richard holbrooke began his clear from vietnam. can he now help the united states avoid the mistakes of the war in afghanistan. by george packer. where is ambassador or special representative holbrook on this? >> that's a good question and that was just an excellent piece by george packer. you know, ambassador holbrook has been at the forefront of crafting a strategy to get more american civilians out to afghanistan to help with reconstruction, with development and with governance, which is a key part of this overall counterinsurgency strategy. in many ways, ambassador holbrook has been doing half of this work and general mcchrystal has been doing the other half, which has been focusing on the other side of things. this has to be jarring for him as well as general mcchrystal because certainly they've been both operating under the assumption that what the white house had wanted was this sword of broader intensiver at trying to rebuild the afghan state so it could essentially take responsibility for security activities and the reason

chard holbrooke ban his clear from vietn. can he no help the unite stes avoid the mistakes of e wain afghanistan. by geoe packer. where is ambassador o special reesentative holbroo on this? >> that's a good queion and at was just anexcellent piece by georg packer. u know, ambsador holbrook has been at t forefront of crafting a strategy to get more ameran civilians ou to afghanistan to help with reconsuction, with devopment d with governance, which is a kepart of this overa counrinsurgency strategy. in many ways, ambassador holbrook has been doing half of this worknd general mcchrystal has been doing the her half, which has been focusing the other side of things. this haso be jarri forhim as welas general mcchrystal beuse certainly they' been bo opeting under the assumption thawhat the white house had wanted was th sword of broad intensivert trying to rebuild thefghan state so it could essentily take responsility for security actities and the reasoning behind all of this is that a more stableafghan state wi a more effectiveove

you recently traveled with richard holbrooke, the obama administration's special representative to theegion. what -- what perspective can can you give us, having been there on the ground and hearing the many voices in this conversation? >> well, what ambassador holbrooke is responsible for is the civilian side of our effort in afghanistan and it was remarkable to see how large and rebust that effort is. i mean, he is talking about increasing the number of agriculture experts six-fold. he is talking about reform of the justice system. he is talking about getting away from crop eradication to drug interdiction. so pretty big policy changes on the civilian side. but meanwhile, there's two other problems which seem to be sort of out of his hands and maybe out of our hands. one is the afghan government, which in the middle of his efforts, has come very close to stealing an election. and what that is takes away the possibility that we have a legitimate partner in kabul. and there's really no way to fight a counterinsurgency without a partner whom we, the international community and afghans t

we still haven't heard from hillary clinton or richard holbrook or most importantly bob gates. it is clear the military wants more troops. they are only one piece of the picture. >> the military wants more troops and what hillary clinton has called for along with richard holbrook is a broader policy that involves a big civilian deployment as well. it is basically nation building. >> that is right. that rolls out very slowly especially because the development piece of our foreign policy has been screwed up. usaid is a mess. that is why hillary clinton added a second deputy head of state to get our house in order. >> and manage the state department better day-to-day. >> this is chess. we have to have a reliable ally in afghanistan, a karzai government with plausibility who we don't have. there is the pakistani piece. >> let me switch hats, joe. there is nobody better at covering domestic politics. the not so subtle shove that the president gave to governor paterson. we saw this shout out that the president has to give to david paterson. >> it was a mistake. it is not as if his pl

richard holbrooke credited the u.s. with disrupting the drug trade. this afternoon's consumer alerts announced a break for people behind on their taxes. 300,000 people have a two month amnesty period in hopes of collecting the overdue money. taxpayers can file penalties -- file papers to shed a good chunk of the interest. you can even make plans to spread out payments. >> i would hope that we would be able to raise $10 million or more. >> this is vital revenue that would allow west -- allow us to help out in difficult times. >> an amnesty plan in 2001 brought in a lot of money. if you would like more information, bought on to our website, wbaltv.com. there is a link under project economy. >> hopefully you were lucky enough to have lunch outside today. all of the clouds and moisture, well off in the atlantic. this trend will last through today and tomorrow, but all the way through the labor day weekend. 71 degrees downtown, 71 at the airport, 60's in pennsylvania. in the mountains today, it will only get up to 59 degrees. here in baltimore, mostly sunn

ambassador holbrooke and i chaired that here in washington. general mcchrystal was there as well. they have now produced a military campaign plan. that was one of the achievements of the month of july. that tactical directive that general mcchrystal refined was hugely imported. -- hugely important. strategic setbacks because of the numbers of civilians that are killed in them, in fact, the number of civilians killed has been dramatically reduced by the very rigorous implementation of that directive which governs, provides guidance on the use of close air support and other indirect fires and so on. he's also published a counter insurgency guidance that is, again, superb. you know, something similar, frankly, to what we did in iraq and we can give you copies of that at the door if you want them. there's still some in a couple of rucksacks back there, and believe it or not, we were so antagonizing the public on how we drove in afghanistan that just the act of driving down the streets in some of the areas over there -- so this is what general mcchrystal talked about when he highlighte

as you know, secretary holbrooke participated in an international conference in which they attended and interests there as well in a stable afghanistan. >> rose: they're very interested in that. and they're not a friend of the taliban, are they? >> you know the history as well as i do. >> rose: with respect to the middle east, the president clearly disappointed that it hadn't started. he tried to add a sense of urgency for the process to start. today's paper have stories of reconsidering question of settlements. where is the president on an issue of concern to both parties on settlements? >> well, he was.... >> rose: has he changed? >> no. i mean, he was very clear to both parties about the importance of getting the peace process started. second, he spoke.... >> rose: and disappointed that it had not happened by this time. >> disappointed for them. >> rose: right. >> they lived side by side. you can't want this more than they want it. they have a responsibility to their people if they want to make peace and have i a two-state solution that's based on the principles of past israeli gover

once this election is finalized to work with our entire civilian team, with special representative holbrook, with ambassador and everyone else to really impress upon the new government what is expected of them. let's not for get, harry, this is about us sitting right here in new york. this is about making sure that we've got the intelligence and the capacity to interrupt potential attacks that we try to continue our effort to destroy and defeat al qaeda which are unfortunately still to this day attempting to kill and destroy americans and others. >> smith: zazi najibullah zazi went to pakistan in order to get bomb training. is pack ston doing enough to clean up its own house? >> again, what has happened in the last nine months? pakistan has increased its commitment in the fight against the taliban. a lot of people thought that would never happen. i believe that if we engaged very intensively with our pakistani friends and we did through meetings in washington and in islamabad, if we shared information, we listened to each other, that there would be a decision by the civilian and military le

special envoy richard holbrooke, and the u.s. senate, where last week he testified before the senate foreign relations committee. back in 2002, shortly after the start of the war in afghanistan, stewart traveled the entire country by foot, a death-defying, 6000-mile trek chronicled in his book "the places in between." rory stewart, welcome to the journal. >> thank you very much. >> sherr: let me start by asking, what in heavens name made you decide to walk across afghanistan, at a time when there was a war on? >> i didn't... i really believe that in order to talk about a country you need to spend time in villages, because this is a country where 80%, 90% of the population live in villages, and if you spend your time in an embassy compound or dealing with other diplomats or dealing with fancy cabinet ministers, you simply miss the tenor of it. so the privilege for me was that, on that walk-- and i also walked across iran, pakistan, india, nepal- i stayed in 500 different village houses. night after night, i sat on people's floor,

reporter: with secretary of state clinton and special representative to afghanistan and pakistan holbrooke said to be leaning that way. vice president biden, general jim jones and chief of staff rahm emanuel are said to be skeptical of that proposal. with biden pushing a narrower foe kur on counterterrorism, just al qaeda, with likely fewer troops. others in the room have yet to decide. among the questions they're debating -- does providing security for afghanistan against the taliban make sense if most of al qaeda is in pakistan? does the taliban pose a threat to the u.s.? if not, need they be defeated? does nation-building in afghanistan make sense if it's not clear that nation can be built? and -- >> if we take the risk of failing in afghanistan, what happens then to pakistan? >> reporter: a book being devoured right now in the west wing is "lessons in disaster," about the build-up to vietnam, written by gordon goldstein. >> the number one lesson in disaster for the president is a lesson kennedy learned in 1961, counselors advise but presidents decide. >> reporter: presidents decide mea

s. >> we may ask you to do that, because we may have want to look at ambassador holbrooke's comments he made here and general fields' comments as well. >> we welcome that. >> thank you on that. >> any other questions? mr. murphy? mr. murphy stealthily came into the room, so we can look to him for stealth technology. there's no questions. in that case, is there anything that anybody wants to comment on that you thought might have been left unsaid? i'll start from my left over here. general feemed. >> -- general field. >> thank you for allowing the opportunity, mr. chairman. i wish to go back, maybe about an hour, to that which addressed the white paper produced by ambassador ikeenberry which addresses how he wishes to approach certain matters in the reconstruction effort. i want to point out, to this committee, that during the course of the past year, making my first trip to afghanistan in this capacity, last september, i've now visited 13 provinces and about as many p.r.t.'s or provincial reconstruction teams, i've met with about as many governors of provinces or deputy governors of

richard holbrooke is no on his last mission to. he has been in many other places in the world. as a representative he cautions us to be careful about likening it to vietnam. he falls into the trap himself from time to time, he says. here is where the holdup is. people need to be fair-minded. they had a difficult election. many argue that it was fraudulent. in order to accomplish what general mcchrystal is asking we have to have a partner in the islamic republic of afghanistan. without a partner the forces from nato and the international coalition cannot accomplish anything. if it is of likening it to vietnam, what happened there, we propped up general diem and it turned out to be the worst thing we could do because he was the leader of an eligible government that did not have the confidence of the people. general the chrysalis saying we need to work on the people, try as best we can to win the hearts and minds. -- general mcchrystal. the literacy rate of the population is 10% at best. we're talking about warlords, criminals. people say taliban. the next thing that comes to mind

i think it is very important to establish the facts and have ambassador holbrook, secretary clinton and everybody put their views down. we cannot add troops with the facts we have. i think the president is doing exactly the right thing. >> the other major foreign policy challenge is iran. what, in your estimation, is iran up to and they fire these test missiles and how difficult will it be to hold this coalition together and get sanctions? >> iran is a truly difficult irgs. what president obama and secretary clinton were able to do in new york in terms of getting international support for pursuing what is happening in iran and these particular talks. nothing is going be solved in this first set of talks. it shows a different approach of trying to learn what is going on there. i understand the missile thing they are saying was preplanned. the timing is perfectly dreadful. i think the international aspect, if we are going to go with sanctions we can't have the u.s. sanctioning, it has to be multilateral. >> it becomes more difficult as long as there are talks, the chinese and the russians

the president's special envoy richard holbrook was asked about his definition of success. >> i would say this about defining success in afghanistan and pakistan, the supreme court test for another issue, we'll know it when we see it. >> is that good enough? >> well, i think, i think, we know it when we see it and we see it in iraq. i think success in afghanistan, looks like a great like success in iraq, your afghan national security forces increasingly take the lead in protecting their territory, in protecting their own people. we withdraw to an overwatched situation. >> first required a surge in iraq. >> that's the issue that we'll be looking at over the next several weeks, is do we have the right strategy and that concludes a question of, is mcchrystal's approach, in the view of joint chiefs of staff, and the central command commander the right approach? and if so, what would be the additional resources? >> let me turn to iran the president has put iran on notice. they're going to have allow inspectors into the secret sites. president ahmadinejad says that president obama is mistak

that is -- you have on the other side of course hillary clinton, secretary of state and richard holbrooke and others obviously general mcchrystal advocating for an increase of force right away or we're going to face failure there. >> we keep hearing we have to make sure the strategy is correct, we have to make sure what our strategy is. what's unclear about our strategy right now? >> well, there is this debate about whether or not al qaeda will even return. is the goal to keep al qaeda out of pakistan which is al qaeda is thriving -- sorry, if the goal is keep al qaeda out of afghanistan, not allow them to return there. of course they are thriving in pakistan, then what are our goals in afghanistan? those are the questions being asked. how much can we mitigate the threat of the taliban there, and what is the danger of that weighed against what al qaeda has been able to do in pakistan. that's why the arguments from vice president biden and others about not increasing troops in afghanistan is the that we need to focus on our resources on pakistan, that's where our biggest threat lies. so, t

. >> before the report, did ambassador holbrooke raises questions with pakistan?utual respect. we welcome the iranian government's constructive response to the april 2009 invitation to meet face-to-face. living floor, this could bring iran into compliance with its international obligations and create confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program. >> but you cannot seen an offer. >> know, we have not. -- no, we have not. not to my knowledge. >> are they willing to meet or is it just that they are saying that they have a package to offer? >> we do not have any understanding. all we have seen is what you have seen, that there is one iranian press report that purported to quote the iranian nuclear in addition -- negotiator. we're not seen any new proposal and we have not seen any answer to our proposals, p5 + 1, the issues outlined in their declaration of maple. and our proposal to engage with them and talk about these issues. the nuclear issues. >> did he make an announcement? dollars to the present iran. he blamed the west -- >> to the press i

holbrook has, that we have to have a development strategy there, a political strategy that works with the grassroots level. in iraq when that surge worked, you had iraqis who were sick and tired of the al qaeda in iraq, who were willing to, you know, hitch up withs and risk their own lives. there are a lot of people now who are bringing up the ghosts of vietnam. what really happened in vietnam was allhese things are, as i say, they're away games for the american military. we're not on our home turf, which means to succeed, there has to be a partner, and the definition of partnership is someone willing to risk their lives in their home area to prevail, because they think it's necessary to build a decent life and a better life for their people. the south vietnamese army collapsed ten days after the last helicopter left with americans and hever vietnamese we could take, and we're not there yet. we may get there and that's what the president is trying to determine, and we should give him some time to make the decision. >> what specific threat does al qaeda pose to the united states? >> th

hillary clinton, general mcchrystal, petraeus, gates, as well as several others including richard holbrookens have had the kind of close-up look that jonathan lan di has had while he was embedded with u.s. troops in afghanistan. he is senior national intelligence and security correspondent for mcclatchy. amazing reports including one fire fight detailing how children were handing ammunition to the taliban while they faced american troops. talk about the troop levels already there. there are 68,000, i believe, there, and could be more. but that is not people on the ground regarding american troop levels. >> that's right. there are a lot of troops. and you have to add the nato troops there and non-nato troops. you're talking about around 100,000 troops. but you have to remember that afghanistan is a really big country. it's twice the size of iraq, where the united states had at one point 160,000 troops. general mcchrystal is looking at a strategy that would consolidate the troops he does have in major -- around major populations centers, which are economic centers, as well, because he simply

. >> now, at the same time we've had reports from dick holbrooke when he was traveling there a couple of weekends ago that some of the southern commanders there in afghanistan are calling for more troops. does your recommendation come in conflict with some of the men on the field or have they reassessed in the intervening weeks? >> i'm not sure what the recommendation is going to be. we don't -- we have heard that general mccrystal is going to be recommending additional combat forces but we don't know. we had a long talk with him exploring the situation in afghanistan. but we just don't know for sure what that recommendation's going to be. but i know what my recommendation is. i believe the best chance of success in afghanistan, and we've got to enhance our chances of success, particularly remembering on this day what happened in afghanistan when the taliban took over and provided a safe haven for al qaeda. we've got to make sure that does not happen again and the best way to do that is for the afghans to do what they want to do, which is to provide for their own security with their o

that comes from holbrooke. if that is the source, it is a shift in focus.ng to them, pakistan as a country that matters, as he put it. we're seeing a shift, as pakistan goes so goes afghanistan. that is where the taliban actually is. we're going to be expending resources there. my concern, and it might be shared by the chairman and others, the chairman mentioned that we seem to be behind the curve all the time. we are eight years into this and we seem to always have the recommendations that are now born to be implemented eight years a letter -- eight years later. we need to the these in place before a round of the flow of resources to these places. -- before we ramp up the flow. if our resources are flowing for pakistan, we're going to be in a situation a couple of years from now we're really put your resources in place where the money has gone before. we are just chasing our tail all the time and we never seem to be putting structures in place to make sure that these resources are expended properly after they are already in place. you mentioned that you wo

as you know, there's, secrary holbrooke pticipated in an international conference eaier in the year which they attded. >> rose: and cod they have -- >> and they have interts there as well,n a stable afghantan. >> rose: oh, ty're very interted in that, and they are not a friend of e taliban. >> you know theistory as well as do. >> lehrer: you canee all of charlis interview with emanuel by going to a link tois web site from rs newshour.pbs.org. now fomore on confronting and engaging iran, we goo: ray teye, he advised the obama administration on an policy earli this year. he's a sior fellow at the council on foreign relation his latest book "the guardians of the revotion: an's approach to the world" d david kay, he was the u.n. chief nuclear weons inspector inraq in the 1990s. he led the search f weapons of massestruction after the invasion of iraq in 2003 fothe bush adminiration. he's now a senr fellow at the tomac institute for policy studies. dav kay, so, you take tho words fromahm emanuel andll the oer words thatere spoke at e u.n. and around the u. in the last few days, what's changed,

as you know, there's, secretary holbrooke participated in an international conference earlier in the year in which they attended. >> rose: and could they have -- >> and they have interests there as well, in a stable afghanistan. >> rose: oh, they're very interested in that, and they are not a friend of the taliban. >> you know the history as well as i do. >> lehrer: you can see all of charlie's interview with emanuel by going to a link to his web site from ours newshour.pbs.org. now for more on confronting and engaging iran, we go to: ray takeye, he advised the obama administration on iran policy earlier this year. he's a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. his latest book is "the guardians of the revolution: iran's approach to the world"; and david kay, he was the u.n.'s chief nuclear weapons inspector in iraq in the 1990s. he led the search for weapons of mass destruction after the invasion of iraq in 2003 for the bush administration. he's now a senior fellow at the potomac institute for policy studies. david kay, so, you take those words from rahm emanuel and all th

ambassador holbrook, to help on very important policy issue. afghanistan, the middle east.nk the members of congress should focus on what shethese so-called policy people are doing to help the country and get away from the politics. >> i remember bill bennett, our contributor, and he was the drug czar in a republican presidency. he wasn't confirmed by the senate. >> historically what has happened is when we created czar, an energy czar under nixon and obviously a drug czar, we created cabinet posts after that. bill ended up being a cabinet officer. energy became a department. i just argue that you're really overlapping. a president is entitled to whoever he wants. my issue is not what the senate's issue is. but i think to a certain extent you're filling up the old executive office building with a whole bunch of people without staff or resources and it has to be very confusing. having worked in a couple of white houses, i know how the decision process is done. i think if you've got 35 more people in the room than you need, you don't get good decisions. >> bill bennett became

joe biden was actually against it, and he fought a battle against holbrook and clinton on this.ing to see what's going on politically. >> just about 46 years ago, he decided to put them in the back of a truck in saigon and take them for a ride. they were assassinated in the back of those vans. that was the last stable government, the diem regime, october 1963. things kind of went downhill from there. >> tina brown, thank you so much for coming in. >> congratulations again on the success of the daily beast. >> barnicle said you won because the site is real pretty. it's crisp and clean. >> it's not just clean, it's got good stuff. >> you know that. >> you know which section of the daily beast barnicle likes. it's the sexy beast. he goes there every time. >> one of the great movies of all time. >> plaxico does his time while the yankees and angels have a late night of their own without weapons. freddy roggin has sports. does your mouthwash work in sixifferent ways? introducing listerine® total care. everything you need to strengthen teeth, help prevent cavities, and kill germs. int

i think most of us would agree that richard holbrook and george mitchell play important roles in our foreign policy. it's good to have them. steve: there are a bunch of positions in the administration that are empty but right now we have a ton of czars. >> we also have a problem with the confirmation process. we can't get people through the house and senate. and that's a problem. >> i think secretary state clinton has concern that some of the czars are kind of threading on her turf and may be muddying the water. >> she has been very supportive of george mitchell and richard holbrook. >> george had at least 6 so-called czars. steve: i have never seen that number. >> "wall street journal," my bible. steve: ok. >> and "the washington post." it was a recent article. steve: all right. we are going to continue. enough for the dancing with the czars section. next up with our panel, new video showing acorn's corruption. it has spread further and this time we are going to wind up in california. >> it's prostitution. >> oh, ok. >> is that ok? >> it's ok with me. i think it should be totally le

i have spent so much time with ambassador holbrooke here in washington.the team that we have, addressing this problem is really working together from washington and kabul as wanting. and that is visit that ambassador holbrooke makest to make sure spaces don't develop between the policy planning procesand the application proces d reallyhat they are one. so i was pleased that i w able to make this visit in between his visits. the trip we took to tour coverage is the khyber pass, was actually extmely important becausthe key to long-term development in afghanistans a trade. have talked a lot about the trade to trade agreement between pakistan and afghanistan. and the challenge of the transit trade process he comes very tangible. when you see the challenges of getting goods back and forth across this very narrow passi. u.s. ctoms and dhs officials are being extrema helpful working with the afghan ministries that are. both help them go through the process of clearing goo to make sure that goods are transported safely. and also going through the process of worki

it's got secateurs clinton's detention, ambassador holbrooke's attention.of people working on it. we are just not a government has been constructed to do this quickly. and there is a plan, and i think we are a little bit behind that plan to surge up words like five or 600 to be there in the spring, but it's the spring day are not there now. there are additional civilians who have arrived. there has been a major change in the embassy. but it's not happening as rapidly as it could and we can't do it without that help, first of all, and secondly you talked about governance. i consider the threat from lack of governance to be equal to the threat from the taliban. and we are both of those things have to be addressed. >> presidential election is going to a conclusion. to what extent will that affect the situation with an afghanistan in your view? there is a possibility that there could be serious crisis of legitimacy that would impair the judgment to function at all. is that a factor that we have to consider? >> i think the legitimacy of the afghan government at

[laughter] ambassador holbrooke did give intervieyesterday and he basically said look, let's let the process worked out. you've got the ectoral commission, theomplaints commission. they are doing their work. i think yesterday there were a number of votes thrown out by the electoral bodies. buat ts point in time, i think he indicated he did not e there was any need for a new election. he thinkshe process these are in place we will eventually reached a result the afghan people will support this. >> there was a meeting yesterday secretary clinton the foreign minister to read to you have any readout? >> i don't. i think it was, as we described sterday, it was the meeting of one-on-one mini the minister d here in washington, d.c.. i think that among the topics discussed were ongoing cooperation on terrorism llowing up on the mumbai attacks and deepeng cooperation between the two countries. speegap is their concern about pakistan on taking action on planning -- [inaudible] >> as we said many times whope pakistani authorities will continue the invtigationnd bring the perpetrators and attack

one of the very best people was you and the people we have there, general mcchrystal, holbrook, we have too. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator kaufman. let me follow up on a few things if i can. the sort of a parallel to a couple of questions. on the issue of the taliban which is central to this -- actually, before i get to this. i want to ask general krad dock, it's important to our understanding of what the options are in the taliban, as supreme allied commander, you were commanding nato forces, and you're very familiar where the tensions within that block at this point. my sense is that we are losing our allies' enthusiasm for this effort and that a number of them -- i won't go into the details there -- but have been very reluctant all along to engage. their troops don't engage. and looking to them for additional support here, i mean i think essentially we're going to kind of be on our own here. we have -- is that a fair assessment? >> senator, i think that's a fair assessment from a military perspective. i would agree there is unequal burden-sharing among the

and ambassador holbrook said the r.o.z.'s are a vital component of our policy toward pakistan in a moment of great challenge, indeed crisis for that critically important nation. i hope, mr. chairman, we can continue to work on this. thank you for your leadership here. i thank representative levin as well and other members, because i think that the pakistani president is a good judge of what the economic impact would be. and i do find it curious when sometimes members of this congress substitute their judgment as to what would be in the interest -- in the economic interest of pakistan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i yield one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. now, we heard from the previous speaker that we should focus on trade more than aid. and i do think we need to move forward on trade because we do know that that provides for more sustainable foundation to long-term economic growth in

government has developed and expanded policy in afghanistan and wish toassure the work of ambassador holbrooke who testified before this committee. he has highlighted oversight in this strategy. sigar has met with senior government officials in both washington and afghanistan. in kabul, we have attended meetings at the embassy. we have built a strong network among the agencies. these meetings, together with our ongoing work, help us much heard the development of a new approach in afghanistan. we are using this information as a basis to adapt and expand our oversight plans. we work with members of the oversight community to make sure that over said work is coordinated and not duplicative, and aims to produce positive change, and does not overburden the u.s. civilian and military personnel who are implementing the reconstruction programs. we are keenly aware that is our job to find a document waste, fraud, and abuse. we have the purpose of improving the program and edifying wrongdoers. we are poised to [unintelligible] our mission is difficult. it has taken time to hire staff capable and willing

according to the source at the "new york post" over the special envoys that have been like richard holbrookt have been put in place and the one in afghanistan and, you know, pakistan, everywhere else has a special envoy. they are not really answering to the secretary of state. steve: you are not the boss of me as they would say on malkin in the middle. brian: which is off the air. steve: it's on in syndication. it's on in re-runs. if you watched the speech last night, and you saw it right here on fox, what did you think? did he change your mind regarding whether or not you think it is a good idea to reform health care? email us right now friends@foxnews.com or twitter us as well? gretchen: that group as well the independents. did it change their mind. most people on the left or right will stay where they are. he said god wanted him to hijack the plane. mexican police say 44-year-old floor he see a bolivian preacher told them he hijacked a flight from cancun to mexico city because god told him to warn mexican president felipe calderon of an upcoming catastrophic earthquake. the jet luckily s

adimora operational level president obama named ambassador richard holbrooke is special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. he leads our strategic engagement with the governments of the region an hour our abul ambassadors working tirelessly in carrying out their respective duties. the u.s. diplomatic effort is drawing an caused by admiral mike mullen chairman of the¿ joint chiefs, beyond his responsibility for ensuring the fitness and readiness of our fighting forces worldwide. he is closing gates and the delicate and essential security discussions across south asia and many visits to afghanistanç and to forgeç a closer more consonant relationship between our government in each of theirs. these leaders are seeds of our commitment to afghanistan and pakistan and strengthening the foundations for stability. they along with secretary of state clinton national security adviser james jones and vice president biden are together in the final stages of a crucial review of our strategies and policies in the region. but the president is the commander in chief and he is the one who wil

says, "ambassador hunter, does this decision helped ambassador holbrooke strength and a contact group for the ass bafpak with te russians? what is that? guest: this is really a route -- this is really about iran. host: next call for robert hunter, a democrat. caller: if i had known, i would not have wasted my call. just to pare back the military budget at all, and, you know, i do not think i would take your word for it that obama and just dropped it on everybody, i am sure that he was a little bit more -- guest: i hope you are right, but i did not see any evidence. caller: when you say the rand corp., my hair just goes up. but i, like you, thought it was a very bad idea, but you have to follow the money. i just know the media is going to just bury him, and i just want to support him on it, because i have never been for that in the first place. thank you for your time. guest: think you for your time. i very much support with the president did, it was a very smart decision. i just have one little quibbled in which -- in that the way in which was done, there could have been some consulta

tomorrow i'll have the opportunity to join in listening to ambassador holbrook who has just returned back from afghanistan. and i'd like to offer these thoughts. i do believe that afghanistan is very important to the united states. and after 9/11 it was important to respond to the attack on this nation. but now i think it is important to emphasize a diplomatic surge and to stand down on the military soldiers all who are valiantly working there. i believe it is important to allow the afghan people through the building of schools and roads and the building of the afghan army to take control of their own security. we cannot allow this to be a 20-year war as it was with russia and the afghan people must stand up. some may say it is not the time. that it is a difficult time. and they are right. because instead of pursuing the cause in afghanistan over the last eight years we failed and detoured into iraq. iraq that took thousands of american lives and still unfortunately and tragically struggles today with democracy and leadership in their own country. but i do believe it is time for a su

. >> ambassador holbrooke has said that progress -- ask what progress would be in afghanistan, said, "we will know it when we see it." could you address more specifically how you see progress in this goal of dismantling and defeating al qaeda. and is denying a safe haven in pakistan part of this mission as well, or removing the safe haven that is thriving there now? >> first of all, one of the most significant new elements of the president's strategy announced at the end of march was the recognition that this is a regional concern, a regional problem. the chairman has spoken often about the pakistani port of this, and he mentioned earlier in this press availability that this is a piece that is independent, really -- this is not part of general mcchrystal's writ, if you will, but it is an integral part of the president's overall strategy and the military approach. i think that we do take that into account. >> and -- >> making progress? >> first of all, the in ministration has developed -- let me answer that in two ways -- the administration has develop measures of effectiveness, share

>> admiral mullen and special envoy holbrooke acknowledged the at these hearings is there a danger u.sy operations in afghanistan could drive militants into pakistan, and further destabilize that nuclear-armed country. and admiral blair testified no improvement in afghanistan is possible without pakistan taking control of its border areas and improving governance, creating economic and educational opportunities throughout the country. do you agree that the key to preventing the spread of militancy in the afghan/pakistan border region is improved governance of pakistan as opposed to our military operations in afghanistan? >> senator, i would certainly join general craddock and most of the members in the strong view that there is no purely military solution to problems in afghanistan or, indeed, in pakistan. there is a military component to a broader solution. the military, and i apologize for treading into general craddock's area defining the task is essential at this point. again, mr. chairman, i commend the committee for its focus on this. what is it that we believe needs to be done t