they were looking at a target in east afghanistan, the remote mountainous area. it was so remote that isis used. they felt fairly sure, they say, there were no civilians around. it seemed like the right target. there were about 400 isis across east afghanistan, they have been trying to go after them for sometime now. so the mission was planned and executed. they will now do the damage assessment. they will fly over the target. they're going to have to determine that there were no civilian casualties. they say they don't think so. still to be determined. they have to find out if the bomb worked as planned because they never used it in combat. this is a bomb that is so huge. 21,000-plus pounds basically shoved out the back of a cargo plane at a very high altitude and it detonates over the target. it does not penetrate into the ground. people are killed, injured, the targets are skilled by the huge air blast of the weapon detonating. and they never until now found a target they felt they could use it against, anderson? >> and what especially led to this, and the inv

. >> president trump praised the armed forces after the attack in east afghanistan. the mother of all bombs carrying nearly 11 tons of explosives hit a cave complex used by isis, the most powerful nonnuclear device. >> we have the greatest military in world and they've done a great job as usual. >> the commander in afghanistan was to spare afghan soldiers and their american advisers from having to go into the cave. democratic senator elizabeth warren questioned the timing. >> i want to hear more from the generals out in the field about why they thought this was the right bomb and this was the right moment. >> experts believe the u.s. could also be sending a message to the syrian regime and north korea. >> that no matter how much you hide or dig, we can still get you. >> while the pentagon said the strike has been in the works for months, it comes as north korea is considering a major weapons test of its own in celebration of its founder. in an interview with the "associated press," north korea's vice foreign minister accused president trump of raising tensions in the

this shows the seriousness with which this administration takes isis moving from the middle east to afghanistanious tweet from afghanistan's former president, hamid karzai. it is not just it is notjust the dropping of a massive bomb on afghanistan. injust over a week, president trump has ordered the missile strike on syria, a naval battle group to head to the korean peninsula, and he has restated his commitment to nato. some of donald trump's supporters are asking, whatever happened to the isolationist, america first president of the inauguration. authorities in new zealand have declared a state of emergency in parts of the country, after a powerful cyclone made landfall in north island. landslides and falling trees have left many roads blocked, as authorities order the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. gusts of close to 90 mph have left hundreds of homes without power. let's get more of an idea of what is happening in the aftermath of this storm. daniel corbett is a weatherman for nztv. he joins us via webcam now. you may recognise him from his many happy years at the bbc. good to see

having me on. >> tucker: the first number jumped out is 60% of returning vets from the middle east, afghanistan iraq were prescribed opioids for chronic pain and nearly half of them developed addiction to it of some kind. that number seems crazy, how could 60% -- 60% -- of all returning vets be given these drugs? >> it's an easy way to mask problems that people are having whether it's in the military or outside of the military. it's easy for doctors to prescribe something that makes their patient feel better, even though it doesn't really take care of their underlying issues that are there. the reason your statistics are right on, why is it that veterans get back from the battlefield and they are dealing with these kind of injuries, they end up in a system, in a bureaucracy like that va and they end up being treated even worse than people being treated because of the opioid epidemic and the rest of society, it's because of the va it's a government bureaucracy is the second-largest bureaucracy bureaucracy in the federal government. veterans are used to being in a system where there is harsh and

the area they targeted was the achin district of nangarhar province in the east of afghanistan.e most remote regions of the world, and, of late, we know isis fighters have moved in, across the pakistan border. at the weekend a us soldier on special operations was killed in the same area. white house press secretary sean spicer has been giving his daily briefing and this to say about the bombing. at 7pm local time in afghanistan, last night, the united states military used a gbu—43 weapon in afghanistan. the gbu—43 is a large, powerful and accurately delivered weapon. we targeted a system of tunnels and caves that isis fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target us military advisers and afghan forces in the area. the united states takes the fight against isis very seriously, and in order to defeat the group, we must deny them operational space, which we did. the united states took all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage as a result of the operation. and joining me now is zalmay khalilzad, former us ambassador to

military dropped one of the largest nonnuclear in its arsenal thursday in east afghanistan, the pentagonaid. the u.s. played dropped the deal between 2000 pound massive ordinance bomb, nicknamed the mother of all bombs, just days killed u.s. soldier was in the same area. we had been waiting months to an official in afghanistan. that show of military straight is being said to be sending a message to the islamic state, as well as other u.s. adversaries .ere in the usa today the front page story about the strike says, "even if president trump did not know that a 21,000 bomb would be dropped on thursday does not mean he will not get political visit from it. trump said he endorsed the strike and was not tried to send the message to another trouble spot, north korea. it doesn't matter if it does or not, north korea is a problem and north korea will be taking care of, trump told reporters. asked about the moab in afghanistan, with coming want -- one week after a missile strike in syria, trump said, what i do is i authorize my military and that is what we are doing." first we have a manual on th

the seriousness with which this administration takes the issue of isis moving from the middle east to afghanistanopping of a massive bomb on afghanistan. injust over a week, president trump has ordered the missile strike on syria, a naval battle group to head to the korean peninsula, and he has restated his commitment to nato. some of donald trump's supporters are asking, whatever happened to the isolationist, america—first president of the inauguration? marcus weisgerber is global business editor for the online publication defence one, which covers us defence and national security. thank you very much for your time. i think the test footage we were seeing was used as a kind of scare tactic, wasn't it, for saddam hussein before the iraq invasion. would you say there was a military necessity for it to be used now, this bomb to be used now in afghanistan, or is it sending a message to, say, north korea? well, as you say, yes, in 2003 that footage that was released was said to be the reason why saddam's forces laid down their weapons. right now, yes, this strike isjust laid down their weapons. right

the seriousness with which this administration takes the issue of isis moving from the middle east to afghanistanng of a massive bomb on afghanistan. injust over a week, president trump has ordered the missile strike on syria, a naval battle group to head to the korean peninsula, and he has restated his commitment to nato. some of donald trump's supporters are asking, whatever happened to the isolationist, america—first president of the inauguration? i spoke just with marcus weisgerber, global business editor for the online publication defense one, which covers us defence and national security. he told me there was a need for the strike and that it sent a strong political message. right now, yes, this strike isjust one in a series that have been ordered since donald trump became president that show he is not afraid to use military force. the strike in syria just a week or so ago, with the tomahawk missiles, we have a carrier strike group now which is off the coast of korea, and now we have the most devastating and powerful bomb in the us military inventory being used here today, against isis in a

at the same time, we've got plenty of problems in syria, the middle east and afghanistan.as been 16 years since the united states congress has visited the issue of peace or war in afghanistan. the authorization to use military force in afghanistan is now 16 years old. we need to go back as members of congress, carry out our constitutional responsibilities, and decide whether and how we're going to continue that war. to that end, a republican walter jones and i have introduced legislation that would effectively cause congress to once again deal with this issue of the afghanistan authorization to use military force, which is the legal argument that is being used to deal with isis in syria. that's a long stretch, but nonetheless, that is the legal argument that the obama administration used and this administration also. so, congress has to engage here. we need to ask the generals, hey, president trump said develop a plan within 30 days of destroying isis. what is that plan? not necessarily the war plans, but what is the deployment of troops, how much money do you need, what k

the seriousness with which this administration takes the issue of isis moving from the middle east to afghanistana massive bomb on afghanistan. injust over a week, president trump has ordered the missile strike on syria, a naval battle group to head to the korean peninsula, and he has restated his commitment to nato. some of donald trump's supporters are asking, whatever happened to the isolationist, america—first president of the inauguration? speculation has been growing that north korea may be ready to carry out its sixth nuclear tests as citizens we can. it would coincide with the birth of the nation's founder, kim il—sung. they poured into central pyongyang in their tens of thousands. of citizens and soldiers alike, north korea has always demanded displays of mass devotion. and, at the front of the crowd, there was kim jong—un, celebrating not a missile launch or a rocket test, but the construction of pyongyang's newest street. the inauguration of a few tower blocks and shops would, anywhere else, raise barely a murmur. in pyongyang, it is met with rapturous applause. it might seem like an e

this shows the administration takes isis moving seriously from the middle east to afghanistan seriouslynistan's former action has brought a furious tweet from afghanistan's former president, hamid karzai. this is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. it's not just testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. it's notjust the dropping ofa weapons. it's notjust the dropping of a massive bomb on afghanistan. in just over a week, president trump has ordered the missile strike on syria, a naval battle group to head to the korean peninsula, and he's restated his commitment to nato. some of donald trump's supporters are asking, whatever happened to the isolationist, america's first president of the inauguration? jon sopel president of the inauguration? jon sopel, bbc news, washington. and you can more analysis on that story shortly on newsnight, over on bbc two, after this programme. the education secretary — justine greening — has defended plans to introduce new grammar schools in england. there are alre

in that region, especially with increased aces fighters, going in and out of the middle east through afghanistanthey must've had really good intelligence that says this is a target of opportunity. i would be interested to find out why they decided to use that bomb for the first time. i think that's very interesting and i think it sends a message to everybody else. >> eric, does this smell like madness? very decisive, you know where it's coming from. >> i think with the last two weeks prove is that this is that big. i think the syrian situation as a heads up. remember, those tomahawks were launched with presidency presif china at the dinner table, hold on, i'll be back. comes back, finishes some cake. the following week, we drop 821,000 parliament bomb the size of five automobiles, a concussion bomb while kim jong-un is now saying he may test his own form of bomb on saturday. i think trump realizes this is the hot spot he has to worry about, and the linchpin to all of this, the kingpin isn't russia, isn't putin, it's china. he must've had a very good meeting because china, don't forget, they vote

policy in the middle east, in afghanistan, as rex tillerson was touching down.e name of the game for washington now, it could backfire. we could see ruia, instead of pulling away from its long-time ally, pushing closer toward iran and syria. >> lucy kafanov, thank you for that. let's switch gears and head to south america where frustration is boiling over amid two weeks of bloody protests. even during holy week five people have died in demonstrations. yesterday in the streets of poor neighborhoods government forces dispersed teargas. they are calling for the removal of judges, release of political prisoners and new elections. >>> coming up next on "morning joe," we'll look back at an eventful week for the trump administration, from the swearing in of his supreme court pick, the press secretary's holocaust gaff and the white house infighting and dropping the mother of all bombs on isis in afghan. after all that, is the president up or down? >> among our guests is nbc's tom brokaw and "the washington post's" david ignatius. "morning joe" is just moments away. when

we talked quite a bit about syria and it's by no means the only country in the middle east, and there is afghanistan, where the u.s. has been at war since 2001, and the spillover against islamic militants based in pakistan. there are still 5,000 u.s. troops in iraq where the war to topple saddam hussein began in 2003 and there are conflicts in somalia and yemen, where the trump administration escalated the u.s. presence, aiding one side or other. doug, thinking about this in the regional context, does this change the equation least how want actors in these places see the role of the united states? >> well, talking to my friends in the region, it sounds like the-- the leaders in middle east are thrilled to see this. they're thrilled to see a strong trump administration. the middle east, most of these rescreams were notably not happy with the last administration. some of them were very happy to see this new administration, and they're happy to see this show of strength. but i think in terms of trying to apply this to all the places we're engaged in the region, these are all very, very different. you k

operators s who pilot deadly reaper and predator drones in missions throughout the middle east and afghanistan. the protesters temporarily shut down a stretch of highway 95, holding banners honoring the victims of u.s. drone attacks. ahead of the protests, veterans for peace launched a series of commercials in las vegas urging drone operators to abandon their missions.. >> u.s. drorones have mururdered thousands, including women and children. please refuse to fly. amy: and the academy award-winning director jonathan demme has died. demme was best known for "the silence of the lambs" and the 1993 oscar-winner "philadelphia," the first major hollywood film to take on the aids epidemic. demme directed two documentaries on haiti, "the agronomist" and "haiti dreams of democracy." his 2011 film "i'm carolyn parker" documented efforts to rebuild new orleans's lower ninth ward in the wake of hurricane katrina. jonathan demme died wednesday at his home in new york city at the age of 73. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy good

host: talking foreign policy in the middle east, syria and afghanistan in particular and our guest is marc ginsburg and james is our caller from easley, south carolina. thanks for waiting. good morning. aller: yeah, good morning. i want to say everything in the world has to do with greed, nothing to do with -- with hing has to do greed. guest: i look at 40 years and those that want to come into the world because of greed but our values are great about us and at the same time we have dictators and corrupt officials around the world whose only reason to be in power is because they financially benefit their families throughout africa or elsewhere in the middle east. i remember sitting on saddam's throne that was totally a full gold plated throne of all things in baghdad and asking myself, look at all the money that these people have been able to accumulate for themselves? look how much money the former president of afghanistan, that we supported has stolen from the american people and who now will probably live a life of luxury in geneva. this is part of the challenge we face. host: if n

it's in the south—east of the empire, bordering iran, afghanistan and china.o was extremely open—minded. he was really a renaissance man and in his work he tried to show the different categories of people, in terms of religion, origin. this is a jewish school. a teacher and some pupils. the image was obtained by projecting the free negative on glass, in black and white, through a colour lens for the projection, recreating the colour. this is the original notebook of my grandfather, with a lot of technical description and some documents, like with free pictures in colour. it's a kind of eccentric renaissance man. i like that, because i'm a little bit like that, also. i try to be. and the more you learn, the more you find this person extremely attractive and quite fascinating. sergei prokudin—gorskii left russia shortly after the revolution. he died in paris, in 19114. that's all from us this month. i hope you willjoin me next month, from here at the british library. we will have five extraordinary accounts of history through the eyes of the people who were ther

of power to north korea and pakistan, but unfortunately, you know, in the middle falls afghanistan. >> middle east experts are questioning if the bombing will make americans more secure. >>> north korea expected to launch another nuclear weapons test this weekend. tomorrow is the most important holiday in north korea, the holiday in north korea, the birth of the national keupl sung. >>> this mosque will be different. it's the first in the bay area being head by a woman. mosque leaders work to put the finishing touches on their house of worship in berkeley last night, and the founder wants to give women a voice in a religion often dominated by men. >> there should be a place for women that want to be allied with men and not behind men. >> it's a women's mosque for everybody, but women will be preaching and teaching. >> leaders at the women's mosque also tell us they are not detoured at the criticism they have received from other muslims. >>> cameras going up for crime. the "east bay times," the videos will be fixed and remote controlled models and police will turn them 360 degrees in any direction

because remember, after years of war in the middle east and iraq and afghanistan, quite honestly therican people were very wary of wars, you know, abroad. so the middle ground was a train and equip policy to try to help syrians essentially take on those battles for themselves. now, that was not obviously as successful as we wished it would have been but there was a strategy to essentially start a resistance within the syrian people. >> that turned out to be a disaster with 400,000 people have been slaughtered in syria over the past several years. >> i agree. >> and i think you also agree, congressman, if the president of the united states draws a red line and issues a warning like that and doesn't deliver after that warning is ignored, that's a big problem. >> it certainly is. and i think the administration essentially recognized that by -- during its term and, you know, here we are. >> congressman joaquin castro of texas. we'll continue this down the road. thank you for joining us. >>> and the growing threat from kim jong-un's hackers and a reported north korea hack of 18 banks and

in greece, this was the root called the balkan core door, they start in the middle east and interact in iran, afghanistan go to turkey, going down to what was taken to the island. and i lived for 5 or 6 days in a refugee safe house and it changed my view, sympathetic to refugees, a lot of genuine hardship but assimilating these people unless the receiving countries have a very strong assimilation program, and job training for economies that don't -- aren't qualified for that much health and the kind of values driven, this is how we are, is really difficult especially, as you say, and there is a lot of assimilation. they are assimilated out of the desire, and the rising strength as intellectual and real force in the muslim world, the younger generations, the ones who are first-generation or second-generation are being drawn to radicalism. very tragic but no doubt that has been a factor. >> so that we can get everybody's questions in in the next 15 minutes, i would be grateful if you would follow judge miller's example of brevity. it is not bluntness but brevity for sure. >> residents of the princeton area

they start in the middle east, iraq, iran, afghanistan, go to turkey, take a bus down to izmir and from there the boats take them to the greek isles. i lived actually for five, six days with -- in a refugee safe house. what i will say is that it dramatically changed my view, where i thought sympathetic to refugees. i think a lot of them are escaping genuine hardship, but that assimilating these people, unless the western receiving countries have a very strong assimilation program, language acquisition, job training for economies that don't need that many service laborers, and these folks aren't qualified for much else, and a vikind of values driven that says this is where we are, this is how we behave, you have to adapt to western norms of conduct, i thought this is really difficult. this is really difficult. especially as you say, in europe you have europe's native muslim communities where there's a lot of unassimilation. a lot of the cases, the parents and grandparents were assimilated but, a, out of a desire for identity, b, islam's rising strength as a real force in the muslim world

that he was very upset that we wasted as we put it in chilean dollars in the middle east fighting wars in afghanistannew so what happened in syria with the tomahawk missiles and the moab, mother of all bombs that was docked in afghanistan. are you concerned that he might be going down that road? that he might be bringing us back into the situation in the middle east that would eventually require to have a lot more of our resources turn in that direction? >> i'm very concerned. i'm a big history buff, so i see in history saw this in the 2000s. we saw what happened when you try to come in with a hard strike. it shows and it looks like the iraq war. we keep going down the path of were going to bomb syria and do this, assad needs to go, that look is very familiar to me from 2000s. >> martha: it is -- when you president of the united states, you deal with a lot of issues that you don't necessarily know are going to land on your plate and i think that the president perhaps has confronted a more complex world situation that he ever expected. how do you balance those two things? >> i think the president real

afghanistan. >> some middle east experts are questioning whether the bombing will make americans any more secure. >>> and this weekend north korea is expected to launch another test of a nuclear weapon, the sixth test in seven years. the question is what will the reaction of the trump administration be, especially give even its recent aggressiveness in syria and afghanist afghanistan. it's the nation's most important holiday. >>> and a new mosque in berkeley will hold its first prayer service and everybody is welcome. >> this mosque is different, probably like any other one you have seen. what makes this place of worship so unique. >> reporter: the call to prayer is being perfected and so is the sermon. >> when i was 12 i went to the local mosque, and i was told that i couldn't come to the mosque because i was a girl. >> it's a reversal for the bay area's first women's mosque, led entirely by women, and she heard the calling when she converted to islam more than a decade ago. >> there doesn't seem to be a clear track for women that have that calling. >> and where they fit in, but i think there s

impossible to make a strong argument that we should continue any incursions in the east in whether it be syria, afghanistan, iraq or libya. dr. paul, thank you for your time, i appreciate it. >> you are right. and i approach it constitutionally and morally. we shouldn't be involved. you mention for practical reasons we shouldn't be involved because it doesn't accomplish anything. what have we accomplished in 15 years of constant war in the middle east. and adding another war doesn't help us at all. so we ought not to be there. the sooner we wake up the better the whole world will be. let me fact it crisis in syria to in the combat ready party panel. it's catherine mangu-ward joined by michael malice. and glenn ham is also here. welcome, everyone. foreign policy is dominating the news cycle. and this presidency. do you think there is something to what dr. paul was saying about maybe not having all the facts in but being a more convenient narrative for this administration? >> one of the things that got donald trump elected was his tough talk about isis. i think people live in a certain amount of fear in the

afghanistan where a u.s. soldier has been killed east of kabul. on in afghanistan told cnn the fallen service member was a u.s. special option soldier. >>> president trump has openly admitted that he has changed his attitude toward syria and its president. he said images like these from tuesday's chemical attack deeply impacted him. the change in his attitude is a complete about-face. my panel is back with me. buck sexton and cnn political commentator and former mayor of philadelphia, michael nutter. mayor, the president seemed genuinely moved when he described those images of those children dying do you think he was sincere that it was the images that changed his attitude toward assad. >> in the previous news cast someone indicated that the president has been i would say evolving in his view about syria, apparently going back to during the transition. so, but nonetheless, these images certainly are powerful, they're horrific. you know, if you have children, if you care about children know any children, you can't deal with this kind of stuff. havin

the last 15 years single mindedly focused with middle east, iraq, afghanistan, all these other crisiscan do what we did in syria yet still focusing on south korea sends a message, not going to be single focused on the middle east. this is now in some ways higher on the list of national security because north korea is a much bigger threat to the united states. >> this has been your complaint for five, six, seven years, we have been too singularly focused on the middle east. there was never a shift to asia. >> no. the rhetoric of the shift, so-called rebalancing or pivot didn't really happen. trump administration hurt itself by not going through with trans-pacific partnership trade deal with you going ahead with diplomacy and, two, greater military emphasis. this is a backdrop to some kind of negotiation in beijing, pyongyang to do something with north korean missile program. >> as long as syria nor north korea does anything provocative, events will have worked out well. either of them does, chemical test, weapons, puts a role on the administration to act again. >> great conversation. t

afghanistan. kelly? kelly: david lee miller from our middle east bureau with strong details about what's happening in afghanistanvid lee, thank you. heather: let's take you to france now. voters are about to head to the polls for the first round of the presidential election, and the race remains up for grabs amid tightening polls. but one wildcard that could have a big impact, the terror attack in paris earlier this week. greg talcott is live for us from paris with more. hi, -- >> elections that are being called both important and predictable. being closely watched by the united states. they're going and choosing between 11 different candidates in this first round of french presidential elections. the two top vote getters will go to a runoff two weeks from now. now, neither of the leading candidates are from major parties. one is an independent moderate and marine la pen, she's a firebrand right-wing populist. people here concern about insecurity, and that was underscored by thursday's attack against police officers on the champs-Élysees, one officer killed, two being treated. isis claiming responsibility, and i

influence in afghanistan just as iran and russia have attempted to do in syria and other countries across the middle east, europe and asia. >> so the u.s. military says the russians are becoming more active in afghanistan. is there any reason why? >> congress looked into this. this is something that john nicholson, the commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan testified to recently. he's saying that russia has become more assertive the past year. they're trying to use the taliban and saying the taliban is fighting isis in that case as a way to also curb u.s. influence. they say that iran is helping the taliban. there has been a fight ever since 2001 between the two entities with the u.s. backing the government continually with u.s. forces there, nato forces there as the taliban has become more aggressive the past couple years. da dana? >> thanks so much. the trump administration facing many challenges. kim jong-un says that north korea is in the final stages of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. the u.s. hit a syrian air base with 59 tomahawk cruise missiles. yesterday the u.s. dropped a massi

east. i am extremely proud of having fought in iraq and afghanistan.at the same time, there's been a huge amount of wreckage was left by those experiences. so, if you were to say to me, elliott, elliott, think of the best days of your life and i would say, there were days that i was in combat, all right, tell me the ten worst days of your life, and it's the exact same dates. what does it say about that experience? i found that present as an afghan veteran and it's more and more activists who felt they were present in their experience. they felt a shell shock syndrome? did they become disillusioned or is it deeper than that? >> it's like an irrefutable cause. to go out into the streets in 2011 in 2012 engaging in people protest to demand more rights democratic rights and reforms authoritarian regime and see the reciprocal and the destruction of your country and the depth of many of your family members and the fact that you can never return home, there there was a lot of shell shock in that respect. one thing that is always interesting to me, amongst the

east. it doesn't get much more intense than that. host: the new york times writing about one of those foreign visitors, national security adviser h.r. mcmaster. "after u.s. talks with afghanistan hit a harder line on pakistan the talks between the united states and afghanistan wrapped up on sunday as the trunk administration reviewed its options in the 15 year american presence in the face of

we have military advisors going, james mattis, defense secretary, to the middle east around mcmaster to afghanistan. what ask your impression of the new team the president put in place? >> i know many of them with my time in the state department and working with endings on. this is as good a team as we have had doing foreign policy since certainly bush 41. these people experienced. they cooperate very well together. they're in the men, in case of nikki haley, women of character, i think they're coming together very, have he well. connell: are there big changes happened? the president argues there are obviously. we made that comparison eight weeks versus eight years yesterday when he was talking about the obama administration. as add dam reported to us the authority strike with authority of quote "mother of all bombs," was in the authority of the general in afghanistan. from what we understand, and reports that authority was there in the previous administration as well, even though we have been led to believe maybe that was the case. what do you know about that? >> as someone who worked in the white

. - [narrator] afghanistan sits at the crossroads of the middle east, russia, and south asia. for centuries it has been a focal point of both trade and war. - afghans are very proud people, and because of our strategic location, we have been resisting the super powers. we have fought ghengis khan, tamerlane, alexander the great, the british, the soviet union. so really the idea of accepting the dominance of another country, is not in the gene of the afghans. - afghanistan has been referred to as the graveyard of empires because it's a very rugged, dry generally, typography. neither the russians, nor the british, nor the americans, have been able to, for a significant period of time, subdue afghanistan. and, it's not that you can't do it, it's what costs are you willing to incur. - [narrator] the costs were too high for the soviet union when various ethnic groups united as the mujahideen to drive them out of afghanistan in the 1980's. - the mujahideen, during the afghan war, were generally engaged in a war of liberation against the soviet union. it was a war of liberation that

east. for that i'm joined by a former state department official now with the u.s. institute of peace, who has just returned back today from afghanistan. president trump said his top national priority is dealing with islamic state. is he going the right way about it? >> apparently he has had some success in afghanistan on reducing the numbers of islamic state fighters, and we have seen today, yesterday, that this big bomb focus on that without any civilian casualties that we know of so far. so that is a strong step. , tim: he gave his general 30 days to come up with a strategy to defeat islamic state. what have we learned so far? is it what obama did but with more cash? >> general mcmaster, as your report indicated, is en route out there right now. he is well respected, he has spent a lot of time in afghanistan, knows it well, knows the challenges. he is partway through a review to come up with a new strategy. we will see i think shortly what kind of strategy he comes up with. tim: staying with afghanistan, does that mean more troops? he asked for a few thousand more. >> general nicholson has asked for several thousand more. not a sur

this is more like 1998 when we launched a bag of cruise missiles at bin laden in afghanistan after the east african bombings >> admiral stavridis, stay with us for a meemoment. we're going to go back to the pentagon briefly for a second. hans nichols our correspondent there. i believe you have additional information in terms of what happened tonight. >> we're getting a little more confident on the number of tomahawk cruise missiles that were fired, about 60 and hit both aircraft and infrastructure on that air base near homs. it's the latest from here. you know, taking a step back on this, given all our reporting earlier today, this does seem like a smaller version of the variety of options that were presented to president trump. remember, the big option was actually taking out the entire air force of bashar al assad. looks like they went for the smaller one. a couple things that we need to figure out here. number one, were allies informed in number two, was congress informed? was it just the gang of eight? what sort of back and forth? ultimately, what led president donald trump to use force

states and certainly american citizens are, have tremendous fatigue with the middle east after a decade in iraq and afghanistan't want to send the american sons and daughters to fight on the ground in syria. whereas iran is firmly committed to the fights and iran really thrives in countries which have power vacuums, whether that's syria, yemen, iraq, lebanon. the question is whether the balance of power in the region is really going to change as a result. a sign of a renewed u.s. involvement in the region or is this merely a one off symbolic strike. >> thank you. very good point. iran will be there for a long time. we will be there and gone in some sense. thank you both, fascinating. >>> next on "gps." children killed by sarin gas were enough to convince donald trump to attack an air base. what would you do in response to looking at pictures like these? we will show more when we come back. >>> these pictures were so powerful president trump says they forced his hand. and made him fire 59 tomahawk missiles at the syrian air base responsible for the chemical attack. well, we have other powerful pictures that per

i just got back from a trip to understand -- to afghanistan and other parts of the middle east learning about the region. i've always respected our troops, but now i'm over the top. it is what a fantastic job they do, smart, courageous and responsible. thank you are your service. you are saying about infrastructure is something the democrats have been saying since day one. chuck schumer and nancy pelosi publicly. infrastructure is the place we can find common ground. this president could have moved beyond this partisan divide and still could do it if we can try to work on this infrastructure issue. everybody wants to see something happen with infrastructure. there is a massive deficit in infrastructure spending in this country. they can create solid middle-class jobs, so you should be in office because everyone has been saying the same thing. if you can find that commonality on infrastructure, where it is waiting to happen, it could get something done with tax reform. regarding the affordable care act, it is not perfect. i said during my campaign, we it. to mend it,d do not end the syst

david: defense secretary james mattis is wrapping up his middle east tour with surprise visit to kabul, afghanistanyou can see meeting with afghan officials. as recent attacks killed over 100 afghan military personnel. raising questions whether he will recommend putting more u.s. troops on the ground. currently more than eight thousand u.s. personnel serving in afghanistan. melissa: violence erupting in france. protesters pouring into the streets after the first round of french presidential elections. why the future of the european union is at stake. >>> plus the presidentaking a long distance call to space. why president trump has been congratulating one nasa astronaut. ♪ >> who's ready to go to mars up there? >> we are absolutely ready to go to mars. it will be a fantastic journey getting there.ard. ♪ ♪ oh no. schwab, again? index investing for that low? that's three times less than fidelity... ...and four times less than vanguard. what's next, no minimums? ...no minimums. schwab has lowered the cost of investing again. introducing the lowest cost index funds in the industry with no minimums. i b

, russia and iran trying to push their influence in afghanistan just like has been done in syria and those countries tried to do across the middle eastin asia, and in europe. the u.s. military testified that russia has become more aggressive, more assertive in the past year and afghanistan, claiming that the taliban in particular are helping to fight iciest and therefore boosting the tablet man and undermining allied forces in doing so. the military also says that iran is supporting the taliban. remember, the u.s. ousted the taliban back in 2001 pair there have been thousands and remain thousands of troops in that country trying to stabilize it over the last few years. the taliban has become more assertive and more aggressive, taking back more territory from the u.s. backed government, western backed government they are there's plenty of challenges. now you have iran and russia moving in, and they have the sidetrack of white russians are now calling these ideas of peace talks that the u.s. is incredibly skeptical of peered back to you. >> jenna: thank you. >> jon: meantime, china's foreign minister warns conflict could "break out at

afghanistan. isis is -- its largest threat is in destablizing the middle east and in syria and iraq. why this -- i think if we sort of deter into is afghanistan and make that the center of gravity on the fight against isis, that's going to be nuts. i don't know what strategy that represents. so i don't understand why would we drop big bombs and think that afghanistan is our problem and why not press the fight and finish the fight and take back the territory and try to diminish isis where it has a lot of power. >> yeah. thank you. david is going to stick around. i want to get david's take on reporting on the ties between associates and russians. we've learned that other intelligence agencies outside the country picked up communications. >>> inside a look at the secret facility where the crews missiles were made. connected business world.ughoe at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and prot