joining me today. i m carol costello. at this hour request berman and bolduan starts now. this is cnn breaking news. i m john berman. kate bolduan is off today. we would like to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the breaking news, a major reversal for president obama on what he hoped would be the most significant legacy of his administration pulling u.s. troops out of afghanistan. any moment now from the roosevelt room, that is a live picture, the president is expected to announce he will hame halt that withdrawal. this critical decision as the taliban gain strength across afghanistan. authorities say insurgents have spread through that country more than at any time since the post-9/11 invasion. we will bring you the president s comments live from the white house any minute now.
i can t speak to that. all i can really speak to is the fact is he s really sick, he needs lots of help and whatever led him to that point, god has our way of getting our attention. but he s down now. and let s lift him up. the ground is no place for a champion. let s reach within that championship spirit to fight back. he s fighting for his life. all that really matters now is the fight for his life and pray that god will spare him or let god s will be done. reverend jesse simprjackson,k you for joining me this morning. good morning. i m carol costello. thank you for joining me. in just about half an hour, president obama will speak about afghanistan and his spepending decision to allow a substantial number of american troops to stay in that country. he ll tell the country why in
go with a new plan, the very same as the old plan. the status quo in afghanistan. the plan now according to administration officials is to keep current levels of military personnel inside afghanistan at around 9,800. that all the way through 2016. then to reduce down to about half, 5,500. that about the time the president of the united states is leaving office. that is a big change. and almost a reversal from what the administration had hoped. which was about 1,000 u.s. military personnel inside afghanistan around the time the president was leaving. the reasons for this? and there are many. first of all of course the stubbornness of both al qaeda and taliban in afghanistan, as well as the need to continue the train-and-equip program going on in that country. there s also a big concern about emergencies, including of the
officers had to process international travelers using alternative procedures until systems were back on line. only five more days of the prison for convicted killer oscar pistorius. he will be released to house arrest on october 20th. the paralympic gold medalist has been behind bars for one year after he was convicted of the shooting death of his girlfriend in 2013. pistorius claimed he thought she was an intruder. and president obama will indeed announce his decision to keep troop levels the same in afghanistan for 2016. that will happen at 11:00 a.m. eastern. of course we ll have it live right here on cnn. still to come in the newsroom, walmart predicts profits will go down as wages go up. now will one of sanders top issues take a hit too? t for 24 months. thanks to the tools and help at experian.com,
type we saw recently in kunduz where the taliban temporarily took over the city. there is as well that concern. and the possibility that the incoming president might want to have options of his own by keeping that many people inside afghanist afghanistan, it increases options for the incoming president. we expect to hear more from president obama himself some time today to talk a little bit about his plans for afghanistan. and when the president addresses the nation, of course we ll carry that live. joe johns live from the white house this morning. a new twist in benghazi investigation that hangs over hillary clinton and her presidential run. just days before she testifies in front of the investigating committee there is a new charge that that committee is politically motivated. and it is coming from another republican lawmaker, congressman richard hanna. here is part of his stunning call to a new york radio show. i think that there is a big