judy: good evening, i'm he woodruff. on the next newshour. the leader of isis is killed in a u.s. led raid. then, tensions rising, senators why the need for sanctions and express concerns after receiving a classified briefing on russian aggression against ukraine. and protesting against the taliban. despite brutal repression, many afghan women demand the right to go to school and work. >> i want to fight f my rights. we should continue even if it costs our lives. we will not let anyone deprive us of our rights. judy: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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and with the ongoing sport of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the united states has claimed a new victory in the long-running war on the islamic state group. the leader of isis died last night, when american commandos raided his hideout in syria. foreign correspondent nick schifrin begins our coverage. nick: in northwest syria, this

is all that's left of what u.s. officials call isis in iraq and syria's effective command center and where, overnight, u.s. special operations forces conducted a raid that ended in the death of leader abu ibrahim al-hashimi al-qurashi, also known as hajji abdullah. pres. biden: last night's operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield, and has sent a strong message to terrorists around the world: we will come after you and find you. nick: senior u.s. officials say, when u.s. and mostly kurdish allied troops arrived, they announced their presence to capture al-qurashi. instead he detonated a bomb, collapsing the top floor and killing his family. pres. biden: he chose to blow himself up, not just with a vest, but to blow up that third floor rather than face justice for the crimes he has committed. nick: after daybreak, local cameramen filmed the building's second floor, where u.s. officials say a senior isis lieutenant and his wife fought back using children as shields. landlord abu ahmad walked

through the damaged home. >> this guy lived here for 11 months. i didn't see anything suspicious or notice anything. he would come and pay the rent and leave. nick: during the raid, gunmen affiliated with a local branch of al-qaida engaged the u.s. soldiers, and were killed, outside the house, signs of a firefight, and the roof destroyed by al-qurashi's bomb. eyewitness: around 1:00 a.m., we heard a loud sound. i opened the window then went outside. the first thing i thought is that it was a car bomb. but then i looked up and saw helicopters. they passed above our home and came here. nick: ahead of the raid, u.s. officials say they rejected a plan to bomb the site from the air, because it would have killed too many civilians. the u.s. blamed all the civilians killed on al-qurashi's bomb and the second floor firefight. central command chief general frank mckenzie spoke this afternoon on a virtual briefing. gen. mckenzie: the mission was carefully designed and we believe very effective at minimizing harm to noncombatants. but, as always, we will look into whether any unintended harm resulted from u.s. actions.

nick: u.s. officials say one helicopter that took part in the raid went down with a mechanical problem. u.s. fors destroyed it nearby. but, otherwise, a senior u.s. official said, quote, "everything ran according to clockwork." officials said they confirmed al-qurashi's location in december, and president biden provided the final order on tuesday morning. last night, he watched the raid unfold in the situation room, briefed live by defense secretary lloyd austin and joint chiefs chairman mark milley from the pentagon. pentagon spokesman john kirby: >> they're leaderless today. and that's a significant blow. this is not something that we believe isis is just going to be able to get over real quickly and real easily. nick: al-qurashi became a senior isis leader in 2014, and took over in 2019 from abu bakr al-baghdadi after he killed himself in a u.s. raid in the same part of syria. officials call al-qurashi the driving force behind what the u.s. labeled a genocide of the yazidi ethnic minority in northern iraq. he was a mysterious figure rarely seen in photos. he never recorded messages for

isis foot soldiers, and u.s. officials say he communicated by courier. but the u.s. says he personally directed operations in syria and iraq, including last week's assault on a prison in northeast syria. it was the largest isis attack in years. allied mostly kurdish troops and american troops had to fight back for days to maintain prison control. and u.s. officials say qurashi provided inspiration for the isis fighters responsible for attacks in afghanistan and for a resurgence in sub-saharan africa. gen. mckenzie: i do think it makes it harder for them to come up with an integrated global approach. and i think what you're going to see is a continued devolvement to the regional level of these ganizations. when you don't have a central re that can disperse money and share money among competing franchises, it makes it harder for them to be resourced. nick: it was a risky raid that won't stop isis' ideology, but eliminates its most senior leader. for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin.

♪ vanessa: will return to the full program after the latest headlines. the biden administration made fresh accusations that russia is plotting a figured -- attacked by ukrainian forces as a pretext to invading ukraine. pentagon spokesman john kirby said u.s. intelligence shows moscow is willing to go to elaborate lengths. >> we believe that russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video, which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations, as well as military equipment. >> the allegations came as ukraine's president zelenskyy met in kiev with turkey's president recep tayyip erdogan, who has offered to mediate. and, russia's defense minister met with the president of belarus, as russian troops mass

there, near ukraine's border. in washington, the secretaries of state and defense briefed congress today. we'll focus on that, after the news summary. here in the united -- much of the united states is feeling the full weight of winter tonight. many are facing snow, ice, and tornadoes. nicole ellis has our report. >> cruise across the midwest are digging their way out as a sprawling winter storm pushes farther across the country. some places have reported over a foot of snow, creating dangerous driving conditions in several states. air travel has also been disrupted. more than 4,000 flights were canceled today alone. many other flights have been delayed. >> i got stuck for 3 hours on, like an american airlines flight. please no. like that was a terrible experience i would never want to repeat.

>> the extreme weather also knocked out power for at least 200,000 homes and businesses, mostly in texas, tennessee and arkansas the storm runs the gamut of precipitation: snow, rain, sleet, and combinations of all three. according to this national weather service map an intrepid motorist could drive all the way from maine to texas and still be within the storm's grasp. in austin, tas today, governor greg abbott said that mix of ice, freezing rain and wind are particularly difficult. >> we are dealing with one of the most significant icing events that we've had in the state of texas in at least several decades. >> he also said the state is much better prepared than it was for last year's week-long storm that rocked the electrical grid and triggered widespread blackouts. more than 4 million were without power and more than 200 people died, many of them from hypothermia. the reliability and maintenance of the state's electrical grid, and the governor's record on that, was at the center of heavy criticism. >> as compared to last year,

texas has about 15% more power generation capacity. there is also more reserve power available than last year. >> even so, tens of thousands of texans have lost power from this storm. for the pbs newshour, i'm nicole ellis. >> at the winter olympics organizers of the beijing games , dismissed allegations of human rights violations in china. a spokesman said all such claims are a lie. meanwhile, activists protested outside the international olympic committee building in lausanne, switzerland. they cited china's treatment of muslim uighurs and of tibet. the world health organization now says europe could be nearing a cease-fire in its battle with covid. the agency european director said today that the ongoing surge of omicron cases will actually help bring on the pandemics endgame. >> we here in the european region, have a unique situation. first and foremost, that once the omicron wave will subside,

there will be a large capital of immunity, be it thanks to the vaccine or due to the infection. >> a number of european nations have dropped nearly all of their covid restrictions. ck in this country, the former chicago police officer who killed a black teen-ager, laquan mcdonald, was released from prison today. jason van dyke shot mcdonald 16 times and was convicted of second-degree murder. he got 6 years and 9 months behind bars, but served less than half of that due to good behavior. the owner of the washington pro football franchise- dan snyder is facing new allegations of sexual harassment by former employees. at a congressional hearing today, one woman said snyder groped h thigh at a dinner. others talked of a toxic atmosphere, with team executives even hiring prostitutes after one event. >> i worked at the washington football team for eight years and i can't recall a time that i didn't experience or fear sexual

harassment. it was just a pervasive part of the culture and unavoidable rite of passage being a woman who worked there. >> snyder said the accusations against him are quote outright lies. all of this came a day after the team rolled out its new name, the washington commanders. the south carolina governor -- the 10 state to doo, but faces potential legal challenges. federal judges have blocked similar laws in idaho in west virginia. tesla has announced a u.s. recall, for the second time this week. this time, it involves more than 817,000 vehicles. their seat belt reminder chimes may not sound when they're supposed to. earlier this week, tesla recalled nearly 54,000 vehicles because self-driving software can let them roll through stop signs.

and, a tough day on wall street: shares in facebook's parent company meta plunged 26% after 4th quarter profits fell. that's the biggest one-day decline for any u.s. company, ever. still to come, sarah palin takes the new york times to court over an erronus editorial. women in afghanistan protest. defying the taliban. and what to watch as the beijing winter olympics get underway plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: top biden officials were at the capitol today briefing senators on the growing tensions in russia and ukraine. it is a potentially critical moment as members of congress wrestle with if and how to pass sanctions directly confronting vladimir putin and the russian

government. for more on all this i'm joined by our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins. give us the level of concern you were picking up as you talk to the senators after the briefing, and why? lisa: what i got that was new today, judy, from these senators as they were walking out of this long hour-and-a-half-plus briefing was continued concern, but what was new was real urgency from them. i heard in this voices a sense they think time for the u.s. to really make a statement here and potentially to strategize and use leverage against putin diplomatically may be running out. and, specifically, this is as senators are trying to weigh exactly what kind of attentions -- sanctions package, if any, they need to pass. they're in the middle of trying to put that package together right now. but there is a more broad debate over how and if the u.s. should do anything at all. some senators, including divides, those divided in the republican party, say the u.s. has to act.

others say it's not the u.s.' job. listen to these two senators, first lindsey graham of south carolina, and then roger marshall of kansas. sen. graham: all i can say is, after that briefing, we live in very dangerous times. and i want the american people to know, if you think this is not our concern, you're wrong. sen. markey: -- sen. markey: where are the european countries and where is nato? why aren't they being stronger in this situation? why aren't they standing up to this bullying? lisa: other news today, though, this is all happening as we see in north carolina those first troops being deployed as part of president biden's decision to send more american forces to the ukraine region, or to the eastern europe region. this is the 82nd airborne out of fort bragg. they're leaving as part of that 3,000 troops. i want to remind people of exactly what this deployment looks like that the president is directing. overall, some 3,000 american troops will be moving as part of this effort to secure nato's

position in the region. 2,000 of those, including those from fort bragg, are headed to poland and germany, 1,000 going to romania. this is a defensive posture, members of congress talking me today saying they call it assurance to our allies there. but the timing is critical, judy. this is why the sense of urgency. right now, temperatures are right around freezing in that region. and there is a real sense that, of course, it will be easier for russia to make moves with its heavy equipment when the ground is frozen, vs. when later, say, march, late february, it's not. judy: and, lisa, give us a sense of what options the congress is looking at and why they have not made a decision before now. lisa: it is complicated. it is a nuanced debate, actually, up here. but i think i can boil it down to sort of three options that senators are considering. let's look at this. first, they have the option to let president biden decide. he can issue sanctions on his own. he obviously can send some troops for some reasons to that region. but congress can reinforce that with a mandate for sanctions now. some people want very heavy sanctions now on russia.

others say, why not issue some sanctions now, like targeted perhaps to putin's inner circle, and then threaten much more hefty sanctions on russia's banks, on its financial sector, if russia should invade? judy, my reporting is that the two key senators involved here, the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, bob menendez, and the ranking republican, jim risch, have been meeting, including last night. and they are focusing on that last option, some targeted sanctions now, and perhaps heavier sanctions later. but it's complicated, because president biden is not necessarily on board that idea. he does not want his hands tied by congress. and then there's a third factor, germany. the german chancellor and germany are involved in a financial relationship over a gas pipeline with russia. and i am told by people here the german ambassador was at the capitol. and this is adding another complicated dynamic to america's try, attempts to reinforce its allies, when one ally, germany, may have a slightly different opinion on the exact sanctions

that should go into place. judy: hardly a simple matter. and quickly to something else, lisa. the senate foreign relations committee, the republicans on that committee today issued their report on what happened in the withdrawal from afghanistan. just give us a sense of that. lisa: i will. and this was a report that was just from the republicans, but it struck me as more serious in tone, not as partisan as sometimes these reports can be. they said that a number of failings they found were that was that the administration disregarded warnings from front-line foreign service officers. and, essentially, they're saying some basic things need to go in place here, that the united states needs to be better prepared for evacuation scenarios, and that the united states needs to just have a better accounting of americans and its own allies in regions that are under risk. remember, judy, when the united states pulled out of that region, there were still more than 30,000 sivs. those are often those translators that helped america, people who were at, who were ready to receive visas, that

were in the pipeline for visas, that we left behind in afghanistan, many of them still there. so this is an effort to try and look at what happened and how to avoid it in the future. judy: lisa desjardins reporting on all these things at the capitol. thank you, lisa. lisa: you're welcome. ♪ judy: and now we turn to the president's deputy national security adviser, jonathan finer, to discuss both ukraine and the commando raid early today that led to the death of the isis leader. jon finer, welcome back to the "newshour." very glad to have you. let's start with this raid in syria. we know that isis is not the great force that it once was across the middle east. we know it's an organization that's been able to regenerate itself. so, what does the depth of the

most recent leader really do to degrade itcapability? jon: judy, hajji abdullah, the leader you're referencing, has been involved in isis from the very beginning. he is a terrorist who played a role not only in driving the genocide that took place against the yazidi people back in 2014, but, just last week, in an attack that took place on a prison in northwest syria, northeast syria, excuse me, where isis tried to free a significant number of its senior leaders who were held captive there. fortunately, that event was thwarted by u.s. partners, the syrian democratic forces. but this is someone who plays a significant operational role day in, day out in an organization that remains potent and that is still trying to target the united states, our people and our allies. and taking him off the battlefield is a significant blow to the organization and a benefit to our safety and security. judy: i want to ask you, jon finer, about the death of civilians involved, family members. i know the president said today everything possible was done to avoid that. and yet, the isis leader, al-qurashi, blew himself up.

his wife and two children died. my question is, was everything possible done to avoid that, or is the decision simply made, since these innocents are so close to the target, this is just part of doing business? jon: well, what i can say, judy, is that, from the very beginning, from the moment the president was first briefed on this operation, frankly, from the moment the operation began being planned months ago, the desire to avoid at, almost in every way civilian casualties was foremost in the minds of the planners, of the president himself, and i know of the service members who took part in this operation. that is a major part of why this was not a drone strike that took place against this target. we put u.s. service members on the ground, in harm's way to, conduct this action precisely to avoid civilian casualties. this is why, when they arrived at the target, they gave the people inside every opportunity to come out of the house and be

detained, as opposed to a different outcome. and what hajji abdullah, the terrorist who we were just discussing, chose to do instead was to blow up the third floor of the building, where he was living with his family, cave in the roof, and cause significant harm and damage to the civilians inside. judy: at the same time, jon finer, we know that there have been a pattern of airstrikes where civilians have died. there's, frankly, also been reporting on dissembli by the military about what's happened in these situations. how can the american people have confidence that we're getting a straight story from the military now? jon: well, i think you have seen the leadership of the pentagon stand up and talk about the fact that they know that there have been issues in the past and take, and they are taking significant steps to try to get their arms around this issue and announced some improvements and steps they're taking to make sure that these incidents are minimized to the greatest extent possible going forward, as they were in this case. but what i can say is, the accounts that we have of this incident are drawn from eyewitness accounts from the service members who were on the

site, not from people who showed up afterwards and tried to assess what happened based on what they encountered. and i think those reports from our most experienced, most professional, most capable service members are highly credible. judy: going back to the initial question about the isis threat, where exactly is it still a major threat to u.s. interests? jon: well, isis, like al-qaida and other terrorist organizations, in large part because of the united states and our partners in the coalition that is fighting it have been so successful at degrading it over now a period of three successive administrations, it has moved beyond its original geography, emerging first in iraq and syria, and now maintains a presence on the african continent, in south asia, and in other places. but what this raid shows is that, even in an obscure part of northwest syria, in a small town that most people have never heard of, the united states will find the leadership of these organizations that are targeting the united states and bring them to justice. judy: jon finer, i wanto turn you now to ukraine.

and we just heard this report from lisa desjardins, a lot of concern among senators. she said the sense of urgency is growing. take us for a moment inside the thinking of the, of you and others in the biden administration. how do you determine whether vladimir putin is serious about his threat, or what he says is not a threat, but which looks like a threat, to go into ukraine? jon: so, all we can do, judy, is judge by what we are seeing on the ground. and that is a significant russian troop presence on the russia-ukraine border, tens of thousands, more than 100,000 russian forces, increasingly a russian troop presence in the neighboring country of belarus, just north of the capital city of kyiv, capital of ukraine. so, whatever russian officials are saying in public about their intentions, we have to take that with a grain of salt because of what we're actually seeing with our own eyes. and because of that, that is why the united states is being so explicit about the cost that russia will face if it chooses to launch another military invasion of ukraine, why we are

laying out the fact that they will face financial sanctions, why we are talking openly about the security assistance that we are providing to the ukrainian government and military, and why we are now, as of just this week, talking about moving u.s. forces and starting to move u.s. forces into the european theater give reassurance to our nato partners and allies. that is an important step that is just defensive and intended to reassure because of the buildup that russia is conducting. judy: well, i would, i do want to ask about those troops, 3,000 troops the u.s. is repositioning. i understand that something like 40,000 nato troops can be called on in a crisis situation. but you're up against over 100,000 russian troops. it looks like the russians have a huge advantage. explain why that's not the case. jon: i want to be clear, judy, that nato is a defensive alliance. and the president has been very clear that u.s. forces are not going to be deployed to ukraine to fight in any conflict that may emerge. that does not mean we do not have options for making this as difficult for russia as

possible. i just described a few of them, financial sanctions, security assistance to ukraine. but the president has also been clear that the nato alliance, under which we have commitments to defend the security and safety of our allies, many of whom border either russia or belarus, where russia is now amassing forces, means that we owe those countries, and we will live up to our commitments, to make sure that their security and safety is looked after. and that's what these deployments are all about. judy: but the numbers are lopsided. jon: judy, there are significant u.s. force numbers in europe, and there are significant capabilities the united states can draw on to provide defense and reassurance to those countries. judy: you mean in addition. the forces that are already positioned in western europe, you mean. jon: i mean, those countries should have every reason to be confident in the president's sacred commitment to defend them. but this is really, first and foremost, about what russia is doing on the border with ukraine. and i think the attention when it shifts to our deployments is, frankly, sometimes a tactic by the russians to take the focus off of what they are doing and what we are forced to respond to, 100,000 plus-troops on the

border of a sovereign country that, frankly, has no desire for russian forces to be engaged in conflict with them. judy: and circling back again to my colleague lisa desjardins's reporting, talking to senators today discussing, debating whether or not there should be sanctions now added to what the u.s. already has imposed on russia, whether it's better to impose harsh sanctions now, mild sanctions first or later. where is the administration thinking on this as of today? jon: so, i think we're in close consultation with a number of our friends and colleagues on the hill about some of the measures that are being debated. we have laid out what we think is an extremely strong, extremely powerful set of economic sanctions that we would take in the event that russia chooses military action, and not diplomacy, which, frankly, would be our preference for resolving this situation. i don't want to get ahead of these conversations that are taking place on capitol hill. but our partnership is close,

and the consultations, i think, are productive. judy: so it sounds like nothing before a potential invasion? jon: what we have been focusing on up until this point is sanctions that would take place in the aftermath of russian military action. judy: we're going to leave it there. jon finer, deputy national security adviser to president biden, thanks very much. jon: thanks, judy. ♪ judy: today was the start of a court case in new york that will pit a republican political star against a media giant and could put the first amendment on trial. geoff bennett has our report. >> what am i trying to accomplish? sarah palin: justice. geoff: sarah palin vs. the new york times, a court case more than four years in the making. it started in june 2017, the day a gunman opened fire on congressional republicans practicing for a charity baseball game. four people were shot, including then-majority whip steve scalise, who was critically

injured. it mirrored the scene in tucson, arizona, years earlier whea man attacked a crowd in a grocery store parking lot, killing six and injuring more than a dozen others, including former democratic congresswoman gabrielle giffords. the day scalise was shot, the new york times published an editorial about the connection between rising gun violence and politics. "the link to political incitement was clear," the times wrote, tying the actions of the tucson shooter to a facebook post by palin. in it, a map showed 20 congressional districts, all represented by democrats, underneath stylized crosshairs. they were 20 seats that palin's political action committee hoped to win back in the 2010 midterm elections. but the shooter's fixation with giffords had started years earlier, according to people who knew him. and the new york times issued a correction, writing: "in fact, no such link was established."

palin, the former governor of alaska and 2008 republican vice presidential nominee, sued the times for defamation. in court filings, palin's attorneys wrote: "the times should be held accountable for publishing a statement about her that it knew to be false." and that is one of the central questions of this case: did the times act with actual malice? that's the precedent established by the supreme court in the landmark 1964 case new york times vs. sullivan. public figures like palin must prove the statement was made with actual malice, the knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. palin, who said she could testify on monday, says the standard does apply and that the nearly 60-year-old precedent needs updating. she alleges former times editorial editor james bennet, who inserted the disputed paragraph drawing the link, knew it was untrue, citing past coverage by the times. her lawyers will argue that bennet, whose brother is a democratic senator from colorado, wanted to hurt palin

politically. the times says the mistake was innocent and quickly corrected. >> we are going to take a strong look at our country's libel laws. geoff: but perceived media bias has become a rallying cry for republican politicians. former president trump spoke regularly about wanting to crack down on media protections. donald trump: our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace, and do not represent american values or american fairness. fmr. gov. palin: i can't talk about the case. blame that on my attorneys. geoff: and now, after palin's positive covid test delayed the trial for more than a week, attorneys for her and the new york times will begin arguments in this case that could test the limits of the first amendment. and to help us understand the stakes for journalists and the first amendment, i'm joined by bruce brown. he's the executive director of the reporters committee for freedom of the press, which helps provide legal resources to reporters.

it's good to have you with us. and tell us more about the standard that sarah palin's team needs to meet in order to be successful. bruce: well, thank you for having me. and the actual malice standard that you just referred to in the clip is really the core protection for journalists in u.s. constitutional law. it's a requirement that a libel plaintiff who is a public official or a public figure can only prevail in a case against a news organization if he or she can show, essentially, that the journalist published a knowing falsehood or an intentional lie. and it is a much more stringent standard than a mere negligence standard. and it's essential for the protection of journalism in this country that, at a time when we are focused on the role that

accountability journalism and investigative reporting plays in keeping people informed, that we have to have a standard that allows journalists some room, essentially, to make an honest mistake. geoff: and the times notes it hasn't lost a defamation case in some 50 years because of the precedent outlined in that 1964 ruling. give us a sense of why that precedent is seen as being so important to protecting press freedoms. bruce brown: in the pre-new york times world, where you simply had, as i mentioned, negligence, it's the same standard in a slip-and-fall case, there was a real risk that an inadvertent error could bankrupt a news organization. and at a time when we're all relying on journalism more than ever to keep us informed and help us make decisions in our lives, we have to have that kind of robust press.

geoff: what will you be watching for as this case unfolds? bruce: well, like any trial, it's going to have a lot of ups and downs. and the plaintiff will come. and she's got a story to tell, and she's going to try to show that the news organization came to this editorial with a preconceived idea of what it was going to say. and the new york times will defend itself by saying all of that is contrary to what happened, that the evidence shows that the journalists at the paper did their level best to get everything right, that there was a pressing news cycle that day, and a sitting member of congress had been shot on a baseball field. and, at the end of a long day, an honest mistake was made, and they promptly corrected it. and i would say that it's important to note that the vast

majority of plaintiffs who are able to overcome this daunting bar of actual malice at trial and prevail with a judgment find that, on appeal, their cases are overturned. and so, while we're beginning the trial phase right now, there could be a long road ahead still for this case. geoff: given the ways in which politicians and public figures are increasingly attacking the press for coverage that they may not like, do you expect that we will see more cases like this moving forward? bruce: there's no doubt that there is an uptick of these kinds of cases right now. but i would remind people that we have seen thibefore in american libel law. president nixon's good friend bebe rebozo was a libel plaintiff. senator goldwater was a libel plaintiff. sid blumenthal, the clinton, the top clinton aide, was a libel plaintiff. so, we have had other eras in which political people have gone

to court and tried to use libel law. but i think it's very important also tpull back and recognize that times v. sullivan has survived these different challenges. and justice brennan wrote that, if we are to have popular sovereignty in this country, then a world in which government officials are protected from libel suits when they are sued in their official capacity must be mirrored with a world in which speakers themselves, the citizens, the people, are also protected from libel suits. geoff: bruce brown is executive director of the reporters committee for freedom of the press. appreciate your time this evening. >> thank you for having me. ♪ judy: in a moment last august,

afghanistan's women saw two decades of progress vanish, as the taliban of the country. the group's arch-conservative interpretation of islam pushed women out of the workplace and cast most young women and girls out of school. but, as jane ferguson and videographer eric o'connor report, some women in afghanistan are not taking this lying down and are raising their voices in protest. jane: this is the last time anyone saw 25-year-old tamana zaryab paryani, terrified, pleading for help on a facebook live last month, while men t to force their way into her apartment. she had recent attended a protest in the afghan capital, calling for women's rights to go to school and work. the taliban denies they are holding her. despite the group's crackdowns, women like her have persisted. they may well be the world's riskiest feminist movement, and these afghan women among the

bravest, on the streets to demand their rights. they are defiant, in full view of taliban gunmen. >> we try to find ways and make sure to film the protests, so it makes the news, and the world knows. jane: these women know that, as long as the cameras are rolling, taliban fighters are less likely to shoot them dead. the men here not only have guns. they now have an entire government to back them. what have these women? iphones, their voices, and the hope the world hears them. >> when we specify a location to protest in, armed foes move to limit access to that location. we do not go there as a group. we must get ourselves to that specific location in groups of two orven sometimes by ourselves. we mention this in the invitations that we send out. jane: this is the voice of one of the protest leaders, speaking to the "newsho" by phone. we are protecting her identity. >> they wouldn't allow

journalists to cover us under any condition. the journalists have tried to photograph and film us from far-off distances. so we are forced to become both the protesters and people covering the protests as well. jane: in kabul, we saw this for ourselves. after getting word the women were going to launch a rally, we rushed to the area, aware they often only have a few moments before the taliban show up. they don't want them talking to us. what we're doing is writing my name and cell phone number on little pieces of paper to give to the women, so that we can slip them in their pockets, hoping that they can contact us. as soon as we arrived, we were forced back into our car at gunpoint. one young woman who came to speak with us. woman: it is very dangerous, but we should do it. it is very hard for a woman. they cannot go to school, university.

and they also lock them. jane: she barely gets a few sentences out before the taliban gunmen order us to stop filming. the women, just about 30 feet from our car, filmed this footage on their phones that day. they are surrounded by taliban gunmen, unable to move. the rights of women in afghanistan have been decimated since the taliban takeover in august 2021. education for girls over 12 is restricted, and women are increasingly pushed out of public and economic life. those fighting to hold on to the hard-fought gains they achieved over the last 20 years face international abandonment and a violent patriarchal movement. the united nations now calls the taliban's actions againswomen and girls collective punishment. >> they are not allowed to have economic activities, not only having economic activities. they are not allowed to travel by their own.

jane: storai ahmadi works for women for women international. she says the strict limits on women's businesses and professional lives are only intensifying the current economic crisis. storai ahmadi: it's mostly poultry that they can do from home, the kitchen gardening, the tailoring that their neighbors d people in the community know about them that this woman, this woman is a tailor. so they are bring their clothes to them or coming to buy the products of the poultry or agriculture. jane: since the fall of kabul and taliban takeover, afghanistan's economy has largely collapsed, and the country has descended into the world's worst humanitarian crisis. nowhere among its people is it felt more than women and girls. we traveled to the west of the country to herat. drought here has caused harvests to fail, making life even harder for women to feed their

children. "we cannot buy anything. we cannot buy even potato," this woman told me at an emergency food distribution set up by the world food program. we spoke with women here about their gravest concerns. even as she struggles to eat, this widow mourns the loss of her four daughters' education the most. >> they don't have any future. we cannot afford private education. i wanted them to go to university and get a job. we had a lot of hopes, but they all vanished. jane: back in kabul, the female protesters have changed tactics. after being detained and threatened for the protest we attended, they moved indoors to a book store. they invited as many journalists as they could to film and photograph their book club. today's reading? a work on protest and civil resistance. >> we demonstrated despite their opposition, and we will continue. our participation here today shows that we will not surrender to their oppression. we will continue our resistance. jane: we met with the same young

woman who spoke with us in our car before she was chased away. she, like many of the young women here, is a college student at a state school. only a year or two away from graduation, when the taliban took power, their dreams of finishing their degrees vanished, like this young woman, only months away from the most important day in her education. >> i was in the last year of university. i prepared my thesis and was about to celebrate my graduation. i wanted to take my family to the graduation ceremony. i wanted them to watch it. i wanted to celebrate that happy day. jane: despite the dangers, the defiance in this quiet, dignified gathering is intense. >> i want to fight for my rights. we should continue even if it costs our lives. we will not let anyone deprive us of our rights. jane: these women are the ones that stayed after the taliban took power, those who couldn't or wouldn't evacuate in the chaotic, panicked u.s.led exodus

from the country last summer. in a matter of days, thousands of afghan women's rights activists, lawyers, and civil society leaders fled the country, at risk of retribution by the taliban. these women, some of the country's best educated and most vocal rights advocates, are now scattered around the world, trying to help those left behind from afar, like storai ahmadi for women for women, who was forced to flee to london with her family. storai ahmadi: in beginning, it wavery much difficult to talk with them, because i was feeling that i am not th them, i am far from them. but now, when i talk with them, when i work with them, holding meeting with them, i feel like i have, i feel like i have to do a lot of work. i should do something for them. i should be very active. i should help them. so, it's, yes it's very difficult and good.

like, and here, it's very difficult. like, you always want to do something for them, help them. jane: that help must include the global community, say the women we spoke with throughout our reporting. their only hope, they told us, is international pressure on the taliban to give women greater rights, while they continue their work inside the country. >> our goal is to institutionalize civil activism wherever we can now. different groups have been created by the people who have the courage raise their voices. we are hopeful that our voices are heard by the international community and the united states. jane: leverage over the taliban remains limited since the u.s.led withdrawal from afghanistan. yet the women we met remain hopeful keeping the world's eyes and ears on their cause can make a difference, their protests, in whatever form they take, however small, a profound danger, their

courage unbreakable. for the "pbs newshour," i'm jane ferguson in kabul, afghanistan. ♪ judy: the 2022 winter olympics officially kick off tomorrow in beijing. over the next two weeks, more than 2800 athletes from 91 countries will compete for their shot at the goal. but with the excitement comes intense criticism of china, its record on human rights, and the decision to host the games there. i spoke to usa today columnist christine brennan, she's the author of inside edge, now available as an electronic book. welcome back to the newshour.

so you've covered 20 olympics in a row, you were just telling me. tell us, how to these beijing olympics compared to the rest? >> judy, nothing like i have ever seen before. obviously, this is the covid olympic games, and it's even different from tokyo, japan, which viewers will remember was just six months ago, theummer olympics. this is a closed loop. this is a fortress against covid. once i'm inside this bubble, this closed-loop bubble i can't get t. and i don't want to get out. and if you leave, you can't come back. there, we're using burner phones and burner laptops because of our concerns over the chinese infiltrating our wireless, our laptops, our phones. so we have got that concern of china's awful behavior on the internet and trying to steal whatever we might be working on, that concern. and then, of course, throw that on top of it the covid concern. i have never seen anything like it, athletes testing positive. they are stuck in quarantine, yet they should be competing.

that's the nature of these games, a real kind of rough, tougher edge as these games as they're about to begin, understandably so. that's not china's fault. that's just the nature of covid, trying to put on a worldwide event, thousands of athletes, when we're still in the midst of a global pandemic. judy: and we have seen the chinese taking this very seriously with their lockdowns. but, as you point out, christine, the athletes and others have been testing positive. what's it meant, though, for you trying to do your job there? we saw, i think we saw a picture of you, and there was some kind of a robot cleaning. tell us what it's like. christine: right. in some ways, it's future world. there are robots cleaning and spraying out sanitizing liquid in the hotel, my hotel and other hotel lobbies. everyone's in hazmat suits. so every single person i run into in china is in a hazmat suit, including the first two people in the jet bridge when my flight landed from tokyo, and

then throughout the airport, throughout the olympic, any site. it's just people head to toe dressed in, again, in protective gear, which i look at as, of course, strange and unusual and dystopian in some ways, but also as a real sign of respect for the athletes in trying to put on these games. and when you consider there are nations where people won't wear masks, and then you see this, now, obviously, they're being told to do this, but it's also a sign of how much they do respect the athletes and the journalists and not wanting us to test positive. and there's even in the press center, i have not yet been to the bar in the press center. i, who knows if i will ever get there because of the workload, which is wonderful. but there is a robot serving drinks, shaking and serving drinks at the bar in the press center. in fact, there are no humans. it's just the robot serving drinks. judy: so, well, we hope you do make it to the bar, at least by the end of the olympics. but, christine, so there's so much to deal with in terms of covid. but we also know there has been discussion since we knew china

was hosting these olympics about that country's human rights record and the hesitation, and much more than hesitation, that it caused on the part of countries, on the part of athletes. and yet you have written that, despite this, you hope these games are successful. christine: yes. you can despise these olympic games. you can despise china for hosting them, and the ultimate irony, judy, of beijing being the first city to host both a summer and a winter olympics. fourteen years ago were the 2008 summer games, people might remember. and now here we are back again. what an irony that this would be the city, this, and, of course, china being able to celebrate, the repressive, awful government of china, its terrible human rights violations, the way it treats so many different groups of people, genocide, so many other things, and yet they're the ones that get to have this great gift from the international olympic committee. it's reprehensible. it's absolutely reprehensible. and i will say that every day

that i'm here. and yet it's not the athletes' fault. the athletes had nothing to do with this decision. and we should, i believe, still celebrate them, even as we look at that, the awful, awful behavior of china, whether it's peng shuai, the missing tennis player, three-time olympian from a few months ago. we still haven't seen her, in terms of in the flesh, anyone actually getting a chance to observe her. and, of course, now just athletes who are very concerned. they'd like to speak out. some, for example, some figure skaters did speak out about the human rights abuses in china a few months ago. and now they said they just want to focus on their competition, which is understandable for young athletes at the peak of their lives, at the most important moment of their lives, but also the fact that they're just concerned about speaking out and causing any kind of ripple, any kind of issues for themselves, their teammates, the u.s. olympic and paralympic committee or other olympic committees at this key moment in their lives. judy: we can't let you go without asking you about the competition, christine, the athletes. what are you looking for from the americans?

christine: well, i do spend a little time around figure skating. and i, nathan chen is a name that people should know, if they don't already. nathan chen is 22 years old. he came here four years ago as a metal favorite. he bombed in the short program. and he really, it was, obviously did not win a medal, won a team bronze medal, but it was a disappointment. and for the last four years, he's been building, building, building, building, three world championships, four more national championships. he is the quad king. he's the one that goes those four revolutions in the air over and over again. and this is his gold medal, the men's gold medal, for him to win. if he makes a mistake, he might not win, if there's great competition. but nathan chen from the united states is the gold medal favorite in the men's event. otherwise, for the women in figure skating, not so much. we're not used, and these are not the peggy fleming or dorothy hamill days for u.s. women. ice dancing should win a medal as well for the united states. and then mikaela shiffrin, the

great skier, 26 years old, coming back after winning two olympic gold medals in previous games. here she is. she's going to try all five of the alpine events in skiing. and those are that, again, like skating, that one little slip, that centimeter off, and everything changes, these games on ice and snow and slippery sports. and so shiffrin is back. she had covid a couple of months ago, as many did six weeks or so ag she's back. she says she's healthy, she's ready to go. also, u.s. women's ice hockey. here's a prediction for you. when all is said and done, it will be the u.s. against canada for the gold medal in women's ice hockey. and i predict that not because i'm clairvoyant, but because that's always the game to win the gold. and it's also one of the great matches in hockey, men's or women's, every four years. and so the u.s. women get started here soon, and watch them in ice hockey as well.

judy: so much to look forward to, christine brennan. and we will be talking to you again from beijing. thank you so much, the olympic reporter like none other. christine, thank you. christine: judy, thank you so much. take care. ♪ judy: online right now, with covid variants, some health experts have said it's time to update the definition of fully vaccinated. take a look at what that means in practical and public health terms, that set pbs.org/ newshour. that is the newshour tonight. join us online and again here tomorrow. please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by.

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thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is pbs newshour west, and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >> you're watching pbs.

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