the paint out? will the prime minister listen to reason? mr. speaker, canadian forces will remain in this area. it will remain in the emergency areas that health authorities and have until their specific expertise is the locker needed. >> i attended as it did the minister of veterans affairs. we will continue to work with members of the region. they will continue to go about>m announcing his running for president. then a congressman anthony wiener. he said he will not resign from congress. after that, the commander of the

nato training mission in afghanistan. he said afghanistan's forces can take the lead in the country as early as 2014. >> the first woman executive editor of "the new york times." watch her through the managing editor of "the new york times." washington, your way. >> former pennsylvania senator rick santorum announced his president. for mr. santorum spoke on the somerset county courthouse in pennsylvania. ♪

>> oh, thank you, everyone. that was so encouraging. good morning, pennsylvania and somerset county. thank you. it is wonderful to have you here with us today, and a special place for our families. today rick and i are surrounded by the greatest blessings of our

lives -- our seven wonderful children. john, elizabeth, daniel, sarah maria, peter -- where's peter? d you.s right behing >> and sweet isabella. rick and i just celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. thank you. thanks in part of love and support an example of my very, very dear and precious mom and dad, who are here with us today, who we just love like crazy. my mom and dad had been married for 64 years. 55 years.

they have been such a great example to us. i come here today to introduce the man i'd love and admire. he is a man of enormous strength, with a tremendous commitment to the values that have made america great, and the experience to lead us forward. he has led the way in the fight on so many critically important issues, from entitlement reform to tax policy to national security, the foreign policy, to the protection of the most innocent and vulnerable among us for it never walking away or hiding from the tough battles and hard issues. peggy noonan some of his character, she said rick is the man who faces what others try to finesse. thank you.

he is a man of abiding conviction, with the wisdom to apply them to the issues at hand, the courage to fight for them, and the tenacity and passion and skill to win the day. he is a man who loves america and less americans. that is what motivates him. it is what motivates all of the santorums. i present to you my husband, rick santorum. thanks so much. >> thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. let me first say to my wife, karen, and to the children behind me, am i one blessed man.

thank you, karen. thank you, kids. they have known a life of being involved in public life. as we know, that is not an easy life. they have stood behind me every step of the way, and not only have they stood behind me, but they have encouraged me and fought with the side by side. so, karen, children, thanks so much for your love and support. bless you. thank you. i want to thank all of you for coming out here today. it is a beautiful lakes. it is always beautiful in somerset county. you must think i am not from somerset county if i said that. it is a beautiful day, chamber of commerce day here in somerset county, and let me think everybody here and the local community for the cooperation and support of being here and

join up and for been were all started. that is why we're here. our journey, our american journey, started here in somerset county, and so it is great to be here. thank you, somerset county, for coming out for us. the most common question i have had over the past 20 months was, are you running? and the answer i always gave, no, i'm not running, i'm walking. the reason i was walking is because i wanted to get out and talk to americans all across america, dozens and dozens of states over the past couple of years. with a heavy simply on the ohio, iowan, but i was out talking and listening to people, trying to get a sense of whether what i

was feeling inside, the anxiety and concern i had for the future of our country was something that was shared. an answer to that was what happened in little over two years ago now with the birth of the tea party and people standing up at meeting after meeting and holding up a constitution and talking about -- not that i have not had my -- but people have understood, they understand that something is wrong, that there is something that is at stake here in america that is important. it is important for us, and it is important for the future of our country. now, what is it? is it the economy? sure, it is the economy, when

you look at the incredibly discouraging high rate of unemployment. not 9.1%, up 14%, 15% of people who want to get work. you can look at the administration and ask what they do in response? they sent money to state capitols and municipalities to keep their workers on the payroll and forgot about the people out here who are trying to grow. is it gas prices? yes, it is gas prices. we are here in mineral ridge somerset county, and we have coal and gas and all sorts of resources here, and we have a president he does not want us to access these resources and complains that the prices of energy is too high.

if you look at the record of spending under this president, he came in with a problem, and then in that -- kept digging and digging. for every dollar we spend it, thanks to this president, 40 cents is barred. 40 cents is going to be put on every man, woman, and child to put -- to pay interest on for the rest of their lives. who are a week -- who are you, mr. president? who are you, mr. president, to say that you in your administration should take 40 cents out of every dollar and borrow it from future generations to prop you up? he has done worse than that. he has devalued our currency by pumping money, inflating our

commodities, food prices, will prices, which is a horrible penalty on working americans and saving americans. he has devalued our currency, and he has devalued our culture, to not standing up for the defense of marriage act. the federal funding of abortion. he has devalued our dollars and our other currency, our moral currency. all this is bad enough, but i think americans now realize there is even more. there is something more that is concerning america. that is why i am here in somerset county. i am here in somerset county because my grandfather came to this county way back in 1927. did he come here because the

government was promising him all sorts of innocence -- benefits, promising him all sorts of benefits and bailouts? no, he left the country, where the government made all the promises. he had a job on a mail train after world war room and one, which he fought in. he had the job on a mail train. he lived in a beautiful idyllic town in the mountains right down on the lake. i visited it. it is truly gorgeous, and i said why would anyone want to leave nine brothers and sisters, to live a stable job in a beautiful place, at the foot of the dolomite mountains? one word, one reason -- freedom.

he was watching what mussolini was doing. he was watching what he was inculcating in the his oldest son, and he said i will not stand for this. so he left. he came here. he took a trip to detroit, but eventually came here. he started in the cold wind spirit -- coal mines, and carpenters park pennsylvania. and he worked and he worked to give his children, my dad, who was 7 years old when he came in 1930, the opportunity for freedom, to leave your dreams -- to live your dreams, because he knew america believe in him and the people, the people a shot if they worked hard to succeed.

that is the america that my grandfather came to. that is the america that my dad lived in. that is the america that we need again today. [applause] that is what is unique. the president of the united states just a few weeks ago said this, and he was talking about medicare, medicaid, and the unemployment insurance. he said, "the country is a better country with those programs. i will go one step further. america was not a great country until those programs." ladies and gentleman, america was a great country before 1965.

america was a great country before government decided that it had to start taking from those -- sorry, we have someone who -- i think he has done to them. if there's any emergency personnel that can get here, we need to make sure that this person get some help. there you go, hand it back down. >> maybe a chair?

>> i appreciate everybody's saying a prayer for that young lady. america is a great country. not because of our government. it is because of our founders

founded a great country. [applause] i love our t partyers who raised their constitution up. that constitution which is the owner's manual for america. but in that constitution that they hold up is also another document that is always printed there. it is the declaration of independence. the declaration of independence is the why of america. it is who we are. we hear a lot talk about american exceptional listen. what does that mean? the declaration tells us. we hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, and in doubt by our creator with certain unalienable rights -- life,

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. [applause] our founders did something revolutionary with that statement. prior to that time, where they ghts did notice di come from god to the individual. rights came to the king, to the government, and then the government would distribute the rights. they left this country is because they did not want a keen to tell them what rights that had, because they knew what rights they had from god.

in that constitution, they established the framework to do one thing. if you are brought to some of the mission of america, what transformed the world, what made this the greatest country in the history of the world, because in the 200 years of america, life expectancy doubled, in the previous 2000 years it did nothing. why? \ because the purpose of america was to make sure that each and every purpose was freed. that is the purpose of america. ladies and gentlemen, that is at stake now. it is more at stake now that it has ever been in the modern time. we're facing a time when we have a group of people led by president obama who believes that america's greatness is in government, not its people.

and there was one singular act that to me is the linchpin, and that is "obamacare." it makes you buy something. it is the government, for the first time, that is going to have its clutches to create a dependency on every single american, not those on the margins of life, now will be hooked to the government with an i.d., and they will come to you every time they want to do more and say, well, you want that health care. then you got to give us more power. margaret thatcher said this after doing an assessment of her time in britain versus reagan's

time. she said i was never able to accomplish in england what reagan was to accomplish in america, and that was the british national healthcare system to wipe you think they were willing to break every role? what you think they ignored the polls and jam it down the throats of the american public? why keep you think they cared so much about passing this bill? our. because they knew they would get you. juan williams said to me about a week after president obama decided to double down, i saw them in the greenroom, and i said, what are you doing this he said, let me tell you what president obama's team is telling me. he said, " america loves and tenements, and once we get them hooked, they will never let it go." they want to hook you.

they do not want to free you. they do not want to get the opportunities. they do not believe in you. they believe in themselves, the smart people, the planners, the folks in washington who make decisions better than you can. look at what they are doing with "mediscare." we cannot trust seniors to make decisions. can even anybody look at medicare prescription drug plan? it is exactly the model that paul ryan is talking about. seniors love the medicare president of an -- medicare prescription cu. our founders knew that

was thehing freedom easy thing to do. they were students of history and realized they knew the hard thing to do was to maintain freedom over the course of time, over the course leaders who would hope to give up that freedom in exchange for security. i am here because a few miles from here, almost 10 years now, a group of average americans, a traveling salesman, stood with his back against the wall and rallied and led people, average americans, to do what needed to be done to save freedom in america.

[applause] and on this day, d-day, june 6, in 1944, almost 60,000 average americans had the courage to go out and charge those beaches on normandy, to drop out of airplanes, who knows where, and take on the battle for freedom. average americans, very americans that our government now and this president does not trust to make a decision on your health care plan. those americans risked everything so they could make that decision on their health care plan. [applause]

we are facing enormous challenges today of a different kind, but they will test whether this generation will keep faith with those patriots and keep america the greatest country in the history of the world. today, across america, people are looking for a leader who is optimistic and to believe that we must meet those challenges and that we can meet those challenges, that we can keep faith, not with the government, but with three people. free people. in 2008, a wary public, a

troubled public from a financial crisis, looked to a president, looked to me that a president who they could believe then, and that president, president obama, that faith that the american public gave them -- gave him and wrecked our economy and centralized power in washington, d.c., and robbed people of their freedom. i believe now that americans are not looking for someone that they can believe in. the are looking for a president who believes in them. -- they are looking for a president who believes in them. [applause] fellow americans, it is our watch, it is our time, it is our

time for all of us to step up and do what america requires us to do. i am ready to lead. i am ready. [applause] i am ready to do what has to be done for the next generation, with the courage to fight for freedom, with the courage to fight for america. that is why i am announcing today that i am running for president of the united states. we are going to fight. [applause] ♪

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> run, rick, run!

run, rick, run! run, rick, run!

♪

♪

>> and republican presidential candidate tim pawlenty will be in chicago, laying out his plan to overhaul the federal tax code. live coverage from the university of chicago begins at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. after more than a week of de nials, anthony wiener admitted that he sent suggested emails. he said he would not resign. >> thank you very much for being here, and good afternoon. i would like to take this time to clear up some of the

questions that have been raised over the past 10 days or so and take full responsibility for my actions. at the outset i would like to make it clear that i have made terrible mistakes and have hurt the people that i cared about the most and i am deeply sorry. i have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends, and supporters, and the media. last friday night i tweeted a photograph of myself to a woman of seattle. once i realized i posted it to twitter, i panicked. i continued with a story saying i had been hacked, which was a mistake. this woman was unwittingly dragged into this mistake and i am so sorry. to be clear, the picture was of me, and i sent it. i am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused for my wife, huma, and our family, and my

constituents, my friends, supporters, and staff. in addition, over the past few years i have engaged in several in a private conversations conducted over twitter, facebook, and occasionally online. i have exchanged photos of an explicit nature with six women over the past three years. for the most part these communications took place before my marriage, although some said they took place after. i have never met any of these women or have had physical relations at any time. i have not told the truth. and i have done things that i deeply regret. i have brought pain to people i , and forut the most that i am deeply sorry.

i apologize to my wife and our family, as well to our friends and supporters, and i am deeply ashamed of my terrible judgment and actions. i would be glad to take any questions that he might have. >> should you go ahead and resign? >> i came here to except the full responsibility for what i have done. i am deeply regretting what i have done, and i am not resigning. i have made it clear that i accept responsibility for this, and people who draw conclusions about me are free to do so. i have worked for the people of my district for 13 years in politics for 20 years, and i hope you see this as a deeply regrettable mistake.

[unintelligible] i think it is more in a corporate, the things i've done. my primary sense of regret and my primary apology goes to my wife. i should not have done this, and i should not have done this particularly when i was married. [unintelligible] >> why would you do this after your marriage. what were you thinking? >>you know, i do not know what i was thinking. this was a destructive thing to do. i am apologetic for doing it. it was deeply, deeply hurtful to the people i care about us, it was something that i did that was just wrong, and i regret it. [unintelligible]

>> this kind of activity, is that a violation of the public trust? >> i did not. listen, i am going to try to tell you everything that i can remember, was my blackberry is not a government black barry, my home computer is where i did these things. i do not have a knowledge of every last communication, but i do not believe i used in the government resources. [unintelligible] >> a man said he had an ex- treated photo of you. are you saying that is not true? >> no, i cannot. i regret not being honest about this. this was a big mistake. i was embarrassed, humiliated. i am still to this moment. i was trying to protect my

wife, and it was a mistake. and i really regret it. [unintelligible] this was a mistake, and i am very sorry for it, and i take it seriously, i -- and where i go from here, what steps i take, i take it seriously. this was a destructive thing to do that i deeply regret. [unintelligible] i love my wife very much. love my wife very much, and we have no intention of splitting up over this. we have been through a great deal together, and we will weather this. i love her very much, and she loves me. [unintelligible] in some cases, i initiated them.

in some cases, they were women that i met on facebook. i am deeply apologetic to my way for -- to my wife. everyone that i misled, everyone in the media, my staff, people that i lied to about this, they all deserve an apology. >> after eliot spitzer, why would you do such a thing? >> this was a very dumb thing to do. it was a destructive thing to do, but it was not part of any plan to be hurtful to my wife. it was not part of a plan to be secrettive to you. it was not a plan -- that was not part of a plan. it was the destructive things that i did that i accept responsibility for, but if you are looking for some kind of

deep explanation, i do not have one, except that i am sorry. [unintelligible] i did not think of it that way. i would think about from the time, i would say to myself, this is a mistake or this conversation -- someone could listen in on or translate to someone else. i know there is a sense that everything is part of a plan, and it was thought of and calculated. it was me doing a very dumb thing, and for that i accept responsibility. [unintelligible] i did not see any of the pictures that were released today. i can bellevue -- i can tell you there were women that i had conversations with, and

inappropriate things were sent by me. [unintelligible] the last thing on this day when i have done this on to my wife and my family that i am standing before all of you and accepting responsibility for this shameful thing, is thinking about next your boss election and the election out of that. the first thing i need to do is make sure that obviously this never, ever happens again and that i'm making up to my wife and my family and all the people. >> b. you think it will help? >> i am going to try to handle this and i have not ruled perhaps seeing someone, but i am not blaming anyone. this is not something that can be treated the way. this is my own personal mistake. it is not something -- this is a deep weakness that i have demonstrated, and for that i apologize.

some of these releases a ups, some of the date back three years. -- some of these relationships, some of them date back three years. [unintelligible] almost from the moment, when you say something like that that is so wrong , i was embarrassed, and i did not want it to lead to other embarrassing things, and i -- it was a dumb thing to do to try to tell lies about it because it just led to more lies. almost immediately i sai was in a bad position than i did not want to continue doing it. >> did any woman ever ask you -- [inaudible] >> megan was one of the women.

>> when did you tell your wife? >> my wife had known about some of these on-line relationships before we were married and we spoke frankly with them -- about them. she did not know i had not been telling the truth until this morning about the twitter posting. >> people on cnn [inaudible] >> i am here to express my apologies to my wife and family. anyone who was misled. people who i lied to, i have that apology. >> [inaudible] >> i believe that everyone deserves an apology. here is what -- >> where is your wife right now?

i apologize to the other members of the media that i misled. i apologize to my wife first and foremost to my family. >> where is she? >> she is not here. >> [inaudible] >> i have a loving wife. it is not anything like that. i treated it as a frivolous thing. not acknowledging that it was causing harm to summon the people and would come out. >> [inaudible] >> i speak briefly to nancy pelosi before i came here. she said to be truthful and to say what you know and was thankful i was doing that today. she was not happy. told me as much.

my primary apology is to my wife. she made it clear she felt when i did was dumb and she was not happy about it. she is disappointed. she told me that she loves me and she wanted to pull through this. >> [inaudible] >> i did regrettable -- a regrettable thing. >> did you ever have phone sex or have an affair? >> i never met any of these women. i never was in the same room or had any physical relationship whatsoever. i am reluctant to -- for their privacy and since their names are coming out, characterizing the exchanges, they were

consensual. i was not going to rebut anything or dispute anything that any of the women who have come forward -- they have every right to do so so i am not going to make any efforts to characterize this. >> to do it on congressional time as a congressman. [inaudible] >> congressional time could be anything. i do not believe i did anything here that violates any laws or oath. what i did was demonstrated a deep personal filling and that is why i'm here to apologize. -- depersonalize failindeep, ped that is why i am here to apologize. >> [inaudible]

>> i have never had sex outside marriage and i have done these things, i read them. i have not done anything you described and i do not know where else. excuses for myg behavior. i was not drinking. this was me doing a damn thing -- a dumb thing and doing it repeatedly and lying about it. i am not asking to shift the blame to any external force or anything else. >> [inaudible] >> i did. i did not speak to her. we exchanged some text messages. mostly from may to express my apologies -- from me to express

my apologies. i have not. my wife is a remarkable woman. not responsible for any of this. this was visited upon her. she is getting back to work. i apologized to her. >> [inaudible] >> we will have to make that determination. i am here to express my apologies. i am here to take responsibility. beyond that, my constituents have to make the determination. it is up to them if they believe this is something, and that means they do not vote for me, i

am going to try to persuade them. this is a personal feeling -- failing and nothing about this should reflect on my official duties or my oath of office. >> was that bad judgment? >> it was bad judgment. if someone wants to draw back, i am here to accept responsibility for some bad decisions. >> [inaudible] >> i do not know the ages of the women. i do not know the exact ages of the women. and i do not know if -- if you do, i will respect their privacy. to my knowledge, they were adults and they were engaging in these conversations consensual way. >> if you do not know how old

they are -- [inaudible] >> all i know is what they publish about themselves. someone could have been fibbing about it and that is the risk. >> [inaudible] >> no. no. [inaudible] >> i was not telling the truth. i had done something that was dishonorable and had lied. i do not begrudge anyone for not wishing to my defense and in that circumstance. i -- this is not anyone else's fault. no one demonstrated their bad judgment or mistakes. this was made. i'm not looking to point blame for the -- share the

responsibility with anyone. work and to go back to i am trying to convince them this was a personal feeliailingn aberration and all i can do is do what i have done. i can work hard every day. there is nothing about this that changes my validity or my record of getting a bill passed are filling potholes or doing community service. this was a personal feeling -- failing. that is their decision and i am half -- going to have to work hard. >> [inaudible] >> i do not want to get into anyone else's situation but i

can tell you about mine. it is one that i regret that did not have to do with my government service as such, it had to do with a personal weakness. people can draw their own conclusions. i am not resigning and i am going to try hard to go back to work a better person and bitter man. she said she loved me. she deserves much better than this. >> what was the process of it coming out? >> my concern about the event was my concern about some of these relationships i had becoming public and it seems that what i had done by denying

the original action had served to make things worse and only serve to people asking water, tougher questions. it is true that the smarter, better thing to do would be to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. that was a mistake and that is why i am here. >> did you cheat, are you addicted to online sex? >> i will leave it to someone else. these are the facts. i know i did not -- i never met these women and i did not have much desire to. to me, it was almost a fruitless exchange among friends i do not think i made an important enough distinction about how hurtful and inappropriate it was. >> you say -- you can rely on.

how do you know the women are not underage or not truthful? >> they -- no one ever knows that. i never had any intention of having interaction with underage women and no information shows that i did. whenever you engage with anyone, that is true of -- in social media that you are replying -- relying on their characterization's and i took them at those characterization's. >> ehud concerned about any action -- -are you concerned about any action [inaudible] >> i do not see anything that violated the rules.

these were people i developed relationships with on line. i believed we had become friends. that was clearly a mistake and i clearly regret that. >> [inaudible] >> we had, i do not know her. she was a follower who we had a cursory direct message contact. she was having trouble with people who were tweeting her and giving her a hard time. it was a mistake and i want to

make it clear. there are a long list of people die harmed but this poor woman was one of them as well. i deeply regret she got dragged in. >> [inaudible] would you suggest that all public officials remove their town? >> i think people should not do dumb things like this that are dishonest to their families and deceitful to the press. to not do things like this. there is nothing inherently wrong with social media. nothing inherently wrong with these our lives. what i did was a mistake. >> did you shut down your twitter account? >> at no time did we tried to cover anything up. she did reach out to me and expressed that she had been set

upon and i expressed my apologies to her. there was no coaching of any sort. the staff did not know the actual story. i had missed them as well. they only heard the full story late this afternoon as i was getting ready to come over here. they worked -- another group of people i had let down. they knew nothing and i regret putting them into the circumstances of having to defend me. >> was there anything predatory about your behavior? >> the woman i had been in contact with without violating their privacy, the they're not

uniformly young woman. the people i have had these engagements with on facebook are not young as such. >> [inaudible] a violation of your oath of office. >> i am deeply sorry that i lied. i lied because i was embarrassed. i lied because i was ashamed and did not get caught. did i violate the constitution of the united states by lying about posting a twitter post, i do not think so and i have not spoken to anyone who did but i sent a twitter that i regretted and i lied. people are entitled to that viewpoint. >> i will not use it the same

way and i deeply regret the way i have used it. for my use of twitter, it is something i found useful and facebook is a way to get out the message. i certainly would not do the things i have done that led me to this place. of course. i did not. >> [inaudible] >> they were inappropriate. part of a consensual exchange of e-mail and i do not want to

violate the privacy of the women who were involved. it was clearly mistaken. thank you. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi has asked the house ethics committee to investigate congressman winener after he admitted lying about explicit messages he sent to women on line. tomorrow, our reporter on the global war on illegal drugs put out by the group the policy alliance. we will talk with the group's founder. the teal foundation gave $100,000 apiece to 24 people under the age of 20 who agreed to drop out of school and start high-tech companies. we will talk with james o'neill. a look at the history of walter

reed army medical center closing this september. col. norvell coots and others will join as for the discussion. "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. on c-span. angela merkel will meet tomorrow with president obama to discuss relations between the countries. the white house will hold a state dinner for chancellor merkel. it can watch live coverage of the guests' arrival. next, lieutenant general william caldwell from afghanistan gives an update on afghan security forces. the french foreign minister talks about the political unrest in the arab world. later, rick santorum announces

he is running as a presidential nominee. >> now available, c-span pose a congressional directory. inside, new and returning house and senate members with contact information, including twitter addresses, a district maps, and committee assignments and information on the white house, supreme court justices, and governors. order online at c- span.org/shop. >> the commander of the nato training mission in afghanistan talks about the training of the afghan security forces, its army and police, as they prepare for the reduction of u.s. and nato troops. the tenant general william caldwell is interviewed at the brookings institute by a senior fellow. this is about an hour and half.

for those of you not familiar, general caldwell has one of the three big pieces of the overall effort under general petraeus and has done so now in a remarkable display of commitment and perseverance since november 2009 along with his staff there. prior to this assignment, general caldwell has a

background in educating officers and has had a number of previous deployments including in iraq where he was the nmfi spokesman. also in haiti and panama and operation desert storm. we are fortunate that on a trip back to washington, he is able to take time with this. he will proceed by giving a presentation for half an hour and will join forces appear on stage. i will ask him a couple more questions and we will go to you. we're fortunate to have c-span covering the event and a number of other media. hearing how the effort is going to train and improve the afghan army and police. we will look forward to having that conversation. remember to identify yourselves and speak clearly if you ask

questions. we want everyone to hear your question and the response. please join me in welcoming general bill caldwell to brookings. [applause] >> first of all, thank you for the opportunity to be here. i greatly appreciate this. we flew back in from afghanistan november of last year. it has been awhile since we have been back here. i do want to say i appreciate the fact that so many personnel from foreign embassies are here today representing many different nations which are a key and critical part of " we're doing here. what i would like to do is tell you about the nafta -- afghan

national security force. the ansf. it is the afghan national security force consisting of army, police, and airforce. i will show you pictures on the screen. these are pictures that give you a visual understanding of some of the context of the information i will talk about and i will see it if there are questions and talk about that. there has been significant progress made in the development of the afghan national security force. a lot of people ask me how are they doing and they have made significant progress. not only in terms of growth but also in terms of their quality which is just as important, if not more imperative. as you hear often, the the gains are not yet irreversible. there are challenges still. as i go through this presentation, i do not want to

mislead anybody to think there is not more than ample challenges to be taken on. there are. it should not undercut the incredible progress that has been made as i have watched what we have been able to accomplish in the international community. what we say is a transformation occurred in the afghan national security force in ansf. you see price and a greater sense of nationalism especially through the army forces than there was 20 months ago and they are taking the lead for security in small and select areas and in the lead for training in small, select areas. it is the beginning as we move forward. there are -- they are entering a critical period of

entertainment. there will be tested by the insurgent forces that are operating inside afghanistan. y're challenged. they are striving to get on their feet and represent themselves as they continue to grow and develop. what we do to achieve this need for security, we will have a lasting and -- implications. i was at the third graduation ceremony for the national military academy of afghanistan. a place where we as a coalition educate and train the next generation of leaders. they will play an incredibly remarkable and key element of the development of security forces. he spoke about the transition

altria the process of turning over responsibility for afghanistan pose a security to the afghan government and its people. what struck me is how much transition really means to the afghan people. there is a desire to take responsibility for their own security. the transition has become a matter of national pride and personal honor. you will find that in their culture but it is becoming apparent in the discussions you have as we continue moving forward. the afghan people want to take this responsibility for defending their families and nation. i see it in the young returns -- recruits and i can sense a from fall of 2009 to today where we have 8000 or

10,000 signing up my to serve their country. i visited with the wounded in the various hospitals and clinics we have around the country and what strikes me is their desire to join their comrades and serve their nation. it was not that readily apparent and i see it routinely now as you go through the different words and talk to the -- the young man. the security of their population will be done by their men and women. there are thousands every month that are joining the police and army forces in afghanistan. our vision in keeping with the vision of hamid karzai -- by the

end of december of 2014. achieving security transition is a major undertaking. the requires the cooperation and partnership with the international community and the afghan government. from the ministries to the soldiers and policemen. achieving transition will be the beginning. we have an equally -- equal responsibility to the forces that it endures and it will last. it has to last. it is not enough to transition. it is just as important and the challenge will face is insuring that we do does last traded during my time in afghanistan, i

have been reminded of the previous effort to build a security force. there are echoes of the previous effort that succeeded in building a government and robust security force. the effort failed to make it last. all that reminds us about this today, as we continue our mission, we have a responsibility to ensure that this indoors. it was critically important of how we will make this last. i will show you with this training mission, what they are doing to achieve this transition. and insures that lasts.

in setting the conditions for security transition so you can understand our strategy to achieve this critical milestone as we move forward. with an afghan population of 30 million people it is clear that the ansf must be of size and security. add to this the extreme terrain in afghanistan and one gets a better sense for the magnitude of the security challenge. anyone who stood at the foot of the -- looked over the deserts of kandahar will understand and provide security across the 400,000 miles of land. the size of the afghan security force is important. over 20 months, nato training

missions have focused on building afghan formations in significant numbers. we produce entire units along with individual soldiers and policemen who are prepared to fight and serve our nation. we have developed into producing and industrial kind of method of producing these forces. since november to a dozen in, ansf has grown by 100,000. their strength is over 296,000 strong. true afghan surge when you think about it. in less than 20 months, over 100,000 new afghan police and army formations were added into there. it is less than 10,000 soldiers and policemen.

this remarkable growth has been enabled by the significant investment. this increases a sort -- surged to include advisers and an assignment of leaders to the mission have enabled the expansion and the quality of their force across afghanistan. increasing the size of the force does not come with its challenges. one is attrition or the unexpected loss of soldiers and police do to combat losses and desertion. this could undo much of the progress being done today.

they are a matter of concern and attention to remain focused on. attrition is an afghan problem that requires an acceptable solution. we're not imposing a western solution to this problem. it must help them find a solution that works. another challenge associated with the forces as the insider threat. they have developed an active and continuous multilayer of defense which starts out with by process.vetting increased awareness.

we are working out with security ministries to account for every single person. recent incidents of violence to erode the hard-earned trust that is required for an effective partnership. we cannot allow these incidents to track. active vigilance, training on part of the coalition and partners are important measures to combat this threat. we and our afghan partners take this threat seriously. afghanwe're training army, air force, and police in

31 of 34 provinces. we do believe that high-quality realistic challenging training is keyed to the transformation into an institution that meets their needs. we have improved the quality of training across the nation. we have standardized disparate efforts of different programs and created national standards not only for the army but most recently for the police forces. we're saying and enforcement of this at all the different training centers. the key is the european union police, the native training mission in afghanistan.

we have come together and build one standardized program. we have also made a decision to expand the uniformed police course that is the basic control men course on the street for six weeks to eight weeks. an international decision that was made with their afghan counterpart to expand this course from six weeks to eight weeks. this will allow for increased training in key areas such as human rights and gender issues. and intelligent led policing. the u.s. and international

community have provided thousands of military police, military personnel, and civil police have partnered with the ansf. they are having a transformative affect which are beginning to emulate the dedication and duty to professional values and the actions of these trainers and advisers that are working side by side with them. it is also essential we began the process of training afghan and structures to take over the responsibility to train their own forces. we have partnered with a security force and were building an afghan instructor training program. more importantly, it has the certification process that allows them to train afghan and

structures -- instructors. it is a long process and would take about two years. we have a couple hundred that are certified and will grow to about 4000 by december of 2012. build police and army training commands. kia for making this less. the ever see the trading system with each ministry. both of these commands are developing the knowledge and expertise and the systems required to make the training and afghan -- that will endure. in addition to training and turning units, we also are beginning to take on and have now in training afghan leaders. as we know, good leadership

provides the foundation upon which an organization develops and improves. we train and educate officers and professional values and to inculcate the spirit of service, pride, and national patriotism. despite our efforts in increasing trader capacity, we still have leader shortfalls. it is easy to train the soldier and policemen but it takes more effort to train, educate and develop a leader. we provide the trained small unit leaders while continuing to grow their force. we believe that trained and effective afghan leaders is the key to solving some of the difficult challenges we find today. that is a key point to understand.

if there for support at this global and they needed to come up, we have closed that shortfall. as we grow this force, we are closing the deficit. well we are building capable units, where are simultaneously controlling the forces. this subordination is a hallmark of a properly functioning democracy. this plays a key role in this process. terrace -- achieve the transition, [inaudible] there has been significant progress. both of the security ministries are growing more capable and

effective every day. this is made possible by the fact we have 500 advisers that wake up and go to work. what they're better managing the control of their security force. four advisers were had working those consist at -- of civil servants, for multiple different nations, that have come together to provide that training. along with the u.s. government, we have had 33 civilians, department of defense civilians who have volunteered to serve the advisory program inside of afghanistan. we have 27 more volunteers to work in training that would deploy to join us in

afghanistan. nine of them have elected to stay for second year. willingness on the part of the civilian partners in the department of defense. afghan leaders are increasingly it taking the lead in executing critical functions. this is important. there was no requirement when you graduated from any kind of police training to serve in their armed forces. the law has a requirement of service up to three years or five years or 10 years.

a key critical aspect -- understanding they do incur an obligation for some time. we recognize this is threatened by corruption within the afghan national security force. corruption constitutes a complex problem with no real easy solutions. it undermines the legitimacy of the government and nullifies efforts to build the trust and confidence between these forces and the people of afghanistan. corruption weakens the government, strength since the insurgency, and wastes national resources, not to mention alienating their own people. our strategy is to create transparency all the way down to the save -- unit level.

establishing -- we're helping foster a culture within their organizations that are consistent with afghan values at which corruption becomes an unacceptable way of behavior. our efforts to reduce ansf correction -- corruption take time. we will build a much more transparent and accountable system than we even have today. while developing quantity and quality in to the force is essential, it is important tha the rightve structure and equipment to perform duties. capable, affordable, and sustainable equipment and infrastructure. the three interconnected criteria began -- are very

important. the way we define that, it is capable of it meets the requirement to defeat the threat and protect the people. we say it is affordable if it provides the best value over time. we say it is sustainable if it is durable enough to withstand the harsh environment there and is able to be maintained by the afghan security forces themselves. the u.s. and partners in the international community have invested heavily in equipment that meets the criteria. this equipment is providing them what they need in terms of mobility, protection, and firepower to defeat the insurgency and protect their people. we have made investments in infrastructure such as police stations, training stations, and depots as well as headquarters and barracks.

building facilities are part of the solution. there is an obligation to maintain them and sustain them so that again, the echoes of the past -- past due not haunt us in the future. we are deliberately building a force in the afghan national security her army up front. it was counter insurgency capable and was rapidly employed into the fight. it was very dependent upon coalition support for any kind of support it needed from communications, logistics, medical, or anything else in the support structure. there were delayed toward the end. today there are certain specialty duties that are being performed exclusively by coalition forces because of this. coition provides most of the artillery support. other critical skills.

however, over 12 months, we have established 12 vocational or specialty schools to get the afghans their capacity to be trained and developed to take on those duties. we are beginning to train these skills and build those units. we have schools that train things such as human-resources and intelligence and artillery and engineering. we will carefully and deliberately balance their force with increased capabilities so that they eventually will have the ability to sustain themselves and operate independently from coalition forces. this is a very critical pillar in our strategy to achieve transition. we want to make a last and these

units are the building block upon which it will be able to do that. as far as professionalism, the size of the ansf is critical. injecting quality into the force of all levels is in fact a priority of ours. it is truly the centerpiece of our efforts to build lasting quality into this force. professionalism includes developing leaders, ensuring stewardship, building systems and institutions, and creating an organizational if those. this leads to unit cohesion, reduced corruption, and pride. professionalism is a defining characteristic of any military or police organization. building leaders and great

training programs include for critical components. the people, the resources, the strategy, and the time. the u.s. and the international investment in our effort have provided us with the resources that people and the strategy need. time is more elusive. if we want to fully trained and quality force that can last, we must have the patience to develop one. we did not build the u.s. army of which i am part of overnight. building quality into the effort requires strategic patients and an enduring commitment. professionalism also helps to close the credibility gap between them and the people of afghanistan. in many areas of afghanistan including the hundreds of isolated communities in the valleys, the army and police are

probably the only visible and real connection between people and their career. we recognize the afghan security force as a foundation for building trust between the government and people. it needs to be accountable and it needs to have inculcated with it and if those of selfless service. our efforts to train soldiers and policemen and trainers are now setting the foundation for a transition but there is a third aspect that must be developed. building permanent infrastructure systems and enduring institutions. the soldiers and police that make up the force are finding time are important but it is the systems and institutions that will last for generations. they are the key to making it last. systems like recruiting and personnel, training and education, logistics' and

medical support. these types of systems are in their initial stage of development. essentially, there will grow into a natural network cable of sustaining their force. i often hear critics saying that this would be broken. i would respond by saying how can something be broken that has not yet been developed? the truth is, building the systems is going to take time. the process has started and it is an important step along a road toward achieving transition by december of 2014. institutions are critical to the long term development. institutions such as the military of afghanistan to combine the major course and the

police academy. their individual institutions that will become part of a .roader institutiona this will be a system of training and education that will transform force for generations. if we are as successful as we hope, it could be a true model of intergovernmental cooperation within their structure. everyone here appreciates part of the challenge. the fact that they are human capital. one thing that endures is the abundance of the people there. we believe in -- an investment in human capital is essential to

becoming an effective force. the human potential is like the strategic minerals we hear that are hidden beneath in huge to park -- deposits that one day could be mined to provide monetary resources. they're people are no different. they are there and they are accessible and they are eager to be educated and to learn. such as the great potential we say. and we believe that investing in human capital is critical to help make the security transition last. to develop this potential, where are in the process of building skills. it requires some specialists like engineers, medical professionals, communications experts, maintenance and repair technicians and other skills to give it an enduring capacity

that will last. as part of developing human capital, we are hoping them address gender integration. it is a complex problem with deeply rooted, social and cultural nuances ithat it will require a solution. women are underrepresented, accounting for less than 1% of all personnel in the police and army and we're working to help them leverage the potential of women by bringing them into the afghan police and army forces. it will take some time but it is starting and there has been progress being made moving forward. widespread literacy is another thing. we know through testing that of every new recruit the comes into the army and police only one out of 10 can read and write.

only one out of 10 can read and write. they do not know how to account numbers and they cannot write their name. it is difficult to comprehend. as i have shared with people in the past when i arrived in afghanistan, ambassador holbrooke talked to me about literacy training and i said you do not understand. i am a military soldier, i do not do literacy. he told me if you do not, you'll find your job challenging. we are going to start doing literacy and we have to get on with a vengeance ever since. we employed over 2000 afghan teachers and inculcated literacy. to give you the magnitude of what we're doing, each day, we

train over 2000 afghans. every single one takes literacy. i hope -- it is imperative that we have raised the educational level within afghanistan if we're going to make this effort of ours endure. it is important to train them so they can continue to develop and grow. literacy is and we call it the essential in the boiler for professional edition. we put a tremendous time and effort to do this. we have trained over 90,000 young men in how to become literate. trying to do is give the basic abilities to read and write so they can function and

account for things, be able to write a report, be able to read their pay statement, be able to insure they are carrying the right weapon with the serial number, these are basic critical skills that if we want this forced to endure, to last for a long time, we have to give them those basic skills. it is hard to describe how meaningful that is what this literacy effort has done but what you will see is young men who finished the first program of instruction in 64 hours wearing that can probably in their shirt. it literally means more to them dal to signify or they can right. it is empowering. for the first time, the afghan young men are given the skills that that can never be taken away and it is giving them

something that can last them through the remainder of their life and when you talk to them, this is the most important thing they find it is their government teaching them how to read and write. it truly is beginning to unlock the human potential of the nation and we are doing it by other programs call the afghan first where we have gone out and tried to establish the ability for afghans to develop their own indigenous capacity to produce the equipment necessary for their police and army. so far, we have created over 15,000 jobs during this period today, we are as in november 2009, we imported every single piece of clothing and equipment we issue to the army and police. we buy 100% of boots in afghanistan. 100% of uniforms are made in afghanistan, we're doing

sheets, pillowcases, socks, underwear, and it is evolving as we are partnering with afghans who want to stand up a company and produce the equipment necessary for police and army of which we need to procure in order to provide for them. there is a proverb that is heard in afghanistan sta states if you want to go fast, you go alone. if you wanting to far, you go with others. here this picture you see, the american flag at camp edgar flies along that of 32 other nations. 1/6 of the world's countries dedicated tossing this mission. a decade ago, some of these nations were in fact, themselves

recipientses of security from the international community and today they are in afghanistan helping to build security there. it is within the realm of the possible that afghanistan one day could in fact be themselves a recipient of security assistance and moving towards one of donations of providing for it in other places in the world. until then, an enduring commitment by the international scommupt critical to helping to develop this force. critical to enable transition and critical to make it last. today nato does play a key role in this international effort to build security in afghanistan. in fact, nato probably is the only alines in the world that has the leadership and the organization and the capacity to accomplish this vital mission. the fact is no single nation could do this mission alone. our progress and that of our afghan security partners has been enabled by multinational

approach consisting of a partnership of nations committed to the training and the development of the ansf. though we in the international community have truly invested heavily in this mission and it will require strategic patience and a strong national will to bring this investment to maturity. echoes to have past will continue to remind us that we must achieve a transition that will last. for many of you, you realize that on this day, 67 years ago, we had a coalition that was formed together that achieved something extraordinary as the invasion occurred in europe. courage and sacrifice that many of us still honor and remember very well until today. tool i'll tell grow afghanistan a new coalition is in fact demonstrating similar courage and sacrifice and its purpose is

to help build an ansf that is dedicated to protecting and serving the people of afghanistan. that is capable to take the lead for security so that afghans can, in fact, secure afghanistan. i appreciate y'all giving me this time to share what we have been doing over there and i would be glad to take whatever questions and minutes that you have. [applause]

>> that was fascinating. correct me if i'm wrong. you are leech your goal in 2012 -- reach your goal in 2012. to some extents that seems to fit with the 2014. that doesn't seem to come out of the blue. it seems to fit very much with your schedule. is that a reasonable way how we came up with that transition plan in the first place? >> you're exactly right. we in fact have built this plan so that it does set the conditions so by the beginning of 2014, the forces have all been fielded. they are being partnered with and are continuing to be developed. ensuring that the systems are in fact now in place and are doing

what they need to do to make this an enduring and lasting effort. >> you mentioned attrition in the force and i know you have been working hard to reduce the afghan who is go awol and those who decide they don't want to do typically a three-year tour. can you explain to us the trends you are seeing, some of the steps you have taken that are effective, how you're feeling, this could be a fatal flaw in the force, if you get up to targets, but you can't stay there. >> a year ago people asked me about attrition. i talked very openly about it. it was the biggest challenge we had. we, in fact, were spending just much time training new men co-tom into the police and army to make up for the attrition as we were trying to build new units. since that time, however,

through a very deliberate effort working with all the security efforts in afghanistan and coalition in afghanistan, the attrition rates have been brought down to a acceptable level. today it is probably 1.4% monthly. if you annualize it, it is about 18%. very normal within any other country in the world to have that routine kind of attrition. the police force is really within exceptable norms now. in fact, one of the greatest stories you could talk about would be the afghan national civil order of police. when we stood up this command, the attrition that month was just over 10%, which means if you annualize it, that means about 120% for year. more people were leaving than we were able to bring into the force and that persisted throughout last summer and then last summer, petraeus enabled us

to put in place some different mechanisms working with our afghan partners that have brought that attrition down to where this past month it was 1.2%. very, very acceptable. it is a matter of a year understanding what the challenge was working close the afghan partners we were able to bring it to a very acceptable level and our projections are i think we have now reached a steady number and will remain down there. in the army, we still are challenged by attrition. it is at a high enough level we continue to watch it very, very closely. we see it in the course of those that are engaged in active combat. we continue working closely with everyone there trying to look at other systems so that it becomes much more acceptable. >> another concern that has been on your mind, and you mentioned it and it has been on our minds

reading various stories of assassinations. how do you -- the afghan forces so you prevent taliban from sneaking in and max nies cape blingt of -- cape -- capability of the lead body guard services. your jop has to be -- when you go back to april, we had the air force kill nine americans, not anything ideological. we had two americaned killed in the training program if i got the information correctly when i was over there. sometimes people just steal uniforms. it is not something you can prevent with any kind of vetting. this just a problem we have to live with at this pace where we seem to have a key afghan official assassinated every week

or two or three? is it one that we have to continue to live with? is there something you can -- are you beginning to see ways we can make better progress against this insider threat? >> well, i can tell you, we continue to look at and evaluate and we have -- we have looked at every single case, all 25 of them over the last couple of years. broken them in every kind of category you can imagine. it is not necessarily the infiltration but more the co-option and the impersonation that concerns us the most as we go back and study each of these incidents. we also recognize this is the country a country that is traumatized by 30 years of war. there are many young men who, you know, have been through some

terrible experiences and sometimes the way they will settle disputes among themselves might turn much more violent thans perhaps you might see in another country that has not been in civil war for 35 years. we very actively look at each and every individual case and try to assess why it occurred. what could have been done to preclude it. were there signs that could give us an indication a as to why it and happened. we work that book is our systems and evaluations as we go forward. it is something that concerns us. we are worried about it. at the same time we also recognize that you know, the taliban and in some cases where it has occurred when they have used this technique, they recognize this is a much softer target for them to go out further and engage directly with the afghan security forces. everybody will continue to stay

and remain very vim lant as we move forward. the -- vigilant as we move forward. the teaming up now they are doing national director of security to be a part of this process is already having a positive effect in the i dentification of things. they are making deliberate steps moving forward that will continue to be positive but it doesn't mean it will be able to negate or stop this completely from occurring. >> do you see of of the 25 cases that have been occurring do they occur at a faster pace or does it just seem that way because of the victims being high profile, members of the afghan government in the last few weeks? >> there has been an increase over the last year, no question. it was not as prevalent as n 2005 and twen although a couple

of selected cases. in 2009 and 2010, you see the up tick of where that has been used more often or occurred more frequently. >> last question i'm sure others will follow up with to some extent or another. i know you share the responsibility for the afghan forces field performance with john rodriguez and one of the other three star commands in afghanistan because he is partnering with his nato units and those afghan forces in the field. nonetheless, from your role in this process, how would you answer the basic question, do the afghan employees fight? can you give us some statistics or anecdote or gut sense how that is going? a former marine has written an important book this year. i'm sure a lot of his individual anecdotes are informative. he is convinced the afghans don't fight. i want to hear from you your

impression on that question. >> if you just want to look at casualty figures, i think that in itself proves that the afghan security force, the police and the army are in fact in a fight and are taking very substantial losses in terms of killed and wounded. in those two security forces. they are very much engaged in their party effort. rodriguez and i sit down every single week and talk about the development of the security force and how it is performing in the field. i can get a better appreciation of what adjustments we need to make. we do a deliberate process once month and bring the two staffs together and walk through it also. we found these forces are far more superior and better than we produced three or four years ago. we know for a fact if you want to make a policeman or soldier comp at the present time in what they are doing, you to -- come

tent in what they are doing. for a viret of reasons, it was not a requirement to qualify on your weapon to graduate from army training. for a multitude of reasons. today that is in fact a requirement. same with police training. we know ensure they can shoot accurately when they go through the training programs. they have been expanded to where we now brought in far more greater professionals to work with the military and police professionals. police professionals like conrad down there who is my senior police advisor from the canadian royal mounty police who has worked with me in afghanistan. those kinds of folks interacting with the police and army. they ill still in them a much greater sense of confidence. we see that in the performance out in the field.

john rodriguez would be the first to tell you that the units coming out today are far more besht able prepared and equipped and do it in var tactical manner that is done very effectively than perhaps what he saw himself when he got there in 2009. so there is an improvement. they are getting bet. he is doing a lot more partnering. >> thank you. let's go to the crowd. please, again, stand, identify yourself and ask a short, clear question, if i could ask you to do that. the microphone is coming. >> i'm david wood from the huffington post. thank you for coming here today. appreciate. what is the attrition rate for the a.n.a. and secondly, what is

gripping washington this week is the obama administration's deliberations about how fast and how many troops to pull out of afghanistan. what is the relationship between what you're doing and his ability to pull extra troops out and can you tell us anything about the combat readiness of the units you're graduating to take the lead in security operations? >> a couple of questions there. >> what i can tell you first of all is it is the best it has ever been. after we go through training, what we do is we, in fact, bring in the i.j.c., the operational force. they bring in a special team and do a test and assessment of every unit before we actually turn it over to them. that is a joint assessment of those units. the ratings that they are getting are the highest that i've seen in the past two years i've been in afghanistan. clearly the programs and the systems that nato training

mission has put into placened that support that we have had with advisors and equipment and everything else is really having a real difference. as far it is a attrition rate, it is right at about, again, a monthly and annualized -- if you do annualized, you're probably at 2.3% right now. this past month, the month of april, the may data is just coming in. the april data was 1.8%. that's why i think it is important to talk about an annualized basis over 12 months is 2.3%. it has come down slightly. we want to bring it down a little more, which is good. this is much more sustainable today than it was last summer when it was up about 2.8% annualized. so there has been a downward trend. is it enough? not quite yet, but it is moving

in the right direction. the trends are positive with where they are moving right now. >> before you get to the big question, the big question of our troops too. 2.3% among means about 30% a year, right? >> that's correct. therefore that means about 1/3 of the force is leaving when they are not supposed tosm about 1/3 of the force is reaching the on the other hand their tour. you're saying in addition to that fact, 1/3 is leaving when they are not even yet supposed to. >> what's happened is the president of afghanistan made a decision that even if you go awol and decide you want to come back, there is no penalty, you can come back and rejoin the force. every single month about 1,000 young men come back and rejoin the force. that had been awol. we don't subtract that off the attrition numbers. we understand exactly what the real attrition is. if we wanted to add that 1,000 back in, it would reduce it by

about .4% at least if not more. so there are a lot that come back. again, that's why we continue to stay very closely what the attrition rates are, why do they occur. because of the number that keep coming back and continue to serve and we continue to track them when they do come back. did they leave again in two more months. most who come back stay and continue serving for a fairly long period of time in the time period that we have been tracking this so we see a positive thing there. >> do you want to touch the question of how many forces president obama may bring home? >> we want the afghanistan security force to take the lead for security. we will field the last combat mission this august. 800 men or so. so that will be fielded this august. at the same time, we'll continue

fielding the support forces. again, those have not yet been built. this is key. it is like i was told before i deployed over to afghanistan, you're the ticket to the mission you're going to take on when you get over there. the reason that the coalition forces have been there is to set the conditions so that it does enable to afghans to be able to take the lead for security their country to, handle the insurgency and reduce the possibilities of this becoming a safe haven for some sort of threat force developing again inside of afghanistan. that is occurring. it will be around the end of 2012 when we will have really a force fairly well fielded out into the structure. we haven't yet finished building it. we're only at 296,000 of the 305,000 that has been internationally recognized today.

so we're still building this force today. we also recognize there has been a request to grow it to 352,000 which means we have another 45,000, 50,000 to go beyond that which we would do over the next year meaning that around october 2012, we would have that force fully recruited but not finished training it and fielding it until the on the other hand 2012-2013. >> ok. >> thanks. general. i write the mitchell report. i want to follow up on a question that mike posed about being -- and others retired colonel has written much along the same lined we we see and/or hear reports fairly consistently

about the problems with the afghans themselves, the willingness to fight corruption, etc. and then we hear from you, recently, general keen and ambassador jim dobbins gave reports much more in line with your reports. if you're not involved, but you're here in falk auditorium today and reading the evening house in or -- watching the evening news or reading the newspaper. i'm wondering if you could help us a little bit with that and maybe drill down a little bit and -- for example, tell us some of the things that have gotten the -- the dedesertion rate from 10% a month to 1.2% a month. is it the literacy effort or the

pay? in other words, if what you say is true, and i have no reason to doubt that, and if people like bing west and others see it differently, there has to be some explanation other than people who were looking at the same set of fact it is and drawing different conclusions. if you could sort of fill in some of the details, that might be helpful. >> yeah, you know, the one thing i find is that things evolve very rapidly in afghanistan. the person who was there perhaps nine, 10 months ago, it is far different on the ground than it was 10 months ago. had i not been there in the fall of 2009, and seen what i saw, i mean, i concern the we had police -- to give you the con text. i always say when were you last there, if they were there before 2010, i completely concur with

everything they are saying. what i found in the police force when i arrived in 2009, it was poorly paid and poorly led, poorly trained, poorly equipped and then people said there is a real problem with the police. i said well, yeah. if you don't train them or pay them or have equipment or provide them with leadership you're going to have problems with the police. we had not, as an international community, done what is necessary to set the conditions to enable that police force to move forward. there were pockets around the country of just some incredibly great training going on. there is no holistic overall plan and no one in the ministry of the interior that felt like they had the authority. i didn't have a single police advisor when i arrived in 2009. i said where is my civilian policeman that i work with on my staff. everybody said what do you mean? we have military police.

i said i would like to have some kind of civil -- who is my civilian, my policeman? they said sir, you don't have any. there has to be someone somewhere in this organization. no, sir, we don't have any. that's how we started. you know, today, i have got all of my staff, 50 policemen that work into everything i am doing on police effort. they are the best there is. guys like conrad ho come who come out of canada or australia. they come from around the world. romania. you name it. they are coming out of france. even germany sent an m.m.o. to work with us because we recognize how important it is that we have that kind of expertise in doing policing. so there is a real difference being made today in the police effort, but it is being enabled because we finally are paying

them the right wages. they were paid one-half the wage of an army private when arrived. went back to the international community and requested to make it equal with an army private so at least it is a minimum level wage. we then said where are getting this equipment? they did not have one single armored vehicle in november 2009. we recognized they were dying at twice the rate of the army. we were not equipping them or training them. we were just not doing what was necessary to make that police force effective and to gain trust and confidence of the people of afghanistan and believing in it. today they have well over 1,000 armored humvees. they are going above 5,000. we are giving them protection that is essential for them to operate the wa way they are operating today and then the training. the methodology being used which has been done in afghanistan for many years, you recruit someone

to be in the police force and assign them with the intent to train them at some later date. our assessment when we did this first inventory of police last year, january through may of last year, we found that over 50% to 60% of the police had never been trained. a major undertaking we had there to start training them how to be a policeman. we changed that working with the ministry of interior. we recruit them, train them and then assign them. it is a policy that is being adhered to. we had to triple the amount of training capacity for police because there wasn't enough to do that what was necessary. you didn't need to because you never trained them to begin with. now that we have to train them, you have to increase your training capacity and bring more trainers in. people say those things. i always ask what force were you with and when was it trained and

equipped? because that is does make a difference. that's why over time we're going to have to go back and systematically go back into those forces that were filled very early on and take mobile training teams to go down and work with them to do some of this retraining in those units. these new elements going out, conrad can share with you, that are coming out today, are very professional. not every single one is ever going to be perfect, but they are far more superior than anything i saw in the fall of 2009. the army is the same way. even as late as march 2010 with only about 50% of their required equipment because we just had not programmed and ordered it far enough in advance that it was there to be issued to them when they came out of the training base. today when army units come out of the training base, they are equipped 80% to 90% with all of their equipment.

again, it is -- i haven't sat and talked to bing about which particular units he was with but i would go back and do some forensics on that and think we would probably find that. but there are a couple of factors. if you fix the pay. if you fix partnering. if you give them some predictability in their life. predictability in a sense they know they are not always going to be committed in combat but are going to have a time period off to go home and see their family and if you fix the leadership, those are huge. we changed out the -- the afghans changed out the senior leadership. collectively we all talked about it and they made the decision to change it out. they have a great commander in there now who is giving the right kind of leadership that is necessary. we had to fix their pay.

because it was broken. they have a very predictable cycle system where they are employed for three months and have six weeks off. that is having a positive impact. once we implemented a system, and it has proven very effective. when somebody says something to me, i say, when were you last there? i almost can bet it is going to be a unit that was before the end of 2009. >> he is in a crowd with us today. right here in the second row, please. >> i am from the defense of

human rights. you mentioned i did the 296,000, less than one% are women. as you guys are going to be training another 50,000, could that be an initiative that you could get more women involved in the military? once the women are empowered -- i am sure you'll have less attrition rate credit -- attrition rate. >> it is interesting. when i arrived, i was not committed to taking on more of a gender integration. i just wanted to produce some numbers. we had to get this thing growing. over the last year, we have really evolved.

civilian and military, men and women are helping us with all of these things. some of the positive steps we were making that you'll start to see, we are building this afghan national security university where the military academy would go to. the minister of defence has agreed that in the next class that comes into the military academy, a minimum of 10% must be went right that means that i of the class of 600 double matriculate in, at least 60 have to be winning. back -- we have built a special dormitory. we are out recruiting the coalition officers that will come lived in the dormitory during the times that these females will go to school break so that they have the right kind of guidance, too.

we also ran our first officer candidate school for women last year. we had 23 graduates out of that. had of those 23 graduates, for went to the afghan air force. we have them in a specialized english language training program. of the 42 that are in the program, those four women are in the top seven of grades for the 42 batters in their credit they are doing exceptionally well. they are extremely motivated and want to be a part of this to serve their country. we have our second class that just graduated, at 32. we have our third class that will start on july 2. we are slowly increasing the size as you're able to recruit women you are able to come in and serve. the other thing we did with then the police force, the minister

of interior has agreed that he will at 1000 additional women into the police force each year. bair just over 1000 and the police force now. over the next five years, the goal is to add a thousand more a year. they are moving forward on the police side break the arms side, we are still a little bit challenged. i do not have something as aggressive as that that has been in debt -- endorsed by the minister of defense. i am very encouraged that he set the minimum standard for the military academy. he has been endorsing these military officer class is for when and. there are some steps being made and the key is for us to sustain that and continue to grow that. >> we will start taking a two at a time. >> my name is jordan.

i am an intern here at brookings break i was wondering if you could address the ethnic makeup of the army. >> gm is about five rows back. >> i have a computer in my lap. when you have your discussion with general rodriguez, you never talk we did you ever talk about when you will know when this force can stand and fight on its own? you have had the experience in iraq. there was a point when commanders looked at them and said, these guys can take the lead. when will you know that? what will convince you that we are on a sustainable path? >> ok.

we monitor that. it is very important. we have an agreed upon standard. we have a 5% that can be above or below. it is never perfect when you can recruit everywhen great ones we form a unit, that formation of the unit out of the training base has an ethnic breakup that is representative of the nation also. we spent an inordinate amount of time working diligently and during that period -- doing that. we are slightly overt and the army. it is more than 5% right now. it is about 11 or 12% break it is more than what we want to see right now operate right now.

we want to make sure that we do not bring as many end and the future. generally, it stays fairly well balanced. it can be a national force that represents all of afghanistan. not one particular ethnicity or a geographic area. we did the same and the police force, too. we made a conscious decision not to worry about the ethnicity of when and because we are having a hard time getting in to come into force. until we're able to get large numbers, but we do track it and i can tell you what it is, but we are more interested in getting them into the force than we are worrying about their ethnicities. as far as when they will be ready, general rodriguez did

identified for the first time one of the 84 and the tree battalions -- and the tree battalions as being able to operate independently. he has a fairly large group, about five different levels that they use to evaluate these. there is a large group coming in behind it. you can see the progress of improvement in need battalions out there as they move along. we specifically have looked hard at the end the trade -- infantry each month since that will be a key indicator to us. when somebody asks me, are they going to be ready by december of 2014, if the afghans maintain a commitment that they have

today, and the international support is still there, i say, absolutely. they will be ready to take the lead for security. i do not even question it. >> right next to james. >> i was at npr when you were at baghdad. when you began your comments, you said that the afghan forces will be challenged internally by all propensities of how to act on what to do. i was wondering if you could talk a bit more about that. three months into your time there, before acting on the list receipt issue, we did literacy issue, why is it taking so long? >> general, can you talk about

how in during indoor and will be? talk about what is necessary for maintaining the institution so that the afghans can secure their country. what are you really looking at after 2014 as far as for and commitment? -- foreign commitment? what should public to be prepared about? >> as far as the training mission, we will not complete that until 2016. our mission clearly keep indoors. -- endures. the nato training mission goes well beyond 2014. he has publicly stated that. he is absolutely right. we only make up about 3% of all the military forces. we are not an overwhelming size,

but with a tremendous impact. it is something that we do want to see continue. the strategic partnerships that are worked out between different nations, between nato, and afghanistan, will be very important for my mission as a naval officer. it is something that will need to be sustained for some period of time. when they take the lead for security, it means they are able to conduct independent operations, but it does not mean that they have fully developed all their systems and institutions. that is why would we are building a national security university, we have built places for international professors to come in and, to be able to live there on the campus with offices and spaces for them. we recognize that type of long- term partnership will be very good for our afghan partnership -- counterparts. from the training perspective,

we do not finish until 2016. some of these things take time and patience to do. from a training perspective. from building an institution. but i believe that the ability for this thing to last, again, we have spent a tremendous amount of time building an indigenous capacity. one of the things is a lot of the training was done outside the country. we are building all the capacity to do it inside of afghanistan, training afghans to become the trainers themselves. training afghans to become the trainers of other trainers. take a non building facility engineers, developing facilities engineers. personnel that can maintain and sustain a military or police and

the structure that has been built inside of afghanistan right before this year, we never attempted to take admission on bright but we recognize for it to last, they will need engineers. it takes almost a year. i have to put them through three months of education before i can even start to begin teaching their basic technical skills. i have to bring them up to a level of literacy. when i out of 10 are totally illiterate, not that we cannot do it, it is recommended that you have to make. why weren't we doing it before 2010? my best answer to that, because there were a lot of guys like me that did not have somebody

like ambassador holbrooke saying, you need to take on literacy. i train them to be soldiers, the best i can, policeman. but we have all come to recognize how critical it desperate it is the essential enablers for us to do what we are doing inside afghanistan. it only cost $30 before each soldier we trained to be literate. $30 is all that it costs. we use all afghan teachers. we just got nato to stand up a trust fund for literacy. the united arab emirates just put $10 million into the fund. those are the kind of contributions we are looking for. there is a lost generation of

afghans who have not had the opportunity or were denied the opportunity to be educated. becoming one of the largest employers of teachers in that country because we recognize how critically important it is. we are setting up literacy courses. initially, we only worried about it in the training base. we think it is that important. as far as the propensity to going back to things that were previously -- a major one is in powering your subordinates to be able to do things. everything was very much centralized. teaching them to let go and allow their subordinates to

make a decision so that everything is not centralized at the very top. it has been a very challenging task. we're making some real headway. it is starting to occur. we are always cautious. some of the most capable officers are the young lieutenants and captains that have gone to these training programs. they take the initiative, they are willing to explore a different things, they show a tremendous amount of care for their men. when we arrived, the police believed they were there to be served by the people. i really think we're starting to see a change in that where they recognize that their job is there to protect and serve the people. make sure we do not slip into any previous ways they were

operating at six, seven, eight years ago. >> we have time for one last question from the back. >> i want to ask about the support battalions. there is a big problem that iraq faced -- standing up that support portion of that. where are you guys now in handing that over? >> i had a team over in iraq about a month ago. trying to correlate that to 2014 and work our way back to today and figuring out what we need to be doing now. that is a huge piece. the support units are critical because it would take us about a year and a half. they need to be partnered and be

further developed. the good thing is that we are starting far enough in advance. we have been resources to do what we need to do now. they had not been well resources in terms of the people that were required. the commander before me used to say, we live in a culture of poverty in that organization. they had to do without. we have been very fortunate and we have been able to get the trainers that we need both from the united states and the international community. we are always ready to take more and we can fully employed them. but we are being given what we need to accomplish this what you will see this fall is a decision by our secretary of defense to give us another major support element that we will be able to employ and work with the support forces in afghanistan.

it will be a huge uplift for us. we have been fortunate. the secretary of defense has given us the people type of resources that are really important for us to do this mission. >> thank you for your service, and thank you for your time today, general. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> up next, the french foreign minister talks about the political unrest in the arab world. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum announces that he will be the republican presidential

nominee. that news conference is later. on tomorrows "washington journal," a report on illegal drugs. the foundation started by hedge fund manager gave $100,000 apiece to 24 people under the age of 22 agreed to drop out of school and start a high-tech companies. later, a look at the history of walter reed army medical center, scheduled to close the september. september. "washington