hope for peace in afghanistan if the u.s. and the taliban sign a deal to it and america's longest war washington expects to pull its troops from the country in the next 14 months after almost 2 decades of conflict and thousands of lost lives. of u.s. air force veteran former drone operator and whistleblower brandon bryant launching a fundraising campaign to get him released from jail he faces charges of threatening city officials his mother claims the charges and politically motivated . researchers at mit say a report alleging fraud destroying the believing election falls short on evidence as the table morale has left his position amid a mass protest over the supposed violation.

they're great to have you with us this is r.t. and. the u.s. and the taliban have signed a peace deal which is expected to finally bring washington's longest ever war to an end earlier in the day both parties issued a joint statement saying if all goes well the complete withdrawal of u.s. and nato troops from the country will happen within 14 months the main question still remains will it work more but looks at how much america has lost in the war of what it is chieftain yet. 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 as 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 sinus 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 with tremendous additional resources all sides are tired of fighting for the past years you've heard nothing but reports of progress u.s. officials we're seeing 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 the progress is real and importantly that progress is sustainable make no mistake the progress there i think is very roles myself and mistake 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 in 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 that 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 that would ruin the taking the risk of fundamental gap in distancing of the front end of the stated objectives and grew lines 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 then i could have gone over i could have i could have rented a motor scooter and i could have driven all over the middle. least in relative safety 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 a cheap 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. the deal follows a weeklong reduction in violence agreement between the 2 sides they succeeded in reducing hostilities one of the many afghans believe the agreement should have been reached years ago. if you still like it was me hope this peace deal will be permanent not like before i wish 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 devoted we're happy about the u.s. dollar bill and 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 call on the taliban to stop the conflict they want the us to leave our country as soon as possible. push out into the 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 parts of their bodies and they were well i myself lost my leg in a bomb explosion. and now we're gone both the us and the conflict so that we. can live in peace we were born in war and we don't want to be huge by the war anymore. the u.s. invasion of afghanistan was launched in response to the $911.00 attacks and it was aimed at defeating al qaeda and toppling the taliban which harbored the terrorists but 18 years on and it's the longest war in u.s. history and 1st the campaign was victorious within a month the taliban are kind of have been mostly defeated that the afghan interim administration had been established but it took 10 years to track down and kill our guard is founder and leader washington still us thousands of troops deployed in afghanistan accounting for a half of all international troops there we spoke to a non 11 survivor who believes that the long lasting war is not the so-called justice they wanted. well mixed feeling number one because as

a survivor of 911 we when they're looking for osama we. 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 and they try to solve the idea that the iraqi people we walked with that he was doing so all of this seen way of what we're doing right here in afghanistan we were in the year when your main purpose that main purpose was a change of attitude viber i want the award to end 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 during our occupation of the contrie. heading to the u.s. state of montana now where a total of 4 city council officials of the us the prosecutor's office to drop charges against the whistleblower brandon bryant he lifted the lid on civilian killings in u.s. overseas drone operations the air force for turn had been charged with threatening missoula city officials in a you tube video he's currently in detention for the past few months he's attended multiple city council meetings where he criticized the way tax money was being used under his mother though claims the incarceration is politically motivated and she's lost the campaign in the hope of raising $100000.00 for his base. my sound was the us your 1st missile over who broke the code of silence on the john program now he's in jail in the. city he has no criminal record and yet he is held on $100000.00 being are under detention he is isolated from this family and its

friends in france medically i mean indeed it emotional support animal under bryant is a u.s. air force drone operator from 2006 into 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 resulting in innocent people being killed in the process the revelations when he made german whistleblower award 2015 and also intensified debate over the use of a german base by american drones and here's how brandon described his experience to us back in 2050. i actually talked with a lady whose husband. was killed whose 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. authorities say the braun was arrested on a felony charge after he diligently exhibited threatening behavior during city council meetings. to eliminate its members in the video the former f.b.i. agent and whistleblower rally but he's brought to convince is connected to his revelations. this does seem to be more retaliation for his having spoken out about the drone operations and 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 file 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 whistleblower to you know make a small error or mistake and i think the draw was so low 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 of retaliating and persecuting was of lors that that seems to be that the standard ammo the government is in perpetual war and so the war goes on for ever that means that even if you speak out even years ago and if especially 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 corrected any should receive more treatment but i don't think he should be punished the way he's being punished. sometimes peace plan to resolve the israeli palestinian conflict billed by his administration as the deal of the century has come in for renewed criticism because 50 formally there's a ministers from across europe and a joint letter expressing their concerns. peace to prosperity is not a roadmap to a viable 2 state solution nor to any other legitimate solution to the conflict the plan and visitors the formalization of the current reality in the occupied palestinian territory in which 2 people fall living side by side without equal rights such an outcome has characteristics similar to a pathway to a term we don't use lightly if terms plan was enacted a quote undivided jerusalem would be israel's official capital and while the

palestinian state would have to reconcile itself to a capital somewhere in the eastern outskirts of the city on top of that they'd have to relinquish their own army. it would consist of parts of the west bank and gaza enclave connected by roads and tunnels in exchange for these concessions they get investment to the children of $50000000000.00 the palestinian leadership has rejected the deal in no uncertain terms. dear friend we heard a little while ago from president trump and prime minister netanyahu talking about woodley 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. one of the signatories to that letter though and look at oft who's a former danish foreign affairs minister and former president of the un general assembly told us thomas plans count as a previous u.n. resolutions on the israel palestine conflict. it doesn't do it all what it's says is it will deliver namely. that you wish to reach solution and george we very very

concerned about. the occupation. is going to change the rest of the palestinian territory sheesh i'm seeing that i just aren't. doing. it and although. the conditions that paramita was agreed upon in a. number of racial lucian shows the years. researchers at america's mit university have found a report into irregularities to the bolivian election didn't provide sufficient evidence allegations of election fraud sparked mass protests which led to president evo morales quitting the port itself was made by the organization of american states it looked at the bolivian general election results of november when there was a break in voting and it appeared that morale is was significantly ahead of his rival

the report found irregularities that claimed that the election results weren't accurate one of the mit research is jack williams explain what made them doubt the findings. we. wanted to specifically look at the portion where they claim that there is a 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 of the earlier created here results are out there and you know having an effect on the world without any phenomenological or even like even just because that they used 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 rather we would really appreciate it 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. full in the beliefs of the oas reports some media outlets spoke of election fraud as if it was a proven 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 has reached of american states put out a report saying that. they felt that. the whole city would actually. like williams again believe the media and opposition use the reports for their own ends the statistical claim was the one that was able to be tied to the results and to claim the results that were being presented were illegitimate and that's what the opposition party and the media has also used to justify the 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. well in 10000 people gathered in central moscow for a march in commemoration of a key opposition politician in the country but he said themself was gunned down 5 years ago and he's done the reports from the march. we're at one of the largest political opposition rallies that the russian capital has seen in well months so that 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 hits 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 battalion 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 have 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 well 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. still to come an appeals court in the u.s. rules in favor of you chub in a case centered around free speech details after the break. the world is driven by shaped by.

military thinks. we dare to ask. the republicans have a reputation as knowing all about more about money than the democrats but the democrats are always very confusing and so bernie sanders is just out of a tradition he's talking about socialism which again is a it's a it's a model based on a in comprehensible. non existent theory about money. welcome

back it seems like a long fun died in the death this week. on internet killjoys and then later spouts of rage. diary what a wreak 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 pick up every single engine 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 joining the shoe joyousness of these people who seem to hold these pilots. 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 so 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 you've gotten i know some would say that fosters an environment of paranoia censorship and soul sucking depression but i just don't see it and yet a school in seattle said easter egg should be renamed spring spears a spring spare hard to count me in my past you think it's got a real fun ring to it. but you're going completely out of. it isn't fun. i'm sure i did read about how now it's not ok to expect people to turn on time because

in some cultures time is a fluid concept who knew i just hope for the people who signed up for this lesson and witness in time to get the most out of it also they could have the days. mr robertson have to work up such a sweat. if you. can. also flight telling the bible the world fashion if there's a clamping down on earrings no longer for white people apparently so dawn of this carefree days we sauntered along hearing the gentle worship your. ok not the best years for me argent applaud is out that because oxford university did can't fall 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 cultural appropriation.

tyree. we've got a problem. and what's being dubbed a landmark case an appeals court in the us has ruled in favor of you tube and its parent company google and the censorship lawsuit filed by conservative media company 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 lawsuits pretty you claimed you tube violated the 1st amendment on free speech and some of the studios were deleted from the platform you suggested you tube. presenting itself as a platform for free speech the company believes its clips were burned because of the conservative nature of their contents the court claims to the court's decision to choose parent company google search there was no political bias involved and to

use claims they said were meritless. that the company has become dangerously powerful. sadly it appears as if even the 9th circuit is afraid of the line of google we're 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 is stating they had social media companies such as google and facebook have arrived to make a decision. what people are going to be exposed to the reach of those companies is unprecedented but we ducked reach days not been an equivalent in imposition of responsibility their response course is that those companies will be able to control the political agenda so in order for this to change the

rules be a need for additional laws to be to be brought in in order to ensure that social media companies are not placed in a position where there are effectively controlling the entire political system. when it comes to dealing with the threat of coronavirus seething scientific illiteracy would be not just a plus but probably a must if it hasn't stopped us vice president mike pence you have little time for an evidence based approach to health issues from being put in charge of america's response to the crisis. i think this is great because mike pence has a lot of experience in this area he's been quarantining himself from women his whole life i why is my players in charge what is this plan to stop the virus abstinence.

despite the hysteria from the political class and the media smoking doesn't kill. it and. a condoms are a very very poor protection against sexually transmitted disease. i'm going to go home and prey on it. and. the. greatest threat to public health since spanish flu 917 sure why not put the guy no one wants working on anything in charge there is another person who doesn't have anything else to do press secretary can you imagine . we're all going to dawn.

she stay with me for updates and often. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see you then.

times are we going underground after a week in which the whole world watched an alleged travesty of justice in a london courtroom the extradition trial of julian assange of wiki leaks coming up on the show it was wiki leaks that revealed secret u.s. cables detailing red cross allegations of torture in kashmir but this week the violence flared in the capital delhi after the whole trump addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters of prime minister narendra modi in good drugs will investigate with the multi-billion dollar weapons deal trump announced means for global stability with professor b.j. parishad and peace in syria on the road to damascus we go to aleppo ahead of thursday's summit between the 2 women putin as president assad supporters defend victories against what they claim a british backed al qaeda troops plus one south carolina primary day a conspiracies like the one against bernie sanders revealed by wiki leaks beaching themselves we are the last successful in this landmark legal case massive vote pushing with a democracy is dead in.