afghanistan is not as. of course, making it much easier for the girls, unlike iraq the afghan taliban have a sanctuary in pakistan. which is supposedly our ally, but which only goes after the pakistani taliban and not be afghan taliban. the afghan taliban is always useful to the pakistani government to counter the indian influence in afghanistan, especially when the u.s. is likely to leave as the president signaled his intention to at least are pulling out troops by 2011. so that was i think a message to the pakistanis that perhaps the elements of the pakistani military, that they should keep supporting the afghan taliban. now in iraq, the insurgency was primarily urban, whereas in afghanistan it's a rural. because of the war, the civil war and the assassinations, in addition, the tribal leadership is weaker in iraq -- or is weaker in afghanistan than in iraq, and there is no awakening movement and afghanistan. the taliban are afghans, who for the most part don't target civilians. whereas al qaeda and iraq

strategy in afghanistan. the program is an hour. >> tonight on booktv in prime time a discussion and call in program on the war in afghanistan. joining us are two afghanistan war arthur's, mark moyar and seth jones seth jones america's war in afghanistan" and "a question of command: counterinsurgency from the civil war to iraq". seth jones told me you just returned from afghanistan. what are your impressions? >> my impressions have changed since i got back because we obviously had the capture of the taliban's second-in-command. what i will say as we move into the late winter and early spring, there will be nato offenses where we're seeing u.s. marine corps forces in the river valley as well as over the past week the offensive by pakistani intelligence agencies and u.s. intelligence agencies against senior taliban official in pakistan. we are seeing an offensive on both sides of the border. >> has our mission in afghanistan changed since president obama came to office? how would you define our mission? >> the

i think the issue for us, as we look at trying to create a stable afghanistan, relatively stable afghanistan, is one where we increasingly as mark noted, have afghans both at the central government but also the local government level doing the bulk of that work. if i could just add one thing, you know, we have often thought of and over the last eight years there's been a concept of trying to do this entirely from the top down, from the central government. i would also argue that there is never, ever been a history in afghanistan in rural areas where the central government has provided long-term stability. so we have to remember that we're not dealing with a traditional western state. >> and from "in the graveyard of empires" you write this. a second step is to find a better bounce between top down ever to build a viable central government and bottom-up efforts to support local actors. overcritical for establishing security and providing public services. charles, missouri i believe this. go ahead with your question for our guests. >> caller: good evening, gentle and. this has been alluded to

afghanistan, well, let's see. somebody lived in afghanistan. the government of the afghanistan who had come to power with our weapons that we left in that country years before. we don't like them anymore. we are going to go to war against that country because these guys who actually committed this crime, well, they are all dead. we can't go to war against them. we don't really care about going to war against their families because their families are from saudia arabia and egypt. we like those governments. we have to find some government where we can go to war where we don't like the government. afghanistan. what could be better? i think that 9/11 taught us a great many things. what it did not teach us enough is how much we need international institutions and international law. imagine if international criminal court was not only functioning but that every country in the world was accountable to it and it had an independent international police force made up of people from all over the world, not controlled by the united states. imagine what we

. >> straightforward in afghanistan -- nothing is straightforward in afghanistan. >> and in afghanistan, i think, it is more than a i say some people are... for $10 a day which is more than a policeman is paid and that is relevant and is a big decision to have them decide to fight the insurgency, with the political voice as well as economic well being. >> and the other thing you stress is the grand... president karzai is hoping to set up in the spring, early summertime line you are talking about, and if you were the taliban, invited this -- to this and there was no agreement, they can sit there, can't say and say we'll wait and the americans will wind down there troops, and european political opinion will go to -- get fed up with the terrible deaths, just wait. >> that is case that is often put and is a static rather than a dynamic position. you've got a significant build-up of international forces, where they can hear a strategic plan as evidenced in the last few weeks and build-up of afghan forces and capacity of thes afb army and with the police, i think you would agree, the afghan n

afghanistan and british foreign commonwealth office. this is two hours. >> can i ask members of public place to move quickly and switch off your mobile phones or put them on silent. [inaudible conversations] i think we will begin. first, secretary, thank you for coming today. this is a last chance i think as this parliament to have to be for us and we par please defund the time. we know you are busy about afghanistan and pakistan. karen pierce, you've been well known to the members of the committee from various rolls over a number of years. we should congratulate you on your new role. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> can i begin, foreign secretary, buy taking you to the conclusions and the outcome of the conference in london about afghanistan? what is your assessment of the outcome of the conference? >> thank you for your welcome and i look forward to many more sessions of the next parliament. i am disappointed that mr. menzies finds that such an amusing fault. >> i am an admirer of optimism. >> i think there are two ways about thinking o

let's talk about the funding of afghanistan with outside players in afghanistan?>> guest: well, the taliban has been a pretty good job of getting redundancy in its@@$s)pa support on the taliban case, despite the fact that iran nearly went to war with the taliban at the end of the night to 90's. iran has provided some low levels to the taliban in some other insurgent groups. state support. as has elements of the pakistani government. it's interservice and intelligence director. and so there has been state-supported. so interestingly, this arrest of the taliban and second in command in karachi has been any notable oily springs up the question, what is a notable shift in pakistan's policy toward the taliban? >> guest: i think that's an excellent summary. the only thing i'd add is that i mentioned how leadership is really crucial in terms of afghan security forces, is also crucial in terms of the taliban. and they don't have a huge foreign presence, but we do know that some of their commanders are pakistanis were from other countries. and those people are very importa

but for the first time, we have the implants in afghanistan right. -- we have the inputs in afghanistanight. we have the organizations necessary to carry out a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign plan. there is a whole host of different organizations. it took us awhile to do that. then we got the all-star team in charge of those organizations, general mcchrystal and others. we have a fantastic international diplomat. and then there are the three stars, the two stars, and a host of others. we have the right structures and the right people. those people have gone the big ideas right, i think. i think that the counterinsurgency guidance that general mcchrystal published its bond. it reflects the lessons -- that general mcchrystal published its spot on. -- the general mcchrystal published is spot on. it reflects the lessons of iraq. they enable the implementation of the big ideas. the 30,000 forces ordered by president obama as a result of his policy review, the additional funding for the afghan national security forces, the authorization of 100,000 more of those, additional civilians,

what if we left afghanistan? what would happen? >> guest: in my personal view, the taliban in particular and the groups allied with it would probably slowly, assuming they were backed by states in the region, there's some states from iraq and pakistan, would probably take increasing tracts of territory. it is difficult to know how long that would take, but i think there would clearly make a push to take the bullet some point and as we have seen in the past especially with some of the insurgent groups like the haqqani network, they are very close an alliance with al qaeda in north waziristan. you potentially seatrain capset some point. so i would say based on the relationship now between some of the insurgent groups and foreign fighters, we would be somewhere around for the u.s. was in the late 1990's and early 2000's. afghanistan would be used as training areas as parts of pakistan are for that matter. >> host: mr. moyer? >> guest: i agree and i would emphasize you have to look at what happened in pakistan. pakistan is very much wa

>> it is pretty grim in afghanistan. very serious and very grim. >> your questions are. >> when you opened your daily papers today, did you muse along with joseph stalin when they asked him the question, "how many divisions does the pope have?" and therefore his views could be safely ignored as on your equality bill and anything else? >> i did not see that in the papers today. >> you did not see it? >> i heard about it. >> prime minister, talking up the -- taking up the point about pakistan, we are giving a third of all our spending on counter- terrorism to assist the pakistani government. do we have an audit of where and how that money is spent and do we think it is well spent? >> i have got to assure you that our view is that it is well spent. the reason that 75% of the most significant attacks that we about covered -- uncovered affecting the uk have started from pakistan, and therefore our counter-terrorism activity in pakistan is incredibly important. we're not only supporting pakistan, however, and counter- terroris

let's talk about the funding of afghanistan with outside players in afghanistan?>> guest: well, the taliban has been a pretty good job of getting redundancy in its financing. so it gets money from a range of types of behavior. it gets money from the drug trade, including taxes against farmers, taxing the movement of poppy along major roadways. it also gets money from mosques of major donors in the arab world, including wealthy donors from saudi arabia, the united air and other nations. not state-supported wealthy donors. it is also gotten support and continues to get support on the taliban case, despite the fact that iran nearly went to war with the taliban at the end of the night to 90's. iran has provided some low levels to the taliban in some other insurgent groups. state support. as has elements of the pakistani government. it's interservice and intelligence director. and so there has been state-supported. so interestingly, this arrest of the taliban and second in command in karachi has been any notable oily springs up the question, what is a notable shift in

can we rolled the faces of afghanistan, 2009? -- role the "face of afghanistan, 2009?" çño'u!♪ when the tears you cry are all you can believe just give these loving arms a try, baby and have a little faith in me ♪ ♪ have a little faith in me have a little faith in me i]ççand have a little faith ie çñrhave a little faith in me ♪ ♪ ç ♪ when your back's against the wall just turn aroundko and you will see i will catchqu! you r fall, baby just have a little faith in mei♪ ♪ ç ♪ i will hold you up i will hold you up and your love gives us strength have a little faith in me ♪ all you gotta do for me is have a little bit of faith in me ♪ ♪ >> thank you very much. the troops shows that song on purpose, i have a little faith in them and in this enterprise that we are undertaking. particularly, as we look at 2009 and beyond. if we get the presentation of here, we will -- çso, i am going to talk to you about operations in kandahar in 2009. i know much of what translates on the ground in our experience translates well to central helmand, basically this out, not necessarily to the res

troops to afghanistan. a result, more of our men and women will be exposed and vulnerable to this deadly form of attack. the joint ied defeat organization was created to lead and coordinate duty actions that support combatant commanders efforts to defeat ieds as weapons of strategic influence. mr. secretary, what is your assessment of the department's efforts in protecting our troops against ieds and if improvement is needed, what can be done to improve those results? >> senator, i think that we have a number of very forward leaning efforts to try and deal with the challenge of ieds. my concern a few months ago was that these efforts were not adequately integrated, and -- and put together in a way that we derive maximum benefit from the efforts that we had under way. i asked the under secretary of defense for acquisition technology and logistics as well as general j. paxton to co-chair a short-term effort to see what more we could do, both in terms of better structure for how we deal with this problem, but

troops to afghanistan.result, more of our men and women will be exposed and vulnerable to this deadly form of attack. the joint ied defeat organization was created to lead and coordinate duty actions that support combatant commanders efforts to defeat ieds as weapons of strategic influence. mr. secretary, what is your assessment of the department's efforts in protecting our troops against ieds and if improvement is needed, what can be done to improve those results? >> senator, i think that we have a number of very forward leaning efforts to try and deal with the challenge of ieds. my concern a few months ago was that these efforts were not adequately integrated, and -- and put together in a way that we derive maximum benefit from the efforts that we had under way. i asked the under secretary of defense for acquisition technology and logistics as well as general j. paxton to co-chair a short-term effort to see what more we could do, both in terms of better structure for how we deal with this problem, but als

the importance of afghanistan is not so much afghanistan itself. there are natural resources.ks like the dark side of the moon. there is not so much there for us. however it is neighboring iran and pakistan and flooding into india. that's a significant piece as well. one comment there. second karzai. let's be blunt about karzai. he's getting down in the south, the opium growth. through that corruption that you know very well, he's having daily discussions with taliban that are mostly sitting five minutes or 10 minutes away from his office. it is not done in a public forum, but it is getting done. and the last question that i have is, my concern with afghanistan is because of the tribal, because of the geographic separation, the people of afghanistan are in that bottom first or second wrung of the hierarchy of needs. host: let's get a response from mr. dobbins. guest: i think that is right. the bigger the american interest in pakistan, al qaeda continues to be bordered between afghanistan and pakistan. it has been largely in pakistan for the last nine years. that's since 2001.

strategy in afghanistan.part of our "profiles of the taliban" project, a partnership with global post and p.r.i.'s "the world" there's also a lesson plan for high school students about whether dialogue with the enemy is a good idea. and on "art beat," more from jeffrey brown's interview with ruben blades and his performances. plus the most watched video on our site-- a seasonal slideshow on the art of the snowflake. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what if that energy came from an energy company? everyday, chevron invests $62 million in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, building. fueling growth around the wo

more helicopters have gone into afghanistan in the last few months. more vehicles are gone in in the last few months as well. special attention is being given to counterterrorism and dealing with the ied threat, and it is completely wrong to say that our troops are not properly equipped. we are proud of them. they are professional and are properly equipped for the job they are doing. >> before christmas this government confirmed in a pre-budget review of honey for front-line schools and police would be protected increase in the near term spirit we have not been given a similar pledge meanwhile, the schools are facing budget cuts. does this not show on the labor can be trusted to protect front-line services? >> mr. speaker, the scottish administration has had a record increase in public expenditure as a result of the previous public expenditure review. it is sad that they have not made a priority of education for the young people of scotland. and they will pay a price at the ballot box for their failure to do so. i have to say that some of the cuts are

military airbase in afghanistan. david axe visited there late last year when he looked at the medical facilities that treat wounded u.s. troops. afghanistan doesn't have much in the way of health infrastructure. it was pretty bad before the current war. but with this conflict, most of afghanistan's doctors fled the country. so pretty much resulted in the collapse of afghanistan's health infrastructure. so the biggest and best hospital in the whole country is the air force, u.s. air force run, hospital at bagram air base outside kabul. the nation for the hospital is to be a role three medical facility or what that means is we have all the specialist that you would want for trauma. ophthalmologist, head and neck surgeon, trauma surgeons, orthopedic surgeon, there'll surgeons. the specialties you will not find anywhere else in the country. and so our role with although surgeons is to bring in, patience, to stabilize those patients and move them on quickly to germany where they can get definitive care. >> and you care fo

s, in afghanistan and the a.o.r. has been levd by sin km is for about 10,600 more m raps. 6600 would be a.t.v.'s, the all terrain vehicle. and that's a version of the m rat's and they asked for 4,000 of the original ones in various forms. we have the funding for that and we will try to be responsive to that requirement. >> mr. secretary, two years ago when you issued the national defense strategy, you asked the service chief to accept risks, to deal with threats. how far does this q.d.r. go toward moving them in the direction it wanted and how close are the services now to being in balance? a year ago you said you wanted to. >> let me apps that and turn to the chairman. first of all, i think that again, it is important to keep -- this rebalancing in perspective. and as was the case last year, of our -- of our research and development and procurement budget, roughly half of it goes for conventional modernization. and unrelated to the current wars. so 50%. and this year, roughly speaking, the current war, fight, fundin

we can help improve the lives of women in afghanistan.tating defeat for the violent extremists in that country and a great victory for progress in afghanistan. as a state department official said last week, and i quote, progress is not possible if half a country's population is left behind. afghan women must not be viewed simply as victims who need to be sheltered. they must be respected and valued as leaders. a reserve of talent that afghan society needs to draw upon in order to prosper and succeed, unquote. mr. speaker, i want to mention just one particular example of how women can help afghanistan to prosper because when women are allowed to work, they invest up to 90% of their earnings in families and communities. that's twice the rate of men. and it has a powerful multiplier effect. so, mr. speaker, improving the status of women has been a central part of the smart security platform, which i have been urging for afghanistan. i'm convinced that smart security would do far more to win the hearts and minds of the afghan people than mili

expenditure on afghanistan was 600 million pounds a few years ago. it will be 3.5 billion pounds this year. defense expenditure is rising this year, as it is rising in the next financial year as well. he cannot portray a picture of defense cuts when defense expenditure has been rising. the only government who cut defense expenditure recently was the last conservative government, that cut it by nearly 30%. >> jamie reed. order, order. i am sure government back benchers want to hear mr. jamie reed. >> it is true. thank you, mr. speaker. my right honorable friend the prime minister will be aware that he is the only leader of any political party to support nuclear new build in this country. what certainty can he give my constituents, businesses and the supply chain in my constituency that we will make the necessary changes to the planning system to enable them to invest with confidence and certainty? >> i hope that there is all- party support for the nuclear expenditure that is necessary to give us security in our power. it is eight minutes past 12 and i

for every step forward in afghanistan, there seems to be one step back. while yesterday the government was heralding its progress in driving the taliban out of the key town of marjah in the south, today a series of deadly attacks that occurred in kabul, the capital. at least 16 people were killed and several dozen were wound in a four-hour assault that involved two suicide attacks and a car bomb. the targets were two hotels used by foreigners and at least six indians were among the dead, along with an italian diplomat and a french filmmaker who had trained young afghans in film making. we take you to kabul with hoda abdel-hamid of al jazeera english who was there in the chaos after the assault unfolded. >> hours after the attack took place, bodies are still being removed from one of the houses nearby. rescue workers are coming through in shock. the car bomb designated in front of the house, the building completely flattened now. the explosion happened on a corner street in central kabul where there are several other hotels. the force of the blast destroye

>> it is pretty grim in afghanistan. grim. >> your questions are. >> when you opened your daily papers today, did you muse along with joseph stalin when they asked him the question, "how many divisions does the pope have?" and therefore his views could be safely ignored as on your equality bill and anything else? >> i did not see that in the papers today. >> you did not see it? >> i heard about it. >> prime minister, talking up the -- taking up the point about pakistan, we are giving a third of all our spending on counter- terrorism to assist the pakistani government. do we have an audit of where and how that money is spent and do we think it is well spent? >> i have got to assure you that our view is that it is well spent. the reason that 75% of the most significant attacks that we about covered -- uncovered affecting the uk have started from pakistan, and therefore our counter-terrorism activity in pakistan is incredibly important. we're not only supporting pakistan, however, and counter- terrorism activities. we're su

troops to afghanistan. a result, more of our men and women will be exposed and vulnerable to this deadly form of attack. the joint ied defeat organization was created to lead and coordinate duty actions that support combatant commanders efforts to defeat ieds as weapons of strategic influence. mr. secretary, what is your assessment of the department's efforts in protecting our troops against ieds and if improvement is needed, what can be done to improve those results? >> senator, i think that we have a number of very forward leaning efforts to try and deal with the challenge of ieds. my concern a few months ago was that these efforts were not adequately integrated, and -- and put together in a way that we derive maximum benefit from the efforts that we had under way. i asked the under secretary of defense for acquisition technology and logistics as well as general j. paxton to co-chair a short-term effort to see what more we could do, both in terms of better structure for how we deal with this problem, but

it is the current british ambassador to afghanistan who we all hold in very high regard.s the government concerned that his work will be quote a big -- coordinated with the u.s. and work so that military gains will have to affect every construction? >> i thank you for your commendation of that distinguished diplomat that precisely to support that work, the conference is going to be held in london which will look at taking forward issues in relation to afghanistan. there are 70 countries attending including the secretary general of the un. >> looking ahead to that conference is a big issue. the last afghan conference in london in 2006 had several ambitious objectives most of which have never been met. most agree the conference should focus on realistic goals that can be delivered focusing on improve governance and reinvigorating former taliban members. will the government have regular reviews of the progress made including the conference proposed in a few months time. >> of course we are looking to ensure how we can play our part to make sure in afghanistan we have the rig

on afghanistan. during period, with the alliance will be able to do all of the right things both informs and sectoral reform and in terms of military condition so that afghanistan can begin to recover. and for those three distinct ages that that third age started, as we arrived. we could foresee it. and what i'm telling you, the story and telling you is really what we were perceiving before we arrived. and i'll tell you what we did about it. kandahar city was becoming vitally important. we knew that. kandahar city and the environments. and it was very plain to us that as a shifted from iraq to afghanistan it was going to tighten down on kandahar. because essentially it's the epicenter of the insurgency. i don't quibble at all about the resources to homeland or kandahar. clearly the vital round is here in kandahar. and as i taken some kandahar, and is at the international community sites to discover really what the challenges where they are, it would become the report card of the alliance in terms of

. $160 billion for the wars in iraq and afghanistan.vel for the ball in cost for 2010. -- for the all-in costs for 2010. about turning the.q@l tap off ia gradual way so as not to kick the legs out from recovery? >> as i mentioned, we face two substantial challenges. more than 7 million lost jobs since december 2007 and a fiscal deficit with large out your deficits, 5% even after the we need to get the deficits down in the future so we do not joke of economic activity and job creation. but we want to make sure we do not do that too quickly or we will repeat the mistakes of 1937. remember what happened then, when the economy was beginning Ñi57?/md to consolidate the debt to57?/md quickly ended through the economy back into recession. we do not want to do that. we are seeking a really -- a fairly smooth out the puts us in ñ[yç) why we are creating a fiscal commission, but we do not want to act too rapidly to bring down the deficit because that would activate -- exasperate the jobs deficit. we are trying to find this -- deficit. we're tryin

they do not like to see afghanistan getting too close to india. and there are many who are saying that perhaps this was an attempt to sew discord between afghanistan and india. and there the suspicion falls on pakistan. >> warner: well, the taliban claimed responsibility. are you talking about one of the factions that's been tied to pakistan's intelligence service? yes, and one of those is the haqqani network. this is a group closely allied with the taliban, but based in pakistan. they have claimed responsibility and have been shown to be responsible for many of the more serious attacks in kabul over the last three years. >> warner: is there another possibility, that the timing of today's attacks may be related to the coalition offensive more than 300 miles away, down in helmand? >> well, there are many who are saying this is taliban's answer to operation moshtarak in marjah, helmand province. and this may be one of messages that the taliban were hoping to convey with this attack, that they are not finished and that they will respond. >> warner: t

afghanistan is not south park.nd what we saw today at this hearing is just the tip of the iceberg of what blackwater has been doing running this criminal enterprise around the world. in afghanistan they set up this shell company paravant in collaboration with a mammoth war giant, raytheon, which held the prime contract for this, and they set up this contract to try to hide the fact that the pentagon was once again hiring blackwater, this firm that's been under investigation by practically every federal entity in the united states. it's a shell company that was used to essentially defraud the government by convincing the army that blackwater was not getting the contract but this company paravant. and as was pointed out in the hearing today, paravant represented in its contract documents that it had years of experience. paravant hadn't even existed for a few months when they got that contract to work in afghanistan. but i have to say, rachel, that we're talking about very small details in a much larger picture that h

all to afghanistan? is a different depending on where you're a ploy to?>> it was different times of the war. last year i was actually shir 14 months ago and the mission was pretty much the same. maybe a little more trauma at this time. but in the past i was in iraq and it was strictly trauma, not in the humanitarians just u.s. coalition troops. >> our workload is heavy, you know, it's pretty variable though. sometimes, you know, depending on what's going on in the aol or, if there's battles going on would get a lot more casualties obviously. other times were completely full with just local nationals. so we have 28 beds here and, you know, in times of need when we get inundated with asian thought once we throw cost between the beds 2-dollar capacity in a matter of hours. so we were typically 12.5 to 13 hour days and we work -- we get every eighth day off usually. so if were not needed, we get to, you know, go to sleep and do whatever. >> what do you do on your eighth day off? >> sleep mostly, especially if you're on night shift than a lot of us like to sta

troops would have to be in afghanistan for 15 years. when our delegation had an opportunity to meet with president karzai, we pressed him on that issue. he said, well, two years would require an adequate presence of the united states military. never could define quite what "adequate" was but said u.s. forces would have to stay for another ten years. more recently, in the intervening weeks, the war there has shaped up. we still have only committed a small fraction, 30,000, something like 5,000, perhaps it won't be necessary to commit the additional 25 thousand troops. we had a very productive meeting with the prime minister of india, prime minister singh. a point which we pressed was whether india and pakistan could enter into a reduction, an arms reduction pact, similar to the pacts which the united states and soviet union have had, which would reduce the number of troops for india, the number of troops for pakistan on the border to liberate more pakistan military to help in the fight against al qaeda and the taliban. and prime minist

the fact of the fatter remains the war in afghanistan is not going to be won in afghanistan.change is doing what it is meant to. it is fighting the war and successfully. we have this year, 18 billion, allocated for the national army, and for the pakistan army, $1 billion approximately. 90% of the casualties in that region, the pakistan army has ten. 10s% of that, the coalition has taken. 1%, another. this is ridiculous. you have to concentrate on building the capacity of the army to fight the insurgence and to fight the terrorism. there is a disconnect here. we may win the war against the insurgents. but they have gotten to the urban areas of pakistan and you have to build up the counterterrorism capacity. counterterrorism capacity. that is a must. good morning. host: good morning. caller: i spent a year in afghanistan helping the air force. i was going to be your opinion the do the drawings that we flyover, i know it is a remote area. -- your opinion about the drones that the flyover. i know it is a remote area. i did a lot of reading but i was there. osama bin laden when he

conor powell, thank you, on the phone from marja in afghanistan. thanks, we will check in as soon as that line, again, once we reestablish it, we'll get back to conor throughout the day here on nerk's newsroom -- "america's newsroom". >> uma: coming up, the gop hoping to make a surge. what are leaders doing to get the message across and will it work? a fair and balanced debate minutes away. >>> will the winter weather ever come to an end? who's getting what this time and how long is old man winter going to stick around? for a while, it seems. bill: there are new details on the intelligence we're learning from the christmas day bombing, there are reports they are issuing a new effort to track down english speaking terrorists from overseas, u.s. officials saying these suspects are being trained in the country of yemen, possibly plotting future attacks against the u.s. steve centanni is live on this story. who are these people, steve? >> >> reporter: good morning, they could be americans or westerners who have been radicalized who went to yemen for te

but that is much larger than most paces in afghanistan. it was also very important to them financially because they had heroin factorys there that converted opium into heroin for smuggling. so it had a big effect on their finances. >> suarez: and. >> and also symbolically important. we took it back to them last may, we took it back to them a couple years ago and they were able to infiltrate. and now the americans and the afghans want to show that the new population centered strategy can get the seed in holding the area long enough to rebuild it and provide government services that will hopefully discourage people from going back to the taliban. >> suarez: you mentioned this area has been cleared before. how does this approach differ from earlier attempts to control helmand? how is the obama era approach a depar ture for more than seven years of fighting under president bush? >> well, you know, i think the most dramatic example of that difference was when the military and general mcchrystal announced yesterday that they had in error killed

military in afghanistan last year. thomas johnson is a research professor at the naval postgraduate school in monterey, california. he focuses on afghanistan and central asia. and steve coll is president of the new america foundation and a writer for "the new yorker." he's the author of "ghost wars: the secret history of the cia, afghanistan and bin laden." thank you, all three, for being with us. seth jones, to you first. let's focus on this important capture. first of all, we do believe that baradar has been captured even though the administration isn't confirming it. >> most evidence points to the strong likelihood he has been captured. >> woodruff: how big a deal is it. >> it's important to know that the insurgency is not hire arcally structured. there are a range of insurgent groups and a range of tribes and sub tribes. the taliban is the largest insurgent organization. this is probably important for three very brief reasons. one is baradei is the second in command. he is a primary operational commander involved i

effort in afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq.e 2011 budget includes $10.7 billion to support the regional stabilization strategy in those countries, and also supports the civilian efforts as we sheet -- ship from military programs. as i mentioned the supplemental for 2010 also includes this. also the transition cost, which are very much timely expenditures. our afghanistan strategy is a fully coordinated civilian- military plan. civilians work side-by-side with the military and each of the district's targeted for access. our goal is to build the capacity of afghan institutions to diminish the threat posed by extremists, to draw insurgents off the battlefield. this will permit the program to be built up and maintained over the next 18 months. for fiscal 2011, funding for afghanistan is $5 billion. pakistan is another key country in the war against extremism. our budget focuses on basic infrastructure, which will enable them to provide better services for the people pakistan. this is key to improving stability and also provides the

ellicott 30, we will hear from mark molyer about the war in afghanistan. we will also discuss the book " who is buried in grant's tomb?" "washington journal" is next. mike allen, the chief white house correspondent with politico joins us on the phone this morning. if this story on politico.com -- no high hopes for health care summit. why is that? guest: already the two sides have staked out positions that are very different from each other. democrats seem to be planning to you -- use this as a new deadline to get a deal negotiated so they can go in with a plan pretty well baked and to use this summit coming up after the president's day break as a way to have political cover if they need to go ahead and have an all democratic vote. republicans on the other side are getting ready to use this as an opportunity to really push back against the public -- the president. last night house republican leaders sent a letter to white house chief of staff rahm emanuel asking him several questions, and as you know, questions can be used to make hostile points. among the

escalate at least afghanistan. and i think this gets to what -- i know this is heretical among black people, but i think some ways it has raised the question of people talk about how sport barack obama is that i have never met him. i have no idea, but you know, the first thing he did in the whole healthcare debate was to take single payer healthcare off the table. what good does that do him? the employee free choice act or instance which we talked about in the chapter about the labor unions. this is something that really was originally authored, was probably the most progressive people of legislation in 50 years. and what it could have done to strengthen labor unions and strengthen the democratic base. most people want to join labor unions. poll after poll show people want to join labor unions. to quality not he not passed a piece of legislation which would not just reagan workers and their abilities or to make a living and raise their family and contribute to the economy, which is what's wrong with the economy, bu

we believe it is in the pakistan/afghanistan border area. again, federal officials saying that this plot to blow up new york city's subways was going to be a suicide bombing plot with three new york men directly involved. those three new york men were in federal court yesterday and it was during that court hearing that the judge asked if there are going to be any more defendants in this case and prosecutors answered yes, there are al qaeda leaders from overseas who are correctly involved in orchestrating and running this alleged plot to bomb the new york city subways and that at least one if not several of those men will be sent back to new york, quote, promptly. we don't know the identity of the suspects from overseas or exactly when they'll be arrive here in new york for trial. but that's the word from federal prosecutors. you'll recall azazi is the man with two friends he went to high school with who traveled for bomb training and then accused of wanting to come back here and be suicide bombers to set off bombs on the trains. defense lawy

why our soldiers serving on the front line in afghanistan receiving houses of pounds less in basic paythat are new recruits and the police or fire service? >> mr. speaker, first of all, i have to assure that the new recommendations on the compensation scheme that had been prepared by lowered voice and welcomed as a review by the british legion are ones that will extend compensation and a number of areas where there has been controversy in the past. and we want to do the best we can by those soldiers. and the secretary for defense will announce that later this afternoon. how the armed forces compensation scheme will be improved and in what areas. and how to do more particularly for war levels. and will introduce a faster pay. i have to say as far as the pay of the troops is concerned, we have been determined to raise the pay of our forces at a higher rate than the other public services. i can tell him that for the lowest paid troops, there was a 9% rise a year ago. i can also tell him that there was a theater of violence with withdrawal of any requirement, while they are in afghanistan

this is bbc news, kandahar. >> in afghanistan the death toll from a series of launches has passed 165. scores of people are thought to be trapped after several days of snow in the past. 2.5000 people have been rescued oa stretch of road that connects the capital with the north. the police have intercepted more than $1 million worth of cocaine flown into the netherlands with what -- valentine's day roses. investigators found the parcels behind a false panel in 200 flow boxes. a spiritual healer has won the right to be courageous on a traditional funeral pyre. challenging an earer ruling that open-air cremations were prohibited, this decision means that the 71-year-old's last wishes can be carried out. stay with us, if you can. still to come, the dark side of the olympics. the far reaching effects of the rising drug problems on the streets of vancouver. >> here is what is capturing your attention on tv." bbc.com -- on the bbc news website. the sun is awakening after a period of low activity, and i can wreck havoc on the signals that we use. they say that the sun is on its way to a solar

what do you think should be the rules of engagement in afghanistan?h,Ñi jed, an thank you for having me,ñr dr. london, thank you for the invite to be here. r(know. when you look at this panel, you have two contrasting personas here. you have the opportunity to see what happens when you take the flight test and pass it as general myers did and also jed babbin but also the example of when you fail the flight test you get in the other line for folks who just jump out of airplanes. with that being said, that give you an understanding withÑi my level of intellect. one of the things we have to understand when we talk aboutçó the rules of engainl identical. we have to clearly -- engagement. we have to clearly recognize the 21st century battlefield which is totally different fromÑiñr w i grew up as a young lieutenant. they taught you about soviet formations and you fought against these type formations and of course my first tour of duty was in italy and i did toursÑi and patrols against bulgarian board irand the czech border. when i went to desert storm in 19

but for the first time, we have the implants in afghanistan right. -- we have the inputs in afghanistanhave the organizations necessary to carry out a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign plan. there is a whole host of different organizations. it took us awhile to do that. then we got the all-star team in charge of those organizations, general mcchrystal and others. we have a fantastic international diplomat. and then there are the three stars, the two stars, and a host of others. we have the right structures and the right people. those people have gone the big ideas right, i think. i think that the counterinsurgency guidance that general mcchrystal published its bond. it reflects the lessons -- that general mcchrystal published its spot on. -- the general mcchrystal published is spot on. it reflects the lessons of iraq. they enable the implementation of the big ideas. the 30,000 forces ordered by president obama as a result of his policy review, the additional funding for the afghan national security forces, the authorization of 100,000 more of those, additional civilians, and a ho

why are our soldiers who are serving on the front line in afghanistan receiving thousands of pounds less in basic pay than a new recruit to the police or fire service? >> first of all, i have to assure him that the new recommendations on the compensation scheme that are being prepared by lord boyce -- and welcomed, i believe, as a review by the royal british legion -- will extend compensation in a number of areas where there has been controversy in the past. we want to do the best we can by those soldiers who are wounded. the secretary for defense will announce, later this afternoon, how the armed forces compensation scheme will be improved and in what areas, and how it will do more, particularly for award levels below the current high of 570,000 pounds. we will also introduce a faster interim payment. as for the pay of the troops, we have been determined to raise the pay of our forces at a higher rate than that of the other public services. i can tell him that for the lowest-paid troops, there was a 9% rise a year ago. i can also tell him that there is a theatre allowance, and that ther