bruce riedel knows afghanistan history well. senior fellow and director of the brookings intelligence project. he's written a new book called "what we won: america's secret war in afghanistan from 1979 to 1989". i am pleased to have him back at this table. welcome. i should say anybody who wants to understand afghanistan and pakistan turns to you as you were the principal advicer of the president of the united states as he was formulating pakistan and afghanistan policy, even bob woodward said the intelligence of pakistan and afghanistan is still part of the world today. what's the future of afghanistan? >> we're at the moment of truth, charlie, in the future of afghanistan. first, the presidential election, we're on the precipice. one of the two individuals will have to admit that he lost. that's not going to be easy. let's assume we can get over this hurdle, get behind the presidential elections. one of them is beyond the president. then next year we'll see whether the president's gamble that we could build an afghan army good

bruce riedel knows afghanistan history well. he is a senior fellow and director of the brookings intelligence project. he's written a new book called "what we won: america's secret war in afghanistan from 1979 to 1989". i am pleased to have him back at this table. welcome. i should say anybody who wants to understand afghanistan and pakistan turns to you as you including the president of the united states because you were the principal advicer of the president of the united states as he was formulating pakistan and afghanistan policy even bob woodward said the foremost intelligence expert of pakistan and afghanistan is still part of the in that pivotal part of the world that is still president obama's war today. what is the future of afghanistan? >> we are at the moment of truth, charlie, in the future of afghanistan. >> first the presidential election, we are on the precipice. one of these two individuals, either mr. abdullah abdullah will have to admit he lost. that is not going to be easy. it is not easy for an afghan politic

up next, bruce riedel. >> that all happens next on c-span2's of tv. >> bruce riedel who retired with 30 years in the cia talks about the cia's involvement in afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, the last battle in the cold war between the u the u.s. and the t union. this is about one hour. >> good afternoon, everybody. i'm strobe talbott and it's my pleasure to welcome you to a conversation that i hope will engage as many of you as possible. bruce riedel and i go back a ways. we got to know each other in the 1990s when we were working on a part of the world is going to be focusing on here, which is to say south asia, which included primarily for us at the time india and pakistan, two countries that have intense interest in afghanistan which is the subject of his new book. and bruce and i came to brookings around the same time. he is a 30 year -- 29 year i guess, better and of the intelligence community, not just cia, but he also did significant stands at the national security council staff in the white house working both on the middle east and on south asia. and he's not only a superb anal

don't an encore presentation of my conversation with bruce riedel of the brookings intelligence project >> i think the big lesson there is you can't just walk away from afghanistan. this is a very dangerous part of the world. it seems to be a place where important things happen because not only was it a global changer in terms of the end of the cold war, we can now say 25 years later it was the start of the global jihad. >> rose: bruce riedel for the hour next. funding for "charlie rose" is provided by the following. >> there's a saying around here: you stand behind what you say. around here, we don't make excuses, we make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up and make it

my guest bruce riedel has written a new book, "what we won: america's secret war in afghanistan, 1979989." i am pleased to have him back at this table. welcome. and i should say that anyone who wants to understand afghanistan and pakistan turns to you, including the president of the united states because you are principal advisor as he was formulating policy. even bob woodward said the foremost intelligence advisor has produced a vital and concise history of that part of the world. that is still president obama's award today. what is the future of afghanistan? >> we are at the moment of truth in the future of afghanistan. first, the presidential election. we are on the precipice. one of these two individuals is going to have to admit that he lost. that is not going to be easy. it is not easy for an afghan politician to admit he has lost. he will have to admit he cheated on an industrial scale and tried to steal the election. that is going to be hard. let's assume we can get over this hurdle, we can get behindai the presidential elections, and one of them is president. then next year w

bruce riedel knows afghanistan's history well. he is the senior fellow of the brookings intelligence project. he has written a new book called "what we won: america's secret war in afghanistan from 1979 to 1989." i am pleased to have him back at this table. welcome. i should say anybody who wants to understand afghanistan or pakistan turns to you, including the president of the united states because you were principal advisor. even bob woodward said the foremost intelligent expert has produced a concise history of america's first engagement in that pivotal part of the world. the book has dramatic lessons. what is the future of afghanistan? >> we are at the moment of truth, charlie. first, the presidential election. we are on the precipice. one of these two individuals, either mr. abdullah abdullah or ashraf ghani, is going to have to admit that they lost. that is not going to be easy for an afghan politician to admit. ashraf ghani would not only have to admit he lost, he will have to admit he cheated in an industrial scale and tri