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Afghanistan and begin to look at how we ensure our national security. >> 20 seconds, tom. how does it end? >> i don't think it does. i think we have landed in the middle of the middle east for better or worse in a way that none of us expected us to. i think the war in afghanistan was made much worse by the distracting war in iraq which never should have happened. but we are dealing with the middle east that is crucial to our well-being so we need to come up with alternatives. >> amen. >> we'll leave it there. we'll continue our discussion with author sebastian junger and also read an excerpt f...

Here. al qaeda was in afghanistan when they attacked on 9/11. they are in pakistan right now because we're in afghanistan. if we pulled out, what they have is what they had before 9/11. they have -- i mean, when they are in pakistan they are in the tribal territories. it's not an area that's connected very well to the rest of the world, and in afghanistan they had an airport. they had an economy, and they had a failed state that had no extradition treaties with the rest of the world so they can do what they want, and there is no way to get at them short of military force. you're right. they ar...

And women home. >> let's remember some history here. al qaeda was in afghanistan when they attacked on 9/11. they are in pakistan right now because we're in afghanistan. if we pulled out, what they have is what they had before 9/11. they have -- i mean, when they are in pakistan they are in the tribal territories. it's not an area that's connected very well to the rest of the world, and in afghanistan they had an airport. they had an economy, and they had a failed state that had no extradition treaties with the rest of the world so they can do what they want, and there is no way to get at them...

Over a minute left and congresswoman, too. how does this end? >> to remind people, 46,000 killed or wounded in one of the smallest armies since 1939. i just gave an award to a dad whose son got the silver star. he wasn't there to receive it himself because he was back in afghanistan on his sixth combat tour, so at the end of the day tom ricks' superb article this morning in "the washington post" captured a lot of this. our way out is build afghan security forces. lieutenant general build caldwell is on the ground. petraeus is going to go in. he's got to build a police force and an afghan army ...

>> this sunday, a special edition. afghanistan, the fight ahead. it is the longest war in u.s. history. one year from now troops are supposed to start coming home. after the president's dramatic firing of general stanley mcchrystal what now. should the strategy change? will the withdraw timetable hold? is the mission possible and how will it end? with us, senator john mccain john mccain, republican of arizona. democratic congresswoman barbara lee of the foreign affairs committee. journalist sebastian junger, author of "war." tom ricks, author of the bestseller "gamble" about the war in iraq an...