minorities living in fear. because of their terror and not keeping their word, thousands have fled to the mountains. 20 years after 9/11, has afghanistan once again become a safe haven for international terror groups? this is notjust a safe haven. this is a partnership. it's the morning after the final western evacuation of afghanistan. the triumphant taliban are preparing to address the world. the us troops left last night at one o'clock and today, at eight o'clock, zabihullah mujahid called us to come for a press conference here inside the airport. reporter najibullah quraishi and his team have been filming in afghanistan throughout the 20—year conflict. the airport is now quiet, but, everywhere, there are reminders of the desperate attempts to escape. these belongings are all left from the civilians who left in the last ten days. more than 123,000 people, many of them afghans, were evacuated. those people even couldn't get a chance to take their belongings with them. literally, these bags could be their memories. but... ..it�*s left behind. the taliban invite the team to see what the us forces left behind. military equipment, worth millions of dollars, has been wrecked, to prevent it being used by the taliban. at today's press conference, zabiullah mujahid, the new government spokesman, ushers in a new era. 0n the streets of kabul, for some, there appears to be a sense of relief. now there is security. it's more than 20 years since the taliban were last in power. back then, they enforced an extreme version of islamic law. beatings and public executions were common. girls couldn't go to school. women couldn't work. the taliban's official spokesman insists they'll do things differently this time. translation: we want traditional islamic rules | for our society, but instead of forcing people by whips, force and pressure, we will do so through the mosques and teachings. translation: we want to do it through preaching - and advice, not force. but, when it comes to rights for women, the answer was less clear. translation: the islamic- emirates is committed to giving women everything that has been prescribed and explained under sharia law. based on these, we will treat women with dignity. many women feel their lives are already being restricted. some take to the streets. our team try to film one of the protests, but are shut down almost immediately. this is nargis and herfriend. nargis is a third year sociology student at kabul university and was only one when the taliban were last in power. translation: life in kabul- was good and it was going well. we had freedom and we could do anything we wanted. we would go to work. we would study. we had identity. but now it is different. hey! cut your camera! suddenly, we're interrupted. women, it seems, are no longer allowed to eat in restaurants. switch off the camera. the women slip away quietly. the men appear to be working undercover for the taliban to inform on those who break the rules. nargis is determined to speak and wants to meet again, but, this time, in a less public place. translation: the taliban say there's no problem. i "we are not the taliban of the past." "we'll allow women to work and study." but it's all a lie. nargis is also an actor and model. translation: well, at the moment, everything has stopped. we can't work. we aren't even allowed to attend university. every day, the situation is getting worse. for example, until a few days ago, only taliban soldiers had arrived. just in the last two days, their intelligence and the vice and virtue branches have also arrived, which is really scary for us. wherever we go, even if one strand of our hair is visible, they say it is against islam. why does she do that? she is trying to promote western culture. i know if we go to work, the taliban will whip us and send us home. it's hard. the vice and virtue police enforce the taliban rules. and taliban supporters feel emboldened to speak out. later, the taliban distanced themselves from his remarks. these seven to ten—year—olds have been allowed back to school, but, since the taliban's return to power, secondary school age girls have been not been invited back. it's not yet clear if this is a permanent ban. next door, the teacher is taking a class for boys only. translation: no, i only teach boys. l translation: i don't know what to say because their future - has been ruined. i wish they could - continue their education. my sisters studyl at the university. but they have - difficulty going there. everyone's afraid. when i come here to teach, i feel frightened too. - the taliban think women should only be at home. | whether they are educated or not, they should - stay at home. the team is invited to film a protest against what's happening in schools. the taliban don't allow unofficial protests. almost immediately, security arrive. they're armed with guns and whips. bystanders are driven back, so the protesters can be isolated. warning shots are fired over their heads. and the women are quickly dispersed. the team visit one of afghanistan's most prominent womens�* rights activists. my fear is mainly, right now for the afghan women, yes. but for afghanistan. my fear is for afghanistan. mahboubah seraj was offered a flight out of the country, but has chosen to stay. the face of this town has changed. there used to be women walking around the streets of kabul, there used to be a feeling that, you know, we are all the citizens of the same country, and we are in this city, men and women. but now it's no longer that. she's waiting to see if the taliban will keep their promise to be more moderate this time round. if they really have changed, they have to prove it. i am here in afghanistan, i want to tell them, and i'm not going anywhere. i'm sitting right here. because the women, the 18 million women of afghanistan, are not dead, and 18 million women of afghanistan, they really need a voice. the interview is interrupted by a woman asking for help. we agreed to hide her identity because her grand—daughter has gone missing. the woman says her grand—daughter had been hoping to leave the country before the taliban took control. it's getting late, so mahbouba tells the woman to go home. i cannot protect her! i cannot protect any woman. these women have to protect themselves. how can i protect them? tell me, how can i protect them? what can i do? does it make you feel sad? it makes me feel angry, not sad. this is not the time to be sad, this is a time to be angry. if i can do something, i want to do something. mahbouba has no idea what's happened to the girl, but there have been other reports of women being abducted and forced into marriage by the taliban. it's notjust women who are feeling under threat. asadullah is a law student and civil rights activist from kabul. he funds his studies with a part—timejob, selling fabrics. he says he was stopped on the street two days earlier. translation: a taliban ranger pickup truck stopped _ and they got off. they asked me where i was going. i told them i was a student and was on my way home. they started frisking me. they found my university card, and an identity card of the civil rights organisation i was working for. after they found the card, their commander, who was still in the vehicle, then got off, and started beating me with a whip. the whip was rubber, and it left stripe marks. after beating me severely, they put me in the vehicle and took me to the police station, where i was held for about two hours. there were many people there, regardless of whether they had committed an offence or not, and without any proof of a crime. asadullah was released without charge. the taliban say they have nothing to do with people's private matters. however, from what we see, they are not keeping their promises. the team head west out of kabul to the home of the hazaras, who are shia muslims. the taliban are sunni, and have persecuted the hazara for decades. when they were last in power, they destroyed the world—famous symbols of hazara heritage, the bamiyan buddhas. now the taliban are back, hazara journalist and human rights activist ishak akrami, has fled his home and gone into hiding. translation: the| situation isn't good. on the first day when they came, many government offices and homes were looted, people's cars were confiscated. he described an incident at the end of august, where 13 hazara were killed. most of them had been part of the former government's security force. after the taliban declared national amnesty, and indicated they would not harm politicians, security forces, journalists, etc, they told these people as well to come and surrender their weapons, and that they would not be harmed. they came back from the mountains and surrendered their weapons to the taliban. the taliban then started shooting them. amnesty international shared this footage of the bodies with panorama, and have confirmed the taliban were responsible, something the taliban deny. because of their terror, and not keeping their word, thousands have fled to the mountains, and other districts. many reporters and civil activists are not in bamyan right now, and are on the run. i have come here, trying to find a way to get out of afghanistan. who will reconstruct the country when everyone leaves? the people who have left are educated, who work in government, who were civil activists or reporters. they were the elite of afghanistan; we have to accept that. this is a bitter reality. since we filmed with him, ishak has been able to escape afghanistan. at first, there were hopes the new taliban regime might be more moderate. this is adbdul ghani baradar, who led the taliban delegation during peace talks with the west in qatar. he spoke to najibullah in january last year. translation: we hope that steps l will be taken to stop bloodshed l in afghanistan, and that afghans will be allowed to live in peace. this is what we ask from the international community. he promised a new afghan government for all, and hoped that he would lead it. it will be inclusive of all ethnicities, and people will be given jobs based on competence. because we are all afghans living in afghanistan, and even those who have left afghanistan are our brothers. but two weeks after the us withdrawal, there were rumours of a power struggle inside the presidential palace. sources within the taliban say there was a violent stand—off between baradur�*s moderates and the hardliners. najibullah spoke to the united nation's afghan security expert in new york. i think this is starting to show that there are some fault lines within the taliban. it was relatively easy for the group to hold its discipline and its cohesion when it was an insurgency. it's more difficult to do that when you're trying to make difficult decisions, with regard to administration of a country. the moderate baradar, it appears, has been sidelined. the most violent of the taliban factions, the haqqani network, have been given keyjobs. the haqqani network has its own history of involvement in extremist activity, and in what they would consider internationaljihadi activity. they're led by this man, sirajuddin haqqani. he's still on america's most wanted list, a $10 million price on his head, for organising some of the deadliest attacks on coalition forces. he's now the country's interior minister, with control over police and security. the un believes his network is still linked to the masterminds of the worst terror attack in history, 9/11. the part of the taliban that works most closely with al-qaeda is the haqqani network. what's been difficult for al-qaeda has been to have a stable, uninterrupted place, where they could regroup, recruit, train, raise money, all of those sorts of support functions that are ultimately necessary to rebuild an offensive capability. and it may be that this change in afghanistan presents them with a new and better opportunity than they have elsewhere. this is notjust a safe haven. this is a partnership. the us went to war in afghanistan to drive al-qaeda and their hosts, the taliban, out. the taliban are back, and it looks like al-qaeda are, too. this footage shows osama bin laden�*s former security chief, amin al haq, returning to his homeland from pakistan. it's been verified by the un. despite repeated requests to the haqqani network for an interview, they did not agree to one. the taliban continue to insist they have no links with al-anda, and will not shelter them. but there's another terror threat that's already very real. islamic state in afghanistan, or is—k. it killed at least 182 people, including 13 us soldiers, outside kabul airport during the evacuation. and despite taliban claims to be fighting back, a week ago, more than 50 died in a suicide bombing at a shia mosque in kunduz. during the last 20 years of war, millions of afghans have been driven from their homes. just this year, an estimated 665,000 have been displaced. shahr—e—naw park in kabul is now home for many families with nowhere else to go. other than three loaves of bread that we got a couple this family has been here for two months. the world food programme says 1a million are at risk of starvation. people queue for hours to get money from the bank, and withdrawals are tightly limited. obaid runs a small bicycle repair shop. 150 afghanis is a little more than a pound, but still his customer bargains. obaid needs the work, so takes the offer. obaid has four grown—up children. they�* re all unemployed. the new taliban government of afghanistan isn't recognised by the international community. billions of dollars in assets have been frozen. this has forced the taliban to the negotiating table again. so, with the economy in crisis, will they be prepared to change? women's rights activist mahbouba seraj believes they might, and the west should give them a chance. this time, she wants to speak on the phone. we are almost like a runaway train, going towards a human disaster, because of the economy, but apart from that, you know, i think they're going to be, they're going to be willing to do something. i think i'm seeing some some changes, and things might go for the better. i'll be leaving afghanistan very soon. why don't you just leave the country? i am committed to staying in afghanistan, absolutely. i'm going to have a say, and i'm going to have a do as far as making it a beautiful place for the people of afghanistan. najibullah quarishi and his team have now left afghanistan. it's estimated that, by the end of the year, half a million afghans will have left, too. hello. a chilly start to friday across the north of the uk. we've had a cold front gradually working its way southwards through thursday. that's been bringing some outbreaks of rain. and as its name implies, behind it, we've got colder air, so likely to see a touch of frost through parts of northeast scotland and northeast england to start the day on friday. further south, still holding onto this milder air through parts of south wales and into southern england. and it's here we've still got that frontal zone through friday morning, so cloudier, maybe the odd patch of rain. most of that will have fizzled out. through the afternoon, the cloud should thin and break here. and for all of us, we should see some good spells of sunshine during friday. just more cloud pushing into northern and western scotland through the afternoon. temperatures lower here, just nine or 10 celsius the top temperature. certainly a fresher feel compared to friday. 13 to 15 celsius further south, perhaps 16 across southwest england. this is bbc news. i'm mark lobel. our top stories: donate the jabs you promised — as the world health organization urges rich countries to fulfil their pledges, we're in south sudan where coronavirus vaccination falls behind target. covax was meant to ensure that low income countries like south sudan would not be left behind. by now, it was hoped that one in every ten people would have been vaccinated, but the reality on the ground is that only one in every 500 south sudanese have been fully vaccinated. rapid gunfire. deadly violence erupts in lebanon — six people are killed after gunmen attack a protest led by the shia group hezbollah. we can hear regular bursts of automatic gunfire and the thump of rpgs like that one. we saw someone shoot from the top of the building and the army are now trying to work out how