i have yet to see the treatment that was afforded sergeant first class coatle down at centcom, it was horrific. >> coatle was court-martialed last year in what he says were fabricated charges, the most serious, pornography on his computer. he was acquitted on four, one dismiss and he received an honorable discharge. the concern is two-fold. the manipulation of a central intelligence report and the crackdown on a whistle blower. >> this is not surprise me that somebody who is being a patriot, trying to raise some serious issues, raise issues that could actually cost americans their lives, now he's being retaliated against. >> we're supposed to dot right thing and the command is supposed to support that. no matter what. but in this command climate, you do the right thing and you're going to pay the piper. right now i paid the piper and i'm going to continue to pay the piper. >> the military says it won't comment on the case, due to privacy concerns, but sergeant coatle was interviewed by the inspector general this week. there are two congressional committees looking into his claims, bre

by beingrdened involved in -- you talked about the issue at centcom.e will work and get a result and see where it goes. your question about political influence on intelligence. exactlyficult to pierce if it's clean or straight, we ask hard questions and try to get it right. one of the ways you can identify my view that is not being played in the middle is that it's consistently wrong in the same direction. statistically, this administration has been wrong every time on the short side of the terrorist threat. every intelligence analysis presented to the american people has turned up to underestimate the risk associated with terrorism whether it's from al qaeda or isis or any of the groups that are identified as a terror threat. they have been consistently wrong on the short side and that's what you see, the complaint being alleged in centcom. that's a dangerous place to be. miss, we have an indoor commitment to intelligence collection associated with verification of the iranian commitment to a deal that was struck. and again, we heard secretary kerry sa

and at the end according to the commander of centcom you got 50 people. most of whom are dead or deserted. he said four or five left. >> larry: okay, first of all,th. and secondly, you're saying our president spent $500 million and ultimately only funding five people in syria. you know what, i see what is going on here, i see it, our brother is about to leave and they have to find a way to cut him off at the knees just making [bleep] right? huh-uh, i need to hear the truth. i need to hear from a general, you know, a black general. >> can you tell us what the total number of traifned fighters remains? >> it's a small number. and the ones that are in the fight is-- we're talking four or five. (laughter). >> larry: et tu black general?ad of the don't snich policy. so just to reiterate, we're spending $500 million on arming a syrian millisha and only four dudes, possibly five, are showing up? come on obama, you can't take on isis with five guise, even the expendables had nine. to be fair, their budget was $600 million. all right, this is obviously a huge scre

>> i'm burdened by y being out involved t -- you talked about e issue of centcom. so we'll get a result and see where it goes. your broader question about broa political influence on intelligence, it's difficult. what i said on the oversight committee, if it'so clean or straight, we try to get it right. one of the ways you can identify in my view that intelligence is not being played straight down the middle if it's consistently wrong in the same direction. right?skqu that's statistically i'm an me r engineer by training. this administration has been wrong every time on the short side of the terror threat. every intelligence analysis that's been presented to the american people not necessarily the internal work, but that which has been shared with the american people has turned out to underestimate the risk associated with terrorism, whether from al qaeda or isis or the groups thatre t are identif as the terror threat by the thr administration. they have consistently been wrong on the short side. that's what you see the complaint being allegedisheat i intel shop an

no different for the centcom commander than it is for me. those are the areas to me where the challenges are greater, if you will, than just the manpower. i'm not trying to minimize -- >> yeah. how important is it that we take advantage of the existing infrastructure and capabilities that we have as you're building out the entire mission force? >> i mean, that's what we're doing right now. i will say one of our experiences, cybercommand has been in place for approximately five years. one of our insights that we've gained with practical experience and as we look at both defensive response as well as potential offensive options, we need to create infrastructure that is slightly separate from the infrastructure we use at nsa. so unified platform, you've heard us talk about. it's supported in the funding. that's an important part of this. experience has taught us this in a way that five, six years ago, we didn't fully understand. >> well, i'd like -- my time is up for questions. i'd like to bring to your attention that arkansas general mark berr

no different for the centcom commander than it is for me. those are the areas to me where the challenges are greater, if you will, than just the manpower. i'm notge o trying to minimize - >> yeah. how important is it that we take advantage of the existing -- infrastructure and capabilities? that we have as you're building out the entire mission force? >> i mean, that's what we're s doing right now. i will say one of our experiences, cybercommand has been in place for approximately five years. one of our insights that we've gained with practical experience and as we look at both defensive response as well as potential offensive options, we need to e create infrastructure that is fp slightly separate from the infrastructure we use at nsa. so unified platform, you've heard us talk about. it's supported in the funding.s that's an important part of this. experience has taught us this in a way that five, six years ago,. we didn't fully understand. >> well, i'd like -- my time is up for questions. i'd like to bring to your attention that arkansas g

[cheers and applause] whenever anybody centcom remember this.ody wanted this wall built 10 end 15 years ago the liberals and conservatives wanted it. one of the reasons it was not built is because they cannot get the environmental impact statement approved. can you believe this? we will build the wall and mexico will pay for it. the stupid people say mexico will not pay for it. we give them billions of dollars we have the trade deficit of almost 50 billion. if you go rolls-royce we talk between five and $7 billion the a couldn't get that many? they will pay that so gladly. i will say this. i speak with our politicians all the time. but i speak loud and clear and i know who we're dealing with. a lot of them are nice people they see will never get them to pay and i realize they are not the right people to do the job. because with the right messenger they will pay so happily and so gladly they're taking advantage of us at the border, with trade, a very good people but the leaders are smarter than ours and our leaders don't have a clear. they do not

. >> more than three weeks after centcom's general made the admission that only four or five rebels have been trained. the administration pulled the plug on the army's training program. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard and so we're looking at different ways to achieve the basically the same kind of strategic objective. >> a new program to take its place will quote provide equipment packages and weapons to a select group of vetted leaders and their units. >> what they're going to focus on now are efforts that have proven effective in the past. >> critics see it as another sign of administration indecision. that as russian forces escalate their syria presence. while the u.s. launched only two air attacks in the last 24 hours, russia conducted 67 sorties and hit 60 targets, often bombing the very rebels the u.s. is backing. >> it's unconscionable that we will not do anything to protect them. what we should do, we should have created the air field right away. we should have set up free zones for the moderates and their families, for their communities, for the refug

centcom says u.s. war planes will not comply with the russia request. u.s. war planes continued carrying out missions today. >> what we should say to vladimir putin, you fly, but we fly anywhere we want to, when and who we want to and you better stay out of the way. >> the russian general, brett, was from that military cell that we first reported russia established with syria and iran last week in baghdad. another surprise for the u.s. embassy and the pentagon. >> we'll head back for any breaking details. jennifer griffin at the pentagon, thank you. >>> now to the politics and the policy of the russian moves. the things was caught by surprise, despite the fact that president obama's -- presidents obama and putin spoke face to face at the united nations just monday. correspondent kevin cork has that from the white house. >> i believe there's an opportunity to be able to do, to go down that political track. because president putin accepted the idea of a dual track effort. >> it may be a novel idea, but in practice, the russians appear to have a one-track mind

first, as we speak, a spokesman for centcom in baghdad is expected to brief reporters momentarily on these latest issues with the soviet airstrikes. the pentagon press secretary, peter cook, will then brief reporters here at the pentagon shortly after that. in the meantime, to make a complex situation even more difficult, fox news has now confirmed that iranian troops have now arrived in syria apparently to commence ground attacks against anti-assad syrian rebels. this is not a surprise to mesh military officials -- to american military officials, telling fox news and i'm quoting here, it has always been understood in this building that the russians would provide the air force, and the iranians would provide the ground forces in syria. and keep in mind that the head of the iranian quds force, general suggest manny, met with officials last summer. that the iranian quds force has operations throughout the mideast including in iraq, in syria, in yemen and in lebanon suggests that iran and russia are conspiring to become the dominant players in the volatile region of the middle east, som

we have the centcom lloyd austin will be there, vai sikahema will be emceeing the event. >> that's right nbc 10's vai sikahema will be emceeing. go ahead, joe. >> it comes natural to vai. he has a really strong connection to the military and this night will be fun. it's going to be a good time but it will enable the uso to carry on programs and services for military families, military families that count on these programs and services. if you support the uso, you're supporting military families. >> anyone can come out to the gala, it's not just for military families. here's the information. it's next friday, october 23 at the philadelphia marriott downtown in center city. it happens from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and nbc 10's vai sikahema will be there to emcee. for more information, go to our web site, nbc10.com or check out the all important nbc 10 app. i know both joes have it on their phones right now. if i check them, that app would be there, wouldn't it? >> most definitely. >> good answer. thank you for being here. great luck at the gala. >> appreciate it. thank you. e. >> ten minute

million dollars from congress to train and equip 5,000 and at the end, according to the commander of centcom, you got 50 people, most of whom are dead or deserted. he said four or five -- >> steve, this is why i've been skeptical from the get-go. >> if you were skeptical of the program defined and identified train and equip modern syrians, whi did you go through the program? >> part of what we have to do is try different things. >> the situation in afghanistan is very precarious and the taliban is on the march again. and isis controls a large part of syria. they say you're projecting weakness, not strength. >> you're saying "they" but you're not citing too many folks. >> i would say saudis, i would say the israelis, i would say a lot of our friends in the middle east. i would say everybody in the republican party. >> if you're saying the republican party, i think it's fair to say there's nothing i've done right over the last seven or eight years. >> do you think the world is a safer place? >> america is a safer place. >> these issues are likely to come up in tonight's debate. the question be

centcom made the embarrassing admission that only four or five u.s.d syrian rebels were, quote, still in the fight after the u.s. investment of $500 million, about 10% of which was spent on the training. today the army pulled the plug on that u.s. training program. here's what the secretary of defers had to say about it from london today just before returning home. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard, and so we're looking at different ways to achieve the basically the same kind of strategic objective. >> reporter: a new program to take its place will in the word. orr the pentagon press secretary, provide equipment packages and weapons to a select group of vetted leaders and their units. critics see it as another sign of administration weakness and indecisiveness. all occurring as the russian forces escalate offensives in syria. in the last 24 hours russia conducted 67 sorties and hit 67 targets, bombing the very rebels the u.s. is backing. compare that to two u.s. air strikes over the same period. that's down from an average, d

and at the end, according to the commander of centcom you have 50 people. shows somebody, someplace along line made some sort of a serious miscalculation. >> steve, let me say this. >> this is an embarassment. >> look, no doubt it did not work. trish: no, it doesn't work. meanwhile russian president vladmir putin continues to expand his reach ramp up airstrikes today. iran just test-fired a new long-range ballistic missile may be violating our nuclear deal with the country. is the president's failure to lead putting americans in danger? joining me retired four-star general jack keane. general, good to see you. let me start with this ballistic missile the iranians say they can fire up to 800 miles with, presumably that would be far enough to hit israel? >> yes. listen, they are putting together an arsenal of weapons and it is going to continue to grow rather dramatically as we get windfall from the sanctions relief, which most generous estimates are 150 billion. conservative estimate is 100 billion. so, this is the beginning of considerable amount of arms de

>> well, i find it hard to believe that centcom would strike a hospital. yoernd i do know doctors without borders sent people to centcom and even in combat sent the coordinates to the hospital to the military in kabul. even the ac-130s which attack the hospital have what's called a safe box. they should have the coordinates of all hospitals and targets that are off limits. why that system didn't work we have to wait to find out. but if that plane did attack and it knew it was a hospital, that's a war crime. >> so it's essentially geotagged as these airplanes are flying so that they can avoid these certain areas and they are knowingly off limits, right? >> yeah. there's even a name. i think it's called falcon view, but somebody may correct me on that. and that should have been preprogrammed into the plane's computers. and if it wasn't, that's just a tragic mistake. but again, if the hospital was hit on purpose, it's a violation of international law. >> do you think there needs to be a separate u.n. investigation? >> absolutely. i think we need to get the co

. >> more than three weeks after centcom's general made the admission that only four or five rebels have been trained. the administration pulled the plug on the army's training program. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard and so we're looking at different ways to achieve the basically the same kind of strategic objective. >> a new program to take its place will quote provide equipment packages and weapons to a select group of vetted leaders and their units. >> what they're going to focus on now are efforts that have proven effective in the past. >> critics see it as another sign of administration indecision. that as russian forces escalate their syria presence. while the u.s. launched only two air attacks in the last 24 hours, russia conducted 67 sorties and hit 60 targets, often bombing the very rebels the u.s. is backing. >> it's unconscionable that we will not do anything to protect them. what we should do, we should have created the air field right away. we should have set up free zones for the moderates and their families, for their communities, for the refug

i talked to lloyd austin, general lloyd austin, who is the commander of centcom. general austin said to me, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. charlie: let me just make sure i understand what you're saying here. it's not a question of if, it's a question of when, in is that there will be a successful attack? >> on one of our grids. we only have three cyber grids in the united states. eastern interconnect, texas has its own, and then the west coast. charlie: do we know if people had tried to attack the grids of the united states? >> we know they are already in the grid. charlie: we know. but they haven't pulled the trigger? >> they haven't pulled the trigger. and those that can do it -- the good news is, charlie, those who can do it, chinese, the russians, already have what amount to sort of like cyber land mines in the grid. and essentially by hitting a key on a computer -- charlie: like a desktop computer. >> like a desktop computer. and it could be anywhere. it could be someone sitting in ukraine. it could be someone sitting in canberra. it coul

that's what you see the complaint being alleged in the intel shop and in centcom as well.at's a dangerous place to be. today we have an enormous commitment to intelligence collection associated with verification of the iranian commitment to a deal that was struck. and again, we hear secretary kerry go out and say we have perfect intelligence on the history of the iranian nuclear weapons program. and lo and behold we find the primary chamber where nuclear tests were conducted is missing. that's not perfect. i don't know the answers to each of those questions. but the report says that the chamber is missing. and it just tells you how challenging it is if you have an administration that refuses to share information in its entirety, intelligence collection in its entirety and doesn't do so in a way that is straight up. >> more broadly on the question of the intelligence community's performance over the last decade and a half on the terror threat, how would both of you assess their overall performance, if you had to grade it, and what can we do to improve the community's perfor

i talked to a senior official who was once high up with the centcom folks.like sergeant kotell and that level, they gather that information and then it goes up to the defense level which can be watered down there and then the national level. and that's where a lot of folks believe it was changed. then it goes to the president. he's seen great assessment complete lly misrepresented. >> the army official who has been blowing the whistle on this story, retired sergeant william kotell. and his lawyer. after the killing of bin laden, they ignored and altered intelligence? explain. >> they left key information out of reports about attacks. it should be submitted higher. >> and that puts every serviceman and woman's life at risk, doesn't it if they don't have that information? >> it's critical information and it's very important for safety and security, yes. >> now, since that happened, we've now seen the fall of fallujah and tikrit and mosul and ramadi. you think that's the cause or a contributing factor? >> well, i think it would be part of a contributing factor.

billion dollars from congress to train and equip 5,000, and at the end, according to the commander of centcom, you got 50 people, most of whom are... are dead or deserted. he said four or five left. >> obama: steve, this is why i've been skeptical from the get-go about the notion that we were going to effectively create this proxy army inside of syria. my goal has been to try to test the proposition, can we be able to train and equip a moderate opposition that's willing to fight isil? and what we've learned is that, as long as assad remains in power, it is very difficult to get those folks to focus their attention on isil. >> kroft: if you were skeptical of the program to find and identify, train and equip moderate syrians, why did you go through the program? >> obama: well, because part of what we have to do here, steve, is to try different things. because we also have partners on the ground that are invested and interested in seeing some sort and... >> kroft: and they wanted you to do it. >> obama: well, no, that's not what i said. i think it is important for us to make sure that we explore

are allies of the iranians and the russians in this operation will sort of damage the ability for centcom, we have a four star general, lloyd austin, who is supposed to be running this war or is it being run out of the west wing? again, we have an issue going forward. the military definitely will be able to pull this off, though. i think isis will take some severe blows in the coming six months. >> general barry mccaffrey, i hope you will be staying along with us. i want to bring in richard hass, head of the council on foreign relations in new york, with vast foreign policy experience, including but not limited to his time as head of the office of policy planning at the state department. richard, every time we talk, i ask you what keeps you up at night. the answer has varied a little bit over the years. i will ask it this way. where does isis rank these days on that list? >> oh, it's pretty high on the list. not simply because of what it's done so far and the threat it holds to the immediate situation, but i think saudi arabia. if you are a group that calls itself the islamic state, you a

from a technical and operational perspective, we broadly with the dod, uthori cyber tycommand and centcom looking at what's in the realm o of possibilities as in what canl we do to help contest them in f this domain. >> okay. we have a larger problem coming forward, too, in regards to isis and isil in the middle east. we seem to see the emergence ofn a trifecta between syria, iran, and russia. and now it seems that iraq has u begun information sharing with russia, with iran, with syria. director clapper, can you speak to that and the broader implications of russia emerging as a leader in looeftd while wer seem to be o frittering away ou opportunity with isil? >> there's certainly the objective. quthink they have several objectives here.hey have one of which is that i think protect their base, their presence in syria.a ergo their build-up in the northwest part of syria. clearly want to prop up assad. and i think a belated motivation for them is fighting isil. as far as the joint intelligence arrangement is concerned, can'tl go into detail here in this say forum, but i will say there are --

i will also say that the intelligence assessments from centcom or any other combatant command come tohe national level only through the defense intelligence agency. that is the main conduit, and i will say to evaluate or filter for what flows into the national intelligence arena. >> thank you, director. turning to you, admiral rogers, as the director of u.s. cyber command, your responsibilities include strengthening our cyber defense and our cyber deterrence posture, and i want to return to a line of questioning several of my colleagues have begun this morning. and as you know, the breach of opm computers resulted in an enormous loss of sensitive personal information. thus far to my knowledge, the u.s. has not responded, and to put it in the words of deputy secretary work's language this morning, we haven't imposed a cost. which raises questions about whether we truly have developed the mechanisms for proportionate response to cyber attacks against the u.s. government. even after the april 2015 publication of the dod's cyber strategy. we know that if a foreign agent had been caught tr

centcom released this video after those prisoners were released it's more after clinical picture of wardeo from inside the prison shows u.s. troops are on the ground and in combat and attempts to ask whether the rescue mission was worth it. 70 iraqi hostages were set to be executed. master sergeant joshua wheeler became the first u.s. casualty in iraq. he charged into that compound to help the special operators as they tried to free those whose ages. his remains were returned to dover air force base. a * tough loss for this elite delta force unit. bill: jennifer griffin, thank you from the pentagon with us this morning. martha: massive flooding in texas after remnants of hurricane patricia slammed the southern state. some areas received an inch an hour, merging entire roadways, yard and cars. self people getting trapped in the waters. watch. >> i stood there and watched my car slowly disappear. >> what was that like? >> water was here. i had to snorkel to get to my car. martha: rob wu joins us live in houston. the story this weekend. heavy rain and strong wind. y where i'm standing righ

i think those days are gone a matter the relationship but as you centcom it depends of the personal chemistryetween the president and vice president more than anything else to make it work. >> but what you have shown is an enormous asset to the president to have incredible vice president. >> as long as only one is president. >> right. would be assured vice? >> make sure before you accept of this there is clear understanding of what the president expects. the only time there is real trouble is when there are different expectations of what you think you're able to do or what you want to do or what is expected in you don't want to do. the last point but the president knows if there is something i disagree with him on privately i will not try to sell it and would never disagree i will support it but everybody knows nobody doubts what i say and i say what i mean so it doesn't work to try to sell something so it is important for the president to understand clearly that was expected. >> would your advice? >> looked at this experience comic-con to likelier understanding you can do that now. when i st

acknowledgment american commandoes were now boots on the ground.when the last hours the pentagon through centcom have release what they say is cockpit video of an airstrike that destroyed that particular compound in which you're seeing the intense fighting late really by the explosion and it brings perhaps an end to that chapter there in which the united states lost one of their commandoes, master sargeant joshua wheeler, age 39, a veteran of 14 tours of afghanistan and iraq. a remarkable figure and reminds yoreally of the depth of involvement the united states has had in what used to be called the war on terror in afghanistan and iraq and has now morphed into an extraordinarily messy and complex task of taking on isis, one which the white house does not want to send u-s ground troops to do, but at the same recognized increasingly day by day will require people to actually do the fighting, to do the jailbreaks, to release the hostages, and this footage -- such a close-up view of quite how much tip of the spear these american commandoes were. nick paton walsh, cnn, souther 3 after the break on si

first, as we speak, a spokesman for centcom in baghdad is expected to brief reporters momentarily onsues with the soviet airstrikes. the pentagon press secretary, peter cook, will then brief reporters here at the pentagon shortly after that. in the meantime, to make a complex situation even more difficult, fox news has now confirmed that iranian troops have now arrived in syria

i have yet to see the treatment that was afforded sergeant 1st class kotel at cen centcom. '. >> reporter: he was charged with having pornography on his computer. the manipulation of the central intelligence reports and the crackdown on a whistle blower. >> somebody who is being a patriot trying to raise serious issues. now he's being retaliated against. >> we are supposed to do the right thing and the command is supposed to support that no matter what. but in this command climate you do the right thing and you will pay the piper. >> i paid the piper and i will continue to pay the piper. >> reporter: sergeant kotel was interviewed earlier this week and his claims jibe with what here hearing being reported on the ground in iraq. martha: is the donald trump show beginning to wear out its welcome with voters? how can that be? he leads republicans in all the national polls. despite that some media outlets seem to be ready to declare the donald dead. the "new york times" wrote, "though he still leads the polls, he commands voter and news media attention by being his bombastic self is starting

chairman i thought the effort, i will repeat something the chairman just centcom i think the general was given this program. >> i just ask a question if you feel vindicated or not. >> i was disappointed i wish it turned out differently. however we are learning our lessons from that so the new approach differs. i am disappointed. >> but that president belts vindicated. and olivetti were seeing some of the changes. so does that mean the show people that we train and equip we are protecting them to be bear a bomb or by russian aircraft? >> we have conveyed this save obligation in the last time i was before you. >> right now pressure and aircraft are bothering the syrian forces while we have day complected do you believe we should be protecting these young people? >> we have an obligation. >> they have not come under attack. >> the rational will not attack from the ypg. >> i am asking about the moderate see reinforces. i am asking the questions those of the moderate syrian force is being bombed by russia. >> with the title tune forces they have not come under attack. >> none of the moder

knowledge of the unfolding investigation tell fox news this is not a problem that begins and ends with centcom that oversees the isis campaign but evidence indicates pressure from washington. >> what we've seen so far raises real questions, not only about politicized intelligence at the level of the central command but pressure they may well have received from the top, from senior officials, political officials. not direct but enough that it would taint the analysis. >> in addition fox news has been told that the investigation may well include assessments that were discarded, if you will, about began fan and these date back to 2012, martha. martha: quite a development. very interesting story. catherine, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> and i've said it wasn't the best choice and every government official gets to decide what is personal and work-related f i had two separate accounts as many people do obviously i would have decided every hour what was personal, what was work-related. the law also says that the official gets to determine that. that's what i did. bill: so hillary clinton

we get tied up in details in the meantime asthma colleagues have centcom a time will pass and the accident will happen or the incident. not sure it is an accident we know that in california we have had numerous fires and we're facing a situation where they have expanded as a result of drones shutting down aerial operations also other incidents in the air support -- airspace around airports so we just need to lay down a marker to say if he were operating uas in the space is to violate the law is subject to severe penalty. that is the education program some they may pay attention to zero of the grandchildren are near the runway flying back uas that you bought them that is some not interfering with the approach of the capt. into the atlanta airport, i'm sorry the kid is breaking the law and as a responsible adult you should be held accountable. we're talking about very serious potential problems. i yield back my time i will deliver a copy of the legislation. >> good morning we appreciate your testimony. mr. whitaker is seems that aviation could work closely with trone operators to educate and

but one of the things that ucom soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines do every day is enable centcomand afri-come so we have lots of responsibilities in both directions. >> let's go back to the back. second row from the end. >> hello. i'm poland's dcm. first, thank you very much, sir, for your leadership in leading nato, you know, in this effort to reassure the allies and to deter any possible disturbance in the region. i cannot overstate the importance of nato's presence of u.s. presence in the region as a factor to prevent any possible destability in the region. i have a question but one a centers a road for warsaw. as a historian i can't help thinking about this in historical terms. there had been different roads for warsaw in the past. better to say different powers, use those roads for different purposes. to attack poland or to attack each other. the fact that we are talking in the context of a road through about increasing nato responsiveness and readiness and capability, to prevent any possible conflict, i think it speaks to a great historical achievement of nato and how nato

but one of the things that ucomm soldiers, sailors, and marines do every day is they enable centcom and they enable africomm. so they have lots of responsibilities. >> let's go to the back. >> first, thank you very much, sir, for your leadership in leading nato in this effort to reassure the allies and to deter any possible disturbance in the region. i cannot overstate the importance of nato presence, u.s. presence in the region as a factor to prevent any possible instability in the region. i have a question about the road through warsaw. as a historian i can't help thinking about this in more historical terms. there have been different roads, different powers use those roads for different purposes, to attack poland or to attack each other. so the fact that we are talking in the context of a road through warsaw, increasing nato responsiveness and capability to prevent any possible conflict, i think it speaks to a great historical achievement of nato and how nato was efficient in breaking up the geopolitical curse that hovered over poland and our neighbors. my question, though, is about

good relationship between the combatant commanders there but i'm also talk to general austin through centcom is on the region on there. i had the opportunity to go to india to talk to some of the senior leadership in india to talk about afghanistan, how that plays to how their tidy with afghanistan, but they need to china, pakistan. quite helpful to me and also to explain how afghanistan is typing to do. president ghani is reaching out to entire region i think is quite hopeful. last monday i was in germany for a day with the general austin we brought the chiefs of defense from five of the countries surrounding afghanistan to bring together to talk pakistan, turkmenistan, uzbekistan, disney to stand altogether to talk about racial issues, border issues, drug smuggling. what they can do to enable each other to fight this common enemy so that was quite a good. >> very good. thank you, general. thank you, mr. chair. >> ms. duckworth. >> general, thank you for being here. i want to talk all the bit about the capacity of the afghan troops that we are training. from your testimony you characterize

the reason i asked you about this the ypg is part of the syrian arab coalition because last friday centcom spokesperson colonel ryder said that they are part of the syrian arab coalition. but anyway, let me move to the next question, steve. do you believe -- do you have any idea if the assad regime is capable to retake allepo, and if yes, would you welcome to see that? >> it's going to be a tough fight. it's a hard fight around aleppo, so it's really too soon to tell how that fight is going to shake out. no, we would not welcome it. we believe that two things. one, this war has got to end by political process. and, number two, that part of that political process is that assad departs the scene. that's what we would welcome. >> just to follow-up really quickly on the syrian arab coalition, have they to date since the united states supplied them with ammunition, have they launched any operations or attacks against the islamic state, and if so, how has that gone? >> we're going to break away from the end of this prerecorded hearing and take you live to capitol hill a hearing on the f-35 joint

boundaries, good relationship between the commanders but mostly general austin through isn't come --centcom i talked to senior leadership in india, talking about how that plays and how they are tied in with afghanistan and what that means to china and pakistan and afghanistan is tied into that. president ghani is reaching out to the entire region. i was in germany for a day, brought the chiefs of defense from five countries surrounding afghanistan to bring them together to talk pakistan, they're all came together to talk about regional issues, border issues, drug smuggling, how to enable each other to do that. >> thank you, mr. chair. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here. i want to talk a little bit about the capacity of the afghan troops we are training. from your testimony you characterize the performance of the afghan national security forces as uneven, inconsistent, requiring broad support, you talk about the fact without key enablers and operational level leaders they can't handle the fight alone. in contrast you talk about how they are able to amount operations and see