A Human Rights Watchdog accuses u. S. Backed special forces in afghanistan of committing war crimes and other atrocities during their operations its calling for the units to be destroyed and it was the german carmaker boast wagon putting its money on eat mobility v. W. Starts production of its 1st fully electric mass market vehicle to get high level support from german chancellor Angela Merkel with a promise to expand car infrastructure across the country. Im off to our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we start tonight right here in germany the country celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall which happened on the 9th of november 1989 for lins mayor has a few. Opened a week of festivities with a white shirt at the world famous alexander plots thats the square where hundreds of thousands of east germans demonstrated today 30 years ago november 4th 9089 calling for freedom of expression and democracy commemorations will culminate with a ceremony at the berlin wall memorial on saturday. And joining me now is our chief Political Correspondent linda crane she is at alexanderplatz good evening to you melinda is it possible for the events that were seeing today to truly represent those events those fateful events of 30 years ago. Well certainly you can see the stirring images behind me that are in ming to do just that the mayor talked today about the courage of the protesters who gathered here on this day 30 years ago saying it can be and should be a shining example to all of us to fight against exclusion and for justice in every way possible and i think that pretty much captures the tone of this week long commemoration of germanys peaceful revolution its not a try young full tone even though this is being billed as a festival and a celebration but very much one of thoughtful reflection now the whole is called 7 days 77. 00 places and that essentially is a tribute to the fact that the revolution didnt just occur on one day on the 9th of november when the wall fell it was a process over weeks over months a process that isnt even finished yet and it was a process in which this square played a very historic role lets just take a quick look back in november 989 the exodus of people leaving east germany reached a peak those who decided to stay demanded more freedom more than half a 1000000 staged a mass protest on east berlin alexanderplatz the largest demonstration in the history of east germany is. Its as if someone has pushed open the window of years of intellectual economic and political stagnation. Of the can only years reeking of apathy 2 years of double speak and bureaucratic despotism. The communist regime had subtly and publicly lost all support but even then no one predicted that just 5 days later the berlin wall would fall. You know no one expected there it was the biggest demonstration that east germany had ever seen talk to me a little bit about the importance of that demonstration 30 years ago where the organizers of the demonstration were a Diverse Group actors artists members of church groups. Academics students some of them very prominent well known others unknown to the public and they took the unusual step of actually applying for a permit for this demonstration which had never been before happened in east german history and in fact they got one and nonetheless when they gathered here on that morning exactly 30 years ago they could not know whether the regime would try to suppress the protest with violence because there had been violent intervention by the authorities at protests in october in leipsic for example and essentially no one here knew how many people would show up and what would happen in the course of the day and the thing that was really unique was that those who spoke were in fact able to voice their grievances and their demands for democratic freedoms for more transparency from our justice in the presence of high level Party Officials one of whom actually also took to the stage without any form of retribution moreover the whole demonstration was shown on german east German Television another a very unusual event and apparently without authorization now one of the organizers said when she saw the hands of the leading member of the politburo who spoke at the demonstration badly shaking she thought to herself the days of this regime are certainly numbered and you know people who experience that they certainly remember where they were what they were thinking and what about any personal recollections of about that fateful week in november 1900. Well you know i had just had my 1st child at that time and he was born basically exactly the time when the former head of the politburo had just stepped down and i thought to myself when the wall fell hes being born into a Peaceful World he is being born into a world that in every way will be better than the old one and that was a kind of a linear view of history that i think events it showed us is absolutely wrong and therefore this commemoration that takes into account in a way the complexity and the messiness of the project that has been unification is i think spot on and for me now looking at what is happening here theres a recognition of all thats been gained but also of the immense destabilization and and insecurity that have been cause for many many east germans who have seen their antiair lives changed. Linda gray berlins alexanderplatz melinda thank you. Into the middle east now at least 5 people have been killed in the iraqi capital baghdad after Security Forces opened fire on antigovernment Protesters Thousands of iraqis have been taking part in the countrys largest protest wave in decades fueled by anger over corruption high unemployment and Poor Public Services the United Nations is calling tonight for deescalation and for talks between the government and demonstrators. Here at the mass funeral soon became a raging protest. With blood and so we will sacrifice for you they chanted on the streets of college to die to avenge 3 men who died last night during clashes with progovernment militia in the shiite holy city in the shade but the son is a hero he was carrying only theories nothing else but the praise. Militias attacked us and killed us and they set you walking. And in the capital baghdad they rallied to remember those victims to demonstrate is surging out of their protest camp on top 3 square and towards the heavily guarded bridges leading into the government district the paper bracing for further violence theyve seen so much of it in recent wakes and what happened yesterday a young man went up to the bridge and it sounded one to 10 and they had his entire had to a savage i love people and mocked at from a i know about peaceful protest in addition to the motus and soon sickening the familiar scenes were playing out in baghdad. Security forces deploying Water Cannons and tear gas. And then once more firing live rounds into the crowd there im to push demonstrators back away from government ministries in the cities fortified green zone might know that their leaders have against what they using a pixie in bandages would like to thank the volunteers who are getting as protective vests helmets and gloves we just need to keep protesting. And it seems demonstrators that determined to stay on the streets no matter whether the government response of them with the carrot or a clenched fist tonight heavy clashes are reportedly continuing me the grains are on. Who knows how much blood will be spilled in baghdad tonight. And here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world iran has announced new violations of the landmark nuclear deal that it signed with world powers back in 2015 tehrans nuclear chief says its developing a new generation of advanced centrifuges which can enrich uranium up to 50 times more quickly iran began violating limitations on your radium enrichment after u. S. President would trump pulled out of the nuclear deal last year a u. S. Appeals court has ruled that Donald TrumpsAccounting Firm lost and over. 8 years of his tax returns to new york prosecutors manhattans District Attorney is seeking the returns as part of a criminal probe into the u. S. President and his real estate business drop is expected to ask the Supreme Court of the u. S. To overturn that ruling. Cia backed afghan Paramilitary Forces have killed civilians and not raise kidnapped people and bombed villages that is according to the latest Human Rights Watch report now these documented incidents took place in mostly taliban controlled areas of afghanistan and have increased significantly over the past 2 years as the u. S. Has ramped up its efforts to exit the 18 year long war Human Rights Watch says what is happening are war crimes the cia has responded in says that its operations are done and im quoting here in accordance with law and under a robust system of oversights but for afghan civilians this rationale offers a little in the way of justice for their loved ones killed as collateral damage. Oh my god our afghan villagers burying their dead farm workers harvesting pine nuts were among the victims caught up in a u. S. Drone strike in september targeting socalled Islamic State militants in the east of the country. Rights monitors deplored the mounting civilian casualties even as the warring parties step up efforts to reach a peace deal there seems to be Movement Toward some kind of a settlement and a possible u. S. Troop withdrawal so both sides are ramping up their military activities trying to cause as many casualties as cause as much damage to the other side as possible but the problem is that civilians are really the ones most affected Human Rights Watch says it noticed a disturbing trend after talking to locals. One of the people who came to me afterward interviewed about a dozen people described a very different kind of atrocity it was the 1st time i was aware that these kind of night raids had become so frequent and that the people affected had really no avenue for redress no one to turn to over the past 2. Years the group says it has documented more than a dozen cases of serious abuses by afghan paramilitary squads operating in secret with cia backing the alleged crimes include indiscriminate air raids extrajudicial killings and disappearances the problem with these particular militia groups these paramilitaries is they operate outside normal chains of command within the ordinary Afghan Government forces or the u. S. Forces and so theyre not held accountable and that lack of transparency i mean civilians cannot go to someone and find out what happened get any kind of justice for the crimes committed Human Rights Watch says the secret units should be disbanded the cia disputes the findings saying the claims are quote likely false or exaggerated. Over more on this now im joined in washington d. C. By john glaser hes the director of Foreign Policy studies at the Cato Institute thats a Public PolicyResearch Organization its good to have you on the show you looked at all of this even before the Human Rights Watch report came out john what can you tell us about the situation in afghanistan right now. The details of the reporter are pretty gruesome but in fact this kind of thing is not terribly new so there have been reports of cia backed afghan groups committing abuses for almost the entirety of our long war there are murder in the Obama Administration there was a series of reports about the Afghan Local Police again at the time backed by u. S. Intelligence agencies that was committing war crimes as well back in the ministry and there was also a report from the United Nations about systemic torture an afghan prison. You know afghanistan is an extremely violent place and the politics are not exempt from that so were trying to nation the old in a very difficult country in which to do that and then these are the kinds of results you get in this war as been going on for 8. Years. Terrible thing simple things have occurred if this report. Is confirmed what would be particularly about. Well i think what will not be new is the response of the u. S. Government when reports like this of this kind of cropped up in the past the basic response is to deny to try to poke holes in the stories and then ignore it and thats what i expect to be going on this time around you could argue in a different context there will be another kind of impulse to pressure public will to withdraw from afghanistan and and in the last american war there but that doesnt seem to be in the cards of light now given the state of u. S. Afghan if you will whats the situation for civilians in tel bennett controlled areas do they even do they have a choice whether or not to collaborate with the telly but on the need or do they have to collaborate. Many afghans are simply stuck in the tween a group of fighting armed people whether its the Us Government or the government in kabul or crime. Or these paramilitary type minutes or the taliban most afghan civilians are just stuck their lives for about 40 years with constant war and conflict in their midst and. Yet most of them are just stuck in the to iraq in a hard place and most of them want war to end but until the warring factions decide that thats necessary it wont happen you know it will be hard for them to imagine 2 generations knowing only what john please with the Cato Institute in washington d. C. John we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you thanks. Well what will the future of transport here in germany look like that is the question thats being asked as all the industry executives meet with politicians right here in berlin theyre discussing key issues that are transforming the sector including electric vehicles and all thomas driving cars the car summit comes as europes biggest carmaker boast wagon begins production of its 1st fully electric mass market vehicle known as the 3. Here comes the car volkswagen has spent 3 years getting ready for mass production. The id 3 is the companys 1st purely electric model one of the worlds top auto makers is now spending 30000000000 euros to get electric cars into the mainstream the number 10 dish ladies and gentleman we stand before a systemic change to electric mobility it is no longer a question of whether electric mobility will become a reality but a question of how fast and which regions of the world 1st yes. Thats a direct challenge to german chancellor Angela Merkel her government is struggling to create enough charging stations to accommodate the 330000 id threes that v. W. Plans to produce every year the medical insists the government in berlin is doing its part given the government will be taking extraordinary measures we will invest 3500000000 euros over the next few years to expand Public Infrastructure for charging stations yet thats if they know they caught some. Volkswagen has spent 1200000000 euros converting its plant in stick out to electric Vehicle Production now it falls on the government to make charging the cars as easy as filling a gas tank so that people will finally start buying them. You know well be that easy to talk about that im joined here at the big table by my colleague from our business desk you know to molly owens would you know that is the question isnt there are people going to buy these cars you know i was actually at the frankfurt motor show when they 1st unveiled this vehicle and they told me then that what they had tried to do was solve the problems that people had with ecar is you know that theyre too expensive and that they dont go far enough so this is a mass market model with a corresponding price tag it goes about 330 kilometers on a single charge to put that in perspective if i were to drive for 330 kilometers i would end up in prague so very few people have to do that every day but so its enough for everyday use but there is still the problem of charging infrastructure there are only 21000 charging points in germany said that it wants to what really is 20 to 22000000 cars by the next decade and its not the only player in town so to say that theres a short fall to bridge might be a bit of an understatement yeah i mean where are you going to charge all of these ecards if you have them on the road and that brings us now to the next question the infrastructure that you need here is that the biggest hurdle standing in the way of ecards taking over the road it is than its than the one correspondingly associated with the biggest promises or chance the chancellor Angela Merkel has said she wants to see 1000000 charging stations by 2030 but there are a lot of Unanswered Questions and were not were talking about no less of it than the overhaul of private transport here so theres the question of allowing people to charge their cars at home so youll need to change building and housing regulations to do that the Energy Industry is also saying that their projections for how many charging stations on the road are a lot more modest because they dont know how much the Energy Supply could actually handle and the whole point of this is to become more environmentally friendly its supposed to help germany eat its climate goals but how environmentally friendly are the batteries to be even know especially around questions of mineral extraction around disposal at the end of life sort of these are all discus