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CNN Live Today

Doubts Among Afghans

Aired September 12, 2002 - 13:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Not everyone in Afghanistan supports U.S. action against Iraq. Some doubt America's commitment to follow through with nation building, after a so-called regime change in Baghdad.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour talked with Afghan officials in Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps Afghanistan is the last place you would expect resistance to U.S. action in Iraq. This country is free, thanks to the United States.

ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: There is no sympathy whatsoever. I think as long as we have the means of the United Nations and the security council, that should be the main vehicle. That's our point of view.

AMANPOUR: Although Afghans celebrated the fall of the Taliban, the government here and U.S. allies in the region fear that action in Iraq would be seen as just another American war against the Islamic world. But the real question is what happens after the war. When the bombs stop falling, will the United States really engage in the long and difficult task of rebuilding?

If Afghanistan is a case study, say worried officials here, the signs are not encouraging. Small-scale work projects by U.S. Army specialists have helped win hearts and minds. And the U.S. has met its post-war pledge of about $300 million, but almost all of that has gone to emergency humanitarian needs.

The U.S.-backed president, Hamid Karzai, pleads for a single, large reconstruction project to show the people. None has started yet, and his ministers warn of the dangers.

ABDULLAH: We have not done it tot the extent that we have anticipated or the people were expecting. We cannot survive this way.

AMANPOUR: The survival of this pro-Western government is vital to U.S. interests, say those who have worked in Afghanistan for decades.

PAUL BARKER, CARE: When the previous government failed, we ended up with the Taliban. It's not a pretty picture. The stakes are pretty high.

AMANPOUR: But aide agencies say, rebuilding, propping up this government depend on security, and that depends on a U.S. plan for a new Afghan national army. But the program is taking much longer than expected. So officials say, the U.S. may now have to make a U-turn and agree to extend the international peacekeeping force around the country, in order to enable law and order, the rebuilding of civil society, as well as national unity.

Nation building may be a forbidden term in Washington, but defeating terrorism depends on it, said the Afghan president.

With one eye on Iraq, Afghanistan is watching to see whether America keeps its public promise, to never again abandon this country, nor let it descend into warlord-ism, or worse.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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