this is the president's third trip to afghanistan as president. 08 when he was a presidential candidate. and even more where he is right now, the presidential palace, this is something that he doesn't always get to. in fact his last visit in december of 2010, he wasn't able to go because of weather concerns and he wasn't able to physically meet with karzai even though bagram air force base is just 30 some miles north of kabul. so kabul. this is extraordinary that they're meeting right now in kabul, wolf. >> brianna, stand by. nick wal sb in kabul. it's approaching 1:00 a.m. in the middle of the night in kabul. is this a safe time in the night? most folks are sleeping and they don't have a clue that the president of the united states is visiting the capital of afghanistan. >> reporter: wolf, the rumors have been running thick and fast since pretty much sundown when a tv station said he was in town and they tried to kill that idea as quickly as possible. this is the very quiet time of night and very few cars around and very few cars around in the eve

so, this is a mixed bag on the ground in afghanistan. and a reason the president is there. >>shepard: i got details on the partnership agreement you mentioned and strategic partnership agreement provides a framework for u.s. and afghanistan partnership after the transition and draw down of the u.s. troops. this would be during the timeframe between 2014 and the year 2024. the estimate is not firm. but it will be a very expensive process, in doubt. our relationship there will continue. >>reporter: that is going to be, obviously, the devil in the details as this unfolds. exactly what president obama is signing in terms of how dope that relationship, in temples of when american officials are telling us there will be continued support from 2014 to 2024. does that mean noncombat troops for a time period? does it mean u.s. aid still going there? we have to dig out more of the details but as you say, there is heavy pressure on president obama to pull out united states involvement sooner. and when we are talking about the 2014 to 2024 timeline we are not sure if president obama will

and about danger or division in the country where afghanistan is a very united country afghanistan is perhaps the most a country despite of the war look after two years of massive interference and warps and conflict within the country everybody is focused on afghanistan the capital kabul every afghan wants to prove that it's a better picture of that afghan. so there is no danger of that yes we are a much to society rather diverse society like many other societies and that's the beauty of afghanistan so colorful country of all those tribes and ethnic groups but that's our strength if i start our weakness that's exactly how of you have got us on a strong but you have problems between so. no no no. no what's our work think differently the factional conflicts sort of different issues that were the result of our. you know days of the soviet union and the our. resistance against the soviet union and then the interference from our neighbors and our lack of ability as. organizations to organize better and and bring this country to peace but there was never a conflict between the afghan people

you could ask him that question just a few minutes the vishu of it think it is intuition of afghanistan's army is largely balanced. i cannot say entirely balanced but largely balanced and improving. so ten percent for the pursues is not the right figure it's way above that says probably close to forty to forty three percent representation in the in the national army. of afghanistan and the police force and and the other forces. so that is not that figure who have a gay view is an issue then which i didn't foresee as you said what logic to pursue and that's also not true that the majority in forces had people from all over afghanistan. there were there were people from all the provinces of afghanistan and in the entire country of afghanistan professor rabbani the late professor bonney who led the jimmy at oracle resolution was from by the shan himself. but he had people in here or in his organization from all over the country people are hunt one of the. one of the biggest which i did names in afghanistan was from kandahar was from professor obama's organization world with professor body. w

he is at bagram air base in afghanistan. he is about to address the american people right now.will watch for a moment. we don't want it miss him as the president comes into the room here. we're watching the set already. look at this. look at the military equipment there. here we comes. the president of the united states. >>> good evening. from bagram air base. this outpost is more than 7,000 miles from home. but for over a decade, it's been close to our hearts. because here in afghanistan, more than half a million of our sons and daughters have sacrificed to protect our country. today i signed an historic agreement between the united states and afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries. a future in which afghans are responsible for the security of their nation and we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states. a future in which war ends and new chapter begins. tonight, i would like to speak to you about this transition. but first, let us remember why we came here. it was here, in afghanistan, where osama bin laden established a safe

but everything is focused on the afghanistan portion of this. but there is a huge amount of stuff going on that also has to be addressed and one of them is the broader defense strategy post afghanistan. and we were all at the meeting recently when italian defense minister john depaulo was in town and what he said is member nations ought to look to nato and what the alliance decides to shape their own defense planning as individual member nations. how likely is it that countries will do what italy did and i would dare say france and the u.k., of looking at nato and then building a military that fits into that? >> at the moment it doesn't look terribly promising. but there are several things to look at. one, how to -- how do you address nato, same standards, same language, defense industry working together, having an integrated military command structure against the day when something has to be done. a year ago if we were sitting here and you had asked me is nato going to play a decisive role in a place call libya, i would ask you what you were smo

our time, which is 11:09 in afghanistan. right now, he is at the afghan presidential palace with president hamid karzai. we're just getting this information so i'll read it to you. he is there to sign the strategic partnership agreement which is essentially going to outline the relationship between the united states and afghanistan over the next decade. and will include sort of the outline for the withdrawal plan. we expect the president to address the nation and u.s. troops at 7:31 our time. that's a speech that will last for about 10 to 15 minutes, martin. and we will, of course, be carrying that live. president obama has arrived in afghanistan. he is meeting with afghanistan president hamid karzai. of course, this all comes on the one-year anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. certainly this timing is not coincidental but president obama there to discuss the strategic partnership with the president of afghanistan, including the plan for withdrawal. >> and do you know anything or any detail yet about how this was c

is not about afghanistan is about pakistan with a nuclear weapon it's about india and china challenging each other in the area this is a key to this success of stability in the whole region and of course. jeremy in london i guess that's cold comfort for the afghans so we just heard from warsaw . well it's very cold comfort the afghans i get afghan refugees arriving in my constituency desperate to get out of afghanistan and try and survive this is a defeat for nato they've spent billions of pounds lost thousands of nato troops lives and above all that large numbers of afghan people have died the country is unstable corrupt and riddled with drug corruption and drug production and this is a disaster for nato and i think the sooner the troops come out the better the afghan people are going to have to decide their own future in some way whatever happens next in afghanistan it's not going to be good for the legacy of this drone aircraft instability in pakistan instability across the region and large numbers of u.s. bases all across the s

the cut operation is in afghanistan. that is no problem, we have heard the military has flexibility, but when you make bad decisions, it's our job for oversight. we have scores if not hundreds of americans that are working, paying their taxes, and justi justify -- this is a decision about trust, this is a decision about doing the right thing. how ironic would it be for someone to make a decision and the taxpayers -- all the history of the berry amendment, how ironic it would be after we talked tonight about industrial base, we talked about protecting small jobs and growing this type of business and then if we let these scores and hundreds of americans lose their jobs because of some decision made somewhere, that once again, we can't even find out who made it, how sad that would b this is about trust, these people pay their taxes, they support our military. they should be able to keep doing their jobs. >> the gentleman yields back. the chairman recognizes the gentleman from texas for two minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman,

which is key. >> huge xrupgs issues throughout afghanistan. >that's key to how this plays out. president karzai is happy. this is a relationship based on mutual interest, mutual respect, two sovereign nations together, happy that the u.s. won't be bolting but we'll see how much stays. >> and the definite sill in the details and still not a lot of details in the strategic partnership agreement that's been signed. the president will be speaking less than an hour from now. certainly not the first commander in chief to go overseas, his critics say so score political points with a photo photo-op, we'll talk about that ahead. we're tracking the presidential news conference, coming up. we'll be right babble with. makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. tha

is author's point. big news today. the president in afghanistan. 7:30 eastern time, prime time coverage this evening and chris matthews with you right now. >>> obama is the front. let's play "hardball."

afghanistan is a failed state. it's been a failed state for 40 years. n comes from pakistan into afghanistan. we have paid billions of dollars for osama bin laden, and guess what, he sits there for 20 years and he plans his attack. we leave now, as much as i despies d despise us being in that country, they come back again. i just want to hear what the president says about that. >> they'll come back, but they're in pakistan. >> the point is the threat is a threat is a threat, and the question is how do you diminish that? do you give them a holiday? >> you can't sign a pact that says we're going to be with you and not actually be standing next to the person. so either karzai has to come here or the president has to go there. those were the choices. >> so what happens with this? this is total -- it's almost as if he and clinton came up with it. he signs this, congo po-- congress opposes this. from a political perspective, it makes total and complete sense. >> the only flaw in all this is i don't know why he did everything leading up to thisment i don't know

why is president obama in afghanistan today? >> because he wants to be president obama in january, i think is the reason he's there. it's not like he landed on an aircraft carrier in a jet wearing a flight suit. it's not as bad as it could have been. i sort of disliked the increasingly ceremonial role of the presidency and becoming sort of this general attitude toward what we think the president is primarily or in large extent a military leader. i'm uncomfortable with these kind of triumphant overseas shows and all the rest of that sort of thing. but, you know, it's what's is to be expected because it works because voters are suckers. >> all right. why today? and is this more president obama politicizing the bin laden killing as is charged by his critics? or is there substantive work he's doing in afghanistan to deal with his mission? >> i think there is substantive work. i was on a call just before your show, larry, with senior administration officials describing a month's lead up to this agreement and the fact they are still ta

afghanistan. it's about pakistan. this is -- it's ridiculous. we had a goal, and that goal was to rid afghanistan of al qaeda's power structure. we succeeded. >> right. >> and then we moved. then we moved the goal post. and now it's to rebuild a country with, again, we're going into another decade partnership with one of the most corrupt leaders on the planet. it makes no sense. we're wasting $2 billion a week. and young americans are dying every every week. >> you're right. we did move the goal post in afghanistan from essentially getting rid of al qaeda to a version of nation building, and that's what we've done. but it's still not clear that what happens in afghanistan is essential to the future of pakistan. one could argue that what happens in pakistan is essential to its future. so i think you're right. one other thing, joe, what is the nature of the american commitment to afghanistan? just as u.s. forces begin to wind down there, and the afghan government gets in trouble, what's the nature of this relationship? to what extent now is the uni

is going to be weighing in. this hangar in bagram air force base has a long history in afghanistan. that is back to the 19. >>s. here comes the president of the united states in afghanistan. >> good evening, from bagram air base this, outpost is more than 7,000 miles from home. for over a decade been close to our hearts. because here, in afghanistan, more than half a million sons and daughters have sacrificed to protect our country. today i signed an agreement between the united states and afghanistan. that defines a new relationship between our countries. future in which afghans are responsible for the security of their nation. we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states. future in which a war expends a new chapter begins. tonight i'd like to speak to you about this transition. and first let us remember why we came here. here in afghanistan where osama bin laden established a save haven for his trif trift -- terrorist organization here are al qaeda brought new troops, trained them and plotted acts of terror, it was here al qaeda launched attack that's killed nearly 3,000 innocent men, women

afghanistan as opposed to the u.s. puppet cause i especially because their primary enemy india. is more likely to be able to wield some influence in afghanistan with with karzai than with the taliban so they're willing to perfectly willing to bolster the taliban going forward in order to get get rid of indian influence but i just want to point out pete because it's funny that in two thousand and twelve here we can we can talk about nato without referencing what it's all about why it why we still have this organization i mean this stated purpose is after the first second world war was to protect against encroaching soviet communism but it's clear that that was not the case and it's not the case now i mean the soviet communism is dead and every u.s. administer u.s. every u.s. administration since the fall of the soviet union has expanded nato so of course it couldn't be the case there was a document in one thousand nine hundred two that excuse me just let me finish this document nine hundred ninety two that circulated around the defense department became known as the wolfowitz does.

is what he said. i am pleased that president obama has returned to afghanistan. our troops and the american people deserve to hear from our president about what is at stake in this war. didn't really say anything when it comes to afghanistan. romney has never been very clear on what he would do different of the president. we are going to have a representative of the romney campaign on in a few minutes to help cut through that for us. the new agreement between the united states and afghanistan is short on a lot of specifics. but it does make one thing clear. the u.s. will have a role to play in that country. tony is a national security advisor to vice president biden at the white house. let me start with last night's speech by the president. what did he announce? did he announce the end of the war or did he announce a path to how the war is going to end and when is that going to end? >> i think thet president was very clear last night. we are ending the war in afghanistan responsibly. next year we will transition to afghan lead and by 2014 the afghans will be respo

saying afghanistan is where the war began and where it will end. here's a portion of his address. >> today i signed a historic agreement between the united states and afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries. a future in which afghans are responsible for the security of their nation. and we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states. a future in which war ends and new chapter begins. ten years ago, the united states and our allies went to war to make sure al qaeda could never again use this country to launch attacks against us. despite initial success for a number of reasons, this war has taken longer than most anticipated. but over the last three years, the tide has turned. we broke the taliban's momentum. we've built strong afghan security forces. we devastated al qaeda's leadership taking out over 20 of their top 30 leaders. one year ago from base here in afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed osama bin laden. the goal that i set to defeat al qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild i

between the united states and islam about as world we call it after back for a reason is they do have an impact and afghanistan is affected by it both ways. from the from approx thirty perspective and from an american perspective but we have issues we don't see older nations with pakistan from an american perspective we don't see or dilutions with iran from an american perspective we don't see the relations with russia and with china from an american perspective afghanistan has been able in spite of all our needs if i can put it in short it's in spite of all our dependence on the united states and nato we have developed an independent foreign policy. well to talk more about afghanistan and the challenges facing we're joined by don't know why i've been there you see country rissa lucian's us space political and economic rise referred to in your thanks for being with us tonight of several member nato states of member states of nato considering early withdrawal from afghanistan a stray france among them why are they breaking ranks. well i think they're breaking ranks for the same reasons that a lot of other count

is afghanistan ready to take over the security or is this going to be a welcome mat for the taliban to come back? >> they're looking good and we have had experience in this and the real question, can they sustain it? doing after we come back is another. >> and our forces that will be there, david, what would the roll be? >> that is a lot of advising and training and that is what is going to keep them up to pace. and helping them out and which is going to happen. >> david, you're going to stand by and we're going to pretape another interview for our 10:00 show and if you're by a tv tonight, fox 5 will air the president's marks -- remarks live here. back to you, brian. >> and we will run it on the website. >>> and the government introduced one of the star witnesses today in that perjury trial. andy pettitte told the jury that clemons admitted using performance-enhancing drugs and that is during an offseason work out and paul has more. >> reporter: andy pettitte had two conversations. he said he used it for recovery. in the second conversation, pettitte said that clemons told him he had i

is the u.s. commitment to afghanistan in moving forward? we learned more about that tonight. a lot to talk about. erin burnett joins us now. >> as we talk about this there is no coincidence in terms of the timing. the president's trip comes a year after u.s. navy seals gunned down osama bin laden. joining me now is peter bergen. his latest book is "man hunt." also is fran townsend. peter i know you interviewed osama bin laden. you spent time with him and met him. we know that the president is going to talk in his speech in a few moments. he is going to talk about having successfully decimated al qaeda. true? >> yes. according to counter terrorism officials two leaders of the organization left because of the efforts like fran townsend under the bush administration or the last six months a lot of senior members of al qaeda were killed in drone strikes. i looked at some of the documents of the compound. bin laden was aware of how damaging these drone strikes were to al qaeda. he was advocating that his group move to afghanistan which he thought was safer for the tribal regions. >

success in afghanistan is vital to our nation's security. it would be a tragedy for afghanistan and the strategic setback for america if the taliban returned to power and once again created a sanctuary for terrorists. that a statement from mitt romney on the president's visit to afghanistan. tonight, "rock center" with brian williams, goes inside the situation room. president obama and his national security team relive the moments s.e.a.l. team six raided osama bin laden's compound in pakistan. that's tonight, 9:00 eastern on nbc. >>> still ahead on "way too early," republicans continue to criticize president obama for gloating over the death of osama bin laden. well, jon stewart sees a little hypocrisy and wonders what it would have looked like had george bush fwn the one to get the job done. that coming up. >>> the bulls play without derrick rose, the mvp who tore up his knee during the first game of the playoffs. that and a check on weather when "way too early" comes back. >> tony blair, the 43-year-old laelder of the labour party joined t

is spot on. that's not what the united states went into afghanistan to accomplish. but it ended up being what we accomplished. and we will continue to accomplish with our partners. and clearly that's -- this is really an example of mission in its finest. we went in to accomplish a very specific mission. we did that quite rapidly in 2001, right before christmas, the taliban departed. and then we departed. in essence, we departed in terms of having a presence that could do something about a resurgence of the taliban, and we missed that, and we diverted our attention to iraq. but clearly, we have been able together to accomplish quite a bit in afghanistan. we also have a commitment to continue that effort through 2014 and now beyond. >> paul begala, in terms of the president's base committing to stay in afghanistan for another 12 years essentially, that's not a message some in the president's base want to hear. >> well, not just the president's base. both parties, ari is exactly right, are war weary. this country is war weary. if you look at the cnn poll or any of our p

we want to reconcile and say anyone who is ready to come and participate in the democratic modernizing afghanistans welcome. the problem that exists not so much within afghanistan but the regional level. it lays in pakistan and sanctuaries continue to help and harbor taliban and other group system a major impediment and pakistan has a big decision to make. and president obama was very clear in sending a message to region willal supporters and there is a consensus they would like to see peace and civility and south asia and afghanistan is a -- it was all sent as part of the speech and i believe it hopefulliyy -- hopefully will be heard across the board. >> it's a very interesting development. i appreciate you coming inside the war room and explain from the afghanistan size side of things how it will be viewed. and coming up: so how did mitt romney spend his day? exactly. we'll look at how the power of the presidency can force its will on a campaign trail. you are in the war room on current tv. >>the war room needs your help. >>the only online forum with a direct line to jennifer granholm. >>our goa

is a place with potential. a lot of problems, but potential. afghanistan is the bit that is left over after all of the other countries of asia are assembled. there it is in the middle, the part that is just, the fault line of that -- of all of those mountains, rivers and nationalities. all put together and president obama made a huge commitment in 2008. made it for campaign purposes then and where is he now? >> afghanistan was the important place where 9/11, 9/11 plot was hatched and that assault was delivered to us from afghanistan, not from iraq. so afghanistan's importance in some geo-political sense is not terribly significant historically or in any way. but as the breeding ground of al qaeda with, that's what the president was reminding us tonight about why we went there in the first place. >> but now -- where we stay and why there are 09,000 as opposed to -- i think a lot of things that president obama said about the bush administration and closes ring hollow today. >> look, president obama has at this point waged a three-year war in afghanistan. wha

president obama public supports same-sex marriage. >> the focus of the g-8 summit in chicago is on afghanistan. president obama is trying to get natives to commit the country after the war is over. brian mooar has more. >> today in chicago, nato officially endorses a plan to wind down the war in afghanistan by the end of 2014. >> will make clear our commitment to a long-term partnership. >> president obama is trying to get nato allies to finish the war and to hell about afghanistan after 2014. appearing with hamid karzai, he conceded the road ahead -- >> we're on the right track and the world is behind this strategy we have laid out. >> afghanistan is aware of the task ahead what afghanistan needs to do to reach the objectives that we all have. >> as nato leaders held their meetings, protesters demonstrated outside in the streets. from chicago to kabul, a diplomatic effort to end the war. one expect the fighting to continue until the pullout. brian mooar, wbal-tv 11 news. >> 64 degrees on tv hill. how much a servant sleep disorder can increase the risk for cancer. >> eating healthy is usually