yes there in the truth is since the seventeenth of december when two protesters were killed in the city of gori people have not really stop protesting this has been the longest duration of protest and it's part of the nineteenth of december people have been very angry that the security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse them and they say they have been protesting peacefully that they were unarmed and that they were trying to simply express their frustration so they didn't see the need for the security forces to use live ammunition to try to disperse them but one thing we have to note is that this is the longest wave of anti-government protests in sudan gained independence in one thousand fifty six and the biggest challenge to president i'm going to show you who's been very defiant people are saying that they will continue to protest there are multiple protests planned in the coming days and in the coming weeks people are saying that this is a wave that is not going to end till he steps down something he said he's not going to do until elections come next here he may say that here but i know what he's also saying is that he's blaming the protests on foreign agents saying that this long rest is not going to lead to a change of government but how much pressure is this putting on him. well it is

putting a lot of pressure diary let's remember that a lot of people have been killed and it's been happening in several cities and town across the country something has never witnessed before protests have happened before against him yes but it's been happening on an individual basis in and now it's the different cities but never at one time but we've seen now several cities several villages coming out to protest against him he had to hold several emergency meetings with the cabinet several emergency meetings with the ruling party and that shows how concerned both the government and the ruling party are regarding the protests that have been happening it's not clear what solutions there are people are saying that all his promises about economic reforms all his promise that the rising increase in salaries first of all workers is not going to work this time and let's remember sudan doesn't have the same economic capacity that it had back in twenty twelve and back into the scene so it can all it's basically trying to improve the economy a lot at the same problems that he's making now but then might have an influence but now it can't because that comic capacity is simply in

a downright don't don't down right saw spiral so really people are seeing that the only change that can be provided or can be offered is for him to step down or a table morgan reporting from khartoum thank you still ahead on al-jazeera this is a sad day for america american justice system a former chicago police officer who faced ninety six years in jail is sentenced to eighty one months for the murder of a black teenager. and a modified put on just like on people that are going to have it going on right now about that but i know i've been on the. hello get a welcome back to the national weather forecast well things are looking much better down here towards the southeastern part of europe all the rain the windy conditions in the snow has ended so are much clearer as you can see on the satellite image

across that area but we are seeing the weather is out here towards the west in the iberian peninsula is seeing a system coming out of the atlantic it is going to bring some winds as well as some very heavy rain over the next few days for parts of spain as well as portugal up here towards the northwest though london it is going to be a cloudy day for you here on saturday with a temperature of about five degrees now as we go towards the end of the week it will be seen that system out of the iberian peninsula make its way towards the central part of the mediterranean and it is going to bring some rain showers as well to the southern part of france over the next few days let's go down here towards another part of africa that same system is also going to be a factor here so we're going to see an increase of ray particular over here towards morocco for algeria as well along the coastal areas not looking too bad here on saturday but as we go towards sunday we are going to be seeing an increase for a little on the areas along the coastal areas there with the windy conditions also beginning to develop so for robot it is going to be a rainy day for you at seventeen algiers rain in your forecast at fifty but tunis

partly cloudy conditions here with a temperature of sixteen. in search of a safer neighborhood it was a little when they came in our house and. being a man who can put my family in a home that they deserve that's a problem for me struggling to secure a home really really quite of our military. and so we don't we could potentially lose the house and 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.

hello again the top stories on al-jazeera the u.s. president donald trump and north korean leader kim jong il meet for a second time next month the white house made the announcement after pyongyang nuclear negotiator held talks with the secretary of state and washington there is increasing pressure on sudan's president as antigovernment protests are once again taking place on the streets activists say at least fifty people have died and more than a thousand others arrested. a month ago. republican senator lindsey graham is wrapping up his two day visit to turkey he's due to speak to the media in ankara after meeting president on friday the pair reportedly discussed america's withdrawal from syria it comes just days after an isolette talk in the syrian town of men killed nineteen people u.s. president donald trump cited the defeat of feisal in syria as a reason to pull america's troops out of. close to the syrian border so

what is lindsey graham trying to achieve by heading to turkey. for the first would be to defuse tensions between the united states and if you remember a few days at the national security adviser john bolton came to came to turkey he was shot down by the turkish president and saying that he had with him the wrong message and he was playing to an audience in israel so what lindsey graham is doing and you have to remember that he is one of the senators because he sits on three and three very influential committees in the u.s. . senate foreign affairs budget as well as appropriations and he has seen close to be president from president are gone has met him they have discussed syria lindsey graham earlier had criticized the decision by the u.s. president to draw from turkey he had also said that he would not leave their allies

which are the kurds alone and the united states should not abandon them turkish for this is that it sees all of these kurds on its border with a single lens it calls them terrorists all of them who have taken up arms and it wants to secure its border with syria that is going to be the discussion that and instagram has had with the turkish president and we're expecting to hear the details of what he discussed in a few minutes about you have to remember that it is a fragile relationship between the united states and turkey as the united states gets ready to leave it as president trump had even said that it will be very very harmful for turkey in terms of its economy if it does not abide by what the united states wants to do on the syrian border and for turkey. what is it looking to get from senator graham and what's the message they are passing on to him that perhaps he will carry to the united states. well turkey's been very

clear this is president of the un's longstanding idea that he wants a buffer zone a safe zone for about thirty kilometers on the border with syria he has established the most of it already on the rest and sides of the euphrates river now the operations are getting up towards the eastern side this is an area where the united states has been allied and its troops are present which are going to be withdrawn the kurds these are kurds known as the y.p. ji. very the united states sees them as allies of their own but turkey sees them as terrorist or turkey's longstanding position has been is that it leaves that buffer zone for i while respecting syria's in integrity and territorial integrity but it wants to create that zone so that nor organization including eisen or by b.g. or which it sees as an offshoot of fighters will be in fighting for a separatist war. inside turkish territory for years so turkey is going to

emphasize its message that it wants that saves on you'd want to united states to establish a safe corridor even in a place called man beach on the syrian border which has been the bone of contention where the the kurds have been trying to reestablish lengths a bit the syrian government to try and make sure that their presence is safeguarded when the u.s. troops leave and that is going to be the discussion between the united states and turkey to try and secure not just these border areas but especially member falls out of that thirty kilometer safe zone. giving us the update thank you. the secretary general of the arab league has cited deep divisions been behind the decision not to reinstate syria's membership of the twenty two member block arab league ministers have been meeting in beirut lebanon has been pushing to restore syria's membership which was suspended in twenty eleven following bashar assad's crackdown on protests last month the u.a.e. reopened their embassies in damascus for the first time since the beginning of the

war. u.s. president donald trump has denied reports that he directed his former personal lawyer michael cohen to lie to congress about plans to build a trump tower in moscow the office of special counsel robert muller who's investigating the trunk campaigns allegedly to moscow has cast doubt on the report by bus feed the publication says it standing by the story mike hanna reports. the claims made against president trump are explosive and if true could lead directly to impeachment for suborning perjury that's the precise phrase that was used in the impeachment of president bill clinton the report by two u.s. journalists says trump allegedly directed his longtime attorney michael cohen to lie in testimony before congress according to the report trump wanted cohen to tell congress that negotiations over trump tower project to moscow during the twenty sixteen presidential campaign happened months earlier than they actually did look

that's absolutely ridiculous i think that the president's outside counsel addressed this best and said in a statement earlier today this categorically false the report also says trump directed cohen to set up a meeting with russian president vladimir putin to discuss the project a claim he's repeatedly denied there is absolutely no collusion no collusion no collusion no solution with the right cohen was sentenced in december for various crimes which included false statements to the f.b.i. something trump tweeted about in response to the latest allegations pointing out cohen is a proven liar but the latest claims published in the online publication buzz feed site to a named law enforcement officials and state that cohen's testimony is backed by texts and e-mails already in possession of special counsel robert mueller who's looking into trump campaign ties to the kremlin the special counsel's office has disputed s. picks off the bus b.

you'd ought to call in a carefully worded response that says buzz feed's description of specific statements to the special counsel's office and characterization of documents and testimony up tain by this office regarding michael cohen's congressional testimony on not accurate. it short of a direct repudiation of the article but it's extremely rare if not unprecedented well the special counsel's office to comment on news reports earlier this week trump's nominee for attorney general. admittedly directing someone to lie would 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 that the yes in a statement the new house intelligence committee chair adam schiff said the allegations of a cover up of the most serious to date and vowed to do what's necessary to find out if it's true mike hanna al-jazeera washington in the us a former police

officer has been sentenced to eighty one months in prison for murdering a black teenager in a case what sparked mass protests against police brutality police dash cam video revealed how jason van dyke saw macdonald sixteen times four years ago john hendren reports from chicago this video has spawned global outrage and now a prison sentence for a chicago police officer i think my findings are an appropriate sentence would be eighty one months in the illinois department corrections two years minutes or so it's jason vandyke was sentenced to six years and nine months the cost of gunning down a seventeen year old black man here this man has clearly committed murder and in the murder in which he has as committed have been shown all over the world everyone in the civil and conscious mind knows that this is murder and the reality of it is we have to do something legislatively to change this this sentence caps the trial

of a half century in chicago where a police officer has not been convicted of murder on duty in more than fifty years van dyke's wife pleaded for mercy i would like to ask the court. to please take into consideration that my husband is a man he's a human being he's a very was a very good dedicated officer please please he has paid the price already my heart and soul are broken they will not be mended until he comes home prosecutors on the other hand had brought in a series of african-americans who said vandyke physically abused into rash them he was. saudi obscenities it's nice and slurs when have you caused a sick leave what were the defendant used when he was yelling. buns that can't

recall because i was quite nervous because he had his gun drawn on me this sentence was far more than the defendant had hoped for but it was also far less than the family of look on mcdonnell it wanted police and authorities in chicago hope it is enough to keep peace in the streets it took a year for the police dash cam video of the two thousand and fourteen shooting to surface when it did the images of a police officer shooting look one mcdonald sixteen times as he walked away knife in hand but apparently not a threat led black lives matter and other protesters to erupt into demonstrations across the u.s. . now perhaps setting a new precedent here it is the officer who finds himself on the wrong side of the law john hendren al-jazeera chicago colombia's president has asked to hand over a ten member as a far left us armed group accused of a car bomb attack in bogota yvonne do k.

has renewed arrest orders against leaders involved in previous peace talks with the government twenty one people were killed after a car packed with explosives detonated at a police academy on thursday the group has not claimed responsibility for the attack. explains what this means for peace talks between colombia's government and the rebels. president even duke address the nation late on friday essentially doing what everybody was expecting ending the possibility of a reactivation of peace negotiations with the land the last active rebel group in colombia. that happened after the government to announce that the land was behind a car bomb backpack that killed twenty young cadets on terrors day here in the capital bogota ducasse said that no ideology no political fight can justify the

horror that colombians that had to endure he announced that he will reactivate the international arrest warrants of the leadership who is in cuba and they were expecting the restart of the peace negotiations for many here do can have a no other option after this attack on thursday and this means that colombia will not have the possibility at least for now to reach a complete peace something that most colombians hope could happen after the largest rebel group in the country the fark had signed an agreement with the colombian government back in two thousand and sixteen indonesia's president says the muslim cleric who was the alleged mastermind of the two thousand and two bali bombings will be granted early release from prison on humanitarian grounds eighty one year old abu bakar bashir was convicted in twenty ten under anti-terrorism laws for

links to military training camps and r.j. province he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison more than two hundred people were killed in the two thousand and two bombings of bali nightclubs. a rare type of frog who's been without a mates has finally found his match thanks in part to the internet romeo as he's called was described as the world's loneliest waterfall and he'd been the only one of his kind in captivity for more than a decade and thanks to an online dating campaign enough money was raised to fund field expeditions to search for a mate for romeo and earlier this month two females were found one of them a baby and were brought back to help save the species for bolivia's national history museum is confident romeo hit it off with his juliet's with a tentative date of valentine's day for their meeting.

hello again the headlines on al-jazeera this hour u.s. president donald trump a north korean leader kim for a second time next month the white house made the announcement after pyongyang's nuclear negotiator held talks with trump and the secretary of state in washington there's increasing pressure on sudan's president as antigovernment protests are once again taking place on the streets activists say at least fifty people have died and more than a thousand others arrested since civil unrest began a month ago. president and top u.s. diplomat lindsey graham have held talks over america's withdraw from syria as part of a two day visit the republican senator is due to speak to the media an anchor of their meeting comes just days after an isolated act in the syrian town of members killed nineteen people including four americans at least twenty people have been killed and dozens injured in a pipeline fire in central mexico it happened in his state north of the capital in mexico city on friday the state oil company says people were illegally tapping

a pipeline and filling containers with fuel when the explosion happens mexican officials say the number of dads could rise john holeman has more it really started with a quite a festive atmosphere when you see the video this was a pipeline that the state will company said was illegally and gasoline was really erupting in a sort of found two dozens of people rushing to fill up plastic containers with that few and the mexican army you can see so does are standing around as well probably been sent to guard that pipeline but they didn't seem able to stop those people from taking the food fuel and obviously what happened was an explosion you can see in the ridges of that just flames everywhere really indonesia's president says the muslim cleric who was the alleged mastermind of the two thousand and two bali bombings will be granted early release from prison on humanitarian grounds eighty one year old a bucket of a sheet was convicted in twenty ten more than two hundred people were killed in the

two thousand and two bombings of bali nightclubs those are the headlines inside stories next right here on al-jazeera. this week's counting the cost prime minister's briggs deal is rejected as towards exit. but wants people to buy less. about the trade. counting the cost. 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.

clo and welcome to the program. the united states is eager to end its nearly eighteen year 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 there can convince the taliban to change its mind will bring in our guest in just a moment but first his commodified in islam about. the u.s. pressure on. reconciliation and i'm running. around of. broad. dollar bond to come back they're going to get. a. dog we're.

trying to. come back to the negotiating table but the one taliban have already meant a few days ago. and there for their dog was there were drawing of order from of one it's gone and they're not going to be used against any other country so far the. government. despite pressure from several countries. how and where dog dog. collar bone of course they're getting good a gun. on the other hand they're trying to go on 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 at sesame did at least thirty thousand to nearly 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 eight hundred civilians killed and the taliban controlling war territory then 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. it's high peace council which was appointed to help the consolation efforts. let's bring in our panel now from kabul mushtaq rahim 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 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 still made 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 oven forces have been hoarding to good positions and have been defending their positions and the after the fetus battle since two thousand and fourteen when the international forces do down from of understand from a strength of hundred thirty thousand to merely thirteen thousand even after the 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 big a couple of province central cities but they could not maintain the hold on

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

a settlement 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 but the 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 qaeda. and i think is who are very active there so i think with still bow down in this basic conundrum and of trying to find a breakthrough between the americans then the taliban which could get. resolved the issue of of the 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 a peace in afghanistan the u.s. envoy. has said he's cautiously optimistic about a peace deal in april can he succeed in your view in bringing the taliban to the negotiating table and if he does kind of a chief lasting peace in afghanistan in the past three months that ambassador

highly desired has been active in this post he has made a palpable 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 cease fire 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 go 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 taliban both of their you know the fighters and the and the leadership it is completely true as

my colleague graeme from kabul said to the afghan security forces and the 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 process is that we have suggested it's certainly not what. it is doing and what it comes down to this issue of 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 stamp of the zero legitimacy and they say 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 became frankly let's unleash double dutch so they do not yet want to negotiate 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 fight is to defeat the soviet union the taliban ruled much of the country between one nine hundred ninety six and two thousand and one the u.s. 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 of one government but let me remind you something that there has been fluctuation in the stances and contacts here in afghanistan over the past three months and. it 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 oven government been in for sizing to talk to the americans merely because they believe that the broader agenda issues as far as of a draw is concerned result of the international forces for their day need to reach an agreement with the americans because that. has been the busiek object of of the business motivation behind the fighting of the taliban for the last seventeen years so they want to make sure that the ultimate 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 oppose tyler but. 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 a reference of one of the scene of taliban leaders who recently wrote a book well as a force 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 vision now he has learned this lesson is what have you let our minds there's a response wishing for military conquest let's allow michael to respond michael

says that the taliban aren't interested in returning to a one nine hundred ninety six in area because of ghana's dan has changed and indeed it has there are several groups right now including i so why do you believe they are interested in returning to the one thousand nine hundred 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 are in remiss 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 hero and his nomic emirates 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 know the vote of the majority of the afghan population is is not prepared to accept that which they 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 afterwards and that means

a long war ok let's bring back ahmed rashid into the 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 broken. are is the fact that they know they cannot rule of guns sun 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 are 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

isolation 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 doing 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 commandos leaders who are in iran but most of them are living in pakistan so. obviously the main aim 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 political office of the taliban

in do in doha in qatar state and and other people. not central to the movement right i think there's other mechanical own party start exert leadership can participant exert influence over the afghan time but 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 goes through pakistan into afghanistan and so i think i think there's a huge at the there is considerable leverage that but. and. and exactly you know at what time or under what conditions will it use that leverage fully 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 all 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 boehner tram has said because the strategist within the pentagon have been coming up with a statement saying that they are reconsidering the same happened with cd as you all know so the same is the case with afghanistan the seventeen year long or now eighteenth year investment they won't 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 the. resettlement

settlement between the taliban and the afghan government and americans i can tell you that the current security strength the security sector strength of afghanistan to scare people 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 on all fronts who have been coming from all sides. challenging the our afghan security forces but their video. except the aerial support. you need to military there 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 or this is a plan 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 weiland human losses sitting in losses of the already more 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 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 the it's a very difficult for anybody to predict to really what. what the future u.s. approach will be and we're living a critique white quite uncertain times but i certainly i certainly agree that the the people in this of the u.s. establishment the pentagon who've been managing the war they have been advocating more more time and the president has not taken any for firm decision on this and what what was you know talked about recently was not

a statement by president strum it was you know a neco about a policy option so they certainly there is a strong there's a strong so 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 mark on that on that it is also absolutely correct to that most of the fighting on the ground 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 also other other things to sort of facilitation. frankly the financing for the war is coming from the u.s. they're paying the bills and they. do 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 effort 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 if the u.s. runs out of patience before we get that point then without external assistance the current afghan regime will not survive so still a lot of uncertainty ahead for afghanistan gentlemen thank you very much for a very in stressed interesting discussion. vashti michael semple and thank you as

well for watching you can always watch his program again any time by the setting our website at al-jazeera dot com for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com for sasha a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter of course our handle is at a.j. inside story from the thirty back to the whole team thank you for watching life and you a clue. more than two thousand five hundred leaders from governments businesses and international organizations will meet at the next world economic forum to discuss the global political and industry trends one twenty nine t. dabbles special coverage on al-jazeera 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 ivory is legal or not then we have a place who can focus law enforcement on take those out and perhaps choke the source of the ip from entering the network take note on al-jazeera. and under put it on. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war. went on line i want to start here on my laptop with a tweet or if you join us on sat there was a rush of adrenaline this is the moment that been waiting for this is

a dialogue the government has codebase i may go protest i'll start to pull the students force to disperse the crowds everyone has a voice and for votes lots of different reasons what's the difference types of bricks join the global conversation on al-jazeera. i really felt liberated as a journalist was all about was getting to the truth of that i would say that's what this job. america's relationship with saudi arabia cannot move forward.

also ahead. after calling north korea a growing threat the white house. between donald trump. and. have been killed and more than. a pipeline explodes. follow us republican senator lindsey graham has spoken out about the murder of journalists saudi journalist that is. during a two day visit to turkey graham says america's relationship with saudi arabia cannot move forward until. his hands old he met president on friday and the pair also discussed america's withdrawal from syria it comes just days

after an isolator in the syrian town of killed nineteen people. joining us from turkey close to the syrian border so senator graham has been quite critical of saudi arabia. since the murder of. osama what's he been saying in turkey. but in the last few minutes we've heard him talking to journalists in the turkish capital ankara where he says that the relationship between this strategic important ally of the united states that is saudi arabia cannot move forward until the situation that rose with the killing of the journalist jamal fish is handled there are a lot of fingers that have been pointed at the saudi crown prince mohamad insall month and lindsey graham has been saying in this news conference that mom had been sad months leadership has been disappointing at many levels whether it was the arrest of prime minister really or the killing of jamal for shrug this is to go this

goes hand in hand with what have been we've been hearing from various. circles in the united states pointing the finger to words at the highest levels of power in saudi arabia because of the crown prince muhammad bin sound money but the president of united states has the humidity been supporting the crown prince and saying that they're both him and his father have denied having any part in the killing but that is contrary to the evidence that have been provided by the turkish intelligence as well as intelligence circles in the united states so like you said this is a two day visit of this a u.s. senator lindsey graham it is important to note who is lindsey graham he sits on three very important senate committees including foreign relations budget and appropriations he's been a vocal critic of a saudi arabia's role in the killing of journalists and as well as other detentions of our rights activists and women activists as well so it is it is it goes to show

that lindsey graham is going to support the turkish care when it comes to the killing of the journalist rather than taking the line that has been put forward by his president and when it comes to syria graham has also been critical of his president's decision to pull u.s. troops out. syria so by heading to turkey what's he hoping to achieve when it comes to the us syria policy and what assurances turkey looking from graham. that it is very interesting to see what graham has been saying the last couple of weeks he did criticize the decision by the us president donald trump to pull out of syria but he also criticized turkey on the other hand of saying that the fate of the kurds cannot be left solely in the hands off the turkish government so now he's come to turkey he's met with everyone he's received a warm welcome from out of iran just a couple of weeks after i've gone give

a really cold shoulder to u.s. national security advisor john bolton and saying both of these parties have met and discussed other draw all of us troops a gram is hopeful that the united states president is going to slow down his the drug plans and he seems to agree with the fact that i still have not been completely defeated inside syria and it would be premature for u.s. forces to leave abruptly what is turkey's been saying that it both of that is the decision for the united states to move out of syria but it wants it to solve the issue of the kurds these are the kurds known as the the y.p. g. who have been allies with the united states and it is worth noting that the language that the united states has been using it calls turkey a strategic partner whereas the kurdish fighters are known as allies so this is the message that went to green brought to turkey edge of try and mend fences and the message that he's received from turkey is that they want the safe zone without

the influence of kurdish fighters will gain influence in the fight against us all right thank you for that update from. the secretary general of the arab league has cited deep divisions behind the decision not to reinstate syria's membership of the twenty two member bloc arab league ministers have been meeting in beirut lebanon has been pushing to restore syria's membership which was suspended in twenty eleven following bashar assad's crackdown on protests last month. and reopened their embassies in damascus for the first time since the beginning of the war. the us president donald trump will hold a second summit next month with kim jong un in an effort to get the north korean leader to give up his nuclear program the white house made the announcement after pyongyang's top nuclear negotiator hold talks with the u.s. secretary of state's reports from washington d.c. . this smile for the cameras quickly and then got back to the tough u.s. secretary of state mike pompei oh and north korean negotiator kim young then went

off to the white house behind closed doors a ninety minute meeting with president donald trump the white house claimed progress the united states is going to continue to keep pressure and sanctions on north korea until we see fully and verify denuclearization we've had very good steps in good faith from the north koreans in releasing the hostages and other moves and so we're going to continue those conversations and the president looks forward to next his next meeting but the white house says that will be a to get to be disclosed location at the end of february the state department announced the discussions continued for hours after as secretary pompei o treated the north korean delegation to lunch at their d.c. hotel the last time the two leaders met the president declared the problem solved north korea did nuclearize but since then satellite images show work continues on their missile delivery sites but the white house says the focus should be on what the north hasn't done test any new nukes or missiles the problem wasn't solved

after the first summit so now it appears the two sides will try again and soon patty klein al-jazeera washington well south korea says the summit will hopefully be a turning point for peace on the korean peninsula florence louie's joining us from seoul not much has been achieved since the first summit in singapore last june so in a sense of florence is there more pressure on the second summit to produce some form of results. yes absolutely there is a lot more riding on this second summit but we have to be but it's difficult to be too optimistic about this second summit that's due to take place and of or late next month the differences between the two countries north korea and the us on what denuclearization means still exist to the u.s. denuclearization means north korea getting rid of its nuclear arsenal in a way that can be verified before sanctions can be lifted now north korea has not explicitly stated what denuclearization means to it but we know they do expect it

to be something that takes place in phases so it. when it takes when it destroys part of its nuclear asked know or or are it expects to be it expects its action to be met with a corresponding action perhaps in the form of sanctions being lifted or extended to it so analysts have said that this upcoming meeting north korea could use it as a chance to try and gauge what the reaction would be from the trumpet ministration in terms of what sort of concessions the trumpet ministration would be willing to make and of course the best case scenario for the u.s. would be if the u.s. managed to extract from kim jong il a detailed roadmap towards denuclearization a detailed timetable as well as something that has yet been able to obtain and that is a list of north korea's nuclear and missile assets all right florence the rethink you more protests are being held in sudan the latest in a month of growing demands for the president to go villagers in the northern region of the house chanted for the end of president on how to best years thirty year rule

activists say at least fifty people have been killed and hundreds injured or arrested since the civil unrest began over the rising price of bread the government says the number of dead is much lower or morgan is joining us from hearts and so clearly still a lot of anger over the ongoing deaths and injuries in sudan in the process to show no sign of slowing down. yes daryn despite a forest fire by security agents live ammunition and tear gas people are saying that they continue to come out and protest people are saying that that's not going to stop them they seem to be very determined and very defined despite all the promises by the president and the government to try to improve their living conditions of course as this protest started on the nineteenth of december it's going on to the second month now and it has not been peaceful despite protesters chanting that they want a peaceful solution to their problem which is for the president to step down without any loss of lives but they were lives lost in this round of civil protests against the president. mohammed abdul brothers left home and ten days ago

and never came back he joined anti-government protests in sudan second largest city . we didn't realize he was shot while we were protesting security forces were coming at us and we ran through a bit and he said he couldn't he thought he twisted his arm then we learned he sustained a bullet wound we hid in a house and tried to give him. notice that he was also shot in the back when we were able to get to the hospital he was weak and away an hour later three protesters were killed that day human rights activists say at least fifty have lost their lives in the month long protests demanding the resignation of president obama and bashir the government total is much lower protests started when the government announced a rise in the price of bread the outcry spread to other towns and cities nationwide and police have repeatedly fired bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds hospitals and doctors have been attacked by security forces for treating protesters. demands

to ensure thirty year rule can be heard in every protest march. it's been one month since people started protesting to demand change people have been expressing their frustration at the way president armorel bashir has been running the country for the past thirty years despite the use of live ammunition and tear gas the protest seems to be gathering strength and for weeks on the president remains defiant. president bashir describes protested streeter's influenced by foreign agents as a criticism by the e.u. and the un of attacks on unarmed protesters to dan's government lawyer is promising to investigate the m i love with that. we will be looking into the deaths that occurred during the protests and urge people who have information to come forward and presented to us so we can conclude what happened and how people have been killed we'll also look into those injured and those who had their property destroyed in the demonstrations but she remains wanted by the international criminal.