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CNN Live At Daybreak
One Year Anniversary of U.S. Offensive Against Taliban
Aired October 07, 2002 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Believe it or not, it was one year ago today that the United States led the attack against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
Our Sean Callebs is in the Afghan capital with a look at how life there has changed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-one-year-old Kalil Allah (ph) walks down a dirty, narrow path each morning. Since returning to Kabul from Pakistan one month ago, he spent his life savings to buy a beat up Toyota Corolla taxi cab. And for the first time in years, he is hopeful peace and prosperity will come to Afghanistan.
He makes about $7 a day, driving 10 hours each day, much of the time thinking about a better life for his seven children. He says they must go to school according to their age and their capability. I have great hope for my children and feel very good about the future.
One point seven million refugees who fled under the harsh Taliban regime have returned to Afghanistan, 600,000 living in Kabul. Many are pleased to find significant changes for women and girls. Classrooms are filling up, burkas giving way to chadors. And this would have been unthinkable under the Taliban, women spending the morning in a beauty salon, getting the full treatment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's take actually eyeliner, lip liner.
CALLEBS: Weddings are festive in Afghanistan. Tradition dictates cars are done in grand fashion. But this is still a rare event reserved for special occasions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe in marriage or maybe in engagement we can do like this. But not in other cases.
CALLEBS: It is still an Islamic nation, so beauty is reserved for close friends and family. Sport is becoming popular again. Earlier this year, thousands crowded the Kabul stadium to watch a broadcast of the World Cup. This is the same field the Taliban used to hold public executions. Above all, the people of Afghanistan are demanding reconstruction -- better roads, modern health care and new schools, and a solid economic base so Afghans can stop relying on outside aid and create their own financial foundation.
PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: If we just give them a chance to breathe, this nation has to have a chance not to be killed, not to be tortured, not to be harassed, they will make their own money.
CALLEBS (on camera): Karzai's government controls Kabul and its four million citizens, and many here say they are truly hopeful for genuine improvements in the quality of life. But there are two stories in this country and the other plays out beyond the mountains, where Karzai's authority is challenged by a number of regional warlords and many of the 22 million people outside the capital live in poverty and are still waiting for any sign of a better life.
(voice-over): Aside from the massive influx of refugees over the past 12 months, aid organizations are worried about the legions of poor living in rural, hard to reach areas. With winter coming, aid groups say nearly a million people are in danger of starving unless food can be delivered before the snow starts falling.
MAKI SHINOHARA, UNHCR: What we are concerned about is that assistance, not only humanitarian aid, but also development aid assistance, will have to go to the rural communities because those are the areas that people have to go back to and would like to stay.
CALLEBS: The country is by no means secure. Fighting continues. But many believe Karzai's leadership provides the best hope for long- term peace, national unity and economic stability. People like Kalil Allah say that is all they can ask. If I didn't have that hope, he says, I wouldn't have returned to my country.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 7, 2002 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Believe it or not, it was one year ago today that the United States led the attack against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
Our Sean Callebs is in the Afghan capital with a look at how life there has changed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-one-year-old Kalil Allah (ph) walks down a dirty, narrow path each morning. Since returning to Kabul from Pakistan one month ago, he spent his life savings to buy a beat up Toyota Corolla taxi cab. And for the first time in years, he is hopeful peace and prosperity will come to Afghanistan.
He makes about $7 a day, driving 10 hours each day, much of the time thinking about a better life for his seven children. He says they must go to school according to their age and their capability. I have great hope for my children and feel very good about the future.
One point seven million refugees who fled under the harsh Taliban regime have returned to Afghanistan, 600,000 living in Kabul. Many are pleased to find significant changes for women and girls. Classrooms are filling up, burkas giving way to chadors. And this would have been unthinkable under the Taliban, women spending the morning in a beauty salon, getting the full treatment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's take actually eyeliner, lip liner.
CALLEBS: Weddings are festive in Afghanistan. Tradition dictates cars are done in grand fashion. But this is still a rare event reserved for special occasions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe in marriage or maybe in engagement we can do like this. But not in other cases.
CALLEBS: It is still an Islamic nation, so beauty is reserved for close friends and family. Sport is becoming popular again. Earlier this year, thousands crowded the Kabul stadium to watch a broadcast of the World Cup. This is the same field the Taliban used to hold public executions. Above all, the people of Afghanistan are demanding reconstruction -- better roads, modern health care and new schools, and a solid economic base so Afghans can stop relying on outside aid and create their own financial foundation.
PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: If we just give them a chance to breathe, this nation has to have a chance not to be killed, not to be tortured, not to be harassed, they will make their own money.
CALLEBS (on camera): Karzai's government controls Kabul and its four million citizens, and many here say they are truly hopeful for genuine improvements in the quality of life. But there are two stories in this country and the other plays out beyond the mountains, where Karzai's authority is challenged by a number of regional warlords and many of the 22 million people outside the capital live in poverty and are still waiting for any sign of a better life.
(voice-over): Aside from the massive influx of refugees over the past 12 months, aid organizations are worried about the legions of poor living in rural, hard to reach areas. With winter coming, aid groups say nearly a million people are in danger of starving unless food can be delivered before the snow starts falling.
MAKI SHINOHARA, UNHCR: What we are concerned about is that assistance, not only humanitarian aid, but also development aid assistance, will have to go to the rural communities because those are the areas that people have to go back to and would like to stay.
CALLEBS: The country is by no means secure. Fighting continues. But many believe Karzai's leadership provides the best hope for long- term peace, national unity and economic stability. People like Kalil Allah say that is all they can ask. If I didn't have that hope, he says, I wouldn't have returned to my country.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
