captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, august 15: the fall of afghanistan. president ghani leaves the country, and the taliban are poised to take over. and the death toll in haiti rises in the aftermath of a powerful earthquake. next on “pbs newsur weekend.” >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the estate of worthington mayo- smith. leonard annorma klorfine

the rolind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of ameca, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financia group, retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. afghanistan is on the verge being under taliban control tonight almost 20 years after the united states and nato troops forced the islamist fundamentalist group from power. here's what we know as of late this afternoon: president ashraf ghani left the country. evacuations of u.s. and other embassies are underway. taliban fighters are in kabul and taliban officials are in talks at the presidential palace. kabul's streets were mostly empty this morning as taliban fighters approached. early this morning, reportedly wiout any fighting, the taliban took control of jalalabad, a key city to the east of the capital then, by midday, the president of afghanistan, asaf ghani, left the country after appearing in a televised address where he made no mention of leaving. one of the top afghan peace negotiators, abudllah abdullah, urged the taliban to negotiate a

peaceful transfer of power and called ghani “the former president of afghanistan” >> ( translated ): the fact that the former president of afghanistan has left the country, and left behind the nation and the country in this situatn, god will hold him accountable, and the people of afghanistan will judge him accordingly. >> sreenivasan: there were reports of gunfire at kabul's airport, and the u.s. embassy issued a statement to “shelter in place” and not come to the embassy or the airport. but throughout the day and night helicopters steadily flew back and forth to the airport-- a rushed effort to evacuate people theminded some of the end of the vietnam war. this morning, secretary of state anny blinken rejected a comparison to the 1975 evacuation of the u.s. embassy in saigon. >> this is not saigon. we went to afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission, and that was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11, and we've succeeded in that mission. the objective we set was bringing thoseho attacked us

to justice, making sure they didn't attack us again, making sure they couldn't attack us again from afghanistan. we've succeeded in that mission. >> sreenivasan: newshour correspondent jane ferguson is in kabul. we spoke after president ghani had left the country and as the taliban reportedly entered the streets of the city at about 9:30 p.m. local time there. jane, what have you seen in kabul tonight? >> reporter: scenes in the city have been pretty remarkable today. we've seen thealiban actually enter the city with our own eyes as we were leaving to go out towards the airport area and see around the airport where the evacuations are happening. around about sunset, we saw the taliban moving in. we knew there were taliban elements insidthe city, but that largely on the outskirts of the city, taliban soldiers had been gathering that the taliban leadership had told them to wait until there's been a negotiated transfer of power before they entered the city. later in the day, that leadership told them to enter. aney're saying that's because they want them to prevent looting. let's not forget that tonight no one's really in charge of this

ty. and that's a very, very scary prospect for the several million people who live here. so, the taliban basically gave the nod to their fighters to enter. as we were driving down the road, we saw talibs who were fully armed, some of them, many of them with m4 fles, others that were unarmed, that were coming in, in cars. they saw us, looked at us, didn't look very happy to see us, but didn't bother us, let us drive by. all the while, the afghan security forces were there as well. they were driving in their own trucks in the vicinity of these taliban fighters, which is a surreal image for anybody, especially journalists who have been covering these two warring sides for so long. so, there was clearly a sort of cooperative element to that. and so, the population of kabul right now are bracing themselves because they've seen the andsf and the security forces and the police basically leave, a city famous for its checkpoints has emptied of any security presence. >> sreenivasan: i want to ask also about the increased

presence of u.s. troops to try to ferry people that are working for the ited states government, people who have helped u.s. troops. where is that process today? we saw pictures of helicopters shuttling people from the u.s. embassy to the airport. is that still ongoing? >> reporter: absolutely. the scenes i've just been describing have been happening literally underneath a sky filled with helicopters flying back and forth. today has been like nothing anybody, anyone has seen. those american troops are at the airport. they're not seen in the streets. they're not visible. and i'm sure everybody is aware that the nightmare scenario is that they end up coming into ntact or being too close to taliban fighters. that's going to be the biggest challenge, to make sure that does not happen. that's the huge tense flashpoint here, that you have taliban fighters coming into the city and american troops at the airport. but those, we've seen chinooks and black hawk helicopters back and forth over the city at a constant rate because the airport is basically ground zero

for getting people out. and there are thousands that need to be gotten out, and the time is really running out as the taliban literally walk into town. >> sreenivasan: jane, you've reported from the country multiple times. what are some of your sources that you might have spoken to over the years or even on this trip telling you about their life plans, if they're in kabul right now? >> reporter: almost everybody is trying to get out. they're aware that the options are running more and more thin right now. commercial flights are still going, but the seats are all booked up, as you can imagine. many of these evacuation flights only apply to people with european or american passports or those who specifically qualify for asylum or s.i.v. visas, such as the interpreters with the u.s. military. anybody else has to sically hunker down and try to try to help the airport stays open and that eventually they get to leave. people still don't really know if they can trust the taliban not to enact retribution because no one's quite sure if they can really discipline their foot

soldiers not to basically enact that retribution, kill people, you know, arrest people, disappear people. there's a terrible legacy of this kind of treatment in the country. and so, many people don't want to wait around and find out. >> sreenivasan: yesterday, we had a story about some of the female judges that are in afghanistan. i mean, as a symbol of all of the different types of progress that women and girls had made in afghanistan over the past 20 years. and around the time of our broadcast, we were also made aware of a couple of statements, warning statements, essentiall telling one of the judges in the north that she's on an assassination list. so, i'm trying to figure out, how do you have any semblance of normalcy or when you might very well be a target from the people who are literally driving into town right now and you don't have a way out? >> reporter: it's an absolutely unbearable existence for people who believe they are just sitting ducks. i mean, we've covered this extensively. there has been a massive assassination campaign against

women that's been going on ever since the deal was signed between the u.s. government under president trump and the taliban for the u.s. drawdown. there's been an assassination campaign that has focused on many different groups, but it's really, really focused heavily on women and professional women, women who have jobs that are influential, women who work within the social sphere, women who work as human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, judges, as you say. so, many of them believe that they are marked, that they are going to continue to be a rget and that simply laying low and trying to avoid their work, you know, for the next few months is not going to be enough. there's a real fear that they are on lists. and so, i think that many people in the city don't feel like they cathey can trust anybody that's coming in and saying that that they won't enact this kind of retribution, because we know that thathe taliban have been assassinating journalists and judges and human rights

activists for years. it's not as simple as simply being desperate to move to another country. it's a terrible heartache for people. they don't want to get out. they want to live in afghanistan d have these careers and raise their families here. i talk to young women all the time. they built those careers in afghanistan because they wanted a life of service. and so, it's very tragic. people want to be able to get out to save themselves, but they don't really want to leave everything behind. so, it's a very, very distinct, kind of painful, painful reality for people that that many of them are going through tonight. >> sreenivasan: jane ferguson joining us from kabul tonight. thanks so much. >> reporter: thank you. >> sreenivasan: with the afghan government collapsing and the taliban returning to power, the next question is what kind of government will control the country. for more on what may be next i

spoke with arian sharifi, former senior advisor to the afghanistan's most recent foreign mister. when you think about what's happening now, we have kabul under curfew, ghani has fled the country. what do you think happens next? i mean, who is left in the afghan government leadership to have a conversation with the taliban and how th take over? >> well, i was talking to some people just 20 minutes ago, and basically here is the latest on that question: the government has completely collapsed. the government is basically nonexistent. the two teams that were prepared yesterday d the day before, one negotiation team were to go to doha and negotiate with the taliban. the other team was prepared to go to islamabad and talk to some pakistani officials over there. those two teams are still there. so, basically, in kabul, really nobody's in charge right now.

there have been scores of violence. there have been some chaos in different parts of the city. very likely the taliban forces are, within the next few hours were going to enter the city, will take over the city. this is against their promise before. and if they do that,he negotiations in doha and islamabad, kind of become meaningless. >> sreenivasan: so, i want to ask, how do you balance all of the democratic gains that the country has made in the last 20 years, advancement of women, of minorities with what the taliban wants as their way of life and their rule? >> the taliban obviously are going to be the main power in the government. they are going to have the majority. but at least if they negotiate, if they agree to deal with some non taliban members are there and the government within the structures and would agree to some level of a balance between their ideological autocracy and

the democratic and liberal gains we've had over the past two decades, then that could be something that would be sustainable. obviously, we're not going to be experiencing the freedoms we've had over the past two decades in terms of freedom of speech, of assembly, of women's rights, et cetera, et cetera. we're not going to have that level again. that's a given. but at least some level of freedom. if that negotiated settlement doesn't work then we go to scenario number two, where the taliban will actually take over everything by force and refuse to share power with anybody else but then we go back to the 1990s that we have at least three thres that are going to emanate. threat number one is transnational terrorism. let's not forget that e taliban were only one, albeit the largest, but one of some 20-21 terrorist groups that operated in afghanistan over the past two decades. their entire goal thus far has been to use afghan territory to project terrorism across the

region and across the world. they are now going to see their dreams come true. mber two, you have the drug trade. let's not forget the drug. and number three, you've got likely very much, waves of refugees getting out of afghanistan, flooding across the region and perhaps even europe. >> sreenivasan: what kind of leverage does anybody that's negotiating with the taliban have? i mean, right now, the taliban, if they're coming to a table, they'd say, listen, we basically own the country. why should i concede anything to you? >> i mean, there is no leverag for the present situation. absolutely zero leverage, really. the taliban have won, nobody is in resistance. everything is gone and he is left. but if the taliban are smart, which they are, they would think a little bit more long term. they are going to negotiate and

agree to a deal where a major resistance against them would not develop over the next maybe a year or two. if they don't do that, that will denitely happen. because why? because there are a lot of afghans. if you even think ethnically there are the hazaras, there are those that are the pashtuns, even a lot of questions i am asking myself. i do not agree with what the taliban want to impose there. so, even there is a lot of pashtuns who are willing and are going to start resistance and there's no lack of weapons a ammunition and means to make war in that in that part of the world. so, that is the only way, the only leverage, if you will. >> sreenivasan: finally, i just want to ask, you've got family there. you've got fends there. what's their plan? >> right now, nothing. i mean, in fact, my own plan was to fly, i had booked my flight for tomorrow night. i am flying to istanbul tomoow night, my plan was to just be with them.

but now it looks like it's impossible for me to even fly in the cockpit. right now, they are in a state of absolute wait and see. they're terrified. they're terrorized. i spoke to my father about an hour ago. they're all at home basically trying to see what unfolds. just literally nothing they can do. >> sreenivasan: arian sharifi, thanks so much for joining us. >> you're welcome. good to be he. thank you. >> sreenivasan: for an interview >> sreenivasan: for an interview with newshour weekend special correspondent ryan chilcote on the u.s. withdrawal and taliban takeover go to pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: the death toll from yesterday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake in haiti rose to more than 700 tay. at least 1,800 people were injured and hundreds of homes and buildings destroyed in the worst natural disaster to hit the country since a 7.0 quake

struck the capital of port-au- prince over 11 years ago. yesterday's earthquake was on the same fault line as the one in 2010, but this time the destruction and casualties were in haiti's less densel populated southwestern region. residents there set up make- shift shelters at a local soccer field. haitian prime minister ariel henry declared a month-long state of emergency for the country. he also said haiti will not accept outside help until officials know the full extent of the damage. >> ( translated ): we are setting up a task force to coordinate the aid, so that what happened on january 12, 2010 is not repeated again. >> sreenivasan: the earthquake hit just a mon after then- haitian president jovenel moise was assassinated, plunging the already struggling nation into political turmoil. the rescue and relief efforts are underway as tropical storm grace strengthens in the atlantic. the national hurricane center is predicting the storm will reach haiti tomorrow or tuesday. storm warnings are in place for the entire coastline and there are predictions of 40mph winds

and up to 15 inches of rain which may trigger mudslides. for many, the images coming out of yesterday's earthquake in haiti are stark reminders of the deadly earthquake a decade ago in port au prince and of the failures that have still not been resolved. jonathan katz is a journalist and author of “the big truck that went by: how the world came to save haiti and left behind a disaster.” >> this was exactly what i have been afraid was going to happen essentially for the last 11 years, that, you know, another similar magnitude earthquake, this onectually seems to be somewhat bigger, would strike essentially in the same spot and that the resultsould be the same. the good news is in relative terms, that this one seems to be the epicenter was about 60 miles to the west. and so, the cities that were affected were quite a t smaller than port-au-prince.

but the images coming from les cayes and jeremie and other places on haiti's southern peninsula, they all just take me right back. >> sreenivasan: why is it that it was and is so difficult for haiti to recover from natural disasters and especially the big quake? >> i mean, it really goes back to haiti's history with the outside world, with this region. look, it's a relationship of predation, of interference, of exploitation after the 2010 quake. you know, looking back on it sort of in the years immediately following, my main take was that, you know, the moment that the quake hit was too late, that the preparations needed to be in place before that, that the money that had been taken from haiti needed to have been returned before. the haitian government needed to

be in a strong place in which it could respond anthat it was too late. and the last 11 years were a period in which some of those things could have been improved and instead all of those things got worse. and here we are. >> sreenivasan: we're also at a time when the government is still relatively unstable. we just had an assassination. a new leader has come to powe but what are you most concerned about, especially as the world may line up to try and help again? again, i know that there are always promises and commitments to help, which is very different from what mony actually shows up and ich is also very different than what money actually shows up on the ground and affects people. >> yeah. so, look, in the immediate term, there are immediate needs. i think talking to my friends and my contacts in haiti, you know, the need for medical supplies and medical persoel in places like les cayes and

jeremie are paramount in the medium term, and the longer term, i hope that this could be an opportunity to not repeat the same mistakes of the past. that earthquake recovery and response is not done to haiti or as was often the case in 2010 in haiti's name. but actually just give money to haitians, just put money in individual haitians hands so that they can make the decisions that they need to, to save their own lives and e lives of the neighbors and just not use this as an opportunity for, for international posturing and, you know, advancing other political projects. >> sreenivasan: so, who is left here to organize this if the government is not strong enough? >> honestly, i think that people in haiti have been used to dealing with vacuums of power before and unresponsive

governments before. you know, people in the neighborhoods, in places like les cayes, in jeremie and camp- perrin and they know what they need. and we should be talking to them and listening to them. and just again, just putting money directly in people's hands to meet their own needs in the way that they know how better than anybody else does. you know, it is an imperfect solution, but at this point, it's all we got. >> sreenivasan: journalist jonathan katz, also author of the book "the big truck that went by how the world came to save haiti and left behind a disaster." thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: that's all for this edition of “pbs newshour weekend.” for the latest news updates visit pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii.

bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the andersonamily fund. the esta of worthington mayo- smith. the leonard and norma klorfine the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private

corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

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