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Many of the women of Afghanistan are frightened right now. And those who worked for the foreigners who’ve pulled out of the country, are even more so.

They are some of the top Taliban targets and too many of them are telling us how the Taliban are going from door to door, trying to find those who once worked for the “enemies”.

Officially, there’s an amnesty. Unofficially, there are scores being settled and intimidation is rife.

A Kabul market
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There are many more people out in the market than we’ve seen in the previous few days

“Why did I work for the US?” one 24-year-old woman asks us.

“That [when we are in] such a situation they are not responding us (sic)… not hearing us? It’s a waste of my work experience, all those years. It’s a waste of effort, it’s a waste of struggle, it’s a waste of everything right now. I even carry some kind of hate in my heart for them.”

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She and her sister have travelled with their uncle to where we are staying. They were too scared to talk to us openly.

They saw us filming in a market in the capital and the younger sister (who we will call “Tabasum” for her safety), tells us she watched us for two hours before summoning up the courage to pull Sky producer Chris Cunningham to one side.

“Please, I want you to interview me,” she told him. “I can’t talk here because our lives are in danger.”

Speaking to women at the market
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Speaking to women at the market

It has taken tremendous bravery to speak up at all. We are just a few metres away from an armed Taliban checkpoint. The fighters who are patrolling through the market, with weapons slung over their shoulders, tell us how we are seeing a different, better side of Kabul.

“A few weeks ago you would not have been able to come here because of the security,” the Talib tells us. There appears to be no irony in his voice.

There are many more people out in the market than we’ve seen in the previous few days. And there is a marked increase in the number of women in public.

Initially, the Taliban instructed women to stay indoors “for security reasons”. But while we are here there are many thronging the stalls.

Talibs at the market checkpoint
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Talibs at the market checkpoint

We notice they are all wearing long flowing dresses or coats and headscarves or hijabs – a number are in the all-enveloping burka. Many appear to have a male companion (mahram) shepherding the groups of females around.

We ask the Taliban commander manning the checkpoint what he does to enforce any dress code. He replies that so long as the women adhere to Sharia law, there’s no issue.

Another Talib interrupts. “It’s an Islamic society,” he says. “And there is no need to tell them to wear hijab, we haven’t had to ask them…everyone is obeying that now.”

When you’re the ones holding the guns, perhaps you don’t need to persuade too hard.

Taliban checkpoint
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Initially, the Taliban instructed women to stay indoors ‘for security reasons’

In the room where we are secretly meeting the young women, they spread out their paperwork which shows extensive links with USAID and other foreign aid groups like CARE, which has a base in Britain.

There are 25 members of their extended family with eight of them children. Almost all of the adults used to work for foreign aid groups or they are female teachers, now in danger.

The young women’s mother is a principal at a girls’ high school.

Street children at the Taliban checkpoint
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Street children at the Taliban checkpoint

“Look at this death threat she received from the Taliban,” Murro shows us. She flicks through her phone to find the scrawled letter from the Taliban which was investigated and verified by the previous administration.

The letter says: “Our main aim and work is to kill all students, teachers and the principal.”

They talk about their mother opening the door to their home a few days after Kabul fell to the Islamist group to find a gaggle of armed Taliban outside.

“They just demanded food and came in,” Tabasum says. “I was standing in my bedroom just shaking. I could not believe it.”

Tabasum (not her real name) speaking to Sky's Alex Crawford
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Tabasum (not her real name) speaking to Sky’s Alex Crawford

The Taliban fighters began to regularly march into the house demanding food, or tea and asking questions about who they worked for.

“Did you work for the old government,” one Talib asked them. “There are rumours you worked for the foreigners…”

“We decided we needed to move then,” Tabasum says. They’ve been on the run ever since.

They show us photographs with the former US first lady Laura Bush taken in Washington DC. There are others standing proudly with British soldiers.

“We love our country. We were proud to work for Afghanistan and build a new future,” says 24-year-old Murro. “I empowered 900 women during my career with USAID. Now what am I? I am not empowered. I am told I cannot work and I’m told how to dress.

“I worry about the future, not just my future but my family’s future and the country’s future. Have you ever felt you are living in a country that is not your country anymore? That’s how I feel right now.”

Tabasum ( not her real name) has spoken out about her experiences
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Tabasum (not her real name) has spoken out about her experiences

They tell us of how the friends and partners they worked with for years have now turned their backs on them. How none of their emails and applications for asylum are being answered or even responded to.

WhatsApps go unread, calls are not picked up.

Tabasum was one day away from finishing her business degree. She was due to complete her thesis at one of Kabul’s top universities on Monday.

The airport suicide bombing which killed nearly two hundred including 13 US service personnel happened on the Sunday before.

“In one day, my life changed. All the lecturers left the country. The university is now empty. All four years of my studying is wasted.”

She had a job but her superiors rang her up and told her it wasn’t safe for her to come in as a woman and that she should stay at home. Almost half the staff were women, now all sitting at home.

“They don’t want me because I’m a girl,” Tabasum says. “I don’t have the right to come out of my home now without a male. Why? Because this is an inequality. I don’t have the same rights as a boy. I am nothing for them.”

“I have become invisible. I used to have a job. I am educated. I don’t need any man. But now I am just nothing.”

Taliban checkpoint
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The Taliban has made reassurances that it respects women’s rights

She’s wearing a full-length coat and black hijab. “Before I never wore a hijab,” she says. “I wore T-shirt and jeans. Now I can’t go anywhere without covering my head and wearing these clothes.”

Despite all the reassurances from the Taliban that they respect women’s rights, the women of Afghanistan do not believe them.

And the Taliban are dealing with a tougher, better educated, more liberal Afghan woman now – many of them in their 20s or 30s.

The Taliban checkpoint at night
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The Taliban checkpoint at night

They have aspirations and educated minds which has put fire in their stomachs and sent courage soaring through their veins. We’ve seen them take to the streets to fight for their rights – and not back down even when staring down the barrel of a gun.

The Taliban fighters may be manning the checkpoints and prowling the area with guns but the Afghan women are not prepared to return to the times their mothers endured.

We set out to meet a female activist and mother of three who we interviewed before the Taliban took control. We will call her “Fatima”.

She also worked for a series of foreign NGO’s focused on running female empowerment courses and skill projects for women.

Colourful clothes are on sale at markets
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Colourful clothes are on sale at markets

She too received written death threats from the Taliban as well as threatening texts and frightening phone calls.

She told us weeks before the Taliban marched into the capital that she was in fear of her life and was terrified her three young children were going to be harmed as the Taliban had warned of killing her whole family.

She’d taken refuge in a women’s shelter then. Since then even that’s not safe. The Taliban have moved in and she’s moving constantly now with her family from friends’ home to friends’ home.

She was cleared to be evacuated by the British military and received a confirmation email but hours later got another warning her not to travel to the airport or the Baron Hotel because of a precise security threat which turned out to be the suicide bomber who blew himself up the following day.

Taliban checkpoint
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Taliban checkpoint

Since then she’s been getting increasingly desperate as evacuation flights have been halted.

Those left behind who did so much service for Afghanistan and worked with such faith with the foreign partners, they never expected to leave so hurriedly, are feeling forgotten and in many ways betrayed.

“I prefer to die at sea at the hands of human traffickers trying to escape here than be killed by the Taliban,” Fatima tells us. “But I’m a prisoner here right now.”

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What a Trump presidency would mean for global wars and European security

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What a Trump presidency would mean for global wars and European security

Donald Trump says he would end Russia’s war in Ukraine should he return to the White House – but any rushed deal will likely leave Kyiv much weaker and European security in even greater peril.

Another major flashpoint a Trump presidency would immediately seek to influence is the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel.

Mr Trump came close to direct war with Tehran during his first term in office and prior restraint could well give way to direct confrontation this time around.

US election latest: Harris and Trump make final pitches

Then there is the overwhelming longer-term challenge posed by China, with North Korea another growing headache especially after Mr Trump tried but failed to woo the leader of the hermit state during his first stint as commander-in-chief.

President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, in Hanoi. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
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Mr Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019. Pic: AP

With the US election on a knife edge, hostile and friendly capitals around the world have been gaming what a second Trump White House might mean for their respective national interests and for the most pressing global security threats.

Mr Trump’s track record of unpredictability is a challenge for traditional foes – but also for Washington’s closest allies, in particular fellow members of the NATO alliance.

The Republican nominee has made no secret of his frustration at how the US has for decades bankrolled the security blanket that protects Europe.

During his first term as president, Mr Trump threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance – a move that would almost certainly sound its death knell. His rhetoric did help to spur allies to dig deeper into their pockets and spend more on their militaries, though.

But the damage of years of underinvestment is deep and the pace of recovery is too slow for European NATO allies and Canada to credibly stand on their own as a potent military force any time soon.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT
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Meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York in September – but what would a Trump presidency mean for Ukraine’s war with Russia? Pic: Reuters

In terms of immediacy when it comes to global crises, the impact of a Trump victory on 5 November would be felt most acutely by Ukraine and also by Iran.

The presidential candidate has repeatedly claimed that he would quickly end the Ukraine war, though without explaining how or what peace would look like.

In an indication of where his priorities lie, however, he has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being the “greatest salesman on earth” for securing tens of billions of dollars in weapons and other assistance that Washington has given to Kyiv.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are seen during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci
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Pic: Reuters

Yet – coupled with Ukraine’s willingness to fight – that military aid is the biggest reason why Ukraine has managed to withstand almost 1,000 days of Vladimir Putin’s war.

Stop the flow of American weapons, and Ukrainian troops – despite their own ingenuity and the support of other allies – will simply lack the firepower to keep resisting the onslaught.

Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, U.S., September 26, 2024. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
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Kamala Harris believes US support for Mr Zelenskyy and Ukraine is vital. Pic: Reuters

By contrast, US vice president Kamala Harris, who is vying for the top job, has made clear that she views continued support to Ukraine as being as vital to US and Western interests as it is to Kyiv’s – a far more familiar stance that echoes the view of her NATO partners.

While US support for Ukraine would undoubtedly change under a Trump administration, that is not the same as facilitating a complete surrender.

The former president – who portrays himself as the ultimate dealmaker and has adopted a new election slogan – “Trump will fix it” – will not want to be held responsible for the total absorption of Ukraine into Mr Putin’s orbit.

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Putin and Iran

His relationship with the Russian president is a particularly interesting dynamic.

When president, he infamously said he trusted Mr Putin’s denials over his own intelligence agencies when it came to claims about Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

But with the right advice, might a future President Trump be able to use his connection with Mr Putin to the West’s advantage?

At the very least, it adds a new level of unpredictability – which is perhaps the most important element when it comes to assessing the potential impact on the world of a second Trump term.

Donald Trump said 'as long as I'm President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon'
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Donald Trump said in 2020 ‘as long as I’m president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon’. Pic: Reuters

On Iran, in stark contrast to his approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine, a future President Trump may well back much greater US military support for Israel’s conflict against Tehran and its proxies – perhaps even direct involvement by US forces in strikes on Iran.

Mr Trump has an even tougher stance towards Tehran and its nuclear ambitions than Joe Biden’s administration.

His decision to rip up a major nuclear deal with Iran was one of his most significant foreign policy acts during his four years as president.

It is also personal, with Iran accused of hacking the Trump campaign in recent months – an attack that would surely only heighten tensions with Iran during any second Trump term.

On election night, Sky News will have access to the most comprehensive exit poll and vote-counting results from every state, county and demographic across America through its US-partner network NBC.

You can find out more about Sky News’ coverage here.

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‘Extreme danger’ red alert for Barcelona warns of more rain on the way – with Spain still reeling from deadly floods

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'Extreme danger' red alert for Barcelona warns of more rain on the way - with Spain still reeling from deadly floods

A red alert warning of “extreme danger” because of torrential rain has been issued for Barcelona, as elsewhere in Spain search teams continue to scour flooded areas for bodies.

At least 217 people have died after heavy rain in eastern Spain caused flash floods that swept away almost everything in their path.

People were trapped in cars, homes and businesses as the waters surged through the disaster zone last week.

Six days later, the search and rescue operation continues for the unknown number of missing people, with thousands of soldiers brought in to help.

And as communities continue to reel from the catastrophic floods – and mourn their losses – more rain is forecast for parts of the country.

Severe flooding has hit Barcelona's El Prat airport, forcing dozens of flights to be cancelled
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Severe flooding has hit Barcelona’s El Prat airport, forcing dozens of flights to be cancelled

Spain weather warning. Pic: Meteoalarm
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Pic: Meteoalarm

Today, the local government in Catalonia has warned of “continuous and torrential” rain in two regions, saying people should avoid travel and stay away from streams and ravines.

A red alert “extreme danger” warning has been issued for Barcelona.

“Do not travel unless strictly necessary,” the alert told people nearby.

Mud covers the area in the aftermath of last Tuesday and early Wednesday storm that left hundreds dead or missing in the region, in Paiporta, outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Angel Garcia)
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Mud covers the area in Paiporta, Valencia. Pic: AP

Footage on social media shows heavy rainfall overwhelming stairwells and leaving streets strewn with water.

Dozens of flights have been cancelled at El Prat airport after the terminal building was flooded.

Members of the Spanish military prepare to help residents, in the aftermath of floods caused by heavy rains, in Massanassa, near Valencia, Spain, November 3, 2024. REUTERS/Susana Vera
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Soldiers help residents in Massanassa, near Valencia. Pic: Reuters

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Rescuers at the Bonaire shopping centre

Elsewhere in eastern Spain, much attention has been paid to an underground car park in Aldaia, where emergency services have been trying to drain the floodwater to gain access.

There had been fears that dozens of bodies could be found inside the car park after people died trapped by the rising waters at the Bonaire shopping centre.

However firefighters on the ground have downplayed the situation, Spanish media report.

“Since yesterday afternoon we were able to get in with canoes, boats, drones and on foot,” one of the firefighters told El Pais.

“Yesterday we went through the entire car park and luckily we haven’t found any bodies.”

They said that could change as the car park empties, but that at the moment the cars are all empty.

Read more:
Flood-hit Spanish towns desperate for leadership
Spain mounts biggest peacetime disaster recovery

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Search for bodies in flooded car park

There has been anger at the response from authorities and a group of survivors hurled mud and insults at Spain’s King Felipe when the monarch visited one of the worst-affected towns.

By the time authorities sent alerts to mobile phones warning of the seriousness of the flooding and asking people to stay at home, many were already on the road or in places like underground garages that became death traps.

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Protesters throw mud at King of Spain

Valencia’s MotoGP race, which had been scheduled for later this month, has been cancelled after floods wrought destruction on the track.

Thousands of volunteers have been helping to clear away thick layers of mud from streets and homes.

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Spanish authorities search flooded underground car park – fearing how many bodies they will find

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Spanish authorities search flooded underground car park - fearing how many bodies they will find

The story of these floods has been full of grim, unsettling images.

Now there is another one – the Bonaire shopping centre in Aldaia.

Today, it was an awful place. Not because of the immense damage wrought by the floods, but because of the horror that may lie ahead.

The emergency services are pumping out the underground car park that lies beneath this retail complex, one of the biggest in the country, and they don’t know what they will find.

There will be bodies – that seems sure. The question is how many. And the fear is that it could be dozens.

You can see the ramps that run down to the car park, and you can also see the water level glistening, not far down the ramp.

Pumping out this entire car park will be a marathon job. Searching it will take patience, specialist equipment and stoicism. There will surely be grim discoveries down there.

Scuba diving teams have been sent in, but we were told that they have been unable to go into the water so far. It is full of debris, oil, diesel, and goodness knows what else.

Today we saw an array of equipment being delivered – boats, pumps, a military ambulance, kayaks and lifting machinery.

Emergency services personnel close to the entrance of the car park. Pic: AP
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Emergency services personnel close to the entrance of the car park. Pic: AP

A pump to remove water from the car park is seen at the site. Pic: AP
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A pump to remove water from the car park is seen at the site. Pic: AP

An enormous amount of resource is being thrown at this, at a time when so many towns are complaining that they feel forgotten.

Cristina Vano, a judicial expert, is working here as a volunteer, checking the cars strewn around in the ground-level car parks.

Her job is to peer inside and see if she can see a body. If she can’t, she puts an X on the side using coloured tape; if she can, she calls the police.

Read more:
Flood survivors hurl mud and insults at King of Spain
Anger at response to Spain floods grows
‘Living with corpses at home’: Spain reels from flash floods

An emergency works on removing water from one of the exits of the car park. Pic: Reuters
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An emergency responder works to remove water the car park. Pic: Reuters

She is waiting for the first vehicles to be pulled from the Bonaire underground car park, and she is steeled for it to be a horrible experience.

“There is space for 1,700 cars in there,” she says.

“We were told it wasn’t full, but there were certainly many cars in there. The problem is that a lot of people took refuge there, so we don’t know what to expect.

“The police in Aldaia were talking about us finding maybe 80 people – I hope it will be less. It’s really sad, but we are expecting a lot.”

Cristina Vano is volunteering at the site
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Cristina Vano is volunteering at the site

We speak to the police, who tell us that searching the car park will be a long and complicated process.

They don’t want to make any estimates about the number of cars involved, nor the number of people. But someone involved in the operation speaks to us after coming out.

“A lot more than a hundred cars are in there,” the person says. “Maybe hundreds.”

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Protesters throw mud at King of Spain during visit to Paiporta

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There is an army officer, from special services, who tells me that his unit of Green Berets are ready to do anything that is needed. They have been helping to clear out the shopping centre for days now, and will continue. But he knows this is not a quick job.

On the far side, we see a group of firefighters walking slowly away from that cursed ramp that leads down to the car park. Their faces are drawn, an expression that we see a lot during a day observing this recovery mission.

Everyone involved in this knows that there is no chance of finding a survivor in this flooded car park. All they can do is hope that it’s not as bad as they fear.

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