president obama flew out to afghanistan to sign it with president karzai, the beginning of may. and it seemed to me that we had the bilateral bloc in place. we then went to -- all of us went to chicago later in may for the nato summit. and what that summit did was solidify international commitments to the did -- to the long term out year international support for afghan security forces. there we were much more motivated by what happened in afghanistan after the soviet defeat. the afghan forces literally soldiered on with the soviets gone. they kept on fighting. until the money ran out. that's when the state effectively collapsed and the civil war was on. so getting that second bloc in place was very very important. and then the third came in july of 2012. the tokyo economic ministerial in which the international community then stepped up to the economic side of the challenge with some $16 billion pledged in economic support against afghan undertakings that they developed themselves for steps they would take to ensure these funds were indeed a good investment. my greatest disappo

as is president karzai. and we do have to respect that. that is not an impossible challenge for diplomacy, although sometimes we fail it. it's knowing when we need to be engaged and how to be engaged. and again, we've got both good examples and bad examples since 2001 of what to do and what not to do. i would agree with my friends that it's rather unlikely afghanistan would be where it is today without our intervention post-election to help broker an agreement that each side could live with. and we will have to be attentive to the tensions inherent in that relationship and other tensions and contradictions throughout afghan society, in particular that while president ghani and dr. abdullah, we all saw it here in washington, clearly can work together and engage together. it's probably less true as you today without our intervention post-election to help broker an agreement that each side could live with. and we will have to be attentive to the tensions inherent in that relationship and other tensions and contradictions throughout afghan soc

i had hardly any problem that we could work out with president karzai at that time. and that was much praise in this town, his skills were compared to president clinton of one point when he came for a visit to address congress. for him to be the successor was a huge he was lucky in that regard but so we can't take the honeymoon that we are in with the current team automatically continues. it will require work, it will require we learn lessons from our experience with president karzai, especially why it turned sour. we need to pay attention not to repeat some of the mistakes that caused that the souring to occur on our part. similarly, i think of afghans one of the things that i learned, and i will end with that, is when i went back to afghanistan after 30 plus years i thought the afghans were kind of anti-foreign and maybe kind of would not want to much of america. and what i discovered in the course of the first month -- we were that the same time, that period was the greatest there was fear of abandonment rather than on balance of sort of at that point in any case

as is president karzai. and we do have to respect that. that is not an impossible challenge for diplomacy, although sometimes we fail it. it's knowing when we need to be engaged and how to be engaged. and again, we've got both good examples and bad examples since 2001 of what to do and what not to do. i would agree with my friends that it's rather unlikely afghanistan would be where it is today without our intervention post-election to help broker an agreement that each side could live with. and we will have to be attentive to the tensions inherent in that relationship and other tensions and contradictions throughout afghan society in particular that while president ghani and dr. abandonadullah, we all saw it here in washington clearly can work together and engage together. it's probably less true as you go down the line in their respective camps. so we are going to have to be alert to that. but most fundamentally we have to be clear, we are in this relationship for the long run. without it the centrifugal forces are going to take over. it

john karzai. -- john karzai and. make sure you catch the show. tomorrow morning i will be torn stuart varney. with for donations to the clinton foundation allegedly leading to political favors by hillary clinton's department the accusations could prove fatal to hillary clinton's 2016 envisions that for now is not commenting. retaken up with our opinion editor and also chairman dempsey sparks outrage after dismissing the symbolic importance of the atomic state takeover of from saudi. tonight i will talk with the mother of the first u.s. navy's seal to be killed she says the comments are insensitive they inflict pain. we will welcome her to the broadcast in minutes. we begin with the islamic states be anywhere on christians. the islamic state releases new video showing the mass murder of 20 ethiopian christians. jointly now former pentagon on official k.t. mcfarland. first the idea they've would continue with the same terrorist campaign publicizing their atrocities to what he fact is that having significant effect? >> it is because you can see ever

in require work and we have learned from our experience with president karzai. we have to be careful not to repeat some of the mistakes that called that souring to occur on our part. similarly, for the afghans, one of the things i learned was that when i went back to afghanistan after 30 years i thought the afghans are anti-foreign and would not want to much america. what i discovered in the course of the first month of my envoy sh -- envoyship, the greatest fear was the fear of abandonment rather than unbalance. at that point, in any case, of being run by or dominated by america. ryan crocker: simply put. it is to be the long-term strategic partner to afghanistan . about which we have an agreement signed by two presidents saying that we well. -- we will. he is right about talking about a fear of abandonment. the run-up to the visit we heard this over and over and over. a fear that we were going to leave afghanistan alone with the prospect that it would not fare much better without us than it did without us in the first half of the 1990's. that is fundamental. w

we trust that the jade money manager john karzai. -- john karzai and. make sure you catch the show.rning i will be torn stuart varney. with for donations to the clinton foundation allegedly leading to political favors by hillary clinton's department the accusations could prove fatal to hillary clinton's 2016 envisions that for now is not commenting. retaken up with our opinion editor and also chairman dempsey sparks outrage after dismissing the symbolic

her husband assumed the presidency in september, replacing hamid karzai. she talks about the role of women in afghanistan, growing up as a lebanese christian, and issues affecting the country. this is one hour. >> good evening, everyone. we are here on an ash wednesday so i have not misapplied my makeup. thank you for braving the cold weather here in washington. more called will come while we are here but i hope you will be warmed by the great conversation that we put together for you tonight. i want to thank the city for providing support. we are broadcasting this live via webcast. it is my pleasure to introduce our two speakers. most importantly, the first lady of afghanistan, rula ghani, here for the first time. she is from lebanon. she met her husband at the american university in beirut. she is quite accomplished as having earned her master's degree from columbia university and of course she is worked extensively on women's and children's issues in afghanistan. i'm sure she will be sharing those experiences with us here tonight. providing the moderati

global uproar then led the then president karzai to pardon him. she was offered asylum abroad but was pushed into this deal. he still denies that the rape happened saying she was told to make it up. >> translator: now she's beside me and knows that it wasn't as bad that they had shown. >> translator: no, i am not thinking about it anymore. i don't have a problem with him now, and i don't want to think about the past problems. >> reporter: she did not look at her husband once in our meeting. >> translator: my life is okay. i am happy with my life. it is going on. >> reporter: while he lets her talk alone, he still stands outside. four years ago she told me she was raped but now backs his story. but she says her family were to take her back until she married him. >> translator: my brothers opposed the marriage and told me to take my daughter and go to pakistan to live with them instead. now we're married. they've disowned me and won't see me again. >> reporter: at 23, could anyone have imagined that their life would have turned out like this? >> tra

karzai. she is indeed a doctor and an accomplished person. she was in her childbearing and child-rearing years during the time her husband was president. i remover when i was in my child rearing and childbearing years. i did not have time for anything else. -- i remember when i was in. if she chose not to have a public life, i think it is your choice, and she should not be blamed for that. coming back to me, once i moved to the palace, i found that if i stayed at home, i would just be waiting for my husband to come back at night. you may note that my husband is a workaholic, and that he may not come back until quite late. i very quickly got bored. with his encouragement, i decided to have an office. and slowly, this office has grown. we now are seven women, young and old. i am the old one. [laughter] we decided to have an open door policy. basically, i see my role as a facilitator. i do not have a budget. people do not come to me to get money. they come to me to talk. to share their concerns, to sometimes voice their complaints sometimes just

president hamid karzai in 2001 at a press conference in the palace -- 2009. in 2009 i went out with "the new york times" to a central afghan provincial capital to see what was going on in part of the province that is 80% controlled by the taliban. in the picture it is not very clear here but over in the left you have a brand new ford pickup truck that the united states had given them. these are british-designed invented barriers which are collapsable burlap or mesh-like eight with wire. open them up. fill them up with dirt and very much pretty instant barricades. the afghan flag. the chinese russian rooftop to a pickup truck. a broken chair. a traffic cone tipped over. dirty socks. interesting gutter here and two very innocent but scared out of their mind afghan national policemen inviting me in for breakfast. the takeaway from this, this is a brand new ford pickup truck. has no gasoline. the gasoline that leaves kabul in 18 wheel truck would be diverted, the gasoline would be unloaded and sold on the black market. so they had no gasoline for their brand new

relationships with than the president of afghanistan hamid karzai. secretary kerry is working diligently to bring a number of diplomatic efforts across the finish line on matters of great importance to the american security and prosperity and global security and prosperity. should celebrate his leadership even if it takes a terrible toll on his health. i'm pleased that he's chosen to speak at the atlantic council and be with us to speak to the importance of trade to american national security. please join me in welcoming john kerry. [applause] >> general jones, i thank you very much for that very generous introduction and more importantly, i thank you for your extraordinary years of service to our country you held so many important positions and working your way up from a young lieutenant in vietnam all the way to national security advisor in many places in between we all admire you and the world appreciate the extraordinary contribution and that we thank you very much. [applause] >> i feel great, folks. and it can take a terrible toll on the family.

that meant that president karzai had no ability to confront political troublemakers because we wouldn't help him do that. so political appointment became his only tool. it is not completely foreign to america if you notice some of our ambassadorial climate. last night -- [laughter] i am not talking about the fact that political appointees as you know. this was his only tool because he had no force and he had no money and we didn't want to provide for sewer money for political discipline. so there is a huge afghan responsibility for the conditions they grew but there is also a responsibility with a for not having helped provide any tool that might have given an alternative. >> it is a very limited time we have. the large number of people who would like to raise the question. i am going to take three questions and hope that we can get through at least those. [inaudible] would you raise the question of the security interest of an? we have a vital interest in afghanistan is debatable. certainly the pakistanis chinese hindu, russia with a russia with a vital interest in iraq and afghanistan.

. >> i negotiated with hamid karzai. >> i shared an office with steve carrell. >> i held high level talks> today i'm challenging senator obama to a bowl off. right here in pennsylvania. >> oh! >> then of course the piece de resistance -- okay. yeah. >> it's all about authenticity and i think we can say that from all of the candidates throwing their hat in the ring we like it when marco rubio can talk about his 90s music and sirius xm channel and we can see hillary clinton making fun of herself in pants suits. >> all of that aside, a little fun too helps. >> they are human beings. coming up, hillary clinton facing off a round table of iowa voters for the first time since officially announcing her candidacy for presidency. one day after putting his hat in the ring marco rubio talks about his candidacy and yep, that taste in music and don't forget to log on to pulse.msnbc pulse.msnbc.com. is he or isn't he the gop equivalent to barack obama in 2008? >> a stowaway in alaska airlines seeaway, how did he get trapped when the plane took off? american express for travel and entertainment worldwid