afghanistan. we're going to get a live report from kabul. also -- the race for president heads to daytona where a big race of another kind is also taking place. tonight is oscar night in hollywood. once again, comedian billy crystal taking on the toughest job in show biz. we start with the search for a gunman in afghanistan blamed for killing two ranking u.s. officers inside the heavily for the fiortified ministry of law enforcement. nato is pulling advisers from minute tris and it suggests it may have concerns over secure how secure facilities are. nick, this is really like some one walking into the pentagon or the justice department, going into an office, and then opening fire. what are you learning? >> reporter: the afghan justice department, yes. we're learning interesting details from senior afghan counter terrorism official about this gun man, apparently an employee of the interior ministry. registered out a pistol, went to this secure area of the ministry called the command and control center, where he shot these two senior american military officers who were there in an advisory capacity, and then he left. he appears to have escaped and is still at large. that pretty much tallies with an explanation given by the taliban in an e-mail yesterday, both this counterterrorism official both saying the motivation he was furious over the american mistaken burning of a koran near ly a week ago. >> how did this killer get out? there must have been closed circuit televisions or something like that. >> reporter: that's a huge question. somebody mouft have heard the gunshots perhaps unless using a silencer or, all speculation. he had authority to be in that part of the ministry and clearly somehow walked calmly out of there as well. surely people must have heard something, perhaps they went into lockdown immediately. it's not entirely clear. there were not report ife repor lengthy shoot-out. breaking news, protests across the country for pat past five days. we had four today but they quieted and after five straight days of violence. but we are hearing reports from isaf officials of a number of personnel injured at a base in the north after there was an explosion and small arms fire outside this base, known as fortitude. outside the base as a protest of 400 people continued in anger at this burning of the koran. so if this instant pans out we're into our sixth day of violence protests. >> and isaf that you mentioned, those are the military advisers that helped train afghan officers. is there a sense or are there questions that maybe the taliban has infiltrated afghan forces and does that hurt their ability to even secure the country once u.s. forces leave? >> reporter: that's a huge concern. the taliban have suggested they have infiltrated different parts of the afghan security forces, some dismissed by propaganda. we've seen in the last year, months, an increasingly regular series of instance in which men in afghan army uniform, whether soldiers or imposters shot dead isaf personnel. a number of french shot dead, making france question its presence here. and this instance explained being down to personal disputes or combat stress. but this regularity's causing many to wonder what kind of impact it's having on that relationship between the american and afghan officials here to train afghan security forces. that trust is so important they work together so afghans can take over security of afghanistan and nato troops can leave. but instances like we are seeing in the past month and yesterday's interior ministry can't stress how much that's preying on the psyche of soldiers here. >> nick paton walsh, thank you so much. the ability to figure out who's who there. thanks, nick. well, for more on afghanistan, join candy crowley at 9:00 a.m. eastern for "state of the union." she hassen exclusive interview with the ambassador to afghanistan, ryan crocker. and to syria where today brings a mix of voting violence. people are voting on a new constitutional referendum but in homs the shelling is still going on. activists say at least 11 people have been killed there today. and that is after nearly 50 people were killed yesterday. the united states is promising humanitarian aid. and new details also emerging about a journalist killed in syria. the sunday times reporting that war correspondent marie colvin was trying to get her shoes in an effort to escape a shelling in homs last week. colvin worked for "the times" she had taken her shoes off entering a building which is part of syrian custom. colvin's mom says she'll likely be buried in syria because the situation's too dang troerous tt her body out. a court in egypt hearing the case of 16 american aid workers accused of frouaud. that has been adjourned until april. the case stems of a crackdown of nongovernment organizations. the offices were raided saying they were encouraging unrest in the egyptian country. the americans are charged with operating in egypt without being registered. earlier this morning secretary of state hillary clinton talked about ongoing negotiations with egypt. >> we are having intense talks at the highest levels of the egyptian government because obviously we'd like to see this resolved. our relationship with egypt is, i think, very important to both countries and we have a lot of work to do together. we want to support the new egyptian government. we want to support aspirations of the egyptian people, and we have to resolve this matter. >> are you going to surrender them for trial if you can't resolve this? >> i'm not going into legal issues. >> but this is a country, how do you feel about this, 30 years you've been supporting the egigss thegigs egyptians and this is what they do the americans? >> i don't want to make this a dramatic confrontation. it's a problem we have problems with a lot of friends around the world. we're trying to resolve it. >> now the americans were not in that egyptian court today. nine of them have already left the country. the other seven are believed to be at the u.s. ambassador. former south african president nelson mandela is heading home. this comes one day after efficients said the 93-year-old anti-apartheid activist under went treatment for an abdominal ailment. he last appeared in public 2010 during the closing ceremonies of the world cup in south africa. just hours ago, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck southern taiwan. you can see things rattling inside the building near the epicenter. joined by meteorologist alexandra steele in for reynolds wolf. what can you tell us about the quake? >> you can see images there. it happened 10:34 a.m. sunday morning their time. and as you said, 5.9 magnitude. but what was key about this the depth of it. 13.9 miles, so that is good. the deeper it is, the less damage that's done. southern point of the island, 21 miles west southwest of taitung, taiwan. no reports of casualties at this point. minor damage to property. that's all we know now. earthquakes rattle taiwan more often than not with little or no damage. let's hope that is the case with this one. >> stay where you are. we're going to be back with you in a couple of minutes for the entire weekend forecast. >> we're going to have daytona and oscar forecasts. that's coming up. >> thanks so much. well, danica patrick is looking for a big finish today in daytona. the race car driver's going to have to avoid doing what she's done twice already this week. yeah, that's right. plus, just imagine having rick santorum driving along with you at 180 miles per hour. politics, racing, we're mixing it up, all coming together. i am lovin this greek yogurt. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? 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[ male announcer ] with everything from new computers, to set-ups, to tune-ups. stapes. that was easy. well the flag drops on great american race, the daytona 500. the past champions are taking a backseat today to a rookie. danica patrick has been the hot topic at the track. hln sports reporter joe carter is live from daytona right now. joe, all right, danica's had a pretty eventful time there already. and the race hasn't even technically begun yet. what's going on? >> reporter: well, you know i like how you say it has been an eventful time for her because it's been an up and down wild few day for danica. she's crashed two different cars in three days. that's the bad news. the good news, neither of the crashes were her fault. thursday she crashed into the wall during the duals and friday came back, the top qualifier and then on saturday she crashed again. this time she was bumped by her own teammate, cole witt nudged her in the back bumper enough to spin her car to control. you can see on the angle she gets frustrated there was some heated exchange and chatter between her and her crew chief. just a frustrated danica patrick. this is not the way she wanted to start her daytona weekend. she finished yesterday's race in 38th place. certainly not how she wanted to not only start here in daytona but start her first full year in nascar. >> more than anything, i'm just frustrated because the go daddy car was so fast, it was so fast. i could keep up to tandem cars in front of me all by myself and it's so frustrating when you have one of those kinds of car and it -- and it's gone. because there are other days where you don't have that kind of a car and nobody seems to manage to find your bumper ever. >> reporter: best part about sports, she gets another crack at it today. you can hear the band lenny kravitz and company tuning up. feeling like race day here, deb. >> two quick questions. it's interesting watching from the outside and she gets tapped and she's been tapped twice. technically not her fault but race car drivers they're supposed to be able to recover from those. in some cases can you simply not recover? >> reporter: i believe you asked me a question about recoverying. we expect tdanica patrick to recover. thursday she crashed, came back friday and was the top qualifier. the first woman since 1994 to be sitting as the front car to start a nation wide race. so we saw her recover well. so we expect her to do good things today. she's been on the course several times, run her best on the track. we expect her to come back and give the boys a run for their money. >> quickly, political undertones. you can't leave politics alone when it comes to daytona. what's going on? >> reporter: yeah, there is a political feel here today, deb. presidential candidate mitt romney is expected to here today, he's touring the grounds talking to crew chiefs as well as some of the drivers. he's expected to stay for the race and enjoy festivities. rick santorum also a presence here. he won't be here in person but his campaign has sponsored the 26 ford driven by tony raines. political presences felt in other races in 2004, bush campaigning for the presidency. he waved the green flag here in daytona and last year, michelle obama was at homestead to end the season down there in miami. so, yes, there's going to be a political feel as well as a celebrity feel here today. we have john cena, kate upton, lenny kravitz practicing about 50 feet to our right, deb. >> joe, thanks so much. we'll let you go and get in on those warm-ups. thanks so much. appreciate it. into politics now because we are only two days from the next republican primaries in michigan and arizona. and we're just a week away from super tuesday. joining me is patricia murphy, a contributor for the daily beast. i want to talk to you about a new tlooreport that came out th committee responsible for the federal budget and looked at republicans' tax plans and found rather than reduce the deficit, it would raise the deficit for newt gingrich, it would be raised by $7 trillion over a two-year term. >> yes. >> santorum, 4.5 trillion. mitt romney, $2.6 trillion. that's exactly what they're accusing the obama administration of. so how do you rectify this? >> all of the candidates all of the republican candidates cut federal spending they all cut taxes, newt gingrich cuts taxes so deeply that this report says that will drive up the deficit. so the next person who cuts taxes the most is rick santorum, only ron paul among the gop decreases the deficit by $2 trillion with his plan because he cuts taxes and slashes federal spending, eliminates five federal agencies, cuts military spending. he's the only one this senator said would reduce the deficit. also say that president obama would reduce the deficit by $2 trillion with his plan. >> which is rather remarkable because that's going to be one of the key things that resonates with voters come election time. >> yes. >> which is how are you going to get the country balanced again. >> absolutely. every republican voter you talk to says, i am crazy mad about president obama's spending policies under his watch, the deficit has grown by trillions of dollars, which is true. however, his plan, this group says will cut spending and cut the deficit. the republican response to this is that, republicans and conservatives really don't believe that cutting taxes should be scored against the federal budget. their contention is that if you cut taxes it will jump start the economy, everyone will make more money and pay more taxes, but economists say you can't count on that. what if there is a global meltdown on the economy? you can't promise what's going to happen to the economy. you can't make assumptions like that. >> so it really is fair to say on some levels if you try to cut taxes you cannot basically predict that, oh, we're going to cut taxes and create 5 million jobs or whatever the up in is. next question, wednesday, cnn, arizona debate -- >> yes. >> try tosh get thing to get th. last time face to face before the primary areas and super tuesday. rick santorum says rivals ganging up on him. >> of course because he's the front-runner. once you're in the front of the pack you have a big target on your back and everybody's shooting at you. they were hammering him, all of the other guy on the stage going after rick santorum. he was right, yes, they were ganging up on him. >> you're in a situation with world leaders you can't says france and germany are teaming up against you. it's a little bit -- >> doesn't usually sell among voters. >> now women, which is going to be so fascinating to watch come elections time. what's interesting in the near term is that women are actually increasingly moving towards rick santorum. why is that for republicans? >> i find it fascinating. republican women moving to rick santorum. republican women largely pro-life who largely agree with his policies. all of the conditions are pro-life. but when i talk to republican women at santorum's events they say i relate to him as a person. they know about his family, they feel like he's a good man and feel like he relates to their lives, their middle class lives, he's somebody who knows has struggled and feels like he is fighting for them. they look at mitt romney, they don't feel the same connection. we're seeing rick santorum in the midst of the controversy over contraception, his support among gop women is skyrocketing and mitt romney's is falling. so nobody predicted that was going to happen. >> right. fascinating. and it's lovely to say your wife drives a couple of cadillacs which mitt romney has done. >> doesn't everyone drive a couple of cadillacs? >> yes, they do, but they don't. thank you so much. you've got that article online now. >> on "the daily beast." everybody can see how rick santorum's doing with women. an 86-year-old world war ii vet, attacked, car jacked and forced to crawl to safety. nobody helped him. it all happened in broad agine facg the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. detroit police trying to find the person who car jacked a world war ii veteran in broad daylight at a gas station. 86-year-old aaron brantley on his way home from church and that's when someone jumped him from behind, broke his leg, and drove off in his car. to top things off, no one bothered to help him as he crawled away. look at those. those people just looking at him. >> i opened the door and proceeded to get in all i knew, i was on the ground. >> tough man. well, according to affiliate wxyz the car was found a few ho