afghanistan. we also welcome our listening and internet audiences and invite everyone to visit us online at www.commonwealth club.org. and now it's my pleasure to introduce our speakers. tamim was born in kabul where father was a professor and his mother taught the first school for girls. he is the writer, lecturer, teacher and director of the san francisco writer's work shop. , in, in... block -- he has written the game without rowells. ... he will also sign the book after the program. i think today's program will be very interesting. you may hear differing perspectives and a lot about the history of afghanistan. if you read these two books, which are both wonderful, you will the context and the history of afghanistan. if you read the other you will see a character that comes to life during the history that will talk. be will start off. [applause] >> thank you all for being here. thank you to the commonwealth club. let me check the time so i don't go over. i am sure all of you are interested in w

afghanistan. i will welcome the decision to use money from banking funds to build a permanent memorial in staffordshire so that our generation and every future generation can honor and remember the sacrifice they have made for us. mr. speaker, we are in afghanistan for one reason, to protect our national security by stopping that country to be used as a base from which to launch terror against our people and that of our allies around the world. that includes resisting taliban insurgent attacks, driving out al qaeda, and turning that forces to do this task themselves. it requires political support, supporting the afghans to build a more peaceful and prosperous future, including a peace process. and it requires a diplomatic response, working in particular with pakistan, which has a vital role in fighting terrorism in the region. let me take the three in turn. home security, serious plot against the u.k. have been linked to afghanistan and pakistan. british and allied forces have stopped afghanistan

presence in afghanistan as being about helping afghanistan i thank you are in trouble there is a certain sense the u.s. of them the u.s. does not owe afghanistan afghans are not entitled to be fixed by the united states they have to fix their own country the u.s. is there because like all great powers of the past it does have a strategic interest and my thesis is it can best serve those by having these independents autonomous afghanistan friendly to the united states that would be perfect then they would have an ally strongly associated with and will not cut ties to be a muslim country that domination would hurt the u.s. interests but i do think it has to be there they will be swarming after two days and there is a vacuum. >> very true. there are outside interest and there is questions how you control the neighbors and the lowe's get the latest example now looking as a true conspiracy where it is an attack on both sides with so blind that was drawn and i say are you serious? that is all of the problems? we will question who will belongs to? but that is the hands of the foreign one neighb

when we pull out our forces from afghanistan. additionally, the pentagon just announced last week that the purchase of russian-built mi-17 helicopters will not end with the 30 they just purchased for the s.m.w. their plan is to equip the afghan air force with an additional 86 brand new mi-17's. if you consider that the cost of 30 helicopters was over $500 million, this new purchase will be well over $1 billion and probably $1.5 billion. this for a helicopter the afghans have proven they lack the personnel to fly. and the capacity to maintain. i urge my colleagues to support the coffman-garamendi-murphy-cohen amendment. thank you and, mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the time of the gentleman has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas rise? mr. womack: claim time in opposition, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. womack: mr. chairman, the intent of the amendment's sponsor is to reduce the afghan national security forces fund by over $550 million i

this is seriously impacted by the fighting in afghanistan. i felt like i dealt with those things quite a bit during the first two books. you know, characters and their relationships between family members, the complicated feelings about wealth and so on sore forward. >> i read that you said that this is a love story. clearly the relationship between the siblings is rooted in this fierce love. but there is so much heartbreak and sacrifice and a trail. talk about the family and the sibling relationships are such a parallel. there is also the relationship of the father and the child and the sacrifices. >> the novel is sort of shaped like a tree. part of the novel is like this love story. we meet them first in the early 1950s. they are on their way to cabo with her father. they are kind of tracking across the desert. and it splits the relationship between the brother and his little sister, and it's a separation that devastates both in so many unique ways. from there on, the story just spreads out. it spreads to other places with other characters,

let me move to afghanistan. i am going to say some things that are a little bit out of my character. i think everybody knows over the next six months it is it is between now it is a very important time in afghanistan. the bilateral agreement we know needs to be done by october. i know that you all are working towards that end. i know that you know the elections being free and fair, generally speaking, for afghanistan, is something that is very important and there are people there on the ground on both sides trying to make that happen. this administration, though, has tremendous difficulty making decisions. this administration has multiple voices within it to keep it from having clarity. i have to tell you, as the chairman mentioned, i think the administration has got to quit looking at its naval and make a decision on what the force structure is going to be in afghanistan. capital outflows from afghanistan are increasing dramatically, which is causing the economy to be less than it could, because we have yet to

afghanistan and the communist takeover of afghanistan which happened in 1979. china, the rise of show ping and you are return to the markets and mao and cultural revolution. poland as we mentioned. the election of the polish pope, john paul ii and return to the homeland and precursor of the solidarity movement. great britain, the election of margaret thatcher and real tumult over the british economy that has been really lost as part of the historical narrative of britain after after thatcher. i'm looking forward to coming after that. number five the one most people think of first when they think of 1979, the iranian revolution and toppling of the shah and the hostage crisis in 1979. wow, that is awful lot of ground to cover. let's start with thatcher. there are huge out pourings of tribute to the thatcher on occasion of her death. magazine covers and revisiting. >> host: it is always a challenge. you want to show why somebody is worth knowing about in the first place, right? there are revision it histories of thatcher. people correcting misperceptions about her

there are mountains and afghanistan. it is known for its mountains, and the mountains in this book to figure rather prominently. there are several travels in which people are traveling across the desert. and afghanistan is known for that sort of talk biography. i changed the wording. it was inspired by blake, although that is not the actual wording. tavis: since you mentioned typography, i know that afghanistan is always a central character in your novels. we will come back to that, but how does the typography, how does the geography play in this particular novel? >> well, there is a number of passages in the book where characters are actually travelling across the country and happen to whether the elements and typography, crossing mountains, and, in fact, the book begins with a fable, where one of the characters makes this rather difficult journey and ends up climbing mountains, and so on, so it is a recurring image in the book, and what i loved about the problem is the word eco. -- echo. there are things that happen in

let me move to afghanistan. i am going to say some things that are a little bit out of my character. i think everybody knows over the next six months it is it is between now it is a very important time in afghanistan. we knowteral agreement needs to be done by october. i know that you all are working towards that end. i know that you know the elections being free and fair, generally speaking, for afghanistan, is something that is very important and there are people there on the ground on both sides trying to make that happen. though, hastration, tremendous difficulty making decisions. this administration has multiple voices within it to keep it from having clarity. i have to tell you, as the chairman mentioned, i think the administration has got to quit looking at its naval and make a forceon on what the structure is going to be in afghanistan. capital outflows from afghanistan are increasing dramatically, which is causing the economy to be less than it could, because we have yet to state what we are going to do

to leave the question in afghanistan a slightly different. there's talk about nine bases there's talk about the long term troop presence and what those troops will do the reality is that u.s. troops have no role in afghanistan's future afghan political problems cannot be solved by u.s. troops so the sooner u.s. troops leave the better does on one hand invite foreign interference in some ways from pakistan and others but the reality is these political issues and political problems are for afghans to solve not for troops i want to get into afghanistan stability in the future once troops are removed in a second but i wanted to actually talk about this report that i read very shocking report that talks about one hundred eight thousand private contractors i mean we're talking about amount out well i mean almost two to one ratio of contractors and soldiers here do you know what they're doing there because this report can't seem to figure it out well contractors play a variety of roles some of them are foreign contractors some of them are hired afgh

and afghanistan i mean from. america's poorly arranged peace talks with the taliban last month afghan president hamid karzai is now accusing the u.s. of plotting taliban leaders to divide the country and as a result karzai suspended negotiations to keep u.s. troops there beyond two thousand and fourteen karzai is allegations are putting added strain on the relationship between afghanistan and pakistan as well officials in pakistan stressed that peace and security in their country is contingent on peace and security in afghanistan which prompted the pakistani government to send an envoy to help open peace talks so is a regional peace. given the heightened tensions and what will the future hold for afghans and discuss all this and more i'm joined now by matt southworth legislative associate at the friends committee on national legislation sorry thank you for joining me thank you for having me so matt you served in the army in iraq and then also have been to afghanistan multiple times what did you experience there t

when you look at afghanistan today, something like 60% of afghanistan are under the age of 20.an amazing young demographic. they are waking up in afghanistan. the military has control of the entire country. this is a force against resurging taliban. when we look back at the united states and our gang kids or whatever are reading history books, they will look at this finite and now on of time. they will look and see what america did with its position of power. to either lead to a world of chaos or russian leadership or will america be that shining city on the hill? i yield back. >> thank you for your service. >> i would say to my friend from illinois that i appreciate his fingering some of the early stakes that were proved to be catastrophic. we have accused the ambassador with way too much power with no lateral decisions that undercut military and the state department for having to have our country -- i commend a book that documents this. >> you and i have traveled to iraq together. two things and we have to be concise -- two things that came up in that visit that stayed with m

12 years ago in afghanistan.they very difficult circumstances. very incredible challenges in terms of educating both boys and girls in the context, what's been achieved in the past decade. however, what they were also need to remind ourselves education can be a force for positive stability. it can also be disruptive, and i think we need to only go back to the '60s and '70s and remember, look at kabul university which proved to be quite an effective incubator for radical politics on the left and right which contributed significantly to the next three decades of conflict in afghanistan. in that regard i think it's quite disturbing that it's not in a i studied in depth but what report you often do here say, for example, kabul university politics is that ethnic politics are a major force in terms of the politics there today. so again how can we make education a force for peace and afghanistan rather than a force for conflict? not -- lots of generational contention i think the power has continued to mobilize by the ol

then the special inspector general for afghanistan discusses his latest report concerning afghanistan reconstruction efforts. host: good morning everyone. all 100 senators have been invited to a closed-door meeting in the old senate chamber this meeting to discuss the so-called nuclear option. harry reid wants to change senate rules to allow a simple majority vote on nonjudicial nominees, rather than the current 60 vote threshold. 10:30 a.m. eastern time here on c-span. we will begin on the "washington journal closed quote with the george zimmerman verdict. send us a tweet, if you go to twitter.com/cspanwj. we want to get your thoughts on the implications of the zimmerman verdict. here is what president obama had to say in a statement he put out yesterday on the zimmerman verdict. he said -- "the new york times editorial" weighs in this morning -- what are your thoughts on this? stand your ground law, should they be debated and revised? , where the verdict took place, this is "the miami herald." larry in hernando, mississippi, a democratic caller, you are first up. people like him are

the second is a political transition in afghanistan. there will be an election next year, and the more credible the election, the more transparent election, the better election and the more positive effect it will have. those are the two big challenges i believe will shape the post- 2014 environment in afghanistan. >> thank you very much for joining us there from washington. you are watching bbc world news america. the alaskan village could soon be washed away. tonight we take you to see why -- there was a time at the end of may and beginning of june when our headlines were dominated by turkey, specifically the protests sparked by the redevelopment of an easton ballpark. instanbul park. the conquests are written on the skyline. every leader who rules istanbul tries to reshape it. turkish governments want to change the way this city looks, perhaps more so than any other administration in decades. but in this city, construction is political. so the government's ambition has run into trouble. the prime minister wants to transform this area

talking about the lessons we're going to learn in afghanistan afghanistan. just read an article today in the new york times the u.s. considers faster pullout in afghanistan. they're talking about is zero troops option after 2014, which was a number randomly pulled of a political generator of saying, politically 2014 would be a good number. i am very good -- concerned we are going to repeat by pulling out. with that, i yield back. >> thank you very much. workank you for your hard .or you and -- work fo the money that was wasted was troubling enough, but when one contemplates that was the tip of the iceberg when looking at the inefficiencies, inappropriate projects, projects that have worked, projects that are not going to have lasting value or cannot be maintained, that number climbs rapidly. how can we be surprised that the united states find so much waste based on a war that has nothing but false premises and frankly, when the decision was made to go in with inadequate to begin with. the chaos that resulted has cost us dearly. i hope we focus on the lessons

speaker wilson of the problems in afghanistan will not be solved in afghanistan alone. the support of neighboring countries like pakistan will be vital. in my visit to pakistan i was encouraged by the commitment of the new prime minister noaa or sharif. his election was a first-ever democratic transition in that country from one elected government to another. it represents a sign of progress in pakistan. we discussed our trade economic and cultural ties and agreed to work together in extremism and tackling poverty in dealing with the issues that can fuel to power -- terrorism. building on -- i welcome and prime ministers commitment to working with afghanistan defeating terrorism across the region. mr. speaker let me turn to last week's european council. this was rightly focused on sorting out europe's economy is doing what we are doing in britain getting a grip on spending and supporting private enterprise to create jobs and growth. while spending the council finalized with the european parliament the seven year budget deal we successfully negotiated in february. this w

stable, democratic afghanistan.sed of the leaders, did they mention on friday the referendum? particularly of what is it that they took in the requiring of private members? [laughter] >> i did not explain the intricacies of parliamentary procedure, but in the very good debate that we had, one of the sessions of the european council, i made clear my view, that we need to have, just as the countries within the eurozone needs change and need to integrate more, so do countries like britain, who in my view should never joined eurozone, need to make changes as well. we need to make them flexible enough to include both country. there is a growing recognition that this is the case. >> given that they were originally proposing to have their names on the bill, it is probably just as well that the prime minister was not looking to explain the intricacies of parliamentary procedure to his colleagues. >> i quite agree with the prime minister, the threat message to taliban stability is best achieved not through violence, but thro

security challenges chased by the double cost in afghanistan. the american public's preference is to avoid this in the future. this clear preference to avoid large scale interventions has reinforced by the nation's budgetary woes. this has put serious pressure on the federal budget and the pentagon. there's not much support at this time for the u.s. to invest its reduced budget resources to ensure that we conduct stability operations in an efficient way. this is a serious mistake because whether or not the country is entering a new post- afghanistan. policy, the international scene is characterized by state dissolution and instability. al qaeda called up in the taliban-led a failed state of afghanistan launched the september 11 attacks. today, this extremist group is recruiting terrorists in annapolis. -- in minneapolis. criminal groups are making common cause around the world to the detriment of law- abiding states and citizens. the fund for international -- for peace and national farm policy issued a 2013 failed state index last month. it list

there was none for afghanistan. >> narrator: rumsfeld scrambled, but cofer black was way ahead of him. in less than a week, the president initiated greystone. >> mclaughlin: we all assembled in the cabinet room, and the president lays down about 12 decisions, just like that, mae-gun fashion.whid he say? >> mclaughlin: well, of course, the thing that stands out in my memory, because it hit me vividly, was... he said, "i want cia in there first." >> narrator: that day, president bush signed a key document, ablc and the cia to wage a covert international war. >> radsan: it was a very comprehensive finding. it was generally worded. it was: "go out and get the bad guys; disrupt them, kill them, interrogate them." this was an overarching authorization of the cia. >> rizzo: i had never ever seen a presidential authorization as far reaching and as aggressive in scope. it was... it was simply extraordinary. >> townsend: in a post-9/11 world, we weren't going to be so prissy. we were going to work and do what we needed to do. no matter how difficult or undesirable it was, we were going to do wh

but we want afghanistan to succeed. i reluck tantly oppose the -- reluctantly pop oppose the amendment. the chair: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. calvert: i ask for a roll call vote. the chair: the gentleman from california asks for a recorded vote. pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the the ent offered by gentlewoman from connecticut will be postponed. pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from connecticut will be postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 4. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. lee: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 45 printed in house report 113-170 offered by ms. lee of california. the chair: the gentlewoman from california, ms. lee, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recogniz

. >> afghanistan witnessed one of the most intense and prolific attacks during the month of june. taliban targeted the airport and even the presidential palace. afghans are concerned about the interior rating security scenario, and the latest attacks have also endangered the peacemaking efforts initiated by the united states. here is a report. >> taliban gunmen attacked pakistan's presidential palace and surrounding buildings including the cia's headquarters tom a with explosions and gunfire shaking the city center. eyewitnesses say that at least one man opened fire with an automatic rifle at a gate to the palace in the city center. president hamid karzai's whereabouts were not immediately known. he was due to attend a press event at the palace after 9:00 a.m. reporters had been gathering at the palace when the attack began . heavy explosions were sounded, and the gunfire intensified. schoolchildren walking to classes nearby were also caught in the exchanges. >> the taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and the text message to kabul reporters. the area on a hotel is known

i supported the afghanistan war. do think it was a mistake, though, and we should have been gone at least six or seven years ago, probably. so the fact is ththat he has continued in this vain is something aye been critical of, it's safe to say that we have given a lot to that country, and i would love to see it in a much more stable position. but unless we're going to stay there forever, even with us there, we can't really stabilize it. so the option is a great option because we should have already left. >> i think the question is the speed at which we leave and do we leave a residual force behind? that i think is the key issue. according to the reporting, it looks as if the president could be reacting emotionally. i hope he's not, to the interactions he's had with karzai. i understand karzai is admittedly unstable, likely bipolar and ter minuterminally ungrateful. but karzai is not forever. the islamists and the pakistanis are going to be there for a very long time. and the president has to make a decision not based

he visited afghanistan recently, and buck read about his amazing journey back to afghanistan in his book "lost decency, at an award-winning book, "the untold story of afghanistan." i think today's program's going to be very interesting. you may hear different perspectives. you're going to learn a lot about the history of afghanistan, and if you read these two books which are both wonderful books, you'll get in one, tamim's book, the context and history of afghanistan. if you read atta's book, you'll see a character who comes to life during part of the period of history we're going to talk about today. so we'll start off, please welcome tamim. [applause] >> thank you all for being here, thank you to the commonwealth club. let me check the time so i don't go over. all right, so i'm sure all of you are very interested in what's going on in afghanistan right now, who is contesting for the presidential seat in the elections next year, what happens after the nato forces withdraw, if they do. but as a historian, and we can get into all that with questions and so on, but as a historian what i'm

let me ask another question about afghanistan. one concern i've heard from some followers of the conflict there and what we're hearing from afghans themselves is concern about the zero option should we withdraw all american troops. can you talk about what, how that discussion is influencing what's happening on the ground in afghanistan? >> thank you, senator. so as we deal closely with our afghan counterparts, we remind them that the u.s. commitment beyond 2014 is embodied in a binding international executive agreement signed by president obama and president karzai more than a year ago. so we already have a strategic partnership with afghanistan that extends well beyond 2014, in fact, ten years beyond 2014. likewise, nato, in fact, beat us to the punch and established a strategic partnership of its own with afghanistan in the lisbon summit in november of 2010. so the framework already exists for a continuing contribution, a partnership beyond 2014. beyond that we've solidified those commitments beyond 2014 with the funding commitm

it's what happened in afghanistan. and as i described it, rather than a ten-year rebuilding program, it would be ten one-year rebuilding programs in both countries, i think. and the question that i -- the rhetorical question that that procevokess who's in charge here? mark. indeed, the -- the commission of wartime contracting asked that question of state, defense, and aid. and at a hearing and they couldn't answer it. and the same issue has aritzen in afghanistan as i've heard from -- from the special inspector general for afghan reconstruction. the consequences, though, to your question, kim, we identified a part that we report last summer on the human toll from reconstruction. concretely we could identify at least 719 lives lost while -- while conducting rebuilding activities. and so the costs in waste, i've identified at least $8 billion the cost in blood. 719 at least is too high. but most importantly, staying ten years in carrying out a contingency operation at some point stops being a contingency. proeper plannin

, how soon should we get out of afghanistan. just -- you know, i'm almost -- i can't speak about it, i feel so strongly, that this kind of thing goes on -- albeit on a smaller scale, it went on in iraq and afghanistan. >> by the billions. >> by the billions, super billions, and thank heavens to the investigators who got to the bottom of this and exposed it. we have such dedicated public service. we need to know about this, we need to have transparency. >> these inspector generals who are aggressive, they'll put up the photos about it, and tell you the background about it, they are not shy about putting the stuff out there. i think you're right, these are the kind of guys that ought to get a medal for this. >> play no favorites, pull no punches, they shoot up lights on both sides of the street. >> exactly. >> it's a good thing we have. >> i know you have solid sources, and military and political spheres including in afghanistan right now, where we still have tens of thousands of americans surveying, what are you hearing about thi

and the drawdown in afghanistan, and the longest war america has waged, continues. meet a father, a husband, a staff sergeant, and a man amazingly on the front lines, despite repeatedly cheating death. >> reporter: we're flying on a blackhawk helicopter, to a remote part of eastern afghanistan. the gunner's bullets are in response to the taliban shooting at us down below. we come here to tell the story of the last americans fighting this longest american war. meet staff sergeant chad joiner, he should not be here, not on this patrol, not in afghanistan, in fact, he shouldn't even be alive. joiner has survived not one, not two, but seven roadside bombs like these, the deadly weapons that have claimed nearly 2500 american lives and injured thousands more in iraq and afghanistan. >> for the normal person, it is mindblowing. people don't understand it. i don't think there really is a way to paint of picture of what it is like. it shakes your whole body. and shakes you to the core. i mean, you feel the compression. you feel the shock waves. >> reporter: whatever the reas

we wasted more money in afghanistan and iraq than this. i will be glad when we are gone. >> that is the last word. thanks. see you next week. >>> from washington, the mclaughlin group. the american original. for over three decades, the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. >>> issue one, egypt erupts. >> i saw people killed around me. i saw my hand. i saw it. >> at least 55 people were killed and 435 wounded in cairo this week. egyptian troops opened fire on supporters of president mohommed morsi, who was ousted by the egyptian military. within hours of the mayhem, the military backed interim government released their fast track plan for a new election. the president of the interim

in afghanistan. ?>> i think it will depend on the course of events. , and thee succeeded afghans did secede -- in the afghans can maintain their constitution, i think you're right. pakistan must be a constant factor in our foreign-policy. whatever the situation. that relationship will become easier. it is easy to focus on the commercial potential for both countries. hopeful that, in the coming decades, the british relationship in pakistan will focus on the commercial relationships. on securityfocusing concerns. >> you focus on traditional skills and knowledge. you clearly have gone through a first-place process from language schools to --. be the second phase of this? what would you introduce? >> we are set a lot of the going, as you say. not have the language language open yet. it will open in september. , since simon has not had a chance to speak, i think he did say a few sentences about this. one of the things that we need to add to this is the necessary skills for the future. skills. is among those

now that we are looking at the end of the afghanistan, pulling out of afghanistan in a large way, were able to rededicate ourselves to the maritime will realm, so that is an interesting area that the seal and thee focused on special teams, where are special boat operators are. the other thing i want to mention is the human capital. since 9/11, the signature of special operations and the seals has been a lot higher. right message being portrayed. it has attracted a lot of people, highly talented men and women to our force. so we have got an incredible bank of talented guys right now still coming in the doors that we are able to do things with like never before. o's coming into the seal teams, a lot of them have four- year degrees, a lot of them have and 60% ofgrees, enlisted guys had college degrees. the demographics of our force is changing. they're coming in with expectations of the post 9/11 combat world. the reality they face is efferent and that, but their talents is such that we can aligned them and train them to do the hard jobs of the future, many of which will be non- kinetic

spent a staggering $90 billion reconstructing afghanistan. they fear these new aircraft will end up like billions of other equipment and construction. rusting and unused. >> we are pretty good at buying things. at buying toys. our problem is planning if are it, maintaining it and making sure the afghans can use it. >> even contractors predict it will be at least years before the afghans can maintain the aircraft themselves. until then american taxpayers will pick up the tab, another $100 million a year. lisa meyers, in, b c, news, washington. >> back in a moment with an out of this world discovery, plus the fastest dog on two legs. >> we are back with the annual running of the bulls in patch loma and the annual goring of thrill seeker who is enjoy being chased by angry thousand pound animals with sharp horns hot on their behinds. among the 23 injured is a 35-year-old man from cleveland was gored when dozens fell at the narrow entrance to the building. >> a strong mers have been able to determine a color of a planet outside of our solar system

we wasted more money in afghanistan and iraq than this. i will be glad when we are gone. >> that is the last word. thanks. see you next week. >> welcome to "skyweek." let's see what's happening in the sky from monday, july 15, to sunday, july 21. three spectacularly close approaches take place in the heavens this week. on monday evening, people in the u.s. see the moon extremely close to spica, the brightest star of the constellation virgo. on wednesday, people in asia see the moon equally close to zubenelgenubi, in the constellation libra. and people worldwide can look low in the west shortly after sunset to see venus near the bright star regulus on sunday and the following monday, july 21 and 22. this is tony flanders from "sky & telescope" magazine, wishing you clear skies and great views. download our free "skyweek" app for more information. maybe you have some energy- saving appliances, like an energy star-rated washer and dryer. but what about your tv? chances are it's on more than your washer, dryer, and kitchen appliances combined.

afghanistan struggles to contain farm chemicals used to make improvised bombs. >>> egypt has a new head of government replacing ousted president mohamed morsi. the chief justice of the constitutional court has been installed as interim president. adly mansour took the oath of office in cairo. >> military commanders announced they had suspended the constitution and ordered a new presidential election. they chose mansour as provisional head of state. >> anti-morsi rallies erupt ed across the country last week. protesters said the economy and public security worsened after the president took power a year ago. they demanded he resign immediately. military commanders gave morsi 48 hours to resolve the crisis. he rejected the ultimatum, so the army moved in. they have deployed armored vehicles at a number of locations, but morsi supporters have barricaded roads in some parts of cairo. they say they are ready to die fighting the military. a video on the internet shows the ousted president. a spokesperson says morsi is being held at a defense ministry facility. the egyptian prosecutor's office

first in kuwait and then in afghanistan. we rolled over those enemies relatively easily and i think that gave us overconfidence about not only the practicality of invading iraq but also the justness of it, the rationale behind it, and this affects our interpretation of intelligence. you can still fight intelligence based on the attitudes in your head as you're looking at and it that led us into overreacting, if you will, around the patriot act that leads us now to question so many institutions and the information that we get, wondering who can you trust? >> the words security and intelligence mean something completely different outside of washington. [laughter] and security for people i think was dominated by a few things that they saw in their neighborhoods in their communities. foreclosure signs. strip malls that were closed. katrina, watching that on television and wondering if the creek rises in my community will the gover chris: welcome back. this is a shorter discussion. quick answers to this big question in our 11 yea

we wasted more money in afghanistan and iraq than this. i will be glad when we are gone. >> that is the last word. thanks. see you next week. >> prime and punishment. -- crime and punishment. can ex-convicts get a second chance? >> welcome to "european journal" coming to you from dw studios in beautifuls. here's a look at what's coming up today italy, why sicilians are protest.

it has been a while since i can in afghanistan.one of the questions i had was a little bit about what we're seeing in the media, with afghans, some shooting u.s. soldiers. i think that is a very rare occasion. in my experience, the afghans him and the afghan people, and i was in the regional command east, have really increased our presence. i would like you to talk about that and just talk about the size of the afghan force, and how do you feel about our presence there, whether or not it is in our best long-term interest to stay engaged there. tom, let me thank you for your service in afghanistan. if you were here a few years back, you clearly understand that there is a lot of unrealized potential in afghanistan, and that is being realized as we speak. i don't want to paint a picture that everything is perfect every year, but there is still a lot more things to be done, still serious combat operations going on. the afghans assisted by our troops are doing those very combat operations as we speak. but you speak about the insider thr