john nagl, thank you. >> thank you, margaret. >> holman: those are some of the day's major stories., back to gwen and judy in charlotte. >> woodruff: and we're back overlooking the democratic >> suarez: i'm with mayor anthony fox, the mayor of charlotte, north carolina, the host city. and, mayor, the meteorologists have given us some complicated news. it's making convention week a little difficult for you guys. tell us more. >> well, look, we have to be concerned with public safety. any event in our stadium would have requiredded people to be in lines for self hours, in all likelihood. and with the threat of thunderstorms, it made sense to cancel the event over at the bank of america stadium. it's disappointing for many of the people in north carolina but we have to do what we have to do. >> suarez: did you wait till the very last minute to get the best weather forecasting advice you could before pug the trigger on the cabs cancellation? >> i think the campaign took enormous pains to wait out the scenario so they could make the best call possible. obviously, it could have made a dec

that's now i think in danger. >> woodruff: it sounds like you're more worried than john nagl is about afghanistan? >> well, yes, largely because we're leaving. we have set a time line that we think is going to work like clock work by 2014. now increasing set of questions on the table. not only about the integrity of the afghan military but what is the political situation in keeps disintegrating? that stability that we're assuming is not going to be there. >> woodruff: what about all that? >> i am less concerned about the afghan government. i think that kabul is likely to hold. i think the united states will remain committed to the security of the afghan state for at least a decade to come. both political parties in the united states are firm on this point. i think that there's an american consensus behind continued advice and support to the afghan government. as long as that happens, the afghans with our help will be able to stand against the taliban. >> woodruff: all right. we will all continue to watch it. john nagl, vali nasr, we thank you both. >> thank you. >> ifill: still to com

for more on this i'm jne b john for more on this, i'm joined by john nagl, a retired army lieutenant colonel, and veteran of both iraq wars. he's commanded u.s. trainers of both iraqi and afghan forces. and vali nasr, dean of the school of advanced international studies at johns hopkins university. he served in the obama administration's state department focusing on afghanistan and pakistan. gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. vali nasr, let me start with you. general dempsey, we heard him say this is a very serious threat to the war effort. we know that secretary panetta, in addition to what we just heard hi say, also cald this the last gasp of a dying insurgency. who is right? >> well, the taliban have been under pressure for some time, but they are proving to be very entrepreneurial and effective in carrying out new ways of attack. they're trying to send a message to the afghan people that they still have fight in them, that they have momentum on their side. i think the fact that these attacks continue and we see more and more americans and foreign troops die and there is

john nagl, thank you. >> thank you, margaret. >> holman: those are some of the day's major stories., back to gwen and judy in charlotte. >> woodruff: and we're back overlooking the democratic >> suarez: i'm with mayor anthony fox, the mayor of charlotte, north carolina, the host city. and, mayor, the meteorologists have given us some complicated news. it's making convention week a little difficult for you guys. tell us more. >> well, look, we have to be concerned with public safety. any event in our stadium would have requiredded people to be in lines for self hours, in all likelihood. and with the threat of thunderstorms, it made sense to cancel the event over at the bank of america stadium. it's disappointing for many of the people in north carolina but we have to do what we have to do. >> suarez: did you wait till the very last minute to get the best weather forecasting advice you could before pug the trigger on the cabs cancellation? >> i think the campaign took enormous pains to wait out the scenario so they could make the best call possible. obviously, it could have made a dec