Ultimately all american. That is the model in that is why we should maintain. That is what is next. That is the next thing that we try to do next. It will bobby easy. Writing this book was not in easy project but i have already started another one talking about how we craft a reliable pathway to Economic Security for all americans. The book will go much more into the lives of people who are struggling making sure the ladder of opportunity has the russians on it to pull yourself up. Host you are already looking ahead for people who have not yet picked up my country tis of thee. And what people can find in there i hope that will inspire for their own journey. I talk about how i got to the thinking that i have now. We are all a product of whom raised us to raise certain extent. I want people to think about their background like you, you have your american journey. Despite how different the jury is out there some people across the masondixon line. Coming to ellis island is some people come over the pacific. But the same day we may have come here in different boats but were all of this a oneout. That is why think the people they get would remind them but why i chose to swear of the carotid owned by thomas jefferson. A and read about my conversions story. How we can make congress function better. And the critical nature of organizing on the grass roots to counteract the corrosive influence of money and politics. That is what people will learn. If you really love this country in believe greater thing this, i take there are things in this book that will resonate. In i wrote it in a readable fashion and hope people enjoy. Host the new congressman. Guest thank you. [applause] faq very much. Welcome to the Heritage Foundation it is my pleasure to introduce our good friend con coughlin author of the Daily Telegraph and a worldrenowned expert on the middle east a critically and can lead author of several books including the New York Times best seller and appears regularly on television and radio in their frequent commentator on fox news as well as pvc. The veteran Foreign Correspondent in his book is a gripping account of the Winston Churchill campaign as a young calories than it lt. Fighting on the front tear the great great grandfathers of the taliban and tribal insurgents. Says says a story of High Adventure and imperial endeavor that contains warnings for today. It is fitting our event brought her political career the thatcher grues strength in the inspiration from his leadership facing a the huge challenges that called on the ironclad resolve. Churchill hatteras occasions found himself alone on the stage scorned even by those of his own party but he stood by his principles and beliefs. Factures determination to reject the temptation was influenced by her aberration to put the iron lady everything was heroic a leader, a man among men in and does he recall, for so many others the ideas of liberty, honor, a sacrifice or of britain herself have been formed by churchill. Play this will come con coughlin. Think you. [applause] guest thank you for that war reduction it is a pleasure to be back your heritage. The book churchills first war is the story in the making of Winston Churchill. When talking about courage courage, his ability to fail with adversity. This neglected period of his early life almost lays the foundation for the man that churchill became later in his life. When i approach the subject i thought of his exploits from captivity and all that, and in fact, when i started research i had another look in there was no reference to your church diluent afghanistan there is a picture of Young Winston on a gray horse in the general says to one of his young officers, who is that a bloody fool . Someone who wants to get noticed i suppose. He will get noticed you will get his head blown off. Indeed beyond reason winston went up to the northwestern frontier with the empire which is part of pakistan he did want to give themselves noticed. 22 years old. His family background was in some disarray. His father of the lord randolph had died of syphilis when churchill was still studying. His mother jenny a Great Society beauty had a reputation for her various dalliances with society gentleman. One of the admirer as was the prince of wales. And to have a rather difficult reputation in British Society not only that they would be impoverished a and at the time that lord randolph died Young Winston and was just coming not having very indifferent schooling it in those days if you were not very bright not being singled out for a career or something useful he went into the artery class. That is where Young Winston spent most of his days he was so behind academically it took three attempts to get into their. So young churchills fortunes for at the very low end when he embarked on them but he made a very clear from the very early age but having decided on a military career is id like a lot of politicians today he thought the military career was a Perfect Foundation for life in politics and from the very early age he had a vision going to rewrote quarters of the British Empire then using that a claim to launch his political career because even at this stage on his day off he would go to the house of commons to hear the parliamentarians as they would speak he read up by his late fathers speeches in with one of the phrases he said this is the age of 22 he wanted to put them into the dispatch box. The Young Winston was a very precocious character to get out to places like the Afghan Border. One of the more memorable quotes of the period and that captures churchill as he goes off to battle he writes nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result. It was very much with this gungho attitude that Young Winston set off for the northwest frontier the other thing that was driving him is he somehow needed to make money. One of the more its surprising arrangements of the late 18th century is british newspapers hits of the idea rather than have corporation four and correspondence by great expense while not have a military officer to right dispatches from the front line . They probably had a good idea a and second if anything happens, the military would take care of the newspapers. A dent in that spirit churchill got himself in an arrangement during that period with the cozy arrangement that ended from the british are reid check on a the whisperings of a young son of the two were criticizing the high policy of the british military. That the board personally ordered the practice sees it has not been undertaken since other than retired officers. The perils of today there are a lot of people in this room where they say he fights his great grant one dash great grandfathers of the taliban, because he was fighting on either side of the border in pakistan but if i tell you there is trouble extensively around this region that if you got a map from the cia of all the drone strikes they have launched in the tribal areas it correlates almost directly to where churchill fiat 8097. The story of the young pakistan the schoolgirl that was shot three years ago for campaigning, she was shot just a few miles away where churchill was based in terms of history repeating itself with that graphic illustration of how history is repeating itself. Back in the 1890s as we go through this story you will see the overlap it was caused by the implementation if you follow the jury and to wine it is the border between afghanistan and pakistan the british had to disastrous military campaigns in the 1830s that says we have had enough of the afghans we will draw a border up in the hindu kush the afghan can stay on their side and we will have the british on the effort and never the two shall meet. With the securities and the israelis established and to inflame the tribes but to wander the mountains to incite those afghan tribes to the british with similar arguments used today that they were covering coming to use their religion to interfere with their customs and take over their lives. Was not that difficult really to incite the tribes. Winston churchill who never actually met an afghan became a selfappointed expert. And with churchills day they ever known as the taliban and he writes about one of his survey dispatchers of the very low opinion he has. He would view them as a great of race as any cleanly but not so graceful. For a the absence of civilized development what is called the great visible superstition. Churchill was also particularly also repeled by their conduct. They lived lives to free up the expense of the people but laura them this but no reallife of some of their rearenders or morals it is impossible to right to. You can imagine the impact of the breakfast tables over the Daily Telegraph in the 1890s. As a result of the durand line being established the tribes were quickly in the revolt that came charging down from the afghan mountains. First of all, there was a very bitter contest in later all along the border all these areas in the valley they all took up arms against the british at different stages. And after that upraising their british governments from the of llord cells berry decided they needed to plug up defenses around the border to guard from future attacks. Blood of these we although from what happened a couple years ago that was one of the main supply bases to the network of fords. End while the fort was being built up again the of willis were successful is was just the first at toward the british takeover in the region and a great uprisings start in the summer of 1897 this time was during the a very smart regiment that had taken part in the light brigade during the peninsula of wars. Of very smart regiment in the recent it went to the best parties that meant he would get noticed. But most of his frustration was not going up to the north but down to the south. Again a wonderful sense of the patients of the on Winston Churchill as he got his mother and her social connections and everybody else he could think of where he was more likely to win medals. Looking at those regimental records and quite a few young british officers perished ned of them died in combat but tiger hunting in things like that. But to waste his life chasing action and he did have to join them in Southern India but splendidly named a british general several campaigns on the frontier with some distinction and that have led a party at london and extracted this province of there was any more trouble he would get churchill to see some action. Churchill on holiday in britain that the tribes were revolting again, and a surprise surprise they were appointed to subdue the tribesmen. So churchill literally left and got a trade to victoria down to southern italy to get the votes so that was reading above his province. The journey took about three weeks you get a wonderful sense of urgency with his lessons do diaries stopping along different ports along the route expecting to hear a reply and there is nothing. Then he gets back to Southern India. By this time he is very agitated and rights to his mother, this fellow is a tad. How dare he not reply to me . Eventually of campaigning and it was hard but when he got back from the first phase he did send a cable to churchill saying why dont you come up with a newspaper correspondent . Oh churchill with charging to the northern india five days by trade. Looking through the diaries his sense that faith was against him with this horrible train journey the action would be over there is nothing to do. In fact, we got there Early September 1897 the british already suffered heavy casualties. There were looking for young officers to replace those that have been killed. In those days they simply had an option that the comrades in arms would benefit from their loss. Churchill went straight to get his calvary kit among the effects being sold was a horse if he said i will have to have one i will get myself noticed in not realizing it was up for sale in the first place was the sharpshooters in the hindu kush had taken one good shot. A and churchill gets there with his most desperate fractionated he is frustrated because everyone is off on another mission but he asks is there any drake available . We like period the but takeitorleaveit. He said i will try to get the bet his Long Association with whiskey and soda can be traced. [laughter] that he comes to find churchill and says you can write dispatches but we need you to do the sharp bend stuff. So he descends the valley again if you google it you will see it is the subject of several drone strikes in recent years as the taliban have moved from the Afghan Border into pakistan with a bid against the pakistan the government. If he was sent to that valley to participate in the british tactics that go to the different villages tries to sign orders for Good Behavior and it was a hard edge to our operation and wine of churchills first engagements again the subject of several drones strikes actually was one of the video occasions during the six week period that churchill came within one whisker of losing his life. Who later told his mother he came under fire and on three of the occasions he came very close to being killed. End theater will boones were one of the most dangerous moments of his early career as a soldier. Basically the party went up a hillside to punish the village because it was a long climb churchill this note to his horse. Said he was not as conspicuous and that three of our clients they got there and as was the custom the villagers appeared. As they do now, they watch the western forces approach to look for weaknesses in their position then to see if there was some way to attack or ambush in enzymes shape or form and give the American British french soldiers fighting with a very similar tactic from the taliban. Of this particular day the british made the mistake to go well beyond the cover so when they got there the senior officer looked around in said we are in the year although the village was deserted did not lead them to believe that nobody was around so they started to withdraw then they came pouring down from the surrounding hills and a started to attack the party which in total was about 90 strong. Churchill had to provide cover and fire while the reid party withdrew. The first stage was affected without too much instance but by the time they started to move churchill has a gripping account of just how intense the fighting was that this particular stage. Then to follow the. There was a ragged volley. But then they laid down again. Three killed in three wounded one reason shot through the breast another lay on his back kicking and twisting. The british officer was spinning around behind me with his face blood and his right eye cut out it was in a venture. Yes. Then to try to recover the bodies but then to complain to his friends then somebody would have noticed him because of they were given out in the campaign than one of his great rivals to grow dispatchers for the times newspaper. [laughter] but that irritated churchill but what he learned firsthand what conflict was really like to the end engagement with the red badge of bullets he had to try that is how close to the fight he was. A lot of his friends were killed some were the forgotten part of the world and of course, churchill himself could have perished in the history of the 20th century may have been very different. But churchill was very complex with the cable to his leadership of paper forget the humidity. One of the arguments he would put out with his lew was the terrible fear of loss of life. Coming back with another engagement involved in a bitter skirmish. With a very close friend of his and the other attendant was shot and killed byebye churchills side if he had to help retrieve the body slip was not carried off by the afghans. To detect to do regression in this rare instance the fact that i cried beating him on the 30th of september is saw the man and unsteady in that for young officer on a stretcher. So you have churchill understanding the nature and that man who started out writing about the exhilaration of being shut out this is a bitter lesson on the realities of war. But he did survive rand way you look back but it was the baking. Period today the platform for his latest career as a politician. He achieved that in spades. First of all, he benjamin with the dispatches also as the former forwarder to the telegraph irs said anything coming from Winston Churchill would have been received and as as a result his one regret of the newspaper he did not put his name on them in in fact, the intemperance of his mother but then to write a book just how brave i am how wonderful it is to suggest the campaign. So set down which is the first offered to imagine his immense irritation with his great rival bid castle had the same idea in the two officers were in a bitter race there were both published in the spring of 1888 churchills was a far better breed of course, we do check with the average of until archives it is a good read for that. And as a result of the book churchill received a warm greeting from the prince of wales. And more important they or to a3 played his own role in that time did churchills life of the Afghan Border and walked into the room from where betty decades later to prove they would find true fame and glory. Again churchill, 23 by this time, had his six weeks with that final push to take another dim view to have no desire to have him a weird year his are the see you can imagine his surprise finding that tended to round as always as a result of a promised he got from llord salsbery as he left after his audience the Prime Minister said there is anything i can do in the future let me go. Yes, sir, can i go to the sudan . So the road to fade into glory with those charges undertaken by the british are we to cover that South African ball as a Foreign Correspondent is to claim the International Acclaim in soon after his return. He becomes so famous in britain favored signal little refrain that this is all they have to say. The latest and the greatest correspondent of the day. That was the 1890s. And this year is rather crucial for the americanled campaign. People will reflect on some of the lessons of the 1890s. The original idea came from general petraeus when he was the nato Commander Police appear is counterinsurgency street he was rereading churchillian the lessons. And petraeus tells me just like the british to have your disposal not a military sufficient and that is quite a challenge in the months ahead but with his conclusion and initially it is through this. It is an open question politically it is abundant those words will occupy our thoughts in the years ahead. Thank you. [applause] that was a tremendous stock. We now have time for questions. You would like to invite questions from the audience and in the institutional questions. Of the least reporting in america when there was a military solution does it really reid there is no political solution without advantageous military accomplishments . Spending time with the military and recovery most of the campaigns over the last couple of decades, when the of the base of the Afghan Campaign the overall strategy was devised with military pressure against the end of the. We had the industrial strength insurgency all and our hands but the military effort was a means to an end with the political resolution. The minute the president obama said he wanted to withdraw the forces to not see the job through the ability of the west to secure that has been in doubt. And that resulted in catarrh with the afghans into the taliban in there is a big problem there. With every think of the conflict the military pressure babied not perfect but the Iraqi Government is democratically elected and they have a new constitution based on the rule of law which they would not have if not for the original effort. I have no institutional affiliation but with political officials to change behavior . Under president nixon said one of the problems of vietnam was to withdraw that would be willing to take on more of the fighting responsibilities . Civic that shadow of yet known was of the president s mind when he said he wanted to set a deadline. But we said we would debate france entered a press stop fighting spring 1945 we would of had a far more difficult fight and challenge to try to with the war. The deadline is fine so long as the parameters are clearly set of what is achieved. But this deadline is just combat operations. The way things are going know i can see after more than a decade we will withdraw from afghanistan the taliban will be back into control and we will have no influence over those outcomes. Rigo David Cameron has read your book as he was pictured last summer. It is less likely president obama has although he should what is your overall assessment of obama is to delete with the war in afghanistan . Civic it has been rather confused he caved in the first nine months with a very thorough review of the program. As a result of that aside dawn to the insurgency strategy with general the crystal and the american army. But within months he changed his mind. This is where i find it difficult if his heart was not ended for the start in why signed up for the Counter Insurgency strategy . So what will happen when combat operations are wound down by the end of this year . I can see trouble with that. I with the Heritage Foundation. Duke got chuckles with you said when you wrote and compared for the record i dont remember how you phrase dip but could you give us a better sense how he wrote his history versus how it actually happened . For example, very understanding going to those early obstacles because he writes a lot of them before he got to the front and he clearly read up on what was going on but there is a wonderful firstperson account when he was on a boat somewhere on the mediterranean. That kind of flourish that he brings to his riding. Of course, when you study theater accounts it is different. One of the more amusing aspects, the narrative some of the council of his fellow soldiers rigged bumptious comes up time end time again at one time his officers are so fed up they put a sofa on top of him is it on him if he says no one keeps a churchill them. Is and gets three. Another officer on the campaign shared a tent with churchill and as i said it was a very bloody campaign he would lay awake looking at the stars a and said i am not worried about being killed or injured as well as long as somebody does not shoot me the mouse to stop me from talking. Even at this stage he is very clear he is on the road to glory nothing will get in his way. If you love to his right thing also the other of using feature is his ability to recycle. He wins the nobel prize for literature but if he writes a newspaper article he will use it again and again. At the churchill archive i came across the original manuscript and he literally cut paragraphs onto a piece of paper then wrote a round that so he did not have to duplicate. Approval way to right. Could you say a bit what happened after churchill left afghanistan in what are lessons for the counterinsurgency strategy is in general . The british finally settle the border 1901 when the british viceroy literally went all the way along the border in a negotiated with individual tribes deals. Some were handed bags of gold some were carted to india with captivity but the important thing, again going through though whole district interviewed a couple of pakistan the some of the administrators who were running for the district in the 60s at a time when the queen of england went there a and cable but churchill who was in his eighties saying i am sitting at the feet of one of your greatest triumphs. Prince philip when it docked shooting in after the creation of pakistan that has left the tribal areas the same autonomous state that george had negotiated. Better grade crude really lasted until after 9 11 attacks. One of the effects of afghanistan is the taliban web back into the tribal areas that is for the trouble started. In pakistan these will tell you feel the way to call this down in to you probably already read the package to the government is in discussion with the past two passion dash tube but the basic formula is you dont frighten us and if you drill down to the offer rebates to the taliban udall are the taliban the you hard us looking at the western policy makers the taliban have nothing to fear from a city more. One dash any more. Former deputy secretary of defense to bring a lot of work within an organization working with victims regardless of the political scene in we have had success but with respect to the u. K. Is it to involved in afghanistan . Will the british wash their hands of afghanistan now . So what is the relationship . The answer is yes but there are elements that want to maintain a relationship. For example, britain has just set up a military academy to train the officer corps. That is a longstanding commitment. Where british officers in the traitors go out to trade up a new generation of the afghan army and instill the kind of discipline and principles we would expect from a western army. Whether this is the stage is