then the houthis staged their coup. they attacked the city, they seized the government and took total control of a country that is critically important to the security of the region. now we have a radical militia allied with iran and hezbollah in possession of ballistic missiles and an air force that has taken over a friendly government. friendly government asks for support. we intervened. from day one we have said there is no military solution. the solution is political. the houthis have to go back to the negotiating table and implement the outcomes of the national dialogue in yemen. the houthis are less than 50,000 in a country of 28 million. it is unacceptable that they would be allowed to seize power and get away with it. and so we and a coalition of countries have been fighting to restore the legitimate government of yemen, which now is in control of 80% of the territory. we have made mistakes and we have acknowledged those and we have investigated those. but we have been charged with things that we didn't do. we w

as well and there is a connection between the houthis and iranians. to your second point in answer o my question, senator young, that is, to my mind, also the likely result of a deepening of the military conflict. if the houthis had nowhere to turn, then the calculation might be different. but because the iranians are there, as a support system to lean on, a continued military campaign against hudaydah would push them deeper into a corner and broaden the prospect of military conflict. there has to be a resolution here. by upping the military ante and continuing the humanitarian crisis, you get further away frm that political negotiating table rather than closer to it. mr. young: indeed. the last thing we want to do is to exacerbate a situation where we already have ten million desperate people on the cusp of starvation or passing away on account of the lack of medical supplies. so we need assistance here, whih is why it's important for the president to elevate the importance of this issue in his conversation with the saudis during his coming visit. an

the houthis are less than 50,000. in a country of 28 million. it is unacceptable that they would be allowed to seize power and get away with it, and so we and a coalition of countries have been fighting to restore the legitimate government of yemen, which now is in control of 80% of the territory. we have made mistakes and we have acknowledged those and we have investigated those. but we have been charged with things that we didn't do. we were supposed to have attacked a wedding that never happened, supposed to have bombed the old city which never took place, supposed to have destroyed cranes from the airport which we never did. these charges were lefrlds at the kingdom and coalition and they were not correct. but the image prevailed that we were waging an aggressive war against the country and the houthis were made to look like they're victims when it was they who started this and it was they who lobbed more than 40 ballistic missiles at our country's towns and cities. it is they who have violated thousands of times cease-fire arrangements put

the houthis and the other. it is because of that. to get that story out and alert the world to the magnitude of the suffering. 7 million people cannot feed theirfamilies. suffering. 7 million people cannot feed their families. 500,000 children underfive feed their families. 500,000 children under five are still illegal pictures you see on tv in any crisis. —— are those skeletal. you talk about the houthi rebels, the government, which now sits in aden because it had to quit sana'a, and the third element, the saudi—led coalition. they are the outsiders in the conflict. you are pointing the finger at the richest country in the middle east as being directly responsible for keeping this crisis outside public view. is that what you are saying? what we are saying is right now the parties involved in the conflict don't really care at all about the people they say they represent. so we have a situation where you have millions and millions of people, up to 90 million people, who need some form of assistance. we cannot get resources to them. ——

sana'a is now occupied by houthi rebel forces. the government of yemen is now in aden.lict all around the country. some territory is still held by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. there is talk also of so—called islamic state having a presence in yemen today. realistically, what can you actually do and deliver? well, the un and its partners, the ngos, red cross, and other, we have five offices, the north, south, east, west, and the centre part. we deliver assistance through those co—ordination response offices. we are present 80% geographically and physically. there is no problem getting to people. the problem is, sometimes there is interference, diversion, blockages, but the biggest issue apart from that is resources. if we don't have resources, it doesn't matter how many people around the ground if we cannot deliver them to be we need resources to save lives. is itjust about resources, though? for example, i know that the most important port facility that gets aid into the country is hudaydah. sure. the problem is that hudaydah has been bombed. five of the cranes th

especially those under the houthi.eclared the breaking up of the country. we have had saris from yemen, china and the uk, us australia and germany and france. next on outside source, to north korea. these pictures came in over the weekend. that's a north korean missile launch on sunday. we are told it is a new type of rocket capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead. as is often the case with north korea, we cannot verify those claims. here is a report with what we do know. north korea's neighbours have long feared its shorter range missiles, after sunday's test, pyongyang can now threaten a much greater area. this latest missile has a range of more than a000 miles. bringing ava didn't occui’ than a000 miles. bringing ava didn't occur other asian regions into reach but not the northern america. occur other asian regions into reach but not the northern americam occur other asian regions into reach but not the northern america. it can be very much a surprise, solid fuel mix the remaindercan be very much a surprise, sol

the houthis are in a country of 28 million. it's unacceptable that they would be allowed to seize power and get away with it. and so, we, and a coalition of countries, have been fighting to restore the legitimate government of yemen, which now is in control of 80% of the territory. we have made mistakes, and we have acknowledged those and we have investigated those, but we have been charged with things that we didn't do. we were supposed to have attacked a wedding which never happened. supposed to have bombed which never took place and and other things that the houthis did from the groundup. and they are not correct. the image prevailed that we were waging aggressive war to the count and the houthis were made to look like they were victims when it was they who started this and it was they who lobbed more than 40 ballistic missiles at our countries, towns and cities. it is they who have violated thousands of times cease-fire arrangements put in place. it is they who have made 70 agreements and reneged on more than 70 and reneged

the huge arms deal signed comes as saudi arabia is fighting houthi rebels in neighbouring yemen.about 10,000 people have been killed since the fighting began in march 2015. yemen is on the verge of famine. two weeks ago a un rapporteur accused saudi arabia of failing to investigate accusations that its forces carried out war crimes. the bbc‘s chief international correspondent, lyse doucet is in riyadh. she's been speaking to salman al—ansari, a political analyst who says this visit is of unprecedented strategic importance to saudi arabia. you are following this trip with great interest. a lot of talk about shared interest and economic co—operation, is that what young saudi arabians want to see? exactly. despite the san storm we are experiencing at the moment, there is a huge positive vibe in the kingdom. the people in the government, you can tell everybody is content with the fact that the us administration chose saudi arabia to be their first foreign visit. that has unprecedented strategic importance, not only to the region, but to overall global security. because we really need

we are seeing houthi militias that are operating in yemen and killing on a daily basis.e are not exaggerating at all. we are putting our hands on the facts are nothing but the facts. and we need the whole world, the united states, and the global community, to basically confront iran, because they are the root problem in the region. not only the region, but in the whole world. salman al—ansari, we will have to leave it there. thank you very much forjoining us. of course, this is a region where weather is always a metaphor for what is happening politically. this is what is happening on the evening of donald trump's visit. he currently dining luxuriously with saudi arabian and western food. his wife is attracting a lot of interest on social media. and of course, the entire trump team. that was lyse doucet there. we'll be hearing from amnesty international for their take on the president's visit a little later in the bulletin. let's go to iran, now. their newly re—elected president, hassan rouhani, says his country will seek greater international engagement, and work towards

and they were there with posters, houthi slogans, you know-- "down with america. down with israel. god curse the jews. victory to islam." there were a series of speakers that led chants of anti-american chants, anti-saudi chants. and they're particularly upset that president trump arrived in riyadh to sign a $110 billion arms deal. these arms gl to the saudis, and they will use these arms in their war in yemen. and the country's been through two years of war, and the people feel broken. >> stewart: and as a result of those two years of war, there's a humanitarian crise there. what you can tell us about that. >> there is. there are several. there's a food shortage. well, the w.h.o., the world health organization, estimates that the cholera epidemic itself will probably infect some 200,000 to 300,000 yemenis. right now the count is about 13 frow and about 200 to 300 people have died. unicef estimates 70% of all yemenis are in need of some kind of humanitarian assistance. 19 million, i think, the number is of people in need of food. you've got an extremely serious situation in which t

much of that money will be used to combat the iranian backed houthi rebels in yemen we hear so much about from time to time, but we don't want to bury the lead or the headline too much. we should point out, in addition to the president's comments today, in addition to the secretary of state's comments during the news conference, the secretary of state took a pass when it came to a question about the russia investigation that has been swirling around this administration, swirling around this white house. he essentially said to one question asked during the news conference he didn't have any information to offer on that. we should point out after this news conference was over, reporters followed the secretary of state and his saudi counterpart, saudi foreign minister al jubeir as they left the hotel here where the press is gathered. he was asked about, the secretary was, the president's speech to the muslim world tomorrow and didn't have much to say only that it would be very positive. i did try to follow up and ask the secretary the question whether or not the president would use the term

so as the saudis around the border are concerned about the houthi for less, iran, the u.s. is concerned about the terrorist threat, we will have a complete story, giving the back story on special report, 6:00 p.m. eastern time. >> julie: thank you so much for that report. >> leland: president trump went from saudi arabia to israel, now to rome after wrapping up his mideast visit. they are, he reaffirmed our commitment to protecting israel while also reaching out to the callused demand palestinians. >> hopeful future fruit children in the middle is requires them to recognize the viable of the state of israel. and on behalf of the united states, we pledge to stand by you. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. ♪ energy lives here. >> hamas and hezbollah launch rockets into israeli communities where schoolchildren have to be trained to hear the sirens and determine to the bomb shelters with the fear with speed. isis targets jewish neighbors, synagogues, and iran's leaders routinely call for israel's destruction. not with donald j tr

it is not the committee -- the houthi solely. a great deal of the yemeni forces back the houthi in the struggle. it is also a very serious internal threat from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. -- again, to put conventional u.s. ground troops into one of the most complex ethnic sectarian forms of thisetric war possible, at point simply is not likely to be a demand or even request. help in terms of air power, maybe. the u.s. would like to see saudi arabia and the uae use air power more carefully with collateral damage. we would like to see that improved. there is a problem here that tends to get forgotten. there is exactly one country in the world that can actually conduct the kind of surgical airstrikes the u.s. conducts as part of its operations in afghanistan, iraq, and syria. that britainar can't do it -- they have highly sophisticated structures but not the next are of reconnaissance -- mixture of reconnaissance and communications to deal with it. russia can certainly do better, but it is not a country with its budget that c

the huge arms deal comes as saudi arabia is fighting houthi rebels in neighbouring yemen. says about 10,000 people have been killed since the fighting began in march 2015. yemen is on the verge of famine. two weeks ago, a un rapporteur accused saudi arabia of failing to investigate accusations that its forces carried out war crimes. the bbc‘s chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is in riyadh. she's been speaking to salman al—ansari, a political analyst who says this visit is of unprecedented strategic importance to saudi arabia. a lot of talk about shared interests, economic co—operation, is that what young saudis want to see? definitely, we are here in saudi arabia despite this sandstorm we are witnessing, there is a huge positive vibe in the kingdom. the people and government, you can tell that everyone is content with the fact that the us administration chosen saudi arabia to be the first foreign visit for them. that in itself has an unprecedented strategic importance, not only to the region but the overall global security. we really need the united states to

in neighbouring lebanon, iran supplies and sponsors the hezbollah militia, in yemen, it supports houthi in iraq remains enormous. the trump administration says iran's missile programme is another threat — new sanctions are being imposed. speaking in saudi arabia, america's top diplomat delivered a warning. what i would hope is that rouhani now has a new term and that he uses that term to begin a process of dismantling iran's network of terrorism, dismantling the manning and the logistics and everything that they provide to these destabilising forces that exist in this region. whatever mr rouhani wants, everyone knows it is this man, iran's supreme leader, ali khamenei, who calls the shots. there's only so much his president can do. paul adams, bbc news. let's get more analysis on this. the finals of the pan—african robotics competition came to an end on saturday. more than 200 students from schools in senegal, mali, and the gambia took part in a contest of engineering and electrical skills. and this was an event that saw success for both boys and girls in the capital, dakar. tim allman

assad, in neighbouring lebanon, iran supplies and sponsors the hezbollah militia, in yemn it supports houthince over the government in iraq remains enormous. the trump administration says iran's missile programme is another threat — new sanctions are being imposed. speaking in saudi arabia, america's top diplomat delivered a warning. what i would hope is that rouhani now has a new term and that he uses that term to begin a process of dismantling iran's network of terrorism, dismantling the manning and the logistics and everything that they provide to these destabilising forces that exist in this region. whatever mr rouhani wants, everyone knows it is this man, iran's supreme leader, ali khamenei, who calls the shots. there's only so much his president can do. paul adams, bbc news dozens of the schoolgirls who were kidnapped from the nigerian town of chibok three years ago have been reunited with their families. the girls were released earlier this month as part of a deal between the nigerian government and the boko haram islamist militants who'd been holding them. our correspondent, alistair

but the ongoing conflict between the government and houthi rebels means half the hospitals are closedaid in. the charity save the children is warning that more than 65 thousand cases are expect by the end ofjune at the current rate. hundreds of cases are being reported every day. two out of three are suspected of being chewed under 15. the capital, sana'a, is the worst affected area, with more than 4000 suspected cases. rubbish is piled up in the capital because of a strike by workers, contaminating water supplies. the charity is now calling for more medicines and health staff to educate communities on how to avoid infection, and an end to restrictions on imports of aid, immediately. sarah corker, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: israel and the palestinian territories prepare for the arrival of donald trump on the latest leg of his first foreign tour. this morning, an indian air force plane carrying mr gandhi's body landed in delhi. the president of india walked to the plane to solemnly witness mr gandhi's final return from the political battlefield. the polling stat

a great deal of the yemeni forces back the houthi in the struggle. it is also a very serious internal threat from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. the u.s. -- again, to put conventional u.s. ground troops into one of the most complex ethnic sectarian forms of asymmetric war possible, at this point simply is not likely to be demand or even request. help in terms of air power, maybe. the u.s. would like to see saudi arabia and the uae use air power more carefully with collateral damage. we would like to see that mproved. there is a problem here that tends to get forgotten. there is exactly one country in the world that can actually conduct the kind of surgical airstrikes the u.s. conducts as part of its operations in afghanistan, iraq, and syria. it became clear that britain and france can't do it. they have highly sophisticated structures but don't have the mixture of reconnaissance and communications to deal with this. russia can certainly do better, but it is not a country with its budget that can operate the air operations at the level of the uni

. >> arming the saudis as they pursue yemen against shia rebels, the houthis, is pretty much taking sideslet's just say we're going much further down the line, particularly with being in saudi arabia and speaking out about iran. you're starting to hear drumbeats. it pedalled back the last couple of years the potential u.s. involvement militarily in iran. these foreign trips will be interesting to see what he does when he gets back here to the u.s. and has to deal with the domestic arguments as well. >> ambassador hill, that's my question about counterterrorism here, which is, what do you see as continuity or as breaks. the musli bans one and two were blocked by the court and the first one rescinded. there's been an escalation in journalism strikes and other raids we've seen. but what, to you, do you see as the hallmark so far of how this president has taken this approach in a different direction? >> well, i clearly -- this is someone who is kind of behaviorally pliable with whomever he's last spoken with. >> right. >> i think he found a lot to think about in saudi arabia. probably issues

so, for example, in yemen, it'ts claimed that they are providing some aid to rebel tribesmen, houthi tribesmen, in yemen. ok, maybe they are. what is the united states doing in yemen? it is providing a huge flood of arms to its saudi arabian ally, who are destroying the country, who have created a huge humanitatarian crisis.s. huge n numbers of people killed, massive starvation. they are threatening now to bomb a port, which is the only source of aid for surviviving people. but iran is the major source of terrorism. professor emeritus noam chomsky in a public conversation we recorded in april at the first parish church in cambridge, massachusetts. when we come back we will talk about syria, wikileaks, and more. ♪ [music break] amy: patty smith singing at the riverside church in new york. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we returned to my public conversation with the acclaimed linguist and dissident noam chomsky, recorded in april at the first parish church in cambridge, massachusetts. hundreds of people packed into the church. i l

. >> i missed the most important question i should have asked you right off the top, i didn't, houthis that was shot, the most important question tonight. >> no worries. i understand he is now in the intensive care unit. he spent several hours in surgery earlier today and sent to the intensive care unit for recovery now. our prayers are with him and expect him to make a recovery. >> indeed, the whole idea the paramedics, first responders run trouble to help us and to have them get shot for doing it is beyond the pale. thank you for joining us. >>> ahead potential tox ic contamination for military families and has their families very worried tonight. erin brockovich with me next. where investors can investigate and invest in vests... or not in vests. this is my retirement. retiring retired tires. and i never get tired of it. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*trade. i ...prilosec otc 7 years ago,my doctor recommended... 5 years ago, last week. just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. it's been the number 1 d

saudi arabia and a regional coalition have taken strong action against houthi militants in yemen. the lebanese army is hunting isis operatives who try to infiltrate their territory. emirate troops are supporting our afghan partners and supporting them strongly. in mosul, american troops are supporting kurds, sunnis and shias fighting together for their homeland. qatar, which hosts the u.s. central command, is a crucial strategic partner. our long-standing partnership with kuwait and bahrain continue to enhance security in the region. our courageous afghan soldiers are making tremendous sacrifices in the fight against the taliban and others in the fight for their country. as we deny terrorist organization control of territory and populations, we must also strip them of their access to funds. we must cut off the financial channels that let isis sell oil, let extremists pay their fighters and help terrorists smuggle their reinforcements. i am proud to announce that the nations here today will be signing an agreement to prevent the financing of terrorism called the terrorist financing

mentioned yemen twice in his speech but only to first , praise the saudis for their war against the houthisnd then to condemn iran for its support of militant groups. the arms deal includes tanks, artillery, ships, helicopters, missile defense systems and cybersecurity technology. the deal also includes precision guided munitions, which obama administration had stopped selling saudi arabia out of fear they would be used to bomb civilians in yemen. democratic senator chris murphy condemned the arms deal writing in the huffington post -- "by selling the saudis these precision-guided weapons more -- not fewer -- civilians will be killed because it is saudi arabia's strategy to starve yemenis to death to increase their own leverage at the negotiating table. they couldn't do this without the weapons we are selling them." meanwhile, the human rights arm of the american bar association has informed the senate the arms deal may be illegal due to the saudi atrocities in yemen. vanderbilt university law professor michael newton wrote -- "continued sale of arms to saudi arabia, and specifically of arm

necessity for it when houthi rebels in yemen fired a missile towards saudi arabia.issiles took it down 120 miles southwest of riyadh in the middle of unpopulated area of the desert. in terms of what it means for the united states a lot of money for our defense corporations what jared kushner did when saudi officials officials were at the white house for a meeting they said they wanted a thad system he was worried they were worried about the price. he called up the ceo of lockheed right in front of them and said is there something we can do about the price here? we don't know what lockheed is doing about the price. we do know saudi arabia wants the thad missile system. they want to overhaul their entire armed forces the united states is going to do this with this $110 billion package. jesse. >> dana: juan williams, what do you have? >> juan: john, very interested in the reports coming out of washington that the investigators have now identified a person of interest who is close to the president. so, of course, everybody is thinking who could this be, you know, who in

just hezbollah which is holding lebanon hostage, or hezbollah within iran's inference within the houthisisruptions that they're creating. but that he also named iran's involvement in syria to me was just staggering and brave and very, very welcome in the muslim world, which is just nauseated by the suffering of the syrians, but also quite limited in their ability to change them. >> did this resonate with you in the same way? >> yeah. i think the giving comfort to the saudis, sunnis or gcc gulf countries against iran is the overarching thing. the gazillion dollar weapons deal, i mean it is about iran. it is about keeping the influence of iran at bay. understand, this is a bigger geopolitical game. you can see the u.s. and russia at it as the two big players. but then everyone else in if between. the iranian shias. also deploying the iraqi shias and almost sorting to occupy sunni syria and in letting this suffering, this genocide in syria continue. it will be side of -- again, any are very realistic. they understand in a kingdom, they do the foreign relations stuff, they do all the busines

saudi arabia's fighting a war on its southern front in yemen, fighting the iran-backed houthi militiau have moderate nations like, for example, israel who are threatened to their north by what's going on in syria. the nations of europe understand this as well, they're dealing with refugees. so it's time to have this message come across. paul: go ahead, dan. >> you know, look, the press after this trip is making the point that when donald trump went to brussels and nato, that he didn't make a full-throated commitment to nato in article v -- paul: which is what? >> which is an attack on one is an attack on all. paul: okay. >> as though the united states and europe were now threatened by the soviet union coming through the gap in germany. [laughter] no. the western world is threatened by islamic state. donald trump made a campaign promise to get rid of the islamic state. this trip was the beginning of assembling a strategy to do exactly that. first, he goes to saudi arabia, gets a commitment from the saudis to create an arab coalition, the saudis are going to work with israel -- paul: to

messing in yemen, but the saudis have bombed too much, have hurt too many people and in fact the houthisre a legitimate part of the yemeni political establishment. >> i see what you're saying as opposed to just standing there. >> you don't have to give in. that's right. absolutely. if it had been john kerry, he absolutely would have drawn a line that was different. >> interesting. it's interesting you talked about it because i have to tell you we were certainly looking at that. secretary tillerson puts the total saudi investment in u.s. interests at $350 billion with a number of u.s. companies benefitting, so i guess i have to ask the question, is this really more about business? >> i think it is very much. if there's one thing that donald trump is consistent on, it may be the only thing he's consistent on right now, he has an attitude vis-a-vis the rest of the world. he wants to shake down the rest of the world, have them invest. he is concerned about american jobs. he is doubtful about trade deals. he's going to countries like japan, like china. big companies that are involved in the d

they are mixed between the houthi and the saudi uae backed forces, and al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. and they are probably far higher than any of the casualty reports i've seen in the press because they deal with the real world impact of a war which has been economically devastating, put about half the population at risk, sharply embraced everything from infant mortality to malnutrition. and virtually led to a massive degree of unemployment. there will be the question of what happens in terms of syria and iraq. what of the key questions for the kingdom and indeed for the u.s. is what happens in iraq after most is liberated, what will the u.s. do their comment to what extent will it stay, what happens in terms of potential conflicts between arab and kurds, or sunni and shiite, what happens to the various militias, what is the role of iran? and how much of this is actually going to be addressed during a presidential visit is very hard to tell. these are the issues where staff usually prepare, and sometimes, staff finish the job and it gets very little public discussion. but they go a

hezbollah is the force that is continually providing arms and trainers and support to the houthi rebels human. -- in yemen. we've also seen in iraq mobilization of numerous terrorist organizations, some of whom had been named by the united nations as responsible for some of the worst sectarian crimes that have taken place in iraq. that includes the legion of -- the mobilization forces in iraq and others. i know that terrorism has no religion and no sect attached to it. and as far as we are concerned, we consider all terrorist organizations to be a legitimate targets that need to be faced and that needs to be ameliorated spirit ambassador fraker, reducing anything about, for example, efforts to protect critical infrastructure in saudi arabia from threat? >> so as i mentioned in my talk, there's a whole infrastructure now in place in saudi arabia to focus on the protection of these critical sites, and we've recently seen attempts that have been thwarted by the internal security forces of saudi arabia competence to attack some of these sites, unsuccessfully. so it's working, but it really

revolutionary guards quds force, and his regional proxy, as well as hezbollah and several iraqi shias and the houthis. we should expect iran to continue to undermine the architecture using terrorist organizations and proxies to complicate u.s. efforts throughout the region. finally, we are making steady progress against transregional tourism but -- terrorism but still have a long way to go. isis has been greatly diminished in libya, will soon lose control of mosul, and is nearly isolated in the capital of iraq and we have killed many isis and al qaeda leaders. the trendlines are moving in the right direction, but this fight will not end soon. the enemy remains highly adaptable and capable, and territory gives them -- capable, and instability and under-governed territory may give them opportunities to research. i am concerned about the long-term impact the returning foreign fighters and the potential for these groups to capitalize on the proliferation of armed unmanned aerial vehicles to do harm to u.s. and our allied interests. mr. chairman, the man and women of your dia are providing unique defense

in yemen, fighting will almost certainly persist in 2017 between houthi-aligned forces trained by iran the yemeni government backed by a saudi-led coalition. neither side has been able to achieve decisive results through military force to this point. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and isis branch in yemen have exploited the conflict and the collapse of government authority to gain new recruits and allies and expand their influence. in south asia, intelligence community assesses that the political and security situation in afghanistan will almost certainly deteriorate through 2018. even with a modest increase in military assistance by the united states and its partners. this deterioration is undermined by its dire economic situation. afghanistan will struggle to curb its dependence on external support until it contains the insurgency or reaches a peace agreement with the taliban. meanwhile we assess the taliban is likely to continue to make gains especially in rural areas. afghan security forces performance will probably worsen due to a combination of taliban operations, combat casua

in yemen, we assess that the fighting will almost certainly houthie between the alliance forces and the mne government led by the assad coalition. either side is able to achieve decisive results through military force at this point. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has exploited the conflict and the collapse of government authorities to gain recruits and allies to expand their influence. in south asia, the intelligence community assessment of the political and security situation in afghanistan will almost certainly deteriorate through 2018. even with a modest increase in military assistance by the united states and its partners. this deterioration is undermined by its dire economic situation. afghanistan will struggle to curb its dependence on external support until he contains the insurgency or reaches a peace agreement with the taliban. meanwhile, we assess that the taliban and is likely to continue to make gains, especially in rural areas. afghan security performance will likely worsen due to a combination of taliban operations and combat calories, poor logistical support and leader

supporting the houthi in yemen. destable glizzing the country.ve been up to no good in syria and iraq. clearly, this is needed. i think what the president is going to do here is to be able to reassure them and give them guidance and reassurance that we have a plan to help them and arab allies, bring more stability to the region. pete: absolutely. dr. jasser before i ask you this question, we want to remind our viewers of what president obama's apology tour looked like in 2009 in contrast to what this president will be doing in the middle east. take a listen to president obama. >> i've come here to cairo to seek a new beginning between the united states and muslims around the world. in america there is a failure to appreciate europe's leading role in the world. there have been times where america has shown arrogance and been dismissive. even derisk. >> the united states still working through some of our own darker periods in our history. >> the united states will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made. we have at t