karzai knows that as long as we are there, he will be there.ave is that there are 20,000 taliban in the whole country of afghanistan and maybe 100 to 200 al qaeda. i do not understand how the military cannot take care of 25,000. there was a show of a helicopter flying over this town and they said, that is where the taliban are. why don't they just take helicopters and invade the place and get rid of the taliban? host: i will follow his up with comments on hamid karzai, a tweet hear from monte. guest: several good questions here. first, on karzai helping bin laden, i would be very skeptical of this. i see no indication that is the case. president karzai won a disputed election that was messy. there were allegations of corruption. however, most people agree that he won the majority of votes in that election. president karzai owes his office not to the americans, not to the international community, but to the afghan people, as messy as the election was. i do not think there is any indication -- i have not seen any indication that he is helping ter

i thank president karzai. i applaud afghanistan's commitment toward a partnership with the international community. this is an extremely challenging time for afghanistan and for international engagement in the quest for peace, security, and development in the country. today's events is a chance to look forward, to explore how to build on our achievements so far. it is an opportunity to redefine the relationship between afghanistan and the international community and its partners, a relationship based on strengthening afghan leadership and an increased support role for the international community. a relationship where international efforts aligned with afghan government priorities. we face a long and complex process of recovery and institution-building. we must encompass the full range -- it must strengthen the government's and meet the facing needs of the afghan people -- governance and meet the facing needs of the afghan people. it must respect the human rights of the afghan people. it must force environment

karzai didn't win those elections. and it is in, incidentally, that the electoral complaints commission took karzai slightly below 50%, and abdullah gave up because he recognized it was hopeless. the electoral complaints commission get a set this occult -- did a statistical sample because all they needed to put them below 50%. but based on what i know from the staff, is that karzai's vote was probably around 41%, not 49%. and abdullah's was not that much far behind, maybe 35%. so this was a much closer contest. i think abdullah was right not to go to the cigarette because the independent election commission was moving to increase the number of polling centers when the root of the problem was goes bowling centers, that is, ghost pulitzers that never existed producing 1 million phony ballots. and because it retired -- in every case, the fraud was either perpetrated by the election commission staff or they collaborated with those who did the fraud, or they knew of the front and didn't report it. and every one of those peo

. >> you have done a great job with karzai. this is an opportunity for us to make sure that more draconian steps are taken and said if they steps that have yielded little results. >> i could not agree with you more. i cannot disagree with you at all. this is a moment and it will take a tough hand. >> i noticed the vote has not gone off. and to set fashion, which are drifting along here. -- in truth senate fashion, we are drifting along here. >> i'd prefer to look at this as an opportunity to finish my questions. i.t. why for being here and for your insights. -- thank you for your being here a year and says. my first question before i ask more about the long term, if each of you are satisfied that everything is currently being done that can be done with the short-term relief efforts, dr. former, you talk about how slow the relief efforts are and to a great extent that is because of the lack of infrastructure. is there more than should be done right now to address those relief efforts? >> thank you. i think there is a mismatch be

and disappointing way 400 karzai. -- disappointing for karzai. his 17 rejected included a controversial former warlord who fought against the taliban. president carter signed wanted him to continue as energy minister. -- president karzai what did him to continue. he pledged to place more women in government posts in a male- dominated society. the nominations for justice, commerce, and communication also failed. among the successful reappointment or the interior minister and defense minister, but no one has been nominated to fill the post of foreign minister. it will not be decided until a conference on afghanistan takes place this month. the president said he will make some nominations but it is uncertain who he will announce. parliament has spoken and the president said he will respect its decision. the western allies will make it clear they want to tackle corruption and threaten to withhold funding from any ministry run by a corrupt politician. >> rescue operations continued in brazil after heavy rains killed at least 80 people. one resort coll

two months after karzai was declared winner of a presidential election plagued by fraud.oday karzai ordered parliament to cancel its winter break so it vote on a new list of nominees that he's now preparing. he's under pressure to show progress in governing by january 28 when an international conference on the afghan mission convenes in london. among the rejected nominees was influential word lord khan and the only woman karzai had named. lawmakers criticized many on the list as unqualified political cronies. several holdovers in vital posts were approved. among them the defense minister and the minister of interior. along with the ministers of finance, education, and agriculture. i spoke to afghan ambassador today and asked him how big a setback this was to karzai. >> it may be a temporary setback for the president but it's a step forward for the democracy in afghanistan. it's really happy for the parliament of afghanistan to do their job the way they are supposed to be doing. >> warner: that seems like a strange reaction. a setback for the president but you think it's a

the time scale has been mentioned by president karzai of around 15 years. i wonder whether you thought that was a practical time limit to start pulling troops out and also to have the taliban laydown their arms. >> i don't think that that is what the president's men to. -- meant. the u.s. has added 30,000, other international partners have added 9000. we have increased the tempo of our engagement and we are beginning to see some evidence of reversing the momentum of the taliban. it is necessary in order to provide the conditions for stability and security but it is not sufficient to provide the political environment in which a lasting peace could be negotiated. as you heard it today, we will be pursuing the military action going very aggressively against the taliban, those who are trying to kill our soldiers and civilians and wreak havoc in afghanistan. at the same time, creating an opportunity for taliban who choose to leave the battlefield, renounce violence, renounce al qaeda, agreed to abide by the laws and constitution of afghanistan to enter society.

hamid karzai is not particularly interested in doing that. at one point, his generals came to him and said these changes are starting to demoralize the army and his reply was i don't care. if they are bad i will demoralize them some more. there are a few instances where political considerations outweigh merit in how commanders are chosen. sometimes in the military there is a tendency to say how dare we let that happen? certainly it can be damaging in many ways but keep in mind that war is a political activity. there are cases where politics from merrick. our civil war is an excellent example. abraham lincoln gave ships to a lot of inexperienced politicians in the north in order to get their help in reporting people from their state and so forth. ultimately at the higher level you have some sort of balance between merit and political considerations. afghanistan has that balance and the government has not put merit often a enough. in the book i go into a lot of detail on what foreign powers in the united states and afghanistan to improve the le

most turned down were viewed as cronies of karzai. a bit of controversy from five years ago is flaring up again this weekend in denmark where a man has been arrested for trying to kill an artist who drew cartoons of the prophet mohamm mohammed. sheila macvicar has more. >> reporter: carried into the courthouse on a stretcher his face covered to conceal his identity, this is the man police say tried to murder danish cartoonist kurt westergaard. the somali broke into westergaard's home last night wielding an axe and a knife and shouting he wanted to kill him. the car to bist and his five-year-old granddaughter was able to take shelter in a specially secured bathroom. when the police arrived two minutes later, the would-be killer attacked them, too. police shot him in the knee to stop him. five years another a danish newspaper commissioned a dozen cartoons depicting the prophet mohammed. kurt westergaard drewab image of the prophet with his turbin shaped as a bomb. the publication of th cartoons provoked outrage, attacks on danish embass

i am delighted to introduce president karzai to deliver his keynote address.honorable prime minister gordon brown, your excellency, honorable ministers, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen -- i am delighted to be addressing this conference that once again brings together the friends and supporters of afghanistan. my compatriots and i are deeply grateful to the international community for their attention and support to that we have received during the past several years. i want to take this opportunity to express my very special thanks and gratitude to gordon brown for his gracious to host this timely conference, offering to renew our commitment to be cause of peace. this conference offers us the opportunity to discuss the way forward. it ensures peace and stability in afghanistan and the surrounding region. today, i will not talk about our collective achievement, which have been considerable and numerous over the past several years. i would rather contemplate a few of the issues that are presently of great significance to the people of afghanistan as

. >>> nominations for tommy to karzai or reject it. it at the end of the vote, 70% of the nominees were rejected. karzai says he will make new nominations for the posts but it is not clear when it will be announced. >>> families gathered in pakistan to mournthe death of 96 people killed at a bombing at a volleyball game. funerals were held today. t bomber set off by 4 pounds of explosive yesterday. the village and northwest pakistan had tried to heal but many are too scared to speculate about the blast. >>> up next, a dramatic or rescue. -- up next a dramatic river rescue. and how long will the freezing temperatures to around? steve rudin will track the latest developments. >>> d.c. schools face major budget cuts, but chancellor michelle rhee says she will fight to get money for classrooms and classroom supplies. areas facing sharp cuts include security, food service, and other programs under the school support category. comes from falling tax revenues and the end of the federal stimulus spending. >>> you may want to bring your own bac

nothing has happened to defrost his relations with president karzai.oth biden and richard holbrooke have terrible relations with karzai. host: james traub is with us to talk about the influence of joe biden. republicans, 202-737-0001. democrats, 202-737-0002. independents, 202-628-0205. you can send us an e-mail or tweet us at. next phone call. caller: i think our president is doing very well. if we wanted joe biden as president, he would be president. i like the idea that our president is intelligent. he is not a puppet, like the last eight years. i think he is doing what he is supposed to be doing. host: james traub? guest: i guess i would agree, in general. he believes he could be a good president. i believe this is almost a desirable alternative. he is a very knowledgeable, bright guy. i do not think he has those qualities of character. i do not mean to say that he has no character at all that americans look to have as their president. i think obama, for all the mistakes he has made, has proved that people have a deep sense of comfort up and we did

where karzai hoped to demonstrate greater competence in governing and security.instead the world saw that despite the ongoing surge of more u.s. forces, the taliban can still plan and execute attacks at will. retired colonel david lamb, the former chief of staff of coalition operations in afghanistan, said even though just a dozen people died, the damage is far greater. >> if you're taliban and your tactic is to show that to this rather inept government that they can't parts inside the capitol from a psychological perspective it's a worrisome attack snis a spokesman in kabul prasesed their afghan counterpart for acting aggressively to contain the attacks. >> at the end, it demonstrates by the way the afghan national security forces are dealing with the operation, they still can deliver the experience that they have to be able to deal with the event. to charge and neutralize the insurgents into to bring security back to kabul. >> warner: but lamb said the fact that the afghans hadn't been able to neutralize the attackers before they struck, despite intelligence wa

president karzai mentioned his intention to hold them. indeed, i think that there are a number of things that need to be put in place beyond the district boundaries. if we have a better understanding of the size of the population, it is something that should also be done, the mandate as to why they should be adopted way ahead of time so that the provincial elections -- their mandate was adopted after the nomination. i think you need some preparations on the question -- preparations. on the question of the 2005 elections, located where the parliamentary candidates were there for a number of weeks, there was a lot of interest, a lot of debate about the 2005 elections. like most politicians, they are quite competitive and eager to w%@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @) the elections in 2005 raised a number of problems, but first, we have to remember these first afghan elections, i think afghanistan is still testing what will work for them. every election has had some fundamental changes as far as where accounting is done, how it is done, new bodie

so hamid karzai maybe corrupt or he may be a saint.it's not our association with him, telling his legitimacy in the eyes of the people, just as in pakistan. he was elected by the majority. he is now 19% approval rating. it is because of his allowing the tax. are we not going to let their institutions, their leadership, maybe we have to talk with mullah omar? >> does anyone want to take that? >> i speak to it for a second in pakistan. you're absolutely right. president's popularity, not anything to do with mr. 10% himself has gone through the roof. you will probably see the end of the zardari government. each time we have ended up pretty unhappy with the outcome. and the pakistani people have ended up pretty unhappy with the outcome. we've talked a lot about polling. and i'm skeptical about polling in illiterate societies as i think anyone is. but there is interesting polling in pakistan that says despite the fact that the country now has an anemic economy, despite the fact that the violence is unprecedented levels, the overwhelming maj

so hamid karzai maybe corrupt or he may be a saint. it's not our association with him, telling his legitimacy in the eyes of the people, just as in pakistan. he was elected by the majority. he is now 19% approval rating. it is because of his allowing the tax. are we not going to let their institutions, their leadership, maybe we have to talk with mullah omar? >> does anyone want to take that? >> i speak to it for a second in pakistan. you're absolutely right. president's popularity, not anything to do with mr. 10% himself has gone through the roof. you will probably see the end of the zardari government. each time we have ended up pretty unhappy with the outcome. and the pakistani people have ended up pretty unhappy with the outcome. we've talked a lot about polling. and i'm skeptical about polling in illiterate societies as i think anyone is. but there is interesting polling in pakistan that says despite the fact that the country now has an anemic economy, despite the fact that the violence is unprecedented levels, the overwhelming ma

you are stuck with a choice of karzai or the taliban, and my understanding is karzai is not encouraged, so perhaps you will have political parties that the merged -- dodi merge the represent an alternative. -- that the merged -- emerge that represent the alternative. i think the most important thing we can deliver is security, and let me give you one benchmark. the route was the most dangerous in the world for three years. you were likely to be killed if you drove down it, and the fact that it was the most dangerous in the world said everything he needed to know. i have taken the road many times it went down to about seven hours. i could drive the road without incident. anybody would say you were effectively signing your own death warrant. it would be great if it were returned to a road that could really be used, and that as a sign of real progress. that road connecting the pashtun capital to the national capital, and that is something we can deliver. >> do you mind if i asked a question. how would you describe vital interest in the afghanistan in response to what he was arguing? >> th

nothing has happened to defrost his relations with president karzai.oth biden and richard holbrooke have terrible relations with karzai. host: james traub is with us to talk about the influence of joe biden. republicans, 202-737-0001. democrats, 202-737-0002. independents, 202-628-0205. you can send us an e-mail or tweet us at. next phone call. caller: i think our president is doing very well. if we wanted joe biden as president, he would be president. i like the idea that our president is intelligent. he is not a puppet, like the last eight years. i think he is doing what he is supposed to be doing. host: james traub? guest: i guess i would agree, in general. he believes he could be a good president. i believe this is almost a desirable alternative. he is a very knowledgeable, bright guy. i do not think he has those qualities of character. i do not mean to say that he has no character at all that americans look to have as their president. i think obama, for all the mistakes he has made, has proved that people have a deep sense of comfort up and we did

>> guest: president karzai has made two sets of choices. he nominated once slate of cabinet officials about 24 of them. seventeen were rejected by the parliament. the parliament in a healthy move is asserting itself. this is a good thing. have some balancing, checks and balances as we understand them. so the parliament looked at the first slate of nominees from karzai and did not like many of them. rejected them. the parliament did choose, did agree, and did confirm several of the most important cabinet choices from president karzai, minister of defence and minister of interior which handles all the police, minister of finance, minister of agriculture. one of the big recipients of assistance. so the cabinet in this area somewhat. president karzai has recently submitted a second slate to replace those that were rejected the first time. these are lesser-known people. the second slate of lesser-known people. many people have not heard. many afghans have not heard. the international community is still examining. but they may be that technocrats

interest z karzai. interesting in both issues in our meeting with tt karzai he stressed very much the significance of the upcoming parliament election and the need to ensure that under the afghan constitution that process moves forward, to clearly, to clearly - define or establish the legitimacy of the afghan government and their processes as they move ahead. we also had an opportunity to visit the state police training center there in kabel. very important to understand the progress that is being made as afghan army is being trained up. they truly are operating at a deficit in terms of the numbers and bringing more recruits in, but what they have seen in the past several months has been remarkable in terms of the number of recruits that have come in. we met with the minister of the defense, who indicated that just in the past month, the number of recruits that they have receives has been incredible and in fact they hp+e not been able to process them quickly enough as they come forward. but i think we a

out of afghanistan, there is a big political setback for president hamid karzai. parliament rejected 70% of his choices for a new cabinet, including the only woman nominated. karzai's choices were seen as a first test of his quest to build a legitimate and accountable government. many of the nominees were criticized for having been picked for reasons other than their competency. >>> back in our nation's capital here, the senate republican leader strikes an optimistic note. mitch mcconnell saying he understands why show thors might be weary of the political infighting in the nation's capital, but says disagreements are indispensable to a healthy democracy. while the u.s. faces major challenges here, the minority leader predicts better days ahead. >> two long and difficult wars, a prolonged recession, double-digit unemployment, difficult days for our nation. in this new year, we are grateful for the courageous men and women of our own day who keep a lonely watch to defend the cause of liberty. we are also painfully aware of how many americans were out of work this c

preeti meeting with president karzai. -- our meeting with president karzai.h president carskarzai, he addressed the significance of the upcoming parliamentary election and the need to ensure that the process moves forward to clearly define or established a legitimacy of the afghan government. also had an opportunity to visit the police training centers there in kabul. it is very important to understand the progress that is being made as the afghan army is being trained predicted they are true the operating as -- at a deficit in terms of the numbers and bringing more recruits in. what they have seen in the past several months has been remarkable in terms of the number of recruits that have come in. we met with the minister of defense who indicated that just in the past month the number of recruits that they have received have been incredible. they have not been able to process them quickly enough as they come forward. i think we also need to understand that these recruits, as eager and energetic as they may be, have some issues but it obviously, the biggest --

nothing has happened to defrost his relations with president karzai.olbrooke have terrible relations with karzai. host: james traub is with us to talk about the influence of joe biden. republicans, 202-737-0001. democrats, 202-737-0002. independents, 202-628-0205. you can send us an e-mail or tweet us at . next phone call. caller: i think our president is doing very well. if we wanted joe biden as president, he would be president. i like the idea that our president is intelligent. he is not a puppet, like the last eight years. i think he is doing what he is supposed to be doing. host: james traub? guest: i guess i would agree in general. he believes he could be a good president. i believe this is almost a desirable alternative. he is a very knowledgeable bright guy. i do not think he has those qualities of character. i do not mean to say that he has no character at all that americans look to have as their president. i think obama for all the mistakes he has made, has proved that people have a deep sense of comfort up and we did with him as a person. bi

karzai lacks legitimacy. this really will depend on achieving security, which i think is achievable, good governance, which is a big question mark, and with good governance comes with our own money, investment for jobs, jobs, jobs. without that, afghanistan will not be a positive scenario in the future. but saying that, i must conclude by pointing out that this is not going to affect our domestic national security. with the last three plots, the underwear bomber came from yemen -- well started in yemen, it came from nigeria and london. the attack on the danish cartoonist came from somalia. and major hassan came from washington, d.c. thank you very much. >> peter has to leave at 11:00, so he should take the first few questions. there's a microphone in the back of the room. anyone who would like to ask a question. >> i have worked as a journalist and research in the united states, and our retired two years ago. what i hear now in this seminar and the last few, exactly what i was hearing before the iraq war. and

having said that, hamid karzai is the legitimately-elected president of the country, and we will dealh him and his government which has plenty of good people in it -- i should be careful about that because not all his cabinet members have been confirmed yet, but there's some excellent ministers who were -- we're very comfortable working with. and we are well aware of the fact that this election wasn't perfect, and we work closely with ndi and iri and the european union observers, and i hope future elections will be, will be better. but this was the first really contested election in the country. there had been one five years ago, but not like this. and under most difficult circumstances. secretary clinton said publicly during her trip that it was astonishing that they attempted it at all. but we will work with the karzai government as legitimate government, and we look forward to continuing that, and we look forward to improvements in the relationship. >> yes, sir. >> thank you. mr. ambassador, happy new year. i know you have very difficult job, you cannot make everybody happy in this

president karzai has said that he will be ready to issue this plan within a month or so, and u.s. officials expect to be fully supportive. it will take a few months after that to make the plan operational. while there is apparently no progress to negotiate with higher level taliban to end the violence and become politically active, it doesn't reduce the need to chip away at that lower-level taliban group. we read in the press today that progress is being made. as a matter of fact, with leaders, local leaders in afghanistan in that endeavor. in conclusion, we saw some signs of progress on our visit in a number of critical ways, in training and equipping afghan security forces, in partnering closely in the field with the afghan security forces and a perception and reality of optimism among the military, civilian officials and the afghan people and in devising a plan for reintegrating taliban fighters who lay down their arms. we have the right strategy and mission for stabilizing the security information and positioning responsibility for afghanistan's future to the afghan army and p

. >>> the afghan parliament has overwhelmingly rejected the new cabinet of president hamid karzai. 17ions were rejected by afghan lawmakers. the vote is a serious setback for karzai, coming on the heels of his controversial re-election as president. >>> somehow, some way, a suicide bomber managed to slip onto a u.s. base in afghanistan without being searched, killing seven cia officers. now a terror group is taking credit for wednesday's attack, praising a possible double agent. cnn's atea bowie is in kabul with the very latest. >> reporter: the question that remains is just how a suicide bomber was able to make it onto an american base in eastern afghanistan, detonate his vest and kill seven cia agents. american officials here in afghanistan still are not talking about just how he was able to do that. the taliban claiming that he was actually an afghan soldier, a soldier that they were able to convince to switch allegiances rather than fighting with the u.s. forces, fighting against the u.s. forces. and the taliban claimed that they will continue to infiltrate the afghan army and the

we are walking arm in arm with the karzai administration. we are coordinating with regard to election reform and i think we are of the same mind. that should be a part of something in the near future. we're recording with the karzai administration as to when these parliamentary elections are held. i do know from talking with the president that he wants to follow the constitution and he wants to give the afghan people an opportunity to vote and to have an accurate vote count with regard to the parliament. >> when you said we are in a good position to win it 2010, i wonder about your thoughts -- >> this is a press conference about afghanistan and pakistan. it is a wonderful thing about our system. the american people have an opportunity to vote every two years. they have an opportunity to express their opinion about this stewardship of this administration and its majority. >> when you're talking about the deficit of trust, it sounded like you had not convinced of pakistan people that you talked to that it was in their interest to not have the

present karzai wned it could ta five to ten years f complete ndover to afghan control.but western lders pushed f a tighter timetable. >> the intention is for some provinces to trantion byate 2010 early 2011. on the road to eting president arzai's commitment that ha of afghanistan's provinces wld have afghan securi leadship within tee years and the whole of afghanistan be within afghan security leadersh within five. >> sreenivasan: there was also otest outside the conferenc in london. denstrators called for the immediate withdral of international troops from afghanistannd the ouster of the pro-wesrn conference. >>his conference is a colonial conference. it's a conference that is planning e future of the muslim world so that the regies that are still there, thearzai ray jet stream, the sar dari regime in pakistan can serve western intests in the region. >> sreenivasan: abdlah abdullah warne doubts about the karzai governme will undermine any chances for progress. >> the gd will of the international commuty is appreciated. the fact that it'staking place will bringocus on a

do you have faith in president karzai that he will be able to turn sentiment around with troops on the ground there? >> i did not before. he is the president, you can argue about the election all day long. but he is the president. i want to see how the ax and reacts and works with us. getting rid of the unsavory people that have gotten into that government -- i hope he comes across -- there has been an awful lot in the way of trying to get to that country and non-haven for terrorists. it would help all of athens -- afghans. >> this spring will be the time when congress will debate afghanistan. in principle, president obama is expected to ask for as much as $33 billion more to pay for the surge in afghanistan. i was wondering whether you see it as possible for a lot of the democrats' -- potentially a supplemental, depending on what form the $33 billion would take. do you see any way that this may fail? >> i think a lot depends on how the situation is coming along in afghanistan. i think our military will do well. we have excellent military leadership. general stanley mcchrystal is first

president hamid karzai said he wants to let militants lay down their weapons and go home, so long as they are not affiliated with al qaeda. karzai spoke in istanbul, turkey, three days before an international conference on afghanistan in london. he said gathering international support was key. >> in the past, this effort by the afghan government did not have the backing or the support of our international partners. this current effort, this renewed effort, i should say, has the backing of our partners, in particular the united states and europe. >> sreenivasan: at the same time, the nato commander in afghanistan said he hopes an influx of troops will force taliban leaders to accept peace. general stanley mcchrystal suggested former taliban could even join the government. he said, "i think any afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past." also today, nato officials announced two more soldiers-- one british, one norwegian-- have been killed in bombings in afghanistan. the u.s. military will speed up a review of more than 4,300 iraq and afghanistan veterans. th

host: do you have trust and president karzai in afghanistan, that he will begin to turn things around in that country? guest: i did not before. she is the president, -- he is the president, you can argue about the election all day long. i want to see how he acts and reacts and works with us. getting rid of the unsavory people that have eaten their way into that government. i certainly hope that it comes across. we have expanded an awful lot in the way of blood and treasure in trying to get that country to be a non-haven for terrorists it would help all the afghan people -- it would help all of the afghan people, the administration there. guest: this spring, the congress will debate afghanistan, because president obama is to ask for $33 million more to pay for the search. i was wondering whether you see it as a tough vote for a lot of the democrats, on a potential supplemental, depending on what form the $33 billion will take. do you see any way this supplemental will fail, the vote will fail in congress? guest: i think a lot of it depends on how the situation is coming along in afghan

president karzai mentioned his intention to hold them. indeed, i think that there are a number of things that need to be put in place beyond the district boundaries. if we have a better understanding of the size of the population, it is something that should also be done, the mandate as to why they should be adopted way ahead of time so that the provincial elections -- their mandate was adopted after the nomination. i think you need some preparations on the question -- preparations. on the question of the 2005 elections, located where the parliamentary candidates were there for a number of weeks, there was a lot of interest, a lot of debate about the 2005 elections. like most politicians, they are quite competitive and eager to win. i don't think the u.n. had any of illusion that these elections are going to be easy. certainly, the elections in 2005 raised a number of problems. again, remember, these were the first afghan elections. they are still testing what will work for them. every election has had some fundamental changes in terms of

each other] >> immediately after this question on my right, i will visit president cause i -- hamid karzai. there is no need to make political points. afghanistan will no doubt be addressed by president obama in his state of the union address tonight but he is also expected to talk about reforms for the regulation of the banking system and no country was left more exposed to the failure of the banking system than the united kingdom. president obama has called for retail banks to be prevented from getting involved in large-scale proprietary trading. what is the government not supporting the president's proposal enthusiastically and working to bring these about? >> we are working closely internationally including one with president obama. they have different structures and different problems in the banking system which they are seeking to address and we are seeking problems in our banking system but it is important to work together internationally to be sure we can deal with the problems that have so affected all of our economies. >> it is important to work together internationally but the p

karzai is a passion. do you have confidence in the government, do you have concerns? >> guest: i have confidence and concerns just as i did in iraq. we have to understand the huge challenges the leaders in both of these countries face literally just in staying alive. i got to know hamid karzai when i first got to afghanistan at the beginning of 2002 when he had only been in office a few weeks himself. eight years later he's still in office facing extraordinarily challenges. and there are clearly a lot of problems and things he has to work on and things we have to do in support of him but i had the opportunity to get to know him personally and whatever hat he may be wearing at the moment one thing i absolutely persuaded is he is an afghan national list. >> host: next on call river hit new york on the republican line. >> caller: ambassador, good morning and thank you for taking my call. i had the recent experience the third person i talked to who came from iraq mentioned to me they came from mesopotamia and blamed england for and they didn't their animosity towards us f

now there are still exceptions, if someone is a relative of karzai then things become problematic. we like to think we are going to defer to the host nation's judgement but sometimes we have got to have a role in the same thing goes too in iraq early on we said we are going to let the afghans do it. you have got to let the native population to get themselves. sometimes that just doesn't work and sometimes the americans just have to get more involved. >> a question over here. >> hi tom. i have got to comment. i am a civil affairs guy and i have that kind of a comment for tom and then a question for mark. i have got to pick up on where you left off on your final point because i think in my experience as a practitioner in this kind of business to include low level counterinsurgency operations and i just did in liberia. >> i just want to point out that chris was the one of the great heroes when he tried to keep the kobo from blowing up. >> i think there is way too much emphasis on hearts and minds. as i like to tell people i don't care if you like me because i'm going home to write my

. >> you have done a great job with karzai. this is an opportunity for us to make sure that more draconian steps are taken and said if they steps that have yielded little results. >> i could not agree with you more. i cannot disagree with you at all. this is a moment and it will take a tough hand. >> i noticed the vote has not gone off. and to set fashion, which are drifting along here. -- in truth senate fashion, we are drifting along here. >> i'd prefer to look at this as an opportunity to finish my questions. i.t. why for being here and for your insights. -- thank you for your being here a year and says. my first question before i ask more about the long term, if each of you are satisfied that everything is currently being done that can be done with the short-term relief efforts, dr. former, you talk about how slow the relief efforts are and to a great extent that is because of the lack of infrastructure. is there more than should be done right now to address those relief efforts? >> thank you. i think there is a mismatch be

karzai lacks legitimacy, and he's unpopular in this country. really will depend on achieving security, which i think is achievable, good governance, which is a big question mark, and of course, with good governance comes, you know, with our own money investment for jobs, jobs, jobs. without jobs, jobs, jobs afghanistan will not be a positive scenario in the future. but saying that, i must conclude by pointing out that this is not going to affect our domestic national security. as we see with the last three plots the underwear bomber came from yemen -- well, was helped in yemen. came from nigeria and london. the attack on the danish cartoonist came from somalia. and major hasan came from washington, d.c. thank you very much. [applauding] [inaudible conversations] >> peter has to leave at 11:00, so he should take the first few questions. there is a microphone in the back of the room for anyone who would like to ask a question. [inaudible conversations] >> my name is mustafa malik. i work some 30 years as a journalist in the united states. i retir

karzai said he will make new nominations, it's unclear when. in another high stakes political issue the chief of afghanistan as election commission says a parliamentary vote will be held in may despite widespread international concerns. north carolina is going smoke free. effective today the leading tobacco producing state is banning in restaurants and bars and relative late comers in the tobacco ban. becoming 29th ban in restaurants and 24th for bars. any smoker or establishment that refuses to obey the law will face stiff fines. that's are the latest stories, back to you. >> shannon: thank you, caroline. national association of is your ban hospitals are calling on members of to rethink regulations, especially cutting medicare payments. molly henneberg takes a look how tt affect hospitals treating low income patients. >> at howard university hospital in washington d.c., also a level one trauma center, about 20% of patients walk in the door uninsured. although many may ultimately qualify for medicaid, leaving the hospital stuck with much of the

our conference on afghanistan, the london conference will be attended by president karzai the u.n. secretary general vana and 60 nations will be represented. we will be announcing new figures for nato forces and for afghan forces in the time to come. and we will be focusing on how the political and civilian surge that we plan in afghanistan can match and complement the military service that is taking place. on wednesday, the day before the first international meeting will be held to agree how we can strengthen support for yemen in its efforts against al qaeda and how we can help the government of yemen with the development and governance. as i said last week in a common statement i made on security, we know that there are terrorist groups with plans to hinchliffe damage on our country and we are always on alert. we will be vigilant against those who seek to destroy and undermine our democracy and our way of life. let me add one thing also at this morning. i sent my condolences to president harari and prime minister mellis after the crash of the ethiopian airways flight on the coast

international body met to name an interim government in afganistan to be led by its interim president hamid karzai. despite the early success al qaeda's leadership was able to find a safe haven in pakistan's tribal areas. a few years later it gained enough strength to once again pose a serious threat to the u.s. meanwhile the taliban reestablished its headquarters in pakistan and gained enough strength as a result of inadequate afghanistan security forces. by last year the situation had grown so pa perilous that generl stanley mcchrystal issued a report stating that our failure to gain the initiative and reverse the momentum of the taliban within 12 months to make defeating the insurgency impossible. it was largely as a result of that assessment that the president agreed last year to send 30,000 more troops to afganistan. earlier this month i and some of my colleagues had the opportunity to visit afganistan and pakistan to assess the situation on the ground firsthand. among other things, we saw progress in the crucial southern provinces of kandahar. though in the early phases general crystal's --

. >> but there have also been accusations against president karzai's relatives, brothers, part of this drug trade. >> we are talking about two different subject matters here. certainly the minister in afghanistan is very weak. he has no ability to enforce the law. it is nothing. it is sort of a moral role. i guess that is what tom meant when he says it is ineffective. certainly he's very clear. i never had one single word against him in terms of him being involved. then there is a different element, which i brought up, the question of corruption. corruption in kabul. corruption in the provinces. corruption in the army. that's a different issue and i would consider it one of most dangerous ones and one of the most urgent to be dealt with. >> gretchen, last word to you. as this re-assessment of afghan policy goes on, as this crisis in governance in afghanistan is playing itself out, how is this going to help or hinder, more like likely, the effort to control the drugs? >> well, i think at the same time that the drug problem creates challenges. it also presents opportunities. my research

it was certainly -- as we went to the conflicts or the debate about fried and abdulla purses karzai --is will this take on an ethnic tone. there were rumors that some are unhappy and are preparing to protest and did things to not go their way with their candidates and so on -- i do not know how realistic those are. in the end, there was not any major incident. i did not feel being there that there was any point that was about to go off our was narrowly averted. mike and digital compression is that -- my anecdotal impression is that they are not ethnic divisions that came out of the public debate. i think it is a very positive sign. in terms of political management, it is minimal in terms of the ecc's operation. there is tremendous support and the international community in terms of our profits and the decisions. we throughout were processed base. following our procedures and applying equal criteria to all complaint was our number one goal. i think that the acceptance of our findings closely reflect that people did recognize we were acting according to the law and according to procedur

the only it's gone up is in the afghan policy in the strained review from the time of the karzai re-electionhere until the time of the west point speech. i think it's interesting that he has rallied a majority support now for his decision. of course, the left is not happy, but the left is not happy with president obama over many things from last year. and it was a tough year to rally the base for the election. >> bret: charles? >> if a democratic congress in 2007 and 2008 were to fund the iraq war, which it dispeased led by president bush who was also despised, there is no way in which democratic house and senate will deny obama the funds in the afghan war which democrats insisted year after year after year in the bush years was the good war, the right war and just war. obama took a long time and the fact he deliberated so long indicated how uncomfortable he was with the decision he ultimately took and that was aggravated by the fact immediately as we saw on the clip, immediately after announce ing thing thae i addition he said we're withdrawaling in 18 months. he said it's a hard date. it d

president karzai announced he would be holding jerka which is a traditional afghan mechanism for trying to reconcile competing views and reach decisions. it was natural for him to say that if they are going to have a peace jerga that people who do not agree with you should normally come. we have a very clear understanding of what we expect in this process. we expect that a lot of the foot soldiers on the battlefield will be leaving the taliban because many of them have wanted to leave. many of them are tired of fighting. we believe the tide is beginning to turn against them and we need incentives in order to protect them and provide alternatives to them to replace the payment they receive as taliban fighters. this is similar to what the american military did in iraq. it became clear that a number of iraqis were tired of the brutality and barbarism of al qaeda as they began to see the potential alternatives available to them in the political system, they began to talk with our military personnel about changing allegiance and becoming part of the forces fighting against the terrorists. we

. -- karzai. there is a distinction between the foot soldier and the leaders who gave a safe hache to osama bin laden and al qaeda from which they launched attacks on this country on 9/11. so he sees the distinction. i don't think it should be lost on you. i think we can look at think with some subtlety between these two. and go after the foot soldiers and try to win them over. and ultimately figure out what to do with the hierarchy as we go up the ladder. now, omar is probably the extreme, the foot soldiers are the other extreme. question is what happens to the others? can they be won over? can they become a part of the political fabric that gates spoke of? and that's i think what we are all trying to figure out. i don't know that we have an answer yet. >> at what point does the 30,000 new troops, the department set up to begin accepting converts, from the taliban, reconciliation sectors, like south america. >> it's not an issue for the department. this is an issue for the government of afghanist

that was discussed at length with president karzai and with his cabinet on numerous occasions, notably with the trip that hillary clinton and i had made to afghanistan on october 18 and 19 in conjunction with the inauguration. the afghans understood this, they are very comfortable with it. so i need to underscore that's what july 2011 means. not a withdraw, but the start of a responsibility transition in which american combat troops will begin to draw down. on the second question and in regard to pakistan, i'm not sure quite how you phrase it. strobe, you made a generic comment? >> mike hamlin and his colleagues have put together a set of bench marks on sort of how things are going. and the trend that they feel they have identified in pakistan is ominous, negative by comparison with a year ago. >> yeah. i read mike's monthly, it's quarterly, actually, isn't it? i read mike's quarterly table with great interest. and it helped -- influenced me a lot as we tried to develop our own benchmarks. but i think we have to be very careful about two things. maybe three things. one, let's not confu