welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: scenes of panic and desperation at kabul airport as afghans try to flee the country before it's too late, with the taliban controlling airport access. despite assurances from the taliban that anyone linked to the government will be given an amnesty, many here are deeply fearfulfor theirfuture. that's why we're still seeing these chaotic scenes at the airport. in a heated emergency debate in the house of commons,

uk prime minister borisjohnson is accused of tragic failures in the afghanistan retreat. we will talk to experts on sharia law as well as how effective the taliban will be a covering. —— at governing. who will help us? the people of haiti hit by a massive earthquake five days ago say there's still no assistance. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's newsday. it's 6 in the morning in singapore, and 2.30 in the morning in afghanistan, where the taliban is strengthening its grip on power, as pockets of unrest continue. there have been more chaotic scenes outside the international airport in kabul, as thousands of afghans

try to flee the country. meanwhile, the nation's ousted president has made his first public comments, saying his security team �*forced' him to leave the country for the united arab emirates. our correspondent secunder kermani starts our coverage. outside the airport, chaos continues. thousands are still desperate to leave the country. here, a girl — terrified. "the taliban are coming for me", she cries. this family has been camped outside here for five days. "the situation here is very bad", she says. "no one wants to live here. "everyone wants to live in peace and to be able to study. "we want to go anywhere that is safe."

despite assurances from the taliban that anyone linked to the government will be given an amnesty, many here are deeply fearful for their future, and that's why we're still seeing these chaotic scenes the airport. no one's clear yet what comes next, but political discussions have begun. this was the arrival of a deputy leader of the taliban in kandahar — their spiritual home. whilst this is a member of the notorious haqqani family, deeply entrenched in the taliban's leadership, meeting with former president hamid karzai and other senior afghan politicians. in a speech tonight from the gulf, the former president, ashraf ghani, said he supported the efforts and hoped to return to the country. that seems unlikely. in the centre of kabul, early signs everyday life is beginning to resume. heavily armed taliban patrols

are all around but shops and streets are busier than they've been since the takeover. "it's not the same as before", says this man. "people are scared but it's better than the past few days, at least." there are far fewer women out and about than before and they're addressed more conservatively, though not in the all—encompassing burqa. many major businesses have sent female employees home, unsure whether the taliban will allow them to work. but there have been signs of defiance. this is a protest in support of the afghan flag, replaced in some areas by the taliban's. a number of demonstrators were reportedly shot dead injalalabad. whilst this was another rally in eastern afghanistan. look at the huge taliban convoy that's speeding towards it. the taliban have been making conciliatory noises in public but many fear they won't tolerate

any challenges to their authority. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. as the taliban increases its hold over afghanistan, how do they plan to govern? and is there a plan? well, i'mjoined now by marvin weinbaum, former intelligence analyst at the us state department director for afghan and pakistan studies at middle east institute in washington, dc. great to have you on the programme today, marvin. as we've seen in the report there, the taliban increasing its hold in afghanistan. what your sense of how they might plan to govern? we sense of how they might plan to covern? ~ ., ., ~' sense of how they might plan to covern? ~ . ~ ., sense of how they might plan to covern? ~ ., ., ~ . ~ ., ., govern? we might look back at what ha--ened govern? we might look back at what happened in — govern? we might look back at what happened in the _ govern? we might look back at what happened in the 1990s, _ govern? we might look back at what happened in the 1990s, when - govern? we might look back at what happened in the 1990s, when they l happened in the 1990s, when they controlled the country, most of the country until 2001. now it's a rather minimal definition of what

the administration should be. they were spending most of their time fighting and praying, and had services that were available, being provided by international aid agencies, islamic charity groups and ngos. so, we can't really... we should be able to put back, but we don't get a sense here that at that time, most of the country had emptied out, especially the cities. when it came to governance, that wasn't as much of a challenge. just to “um in wasn't as much of a challenge. just tojump in there, who do you see as to jump in there, who do you see as the key players in the formation of a new government if one is or can be formed in a legitimate fashion? well, i think it's pretty clear now that there's going to be a chief

executive. he has been a major figure here in negotiating both with the united states and with other afghan elements. so, he steps in and he's got all the credentials, he's well—regarded within the movement, he's seen as a conciliate in person and he has those political skills so that you will become the political face —— he will become the political face —— he will become the political face of this country. when it comes to governing the country, that's another matter entirely, which will require skilled individuals, and they're going to be in very short supply. they're going to be in very short su -l . a �* they're going to be in very short su--l. �* ., .,, they're going to be in very short su--l. �* ., .,_ supply. marvin, we've already seen some resistance _ supply. marvin, we've already seen some resistance in _ supply. marvin, we've already seen some resistance in afghanistan - some resistance in afghanistan against the taliban, the afghan flag—waving for instance in jalalabad. do you see this resistance growing, and what do you expect the taliban respond to be ——

response to be? expect the taliban respond to be -- response to be?— response to be? they'll have no choice but _ response to be? they'll have no choice but to _ response to be? they'll have no choice but to use _ response to be? they'll have no choice but to use as much - response to be? they'll have no choice but to use as much force | response to be? they'll have no i choice but to use as much force as they feel is necessary. i don't really believe that we're going to see any kind of logistics except sporadic at this point. the taliban can be rather ruthless, and that will become clear. most of the people who really feel they cannot live under a taliban regime for economic reasons as well as cultural reasons, social reasons, will try as much as they can to get out of the country. much as they can to get out of the count . a much as they can to get out of the count . n, ~ much as they can to get out of the count . ~. ~ ., country. marvin weinbaum, former intelligence — country. marvin weinbaum, former intelligence analyst _ country. marvin weinbaum, former intelligence analyst at _ country. marvin weinbaum, former intelligence analyst at the - country. marvin weinbaum, former intelligence analyst at the us - country. marvin weinbaum, former intelligence analyst at the us state department, thank you so much for joining us on that topic. as the taliban takeover in afghanistan continues to fill the void left by us troops, neighbouring pakistan fears trouble spilling over the border.

for decades, pakistan has served as a sanctuary for afghans fleeing violence and war. but now, the government in islamabad says it has reached its limit and cannot accept more afghan refugees. there are two main border crossings between the two countries. bbc urdu's sarah atiq reports now from the one at torkham in the northwest of pakistan, where the taliban are now in control of the afghan side. 0n the surface, it almost looks normal on this part of the pakistan—afg hanistan border. but look closer. so much has changed. the taliban are now in control of torkham, the busiest crossing with pakistan. a few days back, hundreds of panicked afghan civilians gathered here for days, desperate for a way out. but then, what seems inevitable happened. 0utnumbered afghan police forces surrendered to the taliban. now the number of afghans seeking

refuge is much less. the taliban are not letting anyone out. 0nly traders or those with valid travel documents are allowed to cross. we are seeing that more afghan citizens are interacting with the taliban fighters. they are quietly standing at a safe distance. the border security officials have told me that since the situation afghanistan has deteriorated, they have increased the vetting procedures of those coming into pakistan. so, that is why we see the queue of people waiting here to enter into pakistan. pakistan, worried about a spill—over fighting, had shared its side of the border prior to taliban's takeover. torkham has been the main point of refugees' influx into pakistan for decades, but amid the increasing violence across the border in recent years, the country has been fencing itself off from afghanistan.

but whatever happens on the other side of the border will always resonate here. this market, just a few kilometres away from torkham, is frequented by afghans who had fled to pakistan. translation: a lot of people are not happy with the taliban. _ the people who live in villages have been around them, but those who come from cities aren't happy because they're not used to restrictions. almost 3 million afghan refugees, half of them have been living in pakistan for decades. the un refugees agency is asking islamabad to reopen its door to afghans who want to flee the prospects of a taliban rule. but the government here insists that it cannot bear any new wave of refugees from the war—torn country. sarah atiq, bbc news, torkham, on the pakistan—afghanistan border.

and in the uk, an impassioned debate in the commons, mps from all sides have criticised the prime minister for the government's role in afghanistan. the former prime minister theresa may said it was �*incomprehensible' that the uk was not doing more to maintain a presence, and mps who've served in the armed forces spoke up for veterans who fought there and who now question what it was all for. but borisjohnson argued that nato's "core mission" in afghanistan had succeeded. here's our political correspondent ben wright. prime minister, have you let down afghanistan? _ a statement was written, the explanation prepared — borisjohnson headed to parliament, brought back from its summer break. prime minister! the chamber was crammed, shoulder—to—shoulder now restrictions are lifted. the sacrifice in afghanistan is seared into our national consciousness, with 150,000 people

serving there from across the length and breadth of the united kingdom. no matter how grim the lessons of the past, the future is not yet written. and at this bleak turning point, we must help the people of afghanistan to choose the best of all their possible futures. the prime minister said the us pull—out from afghanistan meant there was little britain could do. labour's leader agreed there was no military solution, but said the government had failed to prepare. there's been a major miscalculation of the resilience of the afghan forces and staggering complacency from our government about the taliban threat. the result is that the taliban are now back in control of afghanistan. the gains made through 20 years of sacrifice hang precariously. supportive conservative voices were the exception. many backbenchers were scathing, including a former prime minister.

was our knowledge of the position on the ground so inadequate, or did we really believe this, or did we just feel that we had to follow the united states and hope that on a wing and a prayer it would be all right on the night? watching on, a demonstration demanding all afghans who worked for the uk can move here, and there is already a scheme in place. ministers have said the uk will also take in up to 20,000 refugees over the next few years. in the commons, there were cross—party calls for more. it should have a minimum commitment of welcoming at least 35—40,000 afghan refugees in the uk. numbers matter less than need. we need to reject this artificial distinction i between resettlement and asylum. today's debate revealed the depth of anger and anguish at what's happened. the words spoken here will make little difference to the immediate

situation in afghanistan, but borisjohnson looks isolated as mps queued up to ask how a 20—year commitment unravelled so fast. no more so than those who had served in afghanistan, fighting in a campaign that cost the lives of a57 servicemen and women. like many veterans, this last week has been one that has seen me struggle through anger and grief and rage. the feeling of abandonment of notjust a country, but the sacrifice that my friends made. the house of commons, full for the first time in over a year, had rarely seemed so quiet. shameful. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. events unfolding in afghanistan are still capturing the world's headline, so check out our website for all the latest news

and development, plus analysis from our team on the ground. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to on the programme... we ask what the taliban's hardline version of sharia law will mean for the afghan people. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a huge job of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutalformer dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse

of the sun take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is newsday. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines... chaotic scenes outside kabul airport. the nation's ousted leader says he only left the country to stop afghanistan from imploding. in his first public comments, ashraf ghani said he plans to return.

well, one of the fears of the taliban's rule in afghanistan is that the militant group will re—introduce punishments in line with its strict interpretation of islam's legal system, sharia law, as they did in the country between 1996 and 2001. a senior taliban member has told reuters there will be no democracy under taliban rule, and that an islamic council will decide on the future role of women. to understand what this might mean — and what exactly sharia law is — i'm joined by professor corri zoli from syracuse university's forensics and national security institute in new york. great to have you on newsday with us. i want to start by asking, there will be many people watching who will be many people watching who will might be the sole authority on how islam is practised in afghanistan, but they say they're going by sharia law. can you help us understand what exactly sharia law

is? ,, , , ., ., ~' is? sure. greetings from new york. essentially. — is? sure. greetings from new york. essentially, sharia _ is? sure. greetings from new york. essentially, sharia law— is? sure. greetings from new york. essentially, sharia law is— is? sure. greetings from new york. essentially, sharia law is the - essentially, sharia law is the religious law, the divine law of muslim faith communities, and it's based in chronic value, so it's based in chronic value, so it's based on the quran. i can say a little bit more about the different traditions, but essentially, islamic law and sharia are practised by many muslim majority communities, states, nations throughout the world. there are over 49 of them muslim nations, and many of them have some islamic inspired values. i and many of them have some islamic inspired values.— inspired values. i grew up in indonesia. _ inspired values. i grew up in indonesia, so _ inspired values. i grew up in indonesia, so i— inspired values. i grew up in indonesia, so i saw - inspired values. i grew up in indonesia, so i saw that - inspired values. i grew up in indonesia, so i saw that on | inspired values. i grew up in| indonesia, so i saw that on a inspired values. i grew up in - indonesia, so i saw that on a daily basis in my everyday life. but is there a hard and soft approach to sharia? and how much does culture play a part in it? to different countries have different and interpretations? i5 countries have different and interpretations?— countries have different and interretations? , ., . , ., interpretations? is not a question about it.

interpretations? is not a question about it- yes. _ interpretations? is not a question about it. yes, the _ interpretations? is not a question about it. yes, the short _ interpretations? is not a question about it. yes, the short answer . interpretations? is not a question about it. yes, the short answer is yes. there are what are called conservative or fundamentalist news that implement sharia norms, and they're very rigid or conservative ways. the classic example is usually the saudi arabia, where their constitution and law is the quran. all of the situations that are... are part of their daily legal practice. ironic is often cited as well as another hardline fundamentalist or conservative version of sharia —— iran. those are two more conservative examples, but there are lots of communities and nation states in the world where there is a kind of sharia flavour or islamic flavour to legislation, but it's not dominant or more infused

with european or other legal traditions of.— with european or other legal traditions of. let's zoom into afghanistan _ traditions of. let's zoom into afghanistan and _ traditions of. let's zoom into afghanistan and the - traditions of. let's zoom into afghanistan and the taliban. | traditions of. let's zoom into i afghanistan and the taliban. it traditions of. let's zoom into - afghanistan and the taliban. it says will be respected under sharia law. what rights will they have in that context? . , ., ., context? the taliban is a more extremist _ context? the taliban is a more extremist version _ context? the taliban is a more extremist version of _ context? the taliban is a more extremist version of these - context? the taliban is a more i extremist version of these issues. we usually distinguish between islam as a religious tradition, as part of as a religious tradition, as part of a complex and nearly 2 billion people strong faith and political islam, where more extremist versions of islam which have very different poles, that include terrorism and political violence. we can talk about isis or i sold, we can talk about isis or i sold, we can talk about the taliban as having this

tradition. so, the idea of the taliban will be using a form of islamic law that's faithful to islam is practised, which is supposed to be equality. there are supposed to be equality. there are supposed to be equality. there are supposed to be equal rights between sexes, and the idea that the taliban will be practising a kind of faithful motion is a bridge too far.— is a bridge too far. press after karishma _ is a bridge too far. press after karishma vaswani _ is a bridge too far. press after karishma vaswani -- - is a bridge too far. press after karishma vaswani -- corri - is a bridge too far. press after. karishma vaswani -- corri zoli, karishma vaswani —— corri zoli, thank you so much forjoining us. the head of the pan american health organization has called on the international community to provide urgent medical personnel and equipment to haiti, which suffered a devastating earthquake last saturday. carissa etienne said many hospitals in the worst affected regions had been either damaged or destroyed. the earthquake is now known to have killed nearly 2000 people and injured about 10,000. much of the response effort has been focused on the badly hit city

of les cayes and has not yet reached the rural areas. 0ur correspondent james clayton reports from the village of marceline, near the epicentre of saturday's quake. as you head out from the city of les cayes to rural marceline, the road is marked by landslides... ..and deep cracks. the village is remote and the scale of the damage, catastrophic. rosemary took me to her house. her 15—year—old son was charging his phone when the quake hit. the wall collapsed on him. translation: these are his books. he had recently got them so he could start a new year of school. and now, he's gone. i wrap his shirt around my waist.

it keeps me strong. when you come to these rural areas, the level of destruction just ups a notch. almost every single house here is completely destroyed. five people were killed in this house alone. and to understand why, you have to look at the cement and rock that these houses are built from. it's really hard to lift this, it's really heavy and of course, when those kinds of walls full down, they can cause catastrophic injuries. with no sign of aid or help, many people are living on top of the rubble of what was their homes. "do we have to scream for the government to hear us," this woman says, "or is life over?" the people of haiti feel like they've been forgotten. and in many ways, they have. james clayton, bbc news, marceline. let's take a look at some other

stories in the headlines. european union interior ministers have pledged to send experts and equipment to the eu's borders with belarus to cope with what they see as an orchestrated influx of migrants. they're accusing president alexander lukashenko of encouraging migrants to cross in retaliation for sanctions. that's been denied by belarus. more than 1000 people have died as a result of myanmar�*s coup. that's according to an activist group which has been recording killings by security forces. the military overthrew the government in february and quickly cracked down hard on the widespread protests, firing live rounds into crowds and storming towns across the country. formula one's japanese grand prix due to take place in october has been cancelled because of a rise of covid cases in the country. f1 says the decision to cancel it was taken by the japanese government. the revised calendar for the season will be revealed in the coming weeks.

thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. we'll have much more for you on bbc news. to stay with us. hello. it feels a little bit like our weather has been sulking so far this week — kind of stuck in a rut of grayness and lingering cloud. it's not in a great hurry to get out of that position through today, either. we did see some sunshine on wednesday across central and eastern england, and i'm hopeful we will see some for at least a time today — this break in the clouds ahead of a weak weather front coming in from the west. so through the morning, some sunnier skies working their way eastwards, perhaps something a bit brighter behind that band of shower re—rain behind that band of showery rain further west for the afternoon. but still, a lot of cloud for many of us, and temperatures

a little down on where they should be for the time of year. a few heavier showers roaming around through the evening, but overnight, guess what — it's all pretty quiet and light winds, a lot of cloud, quite misty and murky around the coast and for the hills. friday daytime, you look at that chart, you think, oh, things might start to get moving. well, not in any great hurry, i'm afraid of. this weather front will push some rain into northern ireland through the day, throwing some showers towards wales, as well. potentially, though, with a little bit of a strengthening southerly breeze, we could break the cloud up a little bit more across southern and eastern england. looking pretty gloomy and murky there across scotland and generally across the northern half of the uk. for the weekend, however, this low will make a bit more of an effort, and friday into saturday, this front pushes slightly further eastwards. the notable thing that it does, though, is drag up some warmer air from the south for central and eastern england. so, after a week where temperatures have sat below average, we could actually see some significant warmer weather, at least briefly this weekend. but there is a price to pay.

saturday, we will see, i think, temperatures getting into the mid—20s across central and eastern england with some sunshine. but coming into the west, some heavier and more persistent rain, some strengthening winds, as well as that area of low pressure finally gets down to business. for sunday, even more widespread showers, i think, as the low pressure sits across the uk. and we start to lose that southerly airstream as the low shifts, temperatures edge down once again. a bit dry for monday, but still a little on the cool side.

this is bbc news, the headlines... there have been more chaotic scenes outside kabul airport as governments rush to bring home their citizens as well as afghan colleagues. taliban militants controlling access to the airport have fired shots into the air to disperse approaching crowds. the ousted afghan president, ashraf ghani, has denied fleeing afghanistan hours after it was confirmed that he'd taken refuge in the uae. mr ghani said he had to leave afghanistan to prevent bloodshed. the british government's handling of the crisis has faced severe criticism in parliament. but the prime minister, borisjohnson, said there was no appetite among nato allies to keep troops in afghanistan without us support. five days after haiti's devastating earthquake, followed by a tropical storm, aid in many places has yet to arrive. nearly 2,000 people are now known to have died. much of the response effort has yet to reach rural areas.