will there be divergent to the taliban? -- diversion to the taliban? if the taliban is smart, they won't try to put their hands on the money but there probably is going to be some leakage. that is why we say the donors have to come up with what is an acceptable amount of leakage to the taliban. what you are talking about is actually starting development aid. the u.n. document headset that. i am not saying we should or should not. i think right now we have a crisis of afghans freezing and starving to death and dying of diseases. that is humanitarian aid. if the united states government which they have said, they want to help those afghans. we are saying here the 10 things you need to keep in mind and does not get diverted to beltway bandits in the united states. nobody wants the money to go to the taliban. shuja: i'm glad you pointed out corruption is not endemic to afghanistan alone. we have noticed a lot inside the beltway and you have identified some of the culprits to the taliban -- the culprits are the taliban government itself should not be credit

will there be divergent to the taliban? -- diversion to the taliban? if the taliban is smart, they won't try to put their hands on the money but there probably is going to be some leakage. that is why we say the donors have to come up with what is an acceptable amount of leakage to the taliban. what you are talking about is actually starting development aid. the u.n. document headset that. i am not saying we should or should not. i think right now we have a crisis of afghans freezing and starving to death and dying of diseases. that is humanitarian aid. if the united states government which they have said, they want to help those afghans. we are saying here the 10 things you need to keep in mind and does not get diverted to beltway bandits in the united states. nobody wants the money to go to the taliban. shuja: i'm glad you pointed out corruption is not endemic to afghanistan alone. we have noticed a lot inside the beltway and you have identified some of the culprits to the taliban -- the culprits are the taliban government itself should not be credit

government, the taliban 2.0 is the same taliban that ruled afghanistan very harshly during the 1990's. it may be too soon to answer that question. what i would to ask you is, what is the taliban's ideology and outlook as we can observe it to date on certain issues, including, as you mentioned before, the role of women and religious minorities mean for the work that u.n. h.c.r. is doing, how does it affect the vital assistance you are providing? filippo: this is such an important question you are asking. i think it has many aspects. i will try to be quick in responding. first of all, is this the same type of taliban government that we saw in the 1990's? you know, i have been involved in afghanistan for decades. i have some -- even some personal comparisons i can make. i don't know. it's difficult to say. certainly, what has changed, and it has been said so many times already, afghanistan itself. the afghanistan that the taliban took over in 1996, 1997, was profoundly different than the afghanistan that they have taken over reenltly. and -- recently. and they have to live with that. th

in february, 2020, the trump administration signed an agreement we the taliban this required the taliban sever all ties with al qaeda before the u.s. withdrew. did the taliban, to the best of your knowledge, meet the requirements of the 2020 agreement before the biden administration withdrew? mr. landberg: thank you, sir. we have been very clear, we're very mission focused right now and we have been clear with the taliban what we expect of them in terms of counterterrorism. they are aware that they need to, if they want to build any legitimacy with the united states and the international community cut ties with al qaeda and ensure afghanistan never again becomes a source of terrorist threat to the united states or any of our allies. they're absolutely focused on degrading isis-k and also there's been many discussions on our concerns about al qaeda and the persistent presence in part of afghanistan. mr. grothman: since you can't answer, i take it that means there are still some ties there? what's the deal? mr. landberg: the taliban, including in a meeting a few days ago, have assured the

taliban terrorists overrunning u.s. and afghan army positions, seizing unaccountable numbers of advanced weapons and technology. and parading them for a global audience. and of course the august 26 terrorist attack on the kabul airport in which an isis-k bomber killed 13 american service members. what is less well known is that that bomber had been imprisoned in the bagram prison, which until that summer had been under american control. the biden administration conscious decision, again, inexplicably, to abandon that critical position, and with it, the high-security prisoners housed there. having still apparently learned nothing, releasing terrorists, seeing them killing americans, releasing more terrorists, seeing them killing more americans, the biden administration is talking about doing it again. now they are talking about closing the facility at guantanamo bay. i think before that is even contemplated, we should have some sense of the told that these catastrophic decisions have had. for instance, the washington pos

margaret: do you regret not including the afghan government indirect talks with the taliban? in the future, it could've happened. mr. o'brien: there are always talks. i'm not going to get into all the details, but there were always talks between the government and the taliban. some of those were side-by-side talks. some of those were subtle negotiations, undertaking those. but i spoke with president ghani on a regular basis, as did secretary pompeo. so the afghan government was involved. we weren't going to leave until we could negotiate a situation where the taliban and the afghan government came together and formed a transitional government that would've avoided some of the chaos we saw last year. at least that was our plan. we weren't around to execute it. that's what our hopeless. margaret: we can do an hour on this, but i want to get to another member who is waiting in the queue with a question. operator? >> we'll take the next question from jeh johnson. >> good afternoon, everybody. i hope you can hear me. nice to conduct an interview that lasts longer than seven and a

islamabad offered safety to the taliban even as is militants targeted u.s. troops. we need to have a serious conversation on the path forward and confident you will deliver a tough message confirmed. the odd afghanistan i remain concerned about the growing strength of extremist groups in pakistan itself. the government has created an increasingly permissive environment for extremist groups to operate. pakistan has become increasingly dangerous place for religious minorities. i'm eager to hear your views on how to strengthen religious freedom in pakistan. however, there are many important equities in the bilateral relationship, such as curbing nuclear proliferation, managing tensions with india, responding to covid, your experience will be an asset. i look forward to hearing how you will address these challenges in islamabad. dr. gutmann, congratulations on your nomination. your years of experience, your academic experience and powerful family history will no doubt serve us well. the importance of having a senate confirmed u.s. ambassador in berlin cannot be overstat

the role of the taliban. the evolving nature of the afghan government, future of afghanistan, that problem is here now. as we speak. day-to-day. we see the rollback of women's rights. we had hopes, i think, in the beginning that the new government would somehow try to behave in a more moderate fashion. but i think they are reverting to form. so the picture from the u.s. perspective doesn't look bright. i can understand why it should be high on the list. paul: can i say something about afghanistan, too. it's a bit of a paradox because i think a lot of americans look at what happened in august in kabul as well as the drawdown of u.s. forces in iraq and syria over recent years. more or less psychologically drawn a line under the 9/11 era. i think as meghan correctly points out in many respects the terrorist threat to the u.s. may now be on the rise again as a result of our departure. that has a larger debate about when we were -- whether we were doing the right way and how long we do it. there is a disconnect th

the taxpayers have all at that weaponry that the taliban now has. you got any reporting and recording of where that is? where's it being sold to now on the black market? i.r.s. releasing americans' tax returns. yes, we can do both and we will. i hope you all have a great weekend. take care. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022]

the world in which we live in, all of that can withstand the takeover of afghanistan by the taliban. does that pose additional security threats to our homeland? >> if i may broaden my answer a bit, we continue to be concerned about it. [indiscernible] >> here's my question. the country is now under the control of the taliban. >> we continue to see -- we do continue that concern. >> what capability do we have available to us to combat terrorism activity on the ground in afghanistan after the collapse? >> this would not be appropriate for me to go into particulars. what i would say is that -- >> you cannot tell this committee that the resources we have available have been lost because of the taliban takeover? >> i would not like to characterize our intelligence capabilities. >> what about the u.s. southern border? >> three years ago, i did go to the southern border. >> how many people have come across the border from special interest countries? >> i do not have that particular information. >> how many people have come across the border in the past years from special interest countries?

the taxpayers have all at that weaponry that the taliban now has. you got any reporting and recording of where that is? where's it being sold to now on the black market? i.r.s. releasing americans' tax returns. yes, we can do both and we will. i hope you all have a great weekend. take care. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] announcer: c-span's washington journal, every day taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and we will discuss policy issues that impact you. coming up friday morning, the senate and the biden administration's efforts to pass voting rights legislation. and the naacp president, derek johnson. what washington journal live at 7:00 eastern friday morning on c-span or on c-span now, our new mobile app. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and sweets. friday, martin luther king iii will talk about lessons from his father's

the taxpayers have all at that weaponry that the taliban now has. you got any reporting and recording of where that is? where's it being sold to now on the black market? i.r.s. releasing americans' tax returns. yes, we can do both and we will. i hope you all have a great weekend. take care. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] >> american history tv saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. on the presidency, two programs about how presidents influence the early space race. first at 2:00 p.m. eastern, a look at the role of president dwight eisenhower's administration and the creation of nasa in the 1950's. then at 250bg p.m. eastern, -- 2:50 p.m. eastern, mercury rising, the new battle ground of the cold war. and at 3:55 p.m. eastern, a discussion on the history of the fill buster in american politics. watch american history tv saturday on c-span2 and fi

the taliban emptied the facilities indiscriminately. here is the story that could concern national security in the u.s. they write that the attack raised international profile and positioned and as the major threat to the taliban. the most imminent terrorist risk to the u.s. coming out of afghanistan. that is from the new york times. back to calls. this is the republican line in california. caller: i think most americans like stability. we have two term, -- 2, 2 term president in clinton and obama. another one were able to solve the problem. i think next year you will probably see a big republican landslide in the house and senate. i do not know why joe biden would want to run again at his age and be in the minority. i think that both parties are in desperate need of a new voice, a new face, and something that the people can look to. right now you have two guys over 75 years old and i do not think anybody wants to see that. i think both parties would do themselves a service by finding someone new and different. host: linda is up next. g

we watched in horror as the taliban released thousands of al qaeda, isis, and taliban prisoners from the prison at bagram air base. our service members had bravely sacrificed to capture those terrorists and the biden administration allowed them to be released. one of the isis-k prisoners led the bombing that killed 13 service members. biden's failure in afghanistan led to the surrender of tens of billions of dollars in u.s. military equipment to the taliban. military equipment paid for by u.s. taxpayers will now be used against america because of president biden. as afghanistan fell, president biden disappeared first to camp david, and then to delaware. his cabinet refused to brief the american people directly, and instead sent spokesmen. additionally, the defense secretary refused to testify before congress. the biden administration then flew an estimated 78,000 afghan nationals to american soil and then lied to the american people about the vetting process they were using to ensure that no isis, al qaeda, or taliban terrorists were brought to our shores. to this day no one in the b

. -- with the taliban. he left our best weapons, and he gave it to the taliban. these democrats say, oh, joe biden has done a great job. there is this woman who used to work for is really intelligence, this jen psaki woman. and the caller from before, you need to get that author on your show. host: you called on the democratic line. are you a democrat? caller: no, i called on the independent line, 8002. host: read in washington, republican. caller: i will be brief, i wanted to make two points. first, the caller from illinois, to paraphrase what he said about the orange haired guy running around should be in an orange jumpsuit, that dovetails into what i wanted to say. in the news that is not being reported, four days ago, rest mutant, which is like the gold standard for polling, reported that when asked the question about the pandemic, 51% of democrats said that republicans are anybody who does not get vaccinated should be put in prison, that is so profound. so that really aligns with that caller that wants to see trump in it jumpsuit because he does not politica

i wonder if the taliban, who now rule afghanistan with al qaeda elements present, contrary to president biden's beliefs are allowing this kind of speech to be carried? and then, this from longtime political reporter ed o'keefe. he is with cbs news now. looking at how the president used his words in his speech saying, over the course of the past year, the president has made passing references to his predecessor. several times today, speaking much more expansively than before about donald trump, blaming him for stoking the january 6 protests and doing nothing to stop them. we heard the vice president kamala harris mention house-senate staff had to makeshift barricades on capitol hill. here's a picture from a former harris staff are saying, that day, january 6, turned out to be the last time i staffed then senator kamala harris at the capitol. it was also the first and hopefully last time that my work required me to mciver a cable and coat rack to jam a door shut to buy time in case we had to escape from a mob. this tweet from a congressman saying that he is going to be giving the republic

i think this all started in afghanistan and the taliban when he saw weakness. we saw that with hendler. -- hitler's. is not just about ukraine. it is about china, about president xi in taiwan, the ayatollah, about north korea who just fired off two missiles, these hypersonic weapons. i think this has broader global ramifications. we are seen as weak right now because of president biden, his comments about a limited invasion as being acceptable and that nato was divided, i think one thing he said was true, that nato is divided. putin's goal is to divide and weaken nato. he has accomplished some of that. [video clip] a story from -- guest: a story from reuters this money, e.u. ready for never before seen sanctions, ready to impose never seen before economic sanctions on russia if it attacks ukraine. the eu foreign minister says it would send a unified warning to moscow. east and west tensions have risen since

we should have known that the taliban was making deals with all these provincial governors or mayors or whatever for months, since trump made his deal with them, and there's a lot of corruption, and what would they do when they knew that we were leaving, that we were planning to leave? but i'm just upset. i'm ashamed about how people are reacting to taking afghan refugees is awful -- refugees. it is awful. they are not all the same and it worries me our country is turning into tribes, basically. i cry for my son, what he went through. i did not sleep the whole time he was over there. and he did go over for a good purpose, so -- like i said, it makes me angry when people say we never should have been over there. host: you mentioned he went over right after having -- after his wife had a child. with that grandchild, what will you tell that grandchild one day about afghanistan and about that grandchild's father's service? caller: i am proud of my son, that he went and fought for our country. i'm ashamed of what is going on now. i am ashamed -- i don't blame president biden. i think ther

people got the message and i have to tell you, the chinese, the north koreans, the iranian regime, the taliban, al qaeda and isis, they all got the message too and in ukraine in particular, instead of using deterrence, instead of stopping this aggression on the front end, we continue to hear about how tough president biden's going to be after russia invades i was just out in ukraine a month ago and i have to tell you, talking to ukrainian officials, they said, thanks a lot doesn't do us a lot of good to get tough after russian tanks are sitting in our capital and just in one year, just in one year we have lost two allies and two democracies and i just can't understate, i think we need to make this connection, how much biden's failed energy policies have played into russian aggression by shutting down pipelines here, by regulating fracking, by stopping drilling of american oil and gas companies, he's enriched putin's oil and gas companies every time you see that price of oil, that barrel, go higher and higher, putin gets richer and richer and more and more aggressive he's also said, he said jus

we think the taliban have him. can my right honorable friend advise me and the family whether he knows anything about this man who has him and what's being done to get him home? >> i thank my honorable friend for raising the case with me. and i hope to organize a meeting for him with the relevant minister as soon as possible to establish what we can do to help grant. >> he's not apologized, mr. speaker, for breaking the rules. and breaking the law. he's sorry because he's been caught. he is. so when my constituents were making unimaginable, unimaginable decisions he was hosting a boozey party in downing street. how does he think he can still maintain the one rule for him and another for the rest of us? he cannot and he must resign. [cheering] >> i refer to the answer i gave earlier. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. this friday my private members bbc license fee abolition. gets a second reading. it will abolish the bbc license fee and require the bbc to be funded by subscription. in this day and age it's ridicul

. -- with the taliban. he left our best weapons, and he gave it to the taliban. these democrats say, oh, joe biden has done a great job. there is this woman who used to work for is really intelligence, this jen psaki woman. and the caller from before, you need to get that author on your show. host: you called on the democratic line. are you a democrat? caller: no, i called on the independent line, 8002. host: read in washington, republican. caller: i will be brief, i wanted to make two points. first, the caller from illinois, to paraphrase what he said about the orange haired guy running around should be in an orange jumpsuit, that dovetails into what i wanted to say. in the news that is not being reported, four days ago, rest mutant, which is like the gold standard for polling, reported that when asked the question about the pandemic, 51% of democrats said that republicans are anybody who does not get vaccinated should be put in prison, that is so profound. so that really aligns with that caller that wants to see trump in it jumpsuit because he does not politica

the united states has withdrawn from afghanistan and there is concern this swift taliban takeover of the country, coupled with the mismanaged withdrawal, has left a vacuum in which terrorists groups will reconstitute. dhs is leading the enormous task of resettling 60,000 evacuees into the united states. operation allies welcome will be a complicated effort for the department and dhs does not have the luxury of focusing solely on this issue. the threat landscape has expanded beyond the actions of foreign terrorist organizations like al qaeda that served as the original catalyst as the creation of the department. dhs must be prepared to handle cyber attacks, challenges on the border and encroachment by u.s. economic security by foreign actors seeking ways to influence our democracy. dhs must be able to prove -- must be able to handle all of these and more. it is no easy task to create a new organization and even more difficult to combine 22 distinct entities into one cohesive unit. what date -- while dhs has made great strides over the years, the government accountability office publis

the taliban emptied the facilities indiscriminately. here is the story that could concern national security in the u.s. they write that the attack raised international profile and positioned and as the major threat to the taliban. the most imminent terrorist risk to the u.s. coming out of afghanistan. that is from the new york times. back to calls. this is the republican line in california. caller: i think most americans like stability. we have two term, -- 2, 2 term president in clinton and obama. another one were able to solve the problem. i think next year you will probably see a big republican landslide in the house and senate. i do not know why joe biden would want to run again at his age and be in the minority. i think that both parties are in desperate need of a new voice, a new face, and something that the people can look to. right now you have two guys over 75 years old and i do not think anybody wants to see that. i think both parties would do themselves a service by finding someone new and different. host: linda is up next. g

the current takeover by the taliban has lessons for the continent and i hope we can learn from these developments under able to apply them to the hotspots where insecurity underlines long-standing partnership and investment. i now recognize the chair of the subcommittee on north africa -- i don't believe he is still here -- i think he is on the floor. let me recognize chris smith, the ranking member of the subcommittee. rep. smith: thank you very much chairwoman. thank you for your leadership. deputy, assistant secretary notes almost half the world conflicts in 2020 were in africa. 15 at current count. thank you, chairwoman bass for holding this hearing to understand the ongoing conflicts that continue to plague africa. among the conflicts, i think the two most pressing in sub-saharan africa are in nigeria and ethiopia, in part because of the outsized importance these two countries play in the continent. this is not to minimize other areas of conflict like the insurgency in mozambique or the ongoing conflict in the central african republic and the ever lurking potential for civil war

the plan was for the afghan military to fight the taliban to a draw at least, and to negotiate a settlement. obviously, that failed. obviously, it had only a slight chance of success, but imagine the reaction toward the world and in the united states if we had disarmed the afghan government rather than give them a chance to survive, a chance that they were not able -- so i don't think we could have taken back the weapons. as to the withdrawal itself, the people -- what we saw from afghanistan was that the people who had friends and an understanding of the united states, the people who spoke english, were making those videos for their friends to see, not saying please give us some guns's and some shovels so we can fight and defend couple from the taliban. the knowledgeable people, the insiders in afghanistan, all were demanding on those videos that we saw in english, "get me out of here." this place is going to fall. they are going to kill us." and once the insiders are saying that, we should not have been surprised that that causes a panic, when the most knowledgeable people are panicked, a

created a peace treaty with the taliban. pressured 500 taliban prisoners to be released. host: ok. so the message would be what exactly? caller: i don't know. finding a way to navigate through all the chaos. we have legislation sitting in congress that's being filibustered since day one. our infrastructure deal that was passed as being filibustered in congress along with voting rights and other stuff. host: one of the topics addressed yesterday was the topic of education. it was on fox news sunday where the education secretary talked about the administration's desire to keep schools open for in person learning. >> our expectation is for schools to be open full-time for students for in person learning. we remember the impact of school closures on students. we have $10 billion in the american rescue plan for surveillance testing. we recognize there may be some bumps in the road when superintendents are getting calls saying that some of their schools may have five to 10% of their staff not available. any decisions on short-term or emergency closures are most likely based on staffing i

basically to the taliban regime. to do all the great things they have been doing. people have asked afghanistan do need help, we know the funds or food we send over there would go into the wrong heandz. we need a better chain of supply to help them than what the biden administration is proposing. the nonprofit rescue group save our allies have been working tirelessly to rescue those left behind by president biden's disaster. they warn the funds and supplies will not go into the hands of the average afghanistan. we need to rethink this. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to direct your comments towards the chair, please. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from new mexico seek recognition? >> good morning, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman new mexico is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, the history of new mexico and our rural communities predate the founding of our great nation. our communities carry r

the biden administration allowed to happen there, leaving so many americans and allies behind for the taliban, is a historic tragedy. but does joe biden seek unity? no, he resorts to smearing over half of the american people who disagree with his radical agenda. but that's how this leadership of the democratic party in washington thinks. they believe that the country is theirs to govern as they wish, force their will on you and me. we've had one year of democratic party control and in only one year the democratic party has tried to take our country from us. i say it's time we take it back. thank you. with that, i yield back. mr. banks: madam speaker, as president biden continues to fail the american people and so many -- in so many ways, and his poor leadership has created crisis after crisis after crisis, i can't think of anywhere in the country that shows us just the opposite type of leadership than the free and open state of florida. at this point, madam speaker, i yield to one of florida's great leaders, a freshman leader in the republican study committee, my colleague and friend, represe

now, do i feel badly what's happening to as a consequence of the incompetence of the taliban? yes, i do. but i feel badly, also, about what's taking place in the eastern congo. i feel badly about a whole range of things around the world that we can't solve every problem. and so i don't view that as a competence issue. the issue of whether or not there's competence in terms of whether or not we're dealing with 5g or not, we've done deal with 5g. the fact is you have two enterprises, two private enterprises that had one promoting 5g and the other is our airlines. private enterprises. they had government regulations. so what i've done is pushed as hard as i can to have 5g folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airlines until they could more modernize over the years so that 5g would not interfere with the potential of a landing. so any tower being 5g tower within certain number of miles from the airport should not be operative. and that's and so i understand. anything that happens is consequential is viewed as the government's responsibility. i get that. am i s

all while the taliban, the chinese communist party and iranian officials spew their genocidal rhetoric on american-owned platforms. big tech is also working hand in glove with the government to do its bidding. jen psaki admitted from the white house podium that the government is communicating with facebook to single out post for censorship. the outlook is grim. a lack of accountability and sweeping immunity on big tech for broad interpretations of section 230 has emboldened these companies to abuse their concentrations of power, constrict the digital lives of those who express political views and sharpen the digital surveillance on ordinary americans. to scan the content available directly on your personal device. put simply, big tech companies are not afraid of the american people and they are not afraid of meaningful checks on their abuse of power and it shows. yet we should be wary of calls to further suppress content based on politically expedient definitions of misinformation. clearly this definition it is in the eye of the beholder. the wuhan lab theory comes to mind. holding big

it reminded me of the taliban and their target practice. host: how does this relate specifically to january 6? caller: all those people down there believe in the one thing, that immigration is totally bad. there's things i do not agree with about emigration. i do not like the litter or pollution i get from immigration. host: ok, let's go to carl on our independent line, from massachusetts. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. for the life of me, i cannot understand why -- i am not a democrat, not a republican. i cannot understand why people would follow donald trump. he held insight the insurrection , riot, protest, whatever you call it. then he turns his back on his own people. i mean, even hitler's had more principles. he went to jail for what he believed in. this guy, how can people admire him or follow him? he betrayed his own people. host: how so? caller: he told them he would be with them, and then he takes off. i do not know where he went. he waved to them on his way out. i do not know if he went to play golf or watch tv or wh

and don't even get me started on the fact that we ceded afghanistan to the taliban after 18 months of stability in that nation and saw zero american fatalities and stability for our afghan allies and we handed it over to the taliban. that is what one year of one party rule has given this country. an unmitt gated disaster. now getting back to schools. i know that my colleagues on the left want to say this is just an issue for chicago. or some other city. 4,500 schools shut down the first week of january. that is a national issue. to talk more about it, is my good friend representative letlow from louisiana, i yield her two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. letlow: thank you, madam speaker. i rise to oppose the previous question so we can consider h.r. 682. i believe this legislation is critical for our students to ensure success in the current school year and also address the learning gap that has arisen in this pandemic as parents we know that education is the most essential cornerstone in the foundation of our children's future. throu

iranian officials, ccp eight spokespeople, the taliban. all of these people are free to say what they want. usually, it is a pursuit for us right who says what is going on here. and then they maybe think about it, they maybe say this is human error and redress those issues. but that does not happen often. and it does not happen unless we talk very seriously or at least flagged these issues. so this is not what section 230 was created for. we need to realign it with congress original intent. but it is being abused right now. >> i couldn't agree with you more in that. so with that, you'll back thank you. >> chair recognizes ms. craig for five minutes. ms. craig: inky so much, mr. chair -- thank you so much for holding this important hearing. thank you for the witness testimony. we have been talking about section 230 reform in various formats, i know, for many years. and some of the folks who have been here for more than a decade have brought that up today. and i am glad we are finally diving in to some specific pieces of legislation. whether

most international assistance was cut off after the taliban took over in august. hospitals and schools cannot afford to pay their staff and many people cannot avoid -- cannot afford to buy food. adding to more rate, hunger and crisis. the last couple of months, since october 20 21, the deeper red shows people in an emergency space with hunger after -- 55% of afghanistan's are set to face hunger. democrats line, you are next. caller: high there, sir. i was calling in to make a comparison regarding the russian encouragement into the ukraine. to me, as a history teacher, this seems familiar to the of germany. there was a vote in ukraine. i don't see how when people claim to be students of history, they leave out this convenient comparison. i don't really have anything else to say about it. host: thanks for pointing that out. naples, florida, joe on the independent line. good morning. caller: what people fail to realize is, vladimir putin is the richest man in the world. he makes his money off oil. by moving those troops who are camped out somewhere else and russia to

we have a taliban safe haven there like we did on 9/11. that is the way international relations and security works. the decision-makers decide what they can get away with and what they are capable of. it is dangerous to get in the head of vladimir putin, i don't want to be there. but i think he takes the measures -- takes the measure of american leaders when he talks to them and makes assessments. john mccain called vladimir putin the former kgb colonel. is a strong? is he weak? what will he do when push comes to shove? i don't have evidence of this, but i suspect that the withdrawal from afghanistan as well as other stuff related to norm stream to -- little to nordstrom to may have left putin with an assessment that there is some weakness in the administration that can exploit. he probably has an eye on history and we know how he views the collapse of the soviet union and how he would like to reverse some of that. host: anthony is here in washington, d.c. on the independent line. caller: mi on? -- am i on no? host: yes, go ahead. caller: