military personnel in afghanistan. all this happening on the first anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. nick payton walsh is in kabul for us. set the scene for us. we know the rumors had been wild throughout the day in the afghan capital. we assume he's very secure inside that presidential balance has. but all of this was stop secret given the security precautions that are necessary to protect the president of the united states. first of all, tell our viewers what time it is in afghanistan and what's going on. >> we're just past midnight. about six hours ago, one of the leading tv stations broke the news. many immediately denied that. i heard from one afghan pishl that in fact presidential palace staff were asked to go home around about midday sparking rumors that there may be some sort of vip visit. as you say, he's been to bagram. and of course now on to the presidential palace in kabul where they should sign the partnership agreement. >> nick, stand by. gloria borger is with me. as we look at the video com

and afghanistan. president obama reached out to his afghan counterpart, but the phoned conversation seemed to do little. president karzai condemned the shooting spree as an unforgivable crime. brianna keilar is at the white house. so, brianna, how worried is the administration about this latest blow to the alliance? >> carol, they are very concerned. there's enough challenges with afghanistan. this is obviously something that creates a huge challenge, going further for the at mrgs. it comes on the heels of this burnings of korans. there's also the concern of the cumulative effect hat this point. you saw yesterday how quickly president obama reached out and made a phone call he did that from the limousine from one of his daughter's game. president obama is calling this tragic and shocking and stressing -- and this is something that you're hearing a lot of administration officials hear, carol, that does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the united states has fo

i got a visa and went to afghanistan. i actually went on a few trips both with the troopers in the field and also at headquarters, and at some point i think he realized i was taking this research seriously, sharing hardships with the troops and risk and so forth. we had a relationship before i went there as far as this dissertation was concerned, so it just took it to another level. >> given your time, paula, in afghanistan, i just want to ask you about some news today where we're hearing about the secret u.s. military report, that the taliban are poised to retake afghanistan as soon as nato leaves. in fact, i want to tell you something petraeus said just yesterday. >> there is nothing easy about afghanistan. as we used to say, it's all hard all the time, but it's also all-important all the time. there is a reason we went there in the wake of 9/11. we have hugely important national security interests there, and it's very important to that country, to the region and the world that we do everything possible to try to get th

is the afghanistan war worth it? go to face book.com/suzannecnn. >> here's a look at the stories that we're working on. are u.s. troops safe in afghanistan. how these killings could impact troop on the ground, u.s. security in afghanistan and the entire region. >>> he's being accused of killing men, women, and children. he is a father himself. what would cause an army sergeant to go house to house killing innocent afghan civilians? we're going to delve into the psychology of all of this. >>> plus, we take you live to washington state to get the mood of the alleged soldier's home base. like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber one. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu relieves your cough 50% longer than tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime. [ snoring continues ] [ male announcer ] because snoring sounds better than

and his commitment to afghanistan. yes, this certainly helps him. the picture is amazing right now. if you are an american voter and you're watching this, you feel very patriotic and what have you. that certainly doesn't hurt mr. obama at this point. >> you can just hear the criticisms that -- i mean, i'm sure we'll hear that it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to get on air force one, fly the prime minister to the battleground state of ohio to watch the basketball game with the premise that you just want to show the prime minister a slice of real a merry can in a. >> quite frankly, they could have gotten in a car and drove down to virginia just 20 miles away and had dinner and seen a little bit of real americana. the ncaa, we're real fans of that. republicans are going to be critical of that, no question about that. even taking that one step further. sidelining foreign policy, they will be critical of president obama for flying around on air force one as he campaigns through november. it happens every four years

mission in afghanistan, here are some of the highlights. >> is it time for us to leave afghanistan, mr. speaker? >> i think it is. i think we have to reassess the entire region. we have to understand that our being in afghanistan is counter productive. it is not for us to for them to change. >> i understand the frustration and i understand the ganger and the sorrow. i also understand and we should not forget that the attacks on america on 9/11 originated in afghanistan and if afghanistan dissolved into a situation where the taliban were able to take over, or a chaotic situation, it could easily return to a al qaeda base for attacks on the united states of america. that is still our goal as it was the day that we went in. >> i think that we're on the right track to get out of afghanistan, just as soon as we can. there's conversations with karzai now, i think our timetable is pretty good. >> what a crowd. >> i'm submitted to going all the way to tampa. i have 175,000 people who have donated to the campaign, 95% of them have given under $250. they want a visionary conservative in the reag

many others with a strong interest especially in the near future of afghanistan. jessica joins us in chicago. i would imagine that you are far away from that. it is disturbing to see. but let's talk about the president and what he is doing this weekend. working hard on diplomacy there. >> that's right. before the summit even kicked off. afghanistan is dominating this meeting and it's so important that before the summit began, the president sat down with afghan -- president karzai. he thanked the u.s. taxpayers for everything the taxpayers have done for afghanistan and said that the afghans will no longer soon be a burden to the u.s. and assured the president that afghans will be ready to take over the combat lead when it's handed over. the president vowed that the u.s. will not cut a hasty exit. sheer what the president said. >> we would provide support for the national security forces that have made excellent progress over the last several years. and also painting a vision post 2014 in which we have ended our combat role. the afghan roll as we understand it is ov

this american soldier is being held this hour in afghanistan. he allegedly left his base in the middle of the night. he walked to two nearby villages, broke down doors, shot, stabbed and burned afghan civilians. in total, the number we have is 16. 16 people are dead. that includes nine children. it's a horrible turn of events in afghanistan and sarah is live for us in the city of kabul. sarah, i know this massacre happened near kandahar. tell us what happened. >> reporter: we're hearing from villager villagers in the western district of kandahar province, those villagers are describing a very horrific scene that happened early on monday. they said the soldier kicked through their doors, and in one case the mother says he dragged out one of the people inside the house by the hair and shot and killed that man right in the doorway, and then went on to start spraying the house with bullets. we've been seeing pictures coming out of the area that are absolutely gruesome. we're seeing a picture of a toddler that is wrapped up that looks to have a bulle

this is something that happens routinely in afghanistan. human rights organizations will frequently fight the number of women throughout the course of their life will experience some brutality. it is not just the taliban. the northern alliance has been equally awful in the way they kept young boys as sex slaves and continue to do so. what we are really looking at in afghanistan is the whole series of social practices that center around notions of honor. people are much more reliant upon local institutions than federal structures. we'll see not only by the way in afghanistan but also in pakistan if a woman is accused of having some sort of sexual infidelity they will go to some tribal council. it will be really dejor that they would force her to be gang raped perhaps by the family members of the party that was aggrieved or possibly killed. it is important to not see this exclusively in terms of the taliban but this is a set of practices that has existed and continue to exist throughout afghanistan. by the way, we can ask the question what wi

troops out of afghanistan. now the white house could speed up that withdrawal now set to be completed by the end of 2014. "the new york times" is reporting the administration may bring home nearly half the 90,000 troops by early next year. the move had been considered for weeks but gained new urgency after sunday's attacks and recent outrage after the burning of korans. he says no decision has been made and he is warning about a, quote, rush for the exits. >>> at the bottom of the hour we'll talk to a reporter from "stars and stripes." she will explain why the newspaper is calling the soldier's home station in washington state the most troubled base in the military. >>> have you been outside yet? the first official day of spring is only one week away but, boy, is it warm outside. temperatures are expected to be 20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal this week and that's all over the country. the people who run the cherry blossom festival in washington think the trees may bloom weeks earlier this year in mid march

and its involvement in the afghanistan war. many pleading that the afghanistan war needs to be stopped, or at least the u.s. involvement stopped immediately. again, these live pictures taking place right here, thanks to our affiliate wbbm providing the images. right now you just see a whole lot of people milling about. unclear what kind of activity is happening there on the ground, as the leaders of 50 nations meet inside. a wider view, you can see it's a sizeable crowd. at least from the surface it appears to be peaceful. we're not getting any indication of reports that anything other than that is taking place. this is a peaceful gathering of demonstrators outside the nato meeting. >>> meantime, inside, with those leaders of 50 nations, afghanistan is dominating the talks. before the summit began, president barack obama met with afghan president hamid karzai. let's bring in chief white house correspondent jessica yellen traveling with the president. what can you tell us more about this meeting with karzai and obama? >> reporte

he was very much committed to what he was doing in afghanistan. he felt that the way to help the people there was to become their friend and trusted them. he was a very, very good father. he did puppet shows for them. very close to his children. the best way to sum it up is he lived more in 44 years than most of us will live in 80. he lived life to the fullest. >> the mother of john loft s who lost his life. >>> new information about the gop presidential candidates. we are hearing that rick santorum will get secret service protection and newt gingrich has almost asked for it. mitt romney already has it. our political team working on this story and we will have more in about ten minutes right here on cnn. >>> when this is happening in syria it is hard to imagine anyone doing anything but hiding in their homes. syrians went to polls today to vote on a referendum to change the constitution. 55 people were killed today across the country. the national red cross trying to work out a cease fire to get humanitarian aid into homes. the consensus is that t

army staff sergeant goes on a shooting rampage in afghanistan. officials say he went house to house in two villages killing as many as 16 civilians, most of them children. he is in custody on his base in kandahar now. >>> i'll be back at 4:00 eastern time for a full hour of politics. we'll take you on the campaign trail, and our candy crowley will dissect some of the candidates' favorite stump speeches. >>> i know that gasoline prices are high, but i have a word for you -- algae. >> algae? >> algae. >> we'll have a little fun with that at 4:00 eastern time. stay with us. "your money" starts after this. whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y. fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. >>> good afternoon, i'm ali ls

say the world remains in full support of the exit plan from afghanistan. listen to this. >> we are working with the afghans over the next several years to achieve a complete transition to afghan lead for afghan security, one in which we continue to provide support for the afghan national security forces, but have made excellent progress over the last several years. and also painting a vision post-2014 in which we have ended our combat role, the afghan war as we understand it is over, but our commitment to friendship and partnership with afghanistan continues. >> reporter: now the next step is to find commitments from the other countries here, don, for financial support going forward, some $4 billion total between now and 2014, and also to begin talks about what some kind of military support might look like after 2014. don? >> and other things besides afghanistan as well are high on the list to deal with. >> reporter: yes. there is a long list of issues, and usually it would be much longer, but because afghanistan is such a focus, a little more limited. one

she's live in kabul, afghanistan, for us. sarah, is it likely that bales will be returned to afghanistan? >> reporter: not likely at all. how anyone accused in the military, what the process is for that person and normally they would go through a military tribunal. we heard from his attorney, staff sergeant bales' attorney saying there's not a chance that he's going to be brought back here and tried here. you're hearing chants death to america but also that he betried accordinging to islamic law. that is also not going to happen. they'll use the law under which the agreement exists. we should also talk about the protaft. this is the second time we've seen it in jalalabad. quite a rowdy protest. hay closed down one of the main roads, and now we're seeing another protest break out there again. but we're not seeing protests all around the country. they're very isolated. this is only the third protest since this happened on sunday. it's almost been a week now. very different from what we saw when u.s. troops were accused of burni

let's be clear, whether we say tried in afghanistan, we don't mean tried by the afghanistan justice system. we would mean that the u.s. military would just move the trial over to afghanistan. but i think that, again, they're really leaving this up to the military and how they decide they want to proceed. certainly, they want to take into account the afghan's concerns that justice be served. there are also a lot of particular rules about whether witnesses can be introduced, whether afghan witnesses can be introduced. because if the prosecution uses afghan witnesses, then, of course, the defense will need to question them as well. so those kind of questions are still being worked out. again, nothing to say as they have in the past that he couldn't be actually tried in afrg. but, you know, as we've been talking about, this agreement that governs u.s. military in afghanistan when the fall of the taliban happened, u.s. and afghanistan had agreement that the soldiers had immunity from afghan law and processed according to the u.s. military justice system. so disagreement is in effect. i don't se

. >>> we're keeping an eye, too, on afghanistan. defense secretary leon panetta just met with president hamid karzai as the u.s. soldier who is a kutsed of slaughtering 16 people is moved from the country. >>> the washington monument is sinking. it's sunk a fraction of an inch since the quake hit last august. >>> today the circus ends and the prison sentence begins. former governor rob blagojevich has left illinois and might not be back for quite some time. he's on his way right now to a federal prison in colorado to start his 14-year sentence. he was convicted last summer of corruption. zoraida zsambolin is with us. >> my pleasure. >> zoraida, his going away thing was kind of like he was a rock star rather than a corrupt politician. why is that? >> as i was watching it this morning, i thought the exact same thing. this guy still does what he does best, right? he has this rock star status in the state of illinois. he was the golden boy of illinois politics for a very long time, and he has a way of connecting with people that have ne

which is what the goal is in afghanistan in general. and that allows the president to continue to say that the coalition is together in nato. and which is the goal here in general. and allowed the president to say this earlier today when he was meeting with afghan president hamid karzai. >> the world is behind the strategy that we've laid out. now it's our task to implement it effectively, and i believe that we can do so in part because of the tremendous strength and resilience of the afghan people. >> reporter: fredricka, another task for the u.s. and all the countries here is to get agreement on international financial support for the plan in afghanistan going forward. more than $1 billion a year through 2014. and also, to figure out what international military commitments will look like in afghanistan after 2014. fredricka? >> and a neighbor to afghanistan, pakistan, that is being discussed as well. and apparently there are some reports of the u.s. being denied access to some of the roads in pakistan. what's going on? >> reporter: so

military in afghanistan. they are photos showing u.s. soldiers posing with and mocking the bodies of suicide bombers. first two disclaimers here. cnn has not independently authenticated the photos and they are graphic and we have blurred them for you. these images published about 90 minut minutes ago are more than ghoulish. "the new york times" defends its decision to publish saying after careful consideration we decided that publishing a small but representative selection of the photos would fulfill our obligation to readers to report vigorously and impartially on all aspects of the american mission in afghanistan including the allegation that the images reflect a breakdown in unit discipline that was endangering u.s. troops. barbara starr is at the pentagon. barb barbara, military leaders condemned these images before they became public. tell us what is you know? >> reporter: early this morning before "the l.a. times" came out we started receiving statements from top officials in afghanistan and even from the spokesman for defense secr

troops in afghanistan. and more than an affair? searching the home of mistress paula broadwell. >>> fashion faux pas. known for its runway shows but racism in the briefest of briefs? >>> we talk to michigan state head coach tom izzo live this hour. "newsroom" starts now. >>> and good morning from washingt washington. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining us. this morning, a shocking new development in the sex scandal that toppled one of the most respect respected men in washington. now it has snared another top general, john allen, commander of all international troops in afghanistan. today the feds are sifting through a mountain of e-mails and messages he traded with a woman named jill kelley. a mind boggling 20,000 to 30,000 pages and agents are searching for anything inappropriate. now here is the common link. that woman, kelley, jill kelley, she's the one who received harassing e-mails supposedly from petraeus' jealous mistress, paula broadwell. petraeus admits to the affair with broadwell and has said that this wom

will still have a presence in afghanistan. it's unclear how many troops will remain. >> now the plans to draw down u.s. troops faces many skeptics. they believe it expects too much too soon from the afghan security forces. james "spider" marks is a retired army general who serves as a cnn contributor. welcome, general. >> hi, carol. >> thanks for being with us is this to your time frame simply too ambitious? >> well, this has been in place for quite some time, carol. we've always known from day one that we weren't going to be there forever. sadly we didn't know on day one that we'd be there for 13 years. so the 2014 time line has been in place for some time. we're drawing down the 90,000 to an indetermined number of folks, but i think within the final numbers that remain it is more important to look at functions performed and there are two parallel missions, and i would say it's training the afghan security forces to continue to make sure that that's going quickly. and then the second mission is to target and go after taliban

history. >> reporter: 70,000 american troops are still fighting in afghanistan. but will election day affect them one way or the other? we see two candidates moving closer and closer to the point where there's not much space between them. >> our goals should be to complete a successful transition to afghan security force business the end of 2014. >> next year, afghans will take the lead for their own security. in 2014 the transition will be complete. >> reporter: there were real differences at the beginning of governor romney's campaign last summer when he seemed to criticize obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to afghanistan. >> it's time for us to bring our troops hope as soon as we possibly can. i also think we've learned that our troops shouldn't go off and fight a war of independence for another nation. >> reporter: by november he opposed in i plan to bring most troops home before 2014. >> i stand with the commanders in this regard and have no information that suggests that pulling our troops out faster than that would do anything but put at great pe

marine killed by one of his trainees in afghanistan. it happened just last month his dad tells me his marine son didn't feel safe around the afghan troops he was serving alongside. that report in a few minutes here. >>> additional american troops either deployed or ready to go to the middle east and north africa this weekend, where they are going to bheping out. 50 marines in libya, and could go to yemen and sudan. on tuesday, militants attacked the u.s. consul in benghazi and killed the ambassador and three american men close to him. >>> want to talk to general wesley clarke, general, thank you for joining us. can u.s. forces help keep these consulates and embassies safer? >> certainly they can. first of all, forces around the consulates can provide direct defense. they can also provide deterrents and simply the word that we're putting additional forces in there has to be heard by people. the forces offshore can provide reinforcements, provide additional intelligence and a lot going on behind the scenes, you can be sure of that. our in

he soon will make remarks to the nato summit on afghanistan. and the exit strategy supposedly nato has signed on to the agreement between the united states and the president for getting most of our troops out of afghanistan by the year 2014. when the president begins speaking -- oh, he's walking to the podium and still shaking hands. when he starts speaking we'll head back to chicago. let's talk about this. captivate, dazzling, amazing, i'm talking about the ring of fire, solar eclipse that wowed crowds from china to texas. many held viewing parties. rob marciano is here to explain why we all couldn't see it. >> just one more party that i wasn't invited to. you had to go somewhere to see it. if you lived in west texas or anywhere in the western part of the u.s. you got a glimpse of it. it was certainly special. reason being is remember when we had this big super moon a couple of weeks ago because it was so big and so close. the opposite occurred when it went on the other side of the earth. it was further away. not all of the sun was blocked out

troops in afghanistan in january 2009 when he took office. he increased that number to well over 100,000 troops in afghanistan. he doubled and tripled down on what president bush had done. now there's still about $90,000 u.s. troops. at the end of the summer there will still be about 67,000 or so u.s. troops. i wish he would have been more transparent with the american people and explained how much this is going to cost all of us taxpayers, $2 billion a week right now, $120 billion a year. probably $200 billion between now and the end of 2014 when all u.s. combat forces are out of afghanistan. if you do the math, take a look at $200 billion. you add up all sorts of really important programs in the united states, food for children, health for poor women, all sorts of things along those lines, it's a lot more money that the united states is spending in afghanistan than spending on some of these vital programs here at home. he didn't get into the money. he didn't get into the final troop levels, and he certainly didn't answer the unanswered ques

trials in afghanistan. what we are sure of is that despite a lot of the afghan calls for sort of a public trial in afghanistan, for afghan officials to have a voice in this trial, the u.s. has been adamant from officials we've spoken to that this will be handled internally by the u.s. military, which means this soldier will have, you know, all the rights that any service member has, that it will not be handed over, so to speak, or allowed to be influenced by afghan law. >> and what about representation at this point? this is, again, really early in the game to be asking these questions given the fact he's probably so holed up in kandahar that no one has access to him. but does he have a lawyer at this point, and do we know anything about the possibility of an insanity defense? >> reporter: well, the insanity defense is a possibility. there are a number of troops who have attempted to use that, use ptsd as part of their defense. but again, usually it is a judge who can decide if there is a basis going forwar

afghanistan, asia, african, australia. the latest defense department figures show more than 200,000 military personnel currently are serving overseas. 91,000 are working in afghanistan right now. roughly 200 non-combat troops are in iraq following the military pullout last month. other troops are deployed to several parts, different peace keeping missions around the world. so under this u.s. plan, the new plan here, countries no longer going to be capable of fighting two major ground wars at the same time. joining us live from washington to talk about all of this, former air force colonel. first of all, people hear that and they become concerned. you cannot fight two ground wars at the same time. does that put our security, americans at risk in any way? what do you think? >> well, suzanne, it really depends how we approach it from a strategic standpoint. the way the secretary clarified the president's remarks or added to the president's remarks was kind of interesting, i thought, because what he said was that we would be a

i want to stay in afghanistan. we do have some breaking news here involving the soldier accused of killing the civilians on sunday. and a security care as defense secretary leon panetta arrived there at a base in afghanistan today. we're speaking to sara sidner in kabul. sara, what's the news? >> reporter: we have some breaking news to tell you about right now. i just got off the phone with the international security assistance forces officials, and they have said that the soldier that is accused in the massacre that happened sunday leaving 16 civilians dead has been transferred out of afghanistan and that some afghan officials were told about this before it happened. it happened sometime between 9:00 and 10:00 this evening afghan time. so that is the latest news out of afghanistan, the soldier accused in the shooting of afghan civilians in the dead of night on sunday has left the country. now, let's move on to mr. panetta. mr. panetta was in the country today. his plane landed in camp bastion in helmand province,

what you guys are going to do about afghanistan. we got those characters over there shooting our guys and our guys are coming home in body bags? you guys take over washington, what are you going to do about this mess in afghanistan. >> >> i ci can tell you this, w become commander in chief i will address the american people about these issues. i will do everything in my power to transition from our military to their military, bring our men and women home and do so in a way consistent with our mission, which is to keep afghanistan from being overrun by a new entity that would allow afghanistan to be launchening point for terror again like it was on 9/11. thank you, sir. >> mitt romney in new hampshire and one week from today, i'll be anchoring live in tampa, florida where republicans will be holding their national convention. it kicks off august 27th. i can't wait. see you monday from tampa. >>> on this monday a lot going on. take a look at this. a woman seven months pregnant loses her child after a drunk driver slams into her car. t

but there is a problem that shelters are provided in afghanistan. in 2001, there were no shelters and today, there are 14 shelters but they exist only in the northern half of the country and not this more conservative south, and they don't have the anywhere near the capacity in a country where an estimated 87% of the women who experience some form of abuse in their lifetime. so that the issue of making sure that there is shelter available to women who are facing abuse is very much a work in progress. it's an area where a lot more support is needed from the international community. >> heather, you live in afghanistan, and meet younger women and older women as well, and i'm sure people in similar situations, and what needs to happen here with a ground swell of change? what is the shift, if you will, and what has to happen to make life better for the majority of these young girls and women? >> well, i mean, as i said, progress happening. i think that the big concern at the moment is that with the withdrawal of international troops at the end of 2014, t

soldier accuse of killing 16 afghans in afghanistan. also a dramatic change of where he's being held. >> he's lying on the ground. oh, my god. >> a hysterical woman reporting the shooting death of a teen in florida. police finally released the 911 calls in the trayvon martin case. >>> and new video of the tornado that barreled through henryville, indiana, earlier this month. all that coming up this hour. >>> this morning we know the name of the u.s. soldier accused of killing 16 afghan civilians and where he's being held. the suspect is army staff sergeant robert bachlles. he's now in custody at ft. leavenworth in kansas by himself. he's married, a father of two kids. this was his first tour of duty in afghanistan but he's done three tours in iraq. here's what neighbors had to say about him. >> completely shocked. >> i would describe him as super fun to hang around with, kind of the life of the party. super loving, friendly to everybody he met, great with his kids. i just -- i don't -- i don't see how that has happened. i never saw any

afghanistan. secretary panetta acknowledged these attacks. he said there is concern the attacks have become more coordinated in nature, sophisticated in nature, but said they were expecting there would be more attacks in light of the season they are in. this is traditional the season for the taliban spring offensive. it's easier for the taliban to get to different parts of the country. a lot of concern here. because this is a time when more provinces in this country are getting handed over to afghan security forces, a lot of people wonder if afghan security forces have the wherewithal to fully protect this country at such a dangerous time? >> mohammed jamjoon, thanks so much. u.s. has 90,000 troops in afghanistan today, fewer than the 70,000 expected there by fall. >>> jeb bush's name has been floating around as a possible vp pick for mitt romney. the former florida governor told cbs it's not in the cards. >> i'm not going to do it, i'm not going to be asked. that doesn't mean i don't have a voice

mission, commitment to afghanistan. here's a little bit more of what mitt romney said. >> you go to the people that you're fighting with and tell them the day you're pulling out your troops? it makes absolutely no sense. his na af ta is putting in jeopardy the mission of the united states of america and our commitments to freedom. >> reporter: kyra, our most recent polling indicates that most americans don't support the war in afghanistan. when you break it down by party, there's definitely a partisan divide. republicans, a majority of them, 54% according to the most recent poll, they support the war in afghanistan. democrats and independents do not. this is an issue in the battle for the nomination and also in the battle for the white house. it's trumped by the economy but it is an issue. >> all right, paul. donald trump promising a, quote, major announcement this afternoon. what can you tell us? >> reporter: every time we seem to be done with donald trump,'s back. all four of the candidates are in nevada. donald trump

tempers are very high in afghanistan. people are upset and feel as though this is the kind of callo callous treatment of humans and stuff like that. all that said, the reaction is not as strong as it was to the burning of the koran. partly because this s. i think, most people recognize this was not a conscious decision by the u.s. military. this was a lone act of a gunman, of one soldier. and secondly, there is a tradition in afghanistan of being able to in effect pay a kind of -- you know, some kind of restitution. so i think this is manageable. president karzai did something very responsible. it's fine for him to express his outrage. he tried to buy into the conspiracy theories that have been set foot -- that this is not the work of a lone soldier, that this was part of some kind of conspiracy or that the army hire-ups were involved in it. that kind of thing is very worrying. but outside of that, this will blow over and there be ways that true payments of restitutions, apology already made quite well, i think we will ge

sara sidner in afghanistan. the taliban ramping up the threats saying they would behead americans to avenge the deaths of the 16 afghans. what more can you tell us about the threat? >> reporter: basically, just that. that sent an e-mail today saying that they had to take revenge for this incident. that involved u.s. soldier. that u.s. soldier has been detained as you know but they're saying that they will behead any american anywhere in afghanistan. and so that's the latest very strong threat from the taliban. so far, we don't know of anyone claiming responsibility for that attack that happened while the funeral was going on but still a very difficult situation there. lots of difficulties getting information out of that area. we did see protests for the first time since this incident happened a couple of days ago in jalalabad and quite far from kandahar. kandahar is in southern afghanistan. jalalabad in eastern afghanistan. 400 to 500 people did show up, most of them university students. the road, an important r

he returned to afghanistan recently after being told it was safe. they said americans were not everywhere they like used to be. the taliban brought security and i should return home. i am happy to be back in my country. green on blue or insider attacks as they are known in the military have sharply increased this year here in afghanistan. every single time there's an attack, the taliban immediately claims responsibility. >> the taliban lie. we know they lie. we think they overstate their influence on the tragic incidents. we think somewhere around 25% of them are insurgent related to some degree. >> reporter: the majority of the attacks according to the coalition are related to personal grievances and cultural differences, and fatigue in a war that is about to enter its 12th year. and while trust is being undermined, and steps being put in place to protect troops, and they are trying to make sure the inside attacks don't tkae rail the partnership. >> we have been working together with 11 years, and this will continue to despite any efforts by the ta

you will have seen prince harry, who is now in afghanistan. you're familiar with what i'm talking about. >> yes. >> i believe suzanne. and threats that the taliban saying that they will do whatever they can to kidnap or kill prince harry now that he is on active service duty in afghanistan. when harry was first deployed to afghanistan as a ground -- member of the ground troops, he was pulled out when knowledge of him being there came out, so the difference this time and why the ministry of defense say he won't be pulled out and much more relaxed as they can be about this is because he is a helicopter pilot, and to quote the ministry of defense, it's a lot more difficult to kill or kidnap a helicopter pilot. let's ignore the fact you have to get ten first and you have to get past the british troops, so it's the taliban making a lot of moiz and hot air about it, but i can tell you the british troops are not concerned. >> good. we certainly hope that he is safe. we appreciate that. richard quest, good to see you. >> i am going -- i am going to ta

sar sarah sidner is in afghanistan. let's get to takoma, washington where dan simon is now. >> reporter: of course the focus is trying to see if there were clues or warning signs that may have caused this army soldier robert bales to carry out this unthinkable rampage. right now there is a lot of speculation whether or not he suffered deep emotional problems after having been to four different battle zones, three in iraq, one in afghanistan. of course, his attorney tells cnn in 2010 he suffered a serious brain injury after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb. that attorney telling cnn that the day before the rampage took place, his client watched a fellow soldier get seriously injured. take a look. >> what i heard from the military lawyers who are working on this case with me, who i'm very impressed with, that another soldier at this base was brutally attacked the day before this incident and had his leg shot off right in front of my client. >> reporter: the military moved bales' family. he's a father of two children and hi

they also have killed numerous pakistanis and people in afghanistan. so, what does this designation mean? essentially it goes after the financial resources of the haqqani network, and it means that the order bans for example entry into the united states, and that is not such a big deal, but it freezes assets of the haqqanis and the haqqani network that might be in the united states or might be in other countries around the world that are controlled by the united states. so, that's the idea to drive up their support and financing. >> and jill, this is actually a controversial move and something that some critics say should have happened a long time ago, and why is this so sensitive? >> well, there was a lot of debate within the administrat n administration, and one of the reasons is that in a sense you could argue that this is already being done, because there is an executive order that actually freezes their assets individually for members of the haqqani network, and now it is the entire group. and the fear was that number one the haqqanis are tied on

army captain dies in afghanistan. bruce clark was skyping with his wife when she says he fell forward. she had to watch him lying there for two hours before anyone came to help. in about 30 minutes police plan to hold a news conference about a man found dead at churchill downs. his body was found hours after the race. >>> russia's president sworn in for a six-year term while thousands of people in that country riot claiming his victory should be thrown out because of election fraud. >>> plus a new president in france and it's having an impact orn the markets. the dow is down 30 points. we'll explain why. >>> plus one man's plea for president obama to save his life. on a videotape just released by al qaeda, we hear from 70-year-old warren wooin stien, the american who was snatched back in august. he begs president obama to make a deal with the terrorists or they will kill him. >> i'd like to talk to president obama and beg him that he please accept and respond to the demands. if you accept the demands, i live. if you d

c -- afghanistan. can you at all trace this attitude traceable up the chain, does it reflect commanders' attitudes at all? >> i would say it probably does on a certain level. i mean, i would -- >> probably does. what does that mean? >> i would say that if we injected our generals with truth serum and asked them how they felt about the afghan people they would not say they love them, is what i mean. and i think there has been a breakdown in discipline from the top. it was explicit in my reporting on general mcchrystal but this sort of contempt for common sense that we've seen where we have, you know, again, ten years in and we have, you know, general john allen and these other top generals saying we want the more years, i mean, if that's not a breakdown in discipline, to try to wage an endless war, i don't know what is. obviously i'm not talking -- no general is out there doing this sort of thing, that's viewed in the video. but i would wonder if there are aren't a lot of other incidents on the ground t

you said that first we should not have a time line in afghanistan. then you said we should. now you say maybe, or it depends, which means not only were you wrong but you were confusing and sending mixed messages to our troops and allies. so, what we need to do with respect to the middle east is strong, steady leadership, not wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map. and, unfortunately, that's the kind of opinions that you have offered throughout this campaign. and it is not a recipe for american strength or keeping america safe over the long term. >> i am going to add a couple minutes to give you a chance to respond. >> well, of course, i don't concur with what the president said about my own record and the things that i've said. they don't happen to be accurate. i can say this, that we are talking about the middle east and how to help the middle east reject the terrorism we are seeing and rising tide of tumult and confusion. and attacking me is not an agenda. attacking me is not talking about how we will deal with challenges that exist in the middle east and t

. >>> to afghanistan now where six u.s. troops have been killed. an official who wishes to remain nameless says it happened in the eastern part of the country. it was a deadly weekend. over 26 civilians were killed in roadside bombings and two international troops were killed as well. also this morning tens of thousands of americans will find their morning routine interrupted when they try to logon to the internet and they won't be able to. their computers were affected months and even years ago. they kept them on line. they won't be able to access the internet and later this hour mario armstrong will join us to explain. >>> over the weekend millions got a reprieve from the record heat wave. heavy rains and severe storms plowed across the country. they scrambled for cover as winds peeled off roofs. trying to tape up the window and told everybody to get in the dance roop. >> we were that close to it hitting us. we stepped in there and we saw it. just came in on us. >> virginia's governor is pleading people to be patient. more have been without power

they were preparing for a deployment to afghanistan. they are major thomas budzejko, captain michael quinn, captain benjamin cerni gchlt lia, captain anderson, sergeant everett, lance corporal little and lance corporal elliott. they're trying to federal government out how in the world it happened. >> the youngest son of robert f. kennedy has been charged with misdemeanor, harassment and child endangerment after he allegedly tried to take his two day old son out of a new york hospital last month despite warnings from nurses. when they tried to stop him, he allegedly twisted one nurse's wrist and kicked another as she approached him. the nurse's attorney said they were trying to enforce hospital rules. he said the nurses didn't recognize kennedy as the baby's father and intended to protect the child who apparently had not been discharged. >>> next, the showdown is tuesday and the race is tight. gop presidential hopefuls battle it out for michigan and arizona. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on tr

fury in the streets of afghanistan today. this anti-american demonstration started calmly, turned violent. one person killed. several u.s. troops were hurt in an explosion in small arms fire outside of an american base. meanwhile, afghan police are looking for the man who killed two u.s. officers in afghanistan yesterday. investigators know who he is. they say he works at the interior ministry. >>> the syrian government says a referendum people are voting on today is aimed at changing the institution and shows a step toward ending the deadly conflict. >> well, that hasn't stopped armed groups and security forces from battling today in homs and damascus and hama. across syria, at least 45 people were killed today. cnn's michael homes is watching developments in syria from beirut. >> us thats m >> thousands more syrians died. violence and anti-government protests in city from the south to the north. but many of the victims, again, in the now familiar and still besieged neighborhood are in the city of homs. the shelling began ju

this is his first tour in afghanistan. he had only been in country for maybe two months or so, not much longer than that. he was assigned to force protection, so he was a conventional army soldier working with the green berets there on that combat outpost, working to sort of stabilize a village. think of it as sort of a neighborhood watch sort of operation. he was not with special operations forces but he was working with them to protect the force. he left that base about 3:00 in the morning. some of the afghan forces who control that base and who do security, they saw him leave. they called their american counterparts and said, hey, a soldier just walked off base by himself, so the u.s. then did a head count of all the troops on the base, figured out that one soldier was missing, they mounted a patrol to go after him but this soldier had walked back to the base by himself, and that's where he turned himself in to the authorities there on the base. since then, he has been moved to a larger base while the investigation is t

the attorney ruling out any trial in afghanistan. carol in. >> the attorney also said it would be in military court, which isn't so easy for a traditional criminal attorney to prosecute a case, but he is working with military attorneys as well, is that right? >> reporter: that's right. he described the cooperation with the jag attorney that was representing the suspect from the very beginning as very good. he says he's very cooperative. mr. browne says he has experience with military cases and has a high degree of confidence in the military's ability to give this suspect a fair trial. what he does worry about though is the political implications of this case and how that could affect the defense, carol. >> casey wian, live for us in seattle this morning. thank you. >>> the president isn't so impressed with republicans sniping on gas prices. now he's getting a little snarky. >> do not tell me that we're not drilling. we're drilling all over this country. >> okay. we're going to drill past the political chatter and find out what we can

. >> afghanistan is dominating this meeting. it's so important that before the summit began, the president sat down with afghan president, hamid karzai. and in public remarks, karzai thanked the u.s. taxpayers, for everything that the taxpayers have done for afghanistan. said that the afghans would soon no longer be a burden to the u.s. and assured that afghans would be able to take over the combat lead. >>> also, five more drones will be added. >>> robin gibb passed away in england, after a long fight with liver and colon cancer. gibb and his two brothers, barry and maurice, made up the bee gees. robin gibb was 62. his death comes three days after the death of disco queen, donna summer. we'll have more on robin gibbs' death, later on in the show. >>> the only man convicted of the 1988 lockerbie bombing is dead. but the sense of release for victims' families is mixed with anger. at the time, doctors said he didn't have long to live because of prostate cancer. he proved them wrong. and the welcome he received in libya, only added