Dennis overbye, janna levin and walter isaacson. Everything we do gets us a tiny step closer to the origin, the big bang. I dont know if well ever figure it out, i dont know if well ever have a unified theory, the way einstein was hoping that would tie together all the forces of the universe, but everything we do gets us a little step closer to that holy grail. Rose we conclude with the move valuable player of the super bowl, von miller, of the Denver Broncos. If im getting sacks, malik and derek may as well have two as well. I was predict ago great defense, we were able to get that. Rose war and peace, Gravitational Waves, and a super bowl hero when we continue. Funding for charlie rose is provide bid following. Rose funding for charlie rose has been provided by rose additional funding provided by and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose we begin this evening with syria, world powers agreed this morning to implement a nationwide secession of hostilities within a week. The parties also pled to cooperate on delivering aid to cities under siege. The announcement came after amajor assad regime offensive had put the Peace Process in jeopardy. Secretary of state john kerry spoke after the meeting in munich. Im pleased to say that, as a result, today in munich we believe we have made progress on both the humanitarian front and the cessation of hostilities front, and these two fronts, this progress, has the potential, fully implemented, fully followed through on, to be able to change the daily lives of the Syrian People. Rose joining me from munich, steffan de mistura. He is the u. N. Special envoy for syria. He participated in yesterdays meetings. Welcome, sir. Its a pleasure to have you here. Thank you very much. Im glad to be with you. Rose tell me you believe we have achieved at these meetings, because you have seen the ups and the downs and you have experienced first hand the misery of the Syrian People and the great desire and feed for peace. Well, first of all, lets look at what happened yesterday. It was not a declaration. It was not a statement. It was a commitment. Secondly, it was not a commitment about something generic. It was about concrete things humanitarian aid to reach those besieged areas, stopping the bombing, in other words stopping the conflict, basically a cessation of hostilities. Three, a deadline, seven days, and all that taking place based on a clear commitment. Now, that is something that we can call an achievement. But as you know very well, you need to test it. Even if it was a clear commitment, its still on words and its made by countries who actually can deliver russia, america, saudi arabia, iran, turkey, qatar they were all there, six hours discussion, but now we have to test it. Rose you were there, too. Give us a sense of the atmosphere, of the developments, the give and take, and what finally led them all to come to this agreement, this declaration. Well, yeah, and you will understand, and i know you understand i cannot reveal too much at all about what happened inside a very closed and delicate meeting where countries were actually debating intensely about something which is a very well, a very controversial issue. But what i can tell you is that all of them were seriously engaged in talking about what can be done. Secondly, there was a clear indication that there was no time to be lost. And three, that the Syrian People were watching them. More than once, we were all telling ourselves, look, we have been working now talking for five hours, six hours, but who is outside this room, who are they . Millions of people who have been waiting for this in syria and outside syria to see us who have an impact to do something about stopping this conflict. That type of spirit was there. Secondly, i must say, with all fairness, i have a lot of admiration for the energy of john kerry. Secretary kerry was a driving force, together with a certain spatial or psychological understanding of foreign minister lavrov and that helped a lot, a certain emotional involvement to not waste this. Even in diplomacy, emotion makes a difference. Rose what comes first . Humanitarian aid. You know why . A few days ago i was asked and i started a conference in geneva about further future peace talks. Well, i was gooded with messages from flooded with messages from the Syrian People from inside and outside. They were telling me, please, mr. De mistura, dont give us another conference or talk about talks, we need facts. You know what are the facts . They were telling me food, medicines, what every human wants especially in a war zone and, secondly, no more bombs, no more shelling. So what comes first is what they asked, and what did they ask . Immediate access to the besieged areas. So we will test it. That means tracks of food. The other good thing about what has been happening yesterday, that all this is not about documents or concepts, it is about getting there or not getting there, and we can test there. And a bomber getting there or not and we can test that, too. In other words, if there is a cessation of hostility, we will see it immediately. If the food will be given a chance tuesday and monday to actually get there, well be able to say it got there and if it didnt well go back to the same group of countries who do have access to make a difference to say, come on, you committed, you promised, why is it being stopped again . That type of mechanism, i think, is giving me hope that we can have a chance to pushing both commitments at least up to the point of a real test. Always a test because we have become skeptical after five years, but a good test. Rose how will the food be delivered . Who will deliver it . Well, us, the u. N. We have a whole team, a whole team which is actually prepared in damascus, which we have food, by the way, in warehouses. We have tracks waiting and ready and we have already been able to do some deliveries in the past. But like water tube, opening for one day and stopping for one man, two men, sometimes. Thats why we ended up seeing a place actually facing hunger. So the food will be delivered the same way but through a convoy of tracks drive i by our own people, led by our own people and reaching the actual villages, getting through road blocks, and that will be the test. Will they stop us again . Will the document that will be gotten from the government not be doubleguessed or say thats not enough as we had in the past . Will we finally be able to distribute directly to the people . That will be the test but thats how were planning to do it. Thats the one area. The other area, there are 14 locations in syria besieged and frankly by everyone. One is besieged by i. S. I. S. And that can only be reached by air drops and that is also something that we should be in a position of facilitating. Rose who has agreed to the cessation . Russia, the United States . Who else . Well, they were 18 countries yesterday. They all signed up to the commitment. Some of them are not really helve riinvolved in the heavily involved in the conflict but others are crucially involved in the conflict. So let me tell you who definitely make a difference. Russia, United States, turkey, saudi arabia, iran, qatar, just to mention those who have most influence inside the conflict because they do have support or do support or sponsor one or another group or the country. Iran, of course, was there as well. Rose but it does not include i. S. I. L, i. S. I. S. Or alnusra or other terrorist groups. The answer is no. You see, the cessation of hostilities, when it will take place and lets be frank, if it takes place, because we will have to test it but lets say when it will take place, it will definitely not include either i. S. I. L, daesh we call it, or alnusra. They are considered by the u. N. As terrorist organizations. Rose ash carter, secretary of defense, announced today that the United States will continue its attacks against i. S. I. S. In syria. That is exactly what has been foreseen, you see. The cessation of hostilities is expected to be between the government and those who support it Russian Federation, for instance, iran and other groups who have been supporting the government and on the other side, all the many opposition groups except alnusra and i. S. I. L which have been fighting each other, which have been sponsored by the countries i just mentioned and are being supported. I. S. I. L and alnusra are separate. By the way, especially i. S. I. L is very clearly delineated in terms of territory. You can see it on the map. It is very clear, and that will unavoidably continue. They have no intention of a ceasefire, they will never offer one, they dont offer it, and on the other side there is no intention of doing the same thing. Rose it is said that russia wanted to delay a cease fire until march 1, it is said. So the question is why did they agree now . One answer seems to be that they believe that assad Bashar Alassad, the president of syria and his forces have made such significant gains on the battl battlefield especially surrounding aleppo that theyre prepared now to allow this to happen. Well, those are speculations and whatever speculation will be confirmed by history, frankly. What i can tell you, is yes, i read also on the papers that there was by the Russian Federation to propose a cease fire or cessation of hostilities on the first of march. But yesterday the date of first of march did not come up. What came up was a commitment within a week. Now, i know and you know that it wont be easy. It will take perhaps a little bit longer because this is not a normal environment. But one week is quite an ambitious one and, frankly, with what has happened in aleppo, even a week is a long time. Rose whats the difference between a cessation and a cease fire . It is quite a difference. You see, cease fire is a very complicated agreement which needs to be signed, needs to be monitored by thousands of monitors, it is basically what countries do when they end a war, and its certainly what we will all aim at the end of the day even in syria. But it requires a lot of work. And since at this moment just a cessation of hostilities can be done much easier and is actually simpler. What does it mean . One side says i stop aerial bombing from midnight tomorrow. I stop rocket shelling from midnight tomorrow. The other side says, i am also going to stop all mortar shelling and all rockets on my side, and then we will have some type of observation that will be monitoring whether one side or the other are actually infringing on that. That can be done much quicker and is actually much more straightforward but is not an international agreement. Do we really need it . What we need is stopping the killing, stopping the use of heavy weapons, thats what will make a difference. Then we have the time to get to all the rest, including a formal agreement of end of the conflict or whatever. Rose i should point out and you can correct me if im wrong, this is the first time we have had this happen, the commitment to this, the declaration of this since the civil war in syria started in 2011. I am not going to correct you. You are totally right, charlie. But one reason more to protect it and to be not expecting miracles because we are in an incredibly fragile environment. Were talking about hundreds of different groups of rebels, of people who are fighting the government. We are talking about militias fighting with the Government Plus warlords. So its going to be quite a challenge, but the fact that the countries who do have an influence and should be using this influence in stopping the conflict have committed themselves gives me the feeling that they are serious, but i repeat, i have to say we need to test it. And the test will be when the countries which you mentioned will meet in looking at the details on how to stop the conflict. Rose and if they pass the test, are you therefore hopeful that the peace negotiations that have failed so far have been postponed now i think till february 25 or 17th or somewhere right in there, will be able to resume with more impetus . The answer is yes, youre right, i did stop for a poll of reflection, thats a diplomatic term, as you know rose yes. In geneva because i had the feeling that, one, there were too many procedural issues not leading to a serious discussion and, secondly, because people were telling us and our conscious, im sure you will say the same, this time it must not just be a conference about a conference. The people in syria while we are having the talks need to see some food and reduction in violence. Instead we saw no food and increase the fighting. Thats why we said we wait. Lets convene again in munich and if that takes place, i will feel much more comfortable in being able to convince the syrians that the new talks, the new conferences will be serious. Complicated, uphill, but serious. Rose i know, as you know, often the events on the ground determine whether the political process can work. This is a human catastrophe. Are you surprised that its taken so long for the world to deal with it . Well, you know my background. Rose i do. 46 years, 19 and with this one 20 conflicts, from the vietnam war, afghanistan, iraq car to the balkans, and i have been surprised how long it took for the International Community to deal with disease that could have been prevented, like in medical times. This time i am particularly surprised and disappointed because if we had dealt with this four years ago, that would have been much easier. Now look how many various groups and countries are involved. Its regional, proxy, internal and potentially international and, on top of it, what we never had before, and i never had before, if you think about the conflicts, at this time, we have a new disease which enters into the body which is fragile which is called i. S. I. S. , and that is a new factor which has made this conflict even more complicated but also more urgent to be solved. Rose lets assume the cease fire works and, certainly, the aid brings immediate relief on the ground which is a demonstratable act of success, what are the challenges for you to make the peace conference work and what are the difficulties . What is it that stands in the way most of all . Is it, for example, how long president Bashar Alassad stays in office or when he agrees to come political process of transition . Well, charlie, lets have first things first. The first challenge will be to ensure that actually the cease fire or what we call the cessation of hostilities and the unimpeded food aid will not be just a show for a day or a week but will be unimpeded and continued. Thats the first challenge because we need to feel and they need to feel that. Secondly, it would be the next challenge will be whether the actual cessation of hostilities holds because i can guarantee you there will be people who will be spoiling it and there will be crisis and we will have to face that. Those are the first two challenges. But if we have it and we start the talks, the first challenge will be to make sure the two sides talk to each other. We dont want to, but we have a solution where diplomacy becomes created. They have proxy wars, we have proxy talks. Well be meeting one side separately, one side separately, in the same building as the u. N. In geneva and see what are the areas we can actually have common ground, and there are potentially quite a lot if you dont touch the ultimate one which will come with it. Ill give you an example. There has been an agenda which has been agreed upon and there is a need for new governance that is asking what type of new government you would like to see on one side and the other, and that is already a change. Secondly, a new constitution with powers with the president like more or less, and you are already changing a lot the whole scenario. Then the elections, and elections supervised by the u. N. You can see all this is leading to a different completely different, hopefully extremely stable one day scenario in syria. All that in 18 months. Rose what brings you optimism now that, if in fact, the cease fire works, that you can get the parties . Do you sense some sense of people being tired of this war everywhere because of the human catastrophe, because of the fatigue of war, because they may not see all the opportunities that they once saw to achieve . What makes me optimistic is, first of all, my nature, if i may say so, because i would have not chosen this mission and my job. I am affected by that disease, which we have to have for doing this. Secondly is that i would say, also, the real politic is based on the assumption, one, the Russian Military engagement is not meant to be for long because russia should not be looking forward to any type of ongoing presence in syria because, you know, the souvenir of afghanistan is still there. The other assumption is that both iran and saudi arabia, at the end of the day, do realize you cannot have a proxy war in which they can win in syria because this has been proven so far. Then you assume the fact that the american engagement, Political Engagement, not literally military but Political Engagement through the sheer energy and good will of john kerry is going to maintain together this momentum, and plus the feeling that Bashar Alassad can know, should know that there is no way that, after 250,000 people dead and 1 Million People wounded, you can go back to simply pretend nothing has happened. So all that should be leading plus the pressure of the refugees which has been putting pressure on the regional country but now also in europe to everyone starting to feel its time to end this chaos, this horror. Rose john kerry said in munich, the real test is whether all parties honor those commitments. Given the brutality and dictatorial ambitions of syrias president Bashar Alassad and the duplicitous behavior of his chief ally president Vladimir Putin of russia, that is a huge if, but for the moment it is worth celebrating a step towards what could be the first sustained halt in the fighting in syria since the civil war began in 2011 which we talked about. This question also is raised by john kerry, what about the territory that has been gained by Bashar Alassad and the s