let's go straight to arwa damon. arwa reported extensively from and in afghanistan, she's in istanbul now. what happened here and certainly an indication of how the taliban intend to rule, which doesn't seem very different to the way they did before. >> reporter: and that's really at the core of a lot of the trepidation and the fear in afghanistan right now, robyn. on the one hand, the taliban are saying they are different. on the other hand, all of their actions on the ground appear to indicate that they are not. and the images most certainly do harken back to the era of their previous rule 20 years ago when things like public executions, hangings, chopping off the hands of thieves, the stoning of women were part of how they were governing. what happened in this particular case, well, these four bodies were hung in the city of herat after the kidnappers were killed in a shootout. and the deputy, the taliban deputy governor of herat gave a few more details. >> at around 12:45 local time, the kidnappers were confronted

. >> arwa damon has reported from afghanistan. arwa joins me now from istanbul. arwa, hi.inly that kind of attitude chilling for those who have been left behind who still remain. in afghanistan. >> it must certainly must be, robyn. one can't even begin to imagine, especially since right now we're also hearing all sorts of contradictory messages. remember, when the taliban first took over kabul, they were saying women would be allowed in education, they would have the right to work. now you're hearing from the police chief in mazar-e sharif saying that no, the laws are going to be exactly the same as they were 20 years ago where basically women did not enjoy any of those rights. neither did young girls, effectively denied an education, a future and any ability to be productive members of society, denied the right to basically dream of bettering themselves, bettering their country. and, you know, at the same time, if one were to be in afghanistan right now, the other reality is that you can't get out. afghans are effectively trapped in afghanistan at this stage. those who ma

cnn's arwa damon is following developments from turkey. and what he's likely to be asked. >> quite a few of them, fredericka, will be watched with what i assume is going to be a great level of interest, not just in the united states but around the world. among those key topics are calls that are said to have taken place between general milley and the chinese leadership, including the chinese president which included assurances that general milley had given them over the fact that, you know, the trump administration would not be launching some sort of an aggressive attack on china and reportedly if that were to take place that china would somehow be warned. there will be a lot of questions as to what kind of context those conversations took place in, and also what kind of pledges and assurances were actually made. when it comes to the issue of that nuclear button and trump's potential and the great concerns that were circulating at the time of his administration, that he could potentially go rogue in its use, general milley reportedly asked

. >>> and arwa damon is joining us from istanbul.hat police chief who spoke of nothing changing, he doesn't represent the taliban government but he can imagine that he represents the views largely held by many now in positions of power across the country and then the experience of those journalists as we saw seems to be more evidence of this. >> reporter: and also, kim, you have the experience of some of those women and others who have been going out in small scale demonstrations but also in many instances being met with force, being beaten while they are out there trying to either demonstrate for their rights or for pakistan to cease its involvement among taliban and other things. and you also have contradictory messages coming from the taliban confusing and probably also quite frightening for the vast majority of the population. remember they said that women would be allowed to work, that they would be allowed to go to school. now you have the police chief in mazar-i-sharif saying we'll be ruling the same way we did 20 years ago wh

so let's bring in cnn's arwa damon. she joins us live from istanbul. restrictions the taliban are implementing? >> reporter: well, we are hearing about them being implemented in herat, and quite possibly in some other areas, as well. these are specific to men. men are not to cut their beards, and any barber who is caught cutting a man's beard or playing music will be punished. and the great concern, of course, among many afghans is that they are seeing this implementation of the taliban of old, despite all of the rhetoric about how the taliban may have changed. these are very much the rules, regulations, ways of behaving of the taliban of 20 years ago. there is also great concerns about the potential disconnect that exists between elements of the taliban that are more on the political sphere of things, versus those that are actually the foot soldiers and controlling things on the ground. and, of course, today, afghanistan is meant to be addressing the united nations general assembly. is that going to happen? we don't know, yet, because the taliban did w

. >>> let's talk more about this with arwa damon, following the story for us from turkey, hi, arwa, afghans certainly felt abandoned by the u.s. before this, and what impact does this admission now have? >> reporter: i would be quite surprised to find out that it is necessarily, that it has necessarily had that much of an impact. what afghanistan is going through right now is tragedy being compounded by tragedy, and hardly the first time that the u.s. ended up killing civilians in a drone strike that america claims was intended for some sort of a terrorist target. this is something that afghans sadly have had to deal with, have not been able to fight against, for the better part of the last 20 years. no matter what the security situation in the country was. but to have this sort of a strike killing innocent civilians, killing children, just as the u.s. was evacuating its own from kabul airport, i mean that has just got to be a bitter feeling, but what's been quite striking, that while we've been here, we have been talking to a number of afghans and we've been asking them if they're angry at

. >> our senior-international correspondent, arwa damon, has reported from afghanistan. ow, live, from istanbul. arwa, that -- that police commander saying the law will basically be the same as 20 years ago does not go over well for the afghan people. it certainly doesn't suggest a more tolerant version of the taliban, does it? >> no, michael, it doesn't. and in fact, it's probably many afghans' worst fears being realized at this moment, especially if you are, you know, a young woman who is currently trying to complete her education. wanting to build a future for herself inside her own country. not to mention, you know, the impact that this could potentially have on young girls having access to an education, at all. and this has been one of the many issues over the last few weeks is that it does really seem as if the taliban does not yet have a coherent set of rules or even of messaging. statements that they are putting out there. because you can hear from one taliban spokesperson that, you know, women and girls will be allowed to go to school. albeit, under a different s

arwa damon is following the stories, in istanbul and certainly 20 years on, it is becoming full circle, afghanistan remaining a focus 20 years ago as it is today. >> reporter: coming full circle, robin, in the worst imaginable way possible. in fact, many afghans are still struggling to come to terms with the reality that the taliban is back in power. certain freedoms that they enjoyed over the last 20 years have just been ripped away from them, along with so many hopes and dreams for their own future. and this is something that defies logic to a certain degree. that on the very same day that those towers came down, around the same time, that america declared its war on terror, it went to war in afghanistan, now the very entity that it went to war against is the one that controls afghanistan. and the great concern is has america, has the west really learned from the lessons of the past? and how is america and the west going to navigate this new reality forward, which of their morals are they going to be willing to compromise to ensure that afghanistan remains stable enough? and not stab

. >>> cnn international correspondent arwa damon has reported from afghanistan and joins us now live from kabul. arwa the experience of those journalists as we just saw there seems to be more evidence of what that taliban police chief says explicitly that when it comes to enforcing their vurersn of the law, nothing has changed in 20 years. >> and all of this came as quite contradictory if we go back to what the taliban spokesperson was saying after they had initially taken over kabul. saying that girls and women would be allowed to go to school. that journalists would be allowed to work within the framework. which then, of course, led to questions about exactly which framework are they referring to given it is a very widely open to different forms of interpretation with the taliban choosing to interpret and implement it in the strictest way possible. keeping in mind, though, that even a taliban that is perhaps slightly more lenient than it was 20 years ago, still would be today one of the, if not the most oppressive of governments when it comes to girls and women's rights and also fre

arwa damon, thanks very much. good seeing jew now five palestinians are dead after raided by israeli troops. they are targeting hamas. the palestinian officials are condemning the race. we're joined live from jerusalem. what more can you tell us about these raids? >> reporter: well, isa, they say it was part of a major operation that was days long. it took place on saturday night. the idea saying they were targeting hamas that were imminently targeting them at five shootouts, five palestinians were killed. the youngest killed was a 16-year-old from janine. two israeli soldiers were critically wounded. israel has long had concerns that hamas is gaining a foothold in the west bank which is controlled by the palestinian authority. the palestinian authority is becoming more and more unpopular. a recent poll out from the palestinian center on policy and research found 78% of those polled want the palestinian authority mahmoud abuse to resign. they said in a statement they are calling on the masses of our palestinian pe

. >> now a senior national correspondent arwa damon has reported from afghanistan. she joins me live from istanbul. what we just heard that police commander say doesn't bode well for the afghan people, doesn't suggest a more tolerant version of the taliban. and also what leverage would the international community have to influence how the taliban rules? >> reporter: no, michael, i can only imagine being in afghanistan having enjoyed the relative freedoms of the last 20 years and then all of a sudden hearing these kinds of proclamations coming from elements within the taliban leadership, also proclamations that do seem to be in c contradiction to previous statements the taliban has made as well. also worth noting when the taliban refers to the word of allah or sharia law let's also remind everybody that sharia law is widely interpreted in many different incarnations. and we see how it manifested itself in a number of different countries, muslim countries across the globe. and the taliban's interpretation of sharia law is among the most extreme. that being said when i

. >>> arwa damon is joining us live from istanbul. the situation is dire across afghanistan.hat is the latest on what afghans are dealing with at this time? >> reporter: it is absolutely heartbreaking, rosemary. they are dealing with an inability to access their money and that is if they had that much money or funds to begin with, keeping in mind that around 76% of the population before all of this, before the taliban takeover of kabul was already living below the poverty line. they are dealing with hunger, they are dealing with an inability to access proper health care, basic medical care, essential services. when we talk about the economic collapse of afghanistan, we're also talking about the collapse of certain infrastructures or certain processes, logistical processes that were in place to try to get humanitarian aid where it needs to go. again, already an enormous challenge prior to the taliban's takeover and one that is going to prove to be even more difficult. getting that humanitarian aid where it needs to go. a number of international organizations are warning about

. >> or with arwa damon joins us . sound of that afghan police commander saying basically, they'll stick with how things were 20 years ago. that is exactly why so many afghans fled in such desperation, because they feared this kind of attitude would endure and be cemented again. >> that's right, robyn, and israel also why so many afghans still want to flee. those who did manage to get out, get on one of those planes, or get out before the taliban took over are to be considered sadly among the lucky ones, because the vast majority of the population is currently trapped inside afghanistan, and the conversation on a global level is not about how to help afghans reach a country where they can actually live with freedom, democracy, pursue a future, especially for women and girls, but the conversation, if you listen to the rhetoric coming to the west from leaders there is more about how to keep afghans trapped inside afghanistan so that these countries in the west don't have to deal with another refugee crisis. those words m