Afghanistan Demands Trump Clarify "Wipe Off The Map" Remarks; Tensions With Iran Could Lead To Dangerous Miscalculation; Trump Proposal May Kick Millions Off Food Stamps.
KEILAR: A tense military confrontation as warplanes faced off near the coast of South Korea in the Sea of Japan. South Korea saying that it had to fire more than 300 warning shots at a Russian military aircraft for violating its airspace. Russia has its own version of events, saying that South Korea, quote, "dangerously intercepted two of its bombers that were on a planned flight over neutral waters." And all of this took place near some disputed islands in the Sea of Japan. In the meantime, Afghan leaders are left stunned and demanding a clarification after President Trump said this about the war in Afghanistan.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have plans on Afghanistan that, if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth. It would be gone. It would be over in -- literally in 10 days.</s>KEILAR: During his meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister, Imran Khan, President Trump said the U.S. has made a lot of progress in their talks to end the 18-year war with the Taliban without offering any specifics. Jane Harman is the director of the Wilson Center, a former congresswoman and former head of the House, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. The Afghan government is an ally of the</s>U.S. JANE HARMAN, DIRECTOR, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Right.</s>KEILAR: But the president raised this specter of wiping them off the map, of killing millions of people. What was your reaction to hearing that?</s>HARMAN: Stunned. I can't imagine how that fits into any U.S. strategy that we are currently pursuing. We have a special envoy to Afghanistan named Zaad, Kahlil Zaad, former ambassador there, Afghan-born American, who has been working his heart out to broker a peace between the Taliban and Afghan government. There are some issues around who's in the peace talks and all the rest of it. But nonetheless, he issued a statement yesterday trying to clarify the president's comments. There's a Democratic election there in a few months with a number of parties running. The present head of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, is somebody who is an ally of the U.S. So I cannot figure that one out.</s>KEILAR: Does it change the dynamics of discussions when the Afghan government feels already marginalized in the discussions, as the U.S. has been talking directly to the Taliban? Does it affect that in a real way or not?</s>HARMAN: Sure it does. Sure it does. It also -- another party that's aggrieved is women who have made enormous progress in Afghanistan who aren't part of these peace talks and are worried about whether, if the Taliban is part of a government, their rights will be rolled back. But it also communicates something else as we're having these increased tensions with Iran over Iran's nuclear program. We have possibly the specter of the U.S. using nukes to obliterate a country that's a neighbor and a former -- or present ally of Iran. So I would like to think that this was -- this comment was inartful and not consistent with U.S. policy and will be put in some different context quickly, because I worry about the stakes both in Afghanistan, but also in Iran where the dangers are escalating.</s>KEILAR: And in Iran, as the dangers are escalating, what is your utmost concern as there's this brinksmanship and this game of chicken that's going on?</s>HARMAN: Well, the danger is miscalculation. We're 101 years away from the armistice in World War I, Woodrow Wilson's war. He campaigned in 1916 against the war and then changed his mind and helped us get into the war. But most people looking back on that history think it was based on a miscalculation, the bloodiest war in our history. We didn't have nukes. We didn't have defensive cyber. We didn't have artificial intelligence. We didn't have all these modern tools that are absolutely devastating, way beyond anything we could imagine then. So I worry about the danger of miscalculation. Interesting report, I don't know if it's true, but the report by Reuters is that all the parties to the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran, are meeting, excluding us, in Vienna this Sunday. That means it includes Iran. And Russia and China and Europe are all meeting to discuss how to stay in that deal, the one that President Trump pulled out of. Looking back on that, if we'd stayed in the deal, I think the chances would be much greater that we could have strengthened the deal. Maybe that still can happen. And Trump could take a victory lap for doing that. A stronger deal would be better and a deal against curbing Iran's malign behavior in the neighborhood would obviously be much better. But the decision was made at the time was that all we could get was a nuclear containment deal. Most members in Congress, after we were in it, thought we should stay in.</s>KEILAR: Before I let you go, really quickly, I just want to ask you about the director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats. Seen as a straight shooter in the Trump administration.</s>HARMAN: Yes.</s>KEILAR: "Politico" is reporting that there are discussions about a replacement for him. What do you -- what's your reaction?</s>HARMAN: Well, I'm a huge fan of Dan Coats. I knew him as a Senator. He served on the Senate Intelligence Committee when I was on the House Intelligence Committee. He did a great turn as ambassador to Germany. He then came back as a Senator. This is a job he didn't need. But as one of the great grandparents of the director of National Intelligence position -- I was one of the co- sponsors, co-authors of the legislation that set up the DNI -- he fits the bill. He's a steadying force in the Trump administration. He made a comment in Aspen last summer that no one seems to have forgotten, because he was blindsided by the fact that the president might want to have another meeting with Vladimir Putin. And I think that sort of soured his relationship with the president. But he's a steady hand. He's a good guy. He doesn't need the job, but I think we need him in the job.</s>KEILAR: All right, Jane Harman, former ranking Democrat on House Intel, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center.</s>HARMAN: Thank you.</s>KEILAR: Thank you so much. The Trump administration releasing a new proposal for food stamps that could kick millions out of the program. Also, just in, ahead of tomorrow's blockbuster hearing, Robert Mueller makes a last-minute request to the committee. Hear who Mueller would like to bring along with him.