that summer of watching the information that led then, unfortunately, to an attack that no one could predict the shape or timing of, that made me so convinced that we -- what we're doing in afghanistan is very important and that we must persist. we must continue. we must have some patience.

so i am not a typical diplomat. i'm not a foreign service officer. i spent 32 years as a journalist at npr and cnn and that's my background and i'm proud of it but i also care a lot about what we're doing in afghanistan and volunteered some time as a sort of civilian volunteer, if you will. i've been in kabul for 10.5 months now and i expect to be there for a bit longer. and i think we are beginning to make a difference with some of the programs that we've started since i arrived. probably the best way, though, because i'm a tv guy, is to start by showing a little bit of tape. i think pictures are stronger than words so if we've got the technology to do that and behind up -- do we? can we roll that video segment,

please. >> even without a war, public diplomacy in afghanistan's harsh rugged terrain was never going to be he does. but with about 100,000 american troops in the country, afghans need to know that there are civilians here, too. >> good afternoon, everyone. it's a great day to be in afghanistan. >> ambassador eikenberry is the face of america in afghanistan. most people who see him on the street recognize him immediately. >> for every one piece of bad news that comes from afghanistan, i'll tell you there's 100 pieces of good news. >> in kabul we have all the classic public diplomacy efforts but we do them on steroids, fulbright scholarships have almost doubled this year. preserve and save the citadel but it's not easy. we're up against a media-driven perception among many in the west that afghanistan is all about death and destruction. >> welcome to it kandahar city

hall, blast walls and body armor. >> with serious journalists like cnn's jill daugherty we are sometimes able to show the other side. >> it's called cash for work an machinery-sponsored program to help these women most of them widows survive. >> public support is a key issue for the press section. a new partner nation outreach organizes visits from journalists from trip contributing nations and sends articulate young afghans to europe to make their case. >> the people in afghanistan are really thankful to their support and to the sacrifices that they have made in our country. afghanistan is on the road to progress but they still need us our support. >> our main audience, though, the afghan people. and here classic public diplomacy is not enough. ♪

>> the cop thriller eagle 4 has garnered an loyal audience. ♪ ♪ >> afghanistan's fast-growing army is another target for strategic communications. ♪ ♪

>> the show will air starting in late spring. >> it is here that a new dedicated, professional defense force is emerging. ♪ >> this is the place for the birth of an army. >> and then there is radio in a nation that has low literacy, where television reaches most just the cities, it has the greatest impact. we've invested in afghanistan talent. [speaking in native tongue] >> and some of that afghan talent is taking educational storytelling on the road. [speaking in native tongue] >> another major effort involves helping the afghan government to better communicate with its people. the government media information center trains ministers, governors, government spokesmen,

the world first saw its new capabilitieses at the kabul conference in july. >> yes, i hear you. >> so this conference makes it clear the world is with afghanistan and the world stands in opposition to the common threat and the common enemy that stalks us all. >> one of the most important efforts reaches out to key tribal and religious leaders. exchange programs to take afghan mullahs to other muslims countries and to the united states, key american visitors coming here. [speaking in native tongue] >> this is a nonjahari, i am an amom from washington, d.c., where we have over 3,000 muslims worshipping from the 37 different languages. i'm grateful to allah that students from the muslim countries like yours have come to america and were free to make known to me that now i am a

muslim. one of the 8 million muslims in america. >> an important statistic. 65% of afghans are 25 or younger. we will be bringing sesame street here soon for the youngest afghans to be translated from arabic the cell phone is currently revolutionizing the communication. many would go hungry than give up their phones. from 4,000 to 10,000. we are funding towers to reach more afghans more of the time and we are helping afghan broadcasters to revive the rich musical traditions that the taliban once banned. ♪ >> music, it gives people hope. ♪

>> there's a little video flavor. and now i'd like to set out for you some of the initiatives that we're working on using a powerpoint presentation. here it is. let's see. yeah, i wanted to start with -- i don't know how legible it is but i'll read it out. i want to start sort of responding in a way to some of the assumptions that -- that i read and hear many hold about afghanistan and all of these assumptions have merit. there's basis in facts for each of them. but i think that some of them are assumed too comfortably to be entirely true. living in afghanistan for as

long as i have, you know, corruption, absolutely there's a good deal of it. there's a good deal of it in afghanistan just as there is in the neighboring countries in that region. it is a very real problem. it is something the embassy worries about and works on every day. but so is the optimism of the younger generation in afghanistan. and this is a country that is 66% under the age of 25 -- or 25 or younger. people that age are predisposed to optimism. they are the key demographic for the country. they are -- it's trite to say they are the future. they're actually not the future, they're the present. we are working on that -- many of our programs are aimed at that demographic group. and they do think differently than their parents' generation. there is hope in the way they think. and we want to encourage them to have hope. we're also doing a lot of things -- one example here, another part of the embassy is working very hard to help

afghanistan have its own fbi and that group -- while it has its problems, while it sometimes gets stopped in its work by others in the government, has nonetheless arrested tribes and sentenced several corrupt high level officials. and shows real promise. it's just one example. is the country fragmented along ethnic lines? well, it's certainly multiethnic and there are certainly tribal tensions and even fighting and killing sometimes. all of that is very true. you can't deny it. but the country has since 1747 had the same boundaries it has now and the same sense of afghan nationhood. and it's real. if you live there, afghans are proud of being afghans. they don't want to be pakistanis. they don't want to be anything else. there is a sense of national identity that practically every afghan you meet makes very clear.

there are also institutions emerging like the afghan national army that are increasingly popular, that are multiethnics and that i think is the hope of the future of the country which is why we're doing that documentary, we're helping to pay for that documentary which is kind of actually a reality tv series that will be broadcasting starting in spring about the afghan army. it's an institution that's already popular. we would like to make it much more so -- and we would like to show people it's quite an effective institution. i go out to the training centers sometimes to see the filming and to talk to the people who are working on it and they tell me -- and these are documentarians who won awards doing films on other armies in the past that a noncommissioned officer class is beginning to emerge in the afghan army that is worthy of the name. master sergeants, they are the key. and they are beginning to appear in the afghan army which is, you know, tremendous attention and money and resources are being spent on that institution.

but it is beginning to show. and obviously the government is structured in such a way as to try to minimize the ethnic tensions, although they are very real. sometimes people say there's been little economic development since the fall of the taliban. well, there certainly hasn't been enough. nobody is satisfied. but at least in the area i work in the communications field there's actually been quite a bit of progress and it has had a pretty dramatic effect. there were 10,000 cell phone users in 2002. there are 10 and 15 million today. 15 million different chips. sometimes people have several so that's why -- that's why the disparity between 10 and 15. but the cell phone is revolut n revolutionizing afghanistan and it's changing the way people think and making them feel more competent. it's making them feel safer. and we are working to try to

particularly with our military colleagues try to to increase the coverage and increase the amount of time of day that it's on and so forth. it's a very key project. and the other area i work in is, of course, radio and television where according to the latest survey, done by a consulting firm, there are now 175 radio and 75 separate television stations and i'm talking about separate entities. in other words, in some cases, one entity will have several licenses. i'm not counting that. there's this many broadcasters. now, you know, they vary. some of them are pretty ropey, pretty basic. some of them are warlord tv basically. but there are some very, very good journalists in afghanistan. and afghans seem to take to the idea of a free media and they're using it in ways that i think almost all of us who had our careers in journalism are quite excited about.

it's a green chute. it needs tending to grow into a tree but it's definitely on its way. and then obviously we are building -- our afghan colleagues with us, with our money are building thousands of kilometers of roads every year. there's a new afghan/pakistan transit trade agreement. so these kinds of things are changing the picture for the average afghan who tends to be in the farming business and wants to be able to get crops to market. so, you know, like pomegranates as i mentioned at the top. sure, there's a lot of bad news and it's a very mixed picture. but there are some pretty positive things happening in economic development as well. the old graveyard of empires argument i mean, as i say here, you know, what empire?

there are 40,000 non-american troops in different countries including muslim nations serving in afghanistan. and in washington we sort of forget about them because in our news we only see americans. when i go to countries and listening and dealing with lithuanians and, you know, french men, italians, in herat, we work closely with them and they with us and it is -- what makes this strong is the coalition. the fact that the afghans, when you talk to them, they don't usually talk of -- some of them do, but most of them don't do talk about american troops, they talk about coalition troops. and they ask us is the world going to desert us, the world. that's the way the majority of them see it. in every poll that i've ever seen indicates that afghans do not want the u.s. and its allies to leave too soon. they're counting on help for

some years to come. i -- i was recruited by this gentleman to come and do this job. and obviously like i'm sure many others, so much regret is his early passing. i believe richard holbrooke was right that we are not going to win this war if we see the airwaves to people who present themselves as false messengers. and that we need a strategic communications plan for afghanistan. that communications are absolutely critical. and that this is a battle of perceptions. so that -- that is -- that is the sort of mandate that we are trying to follow through on. i lead the -- the section of the embassy that i lead had a budget in 2008 of $1.2 million.

our current budget is $114 million. a very dramatic increase in resources and i think an appropriate one and now i'm going to try to lay out some of the issues we're trying to make those resources make a difference. some programs are already well underway. we funded a substantial amount of radio programming. i thought when i went to afghanistan that i would be kind of building the npr of afghanistan, a lot of radio stations. i didn't realize how much work had already been done. there really are a lot of radio and television stations. there are some pockets here and there where service is good and we've helped a few new broadcasters but for the most part what there isn't enough of is good afghan-produced content. interesting programming so we're in the first period of time that we've been working, we've been

trying to invest in afghan talent in the area of programming and there's a lot of it, happily. so we've got some very interesting productions. you know, if you turn on television in the afternoon in afghanistan, you tend to see indian soap operas. and people love soap operas and that's fine. but how about some afghan ones? the programs like eagle four that you just saw a clip of where the actors are afghan, the story is afghan, the producers, the directors -- it's all afghan and it's filmed in kabul are hugely more popular than something produced on the indian subcontinent. so we're working in that area. you saw in the clip, we've experiment with open air traveling theater, with messages about tolerance, about --

against drug use. about respecting women and women's rights. and we've opened some of the -- we're opening a lot more lincoln learning centers which are these kinds of libraries down on the right-hand side there that also are basically internet cafes. and are empowering a lot of afghan young people to dream about something larger than their village or their town or their current possibilities. we also spent $1.2 million of the ambassador's fund on the restoration and here you see it restored of the herat citadel which is a very visible symbol of afghan pride seen by almost everyone in the city because it's up on a hill. and projects like that. i've come to believe that cultural preservation is strategic communications if it's done rights and if people are told about it, we're sort of

focusing on areas of national pride, whether it's the army or the herat citadel. and trying to help enhance them. i mentioned eagle four in the other clip and births of an army. and sesame street but we have an sms program where we are -- called paywast where we're paying for basically 84 messages. it amounts to -- i hope i'm not violating copyright but it's twitter for afghanistan. in that it's a social media product which we contracted out and this company won the bidding, where people can -- anyone with a cell phone can set up a social group. for example, if you sell fruit in the kandahar market and you want the farmers in the surrounding area to know what it is you're offering for melons at 4:00 on wednesday afternoon, you

can send out a message. and the 120 farmers who you want to reach -- if they -- if they by word of mouth hear about this, they'll let the price instantaneously and then they can make better decisions about when to harvest their melons. is it this week or next week the prices maybe will be better? so it's a tool we hope will help small businesses and farmers to just do a little better and communicate -- and use communications profitably. once the 80 million messages run out, this company and the four phone companies will together -- are working now you. they settled on some, you know, some costs, a small charge. clearly, the number of people using it will drop way down once it isn't free anymore but we're hoping there'll be a sustainable group who find that this is -- this is a useful tool for them. cultural affairs, we've -- as

mentioned, we're greatly increasing the programs like the fulbright program. we would increase it even further if we could find enough candidates who could -- who could pass the exams. but we're going to keep aggressively find new fulbright program. we're coming up with new types of new ideas of groups that we'd like to have come. people with particular specialities and interests that could benefit. we'll be bringing a lot of local government officials in groups here. we'll be bringing religious groups. and we think that's very, very useful. in the film you saw -- you heard a little bit of amom jahari. he was kind of a bit of a rock star when he came to visit afghanistan recently. we're working aggressively to find others like him who -- who

are articulate, who are charismatic, who are american and who are muslim to spread the message to afghans, many of whom don't seem to realize we have muslims in this country and they do pretty well. and that this -- this message -- that this is a tolerant country and we're not against muslims. so -- the more -- the longer i'm there, the more i believe in the person-to-person face to exchanges of this kind. the way forward includes a lot more attention to something we're already doing, which is the government media information center headquartered in kabul with a satellite office in kandahar. they hosted 202 press conferences in the last year. and they are the primary platform for the afghan government to communicate with

its people these days. they are doing a terrific job. training spokes person and having government to have a right way to talk and getting more proactive to get out there and explaining their story. we have plans to open a satellite offices -- we don't have plans, the afghans have plans and they have told us where they want them too. there are 5 or 6 more of them that they want to open over the next year or two. and we are -- we're helping them in any way we can, mostly with money, but with advice as well. there's a new security news desk at gmic which has -- which is staffed with not only the ministry of defense, afghan ministry of defense and ministry of interior material but people from isaf and from kind of the international forces. and it's a one-stop-shopping place for journalists to go if something happens, if an ied

goes off and they want to hear our side's understanding of what actually happened. they're trying to be quicker at responding for some of the lies for the most part that are put out by the other side. cultural heritage and preservation, as i mentioned earlier, i really -- the more -- the longer i'm there, the more i believe in this as a -- as something around which afghans can coalesce and be proud. the country has a deep history going back many, many centuries. it's extraordinary what the kinds of things that are being excavated out of the ground in afghanistan today. these pictures here are -- were taken at aynak which is a fifth to seventh century buddhist center of civilization. and this is the stupo which is

the religious temple. and it's -- it happens to be on top of the second largest copper reserves in the country so we've been working hard with our chinese colleagues, 'cause it's a chinese company that will be doing the copper mining with the afghan government first and foremost to try to ensure that it can be a win-win. in other words, that appropriate archeology can be done and time can be allowed for that and then the copper mining can also occur because those jobs are so badly needed by the country. down below, the herat minerats was a special favor of ambassador holbrooke's and he wanted to make sure they were saved. right now there's a sort of four-lane highway going right through the middle of them and they are shaken every time a diesel truck goes through. but fortunately the afghan minister of culture is very

aware of the problems. he and other ministers have been working to try to solve it. and we have been quietly helping, in any way we can. there's going to be a bypass road -- well, it's already been -- a lot of the houses have already been condemned or paid for, and there's a bypass road basically in preparation which will take the traffic out from there. once it's out, it will be possible for unesco to come in and do some of the work that needs to be done to make sure these important symbols, you know, are -- remain for many more years. so we're doing a lot. we're going to try to help the national museum in afghanistan, which is wonderful but woefully underfunded and underequipped and frankly needs practically everything including a new roof. we're going to be looking at a major program to help them and we're going to try to have an

event to reach out to the international community and hopefully get some contributions from others as well. educational and language programs, here i'm talking really about two things. one is english language. when i got to kabul, we were spending -- mary block is in the audience so she may know better but i think it's about half a million dollars on english language, training of one kind or another in afghanistan. we have a wonderful, very experienced and seasoned guy now running these programs. and we've given him $10 million and let's make a difference and he's doing remarkable things. this is something that will take a little while. this is not quick and shallow like a tv show. but the outcome will be hundreds of thousands of afghans with a marketable skill and a way to interact with the rest of the world. that's deep stuff. that's useful stuff. the other half of this slide i

guess would be -- we're spending quite a lot of money on getting constructed some media centers at major universities starting with kabul and herat. these are state-of-the-art buildings which contain a working radio station, a working television studio without a license. the station does have a license. and a printing press. and these are facilities for the journalism department of major afghanistan universities to start training that next generation of journalists that are going to be so critical to afghanistan's future we hope and believe. and we're also setting up partnerships with american universities. university of nebraska omaha is going to be the partner of kabul university's journalism department and they, of course, have a deep background in afghan studies so they're an

particularly appropriate choice for that role. traditional communications, well, another way to put it would be to say -- and again, the longer i'm there, the more convinced i am we must do this and we must do more of it and the afghans need to do more of it and we need to help them and that is, we need -- we need to reach out to tribal and religious leaders in afghanistan. we need to empower moderate voices among them in any way that we can find and we need to give them a chance to resume their rightful place in the global discussion among muslims about what is their faith? what does it stand for? what's its way forward? i think by -- one of the ill-effects of the taliban was that they were isolated. they were cut off from that

discussion. and a very extreme and in many ways false vision of islam was imposed instead. and in a country that is -- where literacy is very low, people don't actually know what the koran does actually say so some issues. now, i'm not a muslim. and we're not seen as a muslim nation although we have a lot of prominent muslims among us. and we're not -- we can't lecture to people on this subject. it's none of our business actually. what we can do is enable discussions among muslims so we're doing things like organizing with usip, we're organizing a program for 100 afghan mullahs to travel to egypt for several weeks, to i o indonesia and to the united states for several weeks and have discussions with topics of mutual interest with imams from

those countries. we're not dictating what the conversations will be. it's again not our business but it is important for us and our international security interests that those discussions start to occur. so that's one example. we're looking at quite a few other programs of a similar nature, taking people out and we're also working to set up to distinguish islamic series and we're going to bring interesting speakers to afghanistan. and then clearly make sure that their events, their speeches are promoted and they're broadcast and people hear about them. it's a very important area. this is, too, though. we're -- as i mentioned the demographics drive us in a youthful direction. drive a lot of our money and our effort in a youthful direction. and we're working with an ngo to

identify sites in many major cities where we can have them construct sports fields and sports facilities, locker rooms and some indoor space too because that is basically to be frank the only place can play sports safely in afghanistan. so volleyball courts, basketball courts that can be used by either gender are a really valuable thing and we're going to try to do that at least several if not five or six major cities as one of our key projects. also as an old tv guy, i kind of believe in sports broadcasting. and in sports as a unifying factors. so we're working to get sports broadcasting trucks built that are suitable for the afghan market. they have to be rugged.

they have to be not too complex. but equipment that will allow afghans to watch afghan teams playing each other live on television with instant replay and the whole deal. and i hope create some excitement. i know that in other countries, this model -- you know, tv comes first and then pretty soon the banks want their names on the t-shirts and so forth. it could become a sustainable model and it's worth a try and obviously it's targeted at young men more than anybody else. and they are our key demographic for us. the parliament came to us and said -- we wonder if you would be willing to help us to get ourselves into the 21st century in terms of equipment so that -- so that our sessions can be easily broadcast. i mean, here we are on c-span. they basically want c-span there. and we're trying to help them do

that. we've got a contract with a very respected broadcasting company which we hope to finalize very soon to have them put in robot cameras because right now this chamber is full of a cacalfney of journalists and the legislature says there's too much for them. >> it will be a robo cam system where you can just plug in and you get a feed, much as the u.s. congress has now. we're also looking with a number of grantee at developing an fm radio station that would belong to the parliament. that would just be in kabul. this is another initiative that we started not too long ago that's already bearing fruit. and that is -- and, of course, we're the embassy to afghanistan, not anywhere else. but because of the war -- the struggle that's going on right now, at last need that afghans have be able to reach out to the countries that are contributing

troops and speak to them. and give an afghan perspective on the importance of that and the importance of their civilian efforts. so we're trying to help with a small team to arrange those kinds of conversations. the team is planning to help host nine media tours, two in afghanistan. this is media tours by journalists from countries that have troops there. and the emphasis of these tours to take people around to some of the civilian projects that the afghan government is doing or sometimes with our help, sometimes with someone else's help but try to show these journalists that there's more than blood and guts to what's going on in afghanistan. and as you saw you in the clip that i showed earlier, we're also organizing for an

articulate afghan spokesman. ..as on the clipper leader was invited to the house of lords and testified before the committee on women's rights while she was there and they also were on the bbc and meeting with an ngo, and they did this not only in the u.k. but italy. this is a picture and the battelle university they were wildly successful, and i think that, you know, again, it's not our job to tell our allies why it's important that they, are there. it's the afghan shot to say why they want these countries to stay for awhile, please come and it's so much better when they do, so we are trying to help them do that because they don't have the means themselves. we also had one recently we had a pakistani media tour recently and we had an arab media tour coming into afghanistan. i talked to both groups and we are going to do more of that. that obviously have those some

of the countries are in fact on the ground with troops so they are very important. that's basically my presentation, and i come back to the point i started which is, to cut the long story short the president is right. we are in afghanistan because of 9/11, and it is still not safe for us to reduce our effort and will take some time the president and the other leaders decided to maintain combat troops at least until 2014 that was an excellent call in my view questions may bring this out and i should be honest in saying things are not going well in

afghanistan. this is very tough work and it is not assured that we will end up with a good situation. it is going to require perseverance and require >> i guess the main point of my presentation is, it's not impossible. it's quite doable. there are many pieces of evidence that i see and have seen in the ten months that i've been there, that afghanistan can pull itself together. not to be switzerland. but to be a workable state with some sense of forward motion, some sense of hope. that's what that country needs. thanks very much. i'll be happy to take your questions. [applause] [applause] >> thanks for this presentation. >> we'll take questions. because of the c-span cameras, can you wait for the microphone to come to you and identify yourself and affiliation.

>> thank you very much. thank you very much. >> nice to see you. >> do you agree with me that we all failed in public opinion? france, european, african, dealing with in public opinion, definitely it's not only that you would focus in kabul, i think your media in washington is not showing that much about afghanistan. we have a lot of afghan community diaspora that they are influencing in kabul. i think that part would not be successful. that's a great effort for you what do, but not bridge it in washington and also friends and allies that they are -- the

front page of their media and nothing about afghanistan. everything is negative. i think it's the proper timing that all of the achievements and efforts bring it back to the media. we need to do it both sides, not only the folks in afghanistan, but here. which is very important. the money goes private sector. they need to understand this mission is what about and this mission should be defined properly. that this is not what you said right afghanistan, there's no lack of courage in afghanistan. there's a lack of resources and training and the image that now the international community has the afghans. you do us the favor. you are not doing the favor to afghans, you are there, so this image should come from both sides, not only there that you are focusing in afghanistan. i believe part of my job is also, in washington, is very difficult when i see that most of the people they do not

understand in the mission of afghanistan. the language that they use, they are not well informed. even our leaders, they are using the wrong terms which are very sensitive of our culture like the words mentor, coach, and all of this stuff which would give completely different meaning in our pull culture. it's not a playground. all of these words to make the strategies to be our politicians , your politicians to set up thinking. >> just to rephrase, all of the work in afghanistan, and it's not being carry through to america. >> that's why i'm standing here today to try to start communicating about what we are doing. i think we are making some difference, i think we're going to make a lot of difference before we are done. i want the taxpayers to know, at least in my view as a humble public servant who's trying to lead the effort within the

embassy context under ambassador eikenberry, i think the money is making a difference and we need to persevere. we are the embassy to afghanistan, our focus 98% is on the afghan people. i'm very cognizant of the fallen in support for the troops and what we are tieing to do in afghanistan. i'm very worrying about it, that's why i'm standing here. but i -- well, i think our leaders have made some good calls lately. i obviously believe in the leadership or you wouldn't have joined the government. you know, i think we've got some time now to get this right. in terms of the media, well, you know, i'm not going to be a media basher. i could harder be after 32 years

in the business. i love the business that i spent most of my life in. i believe in it. but let's be honest. you know? if something blows up, in kabul, that's news. if three schools open in kabul, that's not news. it maybe more important, actually, in the long term, but it's not news. the way the news business runs. you can't blame reporters for that, or editors, because in the 32 years i was in the business, i saw many pieces of data making quite clear while people think they don't want to see negative news all the time, that's what they watch. that is what people are interested in or read about, you know? everything is fine, why report? you know? so we're up against a sort of structural problem in a way as we try to tell the message that things are not so bad in afghanistan. so really good things are happening. if there's patience, it'll be

okay. that doesn't sound like a news story. it's very true. if we reach out in as many imaginative ways as we can find, we can get it across to the american people and the other countries which have contributed blood and treasure to this effort. >> thank you. dominic chilkoff from the british embassy. how do you measure what you are doing, and how do you measure yourself and the progress that you feel and watching the events taking place? could you say something about evaluation? >> it's a difficult again -- difficult question. it's subjective. i'll be honest and tell you, i have long experience in this area.

i'm using my instincts more than anything else to try to figure out what i think will be effective. we are, however, -- we are planning to fund a study. we are going to get outside help to tell us whether -- which of our programs are working well. and i'm very keen on, you know, being nimble. we put out a lot of different efforts. and it's important to, you know, when you see something is working, plus it up. when you see something isn't working, close it done. save that money for something else. we're trying to be nimble and do that. how do we measure? you know, i can't resist saying to you i think that if -- i think that if police recruiting is up in the period after eagle 4 finishes, there are ways to measure that.

there are concrete ways to track certain programs. you put your finger on a problem. i don't have all of the answers. we will do some monitoring. obviously we can check. did the show broadcast? or if the sms program work? these are checkable facts. and that we are doing. >> i'm john river, from isaf, you illustrated in your contract between news coverage of a bombing versus opening of the schools. the counterinsurgent strategic communication conundrum, they are blamed for the lack of security in the country and tend to cause a lot of violence. with a budget over $100 million, but facing the media-savvy adversary, the taliban, who did

not appear directly in your presentation necessarily. what are you able to do with your budget to try and beat them in app -- in a punch, counterpunch about the perceptions about the level of security and particular bombing attacks and so on, and civilian casualties in particular? >> yeah, i mean you put your finger on a very important issue in communications in afghanistan. it is one that i would say is the primary concern of general petraeus, and admiral smith and others who are working on our military partners. and they do work on that. they do try to respond quickly to particularly when there are lies about civilian casualties. and i know general petraeus has put a renewed emphasis recently since he's come in on stressing and making public in any way possible when large scale civilian casualties are caused

by the taliban. you know, there's a debate internally about how effective is that? i've talked to some of my afghan staff what say i hate to tell you this, say this to me, i hate to tell you this, you don't get much traction telling -- blaming the taliban for civilian casualties. in the end, people just think, well, it's because you are here and they are fighting you and it's the way -- that's the way warfare is. it's very difficult to kind of blame -- put the blame on a taliban in a forceful way. although i know my military colleagues are working in some interesting new ways to try to do that. for our part, i think -- i think on the civilian side, our major effort has to be not just to respond tit for tat each time, but change the ground on which we are walking, change the communication space in afghanistan, broaden it and deepen it. so helping to expand the cell

phone coverage, helping to make the television and radio signals of television and radio stations that we think are sensible and reasonable stronger and reaching more people. you know, that's changing the space within which the taliban also has to operate. people tell me how effective the taliban propaganda is and how worried i must be. i have to tell you when i look at polling data on how popular the taliban is, that's not true. they are not popular, they are hated and feared by most of the population. but they are very effective in some ways too. fear being one of their tools, of course. but, you know, they are very quick on the internet, they are very quick. they've got some magazine publications that they've put out that look slick, actually. one the ministers in the government brought me one and said my stuff is not as good as this. what can we do about it?

we are working on that. in his ministry, we're going to help his ministry to plus up their capabilities and put out better-looking publications that are more clear and attractive and have better pictures and so forth. it's not brain surgery. we are very actively trying to help the afghans to figure out how to respond to some of the propaganda. >> brian merrill, dod, you mentioned that you work a little bit with isaf and whatnot. i notice there's nobody from isaf on the list. do you work with their forward media teams? they do a lot of polling and gauge the effects of some of their efforts. how much feedback to you get? >> we work very closely with them. we have an interagency telecommunications group that meets every week, we have a lot of different fora in which we

work together. we're working together on some projects, you know, that we're both funding. i meet with admiral smith every week. i mean we're very much in partnership. we have -- we come at the problem somewhat differently. a different perspective. there's going to be an embassy there forever, i hope. we have to have relationships with those ministries whether we like the incumbents or not. so, our perspective is a little different sometimes. but there's plenty of goodwill and plenty of common work going on. >> thank you. glen carl, national television officer for terrorism several years ago. you quoteed president obama saying we have to remember why we are there. go after al qaeda and make sure they cannot strike against the united states. are we not in danger of having

confused the taliban ethnic diversion of citizen problems there with the problem of the taliban, and therefore, made nation building and counterinsurgency has a response to what's a terrorist problem? >> well, you know, this is a little outside of my area. i would just say this. if the taliban want to change the nature of the discussion, they could publicly state -- they would publicly fore swear al qaeda. they haven't. i'd love to see them do it. it probably would change the nature of our deliberations. we and our ally if they were to do that. but they haven't. i guess that's the only comment that i can offer on that really. as long as the taliban does not denounce al qaeda and we are

left with the situation as it is now, i think we have to be worried about the prospect of the taliban ever coming back to the para and afghanistan. very worried actually. >> jim landers of the "dallas morning news" could you talk a little bit more about what you are up against? how did the taliban communication with the afghan civilian population? >> well, there are -- as i mentioned, there's everything from -- by local standards slick publications that are printed. i'm not really sure where they are prettied -- printed actually, they are not printed in afghanistan. but i know the people of afghanistan help them. to night letters on people's doors, threatening them and warning them to start working for the afghan government. a wide variety of different communications tools. and, you know, fear is obviously

as i mentioned one of their most effective tools. but they have others. and, you know, let's be honest, the afghan government is still, you know, kind of a nascent effort. afghans are eager for justice. they want to have a system, a fair system. and that's a work in progress. so when their perception -- when there's a perception that the rule of law is not strong, that's the tool that the taliban can use. so, you know, it's difficult. it's certainly not a black and white situation. >> just a quick follow up into that.

on the other side of the bodder of pakistan, the taliban had a pretty set of effective radio stations which they were tracking, relatively small transmission, they were mobile and small. do they have something similar in afghanistan? how are they communicating locally? >> there are small radio broadcasts that pop up. sometimes they are in a van. i gather even there was one once on a bicycle. a transmitter. so you will see broadcasts showing up that are taliban broadcasts from time to time, illegal broadcast. it's not a really huge phenomenon. it's something that the military obviously works on to try to close quickly. but it isn't sort of huge. >> beth mindleton with voice of america.

i wanted to talk about the programming view, i'm the raid ya for the terms of the appetite of people, you hit something interesting. this summer we hired a sports caster for our television and radio. it's been unbelievable success from the web and the television and the kind of reactions we are getting. you talked about these trucks. i think in a way it becomes a metaphor of democracy. that sports is something in this society that's really embraced now. these are the kinds of changes that i've seen. i wanted to find out more about the trucks and to get your thought on it. i find it remarkable the reaction that we get. >> afghanistan has been having successes in the arena of sports. they have a strong cricket team for one thing. they are good at other sports as well. it's something that people can gather around and coalesce and

be proud. i think it's an important area to try to be encouraging, both at the end of the sports facilities that young afghans can use to get good at sports and at the end of the television broadcast where the best can be watched by the nation and they can be proud about it. yeah, i just -- i believe in sports. for many country. but certainly for afghanistan. >> thanks i'm roger hardy. i'm currently spending a few months at the center, i was a bbc analyst for many years. hand on heart, were you all together comfortable when you got the call for richard holbrook? just a point of fact you must know there's been a great and fierce debate about how much muslims are in the united states

or experts and others says anywhere between 2 million and perhaps 4 or 5 million. how come you are so sure there are 8 million? >> i'm not so sure there are 8 million. that was the number that imam johari used in the tape. i'm not an expert on the numbers of muslims in the united states. millions, but many. hand on heart was i delighted when i got the call from ambassador holbrook. yeah. because although i had been -- i was a journalist for 32 years, i'm very proud of that. in my mind, probably i'll always think of myself as journalist rather than anything else. i care a lot about national security issues for the united states. this is a big one. for many country and for yours. and i just think we need to persevere, i feel very strongly

about it. i also felt that there are some things that those of us who will, you know, you are another one. we spent our lives in broadcasting can contribute to this effort. broadcasting is quite important in a country that has, you know, 20% literacy. >> thanks for your initiatives and coming here to explain them. my name is sushaj, i'm with the department of homeland security. how do you reach out to the rural areas and continue with the cell phone usage and the education programs and the message to counterrer the -- counter the violence that's occurring, and how do you explain the success stories and job creation and the people that are able to hire? >> how do we explain it to the afghan people? >> explain and spread the picture. >> well, on the last point,

we've had -- since i've became director, we've had a number of media tours. where we basically book an embassy aircraft, 16 feet, and fill them. and take people around and them show, usually on one subject. water project. you are going to see three water projects. we've done it several times. we've decided to start doing it every month. i'm working closely with usaid to try to develop an interesting set of programs. the first one was agriculture. and it was hugely successful. there were something like eight television pieces and i forget ten to 15 radio pieces that came out of the trip and told afghans what was happening and echoed the news. i believe in that tool. i believe in afghan media. transportation, getting them around. we have a unique asset, we have aircraft.

they can't always travel around the way we can. that's one tool we are using to try to get the message out. what was the first half? [inaudible comment] >> jobs being created in addition to stability they need the employment. they want the employment. how do you communicate, okay, here's the people we are employing, these are the areas they are working in, there's an increase in employment? >> you know, the -- in most cases, the employers are afghan. we might be funding a program, but it's afghan jobs in an afghan entity for the most part. that's not always true. but we try to help them to get the word out. and they are. you know, you asked about rural areas. that is another issue. but in the cities, people know what's happening. and the polling data in the

cities is pretty positive. although people are -- you know, they don't want us there forever. they are a proud country, and rightly so. you know, they are eager to have afghan policeman on the corner and increasingly they do in the cities rather than foreign forces. in terms of the rural question, that is more difficult. but radio reaches 83% of the country -- 83% of the country hears radio at least one time in the week. it's hugely powerful. it reaches way into the countryside. so that's an important tool. you saw the equal access project where we have actors and traveling troops going around and performing. and it's a lot more wonderful than you got to see there. it's really fun. and again it's an afghan project deviced by afghans for afghans. all we're doing is providing the

wherewithall to make it happen. i'm going this afternoon to talk about rural reach issues having to do with telephone. the more places that have mobile phone coverage, you know, the more plugged in people will be. so i strongly believe in trying to help to make that happen. it is happening. but we'd like to speed it up. >> my name is seleve. i work at ims. at the beginning of your presentation, you mentioned a timeline, you know, since 1772 and until recently, there was a