on thursday, president trump medicimet with afghan president ghani. strange trip to politics. you worked at the development field in the world bank, lived as a scholar in the united states. here you are, president of one of the most difficult, war-torn countries in the world with incredibly complex tribal politics, corruption, international politics with the united states, russia, china. how difficult was that transition? >> it wasn't difficult. it was close to impossible. no, seriously, i'm an accidental president. because my life has been a preparation for this job. i spent 14 years of my life looking at the last 600 years of history. i traveled to every single province of afghanistan during the security transition. i know the history, the feelings i hold of each segment of our population. we've always won in the battlefield but we've not been able to represent ourselves and speak for ourselves politically. so to win the world for those who do not have a voice, which is the absolutely majority, 40% of our people live below $1.35, but deliver on the

president ghani our renewed commitment here today is not only grounded in our shared security concerns it is also grounded in our confidence in you in chief a doula chief executive ability demonstrated leadership in your efforts to unite afghanistan under a government of national unity i first met chief executive ability in the pangea valley over ten years ago and i'm confident here today that your friend that his friend ahmed shah masood spirit stand with us today because of what he represented to an afghanistan pulling together president ghani forming a unified government among so many constituencies following the first democratic transition in afghanistan and history while battling an active in insurgency inside your own country it's not only a difficult undertaking but it's a historic achievement by the afghan people it's not a tidy process in a charred work and despite enormous political pressures you have demonstrated a commitment to put your country and the people of afghanistan first you have also made clear that the afghan government and security forces remain responsible and

groups rather than nation building following the war mattis is expected to hold talks with president ghani and other ministers. the un says the number of range of refugees escaping violence in maine miles rakhine state has risen to four hundred eighty thousand more than forty thousand and fled to bangladesh in the past two days alone and that's put a strain on resources that extra shelters are needed for about six thousand children who cross the border without their parents with a range of prices affecting areas across me and the military crackdown in rakhine state is making international companies reconsider their investments stop hiding reports from me in laws largest city and commercial center young gone. like this abandon fun park in central europe gone much of the country is still waiting for the development and foreign investment many hoped would come hopes were high when sanctions were lifted and the country was reconnected to the world after nearly five decades of military control the west has started to invest here but remains limited the main trading partners are still myanmar's

general assembly today during a bilateral meeting with afghan president musharraf's ghani he said that joint afghan and u.s. forces were making headway against their opposition quote hitting them hard and hitting them effectively military is as you know. over there right now and doing really an incredible job or of leadership in fighting we're leading a lot of wonderful afghan troops who are fighting very hard ghani also praised trunks decision to strengthen the u.s. forces by standing up to thirty nine hundred more troops on top of the roughly eighty four hundred americans currently there i want to thank you on behalf of the people of funston the government the funds for making a decision that is the story. you asked very fundamental questions you made this decision on the basis of courage and determination we salute you and another meeting with ukrainian president petro poroshenko he said ukraine is coming along pretty well and expressed the two countries are working together on both security and economic matters we spent some time recently in the white house and i know you've made g

president donald trump now which president ashraf ghani from artistic vision all. troops that have been sent are to enhance their assist support its vice mission and that is playing a very crucial role victory political and military is within our state. us both took pains to stress this is no longer a u.s. fight so i think it's important to understand that the afghan soldiers are doing the fighting we're training and we're working with them very closely but it's the afghans that are doing the fighting but this new report from the inspector general says that training program has huge problems right in the u.s. didn't understand just how hard it would be to train afghan forces overestimated their abilities and didn't have enough staff the mission it says is chronically understaffed by more than fifty percent and many of the staff it has were not trained mean a helicopter pilot was teaching afghans how to patrol and it says one u.s. officer turned to the. crime dramas from television to learn how to teach being a police man this is just the latest report highlighting

thank you, eleanor ghani. -- the new year. thank you, eleanor ghani. —— eleanorghani.tory — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front page at 10:40 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are former conservative advisor jo—anne nadler and political commentatorjane merrick. scotland yard is to review security arrangements at the south london school attended by prince george. it follows the arrest of a ao—year—old woman yesterday on suspicion of attempted burglary. 0ur correspondent dan johnson is here. you would think of anywhere would be secure it would be the school where the young man who is the son of the future king is actually going to have his education? indeed, not even a week into that education security already seems to have been found wanting at thomas's battersea, this independent school, £18,000 a year, a very exclusive private independent school, it turns out a ao—year—old woman was trying to get in yesterday afternoon. we don't know exactly what went on but she was challenged and stopped but not arrested until this afternoon, she

the taliban and other groups mr mattis is in kabul where he's meeting the afghan president ashraf ghani and the nato secretary general again stoltenberg. thailand's highest court has sentenced the former prime minister yingluck shinawatra five years in prison for corruption she was found guilty of negligence over a loss making rice scheme but was not in court having escaped last month. to south africa where tens of thousands of people are taking part in a nationwide strike against government corruption and unemployment it's being led by the country's biggest workers' union and a local branch of the governing african national congress which says the party is suffering from leadership failures the trade union has threatened to shut down. in the country as it marches on city holmes banks and the chamber of mines is demanding that the president jacob zuma step down and open an investigation into state corruption tanya pages our correspondent there at one of the demonstrations in johannesburg tanya this union is huge but give us a sense of how powerful this. show one of those one point eight

rather than nation building following the war mattis is expected to hold talks with president ashraf ghani and other ministers women will be allowed to drive in saudi arabia for the first time from june next year king solomon issued a decree ending the kingdom status as the only country in the world where it's forbidden. we're happy we're certainly happy to hear that if saudi women are now able to drive certainly here in the united states we would certainly welcome that so i think we're just happy today with the steps that they are taking and i think that that is a very positive sign they are not a nation says the number of ranger refugees escaping violence in may and must recalling state has risen to four hundred eighty thousand more than forty thousand the fled to bangladesh in the past two days not to put a strain on resources that that's the shelves are needed for about six thousand children but those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after india's lady cop station and so watch it live it up. why. it is the barber and women who. have been a lot of. the public even

and believe in it and we saw that expressed from president ghani just a few days ago after he met with the president at the united nations. >> we had his wife on stage here by the way. >> yes, wonderful. >> she was fantastic. >> yeah, lovely. so when they are meeting, and when the president is reassuring the afghan people that we will support you, we will combat terrorism in your country, president ghani is coming back and saying, you know, the difference in the administration is night and day. so one, we have to show them that we are willing to combat terrorism. we're taking the gloves off, and terrorists look out. we are working with the rules of engagement with our forces on the ground in afghanistan. where maybe they felt they were, you know, they had their hands tied a little bit previously. now our commanders on the ground can make determinations necessary to go after those terrorists. they don't have to wait for a call from the white house to say, it is okay to take down this cell. so we can see further progress. i can envision that moving forward. now that we do have a comprehe

i think that's a very big credit to president ghani. he's the one who is really focused on trying to improve domestic resource mobilization. their fiscal state is okay but i qualify that because the imf is in a workout with afghanistan. their fiscal state better be okay if we're in a workout situation. subregional growth. both within afghanistan there are big pockets of very strong private sector led, market-led growth going on. h halat, jalalabad. other areas that i think is a real model kabul, i don't like to throw in there as an automatic, because kabul is the center of government. there's naturally more investment and trade going on there with institutions. the president is moving now aggressively to integrate the country into the regional economy. there's a whole bunch of announcements that they've made. they have a direct rail service from china coming into northern afghanistan. there is now direct flights, cargo flights happening now every three weeks between kabul into india. that's a new agreement that the president had signed.

defense secretary is in afghanistan was told president ashraf ghani that american nato forces won't abandon afghans to the taliban and other groups james mattis is visiting kabul with nato chief. thailand's former prime minister yingluck shinawatra has been jailed for five years she was convicted of negligence of a rice subsidy scheme that cost the government billions. she fled the country last month. i believe the results will be announced any time soon about the session referendum being held in iraq's kurdish region let's listen. to. rush. ok. that's. the name of the. benevolent everyone. and. in this historic moment. i'm going to announce. the results to put independence referendum. to carry out. dependents referendum. and. despite a lot of bills. to provide. technical support. related. according to the international convention. protocol. after. the contribution from. time. management of the commission we appreciate their contribution and thank them to carry out such a project is not an easy task. for. an international. and. we carried out. in the most appropriate way. achievement and th

defense secretary is in afghanistan where he's told president ashraf ghani that america and nato forces won't abandon afghans to the taliban and other armed groups james mattis is visiting kabul with nato chief stoltenberg. we will suffocate any hope that al qaeda or. kani or the taliban here by killing i want to reinforce to the taliban that the only path to peace and political legitimacy for them is through a negotiated settlement we welcome those who commit to a peaceful future for afghanistan we support an afghan led reconciliation is just solution to this conflict and the sooner the taliban recognizes they cannot win with the sooner the killing will end thailand's highest court has sentenced former prime minister yingluck shinawatra five years in prison for corruption she was found guilty of negligence in a rice subsidies scheme government set up to know what if the country lost money bringing the refugees you've escaped a military crackdown a man accusing the army of raping women and girls four hundred eighty thousand have fled to bangladesh in the past month government denies the

leadership than fighting we're leading a lot of wonderful afghan troops who are fighting very hard ghani also praised strunk's decision to strengthen the u.s. forces by standing up to thirty nine hundred more troops on top of the roughly eighty four hundred americans currently there i want to thank you on behalf of the people of understand that government for making a decision that is the story. you asked very fundamental questions you made this decision. on that basis courage and determination we salute you and another meeting with ukrainian president petro poroshenko he said ukraine is coming along pretty well and express the two countries are working together on both security and economic matters we spent some time recently in the white house and i know you've made good progress since then a lot of progress actually. and i would say it's the easiest place right now to live but you're making it better and better on a daily basis meanwhile the president of yemen told the united nations today that iran into quote destabilize the region and said his government hopes for peace with the shi

ashraf gaun -- ghani met with the president in new york city. and calls for more u.s.roops in afghanistan. >> it's a difference of day and night. the cloud of uncertainty has been lifted, but equally important is your commitment to a political solution at the end of this process. lou: and now to take up afghanistan, north korea and the success of trump diplomacy, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations, fox news contributor, john bolton. john, great to have you. >> glad to be here. lou: it is remark to believe to see, xi xinping as part of personal diplomacy on the part of the president and afghan president praising the united states. when would we in the world, certainly not during eight years of the obama administration, and now xi xinping is acting like a true strategic partner? >> it is the mark of the success the president has had, despite all the criticism he has gotten this week is a triumph. i thought his speech on tuesday at the u.n. general assembly was top of the line and what china has apparently done, although we need to see their performance, in the

afghan people that we will support you, we will combat terrorism in your country, president trump ghani is coming back and saying, you know, the difference in the administration is night and day. so, one, we have to show them that we are willing to combat terrorism. we're taking the gloves off and terrorists, look out. we are working with the rules of engagement with our forces on the ground in afghanistan where maybe they felt they had their hands tied a little bit previously. now our commanders on the ground can make the determinations necessary to go after those terrorists. they don't have to wait for a call from the white house to say it's ok to take down the cell. so we can see further progress. i can envision that moving forward, now that we have a comprehensive strategy. the president has made it very clear that we're not in this for nation building. we're in this to combat terrorists, and i think that's what our focus needs to be. so we will do that. there are many other countries that are engaged in nation building and would like to be a part of that. our main focus should be g

hours after mattis arrived at kabul international airport for a meeting with afghan president ashraf ghani. speaking to reporters, mattis said the trump administration will add to the number of u.s. troops in afghanistan. >> i prefer not to go into the specific numbers right now. we are bringing in more coalition forces, non-americans who are coming in. i don't want to tell the enemy exactly what we are doing, but the whole point is to make certain that we have a compelling battlefield advantage over anything the taliban tries to mask against her forces. amy: in uganda, presidential guards and special command soldiers forcibly ejected lawmakers from the chambers of parliament when they tried to vote against a change to the country's constitution that would let long-ruling president yoweri museveni run for reelection after age 75. after a fight broke out in the chambers, ugandan opposition mp was taken to the hospital. the proposal stirred widespread resistance and protests around uganda. on wednesday, the uganda communications commission barred radio and television stations from broadcasti

president donald trump now which president ashraf ghani. troops that it's been sent. to enhance that assists support it vice mission and that is playing at a. victory. politically it. is within our sight both took pains to stress this is no longer a us fight so i think it's important to understand that the afghan soldiers are doing the fighting we're training and we're working with them very closely but it's the afghans that are doing the fighting but this new report from the inspector general says that training program has huge problems right in the u.s. didn't understand just how hard it would be to train afghan forces overestimated their abilities and didn't have enough staff the mission it says is chronically understaffed by more than fifty percent and many of the staff it has were not trained mean a helicopter pilot was teaching afghans how to patrol and it says one u.s. officer turned to the. crime dramas from television to learn how to teach being a police man this is just the latest report highlighting problems with the training program the strategy the u.s. i

he had already gone to a meeting with president ashraf ghani, where he urged the taliban to stop fighting i want to reinforce to the taliban that the only path to peace and political legitimacy for them is through a negotiated settlement. we support afghan-led reconciliation as the solution to this conflict, and the sooner the taliban recognizes that they cannot win with bombs, the sooner the killing will end. >> woodruff: afghan officials say that one woman was killed, and 11 other civilians were wounded in the attack. in iraq, the outcome of an independence vote by kurds is now definite. the election commission there announced today that more than 92% of voters approved the move in monday's referendum. that word came as iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi ruled out using force to keep the kurds from breaking away. but, he insisted he will enforce baghdad's authority. back in this country, the university of louisville placed basketball coach rick pitino on unpaid leave. it came after news that the men's basketball program is part of a federal investigation into alleged bribery of recrui

announcement came several hours after the president first teased it in a meeting with afghan president ghani this morning. joining me is nbc's kristen welker. what do we hear? >> reporter: well, ali, secretary mnuchin called this latest round of sanctions forward-looking. he stressed the importance of the fact that china's central bank instructed banks in china not do to business with north korea, of course, china is north korea's biggest trading partner, that could have an impact and argued that he said this will affect businesses and individuals who do business with north korea. businesses all over the world. now, he was pressed on another, a number of points, ali, he wouldn't get into details about. will there be another round of sanctions? he wouldn't answer that question. will chinese businesses be impacted by this move to sanction businesses in north korea? he wouldn't get into the details there. but the bottom line is, i pressed him on whether this round of sanctions will be different than the past several round of sanctions, slapped against north korea, which haven't had a major impa

defense secretary is in afghanistan ways told president ashraf ghani that american and nato forces won't abandon afghans to the taliban and other groups james mattis is visiting kabul with nato chief stauffenberg. rights groups are welcoming a decision by saudi arabia to lao woman to drive king someone issued a decree ending the kingdom status as the only country where it's forbidden women will be able to drive for the first time in june next year several women have been jailed or fined for defying the banned. ring or refugees have escaped a military crackdown and are ques in the army of raping women and girls four hundred eighty thousand fled to bangladesh in the past month the chief of the un's refugee agency has just returned from bangladesh and heard the stories of sexual violence. the combination of. limited health facilities who are sanitary and hygiene the conditions and the overcrowded sites you can well imagine he's a recipe for disaster in terms of possible epidemics unicef and probably a char working with the government to the ministry of health in stepping up. immunization ca

mattis left by helicopter for meeting with president ghani.ld is a criminal act by terrorists. it is designed to go after generally innocent people to make some sort of statement and, this is a classic definition of what the taliban are up to right now. we will suffocate any hope that al qaeda or isis, daesh, haqqani or the taliban have winning by killing. i want to reinforce to the taliban the only path to peace and political legitimacy for them is through a negotiated settlement. reporter: officials tell me there were no injuries to u.s. troops. one afghan civilian was killed according to a local report. the taliban are claiming credit for the attack. they said mattis was their target raising serious questions who tipped them off. the attack happened at:30 a.m. local time. mattis was in india the day before. this is secretary mattis' first trip to afghanistan since president trump announced a new strategy for the 16-year-old war which includes sending 3,000 additional u.s. troops to join 11,000 on the ground. these u.s. troops will serve clo

i know ghani pretty well. he is a far cry from the leadership we had with cars.as backing away from him every single year in terms of it resources. he knew for a fact that obama had no stomach for this war in afghanistan despite the fact that afghanistan helped produce 9/11. what mr. trump understands clearly here and most strategic decision he has made. we can talk about numbers of troops and resources. but the number one strategic decision the president has made is i'm sticking with you in afghanistan. he came to that slowly as he admitted. he necessarily didn't want to do that. as his team laid out the case. he believed this is the right strategic choice. he made the right decision. that's why you are getting those remarks from ghani, because he knows trump is behind him. brian: real quick, general. the cia says give me more leeway to stable my attacks. would you give the intelligence more leeway and freedom. >> yeah. if you want to win fights, have you got to get the people closest to the fight the resources and you have got to give them your trust to be able

declared nation building is our job and i'll be working closely if confirmed with him with president ghani, to help them undertake that important work. making progress has been hard. it will undoubtedly continue to be hard, but i believe it's worth the effort and the investments because the alternatives all lead to worst outcomes for the united states. i would just note in closing one of the first priorities of every u.s. ambassador today is to think first of the safety and security of people who work for them, who serve beside them, determining how best to achieve our key objectives while also protecting our people will be foremost in my mind everyday. if confirmed i will insure i do everything possible to spend whatever level of funding we have for afghanistan wisely. in closing i want to thank this committee for its support to the vital work of the u.s. mission in afghanistan. as i noted at the outset, if confirmed i would welcome a candid ongoing dialogue with you about the challenges and opportunities we face. thank you very much again for the opportunity to appear before you and i lo

ashraf ghani. let's see what he has to say. >> good morning.leasure to have president said very of afghanistan with us. we are working very well together, working very hard. our military as you know it's over there right now doing really an incredible job. leadership in fighting, bleeding a lot of wonderful afghan troops who are fighting very hard. we were just discussing that. great progress is being made. so it's an honor to have you in all of your representatives with us. thank you very much. >> i would like to pay tribute to soldiers, officers and civilians, particularly those. that sacrifice can now result. i thank you on behalf of the government for making a decision that is historic. u.s. very fundamental questions. you made this decision on the courage and determination. we salute you. since this issue, there's been an immense change on the ground. i've been too sick so my seven army cores in the american soldiers and officers who fought shoulder to shoulder with it. it's a difference a day and night. the cloud of uncertainty has been l

it is a pleasure to have president ghani of afghanistan with us. we are working very hard. our military is over there right now, doing an incredible job -- more leadership than fighting. we are leading a lot of wonderful afghan troops that are fighting very hard. we were just discussing that. great progress is being made. it is an honor to have you and your representatives with us. pres. ghani: i would like to pay tribute to american soldiers, officers and civilians, particularly those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. that sacrifice can not result in a stable afghanistan. i want to thank you for making a decision that is historic. you asked fundamental questions. you made this decision on the basis of courage and determination. we salute your courage. since this decision there has been an immense change on the ground. i have been to six of our seven ps and they all agreed you. -- they all greet you. it is a difference of day and night. the cloud of uncertainty has been lifted, but equally important is your commitment to a political solution at the end of this process. what