are excluded from. yes absolutely what we do know has a mess in the past two days or they've had a break between the two sides as been some groups that have been meeting on the side as sort of a committee is if you will to discuss smaller issues and i think one of the things that they've been discussing is the idea of possibility of having some kind of a coalition because of people that liaise between the taliban and the afghan government in the interim period between when the u.s. troops start to withdraw eventually from afghanistan so there is some hope that things might move forward on that issue alone but there still as the afghan spokesperson has said in the past twenty four hours or so a lot of work that needs to be done between both sides all right for the moment also jobar eli first there were those talks with taking place here in doha as the talks are underway back in afghanistan thousands of women met this week for an unprecedented conference to send

a strong message to the main shala bellus reports. afghan woman a refusing to be left behind in political negotiations they say they want to present a unified front as the taliban in the united states hold talks to end seventeen years of who today they were four women behind them a fifteen thousand on a spoke after the largest national women's jirga council as the taliban met with the u.s. in doha this was a parallel meeting except men were replaced by women how might it everyone came to see their perspective it was a proud moment for me among these women we cannot travel to other provinces because of security but this allowed us to be united the national women's jacket was the result of a grassroots movement that began in kabul in august and spirit to all of afghanistan's thirty four provinces influential women from each province late the meetings the format included

a question in not suspicion where they discussed women's. eagle and constitutional rights their role in islam and afghan culture then each province wrote a statement of their demands for peace these declarations lined what they want and will fight for should the u.s. and taliban agree to a deal a scene a sufi is the acting minister of information and culture the government backs the woman's jirga but she denied they were all president danny supporters they were not all government. they were all women who believed in who have analyzed their involvement from different social economic political nonpolitical government non-government civil society addresses where they would. see that we have federal there is concern the taliban could roll back hard for women's rights but many women say it's conservative afghan values that they're rallying against and need protection from

the provincial meetings were held in secret to protect women from any backlash the woman's jirga highly guarded be circus and most people are not among the taliban but they are like taliban just as hutu ties we can understand from their words that we are in danger they have the old conservative mentality that it's a threat for us and we feel they may try to kill us president danny is organizing a lawyer jirga in mid march with four thousand people men and women it's a national council to discuss their priorities in future negotiations these women will be there to determine that their voices are not forgotten shiela ballasts. as a beta art buyer is a human rights activist for afghan women and she joins us now from d.c. via skype good to have you with us so let's talk more about this then there is the big danger for women in afghanistan is that the gains that they have made will be

will be lost if the taliban. get their way in these talks how how how big a concern is that or unfortunately we can hear the beta are having some technical problems there was sorry about that or tried it we'll try to fix that but we'll move on for now if you want to access the latest news on the taliban talks or updates on afghanistan head to our web site w w dot al-jazeera dot com this opinion piece here goes through why understanding the taliban is essential for peace in afghanistan along many other angles to help you understand the news ok we're going to try to get back to the beta now. can you hear me yes thank you excellent and i can hear you as well so i was i was asking you there. is there is

a real danger for women in afghanistan that if the taliban are allowed to have a presence in afghanistan as part of this negotiated settlement women there feel that they will lose the gains that they have made in over the last few years how big a concern is that. it's a surfeit of the concern because first of all are they against that we have had for the last fifty years are very fragile and we still need a very long way to go and secondly the taliban have continued to attack woman's dress issues for the past fifteen years when they were and power but also and then the maskil meeting we saw their statement that they they were the statement itself short that they are they will be limiting that i it's of women who once again they have their own definition of what woman can do look based that on

the finish of slotnick values that's not make rights of woman so this is that it concerning and it's it's also very concerning because they're not talking to women about their rights they're talking to meant to add their men we are not a part of these discussions we are not a part of these think of negotiations so far. as it's all that escape advice and. how would you assess the progress the women in afghanistan have made since the fall of the taliban. well during that time other than women who are not able to get an education or one of the women are not even able to leave their homes without male company all of these things have changed tremendously for a moment women are more active in politics they're more present in the social life they have more access to education that the situation is not eighty and we still have a long way to go but we are in a place where we can hope for better begin to continue working for better and if the taliban are any integrated and they come back we are worried that there's this

opportunity that is given to us to build on it will also be taken away and we will go back to cedar how significant is this women's women's jirga that our reporter told us about there is this the right form and forum for women to be to be airing their views and there is a criticism as well that it's made up mostly of of government people well any platform any opportunity that is available for a moment too late is their voices and to make themselves hope to be included in this peace process is a good thing it can it can create a positive impact that can raise our voices and can make our voices heard so i agree with and you platform that brings all of us women together gives us an opportunity to raise our voices to raise our concerns and to make them heard good to speak for joining us there from washington thanks for being with us thank you

i want you to get in touch with us want to hear from you on these stories you can send us your comments to any of our online platforms on twitter just use the hash tag a.j. news grid our handle is a.j. english and we're also on facebook and facebook dot com slash or you can send us a message on whatsapp or telegram or nine hundred forty five or one true for one four nine. at least seven people have died as india and pakistan continue their cross border shelling in the disputed kashmir region indian officials say a mother and her two children were killed when pakistani artillery hit a house in indian administered kashmir while pakistan's ministry says indian fire killed two civilians and two soldiers along the line of control the latest exchanges come a day after pakistan released an indian parlance the pakistanis say as a gesture of peace are so here raman is live for us now with more from new delhi

and i understand we are expecting to hear from the indian prime minister at any moment. yes it did he went on to the airwaves of national television just a few moments ago as he is closing the annual conclave of a two day event that's been running for nearly two decades now it's a conclave hosted by one of india's largest media television and magazine groups india today group itself and it's an opportunity for the for the the movers the shakers the thinkers the economists the financier's to actually mingle bit like sort of the divorce of india i suppose to a certain extent and gave that gives the opportunity to the prime minister to close the event and also to mingle with the really important businessmen and thinkers within india and it is by no mistake that he's doing this he's just taken to the

podium and it's the first time actually since the issue of the conflict between pakistan in recent days where the prime minister's take to the national airwaves and just to give you a brief example has some of what he's been saying so far he's obviously saying that i was next in experience prime minister when i first came but i think you can see the effect i have had on india's external policy now that could be made reference to his visits to the middle east recently his his olive branches both to china and to russia trying to get them involved back in it in india in the political life he's also talking about the fact that pakistan that india has the opportunity to isolate pakistan and that india is a is now a global power and is relevant and that is very evident he's also saying that no nation can beat or defeat india and i think that's obviously in

reaction to recent events. the cross border skirmishes that we've seen of the heightened tension military tension that we've seen from modi he's also saying this is very interesting house and that some parties are questioning our right to fight terror but that's in stark contrast to the way the opposition parties have been accusing modi and the government of making political hay out of the attack of paramilitaries in india that administered kashmir it did february which led to the aerial strikes that india made of india on pakistani administered kashmir earlier this week the political game is all about the lead up to the general election here in india which is just a few weeks away we are expecting the election commission and the government to announce that election day to a period of election date in the not too distant future so this is

a speech to the public to basically set his record straight say here years and that he is the right man to lead india in the next general election and in the next future government it's interesting that he's got to the national airwaves of this particular occasion yet he didn't go to the nation to tell him about how his military has acted against. the rebel groups the terror groups that he wanted to target in pakistan administered kashmir all right for the moment so hell thanks very much. now he was keeping an eye on the social media side of things force really knows what he well has monday off of the potus release the conversation on social media has turned to national pride and popularity well this comes off the hash tag welcome home i've been undone went viral and many are now focusing their attention on this man siddharth ashish who is the indian pilots who died in the helicopter crash last wednesday now though is still unclear whether his helicopter

crashed or was shot down people are saying that he died during service and deserves to be known al jazeera has not been able to officially confirm the details of the crash but local media have reported on the funeral and also a full military service for the pilot meanwhile others are looking at the diplomatic approach conducted by the leaders of india and pakistan drawing comparisons and also analyzing events that led to what many are calling a victory in the war of perception for prime minister imran khan and the capture of the pilot marked a key moments for control of the narrative many online are using or saying that that imran khan when he at that message to release the pilots much of india's prime minister popularity was actually lost and that's because many felt he was focusing on the elections now is a bare his says that modi was back from election campaigning and ready to take credit for the pilots release in all others are using the hash tags like saying no to war and also go back modi while large support still remains for the indian

military or if you are in india or in pakistan do tweet us all of your thoughts use the hash tag a jane is good or you can just simply message me directly and matter here mohammed has a thanks brianna. now for the latest updates and backgrounds on india and pakistani tensions you can go to our website al-jazeera dot com our correspondent imran khan is on the ground there in this piece he looks at the lives of ordinary kashmiris just as shelling resumes that's all there on our web site at zero dot com now saudi activists who were arrested on accusations of undermining security and harming national unity last year will be put on trial prosecutors say they've completed investigations and are preparing court referrals rights groups say the cases include mostly detained women activists who campaigned for the right to drive the best man woman is a professor of political science at the university of waterloo she joins us now via

skype from waterloo in on terrio canada thanks very much for being with us so do we expect these women to get a fair trial. well i think it's probably not in the liberal standards of a independent judiciary no i think that would be quite comical but certainly i hope that the international pressure that's being put on the government will indeed push the public prosecutor to acquit these women frankly it is not something in terms of cost of p.r. that they can afford at this tumultuous time it is not in the interests of the long term health of the kingdom to continue to keep these women arrested because frankly the international community is keeping tabs on them and is very worried for their continued continued safety so it is really i think i could impress on on the saudi government and frankly royal court it is simply not worth it to keep these women in prison and they certainly do not deserve to be there when you talk there about the

outrage from the international community but that hasn't really up to this point made much of a difference. to the kingdom of saudi arabia. up to this point has it i mean they have can continued where trials like this regardless of what anyone outside saudi arabia thinks about it. well i mean i would kind of disagree with that certainly amongst many other autocratic regimes this hasn't made a difference i mean we saw this from the bromance between putin and haven't been so to the way he's welcomed in china there is no of course reprimand for that but certainly if they want to attract foreign direct investment from europe from north america they're going to have to start considering the fact that this is simply costly for them the public relations aspect of this is damaging to the saudi kingdom and to the saudi brand of their so-called twenty thirty vision so i would say that they do need to see this in a broader context and yes they may want to keep these women and prison because it

does satisfy hardliners let's not forget there are a lot of naysayers inside the kingdom who don't want to see liberalization of reforms and targeting these women as a nice way for the regime to continue to suggest that they are very much in keeping with this really very rigid interpretation of islam so that is one you know potential upside for the regime but i don't think it's worth it when you consider the international p.r. they are getting from the continue to rest of these women and watch what sort of pressure can the international community. bring on on saudi arabia and what form does it take. well and i think you know the continuous sort of naming and shaming is useful i think it should be done as much as possible behind closed doors because otherwise you get to a sort of a reaction to the contrary but you know i think many companies are still very leery about investing inside saudi arabia it is not something that many corporations

particularly western ties to to citizens who are interested in their corporate social responsibility or their public brand don't want to be associated next year saudi arabia is hosting the g twenty i think if they want to get the companies to continue to come to their so-called dabbles in the desert they're going to want to sort of i think think about this broader p.r. it is simply not worth it and again those women are innocent and they've done nothing but try to highlight an anon an unnecessary and frankly medieval interpretation of the law gets a gale force on this best moment want to joining us there from waterloo canada how the u.s. backed syrian democratic forces have begun the operation to clear the last remaining pockets of eisel fighters from but whose ground forces say i still fighters are using snipers and booby traps to slow their progress even if i so loses all its territory it could be premature to declare victory and or chapell reports.

exhausted hungry and sick thousands of women and children have fled their resort in southeastern syria in the last week ahead of a us back to salt on the last piece of ice will so-called caliphate the town of. the mainly kurdish fighters of the syrian democratic forces the s.d.f. say only those they call terrorists remain there now as fifteen thousand troops advance on the town and incendiary munitions rained down from the sky. we do not know what the clashes will lead to but the military operation will continue to eliminate terrorists inside of if we notice any civilians we will try to avoid them and evacuate them during the ongoing military operation as the s.d.f. advance on five fronts they face more than a thousand hardened fighters difficult terrain suicide bombers mines and a large tunnel network but even once bug falls and i still suffer what some are calling a final territorial defeat the group and its members will remain

a serious threat this is not and of isis at all and we have seen. this and this kind of a similar terrorist group autumn now thriving in africa and i won't be surprised if these same groups when taught to get. out to get civilian they would have military operation inside you would order the united states of america because. all the grudges and. political crisis that open that led to the emergence of this group are still there. all the battle for baghdad is expected to end soon and commanders will declare the group defeated no one really knows for sure what happens after that and you should tell al jazeera. of the defeat of i saw in the northern iraqi

town of twenty fifteen left a power vacuum the area is still rife with competing on groups vying for control of thousands of minority is edis who are forced to escape eisel still can't go back because of a lack of cooperation between the stratford has that from. there's a piece of fears eisel either killed his wife or like many young women sold into slavery she disappeared in two thousand and fourteen when along with tens of thousands of other families from iraq's minority easy community they tried to flee the eisel offensive on sin job i saw was defeated in sin jar in nov twenty fifth dean now measure his children and six father are among a few years e.d.'s who have returned. with some of their wise advice a ruled over everything they sabotage the lads and killed our relatives and neighbors what i saw was kicked out they left nothing behind we still don't have

much left to eat or to drink. it's estimated around seventy percent of sin job was destroyed in the battle against isis but it's not just the delay in reconstruction that's preventing people from returning to their homes there are various military forces and armed groups in the area but according to commanders little cooperation between them. what remains of the town of sin jaw is in that direction behind the tile and you have a p.k. k. forces in control of that area to my left over those mountains there is the iraqi army and pro iran all groups known as hash of a shabby i'm standing on a peshmerga position one of the main reasons why thousands of people cannot go back to singe are to try and restart their lives because of the lack of coordination between the various armed forces operating in this area. the u.s.

either you in turkey consider the kurdish p k k to be a terrorist organization it's been fighting for an independent kurdish state for more than thirty years and there's been tension between the iraqi federal government and the semi autonomous kurdish regional government of northern iraq over disputed territories for decades. the various forces in and outside sin job reaching consensus to better administer the town's political and security situation they've been returning to their homes because there's no long term solution being implemented by the authorities around two hundred thousand you have little choice but to live in poli equipped camps in the kurdish region of northern iraq. this it. is critical that the political bickering and security tension among the various forces is overshadowing on the town's future the only solution to move forward is to pull all these forces out and let the people of the

town decide their fate. often called iraq's forgotten people after suffering some of the worst atrocities on the eisel political violence and distrust means they are now also struggling to rebuild their lives. more northern iraq this is. with us on facebook. story for. us it's about the online response of some bollywood stars the situation. also a historic space mission that could pave the way for more manned flights to. hello today's the day for heavy rain in pakistan afghanistan afghanistan isn't it

he says clarity but that's the fishes has to fight it is on his way out there is a big gap back for iran towards the coast of the event which looks fine the moment but increasingly i think as the day progresses we go into sunday in the freezing wind cloud and rain you'll see again not to quite the same degree that brought the flash floods the west bank to be further north running through syria and northern iraq and by this time it looks fine weather cobbles in the sunshine and about seven degrees at sunday come monday and it's still west that we look more rain in cloud march eastwards to the iranian border to be replaced by showers frequent showers in the lebanon and probably is fast south sinai beyond that where the breeze has been blowing quite steadily and that's going to slowly lighten on sunday and indeed monday along the thames has decided saudi arabian around the gulf nations to rise slowly a sunny picture not a particularly dusty picture. the rains been moving i have to southern africa

recently but it is going to be a brief pause i think for big showers to reappear on the eastern side of south africa in sudden mozambique and particularly concentrating in southern towns in the . christian priest you are a friend of the palestinians he's a true friend of everybody and champion of the palestinian cause. and activist who is willing to sacrifice his freedom and be for his beliefs. al-jazeera wild tells the extraordinary story of the archbishop and the piano. when the news breaks a few minutes ago we were able to hear a huge explosion fifty people on still missing when people who need to be heard and

the story needs to be told we need to invest in development of nuclear invest in making sure the people are not left behind al jazeera has teams on the ground join us for this historic sift in american politics to bring you more room oops we need documentaries and life moves on and online.

within is it taking a quick look at the stories that are trending on our web site right now at babson not surprisingly the ongoing tensions between india and pakistan over kashmir are getting lots of quakes there these are the top five or six stories. on our web site . called. how the privately owned space x. has launched its astral caps capsule into space for the first time the unmanned test flight a major step forward for the company owned by billionaire you know a mosque who's ultimate goal is to send humans to mars. it's said that. nasa describes it as a historic moment that could pave the way for a new era of space exploration vehicle down here at kennedy space center in florida

billionaire elon musk's company space x. successfully launched an unmanned test flight bound for the international space station. what to what today really represents is a new era in space flight and an era where we are looking forward to being one customer as an agency and as a country we're looking forward to being one customer of many customers in our in a robust commercial marketplace in low earth orbit so that we can drive down costs and increase access in ways that historically have not been possible. the crew dragon capsule atop the falcon nine rocket is the first space shuttle intended for commercial use the only passenger on this demo one mission is a dummy named ripley carrying with him four hundred pounds of supplies for the space station it's expected to arrive on sunday and if all goes well the next mission could put two astronauts in space as early as this july nasa wardy

contracts to space x. and boeing to develop cheaper methods of going to space since retiring its shuttles in two thousand and eleven thus ending its reliance on russia so use spacecraft which cost more than eighty million dollars a seat what it means for the space program is it's really opening up much more regular access to the space station redundancy right now we're relying on just one system the russian soyuz system we also have boeing starliner vehicle coming later this year so so we really will see a lot more capability in terms of our ability to launch humans into space space x. and boeing own and operate the spacecraft and will be leasing them out to nasa and other clients one struggles and regular operation i think we will. rules seek commercial customers. which the nasa mr and that nasa in general has been very supportive of that of that idea so but we've been very focused on just making sure

that the vehicle worked and recognizing secure liability. elon musk then bishops go far beyond shuttling astronauts he says it won't be long before the dragon starts taking commercial customers to space some of that but d.c. al-jazeera a leo and wright is a space analyst and member of the board of governors of the school of cosmic physics he joins us live now from dublin via skype thanks very much for being with us so how how significant a step in your view is this for space travel. well we must remember that there are a number of key milestones still to be passed over the next few days but assuming this is a complete success it started well then it will have a significant impact in the short term it means there will be a second way of getting to the space station and then third when boeing start flying but in the medium term not so far away we could start to see very

very rich people signed to the space station aboard commercial rockets very very rich people indeed i mean it is going to be prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of us here on earth so a lot of people would be asking is is this just. is this worth it is this is going to be a preserve of the super rich. it's a real question when you look at the costs associated with space tourism as it's called the companies that are doing it argue that of course it creates jobs and that therefore they are doing something for their communities as well as for the rich people who climb aboard and what people do with their money i don't know if you've got terje million dollars just spend on a mission to the space station for a week but how people spend their money obviously is their own business the real success here and this started with the obama administration was nasa just citing

hand over the business of building space ships to commercial companies and for them to take the bokeh of the risk that was the big policy change and that's what's coming to fruition now and what about this the fact that nasa is doing this in partnership with a private company that's something new isn't it is this the future now for for any space projects that they need to get together with private entities well i think a lot of scientists will be to be quietly pleased with this because there has been a real anger within the science community a. human space flight sending men and women into space was sucking all the money out of the american space program in particular. and that there wasn't enough although of course the americans are doing by far the most robotic exploration but

there's a feeling that this may mean there's more money in the space agency so the sorts of things that scientists want to do exploring the cosmos good to speak with leo and mike joining us there from dublin thanks so much for your thoughts. now we want to turn our attention to the political fallout and outrage after a poster linked a muslim member of the u.s. congress to the nine eleven attacks reveal has the details real thanks has a moral temper has fled among politicians when this post was displayed at the republican event in west virginia depicting the twin towers on september eleventh with the words and the forget you said written above the building and just below it is an image of representative in hand one of the two muslim women elected to congress with the quotes i am the proof you have forgotten well the post sparked

outrage and a resignation and led to a security guard been taken to hospital after a scuffle the house speaker called on delegates to be respectful. were her. what. are. what. are you know.