because of you, we're now taking the fight to the taliban instead of the taliban bringing the fight to us. and because of you, there are signs that the taliban may be interestedn figuring out a political settlement,which ultimately is going to be critical for consolidating that country. it's also because of you that we have the platform to be able toll go after bin laden and al qaeda and we have decimated their ranks. al qaeda leadershi half of them, have been killed and most of them are now on the run and they can't operate as effectively as they could. so the main message i ha for all of you here today is that the american people understand the sacrifices you're making, they understand the sacrifices your families are making. our job is not finished. if you looked at the schedule that i set forth, we're only bringing out 10,000 by the end of this year, we're going to bring out all 33,000 thate surged by next summer. but there's still some fighting to be done. and then we're still goi to have 68,000 and, frankly, the 10th mountain division is still going to be represented there until

who leads the two groups of taliban. are they the leaders, or do they just want something from the united states or the afghan government. can you trust hamid karzi to really negotiate with the taliban in a responsible way that would help the united states as well as his own hide? we don't know. >> good point, carol. every once in a while he says he will join the taliban. you can't tell which side he is on. very good point. >> he has said so many glowing things about the united states lately. >> yeah, true. >> thank you, and appreciate it. >>> financing later in life comes from what you learn at an early age. there is a homeless single parent who somehow still found a way to teach his kids. their story inspired a hollywood movie. >> don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. >> you will recognize him perhaps as played by will smith in "the pursuit of happyness." even after the hollywood ending, chris gardener did not rest on his laurels. every day he is hoping to pass on what he has learned. >> you know wha

they have been talking to the taliban, they're engaged in that talk with the taliban. these are initial contacts being made. but these contactses 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 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 has influence with the hakani faction who controls many of the in-sur xwebts attacks. what they seem as 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? s sgh. >> 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 will not happen. afghanistan has a constitution. afghanistan has a state structure. those who join the peace process must respect the afghan constitution and the constitution does not allow t

be speaking with the taliban? appreciate it. >> it's time now 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

and telling senators with osama bin laden dead, the taliban has to make a choice. be part of the future or face unrelenting pressure. the military surge worked and now it's time for what the administration is calling the diplomatic surge. >> as we strengthen the afghan government and security forces, america will join initiatives that reconcile the afghan people, including the taliban. >> testifying before the relations committee, secretary of state hillary clinton highlighted the surge claiming that it is paying off. >> we were not in a position, frankly, to pursue that until recently. why? because the taliban were not interested in talking to us because they thought they were going to make a big come back. >> it's not a pleasant business, clinton said, but it's a necessary one. >> i do hope that everybody in the congress and the press and the public understands that you don't end wars by talking only to people with whom you agree or who are good actors. you end wars by unfortunately, but the fact is talking with people whose interests and values are often very mu

while the taliban have regrouped and gone on the offensive. without a new strategy and decisive action, our military commanders warned that we would face a resurgent al qaeda and a taliban taking over large parts of afghanistan. for this reason, in 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 draw down 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 aesult, starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from afghanistan by the end of this year. and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troo

they were former taliban but they have joined the government. they discuss with me political situations. the situation of women. they give some very good recommendations in order to improve the situation of women in the country. >> i think what is missing from the current conversation in afghanistan that the government is a part of the problem. the reasons that it has driven people towards insurgency and there is a brand of taliban is the afghan government it has no capacity in providing people with those access to judge. a 13-year-old girl girl raped with by 13 men with police officers among them. what dow expect people. people-- blow-- . >> warner: do you think that is what is driving the insurgency. >> young men h they have absolutely no opportunity. i went to-- in 2005 and saw streets full of young men just sitting in the sun, just bathing in the sun because there was nothing to do. no schools, no jobs, no factories, no skills producing activities for them to be involved with. >> warner: if taliban returned to the government, do you think th

the white banner of the taliban. there is no guard, but the messenger reads the real message is simple. we, the taliban, are back in power here. to the men who call themselves the new administration, they showed a local cameraman cnn commission, the vision of afghanistan back in the taliban's hands. now they are the local counsel, the local law. it's like nato was never even here. >> translator: they are in charge of the area and the people's problems are solved under the law. the prib has welcomed us and bring us their problems and we deal with them. they understand implementing sharia is one of their duties. >> reporter: they said they captured the area in late march. a local official in kabul confirmed this is a government building and the air is still held by the insurgency the stretch along the border is under increasing influence since nato withdraw from the isolated outposts here. the valleys are becoming a safe haven for militants and the hard line law. >> translator: smoking is forbidden here and our religio

it is not to trick or give an advantage to the taliban. the taliban understand what is happening. host: a comment from joe bennett in dallas with the e-mail. if afghanistans are not willing to keep them safe they should be ruled by those people. we have done enough to give them the opportunity to be self-sufficient. years is long enough. we will go next to norman from amherst, massachusetts, line for independents. with leslie gelb, former and now president emeritus of the council on foreign relations. caller: good morning. i would like to get mr. gelb's ideas on this. it is reported almost all of the heroin sold in the world originates in afghanistan. and the conventional wisdom is it may be financing u.s. covert operations. do you have any ideas on this? guest: i think there probably was a time when we were fighting the soviets in afghanistan that there was a connection between our covert operations and the heroin trade, either for private gain or to finance the covert operations. i know of no such connection tod today. but then i wouldn't, would i? host: you are a former aide to

they were former taliban but they have joined the government. they discuss with me political situations. the situation of women. they give some very good recommendations in order to improve the situation of women in the country. >> i think what is missing from the current conversation in afghanistan that the government is a part of the problem. the reasons that it has driven people towards insurgency and there is a brand of taliban is the afghan government it has no capacity in providing people with those access to judge. a 13-year-old girl girl raped with by 13 men with police officers among them. what dow expect people. people-- blow-- . >> warner: do you think that is what is driving the insurgency. >> young men h theyhave absolutely no opportunity. i went to-- in 2005 and saw streets full of young men just sitting in the sun, just bathing in the sun because there was nothing to do. no schools, no jobs, no factories, no skills producing activities for them to be involved with. >> warner: if taliban returned to the government, do you think the

maybe a small proportion of the taliban want to engage in negotiations. but as far as a comprehensive strategy relying on the continued use of allied and military force filling up the afghan government wasn't -- with strong security forces and developing the economy, part of the effort will be in trying to get some of the taliban leadership to come back into the local fold, more broadly -- reading some of the fighters that joined the taliban not -- more broadly, rhee integrating some of the fighters that joined the taliban not out of ideology, but other issues. >> as part of this larger package, looking outside of the afghanistan to months al qaeda leaders in pakistan will be targeted. >> yes. it has become apparent that, even though the president and the administration are correct that there are not trans nationalist terrorist acted in afghanistan, al qaeda has now spread to parts of yemen, pakistan, elsewhere. even if the administration succeeds in stabilizing the situation in afghanistan, putting in a government that can maintain order, all laws, peopl

but he warned until that happens, the taliban will intensify its efforts. back in washington, secretary of state hillary clinton acknowledged efforts to bring the taliban into the fold. she testified before the senate foreign relations committee. >> united states has a broad range of contacts at many levels across afghanistan and the region that we are leveraging to support this effort, including very preliminary outreach to members of the taliban. this is not a pleasant business, but a necessary one because >> reporter: clinton said she thought mr. obama had made the right decisions about withdrawal. but among lawmakers, the plan drew fire from those who said it wasn't enough and from those who said it was too much. >> it is insufficient and more of the same. same strategy means the same costs and more casualties in support of a government that is corrupt and incompetent. we've been doing this for ten years. enough. >> america has a vested interest. that is how we begin to see victory. or we can just give up. >> reporter: the afghanistan plan also had its

negotiations with the taliban have circulated for months. but have never been confirmed publicly by american officials. just hours after today's announcement, that same taliban, using three suicide bombers, attacked a police station in kabul, killing nine. today's attack highlights the cold, hard truth of the u.s. exit strategy from afghanistan. a deal with the taliban, even as it launches deadly attacks, is an option that the u.s. and its allies are actively pursuing. but in a recent interview, president obama set the condition for such talks. >> the taliban would have to cut all ties to al qaeda, renounce violence. and they would have to respect the afghan constitution. >> reporter: but talking with the enemy has its risks. >> i think those who would suggest that somehow we're just more flexible or diplomatic we can do a deal with the taliban inner circle have no real evidence to back up that contention. >> reporter: next week, president obama is expected to announce a plan to draw down troops, while the taliban is launching its own counte

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 th

they're fighting the taliban. they're fighting the hokani network but they estimated about -- >> you don't hear so much the ghanistan pakistan, you don't hear af-pak li you did. >> so this review will last a week or so or what? >> general petreus came into town let's friday. i'm not sure when he will be presenting his plan or even if he presentto the president. he may just talk to secretary gates about this ask secretary gates goes to the president. i think what you might see is different options. you might see as they did before, the high risk option, the medium risk option and the low-risk option. and they say obviously if we pull out 30,000 troops by the end of july they would consider that high risk, they wou consider that a dangerous move and perhaps at the low end it's zero, to 5,000 and it would end up somewhere unless mdle. >> these are discussions going on right now and we're likely to see announcements sooner rather than later. the military you can't just y ok, we're pulling out x thousand troops and do

does he share his government with taliban leaders? >> i absolutely understand the microanalysis or the macroanalysis of that. all i mean is that what we actually have in this case is another one of the scenarios that david actually lays out in the earlier part of the book which is having to walk away because it is just impatient and exhausted. there is not going to be a clear end here. the only answer is we have to walk away because it has become untenable for us to stay. >> rana, your thoughts? >> i think we have to remember history in afghanistan. when you walk away or when the dominant foreign power leaves, what typically happens is that the leader gets strung up. the u.s. needs to put a lot more pressure on karzai to deal with corruption. he needs to get his brother out there and get some more buy-in when we leave, whenever that is. >> speaking to what john said, we do have to accept that the end of the story is going to have ambiguity, is going to be a political compromise with people we don't like. one thing that gives me hope,

they're very clear that talib taliban's role is fleeting. they consider things like the video you've just seen which the cameraman we commissioned to go and see, they consider it part of the taliban propaganda network. we're hearing from officials this part is held by the taliban. it appears this was taken off afghan security forces over a period at some point in this march. that raises the question exactly the readiness of afghan security forces to hold sensitive areas like that. there's not much significant importance here, but it is on the border with pakistan. there are concerns similar safe havens could emerge and exactly what nato came here to try to prevent. >> nick paton walsh, thank you very much. >>> has nato achieved its goals in afghanistan? yes and no. one of the main goals for entering the country was to hunt down osama bin laden and cripple his terror network almost ten years after the 9/11 attacks. the u.s. did succeed in finding and killing the al qaeda leader. as for his terror network, it no longer has safe havens or train

i am the afghan taliban. i'm not constrained in my thinking by the next election which is less than two years away or the next quarterly report. what may seem to those americans as a very long time, three years, to me in my planning, it's little more than a blink of an eye. in just three years, they're going to be out of there. for the next three years, i'm going to continue the fight as a diversion but what i'm really going to be doing is recruiting and reconstituting so that i'm going to be ready when they're gone. i know they're working very hard to improve the security forces and the police, they're trying to make the mayor of kabul look like the president of afghanistan. but these gains are all very fragile and reversible. and with the forces that i'm going to hold in reserve from this fight, they'll be easily reversed. when they're gone. do you think that we have the ability -- you know, what one sees depends upon where one sits. do you think that we have the ability to see the world through the prism o

they're fighting the taliban. they're fighting the hokani network but they estimated about -- >> you don't hear so much the ghanistan pakistan, you don hear af-pak li you did. >> so this review will last a week or so or what? >> general petreus came into town let's friday. i'm not sure when he will be presenting his plan or even if he presentto the president. he may just talk to secretary gates about this ask secretary gates goes to the president. i think what you might see is different options. you might see as they did before, the high risk option, the medium risk option and the low-risk option. and they say obviously if we pull out 30,000 troops by the end of july they would consider that high risk, they wou consider that a dangerous move and perhaps at the low end it's zero, to 5,000 and it would end up somewhere unless mdle. >> these are discussions going on right now and we're likely to see announcements sooner rather than later. the military you can't just y ok, we're pulling out x thousand troops and do it

. -- the taliban has claimed responsibility. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> this is something we have never seen before. the who says the e coli outbreak in europe comes from eight new strain of the bacteria. it is super toxic and resistant to antibiotics. more than 1500 people in germany are affected and there are new cases reported in britain. officials continued to warn people not to eat certain raw vegetables. >> scientists say the current e coli outbreak is caused by a new strain of bacteria which has not been detected in an outbreak before. they have found its surface mirrors and known pathogen, but it carries genes from another, which may explain why it is so violent. the findings were presented by researchers from china and germany. >> we haveeen able to determine this is a new strain, a version of a pathogen not seen before. this means we will be able to arrive at more conclusions in the future. >> scientists are working around the clock to find out more. until then, german health 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 t

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 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 i th

. -- the taliban has claimed responsibility. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> this is something we have never seen before. the who says the e coli outbreak in europe comes from eight new strain of the bacteria. it is super toxic and resistant to antibiotics. more than 1500 people in germany are affected and there are new cases reported in britain. officials continued to warn people not to eat certain raw vegetables. >> scientists say the current e coli outbreak is caused by a new strain of bacteria which has not been detected in an outbreak before. they have found its surface mirrors and known pathogen, but it carries genes from another, which may explain why it is so violent. the findings were presented by researchers from china and germany. >> we have been able to determine this is a new strain, a version of a pathogen not seen before. this means we will be able to arrive at more conclusions in the future. >> scientists are working around the clock to find out more. until then, german health

gwen: it's not about the taliban. but receipt now they are fighting -- but right now they are fighterring the taliban. >> and that is the next step. that's what he talked about a lot in that speech, too. that they're going to try to talk to the taliban even more. i've seen no real hard evidence that any of that is working yet. some of the reentgration they call it from the lower level taliban hasn't gone very far, either. in some of the most volatile areas. gwen: secretary gates on the newshour was very optimistic about it. >> they're staying very optimistic about it. we'll have to wait and see how much -- and part tch was they say if you don't -- part of it was they say if you don't keep the temperature on the taliban they don't need to -- keep the pressure on the taliban they don't need to negotiate. >> and that's certainly a concern from the counterinsurgency folks but there are going to be 68,000 american troops in afghanistan. and hitting the taliban hasn't really been the labor intensive part of this. that's bee

is talking directly to the taliban in peace talks. is that so? >> i think there has been out reach on the part of a number of countries, including the united states. i would say that these contacts are very preliminary at this point. >> at what level is it? >> well, it's being carried out by the state department. >> so it's a diplomatic level not at the level of secretary of state? >> no. and other countries are involved as well. >> when you say preliminary, how long has it been going on? >> well, i'm not sure. a few weeks, maybe. >> is the nature of it how can we get peace here? >> i think first question we have is who represents omar, and who really represents the taliban? we don't want to end up having a conversation at some point with somebody who's basically a freelancer. my own view is that real reconciliation talks are not likely to be able to make a substantive headway, not until they feel under pressure and they need to believe they can't win before they are willing to have a serious conversation. we have said all along a political out c

let's ask about specifically the isi role in the taliban. a lot of people have written that taliban is a covert action of the isi. there's a lot of evidence to support that thesis. if you readset jones, -- seth jones arguing that point that's very well-documented. basically, you know, that the taliban after the russian withdrawal, but i present contrary evidence because it is a wilderness of mirrors, you know, it's really hard to say with certainty anything, and in my conversations with former taliban, they don't mention is is at all. they talk about what they did to organize themselves. their world view of themselves is foreign minister, you know, he studied in pakistan, but it was not a madrassas financed by the saudi, it was just a madrassas funded by followers of a sect of his father who was killed by the communists. i don't remember the name, and he studied at the madrassas to become a maloui and didn't understand why the americans considered calling him that. it's a higher level. it's like a college degree versus high school degree. i'

do you think there is a possibility for any kind of agreement with the taliban parent -- taliban? >> i think there is, but i think we are a long way from knowing what the realistic elements of such an agreement would be. i think that ambassador neiman expert -- ambassador newman expresses a view that power- sharing agreements often a way station between fighting and it perception of fighting if parties cannot maneuver off of their opposition. it is too soon to say how this could play out in afghanistan, but i can only stressed that we are committed to pursuing that because it is the only path for. there is no other path forward. nobody is strong enough to assert control. they can go back to the civil war. picking the back into all kinds of fighting between them, but i think a resolution is in the interests of the parties as well. we have to work to determine what the elements will be. >> to go back to your discussion of the civilian surge, obviously we are talking about the need to draw down the military surge. how do you look at the reduction of the civilian surge? several weeks

taking on the taliban, extremist launch an attack in the heart of kabul. can afghan security forces really keep the peace? ♪ ♪ >> giving classical music an un classical appeal. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america. the greek parliament voted for tax hikes and spending cuts today and the public responded with fury. without the austerity package, greece would not receive billions of dollars in bailout funds from the european union and imf. even that was not enough to persuade protesters who seem to think that bankruptcy is a better option than more financial cuts. >> fierce clashes continued tonight in athens after the greek mp's voted to increase tax increases and spending cuts in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. our earlier in the square. -- earlier in the square, protesters hope to enter the vote that would bring in hard austerity measures. thousands of protesters gathered outside of parliament. even before the vote had started, there are volleys of teargas aimed at the crowd and the crowd has a sense of tension knowing that within an hour, they're

and by critical accounts of inter-taliban discussions about why this taliban has refused to break with al qaeda. the relationship with osama bin laden as a factor out of mullah omar's lips, but also has deep-seated theological direction and does pertain here. >> i want to come back to a couple things including the stew of other like minded groups. i will bring in ambassador patterson here and a little bit towards the impact of all of this. in the reports that cns is voting today, let me quote a little bit from it. among the authors is general barno. it's deeply conflicted and pervasively anti-american is sometimes contrary to the u.s. interest. it's demonstrable that should heavily influenced to remain committed to the pakistan to the long-term. the most promising policy choice in a field littered poor options. do you agree with that offense meant? assuming you do, how should the obama in frustration pursue that commitment? what is the balance between embracing that the strategic partner and accountability and a host of issues, corruption, writes casas support for afghan surgeons. the

as many as eight taliban fighters penetrated the hotel's tight security. this morning officials say at least ten people were killed, along with the eight attackers. joel brown joins us from washington. joel, what is the latest? >> betty, good morning. hours before a conference was slated to get under way, when handing over security to the afghans, the taliban made its move on the conference hotel. the message? it's still a force to be reckoned with. flames poured out of the intercontinental hotel in kabul overnight following the taliban's brazen attack. late tuesday a team of suicide bombers and gunmen stormed the heavily guarded building, firing at civilians and setting off a tense four-hour standoff with security forces. at least ten civilians died in the assault. some militants were also killed after nato helicopters swooped in and pounded the rooftop with rockets. the attack came just hours before an important meeting on the handover of security from nato to afghans was said to take place. just last week president obama announced his plans to withdraw

does it look like nato has actually broken the taliban's momentum as the white house is claiming is it a good time to be putting out over thirty thousand troops. well that is of course as i say at the us a sixty four thousand dollar question is that the right time but if you look at the timeline that president barack obama did announce while he was running for the presidency and a bit after he said by this time we had to have a troop drawdown and again there's several things that president barack obama has to look at issue as you know in his speech last night he talked about a drawdown about thirty thousand in all and obviously the troops on the ground by two thousand and fourteen but remember he's also running for reelection so there's an issue of not only the safety of u.s. combat troops there there's also the point of is being reelected in two thousand and twelve and the overall issue of money being spent there so there's about three things that he's had to deal with in announcing this drawdown but the u.s. will still have nearly seventy seventy thousand troops there in afghanistan

idea look at intelligence and services that they are arresting people who are doing taliban to. we do not have this tension all the afghan did not have tension at least. this troll at night at least to walk and go through some of the. local countryside. at this government get it cutting government under the support of us we have some achievement that i shouldn't say we shouldn't try that we have some achievement we have some construction but most of them. a lot in the use of us not and it was a chance so you say you had some achievements and some construction in recent years but international investigators have released a report saying that afghanistan is riddled with corruption and government officials colluded with the taliban how true is this from your perspective. if anyone saying this is this current government could have given them and he's not done i think this gentleman's the big came together with the us and the start of the invasion in two thousand and one they were all could after the problem they will all be proud of that they were committed criminal. committed crime

they support the pakistani taliban. they support various militant groups. and increasingly you have evidence that this is a military riddled with islamic extremists. they themselves have just arrested a brigadier general as we discussed on this program. you look at the attack on the naval base which was an inside job. you look at the way in which they have had -- they've killed a journalist who was exposing the increasing infiltration of extremism within the pakistani military. the pakistani ambassador to washington, a moderate democrat, went to the national defense university and did a poll. he asked the audience, how many of you think india is your biggest strategic threat? small number. how many of you think the militants, the terrorists are your biggest threat? small number. how many of you think the united states of america is your biggest threat? a majority of hands go up. >> and these were pakistani military officers. >> these were colonels in the pakistani military. think about that. these guys think that a country that has allied with them and give

an add it of one single project falling into the hands of the taliban. angry response of kabul from america's departing ambassador. >> when we hear ourselves being called occupiers and worse, and our generous aids are being dismissed as totally ineffective and the source of all corruption, our pride is offended. and we begin to lose our inspiration to carry on. >> from a diplomatic language, that is strong stuff. joining us now world affairs analyst fareed zakaria host of cnn's fareed zakaria and national security analyst and author of the oral history the osama bin laden i know. fareed, first of all what do you make of the president's announcement tonight? >> i think it's in keeping with his basic strategic rationale from the start. he did announce the surge. part of that was i think the military boxed him in. you remember stan mcchrystal leaked his recommendation, making it very difficult for the democratic president to overturn it. but obama has started his presidency saying we are too committed overseas, we are too military engaged, we have too large

contacts with the taliban. up next, the closer look at some of the key figures americans could be dealing with. >>> plus still one day away from officially jumping into the race for the white house, but he's already making an impression on the gop. could jon huntsman be the party's nominee for president of the united states? ♪ with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help lower a1c. glucerna products help me keep everything balanced. [ golf clubs clanking ] [ husband ] i'm good! well, almost everything. [ male announcer ] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars. helping people with diabetes find balance. >>> let's get right to our strategy session. joining us cnn political contributor roland martin and former political contributor norm coleman. he's now president o

and by critical accounts of inter-taliban discussions about why this taliban has refused to break with al qaeda. the relationship with osama bin laden as a factor out of mullah omar's lips, but also has deep-seated theological direction and does pertain here. >> i want to come back to a couple things including the stew of other like minded groups. i will bring in ambassador patterson here and a little bit towards the impact of all of this. in the reports that cns is voting today, let me quote a little bit from it. among the authors is general barno. it's deeply conflicted and pervasively anti-american is sometimes contrary to the u.s. interest. it's demonstrable that should heavily influenced to remain committed to the pakistan to the long-term. the most promising policy choice in a field littered poor options. do you agree with that offense meant? assuming you do, how should the obama in frustration pursue that commitment? what is the balance between embracing that the strategic partner and accountability and a host of issues, corruption, writes casas support for afghan surgeons. the

i see the taliban of the 1990, early 2001, their interest really in furthering their own sense taliban is him within own country. and it was, in fact, i was always amused and surprised when i did my interviews, that the afghan taliban was called, call them foreigners, coming from across the border to make trouble all over the place. so, go ahead, jack. >> i fully agree. i agree with you that that is one of the scenarios that's quite likely. into a civil war. i wouldn't say that they haven't completely disarmed anyway. they put their weapons away. their heavy weapons are gone. there's also a bit of ambiguity here because the afghan national army which we are financing has a very, very few pashtun officers. they have few more pashtuns soldiers because they pay, but we have been unsuccessful in recruiting officers out of the pashtun community. so we can be seen as arming the northern alliance in what we're doing now, and we're not doing this cheaply. the budget for this year, this year is $12 billion for training and equipping the afghan national army. last year it was 11.2 billion. next