me down. no one's focusing on and that's the concern. there it is which is the davis teams done. so continuing and no one key sex. just hours after south africa's president said on friday night that com had been restored. this market was fireball bernard smith. i'll just sarah durban, south africa. ah, hello there. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines, western europe's flooding, crisis escalating and spreading further with heavy rainfall and parts of eastern germany now and austria, at least $183.00 people are confronted so far. that total is expected to increase as water levels drop. natasha butler is in the edge with the latest on search and rescue efforts in belgium. it has been no rain now for a couple of days and the water has receded and more that is meant is it. emergency

workers have been able to access many areas that were previously inaccessible because of course the water met, the roads were blocked, vehicles couldn't pass. and what the emergencies have has been doing is basically going from house to house and from the worst areas to see if there are any survivors. now that could be possible, they say, because you could have some people, a frail, often the elderly who rushed up to the 2nd or 3rd floors in their home and have been stuck there ever since. often without communication because electricity was caught in many areas in many villages and in many neighborhoods. well, meanwhile, lance lives in india's financial capital have caused several houses to collapse, killing at least 25 people rescue as fear more people could be trapped in the debris. in one bye and one neighborhood, half a dozen shacks collapsed on top of each other. 2 athletes have tested positive for the corona virus inside the took care william pic village on saturday,

and i see member who is also inside the vintage was confirmed to have the virus. the pandemic delayed games are due to officially open on friday. the leader of the taliban says the group, faith is a political settlement to the conflict and kind of strong even as it continues to make military advances, which will arkansas de also says the taliban wants to establish political and economic relations with the international community, including the u. s. representatives of the group meeting an african government delegation and catholics capital. though. the u. s. is accusing iran of what it's calling an outrageous effort to deflect blame for stalling the latest round of nuclear talks around chief negotiator announced that future talks in vienna would have to wait until the new iranian administration takes office next month. efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal i've been on hold now almost a month. well there is the headline. so me more news here. after talked to al jazeera, something was going to change. anything really changed,

this is the dam. make violin that needs to be addressed at its core. we are in a race against the barrier and know what to say. so we are all saying we're looking at the world as it is right now, not the world. we like it to be. the devil is always going to be in the details. the bottom line when i was just there on me, the have going on. i think conflicts are more than 40 years from the soviet invasion of the late 970 to the rise of the taliban. and the 1990. and of course, the us invasion of 2001 the decades of to moral have led to securing division, political instability and cost countless lives. international plays from the region and beyond have made several attempts to bring peace and stability to afghanistan. the united states has played a central role afghan born american diplomat, so may have been leading that if it since 2018. and they also had put much of his

focus on negotiations between the us and telephone and then talks between the afghan government and the taliban, which were mostly held face to face and cut off. but as the us military ended mission and afghan, what's the future of these talks and what role the us play moving forward? the us special representative for afghan, a stone reconciliation. so my little dad talks to al jazeera ah, us special representative fm reconciliation and best of all my hello said thank you for talking to al jazeera. great to be with you. i would like to go back in time with the upcoming 20th anniversary of 911. do you remember that day specifically? oh yes, i remember it very well. i was on my way to the staff meeting that condi rice, who was the national security advisor. i what the under her as

a special assistant president bush, the 1st plane at the head, the 1st tower. and we all thought that maybe playing lost its way with an accident. and then as the meeting started, an officer from the communication room walked into the situation room, where we had that staff meeting and i was sitting to the left of candy. you said a 2nd plane as had a 2nd hour heard the 2nd tower. and she stood up close the book and walked out there and we all rushed behind her literally that day. and the events associated with it also changed my life in a funded mental way that i'm still in some ways dealing with.

so was i remember very vividly and as the person who was born in afghanistan, you're in quite a unique position, providing the text originated from your homeland and you're in the white house. yes . but bread and bush said to me at one point that if i could quote him, that may be god that the hand and this that i was there this time. and someone more than enough canister on who knew a lot about the african situation and leaders because i had also worked with the united states when the soviet invaded afghanistan. and i was helping on behalf of the united states, the resistance movement to the soviet and, and now again, we are in the situation where major external power is departing.

afghanistan. the question is, will the african repeat the mistake that they made after the soviet departure or learn from it? come together and agree on a formula that respects that there are differences of opinion or views or values or ideologies. but yet the citizens, they can compete, band cooperate and where that is difference of view, it can be resolved politically, not by force of arm or one side given itself the right because of its ideology that should be imposed on on others. that hasn't work, that didn't work the last time, it won't work this time. so my hope is that the africans, the african leaders, do not repeat the mistake that they did the last time. and you don't believe you're

leaving a power vacuum this time. well, we are, which is different this time, which we didn't with what then happened at that time. and because of the, what we learned, we, as the united states learned from that period was to have a peace process as we were drawing and to support that piece process to bring the warring parties and turn a rewarding parties to the negotiating table. which it, this is the 1st time and the 40 plus years of war in afghanistan, that there warning afghan parties are sitting across the table. when the soviet withdrawal happened. the african warring party didn't talk to each other. the agreement was signed between the government in kabul and pakistan, not with them which i have been. and this time it's a ton of one, is one warring party and that is a republic, the government and they are, they are here in doha negotiating. so we,

we, and i sense a learned and i hope i can really, there's, with, with, with learned also the right less and rather repeating the past mistakes. these talks, you speak off, have been ongoing for almost a year now and i've made very little progress. what do you put that down to who's putting on the brakes? well, i think the both sides, i've had there are periods of issues. but we have tried to accelerate negotiations. we. i agree with you that it's not made to kind of progress. it should have made, given the amount of time the past. we believe that there should be a mediator facilitator in the room when needed. this hasn't been the case

for the last period. the has been very little facilitation and no mediation. we think that the skills of the united nations, that capability should be brought to bear to help carter in terms of moving the process forward. we believe we also encourage the leaders to more senior level meetings to take place as for decisions to be made. when we ever, when presented a plan and not that it should be se, impose on the 2 sides, but to get them to focus on korea shoes. and we're working very closely with other countries. those cuts are of course, but also with that allies even with the so russians and chinese and buxton is trying to we have a u. s. europe group who we work with the neighbors except for iran because of our

relations, where we don't, we don't work with iran or iran doesn't. and iran hasn't decided yet to join one of these groups. such a strike in particular. so weird doing our best then we are constantly looking at what else could be done and to accelerate, there's a famous taliban saying that you may have the watches we have the time, right. do you think they've been counting down the clock on you? well we, they were talking about us, the west, but now they're talking. we're living so it's whatever watches and time to have it with each other. and the question is the same, that they're all afghans. there is no foreigner now to blame out of your military withdrawal was based on the in partaking and meaningful negotiations with the government, which hasn't happened. well, no, we decided to, to, to leave regardless, based on a calendar,

we could have decided and the agreement was more of a condition based agreement that 4 elements and they were related to each other. but ultimately, the president of the united states decided to leave based on a calendar. and maybe that more than the polyps to, to think that, you know, now they can do with military. but that would be a mistake when they have, they have tripled by most independent analysts say they've tripled a number of districts they control since april. make sure they say they control 85 percent of the country. that must be incredibly concerned because that's only happened in a matter of months. well, i think you should be always suspicious of numbers when warring parties give her, as you should add truth at sometimes the 1st casual of the war. so,

but they have made significant progress. there's no doubt about that. but nevertheless, i believe that there is no ultimately a military solution that olive can now impose themselves by monopolizing power. because if they do that, certainly we will not recognize that government even some of the countries are recognized them the last time they were in government are now saying no, the dads would not be acceptable. and the dollar say they want, they won't do that. they want that inclusive government and government that respects the rights of all africans. they need to demonstrate that and the, an agreement with other afghans. you say there's no military solution by your c smith. would it be fair to say, based off the territory grain games that the taliban have made over recent months?

they're essentially tightening the nurse on the gulf and surrounding all these provincial capitals, putting themselves in a better position to negotiate and get their way at the table. perhaps it's not a military solution that they take over the whole country, but it definitely puts them in a stronger position, gaining mr. tree. yeah, they are in a stronger position than they were. couple and no doubt about that. but they are also more vulnerable in many ways and, and they have to provide for all these places. now they have responsibility for how good they're going to do that. they are, they could be or extended waters, unpredictable to could take different turns. but right now there are 2 major forces sitting across the table. the country could fragment, there could be 4 or 5 entities that could ultimately emerge from this,

complicating negotiations a lot further. and i believe that for have counted some to work. the government has to be inclusive, meaning that all major ethnic groups should see themselves and the picture and the government to and the rights of all afghans after be respected. that means that if women are to discriminate against assistance, kennesaw will need internationally total amount one or live rich though, do you have left with the military leaving to ensure what you're saying? diplomatic gains, women's rights insured. full recognition is a leverage. assistance is a leverage potential support for opponents as a leverage. i mean, i could go on non, i, it will be a mistake by the dollars the thank the, with the military, the leverage gone. the military was also

a leverage for them out of military. they had a target to head, but now we've taken that out of the picture too. so we have more freedom. in some ways it would be a miscalculation of they thought that they can, they can rule afghan has done be accepted, received assistance that they will need have by imposing by military means there will or their government that they would want and to monopolize political power in afghanistan and not to respect the rights of all afghans and not to honor their commitment that the soil of afghan, his son would not be used against the united states. they say they want to welcome aspirations to have good relations with the united states. they say that aspirations to good relations with the neighbors, that aspiration to be a normal country. they say they have lots of problems internally. a country had

been at water for a long time or friends with those infrastructure to tell us that financial assistance and legitimacy from other regional players. where if a wrong china, russia could come into the mix and say, don't worry about the united states in the waste, have to do what they want you to do some money and will be i life? well, i would say 2 things about that. one is, those were the resources and with a record to provide assistance, are not the countries you have named regard to afghanistan and the last 20 years. and some of them, their ability to provide is limit that given their own circumstances and some of them, their records, even though they have the ability to be generous. his, his not dare 2nd. i don't think that's an issue

in this case because that is really a consensus in the international community. you expects the taliban to be accounted terrorism partner against groups like iso. and you've quoted in the past ronald reagan trust, but verify. how have you verify that they will be an honest counter terrorism. paula: oh we obviously have our own sources and we monitor the situation closely. and this is obviously the most important issue for the united states and allies with regard to afghan. this done, that's what doug. i say that we started this interview with $911.00 and that took the us and us forces to go to afghanistan. and the dollar bon made commitments under the agreement. and as our withdrawl was

linked to the commitment on terrorism, and that we hold them accountable to that and we'll, we'll be watching. and as i said, because of lack of trust, this point, that's why we're doing the kind of repositioning assets so that we're able to monitor and strike there'll be some loss since we are not in afghanistan, but we're trying to compensate for that to be able to monitor and respond and if taliban do deliver and trust is built based on delivery, then some of that ever it will become necessary. but at this point it is not enough confidence and trust. so as a result we are doing what we're doing. you've spent a lot of time building relationships in central asia. as part of this monitoring,

do you expect to have say, regional basis and central asia that will help you with the term that's been used as an over the horizon capability? can you explain what that means? and what that looks like. well, as i said, we use monitor. i've kennesaw from afghanistan by being there. now we're not going to be there militarily. and how do we monitor, have janice done? we do it from the neighborhood and we do it from our global systems. and in the neighborhood, we have relations with some countries and we're building relations in that domain with others. and we also want to be able to respond to take action if it's warranted. can i just confirms or over the over the horizon

capabilities where you could strike inside afghanistan from another country that is purely reserved for if there was a threat to the us homeland or americans as opposed to if say the telephone decided to move on cities and to prevent capitals and to cobble at that point, you wouldn't strike yes we, our over arise in posture is to deal with the threat of terrorism emanating from afghanistan. have you discuss what the threshold is for you to take military action in the near future? i'm using the example of, if you are embassy came on the threat in cobble. what would you reengage militarily? well, that's a cause. same mrs. us territory. that's a 3. well, i mean, we will defend the embassy. of course we, we, we have made,

we have told the dollar that the embassy is anything else or if they came in to cobble, well, i don't want to get into that because scenarios and speculate. of course, you know, the president would have to make decisions and we always have a lot of options. but, and we're not, i'm not going to speculate, but no, our focus post withdrawal will be as it is now to, to encourage a political settlement. use an influence with others to encourage aft cash to do that for the longer term until it becomes unnecessary with trust building and actions that have can stake to that. that is not there. a thread, we also are going to monitor and pasture to, to defend ourselves, to,

and deal with the threat. you have approximately 650 troops remaining in country at the moment. a couple of 100 of those currently at couple international airport. the conversation going on at the moment, the tween, your discussions with nato allies, turkey to secure the airport. now, the taliban have been quite forceful and that if turkish troops or your troops remain after september, that they will be open to attack. where are you out with that now? well, you know the embassy securities as critical. we've had terrible experiences with in been ghazi when our embassy was attacked there on we have the read see in pucks than burned it, sir. very,

very important. there are lots of terrorist or others who may not wish as well. so if the thought to say they would like in the united states and other stuff that embassies stay, well, it would, if they mrs days, that embassy needs to be secure. that's the we have to be able to reliably count on security for the embassy and there are some about, appreciate that they're happy for them. well, they say they want they in busy, and that's what comes with that with regard to the airport. yes. and embassies and then, and they say they want n g o, they want the business people, they want the assistance to continue. wow. you can do what was the thing that there is no airport. they will not stay open. if there is no airport from us, can go and supplies and what have you. so that is a need for

a reliable layer for it's secure also, and it is for the peer, yet it's not an indefinite situation. is for the parent of the water resolve that is a political settlement. the telephone had said that they wanted to tech the airport that they were, they weren't send any rockets, it say, sure. but it won't be safe if turkish or american troops stay to quote unquote protect it. well, the question is, there are 2 for one. can we count on the dollar stating that they want? well then everybody that flies in their airlines find that enough and to tolerate or not the only element they don't, they are northern cobble. they're di, she is active in college. we. we've seen lots of terrible attacks and cobble

against she as our target. they are trying to promote tech, darian conflict against the maternal hospital against the university who said they won't try to target the airport. the purpose is to instigate intensify problems, polarize the situation. so the tunnels can guarantee that they are not in a position to guarantee that surely the f t that they have for its african government by itself could guarantee they will ask for help from chuck. it's not that they are asking, they are asking for turkey. it's based on the agreement between the government and will be and turkey. so dollars, good, maybe say something about the district that they are in charge of, that it will be no problem here or there. but there,

and kabul is very different set of circumstances. i mean, we all of our wishlist and our things ought to be and those expectations based on the standards of the past, but an attack on the airport with all obviously by them with severe consequences and my it's not by expectation that they will do that. okay. us special representative for africa reconciliation ambassador, so my legal said, thank you for talking. tell you sarah, was straight to the news the striker in the tell the tale in the what the voted to the working class of his hometown under the club bullying legend at canton. introduces his

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away. i've been covering all of latin america for most of my career, but no country is alike. and it's my job to shed light on how and why a western europe flooding crisis spreads to new regions. after more than a 180 people are killed in germany and belgium. ah, hello, i'm just tells you, hey, this is out there, live from home also coming up. the taliban supreme leader says he wants a political settlement to the conflict in afghanistan as peace talks. continue and done a lot.