as he gets up there was a power vacuum off to the withdrawal of soviet forces and luke usually moves foot of the territory in a for trusted civil. guys. because so many. in the north people gathered around the northern alliance and its leader ahmed shah massoud the so-called lion of publishers. in the south and east another movement began to assert itself in ethnic pashtun areas they called themselves the taliban and was supported militarily by pakistan then in conflict with india. the pakistanis were trying to impose their

will on the future of afghanistan and they wanted to ensure that afghanistan was not going to be a strong viable nation state that could in any way reconnect as they had in the past was india. taliban leader mullah mohammad omar was a war hero from the years of insurgency against the soviet union. pakistan decided it was going to assist mullah mohammad omar and this group which had no name and what they provided was money that for a. training ammunition trucks tactical advice and then eventually they provided they. the students religious students afghans and pakistanis from ending what became to mean thirteen thousand. within the northwestern frontier province. and joining going in the fight.

before becoming an attorney julie soon worked as an intelligence analyst at the pentagon because sources in afghanistan warned against you know cause close relationship with the taliban. worldwide there was a very broad perception that unocal was working with the us government to promote the taleban as the most likely source for a stable single group in trolling afghanistan. and there was so i think an after or hopefulness on the part of some that if this pipeline could be put through it could be a source of stability or development for afghanistan and i personally don't like the idea that that stability would mean that the taliban would be in charge.

with the civil war raging mahdi militia went on these first journey into afghanistan. at the time there were six or seven war lords that were feuding with each other and it was you know if afghanistan was not a real safe place to be. the first thing i notice is the devastation. the counter reminded me of the pictures i had seen of. germany pows world war two. the taliban headquarters it was it was a house that was still all intact but there were no stick of furniture in the house and all we we slept on the floor and i. had to it was kind

a little traveling road show sort of thing course you know now slide projector yeah because there were named electricity in the building but i had some diagrams and charts in shoreham some things and some just basically to describe the project and and to tell them what the benefits would be and then they were very interested. they were measuring always if you guys will quit fighting with each other and form a government because you know in recognition that allows us to attract the world back to maybe be an answer. then we may have to. but the taliban were on the offensive and drove the northern alliance concept of the cities of mazar on ishani front to boom. they gained control of most of the country. mohammad's not too long president during the soviet occupation had been spared by the northern alliance but the

taliban showed no mercy not below was first tortured cuss treated and then hind alongside his brother. the execution was a clear sign of what kind of regime had seized power in kabul. julie says travelled in secrecy took a bill in one nine hundred ninety seven in order to learn more about the new regime . i had gone into kabul when it was held by the talabani secretly ace they dressed as as an afghan woman in a burka ass. they seemed very foreign to me.

certainly many conservative muslims but even among them they generally do not support the sort of extremism that the taliban stand for i see the taliban really is an alien force. their attitude toward women or a number of human rights issues i found disturbing but i think it was that larger geopolitical issue of them being back i had pakistanis that was most disturbing to me. not. when the president came in called out did you kill your own good but you need to have a good experience with god and. the target on man said bitterly just today it's.

still being learning in seminaries and their mother says they couldn't be good it was not here but too true that it was a twelve day international community that was the problem mark. america's concern about afghanistan had been minimal before the unocal pipeline project but on him and just negotiations spock's the clinton administration's interest in the country. i'd probably go to washington d c o once every six state weeks and i would typically meet with the state department the n.s.a. and cia. the cia was was very very well for you know they have this shadowy image i guess you call of that i found very straightforward and very professional and i think the clinton administration was really committed to helping you know american

business and be successful. we enjoyed and really strong support from the. unit wasn't the only oil company that wanted to build. pipeline in afghanistan option time company breed us was also trying to do a deal with the taliban. oh but he does win this fight and the meal was over and does so little so ins of the hands of. the is of no is this if the president had to let a. kid you know cause the coup deal with the. taliban delegation arrived at unocal is headquarters in december ninety ninety seven. martin came home one day and said fraught with g.

thank about having a group of taliban and allegation come to our home for dinner. didn't know what to say at the time i had to thank it trail and i was pretty naive maybe they come in and say how americans home and realize that we're an. average regular people maybe it would you know be good for them to to do this and agree to do it. on a multi million did their utmost to avoid offending the taliban and visitors and removed all the religious pictures and figures. but they did not remove the christmas trees the air that the taliban came to our house there was a charity fundraiser thing and we had seven christmas trees in our house and the tali bond just have blue their mind they can figure out what that was all about and

i think they were trying to. make a connection between a christmas tree and the birth of jesus christ and you know the judge trying to make a religious guy can. action with what's his christmas tree all about. they never did understand that thing. as a whole there was fruit because it is too different from. eastern culture but found to be enough says i would be i would focus society and progress toward me and knew i was impressed and that. dressed in their newly acquired jackets the afghans visited one of unocal the offshore platforms. and fresh and i doubt as they were amazed they were stunned to see these platforms in the gulf of mexico over seven and live three hundred feet of water i think just

the magnitude in the complexity of things and they were very well blown away by. the next leg of their journey to the visitors to omaha nebraska where they met one of america's foremost experts on afghanistan petroleum resources. the united states are trying their best to talk to the taliban who are obviously beginning to take over the whole of afghanistan the state department asked me to talk to the taliban's and they brought them in here. and so this sermon stead of airing guys in suits and ties like they always had before these were talabani and you know skull caps and turbans and long beards and i really had to say they were afghans no problem and so i told him i showed him all this neat whiz bang satellite imagery

and stuff and if you're looking at our country we're looking at your country where you is and you can do this to show you how to do this or you need to do is come over here and get educated in this stuff. the taliban teams journey ended in washington d.c. where they met leading officials at the state department. the state department was still hopeful that this was going to be a part of a international combined effort that would be profitable for unocal profitable for the afghans commercially and financially profitable for the afghans in terms of development and education profitable for the region. the tali bhangra interest in the project they were keen on making it happen they never did sign a cooperation agreement or anything like that because they were afraid to sign anything without knowing specifically that mullah omar was was behind it.

there are hardly any pictures of the mysterious taliban leader. in these rare footage of him. tries to hide behind a blanket. and . i was in khandahar the first time he was there and they kept saying that they were going to go talk i dast if i could go seen and they said no no no it's just you're not seeing sure of to see them all over your. mind you know khalid was in dialogue with the taliban about the pipelines another actor began to assert himself in afghanistan will sum up bin laden.

this son of a saudi construction millionaire was a local hero because he participated in the insurgency against the soviet union. and returned to afghanistan in nine hundred ninety six after having be forced to leave the sudan. now he was preparing for a new war global jihad. wayne started on. the good hot in consequence a concept called believe in engine and see the fun it was sometimes not any of these colleagues eager to sue the tiny one moved in to kind of not to be protected. as a rival back in afghanistan coincided with my own to work with the un.

never met the salad at a lot and i saw him once in the bazaar then as a convoy car passing by but i never you know we didn't labor anything we didn't know each other were looking at the other so. that first year that he was in the area was the time when he's solidified his free lation ship was mullah mohammad omar. natoma under the. so there is a lot of work on those i don't know where the beach of the moon shot up i say you have to do with the job too but what i'm going to miss you more when the interview took on the whole almost sort of. in afghanistan marty miller and unocal how did the cia did the training of local workers who would to be employed on the so-called peace pipeline. we'd like our

locally so we had employment opportunities for the afghans in fact one of the things we did in khandahar as we established a training center we found an old abandoned warehouse that we outfitted then we brought some equipment in your welding equipment. that were needed for the training . without being aware of it to me that had established his training center in the same street as a sawmill bin laden's house. and i never heard of the guy before i didn't know who it was looking back on it. kind of gives me the creeps this is think about his act most of that guy. was someone bin laden was also busy building training facilities.

i mean this was different not whether someone is going for some of his favorites but if we think it's how you approach it and if it is a certain way of doing it on just by that story and i out. desperate for more weird news about newton's papers reza do you want to take a week or two he said i need to work i need the money part of it i think it's really because i thought i'd be somewhere else in my life in america risking it all down. our tone walgreens. for a better future always saying yes to the house you want to sleep on it's. on al-jazeera. february on al-jazeera we investigate the toxic legacy of south africa's mining industry and examine exactly what is hiding beneath all this toxic waste africa's largest democracy heads to the polls join us for live

coverage nigeria but al-jazeera world showcase is the best of the networks documentaries with powerful untold stories from the middle east and north africa as cubans are set to vote on the possible changes to the constitution what impact will be outcome on the country the world sunny day witness visits in sweden where a community polarized by mining questions the heritage february on al-jazeera. i am on the top stories on al-jazeera you know he nations human rights envoy looking into the killing of jamal khashoggi says a journalist suffered a violent death at the hands of saudi arabia in a statement about her preliminary findings and yes kind of now said that mr was the

victim of a brutal and premeditated killing planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of saudi arabia our diplomatic effort to james bays has more from the u.n. . although it's an initial statement it's a pretty damning statement it's a continued embarrassment i think to saudi arabia which had hoped to put this behind them this is still out there and of course is only a short statement and there is likely to be more to come because the investigation continues trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the u.s. arrived at colombia's border with venezuela but israel's government is still refusing to let supplies enter the country opposition leader why do they declared himself interim president last month has said the aid must be allowed in. a group of european and latin american nations meeting in europe lies says it will send a technical team to venezuela international contact group says the mission will help provide humanitarian aid and support new elections as soon as possible the

u.k.'s prime minister has returned from brussels after yet water talks to try to change the terms of her unpopular breck's it deal to resume a told in new parliament members that there will be a backstop on the irish border in the final breaths agreement but her demands for renegotiation of the terms of the agreement were firmly rejected. me one of the largest aid convoy since the start of syria's war has reached a remote refugee camp on the border with jordan where one hundred trucks brought food and medical supplies to forty thousand syrians stranded in rock band camp aid workers also provide an emergency vaccination campaign for ten thousand children there. in sudan protesters are calling for the release of activists detained during weeks of demonstrations against president bashir the rally was called to express solidarity

with the hundreds of people who've been arrested since protests started in december . before news hour is coming up in around twenty five minutes right after the second half of taliban or al do stay with us if you can buy for now. osama bin ladin was busy building training facilities. bin laden eventually became responsible for organizing the flow of foreign fighters between chechnya bosnia and the arab world for the taliban these soldiers were useful reinforcements in the fight against the northern alliance this enabled been logging to strengthen his

alliance with the taliban and to recruit soldiers for his holy war on the western world. was this your first post that idea that this is no yes but what i think you know i think that there are. no survivors that are left out of government out of the fact that what they're going by what they're value and they know you but you've got a load of bullshit on this and. yet. on the seventh of august nine hundred ninety eight a bomb exploded at the u.s. embassy in nairobi. similar tenuously a bomb detonated in neighboring tanzania two hundred twenty four people died in these terrorist attacks and building four thousand were injured. the i'll call you

to trademark was established siri the times triggered by suicide bombers. i don't think i was terribly surprised when i heard about what had happened because in laden was there he was able to do it and then afghanistan and he was tempted by the taliban. the young spy wanted to learn more about bin ladin and visited his enemies the northern alliance it was a perilous journey on horseback. along by the roads. my interest in what was going on in the n.t. taliban areas because that was the area where we did not have a lot of the information in my sense from back in washington is that a lot of officials and policy makers were just writing off the resistance to that's how bond.

she met northern alliance leader ahmad shah masood who asked for support from the west in the fight against the taliban and al qaida. during her visit so go for unique insight into what was to come. northern alliance prisons were full of foreign fighters from several countries their goal was to participate in the global jihad. she was especially shocked by what the prisoners told her about the close relationship between pakistan the taliban and al qaida. most rude urgent he wanted to alert the west he wanted more people to know about the taleban and how they were interacting with bin ladin in to emphasize that if we were opposing bin laden that we should really realize that he and the taliban were sharing the same goals and resources in

funding. but judy says report was not well received by her bosses at the pentagon. the state department was even more annoyed people were saying they were very upset about my trip and i was told i simply wasn't going to be able to stay and that they weren't going to give me my security clearance back so essentially they fired me. the clinton administration continued into efforts to influence the taliban regime. and we were in the middle of trying to. get them to modify their behavior and i'm a believer in you talk to your friends and your enemies talking is not acceptance of those practices. from day one the clinton administration was trying to push back in you know control and then pressure the taliban regime into change

and of course that escalated once son of bin ladin left sudan and went to afghanistan in one thousand nine hundred six the bombings of ninety eight were conducted from there so it was very much on the forefront. the problem of osama bin laden stood in the way of any agreement about future oil and gas pipelines. he had declared war on america and this on the ten years bombings of our embassies in tanzania and kenya really put us on a war footing with sound and then from that point on we were actually trying to kill him. on the twentieth of august nine hundred ninety seven president clinton ordered the launch of cruise missiles again several out calling to bases and i understand. four of the bases were destroyed in twenty five. were killed but bin laden himself escaped i remember when president clinton sent cruise missiles and afghanistan. i just

as when i told. my boss in the board of directors that it was time that this this one got to go anywhere any time soon. about point you know withdrew from the part blind project but the french intelligence analyst. argues that the idea of an oil and gas pipeline lived on. the states what was fixing. they were pressuring the taliban to release bin laden. by negotiating about the pipeline of the same sign the taliban were thinking they were calling the united states is not in by discussing the end of the python. a mile mark the pipeline issue was in leverage in preserving his country from u.s.

strikes and avoiding to take a decision on bin laden. osama bin ladin was also interested in continued pipeline negotiations. a strategy memo from bin laden's close aide to mohammed ought to have was found to join the investigation of the nine hundred ninety eight east africa embassy attacks this memo written by mohammed atta as it states clearly that as far as the taliban were mentioning relationship in some way was with american business is over this project or u.s. diplomats. and their security and tightest security is guaranteed. to.

the terror attacks against the east african embassies tasted the relationship between the taliban and the al qaida leader. because chris is not going to. became a big part of the trip. and they did in there in the early should between afghanistan and the international community. there are. a lot of. as you. see was a victim of tragic surgery so you have no sort of blood because you know sid valuable no baseline near zero but to try and you oh and your way though she was there was something. the gee it kind of that is you know. just sort of for the good it was

just as you would understand the saudis have been there many of. them and found. all the for you from a hunger strike in front of them though. for the. news that he. did that is. towards the end of the ninety's the pipelines were no longer on the agenda or in talks between the u.s. and the taliban. the u.s. asked thirty times for osama bin laden to be handed over but the taliban gave no clear answer that tox went essentially nowhere in the taliban the more we would close and the more they push back the more we push them on al-qaeda expelling us out of bin ladin the more they would fish back. they just got more designed. to keep. not follow and to teach you talk to no man no of

the honey you. know your bottle. for them but you know really nobody. does a fish to each other not with you but your way nor does any one of the dogs come. when george w. bush came to power in two thousand and one even you did tends to get bin ladin extradited and get started with the construction of the oil pipeline. by van unit. it was out of the picture but others tried to revive the plans. w. bush in this direct connection with the oil industry and he was to try to be more just resist the taliban.

al qaeda made a special documentary about the prelude to september the eleventh. american born adam gadahn is the film's new rater an attack on afghanistan had been planned for a long time the americans are boiling mad about a number of things the islamic emirates domination of strategic energy reserves as well as the route of the proposed gas pipeline from the caspian sea. and most of all its refusal to hand over osama. in berlin in july two thousand and one a final dramatic meeting about the taliban was arranged between representatives of the united states government and all the players in the region. to pongs during these talks there's a u.s.

representatives that will make this ultimatum that will have enter the carbons of holes in the carpet bomb. the americans and insan their allies during a meeting in germany of their plan to invade afghanistan in the autumn before the first snow fall which is what the eventually did so we knew it was coming the question was do we sit back and wait or do we surprised them with a preemptive strike. get my. i

. i was there in nine and they were in new york it has already begun to dent. their way tragic and. of the people of the united states innocent people by the way of being covered by. others not all of it is but when you. understand the above or the trying to get you there is a good study of i would be judged on zero or on budget. i just cannot juice. this initial was there to tell you about us or the speaker to get across. to the taliban offer to extradite osama bin laden to a third country but now the americans have decided to remove both him and the taliban the from the seventh of october america and britain attacked.

the northern alliance exploited the resulting calles and the taliban regime unraveled. on the twentieth of november two thousand and one the capital city of kabul failed. with us backing on it karzai was inaugurated as president his brother had been working for unocal and because i was well acquainted with the pipeline plan it was. soon after nine eleven a couple of moms suddenly we feared that's goldman's from the region got together and basically decided to revive the project. that means that even without knowing the fate of. terms of stability all these countries at come to the same location they had reached before nine eleven the spy plane was crucial. in the interests.

after years of war there is still no pipeline the taliban is back in strength and reluctant to negotiate about peace. they cost the kind of on a government brought to a new government and that the title of democracy in the himalayas meant dave did not bring peace to afghanistan the insurgency against paygo have been installed by the international community is still going on. the war against the taliban has made the building of the pipeline impossible.

the afghan north also house some oil after the pipeline was shelved john ivo who had left unocal considered investing in an oil and gas project in mazar e sharif. look at afghanistan but the local risk is amazingly high. risk. but the reward is also moderate. opportunity for. the rich to argue that the country's petroleum. previously known. that part of the world for both mineral resources and that's pretty spectacular. who are. those resources first. and then the past thirty years of war nobody has been able

to do much. one afghan who tried to develop the country's oil resources and an early stage was king mohammed zahir shah. after thirty years in exile he returned a lot of afghanistan's history has been. when he was only nineteen years old nine hundred thirty seven he gave the u.s. firm inland exploration company exclusive rights to oil extraction in the northern areas of the country. they were also given the rights to build a sixteen hundred kilometer pipeline. but the second world put a stop to these plans. older afghans. a time of peace economic progress the introduction of democracy and education.

they need any. major new attempts to restart oil and gas production in the fifty's and sixty's a series of test wells were drilled in the. geologist mapped the country's resources. afghanistan at the end of the seventy's as part of the atlas afghanistan project. he got a unique insight into the maps of mineral resources. there was one american geologist me and two hundred fifty soviet russian geologist. so when i left afghanistan in late seventy eight i was actually in de ported by the communists who had taken over the government i left having sent my maps out of the country and the diplomatic pouch came back to the united states and i worked on the mineral resources in afghanistan ever since. west of mazower

other remains of a canister finally from the soviet era. the plant is still in operation but no longer produces as much as when the russians were there. mouthing about on the roof on the at i don't know stop to sign up that hold only shasta million goes down as it has sold a thousand yards past flour johnny surely inside the saldana mission. could be quite sure that in asia. in two thousand and seven an experienced oil geologist rediscovered this area. he'd previously worked for unocal but he now worked as head of the norwegian aid project oil for development he wanted to help afghanistan with

a new oil will. do his dissuaded from traveling to the north but with a known discourse he went anyway. at one gas plant he discovered a brick don't room where documentation of soviet oil and gas production had been hidden. behind the secret wool lay old maps and seismic surveys that showed afghanistan's oil and gas resources was significantly greater than the outside world was aware of and made his decision though there is still going the all that's on the air this is the ultimate existed. all the mess in the i was built although will shift to the old fourteen years of thirtieth in the world and in the midst of a little slow deal to. the administration offices for oil and gas in my eyes i'll show relief allocated in old

soviet buildings. chief engineer mohammed to john attardi has made it his life's work to preserve the dusty archives. several times he saved maps and documents from destruction. the boy we can absolutely critical cannot get on the ground and get home i will not undergo no why would i not if you got it on my wall or younger ones so far thank god have there i was young good our time in condition it in yeah the world didn't shut down after much you can if you're out on a largely empty chair asked me how much of a mind he is he not linda must tell you that it would make me look on their guy a moment as he is american not let a young girl that he called her knowledge your knowledge if madonna he does

a muslim now that's a woman i don't know oh you don't know how i felt i don't know a lot on behalf of the majority. leader and. despite little money and poor health i toddy has systemized to finals and preserve the valuable data for the future i don't know one of the at least i want to talk of the job of r.v. not wanted or india could make about it in a moment though i thought that i'd buy the time but i reckon you i mean there's just not a need at all i know or don't know or don't offer. you may have to hold on a moment mad mad cow but he'll be a good question for you more we will get those coming all he could come forth a little he could or would ever think that.

the united states once hoped the peace pipeline would unite the warring parties in afghanistan they still do amazingly enough they still want to build it. america's arch enemy iran also wants to build an oil and gas pipeline to india to draw on is in a hurry the aim is that the new peace pipeline should be completed in twenty seventeen. but again it has to go through taliban controlled areas peace with the taliban is more important than ever. was at risk of deja vu all over again it's not impossible that the taliban would come back to power they are an element they're not going away and in order to have. i would say peace not necessarily have prosperity in afghanistan they're going to have to be a part of that fabric of society the more you can bring them into the tent and

encourage moderate elements to emerge the more stable afghanistan will be. looking back i have to say i was terribly naive. henry kissinger's that this project is or triumph of hope over experience that hit me right between the eyes and borders a lot of content and that getting a little common and i found it proved to be true. hello again welcome back we are cross parts of australia things are getting much

better up here towards queensland of course we were looking at some extreme flooding just several weeks ago now that monsoonal area of low pressure is making its way towards the east and you can see on the satellite image we're back to normal with some monsoon rain but not as heavy as what we had previously seen forecast looks like this over the next few days we are going to sing mostly cloudy conditions for townsville the water is still coming down receding in that area with the tempter they have about twenty eight degrees it was quite warm across much of the south we do have a front that's pushing through we did see some activity in terms of thunderstorms but for melbourne the rain is going to linger just a little bit longer here on friday with a touch of that of about twenty three degrees coming down with another shot of rain coming into your forecast by the time we get toward saturday out here towards the west though it is going to be another very hot day in perth with a temperature of about thirty eight degrees well for the north and south island really not looking too bad in terms of the weather very dry we are still looking at bushfire fires in some of those locations but we do have one system that is coming in from the tasman sea and that is potentially going to bring some rain to the

southern part of the south island as we go to the next couple days friday for christchurch we are looking at a temperature few of twenty three degrees but by the time we get to saturday the time to comes up we do expect to see a very hot day for you with a temper of thirty. from sunrise to sunset across asia. the pacific explore untold and fascinating stories one on one east. when the news breaks a few minutes ago we were able to hear a huge explosion fifty people are still missing when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told we need to invest in development a new friend best making sure the people on the left behind al-jazeera has teens on the ground join us for this historic step in american politics to bring you more award winning documentaries and life moves on and on line on the streets of

greece anti immigrant violence is on the rise you have to go for. that. and increasingly migrant farm workers of victims a vicious beatings. is helping the pakistani community to find a voice the stories we don't often hear told by the people who live them undocumented and under attack this is zero on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. alone are entirely this is the news hour live from london coming up. a convoy

carrying humanitarian aid arrives at the colombian border but its journey into venezuela is still not assured. the un special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions says the killing of jamal khashoggi was brittle and premeditated and carried out by saudi arabian state officials. the british prime minister back from brussels where once again she's been looking for a compromise on the e.u. withdrawal deal. promises to build a new central african republic after historically. still assigned involved. in sport the newly reelected head of european football sends out a warning to face the boss johnny in front seen our eyes on the sufferance says he won't be a yes man as in fancy no pushes his plan to create new competitions. we

begin with the crisis in venezuela and what's developing into two different strategies for how to end the political crisis that's gripped the continent on one hand there's a call for dialogue put forward by european and latin american officials they're part of the newly formed international contact group on venezuela which has been meeting a year ago as capital montevideo and has won the support of embattled president nicolas maduro. says it will now be sending a technical mission to the country and repeated its call for free and fair elections the group aims to forge a common international approach to support a peaceful political the mock radek and been a swell and own research into the crisis excluding the use of force through free transparent and credible presidential elections in accordance with the minutes well and constitution in order for the country to overcome the current crisis it is crucial to restore full democracy in all its that mentions including the rule of

low separation of powers and respect for the constitutional mandate of the countries institutions notably the democratically elected national assembly a different strategy is advocated by the us which backs self declared president and opposition leader won by doe its imposing visa bans on some members of the pro madeira constituent assembly and america special envoy for venezuela says the president should give up power to a transitional government. as to discussions with dural negotiating with him on his departure is fine if we ever get to the negotiation obviously he may flee some days or he may seek to negotiate conditions but that's not what he's done in the past what he's done in the past is to use these negotiations to prolong his stay in power and to try to demonstrate his legitimacy and that we're against. as the diplomatic wrangling continues the situation inside venezuela is increasingly desperate woman three million people have fled the crisis and the opposition says

three hundred thousand at risk of dying unless a dr soon the u.s. ascent food trucks to colombia's border with venezuela the vehicles have just arrived and it's unclear how the aid will enter without the support of the military which still backs president maduro and which is blockading the main route into venezuela the u.s. says it's ending aid and hopes that supplies will be allowed in but won't force its entry is sending aid officials said sorry i'm on the set let's go to the us and jordan is at the state department so was it is interesting that they do seem to be kind of different ways of dealing with this at the moment how did did it does the u.s. view the the developments in europe why does that complicate matters for them in terms of what they think ought to be done in venezuela. well what they are hoping at the state department lauren is that people will listen to this call to engage

in a contact group even though the u.s. is very clear that it's not going to join itself but what it wants to see coming out of this contact group is this idea that there can be more pressure diplomatic pressure put on nicolas maduro to step aside to seek sanctuary in a third country in the u.s. is indicating that it's willing to help him do so in order to allow the process of democratization as elliott abrams was calling it during the state department briefing to allow that process to actually take place but they are stressing that the more urgent issue is of course trying to get humanitarian aid into the country we've all seen the videos of empty store shelves of people with nothing in their pantries or in their refrigerators for the better court better part of a year now and the u.s. is position is that it wants to get this aid in however it's not doing so just

because it is very sensitive to the needs of the venezuelan people it's also doing this because it is in the belief that the country can only improve if there is a new leadership in place and obviously elliott abrams was making that appeal to other countries especially in the region to throw their support behind mr aguado and to not provide any more diplomatic or financial support to nicolas maduro what kind of effect are they trying to achieve with the travel ban to history how that's going to work. well this is similar to sanctions that have been imposed on people in other countries who have done something that the united states does not approve of we don't know how many members of the constituent assembly are covered by this the state department is also not going to release their names because they say that these. decisions are basically

confidential but we might expect that those names might become public through other means especially if the people who find out that they can't travel to the united states make that known to the pub general public but the idea is that anything that could possibly be seen as a reward for continuing what the u.s. considers bad government practices those rewards are being taken away and certainly one of the things that official washington thinks is a reward or a privilege is being able to come to the united states where they're for business reasons for educational reasons for tourism reasons they want to was send a message that these people who support nicolas maduro are not going to be allowed to was simply come to the united states. until the political situation has been resolved at least to washington's satisfaction but what official washington would

say would be to the satisfaction of the venezuelan people president jonathan thank you very much indeed. you're watching live from london still ahead. anti-government protesters in sudan demands of their fellow activists be released from prison. egypt's opposition joins forces to stop president sisi from staying in power after the end of his term. on paul recent stop the government's refusal to fund a winter games but it could put the city at the forefront of a new cheaper olympic movement. the un human rights and avoid looking into the killing of jamal khashoggi says the journalist suffered a violent death at the hands of riyadh a preliminary report into the investigation claims saudi arabia seriously

undermined turkey's ability to investigate the murder james bays has more from the united nations. a week after agnes kalamata and her team of legal and forensic experts visited istanbul and the saudi consulate where jamal khashoggi was murdered the un special rapporteur has released her initial findings and they are damning in a written statement she says evidence collected during my mission to turkey shows prime a facie case that mr cruise shoji was the victim of a brutal and premeditated killing planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of saudi arabia during the visit to turkey ms callum odds team met with key turkish officials and was played an audiotape which is believed to be a recording of mr kershaw g.'s last minutes alive and of his murder she says it was gruesome and chilling agnus kalamata undertook this inquiry on her own initiative

under her existing mandate to examine cases of extrajudicial executions her work continues and she report her findings to the un human rights council in about four months time the un secretary general has refused to set up his own inquiry into the murder of mr cruz shoji unless he gets a referral from the human rights council the security council or the un general assembly the initial findings of this investigation likely to increase pressure here at the un for tougher action against saudi arabia but the authorities in riyadh allow it to be more worried about what happens next in washington outside the white house the campaign group the committee to protect journalists held an event to mark the fact that february eighth is the deadline for president trump to take action against saudi arabia on the khashoggi case under what's known as the magnitsky act even if mr trump decides not to act there are many in congress who

made it quite clear they will not let this case drop james bays al-jazeera at the united nations. speak to andrew deputy washington direct to human rights watch he joins us live from washington d.c. thanks for being with us so what's your reaction to this initial report from the u.n. . i think it's a great first step and it's very clear that we need further investigation but what's really helpful is that the u.n. has made clear that the killing of jamal khashoggi was not some rogue act it was officially sanctioned by saudi officials what we need now is for saudi arabia turkey and even the u.s. to provide all of the information that they have to the u.n. investigators. how important is this u.n. route because it feels as though a lot of people have come out and said things that she appears to be saying does that does that the fact that the u.n. is saying it make any difference you think. well as i said i think it's a good first start and i think what it does is generate a lot of international attention and what's also important as the investigator

agnes camargue made clear that the turkish investigators never had full access to the information and that she herself has been blocked by saudi arabia so although it's helpful that she's drawing this conclusion what i think is particularly useful is that she's making clear that people have not been forthcoming and need to be what about the determination the report to required by the magnitsky act the president is supposed to provide no data than. what are you hoping to see in that. well quite frankly i would be surprised if we see anything it would not surprise me if the trumpet ministration chooses not to respond but i think that regardless of what the statement may or may not be we'll see a strong reaction from congress we've already seen senators come out saying they expect there to be some kind of real accountability on saudi officials so if trump concludes that m.b.'s was not involved i think there will be a real demand for the evidence if he concludes that he wasn't authorized the same.