If you need to lean on me, i will hold onto you. Thats what i took from the year and half of photographing them in so many situations woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the nations top military commander is promising answers on why and how four u. S. Special operations troops were killed in niger. They died october 4 in an ambush by an Islamic State affiliate. Marine general Joseph Dunford, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, held a rare, extended News Conference today. He acknowledged many things are unclear, including the Missions Intelligence and air support. Its important for us to baseline what support was requested, at what particular time, when did it arrive, was it what they needed . We certainly have expressed a sense of urgency getting answers to questions youve asked and the families have asked, we want to have that investigation concluded as quickly as possible. But we have prioritized making sure the investigation is accurate. Woodruff secretary of state Rex Tillerson made a surprise visit to afghanistan today during his current overseas trip. It came as the Trump Administration commits more troops to shore up the afghan regime. Tillerson flew into bagram air base, north of kabul, and met with president ashraf ghani. He reaffirmed President Trumps commitment but said its not unlimited. Hes also made it clear it is not a blank check commitment. Thats why it is a conditions based commitment. Clearly we have to continue the fight against the taliban and against others in order for them to understand they will never win a military victory. Woodruff tillerson also urged moderates in the taliban to move toward reconciliation and full participation in the afghan government. From kabul, tillerson made a second unscheduled flight, to baghdad, in a bid to curb irans influence in iraq. He had called sunday for iranianbacked Paramilitary Forces in iraq to go home. Iraqi Prime MinisterHaider Al Abadi insisted today the units are iraqi patriots. Tillerson also urged a peaceful solution to baghdads dispute with its kurdish region. The kurds are pressing for independence. Theres word of a new massacre in syria by Islamic State militants. Damascus says at least 67 civilians were found dead in a central town recaptured over the weekend. Activists say the real number may be double that. Meanwhile, a u. S. Backed militia has captured syrias Largest Oil Field from isis. The militia says its asking the russians to prevent their syrian allies from trying to take it for themselves. Donor nations pledged nearly 230 million in new funds today to aid Rohingya Muslims in bangladesh. More than 600,000 have fled violence in buddhist myanmar since late august. Jonathan miller of independent Television News reports on conditions in the refugee camps. Reporter when youve been burned out of your homes, raped, shot at and beaten, and now just want something to eat, this is the last thing you need. The Bangladesh Army was in charge of this handout today. And it all got a bit testy. At least now though, there is aid. And on the whole, there is order. Kutupalong refugee camp, now a shanty city of more than a million. Over half, new arrivals. Rohingya are still arriving faster than those trying to help them can cope with. But the u. N. Has a more visible presence now. Medical care is more widespread, and there are thousands of new orange toilets. Although there is still only one for every 100 people. Theres an acute shortage of safe water, but their sinking new tube wells daily and hand pumps mean people dont have to wash themselves and their dishes in puddles and filthy rivers. They have now turned into municipal swimming pools. New tented classrooms are being built for the 450,000 children who need education. The schools though still need nearly 6,000 teachers. Now that the monsoon is drying up, makeshift shelters are springing up all over the flood plain in this river down here. And you can bet, that within a few weeks this will be covered only to be flooded out again come the next deluge. Sometimes you find sick people running high fevers just by the roadside. We walked deeper into suburban kutupalong where there is a frenzied construction boom. Here though, 17,000 people suffer acute malnutrition and an outbreak of cholera or measles could be a mass killer. Woodruff Jonathan Miller of independent Television News. In the philippines, the government today declared the Southern City of marawi liberated. Militants aligned with the Islamic State seized it five months ago, and more than 1,100 people died in the fighting since. Today, troops celebrated across the city after defeating the last holdouts. Federal employees raised the National Flag at city hall. Back in this country, President Trump today presented the medal of honor to a vietnam war medic. Retired Army Captain Gary Rose was honored for repeatedly risking his life to help Wounded Soldiers during a battle in september 1970. He spoke later, outside the white house. This is our medal, its not mine we all earned it. And to a great extent its for all those men who fought those seven years in macsog. And even further than that to honor the men in all the special forces groups who fought and ed in that war. Woodruff rose is now 70 and lives in huntsville, alabama. President trump today ruled out changes to 401 k retirement programs as part of tax reform. Thered been reports that republicans were talking about limiting the amount workers may put aside in 401 ks. Separately the president also told Fox Business Network that special Counsel Robert Mueller has not asked to interview him about russian meddling in the 2016 election. And stocks closed lower on wall street today. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 54 points to close just under 23,274. The nasdaq fell 42 points, and the s p 500 slipped 10. Still to come on the newshour lingering questions about the niger ambush that killed four u. S. Soldiers. What tom hanks has to say about the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Military couples find hope in invitro fertilization, and much more. Woodruff there are a number of questions still surrounding the deaths of four american soldiers in niger this month. The details of what lead to the ambush remain murky. This afternoon, the chairman of the joint chiefs, general Joseph Dunford said the military owed the families of the fallen and the American People answers. He laid out what we know now and what remains obscured by the fog of conflict. Early in the morning, third october as i mentioned u. S. Forces a copped that nigerian unit on a reconaissance mission to gather information. The assessment by our leaders on the ground at that time was that contact with the enemy was unlikely. Mid morning on october 4th the patrol began to take fire as they were returning to their operating base. Approximately one hour after taking fire, the team requested support. And within minutes a remotely piloted aircraft arrived overhead. Within an hour, french mirage jets arrived on station. And then later that afternoon french attack helicopters arrived on station in a nigerian Quick Reaction force arrived where our troops were in contact with the enemy. During the firefight two us u. S. Soldiers were wounded and and where the casual evacuation plan that was in place for this particular operation. Three u. S. Soldiers who were killed in action were evacuated on the evening of 4 october and at that time Sergeant La David Johnson was still missing. On the evening of 6th octoberhsergeant johnsons body was found and subsequently evacuated. From the time the firefight was initiated until sergeant johnsons body was recovered, french, nigerian or u. S. Forszs remained in thatteria. Lets keep in mind, although i talked about enemy contact being unlikely on this particular mission, the reason why we were in west africa is because it is an area of concentration of isis and alqaeda. The reason why our special Operations Forces are operating in libya is because there is a threat of isis attacks from lib why. The reason they are in east africa is because there is an alqaeda in a smaller isis presence there. So to the extent that they were taking risks, we have sent them there to operate in areas within which there are extremist elements that if we werent conducting operations, our judgement is that they would have the capability to plan and conduct operations against the homeland, the American People or our allies. In our judgement were dealing with Global Threats in alqaeda, in isis and other groups. And the theory of the case of our strategy is to be able to put pressure on them simultaneously wherever they are. And as importantly to anticipate where they will be. And to make sure that where they are and where they will be when they get there, they are confronted by local Security Forces that have the ability to meet the challenges associated with alqaeda, isis and other groups. Woodruff this morning, myeshia johnson, the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, spoke of her frustration about the president s call of condolence. He couldnt remember my husbands name. The only way he remembered my husbands name is because he told me he had my husbands report in front of him and thats when he actually said la david. I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husbands name and thats what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country why cant you remember his name. Woodruff for more on all of this, and what the special forces were specifically doing at the time they were killed and more broadly what is their mission in niger, we turn to New York Times pentagon reporter eric schmidt. And laura seay, an assistant professor of government at Colby College where she focuses on african politics and conflicts. Welcome to you both. Eric schmitt, you have been following this story from the beginning. What did you learn today from what general dunford said . Well, as your report indicates, still many of the most important questions remain unanswered but what the general did say was that these kind of missions in africa are now under review. Theyll continue as scheduled, these advise and assist missions, training missions, if you will, but the pentagon will take a long hard look at the kind of support that these teams get when they go out. We also learned it took about an hour before the team after it came under fire called for help. We still dont know what happened during that hour, whether they thought they could handle the threat on their own. Whether there were, sm of the injuries took place within that hour, we just dont know. Those are two of the main things we learned today. Woodruff laura seay you have been able to listen to what general dunford said, you have been following this, of course too, what did you learn that raises more questions for you . Well, i think that we learned that there was more assistance initially available to these forces in the field once they asked for help. As erica pointed out it did take an hour and that is a big question as to why we dont know what happened during that hour. But they did have media drone support and the french were able to get there rapidly. So the fact that one of the soldiers did become separated, that something happened in the recovery of the body, those are still open questions. But it is clear to me that the pentagon both is conducted an investigation and also realizes the importance of doing so and realizes the importance of getting answers, not least for the families of the fallern. Woodruff eric schmidt i think there were a lot of questions from the reporters today about the length of time that it took, that, when the group was first attacked, that he said it took an hour, then it took a half an hour for the french to acknowledge the request for help, and then another half an hour it seems like a long time. Are there any theories going on right now about all of this . Well, again what it indicates is that this is a part of the world, the african continent, particularly this as tear where the u. S. Performs in small team, special resources with small resource, med evac capability, this is not a full blown battle field like iraq or afghanistan with a lot more american assets, this he had to lie on allies, both nigerian and french allies, this have improved this over the last few years according to the sources i talked to but it is long from the golden hour that the troops in battle fields hen they get injured, the so called golden hour to evacuate wounded. In this case it took more than two hours from the time that they initially came into contact, and again to stress, we dont know when these soldiers were injured but it took awhile for them to be evacuated. Woodruff laura seay, how large is the militant presence whether its an isis affiliate or an alqaeda affiliate in that part of the african continent . So these are very complicated questions. And we dont actually know because there are so many groups involved. We do know that the group that attacked american and Nigerian Forces in this particular instance was probably around 50 people. But the size of the group that they are associatedded with, the Islamic State in the greater sa harrah, sa harrah it is an Group Constantly changing, constantly bringing in members, people fall out and go and join others, they merge together and so the number of threats that American Forces are dealing with in niger and the region is very unpredictable. We are talking about several thousands of forces in some cases. But you know, it can vary from day to day. And its not a guarantee that if you are ta tacked one day by one group that that is the same group you will be dealing with a week, month or year later. Woodruff is with struck, eric schmidt today and over the weekend hearing how many members of Congress Said they werent even aware the u. S. Had forces in niger, taking on this mission. Its not that it was operating in secret, so how do you explain that . Well, actually, there are about 6,000 american troops on the continent, all, about 4,000 of them are in djabouti on the horn of africa. The others are spread over 50 other country there are 800 in niger and the bulk of them are working in a couple of different drone bases. These are surveillance Drone Operations through that region. But i think what it also says is that a lot of these missions are going on in africa without a lot of notice. I mean it doesnt mean theyre secret t just means that most of them are going on in a very unobserved way both by members of congress and the public until you have a tragedy like this. Woodruff and laura seay, how much, i mean were you aware of what was going on there, as an academic who pays attention closely to this. Because again i think Many Americans have been caught off guard by this entire incident. I agree. I think most americans were not aware. I am aware. Im writing a book on the way that u. S. Security policy has changed over the past 20 years in africa and this is certainly a huge part of it. But i do think this is something that came about as a surprise to Many Americans about the presence in africa. And i think Many Americans what be surprised to learn some of the statistics that eric just quoted. That this is not just an operation in niger but that there are American Forces of varying size. Some of these deployments are very, very small, six, eight, ten people. But theyre going on all across the continent in all kinds of murky missions that we may or may not be aware of. And i think this speaks to some of the challenges with this idea of a global war on terror that weve been under for the last 16 years. Woodruff and it also goes back eric schmidt to your first point, that you are hearing at the pentagon that this entire mission is now under review. I mean i think that says a lot, it raises questions about how much thought went into the mission in the first place. Well, this is an administration, of course, that is one of made it top priority of combating isis wherever it is in the world. The generals have been given more authority, del gated more authority and very forward leaning, secretary mattis said over the weekend that they will be stepping up activities in africa. I think what you heard from general dunford today was that we are going to look at these kind of missions, we will still go after the threat but maybe have to adjust some of the force protection measures, some of the surveillance measures, some of the support that goes along with troops out in the field in these very remote places. Woodruff