Masking to drive down the numbers can should be considerable. Gaz is imposing a partial lockdown this weekend to curb a rise in the number of Coronavirus Infections mosques and most schools will be closed during the day and theyll be a nighttime curfew from saturday a full lockdown is set to start next friday aid workers say at least 1600. 00 Rohingya Refugees are being forced to move to a Remote Island off the coast of bangladesh the un warns its prone to storms and flooding nearly 1000000 rohingya have been living in squalid camps since a military crackdown in the United Nations says simon like conditions have reappeared in parts of yemen and almost half the population is experiencing high levels of Food Insecurity aid agencies are warning time is running out to prevent loss starvation and the outlook for next year is worse famine has never officially been declared in yemen where the more than 5 year old war has left 80 percent of the population reliant on 8. Indias government and protesting farmers have yet to find Common Ground on new laws that could affect crop prices theyre due to meet again on saturday after a 2nd round of talks on thursday ended without an agreement farmers are worried the law will put an end to minimum crop prices and lead to corporate exploitation and police in peru have shot dead a 19 year old farm worker during a protest against low wages he was spot of a group of striking workers who dropped the countrys main motorway near the northern town of viru the protesters want to wage increases and the scrapping of an agricultural law they say limits their rights and income. Theyre upset with headlines on aljazeera more news as always on our website aljazeera dot com inside stories next. Pakistans k. S. C. 100. 00 is so much more than 36 percent we bring you the stories and developments that are rapidly changing the world living water is indispensable to Economic Activity but industrial uses worsening of fresh water counting the cost on aljazeera. The Afghan Government and the taliban say theyve reached a breakthrough will press ahead with talks on the political roadmap under 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 are 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 are being 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 ashraf ghani 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 and the 2 sides have 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 its secretary general u. N. Stoltenberg welcomed the breakthrough. Agreement today is you can discuss whether its a big or small step but importantly 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 then 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 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 adams to discuss down the road so its to set the agenda for substantive talks now we are not a step standard talk yet at this is going to be another difficult stage in my opinion i think both sides already 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 is important that the environment around them outside of the room also be conducive 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 that 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 to be discussing the issues related to the future makeup of the of one 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 have 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. Ideal 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 then 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 Government. Richard mentioned 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 there are any substantive talks considering the taliban have been unwilling to do that is that a realistic prospect. Well all sides of their own clock lets be realistic a. Couple has its own clock mr romney is running his clock in to his politics invest power base. Other african politicians have their say 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 are on their hands than have theirs and they obviously are watching very carefully hedging depending on how the wind blows so its a very complex situation as far as the cease fire is concerned bernard i think that for the dollar bond this cease fire a permanent cease fire is very much tied to. The end state or a certain stage with then subject of talks that deals with. If you should government i think that they realize that its sort of a given t. Not that they should be using that against afghan civilians and say nice means but it is almost the leverage that theyre using critical leverage that is tied to something substracted on the political front which probably has a door to maybe a transitional system most Transitional Administration afghanistan later on 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 for 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 in targeted civilians mainly in hoping for further ceasefire issues down the road. Mushtaq omar is talking there are 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 and you go shooting party will maintain. Its india hand in order to get into a 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 the 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 their 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 affected him and it by using it doesnt 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 hanging 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 this possibly means 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 pull out 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 it feeds 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 have been appalled and there are back in the region again a country or region because they have. An Important Role balancing so we have to balance that 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 and 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 or indeed depart 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 have been able to challenge International Forces or 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 short bit of flexibility but equally learning from the history of the afghan history back in the late eightys when did the same sort of fight injured that engineers were being struck by the International Community as part of geneva process the mujahideen groups did not agree to any sort of power sharing and we all know it ended up in civil civil war thats the what it thats the concern here in afghanistan that the rigidity is going to challenge the success of this whole process there has to be flexibility there has to be concessions and it has to be with the positive vibes bribes as far as the Peace Process consent them and see that there idjit active duty is going to challenge so yes the power sharing is the solution that the make up and its outlook has to be worked out richard i have to say it might seem incredible to some of the does even a possibility of any power sharing future given the duration of these talks in september given the difficulties between the Afghan Government itself between the 2 sides and who won their own president ial election can you ever see a pair of power sharing agreement in afghanistan being agreed between these parties. Zab salute the essential and some poor another version of the current Constitutional Order since the beginning of the bonn process 1000 years ago is critical but it has to include the taliban this time lets not forget though if its just a power sharing agreement among the least thats not going to pass the test for durable certainly inclusive process of governance and preserving the gains that the Afghan Government and society have overseen for the past 2 decades human rights especially womens rights lots of gains getting children back to Schools Health indicators they need to build on that progress and also you know its not just foreign forms of democracy that will be essential they can still lean on traditional tools such as the loya jirga mechanism which again was used 2 decades ago on the various warring factions as my previous caller just noted the geneva process failed but those same parties came around the table and worked on a new Constitutional Order in the early 2000 its time that the next phase begins with some kind of interim arrangement that the parties can agree to and then have the taliban fully brought into the system a final point though building on investor smarts a point about diplomacy there is a Critical Role the United States can apply pressure on both sides as the other major conflict of the party. Part of the conflict but its really a possibility of mediation the United Nations has a critical peacemaking role but there are other regional players from respect to stand to qatar that might be asked by the parties theyll need to of course welcome the men and finally the other regional partners can reinforce this process many of them of course are undermining peace in afghanistan. Richard mentioned the loya jirga this was in into. 1001 the bond agreements did this replace the created interim government would the current democratically elected government in kabul agree to Something Like that would you see them having to agree to Something Like that like that to pave the way. Well listen i wasnt born i was in this government for many years i know how much gains weve had and i mean how much we have not had how much has been wasted how much corruption exists our fragile Everything Else we need to be realistic the taliban for control over a lot of places in the country kabul in many cities are surrounded by prolonging. We need a settlement and we need to take action realities into account and not just p. R. I think that its important to learn the lessons from the past its important to maintain the cool gains the Afghan People as credit to ok and its important to remember geneva. They will tell you a lot of the people you know this is a 1st hand of the an intra afghan even though this is not to represent this but its the most interesting that weve had so far in geneva ok it was a good solid occupation and the Afghan People rose up and and eventually they had to do what they had to do this case lets hope that we end up not with another. Soviet type withdrawal or another yet now as the u. S. Experienced our hope we did not create another vietnam so there are a lot of lessons of history and i hope that we apply the right measures and not politicize this beyond what is needed or what one last question to you mushtaq im afraid is going to be a short answer but its a longish it a complicated issue i know but pakistan how relevant is pakistan now because the current leadership leading the talks here in doha is not as connected to pakistan as previous taliban leaders might might have been so do we have to worry about pakistan as much now. Last absolutely at all times at our times and the reason i can give you is that yes you have the negotiating team sitting in doha are disconnected from the influence of the pakistanis but then dont forget the people sitting in doha how why out of the influential and how are they calling the shots why is what is the reason because they have been dominant on the battlefield and betting field is again dependent on the pakistani side of their butin line and because of the military out for example are operating from the centuries from there and getting support from beyond to do it in line and but from within pakistan that gives leverage to be taliban in doha and as such the pakistani side of the game continues to dominate the out important and they will remain relevant up until the end of this whole process gentlemen so much more to talk about on afghanistan but unfortunately we are out of time but thank you to omar samad to mushtaq and to richard on 0 and thank you to watching you can see the program again any time visit our website aljazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our Facebook Page facebook dot com ford slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter we are out a. J. Inside story for me Bernard Smith and the whole team here by for. With tiny hidden cameras in the mills or illegally filming and sharing peoples most intimate moments when i went east investigate south koreas spy cam deming on aljazeera. In the light of the open seas hides a dark secret. Men forced to work without pay in slave failure. But a glimmer of hope remains for the forgotten fisherman as a group of activists delve deep into the Illegal Fishing industry demanding justice. And freedom to. Go street a witness documentary on aljazeera. Aljazeera. Every. The. The global death toll from covert 19 tops 1. 5000002 of the worst hit nations the us and its only report of Record Number of fatalities. Im fully back to watching aljazeera live from doha are also coming out. 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