haroun, let me start with you.weeted that stopping the flow of funds into afghanistan will punish millions, 99% of the population that can't or won't leave. we need to care for them, too. so i would like to get your thoughts on the kind of impact that all this will have on afghan citizens. >> absolutely. i mean, afghanistan has a huge trade deficit. we finance that trade deficit mostly through foreign aid. now the foreign aid is in jeopardy. the afghanistan government right now does not have access to its foreign reserves because the situation of governance, who is actually in charge, is right now being negotiated. as a result of that, afghanistan's currency is depreciating fast. and if we don't have enough usd injected into the market soon, the prices may continue to rise. right now, there are rumors that in kabul, the prices have already increased, twofold in many instances. there's also psychology around this, that many people may fear, as the value of the currency depreciates and people are leaving, they may wa

amy: haroun rahimi, assistant professor of law at the american university of afghanistan.was en route back to kabul when he heard the news of the taliban takeover and at this point has stayed in istanbul, turkey. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as thousands of afghans attempt to flee afghanistan before the u.s. withdrawal on august 31, we turn now to look at how th trump admistration me it harder for afghans who worked with the united states to apply and receive what is known as a siv, a special immigrant visa. one former top aide to mike pence has placed the blame on trump's xenophobic advisor stephen miller. olivia troye recently tweeted -- "there were cabinet meetings about this during the trump administration where stephen miller would peddle his racist hysteria about iraq and afghanistan. he and his enablers across government would undermine anyone who worked on solving the siv issue by devastating the system at dhs and state." in recent weeks, stephen miller has repeatedly appeared on fox news to criticize efforts

we begin today's show with haroun rahimi.sistant professor of law at the american university of afghanistan. he was enroute back to kabul when the taliban seized power. he joins us now from istanbul, turkey. professor, welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. >> thank you. amy: can you respond to all that has taken place, the extremely fast seizing of the provincial capitals and then taking kabul without hardly a bullet? can you talk about the significance of the taliban victory, who they are, and what you expect? >> obviously, there's a lot to impact. the general of taliban to cover afghanistan, it is important have context here. the taliban have been growing in strength andhe government was losing ground for a very long time. undeying those, a series of problems sustaining the insurgency and weakening the government. also a military component, logistical and military issues and bad leadership that affected -- contributed. and toward the end, exacerbated even further and resulted in the quick collapse of af

haroun rahimi, thank you very much. parliament is to be recalled, what can you tell us?what can you tell us?— can you tell us? in the last few minutes we — can you tell us? in the last few minutes we have _ can you tell us? in the last few minutes we have been - can you tell us? in the last few minutes we have been told - can you tell us? in the last few minutes we have been told by| can you tell us? in the last few| minutes we have been told by a downing street source that mps will be recalled this week to discuss the situation. we don't know exactly the timing, how long they will be sitting for. a number of mps have called for this in recent days. as the situation has escalated. we have also been told there have been discussions over the past few days with opposition leaders and the speaker about this happening. it's possible that mps could return to westminster as early as tuesday to discuss the deepening crisis. {iii discuss the deepening crisis. of course, there are evacuation plans taking place at the moment, so they have multiple things happening that they need to

let's bring in now though haroun ro, hey me, he's an assistant professor of law at the american university of afghanistan, join us on skype from it's stumbled with to have you with us and you are hearing what i reported was reporting to us there. and what the spokesperson for the taliban. so her shaheen was telling me a few moments ago. does it look like the picture that is emerging here? is that one of a tale? bond strategies simply to surround the city or on all or as many sides as possible . and pressure the security forces, the government, what's left of it to simply unilaterally hand over and surrender. it seemed like an i don't know if you saw the new alert, be a just release that there is breaking news that the art is that the legation in presidential policy in copper right now. negotiating all signs and i cannot confirm that the be recorded news via english that i looked at. i cannot complement independently, but it seems like, as you said, the sticky point. i said earlier, i think the point is that whether it's going to be a complete surrender, meaning cala bond will take over and

haroun was an interpreter for the us army and settled here seven years ago. of clothes, so they locked the door and they are sleeping outside the airport. they are afraid if they go back, of course, the taliban have already found out that their son was a translator, so they cannot go back. for the afghans who are being evacuated and are about to arrive here in texas, volunteers are unpacking the donations which have been pouring in. despite the polarised politics of immigration in the us, staff believe that afghans will be welcome here. the people who helped us overseas, there is a special category that really does speak across political boundaries and rural, urban, and people understand that these are people who we really need to help. andy of the local republican party agrees, but he says the biden administration has bungled the withdrawal so far and things may get even worse. i hope they make a decision that does not result in a tectonic shift of afghanis coming to the united states. i�*m hoping it will result in those who need to be here for safety reason