Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by bnsf railway. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff afghanistans military fought today to take back a provincial capital, the first major city captured by the taliban in 14 years. The militants stormed kunduz yesterday, in a major setback to the government. Today, afghan troops and militiamen launched a counter offensive, with u. S. Air support, and a promise of more help, from president ashraf ghani, in kabul. translated Afghan Security force made achievements today in kunduz province. They have recaptured some parts of the government buildings. New reinforcements have reached kunduz and baghla and a battalion from the National Army will get to kunduz soon. Woodruff the taliban disputed those claims of success, and later reports told of taliban fighters attacking the kunduz airport. In yemen, medical officials sharply increased the death toll from an attack on a Wedding Party to 131. They blamed air strikes yesterday, led by saudi arabia, against shiite rebels. The saudis denied it, and blamed ground fire from the rebels. Video of the aftermath showed collapsed buildings and burned wreckage, as onlookers gathered. It was the deadliest incident yet in yemens civil war. President obama and cuban president raul castro met privately today on the sidelines of the u. N. General assembly in new york. Its the second time theyve held facetoface talks this year, as part of normalizing ties. Cuba said castro pressed again to end the longstanding u. S. Economic embargo entirely. President obama favors that move, but republicans and some democrats in the u. S. Congress are opposed. The u. S. Senate worked today toward a final vote to avert a government shutdown. The temporary measure would fund federal operations through december 11th. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell also called for a longterm deal to cover the next two fiscal years. Meanwhile, House Republicans were meeting to discuss strategy. California congressman Kevin Mccarthy is the favorite to replace the retiring john boehner as speaker. Im concerned about making a difference in everybodys lives. We want to make sure that were closer to the people. That they feel this is their government, theyre in charge and we serve them. Now thats not easy and it wont change overnight, but thats our mission. Woodruff boehner resigned after running afoul of tea Party Demands to defund planned parenthood, even if it meant shutting down the government. For the first time, the head of planned parenthood, cecile richards, faced republican critics in congress today. Theyve attacked the group after clandestine videos showed officials discussing how fetal tissue is used for research. Today, congressman jim jordan, and others, sparred with richards over stripping the group of its federal funding. The nice things about these videos is that theyve lifted the curtain, we can now see whats going on there and thats why should fund the government and ship the money from this organization to organizations that didnt do this kind of behavior. The outrageous accusations leveled against planned parenthood based on heavily doctored videos are offensive and categorically untrue. I realize though that the facts have never gotten in the way of these campaigns to block women from healthcare that they need and deserve. Woodruff republicans also accused planned parenthood of spending millions on political activities. Richards said the group keeps federal funds strictly segregated from its political arm. The director of National Intelligence told senators today he does not have high hopes for a new cyber agreement with china. Its supposed to prevent state sponsored hacking aimed at businesses. But when James Clapper was asked today if hes optimistic it will work, he said no. He said economic sanctions might be better. And on wall street, stocks had a mixed session, one day after the big losses. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 47 points to close near 16,050. The nasdaq fell 26 points, and the s p 500 added two. Woodruff still to come on the newshour more than 60 nations commit to taking down the Islamic State. A closer look at russias role in syria. Anna Deavere Smith tackles race, justice and inequality, on stage. Plus, much more. Woodruff World Leaders met today at the United Nations on ways to combat violent extremism around the world, especially in syria and iraq. Newshour chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner is there and has this report. I have repeatedly said that our approach will take time. This is not an easy task. Warner todays acknowledgement came one year after president obama formed an International Coalition against the Islamic State, with much fanfare here at the u. N. The u. S. Led coalition includes some 60 countries, about two dozen taking part in the military campaign. The president told the group he is ultimately optimistic, but the date of success is unclear. We have isil taking root in areas that already are suffering from failed governance, in some cases; in some cases, civil war or sectarian strife. And as a consequence of the vacuum that exists in many of these areas, isil has been able to dig in. They have shown themselves to be resilient. Warner indeed, this map, from the institute for the study of war last september, shows the Islamic States zones of control in iraq and syria. A similar map this month shows the group has made gains in central syria. In iraq, Islamic State still holds the major cities of mosul and ramadi, while kurdish and Iraqi Government forces have liberated kirkuk and tikrit, and stopped an advance on the Iraqi Kurdish capital, erbil. So far, Iraqi Government plans to launch new offensives have come to little. As for syria, cbs news now reports the pentagon is ending its 500 Million Program to train moderate rebels there. Only a handful ever took the field. Although a separate program run by the c. I. A. Has had more success. Kurdish fighters have been effective in iraq and syria but the politics are complicated. Today, turkeys Prime Minister, a member of the coalition, made a point of saying the turks were also fighting turkeys kurdish rebels demanding autonomy. translated all of us, we must be vigilant. One terrorist fighting the other will not legitimize it. We want our partners and friends to support turkey in its fight against all types of terrorism. Warner for his part, iraqi Prime MinisterHaider Alabadi urged greater support to build up his military and shut down recruiting for isis. Warner in fact, the u. N. s most recent data finds a 70 increase in foreign recruits to isis from more than 100 countries. British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron addressed that we have to stop this process at the start, not at the end. So of course we have to win militarily, we have to have the political solution, we need all the propaganda ive spoken about, but also need to challenge the extremist world view right at the very start. Warner that appeal to beat back extremism was nearly universal at todays summit. But consensus on how to do it remained hard to come by. Woodruff and margaret joins me now from the u. N. Margaret, welcome. You are in new york covering these u. N. Meetings. That meeting that you reported on first, the antiisis meeting, i guess you could call it, it seemed a little flat in the video. What struck you . Well, it looks like we just lost our connection with Margaret Warner, so unless we can get it right back, which it doesnt look like we can, well turn to our next segment, which is talking to two guests about what is going on in syria and the russian involvement. Im just going to preface that by saying, as weve been reporting last month, russia started to beef up its military support to the regime in syria. It started sending supplies and equipment, even sending attack aircraft as this recent satellite image shows. So the question is what impact will russias intervention in the syrian war have, and what is really motivating president putin . For that we get two views, Nikolas Gvosdev is professor of National Security studies at the u. S. Naval war college. He has written extensively about russia. And table Andrew Tabler is a senior fellow at the program on arab politics at the Washington Institute for near east policy. Andrew tabler, to you first. Why are the russians getting involved in syria . They want to prop up the assad regime. President assad only controls roughly 20 to 25 of his territory. Hes been losing ground. And quite rapidly. Russia was worried about a catastrophic collapse of the regime that could be taken advantage of by isis. Thats why theyre moving in on the surface, but there are other reason, as well, with russias place in the region, its asserting its power, and there has been some speculation that theyre trying to get out of the debacle that they find themselves in, in the ukraine. Woodruff so more about propping up assad than doing away with isis . Thats right. It seems based on their deployment, we see significant sea, air buildup with significant Fighter Aircraft and augmenting air fields and naval facility, it seems theyre there to support assad in the western part of the country. The question remains, will they play a constructive role over all of the country and how will they deploy visavis. Woodruff well get into that. Nikolas gvosdev, what exactly is russia doing in syria at the moment . What kind of material and men do they have on the ground . Well, as andrew pointed out, theyre putting in advanced equipment. They have a number of battalions arriving. Theyre reinforcing their port in tarutis. Theyre putting in both Fighter Aircraft. There are reports that longrange bombers are being readied in southern russia that could be flown over the caspian, over iranian and iraqi air space and then could conduct missions in syria. And i think were seeing the russians positioning for two things. One is to help bolster the assad regime, but the other thing is to prepare a fallback plan, which is if assad cannot be restored to control over most of syria, the russians still want to have a say in how syria will evolve in the coming years, and one way they can do this is by ensuring that assad, some of the christian groups have a secure enclave along the coast that then could be used as a bargaining chip with turkey and saudi arabia and the other powers for how the future of syria would go about. Its essentially to say that russia, too, has a voice and n a veto in what happens in the middle east and its not just the regional powers or the United States that get to determine the future of syria. Woodruff Andrew Tabler, whatever the combination of reasons for their doing it, can they be successful . Its very difficult. The assad regime is crippled. An it willically this is where the United States and russia are in very, very different places. Barack obama not a big fan of going into syria obviously. Why is he betting on the opposition . Because assad controls such little territory, because hes so rigid in terms of his political position and because hes been unable to turn it around and retake and capture all of this territory some the russians are betting on a failed scheme, and thats the way the United States sees it. Well have to wait and see if the russian intervention changes the calculation cloo into what to do. Woodruff nickname nick gvosdev how do you see that . Do you think the russians have the capacity to make a difference . It depends on what youre trying to do. If youre trying to reestablish assads control over all of syria and come wine all the group, isis, the nonisis groups so that assad is left in control of all of syria, thats very difficult. On the other hand, if the fallback plan is to start creating these safe enclaves both for assad but also for russian interests so the russian bases on the mediterranean are secure, that could be more doable because then you dont have to retake territory, you simply have to prevent isis and other opposition groups from expanding further. Of course, the russians will have a much different set of rules of engage. If and when they engage in combat in syria. They are much more prepared to use force and what weve already seen over the last few days, if some of these reports are to be credited, Syrian Government strikes have gotten more accurate, have gotten better. Is that a case of russian intelligence and russian capabilities beginning to aid the Syrian Regime . Well have to see, but if the goal is to keep assad in control of the syria that he has left, the russians are in a better position to do that. Woodruff lets talk right now, Andrew Tabler, about the u. S. In all this. How do you envision, if any cooperation, collaboration between the u. S. And russia . We know thats what president obama and president putin were to talk about, and were going to come back the Margaret Warner in a minute about that, and is this something the u. S. Should do . Well, on the surface, theres been an effort to deacon flict the two military activities so pilots dont start shooting at each other, which would lead both countries to war over Something Like syria. Thats something nobody really wants. Theres some convergence of concern over things like foreign fighters, on the break young of syria and hemorrhaging people and migrants and so on. The big issue, though, is that russia and the United States completely differ on an end state in syria. Woodruff on whether assad should remain . Yeah. Well, the u. S. Believes that assad should step aside and has for four years. Putin and russia now say that president assad must be the basis for a settlement, not that his regime would be the basis for a settlement. Thats a big difference. Woodruff so nick gvosdev, how do you see that . How do you envision cooperation between u. S. And russia . Is this something the United States should be even considering . Well, in my own opinion on this, a lot depends on what the ultimate u. S. Goals are, and, of course, weve sent very con flictsing signals. On one hand we appear the say we want to disengage from the region. Were reluctant to really put our own people on the ground or to really get involved. On the other hand, as andrew has pointed out, we dont necessarily agree with the end state that the russians would want. This of course would also increase iranian influence in the region, as well, which is something that our strategy has worked to try to contain over the last number of years. So in some ways we have to set our own priorities first of what end state we would like and what were prepared to do about it. Whats also interesting, of course, is to see how other regional powers are beginning to assess the change conditions. You had Prime Minister netanyahu flew to moscow. You had president erdogan of turkey in moscow this past wednesday to have conversations with president putin. Its clear that the powers of the region are now beginning to reassess what their strategies are willing to be in light of russian involvement. Woodruff a lot of moving parts here all insta gaited by the move by the russians to get more engaged in syria. Nikolas gvosdev, Andrew Tabler, we thank you both. Thank you. Woodruff with that lets turn back to our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner at the United Nations. Margaret, apologies. We lost you a few minutes ago. We were talking about that session this morning, the antiisis session that was held at the u. N. How did you read that meeting . Well, judy, you started out asking if it was flat. I would say definitely. Thats an understatement. Here you had president , Prime Ministers all around the table, and they were talking about, you know, what theyve achieved. They didnt achieve much. Instead they bemoaned how much isis has gained ground in their own countries, even with attacks or recruiting young people. They tried to analyze the problem. It had to do with internet recruitment. But they said exactly the same things they said a year ago. They said almost no real accomplishments. They didnt have any frank discussion about the fault with their own strategy and what they should do. They were all canned speeches. Amazingly, they totally ignored the elephant in the room, which andrew and nick just talked about, which is isis is based in syria. What are they going to do about the home base of isis, and that gets into this whole discussion about assads future. And if the antiisil coalition, as the white house calls it, insists, you know, that theyre in the lead, to think they didnt even discuss this was astonishing to me. Woodruff lets come back to the meeting yesterday between the. First of all, the two speeches of president obama and president putin, dueling speeches you could characterize