nato is preparing to withdraw most of its combat forces by the end of 2014. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: we turn to the presidential campaign, which has taken a bit of a pause in sandy's aftermath. with the election only a week away, the devastating east coast storm forced both candidates off the stump today. they focused, instead, on disaster relief, with mitt romney in ohio collecting canned foods and bottled water, and the president making a quick afternoon visit to red cross headquarters in washington. >> the most important message i have for them is that america is is with you. we are standing behind you, and we are going to do everything we can to help you get back on your feet. >> ifill: romney also spoke of the need to help storm victims. >> i appreciate your generosity. it's part of the american spirit. the american way to give to people who are in need. and your generosity this morning touches my heart. >> ifill: the romney campaign announced he will resume campaigning tomorrow. the president will remain of

pressed financially, so you saw in libya in 2011 he pushed britain and france ut toeadersh of that nato operation to take down colonel kadafy. so very different world views. i think all the agreement last night shouldn't mask the fact that we have a real choice on november 6. >> woodruff: richard haas, how do you size up the two after last night? and how do you see those differences? >> well, actually i thought the sim layers were greater than the differences. that to me was in some ways the most striking part of the debate. both also, as ambassador burns pointed out, emphasized the integral, the cose linkage between what we want to do abroad and what it is we're doing here at home, that essentially foreign policy can only be successful abroad if we have the resource space and if we can set an example to the world. both of them emphasized that point. they both also emphasized a lot the middle east. there i thought what was interesting wasn't so much what they do but what they wouldn't do. both candidates talked about the limits to the american involvement, say, in syria. they talked abo

karzai spoke in kabul, after meeting with nato secretary- general anders fogh rasmussen. >> afghans are ready to expedite the process of transition if necessary and are willing as well, so this is in all aspects good news for us and good news for nato. >> sreenivasan: 104,000 nato troops are currently stationed in afghanistan, including 68,000 americans. the current plan calls for foreign combat troops to leave by the end of 2014. rasmussen said the alliance remains committed to that timetable. some 14 million americans practiced today for what to do when an earthquake hits. they took part in an annual drill dubbed the "great shakeout." students like these in charlotte, north carolina got under their desks, covered their heads and held onto something sturdy to help minimize injuries during shaking. most of the participants were in california, but maryland, virginia and the district of columbia also joined in for the first time. a 5.8 magnitude quake hit the mid-atlantic region last year. "newsweek" is undergoing a shake-up in its latest effort to survive. the magazine announced today it

nato as well as our arab allies in terms of trying to get a settlement. that was their idea. we're the ones that said enough. with regard to the reset not working, the fact of the matter is thatrussia has a different interest in syrian than we do. and that's not in our interest. >> what happens if assad does not fall? congressman ryan? what happens to the region? what happens if he hangs on? what happens if he does. >> then iran keeps their greatest ally in the region. he's a sponsor of terrorism. he'll probably continue slaughtering his people. we in the world community will lose our credibility on this. look, he mentioned the reset -- >> what would romney-ryan do about that credibility. >> we agree with the same red line actually they do on chemical weapons. but not putting american troops in, other thanto secure thos chical weapons. they're right about that. but what we should have done earlier is work with those freedom fighters, those dissidents in syria. we should not have called bashar assad a reformer. and we-- we should not have waited for russia to give us the green

about 100,000 nato-led soldiers are stationed in afghanistan, mostly from the u.s. some nations want to speed up the pullout of the soldiers. but the meeting confirms there would be no changes to the withdrawal plan. nato ministers insisted that afghan military and police control an area covering three-quarters of the country's population. they also agreed to drop plans to train afghan troops and police to handle the aftermath of the combat troop withdrawal. nato secretary-general anders flores mussen insists it's based on assessment of the situation in afghanistan. >> it's not because isaf partners rushed for the exit. it's not because of lack of cohesion within our coalition. on the contrary. >> but relations between na nato-led forces and afghanistan have been strained by insider attacks. afghan military and police or people wearing afghan uniforms have killed more than 50 foreign soldiers this year. >>> people in north korea are marking the 67th anniversary of the founding of their ruling workers party. it's the first time the reclusive nation's leader kim jong-

hs very supporve of defee spending, obviously, of nato, though his idea that nato allies are going to meet their spending goals is, shall we say, wildly optimistic which is another way of probably saying unrealistic. he wasn't clear exactly what the differences were with afghanistan, though, again, he didn't change the policy, we're still looking at something by the end of 2014. but if you're asking me about benjamin netanyahu in particular yeah, i think he'd like the you have to language about iran more than anything else. that's right now the prism through which israelis are judging a lot of international development. >> rose: the two things about governor romney on foreign policy that have gotten attention on this speech, one was what he said about russia and the other was what he said about china. did he add to that in any way today? >> very little. this was much more a speech about the middle east than it was a fleshed-out romney foreign policy. there was continued toughness towards russia. he had a nod in the direction of free trade which a lot of people were welcomed. very litt

and nato other than involving itself. >> warner: that gets to my question very quickly. how does this get resolved if that's the case? >> from turkish perspective it's not going to be resolved as long as bashar al-assad is in damascus. this is the same view of the europeans and the americans. and if the conflict continues like thatit'soing to troll the neighborhood. it's inevitable. i was not surprised by this. already the war is spilling over to lebanon and we've seen violence in lebanon. now spilling over to turkey and iraq. it ininevitable this war is going to drag the neighbors into it. we've seen tension rising between the turks and iranians. turkey and iran are competing to shape the future of syria just as they are competing to shape the future in iraq. this conflict will continue and unless there's an intervention to end the regime in damascus it will be conflagration. >> warner: quick final thoht? >> well, i think we all-- the turks, the americans, the europeans-- have to adjust our policies for the future. bashar al-assad will go but he won't go any time soon.