it was requir a to get to hopeful place, which is where we are right now. >> reporter: ambassador zalmayad, thank you very much. >> thank you. it's good to be wih you. >> woodruff: this election year is unlike any in modern history, and the challenges are many. part of it is voting during a pandemic. part of it involves the president's statements and actions-- sowing dous about voting by mail and the integrity of the process, or potentially oen challenging the resul the election. our system has weathered cha in the past. how well-positioned is it now? william brangham begins there. >> brangham: we are 39 days from november 3, and a growing chorus of analysts, historians and helitical elections officials are warning thatountry is headed for a confused, prolonged, and potentially dangerous election and aftermath.ve the of "the atlantic" magazine, with nothing but a red warning ght, says it's "the t electit could break america." that cover story was written by pulitzer prize-winning reporter barton gellman, and he joins me now. barton gellman, very good to have you on the "newshour". you wr

it was seven months ago that speciaenvoy for afghan reconciliation zalmay khalilzad signed an agreemente taliban. after a bit of a delay, that led to the negotiations in doha today, designed to end all this violence. and ambassador khalilzad joins me now. it's good to have you back on the "newshour". you've said that you expect violence in afghanistan to decrease, but just to be clear, the february 29th agreement that you signed was not commitment the taliban to stop attacking the afghan government. so what leverage do you really have to reduce the violence? >> compared the first six months of last year to this year, despite a recent increase in violence, the number of casualties both military and civilians are down this year. so, yes, the vionce is high at this point. both sides need to bring down the level of violence, and we're committed, when i return to work with both sides, to get an agreement on reduction of violence. >> reporter: the afghan government says there's too much violence, you and the u.s. military says there's too much violence. the taliban have indicated they will no

zalmay khalilzad, you are recognized for your testimony. >> i would like to join you in condolences, may it rest in peace. good morning mister chairman, ranking member grothman and distinguished members of the committee. i regret the circumstances that do not allow me to appear before the committee sooner during the last several months. i regard making myself available to congress as one of my most significant and important responsibilities. i welcome this opportunity today and i am honored to brief you. i was appointed special representative for afghanistan in september of 2018 with a mandate to find a diplomatic formula that brings a end to america's longest war, reduces burden on the us military on taxpayers, provide the best chance for a sovereign representative afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors and respectful of the human rights, most importantly assures terrorists can never again use afghan soil to threaten the security of the united states and its allies. underlying this mandate, an assumption that there was no realistic or viable military solution for this co

ambassador zalmay felice u.s. special representative for. thank you very much for talking to us there it's good to be with you trillions of dollars spent nearly 1000 years later the united states thinks that it is now time for the afghans to sort out of going to stand themselves you call it a historic opportunity why. well for 19 years there's been an effort to in the war in afghanistan. by adding an agreement that's broadly supported in afghanistan a political road map and also an agreement that afghanistan never again would be a threat to the international community of course we worry about the united states in particular after all it was the $911.00 attack that did the u.s. and coalition forces to come to afghanistan and we had the 1st. time in these these 20 years something you could go back even longer since afghans have been in a war situations for 40 plus years that they are meeting their meeting at tora dative leave both sides broadly representative delegation from kabul or an empowered delegation from the taleban positive tone. meet

so i'm grateful to our witnesses special representative ambassador zalmay khalilzad, thank you, and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for indo pacific affairs, thank you, mr. secretary, for being here today to answer our questions about the risks and the trump administration's ongoing efforts to bring the u.s. war in afghanistan to a close. while we are all eager for our sons and daughters in uniform to return home, it is also important that we do not needlessly or recklessly bargain away the rights and freedoms that the afghan people have gained at such a huge cost in american coalition and afghan lives. with that i now yield to our ranking member, prosecute mr. grothman, for his opening statement -- representative grothman, for his opening statement. mr. grothman: thank you. an important topic. i'm glad you're having this hearing. i'm pleased to have these witnesses here today, through the hard work of the trump administration there may well be a prospect for peace in afghanistan at last. they've had other successes in the middle east. recently bahrain and united arab emirates

the us peace envoy to afghanistan, zalmay khalil—zad, says taliban negotiators will not accept a ceasefire been struggling to agree a framework for the first round of peace talks in doha. the world must overcome the extraordinary divisions created by coronavirus and unite to defeat the pandemic, the british prime minister has told the united nations general assembly. in his virtual address to the assembly, borisjohnson announced a series of new measures to help lead the world out of the crisis including providing over half—a—billion—pounds to a new global vaccine sharing scheme, but he warned against rushing vaccine development. even as we strive for a vaccine, we must never cut corners, slim down the trials, sacrifice safety to speed. because it will be an absolute tragedy if we were to boost the nutjobs, absolute tragedy if we were to boost the nut jobs, the absolute tragedy if we were to boost the nutjobs, the anti—vaxxers, dangerous upset sirs who campaigned against the whole concept of vaccination and would risk further millions of lives. well, reacting to that speech by the british p

the us peace envoy to afghanistan zalmay khalilzad says taliban negotiators will not accept a ceasefireghan government and taliban have been struggling to agree a framework for the first round of peace talks in doha. the move dashes hopes of a comprehensive ceasefire as an interim or goodwill measure. the security forces in belarus have again arrested protesters at a weekly women's march against president alexander lukashenko's disputed election victory last month. 500,000 people have signed an online petition to negotiate a transition of power. it comes as the belarusian foreign minister accused western countries of attempting to sow "chaos and anarchy" in country. —— and anarchy" in the country. "the world must overcome the extraordinary divisions created by coronavirus and unite to defeat the pandemic", the british prime minister has told the united nations general assembly. in his virtual address to the assembly, borisjohnson announced a series of new measures to help lead the world out of the crisis including providing over £500 million to a new global vaccine sharing scheme, but h

special representative for afghanistan reconciliation zalmay khalilzad testified before the over house -- on national security about the trump administration's afghanistan policy. he answered questions about the recent u.s. taliban agreement and plans to reduce the u.s. military presence in afghanistan. >> good morning. the turning of the subcommittee will now come to order. i want to welcome everyone to today's hybrid hearing. pursuant to the house rules, some members will appear in person and others will appear remotely via web acts. since some members are appearing in person, let me first remind everyone that pursuant to the latest guidance from the house attending physicians office, all individuals intending this hearing in person must wear a face mask. members who choose not to wear a face mask will not be recognized. let me also make a few reminders for those members appearing in person. you will only see members and witnesses appearing remotely on the monitor in front of you when they are speaking in what is known in webex as acting speaker mode. a timer is visible in the room d

the us peace envoy to afghanistan, zalmay khalil—zad, says taliban negotiators will not accept a ceasefirework for the first round of peace talks in doha. the move dashes hopes of a comprehensive ceasefire as an interim or goodwill measure. the security forces in belarus have again arrested protesters at a weekly women's march against president alexander lu kashenka's disputed election victory last month. half a million people have signed an online petition to negotiate a transition of power. drugs investigators in india have questioned one of bollywood's best—known actresses, deepika padukone, for more than five hours in connection with a widening investigation into illegal drug use. it was sparked by the death of another bollywood actor, sushant singh rajput, injune. police originally said that mr rajput killed himself but his family publicly accused his girlfriend, rhea chakraborty, also an actress, of involvement. ms chakraborty denies wrong doing. here's bbc asian network's senior entertainment reporter haroon rashid. as you mention, actor sushant singh rajput was found dead in his mu

special representative for afghanistan reconciliation zalmay khalilzad spoke with our program talked to al jazeera he described how much is at stake if afghan leaders squander this opportunity to achieve peace is part of that exclusive interview. first serious error was made. at the end of the soviet. period one is more than one error but one was not to try to do what we're doing now with afghan forces the mujahideen fought the soviets and the afghan other afghans to get to a political agreement to have negotiations like the one that started here yesterday . among afghans so that is that the withdrawal was. being carried out by the soviet forces there was an order there. and agreement and a political process among the forces in play so the and. that was because the lack of trust between the united states and the soviet union at that time many people didn't think the soviets were serious about would drop but also the afghans made the. sacrifice so much to push the soviets out to force them out and the world benefited from that. soviet departure and what followed that departure which i

the us peace envoy to afghanistan, zalmay khalilzad, says taliban negotiators will not accept a ceasefiret is reached. the afghan government and taliban have been struggling to agree a framework for the first round of peace talks in doha. the move dashes hopes of a comprehensive ceasefire as an interim or goodwill measure. security forces in belarus have again arrested protesters at a weekly women's march against president alexander lu kashenko's disputed election victory last month. half a million people have signed an online petition to negotiate a transition of power. it comes as the country's foreign minister accused some western countries of attempting to sow "chaos and anarchy" in belarus. ajudge in brazil has suspended a football match involving flamengo, the current champions of the top division, after 19 of their players and their manager tested positive for the coronavirus. flamengo were due to play palmeiras away at sao paulo and have travelled to the venue as the brazilian football federation says it will appeal against thejudge‘s ruling. flamengo's directors were widely criti

here in doha which well it's taken a long time to get to this particular stage if you go bankrupt zalmay khalilzad was appointed as the u.s. special envoy back in september of 2018. u.s. diplomats military representatives and the taliban they held more than a dozen rounds of negotiations here in doha which were we must remember briefly called off by president trump that was in september of last year when taliban fighters killed an american soldier in kabul only days earlier the 2 sides had reached a draft agreement then the formal talks well they got restarted that was in december and the deal was signed in february of this year in qatar that's what milla brother was referring to earlier paving the way for these peace negotiations between the taliban and the afghan government in traffic and talks supposed to start she would say on the 10th of march but like so much of this year it has been delayed as we pointed out qatar is hosting these talks the foreign minister sheikh mohammed bin up there are many urged all sides to enter these negotiations with an open mind. these negotiations repre

special envoy zalmay khalilzad is hoping to resolve the issue he wants both sides to agree to prevent attacks from being launched from either of their territories abdullah abdullah is the head of afghanistan's peace council earlier he told us both sides do want a resolution. peace in afghanistan peace in pakistan peace in the region is important for all of us and most of the talks that i had hit in islamabad yesterday and today will continue to so model will be focused on how we can support the negotiations which are that in peaceful efforts at the same time what are the steps that we can take as far as a strengthening the the bilateral relations we will come to the message that this statement by the prime minister of iran come calling for all of that action and violence reading to cease fire in also get other countries including the host countries which us which is that and the support group at the united states which is not directly involved but at the same time they are all working to get that in support of those efforts pakistan also has helped the fact that. contacts negotiations

i am grateful to our witnesses, the special representative for afghan reconciliation zalmay deputyad, and the secretary of defense for indo pacific affairs, david helvey, for being here today to answer our questions about the risks in the trump administration's efforts to bring the war in afghanistan to a close. well we are eager for our sons and daughters in uniform to return home, it is important we don't recklessly bargain away the rights and freedoms the afghan people have gained as such a huge cost in american coalition and afghan lives. i will yield to the gentleman from wisconsin, our ranking member, for his opening statement. >> thank you much. a very important topic and i am glad we are having this hearing. i am pleased to have these witnesses here today. through the hard work of the trump administration, there may be a prospect for peace in afghanistan at last. they have had successes in bahrain and the united arab emirates, adhering to treaties of peace between those countries and israel, something i never would have dreamed of a few years ago. those agreements will have a

. >> schifrin: the lead american as been ambassador zalmay khalilzad. he's suggested the u.s.egotiators to achieve quick progress by adopting a" the afghan government worries that roadmap might fce it to create a weak interim government without them. >> you can agree on a t of principles for governance, that are your building blocks for that future agreement. but that's different than-- than, say, to simply hand away power to some kind of interim government with a very minimalist roadmap agreement. roadmap to where? unknown. >> schifrin: afghans are concerned president trump will push for a hasty deal before election day. ul we need to have patience and therefore to car proceed through it, to not follow certain short timelines and deadlines. >> schifrin: but after the u.s.' longest war reached its 20th year, the military, the administration, and the u.s. public support a deal, even if it means some taliban control. >> what it would mean is the most explicit acknowledgment yet that the u.s. did not win the war in afghanistan. the taliban was sufficiently successful to compel th

outside because both sides are digging in here in the state with the latest pictures and bringing peace zalmay effie's joining us on skype from kiev in ukraine he is the executive director of the eurasia democracy initiatives welcome to. just take me through your reaction to what we're seeing happening on the streets of minsk well we're seeing a culmination. i would say of what 3 of $43.00 weeks actually a month a truly popular uprising that has as its game has its aim as its sole aim the ouster of a man who has ruled this country with iran fist for a quarter of a century there are the people that are out on the streets have not been protesting against the kremlin they have not been appealing to a new european values which is distinguishing this particular revolution we were witnessing from bad that happened in ukraine 6 years ago there wan goal the protesters have is to get rid of the guy and do it doing it in a spectacularly democratic fashion with no single leader with their leadership dispersed and with a truly kind of popular. it's a popular uprising the likes of which delegates has never