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and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". >> i'm in washs "bbc world news america." laying out a new world order and afghanistan, the taliban hold their first press will not be used as a base for spreading terrorism. >> i reassure all internationals, the u.n., our neighbors, that we will not be allowing the soil of afghanistan to be used against anybody. >> scrambling to leave images unlike this, they show the desperation of those trying to flee the country. u.s. officials say they are talking with the taliban about allowing civilians to get out. >> the taliban have informed us

they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport. and we intend to hold that -- hold them to that commitment. >> taking a closer look at deep space. new images of far-off galaxies offer clues into the birth and death of the stars. ♪ welcome to bbc world news america on pbs and around the globe. the taliban are establishing their control over afghanistan today. 20 years after u.s. led forces drove them from power. in an extraordinary press conference, the taliban officials took questions from local and international press, including female journalists, saying the country not be used as a host for terrorist

activities. they offered assurances women would be allowed to go to school and work within islamic principles. our chief correspondent has more. >> the republic has fallen, its leaders fled. taliban rule is returning. day by day it's fighters are more visible on the streets of kabul. patrolling with u.s. military vehicles left behind or lost by government forces. taking on tasks to show they are -- they are in charge now. and showing the new face of afghanistan to the world. today, the first press conference by a man who's long been a mystery. the taliban spokesman, showing his face in public for the first time. making their message clear. >> i reassure all international, the u.n., all embassies, our neighbors, that we will not be allowing the soil of afghanistan

to be used against anybody. we have given amnesty to anybody, there is no revenge. all those young people who have talent and have an education, we don't want them to leave. >> day by day, afghans come to terms with the taliban. waiting, not for words, but what will change in their lives. >> let's see what afghanistan brings. i want to stay here and fight for my students. i want to fight for our vision of afghanistan. i know things are never going to be the same anymore. i have to be here. >> so far, some surprises. female presenters are still fronting popular news programs. taking her questions. but many fear it's just a shining new show for now. women are already taking to the streets. we exist, they shout.

work, education, political participation is our right. women make up half of afghan society, don't upset us, they tell the taliban, be our voice. today the taliban is also focused on that fear. >> there will be nothing against women in our ruling. however people except our women are muslims and they accept islamic rules. if they continue to live according to sharia, we will be happy, they will be happy. >> they said that so many times before. >> as an afghan woman, i would not trust them cause they don't have a good track record of keeping up their promises. if they were so keen on women's rights, they would not stop girls from going to the north and they would not stop women from working. these are two different narratives. >> the fighting finished, time

for taliban style. not the usual image, but it may be a brief pause before new rules come into force. lo at just one snapshot of how many people, afghans and reigners are fleeing as fast as possible. the evacuation from kabul airport proceeds ever more urgently. including britain's operations. the taliban are promising stability and a government that's different this time around. their words have changed. many wait to see what they really mean. >> we are going to be hearing more from her and just a couple of moments. but the white house continues to defend its decision to withdraw from afghanistan. the national security jake sullivan, told the press conferencehat the biden administration was unwilling to commit the american troops needed to continue propping up

the afghan government. >> what has unfolded over the past month has proven decisively that it would have taken a significant american troop presence, multiple times greater than what president biden was handed to stop a taliban homicide. >> jack sullivan for more on all of this i am joined by the former united states ambassador to nato. thank you for joining us on "world news america." the taliban press conference today, it was extraordinary for many reasons. hearing the thoughts from the former afghan government media center. do you think the u.s. can work with the taliban after seeing that conference? >> i think the taliban have some good pr coaching and they are saying a lot of things that would be reassuring to the international community or to the afghan people in order to

ease their path towards consolidating power. what has to be seen is how they behave in power. i think it is something we should all be skeptical about, given their track record in ideology, that they wilin factory people well and govern in a responsible way. that they will not seek retribution. i find it hard to believe, but we have to see. >> with that, some things are in limbo, so to speak. what responsibility do youhink president biden in the united states has to people of afghanistan? i'm talking more widely than those who work directly with them as translators or contractors. >> i think we have a tremendous responsibility, and this is a series of events that did not have to happen. we were doing fine with the status quo at minimal expense, minimal loss-of-life empowering

the afghan forces. as we begin to pull out and pave the way for the taliban to momentarily seize power, it did not have to go that way, and i think we still owe the afghan people some measure of support and assistance so that they know we still want to see them be successful. >> i'm wondering what you make -- mr. biden has not been in touch with other international leaders. what do you think that tells us about the u.s. future relationship with nato allies? >> i know secretary of state blinken has been making phone calls all day. i have seen the reports of phone calls he has had with goal states. -- gulf states. but it is incumbent upon the president to be reassuring to nato allies. just because we walked away from afghanistan with little conference -- consultation, that we will remain in our international interests with our

nato allies. >> i just saw a poll come in and it said 68% of americans agree it was always going to end badly and afghanistan. do you agree with that assessment of most americans? >> it's an opinion poll, so people are expressing their opinion. i don't think it had to end this way. i think we could have planned more and given the afghans more time. we could have invested more over many years, over several administrations we were minimizing what we were trying to do as opposed to trying to accomplish our fundamental objectives. >> thank you for joining us. we will see how this evolves over the coming days. i want to look n at the latest events in afghanistan, closely. what could we possibly expect? our chief international

correspondent joins us from dubai. thank you for joining us. i found that press conference extraordinary today to watch. i'm wondering did anything surprise you? >> it was quite jarring to see the government media and information centers. it was heralded as one of the success stories of the afghan government. afghan media has been hailed as one of the success stories of the last 20 years. to see the day the taliban coming down that staircase led by a man whose identity has always been a mystery, no one has seen his face before. we have always wondered whether he really existed, whether there was many. so the whole thing was a performance. the way they were dressed, the way they came in. but the words they used are words that have been used only times before.

i have heard countless times, afghans have heard countless time that afghan women and girls would be given all of their rights within islam. what does that mean? it was the islamic republic of afghanistan, one of the most republic institutions in the world. the taliban told us it's not islamic enough. so today's press conference reiterated what they said before, but it did not give a lot more 30. >> very briefly, could it be a different sort of taliban to that of 20 years ago? and i have 20 seconds. >> the taliban have changed, but the question is, have they changed as much as afghanistan has changed? >> thank you so much for joining us. the global reaction to the taliban's swift return to power has been as much about the new leadership in afghanistan as a

has been about what went wrong for the u.s. evans allies. china has used this as an example of what they say is america's waning influence on the world stage. here is more from beijing. >> there is no shortage of oating in some parts of chinese state media over what it regards as nothing short of humiliation for the united states in afghanistan. some in china will make much of what they see as the latest evidence of the ongoing decline. but once you look beyond that, the picture of china i afghanistan and in terms of its relationships with the united states is less clear. in a phone call between antony blinken, america secretary of state and his chinese counterpart, the chinese lecture the americans on what they call the serious negative impact of the u.s. withdraw in

afghanistan. but china will be concerned about what will now fill the void. wow -- will a taliban-controlled government in afghanistan, of which china has a border, offer may be political support, maybe even resources to their islamic brothers in the west of this country? for groups there that china regards as terrorists and they will be concerned about support coming from the new government in afghanistan. in the short term, china will make much of the humiliation. in the long term they will be concerned about groups in china, also the u.s. efforts and ability to refocus on its confrontation with beijing. >> as he was bringing us that report, i am seeing u.s. president joe biden has spoken to the u.k. prime minister boris johnson about the situation in

afghanistan. that's according to a downing street spokesperson. in the united states, america's military involvement in afghanistan has come at huge financial cost, to the tune of $2 trillion. then there is the personal toll for thousands of soldiers and their loved ones. here is the report. >> it's a procession in rural western pennsylvania honor an american soldier killed in a very different world. with more than 2.5 thousand u.s. military lives lost in afghanistan in the past 20 years. 25-year-old staff sergeant dylan was killed by a roadside bomb nearly three years ago. the sense of loss is still overwhelming for his family. though the town is paying tribute now to his lost son with the renaming of a post office.

>> it's very wonderful to see dylan honored. he sacrificed everything for our country. and i believe that we should all be honoring our military more and realize what they do for not only the united states but for the entire world. >> he was referred to the tribute ceremony and it was all taken place with the backdrop of a ge amount of criticism on the u.s. in theall of kabul to the taliban. is it difficult to understand what it was all for, even though the very people dylan were fighting against are in charge? >> he had to follow his orders back in november of 2018. he did everything that was asked of him and then some. regardless of what has happened during the past week and in the past month, i know dylan did

everything right. >> as i have personally suffered the loss of my own brother -- >> and for the chaplain who served in afghanistan, like his brother who was killed, knows how hard it has been to watch the events. >> it has been really difficult. you always want to know that what you are doing has purpose and meaning, but purpose and meaning does not always come in victory. i believe. sometimes it comes in the sacrifice and the experience. are we better off, is the country better off, are they better off? that's hard to say. >> the profound questions being grappled with is the stark contrast to the clear conviction of dish nation where the war began two decades ago.

>> in other news, thousands of people, including tourists and campsites have been moved to safety as firefighters tackle a wildfire close to the french riviera. they were given mines to leave after the fire broke out. a demand behind the gate was so duco has died. he published the game in his home country of japan after finding an existing game that had its origins in france. he became a worldwide phenomenon wh newspapers across the globe began printing it. here watching bbc world news america. still to come on tonight's program. going from bad to worse in haiti, a tropical storm is hampering those affected by saturday's earthquake.

>> new zealand has got into a nationwide locked out after the first community case in six months. it has been over a year since the country was put under the strictest level stay-at-home orders. >> interestingly the prime minister used sydney as an example of what happens when you don't get on top of the outbreak in the cases spread. the number of cases here remains stubbornly high and she says we don't want what happened to sidney tappan and new zealand. they are not sure if it's the delta variant. they have not been able to find a link between the case and overseas travel or hotel quarantine. the vaccination numbers have been low. 20% of people have been vaccinated. they are trying to ramp its numbers up, but mainly they want to contain the outbreak and make

sure they trace contacts to make sure the delta variant does not spread quickly. ♪ >> the death toll from saturday's powerful earthquake in haiti has risen to more than 1900 people. nearly 10,000 wounded. heavy rain and high winds are worse conditions for the thousands that were forced into temporary shelters. the yuan estimates that more than half a million children have limited access to shelter, safe water and food. our correspondent reports now from the town of one of the worst affected areas. james: at times it feels like haiti is being hit from all directions on multiple fronts. first the earthquake, then the storm. it hit just after dark, violent

winds and horizontal rain, misery on top of misery. all across this town people have been left with a stark choice. do they sleep in unsafe structures we date this site -- or do they decide to sleep on the streets in the wet and cold. this is the biggest town in the area. people seeking refuge on a football field. they were told they would be safe here. and as the rains poured, they were soaked in tents ripped apart by winds. people here are desperate and angry. >> we have problems here, just look at the conditions. where are the government? they are not here. james: there are injured people. this woman's foot has a deep laceration and she's had no medical attention. another woman tells me she has not eat and since saturday. the other option here is to sleep in homes already badly damaged. he runs the local lottery shop and he and his family were lucky

the house did not totally collapsed, but they had to make it difficult decision. you slept here last night? >> yes, i slept here in this broken house last night. there was wind and rain. but other people had to sleep outside on shares. >> there is simply no good options in their situation. these are desperate times in the storm has meant that the help that is needed by air and road simply hasn't arrived. >> let's step away from our troubles here on earth for a moment and turn our attentions towards the heavens. astronomers have captured some of the most detailed images ever seen of galaxies in deep space and they reveal their inner workings in an unprecedented image that shows destroying stars and planets. here is the report. >> our son is just one among 100

billion stars in the milky way. which in turn is one of countless other galaxies in our universe. astronomers have found a way to see inside them in much greater detail. in this image, the galaxy is in the middle, shooting out either side a jet of material across the expanse of space as the result of a gigantic black hole inside it. >> it shoots out like a fountain of water, far beyond the reaches of the galaxy. i walked around with a huge smile on my face because i felt proud i was able to make this image and be able to see something nobody had seen before. >> is one of several new pictures obtained with the help of these aerials in a small field in hampshire. please pick up radio waves from the galaxy. they may not look like much, but astronomers have collected 52 sites like this one spread all across europe.

astronomers can now see things they have never been able to see before. this is a picture of a galaxy scene from a normal television death telescope. there is a standard radio image. so it's brighter, a l of the detail has been lost. now compare it with one of the new high definition images, which is much sharper, showing features inside an unprecedented detail. the brightest area at the bottom shows the location of the gigantic black hole inside the galaxy. it's bright because of the energy release as it sucks and material around it. this image shows two galaxies colliding. bright spots of clusters of exploding stars, creating what astronomers call a galactic win. blowing dust and gas away from it. this is a galaxy created early art of the life of the universe, it too has a black hole, causing jets of material to spurt out. >> even seasoned astronomers say

wow at these pictures. in order to understand galaxy evolution, we need to understand the black hole right at the very center. because it appears to have a fairly fundamental influence on how a galaxy holds. >> these new images will help astronomers learn more about how the processes that created stars, galaxies actually work. >> amazing pictures. before we go tonight we would like to update you on the unfolding situation in afghanistan. taliban officials held their first press conference in kabul. they set their country would not play host to international terrorist groups and insisted women would have a place in their society, according to islamic and suppose. u.s. president joe biden has spoken to britain's prime minister about the situation in afghanistan, and they plan to

hold a virtual g7 meeting of world leaders next week to discuss a strategy moving rward. thanks very much for watching "bbc world news america." goodbye. ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs. ♪ da-da-da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the fallout continues-- the u.s. negotiates with the taliban to secure safe passage for americans leaving the country, as the insurgent group explains how they will govern. then, the fight for rights-- prominent activist and former afghan government official kamila sidiqi discusses the precarious road ahead for women living in afghanistan, as the taliban vows to respect them. >> people are afraid a lot, but let's see if they can be different. we will see from their action. >> woodruff: and, getting the vaccine-- the biden adminiti