tonight o"worldfocus" -- as newave of violence rocks afghanistan, som of america's allies are debating their role onhe r. should the stay, and at what cost and lives? >> in britain, the owing spread of the swine flu triggering a sort ofifferent debate. how helpful would it be to close scols? it's a gd question for this cotry when flu sean returns. in asiasecretary of state hillary clinton raises questions to north kor as auclear threat. video games. and a sad tale from cairo. ce reveredby thencient egtians. today the lives of cats a far different and often fill with abuse. from the worl's leading

reportersnd analysts, here is what is hpening from around the world. this is "worldfos." made possible,n par by theollowing funders -- good evening. i'mmartin savidge. 's been the deadliest month for u.s. troops in afghanistan since the war there started near eight years ago. and today in t eastern part of that country in thecity of rdez, taliban militantss, some firing rkets and assault rifles and suici bombers launched a highly ohestrated late-morning attack. a shootout followed between afghan security fces and the militants. and by the time it was all over, 14 pople were dead. authorities there say at least two bombers dressed in women burqas were involved in the attackin the ity's police station. the govnor's compoundnd the intelligee department before being repelled. >> translat: none of our soiers opened fire on him from here and hey opened fire on hi

from t second floor and then i mped up on the roof and fire himrom there. then i cam down and i saw his body. >> chris sanz of th national newspaper is bas in the afghan capital city of kabul. >well ihink the significance of today attack is it shows the taliban to know to get stroer in afghanisn. the more ameran soldiers and the more american troops to come to t country theore the violce ratchets up. e affect tha hass that i creases the militiamen and the afghan population an security appears to be preding. in a separate incident today near the afghan city of jalla bad three militants attacked the u.s. military bas two militaitants were killedne was captured america's ales continue to trto define their role in afghastan. germany's got the tird larges contingent of troops there. approximately 3,500. but as deutsche welle reports yea after they arrived in that country the role of t rmans, even wit what they ll the msion is still beingdebated

back home. >> reporter:isited conduse base camp in afanistan in june. the paliamentary arms commiioner wanted to asess for himlf the dangers facing german soldiers staoned ther the taliban t off a bo close to the camp so after his arrival. a pronged firefight ensued. a 2year-old german soier suained a life-threatening bullet wond and another an injury to his m. later, soldiers told that it tk 15inutes to bring th two men to fety. theerman armed fors have lost 13 men innderstand can uned states provie alone. is to lten to soldier complais and concern their suation in afghanian is certainly not imoving. >> thefact is a t of >> translar: the fact is that ur people, our soldie, are involved in tough coat

situations o an almost daily basis. it's clear that this need to be dealt with offensively and unequivocal in berlin and elsewhere. >> reporter: by the german defensenister, for example is reluctant use t term "war" despite increase in violence. he argues the soldiers are fighti insurgents and not combatas and underlines the humanitarian cracter of the miion. >> translator: wars do not involv bombing schools, hospits and kindergarteners. we need to win the trust of the ople. unftunately we are volved in armedombat in some placeslike in nduz and part o our job is to hp create security. >> translator: the soiers tell me thathere are no wells being drilled or schools being built at the moment. it's war. and when ldiers tell me that, i havto recognize it. >> reporter: buthe controversy is not onlyabout words, it's also about tconsequees.

in central germany is home to an army facility wre soldiers recei their final traini for tours of duty in afghanistan. a crucial rules that th may only use their weapons when coming under fea in self-defense. it's part of theirules of gjment in afgnistan. findingnd arresting terrorists and actively enforcing peace are explicitlyrohib the by tse rules. military experts a critical of ths. >> translor: limitingourself to just reacting puts youat an immediate disadvantage. you have an opponent who doe not have anrganized army and does n respect any roles of combat. another reason wh we're not allowed to ca it a war. reporter: a video posteon a gean army blog sows the difference in approachcompared tou.s. forces. asuspected taliban nit is dealt with even before it reaches the army be in question. t sometimes people are wrongly identifd as enemy combatants.

the americans say theye chnged their strategy for eir n big push against the taliban but rman commanders are lookingor a way to increase their effectiveness whout enngering civilians. on the se day that funeral ceremonies were held fo three soldiers killed in uduz the u.s. increased german troops in ghanistan. all a ar that the run-up to the parliament elections in germany ineptember the taliba may intensify thr attacks. >> another important amican al ally, australi has more than 000 troops in afghanistan. he government and the leading opposition party there are united in their support of e war sayng "it's key to winning the war o terrorism." but a number of analysts in australia questi whether the war is winnable or wonder w or when it might end. chris olman of abc atralia filed th report. >> reporter: there's no splitting t opposition and government on afghanistan. >> this is really the front line the battle against global

rrorism. it is aar we have to win and it's war w will n. >> afghanisn has been a aining ground forerrorists wo r world wie. a trainin ground also for terrorists southeast asia. >> reporter: wi the death of prvate benjin rennado a day after theterror attack in jakarta, questionsave resurfaced out australia's involvent in the ven-year ol war andon what winning might mean. >> it's unwinnablein any conventional sense, that is th we ntrol all of the territory and bring everybody to peace and democracy that simply nnot happen. >>eporter: the former seor defse official says australia ould continue the fight, t he sees scar operational links wi southeast aan terrorists. >> what afghanisan is about is to deny t training that's necessary for al qaao do its job. >> reporter: as foer chief of operationfor the coalition forces in aq, jim mullen knows the cost of underresourci a war. he belies troop numbers shoul be doubled. >>s that the war in e afghan

province never reaches a decisivestage. we ner win and w never lo. this hapned in iraq a we ayed there for year afterear after ye with a tckle of casualties. les get in there. let's get seriousbout this war. d let's resourc t. >> reporter:ne little discusd fact or that keeps the major paies in this fight is alliance mainnance. australia's afghanistan beuse the united states is there. commitment to alliance in afghanistan is one thing. and i wold certainly support that. butn argument that wee there prevent terrorism in austraa, i don't think is vy stainable. >> repter: getting int the wa was easier thaneaving it wilbe. >> what signal would w send to trorism in indonesia if w were to akbroon the battle of terrorism afghanian? >> we haveo make progress in afghanistan. we know that that's not going t occ quickly. we know we're there effectively fo the long haul. >> reporter: there's only one thing everyon agrees on -- there's no end in sight.

chris olman, "lifeline." >> to try andake senseof all ofthis we' asked lisa curtis to come bk andoin us once more. she'a senior researchellow at theeritage fouation. sheas part of a delegaon that visit afghastan about four weeks o and sheoins us from washington. welcome back. >> thanks very having >> what doou make in the way inwhich these attacks were carried out in theastern part of the country and do uhink that these attac today have anything to do with the presidential elections scheded for ne month? >> i think the taliban is trying to create a sense o insecurity and chaos troughout the country. ey have been coucting attacks ithe southern regon of ghanistan but i think w see now with the aacks inreasing in the west, the north and now the east that they are trying to disrupt the election an prevent people fm taking part in the pol which arescheduled foraugust 20th. >> and how would you describe thesecurity situation throughout afghanistan? and when i say that, i mean, l's take it region by region, starting in theorth and the

west in tha country. how are thingsthere? >> well, in the north, where the germanare in control, things are relatively calm. the are ethnic grou that aren't associat with the talan. so the talib hasn't really en able toake inroad into that area. and the same is pretty much true for the westn part of the country, whichhe italns control. thesareas over the last few ars have been relatively safe and stabile. >> a what about, say, the soth and the ea of the country, a very differe rtrait coming out el >> wwell, yes, that' where most of the fighting has been. the pashtun belt of the et thatgoes into pakistan a into the southern region. and in the south, you have the unid kingdom, canada, u.s. forces. out 30,000 forces fighting there. d then in the east, the u.s. in the lead. and you have about 20,000 forc. and that is predominantly ere most ofhe casualties have aken place. >> the targeting o government

offis, part of what happened today. i presume, as you say, tt's to show that the goverent isn't inontrol andis fail in that regard? >> well, that's right. i think the talibanare nervou abo theupcoming election if they are successful. a so they'rerying to disrupt those in any way that they can. and i think it's important to remember that these electis areeing run by the afghans. sohey have really taken nership. the 20 election were run by t international comunity. hans are reallytaking t ownership and they're actuly critical in denstrating that he taliban don't have suppor that the people do suppor a democratic politil process and thtaliban knows that an that's why theyre tryingo disru the atmphere. >> lisa curtis, thanyou very much. >> thank you. me than 60 people rertedly have been killed during three days of cl between pakistani governnt troops and tiban militts. t fighting'seen raging across the border from afghanistan and the lower deer

region of pakistan. that borders the swat valley, where the kistani government recently compted a mor offensive against the taliban. the kistani governmentclaims to have killed 1,700 mlitants duringhat eration. he numbers that cant be independently confirme turning now to iraq you'll call, the approximately 128,000 amerin troops in iraq have redeployed inhe cities to u.s. bases. th's part that new security agreement bween the u.s. and iraq. well, now the "the wall street journal" reportsensions are rising beten the u.s. and iraq governments over baghd's pu toestrict american ilitary operations in ira with some u.s. officers complaining eir forces are being constrained beyo what is called for in their agreemento withdraw from the cities. the offic said baghdad has sharply redced the number of joint patrols wh the u.s. made it harder for the american ilitary to move trps and. >> is around the country. and fectively ban the u.s. from conducti raids with time-sensitive intelligence

the paper quotedan army captain as saying "the basic msage is, you're n wanted." iniran, the lit month coury's top religious leaders appears to be deepeng in the aftermath of last month's diputed presidential election. yesterd, the sproik religious leader ayallah ali khameei warned clrics contesng the elecon outcome that they're dermining iran's security. but today, the former president, ali akbar rafsanjani issued a defiant stement saying he ows no ar. and inehran today hundreds of antigovernment protesters tk to the streetsonce a secrery of state hillary clinton continuing her tour of asia. today she's in thailand and expressed concern that north korea may exporting its nuclear technology to he military rgime in myanmar. that, she said, wod

destabilize the region. of course, ae there coinuing tensions between north kea and sth korea. and there's also concerns tt northkorean spies ctinue to cross the border a filtrate the south. now as steve chaof al jazea engsh reports t government in seoul is taking some exaordinary steps to art its young peop about the problem. >> rorter: south korea is a nation obsessed with gaming. 17 millio the majorty young n, packed internetens lik these nightl. a so it's here, country's intelligence agenchas come recruiting. th is a governmenta encouraging people to rte t -- the games important. >> reporter: with south korea living under a state of heightened alert, the govement is increasiny worried over enemy encurrenc. in the event, ithe eventof

war could launch attacks. trained to be apy in pong yo's eliteschool of espionage foredefecting. he since published a book on "the enemy withi" >> translator: spies are a brgre threat. >>eporter: lee says they have made it even intthe top ranks of south korea's military and while theumbers are impossible t confirm, he estimatesthere could be asany 60,000 operives along among the civilian population. even though the border betwn the north and the soutis one mote heavilyfortified over he years agents over the years have managed to get across. the tunnel right throu the demilitaredzone. others have come i desguise. andhis is one way they do it ery year the south accepts thousands of defectors, and while seo has a tough koreaning ogram, spies still get through.

>> translator: you are trained well on how to get in and mount into societ then t an intelligee on people. if whave to. or even sneak . >> reporter: ke the case of defector. known ashe sedu es. a court last year convicted her of stealingilitaryecrets frothe south korean officers she slept with. so as the country's youth te on the enemy the cyr world the gernment is hoping they will come out t defend the real one, too. steve chow, al jeeraseoul. one other noterom asia tonight, last week we reported how the government o malaysia often round up illegal immigrantsrom myanmar and sometimes sells tem to hman traffickers. well, today, authorities in malaya announced that they have arrestedive immigration officers for that very cme.

we want toeturn tonight to a story w brought you last week. that's thepid spread in britai of the n1 virus. the number of cases is now doubling every week. d a fierce debate has erupt about how to contain the disease. recommended some tat some schools in session stl be closed but governme is resisting that, ying that it's too lat andrew thomas of itreports. >> reporter: thiss how most schools are at the moment. by next week a wil ety for the school holida. if th swine flul. continues, should the stay closed into the autumn? 130 schools tha are temrarily closed to sop swine flu spreading, 113 have reopened official gornment policy now against the mass closure of scols. but could at stall the pandemic? >> the thing abou a pandemic is

you have very lar numbe of people becoming infeced and ill in the peak of two, three weeks. schls closed could reduce those numbers 30%, 40%. it doesn't stop beamfrom getting ill it just spreads out that peak a therefore, reduces peak demand. >reporter: and that cold save lives but report doesn't ignort economic costs, parents looking after children, uableto work makes up 1% of the country's gd the government ss they will review the situationgain in late august. schools shoun't cse cause the swine flu is actuay out in the community. so closinghe schools unless there's a specific -- locall isn't going to help. >> reporter: at themoment, cases of swine flu are ubling in numbe evy week. day's report suggests they could double everyouplef dayscome the aumn. as well as schools, that'lhit businesses.

they've been one estimate this wee that swine flu could knoc of the gdp othe ecom bu some businesses are seeing swine flu boom. this packagincompany, 4 of the 14 production lines ve been or to swine flu products. thers an alnatural hand sanitizer that supermarkets can't get enough from. order from p surgeries and individuals for face masks made abroad, but packaged here normly run at a thousand a ek. the last four days, over 10,000 have been sent out. >> no, no time for breakfast. no me for lunch at the moment. just grabbing quick bite. that's jt how- how busy things are. it's really,really, just, doing our best to cope th the mand at the moment. >> reporter: however prevalen swine flis now, today's reports suggts that i the autumn itwill get much more so. school closures or not. this packaging factory,ne of a few neficiaries.

>>hat was andrewthom was itn. let's get more information now and for that were jined tonight by andrew peckish. a profesor of microbiology and immunology at johns hopkins university in altimore.thnks fo. >> my pleasure. >> we were ld early on that the h1n1ouldn't flowerish warm ather. that itould spreadto the southern hemisphere down there where of course it'sow winter. so how concerned are you that it's spreadingo rapidly ts summer in england? >> it is something thate are concerned abou is is not something that's seasonal influen is known to do. we're not sure ifhis is some sort ofnique property of the virus or simply a resu of a fact at so much -- so much of the ppulation is susceptible to this rus that the virus continues to find host thatit can iect. and the infection hasn't burd itlf out. so it is -- it is a concern. because the more infections the virus has in terms of humans, the more likely it will be to

ada to replication in humans. and,therefore,perhaps be more efficient at spreing or causi disease in the hum pulation. >> whaare the implications for us here the united states then? >>hat we're dealing with fluenza outbreakat aime wheree normally aren'tealing with influenza. these cases th are occurri now reprent -- can represent significant pockets of fection. particularly in theyet into areas such as schools or summer camps where large numbersf eople congregate. so it's -- and it's a -- it's a sign of, perhaps, a very severe flu season to com the fact that the flu viru can fect at such an inopportun sometime what's the situatio in the southernhemisphere >>the southern hemisphere the flu season has started earlier. there appear be more cases and t virus appears to be speading much faer than we norlly see. so it reall does suggest to us that wh the ll and early wintercome here in the northern hemisphere we're going see a return of this virus much

earlier and in much sronger ay, in terms of nbers of cases that we see. >>and with that mind, h close,hen, are scitists to developing a vaccin ho effective could it likely be? so we're very close. vaccine manufacturers are making the vaccine as we speak. the first batcheshould be ready in the xt month or so. giving us eough time to on some testing to get the optimal osing and schede for vaccination in place y, y, early october. in which case, a very trgeted vaccination campaign shod be started. >> we alwaysike to keep concern in context here. w worriedshould we be? >>well, everybody should take personal precautions. the number of cases tha are going to occur, very high. andnybody who's had inuenza knows that it's very, very severe disease and very debilitating. public heath measures,personal hygienen terms of washing your hands, staying home i you're

sick and following the recommendations public health authorities, wi respect to who is going to get vaccinatednd who will takeantivirals. ve important in terms of minimizinthis epidemic on the human population. >> professor andrew peckish. thank you very much forpeaking with us. >> thank you. finally tonight, a story out the passage of time a the loss of tradition in egypt. in ancient times cats were revered ther often mummified and buried in their own cemeterys. nowadays, those oce cherished anils are routine used. jon jens of "globalpost" s our story. >> reporter: for catin cairo, it's a rough lif once a sacred sim boeflncient egypt, many cs here ar now scrapingy, stggling t

survive. lack of populaon control means thousands o rrell felines live on cairo streets, many suffering disse. doct is trying to change that. >> i love ts. i thi it's someing inside. hello egyptian -- organization >> reporter: he in the suburb of cairo, doctor manages a center that ves cats from the stres, putting them up for adopon here and around the world. they work mainly with this cat, the mau, areed indigenous to egypt. >> this is the mao cat. the end which is dwn on the ont of the head. okay. going to recoize also the growing of the eye wich loo like the growing of the eye of the ancient who are women. andou are going to recognize also this cat the spots thas found on all of the body. >> reporter: th egyptian mao may have been t first domtcated cat in the world.

in fonic times, cats were revered as pet they were mummified d buried in thei own cemetees. and then it was even a crime jure a t. amina abassa esident of a local animal shelter worries that some egyptians have worried about story. >> i have seen putting catsin plastic bags. throwing them in canals. starvi them. cutting their tail. poking theireyes. is is what we're seeing in the streets. god knows what's hapning in t houses. >> docr is also working to teach egyptians aut their long history withcats but he's stl coerned for the future. >>'m worried about the future of those cats. and we are afraidhat wewake up in the morning and we dot find tse ancient cats. it's a treasure here for egypt. i think it's like the -- d it will be our mistake that we didn't take care ofhose treasures. >>hat report from jon jens of "globalpost."

and that's "worldfocus" r a tuesday nght. a reminder,oin us tonight in our website,that's worldfocus.org, fo our weekly "blogtalk"eekly radio program. i'm martin savidgin new york. as always, we thank you for joining us. 'll look for you back here tomorrow night andnytime on the w. until then, ha a good night. "worldfocus" is made ssible, in rt, by the follow funders -- "worldfocus" is made ssible, in rt, by the follow captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

the dead"... history tells us the spani easilyonquered the mighty aztec this, of course, is a very rose-tinted view of threality. announcer: but a grsome find suggests history might be wro. bones from an aztec grave site are proving that spaniards were ctured, sacrificed, and ean. woman:he priest would tear theeart out and offer ito the sun. announcer: aztecassacre, on "secrets of t dead."