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Heavy Clashes between Taliban and Afghan Resistance in Panjshir Valley; White House Details Last Phone Call between American and Afghan Presidents; U.S. Beefs Up Alliances in Rivalry with China. Aired 12-12:15a ET
Aired September 04, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.
We begin in Afghanistan where the Taliban are pressing their military offensive into the mountainous Panjshir Valley north of Kabul. Heavy fighting Friday between the Taliban and the national resistance front, a coalition of Afghan fighters long opposed to the Taliban.
Panjshir's been a stronghold of Afghan resistance for decades. It's the only part of the country the Taliban have never controlled.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Celebratory gunfire broke out in Kabul after the Taliban claimed to have seized the Panjshir but the resistance denied it was defeated. Meanwhile, the absence of a formal Taliban government has provided a small window for Afghan women to demand their rights be protected.
But Friday's public demonstration in Kabul not without serious risk. CNN's Isa Soares explains.
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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A small but brave band of women chant the right to work and go to school in Taliban in Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They must make sure women participate in their government. We know that women form a majority of the population of Afghanistan.
If they are not prepared in areas like education, health and politics and do not have a role in these areas in our society, so the world will not recognize us. They will not hear our voice.
SOARES (voice-over): There's a brief confrontation between the Taliban and the women. Twenty years ago when the Taliban last ran Afghanistan, a protest like this would be unthinkable. The women would have been beaten, tortured or even executed.
The Taliban insist they will respect women's rights within the framework of sharia law. That includes giving women access to education and the workplace. Still to be seen whether women will be forced to wear burqas and not allowed to leave their homes without a close male relative.
And the public messaging is often different from reality at street level. Recently, a spokesman for the group urged women to stay home for their safety because Taliban fighters had not been trained to respect them.
The warning has left many Afghan women afraid and uncertain of what is next. Street vendors in Kabul said the sale of burqas has increased. In some instances, militants have forced women out of their workplaces, though some women continue to work.
The female staff of one hospital in Kabul stayed home for a day when the Taliban first took over until their managers told them it was OK to come back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In the beginning when the situation occurred, it was very difficult for us. We were worried about what would happen. Our request is we want to make progress, we don't want to go backwards.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
SOARES (voice-over): A female anchor on a television morning show this earlier week had a interview with a male guest on a health topic. But another female journalist fled the country after she interviewed a member of the Taliban on live TV.
Reporters without Borders say there are under 100 female journalists who still work in Kabul and some have been attacked or harassed. The conductor of the country's all-female orchestra says she has escaped to the United States but says many of her fellow musicians are in hiding. The Taliban banned most music during its earlier rule.
NEGIN KHPALWAK, AFGHAN WOMEN'S ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR (through translator): When the Taliban neared the city, everyone stayed at home. They didn't go out, especially female musicians. I am sure that every one of them felt the same way as I did, that we will not be able to play again.
SOARES (voice-over): As the Taliban consolidate power, many Afghan women, especially professionals, feel stifled and silenced -- Isa Soares, CNN.
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HOLMES: Afghan women aren't the only ones worried about the future under the Taliban. Some politicians also concerned. Kabul's mayor told CNN he has not ruled out working with a new government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MOHAMMAD DAOUD SULTANZOY, KABUL MAYOR: If it's an inclusive government and the likes of me are at some capacity serving that government, then one will have room to play a role. But if it's not an inclusive government, my desire is a moot point.
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HOLMES: The White House detailing what it said was between the U.S. President and former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. During their last phone call before the Taliban takeover, it says that Joe Biden told Ghani three things he needed to do: work with the U.S. to devise an effective military strategy focused on major cities, let Afghan military commanders implement that strategy and then get Afghan political leaders behind it to reinforce public confidence.
The White House says unfortunately Ghani "couldn't or wouldn't heed that advice."
Now that comes after Reuters said it reviewed a transcript of that phone call and much of it was focused on what Biden called the Afghan government's perception problem.
Want to bring you some new details on Friday's terror attack in New Zealand. The number of victims has been updated to seven wounded following a knife attack on Friday at a supermarket in an Auckland suburb. Five people still in hospital, three in critical condition.
We're also learning new details about the suspect, who police shot and killed. A Sri Lankan national had spent three years in prison, after breaching parole for buying a knife. He was released most recently in July. He was a known supporter of ISIS ideology and was under close surveillance the day of the attack.
At a news conference, the prime minister Jacinda Ardern commended the quick action of the police and explained the difficulty in monitoring the suspect.
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JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: At every turn, every legal avenue that was available was utilized and when it was no longer possible to legally have this person detained, that is when the police came in with their constant monitoring.
But what you can see -- and overseas examples have demonstrated also -- when you have a highly motivated lone actor like this individual, it is incredibly tough.
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HOLMES: The prime minister has called the attacker a terrorist but says she was unable to release details such as name and immigration status. His family has 24 hours to seek a court ruling allowing for certain details to be kept from the public. Now as Western nations debate the effectiveness and timing of COVID
boosters, most of the world struggling just to administer the first dose. At least 217 countries and territories have administered more than 5 billion doses of the COVID vaccine.
But vaccine inequality continues to be a major problem. Countries across Africa and parts of the Middle East reporting some of the lowest vaccination numbers.
China kicking vaccine diplomacy into high gear and ramping up international distribution of its own COVID shot. As David Culver now reports, it's one more area where the rivalry between Washington and Beijing's is on full display.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China is feeling mounting pressure in its own back yard and now mobilizing to counter U.S. influence, trying everything from donating vaccines to flaunting its military might, to pushing propaganda.
GREGORY POLING, SENIOR FELLOW FOR SOUTHEAST ASIA, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: China's position is basically anything that its neighbors do that gets them closer to the U.S., Japan or India is bad.
CULVER (voice-over): Which explains Beijing's uneasiness with Vice President Kamala Harris' recent itinerary. She met last week with leaders in Singapore, before flying to Vietnam.
Part of her visit to Hanoi include a planned donation of 1 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. But the vide presidents scheduled flight to Vietnam was delayed over 3 hours due to health security concerns.
That gave China enough time to make its own vaccine donation, 2 million doses pledged by China's ambassador to Vietnam, twice what the U.S. promised. A seemingly strategic move by China to sway foreign policy in the region.
But this goes beyond Vietnam. The U.S. has doubled down on its efforts to show support for several of China's regional neighbors, including reinforcing commitment to U.S.' strongest Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, and reviving the Quad alliances to shore up supply chains with India, Japan and Australia.
In July, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also traveled to the Philippines to renew a key military agreement.
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POLING: The oldest ally in the Philippine, the other ally, Thailand, the increasingly important strategic partners, Singapore and Vietnam, they still can't go as far in poking Beijing in the eye as the U.S. might want them to, because China is right there.
And it is economically vital to their economies and it is necessary to maintain some sort of good relationships because of the security threat.
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CULVER (voice-over): Beijing has played up that security threat, by flexing their military muscle.
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CULVER: As naval vessels cruise through the hotly contested waters of the South China Sea, China dispatches bombers and fighter jets with nearly daily incursions into Taiwan's air defense zone. Beijing says it's about protecting its sovereignty.
And to do so, they are also using their economic powers, employing what analysts call coercive trade tactics against various countries in the region.
With the U.S. shifting its focus to the Indo-Pacific, Chinese state media is focusing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the humanitarian crisis that makes for easy propaganda. Beijing saying that Washington is an unreliable partner.
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POLING (voice-over): How the withdrawal happened has a lot of allies and partners thinking that the U.S. is dispensable. We don't have any option but to engage with the U.S. if we don't rely on China. But this doesn't look like the competent Biden administration we were all promised.
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CULVER (voice-over): For now at least, Asian leaders holding strong to their U.S. allegiance and with an increasingly powerful China on the horizon, can the U.S. maintain their regional footing? -- David Culver, CNN, Beijing.
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HOLMES: Now with the start of another pandemic school year, the U.K.'s four chief health advisers are asked to weigh in on whether to vaccinate healthy 12 to 15 year olds.
Britain's vaccine advisory board said they would not recommend it, saying the shots would only offer a marginal benefit. The British health secretary says the decision will be made shortly.
And the U.S. President Joe Biden promising to help people in Louisiana hardest hit by Hurricane Ida after surveying the damage himself on Friday. About 750,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark, fuel shortages are hampering recovery efforts.
President Biden took the opportunity to push for more infrastructure funding. While he was in the South, the Northeast is still reeling from that same storm. At least 50 there now confirmed dead. Defending champion Naomi Osaka is out of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, suffering a loss that left her near tears and saying she doesn't know when she will play her next match. She was upset in the third round by Canadian teenager Leyla Fernandez.
The Japanese star uncharacteristically lost her cool during the match after dropping a point. Osaka hit a ball into the crowd and received a code violation. She later apologized. Osaka's struggles have raised the profile of mental health issues in sports.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. Follow me on Twitter @HolmesCNN. Stay tuned now for "MARKETPLACE AFRICA."
