take on the reconstruction by themselves. we're still a thirty year before this leave our homes but. when we return we found everything we do still look at all the devastation a lot of rock is going to. diminish that we are living in the midst of destruction we feel completely abandoned everything around has been destroyed. the city and rubble have to be to remove the debris with all money there's no running water so we have to in. the u.s. coalition cause the destruction of records and has a responsibility to rebuild the city we need to help with restoring the water supply in clearing the rubble.

i found of mine on the streets near my house my friend and i tried to detonate it from a distance but it didn't go off we thought the mind didn't work and work towards it exploded my friend was killed i survived me across the border in iraq civilians there are also struggling to rebuild their homes with the country's second largest city almost completely reduced to rubble mosul was liberated by the u.s. led coalition and iraqi forces back in july after months of fierce fighting and airstrikes some forty thousand homes are need to be rebuilt or repaired according to the u.n. the government says it needs some eighty eight billion dollars in reconstruction funds for areas devastated by war some that it aims to raise at a conference that's just got underway right however the u.s. which is expected to attend said it has no plans to contribute money using u.s. government and. i'm not aware of any announcements that we will be making and i can tell you overall. over the past few years we have. spent the united states

government has one point seven billion dollars in humanitarian aid in iraq alone. but let's take this up now with abdullah khan who's the managing director of the pakistan institute for conflict and security studies mr khan thanks for coming on to international i mentioned that figure really in fact it was underlined only a few hours ago in kuwait by the director general of iraq's planning ministry they need twenty two billion dollars now sixty billion later on it's an eye watering some more really who should be paying realistically where's it going to come from. the basically whatever we talk about it are the must acknowledge and this should be the bill of every talk and every i think that american occupation of iraq was illegal because there were no w m d's present in iraq and now was that it was a belief of nation building is actually the america and its allies. as announced

during is election campaign and that there will be no nation building and this certainty now that they are not going to let anything for the nation building up the building of. destruction in iraq this is actually part of the trump policy of no nation building. actually they actually have have destroyed the iraqi nation the iraqi country not just a dog but the office think that testify assayas not just inside it are around iraq and in the whole world and that is just because of the america now if the americans will not. play that role of the building of a dog the can foresee the emergence of i.s.a.'s and. surrounding areas. and so i suppose it should be no surprise that if donald trump had pledged to to end nation building but other of the routes that may be iraq could compel votes of course the destruction in the country to pay up. you know

what mr trump and his administration is trying to do is that they're pushing their arab allies like saudi arabia kuwait another shoe to foreign money into iraq and sort of doing their own duty but i think that is saudi arabia and kuwait and other countries may not come in while the others are for iran government and sites. and then another thing is that it's got honestly what the americans. resenting as a victory against i.s.i. yes i would like to say that one should not attribute this is to to a medicine because this is actually a new thing and it was just because of the russian military intervention into syria which actually broke the backbone of the i.s.i. and that resulted into the defeat of i.s.i.

inside iraq now the americans were actually definitely. out of the can see if they were not supporting but they were complicit in emergence of i.s.i. yes and perhaps i.s.i. yes to such a certain extent. inside iraq and so they may not be happy that the defeat of i.s.i. yes in the region so why would they. see a peace in iraq i i have feared about the future of iraq mr khan what if that money isn't forthcoming what are the chances that that could spur on another insurgency. all obviously if the money if the iraqi government has not the required money for reconstruction of the destroyed cities and the other infrastructure. you know the sunni population are already there marginalized by the shia led government and that actually in the previous some years there that led to the insurgency and

i.s.i. is capitalize on that now there is another group recently we have some reported or another group is emerging just like i.s.i. has in some parts of iraq so emergence of another insurgency that may not be i.s.i. that may have another name is on the card if the iraqi government is unable to rebuild the sunni areas visual badly destroyed during this fight and just quickly mr comey u.s. is counting on gulf countries like saudi arabia to pay up what are the chances of that i don't see that they will. pour their money into iraq because they have many other things how the economy is on the downside not right now facing yemen iraq as well and they are facing. a standoff that got a i don't see that the saudis will pour in much. much of their money and

what is required as you have mentioned in your talk is a very big amount which the americans and their allies have to pay otherwise he will see another. catastrophic country something appealing in the meantime going on underway in kuwait for rebuilding iraq i really appreciate your insights on this article managing director of the pakistan institute for conflict and security studies really appreciate your time. i think this is all take the metals board is filling up with the winter olympics on the hospitality is in full flow as well we'll report from south korea after the break.

what politicians to do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. most somewhat want to. have to go right to be close with the likes of before three in the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the logs in the. first six.

hello again russian athletes have won their second medal at the winter olympics in south korea so figure skating with canada getting gold on the u.s. coming in third day three seen seven sets of medals handed out and they're still ski jumping biathlon and speed skating among other things but also ahead today as well as the competitive side there's also the social aspect to the games with most nations hosting their own hospitality houses. and russia of course isn't officially represented at this and then picks but there's still a corner of pyongyang that feels very much russian as here patrol has been finding out. as usual there are all kinds of national houses at the olympics yung chang the likes of the hole and house near the coast the countries like austria and switzerland naturally settled a bit higher in the mountains and since team russia doesn't officially exist here the traditional russian house doesn't either or isn't that a matter or sca. to

make sure russian fans have a home in korea it took a few tricks after all the i.o.c. must be respected the place is called the sports house obviously you'll find wide blue and red in the design but never specifically in the recognizable pattern like here white and black in between what could appear to be flags stripes no official russian symbols the method or because i haven't become official right other than that pure i ration fun and spirit. among the attractions here are these hockey jersey from every year at the olympics

that russia long goals but this one from nine hundred ninety two like here in korea you won't find the letters russia or the u.s.s.r. i'll go ask the guests if they know why why did russia compete under a neutral flag at the olympics twenty six years ago and see the i don't know all the boys and see who this. was increased. i don't know sorry i don't know and if i got some clues for you countries take turns with the well hey . i mean respect for the i.o.c. he said it was essential you know and i think it's. meant i giving thank penton as in the same reason. that. so many don't be so now i think it's. the third world. to step which is

a country so being unique left russia was just established as a country that's when the soviet union. had its break up so neutral flags weren't always down to the i.o.c. sanctions. have a drink o. r. t. chang but even travelling to say one of the world's largest sporting events can prove to be challenging especially with similar sounding korean cities on everyone's lips.

it was a blunt warning over america's war strategy in afghanistan this time from the national security adviser in neighboring pakistan he said in his government to negotiate with the taliban we've been getting some insight on this from the chairman of the pakistan people's party and also the son of former prime minister benazir bhutto and widely tipped to be the country's next leader he told him that he thinks that the u.s. has lost its way in the conflict. pakistan has been a strong ally of the u.s. in the war on terror but it's been about sixteen years and there's still no end in

sight how would you change pakistan's policy in afghanistan unfortunately the of the on war has turned into this for ever war with the united states has lots site of its objectives it seems that they don't know why they're there what they want to do or how they're going to get out the fact of the matter is that seventy five percent of honest man witnesses terrorist activity forty five percent of our plan is done is not in the control of the our run government we want there to be peace in afghanistan but it has to be an afghan led peace and the afghan government and nato forces need to start taking responsibility for their failures if in this long in this for a war they haven't been successful it's time for us to rethink what we're doing. i the pakistan people's party believes a non interventionist foreign policy in their change if changes to take place that

has take place domestically inorganically. and unfortunately we've seen the west get overly excited by the arab spring and didn't allow it to tick its organic conclusion and we shouldn't focus on individuals we shouldn't try and advance political agendas states' political agendas whether it's in the honest syria or in iraq and we should let the people of syria decide their future. but we've always always in our previous government emphasized good relations with all countries particularly our neighbors i don't think it's fair to expect from pakistan that they won't maintain good relations with china who's been our all weather friend an absolutely important ally to our country or even iran who is our neighbor i'm really happy to see cooperation between pakistan and russia increasing

and i'm very optimistic that this partnership will continue to increase we like to be treated with respect and the people of russia and the government of russia have been very respectful to the government and the people of pakistan. i want to get more on our top stories head to r.t. dot com or find us on your favorite social network that's the news for me for this hour though i'm calling break thanks for watching the guarantee got your next update in just over thirty minute. i played for many clubs over the years so i know the game inside out. football

isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman each of killian erroneous and spending two to twenty million one fly a. book it's an experience like nothing else not to because i want to share what i think of what i know about the beautiful guy a great one more chance for. and makes this minute. when the whole make its manufacture consent to extend to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. with the financial merry go round of lives only the one percent. time

doing the whole middle of the road signal. losing ground meaning real need for. their am. i that lieut.

welcome to sophie. shevardnadze don't trump has locked horns with his own intelligence and law enforcement how damaging can the rift between the white house and the american intelligence get well i asked him a decade ca veteran groff larsen. in a public scandalous political cycle with the investigation of president putting the . spotlight but his national. professionals at the cia and f.b.i. the. public and will therefore radically change the situation in the country. we're all from out larson former cia veteran who served as moscow section chief among other politicians welcome to the show it's really great to have you with us. now wolf the american intelligence community has been

accused of being politicized many times in a bush sheriffs' to politicians use it to justify iraq now agencies are again the world in a political scandal i know you pride yourself on your colleagues for being patry arctic nonpolitical but can you really be about politics in this line of work i mean that sounds kind of like fairy tale almost. i think it's a standard you have to strive for i've been a lifelong political independent for that reason that you outline that it's crucial for intelligence officers to be independent and objective and serve the country not just the president and the government but we are also all citizens now that into our taxpayer funded they have no private sector competition appointments there are made by politicians how can all that not be politicized. actually the in the intelligence profession all of our officers are career professionals we

spend our entire career inside the agency in my case i was undercover for my twenty three years in cia living abroad for most of those years and frankly i really felt it was not that difficult to maim maintain my impartiality and i think you have to do that whether you're collecting information or analyzing it or disseminating it which is this initial mission of intelligence you have to maintain an ability to tell your policymakers the truth in other words speak truth to power. is that right for an intelligence professional to design for a high political office for instance the media in the us are saying that director of the cia might compel maybe replacing secretary of state rex tillerson soon staring too much into political territory. there is always a healthy discussion about the idea of particularly former intelligence professionals getting involved in politics i personally don't agree with that

as a principle for the same reason for military officers getting involved in politics but my pay zero was a representative who and often are cia directors or they are political appointees pointy and he's in a long line of cia directors who are political appointees and that that is the way our system operates just like many of our ambassadors overseas are part of a line politically always with the president so i don't find that worrisome or disturbing i think it's much more important that the the ranks of the intelligence officers remain professionalized how much freedom the cia have and decisions and when for instance bush administration ran torture prisons and then obama came in and closed them that the agency has the power to decide for itself whether you need things like that and whether it's ethical to use them. that's a great question a sophia i feel the intelligence community has

a good set of guidelines it starts with a given set of authorities we have in other words we can conduct certain activities are we call our mission without special authority for example the mission of espionage is a core intelligence mission of all intelligence services we can do that without seeking approval when we do something like interrogation or enhanced interrogation or have prisons that requires actually what we call a covert action finding that it requires a a finding from our department of justice that we can do that ik to vittie as well as very strict legal guidelines that are laid out in writing for the agency to follow and at the times when we we run afoul of that when we when we are accused of crossing the line we're held accountable by whatever standard has been laid out by our department of justice and our other authorities that are above us now the involvement on government agencies in this presidential election some starting from the f.b.i. role in the clinton e-mails now that trump investigation investigating both

candidates and being quite public about it. it's unprecedented unprecedented in that i mean why has the intelligence community taken on this reasonable and political role this time around. i agree with you actually i find it very regrettable very concerned about the politicization of intelligence i do agree it's happening to some extent i think the f.b.i. and the cia are still very reliable organizations that that are following their their guidelines i still have complete trust and confidence in the organizations but you're right there's the questions do arise and it's because of the highly politicized nature of our domestic politics right now between the republicans and democrats and between those who support the president those who don't support the president so i agree it's a very concerning time and i think it's going to be a time when we in a way redefine our limits you know what is the proper role of the cia and the

f.b.i. in the in our domestic affairs and we've learned in our history from the past that we should stay out of american politics and the house intelligence committee has released a republican numinous report which contains allegations that f.b.i. let the judge in obtaining permission to spy on trump's presidential campaign this report has already been branded inaccurate and is a part of the blame game or is there some substance to this. personally i think it's the blame game that's my personal view the nunez paper in my view is a republican version of cherry picking the facts as they choose to present them and now i understand there's another version circulating this the democratic version i frankly find that whole process to be regrown also not something i'm proud of as an american i'd prefer to see both parties sit down disks and discuss these things not in the public eye without declassifying or releasing classified information i think

all of that is not something as an american citizen that i would endorse or or say is a good thing and a specialist trumps election things haven't. i mean like they used to that before like from what i understand about the american system the nation's foreign policy is largely decided in the white house and the state department and then there's a congress and the senate and there are more preoccupied was internal matters this time congress is so active in pushing his foreign policy vision on the president why. i think that's true generally sophia and of course we also have the national security council and unlike russia and some other countries china and others that have a more continuity in foreign policy work and making we don't do largely through the political nature of our system we run in for a year cycles a lot a large part of that which is consumed with electioneering and campaigning and i think that's

a weakness of our system i still of course believe in the representative government idea that we that we sacrifice this continuity of stability in our policy making but it is it is a vulnerability or a weakness and you can really see it right now because. largely because we are dealing with unprecedented issues that we've never had that considered we've never had such an aggressive intelligence attack if you will on the american democratic institutions and our and our election process that we just had in the previous election that has caused a great deal of this i think a soul searching inside the u.s. so we've come now to the issue the trump russia story you said yourself there's no hard evidence yet yet of trump straight on collision with russia so why does the public believe it to be a fact and the media in america report such as the facts and also. i hope the american people or the media don't believe it is a fact sophie i i i see it as the facts are clear

that for whatever reason and i question why the russian intelligence services. attacked our system so aggressively but i think that is a fact i don't i don't think that's deniable the question then is what did that do and what impact does it have on the results of the election and for what reason did russian intelligence conduct that activity i don't have the answers to those questions and i won't speculate because i think that would be irresponsible i think we have to determine what happened and then decide what happened on the basis of the evidence and i don't think we're there yet for his us to think i don't know that anyone has presented the evidence and then the facts have been presented to the public by intelligence agencies whereas i'm probably has been misled intentionally or not by its intelligence committee many times like i'm thinking w m d's in iraq for instance since the consequences of that are still felt fifteen

years or so while a whole hearted face in what the intelligence is telling them about russia now especially what you're saying it's a fact but every time russia asks to show them the facts they they they are unable to provide them a curve just like with iraq. i think that's a legitimate i think that's a legitimate accusation sofi to the extent that it puts pressure on the u.s. intelligence community to do something it's hard to do which is to present the if you will the secret facts or the story i don't even know frankly the secret story because i don't have a reason and need to know that as a retired cia officer however if they do present the facts there's a risk of of compromising what we call sources and our methods which would of course not not be good so the question is how much evidence should be provided to

the american people i'm personally and i stress this is my personal view an advocate of declassifying as much information as possible and presenting it to the american people and to present it to the russian government i think we really need to initiate a process that we negotiate an end to this kind of aggressive cyber hacking and interference in our one another's domestic affairs if president putin believes the u.s. is interfering in russian domestic affairs or internal affairs it's not a good approach to interfere in our affairs in order to get us to stop doing it so i think it's in the interest of both sides a sit down and and talk this over and try to avoid a repetition of what happened in two thousand and sixteen in the future. ok let's take a short break right now and when we're back we'll continue talking to see i.e. that are involved malek larsen government spy agencies position and then today small tension stage and.