this is dw news from berlin. you'll find a lot more on the web site. d, w dot com. ah, for the taliban august 15th is a day for a celebration for millions of afghans. it's a dark day marking the anniversary of the day. they lost their freedoms. it was exactly a year ago today that taliban fighters enter at the afghan capital cobble and essentially without a fight seized power. after 20 years. what followed was a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis. the disappearance of the free press and women stripped of their hard earned rights to night. we want to look back and ahead. who's to blame? and what's the way out? i'm the co furnish in berlin and this is the day. ah oh, little to today is like

a dream come true. all of our dreams and hopes have turned into reality with the grace of god. with no even music programs are forbidden. with the new rules, we can no longer speak freely. give you some women, love a delicate physique and can't tolerate challenges if there's a man with a she can is that women can't work and girls are kept from school. i struggle to move forward like a number of children who are severely malnourished, has adult to ha, we won't just just from the world, we want them to pay attention to us. i do not see those numbers improve on up. how long do we have to suffer this misery with? so were you to oh, we're in 90 percent of the population living below the poverty line. we also take a look at the effects of famine and economic hardship and afghanistan. the situation is that if you read eating in this country and specially kinda hot break,

so the right time for the humanity in community to stand up. and steve, the people that he's done a year has passed since afghanistan's us supported government fell to the taliban. and sergent group, they as lumniss, celebrated their anniversary with, for reigns in the streets and declared august 15th and national holiday. there is little cause for celebration for all those whose lives were appended on that dramatic day. the taliban picked up where they left off after being toppled by the u. s. military undoing 20 years of reforms and between afghans experienced democracy and a chaotic effort to build social institutions. so what went wrong with this was afghanistan in 2001 after the september 11th terror attacks in new york and washington, a u. s. lead, military coalition invaded and top of the taliban in

a matter of weeks, the group fled to neighboring pakistan. the u. s. in its allies, introduce democratic reforms, helped set up elections. they kept tens of thousands of troops in the country to provide security houses and spent billions to build up infrastructure and education also. but much of the money did not go where it was supposed to. corruption was wide spread and western contractors also pocketed fat profits. meanwhile the taliban regrouped and struck back. it waged a campaign of terror attacks, including truck bombs and suicide bombers that killed thousands over the years. with elections in 2014 turned into a stale mate. the u. s had to negotiate a settlement after the competing parties refused to agree in the end. ashcroft gardening scene here on the left was declared president but the taliban

of tax continued to stabilize the government. and the group started taking territory by the end of the decade. it controlled much of the country. in 2020 u. s. president donald trump fulfilled a campaign promised to pull u. s. troops out of afghanistan. a deal was made, but trump's advisors convinced him to keep a small force in place. when joe biden took office and 2021, he finished what trump started announcing a complete withdrawal. afghan security forces collapsed as the taliban stepped up its attacks and rapidly took more territory. on august 15th, the group finalized its takeover by capturing the countable cobble scenes of panic and chaos, played out as people massed at the airport. desperate to flee. some made it out, many did not know the us led occupation and the experiment in democracy was

over. and the taliban after 20 years was back in control. who ever since coming back and to control the taliban of presided over an economy in free fall, international 8 was caught, the new leaders were sanctioned and their access to foreign currency reserves or blocked. the resulting economic collapse triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters with unprecedented levels of food and security and malnutrition. and cobble d w, sandra pate, us one meant some of those struggling and just a warning to those at home. you may find the images in this report distressing. ah, this is chassis at b, b. o. she was born just before the taliban returned to power chassis as trip between 2 curses that challenged the best efforts of doctors hearing cobbler trying to help her. oh,

you see and women jamita why she is suffering from both severe pneumonia and severe melania. some of them are pneumonia has actually caused her malnutrition lunch slice, the multi model that essentially what of nursing that as like as i for them. the prognosis of children like her with severe malnutrition is not very good as their growth development and intelligence may be affect list of those on the home. that was a problem. shes yes, mother did not want to be filmed, but she told us she has 8 children and is pregnant with her 9th. there is never enough food at home, she set, and no money for madison. half of afghanistan's people are experiencing acute food insecurity. that's 20000000 people who are so hungry, their lives are at risk. as we drive to cobble facts and figures become faces.

this is one of the wet food program centers in the east of the city, florida. i've got a project manager of a local 8 organization is in charge here. the worst part of the job choosing who should get supplies. it is exactly very difficult for as how to choose the right person over there. many of them they are hungry, many of them they are in need. many of them even they are running after as when we are doing the verification in selection. but sir, we cannot do all. we cannot provide food for all those he picks get 50 k g of wheat just over 6 k g of lentils, and 5 liters of cooking i. there are also packets of peanut butter, paste for children, and special nutrition for pregnant women. it's supposed to feed a family for 3 months. it hardly ever does. o. s. the

sky starts to darken over kabul. if we visit a bakery in the north, people with money buy fresh bread for dinner. sometimes they buy extra for the desperate women who sit outside hoping for charity. many of them are widows. many have walked for more than an hour to get here. we act and on as we amy, they are forced to beg. why else would we sit here all day together? says that a vision vision will. yeah, i thought that like i take the bread home and i eat it with my children. but it's not enough to fill our stomachs. i divide the bread and pieces and give it to my children so that none of them dies in macon, but our stomachs are never full because of all on monday may monday minay is theater. make money, bakery own i am your dell. half marty has registered around $1000.00 women for the bread donations only though is with a car to get a loaf. it's his way to try to help but also to keep the situation under control. i in of, of that additional got them katrina,

i guess also i started this project out of a strong sense of be draw to them because our people are jobless. the corner of the international community has stopped their assistant for us. we are forced to fight for our people. i'm for aligned to man, but what that a mother mom all the thought that a hockey mama, what m a, what a zack wanted afghans and not only victims of massive 8 cutbacks, but also of the sanctions against their fundamentalists, rulers billions of dollars of national assets held abroad a frozen st. markets continue, but the wider economy is collapsing and the taliban have no experience of serving millions of desperate people in crisis. not a single country has recognized their resume. this per status is costing ask and steely, ah, a report from sandra pate as man who joins us now from kabul. sondra good to see you. a year on from the tall on takeover of cornerstones, overseas assets remain blocked. humanitarian aid flows from abroad have decreased

significantly. is there any chance of ghana sand can get out of this misery without more help from outside? i don't think so, and it's really a very desperate situation. and as we heard today from sources in the united states, the u. s. are not thinking of releasing the frozen funds anytime soon. that is $7000000000.00 of, of gone askance national assets and without cash coming into the country without the banking system here being restored without investment in this crumbling economy . i fear that more people will go hungry and already, as we have seen in the report, the word food program is providing food a to about 20000000 people. and i personally am wondering how long can they sustain this? how long can the words sustain to feet, half of the african population with so many other crisis going on in the worked, you've covered have got us out for many years. and i remember when we 1st met,

you were gushing about how fascinating you find the country. how much of the afghanistan you came to know is left today. i still find this country extremely fascinating, especially its people. what i really admire about the africans, is there an extreme resilience? i mean, we're looking at a country that has been in conflict and war for over 4 decades and to still carry on living to still trust journalist like me sharing stories. and talking to us though, the taliban clearly are disliking descent. i think that this takes a lot of guts. let me just give you one example. on saturday, we were covering a small protest of brave women venturing out in the streets about 40 of them, assembled in front of the ministry of education, demanding the right to work, the right to education, the right to food. and then they were allowed to march for about 500 meters,

i would say. and then some taliban fighters started to shoot life rounds in the air to disperse the crowds. and a couple of women got taken in, and also journalists got arrested despite all of this, people are still talking to us sharing their stories. and as i find incredibly brave to day that albany and celebrating what they describe as the liberation of their country, how did the people you've been talking to feel about that? it really depends very much who you speak to here in kabul in the capital, there is a great sense of abandonment, especially when you speak to women. i can remember a teacher literally crying on my shoulder saying she finds it so hard to tell her female students, the teenage girls that, that cannot come back to school and there is no sign that girls schools, secondary schools will open any time soon. i can remember

a student who is out of school since 2 years, 1st due to corona and then because of the taliban school been and she's really at a loss. she's experiencing dark days. she is bought out of her skull. i'm quoting her now and she wanted to become a doctor and now she really fears for her future. she thinks she doesn't have a future in this country. but then as her trevor to the countryside, we also visited a province called wild duck, which saw heavy fighting during the last 2 decades. a lot of air aids night rates drone strikes. and i spoke to a really outstanding women there. and she told me, look, what we have now is at least peace and we can carry on with our lives and, and for her, this increased sense of security is more quality of life though she also despises the taliban school been and then she added another thing saying you used to call us with bullets and drones, and now you're killing us with sanctions at western allies and the former afghan

government and try and to install and strengthen democratic institution for 2 decades looking back, why do you think those structures turn out to be so fragile, i think there's a sir question that also a german parliamentary commission of inquiry is soon looking into. if you want to take my personal note, i think we really have to look back at the beginning of this intervention. barely a month after the $911.00 attacks. when the intervention started, it was taking sites and an actress of a war going on in afghanistan, excluding the taliban from any kind of decision making in this really back fi it. because what you saw is, on the one hand, trying to trying to build up institutions. and then on the other side, you saw on the international community waging a war against terror at these 2 things really never liked. plus, there was a great deal of corruption and the state was never really able to stand on its own

feet. it needed all the money from the western world. and now with that money being cut off, you see a state crumbling. i'm a pet us man, and cobble thank you so much and let's broaden the sound for that. i'd like to welcome and weinstein. he's a research fellow at the quincy institute for responsible state crown. he served in afghanistan as a us marine, and enron. farrar's is an astro afghans, journalist and author, and an expert on afghanistan. good to see you both and run and like to start with you. you were in afghanistan some months ago. in your experience, how has the country changed since the taliban took over? i thanks for having the 1st full so, i mean, i saw those changes and a lot of things like, you know, in the past years, for example, the biggest change was of course that you could see the tolerable everywhere you could see the thought of on all over cobble you could see it and also in other provinces that i, with the child, the time on checkpoints where on the present and especially for the people in the

city, there was still something new to handle with. i saw even, you know, between different afghans called bully, urbanites and rule taliban fighters, cultural barriers, language barriers. so you could see these things. and i think also what some people just mentioned regarding security rule areas. that was often something i noticed when i visited some of these areas, it was kind of extraordinary and weird to see how people who also didn't like the taliban praise the security and said that at least we don't have any war here. after lunch time out of the headlines have got a thought was back along the world's top stories recently after us drone strike killed all kinds of liter. i'm on us. walk me in cobble, adam. you wrote about the killing that it was proved that us counterterrorism operations no longer required boots on the ground. does that mean will never see

a mission like the one in afghanistan again? well, i hope you don't see a mission like the want to not honestly, again where we engage in a failed counter insurgency for 20 years. but by the way, let me point out that my statement about over there highs and counter terrorism isn't necessary, isn't necessarily an endorsement of engaging and kind of been unhinged era drone strikes going forward. my only point is that the bite and administration demonstrated, they can kill a high value archive to target without having boots on the ground. all right, you did right. that kind of links into what you just said about the unhinged a drone war. this should not be completed with the unhinge permissive nist of pastoral wars which saw thousands of civilians killed based on dubious intelligence or none at all. and when would you share that assessment? of course i would share it because i wrote about, i don't know the love to his about it. yes, most strong strikes in the past,

especially in ask and then we're not precise. contrary to what us officials told us, i'm, i know that he himself has been declared dad multiple times. similar like, you know, 2 out of town on the she didn't have tony who apparently, you know, what he, what he, the apparently list in his house before he was killed was the, you know, he's in the tourist told on leader at the moment he's the interior minister, he has been declared that multiple times off the ground strikes conducted by the us military or the ca, and he's very well and the last to date. so yes, just because there's no way he has just been killed. it doesn't mean that the whole going for the whole grown war enough canister was successful. you have called this latest strike, a violation of international law though. can you elaborate in that? yes, i mean, whether you'd like it or not wrong strikes, not just enough canister pockets, don't yemen as to malia when they took place?

they were against the law and i'm not talking about the laws of these countries where it happened. i am talking about the fundamental laws of western societies off the united states of the european union. people here including myself, we are proud to have abolished, for example, the death penalty in all these things. but at the same time, it was kind of paradox, to see that the very same people who were proud of these things at defenders or even celebrated extradition, jo drawn strikes abroad without any trial, any proof or anything. adam, the strike was carried out in the heart of kabul. busy in the year since the take over half the tall one again turned a scanner into a safe haven for terrorists. well, i think we have to remember that also offer was likely enough cornerstone for a long time and so have all kinds of figures been there. i mean, nobody has already ever argued that the taliban broke ties with the point wasn't

whether the child on growth ties without kite or whether honestly would become a safe haven. it was a cost benefit analysis didn't make sense to occupy this country indefinitely for what is really a diminished threat from al qaeda. not no threat but a diminished threat. and i think were divided administration did, was it for once us president created a list of priorities and said, well, this terrorism threat doesn't justify the amount of investment we're pouring and talks about us time and from an ethical perspective. i also think we have to ask ourselves, didn't make sense to continue a war where tens of thousands of off bonds were dying to advance? a small c t mission. now we can say we don't like that. the taliban are now in power. but the war we were fighting prior to the, the august takeover was not a winnable war. it was

a war in which the tale on were slowly gaining an advantage. yeah. and right, let's talk about the people in power as long rumored that there is in finding along the taliban leadership. how strong in united are they when you're in? yes, the thing is we have to, the french really make to her. we have to make a difference between in fighting when it comes to actual fighting with arms and in fighting, you know, when it comes to a difference in opinion and different power place between the taliban infections. unfortunately, we also have a lot of fake news during the last months that you know, tom, on this, on the, the depth on the, the chapter and also to turn out to be wrong. so this is not what i want to focus on. but of course, there are a lot of differences between the top and especially in terms of the other. we're here to strike, it seems to one section us a really, while other affections didn't even know about him being in cobble, most of college security has been handed over to the infection,

as i just said to you. that connie is the new interior minister of the country and he has most of the control regarding that. so i also heard that a lot farther problem leaders where very, and we talk soon after the strike happened because they did not know what was going on. it's similar regarding other issues. for example, the closure of girls schools, secondary schools are taller than lead us a prominent target figure. so at least we're very, very strongly against the decision that girls schools remain close. at the same time, we have to radical faction, which in my opinion is ruling now. they now show their faces and they are against it. so they keep closing here. and these problems will continue, i think, at the country flipped into a massive economic and military crisis since the taliban regain power. and reportedly the african central bank can access $7000000000.00 in foreign assets held in the us. should the us release that money?

well, 1st of all, i just want to say that i agree wholeheartedly with enron, that what i think he's saying is that disagreements within natal bottom movement doesn't mean that it's not a cohesive movement. i think a lot of times in the west will look at disagreements with the taliban movement and say, okay, they're about to fax, analyze, and split apart. and i just don't think that's the case. and i also agree with his assessment at the, the more radical elements who are close to the mirror are the ones calling the shots right now. and not the pragmatist so far as the, the sanctions in the frozen foreign exchange reserves. what we have here is an unprecedented situation in with, in which there were us sanctions on the top, on the terrorists group. and then overnight that terrorist group became the de facto government of a country. and so this is an unprecedented scenario in the history of us sanctions . and what effectively happened is the country itself became sanctioned because it's really hard to do business at a country without dealing with the government and the government was sanctioned.

and so with united states tried to do was issue a bunch of general licenses which are exemptions to those sanctions and allow aid and some commercial activities to go forward. the problem is the chilling effect of the sanctions. nobody wants to touch off on a sun. no banker business wants to touch on because the potential, the economic potential is not worth the risk. same thing with the frozen foreign exchange reserves. we're going to wrap that up. you know, we're going to have to leave it there. i'm sorry we're running out of time. i don't weinstein and run for us. thank you so much for being with us today. oh, while i got president, connie fled the country when the taliban rolled into cobble, his predecessor hung cars. i chose to stay in the capital, he hoped to be able to act as a mediator with the militants. the new rulers restricted his movements and placed him under effective house arrest and an exclusive interview. he spoke to the w about the vital role of education, enough got a sense,

future lack of education means poverty, lack of education, fargo's means lack of abilities. lack of education for goes means half of the society at least half of the society, at least because of goes and oxygenated men are also undermined to get abilities. therefore, it is off of society not being able to produce and participate better. second should surely weak and weaken and deprived of gavin. so or as of course, a lot more, you can watch a full interview on our youtube channel at youtube dot com slash dw news. the day is almost done, but as always, the conversation continues online are looking forward to hearing from you on twitter for now for me and the entire team. thanks for spending part of your day with

. with the former president of afghanistan high med cars. i was in an exclusive interview . the w correspondence, sandra peters may speak with him in kabul, where he's under house arrest. so we have to do all we can fight for the fight

for 4 children, all in 4 daughters to our interview with how many cars i next on d. w aah! chronicle of a disaster august 1 year ago. the totally mon advance into the f. m. capital international troops leave the country head over heels of decades of reconstruction . work is lost. what really happened in the fall of cali? close up in 60 minutes on d. w. o. in into the unknown. to day this meas, flying to a foreign planet. in the 16th century, it meant being

a captain and setting sail to discover a route. i'm a race linked to military interests, a race linked to political and military, christy, but also linked to mountain, financial and adventure full of hardships, dangers and death. magellan journey around the world, starting september 7th on d, w. ah, where he at the residency of former president hammock cause i in what used to be known as the green zone when usaa nato force us. we're still fighting in this country. we are in the heart of cowboy and mister cars. i still consider.