well, probably to karzai 15 years isn't an open-ended commitment. i got to tell you, to the people of the united states, 15 years is an open-ended commitment. i don't know whose job it is to sit down with them and look him in the eye and say, look, you're dreaming this is not going to happen. we need a lot more clarity than what we're getting. i don't -- i have every confidence that our united states military have given a mission, they will go in, will accomplish that mission, but unfortunately it seems like always the military mission gets mixed with what our overall goals are there. and i'm just not happy about what's come out of the last -- about what's come out of the last week. i was sincerely hoping we would get there. so have at it, whoever wants to comment on it. >> why don't i start, senator, and just to talk about the difference between, you know, july 2011 and the nature of our long-term commitment to afghanistan. the president did not say july 2011 our relationship with afghanistan would end. it would be the beginning of afghanistan taki

president obama said last night the best way forward is to get tough on karzai but given karzai's previous record, given that two of his vice presidents are ex-warlords, does the prime minister not think that it'd be better to have a strategy working around president karzai relying -- relying on local and regional and political leadership instead? >> mr. speaker, president obama will be grateful for his endorsement. [laughter] >> he is absolutely right -- he is absolutely right that we have to both weaken the taliban and strengthen the afghan state. the action we are taking with troops to deal with the insurgency are important. but as he rightly recognizes, so too is building up the strength of the afghan army, its police and local and national government. and as president obama said last night, there is no blank check for president karzai. he has to take the action as necessary and that's why i said earlier today that the london conference on november the 28th which president karzai will attend will be a chance for president karzai to set out further reforms that he estimates to make the

that was reflect indeed president karzai's speech. his own aspirations were to stand up and be in charge of its own security with army and police. so 2011, i agree with general mcchrystal, it's a good date to get the afghans moving forward and president karzai has shown that publicly. >> the time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina, mr. miller. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we have set am bashs goals for training and equipping afghan saerm and police forces. but it remains a weak government. you said earlier much of afghanistan is ungoverned still. having a weak government and strong military frequently leads to unhappy results in many parts of the world. we've also had at best mixed success in trying to build a military as a unifying national institution in nations that don't have a strong national identity. we try to do that in iraq. and it appeared that we effectively armed and equipped every side in the sectarian civil war. the video, the cell phone video, the execution of saddam hussein and the taunting by the shia milit

this is putting a lot of eggs on president karzai u.s. been there since 20,011th as a transitional president and then as an elected president. what is he presided over? diaz presided over mass of corruption were anywhere between 20 or 40% seems to be the going rate of skimming off of the taxpayers' money, where members of this family and certain ministers families ultimately seem to do very well in business transactions. they travel to some of the best places in the world and they have bank accounts overseas outside of afghanistan and we want to say that we are really going to conditioned them? of the like to see as conditioned their travel and their bank accounts to make sure we are not going to see the continued corruption. that is a serious effort to have some time of control and say we are not having a blank check. ilec president karzai makes his speech about my brother the taliban. maybe there will be a day of reconciliation but first we have got to fight the taliban before you get to the point of reconciliation so they understand th

karzai. she needs to avoid demonizing, temper tantrums, and try to bring out the best in karzai. where are we going from here? let me offer you three observations. first, this is a bold gamble. what the president is to has embarked upon today has no guarantee of success. there are all kinds of things that may fail. trying to build an afghan army and police force may be a lot harder, and i suggest will be a lot harder, and we think. trying to reverse the taliban and momentum will be difficult. for sure, casualties are going to go up. domestic dissent, here and and other nato countries, over this war is winding a stronger and harder. there are several potential game changers that could change everything, literally in a matter of minutes. another 9/11 attack inside the united states does not have to bring down two of the largest buildings in the world to be significant that comes out of pakistan will be a game changer. the president of the united states will not simply be able to call up and say do something about this. another mumbai attacked coming out of pakistan will also be a g

--, presence karzai -- president karzai did emerge as a leader. one area we are doing well and one area where we can expect to see improvements in the third area will be the most difficult. at the national level, you talked about some of the ministries of afghanistan. we are focusing our efforts on the key ministries of security, the financial sector, key ministries that deliver important services, health and education. those ministries that are going to be very important to a canister and for the generation -- to afghanistan for the generation income for its people, agriculture, mining, energy, water management, and so forth. Ñithose ministers have had a lot of progress over the last several years. we expect president karzai will announce his new cabinet. we are cautiously optimistic. we will get generally good ministers there. we will work closely with those important ministries with a good leaders. we think we have a good programs aligned. we will seek for their success. the next area is in the rule of law and justice. a lot of work needs to be

there are press accounts from president karzai's visit with gates this morning that president karzaiaid we're going to need a financial support in afghanistan until 2024. i'm not sure how the president arrives at that time, which is 15 years away. but i am interested in the amount of money. in other words, we pro mote the army for year to year. maybe part of the response is the police force may not always be under the central government. somehow there has to be resources in afghanistan, either at the central or regional levels to pay for this. or sat some point regardless to whether or not our troops begin to leave, somebody will need to be there. namely the afghans that we have trained. so this is an area i haven't seen out really. will you help us with the numbers and longevity of that? >> senators, i think in previous testimony in the past week or so what has been identified is we have established goals by years for now for the afghan army and the afghan national police. to give you a sense of the that the a&a right now is roughly 96,000 or so. the goal by october of next year is

there are press accounts from president karzai's visit with gates this morning that president karzaiaid we're going to need a financial support in afghanistan until 2024. i'm not sure how the president arrives at that time, which is 15 years away. but i am interested in the amount of money. in other words, we pro mote the army for year to year. maybe part of the response is the police force may not always be under the central government. somehow there has to be resources in afghanistan, either at the central or regional levels to pay for this. or sat some point regardless to whether or not our troops begin to leave, somebody will need to be there. namely the afghans that we have trained. so this is an area i haven't seen out really. will you help us with the numbers and longevity of that? >> senators, i think in previous testimony in the past week or so what has been identified is we have established goals by years for now for the afghan army and the afghan national police. to give you a sense of the that the a&a right now is roughly 96,000 or so. the goal by october of next year is

president obama said last night the best way forward is to get tough on karzai but given karzai's previousrecord, given that two of his vice presidents are ex-warlords, does the prime minister not think that it'd be better to have a strategy working around president karzai relying -- relying on local and regional and political leadership instead? >> mr. speaker, president obama will be grateful for his endorsement. [laughter] >> he is absolutely right -- he is absolutely right that we have to both weaken the taliban and strengthen the afghan state. the action we are taking with troops to deal with the insurgency are important. but as he rightly recognizes, so too is building up the strength of the afghan army, its police and local and national government. and as president obama said last night, there is no blank check for president karzai. he has to take the action as necessary and that's why i said earlier today that the london conference on november the 28th which president karzai will attend will be a chance for president karzai to set out further reforms that he estimates to make the a

it is that we are placing on president karzai -- but the bet that we are placing on president karzai. what degree of confidence to you have that this is a sound bet? >> the challenge of establishing governance in afghanistan, it goes beyond one individual. this is a societal problem. this is a problem of a state that was utterly decimated by three decades of warfare. it is a state that has two generations without a real education. it is a very profound challenge. we have programs that we're partnered with the afghans to try to help them develop a credible governance. we're making progress in certain areas. in the area of law enforcement, we have a robust training program to try to help develop more confidence civil administration. it is a priority area for president karzai, and we support that. we have major efforts to try to improve the financial accountability. we are making progress in those areas. but against that, this remains an extraordinary challenge. we are encouraged with president karzai's commitment in his inaugural address to try to place more emphasis on this area. and c

could he call president karzai and get more afghan troops to the helmand province now?the lawyers there are 10,000 troops to be trained in not 5000. half of these will be trained by americans. some of these troops that will come to helmand will already have been trained and they will be a bit there for partnership. some will be coming there to be trained from the beginning. the commitment that i had from president karzai is that he now sees that moment is a priority, that troops will be dispatched there from the rest of the country to helmand, where a great deal of the violence is. it is in recognition of that that i have made the announcements i have made to date. >> the statement of the prime minister mentioned yemen, with the yemeni groups forming the working in afghanistan and pakistan. will they continue to work with the government of yemen to make sure that it does not become a be a lot -- and that they will be invited to the london conference? >> he is absolutely right to point to the terrorist threats we see in different parts of the world. it is absolutely true

in particular his direct conversations with president karzai. the number of troops they are committing is encouraging, but the quality will be very important. could be, perhaps, a stark progress by some reorganization of the kandahar future government. >> i talked to president karzai about the governorships of kandahar and also helmand and about the appointments he is going to make to his cabinet in the next few days. my honorable friend is absolutely right. it is the quality of the local government on the ground and the quality of the afghan army and particularly over time the quality of the police in afghanistan that is going to be so vital to the success in the future. what i saw yesterday was afghan recruits training at a high level demand from the british trainers and acquainting themselves well. what i also see in helmand is a government that insures the content and resources directed to the people and build up a system of law. wherever that is not happening actions should be taken and we would give our views directly to president karzai.

and that's lack of the coordination of the afghans and particularly by president karzai.nd i think the president has said, and not just the president but general mcchrystal and european allies. this is the last major chance you have to govern effectively and efficiently, and the consequences will be more severe to you than the united states. >> to follow up on that, what must the afghan government do to prove they are competent? >> they first have to ensure that local governs -- governors are effective and they are first elected by karzai and the resources come from kabul. they have to ensure that committed to the fight they have the resources. if education funding and health care, and if we restructure the police, they have to have the a lot -- have the ability to pay the police. and they have to recognize they have to build this infrastructure. build the economy and have to start and build out. and they have to be competent, not corrupt. and the test has to be competence not who do you know when pay. >> would you support including some kind of benchmarks like this the f

there are press accounts from president karzai's visit with gates this morning that president karzai said we're going to need a financial support in afghanistan until 2024. i'm not sure how the president arrives at that time, which is 15 years away. but i am interested in the amount of money. in other words, we pro mote the army for year to year. maybe part of the response is the police force may not always be under the central government. somehow there has to be resources in afghanistan, either at the central or regional levels to pay for this. or sat some point regardless to whether or not our troops begin to leave, somebody will need to be there. namely the afghans that we have trained. so this is an area i haven't seen out really. will you help us with the numbers and longevity of that? >> senators, i think in previous testimony in the past week or so what has been identified is we have established goals by years for now for the afghan army and the afghan national police. to give you a sense of the that the a&a right now is roughly 96,000 or so. the goal by october of next year i

governors are appointed by karzai, they are not elected, so there is no independent power base. the resources all come from kabul. we have to ensure that they have the resources. if we are restructuring the police, they have to have the ability to pay the police. those are the first that. they also have to begin to recognize that they have to build this infrastructure, bill the economy. -- build the economy. they have to be competent, not corrupt. >> we do support including some kind of benchmarks in the bill? >> i would expect that there would be benchmarks. those benchmarks were generally helpful, because they establish a framework. there is a clear understanding. in the iraq experience, even when we were unsuccessful, they were able to communicate to the iraqi government that we were very serious. if you do not see any outcomes of increased productivity -- this dynamic is helpful. what is fundamental to counterinsurgency operation is that military operations will buy time to develop civilian capacity. >> how concerned are you about the strain on u.s. forces for repeated deplo

president karzai's supporters produced one million fraudulent ballots. that's a lot of fraudulent ballots, even by the standards of florida or illinois, this is cheating on a global scale. he got caught and he got away with it. i'm not sure how illegitimate his government looks in the eyes of afghans, but it looks illegitimate in the eyes of americans and of our european and noneuropean isaf partners. this administration has to bear some of the responsibility for this. this didn't happen on george bush's watch, it happened on its watch. its behavior towards the afghan election was a little bit like the famous deer in the headlights, it could see the problem coming but seem mess merized until it was run over. here again, we don't have a time machine and go back and fix it.

karzai -- president karzai pledged to do this and president obama will hold them to that.hey will thbegin reductions to impart a sense of focus and urgency, something that has been lacking up until now and is essential to success. president carkarzai has acknowledged the update st. "it is good we are facing a deadline" and that the afghan people must "begin to stand on our own feet." i like to hear from our witnesses whether they support and agree with the president's decision to establish a july 2011 date to begin a u.s. troop reduction. senator mccain? >> thank you. i want to thank general mcchrystal and ambassador i can vary for joining us today. i want to thank you both for your distinguished service to our country. i want to express my deep gratitude to the americans you lead as well as their families who are serving and sacrificing at this moment. i want to reiterate that i support the president's policy for afghanistan. i think he made the right decision, a brave decision against the objections of many in his own party. to reject half measures on the counterinsurgen

in particular his direct conversations with president karzai. number of troops they are committing is encouraging, but the quality will be very important. could be, perhaps, a stark progress by some reorganization of the kandahar future government. >> i talked to president karzai about the governorships of kandahar and also helmand and about the appointments he is going to make to his cabinet in the next few days. my honorable friend is absolutely right. it is the quality of the local government on the ground and the quality of the afghan army and particularly over time the quality of the police in afghanistan that is going to be so vital to the success in the future. what i saw yesterday was afghan recruits training at a high level demand from the british trainers and acquainting themselves well. what i also see in helmand is a government that insures the content and resources directed to the people and build up a system of law. wherever that is not happening actions should be taken and we would give our views directly to president karzai. >> m

that was reflect indeed president karzai's speech. his own aspirations were to stand up and be in charge of its own security with army and police. so 2011, i agree with general mcchrystal, it's a good date to get the afghans moving forward and president karzai has shown that publicly. >> the time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina, mr. miller. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we have set am bashs goals for training and equipping afghan saerm and police forces. but it remains a weak government. you said earlier much of afghanistan is ungoverned still. having a weak government and strong military frequently leads to unhappy results in many parts of the world. we've also had at best mixed success in trying to build a military as a unifying national institution in nations that don't have a strong national identity. we try to do that in iraq. and it appeared that we effectively armed and equipped every side in the sectarian civil war. the video, the cell phone video, the execution of saddam hussein and the taunting by the shia milit

you mentioned earlier on your show that secretary gates meeting with president karzai and president karzai saying he expects us to be there for at least five years. then he says he expects us to bank roll his security forces for the next 15 to 20 years. this is a huge commitment that i don't believe is in our national security interest. >> lehrer: what general mcchrystal said today to the house committee that he thought that within a year he would know whether or not at least we would know whether or not the taliban has been ... the taliban's progress has been thwarted. you don't buy that? >> i don't think anybody believes in a year or a year-and-a-half we're going to significantly drawback our troops. the administration has spent the last year kind of bending over backwards telling people that there really isn't a timetable. it is hard for me to see how you're going to train the number of afghan security forces given the fact that 90% of them are ill literal. they can't read or write or can't add or subtract. to train them in a significant way in the next year, year-and-a-half. so i don't

the prime minister referred to efforts with president karzai. how will he judge prudence in afghanistan? >> given that the resources allocated and the strategy we have been pursuing are so heavily influenced by the war in iraq, i would like to know what -- if he would have invaded iraq if there were weapons of mass destruction or not. the people have a right to know, does the prime minister agree with tony blair, that the invasion would have been justified even without weapons of mass destruction? >> just a few hours ago, we heard that the talks in copenhagen were suspended. i have been told they just restored a few minutes ago because of differences between the developing and developed world in the international community. i am sure the prime minister agrees with me that the i will if you will relationship needs to come to an end. will the prime minister make a commitment to help break that deadlock? the committee has spoken of 1990 levels 200020. the prime minister does not need to wait for anyone else to make that commitment. will he make tha

with president karzai. he was elected. it was as president obama said, it was a messy election. we knew it would be. i said repeatedly before the election it wouldn't be perfect. hillary clinton said very much more eloquently than i can that to ask a country to hold an election in these circumstances under war, that the taliban saying that they would cut off the finger of anyone who had the purple ink on it, which meant they voted, it was a daunting task. no country at such a low level of education, infrastructure war for 30 years had attempted anything like this. so it was difficult. but at the end of it, there's an undisputed president and karzai. it was always clear he would be the heavy favorite. no one doubted that. our effort was to make the process as honest as possible. we did not have a candidate. some people interpreted that as supporting karzai. and some people interpreted that as opposing karzai. neither fact was true. we were supporting an open process. and it came out as it came out. and on no

karzai.nd that this was the fatal blow, i hope not, to our efforts to defeat the taliban. we don't know that yet. and i think we can yet turn it around. but mrs. clinton now has her date for the next three years. she will be managing mr. karzai. she needs to avoid demonizing and avoid temper tantrums and needs to find a way to bring out the best in president karzai. so where are we going forward from here? let me offer you three observations. first, this is a bold gamble. what the president has embarked upon today has no guarantee of success. there's no assurance that this is going to work. there are all kinds of things that may fail. trying to build an afghan army and police force may be a lot harder and i suggest will be a lot harder than we think. trying to reverse the taliban's momentum is going to be difficult. for sure, casualties are going to go up significantly. and domestic dissent here and in other nato countries over this war is going to get stronger and harder. there are several p

but the karzai government by anyone's estimation remains a very weak government. you said earlier much of afghanistan is ungoverned still. having a weak government and a strong military frequently leads to unhappy results in many parts of the world. we've also had at best mixed success in trying to build a military as a unifying national institution in nations that don't have a strong national identity. we tried to do that in iraq and it appeared we effectively armed and equipped every side in the sectarian civil war. the video, the cell phone video of the execution of saddam hussein and taunting of the shia military but obviously also members of the shia militia that was more loyal to muqtada al-sadr did us great damage. it created the impression that was a sectarian revenge killing not the execution of justice in a society with a legitimate rule of law. what is the -- what is the desertion rate now? where are those folks going? how are we going to make sure that the military we build is not going to dominate the government? and how are we making sure that we are

what have you seen in the karzai government.he's been in for five years, he's just gotten another five years and we know it's been completely and totally corrupt. >> congresswoman, as i had said during my opening statement, and have said in the previous -- >> please get closer. >> as i said in my answer in a previous question, what you're asking right now, the need to improve the accountability of the afghan government, it is central to our success. but against that, we have to be clear over the last seven years, starting from a very, very extraordinarily low baseline, there has been progress in afghanistan. if you look in the government of afghanistan in the central ministries right now, there's some success there. the ministry of public health, the ministry of education, the ministry of the interior. your question about the need to improve in efforts against corruption, there are points of excellence right now in the afghan government. we've got progress that's been made in the counternarcotics sector with very effective justi

and, indeed, their president karzai's ministers.the credit for naming of those ministers, finance, commerce, health. i could go on. and he's also committed very publicly in his inauguration speech to improve upon the quality of those important ministries. we're waiting to -- for his announcements to be made. we expect the first round will be within the next several days. we have a degree of confidence they'll be improvements in the central government. >> thank you, sir. general, in building the afghan security forces, this is getting into a detailed level, but i think it is important, one of the areas we hear the difficulties is that only, like, 10%, i believe of the afghan military force is literate. and so to have them learning skills, reading maps, doing the basic day to day, how are you coping with that in terms of building this force? >> that's an important point. one is literacy training and not only is that important to help make the force better, but it also is very popular. and it helps get people in the service and it help

could he call president karzai and get more afghan troops to the helmand province now? the lawyers there are 10,000 troops to be trained in not 5000. half of these will be trained by americans. some of these troops that will come to helmand will already have been trained and they will be a bit there for partnership. some will be coming there to be trained from the beginning. the commitment that i had from president karzai is that he now sees that moment is a priority, that troops will be dispatched there from the rest of the country to helmand, where a great deal of the violence is. it is in recognition of that that i have made the announcements i have made to date. >> the statement of the prime minister mentioned yemen, with the yemeni groups forming the working in afghanistan and pakistan. will they continue to work with the government of yemen to make sure that it does not become a be a lot -- and that they will be invited to the london conference? >> he is absolutely right to point to the terrorist threats we see in different parts of the world. it is absolutely tru

in particular his direct conversations with president karzai. number of troops they are committing is encouraging, but the quality will be very important. could be, perhaps, a stark progress by some reorganization of the kandahar future government. >> i talked to president karzai about the governorships of kandahar and also helmand and about the appointments he is going to make to his cabinet in the next few days. my honorable friend is absolutely right. it is the quality of the local government on the ground and the quality of the afghan army and particularly over time the quality of the police in afghanistan that is going to be so vital to the success in the future. what i saw yesterday was afghan recruits training at a high level demand from the british trainers and acquainting themselves well. what i also see in helmand is a government that insures the content and resources directed to the people and build up a system of law. wherever that is not happening actions should be taken and we would give our views directly to president karzai. >> m

we will have to work with president karzai.e may find in retrospect that this was the fatal blow to our efforts to defeat the taliban. we don't know that yet, and i think we can yet turn it around, but mrs. clinton now has heard date for the next three years. she will be managing mr. karzai. she needs to avoid demonizing. she needs to avoid temper tantrums. she needs to find a way to bring out the best in hamid karzai. where are going forward from here? let me offer you three observations. first, this is a bold gamble. what the president has embarked upon today has no guarantee of success. there is no assurance that this is going to work. there are all kinds of things that may fail. trying to build an afghan army and police force may be a lot harder than we think. trying to reverse the taliban's momentum is going to be difficult. for sure, casualties are going to go up significantly, and domestic dissent here and in other nato countries over this war is going to get stronger and harder. there are several potential gain changers

is president karzai correct that he needs extensive military u.s. security assistance for 15 or 20 more years? will such assistance require the use of many private security contract tors? if so, what will a reliance cost the american taxpayer if contractors are employed, do the state and defense department have sufficient oversight members of the committee nisms to ensure they operate more legally than they have in, for example, iraq? what lessons from afghanistan's history can we learn about the population's reaction to long-term presence? could afghanistan degenerate into a civil war as happened in iraq? is the government of pakistan a viable partner? are they serious about helping us? are elements of their military and security services still supporting the afghan taliban who are attacking our troops? what if the president is overthrown as has happened with previous leaders? will our allies actually provide the troops the president is requesting and if they commit 10,000 troops and we have 90 troops, will it be seen as an international effort or

but president karzai has a real mission here. to clean up his act, if i can be that blunt, and provide this sort of leadership for all afghan people to build a better future, to take this opportunity, which is an opportunity for him, and build on it. if he doesn't do it, then his country, the afghan people, and the entire region, which includes two nuclear powers, and india and china. all of that region then becomes unstable. and i think that's not an afghan's best interest. that's not in the united states or region interest or the world. >> former nato commander, west point graduate, general george joulwan, thank you. please come back any time. >> thank you. okay. >> >> as we get better and better, we run the risk of all of the confidence and arrogant. >> four of malcolm's book sit on the "new york times" best sellers list, including the latest, "what the dog saw." he's our guest on c-span's q and a. >> topics at the state department briefing include nato's role in afghanistan, and the start nuclear disarmorment treaty between t

i spend a lot of time with and around karzai. i really believe that if we work with him in a more effective manner, we will get a better outcome from him and from the team around him. he has some very good cabinet ministers who are doing really excellent work. there need to be more of them. they need to be supported more. they need to be held accountable. but my sense from the very long and candid conversations i have had with him is that there is a window of opportunity that we have to cease. and finally-- seize. and finally, the president's impetus will give us a change in the grand. the result that he is showing, the back that very obviously this is not an easy political call for him to make, it has significant budget implications for our country -- i think that this will help to summon the very best of everybody, and will give us the chance of success that i believe we can achieve. i am not now read about how hard this will be, -- i am not naive about how hard this will be, but this can lead to success if we apply it. >> than

he is not offering negotiations with the karzai government to the contrary, karzai is a traitor and deservesobal islamic jihad. they are not willing to do it now. nobody in their right mind is when the break with that movement. you would be dead tomorrow morning. and so with your family. if the momentum is shifting, and we can offer security protection who break -- to those who break from the taliban, then we might be able to see the fissures within the taliban movement. if we do something simple, like pay afghan soldiers more money than the taliban pays their soldiers, we all most -- we may also find that people will switch over. we do not know. that is part of what i mean about knowing in 18 months. we will see whether fischer's like this begin to develop in the taliban, and whether resources in the afghan army more properly brings in recruits who might otherwise go to the taliban. i think we will know that within a definite period of time. but i am very skeptical of the notion that the taliban -- at least mullah omar -- is interested in anything like negotiations with the united states. i

karzai.d in retrospect, that this was the fatal blow. we do not know that yet, and i think we can yet turn this around. mrs. clinton now has her date for the next three years. she will be managing mr. karzai. she needs to of will -- avoid demonizing, timber tantrums timbertemper tantrums, and to bring out the best in karzai. where are we going from here? let me offer you three observations. first, this is a bold gamble. what the president is to has embarked upon today has no guarantee of success. there are all kinds of things that may fail. trying to build an afghan army and police force may be a lot harder, and i suggest will be a lot harder, and we think. trying to reverse the taliban and momentum will be difficult. for sure, casualties are going to go up. domestic dissent, here and and other nato countries, over this war is winding a stronger and harder. there are several potential game changers that could change everything, literally in a matter of minutes. another 9/11 attack inside the

like everyone else, i look forward to working with the karzai government but we must have the supportof international communities, as well. and that brings me to my final point. the president's new strategy still recognizes the criticality of a broad-base aid proech to regional problems. he does not view afghanistan in isolation anymore than he view it is ties between al qaeda and the taliban as superficial. he's called for stronger and more productive cooperation with neighboring pakistan which is like wise under the threat from radical elements and whose sup sport vital to our ability to eliminate safe havens. he's pledged and we in the military welcome renewed emphasis on securing more civilian expertise to the effort. and that is happening. more contributions by other nato nations, and a realistic plan to transition responsibilities to the afghans. his is a more balanced, more flexible and achievable strateg and real possibilities, and speaking for the 2.2 million men and women who must execute it and who, with their families have borne the brunt of the st you will all have an opp

he said karzai is a traitor.l of the tell them is irreconcilable. -- all of the taliban is irreconcilable. parts of them may be able to break with omar. they will not do it now. nobody in their right mind is now -- was now support will break with that movement. he would be dead tomorrow morning and so with his family. if the momentum shifted, and we can offer security and protection to people who break from the taliban, then we can begin to see a fissures within the movement. if we do something simple, like pay afghan soldiers more money than a taliban pace their soldiers, we may also find that many people will switch over. that is part of what i mean about saying we will know in 18 months. we will see whether fischer's begin to develop in the taliban. -- fissures begin to develop in the taliban. with our resources in the afghan army will bring recruits and. i think we will know that within that definite period of time. i'm skeptical of the notion that the talbian, at least mullah omar, is interested in anything

some people interpreted that as supporting karzai, and others interpreted it as opposing karzai. neither is true. we supported and open process, and it came not as it came out. in november, secretary clinton and i sat an audience as he gave his inaugural address, which we thought was a good address. presidency darzedari came from pakistan, and it was a nice symbolism. where do we go from here? we have absolutely no problem working with his government. is it as good as it could be? is it as good as we would like it to be? he had a long section of corruption in his inauguration. president obama said clearly that he looked for actions. we spoke this morning about rochon, about the next series of elections. you do not work just with the president. we have had excellent relationships with many ministers. the minister of agriculture is a terrific minister. we have major agriculture program, which is a most important program. we are working directly with the minister and the department of agriculture vigo -- people on every single problem. we had 10 americans working on agriculture when

president karzai has agreed to come and he will have to report on reforms that he has promised to make in his administration as he started his second period of duty. at the same time, we are making available all the equipment is necessary, helicopters and vehicles, to our armed forces but i can just add one thing that 80 percent of the deaths have been the result of explosive devices. and we've now brought in far more severe as equipping. would've brought an extra engineers that were brought in extra drones to survey the area. would have brought in more intelligence officers and we're backing up our troops with the best equivalent possible. we will do everything we can to avoid the loss of life as a result of this guerrilla warfare. >> u.s. forces are now pouring into helmand province which is welcome. but it is one of the current provinceproblems that we are responsible if all of the increase in u.s. and helmand, it is their data will be a contest between the u.k. forces were still spread too thinly and u.s. forces who will not be? does he accept this needs to change and change very u

democracy with karzai as president, that stadium fell into ill repair and the billboards, you know, began to crumble and peel. you've seen billboards in our own city how if they stay up too long, the weather and elements takes their toll on those images, and they begin to crumble. >> [inaudible] >> would you repeat that question for our c-span -- >> i think the question was what was on the billboards in the stadium. >> right. what was on the billboards in the stadium. yes, ma'am. >> did, did the hostages have any connections to each other, and were they all captured at the same time? >> the two american women were captured first and then the round-up of the other six happened within about two days. but it was about a week and a half to ten days before they all realized who was actually captured. and who had made it out. there was also 16 people from the organization that actually made it out by land to pakistan which is a whole other story in itself. but i believe it's when the men got taken, gayrecord and peter bunch from australia got taken from the vice and virtue prison which is

president karzai has agreed to come, and he will have to report on the reforms that he promised to make in his administration as he started his second period of duty. at the same time, we are making available all the equipment that is necessary -- helicopters and vehicles -- to our armed forces. i can just add one thing, that 80% of the deaths have been the result of explosive devices. we have now brought in far more surveillance equipment, we have brought in extra engineers, we have brought in extra drones to survey the area, we have brought in more intelligence officers, and we are backing up our troops with the best equipment possible. we will do everything we can to avoid the loss of life as a result of this guerrilla warfare. >> mr. david cameron. >> thank you, mr. speaker. u.s. forces are now pouring into helmand province, and that is welcome. but is not one of the current problems that british forces are still spread too thinly in the very tough parts of helmand for which we are responsible? following the increase in u.s. forces in helmand, is there not a danger that there will b

could he call president karzai and get more afghan troops to the helmand province now? the lawyers there are 10,000 troops to be trained in not 5000. half of these will be trained by americans. some of these troops that will come to helmand will already have been trained and they will be a bit there for partnership. some will be coming there to be trained from the beginning. the commitment that i had from president karzai is that he now sees that moment is a priority, that troops will be dispatched there from the rest of the country to helmand, where a great deal of the violence is. it is in recognition of that that i have made the announcements i have made to date. >> the statement of the prime minister mentioned yemen, with the yemeni groups forming the working in afghanistan and pakistan. will they continue to work with the government of yemen to make sure that it does not become a be a lot -- and that they will be invited to the london conference? >> he is absolutely right to point to the terrorist threats we see in different parts of the world. it is absolutely tru

afan president karzai said his government might nd at least five yrs to take over all security.nd the u.s.ommander in afghistan, general stanley mcchrystal, said he thinks he cabegin withdrawing u.s. forces in 2011, without asking for more. judy. >>oodruff: jim, the newshour contues now online. for a preview of what yoll fi this evening on our brand new website. back to harireenivasan in our newsroom. hari. >>ari: judy, on our web site today we've given ecomic correspondenpaul solman's making sense series makeover. u can watch a preview of his upcoming story about older workers in seah of jobs. and ask paul questions abo the recession. e president's plan for creating jobor other economic topi on your mind. ray suarez has twoideo postcards fr ann arbor, michigan one on zingerman's deli and e other on the re of digital mea. and jeffrey brown's art beat bl our correspondents pick their favote books, movies and performances of 2009. all of that, and our n blog of ne and insight it'called 'the rundo', and we update it throughout the day. you can find it all newshour.pbs.org. judy. >>

president karzai indicated we will take this in a province by province basis. today we are in charge of the security of kabul province, this is where almost one fourth of the population is living. we are practically in charge of the security in many other provinces in northern and central afghanistan, where some nato troops are operating. we are planning on taking the lead on the military operations within three years. in five years we should be able to take the responsibility of the security throughout the country. we think the best exit strategy for the u.s. is success. to succeed is the best strategy for us and the united states. we will be seeking a long-term political friendship with the u.s. we understand a u.s. military presence will have its limitations. we understand fighting for afghanistan is our responsibility as the afghan people. we are ready to take this responsibility. for a smooth transfer, we are asking for the establishment of a joint security consultation group with u.s. and nato. some of the initial consultation has already started. the afg

the first question is: do we have a trust and effective partner in president karzai. no many how many troops we deploy, we cannot succeed with an afghan government plagued by corruption much we cannot defeat al qaeda without pakistan's support. the third question is: can we accelerate the training of afghan national security forces? today there are too few afghan security forces to clear and hold against the taliban and they are not capable of taking over for u.s. troops. in light of the president's 18-month deadline, it is clear that self-sufficiency for the afghans is not optional. it's mandatory. secretary gates confirmed for me in last week's senate foreign relation committee hearing that july 2011 is a firm deadline. in 18 months we will begin our withdrawal. and he said, along with senator clinton and chief of staff -- chief of operations mullens, that under no conditions will we send additional troops after this deployment. the fourth question is: do we have enough qualified u.s. civilians in afganistan to partner with the afghan people in promoting governance

that is the goal of the complete handoff to karzai in five years, assuming everything works. we will see what the conditions are for a president down the line to say we are not winning, but it is time to come home. >> it may seem like a sideshow in the city, but it is a live issue for british politics as well prepared gear have been disturbing link large numbers. how has this decision by pres ident obama been? >> gordon brown is talking about a modest increase of british troops, 500 up suit and 10,000. he will get down to it next year, an election year and we see a certain amount of calculation. i think the reality of the situation both, is important but all the mainstream political parties in britain. maxtor will be an intense period. the main driver for reform is going to become if you do not establish yourself as a potential government, we will withdraw and there will be chaos. the problem is it is going to be born quite likely in the troops on the ground. is a very -- is very much in the moment. it shows how stable is a rock iraq is. >> next question. >> my name is kevin.

it's a priority area for president karzai. we support that. we have major efforts to try to improve the financial accountability of ministries. we're making progress in those areas. but against that, this, it remains an extraordinary challenge. we are encouraged with president karzai's commitment in his inauguration address to try to place more emphasis on this area and certainly political leadership and political emphasis is going to be absolutely indispensable to make further progress. but it's going to remain a challenge. >> and, general, that's good by you? >> yes, sir. >> i thank you very much. my time has expired. i wish you god speed and thank you once again. >> thank you, senator, kirk. senator inhofe. >> let me first of all make sure you understand that i'm probably not alone in disagreeing with the comments made by the senator that is somewhat critical of the way the serp program is put together. they've been three of my favorite programs, and i think i've been somewhat responsible for advancing that in the program in changing the cc