ahmed rashid, i'm going to start with you. you wrote earlier this summary about the crisis the u.s.es in afghanistan. you talked about the strengthening taliban, the dangerous role of iran and russia the political crisis in kabul. how bad is the situation there? >> i t there are multiple crises. much of the talk in the u.s. have been about troop levels and how many troops president trump should send. but there are other equally major problems. there are political cry siss now. the president has not a lot of legitimacy. there is enormous opposition against him from the parliament, from politicians, from warlords, and i don't mean the taliban. there's a huge economic crisis and no guarantee that the trump administration is going to come up with all the money that is going to be needed. then there's this regional interference by now three neighboring countries deeply involved in giving some kind of support to the taliban. pakistan, iran, and russia. at the moment, it doesn't seem that the u.s. has a team either in the national security council or in the state department which could dea

let's speak now to ahmed rashid, an author and terrorism expert living in madrid at the moment.e are still dealing with the shock of what has happened, but in terms of it being within barcelona itself, which you see barcelona as one of those dangerous breeding grounds, particularly, for jihadists? barcelona has been a breeding ground forjihadists, particularly beginning with al-qaeda since the early 1980s. it has been a logistical harbour, providing money, safe housing, smuggled weapons, training recruits from north africa. for al-qaeda, before 911. then remember that the leader of the 911 attacks on new york actually visited spain, just before he flew the planes into the buildings in new york and washington. since then, other militant groups in north africa, from algeria and of course i says have tended to use barcelona. the spaniards have a real question to ask now, why have i says and these militants decided to muddy their own water. it is not that they have had an easy stay in barcelona, the police have been chasing them, rounding them up, arresting me over the years. but st

we can discuss this now with ahmed rashid, who was born in pakistani and is a best—selling author of was saying, his language i thought was strong, saying we have got to stop being in denial effectively about pakistan harbouring terrorists. what are your thoughts about that kind of language? i think the americans and nato allies in europe have been frustrated for a long time over the fa ct frustrated for a long time over the fact that many of the taliban leaders who have sanctuary and a safe haven in pakistan. they have been trying to persuade the pakistan army which makes foreign policy to evict them and turn them over or stop their activities in supporting the taliban insurgency in pakistan. the army has been doing its utmost but also it cannot take unilateral steps because it fears the backlash inside pakistan from the afghan taliban. but what really surprised pakistan very much, they‘re expected to get a rap on the knuckles is it where, but incomplete contrast donald trump has invited india to play a bigger role in afghanistan and described india is the strategic partner for the