next, flynt and hillary mann leverett argue that the u.s. needs to change its policy towards the government of iran which they say is a rational actor and will play a leading role in the middle east for years to come. this is about an hour. >> it is an honor this morning to introduce flynt leverett who served at the state department and cia, but he's currently a professor at penn state out of carlyle. also with him is hillary mann leverett, and she served at the national security council and the state department. she negotiated the u.s. government, with the u.s. government with the iranian officials. she's now a senior professor, lecturer at american university in washington. their writing has appeared in "the new york times," politico, foreign policy and washington monthly, among others. they came to us last night from virginia. they took the late night train and stayed here. and what i'd like to do is just turn it over to you for your thoughts and comments to start off. >> well, thank you very much. i'm going to start off for us today. let

that in this new capacity american forces could remain beyond the twenty fourteen pullout hillary mann leverett who's worked extensively with u.s. diplomats in the middle east and asia and believes that president karzai is in a no win situation. i think these talks are for the president and his national security principals to let afghanistan's president karzai down as softly as they can to let him know that unfortunately they're not going to make good on their promise to completely train. the afghan military and police before u.s. troops leave i think this this visit is about trying to parse i know as nicely as they can that they're not going to make good on their promise to continue to defend afghanistan and train up afghanistan's military and i think part of it is that president obama you know after he agreed to surge the troops into afghanistan i think pretty quickly realized that he didn't realize even before the surge that there is no military solution for the united states in afghanistan i think for an american population that is both battered financially and very tired of endless wars an

decisions expected after today's talks between the afghan leader and us president obama but hillary mann leverett who's worked extensively with american diplomats in the middle east in asia believes there's something something completely different behind these negotiations. i think these talks are for the president and his national security principals to let afghanistan's president karzai down as softly as they can to let him know that unfortunately they're not going to make good on their promise to completely train. the afghan military and police before u.s. troops leave i think this this visit is about trying to let cars i know as nicely as they can that they're not going to make good on their promise to continue to defend afghanistan and train up afghanistan's military i think part of it is that president obama. after he agreed to surge the troops into afghanistan i think pretty quickly realized if he didn't realize even before the surge that there is no military solution for the united states in afghanistan and so i think in part the initial surge of troops by the president in two thousand an

fragile are being the strengthening taliban insurgency in some thoughts on those from hillary mann leverett and for those of you with u.s. diplomats middle eastern asia why hillary thanks for being with this the obama administration send signals that it's firmly committed to a pullout in twenty forty we know hearing that all u.s. troops could leave afghanistan can these talks really change the course of action is that what these talks are about. you know i think these talks are for the president and his national security principals to let afghanistan's president karzai down as softly as they can to let him know that unfortunately they're not going to make good on their promise to completely train. the afghan military and police before u.s. troops leave i think this this visit is about trying to let cars i know as nicely as they can that they're not going to make good on their promise to continue to defend afghanistan and train up afghanistan's military and what's the reason for this because of money. well i think money is part of it i think part of it is that president obama. after he agree

joining me now, hillary mann leverette, and flint leverette, former members of the state department under. bush and bill clinton. why do you make these assertions coming back from iran? did you have high-level meetings in which you were privy to information our state department is not privy to? >> well, we met with a range of people. we met with people from the government but students at the university. we were actually invited by the university of tehran. we met with students, professors. we met with a range of people in iran, and what we come back with is a sense that walking in the streets of tehran, going to the university, going into the marketplace, this is not a country that is on the brink of implosion, that sanctions are somehow going to cripple and force it to concede to american or any other demands. and this is something that when we did the research for our book, we found historically, we have seen american so-called iran experts predict literally since the founding of the republic of iran back in 1979, that this political order is on the brink of implosion or regime change.