>> a reminder come all of this brookings forum will be available at at our video library at cspan.org. 225 years ago today, congress

ratified the bill of rights. judges at 7:00, federal talk about its relevance today, live from the national archives on c-span2. one of the new house members of democrat congress is darren soto from florida's ninth district. in this interview, we learn more about his background. >> representative-elect darren soto, representing the ninth district of florida. tell us about your background. rep.-elect soto: well, i'm of puerto rican and italian descent, originally raised in new jersey. my whole family came from the tri-state area to central florida and up from puerto rico, and now there is over a million of us in florida, and that was a big part of my election here. >> you said you will come out here and represent the interests of florida but also the interests of the island. rep.-elect soto: certainly, you find out quickly when you represent central florida the close cultural and business ties we have between central florida and the island of puerto rico. you realize in addition to the

760,000 constituents in your district, you have 3.3 million other folks relying on you because they don't have voting representation in congress. >> what about your experience, that factor of your area, but also your heritage -- what do you think that brings to the job and the work you will do in washington? rep.-elect soto: well, we hit the ground running. i am a grizzled veteran. i know it doesn't seem like it. i've served 10 years combined in the florida house and senate, passed members bills helping firefighters, helping dreamers, fighting against fracking in our state, making sure to increase education opportunity and economic opportunities, and brought back millions of projects, new colleges, new roads, new commuter rail system to our area. we come up here with an army of folks who have been working with me over a decade and a lot of airtight ideas on what we want to do and what committees we want to sit on and what the

needs of the area are. >> what is your background in civil rights? rep.-elect soto: well, i was nominated class counsel in a federal voting rights act suit at 26 years of age against the city of kissimmee. there was a similar voting rights suit being levied at the time by the department of justice because we had at-large elections in kissimmee and osceola county which discriminated against hispanics. we fought to try to change that system. it was ultimately changed in osceola. a funny thing happened during the lawsuit -- we as spanish, became a plurality and lost our cause of action. at the end of the day, it was a good push that led to a very diverse city commission and county commission now with 2 hispanic members in osceola and three in the city council. we have really arrived. >> you have said that you are a self-described environmentalist. what does that mean for you? rep.-elect soto: i've been known as the greenest member of the

florida senate, leading the charge against fracking in florida, fighting for our springs, fighting against offshore drilling. in florida our identity is as conservationists. we have the most beautiful state in the union and we are also a tourism and agriculture economy. our perception as being a beautiful, clean state is critical to both our tourist industry and agricultural industry. and so we take that very seriously in florida. and we are not an energy-producing state, historically. there was a big battle over that one that we prevailed so far in and my peers on the state level take care of the torch, but there is other issues we will be looking at in that arena on the federal level, particularly with regard to natural resources, our parks and our sovereign waters. >> you are a democrat. how did you get an a rating from the national rifle association? rep.-elect soto: well, that was one year back in 2010. it was actually a bill pushed by

the afl-cio to allow workers to have their legally carried guns in their trunks when they go to work. half the caucus voted for that, half the caucus voted against it. i actually have a d rating overall. but the second amendment, it exists, and i believe people have the individual right to bear personal arms like handguns and shotguns, while military-styled arms like automatic weapons and things like that i don't believe our founding fathers intended for us to be able to carry. that is kind of where i stand on a lot of those issues. >> what influence do you think your parents had on your ideology, your outlook on these issues that you have just been talking about? rep.-elect soto: well, my family is the classic american dream. at work, my grandfather and grandmother moved from puerto rico because my grandfather did not want to make a few dollars a day cutting sugar. they moved up to new jersey.

my father worked nights and was in the navy in order to be able to go to school while still having a family. we went from living in an urban environment in paterson, new jersey, to ultimately living in a suburban environment in new jersey and following many tri-state types to central florida, and we have been there for the past 15 years. my family from puerto rico has been there for about 20 years. we not only represent this rise out of island poverty, urban poverty, to living the american dream, but also followed this classic migration that has led to this story that has elected me as the first puerto rican from florida elected to congress. it has been a much bigger story of our community that helps lift me up and bring me here today. >> what message would your parents want you -- have given you over the years or advice they have given that you keep in

your head as you approach this new job? rep.-elect soto: well, there is no question that higher education was stressed in our household. there was no question that my brother and i would go to college. from there, they asked us to follow our dreams. both of us, my brother and i went to law school in washington, d.c. i went to george washington, my brother went to georgetown. a little bit of a rivalry there. at the time i never anticipated coming back here. i always voted and read up on politics, but it was going back to the neighborhoods and volunteering for races that got me to fall in love with politics and representing our community. i think at the end of the day it was about making sure we had a good education. and that is something i will certainly keep in mind as we are looking at legislation and opportunities in the budget going forward. >> you are replacing representative alan grayson, who ran for senate. any lessons from his career for you as you take on this new job?

rep.-elect soto: one thing i definitely learned is he was very prolific in filing amendments and i happen to share that same trait, and filed more amendments every year than every other senator in the florida senate. i expect to continue that tradition of messaging and providing alternatives and better ways of doing things. i have a more, how can i say, measured style, and it is from being a lawyer in the courtroom quite a bit. i practice law to this day. i just won my trial on monday, a family law trial. certainly the congressman did his best to represent the district. there is a lot of new areas in the district because we went through redistricting, so i'm taking on areas that congressman ross had before, as well as congressman rooney. so there is a lot of shoes i am having to fill now in the district. >> you will be busy. how will you balance your work

here with your life back home and your family? rep.-elect soto: well, it is one foot in the district, one foot here in d.c. my wife is quitting her job at orange county public schools and going to be coming up with me. i believe that is critical. she is my not-so-secret weapon as a public school teacher and a strong believer in women's reproductive rights. but we have represented this area for a decade. i already know where the district offices are going to be, what staff we will have. all these were decided the pass t couple months. we have hit the ground running with our infrastructure in the district and what our team is going to look like, and we will be thankfully coming up on mondays, coming back on thursdays, and live pretty close to the airport. i view it as one step up from a 4-hour drive to tallahassee from orlando. >> any kids? where do you guys plan to live when you are out here? rep.-elect soto: well, missus already took care of that. we already filled out our bid for an apartment five blocks from the capitol in -- i believe it is called penn corner.

hopefully we will get that one because i know that makes her happy. we are a team and we plan on living close to the capitol and being very involved in committee work and hopefully passing key pieces of legislation through amendments and through improving existing bills, as well as bringing home some projects to the district. >> finally, anything you are looking forward to doing out here in washington? rep.-elect soto: i tend to be creative, i tend to have almost perfect attendance in committees, and i tend as a lawyer to be a pretty cerebral type. i plan on being very active in filing amendments, and floor speeches to a certain extent. but i believe it is all about committee work, it is all about oversight, it is all about day-to-day business of the house that is going to help distinguish us and meet the goals of our district. >> our c-span viewers will see you on the house floor. representative-elect darren soto, thank you for your time. rep.-elect soto: thanks for having me. appreciate it.

congress gaveling in on tuesday, january 3, 2017. live in trump tower lobby as people come and go. meetings today with donald trump as he continues selections for his cabinet and senior staff. the incoming administration, president-elect announcing his selection of lieutenant general keith kellogg as chief of staff and executive stare. -- executive secretary of the national security council, headed by retired general michael flynn. directorica crowley, of given occasions for the council. she had been -- of communications for the council. she had been a commentator for fox news. additional announcements on leadership positions. presidential transition

team, including one of his advisers during the campaign, anagault, named as part of the transition team this afternoon.

just a couple of cabinet positions yet to be announced by the trump transition team, including agriculture secretary, veterans affairs, and director of office of management and budget. earlier today, ryan zinke, montana's solo congressman, freshman congress and, was announced as injury secretary, announcement from trump tower today. our cameras here throughout the day watching the goings-on in trump tower. you can follow that online at cspan.org. reminder, too, president-elect

trump will be out this evening as part of his "thank you, heading tour, hershey, pennsylvania, with vice president mike pence. you will have coverage of that tonight -- we will have coverage of that tonight. they will have a rally saturday in mobile, alabama. the electoral college meeting monday. we will have live coverage of electors casting their ballots in illinois, pennsylvania, michigan. to attorneye you general loretta lynch. she spoke to political reporters anna palmer and jake sherman today about her tenure as head of the justice department and the transition to the trump administration. >> ladies and settlement, please welcome politico -- ladies and

gentlemen, please welcome politico reporters anna palmer and jake sherman. anna: thank you for joining us today. my name is anna palmer. i'm here with jake sherman. we want to thank you for joining us for one of our last playbook events of the year. thank you to those tuning in on the life -- lifestream and c-span for what will be a fun and exciting conversation. we are thrilled to host attorney general loretta lynch, who will join us on stage to talk about her times in the obama administration and what she is focused on in the waning days of her tenure. before we get started, i would like to send a special thanks to our partners at bank of america for the tremendous support of the series for many years. i will welcome onto the stage, tony allen, head of corporate relations for bank of america. thank you for doing this again. [applause] jake, and happy

to everybody, and thanks to politico for continuing this .onderful tradition we continue to support meaningful dialogue about the country's path forward and the responsibility we all have in ensuring its future. bank of america, as many of you know, employs 200,000 people, 40% of whom are people of color, and helps one out of every two american households and hundreds of small, local businesses. we have 90% of the nation's top markets and maintain more than $900 billion in the market place. i should say that we learned several years ago what happens when the success of our customers and clients are not aligned, and we have taken lessons very serious the end of become a better, more connected company. we call it responsible growth, the simple recognition that our success is directly tied to the health of the american economy and healthy american communities. for example, in 2013, bank of

america worked with social finance incorporated and a new york state government by providing $13.5 million in capital for a social impact bond aimed at reducing the cycle of reincarceration. that capital was provided as part of a 5.5 year program and provided reentry and employment services to 2000 formerly incarcerated individuals in the new york city and rochester area. for us and that is responsible growth, the driving believe that growing responsibly and supporting communities we serve and aligning our interests with that of the american people by definition make us a stronger and healthier organization. it is in that spirit that it is our honor an important responsibility to be at this conversation today and many years to come. thank you very much. anna: thank you. [applause] thank you, tony, thanks to bank of america again. we want to remind everyone to

tweet your questions using #p laybookbreakfast. without further delay, the guest of honor, attorney general loretta lynch. [applause] anna: all right. thank you so much for joining us. atty. gen. lynch: thank you. anna: we are thrilled to have this conversation, and in true playbook tradition, we have a bit of news of the top, which we always like you were sworn in as attorney general on it 27, 2015. if trouble shortly thereafter to baltimore in the aftermath of freddie gray's death. since then, the civil rights report, theeased a city of all the more and the baltimore police department has been working on reforming the process. an update on where things stand?

atty. gen. lynch: yes, as you noted, we have looked at the work we have been able to do on policing issues. baltimore represents the arc of that work, the issues and the challenges. it confronted me the day i was sworn in, freddie gray's funeral, the violence that broke out. i briefed to the president on it that afternoon and my first trip as ag was to baltimore to meet with young people and rank-and-file police officers. we had been working with baltimore prior to that on collaborative reform, where the police department reached out to us and said, can you give us help on our excessive force policies and the like? we had been working on that. after freddie gray's death and the attended events come it was clear that more was needed, and the bond was truly broken in baltimore. we initiated an investigation into whether or not baltimore police department was engaged in a practice of unconstitutional behavior. that report came out this fall.

we didn't know the areas of theificant -- we did note areas of significant concern involving stop and frisk, excessive force, particularly in the minority community. we have been working with the city and the police department, not just the police chief but the police union, and we have been working with the city towards achieving a consent decree there. i will be traveling to baltimore in early january to provide an update on the efforts there and hopefully an announcement on those efforts. but we are moving forward there. we have been working with the city for some time now, providing information as well as technical assistance. at this point, the ball is in the city's court. we are looking forward to getting a positive response from them on finalizing this consent decree and making sure everyone involved has the constitutional policing that all citizens deserve. anna: maybe explain, why is consent decree so important? atty. gen. lynch: we call it

consent decree but it really is an agreement between the government and the city that is filed in court. it is court enforceable. it usually involves a monitor. and it is good for both parties because it sets forth the framework of what the city has to do. it sets forth the benchmark of what the city has to meet. help andabout the cooperation and collaboration that the department of justice has to provide in terms of assistance, training. it updates with the monitor does. and it is supervised by the neutral third party, a federal judge. is a changeif there in administration, at the city level. it survives if there is a change and turnover in who is handling the case at the level. if the police chief retires from we've been working with this chief, but if he moves on for any reason, the framework would still be there and his successor will have the tools he needs. heldimportant, everyone is accountable to a neutral, objective standard.

having that court enforceability is key and vital, particularly in baltimore, where so much of the problem is not just the reality of the misconduct that we found, but the perception and the feeling on the part of so many citizens in baltimore, not just the minority community, but people who receive the baltimore police department has not listening to them or to anyone. having that layer of accountability, frankly, helps all parties in this. jake: you told us backstage, you were on a 12-city police tour. what was the most surprising thing you learned? atty. gen. lynch: it wasn't so much as a prize as things we were able to amplify. when i went on the tour, i picked cities that had been where baltimore was, that had been where ferguson was, not just with the problem, with a case, mistrust, riots and even, or violence. i wanted to find locations where in the years after that, law

enforcement and community residents had come together and crafted solutions. my view has always been, based on my 20 years as a prosecutor, is when people sit down together and focus at the local level on what is really important to every community, they can find solutions. i felt that those solutions were out there. i was very gratified to see in, i that had been would say, dire straits, where the department had filed a lawsuit, for example, in east haven, connecticut, and gave the police department and community the structure to work together. to go there and find the residents there come as opposed to literally living in fear of the police, now welcome them into their businesses, their children know the police, hearing police officer say "i've been reconnected with why i joined this profession. i feel i am helping people, as opposed to just patrolling an area and keeping things down." to see that progress and talk about that and be able to share that across the country with

communities that are trying to find ways to build the same bridges is what i hoped to do. i was very gratified to find it. i went to six cities that example site really, really great success with pillars of the president's task force on 21st century policing. a lot of change in law enforcement, a lot of change in what we are asking police department's to do, particularly with things like training. to see the types of de-escalation training that is happening in many police departments across the country is really gratifying. the challenge is how do we build that to scale. how do we make it available to the 18,000 police apartment across the country -- police departments across the country who want the same skill, who want everyone to go home alive from the police interaction? pivot to things in the news right now. we have been bombarded in the last couple days with questions about the integrity of our election system. everyone has seen these

headlines. what can you say the government is doing to ensure that our election system is fair and is on the level? atty. gen. lynch: this is an ongoing process. we have been talking about this for some time, since the summer when we began the investigation dnc and hacks of the trying to ascertain who was behind that. a number of things that we do, a lot of which were talked about publicly, a lot of which we don't talk about publicly in terms of the investigation and responses we have. this is a great concern to us. we began in the summer to look at what we could say publicly about this issue. that is why you saw the intelligence community release its statement in october, a month before the election, letting the american people know that the intelligence community had determined that russia was behind the hacks themselves. the investigation is ongoing. certainly, the review is continuing. but we really do that kind of

public record -- rarely do that kind of public attribution, but it was important in this instance, because the election affects everyone. of thet even a matter results. it is people's faith in the system and the integrity of the system. at the same time, the department of homeland security was actively engaged in reaching out to every state to make sure that they had access to every resources they needed to protect the state electoral system as well. unfortunately, we didn't see the sort of technical interference that i know people have concerns about also in terms of a voting machines and the like. a lot of education went on about that, a lot of training went on about that, and a significant number of states did reach out to dhs and talk to them about those issues. we thought that was an important step as well, to make sure that every state new they could work with us. as you know, the president has ordered a review of this issue going back several elections, not just .16, but 2012, 2008.

we know that campaigns work hacked into 2008, for example. cybersecurity is a concern across the administration. this is in area where we try to be as public and transparent as possible, but there are things that will happen that people are not going to know about because of the nature of the tools, the techniques, classification, things like that. anna: can you react at all to the reports out today that putin himself was involved in the hacking? atty. gen. lynch: i would refer you to the intelligence community and the reports put forth so far. i can tell you that with respect to the review that the president has ordered, we won't be talking about that until it is finalized. there will be briefings, as is very commonly the case. we brief the hill come in a classified manner and unclassified as well. whatever we can make public we will make public also. progressk about the made on policing on this tour.

one of the hallmarks you have been involved in as attorney general, inclusion and equality in the workplace and schools could can you talk about what your greatest achievement is there and what work there is to be done? atty. gen. lynch: i think the work is ongoing. i was fortunate enough to pick up work that was being done at the department of justice, and many communities could a lot of the work we do is inspired by what is happening in the country, people speaking up, saying i have concerns to my have fears, even, and reaching out to us for help it i have been tremendously proud to empower local communities to address these issues, to expand knowledge and information about these issues. a lot of what we are seeing, certainly in terms of the general public fear and separation of many communities comes about when people don't understand each other. to the extent we can help with that, that is a positive thing.

when it comes down to specific incidents when people act on those fears, we have seen a troubling rise in hate crimes -- anna: 67%, right? atty. gen. lynch: 67% increase in hate crimes against muslim americans in 2015 alone according to the latest >> directed against muslim americans. in 2015 alone. recent data on the released by the f.b.i. about a month ago and what we're seeing, haven't tabulated we're seeing an increase in reports to the f.b.i. and doj muslim american community, of hate crimes, bullying, of incidents in well.ls as this is a very disturbing trend to us. we also have seen, the numbers show, stark increases in high numbers of violence familyd against our lgbt members and friends,

particularly transgender of color.s and women homicide rate there is the highest among any group that seen in recent memory. we have talked about groups that felt like they are on the outside. we're talking about the cases that we're bringing, outreach making're doing but also sure that people know that is justice is still here and we're still working on these issues that work will ontinue but they also have to make sure it continues in their communities. >> do you at distribute that election.o the that lead to it. the biggest spike was after 9/11 and then now, of voices calling

consideration. but did it happen. there is divisive rhetoric, fear something ulgated as to be used, that increases, not just the concern in groups but spur people to take action and that's unfortunate. that's the problem we're seeing. lso, rise in hate crimes goes back to 15. there is clearly a host of reasons behind that and that's we've got to deal with. >> what criminal justice reform you guys havehere not made a lot of legislative process. done some things administratively, when we're up on the hill and we're talking to people, like paul ryan and republicans across the spectrum, hey say this is a top priority of theirs so why hasn't the administration been able to rally the package on the hill? there has been tremendous

bipartisan support for criminal holds reform that still so le accountable, but does in a way that, lets prosecutors deal with people as individuals. let's just use the mandatory minimums in the way they were meant. with us discretion to deal according to their individual withtion but let's us deal the tremendous financial burden that over incarceration places on our system as well as the consequences in our communities. i've had very positive with members in the house and in the senate on both sides of the aisle on this issue. i'll tell you that i think if i had the answer as to why we were achieve to congressional action on any one particular issue, my book would out next week. [laughter] so i've been in this town now almost two years, and i think a great momentum

for reform there. there was really thoughtful discussion. i said, on both sides of the aisle on the issues, pulling from states that were providing examples, my home state of north carolina, texas, for xample, providing great examples of how to deal with both the human cost and the financial cost. together.t come it did not come together and it's something that i sincerely will hat next congress take up in the same spirit of looking at what's best for this the criminal justice system as a whole. we had valerie on a panel last week and she said criminal is one of her biggest disappointments as something that didn't get done. is there unfinished business that you wish you could have gotten done? view is you have these wonderful positions for a season. in. know that going so i came in knowing that there would be an arc of work that i picking up and that would

continue long after i left. for me a so much matter of disappointment in not as g able to achieve things trying to highlight the things and tremendous progress we've been able to make. we mention, for example, we able to get criminal justice reform at large. we've been able to do some the y great work, on policing front one of the issues that we talked about in that area a lot has been data collection. making sure that we know how to tabulate instances of police cutting, how to tabulate instants of excessive force. consistent ways to discuss that issue is key to policing reform. so that's an area where we've made tremendous progress. we're going to be releasing actually our protocol for the federal government's esponse to the death and custody act. we've got the report those. n january we're going to open up our pilot project where we'll have for the first time national onsistent efforts on reporting

of law enforcement excessive force. that's going to be a huge boom. we've beenthe things able to accomplish. sometimes you don't get it done congress,ger forum of or the hill but you're able to get it done in a different way gratifying een very to me to be able to say, yes, we did this. accomplish this. >> you talk about your work, the work of the justice department office and so that's a perfect segue to ask ou about your presumed successor jeff sessions, senator from alabama. o you have a personal relationship with him? >> i've met sessions, he's a ember of the judiciary committee. weaver spoken on several occasions about the issues of the day. senator.ainly know the >> and so you disagree with him be fairissues, it would to say? >> you know, i'm not really here which way e about he'll take the department. people ask me that a lot. i think every attorney general 4 to answer those questions

for him or herself and every attorney general will have to be accountable for how they lead the department and for that, you know, i've always had relationship with the press has been important in that. i certainly think that -- he's a key figure in uncovering the just the a.g. ot but anyone setting policy in the dministration, so i look forward to watching you guys have that debate. it.we look forward to doing >> we'll be there. >> more broadly, are there you have with the direction that trump has signaled for his next be nistration, whether it sometimes using facts and figures that aren't actually accurate such as right now, this the safest time in this country's history, but the spiked.rate has does that alarm you at all or are you concerned about that? i think that, again, i think every administration will have these their footing on

issues. i've always found facts to be of doing that.n and i think benefit of actually eing in office is you do have access to a great wealth of information and i hope whoever chair or any of the chairs that will be setting policy will take advantage of that and aavailable themselves that as well as listen to people. as well as listen to people who thatdone this work, i know people ask about how the department of justice will or shift. every a.g. and administration ets their own policies and priority but there is a beating heart of this department that's composed of career people who dedicated to its mission, who are committed to justice, ho are committed to independence of the department of justice. within any administration, and on.y stay they stay on and they guide the ship so i have great faith in them. i have tremendous faith in them but i have tremendous faith in the american people. to us and they raise

issues and concerns and they say in that i j involved take that trust seriously that won't change. people have come together over ways we haven't seen since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. in my ot seen recollection, the diversity of people protesting various issues that we've seen. people who are marg in the treets whether it's a policing issue, whether it's in support of a proposal, the groups are old, they are multiracial, so we've seen a greater level of understanding empathy in this country than we've had in a long time. tool. a very powerful that's a very powerful tool and make people's to voices heard and that's what people have to do. every government has to be held accountable. this administration includes this. myself inclusive as well. always welcomed that and i think it will continue. also tell people don't forget the local level.

don't forget your local prosecutors and local government. and say, we need laws that are responsive to us us.t are protective of that are evocative of the founding ideals of this country. hich is that everyone has a right to participate in america. no matter where you live, no no er what you look like, matter whom you love, no matter how you pray. that's the foundation of what we the ones who can never forget that. one of the issues that donald trump has supporting at various times, various statements about undocumented people from this country, you told this week, believe you sat down with her, that you protect do anything to undocumented folks in mass. there was no kind of blanket that you could take. is there anything this administration can do in the last couple ofhe weeks here to address an issue that the president and you and various people in the spent lots on have

of time on. >> the question before me was whether or not there could be a a group of people, the dreamers, young people who came here and are working here, here, and contributing to our society as every immigrant group has done since beginning of this country. pardoning ue of someone is an individual that's made on a case-by-case basis so framework or gal regulatory framework that allows en mass don of a group that being said, this was a decision that this dministration came to based upon looking at the situation of these young people. looking at how they had society.ed to looking at their records, dreams and goals, and looking at how hat was consistent with the ideals of this country, so people have got to continue to make that case. to have got to continue raise those voices. at all levels of government. doj, department of homeland security. but make sure that people who positions into these

understand the importance of the them.y that led to i don't know what the future holds, and there is no guarantees in life. been the case.ys it's never stopped people from working hard on these issues them and it can't stop now. >> talk a little bit about workingty of the people on these issues, what would you say to some of the career fficials who are really having soul searching moment of what about staying in government and their advice to trump? people nly doj but across the government, wondering this is something they can do? >> everyone has to make that decision themselves, based upon of their work what they are called upon to engage in and how. been fortunate enough, i've now for over tor 20 years and i've served in everal different administrations, and so i think people have to look and see, are

able to carry on the work that's of import to them? find that they will in many ways they will be able to do that. the work of protecting the american people. work of protecting the environment. the work of reviewing the business community. looking at those cases and making those decisions. that does go on. go on.ll the cases of the department of both on the s, criminal side, the civil side, environmental, as i mentioned, other ways, that work will continue. eople, if you focus, as i always have tried to do, one of the best pieces of advice i ever i was a young prosecutor, it's not about you, it's about the people you're can to protect and what you do to carry out that mission in the most effective way. o i think people have to look at it that way but they will make different decisions. other will move on the challenges. they will take their mission to other venues. and that's part of

government life also. that's something that i think to be a tremendous benefit people who are working on issues of importance in this field. number of people who have of these ulling different voices together change, is going to part of the process. of ways, in a number people can contribute whether their agencies or not. not. thing that's gotten this administration is commuting sentences or pardoning offenders. for, ny people have called out toeague pointed this

me, commutation for drug offenders. do you think that's an appropriate action? is that we say obviously have been doing a great deal of work on the cy initiative em me and very gratified he's taken the recommendations of of justice although he reviews every file himself. these are individual decisions. whole line of people who contribute to this so it's out, very well thought recommendations that the doj makes as well as the review in house, and of the president. and i think when you're talking about clemency, the same with pardons, it's a very individualized decision. t will be hard to craft a system for a blanket commutation of a class of people. we've looked at it as, look at the situation where people have been held accountable for their behavior. not, you know, some sort of blanket approval for what got place, ere in the first

but how have they handled themselves while they are incarcerated? what length of sentence did they receive? is it a sentence that they would likely have received today, and look at these types offenses. and just being very careful review these matters. deal of t with a great respect to ger steen, who is a we're set of yours and there.to have them thhim.re happy to have the focus has been on giving discretion that they need to provide individualized accountability for people to. them the tools and flexibility that they need to make sure that people are held in a way that's consistent with their role in the offense. that's the same theory that how we forward into review clemency and pardons. >> what is your relationship obama, i mean, how

much are you talking to him on a regular basis? take us behind the scenes. you're both lawyers, right? ou're both very smart people, graduated from harvard law school. tell us about his process. tell you is that it's very gratifying to work for thoughtful, who is who considers issues deeply, who ands deeply about the human personal side of every issue certainly that i have presented before him. seen him discuss in groups large and small. it is tremendously gratifying to president who supports the independence of the department of justice and values on input and our guidance issues like clemency. and pardons. it is tremendously gratifying to have a president -- i think, is the bedrock the bedrock of every issue he considers is how will this help people?rican and so discussions mean, having those in those discussions means

always going beyond just, you know what can we do here and give me the legal it's how will this help? what will it mean? what difference it will make in of people? i've watched him hold meetings on policing issues, for example, community members, with law nforcement leaders, with elected officials, and every one in the room had a chance to to and d felt listened everyone's choice was taken into account in the final version of turned to e all later. so i think that's been a tremendous asset certainly to me member.inet i think it's something that the american people have benefitted from greatly. never have someone who cares too much. the s also willing to make hard decisions and to look at say -- not just, why is this how we've done it for ears but why are we doing it this way? is it the right way to do this do. is it the right thing to

>> talk about the independence of the justice department. a justice department took pretty big role in the 2016 election. >> more than would you like, i imagine. f.b.i. director that technically reports to you discussed the investigation into ne of the candidates, hillary clinton, weeks before the election. do you think he impacted the election? have to leave that to the analysts and the pundits to review because there study going on about whole host of factors in this election because so many times hat i think people viewed from a statistical point, for example, turned out to be different. discuss l be a lot of analysis.t a lot of i'm not in a position to say what weighed in one way or the people analyzeet that. what i can say about the whole matter is, throughout the consideration of the investigation that was under consideration, we took great steps to try and make sure that

of career dent team prosecutors and agents were able their work freely without any interference from anyone really and just make their reported tions and we those out. and so there are times when be more y and transparent than we often are about this and provide more information about that so people can understand the process. you know, and how that worked out, i think, has also been out in the public discourse to a great degree so i'll leave that for the analysts well.cide as >> do you wish that he hadn't said anything or do you have any thoughts about that? >> i think we have to look and see what have we learned in of handling these matters going forward. >> is there any after action report that the justice doing into how that was handled, whether it impacted election i guess is up but is there any after action report on just how everything went down? >> yeah. go into what we're doing in terms of reports or

writings or discussions, i don't do that in general. so i won't comment on that for well.atter as what i can say is that the focus has been and always was, and continue to be, on making sure that it's the work of the department that's the issue. career people there who work on these matters are the ones who will be giving us to makeion that we need the final decisions. >> we'll get to the hook in a i want to inutes, talk to you about, what has urprised you most about this job, as a career prosecutor, somebody who has been around time, rk for a listening about the top job, what's been thing?st surprising >> i'm not so sure you expected it all, right? no way you can anticipate everything that happens in the day of the life of an attorney general. people ask me to describe my day. every day is so different. incredibly ay is so

rewarding. if the intelligence communities nd law enforcement agencies that we work with so closely, i wouldn't say it's a surprise, been most gratifying is to see, even though as i u.s. attorney in the field but to see the larger role of the department in the lives of the american people. hat's been tremendously gratifying to be able to go out and talk to oast local law enforcement officers are on a task force and here them talk about the grant money what a different this is made in the human trafficking victims they have been able to rescue. see that has nd been wonderful. to talk to prosecutors from across the country from offices and who have priorities.

has beenhat dedication gratifying to. be able to talk to local law enforcement agencies and provide cameras, for y example, and hear them say what in fference it's made policing on the streets. them ivilians and watch interact with young people to talk to the police department about setting up a youth and will come l several months later and say, it has changed he way in which we police and we now know the kid and have a relationship with more that work h, to see going on gives me tremendous faith in the american people and who care about these issues, and to see the results f the policies that are put in outstanding.n >> what's next for you?

will you be staying in us a gton, can you give preview about where you will be? >> take your phone off and never answer. point, we're committed to running through the tape as the president has asked see, we still have a heavieost of things we'rk resolve in the weeks ahead and we're confident that we can do that. and continuing to raise the important issues we've been working on. so many people i'll be decompressing for a while, after the administration is over and to go and ng where what to do. one of the benefits of being the the ney general is seeing tremendous variety of commitment out there in the field and knowing that i'll be able to working on these issues that are important to me. single thing, decompression, are you going to turn off your blackberry and not answer? >> throw it into an ocean

somewhere, like i feel like doing. the won't encourage destruction of property. [laughter] >> especially company property. maybe not before january 20. encourage that sort of thing. i'll just be decompressing and time and then et deciding what to do next. -- when i ow, when left the administration before, before i ended up staying in new work on a able to number of things that were of great importance to me in terms of public service. there are so many wonderful things that people can do. and i'm looking forward to well.ring that as >> great, thank you so much, attorney general for sharing us our unique story and thoughts about the accomplishments and doj.'s next to come at the thank you all for joins us in our audience and on live stream on c-span and thanks once again for bank of america for

your partnership. tomorrow, our last event of the year where we have cocktails. great day, thanks so much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] . has convicted ry of allroof of the murder year. last of my hope that the people north carolina can find some

peace in that justice shaefshed. in new york, the scene this afternoon, the transition people holding cabinet with potential and senior staff selections throughout the day. then this evening, he and mike will be off to hershey, of their ia, as part thank you tour. o florida tomorrow and alabama on saturday and we'll have live coverage of the hershey event eastern on c-span. as different groups have been meeting with the team, some have reporters. we'll meet with peter king of new york who was in new york at the trump tower late this morning. a member of the intelligence and homeland security committees. he's followed by a group of ayors and finally the transition -- the campaign adviser,son and senior kelly ann conway.

>> excuse me? >> did the c.i.a. ever get back to you about russia? >> no, they have not. have not heard anything from he c.i.a., and, to me, what happened has been disgraceful. whatever conclusion they want to come up with is one thing. there is no c.i.a. conclusion. told i.a. has repeatedly us that they have no idea what the intent was. f there was an intent, it was to disrupt the election to a ate confusion, and cast cloud over the winner. right now, certain elements of and intelligence community and certain politicians are doing the work of the russians, because they uncertainty this over the election. this is several days before the electoral college. after en in briefing briefing and even in the public statements, the director of national intelligence, director f.b.i., have all said that they don't know what the motive is. motive, it was to

disrupt the election, not to the r one candidate over other and to have it suddenly appear in the "washington post" nd the "new york times," intelligence community and c.i.a. has concluded this. who? john brennan? some rogue person behind a desk? people in the intelligence using disinformation tactics against the president-elect of the united and that's just disgraceful. and the fact that they would today for an intelligence committee briefing to tell us who is saying these hings and who is not is disgraceful. we met with president-elect rump, it was a very productive meeting. i was there primarily to discuss different ideas i had in security in combating islamic terrorism and fortunately for vice president who is an old friend, he was also there so it was very productive. > are you interested in a job or just giving him advice? >> i was just really there -- made that and i

clear up front. mainly, he's going to have very agenda as far as islamic terrorism and combating it and i just wanted to give him some as to what to do with the house and to tell him i would be there fighting for i am it's so important. >> just like advice and council it is an injustice to the american voters. donald trump will be sworn in in january. i look forward to what i believe will be one of the best presidents in the history of this country. he is off to a great start, proud of the job he is doing, and proud of my congressman to. the number one issue this country faces right now. we have the right men and women on the job.

it was a great meeting, very productive as congressman king said, and would look forward to more in the future. we discussed national security issues and other issues. i have been coming in and out of , and mr. trump has always been the type of person, i am a local county chairmen, and he likes to hear it from the street. he likes to hear what is really going on in america. we have continued to have an awesome relationship, and very fortunate for that and hope he feels fortunate for my advice and counsel as well, so it was very productive today. excuse me? what issues are you talking about? >> the main issues i discussed were well we have to do to have

a justice department and fbi more leaning forward when it comes to islamic terrorism. we can't worry about political correctness. the fact that on we have to be on the lookout from attacks overseas. aggressive inmore trying to stop them. has a mind when it comes to understanding politics. he wanted to know who voted for him and who didn't, and i told , president district obama carried it by four points each time, and donald trump carried it by nine points, of five point turnaround and a district that has a democratic plurality.

ofwas a combination down-home politics and also talking about world issues. after the meeting because he comes at you from all different directions, and in the middle of it all, vice wasident-elect mike pence there, and my daughter also joined. what program are you referring to? basically how it is aggressive and forward leaning when it came to trying to estimate and determine where terrorism is coming from. there are various programs that that thessioner had new york times did not like, but they were effective in stopping terrorism and should be a model for the country.

my unbelief is i do think the russians were involved in terms of hacking the democratic national committee. know that all of the intelligence agencies have said they do not know what the motive was other than to disrupt the election and create doubt among the american people so that no so vladimiron, putin and the russians have succeeded. andain elements of congress the intelligence community are them toat putin wanted do. i would have said the same thing if hillary clinton had been elected. we discussed that briefly. no, the fact he has ties to

was head of one of the leading energy companies in the world. that he was able to build a relationship with putin can be used to our advantage. if anything, that is a plus. to deal withng russia, and i think we should, and i don't trust putin at all, but i think there could be weaknesses they have that we can use to further our interests, and working with the russians, having someone who understands the russian mentality, the russian economy, will be a big plus in the united states. in theenough problems house. the senate, it will be fine. also, i was talking last week with a leading diplomat from one of our closest allies does not

like russia, does not like putin, but thinks the position eitherin these of russians, we can negotiate and make progress with the russians to our drainage. i may say, donald trump said from day one in this campaign that he wanted to bring the best and brightest minds from the private sector into government to help solve our problems and whether it is secretaryecurity, as of state, rex tillerson fits that bill. this is someone with the tremendous reputation. he has dealt with world leaders from corner to corner of this globe as a businessman. this is what donald trump said he was going to do, professionalize our government, and that's what he's doing right now, and a lot of people are over blowing the relationships. the quality of this man could be

second-guessed by no one, nor his motives he will be pro-america, i am sure of that. >> is it john brennan or somebody under him. why didn't they tell the house intelligence committee? why go to the washington post and the new york times when under the law they have to go to the house intelligence committee. it, someone was doing it, or it was a democratic senator at a briefing and he was giving out selective information , and any information you get in , what i'miefing saying is couldn't they at least find the time to tell the president-elect? number two bank, to tell the

house committee on intelligence in charge of this? is that, and i'm sure john would agree, that president obsessed with the poor treatment of veterans in this country. i have seen more emotion on that issue than any of the other issues. he was basically taking it all in. he said he does not want to be bound by political correctness and do what he has to do to protect the american people. these are my views. ok? thank you. .hank you

the am the mayor of oklahoma city. , pastecutive director president and my vice , the mayor of new orleans. we hadin president-elect. it lasted about 15-20 minutes. he showed great interest in helping cities progress. priorities are based around infrastructure and public safety, and he has pledged to be a partner in those efforts. we gave him information about past funding streams and history

with administrations. we are hoping to meet with cabinet members and get to know this administration better. it is just an introductory orilea lf we feel pleased he was willing to meet with us at this busy time and he showed great respect for our organization. i have been engaged with people in the transition for quite some time, and the meeting took a couple of weeks to put together. we ask for the meeting after the election. can you tell us what you thought of the meeting? >> the meeting was very productive. the president-elect listened to our issues and concerns, our desire to see significant investment in infrastructure and the protection of municipal bonds as a key part of that plan

. excited about the relationship we will build and the new administration. there is a lot of work that has to be done. focus on investment and american infrastructure and making sure reliable,trong, responsible police forces all across this country. we have men and women doing great work on the ground, and we want to make sure this relationship and doors to that ultimate goal. did he say who would be his point person for mayor? >> he did not. we gave him our input that we mayor, ahat a former present mayor was elevated to a

position of interest inside the white house who could guide the administration on .ntergovernmental affairs generally dealt with jerry abrams as the former mayor of louisville. that is the key position for us. >> thank you. >> the president-elect indicated that he plans to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. most infrastructure and the u.s. , two trillion dollars has been spent using municipal bonds and protecting the tax exemption forming his double bond since 1913 as sacrosanct to us. 75% of american infrastructure is ill to using this tool, so it was an important piece of the

discussion. obviously the president-elect is a builder with innovative and creative ideas and we want to ideas are on those ideals the table. thank you. >> hi. we have two more positions to fill.

they will make for own decision and announcement in due course. ivanka is committed to women in the workplace. she had a wonderful platform during the campaign. her and her father were a big highlight of the campaign, particularly her outreach to women. >> how much more receptive was the president-elect? i was not in their meeting. , would not disclose it anyway but pete king has been a tremendous asset and has offered his counsel on a number of occasions. about keeping

america, their allies, their interests abroad safe. aboutw he has an opinion the latest cia information, and he is always welcome here. as you can see, basically the president-elect is entertaining people all over the country. i think they're up to 90-92 meetings, 50-55 world leaders on the phone. it is an exciting time and he is fully engaged. will be in hershey, pennsylvania and the same arena where we were before a election inside and 5000 outside. to go back there 5-6 weeks later is incredibly exciting for him. tomorrow is florida, then the next day is alabama.

he has made that promise and showed his commitment to moving to the capital. will not do anything like that and tell he is president, but i can guarantee you that he is a man who will accomplish many things very quickly. that's why his 100 day plan is very ambitious. when you are a successful billionaire businessman, real estate developer, you can't blaming other people. you are in charge of the issue, so i know it is very much on his mind. i have no insight on that and was not aware of that.

we have a number of wonderful, qualified candidates for press secretary. i know you are all fascinated. it is not a job i can take at its point in my life to certainly could. i think the plan is to get these remaining two cabinet positions lockdown and then start announcing senior staff. that's up to the president-elect. there has been a flurry of activity up there. are just really happy we are way ahead of schedule because the last 40-50 years, including , newe herbert walker bush the qualified men and women who would serve in his cabinet, and

we are ahead of that schedule. his job will be in washington, d.c. but we haven't discussed his travel plans when he is not in the oval office. i was kidding. what's that? time he has, he works. i promise. answer thatg to question because i would rather talk about his 100 day plan. the president-elect was very happy to meet with the tech players from silicon valley. he said you are some of the most

innovative minds and important people, job creators, innovators from across the country, if not the globe, so we are glad they , really happyout they got to talk about abroad,ting funds from getting more serious about cyber security, increasing educational and vocational opportunities. and just working together really to know that they are the theards, and that together public sector and the private sector are the stewards of our country. he appreciates the fact their job creators, economic stimulators, investing in research and development, and he said he would like to meet with a group like that, quarterly if possible. given that they have different

politics, it doesn't matter. i haven't discussed that with him. i haven't done any christmas shopping, so i'm dancing it myself right now. on december 19? he is expected to be in morrow lago. mobile,, he will be in alabama for the final leg of his thank you tour, same stadium where he was. you are probably there. that's right. it depends on what happens that day. he will be in mobile, alabama, then florida. we are not worried about it.

the president-elect is open to .iscussing humanitariane , thes and aleppo population dying and destroyed. i saw john kirby saying that secretary kerry is increasingly frustrated. this president is very much concerned about syria. thank you very much.

trump tower, to kellyanne conway mentioning the , agricultural secretary, veterans affairs secretary, yet to be announced. thateports this afternoon president-elect donald trump may select larry kudlow to to chair the white house council of economic advisers, saying conservative economist stephen moore advised the trump campaign , saying that donald trump could promote kudlow for the job in the next 48 hours. donald trump and mike hands off to hershey, pennsylvania as part of their thank you tour.

we will have that here on c-span, and look for evidence with donald trump in florida, alabama on saturday. our live coverage from trump tower continues online at c-span.org. up next, we take you to the afghanistan and acid or to the united states on looking ahead to afghan relations with the trumpet ministration, and we talk about stabilizing security in the region.

>> good morning. thank you for joining us at the heritage foundation. we appreciate those joining us on the heritage.org website. for those in-house, make that courtesy check that cell phones and other mobile devices have been silenced as a currency to our speaker and, of course, we will post the heritage program on the website following today's presentations as well. leading our discussion this morning and opening our program, we are pleased to have the president of the heritage foundation, senator jim demint. senator demint. demint: thank you, john. welcome to all of you to the heritage foundation at the freedom center here in washington. we are delighted to welcome the afghan ambassador to the united states. his excellency abdullah mohib. he is here to kick off a half-day event about the future

of afghanistan under a trump administration. as the war in afghanistan is now 15 years old, it is now time -- no time to lose focus on the future of this mission. in 2015, we at the heritage foundation are pleased -- we were pleased that the white house finally agreed to reconsider the timeline for withdrawal of the u.s. forces. we were even more pleased when president obama agreed earlier this year to maintain current u.s. troop numbers. for the duration of his presidency. it was something the heritage foundation had advocated for for a good while. we are of the firm belief that the next administration should determine its strategy based on conditions on the ground in afghanistan rather than on political timetables in the u.s. it is important that the afghan people know the u.s. will stand with them in the fight to ensure the country never again turns into a safe haven for global terrorists. were we to leave afghanistan permanently, it would send out

the signal we do not have the moral fortitude to see through what we believe to be a matter of national security. the impact of this would be felt beyond afghanistan and throughout the world. it would extend across the region and to the middle east and north africa in one direction, and southeast asia in the other. the u.s. and our partners have sacrificed greatly in afghanistan. more than 3500 u.s. and allied troops have been killed since 2001. have taken the lead in the security operations, afghan security forces have shown their metal and they have suffered greatly. more than 5,000 forces of afghan troops and police were killed in action and over 14,000 were , wounded in 2015. there were reports that show the figures for this year may be even higher. our continued support, whether it be training, advising,

equipping, or funding the afghan forces, is crucial. now is not the time to turn our backs on afghanistan or the afghan people. before i turn the floor over to our honored guest, let me tell you a little bit about his background. before being appointed ambassador to the united states, dr. abdullah mohib, served as deputy chief of staff to the president afghanistan. a ph.d. and bachelor's

with honors from brunell university and the united kingdom. before joining the government, the ambassador worked for the american university of afghanistan and the intel corporation. he has been an active leader in civil society among the global afghan community. he has carried out excellent charitable work for his own country and is a published writer on afghan politics, as well as academic research. there is no better representative of afghanistan to the american people and we are honored to have him here at the heritage foundation today. mr. ambassador, please join us. mohib: senator, thank you for those kind remarks and for the introduction. i would like to, before we begin, take a moment to honor the sacrifices that both american and afghan troops have made for a joint effort in combatting terrorism not just

for afghanistan but the entire , world. i would like to thank those that served and their families. this is a joint war, joint effort. we are fighting joint threats and i am glad to see that we , continue to be able to make sure that no one makes, like the senator mentioned, that afghanistan never becomes a safe haven for terrorist groups. that said, would i like to thank the heritage foundation and lisa curtis for organizing this very timely event. this is a remarkable time to be in the united states. a new administration with bold new ideas is about to enter the white house. in six weeks, a new president will inherit the responsibility of america's role in afghanistan . unlike his predecessors, president trump will be working with a country that is already two years into our transformation decade. we are at the start of an unprecedented 10 year journey out over four and into an era of stability and peace. we could not have begun this journey if the united states had not been a foundational partner to the afghan people for the past 15 years.

already, we're closer to our goals of self-reliance, security, poverty reduction, clean governance, and regional economic integration than we ever were. i am delighted to represent afghanistan in washington at this moment in history. i echo president rani's optimism that 2017 will bring closer cooperation and greater progress on our shared national security interests. for 15 years, the united states and afghanistan have jointly pursued a shared goal in the name of keeping our two nations safe from harm. eliminating international and regional terrorism from afghanistan. if in pursuit of this goal, both our peoples have sacrificed enormous blood and treasure.

we also recognize the sacrifices of our other international partners. both our countries and our international partners are weary of this fight and want nothing more than for it to be finished, won decisively by the forces of good. i don't need to tell you that we are not there yet. as the trump administration considers how america engages with afghanistan, and how it fits into their foreign policy and national security goals, one overriding fact is indisputable. the rational for u.s. involvement in afghanistan remains as urgent today as it was on september 11, 2001. as general nicholson pointed out earlier this month, to quote him, "out of the 98 u.s. designated terrorist organizations, globally, 20 of them are in the afpac region." this represents the highest concentration of terrorist .

this represents the highest concentration of terrorist groups anywhere in the world." he also recently said that, "if we would draw from afghanistan, it is only a matter of time before these terrorist groups are at our doorsteps." he rightly highlighted the americans have a very capable and willing and brave afghan partners who are defending their country in defeating terrorists. even without the presence of the terrorist groups, the afghan of today faces considerable threats from the taliban whose greatest wish is to destroy u.s./afghan partnership. the chaos, violence, instability that the taliban creates provides the oxygen that the other terrorist groups need to thrive. without question, this year, our brave afghan national security forces were severely tested, but they prevailed. they prevented the enemy from accomplishing its strategic

objective. just since august, the taliban has made eight attempts to seize provincial capitals three times kunduz twice in , laskarga and twice in turncoat and once in farah. each time, afghan forces defeated them. does anyone remember what they did on october 6th. ? it was a thursday. in afghanistan on that day, the enemy launched four sigh mullmultaneous attacks on our cities. our forces turned back each one of those. now, it is not admission of

weakness to stand here and tell you that despite niecethese accomplishments and successes, afghanistan and its forces, security forces alone, may not be able to defeat the entire spectrum of insurgents and terrorists operating in afghanistan. rather, it is a reflection of the reality. our modern military is only 15 years old. our forces lack the necessary closed air support, sophisticated intelligence gathering and medvac capabilities. more importantly, this fight is not ours alone. it never has been. it is the fight of peaceful nations everywhere who are threatened by both state list and state sponsored terrorists. a center piece of the u.s. national security policy has long been to disrupt, dismantle , and defeat the terrorist networks that threaten america. nothing i have heard suggests that president trump wouldn't continue that policy. if that is the case, then he and his successors need to consider an enduring partnership with afghanistan based on mutual commitments.

stability in afghanistan cannot occur unless we are at peace. but stability requires much more than simply being at peace. first and foremost, we must have political stability. despite how it looks, from the outside, we are moving closer to political stability today. yes, it sometimes seems messy. what you are watching is the essential maturing process that every new democracy must go through as it decides how it wants to govern and implement reforms. the disagreements and debates that flare up into public view and make headlines are necessary growing pains. more importantly, they are the first step toward agreement, decisions, and actions. if we weren't having messy greements

agreements/disagreements about our election and how our election should be held, how our ministry should be run and how our public services should be delivered, we might be having a messy civil war. so this is progress. this represents promise and this should be understood by anyone who assesses the strength of the current afghan government. finally, this morning, i want to give you a snapshot of how afghanistan is doing on its nonsecurity related goals. i'm referring to progress that is improving the lives and provides opportunities for all afghans, moving the country closer to economic self-reliance and strengthening our position as the round-about for a modern silk road. as an economic and transport bridge between central and south asia, europe and the far east, president rani has made regional cooperation and connectistvity a top priority. and, it has paid off. agreements we have forged through central asia, china, and india, i would like to list just a few highlights.

the first train from china recently arrived in afghanistan as part of the five-nation railway corridor connecting china with iran. more than half of that, a 2100 kilometer track, will pass through afghanistan. the potential impact, economic impact on trade and transit cannot be underestimated, nor can the positive effect this can have on regional stability and integration. afghanistan and turkmenistan just opened the first lappis-lazuli railway will will connect our two countries and and north to europe.k is the we are working out the details of anchor door with yand to give our farmers and traders unrestricted access to the indian markers. the 1,000 electricity transmission and trade project will bring electricity surpluses

from kazakhstan to pakistan and afghanistan. the two-top electricity power line will connect south asia and central asia via afghanistan. a new trilateral agreement with india gives afghanistan access to deep water ports and southern iran. this summer we finished the long delayed selma dam. it will irrigate 50,000 family farms and provide power to 40,000 rural families and the provide a reliable source of the electricity. this summer we finished the long delayed projects with on the power plant, and we begin work on the third part of the -- the third phase of that power plant with a turkish firm to begin the work. when these are installed and the development work is complete,

it will produce triple amount of electricity that it does and irrigate hundred thousands of land and the construction of the new agriculture canals. the oil, gas is estimated at $3 trillion. recently, it became, we became a member of the world trade organization opening more , opportunities for afghan businesses. just in the last year we have , secured commitments for investments of over $1.1 billion from the private sector alone. 700 million dollars of that is in the energy sector pledged over a 20 year time frame. at the citizen level, we have instituted sweeping reforms to end land grabs and grant property rights to urban residence with insecure occupancy situations. our new citizens charter program

gives local community counsel over the publicly funded projects and empowers them to hold ministries accountable for state services. a million new students were enrolled in schools leisure, and women make up 40% of schoolchildren. our media is the freest in the region, and our jobs for peace program is in place in 5,000 communities and has created 2.6 million paid days of labor. our national economic and empowerment plan for women launches next month with new education and training opportunities and stronger legal status for women. to combat corruption, we have replaced 25% of custom officials and more than 600 judges. 95% of government officials have

publicly declared the assets. the commission has saved $220 million by rejecting corrupt contracts and blacklisting 71 companies. and, we now have a five-year strategic plan, the afghanistan national peace and development framework, which was endorsed by the international community at the brussels conference on afghanistan in october. it lays out a long term economic and human development plan for afghanistan. it articulates the immediate and highlights key reforms and investments needed to achieve the goal. see afghanistan is not just hoping for a better future. we have ale solid road map to get us there. we have all the essential building blocks for success the success, the vast human capital

a wealth of natural resources , and ideas for an enduring peace a brave and increasingly , military leader with a vision , a for the future and knowledge to execute it. the afghanistan we're working to create is an anchor of stability eace in the region, a model of what's possible with full regional economic corporation. a walk against terrorism, and a key allie to the united states without whom none of this would have been possible. thank you. >> great. we have time for a couple of questions to the ambassador. thank you ambassador for the very informative remarks. please raise your hand and identify yourself and make your pithy so we have

time for everyone? yes, the gentlemen in the front. there's a mic coming. >> thank you very much. i am will from the international -- can you bring us up to date on the planned elections and more? amb. mohib: well, the election

commission that has been long over due to replace that is part of the reforms has now been established and so the seven members of the commissions have been appointed and the independent complaints commission is also working on the details and the plans for the elections and opposed to you're referring to for some time next year. >> thank you. doug brooks. my question is on investment and afghanistan. my biggest is security situation and the poor performance of the afghan and public protection force and the need to go back as some regulated private security. is there any movement on that? amb. mohib: well, i am speaking at your event tomorrow, and i promise to keep it more on trade than security. i felt this audience was more on security base. the question is quit appropriate e appropriate as we move to making afghanistan a better

place for business, security for our businesses is a top priority, and this is reflected in the current investments that we have received and the $1.1 billion of investment that i mentioned for afghanistan in one year and that's a huge , achievement. some of this is not just afghan investors. the third phase of that project has been given to a turkish firm and their security and coming into afghanistan and them feeling is a huge, i think endorsement to what we're making these years. >> i was an associated press conference in the early 1970's. how do you respond to critics that contend that the president's of foreign forces is in fact an obstacle to a resolution of the conflict there? well, we have not

seen any indication to that to that criticism. we have notice in the past two years and wherever the troops withdrew it did not improve. , last year we had more civilian casualties than at any other time and who are they killing? , the afghans. the national security forces are not leading the combat anymore. that's strictly the afghans now. the number of attacks has not reduced. >> we have time for one more. >> the voice of america.

president electron was not seen as keen and for nationbuilding. as the afghan government continue or demand is it important? or why do you think it is coming -- well, we're fighting , like i said, shared threats and we have shared interest in what i referred to earlier was the mutual commitments not just to afghanistan but the world. so for everything that we have heard from president trump's administrations policies towards afghanistan would be continued process, and building upon what has already been achieved so far. >> well, that's it for this part of the program this morning.

before we moved to our next panel, could you please join me in giving a round of applause to ambassador mohib? >> thank you. [ applause ] >> all right. if you could just give us a minute, and we will set up for for th the next panel.

mr. brooks: >> good morning. welcome to the heritage foundation and this panel on the security situation in afghanistan. good morning. i am peter brooks. there's obviously a lot of territory to cover in the next hour, and we only have an hour. let me give you some information on the panelists whose resumes are very impressive. it will take a long time to get through all of them. we have as much time as possible for presentations, excepts and discussions. joins us this morning is james cunningham. he joined in may of 2015 as a senior fellow and the south asian center and is on the share

-- of afghanistan. he served as ambassador from august to 2012 to december of 2014 and the deputy ambassador and is the ambassador to israel in 2008 and 2011 and then the postings around the world and nato. then we will hear from scott smith. i guess the order is in terms of the seating and scott is going to o go next. he serves as the senior advisor. prior to this scott served as , the director of vip's and afghanistan and central asia program. he was the director there. prior to joining usip in 2012, scott spent 13 years in the united nations, primarily focusing on afghanistan and democratization issues. finally from the heritage foundation, and he will enlighten us. he is the director of the douglas and allison center for foreign and national center policy. prior to that, luke served in the united kingdoms and then the special adviser to the british defense secretary.

during his time, he worked on afghan-related issues and regularly visited the country. u.k. follows his work as a commissioned officer in the u.s. army. in 2005, he was to plug afghanistan and awarded the bronze star medal. mr. cunningham: thank you very much. it is a pleasure to join you.

today. i want to talk about three thing that is they're going to address when it's about not just afghanistan, but the whole range of security challenges that the ,est and their partners face and a zone of crisis now extended from asia all the way to north africa. senator demeant mentioned in this his remarks, but the first thing that i hope the next administration will do is put afghanistan not in the context of a problem to be solved, but the broader struggle that we face dealing with the conflict and islamic extremists. afghanistan is not an isolated phenomenon. it's specific and has a set of challenges. it's an expression of this broader conflict that we need to find a way to deal with. we and the international

partners and one of the things , that americans don't really appreciate is that in afghanistan and then the countries and the organizations ever assembled and trying to bring about peace and stability in the world. that's what we need more broadly throughout the range in the crisis. so putting afghanistan in that context and explaining that to the american people frankly i think it's something that i hope that president trump and his colleagues will do when the time comes, because it can't be dealt with in isolation. we see it in the regional dynamics that exist in and around afghanistan, the role of pakistan, iran, and other neighbors, the role of russia, china, india. there's a dynamic there that can be improved, but it needs to be appreciated and explained. the second thing, as senator demint mentioned, i hope that

very quickly that president-elect trump will send a clear message of the continued commitment of his administration to afghanistan and to the struggle that we have been engaged with the afghan partners over the last 15 years or so. this message of the consistency of the u.s. engagement and commitment i think is essential. not just for the afghan people, but for all party in the region including our allies and the our adversaries. one of the flaws that i'm afraid of is the way that the obama administration has handled afghanistan is that there's not been that clarity of messaging and commitment, and confusion about or doubt about what the united states is about in the region gives concern to our friends and partners and

encouragement to our adversaries, and we need to end that if we're going to prevail successful process in afghanistan and setting the field for a political process, and eventually a political process that leads to a negotiated end to the conflict, which i know afghans deeply desire as we do, but to do that there has to be a reshaping as , the calculations of the taliban, countries in the region , about the consistency of america's role in the region as long as we have a committed partner and kabul which we do. , we need to take advantage of that. the third thing that i think is high on the agenda is taking a step back and looking at the

role of pakistan in the regio and our engagement with pakistan. engagement.ur aware they published , a paper that's advice to the next american president. you can find it if you did not see it on the websites of the atlantic council and brookings. the only thing that we could not agree on in that paper was what to do about pakistan. we all agreed that what we have been doing with pakistan is not producing the desired result and has not been working. this is one of the key

recommendations of the paper, for a new administration to take a step back and look at role, and what we and our international partners can do to reshape its thinking about pakistan and its interests in the region and providing , incentives and disincentives that would encourage pakistan to take the actions that we have been hoping for years that would curtail thee to activities of the taliban within pakistan. that is a truism, i'm afraid recently observed by general keenan and the testimony he gave the prospectsthat for ending a conflict when one of the adversaries enjoys safe havens in an adjoining country are dismal to nonexistent.

that is a phenomenon that we have in grappling with for quite in order to truly get to a political process that leads to an agreement to end the conflict. pakistan must be an active partner in addressing that, and we need to find a new way if we can to encourage them to take the kind of steps that we would like to see them take. >> ok. thank you. scott? mr. smith: ok. thanks. i think there's something in the water in new york that makes one a little bit maybe pessimistic, so before you i get into the

meat of my message, you i just want to say that as someone that's been working on the afghan issues since 1993. i fully endorse to hear about the longer term commitment and the dangers of the withdrawal and the fact that it's a joint project and the fact that we have made investments that need to be redeemed. watching what happened at brussels and warsaw with the recommitment to the civilian budget and military forces for four years, which was to me of great relief and then the uncertain messaging, i could not help but think in a bit of a cynical real estate metaphor on what has just happened, and it seems to me we have renewed a somewhat extensive police on a fixer upper in a dangerous neighborhood without really having the tools to fix it up.

this is, as our president-elect would understand not the best , real-estate so far. i think that we have to think about what we can do to improve the terms of this deal, so let me go through a few points that i think are of concern, some that we can that are a little bit outside of our abilities, but nonetheless we need to be aware of and keep an eye on your the general trend i a fragmentation on a number of levels, including the political edifice, that could get out of control if the source of this -- the sources of this fragmentation are not addressed. let me talk about the fragmentation of the insurgency itself. isis andort on afghanistan, what means, it has just been released.

the general conclusion is that isis is there in afghanistan. thai connections in raqqa and the middle east, but it is a factor and it has proven cable despicable of carrying out operations in kabul. that's a new factor. then there's the question of the televangelist cells. readis always difficult to . how fragmented are they and how cohesive are they? they've been through to leadership crises. only was a recent article a few days ago basically saying that the movement is now completely consolidated the newly -- behind the new leader. when i read articles like that, i think maybe it's not. released aust

biography of the new leader. the only release biographies of their new leaders in moments of insecurity. their local commanders are not giving tribute the way they used to do. they are holding onto some of their own resources. --t's another a certain that's another issue to watch but there is fragmentation on the ground of the taliban. and we had the debate -- is this a good thing or a bad thing? one argument is let them fragment, let's make a deal with the moderates. the other line of thought is, if we have to make a deal with the taliban anyway, wouldn't it be better that the guys at the top that we make a deal with can make a deal with the guys at the bottom to hold the deal? it's about how much weight you give to the need for a political solution with the taliban ownership as to whether or not

this fragmentation would be a good or a negative thing. afghan national security forces are also fragile. i think there were two good reports that came out this year. one on the state of secure -- security forces. gives a very one good history as well as the formation of these forces. it's true they held the line. it's true they repelled these attacks against cities. it's true that, unfortunately as isl, the number of captives very high. but there are some serious weaknesses within the afghan national security forces, and cleaning high attrition rates, corruption, where equipment, soldding ammunition, are

to the taliban by some units. and low morale. one of the results is, despite holding the line, the taliban have been able to shut off the north-south road in a way they have never been able to do before. again, they've sort of made these attacks on urban areas. i think, frankly, the taliban -- i cut myself in the shoes of the taliban. i think they would try to capture and hold at least two provincial capitals in the way they couldn't do in 2015 briefly. and the fact that they failed to do that is a very good sign for the national security forces. but there's some long-term problems, especially that of attrition, they give cause for concern. and that's something we can address and i will get to that in a little while.

fragmentation or division at the political level. we know the national unity ambassador the admitted, they had public spats p.m. they've been disappointing on the reforms we hope to see. his land on the creation of the cabinet. and we know that there are of divisions,s such as right now the whole situation over the first vice president, who is sort of leaving his own armies in the north but involved in this awful arrival ofhe politicians. there are other incidents that show the possibility of the use of political violence within the coalition that we support is always sort of there, simmering even if it hasn't exploded. i think there is another irony

of the national unity government, which is, when we created this power-sharing deal, it was meant to encompass all the political tendencies of the country. we also saw for the first time an independent opposition that began to emerge to that government. i think that opposition is hindered -- has hindered the operation of the current government. it is trying to undermine them. even they realize there is no alternative to the arrangement we have so far. but is nonetheless a nuisance. some of these reports on the state of the national army have shown that these political divisions at the top level do have an effect on how secured he forces operate. search for ag defense minister was debilitating. the a are you report said that it basically meant that the mod has left the initiative on the conflict to the insurgents.

some officers reported concern that military decisions are being made with a nine to influencing the rivalries in the complex within the government rather than with an eye to achieving national security. and to some extent, the infighting within the unity government has undermined the legitimacy of the government among the afghan people and therefore come in some cases, maybe make some more likely to support or put up with the insurgency. the final area of fragmentation, the support of the international community toward the u.s.-led effort in afghanistan. from the position where i was at the u.n., i was often surprised that how sanguine russia seemed to be about the presence of so many u.s. troops in what he considers to be it's near abroad or its backyard. -- as thes we begin begin to fracture and you have the emergence in the last couple of weeks of what used to be a

who knows how -- that will develop your and if there is fragmentation at the international, coalition and diplomatic support, they all have a common objective of debilitating afghanistan, that also has to be addressed. that is in the middle of this thertain new diplomacy by new administration and its relationship with china. i agree with what ambassador cunningham said. nothing we've done has worked so far and that still remains one of the crucial pieces of this puzzle. it,erms of what to do about i'm mostly going to hunt -- punt. on asia foundation report

afghanistan going forward, which has a number of recommendations, i reread them yesterday in the context of his more recent announcement. validk most of them are and really encompass sort of the ensemble of what we need to be doing. the question of the long term commitment at the very least we need to stop thinking in this sort of one year cycle. we know that we have a funding cycle that goes to 220 and then the election of the president and afghanistan and then i think that we really need to at the very least start with with the program and not necessarily what happens next year. let me put a plug in also for an idea that i presented earlier at a middle east institute

panel, which was what do we do about these elections? we heard about this in the reform and we heard about this. i think that the idea of trying to have parliamentary elections next year or in 2018 at the worst is chasing. -- chasing a mirage. i know if we know that we're going to have the elections in 2019, let's schedule the parliament elections then and use the three years to do as much reform as we can. instead of chasing six months of reform and not being able to accomplish it and resetting the clock. we have been on the fools end. i would reset it in 2019 and begin to work on a reform program between now and then. finally, the note on the

process. i think that the new administration is going to do what most administrations to commission a group and lead a study on what we need to do in afghanistan. i really think that if this is done, and it should be done, we should probably also look at some of the fundamental premises that's guided the thinking on this so far. in particular, i think that we have to look at the the real impact on the instability of the national security and when i talk about the objectives, i think that the point raised by -- objectives as well as a reassessment of our minimal objectives. i think that the point raised by senator dament and also not to -- senator demint and also not to be defeated and there's an element that needs to be taken into account and we consider what the touches are. then finally, we need a sober analysis on the leverage that we

-- on the leverage we have over our afghan partners and over suppose it allies, like pakistan as far as looking at that question. i would do and in death, starting from the bottom, examination of what do we need to achieve and how do we have to achieve it. how do we make sure that it's secured in a way that does not repudiate the sacrifices that we and the afghans have reported us in the field and have made since 2001 when we began.

mr. coffey: good morning everyone. considering how colorful the e election campaign was over the last 18 months or so here in the u.s., i don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that afghanistan was raised barely at all. who knows what would have been said. it seems like the american puck lick at enlarge is for guidance and does not really care or does not really know about what is really going on still in afghanistan today. just think that an 18 year ol private fighting to today "inside africa" f was 3 "inside africa"in in afghanistan was just three years old when 9/11 happened. the trump administration is clear on what u.s. goals and objectives are in as scott was saying and have some really elesslis tick goals and i'm -- some realistic goals and i'm going break these up of an over cap of what you have heard and to t up the next panel.

i'm going to discuss a little bit about how i see the security situation in the country and then discuss the trip configuration, the force posture of the u.s. and nato and the afghan forces and then the challenges of the afghan forces and then a bit about the political process and the way ahead. in the north we have seen the increase in fighting. normally the focus is on the south and i think we're seeing an increase in foreign fighters especially coming from the travel areas of pakistan and have been pushed out and heading to the north and causing a lot of problems for the regional security actors, so both for the afghans and for the neighbors countries. we have -- as he eluded to the general has basically gone rouge up in the north and he is of the opinion that the president and that's protecting the ethnic -- that the posture and -- pas --and the

president and that's protecting the ethnic groups and i think that's one of the reason ares motivated general dot son. you see russia now getting involved. very clear statements by some out of russia that they're in talks with the taliban to try to preserve stability in the region. they're using what is happening in northern afghanistan as an ux kus excuse to get involved and there's been a notable visit throughout the course of 2016 by senior russian officials , including where they have made gestures of good will to help the turk mans secure the border. when they talk about helping the secure the border, that's more than a force. they're meddling in the region as well and that's an add that i

mentioned as well. in the south we have the dominated insurgents and that's the kind of ptd region. this has in the necessarily surprised many. nevertheless, a sober reality that needs to be confronted. the taliban control at least in percent of the population in afghanistan and about another 20 percent that is contested. 70%, dependingut on the contested bid, under the control of the afghan government. the rise of isil? the title, the

tactics of isis do not sit well general and are seen with suspicion or contempt with the population. over being foreigners being opportunists at the expense of the taliban. you hear these doom stories that they will just take over the border regions and i don't see that happening. in terms of what we are doing, what nato and the u.s. are doing in terms of military forces in the region, it is important to look at some of the numbers are another 2,000 or so u.s. forces in the operation and separate from the nato training and support of the assisting mission and actually involved these 2,000 or involved in the day-to-day comment operations.

of the 13,000 or so troops under the nato mission, roughly 6300 are from our european partners, international partners, should say. there are 39 countries involved in this operation. usually the side with the most friends that wins the war. that's what history teaches us. so we should echo what the previous speakers have said and having this broad coalition. i would like to highlight it makes them the largest in the alliance right now. georgia contributes 900 groups, which is the largest per capita contributor in the lunch right now. italy, whoprises contributed more than a thousand troops to the operation. and a slight disappointment is pain with eight troops. considering it's europe's fifth largest economy and a member of

of nato, this places their contribution behind nato and far poorer countries. and of course, the sacrifices have been great or the international coalition more people, soldiers, sailors, airmen and rains have been killed in afghanistan since 2001. -- in terms of the there hasurity forces been this debate raging for a couple of years now about the size and the funding of this force. the plan is think to maintain it at 352,000. needs to stay at this

level well into the future. i have perhaps a very low standard for what i'm hoping for from the andsf. we are not there to an it for them. that is my benchmark when i look at the capabilities. yes, it's not a perfect army but , it could be a hell of a lot worse. there are ways we can improve and we should work on this. they have taken huge casualties. it's our interest and natos

interest and the regions interest that this force is able to continue to take the fight to the insurgency. this is where the funding gets important and controversial. afghanistan is unable to pay solely for the funding for the security forces and some estimates say by 2024 they will be able to start the pay for it s own security forces and they do need help and they do need considerable help from the united states. when you look at the big picture what is u.s. really needs to provide in order to keep the afghan security forces into the fight is actually a bargain for the u.s. taxpayer. the administration requested $3.5 billion for the afghan forces for fiscal.

this is what we spent in 2012. this is what the u.s. forces spent every 10 days. so 3.5 billion may seem like a lot on the face of it, and it is. don't get me wrong. the overall picture in the investment that the u.s. has made in the country. i think this is a bargain. you can no more kill your way out of insir general si and the -- you can no more kill your way out of an insurgency then you can drink your way out of holism. the campaign is to allow those that have legitimate grievances to address something other than the use-of-force. that's why the political settlement and the plitle process is so important in afghanistan. i mean they worked in iraq because it was fundamentally more than just an increase of

the troops. it was part of a bigger solution designed to suit the conditions on the ground and built around a revitalized political process that engaged with and approached the minority population. so to secure similar results, we have to focus on the tract and -- the political track, which is a no-brainer, that it's nevertheless worth mentioning again. many in the u.s. have this idea that talking to the taliban, which is a politically charged phrase here in the u.s., means many different things to many different people. but we need to start exciting to people that, if we are fighting an insurgency, this is how insurgencies end. this is part of the path to success.

we have to start to explain if we're fighting insurgeon si, this is how it ends and when we're able to manage our eninternal and external degree that stops from the outside powers and stops the country from becoming a safe haven where the international terrorism can be planned and launched as it was before 9/11. we have to realize that patience is required here and success in afghanistan is going to be measured and not in tweets. we have to realize that the success is going to be hard to measure in this type of warfare. winston churchill explained the type of war that we faced then and now in afghanistan. i quote, there's no general action on a great scale. no brilliant successes and surrenders and no chance for a clue to theater. it's just a rough hard job that must be carried through. the war is one of small incidents and the victory mb

-- the victory must be looked for in the results. if what happened in iraq after 2011 after we pulled out is any lesson for us, then we should realize that now is not the time to turn our backs on afghanistan, no matter how difficult the situation is. >> let's move to questions. if you raise your hand, i will call a new. please state your name and your association, especially if you're from the press as a courtesy to our panelists. >> on the peace process and war in afghanistan and the original factor, which has been the difficult question that has a

limited answer to, as we know there are now some changes in the pakistani military , and with that, there are pieces on the ground from the student of war college here in the u.s. that he built in afghanistan in 2011. [indiscernible] proposal is to decentralize afghanistan and include taliban as part of the compromise and

give them the provinces that have most influence in. [indiscernible] u.s. position,he for example, how that will play [indiscernible]

and will the administration be able to do that? >> anybody want to take that one? [laughter] >> there were three people in the world who wanted the same thing, u.s. troops in afghanistan. they couldn't make it happen. one of the curiosities i had is it seems to me that, when we think about the deal you are imputing a we are lot of things, what we think the

taliban might want and it might not be what they actually want your and some of the discussions i've had with people who are intermediaries suggest that it's not necessarily about dividing up ministries or dividing up provinces. it's about returning to live in peace, but in a way which is more familiar or congenial to the way that they see [indiscernible] if this reconciliation path is going to be taken, the first thing is to find it what they really want. and there is an infrastructure to begin to do that. i think there are discussions going on. but i certainly don't have access to them. i do think we need to think more widely about what accommodation looks like and it may be on different terms. and task, more separable terms than geographic division.

luke: i would agree with that. i would add that this process has to be an organic process. the u.s. and the international community can encourage, but often the question is framed inside this notion that, you know, the u.s. can be the ones that kickstart this. i don't think this is not the case, especially not 15 years on. of what role the tele-ban can play in the future, that is a worthy afghans to determine. but it links to the electoral process and the concerns that people have addressed already today. i think it's worth considering the need to question some of the processes that afghanistan uses, for example, for the parliamentary elections. a single men transferable vote -- a single nontransferable vote

is the thing that we come up with where people do the along ethnic lines. you get skewed results and you get certain groups usually and are presented, even they perhaps are the majority ethnic group in that constituency. issues need toe be addressed. but these have been issues that have been around for years and no one seems willing to really to tackle them head-on. i know they are not easy, but we are going to be exhausting other options the finale pretty soon. so we will have to start thinking of some new ideas area -- new ideas.

james: there will be different options that will be difficult to get out. if it is going to hold, it has to be in afghan agreement. that is one of many lessons of history. or't be imposed stage-managed from the outside. i think we need to be respectful of our limits in how far we can reach inside an afghan process to make this happen. but what we can do and what we should be doing is figuring out how to use our military efforts and our political efforts and pharmacy to shape a process, which makes it likely, more for afghansll civil to sit down and have a serious discussion and negotiation about how to ring the, to an end your that's not the same thing as walking the taliban into a room and having them sit at a table and repeat the 12 point support they want your enemies getting

that -- want. takings getting the two a calculation about what they want for the future of afghanistan and they and the afghan people can do to bring the conflict to an end. and i'm reminded we should all analysis and pulling have consistently shown just recently, reaffirmed by the , the afghanion situation report that they just released. the taliban have very little support in afghanistan. it's not realistic to think that they could just be given a province or a bunch of provinces and say, ok, you run it. i don't think that's the way should.going to or discussion onious the taliban and how to reintegrate into society in a political process that is stabilizing.

and that is an afghan job. lou: in general nicholson's assessment is correct, released in the ballpark that the afghan security forces control about 70% of the population, another 20% contested and the final 10% controlled by the taliban, then i would say we probably reached the peak that we are going to achieve without some sort of parallel, realistic political process. this is mad, the realistic political processes met, or even after we have a little process, i think there will be an insurgency of some form in a scanner stand -- in afghanistan for the foreseeable future, probably in my lifetime. this is not a sign of defeat. india, arguably the world's largest democracy, they fight to insurgencies inside their boards as we speak right now. that theust a reality region faces.

and -- and that's how we should look at it. >> where outside of afghanistan is the tell getting their support outside of pakistan? that is an important issue. financial support. are there other entities, other country supporting the taliban? there are all sorts of rumors and is a shenzhen allegations out there. but are they receiving support from outside? scott: they have active fundraising. they have for years. in operation in the gulf, and in other parts of the world, presently in the gulf good i can't comment on the recipe of it, but there was a significant story in "the washington post" several days ago that a -- that individual saudis contribute financing. their financing comes from a commendation of collecting taxes

, extortion, external criminal activity, smuggling, and of course the drug trade and all of that combines into a pretty sophisticated financial operation. are rumors that russia at least in the north are getting supplies and guidance. james: there is another recent article regarding that funding from individuals in the gulf that was drying up a little bit because the ambassador mentioned earlier that most ladies taliban are not killing foreign soldiers and more. they are killing other afghans. and that is becoming more distasteful. here.'s go right >> thank you. the afghan chamber of commerce. if this now had to present two policye options of new

to the new administration, policy options, what would the three options be that you think might change the situation or offer some avenues for improvement? >> that's the $64,000 question. i've been through several are rations of this discussion with people around town over the last year or so. any silver bullet that's going to change the dynamic that has now been in existence for some time. in my view, there are things that can be done differently that have been done in the past during i don't want to get in all of those here -- that -- done differently than have been done in the past. i don't to get into all of those here.

in the assessment of the u.s. and its partners, the situation that we been -- whatever the word is, tolerating, acquiescing, permitting to exist -- is unsustainable if we want to bring the conflict to a close. the time has long, -- the time has passed when we need to marshal error for its collectively to do what we can to bring the conflict to a close. it might be sustainable that this insurrection in the conflict can go on for many years to come. and if that may prove to be the it set a terrible cost for afghanistan and the afghan people and to the region. and thankfully not so much directly for us anymore. but it is still at a terrible cost and it's fairly dangerous. ,s long as this conflict exists

the potential for the whole region to spin out of control is dynamically greater -- dramatically greater, sorry, then it would be if we were on the past -- the path to a peace process. what we should want, what our interest is is to have a region that is becoming increasingly stabilized, economically prosperous and hostile to the presence of international terrorists. and that's what we need a better job of getting too. getting to. option one is nuclear war, option 2 is do nothing, and option three [indiscernible] have a question for a

masseter cunningham. i'm wondering how sharia law in afghanistan applies locally and if there is a conflict between the federal government and the local governments due to the extent of sharia in their laws? question.a great we could spend a whole day answering that. thinkmple answer is i sharia law is enshrined in the afghan constitution. overshadow what you might call a more traditional body of the old jurisdiction, which is in the books in afghanistan. there are several different kinds of legal recourse. there's the kind of traditional justice, which is done at the local level and villages by elders, together under good

circumstances -- elders coming together to find a solution for a problem. and that is pretty widespread still. there is recourse to the courts, which are influenced by sharia law. there are family disputes, which think,tty much, i would adjudicated according to sharia law. but there are different interpretations of sharia law. so that is a further compensation. another thing that this asia foundation study showed is that the vast majority of afghans now realize that they have access to courts of one sort or another and have the right to have a lawyer represent them in those courts. that is a rather significant change over the last five or six years. but they are finding a way to meld their culture, their history and their religion as they have done in the past. thats one of the things

really set the taliban part and why most afghans don't support the taliban or the return of the taliban, because the taliban version of sharia law is repressive and overwhelming. and that's not the situation that most afghans want. >> did anyone mention al qaeda? i didn't hear anybody mention al qaeda? did i miss it? >> there was a mentioned that one of the basic goals should be for afghans and that should be the safe haven for groups like al qaeda. of al qaeda's activity in afghanistan, it is a fraction, a minute fraction of what it once was. the safe haven that it once enjoyed and their

is no shortage of -- and there are no shortage of places around the world that al qaeda can do it does. and we've seen that with the rising dominance of aqap and aqim and their affiliates. when i was working on afghan at the senior level for the british in 2010-2011, there was not a day-to-day concern about the role of al qaeda in the fight in afghanistan. i'm going to ask you all to give a one-minute elevator speech to president-elect trump. elevator?mp tower [laughter] >> it moves pretty quickly, i understand. you have a minute to say to general flynn. you got a minute. it's like a congressional elevator. go to this side of her

here only because i haven't had an opportunity to do that. i'm sorry. >> thank you. former u.n. staff member. my question is on the economy and maybe this administers and coming in, given that this is a totally different resident area to think there is opportunity for permissions with some of the regional players, including russia and china, with some of the bigger every structure projects that could maybe boost the economy to get afghans working? >> anybody want to take that one? it would be better for the next out. >> if you are going to stick around, the next panel is going to go into that deep. >> what about iran? is a concern on the national security level for a number of reasons. what is a rainy and involvement? it's a border state to afghanistan. the iranians are involved.

there have a historical relationship with afghanistan. they've had difficulties with the taliban. they are also hedging their bets . maintaining connections and probably some level of assistance to the taliban so they have their hands in the game. afghans are suspicious of their particularly of pakistan and iran and their engagement in their society. , they maintains a lot of soft power kind of influence in iran, both religious and cultural. they are very well represented, in particular, their interests in the country. but they also have a number of shared interests with the united states and the coalition. we have tried to draw them into

recognition of and discussion of in terms of what can be done to promote stability in afghanistan, which they also desire. the afghans for their part need iran as a trading partner and as a family neighbor, so they have a dynamic relationship with tehran. isi want to add that iran very active in the west of the country for sure. bee consider a rod should iranian. they have occupied the city a number of times throughout the course of the past few centuries. it's well-documented that the arabians have provided the taliban and other insurgent groups with weapons and advanced ied's, especially when it serves their particular interests to kill american and other coalition soldiers, sailors and

rains -- and marines. overall, the religious connection to this year has ari people. i don't think the iranians have forgotten what the taliban did to the hazzaras. day, push of the comes to shove, this will be an important fracture -- factor in terms of how they deal with afghanistan. >> scott, what is your elevator speech? >> my was thinking of what to say. our stride to think of in terms of having him watch a few episodes of "the apprentice." that a law to the arguments that we've been convincing ourselves with over the last five or 10 years would be securely effective. i think we would all be fired in the first week.

especially in terms of what we said we have been trained to achieve and what we haven't achieved. reasonsas we provide that are understandable and explain the complexity and so forth. so you really have two options. one that luke alluded to, which is we continue renting this fixer-upper and is going to cost $3.5 billion a year or maybe $6 billion when you add the civilian side, and were just going to keep going and try to maintain it under control and deal with the consequences, including the risks of a wider conflagration, including the responsibility of the emergence of other extremist groups feared but that's the best we can do. ---- and again, i don't have i suppose i have more ideas than i mentioned, but certainly a deeper look at what our our minimal objectives, what is our leverage and what are we willing to sacrifice?

luke mentions stability. are we filling stability with democracy? there's going to have to be a little bit of a deconstruction of our original ambition i think for the country. >> absolutely. i would be very clear as i'm heading up the elevator that it's time to reassess what our true goals are and what is in america's national security interests, because we have sacrificed a lot in afghanistan over the last 15 years. the number one goal should be that afghanistan no longer becomes a safe haven for international terrorism to plan and launch and coordinate international level attacks. to beat the goal is not measured by how many schools or how many hospitals or how many roads are paved. while this is part of a counterinsurgency campaign and part of our involvement there, for ournot the reason involvement there.

and the gold is not to create a jeffersonian democracy in the atntry, in the short-term least for sure. so focus on realistic goals that can keep america safe and make america great again. >> ding ding. [laughter] the doors are open. [laughter] out try to make my halfway up. [laughter] all continue the real estate metaphor here. --made a tremendous amount tremendous investment in blood and money in this particular fixer-upper, as scott put it. but the fixer-upper is being fixed. and it's what to take some time to do it. you have the opportunity to protect the investment that's been made into -- and to advance it. we have generated a significant return in investment. it isn't the investment that we helped. it hasn't been 20%, but it's been 10% and that's not that

bad. and we can get better as we get smarter at it. you don't want this edifice to crumble in the first couple of years of your presidency because that would be terrible. >> give the panelists a round of applause. [applause] which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

>> ok. thank you so much for those of you who are staying on for the next panel, which is on regional politics and economics in afghanistan. so how afghanistan manages the economic and political situation will be a key factor in determining the country's future. afghanistan being a landlocked country will depend on its neighbors for trading routes and connectivity. we see china playing a growing role in helping to develop infrastructure throughout south and central asia and afghanistan is surely no exception.

does not shareia a border with afghanistan, new delhi and kabul have strained and their strategic ties in recent years. and as was mentioned earlier, india is nesting in a court in order to enhance its trading ties with afghanistan. pakistan'sly, indianed opposition to -- e passage hopefully, there can be changes their the future. so one of the main questions that i'm helping our panelists can address is how can u.s. policies support more regional and greaterperation regional conductivity. i think this is the future for afghanistan, the only way we are going to achieve stability in this very, located region.

let me just say a few words about the regional politics area it will also be addressed. how can the afghan and pakistani governments return to some of the goodwill that they experienced in the first year of the gummy government. as we all know, president gummy reached out to pakistan and we started to see the fruits of that effort. but unfortunately, the increased taliban violence in afghanistan and the failure of those nascent peace talks, which started to get under -- underway in 2015 have underlined -- undermined these efforts. is there a way to get that back on track? certainly, the smooth transition two weeks ago from one pakistan army chief to another has sent a positive signal to the region. it has provided a bit of cautious optimism that we might

see increased efforts by the pakistanis to reining in the taliban sanctuaries in their territory. certainly only time will tell if such hope is merited. wanted to just say one word about a topic that came up in the previous panel and that was about whether the fragmentation debate, whether it is in the u.s. interests to have a fragmented or a unified taliban. to me, the answer is straightforward. ending most insurgencies is precipitated by a split in the leadership. i think we saw that clearly in te in truef the lg lockup, where he had one faction peering off and, a couple of years later, the government was able to defeat that insurgency. goal,d say does the u.s. the international community and

the afghans for the taliban to fragment. they will be less able to conduct large-scale attacks. less able to impose their form of sharia law in the country. and it is just common sense that you strengthen those individuals who want peace and are willing and you week in those individuals who want to keep fighting and who are unwilling to compromise at the negotiating table. so we have a very distinguished panel to address these and other issues today aaron i'm just delighted to introduce first clare lockhart, the director and cofounder of the institute for state effectiveness. to address the challenge of accountability in governance through assist in building approach to government,

markets and citizens. she served in afghanistan as an advisor to the u.n. during the bond process. and to the afghan government from 2001 to 2005. she has co-authored with the current president of afghanistan the book "16 failed states." on contributes to the media issues of security and development. was named by foreign policy magazine as one of the 100 most influential global thinkers of 2009 in 2010 for her work on fragile states. she was also nominated as a young global leader in 2011 by the world economic forum and serves as a trustee of the asia foundation. we are delighted to have clear with us. let me go ahead and introduced the other two panelists as well and we will move to remarks are rector ofton is the afghanistan and central asia programs at the united states institute of peace. he comes to this role when --

with an extensive background in reconstruction, development and governance and democracy and regional expertise in both afghanistan and pakistan. prior to joining yusuf, he was a director of the lessons learned are graham at the office of the special and spectre jenner -- special inspector general. and he serves as acting director of policy and a senior policy advisor for the office of afghanistan and pakistani affairs at usaid. he's originally from boston where he earned his bachelor's degree at colgate university and has a jd from harvard law school. panelist, mr. -- he is currently the editor of radio free europe gunned our

website. and are a is an ancient region afghanistan and pakistan. this webpage provides foreign policy audiences with reporting, announcements and commentary direct from local correspondents on the ground in afghanistan and pakistan with the aim of promoting peace in the region. so without further a do, let me had over the floor to our panelists. i will start with claire. claire: thank you, lisa. it's a pleasure to be here. i will start from the premise that the root to security is a stable region and that the terrorism we see is a consequence of stability rather than the other way around. i think it is well-established that, while security commitment is the most important of stability and confidence in the people in the country in the region that the economic and civil dimensions are important

pillars of that stability. they actually can help lessen the load that the security commitments have to carry. i think the following principles are worth restating. the more the afghan economy can grow, the more it can bear the its own forces. second, the economic linkage is key to unlocking that growth, but also can play an important role in transforming the incentives through regional relationships. they will not solve security issues between neighbors, but they can certainly create an environment for better relations forbe an entry point building institutions. i think the third point is becoming more and more important

, and a think it's well those familiar with the uncertainty doctrine, the importance of individuals and people around the country, particularly the youth. we see extraordinary numbers of growing young populations, 60% of the country under 25, and afghanistan is no exception. if they are to have confidence in their future, they have got to have hope. memo writtenby a in the wake of world war ii that said we will never get stability in europe and other parts of the world if the people in the country do not have a stake in their own future. that's three reasons i think important to remember. what does this mean in the context of afghanistan and its region? first, the regional approach. i think it requires taking a

really strategic look and a fresh look at what building conductivity and what establishing those regional linkages means. the ancient conflict has been with us for millennia, but there are also economic drivers and the reality of the region requires that. probably everyone in the room has heard about the potential trillions of dollars in wealth, but how do you prioritize amongst those what is possible to unlock within five years, 10 years, 20 or 30 years and what revenuens for implications and cost implications? if we look at conductivity, we need to examine across several axes, and we heard from the ambassador this morning across each of these. the first is the transportation, road and rail. the second is power and energy, and the third is the fiber-optic

and data core doors that are becoming more and more important to the world economy. connect or arean already connecting through afghanistan. we need to look again in the context of central asia, south asia, and east asia. since the afghans themselves put forward this vision of afghanistan as a hub of conductivity in the region, secretary clinton launched a new road, but shortly in the wake of that, the president of china launched another, so there are many different plans. what is missing is a common strategic framework that puts these in context. a few days ago, the afghans participated along with their neighbors in a data conference and describe some of the initiatives that would be put in place. i will mention just two of these. peel back the implication from these examples.

a lot of focus has been over the years on the possibility of pipelines carrying oil and gas across the region. much less of a concern across the region. beyond that, it's really just a proof of concept, and what lies beyond it is the immense potential of trade across the region. used to be a place within the soviet union that produced hyperpower. rich.l asia is energy south asia is the reverse, population abundant, energy poor , and the potential for that has the possibility to unlock that potential, and then we need, i think, to see these

investment infrastructure, much of which can be private sector driven. within the last few months, we had the ambassador this morning try to put $1 million of private sector investment into the power linkages and investment, and the potential for 15 megawatts of power to be transferred from central asia to pakistan, and we know how much energy issues are such a key concern of pakistan. another example israel. -- many of of debate the debates in washington say rail is not feasible or affordable. it was one of the elements in conference, that afghanistan could never afford rail. again, if we take a closer look at what is actually happening, rails are being built. just over the last month, several were launched. second, i think we need to look at the internal dimensions and take this agenda that afghans

have put forward that are being endorsed in the brussels conference and the london conference before that to take the self-reliance agenda forward . what the afghans are asking for is not a blank check and unlimited support but the capital investments that will shoulder this. it's now recognized the afghan security forces are bearing the brunt of the rot -- the fighting. what does that mean in the government and economic track? it means they are able to manage their own budget, to deliver their own programs, and shoulder that burden themselves. what does that mean for policy? is not thereform icing on the cake. it is really a core strategic element. if the grievances of people are to be addressed, if peace is to be established, it is not a question only of discussing a deal but really addressing those grievances by cleaning up the

tackling they predatory nature of some of the institutions. if external actors are grown to support some of the core costs of maintaining the state, in return, there needs to be .erious action on corruption second, and that means putting in place the foundations of an economy, over the last years, i think it happened without people realizing, the afghan economy became almost entirely independent. forward, the challenge will be to grow the production economy, again, so it does not need to rely on external support. that means agriculture and construction. most people are very familiar with the pillars of the economy, but it means a real, careful look at what kind of actions need to be taken by who and what

kind of catalytic investments will unlock the potential and get those sectors going. again, it's not going to happen overnight. it's going to be five or 10 or 15 years to do that, but it is already starting. takingyl dimension is the citizens and their needs. again, this is a core part of counterinsurgency doctrine, but it needs to become a core part of the way we approach the economic, government, and development part. the international community has led for a while we used to be called the national solidarity .rogram this program is now being .elaunched

instead of the international community having to manage tens of thousands of projects, the afghan community is asking to .anage them they are the ones who have been building their own homes for centuries already. means --inally this and i think we have an opportunity here to think again way that the economic and development investments are made. these documents are very visible for all of us, some of the waste and corruption over the last decade. there has been an effort as well on which parts actually work right, and we have to be careful to make sure what did not work does not overshadow some of the things that did work, but i the opportunity is on particularly unlocking the economy to bring new tools to the table. the best be bringing

of american companies and innovation to the table. is there room through joint ventures and so on for an enterprise fund, and is it time to add to the toolbox those dimensions? i will stop there. thank you. ms. curtis: thank you so much. ,r. worden: thank you so much and thank you for being here. es thatre some consensu seem to be emerging, and i will touch on them. i want to touch on pakistan, and howndia, and iran those relate to afghanistan and try to stitch them together in some coherent fashion. i want to start with the basic observation that greatest musical interest in the region transnational

terrorism. the potential and upside for trade that claire mentioned is important, and i think people in see intellectually and strategically, but fundamentally, there is a fear of instability in afghanistan spreading over borders. that includes the taliban and in in others, daesh areas, and in other areas, the islamic movement in uzbekistan. they see the statistic, as was mentioned earlier, about the number of terrorist groups seeking some kind of haven in afghanistan as their own national security threat, and are seeing afghanistan unfortunately in negative terms, how to protect themselves and how to hedge, so there needs to be, i think, overall collective progress through some of the things that have been discussed, how to turn relations between the region and afghanistan into

a more positive vision, into a more beneficial one, rather than a negative, fear-based one. going through the region, i think another observation that builds from my first point is that the greatest factor affecting regional stability and instability within afghanistan is political and involves reconciliation. yes, there are continuing security threats, and i think the first panel did a good job describing those risks and challenges. is really of the day disunity, which i think is improving, but still within the afghan government itself and fundamental disagreements within the afghan, political and ethnic factions on how to divide power. fundamentally, the stability of afghanistan and building confidence within the region that afghanistan is on the path to success, which i think it is, but slowly, the more the

regional neighbors see that as the future and the vision, the more they will bank on it and invest in the trade rather than the security protection measures that they are taking, and the better off we will be. i think the situation with in afghanistan was probably described fairly well in the this panel, but it is effort to get officials to cooperate more on appointments, on implementing the good ideas both have for good governance, and also controlling corruption and providing resources to the afghan security forces so they can continue to repel taliban challenges. within afghanistan i would say the the taliban are reading situation very closely. there's two sides of the coin on analyzing the security environment. as the afghan ambassador mentioned, the afghan army has been successful in repelling attacks on provincial capitals,

which is good, but on the other hand, the television is taking increasing territory and surely gains confidence from that. is very important to changing the calculations for the region and overall improving regional stability. moving on, the most important regional factor outside of afghanistan for regional stability is pakistan. pakistan is providing intelligence and support to the taliban in certain regions, and this is a continuing frustration and really casualty for afghanistan. pakistan a and relations are at a low point. they of an flow but are on the way now -- on the wane now. at the root of that is each country's mistrust of the others

ability to control fighters across the border. this mutual mistrust has really damaged relations, so the arc of the story since the twitter 14 election is that afghani took a bold political risk to be more pakistan, which unpopular,litically and afghanistan does not feel like it was politically achieved and more could have been done because, of course, there were not high-level bilateral talks. i think on the pakistani side, rightly or wrongly, there is a perception they made a good-faith effort and got no thanks or credit for what they did. concern there as well. i think that, as was mentioned earlier, the appointment of the new army chief of staff in chiefan and the new isi

might not fundamentally change the strategic calculus in the short term, but they do maybe provide a ace saving opportunity for revisiting these relations and maybe starting on another is difficultich but necessary to try to revitalize the reconciliation issues. the other difference is between -- then and afghanistan other differences between pakistan and afghanistan have to do with trade. whenever tensions flare up, border posts get close than the economy suffers. the port where indian goods can go through afghanistan i think is positive for regional trade overall but also helps mitigate the risk and rail routes if they sufficient andme establish rail routes, but in the short-term, pakistan has a lot of leverage via trade.

finally, it has not been mentioned before, but a growing issue are refugees. pakistan holds millions, has held millions of afghan refugees for years, but they are strongly -- in some cases intimidating -- afghans to go back across the border and resettle. there is a burden on strained resources and afghanistan. the second largest group of refugees are coming back from iran. the united nations estimates that up to one million refugees will have returned from various places abroad to afghanistan over the course of the year, and that is a significant shift that will require afghan attention and could strain regional relations. let me move on then. as afghanistan's greatest

concern for instability is pakistan, pakistan's greatest concern for instability is india, and this is something people well know but has not been integrated into the pakistan equation as much as it could have. when richard holbrooke took over as the special representative, one of the earliest debates was if india would be part of the to the afghanistan problem. for a variety of political reasons, the choice was not made , but nonetheless, the elephant af-pak relations is india. there's now sporadic fighting across the line of control in kashmir, and indian and pakistan diplomacy is tends to say the least -- tense to say the least. it identifies a problem that

needs to be tackled and resolved. india relations with afghanistan, of course, are good, and that fuels pakistan's almost existential fear of encirclement from friendly india and afghanistan that somehow along both borders with pakistan would squeeze its interests. the new dynamic, although i would not hold it out as a game changer, is china. china has taken an increasingly , forward leaning foreign policy in general as it seeks to assert its role on the international stage. it has been a longtime ally of pakistan, but it is increasing its role economically in the region and diplomatically with afghanistan and reconciliation. many people know that the chinese promised a $50 billion package of investments over a years time. to be determined how much of

that investment gets realized, but still, that is a large contribution potentially to pakistan's economy, and i think the big question everybody has is if that yields political influence beyond what china already has, so i would not overstate that or base to many expectations on it, but nonetheless, i think china's encouragement to pakistan to try to solve regional problems, if it's with india but more likely afghanistan -- that is all positive development. china also through the belt and road initiative, is seeking to build infrastructure projects across asia. this is the new silk road of the u.s. policy on a grander scale. it includes routes that go through central asia to europe as well as linking south asia. so far, while afghanistan is the crucial middle piece for some of these networks, i think china really puttingf

its investments into afghanistan because it is so concerned about stability, and the chinese in a major compromise seven years ago in afghanistan still has not borne fruit were variety of reasons, but fundamentally the lack of security and lack of development have inhibited that, so i think , but theyautious present overall a potential boost to regional stability. finally, on reconciliation with china, they have involved with quadrilateral talks between the u.s., pakistan, afghanistan, and china. initial enthusiasm to get engaged is now tempered by the reality of the difficulty of these discussions, but again, it is another useful potential voice not to be relied on to much, but to be engaged as a new player that could potentially push things in the right direction.

let me finally talk about russia and iran. while different countries, of course, i think that they play a somewhat similar role in the sense that they do have a strategic interest in stability and afghanistan. i think they are interested more in the short term tactically in preventing cross-border terrorism, russia even going into central asia, so as we heard in the first panel, there are these, i think, tactical assistance and communications between russia and iran with elements of the taliban against andgreater foe of daesh more flexible, more international and idealistic , so theremovements are these short-term deals with

the taliban to prevent the greater threat of other terrorist groups, but fundamentally, a stable, prosperous afghanistan is in their interests, and i think they can play a positive role if , per my convinced that first comments, that afghanistan success. path to if they think it is on the path to failure, they will play a negative role for everyone. the final aspect of that, how the u.s. relations will also affect the situation. while they have a strong bilateral connection with afghanistan, the u.s. relation will certainly influence the discussions. let me close with my elevator speech, if i have not. 4 points on policy for going forward. do ising the u.s. can apply greater pressure on evidencerelated to

that could be determined on support for terrorism. that is to say we have had this carrot and stick approach with pakistan trying to align our afghanistans-a-vis and the taliban. it has not borne fruit so far. i think this is an area that requires great nuance. finding ways to reasonably but credibly increase pressure on pakistan policy to promote what goal ofse of leadership stability in the region -- that is something that should be re-examined in any policy review . second and related to that, i india questionhe -- again, very sensitive. nuance matters, but to include that as part of the conversation on a policy level i think must

be necessary, or else we will be in the same pattern of stagnation we have been in regionally. secondly, continued support to , so the brussels conference that was mentioned where donors gave similar support the past four years is encouraging. the warsaw conference of nato gave sustained troop funding and commitments, and those just need to be maintained and stay the course, as boring as that is. that is necessary to achieve the first goal i mention of stability within afghanistan helping regional stability. third, i think it is continued support but not too much hope on the regional picture. these linkages will bear fruit over time. . agree with clare we have prioritized what is useful in the short and medium term, so that has to be a continuing element of policy.

finally, i would say as much as the picture right now does not for talks with the taliban or a reconciliation deal, i would redouble efforts and political attention on figuring out how to unlock that puzzle, so thinking about a special envoy for reconciliation, regardless of aboutappens, thinking what policy would change if we had reconciliation as our number one priority, obviously protecting ourselves from terrorism is number one, but fundamentally, our strategic vision of how this war ends through negotiated settlement and what ingredients are necessary to support that is a top consideration. i think it is time for a fresh look at that, it would be welcome. thank you so much, scott. abubakar? , lisa,dique: thank you

and thank you for having me. dealmaking. era of my esteemed colleagues talked about the possibilities and policy recommendations, but if you look very simplistically, there is an opportunity to dealmaking, i think. then you can make sense of the possibility and the minimum things that states in the region to secure a stable, peaceful future and also to turn this proverbial land bridge between central asia and south asia. my of the things that colleague alluded to is the whole idea of short-term security interest driven policies. this is a problem. there was a lot of mention of iran.

now, there are taliban representatives openly visiting and participate in some kind of islamic solidarity conference. there is no islamic state presence in all the areas bordering iran. closelamic state in iran have all been eliminated during the past year. taliban working together effort has been gathering steam since the departure of nato troops. this is not surprising. it is kind of surprising because

and thea shia regime taliban is heavily sunni, but i ante is kind of engaging in optimistic or pragmatic alliance with a hard-line sunni prevent the to group establishing a foothold near its border. this is, i think, key. the same as nearly true for pakistan. i think the simple thing for and ian to recognize think what can help the incoming administration is for pakistan thismply recognize pakistan pokes here have been talking about journal writing

in some paper that, academic paper of course that afghanistan needs to have a decentralized government, certain promises need to be handed over to the taliban. now, if islamabad, the military government, the military establishment, which is of course, which of course runs this policy, and the civilians i think already agree on this, if they recognize that afghanistan is independent sovereign will country, then i think they can move along and go back to the understanding that president ghani invested a lot of, most of his political capital on, in 2014, when he assumed office, the first place was that the pakistani community had quarters and and he had a great personal and you with the former pakistani military chief, but miss with the core problem. ultimately the pakistani military establishment was not willing to concede that it sees afghanistan as independent sovereign country, as a

neighbor, and then there are other things that the two states in do. and i can see from pragmatic, practical point of view that the officials, people involved in these kinds of negotiations now know their positions well. they know each other well. they know their positions well. we are beyond the era of claims that i think at least people in kabul are very clear about that, but at least what no afghan can accept and that also includes the taliban, is to have, to become a sovereign state in 19th century, with the amir ceding sovereignty to iran. there is the key thing between the two, that's why a lot of these processes already they look, although they look great on paper, and they do not succeed. the idea of reconciliation, this

i think two-month back we reported this. but there was a very kind of revealing letter by a former taliban official, he was the official who was in charge of the office in qatar, and he wrote very clearly to the current taliban chief that the taliban should not see itself as a state. it should not call itself its the islamic emirate, its official name. it should see itself as a movement, islamist movement within the afghan framework working for an islamic system in afghanistan, and that is the thing. people who, i know that there are taliban individual grievances, there are group grievances and some of them are genuine. i mean, people were tortured, killed in many ways wrongly, but at the same time the taliban

reliance on terrorism, or terrorist tactics and violence make it difficult. and particularly it's very difficult that now most foreign troops have left or are ready to leave. i don't think anybody in washington will argue for keeping more troops in afghanistan. but it's exactly the taliban violence which keeps international interests there, and that's something that i think the pakistani policymakers need to understand, and i will also add a new thing to it. three things that pakistanis have been talking about, or has been talked about in the context of afghanistan. one is india's role. the other one is, the other two are the biggest parts, domestic, security terrorism threats or regions where pakistani states have been struggling with it and all of them go back to afghanistan.

pakistan has virtually fulfilled its prophecies of indian role in afghanistan, because the afghan cannot simply go and lie down in graves and hope for the best. if they are attacked, day in, and day out, by an insurgency, i know there are recent reports that the taliban moved into helmand, but those are questionable, from what we know from our sources, that's not true. maybe the reality is that the taliban leadership is going to helmand frequently, but the real -- it still holds. is now more ascendant within the taliban hierarchy, which also goes back to changing the outlook of the

taliban from being a nationalistic or islamist movement or transnational movement open to alliances with al qaeda or other international terrorist or extremist groups. so this indian role in afghanistan is the result of what pakistan has been doing in afghanistan. if pakistan stops what it's been doing, i think india will, it will give incentives to india, if it's doing something, to pull back. the other big thing for pakistan is the whole situation in fatah and belugistan. pakistan invested a lot of money and effort in bringing stability to fatah and there is stability in fatah i'm happy to report. i just wrote something about waziristan and the situation there has improved. people are going back. there's millions of displaced

people, but what pakistan says it is unwilling to do is to implement political reforms in fatah, and you can't have this region in pakistan which is central administrator, which is outside of its mainstream legal and political mainstream, and hope that there won't be an insurgency, even hope there won't be grievances. baluchistan is very different but in baluchistan there can be, if pakistan recognizes afghan's stability and in a way pushes the taliban back into afghanistan or give them incentive, a real incentive to engage in negotiations and deny them covert aid and sanctuary, then i think it will be a tremendous boost to stability in baluchistan, where there's an active separatist, national

separatist insurgency. and that will also be a good thing to this pakistan/china economic corridor, where the seaport in baluchistan is a linchpin. and then of course this whole thing about short term security interests is also true for, about russia, although the russian role i don't see, think that it's a game changer, but since 2014, the russian contacts with the taliban have grown substantially and the new thing is that there is potentially a russia/pakistan, some kind of russia/pakistan alliance in the offing or some kind of understanding. in the offing or some kind of understanding. russia will probably have access to pakistan in warm water ports after fighting futile wars for many generations. so with that in mind i think for the new administration the big

thing is to not go with the bumper sticker definition of evil versus good or something, to look at something with a -- look at the situation with a fresh idea. and also the idea that afghanistan can be a sovereign state but it can only be a sovereign state if all its neighbor recognizes it as a sovereign state and refrains it from interfering the way they have been interfering in the past 30, 40 years. >> thank you very much. i think you'll all agree those were three very rich and well-informed comments. i want to get to questions because we do not have much time. but i'd like to say a few words then i have a question for all three panelists relating to russia and china and their role. scott talked about the breakdown in the afpac reproachapprochement and the fact that the countries' relations were at a low point.

i would agree with that. but i think we need to remember that the breakdown of the very nascent talks of the taliban that happened with pakistan in 2015, the violence in afghanistan never stopped. and there was a major attack in kabul in late august so i think that, yes the pakistanis get , credit for getting the taliban to the table but we have to see , more efforts to influence the taliban to reduce violence. so any attempt at reconciliation has to address the issue of violence in afghanistan. you can't have one without the other. then the indoe/pak tensions, i agree they're very high right now, it's a dangerous period because we are in a presidential transition. you can have both state actor and non-state actors trying to take advantage of that transition in power. and we saw this in the transition from the bush

administration to the obama administration. but i would note the reason for that increased tension, we've had two major attacks in india. you have the attack on the military base, 18 indian soldiers killed. our national security advisor has told us those were pakistan-based militants that conducted that attack. and nine months before we had an , attack on another indian base conducted by pakistan-based militants. so the key is even if there are elements in pakistan that are frustrated with the political relationships they are having with afghanistan or india it it's neither legitimate nor acceptable to support terrorist attacks, non-state terrorist attacks on these countries. that is the fundamental goal of the next administration. to somehow convince pakistan that using non-state actors is not a legitimate way to carry out your foreign policy

interests. and i think we have made progress with pakistan. pakistan's made progress against terrorists that attack pakistan but there's still some efforts that need to be made in this direction. now, coming to my question for all three, we talk a lot about russia's sort of recent involvement. we've talked about china and china's increased economic involvement in other areas. instead of devolving into a great game situation where countries competing and supporting different factions and contributing to chaos in the country, is it even possible to think about cooperation between the u.s., russia, and china in combatting non-state actors? i mean, that's the common concern with these three major

powers, is, not having non-state actors have a large role in the country. so can we even feasibly think about any kind of cooperation among these three countries or between the two? >> well, i think for russia and china the threat in some ways is very similar because for a very long time the etim, this chinese separatist islamist group has been embedded closely with the islamic movement of uzbekistan which is a main threat for uzbekistan and all of central asia. the islamic movement of uzbekistan changed its character after being driven out of afghanistan in 2001. has driven chinese policy to a level that they don't want

to, they want to prevent against that threat emanating from afghanistan and pakistan. but i think where they have failed is to convey this to pakistan and there's also already one, i think, i'm not sure if it's official diplomatic engagement or not official but there's some kind of china/afghanistan/pakistan forum on a diplomatic level where people go and talk too each other about what they should do. and that probably would be instrumental in adding to chinese interest in afghanistan we should remember that when i and we should remember that when when nato forces were withdrawing from afghanistan in 2014 for the first time, the chinese appointed a special envoy for afghanistan and pakistan. china no longer sees afghanistan through its pakistan policy lens. although it is very interested in closing engagement with pakistan, investing in pakistan,

infrastructure is all for the making pakistan a good, successful example of the obor project. but at the same time i think china is not for pakistan, will not allow, is not actively participating in encouraging pakistan to control afghanistan. on the russian front, i think a lot of this stuff is more tactical, at least with russian context officials or some military guys based in tajikistan actively in contact with some taliban commanders in kunduz or some other provinces that border tajikistan that's kind of a tactical thing. there has also been a lot of talk of an official screen that russia is supporting the taliban by giving them money and arms and all that. i think we have to see a lot more evidence to believe it. >> anybody else? >> i would just say briefly i

think the good news is that there are mutual interests in the ends of civility in afghanistan and the region. i think the means, there's significant disagreement on how to get there in terms of u.s. probably focusing more on democracy inclusion in domestic governance and arrangements, not to stereotype the russian security apparatus and chinese, it a more distant interest. but their leverage so far has been economic which is a little bit oblique for the situation. i think the final thing that's missing, though, is an agreed international framework for addressing this. there's a lot of track behind-the-scenes dialogue and negotiations but there hasn't been an official recognized international framework for this. it doesn't have to be the u.n. but still there should be a more concrete forum to sort out these interests and maybe come to an agreement. >> i would agree.

there is a basis, a foundational level, a common interest in counterterrorism goals but more of a stability and prosperity because the economic interests of countries are also important. i think what's encouraging is that there's an earlier example of this. in essence, that was what the bonn agreement and bonn process was about in 2001, it rooted in the p-5 and the u.n. so the u.s., russia and china all members of that p-5 grouping with the six plus two, the neighbors a core part of the formula and at essence it was about accepting and your earlier neighbors accepting the point, sovereignty of afghanistan and a process to build legitimacy internally with the recognition of that sovereignty. so i think there's a precedent for it. a lot has gone off track since then, a lot of water under the

bridge and we're in a new regional environment. but i think some elements of that basic recognition of afghanistan sovereignty and building on those common interests for stability is possible. >> great, thank you. we're running out of time. we have about five minutes for questions so i'd like to take maybe two, three questions together. so if you have a question, can you please raise your hand, wait for the microphone, give your affiliation and keep it to a brief question. do we have any questions? so i'm going to take these two questions, this gentleman first, would you like to --? >> thank you for the presentation. freeman daniels with the state department. can the panel incorporate the role that drugs play in this regional cooperation among the various actors? it's been alluded to, but can you speak more about how it might be undermining or enabling, which ever it might be, this whole process of economic development and insecurity?

>> thank you, and we have one more question down here in the front row. >> my name is mohammed. the question is that this is about the russian ties to the taliban. the consent is that is there a to a potential that russia with its contact with the taliban will turn it to either front against their common enemy, that is the west, united states? or if there is, what's the level of the potential? >> thank you very much. what would like to go first in addressing either question or both? >> about russia i'll just say that i think that they have tested the waters in the past three or four years i've noticed that international conferences there was a lot more russian

participation. people probably informing people in moscow and policymakers about people are thinking and saying. but i don't think that they have the resources like in syria or other places. they have committed the resources to do that. now, if for example, they might be hedging bets, or the situation goes really bad in afghanistan and for some reason the government in kabul crumbles or the american commitment is no longer there, then maybe they're thinking of it. but i think there is kind of two or three schools within russia. there's one that is all about engagement and talking to the taliban and all that then there are other elements who might have other designs but i frankly think people dealing with the open source information, we really don't know that.

>> thank you. scott? >> i think i'll focus on the role of drugs. i think it was mentioned earlier that one of the key roles of drugs that is more of interest to the u.s. and to western donors is its revenue stream in support of the taliban, number and also its one. corrupting influence on the afghan governance which i think is key to stability and part of the solution, number two. i think the more direct regional interest on the drug trade is in iran where a lot of drugs transit through that country and addiction to drugs coming from afghanistan and probably elsewhere is a social problem in iran. so they have been quite vigilant and have made public statements about their interest in reducing that trade. and also russia which ultimately is a traffic point through to europe. they have been quite vocal on

the drugs issue. so i see it affecting those two countries most directly in terms of their own national interest. finally to mention, apart from the corrupting influence the drug trade has in afghanistan, it's also becoming a public health issue because use and addiction within afghanistan is significantly on the rise. >> clare, you have the last word. >> i think it has been covered. >> ok, thank you so much for joining me and can you join me in giving warm applause to all three panelists? [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> coming up live in about 10 minutes, we take you to hershey, pennsylvania for a donald trump a victory rally. until that gets underway, democratic representative elect darren soto represents florida's the 115thrict in congress, he spoke with c-span about his background and previous experience. >> representative elect darren soto represents the ninth district of florida. tell us about your background? darren soto: i am of puerto rican and italian descent, i'm originally from new jersey. my whole family came down in a common migration from the tri-state area from central florida and up from puerto rico. and now there are million of us in florida and it is a big part of my election here. >> and you said you will come out here and represent the interests of florida and also

the interest of the island? darren soto: certainly, you find out quickly when you represent florida the cultural ties that we have between central florida and the island of puerto rico. when you go down there you realize that in addition to the constituents in your district, you have 3.3 million other folks relying on you because they don't have representation in congress. >> what about your experience, that factor of your area -- but also your heritage? what do you think that brings to the job in the work that you will do out here in washington? darren soto: we will hit the ground running. i served 10 years in the florida house and senate. i passed numerous bills helping families of foreign -- fallen firefighters. fighting against fracking in our state and making sure to increase education opportunities and economic opportunities.

brought back millions of projects, new colleges, new roads and a new commuter rail system to our area. we come up with an army of folks who have the working with me for over a decade. we have a lot of airtight ideas on what we will do, what committee, and the needs of the area. >> what is your background in civil rights? darren soto: i was nominated as class counsel at 26 years of age. against the city of kissimmee, there was a suit being led at the time by the department of justice because we had at-large elections in both kissimmee and osceola county, which discriminated against hispanics. and so we fought to try to change that system. it was ultimately changed. a funny thing happened during the lawsuit against kissimmee. , so weme a plurality lost the cause of action. but at the end of the day, it led to a very diverse city

commission and county commission with two hispanic members and three in the city council. we have really arrived. >> you had said that you are self-described environmentalist. what does that mean for you? darren soto: i am known as the greenest member of the florida senate leading the charge , against fracking in florida. voting against offshore drilling. in florida, our identity is conservationists. of conservationists. we have the most beautiful state in the union. we are also a tourism and agriculture economy. so our perception of being a beautiful, clean state is critical to both our tourist industry and the agricultural industry. so we take that very seriously in florida. and we're not an energy producing state, historically. there is a big battle over that, when we have prevailed so far in. and my peers on the state level carry the torch and there are other issues we will be looking

at on the federal level. particularly with regards to national resources of parks and our sovereign waters. >> you are a democrat, how did you get an a rating from the national rifle association? darren soto: that was one year, back in 2010. a bill would allow workers to have legally carried guns in their trunks when they go to work. half the caucus voted for that. half the caucus voted against it. it actually was a d rating overall. the second amendment exists, i believe people have an individual right to bear personal arms like handguns and shotguns. while military style arms like automatic weapons and things like that, i don't believe our founding fathers intended for us to be able to carry. so that is where i stand. >> what influence did your parents have on your ideology

your outlook on these issues , that you have been talking about? darren soto: my family is the classic american dream. my grandfather and grandmother moved from puerto rico because my grandfather didn't want to make a few dollars a day cutting sugar. so they moved to new jersey. my father, who works nights and was in the navy in order to be able to get us to go to school, while still having a family, we went from a living in an urban environment in paterson, new jersey to ultimately living in a , suburban environment in new jersey and ultimately following many tri-state types down to central florida. we have been there for the past 15 years and my family from puerto rico has been there for 20 years. so we not only represent this rise out of poverty and urban poverty to living the american dream, but also follow this classic migration that has led to the story which has elected me as a puerto rican from florida elected to congress.

so it has been named much bigger story of our community that has lifted me up and brought here today. >> what message would your parents want, or have they given you over the years, advice they have given you, that you keep in your head as you approach this new job? darren soto: no question that higher education was stressed. no question that my brother and i would go to college. from there, they asked us to follow our dreams. both of us, my brother and i, went to law school in d.c. a little rivalry there. at the time, i never would have anticipated coming back here. i read up on politics, but it was really about going back to the neighborhoods and volunteering that got me to fall in love with politics and representing our community. at the end of the day it was about making sure we had good education.

that is something i will certainly keep in mind as we look at legislation and opportunities in the budget, going forward. -- in are replacing senate. any lessons from his career for you as you take on this new job? darren soto: one thing i learned is that he is prolific about filing amendments. so i expect to continue that tradition of trying to message and provide alternatives and better ways of doing things. i have a more -- how do i say -- measured style? from a lawyer in the courtroom, i practice law to this day. i just won a trial on monday. so we are winding down. certainly, the congressman did his best to represent the district. we just went through redistricting so i'm taking on

areas that congressman ross had before, as well as congressman rooney. so there are a lot of shoes that i'm having to fill in the district. >> how will you balance your work here with your life back home? and your family? darren soto: it is one foot in the district and one foot in d.c. my wife is quitting her job at orange county public schools and coming up with me. that is crucial. she is my not so secret weapon, she believes in women reproductive rights, a particular. we have represented in this area for a decade. all these things were decided over the past couple of months so we can hit the ground running with our infrastructure in the district, and what our team is going to look like, and we are coming up on monday. we are pretty close to the airport.