so, but the taliban and al-qaeda had this sort of symbiotic relationship where, taliban provided him sanctuary, he provided them some money, and it worked out very badly for the taliban in the end. - [narrator] the us invaded afghanistan in 2001 to break the al-qaeda terrorist network. - so the united states asked the taliban to turn over the leadership of al-qaeda, including osama bin laden. unfortunately the taliban initially didn't comply, and then began stalling for time. us patience was very short at the time, so that led to an invasion that fundamentally began about a month after the september 11th attacks. - the taliban made some tentative offers, we don't know if they were serious 'cause they were disregarded to allow osama bin laden to be tried by some independent tribunal, or something like that. the us simply rejected and said no we're gonna bomb you. the goal was not to overthrow the taliban, that came several weeks later. - the taliban had a lot of opportunities to give up osama bin laden and al-qaeda network, they refused to do so. the united states had no other option

taliban. what we haven't seen, however, is any inclination from at least significant elements of the taliban that are still engaging in horrific acts of terrorist violence as we saw last month in kabul. so everyone else seems willing to engage in a discussion at a peace conference except those elements of the taliban who are engaged in killing innocent men and women and children in kabul. >> and just one last question. the common perception is that pakistan's not doing enough to change that equation. is that your assessment? >> certainly, our assessment that pakistan has not done enough to expel elements of the taliban that have been operating in sanctuaries in pakistan, and able to cross the border. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator young. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and welcome, gentlemen. assistant secretary schriver, in your prepared statement -- become more capable and effective. as part of that you touch on the effort to transition afghan forces from russian made to u.s.-made aircra

sullivan: i think the taliban is a broad term. there are elements of the taliban more successful and more influential than others. some have more of a political following than others. one of the strategies of engaging ghani is in the taliban to the extent that we can in political discussions, killing off those elements of ling-- discussions, pee off those elements that we can reconcile with and then going after those elements that despite all of our efforts and entreaties, are still dedicated to violence and terrorism. sen. menedez: i was pleased the senate passed the afghan accountability act which laid out a framework for the united states to work collaboratively with afghan and international partners to implement meaningful reforms to promote accountability and transparency in the afghan government. hope we can week -- i hope you can revisit the legislation and ensure the committee is effectively overseeing diplomatic efforts united states is making in afghanistan and in sure we are supporting institutional reforms to safeguard

but after the fall of the taliban government, what did the reviving taliban pose by way of a threat -- direct threat across borer to the it's or its a.l. lies? other question that all reviews in that conference room could never settle. ... >> that they had a plan that made sense in terms of the cost and outcomes to be achieved. at one point during those reviews they got into an argument that have we ever said we want to defeat the taliban? i'm not sure that we have. the next day the pentagon came back with a powerpoint of all the statements of all officials to say we will defeat the taliban. i guess we have to say something so they came out of that review to degrade the caliban and reverse the momentum that language that is so strikingly vague that it begs examination. so i mentioned these reviews return to the vital interest of pakistan nuclear weapons. but also that was a fairly easy consensus to reach but what does that imply? the stability of pakistan and the military's control over the nuclear facility was crucial so the more violent the war became the clearly destabilized pakist

of revenue to the taliban and the destruction of taliban financing, so to speak. >> that's correct. there's a more comprehensive effort at illegally illicit financing and in terms of the production that they may make off that and there is an effort to disrupt the distribution points and it's something that the afghan forces are assisting on and we're focussed with. >> but not the fields themselves? >> not similar to the programs that we once had that was mentioned earlier. yes, sir. >> senator kuntz? >>. >> thank you. thank you for your testimony and thank you for your dedicated work in some extremely difficult areas of undertaking. let me just add two questions that haven't been addressed in detail or in passing by one of my colleagues. first, about other actors in the region, mr. shriver, you had mentioned that part of regionalizing our approach is an attempt at both expanding burden sharing and neutralizing potential spoilers to u.s. efforts and part of what i think has bedevilled our efforts in afghanistan have been the lack of reliable cooperation and partnership assistant supp

there e is no taing to the taliban. we don't wantnt to talk to the taliban. we're going to finish what nobody else has been able to finish. amy: we turn now to steve coll, a journalist who has reported on afghanistan and the region for the past three decades. in 2005, he won a pulitzer prize for his book, "ghost wars: the secret history of the cia, afghanistan, and bin laden, from the soviet invasion to september 10, 2001." well, now he has just published a sequel looking at what has happened in afghanistan since the 9/11 attacks. it is titled "directorate s: the cia and america's secret wars in afghanistan and pakistan." steve coll, who is dean of the graduate school of journalism at columbia university and a staff writer at the new yorker, joins us now in our studio. welcome back to democracy now! ,et's start with your title "directorate s: the cia and america's secret wars in afghanistan and pakistan." s?t is directorate >> the covert arm of the pakistani intelligence service called isi. it basically has supported the taliban and other militant groups to p

no preconditions for peace negotiations with the taliban. it is willing to talk to the united states to try to end the bloodshed. south africa's parliament has passed a motion allowing the government to take private land without compensation your president has promised to speed up the transfer of land to redress disparities in ownership. of what was supposed to be. sent us this update from inside. yes shelling is still ongoing in eastern guta three many villages and towns and even the city of duma you can hear the intensive bombardment of several areas battles are also taking place the host of a hair and front says the regime forces are trying to advance and storm east into russia yesterday announced a truce between nine am and two pm in addition to humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave the area but the civilians don't want to leave the areas controlled by the regime via these corridors all crossings because of the continued shelling the syrian regime forces are only a few hundred meters from where i am civilians have been killed tod

a blow to the taliban leadership and every other taliban member except peace accepted with honor and come together so we can make this country safe and secure. well the taliban has yet to respond to the invitation but about two weeks ago the green p.c. to statement calling for peace and u.s. congressman to pressure the trumpet ministration into negotiations came response to trump thirty declaration ruling out any possibility of peace talks between washington and the taliban there's no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban we're going to finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish we're going to be able to do it. ok let's get some reaction now with the political analysts muslims is that he's with us good afternoon to muslim thanks for coming on firstly president from there said he doesn't want to talk with the taliban the u.s. state department echoed that yesterday too are you surprised. world thanks for having me i'm not surprising about the ongoing policy of the united states because you know it is a kind of zigzag which it is the cha

troops is impacting heavily on the taliban. up until then the taliban have been counting on president obama's promise to leave afghanistan and to end the war there by pulling all u.s. troops out this change of direction by the trumpet ministration has told both the taliban and their supporters in pakistan that they can't count on the united states leaving and i think that is one of the major factors that is leading the taliban to look at it to look at talks with new interest i think that his show in both the taliban in pakistan that just waiting out. the fall of the afghan government is not going to work at the same time with the increase in air attacks an increase in u.s. military support for the afghan government is leading to greater battlefield casualties to that for the column and they've responded by cheap shots if you will using suicide bombers to kill civilians in afghan cities but on the ground the situation is starting to tilt against the taliban the head of the army and saddam has been replaced and a shake up of the

troops is impacting heavily on the taliban up until then the taliban have been counting on president obama's promise to leave afghanistan and to end the war there by pulling all u.s. troops out this change of direction by the trumpet ministration has told both the taliban and their supporters in pakistan that they can't count on the united states leaving and i think that is one of the major factors that is leading the taliban to look at a little to look at talks with new interest i think that his show on both the taliban and pakistan that just waiting out the the fall of the afghan government is not going to work at the same time or the increase in air attacks and increase in u.s. military support for the afghan government is leading to greater battlefield casualties to that for the column and they've responded by cheap shots if you will using suicide bombers to kill civilians in afghan cities but on the ground the situation is starting to tilt against the taliban. one of the biggest threats the afghans face is from long lines left over from the soviet invasion and the fight against

or should fight with the taliban. karan as chancellor angela merkel has acknowledged the problem of so-called no go zones in her country it's the first time she's made such an admission artie's peter oliver has the details. we've seen an unexpected change of time. when it comes to talk of no go areas germany. there should not be any no go zones there can be no places where nobody dares to go because these owns exist and they should be named and something must be done about it. burkle had previously used the same injury phrase no go area to describe parts of the country with a high crime rate but that rate has been going up the government's own figures released earlier this year point to a ten percent rise in violent crime between twenty fifteen and twenty sixty ninety percent of which is attributed to young male refugees there was criticism of last year of the way the german media covered the refugee crisis a highly respected group of researches said that it is acted as public educators and that the whole refugee cris

there's no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban we're going to finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish we're going to be able to do it well we discussed all of this with political analyst muslim shazad he thinks the afghan president lacks orthorexic to propose peace talks with the taliban why the taliban often seventeen years should come to the table with a government what the taliban say it did didn't have anything to to do with their self otherwise the united states is going to decide these conflict off afghanistan and the other issue i don't think that the afghan government especially prison gani and in u.g. michel unity government can be tackled the ongoing issues because when you can do and compromise with good cabinet ministers i mean prison accept any how you can convince a group like taliban would defy to seventy years of the control of the two three four five years and now they have support of several countries to come to the table so the big question is do we have this opportunity to do and forward he starts writing not

hello i maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up an olive branch for the taliban the afghan president offers to recognize them as a legitimate political party as students return to the florida school where a gunman killed seventeen people two weeks ago a major u.s. retailers stop selling assault style rifles and the arctic weather disrupts transport across europe and forces some people to find new ways to guess about. syrian government troops reported to have launched a ground assault on the edge of eastern despite a russian ordered pause in hostilities russia and syria was supposed to stop their offensive between nine am and two pm local time to allow for civilians to leave but no one has left and no aide has been able to get in some opened of aid has this report from. digging more graves is how some spend the five hour pause in the daily bombardment of eastern guta with many deaths every day the local council arranges for mass burials on the syrian government side of the buffer been crossing buses and ambulances waited for civilians to cross but people deny a cl

with leases four taliban envoys visas for taliban and their families. acaccording to some sources, , y could go to a place i'd indonesia, jakarta, a place that has experience with talks. member, the taliban are's stronger -- remember, the than everare stronger before. they have been able to launch some of the most audacious attacks, including those in cobbbb. the taliban is fractured a after the announcement of the death of the formemer taliban leader, in 2015. how does haqqani respond to this? he is the deputy head of taliban.s for the he is also someone who has had historical and a generational relationship with al qaeda and other foreign fighters. it is quite complicated from that aspect. worryining inte some ways to look at the becausen here in kabul, the unity government is quite frfragile. itits often fighting amongng ititself. sometimes in p public. process, ifbe a long both sides really come to some sort of a peace process. we heard from the police chief taliban hadthat the taken 19 passengers hostage on the highway after the taliban had -- in a

not the taliban. >>he islamic state group controls small pockets. but over the last year, they carried 14 major attacks here in the capital. that isergeantly more than even the taliban. isis have repeatedly attacked shia. they killed ove 40 people at this shia cultural center in december. this man narrowly escaped with his life. [speaking foreign language] >> i used to come toab you'll because it was safer. now they tell me to leave because it is so dangerous here. >> in the past two wreaks, kabul has been attacked by isis and the taliban. the groups have fought against each oth times. but officials claim there is e little differe between the two and attacking cab you'll, ethey share the s aims. >> their goal is to provoke people against the government and make them ri against the government. and the government will fight them. and then what happens, in -- nistan, we will have >> this former member says the group is different from the taliban and more extreme. >> they will d wt taliban can't do and take over the whole country. outside the cultural c

an olive branch for the taliban the afghan president offers to recognize them as a legitimate political party. as students return to the florida school where a gunman killed seventeen two weeks ago a major u.s. retailers stop selling assault style rifles. and campaign is celebrate as a supermarket in amsterdam opens the world's first plastic free i'll. welcome to the program our top story syrian government troops are reported to have launched a ground assault on the edge of east and despite a russian ordered pause in hostilities footage from inside the damascus suburb appears to show renewed as strikes on the rebel held enclave russia and syria was supposed to stop their offensive between nine am and two pm local time to allow civilians to leave the syrian. tree for human rights says government shelling and limited clashes were reported on three fronts during the five hour pause and eleven people have been killed so far on wednesday there were some four hundred thousand civilians trapped in the damascus suburb empty buses vans and ambulances waited at the wife the dean crossing to go in

preached that they are the real muslims, not the taliban. reporter: the islamic state group might control small epockets of territory in y, but over the last yea they have carried out 14 major attacks in the capital, kabul. that is siificantly more than even the taliban. i.s.ave repeatedly attacked kabu'' shia minority. the killed over 40 people at this shia cultural center in december. this man narrowly escaped with his life. >> in the past, she is living ih countryside and used to come to kabul because it was safer. now my relatives tell me to leave kabul because it is soer das here.in reporterhe past two weeks, kabul has been repeatedly i attacked by bo. and the taliban. the groups have fought against each other at times. but officials here claim there is little difference between the two. and that in attacking kabul, share the same aims. >> the objective behind his approach is to provoke people against the government and make them rise against the then the government will pull apart. what happens in afghanistan, we will have chaos. porte

you're watching live from london also coming up on all the branch for the taliban the afghan president recognized as a legitimate political party. turned to the florida where a gunman killed. two weeks ago. prime minister. proposes a common area across the northern ireland border post. syrian government troops are reported to have launched a ground assault on the edge of eastern hutto the spite her russian ordered poor. footage from inside the damascus suburb appears to show renewed airstrikes on the rebel held enclave russia and syria were. there offensive between nine am and two pm local time to allow for civilians. the syrian observatory for human rights government. clashes reported. the five. well there are around four hundred thousand trapped in the damascus suburbs. and ambulances waited. crossing point. to go in and evacuate people moscow and the mosque this have accused rebels of shelling the corridor to prevent people leaving rebels than i'd say that people will not leave because they fear that. the people of syria face a direct humanitarian crisis u.n. security council resolu

is preach that they are the real muslims, not the taliban. the islamic state group might only control small pockets of territory in the country, but over the last year they've carried out at least 1a major attacks here in the capital, kabul. that's significantly more than even the taliban. is have repeatedly attacked kabul‘s shia minority. they killed over a0 people at this shia cultural centre in december. this man narrowly escaped with his life. translation: in the past, shias living in the countryside used to come to kabul because it was safer. now my relatives tell me to leave kabul because it's become so dangerous here. in the past two weeks, kabul has been repeatedly attacked by both is and the taliban. the groups have fought against each other at times. but officials here claim there is little difference between the two. and that in attacking kabul they share the same aims. their goal and their objective behind this approach is to provoke people against the government and make them rise against the government. so then the government

taliban a machine. i call on the taliban and their leadership today the decision is in your hands accept peace a dignified peace will come together to safeguard this country which has been the results of our sacrifices and struggles that they were his most conciliatory words as president ghani has previously described the taliban as terrorists and rebels but now he says he'll not prejudge any group he even went as far as to say taliban fighters and officials could be removed from international blacklists delegates representing twenty five regional and international countries have come together in the afghan capital to try and devise a peace strategy aimed at ending sixteen years of conflict it comes at a time when all sides are showing they are willing to talk the door is still open and they have shown softness in their stand. not just the taliban but the afghan government and its international counterparts as well and i think it's the perfect time maybe in maybe not for the peace deal to be struck at t

coming to kabul saying the door was open for talks with the taliban we have an open letter from the taliban saying that they're ready for talks with the americans but they don't didn't put their snorkel stipulation in that the american military would have to withdraw first so there are indications things are moving along but slowly and tony what is the situation on the ground now and can what's happening on the ground shape the move for peace or impede it. well the taliban have a saying they say we have the watch me they have the watch meaning the american technology but we have the time and that's time is on their side if you look at what the americans have done the last seventeen years they spent a trillion dollars a year and lost two thousand four hundred lives now they're considerably beefed up their forces from eight thousand to nearly fourteen thousand and aerial firepower is being brought to bear more and more but on the ground the taliban are using the suicide bomber as a weapon more and more one is canceling out the other in many respects and everybody says that they can be no winn

the taliban but they will find that solution more quickly when the u.s. stops exacerbating the problem but as i said that the taliban's issue tonight panesar mean are you surprised by that. a little bit i thought i found it a nice headline to grab people's attention but i don't think it was a headline on the front page of most papers or on the top of most television programs here in the united states and i think it certainly should be but it's not news it's news to most americans if they hear it as similar proposals have been in past years and most americans still don't know that the taliban was willing to negotiate turning bin laden over to a third country for trial way back when that this was a war of choice and that it has been making things worse and worse and worse with each subsequent year it is to file away time as it has been since before it started to get the united states military out of there when it wasn't at the recent events as well i mean there's been several serious terrorist attacks in kabul including on the intercontinental hotel which k

yes i'm sure they yes the taliban is is fighting back. you know by the means that are available to them and in fact it's the taliban that has been making progress since. u.s. troops most u.s. troops were withdrawn in twenty fourteen. and so now yes there are operating successfully in cabo they are they now control completely control fourteen district capitals around the country and and according to a survey by the b.b.c. the taliban is now active in seventy percent of the country. it was in august on interim balances new strategy in afghanistan what you strategy i mean forgive me if i'm wrong it seems to boil down to just more bombs more airstrikes is it achieving anything how would you assess it well no because it's still just more of the same it's exactly what they've been doing. this level of bombing four thousand bombs in a year for the last two or three years of the bush administration and the first three or four years of the obama administration this is exe that's the same level of bombing four to five thousand bombs every year that

the pledge i struggled with the most is the taliban. some sort of intimate life the way i could get the pakistani army high command harmonized and brought up in a big way, but mullah omar wasn't available for an interview. [laughter] >> one more question. >> [inaudible] from a pakistani perspective, there is a lot of debate about the sacrifices in the war on terror. so your comments on this and did pakistan and its leadership [inaudible] and this question might strike you did pakistan ever stand against the u.s. national interest in this whole history of unstable relationships in particular in this war on terr terror? >> pakistan accommodated and supported groups that were crossing the border from pakistan to afghanistan to attack and kill american soldiers and destabilize the war the united states was trying to stabilize, so that was the central problem from the perspective. the second question were the first one about the pakistani sacrifice in the war i think is an important one. it's to flush al qaeda out and go into pakistan and st

bomb youngness consider taliban fruit its population as tolerant the only intimate dating thing here is the challenging but beautiful course. the spectators cheer for the runners from other countries. but most of all for the local women taking part. to. the highest point is at three thousand meters the course takes the runners through picture perfect landscapes that lessen the pain in the lungs and the legs at least a little. but that won't fall halfway through the race there's a refreshment stop and there's trouble the second placed man is accusing the front runner after cheating saying he took a car for part of the course he can't prove it and has no chance of catching up any more and so he gives up. again this morning. after almost three hours andrea rise at the twenty one kilometer mark. he has to take a breather before setting about the return run. a short while later the first run across the finish line much to the joy of the locals the when that is an afghan nobody is talking about cheating anymore the victor enjoys the hero's reception. the jolly finishes in second despite hi

is preach that they are the real muslims, not the taliban. the islamic state group might only control small pockets of territory in the country, but over the last year they've carried out at least 1a major attacks here in the capital, kabul. that's significantly more than even the taliban. is have repeatedly attacked kabul‘s shia minority. they killed over a0 people at this shia cultural centre in december. this man narrowly escaped with his life. translation: in the past, shias living in the countryside used to come to kabul because it was safer. now my relatives tell me to leave kabul because it's become so dangerous here. in the past two weeks kabul has been repeatedly attacked by both is and the taliban. the groups have fought against each other at times. but officials here claim there is little difference between the two. and that in attacking kabul they share the same aims. their goal and their objective behind this approach is to provoke people against the government and make them rise against the government. so then the government w

weeed to batter the taliban sufficiently. but there's though time line for that and no resourcing of negotiation going on down. and under president trump the state department has been demoted as an instrument of american power and diluted as democracy and diplomatic service. so i'm not sure this administration is really motivated to try to fight and talk at the same time. and even during the obama administration when fight and talk was the policy, the fight part was resourced much more heavily than the talk part. >> and just want to ask you whether you agree with what sort of analysts are saying inside of afghanistan now, that they believe the recent unbelievable, almost unprecedented space of blood letting, i mean 100 people killed by an ambulance suicide bomber, dozens killed in a hotel, the continental, which is supposed to be the most protected in kabul, that was the pakistan forces saying if you want to punish us, we'll show you what we can do. >> that's an understandable hypothesis. it would be consistent with past patt

the war with the taliban will be won on the battlefield as someone who lived. around the taliban for years what do you make of daughter i'm playing with but i think it's a huge distraction and really the taliban i mean how much space to they control essentially i think what's going on in afghanistan is a huge looting exercised by nato it's all about the deep state it's all about off the books revenue is about the drugs trade it's about. very good the tech industry in california and lithium apparently it's all about strategic control in the region and you've got china with with the new so we're going to work because i mean people have been saying that there's been visibly more evidence of chinese investment how long is huge and bring a measure that resumes over there right there how are they going to just sit back and watch all their investments go up in flames well i think you know you have to also see who is benefiting from these mass casualty event i mean essentially what it means is that kabul is going to be emptied of westerners there's not going to be anyo

member says the group is different from the taliban, and ilre extreme. >> they say theydo what taliban can't do, take over the whole country. reporter: outside of the cultural center attacked by i.s., shoes of the victims remaed piled in a heap. whether it is further attacks by i.s. or the taliban, this is a city bracing for more bloodshed. bbc news, kabul. jane:' 's have a quick look at some of the day's other news. the united states has proposed gextend nuclear capabilities and a policy document published by the pentagoar the u.s. milwants to develop new low-yield atomicrg bombs y in response to the threat posed by russia. officials said russia saw the american nuclear capability as too big to ever be used and no longer an adequate deterrent. the united states is trying too bring an enduth sudan's civil war by banning the export of weapons there. it also prevents any u.s. company or citizen from offering defense serves to south sudan. about one third of the popubytion has been displaced the conflict. almost 1000 miners have been rescued after being trapped underground for more than 2

next attacks are carried out by groups including the taliban and i still afghan officials often blame pakistan's intelligence services for the violence us president donald trump has stepped up air raids talks are off the table and infighting in afghanistan's government divides its attention caught in the middle of this ordinary afghan people are putting increasing pressure on all of the players to end the conflict but our released a prospect is that here with us to discuss that is a former senior advisor to the chief executive of afghanistan's unity government dr abdullah abdullah is also the former afghan ambassador to france and canada on skype in san francisco california us ally is an independent journalist and the founder of documenting afghanistan that is an online platform for afghans to share their own stories. and kill is the co-founder and deputy c. of hope education and leadership in afghanistan or hello to short a youth n.-g. o. promoting student leadership in afghanistan and he lives in kabul but joins us today from the hague in the netherlands and in doha qatar. is an onl

mohammed essar is a former member of the taliban. mohammed davood is a former member of the mujahideen. both men were drug addicts and suffer from ptsd and were sent here by their families. without a resident psychiatrist, the unit relies on outside help. dr saljoochi is the visiting psychiatrist. the most dangerous patient, alli, is kept isolated from everyone else after biting off a staff member's finger and the ear of a fellow patient. many patients‘ families have left for neighbouring countries because of war and cannot be contacted. jaffar is here because of depression and schizophrenia. this led to an out—of—control drug habit and later to violence. he was sent here by his parents. like so many other patients here, jaffar is well enough to go home, but he's not sure when he can leave. through a locked metal gate is the female section. about 50 women live here, some with their children. some have been here for years and look likely to stay. a couple of days later, i've come back to the psychiatric unit because i've heard s

bases are taliban bases they have flags flying above them why doesn't the u.s. just go in and take out the bases and instead they're going in and taking out villages who have got nothing to do with this so it's quite bizarre what's going on bizarre or or or something else i mean donald trump some would say and he's been giving his state of the union about twenty four hours partly elected because he was going to signal a change in policy away from the hillary clinton's and barack obama's appalled early u. turns and decide what do you think of the sudden you turn on afghanistan by many in his campaign he was always quite close to the military and fairly skeptical about the intelligence side of things so it wasn't very surprising when last september he announced that he was going to subcontract more power to the military to oversee operations without oversight from washington and he was essentially going to escalate and we increased troop numbers under him of course we've had this mother of all bombs that was set off last april in the east of afghanistan as well so

has evidence that the taliban has been planting improvised landmines in afghanistan . u.n. officials want to start removing abandoned roadside bombs and other explosives to do that they'll have to negotiate with all sides of the conflict to access areas where recent fighting has ended. it's a big problem every day one or two people step on a mine both sides plan explosives both the government and the taliban the other day an old man was looking after his cattle and the bomb exploded the un's new plan is a bold one but officials hope it will make life a bit safer for civilians who are so often the victims of this long war jennifer glass al jazeera the sob southern afghanistan german cities will not be able to battle people from driving diesel cars in certain areas the federal administered of court back to a lower court rulings that cities could impose bans to tackle air pollution environmental campaigners had sued dozens of german cities are going they have a duty to protect people's health well the ruling could have huge ramifications for car makers in the country which is