not to utter a word as a british foreign minister stumps of course not william hague will set out his own stall his own policies and his own agenda and so will the polish pollard restore the left we had all the estonian or the little minion. and the one carrion salt so what are they to do are they going to be caught a little cathy ashton the i representative speak on that we are. they would not have views and there'd be a cacophony of be a tower of babel and the outside world we think will hey what are these guys doing or would we speak to so what's the point of it is it just because the on top of. the point of a piece of their tried to create a country where the people who create in the country for have no more particular desire to have a country called europe created so the elites want a country called europe created and they're steaming on ahead with it but the people are not carrying the people and one day there could be such a train wreck. over this whole issue and when you say train wreck what do you mean . it will stop functioning and then there will be a slow or realis

foreign secretary william hague and karen who is the director of south asia and afghanistan.d you like to start? know, i know we're -- >> first of i want to thank you and your officials. >> very well since the people of the extra mile. it is much appreciated.p lord secretary, can ic- distinguish between what is often put to us with the al qaeda and taliban are beingre grouped together when, as youhe' will know, that they're very different, different beings. and the government justifies it intervention in afghanistan, al without them al qaeda would return to afghanistan anwd posea threat to national security. se. but a number of our witnesses have disagreed with this premise. what evidence have you got to suggest al qaeda, not taliban, al qaeda will return to afghanistan? >> it's impossible to have direct evidence of something that would happen in a situation. but we do have the experience of what happened before, before 2001, when most of afghanistan was an up and -- ungoverned state or taliban governed state. we know al qaeda were able to set up their training camps and base

>> i interviewed the british foreign secretary william hague in washington, he said the same thing, it's possibly even later and he acknowledged it would be very difficult to sell it to the various queasy publics that make up nato who are already wondering what are we doing there. are we going to defeat the taliban? and president karzai will turn up as well, and trick questions to answer as well. >> the nato allies, a lot are withdrawing troops. we see that with canada, other countries, saying, wait, it's already enough. we're out. >> that's exactly right. some are starting to withdrawal, there's training to get the afghan troops ready for the eventual security handover. but you have to ask yourself, this is slightly different to iraq. there's no anbar awakening in afghanistan. the taliban seems to be on the up-and-up, and there seems to be a huge emphasis of talking to the right elements of the taliban, if you talk to the ordinary afghans who benefitted enormously from the nato occupation, they don't want to deal with the taliban, because we want our daughters to go to school, we want w

hillary clinton leading with, of course, her british counterpart, william hague said she and he believesd that they could end combat operations. where do you come down on that? >> well, whether it's realistic goal or not, i don't think it's a desirable goal. that suggests to me we're going to be inning iffing in in large numbers at a large level of operational activity, which is going to be expensive, both in lives as well as financial cost. i don't think it's worth it. we can make progress while we're there. where i disagree and part company with the u.s. officials is i don't believe that whatever progress we make over the next couple of years would last or endure once we began to wind down. >> richard, how should the president handle this? he's in the middle of a review. he's caught between the military john mccain, general petraeus arguably and the, of course, the people in his own party and elsewhere who believe as you do, that there's nothing that we can really gain and hold and that we're just wasting american lives and american treasure. so what is the exit strategy? >> well, i wo

to hear from for secretary william hague.s testifying this morning before the foreign affairs committee about the progress of british forces in afghanistan and his government to government policies toward pakistan. this is live coverage on c-spa c-span2. >> it's often put to is the al qaeda and taliban are being grouped together when it's well known that they are very different, different beings. the government justifies its intervention in afghanistan, they were there, al qaeda would return to afghanistan and pose a threat to national security. but a number of our witnesses have disagreed with this premise. what evidence have you got to suggest al qaeda, not taliban, al qaeda will return to afghanistan? >> it's impossible to have direct evidence of something that would happen in a situation. but we do have the experience of what happened before, before 2001, when most of afghanistan was an up and -- ungoverned state or taliban governed state. we know al qaeda were able to set up their training camps and bases there. now base

this evening the secretary will welcome to washington foreign minister william hague.in new york as well, and he will have bilateral with the secretary to mauro here at the department where i expect they will talk about ongoing efforts in afghanistan updating the situation in the middle east, continuing concerns about iran's nuclear program, our mutual efforts regarding iran -- i'm sorry, regarding sudan and preparations for the summit later this week and was then -- and lisbon. >> [inaudible] >> we love with things your the department of state and seeing another one next year. turning to leave russia today we mark with sadness the one-year anniversary of the death of a russian lawyer survey who died of apparent medical neglect in pre-trial detention it to prison. while we welcome the support of judicial reform and the rule of law we note with regret that no one has been charged in connection with this case despite justice ministry investigation the united states continues to call for the russian authorities to prosecute all responsible for his death and protect the ri

foreign policy towards afghanistan and pakistas today are foreign secretary william hague and karen pierceetary, would you like to start? speeding at think you may be helpful if we get on with your questions. speeding at me say i thank you and your officials. it was very well-received and we sense the people went the extra mile for us and it is much appreciated. is is li can i distinguishve between it s often put to us that al qaedal and the taliban are being grouped together when as you well know they are verye different beings. and, the government justifiesu its intervention ins afghanista, if they weren't there a qaeda would return to afghanistan and could pose a threat to nationaln security security. but a number of our witnesses have disagreed with this premise. what evidence have you got to suggest al qaeda, not taliban, al qaeda will return to afghanistan? >> it's impossible to have direct evidence of something that would happen in a situation. but we do have the experience of what happened before, before 2001, when most of afghanistan was an up and -- ungoverned state or taliban go