• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

President Barack Obama will meet tomorrow with the Presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan in a high-level summit in Washington DC to discuss the new US strategy in South and Central Asia. Both Presidents Asif Al Zardari of Pakistan and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan are rapidly losing the support of their constituents as the Obama administration vows to refocus the so-called War on Terror in their countries. Karzai faces re-election this summer and just announced his running mate: the notorious warlord and current Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, widely known for running a private armed militia and offering protection to criminals gangs and drug runners. In Pakistan, the government’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency is known for providing strategic and weapons support to the Taliban in their growing insurgence against the US/NATO occupation. The challenges are immense but many critics contend that they do not require a military solution, and that sending more troops will only worsen the problem. Last week I attended a one-day conference in New York organized by the Afghanistan Peace Association, bringing together prominent Afghan Americans and progressive non-Afghans to discuss peace and development in Afghanistan.

GUESTS: Christian Parenti, Correspondent for the Nation Magazine, author of The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq, Ann Jones, Human Rights activist and author of Kabul in Winter, Sameer Dossani, Demand Dignity Campaign Director of Amnesty International