WEBVTT 00:00.640 --> 00:03.500 well at what point is the war in 00:03.500 --> 00:05.950 Afghanistan right now is this kind of 00:05.950 --> 00:08.061 the beginning of the end ? The end of 00:08.061 --> 00:10.283 the beginning ? I mean , where where do 00:10.283 --> 00:12.394 you see where things stand in the war 00:12.394 --> 00:14.561 in in terms of prosecuting this war in 00:14.561 --> 00:15.561 Afghanistan . Now 00:21.140 --> 00:24.840 the fighting operations in Afghanistan , 00:24.850 --> 00:27.820 the second phase of the fight in an 00:27.820 --> 00:31.090 insurgency , The insurgency that grew 00:31.090 --> 00:34.920 in the years up to 2009 led to 00:34.930 --> 00:38.120 President Obama's decision to increase 00:38.130 --> 00:40.330 the forces . The search to bring more 00:40.330 --> 00:43.010 troops into the country to make the 00:43.010 --> 00:45.570 situation more stable and produce 00:45.580 --> 00:48.460 Afghan security forces at the same time , 00:48.840 --> 00:52.490 this process is well underway and we 00:52.490 --> 00:54.980 have stopped the direct attacks on 00:54.980 --> 00:57.100 troops . We have not stopped the 00:57.100 --> 00:59.820 insurgents yet from doing reckless acts 00:59.830 --> 01:02.040 on the streets , killing innocent 01:02.040 --> 01:06.000 civilians and using using 01:06.000 --> 01:09.000 improvised bombs , using all sorts of 01:09.010 --> 01:11.760 means to terrorize the population . So 01:11.760 --> 01:15.120 what started as an insurgency in many 01:15.120 --> 01:17.850 parts has become simple and blank 01:17.860 --> 01:20.800 terrorism that has to be stemmed and it 01:20.800 --> 01:23.050 has to be stemmed in close cooperation 01:23.050 --> 01:25.390 between the international community and 01:25.390 --> 01:27.501 Afghan national Security forces which 01:27.501 --> 01:29.279 are getting better day by day . 01:31.440 --> 01:34.890 I'm going back to what happened 01:34.900 --> 01:38.830 last friday , is there any 01:38.840 --> 01:41.740 sense now about what kind of weapon was 01:41.750 --> 01:44.060 used to take that helicopter down ? 01:47.740 --> 01:49.820 General Allen made a very clear 01:49.820 --> 01:53.300 statement on Wednesday on where we 01:53.300 --> 01:55.840 stand in looking into the incident in 01:55.840 --> 01:57.951 the early hours of saturday morning , 01:58.440 --> 02:00.662 we are aware that there were insurgents 02:00.662 --> 02:03.270 on the ground . We are aware that the 02:03.270 --> 02:05.620 helicopter was fired at . It was fired 02:05.620 --> 02:08.270 at with small arms ? It was fired at 02:08.270 --> 02:11.740 with RPGS . Uh the likeliness that it 02:11.740 --> 02:14.300 was brought down by small arms is great . 02:14.310 --> 02:17.070 But before we not know exactly what 02:17.070 --> 02:19.710 caused the incident , what caused the 02:19.710 --> 02:23.090 catastrophic size of the helicopters 02:23.090 --> 02:25.710 downing ? We cannot confirm that it was 02:25.710 --> 02:27.766 a particular type , whether it being 02:27.766 --> 02:30.420 small arms or whether it was a rocket 02:30.420 --> 02:31.531 propelled grenade , 02:34.140 --> 02:37.050 Okay . And just also in terms of that , 02:37.440 --> 02:39.620 what type of operation were those 02:39.630 --> 02:42.900 soldiers going on and what has been 02:42.910 --> 02:45.110 happening after that incident ? In 02:45.110 --> 02:47.860 terms of that type of operation ? Have 02:47.860 --> 02:50.990 you had to refigure how you're doing it ? 02:51.000 --> 02:53.620 Has that type of operation slowed down 02:53.620 --> 02:55.460 or is it it going forward ? 02:59.340 --> 03:01.760 The operation in which the incident 03:01.760 --> 03:03.800 took place without going into 03:03.800 --> 03:06.500 operational detail where the helicopter 03:06.500 --> 03:09.640 went down on saturday morning was a 03:09.640 --> 03:13.130 typical type of night operation aimed 03:13.140 --> 03:16.520 to arrest insurgent leaders . One of 03:16.520 --> 03:19.550 the safest way to run this combat 03:19.550 --> 03:21.550 operation , take the leaders of the 03:21.550 --> 03:24.280 battlefield . In the majority of this 03:24.280 --> 03:27.430 type of operations , actually 85% of 03:27.430 --> 03:29.652 night operations , not a single shot is 03:29.652 --> 03:32.770 fired . People are taken at night where 03:32.770 --> 03:35.090 we have the advantage of night vision , 03:35.180 --> 03:37.430 they are arrested , they're put into a 03:37.440 --> 03:39.650 detention and the vast majority of 03:39.650 --> 03:42.280 those that we catch are guilty . 03:42.330 --> 03:44.552 Otherwise the procedures guarantee that 03:44.552 --> 03:46.774 they will be released to their families 03:46.774 --> 03:48.497 to come to the numbers of this 03:48.497 --> 03:52.250 operation . Just special forces have 03:52.260 --> 03:56.140 flown more then 10,000 hours 03:56.150 --> 03:57.928 in the course of last year with 03:57.928 --> 04:01.410 helicopters in this country in 2800 04:01.420 --> 04:04.060 operations . The majority of them of 04:04.060 --> 04:06.510 the same type as we have seen . That is 04:06.510 --> 04:09.130 more than if you just take the algebra 04:09.140 --> 04:13.060 7.5 of this operations per 04:13.060 --> 04:15.880 day and we are continuing because it is 04:15.880 --> 04:18.102 the most successful way of running this 04:18.102 --> 04:21.990 better . Okay . Just 04:22.000 --> 04:24.280 just as a final question , uh looking 04:24.280 --> 04:26.480 ahead over the next couple couple of 04:26.480 --> 04:30.070 weeks , what do you see as the key near 04:30.070 --> 04:32.550 term challenges for for ice f 04:36.840 --> 04:39.380 without speculating about what might 04:39.380 --> 04:42.690 happen in the next two weeks ? Our 04:42.690 --> 04:44.760 priorities are very clear . We will 04:44.760 --> 04:47.460 continue in the coming weeks and in the 04:47.460 --> 04:51.400 coming months to to 04:51.470 --> 04:54.130 permanently push the enemy to 04:54.310 --> 04:57.950 absolutely pursuit them wherever we 04:57.950 --> 05:00.480 find them . This is the aim number one 05:00.480 --> 05:03.030 in the combat against the insurgents . 05:03.030 --> 05:05.420 At the same time , we will continue to 05:05.420 --> 05:07.531 build up the Afghan national Security 05:07.531 --> 05:10.200 forces at a speed as high as we can 05:10.200 --> 05:13.240 afford it . But as at equality at which 05:13.240 --> 05:15.970 we need it and we will support the 05:15.970 --> 05:18.030 Afghan government and the process of 05:18.030 --> 05:21.260 transition . So that transition can run 05:21.270 --> 05:24.150 as smoothly as it has started in the 05:24.150 --> 05:27.150 process up to the year 2014 . And then 05:27.150 --> 05:30.030 of course we have to plan and to amend 05:30.040 --> 05:31.920 how the support of the future 05:31.920 --> 05:34.240 Afghanistan will have to be . So these 05:34.240 --> 05:37.200 are basically the four lines that we 05:37.200 --> 05:40.060 are going to take what the time after 05:40.060 --> 05:42.500 Ramadan will bring us whether the 05:42.500 --> 05:45.390 fighting of the summer season is going 05:45.390 --> 05:47.910 to calm down on the side of the 05:47.910 --> 05:50.440 insurgents or whether they continue to 05:50.440 --> 05:53.150 plant improvised explosive devices at a 05:53.150 --> 05:55.261 tempo that they have done over recent 05:55.261 --> 05:57.094 weeks . We will see . But we are 05:57.094 --> 06:00.970 prepared . All right . And I know I've 06:00.970 --> 06:03.192 done this before . I have another final 06:03.192 --> 06:05.960 question I wanted to ask you about um 06:06.440 --> 06:08.980 many of the countries supporting forces 06:08.980 --> 06:11.091 in Afghanistan are going through very 06:11.091 --> 06:13.036 tough economic times . There are , 06:13.036 --> 06:15.202 there is a lot of pressure , certainly 06:15.202 --> 06:16.869 in the United States , on the 06:16.869 --> 06:19.036 government , in terms of how it spends 06:19.036 --> 06:21.147 its money and there has been a lot of 06:21.147 --> 06:24.970 sense of waning support for the Afghan 06:24.970 --> 06:27.137 war , certainly in the United States . 06:27.640 --> 06:29.890 What are the concerns for the soldiers 06:29.890 --> 06:32.100 on the ground ? Are are you concerned 06:32.110 --> 06:35.330 that uh some of the nation's supporting 06:35.330 --> 06:37.810 troops are are not going to be willing 06:37.810 --> 06:39.977 to honour the commitments that they've 06:39.977 --> 06:41.754 they've made because of money . 06:45.130 --> 06:47.490 I will not go into decision making 06:47.490 --> 06:50.500 processes in the capitals of the 06:50.510 --> 06:53.540 coalition member States . There is one 06:53.540 --> 06:55.373 thing clear , we've got a common 06:55.373 --> 06:57.707 interest with the people of Afghanistan . 06:57.707 --> 06:59.870 It is our interest that Afghanistan 06:59.870 --> 07:02.290 never again becomes a haven for 07:02.290 --> 07:04.660 terrorists . The training ground , a 07:04.660 --> 07:08.490 breeding training ground as it was in 07:08.500 --> 07:11.700 the early years of this century . This 07:11.700 --> 07:13.790 is our interest , it is also in the 07:13.790 --> 07:16.012 interest of the people of Afghanistan . 07:16.040 --> 07:18.151 That those who are planting bombs now 07:18.151 --> 07:20.262 on the side of the road , the Taliban 07:20.262 --> 07:22.262 that they only know too well do not 07:22.262 --> 07:24.730 come back to power ever in this land . 07:24.760 --> 07:27.170 It is in our common interest that this 07:27.170 --> 07:30.720 country becomes overcomes . The 07:30.720 --> 07:33.580 insurgency becomes a stable member of 07:33.590 --> 07:36.600 the community of nations . This is the 07:36.600 --> 07:39.750 way into the future and this is what we 07:39.750 --> 07:41.810 are working for and we are going to 07:41.810 --> 07:43.460 work for it unshaken 07:46.040 --> 07:48.151 and I'm one more and this really will 07:48.151 --> 07:50.207 be the last one . So in terms I just 07:50.207 --> 07:52.207 want to make sure I'm understanding 07:52.207 --> 07:54.373 this correctly in terms of the Special 07:54.373 --> 07:57.060 Forces nighttime type of operations 07:57.090 --> 07:58.650 that's all going forward . 08:01.340 --> 08:04.610 Mm Night operations 08:04.620 --> 08:07.680 is one of the typical elements of the 08:07.690 --> 08:10.120 counterinsurgency campaign . Night 08:10.120 --> 08:12.330 operations . Mean that we very clearly 08:12.330 --> 08:15.760 identified by various means where a 08:15.760 --> 08:18.140 leader or a group of leaders of the 08:18.140 --> 08:21.700 insurgency are located . We are then 08:22.840 --> 08:26.160 Sending special forces to get them 08:26.170 --> 08:29.260 captured in a night operations . This 08:29.270 --> 08:33.090 is the safest form of 08:33.100 --> 08:36.470 catching insurgent leaders in . More 08:36.470 --> 08:39.150 than 85% of these operations . Not a 08:39.150 --> 08:41.360 single shot is fired . The special 08:41.360 --> 08:44.780 forces go in , they arrest the one or 08:44.780 --> 08:46.836 the number of insurgents that we are 08:46.836 --> 08:49.890 after they take them into detention and 08:49.890 --> 08:52.700 nobody is hurt . No civilian casualty . 08:52.710 --> 08:55.330 Not a shot fired in the area . So 08:55.330 --> 08:57.400 therefore it is a very safe type of 08:57.400 --> 08:59.340 operation and we are doing this 08:59.340 --> 09:02.590 operations in considerable numbers and 09:02.590 --> 09:06.490 we will continue to do so Alright . 09:06.500 --> 09:08.556 That really was the final question . 09:08.556 --> 09:10.667 Thank you so much for taking the time 09:10.667 --> 09:12.833 to talk to us . And I hope to speak to 09:12.833 --> 09:16.500 you again next week . You shall indeed . 09:16.510 --> 09:19.760 Thank you . All right . Thank you . Bye .