we see right there the fight for hajin, it continues.s that then the beginning of the end of islamic state, or is it as black and white as trump claims? anchal: well, islamic state has broadly, territoally bee defeated in syria and iraq. ere are certain pockets that continue to have some sort of rule. -- vast areas under isis's contro after that there will be certain villages under them, but sdf is also believed to be caying out operations there. when president trump says that isis has been defeated, you could say he is abou90% right. but has isis been decimated when you talk about the online campaign, talk about the ideology? then the clear answer is no. through encrypted communications isis is still sending messages to some of us journalists about how they will regroup. they talk about how they are huge in numbers, 40,000 years ago, and they say not all them have been killed. and they will start guerria activities. so donald trump has to decide later if isis regroups and reemerges, and then he is criticized that we should have stayed f

reports of so called islamic state fighters massacring hundreds of prisoners in the eastern town of hajing into question any supposed defeat of is in the country. a short time ago i spoke to the writer and former british diplomat, carne ross who has travelled to some of the kurdish controlled regions in northern syria, and spent time on the frontline with the people facing up to is on the ground. he explained the effect a withdrawal would have for the kurdish forces. it's a catastrophe for the kurdish dominated areas which should be said very clearly are democratic areas, they are areas that are not just about kurds, they include arabs, other ethnic minorities and democratic dispensation. and what the worry is, a very legitimate worry is that the us —— they would give the green light to president erdogan of turkey to fulfil his threats to invade that area. he said very clearly over the last few days, there are many times that that is his intention and if that happens it's a catastrophe. previously, general mattis had described a potential withdrawal as a strategic blunder. how effective a

backed syrianre forces capthe town of hajin, which is one of the largest urban enclaves controlled bythe islamic state in the region. but as we've reported on this program; despite efforts to quell the growth of isis, are regrouping, and localized groups are emerging, as recruiters exploit the war anpolitical factors. i recently sat down with "new york times" foreignco espondent rukmini callimachi who covers isis. her in-depth podcast "caliphli"" takeeners inside the terror group and their motives through her relationship with self-described former isisfa member abu huz you have a ten part podcast series that looks at so many differt layers of isis, so people might go back and subscribe now but didn't hear it then, what were you trying to accomplish? >> i was trying to accomplish owhat i am always trying accomplish which is, i'm tlying my best to understand these people that in many ways lookon likeers to us. these are people that are-- that are doing acts that we consider so horrific that it's hard to even conceive of them as human. > sreenivasan: uh-huh. >> and yet i havn e bee this

ofey had battled the militant group for controhe town of hajin for three months turkish president recepyip erdogan threatened again today to attack the kurdish fighters that he regards as terrorists.ey tuaid he also discussed the situation with president trump, by phone. in france, a frth person has died from wounds suffered in tuesday's mass shooting in strasbourg. that word cafa as the city's med christmas market, which was the scene of the attack, reopened for business, amid heavy security. the suspected gunman was killed by police last night in strasbourg. brish prime minister there may pressed on today in her bid to rework a brexit deal. but, leaders from theuropean union gave her little hope. french presidentmmanuel macron said it's time for the british parliament to accept the deal, or not. the european council's president, donald tusk, underscored that point, at meetings in brussels. >> i have no mandate to organize any further negotiations. of have to exclude any kin re-opening our negotiations on the withdrawal agreement. but of course, we will stay here in brussels, and i am

to where isis really stands and isis has been fighting for the last eight weeks in a place called hajinforces which we helped plan the operation. we provide the artillery support, air power for that. it took us eight to nine weeks to defeat determined resolute organization there. there are thousands more left like that. so, where the president's i think is now. he doesn't want to pull all the forces out until there is assurance that isis is truly defeated. most importantly they're not able to reemerge and rebuild the retake, territory again. so, that is an important adjustment. the second thing is, he does not want the syrian kurds to be slaughtered as a result of a departure from syria. and he also doesn't want iran to take over all of syria. so, those three adjustments are being made to the plans and certainly the pentagon will, will act accordingly in terms of, in terms of a phased withdrawal to accommodate those desires of the president. charles: you know, americans of course, we've been in afghanistan going on 18 years next year. really, really, galvanized around president trump's