defectives. not we had 98000 troops in afghanistan. and america's nato allies said afterwards they're joining the us in heading for the exits. i decided that we will start that would draw all of nato recess report mission forces by may 1st some afghans welcome the withdrawal of foreign troops but others fear their departure will leave people here even more vulnerable voters sort of whatever when he says the only thing that all people want but if foreign troops stay here the realization of peace in afghanistan will be impossible their presence will continue to cause problems what about it leaving in a time line we're. not there with the negotiations are we haven't received on that they meant with the fall of one would not be responsible and it would. cost us losing everything we we were put to that in the

past 20 years afghanistan's president says the country's military is fully capable of defending the afghan people that pledge will likely soon be tested. for more on the story we can speak now with mari i'm sofie she's an international relations advisor and an expert on afghanistan welcome to g.w. what do you think they withdraw all of international forces will mean for afghans. well for afghanistan the withdrawal will mean the complete responsibility of all security measures on the shoulders of the afghan national security forces who are already stretched very thin let us not forget that in 2001 when the international community entered afghanistan they were fighting one terrorist group now there are reportedly over $22.00 terrorist organizations both regionally nationally and

internationally operating in afghanistan and that's going to be quite a challenge afghanistan's president has said the country's military is fully capable of providing security do you believe that i think that the afghan national security forces are a capable unit however they continue continue to be limited due to lack of resources due to lack of weaponry and support particularly air support so while they are capable fighting. in a rate of terrorist organizations operating in afghanistan in addition to the. border between afghanistan and pakistan and have not addressed the issue of taliban sanctuaries and pakistan means that while you're fighting an enemy within afghanistan they are continuously being replenished on the other side and so regional diplomacy has not been very successful in the last 20 years and therefore

it doesn't create a conducive environment for the afghan national security forces who remain very optimistic more and i want to ask you what this means for afghan citizens in particular women we know that they've made important strides over the last 20 years we've seen in rome and in education explode more women in the workforce more access to health care what will happen to these gains that have been made. well having the drawl of u.s. troops without any conditions whatsoever is very dangerous and it risks the possibility of of having that strong leverage to ensure that the taliban come to the table that they remain on the table and that they remain committed to their promises but also it takes away a key leverage that international community had which was to ensure that the taliban would continue to. 6 would continue to respect the afghan constitution or

a but have revisions in the constitutions that still uphold women's rights and a fundamental right of all people of afghanistan now the women of afghanistan and civil society actors very recently and i national peace gathering that brought over 1300 civil society actors together articulated that their continued foreign presence in afghanistan was not the will of the afghan people but what they did demand was that when withdrawal was taking place that it be condition based that it would be done responsibly and and that it would be done in a very structured manner to ensure that the talks continue and they continue in a manner that can bring about a sustainable peace one that reflects the aspirations of the people of afghanistan and with this sudden announcement of a troll it puts all of that at risk and these sentiments are echoed by many in the united states as well we'll have to leave it there maryam sassy and international

relations advisor an expert on afghanistan thank you so much for joining us here in . among the nato troops who will leave afghanistan by september are more than a 1000 german soldiers germany provides the 2nd highest number of troops on the ground after the u.s. they offer training and support to the afghan security forces earlier this year germany agreed to extend its military deployment because of the worsening security situation but when the u.s. led forces pull out so will the german contingent and we can talk more about that with thomas horn he's the state's secretary in the german defense ministry and a member of parliament for chancellor merkel's conservative bloc mrs abel hunt thank you very much for joining us here on g.w. is now really the right time to pull out of afghanistan. you always say we were in afghanistan together and we will go out together so we have been in consultation in recent weeks and so we are not surprised about this decision taken

by the need to counsel and we are well prepared for this withdrawal and for the redeployment of our troops you've also always said that it wasn't about dates or timetables but about the situation on the ground and we just heard that the situation isn't good the security situation the taliban is resurgent there are real concerns about what might happen to women's rights that have been won over the last 20 years so what support can germany offer that going forward. well 1st of all of the core military goal to deploy troops of darkness and was to avoid future threats for us from afghan soil this core military goal has been accomplished but the political goals beyond the military perspective of course have not been fully achieved and it's remains of the question of for a political leaders for all actors in afghanistan how to find to reconsideration to

a peaceful development to new elections and to stabilization in this society which is suffering for 4 decades already from civil war german forces have been offering training and support to afghan security forces as we said do you think that afghan security forces are now in the position that they're well trained enough to provide security for the afghan people. well they are much better trained than before and our approach has been in full line with all our nato partners sue we did a brilliant job i think our soldiers deployed to afghanistan are engaged until the end of april this men date yes it will be close and finish but we accomplished what we had to do from our military standpoint and of course. the threats remain in the civil society and in this. dualism between

a legitimate government of afghanistan and the taliban forces who are still set on by allowance and this ground for violence and civil war in afghanistan has to be has to end and has to lead to a political process of reconciliation civilization and i think this announcement to end the presence of the international troops should give new motivation and new speed to the negotiation process is ongoing in afghanistan this is a behind you just said it yourself that the rats remain and we have heard from afghans who say they are extremely concerned about what might happen to the country after troops withdraw we did not be better to put some sort of conditions upon this withdrawal to give the taliban for example some incentive to take part in peace talks or not to start violence once again. i think it's sure that. the taliban forces. will have to.

be in close contact to the international community they are in no way capable to finance their government and visions and to finance their forces so this society in afghanistan as a whole will depend on support from the international community and this has some pre-conditions so when it comes to the redeployment of troops it's now time base and no longer conditioned base but when it comes to the future development of ghana's turn some more conditions have been have to be met until in order to ensure. international support and this should be the momentum for the political actors in afghanistan in particular for the taliban to come to the table. right thomas of

a home state secretary in the german defense ministry thank you very much for joining us here. and we do have some of breaking news coming into us from washington president biden said ministration has announced a new round of sanctions against russia including the expulsion of 10 russian diplomats and this is in response to interference in last year's presidential election as well as the hacking last year of federal government agencies and the u.s. for the 1st time explicitly linked that intrusion to a russian intelligence service of the russian foreign ministry has condemned the sanctions as both against the interests of both countries and we'll have more on that story for you in the next hour let's move on to some other headlines now germany and the u.s. are backing calls for russia to halt its troop build up along the border with ukraine kiev says moscow is sent thousands of soldiers to the frontier and there are fears that the 7 year conflict between russia and ukraine could flare up again

. the editors of a russian student magazine that covered nationwide protests supporting jailed opposition leader election of only have been charged with incitement the charges stem from a video documenting intimidation and threats against students the editors could face 3 years in prison. security forces and me and maher have arrested one of the main leaders of the campaign against military rule it comes after the army reportedly opened fire on medical workers who were taking part in a pro-democracy protest in the city of mandalay hundreds of people have been killed and many more injured since a military coup in february overthrew the elected government this week marks me and mars traditional new year festival but instead of celebrating many are opting to continue the protests. they should be celebrating the new year festival of 10 jan instead they're marching against

a coup. that proved that saw the overthrow of their elected leader aung san suu kyi and replaced her with a military dictatorship. but cross me and my protest is holding flowers are using this week as a rallying cry. but they know the risks security forces roam the streets. dissent is quickly and brutally stamped out. just ask these people in current state forced into hiding in paves after the military join to carried out airstrikes in their region. the military seems intent on intensifying its pitiless policy of by indians against the people of myanmar using military grade and indiscriminate weaponry. more than 700 people have died since february according to

a local monitoring group. but that hasn't stopped the protest is as they continue their fight for freedom. the u.n. security council has stopped short of considering sanctions on myanmar because both china and russia are against it earlier we spoke to political scientist. and i asked him if the threat of sanctions is pushing me and our closer to china i mean our money is in china's arms even without this military coup it would be closely connected to china but the problem is what else could we do we could condemn it equips to step through sanctions and this leads us to this old and familiar debate about sanctions sanctions do have effects yes but most of the time as we can see in russia and in many other cases they do not have the intended effects they are created for so i would have my doubts whether strong words from western countries

even military economic sanctions would really change the behavior of this brutal military vision in the end it will be up to the people of myanmar they take the courage to do the streets they risk their lives they don't need only start strong words they would need anything else but this is what we do not try to have the i think. rhetorical support but that's it in the end that has been the case in the past and unfortunately it will happen this time as love. if i had had a political scientist from berlin 3 university speaking to us there earlier. now in germany a new coronavirus cases have risen to a 3 month high just under $30000.00 new infections have been brought to start in the last day almost $300.00 people have died taking the total number of deaths in germany to almost 80000 the government a seeking to push through fresh control measures health minister against iran says

new restrictions are inevitable. rock scenes and testing alone will not be enough to break the 3rd wave it will take decisive action and hard as it is further restrictions. we can already full see that if we don't stop this trend our health care system will reach its limits that's why the situation in the intensive care units is one of the most decisive factors because our main goal in this pandemic is to prevent our health care system from being overwhelmed. by our chief political editor michelle a christmas following the latest on this for us we've seen in the last 24 hours the highest number of new cases in more than 3 months what is behind this big growth in numbers. well behind that is that 3rd wave that is clearly driven by the 117 known as mutation which makes up almost 90 percent of the

cases that are being detected here in germany right now it's very alarming it's also the younger age groups that are being particularly hit and that means open schools and people going to work is an increasing factor as older people are much safer now because there is this vaccination going on but vaccinations currently just over 16 percent here in germany are simply not happening fast enough to break this 3rd wave and that's why we're hearing this appeal both by those who have you know someone like the german doctor and health minister again spahn to those 16 states to take immediate action now which shows that at this moment the federal structure of germany is disadvantaged at best policymaking is lagging behind and it's failing to tackle this 3rd wave head on well the government is working to try to centralize this response is it coming too late. yes that would be the plain

answer after having listened to this press conference this national emergency break that is in the making in the german parliament as we speak almost would hit an incidence rate of $100.00 per 100000 people within the space of 7 days while the german average already is at 160 and we also heard from the head of the hobart call institute that the 200 incidents rate which is supposed to then trigger an automatic closer of schooling would not be reached because there would be so many cases in schooling today so policy is being made by the virus by facts on the ground and not by policymakers to prevent germany hitting the full brunt of this 3rd wave so it's a very alarming situation here right now our chief political editor with the latest there thank you let's look at some other developments in the pandemic now brazil's

richest and most populous state says its ability to care for seriously ill covered 1000 patients is on the verge of collapse as it runs low on key drugs a top japanese official says canceling this year's olympics in tokyo remains an option if the 4th wave of infections becomes too serious wednesday marked $100.00 days to the opening ceremony and cambodia's leader 100 sand says his country is on the brink of death valley and urged people to work together to avoid calamity from the latest coronavirus surge. bernie made off the architect of a ponzi scheme that scammed investors out of billions of dollars has died in prison he was $82.00 the former chairman of the nasdaq stock exchange reportedly died of natural causes he had been suffering from chronic kidney failure here's a look back at one of the most notorious walls of wall st. bernard made off better known as bernie was so disliked at the time of his trial that he had to wear

a bulletproof vest to court every day. the man behind the largest known ponzi scheme in history wiped out people's fortunes ruined charities and foundations he defrauded thousands including a host of big name movie stars and even the new york mets baseball team for decades made off enjoyed an image as a self-made financial guru whose golden touch defied markets operating out of these downtown new york offices he attracted a devoted legion of investment clients who trusted him completely he was brilliant and convincing people his schemes were safe but his regulatory environment it's virtually impossible to avoid. this is something that the public really doesn't understand and you if you read things in the newspaper this is somebody who violate the rules that well you know they're always doing this you know it's impossible for

you to go on that for a violation go undetected. or considerable period of course those words eventually caught up with made on his investment advisory business was exposed as a fraud in 2008 and in march 2009 made off pleaded guilty and was convicted on 11 counts for crimes that spanned more than 20 years. made off was forced to leave his 7000000 dollar manhattan penthouse apartment and was taken to prison to serve 150 years behind bars made of died in the federal medical center in but no north carolina he was 82 years old. sports now and to someone to slay the news the entire hatta berlin team has been ordered into isolation following 3 positive covert 19 tests in the club head coach paul darvill his assistant coach and striker go to our quarantined at home after

testing positive for the virus the rest of the squad and staff have been ordered to isolate together until april 28th they are only allowed to leave their common quarters for training and for matches. in the champions league quarter finals manchester city beat dortmund $21.00 to advance to the next round dortmund scored early in the match but in the 2nd half man city were just too much to handle phil foden scored the go ahead goal dortmund or the last german team left in the tournament and also on wednesday real madrid held liverpool to a goalless draw that result means that rael go through to the semifinals after their win in the 1st leg it has been 2 years since a fire ripped through the most famous cathedral in paris and shocked the world now the question is when notre dame can reopen again french president to call visited the building site to offer some hope and to show that french heritage has not been forgotten amid the coronavirus crisis. moments from april 15th

2019 next forever in the minds of prescience. of all the french. of anyone who has visited the city of light or wants to someday. but from the dramatic scenes turning the beautiful monument ugly. true the dramatic felling of an enormous oak tree in western france the 1st of a 1000 hand selected to rebuild the spire and roof of the cathedral. and make it beautiful again. the wood from the trees is being dried some of it on site part of a 5 year reconstruction plan that has 3 years and many miles to go in fact the work so far has mostly been to secure what was left after the fire not quite i mean up.

there we are all gather and i will restart. to give the. franchise. back to. the french president toured parts of the restoration site on this anniversary of the fire telling workers each and every one of us remembers where we were 2 years ago. the emotion that was the motivation of all the catholics watching and of all of us in paris and all of france the people in it and i believe that we can see here the immensity of the work he accomplished in 2 years and. 2 years of work on a massive stunningly detailed paris institution dating to the 12th century with 3 years to go to resurrect the french national treasure. all right coming up next on news asia the u.s.

and japanese leaders prepare to meet in the shadow of an assertive china how will they come for the threat. and india's vaccine shortages spell trouble for the countries find against the coronavirus. us better she has those stories and more coming right up on news asia don't go away.

until i was rolled up my dignity to 77 percent takes on modern slavery. on the field of german women. obscene maps where the where trip. i'm sauced into prostitution there are stories told on she forced me into 16. an

exclusive edition of the 77 percent starts april 17th on t w. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing. measures are being taken. what does the latest research say. information on context. coronavirus up to the code of special monday to friday on t.w. . down lol. people have to say matters to us. that's why i listen to their stories. reporter every

weekend on d w. and you hear me now i guess we can hear you and how it all steers german sounds that really bring you i'm going to a man called and you've never had to have a surprise yourself with what is possible who is medical really what moves that and want. to talk to people who follows along the way maurice and critics alike join us from eccles last stop. this is did up a newspaper coming up today a preview of the meeting between the leaders of japan and the united states. should you feel friday it comes to the bag of gold rising tensions with china how did the u.s. and japan plan to counter the threats plus. a shortage of vaccines hits in their eyes but also by those fears from those rallies across the country.