supported a plan with regard to the construction of this trump tower in moscow to not only visit russia but meet with lattimer putin to try and start these negotiations so these are certainly counter to what donald trump has always claimed that he's had no business dealings with russia that there's been no collusion that there's been no obstruction of justice this report would certainly counter all of those claims by the president and what do we know about this trump tower in moscow exactly and what's trump position bit on it all along well he's downplayed this consistently and what this report suggests is not only the president but his broader circle to include his children like donald trump jr his daughter of monica trump michael cohen has testified to the special counsel that he was giving regular updates about the negotiations of these and that donald trump also instructed him to downplay in his testimony to congress when these negotiations wrapped up

essentially implying that they wrapped up much sooner than they actually did that there was overlap with the president's presidential campaign all of this is a problem because it essentially is a lie now what we know from of aka trump is that she has issued a statement saying and denying all of these allegations again it is up to the congress to prove this the house of representative controlled by democrats say that they are setting out to do this immediately but if proven true the president if he is not impeached should resign all right thank you well bruce fein is a former u.s. associate deputy attorney general he says if true the allegations do make impeachment more likely. well i think this takes the impeachment. prospect to a new level but what mr cohen is testifying to if it's true from buzz feed is that

a crime to which he is already pled guilty lying to congress was really part of a conspiracy with the president to mislead and frustrate the oversight function of the legislative branch. that clearly in my judgment would be a high crime and misdemeanor justifying impeachment based upon articles of impeachment voted against richard nixon and william jefferson clinton i remember this is a case where the president is alleged now to obstruct in the functioning of a co-equal branch of government it's not necessarily a payoff to a porn star but this goes to the heart and soul of our separation of powers an institutional integrity here and that is what i believe makes it far more likely to push an impeachment i think we can expect the chairman of the house judiciary committee issue a subpoena after mr cohen testifies asking that mr trump under oath rebut anything that mr cohen may have alleged still had on al jazeera questions in gonna about the

death of a leading investigative journalist and his links to corruption in football and why the threat of a new border means hard decisions for irish oyster farmers after bricks. the caspian sea is showing its usefulness is a warm body of water see this massive cloud here that seems have a current that is going to develop into a proper winter storm it will throw snow back into northern iran up through turkmenistan and uzbekistan look at that circulation temps are particularly low here but of course the ground isn't often enough cold in there for it to be snow and it will stop probably spread east would be on saturday and into sunday generating some useful for was as far as afghanistan leaving fine weather behind

all this time i've ignored an event completely the weather's been relatively speaking benign and that's true in turkey as well the wind is dying a cloud is disappearing and the sky is blue and that's true for the south the sun this or the dust is settling out of yesterday's dust storm twenty one there on seventy riyad but where it should be if little on the cold side still a northerly breeze blowing your notes but probably a less dusty one has been the case in the last couple days now as a drop sas to strong active weather in sodomize mozambique and if you look at this cloudy you get the idea of us of a pattern for a circulation form it's not going to be anything more than a tropical low but even that brings the potential of significant flooding for southern mozambique. short films of hope. and inspiration. a series of

short stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds. i prepared for the four hundred people it was you know here to be one. savior if that i can't give that up because if that everybody wants al-jazeera selects. again the top stories on al jazeera and mourners of a man who died during thursday's attack to police vehicle in the capital khartoum local media say sixty year old malia by security forces while unarmed demonstrators

shelter in. defense minister is blaming for thursday's car bomb. twenty one people were killed and dozens injured in bogota colombia as president has ordered security forces to find out to find and prosecute the perpetrators. a leading u.s. politicians has a new allegation about donald trump is one of the most serious so far the us president is reported to have told lawyer michael cohen to lie about a building project in moscow the chairman of the house intelligence committee says he will do all he can to establish the truth. thousands of palestinians have gathered on the gaza border to demonstrate against israel's occupation the protests known as march of the return have been running for forty three consecutive fridays two hundred forty eight palestinians have been killed since the rallies started in march last year charles stratford has this updates from the gaza israel border fence. we've seen a lot of gas fired today yet again this is the full week of the friday protests

alone in the gaza border alone and i'm going to she's taking the way now there's a lot of anger here in gaza specifically at the moment over the withholding by israel of millions of dollars donated by cots a lot of which is going to go towards buying fuel for gaza there is a serious fuel crisis on the strip at the moment hospitals are saying that some of the may have to close down the big issue certainly for these very government is that a lot more of this money is going to go to war paying employees in the netanyahu government on the pressure. by of what he described as right we're going to see in that government that accuse him of basically paying hamas to keep the situation calm and in the street understand it thousands of people have been protesting in other areas along the border since day oh ok restasis say they will continue protesting until israel. day when seems ok stick to stop it al jazeera

gaza the democratic republic of congo is rejecting the african union's attempt to intervene in the disputed presidential election the e.u. is calling for the announcement of the final result to be postponed because of election fraud concerns provisional results which declared the opposition leader felix jesica to the winner are being challenged in court by his rival martin fi use excusing just a caddy of plotting to rig the outcome of the outgoing president joseph kabila. has more from the capital kinshasa the. government officials have told the african union that this is a sovereign country no one should interfere no one can tell the d.r. how to run the elections they also say they can fees because they getting mixed messages from african leaders we know the african union is unhappy with the electoral process so far but leaders from the southern african development community issued a statement saying that the people of the sea should be able to resolve the crisis

foreign country should not interfere and people. wait for an outcome from the courts we know that eight constitutional judges i mean to make an announcement on the way forward they could i the say that. means he will be sworn in as president in a few days time they could order a recount or they could say the whole process was a mess. again which could take months maybe even years and that means it could be the remains of president and. the opposition leader of the catholic church says one by sixty one percent if he's unhappy with the outcome from the court. to go onto the streets and protest is no guarantee. it could be over the weekend or sometime next week. courts ruled five suspects. must be held in custody including a canadian national they are suspected of helping. them killed twenty one people.

it was behind the. prosecutors say the investigation is complex and they're pursuing more suspects outside of kenya gunness president is condemning the killing of an investigative journalist as a humorous crime and expects police to make arrests as soon as possible. help to expose corruption within world football's governing body which led to the resignation of the head of football association. reports in the capital accra. relatives and friends gather at the family home of the murdered journalist ahmed hussein. he was shot multiple times just outside his home in accra and what appears to be a targeted killing almost all do is from the north the other families were from this place is all here morning you know it's something very shocking and what people were even intending to do we have been. in moscow come to talk to us not to

take the law into our hide because we don't know who is responsible. of this unfortunate incident i'm at work closely with the award winning investigative journalist and last army together they expose corruption in the gun in traditionally health sector and most recently saw several hours after the killing and asked posted a video on twitter showing a member of parliament making threats against ahmed in june last year after the latest exposé on soccer that led to a lifetime ban from the sport for the head of ghana's football association for bribery and corruption ghana has a very good track record of press freedom not only in west africa but across the entire continent and that's what's made this all the more shocking media and civil society organizations are concerned that that environment could be changing this has come to. that which we need to do something extra not only to maintain our position but also to ensure their rights atmosphere is governed sheet for

participation as in england going as president has called on the police to act quickly to bring to book the perpetrators of what he called a heinous crime as the family prepares to bury ahmed and mass and his team say they are devastated but unshaken in their resolve to continue exposing corruption i'm up watching al-jazeera across. well sweden has a new center left minority government four months after the country went to the polls parliament ended the political deadlock and elected caretaker prime minister of finance at the top job his social democrats party managed to get the backing of the greens to secure a majority britain's prime minister is set to meet government ministers to discuss the next steps. a spokeswoman says to reason may also have had a constructive call with the german chancellor and we'll talk with other e.u. leaders this weekend the labor leader jeremy corben is refusing to join cross party

discussions and so no deal bracks it is ruled out well for the past twenty years the border between northern ireland a part of the u.k. and the republic of ireland has been open both sides have benefited economically as members of the but there are fears that a no deal breck's it might turn back the clock barker reports from curling for a lock. who owns carlingford law for the past twenty years the question hasn't mattered for them bricks it happened. daryn coming in is an oyster man. his high end is consumed as far away as china the north shore is british the south is irish the waters in between are shared across border agency works for the interests of both sides. but it hasn't always been this way not far from here in one nine hundred seventy nine eighteen pretty soldiers were killed in an ira ambush during

thirty years of six hereon violence in northern ireland was a militarize frontier. and. a possible no deal breaks it has increased the prospects of a hard border the return of customs checks and extra paperwork could be devastating for the fishing industry that relies on speed it's just a complete disaster. but the last ten years. from no home port in the last seven years of new morning constant work. just never enough grip and so on and the failure got the business up go on and on and then brag that homes. very frustrated. border will also impact on the movement of people the carlingford ferry is the only route across the lot people are crossing the border every day here between northern are in than the republicans are in for work in their daily lives

the possibility of introducing any barriers to the free and seamless movements of vehicles and people. is a great concern to us for the past twenty years the border here are. very much. if no solution can be found most breaks in but either side of this law could soon be run by two distinctly different thought dorothy's complicates a lively. if you depend upon the. return of the border remains for now a worst case scenario but the crushing defeat of the british government's breaks a deal on choose day has set contingency plans emotion on both sides of the border yes we are making preparations for a no just an area we have to do that now that doesn't loot checks the ports and airports but we're not making preparations for checks along the border but having said that. the only way they can avoid a hard border long term isn't through good will isn't through the right words it

has to be through an agreement with a more mountain sweep down to the sea they meet calling for the locks open. it is a landscape indifferent to past territorial disputes divisions few here on to ever witness again. calling for the lock. it's now day twenty eight of the longest partial government shutdown in u.s. history analysts say if a solution is not found it could push the economy towards recession but the human cost is mounting demands from food banks across the country is growing as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay and he gallagher reports from florida. for almost thirty years farm shows mission has been a simple one take supplies food and feed the hungry soup kitchens churches and homeless shelters are the biggest customers in the last few weeks that's changed where interest on learning and learning ali they live these vehicles are headed to

locations across florida where they're dealing with a new demand we are receiving more and more cost of hungry people throughout the state because of the government shutdown says yes we are in responding to those individuals as we do any other and that's a lot rob just one paycheck to paycheck so away from being hungry stuff to say the situation is unprecedented under normal circumstances this part of the white house would normally be empty but as you can see there are boxes of things like spaghetti with label saying disaster assistance on the side and the demand is increased so much over the last few weeks the staff here now are working seven days a week just to keep up people might agree that what we might be seeing among those working without pay are air traffic controllers and he say their commitment to keeping the flying public safe is being tested i can say as time goes on the system beacons to be less safe it's definitely less safe than it was just

a couple of weeks ago and now we're getting to a point now where it's it's a big distraction and people are worried those responsible for airport security are also working without pay with no prospect of a resolution there's growing anger among federal workers. on florida's space coast nassar employees are calling for an end to the shutdown even as many face financial hardships food banks charities and churches continue to support those hit by the longest government shutdown in u.s. history but as the weeks stretch on the choices for many get harder and gallacher al-jazeera miami florida. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera this hour in sudan mourners of a man who died during thursday's protests have attacked a police vehicle in the capital hard to him local media say sixty year old was shot

by security forces while letting unarmed demonstrators shelter in his home colombia's the fence minister is blaming and rebels for thursday's car bomb attack on a police academy twenty one people were killed and dozens injured in bogota colombia president has ordered security forces to find and prosecute the perpetrators a leading u.s. politicians has a new allegation about donald trump is one of the most serious so far the us president is reported to have told lawyer michael cohen to lie about a building project to moscow the chairman of the house intelligence committee adam schiff says he will do all he can to establish the truth. you wrote on page one that a president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction is that right. yes ok o. ne ne ne person who pretend it's another it's ok you also said that a president or any person convincing a witness to change testimony would be obstruction is that right. yes

thousands of palestinians of god are gathered on the gaza border to demonstrate against israel's occupation the protest known as the march of return i've been running for forty three consecutive fridays for two hundred forty eight palestinians have been killed since the rally started in march last year the democratic republic of congo is rejecting the african union's attempt to intervene in the disputed presidential election is calling for the announcement of the final result to be postponed because of election fraud concerns provisional results which declared the opposition leader felix just a caddy the winner of being challenged in court by his rival martin for you lou. britain's prime minister is set to meet her top ministers to discuss the next steps on brics it's a spokeswoman says to reason may also have a constructive call with the german chancellor talk with other e.u. leaders this weekend labor leader jeremy corbett is refusing to join cross party discussions until a new deal breaks it is ruled out so. those are the headlines on al-jazeera inside

story is coming up next then it's the news hour i'll see you then bye bye for now. in search of peace in afghanistan the united states will use it that is to persuade the taliban to have direct talks with government leaders what hopes are they of sitting them at the same table and ending the war this is inside story.

and welcome to the program back to the united states. involvement in the war in afghanistan which has killed tens of thousands of civilian soldiers and taliban fighters but taliban leaders are refusing to sit at the same table as the afghan government a u.s. special envoy is in pakistan hoping government leaders can convince the taliban to change its mind or bring in our guests in just a moment but first here's commodified in islam about. drugs. and rock. you come back we're going to. go to dog dog.

to come back to the negotiating table but the taliban have already. and there for their dog was there were drawn from a run it's done and they're not going to be used against any other country. refute the government. despite pressure from several countries they. really decide how and where dog dog. collar band of god to get a good a gun. on the other hand they're trying to get dollar bond holder meeting with the u.s. pressure on war who are already here and they're committed by our richard. for inside story from islamabad or let's take a quick look at the war in afghanistan following the nine eleven attacks in two thousand and one u.s.

forces invaded with a coalition of more than forty countries the goal was to destroy al qaeda and the taliban government protecting them and to make sure ganesan didn't become a safe haven for groups as sesame did at least thirty thousand to sixty thousand afghan soldiers have been killed since along with two thousand four hundred american troops the united nations says the first half of last year was the deadliest in the conflict so far with almost seven thousand five hundred civilians killed and the taliban controlling more territory than at any point during the war many previous attempts at talks between the taliban and the afghan government have had little success the first discussions in twenty twelve collapse after the taliban rejected u.s. attempts to involve government representatives in twenty fifteen afghan and taliban representatives sell their first official talks in pakistan with observers from the u.s. and china discussions in two thousand and sixteen were called after a u.s.

drone strike in pakistan killed the taliban's leader. or the taliban did attend a meeting hosted by russia last year but the afghan government only sent representatives from its high. peace council which was appointed to help the concierge in efforts to a let's bring in our panel now from kabul specialist on regional security who worked on the afghan peace process on skype from lahore in pakistan is ahmed rashid a journalist and author of taliban militant islam oil and fundamentalism in central asia also on skype from dublin in ireland michael semple former special deputy special representative to afghanistan who negotiated with the afghan taliban thank you all for joining us thank you so much for being on inside story mushtaq rahim in kabul the taliban hold more territory in afghanistan today than at any point during the war why would they want to negotiate now are they really committed to the peace

process. yes gardner so their progress on the battlefield over the course of last three years the taliban have in my view has an intent to be to be part of the negotiation process and that is mainly because of the stalemate that the conflict has is has been faced with we know that the taliban have been losing a lot of their foot soldiers on the battlefield including the mid-level commanders the afghan forces have been hoarding to get positions and have been defending their positions and the after the fetus back to the since two thousand and fourteen when the international forces do down from afghanistan from a strength of hundred thirty thousand to merely thirteen thousand even after that taliban have not been able to achieve their those high level goals that they had said themselves that included taking over some of the provincial centers they did take a couple of province central cities but they could not maintain their hold on those

and in many of the places where they put a lot of pressure still they were not able to really achieve the battlefield object of considering the battlefield losses and also there have been significant pressure on the countries that have been supporting the taliban covert plea because of that political pressure as well they are faced with a situation where they have to really consider the peaceful settlement to a political dialogue let's hear from ahmed rashid in lahore as we've said made many attempts at talks before do you see any signs of hope for the first time is it possible to get somewhere other taliban interested in political compromise in your view i think this time it is possible to get some with specifically because the kind of ban on interested in in a peace deal and you know i've just learned they've taken enormous casualties there's always been. a lot with into college fund which is looked to would finding

a simpler. and with the government and but the americans the problem for the taliban has been that they have stubbornly kept to items on their agenda and they will not accept anything less than that before they talk seriously to the afghan government. though the first is the commitment by the americans to withdraw all their forces from afghanistan we did a certain timeframe and the second have been the return of their prisoners the freeing of their prisoners held by the americans or being held by kabul and all the various talks we've had so far we've never moved beyond these two fact of the taliban have never told us exactly what kind of government they want how would they . what kind of compromises do they want with the kabul regime what would they do

with their army and exactly. how they would run and some of these other militant groups in afghanistan like al qaida and i says who are very active there so i think we're still both down in this basic conundrum and i of trying to find a breakthrough between the americans and the taliban which could get. resolved the issue of troop levels and release some prisoners but the taliban have to give something in return so a lot of unknowns about their agenda you say ahmed rashid let's bring in michael semple in dublin michael unprecedented u.s. attempts to get the peace thing in afghanistan the u.s. envoy. has said he's cautiously optimistic about a peace deal in april can he succeed in your view on bringing the taliban to the negotiating table anything does kind of achieve lasting peace in afghanistan in the past three months that ambassador has odd has been active in the. post he

has made a culpable difference in the discourse in afghanistan and particularly amongst the taliban those taliban who for a year or. simply were not prepared even to mention ideas such as peace ceasefire settlement have been forced to talk about them so that has already been achieved i spend a lot of my time trying to make sense of what the taliban are doing and thinking i can certainly you know testify to these changes the discourse has changed but i would like to make some observations about some of the limitations to that because i think that you know we also have to try and get inside the head of the the taliban both of their you know their fighters and they and the leadership it is completely true as my colleague graeme from kabul said. they the afghan

security forces and the u.s. have escalated over the past two months and have been inflicting significant casualties on the taliban but is absolutely true i see no evidence from the decision making on the ideas of the leadership that they have factored that into their calculations and their stance on negotiation they know they're pretty ruthless men and as far as they're concerned there are a lot more young afghans who are prepared or obliged to go out and to die in this way the taliban leadership is fighting this war to try and win and they have a vision not of some kind of you know grand national coalition for reconciliation in the country they have a vision of reestablishing their islamic emirate and forcing other non taliban afghans to accept their terms they which is completely different from any of us who

have been supportive of peace. who says that we have suggested certainly not what. is art is doing and what comes down to this issue or are the taliban ready to negotiate i think that the taliban are very happy to be seen talking to the united states because they believe that in the sense that sort of gives them a stump no legitimacy at least the oh they're strong enough that the americans have to talk with them they have been steadfast in their opposition to negotiating with the afghan government they don't care if it's frankly let's only stubborn on that so they do not yet want to negotiate to michael let's just remind our viewers at this point of who the taliban are the movement emerged after the end of the decade long war by which i had in fighters to defeat the soviet union the taliban ruled much of the country between one thousand nine hundred six cent two thousand and one the us led coalition removed the taliban from power after the nine eleven attacks

in the u.s. the taliban has fought for insurance and the u.s. backed government forces since some analysts saying the taliban controls as much as forty percent of afghan territory the u.s. military estimates there almost forty thousand active taliban fighters today mushtaq regime in kabul michael said just a moment ago that the taliban are happy to be talking to the u.s. to right now but i'm curious how does the afghan government feel about that as a government in kabul comfortable with the current level of u.s. involvement in this process there are reports that they have been concerned about perhaps being sidelined the afghan government has not been happy as far as the taliban stance is concerned that they're not prepared to talk to the oven government but let me remind you something that there has been fluctuation in the circumstances and context here in afghanistan over the past three months and. that has been pretty clear in his latest reserve to kabul that he will only dialogue

with the taliban in the presence of the government should this. has added an amount of comfort in the in the feelings of the afghan government the second thing is that the my analysis is that the taliban will continue to push sideline in the afghan government and in for sizing to talk to the americans mainly because they believe that the broader agenda issues as far as of a draw is concerned withdrawal of the international forces for that they need to reach an agreement with the americans because that has been the basic objective of the basic motivation behind the fighting of the taliban for the last seventeen years so they want to make sure that the goal is address as far as the peace negotiation is concerned but i'm pretty sure they will come back and talk to the afghan government and i would like to differ with mr simple slightly on the issue of return of the taliban believing that they want to establish the government of nine hundred ninety six and beyond i don't think that that's that's going to be the case among the taliban before the suit eason's i want to see this one of that is

that the taliban have learned the lesson that they cannot unilaterally rule a country where so many groups are so strong that they can still opposed. even if it is for the very small geographical location second thing is that the taliban have learned the lesson that they're not been engaged in a long term fight with the opposition groups they would not have the fear of october two thousand and one where the americans used some of the opposition groups of the taliban against them i can give you that reference of one of the senior taliban leaders who recently wrote a book was the ambassador of afghanistan the taliban government in islamabad he says word that we expanded our war to the north of afghanistan and he says that he would have wished now he has learned this lesson would have been let out of mind so there's a response wishing for military conquest let's allow michael to respond michael. it

says that the taliban aren't interested in returning to the one nine hundred ninety six scenario because as dan is dan has changed and indeed it has there are several right now including i so why do you believe they are interested in returning to the one nine hundred ninety six scenario because. first of all this is consistent with everything that they are doing and this is the feedback i get in all research on the the stance of those you know those taliban who are currently active in the leadership of a lot of respect for ambassadors aphids up in remus absolutely correct in what he says about ambassador is a fine but he has not been active in the taliban movement for the past seventeen years the people who are running the fight are trying to establish a year on this from a camera they believe that they they believe that their system is incompatible with

the system which is developed in kabul and is of course has been supported and recognized by the international community so they're basically trying to show to take the lot they now this poses a problem for them of course because they you know the the majority of the afghan population is is not prepared to accept that which there are struggling for and it's may and they cannot honestly tell their own people how long it might take to achieve this because currently they are not militarily strong enough to. you know to win enough on the stand and certainly as long as the u.s. maintains its support to the afghan government and some level of troop presence they're not strong enough for that so what they're trying to do is they're trying to stretch this stretch this war out fight as long as it takes for the u.s. to leave in the hope that they can win but afterwards and that means

a long war ok let's bring back ahmed rashid in. conversation ahmed rashid you are in pakistan. the u.s. envoy has been to islamabad tell us about the role of pakistan in this particular scenario and what can pakistan do to exert pressure on the taliban do they have leverage on the taliban on the afghan taliban let me just add a couple of points to the earlier conversation that you've been having i think one reason the taliban have woken up is the fact that they know they cannot rule of guns like they did in the early ninety's they need foreign aid they need friendly neighbors they they need a helping hand and i think the americans the very big card that the americans have to play down the road is the fact that aid to afghanistan will continue if the taliban are willing to be involved with the afghan government to seek a compromise the other thing is that i think the taliban are deeply aware of the

ifa laich they faced in the ninety's and many of them and they were forced to adopt osama bin laden as one of their finances because they had no money that no aid and they were dependent on drugs and and aid from foreign terrorist groups now as far as a pac sun is concerned the the taliban leadership is living in pakistan most of it there are a few of the commanders leaders who are in iran but most of them are living in pakistan so. obviously made a name is to try and get to meet the leadership of the taliban and get the pakistanis to. expose them if you like to these negotiations have so that they can take but so far i mean the kind of people he's been meeting

have been to the deep. little office of the taliban in do in doha in qatar state. and other people. not central to the movement right i think is not identical pakistan exert leadership can pakistan exert influence over the afghan taliban this is a very controversial point the government here claims that they have very little influence but i believe they still have a normative because so much of the taliban logistics the manpower is based in pakistan and go through pakistan into afghanistan and so i think i think there's a huge at the there is considerable leverage that back son has and. and exactly you know at what time or under what conditions will it use that leverage forcefully not just to introduce to peripheral leaders but

to the hard core of the leadership that the critter shura as it's called. that is the key i think to the to the talks coming up ok. donald trump the u.s. president wants out of afghanistan what happens once the u.s. troops completely pull out afghan forces ready to take over security well first of all as far as even draw a lot of the limited number of the u.s. forces are concerned as far as i'm concerned i believe they will be divorcing this decision i don't think they will be leaving as abruptly as the owner tom has said because the strategist within the pentagon have been coming up with a statement saying that they are reconsidering the same happened with syria as you all know so the same is a case of that one has done the seventeen year long or allow it. investment that they want let it go wasted the second point that i want to see even if the americans have a draw at this point without their negotiation in

a go sheet or visa resettlement. settlement between the taliban and the afghan government and americans i can tell you that the current security strenth the security sector strength of unassigned skeptical to stand up to the challenge of the taliban mainly because we have seen that since two thousand and fourteen they have been fighting the taliban all the friends who have been coming from all sides . challenging the security forces. except the aerial support by the need to a military that haven't been much on the ground and it has been the afghan security forces who have been facing this minister of taliban so i believe they can stand up to it but as far as the independent analyst and those who are advocating for peace in afghanistan they're very much concerned about the future of the afghan conflict because at the end of the day it's the afghan war this is a man and many people who are advocating for peace they believe even if the afghan

security forces stand up to the challenge of taliban there will be a lot of while ns and human losses civilian losses your we already know that has increased a lot indeed michael do you agree with mushtaq there who says the u.s. will likely reverse its decision to pull out of afghanistan and who also says that the afghan security forces are capable of standing up to the taliban do you agree with that assessment i like to build upon what doc is saying i think that be very difficult for anybody to predict to really what. what the future u.s. approach will be and we're living in critique white quite uncertain times but i certainly i certainly agree that the people in this of the u.s. establishment the pentagon who've been managing the war they have been advocating more war time and the president has not taken any for decision on this and what what was you know talked about recently was not

a statement by president strum it was you know a neat. about a policy option so they certainly there is a strong there's a strong sort of lobby inside the u.s. saying that some kind of commitment they must maintain to afghanistan that they should not see they should not allow the collapse of the current system in afghanistan i agree with mr on that on that it is also absolutely correct to that most of the fighting on the ground in is actually being done by afghan security forces and that's been the case since twenty fourteen however this really is a joint effort because as well as the as well as this of the aerial support that the u.s. is providing and all all sort of other things to sort of facilitation. frankly they the financing for the war is coming from the u.s. they're paying the bills and they hear that we know why there is some political uncertainty about how long the u.s. will be staying saying again this is because this is a time when people are asking you know what are we getting for this so. i think if

there is to be a peace settlement it's most likely if the if the u.s. finds a way of sustaining its efforts working alongside the afghan government and making it absolutely clear to the taliban that you don't have an option of fighting on for just another six months just another few months and then you take the whole country and then those in the taliban who are not currently in the leadership but those in the movement. who believe that it's a futile efforts trying to impose themselves on the whole of the country and then they may come around to accepting that we're going to have to up to negotiate with our fellow afghans so if they hear if the u.s. runs out of patients before we get that point then without external assistance they current afghan regime will not survive so still a lot of uncertainty ahead for afghanistan gentlemen thank you very much for a very in stress interesting discussion. michael semple and thank you as well for

watching you can always watch this program again any time. by visiting our website at al-jazeera dot com for further discussion go to our facebook page at facebook dot com for slash inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter of course i handle a.j. inside story from me fully back to the whole team thank you for watching by for now to. the a. we're talking about ivory poachers who have decimated populations of elephants in africa they almost always shipped the ivory out of a different country from where it was poached because that's where you start your

search to look in the wrong place this radiocarbon dating method tell us their trade of ivory is legal or not then we have a place we can focus law enforcement on take those out and perhaps choke the source of the ivory from entering the network take note on al-jazeera. when the news breaks and the story that's when people who need to be heard and the story needs to be told. with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports. outages iraq has teens on the ground to bring you more award winning documentaries. and light needs on air and online. in search of a safer neighborhood it was a huge blow when they came in aus and took all our stuff being a man who can't put my family in the hole that they discerned that's

a problem for me struggling to secure a home really really quite of our military does all that and though we don't we could potentially lose the house i'm living paycheck to paycheck there's nobody to blame and live with the consequences every day of the choices that have been hard. on al-jazeera. this is al jazeera. you're watching the news hour life from a headquarters in doha i'm getting obligates coming up in the next sixty minutes mourners turned on sudanese police at the funeral of one of the latest victims of

government violence a colombian armed group whose talks with the government have broken down is blamed for a car bombing that killed twenty one people. they european union considers a ban on micro plastics you might not have heard of them but you probably use a lot of blood and the environmental damage they cause is severe. and with all the day sports roger federer puts on a show for the tennis crowd in melbourne the twenty time grand slam champion moves into the australian open for throne better more. hello mourners in sudan have attacked a police vehicle at the funeral of one of the latest victims of anti-government violence hundreds have been attending the borough of. a sixty year old man who was reportedly killed by security forces a doctor and a teenager were also killed

a store so joe bari reports going to. the anger of these protestors was clear at the funeral of one of the latest victims who was killed on thursday at the hands of security forces. according to reports he was six years old and was shot for offering refuge to protesters you know that is going on a little. slow he is not the only victim a doctor and a child were also killed at the hands of security forces on thursday in the capital hard to. and at the doctors' funeral on friday further protests broke out. chanting freedom at an impromptu sit in outside a hospital in khartoum was these protesters were initially on their way to the presidential palace to demand president omar bashir to end his nearly three decades in office. but the latest victims bodies were brought here so they change their

path. freedom peace and justice is their slogan and these people are not showing any signs of going away on thursday demonstrators clashed with police yet again in the capital hard to know what all of me here still mourn either one of our demands or the demands of everyone and god willing we will continue in a group be successful our protest today is large and we are going in the right direction. soaring inflation and high unemployment have led to these protests that are fast becoming the most sustained challenge to the rule of omar bashir in three decades. without going to the will he remains defiant for now saying they are being organized by external agents and ordering his security forces to use tear gas and life and the mission against the crowds both the e.u. and the u.n. have urged restraint it won't be we reaffirm that we care about the young and their

concerns we call on the young to be positive and preserve their country and not listen to cause that they stabilized today and it's security oh. but it's not just the young on the streets they seem to be coming from all walks of life. and this period of discontent in sudan looks set to continue. the door such a pari al-jazeera. joining this president of sudan doctors union u.k. she says they're concerned about the excessive force being used against protesters by security forces. i think about the shoot to kill him or to shoot through and the fact that the bullet that was used seemed to be explodes when it touches the you know like an object and therefore. it's impossible and it's high it's very difficult to know that that took a number of injuries we know of heart serious injuries and those who have been

since that those who have arms or those who hurt me. but then why did you hundreds of people who have been injured minor injuries or i think they decided to really sentence because of gas because you have to know that they're going inside hospitals inside imaginatively comments inside houses. synagogues and recent the guards shoot to kill even inside houses so there is this that. open is a city that's there to come inside protect them we have to remember these are not criminals they should not be chased they should not be it should not be killed the democratic republic of congo is rejecting the african union's attempt to intervene in the disputed presidential election for you is calling for the announcement of

the final result to be postponed because of election fraud concerns provisional results which declared opposition leader felix just ahead of the winner or being challenged in court by his rival martin for you those accusing chess acadia of plotting to reveal a outcome when the outgoing president joseph kabila. has more from the capital kinshasa. government officials in kinshasa have told the african union that this is a sovereign country no one should interfere no one can tell the d r c how to run the elections they also say they can seize because they getting mixed messages from african leaders we know the african. is unhappy with the electoral process so leaders from the southern african development community issued a statement saying that the people of the sea should be able to dissolve the own crisis foreign country should not interfere and people. wait for an outcome from the courts we know that constitutional judges i mean to make an announcement on the way forward they could i the say that. which means he will be sworn in this

president in a few days time they could order a recount or they could say it was a mess. again which could take months maybe even years and that means it could be the remains of president until those elections are held. the opposition to the catholic church says one sixty one percent if he's not happy with the outcome from the court it's easy to tell his supporters to go onto the streets and protest is no guarantee the constitution on friday it could be over the weekend or sometime next week a kenyan courts ruled five suspects in tuesday's hotel must be held in custody including a canadian national they're suspected of helping gunmen who stormed the dusit hotel complex and killed twenty one people the somali based armed group says it was behind the attack prosecutors say the investigation is complex and they're pursuing more suspects in and outside of kenya the last remaining rebel group in colombia is

being blamed for the government by the government for thursday's bombing of a police academy twenty one people were killed and dozens injured in bogota president has ordered security forces to find and prosecute the perpetrators he suspended peace talks started by his predecessor with the national liberation army suspected of detonating a bomb. is joining us from the investigators know that the attacker who died in the explosion and the second person arrested so far were indeed members of the then of proved what does it mean for the stall for stocks. well there again a cologne be as the minister of defense and the attorney general say that they have enough proof and even televisions that the attacker was an explosives expert for the lead and that they know that he had lost his right hand in a previous explosion and that he was responsible for holding explosives training n

e l n camps in different regions along the border with the business where that where the the rebel group mostly operates is the second man the one that was the rest of the indian early morning hours of friday allegedly was caught on the phone in this phone was tapped by d.l. tori to use that because he was suspected of being part of an urban sell the land he was caught on the phone talking about this role in terrorists these attack then the attorney general is also saying that they're investigating and that they are working towards pressing charges to the leadership of the land on this attack on thursday to fall this is true or if the government thinks that all this is true it could be enough to bring to an end the ongoing peace negotiations with the last standing rebel group in the country its leadership is in cuba the talks have been suspended since last august and we are expecting president given two kids to make

an announcement on these talks later in the day at the end of a security meeting that's going on right now as we speak and what is the reaction amongst the people to what is going on there. well of course cologne bands are angry with what happened there are indignant that this is that this was the worst bombast tack that happened in the capital bogota since two thousand and three so you can imagine what all this means for colonials who were hoping that they had to close the door on that the worst of their violence past this of course reminds them at the worst decades of the eighty's and ninety's when car bombs were unfortunately the norm in many cities across colombe as the government was fighting against the drug trafficking groups and the rebel groups

the colonials what held vigils last night there's another vigil later today and a major demonstration being organized on sunday against the what people here are calling for the return of terrorism act all right i understand around pretty thank you. now a leading u.s. politicians has a new allegation about donald trump is one of the most serious so far the us president is reported to have told lawyer michael cohen to lie about a building project in moscow the chairman of the house intelligence committee adam schiff says he will do all he can to establish the truth a cohen has already pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations during the twenty sixteen election he's been cooperating with special counsel robert miller's investigation into russian election interference in the twenty sixteen u.s. presidential election cohen had previously told a senate committee that a project to build a trump tower in moscow had been scrapped in january twenty sixth before trump won the republican nomination however he later admitted this wasn't true

a negotiation over the project had continued until much later and now this new report suggests that cohen lie to congress at the explicit direction of president trump in his own confirmation hearings just a few days ago trump's nominee for attorney general said a situation like that could amount to obstruction of justice you wrote on page one that a president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction is that right. yes ok i mean in the world you know any person who pretends another it's ok you answer is that a president or any person convincing a witness to change testimony would be obstruction is that right. or.