pro-social mcconnell groaned he's a virtual mcconnell diminish among the results which will result in the sole g.o.p. new mccoll the location of the results michael beverly closer to home with her review of the job with her since her child the current. example of this is the hot seat you call them with tons of those of the blog. on it seems to be doing security council critics saying the union has a knock on this is all about caring about getting more involved and it's actually. a crackdown on anti-government protests in syria intensifies and so does international pressure on the country to stop the bloodshed but many saying sanctions are going to do more for regime change is that keynesian spencer mimicking. the president my bet it says al qaida is continuing to send

a steady stream of agents are watching the focus is that often long medicine and i'm sure offering support from washington don't seem to trust that terrorism is a shed. beneficials are not censored here some. of next cross talk examines how u.s. policy in afghanistan will be transformed following the death. still. to. locate welcome to crossfire tonight peter lavelle with the killing of osama bin laden u.s. president barack obama has an historic opportunity on afghanistan will he use it and what is the downside if he doesn't.

across the u.s. strategy in afghanistan i'm joined by bradley blakeman in washington he's a former member of george w. bush's senior staff and currently a professor at georgetown university and in islam about because the shop i could hear is a risk and security analyst all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want but first let's take a look at some of the issues and opportunities facing president barack obama when it comes to afghanistan. more than a week following the killing of al qaeda or leader of someone bin laden the question that is gathering steam is going to the u.s. will now change its war on terror strategy a decade of chasing the specter of the modern has marred the u.s. in a war against an enemy that is stateless and that seems ubiquitous with operations in afghanistan iraq pakistan and yemen the cost of the war on terror and mounts to a staggering three trillion dollars the debt so it's difficult to estimate but

hundreds of thousands of afghans iraqis and pakistani civilians are believed to have lost their lives and most of all we're making progress in our major goal or central goal. afghanistan that is disrupting the despair more and we are going to ultimately defeat. but this makes the question since the valid goal of invading afghanistan to find bin laden is now comp list what is to be done about al qaeda which though many argue is no longer relevant as french as the sell out across the region last week it issued a response to bin martin's killing say his quote blood will be a curse that will chase the americans and their agents a curse that will pursue them inside and outside their country despite all this obama seems to be sticking to his guns promising to move forward with a plan to withdraw from afghanistan. the white house too has reaffirmed obama's

stance saying the drawdown is on but the operation against al qaeda will now be relegated to the afghan army the focus of that operation of the u.s. personnel in afghanistan is on al qaeda the operation continues the july two thousand and eleven transition date for the beginning of the drawdown remains. very much in place the pace of the drawdown will be determined by conditions on the ground but it is still very unlikely that the west will believe that we can hire only especially given the much crossed over suspicion of pakistan's knowledge of the audience presence in the country i'm not long ago general david petraeus himself cast a shadow over the prospect of withdrawing from afghanistan while the security progress achieved over the past year is significant it is also fragile and reversible nevertheless what bin laden's death could surely do is help pave an easier way to negotiations and then out of afghanistan

a way that would allow the u.s. to walk away as a victor as even iran hails the success of its operation against bin laden saying now it has no excuse to stay in the region. for across r.t. . all right i want to go to our guest in islamabad first bomb is that the united states after ten years to get osama bin laden kill him without anyone knowing him about it in pakistan least that's the official line how will that change the facts on the ground in afghanistan because the effectiveness of al qaeda is still relatively unknown but we know that the insurgency is quite strong well how is one affecting the other. well i actually would stick to what is on with we won't discuss what was almost a legit clue on we've been killed exclusively by the us the pickles on it are the grounds that your shouldn't of got a ton is going to be no different there is an ongoing insurgency and the insurgency

if you understand it correctly is what should be called the one freedom struggle from occupation by foreign forces it's trouble to deal with wild in the eighty's of when the soviets were occupying them it probably did their know it well did against the american occupation force so that struggle is an ongoing one and it's not going to end the american unfortunately the way they have conducted their operations and product on have alienated themselves when they came in in two thousand and one if they had conducted themselves as if they were saviors of understand we have on people would have welcomed them would have garland. but they didn't and today the situation on the ground is that they're fed up with the americans they want them out so that's not going to change now your second part of your question which relates to al qaeda the al qaeda presence in afghanistan has reduced to a bare minimum there are perhaps about ten or twelve people there they

still hiding out in the caves of tora bora the last that i ever heard of anything happening with a high that was when we carried out the operation it would be just on the total will be destroyed. in two thousand and eight. and. the most who's pulled into called nine probably a bigger problem and the most would point out that when the most pulled out they had to go to the cave to get their. turn to the other side the people and there were only about twenty odd people at that time they were due for the since as your commentator mentioned the relevance of the given circumstances and the fact very very questionable ok ok i said what i would have rather broadly about that i mean after we did what we just heard here i mean right now they do it with the death of . bin laden that's just a really good excuse having nothing to do with really facts on the ground for obama

to say to start pulling back from afghanistan he found a paid to hang his story on his his narrative because from what we just heard what happened last week outside of islamabad has really nothing to do with the war going on in afghanistan. it may or may not i think it's a time for the president to be cautious you've heard his advisor his military advisors well his political advisors say that we're on track to withdraw however conditions on the ground will determine ultimately what american policy will be so i think we have to work very closely with the afghan government their military the pakistan government and their military in order to come up with a regional strategy by which america can withdraw but after the killing of osama bin laden now if ever is a time to be cautious and see what comes of his death who's going to take his place if anyone what kind of attacks will be made in retaliation so america must act

patiently and cautiously and the president is right to keep on his timetable with the out that if things on the ground change their policy will change ok riley if i can stay with you what does it mean to you to draw back in afghanistan because a lot of people say complete withdrawal is the only option for the americans right now absolute complete withdrawal and not you know if you take fifty thousand troops home and keep the other fifty there for another five years or something like that and keeping bases there and backing up karzai i mean where do you fall and on how far the poll out should be i think it all depends on what our military and political and state department people evaluation in concert with the local officials government officials i think of again us and i think that's in their best interest and we have to evaluate what's in our best interest and our allies as long as al qaeda is operating in that region as long as the taliban is operating in that region i think united states has an interest in preventing for the future harm to

america and our friends and allies ok i go back to islam and i do buy into that. no i'm afraid i don't my you perception is that for a long time while u.s. foreign policy if used as that relates to this part of the world is dictated not by the white house made on capitol hill and in fact made in the pentagon and langley and by. once again posting a. often good job who an ex military officer they would betray is who fight recall correctly in two thousand and seven when he testified before congress about a surge he was in and out and he got approval from congress and the congress later and that he told lies. he was called little the head of a couple who were but he could with the slogan not betray us betray us. so you got

to know us not to say personally oh that is right for our friendly pride which i was just paying for this is true this is prostitution on the. bradleys zero forty truth bradley go ahead and manufactured propaganda. general petraeus is actually a revered on both sides of the aisle republicans or democrats and if anybody thought that he was telling the congress an untruth he certainly would have been brought before the congress in public and brought down about it general petraeus the strategy in iraq and actually is highly good players strategy if somebody somebody. put up a full page ad in the newspaper the us which read the sam you know what i was curious and either it was it was it was a it was a democratic it was a tenor craddick operative group called move on dot org and you know what i know about it is because i put it in the paper denouncing it in

a new york times so don't say that it was the government when you united states who portrayed portray us as a liar know it will democrats who try to demonize him and were proved wrong so pick your facts right not just not you not not just the democrat congress postal he lives in my studio the linguistic you write it rather let him speak let him split i'm speaking here let him speak i had. him in the congress also the slogan were raised whether you would like to accept them or you don't. have that in everything today is filed on the internet yeah get around this and you can there lies you believe everything on the internet ok so i really i could yeah i believe i have to do something probably in the net i mean i i don't really want to balance out either one of us had to go to pull out level. we're not going to pull over well we're not making allegations and by that we don't mean people occasion it's totally false and

then back it up by the internet it shows how at how ignorant you are to the facts i know the facts because i was always there in tamil you're all i hear channel bahrain has taught me i'm pakistani i'm ignorant you're an american boy you don't know what you're talking about know what i have to i have no i do i miss you i do. your show all right gentlemen let me jump in here and jump in here after a short break we'll continue our discussion on afghanistan post-paid right stay with r.t. . stay . hungry for the full stomach we've got seed for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.

in the name of daniel smith this is joining us on the phone we're here to make a short presentation about the we can fix project. the first step in the for the fate is to get information out about the real world playing for him log on. her. secret visit because you're going to be a good marketer you're. going. to fight if i put into sauce this danger you would hunt me down and kill. this is exactly one of the reasons why we left the project because it has become more about this all james. than about the actual information. but thank you. the whole the people around the wold. pay me.

the mission free accreditation three times for charges free to make amends three risk free stews types free. phone free bronchos cloning video for your media projects and free media john to our tetons tom. welcome back to cross talk i hear

a little to remind you we're talking about obama and his new afghan strategy. ok. ok bradley i'd like to go back to you in washington. what about just direct negotiations between the united states and the taliban on terms and conditions for the the drawdown in leaving afghanistan and i suppose the caviar there is that they're not they don't want any more troops staying in afghanistan a complete evacuation is there and over time ok is that possible is that a scenario that can do can be brought out because the american people are tired of the war it's extremely expensive and goodness knows the people in afghanistan have had enough water too. well i think the mirror americans are worthy of war but we're not weary of being attacked and we're not weary of defending our country so i think we have to work with the karzai government and they are the elected government of afghanistan and figure out what is in their best interest what is in our best

interest but one thing is for sure that we've seen out of the can have the killing of osama bin laden is both the afghan government and the pakistani government play both sides of the fence and the united states must get tough with both of these governments you know they're going to be with us or against us and if they're going to be against us then i think we need to get out of the region and do what we have to do to protect ourselves just like we did in going into pakistan without their knowledge and taking care of business so i think it's a time now for our governments to get tough with the afghan and pakistani government and actually find out where they stand with regard to american presence in their countries ok let's go back to islam about here we we still we hear the term ask pack meaning america thinks it's convicts its problem in afghanistan and it has to do with pakistan after this unilateral act and people would say the be a violation of pakistani sovereignty how can that happen because pakistan really

does play a key role here in resolving if it is resolvable the issues in afghanistan at least for the americans. you know what we just heard from. the washington post it to which was get tough and the us old would have to get off. because it's the sole superpower think you can get away with it i think it's five o'clock at dawn and when it's not also to look at their options i think perhaps. the only people if there is to be a solution to have one of thought problems and i think that's already underway that is how to do good morning edition to which we got last year we're going to go your disability of which you took out of the back from the pocket on you keef chief and if that addition to his work. is a tribute to the constitution with your screwed both talk a thought and to us but of course for any negotiation with the product of problems

and. it has to be some facilitation on my part so folks will perhaps have that complete facility to create over no more i think that's a little perhaps because we will be looking at us could start getting it off of that lake we poor fellows you know we've that we've got is the city's weston's run wild old both they're called boy they've got it coming up probably one of the one where yeah i really feel bad are really just bad for pakistan right rob rice with corruption and rife with harboring america's most wanted in the world's most wanted terrorist how is it possible that pakistan did not know or was complicit in hiding this guy either way either answer is totally unacceptable and you can't tell me that pakistan did not know or was totally incompetent in in a military town crawling with retired and current military have your largest bases

they are tight and this guy has been living there a good resource years i thought we we're going to move on to talk about of lot of stalin and so i let you be and i thought we'd want all pop. because then i despair because that is a pakistan if you go back you can't do one without the other all right all right go ahead it is not all right you want to go back to parker thought. let's talk about pocketbook whether this operation was gutted u.s. forces by themselves or by with the assistance of the i.s.i. as apparently if i recall correctly president obama in his speech when he addressed the public have made known the fact the knowledge that without the assistance of the bucket party intelligence services this operation would go to be impossible what is more than likely all he said he said the other day on sixty minutes that that pakistan had to be complicit in hiding him after the fact they might have helped us but i don't have a great gentleman i doubt i'd like to stay with you i'd like to stay where you just

can't stand gentlemen i'd like to stay with afghanistan but really i'd like you i think that's most readily. bradley i to ask you you know we've been this is ten years going on the united states has been in afghanistan for ten years and its coalition of the willing that is dwindling all the time i mean it looks to me you know the insurgency is just it can afford to wait it out ok i mean the united states is i mean i was reading an interesting article coming from a military source u.s. military source just today is that there's such a psychological fatigue of the military after ten years these were these people didn't expect to be there for a decade ok and take that's taking its toll as well i mean my point is is that if you don't make a pretty negotiated deal pretty soon on terms that are appealing to the people on the ground it doesn't matter that the united states will just be bled dry over just a year after year tens of billions of dollars i agree there are now. there is fatigue and there's

a question as to what the end game is sooner or later the pakistanis and the afghanis have got to stand up on their own it's their country but i having said that i think after the death of osama bin laden we have to be more cautious than ever i think the president is smart to stick to his timeline publicly but with the kaviak that we're going to evaluate the situations on the ground which will determine our ultimate policy i think that's the only rational policy this is ministration are going to stray ssion and our military can take it this time but it's certainly it's up to the afghan people themselves to determine their ultimate destiny and if they want to help and it's reasonable we should give it ok and i go back to islam and i mean and looking at these two countries i mean is karzai a partner that they can be dealt with other than the americans i mean is he a legitimate force within afghanistan to make negotiations happen with the insurgency and to deal directly with pakistan if he's strong and if we get him in in a regretfully regretfully not no i think if we go we go back

a little bit of time and because i can recall. the american president. collisions who caused the world who were going to the elections and the bad period of time between us we will have a thought that of course the us pulled back let it be because they had lost his whatever credibility he had a college drop. out of for a number reason we don't need to go back to history treats all that but he lost credibility the people no longer trusted my own gut feeling is if if the us backs up to go because they will be a lot of baggage. but there would have to be as i said before i don't know who the solution go for stop and it's not going to be a taleban solution i can assure you that i think whatever that i think that is the relation of honest on as well didn't talk it up but we want we want a peaceful kind of walk across we want. people found it can only come about if you

want to get together and make a collective solution which would make it work it would not be a correlation it would perhaps be something else it would perhaps be a national government to some sort something that would make it work because a lot of the others landed on stable we're unstable along we are unstable of want to target people who don't who look up world ways and therefore it in our interest that something something meaningful begins to work. but it was ok bradley what do you think about that i mean we didn't hear the u.s. in that in that i mean i mean what brought me if you went to the afghans and the pakistanis they deal with the problem themselves because a lot of people say looking at the insurgency on a number of people and these are legitimate polls that have been taken that the bottom line is is what's called occupation of afghanistan now that's just it can the united states afford to completely withdraw from the country because that's the single most important demand that many members of the insurgency have. it

remains to be seen i think as time goes by in a very short period of time because we're up against a lie when we start to make major withdrawals let's see what happens but i agree that it's obviously up to the pakistani government and the afghan government to solve their own problems both individually and collectively as they share a border so if if i the best possible scenario for me would be the administration actively engaged with the afghan government of pakistan government and other credible allies to help them stand up on their own i think that's a great solution whether it's possible or not remains to be seen but let's be hopeful and cautious and not not just act out of a kneejerk reaction and a date certain means that we have to withdraw regardless of what conditions or what if i go back to islam of a little closer look ok let's also don't let

a little correctly each other let's sort of course let's be hopeful and let's not just keep ripping each other let's not just pull people to go to guns to say i can do this you know on the big. yes you got a question you know i know what i'm very interested in looking at here is that i want to stay with islam and it's just politics from a pakistani point of view is this just politicking is this obama looking for reelection ok he's got national security credentials now that no one can really question ok and now he looks like a powerful guy and americans like that when they go to the polls do you how much of this in your mind in the timing of it all of this is politicking and really it doesn't matter about the people on the ground ok it's about how americans feel about themselves. well the the truth about to lose everything everywhere only work is about politics when it comes to politics nothing is not politics and so it's this that i mean we write the actual grade. in the first from ok with pretty well

all over the bones when obama gained about ten points. he had jumped seventeen points so yes he's gained and if you let me jump in here bradley ramos time to time bradley i want to give you the last thirty seconds of the program is it all about politics it's all about the election two thousand and twelve go ahead. and the era lecture is going to come down to the economy we are light years away from. the election in political terms so when people go into the polling booth or ask themselves one question are we better off today than we are four years ago the answer today is no regardless of this national security credentials it's all about the economy all right gentlemen thanks to my guest today in washington and in islamabad and thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember cross talk rules.

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