a soviet airborne division was airlifted to kabul.n december 27, more soviet troops poured across the amu darya river into afghanistan. the soviets not only were taking over the country, they were also handpicking its leaders. amin and his closest advisors were executed by the soviets. moscow's own man was installed in office, babrak karmal, whose first message to the afghan people was made from the soviet union the evening of december 27, 1979. babrak did not arrive in afghanistan until four days later, december 31, when he was flown in by the soviets to take the place of the murdered amin. babrak tried to soften opposition by publicly, at least, appearing more moderate than his harsh predecessor, amin. mr. karmal: [speaking foreign language] >> he invokes the name of allah frequently, though the rhetoric of his speeches is pure marxist. he claims to have released thousands of political prisoners, although most appear to have been members of his parcham faction of the communist party. babrak also replaced the glaring red communist ba

a soviet airborne division was airlifted to kabul. on december 27, more soviet troops poured across the river into afghanistan. were takingnot only over the country, they were also handpicking its leaders. advisorshis closest were executed by the soviets. own man was installed in office. his first message to the afghan people was made from the soviet union the evening of december 27, 1979. he did not arrive in afghanistan until four days later, december 31, when he was flown in by the soviets to take the place of the murdered amin. opposition byften publicly, at least, appearing more moderate than his harsh predecessor. he invokes the name of allah frequently, though the rhetoric of his speeches is pure marxist. he claims to have released thousands of political prisoners, though most appeared to be members of his political party. replaced the glaring regimener of taraki's with a bright red and green flag. there are no signs of such changes are working. most observers would agree amin was a tyrant, but at least he was an afghan. karmal

in kabul zain thank you. now iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali harmony is the living of friday sermon in terror on for the 1st time in 8 years thousands of iranians are attending the prayers in the capital which comes at a time of crisis for the country these are live pictures coming from tehran but iran still grappling with the assassination of its top military commander qassam sort of money and there is widespread public anger over the shooting down of a ukrainian passenger jet which killed $176.00 people on board. thousands of supporters of gambians former leader john lee have demonstrated in the capital to demand his return john has been living in exile in an equatorial guinea since losing the presidential election to the current leader adama baron 2016 if. they want him back. yeah maybe loathed by many gambians for his repressive 22 year long rule in which human rights organizations believe thousands were tortured and killed but this crowd loves him calling him the builder of bridges they're members of

. >> we just left kabul. our driver was warning, saying there are going toe taliban, it's going to be a problem foru. yo those big holes are all from the ied explosions. >> narrar: najibullah has been 20 years.the war here for almost (gunfire) he was here in 2001 when the u.s. and its allies invaded and drove the taliban from power. in the decade that followed, they filmed many times with the taliban as they fought back andn rega territory across the country. and in 2015,e met with isis fighters when the group was first emerging here. now, najibullah has returnedo his home country at a critical moment. president trump hacommitted to end america's longest war, and has even been negotiating a peace deal with the taliban. but the siation on the ground remains violent and unpredictable. >> the driver is telling me, the day before yesterday, there was three explosions. they put an ied, and mainly for the government vehicles. >> arrator: najibullah is heading into a taliban stronghold neathe city of ghazni, less th

forces here in kabul we are still waiting for a response from officials here in the us. ken capital but if this is true if this is the case that a u.s. operated aircraft has crashed in taliban controlled areas in the central gaza province that certainly is a nightmare scenario for the americans operating in the conflict here here's what we know so far social media video user generated content from witnesses on the ground at the crash site at least that's what it appears to be. seems to show the tail section of an aircraft with u.s. markings on the tail section of the wreckage that video appeared a few hours ago and in the last hour a security source has confirmed to journalists here in kabul that this aircraft is and eat 118 now this model is a modified passenger plane it's a modified bomb but your global express used by the u.s. military and this specific plane is being. said is said to be a communications and intelligence gathering plane now if it does appear to be the aircraft which many people here think that it is then this is most likely an aircraft that is designe

things like tables and chairsthere's also the difficulty of getting proper permits we are on par uh kabul and how long it takes and how many approvals we need to g in san francisco in order to get a new. >>restaurant open. it is mi think are on average about 12 to 18 months. just to get a place opening you have to understand you're usually paying rent that entire time which could ben extra 100 to $200,000 that you have toay just for a process that many many other cities in california and the world have been able solve a lot faster he's cautiously optimistic aut the vacancy tax ordinance headed for the

for disarmament of protection of civilians at the aid organization humanity and inclusion finally in kabul victoria funtown a professor of peace studies at the american university of afghanistan thank you to all of you for joining us today the type of topic which well we could talk about it any particular time but jonathan i will start with you saying as we want to just 0 in on iraq initially what fascinates me is that this particular district close to the iran border so we are talking up to 40 years ago these mines might have been planted there definitely at least 30 and they still have such a huge effect such a an extraordinary number of them there that's correct. is that iraq is one of the most contaminated countries in the world and unfortunately it's a it's the iran iraq border that has most of the traditional top of landmines that most of the world would know about it still remains so what is your group doing norwegian peoples aid to you out there in the field physically doing it. yes we are where we can people's ideas been that's been working in iraq and supporting the iraqi people

live in kabul. the united nations has raised alarm over the unprecedented food crisis in southern africa 45000000 people face severe shortages according to the world food programme is of drought widespread flooding and economic turmoil are being blamed for the emergency the 16 countries in the region of had a normal crop season only once in the last 5 years zimbabwe is the worst hit with 7700000 people that's half the population suffering severe food shortages and one 5th of the population in zambia a regional bread basket is struggling to feed itself joe ork is the spokesperson for the world food programme for southern africa he joins us now live from johannesburg good to have you with us joe is this a new problem problem i mean surely. as we said years of drought and widespread flooding and economic turmoil of being blamed for this current emergency when when did it start well it's an annual problem every year between harvests and there is basically a single harvest in a given year the harvest typ

for some kabul. losing an intelligence aircraft in snow covered mountains in disputed taliban territory no doubt a nightmare scenario for u.s. forces in afghanistan exclusive footage acquired by old as iraq shows the crashed u.s. plane in hosni province a day earlier this place was filled with people now the site is clear a witness on the ground told 00 u.s. jets and drones could be seen circling the area even firing warning flares to keep people away from the wreckage. and so bundy you about your brand it was around 1 30 pm yesterday that the plane was coming from the city towards this place then it began flying a little lower and it crash landed so i don't know why or what exactly happened to the plane that. afghan and american security sources in kabul have confirmed the aircraft that went down on monday afternoon was an 11 a a modified bombardier passenger plane it's used by the u.s. military exclusively in afghanistan as a communications supporter of craft. an american spokesman in kabul said an

the announcement of salt on kabul says death came on state t.v. . the man who ruled a man for 50 years had been unwell for a number of years 3 days of national mourning on now underway. in his funeral procession has started in the capital mascots and who laid to be buried in the rule cemetery in months. and just hours after the announcement of his death his family had already chosen his successor. haitham been taught a side suit on called his cousin in true money form it was a smooth and quick transition haitham been taught his side was the culture minister and in charge of the country's 2040 development programme the sultan is a man's paramount decision maker and also holds the positions of prime minister supreme commander of the armed forces minister of defense finance and foreign affairs he was holding a very important position about heritage which has to deal with the identity of a man as a country and maintaining the the unity and in the culture of us with the very man i was in a man context that's very important it's me is he was regarded i'm

he was speaking at a local think tank here in kabul and during his speech he said that the offer was quote an acceptable as far as the afghan government is concerned for the stakeholders here in afghanistan what they want for any sort of talks with the taliban is a complete cessation of all military operations by the group a an all out cease fire and nothing less will do as far as the afghan government is concerned. now ukraine's prime minister has offered his resignation never leaked audio recording in which he could just as the president and the ski one charles because allegedly heard saying that a lot of mass density knows nothing about the economy on facebook charring says he submitted his resignation to remove any doubt in the specs and trusts the president . canada is leading a campaign of pressure on iran for it to be held fully accountable to downing a cranium passenger jet the prime minister justin trudeau would speak again about the crash on 5 day $63.00 of the 176 people on board the flight were canadian earlier ministers and countries who lost citizens met in london and t

reaction but 1st to zain in kabul zain what more are we hearing about this crash. well finally we've been getting a steady flow of information from the province from even the crash site from the areas around it up until a few hours ago and the reason for that might be because what's unique to tell the bun controlled space in afghanistan taliban controlled territory is that they forced cell phone providers to turn off their services after dark 6 pm cell phone services go down so information that we were getting in a steady stream has gone to a slow trickle to almost nothing now what we heard earlier before that happened was that certainly there was video showing a plane crash showing an american air force symbol on the tail section of the wreckage of that plane crash in guys need province the taliban also putting out an image of an insignia that read air combat command certainly less insignia and it really begs the question who controls the wreckage who controls the buddies at that plane earlier in the day we heard from the governor of gaza the provinces spokesman s

everyone was killed let's get more on this developing story from same bus ravi who joins us live from kabul so say in the u.s. now admitting that this was a u.s. military aircraft but a bit of conflicting information between what they're saying and what the taliban are saying what more are you hearing. that's right foley ever since the story broke there have been more questions than answers at least in the earlier part of the day the taliban spokesman on his twitter account just a few hours ago said that the plane that crashed in gaza he called it a cia plane and he said that all those on board were killed and characterized them as members of the u.s. intelligence community we've also seen the taliban circulating a photograph with an insignia that reads air combat command and really this begs the question of who is actually in charge of that crash site at this stage or if the taliban ever were in control of the crash site we saw social media footage circulated rather quickly after the crash in the hours that followed showing the wreckage of an aircraft and on the wreckage is a tail the tail

he was speaking at a local think tank here in kabul and during his speech he said that the offer was quote an acceptable as far as the afghan government is concerned for the stakeholders here in afghanistan what they want for any sort of talks with the taliban is a complete cessation of all military operations by the group a an all out cease fire and nothing less will do as far as the afghan government is concerned. the impeachment trial of u.s. president on will trump will now resume on tuesday the legal process was set in motion in the senate on thursday after house democrats read out the charges against the president he has to announce the trial as a common job by the democrats i was there as heidi jocasta reports from washington . the ceremony laden impeachment trial of president donald trump is now underway very eerie. all persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment donald j. trump has abused the powers of the presidency in that. using the powers of his high office president trump solicited the interference of a foreign government ukraine in the 2020 united stat

a very cold across much of this area actually temperatures are below average we're seeing here in kabul about 4 degrees in the overnight timeframes we're talking temperatures down into the mid single to mid double digits so we're going to be watching this very carefully in the coming days down here towards quite city over the next few days though expect to see some showers rolling through that will also affect parts of iran we're going to be seeing some rain heavy rain at times maybe some snow in the higher elevations and for tehran it is going to be a chilly day with tempers only reaching 5 here on saturday well for the northern part of africa we're still dealing with a very heavy rain here across much of the eastern mediterranean that's also affecting cyprus parts of libya as well as parts of coastal egypt as well alexandria cairo as we go towards friday expect to see the rain but by the time we get towards saturday it's rain continues in the forecast there with the temperature in cairo of 60 degrees and ghazi it is going to be some clouds for the tempter a 15. a journey of personal d

the latest on this developing story from zain bazarov a who joins us live from afghanistan's capital kabul interesting that the taliban are not claiming responsibility in the tweets zain what new information do you have about this crash. that is correct we've heard several reports that the taliban have claimed responsibility but those reports don't seem to be accurate at this stage it would seem like something that the taliban would handily say that they were responsible for but that isn't the case if you look specifically at the translation of the tweet what they are saying is that the plane was filled with people who they think are cia and that all those killed on board were members of the u.s. intelligence community but it does not they do not at any point claim responsibility and they do not at any point specifically identify any of the dead but as has been the case with this story all day the more we know the more questions there are the taliban have also been sending out photographs of all of the wreckage site most recently search being circulated on social media we saw a photograph

auliya atrafi from kabul.in the outbreak of a new coronavirus in china. professor sian griffiths is a public health expert who co—chaired the hong kong government's inquiry into the 2003 sars epidemic. she explained the similarities and differences between the two viruses. it obviously is on a larger scale but there are many similarities with sars in that is a coronavirus thought to have come from wet market and the organism jumped from animal to man. it produces flu—like symptoms and then can go on to pneumonia. so far that is fairly similar. the differences are that when we did the inquiry in 2003 we found there had been very poor flow of information early on in the epidemic. in hong kong we had been unaware of the cases in china, so it was only when the cases of the disease spread to hong kong that the world was able to focus on what was the organism, so there is much better sharing of information, you have seen that all the time. regular updating of the number of cases and the number of deaths. a fully for

he was speaking at a local think tank here in kabul and during his speech he said that the offer was quote an acceptable as far as the afghan government is concerned for the stakeholders here in afghanistan what they want for any sort of talks with the taliban is a complete cessation of all military operations by that group a an all out cease fire and nothing less will do as far as the afghan government is concerned. ukraine's prime minister has offered his resignation of relief already a recording in which he criticizes the president. is allegedly heard saying that a lot of news alinsky knows nothing about the economy on facebook on sharks susie's to bit of his resignation to remove any doubt that he respects and trusts the president. judges in poland to speak out against a bill that would allow the government to discipline them if they criticize judicial reforms now the proposed bill is the latest episode in the years long squabble of the court's reform that has triggered a feud with the european union judge igor has been fighting against the government's campaign saying. we are al

he was speaking at a local think tank here in kabul and during his speech he said that the offer was quote an acceptable as far as the afghan government is concerned for the stakeholders here in afghanistan what they want for any sort of talks with the taliban is a complete cessation of all military operations by that group a an all out cease fire and nothing less will do as far as the afghan government is concerned. ukraine's prime minister has offered his resignation of relief already a recording in which he criticizes the president all the ski on chara is allegedly hood saying that a lot of is a lengthy knows nothing about the economy on facebook on joran says he submitted his resignation to remove any doubt that he respects and trusts the president. guinea's opposition is a protest is to continue to demonstrate against president has been. in office since october 20 people have been killed in protests that violence 4 boys were shot this week morbid manly has been. burning tires barricades and tear gas canisters have been littering the capital's main roads since mid october thousan

violence the significance really depends on what happens next now from our part here the bureau in kabul we've spoken to members in the leadership structure of the taliban both here in afghanistan and as part of the negotiating team in doha in qatar and what we've been told is that they cannot confirm exactly how long a ceasefire would be the initial reports were suggesting between a week to 10 days they do not want to confirm any specific timeline but they can say that they have agreed in principle in a letter that was delivered to the u.s. negotiators for a short reduction in violence and that reduction in violence language is very important here they were keen not to call it a cease fire they acknowledge that perhaps that is what many are referring to it as actionable on the ground that is likely what it may look like if an agreement is reached but they're keen not to call it specifically a cease fire referring to it as a reduction in violence because they don't want to interrupt any sort of. they don't want to cause any sort of disruption within their ranks the taliban are very focus

in the west of the city but there have been no casualties reported at this time they miss ravi in kabul the un's warning that nearly $5000000.00 children will be in need of aid this year in africa region it says they're increasing lead the target of attacks abductions and even recruitment by armed groups and the saheli includes mauritania mali bikini fastenings year and chad unicef says the unrest is 467-0000 children out of their homes in the last year and has hampered access to food water and education earlier this month regional leaders known as the g 5 met the french president they announced a united military force but some fear it won't be enough to stop the violence. well rigaud is an emergency specialist unicef's office for western central africa she's joining us from the senegalese capital dhaka on skype thank you for talking to us it's almost inevitable isn't there when there is a rise in conflict any kind of violence those most vulnerable are going to feel the impact more than others and that of course is usually the elderly women and children yes indeed thank you for this foo

or entity owns the plane but let's go live to our correspondent zain verjee in the afghan capital kabul zain so what more information of you managed to discover. well so far what we know for certain and i must say there's a great deal of information that is bouncing around on social media there are a great deal of a great number of unconfirmed reports but what we can tell you with certainty is that the spokesman for the governor of gaza the province a few hours ago nuri came out and said that this is not an afghan aircraft now the afghan military was sending security forces they scrambled security forces as quickly as they could and we do know that soldiers did arrive at the scene of the crash now we did hear earlier that this area is largely controlled by the taliban but we do know that the afghan security forces were on location and it appears that all passengers on board we still don't have a number but all passengers on board this passenger aircraft were deceased at the location only the pilots were recognizable and they did not appear to be afghan and so as such the local officials

says there's no indication it was downed by enemy fire bringing them both robbie his joining us from kabul to kind of talk us through and break down the conflicting reports we're getting about what exactly happened to that plane thing. well they're in a really gives you a sense of the terrain within which not just the american forces are operating but the taliban as well when you look at how piecemeal the information with regard to this crash has been we've been detail and we have been piecing together the details ever since the story broke yesterday but let me give you some latest developments now when we heard of this crash in gussie province we activated one of our stringers to head to the area here rives in the area of the crash site earlier this morning and what he can tell us is that american aircraft we believe helicopters are hovering overhead and firing warning flares at any one that approaches the crash site so we now do you know in contrast to video that we saw from earlier yesterday that the crash site now seems to be clear of people in the american helicopters overhead are try

the announcements of salt on kabul says death came on state t.v. . the man who ruled amman for 50 years had been unwell for a number of years 3 days of national mourning and now underway in amman and a number of regional countries. his funeral has already been held in the capital muscat. and just hours after the announcement of his death his family had already chosen his successor. haitham been taught at a site sultan kabul says cousin in true monny form his swearing in is the new sultan was a smooth and quick transition site has already served as culture minister and was made in charge of the country's 2040 vision development programme where. we will remain guided by the late sometimes wisdom and will preserve and embark on the achievements he made this is what we are adamant to do to follow in his footsteps with respect to international relations we will follow the same course and embrace foreign policies based on peaceful coexistence this alton is a man's paramount decision maker and also holds the positions of prime minister supreme commander of

us from kabul what more are you learning about the zain. well daryn it's happened a few hours ago and information is still relatively difficult to come by details are still unclear and there seems to be disagreement among those responsible and in charge that really should know what is going on now what we do know is that a passenger plane certainly has crashed in the central gaza need province initial reports suggest that the area where the aircraft has gone down it is in snow covered mountainous terrain and it is interesting that it's controlled reportedly by the taliban so that may make getting details more details more difficult it may be difficult to carry out any sort of search and rescue effort at this stage but again we are hearing initial reports that this passenger plane belonged to ariana airlines now the chairman of that airline 'd said that is not the case however the vice president for that airline said that indeed it was one of their planes eyewitnesses reported in local media also seem to suggest that it wasn't good and arian

kabul says. would continue in the marshall for seoul time cobbles and also continue the mediation that has started by the sultan himself will so. many also experiment a suspect there are expect that the successor will face difficult difficulties specially with the saudi arabia's talents to pave its way for the oil pipeline thaw the yemeni territories to their arab sea. more than one who. the. club has faced many difficulties with saudi arabia even though that he's continued his policy of a neutral but such problem close the close there are many many challenges that will with cool could have started a war with the with saudi arabia with such a terms even though the tribes that have been backed by the saudi arabia field nodded to give saudi arabia domination a number which is in the border and would be. there for us in sinai yemen's capital thank you manners or a man's defense council that's made up of the heads of the armed forces and other security officials has convened members of the whale fami

well it is just a tennis ball and covered in kabul and you guess what i'm talking about you mean not very wise it's immediately this is the well the 2nd largest rough diamond and was discovered in botswana. and then i hired by a french company. its name is so we'll. find. the long language spoken in botswana. you can catch all our stories on our website on the facebook page with. migration in tanzania we'll see you next time i've. heard. thank. you. hello and a very warm welcome to news from the world of arts and culture let's have a look at what's coming up today the book the hidden life of trees became a surprise international bestseller and now it's being turned into a film. and an artist based in stockholm who makes visual art with prada design. while the german president frank bato steinmeyer joined other world leaders in jerusalem to remember the victims of the holocaust on thursday there are also many other events marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps in 1945 the last surviving jews in europe back then with a hung garion jews as germany only

he is very comfortable with lebanon's judicial system and that's a big contrast to what the former kabul said about japan on wednesday using his 1st public appearance since fleeing the country. again and accusations directly at the japanese government it in turn. claims by the defendant going against japan's justice system the unilateral and unconvincing union leaders they were. in an emotional apparent us.

very comfortable with the evidence traditional system and that's a big contrast to what the former kabul said about japan on wednesday using his 1st public appearance since fleeing the country. again and accusations directly at the japanese government it in turn responded. to claims by the defendant going against japan's justice system the unilateral and unconvincing who knew. they were a few hours earlier in an emotional apparently accused japan of treating him in humanely and said he had no chance of a fair trial the film a c.e.o. insists he was the victim of a conspiracy between nissan and the japanese government so i can't talk about what happens in the government or. i can give you names i know that but i am indeed one on i respect ribbon on it and i respect the worse because it has been extended to me by your code it is indeed and in no way i want to do anything or say anything that would make that task quite difficult. according to go on state prosecutors colluded with nixon executives against him because they wanted to protect the iconic japanese comprende from being swallowed up

well it is just a tennis ball and covered in kabul and you guess what i'm talking about. realize it's immediately this is the well the 2nd largest rough diamond and was discovered in botswana and then i hired by french company to weave its name is so will which means rare find in the long language spoken in botswana. for now from didn't use africa you can catch all our stories on our website and facebook page we leave you now with these pictures on all grades of will the beast migration in tanzania we'll see you next time i find out. the point of strong opinions clear positions of international perspectives. can germany succeed where others have failed in brokering political solution to the long running conflict in libya chancellor merkel says last sunday's conference here in berlin was a 1st step to speech have a chance find out on to the point. to point. to 60 minutes on the t.w. pretty. happiness years for everyone schumann penises are very different from primates. totally ridiculous the size view of nature see that this is climate change regular sex how tina's employe

little or not well it is just a tennis ball and covered in kabul and you guess what i'm talking about you mean not very wise it's immediately this is the well the 2nd largest rough diamond and was discovered in botswana. and then i fired by friends company the we've talked it's name is so we'll which means rare find. the long language spoken in botswana. that's it for now from dude of the news africa you can catch all our stories on our web sites on the facebook page we leave you now with these pictures on the all grades of will the beast migration in towns india will see you next time i've been out. every 2 seconds the person is forced to flee their home. the consequences of the disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts dramatic humanitarian crises from around the world. forgetting we don't have time to think i didn't go to university to kill people and i think they're back that way i mean again people feel for their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of course who stay behind and simply are able my husband went to peru because of the cri

well it is just a tennis ball and covered in kabul and you guess what i'm talking about. is it's immediately this is the well the 2nd largest rough diamond and was discovered in botswana and then i hired by a french company to even talk its name is so will which means rare find. the long language spoken in botswana. that's it for now from d.w. news africa you can catch all our stories on our web site on the facebook page we leave you now with these pictures of the great will the beast migration in tanzania we'll see you next time bye for now. what secrets lie behind. discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. w world heritage 360 get the maps now. welcome to the girl max new to chat. good line of story. with exclusive. the must see concerning parts culture team you're a. place to be for curious minds. do it yourself networkers. subscribing and don't miss out. the. hello on a very warm welcome to news from the world about some culture let's have a look at what's coming up today. 'd 'd the book the hidden life of trees became a surp

the procession organized by iran backed iraqi militias is set to head for the shiite holy cities of kabul. south of baghdad the death of general qassam so the money has sent shock waves through the region. tehran has vowed revenge the u.s. has ordered its citizens to leave iraq and is sending thousands of extra troops to the region. the iranians took to the streets of the capital on friday in the 10s of thousands. of the was and they chanted no compromise no surrender fight the us the news of general salim money's killing sparked fury among the protesters who directed their anger at the west. and why yes i mean how do you have the same thing they did to us should be done to them and their leaders should be killed all of them should be killed. military officials also spoke of revenge for the killing of the man who was widely seen as the 2nd most powerful figure in iran. and we know your way that the americans should prepare themselves for a slap in the face that the americans must know now that after this crime that they have committed they will face no safety or peace anywhere and. this w

let's speak to our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, who is in kabul.brien is in washington. let's start with lyse doucet in cabot. what sort of reaction is being given across the region at the moment. we have seen the scenes from the funeral procession but what is the funeral procession but what is the ambience like? i think people are watching with great interest what is unfolding on the streets of major cities of iran. it is not even the day of the final burial, this is just the first of three days, and evenin just the first of three days, and even in areas which were the flash points for unprecedented protests in iran against the government, against people like qasem soleimani, today, instead, millions and millions of people have flooded into the streets across iran, to mourn him and to join iranians in condemning this killing of qasem soleimani. it has had an extraordinary blowback in the sense that it came at the time when the iranian leadership was facing significant dissent at home, but for the moment, this seems to have rallied iranians and acr

his tour of the service in kabul was one of our most important commissions. he is a man of incredible integrity and has helped that opening move forward to a brighter, more peaceful, and more secure future for the people. would like to welcome the two new ambassadors. follow themave more out into the field. i am happy to take a few questions. the new year, i have 2020 questions to ask you. i will trim them down. there continue to be questions about the nature of the intelligence that led to the strike that killed general soleimani. can you be more specific about how immanent this was and what exactly it was? secondly, why not allow the foreign minister to come to the u.n. to speak at the security council question mark and lastly -- counsel? erin -- did iran factor into your decision not to run? sec. pompeo: i said the same thing yesterday that i said four months, no news. i will stay serving as secretary of state as long as president trump shall have me. you can excuse me of being consistent but not on that one. we don't comment on recent matters. matters.- o

canan tell you, we werere almost apoplelecc at the time -- we didn't know who was going to invest kabulwe didn't know that t we hadn't just turned d kabul ovover to te nonorthern alliance, and thus ta continuation of the last 30 yeyears of warfare. so we were very anxious to make sure everything worked the way we wanted it to after that so-called victory. and one of t the people e -- onf the groups that helpeded us the mostst, as you might imaginene,e the iraninians because the iranians looked at t the taliban as their enemy, too. you may recall that the taliban had killeded some iranian diplomomats and others in ththe months prior. so the i iranians s were all f r eliminatating the taliban as the legitimamate government of afghghanistan and so pitched ino help. as i said, oncnce president bush had given his speech about the "axis of evil" and i included dn in t that, their dese e to help was not ququite as ardt t as it was before. but they, nonetheleless, rerealizing, as iran almosost as does -- i hate t these people wo saththey'rere irratioional. they're far more rational than we are.