within the taliban movement. so it's very well understood by conflict analysts that so far the taliban's ambitions lies squarely within the territory of their own country. they do have and, as you say, they are very eager to round up all of the illegal weapons and they are trying to collect them in this area. they are trying to raise money and i think they are doing a very good job of collecting tax revenues. trade is down about a half, but government revenues are holding steady, which means that the taliban are significantly less corrupt. very significantly less corrupt than the previous government, at least so far. one of the things that the international committee will need to do was to keep a close watch in america has very significant decisions coming up with the renewal of the mandate. the u.n. mission in afghanistan needs a very serious ability to keep an eye on the taliban and make sure that they are making good on their promises. >> i'm sorry, mr. smith. i just want to toss this to him briefly. do you ag

so should we really be taking the taliban on their words? i wouldn't say the taliban are in favor of girls education. definitely. they have a strong resentment against that. or some objections against that, but we have to counter the taliban also by religious arguments because they act on conviction. and so there is no religious argumentation against women education. and that's why we should take them by their words. because that's the way how they argue. and but on the other hand, of course we can see we can use all the whole diplomatic to kids that we have. we can try with political conditions. we can try with economic pressure. but i think the taliban will not be much pressured by the other mean. so we should try also this kind of dialogue or talks and negotiations on that. but how far will that good given the body by me convinced essentially that women in many ways are inferior to man, have a 2nd class in society. and an education for them is perhaps not at all with education for men. we have to say very realistic and i think now we have

taliban leadership? >> well, is -- the international committee worked during the 1990s as well as during the last 20 years, and rather putting my former hat on, i would agree with what graham said that the that'll a ban's ambitions are confined -- that the taliban ban's ambitions -- i do think it's important to say that there are other forces in afghanistan that have wider ambitions and, obviously, there's a great fear because i served on the afghan study group that was convened by the u.s. institute of peace, and that a raised a a range of security questions relating to other groups beyond the taliban. secondly, i want to emphasize that we have been very clear with the taliban authorities that we will not take dictates about who we can employ. about half of our staff are women, and theyo are in senior management positions as well o s in more junior rule -- roles. we've also made clear we will not pay illicit or unofficial levies to them, and they have encouraged us to carry on our work.he and so i don't

we can blame it on the taliban but it's the partial effective aid to save the taliban from itself. that's deeply distasteful but the roots of their economic crisis are complicated because the united states has a lot to do with it. the collapse is due in part to 20 years of midwifery that facilitated the growth of the taliban stop we froze afghanistan assets and the federal reserve after 20 years to make sure it didn't fall into the taliban's, but it's the afghan people's money. the nation to pay zone debts depends on imports and when you cut up the supply of u.s. dollars, it limits commercial actors ability to pay for those imported goods. u.s. policy did contribute to the afghan economy contracting by 40% during the last year so there is no good choice here. on one hand, we cannot unduly empower the taliban. we have to recognize the moral hazard but on the other hand, with families we stood with for two decades, facing destitution and starvation, the solution cannot be to stand by and do nothing. we hope you we use this hearing to see how the united states can find ways to save li

say that the violence against taliban has been on the rise. but exactly how much of how much is ice k p. responsible for that remains . it's difficult to say, ah, the chief ideological difference between the 2 islamist groups is that the taliban wanted in afghanistan, free of foreign forces. i asked once in islamic caliphate stretching from turkey to pakistan and beyond. suspected taliban reprisals have seen dozens of corpses showing up mysteriously? a number of bodies were found last month along a canal and jalal about the un accuses the taliban of secretly eliminating 50 suspected i asked members in manga har. langa hires a stronghold for the solace community, a fundamentalist branch of sony islam. the taliban have responded quite but by targeting the selfish community. and i've got a son and they continue to do that. and that has not only talked fear within the self is community, but potentially could also drive disenfranchise telephone to join the ranks of life . but so pervasive is the culture of fear in july about that. no one dares to s

since the taliban took control of the country last year, especially in anger, har, province, the taliban, or checking vehicles in the trading hub. the taliban are playing down the threat of the group, also known as dash. with what days mr. dice does not exist. it doesn't exist because it does not have a base or a place here to declare its government to the do not even a single piece of land in afghanistan is under their controls. look about why functionality in the streets of july, the bad taliban fighters tell of regular attacks. analysts estimate there have been nearly 100 attacks since mid september. nearly all the talking to taliban. the bloodiest was a suicide bomb blast at cobbled airport in august. as tens of thousands of afghans tried to evacuate. over $200.00 people were killed in the attack, including 13 u. s. service members. islamic stage or believe to have about 2 to 4000 fighters in afghanistan compared 280000. taliban said that the violence against taliban has been on the rise. but exactly how much of how much is ice k p. responsible for that remains. it's difficult to say

then the taliban took power. society which the taliban have created here in kandahar is probablyjust about the most extreme form of islamic fundamentalism that you could find anywhere in the world. when the country became a base for international terror groups, an american—led coalition invaded. the us and uk spent 20 years fighting the war on terror and propping up afghanistan. then, last august, the taliban returned. and then, injust a matter of a few days last summer, everything changed. the americans pulled the plug on afghanistan and the economy collapsed. 75% of public spending in this country came from western aid. most of that cash disappeared overnight. the government stopped paying wages and private businesses shut down. the lights went off. people lost their jobs, they lost their salaries. for the first time, this is a new urban class of hungry people. they genuinely are in uncharted territory. they are scared of poverty. they are scared of hunger. when the taliban returned last summer, the old governm

we are threatened by the taliban and we are afraid of them. immediately after the taliban seized power in august, they came looking for him. i wasn't home at the time, but my father was. they beat my father badly, and they tortured him and asked him to find me. they gave him a date by which time he had to find me. the family had been on the move ever since. the man worked on behalf of the german government at an end, joe, until 2014. he's hoping for a visa to germany. he wrote to his former supervisor, but says he's received no answer. i always ask myself why i helped the germans in afghanistan. why did i work with an organization that doesn't care about us? that is forgotten us in the media, they always said the leaders of germany and other countries support those who helped us enough. ghana, stan, the german government says it has approved entry for more than 21000 people since may 2021 solar but only some have been able to leave afghanistan. personal thousands are still waiting. many in hiding. this man also worked for the german army, mostly as a subcontractor, which means he's not

and is it the case of the taliban? a sort of making this up as they go along and they don't really have a vision about including women in public life or even a plan to actually do it. i think that this is, this has become the central issue or the last 6 months is that the tall bond don't seem to have a plan for anything. you know, they, they don't have a proper plan for education. they don't have a proper plan for schools, for hospitals, for women, for addressing the media. they seem to be, you know, part of it is that there are internal rifts within the group that they will deny. but it's become very clear that those exist. and then the other part is that, you know, they rushed to take over the country and they spent 20 years fighting as an armed opposition group. i don't think they ever put into thought ok, we're getting closer and closer. we made a deal with the united states, you know, at some point we will take over this country. they really don't seem to have any sort of a plan as to how they want to around the c

i have a couple of points for the taliban as well. i do not want to anger people with political comments. i do not think it is my place. i believe there is no other way other than working with the government. i hope that the taliban understand this and that they have learned from the mistakes they have made in the past. true diplomacy comes from the afghans in the country. if the taliban wants -- internationally they must understand that -- but from the afghan people. the government learned this the hard way. this point must be stressed to the international community is a good starting point would be making strides on basic human rights for men and women. retain afghan capacity that has -- built over the last 20 years. -- they are allocating the domestic revenues they have collected -- for some of the public finances such as civil servants -- and do it transparently. the international community should also see guarantees that they flow without hindrance i the taliban. -- specifically, note discrimination for access. access for monitor

i think that some of the taliban -- steps that the taliban has taken with the private sector, addressing some of the corruption at the time my colleagues have struggled so much with our commendable. more needs to be done. an economy can work when people feel safe about their investments. they see a longer term sustainability and a role to play. he'll stop here and look forward to the rest of the discussions, thank you. >> well, thank you very much. let's now move on to our third speaker. over to you. i think you're muted, sir. you have to unmute yourself. there we go. >> good morning. everybody. thank you very much for this have important meeting. i believe the new subject for today's discussion is how you internalize liquidity to any of the people in afghanistan. the big problem is that the lack of liquidity in the country. the central bank doesn't have anything no dollars in their vault. commercial banks they don't have liquidity even with the central bank. so it's not from damage and accommodation from these banks, they have their problems and people are in need of money. and what we

yogita: local taliban members told his family he was killed by a different taliban unit.eman had been threatened, but wanted to leave the country, and did not have the means to do so. >> the leaders have announced amnesty, but the low ranking taliban do not respect the order and are killing officials. yogita: the next day we heard about multiple reprisal killings in a locality on the western edge of kabul. the mood in the area was tense. away from patrol units, a local guides us. we ask who was behind the murders. >> the taliban. reporter: the taliban, he said, quietly. we were taken to the location where the men were shot dead. if you look closely, you can see bloodstains. it is the spot where three brothers from a family, o of whom a member of the afghan national army, were killed two weeks ago. multiple members of this community told us the attackers were from the taliban. people here are terrified. the family of the victims have moved away from here. this happened in the city of kabul, but you wl not find these incidents reported in the press. througsources close to t

it isn't taliban government money. a lot of it belongs to afghans not all tied to government or the taliban and so they have legitimate claims to this money and that money could also help with this liquidity and getting the economy going again, keeping people employed, creating more employment so it is important we move in that direction and think about that as we go forward. i want to reiterate the point our speakers made about using afghan capacity. there are a lot of well-trained and capable afghans that can contribute to the solution and that includes people who used to work in the central-bank left the country but who have given the right signals of protection and independence would be happy to go back and help the system to function and start functioning again within afghanistan and between afghanistan and other countries. we need to look at how we do that and how we can as some of us used to say in financial areas build a ring fence around the central-bank, make the central-bank independent and in a satisfactory

n. c's, a pattern in the taliban behavior. it talks of arbitrate arrests and detentions, as well as torture and the treatment of civil society activists, journalists, and media workers, along with form a government and security forces personnel that adds up to a pretty shameful reco, doesn't it? this is not in a label. they are expressing that in some cases, i accept that there would be some problems, but it doesn't shows the policy. but in some cases there are some groups are making some, we'd use data making some probing. and as a can give you an example of that. right now of one government didn't force no one, no woman to wear a bought a car. they lived them just the same as i advised that i just, you are a self beast on islamic and as well you. but in some cases, some are coming or burning. but what does it mean? actually this is an act off the civilizing. they are, they are bring pressure on a police that to show me just make to make guns on the and say nobody is being forced to weather job or the book that's simply not t

does that also apply to the taliban as well? since they've been caching in on the drug trade in parts of afghanistan for a very long time, are they going to stop trading in illegal narcotics as well? come to come to the policy arise now are not a critic business or traits is going through our non banking system. right now. one government government is to tele, committed, foreign reestablishing supporting banking system by just talking about the drug. i'm talking about the drug business. i'm asking whether your own fighters are going to stop dealing in drugs and taking taxes from it. last year report to the un security council said the production and trafficking of drugs remains the taliban largest single source of income. again, how does that fit in with your lamp principles? these reports were available as well about the previous government as well. but you can say the policy of, of on current government in their previous 30 years, which they have gotten them and how they brought that this business disease. or you're not my, yo

but taliban had promised an inclusive government. but not a single woman was appointed to the cabinet. my guest this week from cobble is choppy lamb taliban director general of economic relations at the foreign minister . are you in the taliban, capable of anything more constructive than violence and repression? we are working on our police forces before they were warriors for 20 years. but after that they changed the role of warriors to to the police meant. but what future are they building? so says tell v w, that the drug trade is booming and the taliban is still thinking it's cut as it have done for years and will be cracked down on some of the world's most dangerous terror groups openly posted in the country. do they really believe they can play nice with al qaeda and the west at the same time that and much more uncomfortable for you on welcome to complex zone. nice to be with you. the taliban made a lot of promises when it sees power last august and they've broken a lot of them. is there any reason why the world should trust any

they don't belong to the taliban. they belong to the central bank of afghan, as dan, which was part of a government estate. and that was backing up the commercial names in afghanistan. so part of the money belong to depositors. so think about it. if you're in your country, you deposited money in a bank, your government, you know, collapses. and then other parties want to take money that you've been waiting for access to. so legally, i think that this is the issue is that, you know, let's get a little bit of context here as well. the u. s. was negotiating with the taliban starting from 3 years ago. many would argue that the u. s. allowed the taliban to come into power with no plan, no conditions. the withdrawal was botched. and now the u. s. is trying to put some conditions. but using these funds that are needed to infuse the afghan economy with capital right now, there been restrictions on how much people can take because there's a fear of capital flight. the economy is collapsing, civil servants having gotten paid. b

then the third shock, when the taliban regime began. when the taliban took over kabul and the panic on the part of the bank and want today withdraw their entire deposit in fear of losing money because the banks would not be able to pay or to honor their request deposits. now it's extreme stress we're experiencing. banking is all about trust and during a political crisis people have lost their confidence in the banking sector. >> and we seem to have lost our signal from this live event. we'll work to resolve the issue and hope to resume our live coverage shortly. # # # >> options and also rebuild the people's trust. using the bank will build people's confidence and help in the crisis. and the center bank may take a balanced approach to bring relaxation on the limits for the cash withdrawals. the second option in some point your treasury office may bring more relaxation to allow agencies or national organizations or to work-- the policy makers how to work in the environment, but if they decide to leave the portion of foreign exchange, pro

and what the taliban trying to do is 2 things. one is trying to sell some of the mines off the creek cash. and the countries that are most likely to benefit from the potential resource for him is china and pakistan. the western nations usaa australia. k, that invested huge amounts of money in trying to argue we steal those resources. i've got nothing out of that. and that, to me, i think it's a pretty interesting lesson for many colonialists everywhere will oversee britain in the united states, say that they're not punishing the alabama for winning in the, the war. i mean, what do you think the insurgents, i mean, those people you talk to back then, what would they think about the freezing of assets by joe biden? today, given that as you say, all the promises made to them were broken about how mining would enrich their lives and the explanation of resources in the region. i think i would be angered and desperate and incredibly frustrated and i have a lot of african friends, but in afghan, a stand in the diaspora in the u. k. a u.

that's from us forces the taliban and militants. and obviously now the countries can play economic collapse and to maybe any way to address that is to engage in family. recognize that tele balance is on the view. many people want to hear back to those communities to live outside the cities, despite the economic collapse, it is the most peaceful in afghanistan. now for the last 40 years, none of this defends or denies the violence, it's going on still now some communities have been impacted. i'm not denying any of that. and i know friends of mine have family cobble who are being targeted now by the taliban. so this is not a defensive tell about at all, but it says that for many afghans outside the cities who often didn't speak to jam a, so say journalists for them the end of the us occupation at least briefly, was the rest by and as that's a be that should be heard. often, it was not often exam journalists, some journalists did go to those other areas and ideally they were, they, arguably that their reporting wasn't exactly the best

maps -- to bypass taliban checkpoints. the result would be somewhat to what is seen in the photo in the center, which shows potential evacuees using side roads and back alleys to get to hkia. the potential evacuees would make their way down these alternate routes and eventually arrive at this parking lot area being circled now. there would be a few options to get to the outer gate area. they could turn left down the far canal walkway, utilize the canal it self, or cross the footbridge and turned down the near canal walkway. this photo was taken 25 august from the sniper tower and is looking toward the baron hotel, which you can see in the background. the canal area is on the left end of the canal itself is full. we assessed that the vast majority of people would have gotten there by using one of the alternate ingress routes. the next photo was taken 26 august from further east down the canal looking toward the sniper tower. the canal was in the middle of the photo. the left side of the canal is the far side walkway, and at

this, the taliban have no choice but to tolerate. >> sanctions on the taliban will kill us faster thaniolation of our rights by the taliban. a girl dies from hunger and a mother either sells her daughter because of hunger or from pressure to marry her by force. the issue of their education and literacy is meaningless when you are dying of hunger. >> here in kabul and across afghanistan, afghan women were not ju gifted their rights by the west. even under the last government, they had to fight hard to get educated, to work, to achieve any independence. all of that progress, all of those hundreds of thousands of individual struggles for freedom vanished the moment the taliban took power. this woman worked in the intelligence service. the taliban has been targeting former officials like her and she says she fears for her life but she is angry at the former government too. >> they took back my weapon. the biggest pride for a military as his or her weapon. it is painful for us when a terrorist disarms you. >> do you think the former president is a coward? >> he was responsible to resist unt

taliban. "the taliban," he said quietly. we were taken to the location where the men were shot dead. if you look closely here, you can see blood stains. it is the spot where three brothers from a family, one of whom was a member of the afghan national army, were killed, just about two weeks ago. multiple members of this community have told us that the attackers were from the taliban. people here are terrified. the family of the victims has moved away from here. through sources close to the brothers, we got these photos. arslan, to the left, was the soldier, seen here with matheola. another brother, shireen, was also killed. the deputy spokesman of the taliban government did not want to be seen with a woman but was willing to answer my questions about the group carrying out revenge killings. translation: i strongly reject these allegations. | the policy of islamic emirate is not to harm our people in any part of the country. the un has said it has received at least 100 credible allegations of reprisals, and the more we looked

as the taliban swept through afghanistan in august last year, following the u. s. military withdrawal, the collapse of president awestruck and his government was inevitable. most of the former government top officials, including gunny himself, fled, the country triggering chaos and uncertainty among afghans. but not all of them had the opportunity or the will to leave cobble. fanny's, deputy minister of finance, nazena, kabir, he stayed home the us educated, technocrat anticipated the financial challenges such a political change could bring to afghanistan, and the taliban kept caberry in his post. will he succeed in his efforts to prevent a complete economic collapse? and as the by the administration freeze up $7000000000.00, the afghan central bank had us banks. what's the plan moving forward? afghanistan's deputy minister of finance nazir, kabir talked to al jazeera nazir caberry. thank you so much for talking to al jazeera today. i want to start back in august when the taliban took over. where were you that day? were you in cobble? i wasn't cobbled in my offi

i thought the taliban might have really changed. well, hunter got a little shot. unfortunately though, one and a half months after the collapse of the government, i just lost you of the key minute meeting. it was the 8th of september, 2021. less than a month after the taliban had swept into copper and took power. a small group of women gathered to protest. 2 journalists from the investigative newspaper at the latter rules were covering the demonstration when they were picked up by taliban security. 4 hours later the men would at least the extent of their beating was clear. for exactly that would be the founder and editor of the paper. it was evident of kind of stuff was no longer a place for journalists, chicky matter. so let me do something, my reading was not expect age. i was the kind of violent torture beating that happened to my colleagues. i never thought they would come out of prison in the state. it is very hard for me to explain the impact of losing the at a lot rose office on my colleagues. and also losing the freedom to do our work. can i really can't g

i want to start back in august when the taliban took over. where were you that day? were you in cobble? i wasn't cobbled in my office when they they came over to the ministry at 5 30 pm and evening and i handed them over the keys to the ministry of finance and afghanistan. you must have felt it was coming. we all knew that they were taking territory by territory region by region. but i mean the, the speed and the, the extraordinary events of that day tell me what it was like was her and predictable. and that the and they cobbled administration evacuated her in a very unprecedented manner. and that they created some, some chaos while the taliban made it public earlier in the morning that they are not going to be entering in the day, the cup a capital city home. but death developments that day that the president, flea and the authorities left the country. i think it led the taliban to come over and that they changed their announcement saying that now we gonna enter the city. so in your department, in your building, they come in there and what are you sitting there thin

taliban. "the taliban," he said quietly.f you look closely here, you can see blood stains. it is the spot where three brothers from a family, one of whom was a member of the afghan national army, were killed, just about two weeks ago. multiple members of this community have told us that the attackers were from the taliban. people here are terrified. the family of the victims has moved away from here. through sources close to the brothers, we got these photos. arslan, to the left, was the soldier, seen here with matheola. another brother, shireen, was also killed. the deputy spokesman of the taliban government did not want to be seen with a woman but was willing to answer my questions about the group carrying out revenge killings. translation: i strongly reject these allegations. | the policy of islamic emirate is not to harm our people in any part of the country. the un has said it has received at least 100 credible allegations of reprisals, and the more we looked, the more cases we found. a car was the only place this man f

the taliban has issued no specific media law turnover really knows what the rules are. in addition to all these issues is math, poverty, food medicine and money. i didnt, dangerously short supply. and con journalists attempting to the force on this, i contending with cold and start asian themselves. life in exile is easier, safer, but those to, unless i disconnected from the people and stories they care about, dealing with feelings ranging from relief to guilt locator. you need to solve my muscle and i think if i had stayed in cobble, i would have been just another person, a severe limitation restrictions. and i would be not my, you, my cell mentally and emotionally. my, me shower the key. although it gives me some happiness to help my leaks get out of the country. you know you and to be safe. i feel we're destroying everything we've built in the past ourselves and i'm from natalie. regaining the medias influence training journalists are bringing back all the experience that has been lost from afghan media when it will take years or so half on sunday. i wish i did i. so

the afghan people. >> and think the west will end up recognizing the taliban government. state of emergency in ottawa as there ia protest by truckers that is out of control. and a world first as doctors help a man whose final call was to walk again with the aid of an electronic implant. welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. let's start with the latest intensive diplomacy aimed at avoiding a conflict over ukraine. mnu macron flew to moscow to meet vladimir putin as president biden met with him in washington. the u.s. and german leaders say they are united were comes to polishing russia despite questions about whether germany is dependent on russia. we will have more from here in just a moment. let's start from moscow where steve rosenberg reports. >> from one precedent to another, all words. -- president to another, all words. there would be no chat. emmanuel, i am so pleased to see you. behind the smiles, serious concerns. what worries the west is moscow's muscle flexing like these wargames. involving russia and the russian troops what worries moscow

did that do the taliban come in and say as they are, we want you to stay on? we want you to keep doing a job or was it your decision? initially, it was the foot soldiers and that's why it was dangerous to face them. and that that ministry of finance pursued than an institution. oh, involving money and mismanagement historically. so that was dangerous, said was that predictable. but later on, when, when they're, when they're the senior management came in that i wrote them a letter my hand over not and that they followed up on that saying that we need you to come and explain this. and, and have a plane or manner and have a public friendly manner. so the understand and it that led to, to continuing. and that basically for me, it was the realities to figure out the number that i knew and how bad they were. a country was facing her severe drought displacement due to day intensified war and implications of the covert. and that the grid degree of independence, which was simply unsustainable and that i knew the chaos that might follow afterwards and that the people wi

defying the taliban.nd what to watch as the beijing winter olympics get underway plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: top biden officials were at the capitol today briefing senators on the growing tensions in russia and ukraine. it is a potentially critical moment as members of congress wrestle with if and how to pass sanctions directly confronting vladimir putin and the russian government. for more on all this i'm joined by our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins. give us the level of concern you were picking up as you talk to the senators after the briefing, and why? lisa: what i got that was new today, judy, from these senators as they were walking out of this long hour-and-a-half-plus briefing was continued concern, but what was new was real urgency from them. i heard in this voices a sense they think time for the u.s. to really make a statement here and potentially to strategize and use l