in a lavish ceremony, ashra ashrav ghani took office on monday.e appointed his rival, abdullah abdullah as chief executive. >> position similar to prime minister. in this bumpy road to a unity government made just the beginning of ghani's challenges according to experts. it is plagued by budget shortfalls, national security offices issues. the list goes on and on. security did seem to be at the top of ghani's prior ity list t keep thousands of american troops in the country beyond 2014. the move hinted at edesing tensions between kabul and washington since its predecessor refused to sign the bilateral security agreement. some what will it take to change the country's tragic narrative to one of economic, social and political access. what role thereafter ganingz including why i am and young people play in the country's future. joining us is executive of direct programs. michael hanlon ex director of research. and from lahor pakistan, a journalist and author much several foreign policies books including "decent into chaos" thanks to all of you for be

for example, the fact that the first lady was there when ghani was running. was there during his inauguration speech, and he mentioned her in the speech and thanked her for supporting him, i think give many women a chance to think maybe this new government will be different in the way it treats women. of course i'm wary, because this has happened before. we remember [ inaudible ] and the way he was so supportive of women's rights, and his wife was given monarchy. and that didn't go so well. there was a lot of backlash. so i think this government will have a very hard time addressing those things, ensuring women's rights and also talking to taliban and inner is againsy who are not in support of women's rights. and women's security must be on the forefront. women's security especially. we have lost so many female activists. we have lost female musicians, female filmmakers -- >> lots of bloggers like yourself. >> exactly. >> talk a little bit -- and we're almost out of time -- talk about how the blog-sphere has been so important for women. >> yeah, i think it ha

he was speaking after meeting president ashraf ghani in kabul. mr.ameron is the first world leader to hold talks with the newly inaugurated president and he said afghanistan's been transformed in recent years. >> together we've made afghanistan safer and we've made britain safer. of course, the new government of national unity faces many challenges ahead. but president ghani and chief executive abdullah have already shown the leadership that will be necessary to build a better afghanistan, and in britain, you will always have a strong partner and a good friend. >> as for ashraf ghani, he thanked britain for its support, but added the two countries were facing common global threats. >> your presence here has meant that london has been safe. as well as the rest of the world. we face joint threats. they cannot be for just europe or for just america. we live in an integrated world, where global forces, both for good and for evil, coexist. >> so, as britain prepares to end its combat operations in afghanistan, what about the future for the two countries?

ghani was sworn in on monday. he and his main rival abdullah abdullah both expressed support for the deal during the election campaign. abdullah took the post of chief executive in ghani's new government, after agreeing to a power sharing deal that ended months of turmoil over the disputed election result. white house counselor attended ghani's swearing-in ceremony. at a news conference on monday he was positive about the agreement. >> the united states looks forward to supporting the unity government and the afghan people. toward that end, we very much look forward to tomorrow's signing of the bilateral security agreement with afghanistan, an important step in strengthening the strategic partnership between our two countries. >> former president hamid karzai refused to sign the deal, souring his ties with the u.s. he made no secret of his distrust of the u.s. government during his fair well speech last week. >> translator: we want to have strategic relations with america. but america should follow the path of hon

ghani took office in september after an election standoff that carried on for months. he is seeking to rebuild the war-torn country. afghanistan has been launched in an internal struggle ever since a u.s.-led multinational force toppled the taliban regime in 2001. the united states, european countries and japan have been at the forefront of extending assistance. the majority of u.s. and other forces are scheduled to pull out of the country by the end of december. a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson says ghani's four-day tour will begin next tuesday. she says china attaches great importance to his visit. >>> observers say afghan officials are worried the international community will become less safe after the military withdrawal. chinese officials seem ready to take on a bigger role in helping rebuild afghanistan. it's thought they view improved ties with afghan officials as a way to help stem domestic terrorism. the demonstrations have brought things to a standstill and now they've been removing barricades that are blocking major roads in the central shopping distr

has a real and reliable ally in ashraf ghani as opposed to hamid karzai? >> i think that both ashraf ghani and his chief executive, abdullah abdullah, supported this agreement, and both of them have been quite consistent in their views. so i think that they will represent the interests of afghanistan, which are not always the same as the interests of the united states. but they will be easier and more reliable to deal with. >> and i suppose looming question for a lot of people as we watch what goes in iraq is what lessons have or should u.s. officials learn from that when they look at our afghan policy now and develop that? >> i think one lesson they should learn is not to compare iraq and afghanistan because in the past falsely the bush administration drew the conclusion from the rather rapid collapse of the taliban in afghanistan that they could have a similarly easy victory in iraq, and that was totally wrong. iraq is a middle-income country with oil revenue. afghanistan is an extremely poor country. i think of course the jumble lesson that you should t

on the front line, how the fight against isil is deeping ethnic divisions in northern iraq, afghan ghanis forging economic ties and why the u.s. media is being accused of whipping up hysteria over the ebola outbreak. ♪ representatives from 40 nations in berlin to discuss what aid agencies are calling the worst humanitarian disaster in modern times and left the country to escape the fighting there and millions more have been displaced inside syria and there has been a huge influx of people into turkey and the u.n. believes nearly 200,000 escaped the siege by isil at the border town of kobani and for one month the town has been scene of intense fighting between isil and kurdish fighters and we are joined at the turkey/syrian border and we will get to the situation in a minute but an is the latest on fighting in kobani today? >> reporter: elizabeth we are told it was relatively quiet overnight but the fighting picked up again this morning. there was a large explosion, we were told, was a car bomb earlier on this morning followed by sounds of gunfire and the last half an hour or so there hav

and ash raf ghani outlined some meetings he had here and knows he needs to build the trust or rebuild trust of the afghan people and bring about reforms he promised here and met with business leaders and met with security leaders to try and get his two biggest problems under control, the economy and security. he knows that the challenges ahead will be great but he knows, he says the rewards are worth all the work that it's going to take. >> hong kong's chief executive says he is not going to step down and he is offering to start negotiations with protesters. these are pictures coming to us right now from hong kong just across the harbor in hong kong where there have been skirmishes between the people against them and people are angry at the chief executive of hong kong for backing china's decision to only along beijing approved candidates to run in elections and the next ones are in 2017 and they crowded the streets of central hong kong, numbers have been shrinking and fewer people on the streets and now we get pictures of skirmishes in hong kong between protesters that support the pr

ghani there co-hosting a conference in london soon and here discussing the way forward. we'll continue to listen in and bring you developments from this press conference as they become available. there are many other things happening in the world. we'll bring you the world's biggest stories, newest information after this short break. stay with us. [light instrumental music] ♪ female announcer: recycle your old fridge and get $50. schedule your free pickup at: >>> welcome back. the latest information on the global fight against isis. australia's prime minister has given the go ahead for australian fighter jets to begin strikes in iraq. tony abbott announced his government will send 200 forces there and told reporters that australia is involved in combat operations against an insurgency and in support of what he calls legitimate government of iraq. >>> also, turkish lawmakers voted to have military action against isis in iraq and syria. parliament's decision is really a big shift for turkey which until now had offered only tacit support to the u.s.-led coalition of what is

. >> ashraf ghani said what a good partner britain has been since 2001 here in afghanistan. and david cameron said that there's one british base left in afghanistan. next morning all british combat portions will leave. and he outlined some of the accomplishments that brit has made here. >> this is an unstable world. but continued engagement by britain and the rest of the international community, we can make sure that it doesn't become again the haven for terrorism, which is why we came here in the first place. >> britain will continue to have 74 officers here at the academy, helping to train the future officers, and he said that he's confident that afghanistan will be able to stand on its own in part because of the training. >> the security officers need to be supported until they can become self-sustaining, and the officer academy, which is something that they specifically asked britain to do, and we're proud to do, and we're glad that it's up and running. but they will be part of a mission, a trade mission, and support in helping afghanistan with its development. >> it's o

ghani took office in september after an election standoff that carried on for months. china and afghan's remote far northeast share a border. leaders in beijing have a keen interest in afghanistan's mineral resources. afghanistan has deposits estimated to be worth over $1 trillion. china's state-run firms have already secured major oil and copper concessions in afghanistan. but security in afghanistan remains a huge obstacle. most of the international forces stationed in the country will leave and hand over control to local forces by the end of this year. observers say china aims to use its ties with afghanistan to prevent the spread of terrorism on its side of the border. they hope china can extend its influence in afghanistan after u.s. and european troops withdraw. >>> in china, military prosecutors are preparing to indict a former general on bribery charges. he has admitted to taking huge bribes. he was expelled in june for disciplinary violations, and formally the second highest ranking official in the people's liberation army. he was also a vice chairman of the c

so not good news that peace talks that ashraf ghani is hoping for could happen at any point in time.hese attacks by the taliban in kabul - not only the two suicide attacks today, but one carried out as the president was inaugurated, a challenge it the afghani president, ashraf ghani, as he works to deal with the security changes and to get the economy on its feet. afghanistan's new government has a lot of changes in its first days in power. >>> protesters in hong kong are threatening to expand their campaign for full democracy as china celebrates national day. these are live pictures of civic square, the main protest. activists promise wednesday's rallies will be the biggest - tens of thousands taking to the streets in the past three days. hong kong's chief executive has rejected calls to step down, saying beijing will not give in to protestors demands. we have two correspondents covering the story from both camps. we'll speak to a pro-beijing demonstration, but first, the camp calling for electoral reform, what is it going to be? >> they certainly are. they keep demanding and reiter

ashraf ghani, the new president, was sworn in on monday. he called for peace talks with the taliban, the taliban told al jazeera, that the signing of security agreements means there'll be no peace talks soon. they will not talk to the new government. they called them a puppet of the west for signing the agreements. so not good news that peace talks that ashraf ghani is hoping for could happen at any point in time. these attacks by the taliban here in kaboul, a clear challene to afghanistan's new president ashraf ghani, as he works not only to deal with the security challenges that his government will face, but to try to get the economy back on its feet after months of political stalemate. afghanistan's new government has a lot of changes in its first days in power. >>> in ukraine, witnesses say they have found six bodies on the street not far from the school hit by shells. four other people were killed in a school playground. it included a teacher and a parent. but no children appear to have been hurt. donetsk has seen heavy fighters betwee

that's a security agreement between the new afghan government of ashraf ghani, and the united states and n.a.t.o., that will allow international forces to remain in afghanistan, past the end of 2014, until the end of 2016. the taliban says the signing of that agreement rules out any sign of peace talks with the new government, and they will target international and afghan security forces because of the signing of this agreement. we certainly have seen an escalation of attacks here in the afghan capital - six since the inauguration on monday, killing 17, and the attack down south on the kandahar, helmand highway, killing five police men. >> and the president, ashraf ghani, what is he planning to do about this, and how is he planning to improve the afghan security forces. >> wednesday, ashraf ghani met with the interior minister and security advisors, asking them for a new strategy for how to protect the capital and wanted to see a strategy on his desk today. he had a video conference, earlier this week, a busy first week. he recognises the security as one of his biggest challenges, an

president ghani making beijing his first official overseas visit.t's also a recognition of china's importance to the afghan economy. ghani has brought with him, a large delegation of business people. they have been signing deals. expected to sign more deals in the coming days. many agreements are looking at restarting the mining sector. afghanistan of course has large mineral deposits which are eyed eaglely by china. but china also looks to afghanistan has an important strategic partner in the years to come, but a partner that has potentially very serious internal security problems as jennifer glasse now reports. >> reporter: china is afghanistan's biggest business investor, thanks to a $3 billion deal to the rights to this copper rich area. but there are no chinese minors here. the roads and railways haven't been started. security concerns are stalled the project. in china the afghan president is hoping to revive this deal and china's interest in its minerals. this is a businessman who says the minerals mean the two countries need each other. china

we'll see how the power brokers react, ashraf ghani was not the outright victor.e and abdalla abdalla have received a compromise. we'll see how that exroms -- >> do you see if -- obviously there's a residual force that's going to be there for a certain period of time until 2015 unless someone else decides otherwise at that point. but i mean, does the u.s. need to have boots on the ground in order to make this change happen? >> well, at this point you know, there's no change. there's appetite in the u.s. government to go back in -- >> it's not going to happen? >> it's not going to happen. but what we do need to do is not take our eye off the ball. what happened to afghanistan after the russians left, look what happened. the sustained commitment to supporting the afghan security forces, as a deterrent for taliban or other terrorist groups coming into the country over the past 13 years. >> ashley jackson, thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. >>> coming up eight days to the mid terms and close race, and a big political victory for a secular party in the birth p

ghani outlined some of the meetings he has had here.knows he had to rebuild the trust of the afghan people and bring about reforms he has promised more. he says he has met with business leaders and security leaders to try to get his two biggest problems under control, the economy and security. he knows the challenges ahead will be great, but he knows, he said, the rewards are worth all of the work it is going to take. >>> two brothers of the leading group of the taliban are set to be released from prison. it's a new agreement between afghanistan, pakistan, and the taliban. his brothers were arrested six months ago in pakistan. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: first of all, the two brothers that you mentioned the elder brother [ inaudible ], and [ inaudible ], the younger brother, were arrested from their home about six months ago, and after that, there were no reports about their whereabouts. however, there are reports that they will now be released now. the elder is said to have been running a business where [ inaudible ] was ru

. >> ghani and abdullah are sharing power after months of wrangling over the presidential election. he said his country needs more international assistance to fill a range of objectives from bolstering anti-terrorism measures to tackling poverty. >> we in afghanistan are suffering from the ugly side of globalization. whether it's drugs or whether it's criminal networks or whether it's extremists. >> most british troops will pull out by the year end when the coalition combat mission ends. then the international force's roll will shift to training and supporting the fragile afghan security forces. >>> they've referred him to prosecutors because they suspect he ran the hospital without a permit. nine babies and toddlers were found in an apartment outside of bangkok. it was onlied by a japanese man who fathered 16 babies using surrogate mothers. they say a thai dr. performed invitro without a permit. the doctor said he's licensed and claims he's treated patients properly. prosecutors will decide whether to indict him. the thai medical council's code bans doctors from helping people have

i think the immediate difference you saw when president ghani took over, he's owning the afghan securityd i think that will be a great difference in the psyche of the afghan security forces, when they know they have a president that will embrace them, and that is a little bit different than what you saw the last couple of years under president karzai. >> the general warned the war will not be over soon. >> the war will continue for a long time. you cannot get there with afghanistan isolated, just with afghanistan. so afghanistan is now an international issue. part of the problem, part of the solution. >> reporter: the security deals mean that training programs like this british-run officer's academy can go on. as afghan forces lead the fight with the taliban for themselves. >>> let's return to events in hong kong, where a feature of the pro-democracy demonstrations has been the use of social media as a communication tool. one app has become especially popular. it's called fire chat. our correspondent allie moore has been out and about to find out more. >> reporter: we all know what happe

. >>> finally decided, after months of political confusion, afghanistan recognizes asraf ghani as itsresident elect. >>> facing up, world leaders address pressing issues. we'll have a report in new york on the u.n. climate summit. >>> and murder in the home. social pressure in pakistan leads to the killing of women by their own families. we'll hear from an intended victim who survived. >>> thank for joining us. i'm minori takao. first the week's top stories from asia

it's signed by the new president, ashraf ghani. in the first week in power, he has held a video conference with senior army officers, who recognizes that security is one of the biggest challenges. afghans are watching the new president closely to see if he can stem the violence. they declared victory against invading forces but called for the attacking to continue. jennifer glasse, aljazeera, kabul. >> testing a patient in hawaii for the ebola virus. if confirmed, it will be america's second case. a man in dallas has tested positive. and as many as 80 people have had contact with him. and meanwhile, in liberia, one of the hardest-hit, 50,000 will be delivered. and a foreign minister told aljazeera nobody saw the crisis coming. one of the reasons that the virus spread so quickly, initially, cases were difficult to diagnoses. >>> the world health organization said that for the second week in a row, the reported cases have fallen, but its pointed out that cases are being underreported from several cases effected. and overall, there ar

let's hear from afghans about their hopes for the road ahead with allegation rav ghani and what the u.s. is banking on this time around. ♪

president ashraf ghani said doing so was in afghanistan's national interest. under the terms, 9,800 u.s. forces will remain in afghanistan after 2014. that's down from 38,000 at the beginning of this year. the vast majority will train and advise afghan army and police forces. a small contingent will carry out raids against taliban and al qaeda forces, and this deal will continue the flow of billions of dollars in u.s. reconstruction aid. now, scott, u.s. forces will operate with immunity from afghan law. that was a sticking point never resolved in iraq, and that impasse prompted president obama to withdraw all u.s. forces from iraq at the end of 2011. >> pelley: major, thanks. that withdrawal in 2011 left iraq's army to weaken and finally collapse this summer when isis extremists attacked. the u.s. launched more air strikes today against 11 isis targets in iraq and 11 more in syria. the idea is to support moderate local forces like the fighters clarissa ward met today. >> reporter: these are the men the u.s. is counting on to fight isis, members of the hazm br

as president ghani, chief executive officer of dalai have formed a unit government. we have seen in iraq where the maliki regime's pursuit of a sectarian agenda left the nation vulnerable to the poison of isis, that when leaders chose narrow political aims over the common good of their people they can do immense harm. the fact that the new afghan government's first official act included the signing of security agreements with the united states and nato, the reopening of an investigation of the kabul bank scandal gives the afghan people reason to hope that the nation's new leaders are more interested in building afghanistan's future than in pursuing a partisan or sectarian or corrupt agendas. the progress that we and our afghan allies have achieved in afghanistan has been built on adherence to a number of important principles. first, the value of broad international support for our military efforts. second, the value of training local forces, willing and able to defend their own people. third, the value of pressing for a unified, inclusive governance, the value of the

do you go to ghani? is the sequence? >> that's not unusual. by the way, that's true in many weces in the world where obviously deal with both. but the sequence is that they a president, and it's important that we obviously deal with both. both powerful figures. one was elected president. the fact of the matter. and i hope that both accept the sequence. both understand the necessity that both be very discussionsved in and hopefully agree. we have a sequence problem in this country in a sense too. i don't know if anyone looks at it that way, but we're not very good at compromising these days. i don't think we can lecture people with too much power about the importance of compromise. ground toave a lot of stand on in that. some -- you know, we ought to have a little humility. tost of all, we ought congratulate them on what they've done, because it is really extraordinary. refrain aly, i think, little bit from being too tof-righteous about the need work together. we could probably follow their of vicese days instead versa. >> it is a remarkable th

do you go to ghani? hat is the sequence? >> that's not unusual. by the way, that's true in many places in the world where we obviously deal with both. but the sequence is that they elected a president, and it's important that we obviously deal with both. they're both powerful figures. one was elected president. and that's the fact of the matter. and i hope that both accept the sequence. but i think both understand the necessity that both be very deeply involved in discussions and hopefully agree. we have a sequence problem in this country in a sense too. i don't know if anyone looks at it that way, but we're not very good at compromising these days. i don't think we can lecture people with too much power about the importance of compromise. we don't have a lot of ground to stand on in that. so it's with some -- you know, we ought to have a little humility. first of all, we ought to congratulate them on what they've done, because it is really extraordinary. but secondly, i think, refrain a little bit from being too self-righteous about the need to w

cameron pledged support for newly sworn in president ashraf ghani. cameron insisted there was no prospect of britain going back to fight in afghanistan. >>> now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist sheena parveen. >> a nice way to end the week. temperatures very comfortable outside. but we have seen our fair share of cloud cover today. it's all ahead of some rain. the rain won't be here until late tonight. if you really have the friday night plans, most of your night will be dry. we'll see rain moving in mainly after 11:00 p.m. the rain and possibly thunderstorm would be here saturday morning. we have a chance for a thunderstorm across the area but it will be here to start off your weekend, too. more cold air moving in as we go into sunday. so especially sunday morning, some areas behind the rain could be waking up to temperatures in the 30s. here's a live look outside right now. looking at the art museum, we have overcast conditions in philadelphia. the temperatures are still cool outside, too, especially north and west of philadelphia

david cameron gave a joint press conference with the new president ghani at the presidential palace ine also met british troops who are stationed there. >>> two brothers of leading member of the taliban have been released from prison in pakistan. it's said to be a sign of the new level of cooperation between afghanistan, pakistan, and the taliban. this man rose to international prominence when he became the main spokesman of the taliban in talks with the us. >>> catilan authorities say they plan to push ahead with a referendum on independence from spain. the government has tried to block the vote saying it is unconstitutional. the poll is planned for november. we are joined by the communications chief of the pro-independence group. you are planning to have the referendum on november 9th, are you prepared to go up against the constitutional court and the government in madrid? >> yes, we are planning to do it. and let the future of catalonia in the people's hands next november. >> but it won't be valid. if it's not decreed constitutional, then any result that you find won't be valid. >>

. >>> to football now, and ghani striker has claimed he was racially abused during the asian championssemifinal loss. he was sent off for a danger tackle. he claims that during the res t resulting melee he was subject to a racial slur. he eventually had to be dragged from the pitch. his team are expected to lodge a former complaint. but the first leg saw their saudi opponents progress 4-2. >>> [ inaudible ] will next play western sydney wanderers. shannon coal with a goal that sealed victory in the 64th minute. >>> [ inaudible ] coach has insisted he is to blame for his club's 3-2 defeat in the champions league. he said he handled the pressure better than his team in the match. he opened the scoring 10 minutes in. messi equalized ten minutes later. after the break they took advantage of barcelona's poor defending, making it 3-1. they did pull one back for the visitors, but it wasn't enough, as they slipped their first defeat of the season. >> translator: we did everything we could. we tried to attack and defend, but we lost. it is never enjoyable, but it happens. >> translator: there i

david cameron was the first international leader to meet ashraf ghani following his inauguration on monday. mr. cameron stressed they must continue the fight against islamic extremism in other parts of the world. >>> officials in japan say 16 people are still unaccounted for on the japanese volcano that erupted last weekend. 47 people are known to have died on mount ontake, most after being hit by rocks thrown out of the crater. heavy rain has postponed the recovery operation. >>> now, an american cameraman working in liberia has tested positive for ebola and is being flown back to the u.s. for treatment. he was a freelancer working for the nbc news broadcaster. meanwhile, public health officials in texas are tracking 100 people believed to have had contact with thomas duncan, the first man diagnosed with ebola on american soil. from texas, here is our report. >> reporter: west africa felt a long way from texas until ebola came here to a suburb of dallas. thomas duncan was visiting from liberia when he took ill. four days after he arrived. he was staying here with his family, where cleaner

but ghani is going to do what is good for his country, and the unity government has some real promiseso i'm encouraged. >> lisa, we have some great community thoughts. give murray a listen. >> the question on everyone's mind right now is the sustainability of the national unity government. i think it's too early to determine that. however, i am very optimistic about it, because there is an immense need for a balance of power within the government, and that's something the national unity government provides. >> and here is one more. >> the question of whether afghanistan will divide or unite under the new government depends on how committed the two are to bringing change. they must put the population before themselves. failure to do so may cause a population. >> all right. i have read your books, and you know all of the players. the president, abdul lah abdullah, is it possible for this new government to cure the strife in afghanistan? the >> well, the last few months of wrangling have exacerbated the ethnic tension. although the two leaders have been very moderate in their statements,