really interesting showdown between trump's base in congress and the progressive left in congress who also agree that the u.s. should withdraw from these these battles around the world which they also feel have achieved very little when money could be spent at home on health care and education and so on so that is if it's a fasting prospect but because that establishment view is so against trump on foreign policy both the democrats and the republicans he would have a number of congressional hurdles we often say actually congress doesn't give much oversight to the commander in chief as he in previous years has waged war around the world maybe for once we will start seeing the oversight being beginning in congress if the interim really does follow through but we have to wait to see whether it really does follow through and all right she had thanks for that you have a tendency in washington how schools and universities have been suspended in sudan's capital after eight people died in protests against rising food and fuel prices

demonstrations spread to cost two month thursday there's a state of emergency in place in the cities of a and godard if protesters are angry about inflation now at nearly seventy percent that's one of the world's highest sudanese economy has struggled since the independence of south sudan in two thousand and eleven when it lost the majority of its oil output. is a sudanese academic an activist he joins us via skype now from richmond richmond virginia thanks very much for being with us so tell us first of all i mean i'm not sure how much in touch you are with with people back in sudan but what are conditions daily what's daily life like there for many people. i don't but like to thank you very much first of all i'm connected to them through your media. we get to use this. issue even though the government actually. bound. by law you know that.

you. don't like and have. to start with. that and borrow twenty three people died. or maybe five number not only goes down in its own borders including the most recent cartoon a well for peaceful demonstration of the security forces are actually shooting and shooting to kill most of the shots had. many things wrong. and how much how much do you blame the government for for the for what's happened here for the economic and on the condition. the government didn't actually need self mount up for the last twenty years actually it's a ripple effect of failure of the failure of the back to buy crisis fuel and

rant about it's for the people that's what they see what the reality is it's all failure of failure and now when you see the economic collapse i don't mean leave because of the. legal system that we don't want. the region it's actually it's the leader who for profit by it is a group that mean reason for all that know nearly three decades of lead failure and they just go and that's what the three people on the streets are saying that and no they are flying all of them up and using. that is one of the chances of that happening though because the the default that are supporting a propping up the governments are are not weak they've been in power as you say for twenty nine years what are the chances of that happening their weakness or is it not. is not important what's important is that people are so huge right now but

when we say do you change. horses or horses of people have the power to make that change all we want now we don't want you got you don't treat. us all these happening but that is possible. but he will on the streets nice. change who want to have the immigrants. good to speak with you. joining us there from richmond virginia all right still ahead on al jazeera allegations russia saw racial tensions as a chance to influence u.s. politics.

hello there the weather is going to come down for most of us in the middle east as we head through the next couple of days but this rather lively area of cloud here that's given a few outbreaks of rain but it's spiraling its way eastwards and it's drawing out as it does say fifty had three saturday then we'll see some clouds maybe a few breaks of snow there and then that will gradually retreat its way further east to it's we head into sunday towards the west it's largely quiet for most of us here too it's just in the far northern parts of our map with more in the way of wet weather that's just skirting its way over the phone north coast of turkey and it will make things here all the way to and windy for the towards the south and here in doha the winds will be picking up as we had three set today so a breezy day for us and a bit cooler than it has been so twenty three degrees the maximum during the day but dropping down to sixteen at night and with that wind it will feel a little bit cool thirty five will be the maximum abu dabi but here will see that cooler weather work its way towards us as well for sunday so our temperatures will be dropping as well if we had down towards the southern parts of africa there's

quite a bit of what weather here at the moment look at all the cloud over our satellite picture stretching across many of us also affecting us across parts of mozambique and while that distinctive swell that is a tropical cycle it's going to work its way quite close to the riches but then work away towards the south for sunday. 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. yemen the solder. on al-jazeera.

and again you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour president donald trump has reportedly ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan that would halt the number of american soldiers. turkey's president wretched time is delaying a military operation against iceland kurdish targets in northern syria that's after a phone call with the u.s. president who told one he'll be pulling all u.s. forces from syria. schools and universities have been suspended in sudan's capital after eight people died in protests against rising food and fuel prices demonstrators are angry about inflation now at nearly seventy percent that's one of the world's highest. all tensions once again running high in spain

between barcelona and the central government a year off to snap regional elections catalan independence activists are holding protests in barcelona they coincide with prime minister pedro sanchez holding his cabinet meeting in the city sonia gago has the latest from wasilla. spanish prime min. the federal sanchez said that the idea of having a cabinet meeting in barcelona was almost like a show waltz reaching out a symbolic show to try and open a way for dialogue but however this is not being received that way by the pro independence movement a lot of anger at this having taken place on friday at least because they say the pro independence activists have said that it is simply just another way to get spain to show that it is really in control here that the catalans are not in control of their own of their own autonomy this region over there are still very

firmly entrenched views on either side of this argument and this is exactly the problem that the prime minister that all such it. really has is that he has to walk a fine line between those on the side of the anti depended side want him to come down harder and tougher and not budge an inch where is the catalyst and they want more autonomy they want more independence full independence even and that is really very entrenched views that neither side is willing to compromise at this point but still he has been trying to navigate this and has been talking a lot about dialogue and has been making since to see it sort of symbolic shows that he is open to talking box he stands really on a different side of this debate to his castle and counterpart the kind of the president that motions running high in this crisis which has been going on for

about fourteen months and there is still no middle way that can be caused from this as of this moment. or the u.s. senate has just begun debating a bill that could lead to the shutdown of the u.s. government the house of representatives in congress voted to approve the measure that has more than five billion dollars for president trump for post. border war with mexico and now needs to get at least sixty sixty votes in the senate to pass but it has very little chance of passing at the moment president trump has also been tweeting about the looming shutdown he says the democrats whose votes we need in the senate will probably vote against border security and the war even though they know it is desperately needed if the dems vote no there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time people don't want open borders and crime or an official joins me live now from washington so allan the president also tweeting about

the u.s. senate majority leader exercising what's known as the the nuclear option what does what are the chances of that happening. slim to none i think would be fair to say the nuclear option is changing the rules in the senate so that you can't filibuster bills essentially you can get things through the senate if sixty people vote for it it's a very important with as far as many people in the senate are concerned assuring at least some bipartisan support for some of the things that go through there donald trump wants the nuclear option which is a simple majority at the moment the senate has fifty one republicans so if that was the case they could push that through but donald trump has asked for this on a number of occasions going back over the two years of his presidency mitch mcconnell the republican senate leader has said that's simply not going to happen he thinks that changes the face of the senate completely and is aware that if the democrats ever get control of the senate then they could push things through the

republicans don't like and that's not something that he wants to be responsible for while he is in charge of the senate if you'd asked me twenty four hours ago or was there going to be a shutdown i would have said it's unlikely no i think it's almost inevitable we have a donald trump meeting with senate republicans at the white house that has been going on for the last hour and a half he says they are prepared for a very long shutdown and there's been a change of tone from donald trump you had from the tweets that you were talking about hasn't but also you remember that ten days ago he sat down in that bizarre meeting in the oval office with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer the two leading democrats on capitol hill and said if there is a shutdown alanna it will be my shutdown while he's definitely changed his tune he is pointing the finger at the democrats in the seas of tweets and not only that he's got his press secretary sooner sanders to go out and point the finger at democrats as well. let's be really clear what is on the line here is

something that they've all supported in the past and frankly they've also put in the last week they talk about wanting border security that's exactly what this bill does it also has a nearly eight billion dollars for disaster relief for states that have been ravaged by natural disasters so the fact that senate democrats would put that on the line for political purposes that's a sad sad moment i think it's a sad day in america when the mexican government is doing more to protect our borders and stop the illegal flow of drugs human trafficking and terrorists across our border than senate democrats are willing to do. so what does a shutdown mean well it means that around four hundred twenty thousand federal employees from midnight will start working for nothing there in key agencies searchers border homeland security the border police the transport security administration all of those continue to work with opi and at some point the plan is of course that they'll get that money back three hundred eighty thousand people go

home they don't work at all they might get paid at some point in the future as well and so this is a big slap in the face just a couple of days before christmas for all those federal employees and of course if you're talking about three hundred eighty thousand going home with a pay that's three hundred eighty thousand families that are impacted but as i say it's unlikely that this impasse will be broken any time soon quite simply because donald trump says i want five million billion dollars for a border wall and i won't sign any bill that doesn't have that and the democrats who hold the upper hand in the senate because they need more than sixty votes and they do have sixty republicans to do that are saying there will be no bill that goes through that has five billion dollars for a border wall so there's going to be a lot of talking a lot of politicking and a lot of huffing and puffing over the next few hours but we are almost inevitably heading towards another government shutdown and this could well last over christmas

because federal hall federal employees off on christmas eve which is monday off on christmas day which is tuesday and they're not terribly busy in the period between christmas and new years well thanks very much allan alan fischer live for us there in washington. staying in the u.s. russian hackers aggressively targeted black americans during the twenty sixteen u.s. election campaign that is the finding of report from the u.s. senate intelligence committee it says russian operatives launched a prolific social media effort to suppress turnout among black voters who make up thirteen percent of the population and tend to favor democrats and castro has a story. september twenty sixth seen 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 say can we share this on our or 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 and appeared to have been focused on developing black audiences and recruiting black americans as assets if these people were able to church facebook twitter. google. the f.b.i. the obama administration of course they're going to trick the activists that are on

the grow. 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 fire some kind of way to intercept that leaders in the black church say russian hackers. preyed on african-americans historic disenchantment with the us political system by tying that system to clinton and encouraging a paralyzing anger against her the polarized they highlighted the issues of. blacks in america and. again it was divide and conquer the protests that filled the charlot streets garnered national attention and inflamed racial tensions just weeks before the presidential election when it came time to cast a ballot the voter turnout among black americans was 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 if the russians had interfered in directly targeting african-american voters in the u.s. no i don't think it would be president 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. this is agitated to get around them now at the top stories turkey's president richard type is delaying a military operation against isaw and kurdish targets in northern syria that's after a phone call with the u.s. president donald trump who told told the when he'll be pulling all u.s.

forces from syria also o'connor's other mark dr we will not hesitate to take steps but of course for mr trump and as a result of the meeting he said to us this could you claim days from the area we see juice we will and we will continue if you give logistic support to us and now you can see they started to withdraw their our target is to further the diplomatic relations and how we neutralized three thousand members interrupt us and we will continue p k k y p d e n y p g we will neutralize all of them and we have the capacity in the skills a tramp has reportedly ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan that would have the number of american soldiers in the country troops were sent in after the nine eleven attacks seventeen years ago. and that comes after u.s. defense secretary james mattis decision to resign is the latest high profile

departure in the trumpet ministration matter says champ deserves a defense chief who's use a line closely with his own. french defense minister praised him for his work and says mattis will be missed. what i can say is that jim mattis is a colleague which i very much appreciate with him i've worked a lot he's a great soldier and he's been a remarkable minister and he's been upon a full on occasions. opposition presidential candidates in the democratic republic of congo are calling for calm after sunday's election was delayed voting will now take place a week later on december thirtieth the electoral commission says violence and logistical issues forced the postponement of pro catalan independence activists are protesting in barcelona as spain's prime minister visited the city for a cabinet meeting it's been a year since spain's government ruled that catalonia secession referendum was

illegal. those are the headlines we're back with more in half an hour right now it's inside story. james mattis quits as u.s. defense secretary his protest resignation coming off the donald trump announced he's withdrawing troops from syria is also said to be planning to pull u.s. forces were on a stand so would not his going who will now try and control an unpredictable president this isn't just.

hello and welcome to the program on iran can it was seen as a measure of calm and stability in a white house swirling with chaos and unpredictability now james mattis has resigned as u.s. secretary of defense over a serious foreign policy differences with donald trump his departure comes as the president ordered a withdrawal of u.s. forces in syria and suggestions he'll pull thousands out of afghanistan too in his resignation letter to said he believes in treating allies with respect trumps announcement certainly took the u.s. his friends by surprise and left many wondering if the u.s. is a dependable ally we have lots to talk about with our guests in a moment but first mike hanna has this report from washington d.c. . i can say is he is the real deal he is the real thing the president trump an issue least surrounded 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 to matter some 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 debility 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 departures different from the many that have gone before highlighting like no other the maverick nature of a president that critics insist increasingly spurned said vice 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. mike hanna al-jazeera washington. let's bring in our guests joining us from maryland on skype is david iraq professor of near east south asia center for strategic studies at the national defense university and former director of nato operations at the pentagon from kabul habib or doug founding member of transparency afghanistan and national security analyst and from the us hold off on skype and craig assistant professor at the defense studies department king's college london and a specialist on jihadist groups and the middle east welcome to the program i'd like to begin with you in maryland david rush's we've heard a lot in the last twelve hours about the adults in the room and about james mattis

being the last adult to leave by that they mean a tempering influence to some of the u.s. president's more mecurio tendencies is that a fair way of describing the current situation. well we're not sure it's certainly a common way of describing the situation the president is mercurial the president is not a member of the washington foreign policy establishment he conducts himself as a businessman where it's acceptable to throw out positions and see what the reaction is even if you don't intend to take them he insists on tweeting he's incredibly and disciplined in its public messaging and i think it's fair to say that he drives the bureaucracy crazy. but there are you know other responsible people around him they may not have the profile stature and the kind of base of support and respect around washington that matters has but there are still

a lot of good people working in government in positions of authority to the door says the the letter that general mattis sent was not only should strongly but it was seemingly a rebuke of the way the president's going is the president likely to even listen to this given his past behavior the president takes some advice but i think he has a belief which his election bore out at least once that he has his finger on the pulse of america better than the people like me who live within the washington beltway andrus craigan dulce a little of the letter that general mattis sent was very strong and it said that the allies were absolutely key it seems that this white house doesn't really place much faith and its allies preferred to go its own way would that be a correct characterization do you think. yes and no i mean it's so difficult to put a label on the trauma administration because a lot of the things as the david already pointed out

a lot of it it is kind of complex and in many ways also somewhat difficult to put in a box because you know the trouble white house has said you know the big model is america first and then has been translated in many ways a withdrawal from multilateral agreements it means you know a potentially for many many months with basically putting a question mark behind us is integrity in nato it was basically saying you know we want to withdraw from most of the multilateral commitment that we have around the world if they don't serve our interests directly however he's made some u. turns when received it and i think that is was a very important character in ensuring that some of these huge urns that the drum instruction has made which were very important particular nato were his product and we're proud of his counsel and with him gone we have a lot of hawkish people in very prestigious high profile positions and many of these hawkish individuals might push him to take more hawkish what outlandish you know from him from american policy establishment point of view more outlandish

alleged decision when he comes to. the region of the middle east you know which i think matters very much a withdrawal that was drew no i mean this trauma is jason is one that doesn't necessarily mean i believe in mud only really serves their national interests in the way they have failed to somewhat understand a national interest can be very was by strong partnership and you know has somewhat led to this isolationist view that many have tried to put on a drum ministration when it's kind of cool to put him into that box because it was then you with kind of you can come on third or losses in maryland and just craig makes a very interesting point that whoever comes in next the secretary of defense may well be more hawkish on issues like iran sanctions on iran etc etc and that may well push the president into a further extreme position what's the president looking for in his next secretary of defense will it be somebody like that. well. he's got enough hawkish

issues of sanctions are determined primarily by treasury and state and he's pretty much comfortable with the guys he has there and of course john bolton i think on honestly the next secretary defense is going to focus more on the internal nuts and bolts of running the department of defense and rebuilding the depart a department of the fence that from the perspective of trump and supporters has been run down. in seventeen years of fighting you know insurgencies in the middle east that don't really directly affect american interests at this moment and instead rebuild the capacity to confront near peer competitors like if russia tries to assault the baltics or if china tries to take taiwan again i think he's going to look at that sort of thing and when you look at his appointments the elevation of general mark milley from army chief of staff to the chairman of joint chiefs of

staff his message has been rebuilding the army for massive conventional warfare the secretary of the army mark asper who is a classmate of secular state my pump a.o. his focus has been on emphasizing rebuilding the army for conventional war and i think we'll see something like that so i think we'll see more of a technocrat rather than idealogue let's get the view from kabul ahead clearly a very key u.s. ally you had that from david to russia's there's been this seventeen year low or against insurgents within within afghanistan itself the american public seemingly fed up of that what does this potential withdrawal of seven thousand troops one thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan mean full in the kabul government. well i think more than. and he did else today africans are thinking of the ninety's the civil war. the afghans look at this seven thousand troops withdrawal as

a premature withdrawal we believe that we have had fourteen thousand plus troops on the ground and you still have a lot of casualties inflicted to the afghan national army we have had provinces and districts lost two to the taliban and when you would draw seven thousand from the fourteen thousands you had i don't think this this conveys a very positive image and the reason we call it a premature withdrawal is because we are yet to strike a deal with the taliban. this will give is strong moral too to the taliban the taliban believe they have their time on their on their on their part where where the americans are now fed up of the seventeen years of war it did not bet any results for them on the other side you have the african government which serves as the local partner for the international community which is led by the united states

. the questions about its competence its capabilities are yet to be answered there is still a lot of corruption distilled division as of coming up with a united front to deal with the taliban in terms of peace so what does this peace would mean in terms of governance the future of afghanistan. there's a panic mode everybody is in panic mode when they walk up to the news this morning . the future seems very uncertain at the moment we don't know how whether it will be seven thousand what happens to the assist chain of an advise program of the afghan national forces by the u.s. led coalition these are all the questions that when the time will answer for now everybody is in a in a panic mode. there are several questions to be answered clearly the policy will

unfold in the coming weeks but you were the coach what a follow up with you it's interesting that you mentioned the civil war in the ninety's there that civil war took place because there was a power vacuum which allow the afghan taliban to take over simply because there was no one to stop them are you worried you'll see that kind of situation again if the u.s. fully withdraws. absolutely yes given that if we could not get to teach it peace deal before the u.s. would drop it i could i could understand that it's very likely. you have taliban that are stronger than any time else in the past seventeen years they have they have beyond forty percent of the territory that they control or either contest and you have a weak government which has its own internal problems. we are supposed to going to elections in the in the next six months but we have had parliamentary elections two

months ago which had its own crisis. and there's a lot of internal division in kabul amongst the political elites that we have in kabul and. it does not it does the picture does not look very very neat and clean given that you have the u.s. withdrawal i think taliban will start advancing towards kabul yes we do have the afghan national security forces they have paid a heavy heavy price over the past years in specific to the past three to four to five years given that the americans will withdraw you will have lack of air support and they will face all sorts of problems which does not sound good for the for the afghan government for the general afghan public it's not altogether very comfortable feeling and just craig i want to bring in head from dust off. with

during the troops you're a military expert here while you work at the wall so his power in a king's college london tickly militarily is a sensible thing to do particular when dealing with a group like the afghan taliban. well i mean this is this comes in the context of what the drum astray should announce in syria as well so my point in syria is that from an operational point of view it will make a huge difference considering the. the americans have already sense obama and trump in many ways it has continues that is how invested interests are a good rule for which i call sorry it will fail as a war by delegation where the americas are very and a relatively small contingent with boots on the ground which then use massive force multiplies with local forces so these kind of operations are interesting to knit to a degree because then they allow the americans to stay on the ground to create a context which will not lead to victory necessarily but at least keep you know in balance where many americans still have a say in tejas me however these both decisions in syria and afghanistan are highly

problematic because it sends a signal to allies and opponents across the region and i include afghanistan in the region yet that america no longer is interested to basically the burden of war and bear the burden of conflict in that region as they might have done sixty seventy sixty or seventy years and i was drawing especially in syria now you're sending all the signal to you allies and in afghanistan to the end of afghan national forces is sending a signal that we're actually no longer and necessarily supporting you at the level that we promised and then kind of exposing them to the risk of the insurgent at this time in syria it might be nice as any other in afghanistan it might be isis and taliban you're basically and i'm going to be exposed to that huge risk without sufficient air support sufficient boots and trainers and directors on the ground so sorry wolf is already problematic as it is but at least it allows the americans to do a little bit by withdrawing you also sending a signal in syria to iran to russia and to turkey who are the real big players

america is not only interested in being a player and post conflict syria and i think stabilization both of these conflicts in syrian and afghanistan means you need to long term commitments in order to oversee the stabilization process by withdrawing the west now completely loses any way in of determining how stabilization in the future will look like and many where in many ways allows the insertion tube to regain that ground and feel that the gap that has the boy that was left. i'm going to follow up with craig david in maryland said that the next secretary of defense may well be about the nuts and bolts of this possibly more secretary than defense do you think that's the way the defense department and the u.s. should be going given the threats and challenges it faces yes i mean overall i think if we look at the high i'm pretty of the challenges that the u.s. and the west in general is up against i think defense has to be written with

a small d. which means military is just one of the levers of power that should be concentrated upon in the new secretary of state will have to make sure that all these different levers of power in the defense realm for ticket when we talk when information was then silence on these also are included i think in a too much a robust and to watch always focused on on conventional military operations near piazza david said this is something i think is kind of missing the mark however i think if you look at the line of people that were up in negotiation discussion over the last couple of days in washington of who could succeed general masses all of these people i would share mattresses point of view are saying well the strategy is problematic in afghanistan in syria but if in the end of the day we want a some sort of a political outcome and somewhat of a political outcome that that you know is is. and is robust and sustainable where we also need to keep a bit of the pressure on at least and withdrawing means we're withdrawing our

operational military assets but also potential diplomatic and strategic assets and by bringing people around the table to discuss that is the problem i don't think anybody in the defense department right now will or whoever was sixty will say that's actually a good idea because we do need the military leader in these in these two countries in order to facilitate a diplomatic solution that iraq has let's just talk about domestic politics head how much of this is the u.s. president donald trump for filling a campaign promise how much of this is actually just politicking he said he was going to get the americans out of unpopular and unwinnable wars. yeah boy that's a really good question and i and i think you put you put your finger right on it one thing that's really important to this president is that he wants to be able to go to the american people and say look i told you i'd do something i did it and

particularly the syria decision if you look at people forget but a year ago to this day you know the saudis and our other security partners in the gulf said hey we don't want the united states to leave syria it's important to confront iran there the president said all right we'll stay but i'm going to revisit this position in a year and i believe it was within the day within a day of the year or close to that so when the president says something he means it and he is good at gauging. public opinion particularly outside of you know the bubble i live in you know places like wisconsin michigan pennsylvania where it was felt he didn't have a chance traditional democratic strongholds these guys are saying what has seventeen years of war in afghanistan gotten us into when i deployed to afghanistan in two thousand and two my son was six months old and i had a beautiful mane of hair and now my son's got a beard and you have what you see before you in kabul have

a lot of luck i want to come to you. is it time for the afghans to look for another realm of arrival allied than the u.s. government as it's done to start to look to india for example pakistan china. it's a it's a very difficult question when the afghan government of afghanistan at large does not enjoy a very healthy relationship with. pakistan and india is quite far off india is quite far off i think it's very important for the afghan government and for the afghans to focus on fixing the african problem inside afghanistan. it's much more important than than going and looking for a year for yourself and not an ally in the region one thing is for sure that nobody could replace. the united states and tons of the financial aid that is given

to to the afghan government the international credibility that has been given to the afghan government and the military aid it is very important for the africans to focus on solving the problem inside of afghanistan but the one million dollar question will be are the taliban willing to talk to the afghan government because taliban stand is is very hawkish in terms of that they would want to talk to the americans and not the afghan government believing that the afghan government is a puppet regime it's the americans who topple dead lesion so that the and the americans are acting as an invader force in afghanistan and they will talk to the americans alone and taliban being non-state actor and going to in negotiating table and talking to the americans about the future of afghanistan in terms of peace in terms of the future government i think they're already winning on political front

as well they have been fighting quite hard over the past seventeen years in and violence inquired rapidly specially over the past four to five years. meaning winning militarily and now do the discarding politically as well it is not a good sign for the african government and and for the afghan people at large. to reiterate my point i think it's very important to focus on how we can be to a peace deal inside afghanistan india cannot come and replace the united states china it will be difficult for china to come into place. the united states and other words we just got to fix our own own problem. we all running out of time but i do want to end with you david in maryland you've heard well how the bar there in kabul had to say that it is time for the afghans to step up and so solve the own

problems almost this it will be saying as a victory full president donald trump if that happens but it's unlikely to happen isn't it. yeah i mean look the problem the afghan government has been the same problem since two thousand and three and you know the problem is you know just just one habeeb said. you know corruption inefficiency all these institutions of the afghan government spite of millions of dollars is a lot of s.u.v.s and restaurants in kabul the population of kabul has tripled since i was there but what is it done outside of the area that the international forces secure and it's a real tragedy for the afghan national security forces that they've been fighting and dying for a government that's still not very good so if the afghans were to solve it i think it would be a lot easier for america to continue to support it but you know the litany and senior officials of both parties have said and military officers like general dan bolger of just said hey man it's just time to go we've lost when we haven't

admitted it i think it's also fair to say that the obama deadline to leave that is initially what really in bold and revive the taliban movement because that just said hey man all we got to do is you know hide out and eventually these guys are going to go where i want to thank you all sadly we are out of high on an issue that is going to go on for a very long time thank you david at their offices and have the word that and enjoy a scrape and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by this thing a web site al jazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's face but don't come forward slash a.j. inside story and you can also join the conversation on twitter handle is at a.j. inside story for me in monaco and the whole team here i found out.

they wanted forty three billion pounds worth of weaponry that was six billion pounds intermission. there's no hope of any more because there's always a small cobbles vehicle for really really good business. in the absence of united states have privatized the ultimate public function more shadow on al-jazeera. development. progress for some the end of a way of life as. a clash between corporate interests

and the people who must prepare for the long fight to protect their heritage and the march to progress in the philippines part of the e.u. find a asia series on al-jazeera. i'm talking. about you know. some of the like. this is al jazeera. hello i'm has i'm sick of this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes another shock military move from donald trump he's reported to

be pulling thousands of u.s. troops out of afghanistan just a day after saying he was withdrawing from syria. but that's cost the u.s. president a key member of his inner circle the man known as the reassure in chief. outrage from pro independence protesters in catalonia what's fueling renewed anger in barcelona. passenger misery britain second biggest airport is closed again after more drunk sightings. hello donald trump once out close allies want to know why the u.s. president's plans to pull troops from two big conflict zones is troubling some world leaders it's also cost him at home with the military man seen as the reassure in chief james mattis quitting as defense secretary we'll look at trump's decision

to withdraw his troops from syria in a moment but first shahla bellus reports on the president's plan to pull seven thousand soldiers out of afghanistan. as much as gridlock is a part of living in kabul so as the presence of u.s. troops for seventeen years thousands of american soldiers have been stationed in afghanistan. now there are reports that may be coming to an end for a make million we consider this good luck if they get lost and disappear from here will be very happy with. their own fourteen thousand u.s. military personnel in support and advisory roles for more than two hundred thousand afghan troops but the u.s. numbers may be harped. we would be happy that u.s. troops are leaving if the f. ghana forces were strong enough to defend us but unfortunately we do not have enough power to defend our country similar concerns were voiced three weeks ago by the general nominated to command all u.s.

forces in the middle east if we are precipitously right now i do not believe they would be able to successfully defend their country prison ashraf ghani and his government remained largely silent in response with organics chief advisor to tweet most analysts believe that afghanistan would collapse with the departure of more than one hundred thousand troops but our brave defense and security forces prove these analysts wrong and defended the nation with great valor president donald trump has flip flopped on afghanistan coming into office he was for a troop withdrawal then last year increase the number of troops and said this there's no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban we're going to finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish we're going to be able to do it but now the u.s. is talking to the taliban in peace talks again in momentum earlier this week u.s. taliban saudi pakistan and afghan representatives mit and the united arab emirates talks covered a possible cease fire and a complete u.s.

troop withdrawal something the taliban says is non-negotiable maybe we could look at it as a confidence building measures the taliban requesting. for a schedule to draw their forces this could well be one of those lines where they are committed to would draw from on a plan if. good. busier than a one stone. afghans anxiously wait for clarity what president trump and do what it will mean for the charlotte palace al jazeera. turkey's government is applauding president charm smooth to pull out all of the two thousand u.s. troops in syria trump says i saw has been largely to defeated and it is time for others to fight more from a hoarder. the turkish military will stay on alert along the border with syria but the planned to cross border offensive against what turkey considers terrorists east

of the euphrates is now on hold the target was the syrian kurdish armed group the white peachey which controls four hundred kilometer stretch of territory along the border. president treasure of tayyip erdogan cited a common understanding with washington as the reason for the postponement sort of. question since the beginning of the syrian crisis our diplomatic contacts with the us left off disappointed in terms of the results the trumpet ministration inherited problems that we experienced particularly chairing the obama presidency in face to face meetings and phone calls president trump and i have seen that we shared views on a range of issues related to syria yet the translation of the agreement to the ground was overdue and to fickle and finally in recent days we have been able to see the clearest and most encouraging statements to date from the administration trump announced american troops would pull out from north east syria this week the us president chose turkey over washington's alliance with the white p.g.

a main source of tension between the two allies the decision was about come to an ankara but the foreign minister met letter. provided more details on what turkey expects to happen next we need to. have already. started. this but he said two things one is called the nation the other one is that turkey will never let out any country any power to feel their work is very important because she is from two days there are lots of explanations from the minister for. fears of france that they will be sure he will never let out a delegation from the white peachey dominated syria democratic forces is trying to

reach out to paris to seek support following the u.s. decision to leave it seems the message was not to france but to other powers as well the s.d.f. is believed to be reengaging with the syrian government to cut a deal that will allow it to stay in its autonomous enclave in the north east turkey has repeatedly said that it has no territorial ambitions in syria and its fight against the y.p. is about its national security interests it believes the y p g is the syrian offshoot of the outlawed kurdistan workers' party or the p.k. k. which is fighting for autonomy in south east turkey. turkey also backs what it calls the rightful owners of y p t controlled areas some arab tribes and others have accused the kurdish force of capturing predominantly arab lands and its military campaign against eisel those tribes who say they are being prevented from returning home or throwing their weight behind turkey which seems to be coordinating an arrangement on the future of that corner of syria with the united

states senate. a check on the turkey syria border has been reaction from europe to president transplants german officials say they were not alerted in advance of the u.s. decision on syria. as an ally and part of the coalition we would have found prior consultations with the u.s. government on a withdrawal of u.s. troops helpful in the view of the federal government the so-called islamic state continues to pose a threat even if the terrorist organizations have meanwhile lost large parts of the territory previously controlled by the. in france the defense minister has praised the record of us going u.s. defense secretary james mattis comments came as kurdish leaders were in paris looking for an expanded french president's in syria after the u.s. withdrawal attach a lot. well to political leaders from the syrian kurdish alliance the s.d.f. a u.s.

ally have been in paris they were here hoping to have talks with the french president but the least they said that emanuel markhor would not be able to meet them now they are calling on the french government to step up and do more to help them in light of the possible quite consequences or the u.s. decision to pull its troops out of syria. the heart of the region faces threats especially from the turkish government and the threat of i still remains there's an obligation to protect the areas we freed with the help of international partners we've asked the french government to assume the moral responsibility turkey is a part of nato the french can pressure them to stop the barbaric aggression against this region. well donald trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria was certainly met with a mixture of frustration and surprise here in paris the french defense minister for

all spackle a said there is still a lot of work to be down to defeat us on the ground and france will remain in syria she said look ninety percent of the territories that were taken by eisel have been recovered but they are still ten percent still work to be done she also said that it's very important to focus on trying to stabilize those territories which have been recaptured now france of course has more than a thousand troops in both syria and iraq as special forces in syria so now what the french are concerned by is exactly what will be the u.s. timeline to withdraw all these troops because whatever happens once those troops go there will be a lot more pressure on the french troops left behind a reaction has been swift too from republican the u.s. senate leader mitch mcconnell he's spoken out about the departure of mattis in a statement he says i believe it is essential that the united states maintain and strengthen the post world war two alliances that have been carefully built by

leaders in both parties so i was sorry to learn that secretary mattis who shares those clear principles will soon depart the administration but i am particularly distress that he is resigning due to sharp differences with the president on these and other key aspects of america's global leadership and she have returned see joins us now from washington d.c. so she had it's pretty rare that the senate majority leader from the president's own party would put out a statement like this what does it tell us. it tells us of the republican party the republican establishment at least is in complete shock they have often they've always thought look donald trump says what he says he says always on the campaign trail to please his base but by and large he does pretty much what any republican president will do it cuts taxes on the rich destroys environmental regulations he cuts the social safety net and he has a hawkish foreign policy in the middle east which involves the deployment of

thousands and thousands of troops now that they're losing that aspect of that hold on them or at least what the policies they expect them to be carrying out you know it's interesting there we are getting more details we keep reporting about how that phone call between president trump last friday was key to this decision and now a.p. has just come out with more details about what actually transpired in that phone call it seems that the president to out according to a.p. said look you said the only reason that the u.s. was in northeast syria was to fight the islamic state your own people say that the only retains one percent of that territory while you still there donald trump than john bolton who is also this thing on the line this is according to the a.p. well why are we still that and john bolton was forced to admit yes is that the islamic state only does still hold one percent of territory but they that there's a need to stay for more enduring enduring peace don't trump.