>> well, the honorable member know we arehere in afghanistan at the invitation of afghanistan and a united nations mandate. we are not seeking to conquer afghanistan. it clearly is impossible. you only have to fly over and look down at the deserts and mountain ranges to know in a moment that it is not possible to conquer afghanistan but it should be possible to provide necessary support for the government of afghanistan to be able to conduct its own security and provide for the future of its own people. and the honorable member is right that there is great public concern about this. i don't want to minimize the difficulties or imply that things are easier than they are. but i do believe that if these three things are pursued successfully together, the military strategy, the economic strategy, and a political process, then it is possible not to have a purely military success but to succeed in our objective of an afghanistan that can look after its own security. >> does the foreign secretary accept that what the public will now regard as a timetable for the withdrawal of british troops will

pakistan afghanistan relationship but where does that leave mr karzai and his agenda for afghanistan and the american one. i think first of all to go back to our tolls point you this is a missile alliance between the u.s. and pakistan countries really don't have friendships they have relationships and they have interests and their relationships are based on interests so we shouldn't really see this is a permanent relationship there will always be differences and the baggage of history of the u.s. pakistan rollercoaster relationship really impinges on current decisions and perceptions inside pakistan as far as afghanistan is concerned in my view pakistan could certainly live with karzai provided it sees a stable of law an entity in which the bathrooms have a much greater say that's the kind of government that they could live with because they're supposed to and that are most contiguous to the area that's pakistan on the border and if they are unhappy that the northern alliance or other groups that are traditionally closer to india have greater say then pakistan will be unhappy some of

afghanistan before we have finished our job then the taliban would just return to afghanistan and create again a safe haven for international terrorism terrorists could easily spread from afghanistan through central asia and further afghanistan could once again serve as a launch pad for terrorist attacks against north america and europe. ok and i'm the eternal pessimists i'm afraid i mean the what the head of nato had to say right there is going to happen i believe because it's all in the you know policy on afghanistan is not being made in kabul it's being made in washington and it's all about not foreign policy it's about politics ok obama's choices are very limited right now could we see the repeat of history. well yes i think so but i have to say i mean first on such of nato i mean nato is already leaving i mean you had this again saying we we are in afghanistan what date what was it like so we're like we now know what's that we can solve it you know what it is in afghanistan effectively as a coalition of the willing as usual mostly britain and america and britain by now i mean the re

what works in afghanistan is what has worked in afghanistan. let the afghans pay the price and do their fighting. putting american boys in place is contrary to our national interest and will not lead to success. trying to put upon the afghan people, will not work. we need to strategy instead of putting our people into a meat grinder. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. who seeks recognition. the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. lee: i would like to yield one minute to the congresswoman from maryland, donna edwards. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. edwards: i rise in support as a co-sponsor of this amendment and i thank congresswoman lee. this amendment requires that we act on evidence and we know that based on the evidence our afghanistan policy is a failure. numerous strategies and restated mission statements from president bush to prime minister gordon brown to prime minister blair to president obama, we -- restated mission statements continue to fall short. u.s. military repo

military in afghanistan. "mr. mortenson who for a time lived out of his car in berkeley, california has spoeng at dozen of military bases, seen his books on required reading lists for military commanders and had lunch with general david petraeus. he was recently in florida at centcom headquarters and met with the head of special operations command. his new book is "stones into schools, promoting peace with books not bombs in afghanistan and pakistan." here is our conversation with him, taped yesterday. a pleasure to meet you. very much so. for a man who tries to scale k-2 and find himself in a village of people who bring him back, so to speak and then -- pick up the story. >> 1993, i went to k-2 -- i went there in honor of my sister krista who died from epilepsy, to honor her, i got within 600 meters of the summit, didn't quite make it to the top so i came off the mountain and i was very weak and emaciated and i walked five days and i stumbled into a little village called korfe where i was befriended by the people

we have to go after the afghanistan government. some of that money needs to come back to main street. guest: i think that is the point of some of these remarks in the report. we have security interests and the way we have to look aheait is, if the surity concern is terrorism, or we prosecuting that the best we can? and i do not think so. i think there is a more cost- effective way to do it. wee table. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order. the house will come to order. members in conversation, if they'll take their conversations to the cloakroom. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? >> madam speaker, i send to the desk a privilege red port from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 1500, resolution providing for consideration of the senate amendments to the bill h.r. 4899, making emergency supplemental appropriations for disaster relief and summer jobs for the fiscal year endi

and in afghanistan. is this pacific command structure -- how do you sort of bridge that -- i would argue in some cases it's an artificial gap between your responsibilities and other spanders' responsibilities? >> to ensure there are no gaps. i spoke with admal willard yesterday in preparation for this hearing. and if you confirm me, we agreed to work very closely together. wecannot do something on one side of a combatant commander's boundary that complicated the other. we're committed to working together and it will be the closest collaboration between pacific command and central command if you confirm me. what we don't want to do is ignore the reality that it's a regional problem, that pakistan has had a very difficult history with india. india has shown great forbearance under some enormous pressure. at the same time,fghanistan and pakistan have got to be able to work together. and so it is complicated, but it's the normal -- the normal state of things in the world. we can overcome any little boundary

of course that's in afghanistan. so getting the right and effective mechanisms of development and diplomacy in afghanistan really is par of that goal. and we have to get it right. but i'm beginning to wonder if we are. at a recent hearing, this subcommittee held -- i think it was with the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction. i was really quite shocked at some of the amazing, damning incidents of corruption which i think our -- well, we are aware of and even contributing to as we continue to increase our military footprint in afghanistan. for example, i there was a recent "new york times" report citing afghan and nato officials contending that security contractorompanies, including those connected with president karzai's family and affiliates, charged with defending united states and nato interests, have actually funneled money directly to the taliban, not to attack convoys or other targets, and in at least one case there is suspicion of a contractor compelling the taliban to attack nato forces in

and no the whole region afghanistan pakistan and i guess x. or viewed. states are likely to fall on the taliban or other forms of extremism was not take a look at the wider context if you well you know and in context of the global fight against terror how will as you said the failing of americans in afghanistan impact the situation actual americans have failed in nation building in afghanistan and the major problem you know general mcchrystal has now gone to the new commander of american troops and international troops in afghanistan they try to apply neutral solutions yes because they're a military man but you know you can apply the solution only two minutes a problem the problem in afghanistan the problem of the biggest are not military and those are social economic and political problems smallest of all corruption drug abuse and actually the basic problem the failed nation building let's see the basic problem of those countries and of course we can make no plans for to enter for two years is just a complete fantastic. political expert from

guest: in afghanistan? host: in afghanistan. guest: well, i think we should have kept our eye on the ball following our action in 2003. instead we invaded iraq, and most of our brain cells and resources moved on to iraq. in hindsight, senator bob graham, who opposed the action in iraq, was right. he said this will distract attention from afghanistan, which is our real target. and to the caller who said, why don't we ever get over 9/11? i don't think we're ever going to get over 9/11. i'd like us to learn the correct lesson, which is not that we should have a military footprint around the world forever, but which are that we live in a world where there are a lot of people who can be taught not to like us, and we have to project our values and win the argument with these people to prove that we are a good global citizen and that we care about human rights development of the world. host: representative harman is the subcommittee chair of homeland security intelligence and terrorism, as we talk about afghanistan and the situation in

the leadership deficit in afghanistan is a very serious one. from the perspective of the people of afghanistan. >> lehrer: you think the key to it is just corruption? just simple corruption? or is it more complex than that? >> it is more than that. it's also the system of governance. i think president karzai insisted through the new constitution to create a super presidency and an extremely centralized government structure which he has not been able to deliver. he has failed. i think this is inappropriate system of governance for a multiethnic society such as afghanistan. i think he has not been able to also come up with any offer for the taliban to be... to negotiate over. he wants to negotiate but he hasn't said what he is going to offer them to negotiate for or over. and he needs to articulate what that might be. i think through decentralization government structure in afghanistan which would be far more appropriate for the country, taliban might have an incentive to negotiate with the government, that is, to be able to run their own local c

to help tackle the problems in afghanistan. and the shanghai organisation of corporation is also assisting. the context group and with the upcoming meeting of for instance of russian afghanistan and pakistan and to extend and started this year in helping and one of the factors of creating good neighborhood relationships after the international stabilization efforts here is called to restore it's a new trial audio is going to sign a trailer status of against and we hope this will be supported by the afghans. and the presidents of russia united states are willing to support it in their mutual statement taken in twentieth of june in washington and we believe that today's conference so will help maintain our efforts and support afghanistan to build a prosperous and stable state thank you. listening to russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov addressing the international conference taking place in kabul at the moment on the issues that are taking center stage are security issues drug trafficking and other measures that. need to be ta

troop commitment in afghanistan. they raised new questions about pakistan's reliability, about afghan corruption and about civilian deaths. but mr. obama said today all those things already have been taken into account. >> that's why we have substantially increased our commitment there, insisted upon greater accountability from our partners in afghanistan and pakistan. developed a new strategy that can work and put in place a team including one of our finest generals to execute that plan. now we have to see that strategy through. >> reporter: the president won support on that point from republican senator john mccain at the confirmation hear inghearings. >> the wick i cakileaks leak is part of the concerted history and that's why we need to make changes to our strategy in afghanistan, to increase our commitment of troops and resources and to bring new and better leadership to the mission. >> reporter: meanwhile, john kerry, chairman of the senate foreign relations hearing, cautioned against overreacting to wikileaks.

appear in how would you define victory in afghanistan? had you think that will look like? how much time do think congress will give president obama to achieve those goals? >> victory to me is success. it is not something that is going to be a side thing at the end of the war. it will be a gradual thing. . stable and democrats -- i think security is number one, and i will not allow the taliban it will take a number of years, but the best way is to take responsibility. it is critical and always has been. it is a signal to the afghan government. we would begin to reduce our military presence, the pace of the reduction to be determined at the time. the decision is to make it clear but we will continue beyond the july 2011 time. >> q said it would take several years during and what do you think of afghanistan -- you said it would take several years. what do you think afghanistan will look like. >> there are parts that are secure now. i would say, is iraq's secure? we are pulling out totally by the end of next year, down to 50,000 by the end of this year if my recollection is co

locals make the link with afghanistan clear. >> for as long as the native forces remain in afghanistan there will be people like him. what happens in afghanistan has a direct effect on people's thinking here. >> the afghan and pakistani taliban make great use of the uncontrolled tribal area along the border. the british gave them almost complete autonomy in the days of the raj. this is where al qaeda and other groups operate. osama bin laden might be here somewhere. in a mansion that has scarcely changed since the days of the raj, the governor has started to take over the tribal areas where the extremists operate. >> one measure of our success has been the fact that over the past two years you look at the local people in the province over here. they were favorably inclined toward them, but have turned against them. >> at the moment when pakistan is successfully cracking down on its own telephone group it stands accused of helping the afghan taliban. >> they were able to show their strength. the authorities started looking at the taliban as one of the future options to support in afghan

policy in afghanistan. there is substantial concern about our course in afghanistan, in part because of the recent disruption in our military leadership, but also because gains in governance, development, military training, and other areas have not occurred at a pace that loose confidence in president obama's original timetable. some security improvements have been achieved and more are likely to follow, but they have been hard-won. and in six months, the president expects a review by his commanders on the status of our efforts in afghanistan. this review presumably would determine the shape of an unexpected transition of responsibilities to afghan security forces in july of 2011. but absent a major realignment on the ground, it is unrealistic to expect that a significant downsizing of u.s. forces could occur at that time without security consequence. this conclusion is reinforced by recent gao and inspector general reports that have raised deep concerns over the viability and the quality of training for th

to afghanistan. that's our basic conclusion and basic advice is to stop as much as we can or at least do less of what we're doing that is harmful. if we want to break the momentum of the taliban, well, a good place to start would be to not fill their coffers. that's our story and we're sticking to it and now to tell you the actual truth is phil heymann. >> as he comes up, you can see with this study, that was supposed to be the good news. this is also why we have him here to present a view from the administration as well as others and they will have their opportunity here very shortly to give their thoughts on this. but before that, professor heymann. >> i am about 10% as good an economist as any of the three and that worries me a little bit about giving my thoughts. but on the other hand, economists led us to the economy that we now have and sometimes they are wrong. indeed, often they are wrong. and the question that i want to put to you and to them is how sure we are of what part of their conclusi

and they feel they need a counter against india in afghanistan, so it is pakistan and southern afghanistan, roughly speaking and india, perhaps, having influence in the north. and the afghan taliban, the pakistan's proxies. >> rose: general petraeus, is he going to change anything about the mcchrystal strategy? >> i think what is going to happen is general petraeus is obviously doing an assessment of all aspects of the policy on the ground to see where things may be tweaked. i don't think you are going to see any major changes at this point. i think in terms of candle hear there will be a continued and renewed focus on some kind of political settlement within the city itself and working with the various factions to try and do that. outside of the city i think you are going to see perhaps accelerated efforts by the military outside to try and cut down some of the taliban networks, and i think specifically some of the -- some of the commando operations that have been going on very quietly but very efficiently, ruthlessly efficiently in going after taliban leadership and these are the special

i believe our goal is to help afghanistan prevent a takeover again of afghanistan by the taliban, who provide safety, solace, and support to the al qaeda terrorist group, which is global tax, already, including 9/11. that should be our goal. i believe our mission should be to strengthen the afghan security forces so that they can take on that tell the taliban. the army is well-respected by the people of afghanistan and the taliban is feared by the people of afghanistan but detested by the people of afghanistan. and so the building blocks of an afghan policy and mission are that you have an army and that is respected and an opponent that is detested by the afghan people. and so, for me, whether or not we have progress or not will depend on whether or not we have successfully taken some steps to build up the afghan army, particularly, with other security forces in afghanistan as well. the evidence we have made progress, in terms of putting the army in a position where they can be the principal provider of security for the afghan people, some of those steps have been at the following. fi

we do afghanistan. today, we are here to talk about one aspect of the afghanistan issue, a very important one. we have 3 ph these and a professor -- ph.d.'s and a professor and a former attorney general, as well as the drugs are, and a representative from richard holbrooke's office. this is a great crowd, a well- informed crowd. understanding the importance of this issue and the drug components of afghanistan. the institute of peace, and the center of international corp. have done a couple of these reports -- cooperation have been a couple of these reports. one of these reports was written by to people that are here. one of these reports has already had an effect on the policy of this administration, moving from the medication, which had been the policy before, the one of the focus -- a focus on the movement. we will have an opportunity today to listen to this new report being presented. in the words of the preface to this report, it is even more radical than the first one. it is very timely today, in t

>> there are parts of afghanistan that are secure now, so it's not as though afghanistan is insecure now and will be secure by 2011, july. it will be -- i would say is iraq secure, for instance? we are pulling out totally out of iraq by the end of next year. down to 50,000 by the end of this year, if my recollection is correct. but is iraq secure? there's bombings in iraq almost every day and yet we are leaving and everyone agrees we should leave. are we leaving it secure and reducing forces when it is secure? no. is it for most purposes secure? yes. is it secure enough so it's on the right path to security with some confidence? yes. and that's what i would think afghanistan will look like in july of 2011, that it will be substantially secure. most of it will be secure. and the rest of it will be clearly on a path towards security for its people and on a path where the taliban is clearly not going to be able to reassert control because the afghan troops and the afghan police hopefully, but more importantly the troops will be in control of that country and providing the principal secu

afghanistan i have but. now the un that warning that if the world's richest countries caught their spending on aids research the recent progress in fighting the disease will be put in serious jeopardy it sounded the alarm at the international aids conference in vienna where activists are demanding universal treatment sarah firth is in austria for. the main topic of the conference today has been on this new treatment gel for women designed to help in the fight to prevent hiv a. bigger she had this prevention as treatment and there's been a lot of research going into that over the last three years to really develop these prevention methods to the conference that they held today to present the findings on this need to oversee to round the flows and everyone's been talking about that's a very positive thing to come out of this conference and earlier today we all say how to talk about basing the phrasing cons of early treatments a starting treatment for haiti earlier now that's being quite heavily debated not eve

and afghanistan. those are the reports. it does not mean the contents are true reagan >> people should exercise caution. >> people should exercise caution, and i will give you an example of the ways they should exercise caution. you will see how to read the material report. you will find the u.s. military units when self-reporting, often speaking the language, redefine civilian casualties as insurgent, downplayed the number of casualties, and we know this by comparing these reports to the public record for where there has been investigation. we see the initial report from the field was 56 insurgents killed, no civilians killed, but we know from later investigation that most of the people killed were civilians, but when units report on other military units, they are more likely to be frank. when they report on the other allied units not from the u.s. military, they are even more likely to tell the truth, and of course, when they are reporting on the taliban, it all comes out. similarly, when we had rep

what works in afghanistan is what has worked in afghanistan. let the afghans pay the price and do their fighting. putting american boys in place is contrary to our national interest and will not lead to success. trying to put upon the afghan people, will not wk. we need to strategy instead of putting our people into a meat grinder. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. who seeks recognition. the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. lee: i wou like to yield one minute to the congresswoman from maryland, donna edwards. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. edwards: i rise in support as a co-sponsor of this amendment and i thank congresswoman lee. this amendment requires that we act on evidee and we know that based on the evidence our afghanistan policy is a failure. numerous strategies and restated mission statements from president bush to prime minister gordon brown to prime minister blair to president obama, we -- restated mission statements continue to fall srt. u.s. military reported tha

non-military aid that have was supposed to come to afghanistan i think the government of afghanistan and the leadership in upon us on the take the lead but also the nation as a whole should be besieged and should be encouraged to participate in fighting corruption because corruption alone by the government cannot be stopped alone but i think the participation of the population and the participation of the internet. community is also an important factor in fighting corruption now washington originally spoke of a troop withdrawal but that time since been replaced by drawdown and now nato is saying it will stay until the mission is complete so do you think that will ever actually see international forces leave the country. if i remember correctly mr obama's statement regarding this issue was tailored very carefully he mentioned he said that they will begin. withdrawal a drawdown that would begin two thousand and eleven which means that there is an open issue of whether the situation is prepared for it where the security forces of the afghan national army and police are ready for it and

moving in and out of afghanistan may been that if you focus only in afghanistan. depending on where it moves, it3 moving to pakistan could not be ruled out. >> i run the drug policy project. this is washington and no one likes to hear bad news. it means a lot did you come here and address this. thank you very much for coming. my question has to do with the purity of afghan heroin in the region. many attics in afghanistan and surrounding countries are3 fairly pure. if we could dramatically reduce the supply of heroin, either through aerial spraying or that is trafficking the region, or to high-level interdiction, as we've seen in other places traffickers tend to buy their drugs to the point where it is no longer smokable. intravenous drug use becomes the most efficient means of delivery. have you thought about the consequences to afghanistan and the surrounding countries, especially pakistan, and are these countries in any shape to begin to handle a massive spy and intravenous drug use? -- spike in intravenous drug users? which would mean hiv in drug usage. >> i'm

keeps killing happily american and french for french troops in afghanistan while there. i was i invited him to need to integrate into afghan society ok ok so no surprise no surprise it's time to get out it's time for the neighborhood to mend itself this was an abject failure the u.s. should get out now no more review in december this is the review the review is it's a disaster how do you get to stand that being the case what is the endgame for america and i mean the aim is there's no more coalition of the willing leave let the neighborhood take care of itself it will be very very messy but that's the only way that afghanistan can start mending itself and we'll see who has germany or the pakistanis the iranians who else will not be the united states and its allies this is a this is confirmation of the worst military defeat in american history so suck it up peter says leave but even. politically it's understandable from the professional military perspective for us. directive bomb i would love to leave but it's just impossible for political reasons and for militarily becaus

the new commander all for american troops and international troops in afghanistan. solutions yes because the nutriment but you know you can apply solution a problem the problem in afghanistan the problem of the pakistan military those are social economic and political problems small struggle corruption drug abuse and actually the basic problem the field nation building let's see the basic problem of those countries and of course we can make no plans for to interfere in afghanistan . on the way shortly here on our t.v. think with a very very. gentle woman she is one hundred thirty years old but says she still enjoys life surrounded by have great great grandchildren we tell. the un's a warning that if while the richest countries can't they're spending on aids research the recent progress in fighting the disease will be put in serious jeopardy it sounding the alarm at the international aids conference in ghana where activists demanding universal treatment sarah ferguson in austria for. it's the third day of the aids two thousand and ten conference in vienna and already

war in afghanistan and pakistan. in my own view is pakistan's the more important of the two in the long run. that's a nuclear weapons states and afghanistan will always have its problem and pakistan is a more serious problem and we're bi-polar disorder with the agencies dealing with pakistan and india for example. i don't think we have a regional approach to the reege. . we don't have an integrated approach. >> woodruff: do you think the wikileaked documents in the last few days, what's they're bearing on that? >> i think they're irrelevant but they'll drive policymakers to stop putting things on paper and harder to establish a record of what was done. anytime the government has the leaks it closes and there will be more verbal communication rather than writte written communication. >> woodruff: how do you see the leaks? >> i think they add noise and confusion to the dialog and despite the best efforts of policymakers in the u.s. and pakistan to stay committed to the current parts which is that of collaboration and c