this horrific scene as it unfolded and how the afghan taliban is reportedly criticizing the pakistaniack. it is a horrible mess in pakistan today with ramifications around the world and we'll have that as the top story at the bottom of the hour right after this. my name is michael. i'm 55 years old and i have diabetic nerve pain. the pain was terrible. my feet hurt so bad. it felt like hot pins and needles coming from the inside out of my skin. when i did go see the doctor, and he prescribed lyrica, it helped me. it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda-approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions, or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't

when people talk about getting rid of the save havens for the afghan taliban, the pakistani taliban, it's about sovereignty. the pakistani military are in kabul today and have talked about cooperation. seem to haveoes change that process. how important is that? >> are important, but it has to be the afghan commitment to dealing with the pakistani taliban, and there has to be a commitment to ending not just the pakistani sally upon -- pakistani taliban, but their support. >> could use it in go across the border? >> the military has been quite an incredible job in these past few weeks. i think if the afghani's and pakistanis could work together, that would be a powerful thing. and it's about kabul and islamabad, but also about new delhi. i think the prime minister somed ask india to take time to think about their counterparts as well. >> the military budget to pakistan has been falling. america has given over a billion dollars in 2013 to pakistan. isn't there more leverage that the u.s. has? >> i hope there is more leverage today that they -- now that the pakistani government has had to

this was what later became the regular taliban, if you will, the afghan taliban. on, there was a split between the larger group into ttp or the pakistani taliban. you know, i got swept up into it in 1995. i was young, adventurous, i was looking for, you know, the romanticized ideals of the muslim fighters of the old days. and i think this is the same thing that catches a the lot of individuals. they wear the costume of religion, but it's the furthest thing from it. >> costume, that's an interesting word you chose. i'm going to loop back to, but we're also now getting word from -- we're hearing from the spokesperson from the afghan taliban condemning this attack in pakistan saying, and i quote, this is from the spokesperson, deliberate killing of innocent women and children is against principles. everyone should consider this. he referenced the split of the taliban, can you explain the differences in factions? why is this significant here? >> well, there's a lot of splits -- >> well, the pakistani -- >> this is for j.m. >> and there's also -- sorry. there's a lot of

the afghan taliban has condemned an attack on the school, which left 132 children dead.he attack which took place is the worst since 2007 hush sha's currency has continued to fall despite it's collapse by raising interest rates. in afternoon trading the ruble crashed to record lows. two hostages were killed along with the gunmen. >> they are taking the bodies to the residents where they are preparing for the burials to recall morning. of course, as you heard, the military finally coming out with a statement so there will be many questions as far as security preparedness is concerned. this is after all a city that has been hit hard, even in the past, the checks that you see behind me has received many such victims. but this is for the first time that the school has been targeted. and people are morning tonight, with this news that they have been watching all day today seven suspected members of a network that they say was trying to recruit women. the two suspected heads of the group were based in the town in morocco. four women were arrested in the spanish enclaved. in to

isis is much stronger than the afghan taliban, and i know the afghan taliban very well. i met their leaders and i met their fighters. this group is much stronger. >> you talked about life on the ground among the islamic state militants, how they are building schools, how they are building loyalty among sunni muslims. you did not talk about the systemic rain of sunni women and children something we saw in horrific detail in a report by amnesty. did you not witness any of that going on? >> i did not see that. if this happens, if a systemic rain would happen, then they wouldn't show it to me. but i saw prisoners, normal prisoners. i saw a lot of things, a lot of horrible things. it is very clear they have killed many people, made women to slaves. you can buy slaves. you have slavery in this country, and this is something that i can not accept. but they think that slavery is normal. slavery was normal under christians at the beginning -- >> did you see children taken as slaves? we had girls as young and so were being rained and taken as sexual slaves by isis militants. >> i

that war led to the rise of the afghan taliban, aided by pakistani intelligence and ultimately to the rise of pakistan's own taliban. this man is pakistan's former spy chief. accused of supporting the afghan taliban and other terror groups. the general condemns the school massacre but his conspiracy theory is that america and india ma nip mated the kip -- manipulated the killers. >> the problem we are suffering because of america -- [inaudible] -- the last 14 years now. >> the allegation against you is that by supporting the taliban in afghanistan, you helped to create the extremism which is now threatening to devour this country. >> no. we supported jihad. jihad is not extremism. >> look how it's turned out. >> no. >> you now have this tragedy in your own country blowing back. >> no. absolutely wrong. i love my pakistan, i love my country. >> pakistan's war has many victims. the taliban came to take revenge on behalf of these people. drifters driven from their homes by a government offensive. when the army started bombing, we started running and hiding, says muhammad. they told us no

on aljazeera america. >> the taliban was planning another attack against the afghan national army. >>hile he was waiting for the fighters to gather, i asked the taliban commander - leesan - about how he felt about killing fellow afghans. >> i asked him if the taliban today was changing its approach. >> i was driven to the outskirts of town to film a large gathering of over a hundred taliban fighters. this was undoubtedly a show of strength for the camera. and a reminder why so many are concerned about what will happen when the nato troops withdraw later this year. >> as you can see, some of the commanders are planning their attack today. they're planning to attack an afghan national army base. >> the key us war aim was to prevent al qaeda from being able to operate out of afghanistan. before they went on their raid, i asked them whether they would renounce ties with al qaeda - something that the taliban's leadership has so far refused to do. >> being present at a gathering of armed taliban in these numbers was terrifying - this was a potentially a prime target for a us drone strike. a

afghanistan has led to the death of thousands of civilians caught in the middle - killed either by the taliban, afghanecurity forces or international troops. it's impossible to know the exact figures - but the un estimates that the majority of those civilian casualties are caused by the taliban. i had heard that the taliban, who had previously bombed state-run schools and murdered teachers, were now allowing them to reopen. i wanted to see what education looked like now in taliban-controlled charkh. >> at this boys-only school, there was an emphasis on religious studies, and the taliban prohibits all literature and textbooks they perceive as immoral. but i was also led into a chemistry class, and another class where the students were learning math. i asked the teacher a few questions. >> before i arrived in charkh, i had heard that some taliban leaders had softened their stance on girls' being educated in state schools. >> when they held power, the taliban severely restricted girls' education and shut down a a majority of the schools, mainly because of their opposition to co-education. during the insu

while at the white house podium josh earnest, the spokesman was very careful to stress the afghan taliban not involved, that this was the pakistani taliban. the reason why is administration officials may be sensitive to just how bad the violence is in this neighborhood, both countries right now, because as you say, it happened just hours after the president said u.s. combat operations in afghanistan are ending at the end of the year. the president's aides are making the case that the afghan government is stabilizing, but remember they made a similar case about iraq at the end of 2011. listen. >> almost the same words you just said about afghanistan. and then it collapses, isis goes in and fills the vacuum. how worried are you we're going to have a replay? >> ed, i do thing this highlights a key difference from the strategy that this president's pursued that was pursued by the previous administration. no longer can the united states be in the situation where we're doing it for the host country. in the situation with iraq, they were left a stable and peaceful country. >> now, we should note

. >> it's an attack so barbaric that even the afghan taliban condemned it today. it's an unprecedented assault saying it may signal an escalation in already a bloody conflict between the pakistani government and the pakistani taliban known as the ttp. ttp has been under intense pressure by the taliban military and they found an opportunity to retaliate with children today. the pakistani military says that they had ammunition and supplies to last for days and this was certainly a suicide operation, that the terrorists intended both to kill and to die there. pakistani taliban's chief aim bringing down the pakistani government and establishes sharia law in that country and has a history of targeting the u.s. in 2009, a taliban suicide bomber killed seven cia officers in eastern afghanistan. in 2010, the group claiming responsibility for the attempted car bombing in new york city and following the killing of osama bin laden in pakistan, the group vowed more attacks, wolf, on u.s. soil. >> the pakistan taliban says this was revenge against the pakistani military for an

you know, the good taliban, the bad taliban, the afghan taliban, the pakistani taliban. we've long heard about these proposed peace talks, getting the taliban to a negotiating table. but really, after the peshawar school massacre, there's a real change of momentum here. at least as far as the people are concerned, saying look, enough politics. enough maneuvers. we need to see a solid and a unified stance about how you're going to face militants. but again, the real question is how that translates into people's lives, but also how people's lives going to be affected by any reactions from the militants in the days to come. >> shaimaa khalil in islamabad, thank you. >>> do stay with us on "bbc world news." there is much more ahead. ten years after the indian ocean tsunami, our correspondent returns to the indonesian province to see how the region has recovered. thanks. ♪ [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable global commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. great job. (mandarin) ♪ cut it out. >>see you tomorrow. ♪ ♪ wellllll... ♪ earlyfit ♪ l

weakens the afghan taliban, and the group has been stepping up its attacks. the school is the latest and most violent carried out. the group has launched attacks that include targeting a 15-year-old girl, who had become a global ikeen, to bombing hotels and military bases, and the group influenced a group who tried to set off a car ban. >> today is a warning sign that the taliban is alive. >> pakistan taliban have killed tens of thousands. marion lost a son in a suicide bomb, and now she struggles to support the family. >> at times, we have no food. and i know they have a miserable life, but what else can i do and. >> as they suffer, the taliban have grown. they have emerged from 2007 from neighboring afghanistan, pushed out by u.s. forcers, and now it's an embrella organization, composed of 30 groups aligned with al qaeda, and trying to impose harsh islamic law. >> while we have the government, there's going to be an element that's going to decide who should run it. >> pakistan's prime minister came into office to negotiate with the fall ban, but an attack i

the afghan taliban came out and condemned the school attack this week saying it goes against their principles. just before the break christine you wanted to make a point . >> yes, one thing that we have to keep in mind many of the pronouncements in english have given the suggestion that they've rally against the tt: if you look at the different narratives, the narrative that is coming out of pakistan's media is that the indians did this attack. it's very hard for me to believe that they've turned a new leaf when there has been this fracturing of the narrowture to suggest indian culpability. i do a lot of large survey work to understand the determinants of support for terrorism, one of the things that we consistently find is this urbane cosmo pol cosmopolitan middle and upper middle class is most likely to support the militant groups. this goes right in the face that the support for terrorism comes from poverty. to find that w you might have a rising middle class. it might an cosmopolitan middle class but it does not mean that it's a liberal middle class. that's an important difference. >> fro

>> it gets sort of confusing because pakistan taliban and afghan taliban. this is believed to be the pakistan taliban. they are a group of militants formed in the after math of september 11 when former military dictator here began aligning of the u.s. and campaign against al qaeda and the afghan taliban. they sort of rose up domestically inside pakistan. they say they operate independently of the afghan taliban but there is some coordination. they sort of live and harbor on the same border region but their focus is more on pakistan's government and military. over the years they have been responsible for killing tens of thousands of civilians and pakistan military officials. >> any reaction yet from the pakistani government? >> yes. there has been -- i mean, just really horrified. the prime minister has said this would strengthen the country's resolve to take the battle to the taliban and try to eradicate the problem. as we know judging from the u.s. experience in afghanistan this is a very complicated, very long battle and effort that is unlikely to resolve

killing of innocent people and children." >>> now, it's important to note that the pakistani and afghan talibanechnically allies but operate completely independently. jim sciutto breaks down the differences. >> reporter: they focus on attacking international security forces there including u.s. forces and driving them out of the country. the pakistani taliban focused on attacking the pakistani government. brings it down and establishing sharia law in the country. to that end they've been responsible for some of the most horrific terror attacks in pakistan, an thatting on a market in it 009 that killed more than 100 people and an attack on a protestant church and the assassination of the former prime minister benazir bhutto and shooting of the recent nobel prize winner, malala yousafzai. the pakistani taliban has attacked americans and american interests. in 2009 a suicide bombing that killed seven cia officers in eastern afghanistan. in 2010 the failed bombing inside times square in new york city traced back to the pakistani taliban. and following the killing of osama bin laden by u.s. forces i

. >> the afghan taliban condemn the attack, as did other extremist groups, but it does call into questionhe pakistani military, which is essentially the government, tries to distinguish between good extremists and bad extremists, and that may not be a viable policy going forward, and i'll bet the u.s.-sponsored drone attacks, that go on with the tacid admission of the government will be increased. >> i got a question for you, will the united states play any role in the hunting down of pakistani taliban? >> well, the united states would probably use its drones, working with the government and the army. but let me say this. the army in their sweeps through north wazirastan, there's a lot of collateral damage of women and children and others in what happens there and what these taliban horror people are doing is saying you can kill our women and children. where going to show you that we're going to do the exact same thing to you. the purpose of terror, john, is to terrorize. >> general john campbell, who heads the coalition forces in afghanistan, you've heard of him, correct? >> yes. >> he i

they are different than al-qaeda in that sense and different from the afghan taliban, they are mostly focused on pakistan. >> based on your experience, living in the country, how is this going to play out in pakistan? will it galvanize the pakistani government and the people against the taliban? >> if you go through twitter, if you go through facebook, watch pakistani t.v., there is horror and shock. one father was on t.v. and it's been replaying there for the last few hours. he said that i put my son in a uniform this morning and i'm putting him in a casket tonight. there will be fury, anger and it will be national. it will momentarily united pakistan, but weaver seen this before. we've seen this after the attack on malala, the attack on the catchery airport, everybody units and says this is horrible. pakistan that never proved the ability to unit as a country and oppose the pakistan. some even if they don't support the taliban come from the same tribes. it's very difficult to separate those people, so you will see a lot of effort to unify a country that is aghast, horrified by the l

taliban attacked a bank in helmand province. four guards and three civilians were killed. jennifer glasse reports from kabul. [ gun fire ] >> reporter: this special forces video shows the shoot-out between afghan security forces and the taliban in helmand province. the fighting went on for hours. the target kabul bank, that pays salaries for the government workers, police and army. >> translation: i was at the second gate of the bank when suddenly suicide attackers riding motorbikes entered the gate. i tried to pick up my gun. they opened fire and entered the building. as a result of the gunfire my friend was killed and i escaped from the area. >> afghan forces brought in what little air support they have. they worked to secure the fighters in an area crowded. the afghan army and police are fighting a growing insurgency. this is the latest in a series of taliban attacks in kabul and across afghanistan. it's two weeks before n.a.t.o.'s combat mission in afghanistan end, and the taliban is intent on creating instability for the new government under ashraf ghani >>> you're watching al jazeera - more to come on the newshour, including australia moves to reassure a nervous public that security conc

they need to fight the pakistan taliban with the same degree of determination that the afghan government has been trying to combat the taliban in afghanistan. and there's of course, as you know, a difficult conversation with the pakistanis for well over a decade. 13 years, going back to september 2001, about the frustration that the obama and bush administrations have had about the inconsistent approach by the pakistani government against terrorist groups. one would hope that the pakistani government would consolidate its efforts, based on today's event, and understand that the groups are a cancer for the people of pakistan. and you see - i have been following on twitter the debate in pakistan, you see the support of the pakistani people for something to be done to combat this evil group that conducted today's terrorist operation. and you contrast what happened today, the actions of the pakistani taliban with the heroism and courage of malalley who received the nobel peace prize and she made a statement condemning what happened. there are millions of pakistanis who understand their count

afghan civilians being killed is on the rise. most of the killings have been carried out by the taliban and other armed groups as jennifer glasse reports from kabul. >> the worst single attack on afghan civilians took place last month in eastern afghanistan. children were among the dozens killed when a suicide-bomber detonated himself at a volleyball match. the united nations said civilians are increasingly in the line of fire. injuries and deaths are up 90% from last year. this is one of the latest victims. fighting for his life after a suicide-bomber detonated his explosives in a kabul auditorium. november was a bad month in the capitol. >> we've never seen so many explosion and attacking in the city. so practically since one month there is not one single day where we're not waking up or coming to work hearing explosions or gunfight. >> reporter: in the children's ward all of the injuries are a result of shrapnel. seven-year-old was injured. eight-year-old in the bed next to him. nearly 10,000 civilians have been killed or wounded in afghanistan this year. casualties are up 33%. the numbers are so high because of increased fighting b

today afghan president condemned the wave of militant attacks hitting his country vowing to never surrender. ghani's words come just two weeks ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops. taliban insurgents have launched a series of high profile attacks all across that country killing at least 19 people. a bomb that exploded in kabul killed at least seven afghan soldiers this weekend. police say a suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives at the door of a bus. earlier in the day, the afghan taliban killed a supreme court official. >>> back here in the u.s., federal authorities are now investigating the death of an african-american north carolina teenager whose case was first ruled ed d ed d a suicide. several hundred people marched in the small town of bladen burrow calling for justice. it comes after the 17-year-old's bed was found in late august hanging from a swing set in a predominantly while mobile home neighborhood. local investigators ruled it a suicide, but now the fbi is investigating. his mother says her son dreameded of being a professional football player and that his sudden death does not make any sense. >> he would.com talk to me about everything. his demea

even the members of the afghan taliban decry the attack calling it unislamic. forces are engaged in a major operation tonight to retake a key northern iraqi town captured by isis terrorists. peshmerga forces are being backed by u.s.-led coalition air strikes. isis has controlled that town since august. so what about the new normal with cuba? we'll get reaction from the panel to the president's moves today when we come back. ♪ [ female announcer ] you've tried to forget your hepatitis c. but you shouldn't forget this. hepatitis c is a serious disease. left untreated, it can lead to liver damage and potentially liver cancer. but you haven't been forgotten. there's never been a better time to rethink your hep c. go to hepchope.com to register for more information. then talk to your doctor about scientific advances that may help you move on from hepatitis c. then talk to your doctor about scientific advances as nations develop over the next here's a 25 years,for you: the world will have almost twice as many cars. how much fuel will be needed to power them? about th

you think about the afghan taliban, the pakistan taliban and these punjabi taliban. the army has been fighting the pakistan taliban for some years now. and this is the first major act of retaliation for a couple of years that have come from the pakistan taliban. >> has the military been successful in their operations recently? is that the difference, that they actually have managed to clear them out and shut down their operations? >> there was a big offensive in north waziristan in these tribal areas and there is still conflict going on there, but by and large, those areas have been cleared. many of the pakistan taliban fled to afghanistan. others obviously were in peshawar and have mounted this attack. it's worth making this point, i think. some people on social media and so on are talking about this being an attack from india. no doubt, we'll hear soon that it was the united states who did this. there is a sense of denial in pakistan that these are indigenous forces. these taliban are local people. they are from the community, from that society. and they have mount

does with the americans, the cooperation or non-cooperation with drone attacks, supporting the afghan talibanhildren are the terrible victims of that policy that's been going on for years. >> well, let's be very clear. pakistan has been a front line state on the war on terror, completely. and as a result, pakistan itself has suffered. if you look at pakistan before, you know, the situation in afghanistan before 1989, you never had any massacres. you never had the pakistan in taliban. as a result of the taliban joining the international community in that war, first in afghanistan, it had to do it for its national interest, working with the international community was the right thing to do. then after 9/11, pakistan joined the international community. i accept, people can say there's been real concern about how effective the government was, but i think where we are now is that the government of the president previously had tried to accommodate and work with the taliban, could not do it. they had to send in the military, and again, the government of nawaz sharif tried to come to an accommodation

earlier, the afghan taliban skilled ed killed a supreme court official. >>> taliban is going on the offensive more than 16,000 rev rev few gees have been able to flee across the border.rev few gees have been able to flee across the border. the european union released additional aid to help the nigerians forced from their horses by the in-sur against ci insurgency. >>> the captain of the costa concordia was in court. he recalled the moments and testified his options were to die, dive or to fall and he decided to get on the lifeboat. he acknowledged his responsibility for the ship wreck but only for part of it. he's charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship. 32 people died when that ship ran aground. >>> new there overnight, officials have reached a watered done deal at the united nations climate talks in peru. the main goal of the session was to focus on how countries will contribute to a climate pac expected to be adopt this had paris next year. back in the u.s., hundreds of people gathered in mississippi this weekend to pay their final respects to a young woman who was burned alive. the

the afghan taliban operates a command headquarters from pakistan. other terrorist groups that contribute continue to run schools and hospitals and operating as a state within the state. if they destroyed all of it in pakistan. you have them educated in the religious schools to believe the same type of a thing. >> even if they were to do that together, they could impact, couldn't they? >> sure, when you disrupt a enemy head quarter ares it is a good thing. mala, la, the young brave girl almost killed because she wants girls to be educated. 40000 private schools banned the book because they said she belongs with the west and not with us. >> a problem. there i want to ask you about australia, the big thing in the the news today, that he was on the terror watch list for a point in time and taken off the watch list back in 2009. is there any way this could have been prevented? >> potentially if he was on the terrorist watch list. >> that mean he would be watched 24 hours a day and that is expensive and they will go with the person most likely to create a

there are pockets for the afghan taliban and pakistan taliban. they won tin to work together.qaeda has core havens in eastern afghanistan. borderline irresponsible to say we somehow suppressed threat. we momentarily suppressed the threat. al qaeda and taliban are live organizations looking to take a shot. it is beyond dispute they will try that again in the near future. tracy: he seems is only one that sees we're making progress right? is, does anyone actually think progress has been made or just the president? >> i absolutely think progress has been made. we're talking about generational warfare. took us 40 plus years to win the cold war. will take that at least that long to quote, unquote win the peace in afghanistan. talking about change agriculture where al qaeda and taliban had complete free rein over the country for a long time. there are geographically is lated areas of afghanistan where al qaeda and taliban have freedom to manuever and freedom of purpose. it will take a long time to change that cult you are t look how long it took to transition south korea from a milit

we need in afghanistan. >> thank you very much for speaking to us. >> was abdul salif, former afghan talibanr to pakistan. thank you. still ahead, english premier lead chelsea attempt to put more daylight between themselves and the chase. next on al jazeera. just stay with us. >> robin is here with sports. >> thank you very much. good to have you alone, everybody. the e english premier league being frustrated by south hampton. saints went into the game foukt in the table. they deserved took the lead at saint mary's scoring after 17 minutes. but with almost the last kick of the half chelsea had a penalty appeal denied. 1-1 is how it ended. from manchester united failed to clench an 8th win in nine. dominating the first half the attempts were repeatedly denied. spurs keeper sec half. a little more even. finished goalless united states with the results. >> when you play your best first half of the season as manchester united we are playing top six club. premier league and you play like that you don't reward yourself, it's normally beating hull city man city had a 2-goal league wiped out. .22. t

horrific scene that you just introduced and that obviously is inside pakistan and then there's the afghan talibanwhere he's speaking to. it makes no sense. i think the admiral would like to have a redo frankly because we have been prosecuting a war against taliban for 13 years. they don't have to attack us for us to prosecute. we fight them because of who they are and we go after their leaders at night wherever we can find them in their homes, in safe houses, in base camps. with he don't wait for them to shoot at us. we're aggressive and assertive. that characterization is unfortunate if it represents a change in policy which it very well good, then that's outrageous and insulting to the taliban leadership who would be left out of this by the implication of what the admiral said after we lost thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands have been maimed by that leadership who's been driving these operations. >> politically within the taliban as you point out, there are different factions of the taliban. after this attack, one area of taliban leadership came out and condemned the attack. and we als

this is not the afghan taliban. people who are killing fellow pakistanis, they're killing children, fellow nationals it shows you how far from modern reality these people are. they don't respect borders, they don't respect anything that the rest of the world would consider basic human decency. >> they claim, the pakistani taliban has taken responsibility for this and they claim this is revenge for the killing of hundreds of innocent tribesmen during the pakistani army's operations, along the border region. is it worth it trying to negotiate with the taliban, to give them what they want in order for them to stop doing this had. >> well it's been tried several times. one of pakistani most popular politicians, imran khan is now called taliban kahn, because he's worked so much to try to bring these guys in from the cold, bring them to the negotiating table but their demands are impossible. what they want is a return to the sixth century. you can't, nobody can negotiate that with them. they want no schools, they want gir

. >> it's brutal that the afghan taliban condemned it today.tani taliban, otherwise known as the ttp, has been under intense pressure from the pakistani military and had been seeking a high-profile opportunity to retaliate. they found it today with the most defenseless of victims. [ sirens ] >> reporter: they were killed in their school uniforms taking exams in classrooms. a first aid course in the school auditorium. half a dozen terrorists carrying out a systematic massacre of children, brutal even by the standards of the pakistani taliban. >> translator: we were doing our schoolwork. suddenly we heard firing. >> reporter: the taliban called it revenge for pakistani military operations against them. we want them to feel our pain, said a taliban spokesman. the attackers had ammunition and supplies, says the pakistani military, to last for days. a u.s. counterterrorism official called the assault unprecedented saying it may signal an escalation in an already bloody war with the pakistani government. >> mothers and fathers send their kids to scho

. >> reporter: while the afghan taliban did condemn the attack as unislamic, attacks on the afghan border have increased as well e. today's attack came mere hours after the president contended the combat operations are winding down in the u.s. >> reporter: the president's aides are making the case that afghanistan is stabilizing, though a similar claim was made about iraq, when all u.s. troops were pulled out at the end of 2011. >> it's the same thing the president said about afghanistan, it collapses and then isis goes in and creates a vacuum. >> this highlight ascii difference from the strategy that this president produces, from the strategy that's produced by -- to longer can the president be in the situation where they're doing it for the hoers country. >> reporter: the tension comes as a majority of the public says it disagrees with the president about the cia's treatment of suspected terrorists. in a new "washington post"/abc news poll, 53% said it produced important information, 31% said it did not. the architect of the enhanced interrogation program, cia contractor james mitchell

there were other atrocities carried out, and the basic difference between the two groups is the afghan taliban feels the main target should be nato and the west, and not the pakistani state, on which, after all, they have relied for a long time. >> we are going to leave it there. thank you both for being with us. we will continue to cover this horrific story, this massacre that has taken place in peshawar . tariq ali is a british-pakistani political commentator, historian, activist, filmmaker, novelist, and an editor of the new left review. and thanks to asad hashim is the al jazeera english web correspondent in pakistan, based in the capital, islamabad. he recently co-authored two pieces for al jazeera -- one headlined "breaking down the tehreek-e-taliban" and the other titled "children massacred in pakistan school attack." >> when we come back, we go to missouri, to witness number 40. who was she? stay with us. ♪ [music break] >> music by rabih abou khalil this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> as protests continue across the country over the

. >> now, the afghan taliban released a statement condemning the attacks.e may see this as deeply hypocritical. "deliberate killing of innocent people, women and children, is against the islamic principles. every muslim organization and government should consider this" but also as i just mentioned consider the source. pakistan's defense minister says there's no words to express the shock he's feeling and talked abou about the attack earlier. >> the children are dying on the front line in the war against terror. the smaller the coffin, the heavier it is to carry and we'll be carrying smaller coffins today, more than a hundred small coffins we'll be carrying. the taliban, these extremists, they're terrorists. the biggest threat to the peace in this region, to peace in pakistan, to the existence of pakistan. >> and we have new information into cnn on this story, as well. pakistan not too long ago lifted moratorium on the death penalty for terrorism cases. let's bring in michelle stockman now because she's following developments from islamabad and can bring us

. >> the afghan taliban released a statement condemning the attack. many will see this as being incredibly hypocritical, but this is what it said. killing of innocent people, women and children is against the islamic principles. every muslim organization and government should consider this. good advice. pakistan's defense minister says there are no words to express the shock he's feeling now. he talked about the attack and the threat posed by the taliban. >> when the children are dying on the frontline in the war, the smaller the coffin, they are extremists. terrorists. >> the militants set off an explosion as a diversion. the defenseless victims were then easy targets. why the pakistani taliban decided to massacre young children, and a warning, the story contains graphic content. >> they were killed in their school uniforms, taking exams in classroom, a first aid course in the school auditorium. half a dozen terrorists carrying out a systematic massacre of children. brutal, even by the standards of the pakistani pal been a. >> we were doing our schoo

there is a split, a difference between the pakistani and afghan taliban in terms of their targets, but their techniques and goals are fundamentally the same. violence in the service of allah. these are the enemies that hillary clinton wants us to respect. lou: empathize with. >> i feel it. lou: i wonder if she's empathizing today with the taliban and massacre of children? i wonder. >> just don't deprive them sleep, and we're all okay. lou, this is such a tragic situation. the taliban can do this, and the left in the west doesn't really react to it because they don't know what to do. just to add on, this i think the taliban made a very big mistake in doing this today, because for the first time they really hit home in the families of the guys who do have power in pakistan, the military, and i think there's going to be some dead taliban after this is all over. lou: they were trying kill them before as you know, and with some degree of success. the reality is that pakistan is absolutely split, its intelligence services in league with the taliban in large measure as the military seeks to a

that said, and we've also been clear, that a member of the taliban who undertakes missions against us, or our afghan partners, by that act alone, renders himself vulnerable and liable to u.s. action. so it's not about just being a member of the taliban, it's about what you're doing. if you're going to conduct terrorist attacks, it doesn't matter what i.d. card you're carrying. we have the authority to act in our own self-defense, and self-defense of our afghan partners. >> there's a report yesterday in a british newspaper about the taliban basically being in control of large sections of southern afghanistan, i guess the power of the distribution network, and they're charging locals for power and also for protection to keep the lights on basically. and so as fewer american troops are in afghanistan, and the taliban feels emboldened to do these kind of things and potentially conduct terrorist attacks, how will you limit the response to counterterrorism response that you just talked about so it punishes attacks or responds to aggression, but couldn't continue the combat role that the u.s. wants to end