nick schifrin. ♪ amna: -- >> i'm stephanie sy with newshour west.n to the full shot the latest headlines. a "qatar airways" flight left kabul with more than 170 people on board -- including american citizens. it's the third such flight sinc the u-s-led airlift ended at the afghan capital. meanwhile, the taliban ordered classes to resume for grades 6 through 12 but only for boys and male teachers. workers also hung a banner renaming the women's ministry as the new home of the morals police. former female employees of the ministry said they have been locked out. france is recalling its ambassadors from the u-s and australia in a fury over a submarine deal. australia has canceled a huge contract for french subs in favor of nuclear-powered subs built in the u-s. it's part of a new pacific alliance involving the u-s, britain and australia. late today the white house announced the u.s. will try to resolve differences with friends. the biden administration announced late today is planning massive movements of haitian migrants who have congregated at the de

nick schifrin is back with the european union's top diplomat. esident biden says he is launching a new era of american diplomacy in coordination with the u.s.'s closest allies. but there are real disagreements between the u.s. and europe as they confront major challenges, including afghanistan and stalled nuclear talks with iran. to discuss that, i'm joined by the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the european commission. welcome to the newshour. thank you for joining us. residents biden and president macron say the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies. the two will meet at the end of october. president biden acknowledged the importance of france and strong defense. he expressed solidarity with france. does this call and statement repair the damage? >> yes, i think this statement has paved the way in order to overcome these difficulties. i had a meeting with the secretary of state and i he to say that this statement was what i had to say to him, so it was quite easy af

nick schifrin is in new york tonight. >> schifrin: in the largest international summit in two years,dent biden said he was launching a new era of american diplomacy. >> i stand here for the first time in 20 years, the united states not at war. as we look ahead, we will lead, on all the greatest challenges of our time: from covid to climate, peace and security, human dignity and human rights. but we will not go it alone. >> schifrin: and the president tried to reassure a skeptical world that american democracy was reliable. >> the authoritarians of the world, may seek to proclaim the end of the age of democracy. but they're wrong. the truth is, the democratic world is everywhere. democracy remains the best tool we have to unleash our full human potential. >> schifrin: but today, the decidedly-undemocratic taliban control afghanistan, and many senior western europeans say the u.s. isn't listening to its allies-- over afghanistan, covid vaccine intellectual property, trump-era tariffs still in place, and last week's announcement the u.s. and u.k. would provide nuclear-propelled submarin

initially, indonesia turned to china, but nick schifrin explores how the u.s.ts allies are trying to achieve vaccine inroads in china's backyard. >> schifrin: in indonesia's newly-dug covid cemeteries, the grievers are barely old enough to wear a mask. row after row, column upon column, from the air, all symmetrical, as if pre-planned. but on the ground, these graves were dug so quickly, the names are written in pen. the flowers, and the heartache, are fresh. at the pandemic's peak this summer, grave diggers in head- to-toe p.p.e. buried more than 200 bodies here, a day. ross the country, the daily death toll was 3,000. at first, the medical savior was china. indonesia was the first country to approve sinovac, outside of china. china sent indonesia its first sinovac shipment in december 2020. in january, president joko widodo received the vaccine on live television. it's a pattern repeated worldwide. china exported nearly one billion sinovac doses to more than 100 countries. it's created sinovac plants in 15 countries. indonesia has bought 125 million doses. bu

nick schifrin is back with how it's just the latest successful attempt by the russian government to silenceivals. >> schifrin: in russia's far east today, it looked like a parliamentary election. candidates on a poster. voting booths. ballot boxes. in moscow, the patriarch considered his options, and used a ballot box for one. even president putin himself voted from his office. but what preceded today? months of unprecedented crackdown. the authoritarian state targeted dissent, banned protests, and labeled the chief opposition party, led by alexei navalny, the "equivalent of al qaeda." to evade government censorship, navalny's campaign created an app that endorsed independent candidates. but today, apple and google removed the app from their russian stores. the kremlin had pressured the companies and labeled the app“ extremist,” as the leader of the pro-kremlin liberal democratic party said today: >> diktat. extremism. >> ( translated ): it's dictatorship and extremism. they don't have a right to interfere. it's a manipulation. you violate the democracy, you should be arrested. >> we've bee

our foreign affas correspondent nick schifrin is here with me now. us what it was that th president and the two prime ministers announced. nick: so this is what they called a landmark defense and security partnership. it is about sharing technology, sharing defense industries, and cooperatingilitarily. they talked about defending shared interests, but as you said, they didn't mention china. this is about defending shared interests against a rising china. take state president biden at the australian prime minister scott morrison at the white house. >> donations will update and enhance our shared ability to take on the threats of the 21st century just as we did in the 20th century, together. our nations and orgreave fighting forces stood shoulder-to-shoulder for literally more than 100 years through the trench fighting of world war i, the island hopping of world war ii in korea, and the scorching heat of the persian gulf. >> a partnership where our technology, our scientists, our industry, our defense forces, are all working together to deliver a safer

our foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin is here with me now. ick, tell us what it was that the president and the two prime ministers announced. >> reporter: this is what they called a landmark defense and security partnership known as aukus, australia, u.k., u.s. this is about sharing technology, sharing defense industries and cooperating militarily. they talked about defending shared interests but as you just said, they didn't mention china. but this is about defending shared interests against a rising china. take a listen to president biden and australian prime minister scott morrison who appeared at the white house virtually. >> our nations will update and enhance our shareability to take on the threats to have the 21st century just as we did in the 20th century, together. our nations and our brave fighting forces have stood shoulder to shoulder for literally more than 100 years through the trench fighting in world war i, the island hopping in world war ii during the frigid winters in korea and the scorching heat to have the persian gulf. >>

nick schifrin has the story. >> schifrin: in the senate committee responsible for military oversight, the military's leaders today said that earlier this year, after 20 years of war in afghanistan, they advised it was not time to withdraw. central command chief general frank mckenzie: >> 2,500 was an appropriate number to remain, and if we went below that number, we would probably witness the collapse of the afghan government, and the afghan military. >> schifrin: that refutes president biden's august statement to abc news' george stephanopoulos that the military supported the withdrawal. >> they didn't argue against that. >> your military advisors did not tell you, "no, we should just keep 2,500 troops. it's been a stable situation for the last several years. we can do that. we can continue to do that"? >> no. no one said that to me, that i can recall. >> was that a false statement by the president of the united states? remember, you do not have to duty to cover for a president when he is not telling the truth. >> schifrin: republicans seized on the president's having rejected milita

foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: today in a kabul market where the taliban flag flies, where fighters are traffic cops, the furniture's on sale, so families can avoid starvation. >> ( translated ): i brought my household items here for sale because there's no job. how will we eat? we sold these today. what will we sell tomorrow? >> schifrin: afghanistan's economic crisis continues to push afghans to flee. thousands tried to cross the friendship gate along the southern border with pakistan. afghans say pakistan hasn't been very friendly, but today, allowed more refugees entry. for afghan health care, the crisis is acute. most hospitals are propped up by international organizations that have now frozen $600 million. 31 of afghanistan's 34 provinces are at risk of losing health services entirely. and afghan officials fear a fourth covid wave, as only 1.5% of people have been fully vaccinated. today i spoke with dr. wahid majrooh, afghanistan's minister of public health during the previous government, who stayed on after the taliban took over. >> approximately 1

nick schifrin tells us more. >> schifrin: the mission was occupy: evergrande.untry where protest is often prohibited, earlier this month evergrande's investors filled the company's lobby to chant “give us our money back.” they direct their fury at an evergrande manager. his solution is rejected, and he's dejected next to a woman who speaks for the crowd. >> ( translated ): if they don't give me my money back then i'll jump off a tall building. they've cheated me out of all of my money. i have nothing left. >> schifrin: evergrande built itself and helped china build extraordinary growth thanks to tall buildings. this promotional clip shows evergrande apartments for china's booming upper middle class. evergrande became the country's largest real estate developer by building apartments across 8,000 sites, and pre-selling them before they were done. that means half built apartments remain unfinished, even though people like fan wanting already paid. >> ( translated ): we definitely hope that the government will come out and give us an assurance. we still have to pa

this are white house correspondent yamiche alcindor and foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrinto you first, what steps have you learned that the chairman of the joint state -- chiefs of staff, mark milley, took around the time of the election? nick: in january, mark milley called his counterpart, general -- a general, there is a photo of the two of them taken in beijing. what i'm about to report is all from a defense official, three former senior defense officials, a trump administration official and a congressional official. milley was extremely concern of what was president trump was capable of. mark esper had been terminated and the january 6 attack had just occurred and officials had been replaced with trump loyalists. milley talked every day with secretary of state mike pompeo. they worked together to try to ensure there was continuity at the end of the trump administration. there were no surprises on national security and part of that was reassuring adversaries that there would be continuity from trump to biden. that call is what milley made to the general, there would be

nick schifrin spoke to him before the u.s. troop withdrawal about sacrifice, and families' grief. the last 20 years, more than 7000 american men and women have died in afghanistan, iraq and fighting the global war on terror. nearly all of them are flown home through dover air force base. throughout, there's been one chaplain at dover, minister david sparks. david sparks, welcome to the newshour. david: thank you for inviting me. nick: thank you for being here. how do you measure theacrifice of the last 20 years? david: it's a sacrifice that goes on forever for the families who have lost their loved one, whether that's their son or daughter or parent. i have said to thousands of family members, we thank you for and honor the sacrifice of your son or daughter, but we also honor your sacrifice, which goes on forever. mostly at the point at which i am conveying that to them, they don't say anything. they listen intently. and by and large, they're somewhere between tears and sobbing. nick: do you try and comfort them? david: depending on what that means, of course. of course. but it's

nick schifrin sits down with the envoys for their first joint interview. e climate crisis is here. today, you can see it in the extreme weather, from floods to fire. you can see it in the data. the u.n. warns the world that, unless the world acts faster than it's already promised, temperatures will rise to catastrophic, irreversible levels. the u.s. calls the upcoming climate summit the last chance for the world to avoid disaster. for more on that, i'm joined by john kerry, the esident's special envoy on climate, and his european counterpart, frans timmermans, executive vice president of the european commission. welcome, both of you, to the "newshour." mr. kerry: thank you. nick: john kerry, let me start with you. there have been three decades of negotiations on climate change, and the bottom line is, emissions have gone up. does that suggest, at the end of the day, the world has apoached this in the wrong way? mr. kerry: yes. it has not raised the ambition to the level that we need to. the scientists are clear now. we have a rtain period of time, this deca