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Chaos, Crowds Outside Kabul Airport As Evacuations Resume; Afghans Watch Nervously As Taliban Rule Begins; Pakistan: Recognizing Taliban To Be "Regional Decision"; Growing Global Concern Over New Reality In Afghanistan; As Militants Vow Gentler Rule, Afghans Remain Skeptical; Taliban Promise "Positive Change" In First News Conference; Afghan Women Fear Loss of Rights Under Militants' Rule; Death Toll Rises as Rain Hampers Haiti Relief Efforts; E.U. Concerned Chaos Could Trigger Another Migrant Crisis; Russian Ambassador: Taliban Meeting Positive, Constructive. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired August 18, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:58]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm John Vause.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, with Kabul's airport secured, U.S. plans to ramp up evacuation flights. But heavily armed Taliban fighters control who's allowed in and who is not. An Afghan civilians have reportedly been beaten, whipped and turned away.
The Taliban promises to respect women's rights, they'll be allowed to work and study but there's a catch, only within their framework of Islamic law.
And back to back natural disasters for Haiti. Heavy rains, strong winds from a tropical storm. A further isolated areas hit hardest by a deadly weekend earthquake.
The deputy leader of the Taliban and the man widely expected to be Afghanistan's next president right in the southern city of Kandahar Tuesday after a 20-year exile, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar co-founded the Taliban alongside the notorious late Mullah Omar.
In 2018, at the request of the Trump administration, he was released from Pakistani prison to join a delegation at peace talks in Doha. He has been seen as a moderate voice among the hardliners.
When his fighters stormed, the presidential palace in Kabul, he called for them to show humility and remain disciplined. Even though his rise to leadership does little to show the Taliban is willing to break from their brutal past anytime soon.
Meanwhile, on the streets of the capital, almost all men. Beauty salons have been closed. The Taliban are on patrol and women for the most part are lying low. And that in itself speaks volumes about the fears now gripping the country.
Those fears persist, despite a laundry list of promises about women's rights, amnesty for opposition fighters and a free press made during a Taliban news conference, their first since retaking power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZABIHULLAH MUJAHID, TALIBAN SPOKESMAN (through translator): We don't want Afghanistan to be a battlefield. Today, the fighting is over.
Whoever was against the opposition has been given blanket amnesty. The fighting should not be repeated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Those promises did nothing to slow the rush for Kabul's airport, one of the last remaining ways out of the country and away from Taliban rule.
After the chaos and turmoil on Monday, U.S. troops have secured the airport, bringing an almost surreal scene of order and calm inside the passenger terminal. But beyond the exterior perimeter, heavily armed Taliban fighters are in control.
We get more now from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Around Kabul airport lives spared or spoiled. At one gate, I was caught in the crush shots in the air. Afghan soldiers let us in through a hole in the fence.
Inside, a few lucky Afghans still with steps to go and sleepless U.S. Marines. Some not born before 9/11, whose first glimpse of Afghanistan here was the same as so many before them. Except this time, they were truly encircled by calm Taliban just outside and they were leaving.
The detritus of 20 years of trying was everywhere, vehicles that may be left behind. And then the Afghans who won't be we're blurring their faces to protect them. Lucky enough to get on a flight, but not as huge a number as those who would swamp to the airfield the days before.
It is absolutely breathtaking to see the scale of the operation underway here and the volume of people relieved to be inside, but still, the chaos --
Flights picked up as evening fell, urgency, but a strange disconnect to the chaos that was swirling around the airport. People inside the airport simply did not know what was happening outside. And inside, they were headed in one direction.
[00:05:01]
WALSH: At airport security, the country's new rulers were giving their first press conference on a T.V. that surely shown all four of the U.S. presidents who have been at war here. They sit and wait to be called to a new life in a land of plenty. Well, they will land with only what they can carry. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Live now to CNN's Anna Coren, who recently returned from Afghanistan, a story she has covered for years here on CNN.
So, Anna, how is this turned by the Taliban on Tuesday to appear to be I guess, a little more moderate, a little softer, a little kinder compared to the Taliban of the past. How is that been received by those inside the country?
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was interesting watching that press conference by Zabihullah Mujahid the spokesperson, a high- ranking member of the Taliban, you know, coming across as legitimate, as credible, as a -- as an organization that wants to now run Afghanistan responsibly, at least that was the message.
Are the people on the ground buying it? Certainly not those that I am speaking to, for educated people, for people who have lived with the freedoms that they have enjoyed for the last 20 years, absolutely not.
They know the atrocities that the Taliban have committed over the last two decades in particular over the last few months.
So, really, you know, (INAUDIBLE) the eyes of the world as certainly on the Taliban at the moment not to, you know, make any missteps. There is fear that once the cameras, you know, turn away as they have every single time in Afghanistan, that that is when the reprisals and those revenge attacks will take place.
And interestingly, John, we heard that message from the Taliban earlier yesterday about how none of its members were allowed to enter anyone's property, that they were there to restore law and order.
Well, I have a very personal account of a -- of a local Afghan journalist, a dear friend of mine who has been hunkering down these last couple of days ever since Kabul has fallen. We as a company are desperately trying to get him out and his family out.
And the Taliban turned up at his apartment building. They said that they had heard that there were government workers here, people had worked for foreign companies. They were going from apartment to apartment searching.
They knocked on his door, his wife answered and said that there are no men here, no man inside. In the meantime, my friend had contacted the official Taliban, they've taken over a WhatsApp security chat for all the Afghan journalists.
And he reported saying, there are Talibs here who had searching the apartment building. Within 10 minutes, there was a Land Cruiser that arrived. And they arrested these Talibs who were not happy, who was saying who has reported this. They were taken away.
My friend and his family, they packed up and they have since moved, fearing that these people will obviously come back.
I think what we are seeing from this picture is that there are all these different factions of the Taliban. So, you have the official Taliban, you know, presenting themselves as this legitimate governing body there to give blanket amnesty and provide law and order.
But you have elements of the Taliban out for revenge, you have elements of the Taliban have just been released from prison. They've been locked up for a very long time.
And this, John, is where the acute danger lies for all those people who have worked for foreign companies, all those Afghan interpreters who worked for the U.S. military. That is where the true fear is.
VAUSE: Yes, it's still a monolithic organization. There's a political wing, there is a military wing, there is a religious wing, there's a cultural wing as well. And sometimes they don't all answer to the same person.
Anna, thank you. Anna Coren live for us in Hong Kong. We'll catch up next hour. Thanks, Anna.
Pakistan is holding off on recognizing the Taliban regime until after consultations with regional and international powers.
Sophia Saifi is in Islamabad with details on this. What's the delay? It seems, you know, that the Taliban are Pakistan's creation, you know? Their child if you'd like (INAUDIBLE) Afghanistan.
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Well, John, they have been saying Pakistani authorities have been saying for many, many weeks now, that they do not have the kind of control over the Afghan Taliban as others would like to think, they have emphasized that again and again.
However, you know, although we've been hearing a lot of chatter from Pakistan, civilian leaders, there have been no statements from the military as of yet. We do know that there was a meeting with the national security of the National Security Council, which consists of top military leaders, as well as top civilian leaders, and this is the announcement that came out last night after a special cabinet meeting.
[00:10:01]
SAIFI: Now, what's of concern here is is that sure, I mean, what's happening in Pakistan has a large border with Afghanistan, it also has a border with China, as well as with Iran.
And there is a lot changing here in this region, you've got China's One Belt One Road project, you've got Pakistan saying on Friday, right before the fall of Kabul, that Pakistan needs stability in Afghanistan to ensure that China's investments and Pakistan's ambitious plans in Central Asia and linking that to the deep seaports of Gwadar in South Balochistan are not affected.
So, there's a whole economic, you know, plan at stake if there is instability in Afghanistan. And what comes from that is that sure, you've got the Afghan Taliban, which have had strong holds in the city of Quetta, they have come across the border over the years to, you know, have their patients treated, etcetera, etcetera. But they're also the Pakistani Taliban, the TTP. And the TTP came out last night, and also made a statement pledging allegiance to the Afghan Taliban and the TTP have strongholds in the Palestine.
And what's interesting is, is that when the Afghan Taliban made -- had that press conference yesterday, they did go ahead and say on record that they will not allow Afghanistan to be used against their neighboring countries. And Pakistan also made a statement that they do not want Afghanistan to be used against them.
Now, what Anna said as well is that there are different factions, right? Like you've got the official Taliban, they're in power at the moment, but there are all these other elements, which are, you know, just out of anybody's control, and it's anybody's guess, you know, what's going to happen in Pakistan, which has been directly affected through its own policy decisions over the past 40 years. People in this country have been directly affected by whatever's happened in Afghanistan.
So, there is a real sense of fear and trepidation amongst normal Pakistanis here in this country, because there have often been direct, you know, reactions to the lives of Pakistanis as well, with whatever happens in Afghanistan, John.
VAUSE: Sophia, thank you for that. Sophia Saifi there in Islamabad. Again, we'll catch up with you throughout the day, but we appreciate you being with us.
Global leaders are watching with concern as reality sinks in, the Taliban won the war, and will once again decide the fate of more than 30 million Afghans and beyond.
CNN's Arwa Damon has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The headlines where the ugly, almost incomprehensible truth. After 20 years of war against the world's most powerful armies, the Taliban won.
And those countries that once bought them are having to accept that they have to engage their former foes.
JOSEP BORRELL, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: The Taliban have won the war. So, we would have to talk with them in order to engage in a dialogue as soon as necessary to prevent a humanitarian and a potential migratory disaster but also a humanitarian crisis.
DAMON: After an emergency meeting Tuesday, the E.U.'s foreign policy chief said that the block will not recognize but will work with the Taliban if fundamental human rights are respected.
But it seems that the main concern is how to prevent Afghans from flooding Europe and avoiding a repeat of the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): France as I've said have and will continue to do its duty, those who are most threatened. We will do our full part in an organized and fair international effort. But Europe cannot be the only ones to take on consequences of the current situation.
DAMON: The consequences of the current situation. In other words, desperate Afghans wanting to flee the Taliban.
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Before talking about quotas, we must first talk about security possibilities for refugees in the neighborhood of Afghanistan, and I will also discuss this with UNHCR, then we can think about as a second step whether especially affected people can be brought to Europe in a controlled and supported way.
DAMON: As Europe scrambles to protect itself, Afghanistan's neighbor and fickle American ally, Pakistan's leader praise the Taliban's takeover as having broken the shackles of slavery. And where the West recedes, Russia and China will step in.
The two country's foreign minister have reportedly spoke by phone on Monday to discuss the unfolding situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The fact that the Taliban show a willingness to consider the position of others, in my opinion, is a positive sign. And they said that they are ready to discuss a government in which not only them, but the other representatives of Afghan powers can be a part.
DAMON: It is arguably among the saddest outcomes of a 20-year war that was meant to deliver so much more than this to a population that has already suffered more than most of us can even imagine.
Arwa Damon, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:15:16]
VAUSE: Still ahead, many Afghans are not buying this new moderate Taliban. Many believe it's the same old cruel, brutality, only with better P.R.
Plus, booster shots for the lucky few while most of the world's vulnerable wait for their first. Why the World Health Organization says the Biden administration has got it wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: A former vice president of Afghanistan is calling for the Afghan people to rise up and fight their new Taliban overlords.
Amrullah Saleh served as first vice president under the ousted leader Ashraf Ghani. When Ghani fled the country, Saleh says he became legitimate caretaker president and is now calling on Afghans to join the resistance to prove their country is not like Vietnam.
But of course, many Afghan cities including Kabul fell to the Taliban with little and no resistance.
Since taking Kabul, Taliban leaders have been insisting they are a changed group, promising a kinder, gentler government than the one which ruled 20 years ago.
But as CNN's Sam Kiley reports, many Afghans remain deeply skeptical that the militants will stay true to their word, or even capable of keeping it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Promises.
SUHAL SHAHEEN, TALIBAN SPOKESMAN: We would harbor new government and (INAUDIBLE) Islamic government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Promises.
SHAHEEN: Women can continue their education from primary to the higher education.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Promises.
SHAHEEN: We do not want a monopoly of power.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Taliban 2.0, more moderate, inclusive, power sharing.
From 1996 to 2001, the ultra-conservative Islamist imposed a form of Islam that stoned homosexuals, and shot female schools, as it took over much of Afghanistan.
Women bore the brunt of this medieval ideology. The movement was toppled by NATO and Afghan allies intent on ending Taliban rule and the safe haven that it gave to Al-Qaeda's plots against America on 9/11. Al-Qaeda was routed, fleeing NATO into scattered exile.
For the next 20 years, the Taliban fought back, taking territory slowly and refining its public relations. Less efforts on oppressing women, more on building trust in local administrations.
But millions of Afghans, especially in the cities, were encouraged to believe in the freedoms and democracy that was stamped out by the Taliban. So, when they swept back into the Capitol, fear took hold.
[00:20:06]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, if they have changed, why are they stopping women from going to work? Why are they murdering artists?
FARZANA KOCHAI, AFGHAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Do I have a space here to work for my people in my country or not? So, we are risking our lives just for this answer. KILEY: At the Taliban press conference in Kabul, it spokesman insisted that the movement had matured, but he insisted that all human rights, freedoms and especially the role of women would still be determined by Sharia law.
To succeed in government, the Taliban may have little choice in the face of real politics. It will also need help from the international community. It's been burnishing its diplomatic credentials.
Here, the leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar sealing a deal with the U.S. is now widely derided for shepherding the Taliban to victory, but the movement has clearly signaled that it needs to govern rather than rule by force.
The question is whether that is something the Taliban can or even wants to do.
Sam Kiley, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Colin P. Clarke is the Director of Policy and Research at The Soufan Group and author of After the Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future of the Terrorist Diaspora.
Colin, thank you for being with us. We appreciate your time.
COLIN P. CLARKE, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND RESEARCH, THE SOUFAN GROUP: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Well, the Taliban spokesman held a news conference on Tuesday, and he would like the world to believe the Taliban of 2021 is nothing like the Taliban of 2001. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUJAHID (through translator): No death will be caused to anyone outside of Afghanistan. And I'd like to ensure all our neighboring countries, we will not allow anyone to use Afghanistan against them.
Therefore, I would like that all of the international community should know. And we obviously are committed to our promises.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, with that in mind, why should anyone take the Taliban at their word? And what is the Taliban trying to achieve here?
CLARKE: Well, I think nobody should take the Taliban at their word, frankly, they haven't earned it. What is this a kinder, gentler Taliban? It's nonsense. And if anybody does fall for this, they're being naive or foolish.
What the Taliban is trying to do is simple, they're trying to run a public relations campaign to distance themselves from the abuses of the past several decades, and to make themselves a more palatable partner for countries in the international community. And I think we should roundly reject these attempts because we know what the Taliban is. This is a bloodthirsty organization that's killed Afghan men, women and children, just because they've now taken the country by force, doesn't change that fact.
VAUSE: Well, here's another statement from the same spokesperson, addressing the issue of freedom of the press. Here he is once again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUJAHID (through translator): We would like all the media, private media, to be free, to be independent, to continue their publications.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This is something which we can actually gauge because our areas of Afghanistan, which have been under Taliban control for quite some time. So, that's what they say, what does the evidence on the ground actually say what they do?
CLARKE: Well, the evidence shows that this, again, is a highly draconian, you know, medieval organization. They don't care about free speech, they don't care about human rights. This is what I would call lawfare, using the Western laws and values against us, in -- you know, to essentially elevate their own platform. That's what the Taliban is doing here.
Look, this is a sophisticated organization, they understand the way that Western media works. And so, anyone that is willing to play this game, the Taliban will play it.
But at the end of the day, let's be clear, a tiger doesn't change its stripes, its actions, not words that we need to be looking at. And those actions aren't necessarily reassuring.
VAUSE: Those who want to play this game, I guess, they're clinging to this belief that somehow the Taliban of 2021 may not be as brutal and cruel as the Taliban before, because this time, they want international legitimacy, as well as some kind of financial assistance. That is what essentially fool's gold at this point?
CLARKE: I think it's a lot of smoke and mirrors, the Taliban is going to say what they want, what they think people want to hear. And as the world turns their attention elsewhere, and there are no shortage of global hotspots, so the world will turn its attention elsewhere, the Taliban will go back to business as usual.
Again, this is old wine in new bottles, we can't fall for what -- you know, what we're seeing here. We're less than a week into the rule of the Taliban. Let's give this a little bit of time before we start proclaiming this organization changed.
VAUSE: Well, the USS Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday seems to contradict weeks, if not maybe months of spin about the future of Afghanistan, here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[00:25:05]
JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We were clear eyed going in when we made this decision, that it was possible that the Taliban would end up in control of Afghanistan. We were clear eyed about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: If they were clear eyed they knew it was possible, they sure didn't seem to plan for it.
CLARKE: Yes, and look, with all due respect to Jake Sullivan, and I do have a lot of respect for Jake Sullivan, he's a very bright guy. The messaging from the Biden administration has been atrocious. The strategic communications has been altogether lacking and that's probably being a bit mild.
The only thing worse than the execution of the withdrawal has been the way that the Biden administration has presented it to the Afghan people, to the American people and to the international community.
It really seems like a total debacle when you're watching from the outside. So, to say that, you know, the administration plan for contingency X or Y just really doesn't seem -- you know, doesn't seem honest at this point.
VAUSE: Yes, Colin P. Clarke, thank you so much for being with us, Sir. We appreciate it.
CLARKE: Thank you.
VAUSE: Taliban say they will respect women's rights, but many are fearful of what's to come knowing the Taliban's history of oppression.
CNN's Clarissa Ward takes a look how some are preparing for this uncertain future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why do you think you're selling more burqas right now?
Because the Taliban took over and all the women are afraid, he says. So, that's why they're all coming in and buying burqas?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
During their first conference since taking power, the Taliban made a long list of promises intend to sue the concerns of an anxious nation, including blanket amnesty for all Afghans. The scenes outside Kabul's airport or any guide there is a good deal of skepticism among many Afghans. Large crowds remain at the airport hoping for a way out of the country and a life beyond the Taliban's brutal interpretation of Islam.
The White House says the Taliban have promise safe passage for civilians, hoping to leave amid reports of beatings with some who tried to bypass Taliban checkpoints not far from the airport.
Meantime, Taliban co-founder and Deputy Leader Mullah Baradar returned to the country on Tuesday after a 20-year long exile, sign the Taliban is unlikely to break from its past despite promises to the contrary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUJAHID (through translator): In a very short period of time to change, positive change, so all the people, situation will be changed.
Every one -- every Afghan wants their lives to be better. So, of course when something important changes within the site, within the whole society, whether it's commercial or economic, the most important thing is security, which we have been sure of security.
[00:30:21]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The Taliban have also promised women's rights will be respected. But now there is real concern that after two decades of progress, all that could be lost, with the Taliban back in control and saying the women's rights issue will be seen within the framework of Sharia law. Here's CNN's Clarissa Ward.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the central Kabul market, stores were open, and people were back on the streets, or at least some people. It was impossible not to notice that women here seem to have largely melted away.
One store was doing better business than usual. For more than a decade, Muhammad has been selling burqas, the head-to-toe covering once imposed by the Taliban. "Business was good, but now it's even better," he tells us. "More sales."
(on camera): Why do you think you're selling more burqas right now?
(voice-over): "Because the Taliban took over, and all the women are afraid," he says. "So that's why they're all coming in and buying burqas."
(on camera): Do you feel abandoned?
FAZILA (ph), AFGHAN CITIZEN: Yes, exactly.
WARD (voice-over): In an apartment downtown, we saw that fear firsthand. Until last week, Fazila (ph) was working for the U.N. That's not her real name, and she asked we not show her face. She's petrified that the Taliban will link her to western
organizations and says she hasn't gone outside since they arrived in Kabul.
(on camera): You look very frightened.
FAZILA (ph): In fact, too much (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It is not easy for a person who worked a lot with international organization, having more than 10 years' experience of working with international, and now no one of them help me. Just sending emails to different organizations that I work with you but now, no response.
WARD: Are you angry?
FAZILA (ph): No, I'm not angry. But as a person that who worked with them, now I need their support. It is not fair.
WARD: You look at very emotional, as well.
FAZILA (ph): Yes. Because I'm thinking about my future, my daughters. What will happen to them if they kill me. Two daughters without mother.
WARD (voice-over): The Taliban says they have learned from history, and that women's rights will be protected. But many fearful Afghan women remain to be persuaded.
(on camera): We're on our way now to the home of a prominent female Afghan politician. She's told me that there are Taliban fighters outside her front door, so she's asked that I go in alone.
(voice-over): Fawzia Koofi was one of the Afghan government negotiators during peace talks with the Taliban and has dealt with the group a lot. She says that promising change is not enough.
FAWZIA KOOFI, AFGHAN POLITICIAN: We have to really prove it in the provinces across Afghanistan. We have to show it by example. It's very easy to issue statements, but people need to see that in practice.
WARD: Koofi has every reason not to trust. Last year, she was shot by unknown gunmen. The Taliban denied they were behind the attack.
(on camera): You have children?
KOOFI: I have two daughters.
WARD: And are they here?
KOOFI: They're in Kabul.
WARD: And are you concerned for them, or--?
KOOFI: I'm concerned for my daughters and all the girls of Afghanistan. I don't want history to repeat itself and then very brutally.
WARD (voice-over): Twenty years of progress for women in Afghanistan now hangs by a thread.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Joining me now is Nasrin Nawa, a reporter who is based in Afghanistan, working for the BBC Persia service, and is now a Fulbright scholar at the University of Nebraska.
Nasrin, I know this is a difficult time, so I really appreciate you being with us. Thank you for joining us
NASRIN NAWA, REPORTER: Thank you for having me on.
VAUSE: OK. You wrote a piece for "The Washington Post," and in that story, you talked about the concern that you have right now for your sister, in particular, and also your parents who remain behind in Afghanistan. Your sister's flight was canceled when the U.S. military took over Kabul's airport.
So have you been in contact with her recently? How is she? What has she been telling you about the situation there right now?
NAWA: She was better, a little, today. But she was so disappointed. But she's just very tough. She is very -- anxiety. And she thinks, like, it's the end of the world for her, if she remains in Afghanistan with the Taliban regime. Not just my sister, my family is still there. Everyone else I know: my friends, my colleagues, almost everyone, when I talk to them, they are so dispirited and disappointed right now.
VAUSE: And with those new rules, the fear is the progress which has been made over two decades, in terms of marginalized groups and rights for women and girls, that will all be lost.
I want you to listen to an exchange between CNN's Clarissa Ward, who is in Kabul, and a Taliban fighter. It's quite telling. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD: How will you protect women? Because many women are afraid they will not be allowed to go to school. They will not be allowed to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The females, the women can continue their life. And we will not take anything for them. They can go to the school. They can continue their education. But we just want the hijab.
WARD: So like I'm wearing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not like you, but covering their faces.
WARD: Covering their face? So you mean the niqab.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Niqab.
WARD: Why did they have to cover their face? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it is Islamic (ph).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: So explain this. The Taliban say they will be allowed to continue on, do -- you know, go to school. Everything will be fine. That comes with a very strict limitation in terms of their own version of Islamic law.
NAWA: After sacrificing so many lives in Afghanistan, in explosions, the Taliban are back and telling us what to wear and how to walk and how to live. It's ridiculous.
The world is just watching them, and we are just sitting here, can't do anything. People are forced to obey these new rules, that they -- that the Taliban are imposing right now.
And it is good that your colleagues said this, it shows the reality, that the Taliban still insist on the so-called Sharia law, that they believe that women belong to, just houses. And this change, that they will allow them to go to school is not something they back when they are going to be in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- in practice under the Taliban.
VAUSE: In your article for "The Washington Post," you write about advising your sister to get home immediately, to burn identification cards, that kind of thing, and also to destroy her much beloved guitar. She struggled with that for a long time. You told her, if she didn't doing it, then what could lead to her death by the Taliban.
And then you add this: "This is how the hopes, passions, careers, and plans of many young Afghans are crumbling."
And a lot of Afghans are in that situation right now. But there are Afghans who have welcomed the arrival of the Taliban. Is that true? It's not one message coming from the country. There are those terrified and fearful, and those who have welcomed the takeover?
NAWA: Honestly, that's true. Because Afghanistan is a traditional society, traditional country. And without Taliban, even, without their presence, just in Afghanistan, we were fighting with people, the Taliban mentality.
So we were hearing, like, people on the street telling us, We wish the Taliban come. At least then you won't be able to walk around like this.
And it was increased in the last couple of weeks when I was in Kabul. Everyone was just staring at them, because I -- I believed that it would never happen, that they would come to Kabul. And we go back to the old story.
And now I know they've arrived, and I was totally wrong. It happened. But it doesn't mean that the whole country will become Taliban. You saw some -- maybe some pictures and videos from the airport. It shows, it proves that people prefer to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but not live the Taliban.
VAUSE: Nasrin, we will leave it there. It was good to speak with you. Thank you for your time. we wish you all the best. All the best to you and your family back in Kabul. Thank you.
Still to come, a growing humanitarian crisis in Haiti, with heavy rains hampering rescue efforts and the search for survivors after Saturday's deadly and devastating hurricane.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:42:19]
VAUSE: Relief efforts after Haiti's earthquake on the weekend have already been criticized as moving too slowly. Now, after heavy rains over the quake zone, it appears they've been hampered even further. The death toll has jumped to over 1,900 people. Hospitals are inundated with victims, and that heavy rain from Tropical Storm Grace has complicated relief efforts even further.
Here's CNN's Joe Johns.
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JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The wind howled, and the rain poured as Tropical Depression Grace rolled ashore in Haiti. Shell-shocked and weary earthquake survivors took refuge where they could, some lucky enough to have a roof over their heads, but most with their homes destroyed or too badly damaged, doing what they could to protect themselves with makeshift tents and tarps as the deluge of rain kept coming.
THEARD ANDRISE, HOMELESS AFTER EARTHQUAKE (through translator): The rainfall on top of us, we slept on chairs. Nobody has come to help us. We sleep here sitting down. I don't want to go home. I'm in God's hands.
JOHNS: Many of the survivors dealing with injuries as they struggle to cope, waiting for aid. That aid is pouring into the capital, Port-au- Prince, but getting it out to the hard-hit areas on the south coast to those in need taking time, leading to frustration.
MARIMENE JOUESIL, HOMELESS AFTER EARTHQUAKE (through translator): I am in a lot of pain. We've been promised medicine. I went to look for it, and I was told to wait. Yesterday they distributed aid, but I wasn't able to get anything. It rained a lot at night. We could not sleep. We have nothing to eat. We have nothing.
JOHNS: Still, some progress being made. The U.S. Coast Guard among those agencies already on the ground.
VILLA RODRIGUEZ, U.S. COAST GUARD (through translator): In the past 24 hours, the Coast Guard has rescued 38 lives and transported 5,500 pounds of aid, medical equipment, among others, for the affected areas in Haiti. We have transported 56 passengers and medical personnel to attend those affected areas. JOHNS: It's been four days since the 7.2 earthquake struck, flattening
homes and toppling hotels and businesses, killing more than 1,900 people and injuring thousands more.
UNICEF estimates close to 1.2 million people have been affected by the quake, including more than 500,000 children. The scope of that devastation and desperation becoming more painfully clear with each passing day.
Joe Johns, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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VAUSE: If you would like to help the people of Haiti, suffering because of the earthquake, please go to CNN.com/impact.
[00:45:08]
Just one -- one -- confirmed case of local transmission of COVID in New Zealand led to a three-day lockdown. This was the first COVID case since February. The prime minister says it was identified as the Delta variant
in New Zealand led to a three-day lockdown. This was the first COVID case since February. The prime minister says it was identified as the Delta variant, leading to the outbreak in New South Wales across the Tasman in Australia.
New Zealand has now confirmed six more cases. The country's medical chief warns dozens of infections could arise from that one initial case.
COVID hospitalizations in the United States have doubled over the past three weeks as the Delta variant has surged. The U.S. Health Department data shows more than 83,000 people were in hospital this week alone. And that's putting strain on a number of health care systems.
Texas is requesting additional mortuary trailers, while Alabama has run out of ICU beds.
Meantime, President Joe Biden is expected to speak about vaccine booster shots on Wednesday. His administration is considering a plan for boosters eight months after full vaccination, but the World Health Organization wants wealthy countries to delay those booster shots.
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MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WHO: This is a global pandemic, and we need to think about global solutions. What our recommendation is, is that all of the world's most vulnerable, and those who are most at risk, health workers, need to receive their first and second doses before the large proportions of the population, all of the population in some countries, receive that third dose.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Global vaccine supplies are about to -- had a big boost, I
should say. The U.S. is sending nearly 500,000 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to Rwanda. It includes the first batch of 500 million doses that President Biden has pledged to make globally.
White House officials say that 200 million of those doses will be good (ph) by the end of the year. The remaining will go out in the first half of 2022.
Hong Kong is scrapping a plan that shortened quarantine for some visitors. The government says quarantine length will now be 14 or 21 days, depending on the country of origin.
Previously, vaccinated travelers who met specific criteria could have their hotel quarantine traveled shorten to seven days. But officials say that's no longer the case because of the increased risk posed by the Delta variant.
Well, the Biden administration is doing damage control after the disastrous exit from Afghanistan. We'll look at their efforts to manage the fallout.
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VAUSE: The Taliban may control Afghanistan, but there's one key asset which the U.S. still controls, and that's money. The U.S. Treasury effectively freezing the assets of the Afghan Central Bank to prevent the Taliban from getting access.
Most of Afghanistan's cash reserves in Afghanistan are not actually in the country.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden has left his presidential retreat early to return to the White House and deal with the backlash over this Taliban victory.
The U.S. president and his national security team insists leaving Afghanistan was the right call. Others are demanding an investigation into what went so terribly wrong.
CNN's Kate Collins has details.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Biden administration is defending its exit from Afghanistan while attempting to manage the fallout from a chaotic departure.
JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: There have been questions raised about whether we should have drawn down our embassy and evacuated our Afghan allies earlier. These are reasonable questions.
COLLINS: An internal blame game over why the U.S. didn't act sooner is underway. As CNN reports, an intelligence assessment within the last month showed the Taliban were pursuing a total military victory. [00:50:06]
President Biden's national security adviser says they planned for months.
SULLIVAN: Even well-joined plans don't survive first contact with reality. And they require adjustments.
COLLINS: After Biden largely blamed the Taliban takeover on Afghans unwilling to fight, Jake Sullivan said he's also taking responsibility.
SULLIVAN: He's taking responsibility for every decision the United States government took with respect to Afghanistan, because as he said, the buck stops with him. I am also taking responsibility, and so are my colleagues.
COLLINS: The top national security aide promising a review of what could have been done differently.
SULLIVAN: We will conduct an extensive, hot rush, as we say. We'll take a look at every aspect of this from top to bottom.
COLLINS: For now, the primary goal is evacuating the thousands of Americans who remain in Afghanistan, with assurances from an unlikely group.
SULLIVAN: The Taliban have informed us that they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport, and we intend to hold them to that commitment.
COLLINS: Thousands of U.S. troops are on the ground in Kabul with the mission of getting Americans and endangered Afghans out.
SULLIVAN: We will be putting 300 passengers on your average military cargo plane heading out of the country, one after another, hot unloading and hot offloading.
COLLINS: Top military commanders are in communication with Taliban leaders that Biden said just weeks ago he couldn't trust.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do I trust the Taliban? No.
COLLINS: Now that they control the capital, aides say it's too soon to say if the Taliban will be seen as a legitimate form of government.
Ultimately, it's going to be up to the Taliban to show the rest of the world who they are and how they intend to proceed. The track record has not been good.
COLLINS (on camera): And of course, leaders around the world have also been monitoring this drawdown and evacuation in Afghanistan, we now know that President Biden has spoken to his first foreign counterpart since Kabul fell to the Taliban on Sunday.
That first call was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. And in a readout from Downing Street, the U.K. said that the prime minister, quote, "stressed the importance" of not losing the gains made in Afghanistan over the last 20 years.
He also stressed protecting ourselves against any emerging threat from terrorism and of continuing to support the people of Afghanistan.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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VAUSE: NATO's secretary general is calling for a peaceful transfer of power and for the Taliban government to respect the rights of all Afghan people. Jens Stoltenberg was also critical of the failures in Afghan leadership, which led to the Taliban's takeover.
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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Ultimately, the Afghan political leadership failed to stand up to the Taliban and to achieve the peaceful solution that Afghans desperately wanted. This failure of Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing today.
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VAUSE: The E.U. says it will need to deal with the Taliban government to negotiate safe passage out of the country for their nationals and other Afghans who worked for them.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has more now on the E.U.'s emergency meeting on Tuesday.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Foreign affairs ministers for the E.U. member states held an emergency session, an extraordinary meeting to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
Afterwards the E.U. foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, held a press conference to update journalists. He says for right now there are three key priorities for E.U. member states.
The first is, of course, evacuations, getting any E.U. nationals out of Afghanistan to safety, getting an E.U. staff out to safety, as well.
But Mr. Borrell saying his biggest concern is actually Afghan nationals who've worked with E.U. institutions over the last two decades but remain trapped back in Afghanistan.
He says there's about 400 people that fall under this category of staff and their families. He says we cannot abandon them now and ensure that the E.U. is doing everything it can to get those 400 Afghan nationals into the E.U., into safety as soon as possible.
The second matter of concern for E.U. member states is that this Afghanistan chaos could cause a huge refugee crisis, something that we've seen with the Syrian civil war.
It does not want those nightmare scenarios of people making that desperate crossing across the sea to European shores yet again. That led to 0.3, with the E.U. foreign affairs chief saying, practically speaking, we're all going to have to engage in talks with the Taliban.
He says the Taliban have won. They're in control of Kabul. That is the reality. Those are the facts on the ground.
E.U. officials will be engaging with Taliban officials inside Kabul to ensure those evacuations take place, take control of the humanitarian situation and the refugee situation.
But again, the E.U. emphasizing that this is by no means an acknowledgment of the legitimacy of the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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VAUSE: The U.K. has announced plans to take in as many as 20,000 Afghans under a new resettlement program, priority given to women, girls, and religious minorities under threat of prosecution by the Taliban.
[00:55:09]
The U.N. says about half a million Afghans have been forced from their homes amid the conflict just this year.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is urging the international community to work together and prevent an even bigger humanitarian crisis.
And then there's Russia. Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan says he had a positive and constructive meeting with Taliban officials on Tuesday. They met to discuss securing the Russian embassy. But the Kremlin still not convinced the Taliban can actually be trusted.
Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen.
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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: The Russian government is moving very quickly to come to terms with the new situation on the ground in Afghanistan, and of course, specifically in Kabul.
In fact, the Russian ambassador to Kabul, he came and he confirmed on Tuesday that he had had meetings with top-level officials from the Taliban.
Now, he said that the Taliban had guaranteed the security and the safety of the Russian embassy and its staff. And also that the Taliban apparently have what he called a positive attitude towards Russia.
Now, this is very different from the top that we've heard from the Russians in the past couple of days about the Ashraf Ghani government, which of course, supported by the United States. The Russians calling that government a puppet government, and saying they believe now that the Taliban essentially are in power in Kabul but the situation there is stabilizing.
On the whole, however, the Russians are saying this does not necessarily change their attitude towards the Taliban. In fact, Sergey Lavrov came out for the first time on Tuesday, and he said that yes, the Russians have seen some positive signals, but on the other hand, of course, the Taliban are still an organization that's banned in Russia and considered a terrorist organization here, as well.
On the whole, the Russians are saying that they believe they're in a fairly comfortable position in Kabul and in Afghanistan. Because for a very long time they've been cultivating ties with all sides in Afghanistan, specifically also with the Taliban.
The Russians have big interest, of course, in Afghanistan, as several of their allied countries, like for instance Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan share long borders with Afghanistan. The Russians certainly don't want to see a destabilization in that part of the world.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
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VAUSE: Thank you, Fred, and thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Please stay with us, though. I will be back with more news after a very short break. You're watching CNN.
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