was why afghanistan. what i found since coming back, people ask the question why afghanistan. and really struck me the same question to ask because the country was at war there but maybe also because i had a little television but what i want to do today is two things. one is to try to impart upon you what i think afghanistan is really important and something we should all care about him and to set the stage for rory fanning whose incredible book i admire and his courage i really aspire to. but first on the question why afghanistan. afghanistan today has been at war for 35 years. so that's longer than i've been alive, and that's probably longer than most afghans have been alive. just some human love full, something that is ongoing and if jessica something we should pay attention to. but not just that but also the fact that our government has been complicit, not just since 2001 but since 1979 when the war started, something a lot of americans don't know but need to know about. so that's on the human level.

but first on the question of why afghanistan, afghanistan today has been at war for 35 years. so that's longer than i've been alive, and it's probably longer than most afghans have been alive. so just on a human level the suffering that is ongoing in afghanistan is something that we should pay attention to. not just that, also the fact that our government has been complicit not since 2001, but since 1979 when the war started in a way in this violence is something i think a lot of americans don't know and need to know about. so that's on a human level. on a moral level why i think we should care about afghanistan, but we should also care about afghanistan because afghanistan in many ways was the or is the laboratory for the way the u.s. prosecutes wars around the world. so i'll give you a few examples. drone strikes, the reliance on special forces to the exclusion of other types of forces, the reliance on private security contractors, the use of massive proxy armies. all of that is the way u.s. militarism works today, and that's pretty much the default way the u.s. militarism w

afghanistan has been frustrated. pakistanis have been frustrated with afghanistan.e seen change here just in the last couple of weeks with engagement with the senior leadership... >> logan: let's look at what hasn't changed in 13 years. the pentagon, in their most recent report, said that pakistan is continuing to provide sanctuary to america's most lethal enemies in afghanistan, the haqqani network, which they describe as the most potent strain of the insurgency, the greatest risk to u.s. and coalition forces. >> campbell: yeah, i agree with... i agree with you. haqqani, you brought up. they've been the greatest threat to the coalition. i've lost many soldiers because of haqqani members. am i frustrated because they come in afghanistan, they go into pakistan? of course, i am. >> logan: the pakistanis protect their leadership. they allow them to recruit. they allow them to rest. >> campbell: i agree. you know, i'm not going to tell you that i'm a friend of haqqani here and that pakistan is not providing them sanctuary. they are. we've known that for years. >> ghani:

i'm so right on with you about afghanistan.y call is about educating these kids __ the best way to wind up caliban is is to educate those girls. we're back in iraq again. why are we back? tell me, none of the investments are working in afghanistan. what about the kids? will they get educated? guest: that is a good point. i think education is important. it has some successes. we really need to know which programs, which educational programs are actually giving us the biggest thing for the book. particularly with education, we have found the success stories that aid sites are based on databases that they make cannot be trusted. billy take into consideration less than 7% of the schools. our concern is __ are we actually educating? we are building the schools, but are they actually educating the kids? are women and girls getting educated along with the boys? host: are the schools that have the funding within the funding streams from the afghan government? guest: that is exactly the problem we have. the afghan government had asked f

he is a reservist deploying to afghanistan in 2010 and visits the country regularly. his newew book is "warrior diplomate, a green beary's battle from washington to afghanistan." l proceeds go to the green berea fououndation which is utterly fantastic. people c contribute by buying the book and getting educated and helping a very good cause. why did you write this book? >> it occurred to me after 10, 13 years worng on this war that i t truly had somewhat of a unique perspective. as you mentioned i was with secretary gates and secretary rumsfeld and over with v.p. chaney and in-between as a reserve special forces officer, i was deployed to the field. i was one of the relative few that had to implement the policies that we he is spouse and try to bring that on the ground truth back to the policy process and did that several times and at some points, some mentors of mine said you have to capture this in the future, 40, 50 years from now, historians are going to be looki back on this. >> it was a terrificcally, you know a lot of salient points where you were a trooper on

whoever dreams of destroying afghanistan, they will be destroyed. >> but afghanistan has considerable internal problems, and its people are often caught in the middle. >> foreign forces have gone home but afghanistan is still not safe. afghanistan is sacrificing its children. >> heavy fighting between the alan and government forces killed 26 and wounded 45, all women and children. a rocket landed on the house while they were celebrate ago wedding, a brutal beginning to the new year. >> if this kind of incident happened to the families of the president and the chief executive, then they will understand our pain. the people gathered here are asking the government why should we be suffering and why is the government not feeling our pain. >> civilian casualties hit an all time high in 2014 with 10,000 killed or wounded. that the presidential medal were given to afghans and members of the coalition and praised women saying no one has suffered more. >> he said he is making progress on a peace process with the taliban, but he and his chief executive still do not have a cabinet. they promise

let's focus now on afghanistan, seth.ou know last year in 2014 let's look at what president obama said here at the state of the union. >> tonight for the first time since 9/11 our combat mission in afghanistan is over. six years ago nearly 180,000 american troops served in iraq and afghanistan. today, fewer than 15,000 remain. and we salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 generation who have served to keep us safe. we are humbled and grateful for your service. [ applause ] >> -- combat operations in afghanistan are over. when you still have 9,000 troops on the ground still going on missions providing support, when you have 3200 civilians killed last year in afghanistan, is the war really over for those thousands of americans and afghanis? >> no absolutely not. and i think a lot of america is forgetting that every day here there are young americans in harm's way, fighting the fight at nights in afghanistan. and we've got to be very careful about how we pull out. the lesson of iraq as i said ea

he was returned to afghanistan in 2013. he counsels afghans planning to leave, legally or otherwise. there's insecurity. that is - those are the reasons that is pulling the people. that is encouraging the young afghans to leave afghanistan and go for a better and safer life. >> hundreds of afghans died trying to get to the getter life. every step is dangerous. >> information about visas or refugee settle programs. with a new government. afghanistan and future looks promising. that means afghans will continue to look for a way to leave >>> okay. let's now talk to the u.n.'s heightened refugee u.n.h.c.r. representative bowe shak. thank you for talking to us at al jazeera. it's a sad reality, the fact that instability is the core of all afghanistan problems. >> well thank you very much first of all for the opportunity to join in on this. most certainly instability, displacement population movements are the core and difficult issues to set. the president said in a statement himself was clear on the issues of displacement and th

it turned afghanistan into something that wasn't. we decided that afghanistan was too important for the afghans, we took over the fight. >> and your concern of abandoning afghanistan would lead to a civil war. >> there was no question that it would relapse into a civil war. but we hoped that it would be a civil war that the taliban would not win. and they would not win if the government would get some support from the international-- >> and then there government functions-- >> yes there is always that. >> you wrote our on sex with afghanistan has put our view of pakistan in serious jeopardy. how do you reconcile that? >> well, the pakistanis have tried to make distinctions among different groups, all of which we consider to be terrorist groups. their focus are on the terrorist groups that are focused on them. they've been willing to turn a blind eye against elements of the taliban who were focused on afghanistan. that's the american's worry the afghan wars. we don't have to worry about that. that's been very problematic for us. when

but afghanistan is still not safe. afghanistan is sacrificing it's children, heavy fighting killed 26 and wounded 35, all women and children. a rocket landed on the house while they were celebrating a wedding. a brutal beginning to the new year. >> if this kind of incident happened to the family of president ganny, then they would understand our pain. the people have gathered here are asking the government why should we be suffering. and why is the government not feeling our pane civilian casualties hit an all time high, with more than 10,000 killed or wounded. granny gave afghanistan's highest honor to members of the coalition and he praised women say nothing one has suffered more he u.p.s. proked politician he would name one within a week, it is not the first time he has promised that and failed to meet the deadline. >> the world health organization says the number of known ebola cases has now passed 20,000. the death toll from the outbreak now stands at 7,905. with 317 more fatalities recorded since the last figures

they have been with us in afghanistan. they were with us in the intervention in libya and to have partners like that. i was out on the ground with them and several chapters of the book in southern afghanistan and just to kind of put a face on this to have an american officer standing next to an arab office talking to groups of afghan villagers and to have the arabs say this is not the way. the kit jakarta, look at dubai. there is a better path for you and the children to still be proper muslims and followers of islam and by the way take a step further and look what the united states did for germany and look what it did for japan, look what it did for korea. that kind of a voice immediately undermining the ideology and frankly the ignorance the taliban was espousing was the tynes of u.s. soldiers. the other piece i have become passionate about is girls education peer we need to take that out of this kind of feel-good humanitarian realm and put it squarely on the national security round. it is a national security issue. no i

military left iraq and afghanistan for good. but the rise of isis and taliban have left both countries in chaos. are we now in a permanent state of war? >>> women in charge, one of the 50 largest cities in this country will have women in the top three jobs in 2015. do you know which city it is in i will be joined by the women running this town. i'm chuck todd. joining me are john stanton, helene mitchell, andrea mitchell. and mac bye of yahoo! news. welcome to sunday. it's oh "meet the press." good morning. welcome to first sunday of 2015. the battle lines have been drawn on one side you have a newly invigorated president obama, he will hit the road this week, not just to sell his agenda but to get credit for the economic recovery and acquire political capital. the white house believes they won the lame duck. you have a more powerful republican party. they hold both houses of congress and they are ready to fight over an aggressive agenda of their own, keystone, taxes and trade and the healthcare battle. now just as the republica

troops who are remaining in afghanistan will be doing.'s training and assisting the afghan forces but won't they also be conducting raids? >> well, good to see you, martha. thanks. yeah, we have two early missions here. train, advise and assist at the corps level and administry level. we'll do train, advise and assist with our special operating forces and then we still have a u.s. counterterrorism mission so our soldiers will continue at the special operating forces to do missions that we train and advise and assist with them. >> u.s. forces especially those special operators could see more combat. >> well, they're in a train, advise and assist role and we always have the right for self-protection but they will be along with our afghan partners to a certain point to help build the special operating capability with is pretty good right now, and we'll continue to build that through 2015. >> i want to bring your attention to an abc poll released just this morning that says only 38% of americans think the war was worth fighting. 56% say it wa

afghanistan is at war and has been so for decades. the soldiers have never seen peace and they want to make a difference. but they also have to be prepared for the worst. 2014 alone, the afghan army lost as many soldiers as the isaf forces did in 13 years. the german military base at the other end of the city looks deserted. once there were more than 5000 german soldiers in afghanistan. now there are only 850. germans have served here for 18 years. on the situation has been improved the taliban has not been defeated. >> we learned experience for this kind of operation. afghanistan went for a civil war that lasted 30 years. we never had anything like that and e didn't know what to expect here. >> the german military says afghanistan needs more time. no one knows how long this new mission will last. >> did you notice that one of our reporters has been going around the newsroom asking about hangover cures all week? >> i did notice that. after a big party like new year's eve, there is always a demand for the perfect hangover antidote. in

that have continued to live as an adult then men in afghanistan. when i asked them to describe the difference between men and women, over the years, interesting responses came back. while afghan men often begin to describe women as more sensitive, caring and less physically capable than men come afghan women tend to offer one difference. if you want to take a second to guess what that one difference might be? here's the answer. regardless of who they are whether they are rich or poor educated afghan women often describe the difference between men and women in just one word freedom as in men have it and women do not. they said the same thing when i asked her. when no one is the boss of your life, how she described it. so, there is less of a difference between men and women i asked. they look at each other again and then back acne. but then she changes her mind telling me not to bother her. she doesn't want to hear it. we would be nothing in the west. she is more hopeful and inspired by snippets of information from her american trainers and the param

who have continued to live as adult posing as men in afghanistan. when i asked afghan to describe to me the difference between men and women, over the years, interesting responses came back. while afghan men often begin to describe women as more sensitive caring and less physically capable than men, afghan women tend to offer up only one difference. i want to take a second i get that one difference may be. here is the answer. regardless of who they are whether they are rich or poor educated, afghan women often describe the difference between men and women in just one word freda. i say men have it, women do not. shaw had says the same thing when i asked her no one is the bias of your life is how she describes it. so there's less of a difference between men and women i asked? they look at each other again and then back at me. they don't know. but then she changes her mind telling me not to bother her. she doesn't want to hear it. we are nothing. who would be nothing in the west, too. shaw had is more hopeful, inspired by snippets of information from h

troops will remain in afghanistan to support local security forces. the mission's success is far from certain. >> it's hard to imagine the afghan army and police pulling together these factions. so i think bad news in afghanistan is what we ought to expect. >> reporter: for the u.s. military 2015 will focus on preventing old wars from getting worse, which means those conflicts will continue to be a drain on american resources and perhaps a distraction from what could be the real security challenges, like iran's nuclear problem or cyber warfare. the u.s. now seems to be in a semi-permanent state of war unable to break from the past. for "meet the press," i'm richard engel turkey. >> i'm joined by daniel p. bolger and sarah chezshays who served as a special adviser. welcome to "meet the press" to both of you. general, let me start with you. it was your veteran's day op ed that got a lot of people's attention which had the headline about why we lost both wars. the wars haven't ended even though we're saying they have ended as far as 2014. what are we in

the end of combat operations in afghanistan passed without much fanfare.ricans are celebrating the holidays as the war against isis continues with daily air strikes and roughly 2,000 noncombat troops in iraq see the fighting edging ever closer. joining me is the correspondent for "the atlantic," james fallows. and jonathan landay thank you for joining us. you argue the growing divide between those overs seas and civilians back home has policy ramifications. you quote mike mullen as saying fewer and fewer people know anyone in the military. it's become too easy to go to war. >> it's one thing for somebody like me to say i think it has become too easy to go to war but to have mike mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs to say that has some weight. at previous times in american history especially in the generation after world war ii america was familiar enough with the military to understand it the way it understands it other big institutions to respect it the way we do schools and the medical system and courts but recognize its shortcomings. we have come to

but those terror tactics have prince pillly been focused on afghanistan. the reason we are concerned about that there are significant number of american personnel including american military personnel in afghanistan that are in harm's way. the taliban is a very dangerous organization. >> is it because we don't negotiate with terrorists and yet we negotiated with the release of sergeant bergdahl? >> we have been clear about the fact that conversations with the taliban were executed through the qatary government. >> it was a quid pro quo? >> well, i don't know if that latin phrase is appropriate in this situation. >> and karl rove joins us. nice to see i, karl. >> good to see you, greta. >> karl, maybe you can help me figure this one out. josh earnst says the taliban are not terrorists. today, three americans gunned down by someone dressed in an afghan police uniform in kabul in the airport in the last 48 hours. the taliban is suspected in multiple attacks that killed more than 30, including a suicide bombing attack on a funeral in afghanistan today. why is

he warned neighbors not to meddle in afghanistan's internal affairs and promised that afghanistan wouldot be used to launch attacks on other nation's soil. >> strong words and a warning. live for us in kabul jennifer, thanks for being with us. >> north korea's leader opened the possibility of a summit with south korea in a new year's eve speech saying he is willing to have dialogue if south korea wants better relations but said north korea would strengthen its military and nuclear exhibits. the south wants disarmament but welcomes the offer of talks. >> three more bodies found in the search forever victims in airasia flight 8501, making a total of nine bodies recovered. their coffins were arriving to start the identification process. wind and heavy rain hampered search efforts to find the plane and its black boxes. we want to bring in john, an independent air safety consultant and former member of the ntsb. sir, happy new year to you. we are hearing about bad weather in that area, making the search difficult today. how much more is the investigation complicated the longer workers are un

if you are a service member serving in afghanistan. or if you are a diplomat serving in afghanistan. >> why aren't they a terrorist group. >> in this case, there is a clear difference between the aspirations karied out by the taliban and the way they rezort to some of their terror tactics and the terror attacks that are carried out by al qaeda. there's no denying the fact that these are very dangerous organizations and that's why the united states government under the leadership of this president has devoted significant resources to defeating them. >> wow. i mean i can't believe that this is the president's spokesperson. the threat they impose is different. it's acute, and there's a clear difference between the terrorism of al qaeda and the terrorism of the taliban. in what way? >> i mean it goes back to my question, is the taliban in afghanistan using ieds? as opposed to the taliban in afghanistan using guns to kill children? this parsing of the language is ridiculous offensive and absurd coming from the white house. and it all goes b

and basically peace in afghanistan meant piece in the region no one can drown afghanistan he got veryhen he said that. he addressed afghan women saying no one has suffered more than afghan women and called on them to raise their voices in support of peace he thanked the coalition for its sacrifices and said the coalition forces have gone home but afghan still afghanistan is till not save they are still losing children. >> key to the success of afghanistan as an independent state is the capability of comprehension iscompetencies of their forces. we heard of a wedding blast today killing women and children. >> reporter: that's right. again, civilians often bear the brunt of this terrible, terrible fighting still going on. but the afghan security forces are struggling against a resurgence taliban, they are losing about 13 members of the security forces and police every day. those are funning numbers thousands have been injured. i was actually down at the hospital where those injured came just last week and i saw injured place many people have lost limbs really, really terrible wounds on

if we do that in afghanistan, i think it's a death knell for afghanistan. yes, 13 years is a very long time to be there but to squander those gains in the face of what we're dealing with makes no sense to me. i don't know how long we would need to keep those troops there. right now the plan is to pull them out after 2016. we are talking likely a number around 10,000 troops most of them would be in the train assist and advise role, which means they're not in combat. a very small portion of them would be in combat. and that is our direct action forces. i think if we educate and explain to the american people what this really is, i think they could possibly support it and i would hope the congress of the united states would support it. what drives their departure should be conditions on the ground and commanders' assessment as well. >> thank you. i do agree. and many sacrifices have been made there and i think that we are falling into those same mistakes. i would rather see us fully engaged and defeat these threats rather than half step which is why we need an

the government of afghanistan cannot afford that.k what ashraf ghani is saying, i have to share power with my political adversary and appoint people who are politically confident but also ethnically diverse, there are 11 ethnicities in afghanistan. and i have to pick people based on a little bit of spoils thing, the realism comes in. he's doing a two-fold thing. he's got to deal with the military situation and the security forces as well as the harder problem of standing up a representative government. >> it sounds a lot like iraq -- >> doesn't it? >> in days after the war ended there and the same problems existed in terms of tribal factions, how do you bridge that divide. with this kind of thing going on in afghanistan thehow should the united states be responding? >> the united states should look back at our experience in iraq and say, did we do the right thing? if we had a do-over, would we have stood down the iraqi military in the first place, but when we left, it we not in fact snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? history wil

there is overwhelming pular support to get out of afghanistan.here is concern that some amerericans have ok, now we're getting back into iraq, and there is skepticism associated with that. is there war fatigue that is going to be reflected in these kinds of smart power approaches that you want to continue over time to fund a mentally avoid conflict for the futurure? -- you want to fundantally avoid conflict the future question or >> people ask, why aren't the good guys winning? the idea is the foundation of the most progres in human history. we have the best service people in the world. we have an incredible dynamic economy. with all that, people ask, why aren't we doing better? why aren't the good guys winning? i think it is not just fatigue with security challenges -- i wi was in a terrible example of the challelenges we fa as a nation and the ideals we stand for, the challenges have not gone away. people want to see better results. with spirit of america, w tfund a mentally do better in these environments. it is on top of what our government a

we may face the same situation in afghanistan.we are keeping behind a residual force, the new afghan government desperately wents us to but we diminish that to bagram, the one airbase so we cannot project our fire on rapid notice. we will be down to one. the great of the recruiting tools of isis was the rapid video because of the vacuum the united states contributed to in iraq and we need to recognize our presence this is necessary to keep fighting. >> it is interesting because i talked to dempsey he said that the military aspects of this, talking about nine lines of effort the nonmilitary aspects including messaging and social media and egyptian president gave a remarkable speech this weak. it was undercover. he called on muslim clerics to led a religious revolution pens extremism. we asked you for questions for the panel and we got this on facebook "how do we combat islamic fundamentalists terrorists combat a belief system without replace lag and without islamic clerics leading the way." juan, how do you answer that? >> walt is

] six years ago, nearly 180,000 american troops served in iraq and afghanistan. today, fewer than 15,000 remain. >> is the war really over? >> yes and no.

president's state of the union, specifically this portion where he talks about ending the wars in afghanistan and iraq. >> tonight for the first time since 9/11 our combat mission in afghanistan is over. [ cheers and applause ] six years ago, nearly 180,000 american troops served in iraq

he went to afghanistan to fight for our freedom. to fight for his own. >> i haven't been going that fast since i've been injured. a lot of speed and momentum and freedom as well. >> because on the mountain there is no misery just company. very good company. wounded warriors from battles in iraq afghanistan, vietnam, even korea. >> i think it's a marvelous, marvelous experience to see all of these young guys. when i see what they have gone through compared to what i had, no comparison. >> i'm getting a lot of confidence. sometimes i forget i have any kind of injury. >> it's confidence curtesy of some people who vowed to never forget how much our military members have sacrificed. kathi copeland has been welcoming wounded warriors to mammoth for nearly a decade. >> we know that we can work our magic here. and the mountains are healing. the community is warm and welcoming. >> and soon when the snow is gone the warriors will stay. mammoth is building the nation's biggest wounded warrior center with zero help from the federal government.

he was the president when we started the anti-jihad out of afghanistan. has made extensive use of the cia. all presidents do. so at the end of the day, what the president and the american people need to know is the cia will follow its legal orders and do what the president needs them to do. they need to make sure it is legal and refer to the highest authorities in the government competent to make those judgments. >> it is easy to say things on the campaign trail and once they get into office they realize it is a different reality. so night to have you here. you have to watch homeland. robert thank you for being with us. >>> she's compared herself to steve jobs but what is saving her job? what does the future hold for yahoo? that is up next. vere crohn's disease. it's tough, but i've managed. but managing my symptoms was all i was doing. so when i finally told my doctor he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of

who have continued to live as adult man posing as men in afghanistan. they are called not her and shot had. when i asked afghans to describe to me the difference between men and women over the years, interesting responses came back. while afghan men often begin to describe menace more sensitive, caring and less physically capable than men afghan women tend to offer up only one difference. you want to take a second and guess what that one difference may be? here's the answer. regardless of who they are whether they are rich or poor educated or illiterate afghan women often describe the difference between men and women in just one word freedom. as a men have it women do not. the same thing when i asked her. when no one is the boss of your life is how she describes it. so when the west there's less of the difference between men and women i asked? they look at each other again and then back at me. they don't know. perhaps i'm supposed to tell them. but then changes her mind telling me not to bother. she doesn't want to hear it. we are nothing. we would be n

we went to the korangal valley, which at the time was the most dangerous place in afghanistan.we knew we would see action, we would see combat. >> engel and his crew, producer madeline herringer and cameraman redden edwards, land right in the middle of the action. the men of viper company are trying to clear the valley of taliban fighters. the crew is there to document the action. >> pretty much every day this outpost came under attack. and pretty much every time the soldiers went out there to do a patrol in the area, that patrol came under attack. >> while living with the men for weeks at a time, the crew experiences the harshness of the environment. >> the troops are out there for a year and a half. i mean, it's pretty tough. there's no showers. the food was pretty much all out of a plastic bag. so the living conditions were pretty bare. >> every conflict is different. in iraq, your real danger was getting blown up in a humvee. in the korangal, because it's all on foot and there are so few vehicles, it's more what you think of as classic warfare. units that are attacked by ta

in iraq and afghanistan. today, fewer than 15,000 remain. >> is the war really over? >> yes and no. that remains to be seen. what remains to be seen is what happens when the taliban comes

in afghanistan is over. six years ago nearly 180,000 american troops served in iraq and afghanistan. today, fewer than 15,000 remain. and we salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 generation who have served to keep us safe. we are humbled and grateful for