joining me now is nato secretary-general anders fogh rasmussen. thank you so much for being here with us. with the end in sight, we believe, for afghanistan, one of the things that's outstanding certainly in the minds of many americans is will other members of nato besides the u.s. pony up the amount of money the u.s. would like to see to help keep afghanistan stable after combat ends? >> yes, indeed. i am optimistic about fund-raising for the afghan security forces because at the end of the day, it is less expensive to finance the afghan security forces to do the combat than to deploy our own troops. nevertheless, a number of countries have announced substantial contributions to the afghan security forces, so i'm optimistic. >> does france share that view? does germany share that view? we get the feeling and they have monetary problems of their own at the moment, spending problems of their own. but is your optimistic view shared by the individual members? >> yes, indeed. germany has announced a significant contribution to afghan security forces.

announcements have been made inside the convention center suppose they alliance as secretary general anders fogh rasmussen said that the european missile defense shield is up and running with interim capability than a chicken has and expels this is the first step of those multi-stage missile shield program in europe nato secretary general says for eighteen months they've been working on technical legal issues now they're on track to carry out the program in for the first stage involves mobile interceptors those are the interceptors and radars installed on ships the plan is to have land based elements of the system deployed by twenty eighteen countries like romania poland the czech republic or the netherlands those are going to be systems designed to intercept more advanced weapons the missile defense shield that the us is building and it's in europe is a very contentious issue it's been a point of bickering between russia and the u.s. for many years now russia says the shield has the potential to offset the strategic balance that will make russia take steps to restore the balance that is. deploy more weap

next remarks from nato's secretary general an anders fogh rasmussen. and then president obama and hamid karzai talk about the strategic partnership agreement. this is about 20 minutes. >> good morning. chicago is a world class city and the leaders from around the world are coming here today. i would particularly like to thank the people of this great city for making us all feel so welcome. we come here in chicago for a we come here in chicago for a crucial time. our summit has three key priorities, keeping afghanistan secure and now in years to come. keeping nato strong and capable in the 21st century and keeping our global network of partners. today we will focus on security in an age of austerity. we will ensure that the alliance has the capabilities to deal with security challenges of the future, even as we tackle the economic challenges of the present. we would adopt a concrete package of national project which can provide greater security for all of your citizens at lower cost. we would embrace every new culture corporation which we call smart def

invited to this summit but i did not take me up on that invitation was nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen who declined but his spokesperson saying no way represents his openness or readiness for dialogue but that's not going to be taken as a very good sign ahead of an upcoming major nato summit in chicago at the end of this month what it seems like we're going to hear from officials as this two day summit wraps up is that there needs to be baby steps and this is the difficult issue both sides are going to push to the u.n. to defend their interests. ok in the snowy thanks for that update. but america's military weapon now spends the world with nearly eight hundred bases and a quarter of a million personnel exposed this massive military presence in a special reports late today. to a substantial degree and one time or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of the earth. and the shadow is an approaching a whole different. leave early twenty first century military base is a network of military bases all around the forms that believe empire that

that nato has been found it yet and we've got a statement here from nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussenhe told r.t. in the wake of the he told r.t. this in the wake of the libyan campaign last year listen it. i would like to stress that we are not targeting individuals we hit legitimity military. targets we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties we are in libya to protect civilians against attacks and this is the reason why our commanders are very very careful in identifying legitimate military targets or according to your report at least seven of the eight sites featuring the investigation work completely civilian why do you think nato would launch air strikes against them was a bad intelligence or what would you or chalk it up to. whether this is the really big question should i answer this question and we don't understand why they refuse to answer those because i mean nature did actually if you can say so a very good job in limiting civilian casualties they use precise smart guns and smart weapons that would target only really military sites but in this case in seven out of eight

new one of the bones of contention between moscow and washington the nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen said on sunday that the european missile defense shield it's up and running with interim capability what exactly does that mean. well exactly the other issue of the summit is of course missile defense shield in europe nato has announced that they have reached an interim capability which means that they took the first they took the first step in the deployment of this multi-stage missile shield program the first stage involves mobile interceptors those are the interceptors and radars installed on ships the plan is to have land based elements of a system deployed by twenty eight teams countries like romania poland the netherlands those are going to be systems designed to intercept more advanced weapons and by two thousand and twenty they'll be able to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles the miss all defense shield that the u.s. is building in this to europe is a very contentious issue it's been a point of big between russia and the u. was for many years now russia says the shi

work is all about getting afghanistan today >> president obama and nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen made their announcements ... >> this is the largest ever gathering at a nato summit ... it is the testament to our shared commitment to the afghan people and the future of afghanistan ... >> afghan president hamid karzai said to the left of the secretary general and acknowledged that nato troops would be out by 2014 >> our commitment for the long term from 2015 we expect to maintain a presence to train advise and assist the afghanis security forces ... the nato nations and its partners will pay its share to sustain the army the police that afghanistan needs in the coming years ... >> how long is a matter which these leaders must decide ... as this war-torn country rebuilds after decades of conflict. >> there's a lot of work to do or want to thank fellow leaders and partners for being here our nations and the world have a vital interest in the success of this mission and i am confident because of the leadership represented here as well as that of our outstanding armed forces the weeken

secretary anders fogh rasmussen is assuring political assurances. i don't think we need to give in, though. we need to understand where the red lines are. there is a threat coming from the middle east. this is a serious proposal that has consensus, and i don't think we should let the russians move us from the direction in which we are headed. what we ought to seek to give them as many reassurances as we can within the scope of the plan that we have. >> let me just ask the other two panelists. do you all agree with that analysis? >> i agree with the analysis. i think that hans binnendijk's is spot on. i think it is more geopolitical than they are technical. they are more upset over the fact that the united states will have military installations in the territories of poland and romania. the only thing that i would add, is there concern about the conditionality of the missile defense plans. to quote the president, he stated that president obama, as long as a threat from iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost effec