control. also he s made it the number of public statements we hear from him routinely. if they don t take this as an opportunity, i think it will be you know, very indicative of whether they are coming from. as you know there are a lot of folks out there who are desperately hoping the taliban see the light and say you know what, it is all over, let s negotiate a peaceful settlement. that s right. we have to remember taliban were there before al qaeda and really was a strong presence. it was al qaeda that went to taliban to make forge alliance and taliban remained post bin laden and so they have a lot vested. they were this political renegade for us inside afghanistan. they continue to be so-and-so if you want to negotiate with them, they are going to look for it. not that we want to give it to them but will look for some incentive to do that. omar could show leadership. he could issue a statement that would give direction to the taliban commanders inside afghanistan and
this hour, concerns that there are potential targets at risk by cutting homeland security funds. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. we begin with deadly new clashes today in syria as security forces try to break up anti-government protests in a number of cities. human rights activists say that at least 34 people were killed. they say to end the crackdown or get out of the way. here is arwa damon. reporter: wolf, when we see the images coming out of syria, the path that the regime continues to take seems pretty clear. they are aiming to clear. a voice yells off camera. this is video said to be from the city of hopes, which has seen many protests in recent weeks. it was posted to youtube. cnn cannot verify its authenticity or when it was shot. but one opposition activist told cnn on friday that the security forces fired straight in crowds of demonstrators and the syrian human rights information link reported a mounting death poll throughout the day. a simila