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tv   Afghanistan and the US  BBC News  January 16, 2021 6:45pm-7:01pm GMT

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in a resolution. all this comes against the backdrop of a significant surge in violence. dozens of afghans are being killed every day. the conflict has resulted in acute poverty and hunger. there are fears that once all international forces leave, the taliban might be back in power in the country. i met afghanistan's vice president amrullah saleh and began by asking him if this was the right time for us troops to be leaving. we believe the mission is not accomplished, but if they decide to leave, we respect their decision. but you wouldn't be asking for them to stay? not necessarily, we would ask them to respect their agreements with us, they have signed a strategic partnership agreement with us and they have
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signed a bilateral security agreement with us. based on that, they have to give notice to the afghan government, and work with the afghan government on a proper and disciplined exit. what do you mean when you say that they're leaving before accomplishing the objectives they set out? taliban have not separated themselves from al-qaeda, even after the us envoy signed an agreement with them in doha. months later, with assistance of the us, together with them, we killed one al-qaeda leader. he was inside a taliban command compound. we killed two al-qaeda members, both on the blacklist of the cia. they were again embedded with the taliban. which means, without putting a proper counterterrorism verification mechanism, just accepting the verbal assurance of the taliban
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that they won't be with the global terror networks, it will be a mistake, that's one. secondly, the question is not the fate of afghanistan, the question is the fate, reputation and standing the western civilisation. they came to assist a small country to prevail against terrorism, against radicalism and al-qaeda affiliates. they should ask themselves the question, what was their mission? but if we put a common checklist, their mission is not accomplished. but even as you say that the taliban has link to al-qaeda, your government is also speaking to them right now in doha. right, we're not taking it as easy as the
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us negotiating team. that's why the taliban hate us, because we fly in their face hard evidence of where they are working with global terrorist networks, where they are siding with regional terrorist networks, where they have factories and how they are lying to the afghan people and to the world. we say sovereignty belongs to the people, is vested in the public and is expressed through election. the taliban says sovereignty belongs to god and god entrusts this to the most pious person. if you decode their message, they are pursuing a clerical dictatorship. so agreeing with taliban is agreeing to an installation of a clerical dictatorship. no—one can impose
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this on us, no—one. with or without the world, we will not sell our souls, we will resist. but in afghanistan there has been a massive investment of the whole world. it's not just material investment, it's emotional investment, it's political investment, it's reputational investment. why shall we sacrifice it to appease a terrorist group? our aim to talk to the taliban is to offer them a chance of becoming mainstream and leave violence, but we are not providing them easy terms as the us negotiators have offered them, no. so you think the us has made a mistake by the taliban? i think the way they conducted
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the talks with the taliban. the outreach itself was not a mistake, but the massive concession so far given to them was a mistake. the us delegation came to us, they swore to every holy scripture that if you release these 5,000 people, based on these assurances, there will be no violence, but the taliban in order to protect their prestige with their fighters, they will not announce it. we told them at the highest level that this is our intelligence and it indicates otherwise. if we do this, violence will spike. violence spiked. why did we give that concession? in return for absolutely nothing. so again, what is it that you would like to, because there's a new us administration that's coming in later this month. what would you like to say to them? we want the united states to define its interest. what is the interest of the united states? we will respect that definition. we are begging no—one.
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we are thankful to everyone for their assistance, but we are begging to no one. how worried do you think global powers should be about the threat of al-qaeda? very deeply, very deeply. if they withdraw prematurely, they can put any title on their withdrawal and exit but there's also a title that the terror groups will put on their withdrawal — defeat, surrender and escape. it's up to them to choose. if we prevail and we have a settlement, that's one thing, but if we don't have a settlement and they leave, the other side will call it defeat. how strong are al-qaeda in the country today? it's not about their strength, it's about their quality. al-qaeda did not send 17 battalions to the united states, they sent 17 bombers.
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so i think it's the quality of al-qaeda presence. it's those small cells which are allowed to operate, train, have a breathing space, have a territory. they are still embedded with the taliban. what are the status of the peace talks between you and the taliban? are you really hopeful they will be a power—sharing agreement at the end of it? what is their status of the talks? taliban completely misinterpret their agreement with the americans. they think the world has two superpowers — washington and the taliban. that is how these talks with us is interpreted by the taliban. so bringing them back from their sky to the earth and telling them you are a group, takes time. plus, taliban at best, when polls have been conducted secretly, half secretly or open, have never enjoyed
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more than 10% popularity and acceptance in afghan society. south, east, west or not. and that should be taken into consideration when we negotiate with them. that's what we are telling them. we say, why are you afraid of election if the population accepts you? why are you fearing? the incoming us president joe biden has, during his campaign, maintained that he would like to lead some us presence here. in his words, several thousand people, a counterterrorism force. the deal that the trump administration made with the taliban was that all us forces withdraw by spring this year. what would you like to see happen? my offer, my invitation, whatever you call it, from the us, is they define their security interests and share it with us
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if they think sharing it with us again will serve the national interest and security interest. we don't want to tell them what their security interest is. cia is the most powerful intelligence agency in the whole world. they know taliban are an afghan brand of al-qaeda. i don't put these words in their mouth. if they make a crude deal with al-qaeda, that's their thinking, i can't stop it. but i am telling them as a friend and as an ally that trusting the taliban without putting a verification mechanism is going to be a fatal mistake. so what kind of verification process do you think you will see from the talks that you are holding with the taliban? because you're also talking to them at a time when you're saying maxing they are continuing violence. right.
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but we are calling a spade a spade. we are not giving a nice fake title to the taliban. we say, you are terrorists but you are a reality. we would like to find a solution through talks. if you were to reach some sort of agreement with them, do you expect foreign countries like, say the uk, to then treat the taliban like any other normal political group in any other country? we have one golden line and one golden condition in our negotiations, elections. that is that you will be allowed to hold elections in the country? if taliban went to elections and if the afghan people prefer some taliban leader than myself, i will respect that decision. but i will not sacrifice that right of the afghan people in the negotiations.
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why has afghanistan struggled so hard to find peace? well, it's our location. of all the things, it's our location. it's a very good location. but it's also a frontier of big powers. and we are never left by ourselves. we are never left alone. hello there. a lot of the snow we had earlier this morning across some eastern parts of england has melted. and overnight tonight, we are looking to the north—west to see some showers coming in.
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those showers continuing to get blown across northern ireland into parts of england and wales for a time overnight, with clear skies returning later in the night. it will be chilly tonight. we are going to find those temperatures close to freezing, and it brings the risk of some icy patches, especially where we had wiltshire, for one. 0ut towards the east, where we had most of the snow falling earlier in east anglia, it has been colder. but above freezing, so a lot of that snow has been melting. it has left us with a slushy mixture. now, through this evening and overnight, we have got some more showers to come down from the north—west. those continuing to get blown east into england and wales for awhile, and then we will see some clearer skies returning later on in the night. it is going to be quite a chilly night. temperatures will be close to freezing. there is the risk of some icy patches, particularly where we had that snow cover earlier on today. but for eastern areas of england, it is going to be a different look to the weather in the morning tomorrow, and indeed, for many parts of the country, it is probably going to be dry. there will be more sunshine as well, particularly for england and wales. very few showers left in the north—west by the morning. we will see the cloud increasing through the day in scotland and northern ireland.
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some showers blown into northern ireland. most of the showers in western scotland replaced by longer spells of rain in the afternoon. eastern scotland still looks largely dry. we will have some stronger winds across scotland, not quite as windy as today. lighter winds further south, and a pleasant day for england and wales in the sunshine. temperatures around six to eight celsius. that is normal, really, for this time of the year. as we head into monday, we have got some wetter weather moving northwards into scotland. a few showers around elsewhere. and then, through the day, we'll see cloud increasing in the south—west. that will bring some wetter weather into the south—west of england and wales through the afternoon. ahead of that, those temperatures holding steady at around seven to nine celsius. but with this wetter weather coming in from the south—west, it is a signal, really, that the weather is going to change. we have got that weather front moving northwards overnight into tuesday, wednesday, and perhaps even into thursday. the weather dominated by that area of low pressure. so, for a start, we're going to find it turning unsettled. the winds will be strengthening, especially for england and wales. wet weather at times. heavy rain in wales and also the north—west of england, and, unfortunately, that means the risk of some flooding.
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this is bbc news the headlines at seven. calls for more support for the uk's travel and tourism sector — after the government imposes tougher restrictions on arrivals to keep out new strains of coronavirus. a further 1,295 people have died in the uk — according to the latest covid figures. but the number of new infections has dropped to its lowest level so far this year. the world's biggest vaccination programme gets underway in india. the country hopes to inoculate 300 million people byjuly, with priority being given to frontline healthcare workers. senior police officers in the uk say their investigations have been compromised — after hundreds of thousands of arrest records were deleted from the police national computer. president—electjoe biden sets out plans to speed up immunisations in the united states —
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promising to vaccinate 100 million

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