From European Competitions for 2 years. Now its a deal that lasts only a week to u. S. Officials say if its success it could lead to the withdrawal of troops from afghanistan the taliban and american negotiators have agreed to a proposal for a reduction of violence in the country the announcement is the result of ongoing peace talks in qatar a senior u. S. Official says if this deal holds it could be followed by a more Permanent Peace accord while she had her tansey joins us now live from washington d. C. She had this sounds like a breakthrough of sorts is it talk us through how this might work. Well this is what weve been told through a very broad brush strokes officially the unofficial briefings from u. S. And taliban taliban sources the 7 day period of calm this reduction of violence will stretch across the country all sides Afghan ForcesGovernment Forces taliban and u. S. Forces will observe this and u. S. Sources say it will be very specific as regards tell about activities including roadside bombs rocket attacks suicide bombs however the u. S. Will be allowed to conduct counter terror. Activities during this period. And there is also the understanding that the taliban doesnt necessarily control the factions in afghanistan so if there is violence there will be some kind of channel of communication between the u. S. And the taliban so that they can communicate and say well what is what is going on here is you are someone else is a false flag operation to scupper the entire deal so thats not initial 7 day period everyone is satisfied to move on to the 2nd stage and that is where the taliban agrees they will no longer want they will not sponsor terrorism terrorist attacks against the u. S. And its allies and the u. S. Commits to a phased specific withdrawal of its troops thats thats the thats the 2nd phase and im not 3rd phase is that then leads to talks which of so far not happen between the taliban and the Afghan Government which hopefully then leads to a peace deal so that there are various questions of us but when this is all going to start the u. S. Says well its going to happen really soon i think was the quote were now getting various taliban sources telling people they told a. B. C. That maybe the 1st stage of the february 22nd 2nd stage should be 29 a week later with talks beginning in march to tell and we should probably take all of this cautiously i mean the big reveal will be on saturday in munich from the u. S. Defense secretary and the state secretary of state clearly there are questions about compliance issues you know how you deciding whether this is all working what is acceptable violence whats an acceptable violence but these are all the Broad Strokes that we have right now from munich. She have i cant help but notice that it also seems to be quite convenient timing to u. S. Troop withdrawal from an unpopular war that President Trump promised oh this potentially in an Election Year yet because like it or not like him or not if you pulls it off this is a huge achievement president obama campaigned on ending this war failed he said it will be over by 2014 by the time he left there was still 8400 troops. All the democratic president ial candidates running right now are promising to bring the troops home because this is an unpopular quote endless war with no military solution quite clearly we also know now from what the Washington Post published at the end of last year a viewer out much but the bush and Obama Administration simply lied about what they kept saying was progress in the afghan war the us people are tired of that theyre tired of the casualties 2400. 00 u. S. Dead many more thousands injured p. T. S. D. 2 trillion dollars is the estimate for how much this will cost this is an unpopular war but problem is it gets more difficult there in the in the small print because now we get in Time Magazine says it has the secret annexes which suggests that what the Bush Administration is calling withdrawal isnt actually withdrawal there are secret annexes here which say that actually there will be an initial reduction of about of about 4400000 troops but 8600 troops will remain almost indefinitely on the counterterrorism so the war isnt over the war is over but also look this is just simply counterterrorism to help the u. S. Homeland 8600 its 200 more than obama left so were going to look for the secret out exs were going to find out whether there is more to this whether theres the verbiage theres going to pretend that the war is over you know and then the days to come even as there is optimism this may actually finally be over she happy times are there for us in washington d. C. Thank you she have well the u. N. Secretary general spokesman has welcomed the agreement he said its important to calve violence thats hung civilians and afghanistan. If this were to succeed it would obviously be a notable step in greenpeace the country. The dialogue survival is of is vital to paving forward the constructive interest of negotiations on peace i think its very important. To find ways to reduce the levels of violence in afghanistan especially the violence that is harming civilians well lets speak now to me he is a distinguished senior fellow at the Observer Research foundation and also formerly part of u. S. Special representative. Advisory group and he joins us now from washington d. C. Thank you for joining us mr got me so i see this is not a ceasefire but a significant reduction in violence that seems a little vague i mean over the last year weve been seeing fiftys and 90 attacks a day if so what constitutes a significant reduction here well a significant reduction is primarily you know whatever the the contours of the deal broadly agreed are like a 7 day cease fire whatever you want to call it but i think what is more important is the political symbolism of it where from you know one point president from say its the deal we dont have a deal with the taliban to where you have no negotiating some kind of a political path or an option and violence whatever that may be whatever you know. Terms of numbers but the main thing is somebody saying that we have some kind of a pathway forward that that in itself in my view has more of a qualitative significant significant way forward for the for the for breaking the stalemate between the u. S. And the taliban sure but then in order to move on to the next phase of the deal there does need to be this kind of sustained period of relative peace how realistic is that i mean were looking at a decentralized conflict regional rivalries a variety of factions within the taliban can the leadership control their ranks. Well i mean i think youre right i think you mentioned a number of factors one of whatever is happening. Inside afghanistan and then theres a regional angle to it than there is russia angle to it there is a pakistani theres of course the pakistani and the u. S. Iran relations to play with all these things but all that said and done i think the fundamental adversities here are the u. S. And the taliban so them coming on to a political settlement that somewhere if you know even that even this happens even if this happens to be a 7 day ceasefire between the u. S. And taliban like what is an acceptable level of fighting what is an acceptable level of violence these are all the devil lies in the details but you know making a broad announcement like this making a political contours on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference where the defense secretary meeting with the afghan president i think that in itself is a significant breakthrough in your in your program you had your conversation with your colleague where you were with another colleague where you said this is an Election Year im sure that the u. S. Establishment is in full force working with you know working because president crumpets obviously the Election Campaign has begin here and a stake in full flow so. The clock is ticking on both sides or at least on the u. S. Side faster than the afghan side where you need to call some kind of some kind of a deal and declare some kind of a victory and i think thats where thats where you see we are heading towards shore where you say the devils in the detail and we had she had their effect it is alleged secret access to the dia which sounds very much like if its true that a u. S. Withdrawal wouldnt be actually much of a withdrawal at all so do you think the taliban and the afghans might accept something like. I mean the taliban you know the mind of the taliban just as the u. S. Has been fighting for 18 years so have the taliban been fighting for 1819 years or more that longer than that to with various factions at the various levels with various adversities so there is a war fatigue in the fighting fatigue with all these things but at the same time the taliban you know have beyond a point nothing to lose in the sense they have dragged the u. S. On for as long as they could have and while they know that the u. S. Is on a timetable to withdraw. They might perceive this. As a position of strength to negotiate with the u. S. To accept a political settlement that might be conducive and that my also have a benefits for them so you know if i were sitting on the taliban side i might be looking for the most favorable deal and the exit of the u. S. In my on my terms or so i dont see any reason why the taliban should not accept. Some kind of a cease fire or withdrawal from the u. S. Barack a palace funny that from the Observer Research foundation speaking to us from washington d. C. Thank you for joining us and i was there. Now moving on to other news now and chinas foreign minister has criticized some countries for overreacting to the current virus which has now killed nearly 1400 people speaking in the german capital one is said containing the spread of the virus remains a challenge for the Chinese Government but he insists that the outbreak is under control. Some countries have stepped up measures including quarantine measures which are reasonable and understandable but some countries have overreacted which is triggered unnecessary panic. Now to contain the corona virus the Chinese Government has now ordered people returning to beijing to quarantine themselves for 14 days or to face punishment president xi jinping is abound to boost a virus prevention measures and to fix problems exposed by the crisis hundreds more military medics have started work in hospitals and the epicenter of that outbreak but there is growing concern about the availability of medical supplies almost all the 65000 cases worldwide are and who pay province and china and more than a 1000. 00 Health Care Workers have also been infected now egypt has become the 1st country in africa to confirm a case nearly 600. 00 cases have now been reported in 29. 00 countries and territories on friday officials in china confirm that 6 Health Care Workers have now died from the illness the World Health Organization says its taking a closer look at those cases. Understanding is that the cases are most Health Workers pete and the 3rd and 4th week of january and theres been a rapid falloff in the number of cases that were occurred in and Health Workers in the last 2 weeks this may reflect increased levels of training increased levels of protection and also increased levels of awareness remember this outbreak has come expanded very quickly in an unsuspecting Health System so we also need to look at how many of those Health Workers were exposed or knowingly within a clinical environment well the chinese city of lohan is now entering its 4th week under lockdown since it was identified as the source of that outbreak now journalists are still restricted from traveling to the city but aljazeera has obtained pictures from a resident who is trapped by katrina you reports from beijing. Empty streets and an increasingly empty fridge there are plenty of vegetables but not much meat for the one familys next meal during the coronavirus lockdown speaking via video call from who pay one should told us his family was doing its best not to panic you would only go home with this infection liquid all over our bodies will we go out we wear masks we dont know if we go out we come back with a virus attack our clothes so we do see in fact every day he lives in judgment a city neighborhood the epicenter of the Virus Outbreak for 3 weeks the familys been ordered to stay indoors movement is increasingly restricted once every 3 days one Family Members allowed to leave the house to pick up groceries supplies and a limited shopper stand in lines one meter apart waiting to enter its been almost a month since one saw his daughters who are staying with relatives in southeast china is it true that there are few relief that my wife and daughters are not there who are now we chat online every day theyre doing ok just worry about me. The vast majority of confirmed coronavirus cases will than 50000. 00 are in a province. Patients have been sharing videos and social media of life inside makeshift hospitals and Quarantine Centers at least 1700 medical staff are among the infected. Elsewhere in china people taking any chances want shinn hopes leaders will learn their lesson from the outbreak. At the beginning nobody paid enough attention everyone thought it was under control until it was too late. And looks forward to life under lockdown coming to an end. Aljazeera beijing will dr mohamed money as overall a just at Lancaster University and he says efforts to lock down that city of will have been largely successful but there is still pressure on the chinese authorities to do more. In the majority of the cases those being our own the word they are directly or indirectly associated with who one or the who bear prevents and because probably that was the reason that the majority of the efforts were really to contain and to isolate and to lock down the people in that proven and since the application of those approaches the overall number of cases that we stored see here in their own the word start to decline and all those cases that appear ofter words were true in direct routes from singapore or from other countries where infected people have transmitted the virus so overall it appeared that the control your that was put in place they started to work and therefore the overall impact is decreasing day by day however as we have seen the number of cases are not declining within china so this also indicates that there is still a pressure on to the to the government authorities to really take a little more cautionary. Scenario to bird controlling the infection within within the vulnerable population so there are still a lot to be done to really claim that all d the control in the years that needed to be put in place are being placed because until we start significant decline in the number of cases we cant really say that all those are really up to the mark. Well theres plenty more ahead for you this news hour including marking a year of protests in algeria the demonstrators there say they feel betrayed by the lack of progress. In virtual reunion a mother and daughter have been brought back together. And support 2 giants of african football play for one of the continents major titles away from her so well find out who leaves council with a cant see because she still has. A Syrian Government helicopter has been shot down in the northwest of the country state media say all crew members have been killed its not yet clear who is responsible but rebels say they shot down the helicopter Government Forces are trying to retake the rebel the remaining rebel held areas there are some of our as at the turkey syria border and he says this downing comes at a time when turkish and Syrian Forces are risking direct confrontation. The helicopter was taking part in a major government offensive to take over areas on the west of aleppo the government managed to retake some villages from the rebels and crucial military bases when the helicopter was shot down the rubble so that they were the ones who opened fire on the helicopter however government sources say that the Syrian Government sources people are fearful with their supporters all insist that this is the work of Turkish Military outposts operating in terms of these Turkish Military is sending more reinforcement into living different parts of the province to try to hold the advance of the Syrian Government which says its just a matter of time before it takes over the whole territory including in libya which is the rebels last stronghold in syria about 140000 syrians fled their homes over the last 4 days and they are now on the border with turkey joining the almost 1000000 people stranded on the border area were talking about a huge number of people and the International Aid agencies are grappling with how to deal with this situation were talking about areas with near military operations where the government is on the move to take over rebel territories as a very delicate situation weve been talking to activists and basically they say its already a tragic humanitarian situation where the syrian army says its now secure the last part of a strategic highway that runs through thats the last rebel held region in the country now the highway connects the capital damascus with aleppo and is the main trade route running from the north all the way to the southern border with jordan. Now 20 people have been killed in an attack in central mali has happened in the village of august saga thats in the region of nazi more than 100 people were killed in the same village back in march an ethnic dogan