thought-provoking discussions. thank you. be happy to sign books right here at the table thank you for being here and we have a wonderful meeting. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> about every 40 years someone comes in to try to dominate the afghan scene and control it to use it for its own purposes. there have been periods of afghan history with the

rulers of afghanistan have taken advantage of the geographical position of afghanistan to play a neutrality card using stuff favoritism to one global power to play that begins the possibility of leading to the other global power to keep both at day and this is the diplomatic strategy of successful afghan rulers whenever there have been any and the cold war is a notable period both the u.s.s.r. and the united states were interested in those competing to enlarge their influence in the country and somehow because of the counterbalancing of these forces there was a period when afghans were in control of their own destiny and during that period of use of modernization and change that was more rapid and it dramatic then you have seen anywhere in this country.

that period ended when the pendulum of trying to swing back and forth started to swing so fast and so far it finally crashed in the country succumbed to the crew of a small communist group quickly followed by the soviet invasion and i would contend from that day to this we are still in the aftermath of the soviet invasion. it pretty much destroyed the fabric of the country with the 6 million refugees said construction of the villages with the tribal structure and the creation of the states of war in which the old traditional afghan system for generating leadership gave way if you

were good you could be an important guys that brought it into being another class of laughter and leaders when the soviets left they all started to fight each other and with the wake of that is the taliban. so now i think we have come in with something of the same idea that this is a primitive country in trouble and if we can restore everything and to produce material benefits they will be grateful and come to our side. afghans are interested in the material benefits but there is a question of the

reconstruction of the society of the soul and the family structure and the reconciliation of those factors on the afghan seen. the taliban business is not completely separate from the contention of the afghan society do dominate the idea of afghanistan. >> on your screen is a new book coming out this fall called the romney family table. and romney when did you find time to put this together? >> oddly enough i have done a good book before but nobody would have known that having a mother and if grandmother that is a fantastic look then to be enormously blessed with only boys in my life when they got time to get married i thought all the family traditions and recipes will

get lost because my voice will not be cooking so i made a cookbook out of family favorites and gave it to the daughters a lot and i had five copies it has greatly expanded from that time but the other amazing thing is my love of cooking and my love and sharing and love of the family table was passed on and actually my boys really do crooks so in this cookbook for my son joshua or craig who likes to cook soups, that love fortunately did get passed down a little bit. this is how the whole thing started and after the campaign was over, my son josh said you should put together a cookbook. i thought that would be fun.

but this is not like a normal cookbook because it has a lot of family traditions, stories, material about life. it will be interesting for people to think we know mitt romney or with the family is but i think they will be surprised when they open this up in me get a peek into life struggles can getting together there is a lot of stories. >> host: are you a good cook? >> guest: i am. i think people would be surprised to know that i even ran a little cooking school out of my home. i don't talk about that in the cookbook but this is a great picture and a great family story for people to know about and that is about tradition on the left-hand

side is george romney who is the greatest guy in the world and he brought the family together and homemade vanilla ice cream is what we celebrated he is turning it in those are my sons with the three young guest waiting for their taste before it goes to the freezer. on the other side is the picture of my husband mitt romney churning the homemade vanilla ice cream the same recipe with our grandchildren. these boys children waiting to taste the ice cream so the things that we love to pass on traditions to have a joyous time to share the experience. >> host: is mitt romney a good cook? >> he is fantastic in the kitchen and helps me out on

thanksgiving morning he is in their staffing the bird, chopping the celery and onions he is very helpful in the kitchen. he also is what one of the most responsible people when the meal is over because anyone that was working hard in the kitchen he shoos them out and cleans up himself. he is fantastic. >> host: either family photos that have never been published? >> guest: all lots that have never been seen before the one that makes me laugh everytime i see it is we get together of all the grandchildren you hear about the romney family olympics but we had a watermelon e being competition and they could not use their hands below notice in the picture

that they're all using there hands. it just makes me laugh they are competitive also but it was evident very quickly there would not eat much without using there fingers so especially the little ones. >> hopefully you did that outside. >> it was great it was outside. >> this was after the campaign? >> i will tell you you can imagine going 100 miles per hour here and there have been etf following you planeloads every word you say documented with intense scrutiny and political fund-raisers and interviews

you just go from the earliest moment you wake up and tell you crash in bet at night for several years than the next day it is done. then that kind of energy was -- with just such intensity to and so suddenly is a huge adjustment and of course, we were so disappointed with the loss but i kept feeling for months afterwards, this is my sentiment, coach, put we enter the game is over but that is how i felt. i am ready. i am sitting on the bench. put me in and it takes a long time to dial that energy back down but now has and i am back to normal life in my routine is much slower

life is wonderful and i have been busy with the book and with another part of my life to spend time with the grandchildren we are writing, thinking, thinking about the country and with faces the nation and politics is some way to answer the problems but i really believe with the family that so many problems can be solved as good strong families and values to take care of each other not just government answers and solves problems the family can as well. >> host: you said you are writing? so we can expect? >> guest: we have been

thinking nothing specific get but we have been doing a lot of pride thinking about challenges that "face the nation" right now and i know we are thinking about energy called a the the energy needs would increase how the demand will be bigger in china or around the united states. he is a broad thinker when he was known as the turnaround to guide to turnaround companies but his unique talents is thinking about big problems to look at the more unique and unusual angle how to solve big problems i don't think you'll hear the end of either one of us because we love our country and

concerned about our future. >> host: how incognito can you be? >> guest: not very well especially with makeup and hair without its i can do pretty well with a ponytail but with him is very difficult to go out in public because everybody has a camera phone and was to be on facebook so every 10 seconds somebody asks you to take a pitcher when you try to walk down the street, it is hard because we don't have security it is just he and i it is all rights because most are very appreciative of what we went through most of fans, it is the testament to what we went through to know how many people do still recognize us.

>> host: we talk about the romney family view also grew up in michigan talk about the cabin your father built? >> guest: he built this on lake michigan i am from there i was campaigning in michigan and i love the great lakes i love what my family taught me beyond how to cook and how to be strong , they adored me and how adored i was a and my father was a welsh immigrant and we had no money as children that we had a lot of fluff and a lot of joy and happiness my father built this with his bare hands i would travel up with him on the weekend he was pouring the cement, doing the plumbing i was a small child was not helping but the impression that i got from being independent and building with your own two

hands, coming to the country with nothing to have the blessings to be in this extraordinary country were taught by my father that is a picture of my dad and myself and my brother. we were in the woods. i drop catching frogs frogs, catching snakes with the girl in the michigan once. >> host: are you encouraging your sons to go into politics? >> guest: i am the mother of two minds on that because i recognize on the one hand that we need honest, decent, good people to run but i also love my children. it is very tough to put yourself in public because you are in instant target for criticism that is often not d