in the karzai administration. and that's a challenge that has to be addressed, in my view, and, i think, perhaps others. perhaps yours as well. so i wonder if you could tell us whether you believe there's progress in that area? >> senator blumenthal, you know we have a line of operation within the campaign plan which seeks to diminish and reduce the influence of corruption on those aspects of our relationship with afghanistan that could compromise our mission. to that end, we have task force shafafia, transport, and with respect to contracting, reducing vulnerabilities to money flowing directly into the pockets of the insurgents themselves. task force shafafia is working closely with our own embassy, with the inner regency here in the united states, with the international community on a series of initiatives which ultimately can provide support to reducing corruption. we have recommended and elicited activities for afghanistan initiative, which i believe it did receive favorable consideration by the department of

. >> the karzai administration is rife with corruption. of the ways of improving the afghan government performance was really by the presence of the international community, being able to deter corruption and encourage better performance. certainly, without the ability to get onto the ground caused both by the deteriorating security situation and also a reliance on, often not reliable afghan security guards, it becomes very difficult over the remaining year and a half or so. >> there are more big issues lurking as nato tries to move into the background. from talking to the taliban to relations with pakistan and fighting corruption in kabul's ministries. but despite that, the u.s. and afghan government are trying to negotiate a framework that would allow american troops to stay in the country beyond the handover of security in 2014. the karzai government may not be strong enough to stand of foreign help, which why the budget which is why they're still seeking lot for military aid. but before nato can get to the post with a drawl state, that

what's happened in the last year in afghanistan, which i think is very important, is that the karzai administration, through a minister within the afghan peace and reconciliation process and the peace committee, peace si council, he is the current ceo, if you will, of that organization after the assassination of rabbani, who headed the high peace council. we have created assisting the afghans, an afghan process, reintegration process throughout the country, a bureaucracy which has a provincial peace committee in each of the provinces and a joint secretariat to support it. on 1 january of 2011, there were about 600 insurgents who had reintegrated across the country. today there are 3,800, and there's another several hundred that are in the process of reintegrating. there are a number of others that have gone home that we call informal resbre gators, but we don't know that number and there's even more. that's something the enemy, the insurgency, has to account for. they've attempted to intimidate them, but very few have gone back into the fight, and i think that's a very important advance. and your q

, evidence in fact by the memorandum of understanding signed just this weekend between the karzai administration and isap. over the full afghan control in six months. >> i want to get back to the suspect who is in custody after the tragedy in afghanistan. and what happens next after the interrogation? >> well, they're interviewing him, as we speak, and they're going to-- they've been on the site for most of the day collecting evidence and we need to let this investigation proceed and general allen, and promised president karzai in his call that it would be a thorough, but a rapid investigation and they're working hard and i don't think we want to get in the process to second guess where it ends up. and let the facts and evidence take us wherever they need to take us and figure out exactly what happened. what the motivation was here and hold the individual responsible, accountability through u.s. law. >> captain, i've been reading today that some of the civilians and citizens there say they don't believe that just one person is involved in this and there may have been one soldier. what can you te

which includes the problems of corruption in the karzai administration.that is a challenge that has to be addressed. in my view. i think, perhaps others and yours as well. i was wondering if you could tell us whether you believe there is progress in that area. >> senator blumenthal, as you know, we have a line of operation within a campaign plan which seeks to diminish and reduce the influence of corruption on those aspects of our relationship with afghanistan that could compromise our mission. to that end, we have leveraged task force transparency, working closely with tax force 2010, a with respect to contracting to reduce our water abilities to money flowing to readily into the pockets of the insurgents themselves. the task force is working very closely with our own embassy, with the inner agency back here in the united states, with an international community on a series of initiatives which ultimately can provide support to reducing corruption. we have recommended illicit activities for afghanistan initiatives, which, i believe -- they received favora

what has happened in afghanistan in the last year is that the karzai administration, which in the afghance and reconciliation peace, so, the current -- reconciliation peace, sold -- council, we have created a reintegration process, a bureaucracy that has a provincial committee in each of the provinces. on generate 1, 2011, there were about 600 -- on january 1, 2011, there were 600 insurgents that have come off of the battlefield. there are a number of others that have gone home that we call in formal. we do not know that number, but it is even more. that is something the insurgency has to account for. they have attempted to intimidate them. you have gone back into the fight. your question addresses that issue. >> i appreciate your response. i would hope the reconciliation effort might be successful with the top leaders as well. i suspect that is a more difficult challenge. >> it will likely take longer. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator sessions? >> chairman less than -- chairman levin and ranking member mccain have given a lot of wisdom over the years on the issues we are faced. --

i am sure they will call members of the karzai administration in front of them to question them on this. exercising more authority in the past year. president karzai was informed of this, i read and, you know, my understanding is he didn't make a formal complaint, but i suspect the afghans will want him tried back in afghanistan and moving him out from kuwait doesn't move him to baggram for a trial in the end. >> we're talking about the guy who drove the car out on the tarmac and he's now dead. doesn't seem to be specifically connected to leon panetta landing, you know, i don't get the sense that he knew that it was secretary panetta, although he did know that there were marines assembled to greet them. that doesn't surprise you, does it? >> 40 attacks by afghan security forces on forces there. part of the problem with all of this is that, you know, they did a poll about a year ago on the afghan men between the ages of 19 and 32 and 40% of them didn't know why we were there. didn't know about 9/11. afghan has a very low literacy rate, we are losing the propaganda war and the taliban res

you have identified the human terrain, which includes the problems of corruption in the karzai administration, and that is a challenge that has to be addressed in my view. and perhaps, yours as well. i wonder if he could tell us whether you believe there is progress in that area. >> we have a line of operation within the campaign plant, which seeks to reduce the inflow of corruption. on those aspects in our relationship with afghanistan that could compromise our mission. to that end, we have leveraged task force transparency, working closely with the task force 2010 with respect to contracting to reduce the vulnerability is to money flowing directly into the pockets of the insurgents themselves. task force transparency is working very closely with our own agency here in the united states and with the international community on a series of actions i could ultimately provide support to reducing corruption. we have recommended an illicit activities for afghanistan initiative. it received favorable consideration by the department of defense and i believe it is being considered for a full- blown i

what has happened in the last year in afghanistan which i think is very important is that the karzai administration to a minister within the afghan peace and reconciliation process and peace council is the current ceo if you will of that organization after the assassination of president rabbani who headed the high teens council. we have created, assisting the afghans, their integration of process throughout the country, a bureaucracy which has a provincial peace committee in each of the provinces and the joint secretary to support. on one january of 2011 there were about 600 insurgents who had reintegrated. today there are 3800 there is another several hundred that are in the process of reintegrating. there aren't number of others that we call informal reintegration. we don't know that number but there are even more. that is something that the insurgency has to account for. we have attempted to intimidate them but very few have gone back and i think that is a very important advance and your question addresses that very issue. >> i appreciate that response. i would hope that the reconciliation effor

what happens in the last year is that the karzai administration, that he is the current ceo of that organization after the assassination of president rabbani. we have created the afghan process which has a provincial peace committee and he said the provinces and a joint secretariat to support it. and one in january of 2011, that there were 600 insurgents who had reintegrated. today there are 3800. there is another several hundred that are in the process. there are a number of others that have gone home. we know there are more. that is something the insurgency has to account for. very few have gone back into the fight. that is a very important advance. this addresses the issue. >> i appreciate that response. i would hope the reconciliation effort might be successful with the leaders as well. i suspect that is a much more difficult challenge. >> it does take longer. thank you. >> thank you. >> i think it has seen a great deal of wisdom over the years dealing with the issues we face. i think he has indicated his strength has this. they have the support. >> he said afghanistan will meet the challeng

need to wait and see what concrete demands are requests come from honey karzai government and then examine how the administration responds and kind of how are we supposed to head it off to nato and afghan forces on cars i once. i think that is that if it's definitely an important question karzai is in a very tough place politically following especially the massacre this weekend certainly it's safe to assume that in the afghan parliament that there were calls for a full up to calling on the u.s. to fully withdraw all foreign troops to leave now cars i obviously sees that the security also depending on a presence if you are a foreign troops he his government as well as the united states were hoping to negotiate a strategic partnership agreement which would actually extend through twenty fourteen and possibly beyond to keep a special forces and advisers on the ground in afghanistan in some sort of a support role for afghan forces now i think karzai is probably facing even more political pressure to get a full for withdrawal of nato troops and how that plays out in terms of future negotiations between the afghan gov

hear you saying then that you believe that there has been corruption in the karzai government and throughout the administration in afghanistan, which might impede if being able to deliver on what is expected of the afghan government, however you believe that president karzai is doing all that he can to clean up that corruption? >> i believe that president karzai is committed to cleaning up corruption. now, obviously, we didn't arrive here in a day. and we're not going to solve this problem? a day. and i believe that he, the leadership in the afghanistan government desire ultimately to neutralize and clean up this corruption in a way that permits this government to be a viable member of the international community. >> rose: and you see measurement of that? >> sure, again, the establishment of a governmental presidential commission. to secure the airports from the grip of organized crime and criminal patronage networks. it's got to start somewhere and he's made the decision to start that. upon transparency and accountability working groups in the min see of defense. it has plotted everything in that ministry fro

and this -- this is a criticism that comes from people who were in the bush administration, they weren't really holding karzait. so yes, you know, karzai is sort of off the rails right now, but the real blame for that i think exists in both administrations, it would be too simple policist to say all this was fine and obama sent him off the rails so for the republican candidates this becomes an incredibly complicated issue, you hear mitt romney saying, look, we are not going to negotiate with the taliban what are we going do? kill every last single one or force them to surrender? there is a lot -- when you distill these down to these one-line soundbites, a lot of statements that just seem to be detached from reality. >> i wanted to ask rajiv how much pressure do you think the president is under to give the american people an answer pretty soon about what the way forward is and what do you expect to see from the administration in the next month or two? >> i don't expect there to be any dramatic changes coming out of the administration between now and the election. they are in the process of withdrawing 23,000 a

karzai's place. you see in the front page of "the new york times" it says, debate in the administration, how about how quick the withdrawal, how speedy the withdrawal is going to be. well, president karzai has ambition to stay there. one predecessor was hung from a lamp post in kabul. instead of saying, we're going to win this war, what president obama said in 2008, quote, the good war we must win. instead, all we hear about is plans for withdrawal. plans for withdrawal. how quick the withdrawal will be. how about a commitment to victory? the american people understandably are terribly war-weary. ien that. but it requires a leader who can explain to the american people why this can succeed. three times the president has gone against the recommendations of his military advisers. the first one was, of course, is when he announced that we would have 30,000 in a surge instead of on 40,000. i think what we got to do is understand how tough this is, convince karzai that we are there to win, and we still have intractable problems such as corruption and the pakistanis. >> this is what always trips me up on th

massacres, and the burning of the korans, and you have now the relationship between the obama administration and karzaiven more tenuous. how does the president move forward? dose his to the american people who are expressing their voices saying we want our troops out there now or do you go pass planned as the president has said, we'll stick to our plan which is to remove our troops come 2014? >> winning a war is turned amount alley a test of wills. if you are going to win, you have to persevere against these setbacks. the leadership is at a premium in winning wars. his leadership and the leadership of the generals on the ground. the reason why this insurgency exists is because the government is weak and it doesn't provide the effective resources to its people. karzai is in that bail game. he's fundamentally corrupt, he's weak and ineffective in terms of what he has provided to his people. there is an election coming in 2014. most people believe the afghans will get a different leader and better government out of that. arthel: you mentioned it's important to have proper information to inform the america

and president karzai knows that probably as well as anybody in our administration. >> yeah. you have actually told us that this is obama's war, but that afghan president hamid karzai is in charge. can you expand on that a little bit? >> what that means is he certainly is the president of gachb stan, and we are there as his guests. clearly we invaded in 2001. we brought him into power. he has been elected. he is a legitimate leader in afghanistan, regardless of how we view how he's conducting business and the intense nature of our relationship. that is to be expected. but what he says in that country, we must listen to. so when the president of gachb stan says, look, i want all u.s. soldiers out of my villages and back into your major bases, we have to abide that. now, if that ooh's permanent change in terms of the mission, we have serious decisions to make in the very near term. our president has committed to getting the fight in afghanistan right. he was absolutely correct in terms of supporting a surge. establishing a time line relative to that surge. it was a wonderful op

administration. also, in the south, president karzai sent a delegation to meet with tribal elders, people close survived this horrific attack, and that delegation was apparently shot at while the delegation was in the area. there was a lot of tension, but so far, no rights here, not the same kind of emotional response that the country sought after u.s. troops and verbally burned copies of the koran. there still could be worse reaction to come. watch friday prayer. but what we are really seeing now is the horror from the families who were involved in the incident. >> the united states takes this as seriously as if it were our own citizens and our own children who were murdered. we're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life. >> the staff sergeant with the space, what about a mile, into three different homes, and started murdering any afghanis he could find. >> state house republicans released details of their alternative budget today. it balances the spending plan without raising taxes or fees, but it cuts millions more -- about $500 million -- than the one the senate is currently working on. our repor

karzai earlier. we can show that. bottom line then, a fine line with the administration walking, what do you expect to see from the white house? >> they must be frustrated with president karzai in the statements coming out. i think you'll see a continued commitment to ending the war in afghanistan as best we possibly can and leaving the security situation that hopefully is a reasonable one. i do think you'll see the renewed urgency of winding this down as quickly as possible. they realize people are tiring of it and the poll numbers continue to shift after the event like this. i'm sure you'll see numbers move to more opposition to our continued presence in afghanistan. it's a terrible tragedy. they are going to reach out to the afghan people and reassure them this is not a problem of what the u.s. is trying to establish there. >> and not what the u.s. is just trying to accomplish, but it is important to say not em attic of the vast majority of men and women serving over there. they have all risked their lives and in these isolated cases something taints all the work they could have done. general, good to see you. ben wh

administration's war strategy in afghanistan after u.s. soldiers snapped in massacred sixteen afghan civilians including nine children afghan president hamid karzai called for all nato troops to be pulled out of rural areas which is most of the country i could throw a wrench in the u.s. exit strategy which depends on handing afghanistan over to nato and afghan security forces by twenty fourteen but clearly after kill squads body desecrations koran burnings and now this massacre the afghan people want the u.s. military out of their country and another blow to the u.s. exit strategy came today with the taliban suspended negotiations with u.s. diplomats in order to end the civil war in afghanistan a power sharing deal. with the taliban must be worked out but taliban leaders walked away from the table claiming that the u.s. keeps changing the terms of the negotiations so after a decade of war both sides are reaching a tipping point a new gallup survey shows that half the nation our nation wants the u.s. troop withdrawal date currently scheduled for twenty fourteen pushed up but as though all of this turmoil on the ground in afghanistan isn't happenin

of the prime issues that the bush administration and the obama administration have focused on is legal rights for women. >> absolutely. karzainced on this dell indicate political seesaw, between conservatives on one side and the problem is that the women are worried about them tht time is people worry their rights to go to work and school. we're not talking about much are going to be the political fodder for negotiations that will bring a relative stability to afghanistan. i think a peace deal without women involved in an agreement. it's not a staple or lasting piece. >> when you were living in afghanistan, you lived with the women. you know what they were going through. they had no health care, no prenatal care. has that improved at all? >> you've seen real victories in terms of women being able to save other women's lives. you have mid wives. you have more than 150 media outlets. i think the quiet heroes are the voices that are lost and really drowned out in the violence. that's an enormous tragedy and a casualty of all of this that we've seen recently. >> what about the quotas that were established where women would have

. >> clearly suits what karzai wants to do politically and probably in all honesty reflects what the administration would like to do. >> to be sure afghans remain outraged by recent burnings of the koran at coalition bases and by sunday's rampage by an unidentified american soldier who allegedly shot and killed nine children and seven other civilians in the south. the soldier's swift rendition to kuwait for further questioning also inflamed local sentiment. america has not done the right thing. he should have been put in prison in here and put on trial here in afghanistan. further implicating u.s. policy was thursday's announcement by the taliban citing an alleged shifting of terms by the americans that it is suspending the peace talks that had only barely begun. the state department left open the possibility that the talks could resume, quote, after feelings calm. >> that's going to take two to tango. they're going to have to decide what they want to do in this regard. >> the afghan interpreter who on wednesday drove a stolen truck at high speeds straight at a group of marines who gathered to gree

administration is saying that the u.s. course in afghanistan remains unchanged despite the demand by afghan president karzai for u.s.roops to leave more rural areas of afghanistan. >>> and a new report out today of 525 page report into the investigation in the case against senator ted steven's who passed away in a plane crash in 2010, he was convicted in 2008. that conviction was overturned. this art showing evidence that prosecutors failed to disclose seriously damaging testimony and credibility of the government's key witness in that case. a response from the chair of the senate judiciary committee patrick leahy this afternoon. in a statement i expressed at the time to a number of people involved in the trial i had some real concerns that prosecutors were not meeting their discovery obligations. he went on to say i believe everybody before a court should have a fair trial. he and senator grassley will join me in having a hearing on this matter. that statement from senator patrick leahy just a short while ago on the investigation in this new government report into trial against the late senator ted steven's. >>> le

karzai would like nato to pull out of afghan villages? >> the taliban suspending peace talks, we heard from the white house spokesperson who said that the it administration remains committed to a political resolution in afghanistan. there is no likely resolution to the conflict in that country without some sort of political settlement. they did not respond directly to what the taliban has said and the accusations that the u.s. has taken a fickle position. we have also heard some sort of damage limitation in response to what the afghan president said in terms of u.s. troops withdrawing from remote villages and concentrating more on the larger military bases in afghanistan. that might have taken people by surprise but certainly the spin that officials that the pentagon will put on that is that is the aim that the u.s. forces have done to it is just a question of how quickly that can be achieved. -- that is the name that the u.s. forces have, it is just a question of how quickly it can be achieved. lawyer say forhe the soldier? >> we heard from him for the first time. he said that he had spoken on the phone to his client on the phone from kuwait. he is conc

karzai turned his back on those turning from decades of abuse from the taliban and threatened afghanistan to function as a stable democracy and american ally. i'm pleased the administration has taken steps to deter the afghan government such as temporarily cutting off funding for the prison at the edge of kabul which has female visitors to invasive body cavity s searches. however, this is an issue not yet resolved. so, my question is, as we draw down from afghanistan over the next several years, what can we do to make sure we don't lose the hard-fought gains for the rights of afghan women, 50% of the population and what, if any, leverage will we have as we go through this process and after the withdrawal is complete. how is congress able to help preserve the gains which have been made. if we are seen as walking away from those gains, we are done not just the afghan women, but ourselves a great disservice. so, i ask dr. miller. >> thank you. ma'am, let me answer in three parts, if i can. the first is to acknowledge that the government of afghanistan will not always do exactly what we prefer and what we wish. at the same time, we have and we continue to make clear our view

the obama administration is quite likely to stick with its strategy for transitioning in handing brings over to afghanistan -- and handing the reins over to afghanistan. both president karzai and president obama have discussed are how do we continue to implement a transition -- and discussed, how do we continue to implement the transition -- both president karzai and president obama have discussed, how do we continue to implement a transition? >> yet we do not see a big anti- war movement. >> the leading republican presidential candidates kind of want to stick around or add more troops. there is nobody speaking at a higher level for this discontent to say, we have to bring them home now. president obama is trying to balance all these considerations, primarily focused on making sure we do not leave a mess, but leaving in the right way. >> do you think the case has been clearly made to american voters about why stay there another year and few months, rather than get out now? >> we could probably hear more from the senior leadership and the united states about what are the consequences if we pull out tomorrow -- the senior leadership in the united states about what are the co

administration. >> with everything you just mentioned with the taliban and karzai, it sounds like the relations betweene last three or four weeks that we've witnessed here in kabul, i mean, i can't remember a short period like this that has been so dramatic and so important as far as setting back relations are concerned. and you know, this is friday morning. and typically, afghans have a history of protesting on days like this, right after friday prayers. so the mood in the city is tense. the security is high. it's not just in kabul but in most of the major cities right across the country. >> muhammad, t.j. winick. what else might we learn about the suspected gunman, the army sergeant, today? >> reporter: well, there are some interesting reports that came out. the big news a couple of days ago was that this army sergeant had been transferred out of afghanistan. we later learned that that transfer was to kuwait. there are some reports now that are saying that the kuwaitis responded with anger, saying that they didn't want that sergeant housed anywhere in that country. so we're hearing now that the accus