let's go to i suppose one of the biggest challenges of the day which is afghanistan and general stan mccrystal put his report out and the joint chief of staffs have said that the situation is getting worse. what is the way forward? what is the solution for the united states to get out as some people suggest? >> in terms of the way forward, to get you back to counter insurgency 101, and the fundamentals of the strategy that general mccrystal was talking about can succeed. he said the population is the center of gravity in this war. this war is not so much about shooting but intelligence. if we know who and where the enemy is, the war is over. we have to give them a stake in the future. we have to give them a level of security where they feel comfortable cooperating with us. the idea that we saw that didn't work in vietnam with search and destroy, we have to get back to our knitting, basically sit on the population, provide them with security, provide them with reconstruction that can endure that won't be undone by the taliban that leaks through because we're not providing that security. and bui

general stan mccrystal warns that unless he gets more military forces within the next year, the u.s. could lose the war. in a grim 66-page strategy report, mccrystal states without additional forces, the u.s. war effort will likely result in failure, and if the enemy's momentum is not reversed, defeating the insurgency is no longer possible. >> in the next 18 months we either rescue this situation or risk having it unravel on us. >> reporter: mccrystal wants to provide increased protection for the afghan people while training afghan security forces. but that will take years and even more troops, a lot more. 65,000 american forces are now on the ground in afghanistan. mccrystal's expected to ask the white house for another 40,000. president obama is reviewing mccrystal's strategy report. and while the general's request for additional forces is all set and ready to go, the white house says not so fast. pentagon officials say president obama wants still another strategy review. the president, telling nbc's david gregory -- >> until i'm satisfied that we got the right strategy, i'm not go

iran to afghanistan, i understand that admiral mike mullen took a secret flight to meet general stan mccrystal in germany to discuss that request for more resources and troops. can you tell us anything about that? >> this was a idea by admiral mullen. he flew out to ramstein and was joined by general petraeus. he wanted to hear from general mccrystal himself. he is now on his way back. he has the request for more troops, more resources. we're being told it is still in the 30,000 to 40,000 range. that request will be given thej then to secretary gates in the pentagon but he doesn't plan to pass it on to the president or white house until they discuss what the new strategy is. >> bin laden says al qaeda could retaliate against europe for its alliance with the u.s. and afghanistan. it heard on a new audiotape. bin laden says european countries share in the blame for nato air strikes that have killed civilians. the president has put a new man in charge of the difficult effort to close the guantanomo terrorist detainee facility by next january r white house counsel greg craig was replaced by pete r

stan mccrystal went into afghanistan with the idea that his orders were to defeat or at least containke over that operation. but that field appears to be changing as we speak. he has given this 66-page assessment that took several months to compile and now the white house apparently not satisfied with that because it would lead to more u.s. troops. you know, mchrystal has this order sitting on his desk, a recommendation for up to 40,000 additional forces into afghanistan over the next year or so. essentially, the white house has said sit on it, don't send it our way yet. and now we're being told today by senior pentagon and military officials that the white house is now saying, you know, what we need is another assessment. it's not necessarily -- well, they clearly are not comfortable with the recommendation, so instead of rejecting the recommendation, the idea might be, dylan, to change the mission somehow. and one of the wrenches in these works is that recent afghan election in which the karzai government is accused of rigging the election, voter fraud, stuffing ballot boxes and tha