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Over the weekend, it was revealed that the U.S. has been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups. But over the border, in Pakistan, the U.S. stated yesterday that they’ve ruled out negotiating with Al-Qaeda to free an aid worker who was kidnapped last summer.

It was a moment perfectly staged for an American audience: In a speech that neatly coincided with the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, President Obama addressed the country from Bagram Air Base after secretly traveling to Afghanistan. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich breaks down the President's address.

On Wednesday, Iran claimed to have made advances in the master production of nuclear fuel despite increasingly tough sanctions by the West over its controversial nuclear program. This week Iran has also been in the headlines for a series of attacks in Thailand, India and Georgia. Furthermore, relations between Israel and Iran are increasingly strained with threats of aggression coming from both sides. Is there still hope for diplomacy between Iran and Western governments?

The General Debate of the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly is happening in New York through September 30. The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations, comprising all 193 Members of the United Nations. On this week's Please Explain we start off with Warren Hoge, Senior Advisor for External Relations for the International Peace Institute in New York and former foreign correspondent for the New York Times, covering the UN. Then we're joined by Vera Jelinek, Divisional Dean and Director of the Center for Global Affairs at New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and Stanley Meisler, author of  The United Nations: The First Fifty Years, and  United Nations: A History, will tell us how the General Assembly works and what comes out of the sessions.

On October 7th, 2001, less than a month after the attacks of September 11, American and British forces entered Afghanistan seeking to disrupt terrorist activities and capture members of al-Qaida. Nine years later we look back and reflect on one of the longest armed conflicts the U.S. has ever seen. Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs joins us for the hour.