Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Mitt Romney on His Foreign Policy Plans; Romney's Major Foreign Policy Speech; Afghanistan: A Nation of Fear

Aired October 07, 2011 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed for Friday, October 7th.

The September jobs report, it's out today. For you glass full folks, yes, the economy's created jobs. For the glass half empty crowd, well, not enough to make a dent in the unemployment rate.

The Labor Department counted 103,000 new positions last month. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent. Now, close to half of these new jobs really weren't new at all. Rather, striking Verizon workers returned to work.

Three women will share the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011. They are Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee, and journalist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. The Nobel Committee calls the award an important signal to women all over the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THORBJORN JAGLAND, NOBEL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: It is worth noting that the Yemeni recipient is the first Arab woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Well, there was no formal ceremony by U.S. troops in Afghanistan today to mark the 10th anniversary of the war. The conflict is the longest in U.S. history. More than 2,700 coalition forces have been killed over the decade, 1,780 of them Americans.

Pakistan may charge a doctor now with high treason because he helped the United States get Osama bin Laden. The doctor, as you may recall, set up a bogus vaccination program for the CIA. Agents wanted to get DNA samples from people living in Bin Laden's compound, which you see right there. The U.S. has repeatedly been pressing Pakistan to free this doctor.

Well, check it out. Her smile, a mile wide. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords helped honor her husband at his retirement ceremony. That happened in Washington just yesterday. Astronaut Mark Kelly commanded one of the final shuttle flights. And Giffords continues her rehabilitation in Houston for that bullet wound to her head.

Simon & Schuster is now moving up the release of its Steve Jobs biography by a month or so. That is to October 24th. Preorders pushed the book to number one at Amazon.com after the Apple chairman died on Wednesday. Well, Jobs reportedly reached out to the book's author in August to tell him that cancer would soon likely take his life.

Prince Harry is expected to show up at the United States any day now for military training. The British royal, he's going to learn how to fly the Apache helicopter gunship. He'll be stationed at El Centro Naval Base. That is in southern California. That's also where the Tom Cruise film "Top Gun" was shot.

Harry served a tour of duty in Afghanistan back in 2008. Reportedly, he wants to go back.

Here's what's ahead "On the Rundown."

First, today, the 21st straight day of the Occupy Wall Street protest. We're going to show you where they are and what their message is.

And then, 10 years after the start of the war in Afghanistan, an Afghan remembers the day the war started and how his country has changed since then.

Then, an entire town is evacuated after a train derailment in Illinois.

Also, mortgage rates are the lowest they've ever been, but it may be hard to qualify. We're going to explain that.

And later, the Pakistani doctor who helped lead the CIA to Osama bin Laden's compound may now face treason charges in his own country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are awaiting Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential hopeful, to take the stage. He is at the Citadel to talk about his own vision for national security and foreign policy.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

(APPLAUSE)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thank you.

Treasurer Loftus, General, I appreciate the welcome of the cadets here and friends in the community, and the opportunity that you have given me to speak and address a number of items of great significance. It's always an honor to be here in South Carolina, where patriotism is a passion that tops even barbecue and football.

(APPLAUSE)

And it's a great honor to be here at the Citadel.

Every great university and college produces future engineers and doctors and lawyers and entrepreneurs. Here at the Citadel, you, of course, do all that, but you have another specialty as well. You produce heroes.

Over 1,400 of your alumni have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere, fighting the war against terrorism, and 16 have paid the ultimate price. Since 1842, every tyrant, every petty thug, or great power that threatened America learned that if you wanted to take on America, you were going to have to take on the Citadel as well. That's a line of heroes that's never broken and never will be.

(APPLAUSE)

This is in fact a true Citadel of American honor, values and courage.

Now, the other day I heard the president say that Americans had gone soft. I guess he wasn't talking about how hard it is for millions of Americans who are trying to get a job or stretch a too- small paycheck through the week.

As each of you looks beyond this institution, to the life before you, I know you face many difficult questions in a world that's fraught with uncertainty. America is in an economic crisis, the likes of which we have never seen in our lifetimes.

Europe is struggling with the greatest economic crisis since the Cold War, one that calls into question the very definition of the European Union. Around the world we see upheaval and change. Our next president will face extraordinary challenges that could alter the destiny of America and indeed the freedom of the world.

Today, I want you to join me in looking forward, forward beyond the Recognition Day, beyond Ring Weekend, to four years from today, October 7, 2015. What kind of world will we be facing then?

Will Iran be a fully activated nuclear weapons state threatening its neighbors, dominating the world's oil supply with a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, in the hands of ayatollahs? A nuclear Iran is nothing less than an existential threat to Israel. Iran's suicidal fanatics could blackmail the world.

By 2015, will Israel be even more isolated by a hostile international community? Will those who seek Israel's destruction feel emboldened by American benevolence? Will Israel have been forced to fight yet another war to protect its citizens and its very right to exist? In Afghanistan, after the United States and NATO have withdrawn all forces, will the Taliban find a path back to power after over a decade of American sacrifice and treasure and blood? Will the country slip back into the medieval terrors of fundamentalist rule and the mullahs again open a sanctuary for terrorists?

Next door, Pakistan awaits the uncertain future, armed with more than 100 nuclear weapons. The danger of a failed Pakistan is difficult to overestimate. It's fraught with nightmare scenarios. Will a nuclear weapon be in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists?

China has made it clear that it intends to be a military and an economic superpower. Will their rulers lead the people to a new era of freedom and prosperity, or will they go down a darker path, intimidating their neighbors, brushing aside an inferior American Navy in the Pacific, and building a global alliance of authoritarian states?

Russia -- it's at an historic crossroads. Vladimir Putin has called the breakup of the Soviet empire the great tragedy of the 20th century. Will he try and reverse what he calls a tragedy and bludgeon the countries of the former Soviet Union into submission and intimidate Europe with a lever of its energy resources?

To our south, will the maligned socialism of Hugo Chavez' Venezuela, in tight alliance with the maligned socialism of Castro's Cuba, undermine the prospects of democracy in a region thirsting for freedom and stability and prosperity?

Our border with Mexico remains an open sore. Will drug cartels dominate the regions and join in the United States with greater and greater violence spilling over into our country? Will we have failed to secure the border and to stem the tide of illegal immigrants? And will drug smugglers and terrorists increasingly make their way into our midst?

This would be a troubling and threatening world for America, but it's not unrealistic. These are only some of the very real dangers that America faces if we continue the feckless policies of the past three years.

Of course, it doesn't have to be this way. This isn't our destiny. It's a choice.

We're a democracy. You decide.

In this campaign for the presidency of the United States, I will offer a very different vision of America's role in the world and of America's destiny. Our next president is going to face many difficult and complex foreign policy decisions. Few of them will be black and white, but I'm here today to tell you that I'm guided by one overwhelming conviction and passion. This century must be an American century.

(APPLAUSE) In an American century, America has the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world. In an American century, America leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world.

God did not create this country to be a nation of followers. America is not destined to be one of several equally-balanced global powers.

America must lead the world or someone else will. Without American leadership, without clarity of American purpose and resolve, the world becomes a far more dangerous place, and liberty and prosperity would surely be among the first casualties.

Let me make this very clear. As president of the United States, I will devote myself to an American century, and I will never, ever apologize for America.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, some may ask, why America? Why should America be any different than scores of other countries around the globe?

I believe we are an exceptional country with a unique destiny and role in the world. Not exceptional, as the president has derisively said in the way that British think Great Britain is exceptional or the Greeks think Greece is exceptional. In Barack Obama's profoundly mistaken view, there's nothing unique about the United States.

But we are exceptional. And we're exceptional because we are a nation founded on a precious idea that was birthed in the American Revolution, and propounded by our greatest statesmen in our fundamental documents.

We are a people who threw off the yoke of tyranny and established a government, in Abraham Lincoln's words, of the people, by the people, and for the people. We're a people who, in the language of our Declaration of Independence, holds certain truths to be self- evident; namely, that all men are created by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

It is our belief in the universality of these unalienable rights that lead us to our exceptional role on the world stage, that of a great champion of human dignity and American and human freedom. We love the principles of America's founding.

Now, I was born in 1947, a classic baby boomer. I grew up in a world formed by one dominant threat to America, the Soviet Union and communism. The duck and cover drills we learned in school during the Cuban Missile Crisis resulted from the threat by a known identifiable enemy with clear borders and established leaders. We needed spy planes to find the hidden missile bases in Cuba, but we didn't need them to find Nikita Khrushchev.

President Reagan could negotiate with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and sign treaties for which each side could be held accountable. And when we caught the Soviets cheating, we could bring the world's attention to their transgressions.

Today, our world is far more chaotic. We still face grave threats, but they come not from one country or one group or one ideology.

The world is unfortunately not so defined. What America and our allies are facing is a series of threatening forces, ones that overlap and reinforce one another.

To defend America, and to secure a peaceful and prosperous world, we need to clearly understand these emerging threats, grasp their perplexity, and formulate a strategy that deals with them before they explode into conflict. It's far too easy for a president to jump from crisis to crisis, dealing with one hot spot after another, but to do so is to be shaped by events rather than to shape events.

To avoid this paralyzing seduction of action rather than progress, a president must have a broad vision of the entire world, coupled with clarity of purpose. When I look around the world, I see a handful of major forces that vie with America and free nations to shape the world in an image of their choosing.

These are not exclusively military threats. Rather, they are determined, powerful forces that may threaten freedom, prosperity and America's national interests.

First, Islamic fundamentalism, with which we've been at war since September 11th of 2001.

Second, the struggle in the greater Middle East between those who yearn for freedom and those who seek to crush it.

The dangerous and destabilizing ripple effects of failed and failing states from which terrorists may find safe haven.

The anti-America visions of regimes in Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, two of which are seeking nuclear weapons. And these forces include rising nations with hidden and emerging aspirations like China, determined to be a world superpower, and a resurgent Russia, led by a man who believes the Soviet Union was great, not evil.

There's no one approach to these challenges. There's no wall that the next president can demand to be torn down. But there's one unifying thread that connects each of these threats. When America is strong, the world is safer.

President Reagan called this peace through strength, and he was never more right than he is today. It is only American power, conceived in the broadest terms, that can provide the foundation of an international system that ensures the security and prosperity of the United States and our friends and allies around the world.

American strength rises from a strong economy, a strong defense, and the enduring strength of our strong values. Unfortunately --

(APPLAUSE)

Unfortunately, under this president, all three of those elements have been weakened.

As president, on day one, I will focus on rebuilding America's economy. It's a foundation of our strength.

I will reverse President Obama's massive defense cuts. Time and again, we have seen that attempts to balance the budget by weakening our military only lead to a far higher price in the future not only in treasure, but also in blood. My strategy of American strength is guided by a set of core principles.

First, American foreign policy must be prosecuted with clarity and resolve. Our friends and allies must have no doubts about where we stand, and neither should our rivals. If the world knows we are resolute, our allies will be comforted, and those who wish us harm will be far less tempted to test that resolve.

Second, America must promote open markets, representative government, and respect for human rights. The path from authoritarianism to freedom and representative government is not always a straight line or an easy evolution, but history teaches us that nations that share our values will be reliable partners and stand with us in pursuit of common security and shared prosperity.

Third, the United States will apply the full spectrum of hard and soft power to influence events before they erupt into conflict. Resort to forces, always the least desirable and the costliest option. We must, therefore, employ all the tools of state craft to shape the outcome of threatening situations before they demand military action. The United States should always retain military supremacy to deter would-be aggressors and to defend our allies and ourselves.

(APPLAUSE)

And know this: If America is the undisputed leader of the world, it reduces our need to police a more chaotic world.

Fourth, the United States must exercise leadership in multilateral organizations and our alliances. American leadership lends credibility and breeds faith in the ultimate success of any action, and attracts full participation from other nations. American leadership will also focus multilateral institutions like the U.N. on achieving the substantive goals of democracy and human rights enshrined in their charters.

Too often, those bodies, well, they prize the act of negotiating over the outcome to be reached. And shamefully, they can become forums for the tantrums of tyrants and the airing of the world's most ancient of prejudices: anti-Semitism.

The United States must fight to return these bodies to their proper role. But know this: while America should work with other nations, we always reserve the right to act alone to protect our vital national interests. (APPLAUSE)

In my first 100 days in office, I will take a series of measures to put these principles into action and place America and the world on safer footing. Among these actions will be an effort to restore America's national defense.

I will reverse the hollowing of our Navy and announce an initiative to increase the ship-building rate from nine per year to 15 ships per year.

(APPLAUSE)

I will begin reversing Obama-era cuts to national missile defense, and prioritize the full deployment of a multi-layered national ballistic missile defense system. And I will order the formulation of a national cybersecurity strategy to deter and defend against the growing threats of militarized cyberattacks, cyberterrorism, and cyberespionage.

(APPLAUSE)

I will enhance our deterrent against the Iranian regime by ordering the regular presence of aircraft carrier task forces, one in the eastern Mediterranean and one in the Persian Gulf region. I'll begin discussions with Israel to increase the level of our military assistance and coordination, and I will again reiterate that Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.

(APPLAUSE)

I will begin organizing all our diplomatic and assistance efforts in the greater Middle East under one official, with the authority and accountability necessary to train all our soft power resources on ensuring that the Arab Spring does not fade into a long winter. I'll launch a campaign to advance economic opportunity in Latin America and contrast the benefits of democracy, free trade, and free enterprise against the material and bankruptcy of the Venezuelan and Cuba model.

I'll order a full review of our transition to the Afghan military to secure that nation's sovereignty from the tyranny of the Taliban. I'll speak with our generals in the field and receive the best recommendations from our military commanders. The force level necessary to secure our gains and complete our mission successfully is a decision I will make free from politics.

(APPLAUSE)

I will bolster and repair alliances. Our friends should never fear that we will not stand by them in an hour of need.

I will reaffirm as a vital national interest Israel's existence as a Jewish state. I will count as dear our special relationship with the United Kingdom, and I will begin talks with Mexico to strengthen our cooperation on our shared problems of drugs and security.

(APPLAUSE)

This is America's moment. We should embrace the challenge and not shrink from it, not crawl into an isolationist shell, not wave the white flag of surrender, nor give in to those who assert that America's time has passed. That's utter nonsense.

An eloquently justified surrender of world leadership is still surrender. I will not surrender America's role in the world.

This is very simple. If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I'm not your president. You have that president today.

(APPLAUSE)

The 21st century can and must be an American century. It began with terror, war, economic calamity. It is our duty to steer it under the path of freedom, peace and prosperity.

My hope is that our grandchildren will remember us in the same way that we remember the past generations of Americans who overcame adversity, the generations that fought in world wars, that came through the Great Depression, and that gained victory in the Cold War. Let future generations look back on us and say, they rose to the occasion, they embraced their duty, and they led our nation to safety and to greatness.

(APPLAUSE)

The greatest generation is passing, but as their light fades, we must seize the torch they carried so gallantly, at such great sacrifice. It is an eternal torch of decency, freedom and hope.

It's not America's torch alone, but it's America's duty and honor to hold it high enough that all the world can see its light. Believe in America.

Thank you so much. And God bless this great land.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

MALVEAUX: You're listening to Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney laying out his plan for national security, his vision for U.S. policy, if he were to become president, before Citadel's students there.

I want to bring in our own Wolf Blitzer out of Washington.

And Wolf, what really struck me about this speech is how much he sounds like former President Bush. And I guess that's not surprising. His national security team is made up of a lot of Bush advisers: Michael Chertoff, Jim Wilkinson, Dan Senor, a whole bunch of guys who led in the Bush administration. But he said a couple of things, and it sounded very much like the Bush doctrine of preemptive action here, saying that he has to understand emerging threats, deal with them before they explode into conflict. That you don't follow crisis by crisis and react. He also said as well he reserves the act to alone to protect our vital interests. Something that we had also heard from President Bush.

What struck you as part of his national security platform?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Well, I'm already getting a lot of e-mails and a lot of tweets. I'm sure you are as well, Suzanne, from critics of Mitt Romney.

Democratic critics saying, you know what? If you liked President Bush's national security policies, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, you're going to love Mitt Romney's policy because they're not only more of the same, but they double down on a lot of those initiatives that President Bush engaged in. Some of the points you were just making, and some of his top national security advisers, as you also point out, obviously served in the Bush administration as well.

The most biting comment he made was right at the very end, against the current president of the United States. When he suggested in pretty strong words, doesn't get much stronger than this, that President Obama, he -- and I'm paraphrasing, he doesn't want -- President Obama doesn't want America to be the strongest nation on earth. He says if you want somebody who doesn't want to be -- doesn't want to see America be the strongest nation on earth, don't vote for me. He said, there already is a president who believes that. That's a pretty damning indictment of the current president of the United States, that he doesn't want America to be the strongest nation on earth.

That's going to generate a lot of -- a lot of buzz, shall we say. And I think if Mitt Romney is, in fact, the front-runner right now for the Republican presidential nomination and all the polls suggest that he is, this is going to be a fierce national security debate that he will engage in with the current president, if, in fact, it becomes a Romney versus Obama presidential election.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Wolf.

I want to bring in our Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon.

And, Chris, I want your impressions of what you heard. He laid out a couple of things that were specific about how he would increase the number of ships, U.S. carriers, that type of thing, in critical areas around the world.

How do you think the Pentagon is reacting to this? Is this a realistic plan here? Is it something that he could actually do -- start investing nor the military?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, it's something that the president would have a great deal of leverage over, Suzanne. And some of the things he laid out, I would imagine, would be music to the ears of some people in the Pentagon. You know, when he talks about keeping the number of carriers at the congressionally mandated number of 11, when he talks about increasing ship building from nine, you know, up to, I think it was 15 a year, that's got to be music to the ears in states like Virginia, Maine, places where these ships are built.

Some of the things he mentioned, though, do tend to run up against reality. You know, we talked about the border situation in Mexico and doing more, perhaps, with the national defense team on the border with Mexico. Well, just this week, Mexico's ambassador to the U.S. reiterated Mexico's position that they will not accept U.S. troops in that country to fight the drug cartels, and the Pentagon recently spent over $30 million to extend the National Guard troops along the border.

So, again, you run into issues of spending. When you talk about Afghanistan, going back to the generals, perhaps taking a look at that plan, it does run up against some harsh realities, because if you're not going to institute any cuts to the Defense Department, as Governor Romney stated, and you're committed to reducing the national debt, and you've come out to say you don't want to raise taxes, it does start to raise questions about where some of this money might be coming from.

MALVEAUX: All right. Chris Lawrence, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Later today, Texas Governor Rick Perry plans to speak at 2:00 Eastern. Herman Cain, he's speaking at 4:00 Eastern. When they actually start, we're going to bring those to you live as well.

We also have news on the new job report that came out today that says we've gained jobs last month, but the unemployment rate still did not change. So, what does all that mean? We're going to break that down for you as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So, now, a closer look at the jobs report that came out a few hours ago. The economy gained 103,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate, still head steady at 9.1 percent.

Professor Danny Boston, he's with us. He's with the Georgia Tech Department of Economics.

Danny, good to see you.

DANNY BOSTON, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS, GEORGIA TECH: My pleasure.

MALVEAUX: We watched President Obama at his press conference and he admitted. He said the economy is weaker now than it was starting the beginning of the year. So, how do we explain right now these job numbers? Because this seems like, this is a little piece of good news, right?

BOSTON: A little piece of good news, yes. More than a little bit, I'll tell you.

MALVEAUX: OK. OK.

BOSTON: Because -- it's certainly not all that we wanted, but we certainly needed, given all the gyrations of the stock market over the last month, and given the concern about what was happening in Europe. There was really a growing fear and uncertainty, and a lot of economists were concerned that we really were getting close to that "double dip" word. But, again -- so this really kind of calms the fear, and it came out a little better than we expected. Certainly, it's still about half of what we need in terms of jobs, but it calms the fear.

MALVEAUX: Does it take away that fear of the double dip recession? Are we basically in the clear?

BOSTON: Well, I wouldn't say we're in the clear. I wouldn't say that, because -- you know, actually I spent all of yesterday just going through economic indicators trying to make some sense out of it. So, this was the last piece of the puzzle. There are some serious challenges out there that we have to address, but this really, really helps.

The idea of just the uncertainty and the lack of confidence, the lack of investing -- we've still got to address that. But it's nice to know we're generating some jobs.

MALVEAUX: You make me calm just talking to you. You have a sense of calm here.

But we have a report from the Brookings Institute that basically it's pretty discouraging here, because it says a lot of folks who lose their jobs, right, during hard economic times, when they get a job afterwards, 75 percent of them are making less money than they had made previously. And if you fast forward 20 years down the line, they're still making less than what they had made before. These folks never catch up to the salaries they used to make when they lose their jobs during tough times.

What does that say about where we are and the people who don't have jobs now?

BOSTON: Right. Distressing picture and in part explains why we as Americans have been feeling this sort of decline in our living standard.

But if you think about it, think about the Great Recession that we just went through. Well, in that recession, what corporations did was to cut their work force, because they were faced with the threat of bankruptcy. And rather than going belly up, they cut their work force. But they cut particularly at the upper end because that's where they got cost savings. Then faced with this global competition, what they've been doing is downsizing significantly, outsourcing jobs, creating part-time employment, because they don't have to pay benefits, which means that it's the worse time to have to be out on the market looking for a job.

And so, that explains why, for example, if you lose a job, during a recession, the job that you are going to get in place of that is not likely to be at the same level of the job that you left.

MALVEAUX: A little discouraging. Yes.

BOSTON: It's discouraging.

MALVEAUX: We'll take the mixed number, the good news with the bad news today. Danny Boston, thank you so much.

BOSTON: My pleasure.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.

BOSTON: Well, this is the fifth anniversary of CNN Heroes -- honoring everyday folks who are changing the world.

We're going to introduce you to one of the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011. He's a man in Texas helping high school football players with spinal cord injuries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All year, we've been introducing you to everyday folks who are changing the world. We call them our CNN Heroes. And I'd like to you meet one of this year's top 10 CNN Heroes.

Eddie Canales, he started a foundation to help families of high school football players whose catastrophic injuries made them paraplegics or quadriplegics.

And he joins us from San Antonio.

And, Eddie, thank you for being with us. First of all, congratulations already for the amazing work you do as one of our top 10 CNN Heroes. What's it been like for you?

EDDIE CANALES, 2011 TOP TEN CNN HERO: Well, thank you very much.

Well, it's been a humbling experience, I mean, just to be named one of the top 10. It's a very humbling experience, but I appreciate you having me on.

MALVEAUX: Tell us a little bit about what you do, your work.

CANALES: Well, with Gridiron Heroes, my son suffered a spinal cord injury playing high school football. At the time, there was really no help anywhere that the coaches could go to, the community could go to. They didn't know what a spinal cord injury entailed or actually what, how our lives were going to change -- my son's life and the family's.

And we saw a shortfall in the support system. This is one of the things that we want to change with some of the young athletes that we work with.

MALVEAUX: And what do they really need the most?

CANALES: Well, some of the things that are life changing. A lot of times these young men get caught in the system and pressure reducing mattresses, wheelchair accessible vehicle, changing a restroom facility in their homes where they need to be wheelchair accessible, putting ramps into their homes -- all of these things are expensive type of items. And so, being able to have the funds to be able to make a difference in some of these young men's lives is very important.

Sometimes, some of these young men are -- might have some insurance or catastrophic policy. Very few do. But at the same time, even if do you have a catastrophic policy, the deductable for something like that is $25,000. So, you end up having to raise the money just to be able to pay the deductible on the catastrophic policy.

MALVEAUX: There's a lot of need there. What does your son Chris think about what you've done, your organization being the inspiration for what you do?

CANALES: Well, Chris has been -- you know, my son has been the face and the inspiration behind Gridiron Heroes. At his lowest point, this is where we turned around and we ended up watching another young man suffer a spinal cord injury, but it was Chris that wanted to go and help this young man and be there for them and for the family.

Basically trying to say, dad, we've got to go help him. I know what you're going to go through. You know what the family's going to go through.

And that was the start of gridiron heroes. Being there for that young man we witnessed go down.

MALVEAUX: Well, Eddie, we appreciate what you've already done. Congratulations already just for being a top ten CNN Hero -- and thanks again. Thanks again for everything that you do. Good luck to you.

CANALES: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

Go to CNNHeroes.com now online and on your mobile device to vote for the CNN Hero that inspires you the most. All ten are going to be honored live at CNN Heroes, an all-star tribute, hosted by Anderson Cooper. That's on Sunday, December 11th.

MALVEAUX: Ten years ago, U.S. forces started dropping bombs on Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at the bombs that just hit Taliban's aerial defense system on the top of the hill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We're going to take you to the streets of Kabul for a look at what a decade of war has brought through the eyes of a husband and father.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Ten years after the first U.S. bombs hit Afghanistan, the Taliban are out of power. Osama bin Laden has been killed. Education, sanitation, public health -- all have improved.

But, still, Afghanistan is a nation of fear. The capital Kabul is seen by some critics as a city of broken promises.

Our Nick Paton Walsh introduces us to an Afghan man who was eager to get out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like Americans remember where they were on 9/11, Afghans remember when the first American bombs fell.

JAWAID SARHAL, BOMBING WITNESS: Both of the bombs just hit the Taliban's aerial defense system on the top of the hill.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

SARHAL: My family and I were all sitting right in this room, and we have just done with dinner. And afterwards of the dinner, we just heard a big blast.

WALSH: A decade ago, Jawaid was 16, his family running for the basement.

SARHAL: By the time we heard the explosion, we all just ran out of the house and we just -- we just came here. We were --

WALSH: They stayed put through the bombing, the Taliban, and 10 years of war, but it's only now America is withdrawing that Jawaid, an adviser to NATO who is surely needed here, is plotting his escape.

SARHAL: The first reason is the bad security that we have here in Afghanistan, just to provide a safe environment for my only daughter.

WALSH: When the bombs hit that night, there were no electrical lights, but there was hope the Taliban were over.

SARHAL: I had kind of mixed feelings on that night -- hope and fear. But today, hope is gone and fear is still with me.

WALSH: We drive around Kabul, a city that empties after dark. The lights stay on now, the wealth of war everywhere together. But it's fear in the high-rises, the wedding halls. People are staying at home.

SARHAL: You don't really feel safe, especially these nights and days.

WALSH (on camera): There's nobody here, is there? I mean, this is like --

SARHAL: Yes, it starts at 9:00 p.m. here.

WALSH: So who are these guys?

SARHAL: They could be a part of the police that -- you know, because it's going to be hard for you to make a distinction between who is a good guy and who is bad.

WALSH (voice-over): That's the job of these checkpoints bringing Kabul City evermore uncertain. The police commander tells us when the Taliban were in power he worked for them, but seconds later, changes his mind and says they actually punched out his front teeth in a jailed him. Now, he's leading the search for them.

(on camera): For years, Kabul was a safe and vibrant sanctuary as the war raged across the country. But that's less and less the case today. In fact, just behind me is the high rise building from which militants laid siege to the U.S. embassy for nearly 20 hours.

(voice-over): That bold attack making the powerful here seem so weak. A decade of America has given some enough money to keep the lights on, in a city where it's ever more rare to have something you could be sure of.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Afghan police are considered critical to securing peace but there are huge challenges in getting them trained. I got a first-hand look at U.S. efforts to train a new police force during my recent trip to Afghanistan. I'll have that for you later this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: It is a very important area we're flying over. Down below is Highway 1. Now this is known as the road around Afghanistan. It literally runs circles around Afghanistan. It's highly contested because the Taliban wants control of that road. So, a lot of times, what you'll see below are insurgent attacks as they try to fight for that critical supply route.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Today marks 10 years since the war in Afghanistan began. It is the longest running war in American history, even surpassing the Vietnam War. One thousand seven hundred eighty American troops have died serving in Afghanistan.

You can see the home cities of all those troops represented by dots on this interactive map of the United States. You're able to navigate over your town and see the faces, the names of those killed across the country. Go to CNN.com/casualties.

Well, training Afghanistan's police force is really at the heart of taking on the Taliban, and that is because once the Afghan army clears an area of Taliban fighters, it's the Afghan police who are left behind to keep peace on the streets. They're seen as the face of the Afghan government trying to make change. American and international troops -- they are working hard to train, pay and support them.

But they also, those Afghan police, face accusations of corruption and abuse. This is the scenario.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): This is the scenario -- a suicide bomb strapped to a child. A police officer must disarm the explosive and save the boy. The terrorist is taken into custody using tough but measured force.

Down the street, an angry mob.

(on camera): These exercises are meant to simulate real-life crisis situations that the police recruits will find themselves in. They are considered critical because the police in the past have been accused of being abusive and nonprofessional.

(voice-over): Until recently, the Afghan police force was almost entirely uneducated, untrained, and poorly paid. This led to widespread corruption, cops shaking down the community to support their families. Feared and even hated by the people they were supposed to protect.

Lieutenant General William Caldwell is leading an international team trying to turn things around.

LT. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, COMMANDER, NATO TRAINING MISSION: The police that are being produced today coming out of the training system are far better than anything they used to have.

MALVEAUX: Their pay has been doubled. They are being taught to read and write and have pride in their work. Afghan police recruit Hesamuddin Azizi is ashamed of the police's behavior.

HESAMUDDIN AZIZI, AFGHAN POLICE RECRUIT (via translator): Some police use their power to abuse people. But I urge them to stop, to be honest and help people.

MALVEAUX: The reason why these guys are so important to the future of this country is because they represent the face of a new authority. Insurgents target the police hoping to put fear in the hearts of the Afghan people and undermine the Afghan government.

The international coalition here believes supporting the Afghan police is key to bringing down the terrorists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Now, interestingly enough, we got to see whether all this training paid off for the Afghan police when just two days after the tenth anniversary of September 11th, the Taliban attacked the U.S. embassy and NATO compounds. You can see these pictures here. Afghan police fought the insurgents for nearly 20 hours before taking them out, with the help of American and international forces. The police were largely praised for how they handled that brazen attack.

Coming up, I'm going to show you how the U.S. military is trying to train the Afghan army as well. Now, many of the recruits, they're illiterate. So the training really is as basic as you can imagine. I'm going to update you on what I saw during my recent trip.