pakistan's foreign minister is joining us now on r.t. thank you very much for your time minister it's been more than ten years since pakistan joined the u.s. military operations in afghanistan do you think that was the right thing to do you see if. you would you know things look very different but of course. the collaboration that pakistan has had in the last ten years pakistan has bit of a heavy price for that but it is also a fact that pakistan inhibits the region inhabits the region and will continue to have the street and this region has some serious problems the region has some serious problems but into terrorism and pakistan has always maintained that it is important to have collaborative joint efforts to be able to rid this region rather than for law sort of unitary approaches. in how we want to rid the streets and you mentioned. the price of your involvement in afghanistan has been pretty high many

thousand of your citizens lost their lives millions of people have been very placed there estimates that it cost your country around seventy billion u.s. dollars but we often hear criticism about pakistan's role. but their guts to involvement in afghanistan from the american side do you think the united states treats you fairly. i would like to answer that question by seeing that what does two is solid robust partnership is that each able to live or operate within the bounds of what is. believed to be you know what has been agreed treating fairly is concerned i think pakistan has in this particular case not been treated fairly by anybody for that matter because pakistan continues to. spout the sun continues to lose in terms of economic cost in terms of the social cost i think sometimes that is not emphasized on enough so we continue to lose in.

many many ways but some times the rule that is put on pakistan is rule which is the understandable which defies logic so to speak because if the first country to benefit from is stable one stands pakistan and the first country to lose from in you know unstable understand is also pakistan so pakistan stick a very high and that is what is commonly believed that yes pakistan stakes are very high but pakistan sticks are very high in having stability in afghanistan not instability in the understand so we have maintained and we stated very clearly that it is really for the one people to determine what course of action they want to take in any way possible whether they want to have strategic alliance a country a country b. it's a sovereign country we must respect them as that but pakistan's rule in any way can only be there to support of i think saying that pakistan is cause of the problem and is creating trouble is an imaginary solution it is an imaginary blame it is an

imaginary looking for an answer but the real solutions to real problems have to be faced you know on the ground now as we all know that the united states has been taking on a lead role in this military operation. why do you think with all its military power and the resources that are invested into this campaign a white anything. results are not that impressive as a few i think i'm not the right person to answer that question it should be somebody from the us administration i want to question to be right i don't think it is important whether the u.s. is succeeding or is winning in afghanistan or not what is important is whether of one the stand is winning or not because the goal of the u.s. and pakistan and the region and all the forty eight countries which operate in of understand is to make of understand with if i may come back to the issue of american criticism for just one question president obama said in a number of occasions that one of the reasons why the united states is using drones

to file for your territory and to hit targets on your territory is because the pakistani authorities allegedly are not in control of that own land and my question is. why pakistan tolerating the use of military technology that are hitting targets on pakistani land that ultimately oftentimes lead to the. loss of life among the pakistani citizens this is one of the major problems that keeps us from achieving our successes in our view. not only completely illegal and under full and have north resolution to be used within the domains of international law but even more importantly they are counterproductive to your objective of getting this region rid of militancy and terrorism and extremism because if one strike leads to getting a new target number one or target number three to do it you're creating five more

targets with ten more targets in the militancy that it breeds in the four do that it gives to the militants to attract more people to join their ranks we are to be in pakistan suffering from the consequences of what you know many other powers of the world decided to do in that region to rid itself of the. a challenge that appeared in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine which was the soviet invasion of one star not in trying to deal with if you have created certain groups which are to be. a challenge to everybody so again do we want to repeat the same mistakes again clearly pakistan doesn't think so and pakistan has categorically said that it is illegal under full counterproductive other any than your senior of your reasonable values that pakistan could take in case of drone attacks beyond forcing its concern or distraction my question to you is it just an issue of some countries

allowing. greater freedom and greater perth far off foreign policy tools than others that would be a very unfair world and i hope that's not a world that we are moving towards and therefore the questions of illegality and under full tools is an extremely important one and there is absolutely currently no compromise in pakistan about that if you look at as i said i think this is partially one of the major reasons which is responsible for we have yet to do and pakistan as a country. considers itself to be a sovereign country it considers to be an independent country has therefore decided to reassess the whole terms of engagement because it is very clear that this is not part of the terms of engagement now if that clarity is required elsewhere i guess the parliament will be in its right to be able to define it but please mr approach that the approach that we taking is not that of a confrontation the prudes they've been taking is that for doing the partnership

which is which is based on mutual respect and based on mutual interest just last week. and her report was leaked to the media that pakistani security forces and maintaining contacts with. terrorism and extremist organizations that are operating in afghanistan as far as i understand there was it when. an allegation that they're supporting them financially. is this first of all this is not a new to report we were told by need to at least that this is a. single person not need to report but is single country and a single person and pretty much. all the bottle because this is not a new accusation or allegation which has been made in pakistan the specific context the dimension where with the taliban of all to intelligence agencies i think every intelligence agency in the world particularly the ones which are working in the one

cement in styles with one group or the other and all of them at some level. and this does are now pretty much out in the open because people are openly talking about talking to this but i think just creating you know this is something which is not even worth a comment quite frankly the united states is expected to withdraw its troops from afghanistan and a matter of a few years is pakistan looking forward to. that. but you see again they came here with some goals and objectives we would hope that most of those goals and objectives are met at least partially met and we would hope that when they leave in the understand of one son is a better place than when they first came but the long term presence of foreign troops in the region is always always counterproductive saw yes but we would also be very very mindful of what is the situation on the ground when they leave because instability more instability is clearly something that this region cannot afford

i'd like to switch gears a little bit and ask you about iran you know the west. piling its pressure on that country which is your neighbor and longtime partner. how would pakistan respond in a case of military strike against iran we would strongly ask all countries to desist from any option which is military at all because this region has already seen too much and we do not want any further destabilization we feel very strongly that these things can be settled on the negotiation table that there should be flexibility shown and that dialogue should be considered to be the only via forward and it would have disastrous let me go to pakistan feels it would have disastrous results for the region what about syria do you support the military intervention against assad regime we support no military intervention against any region because we feel that the independent sovereign need to territorial integrity of a country are important aspects and there in shined in many many places now what we

need to ensure the international community is is that violence from any side is not given lunch is not allowed to do to move forward thank you very much for a time minister thank you. i. answered. for syria australia and. they're still in love with. their man. if you want to have sex go and have sex.

please. please. a mother. wealthy british.

happening to the global economy. and realize. the big picture.

future syria. and the us coalition. hundreds of people being killed across syria over the past week. the spirit of revolution returns to egypt on the first. thousands of protesters calling for an immediate step down by the ruling military council. which they refused to give up until at least june. the people of. the government struggled to keep the country's economy afloat.

by the e.u. . he takes center stage in politics so a group of public figures to monitor the upcoming presidential vote. the goal. is to ensure. that the world of sports poll now. thank you very much and warm welcome to the world of sports here is what's coming up. not gone for long reports claim former indian coach fabio capello could be in line to replace m g managing your economy john with the club expected to make an announcement on monday. making our rocket russia given

a lifeline in the davis cup tie with austria federer switzerland the whitewashed by the usa. and a tiger ready to pounce former world number one golfer tiger woods is all shots behind leader charlie way going into the final round of the pebble beach national in california. but first a football reports in both the russian and british press claim that former england manager fabio capello could be in line for a move to the russian premier league with big spending and jay capello resigned from his job as manager of the three lines this week after the football association went against his wishes and strip john terry of the captaincy and reports claim the italian could be in line to replace manager. at the club with the russian season resuming next month and a seventh in the table and six points off a champions league spot general director allan sort of has already been sacked

bullet fuelling speculation could be next an announcement will be made on monday. now to tennis team russia have been given a lifeline in the davis cup tie with austria a dramatic doubles win on saturday has made the school to one going into the final day of action like the no use nate mueller defeat would mean russia facing a playoff to keep their place in the world group however they came through a five set epic against alexander on the livia. down in the final set the rough. completed a remarkable comeback seven six six seven seven five three six six for the final school. well what it all means is that russia needs to win their reverse singles rubbers on sunday first up alex the ball of junior faces eoghan meltzer looking for his first win representing russia and it could all come down to the fifth and final robust eagle in its intentions and responded now to. meanwhile the usa have booked

their place in the quarterfinals with a comprehensive three nil win over roger federer a switzerland mark dr marty fish winning the doubles rub against federer and stanislav voting in four sets four six six three six three six three the final school. in the final of the series open in paris will be between home favorite marion bartoli reassurance of those programs in the. czech opponent clare as a couple over in straight sets seven six six seven final will be followed up our win over sharapova with a straight sets victory over belgium's. in ice hockey russia have lost two hundred favorites sweden in the swedish round of games in the euro hockey tour the home side before is in stockholm but not before school as first thirty eight minutes in the tires at home power play goal late in the second got things going for the hosts rush as the top came alive when they were two one

down with the swedes capitalized on rushing the states to seal the victory to defeat still wasn't enough for top spots in the over ruled your actual standings meanwhile yet again finland for ashley's bottom side the czech republic winning seven l russia but in action later on sunday when they face the czech republic. while the next generation of russia's ice hockey stars have been showcasing their talents in an all star battle the n.h.l. showcased its the best of the east against the best of the west and it was the. west which came from behind to win its second challenge cup title in a row. was that. these men are all about twenty years old but they will regain the skills to show off the young hopefuls who present a youth hockey league they may kill at tellme factory producing players for your strongest league the kid chill pulling in north star game tradition once a year at the peak of the eastern conference plays the best from the west in

a so-called challenge cup with every move showing this is far from just an exhibit game no end of skill from the very beginning to the joys of back to middle corrina in one of russia's main us hockey centers. it was the east who took the lead through antoine cup out of spot play goal three minutes from the first intermission the opening of the second period saw the eastern team extend their lead on said glimmer of turning the shootout effort into goal with confidence to make it two nil nevertheless the pick of the west proved to have wanted to to produce a stunning comeback. inspired by their skipper to be off and continued by maxime creature. two two by the second in their mission. and they come back turned into triumph lubin of scored his second on the night to give

his side the three to lead the eastern star swore giving their best to call eyes but it was the western netminder that are months media again who stole the show in then and producing to him a zing saves and them to net there at them and setting the final score off for two . everybody was cheering for the east but the crowd support did not help the team we didn't have time to build any sort of chemistry with some of my teammates before the challenge cup but we still pulled out an emotional comeback win so the league of the young has showcased its biggest elements with the western conference team lifting the twenty twelfth challenge cup although it's a safe bet these n.h.l. stars still have some bigger challenges and trophies ahead of them. robert carlin you're on r t among new drug lords. now in other football news preparations are

taking place ahead of sunday's africa cup of nations final ivory coast will be overwhelming favorites when they take on zambia and gab on the ivorians book their place in the final with a one nil victory over mali in the semi's on wednesday the pre-tournament favorites haven't reached the showpiece final since two thousand and six before solomon closers the elephant team spirit could be the secret to their success we're working on the on the team spirit and working together and you can see with every game we played even destroyed came down to defeat in you know. the defense so i think that the spirit does where we're looking for we want to win together doesn't matter would go. most important is to go home with it to feel that's what we are for. well zambia reached their third final after a surprise a one mil win over gondor in the semi so there were huge underdogs ahead of the

game despite that victory they had reached the point of twice before finishing as runners up in one thousand nine hundred seventy four hundred ninety ninety four. now over in the english premier league manchester united leapfrog rivals manchester city at the summit following a dramatic two one victory over liverpool at old trafford all the pretty much to all was about luis suarez and patrick's evra following the euro why it's a game by the racially abusing the french when liverpool striker refused to shake every hand before the game on the page of point five second health race from wayne rooney was enough for the victory or suarez did pull one for the visit as. the red devils are now of point above city in the table with roberto mancini's side of aston villa later on sunday a win would reestablish that two point question meanwhile the bottom wolves have the chance to pull themselves away from the relegation zone if they're able to beat local rivals west brom. now over on the n.b.a. hardware at the denver nuggets of one for just the second time this month after

holding off a late rally by the indiana pacers one hundred thirteen one hundred nine the final score tie lawson's game high twenty seven points were k. as denver ended their five game losing streak well danny granger was the man setting the tone for the paces scoring a team high twenty six points while the nuggets lost and showed off his marksmanship to hitting two out of three attempts from long range so neither team led by more than six until denver jumped out to a ten point lead in the fourth quarter indiana's george help in cup deficit to four late in the getting out an awful live reporting twenty three points of resigning including a three pointer which might discover one hundred eleven one hundred five to denver one hundred thirteen one hundred nine the final score surprises me is twenty straight the first time this. things are. now in golf tiger woods is perfectly poised going into the final round of the pebble beach

national he's four shots behind leader shelley wade woods hit five birdies in six holes to make a late surge on the leaderboard the former world number one carded a five under sixty seven when the third round on eleven on south korea charlie ways the out right leader won fifteen under after a burden for sixty nine americans energy is in second place three shots further back. finally moscow's nikki arena was the place to be for daredevils an adrenaline junkies on saturday the fifth annual breakthrough extreme sports festival featuring a full range of hot pumping activities thrills and spills aplenty delighted spectators and competitors showed off skills on roller skates blogs on state boards others took to displaying that combination of speed strength in the gym but navigating the obstacles in a productive fashion fifty nations generated were represented in russia let

cyclists because it was among the last is haunting wales a sign that extreme sports have skyrocketed popularity here russia. oh. well that's all the sport for now dimitri will be here and a couple of hours time to join in that.

british. it's a. free. market . happening to the global economy. you know. you think you understand it and then something else. and realize. welcome to the big picture.

the arab league is set to decide the future of its efforts in the syria escalates and the u.s. is gathering the coalition of the willing to put more pressure on them more and that in just a few moments. to egypt on the phone. with thousands of protesters calling for an immediate step down by the ruling military council. the people. on the streets in. the government struggles to keep the country's economy. yet. he takes center stage in politics. the upcoming presidential elections

with the backing of old. stories that made headlines this week you're watching the weekly with me wrong. the arab league is what might decide to take on the. isis in syria comes as the country's fallen escalates with no apparent and in sight. our body is meeting today. the arab league observers mission in syria which began in december last year but they stopped their mission there in january already saying that the violence was escalating there are hopes that this side the arab league will team up with the united nations observer mission and they will start.