afghanistan. -- lists include from the cato institute this is one hour and a half. on may 21, 2000 thousand to the american democrats and republicans -- which pledged to dance the creation of a broadbased gender sensitive and fully represented government in afghanistan. those goals were in keeping with the december 2001 bond agreement. the united states and international community have helped -- pledged to promote lasting peace, respectability for human rights in the country. nearly 11 years later amid a labor -- amid a daily parade of reports citing human-rights violations and rampant parity in large-scale corruption, afghanistan continues to face serious obstacles. what went wrong? typically here is one of two responses. the first is that president george w. bush squandered america's quick and easy victory. but both committee and insufficient number of troops in the beginning and redirecting our energies to iraq, he enabled the top and to resurface. the second explanation for what went wrong was

the other transition is from karzai-led afghanistan to somebody else-led afghanistan. the second of those transitions is by far the more delicate, the more difficult and the more decisive. the afghan army's not going to run away in 2014, but the afghan government could begin to disintegrate if the elections go badly, if they're indecisive, if they're devisive rather than bringing the country together. but assuming those go reasonably well, i believe the kind of progress that we have seen and that i've suggested from these statistics can be sustained. [applause] >> well, thanks to lou and the cato institute for putting this panel together. also i have to start off, with i was going to ask you to do this, but i have to start out with a disclaimer that says the views that i'm about to present to you are mine and not necessarily those of the u.s. government or the department of defense. so now having said that, let me, i am serving army colonel, and i teach history at west point, and i consider myself to be a student of history. and so if you don't mind, i'd like to start

in afghanistan, the police are not so concerned with traffic control, traffic is insane in afghanistan. so you'll see traffic lights but they don't work. they are not so concerned with chasing criminals. what they are concerned with is protecting themselves and protecting the villagers. in a lot of places throughout afghanistan, the police might be the only thing that's separating the villagers from the taliban. they are what would be more considered a paramilitary source. -- force. ufrptly prrp unfortunately they are not trained nearly as well as the taliban, they don't have the same equipment and they are greatly outnumbered by the enemy moving freely through afghanistan. so the focus of effort needed to be switched to say how do we fix that because the populations are concentrated in the districts and we needed to look at how we would fix the police in the districts, how we would train these folks and figure out who's, who should be in there and who shouldn't be. when i was in kabul, i worked very closely with the chief of police up there and with all the different sections of the p

free press in afghanistan, the history of that. >> it's a good question. a began stan is experiencing a free press right after 9/11. there was a big market for afghan journalists practicing the values in standards of journalism, while facing domestic violence, as well. >> so, nowadays, there are -- those of tv channels, radios, publications, and news agencies, which all -- through all these channels, people are feeding the information entertainment, and international events. meanwhile, journalists are one of the group of people which they face a lot of chal frjing -- challenges and traits through the different sources like -- challenging traits like the taliban, like tribal leaders, like some regional countries which they are trying to influence the freedom of speech in afghanistan. >> it's very interesting to be a journalist, but around, it's very challenging to be a journalist around the country. >> i would imagine the american people would be shoked shocked to know about the region and the nation. >> should more should americans know? >> it's a tribal s

in the farm lands of southern afghanistan, in the 60s and 0s, afghanistans largely grew cotton. they do things like stitch carpets and sew clothes. a lot of the land turned to poppy cultivation during the soviet -- they needed to feed their families and poppy was the best alternative. fast forward to the opportunity -- the current american presence. a well-founded desire to get them away from growing poppy, for all the obvious reasons, not the least of which that money helps to sustain the insurgency. afghans said, help us grow cot top again, and a very couple smart u.s. experts thought that was a good idea. wasn't be the most efficient crop but something they knew how to grow and wanted to grow. well, the u.s. agency for international development put roadblocks at every stain of -- step of the way. they said cotton is not to afghanistan's advantage. us a beck stan and pakistan grow more efficiently. afghanistans just need this as a way to get farmers to feed their families. 'and then finally, aid cited a 1986 act of congress, a the bumpers amendment, sponsored by senator dale b

in afghanistan, it was $50 a year. in other words, bosnia on per capita basis got 16 times more assistance than afghanistan. if you look at the amount of international military forces committed to security, then the number's more striking putting 60,000 troops, we, nato, put 60,000 troops in a society of 3 million people. a year afte w

he is the primary negotiator for afghanistan. his sensehan side, was that things were moving in the right direction. he was positive we could sign the bilateral security agreement. president karzai said the same thing to me. there are difficult issues we're working for now. they are non-negotiable from the u.s. perspective. i think the team is working hard to address that now. >> thank you very much, general. we appreciate your leadership and all those who served under need you, you do an excellent job. >> thank you, senator. >> i just have a few additional questions. term say "ife and i'ved sanctuary always thought there were interchangeable but you do not. can you explain to was the difference in your vocabulary between safe haven and sanctuary? >> we use the term safe haven where we cannot get to the enemy. sanctuary will use with regard to pakistan. when we talk about any safe havens, inside the force, we talk about enemy safe havens that are geographically within afghanistan and sanctuaries are those areas outside afghanista

afghanistan. this is general dunford's first appearance before this committee since taking command of the u.s. coalition forces in early february. difficult forn be us and the american people to get the full picture of how things are progressing in afghanistan, as negative stories get front-page coverage while good news may not be covered at all. based on my visits to afghanistan, most recently in january, it strikes me there are real signs of progress. the nato training mission has made significant strides in building the afghan security force to its target level of 352,000 personnel. afghan forces are already some ponce -- responsible for security in areas where 90% of afghans live, and by later this spring, they are expected to take the security leak throughout all of afghanistan with coalition forces shifting to a supporting role. when senator jack reed and i have visited in january, we were told in other -- in under two years, the forces had gone from conducting less than 30% of operations in

you don't have that in afghanistan. a lot of these people that come in and want to be soldiers or policemen can only be veted by the elders in the village. so you don't know who you are. what we tried to do was bring in bio metrics and you'll probably read about that now, how do we reset and establish a good background way to determine who should be armed and who should be in uniform over there and who shouldn't be and that's some of the things we were doing. corruption is very real. but it's acceptable. we don't like it but in afghanistan, people accept corruption as a way of life. so another challenge was how do we change the mind set, how did we make people realize it's not right to do the kind of things they were doing which was grafting, taking money and being a corrupt society, taking money from people just

afghanistan. let me set that within another set of figures. with iraq, after 8.8 years of war, 4480 six americans killed, thousands more with life- changing wounds. depending on which estimate you want to take, close to 3 trillion american dollars spent. close to a quarter of a million iraqis killed. that many more are seriously wounded or close to a million displaced from their homes, very few have returned. we replaced one strong-arm later with another. this one is allied closely with our regional adversary, iran. then we look at afghanistan. close to 2200 americans killed. that many more seriously wounded. posted $1 trillion spent. tens of thousands of afghans killed. i've asked myself this hypothetical, just to try to set in context what these wars have costs relative to what we have achieved. if the united states and gone into iraq like it did in 2003 and in afghanistan in 2002, and then left, would the cost of the war been any worse than what actually happened between 2003- 2011 in iraq and

--n millions of afghanistan afghans fled afghanistan. the level of conflict was much higher than at any point in the last 10 years areas you would have returned to a sectarian conflict between who's next -- people from whose pakistan -- whose pakistan -- uzbekistan the taliban would have become the dominant force in the country. although probably not controlling all of it. the taliban remains today, allied with al qaeda, close links with al qaeda. al qaeda would have been able to reestablish itself. the united dates would not be doing drone strikes. it would not have any place to ace those assets. i think it is easy to say what would have happened in afghanistan if we had simply conducted our punitive attack on taliban. routed them, and then left the country. >> are those emissions we should be fighting back out -- fighting? >> one should not take for my talk and isolationist view. be involved in this kind of things. what we should ask ourselves at the beginning is, what will the cost of military intervention be? what is the likelihood o

you don't have that in afghanistan. a lot of these people that come in and want to be soldiers or policemen can only be veted by the elders in the village. so you don't know who you are. what we tried to do was bring in bio metrics and you'll probably read about that now, how do we reset and establish a good background way to determine who should be armed and who should be in uniform over there and who shouldn't be and that's some of the things we were doing. corruption is very real. but it's acceptable. we don't like it but in afghanistan, people accept corruption as a way of life. so another challenge was how do we change the mind set, how did we make people realize it's not right to do the kind of things they were doing which was grafting, taking money and being a corrupt society, taking money from people just to move throughout their town. one of the ways we did that was trying to be sure we took people and spent time with the police officers themselves. we probably spent way too much -- too much emphasis on contrac

afghanistan. ambassador discussed immigration, trade, and the future of u.s.-mexican relations monday at an event hosted by the new policy institute. president obama is scheduled to visit mexico in may, where he will meet with the newly- elected mexican presidents. this is one hour, 25 minutes. >> welcome, everybody. we will begin. thank you for coming. if i can ask all of your potato chip bags be discreet in the way you eat them and the up with it -- obligatory notice of tournament -- turning off the ringers on your mobile phones, but encouraging u.s. the same time to plead as much as you want under the hashtag we are using today. i am the president of the policy institute. we have an extraordinary -- nel da i am hst twelcomehe new ambassador from mexico to the united states, who has already become a good friend to many here in washington. and just to introduce what we do here. we are a small, independent think-tank. hereve had a project called the 21st century border initiative for three years n

in afghanistan and in the region. the sooner we can make this announcement in a bold way, the better off. >> i agree. >> senator levin and i have then army approache. costs $359 million a year to maintain the force? it will be $4.1 billion for the program of record. increasing that can sustain its 352,000 is somewhere between $5,000,000,000.6000003814 dollars. that is the added cost of the force. is aa small part backe program of record through 2014. >> what percentage do we pay? >> our coalition partners pay 1.3 billion. the afghans and pledged 500 million. and we pay the difference. >> the difference between 352 and 230 is how much? >> somewhere between $400,000,000.600000023 dollars in any given year. >> the difference in capability is significant between 352 and 330? >> it would be significant. >> do you believe it would be a wise investment for the american taxpayer to continue to invest in the afghan national security forces at 352? >> i do. >> the more they have, the less they need us? >> i think there's a rela

well in afghanistan anyone from d.o.d. officials to foreign journalists depend on afghans to translate for them interpret find interviews and more in order to get their jobs done and while these translators are paid for their work it doesn't come without significant risk there are combat situations and the taliban and other groups who target these afghans who help america's of these interpreters many were promised visas and exchange for their critical help and expertise now the state department has a backlog of these applications that were promised and u.s. troops are pulling out of afghanistan at record pace and bases are being closed a closed and hundreds of these afghanistan angels are finding themselves without jobs or the protection that comes with being with the u.s. military now for these who have aided the troops are we leaving them high and dry as we withdraw from afghanistan for more on this i'm joined by amir david our t.v. producer. how many afghanistan's are really at risk here while just to give you an idea t

chief of defense staff step after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory correct especially if according to receive a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. imagery is far from over for the survivors of the best hour block. on the big western firms they were making clothes for pay up to compensate the victims as we report online. and often sought spot report on those affected by last month's acts on oil spill and they're still talks the trouble in the neighborhood. on our website. the arrest and imprisonment of ukraine's former prime minister unit in the shanker has been ruled illegal by the european court of human rights the judges dismissed tomasz in his complaint of physical must. treatment when in custody she's serving seven years for abuse in office over gas deals with russia. has been on the case from the very beginning finding lawyers of you to believe that this decision by the european court of human rights will see her walk free especially af

i'm very pleased to talk to you about my year in afghanistan. i'd like to thank the san francisco fleet week association, lewis loeven, specifically, major general myat, always a mentor, former secretary of state schultz and mrs. schultz, mrs. perry, honored to be in your presence. the uss makin island, chief of the fairest city in the world, san francisco, and he esteemed professionals. this is nice, i'm going to move south of here and take you to afghanistan. as you know we have marines, soldiers, sailors in afghanistan currently, but i'm going to bring you to when i was there during 2010 and 2011 after the president decided to surge the forces. first marine decision, first marine expeditionary force forward entered southwest afghanistan during 2009. we arrived in 2010 so it was a bit more stable. and we went straight to helman and nimruz province. very complex dynamic environment that we were operating in but before i begin it talk to you about the operational picture, i just want to give you a snapshot of afghanistan. when we got there i wan

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chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory correct especially according to resee there could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. the syrian unrest could soon move close to israel's border the conflict has forced a masochist thousands of troops it's part of the israeli occupied golan heights to fight rebels in other parts of syria that's left an area vulnerable to armed jihadist activity a prospect israel finds highly wiring reports now. technically israel and syria are still at war but paradoxically for the last forty years the occupied golan heights have proved to be relatively peaceful until now. i believe seventy six. ok it's. it's open no one you know and you can feel. the jews are religious minority very distantly connected to islam were split by the un mandated ceasefire border in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven when israel occupied the golan heights since then those who live on the israeli side of the

chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory especially if according to resee there could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. almost three months after the hunger strike started to spread among inmates had guantanamo bay prison camp the u.s. finally taking action over the situation there and home and send some forty medics to the camp to help those detainees who are refusing food that's more than half of the prisoners or more than twenty of the protesters are being forced somehow been hospitalized meanwhile the key issues raised by the starving inmates those of indefinite and from human rights abuses romeo addressed by washington most of the guantanamo detainees are being held without charge very have been cleared for release terry cooper is a psychiatry professor. and the right institute thinks the best way to keep the inmates alive will be to give them more humane conditions. when one or two people go on a hunger

chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory correct especially if according to resee there could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. on arrests could soon move closer to its rules border because it is false damascus to thousands of troops from its part of israel occupied golan heights to fight rebels in other parts of syria or certain areas vulnerable to jihadists to everything prospect israel finds only one of the results is really going to score points. technically israel and syria are still at war but paradoxically for the last forty years the occupied golan heights have proved to be relatively peaceful until now. i believe seventy six. ok it's. it's open no one you know and you can feel. the jews are religious minority very distantly connected to islam were split by the un mandated ceasefire border in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven when israel occupied the golan heights since then those who live on the i

would afghanistan have been different? >> yes. >> so what was his magic plan that would have made him different if he had the resources, i'm suggesting, and more importantly the confidence of the president. >> if he had the confidence of the president and the resources, he still wouldn't have had a magic plan. and he had no delusions about that. what he wanted to do -- >> there was no plan to be head had. >> was to begin the process of reducing our commitment there because we didn't have vital interests that justified that. so he was looking for various avenues to extricate ourselve. >> but he was-- yes. but also holbrook was trying to make a deal with the taliban. >> right. >> even though he knew was unlikely he could do it. he didn't have any illusions about that. there had been things written that he thought copull this off. but he was also quite pessimistic about it. in the end i think he felt that if there was going to be a deal, some afghan government would work it out with some taliban operation, not us. >> which is

grows next he's a turning point for afghanistan because because of the pullout of u.s. troops from the country and do you think is next for the country it's really hard to say but when i was in afghanistan most of the afghans that i've spoken to have seen this deadline with the looming trepidation in fact they think that once the americans draw down and there's no indication the americans will fully withdraw from the country but of course they will leave a massive power vacuum there is the potential for the country to descend into civil war and it also really remains to be seen what happens with the elections in two thousand and fourteen because again if the country doesn't. isn't seen as sort of having a legitimate. non the corrupt elections that really could spark to much much much further unrest than we've seen so far right nazis this account of lucy thank you very much indeed for your insight i think. while the u.k. government is pushing for harsher austerity thousands of families across the country are finding it more and more difficult to pay for basics even for f

this is the lesson of afghanistan. we don't have the opium story in my book we have the timber story which as in 2006 because there was so much illegal deforestation and afghanistan and an outcry by the international environmental groups karzai made illegal chopping down timber and exporting it she made it a crime and that didn't end it that just meant that all the people that were selling timber were all of a sudden criminals and to cause they were criminals, they all now had to deal with other criminals and in that part of the world a lot of time the criminals and the taliban it's just what you call them that particular day and became a mutual assistance situation people with a small timber out of afghanistan and pakistan and the same mules and smugglers would come back with guns and the money from the taliban and pakistan karzai was trying to do the right thing but ultimately it helped some pretty bad guys. islamic like the slave trade in annapolis. >> we have time for one last question and the young man with a good

and good luck, afghanistan. >> reporter: but the u.s. is withdrawing. and it's now up to afghanistan's 350,000 soldiers and police to lead the fight. however, there are serious concerns as to whether there is the political will and military capability to keep this momentum going. once international forces pull out at the end of 2014. after almost 12 years of fighting, hundreds of billions of dollars spent, and thousands of lives lost major general thomas admits the u.s. has yet to win this war. he firmly believes it's turning in the right direction. as we travel across afghanistan, the two-star general tells me that u.s. special forces don't want to give up the hard-fought gains and that they are willing to leave some soldiers behind to help keep the taliban in check. but that decision is up to afghanistan's president karzai who has been at odds with the tactics such as night raids. >> there is no shortage of folks in our force who are keen on seeing this through to, you know, make sure all of our blood and treasure we've spent here over a decade come t

it is standing into afghanistan. we have essentially cleat -- essentially completed those groups of principle. at this point it is moving in the right direction after a long period of time with those crown lines of communication unavailable. >> we're in a good place. conversation about the importance of the relationship with pakistan and i think many members of the commits -- of the committee look at certain actions with a lot of concern. same time we also understand pakistan has lost as many people in the fight against , as many of our allies. you alluded to but didn't go too deeply into the question of the nuclear arcas and all -- nuclear arsenal. one of the main issues that the united states for is about is an unstable pakistan that could jeopardize the security of the nuclear arsenal. that is one of the reasons we need to be so diligent and not distancing ourselves from pakistan but continuing to work to the greatest degree we can as partners for the ultimate security of that nuclear arsenal. commonlieve we have

if afghanistan is a place to care about. there was a time we needed to care about afghanistan. then we have to have influence there. you get it however you can get it if you have iran in there bidding on karzai's loyalty, perhaps we have to bid, too. it looks as if one of the problems with this guy is he doesn't stay bought but he certainly didn't stay bought for iran which apparently gave him a great deal of money the same way we did. when it came time for military agreement he signed with us. >> bill: brit, what you are saying is and i know you are being realistic and this is what happens in the world. we have been there more than 10 years now. >> what is your objection? we're too good a country to be involved in a corrupt thing like paying bribes to foreign leaders? >> bill: here is my beef. we're in business with a gangster. karzai is a gangster. he has other gangsters who he pays off to do whatever. lve what do you think is going to happen? the whole thing is going to collapse like south vietnam did. that's what's going to happen. >> i understand that well, i understand th

>> let's talk about the military draw down from afghanistan, athena. general dempsey is there this weekend checking on progress. there is concern about how that is going. >> reporter: that's right, don. the can concern is really about what happens after 2014. that's when the afghans are supposed to take over responsibility for security. for keeping the can country safe. and we know that some republicans, i spoke with senator john mccain today, he said he has always been concerned about this hand off. i asked about the event this weekend, killings over the weekend, raised concern. he said he is always concerned. the u.s. is sending signs that we're leaving. not thatter with winning, but that they are leaving. he said there's a file our on this front in iraq and he is worried we will see the same movie play out in afghanistan. i also spokes with lindsay graham about this and he said the u.s. would be crazy not to leave behind a force of 10 to 13,000 troops to help the afghans out after 2014. and so, that number still has to be determined but you can bet

if afghanistan is a place to care about. there was a time we needed to care about afghanistan. then we have to have influence there. you get it however you can get it if you have iran in there bidding on karzai's loyalty, perhaps we have to bid, too. it looks as if one of the problems with this guy is he doesn't stay bought but he certainly didn't stay bought for iran which apparently gave him a great deal of money the same way we did. when it came time for military agreement he signed with us. >> bill: brit, what you are saying is and i know you are being realistic and this is what happens in the world. we have been there more than 10 years now. >> what is your objection? we're too good a country to be involved in a corrupt thing like paying bribes to foreign leaders? >> bill: here is my beef. we're in business with a gangster. karzai is a gangster. he has other gangsters who he pays off to do whatever. swns we leave what do you think is going to happen? the whole thing is going to collapse like south vietnam did. that's what's going to happen. >> i understand that well, i und

and the audacity of don't we examine how afghanistan's prosperous prospering drugs trade rather continues to be a massive worldwide killer what a decade after the u.s. led operation are certain the taliban. imagine having money that's free from government control say from haircuts and decentralised there is such a thing and it's called a big point the cyber currency is value has increased ten fold of this year at one point a struggling surging pasta two hundred dollars a unit of this week before dropping back its use is seen as a sign of growing skepticism about the existing global financial system entrepreneur william ugo who tracks the big con market explains how it works. why is a prime number series of prime numbers basically just like you can break a piece and it's hard to put it back together there are certain things you can do with numbers that are easy to do but hard to on do unless you know the secret and those and those secrets involve special numbers and so i can watch something away send it to you and nobody else can unlock it except you and that's the basis of secret messages

chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory correct especially if according to resee it could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. and the misery is far from over for the survivors of the bangladesh tower block collapse you know all the big western firms that were making those for one day out to compensate the victims as we reported on live. and arson sore spot or one of those affected by last month's tax on oil spill there's still toxic trouble in the neighborhood more on our website. the arrest and imprisonment of ukraine's former prime minister you know to me has been ruled illegal by the european court of human rights the judges dismissed because complaint of physical mistreatment wanted custody she's serving seven years for abuse in office for gas deals and russia artie's looks the other ski has been following the case from the very beginning. defending lords of unity which i could believe that this decision by

nato is planning to hand over afghanistan to the leading security. >> the afghanistan security forces view the winter months widely to provide for the hand-over of the security in fashion by 2013. clearly they are ready. >> despite that, april has been the worst month this year in afghanistan. >>> a soldier wounded in afghanistan almost two years ago is about to make his new home in hollister, thanks to the support from the community. more on today's celebration. >> reporter: sirens and a pause to welcome a hero returning from war. severely wounded, the sergeant arrived to a huge crowd on saturday. city residents, fellow vets, and even a former american idol contestant were there to honor his service and break ground on the site of his new home. a gift from the organization, homes for our troops. >> we're really excited to be able to raise our family here. and it is an amazing organization. we're super thrilled. >> reporter: brian was on his first deployment to afghanistan in 2011, when an ied blew up the humvee he was tdriving. now with rehab, he can fully recover in his home residen

as planetary and the figures prove it illegal often farming in afghanistan since two thousand and one has been on a constant rise increasing by twenty times in the last twelve years afghan count in a call to officials say they spray an estimated one hundred fifty seven thousand hectares of land have been illegally used to grow opium poppies that's the size of a major european city like london in each of the nine growing seasons there has been more open poppy cultivation than during any single year of the taliban's rule the fields have expanded everywhere throughout afghanistan in the south of the country the rise was not dramatic but that's only because these regions have remained the biggest drug growing areas so there is simply less room to expand and the country's east bordering pakistan the land suited by opium poppies is now ten times larger this is just one of the country's many gates from where afghan drags pass through on their way to every part of the globe to pakistan iran middle east turkey central asia russia europe central. eastern western europe africa and both americas

led forces in afghanistan the raid was allegedly called in by troops on the ground after bitter fighting nearby let's cross now to. shed some light on what happened tell us what do you know about exactly what happened there. yes a grieving bell actually. and all ten children's are set to to be a minute the teen killed in a natural strike in afghanistan conor prudence according to officials there are reports says actually that it all happened when not too many silas hits the home of a suspected taliban insurgents in a small village in that area at the time when the family actually was inside taking each other from the right after us to the house was hit some locals from the area rushed to help the people who were hurt in that house and were seen carrying some out out somebody on the children's and others from the under troubles of some of the problems actually the u.s. led coalition's had confirmed that the car they have carry out their side the statements of a spokes man of the force acknowledge that they were carrying out or we'll their reports that the civilians were killed in that are

plus a daring taliban attack claims dozens of lives in afghanistan just a day after president karzai offered the militants a chance to enter politics and many other stories just around the corner for. the international world in the very heart of moscow. thanks for joining us here on our. show live in moscow where the presidential race has kicked off in venezuela although there are seven candidates running for the top job the spotlight basically is between just two of them and that over the acting president nicholas my daughter and opposition challenger and. take a closer look at the leading contenders here on our sea for example we're talking about a. president maduro pledging to ultimately preserve the legacy of the ball of vireo and revolution and build socialism is biggest trump card is the blessing he received from the late chavez who did name him as his successor and the former bus driver managed to work his way up to finance minister and vice president during the chargers' era well let's discuss the issues here with. capello's his trademark baseball cap he does like to suggest

plus a daring tell about attack claims dozens of lives in afghanistan just a day after president calls i offer the militants a chance to enter politics that and political stories shortly after this break. down. wealthy british style sun it's an awesome time to. time. markets why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports on our. time. about international and world in the very heart of moscow. these continues here in r.t. the presidential race has kicked off in venezuela or though there are seven candidates running for the top job the spotlight is on the battle between just two acting president nicolas maduro and opposition challenger in a leaky capitulates well let's take a closer look at the leading contenders president during pledges to preserve the legacy of the bolivarian revolution and build socialism is biggest trump card is the blessing he received from the late chavez who named him as his successor the former bus driver managed to work his way up to finance minister and vice president during the chavez era now complete with hi

led military operations in afghanistan. coming up a report on the lives of syrian refugees living in russian and starts in just a couple of minutes time. most people in the western world would agree that having laws that officially create second class citizens is totally unacceptable we can look at the way jews were treated in nazi germany or blackstar in apartheid in south africa and the slavery jim crow areas in the usa as examples of legally dividing society by necessity i think most people he you with their modern sensibilities would find these practices me bob baer american backwards but my question is that why is there to this day officially sanctioned second class citizens in certain e.u. countries or to be more accurate i should say non-citizen residents of the two million people in latvia around three hundred thousand of them are considered non-citizen residents who can neither vote nor hold public office these non-citizens are russian speakers of various ethnic backgrounds whose children also by birth bearer of th

there is a race on to define the afghanistan narrative. on one hand you have what atia was mentioning, the facebook generation that is pushing country to connect to the rest of the world. on the other hand, you have this future where fighting might come back. you have a question about whether is it civil war that's going to spread next? or wireless? and i don't think anybody knows the answer to that. and her death really strikes a blow, i think against all of those. who are fighting for the modernity part. i've spent a lot of time with young afghans who have tech companies, who right, 400,000 facebook users in afghanistan. people don't often think of that. and she really was part of that push from the young generation. when 60% of the country is under 25, to join the rest of the world. and i think that's how secretary kerry and others are talking about her. >> well, it is such a terrible loss. i know that we met just two weeks ago with these women entrepreneurs, i met with the students from this first co-ed university. the american univers

al jazeera, northern afghanistan. >> for more on our afghanistan coverage, our website has more information. israel says the cyber attacks on government websites has failed to cause serious damage. the attack follows a warning by anonymous it would target is really sites. israeli defense and education ministries were hacked as well as some media outlets. a new vote will test the popularity of the longest serving government in the balkans, and virtually unchallenged for more than 20 years. the court president is expected to win a third term. -- the current president is expected to win a third term. the government has admitted it will struggle after parts of the national budget were deemed unconstitutional. portugal has promised the u.s. and foreign investors it would reduce its debt in exchange for a bailout funds. they have rejected proposed pay cuts for civil servants and pensioners. spain has the highest unemployment rate in the eurozone with more than 25% of the people out of work. in some communities, things are even more dire. what could beited spain's most unemployed town. >> it is ma

troops draw down in afghanistan. the pakistani taliban are increasingly upping their fight across the border. this is one of their recent p p propaganda videos shot in afghanistan. in a barbaric act, they murder a man they claim is an afghan spy working for nato. cnn cannot confirm its authenticity. it is a chilling reminder of how once war recruits hone their skills and how pakistan's taliban emboldened by the nato drawdown are flooding more fighters across the border. >> they have meager resources. very meager resources, but their determination, when i saw their determination, their determination was very high. >> reporter: these war recruits just a handful in a gathering storm ready to take advantage in a battle they think they've won. nic robertson, cnn, islamabad, pakistan. >>> back to our top story now where the speculation that north korea may fire test missiles this coming wednesday. this warning from south korea comes as china's patience with north korea appears to be wearing thin. want to go now to cnn's ky

wars in iraq and afghanistan. the newspaper quoted officials familiar with interviews that investigators have had with the 19-year-old. the official said the suspect and his older brother do not appear to have been directed by an international terrorist organization. they say evidence suggests they were self-radicalized and that tsarnaev specifically cited the wars in iraq and afghanistan as motivating factors. the suspect is now being treated in the hospital for his injuries. staff say he is recuperating and communicating through writing. authorities charged him with using a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death. he could face the death penalty if convicted. boston police say the street where the bombing took place is now open. in the. the attack killed three and wounded more than 170 others. >>> prime minister shinzo abe has rejected criticism from japan's asian neighbors over visits by his cabinet ministers to a war-related shrine. he says they should not bow to threats. three ministers visited yasukuni

as far as afghanistan, it depends on the summer. they have indicated that they will wait and see it before making any recommendation. the hill at least will look to see with the military leaders have to say. , there wasfghanistan a recommendation for 13,600 after 2014. the demonstration has not made a decision on it yet. made athing day decision. they're pushing this often a little bit. the afghans are getting look very concerned about this lack of clarity on the future. it is causing them all to head a little bit. ae fear of abandonment is real concern. at some point the administration will have to come up with their plan for post-2014. it is 18 months away. aboutis is still debate the numbers. the size is important. it will tell what they can do. terrorism a counter- force they're able to go after al qaeda targets. >>

chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory correct especially if according to resee there could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. shortly with more news don't go away. world. science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got this huge earth covered. the book about international and world in the very heart of moscow. welcome back here with our tina on the new job numbers are in for europe and they aren't good the blog is bleeding jobs with unemployment up across most of the european union the march according to your stats spain and greece are ad the forefront both approaching one in three employed but as archie says are still you know reports it takes more than just numbers to see the true extent of the damage. the unemployment rate in years on this recently insured record twelve percent for those aged twenty five and cities like speed racer that number is this high is more than

we learned in afghanistan. u.s. military might alone does not necessarily make a peaceful situation. in u.s. has been involved providing humanitarian aid. in working with jordan another earners in the region, figuring out what we can do to help, like you said, the legitimate rebels. that is the tough question. we don't want to be arming al qaeda. we don't want to be creating any more violent or difficult situations. i think there is openness in the house to work with rival nations to arm the right set of rebels, but figuring out who those are remains elusive. so i think it is a more cautious approach. also, for all of the rhetoric out of the senate, when it comes down to specifics, what should we do? you talk about a no-fly zone. the implications of doing a no- fly zone in syria are overwhelming. -- the would read the war we would be engaged in in doing that is really pretty extensive. i think the senate's rhetoric has been hotter, but the specifics on what the logical smart thing to do is just as elusive over there

led military operations in afghanistan. up ahead shady deals and dodgy dollars are on the cards reports radar they're with us again and in a couple of minutes time. all. money in ski theatre and maybe a second to be opening money in stevia to see which is both a cultural contemporary i'm told no logic to serve the auditorium so joining me to all must say honored c m a the second as we bring you the glitz the glamour and the best of the best in the performing arts drawing here at marine ski a team. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and they glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm timer welcome to the big picture. download the official location to yourself to your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites from our touch if you're away from your television just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch our t.v. any time anyway. welcome to the kaiser report imax kaiser i saw

in iraq, they make that attempt in afghanistan don't think be a successful or influential afghanistan as they might be in iraq. >> general dunford expressed concerns in our hearing the other day. what is a rant every in iraq, including aerospace? >> to maintain i.q. worry about is they are supplying of weapons or any in iran or afghanistan. >> on your first issue, we have to understand how you're defining precipitous and also the implications of the perception of the region and clearly area as they continue direct transition -- we all need to pay attention to how we are doing that. i think general dunford type that out clearly in his testimony. aners arsomething wehatregion pay close attention t i would add potential training to that as well of some of the capabilities and weapons systems we have seen to apply the inside of afghanistan, particularly the west. >> when you say training, just that we become aware of over the years. >> director clapper, wanted to ask you about the september 11 attacks that are diplomatic solution of benghazi and wanted to ask you about the prior attacks o

and afghanistan. these airstrikes come amid repeated pleas from the afghan government of president karzai to stop killing civilians because in course those words they fuel insecurity and instability they further alienate afghans from their government which many afghans see as a puppet government so president karzai although he does all his power to allied forces to washington specifically but he clearly understands that those civilian casualties more violence in afghanistan and on mine his government even further these are the types of attacks that infuriate the local population like the one in september last year nato killed eight women or in may a nato airstrike killed an afghan family including six children and two women earlier this year president karzai banned afghan forces from calling in airstrikes although his order appears to have been ignored by international forces now these attacks also undermines u.s. efforts to negotiate an agreement to stay in afghanistan past twenty four team although

chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory correct especially if according to receipt they could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. i'll be back with more news very shortly so don't go away. while. it's technology innovations all the developments from around russia we've got the future covered. the international landlords in the very heart of moscow. welcome back you're watching r.t. coming to you live from moscow now a russian passenger plane has reportedly conder fire an air space to surface to air missiles are said to have narrowly missed the aircraft which had around one hundred sixty people on board were artist like sierra chef he joins us live now was more on this why do we know what exactly happened at this point well there are so many conflicting reports that it's actually hard to say what's true and what's not but we do know for a fact that and nor do we in the airlines russian plane carrying at least on