afghanistan has a banking sector, afghanistan has a strong culture. you've all heard of pomegranates they come from afghanistan. you have heard of grapes. they come from afghanistan. the ones that come from afghanistan, i know you have them in california as well. [laughter] so, ladies and gentlemen, there is a country in afghanistan just like here in america just like the rest of the world. there is wedding and wedding halls, there is music, there is cars honking, there are donkey driven carts. there is society, there is life. this society is out loudly and moving forward as any other society. it is this that i would like you to remember when you think of afghanistan. a country of 5000 years of history, at least. a country that has produced thinkers, philosophers. a country like other countries, and i can tell you that the most recent suffering will be behind us. a new time is beginning, has already begun. with 2014 coming, your sons and daughters will no longer be burdened with protecting afghanistan. the sons and daughters will take the mantle and m

they hijacked afghanistan. afghanistan was alive. that is different from its relationship with pakistan or yemen or somalia. where they operate essentially either in an area with no state or in a state that is hostile to them. but isn't capable of suppressing them to the degree we would like. operating within a state that is actively compliant, obviously, considerably expands their capacity to plan and mount large-scale terrorist operations as we found in september 2001. the worst of all situations is the taliban remain linked to al qaeda and they come back and govern the country. that is something -- the risk of that i do not put that very high. i do not put the cost of reducing that risk further very high, either. if there is as 5% but you could reduce it by spending $4 billion a year, i would argue that is worth $4 billion. other people i would argue what did 9/11 cost us? we could lose a couple of buildings every decade. and a few thousand citizens rather than losing much larger amounts of money. they will come to a different ris

troops in afghanistan. the leaders also said that president obama agreed to place detainees under the afghan government. again, waiting for afghan president hamid karzai. georgetown university is also where the u.s. women's council is located. again, waiting here at georgetown university, we're live tonight waiting for hamid karzai. he met with president obama and they spoke at a press conference earlier today. we're going to bring you that press conference again tonight you can watch it here at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. the two leaders have agreed to speed up slightly the move afghan forces into the lead in that country. the u.s. troops shifting to a support role, currently 66,000 troop u.s. troops in afghanistan. we're going to bring you inaugural information and coverage but back to president karzai, the president of afghanistan preparing to speak. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. welcome to our distished guests from all around the world, especially afghanistan, our faculty, students, collea

troops in afghanistan post-2014. coming up, the cdc warns the flu is widespread, now 47 states likely a state you are in right now and there are some concerns about the flu vaccine and supplies. >>> plus, they're calling it wtf or what the fica? for many, today's the first paycheck of the year and causing sticker shock because of that fiscal deal reached by congress and the president. >>> and the other big breaking story right now, vice president joe biden talking with video game representatives about gun control, the last meeting before delivering the president his recommendations on tuesday. but the headline today is the nra's reaction or post-reaction to the meeting held with vice president joe biden. will the white house attempt to go around the nra to get legislation on the table? >>> michael and mia are keeping an eye on their inventory. they're always ready for customers who order seed bombs from their company visual lingu lingual. strong relationships with suppliers helps them maintain a balanced inventory. w

the idea that there is a large number of troops in afghanistan or any number of troops in afghanistan frankly is something that the average person in the united states does not understand and does not think needs to keep happening. stan mcchrystal is coming on our show on monday, and his take will be interesting indeed. well timed. he has a new book out, but we want to talk to him about what's happening right now in afghanistan. you see a second term barack obama, much more confident, less intimated by the generals, feeling that he has a potential defense secretary who could stand up to the generals because he is a former enlisted man. you know chuck hagel well. this is a young man that enlisted for vietnam, was given the assignment of going to nato in germany, and said no, i want to go to vietnam, and here they're walking in, so we're going to hear from president obama and hamid karzai as they approach the press corps to make their statements. >> good afternoon, every. please take a seat. it is my pleasure to welcome president karzai back to the white house as well as his delegation.

government agency in afghanistan. we have 16 people on the ground right now including the largest cadre of auditors and criminal investigators. more than the fbi. it's not just our size, mandate, or unique authority that is important. it is how we and how i view our mission and how our agency sees that mission. when i joined sigar, i made it clear on the first day that you should view this as a mission and not as a job. if you see this as a job, as a place to retire in place, you should leave, because i only wanted people with fire in the belly, because we have a limited amount of time to do good in the construction in afghanistan. i have used that fire in the belly speech so much that my chief of staff has coined a new term called "fitb." it has worked. i am proud of my 200 agents, auditors, and investigators, because they all have that fire in the belly. they can work elsewhere. some of them are working in the worst conditions. they're working in conditions as bad as our military is in afghanistan. many of them are

>> i want us to remember why we went to afghanistan. we went into afghanistan because 3,000 americans were viciously murdered. by a terrorist organization that was operating openly and at the invitation of those who were then ruling afghanistan. it was absolutely the right thing to do for us to go after that organization. to go after the host government that had aided and abetted or at least allowed for these attacks to take place. and because of the heroic work of our men and women in uniform, and because of the cooperation and sacrifices of afghans who had also been brutalized by that then-host government, we achieved our central goal. which is or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to decompass tate al qaeda. to dismantle them. to make sure that they can't attack us again. and everything that we've done over the last ten years, from the prospective of the u.s. national security interests, have been focused on that aim. and at the end of this conflict, we are going to be able to say that the sacrifices that we

and afghanistan.was in 2008 when then senators joe biden, chuck hagel and john kerry, chuck hagel his pick to be defense secretary, john kerry his pick to head up the state department, went to afghanistan and actually met with hamid karzai, had a very contentious meeting with him as they confronted the issue of corruption in afghanistan. so certainly this is a relationships that that has had tension over the years and that is something as well that these new picks for the national security team and foreign relations team are going to be confronting and they certainly have experience with, wolf. >> all right. if we're in that two minute warning, i think they will be announcing the introduction of the proptwo presidents walking will. an opening statement by president obama and then karzai and then questions. very limited number of questions. i think two questions maybe from each side from the afghan side frrks t, from the u.s. side and then they will answer questions. they've been meeting in the oval of

afghanistan, i have been very clear and explicit, and i do not think that afghanistan can see this correction unless there is cooperation between us and foreign international partners on correcting some of the methods or applications, delivery of assistance to afghanistan, without corp. and without recognition of the problems. on elections, for me, the greatest of my achievements eventually as seen by the afghan people will be a proper, reorganized, interference-free election in which the afghan people can elect their next president. certainly, i would be a very tired president and a very happily retired president. >> my questions to you, mr. president, afghan women fear that there would be the victim of the process and afghanistan. what assurances can you give them that they will not suffer because of that process? thank you. >> the united states has been very clear that any peace process, any wreckage is it -- any reconciliation process must be afghan led. it is not for the afghan it press for the nine states to determine what this peace will be, but what we have also been clear about is th

afghanistan needs power. and if we create an interdependency between these countries, especially the countries that are now friendly with each other, we will enhance the chance of stability a lot more. so it input also a more expensive project could be pipeline and other scum but at least national grid, railroad. fortunate enough pakistan is expanding its real -- railroad. to connect now across railroad into afghanistan, north and south, so we can really rebuild afghanistan as a crossroads or a land of trade. that's key. improving access to capital in afghanistan providing some political incentives interim of political assurance, making actually more credit available for investment by international companies in afghanistan, allowing some afghan companies have access to easier credit. these are the key issues that could help afghanistan on the economic front. but more importantly, a key message, that will give the investors and everyone else a sense of confidence who come in and invest in afghanistan. >> thank

poverty so for the people of afghanistan cares i has not accomplished a lot. i don't know how much respect they would have for him but i know that they see him as someone who could not accomplish everything he did and maybe that's one of the reasons he was talking about the fact that he wants to retire maybe because he knows that he does not have a future in the future of afghanistan so why you bring up this retirement let's go ahead and talk about that one of the sticking points that president obama and other obama administration officials have announced is that it's time for him to start seriously considering a democratic election where the people choose somebody else the fact is that karzai has been in power for over twelve years now and he's still going is there forced retirement on the u.s. part do they even have a hand to force his retirement and will president karzai release the reins so freely all it needs. to do all he needs to do is basically manipulate the constitution and i'm getting one of the observers who is talking about the situation in afghan

you don't have that in afghanistan. a lot of these people that come in and want to be soldiers or policemen can only be veted by the elders in the village. so you don't know who you are. what we tried to do was bring in bio metrics and you'll probably read about that now, how do we reset and establish a good background way to determine who should be armed and who should be in uniform over there and who shouldn't be and that's some of the things we were doing. corruption is very real. but it's acceptable. we don't like it but in afghanistan, people accept corruption as a way of life. so another challenge was how do we change the mind set, how did we make people realize it's not right to do the kind of things they were doing which was grafting, taking money and being a corrupt society, taking money from people just to move throughout their town. one of the ways we did that was trying to be sure we took people and spent time with the police officers themselves. we probably spent way too much -- too much emphasis on contrac

, a sovereign afghanistan, that can govern and secure itself for the future. >> afghanistan will, with the help that they provide be able to provide security to its people and to protect its borders. >> panetta said he and karzai made good progress but he declined to say whether they had agreed the size of the u.s. force that will remain in afghanistan. >> after a long and difficult path, we are finally, i believe, at the last chapter of establishing in afghanistan, a sovereign afghanistan that can govern and secure itself for the future. >> afghanistan will, with the help that are you providing, be able to provide security to its people and to protect its

going back to afghanistan this evening to bring to the afghan people the news of afghanistan spending and shorter with america as a sovereign independent country, but in cooperation and in partnership. thank you, mr. president for the hospitality. >> thank you very much. okay, we've got two questions each, i think, from u.s. and afghan press and then we'll start with scott wilson of washington post. >> mr. president, does moving up the deadline for the transition to an afghan security you'll be winding down u.s. troops faster tan you expected this year and as specifically as possible, how many troops do you expect to leave in afghanistan beyond 2014 for the two missions you outlined and would you consider leaving any troops in afghanistan beyond that date without an immunity agreement for their actions? and president karzai, you've spoken often about the threat the american president in afghanistan poses to your nation's sovereignty, but i'm wondering if you will be considering and working on behalf of an immunity agreement to preserve some u.s. forces in afghanistan after the 2014 da

for the afghanistan to be quick. there are still access to capitalist difficulties. they have their challenges. this still have issues with pakistan on, trying to with our treads could be much bigger than it is right now. in much cases, telxon bought but this is but the policies that makes the most difficult. it is it difficult to overcome the challenge because you have to have a bit of power. the social transition in afghanistan is a new generation of afghans. you can see this. when they used to be travel in afghanistan, of the from plans for, corruption, u.s. military operation. now when they travel, people are complaining about the internet being too slow or it is too expensive. this course has been introduced among young afghans. it is all good news. people are being connected. we see the new generation he burgeon last week, the fund is a for afghanistan which repurchased about 30 students through washington and the white house. when you listen to the kids and when you listen to the kids and what

they hijacked afghanistan. afghanistan was alive. that is different from its relationship with pakistan or yemen or somalia. where they operate essentially either in an area with no state or in a state that is hostile to them. but isn't capable of suppressing them to the degree we would like. operating within a state that is actively compliant, obviously, considerably expands their capacity to plan and mount large-scale terrorist operations as we found in september 2001. the worst of all situations is the taliban remain linked to al qaeda and they come back and govern the country. that is something -- the risk of that i do not put that very high. i do not put the cost of reducing that risk further very high, either. if there is as 5% but you could reduce it by spending $4 billion a year, i would argue that is worth $4 billion. other people i would argue what did 9/11 cost us? we could lose a couple of buildings every decade. and a few thousand citizens rather than losing much larger amounts of money. they will come to a different ris

this is afghanistan. we have got to -- we have got to be very careful about not getting overly ambitious. >> richard, if someone would have said to you, back in 2001, when the u.s. went into afghanistan to destroy the taliban and defeat al qaeda that so many years later, in 2013, there would still be 66,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan fighting this war, what would you have said? >> i would have been wrong because i would have said inconceivable. in part because right after 9/11, when the united states got involved, the bush administration at the time was simply unwilling to make a big investment. there was tremendous skepticism around the national security council table at the time that any amount of american investment, that any effort to nation build in afghanistan, if you will, would bear fruit. people were really skeptical. so the idea that a decade ago we would have -- you would have told me that we would build up to, what, over 100,000 americans essentially at the peak in afghanistan, and a decade la

-afghanistan in relationship.are thinking about the long- term relationship of the united states and afghanistan and what that is. to be cured by the end of 2014, the american combat role in afghanistan will come to an end. afghanistan will continue to need american economic and development help for probably at least a decade to come, probably much longer. president karzai is here to talk to president obama about what the nature and shape of that relationship will be over the long term. host: here is the headline from the "washington post" yesterday. guest: president karzai is in some ways a typical man. he has -- it has to be noted that he is responsible for the toughest job in the world. he has been president of afghanistan for eight years. in 2014, his two terms will come to an end. he has struggled with a country that has seen 30 consecutive years of war. he has struggled to develop the economy in his country. he does not have all the power that he would like to have. president karzai it's tough to work but so

plays on all of those issues afghanistan borders iran afghanistan has an increasingly important relationship with china and of course the predominant muslim population afghanistan has a lot of affinity with other with the other muslim populations in the middle east and then more broadly across asia so i think afghanistan will be important player in all of these and all of these drama but the united states is now i think myopically focused on trying to in a sense defeat the islamic republic of iran to roll back what it sees as this this challenge to the problem merican governments that existed in the middle east and to roll back what it sees is the right the rise of china but afghanistan has for centuries emerged as a central player in these these various geo political games and will again do so whether washington likes it or not you know my leverage to it was trying to get political risk consultancy thank you for being on the program. top stories of. the syrian foreign ministry slammed the top international peace envoy to the conflict zone and flagrantly comes out to me said he does not see

i'm pleased to be joined by former top commander in afghanistan. he's written a new memoir with america's take on war and career. his book is "my share of the task" and he joins me now. general x e, good to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to ask you about the book. part of what you discuss are leadership lessons you learned from previous commanders that you would like to pass onto future commanders. you are part of a generation of military leadership that is now experienced two wars in the past decade. how has that changed the military? how has it changed how wars will be fought? >> it changed it pretty dramatically, the military. i entered in '72 and outlined in my story i had a sort of forrest gump-like experience. much of that culminated after 9/11. many changes has begun before but after 9/11 we got it in perspective. and then we were forced to change again dramatically because the military we created had some good foundations, we had corrected many of the things that had eroded in vietnam, but we weren't right for a new infor

no single afghan legislature in the history of afghanistan has accepted the border between afghanistan and pakistan afghanistan was the only nation in the world to vote against pakistan admittance to the united nations in one thousand nine hundred seventy one single thing the border in one thousand nine hundred three the british when they ruled india created with this called the durand line they do not accept the fact that the land that once belonged to them that the british took away should belong to pakistan and this is deep down at the heart of this particular never ending war in the middle of which the united states and its soldiers continue to die over a war that once started out against al-qaeda which is morphed into something far deeper far more complicated it's an old afghan saying it's going to stand it's very easy to enter but it's very hard to leave we're not leaving by two thousand and fourteen we'll still be there and we'll leave it right there thank you very much for your time. ill. immediately. little bit of a little. thank. you. bowl of. the world i live. that speak. to

in afghanistan either if the afghanistan government insists that u.s.d have to be subject to afghan law and afghan courts in the event that they got in trouble. the same way that iraq insisted on that. this is not an issue that is unique to our latest wars. or this latest decision about where troops are going to be stationed and for how long. what you're looking at here is footage from protests against u.s. military personnel in japan and in south korea after u.s. military personnel stationed there committed high profile crimes there, and the local population was angry with how the issue was handled in terms of the criminal liability of those u.s. soldiers. this is a sensitive thing. this is a sensitive thing in any part of the world for any country for any leader. and right now it is a sensitive thing for all of us, because our president just told us today how our longest war in american history is going to end. the combat mission changes to a train, advise, assist mission this spring. which is faster than we thought that was going to happen. but how l

in afghanistan that's whopper doing. you were taking on the responsibility that with the politics and the military we can't win. >> charlie, that's great. that's right. of course it was for you. >> as i wrote in the book and as i thought about writing this book, did i change. i had studied counterinsurgency when i was a cadet at west point. i had been sphals nated i wrote a long paper on the french and indochina. i think at heart good leaders are problem solvers and my period in joint special operations command for almost five years, my mission was to help tear apart the al-qaeda network, across the region. most violently in iraq but also other areas as well. so what i had to do to do my share of the task was to go after that network as efficiently as i could, dismantel it and let other things do their part as we go forward. in iraq we did that for several years and we were remarkably effective, excuse me, we were remarkably lethal, we were, we got up in 2006 to 300 raids a month. ten a night. just extraordinary. but it

afghanistan.oday because of the courage of our citizens, president karzi and i have been able to review our shared strategy. with the devastating blows we've struck against al qaeda our core objective the reason we went to war in the first place is now within reach. ensuring that al qaeda can never again use afghanistan to launch attacks against our country. at the same time, we pushed the taliban out of their strongholds. today most major cities and most afghans are more secure and insurgets have continued to lose territory. meanwhile, afghan forces continue to grow stronger. as planned, some 352,000 afghan soldiers and police are now in training or on duty. most missions are already being led by afghan forces. and of all the men and women in uniform in afghanistan, the vast majority are afghans who are fighting and dying for their country every day. we still face significant challenges. but because this progress our transition is on track. at the nato summit last year we agreed with our coalitio

implications in afghanistan. and i will skip to of history i had had it is a time for caution to it's a critical notion is, led by the united states, the coalition in afghanistan months shepard reconciliation talks when the afghan government, the talibans to show how a more central system in afghanistan to meet both pakistan and taliban and swappers are the basic framework of an afghan public. and here i think there is some room for cautious optimism. it shows there's a recognition that the taliban, pakistani leaders and afghan leaders each of who will different aspirations and ideations must come together and produce a more can federal structure that allows for more southern pashtun representation. not all of which is taliban, which is, that allows that inclusion in order for us to have a peaceful future. with respect to pakistan where think the implication our most reaches because pakistan as a country is the fulcrum of the issues that present themselves number four in pakistan. i think american policy must do

troops in afghanistan, right. however the u.s. troops in afghanistan came for a purpose. they came for a job. therefore what we ask, what we expect of nato and the u.s. and everyone else is what we call a responsible transition, if not a responsible exit. >> rose: who will oversee that. >> i think as nations z as countries which all responsible and all interested in the same common good of stability in afghanistan, we all have to be guaran tofers and overlook that we can't have one entity or the other which is overlooking it but the united nation kos have a role to play. when we say responsible exit watch. do we mean? for any, when are you pulling out or when you consider a job done i think the first thing to go back to is what was the purpose of your coming in for the first place. so what were they called and look at the situation. >> to destroy al qaeda. >> it was to destroy al qaeda but also to bring stability in afghanistan. >> and not make it a safe haven nor a, you know, a state that offered a place for al qaeda and related groups to have sanctuary. >> then or to re

he went to afghanistan and met them and invited some of the leaders there.the taliban leaders -- i think it's 10 or 11 but fit teen taliban leaders are headed over to return to pakistan. there are some rumors about a meeting with mullah but he refused to go back and in fact was quite aggressive. the point i'm making, this whole effort seems to me to be -- pakistani strategic thinking is the pakistani version of of the dependent mounting groups i would argue it's a bit late in the game. i really wish this would have happened in 2007 or 2008 and it was partly delayed. now things are not as easy and much more complicated. i would like to believe that this is an honest effort. we have seen many other related developments as well. the meeting, the increased meetings between the united states and the government in pakistan senior levels and -- is meeting another so i thought that this was a faÇade or this was not a well courtney did well thought out policy. we would not have seen his many statements but from the previous developments we have seen if again anything

and afghanistan. i believe that he believes as i do that there's not going to be any changes that we're going to significantly make there no matter how long we are there. it's going to be a very interesting conversation i look forward to having. but i truly believe, i was a former executive being a governor and i always appreciated when the senate gave me the gave me the respoask basically putting -- respect of basically putting my staff together. i will give every consideration to our president to do the same. but there are some serious questions. >> schieffer: what about gun control. you had one of the most memorable ads during your campaign for the senate because you actually fired a rival at one point dure -- a rifle at one point during that. you're a proud member of the nra but you're saying after the shooting in connecticut we need to do some stuff. >> first of my life did i ever think i would ever see children let's say babies and kindergarten get slaughtered. that has changed the dialogue and

said jawad was afghanistan's ambassador to washington from 2003 to 2010. before that, he was president karzai's chief of staff. and peter tomsen was a career diplomat who served as special envoy on afghanistan during the george h.w. bush administration. he's the author of "the wars of afghanistan." peter tomsen, let's start with you. what jumps out at you. help us decode what was in that meeting, what was most pournt. >> is think what jumped out at me mostly was the acceleration in the transition. which i think is good. that american troops are going to be leaving at a faster clip. and also on the function side, so to speak that the role of american troops in combat as was mentioned in the clip is going to be phased out. also, what president karzai said on elections i thought was excellent because there has been a lot of concern that the election schedule for 2014 might end up like the elections in 200 the when there was a good deal of fraud. as you might recall. then i was very pleased to see the comments on women, the emphasis on gender equality. and als

, a sovereign afghanistan, that can govern and secure itself for the future. >> afghanistan will, with the help that they provide be able to provide security to its people and to protect its borders. >> panetta said he and karzai made good progress but he declined to say whether they had agreed the size of the u.s. force that will remain in afghanistan. >> after a long and difficult path, we are finally, i believe, at the last chapter of establishing in afghanistan, a sovereign afghanistan that can govern and secure itself for the future. >> afghanistan will, with the help that are you providing, be able to provide security to its people and to protect its borders. >> panetta said and he karzai good progress but declined to say if they agreed on the size of u.s. forces that will remain in afghanistan. the united states currently has 68,000 military personnel in afghanistan. local forces are supposed to take over responsibility for security before the end of 2014. any u.s. soldiers that remain would be for training and assistance. >>> the transfer of security powers seems an ambitious g

, a sovereign afghanistan, that can govern and secure itself for the future. >> afghanistan will, with the help that they provide be able to provide security to its people and to protect its borders. >> panetta said he and karzai made good progress but he declined to say whether they had agreed the size of the u.s. force that will remain in afghanistan. >> after a long and difficult path, we are finally, i believe, at the last chapter of establishing in afghanistan, a sovereign afghanistan that can govern and secure itself for the future. >> afghanistan will, with the help that are you providing, be able to provide security to its people and to protect its borders. >> panetta said and he karzai good progress but declined to say if they agreed on the size of u.s. forces that will remain in afghanistan. the united states currently has 68,000 military personnel in afghanistan. local forces are supposed to take over responsibility for security before the end of 2014. any u.s. soldiers that remain would be for training and assistance. >>> the transfer of security powers seems an ambitious g

of afghanistan after 2014. a couple days ago the white house came out and said the president is open to the idea of keeping our troops in afghanistan after 2014. given your description of the longer-term u.s. objectives in afghanistan of car terrorism and further training of afghan forces, is there a realistic option? >> obviously we want to accomplish the mission we agreed to in chicago, but as to what those numbers are, we provided some assessments to the white house, but we have is this moment not presented any of the options to the president, nor has the president made a decision. so i'm not going to sit here and speculate as to what somebody said or what has been speculated to in the press. all i can tell you is we have presented options to the white house. ultimately we hope the opportunity to present those options to the president. >> the wait has said since here was an option. i wondered whether you had given some thought as to how realistic that might be. >> you know, we've said from the start that no

troops in afghanistan would shift away from a combat role this spring. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we look at the changing u.s.-afghanistan relationship after 11 years of war against al qaeda and the taliban with an endgame in sight. >> woodruff: then, margaret warner looks into the faa's decision to review boeing's troubled 787 dreamliner. >> brown: ray suarez talks with "washington post" reporter cecilia kang, who walks us through the high-tech offerings at this year's consumer electronics show. >> samsung came up with a very interesting 5.5 inch flexible screen that kind of makes you imagine all kinds of possibilities >> woodruff: plus mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by bnsf railway. >> support also comes from carnegie corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what andrew carnegie called "real and permanent good." celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie.or

afghanistan needs power. if you create interdependency between these countries, especially countries that are not on friendly terms with each other, which will enhance the chances of stability to allot more more expensive projects could be pipelines and others, but at least the national grid, railroads. fortunately, pakistan is extending its railroad into canada are -- kandahar. the railroad from central asia will connect now across afghanistan, north and south. we can really rebuild afghanistan as a crossroad or roundabout of trade. that is key. internally, improving access to capital in afghanistan by providing political incentives, in terms of political assurance, making more credit available for investment by international companies in afghanistan, allowing afghan companies to have access to easier credit -- these are the key issues that could help a afghanistan -- help afghanistan on the economic front. more importantly, a clear message about the future of afghanistan that would give the investors and ev

-afghanistan in relationship. we are thinking about the long- term relationship of the united states and afghanistan and what that is. to be cured by the end of 2014, the american combat role in afghanistan will come to an end. afghanistan will continue to need american economic and development help for probably at least a decade to come, probably much longer. president karzai is here to talk to president obama about what the nature and shape of that relationship will be over the long term. host: here is the headline from the "washington post" yesterday. guest: president karzai is in some ways a typical man. it has to be noted that he is responsible for the toughest job in the world. he has been president of afghanistan for eight years. in 2014, his two terms will come to an end. he has struggled with a country that has seen 30 consecutive years of war. he has struggled to develop the economy in his country. he does not have all the power that he would like to have. president karzai it's tough to work but sometime