tonight on "worldfocus" -- as president obama ponders his next move in afghanistan, what some nato troops are saying after the most deadly attack on americans in more than a year. after ish voters clear the way, europe emerges as a more powerful competitor with the united states. could a new presidency of europe be tony blair's second act? from africa, there is real progress to report in a battle against a painful and disfiguring disease. and we'll take you for a ride on the streets of china where tens of millions of people have made thet of hot wheels indeed.

from the world's leading reporters and analysts, here's what's happening from around the world. this is "worldfocus." major support has been provided by rosalind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters -- hello and good evening. i'm daljit dhaliwal. the intense debate over this country's strategy in afghanistan will undoubtedly be fueled by what has happened there to american and nato forces in recent days. nato reported today that two more soldiers, including one american, were killed in separate bomb attacks in southern afghanistan. and on saturday, in nuristan province on the border with

pakistan, hundreds of insurgents attacked two remote american bases. eight u.s. soldiers were killed in what was the deadliest battle for americans in more than a year. and that is making not just the americans wonder about the ssion but its allies in afghanistan as well. in tonight's lead focus, we bring you the british perspective. rags martell of itn focused on what the soldiers on the ground are saying as the fighting intensifies. >> reporter: it's not unusual to get a fright from an explosion in afghanistan, but defense secretary bob ainsworth got into far mo politically sensitive territory on his visit to camp bastion. he was being given a bomb disposal demonstration with the home secretary alan johnson. on the left, staff sergeant kim hughes, near the end of his six-month tour. but the defense secretary was soon put on the spot about troop numbers. in a reported

conversation not caught by the camera, he asked, so what's your top desire here from right at the chalk face? whatould you have more of today? >> more troops on the ground. >> people? >> absolutely. more troops. >> not equipment? >> more equipment's ideal. i mean, we have lightweight equipment coming in gradually, but more troops on the ground, more equipment. less troops on the ground, less equipment. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: the call for more troops is a recurring issue. britain currently has 9,000 soldiers, but there are constant demands fomore. only yesterday the head of the british army said he supported calls for reinforcements. just two weeks ago, america's top general in afghanistan, stanley mcchrystal, warned of failure unless more soldiers were sent. this weekend, eight u.s. troops were killed near the pakistani border. america's deadliest battle in more than a year.

the mountainous region is as much an enemy as the taliban. channel 4 news witnessed firsthand the taliban attacking the region in august. more battl like these, army chiefs say they can only fight back more effectively with more troops. >> and that is the view from afghanistan from itn. and now to pakistan, where an important agency of the united nations came under attack today. it happened in islamabad at the world food program's headquarters there. these closed circuit pictures shown on pakistani television show a suicide bomber dressed in black walking into the building. a few seconds later, the explosion. five people were killed. authorities say that the bomber was dressed as a security officer. just yesterday, the leader of the taliban in pakistan warned of new attacks in retaliation for s. missile strikes along the border with afghanistan.

and hakimullah mehsud had this to say about u.s. forces in afghanistan. >> translator: right from the beginning we want to make this clear, that america has illegally captured and this is our top priority. to finish this and remove america from the soil of afghanistan and get rid of the people from that nation. >> for more on the battles in both afghanistan and pakistan, we're joined once again by marvin weinbaum, a former u.s. state department intelligence analyst on those two countries and now a scholar-in-residence at the middle east institute in washington, d.c. thank you very much for coming on the program. will this latest attack on u.s. troops in afghanistan affect the outcome of the debate that we're having in washington, d.c., about the war strategy? >> it certainly is going to have an impact on it. and it's unfortunate because it's taking place in an area which demonstrably is the kind

of area that you don't want to protect under general mcchrystal's counterinsurgency doctrine. and so it really isn't a test of that at all. but rather an example of what we've been doing wrong in terms of how we've addressed the taliban insurgency. >> well, let's broaden it out a little bit and talk about pakistan, too, where there was another deadly attack and we also heard from the leader of the taliban in pakistan telling the united states to leave afghanistan. give us some context in terms of the relationship between the pakistani taliban and the afghanistan taliban. are they connected? are they independent of each other? >> they are part of a larger network, which includes former mujahadin commanders and of course, includes al qaeda as well. but they do have somewhat different agendas. they're agreed in anti-americanism, anti-west, they're agreed in their desire to bring shariah state to the two countries.

but they have in their agendas they have different foci. so they're not exactly the same. just to give you one quick example. the afghan taliban has no particular grievance against the pakistan government. in fact, they let one another alone. and that's been one of our problems. >> is the pakistani government doing enough? i mean, of course, they had the battle in swat where they were trying to rout out the pakistani taliban. is there more that the pakistani government can do, should be doing and should the united states be demanding that they do this? >> yes, they have to go to the heart of this insurgency inside pakistan and that's an area called south waziristan. that's where baitullah mehsud was the commander. they have to do that. but what they can't do is simply do it because we say they should do it.

they've got to do it because it's in their own interests. if we publicly announce that that's what they ought to be doing, that makes that operation our operation rather than their operation. and therefore, i think pakistan public will turn against it. >> is there something that the united states could be doing to help pakistan more that it's not doing? >> i think what we have to do now is to convince the people of pakistan that all of what our relationship is is not our interest but we have mutual interests. both countries have many of the same aims here, but they're going to have to recognize those aims if we're going to succeed. >> marvin weinbaum, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. we also want to know what you think. our question tonight is, should the united states demand that pakistan do even more to contain taliban extremists in pakistan? tell us what you think. join the conversation by going to the "how you see it" section of our website at worldfocus.org.

we want to bring you up to date tonight on the agreement between iran, the united states and five other world powers on iran's nuclear program. yesterday in iran, theead of the u.n.'s nuclear agency said that his inspectors would be allowed into that newly disclosed anium enrichment facility in three weeks. in deutsche welle's report from iran, you will notice the public tone of yesterday's meing in tehran. gone at least for now was the harsh rhetoric that we have heard so much in recent months. >> reporter: the talks between mohammed elbaradei and president ahmadinejad came after the agreement to inspect the new facility in qom. the head of the iaea said that tehran should have admitted they were building a second unit sooner but he also expressed optimism.

>> we agree that our inspectors will come here on the 25th of october to do an inspection and to go to qom, and i hope and i trust that iran will be as transparent with our inspectors team as it is possible for us to be able to assess that facility as early as possible. >> reporter: the underground nuclear facility near the city of qom had been kept secret until tehran admitted its existence last month. the revelation stoked western suspicions that iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. mohammed elbaradei said he had no concrete proof that iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, but he urged tehran to come clean about the full scale and the nature of its uranium enrichment program. >> that report from deutsche welle. nuclear politics is seen as a backdrop to a visit by china's premier to north korea.

wen jiabao attended a ceremony today with north korean leader kim jong-il, marking the friendship between their countries. but beyond the spectacle and the formalities, wen's visit is seen as an inducement by china to get north korea back to disarmament talks it left after u.n. sanctions were imposed. europe has taken a big step forward toward creating a powerful new presidency, thanks in part to what happened in ireland where voters have backed a european union treaty that streamlines the future workings of that 27-nation body. jonah ll of al jazeera english covers the story from the perspective of why the irish finally approved the treaty and tells us about the political superstar who may be waiting in the wings for a return to power. >> reporter: before the count had finished, the result was clear. enough so for the prime minister to declare an irish yes to the lisbon treaty. >> ireland is ready to grow and

prosper. today's vote will help us achieve a common aim, a prosperous, productive and forward-looking ireland. we will now apply ourselves to achieving that with imagination, determination and courage. >> reporter: it's a result that surprises few in a contest that might have been far closer but for one thing -- ireland's distrous economic collapse. inside dublin castle, the flags of the 27 member nations of the european union. ireland is proudly one of them. happy to have benefited from eu subsidies when the boom was in full flight. it now eases and cushions a hard landing. >> back into europe and the policy making of europe. >> reporter: a yes to lisbon also means the eu reform treaty will almost certainly go ahead, aimed at making the european union more efficient by adding weight to centralized power in brussels.

lisbon also creates at least one new job, that of president of the european council elected by all 27 leaders, in effect president of europe. it could be filled as soon as the end of this month with one name being touted as the favorite. tony blair, the former british prime minister. it would be a spectacular return to the world sta for a man who resigned the premiership of his own country. the focus then will shift swiftly away from ireland. the only country to have actually voted on the treaty. and it did so twice. with the eu's second highest rate of unemployment and with tax hikes and public spending cuts to come, this was not the time to say no to europe again. jonah hull, al jazeera, dublin. for more perspective on the irish vote and on the lisbon treaty, we're joined by a man who has followed these developments closely. he's niall stanage, an irish journalist who covers business and politics from new york.

he is the author of "redemption song: an irish reporter inside the obama campaign." welcome to "worldfocus." >> thank you. >> give us a little context, what is the lisbon treaty and why has it been so contentious? it took ten years to negotiate this deal. >> interestingly, one of the reasons that it is so contentious is because it's so difficult to explain. a lot of the citizens of europe are not totally clear what's in it. but essentially what it is is a means to try to grease the wheels of european governance. it will also importantly create both a de facto president of the eu and a de facto foreign minister, and both of those posts are themselves contentious, particularly the foreign minister because of the sense that it will bring forth a common foreign policy. >> the irish voted it down last year. so why the reversal now? >> i think primarily because the irish economy is in a tailspin, and i think irish voters were very reluctant to appear to be

sort of rubbishing the eu or pushing themselves tthe periphery of it. the irish government obtained some guarantees on issues of particular relevance to ireland including the eu not medaling with abortion law, for example, but really the economy was the chief issue. >> interestingly, the irish were the only of the 27 eu nations that were allowed to take a referendum. what's behind that? >> basically what is behind that is that the irish constitution requires a referendum where other nations in europe don't. but it is another thing that fuels skepticism and euro skeptics have picked up on a lot is that this european project has not been characterized by many direct consultations with the people. >> so the significance of the irish voting yes this time, does that mean that the treaty is now going to be ratified and that all of the euro skeptics within the eu, no one is capable of being a spoiler now? >> it's almost certain that that is the case. the czech republic was proving a

bit of a holdout. the indication seems to be that they will ratify it. it is still a contentious issue in britain and the british conservative party which is in opposition but late in the polls has for a long time been euro skeptics. so what happens there remains debatable. >> right. what about the united states? what does it mean for americans? >> i think there's two ways of looking at it for americans. one is that the further integration of the eu obviously sets up to some extent a counterweight to the united states. there are 500 million citizens of the eu, and there's that weight there. on the other hand, the eu is largely comprised of allies of the united states, so it certainly won't be a hostile bloc even if it is in some ways a counterweight. it will give americans a partner to trade with and deal with. >> niall stanage, thank you very much. >> thank you very much.

tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed or badly damaged in last week's devastating earthquake in indonesia. hardest hit was the island of sumatra where hundreds of schools were affected. today hundreds of children started going back to school in 15 tents supplied by unicef. 200 more of the tents are on their way. the head of one school said returning to class would lessen the impact of the quake by getting students back to some kind of normal routine. one sign of hope in what continues to be an unfolding tragedy on sumatra. and to give you a sense of the scope of the devastation, we want to show you what geoff thompson of abc in australia found when he ventured into some of the hardest-hit areas of sumatra. >> reporter: food, some family or friends and shelter from the rain.

this is now as good as life gets for thousands of displaced people in west sumatra. perhaps 600 people died in the padang regency but the missing remain unaccounted for. but there are 40,000 houses like this one or worse. this is in kimbalu, south of padang. >> these are people that just don't have access to what the big city has. >> reporter: rudimentary living kits are being handed out here but there are still areas which can only be reached by air. heavy rain is hampering relief efforts and making more landslides likely. >> ts is our great fear. there have been landslides since the earthquake. we know landslides have already buried alive up to 200 people. with this rain, it is highly probable and it is very scary. >> reporter: in these pictures you can see why. the moment a landslide struck north of padang, one of many which killed 76 people and wrecked 16,000 houses here. in the hills also to the north,

multiple landslides leave behind. the destruction continues as far as the eye can see. so deeper down the valley we go. the scenes of devastation like this all the way along this river valley. standing here, you can get a sense of what happened. this hillside has collapsed, so has that one and so has that one behind me. all of them falling into this river valley below when last wednesday's quake struck. a little further on, another village has vanished. >> translator: yeah, all around here were hills. also on the right there when the quake struck. along here were houses with about 500 people living. now there are only 25 left. >> reporter: another rise in the road and another similarly shocking scene. the village gone. about 40 members of a wedding party were here when the struck. the bride, groom and their families were among the hundreds buried alive. when rain falls in this valley of death, the difficult decision

is made to rebury the dead in much the same way they were found. geoff thompson "lateline." in tonight's "signature story," we step back a little from the headlines to focus on one of our central issues, global health. the story is about a painful disease, guinea worm, which still infects thousands of people in africa. although there has been considerable progress towards eradicating it. as gary strieker foundhen he went to southern sudan. it is about something we take for granted -- water. his report was produced in association with the global health frontline news project. and we warn you that some of the images in his report are graphic. >> reporter: after decades of civil war in southern sudan, the return of peace is allowing

health workers to strengthen their fight against guinea worm disease. guinea worm is contracted by drinking contaminated water. the worms grow in the body for about a year, then emerge slowly for weeks in painful skin blisters that incapacitate and sometimes cripple its victims. people infected with guinea worm spread the disease when they immerse their blisters in water and allow the worm to contaminate it with new larvae, continuing its life cycle. but guinea worm has retreated to only a few african countries. the result of a 22-year eradication campaign led by former u.s. president jimmy carter and the carter center based in atlanta. >> it was a horribleisease, almost indescribably bad. it was an ancient disease, it didn't seem to have any solution. and so it was almost an

insurmountable problem. that's why we decided to try to solve it. >> reporter: guinea worm afflicted millions two decades ago, but last year fewer than 5,000 cases were reported, most of them in sudan. >> sudan is the last big bastion of guinea worm disease in the world, and therefore, it's the most important repository of guinea worm disease anywhere. >> reporter: in southern sudan, health workers from the carter center are working with government authorities to attack guinea worm where it thrives, in poor villages that rely on contaminated water. their strategy is the same they've used everywhere that guinea worm has been eliminated. public education to prevent contamination of water, supplying millions of water filters, applying safe chemical treatment to water sources and providing safe water from underground wells.

in these villages say they once believed guinea worm was caused by witchcraft or by eating spoiled meat. but now they understand the origin of the parasite that has tormented them for thousands of years. >> once you train these men, then you can come -- >> reporter: communities are cooperating with health authorities to isolatehe disease, breakie li cycle of theuinea wm anddriving it to. so nothing less than complete eradication is the goal of the carter center and a coalition of governments, international agencies and private donors. and if this progress continues, in a few years guinea worm is likely to make its last stand here in southern sudan. in kapoeta, southern sudan, gary strieker for "worldfocus."

and finally tonight, the word hybrid has been getting a lot of attention in transportation circles in recent years for vehicles that combine gasoline and electric power. in china, deutsche welle has gone down a different road with a look at the hybrid craze known as the e-bike, where electric power meets pedal power, and sales far outpace those of cars. like millions of other commuters in the teeming streets of beijing, this man makes his way to work each day by bicycle. but his bike is a lot different from most. it's a hybrid between a conventional pedal bike and an electric motorcycle. >> translator: my bike is for convenience whereas the cars on the road get stuck in traffic and cannot move. it's a fast means of transport. >> reporter: sales of e-bikes are rising steadily.

they're an economical way of getting around. >> translator: the cheapest cars cost 40,000 to 50,000 yuan. the price of electric bicycles ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 yuan. that's acceptable to most people. >> reporter: china is the world's largest producer of e-bikes, and sales in the last decade have increased 400%. around a third of them are produced in tianjin. they're designed to compete with cars, which clog the streets and gobble fuel. >> translator: any bike uses one kilowatt hour of electricity for every 100 kilometers. in tianjin each hour of electricity costs 1 1/2 yuan. compared with gasoline, that's energy saving. >> reporter: e-bikes are a booming industry in china. there are already 65 million of them on the streets and manufacturers are confident that number will double within the next four years. >> on the road in china with

deutsche welle. that's "worldfocus" for this monday evening. be sure to go to our website and share your views. and that's at worldfocus.org. i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. thank you for joining us. we hope to see you back here at the same time tomorrow. until then, have a great evening. good buy. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com major support for "worldfocus" has been provided by rosalind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. tional funding is provided by the following supporters --