some of you have personally served in afghanistan or together with us on afghanistan. i am personally grateful to each one of you for your dedicated service. i often argue that if you compare my country, our country, to what we were 15 years ago, despite all the security challenges that we have now, we are certainly a totally different place for our citizens than we were 17 years ago. from every perspective. from the way we govern our country, the way we give voice to our people, to the education of our girls and boys, to health care that we provide to our citizens, and to economic uplift for millions of our people. i used to be a humanitarian worker in the 1990's and late 1980's. so i understand where we were 17 years ago and where we are today. in this remarkable achievement of the people of afghanistan, you have had a great contribution. i am particularly grateful to the generosity of your taxpayers. whose generosity actually meant more school, or health care, and better living conditions for afghans. thank you for all of that. in today's opportunity, i was thinking

afghanistan. usip has been deeply involved in afghanistan since 2002. it's one of our longest and largest programs, and afghan team works with governments, religious leaders, civil society organizations to address the underlying causes of instability and to create the conditions for peace pics of this is a really important moment for a conversation on the afghan peace process. last month the afghan government hosted the kabul peace conference and made a very forward leaning offer to the taliban to find a political solution to the conflict. also last month the taliban indicated their willingness to talk to the united states about peace. and next week president ashraf ghani will open the conference together with the president of uzbekistan on regional support for a peace process. earlier this month usip posted ambassador alice wells from the u.s. department of state, who joined us to shed light on the u.s. response to all of these recent developments. so this is an important opportunity to now go di

acts intelligence chief of afghanistan. welcome to the show it's really great to have you with us mr so at the latest international conference on afghanistan has been held in neighboring was back to stand with more than twenty countries taken part time i wasn't there that make any sense to hold meetings like that without one side of the conflict present i think it doesn't make a lot of sense and the taliban were not there they should be treated like a terrorist group the terrorist group should not be invited to an international event the. conference was to endorse support the position of the afghan government in regards to the peace process it was not. to equate the democratic process with a terrorist group so the taliban is not is not ready get it it's a pleasure so they've got to some peace process is being discussed at several platforms to kabul process conference down the conference and. has offered to host peace talks with the taliban will even more events like this help to bring the taliban to negotiating table does t

i spoke to chief executive of afghanistan. and he told me that the taliban cannot win the war by military means yet they are now threatening seventy percent of the country's territory and they're having success after success. militarily at least is it right to be so sure they won't win well they are doing they are doing a spectacular urban attacks no doubt because they killed so many civilians and these. car bombs are suicide attacks and they dominate the news and then they cause pain but that doesn't look military victory that's that's terrorism the fact that they have not been able to. quote come trold zones for themselves inside afghanistan so they want to bring the pain to the cities to show the exist in the scene to show they are and. to kitty it does. content amongst the minds of the civilian population these are the government saying you our government cannot protect you but far the tala. to be able to undo their chief moments of the last sixteen years and over a. mela time only that's about a wild fantasies all right m

afghanistan is landlocked.t's south-central asia but there's about 400 miles of mountainous pakistan between afghanistan and the sea. and to get to afghanistan by land on the indian ocean they have to drive all the way up through pakistan and through the past and afghanistan. incredibly long and expensive supply line. this is a country the size of texas, which if you ever driven across texas, it's incredible. you can see why it was its own country for a little while. and also they have deserts like california and mountains like colorado. it's incredibly forbidding terrain in many ways. where are we at? i'm sorry lex okay, great. so these are some more things that make this mission incredibly difficult for the americans to be able to have the way there, whatever ways they are trying to have. another problem is just to the east and it's not shown on this map, but that eastern border of afghanistan was called the durand line because his drawn by an agent of the british empire nor to attempt to divide the poshtun t

look, like everyone has been to afghanistan whose work in afghanistan. i have nothing but empathy for the afghan people, for this constitutional government, for the afghans who came home in 2002 to restore their country that have been destroyed through so we division of the wars that followed. afghan was at peace with itself and its neighbors for most of the 20th century. the restoration that took place in 2002 was not imposed by the international community. it was an afghan effort to recover their country. they still have a government factionalized, cracking up. it is still there. there's a young population that's come of age in the cities connected to the world. i wouldn't want to see that collapse. i'm not suggesting that we pack up and go home. but to try to get from here to a better place to reduce the violence, even if a political settlement is a quixotic goal, the purpose of negotiations and diplomacy in an environment like this is to reduce the violence. to give space, to give breathing space. the only way that will happen is that the powers that

high above the mountains of north—eastern afghanistan, f—i6 fighterjets north—eastern afghanistan, f—i6s take turns north—eastern afghanistan, f—i6 fighterjets take turns to refuel. looking good, nice and stable. we are a little slow. minutes later they are ready to get back into the fight, providing air cover to afghan forces battling insurgent fighters. i7 forces battling insurgent fighters. 17 years in, and america's longest war shows no sign of ending. when donald trump came president, it looked like he might pull that troops out of afghanistan once in thrall. —— once and for all. but instead in august he upped the anti—, increasing troop numbers and promising that america would stay and till, in his words, the war is won. thank you very much, thank you, please be seated. the men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan to victory. they deserve a plan to victory. they deserve the tools they need and the trust they have earned to fight and to win. afghan commandos launched a night raid on a taliban position. despite improvements in elite troops like these... the fact i

to throw in a fact about afghanistan, i heard p mrs. rule a ghani say the most effective thing she's seen in afghanistan was the project artimus project. just to tweak your interest. >> and the person is a former high ranking usaid official. how important the investments are. i would say we're at an interesting time where it is not so sequential. it is hard to pull apart, you can't have security without economic activity, but you can't have economic activity without security. so how do you do all these things at the same time, particularly when facing the kinds of adversaries that we are in syria and iraq and in afghanistan. soy think that again we need to develop a sophisticated way to answer that question and make those investments. we are headed in the opposite direction, which i find as former career civilian official and political appointee really alarming. i agree with your question. >> i think from perspective of somebody that needs to work at the institute of peace, the two ds are central to the mission. one of the challenges be

all the generals in the situation room about this suggestions as to what to do with afghanistan this year. would that ring true is a little drum saying we need to make money like the chinese out of afghanistan we should be in regime building or training or whatever it is if you're someone like donald trump who you know always say about him he is an intelligent person he has accomplished a lot look he beat seventeen people in the republican primaries he built be hillary clinton he does have a brain in his head as if i mean we shouldn't underestimate him and if you're explained for the first time what's happening in afghanistan any reasonable sensible person is going to say this is insane get out so i do think that wolf comment rings true however what we've seen in afghanistan is an escalation of the air war is the escalation of commando strikes look american special operations conducted in six months two thousand raids on afghan homes and villages just in six months american commandos did that so there has been an uptick a big uptick in the american war in afghanistan now trump sensib

what would victory in afghanistan look like? and bring stability to afghanistan. that stability would then enable pressure to be kept on the terrorist groups so that no terrorist attacks emanate from this region. but we know, from working alongside these brave afghan soldiers, for all these years, that they are ready to keep pressure on those terrorists but it is a reconciliation that brings us to that point. so victory could mean a government including the taliban? this has to be an afghan solution. we in the international community are here to help the afghans and to prevent terrorist attacks emanating from the region. so, yes, whatever path the afghans take... now, president ghani laid out some of the conditions — respect for the constitution, for human rights, for women rights, in particular, a renouncement of violence and terrorism and so these elements have been laid on the table not as preconditions but as things that they'd be looking for. but the taliban haven't got back, they haven't answered president ghani. what woul

around the country. in afghanistan.'s new policy. which emanated from here. it is personal. to this conflict. should continue, why did you... from the region. groups and protect our homeland. to the peak? the difference today we have 320,000 afghans in uniform. troops, this was only for about 18 months. during that period we began to grow the afghan army to its present size. we drew down our troops sharply. taking the fight to the enemy. financial support. are protecting us. years, what are you doing now that will make a difference? the end state is reconciliation, this is what the afghans want. military pressure applied to the enemy. in the afghan military. the investment in the afghan army is already well under way. compound for commandos on the outskirts of kabul. troops to 211,000 in total. it is theirjob to take the fight to the taliban. of afghan troops, but they carry out 80% of offensive operations. the plans for the afghan air force are even more ambitious. the aim is that it will triple in size. take over from

afghanistan is landlocked.south-central asia but there's about 400 miles of pakistan between them and the sea. to get to afghanistan by land from the indian ocean they have to drive through pakistan and into afghanistan. he credibly logo expensive. for country the size of texas which if you've ever driven across texas was hot becomes a clichÉ. you can see why it was its own country for a while. they also have deserts like california mounts like colorado. as for bidding train in many ways. >> these are more things that make this mission incredibly difficult for the americans to be able to have their way there. the problem is to the east, the eastern borders called the durand line there was an trying to divide the tribes from themselves back in the 19th century. actually has worked to a degree and keeping factions apart and yet it also goes to show that there's this incredible kinship with this country next door and much like in the vietnam war when they had safe havens the afghan taliban has long had safe haven

all the generals in the situation room about this suggestions as to what to do with afghanistan this year does that ring true is a little drum saying we need to make money like the chinese out of afghanistan we shouldn't be in regime building or training or whatever it is if you're someone like donald trump who you know always say about him he is an intelligent person he has accomplished a lot look he beat seventeen people in the republican primaries he built be hillary clinton he does have a brain in his head as if i mean we shouldn't underestimate him and if you're explain for the first time what's happening in afghanistan any reasonable sensible person is going to say this is insane get out so i do think that wolf comment rings true however what we've seen in afghanistan is an escalation of the air war is the escalation of commando strikes look american special operations conducted in six months two thousand raids on afghan homes and villages just in six months american commandos did that so there has been an uptick a big uptick in the american war in afghanistan now trump sensibl

all the generals in the situation room about this suggestions as to what to do with afghanistan this year does that ring true is donald trump saying we need to make money like the chinese out of afghanistan we shouldn't be in regime building or training or whatever it is if you're someone like donald trump who you know always say about him he is an intelligent person he has accomplished a lot look he beat seventeen people in the republican primaries he built be hillary clinton he does have a brain in his head as if i mean we shouldn't underestimate him and if you're explained for the first time what's happening in afghanistan any reasonable sensible person is going to say this is insane get out so i do think that wolf comment rings true however what we've seen in afghanistan is an escalation of the air war is the escalation of commando strikes look american special operations conducted in six months two thousand raids on afghan homes and villages just in six months american commandos did that so there has been an uptick a big uptick in the american war in afghanistan now trump sensib

elections next year there for fighting against terrorism in afghanistan and around afghanistan. we have discussed many regional keyes and how numerous original players see the situation in afghanistan, and how the u.s. and russia could be engaged in contributing to the stability of this country in the future. this panel, which will take place here, will be devoted mostly to the issues of evolving terrorist trends. we also discussed within the framework of our project, and believe me, that was a very interesting discussion. this is -- this group works currently in a closed regime. we do not publish much, but we are planning to issue a threat assessment report on terrorism in afghanistan at the beginning of the next year. with these words i would like to thank csis for hosting this of that here and giving an opportunity to broaden the discussion, and present some of our conclusions and views to the broad audience. thank you. >> ok. we will get started. why am going to do is ask each of these analysts -- panelists to give some brief introductory remarks, then we will talk amongst o

the afghanistan president has called them terrorists.ut today, in a bid for peace, he made an unprecedented offer. to talk to the group without preconditions. he also offered a slew of sweeteners, the removal of sanctions, and the possibility of the taliban forming its own legitimate political party. afghan civilians are desperate for peace. is this the way to achieve it? the taliban right now have the upper hand on the ground. they control large swaths of land. and they're consistently committing brazen acts of violence. just last month, a suicide bomber in central kabul killed 100 people. as president obama's defense secretary, chuck hagel is all too familiar with the challenges posed by afghanistan, and he joins me now, from washington. welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> so, obvious first question, what do you make of president of afghanistan's offer off to the taliban? >> it's truly the only wise course of action that the president could take. if you look at the -- dynamics and the realities that, that face afghanistan today an

all the generals in the situation room about this suggestions as to what to do with afghanistan this year does that ring true is donald trump saying we need to make money like the chinese out of afghanistan we should be in regime building or training or whatever it is if you're someone like donald trump who you know always say about him he is an intelligent person he has accomplished a lot look he beat seventeen people in the republican primaries he built be hillary clinton he does have a brain in his head as i mean we shouldn't underestimate him and if you're explained for the first time what's happening in afghanistan any reasonable sensible person is going to say this is insane get out so i do think that was common rings true however what we've seen in afghanistan is an escalation of the air war is the escalation of commando strikes look american special operations conducted in six months two thousand raids on afghan homes and villages just in six months american commandos did that so there has been an uptick a big uptick in the american war in afghanistan now trump sensibly may h

military helicopters being used by islamists in afghanistan would that ring true i don't believe that america that we americans would be so stupid as to actively use our helicopter say to ferry islamic state fighters however the fact that we did things to try and manage to try and pick winners and losers to try and be smart and certainly know in syria that whereas american money may not have been gone directly to hide as nusra front or to the islamic state in syria or certainly saudi turkey is qatari money was going we are aware of this we have good faith with the united states as we we do not but we. have we have the reports from the defense intelligence agency the american defense intelligence agency that warn of this that warned of the backing of these islamist groups these backing of these extremist groups in syria we were managing and funneling money to win logistics and supporting the islamic state and al-qaeda in syria and we believe that the imaginary line that existed that boundary between syria and iraq would keep them out of iraq so in syria we're trying to use the islamic

johnny mercer served three tours in afghanistan.e entered politics to make a difference on issues he cared about, defence, veteran's welfare, and mental health. but in a britain preoccupied with brexit, is anyone listening? johnny mercer, welcome to hardtalk. thanks. it was quite a leap that you made four or so years ago, when you left the british army and decided that you would enter politics. has that transition been harder or actually easier than you thought it would be? well, i didn't actually have any preconceptions around going into politics because i knew nothing about it. i'd never voted, been to westminster... never voted? never voted, and i know that's not a great thing to have done. but when you're going through the process of war fighting, you will go anyway, whoever the government is. one reason or another, you feel disconnected from that, and i never got around to voting, i never had an interest in politics. so i didn't have any preconceptions about what it would be like. aspects of it have certainly been difficult, so

diplomacy and development and to throw in a fact about afghanistan. i heard her in the last year say the one most effective thing she had seen in afghanistan was the project ar tm is project sponsored by barrett and thunderbird. >> so the person asking that question is a former high-ranking id official we are in a time where it is not so -- it is hard to pull apart. you can't have security without economic activity, and you can't have economic activity without security. how do you all of these things at the same time? especially facing the adversaries we are in syria, iraq and afghanistan. i think, again, we need to develop a more sophisticated way as a country to answer that question and to make those investments. we're headed in the opposite direction right now. you find as a former career civilian and an appointee, alarming. i agree with your question. >> i think from a perspective from somebody who works at the center of peace. the institute grapples with the two d's as essential to the mission. one of the challenges beyond the pullback that we se

--to keep isis in check in afghanistan and the russians over blow the presence of isis in afghanistan. it is an helpful for the region, unhelpful for the government of afghanistan and unhelpful for the alliance. part of the problem is of the confluence of opium production and external support by regional actors and that is the fat part of the problem in helmand and the thing we need to address. as far as advise we need to give there, it istime going to require a long-term commitment to get the afghan forces where they need to be. we need to reduce the taliban's capability and increase the afghan capability and be committed to the long term. we need to do something affordable for our country and affordable for the alliance and other donors. earlier, the intersection between threat, capability and affordability -- we need to figure that out and find out what that investment needs to be in both resources and forces and stay with it until we achieve a level of success. >> i want to thank everyone on the team who helped set this up. ason't think i have learned much in 60 minutes in this au

suicide bomber strikes in kabul german lawmakers decide whether to send three hundred more troops to afghanistan. i'm sumi so much donna thank you for joining us we made mistakes that's what facebook boss mark zuckerberg has said in response to the data scandal involving his company and the data mining firm cambridge analytical in a statement on his facebook profiles eichelberger apologized and promised users a new feature to turn off third party apps apps which cambridge analytical allegedly used to harvest private information. it began with an endless and passion allergy quiz and ended up with the data of fifty million facebook profiles being used to sway elections now the question is why did facebook allow academic research to end up in the hands of political consultants paid to when the knife edge us election the scientists behind the craze says he is a scapegoat. you know what their interest was no i mean that's the thing i was pretty heavily siloed as far as anything as far as funder or clients i found out about donald trump just like everybody else or to give people more options than just

each of the subjects speaks of the future of afghanistan.he future of fake news and sharon will speak about the future security landscape. >> thank you, everybody, for coming, and thank you to asu for making the future of war initiative helpful. i want to pick up on something that general schmidle said. necessarily mean anything other that general schmidle said. he said -- said we attach-- the words themselves don't than how we interpret them ourselves. and to just look to kind of drill down, object future of jihadi terrorism, we have a very interesting choice on the morning of 9/11, which is how to describe what just happened and i want you to think about an 9/11, which is how to describe what just happened and i want you to think about an experiment. instead of 3,000 people being killed, 17 peel were killed. it wasn't clear to al qaeda that the operation would work. now, why die pick the number 17? because after the number of people who were killed on the uss cole a week earlier and we didn't treat it as an act of war. both the clinton adm

mcmaster is a veteran of afghanistan who knows that territory quite well.an tove done what they try to create a home within the butonal security council there is still not a focus. a lot depends on whether the u.s. is willing to accept this opportunity that has opened up and really see it as an opportunity. , he is not out there saying that he would offer a cease-fire without talking to someone in washington. whether there is a formal approval is another story but i hardly inc. the cease-fire offer is coming out of the blue. he is not as erratic as his predecessor. the question is now, can we stand up a team that has the focus not onded to fixing afghanistan which unfortunately i think was one of the mistakes of the earlier group. were focused on whether pomegranates would be shipped out to afghanistan. it was a scattered approach. we need the u.s. to focus on what it would mean to make a deal. there are a couple of things we might need. one thing is not just an understanding of the regional processes because there is processes going on for a long time. thi

set up inwill afghanistan needs to be fixed. -- the electoral set up in afghanistan needs to be fixed. in afghanistan, it is progress. it is something to really take note of. or not the united states is really engaged on the election issue is unclear. i think there is a lot of hesitation, given the experience of 2014. from my perspective and a lot of other close watchers, the electoral process is something that the united states needs to be engaged in, needs to monitor. that will determine the stability of government. then there is this last piece that speaks to the first two. last piece is the focus of my research. it has to do with the imminent opening of a formal investigation by the criminal court into war crimes in afghanistan. there has been a lot of death, killing and inner juries -- injuries in afghanistan over the 30 years. they determined to move forward with this investigating -- with investigating war crimes on all sides. in bosnia,situation there is a distinct tact this specific request by the prosecutor. it is looking at potential war crimes by the taliban and afghan for

waste and abuse in afghanistan. they can't get basic facts from the department, how are you measuring progress in afghanistan? please describe the instate, what the success look like to you, currently what is the amount of territory under the afghan government control? and help me understand how withholding information has made a difference in our operations in afghanistan. >> thank you, congressman. i'll take your last one here. we're aware of that yessiissue. some of that information is not u.s. government information it is information of the afghan government. so they control the release and control of that. so this is something we have to continue to work with -- >> general, if i could interrupt you. that's great to parlay that to the afghan government. we're the ones with the resources and the lives of our military there. we have to be able to get information from there to appease those of us who have to make decision ons what kind of investments we need to make in the area. >> thank you, congressman. i'm commi

ever really unde ground in afghanistan? >> well they fought a counterinsurgency war at the peak of u.s. militar there and there was kind of a fashioe bubble of doctrine around counterinsurgency theory that was applied to the afghan war after the perceived success in iraq in 2007, 2008. and you know hamid karzai warned the american generals who were arriving to carry out this unterinsurgency campaign that he didn't think it would work. he didn't think it was the right strategy. and he worried that all of this patrolling in villages and kicking down doorsas going to alienate the afghan people. but he really wasn't in a caposition to stop the ame led juggernaut at that point. and ultimately the ground but settled into a stalemate and the taliban held theira.round. the c.sed to produce every s,six months maybe still d these classified maps with different colors indicating which district the talib controlled which, which district the government controlled, which were contested and they had different sort of unfurlings of them at

general votel, i'm interested in your assessment of the afghanistan. in iraq and syria, the so-called physical caliphate previously enjoyed by isis a significant victory and i commend the administration and your leadership and your colleagues, too, for this u.s.-led international coalition and our iraq and syria partners on the ground have done so much. however, isis is not defeat and will remain a threat for the foreseeable future. additionally, the underlying issues that gave rise to isis in the first place remain unaddressed. we need strong leadership to bring about the necessary political accommodations that will give sunni communities a stake in their future and bring the international community together to assist communities recovering from isis. as some experts have stated, the seeds of the next insurgency are sown in mosul and raqqa. iraq alone the cost of reconstruction is expected to be $88 billion and the international community has pledged less than one-third of that amount. i'm deeply concerned that the administration's mod due lation of o

om the newshour bookshelf, america's secret wars in afghanistan and pakistan. a pulitzer prize winning cartoonist sketches the faces of homelessness, and much more. >> sreenivasan: the president's to impose stiff tariffs on aluminum and steel could lead to bigger trade battles in the months to come. this afterno, president trump said his actions would lead to new plants and more jobsec he cited botomic security and national security as the justification for doing so. mr. trump says those metals are crucial for building military weapons and aircraft, and there must be enough u.s. facilities can produce aluminum an steel domestically. but after pressure, the president has exempted canada and mexico f. and suggested flexibility for other countries as well. peter goodman covers global economics for the new york times and joins me from london via skype. so let's put this in perspective. mr. trump even on the campaign trail said this is about jobs and economic security, but now the reason includes national security as well. >> well, the national security claim is a d

we have long-sought a stable state in afghanistan. for more than 16 years, the united states has concentrated on eliminating terrorist threats while working closely with our allies and our workers to train, advise and assist afghan forces. this is despite significant progress. afghan forces are still in need of assistance. so where are we headed? although they're consuming, we must also remain alert to other regional security challenges. despite an agreement regarding the nuclear program, iran remains a designated sponsor of terrorism and is a stabilizing influence. we must deter iran from pacific heading in morning activities. it is increasingly involved in the region as well. certainly a complex set of issues, general. i would forward to your testimony. thank you very much for joining us. thank you mr. chairman. statementll written will be made part of the record. >> councilman davis, does they wish members of the committee, good morning and that he probably opportunity to appear today to discuss the current posture and state of rea

in a manner that keeps the pressure on isis but also sets us up to break the stalemate in afghanistan. we retain capability to continue our efforts against isis despite increasingly complex situation across syria and especially in the northwest province. our partners on the ground in syria have gotten us a long way in syria toward our objectives and we must think with them through the completion of this fight. iraqi security forces are rapidly securing gains and preparing to support elections later this spring. the second goal is to prioritize the implementation of the south asia strategy in afghanistan, reaffirming our commitment to afghanistan by reinforcing the to complement three military missions, a nato-led assist mission and the counterterrorism mission. with our support, the afghan national security forces are well postured to begin operations to seize the initiative to expand population control and secure credible elections. part and parcel to this effort is our regional approach to engage all countries with a stake in afghanistan stability. especially pakistan where we seek

dilbert oh rethink afghanistan dot com thanks very much the academy award winning film the hurt locker begins with this quote the rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction for war is a drug that's from chris hedges book war is a force that gives us meaning chris hosts our tease on contact he's an author princeton university professor and a long time foreign correspondent chris welcome thank you post nine eleven we were susceptible vulnerable to the war machine president eisenhower warned against the live t.v. show this turned into featured weapons technology shock and awe big explosions league greenwood was all over radio warbling that he's proud to be an american media suited up as m beds t.v. anchors were flag lapel pins you have written and spoken how in every war the press is part of the problem talk about that. well immediately signed on for the cause which is precisely what happened after nine eleven and any narrative that counters the official narrative. is essentially shut down or poor so far the margins that it's not heard even if that narrative is true so people f

for afghanistan, the equation is simple.world cup, they need to win all of their matches. although seeing chris gayle not have filled them with confidence, getting him out in the third over certainly did. from that point on, the afghanistan team and never looked back. their spinners tore through the west indies batting line, and then fielding was not bad too. jason holder held his side to a respectable total fought their 50 otis, but the target of 158 never looked like it would be enough. even though the afghans lost both their openers for single figure scores, they will always well on top of the run rate. a vital 68 bringing them within touching distance and despite a late wobble, sharafuddin ashraf hit the winning runs to keep afg hanistan‘s slim world hit the winning runs to keep afghanistan's slim world cup hopes alive. one down, two to go. in the day's other match in the super sixes, scotland beat the united arab emirates by 73 runs, to move to the top of the table — a point ahead of west indies. in the play—offs for th

if you want to work for women on human rights, and afghanistan is much more challenging. it's kind of putting your forehead in the stone every day. we fail to approve the law on violence against women in 2013. we still continue to struggle to make this law get approved by parliament, but it is not an easy thing to get something related to the woman approved by parliament, which not only, you know, elite and open-minded people, but people who have a different understanding of religion. and they try to impose their own understanding on woman. so it becomes very challenging when there is a different interpretation of religion and islam, especially. and they try to impose that on woman. that's why i think we have still a long way to go when it comes to laws related to the woman. >> yeah, so let me move on to mona, then. because regarding that sort of religious aspect, mona, you're sitting there in new york, but you are egyptian and you were raised for a long time in saudi arabia. so you've seen the whole gamut. and you, like many people, you were very active during the arab s

well without drugs the war in afghanistan would have been long over and that statement from a former afghan president really does highlight the link between opium cultivation and the taliban they are controls large territories in the south including helmand province which produces eighty percent of afghanistan's opium taxes providing security to its producers and smugglers are a big source of money for the taliban opium production went up by eighty seven percent to an estimated nine thousand tonnes and twenty sixteen as the taliban widened its presence in the country well the un office on drugs and crime is strengthening the fifty percent of that opium used to make heroin is smuggled out of the country and is tiny but the reports from kabul conflict and unemployment are driving a record number of people to drugs. in afghanistan there is a level below rock bottom it's where these lifeless expressionist drug addicts exist men who lost dignity a long time ago they've been rounded up and herded into one of the country's biggest drug rehabilitation units in kabul. these are the other vict

in afghanistan. during his first tour in afghanistan, from 2004 to 2005, first sergeant mckenna was awarded the bronze star with valor for his tremendous courage under fierce enemy fire during a mission that resulted in the death of a senior taliban official. he would then go on to earn 18 military awards, including the defense meritorious service medal, the purple heart, the army commendation medal and the army achievement medal. first sergeant meck condition -- mckenna is remembered for his intense work ethic, strong attention to detail, commitment to excellence, quick sense of humor, and infectious smile. to this day former team leaders and fellow service members praise his motivation, leadership and ability to bring out the best in the people around him. of the countless stories i could tell that exemplify these values in sergeant mckenna, there is one that stands out. in 2011 master sergeant crist corbin was forced to undergo a double amputation on both legs after stepping on a hidden i.e.d. in

you can only supply water if you have it and because of the melting glaciers afghanistan has just over thirty years to come up with a solution to his predicted water loss before nature turns off the tap tony berkeley al-jazeera kabul now a career in professional sport is seen by young people in south sudan as a way to a better life but would be stars still have a number of hurdles to overcome a civil morgan reports from juba. david is aiming high he's not part of south sudan's national basketball team but would love to be which is why he's practicing three times a week with dozens of other young players. my dream is to be chosen for a scholarship outside south sudan so i can be internationally recognized and get well paid for playing that way i can support my family and maybe eventually take them out of south sudan to the fifteen year old is one of more than three hundred teenagers who come for training with the hopes of being chosen for an international scholarship but more than four years of war in south sudan has damaged sports development and many other parts of society there are l

justin rowlatt, bbc news, afghanistan.centre. thank you very much. good evening. it is being called one of the darkest days for australian cricket after a player was caught blatantly cheating in a test match today, encouraged by his captain. cameron ba ncroft encouraged by his captain. cameron bancroft was seen using a piece of tape to rob the poor in the third test against south africa in cape town. he then hid it in his trousers before being questioned by the umpires. captain steve smith, who led australia to their ashes win against england a few months ago, confessed to being part of the plan. ba ncroft confessed to being part of the plan. bancroft has been charged with ball tampering. i saw an opportunity to potentially use some tape, get some granules from the rough patches on the wicket and try to, i guess, change the ball condition. we spoke about it at lunch, and i'm not proud of what happened, you know, it's not within the spirit of the game, my integrity, the team's integrity, the leadership group's integrity has

opium production in afghanistan has been on the rise since the u.s. invasion in two thousand and one last year nine thousand tons were produced an increase of eighty seven percent tourney berthier falls from kabul where record numbers of people are turning to drugs and desperation. in afghanistan there is a level below rock bottom it's where these lifeless expressionist drug addicts exist men who lost dignity a long time ago they've been rounded up and herded into one of the country's biggest drug rehabilitation units in kabul. these are the other victims of this never ending war collateral damage if you like people who have lost loved ones lost jobs lost hope and then numbers are growing in afghanistan every day the forty five day program of this former military warehouse complex is basic and caters for nine hundred patients the treatment consists mainly of keeping the addicts away from drugs but it can't keep them away from the desire most relapse when they leave not they're not that we need international hill we are struggling drug addiction is eve

wali karzai who was president harman cars half brother who was the biggest drug lord in southern afghanistan until he was murdered i mean these are the men that were benefiting from our occupation when i was part of it because they were well before i'm sure his brother would deny it is brothers being on this show former president karzai made it even more worrying even more worrying accusations about u.s. policy on this program he said he saw in july that there were helicopters u.s. military helicopters being used by islamists in afghanistan would that ring true i don't believe that america that we americans would be so stupid as to actively use our helicopter say to ferry islamic state fighters however the fact that we did things to try and manage to try and pick winners and losers to try and be smart and certainly know in syria that whereas american money may not have been gone directly to hide as nusra front or to the islamic state in syria or certainly saudi turkey