tv DW News LINKTV August 15, 2023 3:00pm-3:31pm PDT
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from berlin. two years and counting. afghanistan taliban marking the second inner bursary of their return to power. -- second anniversary of their return to power. supporters of celebrating as the hard-line islamists say they will resist foreign attempts to interfere in the country's affairs. also, russia hosting a security
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alliance and western countries are not invited. but an interesting person from china is. and donald trump facing another set of criminal charges. the state of georgia accusing the former u.s. president of trying to overturn the 2020 election that he lost. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. it has been two years since the taliban re-took power in afghanistan. tens of thousands of people fled the country at the time. they were fearful that the takeover would mean a return to the harsh islamist policies of the past. since then taliban leaders have avoided making clear statements on many issues but as they mark their so-called independence day, the world now has a much
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clearer idea of what afghanistan under a new taliban regime really looks like. reporter: scenes of jubilation on the streets of kabul as members of the taliban celebrate two years since they seized back power. flags emblazoned with the islamic -- were held high across the capital, as supporters gathered to honor their leaders. >> death to those who are against the taliban. peace in afghanistan. bloodshed has ended. reporter: the flag-waving continued. he spoke about the taliban's education program at islamic schools. >> one has been set up in each province of the country and each has the capacity to enroll
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thousands of taliban. in each province, hundreds have been built in villages. reporter: the taliban began cracking down on secular education when they regained power in august 2021, transforming schools across the country into strictly religious seminaries. these reforms include restricting the rights of women and girls to attend secondary schools and universities. women's rights to learn, work, and participate in public life continue to be eroded by the regime. >> i don't feel good and i am not happy about this day. right now the taliban are not ruling the country in the interest of the people. i do not understand why they are so negative about women. reporter: but some women are determined not to give up.
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moving to roles where they still have the right to work, or studying in secret. >> i never turned back, nor did i ever give up. although there are no educational opportunities after the taliban banned women from schools and universities come our minds cannot be restricted we can fight against them. we should not give into obstacles. reporter: but the obstacles for women are only growing. and by rolling back access to education, the taliban is forging a society in which him and have severely limited opportunities outside of the home. brent: i spoke earlier with orzala nemat, an afghan human rights activist and researcher in london. i asked her what are women and girls in afghanistan telling her about their lives now under taliban rule. orzala: the clips that you played is a glimpse of the reality on the ground.
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the women and girls i speak to frequently on a daily basis in afghanistan is one of resilience, it is one of not surrendering to a just product regime and their restrictive rules against them, and it is one of complete disappointment and not really having clarity about their future. in addition to their powerful resilience they may perform over the last two years, it's obvious the psychological impact of systematic discrimination against afghan women, against their mobility, against their access to fundamental rights such as secondary and high school education, university education, even private university educations, is all resulting into a massive mental health situation increasing.
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and that really has an impact on the livelihoods of people in general. in households, when their daughters and mothers and sisters are all going through psychological forms of depression. brent: it is interesting what you are describing because the taliban, they would say something different. we spoke with a taliban spokesman who said western media are not reporting on women's rights in afghanistan correctly. i would like to play clip of the interview we did. take a look. >> those who are reporting such reports, they should come to afghanistan and see the realities with their own eyes. of course secondary schools are closed and universities, but there is a committee set up to create an islamic environment for that. you can see it is delayed but no one can say we deny women access to education.
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it is close to because of the leadership order until further notice. it can be opened by another order. so we created an islamic environment because this was the demand of the people. also, there are women working. about 90,000 teachers are working. they have jobs in schools. brent: that is the official line from the taliban. but have you seen any evidence the taliban are working on a new way to give girls and women access to education? orzala: so, we're talking here not about a small part of the population, a small area in the region. afghanistan has 40 million population. half of this is women. they are women ready to be educated. young girls are of the age of 10 ready to get educated.
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they are deprived of their rights. yes, there are some teachers who are getting salaries. there are teachers going to school to get a salary, or are they going to school to educate children? the taliban are claiming they are working, they have committees. over the last two years since they have taken back power and gradually started to close down schools and universities last december, we have not seen any concrete evidence of showing that there is some work going on. and this is very dangerous because we are talking about a country already in a massive maternal mortality rate crisis. we have increased rate of mortality because of lack of access to doctors. we don't have enough female doctors, we don't have enough female teachers. so we're already missing two years of graduates from high
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schools, secondary schools, and universities. we missed two years of entry examination for future students. there is no evidence that there will be another order changing this. brent: that was orzala nemat, afghan human rights activist joining me earlier from london. want to take a look now at other stories making headlines around the world. a strike by baggage handlers at several airports in argentina has disrupted dozens of flights and affected about 10,000 passengers. more than 40 flights have been delayed or canceled and more are expected to be affected. poland has held its largest military parade in warsaw since the cold war. the nato member is made its armed forces a priority since the russian invasion of ukraine. warsaw vowed to double the size of its army and spend 4% of its gdp on its defense this year. wildfires have forced thousands
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to be evacuated in the south of france close to the spanish border. officials say the fires spread rapidly due to extremely hot weather, drought, and strong winds. the fires have now largely been contained they say they remain dangerous. clashes between rival militias in the libyan capital tripoli have intensified, forcing civilians to stay in their home. tensions flared after the head of the 444 brigade was detained another group known as the special deterrence forces. witnesses said this was the worst fighting they had seen this year. both of libya's rival governments have condemned this latest violence. germany's development minister has called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in niger. she says the military coup is not only -- has not only aggravated the development challenges niger is facing but it is destabilizing the entire region of west africa. she is currently president of one of the region's most
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important donor communities, and has visited mauritania to meet some of those affected by the current turmoil. reporter: when she could no longer stand the violence of the war, when she was no longer allowed to cultivate her fields, she set out and fled from mali to mauritania. here in the capital she was registered by the united nations refugee agency. the young mother of four asked us not to broadcast her name. >> i am grateful to god every day that i am being. helped here since. registering, my life has improved. my children can go to school, we are taken care of if we get sick. reporter: mauritania has taken in more than 100,000 refugees from neighboring mali, a heavy burden for this country of only 4.6 million inhabitants. people here are worried about growing threats from terror,
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violence, and hunger throughout the region. the coup by the military junta in niger has sharpened those fears. the visit of the development minister means demonstrative support for the only country still governed democratically among the core states of the say hello zone. >> this is a very unstable region. it is always difficult to create statehood and stability here. that is what this government is trying to do and we can only support them in doing so. solutions have to come from the region. what we are doing is working in partnership and trying to stabilize of region. in many cases it works, but not always. reporter: preventing a conflagration. that is the challenge. for the past few weeks, she has been president of the most important group of international bankers of the region, the sahel alliance. >> we have to keep making
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efforts to promote democracy among other things. we can do that as donors by showing the democratic states,, the democratic structures, are really helping the country's here. reporter: a visit to a fish market in mauritania's capital together with the ministry of fisheries. the coastal fishing grounds here are among the richest in the world. germany provides concrete support, called storage systems, and better hygienic conditions to help the special -- the fish avoid spoiling easily. >> all sahel countries including mauritania one stability in niger and in the say hello. that is why we condemned this attempted coup. >> we appeal to the authorities in all sahel countries to combine their efforts so that we can find a peaceful solution to this crisis.
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through negotiation and not through violence. reporter: without peace there can be no solution to many other crises in this region. jihadist terror, climate change, and the lack of prospects for the rapidly growing young population. germany is focusing on getting concrete help on the ground. how difficult that can be is seen in niger. all development aid from the sahel alliance there is currently frozen. brent: russia is hosting an international -- western powers see this as a sign of support for russia's war in ukraine. in his opening address russian president putin again blamed the west for fueling unrest around the globe. russia's allies belarus, iran, and syria are also attending the conference. vladimir putin lashing out at the west is business as usual. or should the west be worried?
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i put that to alexander gorlach, a senior fellow at the carnegie council for ethics in international affairs. alexander: it is the same sort of conspiracy theories is spreading and we do not really know if he believes it, if it comes from his isolation during the pandemic. however it is quite clear who is disturbing the world order is people like president putin who invaded ukraine. you have mentioned who else is at the conference. these are not very simpatico countries. that is speaking for itself. but what is interesting is this summit did not get much media attention. i was just browsing our german media outlets and i feel sometimes like the attention is missing to just be part of the conversations that are happening. brent: it is interesting, that is not getting a lot of coverage because we know that vladimir putin in the past, he has certainly welcomed media coverage.
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the star of this conference is not really russia, it is china, for sending his new defense minister there, who says he wants to strengthen military cooperations from asia to south pacific, latin america, and even here in europe. you see sending a message to the united states? alexander: clearly if you look into china then you know they are threatening democratic taiwan, they have border issues with basically all other neighbors, and they are threatening the national order and trying to occupy all of the western pacific. so i feel like they are pretty on par to putin and xi. last week at the peace conference for ukraine the chinese government also sent an envoy and china is not really pleased about what you saw earlier about the export of wheat from ukraine because that is also affecting the people's republic of china. china has begun to buy grain now from archenemies such as
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australia and canada. so you can see she asian paying, who has vowed -- can see xi jinping is not at all pleased. brent: what about india? they are also attending this conference. it has certainly come under fire in the west for not distancing itself from russia following the invasion of ukraine. the fact india is there, is it taking a clear stance or once again trying to have its cake and eat it too? alexander: i mean, from some countries in the global south, they don't want to be in one camp or the other and i think that is fair enough. brazil, nigeria, indonesia. these are countries that have gained more access and got more developed in the last couple of decades who also want to be part of this international order.
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and they have to make room for these new countries because they want to be part of this real world order rather than in china's orbit. however, the indian leader narendra modi, it's not really a democratic leader as he is alienating millions of muslims in his country. he is following an ideology we can identify as part of a nazi ideology. he might personally feel much closer to putin and xi, but he tries to navigate and position his country in between these powers and wants to establish india itself as a powerhouse. brent: you said there is not a lot of media coverage of this conference here in the west. but the conference has attracted dozens of countries, including china and india. what does that tell us about the
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west and its attempts to win the hearts and minds of other countries in this 21st century? alexander: i can emphasize what i tried to say is international institutions must see the representation of such countries. nowadays they are pretty much occupied leading positions by what we would call former western powers like france, america, england. this has to change in order to make this model attractive. china and russia can only get a lenient distance and -- but there is not much love for china or russia. but there is not enough love for america. the germans know this too. they do not subscribe to the
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iraq war. what needs to be done is much more open. open up liberal institutions to represent countries that have formerly not been fully embraced in the leadership of these institutions. that is something i think in many western capitals people have to wrap their head around. brent: alexander gorlach, as always, good talking with you. excellent insight. donald trump has been indicted on a fourth set of criminal charges. prosecutors in the state of georgia are accusing the former u.s. president and 18 others of meddling in that state's election results in 2020. the case stems from a phone call in which trump urged georgia's top election official to find him more votes. today, trump rejected this latest indictment, describing it the way he has described u.s. elections, as rigged. reporter: security was tight outside the courthouse in downtown atlanta where former u.s. president donald trump faced his fourth indictment over his alleged crimes to overturn
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the 2020 election. this time, in the state of georgia, where prosecutors delivered their case to a grand jury and a judge handing off documents to official lies the charges -- to officialize the churches. -- charges. 13 charges were laid out against the president and associates. >> based on information developed by that investigation, a fulton county grand jury returned a true bill of indictment. charging 19 individuals with violations of georgia law arising from a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in this state. reporter: the 97 page document details dozens of acts to undo trump's defeat in the
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battleground state of georgia, including election fraud, racketeering, and violating the oath of office. among those indicted, trump's former attorney rudy giuliani, white house chief of staff mark meadows, and former justice department official jeffrey clark. the document refers to the defendants as a criminal organization, accusing them of other crimes including influencing witnesses, computer trespass, theft, and perjury. the case stems from a phone call in 2021 where trump urged brad raffensperger to find enough votes to reverse his loss in the state. raffensperger declined to do so. >> look, i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. reporter: but trump denies the charges and calls case against
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him politically motivated. on his truth social platform, trump said the indictment was a witch hunt. this is the fourth indictment targeting the prospective 2024 republican nominee. trump has already been charged in three separate cases over allegations for election interference, hush money paid to a born star, and hoarding classified documents pretty but unlike the federal prosecutions he faces, georgia is a state case, which means trump will not be able to pardon himself if he is elected as president. brent: the governor of the u.s. state of hawaii says that more than 1000 people still unaccounted for following those devastating wildfires on the island of maui. the official death toll is now at 99, but search crews are still looking through the burnout wreckage of what is left of the town of lahaina. reporter: nearly a week after the deadliest u.s. wildfires in
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more than a century devoured their homes, residents of lahaina lined up for hours waiting for permits to see the sight of their burned down homes. one man said he had been waiting here since 5:00 a.m. in his rental car after losing his own, along with his home, in the fires. >> we are born and raised in lahaina. just got to get back so i can support my family. what are we going to do? set up tents on the beach, at our job sites? please, help us. reporter: a few hours later, the police stop issued special permit, leaving parts of maui cut off. while many are desperate to return to see what they can salvage, officials are cautious about allowing people back. melted metal cars, falttened homes, and exploded tanks have
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all released fumes with toxic articles. >> it is unsafe. bulldozers are going into clearing the roads first. then they are checking for other hazards and bodies. it is a process. reporter: the search is progressing slowly. monday, the police said only a quarter of the affected areas had been cleared. there are over 1000 people on missing persons lists. crews are expecting to find more bodies. >> to date, 25% of the area has been searched. we started with one dog, we are at 20. we can only move as fast as we can, but we have the right amount of workers. reporter: the road to recovery will be a long one. >> very creative in how we use our authorities to help people find a place to stay for the longer term. reporter: most of the historic town, where aging houses were
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already being replaced by luxury vacation homes and resorts, is ruined. the community hopes it will still have a place in the new heine that emerges from the -- the new lahaina that emerges from the ashes. brent: security guards making the rounds at the eiffel tower on tuesday morning stumbled across two men still sound asleep in an off-limits area. it's believed that the overnight visitors were sleeping off a hangover. after being removed, the tourists we escorted to police for questioning. if they remember anything. you're watching "dw news." afghanistan's taliban is celebrating the second anniversary of their return to power. the hard-line islamists saying they will continue to resist
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foreign attempts to interfere. former u.s. president donald trump has been indicted on a fourth set of criminal charges for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state of georgia. trump is charged with 13 counts including racketeering and forgery. 18 co-conspirators have also been charged. this is "dw news," live from berlin. after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]
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>> donald trump accused of attempting to disrupt the results of the election in the state of georgia, a fourth case brought in five months against the former u.s. president who refused to accept defeat in the 2020 presidential vote and accused the u.s. electoral system of being a fraud. strikes by russia across ukraine. a 10-year-old child is among those killed in a widespread barrage of missiles in the west of the country. two years to the day the taliban seized power in
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