and the clock ticking on a ninety day window hoped it ended in the trade war leading to another bad day on the stock market as the u.s. injects even more tension to the over the front us china relationship. washington some flights have resumed at the u.k. second biggest airport. stansted on thursday british troops have been sent to gatwick airport south of london as police continue to hunt for the operation of two drones the device has reappeared nearby everytime the airport try to reopen its runway. six hours. you have to get out from. any any.

price. very carefully. at a time when everything is. well britain's transport minister says everything possible is being done to deal with the backlog of stranded passengers. we're regular with our look at all measures we ease the pressure on us and just kept people away one of the things we're going to pursue is temporarily i'm just temporarily lifting the plug restrictions and other reports some more planes could get into the country just for the residents affected. people's christmases. where the next but still ahead. allegations that russia's the racial tensions as a chance to influence u.s. politics. and bridging the wealth gap we look at the challenge and one of.

the spiritual modified car six hundred for its power i feel the happiest. women tearing up a truck in the west bank. challenge stereotypes. living life in the fact it's like the target the race for the big. speech sisters this is. a war which produced one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world they will take shots even when they should not i believe that sometimes what the saudis have been doing.

the story behind the deadly attack by the saudi led coalition forces on a school bus in yemen which killed forty children. the solder. on al-jazeera. which is saying has now been held in pretrial detention for two years what is his crime. why hasn't he been tried yet why hasn't justice been applied in this case. because he's. become a. have malls become a tool to silence watches of troops we will continue i news coverage with professionalism and impartiality our work will remain credible and accurate but journalism is not a crime incarcerating journalists is not acceptable in the immediate release of all colleagues mahmood to say and all journalists attained in a gyptian jails free mahmoud's and all his colleagues we stand for press freedom.

welcome back i'm just. a reminder about top stories this hour u.s. defense secretary james mattis is questioning this is the latest high profile resignation in the trumpet ministration it comes just one day off for the president announced that all u.s. troops will be leaving syria. and there are reports that trump has ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan that would leave only about one thousand five hundred

american soldiers in the country. people have been protesting in the democratic republic of congo after voting was delayed by a week the election will now take place on december thirtieth the electoral commission says violence and the just issues the person and. the lower house of the u.s. congress has approved a spending bill with more than five billion dollars for president trump's proposed wall along the border with mexico that now needs to get at least sixty votes in the senate to pass a temporary funding bill must be approved and signed by midnight on friday to avoid a government shutdown bill schneider is a political analyst and public policy professor at george mason university he says that a government shutdown is putting president trump in serious political trouble. republicans have control of the house now they will lose it in about two weeks when the new house takes over that will be a democratic house this is a final statement by the republican house in support of the remember these are

a lot of defeated republicans who might like to come back some day and they can all go argue those who were defeated if they come back they can argue hey i got liver for president shrub you should vote for me to come back to wall seemed to be closing in the mall or investigation the payoff of hush money to the women who claim to have had affairs with donald trump now we have the partial government shutdown coming we have a cabinet official who does something very rare in the united states he's resigning on an issue of differing principle with the president that doesn't happen very much the last time i can remember it was just before world war one when the secretary of the state of state who is a democratic isolationist resigned because he thought the president wanted to get the united states involved in world war one you don't see many resignations on principle and this i think is a very serious matter for voters to weigh when they look at term president drunk he is in very serious political trouble while the trump administration has also

announced that migrants seeking asylum along the southwest border will no longer be released into the u.s. while their cases are pending the change means they'll be forced to waste in mexico while their asylum requests are processed the mexican foreign ministry has agreed to accept them it says it still has the right to deny entry to non mexicans human rights groups have condemned the decision eleven refugees have been found dead of spain's southern coast thirty three others were rescued by the nation's maritime rescue service all of them traveled by boat from northern africa more than sixty one thousand migrants have arrived in spain since the beginning of the year. protesters in hungary are expected to rally again on friday after the president signed off legislation that opponents of calling the slave law it allows employers to force people to work overtime and delay payments for up to three years robin for

a stay walker has more from their depressed new life has been breathed into the hug area and opposition to controversial laws passed by big governments in the hungarian parliament behind me the first law would create a parallel court system where the justice ministry would appoint judges and human rights groups say there is an erosion of hungary's independent judiciary and the second piece of legislation is a labor law which is really fired up a number of different organizations groups and political parties from both the left and the right because what it would mean would be that companies tend to mons more working hours from their employees by up to four hundred hours that's an additional day for every week of the year they have been to permanent tents established here outside the parliament by a hard core of civil society activists who say they're going to stick it out throughout the christmas period and into the new year. sabrina hi how you doing.

i gather that you've been here for the last week. and you've had a couple of very chilly nights it's pretty cold and you know you need to. go down yesterday i do want everyone to have the support you need. to stand to have rushed to stand up for it this is not a little question now it's victoria's the government says that these laws are necessary and that this legislation is in line with the sorts of laws that you see in other european union countries. voter turnout was low in togo after calls by opposition and religious leaders for a boycott of parliamentary elections at least four people have been killed during protests in the capital no may and other cities. has more. after weeks of deadly anti-government protests in togo election day in the tiny west

african country was calm under a heavy military presence. we're much of everything is quiet but the atmosphere is not comforting. opposition parties called for a boycott after their demands through regional mediators were not met they were convinced the vote was rigged by the ruling union for the republic party it's expected the ruling republicans will hold on to their parliamentary majority. some of said we should not vote because of and lack of political understanding. the opposition has been demanding an overhaul of how elections are conducted they also want transparency and constitutional reforms to place presidential term limits. he shouted in a public place this issue i am not voting choosing to not vote is also a choice i just follow the instructions given by opposition leaders hundreds of thousands of protesters have been calling for the resignation of their president

for nothing bay has ruled since his father died in two thousand and five the senior narcing bay was a military general but took power in one thousand sixty seven through a coup. because you know they are perpetrating violence and abusing human rights. amnesty international says togo continues to arrest and detain people arbitrarily torturing and killing citizens and now togo returns to business as usual one of the world's poorest countries with half of the seven million told willy's living on less than a dollar twenty five a day according to the world food program freedom house says togo has no freedom and adding insult to injury total ranks near syria and yemen as one of the unhappiest places on earth paul chatterjee on al-jazeera. african-americans with the prime targets of russia's efforts to help donald trump win the twenty

sixteen presidential election that's the finding of a report from the u.s. senate intelligence committee black americans make up nearly thirteen percent of the population and tend to vote democrats. explains. the september twenty sixth scene was a vulnerable time in charlotte north carolina the city was an upheaval over the police killing of a black man in the us presidential election was just over a month away and your feet was among the local activists using social media to organize protesters there was somebody to reached out and said can we share this on our on our criminal justice reform page or something like that and i looked at the page and i had about three to four hundred thousand followers you know likes or something like that so you know i'm thinking of but black matters us was actually made by hackers working for russia's internet research agency or the i r a

a senate intelligence committee report found the most prolific ira efforts on facebook and instagram specifically targeted black american communities in appears to have been focused on developing black audiences and recruiting black americans as assets if these people were able to chart facebook twitter you sue google cia the f.b.i. the obama administration of course they're going to trick the activists that are on the ground there. but tricked them to do what u.s. intelligence has concluded russia wanted donald trump to win the presidency knowing that african-americans by and large were supporting hillary clinton they need to find some kind of way to intercept that leaders in the black church say russian hackers preyed on african-americans historic disenchantment with the u.s. political system by tying that system to clinton and encouraging a paralyzing anger against her they polarize they highlighted the issues

of. blacks in america and. you know again it was divide and conquer the protests that killed charlot street garnered national attention and waned racial tensions just weeks before the presidential election when it came time to cast a ballot the voter turnout among black americans with down seven percent from the previous presidential election now the question is how much of that was due to russia's influence and was it enough to determine the winner do you think donald trump would be president the russians have interfered in directly targeting african-american voters in the u.s. . i don't think you would be proud of the u.s. government says there's no way to know for sure but to the people who were targeted by russia's influence campaign the answer is already clear. castro al-jazeera

charlotte north carolina police in japan have reported the raided the home of nissen's ousted chairman after prosecutors filed a new charge against him carlos ghosn has accused of breach of trust on top of allegations that he understated his salary over a five year period he's been in detention since november on thursday a court rejected a request to keep him behind bars during the investigation but the new charge could reduce his chance of being given bail. the widening global health gap social unrest in many parts of the wild it's raising particular concern in thailand after one survey named the country is having the biggest disparity one percent of the population controls more than two thirds of the country's wealth scott hi there reports from bangkok. even though the physical distance between thailand's rich and poor can be small for two it's just a matter of metres the wealth gap between them has been steadily widening and

according to one report it's now the world's largest tos lived in a bangkok slum for forty five years and now in the shadow of the capital's latest ultra luxury model she picks wild vegetables for her dinner who's worried should be kicked off the land her situation is not unique. a recent international report put thailand at the top of the wealth gap list in a country of nearly seventy million the richest one percent controls sixty six point nine percent of the country's wealth economist a bank executive on it raised concern on social media about the growing wealth inequality as it leads to social unrest like with the rival thai political groups known as the red shirts and yellow shirts that. things have been in new qualities you know for me the. red.

problem it is quite clear to me that inequality at the grassroots suntanned capitalist thailand's military government quickly responded to pump on it and the wealth reports when you look at the data. the real data come from many countries table six have only for the country that country when in doubt but even look at all country around the world. so for those ties at the lower end of the wealth chart it's not just about having few or no assets or even a low income it's about the lack of opportunities and resources so their chances and hope of changing their environment working their way up are extremely low a great deal of industries in retail in thailand are controlled by a select few firms or families they're well connected to the government ensuring their position talk. toppy pop lim chip program runs a craft beer company but he says he had to shift his brewing out of thailand because of regulations that favor the two large beer companies huge production minimums and strict advertising laws he was even arrested him and you.

know you cannot do it because someone already too superior to father knew. in this country that you know oh man not really. really i think it's possible for there are too many people live at the moment so all their money. according to economists pump and it those unfair advantages given to people who are already at the top of the wealth chart are the most damaging to the economy and the country it not only makes the rich richer but it takes money and opportunity away from others scotland al-jazeera bangkok. doha and these all the top stories u.s. defense secretary james mattis is quitting this is the latest high profile resignation in the trump administration it comes just one day after the president

announced that all u.s. troops will be leaving syria and there are reports the trunk has ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan that would leave only about one thousand five hundred american soldiers in the country people have been protesting in the democratic republic of congo after voting was delayed by a week the election will now take place on december thirtieth the electoral commission says the violence and logistical issues forced a postponement. eight people have died as protests grow against rising food and fuel prices ensued on there's a state of emergency in place in the cities of barra and gadara if demonstrations spread to the capital khartoum on thursday where police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters near the presidential palace demonstrators are angry about inflation now at nearly seventy percent that's one of the wilds highest. some flights have

resumed at the u.k.'s second biggest airport after drones brought it to a standstill on thursday british troops were sent to gatwick airport south of london as police continue to hunt for the operation of two drones the devices reappeared nearby everytime the airport tried to reopen its runway more than one hundred thousand passengers had been stranded with regular conversation on the lines and we look at all measures we counted use the pressure on us and just kept people away one of the things that we're going to be doing is temporarily i'm just temporarily lifting the new plug strips and some other reports some more planes can get into them for approaches to the rest it supports it gets right and proper we're trying so people christmas is out police in japan have reportedly raided the home of nissen's ousted chairman after prosecutors filed a new charge against him carlos cohen is accused of breach of trust on top of allegations that he understated his salary over a five year period he's been a detention since november on the day a court rejected a request to keep him behind bars cheering the investigation. those are the

headlines join me for more news here the inside story. al-jazeera. has also really been defeated in syria the u.s. president thinks you know it says the total withdrawal of american troops america's allies a critical and what about. to help the u.s. battle i said this isn't such. a low welcome to the program on donald trump is defending his decision to withdraw

u.s. troops from syria and his announcement that i still has been defeated his tweet surprised just about everyone including in the pentagon and abroad france is warning that eisel has not been wiped off the map and the fight needs to continue rebel groups fighting ice will say a u.s. pullout could destabilize the region. sets up a discussion. it's a massive move that will dramatically change the landscape of the war in syria and one not many saw coming the u.s. president tweeting out that isis has been defeated and that was the only reason u.s. troops were in syria we have won against isis we've beaten them and we've beaten a badly we've taken back the land and now it's time for our troops to come back home. but according to the u.s. government the islamic state of iraq and the levant is not actually defeated a point stressed by the president's own state department just last week i think

it's fair to say americans will remain on the ground after the physical to feed a caliphate until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeatism during the move comes after a phone call between president trump and president urged one of turkey he's made clear he wants to target the kurds who have fought beside the u.s. and that is more difficult to do if u.s. troops are in his way just a few months ago the president himself is fully heralded as a sacrifice the kurds have made and we're trying to get along very well we do get along great with the kurds we're trying to help them a lot so they fought with us they died with us they died we lost. tens of thousands of kurds died fighting isis now many worry what will happen to the kurds what this message says we don't stick with people our friends without the kurds in the syrian democratic forces we couldn't have beaten isis we couldn't have taken back and rock of course we were not willing to commit all of those troops that were necessary others say that should be a concern for the u.s. first time in my lifetime we have a prayer

a president with the courage to declare victory and bring the troops home this came as a surprise for many on capitol hill some senators calling this a big mistake it's hard to imagine that any president would wake up and make this kind of decision with this little communication with this little preparation if this decision is a withdrawal of all of our forces in syria were dramatically listen this isn't a bomb a life move because now that the u.s. has withdrawn or is going to withdraw from syria we have left basically turn the country over to russia and to an even greater extent iran the administration and the pentagon both released statements saying the fight against iso isn't over the u.s. is simply transitioning to the next phase of the campaign they didn't say what that phase might look like. al-jazeera washington. president has threatened military action on the border with syria if u.s. but fighters don't leave saying the holder is following these developments from the

turkish capital of ankara thirty five percent of syria in one way or another is up for grabs the north eastern enclave which is under the control of the kurdish armed groups the white p.g. the u.s. this is a to withdraw its troops leaves the white p.t. in a very vulnerable position yes the u.s. had some two thousand troops militarily this is insignificant but it was a deterrent and just a week ago turkey threatened they cross border operation and the y.p. g.'s self-will. in that that enclave because it sees this as a national security threat now what will the white p.g. do will it reengage with damascus earlier this year it wasn't talks with the syrian government to find some sort of an arrangement it broke off those talks after the united states convinced them to do that now engaging with damascus with in one way or another stave off the possibility of a cross border turkey operation but turkey government repeatedly says that we have

no territorial ambitions in syria what we want is to get rid of quote these terrorists and the turkish defense minister reiterating that what they call terrorists have been digging trenches and that the turkish military will bury them in these trenches when the time comes so turkey keeping up the pressure but it will have to coordinate with russia and iran and its partners in the ass in the process if it does engage in any military action inside syria this is being seen as a concession to turkey it's seen as efforts by the united states to improve improve relations with turkey to try to pull it away from the russian and iranian camp in syria. over to our panel in london. at logan burg a specialist in kurdish politics he was in syria recently in washington d.c. general mark kimmitt former assistant secretary for political military affairs under president george w. bush and in moscow alexey klebnikov

a middle east analyst at russia international affairs council welcome to you all i'd like to begin with you general mark kimmitt in d.c. has the white house simply abandoned the very people that helped to defeat. no i don't think so i think there's a lot of misunderstanding about what this announcement means this just says that we're pulling the two thousand ground troops out of syria it will not stop our air support it will not stop our intelligence support it does not stop us from training and equipping troops outside of syria this is very similar to the strategy that we've used inside of iraq the local forces in that case iraqi security forces have been given a lot of support by the americans but not ground troops and i think what has been done in iraq is a justification of this strategy those two thousand troops on the ground truly weren't making a significant difference. in london. will give heard well general mark kimmitt had

to say that no abandoning the missions to reach shifting of the strategies of the syrian kurds likely to see it that way i don't think so because there's not the real indication of there are supporters continuing today there's a meeting between between the kurds and the coalition about this issue and actually the kurds are afraid in any moment turkey could attack them and also they are afraid about the regime and iran so they're now asking the world for more support to let the u.s. troops stay because the u.s. troops are there basically a deterrent for turkey to attack and until now isis is thought to feed it and if there's no u.s. troops on the ground it's going to be very difficult to defeat the last fighters of isis in syria despite the very strong language of the turks have used there is still the russian involvement in all of this that needs to be discussed as well let's bring in alexey klebnikov in moscow the russians are still that does this

mean that the russians are now the key player and they're the ones that be able to stop techie coming in to lansing any particular offensive in northeastern syria one of the first place we shouldn't rush into conclusions about whether u.s. withdraws completely or just kills down as much your presence as michael is going to see right there mentioned this statement doesn't mean the fool and of support to the kurds so they're basically several so there is the first narrow if united states basically. just lowers down it's a military on the ground living special forces. equipment training that doesn't change much on the ground basically just a business to turkey and us keeps guarding kurds in the area the second scenario is basically that yes u.s. withdraws from the syria which actually leaves the. back home for turkey and iran

to live in damascus to try to get those areas under their control which also exacerbates tensions between russia and turkey and the third scenario is that kurds under those circumstances will be more inclined to negotiate with moscow and damascus on possible terms of reintegration back into the syrian state you know to an agreement that general luck came out why is that well first of all i think that was a very balanced presentation from my colleague in russia. but i think what is left unsaid here is this notion that the united states has a significant responsibility to the y.p. g the y p g as testified by our former defense secretary directly links them to the p.k. k. second when we made this deal with the with the white b.g. it was said that our responsibilities and our assistance was going to be temporary

transactional and tactical the president has determined that that that cigs actually where things are right now we are going to withdraw isis is not an existential threat to the united states of america so let's be practical it has been defeated but has not been destroyed so let's let somebody else do that work whether it's the kurds whether it's the turks whether it's the russians why is that the united states' responsibility to talk about the final destruction of isis. let him is the turkish government is long regarded as part of the p.k. k. which it regards as a terrorist organization they've been a war since the one nine hundred eighty s. is this the opportunity for turkey to go in and simply destroy what is a us supported ogunnaike zation them alongside with the syrian democratic forces is this turkey's reason to now go in because the us has pulled out well you wanted to

go in one week ago when i was there and syria but the u.s. was then telling turkey that if you go in you will not be allowed to go in because it will hit you because the u.s. they told turkey that this will undermine the fight against isis and they will not allow turkey to intervene but with this new sudden the draw and decision of trump things are changed and there was like a policy of the u.s. led coalition and also by the syria envoy james jeffrey to stay for a certain period in syria till things cool down on their own there is a solution with the muskets in geneva but if the u.s. just pulls out its troops then the u.s. will lose always leverage and credibility in the region it will help iran it will help russia so i i really disagree with michael that were previously thought here this is completely on the mining the policy of the syria envoy james jeffrey and also of the u.s. led coalition there was no plan to me to leave a draw it should have been a face withdrawal but now it's just sudden withdrawal without

a clear plan and actually u.s. soldiers are now afraid what is going to happen where on the ground because who will say that the d.s. of will not fight isis i mean it's a very dangerous situation for u.s. soldiers in this chaos to withdraw from syria because that nobody knows exactly what's going to happen turkey could attack the regime could do something it's very very unclear situation now but both the guests in washington d.c. and in moscow have said that this is a tactical change that there will still be support full the syrian kurds a just will take a different shape are you still cynical i'm. still cynical because in the past. and on the coalition it was quite clear what the policy was but now there's a sudden but roll so now it's very unclear what's going to happen before it was clear but this decision is made by the us president at the it's against the policy of the pentagon this against the policy of the state department is going against all the advice of his advisors like francis defense secretary so i think this is

leading to a lot of instability and chaos in the region while for instance they could have taken two years to have like a face with raul to reach some form of accommodation with turkey make some administrative changes and reese also a peace deal on syria with russia and others but now u.s. will lose all its leverage and now it's up to russia on your own to decide the future of syria general mckibbin emotion d.c. has president on the trunk going against all the advice he's been given has he gone against the pentagon is this a decision he simply has taken on himself and with himself well two things first of all i would say that i was with the military command last week in baghdad so i i think that some of the things that our colleague from moscow may have heard in syria didn't seem to translate to the senior commanders there. so let's talk about president trump from the day he started on the campaign trail he said he was going to get americans out of stupid wars in the middle east now i don't know if the

syrian boy wasn't listening i don't know if a succession of diplomats that had been working weren't listening but the fact remains that the only thing that should be shocking is how quickly the announcement was made and how spontaneous the lead the announcement was made but if anybody who wasn't listening to him consistently say that we were going to pull out of syria then i don't think that they were listening so what i would also say is this notion that the americans should stay there a couple of more years let's be clear we've been in syria longer than we fought the second world war the military has now come out with a plan to train and equip forty thousand local police how long would that take that would take months or years then if there was any final resolution to syria it would probably look like the balkans were a peacekeeping force would be needed so then the americans would stay even longer. listen the americans are tired of forever wars this president is tired of forever

wars there may be some argument among his advisers about the timing and the shape of that withdrawal but everybody knew that this president intended to pull the troops out of syria. nicholas and moscow what is the official russian position hey will that how with the russians going to take advantage of this current situation do you think. well just an hour ago large reporting was given his annual big press conference and actually when he was asked a question about the situation about the u.s. decision to withdraw from syria he asked like what is that about we so far we don't see any indications of that and he gave an example is that united states. are present in afghanistan for seventeen years and they promised to pull out of afghanistan every single year but they're still there but he didn't exclude the chance that trump will initially implement that decision that was the official

also put in actually agreed with trump that the united states. helped significantly to. to. basically eliminate isis or degrade it's going to be what is in syria although not completely defeated as we still have some pockets of vises and had to finish in the northern syria letting they then go in london there are still pockets of eisel fighters within syria and within iraq itself but they're no where near the kind of threat that we saw in two thousand and fourteen two thousand and fifteen do you still think that there is a massive level of troops needed and particularly international advisors like the u.s. a two thousand does a lot of troops at that level do you still think they needed to fight those small pockets of fighters that we're being told are still there look trump is now making the same decision as obama when he completely pulled out troops of iraq

a few years later i says created and took one for of iraq sort of trump is completely gone over draw all troops from syria and later maybe also iraqi parliament will decide to that u.s. troops will leave there is a big risk that isis going to use the fighters they are that they still have now to reorganize and then at some point later in the future take again parts of syria or of iraq and then again pose a threat to the west and carry out that the. acts in washington and london and other areas i think if you just pull out everything if you don't take your responsibility in the region it's going to backfire just like what obama did so trump is doing now exactly what obama did several years ago when he pulled out u.s. troops from iraq this is very significant threat to the role to the international community and we should not remember that although i says they lost a lot of territory you still have thousands of fighters and this is also confirmed by the pentagon last summer that still both in iraq and also in syria they still have several thousands of fighters and those fighters can reorganize and at some

point again pose a threat to the west i'm just going to pick you up on a point that the iraqis would completely disagree with you that they needed the americans right now they said the americans came in and gave them support but the actual fighting was done by the iraqi security forces it was done by the popular mobilization forces and it was an iraqi victory while i says iraq is not the feet of there are still thousands of isis fighters and i think the iraqis will not be able to defeat isis and will sort out us our support without us our support and u.s. support on the ground the iraqis will not be able to defeat isis it was a joint effort the iraq is made like a huge factor in the fight against osh but the without the support of the americans the peshmerga also the kurdish forces and iraqi forces would not be able to defeat isis in this area as i was myself an air bill when isis was standing on the door of our bill the capital of the kurdistan region and without u.s. airstrikes isis would have taken maybe our bill they could have also felt that even

back that so i don't think that without u.s. support that iraq is good the defeat of defeated isis to them ok in washington d.c. would you think with the u.s. support i sold may well come back this is what we seem to be hearing. well first of all i should have picked up my cell phone and called my colleague because i was in baghdad at that very time and i've been working with iraq. he's for many many years and my colleague from moscow is exactly right the iraqis are the ones that have done the fighting the iraqi military was swept off the battlefield and ran off the battlefield but it was able to be turned around primarily with the help of the militias and the u.s. support and what i would say is that's exactly what this plan will envision the united states did not do the fighting i spent a lot of time with the federal police in iraq and they had thousands and thousands of casualties but they were supported by american airstrikes american training and

equipment and american intelligence and that's exactly what we're going to continue to do in syria the only difference is that we're pulling two thousand ground troops out of there. that even a bet even ambassador jeffrey didn't understand why they were there so he was the first one to say these ground troops aren't making that much of a difference i do not believe that the american policy is to withdraw completely from syria i believe the u.s. policy in syria is the same as the u.s. policy in iraq provide training intelligence air support but let the people on the ground let the locals do the fighting not the americans alexy clinical in moscow well it's the russia us relationship like now what should it be now that we've had this decision to withdraw on the ground advises from the face in syria. well just as i mentioned and now we're go put in actually praised the.

expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between russian and united states military intelligence security services on on syria but also i wouldn't jump into conclusions that after u.s. withdrawal or even scaling down of their presence russia is happy about that i wouldn't say so because it also brings certain. risks and limitations because even this gesture or a statement of the u.s. withdrawal from from syria i think it's just as trumps general policy as announced a lot of things like withdrawing from different trade deals and basically he's trying to renegotiate and they know jumping back again so basically here we can see it may be. a similar logic that you declare one thing and behind us and turkey might strike

a deal and you also can see that two days ago in that it states state department actually cleared three point five billion dollars of missiles to turkey actual which is the sign of washington's desire to reconcile to moppets relations with turkey so actually there is some some cames going behind the scene and we still should see as i also previously mentioned we don't know the exact modalities of that was drawn the exact parameters and as my colleague in the washington rightly mentioned we shouldn't overstate this statement and also. do not underestimate u.s. presence regardless of its even withdrawal of its military units but it's trained there is military advisers air support reconnaissance and other. thanks. gentlemen we are running out of time but i do want to let him and general look

a question each all in the turkey u.s. relationships just very quickly i'll begin with you in d.c. general mark kimmitt what is the deal that's been struck do you think if any between turkey and the u.s. oh i'm glad you mentioned that i'm glad my colleague from moscow mentioned the importance of turkey listen over the past fifteen years our relationship with turkey is been a nosedive from the time that turkey did not allow the americans to use turkey to go through for the iraq war to the issue of google and to the issue with the khud to the issue with our support for the white p.g.a. . i think in many ways president erwan convinced president trump that among everything in his considerations about syria he needs to consider about the long term relationship with turkey and that's critical they are the largest military in europe and in nato they are a valued u.s.

ally in the region in a number of terms they fought with us for years and years in different conflicts they hosted us nuclear weapons and candidly i think that thinking about the relationship with turkey far more so than the relationship with other elements inside of this equation i think in many ways is probably the smartest thing president trump is doing in this policy turkey is important to the united states and this may be a step to bring it back just very quickly we all running out of time in london let me have and will have the u.s. and the school together and sold out the kurds it seems going to the reaction i mean michael vick before mentioned that turkey is a nato ally also turkey allowed thousands of jihadist to go to syria it was the reason that turkey didn't fight isis that the u.s. decided to work actually with the curse against isis so i think this is a very serious threat to the stability to just drop the curse and leave them to

prop open to a possible so i'm afraid we are. thank you very much to all our guests always cut you off they have blood in it than welcome but general mark kimmitt and alexey klebnikov and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting a website zero dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story and you can also join the conversation on twitter handle is at a.j. inside story for me imran khan and the whole team hit i found out. i. young african footballers are travelling to thailand in hopes of becoming professional players but they risk discrimination and exploitation. when one east investigates thailand's football factory on al-jazeera this conviction that

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enter the spit of a modified car six hundred first power i feel the happiest. women tearing up the truck in the west bank. challenging stereotypes. living life in the fast lane it's like the turks for the liberation of. the sisters on the street. everything that indicates stability everything that indicates strengths. everything that indicates knowledge. ministration another high profile resignation u.s. defense secretary james mattis quits ivrit difference of opinion with president donald trump and fast syria now reports that the u.s.

may be pulling troops out of afghanistan. hello i'm the star and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up marching against the government protesters in catalonia take to the streets as cabinet ministers bring their weekly meeting to town. and downhill dreaming we hit the slopes and to stand with a new generation of scale is hoping for sporting glory. there's been another major shake up in the trumpet ministration with u.s. defense secretary james mattis quitting in a tweet president trump said the retired marine general will leave his post at the end of february in his resignation less than massa said trump deserves a defense chief whose views align more closely with his or in his decision to step

down comes just a day after trump abruptly announced that all u.s. troops will be pulled from syria a move that was criticized by close allies but praised by russia and u.s. media are reporting trump has also ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand troops from afghanistan there are only about eight thousand five hundred american soldiers in the country mike hanna reports from washington d.c. . i can say is he is the real deal he is the real deal think the president trump an issue lease around himself with generals james mattis the secretary of defense michael flynn as national security adviser followed by another general h.r. mcmaster and of course john kelly who was moved from homeland security to take over as chief of staff all are now gone or going matterson particular seen as a central figure in keeping a largely dysfunctional white house party functional secretary mabus was one of the

few symbols the few items of strength and stability in this administration everything that indicates stability everything that indicates strength everything that indicates knowledge is leaving this administration when president trump criticize nato and threaten to leave it matters was the one reassuring allies behind the scenes he helped push the president to moderate his position on the g.c.c. crisis. and he was able to get the president to make an open ended commitment in afghanistan while loosening restrictions on u.s. troops fighting there. and when trump tweeted out that he was banning transgender service members matters slow rolled the order until courts put it on hold the president's disenchantment was inevitably made public i think is sort of a democrat if you want to know the truth it would appear the final straw for james mattis was what many believe was a unilateral executive decision to withdraw u.s.

forces from syria the secretary's resignation letter coming less than twenty four hours later making clear the core difference in his belief in multilateralism and respect for allies and the president's lack of either the letter continues because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects i believe it's right for me to step down from my position. this departure is different from the many that have gone before highlighting like no other the maverick nature of a president that critics insist increasingly spoon said vyse even on the eve of a possible partial shutdown of government one that announces the resignation of a respected if not revered man who served his nation for decades in a tweet. my kind of al-jazeera washington. well trance reported order of a drawdown in afghanistan comes seventeen years after u.s. forces entered the country in two thousand and one president george w.

bush launched a military campaign to topple the taliban government following the september eleventh attacks successive civilian governments have struggled to bring order facing resistance from taliban fighters almost thirty thousand afghan security forces have been killed since twenty fifteen there's recently been a push to strike a deal to end the war earlier this week the u.s. special envoy for afghanistan that taliban representatives in the united arab emirates has done can as a political and security analyst he joins us from islamabad has and we've seen these talks take place just days ago between u.s. officials and the taliban what happens now to that process and is this pullout being viewed as a strategic move or something more impulsive from president trump. thank you very much i think as you mentioned he did talks and you know i did out a lot of scabbards and i would be sponsored by pakistan

a lot of what he did you didn't change among the major stakeholders particularly the part of on the united states and now he's a very important. what we call it a very important neighbors up about his than being engaged in the. most for decades and now so i think this now this change of position by the united states to engage with the taliban and peace talks directly and not so good to be gauged pakistan so the other two important countries like saudi arabia and united out of eminent so it means that a lot of water have not flown under the bridge and hopefully the peace in afghanistan is definitely in sight now it is not now is the matter of when and now and i think what we're hearing to. from kabul is that most. of the more that it is has been. the united states has.

to give a timeline to the taliban in a taliban egli if you did the last statement i had the spokesperson of the taliban did he mentioned that they're getting engaged with the united states was the peace agreement so it shows that the taliban how odd so somehow. made the position of dead not against the united states did not decide to. definitely david need international. deconstructions update gandhi so i think the meeting could be done. so that i've kept into the odd bit i think most of the things would be finalized but the fly in the which is still disturbing is that not in the wall. the non in oil went up the government and the peace process is so i think definitely pakistan's united. arab emirates and the taliban so the.

drive to get the taliban convince to get didn't get with the government also because the dogs will be. agreed on a certain formula so i hope. it's going to happen soon definitely what the timeline given by as center i would you want to ask you i understand there is a timeline with regards to these talks but with regards to this troop withdrawal we've had that now potentially just one thousand five hundred u.s. soldiers will remain in afghanistan and afghan troops are already losing ground to the taliban do you think that afghan troops are ready to shoulder the additional responsibility that trumps potential withdrawal or his decision to withdraw u.s. troops could have. you make it over. with with regards to the withdrawal we're going to have very few u.s. troops remaining in afghanistan are afghan troops ready to shoulder the responsibility

. i think was was there is a good men between the taliban and faction in afghanistan so definitely now the magic problems in afghanistan is fighting the taliban. that. the t.t.p. had said there but they have not dared much importance so once this side is addressed and the taliban make peace with. that of one. so i think it was a bit limited or definitely. just said you not just say it has to be good because you know for the last forty years a use was engaged in a lot is done in the beginnings from the. union i take on the ground is that in one hundred seventy nine so you can draw it out. on the u.s. involvement in afghanistan but it would be. how in limited role because you know

definitely us need to be did a hit in the region it is a very important. side. the the then the it is it on have said so definitely used to be here but they would not they would have no role in the upland of fear is definitely have a role in that he constructions building they economy and i think that system the. political administration did but i don't see any need. for the us admin is what the us forces inside atlanta has on can speaking to us that life and this kind of thank you has. people are protesting in the democratic republic of congo after elections were delayed by a week demonstrators rallied outside the headquarters of one of the opposition parties to vent their anger the decision the election will now take place on december thirtieth the electoral commission says violence and the just kill issues

forced the postponement catherine so i reports from the capital kinshasa. it's been a long and difficult day for the democratic republic of congo's independent national electoral commission semi election officials have been preparing for a march and to see pated presidential and parliamentary poor all that has been delayed for two years now on sunday voters were to cast their ballots using new backed controversial electronic voting machines for the first time in the country we have. election. and election is going to take place on the tenth year of december this year. this postponement due. to. technical. relief to him in just our problem it's a logistical nightmare millions of ballot papers are yet to arrive in the country

the last batch only gets to kinshasa on saturday the president of the electoral commission has said that the delay is mainly because of a crisis in kinshasa after a warehouse where the city's voting machines were stored was burnt down security and any outbreak in the east i've also been mention of some people are angry about this position. pain and suffering on president kabila and the semi president we are ready to be killed for our country this man who outside the commission's office is saying. said his executive board had held in margins your meetings with presidential candidates the catholic church and government officials to explain why it's impossible to go to the polls.