let's go to cnn's senior international correspondent nick paton walsh. nick, what are you learning? >> reporter: john, so many assurances from u.s. and nato officials that the afghan are able to hold ground once u.s. troops and majority left here. that is not the case in helmand. so much money available there for the taliban if they get hands on the opium trade. the afghan army losing because of defections saying they were not getting the resources and they joined the taliban instead. i say, the afghan officials clearly say they don't think the key city of helmand will hall. the defense minister offered to resign. here's what he said. >> will not fall. >> if it does, will you resign? >> it will not fall. if it falls, there is no doubt i will resign, but it will not fall. >> reporter: stark admission that is something so key that if it did fall into taliban hands, he has to reconsider his position. i have to say talking to police in helmand, that city and along with the pressure from the taliban, they on the advance. >> nick paton walsh, thank you. >>> donald trump is angry. maybe we

let's bring in senior correspondent nick paton walsh in beirut with the latest. of a rocket hitting the city and barrel bombs. do we know who struck this? >> reporter: very little doubt it was regime or russian air power. they have repeatedly over the past years. in russian's case, they hit this rebel held area. less so in the past months or so. the past 58 days, partially because of something called cessation of hostilities, designed to reduce the violence. this is treated on a global spotlight because it marks the end of the cessation. it was agreed with the u.s. and russia and it was always meant to exclude certain groups they considered terrorists to fight along side other rebels in the aleppo area. this strike killed upwards of 50. most likely a rocket of some description. the devastation intense in the area. those 50 or so a part of 200 people who died in the past seven days in violence in aleppo. 123 on the rebel side. 18 children included. the cessation of hostilities was a construct. talk of a monstrous disregard of human life. violence is soaring back t

cnn's senior international correspondent nick paton walsh talked to two men who were part of the reasonfghan army is losing the fight there. they are deserters from the afghan army who have joined the taliban. here's nick's exclusive report. >> reporter: you know a war's going badly when your enemy's right in front of you. this white flag is the taliban's. they really are that close to these afghans. defending one of the last government holdouts in helmand province. it used to be nato that shot from the positions near the vulnerable city of lach-de-gar. hundreds of americans and britains died for helmand. many in the town of sagan where these pictures show the afghan army recently in heavy clashes. but now afghanistan is quite quickly watching helmand fall. the taliban are winning partly because of men like these. this is a rare window into the afghan government's worse nightmare. soldiers from the afghan army who america spent billions training who say they've defected and joined the taliban. never dreamed they changed sides. >> i took an oath to serve this country. but the situation c

let's bring in senior correspondent nick paton walsh live in kabul. you spoke to these men face-to-face. >> reporter: yes. it tells you something about how brutal isis have been perceived in southeastern afghanistan. a place ruled by decades of war. the two men who used to be taliban fighters were disgusted by beheadings. they were put into a camp and they were sickened by that and they chose to defect away from isis. we have seen since early last year, isis move into the east of the country. many accuse them of being foreign and often from pakistan. they play on disputes from the taliban ranks to get a foot hold. u.s. drone strikes came in to try to push them back. that seems to have predominately worked, but these defectors left because their goals isis pursuing were not the same. now remarkably, these taliban men were at one point target of u.s. air power. now they cheer on u.s. drones attacking isis even if their villages and former homes. they want to see isis wiped out. it is such a mess this war. isis were a damaging and new complication in the

nick paton walsh live for us in turkey. a quarter past 10:00 in the morning. still recovering from a devastating earthquake. how the nation is parking the anniversary next. >>> plus within the last hour, brussels reopened a metro station bombed in last month's terror attacks. we will take you live to the belgian capital. >>> and nigerian forces are targeting boko haram while searching for hundreds of kidnapped schoolgirls. we'll bring you an exclusive report from the front line after this. they'll always be our babies. so there will be things to keep us up at night. will they find happiness? reach their potential. stay safe. fall in love. but tonight johnson's can help with a bedtime routine clinically proven to help them fall asleep faster. and stay asleep longer. there will be things to keep us up. but tonight, we sleep. "are you okay?" "yeah, i just got charged for my credit monitoring. that's how i know it"s working." "ah. you know you can go on creditkarma.com and check it out there. it's completely free." "really?" "yeah" "oh, that didn't hurt at all." "

for more on all this, senior international correspondent nick paton walsh joins us now life from kabul. nick, why are these soldiers swapping sides and choosing to fight with the taliban instead, and how likely is it that afghan troops will be able to regain this lost territory? >> reporter: well, the reasons these men, who spoke to us, gave was really the corruption in the ranks of the afghan army, the lack of resources they've been receiving. frankly, widely acknowledged problems by the afghan government themselves and even u.s. officials admit to about two-thirds of personnel losses the afghan may have suffered. it's a widespread issue and particularly right now it's acute because they've been under pressure before. in the vital southern province of helman, keeping the taliban back. but not even 18 months after that combat mission by nato ended, we're now seeing the taliban moving fast to claim territory there. you know a war is going badly when your enemy is right in front of you. this white flag is the taliban's. they really are that close to these afghans. defending one of the la

we want to bring in cnn's nick paton walsh. nick, i understand the death toll has gone up?he count of this morning on both rebel held areas, 123, with 18 children among those, and 17 on the regime side. i have to tell you, miguel, this morning, we are getting reports of continued air strikes. some suggesting possibly over a dozen in total. we don't know at this stage the death toll or the injuries. we know that some activists are saying that one clinic was also hit at this stage. that clinic was set to be perhaps empty at the time. we are still in the very early stages of gathering information. no definitive notion of how many were injured or killed during that. also, too, residents are telling us a mosque was also targeted by what he thought was a jet firing missile. not many casualty reports coming from there either at this stage. it does appear the strikes are continuing today, but the death toll at this point not anywhere like what we are hearing from yesterday's strike on the msf hospital. that on it self, the strike on msf hospital was something we have seen many inst

let's turn to cnn's nick paton walsh.hanks for joining us. 28 people dead, more than 300 wounded from the attack in kabul. this is part of the taliban's preannounced spring offensive? >> reporter: that seems like it, a common tactic, jake, for them to penetrate to be the ring of steel that surrounds the government-controlled capital. the attack planned for the morning, actually the first blast there using a suicide bomber in a truck, blowing up in a private parking lot where there were a lot of civilians going their way to work, going to school. that parking lot annexed on to the back of a compound where part of the security services have one of their headquarters. this park, bodyguards effectively responsible for looking after afghan vips, that was the taliban's target. a second assailant, using a blast, having blown a hole in the wall to get in, began attacking inside. it seemed to have taken a number of hours for the second attacker to have been killed. remarkable, 300 injured. worth pausing on that number, 300 lives,

nick paton walsh, cnn, kabul. >> thank you very much for that. i spoke with the top u.s.official that says european nations are not taking full advantage of u.s. tools to fight terror. >> we provide them with tools, we provide them with support, i would find it concerning that they don't use these tools. >> up next, you'll hear his concerns about terrorists from europe potentially slipping into the u.s. we'll be back. you don't let anything keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. >>>elcome back. i'm pamela brown in washington. great to have you along. you're looking at john kasich speaking in new rochelle, new york. hillary clinton set to take the mike in brooklyn. >>> we turn to breaking news. a confession in belgium. prosecutors say this man, mohamed abrini the last known fugitive in the paris attacks admitted to be the man in the hat seen in a brussels airport with the two bombers moments before explosions. i spoke

nick paton walsh, cnn, kabul. >> coming up, ted cruz and his family in the spotlight tonight at the cnng out his softer side? that's right after this. >>> last night at the cnn town hall, donald trump with his entire family on stage showed something of a softer side from his angry tweets. >> i wanted to be a baseball player. i wanted to make movies. i had a lot of different ambitiouses i was as growing up. >> do you write all your own tweets. >> i would say yes. >> he is not the guy that sets you done on his knee and says this is how you do business. you learn by watching. he will let you make the mistake and you will pay for it. >> i have a wonderful family. it's been important to me. i think it's been a stabilizing factor. i don't think i would have the kind of success without my family. >> tonight is senator ted cruz's turn. he will be joined on stage by his wife heidi. will we see more of a personal side of ted cruz. i'm joined by a ted ted cruz supporter and executive president of the family leader. bob, obviously intentioned tonight to get more personal for the candidate, particul

bring in nick paton walsh in kabul. perihelped broker a unity deal in 2015.ct crumbling or was the meeting today in any way connected to the work he'd already done? >> reporter: well, i think most people view kerry's trips here as politically timely. no greater political sense of crisis, in the past few weeks, frankly, many criticized lack of action and cohesion within kabul. the key, security, brought home in the last minutes here. behind us, pretty much, according to pool notes we've gn been getting from journalists traveling with secretary kerry, his plane taking off before loud explosions rocked what seems to be -- can't tell because of dark behind us, what's around the diplomatic area here of kabul, where the u.s. has its embassy and other countries have their embassies, too. we don't know precisely what caused the explosions. the sound familiar to a shell landing, pretty regular here for kabul but the timing, frankly, impossible to ignore as john kerry makes a visit here where security is top of the list. it's clear these four separate explosions are hi

nick paton walsh, cnn, beirut. >> the situation there dire. and this story, a story of children.rives it home to you, i'm sure. for more context on what's happening. let's go live to cairo egypt. ian is following this in aleppo. ian, it's good to have you. so, what to make of the cessation of hostilities? is there still hope there? or is it fair to say this is no longer viable? >> reporter: well, george, you may remember that last february is when they graded the cessation of hostilities between the government of bashar al assad and his allies and the western-backed rebels. not part of that was isis and al qaeda-affiliate, al nusra front. but the u.n. special envoy to this crisis has said that it is hanging by a thread. and that really is generous right now, with the violence that we're seeing, it looks like it's all but over, and in the last eight days, you have 244 people killed. and this included 43 children and 27 women. so it does look at this point that the cessation of hostilities, if not hanging by a thread, are dead. >> beyond aleppo, are there other areas where fighting

we also have our own nick paton walsh on the ground in kabul.wo journalists. team coverage later in this show. >>> the online media wing of isis claims the terror group has released hundreds of factory workers in syria. they were taken hostage when isis captured a sprawling cement factory north of damascus on wednesday. isis says it has released 300 workers because they are muslims and not loyal to the syrian regime. at least 20 others, though, are still being held. according to isis, four people have been executed because they belonged to a minority shiite sect. >>> isis has all but destroyed syria's ancient city of palmyra and now the hermitage museum in russia has a plan to restore the 2,000-year-old structure. matthew chance has this report for us. >> reporter: the old amphitheater at palmyra was used as isis as a back drop for public executions. russian drone video shows it's now one of the few monuments there still standing. other irreplaceable structures like this monumental roman arch was simply razed to the ground by the so-called islam

i want to go live to senior correspondent nick paton walsh in kabul with reporting. ng? >> reporter: john, no area can be more important than helmand. the bloodshed to keep the taliban out of it. according to a police official, they are in control of five districts of the province. pressuring the city. we spoke to some afghan army people who deserted the army and joined the taliban saying their fight for the government is fruitless. they said they were not getting the assistance from the army to continue that fight. to the afghan government, pushing back hard they are losing the fight. the acting defense minister going as far as saying he would resign if the key city in helmand would fall. here's what he said. >> it will not fall. >> at all? >> at all. >> if it does, will you resign? >> it will not fall. if it falls, there is no doubt i would resign. it will not fall. >> reporter: a strong statement there about how important it is. we heard from officials saying it is pressured by the taliban. john, this is about the next few months. kabul, you saw explosions near joh

cnn correspondent nick paton walsh. i want to start with you.tatus of what's happening there? >> reporter: two key issues. one is politically at issue is the government between president ghani and the senior ceo. that's having a lot of problems, a lot of turmoil about the issues its facing in kre meanting reforms and keeping things going and paying basic salaries. that's one key issue. the second one is security. as you said. the taliban hold more territory now more than any time since 2001. we have the fighting season ahead when it warms up and violence on the ground. that's imminent. the idea of the taliban, frankly, being there and holding a lot would be unthinkable just years ago. as of last year according to the top u.s. official, the afghan forces lost 5,500 fighters alone. that's more than nato lost in the entire time they've been here and they're experiencing large levels of injury as well. the opium production here is as high as it was back in 2000. by every metric, really, you look at, this is a conflict that's going very badly indeed

nick paton walsh was on the ground from kabul and has this report. >> reporter: those four explosionsd to mostly hit the diplomatic areas of kabul, the key parts of the infrastructure. they came pretty much minutes after john kerry had departed the country. we had a night suggesting -- a note suggesting he was airport significantly before we heard the actual explosions. it's unclear where he was. initial reports suggest it was rockets and that we're not hearing of many major injuries at this stage. late at night here, scant information available. goes to hammer home frankly how fragile security is. not just here in kabul, even at a time of lockdown for a key %-pp with this very volatile fighting season in the warmer months, expected to start soon. john kerry was here, he said clearly to try and shore up the national unity government that he helped create a number of years ago now, in between the president here now and the man he fought the election against, the man who's the country's ceo, abdullah abdullah. not necessarily known to have the best working relationship here. many have s

senior international correspondent nick paton-walsh explains. >> reporter: libya's political chaos may bit. for the past week it's had three groups claiming to be the government of libya. one has been the de facto government of tripoli the capital and another recently arriving in the country has the backing of the united nations and the west and the e.u. it turned up actually in boats in the capital in tripoli recently because it had its passage by air blocked by people who claim to be the government there. and it's going about the business of trying to run the country. that's seemed to have an effect because that's coupled with intense international pressure, sanctions against the people who used to claim they were the government, de facto inside of tripoli. that seems to have caused that old government to fade into the background and cede control to this new u.n.-backed government. they still of course have a dispute with the other second groeft maining in the east of the country only some of whose supporters say this new u.n.-backed government is a good idea but it's the glimmer of

i want to bring in nick paton walsh live from kabul. nick, you spoke to the men face-to-face. the men, former taliban fighters, killers themselves. when the taliban group under pressure, people came across the border from pakistan, hard and radical under the isis flag and said join us for face the consequences. they took that choice and soon saw that isis were after their own warped ideology and money and in their eyes, too brutal. they describe the beheadings and how those who were relatives of fighters who died were not given up to the person's family to look after, but put in an isis camp. that was enough for the men to decide they chosen the wrong side. they defected and now working with the afghan government in the uprising program to get militants together to kick isis out. it is backed up by american fire power. isis are to some degree on the decline in the east of the country from where they were last year. because of drone attacks hitting them again and again. they are still there. they are popping up in your areas. it is staggering to see men like these two we interv

nick paton walsh, cnn. >>> erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> next we're counting you downin new york for a special town hall event. trump's wife along with his children only here tonight cnn. as we couldn't you down why the clinton white house was worried about donald trump 17 years ago and the clinton campaign calling out bernie sanders charging he's the one trying to rig the system. let's go "outfront".

. >> nick paton walsh, thank you for your excellent, excellent reporting. that it's for me.next on cnn. >>> hi there. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. a big day here on this tuesday. this is the first new york republican primary in generations that counts. in fact, voters right now playing a direct part in who the next presidential nominee will be for both parties and as new yorkers are out and about casting the ballots, two of their own fighting to be out ahead. republican donald trump and democrat hillary clinton. both today voting. both also face rival who is are coming off of a string of victories. talk about momentum there. while secretary clinton needs a

nick paton walsh, cnn. >>> erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> next we're counting you down the trump family live here in new york for a special town hall event. trump's wife along with his children only here tonight cnn. as we couldn't you down why the clinton white house was worried about donald trump 17 years ago and the clinton campaign calling out bernie sanders charging he's the one trying to rig the system. let's go "outfront". >>> good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight we're counting down to the entire trump family. he'll be joined by his wife, his children. they are all going to be here answering audience questions in a special live cnn town hall event. here in new york this comes as donald trump has a commanding 43 point lead in the latest poll. trump is ahead 60% of likely gop voters say they will cast their vote for him. jacks second with 17%. ted cruz third at 14. more good news for the front-runner tonight almost a full month after missouri voters went to the polls trump declared the winner of the state of's 12 remaining delegates in the race to 123

nick paton walsh, you're joining us live from beirut. let's talk about what he suggested that the policies of the bush administration and now the obama administration over the last seven and a half years in iraq and in syria have basically laid the groundwork for the establishment, the creation of isis and this threat that now exists in the region and outside of the region. you cover that story for us. what did you think? >> reporter: well, it's interesting. i mean, his grasp of history stops and picks up in 2008. if you look at why he thinks isis came into being, it's because of obama wasn't strong enough. yes, there's an argument that continued u.s. military investment or presence in iraq could have helped the country weather the arrival of isis but isis came into fruition as the islamic state of iraq during the insurgency against american presence di vised by george w. bush as we well know in 2003 and 2008 when left the presidency. there's a great deal of desire to say it's basically obama's weakness to say where isis came into existe

nick paton walsh live with this cnn exclusive. >> reporter: remarkable after all assurances gave wouldanging hands. some cases defection to the taliban among afghan soldiers where that challenge is greatest. you know a war is going badly when your enemy is right in front of you. this white flag is the talibans. they are that close to these afghans defending one of the last held. it used to be nato that shot from these positions near the vulnerable city. hundreds of americans and britains died many in the town where the pictures show the afghan army recently in heavy clashes. now afghanistan is quite quickly watching. the taliban are winning partly because of men like these. soldiers from the afghan army who america spent billions training who say they have defected and joined the taliban. >> translator: i did 18 months army training and took an oath to serve this country but the situation changed. the army let us down so we had to come to the taliban. >> reporter: they carried uniforms, i.d.s and bank cards used to get old army wages. these pictures were more recently filmed and both u

cnn senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is in beirut with more. , nick. >> reporter: carol, what is so important about the strike on the hospital aside from the the loss of life, they're supposed to be experiencing a cessation of hostility. it is being divided on the battle field between the u.s. and russians. but it really brought home to view how many lives are being lost in the past week. 200, around aleppo alone. 123 on the side in rebel held territory, including get, this, a staggering 18 children. it is part of a broader optic in regime backed by the russians, the eastern side of aleppo held by the rebels. it was emphasized today, when we heard 20 more air strikes against various targets. one activist saying two people lost their lives. a lot less of a death toll, because people get this, are staying away from hospitals because they're afraid of being hit there, mosques and schools are closed in the area as well. this really makes people concerned that we may be entering a new much more active military phase raround aleppo. forcing the regime

. >> nick paton walsh, thank you for your excellent, excellent reporting. that it's for me. the news continues next on cnn. >>> hi there. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. a big day here on this tuesday. this is the first new york republican primary in generations that counts. in fact, voters right now playing a direct part in who the next presidential nominee will be for both parties and as new yorkers are out and about casting the ballots, two of their own fighting to be out ahead. republican donald trump and democrat hillary clinton. both today voting. both also face rival who is are coming off of a string of victories. talk about momentum there. while secretary clinton needs a simple win, donald trump needs a little bit more than that. he needs to break 50% statewide in new york and within each congressional district. that way all 95 republican delegates are his. trump needs every single delegate in his pursuit of that magic number 1,237, the number of delegates to clinch the republican nomination and needs to do this as the campaign leadership is going through ma

nick paton walsh has this exclive report. >> reporter: you know a war is going badly when your enemyare that close. it used to be nato that shot from the positions near the vulnerable city. hundreds of americans and britains died many in the town where these pictures show the afghan army recently in heavy clashes. but now afghanistan is quite quickly washing the city fall.w because of men like these. soldiers from the afghan army who america spent billions training who say they've defected and joined the taliban. they're edgy. >> translator: i did 18 months of army training and took an oath to serve this country, but the situation changed. the army let us down, so we had to come to the taliban, who treat us like guests. >> reporter: their carry their old uniforms, ids, and wallets to get their old army wages. now both use their training and experience to train the taliban. >> translator: i decided to leave the army when my dead and injured comrades lay in our base, but nobody took them to a hospital. my army training is very useful now as i am now training taliban fighters with the s

nick paton walsh has the latest for us. >> reporter: a lot of this is about symbolism for angela merkel, to be seen, to be concerned about the living rights of syrian refugees on the syrian/turkish border area because of course she is the key broker of the deal between the european union and turkey that will see thousands, many more refugees, sent back from across the european union to turkey in exchange for 6 billion euros of aid and assistance to turkey in dealing with their broad and enduring refugee crisis here. now, she saw as part of her tour here a temporary shelter, frankly one of the better shelters provided for refugees here. a snapshot of how long-term the problem is here, hundreds of people living in that one shelter were in fact born there. that's one in ten have never seen life outside of a refugee camp like that. but the real concern is for the many others, 2.7 million, syrian refugees in turkey who don't have living conditions like this. turkey has faced a problem way in excess of a near million refugees the european union has had to deal with since the summer. angela me

nick paton walsh has that exclusive and fascinating interview. nick?l onned initially to some taliban. they have been fighting amongst themselves. as we saw here that savagery at the end of the day resroltd many insurgents and then turned against them. >> looking for isis in afghanistan's east radio broadcast of hate by the u.s. but here it's been coming back in the past week. it was there three days ago and it's gone again. they were talking nonsense, says another. they are asking people to pledge allegiance and march on kabul. he adds, this is one broadcast they recorded earlier. isis is trying to put down roots here. but every day more afghans want to tear them up. that starts here. two months ago. then there were commanders in isis. >> they are just like beheadings, saying they are good to do. >> isis, they say, came from pakistan, not iraq, and promised money to their struggling group. their agenda, back flags, killing and looting, which they did go along with at first. >> translator: they take your money. the poor they would have them fight for t