has become mission pointless. and clifford may, president of the foundation for the defense of democracies. he argues that pulling american troops out will hurt the fight against terrorists. thank you both for joining us. thank you. christine you said the mission in afghanistan is pointless. why do you say that? i think tlair number of reasons. first of all, the known estimates of al qaeda operatives in afghanistan range from 50 to 200. and that s it. al qaeda s largely shifted to pakistan. that s where the al qaeda struggle is. the taliban are not as tightly interwoven with al qaeda as is imagined. and the taliban, quite frankly, are not our enemy. they re savages, for sure. i m not in any way excull pating them but they re not our number one faux. groups like al qaeda, which are pakistan based, they re our enemy and this their is this enormous irony by virtue of having 150-ish troops, american as well as nato isaf in afghanistan, all of the
2010 is the deadliest year so far for american troops in afghanistan. reports point to a worser be security situation. new intelligence points to rival militant groups joining forces in deadly raids along the afghan/pakistan border. this is just months before the u.s. troop withdrawal is supposed to begin in july 2011. joining us to discuss conditions in afghanistan, from washington, d.c., christine fair. she spent the sumner afghanistan and pakistan and says the war has become mission pointless. and clifford may, president of the foundation for the defense of democracies. he argues that pulling american troops out will hurt the fight against terrorists. thank you both for joining us. thank you. christine you said the mission in afghanistan is pointless. why do you say that? i think tlair number of reasons. first of all, the known estimates of al qaeda operatives in afghanistan range from 50 to