faces: andrew wilder is vice president of asia programs at the united states institute of peace. ahmed rashid is a long time journalist and the author of several books about afghanistan and central asia. gentlemen, we welcome you both to the program. ahmed rashid, i'm going to start with you. you wrote earlier this summary about the crisis the u.s. faces in afghanistan. you talked about the strengthening taliban, the dangerous role of iran and russia the political crisis in kabul. how bad is the situation there? >> i t there are multiple crises. much of the talk in the u.s. have been about troop levels and how many troops president trump should send. but there are other equally major problems. there are political cry siss now. the president has not a lot of legitimacy. there is enormous opposition against him from the parliament, from politicians, from warlords, and i don't mean the taliban. there's a huge economic crisis and no guarantee that the trump administration is going to come up with all the money that is going to be needed. then there's this regional interference by now

andrew wilder from the u.s. in the substitute for peace and nick schifrin, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: people gathered across the country for a historic event today, a total eclipse of the sun in a 70 mile- wide band, crossing from the pacific to the atlantic coasts. with special eyeglasses or homemade boxes, tens of millions looked to the sky to witness a sight not seen in most people's lifetimes. our science correspondent, miles o'brien, was in idaho to watch for us and in partnership with our colleagues from the pbs program, "nova." miles gets us started and then, he and william brangham discuss the day's celestial and earthly events. >> reporter: it is the first coast to coast american eclipse in a century. millions had front row seat for a celestial minuet of moon and sun. >> we got to charleston yesterday morning and came up because this was in our path and we could come and when you can, you should, so we came to see the eclipse because it's a once-in-a-lifetime deal. >> i'd never seen an e

andrew wilder, thank you for joining conflict. andrew wilder, thank you forjoining us. charged with terror attacks in spain which killed 15 people. one of the suspects told thejudge they were 15 people. one of the suspects told the judge they were planning a bigger attack. a british tourist has been praised for helping a child on las ramblas after last week's advice, ignoring advice to move to safety. president trump has changed policy and committed to sending more troops to afghanistan. the us secretary of state says washington will also focus on anti—corruption measures in the country. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn. thank you. they were world champions three years ago, now england's women are looking to book their place in a second consecutive rugby world cup final with victory over france tonight. their opponents offer the biggest test of their title credentials so far. emily scarratt has given the defending champions a small lead. new zealand await the winners in saturday's final after wing portia woodman ran in four tries