i don't read pashto, but i'm told it is filled with grammatical mistakes in that language, too.this is from the attorney general's office. there's nothing awful about this. maybe we should just ignore it. why don't we stay and see what happens? one of the good things about this story is we have good sources in government and we also had senior western officials have dinner with us there, who advised us that if you do stay, our understanding is that they're going to throw you in jail and they will try you for sedition -- there are a bunch of national security laws they can try you under. even how casually the government and attorney general had broken their own laws, w thought it was best not to risk to go to trial when we are dealing with an administration that at this point did not seem to respect its own laws, and that it was best to fight it from the outside. >> retired from georgetown university. i want to know, over your years of reporting on afghanistan, was there a point when it was more hopeful, more "progressive," than it has been moving downward? >> absolutely, especia

i learned about an expression in pashto, and if anybody speaks pashto, correct me, and it is "how are you," and after four hours you run out of things to say and "how are you," and keep going. afghans are pretty good at talking and negotiating for quite a long time until they reach what a good negotiator does, a solution that nobody is particularly happy with but sort of works for everyone and keep things basically ok. right now what we are seeing in kabul is a total breakdown in the process. i know this morning the abdullah camp pulled out of an audit that was to untangle the vote and the deal that john kerry had brokered. and now ashraf ghani's guys have been told, well, you guys go home, the u.n. will continue this without you. it is beginning to feel like where do they go to from here? the election is not working, president karzai is leaving next week -- to where, who knows? if he really is. you are approaching a situation that is approaching what is beginning to feel like the worst-case scenario for afghanistan, and i don't say that lightly. i know a lot of the western press can

i don't read pashto, but i'm told it is filled with grammatical mistakes in that language, too.t was from the attorney general's office. , ok, every bit of , even our advisors had said there is nothing lawful about this. maybe we should just ignore it. why don't we stay and see what happens? one of the good things about this story is we have good sources in government and we also had senior western officials at dinner with us there, who advised us that if you do stay, our understanding is that they're going to throw you in jail and they will try you on some variation of sedition -- there are a bunch of national security laws they can try you under. given how casually the government and attorney general had broken their own laws to issue the expulsion order, we figured it was best not to risk to go to trial when we are dealing with an administration that at this point did not seem willing to respect its own laws, and that it was best to fight it from the outside. >> retired from georgetown university. i want to know, over your years of reporting on afghanistan, was there a point