this is the us special representative for the secretary general in august on deborah lyons that's listed in for the opportunity of this special meeting on afghanistan and the opportunity to brief you today. it is particularly important because afghan, a stan is now at a dangerous turning point ahead lies either a genuine piece, negotiation or a tragically intertwined set of crises and increasingly brutal conflict combined with an acute humanitarian situation and multiplying human rights abuses. but today we have an opportunity, an opportunity to demonstrate the commitment of the un security council and the regional and international community that you represent. to prevent afghan, a stan from descending into a situation of catastrophe. so serious that it would have few if any parallels in this century. and let me assure you, such a catastrophe, what have consequences far beyond the borders of afghanistan? i do believe that the security council and the broader international community can help prevent the most dire scenarios. but it will require acting in unity and acting quickly. it will

john or no and special representative in cobbled miss deborah lyons. and finally, we call on our friends and partners to support our government's new security plan to stabilize upon us, done, and protect the region and international community. again, the scores of international terrorism. in conclusion, i would like to express my appreciation to the steadfast support of the security council members and their principal positions and difficult times for upon this time. i hope that today's discussion will not only contribute to the peace efforts underway in doha, but also send a strong message to the taliban above the council determination to hold them accountable to their commitment and promises in finding a peaceful solution to the current conflict. i thank you, mr. president. ok, that was on. i've got a sound ambassador to the u. u. n colon the cause i are addressing the security council on the situation and i've gone on he was talking about the brutal advances that have been made by the taliban on population centers. again, he said to an invasion. nex

speaking at a security council meeting, deborah lyons, when the country will descend into catastrophe. security council members don't take action that ghana stan is now at a dangerous turning point ahead lies either a genuine peace negotiations or a tragically intertwined set of crises and increasingly brutal conflict combined with an acute humanitarian situation and multiplying human rights abuses. i do believe that the security council and the broader international community can help prevent the most dire scenarios. but it will require acting in unity and acting quickly. and our other headline, thousands of people continuing to flee the fires there. incinerating great ways of greece and turkey. temperatures in greece have dropped below 40 degrees for the 1st time in nearly 10 days in part country. but high winds, the forecasts and fire fighters, the athens have been going door to door urging people to leave the area. the fire emergency in turkey is now into it's 10th day with 36000 people taken to safety across the province of move law. and fire breaks also been created an effort to

but deborah lyons was very clear on what she felt the international community should do moving forward. may lead demand. a halt is an end to the attacks on cities and ghana, stan and also for countries that are meeting with the taliban political committee to demand a ceasefire. on behalf of the country and the increasingly worried international community. christian, thank you. christmas salumi life verse of the united nations are diplomatic get? it's a james bays is in cobble with more on the taller bonds gains. this is significance around the 1st provincial capital, enough kind of stuff to fall into taliban control. these pictures released by the taliban ship fighters driving humvees and other vehicles paid for by the us and nato and taken from africa and forces the airport the only one in the desert province, as well as key government offices were captured, were told by eyewitnesses with barely a short being fired earlier the taliban fighters had broken into the prison breaking out detainees which included some of their own fighters. they urged the governor abdul karim brough who to

as the taliban has advanced on cities, this was predicted by deborah lyons 6 weeks ago. and we've seen that it is the taliban that has been advancing and the government forces who have been responding and it's civilians who have been caught in the crossfire. there's been over a 1000 casualties and just the last month that's a 50 percent increase in casualties. refugees streaming over the border. and what we're hearing from you and officials is the need for a strong international response. the call from deborah lions was for demands for an end to be attacks on cities and end to the violence in a unified pressure on the taliban. in particular, she said that the international community, many members were reluctant to deal with them, but they looked at them as a partner for peace, for the afghan, lead afghan own peace process. you hear that over and over again here at the united nations that any piece for afghanistan has to come from within. but she said that things have been moving in the wrong direction and that it's time for the international community to put pressure on

and i'm hearing that the representative of the un in cobbled deborah lyons will be briefing. but so will the un secretary general because of the gravity of the situation, the latest word on the ground from the un is they are not evacuating people at this stage. they are not doing any operations though. all un staff confined to that compound means no humanitarian work is going on. they are desperately worried about the security situation. as many of these diplomatic missions which are now scrambling to get the personnel out of afghanistan, remember, out of the 50 security council members, 6 of those countries were actually countries that had at some point or other soldiers in afghanistan. and of course, some of them, particularly the u. s, and the u. k. had very large numbers of soldiers in afghanistan. we've seen pictures in the last couple of hours. the french and bastard are already evacuated . the reports that the us ambassador is also now left cobble. we don't have that confirmed at this stage. okay, so the things that we've been very, very fast in feeds, james based fall

deborah lyons and she painted a very bleak picture and said urgent action was needed on the part of the security council to avoid a very, very bad situation. getting even worse, she questioned the taliban commitment to a negotiated settlement, given the ongoing attacks on urban areas and the impact that that is having she talks about a 50 percent increase in civilian casualties are increasingly worse humanitarian situation with almost with more than half of the country in need of some sort of aid hospitals and some of these areas that are being attacked or at full capacity. roads are being blocked, food can get in and human rights violations are also increasing exponentially, particularly an area is held by the taliban. we're hearing things like the summary executions, the flogging of children, child marriages, and so on. so from the special representative herself, civil society members, the afghan ambassador, who right now is speaking to members of the media outside the security council, painted a very grim situation and called on the international community to do something urgently. i

lyons in the past. what 2436 hours now. she is clearly drawing parallels between what's going on in afghanistan and syria and even sarajevo during the 19 ninety's. is the taliban prepared to jettison the political credibility that it might get if it sticks or stays with a political process or looks like it staying with the political process? is it prepared to jettison that political respectability and just take over the country? i think that the lease case of syria may be the worst case scenario for afghanistan, if the country continues to fall apart, and that would always be shared responsibility that will be shared on the war and actions you couldn't call upon. i think it told him on it realized that they have some level of the commission, family, medical clout. they have good relations with some countries in the region. but at the same time, they have to realize that there are 2 things that international community will not stand for. and also the africans will have problems with one is the fact that

the united nations special envoy for afghanistan, deborah lyons, says the country is heading for "catastrophe" and she�*s calling on the un security council to issue an "unambiguous statement that attacks on cities must stop". her warning comes as zaranj, in the south west, became the first provincial capital to fall to the taliban, in the latest fighting with afghan government troops. our north america editorjon sopel is at the white house. these are very strong words indeed from the un? find these are very strong words indeed from the un?— from the un? and it all flows from the decision _ from the un? and it all flows from the decision of— from the un? and it all flows from the decision of joe _ from the un? and it all flows from the decision of joe biden _ from the un? and it all flows from the decision of joe biden to - from the un? and it all flows from the decision of joe biden to pull. the decision ofjoe biden to pull american troops out by september the 11th. the picture painted with unbelievably bleak, talking about afghanistan becoming another syria or like sarajevo, 1000 dea

as d, deborah lyons indicated that 18000000 of africans were facing a day or even italian situation. this was double the number in july 2020, amounting to one half the people in the country, and it is set to increase. you and hcr has estimated an additional $270.00 cell. some people have been forced to leave the homes and livelihood since january 2021. bringing the total displace population to more than $3500000.00. we can expect that significant number of people will secret future neighboring countries or outside the region. the united nations is committed to stay and deliver aid to those in greatest need support efforts to restore peace and stability and to roll the rights and dignity of all afghans. we've done the mental human rights in the violence. my office will be working urgently to ring state arrangements for monitoring human rights violation. but unprecedented in statement over the recent week, weeks, the taliban has pledged to respect and protect human rights taliban spoke. people have made specific commitment to respect women's rights work and goes right to attend school

according to deborah lyons, the wars entered a new, deadlier and more destructive phase with at least a 1000 civilians killed in the past, month alone. there had been an expertise expectation when the us taliban deal was signed in february of 2020. you will remember that we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. there had been an expert to expectation when the talks between the african republic and the taliban began in september of last year. that we would see a reduction of violence. we have not. there had been an expectation that when international troops left, we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. instead, despite significant concessions for peace, we have seen a 50 percent, 50 percent increase in civilian casualties. with the certainty of many more as the cities are attacked. and in terms of the other developments inside afghanistan, the taliban and afghan government fighters are remaining in an intense battle for control of the city of laska gar in the southern province of helmand. those still in the city of running out of supplies and say, the huns shaking fr

the united nations' envoy to afghanistan deborah lyons called on the taliban to cease its attacks on major cities immediately, as she warned the conflict—torn country was heading for "catastrophe." there have been an expectation when the us tele man dale was kind and very —— taliban deal was signed. we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. there had been an expectation when the talks between the afghan republic and the taliban began in september of last year that we would see a reduction of violence. we have not. there had been an expectation that when the international troops left, we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. instead, despite significant concessions for peace, we have seen a 50%, five 0% increase, and civilian casualties. there are certain to be many more as the cities are attacked. we certain to be many more as the cities are attacked.— certain to be many more as the cities are attacked. we will have more of this _ cities are attacked. we will have more of this in _ cities are attacked. we will have more of this in dateline. - the headlines on

the united nations' envoy to afghanistan deborah lyon called there had been an expectation when the us—taliban deal was signed in february 2020, you will remember, that we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. there had been an expectation when the talks between the afghan republic and the taliban began in september of last year that we would see a reduction of violence. we have not. there had been an expectation that when international troops left we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. instead, despite significant concessions for peace, we have seen a 50%, 5—0 percent, increase in civilian casualties with the certainty of many more as the cities are attacked. that was the un envoy to afghanistan. our north america correspondent gary o'donoghue has more on the un security meeting. it's a demonstration, i suppose, of some kind of international unity around condemning what's happening inside the country. that's not much consolation for those people inside afghanistan who are suffering at the hands of the taliban, of course, in their growing seizure of various provinces and

lyons, and i would also like to commend the work of the united nations, who have a key role to play in afghanistan, but the un cannot work alone. the resolute commitment of the international community standing behind the afghan community will be decisive over the next months and years. thank you. i decisive over the next months and years. thank you.— years. thank you. i thank the representative _ years. thank you. i thank the representative of _ years. thank you. i thank the representative of france. i i years. thank you. i thank the i representative of france. i now give the floor to the representative of the floor to the representative of the united kingdom.— the floor to the representative of the united kingdom. thank you, mr president, and _ the united kingdom. thank you, mr president, and thank _ the united kingdom. thank you, mr president, and thank you _ the united kingdom. thank you, mr president, and thank you secretary| president, and thank you secretary generalfor your president, and thank you secretary general for your briefing. president, and thank you secretary gen

the united nations�* envoy to afghanistan deborah lyon called on the taliban to cease its attacks on major cities immediately as she warned the conflict—torn country was heading for "catastrophe." there had been an expectation when the us—taliban deal was signed in february 2020, you will remember, that we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. there had been an expectation when the talks between the afghan republic and the taliban began in september of last year that we would see a reduction of violence. we have not. there had been an expectation that when international troops left we would see a reduction of violence. we did not. instead, despite significant concessions for peace, we have seen a 50%, 5—0 percent increase in civilian casualties with the certainty of many more as the cities are attacked. i'm joined now by our north america correspondent gary o'donoghue. such a sucha grim such a grim picture emerging from afghanistan. given that western troops are pulling out, what can the un do? what does a special meeting of the un actually achieve? well, it's a good q