after pioneering kill/capture operations in the iraq war, mcchrystal increased their use in afghanistan. and when general david petraeus took command last summer, he stepped them up further. petraeus has doubled the number of kill/capture missions, and issued hundreds of press releases announcing the death or detention of taliban leaders. >> the taliban had the momentum, and when you're faced with a serious, deteriorating situation, you have to do something about it. and the best way to do something about it is to use every tool available to you, and that includes everything from the very soft end of things all the way to the hardest of the hard end, which is, of course, targeted raids. ( explosion ) >> go, go, go, go, go! >> narrator: the kill/capture campaign against the taliban is waged by both special operations forces and conventional troops. but leading and directing the program is a secretive counterterrorism unit within special forces known as joint special operations command, or jsoc. >> let me know when you got a target, five. coming up now. >> narrator: it was jsoc that carri

when general mcchrystal came in in 2009 there was a serious effort to try to get rid of him. that was because mcchrystal was focused on a counterinsurgency strategy that believed that argued, that you needed to win the support of the population, get them to support the legitimate government and not feel that they had to turn to the taliban because there was no governance, no court system, no law in order. so the chief of military intelligence from mcchrystal, mike flynn actually said famously to the "new york times" that the only way to get rid of, the only way, sorry, to clean up chicago was to get rid of capone. and he meant ahmed wali karzai. but that effort sizzled, in part because the president, his half brother stood firmly behind him. and in part i think because the americans realized they couldn't handle the tribal dynamics in kandahar and he did know everybody. in fact became more adept i think in the latter part of the decade in spreading out appoints to other tribes because it had been a complaint that he was giving too much to his own tribal colleagues. and then o

general petraeus had been sort of quietly complaining behind the scenes, just like mcchrystal, aboutes up in flames and he looks at petraeus and says, general, you're running afghanistan. and then, general, you're running the cia. >> and one of the elements of general petraeus going to the cia and both david and jack just touched upon it is petraeus seems to have a knack for identifying and aligning themselves with really smart people. there are a lot of really smart people in langley working at the cia. and now he's got a defense secretary, leon panetta, who too knows about the talent level at the cia. and the merger of these two institutions, defense department intelligence and cia intelligence and operational staff in the field, it could be the finest days for both units. >> wes, it could be a brilliant move. >> absolutely. and the interesting thing about the move for general petraeus in langley is it's not that much of a stretch from the type of operations he was really focusing on in afghanistan. when you look at the architect of the counterinsurgency policy, it was general petr

general petraeus took over there a year ago after his predecessor general stanley mcchrystal made thosents to rolling stone magazine. general petraeus will now head the cia. during his year in afghanistan, the general managed the arrival of 30,000 extra u.s. forces which we are led to believe helped to stop the momentum of a growing taliban led injure genesee. but the war is far from over. jennifer griffin with the news tonight live from the pentagon. general, david petraeus is leaving as the taliban targets the afghan's president's inner circle, i guess. >> that's right. general petraeus is now on route back to the u.s. he transition the with marine general john allen today in afghanistan. he is leaving behind 100,000 u.s. troops. 33,000 of them will be brought home by september of next year. all of them by 2014. >> you have shown initiative, determination, innovativeness and courage. you have been diplomats as well as warriors, states men as well as soldiers. your performance has been, in a word, awesome. >> but just this weekend, another key aid to president harmid karzai was killed,

afghans would constantly say to him-- stanley mcchrystal when he was head of forces there-- is "promise us you're not going to leave." because that's what happened in... >> absolutely. >> rose: when was it? when they left after the soviets were defeated. >> absolutely. >> rose: so when you look at obama today and if, in fact, there is a withdrawal and the victory or the situation is nebulous or, in fact, the taliban come back will there be a historical judgment that because of whatever reading of history he made that he will be considered the president that lost afgnistan? >> that's a really good question because the last chapter of the book, chapter 10, is called "good enough." and what they're hoping for is something they can term "good enough." that it will not be termed a loss. that it may not be a full-fledged victory. it m not be something that they can proclaim that everhing is wonrful in afghanistan w. but something they can say is good enough. they can get out at whatever point they do that, not having to say they lost. so that is definite play the people that talked to said th

since 2008 have been an adviser in afghanistan for the same project what general mcchrystal, petraeus, and caldwell. that is how i got involved in the police business. i found the same position that john described. i had no guide to this. the first died i read was after i had all these responsibilities and i read bob's book. i said i wish i had had this before i started any of these things. i think it will be many similarities in what i say and in the fourth report that i wrote since i retired. they are all available on the web at the institute for the study of war. the sequence i was talking about was that war should lead to peace, not the other way around. the description of the activities that we conducted to accelerate their growth. second, the accelerating combat power in afghanistan, not the classified version of a report that i gave to general mcchrystal and petraeus. the third, creating a police force of law enforcement systems, and the last, which has a portion about police forces in iraq beyond 2011. these are all available to you if your interested on the web. where to star

the role has been demonstrated by both general mcchrystal and after him general petraeus was to seek ways and opportunity across the border with the pakistani military to try to have effect upon the nature of the border, the safe havens, those elements of the insurgency where we can focus or efforts. general pa petraeus has establid a productive relationship with general kayani. i hope to follow where leverages the role of the isaf commander, we can continue to place the kind of emphasis that we need to with the pakistani government and military to continue to pressurize those safe havens. in the end, it's a decision that they will make. but they -- in my role as the operational commander, i'm going to leverage every possibility that i can for cooperation across the border to build habits of cooperation, habits of partnership, and hopefully from there as we continue to evolve our relationship overall with pakistan, this will be a mechanism that can provide a bright spot for additional cooperation later. and i think here is an important opportunity with pakistan. >> thank you, sir. ad

i've been in the project with general mcchrystal, petraeus, and caldwell. that's how i got involved in the police business. i found the same position that john described. i had no guide to this. really the first guide i read is after i had all of the responsibilities and i read bob's book. god, i wish i would have had this thing before i started. i look forward to reading yours now, john. so i can act as a voice to yours too. i bet there's going to be many similarities in what i say and in the four reports since i've wrote since i've retired. they are all available on the web at the institute for the study of war. and the sequence that i was talking about, bob, was the sequence of war should lead to peace. not the other way around. and the first is building security forces in capacity in iraq. a description of the activities that we conducted to accelerate the growth. second, the accelerating combat power in afghanistan that i gave to mcchrystal and petraeus. the third, police force and law enforcement systems and then the last which has a portion about pol

the role has been demonstrated by both general mcchrystal and after him general petraeus was to seek ways and opportunity across the border with the pakistani military to try to have effect upon the nature of the border, the safe havens, those elements of the insurgency where we can focus or efforts. general pa petraeus has establid a roductive relationship with general kayani. i hope to follow where leverages the role of the isaf commander, we can continue to place the kind of emphasis that we need to with the pakistani govnment and military to continue to pressurize those safe havens. in the end, it's a decision that they will make. but they -- in my ole as the operational comander, i'm going to leverage every possibility that i can for cooperation across the border to build habits of coperation, habits of partnership, and hopefully from there as we continue to evolve our relationship overall with pakistan, this will be a mechanism that can provide a bright spot for additional cooperation later. and i think here is an important opportunity with pakistan. >> thank you, sir. admiral

i think you want to recognize corporal knisley and his wife mcchrystal to be here and for your devotedervice to our country and the core. as you know today were this is the resources the va will need in the future to care for current generations of wounded warriors and as the chairwoman noted, will have a total of 2.3 million servicemembers that have been deployed. 45,000 have been wounded in action. as we look to the future and beyond for the next 10 years, it is important to understand where we had them what we've learned because over the last 10 years we've seen a large increase in the va's medical care accounts. since 2001, the va medical care budget has grown by 27 billion or 130%. last october at the congressional budget office congressional budget office published analysis on this topic and their analysis indicates that we have some very real challenges coming up that we all agree that we must provide the funding needed to support this generation of wounded warriors and continue caring for those that have previously boring to hidden scars of war. as you know, we will hear from c