it they once decorated beneath palace, commissioned by ancient kings to remember their predecessors. the city was attacked and the palace ransacked in 18. 97. the king had refused to recognise britain's claim on west africa. while 2 items are being returned, 900 pieces remain in the british museum in london, and the people have been in city or waiting for their return. andrew chappelle al jazeera ah i looked at the main stories now. the well health organization is criticized wealthy nations, offering vaccine based as to their citizens, while millions around the world a yet have their 1st dose. a groups director general says the pandemic is going to continue until vaccines are equally distributed around the world. and there are warnings, the only con, vary is now spreading at an unprecedented rate or micron is spreading at

a rate we have not seen was any previous variant. we're concerned that people are dismissing or me chron, meeker on as mild. surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus that our purdue, even if or me, kron does cause less severe dishes. the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems. i need to be very clear vaccines our lawn will not get any country out of this crisis. countries con n must prevent the spread of all me crone with measures that work today the exile but a rational position. it is fed on a chicken of sky as told al jazeera. she is devastated after husband was sentenced to 18 years in prison. said hey, chica new sky was found guilty of organizing mass unrest and inciting,

social hatred, charges he denies. he was detained, a protest last may be prepared to run against alexander lucas shanker. in the presidential election haitian authority say at least 60 people have been killed. off to a petrol truck exploded. dozens of others were injured in the blast in the city of compassion. several houses reported we caught fire as a result of the explosion. and the governor of the state of kentucky saying it could take a week to know exactly how many people were killed after fridays tornadoes. so far east $88.00 people are known to have died across 5 states, including $74.00 in kentucky alone. more than a 100 people are still unaccounted for. those the headlines this hour, the stream is coming up next. me

ah ah, for me. okay, you're watching the stream on today's episode where checking in on afghanistan where 80 percent of the country is impacted by drought. the economy is flailing due to sanctions on employment is on the rise. salaries aren't being paid and millions of people are facing food insecurity. they will go hungry this winter. there is so much to talk about all their solutions. this is what i want you to be part of our program. you can ask our panel anything to do with afghanistan. i know they will do their best to answer you, but your comments right here in the comment sake should be part of today's showed.

ah and meet our panel ali shelly silla mind so good to happy on the stream alley. welcome back. please remind out what is who you are, what you do. i'm ali, let me free. i am the online correspondent for al jazeera english covering of august on get to have you. hello, shelly, welcome back to the stream. remind audience who you are and what you day should will i will listen for afghanistan based to cobble yet to have. you still are welcome to the stream. introduce yourself. try international audience. yours, solomon. hello, i'm still. i'm on been sure. i was the ministry of industry in commerce until august, 15 this year of honest i'm, i'm going to start guess with deborah lyons. she's the un secretary general, special representative for afghanistan. i want to ask you what you feel is the most

pressing problem. challenge to afghanistan is facing right now. this is deborah lyons and she points her finger at the economy. let's have a look better valesa. the financial sanctions applied to afghanistan have paralyzed the banking system, affecting every aspect of the economy. g d p, as contracted by an estimated 40 per cent cash is severely limited. traders cannot obtain letters of credit. people who have worked and saved for years cannot access their savings. civil servants salaries cannot be paid in full if at all. hospitals are running out of medicine and turning away patients. prices have gone up as goods have become scarcer, instituting a punishing tax on the poorest and most vulnerable afghans. that is quite a list of the impact of sanctions. alley is that way you would start

a conversation today? is that the biggest, most pressing issue? the sanctions on afghanistan. yes, and i think miss lions actually put it perfectly, you know, all of the points that she had a prove. it shows exactly what has happened and only 4 or 5 months time. and the other thing that we have to point out is that she made the statement that the united nations and many of the bodies and nations involved in the decision that led to be sanction, were in attendance at the united nations, are members of the united nations are affiliated with the united nations, and yet it seems like all of these calls are falling on deaf ears. you know, i, she said this has amounted to attacks on the poorest people. it's not the told on leadership but suffering. you know, the whole about leadership lived for years and don't with no problems. they lived into by their families, lived into by. they had shelter need on, they had shelter and focused on they had no problems financially and they have no problems financially now. but the people have problems financially and waterfront

currently are the citizens of the sun, including what would have been called the quote unquote middle class. only 6 months ago. it's the pores of the poor and even people, people like silly mom who would have had like, stable, you know, decent jobs of some kind of an income. now, you know, they don't know, you know, how much longer they can afford to feed their families or pay their rent, send them and you, you better speak up, i'll put you into the station. go ahead. thanks for 1st of all, thanks for having me. of the, the list of problems that, you know, i mentioned in the report and now by ali, i think his experience every day by everybody in of, honest. and i've been speaking to many different people across of, on his phone for the last 4 months. and the list of issues that come to us every day is sometimes beyond imagination. it's the people who had the end of the day or suffering political decisions made in a ball, though ha, washington, d, c,

and many other capitals of the world. and in that kind of a has as developed this new conversation outside on the speed it up. people almost discussing whether we really need international relations, whether we really need engagement when the international community that the peace agreement signed in doha would result in to something like this. at the humanitarian catastrophe that you can see in of harness that we are experiencing enough on his don is unfortunately in idly disgrace to the blood of mar tires, to the blood of people. of precious lives that we have lost in the last 20 years. whether the american lives, the african lives or any other lives or who were sacrificed in the last one years. so it's i believe in right now, or whenever there is a talk and people try to hide the real problem of, you know, people suffering in of honest on which was in the past. and we have so many

challenges in the future without keeping that in consideration. in just focusing on political objectives makes it very, very hopeless for the of one nation. and fortunate shalley i've, i've got 2 thoughts i want to share with you, then you can bounce off them with what you're looking at right now in afghanistan, one of our food programs to back here on my laptop. i've got martin on twitter. money says, i don't see the usa suspending e l because at the end of the day, it's not the taliban who are suffering. they are starving innocent people that's happening now. and then i'm going to go to lecture at the university of afghanistan, who is working to bring food aid to people in afghanistan, have a listen to what he has to say. and then i'd love you to pick up and meet me afterwards. we've started a food distribution campaign initially and cobble and then in provinces all around a finest on our goal is to help families get through the difficult time. that's the

famine that up on his thumbs, currency facing. we're trying to provide food that helps mothers and children to avoid malnourishment and starvation. but it's dawning upon us that is smart enough no matter what we do. unless the pilot one in the international community find their common humanity and understand that there is no politics that justifies this large scale of suffering. yeah, don't punish children, and it's an economic re full. and this catastrophe is the economy disintegrates. we've seen the currency drop by 25 percent bread. the cost of bread, it has doubled. that's a staple diet for families. we off w p. the whirlpool program has 15000000 people this year. we have to scale up to 23000000 people in 2022. it's winter. it's cold. when we meet people i was

something bad actually last week i met a farmer who told me i've lived through 19 governments. 19 governments. but i've never seen a day where it's so hard on me and my family, and this is, this was his birth time wade he'd needed support from the world through program. so his family have been affected by war. they've been affected by the drought. and now by the economic crisis, i asked him, well, surely this piece now, right? isn't that better? he looked at me and he said, what i'm facing at this moment, this hunger not being able to foot food in front of my family. the war was probably better alley. i'm just looking at a post that you shared on twitter and it sir. it sir. a website that i recommended her in a twitter feed. i recommend everybody look at could every day kandahar say this is very common site in afghan cities in couple people began doing this along some of

the busiest streets back in august. and now we're in december. so he is this man. he selling the last few bits and pieces in his house to feed his family. and you say, this is common. how common is allie? it's unbelievably common. you know, it's when i was still in the m or it, you know, up until mid september, every street you would go on the biggest neighborhood. and cobble there would be people, you know, there would be the side of the street. there would be refrigerators and microwaves . and vacuum cleaners, and dishes and knives and forks and rugs and carpets just whatever people could find they were selling. and the one thing that i pointed out about that picture from everyday con, dodd, is. if you look at it, it's the bare bones left in his house. it's the most simple, most basic objects, you know, these weren't the refrigerators, these weren't a flat screen tv. these were the, you know, the rugs and the carpets. these were like the most basic essential pencils,

the most basic supply. so what does that say? it says that he's down to the very last things in his house and be that he probably didn't have very much to begin with. because all of these problems that we're talking about, they existed over the last 20 years. but what's happened is that now they've compounded and they've sort of went into overdrive in just 4 months time. you know, the economy was already in shambles that was already artificial. and then when you take away all of the, for the money and all of the aid, this is what you get. you get people selling literally the most basic supplies in their house to try and feed their children to sell the steam off the i m. s. about withholding money, and this is what they told us. i'm going to share part of this statement with you. i'm sure you're familiar with with was certain big organizations who previously put money into afghanistan. how are withdrawing it right now. as is always the case, the i m f is guided by the views of the international community. this continues to

be a lack of clarity within the international community regarding recognition of a government in afghanistan, our engagement remains paused. sullivan. i think this is a perfect example of what i wanted to say earlier that we have reached a point the of the nation has reached your point. where believe me or not, we just don't want any engagement anymore. i mean, what, what did they engage been brought us in the 1st place in a we or the avalon people are now blame that, you know? simply because they could not get up stairs. you know, they could not get up against the car or and taliban. the, the concord of honest on province by province. and finally came to an end finally into the cap, the, the presidential palace. and somehow, i think the international community now expects that, you know, we would have the us forces were here. other nations were here,

the duper matic phones personnel was here. your melodies were here and everything was happening right in front of our eyes. i simply remember august 15th, when i was getting out of the palace and i was making my way in the may. hm. back to my office, i think i can recall every single thing that i just said to you. we had an agreement seen, we saw an agreement in 2018 where thought bon, safe with the americans. tough negotiation staff negotiations for all parties involved. i believe was a rec ignition when they signed the piece deal. it was a recognition in that in that time. and, and, and so everything that followed is basically implementation of that document. if you look in referred to that document and we don't even know what the attic sees had but, but in my view, that was kind of recognition and whatever, you know happened often that augustine was,

was something probably unimaginable. i agree, you know, everybody knows this. everybody agrees to it, but there was some power sharing the agreement already agreed by the international community for thought about. so now seeing that there is absolutely no international recognition or something of the sort. i think this, this can be just a political excuse, but nothing gets shuttle or at the welfare program. you are really adroit at working in politically. i want to put this carefully, politically sensitive areas because you don't care. you just want to get through to people who really need it. some money has been released. the welfare programs are getting some money. how are you operating within this? i can, i say, no man's land of politics. geopolitics. that is happening around afghanistan, which is shut down a lot of the funding that you normally would have been able to count on the people

conversed and w p on the ground we've been here for 60 years. we work nonstop relentlessly, round the clock across all 34 provinces. we've got food already. preposition because of the winter, so we know when our roads get cut off because of snow, we'll be able to get to people. when we do receive funds are often what we do is some of it's in kind and so we buy the food and the food comes in. and then that's taken to people who need our emergency assistance the most. um. so what we're seeing now is being able to use also cash. obviously cash is important. the people in afghanistan and anywhere in the world, it's dignity, it's choice. they can, they can go to a shop, they can use vouchers, and we use, we do work with certain banking systems here as well. but what we, we have such generous donors. it's incredible people who look to the local food program, look to the humanitarian crisis and say, what can we do? what do you need?

we need $220000000.00 a month and 2022 to be people. that is, that money is huge. but if you think about it, a $100.00 per person, that's all it takes to make sure that we avert a crisis and nobody stops. and we make sure that especially the women who have been traumatized by this crisis, they come to you and they look at you. one woman at one of our distribution sites came to me. she showed me her hands that cracked because she washes hands foot, probably less than a 100 afghani a week. and she had 6 children and she said to me, i want to die. i haven't eaten for 2 days. i don't know what to feed my children. i can't pay my rent what, what, you know, what, what's was leading to audience i, i want to give you a reality check from the afghanistan operations coordinator for m s f. they spoke

to us a little bit earlier and just reminded us that sometimes the infrastructure of an amazon is not particularly robust. so then when you add an economic sanctions on top of that, what are the people going to do? let's take a look at the health system. this is there was a re re week lucky resources. it was completely dependent on foreign aid. and today, since that they call her because of the sanctions and the decisions from the donor to put on money support to the country. for this problems has been made more actually today, winter is coming. it is urgent with. ready for me to take out every barriers on organized since august in order to avoid the humanitarian crisis in the meeting. i think

this conversation is almost unbearable. it must be unbearable if you're a citizen of afghanistan just to listen to. well, we've got winter, we've got a house system that's collapsing, people aren't being paid, the list goes on and on and on. how are people that you're speaking to? how are they even managing they're not, they feel like they're treading water, you know, and this is something that's very important to understand is that interval on a, on a special, over the last 20 years. there has always, unfortunately, been massive poverty. you know, the systems never fully reach those most in need, but now we have a situation where it's those people that unfortunately have always suffered for the last 20 years. and then people who, as i said earlier, had some kind of economic advancement, had some level of a stable life who are literally wondering how long they can survive. because their cash is running out. and when your cash runs out and one on,

i don't care who you are, you're broke, you know, because in, i've honest on cash is everything that's, that's how you pay for everything. that's how you live, that's how you survive. and what's most upsetting and it goes back to it. so the mono thing earlier is that, you know, all of these countries are meeting with the taller bond. they're sending their ambassadors, they're sending the representative. the u. s. is flying to know how to meet with the taller bond, and yet they say we don't want to engage with them. well, if you're talking to them, how is that not engagement, but also fine? you don't want to engage them. you don't want to recognize them. don't, but in 5 months you haven't figured out a single way to make sure that the most the most in need people, the most. i imagine this woman coming and saying, i want to die. you know, she has children. that's the most honest law make on avalon thing to say, but it's a thing out of desperation. yeah. you know, and it's been 5 months later and none of these countries and the

e u and the u. s. and all these places cannot figure out how to deliver a to people. i want to, i want bringing a president of france and he, because he also sounds a little bit confused. but he was trying to bring some clarity to the situation in afghanistan. so this is him talking in doha, on december 4th, they just a couple of days ago here is not present as shown or do years if it started on a new thomas a domino or fishy saunter, behind organisers from members of your project for your bill. you're not, not up hoffa for 2 o'clock, nor the condition to restock or if you knew me or on on. but if you look on the security needed of ours had come out of resumes over bill total with the st. francis early as i think pleasure to have been talking about european country did not sitting wait for them to leave the magically present. all are gonna stand without extending full recognition to the taliban government. it's like, well, we want to be in, but we don't want to support the taliban government, assuming you've been talking about this for, for the whole of this program is like,

hey, how can you do a bit of recognizing but not fully recognizing must be very frustrating for you, can i show you 2 headlines? both of them can be true at the same time, but i think this is probably but what, what is holding up some of the international aid? so taliban rule marked by killings, litany of abuses, coding to the un. and then also from the taliban taliban forced marriage of women in afghanistan, that is now banned in towns of the human rights women's rights girls rights in afghanistan. right now, do you feel that there is enough that's happening, that will unlock funds that should be going to people in afghanistan? so i'll have a very franky, a doubt, shading with you. when i was the deputy minister was also responsible for our affairs in the world trade organization and it wilfred organization of

understanding this is the least developing country. and so our entire trade agenda was, was, was revolving around those ecosystems that we had to develop held education of access to finance. so it's emmys and businesses can grow. and so many other things. now, when we talk about the stoppage or pause in the development in progress of all these ecosystem, including access to education, whether girls or boys, whether in cobbled or revolted diaz, health services, any single step that we could take in a one can argue that the last 20 years, we had so many other problems like corruption and there was no progress to all that we ideally wanted. i agree with them. sure, we were not perfect, but we're, we're, we're a tiny steps that we were taking. we're not taking them anymore, and it's painful it all levels. yes, you know, you could see the, if you,

if you see it is milestones of commitments made between all the barn in the, in the international community. sure. a did, but there is still a certain segment of, of young girls that cannot go to the schools. so, so if we have to do comparisons, i think again, the problem is with the west to see of harnessed on from the lenses that they have in their capitals. but on the ground, you know, things are not really white and black. you know, there's so many shades in, there's so many grays that one have to consider and one has to accumulate on all the positives and leave out all the negatives. if you ask me, what's the best thing that has happened often balaban some, i would simply say just one thing in the security, i can travel to any corner of, of honest thunder freely. but apart from that, there is absolutely nothing from anybody. the taller barn,

the international community, the previous leadership, everybody involved in the affairs of, of understand whether they being neighbors or an international community or organizations are responsible for what we are witnessing enough on it. this is not just a, something caused by but, but one individual organization, everybody involved, including me, including the previous government, you know, sort of responsible for why you were not prepared for the situation like this. why there was no discussion about economics, education rights. and so many other things, when the peace negotiations were happening, when the power sharing agreement was done it out, i think it was pretty late. i would like for a allow you to, to take actions. i so that i like the way to paint afghanistan as being tons of gray. we got that exact response from the director, the couple institute,

the piece from the asked him earlier. how is afghanistan being government right now? this is what he told us. i think it will be slightly unfair to judge whether it's color one or able to manage the you in a tavian disaster than the comic meltdown that we faced with it right now. he ran dennis. ah, because i simply, i believe that they both external factors. one is that the assets of the central bank $9200000000.00 have been frozen. and number 2 is that the afghanistan, the fact to taliban regime is on the us sanctions. so therefore this has caused the situation that we ran right now. i'll leave you with a comment from the chief. this is cathy, what's the point of international humanitarian agencies? if they choose, whether to help or not, a country needs help. the main focus shippy on humanity. the need right now is life,

not choosing sides. thanks to watching fancy chick comments. i see you next time, phil. amanda. ali shelly printing it. ah. do you want a bank that puts the expat back into expertise? need bank business banking strikes to give you a team of specialists who provide expert advice and relevant solutions for your business to guide your group during these unprecedented times. so in an ever changing business world, do you want a bank that takes you money or a bank that takes your money seriously? search need bank bigger picture business banking?

blue. i've come back to sarajevo to revisit the fascinating part of calcium history. they were crazy, creative, even visionary. they were top lester, not realistic. it was them as a child during and just pops of people still love them. it was basically too bad to be true. what they were predicting can comment to heal ethnic divisions and national tensions that exist in both of you today. once upon a time in sarajevo on al jazeera, it's the political debris show that's challenging the way you think. have agencies fail hating the situation, is was that it was before the discipline found both and digging into the issue is a military advancement going to stop the fan that ticket i is on that company to drive people out of very, how will private migration differ for those who have in those who don't have lot of countries see, we will pay poor countries to keep refugees there. a park with me,

mark lamond hill on al jazeera. what we do, and i'll just, sarah, is try to balance this story. and he's the people who allow us into their lives, dignity, and humanity. ah, hello, i'm mary. i'm to mozy in london. our main story this our, the world health organization is criticized wealthy countries for offering vaccine boosters to their citizens. while millions of people around the world a yet to have their 1st dose is comes, is there a warnings? the only con varied is spreading at an unprecedented rate. here in the u. k. infections and our doubling every 2 days. all bad reports from london in europe, the jobs are going into people's arms as fast as they can be unpacked. walden, half a 1000000 booster shots were administered in the u. k. in just one day.