joining us now is the united states ambassador to afghanistan, ryan crocker, inside the u.s. embassy compound that has been under attack today. mr. ambassador, thank you for joining us. i want to ask you, first, are you safe? >> yes, i am. we all are. we've let people leave the main chancery office building and return to apartments. >> pelley: i wonder, have any americans been injured in this attack today? >> none to my knowledge. certainly none at the embassy. we're not aware of any private american citizens who were injured, either. >> pelley: can you tell me a little bit about what those moments were like at the beginning of the attack? >> your first concern is getting your people into hard cover, which we did. we have a tactical operations center, that's where i spent most of my day. we're not your average embassy. we are very well prepared in terms of our physical structures, in personnel we have, and the systems we have to respond to this type of attack. >> pelley: u.s. forces turned over security of the capital there about two months ago to the afghan forces and i wond

ambassador ryan crocker says the attack was carried out by the hakan network, a taliban associated group based in pakistan. >> the information available to us is that these attackers like those who carried out the bombing in war duck are part of a network. they enjoy safe haven. >> u.s. forces have attacked militants in pakistan using unmanned drones while pressuring islamabad to crackdown on insurgents. the pakistani government is reluctant to engage in military action against them. ambassador crocker called for more action to limit the ability of such militant groups who operate from safe havens across the border in pakistan. >>> finally, journalists from around the world, including several southeast asian countries have been recognized at an award ceremony in bangkok. but the reporters have a special reason to be proud. new york based human rights watch recognized 48 writers from 24 countries at the annual awards wednesday. it is given to writers and journalists who have ideas that criticized or offend people incompetent power. this year's award east had journalists from milan, cambod

and oman is the ryan crocker of middle east diplomacy. they're not after the headlines like dubai, turkey, qatar, but they kind of quietly get the job done effectively and oman played an instrumental role in winning the release not only of sarah shourd last year but also josh and shane. >> suarez: so you're saying the money came from the omani government? >> it appears it came from the omani government. whether it's reimbursed by the united states i don't know but i think for oman... the sultan of oman, a million dollars is probably a drop in the bucket. >> woodruff: i notice he thanked the president of iraq, jalal talabani and he thanked the swiss government. what role did they play? >> the wyss government looks after u.s. interests in tehran and... >> so it was a formality? >> exactly. >> pelley: what about iraq. >> there were many back channels involved in these negotiations. the turks made efforts, the iraqis made efforts, the omanis made effort bus ultimately i would go back and say that really the supreme leader probably made a deci

ambassador ryan crocker told cbs news it is heavily reinforced. >> we are very well prepared in terms of our physical structure, the personnel we have and the systems we have to respond to this type of attack. >> the they are overjoyed. iran's president said the men could be released in a few days. >> reporter: the three were arrested two years ago while hiking on iraq's border in iran. they were convicted of espionage by the iranian government. shourd released last year. they told the two men would be released on $500,000 bail each. the bauer and fattal families said it's a huge relief. in an nbc news interview, iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad called the release a gesture. >> translator: we are trying to make arrangement for the freedom of the other two. i think these two persons will be freed in a couple of days. >> reporter: but secretary of state hillary clinton remains cautious. >> we are encouraged by what the iranian government has said today, but i'm not going to comment further than that. >> reporter: iran's president ahmadinejad will address the united nations intlef n

but the american ambassador ryan crocker rejected comparisons to the communist tet offensive in vietnam 1968. >> you know, this really is not a very big deal. it was a hard day for the embassy and my staff, who behaved with enormous courage and dedication. but look, you know, a half a dozen r.p.g. rounds from 800 meters away that isn't tet offensive, that's harassment. >> sreenivasan: crocker accused the haqqani network-- based in pakistan-- of carrying out the assault. officials in iran sent mixed signals today about the fate of two american hikers arrested in 2009 and convicted of spying. the judiciary system said it is still reviewing bail for shane bauer and josh fattal. it gave no indication when a decision would come. just yesterday, president mahmoud ahmadinejad said a court had set bail of $500,000 dollars apiece and the two would be freed within days. nasa has unveiled the general plans for its powerful new rocket to take astronauts into deep space. shown in this animation, the giant space launch system would allow manned exploration of asteroids and mars. it would carry six as

itself was between six and seven -- had seen 6-7 direct hits from an rpg, according to ambassador ryan crocker here. however it was this morning local time that the police took journalists down to the scene where they had dragged out the six bodies of militants they had killed in that particular building, mostly militants that had been shot in the head. it was a very grower and bloody scene from what we understand from those down there. what does this say really about the state of afghan forces and whether they're going to take charge of security come 2014? it's a big question now really, martha. it's been a stunning attack. however, the casualties have been low. martha. martha: what an incredible scene, dominic. thank you very much. we'll stay on top of that story with your help. dominic di-natale. bill: we saw the president yesterday on the road, he goes back on the road today to talk about his jobs plan at a factory in north carolina. the problem, that factory just shipped its jobs to costa rica. the fallout over that. we'll look at it. martha: an extreme patdown tsa edition, folks. how man

we do have ryan crocker who is a miracle worker, i know. but if you could give us a sense of whether the other pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall into place while you work on the afghan forces. >> i do think that the diplomatic efforts of reconciliation -- a couple of things. first, there is no way that they cannot be directly tied to the security situation and the sense of the enemy on whether the tide has turned. i think we're seeing a change regarding the internal afghanistan. i think that is largely because the enemy is back on the wheel in southern afghanistan. at a much higher level, -- that is at the local level. at a much higher level, it goes back to the of a gentleman's question of pakistan and there has to be no long term agreement and reconciliation cannot concerts -- can occur without taking into consideration pakistan. i will throw that back on ambassador crocker. i think that he and general allen are focused on that. on broader issues of the effectiveness of the plan, how the government of afghanistan is doing, it is

ambassador in afghanistan, ryan crocker, and now our secretary of defense leon panetta, the senate should engage in an agonizing reappraisal of military assistance to pakistan, and we should base our reappraisal on the statements of our own ambassador in kabul and the secretary of defense himself, and with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri is recognized. mr. blunt: mr. president, i want to talk about the disaster funding debate that's going on this week. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: and i appreciate your recognition. this is -- this is a debate that has become the debate as part of the burma sanctions act, which if we had been debating the burma sanctions act, i would also be for burma sanctions. but in this debate on disasters, missouri's played an unfortunate leading role in disasters this year of all kinds. we have had floods along the mississippi river, we have had floods along the missouri river. joplin, missouri, one of the bigger cities in our state, was hit by a tornado. we have evacuated a p

ambassador to afghanistan, ryan crocker, has said that a series of recent tax including the deadly attack were the work of the group working out side of afghanistan. our ambassador to pakistan said there was evidence linking the conneen network to the pakistan government. the ambassador added this is something that must stop and leon panetta said the message they need to know is that we will do everything we can to defend our forces. i'm glad to read a few days ago that the leaders haven't informed that we will in fact be doing just that to act more directly. i've repeatedly written to secretary clinton to press to have the haqqani group added to the state department group of terrorist organizations to have more tools available to sanction that. this is long overdue and i hope the state department will move quickly to designate them as a foreign terrorist organization. when senator murphy and i visited in august, we repeatedly heard how the insurgent safe havens in afghanistan posed a main threat to our troops and coalition troops in afghanistan. in our discussions with pakistan officials

able foreign service officers, a real hero of the foreign service, our ambassador in afghanistan, ryan crocker, a highlight of pakistan support for the haqqani network and its role in attacks in afghanistan. just four days later our u.s. ambassador, his counterpart in islamabad, cameron munter, gave a very important and i frankly think brave interview on pakistani state radio, highlighting the role of pakistan government's support for its role and its attack on u.s. service men and women in afghanistan. the following day secretary of state hillary clinton in a meeting with foreign minister carr also highlighted government support for this terrorist situation and its attack on men and women serving in uniform in afghanistan. on september 27 the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mullen in a presentation in front of the carnegie endowment for peace also highlighted pakistan's official government support for the i.s.i. and the haqqani network. in testimony today in the senate armed services committee, admiral mullen reiterated these claims, stating that the i.s.i. of pakistan's govern

very well led with both ryan crocker and general john allen there. steady security progress over the last couple of years. since we put 10,000 marines in helmand in the summer of 2009. and if you were to go to helmand now our kandahar now and compare to what it was, it's vastly different. rooting out the taliban of their own internal safe havens in their country. clearly our focus -- i tried to focus this on the region. this isn't just about afghanistan. this is the region. the two countries most -- draw most focus, afghanistan and pakistan, but it's bigger than that. i mean, it's about india. it's about the stance. it's about the neighbor. it's about iron. it's about china. the totality of the region is what i think we all need to focus on responsibly so that it doesn't deter yor ate either in a civil war, a failed state with nuclear weapons which is a huge danger to the future, not just of the region but i think of the world. so obviously lots of focus there and still lots of work to be done there. on the afghanistan side while we've made improveme

a very well led with both ryan crocker and general john allen there. steady progress over the last couple years since we put 10,000 marines in helmand in the summer of '09 and if if you were to go to helmand or kandahar now and compare it to where it was, it's vastly different, rooting out the taliban of their own internal safe havens in their country. clearly, i've tried to focus this on the region. this isn't just about afghanistan. this is the region. the two countries -- that draw most focus, obviously, afghanistan and pakistan, but it's bigger than that. to me it's about india. it's about the stand. it's about its neighbor, it's about iran, it's about china. the totality of the region is what we need to focus on responsibly so that it doesn't deteriorate into either a civil war, a failed state with nuclear weapons, which is a huge danger to the future, not just of the region but i think of the world. so, obviously, lots of focus there and still lots of work to be done there. on the afghanistan side, while we've made improvements in security, clear