for more on this, i spoke to a doctorfrom the regional office for south asia in unicef. any report recently came out where we have seen a significant reduction in child marriage. 25 million globally have been averted in the last 10 years. this has looked at various data across hundreds of countries in terms of assessing what led to these reductions. as you pointed out, the global burden, we are still seeing one in five girls are still getting married, and that is a large trend shifting from south asia to sub—saharan africa. the reduction we have seen in terms of the 25 million child marriages, the trends are largely driven by a reduction in south asia over a period of time. you talked about policy shifts, but what other things can be done to reduce child marriages further? indeed, there is no 1—stop solution to ending child marriage. it is a complex solution that requires a lot of work and ground work. what really works is, if i can start i saying that keeping girls in school really works and investment in education. they need to complete primary and move on to secon

that stalemate is done with the south asia... you have moved on from that... yes and... you've broken it? that was a case when i was here two years ago, when i first took command, but it is no longer the case with the us—south asia policy and the momentum that we are gaining with that, and this is because of this army, this afghan army, is getting better, is proving itself on the battlefield, the air force is growing in capability — the air force last year ran almost twice as many strikes, the afghan air force, as the us air force. so that was never a factor previously. the commandos that you visited, these commandos are doubling in size so, with 30 companies of commandos, they control two thirds of the population, with twice that many, they're going to be able to expand into these new areas. well, hold on, we can see that the taliban can project force right into the heart of kabul because it did so with these awful bombs that were...and other attacks in late december and january. we saw terrible attacks here in kabul. what does that tell us about the state of the wa

asia to sub saharan africa. the reduction that we are seeing in terms of the 25 million child marriages, trends are large with driven by a reduction we are seeing in south asia over a period of time. you talk about policy shifts, but what other things can be done to reduce these child marriages further? indeed, there is no 1—stop solution towards child marriage. it is a very complex situation where there is a lot of work that really requires, the policy level at the ground level, the community level, the system level. what really works is if i can say keep the girls in school. we need investment in terms of education. education for girls to really complete their primary and continue to do their secondary education as well. that requires multiple approaches required to ensure that the areas of education are being addressed. we also need to see and powering girls, giving them the empowerment. they need to know about what is happening, they need to have participant —— participation. the mechanisms for them to

that will definitely be for the south asia strategy and regional cooperation. with this, i just wanted to explain the context in which we are in, and how these two mutually reinforcing strategies can work together. i will be looking forward to your comments and questions. thank you again. [applause] >> thank you very much. we are delighted that you are here with us today. there is no one who has been afghans efforts for peace, security, efforts with its neighbors, and for u.s.-afghan relations. we are delighted to have you here. i think you provided a context that has not really penetrated the washington media or policy community. we are grateful for that. 11:05 and weut 11:30.hard stop at i'm going to ask two for three questions. at 11:15, we are going to take questions from the audience. there will be roving microphones that will come to you. please introduce yourself, ask your question, and keep it short. the shorter the question, the more questions you will be able to take advantage of this opportunity. i want to start with something you said about the peac

uber reverses from south—east asia. the ride hailing app pulls out of eight countries as the boss seeks a route to profitability. the us opens the way to a truce with china but says its not afraid of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. and the week has not started well for financial markets in asia, at no surprise given the rising trade tensions between the united states and china, and the friday slide on wall street. —— but no surprise. the ride—hailing app uber is in reverse once again. the company that is promising to transform how the world travels is pulling out of south—east asia as it tries to stem its losses. it follows similar retreats china and russia where it has struggled to capture market share. the latest manevoure means it's selling its operations in eight countries to its malaysia—based rival, grab. uber will retain a stake of 27.5% in the newly enlarged company and will move its customers over to it. last year uber racked up losses of $4.5 billion as it continued to subsidis

inr cost were up over 5% south asia and southeast asia. your revenues were down to be fair for some of the exits. where did the two metrics go over all? how does that jive with the bank's global push to cut cost. anna: when you look to the cost base a few years ago we saw opportunity. we're on track to achieve our target. we saw investment opportunities. particularly in technology. a good portion of that is coming to might markets and it is important given consumer needs. cap to provide that capability. from a cost side, if you digitize there is an opportunity. you can move faster. initial cost program that we make progress on investment or ultimately that will drive efficiency as we grow strongly. haslinda: you are looking to cut costs further, if so, where and how? want the cost base to grow less quickly than income. we are investing here in. we're trying to growth more productively. wealth management product income across the various places where we try to manage our clients money. that grew 17% last your. we want to keep doing that. bu

now, backed by uber is reducing its footprint in asia and specifically south—east asia. it is a very big market, but uber‘s major shareholders want the company to focus on its core markets of the us, europe, latin america, and to try and turn a profit because it has been losing billions each yearin it has been losing billions each year in the way they do this of course is to sell to regional rivals, while retaining some skin in the game by retaining some stake in this combined company that they will have would grab. one of its major shareholders is softbank, who at in both grab and in that uber, so what is next for uber now? we spoke to the ceo recently and he told us that his ambitions for grab is to have it become more than just taking you from point lead our flat become more than just taking you from point lead ourflat two point b, he wants to expand the service across the whole region. we want it to be an app that allows you to buy a coffee and few rewards, and after that i your lunch and have your food delivered so that you do not have to go to the trafficjam. and

the south asia strategy provides a good basis for international support. without the afghan national security forces, no peace and reconciliation would work within the country. second, there will have to be national consensus for peace and reconciliation. not just among political actors, but among all sections of our society. women must see themselves in the process. our minorities will have to be comfortable with the peace process. it will have to be a peace process for all afghans. third, there will have to be an intra-afghan process of dialogue. one of the major insurgent groups taliban has had recently -- it worked for them, an intra-afghan process, but we need to have the right support for that process. fourth, u.s. afghan alignment is key. we have to make sure the countries are fully aligned in pursuit of the peace process. fifth is regional cooperation. as i said, for the success of both strategies, peace and reconciliation and counterterrorism, we have to have regional consensus and regional support. as i said, terrorism is a common threat to the e

in this process the south asia strategy of president trump's administration has played a key role. we welcome the strategy it has already a significant impact the reduction of violence and capabilities of the terrorists. and to create an enabling environment for our peace reconciliation strategy. the response from the region has been mixed. first, and fortunately we haven't had any positive response from pakistan. not any change in the policy that they are pursuing, and response from the region is slightly next. while there is -- peace and reconciliation and afghanistan but the consensus on how to fight the terrorists has broken slightly. and fortunately, there are actors in the region that draw a distinction between good and bad terrorists. and, unfortunately, another side of the breakout of consensus is that we all agreed to have state to state relations for counterterrorist, but there are those now who looked at state and nonstate actors relations for counterterrorism with serious implications for all of us. like there are those who say that they work with the taliban against da

the adoption of the south asia strategy as the tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government. finally, equipped our military planners with a strategy which they can execute as opposed to a succession of 16 one-year strategies. this clear military commitment attracted the commitment of allies broadly and equipped our diplomats with a whole level of certainty for how to prepare for the peace talks and achieve the final objectives. in other areas while progress has been made, much work remains. in syria, we did achieve important cease fires and stabilizations which has saved thousands of lives. there is more to be done in syria, particularly with respect to achieving the peace and stabilizing iraq and ensuring a healthy government is installed and the global campaign to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and partners, though. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with china. how should we deal with one another over the next 50 years and ensure a period of prosperity for all of our people

it's taking over uber‘s south—east asia operations for an undisclosed sum. under the deal, uber gets a 27.5% stake in grab. lots and lots and forever... in an interview with me last month, the company's ceo anthony tan told me he's always had bigger plans for the young start up. we want to be the app that allows you to buy your copy, earn rewards, then after that, you want to buy your lunch and order in. and have yourfood delivered, so you don't have to go through a traffic jam. and when you're that relevant, or that real to every customer across the 600 million base, then you create huge value. for uber, there is soul—searching ahead. this is the third market it has pulled out of, first china, then russia, now southeast asia. and while uber is keen to stress that this deal is a merger of equals, the internal e—mailfrom their chief merger of equals, the internal e—mail from their chief shows where the company may have detoured. uber says there is no more consolidation on the cards. in fact, uber‘s chief says that is out of the question. but in the as

the adoption of the south asia strategy, with the conditions of his face military plan is that the condition to get the taliban to do peace talks with the afghan government. finally, our military planners with a strategy they can execute instead of a succession of 16 one year strategies. is military commitment attracted the support of allies broadly. progress has made, been made we know you've saved thousands of lives. there is more to be done in syria, particularly with respect to achieving peace and stabilizing iraq and seeing a healthy government involved. a campaign to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and partners. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our elation ship with china. how should we deal with one another over the next two years -- the next 50 years and ensure prosperity for all peoples free of conflict between two powerful nations? much work remains to respond to the troubling behavior and actions on the part of the russian government. russia must assess carefully as to how its actions are in the best interest of the russian people and of

from south asia up 12.7%. the airport also trumpeted a 19th consecutive month of cargo growth with trade value climbing 5%. uk consumers have been pulling back from spending on anything apart from food and entertainment over the last month. spending in shops was up1.6% yearon year, but there are some interesting things going on underneath that number. people are spending more on going out, the theatre, clubs and so on, and they're spending more on food, and essentials. but what's known as discretionary spending has been falling and is continuing to fall. joining us now is helen dickinson, chief executive of the british retail consortium. what exactly is discretionary spending and what is happening to it? when people's disposable income is under pressure, we put more of that budget into our essentials, and everything that is left over, more discretionary, is what we tend to fall back on. so what we are seeing in these figures, in the brc‘s all in retail sales data, is people being particularly cautious, becau

discussion about the south asia strategy. there's been lots of discussion of late as the secretary and chairman and general nickelson have been talking about where we're six months in to the south asia strategy. and about a year into the -- some of the changes that have been made in afghanistan and really kind of where we're with that. i'll try to do is bring it down a level to talk as the tactical level and how tactical success in helmund connects to operational objective for both the alliance and for the united states in particular. we'll kind of touch on that. i' down there's also a lot of discussion about kind of partnered operations by, with, and through is kind of the popular vernacular. buy a partner with a partner through a partner. but part of the piece on that nobody knows, what's under the hood? what's the method of that? how do you that? how do you create capability? i'll spend a little bit of time on that because i think it's important. like strategicically as we face the possibility now of great power, great pow

asia the white house national security council there are new accusations. only in the hands of refugees in the as the words. those are the headlines on al-jazeera up front as next. more than forty thousand africans are facing deportation from israel is the world more than ninety percent of. the way in europe it's almost zero point one percent of the two of those in danger of being thrown out of the country in which the sword refuge talks al-jazeera at this time it's coming up to nearly six months since puerto rico was battered by her record maria nearly half a million americans there are still without power and reported suicides have jumped more than fifty percent has president donald trump abandon the island i'll ask one of his biggest critics mayor of someone called the newly cruz also on the show jacob zuma was forced to stand down as president of south africa last month i'll talk to his nemesis the anti corruption czar to limit on solo about his fall from power the future of the a m.

asia strategy with a conditions based military plan is the tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government finally equip our military planners with a strategy which they can execute as opposed to a succession of sixteen when your strategies trump meanwhile plans to nominate cia director mike pump a zero as to replacement he says they have a good relationship and chest similar views appointment coincides with new challenges for the u.s. such as possible talks with pyongyang i've worked with my backyard now for quite some time. prevent this energy from and this is the last we are always on the same wavelength. the relationship has been very good that's what i see as secretary of state i'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the capital and other thing that i want but i think mike from iowa will be a great secretary of state i have total confidence with mike mike from mayor we have a very similar thought process i think it's going to go very well russia has ramped up the rhetoric against the u.k. warning britain not to threaten

asia strategy with a conditions based military plan is the tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government finally equip our military planners with a strategy which they can execute as opposed to a succession of sixteen when your strategies roslyn jordan that was at the state department and she joins us from then what else did he have to say. well it was an emotional rex tillerson who addressed reporters in the past hour here at the u.s. state department he said that he had received a phone call from the president who was traveling at the time on air force one for a domestic security event discussed the situation with his posting here at state he also mentioned that he had spoken with the white house chief of staff john kelly in order to make certain that there is an orderly transition that is carried out the deputy secretary of state john sullivan will be the acting secretary of state until the cia director mike pompei o goes through confirmation hearings and then is approved by the senate to take over as the nation's top diplomat he also did say

that stalemate is done with the south asia... you have moved on from that... yes and... you've broken it? the afghan air force, as the us air force. so that was never a factor previously. into these new areas. with these awful bombs that were... in late december and january. we saw terrible attacks here in kabul. what does that tell us about the state of the war? theyjust have to make it in. they only have to be good once, to get in. and the death of any civilian is something we want to avoid. so this is exposing the hypocrisy of the taliban. statements, they are trying to protect? is that what you are saying? no, i am not. i'm saying, it shows a lowering of ambition. with heavy losses. and then the afghans would come in and retake the district. and again, we ended up at about the same place. and they discussed their strategy going forward. to maintain their relevance and to show that they were still present. and controlling population to conducting terrorist attacks. and as the commander of forces here, how do you interpret that? well, we have to adjust to that, to prot

uber reverses out of south—east asia. the ride—hailing app sells it's operation in eight countries to rival grab in a move that could end the region's price wars. also in business briefing we'll be live in hong kong to get an expert view on the trade war brewing between the us and china. a warm welcome to the programme briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. the row in australian cricket over ball—tampering is just one of the latest sports to be hit by a cheating scandal. we're asking you if you've lost faith in professional sport? tell us what you think — just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. the american adult film actress stormy daniels, who says she had sex on a single occasion with donald trump, claims she's received threats to keep quiet about it. she's given her first tv interview on the subject. mr trump has denied any relationship with ms daniels. james cook has the story. how do we know you are telling the truth? because i have no re

east asia, perhaps. every single water bottle and every single glass bottle we have collectedyou just never see them -- if they are on the ground, they areot going to be on the ground for long. they should them to a planted li to be recycled. but general plastic weight, a lot of people do with it themselves. when i was growing up, we had to keep -- we had the "keep britain tidy" campaign that brainwashed us in a good way. the people here haven't had that yet. jane: europe's migrant crisis and a state of terror attacks have exacerbated tensions surrounding muslims and fueled with the rise ofight-wing political parties in europe. the chair of islamic studies at american university has spent the last sever years traveling throughout the region to find outhy europe's historic link with islam has broken down, and what can be done to fix it. his findings are in a new book, "journey to europe," and he tjoined me studio. anambassador, you very much indeed. it is difficult to make a generalization, but how would

e adoption of the south asia strategy as the tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government. finally equip our military planners with a strategy which they can execute as opposed to a succession of 16 one-year strategies. this commitment attracted the commitment of allies broadly and equipped our diplomats with a whole level of certainty for how to prepare with the peace talks and achieve the final objectives. in other areas while progress has been made, much work remains. in syria, we did achieve important cease fires and stabilizations which has saved thousands of lives. there is more to be done in syria, particularly with respect to achieving the peace and stabilizing iraq and ensuring a healthy government is installed and the global campaign to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and partners, though. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with china. how should we deal with one another over the next 50 years and ensure a period of prosperity for all of our peoples, free of conflict betw

the adoption of the south asia strategy, the tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government. finally equipped our military planners with a strategy which they can execute as opposed to a succession of 16 one-year strategies. this clear military commitment attracted the support of allies broadly and equipped our diplomats with a whole new level of certainty around how to prepare for the peace talks and achieve the final objectives. in other areas where progress has been made, much work remains. in syria, we did achieve important cease fires that saved thousands of lives. there's more to be done in syria, respect to achieving peace as well as stabilizing iraq and seeing a healthy government installed and more broadly in the entire global campaign to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and partners though. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with china. how shall we deal with one another over the next 50 years and ensure a period of prosperity for all of our peoples free of conflict between

envoy is on a three day visit to asia to assess the crisis lisa curtis is in charge of south asia at the white house as national security council she arrives during a tough diplomatic situation there are new accusations of myanmar's army bullying and intimidation one hundred refugees near its border with the day she says the u.s. will keep doing what it can other countries to help the ranger. and . only. those conditions are. there to make sure. they're safe. and. thank you for watching. since we launched al jazeera english back in two thousand and six our library of award winning documentaries has been growing year by year so here on rewind we decided to revisit some of the most important of those stories once again today rewinding to two thousand and ten and north korea for the past several months or korea's deteriorating relations with us and the administration of donald trump in particular have threatened to plunge the world into the darkness of a nuclear war earth chris increasing military buildup and testing of missiles now presents an apparent threat to japan and beyond across

the adoption of the south asia strategy with a conditions-based military plan to compel the telegram -- the telegram to start peace talks with the afghan government. we equipped our military planners with a strategy they opposed to as succession of 16 one-your strategies. this military commitment attracted the support of allies abroad and equipped our diplomats with certainty about how to prepare for the peace talks and achieve a final objective. in other areas where progress has been made, work remains. in syria, we achieved cease-fires that we know have saved thousands of lives. there is more to be done in syria, particularly with respect to achieving the peace, as well as stabilizing iraq and seeing a healthy government installed, and more broadly in the global campaign to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and partners. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with china. how should we deal with one another over the next 50 years and ensure a period of prosperity for all of our peoples free of conflict between two very powe

the adoption of the south asia strategy with a conditions based military plan is the tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government. finally equip our military planners with a strategy which they can execute as opposed to a succession of sixteen when your strategies. this clear military commitment attractive the support of allies broadly and equipped our diplomats with a whole new level of certainty around how to prepare for the peace talks of the chief of the final objectives. and others what progress has been made much work remains in syria we did achieve important ceasefires and stabilization which we know has saved thousands of lives. there's more to be done in syria directly with respect to achieving the pace as well as stabilizing iraq and seeing a healthy government installed and more broadly in the end target lobel campaign to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and and partners though. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with china how shall we deal with one another over the ne

it's the end of the road for uber in south east asia! the ride—hailing giant sells its business to the region's biggest player. live from london, that's our top story on monday 26th march. uber has already retreated from china, is today's u—turn a sign that the company is slamming the brakes on its global expansion? also in the programme... the us opens the way to a truce with china but says it's not afraid of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. we also look at the global markets and how they we also look at the global markets and how they have we also look at the global markets and how they have opened we also look at the global markets and how they have opened in we also look at the global markets and how they have opened in trading on the first week before easter. banking on the next generation: we'll be speaking to the boss of a new lender hoping to transform the way small businesses obtain credit. today we want your thoughts on supermarkets. they are apparently planning to repackage christmas products like cra

child marriage has significantly decreased in india and south asia. so that's the region we start today. with fawzia koofi, a member of the afghan parliament, and mona eltahawy, an american-egyptian activist and author of the book "headscarves and hymens: why the middle east needs a sexual revolution." welcome, ladies. welcome to the program on this international women's day. so, let me start with you, fawzia, there in kabul. this has been known, your country, as the worst place in the world for women. what is it like today, for you, and your fellow women and young girls? >> well, i guess things have changed a lot, comparing to before 2001, for woman in afghanistan. you know, in terms of education, in terms of political participation, et cetera. but still, the problem of violence against women and, of course, the trends of losing the gains we have still remain a challenge for woman here. >> so you are a pioneer, you're a member of parliament. you just talked about violence. 87% of afghan women have experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violen

we've had full support and backing from the trump administration and it's actually the new south asia strategy of the trump administration that has created the enabling environment to both have the strength to move forward with security reforms and consolidation of security and also to put the ultimate political solution clearly. we want to thank the trump administration for bringing all instruments of american power and particularly its diplomatic, full weight so that the region and afghanistan and the international community can move forward. >> what about your neighbor pakistan which you have called the center of the taliban which the trump administration has censured and removed a hefty, many, many hundreds of millions of dollars of security aid for their activities in this regard. you know, without their support it's not going to work, is it? >> we have offered a comprehensive discussion with pakistan and yesterday i announced that afghanistan is willing to arrive. it's an agreement on a plan to repatriate the 2.2 million of our fellow citizens that have been living as refugees i

areas affected will be subsaharan africa, south asia and latin america including mexico. the report says that people will be driven out by droughts, rising sea levels and powerful storms. the report says cutting greenhouse gas emissions could save 100 million people from leaving their homes. >>> happening today oakland mayor libby schaaf will help open the space and science center new outdoor observation deck. this is a rendering of what it will look like. the mayor will preside over that ribbon cutting ceremony at noon today and the deck looks pretty roomy for lots of folks who like to see things there at the is that bow station. your first chance to check it out is saturday when it officially opens to the public. >> should be fun. >>> all right. coming up on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> a major company says her credit is in the mail, but her mailbox is empty. i'm cbs investigator chris chmura. nbc bay area responds next. >>> but first happening now, breaking news out of nigeria, 76 of 110 school girls abducted by boko haram are now free. the nigerian go

and south america these are good candidates but we do not think it is possible to expand the u.n. security council if this package does not include the issue of the african that it presentation to only if africa is that it presented we will be able to introduce an additional value to the un security council. qatar has complained to the un that an m.r.i. naval vessel intercepted and hijacked a qatari fishing boat doha says john you're the one thousand that's maritime surveillance system saw the amorality military vessel trespass into its waters then hijacks a fishing boat which was carrying eight indian nationals. britain has sent specialist troops to remove potentially contaminated objects from the english city of souls three were former russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent home secretary amber rudd visited the scene on friday the target of the attack sixty six year old sarah discover powell and his daughter remain in intensive care sokol of twenty one three of them treated following the incident russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov dismissed u

asia the white house national security council there are new accusations meanwhile of myanmar's army bullying one hundred refugees in the as border words. those are the headlines on al-jazeera up front as the next. thousand africans are facing deportation from israel is the world more than ninety percent of it's going to look at this. point one percent of civil liberties two of those in danger of being thrown out of the country in which the sort refuge . at this time. it's coming up to nearly six months since puerto rico was battered by hurricane maria nearly half a million americans there are still without power and reported suicides have jumped more than fifty percent has president donald trump abandon the island one of his biggest critics mayor of san juan come and cruz also on the show jacob zuma was forced to stand down as president of south africa last month i'll talk to his nemesis the anti corruption czar. about his fall from power and the future of the a.n.c. . common union crew thanks for joining me on front it's been five months since hurricane maria devastated the u.s. te

there was also an earthquake in mexico, there was flooding in south asia, wildfires in california, i mean there were so many tragic events happening. but then lloyds stepped in and we paid out last year about £18.3 billion in claims, basically putting people back on their feet. and despite that, lloyds is in a really strong position. at the end of the year no syndicate failed, every syndicate is still in business and was recapitalised, meaning that lloyds is in a really, really strong position. when it comes to something that we can model, we do a lot of statistical modelling around the risks that we take on, all of those exposures, and in fact the whole insurance sector has spent billions trying to understand this. when something like climate change is impacting these events, we have to build that into our modelling and our forecasting of how much these events can cost. but while we can quantify what they cost, we don't know when they will happen and that is one of the difficult things nobody can assess. but we make sure, therefore, that we have enough capital in the market to supp

asia correspondent justin rowlatt‘s report contains some flashing images. high above the mountains of north—eastern afghanistan, f—16fighterjets take turns to refuel. radio: nice and stable. still got eyes on them. minutes later... all right. disconnect. ..they are ready to get back into the fight, providing air cover for afghan forces battling insurgent fighters. 17 years into this war and, says the commander of us and nato forces in afghanistan, russian interference is making the conflict even more complicated. well, what we have seen is destabilising activity by the russians. we see a narrative that's being used is that grossly exaggerates the number of isis fighters here. this narrative then is used as a justification for the russians to legitimise the actions of the taliban and provide some degree of support. us air power is here to back these guys — afghan commandos. this exclusive footage shows them besieging a taliban stronghold and capturing a taliban commander. the plan is to double the number of these elite troops. they call these guys the

asia policy, new authorities granted by president trump enable us to target sources of taliban revenue, and narcotics is a major source of that. we are now going after narcotics. 90% of the opium that is produced in this country, are —— in areas that are under taliban control or contested. we see a clear convergent —— convergence between criminal activity and the areas that are under control. figures produced by an american organisation suggest the taliban is expanding this area of influence, or elisa did last year. this must be dispiriting as the commander of forces to see the taliban effectively advancing? this number came from us and we disagree, the way... the way they interpreted? the way they were interpreted. we look at population control and that government controlled 60 to 64% of the population. the bigger they have chosen to use instead of population is the figure of actual space on the ground, area on the ground. are you saying that is not a legitimate way to describe the territory controlled? we think the population is much more relevant than the empty desert. but r

the adoption of the south asia strategy with the conditions of base military plan is the tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government. finally equipped our military planners with a strategy which they can execute as opposed to a succession of 16 one-year strategies. this clear military commitment attracted the suppo of allies broadly and equipped our diplomats with a whole new level of certainty around how to prepare for the peace talks and achieve the final objectives. in other areas where progress has been made, much work remains. in syria, we did achieve important cease-fires and stabilizations which we know has saved thousands of lives. there's more to be done in syria, particularly with respect to achieving the peace as well as stabilizing iraq and seeing a healthy government installed. and more broadly the entire global campa to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and partners, though. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with china. how shall we deal with one another over the ne

it is anxious to work more closely with the nations of south east asia. this is one reason why did it the siege in the philippine city of marawi last year expose the resurgent threat of extremist violence in the region. some groups aligned themselves with the so—called islamic state. the aim is for countries to harmonise their laws on counterterrorism and shared intelligence. nations are focused on countering the ongoing threat of domestic terrorism. it would be a mistake to approach the problem from a purely national perspective. terrorism and violent extremism transcend national borders. countering the threat requires a united and cohesive regional lesser. but some are angry that the human rights records of asean members are not on the agenda. protest in sydney have focused on cambodian prime minister hun sen who has held a tight grip on powerfor minister hun sen who has held a tight grip on power for over 30 yea rs. tight grip on power for over 30 years. the campaigners also want the plight of hundreds of thousands of injured people, who fled violenc

general votel, the president's south asia strategy was announced nearly seven months ago. general nicholson stated in november that new permissions granted within the strategy for afghanistan means that the campaign is on the, quote, path to win. yet the department of defense inspector general estimates that the afghan government is in control of only 18% of the districts in the country and we are now in the 17th year of conflict in afghanistan. the director of national intelligence stated that conditions this year are likely to deteriorate. in your view what exactly does winning mean in afghanistan at this point? and can the adiffings troops, even the much heralded security forces assistance brigade, really make enough of a difference to reach the level of winning? general votel: senator, i think we are on the right approach. i'm aware of what you're citing there but i'd also highlight that the government of afghanistan all controls 64% of the population. has control and is able to protect 64% of the population. so our strategy is really this year using the additional aut

so to come here at al-jazeera why this controversial symbol of south africa's apartheid era is still causing a few wrong. hello and welcome back i think with take a look at weather conditions across asia this time and in northeastern parts of asia weather conditions are deteriorating as a result of this frontal system which is developing across northeastern parts of china and into the far east of russia quite a temperature contrast either side of this frontal system to she'll say so they were looking at forecast through sunday we've got snow across northern parts of japan but further south we've got really warm air and you see that warm air extends all the way toward shanghai twenty five degrees now because we're at this contrast in temperatures we've got an active frontal system here which is going to be giving some heavy rain across southern parts of japan being sealants northern side where the cold air is going to be outbreaks of snow beijing actually not too bad a monday high as of nine degrees now as you come further towards the south not just shanghai which is going to see very

asia needs to just say the reno theology team's latest addition make up a bigger need to look. at the plate from many clubs over the years so i know the game inside guides. football isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the super money kill you know notice and spending thirty to twenty million one player. it's an experience like nothing else not to because i want to share what i think of what i know about the beautiful guy a great so what chance with. the base is going to. what politicians do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. some want. to go on to be press was like before three in the morning people. i'm interested always in the lines in the house. first. now we're back with robert malley of the obama administration's advisor on isis on the middle east now had of the international crisis group talking about the war in syria is growing more and more complex mr malley you met president assad in person do you think you'll st

asia or again is largely fine clear of cloud in sri lanka he says spite of cloud up across northern parts of pakistan india but that's clearing away taking that rain and snow with it so fine conditions for both delhi and crunchy temperatures there into the low thirty's elsewhere looking pretty hot no night poor hundred all in the upper thirty's so moving the forecast through into friday fine conditions prevail kathmandu should be dry then the paul temperatures into the mid twenty's here in the arabian peninsula temperatures just continue to rise around the gulf states thirty three in doha despite a fairly brisk beginning to pick up in the course of the day temperatures still thirty two degrees or jihad through into friday you notice mecca pushing the forty degree mark now as we head up into the region we've got fine conditions around the caspian sea twenty three in tehran and should be a woman and bite out in iraq with highs here of thirty. hold the benefit of people. so bad they see all the. witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back to a re

the numbers are relatively low compared to at least predictions and south asia. i just got back yesterday from south africa. the number of foreign fighters there is much lower. there is a lot of movement in and within battlefields in africa, including the nigeria, includingalia, northern mali. not a ton of moment from iraq and syria into those areas. i think it is helpful that we as analysts, and i think governments like to put these groups into categories. we like to call them group x or group y. i think it is important to understand that we are really dealing with fluid networks, and lots of changes in names. the large numbers right now. i think this leads to a range of key questions that are worth considering, particularly on the u.s.-russian radar screens. , and how is turkey will turkey be impacted by some of the near term battlefield efforts against these groups, particularly in syria and iraq? damascus,y think that there has been it shouldn't eastern guida and -- in a push in eastern guida and damascus. turkey is the closest location. turkey, there is fair

the second goal is to prioritize the implementation of the south asia strategy in afghanistan. this reaffirms the u.s. government's commitment to afghanistan by reinforcing the two complementary military missions -- the nato-led train, advise and assist mission and the u.s. counterterrorism mission. we are making sure that with our support the afghan national defense and security forces are well postured to begin operations to seize the initiative, expand population control, and secure credible elections. part and parcel is our regionalized approach to the country. our goal is to develop a trustful relationship that benefits our militaries and supports our objectives in the region. the third goal is to ensure that we have aligned our military efforts with our broader interagency and international efforts to neutralize, counterbalance, and shape the destabilizing impact that iran has across the region. make no mistake, while we continue to confront the scourge of terrorism, iran's malign activities across the region post a long-term threat to stability in this part of the world.

asia the truth been a little more cloud will creep its way towards her as we go through the next couple of days maybe also into tumble not a very hot day for central parts of india pretty monsoon hate what underway temperatures getting up to about thirty eight to thirty nine degrees over the next couple of days gracias hot to thirty seven. the weather sponsored by cattle peace. in syria citizens are collecting evidence and our knowledge others are of crimes committed against civilians who've moved out of syria six hundred thousand pages of material so that one day they can bring the outside regime to justice it puts a human face on the charges it's a dead human face political intrigues syria witnesses for the prosecution at this time on al jazeera. welcome if you're just joining us you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in qatar these are your top stories hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in mass protests across the u.s. and in thirty six other nations calling for tighter gun legislation the march for our lives of and they were inspired by calls for act

asia where we've had a little area of low pressure work its way around sure lanka and then up through the west coast of carola and cannot occur there seems to died out now so weather conditions or returning to how they should be which is basically fine and sunny with temperatures generally in the low to mid thirty's the same goes across northern parts of india and pakistan but there is this area of ranges pushing towards the north so close to conditions here generally but looking at thirty six as a high in delhi into the arabian peninsula if briss winds forecast for monday suggest lighter winds generally around the gulf with the highs of twenty nine expected here in doha remains fine on the other side the peninsula despite the southerly breeze bringing some dust willesee temperatures thirty eight in mecca and it stays around that level on choose day. a global economic superpower that's underperformed in the world of football when used explores how china is now spending billions in its quest to conquer the beautiful game. at this time on al-jazeera. zero. three. welcome back to remind