schools are in disarray, and poorly preparing the nation's teachers to help students learn. >> ifill: special correspondent kira kay reports from myanmar, on the violent clashes between muslims and buddhists that have displaced more than 100,000 people. >> brown: and we close with a different look at afghanistan, through an ancient oral tradition kept alive in two-line poems. teletrade. the women have done this for centuries, they reflect that are >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> by bp. >> and by at&t. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: it could be a breakthrough moment in the longest conflict in american history. u.s. and afghan peace negotiators are going to sit down with the militants who've been battling american troops since 2001. after 12 years of war, senior u.s. officials now say direct talks with the taliban are scheduled to begin within the next few days. the news came as president obama wound up a meeting with french with the at the g8 summit in northern ireland. the president said that the taliban must come prepared to make concessions. >> including the taliban is going to need to accept an afghan constitution that pronounces against violence is committed to protection of women and minorities. >> the taliban gave no indication whether it would accept those terms when the meetings begin in doha, qatar. instead the militants laid out separate goals in a news drones carried on al jazeera. >> which include end of occupation of afghanistan and establishment of system with security with the most. >> u.s. officials said afghan government would hold its own talks with the taliban separately. in kabul, afghan president karzai announced his negotiating team is ready to go. >> our council travel to qatar to discuss peace talks we hope that our brothers also understand that the talks of the peace progress will move to their own soil in afghanistan soon to ensure the peace in afghanistan. >> today's announcement came as international forces formally handled over both security patrols to the afghan military and police. it was a major milestone on the pass toward withdrawing all foreign combat forces by the end of 2014. nato secretary general attended the ceremony and elsa fa sighted that the coalition is not walking away. >> we train, advise, assist the afghan security forces so afghanistan will stand on its own feet after 2014. >> about 66,000 u.s. troops remain in afghanistan, that is down from a peak of 100,000 in 2010. during the surge ordered by president obama. but the transition has been barred by one of the most vibrant afghan springs in recent year. the attack came in kabul when a bomb targeting a shiite cleric killed three civilians. for more on all of this, we turn to three people with extensive experience dealing with afghanistan. david sedney served in afghanistan on the national security council staff, and then as deputy assistant secretary of defense for afghanistan, pakistan, and central asia. retired army colonel david lamm was the chief of staff to the combined forces command in afghanistan in 2004 and 2005. he's now at the national defense university. and pamela constable covers south asia for the washington post. she's recently back from kabul. back last week, tell us a little bit about these twinings that are happening today how much of a difference does it make that there's a hand over and is afghanistan ready and how much difference does it make. >> it's been really quite a set of stunning developments, when i was there just a few weeks ago everything was gloom and doom, the taliban were exhibiting extraordinary ferocity and reach and going after international charities, even going after international red cross, supreme court, they really seemed to be going for broke. so this obviously we're now learning that there was a double track going on and they have been quietly negotiating with american officials and others the whole time. but they're very good at playing games. so we are not going to -- >> ifill: taliban you mean? >> yes. saying that they want to talk they have been wanting to talk with the americans a long time. >> ifill: which leads to my next question, how karzai prepared to go to that table also to accept security responsibilities that are now being put in his lap. >> well, for a long time his major issue would be to negotiate with the taliban but he is pretty adamant about knows negotiations being conducted in afghanistan, he is not a fan of them being carried on outside the country, nor is he a big fan of having bilateral negotiations going on between u.s., taliban a year or so ago, british, u.s. and taliban he considers that a bilateral issue that he needs to deal with that the taliban and that needs to happen in afghanistan. taliban on the other hand don't recognize karzai's government and that poses a big problem. >> ifill: david sedney is what we're seeing happening that pam constable describes is it symbolic or real? >> i think it's both symbolic in the sense that this is a real turning point in the transition of lead security responsibility for the afghans today. that shows that the commitment of the united states international community can build afghan security forces that are able to defend their own country is coming to fruition. but at the same time, the desire of all afghans including the taliban after 35 years of war is reflective in this agreement to begin talks. i agree with pamela this is really important development. it's symbolic but i think there are going to be a lot of things that will play out over the summer and we'll see a very different situation in afghanistan by the end of this fighting season by the ebbed of represent. >> ifill: the president said there are going to be bumps in the road not just about the meetings in qatar also talking about the hand over, right? >> yes, there is so many aspects of this, number one. there's been a lot of rosy optimistic views on this, the state of the afghan defense forces by those who spent huge amounts of money and effort and time and lives to train them. but honestly talking outside the army there's a great, great deal of progress that needs to be made before they can really stand up. even within the army there's a lot of concern about factional and ethnic division in the army and leadership there. that is a great concern there. not only about being able to fight but the will to fight. and the other bumps in the road which everyone in afghanistan is very worried about is whether karzai in fact is going to be willing to step down and leave power as he has promised to do as constitution requires him to do. >> ifill: that is -- there is an election which is looming and that s the political potential is also a huge bump potentially. >> the political bump is the most high risk bump of them all. the election has to be secured. we have indeed passed security over to the afghan forces, i notice the words i use as we pass control over to the afghan forces, i would venture to say that we pass responsibility and potential blame for what happens. i'm not sure they're in control. given all that, that same set of security forces now has to secure an election process and my experience with that in 2005 and subsequent election or 2004 the subsequent election that's a difficult task, it was a major effort for the americans while we were in afghanistan and i'm not saying on the outcome there, i think -- might be a task too far for the afghan security forces. >> ifill: you think about that david? >> i'm much more op toe miss tuck i believe the afghan security forces have shown over the last six to nine months ability to take on the security responsibilities for their own country and they have done h that by defeating those attacks that pamela mentioned. she was correct, that there was a lot of lashing out by the taliban, but they have not taken back any territory that they had lost in the previous year. >> ifill: even attacks like this red cross attack that she referenced that is not worrying to you? >> so, certainly it's worrying and concerning that the taliban have gone after international ins tip talks like the red cross but that doesn't mean that they are regaining territory they're not regaining the supportive people. they're losing support from the people and they are in a position where they really need to come to the table. >> ifill: is there a distinction that can be drawn about progress in urban areas versus progress in the rural areas and we not overstate whatever we fear? >> i would say there is fairly big difference, particularly talking about the ability of security forces to propel and respond to attacks. they have been doing a very good job in the city. but in the cities you have multiple sources, you have local police, up the intelligence police, you have special police forces and the army. as well as back up from international forces. so, they have got a lot more ability to zero in and go after and get some of the suicide bombers and get some of these people out of there. in remote rural districts it's much more difficult. the afghan army is spread very, very thin. police are thinner and not hats well trained and local police forces which are being stood up now to defend villages with almost no training at all. so the picture is much less sang quinn out particular certain areas there were districts, many prove convinces that are under taliban control, not necessarily thickly filled with foot soldiers but psychologically under taliban control. >> ifill: i want to ask you about another piece of this, david lamm, the economics of the situation, underlying economic strength in afghanistan to support these transitions but also how much this is going to cost and who is going to pay. >> well, from the afghan national security forces side i think the number is about 4.1 billion dollars a year. of which we're going to ask european for about $2.1 billion, the afghans have to contribute about 500 million to that the rest would be the united states. i think what we should be prepared for for the united states to pick up most of that bill. if not all of that bill. because if the political process and election becomes unraveled, political will and many of these countries, particularly european allies will say, what is this all about, why are we putting more money in to this effort, and i think the americans have to be ready to go that entire bag of money. >> ifill: does that mean that it's too soon for americans to breathe easy say we're backing out of afghanistan even with deadlines looming next year, even with this hand over today. >> i agree that it's something that we can't risk, but at the same time we should feel quite proud of what we said we were going to do we've done. we built up the average security forces, driven the taliban to a situation where they can be controlled by the afghan forces, i have to take a little different view in pamela on that there are areas where the taliban are in control of some districts but these are not areas that they have retain control in the last year. security forces have kept what they won over the last year they're going to start pushing out. particularly in the taliban heartland areas of kandahar provinces where they started, the key battles have been fought where the taliban have suffered their greatest. >> ifill: the u.s., this cannot happen without continued u.s. pressure and involvement. >> with u.s. support at this point. u.s. and our nato allies we're not leading the operations or planning the operations we're providing support, we're standing by the afghans. what they're showing and sometimes they suffer tactical setbacks on the battlefield they are always going back, going back to the places where they have been pushed out of taking that territory back and pushing the taliban further back on their heels. >> david sedny, david lamm, pam constable thank you very much. >> >> brown: still to come on the newshour, senator rand paul on immigration reform; a new study finds schools are failing to educate teachers; violent clashes over religion in myanmar; and poetry that gives voice to afghan women. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: leaders at the g-8 summit pressed for syrian peace talks today. but a final statement did not call for the ouster of president bashar al-assad, and did not mention military aid for the opposition. russian president vladimir putin defended his country's arms shipments to the assad regime, but he warned europe against joining the u.s. in arming the rebels. >> we believe that our position is approachable from a moral and legal point of view. about possible weapon supplies by our european partners to be armed syrian opposition. what will happen with those weapons later? who will monitor in whose hands they will end up and where they will turn up in the end, perhaps in europe itself. >> sreenivasan: both putin and president obama said they're still committed to hosting a syrian peace conference in geneva, as early as july. suicide bombers in iraq attacked a shiite mosque in baghdad today, killing at least 34 people. the first blast hit a checkpoint, and in the confusion, a second bomber got inside the mosque and blew himself up during midday prayers. since april, nearly 2,000 people have been killed in iraq, the worst violence since 2008. in northwestern pakistan, at least 29 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a funeral. scores of wounded were taken to a local hospital. among those killed was a newly elected lawmaker. authorities said he may have been the target of the attack. u.s. surveillance of phone and internet data has thwarted dozens of terror plots worldwide, including one aimed at wall street. that's what the director of the national security agency told the house intelligence committee today. army general keith alexander insisted the surveillance is essential to maintaining national security. >> these programs together with other intelligence have protected the u.s. and our allys from terrorists threats across the globe to include helping prevent the terrorist -- potential terrorist event over 50 times since 9/11. >> sreenivasan: another witness, deputy f.b.i. director sean joyce, said one plot involved a plan to bomb the new york stock exchange. the u.s. house moved this evening to adopt one of the most sweeping anti-abortion bills in years. the republican-backed measure would ban almost all abortions that take place 20 weeks after conception. supporters said studies prove that a fetus feels pain after 20 weeks. opponents said the evidence is not conclusive. the bill is not expected to come to a vote in the democratic-led senate. brazil braced today for more nationwide protests. last night brought some of the largest demonstrations in decades, fueled by a sluggish economy and anger over spending for next year's world cup of soccer. we have a report narrated by tom barton of independent television news. >> molotov cocktails thrown, while fired tear gas. the moment protests in ri de janairo turned violent as crowds attempted to sort the state assembly. across brazil an estimated 200,000 people took to the streets to protest, mostly peaceful were held in at least six major cities. the cost of the world cup running in to billions has proved a focal point of protesters. this banner says, when your son gets sick, take him to the stadium. this protester is calling for money to be spent on schools and hospitals, not an expensive football tournament. a month away from a papal visita year away from a world cup and just three years from hosting the olympics, brazil seems far from prepared for its moment on the world stage. >> >> sreenivasan: a major new auto recall is coming. chrysler agreed today to call in nearly three million jeep vehicles. federal safety regulators say their gas tanks can catch fire in a rear-end collision. they say 51 people died over three years in fiery crashes involving jeeps. chrysler initially insisted the tanks are not defective. the recall affects jeep grand cherokees from 1993 to 2004, and jeep libertys from 2002 to 2007. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 138 points to close at 15,318. the nasdaq rose 30 points to close at 3482. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we turn to the politics of immigration. even as the legislation makes its way through the senate, john boehner raised major new hurdles today affecting its prospects in the house. ray suarez continues his ongoing coverage. >> the depth of feelings on immigration were clear, protesters interrupted a house hearing on a republican bill focused entirely on enforcement. as written by south carolina congressman trey gaudy it would empower state and local officials to enforce federal immigration laws and make passport and visa fraud felonies that could result in deportation. >> people don't like this bill, don't vote for it. just make sure that whatever you do vote for ultimately is enforced. because the selective enforcement of a law is destructiontive to our system. >> democrats strongly disagree. california said gaudy's approach is wrong in every way. >> it would turn millions of undocumented immigrants in to criminals overnight. it would turn state and local enforcement officers around the country in to immigration agents. >> by contrast, the senate immigration bill encompasses both enforcement and path to citizenship for some 11 million people. but how speaker john boehner dismissed talks that he'll let the house vote on that measure. >> any immigration renorm bill that is going to go in to law going to have majority of both parties support if we're really serious about making that happen. so, i don't see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn't have majority support of republicans. >> hours later the senate's democratic majority leader harry reid said boehner may yet have to change his stance. >> no matter what he has said there can be significant national pressure on the house to do something on immigration. i'm only worried about what is going to happen here. >> reid said july 4 as target for fin aring the senate bill and more amendments were debeen baited today. they included proposal from south dakota republican john boone he wanted to require 700 miles of double layered fence be built along the mexican border before letting anyone apply for permanent legal status. >> it is important in my view, mr. president, that we have a visible, tangible way in which we make it very clear that this is a deterrent to people coming to this country illegally. >> vermont senator and other democrats objected, the fence plan is just another roadblock to granting citizenship. >> it can't be rigged by some illusive precondition. we should treat people fairly, not have their fate determined by matters beyond their control. >> his measure was ultimately defeated. we're speaking with lawmakers nor a sense of the different perspective shaping the legislation as it makes its way through the political process. the conversations begin with senator rand paul of kentucky. senator, thanks for joining me. >> glad to be with you. >> should an event immigration reform plan include a way for the millions of undocumented people currently living in the country to eventually become citizens? >> i think there are two stages of what we need to decide. for those who are here who are undocumented should we give them a legal status, "we document them so that they can pay taxes and live legally and come out of the shadows. to that i say, yes. i think it also, though, as we allow that to occur that should be dependent upon the border becoming more secure so we don't have the same problem again in ten years. so legalization is the first step, now what i would propose is in stepped of creating a new pathway to citizenship i would allow people who are here on work visas to also simultaneous stand in the same line that a person in mexico city is right now, if you're in mexico city you want to come to our country you want fob a citizen there is a line. i would let them stand in the same line i just wouldn't create a new line. this may sound like semantics but it's important to a loot of us that they not be given a privilege for breaking the law but that they be given something that would be equivalent to someone new coming in to the country. >> if you uncouple legal residents from the path 6 citizenship, currently if you're legally residents. united states you can embark on the citizenship process. does that discourage people who are already in families there are mixed status, have citizens in them, people who have already committed to life in a community, work lives here from playing by the rules as we now want to bring people in out of the shadows. >> i think what would discourage them if we don't have enough work visas, i am for normalizing all the people here, i would do it gradually over about a five-year period, what i would say is that legalization is the most important step then citizenship is a privilege, i think we can discuss how we do that down the road. and it could be part of this bill as far as i'm concerned, but to me the big step is, the gang of eight, they say legalization, the documentation part cannot be dependent on border security and i'm sort of the opposite. as a conservative i want the government to verify that they really are going to do what they say because i have my doubts about government's efficiency or will power to secure the border. what i'm saying is, we have to secure the border, we can do it sort of simultaneous with documentation but i don't think we should document everyone and then hope that the government later will do the border security. i don't think it will ever happen then. >> give people an example of how that triggering mechanism would work. if you set up this security and verification system that eventually works to the satisfaction of the congress then another part of the process would be triggered? >> my bill or my amendment to this bill is called trust but verify, i would allow documentation to begin, there's about 11 million people here. the first year you probably document between a million and two million. that may be the capacity of the system anyway because we have to background checks on all the people, find out why they're here or not here then try to normalize them. so i would do a million or two then at the end of the year i would vote and say, is the border more secure than it was a year ago and the process would continue as long as congress keeps voting that the border is becoming increasingly secure. i would also have some parameters like certain miles of fence have to be built each year. entry-exit devideos have to be developed. we can no longer let people come and leave the premises if they have been arrested coming in illegally they should get a very quick trial if they came in illegally be sent back home. all of these efficiency items would be voted on each year as to whether occurring, but i would allow documentation process to go ahead and start. citizenship i would just simply change the law to say you can be here on a work visa, and you can get in citizenship line at the same time. >> it sounds like you're taking the oversight and vair any occasion out of the department of homeland security where it might currently reside and putting it with the congress, that's a congress these days can hardly agree that the sunrises in the east and sets in the west, it's going to have a yearly approval process that's going to work? >> the approval process would not be voting over individual items, you would be approving an overall report as to whether or not the items that were in the bill are being adhered to. the reason we do this, there's not much trust on what we do in washington and with good reason sometimes. so much of legislation delegates the authority to bureaucrats to do this then it never gets done. for example, in obama care there's 18, 1900 references to the secretary of health shall decide at a later date. really you elected your representatives to decide these things. we should write in to the bill how we secure the bill and then we should be the judge and jury on whether or not it's actually happening. i think it's a great way to get congress involved because when you get congress involved you're getting the people involved through their representation. better than letting unelected bureaucrats do it, i think. >> senator, before we go, today's speaker boehner affirmed that he would not let a vote come up on his side of the building without a majority of the republican caucus prepared to vote for immigration reform. what does that do to the fate of comprehensive reform for 201? >> i think that means the bill will come up be a much stronger and better bill. i like that attitude, because what that does is it gives leverage to conservatives like myself who want immigration reform but want it to be done in a lawful manner that is fair to everybody. so i think if he holds to that which i think he will hold to that we get a stronger bill. this is coming from somebody who wants immigration reform. i think the system is horribly brokenf we do nothing it's a big mistake. i want to see immigration reform but i want it to obey a rule of law with a secure border, with securing that the vote only to go citizens and that welfare only goes to citizens. if all these things are taken care of i think both parties could get behind a bill like this. >> senator rand paul of kentucky. thanks a lot for joining us. >> thank you. >> late today the congressional budget office says senate immigration bill would cut did i sets by $19 billion over ten years. estimated eight of the 11 million people in the us illegally would gain legal status. tomorrow we'll have different take on immigration debate from virginia democrat. >> brown: next, the training of teachers, and a new report that concludes too much of that preparation is not adequate. the study was conducted by the national council on teacher quality, an independent research and advocacy group. the report looked at teaching programs at more than 600 institutions in the u.s., and found what it called an "industry of mediocrity." among the conclusions: just one of every four programs restricts admissions for teaching candidates to the top half of college students. and about 70% of all programs are not providing elementary teacher candidates with sufficient and current reading training. but the report's findings and methodology have come under strong criticism. our special correspondent for education, john merrow, joins us now. john, still in the picture for us about this what report sees as a problems with training teachers, what kinds of things does it say aren't being done well? >> it argues that teacher -- most teacher training institution don't take training seriously, as if it's not really their mission to train teachers that they look at teachers should be a clean slate ready to go in and treat each class as a unique experience. and there for when they go in to their first year of teaching they're inadequately prepared. report is talking about 200,000 men and women who come out of teacher training every year and teach one and a half million kids during that first year. we also know that quite often first year teachers are put with disadvantaged kids. it's a double whammy if they're not well prepared. the report gives stars to -- there are 608 institutions that participated or that involved. only four got four stars which is the top score. only four out of 608 got four stars for their programs. and 162 programs got zero stars. 100 programs got three, three and a half or four stars out of 608. 301 programs got one star. it's a scathing report. >> let me just point out as we said that there was a lot of pushback here. a lot of criticism of the methodology and even of the point of view of the people who did it. >> absolutely right. kate walsh is the head of the national council of teacher quality is known as a harsh critic of teacher education, if you go to page 78 of the footnote you'll find that only 1% of teacher training institutions agreed to participate. there was we shownly a boycott, many felt that she began with her conclusions there for refused to participate. that said, in that sense it's a bad study because they didn't go to campuses, they didn't sit in on classes, they didn't have the participation. they read course catalogs and sillibi. it's a little bit, jeff, like going to the doctor for your physical and she says, you don't have to bother coming in to the office, just walk by my window and i'll give you your physical. that sounds terrible, but in this case the patient, teacher educations limping and coughing badly and the doctor probably can say something is wron >> all of this, of course, goes to very real issue in education, you've covered a lot for us. what do we want from teachers, what kind of -- how best to train them, what is the right credential for them, the analogy if we hear of law schools and medical schools i gather has never quite come together. this is still a real debate, right? >> it is still a real debate. and some of the points that the report makes are shocking and also true. it's very easy to become a teacher, they say that only a quarter of teacher training institutions restrict the admission to the top half of the class they will take anybody is what she's saying. that has to change. states could change that. kate told me that she hopes this will be a market-driven solution, publication of this report which is a u.s. news publication she is hoping that people will read that say, i'm not going to that school. they give stars, they give yellow trying else to institution that say don't go there. her hope she said to me is that this will force institutions to change. she also i think expects that there will be alternative ways of training teachers, school districts are creating their own teachers and there are alternative routes like teacher america. randy winegarden of the union proposed the equivalent of bar exam for everyone in order to become a teacher. i think there's some wisdom there we need to make it hard though become a teacher but at the same time weep have to make it easier to be a teacher. there's all lot of teacher bashing going on and people see this report as part of that. >> all right. john merrow a continuing discussion. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> ifill: we turn now to the southeast asian nation of myanmar. in recent years, the country has taken steps to turn itself from a military dictatorship into a fledgling democracy. that included the release of human rights leader aung san suu kyi. just last month, myanmar's president became the first leader from his country to visit the white house in 47 years. but the transforming nation has been marred by a surge in violence against one of its religious minorities. newshour special correspondent kira kay reports. >> reporter: across the rice fields of central myanmar, you can hear the noise of hammers and saws, the rebuilding of an entire community. >> i was born and raised in this village. i got married here. we have an attachment to this place. we cannot give it up. >> reporter: this muslim enclave of farmers and cattle dealers sits on the outskirts of okkan town, where, on april 30, another flare-up of increasingly frequent religious violence broke out. it started here in town, when a muslim woman bumped into a young buddhist monk in the crowded marketplace, causing an argument. within hours, angry buddhists were attaing their muslim neighbors and a mob marched on the small enclave. village chief tin win says 64 houses burned to the ground as residents watched from the bushes. the centerpiece of the enclave, its mosque, was badly damaged. >> i did not think this could happen. we had lived together peacefully. muslims always participated in the activities of the buddhist community. >> reporter: myanmar is an overwhelmingly buddhist country, known for its shining temples. monks are revered here and were a face of the struggle for democracy and human rights during decades of autocratic rule. though only about 5% of myanmar's population, muslims occupy a prominent place in the country's economic sphere, sometimes fostering resentment. but the military leadership kept a lid on religious tensions, says islamic leader wunna shwe. the history of anti-muslim feelings is long, but it was always discreet. now it has erupted because of the transition to democracy. in the last two years, myanmar has undergone a profound transition as a reformist government has increased freedoms. democracy icon aung san suu kyi was elected to parliament after decades of house arrest, and there is a freer flow of information. >> these new freedoms have been exploited by a group of people who want to create discord between the different religions. these individuals use hate speech and provoke tensions around the country. meanwhile, the authorities have failed to enforce law and order. >> reporter: the surprising agents of a new anti-muslim, pro-buddhist nationalism are a handful of prominent monks, like mandalay-based wira thu. >> if we cannot stop these trends, then the entire country will become a muslim state. >> reporter: wira thu was arrested in 2003 for inciting religious conflict, but was released in a 2012 amnesty. now he has become the public face of a movement called 969. the numbers refer to various attributes of buddha and the monkdom, and its brightly colored stickers have flowered across myanmar in recent months. 969 calls for a boycott of muslims, both economic and social. men marry buddhist girls, but muslim girls are taught not to marry anyone of a different religion. muslims never sell their land or property to buddhists and instead buy off buddhists' houses. in this way they are expanding their control, and are dominating the economy of our major cities. >> reporter: 969's growth was fueled by events in rhakine state, where, last june, fighting broke out between buddhists and the muslim ethnic group the rohinga, over the muslim rape and murder of a buddhist woman. in october came an organized effort to eradicate the muslims, says phil robertson of human rights watch. their investigation found that local buddhist leaders incited the attacks. >> there was, for instance, a statewide meeting of buddhist monks in rakhine state that called precisely for ethnic cleansing, for action against the muslims who they.. the rakhine view as an existential threat against themselves. what we can say is that the idea of impunity to attack muslims is apparently contagious. seeing that it was done in arakan state indicated that, hey, they can get away with it in arakan state, we can get away with it here. >> reporter: wira thu uses the rakhine upheaval as a rallying call. >> anywhere muslims are a majority, there is violence, like what happened in rakhine state last year. that is why our idea is to control the muslim population. >> reporter: wirathu says he condemns all violence, and there is no evidence 969 members have plotted attacks against muslims. but 969 propaganda was distributed in areas later hit by violence. today much of the central myanmar city of meikhtila looks like the aftermath of a tornado or tsunami. in march, an argument in a gold shop between a buddhist customer and the muslim owners sparked riots. cell phone video from the scene shows buddhist crowds tearing the building apart by hand. that night, muslims pulled a monk off a motor bike and set him on fire. the buddhist community's retaliation was immediate and overwhelming. in a muslim village outside town, we met survivors of the meikhtila violence. all but one of them asked that we not reveal their identity. >> while we were hiding, we were terrified, wondering, when i will be killed? >> reporter: this 21-year-old says he and 100 others fled to nearby swampland after the islamic school they were hiding in was attacked. >> the police said they would save us and led us out in a line. but on the way out, the crowd attacked, shouting, "don't come back, don't set foot on this land as they were killing us." >> they hit my husband's head with an axe, and he collapsed. then the mob, including a monk and people from our village, threw him into the fire, still alive. they did this right in front of my eyes. >> the crowd was there. and it really was not a crowd. it was a mob. they were chanting anti-muslim slogans. >> reporter: win htein represents meikhtila in the country's parliament, and witnessed the attacks. when they learned that police were not taking action, they ran across inside the line and dragged some young people and killed in front of them. >> about 2,000 people were gathering, and they were cheering. >> reporter: they were cheering? >> when someone was killed, they will cheer. >> reporter: over the three days of violence, at least 50 people, mostly muslims, were burned alive or hacked to death. 18,000 were displaced. 12 of the town's 13 mosques were destroyed or badly damaged. >> flags now mark where buddhist homes once stood, to protect them from looters. it is devastation-- not materially, mentally. because the people now are so determined against muslims coming to their own places. some people are privately telling me that don't let them come back again. >> reporter: even amidst the violence, there were glimmers of humanity. soe nyund's 76-year-old father was too slow to escape the mob, but soe nyund says the kindness of neighboring buddhists spared his life. >> we had a friendly and warm relationship with the monks and also with our buddhist neighbors. they were the ones that hid me in the local temple. >> reporter: buddhist families suffered in meikhtila's violence, too, primarily those from mixed neighborhoods. several hundred remain homeless and camped on the grounds of a monastery. looking out at her destroyed neighborhood, tun tun khai says she longs for the way life used to be. >> muslims ran the small tea shops. buddhists owned betelnut stalls, and muslims would buy from them. >> reporter: how do you feel when you stay here in this camp and you look across the field and see your burned house? >> it is hard to sleep, so i have to take sleeping pills. it's worse because i also don't have a job. i am just trying to survive. >> reporter: most startling in meikhtila was the prominence of 969 stickers. they are now everywhere, even on stalls standing beside shuttered muslim shops and destroyed mosques. and just feet from ground zero of the violence, the gold shop. demand is great for the 969 dvd's openly for sale, with wira thu's portrait on the cover. don't you take any responsibility that your words may be giving people permission to act violently? >> what i have done is simply awaken people to what is going on in our country. what happened afterwards was also connected to the rape case in rakhine and the murder of the buddhist monk. these are the factors that triggered the violence. my part is just to keep people on guard. >> reporter: these monks want public popularity and donations. they do not think about how their actions could damage democracy or cause people trouble. >> reporter: some monks, like punya wontha, are now speaking out and trying to intervene. and he believes these monks should be arrested. >> back during the pro-democracy movement, the government and the state-appointed council of monks worked together to imprison monks who spoke out against the state. now these monks are preaching, but the authorities have failed to take action against them. >> the fact of the matter is, police are failing to do their job. people who are committing violence or instigating violence are not being held responsible. this needs to be addressed by the government. otherwise, the larger reform process could be at risk. >> reporter: back in okkan, the scene of april's violence, the village men take a break from rebuilding their houses to come together for prayers in their still-damaged mosque. they are starting life over, hoping the coexistence they enjoyed here for years can be restored. >> ifill: kira kay's story is part of our partnership with the bureau for international reporting and their series, "fault lines of faith." >> brown: finally tonight, we end where we began, with afghanistan. but this time through a very different lens: one of language and culture. for many americans, afghanistan is a country shrouded in mystery, particularly its women, literally shrouded under a burka, silent and seemingly impenetrable. >> i looked for years at these blue burkas, thinking those women beneath have nothing to say, because i don't hear them saying anything. >> brown: journalist eliza griswold has reported from afghanistan for the last ten years. she wanted to get beyond the headlines, and especially to understand the lives of rural women, mostly illiterate pashtuns living along the border areas with pakistan, amid the daily realities of war. her way in was through short poems called "landays," each just two lines long, with 22 syllables. >> separation, you set fire in the heart and home of every lover. >> this is rural folk poetry. this is poetry that's meant to be oral. it's passed mouth to mouth, ear to ear. and the women have recited these poems for centuries. so they've gone from talking about the riverbank, which is the place you gather water, and of course the place men go to spy on the women they have crushes on, to facebook, to the internet. so they really reflect the currents that women in afghanistan are encountering today. >> brown: a poet herself, griswold collaborated with photographer and filmmaker seamus murphy. "poetry" magazine is devoting its entire june issue to their work. and as part of the project, murphy has made a short documentary featuring the landays. >> i could have tasted death for a taste of your tongue, watching you eat ice cream when we were young. >> brown: as with poetry everywhere, one theme is love. but there's a whole lot more. >> slide your hand inside my bra. stroke a red and ripening pomegranate of kandahar. >> pull that burka back, and she will talk to you about the size of her husband's manhood. she will go right for it: sex, raunch, kissing, rage. she will talk about the rage of what it is to be cast in this role of subservient, in a way that's really startling. >> brown: the rage griswold speaks of is another theme, aimed at the unequal and often harsh treatment of women. >> when sisters sit together, they always praise their brothers. when brothers sit together, they sell their sisters to others. >> brown: griswold says landays are a way to subvert a social code in which many rural women are prohibited from speaking freely. >> they're a way to be very outspoken, but not to own the authorship of that statement, because, being collective and anonymous, she can say, "well, of course i just heard that on the phone, or i just heard that in the market. i didn't make that up." >> brown: that's in a society where they are otherwise not allowed to speak, not allowed to write poems. >> at all. >> brown: with real, dangerous consequences. >> exactly. >> brown: in fact, this project began after griswold wrote a magazine article on a young woman who'd been beaten for writing poems, and later killed herself. given stories like that, it was also tricky to collect the landay. >> frequently, to meet these women, i had to be undercover to some extent. i had to wear a burka, at their request: "please come dressed as one of us." we will gather on saturday afternoon. our husbands will be out." we started in refugee camps around kabul and we would hit situations like... well, first of all, seamus and i were never able to work together, because it is impossible for him as a man to witness women singing or saying these landay. >> brown: they just won't do it? >> they would be killed to be found out to do it. >> brown: another major theme of the landay is the pain and sorrow of war. >> in battle, there should be two brothers: one to be martyred, one to wind the shroud of the other. >> there's a lot of anger at the taliban, a lot of rage at the hypocrisy of the taliban, and an equal amount-- if not more-- rage at the hypocrisy of the americans and what their influence has left behind. many of the women who were sharing them with us were survivors of very recent bombing attacks. one woman had shared a landay about her cousin, a talib, who'd just been killed by a drone strike. >> the drones have come to the afghan sky. the mouths of our rockets will sound in reply. >> brown: the mention of drones is also an example of how landays respond to changes in society. verses that once mentioned the british now substitute "americans." and today, landays are shared on the internet and in social media, and those new technologies make their way into the updated landay. >> how much simpler can love be? let's get engaged now. text me. >> brown: what happens to this form in the future? is it your sense that it might die off because of the changes? or does it have a life? >> i asked one of the leading novelists in afghanistan, mustafa salek, what he thought, what will happen to the landay now that they talk about the internet, facebook, drones. will it kill them? and he said just the opposite. they're being traded and they are changing, being remixed like rap at rapid speed, and people love them. the landay is supposed to communicate in the most natural language the truth of afghan life. so i found my assumptions about the death of the landay being absolutely confounded by what afghans said themselves. >> brown: just another assumption confounded in this rare look behind the veil. for the record, "poetry" magazine, which is featuring the landays this month, is produced by the poetry foundation, which helps support our coverage. and there's more on all of this online, where photographer seamus murphy narrates a slideshow of his images for the project. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. the taliban announced it will near kabul afghanistan. that was reported late today by cnn and reuters. the deaths came as afghan forces took over control of security and as taliban announced it will join peace talks with the u.s. and afghan governments. and leaders at the g-8 summit pressed for syrian peace talks, but they stopped short of calling for the ouster of president bashar al-assad. >> brown: also online today, a rather unusual group portrait in the making. hari sreenivasan explains. >> sreenivasan: on july 19, a spacecraft, now exploring saturn, will take a picture of earth from a billion miles away. read a blog from one of nasa's scientists. and a reminder: join me friday for a live stream with our favorite political analysts, mark shields and david brooks. also, cicadas buzzing in virginia. tweet your questions for them using the hashtag #doubleheaderlive. details are on our homepage. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, miles o'brien looks at the invasion of one of nature's most fascinating and deafening spectacles, the 17- year cicadas. i'm gwen ifill. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thanks for joining us. good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i want to make things more secure. >> i want to treat more dogs. >> our business needs more cases. >> where do you want to take your business? >> i need help selling art. >> from broadband, to web hosting, to mobile apps, small business solutions from a.t.&t. can help get you there. we can show you how at&t solutions can help your business today. >> and by bp. >> bnsf railway. >> carnegie corporation. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news worlda."max this is "bbc news america reporting from washington. i am katty kay. there are strict conditions for this progress. >> we do not anticipate this process will be easier quick but we must pursue it. >> smiles for the camera but division offstage stage as russia refuses to sign any that president assad should leave syria. 175 the brothers, nearly years ago, they change the way we capture the world. one image at a time.
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