the the us secretary of state anthony blanket comes under intense scrutiny from congress over biden's disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan. archie looks at the lasting impact of the us led war on terror. we hear from afghans forced to leave their homes following 2 decades, failed american policy. friends, gender fighter, who before transitioning, served in the us special forces destroys a female opponent, leaving feminist sports experts, a gap of what they called, clearly upon verified and russia heads to the poles on friday for the general

election. all the parties, the candidates, and what's at stake in our teeth, special coverage this hour and throughout the week. ah, broadcasting live from the russian capital. this is our international. my name is donald quarter. welcome to the program. us secretary of state anthony blinking, currently as testifying to congress about recent events and afghan, a stan, and faithful decisions by the biden administration. america's leadership has come under staving criticism over the afghan stan debacle as at least 100 us citizens remain stranded in the war torn country now controlled by the taliban. to get more on that we now cross live to our corresponded caleb mop and caleb, what are the main takeaways from blink and testimony so far?

sure. while anthony blank in the us secretary of state is testifying before the congressional committee and they are giving him quite a grilling people have looked on at the us pull out of afghanistan and the chaos that has followed with quite a bit of disapproval. now interestingly, representative gregory, who was the chair of the committee. when he spoke, he began by saying the united states should have withdrawn from afghanistan and 19 years ago, but remained in the country due to quote hubris and a desire to remake afghanistan. now needless to say, when we've got a situation where the taliban is in power and there's approximately 100 americans still stuck in afghanistan, there were some tough questions that were asked of the secretary of state. here's some of what we heard people and what the situation we find ourselves in is far worse, in my judgement. as a former chairman of homeland security committee,

far worse than pre $911.00. to make matters worse, we abandon americans behind enemy lines. i can summarize this in one word, the trail. this administration's bungle pull out from afghanistan, just maybe the worst foreign affairs disaster in american history. in american history, american families have never been a greater risk of attack at home than today. as the global war on terrorism is not over, it has been moved from abroad to american home on klein unsustainable. now we also heard from democrats who stepped up to defend antony blinking. and they stepped in and they accused their colleagues in the republican party of taking sheep shots at the new administration while overlooking some of the very big errors of previous presidents and previous administrations

when it came to africa, ghana stant. now it's also interesting to note that when anton blanket was clicking did try to present the chaotic events we witnessed over the past few weeks as if they were somehow a success. echoing his boss, the president joe biden, which of those breakfast long ago? or sound good. lauren was killed in 2011 a decade ago. ok. this capabilities were degraded significantly. we completed one of the biggest air lift and history. much of the equipment that was left behind, including in the hands of the afghan forces that then fell to the taliban. much of it, based on what i understand from my colleagues of b, o. d is an operable or soon will become an operable because it has to be maintained . it's not of any great strategic value in terms of threatening us. now when it came to questions about whether or not the united states would recognize the taliban, antony blinking said that the taliban has failed to live up to the expectations of

the international community. and the before the united states would confer recognition on the taliban government. it would need to allow more freedom for its population, most especially the freedom of movement, allowing people who want to leave the country to leave. now it's important to note that we also heard blink and talk about how the taliban government should be as inclusive as possible. saying that he fears that if the telegraph band didn't represent certain ethnic cities, there wasn't certain individuals and it was not an inclusive government. the result could be the breakdown of afghanistan as a country into several different countries in the fracturing of the country, in the aftermath of the united states withdrawing and the rule of the taliban. but with all that's going on an afghan, a stand in the last few weeks and all the questions and outrage that's been curled at the biden administration. things certainly did get a little heated in the halls of congress. here are some of the more interesting

moments of what took place today during blinking testimony on capitol hill. on august 16th, mister secretary, president biden said that the administration had considered every contingency and was executing the evacuation. according to your plan was a part of your plan to rely on the taliban to ensure the safety of americans trying to flee the country. because that's what happened. we were not relying on the taliban as you know, what happened was the african security forces in the government collapse in the space of 11 days. we certainly relied upon it at the airport. it didn't work out. so mister secretary, president biden has delayed the blame for the evacuation debacle canister on others rather than on himself where it really belongs. he blamed president trump as we've discussed, ready to some degree here, basically claiming that he was just following trump's policy. but he hasn't hesitated to disregard every other major trump policy, our southern border,

the keystone pipeline, the parasite climate accord, the iran deal, mexico city policy, and on and on. this was the one trump policy that he had to follow. do you understand why this is pretty hard to fathom? for a lot of people? i think what's the perhaps caution hard to fathom, or people just don't understand is that the agreement reached by the previous administration required all us forces to be out of afghanistan by may 1st. mr. blink and assuming it's not classified, can you tell us where you are? today, yes, i'm at the state farm. it could couldn't be bothered to come down here and see congress are right. that's great. ignorance and bad preparation. by boris johnson's government are to blame for arise and coven fatalities. that's according to the british medical association. the doctor's union added that covert related deaths and cases have been on the rise since the lockdown was scrapped at the end of july

. 42000 people have been admitted to hospital with coven, and 5000 have died. many of these infections could undoubtedly have been prevented to simple mandatory measures and would not effect reopening society one jot absolutely. dr. try and nag for very, he's the chair of the b. m. a council. the british medical association, really scathing, not just of government ministers, but also of an h. s. england. and the general medical council, which regulates talk to taking aim at all of them for that handling of the pandemic over the past 18 or so months and saying that doctors and nurses and other frontline and a chest work because i've been sacrificing really with poor working conditions and poor pay, and also a mediocre offers of pay, rises all throughout pandemic. many of them losing their lives in the process and

only to be treated with at disrespect by those aforementioned organizations and ministries. and also saying that the doctors that he represents and other professionals will refuse to accept the status quo once. and if we get through this pandemic, we will not accept a return to the old pre pandemic days of an n h s. in perpetual crisis. the n h s cannot afford to lose a single doctor where nearly 50000 doctors short compared to e, u averages. and any further reduction in workforce will be catastrophic for the nation's health. now what we've been seeing is a lot of tension in the u. k. in particular, people with huge backlogs and delays to getting the other medical treatments seen to unrelated to covert and of course, as well tensions to do with how the government have handled locked out measures. and we've seen again clashes between protesters and police and security forces.

when it comes to the question of things like locked down and of what bows, protest is anyway, would see as threats to civil liberties. the the now over the weekend we've seen the government announcing usa and yet another one people would argue that now scrapping plans for the introduction of vaccine passports in the u. k. or at least in england anyway. now, some of the protest, as we've seen clash with police, would welcome the scrapping of those on civil liberties drives. but we've seen in the past the government making you turns on how it's handled cove it when it comes to things like the opening and the lifting of all restrictions and delays and perhaps justifying. some of the criticisms we've heard from the b may check today,

but as far as the government concerned, they've reached this decision off the careful consideration of all the facts. we've looked at it properly and once we should keep it in reserve as a potential option. i'm pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports. these extraordinary times required necessary but intrusive measures, but i'm determined to get rid of any powers we no longer need because of our vaccine defenses. now one of the main pressure points on the government, what their own m. p 's back bench conservative m p 's deeply opposed to many of these locked down measures throughout the pandemic. and also deeply opposed to the introduction of these vaccine. paul sport, it's thought, but they're really strong and strenuous protestations to the government was one of the factors which led to this you turn in while the european micro state san marino has cobit struggles of a different kind. the country's foreign minister has urged you to let in any one

who's had the sputnik. the jab, the blocks medicines watch dog is dragging its feet on approval despite most of sad marino's population. already having gotten the russian shot which settled and split neatly due to delays from the supply of m. i a proof of accents for more than 2 months, despite pre signed agreements. and we believe that europe in institutions obliged to recognize the freedom of movement, of anyone who has antibodies to cove at 19, regardless of the type of shot, almost 20000 people. that's 2 thirds of san marino's population have been inoculated width sputnik v. but their inability to move freely is especially problematic as the land locked nations entirely surrounded by italy. and you member, state news conference, russia and san marino's top diplomats right railed against the shots politicization mixed with russia has delivered the sputnik the vaccine san marino for the vaccination of the population are on the collaboration and really help you improve

epidemiological situation. in some marina see, and then you apply to these should be no clear validation. the scientists should speak about we are talking about the use of a bank, see you and these fund marino's health chief says geo politics should have no place when it comes to inoculation. we have some problem to, to. ready the movement in italy, the rece jubilee nickel issues. there is no doubt that to fight coby is necessary to dispose of as many vaccines and treatments as possible. 94 percent of people actually did that with the school that be has antibodies. infection have to do tv amber under control. we are talking. ready about

a positive people to date and we haven't had not death since april. and our next 2 years are currently 3 of our t investigates in a special project on heard voices. the stories of those who suffered often unjustly, during the war on terror and our latest report, we talk to those, forced to leave afghanistan after the disastrous pentagon pull out the we'll use all tools at our disposal space, killed our children for united states. we're bringing people to watch a site. it was a pointless exercise. we hear from both an afghan journalist who fled with his young family and a teenager forced to cross through a treacherous mountain path to safety. after the taliban started making frequent visit my office in my home. busy and i was forced to leave cobble when i was in

afghanistan, things got worse and worse every day. i never thought about coming to turkey. ah, the father became extremely respected cobble, became very dangerous. the 2 sided with the roadside bombs with sticky bombs. i go to korea and working as an african journalist and as i continued telling the world about honest, i became very hard broken. and there was very little good news that i could tell the world. it was often about vile lives carnage. busy destruction, you know, targeted a fascination and i think that over the years really destroyed me from when i had many dreams and not even one of them could have come true and afghanistan with the economic problems. the lack of jobs and opportunities are leaders, are politicians,

are all traitors and thieves. all of them fled and live in other countries. while the poor people of afghan, the stand have been left in misery. ah ah . to be honest with you, it was, it was a journey between hope and fear over the last 20 years. and a lot of a lot of sacrifice is a lot of killings. and then result is an epic failure for the international community for the west, for the one on the americans came and we believed in them. everyone saw another life. but in the end everything happens so fast and we were left all alone. we were abandoned. everyone was trying to survive. i in, ah,

turkey has no duty responsibility. obligation to be europe's refugee warehouse. there were problems everywhere on the way to iran. our car flipped over, we crossed into turkey, through the mountains, people di trying to pass to the mountains. i was really scared when we tried to cross the border. soldiers were following us. i came alone. i wanted to bring my family, but i didn't have enough money. i'm here now and my family is in afghanistan. i really worry about up to in the stance future i saw someone who fell into the valley. soldiers were pursuing us at that moment. nobody looked out for one another on fall, but i kept going. i got injured to, i still have bruises on my feet. we had to go on without him, otherwise they would catch us. i still see that day and my nightmares me, you know, because a lot of political bickering,

everyone saw the piece, buses a milking cow. it was a lot of selfishness are against those too much pride. and as a result, what you have the taliban who are top load in a matter of weeks by the united states in 2001 literally came back with story as defeating, literally everyone from america to near to country to the africa national security forces into the african government and it's all about have declared themselves as victory, victoria, me in i would want peace jobs, opportunities and education a peaceful country. i would like simply to live calmly with my family without a war. i wish there wasn't any slavery in our treat. now that the taliban is empower, i don't even want to think about going back. our future is uncertain. i always

dreamed of being peaceful. i had no intention of leaving a finest because i have been to the west. i have been all over the world. i studied in the u. s. and i came back with a sense of commitment to be living in cobble hoping that my daughter in my family could live the normal life that everyone else is living on. we'll use all tools at our disposal and killed our children to united states was bringing people to watch a sight. it was a pointless exercise the brutal victory of a transgender mixed martial arts fighter and former pentagon special forces sergeant over a female opponent, had split critics with some applauding it as a key step to equality. but others are appalled by what they call a dangerous mit mismatch between a female and the biological male, kevin o,

and sat down with ortiz alex, they are a chef ski to get the details. atlanta mclaughlin from south carolina is only the 2nd athlete in the history of mixed martial arts to compete being an open transgender. she want her fights last friday against a female opponents. and that ended in a 2nd round with a rear naked choke, which is quite a brutal way to and, and mixed martial arts about that caused a lot of control. the see among pundits an expert who said that this was an unfair advantage. primarily because alanna was born ryan mclaughlin spend 6 years in the us special forces before starting her transition in 2010. and before that transition, as we can see, ryan was quite a muscular man. so that's why many of the pundits in m. m a and very renowned pundits as well said that this was unfair, irrespective of how one treats the rights of transgender people. they all said they supported. ringback the rights of transgender people, but from a sporting perspective, this was unjust. lend listen atlanta mclaughlin in transition 5 years ago. which

means that she lived 33 years of her life as a man tonight, mclaughlin fought in b to buy a logical woman. what a shock this is nonsense. this is a lot of mclaughlin, that female through one or 1st m. m a fight against someone born a women. i think people can identify with whatever they like, but i don't think this has a place in combat sports. you all think this is okay and empowering to trans genders. interestingly enough, not only am i may bundis were outraged with such fight taking place, but also feminists. a couple of prominent feminist accounts tweeted out that this looks like basically a woman's abuse from a biological male. let's listen to that as well. male violence against women as a public sport. no, thank you. whether you took it up or chopped it off. take estrogen pills and or die your hair pink. the mail will always be a male and cannot change into a female. this is so hideous. how can anyone bear to watch or even think that this

is normal or acceptable? a lot of herself said that she didn't buy any of this criticism, stating, 1st of all, that she was batted for 2 rounds being fought against by a very equal opponent. and also the fact that everything and all the kind of critics is coming her way is just me a try for be a that's what she described. but i have to say, this is not the 1st case of obese, transgender and more. let's go back to the tokyo olympics in 2020, where for transgender athletes made their debut for the 1st time in the history of lympics. and it's also the 2nd time in may. there was a fighter of folks fallen retiring into 2014, also a transgender. but as we can see, this issue is still very divisive, especially when it comes to combat support. now after the short break, we're going to go to our special coverage of the russian. stay do my election. so do stay with us for that. ah,

join me every 1st day on the alex summon show when i was speaking to guess in the world, the politics sport. business. i'm show business. i'll see you then. me rather driven by a dreamer shaped by those in me i think we dare to ask me ah, in a way to bite the humiliating exit from tennyson. there are those in the gentry

class again, revisiting the possibility of a pan army. also, why does washington stay in syria after being defeated in the welcome back to the heart of moscow and fees. a special studio full set up here throughout the week to bring you the very best coverage and recall thing on the election to the state to do about the russians. low a house for voting itself takes place over 3 days from friday to to the end of sunday. throughout this week, we're going to introduce you to the parties involved in the rice. also give you a deeper insight into russians politics. why? beyond the question for the 1st constantine rush of explains why the elections are

so special this time around more duties, more responsibility, more power. the upcoming election marks a new chapter in the history of the state duma. russia's lower house of parliament, the 2020 constitution referendum gave russian legislators new authority. hence, whoever grabs these seats now will have greater political weight than their predecessors. the doom is now responsible for approving the countries prime minister, deputy prime ministers, and most of the cabinet. what remains intact, however, is the duma structure and there are $400.00 tpc for grabs, which will this time be contested him on the 14th political party, the president can still appoint minister, is responsible for national security and foreign policy without parliament's approval. but even with that loss, the newly elected m. p. 's will gain more influence and play a bigger role, same domestic economic affairs. and this is just a fraction of their new found authority. the 2020 amendments have also solidified

the so called parliamentary control arrange of legal actions. the duma can take to overhaul different aspects of the country and governance like finances, for instance. and peace can now summon russia central bank chairman. he now must report both to the president and the parliament with new powers come new responsibilities. there would be no faith. how for a scrutiny to be allowed to run, no foreign citizenship and new money or acids in banks outside of russia. the panoramic has pushed authorities to increase the online balloting 1st tested during the 2020 constitutional referendum. 7 russian regents will provide this option for those who can't or don't want to go to a polling station. in addition, the vote is going to be held for 3 straight days to avoid lines and unnecessary commotion at ballad boxes. the increased role of the countries main legislative body along with organizational challenges make this election. one of the rushes most significant vote of the last decade. that's the technicality of it. all. the very expecting later this week,

let's get cracking and talking about those 14 policies that constantly mentioned that one very particular party is called pension is the justice boosting health care spending. and as the name suggests, lobbying for the interest of the me that a key policy, it presents itself to as the constructive proposition. now last time around at any got 2 percent of the vote in 2016, but it is tend to get close that high threshold this time and that would get the policy into the state duma profile in the policy dance area for trend. good. central moscow. it's time to get to know the party a bit better. the russian party of pensioners for justice, the name could give you the impression that most or maybe all of its candidates are retired, but that's not really the case. the average age of the candidates is $53.00, which is in fact below the official requirement age in russia for both men and women. and by the way, after the recent pension reform in this country, this retirement age is set to be raised even more. and by the way,

the party that i'm telling you about right now is very critical of that for you. but for all parliamentary parties, talk about the needs returned to the question of the retirement age. but they don't think about, at what age a person has the right to retire, and we, the pensioners party, suggest people themselves should decide when to retire. at the same time, their pension should depend on time and employment. we've calculated that the most optimal time and employment to receive a worthy pension is 30 years back in the soviet union. it was 40 years. however, today, life expectancy in russia is not that high in comparison with european countries, therefore a person should live the rest of his or her life with dignity, not just surviving. so something else that the party of pensioners for justice wants to adopt is a so called social code which had, which would ensure social benefits and payments for all age groups. so be it

a young family which should just have their 1st child or retired pensioners. now i can tell you that according to opinion polls currently, this is the most popular party among those which are not represented in the federal duma at this point. so of course, the see the upcoming election as a chance to get some seats to secure some seats. and here's what the leader told us about that in particular, it's time to renew parliament. the parties that have been there for 30 years, unfortunately, have adopted laws which an ordinary person considers to be directed against people because they get nothing from them. that perhaps the reason why this party has an army of observers more than 30000, to make sure that there are no irregularities, is because the party could be very close to that 5 percent margin. and we've heard

from the leader and his allies, that if the turn out is good, if the elections are fair and transparent, they are very confident about their chances. all right, that's all from a reduction studio for this. but our coverage is really only just beginning plenty more for you in the coming days here on our international. because we explained the big issues facing russian versus people trying to win that balance this weekend. the ah me 100 make know borders and my number is emergency.