tonight on "worldfocus" -- >> from afghanistan, day three of the biggest nato military offensive that country has seen in years. what happens when the fighting stops? from ireland, the latest on what's being called that country's dirty secret. now the pope gets involved. from cuba, a special report. the cuban government says we're open for business, but american companies get left out in the cold. and from germany, art history. that's what this famous art gallery worries it will become as developers eye their property. from the different perspectives of reporter analysts from around the globe, this is "worldfocus." major support has been provided by -- rosalind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters -- welcome to "worldfocus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. it has been a pretty busy day. that is how one marine commander put it on this, the third day of the biggest allied military offensive in afghanistan since 2001. some 15,000 u.s., british and afghan troops have converged on marjah, a taliban ronghold and opium hub located in helmand province. coalition forces are said to be engaged in numerous fire fights throughout the city. meanwhile, the ongoing problem of civilian casualties again reared its head after two u.s. rockets hit a home over the weekend killing at least 12 civilians. tonight, we look at the offensive from the british point of view. juliette bremner of itn has our lead focus. >> reporter: they have descended on marjah with overwhelming numbers and firepower, but u.s. marines know they must get rid of the taliban while persuading afghan civilians that it's safe to stay. >> as many compounds as possible and push up. >> reporter: they aim to first clear the area and then reassure local people, but confirmation that two u.s. rockets had missed their target, landing in a compound like this and killing 12 family members, sends exactly the opposite message. >> it was a serious setback. there's no question about that. as i said before, our aim is to protect the population. you don't protect them by killing them. of course it was a serious setback and a matter of grave concern to all of us. >> reporter: british ground troops are now moving up to the area north to meet up with soldiers flown in over the weekend as part of the biggest airborne assault since the gulf war. >> they have seen some small arms fire and ied activity, but frankly it's pretty -- pretty limited. >> reporter: the success of operation mushtarak which means "together" relies heavily on afghan forces. these are pictures show the afghan national army launching into the action alongside the marines. >> and i wou ask for the media to watch the bravery of afghan national security forces and their coalition partners. >> reporter: their importance was underlined by the u.s. general leading this afghan mission as he singled them out. >> i'm exceptionally proud of how they're performing. >> reporter: but it's going to be tough convincing afghan elders. they have watched taliban strongholds being cleared before only to see the fighters return. they need to be certain that after the afghan flag is raised, the soldiers will stay. juliet bremner. itv news. late today there was news of more civilian deaths in afghanistan. five people were killed in a nato air strike in the province of kandahar after being mistaken for insurgents. for more on the nato offensive in afghanistan we're joined by brian katulis, a senior fellow with the center for american progress in washington. thank you very much for joining us on thprogram. >> you're welcome. >> what is the strategic significance of the assault on marjah? >> well, marjah is important because it's in the helmand province, and this province is one of the largest narcotics producers in the world, and narcotics fuels the taliban insurgency, so this operation strategically is aimed at breaking the backbone, the financial backbone of the taliban insurgency, and proving to afghan citizens that there's an alternative to the taliban. that there's a viable afghan government. >> as we heard in that earlier report, much has been made of the afghan army's involvement in this operation. do these forces have the capability to hold any gains once nato forces leave? do nato forces have the ability to hold and build in this area? >> well, that's i think the question that will only be answered in a matter of weeks or perhaps even months. the afghan security forces have been reported to be very uneven in their ability to perform security operations. they lack certain things that we have, like logistical support, equipment, certain types of arms, so they haven't done well over the last eight years, and the ultimate test will be whether in the next few months they will be able to hold this area and then be able to allow the afghan government to build and provide basic services and things like justice to ordinary afghan citizens, and that remains to be seen. >> and i'd like to ask you about this widely reported quote. general mcchrystal said that the coalition has a government in a box ready to roll in once marjah is taken. what does he mean by that, and do you think that this strategy is going to work? >> well, i think what general mcchrystal is trying to say there is that this is not simply just a military operation where insurgents and fighters are cleared, are either captured or killed, that there's going to be follow-through in building local government and building the sorts of things like court systems that provide justice to the afghan people. i think it's a great idea in concept. translating that into reality is easier said than done, and i think what we've seen in the past couple of years in afghanistan are serious concerns about the legitimacy of the afghan government. i saw this when i was in afghanistan last year for the elections that ended up being very flawed elections. so talking about a government in a box, is fine and well to do, but in reality there are questions of legitimacy and whether these governing institutions will be viewed as legitimate by the afghan people and whether they will actually perform and provide the basic services, law and order and justice to the afghan people. that is the ultimate test. >> okay. brian katulis, thank you very much for joining us from washington. >> thank you. the question of how the united states should deal with iran was also front and center today with secretary of state hillary clinton leveling a new accusation. speaking to a group of students in the persian gulf nation of qatar, clinton accused iran's revolutionary guard, the powerful iranian military force, of pushing aside iran's civilian government and transforming the country into a military state. >> we see that the government of iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament, is being supplanted and that iran is moving toward a military dictatorship. >> in recent weeks, iran has signaled it intends to expand its nuclear program over western objections. later, clinton arrived in saudi arabia to seek its help in isolating iran. turning to news from europe. in belgium this morning, two commuter trains collided head-on near bssels killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 50. the force of the collision threw the trains into the air, breaking overhead power lines. the crash halted train service across western europe, blocking tracks used by a high-speed rail network. a belgian official said the crash occurred after one train ignored a stoplight. also in europe, finance ministers from across the continent are still debating whether they should step in to save greece from its debt crisis. tomorrow, those ministers will meet in brussels, and today one of the most important players, germany, said it opposed offering greece any special help. despite that, stock markets across europe rose today on the assumption that germany will reverse course if the greek crisis becomes too severe. from ireland, a story today that will sound all too familiar to many americans. it's about the abuse of thousands of children going back decades at the hands of catholic clergy. survivors of the abuse have called upon several irish church leaders to resign, but many have refused to do so. today, 24 irish bishops are in rome meeting with the pope trying to figure out just how to respond to the victims' demands. allen fischer of al jazeera english recently met with some of ireland's abuse survivors. >> reporter: they are survivors of what's called ireland's dirty secret. the abuse of children in the care of the roman catholic chch and the subsequent cover-up. behind every face, a story, a private agony. tom sweeney spent five years in a church school and says every day he suffered physical, sexual or psychological abuse. >> it comes into your mind when you're in bed. it can come up any time of the day, your past and what people had done to you. and you find if people do anything to you today, that you get very angry over these people when they try to knock you down. >> reporter: and he says he's frightened to show affection to those closest to him. >> you never get to love your grandchildren the way you want to love them because it doesn't happen with them, with your grandchildren. you can never get them to sit on your lap and to hold them because you know this is wrong because people had done sexual and physical abuse to me as a child, took this all away from me. >> reporter: ireland is still reeling, not just from reports of the abuse but at the extent that the church tried to cover it up. senior church figures have been summoned to rome to meet the pope to discuss what happens next. for decades, the roman catholic church in ireland had incredible power. no one questioned what it said. no one questioned what it did. now the survivors are saying it must be held to account for the damage inflicted on thousands of innocent boys and girls. >> what people cannot understand is how evidently intelligent men, evidently religious men, evidently spiritual men could not have been so moved by the plight of suffering children that they felt inclined to do anything about it. >> reporter: the catholic church is still an important influence in ireland. many schools, many hospitals were established by the religious orders that run them today. one senior priest says it will do what is necessary to avoid future child abuse scandals. >> we are fairly confident that this won't happen again because of the -- every parish has their own child protection officer. there's a child protection committee and a whole procedure for reporting, mandatory reporting of every accusation that's made. >> reporter: what the pope decides next is not just important for ireland but the church globally. does it have zero tolerance to abuse, or is its reputation more important? survivors hope soon they will have an answer and closure on a ghastly period in the catholic church's history in ireland. allen fischer, al jazeera, dublin. and that brings us to tonight's how you see it. our question -- just what steps should the catholic church take to stop the abuse of children by clergy? you can tell us what you think by visiting the how you see it section of our website. that's at worldfocus.org. tonight, we want to take you beyond the headlines with an in-depth look at a country we believe will be making news in the weeks and months ahead, cuba. after some 50 years of giving cuba the cold shoulder, there are signs that the united states is ready for a warmer relationship. for its part, cuba, too, has displayed a new openness courting foreign investment. but as "worldfocus" special correspondent peter eisner recently learned, many american businesses are still losing out. >> reporter: these are some of the scenes you might imagine when you think of cuba. old cars, old buildings, and cigafactories. but these are images you also would see if you were allowed to visit cuba today. shiny new buses and luxury hotels. it's no news to e rest of the world. cuba is out to make deals, but the united states is hardly in the game. a long u.s. government boycott of the island means most american businessmen are losing out to europeans and others. jose luis de leon, an economist at the spanish embassy, says spain is shooting for $2 billion in exports to cuba this year. >> translator: we have spanish banks. we have the tourism industry. almost every spanish tourist chain is here as well. >> reporter: ricardo alarcon, the president of the national assembly and one of cuba's most influential leaders, says his country is doing business worldwide. >> we have practically every other important actor in the world with the only exception of the u.s., we have a normal relation in general with europe, canada, your neighbor to the north. >> reporter: the u.s. economic embargo of cuba was imposed in 1962 by the kennedy administration. the goal was nothing less than destroying fidel castro's communist revolution. >> now the opposite. it is the u.s. who is isolated regarding its cuba policy. >> reporter: and because of that, now missing out on business opportunities during the economic crisis. an example, cuba has found oil deep in the waters of the caribbean. jorge mario sanchez of the cuban center for u.s. studies says that the united states is missing out on a lucrative opportunity to extract the oil. >> it first big companies and great amounts of resources. so this is when we have the opportunity with oil companies from the united states. >> reporter: it's an opportunity lost by the united states and an opportunity seized by canada, france and brazil. it's a different story for american farmers. big u.s. agricultural companies have won the right to ship their goods to cuba. >> the united states is providing just basic food, and their exports are 50% of spanish exports. that's only food so the potential for the united states is strong. >> reporter: ships hauling american farm products routinely visit havana harbor. about $700 million worth of food last year and growing. rafael hernandez, the editor of a magazine in havana, says good business trumps ideology. >> i do business with republicans, guys who are not liberal democrats, guys from louisiana, iowa, delaware, nebraska, minnesota, republicans that want to sell chicken and rice and wheat and soya sues, soya beans, to cuba. >> reporter: actually, cuba think it can count on bipartisan support in the united states to end the trade embargo. according to a poll conducted by florida international university, even a majority of cuban-americans in miami oppose it. the u.s. embargo forced cuba to reinvent itself. it is now a major player in selling w medicines, treating diabetes, hepatitis and even cancer. one day u.s. pharmaceutical companies could license those products if the embargo were lifted. that could mean millions of dollars in revenues for the u.s. market. >> the thing we e doing with europe we can conduct clinical trials in the united states. now it's very difficult. >> reporter: the biggest opportunity of all for american businessmen may be bringing american tourists to cuba. >> the restoration of old havana over the last decade symbolizes the new cuba. last year, more than 2 million tourists came to the country pouring billions of dollars into the local economy. cuba is cleaning up its tourist sites in havana for a reason. jose antonio figurez, an official at the tourism department, says american companies are trolling for business and cuba holds the key. meaning a whole new industry that could be supported by u.s. tourism with american hotel chains, american rental cars and regular flights by u.s. airlines, and that's only a start. >> for every american that is banned to travel to cuba, airlines are losing $300 million. >> one could conceive one day a marriott or sheraton being introduced here and coming in and doing a joint venture as well. >> why not? why, why not? we are open to foreign investment. right now it's our plan to build 13 new hotels, 10,000 rooms in the next four or five years. >> reporter: if cuban officials and american business have their way, many of those hotels would be built by u.s. companies, and after that they are certain that american tourists would be strolling these beaches like everyone else. i'm peter eisner for "worldfocus" in america. in havana. >> so, will american companies be able to do business in cuba any time soon? by jose moya, a professor of for that we're joined once again by jose moya, a professor of latin american history at barnard college. thanks very much for joining us again, professor. >> thank you very much. >> so, have american companies lost business opportunities in cuba because of the embargo? >> in the last 15 years, yes. before that there was no -- the cuban government wouldn't allow foreign investment, but we have tout this into perspective. they probably have lost some money for investment in hotels, tourism, maybe some pharmaceutical enterprises, but this is a small thing. they are already selling to cuba about $500illion a year in 2009, so they are selling what they can sell to cuba, and i doubt that commerce is going to increase if the embargo is lifted. commerce withuba increased last year and nothing changed in american policy. cubans don't have money to buy cheaper rice from vietnam. >> so this embargo, as far as you're concerned, the economic embargo, has been greatly exaggerated. it hasn't had any kind of impact on cuba at all? >> it's not that it hasn't had an impact on cuba but it's limited impact on cuba. most cuban economic problems are internal. it's not a very efficient economy. this was aeconomy that was in latin america in the 1960s, has little to do with the embargo, but the cost to americans is not so much economic. the americans export more to canada in a single day than to cuba in a whole year. the cost is political actually. >> well, during his -- the early part of his administration, president obama did begin to ease some restrictions on cuba. where does that initiative stand now, and if the embargo were lifted, would there be a backlash? >> not much of a backlash. i think nothing much has been done since the beginning of the administration when restrictions on travel were softened. now there it's the same standard and level that they were a year ago. i don't think it will change much more before the mid-term elections in the united states. >> after the mid-term elections do you think the embargo will be lifted? >> i think the embargo will be lifted during the obama administration is in power during the next three years. again, it's not likely to make much of a change. the opportunities for business in cuba for american companies are limited. spaniards are investing there already, so i think the cuban economy has a certain capacity for investment that it has reached. >> professor moya, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. as we were planning today's discussion of cuba, our producer who covers latin america brought this slice of cuban life to our attention. it's about how the humble license plates, of all things, has become a status symbol. in cuba, license plates come in a rainbow of colors, an alphabet soup of letters, and knowing how to read them can tell you a lot about a driver's job or even the marital status of who's behind the wheel. for example, letter tags containing the letter "k" means that the driver is a foreigner married to a cuban. religious leaders have neon orange plates and the last digit on a foreign diplomat plate shows how close they are to being the top dog. this guy is number four so if you're stuck behind him you might want to lay off the horn. going from modern art to becoming art history. that's the fear of one of the world's most famous art collections. born in the fervor following the fall of the berlin wall, the artists colony known as tacheles has become one of berlin's most popular if not one of the world's most unusual tourist attractions but as germany's deutsche welle reports, 20 years on the cutting edge may soon come to an end. >> reporter: the music comes from a vacuum cleaner, and the performance could be a birthday present wrapping itself. it's the 20th anniversary of the tacheles art center celebrating two decades of counterculture art. in february 1990, only months after the berlin wall was breached, a motley troupe of artists squatted a cavernous ruin on a dreary street in east berlin, an abandoned department store. tacheles quickly came to symbolize the potential of a city set free. this photographer came to berlin from switzerland and became one of those who put tacheles on the map. >> translator: this is where people with different backgrounds and different nationalities met and put their stamp on the new berlin. >> reporter: the ruin is now only blocks away from berlin's government quarter and surrounded by restaurants and shops. yet tacheles doesn't look like it has changed much. there are dozens of ateliers here and they're occupied around the clock. rebellious behavior everywhere and it's a huge attraction for tourists. >> how do you say in german. this is really cool. >> wonderful building, something quite unique. >> reporter: nevertheless the alternative art center is threatened with closure, a combination of debt, a bankrupt vestor and the complicated ownership situation means the artists and tenants will probably have to go. but tacheles' operators are hoping city politicians will intervene and keep their counterculture ideas alive for a new generation. >> pushing the boundaries of art in berlin. and that is "worldfocus" for now, but don't forget you can find more news and analysis at worldfocus.org. i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. thank you for joining us, and good-bye. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com major support f for"worldfocus" has been provided by -- rosalind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters --