the and the. the taliban of the u.s. are expected to sign a deal in qatar in the coming hours and ending the war in afghanistan. i'm convinced this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up turkey's president says he will not stop refugees from heading to europe as thousands more flock to the border with greece. authorities in the usa 2 more coronavirus cases have been detected with no don't origin. malaysia's king appoints a new prime minister putting an end to a week long political struggle. the

u.s. and afghan taliban a just sign a preliminary deal in the coming hours that could eventually end america's longest running war it's the result of 18 months of talks but once it's agreed there is still a long way to go the 1st stage will be a $135.00 day period of what's called a meaningful reduction in violence that is set to include the exchange of some $6000.00 prisoners a deal is being described as a precursor to a peace agreement between the warring sides within afghanistan it's hoped this will lead to talks between the taliban and the government in kabul as well as the withdrawal of foreign troops leading up to the signing there's been an initial weeklong reduction in violence mostly held although there were still some attacks. we have teams covering the story from several angles in a few moments we'll be speaking to alan fischer who's in washington d.c.

meet is standing by in afghanistan's capital kabul but 1st let's speak to some of the devalued who's at the venue here in doha where the signing is due to take place just run us through it today's events of some of what's happening. well the secretary of state to my compo has arrived in doha he will be part of the ceremony which is being hailed as a historic moment for a lasting solution for peace in afghanistan although it is early days and there is a lot of cautious optimism here in the qatari capital but people are seeing this as an important 1st step remember this is a process which started with still being alive in 2010 it's taken 10 years for the u.s. and taliban to come to some sort of an agreement for not just reduction of violence but also reduction of the u.s. troops in afghanistan according to this deal the troop drawdown in phases would leave just over 8000 troops in afghanistan

a stark change 10 years ago when there are about 140000 american troops presence present in afghanistan the taliban on the other hand agreed that they will be reducing violence although they have not agreed to the word cease fire but the reduction in violence is something that they seem to be a green the point you asked the taliban about why there were attacks even doing the reduction in violence and they said they're only holding their territory and according to the taliban they hold about 70 percent of of climate stand and this agreement when they signed it with the americans will be the 1st phase after that gone dialogue will begin we asked the taliban that what is so different because they have come to the cusp of finding agreements before and they think that this time this one is going to hold. we have. some of the truth you have up front you see there is peace and there is. commercial activities there is schools so if you go there. and when the security is more in in

those areas and there are control rather than in the main cities cities that cover the capital kabul so about women's rights a woman one that did write to you cation and their right to work we both. accept and give them a spur of the islamic rules but only that they observe the whole job. so boring a phrase from the u.s. secretary of defense 20 years ago there are no norms and unknown unknowns this is the terror that we are entering into after this agreement is signed but again the countries are very optimistic saying that it took them 7 years of convincing the world as well as the taliban and the united states that there is hope for peace and they're hopeful that this will pave the way for it so some we just heard there from so how shaheen the taliban spokesman we can see that secretary of state mike pompei

oh is also attending the signing what should we read into his attendance at this event. but you've seen the statements that have come from the secretary of state just a few hours ago where he said that after 19 years off this conflict they have come to this agreement they are not abandoning their allies that is why the u.s. secretary of defense and the nato chief are heading towards kabul as well we spoke to afghan officials and asked them what will it mean if there is a complete withdrawal of u.s. troops and according to them as long as material support in terms of military hardware and financial support continues for the afghan army they will be able to hold their ground the afghan government is going to function this is not the eighty's when the soviet union left of going to stand there are institutions in afghanistan and the afghan government is hopeful that it will be able to hold its ground that taliban on the other hand see the afghan government as an illegitimate

force propped up by the american presence in the fear that once the american troops leave they will be able to control power again that is something that we will see being cleared up went into of gann dialogue starts there again the name of afghanistan islamic emirate of afghanistan whether they will accept the government how will they formulate a strategy what will be the phase in which $5000.00 afghan $5000.00 taliban troops and $1000.00 afghan army soldiers are going to be released so all of that is going to be clear in the days to come but the u.s. is signaling that this is a historic and monumental achievement it paves the way for their gradual withdrawal and towards an afghan led of gone on peace process for their country we will discuss that afghan peace process a little later in the program with our cross on and and kabul for now the earth summit and today thank you. let's take a look now at the human cost of the u.s.

led invasion of afghanistan more than $31000.00 civilians have been killed since 2001 that's according to the u.n. and rights groups nearly 50 $8000.00 members of the security force members and $42000.00 opposition vises have also died nearly $2400.00 american soldiers were killed the u.s. is estimated to have spent more than one trillion dollars on the conflict and the afghan ministry of public health says 23000000 afghans or 2 thirds of the population suffer from mental health problems because of for war. now in a minute we'll be speaking to her abdel handmade who is standing by in kabul but 1st her report on how people in afghanistan are reacting to the deal. it's a momentous time for afghanistan many still in this believe that what had been unthinkable is happening the u.s. and the taliban agreeing with each other mohammed as eases a beat this has been the most peaceful week kabal has seen in years we can go

outside. our homes without. fear of anything so it's been a good week yeah there. is between them we can only tolerate that it will be a fake. that will be have lots of effects on afghan people because the. security of afghanistan is in the hands of the americans but outside of kabul example siraj shook and mohamed wonders about his future he has mixed feelings the taliban ruled here before so he knows them well they are something. after all southern and it's bad if the taliban come back i won't be able to run my business they forbid music i will have to leave the country for the past 40 years foreigners didn't let us live in peace that's why the country's in a situation it's maybe better if they leave but there will be no peace with the taliban it will be worse i'm scared the war has been devastating for bibi girl her

husband a soldier the national army was killed in a suicide attack in her whole province of lahman then another 4 members of her family died in another attack being a widow with 7 children is stuff they help out by polishing shoes on the streets or begging in the market lot now we've never had any help from anyone it's a miserable life my sons collect charge so we can burn it in the stove the foreigners must stay i haven't seen anything good from the government and the to. alabang destroyed our lives it's because of them that we became beggars it's humiliating only the foreigners can help us. the taliban controls nearly half of the country mainly rural areas where most of the war against american troops unfolded people have been told that they will fully withdraw soon and there's a sense of victory on the. people are happy we also want peace and security taliban

are committed to their promise the fighters obey whatever orders they get this is a big success for us back in the cities it up my year is worried she was born as a refugee in iran now she's a university student part of a new generation full of aspiration everybody knows that tal advanced your ideals like color limited and close minded they are and if they come to the government like officer the they cannot implement an officer they can implement and the people there will be hard as the women 1st column on and never good with women and. the people working in the government are often sells these do not have peace between themselves and i don't think everyone has risen someone else like polamalu if only goes well do us will pull out its troops the taliban and afghan leaders might find a compromise but many afghans remain cautious about the future they've seen many

full stones before. we can speak now to hold out the hamid is in kabul for us on how to tell us how might the political divisions that was saying in kabul right now impact the next stage those in traffic and talks. well many were telling us that is actually the biggest challenge to this whole process at the moment afghan connotations deeply divided fragmented and there doesn't seem to be any sort of meeting point you know over the past week there's been a lot of political drama unfolding here in kabul. electoral commission coming out and saying that. the incumbent president is the winner of an election that happened 5 months ago when on that same day immediately his rival said no i am to win and i will go ahead with any good relation should the president go ahead with his own

inauguration took a lot of efforts from the u.s. envoys that who basically passed about 4 days shuttling around kabul trying to bring some sort of compromise between these leaders it doesn't seem to be any compromise at the moment what you manage to do is postpone any conversation about who will be the a new president until after the ceremony indo and the agreement is signed in deal had there is that they set for march 9th a lot of things could happen between now and then but there is a lot of pressure on afghan leaders because they have to head soon probably to norway for the interim afghan talks and at the moment everyone is asking who is going to go there what what delegation is going to go there what are the demands of this delegation what are the red lines for the afghan government all is up in the air there are no answers and that makes evident people very worried understandably

that's what are their lines from kabul let's get the u.s. perspective now is live for us in washington allan obviously this is an historic day very happy to get this done before the elections later in the year how is this all playing out in washington. of course it's going to be a political victory for donald trump throughout the last few months since not really the launch of israel lecturing campaign the continuing theme has been promises made promises kept he promised that he would try and get troops away from the middle east and from afghanistan at this certainly fits in with that idea given that at the moment there somewhere in the region of 12000 american troops in afghanistan as soon as this deal is signed the u.s. will a serious conditions on the ground effect start to reduce that number to 8600 and if the process continues to be successful they will draw those numbers down even

sooner you'll remember that we came close to this sort of agreement back in september or and donald trump was about to sign the deal in fact he invited the taliban to camp david which is the presidential retreat in maryland but that was over the weekend of the 911 anniversary and that grew a lot of criticism for donald trump there was then an incident in kabul where a u.s. soldier was killed and donald trump immediately work through the invitation he believes that this is putting the united states on to quote him a powerful path towards withdrawing troops but there's already some criticism there is concern not just on the democratic side but also among republicans who are saying look hold on a 2nd the taliban have made promises before we've been suckered into this we perhaps don't want to start the drawdown of troops but that is going to happen because donald trump wants to be able to talk about it on the campaign trail one other thing to mention here donald trump is obsessed with the peace prize the rebel peace prize he knows that barack obama won it he was very keen to pressure the

japanese according to many reports and to nominate him because of his work with north korea that didn't quite turn out as he had hoped this is perhaps something he sees as another opportunity to equal at least his predecessor by winning a nobel prize although that is by no means guaranteed but this is certainly a big win for donald trump politically because it's certainly something you can talk about on the campaign trail. thanks that alan fischer there live from washington. to the other big story of the day a turkish president. says he's almost his russian counterpart vladimir putin to get out of the way in syria's last rebel bastion of it follows the death of 34 turkish troops in a strike by russian backed syrian government forces on thursday. we killed more than 2000 syrian soldiers and destroyed more than $300.00 armored vehicles we will prove to the syrian regime and those backing them that we are

capable of this only yesterday we destroyed 7 chemical depose we did not want to says collation it was the syrian regime the forced us into it and that's why the syrian regime must pay the price oh and also confirmed his country's borders with europe are open saying turkey will no longer hold back refugees this was the scene earlier on the greek island of les boss just 15 kilometers off the turkish coast it's already housing tens of thousands of refugees and migrants. and inside turkey thousands have gathered at greece's land border there have been reform reports of confrontations with border or thorazine and several arrests. that's a good name isn't istanbul she explains what could have been the motive behind turkey's decision. people have been allowed to cross technically over the border from turkey but now they're sandwiched in between a kind of no man's land between turkey and greece and what we're seeing is scenes

of refugees facing a massive cloud of tear gas being fired by greek police and there are also reports that refugees are throwing stones at the greek police the people are telling us who are going are telling us that they're going because they are trading the stability and security they've had here in turkey for the hope of better prospects in europe the opportunity to build a future one many people told us they simply do not believe that they have here the bigger question though is what does this all mean is this the temporary way as or one has done in the past to attempt to get the attention of nato and europe a kind of sieber rattling he wants nato to assist him militarily as he continues this offensive to help retake the last remnant of rebel held territory in syria. still ahead on al-jazeera it. was.

an uproar at the french oscars server and best director award for roman polanski. hallett we're going to call this spring rain pretty soon is this line that's been coming out of china running rain up through japan all in all for the last 2 weeks is still doing it there's more rain coming out from china now it's nice and warm you could call it hot in hong kong. to the rain showers come through later on sunday and then the eastern edge just grazes through honshu in the southern japanese islands north of all this is those colors it was was by the same to be honest 11 degrees in beijing still subzero in harbin rather low cloud in the sky and there was basically it's fine looking weather but more rain gathers for monday

as the 1st lot goes out the next thing is already building your northerly breeze off towards cells at 8 degrees and still some snow to come in her car down the high ground in hong she with this latest circulation but still 15 degrees in tokyo. likewise if you look through india and pakistan the some obvious cloud running up here and then also pakistan northern india that will produce rain and snow still but you have got 22 degrees in the hole and the air has just been moved around about a bit in new delhi and threaten northern india imply that use is police blocking stuff all over the place these are early shows and i was not quite but it will be about tom his focus comes about. but. he started as a modest man. carry a soldier who never imagined he might one day become president of egypt. he had an ambitious wife and son he became an alto crack and was imprisoned for the on lawful

killing of protesters. the story of the rise and fall of hosni mubarak the family episode one just. you're watching al-jazeera reminder of our top stories this hour after 18 months of talks and door hard and almost 2 decades of war the u.s. of the taliban as you just signed a deal shortly aimed at bringing peace to afghanistan it's hoped it will lead to the withdrawal of foreign troops. thousands of people have gathered at turkey's

land border with greece up to turkey said it would no longer hold back refugees great symbol garia have tightened border controls. let's get more now on our top story that historic agreement between the u.s. and the taliban to be signed any hour now you hear ghanem is a political analyst here at al-jazeera who's also spent many years covering afghanistan 1st of how hopeful are you that this step will actually lead to lossing peace in afghanistan. well personally of course i would say hopeful but i'm not quite sure i'm not quite sure i mean afghanistan is a very complicated case complicated all the way i mean if we look at beyond the unique and complicated composition the ethnic composition of the country it's very unique and complicated and the fact also that each ethnic group that makes up the afghan people is sitting and living rather cross the border of

the ethnic mother ethnic country makes it even more complicated like for instance we let's look at the pashtun which is which forms the majority of the population they are living all over the country but the majority of the majority are. living across the borders or of pakistan was pakistan the same thing goes for the which is the largest minority over there the majority of that large minority is sitting and living across the border of their mother if nick country which is tajikistan the same goes for those book the same goes also for the. wild living in here out most of them across the borders open iran and each of the neighboring countries you tend to use extensively that ethnic group within afghanistan to achieve their interests that makes it more complicated look at the internal problem now it's which which which actually shows the upcoming struggle the mystic struggle between the sitting

president. who represents the majority of the pashtoon and bob the law the former military political advisor diligence very much i'm not so the taji leader. big b. the much i must come to known demand for many is the law and actually he reflects both personal ambitions which are legitimate by the way. but also ethnic ambitions he represents the ambitions of the large minority of the jeep so bad that it shows you how critical and serious the domestic issue is and how it is going to play out and impact the upcoming peace treaty looking ahead to those those intra afghan talks what kind of position is the taleban in i mean in doha today with her taliban representative saying we control 70 percent of the country. right when i

say i've seen you know the afghan government says well obviously that's not the case what position is the taliban and going into this next stage well. we have to admit that the taliban have never showed since the invasion back into south and then 12. in the sign of. back in tucson to any sign of given up i mean the adopted a strategy a very effective strategy of differing 1st to contain neutralize and exhaust both the united states and their allies the local allies which was actually be a big government who came along was the invasion the government of part of the i but again i mean taliban is totally since they came into existence they have never had any grudge or any act it would anti us if you on the contrary i mean they

maintain excellent relations and even who became the 1st president after the invasion who was allied to the was the americans i mean he was actually he came from the ranks of polygon he used to represent taliban at the united nations so in terms of the future relations between taliban and the united states i'm not very much concerned about because they can easily go back to where they had but in terms of the regional regional situation which was this complicated environment of ethnic groups along the borders was many countries each one has different and conflict in interest that's what i'm concerned about and also the internet a struggle coming up in afghanistan well i've lived there for

a time so much to talk about thank you for that that's your head on and there is political analyst thank you. has been another spike in coronavirus cases in iran as infections continue to climb outside of china. iranian state t.v. reported another 295 new infections in just 24 hours a jump from the previous tally of 3889 new deaths were reported cases are rising rapidly in south korea as well almost $600.00 more were confirmed on friday bringing the total close to $3000.00. 2 new cases in the united states are raising questions about how the virus might be spreading the patients in california and oregon have no known connection to any existing infections or hotspot countries and los angeles rob reynolds has more on the case there this is a person who is in northern california described as a woman who had some underlying respiratory disease problems and her doctor sent her to the hospital she was tested there and tested positive for the corona virus

she has now what the important thing here is that she didn't get it on a cruise ship she didn't meet with someone who just got off a plane from will hon she hasn't been to italy or iran or south korea or any of the other places she got coronavirus here in the united states and now in addition this person lives in a community about a 145 kilometers from the 1st possible community transmission case in who was that identified earlier this week so that seems that there's 2 at least 2 separate clusters of transmission in northern california this is called community transmission and what it means is that it's circulating in the community one person gets sick another person will get sick another person will pass that on to others and then this is what happened in italy in south korea etc

important to note that no one has been placed under any kind of quarantine in northern california except for the 2 patients who are receiving care in hospitals. malaysia's king has appointed a new prime minister less than a week after mahathir mohamad stepped down as leader the king says more than has the most support in parliament after winning the backing of 2 of the main opposition parties on friday it's a blow for mum of 2 was trying to form a new unity government. bridget welsh is senior research fellow at national taiwan university and author of regime resilience in malaysia she says despite the new appointment to mohammed's bid for power hasn't ended. my feeling is that the opposition now with a more uber him and ma 2 year will continue to fight i think one of the issues ahead is whether or not they'll be able to have confidence or no confidence in the parliament in a week or so also the issue has to do with legalities and questions

a lot of people in malaysia are very upset the. not my party pm is is this is one of the tweeting at the highest level in malaysia at the same time meeting yes and in his coalition also garner a fair amount of support because of the parties that are included within it and so i think it's going to be testing times ahead to see how this what the response is in society and when the elites are and of course we don't yes and is a man without the mandate he faces a real challenge to get support and to move the country forward in terms of governance he keep in mind that he was just part of the pack a time harp on coalition he was seen to have left that coalition and betrayed it for many people he was also seen as an obstacle to reform within the coalition it served as the home affairs minister but he's at the same time he's a very capable of minister he's served he serves in 6 different ministries the city

center politics over 40 years ago he entered in 178 so we're going to see every difficult challenge for me it in to be able to move the country forward. several actresses have walked out of the french film awards suff the roman polanski won the says ol prize for best director he's wanted in the us for the statutory rape of a 13 year old a 977 he did not attend the event because of protests against him outside the venue in paris 87 year olds latest film an officer in the spy had 12 nominations it was until a board stepped down this month partly because of the backlash of the policies nominations . this is al jazeera and these are the top stories after 18 months of talks in doha and almost 2 decades of war the u.s. and the taliban are due to sign a deal shortly and differing coniston it's hoped it will lead to the withdrawal of

foreign troops a summer been devalued has the latest from the venue here in doha with the signing is due to take place while the secretary of state to my comp ill has arrived in doha he will be part of the ceremony which is being hailed as a historic moment for a lasting solution for peace in afghanistan although it is early days and there is a lot of cautious optimism here in the country capital but people are seeing this as an important 1st step remember this is a process which started with a merciful being alive in 2010 it's taken 10 years for the u.s. and taliban to come to some sort of an agreement for not just reduction of violence but also a reduction of the u.s. troops in afghanistan thousands of people have gathered at turkey's land border with greece after turkey said it would no longer hold back refugees this couple though their arch bucks. turkey is not receiving any support nor are the refugees

we will open our borders for the refugees to flee into europe and as we speak 18000 people have crossed the border and by the end of today 25000 will cross into europe and from the stay on we will not close our border simply because the e.u. has not fulfilled the promises it made we will do all we can until we went in spite . there's been another spike in corona virus cases in iran as infections continue to climb outside of china iranian state t.v. reported another $295.00 new infections in just 24 hours a jump from the previous tally of 3889 new deaths were reported. as the headlines and news continues here after inside story stay with us.

retaliates not the syrian as strikes killed dozens all of its soldiers syrian government positions have been attacked but there's also a threat from ankara to renege on a deal with the e.u. brand let refugees cross into europe this trigger another humanitarian crisis this is inside story. however and i'm come all santamaria it is the biggest single day loss of turkish soldiers in syria's civil war 33 of them killed on thursday by government airstrikes in which of course we know is the last rebel held province in the country and turkey's retaliate.