WEBVTT

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Yeah , thank you for that . Very

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comprehensive overview . General . And

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we do have a few questions here . So

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let's get started . Pauline , pauline

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Jelinek of the Associated Press . You

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mentioned the increase in forces and

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the increase in funding and almost like

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a little counterintuitive in some ways

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that we have to keep increasing answers

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that we're putting into Afghanistan .

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Could just sort of big picture away

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talk about , you know , the name of the

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american people , Why do we keep

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getting more and more ? They're

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different missions . We didn't put

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enough in earlier , whatever .

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Well , first I would say that this is a

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country that for 35 years was war torn .

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The irrigation , uh this is an

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agricultural country , agricultural

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country and the irrigation systems that

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existed and made this a basket

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uh for the , for both the Central Asia

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reason was destroyed uh both by the

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Soviets and then by the Taliban . So

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there's a lot of reconstruction on

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going to get the irrigation systems

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back into place . Uh , this was a

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country that had little or no

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infrastructure . Indeed in the past

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year , our soldiers have gone from a

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siege 47 with supplies to some Humvees ,

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to some gators , to some mules to hand

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carry their their equipment into the

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remote villages where we're providing

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security because that's the only thing

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that ever existed was a small donkey

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trail . While there's been some 14

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billion of us aid in the past uh five

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years that have built a major ring road

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around all of Afghanistan connecting

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Afghanistan , there is much work to be

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done to bring this country forward into

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the modern era . So uh the

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reconstruction efforts are critical as

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far as the army part of that ? Uh 10

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billion that's been announced will go

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towards modernizing the army and the

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police , both growing the army larger

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than it is today and the police force

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in our clear build and hold strategy ,

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what's critical in holding our

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policemen , the man on the street that

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resonates with the local people . And

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uh we're going away from militias that

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were controlled by a few tribal heads

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to a uh respected police force

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that provides for law and order With

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regards to more troops . We have built

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a lot of capability and helped a lot in

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the last five years but the addition of

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troops will dissuade those who would

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come to the sanctuary of areas of

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Afghanistan and Pakistan and defeat

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them and clearly demonstrate to them

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that we have resolved to see this

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through

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uh general this is pam hess with U . P .

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I . Your audio has cut out on a couple

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of key parts . So I like you to clarify

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what you said , you told us that you

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recommended the addition of a maneuver

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battalion in the east . That you

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recommended a robust border force and a

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theater tactical reserve for ice .

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After the 10th mountain Division

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extension is for the theater ,

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practical reserve for itself . What is

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the status of the maneuver battalion

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and the robust border force . Have you

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gotten the groups that you need for

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that and on the expansion of afghani

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uh police and army ? How much larger

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will it get

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the uh , to answer your

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question , the extension of the third

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brigade of the 10th Mountain satisfies

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all requirements for the robust border

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battalion for the theater Tactical

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Reserve and for the infantry battalion

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to add additional capability to partner

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with the two oh third corps in the

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central part of RC East , Is that part

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clear ? Thank you .

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With

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the , with the growth of the

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army , with , with regards to the

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growth of the army , the army is going

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to move from where at about General

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Durban really runs this part of it ,

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where it about 32,000 today moving

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towards an army of around 70,000 and

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where the police force today of around

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uh 45,000 moving towards

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80,000 police force . Now , this is for

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all of Afghanistan , not just regional

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Command East . And I think that if you

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know this , but Afghanistan , just

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regional Command East itself is the

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size of the state of Georgia . So it's

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a hugely expansive piece of ground with

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no infrastructure , which makes it very

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difficult to get to these remote

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valleys and uh mountain areas . For

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instance , today , I have soldiers at

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13,500 ft under four ft of snow ,

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providing security and defeating the

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enemy , working with the people on

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reconstruction and keeping the Taliban

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out of this remote area in the

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northeast .

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One more verification NATO you said is

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80% filled . How many troops is NATO

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short of their commitments and what

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efforts you have to get NATO to come

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through or is now the United States

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going to provide our cover that gap ?

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Uh No , I know

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that the United States is working with

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the NATO countries in upcoming meetings

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to get the 80% fill in . Uh it's across

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the country . I don't have the specific

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numbers of how many troops are needed .

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11 of those was the uh about 1000 man

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theater tactical reserve which we have

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filled . But there are still other

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nations that need to contribute in

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other parts of the country . Are seeing

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north , west and south to meet all of

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the requirements , principally

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additional forces in the south .

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Okay , Jeff go ahead . General

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Jeff trouble with stars and stripes .

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You mentioned that I . E . D . Attacks

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doubled from 2005 , 2000 and six .

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From 865 to

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1745 are those

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countrywide against coalition U . S .

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Troops and civilians ? Or is that just

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an R . C . East ?

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Now those are the I E . Ds that we

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attract primarily in RC east , capital

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and south . While there have been some

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I E . D . S in the north and west ,

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they pale in comparison with the

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numbers that have been used against the

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ISAF forces in the east and south .

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You described this as this increase as

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an act of desperation . Can you please

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elaborate on that ? Because it seems

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assigned rather of a growing insurgency ?

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Well ,

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the enemy has attacked us in the last

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year in numbers as large as 200 on the

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10th of january . Where we killed 100

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and 30 of them and probably wounded

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close to 50 . From our analysis uh to

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as you might know when IsIS conducted

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operation Medusa uh to the east of

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uh Kandahar in the Pines Way area last

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september where hundreds were killed

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every time the enemy has massed in this

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past year , they have suffered

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devastating defeats in large numbers

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and yet produced no or little to no

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casualties in the eye staff forces . So

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we see them reverting to I . E . Ds

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indiscriminate I E Ds which I mentioned

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have killed more afghans than they have

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our forces . And we take this to be a

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matter to try to keep up support behind

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the insurgency , to raise funds for the

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insurgency and to raise fighters for

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the insurgency . But we are working

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diligently to defeat the I . E . Ds as

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well . And see a decreasing signs of

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the massing information because of the

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capabilities of Isaf and the afghan

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national Army which overwhelmed them in

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every battle . Republican . That

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how is this a positive development

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there going from battles where they're

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being wiped out to stand off tactics

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where they're killing us ?

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Well , I think firstly that uh in a

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counterinsurgency , what we're fighting

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for is the middle ground , the people

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who uh want to determine where they

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want to put their trust and confidence .

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Do they want to have trust and

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confidence in the Karzai government ?

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What they elected or do they want to

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have trust and confidence in the

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Taliban that would oppress them , keep

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those two million girls out of school

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and keep them from being a progressive

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society . Part of that is uh our

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respect for Islam and the Taliban

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apparent lack of respect for Islam as a

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murder innocent Children and civilians

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with the indiscriminate use of

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improvised explosive devices . Um I

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don't think the use of I E . D . S as a

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positive trend . What I said was that

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we have seen them which we believe in

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desperation move away from pitched

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battles , direct fire battles to the

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indiscriminate use of violence as an

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alternative means to try to continue

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the counterinsurgency which we believe

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uh in the long term will turn the

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popular uh support will maintain the

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popular support behind the President .

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This is not a popular insurgency , this

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is a forced insurgency and insurgency

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of intimidation by the Taliban