committee, i am honored to testify today on u.s. strategy in afghanistan, and i appreciate this opportunity to address why continued u.s. engagement in afghanistan is so important, and to place our efforts there in the context of the challenge we face from the extreme distorted islamic ideology which threatens or citizens, our values and our way of life. rather than submit a statement for the record i would refer the committee to the recent atlantic council paper on afghanistan and u.s. security of which i was the principal author. cosigned by 28 former senior u.s. government officials of both parties and prominent policy experts and with senators mccain and reid as honorary co-sponsors, that is jack reid. the paper registers bipartisan agreement that afghanistan matters to america's security, has a way forward to success, despite all the challenges, merits the continued u.s. engagement required to protect american interests and should be seen in the context of the broader terrorist threat. we argued it to maintain u.s. and coalition military forces and intelligence assets and c

. the most famous and worst single tragedy of the entire fall of 2015 in afghanistan. certainly in terms of a tragedy that we all would have liked to see avoided and that was caused by mistakes made by the u.s. military and afghan security forces and we'll discuss that issue as well. vanda and i are very honored to have our colleague with us here. he is an active duty marine corps officer with considerable experience in the broader middle east conflict found in previous assignment area -- assignments. we are pleased to have him in brookings. he draws on this great repository in his mind on various issues that get to the heart of what happened. usebasic question of how to military power in as safe away as possible in a difficult combat environment. he has experienced, not only as a pilot but also as an individual who helped coordinate unmanned aerial situations with a background as well in foreign area operations. he has a sophisticated understanding of the way in which military operations affect populations in which they take place. vanda is the author of the aspirations of excelle

their last month in afghanistan. about 40,000 are still here. by the end of the year there will be just 8,000. we traveled to afghanistan in the midst of this transition. but on the base, we found a story that isn't being told. the people doing the day-to-day work here are mostly civilian contract workers. men frommen india and nepal who travel to a war zone gist for a promise of a good job. or many of them that promise turned out to be a lie. they ended up deceived and indebted victims of human traffickers who thrive on military contracts . front line investigates the american military has come to rely on an indentured workforce. camp marmel is the largest base in northern afghanistan. nato's mission here centers on training the afghan national army. >> the complexity sometimes is when we first got here is i started thinking about it, it but -- >> this is the u.s. regional garrison commander responsible for daily operations in the north. >> there are a lot of great contractors who come up here local nationals third country nationals u.s. ex-pats and they all work together. >> what are

. despite those very long experiences in vietnam as well as in iraq and afghanistan, it's seeming as soon as we get ourselves out of that, we want to get our force back toward large maneuvering combat elements and that is unwise. i would say one of the things that struck me is that naval forces tend to think more almost soft-like in a sense that we're always out, we're always deployed, we're always in the neighborhood. we get to know people, the local actors, and we tend to interact on a more consistent basis which is more in line with soft doctrine than perhaps the land battle doctrine. >> yes, ma'am. >> okay. strategic deterrence in a new era. i wonder if the new era is possibly a little ahead of what we've been describing here, and that's been reaction to iraq, the russians, the ukraine, that kind of thing. if you've been listening to ted koppell, if you've been hearing about the home-grown, now being called terrorist attacks on the home front, that was not just the recent one, it was also boston, there seems to be a great possibility, as i see it, for just a tremendous upheaval o

and human security in afghanistan as we begin a new and important year. and we bring a number of different perspectives to the conversation today. we are. we're going to begin with opening comments from each panelist. and there will be different angles and approaches unsure for each. previously we will have discussed the broad state of afghanistan today. it is overall political and military prognosis and trajectory, talk about the afghan people and their well-being, human security and how the conflict as well as everything else going on is affecting them which will be a 2nd main scene and then a 3rd obviously overlapping theme as well will be the important role of nongovernmental organizations are ngos. we are honored today. if i could say a brief word, policy and advocacy director of mercy corps. she is working the capacity for some time and is a former peace corps volunteer in nicaragua more time capitol hill, the friends committee on legislation, longtime advocate for those in difficult circumstances around the world, and mercy corps is famous for this. one of the topic she wi

afghanistan operations, commander lieutenant general john nicholson. you're looking at live picture from capitol hill where we are waiting the start of a senate armed services committee meeting that should get under way in moments. it's a confirmation hearing for the president's nominee to be the commander for afghanistan operations, commander lieutenant general john nicholson, illinois senator mark kirk will introduce the nominee. while we wait for the meeting to start, a number of road to the white house event on the c-span network today live from iowa, at 1:00 p.m. eastern republican presidential candidate rick santorum who won the iowa caucuses four years ago will hold a town hall meeting in indianola. this afternoon, senator rand paul will speak at a campaign rally in des moines and afterwards take your call, part of tonight's debate among the gop presidential hopefuls. paul' rally wills about be on c-span. and skipping tonight's republican debate, donald trump will instead hold a rally at drake university and des moines, that will be live at 9:00 p.m. eastern, also on c-span. >>> w

, france, filled with thousands of refugees from syria, afghanistan, iraq, sudan, and other countries -- a map of the targets of u.s. bombing campaigns. the refugees have come to try to make passage through the channel tunnel to england. >> u.s. is just increasing the war. actually, u.s. don't want to finish the war. it's their game. it's the game of george w. bush, obama, and other -- all the european union. they don't want to finish. amy: who also speak with french journalist nicolas henin. he was held for 10 months. >> the problem is that with all these bombings -- because everybody at the moment is bombing syria -- all of these bombings have a terrible side effect. and basically, we -- westerners, but not only westerners, also the russians, also the regime -- are pushing the syrian people into the hands of isis. amy: all that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to two of the biggest stories of 2015, war and europe's worst refugee crisis since world war ii. more than 1 million refugees have c

the ground i have served several times as a reservist in afghanistan. there is a officer who has as much experience that he does. do you get a multi a generational from the father and all fathers and also given a monument in pakistan and with the general was asked by leaders are you related? he said yes. to have that level of experience. >> thank you very much. been in the you have other responses -- responsibilities. thanks for taking the time with this military that we will hear from today. to consider the nomination of nicholson to be the next commander of the coalition forces in afghanistan congratulations on your nomination. we hope you'll take the opportunity before your remarks to introduce any family and friends joining you today with family lineage of the members of this committee. en general nicholson as well. with your leadership at a critical time. to reside over important progress with the african military to have a strong and productive relationship with the afghan unity government to see the progress is in danger, to be based on conditions on the ground. to keep 9,800

and afghanistan posted by the brookings institution. we will hear from the executive director from doctors without borders about the bombing of a hospital in afghanistan by the u.s. military and the challenges of providing medical care and conflict zones. we'll hear from a former naval flight officer. that discussion scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. president bill clinton will make his first campaign trip for hillary clinton. we'll have live coverage this afternoon at 5:15 p.m. eastern from exeter, new hampshire. more road to the white house coverage with senator rand paul also live from exeter, lives tuesday on c-span2 at 6 p.m. eastern. >> c-span takes you on the road to the white house with best axis two candidates, town halls, meetings, speeches, rallies, and meet and greets. we are taking your comments on facebook, twitter, and by phone. eventays, every campaign that we covers on a website, c-span.org. the second session of the 1/14 congress begins today with a pro forma session of the u.s. house life here on c-span. legislative work begins tomorrow in the house.

evolving security environment. this includes ongoing missions in afghanistan and iraq, the global challenge posed by isil and russia's actions in ukraine and beyond the the commission recommends review a strategic guidance and associate budgets to help clarify the implications of this environment to strategy mismatch. the commission's analysis did point to some important areas for capability improvement in the emerging world environment. we draw attention to aviation which commissioners hail and from will discuss in more detail, armored brigade combat team capacity, air defense artillery, and chemical biological, radiological and nuclear countries capability. remedying these shortfalls within a 980,000 soldier army would require difficult but necessary trade-offs. if army end strength cannot increase, our assessment indicates the army could consider reducing up to two infantry brigade combat teams in the regular army to provide the many necessary to strengthen aviation, short range air defense and other capabilities i discussed. doing so we believe would reduce over all risks comm

of afghanistan. decades. "the washington post" with a blockbuster report that some of the america's top military commanders are considering plans to dramatically extend what is already america's longest war. the suggestion, now that some of those who will fight in afghanistan have not yet been born. we'll speak with one of the journalists who broke the story. that's next. e*trade is all about seizing opportunity. so i'm going to take this opportunity to go off script. so if i wanna go to jersey and check out shotsy tuccerelli's portfolio, what's it to you? or i'm a scottish mason whose assets are made of stone like me heart. papa! you're no son of mine! or perhaps it's time to seize the day. don't just see opportunity, seize it! (applause) isn't it time to let the real you shine through? e to severe plaque psoriasis... introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monit

operations afghanistan. at a hearing he talked about the security challenges in afghanistan and the u.s. strategy in the region. this hearing is one and half hours. [inaudible] >> good morning. thank you for being here, i would ask the indulgence of the committee to allow our distinguished collet from illinois, senator kirk to make a few words of introduction before we begin the committee proceedings. senator senator kirk. >> thank you mr. chairman. i am here to give general nicholson my highest recommendation. he has had three and half years of active duty service on the ground, more than any other general officer in the military. i have served him several times as a reservist in afghanistan. there is no officer who has as much experience in the u.s. military than he does. i would note that with him you get a multigenerational input from his father and grandfather, and great grand uncle. the famous nickel saying who has also been given a monument in northern pakistan who led the british forces. when general nicholson was asked by afghan leaders, are you related to nickel saying, he

food security. we work in the north and the east and the south of afghanistan including kandahar, helmand and kunduz. and we use what's called a community acceptance model of security and community mobilization implementation approach which is development speak for we work closely with communities to make sure that we're hearing their needs and working on the projects they think will improve their lives. it's also working with communities -- security or helps ensure that we're able to be safe and work in some difficult and challenging environments. so i agree with vanda's assessment. the economy has been taken a downward turn over the last couple years in afghanistan and jobs and unemployment have -- jobs have decreased and unemployment has increased significantly and it's increasing the drive for afghans to make a difficult decision to decide if they want to stay in afghanistan or travel to europe or other locations. and some of this stems from a lot of the levels -- the numbers of millions of afghans living below the poverty line and the thought and feelings that the economy is

ash carter secretary-general and the president of afghanistan talked about global security and hybrid warfare at the world economic forum last week. from thabo switzerland this is just under 45 minutes. >> a warm welcome to the global security outlook. the outlook session as the name suggests is about thinking where are we heading, what's happening in 2016 and beyond of this panel is on global security. we started the world economic forum and global context session reflecting on a few years that we know we have behind us where we saw two trends developing quickly and dramatically. the first trend is a trend towards increased fragmentation. many societies unable to deal properly with governance with maintaining political order and maintaining a sense of being in the same boat which of course leads to a number of consequences but in the more extreme version the violent extremism with the option for people to capitalize on this fragility. the opposite trend which seems unrelated that actually is close lately is that we see key powers on the planet and increasing competition over influenc

. >> hallie jackson, thank you. >>> breaking news this morning out of afghanistan. we hear an unknown number of american forces have been killed or wounded. let's turn now to nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. jim, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, jose. details are still sketchy, but according to u.s. defense officials, an unknown number of american forces have either been killed or wounded in what turns out to be two separate incidents. according to officials, u.s. special operations forces were conducting counterterrorism operations in the helmand province in southern afghanistan when they came under heavy fire and there are some wounded under american special operations forces. an american medevac helicopter was called in and settled down on the ground, but while it was on the ground, at least the vicinity around the helicopter then came under heavy mortar and enemy small arms fire. it is not clear that the helicopter was struck. it may remain grounded because of the intense fire in the region. but again, details still sketchy. exact numbers of killed o

of waste in government. we spend $43 million on a natural gas gas station in afghanistan. whoever got the money for that should be in jail. they say the estimated cost would be about $500,000. cost $43 million. there are very few cars in afghanistan and none that run on natural gas. imagine trying to have a business and you will build a natural gas gas station that may be part of the future sometime but you build it now and no one is going to use it. they spent 800,000 in afghanistan for a televised cricket league. they don't have televisions in afghanistan. what business is it of ours to borrow money and send it to afghanistan. we studied japanese quail to see if they are more sexual on cocaine. i am not kidding. i think we could just stipulate, yes. thanks everybody for coming out. >> there are blue cards on your seat and volunteers walking around. they will make themselves obvious. this is a movement and a movement takes people so put your name on that card and help us all out. >> c-span2 takes you on the road to the white house. best access to the candidates at town hall meeti

that a senate committee will look at the security in afghanistan. later, conversation on race and law enforcement. >> on the next washington journal, will discuss discuss the president's executive actions on guns, with congressman from alabama and new jersey. also david french talks about his national review article title, rise of isis. it's about the rules of engagement for u.s. forces in iraq and syria. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> book tv has 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend on c-span2. here are some programs to watch for this weekend. saturday at seven eastern, book to be is at the university of wisconsin with history professor william p jones to discuss his book, the march on washington. >> this is a movement that it was really going to the core of many people's beliefs about what this nation should be. it did change a lot of minds but it also people to their position of hatred. >> at 10:00 p.m. eastern, afterwards with fox news correspondent who looked at the life and political career former vice president dick cheney in h

islamic state moves into afghanistan where the militants are trying to extend their territory. from the blizzard to the big day, across the east coast people are grabbing their shovels to get rid of all of that snow. ♪ katty: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and also around the globe. the world health organization has issued a warning that the zika virus which is being blamed for thousands of artifacts in brazil is likely to spread to almost every country in south america, central america, and north america. there is no vaccine against the disease which is carried by mosquitoes. pregnant women have been advised to avoid traveling to countries where it is present. our north america correspondent reports from rio de janeiro. >> caret four and loved as much as any other for the rest of their lives. it is driving fear into the hearts of thousands of families. in many cases, mothers may not be aware of it until their baby is born. link to the mosquito borne6 -- zika virus, the crisis is having worldwide repercussions. >> this spread is in new geographical areas wi

taking executive action on gun control. u.s. troops under attack in southern afghanistan. one american servicemember is killed in the fight to push back the taliban. offering hopes that vision can be restored by the thousands. ♪ laura: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. in an emotional speech that brought him to tears president obama announced he is taking executive action to tighten gun control in the u.s. he said he was using his presidential powers because congress failed to act. his critics say he is overstepping his authority and promise a challenge. jon sopel has our coverage. jon: his nickname is no drama obama. not today, not on the issue of gun control, as frustration over failure to act turned to route emotion as he talked about the young children that died in the new town school shooting. president obama: first graders. neververy family who imagined their loved one would be taken from our lives by a -- every timegun i think about those kids it gets me mad. on theway, it happens streets of chicago every day. jon: the statis

the border in afghanistan, he disappeared shortly after 9/11. to know more about osama bin laden, to bring you his whole story, we visited his homes, his headquarters, his hideouts. we journeyed in his footsteps, from saudi arabia to pakistan to afghanistan. those who have prayed with him, lived with him, and fought for him share the story of his gradual but deadly transformation. from a quiet religious boy to the angry voice of holy war. ♪ osama bin laden grew up in the boomtown of jeddah, saudi arabia, a town his father helped build. >> saudi arabia in the 1960s was of course a fantastically wealthy kingdom. jeddah was its main door to the west. it was its main port on the red sea, and a huge amount of building had taken place. i'm brian. i taught osama bin laden english in saudi arabia from 1968 to 1969. osama sat about two-thirds of the way back on the right, by the windows. he was not an outstanding student academically. on the other hand, he was a very bright boy. >> reporter: although arabic and religious instruction took priority, the al fatah school, one of the top schools

and two u.s. service members injured >>> the growing battlefield in afghanistan claiming the life of another soldiers, and the claiming u.s. mission in that war torn country >>> dangerous flooding after years of drought in california, the danger san diego faces >>> we begin with breaking news - north korea says it carried out a successful hydrogen bomb test. if the information is correct, it would be north korea's fourth nuclear test, and hydrogen bombs are much more powerful than the nuclear bombs north korea tested in the past. earlier tonight south korea reported a magnitude 5.1 earthquake centered near a known testing site. north korea conducted a third nuclear test causing an earthquake similar to the one recorded tonight. see awe called an emergency meeting -- south korea called an emergency meeting to address the situation >>> in the united states president obama is trying to bicas congress to reduce gun accidents. he bypassed congress talking about measures to take. he got emotionle talking about the sandy hook elementary school shooting. >> reporter: at times during his p

eastern afghanistan near the border with pakistan. what's interesting about building tribal leader is that he along with other tribal leaders in the area have called for national uprising against isil. he has a number of fighters, tribal militias, fighting isil in eastern afghanistan. his son also is a member of the provincial council in that area. it's interesting that eastern afghanistan and mainly the province and its capital city of jalalabad is volatile. the government is fighting the taliban and the government fighting isil. you have isil fighting the tab ball, so the security situation is very very volatile. >>ed founder of afghanistan research for policy studies joins us. why is isil making gains in jalalabad? >> isil has been active in jalalabad for the past several months. they first tied to establish their base and consolidated their bases during the summer and fall of last year and now they are entering the operational phase. they have taken responsibility for a number of suicide attacks in jalalabad. jalalabad is key for them. if you are able to establish their base in the mou

. troops in afghanistan. >> they are in harm's way, that is clear. >> reporter: the dangers they face and effort to clarify their mission and ahead a farmer nato commander james is going to weigh in on the situation. >>> and hitler's manifest to after a 70 year ban and copies are back on the shelves in germany. ♪ this morning there are new questions about the u.s. role in afghanistan, an american green baret killed in afghanistan. >> to help the afghan military not to be involved in direct combat and al jazeera jamie mcintyre has more from the pentagon. >> reporter: officially u.s. special operation forces are only training, advising and assisting afghan forces not fighting alongside them as they battle to retake territory from the taliban in afghanistan's southern helman providence as they explained it to al jazeera in an e-mail they travel with the afghan special operations forces up to what we usually refer to as the last covered and concealed position or an over watch position but he wrote our forces do not go on the objective with the aftghans and in the case of the combat deat

of afghanistan in a discussion on global security and hybrid warfare at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland. >> a warm welcome to the global security outlook. the outlook sessions, as the names are addressed, is about what thinking where are we heading? what's happening in 2016 and beyond? and this panel is on global security. we had, as we started the world economic forum global security context session and reflecting on a few years that we now have behind us where we saw two trends developing quickly and dramatically. the first trend is the trend towards increased fragmentation. lots of trust, lots of social cohesion, lots of societies unable to deal properly with governance, with maintaining political order, and maintaining a sense of being in the same boat which, of course, leads to a number of consequences, but in the more extreme version, the rise of violent extremism or the option for people with violent intent to capitalize on this fragi fragility. and the opposite trend which seems unrelated but actually is closely linked is that we see between key powers on the

general for afghanistan reconstruction. on a trip to afghanistan, he happened upon a fleet of abandoned military planes. his questions took him down the rabbit hole where hundreds oref millions of your tax dollars were spent on a giant boondoggle that turned out to be worthless. anyone flying through kabul international airport in afghanistan's capital city the past couple of years might have seen this odd scene -- a fleet of abandoned military planes parked off to the side. inspector general sopko: we actually asked the question, "what are those airplanes?" because you would see them right next to the main air terminal in they were all jumbled together with trees and grass growing in between them. sharyl: inspector general john sopko saw the planes on a trip to afghanistan in november of 2013 to investigate waste of u.s. tax dollars. nobody seemed eager to answer his questions. so he took matters in his own hands. inspector general sopko: i basically threatened to just walk across the tarmac and said, "if you're gonna arrest me, do it, but i'm certain it will be front page 'new york ti

. breaking news out of afghanistan fox news learned senior u.s. defense officials, more than a dozen army special operators in a rescue helicopter are trapped in afghanistan. it's a compound, they are being surrounded at this moment by enemy fire. taliban on the move. u.s. special-ops, one was killed earlier today. we have the people who will fill you in. president obama pushes for harder gun control. he plays all his cards from women's suffrage to civil rights. during his press conference he began to weep. >> but i believe we can find ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the second amendment. contrary to the claims of some presidential candidates apparently before this meeting, this is not a plot to take away everybody's guns. every time i think about those kids it gets me mad. and by the way, it happens on the streets of chicago every day. charles: that was president obama emotionally assuring his action is constitutional and that it's needed. let me start with you, you are new on the panel and to the show. president obama pulled out all his cards. he talked about women's suffrag

., china, afghanistan and pakistan meet to come up with a road map for peace with the taliban. coming up why the taliban is not involved at least not yet. >>> and the deadly raid to capture the drug kingpin el chapo. ultimately they will make us safer. >> president trying to figure out just which course to take. >> this is how you can fight the republicans, and he's putting them where they have to respond. >> and after the address... >> where five years of captivity came to an end today for a canadian tourist taken hostage by the taliban. colin rutherford was called a spy when he was taken hostage in afghanistan. details of his release have so far being kept secret. >> typically in these cases and this case is no exception, very little is known about what went on. candace's foreign minister issued a statement that he was pleased that colin rutherford was released. thanking the government of qatar for an unspecified role in somehow arranging this or being involved in it. we're not expecting much more information to emerge because everything is very sensitive, whether negotiations took pla

hamidi was born in kandahar, but when the soviets invaded afghanistan, her family fled the country, eventually landing in northern virginia, where she grew up and was educated. after the events of 9/11/2001, she returned to afghanistan with a mission to find ways to economically empower the women of her native country. she is the founder of kandahar treasure, an enterprise employing over 450 women who embroider garments and housewares for the domestic and international market. rangina: i came here as a nonprofit worker, and the bureaucracies, the politics, the lack of a real vision forward really disappointed me. and so i thought that the alternative to this mess was business, because business offered sustainability and business gives an opportunity for people to rebuild their own lives with their own hands. i saw my country in the past 30 years of war, we are constantly waiting to be spoonfed by the world. so my answer to this dissatisfaction was start a business that i can own, but with a sustainable model, i know that in the future we can stand on our own two feet and not depend

in one of afghanistan's most dangerous provinces. after more than a dozen u.s. troops are trapped behind enemy lines, and some of them are still there, surrounded right now by taliban forces. welcome to "the kelly file," everyone, i'm megyn kelly. it all started with a firefight that left one american dead and two others injured in marjah, afghanistan. rescue teams were sent in, but one of the helicopters could not get away, suffering damage hen the rotes or the collided with a wall. similar to what happened to a helicopter during the osama bin laden raid. a quick reaction force was then sent in. managing to evacuate some of our people, including the dead and the wounded. but others stayed behind to secure the damaged helicopter, similar to this one, and that is where they remine right now. surrounded we are told by enemy forces. in a province that saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire afghanistan war and became the topic of an entire hbo documentary. in fact, many of the nearly 400 marines who gave their lives in afghanistan died in this very place. in moments we'll be

explosive devices, blow people up in afghanistan and around the world, what did they do? they put up what's called jido, joint improvised explosive device organization. they found out the dog does this better than anybody else. do you see dogs in every airport? no. it's a shame. it is 10 years of wasted assets and hundreds of millions of dollars going into machines that don't work. they just provide theater. they don't secure the airport. >> we're going to stay with it a bit. it sounds like, forgive me for using this term, you are a bit of a radical on tsa. do you use the full body scanners or not. do we increase training or not? do we have a few more of this or that machine. you're saying the whole logic of a technological orientation is correct. we need think about a low technology exclusion. are you saying discard some of the machines? or are you saying complement them with a canine approach? >> i want to do what works. if you go overseas, you will see a lot more. when you talk to the israelis, the people in france, they teal with this in a much much more serious way. we are still playin

years to have worked in public diplomacy and afghanistan for 16 months before that an embassy and who served the nation as a broadcast journalist for 30 years before that. for starters, we need to face facts. we will not do well enough in this arena and kelly take it more seriously. it's clear from our recent history in iraq and afghanistan and elsewhere that america cannot prevail globally with hard power alone but the nation's capacity to participate meaningfully in the global context of ideas has been allowed to decline in recent years even as the information challenges we face grow and change. in a world where vladimir putin weapon isis information and brick terrace recruit on the internet the united states has no one in overall charge of its information efforts. it has cut the budget for diplomacy and spending in real terms on exploiting honest journalism. as most of you know when the u.s. information agency was disbanded as a peace dividend at the end of the cold war public diplomacy efforts were moved to the state department across the street and international broadcasting was

out of afghanistan as the associated press reports that one u.s. service member was killed and two were wounded in fighting earlier today in southern afghanistan. the u.s. military has confirmed that. the a.p. writes that the fighting which reflects intensified efforts by the u.s. and its afghan partners to push back against recent taliban gains was near the city of marjah in the hellemond province so expect any questions about that. live coverage here on c-span. >> in the meantime, part of our conversation from this morning's "washington journal" on countering islamic extremism. host: first from your perspective, as a muslim american, do you think the paris and the san bernardino attacks changed the way americans talk and think about islam in this country? guest: absolutely. i think before there was a lot of speculation. people were a little bit suspicious of the muslim community. they were suspicious about muslims overall but they were waiting for confirmation. what happened with these attacks people felt it was confirmed it was all muslims and i often said right after the paris

were deployed to iraq and afghanistan. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon, everyone. welcome to our third annual san antonio book festival. i am katy flato executive director of the festival and i'm very happy to be here with you and helen thorpe could discuss her terrific book "soldier girls: the battles of three women at home and at war." before we begin i would like to remind you that barnes & noble is selling books upstairs in the atrium. you just go up the escalator and helen will be signed in the reference area next to the sales area at 1:30 p.m. i want to thank barnes and nobles who very generously donate a portion of the proceeds of the sales to the san antonio book festival. also we will take questions from the audience for the last 10 minutes of this session, and please turn off your cell phones. helen thorpe is a seasoned journalist and author who was born in london, grew up in new jersey and now lives in denver. our journalism has appeared in the new york times magazine new yorker magazine, "the new yorker," slight, and "harper's bazaar." or radio stores

afghanistan reconstruction. on a trip to afghanistan, he happened upon a fleet of abandoned military planes. his questions took him down the rabbit hole where hundreds oref millions of your tax dollars were spent on a giant boondoggle that turned out to be worthless. anyone flying through kabul international airport in afghanistan's capital city the past couple of years might have seen this odd scene -- a fleet of abandoned military planes parked off to the side. inspector general sopko: we actually asked the question, "what are those airplanes?" because you would see them right next to the main air terminal in kabul. they were all jumbled together with trees and grass growing in between them. sharyl: inspector general john to afghanistan in november of 2013 to investigate waste of u.s. tax dollars. nobody seemed eager to answer his questions. so he took matters in his own hands. inspector general sopko: i basically threatened to just walk across the tarmac and said, "if you're gonna arrest me, do it, but i'm certain it will be front page 'new york times.'" so my staff and i went ove

afghanistan. prosecutors say muhanad mahmoud al farekh planned to attack the base back in 2009. farekh was born in texas and joined al qaeda in pakistan in 2007. isis has executed a female syrian journalist then hunt down enemies for months. ruqui hassan was prominent journalist reporting from sya. while she was captured and executut in september, the terrorisisgroup kept thehe slaughter a secret until this week.isis posed as her to trap her friends and colleagues as late as last weekand, army gen. joseph votel, the leader of u.s. special operations forces who has played a big role in the fight against isis, will be named by president obama as the next commander of u.s. central commandfrom the terrorism alert desk in washington, i'm kimberly suiters . 3 it comes as no surprise isis has been dominating headlines given their past atrocities. but military leaders say a familiar enemy is making a comeback. al qaeda the terrorist group behind 9/11.in tonight's safe and secure report... our national correspondent jeff barnd 3 talks to experts who say these extremists could *once* again plot

killings. a story about war crimes in afghanistan. survived an ambush south of kabul to interview witnesses. he won a medal of courage for that story. he was also a finalist for the national magazine award for another wartime story from afghanistan. and he is now a shell fellow at tes nation institute, and wri for all kinds of different places, rolling stone, the atlantic, gq. sebastian younger at the end, the author of "the perfect storm" which was on the bestseller list for like five years. the movie with george clooney. even before 9/11, i think you were saying you were going to 1996 afghanistan. you did a profile in 2000 that became a national geographic documentary. more recently embedded himself on and off for a year in the inner gall valley afghanistan with the unit from the 173rd combat team. embedded along with the photojournalist tim hetherington who was killed in libya in 2011. he used some of the material from that reporting for your book "war" and for the "restrepo."called it won the 2010 grand jury prize at sundance. he has an interest in dangerous jobs for a long ti

afghanistan, negotiations in islamabad, which include u.s. and china. will pave the way to include the taliban. omar al saleh has the news from kabul sphwhrp the meeting was described as significant. delegates from afghanistan, pakistan, united states and china but none from the taliban. they will be invited later if a framework deal is eventually agreed. the aim of monday's talks was to agree on a road map to achieve peace with taliban. pakistani leaders say the aim is to get the most powerful group in the country to negotiate after given incentives to abandon violence. >> it is therefore important that preconditions not be attached to the start of the negotiation process. this in our view will be counterproductive. secondly proper sequencing of the actions, should be significant in paving the way with direct talks from the taliban group. >> in kabul, the taliban group says the meeting is important. >> open to all those groups, that are willing to come to the negotiation table. but with those who do not come to the negotiation table, both countries have already agreed to work out some

. >> it is very important for afghanistan, agreement or disagree. both is important for the future of afghanistan and for the future. if we take it on the peace talk level. afghan government always said that which faction of taliban they should talk with. they were talking about the split. if these two groups gets together, it will make it easier for afghan government to continue - to do with peace with one joint group. with the upcoming fighting season, afghanistan is well-known on taliban offensive, which is starts mainly in spring in march. if these two groups agree with each other and final agreement, if they fight against afghan government, then the afghan government will face a stronger taliban than they are now. if they disagree with each other, they will be two fighting each other and it would make it easier for afghan government to fight them. it is important news and disagreement doesn't mean that they have reached a final agreement with each other >>> lots more ahead on the news hour. we will stay in afghanistan and look at why so many of these people are fleeing to europe.