That as our resources and capabilities in the region dwindled because of the drawdown and we were ordered to draw down by The End of august and we were nothing but honest about the speed with which we had to do that because speed is safety. We wanted to make sure we did this quickly. And its not just about boots on the ground. The drawdown is about capabilities and resources in the region as we wrapped up our advice and assist in Combat Missions in afghanistan. Which meant we had fewer airplanes, fewer Strike Capability in the region as we continued to draw down. We were transparent about the fact that we would conduct airstrikes where and when feasible, fully cognisant of the fact that it wasnt always going to be feasible on every day and in every place. But the afghan Air Force is indigenous and they are in a country, and they did maintain their presence, and there were days where they flew easily twice as many strikes as we did. And they were able to often get on scene quicker becau
this is bbc news. i m ben brown and these are the headlines. turkish police issue more than 100 arrest warrants as part of an investigation into poor building standards after this week s devastating earthquakes which have killed more than 33,000 people in both countries. defying the odds this ten year old girl is one of the latest in a number of survivors to have been pulled out alive from under the rubble of collapsed buildings in turkey after 147 hours. the head of russia s wagner mercenary army claims his fighters have captured a village on the outskirts of bakhmut a city they ve been assaulting for months. a us fighterjet has shot down a mysterious object flying over canada s airspace, making it the third to be destoyed over north america in the last week. bbc chairman richard sharp is accused of making significant errors ofjudgement by mps for not declaring his involvement in helping britain s former prime minister, borisjohnson, secure a loan. you re watching bbc
over 3,500 in syria from that 7.8 magnitude tremor. the united nations, who have been supporting rescue teams in both turkey and syria have warned that the final number of fatalities could double. my colleague lyse doucet is on the ground in gaziantep. well, what you see behind us here in gaziantep, about an hour and a half drive from the epicentre of where that earthquake struck about nearly one week ago, is being played out in towns and cities across a whole swathe of southern turkey and indeed across the border in northern syria. and that is the diggers, they don t have diggers across the border, but diggers here and excavators are getting rid of these mounds of rubble. it is a sign that the rescue effort those painstaking, almost heroic efforts to try to pull people alive from the rubble, and still nearly a week on, they re still finding people. but the effort, the focus is now shifting to recovery, to relief and also to a reckoning. as you mentioned, those more than 10