has been talking with the taliban. over the last couple of years says that their policy is still one that comes from the law maher it has mullah omar's sanction and that there's really only one policy there are negotiations and that is to demand that the united states get out before there's going to be a settlement now you know i mean they say there has to be a publicly they say there has to be complete withdrawal before a settlement takes place privately of course they acknowledge that there's going to have to be negotiations based on a timetable for withdrawal but the point that i would make in addition to respond to your question is that the there's nobody really on the ground in afghanistan who privately believes that these two more years of fighting is going to make any fundamental difference you're right the taliban can wait us out. at the end of those two years and they will still be the strongest political military force in the country and that's why i would argue that that what obama has done is to accommodate

the taliban have disappeared from the town center. the afghan government, supported by american troops, have been able to open a school. the hope is now that the locals will choose to back the government over the taliban. >> i want to come back here in a few years on vacation, instead of wearing all this. >> narrator: but progress here appears limited. the government runs one school in this district; the taliban run more than 20. and security here has come at a cost to the hearts and minds campaign. when we go on patrol with the afghan army, we meet locals who object to the tactics of the kill/capture teams. >> narrator: night raids are the signature tactic of jsoc's kill/capture campaign. almost all jsoc operations take place under cover of darkness. the afghan government says they want these night raids to stop. >> night raids are against our culture. even if it doesn't cause any harm, that's unacceptable, because it's a disgrace to people's dignity in our culture. >> narrator: mohammed daudzai is chief of staff to the afghan presid

and its allies negotiating with with the taliban in all its guises but what happens when the u.s. and her allies leave. and and how amenable will cause i need to negotiate with the taliban how strong will his government be to what extent will tribal factions really start to erupt because they henry kissing a wrote a fantastic op ed piece in the new york times herald tribune last week or a couple weeks ago in which he talked about the way to get out of afghanistan and he said and kissing and his inimitable way back through history and he says afghanistan. always pulls together to fight off any kind of foreign occupation and once the foreign occupiers leave then it comes back to its own tribal factions and so really i think the real question is i'm sure it's very difficult for offices in the us army and the us armed forces and in other armed forces that have been serving in afghanistan to see that we're negotiating with the taliban i'm sure that it's very difficult for those families of soldiers that have been lost to see that but i think the real question is to what extent does cau

has broken the taliban momentum although various reports on the ground suggest the insurgency is not really subsiding there and some even say growing among the afghans the systematic killing of civilians by nato strikes doesn't help experts say many of those now fighting against the allied forces in afghanistan are not they are not terrorists they are fighting against who they see as invaders after one of the recent strikes that killed a significant number of civilians including children even the u.s. backed afghan president karzai had to make a harsh face saving statement and warning nato that if they continue killing civilians the whole of the afghan population will treat them as occupiers actually it's not just the afghan people it's also the neighboring pakistan whose assistance is key to the u.s. efforts to u.s. efforts in afghanistan and nonetheless the secretary of state said the pakistanis would rather see the u.s. leave of gatiss then take a listen they would be perfectly happy if we picked up and left tomorrow but what would we get for it and what would they do with it and

while the taliban had regrouped and gone on the offensive. without a new strategy and decisive action, our military commanders warned that we could face a resurgent al qaeda and a taliban taking over large parts of afghanistan. for this reason and one of the most difficult decisions that i've made as president, i ordered an additional 30,000 american troops into afghanistan. when i announced this surge at west point, we set clear objectives. to refocus on al qaeda, to reverse the taliban's momentum, and train afghan security forces to defend their own country. i also made it clear that our commitment would not be open ended and that we would begin to drawdown our forces this july. tonight i can tell you that we are fulfilling that commitment. thanks to our extraordinary men and women in uniform. our civilian personnel and our many coalition partners, we are meeting our goals. as a result, starting next month we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from afghanistan by the end of this year. we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by n

has broken the taliban or is separating the taliban from al qaeda well the fact is is that the taliban and al qaeda were separate organizations from the beginning and to simply characterize them as bad guys as all the same guy was one of the biggest mistakes that the united states ever met and i think you are going to see more instability i mean when i talk to people they look at cars i president karzai as a crook they see him as somebody who's doing nothing but protecting himself and his own democracy is not there but you know what at the same time anybody who thinks that the u.s. or the or the europeans can roll into a country and simply say we have decided we're going to a knowing chew with democracy and you put it in people's hands i can't imagine any country in the world where a foreign army would walk in and say we're going to give you something who is going to accept that after the u.s. announcement of a faster troop withdrawal than expected afghan human rights groups have expressed concern about the possible return of the taliban but former reagan administration official lawren

we have made substantial ground against the taliban their and their ability to wage war. n we need to draw down, as is our responsibility. >> what is our goal there at this point? is it to defeat the insurgency? is it to weaken them to bring them to the negotiating table? >> powerball has been clear from day one, we want -- our goal has been clear from day one. if we want a government there that can -- we want a government that can stand and fight the taliban on its own. >> the taliban has been fighting this for 10 years there. there is not much sign that -- >> actually, they have only been fighting as 46 and seven years. there were a couple of years that things were -- fighting a loss for six or seven years. there were a couple of years that things were pretty quiet there. >> what else do we have that the taliban will decide to negotiate suddenly? with a couple of things. first, we have been negotiating with various elements of the taliban for a long time. people think of the taliban, too often, as one entity. people come and go in afghanistan in terms of who they support

watch, the taliban has the time.ff. they know nato does not have an inexhaustible budget. but they have a strong potential of public opinion to turn gerns the war. they will wait it out, and i think perhaps what we are seeing with the speech today the first signs the america is heading for the exit, and that will make the taliban think the wait is over. >>> the speech is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. eastern, and 5:00 pacific. you can watch it here on cnn. >>> first, bag fees, and now one airline is charging passengers to print out their ticket. >>> time to go cross-country for a story cnn affiliates are covering. the first stop new york. surveillance video catches a tire flying off a city bus and rolling on the sidewalk and bouncing off a building. the tire weighs about 400 blames. the mechanic blamed an overheated issue. >>> a boy managed to drive his stepfather's car before police pulled him over. once the child figured out how to see over the steering wheel, he was a really good driver. >>> nebraska, baseball fans had

>> talk about the taliban inevitably leads to pakistan. >there was not a lot in the president's speech that focused on pakistan. it was not a subject of conversation with hillary clinton testified on thursday. what is your thinking about pakistan's cooperation on counter-terrorism? is there a road map for success if they continue at the same level of corporation, which is some corporation when it is it in their interest? >> it is a difficult relationship in afghanistan and pakistan. i wish we did not have national security interests in this part of the world. it is a difficult part of the world. it is unstable and not well- governed. it also happens to the epicenter of al qaeda and the ideology that threatens us. stability there matters to our national security. success in the region now is the ability to contain this threat. i would love to be able to get rid of the violent extremism with the taliban and its different iterations in that part of the world. it will not happen. we have to contain it. the first is a stable government in afghan

if you spoke by some of the taliban in pakistan the embassy or he also has a good life in the safest place of kabul in the by sometimes as a politician coming to the media this list can be prolonged that these killers all duty they are in power so what you're saying is it's a choice between bad we're going with us nato forces here and worse we're going to start again with warlords and the taliban or is it all the same our history shows that we have powerful history we never accept occupation british and apos want to occupy afghanistan faced with resistance of our people rush as a superpower want to occupy our country our people with empty hands give them a very good lesson and day by day resistance of the people getting more resistance after student of the university some democratic minded parties all going to the afghan people they come on the streets with the day the bodies of the suppliants will stuff they will woman in children and their banners usually. us out of afghanistan but they used to be a time when most afghans supported the u.s. mission in afghanistan. why did start to

leaders, and the taliban now complain that the isi is playing a double game with them. buafter spending three months interviewing numerous taliban commanders, matt waldman, published a widely discussed paper on their isi support. >> from the interviews we conducted, i would say the talibs felt that they needed the support of the isi to conduct their campaign and, of course, a campaign which has had to escalate to meet the escalation from the coalition side. the stro feeling amongst the tali is at the isias very heavy influence over their movement. and they believe that that exists at a local level, and at a senior level, in terms of the leadership. what they talk about is the ability of the isi to penalize or to punish those who do not act in accordance with its wishes. >> smith: the taliban commander we interviewed said that if pakistan chose to, it could rrest us a in hour." >> grey: how does the pakistan government put pressure on the taliban? >> smith: at best, pakistani pressure othe talibahas en selective. the military has left the haqqani network almos

why the situation day by day getting worse two wars but surely things were worse for women under the taliban regime when we couldn't go to school and walk in the streets alone what sort of progress have you seen. in afghanistan since two thousand and one it is true that nine eleven tragedy. here in afghanistan especially in some big city us in metro they both some schools some roman goddess they have access to joppa education i think most of problems so soft afghanistan especially in the fall with problems as in the wages and districts that situation for a woman is like hell killing of women that much easier for the last and also taliban like killing of both tens of thousands off in the sense of violence has been colored by occupation forces. from the sky most of them on form and children and rape cases still mistake while insist i see their tax whining that goes to school and a many out there that is against woman crimes against women increasing rapidly even historical united states invaded afghanistan more than ten years ago because the taliban regime was sheltering osama bin laden is dead

the taliban. when the u.s. invaded and occupied afghanistan in 2001, we shook our heads at the irony as the u.s. followed the old soviet union into the very same quagmire it had used to envelope its enemy. but with the obama administration's decision, we knew that the process we had speculated about some 30 years ago had finally been completed. there were two main reasons for naming our new book "crossing zero." one is that zero line is the name given to the door rand line separating -- durand line separating afghanistan from pakistan. it's also a line that the u.s. has fought on both sides of since the 1980s. the other is that given its history zero line is an inescapable metaphor for the turning point which the united states finds itself at at the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century. it's clearly defined, but cannot afford to lose. from the outset, washington's afghan problems were threefold. first, there was the absence of an adequate understanding of afghanistan's history, their

we have secret talks under way with the taliban. ey've tually been somewhat more promising than people thought. we should keep that in our minds thinking about the speech tonight. >> there's also a milary rationale for it and that is counter insurgency works best in very highly populated areas that are flat, are that have pretty easy train kandar is like that. we don't know if it's going to work in the long term but it has a better cnce in working in places like that, places like baghdad and so on. as jim can tell you, it is really violent terrain with not nearly as many people. it's much much harder to do counterinsurgency there and so therefore there's a rationale not to do it there. >> i hold out very little hope for negotiations the idea you're going to come up with a power sharing scheme that's going to be acceptable i thinis a long shot to put it generously. those sort of situations never work. but the first question, even if i'm wrong on whether it would work and all these thing, the question i ask is it worth it and speaking

the taliban claiming responsibility. onitoring developments from neighboring pakistan for us and what's the latest you are hearing about the situation? we understand it's ongoing. >> at least two are resisting and all indications are this this was a well-coordinated and well-organized attack. at one point, witnesses say these heavily armed militants were on top of this hotel locked in a fierce firefight with skurs forces down below and tracer fire and grenades lighting up the night time sky and making for a dramatic scene in the capital of afghanistan the latest from afghan police is that six suicide bombers atta attacked this hotel and one of the attackers detonated his suicide and three attackers were killed. still registing and they could be in the roof area of the hotel. the target of the intercontinental hotel, one of the biggest in kabul. hot telefrequented by diplomats and journalists indeed they have claimed responsibility for this attack. u.s. officials say there is no indication that any u.s. citizens were in th

the vast structure is engulfed in flames. taliban terrorists have been hurling grenades at the building. it's not clear if they're terrifying siege is over yet. how many are dead, how did the terrorists penetrate what was believed to be the safest place in the city? we'll have a live report from the hotel in just a moment. and full coverage of what this means to america's plan to leave afghanistan. >>> but first, a look at the other stories tonight. los alamos is burning, 50,000 acres and counting. what if the fire reaches the nuclear lab? i'll ask, could this be another fukushima in the making? >>> and the businessman who wants to be president. herman cain knows his pizza, when it comes to the tough questions. >> that is not an answerable question. >> sure it is. >> can he take the heat? >>> raise the debt ceiling or risk default? john cornyn has the answer. >>> breaking news from afghanistan, at least eight people confirmed dead so far tonight in a brazen attack in kabul. a group of gunmen including suicide bombers stormed the hote

the taliban had regrouped and got on the offensive. without a new strategy and decisive action, our military commanders warned that we could face a resurgent al qaeda and a taliban taking over large parts of afghanistan. for this reason and one of the most -- in one of the most of goule decisions i have made as president, i made -- one of the most difficult the decisions i president, i were 33,000 additional troops in afghanistan to reverse the taliban's momentum and train afghan security forces to defend their own country. i also made it clear that our commitment would not be open- ended and that we would begin to draw down our forces this july. tonight, i can tell you that we are fulfilling our commitment. thanks to our extraordinary men and women in uniform, or civilian personnel, and our many coalition partners, we are meeting our goals. as a result, starting next month will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from afghanistan by the end of this year. we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer, fully recovering th

governments that have reached out to the taliban. but, you know, these don't the quality of really serious negotiations yet. initial contacts basically may clear the air, each side may come to the table putting their demands and the taliban will probably have demands like the united states ought to leave afghanistan immediately and no negotiations would begin until that point in time. but there really is not a process, there's not a framework it's not clear what the agenda for the talks are. none of afghastan's neighbors who ultimately will have to be the ones that protect whatever deal is made have been engaged in this. even karzai when two days ago he mentioned that the talks are ongoing he said it's between the united states, afghanistan, and the taliban. which means that pakistan, for instance, a very big player here india, russia, uzbekistan, iran, none of them have a seat at the table yet and therefore, you know, it's not very clear how we could get to a politic deal that wouldllow us to leav when none of afghanistan's neighbors

to think you can convert the taliban and get them to accept these three conditions that the president based on their at least previous history. >> i think naive is a good word. certainly wishful thinking might also be another word you could use. you know, some taliban have come over. there have been some quote-unquote moderate taliban who have laid down their arms or even members of the taliban and their parliament so it is not impossible but i think the moderate ones have had plenty of time to moderate and the ones still out there, the omar led taliban, their views don't seem to have changed. >> in iraq they bought off some of the al qaeda guys with cash. they gave them a lot of money and said here is the money. you're no longer al qaeda. will that work with the taliban? >> there is a reintegration program for taliban fighters. part of it is cash driven. >> u.s. taxpayers basically giving them money to stop being the taliban. >> right. >> is it working? >> the numbers are i think 2,000 if you're going to be generous. >> $2,000? >> 2,000 taliban fighters who are in the process of mayb

and the taliban is saying it's only a symbolic step. om the team here and myself here at "world one." i'm zain vergee. thanks a lot for watching. >>> ahead on this "american morning," a cnn exclusive, the parents of suspected child killer casey anthony, they say they don't believe their daughter is innocent. we'll soon find out if those comments could impact this case. >>> the president is on the road this morning, trying to sell his troop withdrawal plan to afghanist afghanistan to the soldiers who have been here and the taliban issuing a new threat. >>> a man who was allowed to fly wearing only lady's underwear and the presidential candidate who wants states to be able to legalize pot, on this "american morning." i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone wor

who is talking to people in the taliban? cil for peace is authorized by the afghan people to talk with the taliban. they have been talking to the taliban, they're engaged in that talk with the taliban. these are initial contacts being made. but these contacts will not yield results, would not give us the results that we seek unless and until the united states and pakistan especially with our other allies back it with practical application of the means that they have at their disposal. >> so let's talk about the specific case of pakistan. pakistan's intelligence services and the pakistani military has influence with the haqqani faction. the haqani faction controls many of the insurgent attacks. what they seem to want is control over three or maybe four regions, provinces, in afghanistan. are you willing to cede parts of afghanistan to their control in order to get a peace deal? >> we are not going to make deals on behalf of the afghan people where a group or a segment, a political segment, is given a part of the country. that

this is a time when the taliban will begin to test us. ink what you are hearing from the pentagon from general petraeus and secretary gates, make the initial draw down modest. do it in a way that doesn't have us pulling forces out but not replace forces rotating back, do it slowly, so it is not perfect septemberable, and the ability to use force when necessary. it will be interesting to see how when you look at the numbers we're talking now, 10,000 by end of the year opposed to 3 to 5,000 recommended by commanders in the field, this is double. how will they manage that, not lose the fragile gains we have gotten by use of blood and treasure. >> great. okay. general, i would like to ask you the question that chris lawrence talked about a little while ago, the idea of the seasons and importance of them to people who are fighting on the ground in afghanistan. how important the season? >> the weather, you get in the high country, you can't fight in that snow in a dramatic way. you can't. you basically hunker down. that's the time if there's goi

the member of the salad the style of a lot as a lot of money but our foreign minister of the taliban has good lives in the safest place of the couple. is that you've spoken of the taliban in pakistan their imbecile you know he also has a good life in the safest place of couple in evil sometimes as a politician coming to the media this list can be prolonged that these killers all duty they are in. so what you're saying is it's a choice between living with u.s. nato forces here and worse being struck again with warlords and the taliban or is it all the same our history shows that we have powerful history we never accept occupation british in the past want to occupy afghanistan faced with resistance of our people rush as a superpower wanted to occupy it country our people with empty hands give them a very good lesson and day by did resistance of the people getting more resistance after student of the university some democratic minded parties are going to be afghan people they come on the streets with the data bodies of these civilians will stuff they will form an interim and thereby ther

worse truly things are worse for women under the taliban regime couldn't go to school and walk in the street alone what sort of progress have you seen. in afghanistan since two thousand and one it is true. tragedy. here in afghanistan especially in some big city usa network cable some schools. they have access to still drop an education in most of provinces of afghanistan especially in the fall the problem is in good wages and this truth situation for a woman is like killing of mom and dad much easier for the last and also tell us why like killing our birth in self thousands of innocent civilians has been killed by patient forces school or phone been from the sky most of our foremen and try to read and write ok so stop mistake while insisting i see the attacks that school send money out there are used against woman crimes against women increasing rapidly even historical you know afghanistan more than ten years ago because the taliban regime was sheltering osama bin laden is dead now how does that change anything for afghanistan unfortunately you know to those who have ties to osama bi

to mars and truly things were once for women under the taliban regime when we couldn't go to school and walk in the street alone i want you to progress have you seen women in afghanistan since two thousand and one it is true that after nine eleven tragedy. here in afghanistan especially in some big city us a metal table some schools. they have access to chop an education path and most of provinces of afghanistan especially in the fog of problems is in the way it is and the streets situation for woman is like hell killing of mom and dad much easier foot of water loss and also taliban like killing our birth tens of thousands of innocent civilians has been killed by occupation forces from the sky most women and children and right place to start mistake while insist i see their tax cut to schools and our money out there to do second swarm and crimes against women increasing rapidly even historical. afghanistan more than ten years ago because the taliban regime was sheltering osama bin laden is dead now does that change anything for afghanistan and for sure if you know it goes who. also. now

our foreign minister of the taliban has lived in the safest place of the couple all abdul salam zaeef. person of the taliban in pakistan the embassy i know he also has a good life in the safest place of kabul anybody sometimes as a politician coming to the media this can go along that these killers all of the they are in power so what you're saying is it's a choice between bad we're going with us nato forces here and worse again with warlords and the taliban or is it all the same our history shows that we have powerful history we never accept occupation british and of course want to occupy afghanistan faced with resistance of all people rush as a superpower want to occupy our country our people with empty hand skills can work by lesser and gave idealist and softer people getting more resistance after a student of the university of central critique mind of parties all going to the afghan people they come on the streets with a date but these are peaceable. common interest around and the banners usually. us out of afghanistan produced to be a time when most afghans supported the u.s. mis

. >> in afghanistan, we have inflicted serious losses on the taliban and taken a number of its strongholdsalong with their surge, our allies also increased their commitments which helped stabilize more of the country. afghan security forces have grown by over 100,000 troops and, in some provinces and municipalities, we have already begun to transition responsibility for security to the afghan people. in the face of violence and intimidation, the afghans are fighting and dying for their country. they are establishing local police forces, opening markets and schools, creating new opportunities for women and girls, and tried to turn the page on decades of war. of course, a huge challenges remain. this is the beginning, but not the end of our effort to wind down this war . >> president obama with the details a week -- of the withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan. stay with us because we will be speaking with richard white, the director of the center for political military analysis. the colonel gaddafi has accused nato of murdering civilians in its bombing campaign against its forces. in a

the taliban has claimed responsibility. this brings fresh concerns about turning over security to the afghans. >> the taliban or their allies showing that they can strike at the heart of afghan power. the intercontinental hotel was packed with government officials for a conference on transition to afghan security control. the fighting continued throughout the night. in the end, a nato attack helicopter was needed to kill three of the suicide bombers as they fired down from the rooftop. the government still needs a lot of help. among the dead, waiters, musicians, a senior judge, and police. many internationals were trapped inside of the hotel. >> i don't think we really know what happened. >> there was huge blasts, some 546. -- some explosions. >> this is a part of the taliban activities at the moment against the position of the mountain that has been gathered by these forces to try to make highly publicized attacks on civilian targets as well as the military targets in afghanistan. we should not be fooled by that. i think th

be speaking with the taliban? for a cnn political update, joe johns joins me now from washington. great to see you, what do you have for us today? >> well, the buzz about utah senator orrin hatch and his re-election campaign just got some new fuel. he's a republican senate institution, he's going for a seventh term, a new survey of utah voters says he could be in a bit of trouble. 38% say it's important to re-elect him because of his seniority. here's the problem. 6 in 10 responded said he's been in office too long. hatch, of course, dismissing it, he says it's too early and incumbentses are often down in the polls this far out from election day. conservatives are hot under the collar today about the telecast of the u.s. open golf tournament. it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that rory mcilroy powered the field. it's because the pledge of allegiance played on the air twice, leaving out the words under god. the network has apologized but hasn't exactly silenced the critics. >> you'll be in the anchor chai

i am the afghan taliban. i am not constrained in my thinking about the next election which is less than two years away and what may seem to those americans as a long time as three years but to me with my planning it is so little more than the blink of the night. in the three years, they will be out of their. for the next three years i will continue the fight as a diversion but i will really be recruiting and reconstituting so i will be ready they're working very hard to improve security forces and police and trying to make the mayor of kabul look like the president of afghanistan. but these are all very fragile and reversible. with the forces i will hold in reserve, it will be easily reversed when they are gone. do you think we have the ability? it depends on where one sits, do you think we have the ability to see the world of the prism of the taliban? >> we see that world a lot more clearly than we used to as i am sure you can appreciate. because of the fights and sacrifices. we also see the world through the