ghani. ♪ mark: welcome back to "bottom line." a french interior ministry official is telling the associated press that the black rocks has been located on the side of the french alps where a plane crashed from barcelona to dusseldorf. facebook may get in the news business of sorts. the new york times says facebook has held talks with half a dozen you companies. facebook me start testing in the next few months. as first potential partners "the new york times," national geographic and buzz feed. rowland smith may get up to $47 million following office depot's planned sale to staples, including more than $39 million in equity awards. smith will get almost $8 million more if his role changes after the acquisition. office depot shares are up 79% since smith became ceo in november 2013. coming up, president obama and afghan president ostroff ghani hold a press -- ppresident after ashraf ghani. the two have been meeting throughout the morning. i request from president ghani to stall the withdrawal

president ghani and dr. abdullah ensured the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in afghanistan's history. together they now lead a national unity government that reflects the diversity, the strength and the determination of the afghan people. their government signed a bilateral security agreement between our two countries, and on december 31, after more than 13 years, america's combat mission in afghanistan came to a responsible ind. afghan forces now have full responsibility for security across their country. some 330,000 afghans serve in the police and security forces. and they are making extraordinary sacrifices. fighting and often dying for their country. and they continue to grow stronger month by month. today we honor the many afghans men, women, and children who have given their lives for their country. we salute the more than 2,200 americans patriots, who made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan and the many more who were wounded. this morning, president ghani and dr. abdullah visited

president ghani. get his title correct. and let's hope that what you have accomplished in afghanistan will continue and can be spread throughout the region. thank you for your time, general in your service. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you, general, for being here mitchell question is, think it's been fairly disconcerting how much information when it comes to operational security the president of the united states has given out and how we read it every day in the media. we learn about the withdrawal the troop size we learn as the taliban does at the same time, all kind of unbelievable information, and i guess -- to kind of follow up on my colleague's comment -- i don't want to ask you this for public disclosure but i want to ask this or in in writing if want to know the detailed plan b. what are the flags and signs that are going to trying-under ore reengagement should this go awry? i want to know that we do have a plan, and i don't want too ask it in public for everybody in the world to listen because it does concern m

president ghani and dr. abdullah ensured the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in afghanistan's history. together they now lead a national unity government that reflects the diversity, the strength and the determination of the afghan people. their government signed the bilateral security agreement between our two countries. on december 31st after more than 13 years, america's combat mission in afghanistan came to a responsible end. afghan forces now have full responsibility for security across their country. some 330,000 afghans serve in the police and security forces, and they are making extraordinary sacrifices fighting and often dying for their country. they continue to grow stronger month by month. today we honor the many afghans, men, women and children who have given their lives for their country. we salute the more than 2200 americans, patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan and the many more who were wounded. this morning president ghani and dr. abdullah visited arlingto

and president ashraf ghani is anticipating a difficult fighting season. >> president ashraf ghani explaining one of the reasons why he wanted the americans to stay longer. saying that it would help the afghan army continue training and consolidation as a fighting force. >> we put a lot of money and time into the army. will another six months make a difference? >> well, we are a decade and 65 billion in. it's the american side. there are a lot of skills of the forces. they need to learn, and they feel they need to lose a lot of time. they were long political steal mates and they were hoping that the n.a.t.o. forces would help the afghan forces with logistics, intelligence gathering, medical training. that they can help with in the next 6-8 months. the air force, the air power - that's a problem for the afghan security force, and that's a reason the taliban has been successful because they can gather. before, when n.a.t.o. helped with the combat mission, they could call in air strikes. not the case here. the 10,000 u.s. forces are here 6,000 are part of the train and assist mission. the rest i

. >> ashraf ghani praises the u.s. for its commitment to afghanistan. >>> on the brink of civil war. fighting spirals out of control in yemen and the u.s. evacuation vearkz evacuates its reamg special remaining special forces. >>> and legacy of lee quan yew. singapore making it one of the most important financial centers of the world. good evening and thank you for joinsjoining us on al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. >> and i'm stephanie sy. tomorrow ashraf ghani has an open meeting with president obama. >> but today ghani had a meeting with secretary of state john kerry. >> this is a major statement. of support our armed forces and our security forces are going to greet this, with enormous welcome. because it gives them the assurance that the resolute support mission is continuing and that we are able to focus. on our key priorities. >> now on wednesday ghani will address a joint meeting of congress. jamie mcintire has a report. >> security was tight tithe even by security standards. center courtyard to hear afgha

president ashraf ghani, c.e.o. abdul ghani and others will meet with president obama to discuss security economic development and afghanistan's reconciliation process and will address congress. rosalind jordan has a preview of the talks. >> reporter: when afghan president garmin sharp -- ashraf ghani meets with u.s. security is top of mind. he wants president obama to delay plans to withdraw troops by the end of 2015. the top u.s. general in afghanistan is inclined to do so. >> i'm concerned about the summer 2015. this is the first fighting seen on their open. >> reporter: ashraf ghani is trying to relaunch peace talks and is worried about threats from al qaeda and local militia and is worried that i.s.i.l. may be trying to move in. we believe the presence of i.s.i.l. is the regranting of -- rebranding of taliban. we are taking it seriously. >>> forces are in afghanistan to train and support the military. president obama planned to cut the number to 5600 by the end of the year. then withdrawing the rest by 2016, le

president ghani is a great partner. he could be gone tomorrow, what sort of backstops are we putting in place if this starts to head south we can recover and won't end up with a situation like we had in iraq? general campbell: ministry level what we are doing with the m.o.i. and m.o.d. that control the military and police. we are working on the programming, planning and budgeting and working on the sustainment and working on the strategic communications and intelligence. these are essential functions that we think they need to continue to have as we come out of there. our continued work in those areas at the ministry levels will continue to help. the other pieces, they are looking hard to ensure they are a professional army and have leadership courses that continue to go on. they pick bright leaders and bring them into special courses on leadership and leadership makes a difference. mr. moulton: are you seeing the state department devote the level of resources to continue this mentorship and support? general campbell: w

ghani was inaugurated six months ago. it took them three months to agree on some cabinet remembers and only a few of those were admitted to parliament. they still have to be approved by the afghan tarl, the women he mentioned, and part of that is this political division. so it is a difficult road ahead. a lot of people were concerned the unity government might not stand. it has lasted but the afghan people are very frustrated. you can't get ordinary things done in many parts of your life and until that gets solved i think many will look at his vision with a lot of scepticism. >> the united states has invested heavily in afghanistan in terms of lives and treasure. 2,215 service men and women losing their lives, and by some estimates $4 trillion spent in that country, since september 11th. from your vantage, is it money well spent? >> a lot of money has been wasted. there has been an incredible amount of progress but for the amount of money that has been spent, you would think we would be a lot further along. he is taking s

>> if ghani wants u.s. forces there, then our president could say welt look, this is what this president wants to do. taking afl the troops, you are removing half the fracture infrastructure, half the capability. >> if we don't stay past 2016, mr. rosenberg, how secure are the forces? >> if you say go deal with it on your own they're not ready. feeding supplying their own troops isth credibly difficult. big unit miefers on a whole lot of things they're not there yet. a lot to overcome, a lot of their deficits can't be overcome in a year or two maybe. if we get up and go you're going to have an army that piece of it will probably fall apart if left on its own now. that said, the i was there in 2009 and 2010 in kandahar in place that were filled with taliban. watching afghan soldiers get high and stuff like that. that doesn't happen anymore as far as i know they have come a long way but are not there yet. >> we want to point out president ghani's visit comes santa time as al jazeera's nicole johnston reports

president ghani is a great partner. he could be gone tomorrow, what sort of backstops are we putting in place if this starts to head south we can recover and won't end up with a situation like we had in iraq? general campbell: ministry level what we are doing with the m.o.i. and m.o.d. that control the military and police. we are working on the programming, planning and budgeting and working on the sustainment and working on the strategic communications and intelligence. these are essential functions that we think they need to continue to have as we come out of there. our continued work in those areas at the ministry levels will continue to help. the other pieces, they are looking hard to ensure they are a professional army and have leadership courses that continue to go on. they pick bright leaders and bring them into special courses on leadership and leadership makes a difference. mr. moulton: are you seeing the state department devote the level of resources to continue this mentorship and support? general campbell: w

ashraf ghani is that country's new president.e has been in office for five months, and he is urging the obama administration face-to-face to keep american trooping in his country. mike viqueira has the latest from washington. mike? >> reporter: david in addition to all of that ashraf ghani has one big advantage, and that is he is not his predecessor who had a notoriously poor relationship with george bush and then barack obama. but it's a new set of leaders visiting washington now, and many are hoping on both sides that it opens a new era. it's designed at a show of unity and commitment from both sides. three days in washington for afghanistan's leaders, as american forces prepare to leave their country. after a day of high-level meetings defense secretary ash carter made a new commitment american funding of an afghan force of 352,000. >> by pinning one thing down which is the overall number in 2017, that's a way of providing some stability to the afghan security forces and a perspective into the future. >> reporter: that money,

as much as we would like ashraf ghani. he's been in office for five months and it's a coalition government that he's a part of. how is that government doing? >> well right now i think a lot of folks are disappointed some of the things that they had hoped for, some of the early reforms promised haven't materialized or as quickly as i think that citizens hoped for. the cabinet that he needed to appoint took over 100 days to appoint that cabinet. and the full cabinet is not sitting a number of months after taking office. given the lack of functioning of the new coalition government. how much of a risk is the united states taking. having the president say we'll expand the troops through another year. >> well i think, you know it's a chicken and egg. it's a bit of a dithing. of course from the u.s. standpoint you know the government needs reassurances that in fact the unity government is going to succeed. at the same time what the u.s. is doing here is in a sense trying to underwrite stability. we have no government stability h

i asked president ghani about that this week. that was tense towards the end and preb alluded to that today. how has that changed? >> it has changed fundamentally because we believe and have revitalized partnership. we're not engaging in a blame game. we're engaged in common understanding and common action. and part of this, of course, is also that the combat role of the united states has ended as was agreed between our two governments and the assist mission that u.s. forces are currently engaged in does not involve combat roles. gwen: so at ghani's request, president obama did agree this week to push back the deadline he imposed for pulling out u.s. troops. president obama: the bottom line is our men and women in uniform make enormous sacrifices, their families do, too. they serve alongside them. this will mean that there are going to be some of our folks who are in afghanistan under the new schedule who would have been home. gwen: how does the white house justify this? it's basically an unkept promise in some respects? alexis:

distinct how president ghani was so clear to thank the u.s. for its sacrifice, to talk about the veterans' families those who died families he had met. the sacrifice america had made and insists going forwards that could result in genuine benefits here. he's a man standing there without a minister of defense. there are severe challenges here going forward. i think that's reflected in the white house statement today. it's not a lot. it's perhaps enough to symbolically suggest the u.s. doesn't want to drop the ball here in afghanistan, like it may have been accused of having dropped in iraq as well. i think certainly there are many here deeply concerned about the months ahead, the security challenges arising, far from diminishing. >> stand by nick payton walsh. i want goto go to jerusalem, get reaction from what we heard from president obama on israeli-u.s. relations. two issues coming up in the news conference. first, the reaction to this "wall street journal" report israelis were spying on the u.s. negotiations with iran other members of the u

[applause] president ghani: we are a country of young people. the absolute majority of people are under 30 years of age. you are invested in the future not in repeating the past. jobs and engagement with the world are their first priority. despite all of the assistance afghanistan has received over the years, 30% of the population still lives below the poverty line. lacking even basic services such as clean water or household electricity. this cannot continue. we have articulated a charter that will find investments that are needed to reduce poverty across the nation and prepare the next generation for capitalizing on the new opportunities that are thriving economy can provide. ladies and gentlemen, so far i have talked about how we will achieve self-reliance by ending corruption, balancing the budget, mobilizing the energies of woman and youth, and growing the economy. let me now turn to the elephant that is lacking in the back of the room. we must secure peace. [applause] president ghani: afghans have shown that we know how to fight. unfortuna

troop deployment plan while president ghani is in washington. it's a recognition that leaving too quickly could turn afghanistan into another iraqi. >> women in afghanistan have deified traditional custom and carried the coffin of a woman who was beaten to death by a group largely made up of men. they attacked her with sticks and stones beating her to death in the capitol of kabul and then set her body on fire while the police stood by looking on. >>> israel began consultation to form the next government. he has already met with the political parties that gained the most seats in last week's elections. they're meeting to recommend their choice for the next prime minister. >>> a tv exit poll in france suggested that the former french president nicolas sarkozy. is leading for president. >> consolidating his political come back. ex-president nick has sarkozy is head-to-head weakening the national front's hopes of a first round win. >> i confirm that there will be no agreements, local or national, with the leaders of this party. >> marie la pen has

president ghani: thank you. announcer: ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats until president obama, president ghani, and the delegations have departed. thank you. >> wednesday, afghan president ashraf ghani will address a joint meeting of congress on . you can see his remarks live from the u.s. house of representatives at 10:45 a.m. eastern time here on c-span. today, a look at the future of the u.s. postal service. the brookings institution hears from the acting chairman of the current u.s. postal service inspector general live, 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. fbi director james komi is on capitol hill today to testify about his department's 2016 budget request. he appears before the house appropriations subcommittee on justice, live, 1:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> here are some of our featured programs this week on the c-span networks for stop on c-span2's book to be, saturday at 10:00 p.m. eastern on "after words," author peter wallison says government housing policies caused the financial crisis

washington knows ashraf ghani.rked at the world bank a couple blocks from the white house, where we're standing now. the people at the white house here know him well. they have high hopes for him. obviously the relationship was very different with former afghan president hamid karzai who would not sign that bilateral security agreement. ashraf ghani comes in he signs that security agreement. the question is whether or not, woman wolf he gets something in return. one thing he wants is a slow down in this reduction of u.s. forces in afghanistan. there are roughly 10,000 right now. the president announced a plan to have that by the end of this year. now that is on the negotiating table. the president may decide and we may hear about this coming up at this news conference within the next hour that he has decided to slow down that withdraw of u.s. forces. one thing that has been made clear to me wolf is by the end of his presidency by the end of 2016 heading into 2017 the president still does intend to pretty much pull

look at this every day and i think both president ghani and dr. abdullah gave up some to continue to have afghanistan move forward. they both did that after a long period there. they work together and spicy mouth up -- both of them together and separately i think they complement each other as they work together. they both have great vision for where they want to take afghanistan and it really is the people around each of them. they have to continue to work through it and they have run into instances where they have had differences but i think they work hard to make sure as they come out to the public that they have one voice as they move forward. that's not easy all the time but i think they understand how important is so they work toward that from a security perspective and an economic perspective. again they complement each other and i'm honored to have them and engaged with both of them quite a few times. >> in that sense does that carry over into the military in some ways as far as that goes teeshon amongst the military and the moral within th

it is a concern to president ghani.he's looking hard at a strategy of how he goes after that and deals with the people that produce it that deals with insurgents that use of for the again. a look at different options. they do have quite a good record of a small task force that goes after and seizes different places, for lack of a better term drug labs that produce what comes out of there. quite frankly it has not been enough and the strategy there has not taken that away from the insurgents. that is not part of my taa or part of my ct mission. so i can't comment further on that piece. bottom line, it does provide fuel financial assistance to the taliban and the government of afghanistan is looking hard holistic look at how they can combat that. >> thank you. the relationship with pakistan. obviously, has improved quite a bit, the military. the equipment. at one time we're always concerned about the equipment backlog going to pakistan and everything else. are we in pretty good shape right now on that? we had contenders b

president ghani and dr.hank you for your strong support between our two nations and yesterday they spent time in camp david with our respective teams and had discussions on how we can move forward together. today guided by our strategic partnerships we focused on key areas. first we agreed to continue to keep in place our close security cooperation. afghanistan remains a very dangerous place. and insurgents still launch attacks, including cowardly suicide bombings against civilians. president ghani is pursuing reforms to further strengthen afghan security forces including respect for human rights and as part of the ongoing nato mission, the united states will continue to train, advise and assist afghan security forces. as we announced yesterday, we'll work with congress on funding to sustain 352,000 afghan police and troops through 2017. at the same time, we'll continue to conduct targeted counter-terrorism operations and we agreed to maintain a dialogue on our counter-terrorism partnership in the years ahea

troop deployment plan while president ghani is in washington. it's a recognition that experts say leaving too quickly could turn afghanistan into another iraq. >> in france, former president nicolas sarkozy is leading in the first round. the far right national front is in second place. >> it was quite a convincing lead for the unp the center right party led by former french president nicolas sarkozy. we have to remember that the opinion polls are not an exact science, they're only a suggestion of voting tendencies. but very much disappointing performance by the socialist party, pretty much reinforcing the overall trend that the socialist party seems to be losing favor and in particular the french president franÇois hollande is not very highly rated at the moment. we must remember that this was only the first round of voting. in france there is a system of two rounds. it does give people the luxury of maybe registering a protest vote making some kind of a statement in the first round while then actually getting more serious in the second round. a

ghani thanked congress for american support saying the u.s. and afghanistan are joined together by the 9/11 attacks. by the way, ghani was working at the world bank in washington the day of those attacks. a new report says the f.b.i. must speed up reforms to prevent future terrorist attacks. the report's goal was to determine how well the f.b.i. implemented recommendations of the 9/11 commission. its authors say the f.b.i. has improved intelligence sharing but needs to do better at collecting and analyzing national security threats. next on abc 7 news at 6:00 the timeline for m.g.m.'s casino in national harbor. meanwhile, accusations are being made that is not making good on its promise to the community. plus -- chief meteorologist doug hill is back with when we can see the season's first thunderstorm. tim: the maryland women's basketball team takes its 2015 win streak and the number one seed on the road to meet duke in spokane. i have the latest and last night, i said the wizards quit against the warriors. today, bradley beal responds. as abc

it's sort of a drum beat that president ghani, dr. abdullah and other senior ministries continue to hear and they understand how important it is that they abide by their constitution, where they want to go. i think leadership will make a difference and they understand that in my rem, in the security rem, what -- in my rem, the security rem everything is -- in my realm the security realm everything is conditions based. this is sort of the same way as we look forward in this area, it could be conditions based and everything we do through different n.g.o.'s, we make conditions based and i think leadership wan make that happen. ms. tsongas: i remember a hearing we had here a woman who is a leader of one of the n.g.o.'s over there, said the first indication that things are not going well for women over there is the street if you stop seeing women on the street that does come back to the role of the afghan national police are you confident that they are up to the task and if not do you see how -- how would we challenge them to do it bet her

and that is what ghani is here to plead for.issa: chris harmer, more and more people are saying it's a mess whether we leave or not. it is not a stable nation. it is not going to be. why should we spill more blood and treasure to try to secure something that isn't securable? >> well it is a mess. it might not be securable in the short term but we better be forward engaged and forward leaning and strategically engaged or al qaeda, isis will take advantage of the vacuum. look at places where u.s. walked back from. we walked out of iraq. that void did not stay empty. it was filled by isis and revolutionary guard corps. that void was not empty then it was filled by hezbollah and isis. we can't solve all problems around the world. we can't be everything to everyone. but when we have specific enemies taking advantage of our absence i make the case we need to be for regard deployed and forward engaged. afghanistan is one of those places. melissa: rick, let me ask you. you led communication strategies on war on terror in afghanistan and

a senior advisor to president ashraf ghani good of you to join us. thank you. >> thank you >>> growing protests in afghanistan over the mob killing of an innocent woman. thousands of people marched through the streets of kabul chanting "justice for fawqunda", and death to the killers. the 27-year-old religious scholar was killed in a mob attack after being falsely accused of burning the koran. 28 people today have been arrested, and 13 police officers suspended >>> for decades afghanistan has been a land of harsh realities for the u.s. and allies and the soviets in the 1980s. next in our in-content segment. lessons and withdrawal from afghanistan. >> in our off the radar - another north african nation faces the threat of the i.s.i.l. attacks. afghanistan - it's been more than a quarter of a century since the soviet union pulled out its citizens. the united states spent billions funding religious rebels who fought the soviets, but after they withdraw the u.s. mostly ignored afghanistan, and that opened the door to the taliban and al-qaeda. we look at

ashraf ghani replaced karzai as the afghan leader last year. he is scheduled to meet with president barack obama. it is expected that ghani will ask washington for flexibly on the pace of troop recall in afghanistan. reporter: a new tactic in the often troubled relationship. the afghans of the president 's message to the united states -- president ghani: we are not going to be a burden. we do not now ask what the united states can do for us, if i can play a president entity. we want to understand what it will do for itself and for the world. -- if i can play on president kennedy. we want to understand what it will do for itself and for the world. reporter: he spent monday talking with the secretaries of state and defense at camp david. on the agenda -- a new cooperation scheme. ghani wants the u.s. to slow down pullout of troops from afghanistan. obama is expected to respond. they are excited to keep more soldiers than playing while reducing troops to 1000 by the end of 2016 full stop it is also provided the afghan military with billions of dol

ghani's u.s.sit continues tomorrow when he speaks to a joint meeting of congress before heading to new york and the united nations thursday. >> ifill: shortly after the white house news conference ended, i spoke with president ghani. mr. president, thank you for joining us. you having just come from a pretty successful meeting at the white house. you're at blair house right across the street right now. you asked the president the freeze troop withdrawals, at least for this year. he agreed to that. and to rethink it for 2016. what about that open-ended part about next year? did you hope that perhaps they would give you a more definitive idea of how many troops would be on the ground this time next year? >> the flexibility that we asked for and the stability has been provideed. with evolving conditioning on the ground, one has to make use of this major opportunity for reforms of our security forces and then assess the conditions. >> ifill: you talk about the evolving situation on the ground. what wo

president ghani and dr. abdullah, we are now in a position where the afghan security forces are not only more effective, but they are also better directed by the civilian government. we've been able to draw down and remove ourselves from the combat role as president ghani indicated, without collapse as was predicted. and afghan soldiers have fought. and they've fought well. and obviously there are still improvements to be made. but they are making significant progress. so the strategic partnership involves us continuing to help support afghan security forces that means financially, the internet commune -- international community will have to continue to support the region and the world and we've made a commitment to do that. continue to provide the kind of security, cooperation and support that is required training and assisting and advising on logistics and developing and enabling our capacity and all of the things that go into a modern military and a professional military and police force that can provide

they've been buoyed by the election of ashraf ghani and buoyed by the tone he's setting. again and again on this visit he's expressed gratitude to the u.s. for its support, and to american forces for their sacrifices. >> our army corps have changed fundamentally as a result of contracting with you. >> reporter: ghani has also outlined the challenges his unity government faces from corruption to widespread poverty to gender disparities. case in point, the fatal beating of a woman last week by a mob of men in kabul, following false allegations she burned a copy of the koran. then there's security. the taliban remains a threat even as u.s. and afghan officials try to work out a framework for peace talks. more bloodshed is expected with the arrival of spring known as the fighting season. the islamic state group is a problem, too. it spread its tentacles from syria and iraq to afghanistan. still, despite the hurdles ahead, u.s. secretary of state john kerry spoke of the progress that's been made over the years. >> life expectancy has risen by 20 years. health care access has i

ghani now the president, the head of state.ll be addressing the joint meeting of congress set to begin in just a few moments here. and dr. abdullah abdullah it was a bitter divide after allegations of fraud. now it's all sunshine and lollipops if you are to believe the staging and the stage craft that we have seen over the last three days. ashraf ghani has been very careful to thank the united states, the people of the united states, even going so far as to thank the taxpayers of the united states over the course of his three visits here. noting the number of american dead. that number 2,215, the trillions of dollars spent there. it's also an opportunity for the united states -- this speech for the united states congress to hear directly from the individual who wants money from this congress. we have seen a proposal from the secretary of defense and the administration during this visit to fully fund afghan troops. that comes with a steep price tag, estimated to be about $4 billion a year. there's also an $800 million aid packag

president ashraf ghani: thank you. announcer: ladies and gentlemen police remain in your seats until the delegations have the arctic. thank you. announcer: the afghan president will address a joint meeting of congress on wednesday. you can see his remarks live from the u.s. house of representatives at 10:45 a.m. eastern time here on c-span. announcer: coming up tonight on c-span, ohio governor john kasich, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, speaks in new hampshire. then the u.s. house the base the 2016 budget proposal. later, another chance to see president obama's joint news conference with the visiting afghan president. announcer: on the next washington journal, congressman frank lobiondo of new jersey is here to discuss the war powers debate and the united states -issa strategy. after that, congress meant to run of ohio talks about the house debate of the 2016 gop budget proposal. later, a look at the fiscal health of state and the impact of congress in washington on state budgets. our guest our debit lillard

ghani: thank you. trish: you have just been watching president obama speaking with afghan president ashraf ghani at the white house. president obama says that the drawdown remains the same for 2016 and the transition out of a combat role in afghanistan has not changed. for more reaction, i want to bring in phil mattingly. president ghani was there looking for flexibility when you are talking about a timeline for u.s. troop withdrawal. did he get what he wanted? phil: he got exactly what he wanted. you heard president obama say this over and over again. it is very dangerous still on the ground in afghanistan. there is a very intense spring fighting season coming with the talib zanna there is also best the taliban. there is also a very real threat of recruitment by the islamic state. there is a very implicit view that what happened in iraq with the decision to pull out u.s. troops in total was, if not a mistake, something they wish they had not done entirely. what you are seeing now is more stability on

roslind jordan reports. >> when afghan president ashraf ghani meets with u.s. officials on monday, his country's security will be top of mind. he want president obama to delay his plans to deploy troops 2015. >> i'm particularly concerned about the summer 2015. the afghans, this is a first fighting season completely on their own. >> ghani is trying to negotiate peace talks with al-qaeda, and he's also very worried that isil is trying to move in. >> we believe that that it represents rebranding of the taliban. we're taking this threat with its dangerous rhetoric seriously. >> right now forces are in afghanistan to train and support the afghan military. president obama had planned to cut that number to 5600 by the end of this year and withdraw the rest by 2015 leaving behind a mall number of troops to protect the u.s. embassy. the fear is that the afghan military will crumble, something that was acknowledged on a recent trip. >> president obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for president ghani's strategy. >> some analysts say that th

pez ghani, dr.i thank you both for your strong support of the partnership between our two nations, and yesterday they had a chance to spend time in camp david with our respective teams and had excellent discussions on how we can move forward together. today guided by our strategic partnership, we focused on several areas. first we agreed to continue to keep in place our close security cooperation. afghanistan remains a very dangerous place, and insurgents still launch attacks, including cowardly suicide bombings against civilians. president ghani is pursuing reforms to strengthen afghan security forces including respect for human rights and as part of the ongoing nato mission, the united states will continue to train, advise and assist afghan security forces. as we announced yesterday, we'll work with congress on funding to sustain 352,000 afghan police and troops through 2017. at the same time we'll continue to conduct targeted counterterrorism operations and we'll -- we agreed to maintain a dialog

as soon as ashraf ghani takes over, he signs the status of forces agreement, ghani comes here today, there was a meeting at camp david yesterday with u.s. officials, paid his respects at arlington national cemetery and will address congress, all of these things, you know, really putting on a good face, thanking the american taxpayer for this and the ability to work out a security agreement laid out today, about 10,000 troops remaining til the end of this year and with the goal by the end of 2016, the end of president obama's term, to have only a security force there to secure the u.s. embassy compound for about a thousand troops there. of course, republicans are already pushing back on that. you've heard from senators lindsey graham and john mccabe today -- mccain saying any type of timeline here, and other republicans have also criticized the president for that. cheryl: yeah, i saw those this morning. komam, it seems to me going down to less than 10,000 troops, still the threat of isis has been a very recent threat. can we be so sure that getting down to a thousand troops by the end

even as we ask for that number to stay constant ghani says that his country is defying the pessimist. >> i'm pleased to say that the departure of the international troops it not brought about the security gap or the collapse that was often anticipated. >> many doubt afghanistan can repel the taliban and other insurgent forces once the taliban love. and they will leave, president obama insisted, by 2017. >> the way it becomes less dangerous is for afghan security forces and police being capable of keeping law and order and security in the country. and that is not going to happen if foreign forces are continually relied upon >>> the iraqi government is said to be close to asking for u.s.-led air strikes. iraqi troops and shia militias are in an intense battle to retake the city. the u.s. has not played a role in the offensive but reportedly began surveillance over the city. israeli officials are strongly denying reports they spied on nuclear talks with iran with the goal of stopping a deal. it's the latest source of tension in a strained relationship between the white house and the isra

we do anticipate that congress will be receptive to ashraf ghani not only for the reasons we outlined but also because he has vowed to take the fight to the taliban, and the other elements within afghanistan that would seek to topple that government in kabul, dell. >> as we see them getting ready for the entrance of the afghan president, the fact that the vice president of the united states is on the podium as well as the speaker of the house, heralds a different reception than what we saw for the prime minister of israel a month ago. >> well notably, joe biden assumes that ceremony position in joint sessions of congress such as the state of the union, a familiar scene behind the speaker -- or the individual who is addressing the chamber, in this case of course ashraf ghani. a scene we did not see three weeks ago when benjamin netenyahu was here to make his speech to the congress against the iranian nuclear deal. >> also joining us this morning is a senior national security fellow at the new american foundation. thanks for being with us. the president saying more than 9,000 u.s. troop

president ghani's remarks come a day after his talks with president obama who announced u.s. not cut troop levels in afghanistan in half in 2015 despite previous pledge to do so. >> president ghani requested some flexibility on draw down timelines. i consulted with general campbell in afghanistan, my national security team and decided to maintain the current posture of 9800 troops through the end of this year. we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help afghan security forces succeed so we don't have to go back. >> nbc's foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin joins us now. good to see you. the president says it is a necessary response in anticipation of springtime resurgence of taliban there. >> yes, this is on a few different levels. one to make sure in springtime when there's resurgence of taliban activity and attacks, there's a strong secure afghan presence on the ground backed by the u.s. and international force, but more importantly i think this is a political message to the new leadership of afghanistan. afghanistan transitioned to a national unity g

and what ashraf ghani wanted him to do is delay that plan.alf of that number were to be there this year, 5,000 of them. and ghani wanted to delay it, to keep the 5,000 there a little bit longer to train equip and involve counter terrorism against taliban and other elements in afghanistan to stabilize that government. the president agreed in a joint press conference in the east room of the white house but he also insisted that the original plan that would have all u.s. troops removed from afghanistan by the beginning of 2017 was going to stay in place. a little bit more of what the president had to say. >> afghanistan is still a dangerous place, and the way it's going to become less dangerous is by afghan security forces and afghan policing capable of keeping law and order and security in the country. and that is not going to happen if foreign forces are continually ride upon. >> now the president says afghanistan is still a dangerous place, and that's something that the critics have seized upon, because they consider the withdrawal date to be

ghani speak, expected to get a warm reception.ned with president obama announcing he'll keep 9,800 troops in afghanistan for the foreseeable future. the drawdown was supposed to be down to 5,500. that elicited a response from john boehner, a good idea keeps the situation on the ground secure in afghanistan. republicans like him for pushing the president to keep troops on the ground there, and the president heeding his advice. >> and kristen, a lot going on at the white house when the two presidents met. what were the headlines? >> luke touched on one of them. i'm delve into that more deeply in a moment. the big headline the first time president obama was meeting with the president of afghanistan here at white house and made that specific announcement he would slow the pace of troop withdrawal. something that was anticipated but the fact that he made it official yesterday certainly significant. again, he initially been planning to announce the drawdown of 9,800 troops to half that. yesterday he said, no. those troops would stay in

guest: ashraf ghani is very worried. though he has been a breath of fresh air, the fact of the matter is he is worried the united states will pull the carpet on -- carpet out from underneath him. the money is drying up. when i was in afghanistan, people were concerned that no matter how sincere ashraf ghani could be people would look at international aid as a reason to embezzle money quicker. likewise, if you have international agencies pullout, and this is where ashraf ghani is truly worried, the only other jobs people can go to is the illegal economy, the narcotics trade. that is ceballos is with terrorism can't -- ceballos is with terrorism, and ultimately, ashraf ghani can worry about the spread of the islamic state there. people can say what does the islamic state have to do with afghanistan? the reality is what did al qaeda have to do with afghanistan? this is a major concern. i spent time with the taliban in 2000, and the biggest difference between the taliban and the islamic state is the taliban was desperate for