mohammed mahma, the tribal leader in kandahar was successfully assassinated by the taliban. the u.n. reports that 462 civilians were assassinated by the taliban in 2012 -- excuse me, 2010 alone. and so you would argue by these numbers that the taliban has not abandoned its practice of political assassination, is a form of intimidation in afghanistan. is that correct? >> certainly. >> and so one of the things that we see in reports coming out of afghanistan is the one thing that the taliban has been telling afghans, is in fact, we're coming back. the united states is leaving. we're coming back. as a matter of fact we've got some great cia analysts walk us through that not all that long ago so that's a disturbing trend, don't you think? >> it is, certainly. >> and so you can see where many, maybe someone who looks at all of this information might scratch our head and wonder, given the fact that after the negotiation started, they were committing acts of political assassination to undermine all of the work, all of the sacrifice of the united states military and intelligence for

my john in kandahar. and nadia and jim and head out she gave us some gone much twenty five fearful journalists and couple. there are some end to violence something that didn't exist before unfortunately we were in the beat of the daily and the public mask. a number of. came together and that decided me. because i mean i went to that province and created the show and so now woman you said you could go down that way and have a protection mechanism there. she could provide. make huge for a woman so we cannot control over that woman and i would probably say. you know what you have picked the native place and then. if you have that need that . you will give in to a good job but the god. and right now one of the things we can do is pressure our government for afghan women to be at the table with any discussions about reconciliation any discussions around reincorporate in the taliban back into the government because we believe. cannot truly prosper without the participation its population and construction. only

, everyone isn't expert on kandahar -- afghanistan. i love reading george macdonald fraser phrases. and almost as i think of it, particularly after 10 long years, 10 think this years, reading george macdonald fraser flashman on the afghans and the afghan society makes more sense in reading "three cups of tea." as a writer because the reason i mentioned this, he's beautifully specific. is there for 19th century vernacular english is marvelous. and his eye for detail is brilliant. i'm just going to go back to my little red west talking about ballet in the previous hour. unit, the terrible thing, peter, and i don't, i'm not a great one for teaching writing. i think it's very hard to teach but i do believe that the deeper you can dig, you know, you don't say a guy climbed into a car and drove away. it's better to identify what kind of car it is. and what i love about george macdonald fraser is he is dealing with something several generations removed from his own time, and get the detail in the books is absolutely beautiful. >> host: in you

. >> reporter: the explosion occurred in jalalabad in kandahar early monday morning. a car bomb went off near the gate of a u.s. military base. local government officials say at least nine people were killed including afghan soldiers. another 12 were injured. the taliban issued a statement claiming responsibility. it said the attack was retaliation for the burning of the koran, and it planned to continue its violent response. protests have been ongoing throughout afghanistan since the incident. as of sunday, at least 30 people have died with 200 more injured. president hamid karzai urged afghans on sunday not to heed the taliban's call for attacks against the u.s. military. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: last week u.s. president barack obama apologized to the afghan people for the burning of islam's holy book. but his apology drew criticism from his republican rivals in this election year. senior afghan officials including the minister of defense were scheduled to visit washington this week to discuss the timing of the withdrawal of u.s. troops, but the vi

suicide car bomb killed at least one policeman and injured four other people in the southern city of kandahar. the bomber rammed the gate of a police station near the governor's house. no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but foreign analysts believe the taliban is behind the bombing. >>> nuclear officials from the international atomic energy agency arrived in iran to discuss the country's suspected development of nuclear weapons. this is the second time in less than a month that the iaea is in iran. the visit comes as military leaders and diplomats from the united states and britain have urged israel not to attack iran. they say an attack would cause major problems for the entire middle east and that international sanctions against iran need more time to work. >>> a new national survey shows momentum building for one candidate in decision 2012. rick santorum leads by eight points. 36% of republican voters sided with the presidential candidate. 28% supported mitt romney. newt gingrich received 13%, and ron paul received 11%. santorum is defending a comment he made about preside

these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of kandahar. joint operations throughout the day. russian blogger alex in the violent has been heaped on global praise for his anti-corruption campaigning may compare to some as wake says a julian assange but if abroad he's seen as a harsh critic of lodging a coup back home he is just as well known for his radical nationalist arches and he said now i reports. he's the anti corruption crusader making waves in and outside of russia for his push for transparency and exposing multi-billion dollar holes in state projects to a political phenomenon blow good opposition dolling alexei live on the often gets glossy coverage and is rarely asked tough questions by international media whether comparing navarre you need to julian assange or calling him one of the most influential new political figures he's hardly challenge to prominently praised and very present they used a small print production of what is the very basis of the political system which would inform go he's not of course when speaking at rallies

ban stan at least nine people died today when a car bomb exploded outside a police headquarters in kandahar no one has claimed responsibility. >>> and in northern afghanistan, a u.s. soldier shot and killed an afghan guard and a military base. officials say the american opened a door and saw the barrel of the guards gun and then fired. >>> in northern australia, large scale evacuations are under way as flood waters threatened to inundate homes and compromise levies. authorities told residents to leave their homes predicting record flood records by tomorrow. patients are also being evacuated from hospital there is. the town was flooded during last year's unprecedented rains which killed 35 people. >>> and in europe, bone chilling cold is blamed for the deaths of nearly 300 people. eastern europe has been especially hard hit. in bosnia several feet of snow has left people stranded in their villages. 135 people died in the last week because of weather. there are now calls for rome's mayor to resign after drivers spent hours gridlocked on unplowed and unsalted roads. >>> tonight manuel noriega

shari'a law in nigeria killed over one hundred eighty people in a series of attacks in the city of kandahar last month. friends of thousands of pro-government demonstrators have gathered across iran to mark the anniversary of the islamic revolution it comes as pressure grows on the country with sanctions piling up against the republic from western countries over its controversial nuclear program the uprising in one hundred seventy nine toppled iran's pro western monarchy bringing hardline islamic clerics to power. and now with the race for the white house well underway. new york resident now asking people in the big apple their views about the process and the outcome. according to some polls ron paul is now back in in the us republican presidential candidacy raised does he really have a chance this week let's talk about that do you think ron paul has chance i personally don't buy into that looks weak just physically don't know just looks like an old man and said to say it may be his values are great and everything but. that's interesting so do you think the battle affect the way people vote

kandahar have been accused of again egregious taking the rights violations torture and there's been i guess it's a difficult question because on one hand you know nato forces certainly are are not going to be still seen kindly on the ground in afghanistan on the other hand the how does the population respond to the u.s. backing of these kinds of thinkers. well it's really mixed it and it's often depends on where these particular afghan commanders for come from in the south particularly. whereas it is based as you just mentioned. often those military commanders and police commanders are trying from other parts of the country so they come down from the north say and they will drop into a passion area where they don't have any relationship with the people and generally that might be seen as good because they don't have any sort of bribery network they're not involved in local politics but on the other and they get down there they have no allies and they start to feel the set on all sides so they behave in ways that nato can't control so if nato for better or worse and usually for worse i

soldiers dead during a protest near a coalition base in kandahar altogether thirty five people have been killed and at least two hundred injured just in the past week prompting the united nations to pull critical forces from ministry buildings inside afghanistan without the u.n. and without the support of afghan security forces a u.s. troop withdrawal than in the near future looks unlikely so what's really behind this violence and what does the united states have to do now to get things back on track or is it even possible ali garrett joins me now he is the national security reporter with think progress dot org ali welcome to the program thanks tom it's good to be back thank you thanks for joining us again just speaking as an average american i'm guessing that if mexico or even canada had invaded the united states because they thought our president was a threat to world peace and had taken off george w. bush on them and then occupied our streets and bomb dissidents in the sky with drones that a hell of a lot of americans would be out on the streets shooting at their mexican or canadian o

figures that aren't necessarily loved or respected by the afghan people whether it's in our man in kandahar or the warlords who have been accused of torture or what not to actual militia groups who don't really behave according to human rights conventions talk about well you've pinpointed particularly in the case of the militia groups one of the things that the u.s. military leadership particular patris has counted on to sort of take up the slack when the american troops come out is in fact setting up these local militias around the country which are supposed to supplement the official police and afghan military the problem of course is that these are in many cases if not all players is essentially criminal grains who are armed and use their arms to take advantage of people to murder rape and pillage just as the police have traditionally as well so it's really not an answer to their problem at all but again it's something they can cite you know growing numbers and unfortunately they've had to admit that there are serious human rights abuses committed by these militias and that of course inv

he shot himself last october in canada car after he was brutally and hazed -- can ain kandahar. today is the defense's turn to present their case in the trial of george huguely. lowell melser is in charlottesville from the trial. he has a preview of what we can expect today. >> good morning. we're kind of feeling a shift in the landscape, if you will, here in charlottesville, virginia, as the commonwealth rested its case yesterday and the defense took over, calling a number of scientific witnesses to the stand. we expect to hear from more scientific witnesses today. sources are telling me that we may actually get to even hear from george huguely's father, who could possibly shed some new light on this case. the defense has a possible -- about 25 witnesses that it could call over the next several days. the judge has made it very clear that he has no problem going into saturday. at any rate, we will have a complete detailed wrap-up for you tonight at 5:00 and 6:00. i'm lowell melser, wbal-tv 11 news. >> repair crews are making progress in fixing the damage to a gas main in southwe

quietly with thousands again turning out mainly over planned education cuts but also after police kandahar their last rally officers were accused of brutality at a protest earlier this week which left several people hurt and over forty arrested r.t. sara first reports for the cost of blank. we all know the problems that face every day students lack of money a fierce competition for jobs adds to that spain has the highest unemployment in the year two t. nine percent of the sixteen to twenty four year olds unemployed in the country and factor in that they just had recent spending because that is the fact that education in fact say badly the some of these students who come to the streets say they haven't even got basic heating in the closings and well this is the result really thousands and thousands of people already out on the streets good to protest some of the that is right the way along the main high street here in the city of blends here now some of the signs reading and now students about it enough that's in reference to the protests we saw at the beginning of the week where the police

problems as i have spoken to people in afghanistan people on the ground throughout the country in kabul kandahar right elsewhere the problem that they told me again and again and again is that karzai is seen as almost a thief as somebody who is there for karzai and for karzai cronies not for anybody else and so the perception is he becomes the stooge of the americans but every time he does something poorly and he does it to his own people the perception is that the americans are supporting him and that's part of our problem we haven't been able to separate ourselves out from this very sort of incompetent you know and corrupted leader and that just part of our difficulty right now but who do you apologize to i mean i guess he's our guy will sadly but true and you know it's not the only place that we see this happening to we had jeremy scahill on the program a couple of weeks ago and he wrote about the exact same situation nothing's actually obviously but a similar situation in yemen where the have the local population that obviously has strong anti-american sentiment but in that sense they also l

and this happened in the southern city of kandahar, at least 21 people are also injured. in a parked car and remotely detonated. and the explosion was strong enough to shatter of windows of nearby buildings. no one claimed responsibility for that attack. >> and talk about a close call. and fearing a repeat of the costa concordia disaster, more than 260 passengers escaped this ferry after it smashed into a jetty near rome. this happened during a snowstorm outside of rome and talk about deja vu. those on board said the crew told them to return to their cabins right after this he heard the loud bang and those are the same failed instructions given to people on the costa concordia. fortunately in this case, everyone survived. >> she's accused of refusing to do her job and help a dying pregnant woman and that's not preventing a new york city emt from collecting a paycheck. the new york post is reporting that melissa jackson raised 39,000 a year from the the city waiting to go to trial for this case, and jackson and another emt workers are accused of standing by in uniform and

base in kandahar near the border with pakistan. >> at a time when they considered they were safe, they were taken advantage of and killed without any chance to become themselves. >> there were 45 instances of so-called friendly afghan forces killing u.s. troops since 2007. three quarters of the attacks have occurred in the past two years. meanwhile, a leaked nato report suggests according to interviews with taliban prisoners, the taliban think they will return to power after the u.s. leaves in 2014 with the help of pakistan. >> bret: more on the afghanistan announcement with the panel, general i have griffin live, thank you. now to the presidential race. mitt romney is coming out of tuesday's florida primary with a big win over newt gingrich in what was essentially a two-man contest there. today the focus has shifted to the north and west. three of the four remaining gop hopefuls are spending time in nevada today ahead of the saturday caucuses. the fourth was in colorado, site of a primary next tuesday. chief political correspondent carl cameron begins our coverage with some late break

the police chiefs in the kandahar province would fail.it wasn't successful but there were deaths and casualties associated. going into this year, the district governor from the kandahar province was assassinated by the taliban. of the antitaliban tribal leader in kandahar was successfully assassinated by the taliban. the u.n. reports that 462 civilians were assassinated by the taliban 2010 alone. so you would argue by these numbers that the taliban hasn't abandoned its practice of the political assassination. it's a form of intimidation, is that correct? >> certainly. >> and so one of the things we see in the reports coming out of afghanistan is the one thing that the taliban has been telling the afghans is in fact we are coming back. the united states is leading. we are coming back. we have some great analysts to walk us through that not all that long ago. is that is a disturbing trend, don't you think? >> it is, certainly. >> and so, you can see where maybe someone who looks at all this information might scratch our heads and wonder giv

rod stewart musical -- i would be in favor of a rod stewart musical in canada are --kandahar mullah belmarand music in afghanistan. they have all these illegal cassettes of rod stewart's singing if you want my body and you think i am sexy which was his favorite song the. and like to say that. i am hoping -- in whichever cave he is holed up in, we understand he is not quite on board with the strictures of music and when they catch up with him his rod stewart tapes will count against him. >> host: what are your broadway friends and what politics have you discussed with them? >> guest: when america alone came out i used to get a lot of e-mails at pretty a list celebrities in hollywood. they all ended with i love your book and it is terrific but please don't mention my name. the idea was above the title, not being able to say you like "america alone" is bewildering to me. i have been around and i love that. to me personally, there is nothing like sitting at the back of a theatre which i do occasionally for friends or producers, a show that is trying out or just sitting at the back and looking

as nine people were killed today when a suicide car bomb exploded in the southern afghan city of kandahared near a police headquarters. a doctor at the local hospital said at least five of the victims were police officers. afghan president hamid karzai called the explosion a cowardly act of terror. >>> the pentagon is investigating the death of the highest ranking soldier to die in afghanistan. brigadier general terrence hildner died friday in afghanistan. he was deployed in afghanistan to assist the that i tnato trai mission. >>> helicopters are being used to evacuate thousands threatened by tragic floodwaters. a woman was swept away minutes after she was able to hand off her 7-year-old son. hardest hit is the eastern australian state of queensland. >>> unreasonably warm temperatures for much of the united states. jacqui jeras, i shouldn't say unreasonable, unseasonably. nothing is unreasonable to me about warm temperatures. >> i know. in fact, we were looking at this on the break. this beautiful shot of atlanta. >> it's so gorgeous. >> if you could pick a perfect day -- >> wow. >> 70 de

it happened outside police headquarters in kandahar. at least 19 people were injured in the bombing. a government spokesman said it appears that the bomb was inside a parked car and detonated remotely. five police officers and two civilians were killed in the attack. >>> an egyptian security official says masked gunmen blew up parts of a natural gas pipeline. it happened in the country's sinai peninsula. the attack stopped exports to neighboring israel and jordan. the explosion in the midst of a new cycle of violence in egypt that has left 74 people dead since wednesday. >>> well, the military has identified a mother who died in a propane gas explosion outside a marine corps training base. 31-year-old laurie harden was pronounced dead at the scene friday night. she was married to a marine stationed at the base. military officials say two other people were burned in the blast. the couple's children were not hurt. 38 families who live nearby have been evacuated from their homes. >>> this morning, a los angeles teacher faces disturbing cri

it happened in the city -- the southern city of kandahar. the bomber rammed the gate of a police station near the governor's house. no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. but foreign analysts believe the taliban is behind the bombing. >>> today family, friends, and co-workers of a missing new yfe worker will hold a vigil. pamela butler vanished three years ago when she didn't show up for a valentine's day dinner she had planned with her mother. the 47-year-old worked as a computer expert for the epa. she lived in northwest washington. the family hopes for answers about her disappearance. >>> and -- >> a newspaper says how police calculate the d.c. success rate at closing murder cases is misleading. d.c. police chief kathy lanier says there is a 94% homicide case closure rate in washington. according to the "washington post," police records show the city had 108 homicides last year. 62 were solved as of year's end. that is a 57% closure rate. the paper says d.c. police also counted 40 cases from other years that were closed in 20

. >> reporter: two american soldiers in kandahar province were victims of what the military calls anider attack. an afghani man, hired to protect rudy kessler and donald miller shot them dead. andeur troops are in afghanistan to protect the afghans and american government. to protect the people they're fighting with and for undermines the entire operation and places our troops at an unacceptable level of risk. >> the defense department says the number of attacks on u.s. and coalition forces is rising. more than 40 in the last five years, killing 70 and wounding more than 100. >> military officials told the house armed services committee that the afghans often attack for personal reasons. >> one is a simple insult. another is combat stress that the individuals render. cultural miss understandings. religious and ideological frictions. >> reporter: in other cases, they are insurgents who infiltrate afghan security forces. they are improving the screening process to reduce threats, but admit there is no way to eliminate them. >> this is a thinking enemy we're dealing with here. a cunning

at least nine wounded in a suicide car bombing in the southern afghanistan city of kandahar. interior ministry did not provide details about the possible target, though witnesses said the explosion occurred near a police building. >>> the lib dwran interior ministry tells cnn that saif gadhafi, son of muammar gadhafi, could go on trial within a few weeks. >>> heavy snow has forced london's heathrow airport to cancel about half its flights today. no word on how many passengers were affected. london is the latest european capital to be hit by winter storms across the continent. >>> it is super bowl sunday, and from that we drew our inspiration for this week's edition of "the campaign trail." >> are you ready to go out there and take what's yours? >> yeah! >> what you worked hard for? >> yeah. >> that's duane "the rock" johnson in "the gridiron gang." one of the inspirational locker room scenes that hollywood routinely pumps out, and if you have covered enough presidential campaigns, you begin to know that candidates sound a lot like football coaches at halftime. >> i'm convince

what has happened in the south and southwest-- which is kandahar province and helmand province-- we have made significant gains and we're solidifying those gains. in my judgment the taliban has been handed a stun deg feet. secondly, in the east the momentum has shifted to our favor and that's with we need to apply these additional resources that we currently have and we need all of the 2013 fighting season to continue that momentum but most importantly to solidify those gains. while it's possible we could finish that task early i think it's highly unlikely. >> warner: celeste ward gnter, how do you see... what would it mean if the transition were to happen a year earler. >> >> judy, thank you so much for having me on. i have a great respect for general kean and his service to our nation but i respectfully disagree with him on this. i think we need to step back and ask the question fighting season to fight for what and who are we fighting and to what end? and i think the administration has still not satisfactorily answered that question. it's not clear who our enemy is or what another fig

fact been some place where's we drove them out of an area, particularly in some areas of northern kandahar. but that does not at all intone that we have succeeded in those areas. there was one particular occasion where there was a firefight going on not far from where i was. went inside to the command center, we were watching on a camera where we could physically see it. some of the taliban guys put down their weapons by a haystack, got on a motorcycle and start to drive off. they were driving in the direction of an afghan national army checkpoint where there were two humvees sitting astride the road. the commander of the unit saw that and turned around to his afghan lno, and said tell them to stop those guys. these guys drive right past them. no one moves, no one answers the phone until the guy gets out of sight and then they pick the radio up. >> warner: that is one of the most devastating things in the report, the performance of the afghan national army and police. the basis for the surge and the beginning withdrawal of american forces is that we would stabilize the situation enough tha