this is not typical of what the afghan national army is doing. >> with some of these afghan troops setting off on patrol without british support earlier this year. independent operations, even on the scale, are rare. instead, the emphasis is doing things alongside -- the emphasis is on doing things alongside nato units. a spokesman rejected that this creates dependence. >> the reality is this is training them to stand on their own feet. giving them more autonomy now would not do the job because they are not ready. as they learn from us, they will increasingly be ready to stand on their whole -- on their own feet. that is the whole point of partnering. >> a comment from the u.s. senior official suggests the afghan army men as is poor. he estimated only 3% of soldiers and 12% of police can operate unsupervised. he added the 17% of the police are absent without leave. the problem for nato is knowing whether partnering is working well or increasing dependence, and many soldiers feel that using supplies or other gifts to get cooperation from the afghans holds them for independence. >> we are ta

fourth, the afghan forces. the number of soldiers in the afghan national army which h mentioned in his statement is undoubtedly important but quantity cannot override t importance of quality. the forces have to be representative of afghanistan's provinces and communities. otherwise, they will find it difficult to move away from an image of being supplementary forces of troops than the other way around. can the secretary tell us aut the afghans who have been recruited in the afghan national army? the figures that araround of less than 5% do no justice to the critical need for a army to have real legitimacy in the communities it serves. fifth and finally, mr. speaker, the regionial dimension. the countries of the region led by pakistan are key to a conclusion of this war. yet regionial cooperation is to put it mildly anemic. can the foreign secretary update us for plans on economic and security council whether any meetings have been planned and what he will do to push this forward? mr. speaker, 318 british milita

the afghan army, for instance, protects afghan convoys providing supplies. this is a much smaller number, providing supplies to the afghans and don't rely on these contractors who are under the thumb of local war lords and end up just being a protection racket, we'll protect your convoys, but on the side, making sure there was no end to a threat to those convoys because they are making pretty good money by quote, protecting them. i'm confident that general petraeus and his people are going to find a way -- they left it that way with me -- to find a way to end this money piece that these guys are engaging in at our expense. >> does your investigation point fingers as to how this was allowed to come about? it seems such an outrageous story. >> it points fingers at people who are engaged in it specifically. and as to how it came about, yes, but it's pretty clear how it came about actually. we need to have protection for our convoys. we got to get an awful lot of supplies to an awful lot of troops. and we are going through territory which had been dominated by w

the afghan army protects afghan convoy is providing suppliers to the afghans. they do not rely on these contractors. they end up being a protected racket. we will protect your convoys, but they are making sure there is no end to the threat to those convoys because they are making good money by protecting, and i am confidence general petraeus and his people are going to find a way to end this seized these guys are engaging in it at our expense. >> do they point fingers of exactly how this was allowed to come about? it is such an outrageous story. >> the figures of people who are engaging specifically, and as to how it came about, yes, but it is pretty clear. we need to have protection for our convoys. we have to get supplies to a lot of troops, and these are areas that have been dominated by warlords. it is a very simple thing, so it is an easier, faster way to do it. when you are in the middle of a war, you are going to try to do things that can be done quickly, but there is a price to pay for, and that is partly the when you mentioned, which is that we are pay

he says leak that afghan informants in danger. >> u.s. forces depend daily on information from afghan civilians as they try to defeat the taliban in afghanistan. some might give information openly. some more secretly espy's. but none expected their names to be published on the internet where the dossier expose this week includes names, addresses, and fathers names, in direct contradiction to claims by wikileaks publishers saying they withheld documents that might risk lives. the afghan government hadn't caught -- had been cautious until now about commenting on the avalanche of material. the president was shocked by the way names of informants had been left in. >> i wonder if you think it was irresponsible that afghan names of apparent -- of a parent informants against their fellow countrymen were put into the document without being blacked out. >> this is indeed extremely irresponsible and shocking. whether those individuals acted legitimately or illegitimately in providing information to native forces, there are lives and those lives wil

we want afghan ownership of afghan problems. that is part and parcel of that, obviously. >> general, will you review -- i am not going ask you to confirm, because i am going to assume that with all these questions, so that we confirm, will your view -- if you are not allowed to confirmation, i am. when confirmed, will you review the deployment of forces in afghanistan to see how more afghan army is and police forces can be brought in to increase the number of afghan security forces in kandahar? >> it confirm, i will do that. one where the other, we're going to count on you to do that. did general mcchrystal announced that he was slowing the operation of afghan and isaf forces in kandahar to allow more time for discussions with local leaders and get more of their eye and rigid -- bu-y-in. that will mean that we may have more afghan-lead operations in a few months. i was wondering whether not you agree, since we have slowed the pace f operations of afghan and isaf in and around kandahar that that would present an opportunity to br

we just and only support the afghan people. we support and we want to strengthen security in afghanistan. we think the afghan people should run their own country. we think the root causes related to the intervention of the united states and nato, it's been for about 20 years that the americans are in afghanistan. >> reporter: afghanistan's not the only issue iran is confronting with the international community. it's alleged attempt to build a nuclear bomb has drawn new sanctions. let me ask you about sanctions, if i may. does it concern you that the people of iran may be feeling the effects now of sanctions that result from iran's nuclear policies? >> ( translated ): i think the policies by the europeans and americans are ridiculous. they think they are going to influence the life of the iranian society. in fact, they're imposing sanctions against themselves. iran is a great nation with a great population. we have vast and rich resources. it's very much easy for us to overcome all problems. >> reporter: one unsolved problem is

and that is a large step forward from the point of view from the afghan government, that both the afghan government and the u.s. admit some mistakes. the afghan can work on corruption. and the u.s. can funnel more of its money to strengthen the afghan government, which it says is more capable of helping the afghan people. >> nick schifrin in kabul for us this morning. thank you. >>> for the millions of americans who have been out of work for an extended period are expected to get help today from capitol hill. congress is set to extend those benefits. but there's disagreement over who is going to foot the bill. emily schmidt joins us from washington with all the details. good morning, emily. >> reporter: good morning. there are 14.5 million americans who don't have a job right now. today, the senate is set to go to work to try to figure out what to do about extending unemployment benefits. this effort has failed three times in the past. today, though, democrats believe things will be different. marilyn green is a missouri lawyer, who lost her job and now fears losing her unemployment bene

it is an act that one cannot overlook. >> the afghan president also said that the u.s. should take more direct action against taliban bases in pakistan. drawn attacks against individual of qaeda leaders have been carried out for years, but in taking a hardline president karzai asked why u.s. forces were not attacking more well- known such worries of the taliban in pakistan. u.s. troops are facing their worst summer for casualties since the war began. they hardly need reminding of the continuing threat they face in afghanistan. the latest debt was a petty officer, the second body found of two soldiers missing since friday. fighting is complex war, the troops would rather keep their intelligence sources secret, and not published on the internet. >> this enormously of documents is an unwelcome distraction for a government trying to put into place a new program agreed upon last week. they are a reminder of the scale of the continuing u.s. military and intelligence efforts in afghanistan. bbc news, kabul. >> the u.s. defense secretary described the leak as potentially danger

i completely agree with major tupper that the more we can have afghans leading this effort, afghans in the field, i'm all in five of that. and what he did was heroic and the kind of thing we need to do more of. but what we're talking about now is we're americans and nato troops are leading the effort, they need to be free to use all the capability that's available to them. >> lehrer: major, what about the point that the general just made, and also mr. morell made in his statement today that the problem is there are not enough trained afghan security forces out there to get the job done and the americans have to step up to it and of course the general's point is if americans are going to step up to it they'll have to step up more aggressively. >> just to clarify, i'm not saying we shouldn't have a kin eic role and we shouldn't be engaged in kinetic operations. what i think is, to your question about the afghan security forces, we're growing them as fast as we can. it's a ram shackle army, it's a work in progress. any professional army takes years and years to develop. again, i can speak

coordinates of people afghans who cooperated with the u.s. military and you even come under some criticism from human rights organizations for that and a u.s. official has called it a potential hit list for the taliban what's your response to that you know it's a piece of the mostly be media beat up i mean where we're looking at these you seriously to see whether that is true we did hold back people being thousand reports for for the through the review because they had this sort of classification that suggested maybe they contain that sort of material we approached the white house to ask them for assistance in reviewing material before we published the white house we don't accept that request at this stage we're looking at this is mostly a media beat up of course we are very concerned to make sure innocents are protected so we're very happy to receive any evidence or which report is possibly revealing information about someone who is who is innocent there's also been a suggestion that the release of this information will make it harder for al

and delivering results for the afghan people. simply making announcements and creating more bureaucracy will not improve the situation. results must be clear. in closing i've described a long list of concerns, but i also know that the two witnesses before us today are highly skilled in diplomacy and development. i have confidence that you can address these issues. you need to make a strong case today so that the subcommittee can have confidence in providing the funds necessary and theover sight required to support the president's strategy in afghanistan. thank you, madam chair. >> thank you. gentlemen, your full written statements will be placed in the record. feel free to summarize in your oral statements. i'm sure there will be many questions, but proceed as you desire and we will proceed with ambassador holbrooke. >> madam chairwoman, madam chair -- is this -- madam chairwoman, it's a great honor to appear before you and your colleagues again today and especially to testify alongside dr. raj shah, the administrator of usaid. i

late last week while on operation, afghan plan, afghan- let. -- afghan-led. a rogues' soldiers sent shockwaves by sending his weapons on to his trainers, killing them. >> the leaders of britain and the u.s. has spent nearly three hours in talks in washington today. they have both describe their relationship as essential to international prosperity and community. they discussed the middle east, the global economy, and the bp oil spill. david cameron received a warm welcome from the american president. >> it is interesting to see that barack obama is a formal on these occasions. they were joking about the children and addressing each other by their first name. they also stressed their common interest. whenever a british prime minister comes, the president mentions special the phrase "special religious -- relationship." >> the u.s. and u.k. enjoyed a truly special relationship, celebrate a common heritage, a cherished common values, speak a common language most of the time. we honor the sacrifices of our brave men and women who have served together once again an

from the afghan capital kabul. still ahead this hour here on our see issue may be no spring chicken but she sure has a lot of stamina. meet a woman who claims to be a hundred years old find out who she is and what's stopping her from play by the title of the oldest living on thoughts later in the program. the united nations says plans by the world's wealthiest nations to cut spending on aids could jeopardize recent progress in fighting the disease the warning came as news international aids conference which is underway in vienna. demanding treatment for all. this in the austrian capital for us. it's the third day of the aids two thousand and ten conference in vienna and already we've seen some controversy in the days leading up to the official conference we heard from a greek who challenging many of the fundamental assumptions that a lot of us told about hiv and aids and about the forms of treatment though those views were met by many of the mainstream scientists with widespread criticism that has been a lot of deb

this feeds into the afghan civil war, which came as a key feature of afghan politics in the 1990's, and many people would see a return to that, and of course, these withdrawal dates are not the same for the british, are not and coincidental with the next round of u.s. presidential and u.s. national elections. they know they are on to a loser, and they want to signal they will be out by the time the electorate votes again. >> thanks. leaders of britain and the united states will spend three hours in talks in washington today and emerged to describe the relationship between their countries as essential to international security and prosperity. during a meeting, the leaders discussed afghanistan, the middle east, the bp oil spill, and the economy. to get the latest on the talk, i'm joined by our our correspondent in washington. i'm assuming they are pretty much on the same page as far as afghanistan and the middle east, but bp must have been a little bit difficult. >> that is right. this was an interesting first trip to the white house as prime minister by david cameron. interesting to see

both afghan national and afghan poce. is that your view also? >> yes, sir. absolutely. >> do you have a -- an assessment initially about how well we're doing? i must confess over the last eight years, the record of building afghany security forces has been not even mixed. it's been hit and miss, start and stop. do you believe that we're on the right trajectory? and will, mre importantly, will we be able in a reasonable amount of time to field adequate forces so that they can relieve our presence or at least substitute for our presence? >> senator reed, we are on the right track now. i think we've got the organizational construct right. that has the four-star strategic commander there in general petraeus. we have a three-star lieutenant general caldwell who is responsible for this training, advising equipping effort. and we have actually as the chairman pointed out, we are three months ahead on the recruiting target. we're already at the october goal right now of 134,000. this is for the army. so we're making progress today. i think in a way that we have been

this will involve afghan forces assuming security responsibility within the next 4 years. >> we have determined afghans will be responsible for all military and weapons operations by 2014. >> also on the agenda, money to support efforts to reach out to taliban members who renounce violence. >> the german government attached great importance to this approach and stand by our promise to make 50 million euro available over five years, 10 million this year alone. we are going to make sure this fund is effectively managed and implemented. >> he called on karzai to do more for the program. >> the office has new tools to combat corruption, and president karzai issued a decree prohibiting nepotism. but we know much more work remains. >> this will be kabul's request to control 50% of aid, a move that will make the fight against corruption more important. i asked how realistic the 2014 deadline for security handover is. >> they are training afghan troops to take over, so they are hitting the target of huge numbers of new soldiers being created, about 6000 a month. where the issues lie are the

it's run entirely by the afghan people.here is the other example where the two best -- or maybe i would say -- the u.s.-aid programs that are working there in jalala bad, an agricultural program, another program in kandahar run by the local people. i also -- as you are aware, we have 100,000 troops in afghanistan, roughly, u.s. soldiers, 35,000 ice africa coalition troops, 90,000 afghan troops, 230,000 troops because an estimated 30,000 taliban. we outnumber them 8-1 not only in firepower but with the $100 billion budget and everything. obviously, what we're doing is not really working. >> charlie: what do you think of president karzai? >> president karzai -- i have met with him a couple of times, and he's very committed to -- i think helping the country. he's also -- he's got a brother in kandahar who is very deep involved in corruption. and i also think -- >> charlie: why does he tolerate that? >> people disagree with me, but in afghanistan and pakistan, if i ask you or you ask me who i am, i would probably say i'm an ame

afghans. and this will not be lost on the people of afghanistan or on the taliban. we have the presence of foreign soldiers there, looking as if they are dominating or we are dominating rather than the people of afghanistan controlling their own destiny. there are a lot of problems and challenges that are still ahead. and we see signs of progress since january and i do not want to overstate that matter, i would like to talk about what i have seen, and also the issues with the continued domination of many areas by warlords and power brokers, by the corrupt security contractors who were supposed to provide security, who were often working with the taliban. and we will be issuing a report to the armed services committee, for these contractors -- and hopefully this month, but if not this month it would be in august. and we will get this approved, also, in terms of declassifying this with the defense department. this is a corrupt presence of many contractors that are paid with american tax payer do

other countries are assisting the afghan people in obtaining much want to. restoring civil society and the economy and in these terms we will support the efforts of the u.s. soil. well also recently russia has said it's willing to sell over twenty am i seventeen helicopters to nature meant for the afghan army no those helicopters were designed especially to fly over the mountain so as the country's chief of staff has said himself they would be perfect for the afghan army russia has also said that it's willing to give some of them for free in order to help the country and each of them costs from between thirteen and fifteen million u.s. dollars and that of course will also be very much needed here in afghanistan. troops start leaving the country but as you can see there are a lot of issues there on the plate for the well gets to talk about but on a touch of let's not talk about the drug problem there which is also causing a major headache for russia how's it going to be addressed how's it going to be tackled well of course for russia this is one of the main c

the for their measures of providing for afghan yes. and police an army and trained staff for afghanistan's forces and to assist to restore the country's economy and to recover his finances this year ever as written off their remaining debt eight hundred ninety one million dollars the entire debt is twelve billion dollars which for. this year providing humanitarian aid to the country. as a part of their very goal or. help the end we have a supply of flour to make bread for five million dollars. to help tackle the problems in afghanistan. and the shanghai organisation of corporation is also assisting. the context group and with the upcoming meeting of for instance of russian afghanistan and pakistan and to extend and started this year in helping and one of the factors of creating good neighborhood relationships after the international stabilization efforts here is called to restore it's a new trial audio is going to sign a trailer status of against and we hope this will be supported by the afghans. and the presidents of russia united sta

american civilians and two afghan troops. and two more nato troops, one of them an american, were killed in the south. that made 43 u.s. deaths this month after 60 were killed in june. the violence is also hindered development efforts across afghanistan. and the british foreign secretary underscored concerns about corruption as karzai appealed for foreign aid to go directly through his government. >> we will always need to see that the government is making the best possible use of our and its own money. this means continuing on a path of improved financial management and budget execution. as well as tackling corruption at all times. >> lehrer: in the end though u.n. secretary general bon key moon said today's conference marked the beginning of a crucially important transition. >> we will now take the lead in shaping the country's future. afghans will set the priorities and decide which path to follow. the international community will play a supporting role. >> lehrer: and in washington, president obama and visiting british pr

a suicide bomber killed at least two afghans and injured 20 on this busy street. the leader of the taliban ordered his followers to kill any afghan who works with foreigners. security is still the urgent need here, and increasingly it's the u.s. that is shouldering that responsibility, as secretary of state hillary clinton made clear today in an interview with cbs news. >> we have redoubled our efforts working with the afghans to improve and field a much more professional military. we think that we now are putting into place the pieces of a successful strategy. >> reporter: that strategy-- sending more troops into the heart of afghan cities-- has been costing a growing number of american lives. >> this is a very hard struggle, and general petraeus has said very clearly that it's likely to get worse before it gets better. >> reporter: and it's getting worse. 15 american troops were killed here just this week, putting july on track to be the deadliest month since the war began. most of the deaths occurred in or around the city of kandahar, where more american soldie

a lot of afghans heard is americans are leaving. the very day after the speech, the taliban came out and said we're still going to be here. which said are you backing. so a lot of afghans are on the fence about that. a lot of foreign investors are weary about what the environment is going to be like next year. a lot of people are concerned about how is it going track. it is a matter of recovering public confidence that we are going to stick around to get the job done. tavis: that's part of argument that mccain made against obama during the campaign. if you set a date, certain time to get out, this is exactly what is going to happen. the taliban is going to wait it out and say the americans are leaving. whose side are you going to be on once they leave. >> it is threw if the enemy know what is -- it is true that if the enemy knows what you're plans are. i think the president understands and all the national security team understand that it is a matter of transition based on conditions. it is a matter of taking and understanding and m

says billions have been lost to afghan corruption and american projects that haven't benefited the afghan people. the goal for the conference fixed both those problems, but that is a massive challenge, especially when violence is the highest it's been in almost nine years of war. and that violence continues today in southern afghanistan. an american soldier was killed by an ied. he is the 41st service member to be killed this month. and that puts july on track to be the deadliest month of the war. rob? >> nick schifrin in kabul, thank you. >>> suicide bombers have carried out the deadliest this year. a second gunman stormed militia headquarters in the far west anbar province, opening fire before blowing himself up. nearly 50 people were killed and dozens more were injured. >>> it's day two of a smothering heat wave in the northeast. the last four months were the hottest on record putting 2010 on track to be the hottest year since records have been kept. jeannette calle is joining us with the latest. >> reporter: well, rob and vinita, the heat and humidity will lincolner. . this is ahead o

we just and only support the afghan people.pport and we want to strengthen security in afghanistan and we think the afghan people should run their own country. we think the root cause is related to the intervention of the united states and nato. it's been for about 20 years that the americans are interfering in afghanistan. >> reporter: afghanistan's not the only issue iran's confronting with the international community. its alleged attempt to build a nuclear bomb has drawn new sanctions. let me ask you about sanctions, if i may. does it concern you that the people of iran may be feeling the effects now of sanctions that result from iran's nuclear policies? >> translator: i think the policies by europeans and americans are ridiculous. they think they're going to influence the life of the iranian society. if fact, they're imposing sanctions against themselves. iran is a great nation with a great population. we have vast and rich resources and it's very much easy for us to overcome all problems. >> reporter: one unsolved problem

understandings and afghan military with divided loyalties, the leak forced the white house to defend its white house strategy, once again after it replaced stanley mcchrystal with petraeus as the top commander, earlier today the press secretary robert gibbs was repeatedly asked about the matter. >> a couple of times now you said in the last couple of moments that a lot of this information is not really new, that u.s. government officials have said some of in same information. >> yes. i said ther there weren't any nw revelations in the material. >> how about our national security if we knew this already? >> well, because you have got -- it is no not the content as much as it is there are names, there are operations, there are logistics, there are sources, all of that information out in a public way has the potential to do harm. >> made it a point that wiki is not an objective news outlet but an organization that opposes u.s. policy in afghanistan, could you explain how that is relevant to the accuracy of the documents. >> i think that the -- i think that the founder of wiki leaks if i

of the reporting from the afghan capital one afghan member of parliament told r.t. that the first thing the west needs to scale back on is the help given to heroin production. i think it's true that afghanistan produces a lot of opium but when you talk about the heroin that the international community for gets the fact that the you know to turn opium to heroin you require chemical precursors that come from huge pharmaceutical companies from europe and far east in other countries so big that never talk about that bad there's not enough money made in bringing precursors to this country to turn our poppies into heroin and if you don't attack that angle of this problem just producing opium for a farmer who wants to buy a plastic pair of shoes for his son once a year is not going to solve the problem in this country for example one thousand tons of opium last year in afghanistan required thirteen thousand pounds of chemicals tons of chemical precursors that came from a major force of the pharmaceutical producers in the world afghans are producing it to survive and i'm no

russia has said it's willing to sell over twenty am i seventeen helicopters to nature meant for the afghan army no those helicopters were designed especially to fly over the mountains so as the country's chief of staff has said himself they would be perfect for the afghan army russia has also said that it's willing to give some of them for free in order to help the country and each of them costs from between thirteen and fifteen million u.s. dollars and that of course will also be very much needed here in afghanistan once the two troops start leaving the country out of one hundred thousand people that die because of drugs coming from afghanistan annually and more than a third of them dies in russia and together with the the e.u. russia consumes about fifty percent of the drugs coming from afghanistan so for russia of course it is a big issue during this conference and. of course russia is also willing to cooperate with the partners from the west in order to tackle this problem. any political games around this huge problem or an acceptable we cannot comment on two drugs. afghanistan today i

the theme was putting afghans in charge. in the middle of this scrum, president hamid karzai and hillary clinton. one of the announcements, this is as much about style and substance. showing the world that support president karzai and have a plan to bring the troops home. i asked him what makes this time a different. >> the difference is this time the conference is in kabul. the maturity we have achieved and the abilities to convince the rest of the world. >> any pullout depends on the man coming into land. with four stars across his hat, general petraeus is the new commander. with the new challenge, getting these forces ready. news that another afghan soldier turned his gun on his trainers. to americans died, raising fears that the taliban maybe infill trading. bringing british troops home depends on stopping the taliban. this was the scene for forces last summer. this year, the fighting is just as hard, the casualties are also great. the time line may prove to be unrealistic. two french international footballers have been