the fight against isis continues. the coalition's effort succeeded in eliminating the physical isis caliphate in 2019. can you please describe how the coalition's connected military pressure with the medic and other nonmilitary efforts successfully degraded isis's ho ld in iraq and syria? >> thank you. i think you could characterize the coalition as the most successful international counterterrorism organization in history. as you said, it combined the capabilities of many different partners, not just the united states, including all of our most capable partners. it also took a whole of government approach, so it was not just bringing to bear military use of force but also all of the civilian capabilities that many of our governments are capable of. the complete destruction of the caliphate was a huge success. we continue to be concerned about isis in the core. one of the things we have seen, have been able to pivot the coalition to address, especially over the last year -- and there was a meeting of political directo

that became the core of isis. you have seen this with the taliban, the peace negotiations with the taliban that we essentially, we got the afghan government to go along with it even though we didn't include them and we forced them to release 5000 taliban prisoners. those most adjoin the taliban. every city the taliban goes into or town first thing to do say go to the present and to let loose tracers. there's interesting similarity between the taliban advances and isis advances of course different organizations but they are using free depressors, also using the sense that their victory -- people not fighting the taliban and he didn't fight isis. afghans have told and as a presbyters the afghan national army is weakerer than the iraqi national army was at the time of the 2014 isis campaign. if that's true it's sad. >> peter, this is coming up in some of the questions folks are asking is, what's the alternative? we spent 20 years in afghanistan helped trillions of dollars into the ansf trying to build out a governmen

, what is done for me since i was an undergraduate coming to isi program. and what it is done for so many people like me who have looked for substance and looked for community and trying to make their way through an often hostile culture can bee connected to the ideas that are central to us as americans were just talking at dinner about how energetic isi is now how much great work it is doing. how great the publications are. it is a high watermark for isi even among thehe other finalists probably will soon they're all my book in shouldn't say temporary insanity that added up to the life of the culture for temporary insanity and permanentt sanity in the sense of american and in the worthiness of the civilization that has been passed down to us. rooted also in a sense that gift is so valuable because it can enable us toha deal with permanent human problems the ones we always face. our culture has been a long train of insanity because it forgets those problems are durable and that we have to learn from the ways in which they have been dealt with by wise men an

and with those activists and to con united states into doing something and then isis coming into the future. and then to figure out what to do with these weapons they're all these wonderful fascinating stories and then the other part this is my third book and then focusing on and then back in the early 2000's away as al qaeda and more vicious. and where this came from and why it's so different and that there is so many confusing and complicatedin things so why was that redlined threat issued? why is it still so horrific? so i tried to explain some of those complexities in the book to make it more powerful. >> and they really are compelling. >> so when you are collecting material for the book that it is a complicated and dangerous subject. >> but we have a license to ask questions including government officials you can say i work for "washington post". i am angt author. that allows us to travel into find people who may have the answers we are seeking. so there's always a starting point so the question of how do you deal with this complicated challenge of chemical weapons how do you do

isis carried out that devastating attack on u.s. forces and afghan civilians in august that left 13 u.s. servicemen and women dead. since then, they've taken the fight to the taliban. the u.s. military fears isis or al qaeda could use afghanistan to launch terror attacks against america again. but taliban commanders like mawlawi mohammad salim saad try to play down the threat. "they aren't that strong," he says. though many of his fighters are now on the front lines against isis in the east. but the bigger battle tonight isn't isis, but hunger. a mix of sanctions and drought has brought the country to the brink of catastrophe. the beds at this children's hospital are now overflowing with malnourished children. mohammed is 2 years old and weighs just 11 pounds. that's less than half the weight of an average american 2-year-old boy. you can see, poor little thing, just skin and bone. you must feel very hopeless, very helpless. his mom says she has a prescription to help ease his suffering, but no money to get it. the u.n. warns a mill

isis -- seemingly they -- isis did not come out of nowhere. people -- i was working in syria at the time as well so we were very aware of the rise of isis. for these people, they stayed in their villages until the last moment. and it's interesting you ask this question, like, why didn't they go? their land, their ancestral home, is so important to them, and they know if they leave, christians in that area will disappear. now, the numbers are really -- i mean, i'm never -- i'm not a numbers person, because i think numbers never tell the true story. for instance, in syria, the u.n. stopped counting the dead due to the war in 2016. so we have no idea how many people were killed in syria. we have no idea how many christians are left in iraq. but we guess that in the last census, which is in the time of saddam, so 40 years ago, there were 1.5 million. today, we wager between 150,000 and some say as high as 300,000. i would say closer to 150,000. so why are they leaving? those that survived isis fear more radical groups, especially the iranian-backe

president obama starting in 2014 argued that in 2001, the aumf covered isis. it did not exist on 9/11. president trump and 2020 relied on the 2002 aumf for the strike against soleimani. what should the president and congress have done? you think -- do you think those are two examples question ? should the president have let baghdad fall? what congress should actually do in those circumstances. maybe we will start with representative meijer this time. rep. meijer: just briefly on the soleimani strike, the 2002 aumf was a secondary justification. president trump said under the article ii powers he has, he was executing them to prevent a strike. i think there is a lot of fear, this is some of the concern around applying the 2001 aumf against the islamic state in 2014. there is this concern that if we take away these authorizations, we will be tying the president's hands and putting our country at a disadvantage. with a clarification on the 2002 aumf the president has capabilities, every strike we have conducted in iraq, to my knowledge, especially against malicio

president obama from starting in 2014 argue that the 2001 aumf covered isis. you mentioned it. it did not exist on 9/11. we were fighting al-qaeda at the time the argument was made and president trump in 2020 relied on the 2002 aumf for the strike against soleimani, and that authorization was clearly against saddam hussein's government. but what should the president and congress have done in these instances? do you think those are two instances where the president definitely should have come to congress before using force and to put it at an even finer point, if congress stayed in the isis situation, had not acted or voted no, should the president have let baghdad fall? i would love to hear your thoughts on what congress should actually do in those circumstances, and the politics of that if you could get into that. maybe we will start with representative meijer, since we started with president representative spanberger last time. >> the 2002 aumf was a secondary justification. it was principally president trump said that under the article two self-defense powers that he has as

this will certainly em, we'd appreciate that groups like isis and isis is not exclusive in this. basically see cultural heritage as a resource and they exploit this resource in number of different ways effectively in the case of isis. and they may looted what they can sell and what they could not sell because he was too big or immovable. they then destroyed in this, these very public set of manner displays i referred to these as cultural heritage atrocities. and these was specifically designed to demonstrate the able devices to act with impunity. and the impotence of the international community unlocked communities to prevent them from doing that. so essentially, isis exploited cultural heritage as a resource in missing with a but exploit and mineral wealth or a cotton harvest or, or any other if you know, and material or something that can use to enrich themselves and to fund their activities. and, and of course, the other big game changer in all of this was the expansion of the internet and social media platforms. which kind of really acted as a game changer from around 2013201

they were able to do that and isys decides the next best thing is to try and make our own.you see how spectacularly successful assad did in drawing the attention of the world with a few rocket shelves full of sarin so they embark on an ambitious program to market chemical weapons. this is nothing never happened except for maybe the japanese death cult in the 90s but they have a terrorist group within a country with laboratories, university facilities owing to work to try to make chemical weapons. they didn't get very far because obviously what we ns find out is from our partners that these activities are going on they devote a lot of activity and a lot of effort very quietly to try to find the location and try to capture or keep kill key individuals so stopping them quickly. they did end up making mustard gas and mustard gas is not all that technically challenging? it's fairly creative in the sense that the you quickly have to use it. so that leaves other investigators examining the attacks and quickly say this is not serious stuff, this is something that maybe was made by

isis was trying to acquire them.that make it difficult to attribute and how was isis able to acquire? >> guest: when they were running the organization they once said weapons of mass destruction was a duty for this terrorist group and they tried to make things they could use. they begin using chlorine is a chemical weapon so there is an opportunity they could potentially steal some stuff and they came very close. the next best thing we will try to make our own to draw the attention of the world with just a few rockets shells and the programs. this has never happened except the japanese death called but the terrorist group with laboratories, university facilities and they go to work to try to make chemical weapons. we find out how this activity is going on and very quietly to try to find the locations and identify, capture or kill the key individuals, so we stopped them very quickly. they did manage to make -- they used a lot of chlorine, but they didn't up making mustard gas. it isn't all that is technically challeng

i was working in syria at the time as well so we were aware of the rise of isis but for these people, they stayed in their villages until the last moment and it's interesting you ask thisquestion . why didn't theygo ? their land, their ancestral home is so important to them and they know if they leave, christians in that area will disappear. now, the numbers are really i mean, i'm not a numbers person because i think numbers never tell the true story so for instance in syria the un stopped counting the day due to the war in 2016 we have no idea how many people were killed. no idea how many christians are left in iraq but we just that in the last census which is in the time of saddam so 40 years ago there were 1.5 million. today, we wager between 150,000 and some say it's 300,000 i say postage 150,000 . so why are they leaving? those that survived isis appeared more radical groups especially the iranian backed militias, the popular mobilization forces and they fear turkish airstrikes. they fear more extremist groups coming through. so basically that is a major consideration. the second

would you negotiate with isis? terrorists! would you negotiate with isis? no _ terrorists!o. you wouldn't. so it's not, they are not — isis? no. you wouldn't. so it's not, they are not equal partners. they kill, the they are not equal partners. they kill. they raped. _ they are not equal partners. they kill, they raped, people die. my aunt, _ kill, they raped, people die. my aunt, my— kill, they raped, people die. my aunt. my uncle, _ kill, they raped, people die. my aunt, my uncle, my— kill, they raped, people die. my aunt, my uncle, my family i kill, they raped, people die. my aunt, my uncle, my family is i kill, they raped, people die. my. aunt, my uncle, my family is there. i aunt, my uncle, my family is there. i don't _ aunt, my uncle, my family is there. i don't know— aunt, my uncle, my family is there. idon't know if— aunt, my uncle, my family is there. i don't know if they _ aunt, my uncle, my family is there. i don't know if they die _ aunt, my uncle, my family is there. i don't know if they die are - aunt, my uncle, my family is there. idon't know if they die are

their affiliates have grown most famously isis. did he end up being in a safe house in pakistan not far from pakistan's west point. >> yes. >> to what extent where he is hold up there in this safe house to what extent do they run the show for al qaeda during those years? what strings did he actually have to pull? >> to be an outside observer g inside the compound, helped me reconstruct the night he was killed and the way he was living. there are two ways of answering your question, brian. one is if you are running a business without the e-mail and you are relying on messages it's a hard way to run a business. messages get lost. people ignore your message, it gets lost, i was trying to micromanage the organization but using a method that is hard to micromanage without face-to-face meetings, phone calls or e-mails. he did the bestie could. he blocked the elevation to become the leader of al qaeda in yemen. he told them not to identify himself or al qaeda would be back. one of things he said to everyone he was in contact with, don't t

machine gun position or this isis mortar position, how can we help the taliban to defeat isis? that elicited so many more complicated feelings for me. the idea that we're helping now or in partnership now with a group that has killed so many americans, certainly is writing to a lot of people. and i understand why, but as one of these special operations veterans, well, current special operation guys in the task force was telling me when i was writing this passage, he said basically look, we all want to be out there fighting the war stored that we've also been doing so long we understand something different is needed. i think that's a fairly common view also among guys who are still at it. >> so i've got one last question for you before we start taking questions from the audience, so audience members start shooting in your questions. this week or this weekend i read an article in the new yorker, and reading that it seems that the taliban and the government of afghanistan really don't want to share power. why would he give up that power-sharing with the taliban? are reading this i

our presence here is to prevent isis from being able to resurge.ook to the iraqi government primarily as having the task to defend those forces that it has invited to be here on their territory, but absolutely this administration, as any administration, reserves the right to respond, to defend itself if it's facing an attack. >> reporter: twice this year, the biden administration targeted kataib hezbollah and its affiliates. this base was hit in june. the u.s. military said the strike against this base was a matter of self-defense, arguing it was used to launch drone strikes against u.s. personnel and facilities in iraq. but iraqi officials have condemned the attack as a violation of iraq's sovereignty. and its operations like these that have fueled growing resentment against u.s. military presence in iraq. for the men at this training camp, the reclassification ta non-combat mission is not enough. ( instructor giving orders ) they say they want every american soldier to leave by end-of-year, including advisors, and they're ready to use force. the

steve sakharov and jim foley were both beheaded by isis. in the very beginning for some reason i slipped through the cracks in the regime was giving me jesus. i went and, of course, i was followed and targeted by the secret police, but i managed to do some traveling around and i got to this extraordinary place because it was really like an oasis of peace in the middle of a war beginning to break out and doing it in those early days that is going to be a horrible war. i met these nuns, and they were so peaceful, so gentle but such vehement supporters of assad. literally they were chanting the same thing that the guys who were destroying entire sections were chanting, , like with our blood, assad. they were really fierce assad supporters. i thought as always when you're a journalist or a documentarian, i wondered if they were afraid and that's why they were saying this to me. but i genuinely believed after seeing them and spending time them that they did support assad. so the thing about melula is that it didn't change hands so when times get

the isis there were 12,000 sector as well. the isis there were 12.000 jingle _ sector as well. jingle jabs on christmas i sector as well. the isis there were i 12,000 jingle jabs on christmas day. —— the ice says. credit to all those who are out helping people get jabbed. it shows a message is getting through. i wonder again looking at what is happening in new york what you make of a much tougher line from city leaders and government officials who are running out of patience with people who are not vaccinated.— not vaccinated. yes, we have even here already _ not vaccinated. yes, we have even here already have _ not vaccinated. yes, we have even here already have said _ not vaccinated. yes, we have even here already have said to - not vaccinated. yes, we have even here already have said to care - here already have said to care workers that they need to be jabbed him nhs —— workers that they need to be jabbed him nhs -- nhs workers that they need to be jabbed him nhs —— nhs staff need to be chapels of that line is also being pursued here but i think one of the big gaps in our va

on the obama administration is because of isis.d the taliban are different but it's interesting, it may recall that whole campaign that al qaeda and iraq to get the prisoners released, then you seen that with the tallow band with the peace negotiation with the taliban you got the afghan government force them to release prisoners with the tile man. i'm in the taliban goes into the town they build the prison and there's some interesting similarity between thehe tallow band is different organizations. but they are using prisoners there using people are not fighting the tallow band and i am surprised by this it's weaker than the iraqi national army at the time of 2013 isis campaign. if that's true it is sad. >> thisla is coming up in some of the questions folks are asking, what is the alternative? we spent 20 years in afghanistan it pumped trillions of dollars trying to build out a government that can fund itself and do these ngsorts of things. and yet we see that within a matter of weeks, months, it's crumbled. is that good moneyey af

but we've seen isis cells in eastern syria expand.ve also seen isis cells in southern syria attack inside northern iraq. do you believe the mission is working? >> i believe the mission is working, and here's why. we never have predicted a bloodless future with isis. we've always thought that isis is an ideology of the mind. so it's going to recur. what you want to be able to do, though, is keep it local and you want local forces to be able to deal with it. and increasingly, that's what we're seeing, certainly in the case of iraq. >> schifrin: let's talk about afghanistan. since the u.s. withdrawal. have you identified any targets? and have you proposed any airstrikes inside afghanistan? >> so those are all operational details. i would tell you that we continue to look in afghanistan for, particularly, isis-k targets and al qaeda targets. and that process continues. >> schifrin: are you able to see those targets? >> it's a difficult thing. you know, we keep-- we are able to bring platforms in overhead to take a look. we're able to-- in

the taliban and isis were fighting each other in the same old valley and where american troops used to fight. and i actually have it-- there's a sergeant first class, who i know that fought in cornwall as a young man back in afghanistan in 2019 and happened to stumble across the drone feed, happened to see isis and taliban fighters duking it out on a hillside that he used to spend a lot of time onment and he shared on facebook, look, isis and the taliban are both on our old hunting grounds and basically his take was, man, i wish i could be back there, taking it to both sides at once and in the middle of the trend that resulted, a lot of these expressed for this. and in the lives that i'm sure was miserable. 15 months in living on a shoe string and they felt nostalgia for this war. we learned later in the year that the special operations task force was trying to tip the scales in that part of the country. even as it's continuing to bomb board the taliban and everywhere else in the country, here it's trying to figure out how can we help, by hitting this isis motor poe position. and that'

we're still -- isis corson is now present. no doubt they are fighting with the taliban for supremacy but they're a serious terrorist group and they're responsible for 13 americans at the airport. others are returning to afghanistan as they see this as an opportunity to consolidate their efforts and fight against the west. they seek to connect the attacks in the united states, in europe, and against americans around the globe. the terrorist threat today is worse specific specifically because we withdrew in inn the manner in which we did. >> to mr. simpson. the final report of obama's reviewed task force which was completed under the direction of assistant attorney matt olson noticed that there are many challenges to prosecuting gitmo detain greece article three courts. these include statutes of limitation, lack of jurisdiction at the time the offenses were committed. of the 240 case that is the task force reviewed, only 36 were deemed suitable to investigate further for charging and only 12 were recommending for charging in eth

isis: we had gas prices up 28% yesterday. we had a combination of a lot of nuclear outages in france and lower supplies from russia in really cold weather. that combination has been quite explosive for the market. we are a little bit down today, this morning, as is expected after a huge rally. the market's down a little bit this morning. but overall, i think the story has been quite bullish, and it does not look like russians mentor increase flows next month either. francine: give us a sense of how they are looking to stabilize this in the coming months or whether or not we are going to see a lot more volatility in 2022? isis: i think a lot of volatility is what we are in for. it is tough to see this stabilizing. we are still very much reliant on, you know, the intricacies of renewables, as gas storage is quite low. tom: isis almeida on the energy crisis in europe and the implications going forward. mark dowding, bluebay asset management cio, is still with us. you're making a predation that the ecb turns more hawkish next yea

we know that isis and daesh carried out a number of attacks here.nt, how much of a problem, is security for you? i'd like to ask you about the humanitarian situation in afghanistan. why are things so bad right now? after 20 years of war with the west and four months trying to govern the country, the truth, despite what the taliban says, is far more uncertain and desperate. but amidst the turmoil, suffering and loss, there exists another truth. one that can't be ignored. it's found in afghanistan's teachers. its students. its journalists. its women. afghanistan was given a taste of freedom, of a different world. the taliban's rise to power may have undone so much in the country, pulling at its very fabric, driving so many abroad. something remains here. something strong, defiant. >> the thing is that, still i have hope. maybe someone will think that it's crazy. but for me, it is some hope that maybe in the future, the situation will be better. >> we'll be right back. will be. you clean dishes as you cook, to save time and stay ahead of the mess. but

the isi gave out bullet per bullet to their favourites. and who were their favourites? most ruthless and hardline islamists. this was a way for the pakistani army to really exert its influence inside afghanistan, because what they hoped eventually was that the islamists would win and the soviets would leave, and pakistan would have its proxies inside kabul. the mujahideen, with better weapons and knowledge of the terrain, were not an easy force to defeat. the afghan government and the soviets controlled the main cities and communication routes. but vast tracts of the country were beyond their control. for four years after the soviet invasion, the war raged on. during this time, much of the afghan army deserted or defected to the mujahideen, but neither side was winning. ismail khan was a mujahideen commander in the north—west of afghanistan. in 1985, president ronald reagan decided to expand us aid to the afghan guerrillas. the mujahideen were to be given a sophisticated new weapon — the stinger, a portable land to air missile. meanwhile in moscow, the soviet union had

also linked to isis in eastern d or c. but these 2 groups, there also connections between the 2. the we've seen this transactional network emerging, also being provided financial assistance by isis members in kenyana, roby. so it's definitely a network that's on the rise in the region. some who will continue watching very closely and have and develop the project director for the great lakes at international crisis group. thanks so much for sharing your expertise and thoughts with us. i'm out there in elecom. thank you. have a good day. i'm leaving on the 8th. your appeal government says it's made more advances against ryan forces during days of fighting the prime minister's office as forces quite liberated many towns and villages in the north that were under the control of the t p l. f. the government says it's rebuilding some towns damage during the fighting. additional reinforcements are also being sent to join a major offensive against t p l or forces me onto the pandemic now. and my jury and health officials have found the new on the cron variant of credit 19 was present in t

we never have predicted a bloodless future with isys.ve always thought isys is an ideology of the mind, so it will recur. what you want to do is keep it local, and you want local forces to deal with it. that is what we are seeing in the case of iraq. judy: let's -- nick: let's talk afghanistan. since the withdrawal, have you identified targets and proposed any airstrikes? >> those are operational details. we continue to look in afghanistan for particularly isis-k and al qaeda targets and that continues. nick: are you able to see those targets? >> it is difficult. we are able to bring in what forms overhead to take a look. in the long term perhaps we can reestablish relationships on the ground. nick: how worried are you about government collapse in lebanon? >> this is a dangerous time for the government of lebanon and they need to do some actions to get there house in order if they are going to be able to go to the various national agencies that can provide relf to restructure their debt. nick: the lebanese military has been trusted or ha