ryan crocker spoke exclusively to nhk about the strategy united states is following as it looks to exit the long war in afghanistan. nhk world's hideki yui reports. >> reporter: anti-u.s. sentiment in afghanistan has been growing following a series of scandals include i including a burning of the koran by american troops. that led the taliban to state publicly they are suspending with the united states. ambassador ryan crocker told nhk that some members of the taliban have began negotiations with the afghan government. he said they're exploring the possibility of reconciliation. >> the reality is that some of them are talking to the afghan government. this creates division, confusion and dissension among the taliban themselves and among the leadership of the taliban. >> reporter: crocker says taliban hard-liners were responsible for recent violent attacks against foreign missions in kabul, including the japanese embassy. crocker says a strong military presence is necessary to counter that threat. >> i think it's very important that we keep up the military pressure on the taliban and oth

ryan crocker, u.s. ambassador to afghanistan, told cnn's candy crowley the taliban's bark, though, is often worse than its bite. >> the taliban are really good at issuing statements, less good at actually fighting. my guess based on previous experience here is that this is a set of hakani network operations out of north waziristan and the pakistani tribal areas. frankly, i don't think the taliban's good enough. >> our mohammed jamjoom is live in kabul right now. in kabul, it's 11:12 p.m., afghanistan is 8 1/2 hours in front of eastern time. so he's had time to reflect on this day. mohammed, what's the latest on this attack? >> reporter: well, gary, these wave of coordinated attacks started around 1:15 p.m. local time today. and for hours and hours, we were hearing the sound of sporadic gunfire, we were hearing explosions, we were hearing rpgs being fired. that's just in this very heavily fortified and guarded area in kabul, where so many embassies are housed. now, we're told by nato's isaf that the russ

ambassador to afghanistan, ryan crocker. thank you so much for your time. there, sir. >> just would add one thing. you know, we did not suffer any casualties, merr mercifully throughout this country. but a number of afghans were killed. our hearts go out to their families. they are our allies and partners. we mourn their loss. >> thank you for your assistance. we'll continue northern this breaking news story other in cnn. he would never give up on any of us. [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. [ roger ] tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ kyle with voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate poli

ambassador to afghanistan, ryan crocker. thank you so much for your time. stay safe there, sir. >> just would add one thing. you know, we did not suffer any casualties, mercifully throughout this country. but a number of innocent afghans were killed by these terrorists. our hearts go out to their families. they are our allies and partners. we mourn their loss. >> thank you for your assistance, mr. ambassador. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ [ man announcing ] what we created here. together for your future. what we achieved here. what we learned here. and what we pioneered here. all goes here. the one. the accord. smarter thinking from honda. how math and science kind of

ambassador ryan crocker suspect that is a hakkani network doing. and in fact one of the men who were arrested yesterday have actually admitted this was done by that network. >> what does this tell us? you just said yourself that the taliban says it had been planning this for months. so what does this tell us about afghan security forces not just in the ability to handle something like this when it happens, but in the ability to anticipate this? to sniff something like this out? this obviously was going on for quite some time, and nobody knew about it until 18 hours ago. >> well, it -- i mean, it's not -- it did go on for some time, large amounts of time. what i would say is this questions the competence of the afghan forces. especially that the u.s., you know, due to leave next year it really questions the competence. because this was a very coordinated, very well-sustained attack. it lasted for 18 hours. and you know, for it to last such a long time, with the afghan forces taking that long to get it under control, it really does question the compe

ambassador ryan crocker said no americans have been hurt, but a number of afghans have been killed. the taliban have claimed responsibility, saying it's the start of their spring offensive. >>> north korean leader kim jong-un addressed thousands of troops today. the country is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder and un's grandfather. a military parade featured what appeared to be a new larger ballistic missile, but definitely analysts are not able to confirm if it's real. we'll have more news at the bottom of the hour. now, "the next list." >>> there are a billion people on the planet now who qualify as gamers. there are games that you can play to learn how to start your own business. if you're unemployed and want to start your own company, there's a game you can play to learn how to do that. when i tell people, hey, do you want to cure cancer or alzheimer's? you can do that by playing a game. >> playing video games to cure cancer? it just doesn't seem possible. but game designer jaime mcgonigal says it is not far fetched. gaming can improve real l

i was in afghanistan, i was with our general, general allen and ryan crocker and i was with hundreds of troops. i was in the number one trauma hospital which is camp leather neck down by helman province and went to the united emirate. >> greta: and give a top nurse in the hospital because where are they from? >> they are from my district. i was absolutely thrilled. i had no idea. number one trauma hospital in the world are serving our guys and gals and top doctor is dr. morris and top nurse is lisa from minnesota. >> greta: it's tough to go to afghanistan in over the weekend. >> it's a good 14 hour trip. >> greta: but when you get there and see it, it makes, whether you understand, it helps you understand to do your job? >> it really does because the big question is it the right thing to be there. my opinion when president obama we are going to be out by 2014, come hell or high water, i thought if your goal isn't to win and be successful, why even expend one more human life if that is not your goal? when i went over this weekend and literally i spoke with hundreds and hundreds of our

i was in afghanistan, i was with our general, general allen and ryan crocker and i was with hundreds of troops. i was in the number one trauma hospital which is camp leather neck down by helman province and went to the united emirate. >> greta: and give a top nurse in the hospital because where are they from? >> they are from my district. i was absolutely thrilled. i had no idea. number one trauma hospital in the world are serving our guys and gals and top doctor is dr. morris and top nurse is lisa from minnesota. >> greta: it's tough to go to afghanistan in over the weekend. >> it's a good 14 hour trip. >> greta: but when you get there and see it, it makes, whether you understand, it helps you understand to do your job? >> it really does because the big question is it the right thing to be there. my opinion when president obama we are going to be out by 2014, come hell or high water, i thought if your goal isn't to win and be successful, why even expend one more human life if that is not your goal? when i went over this weekend and literally i spoke with hundreds and hundreds of our

ambassador ryan crocker, crocker saying this was a very familiar scene to him. >> it's pretty similarwhat we saw in september. high profile, questionable effectiveness. i think this was done more for the splash than the serious attempt to carry out a military operation, but again we'll just have to see. >> reporter: and we'll have to wait and see just how the rest of the fighting season really goes on. the only upside really to this surprise attack which really has caught both the afghans and the international community very much by surprise is those who died. the militants, 11 so far killed, no deaths among the civilians or the afghan security forces, but 23 civilians and police apparently injured. >>> holocaust remembrance today is coming up this week and the holocaust museum is holding days of remembrance all week. the museum will live stream a commemoration in the capitol rotunda thursday morning. >>> wasteful spending taking center stage on capitol hill tomorrow as federal officials from the general services administration begin the first of four congressional hearings. the agenc

there's one other piece that you left out and it's this, ryan crocker, our ambassador, who i can't sayugh good about and also general allen, they were in the process, particularly ambassador crocker, he was at 11:59:59 negotiating the deal for handing oft baton for leadership in iran from the international security forces to the afghans to be able to run this conflict on their own and defeat the taliban. this agreement was completed while we were there. we did not in any way want to turn an international incident into preventing this agreement from being signed. this was months in the making. so we didn't want to be the ones that would prevent this from happening. >> you can read more about all of this on my blog. an al qaeda plot to attack an american passenger train. new details coming to light at the trial of an unlikely terror suspect. plus the bird strike that had passengers on one flight fearing for their lives. just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. mmm-hmm. and just leave your phone in your purse. i don't want you texting, all right? dad

ambassador, ryan crocker, backed that up yesterday.is demonstrate why we need to be here, he said. to get out before the afghans have a full grip on security, which is a couple of years out, would be to invite the taliban, the happencanis and taliban back in and set the stage for another 9/11. and that, i think, is an unacceptable risk for any american. >> again, that was allen pizzey reporting. afghanistan officials say three civilians were also killed in the crossfire. >>> some royal problems for kate middleston's little sister pippa. middleton was reportedly in the passenger seat of the car, when the driver jokingly aimed the weapon at a photographer in paris. if convicted, they both face up to seven years in prison. >>> a black lab puts herself in harm's way to protect a fallen friend in california. grace sat in the middle of traffic, guarding the body of a yellow lab. she was later taken to a shelter, where she's now up for adoption. at least six people have already called, asking about taking grace home with them. >> oh. >>> well

ryan crocker, who is the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan, told our candy crowley the attacks may have been orchestrated by the haqqani network. >> the taliban are really good at issuing statements, less good at actually fighting. my guess, based on previous experience here, is that this is a haqqani network operation in the pakistani tribal areas. frankly, i don't think the taliban's good enough. >> now, take a look at these pictures. that was the grandview palace condos in fallsview, new york, in the catskills mountains. this is the second weekend in a row a cats skills landmark has been destroyed by fire. the building is probably best known as the inspiration for the resort featured in the movie "dirty dancing." >>> halifax, nova scotia, held a memorial service to remember the moment the "titanic" went down 100 years ago this very day. people gathered at a cemetery where more than 100 people who were aboard the ill-fated ship are buried. the service was part of a weekend of events remembering the "titanic." >>> b

ambassador ryan crocker and u.s.ders are trying to hammer out with president karzai is a broad framework for a long-term relationship. karzai wants the money in writing because he doesn't trust that the u.s. will be there for the long haul or that congress won't pull the rug on funding the afghan military to the tune of $4 billion a year with shrinking budgets. one senior u.s. defense official tells me quote we do not expect that document to include any pacific financial commitment, shep. >> shepard: the vast majority of americans tell pollsters that they want this war over. the same is true in australia. now we know the australians are pulling out a year early? >> in fact, 12 months early. they were supposed to be out like the rest of nativity toe at the end of 2014. now we understand it's 2013. here is the prime minister of australia earlier today. >> i am now confident chicago will recognize mid 2013 as a key milestone in the international strategy. a crucial point when the international forces will be able to mov

taking responsibility, the afghan military have been saying this yesterday, that the assault, even ryan crockert the operations is very indicative of that. he told cnn that he didn't think the taliban were capable of doing this sort of attack. however the taliban gave a rare insight to reuters and told them about the strategy they used hint t behind the attack. they staked out areas that her going to attack, did mock up exercises. it was a rare insight in to their thinking. >> over at least for now. thank you live in kabul for us. >>> here's a look at other stories topping the news. an advanced team of u.n. observers have begun hair work in syria, but the cease fire already starting to unravel. this this amateur video appears to show troops shelling a nablg hood neighborhood in the city of homs. >>> george zimmerman emotion is expected to it file a motion to have the judge removed. he does believe the judge would give his client a fair trial but says he doesn't want to take any chances. >>> and on a different note, this year's run away movie hit rules another weekend. breaks the rule has is. fo

ambassador ryan crocker says it's a major stable toward a stable afghanistan before the 2014 troop withdrawalr the global warming debate. this past march was the warmest since the u.s. started keeping records way back in 1896. government meteorologists recorded some 7700 record highs last month. they also say the three-month period of january, february and march was the warmest first quarter ever recorded in the lower 48 states. >>> and some people may call this tempting fate. right now about 1300 people are cruising the north atlantic following the same route the titanic took 100 years ago. the crews offer history lectures and a stop in nova scotia where many of the titanic victims are buried. early saturday morning it's scheduled to be in the exact spot the ill-fated ship struck an iceberg. so they are repeating that journey 100 years later. >> would you do it? >> i'm a little suspicious. i would take another trip. >> a history buff, if you want to learn the history, what better place. >> and i'm sure that's very exciting on the trip for those folks. but me personally, no. >> we look forwar

ambassador ryan crocker said no americans have been hurt, but a number of afghans have been killed.ility, saying it's the start of their spring offensive. >>> north korean leader kim jong-un addressed thousands of troops today. the country is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder and un's grandfather. a military parade featured what appeared to be a new larger ballistic missile, but definitely

ambassador, to afghanistan, ryan crocker. >> more excitement than we all bargained for when we scheduledthese things are, but there appear to be multiple sources of attack, one southeast of here, we know of, newe have seen fire and several attacks in several of the provinces. again, in the smoke, dust, fog and confusion of this kind of war, it will take a while to sort all of this out. i'm in touch with my friend and battle buddy, general allen and all of our folks are accounted for and safe. really don't know what is going on around town but, we have seen the afghan security forces are responding to this, as they did in other attacks and seem to have it under control. >> reporter: i'm here with our bureau chief, right now, he's holding down the fort here, and craig, what did you hear, down there? >> gunfire. our neighborhood is a short distance from the u.s. embassy and talking about a thousand feet or so and the moment the sound of gunfire broke out it brought my memory to september when the u.s. embassy was attacked. >> reporter: the last significant attack in kabul. >> and the explos

taking the job, he was writing notes, and one of the first people i want to call after hollywood ryan crocker from his former partner in iraq. and he did call crocker and crocker was interested in joining him. and so they made a lot of calls to the white house and around washington to try to get crocker the right way to have this dynamic duo who had worked so well together. and hobbies he crocker didn't get there until a year later, but you wondered we did have made a difference. i don't know. no more questions? spent because were in politics and prose i have to ask about future possibilities. do you think there's any role in politics, as general petraeus as time goes on? >> did you watch "the daily show" a week and a half ago? [laughter] [inaudible] >> on record i was on the jon stewart daily show a week and a half ago, and i will borrow my binder, but jon stewart asked the same question. i said well, my husband says i should is going to run for office because it would sell more books. but i can't. i can't tell a lie. know, he's not interested in running for office. as sort of a mentor of mi

ambassador ryan crocker agreed saying this is a network of haqqani operations.very indicative of that and told cnn he didn't think the taliban were good enough to carry out such a sustained attack as we saw yesterday. a senior security official today confirmed that some of the insurgents who were arrested confessed that it was all planned by the network but we're yet to find out. however, on the other hand, the of taliban soaksman told reuters, had a conversation with reuters today and talked to them about strategy behind the attack, how their military experts sketched the maps of the targets and created a mock-up where fighters practiced before carrying out the large scale operations in the four provinces, including kabul that we saw yesterday. it was a rare insight into their thinking. >> so i wonder how this affects the americans -- well, our country as we try and -- as the president tries to sell the notion of negotiating with the taliban. >> well, you know, the negotiations with the taliban are setting up meetings, loya engineering gas with the taliban, the

ambassador ryan crocker backed that up yesterday. attacks like this demonstrate why we need to be here, he said, to get out before the afghans have a full grip on security which is a couple of years out would be to invite the taliban, the haqqanis and taliban back in and set the stage for another 9/11 and that, i think, is an unacceptable risk for any american. preventing further attacks is a serious challenge for afghan authorities, especially trying to keep weapons from coming into the city and they've asked for scanning equipment to help do it. >> thank you very much. >>> in san francisco this morning, a search has been called off for four sailors lost in a yacht race over the weekend. as bill whitaker reports, one other body was recovered. three people were saved. >> reporter: it was a dramatic coast guard rescue. three sailors lifted to safety after clinging to jagged outcroppings off the coast of an fran, holding on for their lives in a pounding'. three of the eight-person crew on the lowspeed chase, just 38-foot racing yacht c

ryan crocker called the actions morally repugnant and defense secretary panetta says he strongly rejectsonduct depicted in the 2-year-old photographs. these are not prisoners. niece were suicide bombers. they were trying to kill our troops by blowing themselves up. the exploded bodies with which our troops are posing were exploded by the victims themselves. by the after beganies trying to take -- by the afghanis. it's not that we took lives and were cavalier about it. >> how would your viewers feel if a suicide bomber tried to blow them up and failed? i do not -- i do not condone what the troops did. it was wrong. but, megyn, by historical standard our soldiers and marines today are the best behaved in all of history. they are amazingly well behaved. the stresses of a decade of war. the reflex passion of our generals is to leap out and say our troops are so awful, they are so wicked, this isn't us. we have to respect afghan culture. general allen is not threatened by suicide bombers. he's safe in his multi layered fortresses. those troops out patrolling every single day risk life and lim

we read a quotation from ryan crocker, but what is your sense? guest: it took many things. i think it really began kind of in earnest when ambassador crocker are rife last summer and began to focus in a sort of a very concerted way of getting -- and has been almost a year, although not quite, that he has been working on it. there has been an enormous you heard about in "the new york times" and elsewhere, that president karzai does not have trust in americans, not only because of night raids with civilian casualties, but also a feeling that the americans did not like him, said one thing to him and other things back in the states, a feeling that he was pushed into having a runoff in the 2010 presidential election, which he felt he had won. it was an embarrassing, humiliating moment for him. he had enormous deficit of trust in the americans. i think that has been somewhat rebuild. it allowed a real negotiation to take place and a deal to be struck. host: alissa rubin is with "the new york times" in afghanistan. thanks a lot for your time this morning. guest: thank you. host: w

we started getting e-mails with statements from general allen, the top nato commander, ryan crocker,hanistan, all saying that they were condemning this action being reported by "the l.a. times" showing soldiers posing with bodies of dead insurgents back in 2010 in eastern afghanistan. now, "the l.a. times" said they got these from a soldier who wanted to draw attention to what he said was the potential breakdown of discipline in afghanistan by u.s. troops. we've seen these incidents before. they do happen. this one, of course, now wiould come at a sensitive time and we see statements responding to something that's alleged to have happened two years ago. we also got a statement from leon panetta, the top spokesman, who told us secretary panetta strong strongly rejects the conduct depicted in these two-year old photographs. these images by no means represent the values of professionalism of the vast majority of u.s. troops serving in afghanistan today. anyone found responsible for this inhuman conduct will be held accountable in accordance with our military justice system. the army has

and ryan crocker, the ambassador, after these photos came out when he was talking about them.otos don't reflect our troops, et cetera. then he said, the taliban still has to make a choice whether they want to be part of the new order -- but here's my question to you as someone who has wnbked with women's groups on the ground in afghanistan. you know, at one level it does seem that the, there is no way to avoid the taliban being part of some future order in afghanistan. just as a realize he can assessment of how much power they have. sat the same level, it seems like it would be a horrible tragedy at the end of all this, we go back to girls having acid thrown in their faces. >> in 2001, this was the situation, you had 90% of the country controlleded by the taliban, the misogynist, repressive regime. the women i work with were working so hard to get the world to pay attention to what was happening there. >> i remember getting emails. >> they were the ones who shot the undercover video of the women being executed in kabul stadium. the mainstream media did not want to touch that v

want our actions to prevent this agreement from being signed and i want to give cowed owes to ryan crockered and he did a wonderful job negotiating terms. >> we're out of time. >> quick political question. why haven't you endorsed mitt romney? >> i said we would be backing our party's nominee, and i will happily do that. >> what i'm doing is working behind the scenes bringing together all factions of our party. don't forget, when there was the dust up between hillary rodham clinton ask barack obama there were 18 million women who had backed hill row clint and wanted no part of backing barack obama. it took time to get them to come over. i'm working behind the scenes to get together the tea party and evangelicals to come together with the conservatives and back the nominee. >> he's the leader of the republicans right now, mitt romney, right? >> uh-huh. mitt romney is the presumptive nominee right now. >> you want him to beat president obama and why not say it and endorse him? >> that will all come. >> you just want me to do it on your show, that's the thing. it will happen, it's uft just no

we read a quote from ryan crocker, the ambassador. but what is your sense? guest: i think it took many things. it has been under discussion for, i believe, 18 months, according to the afghan national security adviser. i think it began kind of in earnest when ambassador crocker arrived last summer and really began to focus in a very concerted way on getting that done. almost a year now -- not quite, that he has been here and working on it. and it took partly rebuilding trust with the afghans. there has been an enormous difficulty -- which i am sure you read about in "the new york times" and elsewhere, and that president karzai does not have a lot of trust in the americans. not only because of the night raids with civilian casualties, but also a feeling that the americans said one thing to him and another thing back to the states -- in the states. a feeling that he was pushed into having a runoff in the 2009 presidential election, which he felt he had won and that was a very embarrassing and humiliating moment for him. so he had really an enormous deficit of t

viewers of "fox & friends" on sunday morning already knew that because ambassador ryan crocker told met it was the haqqani criminal network here, ambassador crocker here. >> we bargained for when we scheduled this interview. >> we wouldn't want -- >> what do we have going? >> again, it's a confused situation. these things are. they do appear to be multiple sources of attack, one southeast of here that we know of. reports of parliament receiving some rocket fire. also reports of attacks in several of the provinces. again, in the smoke, dust, confusion of this kind of world, it will take a while to sort this out. i've been in touch with my friend and battle buddy, general allen. all our folks are accounted for and safe. really don't know what's going on around town. the afghan security forces are the ones responding to this, as they did in similar attacks. they seem to be getting it under control. >> the good news, most of the bloodshed was theirs. the bad news, they could still coordinate a widespread attack like this. so the future of this country still extremely shaky. back to you, br