huge deal. set the scene. >> reporter: this is a big deal, wolf. a trip by the president of the united states to a war zone like afghanistan is extraordinary and this is only the third time that president obama has made this trip. it's been over a year. the last time he was there was in december 2010 and furthermore, at the presidential palace which is where he is right now for brief remarks with president hamid karzai and to sign the strategic partnership agreement with afghanistan to talk about the u.s. relationship with afghanistan beyond 2014. that's extraordinary. the last time the president was in afghanistan in december of 2010 he could not make that trip from bagram air force base which is about 30 miles or so north of kabul to the palace because of weather concerns, and certainly security is always a concern as the president is in the comfort of the air force base. if you look at past trip, wolf, the last one only lasted four hours and it's very late at night in afghanistan as the president is doing this. >> this is not going last much longer. i suspect the president will be on his way back to andrews, the air force base outside of washington within a few hours or so. a very short trip to thank the troops and to sign the strategic cooperation agreement and to address the american people. there will be politics involved in the six months before the u.s. presidential election. some would say this is a bit risky for the president to be doing all of this right now on this, the first anniversary of bin laden's death. >> reporter: certainly politics do figure into this and this comes on the heels, wolf, of republicans criticizing president obama saying that he's been spiking the football ahead of this anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. the obama campaign released a video that asked the question essentially would mitt romney have made the same call, not just to take out osama bin laden, but also to do it in the way that president obama did by sending in a team instead of doing it with perhaps some sort of drone attack or something like that. i think it will be a while before we see how politics factor into this. it seems right now the republicans are holding their fire ahead of the president's remarks tonight at 7:30 eastern which he will make from bagram air force base. i spoke with a spokeswoman for senator john mccain who has been very critical of the president and he she said he is happy the president is visiting the tro s troops. i think you'll be having that later in your hour and i also e-mailed a senior adviser of mitt romney who say they are waiting to see what the president says tonight. >> a lot of people are waiting to see what the president says tonight. let's bring in nick walsh. he's in kabul. nick, what are you seeing, what are you hearing on the ground? >> reporter: very little, indeed. about 6:00 this evening there were rumors saying obama was already here and that was flatly denied. and a great uncertainty as to whether he was coming at all and it's fair to say an hour and a half, two hours ago we heard the first helicopters. this city unusually quiet, frankly, suggesting that this visit was under way and confirmation about it, and this comes at an absolutely key time in the entire afghan-u.s. relationship. it's been a disastrous four month, really, anything from u.s. marines and urinating on corpses of insurgents and the burning of korans and the killing of 17 afghans in kandahar to the collapse of peace talks between the taliban in qatar. you can a lon li of disasters, really, and the strategic partnership agreement they're signing tonight is one spot of good news that diplomats and officials here have been very keen to seize upon as a potential channeling for the way forward of this rocky relationship between washington and kabul. it will be signed tonight, but let's bear in mind who the sigity inaries are. we have barack obama facing re-election and president hamid karzai who has made it clear he does not want a third term here and suggested that perhaps elections may come early at some point next year rather than 2014 buzz he says he is concerned about the idea of the nato drawdown of troops coming at the same time as the country looks for successives. there is no obvious success. so this document paints a positive picture of cooperation and symbolic hand-holding for the decade after nato meets it. the biggest of which is exactly where does this insurgency fit into all of this? this document being signed in a city where just over two weeks ago insurgents lay siege to key institutions for about 18 hours, wolf. >> we also know that even inside supposedly secure area like then tearior ministry in kabul, it wasn't that long ago that afghan security forces took a weapon and shot u.s. -- u.s. military personnel in the back of the head in a supposedly secure area, suggesting to so many folks around the world, especially here in washington, nick, that the united states can't even trust the afghan police and military for this kind of security. it raises all sorts of fears, at least to me, that the president of the united states is there right now. can they really trust the afghan security forces? what say you? you're on the ground. >> reporter: it's -- it's really undermined that feeling of trust because not only for these two men. senior officials who have many friends here mourn their loss constantly. it was one of many instants. there have been nine american personnel killed by men in uniform. we are hearing helicopters again in the skies over kabul suggesting perhaps some further transportation. i don't know if that's the president leaving the presidential palace. back to your original point, wolf. this huge concern about the breakdown in trust between afghan soldiers and the americans to trust them to take over security here. these are isolated instances. they began a trend in the first part of this year and there are reports suggesting that american soldiers are posted to watch over their colleagues as they train afghans in various facilities across the country. there has been a longlasting impact on the psychology of the nato troops here. these unrelated instances as nato likes to say became a trend and began to undermind the confidence in nato trying to place in afghan security forces to take over the job of securing this country and also, i think, play on the mind of americans simply serving here and not knowing how far they can trust the afghans they're supposed to serving alongside with, wolf. >> there is a lot of mistrust. a lot of folks are very, very worried. stand by. john king is with me. the president landed at almost 2:00 p.m. eastern, two hours or so ago. >> he gets off the 747 and gets in a helicopter and flies from bagram to kabul and we just received word from the pool of reporters that president obama and karzai signed the strategic agreement. they did it in the atrium. the commander in chief of the allied forces was there and ambassador crocker as well. president karzai thanked the people of the united states for helping the people of afghanistan over the past decade. he said i've come to the president to mark this historic moment for our two nations. neither afghans and americans asked for this war, but we stood together. there will be difficult days ahead and nick walsh describing the security and political arrangements and president obama saying i'm confident the afghan people will understand the united states will stand by them and he said, wolf, this is significant. we will achieve our goal of destroying al qaeda and we have the capacity to wind down this war and have peace. obviously, the goal to continue to destroy al qaeda, but the symbolism of signing this agreement on this day, one year to the day after osama bin laden was killed, and this is an important policy moment, but let's not forget the white house frankly, they love the politics of this. the president of the united states on this day, signing this agreement will speak to the nation tonight. it was in afghanistan that al qaeda blotted the 9/11 attacks on the united states and it was in afghanistan that the navy s.e.a.l.s used a base there to go across the border into pakistan to take out bin laden one year ago. it's an important policy moment. from the white house perspective, very political. >> what does it is a to you, john? i know what it says to me. they have a major, historic signing ceremony in the presidential palace in kabul, in afghanistan. the president, the president of afghanistan. they have to do it in the middle of the night. it is after 1:00 a.m. in kabul and they can't do it in daylight and they can't even have live coverage of an historic event like that. they'll feed tape in later. what does that say to you? >> it says they have continuing questions about the security. they have continuing questions of the sanctity of the afghan security forces. there have been times when they've turned on nato counterparts, can you trust the security arrangement? they tend to do these things under the cover of darkness so no been on the ground has a head's up. you are not allowed to report it until the president is on the ground. the security arrangements, some people would say are overdone, but if you covered the white house as both of us have, when the president of the united states and the secret service and military advisers say trust us, we need you to be careful here. it's best to be careful. >> you're dealing with the security of the president of the united states and the people that accompany him in trips like these. don't go too far away. we'll bring you all of the details of this extraordinary visit to afghanistan and the breaking news. we're staying on top of it. also coming into "the situation room." the cia call it enhanced interrogation. the man who oversaw the cia program is here to defend it. he says it led the united states to kill bin laden exactly one year ago today and saved american lives. there he is, jose rodriguez, the former head of clandestine operations at the cia. he's standing by live. 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the u.s. would be able to do militarily, economically, politically in afghanistan. a lot of details remain to be worked out. the president will be addressing the american people from afghanistan at 7:30 p.m. eastern later tonight. all of this unfolding in the aftermath, ten-years plus in the wake of 9/11, the cia began using what we call enhanced interrogation techniques. critics label them as torture. jose rodriguez oversaw the controversial program as the director of the cia's national clandestine service. he's written a brand new book just coming out this week titled "hard measures, how aggressive cia action after 9/11 saved american lives." mr. rodriguez, thanks for joining us on this historic day, exactly one year after bin laden was killed. first of all, give us your reaction to the president of the united states signing this long-term partnership agreement with afghanistan in kabul just moments ago. >> wolf, i have really no comment to make. i just found out about this as i was coming here. you know, i think logical consequence after ten years of war, so i think it's a good thing. >> it's a good thing that the president has done this. when you say you have no comment, i'm just a little confused. you spent more than 30 years in the clandestine service in the cia. you rose to the top and were in charged of interrogating al qaeda terrorists, why wouldn't you have a reaction to seeing the president in afghanistan now. >> well, i mean, i have a reaction to the effort that went into killing bin laden and all of the information that was gathered over the years that probably led us to where we are today, but i am surprised as everybody else in america about the trip today, and, you know, we'll have to see what the agreement is. >> and we'll wait for the details to come in. you say that the interrogation that you conducted of at least one, maybe two al qaeda terrorists, interrogation what we call black sites, secret locations around the world actually resulted in the killing of bin laden a year ago. explain your theory why that happened. >> yes. as a matter of fact, there is an open piece today in "the washington post" in which i say that the takedown of bin laden was an effort that went on for ten years, and it really gained momentum after the establishment of the black sites and the capture of some of the high-value targets in charge of al qaeda over the years. it was not just one. it was the whole clan and many of them ended up in our black sites. >> because, as you know, the chairman of the intelligence committee dianne feinstein and carl levin, they just issued a report, a document and they say they have a 6,000-page report that's coming out that says you're flat wrong when you say the enhanced interrogation techniques had anything to do with the information that resulted in that courier who eventually led that navy s.e.a.l. team in abbottabad in afghanistan a year ago tonight. the cia, their statement says did not first learn of the existence of the ubl courier from detainees subjected to coercive interrogation techniques. tell us why you think the two chairmen are wrong. >> wolf, i was in charge of the qatar terrorist center between 2002 and 2004, and then i was the head of the clandestine service. so i know a little bit about what went on, and i was there when we captured a couple of high-level al qaeda people who told us about the courier, and the courier was the key to getting bin laden. i remember reading the intelligence in 2004 when we first learned about the courier, and the fact that bin laden was concentrating on using only one courier to communicate with with al qaeda. he was not using the internet. he was not talking on the phone, was not using cell phone, and i thought to myself that this was very significant because he would be a lot harder to get if only he communicated through one courier. so i remember it very clearly and reading all about the courier and it was the courier who eventually led us to bin laden. >> the courier did, and they say they reviewed 6 million pages of documents and records and interviewed everybody involved. they say the cia learned of the existence of the courier and his true name and location through means unrelated to the cia detention and interrogation program. they say you're flat wrong on this very sensitive issue, and i just want to give you a final word to respond. >> well, i don't understand it. i think it's baffling to me. >> did they interview you? >> they never interviewed me, but the -- the thousands of intelligence reports that came out of the enhanced interrogation techniques and the debriefing program are part of the record, and i just cannot understand how they came to this conclusion. you know, eventually this whole thing would come out, and i believe that the american people will get a chance to see for themselves the -- the incredible intelligence that was acquired over the years coming from the black sites and from the high-level detainees. >> mr. rodriguez, we'll continue this conversation maybe on a day that there's not such dramatic breaking news. jose rodriguez. his book is entitled "hard measures. how aggressive cia actions after 9/11 saved american lives." thanks very much for joining us on this historic day. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you. >> we're on top of the breaking news coming into "the situation room" from afghanistan. we're awaiting the president's speech from the bagram air base in afghanistan. he arrived two and a half hours or so ago. reaction from the republicans beginning to pour in. we'll talk to a leading republican and the chairman of the house homeland security committee, peter king, he's standing by live as well. stay with us for more on the breaking news. an accident doesn't have to slow you down... with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model-year newer... with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? >> we're following the breaking news out of afghanistan. president obama and president hamid karzai have just signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement at the presidential palace. we'll eventually get videotape of that signing ceremony and hear what the president had to say. we do know that the president said based on a report we got from producers on the scene, he says the president says we'll achieve our goal of destroying al qaeda. we have the capacity to wind down this war and have peace. let's talk about what's going on with new york republican congressman peter king. he's the chairman of the house homeland security committee. first of all, your reaction, congressman king, to president obama's surprise visit to afghanistan for this signing ceremony today? >> well, as president and commander in chief, i applaud him being in afghanistan. i think it's important for the troops to see the president and certainly after all of these years of fighting where the troops have done such heroic work and did such an outstanding job. ink it's important for the president to be there and signing the agreement with president karzai. he's our commander in chief and i wish him well. i think it is always good when the president of the united states can visit a war zone especially on such a key moment as this. >> you're not among the republicans saying he's spiking the football and doing a victory lap on this the first anniversary of binladen's death? >> i'm reluctant to say anything critical of the president when he's outside of the united states. that's certainly within his purview as commander in chief. i do think in the last several days where -- first of all, he did a great job in ordering the killing of bin laden. i know people in the situation room, and i know the tough decision he had to make and i give him full credit for that. i don't think it was right to put out campaign commercials being critical of governor romney and that was politicizing an historic eve