and nato soldiers at risk. it is called the "96-hour rule." nato and afghanistan troops have four days or 96 hours to hold on to a suspect. after that time, they either have to turn over the suspect to afghan authorities and simply release them. special investigations unit correspondent abbie boudreau is with us. abbie, you have been working the case? >> yes, we have been examining the case of roger hill who was a former army captain who was faced with the 96-hour rule in his time in afghanistan in 2008 and hill says that the rule is not working and in his case, it forced him to make a decision that ultimately forced him to end his career. >> reporter: captain roger hill had 12 suspected spies on the base. one of them, his once-trusted interpreter nuri, and he detained all of them in the small building when nato's 96-hour rule went into effect. he had 96 hours to collect evidence with enough evidence to takeover the 12 suspects or hill would be forced to release them. he was running out of time, so at the 80th

if every country did that, we would not be an effective nato alliance. i think it is a very important to recognize that some of the smaller countries of europe are deploying disproportionately large numbers of their total armed forces, even though the absolute numbers are not that large. it's also important to recognize the country like this does not put a caveat on the will of its forces and had decided to send its forces to one of the most dangerous areas, alongside the danes and estonians, who i think you are right to recognize. but the nato alliance is survived or fall on the collective capacity, collective commitment and collective responsibility of all its members. in a spirit that is not hectoring but nonetheless firm, it's important to emphasize that nato needs to deliver on its aspirations, and that means governments of each major country singing very firmly and clearly that they will live up to the commitments the it signed up to in the nato charter. >> i agree very strongly, foreign secretary. are you disappointed that the dutch government hav

tankers, but nato nations still haven't provided them. the lack of this kind of equipment is hurting operations, maybe even costing lives. and that's just part of nato's current crisis. they have money problems. just two months into the year, they already face a fiscal shortfall of hundreds of millions of euros. only four of nato's yoeuropean members have so far reached the self-set target of spending 2% of their gdp on the military. the u.s. spends the biggest percentage of the gdp among the western nations, almost 4%. for all that nato's european nations do spend, about $300 billion a year, the vast majority of their forces are defensive. they're really just welfare state jobs in many cases and are certainly useless for conflicts like in iraq and afghanistan. by nato's own admission, only 30% of europe's land forces can ever be deployed. thanks to the need for troop rotations and similar concerns, only about 10% of the continent's soldiers can be fighting overseas at any given time. so while the u.s. has half a million fewer troops than

the discussion we have about the nukes and nato diverts us from that very issue. the same with japan. is japan worried china is going to invade it? it can't get their but japan can worry about china trying to take one of the disputed islands in the south china sea and do we have the conventional capability with the japanese? to make sure china doesn't occupy at and then present as a fait accompli? we ought to be worrying about that but i guarantee the u.s., chris and american people are not we to say if china takes one of those i lancelets go to war with nuclear china over this. it's not realistic. the same with the cyber threat with china against japan and others. real problem, absolutely real problem and of nerves become scarce with capital and scarce with three of life. a nuclear weapon a solution to that problem? is a deterrent problem among many things but we spend all this time we will get nuclear weapons and have major wars. we have these problems now that are relevant but there are security problems. i could talk now become more about turkey in that regard

i have a new assignment i was just given that the 60th anniversary of nato. the heads of state got together in strasbourg in april and decided they needed a new strategic concept. this one come to read did in 1989 did not include the new country and happened before 9/11. would have been each country that is in nato , now 28, named a person would be it on the experts group and i was named by the u.s.. the new secretary general only chose 12 out of 28 to be on the experts group irritating 16 countries and asked me to cheer its. just came from brussels where we try to do is figure out how nato and the work together and those are two huge primarily organizations and what the magnetic effect to bring in new members because in some ways it provides the average for countries to adapt their behavior so to get your point* i think it is a good thing for serbia to go into that direction. >> i really enjoy your frank testimony but we see secretary clinton and her job so far what do you think should be heard top agenda item? >> first of all, i had never been in a position

after that, british nato ambassador will talk with the changing role of nato.  maryland senator ben cardin. "washington journal" starts now. . . we are also on e-mail, journal@c-span.org, and on twitter, and on facebook. we are looking at lending. let us check out this "the wall street journal" article. that is according to a quarterly report of the federal deposit insurance corp., fdic. we are asking you, have you tried to get a loan recently, any type of loan, and have you had success going to a large bank or perhaps it -- a small or local bank. one of the gramm milestones, the number of u.s. banks at risk of failing hit a 16-year high. that is from "the wall street journal." looking at some other financial stories. troubled lenders at the highest level since 1993. let's go to jack who is calling from the democrats lined from manhattan. have you tried to get a loan recently? caller: i got a credit card loan recently. i have stellar credit. no issues for may. i'm just going to comment that it is really a disgrace that we bailed out the banks to the tune of billions of billions of d

in afghanistan, nato commanders are on the verge of another major attack. but first, president obama ordered more troops there last fall. and more fallout from that american air strike last september which killed dozens of afghan civilians. new evidence on what went wrong. and finally tonight -- let it snow is the cry being heard around the japanese city of saporu as they turn out to behold the city of ice. >> from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts around the globe, in is "world focus." major support is being provided by roslyn p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters. >>> good evening, welcome to "world focus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. in the last few months, you've heard the warnings about the economy. we are not out of the woods just yet. and today there was a reminder of how fragile the world's economy remains. the problem has to do with deficits, spe

and nato military commander gets out quite a bit. gets out into rural areas. gets out into urban areas. meets the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about getting out regularly. president karzai has not gotten out a lot. he does occasionally get out in general. he was out a little bit during the presidential campaign. but he's not gotten out and interacted with the afghan population partly for security reasons. i mean, his helicopters have been targeted in the past. there have been several assassination attempts on him. >> is abdullah abdullah still in pakistan or has he left? >> i'm not sure where he is right now. i want to comment, too, on the question you mentioned. the reason i went out last month was that general caldwell is starting a new leadership initiative on the afghan side. and wants to get them more discussion about leadership which i think we've not paid enough attention to. and one of the -- one of the things we've seen for many of the afghans is they don't go out into the field as much as we would like. a lot of them

nato and afghan troops pushed deeper into a key afghan town. and there was word the top taliban military commander has been captured. and wall street rallied on new optimism about the recovery. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 170 points. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: we have more details about the taliban leader captured in pakistan and what it could mean for the fight against insurgents in afghanistan; a look at how twitter and other social networking sites helped connect haitians in need with aid from around the world; mike allen of politico tells us the stories behind the headlines from capitol hill this week; and on "art beat," a conversation with sally wolf- king of emory university, who recently discovered an old plantation diary that served as inspiration to southern novelist william faulkner. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy w

and nato military commander gets out quite a bit. it's out into rural areas, into urban areas where it meets the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about getting out regularly. president karzai has not gotten out a lot. he does occasionally get out without the presidential campaign. but he has not gotten out and interaction with the active population currently for security reasons. his helicopters have been targeted in the past and there have been several assassination attempts against him so is constrained his movements whose back is abdullah abdullah still in afghanistan or has he laughed? >> guest: i'm not sure where he is. i want to comment on the question you mentioned, the reason i went out last month was that general call well is starting in leadership initiative on the afghan side and wants to get into more discussion about leadership which i think we have not paid enough attention to and one of the things we have seen for many of the afghans is they don't go out to the field as much as we would lik

in a passionate plea, hamid karzai urged nato to be more careful. at least 16 civilians have died in the latest offensive. >>> all of the piles of snow across maryland are serving as a constant reminder of the wicked winter we've had. now many are reacting to the president's declaration of disaster as a result of all of the snow in december. baltimore, caroline, cecil, hartford, montgomery and queen anne's counties are eligible for federal funding. senator mikulski says these storms can't turn that a budget disaster for maryland. the governor took time to thank federal officials today for working quickly to help reimburse the state. >>> we've been warning you about the dangers of getting around on foot in the wake of all of the storms. tonight that danger has claimed a life. police say an employee with the department of agriculture was struck and killed in a hit and run accident as he was walking in the street to avoid the snow-covered sidewalks. the 32 year was on his way to the metro station in suitland when he was hit from behind. police are stil

in afghanistan, nato commanders are on the vergef another major attack. the first since president obama ordered more troops there last fall. and more fallout from that american air strike last september which killed dozens of afghan civilians. new evidence on what went wrong. and finally tonight -- let it snow is e cry being heard around the jap nez city of sapporo as they turn out to behold the city of ice. >> from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts around the globe, in is "world focus." major support is being provided by roslyn p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters. >>> good evening, welcome to "world focus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. over the past few months, you have heard the warnings when it comes to the economy. we are not out of the woods just yet. and today, there was another reminder of just how fragile the world's economy remains. the proble

detained all of them in the small building when nato's 96-hour rule went into effect. he had 96 hours to collect evidence with enough evidence to takeover the 12 suspects or hill would be forced to release them. he was running out of time, so at the 80th hour, he had a plan. >> i decided that i needed to break protocol and interrogate them myself. i took three gentlemen outside and sat them down and walked away and fired my weapon into the ground three times hoping that the men on the inside left to their own imagination would think that they really needed to talk. >> reporter: so what happened? >> sure enough, some of the detainees started to talk. >> reporter: it was enough for them to take control of the 12 suspected spies, but hill's tactics got him charged with

the voices of the pilots have been removed, yet one of them has revealed yet more damaging details to nato investigators. known only by the nickname, "dude 15," he told them -- "i had an uneasy feeling about everything." both of us could tell the ground commander was really pushing to go kinetic. the bombing took place after the taliban hijacked two tanker trks full of fuel. they got stuck trying to cross the kunduz river. civilians soon gathered on the sand bank to help themselves to the gasoline. the pilots repeatedly suggested they fly low overhead to frighten them away. but this answer came back from the german commanders on the ground. negative, i want you to strike directly. but the german commanders had withheld vital information from the american f-15 pilots, which had they known might have led them to refuse to drop their deadly payload. a classified nato report into the incident said that the german army knew by the time of the bombing one of the drivers of the hijacked tankers was still alive and at the scene. but many more civilians were actually at the site. they came from the

nato. the treaty that related to this base essentially said that peace could only be used for nato activities. this is not a nato activity. the atari and surrounded the plane. there are americans on the base that the italians surrounded the plane, but the terrorists into custody and tried to an italian court. although this is public knowledge of the sort of kept quiet. and the reason is the american volvo was based primarily operated by the americans there was no jurisdiction under article xxxii of the nato contributing to this space. that constraint the ability of what the americans really wanted to do was bring them back to the united states and try them here. you also find situations where it constrains the justification for using force. and constrains the political environment. for instance, what we'll remember as the rescue mission of the american medical students in grenada. that is actually not the legal justification which was put out. it was put out in a press briefing but among ou

it was the seventh day of a nato-afghan offensive. and new housing numbers showed the wave of foreclosures across the u.s. may finally be easing. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: find out how the conservative political action conference is using social media to organize and spread its message. we asked the question, "does the u.s. need an independent consumer protection agency?" to a range of experts, and they answered in a special online roundtable. health correspondent betty ann bowser explores the effects of the expanding ranks of medicaid. and on "art beat," jeffrey brown talks to alberto mangel, author of "the library at night," a series of essays on the idea of the library. it's part of our next chapter of reading series. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll s

there are too many other interests that will prevent a european nation and nato and united states and obama from going in and saying okay let's put a bounty and how do you get around that? and i think journalist in many cases have fallen by the wayside. >> okay come of the question is about the strategic and other interest that exists in the world that prevents the jena, the europeans, candidate, other countries of good will so to speak from doing anything to stop the killing. and, the speaker specifically pointed to china being a player and the holes it in these complex into uganda with this year is an incipient, a low level eliminationist assault that takes place in which has not quite escalated perhaps to the levels we call eliminationism and so therefore what do we do? there are several responses that deal with different aspects of the problem and i will just be telegraphic about them. the first is, people raise all kinds of objections and i'm not saying you were doing this that people raise all kinds of objections. people say what did do with this difficult case and what do you d

this is a nato system that protect the invisibility of nato. it is targeted against and a deterrent for short or medium range weapons coming out of the middle east. it is not targeted towards russia at all. we are hoping to have advanced cooperation with russia. the countries involved right now that have agreed to those sites are poland and romania. >> any other questions? this one in the back of the room. >> the james martin center for nonproliferation. >> good to see you. >> the non-strategic nuclear- weapons we have in europe, your colleague, bob, suggested at a conference last year that the u.s. will not be opposed to withdrawing weapons from europe. meanwhile we have people in your who said this would be a poor idea, specifically withdrawing weapons from germany. i wonder how the administration plans to tackle the issue and respond if perhaps to the criticism by lord robinson. >> the u.s. will do nothing precipitously or unilaterally without consulting our allies. nato is going through a strategic planning exercise called the strategic con

open for perspective nato members. i hope -- prospective nato members. i hope and appreciate the leadership that you're providing to say to those countries in the balkans that if they can achieve the alliances criteria, they will be welcomed as members of nato. and i wonder if you could speak to that. >> first, thank you for going to southern europe and the balkans. we can be proud of the role the united states played, but we can't rest on any laurels because there are still some volatile situations that have to be addressed. with respect to nato membership, i believe strongly leaving the door open. i also believe it needs to be left opener european union although we have no direct role in that. and it's particularly important for bosnia. now we have been trying to persuade bosnia to do the necessary constitutional reform that will enhance the prospects for unity and not division within that country. and some people have argued well, that should be the carrot that is held out to them so if they do the constitutional re

and nato trainers on hand. and nato countries were about 90% short of meeting their commitment to provide about 2,000 non-u.s. trainers. that's simply inexcusable and our nato allies must do more to close the gap in trainers. an area personnel, i'm pleased this requires increased funding for personnel and for the defense health program. the budget request includes funding to support the care and treatment of wounded warriors including $ 1.1 billion for the treatment, care, and research of traumatic brain injuries, tbi, and psychological health. the budget would also increase funding for family support programs by $500 million over last year's levels and include the funding necessary to support the temporary increase of the army's active duty to 569,000, which will help improve dwell time and reduce stress on the force. the catastrophic january 12th earthquake that struck the nation of haiti reminded all of us just how indiscriminate natural disasters can be. the department has -- the department of defense has m

our bbc security correspondent is that the afghan army headquarters next to the nato base at cam the heart. >> -kandahar airbase, all day and all like they're going on reconnaissance missions, carrying intelligence, with native speakers in afghanistan saying that a success to resonate throughout the region. at the nato headquarters i asked the general commanding the operation why this one should succeed where so many others have failed to bring security. >> we are going to arrive with the afghan government, with afghan security forces completely integrated into the approach, with governance as i have described to you being the forefront of what has happened. that long term commitment to the population will be demonstrated immediately wheforces arrive on the ground. things will be built quickly. >> forging an effective national army can sometimes be a struggle. we have a clue is being introduced. this group, only one of them knew how to drive and most were illiterate. here at the camp, many of the soldiers taking part have been trained and the quicker that the soldiers can be brought

or nato governments, even whether it is essential governments. they will act in their own interests. and that's okay because what we've seen, i would argue, when you look across the east in the south is a range of types and subtypes and clans, whether it's to aris fortune copies, wore a size or a good-sized, i don't like the taliban, don't like the haqqani government, don't like the@@)pbvgu abc and bbc which indicated that the taliban has well under 10% support versus 90% support in that recent poll. so leveraging desires interest in the local population i think is quite critical. >> host: jane, houston texas. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. i question is going to center on the proliferation of the radical matter says that are cropping up in a separate area of afghanistan the narrowing version of islam promoting jihad and shahada. and with the influence from saudi and persian vicinities, financing at the school, which also have military training, soon to be giving the taliban a new group of fighters. what are we doing us a nation or as a

and nato trainers on hand. and nato countries were about 90% short of meeting their commitment to provide about 2,000 non-u.s. trainers. that's simply inexcusable and our nato allies must do more to close the gap in trainers. an area personnel, i'm pleased this requires increased funding for personnel and for the defense health program. the budget request includes funding to support the care and treatment of wounded warriors including $ 1.1 billion for the treatment, care, and research of traumatic brain injuries, tbi, and psychological health. the budget would also increase funding for family support programs by $500 million over last year's levels and include the funding necessary to support the temporary increase of the army's active duty to 569,000, which will help improve dwell time and reduce stress on the force. the catastrophic january 12th earthquake that struck the nation of haiti reminded all of us just how indiscriminate natural disasters can be. the department has -- the department of defense has m

afghan and nato forces were deployed to the scene. the taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. it says it's part of operation nasrat, launched by the taliban last april in retaliation to the surge in troops and the nato operations around the country. the taliban warned it will continue to strike anytime and anywhere it wishes, a huge challenge ahead for the government here. >> that report by hoda abdel-hamid from al jazeera, english. for more on the attacks and the challenges in stopping them, we're joined by the professor of international relations at lehigh university. welcome back. >> thank you, martin. >> today's attacks seem to have been specifically targeting indians in kabul. they're there to work. they're also there to help out. why would the taliban target india? >> the taliban has realized that sind yeah's got involvement in afghanistan in a number of ways. india has little use for the columbine, had very close relationships with a group of northern alliance that the united states used to defeat the taliban after the

and nato forces continued their assault on taliban strongholds in afghanistan today. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, the latest from the battlefield, as reported by rod nordland of the "new york times." >> woodruff: then, the debate over the obama administration's anti-terrorism policy, as vice president biden and former vice president cheney take their differences to the airwaves. >> ifill: health correspondent betty ann bowser reports on increasing premiums and profits in the insurance industry. >> woodruff: after an athlete's death, a look at the dangers of winter sports, as the vancouver olympics continue. >> ifill: and controversy in california, where undocumented aliens claim they're the real targets of d.u.i. checkpoints. >> woodruff: . >> cities are exploiting a broken immigration system, exploiting broken state law, taking advantage and exploiting vulnerable members of our society. >> woodruff: and we remember the award-winning poet lucille clifton, who died this past weekend. >> all all light, all death, all one. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's

four more nato troops were killed. and a texas man flew his small plane into an austin building housing offices of the internal revenue service. federal investigators said he was angry at the agency, and left a suicide note on the internet. the "newshour" is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari? >> sreenivasan: there's more on the china story. you can read what experts have to say about where u.s.-china relations stand today, and watch the full video of the dalai lama's remarks after his meeting at the white house. plus, find our complete coverage on the disaster in haiti, from reports on the immediate aftermath of the quake right up to our latest updates on recovery and relief efforts. also, you can watch the entire series of paul solman's conversations on the banking industry. that's on his "making sense" page. and finally on the "rundown" blog, watch a jeffrey brown conversation with the author of a new biography on reporter, politician and media baron joseph pulitzer. all th

and that is not something that will be choreographed from kabul, whether from the afghan side or the nato side and will be the product of military pressure and political choice. >> does that mean, as we found out when we were in helmand, that one of the criticisms was the taliban was simply paying more, the economic taliban, put it like that, than we were, or the local people -- we pay them more than the taliban. >> that is not a durable basis on which to bring people over, if you want to bring people over you have to be sure their families will be safe, they will be safe and have a genuine political voice in the local system, and they have something to do and what we're talking about is a more sustain abable settlement into which people decide they are better off inside than outside. >>... economical clerics and -- >> i don't think, with respect -- i don't think it is a straightforward economical calculation. >> straightforward in afghanistan -- nothing is straightforward in afghanistan. >> and in afghanistan, i think, it is more than a i say some people are... for $10 a day which is mor

our bbc security correspondent is that the afghan army headquarters next to the nato base at cam the heart. >> -kandahar airbase, all day and all like they're going on reconnaissance missions, carrying intelligence, with native speakers in afghanistan saying that a success to resonate throughout the region. at the nato headquarters i asked the general commanding the operation why this one should succeed where so many others have failed to bring security. >> we are going to arrive with the afghan government, with afghan security forces completely integrated into the approach, with governance as i have described to you being the forefront of what has happened. that long term commitment to the population will be demonstrated immediately when forces arrive on the ground. things will be built quickly. >> forging an effective national army can sometimes be a struggle. we have a clue is being introduced. this group, only one of them knew how to drive and most were illiterate. here at the camp, many of the soldiers taking part have been trained and the quicker that the soldiers can be brough

haig stayed at nato till 1979 leaving brussels in frustration. >> don't er expect our european friends and i know something about them having spent five years with them and i love them dearly, don't ever expect them to stand up and take tougher positions than we're going to take. >> reporter: controversy followed haig into the reagan administration in which he became the first secretary of state. in the chaotic hours following the attempted assassination of president reagan, haig uttered what became his most famous statement. >> as of now i am in control here in the white house. >> reporter: the remark misrepresented the line of presidential succession and made it easier for critics to portray haig as a usurper of power. >> everybody in that room was very familiar with the fact that this was not a discussion about transition, but rather authority within the executive branch. >> reporter: haig quit the reagan cabinet after a year and a half, disgusted he said with bureaucratic infighting. >> you can't have a state department putting out one line and the defense department another line a

it's great to have nato on board. i think it was touch and go for a while, whether or not we would get their support. i think it's really interesting that joe biden said recently that finally, now that obama and biden are there, we have a foreign policy that the world can respect again. i feel like he's kind of like barnum and bailey. this is the greatest show on earth. if he says it and sells it with a smile, then we're going to believe it, but nothing ha changed. >> wait a minute, let's get serious. larry, as we sit here, $190,000 is spent every minute on our good forces in afghanistan. think of what we could do with that money to provide security for the men and women in afghanistan, not military, and what we could do to rebuild this country. and it is not -- >> we just sent more troops to afghanistan, so obama is doing nothing different than bush has done. what is the change? >> i am not a partisan, i am an analyst, and i am just saying you don't beat terrorism by military occupation. >> larry: when the vice presi

and nato trainers on hand. and nato countries were about 90% short of meeting their commitment to provide about 2,000 non-u.s. trainers. that's simply inexcusable and our nato allies must do more to close the gap in trainers. an area personnel, i'm pleased this requires increased funding for personnel and for the defense health program. the budget request includes funding to support the care and treatment of wounded warriors including $ 1.1 billion for the treatment, care, and research of traumatic brain injuries, tbi, and psychological health. the budget would also increase funding for family support programs by $500 million over last year's levels and include the funding necessary to support the temporary increase of the army's active duty to 569,000, which will help improve dwell time and reduce stress on the force. the catastrophic january 12th earthquake that struck the nation of haiti reminded all of us just how indiscriminate natural disasters can be. the department has -- the department of defense has m

it's great to have nato on board. i think it was touch and go for a while, whether or not we would get their support. i think it's really interesting that joe biden said recently that finally, now that biden is there, we have a policy that the world can respect again. i feel like he's kind of like barn um and bailey. this is the greatest show on earth. if he says it and sells it with a smile, then we're going to believe it, but nothing has chang schang changed. >> wait a minute, let's get serious. larry, as we sit here, $190,000 is spent every minute on our good forces in afghanistan. think of what we could do with that money to provide security for the men and women in afghanistan, not military, and what we could do to rebuild this country. and it is not -- >> we just spent more troops to afghanistan, so obama is doing nothing different than bush has done. what is the change? >> i am not a partisan, i am an analyst, and i am just saying you don't beat the taliban by military destruction. >> larry: i asked him about t

meanwhile, nato reported a total of six foreign troops killed so far in the assault. also today, officials in the maldives said afghan lawmakers and taliban officials held secret peace talks there in late january. french president nicolas sarkozy arrived in haiti today, promising $400 million dollars in aid. he was the first french president to visit since haiti won its independence from paris in 1804. sarkozy viewed the earthquake damage by helicopter and told the haitian people, "you are not alone." and a haitian judge today freed eight americans who'd been accused of child kidnapping. two others still face questioning. the international space station now has a direct view of earth for the first time. astronauts today opened the shutters on a new observation deck. the italian-built dome has seven windows that offer a 360-degree view. up to now, astronauts had to use robotic cameras to see outside the station. things were looking up on wall street for a second day. stocks rose again on upbeat reports about corporate earnings and home construction. the dow jones indus

or nato governments, even whether it is essential governments. they will act in their own interests. and that's okay because what we've seen, i would argue, when you look across the east in the south is a range of types and subtypes and clans, whether it's to aris fortune copies, wore a size or a good-sized, i don't like the taliban, don't like the haqqani government, don't like the insurgent groups and i've had it with them. and they would like to help stabilize, secure and provide services to their own populations. i think in that sense, we need to recognize that they're not doing it for as, they're doing it for the population. that's okay. in this case, we can help them help their own populations. and i think that's actually important because it does not always have to be about the essential governments, especially in the three areas. we see in a recent opinion poll that came out about abc and bbc which indicated that the taliban has well under 10% support versus 90% support in that recent poll. so leveraging desires interest in the local popu

this nato foreign has been generally sponsored by the ba systems. this event today as part of the council suffered to bring voices from the field to help inform the washington policy debate. particularly, voices from the field of our coalition partners, our nato allies to identify with us. there's been an unfortunate narrative in washington, focused on the american leadership and role in afghanistan. sometimes overshadowing into the detriment of the world that our coalition forces have played. to that end, the council is try to be a platform bringing voices from the field to inform this debate here, ranging from dutch prt commanders in afghanistan, general lewin who is the commander of command south in afghanistan, general david mcneill, commander of isaf, general kiernan, then commander of isaf. in addition to a whole host of political leaders hosted by south asia center comer range and from presidential candidate and former finance minister ashcraft miami. so today we are very pleased to host brigadier general vance, one of canada's leaders counte

or nato governments, even whether it is the central government. they will act in their own interests and that is okay because i would argue when you look across the east in the south there is a range of tribes and subcry-- subtribes that don't like the taliban, don't like the haqqani network, don't like most of the resurgence groups and have had with them and they would like to help stabilize, secure ants provide services to their own populations. i think in that sense, we need to recognize they are not doing it for us. they are doing it for their own population and that is okay. in this case, we can help them help their own populations. i think that is actually important because this does not always have to be about the central government is special in pashtun areas. we have seen a recent public opinion poll that came out by abc and bbc which indicated the taliban as well under 10% support versus 90% support in that recent poll, so leveraging desires and interest of the local population i think is quite critical. >> host: james, a houston texas,

troops into the country after the fighting nato will provide much-needed aid and supply to the area, as well as restore services. bill: we thank you for that, log on to our website, foxnews.com, click on the you decide link to take our nonscientific survey. today we ask this question: can the taliban be defeated. we'll have results a bit later here on "america's newsroom". uma. >> it was a battle of the former vp, vice presidential joe biden, slamming the last guy who had his job, former vice president dick cheney, the two men squaring off on the talk shows, sparring over what had the tougher foreign policy, cheney criticized the underwear bombing but biden saying the white house isn't doing anything differently than the previous administration. >> dick cheney is a fine fellow but he is not entitled to rewrite history without it being challenged. i don't know where he has been. where was he the last four years of the last administration? >> and coming up later, the fireworks and verbal jabs between the two number twos when we talk live with dick cheney's daughter, liz cheney, that's

ndshe was the commander of e ;>[canadian-natoçç jow3t(çink force. national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> good morning. welcome to the atlantic council. i'm the vice president and director of the international security program at the council. i am delighted to welcome you to this forum. ççqbefore introducing our distinguishedç guests, i want o underscore for a0moment how ths and that fits into our programmingw3 at theç atlantic council in four ways. has been putting on afghanistan- pakistan issues. the council spoke out pretty strongly on the issue of afghanistan in early 2008 when then itç chairman, general jim jones, issued a report on saving afghanistan. it is a report that came out that had anç impact on the debe here in united states and helped çto focus our political discoue on the fact that we were not succeeding in afghanistan and needed to redouble our efforts. we put out comparable reports on pakistan, following through with the creation of a south asia center, led by my col

there's four stages when it comes to a nato operation now. it's the shaping phasing, the clearing, the holding, and the building. right now they're still at that second phase, which is the clearing phase. and they still have some way to go. it could take weeks, it could even take months. but at the same time they say they're here to stay. they want the siville i don't knows to know that they're here to stay. right now there are very few civilians to talk to because many of them are still gone, afraid to come back because of the fighting. i'm sure you can hear right now the trucks rolling by me at the moment. the trucks that are actually building the base that we were talking about. betty? >> all right. we're having some difficulty with her line. obviously it's just the situation as atia aabawi is embedded with the marines. we will continue to follow it and bring you the latest. >>> this week joe biden said something you may actually guy with. according to the vice president, this is a direct quote, washington right now is broken. perhaps the

nato says a bomb strike in southern afghanistan killed two american soldiers tuesday. news of the attack comes as u.s. troops and their afghan and nato parer ins prepare to launch a major offensive against a taliban stronghold. in iraq today, 20 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of shiite pilgrims near c c near c nea sk. iraq's highest appeals court struck down a ban on hundreds of perspective parliamentary candidates with suspected ties to the saddam hussein regime. the candidates will be allowed to run in next month's elections but will not be allowed to take office until they are investigated. back at home, president obama today told democratic senators to lead first and let politics of this year's elections take care of themselves. senior white house correspondent major garrett reports on how the top democrat tried to rally his troops. >> anybody searching for a lesson from massachusetts, i promise you the answer is not to do nothing. >> president obama preached the politics of conviction to assembly of democrats shaken by the loss of the 60 vot

. >> nato troops in afghanistan are on standby for their biggest offensive against the taliban since 2001. one soldier has already been killed and civilians are fleeing the area. >> [unintelligible] >> it was a terrible winter's day in so many ways. the land was soaked by wind and rain, steeped in my inner danger. -- steeped in mud and in danger. this is a multi-million dollar tank. its job is to find hidden bombs. in some cases, the dangers are obvious. a rocket-propelled grenade has been left by the roadside and must be made safe. [explosion] >> in other cases, the danger is hard to find. the vehicles were damaged and the americans have to pull out, laid low by the very thing that they have to deal with. in this conflict, it is the walking wounded veteran the lucky ones. the british journal on their own, left to clear the roads by hand and on foot. as we reach the junction, there is a massive explosion. a vehicle provides cover as the troops tried to work out what happened. someone has been injured. >> medic! >> engineer has stepped on a device. there is a desperate attempt to reac

and nato there, and the u.s. and nato still have a much higher acceptance rate in afghanistan than they do in iraq. for instance. but for all of the reasons i've suggested, it's a very difficult place in which to operate. host: is there a difference between the taliban and al qaeda? guest: yes. al qaeda are arabs. the taliban are afghans. the al qaeda is motivated largely by a global ideology. the taliban is motivated by a nationalist ideology. there's some overlap and there's a good deal of cooperation between the two, but they're distingish wrable. host: our guest, served as george w. bushes envoy to that country. our phone lines are open. you can send us a comment at journal at c-span dggetorg or send us a twitter comment. joining us from cleveland. good morning to you, democrat's line. caller: what i want to say is we're willing to spend trillions of dollars to fight afghanistan because of that 9/11 situation. but we lose 45,000 people over year because they don't have proper health care insurance, or proper

andal lot of the nato officers. -- caldwell and a lot of the nato officers. general mcchrystal. we met with some afghan defense ministers. as well, some of the commanders in the field. host: did he meet with these top officials before or after you saw what was going on? guest: it was some of each. it will spread out over the period. they are very much on top of these problems, and fully recognize what the challenges are ahead. we still had a lot of problems that we have to work through with the afghans with, and in the past, we have said too much that they can do things as they please. i think we recognize that they need more help, especially in terms of leadership. host: what are some of the comparison you can draw between iraq and afghanistan? cast, i spoke to the military academies, police trainers, and we focus on leadership stories. they are a culture that likes narratives. we went through a variety of case studies, also some of our own. we do not want to come across as being holier than thou. we showed some examples of where things went well, where things did not go well.

on which subject we welcome the appointment of a new nato civilian representative in afghanistan and it is the current british ambassador to afghanistan who we all hold in very high regard. is the government concerned that his work will be quote a big -- coordinated with the u.s. and work so that military gains will have to affect every construction? >> i thank you for your commendation of that distinguished diplomat that precisely to support that work, the conference is going to be held in london which will look at taking forward issues in relation to afghanistan. there are 70 countries attending including the secretary general of the un. >> looking ahead to that conference is a big issue. the last afghan conference in london in 2006 had several ambitious objectives most of which have never been met. most agree the conference should focus on realistic goals that can be delivered focusing on improve governance and reinvigorating former taliban members. will the government have regular reviews of the progress made including the conference proposed in a few months time. >> of course we