it was seven months ago that special envoy for afghan reconciliation zalmay khalilzad signed an agreemente taliban. after a bit of a delay, that led to the negotiations in doha ttoday, designed to end as violence. and ambassador khalilzad joins me now. it's good to hthe you back on "newshour". you've said that you expect violence in afghanistan to decrease, but just to be clear, the february 29th agreement that you signed was not commitment the taliban to stop attacking the afghan t.overnm so what leverage do you really have to reduce the violence?to >> comparehe first six months of last year to this year, despite a recent increase in violence, the number ofca alties both military and civilians are down this year. so, yes, te violence is high at this pnt. both sides need to bring down the level of violence, and we'r, commithen i return to work with both sides, to get an agreement on reuction of violence. >> reporter: the afghan government sayere's too much violence, you and the u.s. violence.says there's too much the taliban have indicated they will not accept some kind of cease fire in d

zalmay khalilzad, you are recognized for your testimony. >> i would like to join you in condolences, may it rest in peace. good morning mister chairman, ranking member grothman and distinguished members of the committee. i regret the circumstances that do not allow me to appear before the committee sooner during the last several months. i regard making myself available to congress as one of my most significant and important responsibilities. i welcome this opportunity today and i am honored to brief you. i was appointed special representative for afghanistan in september of 2018 with a mandate to find a diplomatic formula that brings a end to america's longest war, reduces burden on the us military on taxpayers, provide the best chance for a sovereign representative afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors and respectful of the human rights, most importantly assures terrorists can never again use afghan soil to threaten the security of the united states and its allies. underlying this mandate, an assumption that there was no realistic or viable military solution for this co

so i'm grateful to our witnesses special representative ambassador zalmay khalilzad, thank you, and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for indo pacific affairs, thank you, mr. secretary, for being here today to answer our questions about the risks and the trump administration's ongoing efforts to bring the u.s. war in afghanistan to a close. while we are all eager for our sons and daughters in uniform to return home, it is also important that we do not needlessly or recklessly bargain away the rights and freedoms that the afghan people have gained at such a huge cost in american coalition and afghan lives. with that i now yield to our ranking member, prosecute mr. grothman, for his opening statement -- representative grothman, for his opening statement. mr. grothman: thank you. an important topic. i'm glad you're having this hearing. i'm pleased to have these witnesses here today, through the hard work of the trump administration there may well be a prospect for peace in afghanistan at last. they've had other successes in the middle east. recently bahrain and united arab emirates

the us peace envoy to afghanistan zalmay khalilzad says taliban negotiators will not accept a ceasefireghan government and taliban have been struggling to agree a framework for the first round of peace talks in doha. the move dashes hopes of a comprehensive ceasefire as an interim or goodwill measure. the security forces in belarus have again arrested protesters at a weekly women's march against president alexander lukashenko's disputed election victory last month. 500,000 people have signed an online petition to negotiate a transition of power. it comes as the belarusian foreign minister accused western countries of attempting to sow "chaos and anarchy" in country. —— and anarchy" in the country. "the world must overcome the extraordinary divisions created by coronavirus and unite to defeat the pandemic", the british prime minister has told the united nations general assembly. in his virtual address to the assembly, borisjohnson announced a series of new measures to help lead the world out of the crisis including providing over £500 million to a new global vaccine sharing scheme, but h

special representative for afghanistan reconciliation zalmay khalilzad testified before the over house -- on national security about the trump administration's afghanistan policy. he answered questions about the recent u.s. taliban agreement and plans to reduce the u.s. military presence in afghanistan. >> good morning. the turning of the subcommittee will now come to order. i want to welcome everyone to today's hybrid hearing. pursuant to the house rules, some members will appear in person and others will appear remotely via web acts. since some members are appearing in person, let me first remind everyone that pursuant to the latest guidance from the house attending physicians office, all individuals intending this hearing in person must wear a face mask. members who choose not to wear a face mask will not be recognized. let me also make a few reminders for those members appearing in person. you will only see members and witnesses appearing remotely on the monitor in front of you when they are speaking in what is known in webex as acting speaker mode. a timer is visible in the room d

special representative for afghanistan reconciliation zalmay khalilzad spoke with our program talked to al jazeera he described how much is at stake if afghan leaders squander this opportunity to achieve peace is part of that exclusive interview. first serious error was made. at the end of the soviet. period one is more than one error but one was not to try to do what we're doing now with afghan forces the mujahideen fought the soviets and the afghan other afghans to get to a political agreement to have negotiations like the one that started here yesterday . among afghans so that is that the withdrawal was. being carried out by the soviet forces there was an order there. and agreement and a political process among the forces in play so the and. that was because the lack of trust between the united states and the soviet union at that time many people didn't think the soviets were serious about would drop but also the afghans made the. sacrifice so much to push the soviets out to force them out and the world benefited from that. soviet departure and what followed that departure which i

the us peace envoy to afghanistan, zalmay khalilzad, says taliban negotiators will not accept a ceasefiret is reached. the afghan government and taliban have been struggling to agree a framework for the first round of peace talks in doha. the move dashes hopes of a comprehensive ceasefire as an interim or goodwill measure. security forces in belarus have again arrested protesters at a weekly women's march against president alexander lu kashenko's disputed election victory last month. half a million people have signed an online petition to negotiate a transition of power. it comes as the country's foreign minister accused some western countries of attempting to sow "chaos and anarchy" in belarus. ajudge in brazil has suspended a football match involving flamengo, the current champions of the top division, after 19 of their players and their manager tested positive for the coronavirus. flamengo were due to play palmeiras away at sao paulo and have travelled to the venue as the brazilian football federation says it will appeal against thejudge‘s ruling. flamengo's directors were widely criti

in doha which well it's taken a long time to get to this particular stage if you go bankrupt zalmay khalilzad was appointed as the u.s. special envoy back in september of 2018. u.s. diplomats military representatives and the taliban they held more than a dozen rounds of negotiations here in doha which were we must remember briefly called off by president trump that was in september of last year when taliban fighters killed an american soldier in kabul only days earlier the 2 sides had reached a draft agreement then the formal talks well they got restarted that was in december and the deal was signed in february of this year in qatar that's what milla brother was referring to earlier paving the way for these peace negotiations between the taliban and the afghan government in traffic and talks supposed to start she would say on the 10th of march but like so much of this year it has been delayed as we pointed out qatar is hosting these talks the foreign minister sheikh mohammed bin up there are many urged all sides to enter these negotiations with an open mind. these negotiations represent a key

special envoy zalmay khalilzad is hoping to resolve the issue he wants both sides to agree to prevent attacks from being launched from either of their territories abdullah abdullah is the head of afghanistan's peace council earlier he told us both sides do want a resolution. peace in afghanistan peace in pakistan peace in the region is important for all of us and most of the talks that i had hit in islamabad yesterday and today will continue to so model will be focused on how we can support the negotiations which are that in peaceful efforts at the same time what are the steps that we can take as far as a strengthening the the bilateral relations we will come to the message that this statement by the prime minister of iran come calling for all of that action and violence reading to cease fire in also get other countries including the host countries which us which is that and the support group at the united states which is not directly involved but at the same time they are all working to get that in support of those efforts pakistan also has helped the fact that. contacts negotiations

. >> schifrin: the lead american as been ambassador zalmay khalilzad. he's suggested the u.s.egotiators to achieve quick progress by adopting a" the afghan government worries that roadmap might fce it to create a weak interim government without them. >> you can agree on a t of principles for governance, that are your building blocks for that future agreement. but that's different than-- than, say, to simply hand away power to some kind of interim government with a very minimalist roadmap agreement. roadmap to where? unknown. >> schifrin: afghans are concerned president trump will push for a hasty deal before election day. ul we need to have patience and therefore to car proceed through it, to not follow certain short timelines and deadlines. >> schifrin: but after the u.s.' longest war reached its 20th year, the military, the administration, and the u.s. public support a deal, even if it means some taliban control. >> what it would mean is the most explicit acknowledgment yet that the u.s. did not win the war in afghanistan. the taliban was sufficiently successful to compel th

our first witness is ambassador zalmay khalilzad, who is the special representative for afghan reconciliation at the department of state. and we will hear from david helvey, who is performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for indo pacific security affairs at the department of defense. in accordance with committee rules, would you both please rise and raise your right hand? do you swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? let the record reflect that the witnesses have both answered in the affirmative. without objection, your written statements will be made part of the record. ambassador khalilzad, you are now recognized for your testimony. amb. khalilzad: thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to join you in offering condolences to the ginsberg family. may her soul rest in peace. chairman,ng, mr. ranking member grothman, and distinguished members of the committee. me toet the did not allow appear before this committee sooner during the last several months. i regard making myself available to congress