this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone, from kabul. we begin tonight with a number: 3,240, the number of days the war here has gone on. and with each day, the casualties mount. today nato reported the death of three coalition soldiers, including an american. and in helmand province, at least seven afghan road construction workers were shot to death by taliban insurgents. president obama has beefed up troop strength here to nearly 100,000 to try to defeat the taliban, but many foreign policy experts believe the only way to end this war is by negotiating with the very insurgency afghan and coalition forces are trying to crush. it's called "reconciliation." today i asked the top commander here, general david petraeus, if the u.s. would be willing to play a role in that process. >> we're not the ones calling the shots. and at the end of the day, those who will determine whether reconciliation goes forward or not those who lead the afghan government. and that is why it's appropriate that they lead these efforts. perhaps facilitated in some cases, supported in some cases by the united states. but those are going to remain behind the scenes and that's where they should remain. president karzai has established the afghan government's red lines, if you will. they must respect the constitution, lay down weapons, cut off ties with al qaeda and essentially will b willing to be productive members of society. >> couric: so you have no moral qualms about bringing the taliban, even high-ranking members of the taliban, into the process? >> it's not about my moral qualms, it's about the afghanistan leadership which has established the red lines. and i think that you have to have at least an open mind about this because this is historically the way counterinsurgency efforts ultimately have been concluded. >> couric: what were the afghan and the u.s. have to offer the taliban in negotiations? >> they can live is number one. and number two, perhaps they can return to their country of origin. a lot of them are tired of, again, living the life on the run, being pursued, of living outside the country and so forth. and so i think that those are all fairly powerful incentives for them. >> couric: so you think they'd be receptive to reconciliation? >> some. again, i don't think there's an expectation that mullah omar is going to charter a plane to kabul any time soon to sit down and discuss the taliban laying down weapons en masse. however, there are certainly leaders out there who we believe are willing to do that. >> couric: these are really bad guys who do really bad things. you know, there's certain caveats that they may agree to, but are they trustworthy? >> well, i think there was a past president who used to say "trust and verify." so clearly there would have to be safeguards. >> couric: in other words, if they don't adhere to the caveat, there will be hell to pay? >> yes, is the answer. of course. >> couric: but can you really ever rid the world of terrorists? i put that question to general petraeus in part two of our interview later in the broadcast. meanwhile, the pentagon today identified one of the casualties of this war, 23-year-old lance corporal kevin oratowski of illinois. he was killed by a roadside bomb in helmand province. i.e.d.s, as they're known, have killed more than 800 troops since the war began. terry mccarthy went along with bomb disposal crews in helmand as they used remarkable equipment to find and destroy i.e.d.s. >> reporter: a bomb to fight all bombs. it is called the miclic, the mine clearing line charge, a sophisticated weapon to counter primitive but deadly improvised explosive devices, or i.e.d.s. that was 1,750 pounds of explosives, the idea is that it detonates any i.e.d.s going off. effectively clearing it away. they know once they get inside the town they're facing a whole new range of i.e.d.s. there are so many bombs buried in the desert outside safar bazaar, even with the miclic it takes two days before the marine cans enter the town. from then on, progress is even slower. >> this is dangerous so we need to be careful because we're taking a big chance. you have to be inch by inch. >> stop. >> sergeant matthew jackson is a bomb disposal expert from california. he knows how to deal with explosives. he even has their molecular structures tattooed on his arm. >> you have your t.n.t., your urea, ammonium nitrate, blasting cap explosives. >> reporter: but finding the explosives means learning to think like the taliban. >> how would i get me is my first thought on these guys. you have to put your thought on how would they want me to come? >> reporter: and then finding ways to outsmart them. >> everything's a tool. there's no one solid remedy for it. dogs, robots, ropes. i mean, it comes down to... rope tricks. >> reporter: jackson is in no hurry. >> my main overlying goal is to get every single person home that i can. >> straight up's fine. >> reporter: he sends the robot out with explosives to detonate a suspect car. >> dropping it. >> reporter: today this is a ghost town but the marines hope once they've cleared the town of bombs and taliban that it will quickly come back to life, just like the other towns further to the the north that they've already secured. this market was controlled by the militants until six months ago, now business is thriving. to keep it this way, lieutenant joe moeller and his platoon of marines spend all their time just patrolling this market, talking to the merchants, making sure the taliban do not return. >> just control. the people like the security it provides. everyone coming in getting searched. >> reporter: back in safar, the local people want to see the taliban gone. but with taliban spies among them, the locals are still too scared to tell the marines where the bombs are. marine commander lieutenant colonel ben watson understands their fear. >> the taliban conducted a lot of illicit business here, drug trafficking, i.e.d. making. they intimidated the locals. >> reporter: he and his men know they have a long task ahead, clearing the i.e.d.s and winning over the people. in the u.s., pressure is building for quick results in afghanistan. on the ground, marines know speed is dangerous and everything they achieve takes time. terry mccarthy, cbs news, safar bazaar in southern afghanistan. >> couric: the women of afghanistan waited a very long time for the most basic rights. now they're worried they will lose them. secretary of state hillary clinton who was here in kabul last month promised they would not be bargained away in any peace settlement with the taliban. but president karzai recently asked "if you had to choose between saving a girl's life or enabling her to go to school, which would you do first?" many afghan women want both. this is what you were wearing to school? shamsia husseini was on her way to school when a man on a motorbike roared up and threw acid in her face. it burned a hole right through her burka. it was a message from the taliban: don't let your daughters go to school. shamsia and five other girls were badly burned. the mirwais school for girls is deep in the taliban heart land of kandahar. it's one of the few that stayed open in defiance of the taliban. today nearly two years later shamsia is back at school, an unlikely crusader for education. her scars are almost gone, but her eyes still burn and she fears the man on the motorbike will return. >> ( translated ): i still have nightmares. i will fight these people by continuing to go to school. last time they threw acid to stop me but even if they hit me with bullets i will not stop going to school. >> couric: there are over two million girls going to school today in afghanistan-- a huge leap forward. under the taliban in the 1990s, there were almost none. girls were forced to stay home. now the taliban is trying to turn back the clock. attacks on schools have almost doubled in the last year. >> they only like fight. they don't like education, don't like independence. >> couric: meanwhile, hard line militants have made headlines in recent weeks. a pregnant woman is lashed and shot, a pair of young lovers stoned public flogging. many women fear if the taliban return to power it will also mean a return to harsh islamic law. and now that the u.s.-backed government of hamid karzai has agreed negotiate with the taliban in return for ending the war, they're even more fearful. >> history tells us what they want. they don't want girls in the work force, they want girls to stay home. they want absolutely no education for girls. they're not going to back out of their demands. >> reporter: this shelter is one of a handful in the country that offers women a safe haven from physical abuse or rape. recent statistics are grim. violence against women is up 50%. over 60% of marriages are forced. the shelter tries to help women begin a new life, but the odds are sta against them. qandi was sold into marriage to a much older man. her brother got $3 she was 12, too young to be legally married under afghan law. but no one was charged. they rarely are. still, qandi is determined. >> ( translated ): i want to do something, stand on my own feet, to not be dependent on anybody. >> couric: but for qandi and so many others, these angst times, caught between wanting an today the war and worried that women's rights will be the price of peace. >> afghan women have suffered a lot. it's time to stop. i mean, they're human beings. how much suffer canning they endure? >> couric: despite the pressure and the intimidation, many girls and women are refusing to give up. for shamsia and her family, education means a better life for the next generation. >> ( translated ): i hope to be able to persuade other girls to go to school, too, so that to me it's hope. it's all i can do. >> couric: one more note from this region: just 50 miles from here is pakistan where flooding has reached historic proportions. brought on by monsoon rain, the floodwaters cover more than a third of the nation. at least 1,600 people have been killed, more than four million left homeless. families can be seen clinging together against the surging water, none of it safe to drink. those cut off by the floods wait for clean water and supplies to come from above. more than $800 million has been pledged to help pakistan, $160 million from the u.s. i'll be back with more from afghanistan later in the broadcast. but right now, harry smith in new york has more of today's news. harry? >> smith: all right, katie. peace talks between israel and the palestinians have been stalled for nearly two years now. today secretary of state clinton said both sides have agreed to sit down face to face in washington next month. but the palestinians are already threatening to pull out if the israelis plan any new settlements. the white house today called for convicted lockerbie bomber abdel basset al megrahi to be returned to prison. scotland released him one year ago today after doctors said he had just a few months to live. coming up next on the "cbs evening news", that massive recall of eggs is growing again. ♪ ♪ hey, now, now, we're going down, down ♪ ♪ and we'll ride the bus there ♪ pay the bus fare ♪ or we find a new reason [ female announcer ] something unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste. ♪ we're going down, down, and we ride the bus there ♪ [ female announcer ] delicious pringles multigrain. ♪ a new way of living [ female announcer ] multigrain pops with pringles. you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes and may help reduce high morning blood sugar. 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is it hard to get the afghan people to trust u.s. soldiers-- which is such an important component of counterinsurgency-- because they're fearful that u.s. troops will leave? >> it's not a date when there's an exodus of u.s. or coalition forces. it's not when we look for the light switch to turn it off before we head out the door. we've been to some pains, frankly, to explain that here in afghanistan. there's been a positive impact in the sense that this has given the effort greater urgency. >> couric: we've heard it from everyone-- from afghan people, from people who are in the parliament here, from pakistanis even many of our european allies are saying, hey, if they're leaving we're out of here, too. >> well, i think we have to keep explaining it. and, again, we've done this over and over and over again and we clearly have more work to do in that regard. >> couric: you have said that a withdrawal will be conditions-based and i'm just curious, what conditions are those? >> what you do is say let's look at the situation on the ground or in the institution, what's the enemy situation? what's the enemy situation? can we safely without too much risk thin out our forces? because that's the way you do it. you thin out, you don't just hand off to them and say "tag, you're it." >> couric: can you really rid the world of terrorists or is it like whack-a-mole. you can target them in one country, neutralize them and then they just pop up somewhere else like pakistan or yemen. can terrorists these days operate from anywhere? >> they can operate from anywhere where there is inadequate governance. >> couric: well, you can never completely safeguard against terrorist attacks, no matter how great the government is. >> of course you can't. what you have to do, though, is everything you can wherever it is that you see that extremists are putting down roots. so it's not just whack-a-mole, it's whacking as many moles as you can wherever they pop their head out of the hole. >> couric: and finally, this is a grueling job 24/7. how do you stay focused, inspired and committed to this job given the demands of it. >> this is not about one person, it's about a team and a team of teams and when people say you have a heavy rucksack general petraeus, my response is that there are innumerable great young soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, civilians, coalition and afghan partners who are helping to carry that rucksack. >> couric: coming up, the girls and women of afghanistan also carrying a heavy load. well-being. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. 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[ male announcer ] aleve. proven better on pain. >> couric: this is a place rich in history but rife with problems. and while it's a country full of promise, its future is uncertain. there are many searing images from afghanistan. >> you all are in a tough neighborhood. >> couric: the faces, so young, of the soldiers receiving their bronze stars for valor in combat. >> great job. thanks again. >> couric: the mountains of kabul against a fiery orange sky. but these are the faces and the eyes that i will always remember the girls and women who have escaped to the shelter, their lives put indefinitely on hold. 15-year-old sekeena had no idea when her mother took her to the beauty parlor she was being sold to a man for a thousand dollars. she was only 12 at the time. after being beaten and having her head shaved-- the ultimate cultural insult-- she escaped. 14-year-olddia fled when her father promised her hand in marriage to a 55-year-old man. following the fall of the taliban, many girls got their first taste of freedom, education and possibility. it seems particularly cruel to have it all suddenly snatched away. protecting human rights alone may not justify a massive military commitment. whether you support this war or not, remember these faces. as the afghan government with the tacit approval of the united states extends a hand to the taliban, will we turn our backs on the future of this country? will the nations of the world allow the newfound rights of girls and women to become a casualty of a brokered peace? and that is the "cbs evening news" for tonight. i'm katie couric reporting from afghanistan. thank you for watching. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org tonight in your only local news at 7:00, change of venue. chandra levy's suspected murder says he can't get a fair trial in d.c. plus, drill baby drill. swat teams and police swarm, bracing for the terrorist act we hope never comes. and what did i say? a principal apologizes for what he calls "terms of endearment" but what some staff call sexual harassment. i'm scott broom in silver spring where a principal who has been accused of sexual harassment by some teach hears issued an apology for using what he calls terms of endearment. kemp mill elementary school principal floyd starnes has been accused by critics from everything from falsifying records to conspiring to get a teacher fired. in this letter he admits to regularly using what he calls