on an associated press report. >> is there a message you're trying to send at this particular time to republicans? >> no. at least not a message that's any different than the message the president delivered in his state of the union address. the focal point of this president's policymaking agenda is expanding economic he is going to leave no stone unturned for his search for policies that will strengthen the likelihood that economic inortunity will be expanded, his search for individuals on the other side of the aisle who are willing to work for him to achieve that agenda. the president has been clear he is not going to wait for those individuals to materialize. >> he is throwing in the towel? >> i am not sure which context you mean. >> meaning that he is not

looking to negotiate -- [indiscernible] did you point out that conversation saying they were done with negotiating with the president? >> [indiscernible] isi am pointing out it ironic for somebody who has declared on national television they are no longer willing to negotiate. the president has said clearly what his principles are, they are encapsulated in his budget, and you and all republicans will have the opportunity to pour over the details in the couple weeks. >> back to what you plan to do with them, he is not going to convene negotiations [indiscernible]

going to try to sell these things to the republic -- to the public? >> you can expect the president will do what he has done the last several weeks, to lay out clearly what his principles are, priorities are to put in place to increase economic opportunity. he will encourage congress to act on them and demonstrate his willingness to act where congress does not. it does not mean that he has given up on congress, but it means he is not going to allow congressional inaction to prevent progress in washington, d c, on a set of priorities the president thinks are critical to the long-term success of the country. of influence and chess boards notwithstanding, russia is a big player in the

ukraine crisis. russia has an adversarial relationship, mating in the comments last night about vladimir putin. why doesn't the president pick up the phone and call putin and come to an agreement -- to makeresident tried this point last night, and i will not do it eloquently like he did. i will give it a shot. ongoing is the dispute is not theis tragic result of differing perspectives in ukraine between the united states and russia. it may have been true in the but not true80's, today, that the turmoil in ukraine is directly related to the aspirations of the ukrainian cent,e and their as

that their government is doing according to their wishes and aspirations. focusing on whether or not the united states would benefit on one decision of the yanukovych administration. they are focused on whether or not the ukrainian people benefit by decisions made by the catacomb which -- by the yanukovych administration. the focus should not be on this outdated notion of spheres of influence, but on a peaceful resolution of the concerns of the ukrainian people. >> the east-west divide triggered this, the u.s. versus moscow. is there a concern that sanctions might have the opposite of the intended effect

and drive yanukovych further into debt arms of the russians -- further into the arms of the russians? >> we are considering what our arsons -- options are in terms of sanctions. we will consider the options that are available if and when a decision is is made. we will make an announcement. -- ourcern is not principal concern is not why in whether or not vladimir putin stands to gain or lose from the ongoing conflict in ukraine. our principal concern is making sure that violence in ukraine comes to an end, that the opposition and the government sits down at the negotiating table, and reach an agreement to move forward in a way that unifies the government and

integrates the ukrainian government back in through the international community. that is the principal focus of and whilemaking, there may be some geopolitical intrigue about whether or not vladimir putin''s sphere of influence is enhanced reduced by that out, come a -- that outcome, and interesting conversation, but it is not how this administration views the dynamics that are playing in the situation. april? >> going back to the aca, this administration has said [indiscernible] and then you tell --[indiscernible] what is it? are you expecting bad news or

are they not going to do what you thought they were going to do? some people might describe it as bad news, and i think many people would describe it as good news. our projections about the sign-up rate of young adults under the affordable care act has not changed. and thisanticipate -- is formed strongly by the experience of the commonwealth of massachusetts and they established their health care lawange, under their reform -- that the preponderance of the young adults signed up near the end of the window. and we have a similar expect tatian that the rate of young adults who signed up will increase as we get closer to law -- that the preponderance of the deadline. million by --ct 7

>> what i expect is that the rate of young people signing up for the health care plan will continue to increase as we get closer to the deadline. >> last question -- president obama, according to the leaders who met with him on tuesday, the president did not give details about my brother's keeper. could you tell will be initiative follow along the lines that have been going on for the last couple of years with eric holder, the cochair of initiative, and organizations to help keep black males out of prison? what can you tell us? >> i welcome your interest in this important issue, and the president views this as an opportunity for him to exercise

authority to mobilize people across the country in pursuit of this worthy goal, of making sure -- doing more to meet the needs andauthority to mobilize supporg black men in this country. we will have more details about how the program is structured and the commitments that people have made. >> he says he wants to do more. not necessarily a call to congress, but to the private sector. goingould be done more in to congress? >> we welcome congressional action on this, but there is a lot that can be done in the year. there are a lot of old in communities across the country in academia, is this, -- business, other political leaders who are concerned about this issue and bring their resources to address this

problem. i do not want to get ahead of the announcement, but the president is optimistic we can make progress on this, and he can make progress on this i notifying people across the country to take action. ukraine,st 24 hours in [indiscernible] infighting with the protesters and putting the responsibility on the government, as he did in syria in that conflict there. is there concern on the part of the administration that in the end there are elements of the protesters that are maybe not the kinds of people that the united states wants to be fighting with? that kind of dilemma similar to the issues that have played out in serious as well. is that being talked about? >> two very different situations.

you are right that the situation on the ground in kiev and other cities in ukraine is chaotic and violent. it is difficult to determine who is responsible for what specific action. -- and undeniably true this has been an operating principle for some time in terms of are dealing with ukraine -- is that the government has the principal responsibility for restoring peace and ensuring that violence is not perpetrated against peaceful protesters. it is also apparent at least in some situations that has not happened. that is why you saw this the department put this visa ban in place. we have then just as clear that just because the government has the principal responsibility to keep the peace, it does not absolve protesters from their responsibility to exercise their

right of assembly in a peaceful manner. >> thank you, josh. >> a couple more here. >> chained cpi. the cbo reported that would raise $163 billion over 10 years. ince that is not going to be the budget, will you be proposing some alternative? there will be an opportunity for you to pour over the details when we release it and all the attendant charts and tables that go along with it in a couple of weeks. but i made reference to the fact earlier that there are already a number of things, policies that have been put in place that have substantially reduced the deficit. the deficit is coming down at a rate now that is faster than any time since world war ii. i mentioned the statistic that what the budget will show that

at the end of the 10-year window the deficit as a percentage of gdp will be below 2%. the previous target was to get it below 3%. there are a number of reasons for that. one is we have enjoyed some success in reducing health care costs. that is some of attributable to the affordable care act. reducing health eric house turns out -- health care costs are good for middle-class families who want to make sure their families want to get health care. it is good for the government. you are not going to have a substantive -- >> i will not get ahead of where we are on the budget. what the budget will show -- i will not get ahead of the details produced in the budget, but what the budget will show is we have made substantial progress reducing the deficit and will demonstrate the president is focusing his the mystic policymaking agenda on

ideas for expanding opportunities for the middle class. >> will you confirm a report that the budget will increase spending by $56 billion? >> you are referring to another aspect of the budget proposal, that the proposal will reflect the spending levels agreed to in the compromise between senator murray and congressman ryan -- >> the discretionary number? >> let me finish. in addition to the compromised spending levels, the president will also propose an opportunity growth and security initiative, and that initiative will be a package of ideas for expanding economic opportunity. it is important to understand that the ideas this initiative the president will propose will be fully paid for, fully offset, deficit neutral, but the ideas included are ideas you have heard the president talk about programacturing hub

that will facilitate innovation in the industry in communities across the country. it would inject additional resources into reforming our schools program to make these training programs more job driven. it would inject funding into early childhood education programs so that children across the country would have access to high-quality early childhood education. in some cases that is pre-k programs, in some cases headstart programs. there is a regional ideas included that will be fully paid for and they will be the separate module from a budget proposal that the president will allow that refix coppermine is to spending levels. -- >> [indiscernible] new?ere anything onwe will have more details

what is included. i would anticipate new ideas in the budget as well. a couple more. scott? >> what is the white house appraisal of how much influence putin has over the yanukovych government? >> there are some experts who are more well versed in the history here between president president yanukovych. the focal point of our policymaking is insuring that whoever the leader is of ukraine and regardless of what that person's relationship is with the president of russia that the government of the ukraine refix the will and aspirations of the ukrainian people. that will is not respected, there is a right for citizens to

address their opposition and demonstrate their willingness to peaceably sit across the table and try to broker some political agreements without resorting to violence. that is the criteria we are looking for here. the question you're asking about the relationship between putin is an interesting one and not irrelevant, but it is not the focal point of our decision-making at this point. to governmentl is that refocus the will of ukrainian people, isn't putin a key part of making that happen, and wouldn't that mean a focus of your engagement of this crisis in general? >> the ukraine has a relationship with their neighbor russia, a historic one and a geographic one, because they are in close proximity to each other. it is not a matter of that between the

president of russia and the president of ukraine being irrelevant, but the focal point is insuring government of ukraine is both respecting but also representing the will of the people. because of their failure in to serve the will of the people, we feel a lot of -- we see a lot of conflict and strife in ukraine. that is why we are urging them to sit down to the negotiating table and hammer out a political agreement that will allow the government of ukraine in the country of ukraine to move forward in a way that better integrates them into the international community, and they can do all of that without their having to be a complicated assessment of the geopolitical consequences for russia, the united states, or any other country. the last one. cpiou said that changined

is still on the table. will it include only some transaction -- or is the deficit reduction chained cpi will give you -- >> a good question. here is why. this is a really important principle for the present not because it is good policy, but it is simple fairness. the president is not going to be in a position where he is going to ask senior citizens and middle-class families to make sacrifices in pursuing reduce implicit and not asking the wealthy and well-connected to make sacrifices. it is not fair and not good policy. if republicans -- and republicans thus far have refused to even consider closing a loophole that would cost a corporation or a wellfleet individual one penny. you brought up the prospect of

closing tax loopholes, and republicans walk away. to ask middle-class families to yet wealthyces and individuals should not have to is notose sacrifices, it making sense and does not make good policy. that is why the president is insisting if we are asking sacrifices, we will ask corporations and well-connected individuals to give up some of their tax loopholes. >> while it would reduce the does not doined cpi it significantly that would make it worth doing? >> it would not be fair just ask seniors to make a sacrifice in support of reducing the deficit without also asking the wealthy, well-connected to give up some of their tax loopholes. that is an important principle, a principle of fairness, also a principle of good policy. if republicans here this change

think that makes a lot of sense, maybe i should call the white house and say i am willing to close tax loopholes if you're willing to put some entitlement reform changes on the table. i would encourage those republicans to call the white house right now. i am sure we could have a conversation about that. that offer has been on a table for more than a year and we have not seen any constructive engagement from the other side. i am not sure why that is. is that because republican's are interested in protecting the tax cuts of citizens supporting their campaigns? is it because they have a philosophical objection to entitlement proposals? the president thinks it is a making a lot of sense. we have not seen a willingness on the other side to engage in a conversation about that. if the fact that this conversation will change that

and cause more republicans to reconsider their position, then we are standing by to have that conversation. ok? thanks, everybody. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> here is the latest on ukraine. steve rosenberg is tweeting are searchingrs rooms in our hotel looking for snipers. three european foreign ministers who met president yanukovych today said they found a willingness to call early elections to resolve the crisis. the polish prime minister tells reporters a willingness for early elections was agreed. quoted by reuters.

the ap says according to a protest 70 people have been killed today as government forces have fired on antigovernment demonstrators. we're asking you about the u.s. role in the conflict in ukraine. we ask you to offer your thoughts at facebook.com/cspan. 8:00, welus lineup at will bring you a discussion on how journalism has changed since the edward snowden leaks. .olitical ideologies tv.-span3, american history

tonight at 8:00 eastern on the c-span networks. twoght we will talk with u.s. senators about their lives, careers, and interesting facts about their names. p tells about how her name went from mary katherine to heidi. time there was a small group of girls, a lot of marys. there was a mary beth, and she was mary come and and mary jo, and then a mary katherine. parents never- my called me mary. my best friend's name was cathy. she decided in so great that she

would rename me. reader andoracious had already read hundreds of books by the time she was in the third grade. heidi was one of her favorite. she thought it was a great alliteration. it stuck. >> then we will talk with john thune. >> my grandfather and great uncle came over from norway in 1906. when they got to ellis island, english not know except apple pie and coffee. they were asked by immigration officials to change their name because they thought it would be too difficult to pronounce in this country. gjelsvik. when they got to ellis island, they changed their name and pick the farm where they lived near bergen, norway, which was called thune farm.

they got to ellis island and had a sponsor in south dakota and came out to work on the railroads. >> american profile interviews, tonight starting at 9:30 eastern on c-span, c-span radio, and www.c-span.org. c-span.orgnew website is mobile friendly. that means you can access our conferences -- comprehensive coverage of american history where you want, when you want, and how you want. responsive design skills to fit your screen, from your laptop, tablet, or smartphone, whether at home, office, or on the go. you can watch live coverage of washington. check our program schedules or search our extensive video library whenever and wherever you want. the new c-span.org makes it easy

for you to keep an eye on what is happening in washington. general john allen said yesterday he is cautiously optimistic that the future is bright for afghanistan. he was talking on the topic of u.s. policy in a country following the 2014 troop withdrawal. also discussed a report on further engagement. posted by the center for strategic and international studies, this is 90 minutes. >> we will talk about afghanistan today. a majority of americans think

the war in afghanistan was not worth it and that it is not a vital national security interest. and the a would like us to leave completely and immediately. i recently published a report which we looked out for the next 10 years and speculated about what priorities would be over and among ourars, conclusions was that afghanistan will not be among the highest priorities in the region. of therast to the views american public and views in washington are the views in afghanistan itself of the afghan people. every country that has successfully recovered from conflict and successfully transformed itself, that happens due to the efforts of the people themselves.re i am pleased to be hosting the launch of a report that talks about afghan civil society and

the resource that they provide to their own security in the future and the support we can provide to them. before we get to the report launch, i am pleased we have general john allen to offer some remarks about afghanistan. general allen, retired u.s. marine corps general, is currently a distinguished fellow at the brookings institution in centuryer on 21st security and intelligence. general allen was the commander of the nato international security assistance force in afghanistan from july 2011 through february 2013. he commanded all u.s. and nato troops there, knows all the main players in afghanistan, and pakistan, and is clearly an expert on all these issues. guest, to the far right

of them is the president of the world organization for resource element and education, or word for short. a well-regarded x per on violent extremism and works domestically and internationally to affect that set of issues. isthe director --waleed ziad completingat worde, a phd at the university. is a senioroq has traveledorde, extensively across afghanistan and pakistan, interviewing hundreds of activists and bible scholars to look at the issues we will be talking about today. general allen needs to leave at 2:00 today, so i will turn the podium over to general allen to .ffer some thoughts

we will have a little bit of time for questions and answers before he has to leave, and then we will talk about the report. thank you for coming today. general allen. >> it is great to be with you today, great to be sharing the podium with three very distinguished scholars. i want to offer my sincere congratulations for the work that you have done, the work that is represented in this report, and what i believe will be very valuable outcomes, if we read your recommendations closely and make an effort to implement them. i would also like to acknowledge .he afghans in the audience until my last breath, the afghans will be a precious people to me. we served through tough times.

i want you to know that at least this marine, and there are thousands of others, are with you for the long term. it is good to see you here today. i headquarters sponsored a number of students at a number of high schools in a coed school. it is a remarkable place. sponsored a number of students and brought them to they tell usand about their aspirations and the things they want to accomplish. brought mesion, they to a liberal arts school, well steeped in the arts. one of the paintings was by a young afghan gentleman who spoke perfect english, was an afghan who was asleep, and you had a

frontal shot of this young man who was asleep, and there was a chain around his neck, and it with numbers. you can see the dream that he was having, a woman in a burqa being beaten by a state, and the ruins of buildings. the other picture was by one of the young ladies that was with .s who desires to be a lawyer that painting showed she and two of her classmates in white , ins, their faces uncovered school, clearly enthusiastic about the learning they were getting, and in the middle of the painting are numbers 2014, and then in the corner, dressed in dark rooms and in dark light, clearly trying to educate herself on the aftermath after

2014. 2014 is a watershed year for afghanistan. for a variety of reasons. the first is the election, which mostming, is one of the important political events that will happen in the modern history of afghanistan. it will be the first time where the afghan military, the afghan national security forces, police, army, will have the reach and scope necessary to plan and secure this election in ways that we have not seen before. the international security assistance force will be helping but the preponderance of this election will be in the hands of the afghans. ofwill see the transition the administration that will be elected from the president elected in 2014, on april 5, from the karzai administration the first post-karzai

administration in modern afghanistan. you will see in large measure the drawdown and departure of the large permitted residence we had in afghanistan for nearly 13 years, and you will see ultimately the enduring presence force remain in afghanistan to assist in the first post-karzai administration in modern afghanistan. you will see in large continued development of the afghan national security forces over the long term. it is a critical year. there is a lot of concern in .fghanistan about the future having had extensive experience with the afghan national security forces, having seen them in action this year, the first year in 2013, of being in the lead operations for the , across the fighting season of 2013, and remain in the lead, from our perspective, while there is work to be done, work that we had hoped to do in

the post-2014 period, the afghan national security forces have come a long way. heavyear they took fighting casualties. they were in the lead even their operations were planned and led by afghans with our presence in an advisory capacity largely. the afghan people have a great in whatbe proud of they're forces have accomplished . again, much work remains to be done. this is why it is absolutely clear aboutt we are our commitment to afghanistan in the post-2014 period. the afghan people deserve that clarity. the afghan national security forces deserve that clarity. the region deserves that clarity . and our allies do as well. period, i think, will experience an afghan national security force that afghanistan has not seen in its

modern era. with the continued presence of general, u.s. forces in particular providing advice and support, continued professionalization of the afghan security forces, we will see a couple of things occur. we will see the continued development of the afghan national security forces providing that critical security platform general that will be ny to provide the white space for the first post-karzai political administration to get its legs up from under them. it will be in the first year of that administration and the entire government may not have yet been fully formed by the end of 2014. having an afghan national security force that is confident in its western support, confident in its own abilities which are getting better each and every day, will provide that security platform necessary to provide that next present -- president and his government the

opportunity to come together to create capacity and to begin to move to the post-karzai period. the other really important contribution of the afghan national security force in security platform -- and this is really important. something remarkable happened in tokyo in 2012. the donors conference there -- in tokyo for afghanistan pledged an enormous amount of international foreign direct investment and development money over the period of what the conference ultimately called the decade of transformation. so a secure environment in afghanistan not only gives us the ability to move to the next level of kahlúa -- political capacity and development, it also creates a sense of confidence inside afghanistan for i think the very natural entrepreneurial spirit of the

afghanistan people to catch fire, but also to maintain a close relationship with those elements in the west, those elements in the international organizations that will seek to invest in afghanistan over the long term. greatistan truly has natural resources, the first is underground. how much thew value can be to be did to the natural resources of afghanistan underground, but it is probably in the trillions. the extractive capacity of their future mining industry is breathtaking, when you think about this, but it will require security. great resource of afghanistan is, frankly, the people. ,n the aftermath of 9/11 through the period of time we have been in this struggle in afghanistan, the struggle where the west and afghans were

shoulder to shoulder, bleeding together, sacrificing together. we have delivered afghanistan to jointt today through our and mutually shared sacrifices, where a new generation of afghans ultimately can face the future with optimism. optimism they could not have ever imagined during the darkness of the taliban, or imagined during the civil war, or during the soviet war. much work remains to be done, and this is a delicate moment in the future of afghanistan. but i saw the emergence of a young generation of afghans who are well-educated, healthier am optimistic about the future. they desire ultimately to bring afghanistan to a point where it can be not caught in the grindstone between empires, but ultimately defining its own future as a sovereign state. great distance in that direction. i think the afghan national

security forces, if we commit over the long term, and i hope force, canhis afghan provide a platform for us to be reasonably optimistic that the post-karzai political administration and the opportunity for western development money and investment to continue will occur. so i are for you that view. i was there for 19 months, commanded 150,000 coalition forces. i would remind all of us here that there was a great sacrifice that has been made in support of this objective, but we also have to understand the sacrifices that have been made by the afghans for generations and they are just now beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. our continued cooperation, continued commitment to afghanistan is not a waste. it is not cutting our losses. it is locking in the gains that have been paid for.

their.and thank you for the opportunity. -- end there. i will end with one point. civil society is in many respects the future of afghanistan. we still suffer from an absence of subnational government. to be expected. it is not something that will easily.ckly or our own country had difficulties in that regard in our earliest moments. but the work that has been done in afghanistan over the last 10 years in further the rights of women and organization of women, longevity, child morbidity, opportunities for education, the rule of law, religious engagement, all of those things are at a level that we could not imagine before. that has come as a direct result

of the sacrifices of the afghan people and the afghan national security forces supported by the west. until we can build a comprehensive subnational governance, our emphasis on the development of civil society in all of its forms and shapes, i think, will provide the afghan people, who you're in for freedom and government, who you're in for an opportunity in human rights, will give them that opportunity until afghanistan's government is more fully developed over time. thank you. >> thank you. we have about 12 minutes for questions. i will raise your hand. please identify yourself and your affiliation. keep your you question brief and not give a can get ashat we many questions as we can on the floor. we will begin a property are. -- up front here.

thank you all for being here today. i will take a second question to aggregate them. alliance and support of the afghan people. , beyondion would be 2014, it this does not happen, how do you see the impact on the afghan national security forces? election, asf the i mentioned, the afghan national

security forces have reached a depth and capacity we could not have imagined in 2009. oft in terms of the breadth the country that will be able to vote now, there will be a greater participation by the afghan people. is, because there president karzai cannot serve another term, pretty significant interest on the afghan people in participating not just in this democratic process but also getting on with the building of a democracy. they really are in for it. democracy actually comes naturally to them. the tribal council, the concept of the insurer, in my experience with afghans, and recently when i was departing in 2013, they were looking forward to the opportunity of this election. they were concerned about

security. there were still many unknowns. but the average afghan is getting really excited -- perhaps an overstatement of the term, but interested in participating in the democratic process in ways we have not seen before, which is important. bsa, do not get the president obama has been clear, he will not leave american troops after 2014 14. the method should be clear. i was standing there when he said that to president karzai in a press conference. if the u.s. goes, we can be pretty confident that nato will go. if the u.s. and nato goes, we can be pretty confident about the willingness by the international community to invest in afghanistan or commit very scarce development dollars to afghanistan will be chilled hermetically -- dramatically. the ansf goes, we can be

pretty confident that nato will go. if the u.s. and nato goes, we is very well trained, literally speaking, given its age. i believe we will see, absent american and western traders, resources still made available to the ansf funding and weapons , thats available to them were denied ultimately when the soviet union collapsed and the funding dried up, and that was the beginning of the end of the post soviet afghan security force. not knowis -- i do where president karzai is on this issue at this moment -- whether he intends to sign the bsa or intends to leave it to the successor. thankfully, all of his potential successors seem to be favorably disposed or predisposed to getting on with the signature. we are doings., all the contingency planning necessary to be able to deploy rapidly that enduring force, if necessary. is very wellwe reach a force we

cannot, but we still have months before that arrives. american or western presence, two things would occur. we would continue the resourcing and as necessary, bring large numbers of afghans, security, army, police personnel come out of the country to be trained elsewhere in to be reinserted back into the force. we will be very innovative to lock in these gains rather than to cut our losses. two more questions. . doug brooks, ab can chamber of commerce. i agree with you fully. i think the military and police improvement that we have seen, but the third leg of the triad,

the afghan public protection force. that is to the public sector relies on for their security. that theortunate organization is not getting better. anybody is going to invest their needs. it used to be done privately. is there any possibility that that will be replaced with the new president? thanks. one more question in the back. my question is how can the parts of civil society that are traditionally more conservative and do not necessarily align with the interests of the united states but are still important members of civil society and the overall goal of working with these groups would empower civil society? how do we deal with that? i guess i am partially guilty

for the appf. i arrived in afghanistan before i realized that everything had shut down. appf, for those of you unaware, president karzai made a decision that all private security companies had to go of concerns of predatory behavior, corruption, all sorts of things. not all of them were. many were not, but the decision was made ultimately to replace them with the afghan public protection force,, and it is a state owned enterprise. the intent would be if you want to do business in afghanistan, you contract for your site and envoy security through the appf. afghanistan still is a state, nation where western bureaucracies are difficult to adapt to, difficult to embrace.

afghans within the appf and ministry of interior being able to write industry-standard contracts for security was frankly very difficult. i provided well over 100 advisers into the appf to sit next to the afghans to help the process. i could not stop the clock. it was coming straight at us. the private security companies were going out of business. so as with all things associated with complicated bureaucratic process, that is not an indigenous process with any country. it is going to take time to build this kind of efficiency into the contracting process so that it meets industry standards and those who might do business with the chamber of commerce, to

have a level of confidence that the business practice in and of itself was correct. second, the troops themselves who are securing convoys, who are protecting sites, that they are sufficiently well-trained and are professional enough that we can rely on them to provide a level of security. more work remains to be done. i doubt that we will see a new president change that, but given who it might be, we might see that we might be open to some secured, embedded, bonded private security companies. -- if we still some have diplomats here -- private security companies protecting diplomatic missions, but those have got to be vetted and secured, bonded. so we may see a requirement to do that, but my guess is it would be difficult to walk that whole process back. we need to invest in getting the process right. >> any final thoughts that you

want to share with us? , muchh work has been done sacrifice has been made on the part of both our people. americans more broadly, the west, and our dear afghan allies .nd partners i remain cautiously optimistic that the future is bright for the afghan people, and when i looked into the faces of the young when -- men and women of afghanistan who have emerged since the taliban, the young girls skipping off to school every day with a backpack on being well, educated, it fills me with a level of confidence that i did not have when i initially arrived in afghanistan. what changed so dramatically was that the appf are embracing the burden of the protection of the people.

when the afghan people are protected, they can do remarkable things. if we remain committed, we remain engaged, afghanistan's trajectory can be up. uncertain,t, i am frankly, about the future. but i will always be with the afghan people. >> it is nice to have you down the screen from us. i appreciate your continued dedication to afghanistan and thank you for coming out to share your thoughts. >> an honor to be here, thank you. [applause] >> as general allen makes his way out, i ask you to respect his time. i would like to invite hedieh mirahmadi, who will present the findings and results of their

study on afghan civil society, and i will turn it over to you. >> hello, everyone. thank you for being here with us today. thank you, robert, c sis, for hosting us. thank you, general allen. of course we are all here today because we agree that a secure and prosperous future for afghanistan is critical not only for regional stability but for u.s. national security as well. over the past 12 years, the u.s. achievements have been remarkable, as general allen mentioned, in areas of public

health, education, and of course, women's rights. $650 billion,ing as terrorism and insecurity continues to play the country. as we be on 2014, the u.s. and international community will be defined economic and effective ways of containing the growth of militancy in the region, as well as protecting those important investments we have made already in the country. over the past week, much of the discussion is focused on the bsa and of course the upcoming presidential elections, and these issues are very important, but we have to keep in mind is that recruitment into violent extremism is essentially a bottom-up phenomenon. our investment over the past decade will be jeopardized unless we strengthen local actors and their ability to lead grassroots peace building efforts. report, afghanistan 2014 and

beyond, the role of civil society in countering violent extremism suggests a more robust, focused civil society engagement energy is a critical long-termghanistan's future. having traveled to over 35 cities and villages across afghanistan, the research team determined many actors have both the will and the fortitude to engage in peace building initiatives, and even further good news is that we do not have the to reinvent the wheel. there are groups on the ground that have created viable models that we can scale and replicate. some of the programs have been support, international but interestingly, there are many others which collectively represent an untapped reservoir of indigenous talent and resources for combating violence. there are many notable civil society endeavors in afghanistan but our efforts are focused on

those specifically geared to peace building and countering violent extremism. we will outline for you some of the best practices to date, the challenges many of them face in programming, and some recommendations for overcoming those challenges. we also explore how the u.s. and international community can leverage the efforts of non-faith taste thoseactors and local afghan organizations. in addition to the report we have published a directory exclusively for stakeholders which includes over 100 civil societyactors and local afghan organizations. in addition to the report we have published a directory exclusively for stakeholders which includes over 100 civil society groups from human rights organizations to networks with detailed entry on their capacity and geographic scope. there are several aims to the research. let's safeguard our development investment as coalition forces reconstruction profits may become inaccessible for a lot of american officials to safely visit. therefore, many actors come especially in the more remote regions, can be valuable partners for the monitoring and

evaluation of u.s. government-funded or internationally funded programs. many parts of afghanistan, particularly in the rural areas, the central government has limited influence. civild it is these local society actors who are better placed to address the basic needs of their community. partnering with them would also be a great way to cultivate local support for u.s. government-funded initiatives. second, we want to call attention to the capacity of what we call traditional muslim networks that remain underutilized. although many government try to bring in a diverse group of afghan participation at the conferences or initiatives, many important actors are still left out. as the recent report indicates, excluding or limiting civil society input not only rewards groups that use violence or abuse is their political influence, but also reduces the

public ownership of the peace process and the political will required to implement it. for this reason, we place a lot of emphasis on religious leader engagement. third, we hope to raise the public profile of efforts on the ground and encourage the continued investment in the afghan people by prioritizing funding to strengthening civil society. we provide history and context on what has already been done in the field in countering violent extremism, specifically so programmers had a starting point for good engagement with these groups. for a more in-depth discussion of the findings, i will hand it over to our director of southeast programs, waleed ziad. >> thank you very much.

thank you so much for putting this together. it is a real honor to be at the same podium as general allen. this research is part of a regional study which we began in pakistan in 2010. over the past two years we have conducted fieldwork in afghanistan. we traveled to this team provinces in the norththis resea regional study which we began in pakistan in 2010. over the past two years we have conducted fieldwork in afghanistan. we traveled to this team provinces in the north, to the south, and all the way up to the border in the east. we met with community activists, religious leaders, and tribal elders with the aim of assessing civil society potential to lead peace building nonviolent conflict is and national reconciliation efforts. promoting democratic ideals and countering radical narratives within a culturally appropriate anddigm, as we alluded to, administering humanitarian aid and development assistance in conflict areas.

today, there are more than 4700 officially registered civil organizations operating in pakistan -- afghanistan. although the vast majority were created in the past decade, it is important to note that society is byvil no means a recent construct. historically the foundation was formed by community members, tribal associations of elders. and by traditional muslim which are comprised of shia and sunni scholars and cultural thought leaders, local leaders, who ascribed to one of the classical schools of islami. historically the foundation was formed by community belief. the first phase of development the 64 constitution and concurrently you have the development of political organizations which are distinct

from the mostly apolitical muslim networks that we referred to. these were influenced generally by the muslim brotherhood, islam groups, etc. secondly, secular groups emerged in the 1980's, many of them amongst the diaspora community in pakistan. the most recent stage has been shaped by organizations created after 2001, including women's sportst groups, institutes, educational institutions, media, the list goes on. aree organizations currently registered with the afghan government. of course, there are many more unregistered. and they have received considerable international support. for the purposes of this research, we have adopted a broad definition of society which includes religious institutions as well as tribal

networks, both of which remain understudied. us i am sure no, tribal networks played an .ssential role tribal elders can resolve conflicts between families and tribes on the media between tribes and the government, tell a bend, help to reintegrate former militants, and even foster public support for activities from development programs all the way to elections that we see now. despite their pivotal role, many tribal leaders that we felt they were underutilized by the government. i will give you an example of a tribal elder from the south who a former member of the mujahedin. mentioned the government

agencies, but was ultimately denied because it did so happens that the power brokers the council would have exceeded too much authority to trouble structures. sidelining of tribal elders, which we often see, disrupts afghanistan's fragile social structure. the second segment of civil society which deserves further exploration is traditional muslim networks which perform three key roles. first, institutions like mosques, are powerful platforms. s can address human rights and governance. scholars can also look at sources of conflict within their community and even mediate conflict between militants and their communities. their strength lies in putting it all within a cultural paradigm that is palatable to local populations.

third,s religious leaders are uniquely positioned to mobilize support for conflict reconstruction programs. their institutions can even serve as the pose to distribute aid to more insecure regions. as we mentioned earlier, traditional muslim institutions have for centuries served as the foundation for afghanistan civil society. at their core, they promote social cohesion. quite simply by bringing together communities from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. what do their institutions look like? shrines, honoring things are among the most popular cultural landmark in afghanistan today. thousands of shia and sunni pilgrims blocked to shrines like this. major shrines will hold cultural evidence, and some are the few spaces in which women can

socialize in the public sphere. some of the ones we visited were outside the major cities and some have appointed days for women. you will find several hundred women in attendance at you shrines. as such, they can be important venues to disseminate positive messages and counter narrow exclusionary conceptions on islam. as acan also serve database where segments of the community can receive support. the caretaker of the site explains that when a male member of their community developed a drug addiction, the community provided his wife refuge for weeks until he was rehabilitated. we have many stories like this. centers for cultural and development host

weekly events which are very popular which feature meditation or poetry recitations, or the performance of sacred music. to providing social services and welfare assistance to the poor, they often hold de-radicalization and drug intervention within the terminology. a remarkable example which we recorded from the historic -- when unemployed youths were taliban,ruited by the their families requested that this family two provinces away conduct an intervention. within days, they were able to tap into the network and find employment and financial support for the young men.

de-radicalization and drug intervention within the terminology. madrasahs have also been the primary vehicle for religious education in afghanistan. as of 2011, there were approximately 700 registered, but there are thousands that remain unregistered with crumbling infrastructure. teachers are very concerned and this is something we heard across the board. that some communities may accept funds from abroad to build up their schools, and this may and has change the ideological landscape of afghanistan. cases wherel-known foreign funding has increased the feeling that someone that does not ascribed to a particular form of islam is outside the religion and in the worst case, worthy of being killed.

while traditional muslim increased the feeling that someone that provide opportunities, there are four key challenges, amongst many others, which we really should keep in mind in developing an engagement strategy, going forward. the starts to address the question we had early on. traditional muslim leaders are not as well networked as their counterparts in other muslim countries. border in pakistan, religious institutions will coordinate resources amongst their affiliated soup kitchens, madrasahs, welfare organizations, etc. during the soviet occupation, many networks were dismantled, scholars killed, tortured, or exiled. many were destroyed well libraries and landmark became derelict. many charitable endowment that sustain some of these institutions were also dissolved

. today many communities have to rely on meager provide opportun, there are four key donations. this is an important point, but given social norms come a we cannot expect muslim leaders iici to eye with us on sensitive issues, for example, the role in the public sphere. instead we have to find areas that we agree on, like national reconciliation or women's education. there are numerous madrasahs which have women's branches with hundreds in attendance that we had the fortunate opportunity to visit. once we address these issues, we can move on to more sensitive issues. the other challenge comes from a violent extremists who have recently targeted traditional muslim networks, denounced cultural practices, and is a clear puzzle the pilgrims at shrines. there are a handful of responses to this. scholars from northwest afghanistan have formed a council of 50 personalities and

thought leaders who aim to organize events to preserve authentic culture and spirituality and to raise awareness about the issue of violent extremism. historically, the religious landscape of afghanistan was a practicesal islamic and tribal customs which were shaped in many ways by the traditional networks that we are discussing. by the 1970's, like in other countries in south asia, began to islamism appeal to the middle class and others, and the story of the different parties in afghanistan is probably similar to most of us, so i will not get into details. most of us are probably familiar with the violence and human rights abuses that many were engaged with in the civil war period.

these parties have recently reemerged. -- i amar example is sure many of us have heard of this. a governmentoins and adopt a progressive stance, such as women's education, and then one moves towards a militant opposition. there is prevalent concern that if some of these groups come to power, they may abandon some of their progressive rhetoric on democracy and human rights, but the verdict was still out. that overview of the actors, we will now look at peace building and initiatives carried out by local organizations. we will give you a glimpse of the broad range of methods and channels that have been used, some of them very innovative. particularly how indigent his tools and resources are employed.

we will begin with programs to prevent sectarianism, which many community leaders fear could fuel further violence as it has in iraq and syria. one of the popular nationwide responses came from scholars who formed a council of over 100 well respected sunni and shia islamicknown as the brotherhood counsel. members issued public statements or organize demonstrations of social solidarity. some of us may remember this. when the cultural landmark was attacked in 2012, the council showed their support. other initiatives are less institutionalized. for example, religious scholars and academics and radio at analities will convene major pilgrimage site, to discuss how to disseminate

messages of tolerance within friday sermons and other public platforms. conflict resolution is another key type of program because land disputesr often feed militancy, if left unresolved. these types of disputes were traditionally handled by the council of community leaders or elders. one affected example of how this mechanism can be scaled up comes from -- where hundreds of imams congregate to address community concerns. what is remarkable about this program is you also have these programs televised and a local scholars participating will take lessons to their particular communities. there are several secular organizations funded by u.s. ip, usaid, which have designed excellent conflict resolution

training to bolster these kinds of grassroots mediation efforts. social where for your assistance to at risk communities is a very important part of the strategy. this is really to counter this hezbollah-type strategy of providing aid to win recruits. from are dozens of cso's all over that will provide food and humanitarian assistance to thousands. however, most of grassroots initiatives are not institutionalized, and more sustainable efforts are required to target community that are being courted by militants. they are also developing initiatives from public murals to street eater to address issues of drug abuse and small

arms proliferation, both of which fueled militancy. radio public awareness campaigns have also been developed by stations to inform the community that the regional levels, but you also have grassroots organizations, like the association for solving community problems. that is developed door-to-door arms reduction campaigns. thatted in this case personalized interventions at religious institutions were particularly effective. we have locally imams, community letters, and activists, to develop solutions for drug users. they will arrange rehabilitation programs to the best of their ability. for arms dealers, they weren't offering alternative employment. if the initial intervention fails, the team then invite a large group of scholars who bombard them with ideological argument.

if all else fails, they will turn to local government officials. poetry remains one of the most powerful mediums of communication and social commentary in afghanistan. anyone who has taken a local taxi will know that even cap drivers use classical poetry in critical critique. common everywhere. across the country, communities are organizing public events to floor tolerance in the works of afghanistan's native famed these are instrumental in developing a positive narrative that changes intolerant ideologies. then you have organizations like the foundation for culture and civil society, which organizes poetry recitals and musical performances on a very large scale which were previously banned under the taliban.

tonow i will turn it over mehreen. she has best practices. >> i think it is my job to sit here and man the mouse. there are several channels in afghanistan through which immunity groups are disseminating messages to promote good governance and anticorruption, human rights, women's education, all of these issues which end up building resilience against armed opposition groups. the first our religious which we have spoken extensively on.

to better disseminate information about these key organizations such as equal access have developed radio dramas in partnership with .allers, framing piece there is a number of alternative channels. the grassroots theater in jalalabad uses street theater to promote nonviolent country resolution. let's say there is a conflict over water rights. the organization will perform a play and engage the audience in a live discussion as to how they would resolve the issues in their community. identifiedd work, we best practices. --found programs were most x successful when they used a

culturally appropriate framework to address sensitive issues. it is noteworthy that the afghanistan branch of planned parenthood -- yes there is one there -- addressed reproductive health issues for nearly four decades by engaging these issues with an islamic framework. that there is a concern some societies, ford constructs, actorseated -- by ford to undermine islamic principles. to maintain credibility, it even secular organizations have created partnerships with religious scholars to publicly sanction their work. usaid had done something similar by aaron public service announcements which had involved religious scholars to discuss the importance of civil society. programs tend to be successful when local communities have the ownership of the initiative. several of the programs we studied were funded by the u.s. government, but interestingly, none were branded as such, and appeared to be locally driven.

third, many organizations only attempt to go through the ministry of hodge and religious affairs to identify religious leaders to work with. we found initiatives tend to get the most reach when they go beyond these networks. individuals associated with state linked madras was or mosques, even the high peace council, have limited credibility in the rural areas. while engaging these groups cannot be avoided, it is important to keep in mind, there is a distinction between the state religious officials and the more trusted local religious leaders. additionally, islamist groups and located in the kinds of civil war in the taliban era are similarly tainted in the public's eyes. fourth, we found counter narratives resonated strongest when they were supported by found international religious callers. an years ago, we cosponsored

event with george mason university and boston college, which brought together 2000 ,eligious leaders and scholars all of whom who had been invited. during the conference, developed a policy against violence. when this was aired on the radio, the names of the local actors had been omitted, but many of the civil society groups ,hat we met with still decided because of the authoritative weight of the speakers associated with it. while many faith-based networks we met with were hesitant to engage with foreign governments directly, they requested that organizations like worde engage them. finally, we found involving local civil society organizations in peace building tends to be successful once we foster trust

building and have met the basic needs of the community. even simple roads and wells, which we have invested quite a bit of money in, can be relatively inexpensive, and can go a long way to buy community support. there are several challenges that civil society activist continuously highlighted in the research. security has prevented project implementation and monitoring and has made it difficult for locals to organize public awareness campaigns about extremism. if the bsa remains unsigned and the u.s. were to pursue something close to the zero option, this could jeopardize efforts on the ground. in addition, talking about militancy in afghanistan is a delicate issue because there is no real consensus on who the enemy is. there is much confusion as to who is behind the attacks.

essentially, our research indicates violent extremism -- antistate activism has taken a variety of forms. of course we have the taliban, which are quite decentralized. then you have independent listeners, foreign-based militant groups, and then you who the militant islamists, as we know, recently coordinated the attack in kabul. finally, there are the nonviolent extremists that espouse a nonviolent interpretation of text. due to the married of actors, it is difficult for activist to develop counter narratives. despite these obligations, there is at least a consensus that groups killing civilians trying to create ethnic discord and those engaged in fear, particularly painting she is against sunni, that these issues can be starting points to frame

narratives against extremism. media and communication networks also remain underdeveloped through the country. there are fewer opportunities for organizations to speak out. there is also significant misconception of civil society objectives, despite the highlightedi earlier. corruption and nepotism are cited as problems. another common complaint is that the international community is still limited largely to engaging with english speaking kabul-based societies. financial viability is a concern. many are relying on international funding and many have developed donor dependency. kabul-based societies. financial viability is a concern. many are relying on international funding and many have developed donor dependency. if funding were to be significantly cut, it could have a drastic impact on afghanistan's civil society. we are likely to see a high increase in unemployment, particularly amongst youth, as well as fewer peaceful outlets for people to air their

political and social grievances. ofally, the vast majority organizations lack institutional capacity. addressing this will take time. to promote civil society are great programs that should be continued. so what are the next steps? our interviews offered a number of recommendations for peace building and countering violent extremism. first, groups recommended that we go local by engaging community leaders in peace building initiatives. this is something that developments experts noted worked well with funding councils development or councils or cdc's. for any local project, like interrogation, the government would provide a fundingyou wou's

fundraising on the pulpit, tribal leaders at their gatherings. according to a development expert we interviewed who have been monitoring these programs, these projects off all -- also offset radicalization. because people want to retain ownership of the project and do authority toucceed the extremists. secondly, activists suggest that we go percentage, and the community would raise the rest. rural. the debate over afghanistan's future has generally been urband to the kabul elite. we can encourage the development a political third spaces, like universities, that can bring together civil society activist to contribute to the discussion. more civil we need site leaders outside of their urban centers to participate in state building covered his, something to keep in mind if there is another conference. third, it is important to diversify religious engagement to include a political traditional muslim groups that have the grassroots credit

ability and which are not associated with early war crimes. finally, you should be included in all aspects of peace building. his is a particularly important reminder, considering 68% of the population is below the age of .5 an expanding base of partners, more refined screening processes , will naturally be required, which take into account organization and individual past history. participants should have consistently denounced terrorism, suicide bombings. as you mentioned, we may not always see eye to eye with these groups, but it is important to identify those who ascribed to shared values. in working with former militants, and vigilance will be , to make sure they do not say one thing publicly and another privately. one of our interviews with an international ngo after a long discussion with an aid worker

about public health issues, we were surprised when he told us about how happy he was to meet young muslims working on the issues and recommended that when we return to the u.s. that we could set up a muslim way.ization like alin the same as you can imagine, we were quite shocked that someone with extremist views was working openly with a well respected international organization. needless to say, we ended the interview quickly. all of this requires that our cultural competency training programs need to be scaled up. afghan community leaders agree it is more foreign personnel -- is more for now -- foreign personal had received total training it could have reduced reasons -- dress and green on blue attacks. furthermore, training modules on identifying the roots of violent

extremism so officials can better identify partners. our report also goes into detail regarding international effort to engage civil society group. key groups that are organized through the state department through capacity building. while the efforts have been very well received, we need to develop all of initiatives come a starting perhaps with the graduates to really forge a network of east builders who can ultimately develop national campaigns. one area that will require special attention is networking between faith-based and secular organizations which today rarely .orroborate finally, asking that the network counterparts. all of which are facing similar issues of either insurgency or violent extremism.

so civil society organization is still in the institutional capacity development. the most common needs are listed here. i would just like to stress that training should include guidance on becoming eligible for funding on international donors, particularly as we move forward. one of the main impediments for local organizations to access international funding is smaller organizations that are based out of kabul thomas of a lack the capacity to carry out larger projects or compete with bigger organizations. they said they would prefer to have micrograms come a which could be better managed, and recommended reducing complicated reporting requirements. and even expediting grant locations. finally, given the quick turnover of u.s. government staff in kabul come a we need mechanisms to ensure continuous

engagement with civil society that we have been working with him at the spite the difficulties of the past 12 years, there are organizations still interested in receiving report from the international community. end here and add that we encourage policy and the community to return -- refer to resources. alternately we hope this can civil- foster a engagement the on 2014. >> thank you very much. of you are formulating questions or figuring out how to make them more concise, i will begin by throwing out there, we foresee given the american public attitudes, given the has been will that declining pretty rapidly in washington, the strong likelihood that attention will continue to wane from the

international community in afghanistan over the next few years, could you spell out what your concerns are, and maybe found them -- bound them in error rosy scenario given the and what civil society is your biggest fear. >> obviously you have to keep in mind there are many positive sides to elections and people are very excited about it, but there is trepidation when change happens. he will have two sets of elections at the leadership level and then the elementary level as well eventually. in the past year this compounded with 2014 and the possibility of allowed. you have are ready started seen a lot of organizations that are less likely to engage the matter of extremism directly. it is very hard in the past 8-12

months to name names anymore, because there is an uncertainty about which names may be out there after the elections, and god for bid, if there is any further conflict that emerges, you may have retaliation after the fact. then of course some of the inple issue between funding elections as well. people have started to feel that. almost for the past 24 months. so's have been in this mode drawing down operations. at the same time, we would like to be positive about it. you do have faith there will be members of the international devote a that will substantial portion or good portion of the 16 billion towards these kinds of object it's. in the end, i guess what i am it is notsay is that

a multi-trillion dollar enterprise. you do not necessarily need budgets of countries. you do not necessarily need to go into a deficit situation to solve the problem. and using maneuvers money wisely. >> i would like to call attention to the importance of the countering violent extremism portfolio for the u.s. government. i had a u.s. official tell me it is about to go stratospheric. 200 million dollar global fund created by donor countries with the united states involved, the creation of the uae, i think the issue of building resilience against million -- militancy in afghanistan will continue to be him foreign for the u.s. national security interest. so it was important for us to the able realize that religious leader engagement is such an important part of the

portfolio in hoping that we will continue the investment going forward. until i call on you and until the microphone gets to you and please identify yourself and keep your questions short. >> george nicholson, policy consultant and special operations. you alluded in the last answer. what i look back to what happened in vietnam, we pulled out and said we will provide the logistic support and funding for national security forces. two years later congress cut off all the funding. you can talk about this is not that expensive of an enterprise but all your recommendations have to operate under a security umbrella. my concern is, what has happened in the past with the american public and congress saying what

national interest is this? when you pull out the support, then how critical are your operations having to operate under a security blanket? this issue comes up quite a bit. i would like to say they went security.utely no i understand the importance of building a road and bringing a tractor from japan and the pieces that require a military convoy to execute. the kind of projects we are talking about do not require security. this is building up a social welfare capacity. building up a training program. these do not require a lot of security, because internally amongst community members, they do not need it against one another. it is only the influx of foreign orders -- foreigners that bring

a very serious security component. that is my impression. >> we have models on the grounds -- on the ground of groups that have performed very well with very little security. group that these will approach communities and have communities where it is very difficult to differentiate between who is pro-state and taliban and then the gray space of in between. there are certain needs that a lot of communities share him and i think this is really where the building blocks emerge. this is conventional wisdom in development. a lot of specialists will tell you this is how you go about dealing with conflict zones. erstwhile, we should keep the fear and security elements in check. we have to be realistic. there are areas where we can work the tractor and military

installations. >> gentleman on the site on the please. >> i am a veteran of the u.s. foreign service. word now in washington policy circles that deal with foreign operations of this type in afghanistan is partnering. i am not at all cynical about that. i think that is a good concept to work towards. partnering. it seems to me there is a dilemma, and i would like your thoughts about it. ,he dilemma is if you partner then of course you play into the what you are doing

is foreign-manipulative process. if you don't, some of the drawbacks that local , worked tos have limit the effectiveness. you referred to a few examples and others.g, usaid how do you work within the dilemma? >> thank you. >> i think this boils down to cultural competency. when we talk about the various programs across the world where you are having problems of isremism, our philosophy that local groups on the ground have been dealing with the problem of radicalization and extremism a lot harder and longer than we have. we found this in pakistan as well where you have local communities that face the fire of radicalization. they are the ones where the recruitment -- recruitment comes

out of. we've seen this in other parts of the muslim world. they have answers. the answers are not perfect in the complete perfect answer we are looking for but answers that they want support on. one can offer them certain institutional support to make the answers more proactive and effective. so there are many ways of creating change on the ground without having the stamp of -- respective foreign government. i think a lot of roots have done that. i think that is something we have seen internationally that in many cases governments have -- we see fantastic projects that reconvene the local projects. determinedt is funded by usaid or funded by this and that. so it is possible. it is not an insurmountable obstacle. a simple example, one of the

schools and pakistan has asked with thee competing gulf-funded extremist schools and do not have modern resources. can you give us text looks? it has nothing to do with the u.s. government stamp or seal on a project i'm a just helping them to compete against the resources of well-funded extremist groups. little projects like that can have a tremendous impact on their ability to keep and maintain students for example. broader observation globally from context and looking at national conflict worldwide, if there is a community in the middle of afghanistan, and the people who live in the community are still a live, despite 40 years of war, it means they have figured something out.

what they have figured out has always been an underutilized resource. so it is something that is worth paying attention to. >> thank you very much. i am with the public think tank called afghanistan awareness. i have two questions. at the same time that we have these activities, we have also relentlessly working to radicalize the population. they have been successful to some extent. did you go over the activities on radicalization in your study as well? my second question, considering

the importance of the interventions with regards to andging the society network importantleaders and considering the fact that we cultural rich foundation and afghanistan for that, considering that islam has big lace,rically a why has the afghan government failed to tap into this opportunity? growing security of the whole world. >> thank you. aside, ipiracy theory have heard a number of responses

to that question. why aren't we utilizing the various groups against the threat, and why can't we position ourselves better? why don't rely on people with shared value? i have been making this ointment decades. -- making this point for decades. we will not pick a good islam, the right islam were the right actors. translatesason, that weo it is not our place, will not make decisions based on the ideological or theological position of our potential stakeholders. think about this issue quite a bit. a lot of people do not understand the theology or religion in the countries or do not understand this is an integral part of the stakeholders or because they do

not want to be an integral part of the stakeholders or sincerely not wanting to be in the middle of this issue? i cannot say which, if not all three, are a factor. to think itlined cannot go on indefinitely. the whole world is taking on this issue. even the saudi's. i do not think the issue will go away, and we may see development or movement towards developing what is violent extremism in the muslim context and what are the solutions to it ideological and my institution has been studying this for a number of years. we put out a report a year and a half ago. throughoutd agencies the u.s. government, why don't

we engage in this issue. a lot of it is hard of the establishment clause part of the constitution, not sure if they to get involved in these issues. i have been hearing there is still a reluctance, even today. something we have been looking at for eight years now. very happy to see they are taking the six fast -- this exact issue on very strongly. i think we have time for one or two more questions. jim in the back. >> i am jim shearer, formerly office of the secretary of defense. in q4 and a very interesting discussion. on non-stratospheric restaurant. -- a non-stratospheric question. how do efforts to counter , civil society

organizations, how are those efforts facilitated or made more complicated and afghanistan, especially in the south, by efforts to counter cultivation, counter narcotics, the whole issue on the other side, which a lot of us worry about. >> thanks. yes, they are complicated. i think this boils down to the fact that there are obviously several problems of radicalization and extremism. this is a confluence of different factors. on the one hand him a you have groups that are ideologically driven. i think a lot of religious scholars know very well who the people are.

your ideological component. malicious --e, militias causing trouble. drug money comes into the whole picture. this is a copout answer, but i think you are absolutely right, the opium reduction complicates everything. occasionally one of the things we saw was that certain forms of violence get covered up by other forms of criminality and violence. is the not sure which chicken and egg and which came first and then they feed upon each other. this makes it difficult for organizations trying to trim -- trying to pinpoint what the problems are. >> another point to consider is ourn when we engage groups

interviews would try to lay the ideological groundwork. when it comes to the issue of extremism, so many different ,actors and actors at play here one of the ways we were able to pull data was to ask communities have to prevent the latencies and drug abuse in your community because that was used as a gateway towards violent extremism. reductionng the drug campaigns can be excellent inroads to addressing the issue. like to give you the final word for the day. >> thank you. thank you all for coming. i hope the report will be a

useful tool for those of you in government or with aid organizations that are involved in cbe work or involved in afghanistan. we would like you to work out to us if we can be of assistance any further. we have been working closely with a number of the groups so we are happy to facilitate relationships or partners with the group and look forward to continuing investment in the afghanistan people. >> our programs work on afghanistan packets and other issues related to conflict. worde.org. presumably you can find this report and others, including work they have done in pakistan and others. i would like to thank all of you for coming. please give a hand. [applause]

>> national economic council director spoke today about economic holocene and president obama's priority. he also talks about unemployment. here is more on that. >> are we at another spring moment in the economy where we will see the celebration -- deceleration soon? >> i think a lot of people are in the same place, which is i think they look at fundamentals, and they see a certain amount of momentum. i think the fact that it looks like we will not have the self-input and loans with the threat of a default or threat of a government shutdown will be good for certainty. i think that obviously is -- think manysly i people thought good enough news about the longer-term that it

affected policies of the fed, affected other people's transactions, those were not temporary things. those were pretty solid underlying trends. i think it is most likely that a lot of what we have seen has been more weather related. i think we all have a responsibility to look. i think everyone was trying to figure out how much was weather related. i would be cautiously optimistic that the general notion that there are positive trends in the economy, even during this time we have seen unemployment rate of 6.6%. the last jobs number was obviously not as good as we beld like, but projected to 180000 and private sector wise, one hundred 43,000. the other thing is to look at what is happening at the state and local level. if you want to look at what is frustrating to us or the president is when you look and

see under our administration we have lost about 677,000 government state and local jobs. day,e president asked one what is state and local jobs -- what is state and local jobs have had the same, unemployment would be 5.8%. if you look at private sector gdp, if you just looked at the private sector component, since it started, about 3.5%. so i think to the degree we could see less contraction from the state and local government side, a little more certainty, i think there is some reason for optimism. the one thing some people pointed to is consumer confidence and small business confidence have stayed fairly positive. those are things likely not affected by weather as much. i would say cautious optimism, but i think everyone in the economics world will look at the numbers to see how much of it

was weather related or whether something has changed. i would still be cautiously optimistic that we are having increased momentum in the recovery with the following caveat, it is not good enough. >> that was part one of the of -- part of an event held today by politico here did you can see all of it later in the schedule or anytime on our website. here is a look at the primetime schedule tonight. journalists discussed the edward snowden story. on c-span two, book tv authors who have written books on political ideologies. c-span3, and american history tv with a look at the presidency of william johnson. now, transportation secretary anthony fox talks about funding his department and infrastructure issues. he spoke at a daylong summit hosted by the u.s. chamber of commerce for 40 minutes.

>> ladies and gentlemen, can i ask you to take your seats, please. thank you, everyone, for coming to the second infrastructure summit of the u.s. chamber of commerce. we are so excited to be presenting a program today that focuses on the intersection between infrastructure and the economy. you will notice from the program that there is not a lot of what we will call the usual suspects and he appeared today. that is because we have been asked repeatedly to bring business to the table and talk about how does infrastructure really serve the business community. make it real for people. make them understand why we invest in roads and rail and runways.

make them understand why we have an the need to federal, state, local and private partnership to make infrastructure happened. so that is exactly what we are doing. i lead the transportation and infrastructure team, along with true preston who put this entire conference together. and we are thrilled to be able to start today with the new secretary of transportation, anthony fox has been selected by president obama to lead the nation's transportation infrastructure, planning, systems, air traffic control networks and comes to it, place of knowing just how transportation has to work for communities, regions, businesses and for people. he was mayor of charlotte, north carolina. a city councilmember. before that, he was in private law practice. the man knows what he is talking

about, and also, very excited that the charlotte bobcats will become the charlotte hornets once again. so without laboring along it introduction, i will introduce to you anthony fox. [applause] >> good morning. thank you very much for that wonderful introduction. just as an aside, i took office inmayor of charlotte in 2009 december. football team, the carolina panthers had some of the most challenging seasons during the time i was mayor. i left in the summer to come here to take this role him and they went to the playoffs. citylike to say i left the

better off than i found it. hopefully we can do that here in washington as well. i do come to washington after serving as a mayor. just about every mayor in and every mayor can talk about a business considering his or her city with hundreds and sometimes thousands of jobs in the balance and invariablely the business representative will bring up a road or a curb cut or a bridge that needs to be built or repaired to make the site work or under the best of circumstances, the existence of one of those assets that makes the investment sensible. and so i want to start out by assuring you that i understand that