And in some situations there was a rejection affects. And ignore those of the right ones and when countries go in their own direction the violence goes in every direction. Iran has talked to 1000000 confirms coronavirus cases may hit the hardest hit country in the middle east yet the 50000 people have died from the virus but Officials Say that number could be much higher. Facebook has announced it will start removing posts from facebook and instagram have false claims about corona virus vaccines it says misinformation that poses a risk of imminent harm will be taken. The 1st lawmakers from libyas rival administrations have arrived for their 1st joint session in 6 years while the 90 members of the house of representatives are in the city of kut imus will be joined by those from the internationally recognized governments in tripoli for a meeting on monday the highly anticipated debate for those talks in morocco the rivals agreed or framework to end the years Long DivisionHong Kong Media tycoon and prodemocracy advocate jimmy line has been taken into Police Custody hell be held until a court case in april next year why is accused of fraud bangladesh has begun transferring ranger refugees to an island which the u. N. Warns is prone to cycles and floods 40 buses live courses bizarre on thursday nearly a 1000000 rangar have been living in squalid camps in southeast bangladesh after fleeing violence in the end march well as youre up to date stay with us on aljazeera inside story is up next. The Afghan Government and the taliban say theyve reached a breakthrough theyll press ahead with talks on the political roadmap and the ceasefire 2 decades of conflict of killed tens of thousands of people so what chance is there a lasting peace this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program and burn its after months of discussions in capitals capital doha the Afghan Government and the taliban off finally taking up an opportunity for peace the 2 sides have agreed on a set of rules that would allow substantiative negotiations to start a breakthrough aims to put an end to almost 2 decades of conflict now many details have been given on the political agenda or when the talks will begin the Afghan Government has repeatedly demanded taliban fighters stop that attacks but the group has refused to agree to a cease fire until other issues have been resolved afghan president after afghani reiterated his demand for a truce the president s spokesman tweeted the agreement is a step forward towards beginning the negotiations on the main issues including a comprehensive cease fire as the key demand of the Afghan People. 3 main Sticking Points halted progress during the 1st direct talks between the warring sides in september now as negotiations a set to enter the next phase some of those differences appear to have been resolved the taliban has insisted that the had Nothing School of islamic thought should form the legal basis for the talks the government wanted to guarantee the inclusion a religious minorities on the 2 sides of differed on whether a us taliban deal reached in february would be the basis of negotiations and the deal between the u. S. And taliban has paved the way for the socalled interim afghan talks under the agreement foreign troops would be pulled out from afghanistan by may but that is in exchange for security guarantees by taliban fighters nato has about 11000 troops in afghanistan it secretary general u. N. Stoltenberg welcomed the breakthrough. Agreement today is that you can discuss whether its a big or small step but important thing is that its the 1st step is the 1st time actually tal a ban on the Afghan Government are able to sign a document agreeing on the framework the modalities for negotiations addressing a long term peaceful solution hard to reach peace in afghanistan when as one comes as the u. S. Is set to cut down its troop levels in afghanistan to 2 and a half 1000 present donald trump has ordered the drawdown to take place by mid january just days before president elect joe biden is expected to take office there have been calls for biden to review the Peace Process with the taliban whose fighters have been blamed for a series of attacks since the deal was signed. Lets bring in our guests in washington d. C. We have omar samad a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council hes also a former spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a former advisor to afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah from kabul were joined by Mushtaq Rahim a Founding Member of Afghanistan Affairs unit think tank and also in washington d. C. Richard ponzi oh director of the justice security 2020 program at the Stimson Center and a former u. S. State Department Advisor on afghanistan welcome to you all. So mad if i can begin with you this seems like something of an early victory for the taliban doesnt it theyve kept up the violence ok theyve avoided u. K. U. S. And nato troops but not afghan civilians and theyve got a deal so a small deal with the Afghan Government. Well i think its. A relative part of their success step for all sides. And most importantly i think its it gives a bit of hope to the Afghan People who as you said are victims of violence from all sides this remember the bidens unfortunately. Is obviously carried out by all of our who use it tacitly against certain targets and then also in a defensive or offensive manner by Government Forces and sometimes International Forces when its needed so it is a step but it opens the door for the next stage which is to talk about what and and to discuss down the road so its to set the agenda for substantive talks now we are not a substandard talk yet at this is going to be another difficult stage in my opinion i think both sides are ready they get you have got to know each other. Or well versed in some of the issues but its going to take a bit of time and effort its important that the environment around them outside of the room also be conducive d to helping the Peace Process move forward mushtaq is taken since september and lots of painstaking talks to get to where we are just this agreement is that something positive to see out of the 1st agreement between the 2 sides in 19 years. Well lennart in 19 years but lets say in the last 4 decades for the 1st time youre seeing the 2 opposing avalon parties are sitting across the table to each other and i think thats a significant progress in the history of the afghan conflict but as we all know thats the really the 1st step and very tiny step considering the size of the issues that are in front of the negotiating teams where the given will be discussing the issues related to the future makeup of the oven state system and the way the government the power sharing issues will be discussed how will the constitution will uphold so yes definitely its a very good 1st step positive step because there were concerns that after Trump Administration that had led the negotiation with the taliban and successfully complete signed the agreement since they were going out of the office a new administration was coming there were some skeptics around the issue and now that we are seeing progress in the entry of one talks it out of hopes that the process will certainly move forward and will give an opportunity a chance to the Peace Process to succeed ok richard is this something of perhaps a small victory for the taliban theyve kept up these Violent Attacks albeit avoiding u. S. And nato soldiers and theyve managed to negotiate some sort of an honorary deal if you like with the Afghan Government. You know this does fit with the stalling strategy of the taliban over the Previous Year really running down the clock against the us troop withdrawal part of the us agreement in february this year but i would say as my 2 colleagues on the panel noted it is an important step or i would not call it a breakthrough as the United Nations and others in the media have announced its not even certainly not to be an end of the process not even the beginning of the end but the beginning of the beginning of the formal negotiations lets not overstate that these were procedural agreements and around 24. 00 that were agreed upon it sets the basis though for the serious work to be again as my colleagues have noted just getting a cease fire is probably going to be intermittent ceasefires towards adorable lasting solution this is when the real work begins and there are huge disagreement still between the taliban and the afghan. Omar richard mention the running down of the clock there is going to be the main demand is going to be for the taliban to cease fire before these before theres any substantive talks considering the taliban have been unwilling to do that is that a realistic prospect. Well all sides of their oclock lets be realistic a. Couple has its own clock mr money is running his clock its tied to his politics and this power base. Other african politicians have there and theyre worried and people obviously what things happen as soon as possible because theyre under pressure washington has its clock now its going to be handed over to another team as predicted. And the region the countries around there and have theirs and they obviously are watching very carefully hedging depending on how the wind blows so if youre going to cross that situation as far as the cease fire is concerned bernard i think that for the dollar of on this ceasefire a permanent cease fire is very much tied to the end state or a certain stage where then subject of talks that deals with. If you should government i think that they realize this is sort of a given seek not that they should be using that again afghan civilians in vain he means but it is obvious the leverage that they are using political leverage that is tied to something substracted on the political front which probably has a door to maybe a transitional system most Transitional Administration afghanistans leader are we dont know at what stage we dont even know if others will will cooperate with that and who will spoil and who will and they will disable so there are a lot of questions ahead but i think what we should expect at this point is put pressure on the toilet what were reduction in violence we need to make sure that civilians are protected that there is some type of agreement have to have a protocol on reducing violence that ends in targeted civilians mainly in hoping for further ceasefire issues down the road. Mushtaq omar is talking there of sour sounds like some of us not quite exactly a ceasefire but a reduction in violence but the government is going to ask for a cease fire isnt it is he going to get that or is it going to end up at the taliban has got leverage because it has continued its attacks what are we going to see. You see any negotiation negotiating party will maintain. Its india hand in order to get into negotiation and try to seek consensus concessions are. Collect leverage on the negotiation table the Afghan Government will continue to push for the ceasefire and so as the taliban are tried to push and talk about the future setup of the government what sort of state system so development in this by gaining chip india hands while going into talks but both sides know that none of the 2 issues that they are presenting are going to be accepted as comprehensive yes they think particularly the issue of ceasefire you know the taliban cannot go into the ceasefire until they are quite sure of concrete progress and doms of reaching an agreement with the Afghan Government and there isnt is that the taliban experience this for 3 days during the holidays 3 years back where they lost control of the fighters on the ground who came out in media and demanded the Peace Process peaceful settlement so thats right given they are using it as possible to zone of a green mendip or using it as a but again in chip but both sides know that this is not going to war david i chief. Richard we know that the Afghan Government is very nervous about this wrap a drawdown of u. S. Troops ward the Afghan Government be wise to try a stall or delay the talks advancing any further until president elect joe biden is in the white house would he be different in his approach to afghanistan do you think joe biden would he continue to draw down. I think the reason we saw the progress this week indo is precisely because of the outcome of u. S. Election results know of the taliban knowing theyre not going to have the same relationship with the United States as they have currently with the trumpet ministration many in washington and elsewhere certainly european capitals are worried that the us is abandoning its commitment to conditions based drop it seen this reduction in violence that our other 2 commentators have referred to its a clear violation of the 3 men from february another violation by the taliban has been their commitment to Counter Terrorism commitments the connections to the alqaeda in particular continue as reported in the Security Council as 3 simply as this past may yes theyve been attacking isis. Common cause against the Islamic State but these 2 violations meanwhile the u. S. Has been withdrawing thats its commitment and finally the start of the negotiations they have started in earnest but the key point is that the taliban needs to live up to its part of the agreement if the u. S. Is going to follow through on its deal at the same time the u. S. Is going to know to the Afghan Government that its not going to have a military presence forever and it needs to put a positive pressure on both sides to make progress towards a durable political solution omar rigid points out the the talibans violations of the february february agreement and in the last year would abide not would it be worth the Afghan Government to hang on a bit until about a ministration comes in would it reduce would slow down the drawdown of troops that the Afghan Government is so worried about. We dont know what the by the administration is going to do that by the by the administration has a very very full plate internally domestically and internationally afghanistan and im sure they would like to not have to deal with afghanistan at this point and there is an opportunity to really there is an opportunity once. In a lifetime opportunity to put an end to this war that this whole war has to be put into an end obviously responsibly responsibly doesnt just mean that the taliban have to do this or this country has to do this d responsibility that all sides have to be responsible that includes people in kabul the good people in the region that includes people in washington there are those in washington were calling for more who are in afghanistan that is insane there are people who are calling for a total real immediate reduction in forces and pullout that is also somewhat insane so we need to find the right formula that works keeping the Afghan People in mind and realizing that the war has in some ways ended because. One side probably has lost but we thought want to call it a loss or defeat and we need to make sure that the afghans come together and rebuild their country in form a government of their choosing. You cant impose things on afghanistan anymore too many things up in an old india or back in the region again to come to a region because they have. An Important Role balancing so we have to balance the region we have to balance afghan politics and the different interests and we have to balance external grid our politics as well and so all of that was good diplomacy and i think that what we need to do is focus more on diplomacy and active and concern. It diplomacy and i hope by this bush. Mentioned that the need to give the Afghan People a government of that choosing all know whens day the chairman of the u. S. Joint chiefs of staff mark milley he said the most common way that insurgencies end is through a power sharing negotiated settlement is this where you see this ultimately ending up. Well i mean ideally yes any sort of insurgency will end up in bringing in giving a share to the warring parties allowing them to join but the problem is that the taliban have been quite a damaged on their demand that they want the reestablishment of the regime that was toppled by the us intervention in the post 911. Action Operation Enduring freedom that was implemented by the United States so thats the Sticking Point otherwise i are indeed deep our sharing is something thats going to resolve you have to share the buy of with those who have been fighting for it for the last 2 decades they have been able to challenge International Forces their domestic forces they have been able to call a sharks as far as the negotiation between the taliban and al assad is concerned over the course of last couple of years they have been dominating they have a lot of leverage and thats why a power sharing would be an ideal scenario but then the taliban after a sho