pakistan's influence on afghanistan. if they respect us, if they see us as a state, if they see us as a nation, if they see us as an equal neighbour and partner, they can have massive, legitimate interest and influence in afghanistan and no afghan will oppose that. but if they want to put a gun on our head and then they say — and ask us to accept their dictate, that will never happen. afghans are ready to pay an even a higher price and not be dictated to. you know the dichotomy about afghanistan is we are very poor, but in the meantime, very proud. a lot of people think to come here and exploit our poverty and push us into, into becoming docile or to accept domination. we have resisted and we will resist. poverty has never been an excuse for afghans to look down and bow down. we have always stood tall and proud, we will continue to do that. so my message for the pakistanis is, you can have in us a very proud partner, a very proud partner inviting you to partner with us in the economy, to partner with us in development,

afghanistan has never had so many students going to school even when the security in some parts of afghanistan we still have the the quantity actually we have. between seven to eight million students going to school as i said we don't know the exact number but i think that's a significant number but i think the quality of education what is more important we don't have that we have fairly poor quality education and that goes back to many things you know. is one of the major causes of having poor quality education. and you have to convince your dad to let you go to school or worse my father was also. he was not ok about going to school before he was saying something not that you would want a boy school like his no just say that school is not. for example the ghost working in the home. cleaning washing listings and now he is a play i was thing for him. it's the world has changed and we should love knowledge of good. man was his father dad runs a small store around the corner from the family home. he and his wife have six children that is the oldest. this business is the sole source of income that

now iran is making a push for peace in afghanistan and head of a likely u.s. withdrawal of troops the country's deputy foreign minister has met with afghan officials and president ashraf ghani in kabul. briefed ghani about recent rounds of talks with taliban representatives in tehran the taliban is believed to control nearly half of the country and has been behind many attacks targeting government forces well into the team as a lecturer at university and joins us live now from the afghan capital kabul last week the iranians hosted the taliban in the capital tehran for talks and this week the iranians are in afghanistan briefing afghan officials on what happened so how much influence does iran have in terms of brokering these talks do you think. well after the conference in afghanistan a you see a lot of conducive political environment in the the current iranian delegation was done on this part of the larger process you've been in the stain that the iranian government in basad in afghanistan just to put it to say that they have influence over iran the the talib

troops out of syria and afghanistan. the panelist talked about how the decision was made and the potential impact it could have on the region. the special u.s. piece on voice said on monday that a draft framework had been completed, but the details still needed to be worked out. [inaudible conve] if everybody could come i >>> good evening, good evening. if everybody can file in and take a seat, that would be great. good evening, welcome to csi s, i am andrew swarts. it is a pleasure to have you all here with us. , for coming early. we usually do the super series 05:vertebrate i am starting to think by the size of this crowd, 4:30 would be better. it is also, i guess traffic is a little late. we know why. steve flanagan is here. that is a good thing, welcome, former colleague steve flanagan. we could not do this series without tcu, and the schieffer college of communication. we think them, and we think the foundation for their generous support. with that, i would like to turn it to our csi trustee bob schieffer. one other

does the president have the authority, jim, to cancel these trips to brussels, egypt and afghanistan? not only is she a member of congress, she's the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, can he do that? >> reporter: if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would be your prerogative. if the house speaker would like to fly commercial on a commercial carrier, she can do that but what the president is saying is that he's not going to allow government employees to be apart of any kind of excursion that the house speaker would be on overseas, whether that be flying or protecting her and so on. so, yes, this is sort of a back and forth that seems to be going on between the president and the house speaker, but interestingly and up until this point h we haven't seen it, no response from the white house to the house speaker saying yesterday you can't give a state of the union speech on january 29th. this letter right here saying that he can cancel her upcoming travel plans is about the closest thing we've come to an official response from the white house to the

remember, afghanistan is not syria. syria, you don't have gold star families where we have had 2300 soldiers killed as we have had in afghanistan. you don't have very esteemed general' reputation built around syria whereas in afghanistan we have had a number of very senior esteemed famous generals who have been commanders there. pulling out out of afghanistan would be politically much more difficult, i believe, for this president or any president than pulling out of syria. pulling out of syria domestically, politically is, a washington debate more or less. pulling out of afghanistan may become a national debate. >> tucker: i think that's right. mr. kaplan, thank you very much for coming on tonight and explaining that i appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> tucker: well, a prominent house democrat is hard to believe this, but is accused tonight of firing a staff member after that staff member made an alleys of rape. amazing. we have got details after the break. ♪ ♪ bold choice, charlie! just tear, eat... mmmmm. and go! t

and welcome to the program i'm richelle carey afghanistan has been at war for much of the past forty years and late two thousand one hundred i did state sent troops in response to the nine eleven attacks and the withdrawal of those troops has been one of the sticking points as talks going under way in katara between u.s. and taliban representatives but hours before those talks began in doha taliban fighters launched one of their most daring attacks in recent months a gun and bomb raid on an afghan intelligence and military base southwest of kabul that killed dozens of security personnel many are now looking to see if the timing of the attack coming on the eve of those talks could have an impact on negotiations there have been several efforts to bring the taliban to the negotiating table but the armed group has repeatedly refused to hold direct talks with the afghan government and stat its insistent on the go shaded with the u.s. with the primary goal of forcing foreign troops out of the country at the request of the u.s. the taliban opened an office in doha in two thousand and thirte

is open to discuss such as the status of its forces in afghanistan. and lastly. the recent talks in doha indicate. that discussion of such important items has begun and i would call it a breakthrough and in that respect are not agreed that. the recent statements was that bigger deal i mean he is not a mediator he is u.s. government envoy and therefore he will be stating the position of the us government which is ok but if it is peace but if taliban continue to fight then the u.s. will continue to support the afghan government that's not a new statement in the will hearing from any other u.s. envoy as well and i did not affect taliban as well in this. engage in direct with her live today as in you have to do is in possibly two models discussion of what taliban will indicate david if u.s. troops draw down their well that have any effect on on all of this. well the u.s. one point well over one hundred thousand troops in afghanistan and drew down to five thousand that did not mean that the taleban did not come to peace talks then so u.s. withdrawal of troops has been

, thought about afghanistan a lot about afghanistan. in youry judgment, what's the right course going forward? afghanistan? >> well, first of all, let'see lay out some facts. the united states has been in afghanistan for 17 years. the troops being deployed there now were in diapers, literally, when we first went in october 2001. we have no chance to militarily defeat the taliban. and we have little chance to leave behind either a self-sustaining democracy or even a self-sustaining, very well-functioning enlightened dictatorship. all the trend lines are bad, it seems, unfortunately. and what we're sustaining at the moment is a moderate level of chaos, where war lords, ethnic groups compete with each other and if we pulled out, unfortunately, there would be a much greater level of chaos and, in fact, the regime might actually collapse in the way that the saigon regime collapsed in 1975. therefore, either this president or the next president, whoever, is going to face the choice of how to pull out of afghanistan. because the terrorist thre

ask for a peaceful afghanistan. at tamms even it's a small one that support achatz to achieve these goals is it highly welcomed by afghans including afghan young generation. so far what happened to the taliban and to you as that unfortunately that going to what's likely still get so i think. the afghans believe that these wars that and profit meant. to us and that talk about it is that to achieve that unfortunately the afghans weiss was not on the table. and there are any voice there as on let me just bring in muscled from a bit of news of gondor bottom and i must have wondered what asm is saying to you walter written a lot about these talks to vet a voting do on a volatile situation in afghanistan as a long time does it look likely that the interests of the afghan people really be addressed in any possible deal between the u.s. and the taliban. the son was very right to point to point out that indeed stalks the afghan people who are not represented we have to remember that the current round of talks is between the

it shouldn't be the speaker getting on a plane to go to afghanistan. she should be behind her desk working to make certain everyone gets paid and the border gets closed, our country is safe. this shutdown stops. >> it wasn't simply a trip to afghanistan. it was supposed to be a briefing. they were supposed to meet with u.s. troops, meet with commanders, the chairman of the intelligence committee was on this congressional delegation, the new chairman of the house foreign affairs was on this delegati delegation. they wanted to express their support for the troops and get briefed on the military developments. you have been on many congressional delegation delega. it was going to be a quick trip to have some inside information. what's wrong with that? >> had a cthat can be done at a. reopening the government needs to be done. we are in an emergency. i believe that one thing that i look to at this is the partisan nature of the battle. you look at what nancy pelosi is doing. when we saw the manifest of who she was taking with her, it was democrats. i have ne

afghanistan made it russia because they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan. russia. the reason russia was in afghanistan was because terrorists were going into russia. they were right to be there. the problem is it was a tough fight, and literally they went bankrupt. they went into being called russia again as opposed to the soviet union. you know, a lot of -- a lot of these places you're reading about now are no longer a part of russia because of afghanistan. >> i hope you have some time here because there's a lot to unpack about what he just said. the soviet union did not literally go bankrupt. the economy collapsed, which is not the same as going bankrupt. hat tip to our friends at "the washington post" for that one. afghanistan may have been a part of that, but it certainly didn't cause the soviet economy to collapse. and as for the soviet invasion of afghanistan, the united states government was all about keeping a friendly socialist government on its border, okay? but wait, there's more. >> i think i would have been a good general, but who knows? >> wow

attempts to get a peace in afghanistan the u.s. envoy. has said he's cautiously optimistic about a peace deal in april can he succeed in your view in bringing the taliban to the negotiating table and if he does kind of a chief lasting peace in afghanistan in the past three months that ambassador highly desired has been active in this post he has made a palpable difference in the discourse in afghanistan and particularly amongst the taliban those taliban who for a year or. simply were not prepared even to mention ideas such as peace cease fire settlement have been forced to talk about them so that has already been achieved. i spend a lot of my time trying to make sense of what the taliban are doing and thinking i can certainly go testify to these changes the discourse has changed but i would like to make some observations about some of the limitations to that because i think that you know we also have to try and get inside the head of the taliban both of their you know the fighters and the and the leadership it is completely true as my col

president wants out of afghanistan what happens once the u.s. troops completely pull out afghan forces ready to take over security well first of all as far as even draw a lot of the limited number of the u.s. forces are concerned as far as i'm concerned i believe they will be divorcing this decision i don't think they will be leaving as abruptly as the owner tom has said because the strategist within the pentagon have been coming up with a statement saying that they are reconsidering the same happened with syria as you all know so the same is a case of that one has done the seventeen year long or allow it. investment that they want let it go wasted the second point that i want to see even if the americans have a draw at this point without their negotiation in a go sheet or visa resettlement. settlement between the taliban and the afghan government and americans i can tell you that the current security strenth the security sector strength of unassigned skeptical to stand up to the challenge of the taliban mainly because we have seen that since tw

attempts to get the peace in afghanistan the u.s. envoy. has said he's cautiously optimistic about a peace deal in april can he succeed in your view in bringing the taliban to the negotiating table and if he does kind of a chief lasting peace in afghanistan in the past three months that ambassador has been active in this post he has made a palpable difference in the discourse in afghanistan and particularly amongst the taliban those taliban who for a year or two simply were not prepared even to mention ideas such as peace cease fire settlement have been forced to talk about them so that has already been achieved i spend a lot of my time trying to make sense of what the taliban are doing and thinking i can certainly you know testify to these changes the discourse has changed but i would like to make some observations about some of the limitations to that because i think that you know we also have to try and get inside the head of the the taliban both of their you know their fighters and the and the leadership it is completely true as my coll

president wants out of afghanistan what happens once the u.s. troops completely pull out afghan forces ready to take over security well first of all as far as even draw a lot of the limited number of the u.s. forces are concerned as far as i'm concerned i believe they will be divorcing this decision i don't think they will be leaving as abruptly as the owner tom has said because the strategist within the pentagon have been coming up with a statement saying that they are reconsidering the same happens with syria as you all know so the same is a case of that one has done the seventeen year longer now it investment that they won't let it go wasted the second point that i want to see even if the americans have a draw at this point without their. negotiations recent negotiator visa the settlement settlement between the taliban and the afghan government and americans i can tell you that the current security strenth the security sector strength of afghanistan escapable to stand up to the challenge of the taliban mainly because we have seen that since t

-led military coalition would withdraw from afghanistan. in november, khalilzad spoke to the newshour's nick schifrin: >> we want a peace that is worthy of e sacrifices that have been made for the past 17 years, meaning especially that afghistan does not become a platform for international terrorists against the united stes. >> yang: the u.s. envoy also says the taliban must agree to a ceasefire, and to deal directly with the afghan government, something it has refused to do. on sunday, khalilzad briefed ghafghan president ashraf i on the talks. today, ghani said a final agreement must protect the rights of afghans. >> ( translated ): our commitment is to provide peace and to prevent any possible disaster, but there are values that are not disputable, such as national unity, nationalig soverey, territorial integrity and a strong central government. >> yang: in washington, acting defense secretary patricksh ahan hailed the tentative framework. >> it' >> yang: he also said he has not been asked to prepare a plan to withdraw the 14,000 u.s. tr

afghanistan made it russia because they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan. russia. so you take a look at other countries. pakistan is there. they should be fighting. but russia should be fighting. the reason russia was in afghanistan was because terrorists were going into russia. they were right to be there. the problem is it was a tough fight. and literally they went bankrupt. they went into being called russia again as opposed to the soviet union union. a lot of these places you're reading about now are no longer a part of russia because of afghanistan. but why isn't russia there? why isn't india there in nia ar we there and we're 6,000 miles away? but i don't mind. we want to help our people, help other nations. you do have terrorists, mostly taliban but isis. i'll give you an example. so tall isis is an enemy. we have an area where taliban is here, isis is here and they're fighting each other. i said why don't you let them fight? why are we getting in the middle of it? i said let them fight. they're both our enemies, let them fight. sir, we want to do it. they g

and to the war in afghanistan and establish a unity government the u.s. envoy recently toured the region seeking help from our allies including pakistan and in many ways the role of pakistan is key the u.s. negotiator ambassador zalmay hollis art was just in pakistan for several days before he went to doha and the pakistani prime minister imran khan is visiting doha as well it's not clear exactly what role pakistan is playing but they may be playing a newly positive role but peace won't be easy the taliban does not recognize the government in kabul and insists peace talks will only start when foreign troops leave afghanistan. a mentally ill is a security analyst based in kabul he explained why peace negotiations haven't been successful so far. the problem with negotiation is. when we have a negotiation it's not only limited to afghanistan it's very rare we should not expect a reduction in violence there is a possibility of increase in violence even if we have. to try to increase the leverage there do su by increasing while and i believe that original coun

russia matter, something the president said just days ago seeming to endorse the soviet invasion of afghanistan decades ago, seeming to take the russian line and rewriting history. tonight we'll talk about why federal investigators might be replaying that televised moment as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a friday night. >>> well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. this first friday night of the new year brings an end to day 715 of the trump administration. tomorrow begins week three of this government shutdown. today brought what the white house likely viewed as good and worrisome news, first the good. stocks surged nearly 750 points after taking a dive yesterday. that bounceback came after a robust jobs report, over 300,000 added in december. there was also a new and potentially ominous development, however, in the mueller investigation, more on that just ahead. >>> we begin here tonight with this ongoing, yet still urgent shutdown. and the breathtaking reporting from "the washington post" tonight saying the white house may have been cavalier about a s

military aircraft to the trip to the afghanistan war zone. are there any limits to this shutdown battle? >>> admitting collusion? as presidential lawyer rudy giuliani acknowledges the campaign may have cloouded with russia, sources say the white house is quietly working to eliminate fallout from robert mueller's investigation, including a move to keep the report from seeing the light of day. >> fixer michael cohen admits he paid a tech firm to rig online polls at the direction of and for the sole benefit of donald trump. >>> and held in russia, self-proclaimed sex coach is taken from a jail in thailand and flown to moscow where she says she's being detained. is the kremlin trying to keep her quiet? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> the white house drops a stunning bombshell in the battle over the government shutdown, a battle which polls suggest the president is losing. the president informing house speaker nancy pelosi that he's pulling the plug on her congressional trip overseas w

involvement in afghanistan? >> it could be the beginning of the end of the american war in afghanistan. whether it's the beginninheof the end ofar in afghanistan i think remains to t seen and depends on the details that aro follow. but, nonetheless, the results of the talks of recent days are significant in several respects. first of all, it's the cleares sign yet of the u.s. intent to withdraw forces from afghanistan. secondly, this is the first time that the u.s. has been willing to be seen openly and publicly as negotiating face-to-face wit the talid putting the question of american troop presence front and center. it's also, i tnk, sigficant in that, showing the possibility of achieving some ress, of actually having a negotiatinges pr may have brought ambassador time from a veryim tient washington. but there's a lot that remains to be seen on where this really leads to sauce stained peace process. >> yang: barnett, i want to talk about the next step.ut we've talked ahat has been agreed to but what hasn't bee

look at afghanistan. the longest war in american history. we got out of iraq but then we got back in. this is one of the rains was so opposed to going into iraq to begin with. i knew once we get in there we would never get out. so perpetuates servicer for that reason. think, it's basic giant jobs program for the elite here in washington. there's just all sorts of people in washington who i run around -- run into all the thyme want to run the world. and if you try to run the world, just creates a lots of jobs and opportunities so it is a jobs program. and the other thing is, we have no accountability in the american system. you can screw up big-time in foreign policy and you don't get fin pin issuedded for. i you to a think tank and then you're back in the government again after a few years. >> owl of these things are puzzling. why no accountability in the foreign policy establishment is? is thaw truitt across the board. >> something unique but the foreign policy establishment. that is the fact that this real distinction between the public an

afghanistan made it russia because they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan. russia. so, you take a look at other countries. pakistan, is there. they should be fighting. but russia should be fighting. the reason russia was in afghanistan was because terrorists were going into russia. they were right to be there. the problem is, it was a tough fight. and literally they went bankrupt. they went into being called russia again as opposed to the soviet union. a lot of, a lot of these places you're reading about now are no longer a part of russia. because of afghanistan. but why isn't russia there? why isn't india there? why isn't pakistan there? why are we there with 6,000 miles away? but i don't mind. we want to help our people. we want to help other nations. you do have terrorists, mostly taliban but isis. give you an example. so taliban is our enemy. isis is our enemy. we have an area that i brought up with our generals four or five weeks ago where taliban is here, isis is here and they're fighting each other. i said why don't you let them fight? why are we getting in t

talks will only start when foreign troops leave afghanistan. zimbabwe's president is valen to investigate accusations of assault on torture by his security forces. were calling for national inquiry following the violence during protests against increases in fuel prices but rights groups say nothing would change our metasearch reports from harare. says he doesn't want to see me to visit him in hospital he's afraid that could be victimized for associating with someone police suspect participated in anti-government protests short. machine. is. the business. was in it in civilian clothes. ridge. last week suburbans demonstrated against a fuel price hike which had more than doubled overnight the government responded with force more than six hundred people were arrested in the east zimbabwe's human rights commission says more people died in last week's protest injuring orcus post-election violence the use of excessive force specially the use of life i mean it's not called for when dealing with civilians they should be other methods of controlling cro

attempts to get the peace thing in afghanistan the u.s. envoy. has said he's cautiously optimistic about a peace deal in april can he succeed in your view on bringing the taliban to the negotiating table anything does kind of achieve lasting peace in afghanistan in the past three months that the ambassador has odd has been active in the. post he has made a palpable difference in the discourse in afghanistan and particularly amongst the taliban those taliban who for a year or two simply were not prepared even to mention ideas such as peace cease fire settlement have been forced to talk about them so that has already been achieved. i spend a lot of my time trying to make sense of what the taliban are doing and thinking i can certainly you know testify to these changes the discourse has changed but i would like to make some observations about some of the limitations to that because i think that you know we also have to try and get inside the head of the taliban both of their you know their fighters and the and the leadership it is completely true as

he has not announced a withdrawal in afghanistan. it has just been reported they are considering a cut in afghanistan troop levels. >> two issues he promised would be in court, if the president used emergency powers. can you talk about how that could play out? >> one of the issues will be eminent domain among the border. they are going to face lawsuits from landowners about having the barrier there. that will be an issue. he only has two years left in his term, less. will anything be constructed the between now and then? that will be an issue that we will have to watch closely. >> but he would have the political win of his supporters. >> another lawsuit he said would be if the president used emergency power to shift money. my nonlawyer read of it is the president has the authority to shift money in the way he is talking about because congress gave it to him. that is why you asked, has congress given the president to o much authority? might congress consider reining some of that in? maybe after this political moment has passed. there

they drove 4 million into exile in pakistan and afghanistan. it was a tragic operation from the start. it had nothing do with terrorism in the soviet union. i think he must have grabbed pieces of history and is thinking of check nia. this is truly an astonishing ignorant statement by the president. >> gentlemen, it's so scarring. it's hard to visit afghanistan and not come face-to-face with the shards of the old soviet military. you'll see a tank track, pieces of artillery. it litters the countryside. >> yeah, it was a disaster for the soviet union. a bunch of 18-year-old draftee boys fighting these nationalists, patriotic app -- i so it's hard to imagine what the president was thinking of when he made this assertion. there's certainly no comparability at all between the soevt experience and after began stan which whas stamped the population into the ground and the attempt by nato allies to support putting afghanistan back together. i think that must be his purpose to delegitimize what we're doing in afghanistan, and now it essentially ends the

in afghanistan billions of dollars in international aid has been donated to girls' education but where has the money gone when east meets girls desperate to learn and asks why is the system failing them and how does era. we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world sentiment or how you take it al-jazeera will bring in the news and current events that match at. al-jazeera. welcome back our top stories on al-jazeera the governor of the priscilla in state of maine as sherry asked says the chances of finding survivors of a damper a star slim at least seven bodies have been recovered so far but hundreds of missing a down collapse at an iron ore mine near the tunnel. donald trump has signed a bill to end the longest government shutdown in u.s. history he has agreed to reopen the federal government for three weeks but the u.s. president has warned democrats that if negotiations over the funding of a border war with mexico hit another day he is ready to declare a national emergency and venezuela a self-proclaimed leader has found to need street protests agai

captain jennifer peace has served in new york and afghanistan and joins me now from washington. welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> you just heard former vice president, former presidential candidate al gore give a robust defense of your rights and talking about the need for rule of law and impartial justice of the supreme court. i want to ask you to your reaction to the decision and to what al gore just said. >> the decision from the supreme court is disappointing and it brings out too major concerns that i have. even if the ban isn't implemented yet, what we are going to have are people that are serving are going before boards, be denied. if the leader says the president, and the supreme court agree that transgender is not allowed to serve. more long-term, i am concerned about the future of our military. the united states should be the most lethal fighting force in the world. i believe i fall in that quality. and many of my peers who happen to be transgender fall into that category. no one is asking for special treatment, just to meet the standard. and if we are not given

soldiers apparently has been killed in afghanistan in the statement we are hearing the u.s. military say this an incident is under investigation we are going to talk to michael semple now however he is a professor at queen's university belfast former deputy e.u. special representative to afghanistan and actually negotiated with the taliban so appreciate your insight that you can give us michael let's talk about the talks first of all and also the fact that you've got talks peace talks beginning here in doha at the same time as this massive attack happens what is that i guess can you explain to our viewers how that the taliban operates on these two levels at the same time. no one should be surprised at this dreadful attack which happened yesterday because in carrying it out the taliban military were basically doing what they do they tried to. achieve maximum damage to the afghan government and security forces and of course to get maximum publicize the out of it so as to create an impression that they are strong and the and the country they've continued to do that they're play

now with the us is open to discuss such as the status of its forces in afghanistan. and lastly. the recent talks in doha indicate. that discussion of such important items has begun and i would call it a breakthrough and in that respect or not agree that. it is as recent statements was there bigger deal i mean he is not a mediator he is u.s. government envoy and therefore he will be stating the position of the us government which is ok but if it is peace but if taliban continue to fight then the u.s. will continue to support the afghan government that's not a new statement in you will hear from any other u.s. envoy as well and i did not affect taliban as well in this. engage an incorrect with out two days in you have to do is in possibility to models discussion of him with taliban will indicate david if u.s. troops draw down there well that have any effect on on all of this. well the u.s. one point well over one hundred thousand troops in afghanistan and drew down to five thousand that did not mean that the taleban did not come to peace talks then so u.s. withdrawal of troops has

afghanistan. to the president it's a p.r. event. i'm surprised he didn't use the word junket in that letter that he wrote, but to nancy pelosi, to democrats, to supporters, it's a war zone. he prevented her from going to a war zone. that will probably pun intended trump the outcome in this part of the debate. >> michael smerconish, we watch you every saturday morning, 9:00 a.m. here on cnn. >> thank you. >> good to see you, my friend. thank you. >>> more on our breaking news and this is as michael said it, tit for tat, next. >>> michael cohen is set to testify in congress in just a couple weeks but we're already getting stunning new details about his time at the top of the trump empire. cohen admitted he tried to rig online polls in trump's favor during the campaign. the story was first reported out by "the wall street journal." cohen actually paid a man between 12 and $13 in cash and that it was all bundled up in this blue walmart bag and handed over this this guy. cohen disputed the form of payment saying it wasn't a bag of cash,

afghanistan made it russia. they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan. russia. you take a look at other countries. pakistan is there. they should be fighting. russia should be fighting. the reason russia was in afghanistan is because terrorists were going into russia. they were right to be there. it was a tough fight. they went into being called russia again as opposed to the soviet union. why isn't russia there? why isn't india there? why isn't pakistan there? why aren't we there and we're 6,000 miles away. we want to help other nations. you do have terrorists. mostly taliban but isis. taliban is our enemy. isis is our enemy. we have an area that i brought up with our generals four, five weeks ago where taliban is here. isis is here and they are fighting each other. i said why don't you let them fight. why are we getting in the middle of it? let them fight. sir, we want to do it. they go in an fight both of them. it's theie craziest thing i've seen. i think i would have been a good general but who knows. we end up going in and fighting. he's brought the country

>> they should be involved in afghanistan. i'll give you an example, i give our generals all the money they wanted and they did not do such a great job in afghanistan. they have been fighting in afghanistan for 18 years. evenal mattis thanked me more the following year when i got him $716 billion, he could not believe it. because our military was did read it. now we are rebuilding our he was responsible for the new orders of the f-35 fighter jet and the f-18s, the ships, the muscles and everything. he was so thrilled. but what has he done for me? how has he done in afghanistan? not too good. ism not happy with what he done in afghanistan and they should not be happy. but he was very happy and thankful when i got him $700 billion, and then the following year, $760 billion. so i wish him well. but as you know, president obama fired him, and essentially, so did i. results. brian: that was a president from the cabinet room of the white house. he spent christmas and new year's holidays here in washington along with the vice preside

legs and a finger in an explosion in afghanistan as a bomb disposal expert. among the three of them there are three purple heart and four bronze stars. they are our midnight heroes for service in the military and now service on the hill and hopefully perfect advocates for veterans, most-watched, most trusted, most grateful you spent the evening with us. have a great weekend. i am shannon bream. when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now, we're ready, bring on t. shipstation. the number one ch of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free. group think. sean hannity is next. >> welcome to "hannity." spitting out of control. beyond even my predictions. calls for impeachment. vulgarity raids. plans for a being 00% tax hike. a bill to radical alter the con

in afghanistan billions of dollars of international aid have been donated to girls' education but where has the money gone when east meets girls desperate to learn and asks why is the system failing them on al-jazeera. al-jazeera where ever you. are reminded of our top stories here on al-jazeera graham search for survivors of the brazilian dam collapse has been suspended with fears a nearby down could also fail but aerial searches are contained. and as wayland president nicholas has rejected an alternate include several european countries to call an election. to bomb explosions in a catholic cathedral in the southern philippines and killed at least twenty five people and injured many more. well answer government protests are taking place in sudan people are marching in the capital hard to against rising prices and demanding an end to the thirstier rule of president bush ear at a press conference in cairo where he's been holding talks with his egyptian come to art or share acknowledge the ongoing on rest and sudan but accuse the media of sensationalizing the protests will be daily. there

and they had control of afghanistan. the taliban did. , it was an amazing bit of negotiation by president bush, incredible help from intelligence and special -- ations, and special to special ops people interest our -- from our military. they were able to negotiate and agree -- an agreement with tribal leaders that ended up being called the northern alliance. contained of people who have become friends. people that love their country. and by october, we were putting in about 300 special ops, military, there's a great book called "horse soldiers" that delves into this issue. and a movie, "12 strong." although the ending wasn't quite accurate. our american forces were never to lead an operation, they were to support operations, which is what they did heroically. and by the end of february, 2002, there apparently was no organized taliban left in afghanistan. they had done an amazing job. the heroic fighting of those in the northern alliance, the didans, led by the general, an amazing job. we provided some weapons, we gave t

the president is pulling troops out of afghanistan. the speaker waunlnted to go the and was not able to. >> a lot of fighting men there. >> thank you, jonathan. >> thank you, jonathan i hear it in the background and she's watching too, saying [indistinct conversation] [friend] i've never seen that before. ♪ ♪ i have... ♪ introducing zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. at fidelity, those zeros really add up. ♪ maybe i'll win, saved by zero ♪ at fidelity, those zeros really add up. saved an average of $412," syou probably won't believe me. but you can believe this, real esurance employee nancy abraham. look her up online. esurance, it's surprisingly painless. yeah, i've had some prettyeer. prestigious jobs over the years. news producer, executive transport manager, and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time. thing is, i like working. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? then let's not crea

troops in afghanistan. in a letter to the speaker, trump wrote -- "in light of the 800,000 great american workers not receiving pay, i am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate." pelosi was leading a delegation that included the chairs of the house intelligence and veterer'' affairs committees. trump's 11th-hour order caused the bus carrying the delegation to t turn around on its way to e airport. trump's ordededrew protetests fm congressional dedemocrats, and even some republicans criticized the move. south carolina senator lindsey graham said in a statement -- "one sophomoric response does not deserve another." the president's retaliation n ce a day after pelosi suggested she -- told president trump to deliver the state of the union address in writing from the oval office or at a later date. she cited security concerns caused by the government shutdown. meanwhile, the government shutdown has entered its 28th day, the longest in history with , state and loca

how has he done in afghanistan? not too good. as you know, president obama fired him, and essentially, so did i. >> mattis resigned. the top commander in afghanistan, general scott miller, recently expressed support for peace talks with the taliban. >> policy reviews going on in the capital, peace talks out there. regional players, pressing for peace. the taliban, talking about the -- >> asked if talk in washington about the potential withdrawal of 4,000 to 7,000 troops in afghanistan hurts the efforts to broker peace with the taliban, a u.s. defense official replied "whether or not the u.s. withdraws a portion of their forces won't change the difficult pressure the taliban feel on a regular basis." last year, the u.s. military dropped more bombs in afghanistan than any time in the past decade. 30 taliban and ices fighters were killed in various u.s. air strikes in recent days. the u.s. has spent roughly $1 trillion on the war in afghanistan. it's harris? >> harris: thank you very much, jennifer. i want to bring in a retired colo

they confirmed to afghanistan and cnn that the u.s. and taliban have agreed in principle to a peace framework, a sign of a big step forward but still huge challenges ahead. ky kylie atwood has the details. kylie, what do we know? >> we know that the talks last week with the special representative of afghanistan to the u.s., his talks with afghanistan were in part fruitful because they did come to an agreement of what a possible peace plan could potentially look like. he told the "new york times," quote, we have a draft of the framework that has to be flushed out before it becomes an agreement. the taliban have committed to our satisfaction to do what is necessary that would prevent afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals. but there are a lot of questions, of course. how is the taliban going to keep out these international terrorist groups like isis, like al qaeda that we know have deep roots in the country. and we are learning that there are also discussions over a cease fire and pull

afghanistan made it russia. they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan. russia. so we take a look at other countries. pakistan is there. they should be fighting. russia should be fighting. the reason russia was in afghanistan was because terrorists were going to russia. the problem is, it was a tough fight. they literally went bankrupt. they went to be called russia again as opposed to the soviet union. a lot of these places you're reading about now are no longer part of russia because of afghanistan. why isn't russia there? why isn't india there? why isn't pakistan there? why are we there? we're 6,000 miles away? i don't mind. we want to help our people. we want to help other nations. you do have terrorists. mostly taliban but isis. i'll give you an example. taliban is our enemy. isis our enemy. we have an area that i brought up with or generals four or five weeks ago where taliban is here, isis here and they're fighting each other. i said why don't you let them fight? why are we in the middle of it? i said let them fight. they're both our enemies. let them figh