according to the "washington post," acting defense secretary patrick shanahan while at last weekend'sr a full u.s. withdrawal from syria was a done deal and senator graham reportedly asks are you telling our allies that we are going to go to zero -- meaning zero troops -- by april 30 and secretary shanahan replies, yes, that's been our direction from the president and senator graham responds, that is the dumbest effing idea i've ever heard. josh rogin has the scoop, the "washington post" columnist and cnn political analyst. josh, the dumbest effing idea from republican senator lindsey graham. tell me more. >> you have to understand that we're all at this munich security conference which is like the premier diplomatic schmoozing session for world leaders, you pack 500 people in a hotel, load them up with beer and schnitzel and see what happens. and lindsey graham is trying to get the u.s. to leave syria with honors and here comes patrick shanahan, acting secretary of defense rolling in from afghanistan and iraq and he meets with congressmen and senator and they ask him, okay, are you o

they had a briefing by acting secretary of defense patrick shanahan. eated when lindsey graham kept pressing him and pressing him about this planned withdrawal of all u.s. troops from syria. so shanahan said, well, they're still on track to withdraw all troops by the end of april. and graham, getting angry unleashed a series of expletives of how he felt about the plan. at the time end he said if this is your plan, then consider me your adversary. >> shanahan is the acting defense secretary. what might this mean for his future? >> so, for some time now he's been in the role for nearly two months now since secretary mattis, james mattis resigned just before the end of the year. for some time we've been hearing this is secretary shanahan's job to lose. and he's been auditioning for it. he went on his first big international trip last week going to iraq, afghanistan, brussels to nato and to munich for the security conference. this was seen across the pentagon as the last step in his audition to be secretary of defense. the fact there were -- with someone li

the us acting defense secretary has met afghanistan's president on a surprise visit to kabul patrick shanahan's trip is the latest step in washington's efforts to end the seventeen year war there he held discussions with the afghani on national security issues and restasis america's insistence that the afghan government be included in any peace talks with the taliban that group has so far resisted the government's involvement regarding it as a us puppets shanahan also met u.s. troops stationed there tony but he has more from kabul. mr shanahan spent monday meeting u.s. and nato military leaders and members of the afghan government including president ashraf ghani it was a two fold mission for sess what is happening on the ground although the peace talks are being going on with the taliban they are still fighting and still carrying out missions and also to reassure the government i think that they have not been sidelined from these peace negotiations will number that the u.s. taliban talks are excluded the afghan government this is something that the taliban have always insisted that they would

i want to thank acting defense secretary patrick shanahan. patrick, stand up. you have been doing a fantastic job. we appreciate it. ambassador james jeffrey. thank you, thank you. membersof our coalition for their enduring commitment to defeating isis in the middle east and around the world. 2017, only two years -- had a hadi vast vast amount of territory in syria and iraq. when i became president, i said i want to see what they have, and i look and it was a mess. it was a lot. when i took office, one of my very first acts was to go to the to produced ask them and show me a plan to defeat isis. under the new approach we developed, we empowered our commanders in the field, enabled our partners on the ground, and directly confronted isis's wicked ideology, and we are doing that today except in even greater numbers. as a result, as i noted in my state of the union address the united states military, our coalition partners, and the syrian democratic forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by isis in syria and iraq. it should be formall

according to the report, acting secretary patrick shanahan and lindsey graham got into a heated argumente 'president's plan to withdraw all u.s. troops from syria. graham reportedly unleashed a string of expletives and called himself shanahan's adversary. joining me now, nbc's national security and military reporter courtney kube, co-author of the story and someone who was in munich for all the action last weekend. courtney, this is very tense, you don't want to lose lindsey graham if you're the acting defense secretary already being criticized by many for not being up for the job, not having any military background, coming from the defense community of boeing, he basically was a corporate executive in boeing as a contractor rather than as anyone with anyone, you know, experience with boots on the ground. >> that's right. so secretary shanahan, i don't think anyone disputes that he understands sort of the defense industrial base side of the job, of the pentagon. and a lot of people might argue that as the deputy secretary of defense, the job that he had under secretary of defense jim mat

they set up a whole bunch of briefings one with acting secretary of defense patrick shanahan. they were there to cover a wide array of issues. graham who has been pretty zwrout spoke been his opposition to withdrawing all u.s. troops from syria he press the acting secretary on the plan and on whether shanahan agrees with there plan saying and using some colorful language, graham, about his opposition to it. and when secretary shanahan continued to defend the plan and copied to defend the plan withdrawal which at this point is still on track to be complete by the end of april, lindsey graham shouted out at him if that's your plan, i consider you my adversary. it was a really tense moment according to a number of people in the room who we spoke to. >> wow. this is extraordinary. you can read more about this in courtney's piece on nbc news.com right now. thank you so much. coming up, you know i am taking you back to north carolina. this story is mind blowing to me. an update on the case of potential election fraud in theth congressional district. today we are expected to hear fro

president trump: patrick, how about you? shanahan: this is a historic moment, the dawn of a new service. i thank you for your leadership and the resources so we can do our job. mr. vice president, thank you for pushing us. we have come quite a distance of time, anderiod to my counterparts, thank you for the remarkable teamwork. we will deliver capability better, sooner, faster, so we can sustain our margin of dominance. thank you. president trump: thank you, very much. john bolton, you have been very much involved. mr. bolton: this is a visionary project, mr. president. your leadership, the vice president, everybody on the space council, this is not something for the next year or two or the next six years. this is on into the century, a place where president kennedy wants said, i believe space is a new ocean and the united states must sail upon it, and you are taking steps to make sure the trump national security perspective of the united states will be dominant on that new ocean. president trump: would anybody like to say anything?

afghanistan and the latest step towards ending a seventeen year war the acting defense secretary patrick shanahan is making the surprise visit to the capital kabul he's meeting the u.s. military and the afghan president ashraf ghani to discuss national security issues shanahan says it's crucial the government as part of peace talks with the taliban tony berkley is joining us from kabul and tony of course the afghan government has been sidelined from these peace talks because the taliban regards it as illegitimate so what message is shanahan carrying to the governments. i think he's going to reassure the government that they haven't been sidelined they haven't been forgotten he did say that it's very important that afghans at the end of the day who will achieve peace there will have to live with peace so therefore they must take part in this i think the taliban position that they would never do negotiate directly with the afghan government is one that will probably change in the coming months but there are questions about how quickly this whole process is going because shanahan will be assessing t

defense secretary is in afghanistan's capital for talks aimed at ending the seventeen year war patrick shanahan will meet u.s. military officials and afghan president musharraf's garny he says he wants afghanistan's government involved in peace talks with the taliban it's been sidelined because the taliban regards the government as illegitimate the u.s. is trying to get its aid into venezuela through a un security council resolution tons of food and medicine are stuck on the colombian border president maduro refuses to take it saying the aid is part of efforts to force him from power. driver one why those as efforts to keep our the aid are almost genocidal. i understand that they want to block the aid because that's what a victimizer does it makes them seem almost genocidal by their actions they're killing venezuelans killing children who are protesting killing fernando abandon opposition lawmaker i understand that they would want to deny this and not allowing the humanitarian aid the regime should know it this is a crime against humanity gentlemen of the armed forces. the u.s. military says it

defense secretary is on an unannounced visit to afghanistan patrick shanahan says government involvement in peace with the taliban is crucial to ending the seventeen year war the taliban regards the government is illegitimate. iranian president hassan rouhani is vowing to continue the expansion of iran's ballistic missile program he's addressed tens of thousands in tehran on the fortieth anniversary of the islamic revolution. well now we can speak to ford is a professor of world studies a terror on university and he's joining us from iran's capital city thank you very much indeed the tone of defiance coming from president rouhani who is generally considered to be a reformist as it shifted as a consequence of the tough stance being taken by the trumpet ministration. i think so i think when he came into office about six years ago his main goal in foreign policy was to improve relations with the west what trump did to him has caused him to speak in terms that you heard today expanding iran's missile program and threatening united states back given the fact that u.s. has certain to attack ir

defense secretary has arrived in the iraqi capital on a surprise visit patrick shanahan is expected to get an update on the country's progress in its fight against eisel while in baghdad he'll also discuss the future of american troops in iraq and syria shanahan spent the past two days in afghanistan where he met with president. pentagon she says the afghan government should be included in talks with the taliban to end the seventeen year war he says he's had no orders to withdraw u.s. troops at least sixteen people fleeing coalition airstrikes in eastern syria have reportedly been killed including seven children the kurdish led syrian democratic forces are facing tough resistance from eisel fighters as the group clings on to its last remaining enclave on the border with iraq hundreds of civilians are trapped in the besieged area on monday the u.s. said the coalition may soon declare victory over eisel in the region. and has the latest. the airstrikes took place monday into tuesday morning and now the air strikes are designed to try and keep eisel fighters within the village of itself b

defense secretary is on a surprise visit to afghanistan patrick shanahan says government involvement in peace talks with the taliban is crucial to ending the nearly eighteen year war the taliban regards the government as illegitimate. iran's president says the country will continue to expand its ballistic missile program has some rouhani made the comments during his address to mark the fortieth anniversary of the islamic revolution as in a harder has a report from tehran the it's an honor will rally held since nine hundred seventy nine iranians converge on a saudi or freedom square in central to run to celebrate independence from us dominance this neighborhood public is marking this year's anniversary engaged in the latest standoff with the united states and the message remains the same one of defiance. it was made by the man who had pushed for engagement with the west iranian president hassan rouhani sealed the two thousand and fifty nuclear deal with world powers which the u.s. withdrew from a few months ago and really imposed sanctions mug the united states and israel they impose

in the latest step toward trying to end the seventeen year war the acting defense secretary patrick shanahan has made the unannounced visit to the capital kabul he's meeting u.s. military officials as well as the afghan president ashraf ghani to talk about national security shanahan says it's crucial the government is part of peace talks with the taliban so far it's been sidelined because the taliban regards it as illegitimate to the berkeley has more from kabul. mr shanahan spent monday meeting u.s. and nato military leaders and members of the afghan government including president ashraf ghani it was a two fold mission for sess what is happening on the ground although the peace talks are being going on with the taliban they are still fighting and still carrying out missions and also to reassure the government i think that they have not been sidelined on these peace negotiations will number that the u.s. . excluded the afghan government this is something that the taliban have always insisted that they would never talk directly to the afghan government in fact they don't call them a governmen

in the latest step towards trying to end the seventeen year war actually in defense secretary patrick shanahan is making the unannounced visit to the capital kabul he's meeting u.s. military officials as well as the afghan president himself ashraf ghani to talk about national security shanahan says it's crucial the government is part of peace talks with the taliban it's so far been sidelined because the taliban doesn't regard the afghan government as being the gypsum it tony berkeley has the latest from the capital kabul. pat shanahan will want to reassure the afghan government that it has not been sidelined from these peace negotiations even though the taliban has said in the past they will not directly negotiate with them mr shanahan has said that the peace ultimately lies with the afghan people and he said that the afghan government should be part of that peace negotiation process the taliban has been talking directly to the u.s. there is concern about what speed is going for this peace process mr. has said that he's hopeful that the some kind of deal on the table by july that's worrying so

has just arrived in afghanistan's capital of the talks aimed at ending the seventeen year war patrick shanahan will meet u.s. military officials and the afghan president. also venezuela's opposition leader. to block food and medicine from entering almost genocidal the u.s. provided food medicine and it stuck on the border. the u.s. military says it will probably start to pull troops out of syria in a few weeks but the top american commander in the middle east is cautious about the exact timing. let's go back to that top story and the acting defense u.s. defense secretary has just arrived in kabul tony berkeley's our correspondent in the afghan capital and tony while mr shanahan rides to discuss important security interests in the region he's also really got a very strategic relationship with the government in kabul that needs to be briefed on not just security arrangements but ongoing peace talks. yes indeed i mean he's taken over from jim matheson he's got a very tough job on his hands this peace momentum which started with the talks with the taliban and the u.s. in in doha as you know moved

patrick shanahan said he will be looking for military projects that could be delayed or canceled to freep funds. now all eyes are on the president's republican allies in congress. many spoke out against the emergency declaration before the president signed it. now they'll have to turn around and it defend it from a bipartisan effort to stop it. >>> former fbi chief andrew mccabe says trump's own words led the fbi to launch counter intelligence and obstruction probes into the president. the bureau's former acting director telling "60 minutes" fbi officials took note of the derogatory way the president had been speaking about the russia probe. he said they viewed that as quote as a way to undermine the investigation. >> including james comey to drop the fbi investigation into flynn. the president linking the comey firing to the russia probe and the president meeting in the oval office with russian officials telling them it relieved great pressure to fire comey. >> mccabe told cbs rosenstein was absolutely onboard to launching investigations into the president. mccabe also had claims rosens

troops in the country patrick shanahan has been meeting iraq's prime minister abdul mahdi in baghdad last month president trump angered the government by saying he wanted troops to stick around and keep an eye on neighboring iran shanahan says he respects iraq's sovereignty. what's being described as the trial of the century and a stress test for spanish democracy is underway in madrid twelve catalan separatist leaders involved in the failed independence bid two years ago are on trial in the supremes course they face up to twenty five years in jail if convicted of rebellion sedition and misuse of public funds. seventeen people have died in a hotel fire in india's capital new delhi a large group of wedding guests with staying at the hotel in an area known for budget accommodation thirty five people were rescued most of the deaths were due to suffocation investigators are trying to find out just what caused the blaze now back to talk about oil. some of bin laden was busy building training facilities. bin laden eventually became responsible for organizing the flow of foreign fighters bet

patrick shanahan and joint chiefs of staff chairman joseph dun ford meeting with troops as the pentagon weighs how best to use national emergency powers invoked by president trump. welcome to america's news headquarters. i'm arthel neville. eric: hello, thank i for joining us. this comes as house democrats introduce their own res layings aimed at blocking the -- resolution aimed at blocking the emergency declaration. president trump is doubling down on his calls for a wall at the southern border with mexico. they will installed barbed wire along the existing border fences. >> we apprehended more people than we have in many, many years. we've gotten wit -- with the wae wouldn't have to apprehend them. it's costing us a lot of money. arthel: we have live fox news team coverage with garrett tenney following the latest political developments from the nation's capital. we begin with jeff paul live from the west coast bureau with more on what's happening at the border. jeff. >> reporter: they are working to understand where the gaps in protection are and what dhs specifically needs. so far, t

meanwhile acting defense secretary patrick shanahan touring visits and a city that president trump claimedne of the most dangerous in the nation until a border wall was built. jeff paul is in los angeles with more. >> shanahan traveled to border working to understand why the gaps and protection are. and what what dhs specifically needs by air on ground he spent the day checking out the border just outside of el paso going into portions of new mexico as well. he visited national guard mission where they were briefed on and checked out border patrol at support vehicles atv and weapons it was at this location that officials fired off some version of a pep or ball gun at the border and border patrol says barrier at this particular site went up in 2008 once it did quality of life improved on the mexican side because drug smugglers were forced elsewhere this trip will also help them determine how much money will be spent to the 3.6 billion dollars allocated in the military's construction fund. one official says, quote, the secretary will not use all three point six billion. and the prioritized f

the statement from patrick shanahan comes as u.s.forces are trying to eradicate isis from last stronghold inside of syria. correspondent benjamin hall tells us how that is going, pounded by u.s. warplanes, crumpling and the final sliver of land, president trump says it will soon be over. >> and that will be announced over the next 24 hours. >> benjamin: isis making a final stand using suicide, snipers and indeed tanks. and propaganda. the u.s. support remains critical to the end and the last two and a half weeks alone, the coalition conduct of 179 strikes in syria, but most died already on the future. and u.s. withdrawal, unit patrick shanahan tried to reassure allies. >> we will maintain our counterterrorism capabilities in the region. and we will continue to support our local partners ability to stand up to the remnants of is isis. >> republican lindsey graham went further today than suggesting some u.s. troops could stay in syria alongside an increased european presence. >> general will come to you in some of these rooms and the c

and one of the meetings they had was with acting secretary of defense, patrick shanahan. they spoke about a range of issues. lindsey graham has been outspoken against the idea of a total u.s. withdrawal from syria. he got into a heated exchange. he unleashed a couple explytive that you mentioned. >> i didn't mention it. >> we didn't either. it's g rated. we won't say. anyway, during the course of this, shanahan refused to actually condemn the idea of a full withdrawal further angering senator graham, and then it led to him saying well, then i'm going to be your adversary on this issue. >> at the end of december graham came out of a meet agent the white house and said this. watch. >> this is an akin to surrendering. mr. president, you have a chance to change course. you have a lot of bipartisan to do so. take advantage of it. after discussions with the president and general dunford, i've never felt better about where we're headed. we're slowing things down in a smart way, but the goal has always been the same, to be able to leave syria, make sure isis never comes back. our

>> reporter: patrick shanahan, as tara said, he's the acting defense secretary of course. m mattis quit as defense secretary before that, so shanahan is acting. he said he has been looking at these regulations for several weeks in anticipation that the president would declare an emergency, and as tara said, he says he does have the discretion to utilize military construction funds to support military operations and he had not yet determined whether it's a military necessity, but i suspect, dan, he will determine that very quickly. of course, we do have members of the u.s. military, active duty and guard, down there on the border so i suspect he will approve this. i think he wants to do it the right way. i think he wants to go through all the regulations and he certainly wants to talk to homeland security and then will likely make that determination. rity, dan, hhat woulno jobecuri. >> i can onlu ve the republi congressman jim jordan on your show he's one of the freedom caucus, which is a right wing group of legislators. how do republicans feel about this emergency declarati

defense secretary is on a surprise visit to afghanistan patrick shanahan says government involvement in peace talks with the taliban is crucial to ending the nearly seven eighteen year war the taliban regards the government as illegitimate tony betty has more from kabul. passion at hand will want to reassure the afghan government that it has not been sidelined from these peace negotiations even though the taliban has said in the past they will not directly negotiate with them mr shanahan has said that the peace ultimately lies with the afghan people and he said that the afghan government should be part of that peace negotiation process the taliban has been talking directly to the u.s. there is concern about what speed is going for this peace process mr. has said that he's hopeful that the some kind of deal on the table by july that's worrying some people because after eighteen years of conflict they're wondering worrying that how can you have a solution after just a few months mr shanahan has said that there was no instructions for the u.s. to withdraw any troops yet the taliban had

acting defense secretary has met the afghan president during a surprise visit to kabul patrick shanahan's trip is the latest step in washington's efforts to end a seventeen year war there during discussions with ashraf ghani he reiterated america's insistence that the afghan government be included in any peace talks with the taliban the group has so far resisted the government's involvement regarding it as a us puppet shanahan also met u.s. troops stationed there. still to come this half hour massive crowds on the streets of tehran as iran marks the fortieth anniversary of its islamic revolution. and a new warning that a dramatic decline in insect numbers could cause a catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems. we've got some quater weather coming into western parts of europe over the next couple of days further east we will see things getting a little more unsettled while piling over towards hungary remaining pushing up into ukraine they'll be some rain that we state that we some snow as well down to the southeast and cold some wet weather pushing back towards city parts of grace west

defense secretary patrick shanahan met with the nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg in brussels today. they held talked before the start of the nato defense ministers meeting. >> the preparation and what you outline in terms of the inf, burden sharing is important but also the heavy lifting that we plan to do. your amazing leadership, in terms of generating more cash, our real task, now is translating that into results. that theltenberg added burden used to be shared by allies and that europe and canada are investing 100 billion u.s. dollars for defense from 2016 through 2020. vice president pence is in poland starting a four-day visit to europe. the vice president will take part in international conferences and visit historical sites, including auschwitz. the vice president met with american and present -- polis troops in a hangar today. his stuff comes as that country lobbies washington for a permanent american base on its soil. president trump says he and his aides will be looking for landmines when they review the final text of a border security agreement. the deal would give the

>> meantime, acting secretary of defense patrick shanahan toured the u.s. border with mexico yesterday as the pentagon examines a proposal to allocate billions of dollars towards the construction of the president's border wall, and it is all coming ahead of house democrats' vote rejecting the president's emergency declaration. nbc's mike viqueira's at the white house with more on all this for us. with a good sunday morning to you, my friend. wow! there is a lot happening! >> reporter: i'll tell you, alex, every week for the last two years, we've said this week is going to be crazy! well, this week is going to be crazy, because it might even be kind of historic in a way. we have a constitutional challenge. some are even calling it a constitutional crisis under way now, with the president's declaration of a national emergency because he did not get the funding that he wanted through the regular process of appropriations, the power of the purse as exercised by congress. let's take you through exactly what's going to happen with this joint resolution that would

i want to thank acting secretary of defense patrick shanahan who is with us. secretary of the errors -- of the air force heather wilson and vice president of the chief of the chief of staff, and the executive secretary of the space -- space council. they worked very hard on this space force, they and britt -- believe it in very strongly. the future is where where going, i suspect whether we like it or not, that is the next back -- nextnext -- it is the step. others we belong with they are up in space and it will be a perfect part of where the defense of our nation and you could say offense but let's be nice about it and say the defense of our nation is going equippederica must be -- they are working very hard at it. that is why my administration has recognized space is a fighting domain. have great support from congress because they do support something when we are talking about such important and a lot of the generals and people involved have in speaking to calm desk congress. we are investing in new space capabilities to project military power and safeguard

his administration is negotiating with the taliban and in fact acting u.s. a defense secretary patrick shanahan has just arrived in kabul for talks but eisel is making inroads there and it's attracting fighters pushed out of syria and iraq the reports from mountainous border regions near pakistan. in the wild and rugged areas of eastern afghanistan life is difficult at the best of times now it has become the main battleground against i saw a fight that i saw is not losing these militia know the capability of the men their fighting commander zeitoun knows better than most he was and i saw fighter this is video of him when he was with the armed group he joined for idealistic reasons he says he left when he witnessed the brutality that submitted the hubble mission um and then i saw was very cruel to everyone they killed people slaughtered them they used bombs they did whatever they could i had to leave here survive three assassination attempts the last a few days ago when a magnet bomb was attached to his car in a crowded marketplace killing one of his men and badly injuring him people here are sc

near el paso, texas, patrick shanahan inspected parts of the border.his vit comes after a national emergency which allows the use of pentagon funds for the construction o a border wall, something that democrats vowed to challenge. >>> we are watching severe weather in parts the country tonight and into tomorrow. dylan drier has the latest. >> this system i moving eastward and as it does, it loses moisture. we see heavy rain uro h the great lakes and tomorrow we will see heavy rain. the whole storm system tomorrow pulls away and we are not looking for that much made tional rain. perhaps an inch or so and areas further west, a half of an inch of additional rainfall that should help to improve the ouhreat. winds be damaging and will get stronger especially through the great lakes into tonight. in buffalo, we could see a period of damaging up to about 65 to 75 miles per hour tt could lead to wind damage that affects flights up and down the east coast as well. >> now to the historic summit at the vat an focussed on the sex crisis. the pope included were rea

defense secretary is in afghanistan's capital of the talks aimed at ending the seventeen year war patrick shanahan will meet two u.s. military officials and afghan president of danny he says he wants i'm gonna stands government involved in peace talks with the taliban it's been sidelined because the taliban regards the government as illegitimate up the celebrations are beginning in iran to mark forty years since the islamic revolution thousands are expected it freedom square in tehran where president hassan rouhani will speak later nationwide commemorations started on february the first marking the day that ayatollah ruhollah khomeini returned from exile in one nine hundred seventy nine in the weeks that followed khamenei his followers toppled loyalists of the shah who'd left the country. venezuela self declared leader one. says efforts to block food and medicine from entering almost genocidal tons of u.s. aid remain stuck on the colombian border venezuela's military has so far refused to let him under orders from president maduro that era says the aid is part of a u.s. ploy to remove him from pow

defense secretary patrick shanahan has been speaking at the munich security conference after holding talks with countries which provide troops to the coalition president donald trump's decision in december to withdraw all soldiers from northeast syria angered some allies and prompted then defense secretary chin mattis to resign today my fellow ministers and i took steps to not only solidify our progress in the middle east but to look beyond we discuss what the future of our coalition looks like. i for one a vision of even bigger and stronger coalition going forward there is no one size fits all approach to permanently defeating isis's influence across the globe our coalition is addressing the threat in each region and what is required from us to meet those threats we view our next steps through a whole of government lens ensuring that we will apply the right set of tools to address each situation venezuela's president has told al jazeera that the u.s. is trying to destabilize his country nicolas maduro says the u.s. backed the opposition's call to bring in aid on february twenty thir

acting defense secretary patrick shanahan sought to reassure nato counterparts by saying the u.s.as no plans to deploy nuclear weapons in europe. at the same time, no one knows exactly what the u.s. plans will look like because washington says it has been abiding by the treaty, so it has not further developed its thinking on this. germany is one of the countries most uncomfortable with talks of nuclear weapons, and the defense minister was asked if she could rule out this possibility. she said it is too early to do that. she said is also too early to speculate on what any future arms control or defense systems would look like until we are truly in a post-inf world, and that will not happen until august at the very earliest. germany may have benefited from all the focus on inf, because dinner was to focus on defense spending, and of course germany's is quite a bit below where nato would like its allies to be. sarah: germany's interior minister says that he wants to change legislation to tighten restrictions on foreign telecoms providers. horst seehofer's proposals would require com

nuclear otherwise so i think what allies will be listening for when acting defense secretary patrick shanahan comes is again these reassurances that europe will not be a nuclear battleground and just what steps the u.s. is taking as we wait out this six months before the i.n.f. is truly declared dead kerry scholz covering the nato defense ministers meeting in brussels for us thank you terry. now it's an image that sent shock waves around the world the young girl running from napalm bombs dropped on her village in vietnam in one nine hundred seventy two the picture of kim on t.v. became one of the most famous war photos of all time she is now a peace activist and she's been awarded the dress and peace prize for her work and her message to the is going to cattle sat down with her. thank you is there to say that kumble to be the recipient of such a thing but distinguished a word. with so much meaning behind it can focus famous for being the subject of a photograph. a photograph of such work that it galvanized public opinion around the world about the war in vietnam and helped change the course o

today the focus will be on listening to acting defense secretary patrick shanahan coming here from washington to see what exactly are the u.s. has plans as it waits for the end of the six month period that it's given russia to come into compliance just exactly what is washington thinking of doing next and we really haven't heard much because the u.s. says it has remained in compliance and has not moved ahead so all eyes on washington today are aaron let's come to you in moscow at the same time the talks with russia continue nato secretary general again stoltenberg has been speaking let's listen to what he said all remain focused now is to preserve the treaty there is a window or two to two for russia to come back into compliance because the withdrawal process will not be finished until august so there is a six month window for russia to come back into compliance on the continue to urge russia to come back into compliance with the treaty ok aaron we heard young stoltenberg there say there is a window of opportunity he's going to be meeting with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov at the

patrick shanahan's visit comes ahead of the munich security conference later this week. it also comes after u.s. cease-fire talks with the taliban and reports of a partial u.s. troop withdrawal. shanahan insists he has not been told to step down the number of u.s. forces. >>> grace notes at the grammys where it was a big night for women and hip-hop. just ahead, a look at the top winners. back in just a moment. this is the all-new chevy silverado. it's beautiful. beefy and mean looking. it's the strongest, most advanced silverado ever. the cab is bigger than the last generation. it's the first truck i've seen make you look small. but that's not all... whoo! oh my... whoa! the silverado has more cargo volume than any competitor. very impressive. get a total value of over $7,000 on this all-new silverado when you finance with gm financial. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. every insurance company tells you they can save you money. save up to 10% when you bundle with esurance. including me, esurance spokesperson dennis quaid. he's a pretty good spokesperson. ehhh. s

ll >> reporter: the nato members are expecting an update from there acting sry of defense patrick shanahan. he is fresh from afghanistan and iraq and he will provide them with the latest on the ground that. includes the fight against isis in iraq and syr but also against the taliban in afghanistan. nato is clearly sigthling that 're prepared to withdraw troops. remember, there are 14,000 nato troops from a total of 39 partner countries throughout including nato and non-nato countries. it's an iication to the taliban that if there is a peace deal, if this peace proce does take shape, that there could be withdrawal of u.s. troops. we heard something similar from president trump. now nato is saying the tme. same time, there's this separate issue, and that's with russia. now, nato says and the u.s. says that russia is in violation of this nuclear arms treaty, the inf. wh nato will be doing in the coming days is going to be crucial. they are going to bet talking ab options, military options, onte, in the military domain how to counter what they say is russia's aggression so we really have two s

latest step towards trying to end the seventeen year old war there acting defense secretary patrick shanahan has made the unannounced visit to the capital kabul these meetings u.s. military and afghan president ashraf ghani to talk about national security shanahan says it's crucial the government is part of peace talks with the taliban so far it's been sidelined because the taliban regards the government is illegitimate tony bentley has the latest from kabul. pat shanahan will want to reassure the afghan government that it has not been sidelined from these peace negotiations even though the taliban has said in the past they will not directly negotiate with them mr shanahan has said that the peace ultimately lies with the afghan people and he said that the afghan government should be part of that peace negotiation process the taliban has been talking directly to the u.s. there is concern about what speed is going for this peace process mr. has said that he's hopeful that the some kind of deal on the table by july that's worrying some people because after eighteen years of conflict they're won

acting defense secretary patrick shanahan sought to reassure nato counterparts by saying the u.s. has no plans to deploy nuclear weapons in europe at the same time nobody knows exactly what the u.s. plans will look like because washington says it's been abiding by the treaty and so it hasn't further developed its thinking on this germany is one of the countries most uncomfortable with any talk of nuclear weapons and defense minister ursula vanderlei and was asked if she could rule out this possibility she said it's too early to do that she said it's also too early to speculate on what any future arms control or defense systems would look like until we're truly in a post i n f world and that won't happen until august at the very earliest germany may have benefited from all the focus on i.m.f. because dinner was to focus on defense spending and of course germany's is quite a bit below where nato would like its allies to be and germany is interior minister says that he wants to change legislation to tighten restrictions on foreign telecoms providers horsed as a whole first proposals

nuclear or otherwise so i think what allies will be listening for when acting defense secretary patrick shanahan comes is again these reassurances that europe will not be a nuclear battleground and just what steps the u.s. is taking as we wait out this six months before the i.n.f. is truly declared dead terry scholz covering the nato defense ministers meeting in brussels for us thank you terry. you're watching d.w. still to come in this half hour how a gang of stop at nothing teenagers take over the mafia in naples we'll take a look at the qur'an us film just premiered at the berlin international film festival. every year the german city of dresden remembers its intense bombing during world war two as part of that remembrance the city awards the dresden peace prize this year's winner is peace activist kim phuc fun t.v. a picture of her taken during the vietnam war became one of the most famous photos of all time is going to met her address. thank you it's true to say that kumble to be the recipient of such you say that this teen was a word. with so much meaning behind it can focus famous for bei

afghanistan and the latest step towards ending a seventeen year war the acting defense secretary patrick shanahan is making a surprise visit to the capital kabul he's meeting u.s. military and the afghan president so this cussed national security issues shanahan says it's crucial the government is part of peace talks with the taliban tony berkley is joining us from kabul to tell us more about shanahan's trip. i think he's here to forward to find out what the security situation is on the ground but also to reassure the afghan government that it's not been sidelined from these peace negotiations there's a fear that they've been pushed out because the taliban have always refused to talk to the afghan government directly they've always said that they first of all there had to be a u.s. troop withdrawal and then they would talk to the afghan government but this is not happened so i think the afghan government's been concerned that these negotiations have been going on they have been left out of it but mr shanahan now is taking steps to say that they're very much part of this process that cannot be a r

. >> sreenivasan: acting defense secretary patrick shanahan, joint chiefs' chairman, general joseph dunford, and other pentagon officials toured site on the border with mexico near el paso, texas, today. the department of homeland security requested defens department funding for construction of roads, replacement of vehicle barriers and pedestrian fencing, and installation of lighting. the pentagon has not yet decided whether to divert as much as $3.6 billion from military construction projects for border security. the russian news agency tass reported that north korean leader kim jong un left pyongyang by train today-- heading to vietnam ahead of his summit with president donald trump in hanoi this coming wednesday. preparations for the second summit between the two leaders cluded the official opening of an international media center in hanoi today. president trump is scheduled to leave for the summit on monday. the vote count is underway in nigeria after today's postponed- presidential election began with problems. voters faced hours-long delays at polling stations across the country and

afghanistan and the latest step towards ending the seventeen year war acting defense secretary patrick shanahan is meeting u.s. military and afghan president ashraf ghani in the capital kabul he says he wants afghanistan's government to be part of peace talks with the taliban it's been sidelined because the taliban regards the government as legitimate so any berkley is joining us from kabul what more do we know about his mission to the country. i think it's twofold you mentioned about he's going to talk to the afghan government he's coming here with sort of a fact finding mission to see how the nato and american forces are doing how the campaign is going but i think he wants to reassure the afghan government that he's not be being sidelined from these negotiations with the taliban a lot of people are concerned that they've been pushed out of the situation the taliban has always said they would never negotiate directly with the afghan government if they call them and it ministration not a government and it was something of a victory for the taliban that the americans decided to negotiate with th

. >> abouting secretary of defense patrick shanahan says he still not decided a wall along the mexico border is a necessity. tom. >> tara, thank you. >>> and this programming note the latest reaction to the president's emergency declaration tomorrow on "this week" with abc's martha raddatz. >>> overseas now, we turn to the desperate fight for the latest isis stronghold in syria. the human toll, high. the images coming in. abc's foreign correspondent james longman taking us through the scarred towns that make up this battlefield. >> reporter: rubble and dust -- the isis legacy. it once spanned two countries and attracted thousands of extremists from all corners of the globe. tonight, the so-called caliphate is reduced to about 7,000 square feet of freezing mud in southeastern syria, where 1,000 or so isis fighters are in a standoff with coalition forces. today, we drove out to the towns nearest the frontline. we saw why victory can't be called just yet. you can hear overhead now that is the sound of aircraft approaching because they think that isis bikes are now on the horizon. when we

defense secretary is in the iraqi capital baghdad on a surprise visit patrick shanahan is expected to get an update on the fight against eisele he also discussed the future of american troops in iraq and syria shanahan's visit visit comes after he spent the past two days in afghanistan where he meant president ashraf ghani afghan interpreters who worked with british soldiers are pleading with the u.k. government to grant them asylum many are in hiding after getting death threats from the taliban which sees them as traitors tony betty reports from kabul and they were on the frontlines with nato forces in afghanistan but now they and their families hide in the shadows hunted by the taliban which calls them traitors i'm scared of that and i'm sure if the teach me they will kill me because the have you have evidence of them when interpreters. like i don't of there has been kids so did is no different for them for the taliban they're too scared to show their faces too terrified to give their real names these men serve british forces as interpreters often in the most dangerous provinces but

defense secretary is on a surprise visit to afghanistan patrick shanahan is meeting with the military and president ashraf ghani to discuss national security issues the united states is a negotiations to end the seventeen year war and the u.s. is likely to start pulling its troops out of syria in a few weeks the trumpet ministration has so far been sending mixed messages on the timing but his top commander in the middle east says it all depends on how things pan out on the ground iran's president hassan rouhani says the country will continue to expand its been listed missile program he's been addressing tens of thousands of people to mark the fall. we have anniversary of the islamic revolution nationwide commemoration started on fabry the first marking the day i tell the ruhollah khomeini returned from exile in one thousand nine hundred seventy nine oh yes so today in order to make different types of missiles we are not getting permission from anybody and we will not ask permission from anyone to build them our military power it will continue and i would like to make it clear to you t

troops in the country patrick shanahan has been meeting iraq's prime minister. in baghdad last month president trump angered the government by saying he wanted troops to stick around and keep an eye on neighboring iran says he respects iraq's sovereignty still ahead on al-jazeera unchartered waters how business is trying to prepare for. fuel shortages and leaving the economy running on empty. how i once again welcome to another look at the international forecast we have around one hundred million americans under some sort of winter storm alert because see these massive areas of cloud there's lots of rain down towards the south this no further north than plenty of snow is in places of right along the west coast as well hopefully little dry there for seattle is because through where to stay already having its snowiest february on a record very heavy rain though it's a good part of california thirteen celsius for san francisco and also for los angeles some wet weather too that's making its way away from the southeast and cold of florida will see some of that cloud

i want to thank acting defense secretary patrick shanahan. patrick, stand up. you've done a fantastic job. we appreciate it. [applause] thank you. ambassador james jeffery. thank you. and all of our coalition members here today for their enduring commitment to defeating isis in the middle east and around the world. in january 2017, only two years ago, isis had a vast amount of territory in syria and iraq, when i became president, i said i want to see what they have. i looked and it was a mess. it was a lot. when i took office, one of my very first acts was to go to the pentagon and ask them to produce and show me a plan to defeat isis. under the new approach we developed, we empowered our commanders in the field, enabled our partners on the ground and directly confronted isis' wicked ideology. we're doing that today except in even greater numbers. as a result, as i noted in my state of the union address yesterday, the united states military, our coalition partners and the syrian democratic forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by