hopes for peace in afghanistan as the u.s. and the taliban are expected to sign a deal to america's longest war with was expected to pull out all its troops within 14 months. the family of us and former drone operator whistleblower brandon bryant launched a fundraising campaign to get him released from jail he faces charges of threatening city officials his mother claims the charges are politically motivated . as well researchers at mit several port alleging fraud during the bolivian election for short on evidence president obama rollitt left his post amid mass protests over the supposed vote violations.

are great to have you with us this is r.t. to match. the u.s. and the taliban are poised to sign a peace deal which may bring washington's longest ever war to an end both parties issued a joint statement saying that if all goes well the complete withdrawal of u.s. and nato troops from the country will happen in 14 months the conflict which the u.s. initially betrayed as a major success has outlasted 4 presidential terms and he's getting more looks back at how it all played out. back in 2003 u.s. officials were telling a story of success when it came to afghanistan listen to donald rumsfeld we're at a point where we clearly have moved from major combat to a period of stability and to blues asian and reconstruction activities the bulk of this country today is permissive and secure it is clear that that is the case by virtue of the fact that we see people returning to their country from all across

the globe in large numbers but 17 years and 4 presidential terms later one of the great powers of military history is about to sign a peace deal with the taliban warlords they've been fighting all this time and the peace treaty looks an awful lot like outright surrender so 1st we have to be realistic and proud of our gains but our generals have determined that this war is unlikely to be won militarily without tremendous additional resources all sides are tired of fighting for the past years you've heard nothing but reports of progress u.s. officials were saying a happy song and also replacing one another we're making progress right now an array of areas that are critical to our combined success with afghanistan but progress is real and importantly that progress is sustainable make no mistake the progress there i think is very roles myself. and it's very substantial 2016 has been significant year for afghanistan and progress has been made but this was

all just hype documents reveal interviews with people that were actually on the ground and the material ironically labeled lesson weren't seems to present a narrative of the u.s. defeat in afghanistan the operation is described as a self looking ice cream cone u.s. officials giving reports of progress we're telling bold faced lie the problem is there is a disincentive really to tell the truth we have created an incentive to almost require or for people to law there is an. odor of mendacity throughout the afghanistan issue and i know congressman connelly has heard me talk about this years ago mendacity and who bruce the original plan was to defeat al-qaeda in afghanistan and overthrow the taliban that was sheltering al qaeda all of that was arguably achieved but then washington moved on to the nation building

phase at a cost of billions of dollars and at that point it starts to look like no one had a clue what they were doing would trying to do here we didn't have the full goose newsham the would ruin the taking there is a fundamental gap in distancing of the front and over the stated objectives. in the military and the lack of understanding of the resources necessary and then the drone started flying many instances of success were recorded on that front but in many instances things also went terribly wrong. somewhere along the way it seems like some folks have just had enough in the coming months all announced the next phase of our drawdown and by the end of next year

america's war in afghanistan will be over needless to say it was not over a trillion dollars spent and over $4000.00 u.s. military personnel and contractors killed and at this point the taliban still controls a little less than half of the country and under the new peace deal the taliban will be part of the new government they'll be in the government just like they were you know before the us invasion back in the eighty's i was in charge of. military affairs for the middle east back when i could have gone over i could have i could have rented a motor scooter and i could have. driven all over the middle east in volatile. you don't do that today i don't think you can identify any particular thing that we have done where we can say this is a real achievement this is really brought about a change for the better in some way and they talk about you know it's so difficult to get out and all of that the best way to get out is to leave. well the

anticipated deal follows a week long reduction in violence agreement between the 2 sides they succeeded in reducing hostilities however many afghans believe the deal should have been reached years ago. we hope this peace deal will be permanent it's not like before which this peace deal of been signed 10 years ago thousands of our people were killed many more wounded disabled and also many women were widowed. girl diversity of we're happy about the u.s. peace agreements but i wish the species deal had been signed when the u.s. came to ghana stern but now it is also not to wait we called the taliban to stop the conflict you want the us to leave our country as soon as possible. push an issue that us we will be happy if the deal brings peace but i wish this peace deal had been signed 10 years ago because back then most of our brothers and sisters hadn't lost part of their bodies and they were well i myself lost my leg in

a bomb explosion. and now we're gone the and the conflict so that we. can live in peace we were born in war and we're drawn wants to be the war in. the u.s. invasion of afghanistan was launched in response to the $911.00 attacks it was aimed at defeating al qaeda and toppling the taliban which harbored the terrorists but 18 years on and it is the longest war in u.s. history the 1st the campaign was victorious within a month the taliban and al qaeda have been mostly defeated there the afghan interim administration was established however it took 10 years to track down and kill al qaeda is founder and leader washington still has thousands of troops deployed in afghanistan accounting for a half of all the international troops we spoke to a 911 survivor who believes that the long lasting war is not the so-called justice that they want it. makes feeling number one because as

a survivor of 9. we when they're looking for osama bin laden. and actually with the taliban was basically they were supporting al qaeda both at the same time you know we killed osama bin laden many years ago we should have been having this occupation for so long as a survivor i didn't need these actually we didn't have remember when we were going to war we went to places we were in you know gary stern and then we went to iraq and iraq didn't have anything to do with $911.00 and they try to hold us the idea that the the rakli people would walk with that he was doing so out of this scene way of what we're doing right here in afghanistan we were in the year with our main purpose that main purpose was a change of attitude viber i won the award to win and not only because of the people that we lost one of the people that were killed in the process because there

were many civilians that were killed in afghanistan do we know our occupation of their contrie. i think to the u.s. state of montana where a total of 4 city council officials have now asked the prosecutor's office to drop charges against the whistleblower brown them bryant he lifted the lid on civilian killings in u.s. overseas drone operations air force veteran have been charged with threatening the city officials in a youtube video he's currently in detention for the past few months he attended multiple city council meetings and criticized the way tax money was being used and his mother the claims that his incarceration is politically motivated and she's lost the campaign in the hope of raising $100000.00 for his bail. my sandler's the us your 1st this little over who broke the code of silence on the john program now he's in jail in the. syllabi he has no criminal record and yet he is held on $100000.00 bail under detention he's isolated from this family.

we mean the. animal brandon bryant served as a u.s. air force drone operator from 2006 until 2011 and he left the military he began exposing cases of what he alleged to be civilian deaths resulting from u.s. drone strikes right claimed commanders often prioritize the elimination of a target over accuracy so resulting in innocent people being killed in the process his revelations when he made german whistleblower award in 2015 and also intensified debate over the use of a german air base by american drones and here's how brandon described his experience to us back in 2015. i actually talked with a lady whose husband. was killed he has been in brother was killed in a drone strike or talked to or face to face and she asked me why her husband and

brother had to die and they weren't bad guys and i just looked at her and i said i don't know and that's not really the best thing that i can tell someone who is asking questions about why someone that they cared about was killed and they need to know the answers and the really true hard answer to say is that i'm sorry that. the mistake happened and i'm doing everything that i can to prevent further mistakes from happening. before to say that bryant was arrested on a felony charge after he had allegedly exhibited threatening behavior during city council meetings and on top of that he threatened to eliminate its members in a video format be i.e. agent and whistleblower coleen rowley believes that branscombe predicament is connected to his passport elections. this does seem to be more retaliation for his having spoken out about the drone operations in the fact that they were killing

innocent civilians more so than what he's now done typically with the whistleblower they look back in your personnel files 1st to see if there's anything bad that they can use to discredit the messenger and if they can't find anything bad bad in someone's background or personnel file then they wait for the was a blower to make a small error or mistake and the draw was a blow or are in a fragile emotional state already as you can see with all the veterans they suffer from p.t.s.d. and we know from many other cases retaliate ing and persecuting was of lors that that seems to be the stand. under the demo the government is in perpetual war and so the war goes on forever that means that even if you speak out even years ago and have stashed away if you continue to speak out about the wrongful actions and the

war crimes it's going to continue this is not to negate the fact that brandon certainly he erred if he made any threatening remarks or comments he certainly should be correct didn't he should receive more treatment but i don't think he should be punished the way he's being punished. for a long term submittal east peace plan billed by his administration as the deal of the century has come in for we knew the criticism was 50 former leaders and ministers from across europe penned a joint letter expressing their concerns peace to prosperity is not a road map to a viable 2 state solution nor to any other legitimate solution to the conflict the plan and visitors a formalization of the current reality in the occupied palestinian territory in which 2 people who live in side by side without equal rights such an outcome has characteristics similar to apartheid a term we don't use lightly. if tom's peace plan was enacted

a quote undivided jerusalem would be israel's official capital meanwhile the palestinian state would have to reconcile itself to a capital somewhere in the eastern outskirts of the city and on top of that they'd have to relinquish their own army palestine's territory would consist of parts of the west bank and gaza enclave connected by roads and tunnels in exchange for these concessions they get investments to the tune of 50000000000 dollars the palestinian leadership has rejected the deal in no uncertain terms. difference we heard a little while ago from president trump and prime minister netanyahu talking about would be cool the deal of the century which we described as the slap of the century we will see a 1000 times note of this proposal. i'm pleased to say that i can speak now to one of the signatures of but letter that i was mentioning there moments look at often the former foreign affairs minister of denmark and former president of the u.n. general assembly very good afternoon to you mo and if we talk about this. in

a positive light it's an attempt to establish peace a lot of people would be in favor of that and yet there's been this very negative response that on tom's plan what do you see as being wrong with it. because it doesn't deliver a whole what it's says it will deliver namely a peace and a 2 state solution and that what we are very very concerned about all of us who signed this pledge and many many people who have been responsible for the european union and national politicians in the middle east with a caged is that it will totally change the occupation an equal rights it will change the rest of the palestinian territory to something like the interest on in south africa during the past 18 years. it's it's not a recipe for peace it's it's a recipe for foreign equal conditions and it's.

peace in the area and that's where we really should talk to the higher percentage of relf statement on behalf of the european union that we all should stand behind the well known paramita and for a just and negotiated peace in accordance with international norms. over the years that been numerous un resolutions regarding the israeli palestinian conflict earth plan take any of those into account. and not at all it's an all out break with the conditions the paramedics search and greed upon and in charge number of racial division show in the years and also statements made by the new pm union particularly went and called bill to push for instance we actually presidential immunity. is mostly it is very clear what should

be respected it's a condition which all show for the palestinian people individually. if we just look at the deal itself they want to been very difficult for donald trump his team is any authentic just get a little bit of feedback before unveiling this and surely they would have found out very easily that palestinian officials would not have accepted this such as keeping jerusalem just for israel clearly would have been a deal breaker why would they not do that while they go ahead with this. you know dearly possible interpretation is that this is a. if for crucial business force donald trump in his heart of the american will and shame will call for prime minister netanyahu in us. a chance to to retain majority and usually it cannot be

understood either by only united states or israel or something with which you could assemble the world community to be accepted by the french the people or. by the arab world as a result of lasting and just peace to share it is the authorship and that's why we are asking our country show simply. you're concerned. do you think this the unveiling of this plan if they persist with the u.s. and israel continue to push this is a possibility could it have any negative consequences for the situation in the region. is really a close relation of the questions. and just condition underground. and they're certainly contribution not a true picture of something like ph and we believe of course about the. very very.

unlucky critics are wrong. for good deal even if. russia. i think. is really privileged the real currently. will be in the very meat of the you have our. moments pleasure to speak to appreciate you coming on r.t. international my guest mourns look at the oft former foreign affairs minister for denmark and the former president of the u.n. general assembly have a good day. and so the news now researches america's mit university found a report into irregularities during the bolivian election didn't provide sufficient evidence allegations of election fraud sparked mass protests which led to president over morales quitting the report was made by the organization of american states which looked at the bolivian general election results of november when there was a break in voting and it appeared merola's was significantly ahead of his rival report they found irregularities and claimed the election results weren't accurate and the mit researchers jack williams explained what made them doubt the findings.

we. wanted to specifically look at the portion where they claim that there is significant difference in the results following the interruption and then also in the last 5 percent of results of the unofficial vote count. during this process me and my colleagues were unable to find the evidence that the created fear results are out there and. having an effect on the world without any measurable logical or even like even just the code that they use to produce the results that they created we find it extremely difficult to naturally find the breaks that they found and then used for their results so really we would really appreciate if the oas would share their. both their methodology and then also if they could share what they used to produce this report that had such a large effect following the release of the oas report some major outlets spoke of

election fraud as if it was a fact. and audit indicated there was a clear manipulation in the country's elections last month accusations of irregularities in last month's presidential election was raised of americans put out a report saying that. they said that. the whole city would actually. gain believes the media and opposition used the las report for their own means. the statistical claim was the one that was able to be tied to the results and to claim that the results that were being presented were illegitimate and that's what the opposition party and that the media has also used to justify those people knew that there was problems with the oas research but maybe didn't have the technical expertise to would center for economic and policy research had released a report prior but it had not gained much traction among especially the media so i think that they really wanted someone to evaluate this and take it seriously.

more than 10000 people gathered in central moscow for a march in commemoration of a key opposition politician in the country boris nemtsov was gunned down 5 years ago he reports from the much. we're at one of the largest political opposition rallies that the russian capital has seen in well months is that it is the so-called nemtsov march and it was organized to commemorate the slain russian opposition politician boris nemtsov he was gunned down back in february in 2015 in central moscow and found just a few dozen meters from the kremlin wall is in a nasty drive by shooting since then those who carried out the murder they have been convicted and sent to jail but the organizers those who ordered the hit they still 5 years on they remain at large and so the people here at this rally is an annual event designed to call on the authorities to find out who ordered that hit

but right now as a few bits ours and people have gathered here behind and in fact in front of me throughout these 5 years of this event it has largely become not even so much about boris nemtsov but about other political things as well for instance this year it is heavily dominated by the amendments in the russian constitution proposed by the russian president vladimir putin a lot of people here in fact all people here everyone who's been who i've heard chancing there saying that they are opposing these changes and this is along with other. along with other issues on the political agenda of the russian opposition and there have been both supporters and while critics of such approach supporters have been saying that well this number of rally it is a good opportunity to put back into the me just spotlight some of these things that the russian opposition cares about critics on the other hand are saying that well there's no point in calling this a number of march anymore if we don't even hear any chance so i'm yet to hear

a single chant calling on the russian authorities on the russian police to do a better job at catching those who organized the assassination of boris nemtsov. seems like online fun died in of the death this week. thoughts on internet killjoys in the latest spouts of outrage. diary what a repeat of distressing stories there's new evidence suggesting that back in the seventy's buddy was a loony rate from to assist a disappointment on his visit to india donald trump managed to vote but he must cut every single engine word that came his way and alexandra because there cortez were $500.00 sequined dress during the day but the thing that really got my anxiety levels peaking was this tweet to be so. that someone

somewhere is doing the shoe joyousness of these people who seem to be holding these bullets. should be kept as far away from cultural power as possible joylessness is this a joke this is a classic case of conservative debbie downer is raining on our parade there's also literally no evidence to support it. yes ok the university of arizona is basically begging students to run each other out effect being aggressive progress of triggering insensitive well. i know some would say that fosters an environment of power noir censorship and soul sucking depression but i just don't see it and yes a school in seattle said easter egg should be renamed spring spears a spring spare hard to count me in my past and think it's got a real fun ring to it.

but you're going completely out of order. it isn't funny. i'm sure i did read about how now it's not ok to expect people to turn on my because in some cultures time is a fluid concept to you i just hope for the people who signed up for this lesson and witness turned up in time to get the most out of it also they could have had the days. to wrap it up to walk up such a sweat. and. also flight killing the bible while fashion is a clamping down on earrings no longer for white people so dawn of this. hearing the gentle bush. ok not the fat argent applaud as out that because oxford university did cancel clapping but why are people making

such a big deal about it there are loads of other ways to show your appreciation like. jazz hands super fun but way on the culturally appropriate. tyree. we've got a problem. in what's being dubbed a landmark case an appeals court in the u.s. has ruled in favor of you tube and its parent company google and the censorship lawsuit filed by conservative media company or university. addressing the 1st amendment claims the panel held that despite youtube's ubiquity and its rule as a public facing platform it remains a private form not a public forum subject to judicial scrutiny under the 1st amendment. in the lawsuit you claim due to violated the 1st amendment on free speech some of its videos were deleted from the platform. was guilty of the ties and for presenting itself as

being a platform for free speech the company believes its clips were banned because of the conservative nature of the contents but the court rejected those claims after the court decision you choose parent company google stressed there was no political bias involved and pretty use claims were bad but this betrays you maintains the tech company has become dangerously powerful. sadly it appears as if even the 9th circuit is afraid of google when not done fighting for free speech and we will keep pushing forward this is a significant decision because the effect of it is that the court of appeal in the state being bad social media companies such as google and facebook have a ride to make a decision. walt people are going to be exposed to the reach of those companies is unprecedented but we doubt reach the it's not been an equivalent

in in position of responsibility there rescore false is that those companies will be able to control the political agenda so in order for this to change the rule will be a need for additional lows to be to be brought in in order to ensure that social media companies are not place in a position where there are affected really controlling the entire political system . that was advice and on top stories for you in 30 minutes time to say that.

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