you sideline the afghans and just give an afghan a highway. well, that doesn't really help an afghan. you have to do it in a way that afghans are participanted -- participants in the solution. >> there would be an afghan solution if the afghans were left to do it but the reality, whether the pakistans, the russians, iranians, u.s., other interests, china, mineral wealth, and the taliban. so, how do you see the next period of years with all those forces at work and what will the role of the taliban be? do you see them having a productive role possibly? >> if you're only thinking of the u.s. presence in afghanistan as being about helping afghans, i think you're in trouble there. there is a certain sense of, oh, you know, the u.s. owes -- the u.s. doesn't owe afghanistan -- afghans north entitled to be fixed by the united states. afghans have to fix their own country. the u.s. there is for a different reason. the u.s. there because, like all the great powers of the past, it does actually have strategic interests in afghanistan, and my thesis it c

afghan president hamid karzai said his government would not join u.s. with the taliban until they were led by afghans, adding that it would suspend negotiations with the united states on a troop pact. however, karzai said in a statement as long as the peace process is not afghan-lead, the high peace council will not participate in the talks in qatar, referring to a body he set up in 2010 to seek a negotiated peace with the taliban. >> we hope that our brothers, the taliban, also understand that the talks for the use progress will move to their own soil in afghanistan soon, to ensure the peace in afghanistan. >> india has come out in strong support of afghan president hamid karzai, following his spat with the u.s. over overtures to the taliban, stating the reconciliation process should not seek to create equal status between the government and insurgent groups. there were mixed reactions on the street of couple over the opening of the taliban office in qatar. -- in the streets of kabul over the opening of the taliban office in qatar. >> [speaking a forei

and afghan governments. good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we explore the prospects for peace in afghanistan, as its government forces today formally took control of the country's security. >> ifill: then, the debate over immigration reform gathers steam. tonight, ray suarez talks with kentucky republican senator rand paul. citizenship is a privilege i think we can discuss how we do that down the road. we examine a new study that >> brown: we examine a new study that finds most education schools are in disarray, and poorly preparing the nation's teachers to help students learn. >> ifill: special correspondent kira kay reports from myanmar, on the violent clashes between muslims and buddhists that have displaced more than 100,000 people. >> brown: and we close with a different look at afghanistan, through an ancient oral tradition kept alive in two-line poems. teletrade. the women have done this for centuries, they reflect that are >> ifill: that's all ahea

my book have served as a kind of window into afghan history come afghan culture, afghan way of life, and i have given people a lot more vehement dimension of this country that is so much on the news with the same things over and over again. >> host: often for the worst possible reasons for war-weary america, not understanding why we are there and what this commitment is. what you have managed to do is create the universality of human experience. >> guest: thank you for saying that. it is the first step toward an pretty. not i am trying to generate empathy but that is what the literature inherently is. always use the example of dave edgar's book what is it? to make me truly feel for the first time what it must have been like to be a sudanese refugees fleeing the civil war and trekking across the desert to make across the border into kenya and being attacked by wild animals and melissas. i felt a great sense of empathy for those boys because of this book, this novel and that is what literature is, what fiction is for you to leap over the wall itself. that is the great gift of reading,

and reasonably fair with the afghan public?the government that emerges from that election perceived as having legitimacy? if the answer is no, i worry that is the trigger for political instability that could unravel into violence. it is a critical period coming up next year. >> host: you just brought out this book and i don't know if you're already working on other ideas for your next book you could share spec if anybody has an idea. [laughter] now is the time to tell me. i just want to survive my books tour then open my mind in the fall. >> you have written about fathers and sons and mothers and daughters and generations of families. should we assume? >> it is partly because and i have said this in the past two others because when i grew up in afghanistan it is very, very difficult to state the role that they play how you see yourself as a person and how you understand your place you don't see yourself necessarily as isolated as an individual but as ascend ascend, cousin, a brother, a grandson, a family is how you make sense o

afghan president hamid karzai has officially announced afghan forces will take charge of security forntire country as the taliban opens an office in qatar, home move aimed at facilitating peace talks. president karzai announced a delegation will travel to qatar for talks. the u.s. government has been forced to publicly name 48 guantanamo bay prisoners who they say they cannot prosecute but aren't too dangerous to dachshund but are too dangerous to release. -- but are too dangerous to release. protests are sweeping brazil as world cup fever turns to anger. tens of thousands have demonstrated across the country. it is the second day of the g8 summit in northern ireland and the issue of syria has overshadowed talks. the leaders are expected to shift their focus to the global economy and its problems. halfey represent just over of the $71.7 trillion global economy. we are live close to where the summit is taking place. they were all smiles in front of the cameras, but behind closed doors, was it a different story? >> apart from vladimir putin. >> of course. >> for all of the talk that the

she called for us to see if it were possible to get afghans talking to other afghans about the future of afghanistan and that is the key. >> we're going into these talks with pretty starting conditions from the american side. do you think the taliban would agree to those conditions given they know the americans are leaving anyway? asked they are very important but the taliban have known those conditions since february of 2011. they are to break with al qaeda, and violence, and to live in a society where individuals and particularly women have rights. these are not a surprise. i think it is very important. you have to take this step- by-step. what the administration did, for the office to open, here's what you need to do. the soil of afghanistan will never be used to attack other countries. say you are in the political process. it was the answer to the first two. i think this people who have spoken about this very important development, that is the beginning of a long road and i predict it is going to be a bumpy road. it is an important day today. there are still a lot of work left to

this afghan led. forces dealt with this very attack this press conference that was going to be held when the attack came in was very much was exactly about those peace talks you can imagine the dismay and possibly the anger of those there talking about talking to the taliban and as the as you were doing that they attack the very presidential compound where that press conference proves to be so we've really been seeing reports of analysts around the world when they're discussing and analyzing the graveyard of empires that afghanistan is known as to around the world. many of them saying you know how do you create peace with the taliban is that the traditional washington method of just giving them cash and saying fine. we're having us and then and then flying out of town you know there's a lot to be determined how they how they move forward here one of the things i wanted to ask you about tom is that is that we've heard the afghan president hamid karzai for years now lashing out and lambasted in washingt

goal is to open the door for the afghans to sit down with the other afghans so that they can walk out the future for their country the taliban have their own choice to make but the united states is prepared to work with all afghans so what sort of country will nato be leaving behind while at the moment it's an extremely poor one over forty percent of the population thought to be living below the poverty line and with such a high rate of poverty the illicit production and sale of opium has become a major problem afghanistan sells more of the stuff than any other country in the world it pumps out three hundred and seventy five tons of heroin every year now that is ninety percent of the world's entire supply the booming black market needs to accusations of vast corruption estimates suggest afghans paid two point five billion dollars in bribes last year that's the equivalent of almost one quarter of the country's entire economy the question now for america is whether the six hundred thirty five billion dollars that it spent on the afghan war so far and the thousands of lives lost of all b

president obama saying we need to see afghans talking to afghans how will that go down? , that could be difficult in the coming days when talks are expected to start. we know that the afghan government here in kabul are very unhappy about the way the office was opened. you heard president obama saying it was opened just for the purpose of peace talks, and that is what the government had been calling for. that this should be an office just for peace talks and not to promote the taliban, and that is how many politicians and the ruling party here saw. they said they saw the taliban theflag, the old state -- islamic emirate of afghanistan. that upset them here. as a result, now the american military's future in afghanistan hangs in the balance. of course, combat troops are scheduled to leave here by the end of next year, after that, negotiations have been going on about how the military could stay to assist and train the afghan army here. in return, the u.s. would likely get several military bases in a country that would be of strategic importance. let's not forget that afgh

credibility with the afghan people and while the vast majority do not subscribe. extremist ideology many are very frustrated with corruption and not an arbitrariness of the government including ongoing acts of repression. all of the foreign presence to prop up this government and this this kind of environment leads to the rise of the stream so it's not just security question month. here doubt he will keep you up to date throughout the day on the situation in afghanistan after this brazen attack right in the heart of kabul. for now the world's leading intelligence agencies have found themselves chasing their own tails off to edward snowden again slipped through the global surveillance web that he exposed and the n.s.a. whistleblower is now reported to be in hiding after sending off a plane packed with journalists to cuba at the very same flight that he was supposed to be on his pull scott reports from the west road and was last thought to be. the only thing that we know for certain is that edward snowden's exact location . the white house suggested that they still

to play in that, that's up to the afghans to decide. >> brown: u.s. officials also have to address another karzai decision today. he suspended talks on how many american troops would stay in afghanistan and under what conditions after combat forces withdraw at the end of 2014. in berlin, president obama played down any suggestions that the overall peace effort has foundered before it began. >> we had anticipated that at be some areas of friction, to put it mildly, in getting this thing off the ground. that's not surprising. but i think that president karzai himself recognizes the need for political reconciliation. the challenge is how do you get those things started while you're also at war. >> brown: underscoring that point, five afghan police officers were killed yesterday by fellow officers in a so- called insider attack. the taliban also claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on bagram air base in kabul that killed four american troops. it came just hours after international forces handed over full security control to the afghan military and p

we don't expect it will be easy but we think ultimately we will need to see afghans' talking to afghans about how they will move forward, and the cycle of violence so that they can start building their country. >> 4 u.s. soldiers were killed just hours after the taliban committed themselves to peace talks. the end to the violence is still a long way off. potential talks and the rift that has opened, i am joined by the lieutenant- general who was the former commander of u.s. troops in afghanistan. is this indicative of how tricky it will be? >> it has been a rough week and this has been said about afghanistan over the last 12 years. disappointing to see them with a political ploy -- with predictable results, with president karzai backing away from the talks. >> does this suggest that the taliban -- they suggested they were the government in waiting -- does this suggest to you that they are not serious about these talks? or are they just misunderstood? >> they understood what they were doing and have the television cameras, with a strong political statement. i don't think their view is th

the frustration came from the afghans because they relied on that training on a daily basis. so the person that was with them training them may not be there now for days or weeks at a time. so we kind of changed that around and said we need to take our armed personnel and put them out there and spend time with these folks day in and day out, not only built trust between us and the afghans but it gave them the ability to prg on a daily basis. so the other frustration was the coalition effort. there was a lot of people with great intentions willing to help shared by many different countries. the frustration was many different countries, there's many different ways of doing things. so we would be out there telling the afghans, this is how you conduct police operations, this is how we do police training, this is how you hold your weapon and engage the enemy, and then several weeks later another force would come in and not that it was necessarily wrong, but it was different. so from the afghan perspective, incredibly frustrating to understand where they are going and what they nee

the truth between afghans and the taliban is extremely low. >> it comes at the same time afghan forces take over their security responsibilities from nay to troops. u.s. and coalition forces move into a support role helping the afghans when it's necessary, when it's needed. the u.s. led combat mission said to be over by the end of next year. the chief says the afghans are ready. >> five years ago afghan forces were a fraction of what they are today. now you have 350,000 afghan troops and police, a formidable force and time and again we have seen them feeling quickly and competently with complex attacks. >> not everyone agrees with this. obama three people were killed. 21 were wounded. >> a live robert from kabul as well. >>> president obama heads to germany this hour. >> the war in syria was a major focus of that meeting. world leaders trying to put the pressure on the russian president over his support for the syrian government and his opposition of weapons going to the rebels. both leaders say they are going to push the parties toward negotiations to the end of the bloody civil war t

reconciliation only goal is to open the door for the afghans to sit down with the other afghans so that they can work out the future for their country the taliban is to make their own choice but the u.s. is prepared to work with all afghans so despite this war being waged to rid afghanistan of the taliban a peaceful withdrawal now seems the main objective of the us regime to them to what kind of countries nato leaving behind but at the moment it's an extremely poor country over forty percent of the population live beneath the poverty line and with such a high rate of poverty the illicit production and sale of opium has become a major problem afghanistan sells more of the stuff than any other country in the world the u.n. estimates three hundred seventy five tons of heroin leave the country each year cannabis is also sold in vast quantities with up to three thousand five hundred tonnes produced h.-e. in other booming black markets it's a vast accusations of corruption afghans paid two point five billion dollars in bribes over a period last year now it's the equivalent of almost one quart

>> afghan woman in my country, is different culture and different but afghan woman in afghanistan -- yeah. >> they have opportunities to advance. >> we come here and i saw a deference between one woman and united states woman. afghan woman observes the islamic culture all the time. they cover their hair. here there are different dresses. also, it's different from afghanistan because they have different communication and also, all of the woman during the day they work in the society, all of the woman but in afghanistan you have some problem, opportunity problem and traditional problem. steams they don't like the woman to go out the home and they work sometimes. unfortunately, this is a big problem, but now we are going to do things every day and all of the woman work. this is a group, but we are appreciated. >> i think the opportunity for the woman in afghanistan and the men is not equal. it's a different society, don't allow the woman to participate in society. unfortunately, the education, political pirks women in afghanistan have limit'ses -- limitation. unfortunately, for some tra

nato says it helps the afghan forces in the mentoring role. nato insists afghans were in the lead as they prepare to fight such threats on their own. a report from serious a hezbollah fighters are now in the northern city of aleppo after winning a key victory in qusayr. but rebel fighters have gained control of a military airport. foreign battles -- and they're battling on the outskirts of aleppo prepare they have seized weapons and secured a tank depot. there's been renewed shelling in the city of homs as the syrian army looks to retake the city. one neighborhood suffered heavy bombardment on monday. indonesian's are gathering outside their consulate in the saudi arabian city of jeddah. that's a day after a woman was killed in a fire outside the building. thousands of undocumented indonesian workers are trying to resolve their immigration status. they need to sort out their papers as an amnesty deadline looms. can leave the country without penalty. what have authorities said about this incident? >> we have to first about the government reacti

the scene lasted just over an hour and while no civilian casualties have been reported and the afghan forces did manage to get the attack under control relatively quickly the fact that it did happen at the presidential palace they used id cards and vehicle id cards that are what the nato and i saw forces use reportedly and the fact that they were even able to breach that gate what i saw from the outside of the gate and it's more of a blast wall around the green zone area as they were dry and holes in the concrete walls and in the entire gate was destroyed apparently one vehicle was able to get inside and then one was stopped at the gate and then that's when the attack began the damage actually remarkably was minimal obviously it could have been a lot worse there actually schools and offices just outside of the gate into the presidential palace area and where the cia is. and the fact that there were no civilian deaths or and injuries reported is remarkable it would seem as especially considering this attack happened right when the peace talks are being negotiated in doha with the talib

we don't expect it will be easy but we think ultimately we will need to see afghans' talking to afghans about how they will move forward, and the cycle of violence so that they can start building their country. >> 4 u.s. soldiers were killed just hours after the taliban committed themselves to peace talks. the end to the violence is still a long way off. potential talks and the rift that has opened, i am joined by the lieutenant- general who was the former commander of u.s. troops in afghanistan. is this indicative of how tricky it will be? >> it has been a rough week and this has been said about afghanistan over the last 12 years. disappointing to see them with a political ploy -- with predictable results, with president karzai backing away from the talks. >> does this suggest that the taliban -- they suggested they were the government in waiting -- does this suggest to you that they are not serious about these talks? or are they just misunderstood? >> they understood what they were doing and have the television cameras, with a strong political statement. i don't think their view is th

the frustration came from the afghans because they relied on that training on a daily basis. so the person that was with them training them may not be there now for days or weeks at a time. so we kind of changed that around and said we need to take our armed personnel and put them out there and spend time with these folks day in and day out,

the cia afghan station and the afghan ministry of defense were also targeted. the attacks started with gunfire which was followed by a car bomb. the gun fight lasted 90 minutes. it's not known if president hamid karzai was in the compound at the time. the afghan army said all the attackers were killed. school children walking to class were caught in the gunfire, but it's unclear if there were any other casualties. >>> and the mystery surrounding edward snowden is getting deeper by the day. the exact whereabouts of the man who leaked sensitive security secrets remains unknown this morning. snowden who is trying to avoid extradition by seeking asylum in ecuador is believed to be in russia, and u.s. officials are

only about 25%, 26% of the afghan population is literate. we're talking about pretty sophisticated equipment. it's also like giving a small child who can't ride a bicycle without training wheels the keys to your family car. >> u.s. spending in afghanistan is becoming increasingly haphazard as agencies try to spend available funds before u.s. forces leave at the end of next year. >> it's very similar to what we're seeing in a lot of other programs in afghanistan. there seems to be this mad rush, spend the american taxpayers' dollars, without having a good plan in place. >> reporter: in congress, some on both sides of the aisle already opposed the helicopter deal because the russian company that makes them is also supplying weapons to the syrian army that stands accused of killing tens of thousands of syrian civilians. some in congress say the helicopters should be bought from a u.s. defense contractor. here at the pentagon, officials say they are confident they will be able to find enough competent afghan pilots to fly those helicopters, and,

think nato troops should have continued their afghan for a to put an end to violence and terrorism in the country perhaps they just they're just trying to say all the wrong but. problem of course in a place like afghanistan which has for generations resisted foreign invaders the soviets of course in the one nine hundred eighty s. the irish in the one thousand nine hundred to many of them have any kind of foreigner on their land is enough to fight them regardless of the ideology of the government so you have to balance the oh no it was on the one hand we're better fighters you got more more training and probably better on a military level than the afghan government those are very present end up creating more extremists and more taliban and more on resistance and we can kill all right stephenson is a professor of international studies at the university of san francisco thank you for sharing a time with us here and today. we'll continue to monitor that breaking news story here on the program what the world's leading intelligence agencies have found themselves chasing their own tails off

and i was stunned to see that 93% of afghans expressed confidence in their 350,000 strong afghan security forces that they have now. so that means at least the afghans themselves think there's a chance, a good chance that the afghan security forces backed by whatever the resedual force we may be able to leave behind. and remember, that is based on whether we're going to get this kind of bilateral security agreement. which temporarily karzai froze discussions about this week in his frustration. so we do have a time clock. the question is just ultimately, hillary clinton said this 100 times. every war eventually has a peace process. people have to talk it out. and we didn't expect a lot of peace accords. gwen: you mentioned hillary clinton. what's become of john kerry? does he have a role and syria as well? and we're trying to fix an identifiable problem a different way than we did in afghanistan. >> interesting because john kerry is actually headed to doha right now. qatar. but he's not going to be involved in the afghan-taliban talks that are planned. that will be run by his head, special

if we needed to build new ones, we certainly did, but we always made sure the afghans understood they had the ultimate responsibility of maintaining this once we leave. finally, girls in school. as i mentioned, literacy rate was 20 percent. that was country-wide. in southwest afghanistan that literacy rate was women was 8 percent. so you have to work very hard to get an 8 percent literacy rate for women, which means you actually have to stop and implement policies to make sure that women actually couldn't partake in any learning, any health systems, anything that would contribute to their growth. so girls in school, big focus area. we wanted to reverse the effects of the state of women and girls in afghanistan. so once the security foot hold was gained in southwest afghanistan by the marines in 2010 and 2011 and they continued to conduct operations as i'm speaking, we began to build capacity at every level to ensure the afghans are ultimately able to take the helm of their own destiny and they have the capacity to run this system. we instituted assessments for growth in schools, we cr

sultanzoy a political analyst and former afghan m.p. thinks the exhaustion of u.s. led forces gives the taliban a chance to gain even more influence well actually it's very brazen and breach which is very important and terms of symbolism because this was probably one of the most strategic and it traced. to send a signal to the afghan government that while they're opening an office and cut out they are also continuing their military assault on very important targets i think this is the result of. water fatigue by foreign forces if you look at this you can see parallels to the vietnam peace process when when the united states was getting ready to leave vietnam there were parallel tracks on one hand they were fighting on the other hand and paris they were talking so eventually as that of a draw all day it gets closer and as the fatigue in western societies become deeper you'll see more aggressive behavior from the the side which in this case is the taleban so this is this is going to escalate not decline in my opinion. always more news for you a click away at r.t. dot

well to go on a list and a former afghan m.p. daoud sultanzoy agrees the assault on the presidential palace shortly after afghan security forces took over control of the country is highly symbolic. this was probably one of the most strategic penetration to send a signal to the afghan government that while they're opening an office in qatar they are also continuing their military assault on very important targets it's a very very confusing for this government too while the government is interested in talking to the college one of the taliban are answering back with the with guns and explosives that this is the result of. water fatigue by the foreign forces they have already made a decision that they will continue on peace talks because they're tired of this war and they've already in fact send a signal to the taliban that we will not be fighting this war with you and we want to talk talk to you in fact mr obama a while ago mentioned that we are not our enemy this morning's assault in kabul wasn't the only violence that shook the c

it was by somebody wearing an afghan army uniform. the fourth soldier was killed in an attack in western afghanistan. we are not exactly sure what happen there. this has killed three nato soldiers. this has been a recurring problem for nato. they have gone to great links to try to stop this problem with including having guardian angels watch nato forces. nato forces being able to car armed weapons. -- carry arms weapons. >> what are the implications of the impending isaf withdrawal? >> isaf is scheduled to start its blast trench of transition to afghan security forces in the next 10 days. we are expecting it. isaf has been trying to mitigate these programs by distancing themselves from the army. isaf moving forward as it moves forward to the end of 2014. the mission now is to train and assist afghan forces. any force like this centers trust as well. they are slated to take over security for the entire country by the end of this month. the forces will move into more of an advisory role. insider attacks like this really do breached the

in safety now in a member last year we saw the defense secretary hold the trials of afghan detainees captured by british forces to the afghan security forces of the concerns that they might be subjected to torture would be another second reason that they gave was that this wasn't a secret this is the first time that many in the british public will have heard about this detention facility and the u.k. ambassador. after these revelations saying that this was a principle of national serenity and that the detainees should be handed over to the afghan security forces as soon as possible the question of how to handle detainees has been the most enduring controversy since the u.s. led military campaigns in afghanistan and iraq and certainly until these transfers that made this controversy and these compare parazynski. they don't look like they're going to go a. london. and the british and jeremy corbin agrees that similarities between combat stand and gone tanabe are really striking people are collected all rested as enemy combatants held for very long periods and not allowed normal judicia