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Heavy Clashes between Taliban and Afghan Resistance in Panjshir Valley; Former Afghan Translator and Family Start New Life in U.S.; Louisiana Nursing Home under Investigation for Resident Deaths; Seven Wounded in New Zealand Supermarket Terror Attack; Medical Expert Says the Reality is a Three Dose Vaccine; Afghan Women Defy Taliban to Protest for Their Rights; Massive Cleanup Underway after Monster Storm Slams Northeast; Delta Variant Puts a Dent in Jobs Recovery. Aired 2- 3a ET

Aired September 04, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Appreciate your company. I'm Michael Holmes.

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (voice-over): Women on the streets of Afghanistan risking their lives and demanding their voices be heard in the country's new government.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Getting a firsthand look, the U.S. President surveys the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Ida.

And Naomi Osaka contemplates taking another break from tennis after a stunning loss at the U.S. Open.

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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.

Afghanistan's new rulers have yet to set up a formal government. And that has presented a small window for Afghan women to publicly demand their rights be protected.

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HOLMES (voice-over): But as you can see here, even the small demonstration was enough to provoke the Taliban to break it up. The protesters demanding that the women be allowed to work, even as many women have already been forced by the militants to leave their jobs.

They also insist on having a continued voice in the country's affairs, especially on education and health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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HOLMES (voice-over): Meanwhile, that celebratory gunfire that broke out in Kabul, after the Taliban claim to have seized the rugged Panjshir Valley north of the capital. Resistance fighters who have held that valley for decades deny the Taliban claim.

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HOLMES: CNN's Nic Robertson is following all of this for us from in Islamabad.

Good to see you, Nic.

First of all, what do we know about this continued resistance in the Panjshir Valley and what that fight means in the broader picture?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Strategically, the Panjshir Valley has always been very difficult to defeat if you're an invading force. And right now, the Taliban are the invading force. Um, they are doing -- sort of using the normal tactics that they have used, which is lay siege to a place.

People inside the Panjshir Valley say the phone networks have been cut off. The power's been cut off. Um, they can't get fuel into the valley because the -- the Taliban are controlling the entrances to the valley.

What the Taliban are doing -- and the videos that they are releasing, which are part of what -- how they claim they are making gains in that valley -- seem to show them on some of the mountaintop heights, which are the key strategic areas to take to get into this Panjshir Valley.

So the Taliban say they are attacking from multiple directions around the valley. We know that Ahmad Massoud, the commander of the forces in that valley, has said he won't give up the fight, that he will fight to the death.

We know the former vice president is in that valley as well, Amrullah Saleh. He released sort of a short video statement yesterday. You have to -- when you look at this video, you have to say, this is a guy who sort of, you know, aged visibly over the last few weeks.

He -- he definitely looks -- um -- not as -- not as strong and robust as he looked several weeks ago when he was forced to sort of flee from power. But he also holding out there, also being very defiant.

The National Resistance Front, who are the resistance in Panjshir Valley -- um -- say that they are continuing to fight, that they can continue -- that they can hold out but that -- but at the moment, it does seem as if the sort of initiative is with the Taliban.

Both sides say they haven't been able to agree at sort of a peaceful resolution. This is a battle, I think, Michael, that's going to play out over -- over -- over several weeks.

HOLMES: Yes. A significant part of the country. Nic Robertson in Islamabad, appreciate it. Thanks, Nic.

President Biden has tapped former Delaware governor Jack Markell to lead the administration's Afghan resettlement efforts. More than 40,000 evacuees, including Afghan refugees, have already been admitted into the U.S.

Well now, we're hearing from one of them. CNN's Brynn Gingras sat down with a former Afghan translator starting his new life in America and worried for the family he left behind.

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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the first day of a new life for Zubair and Shabano (ph). This tiny one-bedroom apartment in Buffalo, New York, is their new home.

ZUBAIR, FORMER U.S. TRANSLATOR: I can't believe that I'm here in the United States.

[02:05:00]

ZUBAIR: Sometimes I'm telling to my wife, I'm not sleep. She says no, now you wake up.

GINGRAS (voice-over): It was one week away from when Zubair was living a nightmare in Afghanistan.

ZUBAIR: It was really bad. We are stuck at home. One minute is like one day.

GINGRAS (voice-over): The former translator worked alongside U.S. forces for four years. He applied for a special immigrant visa more than two years ago. Zubair was one of the lucky ones. It was granted, just two days before the Taliban overtook Kabul.

But Zubair needed to get his family to the airport. He and his father both worked with the U.S. government and they knew if they stay in Kabul, their lives would be in danger. Zubair was getting text messages from friends also trying to escape.

ZUBAIR: Says it's like horror movie. He says that Taliban are like zombies.

GINGRAS: What were you thinking watching this?

ZUBAIR: I thought I can't get out of Kabul.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Zubair says he was on his own. With visa in hand, he spent days trying to get himself and his family past the Taliban, with no help from the Americans, he says.

ZUBAIR: The Taliban was behaving very bad. Most of them were beating people. I was seeing this, I caught gate inside the Kabul airport. GINGRAS: But his father...

ZUBAIR: I leave him at the gate, the last think -- I couldn't talk with him, because I was intending to leave Afghanistan.

GINGRAS: So, you didn't get to say goodbye?

ZUBAIR: No.

GINGRAS (voice-over): The couple fled with just these three bags, leaving everything else behind -- family, friends and former co- workers.

"Z," a fellow translator, says he was days away from getting his visa when the Taliban took over. He's still stuck in Kabul. He asked we not disclose his name or show his face for his safety.

"Z," FORMER U.S. TRANSLATOR: People like me, there are a lot of people like me who was working with the same company. We all left behind. So, we're currently, we are -- we're receiving the threats, my family and my life is really in great danger.

GINGRAS (voice-over): His plea to the U.S. government:

"Z": My message to Mr. President Joe Biden is don't leave us behind.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Zubair calls friends of his left behind daily. He says his mom is too heartbroken to speak with him, but he keeps hope.

ZUBAIR: I have hope that, one day, there will be, today in America, I see him here alive.

GINGRAS: In the meantime, he and his wife are starting over with help from a resettlement agency, Journey's End Refugee Services, which expects to assist many more Afghan families in the coming months.

The couple says they feel safe here, they can finally sleep and dream about what lies ahead.

ZUBAIR: The feeling that I will start everything again, it looks like a mountain, very high mountain. Now I am looking how I can climb this mountain. I shall find a way.

GINGRAS: And we didn't disclose the last name of the couple for the safety of their family in Afghanistan. Their families, just like Zubair's former co-worker, says they feel like sitting ducks right now.

They say everyone knew they worked with the United States; their community, their neighbors. And so, their lives are at great risk. Secretary of State Blinken said on Monday that the U.S. is committed to getting these vulnerable Afghans out of the country.

But for these families, the big question is, who is going to come for them first, the Americans or the Taliban? -- Brynn Gingras in New York, CNN.

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HOLMES: U.S. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, vowing to support Louisiana communities hit hard by Hurricane Ida after surveying the damage, himself, on Friday. About 750,000 homes and businesses in the state are still without electricity, nearly a week after the storm made landfall. And fuel shortages are hampering recovery efforts.

At least 13 people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi. As the region starts to rebuild, Mr. Biden promising to provide help as needed.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're in this together. And so, we're not going to leave any community behind, rural, city, coastal, inland. And I promise we're going to have your backs until this thing gets done.

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HOLMES: Louisiana officials have launched an investigation, meanwhile, into the deaths of several nursing home residents. The state's attorney general says hundreds of residents were evacuated ahead of Hurricane Ida to a warehouse. CNN's Brian Todd with the details.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wheelchairs and hospital curtains scatter the site of this remote warehouse where four nursing home residents died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a nightmare. It's a nightmare.

TODD (voice-over): Local leaders now looking for answers for what went wrong.

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ROBBY MILLER, PRESIDENT, TANGIPAHOA PARISH, LOUISIANA: That nursing homeowner should be held accountable. As far as an investigation, we understand there is one.

TODD (voice-over): The warehouse at Independence, Louisiana, served as a temporary evacuation facility for more than 800 patients from seven area nursing homes. The conditions inside were appalling.

MILLER: Crowding, mattresses on floors instead of beds, Porta-Potties instead of bathrooms and probably not enough of them. It is just things that none of us would want our family members to go through.

TODD (voice-over): And according to one patient who was inside, insects were crawling all over the mattresses. The Independence police chief says the facility was prepared for a certain number of residents, but the number nearly tripled quickly. CHIEF FRANK EDWARDS III, INDEPENDENCE, LOUISIANA, POLICE: Well, I believe that the corporate management planned for 350. For whatever reason, they sent in 850. And where they failed was in not proactively seeking to move those patients to appropriate facilities.

TODD (voice-over): Renato de Rosas' (ph) 84-year-old mother made it out, but she suffered for several days with a 103 degree fever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could tell she was upset but at least I knew she was alive. And if we would have known it would have been a place like this, I would have took her with me.

TODD (voice-over): With no power, generators required to provide patients oxygen failed and the heat was oppressive. The state says the health department tried to intervene Tuesday when they heard about the deteriorating conditions.

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D-LA): LDH inspectors visited the site and, I will tell you, were expelled from the property and prevented from conducting a full assessment.

TODD: CNN obtained property records showing Bob Dean owns all seven of the nursing homes, plus the warehouse. Dean has a history of poor disaster management. A local investigation from nola.com found he made a similar plan to evacuate residents to a warehouse during Hurricane George in 1998.

MILLER: I would hope that his license for nursing homes is revoked, the outcome that he doesn't get to do this again.

TODD (voice-over): The governor committed to a full investigation, a promise relatives will not let them forget.

SABRINA COX, NIECE OF NURSING HOME RESIDENT: Why didn't you contact anybody for help, let somebody know what was going on, contact one person?

But people shouldn't be treated like that. You should be held accountable.

TODD: We reached out several times to Bob Dean, the owner of the nursing homes and this warehouse facility, for comment and any explanation for what happened here. He didn't respond to us.

But he did tell CNN affiliate WVUE, quote, "We did really good with taking care of people." -- Brian Todd, CNN, independence, Louisiana.

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HOLMES: Going to take a quick break. When we come back here on CNN NEWSROOM, the Biden administration's plan to roll out vaccine boosters might have hit a snag. After the break, we'll find out why some people might have to wait even longer.

Also, new information on that terror attack at a New Zealand supermarket. What we're learning about the suspect, after the break. (MUSIC PLAYING)

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HOLMES: Welcome back. We want to bring you some new details now on Friday's terror attack in New Zealand. The number of victims has been updated to seven wounded following the knife attack on Friday at a supermarket in an Auckland suburb. Five people still in the hospital and three are in critical condition.

At a news conference, prime minister Jacinda Ardern commended the quick action of police and explained the difficulty in monitoring the attacker, who was well known for his extremist views.

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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: For more, let's bring in CNN's Selina Wang joining me now from Tokyo.

So Selina, tell us more about what we learned about what happened and the man who carried this out. And a lot of questions about why he was even on the streets.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Michael. We learned from the prime minister press conference that the alleged terrorist was released from prison in July after every legal avenue was taken, she said, to keep him in custody.

The attacker was a Sri Lankan national. The identity of the man cannot be revealed because of suppression orders. He had spent three years in jail, up until that point. He had been initially arrested at the Auckland airport back in 2016.

But the prime minister said that, after he was released, he was under constant surveillance, requiring up to 30 police officers at any one time because of concerns about his violent and extremist views.

Now police said that they were monitoring this man as closely as possible on the day, on Friday, when he went into that supermarket, as closely as they could have, without being detected. Police said that the attacker took a knife from the supermarket shelf

and started attacking shoppers before the police shot and killed the man. Now the police commissioner said that they did everything they could have within the law. And the fact that they reacted within 60 seconds shows that fact.

Now, Michael, of course, New Zealand has been under high alert for attacks since that white supremacist carried out the attacks in 2019 on two mosques in Christchurch. Ardern has emphasized that this attack was carried out by an individual, not a culture, not an ethnicity. Take a listen to how she ended her statements today.

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ARDERN: The last thought I will leave is from the imam of Al Noor Mosque, who knows the impact of terrorism better than anyone.

He said, and I quote, "All terrorists are the same, regardless of their ideology. They stand for hate. We stand for peace and love. We have it within our powers to ensure the actions of an individual do not create a knock-on of hate, judgment and vitriol."

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WANG: And, Michael, last month, the government had discussed strengthening counterterrorism laws to make it illegal to plan a terror attack, whether or not it is carried out. Ardern vowed today to get that law passed as soon as possible. Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Selina, thanks. Selina Wang there in Tokyo for us.

Now a White House source telling CNN that the Biden administration might have to scale back its ambitious booster plan. It was slated to roll out in a little less than three weeks. But now, it might include only one vaccine. CNN's Athena Jones with the details.

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ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Confusion and possible scaling back of the White House's COVID-19 booster plan for September, less than a day after Dr. Anthony Fauci said --

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I would not at all be surprised that the adequate full regimen for vaccination will likely be three doses.

JONES (voice-over): As the Delta variant drives new COVID cases in the U.S. to nearly 170,000 a day on average, new data shows a third, so- called booster dose of the COVID mRNA vaccine provides more protection against the virus.

FAUCI: There is no doubt from the dramatic data from the Israeli study that the boosts that are being now done there and contemplated here support very strongly the rationale for such an approach. JONES (voice-over): In making the case for boosters, Fauci explaining,

Israeli data shows they reduce the risk of infection by elevenfold and of severe illness by tenfold in more than a million people over 60.

Another study showed the risk of infection fell up to 68 percent 7 to 13 days after a third dose and by as much as 84 percent after 14 to 20 days. President Joe Biden announced in late August:

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This booster program is going to start here on September the 20th, pending approval of the FDA and the CDC committee with outside experts.

JONES (voice-over): But federal health officials now warning the White House they may not have strong enough data on the Moderna vaccine by then to recommend boosters for anyone other than Pfizer BioNTech vaccine recipients.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, FDA VACCINES ADVISORY COMMITTEE: You can't make an announcement and then say we'll wait to say what the FDA and CDC says. That's just really not the right way to do it.

JONES (voice-over): The acting FDA commissioner explaining why the booster announcement was made before all the data came in.

DR. JANET WOODCOCK, FDA ACTING COMMISSIONER: When it happens, we don't want to have a couple more months, where we have to get ready and make a plan and then execute against the plan.

JONES: And Moderna announced Friday it finished submitting its data on booster doses to the FDA. So it's unclear if that data will be sufficient enough to allow the FDA to reach a decision on whether to OK Moderna's vaccine boosters by September 20th -- Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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HOLMES: Anne Rimoin is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She joins me now from Los Angeles.

Good to see you. Um, I -- just among my own circle of people, there is confusion about boosters. I think it's because it seems, every other day, there is a report we need them. Then, another saying, we don't need them. And then, another one saying, we will, eventually.

What's your read on the data?

ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGY PROFESSOR, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Well, Michael, I think that there is a lot of confusion because there's so much data that is emerging right now. And the messaging is a little bit confusing.

So what we know is that we're seeing from several studies and in particular studies from Israel, that -- that we're seeing antibodies decrease over time. And infections becoming more common. In particular, in older individuals who are having more severe disease.

And that is a real indication of -- of having waning immunity. That the immunity to the virus is now decreasing over time. And -- and that's something that we had always said was a possibility. That we were giving two doses, a few weeks apart. And that there may be a need for a booster when we would start to see more cases coming over time.

So -- so, I think that that's the real key here that we've seen evidence of waning immunity, in particular with the Pfizer vaccine in Israel. And -- and that's where this impetus to start boosting looking at countries that are ahead of us.

HOLMES: So what would you say to -- to people who -- um -- have two doses, so far and no booster?

What do you tell them if there's efficacy concerns?

RIMOIN: Well, what -- what -- I think there are a couple of pieces to -- to unpack here. The first thing is that we are talking about this as boosters. But really -- um -- what we're talking about, in reality, is having a three-dose vaccine.

[02:25:00]

RIMOIN: And -- and this is because we -- we're starting to see the need for -- for a way to be able to keep these antibodies up. To be able to -- to really get a boost of neutralizing antibodies. And this third dose is very likely going to provide longer-term immunity.

We don't know for sure because this is still all, you know, ongoing. We're still learning about it but that's very likely. And that is what we see, for example, with the hepatitis vaccine.

And -- and so, it's very likely that this is just a third dose to be able to boost your immune system. In terms of efficacy, these vaccines are all doing an excellent job of reducing severe disease, hospitalization and death.

We have to remember, you look at those numbers, who is being hospitalized?

Who is dying?

The vast majority of those people are unvaccinated. It is very, very rare for somebody who is vaccinated to have one of these very severe outcomes. So the vaccines are really holding up well. It's just that we're starting to see a lot of these, what we're calling, breakthrough cases. People who are fully vaccinated getting infected.

But they're not getting severely ill.

So we have to really think about what do we want these vaccines to do?

We want -- we want to keep people out of the hospital and from dying. Um, most importantly. But if we can really get ahead of this and give people boosters -- um -- or third doses to be able to prolong this kind of protection, that's a really great thing.

HOLMES: Yes. We are already -- already seeing increases in cases in kids in areas with low vaccination rates. So I mean, the -- the -- the -- the fallout from being unvaccinated, it couldn't be more clear.

So just -- just quickly, if -- if we do get these third doses, boosters, should it be with the same vaccines?

And -- and should the timing be oriented towards more of what the variants are doing, what's out there, their effect and so on?

RIMOIN: Well, I think that it -- it's really about having this -- this third dose, you know, approximately six to eight months later, that's going to provide this kind of longer-term immunity, we -- we hope.

You know, whether you get the -- the vaccine that you started with or not is really something we should be basing it -- basing on data. And right now, we don't have that data.

We know, from these Pfizer studies that we're seeing, that the third dose of that Pfizer vaccine is going to significantly increase the -- the antibodies and these neutralizing antibodies that will provide protection.

But you know, I think that these data -- these studies are ongoing. We are going to have those data. And so, whether or not you want to mix and match vaccines, you know, we can learn about that later.

But my -- my guess is, is that those -- those differences are going to be incremental. That the real benefit is just going to be having this additional dose six to eight months later.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. I guess -- I guess, the lesson is the damage done by bad messaging. Great information from you, though. Anne Rimoin, thanks for clearing things up.

RIMOIN: My pleasure. Always a pleasure to be here.

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HOLMES: Quick break. When we come back, in a defiant show of dissent, Afghan women fighting for their rights as the Taliban consolidate power.

But the future of Afghanistan and the role women will play in it?

Anyone's guess at the moment. We'll discuss, after the break.

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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Now in Afghanistan, 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 was 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.

[02:35:00]

KHPALWAK (through translator): 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Rina Amiri is an independent policy and mediation adviser and joins me now from New York. She is also a senior fellow at New York University Center for International Cooperation and a senior fellow at their Center for Global Affairs.

Great to have you on. I guess, one -- one of the achievements of the international intervention was, quite apart from girls going back to school, the return of women to the workforce, to politics, to positions of power and leadership.

And -- and we see now these brave women on the streets of Kabul, trying to maintain those gains.

Where do you see, though, the future of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban?

RINA AMIRI, INDEPENDENT POLICY AND MEDIATION ADVISER: Well, thank you very much for having me. And, yes, those images are -- are nothing short of profound. These women are coming out and challenging the Taliban with nothing but their voice under the threat of the gun (ph) and I just -- I can think of no greater courage than what these women are doing.

And they're doing it because it's not that they don't fear death but, because for them, it's death by one way or another, it's the threat of violence or the death of their dreams and everything that they thought was going to be their future.

And right now, you know, they want to be hopeful. Every Afghan that I speak to, they are both petrified, they have been -- they have witnessed a lot of brutality already or -- and intimidation.

But at the same time, they are desperately hoping that there may be some measure of reform within the Taliban. And the Taliban have indicated that they -- that they are going to provide -- this time, that they're going to be different, that they are going to allow rights for the population, including women. But there is a lot that -- to fear right now.

HOLMES: Your -- your own family fled Afghanistan when you were a child. So in a way, this -- this is personal for you, too. And I know you have spoken about what you called a profound sense of betrayal.

What -- what could the U.S. and the West, in general, have done to stop the loss of what was gained for women in Afghanistan?

Or what can they do?

AMIRI: You know, every Afghan woman that I had spoken to over the years, they were all working for peace. They all wanted an end to this conflict. They did not want a forever war to protect their -- their rights.

But they wanted a peace process in which their voice was included. They wanted a peace process that was not just an exit strategy on the part of the U.S. and a PR strategy on the part of the Taliban, which is essentially what it was.

So they feel that not only was there -- were their rights forfeited but that there was never even a real chance for peace and that would have been absolutely critical. And -- and also, even with the evacuation, you know, the -- the priorities of the U.S. and the rest of the international community were citizens and then allies.

And allies were the people that worked with these -- with the -- the embassy or with security forces, well, 80 percent of those were men. We actually sat down, we made that assessment. Those of us who are working with -- with women and human rights defenders.

And what was -- and it was left up to, largely, the philanthropic community, individuals to try to help the women and the human rights community that are fleeing.

HOLMES: Right.

AMIRI: That shouldn't have happened.

HOLMES: Right.

AMIRI: These people were at the forefront of fighting for the rights gained in the last 20 years.

HOLMES: Yes. I guess, too, it's not just the potential for the cruelty of the Taliban to return, their attitude to women in society, but that -- that -- that's a loss to the country in -- in terms of the major contributions those women make in the workforce, in politics and elsewhere.

It's -- that's a significant loss for the country, as a whole, isn't it?

AMIRI: Absolutely. It's not only a loss for Afghanistan, it's a loss for everyone. It's a loss for the region. It's a loss for the international community because the investment for the region and the U.S., international community are two things.

One is having Afghanistan become a stable country, both economically becoming more viable and in terms of security being a moderate country that is -- that -- that is inclusive.

And on both fronts, you know, there -- there is data throughout the world that shows that, when you have women's participation that, on both fronts, you succeed far better than when you have the type of regime that you have right now.

HOLMES: Rina Amiri, really appreciate your -- your perspective on this, your insights. Thanks so much.

AMIRI: Thank you very much.

[02:40:00]

HOLMES: Defending champion Naomi Osaka is out of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, suffering a loss that left her near tears. The Japanese star was frustrated in the third round by Canadian teen Leyla Fernandez, falling in three sets.

Osaka lost her cool, repeatedly; at one point, banging and throwing down her racket and also hitting a ball into the crowd. She did later apologize and spoke about her immediate future.

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NAOMI OSAKA, TWO-TIME U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: Basically, I feel like I'm kind of at this point where I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. And I honestly don't know when I'm going to play my next tennis match.

Sorry. But -- sorry. OK. Yes. But I -- I think I'm going to take a break from playing for a while. Yes.

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HOLMES: Naomi Osaka, the world number three, pulled out of the French Open, you might remember, earlier this year over anxiety and depression, raising the profile of mental health issues in sports.

I'm Michael Holmes. For our international viewers, "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" coming up next. For everyone else, I'll be back with more news after the break.

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[02:45:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING) HOLMES: Welcome back. States across the Northeast are facing a

daunting road ahead, as they begin rebuilding communities devastated by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. At least 50 people now confirmed dead after Wednesday's storm.

Torrential rains gave way to extensive flooding, leaving major highways in parts of Pennsylvania still submerged. CNN's Pete Muntean with a look at the recovery efforts underway.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cleanup across the East Coast is just beginning in cities and towns, large and small. In Center City, Philadelphia, crews are racing to clear the Vine Street Expressway. Deep water is being diverted into the slowly receding Schuylkill River, which swelled Thursday to levels not seen in two centuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The recovery process for this is going to take months.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The EF-2 tornado that swirled through Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania, killed one woman when a tree fell on her house. The twister then targeted the high school, township building, police department and Ron Copelin's neighborhood.

RON COPELIN, FT. WASHINGTON RESIDENT: It's devastating. It really is devastating to see all this. You never think it can happen to you. You never think it's going to happen in your neighborhood. But, unfortunately, there is the proof. It did.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The new numbers are becoming more gruesome. Across New York, authorities say 11 people were killed when their basement apartments turned into death traps.

MAYOR SEAN SPILLER (D-NJ), MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP: These are people's lives. These are people's homes. These are people's vehicles. These are people who have been traumatized with car rescues and -- and -- and we're literally getting people out of their homes and apartments.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Pennsylvania governor, Tom Wolf, toured the damage in the Philadelphia suburbs of Montgomery County, where officials counted 467 calls for water rescues on Wednesday night alone, more than twice the previous county-wide record.

MUNTEAN: How much of this damage do you attribute to climate change?

GOV. TOM WOLF (D-PA): Most of it. I think fewer and fewer people are climate deniers, these days. I think the more you see this kind of thing, the indiscriminate and intense nature of -- of the storms, I'm not sure how you can sit on the sidelines and say, you know, we don't need to do anything.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Ft. Washington fire chief Andy Rathfon says his childhood neighborhood was crushed by this storm of unprecedented power, now leaving an unimaginable toll. CHIEF ANDY RATHFON, FT. WASHINGTON FIRE: Just be patient. You know,

check on your neighbors. And um, you know, we're going to get through this. We're going to clean it up. We're going to rebuild. And we're going to be stronger than we were -- we were before as a result of this.

MUNTEAN: Beyond the mortal cost of the dozens of deaths associated with this storm, there will also be a massive monetary cost. Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania told me, live, on the air, it is just too soon to say officially how much all of this cleanup will cost -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania.

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[02:50:00]

HOLMES: A famous Banksy artwork up for auction again. Yes, the same one that left people shocked when it self-shredded right after being sold. We'll have that when we come back.

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HOLMES: U.S. stocks finished Friday's trading session mixed but Wall Street's main indices remain near all-time highs. The U.S. economy's summer of recovery, though, may have run out of steam.

Hiring has taken a big hit from the Delta variant and now Joe Biden admits the recovery is falling short. While unemployment dipped to 5.2 percent, just 235,000 jobs were added in August. That's nearly half a million fewer than economists had expected and the weakest number in more than half a year. The U.S. President blaming the surging virus.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no question the Delta variant is why today's job report isn't stronger. I know people were looking. And I was hoping for a higher number.

[02:55:00]

BIDEN: But next week, I'll lay out the next steps that are going to -- we're going to need to combat the Delta variant. Even with the progress we've made, we're not where we need to be in our economic recovery.

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HOLMES: And finally, one of Banksy's most notorious artworks set to go on sale once again after the first version self-destructed at auction in 2018. Renamed "Love in the Bin," from its original title "Girl with a Balloon," the piece by the anonymous street artist could fetch up to $8.3 million, six times its previous value.

This is what happened, if you forgot, the first time it went under the hammer.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

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HOLMES (voice-over): Seconds after it was sold for more than $1.4 million three years ago at Sotheby's, the artwork partially shredded itself, shocking onlookers. Now Sotheby's plans to sell it again.

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OLIVER BARKER, SOTHEBY'S EUROPEAN CHAIRMAN: Banksy exists to kind of really sort of undermine institutions and I think it's fair to say that, on that night, Sotheby's was Banksy. Obviously we had absolutely no preconception as to what was going to happen.

But we managed to have a modicum of order. We sold the picture. But then again, of course, almost overnight, this picture became just an icon.

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HOLMES: Banksy previously implied on social media that a shredder concealed in the artwork's frame had malfunctioned, keeping the work from falling like scraps to the floor. It's unclear whether this was all a stunt, though.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.