events with hearings from congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns and more from the world of politics all your fingertips. stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and to scheduling information for c-span tv network and radio. plus a variety of podcasts. c-span now is available on the apple store and google play. download it for free today. your front row seat to washington anytime anywhere. s. richard weitz joins us now. he serves at the hudson institute talking about the first anniversary of the taliban taking over the afghanistan. but first, could you talk about the hudson institute? guest: it is one of several

independent research organizations located primarily in washington focusing on international policy questions and how to include the u.s. response. it was set up after world war ii and the initial question of interest was we have now seen use of nuclear weapons for the first time, will they be used again? what does that mean for international politics. what questions do we need to address? it is evolved over time with different focuses. sometimes domestic politics, sometimes foreign policy. we have been focused a lot on china. hudson is divided into several centers. my center focuses a lot on the

great power relations, i've a book coming out on the russia /china relations. the iran negotiations, korean nuclear weapons. other centers focus on different areas of policy. host: hudson.org. and a recent piece on the one-year anniversary of the taliban taking control of afghanistan you describe that country as a country adrift. what you mean by that? guest: i meant that there are still open questions about the futures of afghanistan internally and even more so, its relationship with the outside world. internally, there was some hope and initial indication that the taliban would behave differently

than the first time it was in power from 1996-2001. there was an openness for media engagement initially, not immediately requiring changes from women and other groups. but we have seen during this past year a tightening of control and increased repression. internationally, it is up in the air what their relationship will be between the taliban and other countries. no foreign government has recognized the taliban. it is unique. they are a transitional government but even when they were in power before they had three other countries recognize them. this time, none. there have been efforts to reach out and engage at various

levels, particularly humanitarian relief. to change their policies towards women. but they have all been transient. it still remains to be seen what the role of afghanistan will be in the world and how the u.s. and other countries will deal with it. host: before he was killed in that recent drone strike, what did the president in kabul will tell us about the taliban and how different the taliban of today is from the taliban of 21 years ago? guest: that was an alarming development. when the taliban was first in power, they gave sanctuary to

terrorist organizations like al qaeda. these groups take advantage of the sanctuary of the taliban regime to try and attack other countries outside of afghanistan. many of them were neighboring countries. pakistan, uzbekistan, but most famously the attack on the u.s.. now they are back into power in one of the questions people have is will they give harbor again to international terrorist and what kind of freedom will they allow them. it is clear that there are some international terrorist but unlike the taliban, who say they

are trying to change their country inside. the head of al qaeda, it is not clear how many people are there. there has not been an attack organized in afghanistan like they were when they were first in power. some people think the taliban will give harbor to some of these people but not engage in international terrorist activities. the answers we have gotten or not reassuring. they have lied to us and they knowingly harbored international terrorist. they didn't know what the other factions are doing and that leads us to wonder if most of the taliban is trying to

restrain international terrorism. host: let me offer up the phone numbers for other viewers to join the conversation. we have special lines for veterans for the war of afghanistan. (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, an independents (202) 748-8002. go ahead and call in with your comments and questions. the story from today's wall street journal. the biden administration has decided it will not release any of the $700 billion held by afghanistan central bank on u.s. soil and has suspended talks with the taliban over those funds after the killing of eyman al swahiri.

guest: they were quoting people from the island administration, but that is not quite accurate. what happened with the afghan economy since the year of taliban control has been disastrous. there are different words you could use that are just as good. afghanistan has suffered from long standing problems like drought. they have been dependent on foreign aid. with the end of the civil war, you see a decline in violence and safety in some areas but you have also seen a substantial

decline in international aid. what has happened that during the 20 years of fighting with the taliban, their leaders in the group itself was put under international sanctions. now that they have seize control of the government, any of the government bodies are also on those list. the international community, the u.n., the u.s. has been struggling to find a mechanism to provide assistance to the afghan people who are now suffering in addition from the long-standing drought, last of cash, underemployment, the collapse in public services and so on. the united states and other countries as well have been trying to work with the united nations and through nongovernmental organizations to

get the money and aid to the people. that has only been partially successful. even if it is, it has not solve the problem entirely. we have moved away from the provisions of emergency to a longer-term development that would help the country wean itself off from our aid. until we work out a better arrangement with the taliban which could include a return of some of the $700 billion that is being held in new york. i think there is 2 billion in other countries. this will remain a problem. host: this is tim out of wisconsin. on the line for democrats. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i would like to ask this gentleman, afghanistan has been a tough situation for 2000 years. we thought we could change it but my biggest question is, why

did president trump hand over the country to the taliban? i know that biden claimed it was messy, he should have done better. at the time we bailed out, from what i understand, the taliban had every provincial capital in the country surrounded. they were just biding their time because we had signed off on getting out. they were over here at camp david with negotiations with the taliban. what possessed trump to turn the country over to the taliban? thank you. guest: we have an interesting phenomenon in the parts of the war, it was purported by many of

the defense experts, the people in washington that over time, the popularity of the american public to continue this engagement declined. at some point, president trump and president biden had the decision that staying in afghanistan and keeping thousands of u.s. troops there was counterproductive. there was some hope that the taliban had been reformed. there was more hope that the afghan public institutions were stronger after all of those years of age. there were some other arguments about well, afghanistan was a unique problem in the 1990's and early 2000, but now there are other threats from terrorists based in libya, yemen.

the u.s. has other challenges with taiwan and ukraine. president trump and president biden decided that to curtail the u.s. military presence after having to leverage that to the afghan institutions is much as possible and get the taliban to moderate its policy. to moderate its policies. it didn't work. there are a lot of problems in the execution of the withdrawal. many in d.c. wanted to keep a small force there, a couple thousand troops in hopes that could sustain counterinsurgency, and president biden argued that would not work. president trump had the same thinking. in a way, it hasn't been too

much of a partisan issue. it has been trans partisan, what republicans and democrats want for the mission in both parties as well as critical leaders with president trump and president biden, who felt the persistent gap between american commitments and american resources, it was better to focus on other areas. they are still studying execution, the misperceptions. we underestimated the strength of the taliban, we overestimated the strength of the afghan government, and have seen similar failures in the ukraine war. that's all being analyzed, but there was a lot of uncertainty and unfortunately, they all

>> from the findings from its investigation. watch c-span all week as we look back at the committees hearings featuring never before seen evidence and witness testimony on the attack of the u.s. capitol. tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern video testimony from president trump's campaign manager and william barr on the president's claims of voter fraud. watch tonight on c-span or anytime on demand at c-span.org. >> c-span's washington journal, every day we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discussed policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, john smith the warmest -- former trump administration advisor on

the new public safety initiative coalition. several long will, -- sarah longwell talks about issues of her group to oppose of future trump political -- president so candid and see. watch washington journal live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning on c-span or c-span now, our free mobile app. join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments and tweets. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your un--- unfiltered view of what is happening. keep up with the biggest events with hearings from the u.s. congress congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns and more for the worlds of politics all at your fingertips.

and stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information, plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. download it for free today. >> c-span's bring to an unfiltered view of government. our newsletter word for word recaps the date from you -- for you from the halls of congress to remarks from the president. scan the qr code to sign up for the email and stay up to date on everything happening in washington each day. subscribe today using the qr code or visit c-span's.org/connect to subscribe anytime. >> there are a lot of places to get political information but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source.

no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here or here or here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable.