you said in answer to something, well, we'll wait and see who president karzai apoints. i think it is almost immaterial who me ashpoints, the significae is he'll be doing the appointing and they'll be his creatures and the commission will be his body and that is a profound difference from the electoral commission which you just referred to, and which plays as important role in safeguarding the elections and exposing corruption last year because that electoral commission... commission had a clear 3-2 majority, of nonafghan people, on it. shared by a canadian, two nonafghans amongst the five, that is the profound change and what i do not understand and i am very disappointed, so far, is why the british government and indeed our other nato partners, are not taking altogether tougher line with president karzai, against this key change. because, if these changes go through, then, we have an almost guarantee of widespread corruption which is not going to be identified, i fail to see how the support of the u.k. -- everybody else is going to be sustained behind a government whic

the karzai government can do that. they want to it. in the way in which the most experienced government, there's a lot of talk in washington about corruption and that's there of course, but that isn't the main point. the move with the experience this as abuse of power and the people operating with impunity and it isn't just parents officials. it's really the local power brokers and again month of the apply of our cultural standards we imagine if you're out of officer out of power so we think there's a corrupt governor or abuse of government and want to get him out of office but it doesn't change things because the guy is still actually running things. the dilemma, the difficulty we face here is that once you have an -- excuse me, the dilemma is that once you have katyusha to remove these guys they're still in power and wants the population has lost confidence in the government even if you could miraculously get honest administration it doesn't mean you're going to regain the confidence of the people. that's the problem because in order

karzai proposed pursuing this goal on two tracks.ne track seeks to peel off and reintegrate taliban fighters and their mid-level commanders into afghan society. karzai proposes to offer them jobs, security and amnesty if taliban soldiers agree to lay down their arms and abide by the afghan constitution. that proposal got an enthusiastic response from coalition members at the london conference. a second track seeks reconciliation with the senior taliban leadership now believed to be holed up in pakistan. karzai would offer them amnesty, a safe return to afghanistan and a role in afghan politics and government. they would have to give up armed conflict, cut all ties with al qaeda and agree to abide by the constitution, including its guarantee of women's rights. publicly, top taliban leaders insist they aren't open to a deal on any level unless and until foreign forces leave. a taliban statement issued after a bloody multiple bombing in kabul last month said that was their answer to karzai's talk of a deal with taliban fighters. but afg

. >> is there a matrix for president karzai? >> the matrix for any elected politician is from the people who elected him or her. he has a five-year term, and the primary accountability for him as to his own people. in respect of the commitments that we have made to him and he has made to us, our own delivery of them obviously depends on his own decisions, so for example with respect of the development aid through certain developments of state depends on the confidence we have that the aid will reach its desired targets. >> and that depends upon the confidence you have in him. >> no, it depends more on the confidence we have in the people who we appoint to run the departments. >> welcome if he appoints the people to run the departments, then ultimately you have to have confidence that he will appoint people who do the work properly. >> president karzai is not on trial for us -- >> not even today, after he appears to have taken over the electoral commission? >> she is not on trial for us. he is accountable as any elected represent

does karzai ever get out? >> guest: there is no question about that general -- general mcchrystal like every major u.s. and nato military commander gets out quite a bit. it's out into rural areas, into urban areas where it meets the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about getting out regularly. president karzai has not gotten out a lot. he does occasionally get out without the presidential campaign. but he has not gotten out and interaction with the active population currently for security reasons. his helicopters have been targeted in the past and there have been several assassination attempts against him so is constrained his movements whose back is abdullah abdullah still in afghanistan or has he laughed? >> guest: i'm not sure where he is. i want to comment on the question you mentioned, the reason i went out last month was that general call well is starting in leadership initiative on the afghan side and wants to get into more discussion about leadership which i think we have n

they want to send the message, the karzai government cannot protect people in the capital city. >> thank you again. >> thank you, martin. >>> some economic news from around the world starting with japan airlines. one of the country's biggest victims of the recession is it lost many of its passengers. the company that continues to operate today announced a staggering loss for the first nine months of last year, just under $2 billion. that was up from $1.9 billion for the same period a year earlier. the company told shareholders, customer, and creditors, it was deeply apologetic. iceland whose economy you'll recall ravaged by a banking crisis is hoping to get a lift by joining the european union. it moved closer to that goal after the european commission voted to open talks on iceland's membership in the eu. but there will be strings attached as we hear from this report from deutschesvehla. iceland will have to settle its disputes with other eu companies. >>island's landscapes could be one day part of the european union, after the eu commission's stefan fewland had talks. >> iceland with t

second karzai. let's be blunt about karzai. he's getting down in the south, the opium growth.h that corruption that you know very well, he's having daily discussions with taliban that are mostly sitting five minutes or 10 minutes away from his office. it is not done in a public forum, but it is getting done. and the last question that i have is, my concern with afghanistan is because of the tribal, because of the geographic separation, the people of afghanistan are in that bottom first or second wrung of the hierarchy of needs. host: let's get a response from mr. dobbins. guest: i think that is right. the bigger the american interest in pakistan, al qaeda continues to be bordered between afghanistan and pakistan. it has been largely in pakistan for the last nine years. that's since 2001. that's because of the efforts the u.s. was able to put on them in afghanistan, which drove them in to pakistan. the panny government has -- pakistani government has begun to take the taliban fleatnore -- threat more seriously and has collaborated with the u.s. in attacking candidate. but pakis

does hamid karzai ever get out? >> there's no question that general mcchrystal like every major u.s. and nato military commander gets out quite a bit. gets out into rural areas. gets out into urban areas. meets the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about getting out regularly. president karzai has not gotten out a lot. he does occasionally get out in general. he was out a little bit during the presidential campaign. but he's not gotten out and interacted with the afghan population partly for security reasons. i mean, his helicopters have been targeted in the past. there have been several assassination attempts on him. >> is abdullah abdullah still in pakistan or has he left? >> i'm not sure where he is right now. i want to comment, too, on the question you mentioned. the reason i went out last month was that general caldwell is starting a new leadership initiative on the afghan side. and wants to get them more discussion about leadership which i think we've not paid enough attention to. a

after his trip to saudi arabia, president karzai is attending a security conference in germany. the latest revelations could add to the shock to the country already feels about the civilian casualties caused by what their chancellor still describes as a humanitarian mission. david schaffer, al jazeera, kabul. >>> unfortunately for iraqis, it's an occurrence that's become all too c shiias images in an effort to ignite sectarian violence. today, it happened yet again. two car bombs tore through a crowd of shiite pilgrims headed to the holy city of karbala. the attack happened in village heights with tens of thousands of worshippers on the street. at least 40 people were killed in more than 150 were wounded. it was the third such bombing this week. >>> turning to a store about strife to one about peace. in an agreement that's being hailed as a breakthrough, british and irish leaders have announced they have reached a deal that would allow northern ireland, catholiand protestant sanctions to take over security in the region by early april. the pact is considered essential to securin

the bank's support for karzai wasn't surprising, why should it be?he bank is partly owned by karzai's older brother and the brother of his vice-presidential running mate. and at a time when most afghans are desperately poor, the kabul bank is spending $30 million to build a fancy new headquarters. mr. speaker, the american people have a right to ask, is this what our soldiers are dying for? is this what we're spending tens of billions of dollars of our tax dollars for? so that well-connected elites in afghanistan can enjoy luxury villas in dubai? we cannot allow this to continue. i've been d demanding we change our mission in afghanistan to focus on smart security for a long time now. one of the cornerstones of smart security is an emphasis on better governance. improving governance in afghanistan is just as important, mr. speaker, as any military operation. actually, it's more important. that's why president obama must insist that president karzai and his cronies clean up their act and do it quickly, -- and do it quickly. without honest government,

president karzai has not got not a lot. he does occasionally get out. he is out a little bit during the presidential campaign. but, he has not got that out and interacted with the afghan population partly for security reasons. is helicopters have been targeted in the past and there nip been several assassination attempts against him so it is constrained his movement. >> host: is up dearlove tulis dylan afghanistan nor has he left? >> guest: i am not sure where he is now but i want to comment too on the question you mentioned. the reason i went out last month as general caldwell is starting a leadership initiative on the afghan side and wants to get them into more of a discussion about leadership which i think we have not paid enough attention to it and one of the things we have seen for many of the afghans is they don't go out into the field as much as we would like. lot of them want to try to do things by cell phone and at the same time they micromanage so they will be in their office but telling someone what to do hundreds of miles away. so, one of th

does hamid karzai ever get out? >> guest: there is no question that general mcchrystal, like every major u.s. and nato military gets out quite a bit, gets out into rural areas, get that into urban areas. beats the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about giving out regularly. president cars i have not gotten out alive. he does occasionally get out in a little bit in the presidential campaign. but he's not gotten out and in the afghan population for security reasons. there've been several assassination attempts against him so it's constrictor bin. >> host: is abdullah abdullah still in afghanistan or has he left? >> guest: i'm not sure where he is right now. i did want to comment on the question you mentioned. the reason i went out last month was general caldwell is starting a new leadership initiative on the afghan side wants to get them in more discussion about leadership which i think would not be damaged in two. one of the things we've seen for many of the afghans as they don't go out i

each other] >> immediately after this question on my right, i will visit president cause i -- hamid karzaithere 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 pri

the only one that was inside was karzai himself who was helicoptered in by u.s.troops after spending the years of the wars in exile making a ton of money working for unical. this was a very circular sort of arrangement. there were elections in afghanistan. and like in iraq, the afghans were very brave to take the risk 'cause there was a real risk of attack. as it turned out there were not a lot of attacks about the taliban or other resistance forces but there was a real risk and people took the risk. they want a chance to vote. but who they were allowed to vote for was not much of a choice. as in iraq. the question of who get to choose which parties are given a credential and which are excluded was a very dangerous -- a very dangerous reality. and so i think the government in afghanistan -- you know, we know the cost of this government, this president who has allowed his own supporters to include warlords who have supported the worst kind of attacks against women. who himself supported this new law that allows for marital rape. that denies women the right to figh

does hamid karzai ever get out? >> guest: there is no question that general mcchrystal, like every major u.s. and nato military gets out quite a bit, gets out into rural areas, get that into urban areas. beats the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about giving out regularly. president cars i have not gotten out alive. he does occasionally get out in a little bit in the presidential campaign. but he's not gotten out and in the afghan population for security reasons. there've been several assassination attempts against him so it's constrictor bin. >> host: is abdullah abdullah still in afghanistan or has he left? >> guest: i'm not sure where he is right now. i did want to comment on the question you mentioned. the reason i went out last month was general caldwell is starting a new leadership initiative on the afghan side wants to get them in more discussion about leadership which i think would not be damaged in two. one of the things we've seen for many of the afghans as they don't go out i

karzai himself to be able to ensure that that happens. we cannot do this on our own. he has to make the decisions to hire and then deploy the troops. we can help with the training but it is a big commitment that he has made and he is raising the number of police in afghanistan from about 90,000 to 130,000, so there is a big rise in the number of police as well and he has to provide the police forces for afghanistan, too. >> ultimately we're not going to solve this problem military or -- militarily or by policing. it is a political issue that has to be solved here. and one of the proposals is for a new initiative to reconcile elements of the taliban. i would like to quote a few words to you from paragraph 5, it also says that there should be based on democratic accountability, equality, human rights, gender equality, good governance, and more effective provision of government services, economic growth. and i could go on. how confident are we that as we bring into a political reconciliation process people who did not necessarily sign up internally, even if they say it p

and i tend to agree with president karzai's timelines. i think it's going to be five years to get them to the point where they can take over most of the security. i may even be a little bit aggressive but i think an aggressive time frame is good. >> host: blue and washington d.c. is on the air. >> caller: all make a quick question and then i'll hang up and listen to the answer. who exactly is helping the taliban and because my point is this. i don't think iraq would be funding them [inaudible] >> host: we cut the basis of your question. your cell phone was fading out there. let's talk about the funding of afghanistan with outside players in afghanistan? >> guest: well, the taliban has been a pretty good job of getting redundancy in its financing. so it gets money from a range of types of behavior. it gets money from the drug trade, including taxes against farmers, taxing the movement of poppy along major roadways. it also gets money from mosques of major donors in the arab world, including wealthy donors from saudi arabia, the united air

and i would like to make the point that hamid karzai has certain moral authority and is the most unifying figure in the country and he is someone who is capable of brokering certain compromises with elements of the taliban. >> there have been efforts to improve the relationship between president hamid karzai, more the civilian leadership of pakistan. in that sense reaching out to the civilian side can influence the military and intelligence side. that is how we have seen the pakistan and afghan relationship begin to develop. >> please have the authors give nopsnopsis of their books at the end. i missed the first portion of your show. >> my book really looks at the question of why the insurgency began in afghanistan after a the u.s. overthrow. i look at a couple of factors. one is the collapsing governance including corruption issues and focus in particular on ways in eloplast chapter of stemming the insurgency and develop more effective counterinsurgency efforts. a mine is a series of case studies. basically argues that leadership it comes down to which side has better leaders in certain

. >> first thing i would say is when president karzai approved the conduct of this operation, he gave us some very specific guidance. and that guidance was to continue to protect the people of afghanistan. and so this operation has been done with that in mind. >> suarez: afghan president hamid karzai warned civilian death kos jeopardize the mission. he called for a full investigation into the accident. and in a separate development, nato air strike in neighboring kandahar province killed five civilians. earlier this evening i talked with rod nordland of the "new york times". what kind of resistence are the allied forces meeting in their assault on helmand. >> well, you know, there is wildly varying accounts from a bunch of foreign jihadi dug in, and willing to fight to the death to snipers all over the city to some accounts that have only a few as 20 left. what everyone seems to agree on though is that there is a huge number of booby traps, buried ied mines and so forth that will be time-consuming and painstaking to remove. >> suarez: in these battles that u.s. and other forces have b

at least nine indians died in the assaults, and afghan president hamid karzai called today's chaos a "terrorist attack against indian citizens." after india's foreign minister called the strike "barbaric," a government spokesman in new delhi insisted india would continue to help its afghan neighbor. >> india has been at the forefront in offering assistance, providing assistance for the redevelopment, for rebuilding of infrastructure in diverse areas, to afghanistan, and our ties with afghanistan remain so. >> warner: jean mackenzie says afghan officials are convinced the targeting wasn't accidental. >> there has been a great deal of suspicion on the part of pakistan of the relationship between afghanistan and india. they do not like to see afghanistan getting too close to india. and there are many who are saying that perhaps this was an attempt to sew discord betweeni. and there the suspicion falls on pakistan. >> warner: well, the taliban are you talking about one of the factions that's been tied to pakistan's intelligence service? yes, and one of those is the haqqani network. with

in a passionate plea, hamid karzai urged nato to be more careful. at least 16 civilians have died in the latest offensive. >>> all of the piles of snow across maryland are serving as a constant reminder of the wicked winter we've had. now many are reacting to the president's declaration of disaster as a result of all of the snow in december. baltimore, caroline, cecil, hartford, montgomery and queen anne's counties are eligible for federal funding. senator mikulski says these storms can't turn that a budget disaster for maryland. the governor took time to thank federal officials today for working quickly to help reimburse the state. >>> we've been warning you about the dangers of getting around on foot in the wake of all of the storms. tonight that danger has claimed a life. police say an employee with the department of agriculture was struck and killed in a hit and run accident as he was walking in the street to avoid the snow-covered sidewalks. the 32 year was on his way to the metro station in suitland when he was hit from behind. police are stil

agriculture sector of afghanistan as a critical part of the ministrations strategy, and president karzai strategy, for the future of that country. so we have him back with us today. along with our special representative, the intrepid, indomitable richard holbrooke, who will start and just kind of put, you know, agriculture strategy in the larger context. richard? >> thanks, p.j. this is really secretary of agriculture's chance, as we promise you, before on this trip and i just want to give you the overarching view of it. but before do that i just want to say a word about the events in pakistan this morning. as i'm sure you all know, three americans were killed, too warned, not life-threatening. they have been evacuated from a bad. they were to military and one, so three military. they were on their way to the inauguration of a school in the western area of pakistan your obviously a great tragedy, and we are deeply regretful of the loss of life, and we're in contact with the embassy and talk to ambassador patterson this morning on it. and it was a mine and an ied that did it. and i just w

today, a newly appointed mayor, governor and representatives sent by president karzai all showed up to win residents over. and they have big plans to repair the local economy. half a billion dollars, ready to go to build schools, hospitals, roads and markets. that building right behind me in the distance is the government center here. when marines moved in, they thought it was functional because of the satellite imagery that they saw. it will be turn to the ground and rebuilt. >> every sense that we're going to generate some momentum in the south that will genuinely seize the initiative from the insurgency. >> reporter: the hope? this city will prove to be the place where the war starts to end. miguel marquez, abc news, marja, afghanistan. >> and a footnote to this day. former president george w. bush came calling today at former vice president dick cheney's home in virginia. it is the first time the two men have gotten together since they left office a year ago. >> mr. president. >> looking good. >> holding up all right. >> you're looking good. >> could be worse. >> as we know, the fo

the karzai government did not lend a whole lot to inspire confidence. they had an election which was clouded with fraud. they have sustained reports about dealing in the narcotics trade with high-ranking officials, repeated evidence of corruption at the highest levels, hardly conducive to a stable government. when the president projected a withdrawal by mid 2011, that wat what president karzai suggested. he was quoted as saying that u.s. troops would have to be in afghanistan for 15 years. when our delegation had an opportunity to meet with president karzai, we pressed him on that issue. he said, well, two years would require an adequate presence of the united states military. never could define quite what "adequate" was but said u.s. forces would have to stay for another ten years. more recently, in the intervening weeks, the war there has shaped up. we still have only committed a small fraction, 30,000, something like 5,000, perhaps it won't be necessary to commit the additional 25 thousand troops. we had a very productive meeting with the prime minis

and national government committed to this and i got this sense from my discussions with president karzai, mr. rahimi and others that there is indeed a recognition of importance of the frame work and commitment to the framework and willingness to work within the framework. i think that minister rahimi if he were here would recognize it will work unless you have folks on the ground working with afghan farmers on a daily basis providing technical assistance and help the need to become more productive to establish storage facilities to deal with irrigation challenges and understand the new credit opportunities that we are going to try to create. so it isn't an either or situation. to have to have both which it in the framework the minister has put forward recognizes that. it is very comprehensive and it is very well thought out. now what he needs is the capacity and the ministry that will allow him to go outside, visit with afghan farmers on the ground and basically say this is what we are doing for you. this is where it has been successful and this is what it can do for you if you having ye

. >> the first i would say, when president karzai approved the conduct of this operation, he gave us some very specific guidance, and that guidance was to continue to protect the of afghanistan, so this operation has been done with that in mind. >> reporter: but as you know, in war it's hard to protect every civilian caught in the crossfire battle. general mcchrystal apologized to afghan president hamid karzai for an air strike that killed 12 afghan civilians, that after rockets veered 300 yards off target, hitting a private home. mcchrystal says he's suspending the rocket system used this that air strike. fighting is terrify fog civilians, nato has to make sure they improve the situation in a hurry so that people living in helmand province lose any remains of loyalty they may have to the taliban. president obama's national security adviser jim jones, telling fox news sunday it will be felt countrywide. >> it's the cohesion that now exists between all elements of national power and international power that are coming together and will be a very, very good and i think successfully dem

a number of crooked enterprises connected to the karzai family has cronyism. nearly 1,000 u.s.lers and crony capitalism? next thursday i will bring a privileged resolution to this house so that congress can claim our constitutional right to end this war and to bring our troops home. please support the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from south carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, yesterday the president missed an important opportunity to restart the national debate on health care reform. americans who turned -- tuned into this health care summit were disappointed that they were left with the same big government health care takeover. the american people are facing waves of groundhog day as they have already rejected this type of government takeover. there are substantive alternatives to consider. republicans have offe

[unintelligible] could you tell us how you see [unintelligible] >> i think that president karzai hasstrated extraordinary qualities along the way. first, there's personal courage. i don't know if you have heard the story of how he was brought back into the country and was nearly killed. it is an extraordinary story in the beginning. then it became a unifying feature -- then he became a unifying feature in leader for the country and help to get it going in the right direction. candidly, all of us allowed the insurgency to become a resurgent. the levels of violence began rising back in 2006. the continued and they have gone up each year a bit more in the cycle of fighting that has defined -- that is defined by the seasons in afghanistan. that has made his job extraordinarily difficult. then you have to overlay on all of this the tribal aspect of afghanistan that you cannot escape. you have to keep the history, the culture, the traditions, and so forth of afghanistan foremost in your mind as you think about why you're not going to try to turn this country into switzerland in the next ye

karzai himself to be able to ensure that that happens. we cannot do this on our own.cisions to hire and then deploy the troops. we can help with the training but it is a big commitment that he has made and he is raising the number of police in afghanistan from about 90,000 to 130,000, so there is a big rise in the number of police as well and he has to provide the police forces for afghanistan, too. >> ultimately we're not going to solve this problem military or -- militarily or by policing. it is a political issue that has to be solved here. and one of the proposals is for a new initiative to reconcile elements of the taliban. i would like to quote a few words to you from paragraph 5, it also says that there should be based on democratic accountability, equality, human rights, gender equality, good governance, and more effective provision of government services, economic growth. and i could go on. how confident are we that as we bring into a political reconciliation process people who did not necessarily sign up internally, even if they say it publicly, to those prin

much more complex and, again, president karzai made it clear that e wants to get on this path, but, again at the beginning, we're at the beginning of that process. i think we have to be clear about the terms and what they mean and also look at a realistic pace in terms of both expectations and actually what's happening. in that regard, we're just at the beginning. >> let me turn to iraq. we have elections looming. there's some increase violence. do you still believe we're on schedule to redeploy as general odierno put in place? >> i do. focused on elections in early march. it's the elections after which we start coming down fairly dramatically. 100,000, 104,000 today is what we have on the ground and we will come down to approximately 50,000 by august. in that time frame, another big issue is, they will be standing up a. >> guest: and it will take them several months to do that. sort of the summertime to stand up this newly elected government. so it's a great time of transition. and general odierno as is ambassador hill on the civilian side very focused on all aspects of that, but right n

karzai himself to be able to ensure that that happens. we cannot do this alone. he has to make the decisions that hire and deploy the troops. we can help with the training. but it's a big commitment he's made. and equally he's raising the number of police in afghanistan from about 90,000 to i think about 125,000 to 130,000. there's a big rise in the number of police as well. he has to provide the number of police forces in afghanistan. >> but ultimately we are not going to solve it militarily or by policing. it's a political issue that has to be sold here. one the proposals in the communique is for a new fishtive to reconcile the taliban or elements of the taliban. the communique, and i'd like to quote a few words to you also says that this is should be based also on a pair of 5, on democratic accountability, equality, human rights, good governance, economic growth, and i could go on. how confidence are we have as we bring in to a political reconciliation process people who don't necessarily sign up at least internally, even if they say publicly to those principa

gave support to president karzai's idea of trying to reintegrate some of the taliban.king abdullah, he's going to try and get king abdullah to get on the case. and he seems also to be intent on making some political headway among the pashtun in the south as a result of this. now, some people are saying that he wants to not only integrate the people, having them go back to the village, but also bring them in politically, some of the people who renounce a. q. who may be taliban, may be wahhabi, could also play a role in a government. what would -- what's exactly the u.s. position? what is the nature of the support? is it like a cautious watching? or how far would we go with this reintegrating the taliban or former taliban into the afghan structure? >> well, i think we support reintegration as an effective tool within our counterinsurgency strategy and that of afghanistan. we do not think that many of the foot soldiers that are currently involved on the battlefield are necessarily ideologically driven. and to the extent, through a combination of initiatives, that we can c

so we helped bring karzai to power. initially we were going to have a very small presence there.on afghans to deal with security, and we empower these tribal warlords which seems to be the best people to do that. unfortunately, it has not worked out. we had several years that were relatively peaceful. when everyone thought things were going great. things deteriorated since 2005. mostly because of failures in the afghan government. so we're now stepping in there. certainly not ideal conditions, but at the same time, and think few americans would be willing to get out of afghanistan if it meant a return to things like 9/11. it is problematic, and we have a lot of other vulnerabilities. >> detroit, democratic line. caller: good morning. i would like to ask a quick question about what the pipeline is going to the afghanistan mountains, how that affects our presence there. i would like to comment about the common thinking from conservatives or right-winger is that clinton tore down the military. that is not true factually. the military budget was set by congress which was controlled b

this -- and baradar was considered someone who might be open to some sort of negotiations with the karzaitralize him in a way to allow some sort of peaceful resolution in afghanistan. if he was open to that, would he have agreed to be captured, rather than turning himself in? that is not something he could have done politically. i only put that out there as the kind of conspiracy theory that you are hearing from some very knowledgeable people. there is a lot that we do not know about this. there is often times a lot more behind the scenes and we see publicly. host: this is possibly a public relations strategy from pakistan and the u.s. government? guest: i should point out, there is another set of conspiracy theories, which comes at a useful time to the obama administration, who has been under attack from his republican critics for not prosecuting as vigorously the war on terror. for treating it as a police matter rather than the military conflict that it is in afghanistan. to be able to produce a big intelligence coup like this at a time when it is under attack is extraordinarily helpful

were very pleased with minister rahimi after he was confirmed as an initial member of president karzai'scabinets. then he laid forward a framework for progress in afghan agriculture and it is an important framework. most importantly of all, of the four in my view is the need to increase productivity among the afghans. i think he recognizes and appreciates that there is tremendous opportunity, but it is necessary for the afghan agriculture to take a step forward in terms of productivity. we saw examples of u.s. assistance in that regard. i met with usi representatives who were working with grape farmers for example in afghanistan who are working on trestle incoming rudimentary steps that are significantly increasing the size of the grapes and the quantity and quality grapes. this is important because, at one point in time come afghan groups are really sought after in the asian market. and this represents a tremendous export opportunity and potential. a second aspect, once productivity is increased, is the need to reinvigorate the afghan agribusiness, the ability to get the supplies change

much more complex and, again, president karzai made it clear that e wants to get on this path, but, againt's at the beginning, we're at the beginning of that process. i think we have to be clear about the terms and what they mean and also look at a realistic pace in terms of both expectations and actually what's happening. in that regard, we're just at the beginning. >> let me turn to iraq. we have elections looming. there's some increase violence. do you still believe we're on schedule to redeploy as general odierno put in place? >> i do. focused on elections in early march. it's the elections after which we start coming down fairly dramatically. 100,000, 104,000 today is what we have on the ground and we will come down to approximately 50,000 by august. in that time frame, another big issue is, they will be standing up a. >> guest: and it will take them several months to do that. sort of the summertime to stand up this newly elected government. so it's a great time of transition. and general odierno as is ambassador hill on the civilian side very focused on all aspects of that, but righ

our hopes in the hands of corrupt leaders who do not have the support of their own people president karzaiat develops, and this is a harder question then all the others. -- then all the others. we have a military that is over extended, and we have to decide what our priorities are in this area, and i think afghanistan does not harbor al qaeda as much as pakistan, and it is a broader problem. with our own military, it strikes me ask throwing good lives after the losses we have already occurred. that is my answer, and i am sticking to it until i get more arguments. thank you very much. [applause] . [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> i remember, as i was preparing for this operation and worked at the graduate school in monterey and our gathering of academics that knew a lot about afghanistan and one of them put his arm around me. he is a fairly senior fellow and he put his arm around me and said son, you got two jobs. don't lose the city and don't lose the airfield until the big boys decide what is going to happe

i think more realistically president karzai put out a five your time line which is more realistic to when we can get the police going, especially it takes a while to produce leaders. we tried to mass produce the leaders quickly and we found it takes time so i think realistically to fix the police is five years and the afghan national army has been more of a b. the u.s. side varies. there's some units that are a plus, some of the units and helmand right now for example they are doing a terrific job. there are others probably more in the b or c. range command again it comes down to the individual commanders, and you know, the battalion commander, the company commander. without any awful people, but we have some who are not very innovative or don't take the initiative. we have a major problem with risk aversion. one of the biggest problems we have in the forces right now is people are afraid to take too many risks so they rely on our word vehicles or stay behind a glass walls instead of getting out amid the population as they should be. >> host: phoenix. paid on the democrats' line. >>

this -- and baradar was considered someone who might be open to some sort of negotiations with the karzainother might be a way to bring him, if not under the tent, then to neutralize him in a way to allow some sort of peaceful resolution in afghanistan. if he was open to that, would he have agreed to be captured, rather than turning himself in? that is not something he could have done politically. i only put that out there as the kind of conspiracy theory that you are hearing from some very knowledgeable people. there is a lot that we do not know about this. there is often times a lot more behind the scenes and we see publicly. host: this is possibly a public relations strategy from pakistan and the u.s. government? guest: i should point out, there is another set of conspiracy theories, which comes at a useful time to the obama administration, who has been under attack from his republican critics for not prosecuting as vigorously the war on terror. for treating it as a police matter rather than the military conflict that it is in afghanistan. to be able to produce a big intelligence coup

stepping up missions targeting taliban leaders, all this while the president of afghanistan, hamid karzai is tout ago reimmigration -- reintegration plan for taliban to switch side, saying those taliban not part of al-qaeda or other terrorist networks who accept the afghan constitution, who have no ideological emnity with the u.s. will be persuaded by peaceful means to return to afghanistan and lay down their arms and become part of the afghan community once again. with us, lieutenant colonel tony schaeffer, center for advanced studies. on one hand, that sounds like a carrot, yet the budget calls for a whole lot of sticks, including special ops, drones. how do you see it? >> i think first off when you look at the carrot approach, it's been minimally successful so far. we tried this before. again, we've had a record of drawing either side in to give them incentives. i think any time you want to negotiate and have incentives like this, you have to do it from a position of strength. right now as you mentioned, admiral mullen commented on the fact the taliban has momentum on their side. we've

i have personally spoken several times about this to president karzai.did at the london conference, to make sure that women are included in the political process. any reconciliation effort has to take into account the rights of women. we will do everything we can to try to protect an offense that. >> thank you. thank you so much. my second question touches on senator demint's on iran. the report found extensive evidence by the iranian military related to the development of a nuclear payload missile. this is chilling to all of us. the behavior of iran poses a security threat to israel and the greater middle east. i am very pleased that the administration is focused like a laser beam on this. i know you recently traveled to the region to discuss the threat from iran. james jones, mike mullen, vice president biden also travelled there. the u.s. government announced a new set of sanctions on iran is military guard. anderson and you are seeking a new set of resolutions -- i understand you are seeking a new set of resolutions. you were recently in saudi arabia

word about that attack in kabul, the taliban claiming responsibility, and hamid karzai is saying indianre the target. a suicide bomber and a car bomb attack, hotels frequented by foreigners killing 17 and wounding dozens more, jane. jane: some controversial language in a proposed intelligence law would have allowed for prosecution of cia agents, molly henneberg's in d.c. >> reporter: hi, jane. the overall intelligence reauthorization bill just passed the house minus that controversial cia punishment language. democrats on the house intelligence committee tried to add a last minute amendment imposing criminal punishments on intelligence employees if they used harsh tactics during interrogation of terror suspects. house republicans and some democrats objected, said this needed to be vetted in committee, and so that section was taken out. jake? jane: more information coming out today about the killer whale that ended up killing a trainer at seaworld, there's a news conference set to start in less than 30 minutes from now. orlando salinas is there. >> reporter: jane, still big plans for the

general mcchrystal apologized to president karzai. if the count is there, about half a dozen children and other innocent people in this house. i'm not saying that this was deliberate, but it was howard zinn who repeatedly reminded us that if you're going to engage in war, the overwhelming number of people who die in war are innocent civilians. and i think of that bumper sticker that should be on every car in this country until we've done away with cars that says -- [laughter] there is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent civilians. those are howard zinn's words. [applause] there is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent civilians. howard zinn. the legendary historian, author and activist. when he died two weeks ago at the age of 87, it was a pain through the hearts of so many because he had lived the 20th century and documented those centuries before giving us such a different picture from the grassroots up of what has really created this country, the greatness of this country. and i think i

placed by then, and we see things like the, president karzai beginning to talk to the taliban. makes you wonder if he's looking beyond our departure today. i worry about that. mr. secretary, you talk about the supplemental. i've been baffled a bit by that. it seems to me that when you're in a war, a supplemental is an appropriate way to handle funding for that, and to try to force into the baseline budget funding specifically for these two operations with a couple hundred thousand troops deployed is not a good policy. why do you feel like we should do this only with the baseline budget? >> well, i absolutely do not believe we should do it with the baseline budget. i think that the purpose of providing the overseas contingency operation funding budget is, i think that it is actually in response to considerable pressure from the congress for greater -- >> i know you have gotten pressure from the congress on that. >> greater predictability -- >> but not me. >> greater predictable about how much is going to be spent in these wars, and so that the, those budgets can be considered wi