JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, four years since the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the United Nations says Afghan women and girls face a relentless and escalating assault on their freedoms.

Then, the cultural obsession with protein.

It seems suddenly to be everywhere.

But how much of it do we really need?

And how wily coyotes are thriving in U.S. cities as they adapt to urban life.

MAN: Coyotes are unique in the sense that they are in some ways immigrating into cities looking for more opportunities for resources, more habitat with less competition from other predators.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

It was four years ago today that the United States completed its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, bringing an end to America's longest war.

In the final days, Afghans, desperate to leave, rushed to the airport, crowding the tarmac and clinging to taxiing planes.

Some died when they fell from aircraft that were taking off.

Then, on August 30, 2021, a service member stepped onto a military plane, the last American to leave Afghanistan.

Two decades after the first troops had arrived, the military left many behind, Afghans who had worked with Americans and feared retribution from the Taliban.

Since then, the Taliban has imposed Islamic law and severely restricted the rights of girls and women.

To date, only Russia has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Since 2022, Richard Bennett has been the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bennett, in your most recent report to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, you focused on the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Is that where the most dramatic effects are seen of the Taliban takeover?

RICHARD BENNETT, U.N. Special Rapporteur, Afghanistan: I believe that is the most dramatic situation.

Women and girls have been pretty much erased from any kind of public life.

It's well known that education is not available after sixth grade, that is after puberty.

But they're also barred from most types of employment.

They cannot move around cities alone.

They need a male chaperone.

Even their voices have been barred.

It is extraordinary.

I have called this gender persecution.

I've joined by the International Criminal Court, which has now issued arrest warrants for the two top Taliban leaders for the crime against humanity of gender persecution.

JOHN YANG: You said their voices have been barred.

Explain that.

RICHARD BENNETT: They are not allowed to speak in public.

They are not allowed to speak to a man.

There is a requirement that they remain silent.

JOHN YANG: Are there other groups in Afghanistan who are facing similar restrictions, similar persecution?

RICHARD BENNETT: Yeah.

There was a law passed about a year ago called the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law, and it cracks down on many normal practices.

There are a crackdown on religious practices from minority religious groups, particularly Shia.

Men, too, are suffering.

There are requirements on men to grow long beards and to wear certain nonwestern clothes.

We've seen punishments increase in the last 12 months or so, and the punishments often involve flogging, public corporal punishment, also some public executions.

JOHN YANG: Your report also talks about women and girls who are forced to return, who had somehow made it to Pakistan and Iran and now being forced to return.

Tell me more about that.

RICHARD BENNETT: Yes, both those countries have hosted large populations of Afghans for many years, but both have been forcing Afghans to return.

And this year alone, around 2.1 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan just from those two countries, many of them against their will.

And other countries have been indicating that they may do the same, including European countries.

And speaking to a U.S. audience, I understand that there may be 10 or 12,000 Afghans in the U.S. who are at risk of being sent back to Afghanistan.

And Afghanistan is not a safe, secure place for anyone, especially for women and girls, or for those Afghans who served in support of the international mission in Afghanistan that began more than 20 years ago.

JOHN YANG: What can the international community do about this?

Is there anything to do that would convince or persuade the Taliban to ease these restrictions?

RICHARD BENNETT: So far, engagement with them has not produced many results.

They are an autocratic regime.

They have an ideology, and their leadership, particularly in Kandahar, seems set on creating their version of an Islamic emirate ruled entirely by their version of Sharia law.

But I would make two points.

The first is a moral one.

Can the rest of the world stand by when Afghans, particularly women and girls, are treated worse than in any other country?

And the second is a political one.

It's in the interests of countries, including the U.S., including the security interests, not to allow such an extreme regime to continue.

There are claims, including by the U.N. Security Council, that they are a breeding ground for terrorists, maybe harboring other terrorist groups.

So the concerns that existed back in 2000, 2001 have returned.

Those Afghans who were desperate to leave four years ago, who clung onto planes because they feared what was coming, in many ways, they have been proven unfortunately correct.

JOHN YANG: Richard Bennett of the UN.

Thank you very much.

RICHARD BENNETT: You are welcome.

Thank you very much, Mr. Yang.

JOHN YANG: Today's other headlines, Russia launched another massive drone and missile attack on cities across Ukraine.

At least one person was killed and dozen others, including children, were injured in a strike on a residential building in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

IRYNA, Zaporizhzhia Resident (through translator): There was one explosion, Then another around 2:00 am.

We were sheltering in the common space in there were explosions one after another.

JOHN YANG: Ukraine says it shot down or neutralized most of the nearly 600 Russian drones and missiles.

Just two days earlier, a similar wave of Russian strikes killed 25 people and damaged buildings used by the European Union in Kyiv.

On social media, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it's further proof that Russia is dragging its feet on peace efforts while it ramps up its offensive.

The Associated Press is reporting that Israel will soon halt or slow humanitarian aid into Gaza City and parts of northern Gaza.

Israel has declared Gaza City a combat zone, saying it's still a Hamas stronghold.

It's urging the hundreds of thousands of people living there to evacuate.

But the Red Cross warned today that a safe evacuation would be impossible.

Meanwhile, the State Department has revoked the U.S. visas of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian officials ahead of next month's U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.

And you may remember that last weekend we told you about three Scottish brothers attempting to row 9,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

Well, they made it.

And they set a new world record too.

Jamie, Ewan and Lachlan MacLean rode into a Cairns, Australia marina, greeted by the strains of Scotland the Brave on bagpipes and a crowd of family and well0wishers.

Their epic journey lasted 139 days without stopping and without support.

On shore, they hugged each other, then their girlfriends and their mother, who'd flown in from Scotland.

Their goal was to raise money and attention for clean water projects.

JAMIE MACLEAN: It's been unbelievable.

There's been really tough times and there's been euphoric moments.

And I think it's been an experience the three of us will never forget.

But I think the thing that's underpinned it the most is the support we've felt from friends, family and people all around the world in helping us hit that million pound target.

We're not there yet, but hopefully we'll get there in the next couple of days.

JOHN YANG: As the brothers told us last week, the first order of business on land was pizza and beer.

They said that would be followed by a warm shower and a bed that doesn't roll with the waves.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, the growing cultural obsession with protein, but how much of it do we need?

And a photographer's stunning images of coyotes thriving in a major American city.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: It used to be that only fitness buffs and bodybuilders thought about how much protein they were getting.

But now everybody seems to be looking for more of it in their diet.

And just about every food product has added protein, from pancakes to popcorn, from crackers to pasta.

But how much protein do we really need?

Ali Rogan reports.

WOMAN: Each box clocks in at a whopping 25 grams of protein.

WOMAN: 52 grams of protein.

WOMAN: 140 grams of protein.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): If you've been online lately, you may have noticed that people are going crazy for protein packed foods from television shows like White Lotus.

MAN: Lucky, you want in on this.

MAN: On what?

MAN: Dude, protein shake.

I said let's buffing you up.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): To protein packed recipe videos on Instagram and TikTok.

WOMAN: Oh my God.

I found a high protein dinner that's under 500 calories, 60 grams of protein.

MAN: No one believed me when I said you could get 147 grams of protein by eating two chicken parmesans.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): The average American overshoots the federal protein recommendation by nearly 50 percent.

And still more than two-thirds of Americans surveyed last year said they are trying to eat more.

Food companies are capitalizing on the growing interest with new products like protein chips and waffles.

MAN: Try Kodiak Power Waffles.

They're packed with protein and whole grains, yet they still taste amazing.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): The size of the protein supplement market is expected to more than double in the next seven years.

Scientific research is not keeping pace with its popularity.

Some studies have shown certain people could benefit from more protein than federal recommendations.

But it isn't always easy to separate the fads from the facts.

ALI ROGIN: Here to help us untangle it all is Alice Callahan.

She covers nutrition and health for the New York Times.

Alice, thank you so much for joining us.

First, let's get to the basics.

What does protein do for us, and what happens when we don't get enough of it?

ALICE CALLAHAN, The New York Times: So protein is a super important essential nutrient.

You need protein to make these molecules in your body that help you digest food and fight infections and create the structures in your body like your muscle and your tendons and your bones and your skin.

So if you're not getting enough protein, a lot of those systems will start to break down.

You might get sick more easily, or you might find that your nails are more brittle, and you might notice that you start to feel weaker and your muscles kind of waste away.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): You've written about how protein seems to have taken on this type of cultural currency.

You know, if you go on Instagram or TikTok at a certain point, you're liable to see somebody talking about the benefits of protein in your diet.

Is this just the latest nutrition fad, like low carb, low fat, or is there something else going on here?

ALICE CALLAHAN: You know, I think it is, in part, a fad.

It's the hot topic in the nutrition conversations right now, for sure.

And if you've watched nutrition conversations, as I have over decades, you know, you don't think that things do kind of rise and fall interest.

I think part of what's going on, though, is that there's a lot of interest in the importance of building and maintaining strong muscles right now.

And so I think we're appreciating that.

You know, especially as we grow older, we want to stay really strong, and that's good for our metabolic health and good for preventing injury.

And so we're seeing more emphasis on strength training.

And I think part of that kind of leads to this natural question, like, should we all be eating protein like bodybuilders?

And, of course, this interest is just amplified on social media.

You know, standard nutrition advice, like eat lots of fruits and vegetables and balanced meals every day is just not that interesting.

It doesn't get picked up on social media algorithms.

But really prescriptive and kind of extreme advice about protein, like eat a gram of protein for every pound of body weight or 30 grams within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning like these kinds of messages definitely, like, tap into the algorithm and get amplified online.

ALI ROGIN: And of course, the federal recommendation for protein, daily protein intake is 0.36 grams per pound of body weight.

A lot of the advice you find online is for more than that, including from mainstream nutrition experts.

Here's what Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had to say about it recently in terms of changing those guidelines.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., Secretary of Health and Human Services: Our agencies are about to release new dietary guidelines in the next several months.

There's tremendous amount of emerging science that talks about the need for more protein in our diet.

ALI ROGIN: So what does the science say?

Is it indicating that we need more protein in our diet as a whole?

ALICE CALLAHAN: I would say we don't have enough of, like, really high quality clinical trials to give really solid numbers to people.

The current guideline gives you an amount that you need to meet your body's basic needs, and then it goes up from there.

For growing children, if you're pregnant, if you're breastfeeding, I think beyond that, the context really matters.

If you are building muscle, you probably would benefit from consuming, you know, maybe 50 percent more than that federal recommendation.

Older adults also may benefit from consuming a little bit more.

It would be great, I think, to have kind of more consensus guidelines around these different scenarios with protein.

But the challenge is, like, how you know, what is the quality of evidence to put behind those guidelines.

So it is a very confusing space right now.

But I think in general, the federal recommendation gives you a really good starting point and it can be reasonable in different scenarios to increase a little bit from there.

You probably don't need as much as you're hearing from a lot of influencers online, though.

ALI ROGIN: We're seeing all different types of foods enter the marketed as protein cereals, even protein candy.

Of course, protein powder has been around a long time.

Is there any data on the qualitative difference between getting your protein from some of these more processed products versus whole foods, like, you know, animal protein or plant based protein?

ALICE CALLAHAN: So, you know, this came up over and over again when I talk to experts about protein.

It's really best if you can get your protein from whole foods like beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, lean meats, fish, dairy products.

All of those foods just come with a bunch of other nutrients like vitamins and minerals and antioxidants, and they come in that unprocessed form which allows us to digest them a little bit more slowly, we get all of the value of fiber from the plant foods that helps with gut health.

You know, you can supplement around the edges, I think, with protein powders or bars.

They come with some convenience.

But for the most part, you want to try to follow a diet where you're meeting your protein needs with whole foods.

ALI ROGIN: But are there any risks with focusing too much on protein and maybe excluding other types of foods from your diet?

ALICE CALLAHAN: Yeah, I think that's the greatest concern that I heard from experts when I was reporting on this issue.

Not so much that focusing on protein comes with medical risks.

For most of us, it's totally fine, but there is a risk that we may miss out on other healthy foods like fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

And when you look at all of the ways that we could improve the American diet, protein is probably not the place to put our focus.

95 percent of Americans don't get enough fiber, for example.

And so if you're just focused on cottage cheese and chicken breast, you're going to get that fiber that's so important for gut health and also for preventing heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

So I think that's the main thing is just you want to try to stay balanced and putting too much focus on any one nutrient, you're probably going to lose out somewhere else.

ALI ROGIN: Alice Callahan with the New York Times.

Thank you so much.

ALICE CALLAHAN: Thank you so much.

It was great to be here.

JOHN YANG: In cities across America, it's becoming increasingly common to see coyotes in parks, golf courses, or other green spaces.

While residents don't universally welcome them, for the most part, people in coyotes coexist peacefully.

Earlier this year, the New York Times documented the return of coyotes to San Francisco after a long absence.

Reporter and photographer Loren Elliott worked on that story, and Christopher Schell is an urban ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Loren, there are so many captivating images you got for this story.

I think one in particular of a coyote staring into the lens of the camera.

How did we able to do that?

How did you get so close?

LOREN ELLIOTT, Independent Photojournalist: I was able to make that photograph using a remote camera.

So a lot of folks have asked me, you know, how could I get so close to that coyote?

And the answer is that I physically wasn't that close, and it would be unethical to be that close to a coyote.

What I did is I took a camera with a radio transmitter, and I set that camera down, concealed it.

It had no sound.

There's no clicking of a shutter.

There's no flash, so that it would be minimally invasive.

And then I waited for a long period of time from a distance about a hundred yards away with a remote trigger in my hand.

And when that coyote walked up to inspect that camera, out of curiosity, I was able to trigger the camera from a distance and make that image.

JOHN YANG: There's also a photo of some pups, a coyote playing with pups.

I understand there's an interesting backstory to that.

LOREN ELLIOTT: Yeah.

That photograph was also made with a remote camera.

When coyotes are raising their young at a den, that's a very sensitive situation.

And so I set up a remote camera under the supervision of a wildlife biologist, and then was able to basically conceal myself in the nearby forest a pretty far distance, so that I wasn't in any way an invasive presence to those coyotes.

And after three, four hours, finally, those pups came out, and I was able to just barely spot them from where I was at a long distance and trigger that camera.

JOHN YANG: Christopher, a lot of people think of this as wildlife encroaching on human territory, but isn't it really the other way around?

Haven't we encroached on their territory?

CHRISTOPHER SCHELL, University of California, Berkeley: Well, the answer is a bit of both.

So it is, in fact, the case that cities and development is expanding in cities, not just in North America, but across the globe.

So a lot of habitat is being encroached upon by human disturbance.

However, coyotes are unique in the sense that they are, in some ways immigrating into cities, Looking for more opportunities for resources or habitat with less competition from other predators.

JOHN YANG: You also say that you're quoted in the story, as a matter of fact, saying that coyotes keep the rest of the ecosystem in check.

Explain that.

CHRISTOPHER SCHELL: Oftentimes, when we think about ecosystems, we think about all of the component parts.

And one of the most important component parts are these apex predators.

Why?

Because these predators, through their movement, through how they interact with prey, species and other carnivores, they dictate how animals use space and time.

And that oftentimes means that there's more space for more organisms when those predators are present.

Here's the thing.

When cities pop up, Most of those apex predators can't persist in these human dominated environments, except for organisms like coyotes.

So they have started to move into multiple cities, assume that role of the apex predator, and start to reshape the ecology of cities such that they feel this de facto role that then increases the biodiversity and the flow of other organisms throughout the system.

JOHN YANG: Let's be concrete about this.

What are the prey in urban areas for coyotes?

CHRISTOPHER SCHELL: Right.

So coyotes are omnivores, meaning that they're able to eat a whole host of different things, everything from, say, rats and pocket gophers and in some instances, skunks, to, yes, human food subsidies, like trash or refuse or in some cases, when it's left out, dog food or cat food.

So the animal is able to eat a wide variety of different foods in order to persist and thrive in cities.

JOHN YANG: Loren, in order to get the pictures you did, you had to sort of track these coyotes, find out where they were.

Did that teach you anything about their behavior?

LOREN ELLIOTT: Absolutely it did.

Being able to spend such an extended period of time working on this story, I really learned a tremendous amount about the patterns of these animals.

And I think that humbled me to the fact that they can be unpredictable in the sense that sometimes I would go out multiple days in a row and not see a coyote.

But in other instances, I absolutely saw patterns and found that specific coyotes would show up at the same spot to hunt day after day.

And in getting to observe their behavior over an extended period of time, it really gave me an appreciation for how they go about surviving in an urban environment.

JOHN YANG: Chris, if someone were to see a coyote out on the.

On their walk, should they be afraid?

CHRISTOPHER SCHELL: No, they shouldn't be afraid.

If anything, we should have a healthy respect for the animals when we see them sort of sharing space with us.

But oftentimes we stress education and we talk about tools that we can use to help people successfully coexist with the organisms.

Everything, as Loren had mentioned, from understanding the behavioral patterns of the animals, we where they navigate, particularly, for instance, we oftentimes talk to the community about this escorting behavior, where animals will walk alongside or behind a human being or a dog for an extended period of time.

And that behavior is not necessarily threatening.

It is one that demonstrates that the animal is trying to make sure that itself, its kin, its offspring are safe and trying to understand the patterns of human behavior.

So just like we're trying to understand how to coexist with these animals, they are doing the same with us.

So we use these educational tools, outreach to improve management and to improve coexistence.

JOHN YANG: Photographer Loren Elliott and urban ecologist Christopher Schell, thank you both very much.

CHRISTOPHER SCHELL: Thank you.

LOREN ELLIOT: Thank you for the time.

JOHN YANG: And that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.