negotiating, whatever words you put around it, should it hatch? well, i rin, i think we have to look at it this way, the taliban is not defeated. it s very much alive ensurgency. they owe owe insurgency. they will be playing a role if kabul when we leave. i think the earlier we talk with them over issues or prisoners the better. the government, i give it six months to last the karzai government. we have to deal with the facts on the ground and, you know, they re coming. we re going to be turning over large parts of the taliban. let s talk to them. i guess for other people watching, this has to be this shock, this frustration, after more than a decade of war, the united states is saying they will be negotiating doing business with, making dolsi with, again making deals with, again, not just the taliban a group designated the global terrorist entity. we are on chart here.
to his parents, said he was disillusioned with the war. clearly didn t enjoy, didn t like being part of military life, and for some reason four years ago he walked away from his base in afghanistan. that has been the working theory all along, and he was very quickly kidnapped, picked up by insurgents. we don t know who he was in communication with that might have led him to walk away. that s what they think happened, but they have to wait and talk to him. erin? barbara starr, thank you. and now outfront press secretary for george w. bush ari fleischer and cnn national security analyst and former cia operative. ari, the taliban spokesperson said, look, this prisoner exchange is the first step in any peace talks between the taliban and the united states. let me just ask you this point blank. should the president be negotiating with a global terrorist entity? we do need to talk to the l
secretaries of state and a commentator on the middle east, said, quote, the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people on capitol hill. he subsequently said he should have spoken of the israel lobby, but hagel has favored direct talks with iran and at one point refused to join in an effort to get the european union to name hezbollah as a terrorist entity. and he has consistently advocated weakness with respect to our enemies, with respect to the nation of iran. he has opposed sanctions over and over again and the job of the secretary of defense is to be a serious, credible strength and deterrent, and unfortunately, i think weakness in a secretary of defense invites conflict. because bulis don t respect weakness. however, a number of g.o.p. foreign policy heavy weights from u.s. ambassador to israel have lined up in defense of hagel, shannon.
and balked at efforts to have hezbollah that murdered 241 marines in beirut in 1983 designated a terrorist entity. as well, major jewish groups are upset with the comments like these to veteran diploma diplomat. a lot of people. the united states senator. united states senator. the washington post has come out against hagel. hagel utterances cast slur on the jewish americans. duel loyaltyment they don t want to see nominee force to withdraw after happened last week the potential secretary of state nominee ensneered in the benghazi controversy. white house mounted pre-emptive defense and lined up is porters to remind americans of the infantry service in vietnam.
it could mark the beginning of the end of the war there. listen. neither americans nor the afghan people asked for this war, yet for a decade we ve stood together to drive al qaeda from its camps to battle an insurgency and to give the people of afghanistan the possibility to live in peace and in dignity. the wages of war have been great for both our nations but today with the signing of this strategic partnership agreement we look forward to a future of peace. our nick payton-walsh is live in kabul. there were attacks in kabul two weeks ago that really rocked the capital. reporter: absolutely, this is a place where presidential security detail didn t feel enormously comfortable bringing him in daylight. u.s. and afghan officials doing their best to quash rumors about seven or eight hours ago that he was already in kabul. as you saw the president there addressing a hangar, many of those troops will perhaps be on their way home, bagram being a hub or many troops returnin