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Heavy Clashes between Taliban and Afghan Resistance in Panjshir Valley; Biden Visits, Vows Help for Storm-Ravaged Louisiana; Massive Cleanup Underway after Monster Storm Slams Northeast; White House May Have to Scale Back Booster Plan; U.S. Beefs Up Alliances in Rivalry with China; Former Afghan Translator and Family Start New Life in U.S.; Seven Wounded in New Zealand Supermarket Terror Attack; Judge Temporarily Blocks Texas Anti-Abortion Group from Suing Planned Parenthood; Naomi Osaka Upset by Teen Leylah Fernandez. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired September 04, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Coming up, women take to the streets of Kabul in protest. CNN takes you live to Kabul and Islamabad for the latest.
Plus, President Joe Biden gets a firsthand look at the damage from Hurricane Ida as controversy erupts over the deaths of elderly nursing home residents.
And a possible snag in the White House plan to roll out booster shots.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: Thanks for joining me this hour.
Afghanistan's new rulers have yet to declare a formal government and that has presented a small window for Afghan women to publicly demand their rights be protected.
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CURNOW (voice-over): These women are demanding the right to work and have a continued voice in the country's affairs, especially on education and health. As you can see here, even this small demonstrations was enough to provoke the Taliban to try and break it up.
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CURNOW: Meanwhile, anti-Taliban forces in the rugged Panjshir Valley are battling an incursion by Taliban fighters. The Panjshir has long been controlled by the National Resistance Front and has never been under Taliban control.
I want to take you straight to Kabul where journalist Ben Farmer is standing by. It's now 12:30 in the afternoon there. He joins us by phone.
Ben, hi. I wonder if you can talk us through about what's happening in the Panjshir Valley and what the implications of that are.
BEN FARMER, JOURNALIST: Well, there's very, very heavy fighting in the Panjshir Valley. Both sides are putting out their own story. The Taliban say they have captured parts of the valley. That's been very heavily denied by the resistance.
The resistance say there's been a counterattack and that they have killed a lot of Taliban attackers. The phones have been cut to the area, which makes trying to get hold of people there difficult.
What we've found, what we've been told by people there is there are ongoing, very heavy clashes. The valley has not fallen but there are -- there is fighting going on in the mountains around the valley and at the gates to the valley.
If the valley fell, this would be a huge symbolic importance to the Taliban. It's the only area holding out against them. And it's a valley that's played a large historic role in recent decades in Afghanistan. It's put up very stout resistance against the Soviets.
And it put up stout resistance against the Taliban's first government in the 1990s. So if it fell, it would be a very significant development.
CURNOW: There's also talk about the significance of these protests, these small protests that we're seeing on the street, by some very brave women.
What do you make of those?
FARMER: Yes. I mean, I agree with you, these women are very brave. The protests are not large. There's maybe a couple of dozen people. But they are symbolic and significant because they show that there is resistance to any sort of strictures that the Taliban may be going to impose.
And it attracts the attention of the wider world. There's areas of big fear that people will ignore Afghanistan and turn their backs on Afghanistan. And protests like this are partly aimed at the wider world. Women want the world to see that they are still here and they are still fighting for their rights.
CURNOW: And just talk us through what it's like there on the ground in Kabul at the moment, the economic situation in particular.
How are people making ends meet?
Have the banks opened?
What is the Taliban plan to get the country up and running, if, you know, if it wants to govern?
FARMER: Well, I've driven by several banks today and there are huge queues outside. The financial situation is very difficult for a lot of people. Banks were closed for a long time. I think there's a limit on how much money can be withdrawn.
People are not working. Business is drying up. There's a lot of closed shop fronts as we speak. The economic situation is going to be difficult. The Taliban are saying they're trying to get the banks open again.
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FARMER: But I think their most important strategy for the economy will be to try and get some kind of recognition and try and keep foreign aid flowing. The previous government was almost totally reliant on foreign aid.
I think three-quarters of its budget was funded by foreign aid. And the Taliban will be desperate to keep that money flowing.
CURNOW: Ben Farmer there live in Kabul. Thank you so much, Ben.
I want to take you now to our Nic Robertson, closely following the situation in Afghanistan and joins us from Islamabad.
Good to see you. I understand that senior Pakistani generals, from intelligence, as well, are in Kabul at the invitation of the Taliban.
What is the significance of these meetings?
Also, what does it tell us about the links between the Taliban and Pakistan?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, this is the most senior Pakistan official, General Faiz Hameed, he's the ISI chief, Pakistan's intelligence chief.
There is long and perhaps murky as you would expect with an intelligence organization relations with the Taliban. I don't think anyone really knows quite the depth and length, if you will, of the connections between Pakistan's intelligence service and the Taliban.
But you know, I think it's broadly understood that historically, through historical connections, there is some influence or potentially some leverage. But I think the importance of this moment is that the ISI chief is taking within a delegation of senior Pakistani officials.
He's the most senior Pakistani official to go to Kabul at a time when the Taliban seem to be at a moment of difficult decision-making over their formation of a government. I think certainly the perception here in Islamabad among officials was that, by now, the Taliban would have announced their government. It's not clear what the ISI chief is going to be talking about with
the Taliban and precisely the level and who precisely he'll meet with at this stage; we may find out more later.
But you can be sure they're going to want to understand what's going on with this process of forming a government, quite simply because, if things go wrong in Afghanistan and the international community doesn't recognize ultimately the new Taliban government in whatever shape it may be, it's Pakistan that fears it will bear the brunt of the economic hardship in Afghanistan, an outflow of refugees, at a time when they can ill afford to help them.
They're helping millions already. So I think, from Pakistan's perspective, getting a sense of what's actually happening in Kabul with the Taliban at the moment, more than two weeks in power and still not a government, you know, I think that's the crux of it.
CURNOW: So that was going to be my next question, sort of what next?
Particularly, how does the international community navigate this new alignment in Afghanistan?
It's still unclear, there's still so much uncertainty.
The big question is what next?
What do you expect?
ROBERTSON: What we keep hearing from U.S., British officials and other European leaders is, look, we're not going to automatically recognize the Taliban government. It's just not going to happen that way. We recognize states but not the government. We'll look at the government.
The government and the formation of it and what level do they give to non-Taliban members, because they said it would be inclusive, what kind of influence and positions the non-Taliban members have and who are those non-Taliban members, that's going to be a significant read.
But I think, first and foremost, the international community has said, you know, we want the safe passage of our remaining nationals who want to leave. And anyone who worked for us, that we're going to give visas to, to come to our countries, we want them to have safe passage to get out of Kabul.
So these are going to be the first two tests. I think that opens the door to what next. If this is a sort of government that the international community thinks is inclusive enough, does represent a broad enough spectrum of Afghan interests, can lead to a stable and secure Afghanistan, if that's the perception, then you can potentially begin to see, you know, some diplomatic dialogue that will ultimately lead to some of the sort of development projects in the country and the financial connections of the country that the Taliban so desperately need.
The other side of that coin is, if the government doesn't look palatable to the West, organizations like the G7 are not going to give the Taliban government a stamp of approval, which means the IMF, the International Monetary Fund, won't up its lending to the Taliban. And that's a big problem.
CURNOW: It certainly is. Nic Robertson, good to see you there live in Islamabad, thank you, Nic.
Coming up this hour, how some Afghans are adjusting to new lives in the United States and how some American veterans are helping them.
Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden says help is on the way to Louisiana after Hurricane Ida pummeled the region. Mr. Biden saw the damage firsthand on Friday while touring communities ravaged by the storm.
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CURNOW: He emphasized the need to fund climate-resilient infrastructure and promised hardhit communities that they do have his support.
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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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CURNOW: Well, the state faces a long, long road to recovery, with some areas still underwater, as you can see here. More than 700,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark. And fuel shortages are hampering recovery efforts.
Well, Louisiana officials have launched an investigation into the deaths of several nursing home residents. The state's attorney general says hundreds of residents were evacuated ahead of the hurricane to a warehouse. Brian Todd has the details on this. Brian?
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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.
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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CURNOW: Brian Todd, thanks for that.
Now in the northeast of the U.S., at least 50 people are confirmed dead after the remnants of that hurricane unleashed catastrophic flooding across the region. Communities now face the daunting task of building, rebuilding and cleaning up what they lost. So Pete Muntean has a close look at the recovery efforts underway. Pete?
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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.
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SPILLER: 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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CURNOW: And just ahead on CNN, the White House wants to get COVID booster shots into people's arms starting this month. But that may not happen. We'll show you why.
Plus, how vaccine diplomacy has turned into another arena of competition between China and the U.S. Details ahead.
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CURNOW: Welcome back. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Even as vaccination numbers in the U.S. slowly increase, COVID cases continue to spread driving up hospitalizations. And as you can see, all that red and orange on the map there, the case surges are certainly hitting children in states with lower vaccination rates especially hard.
Now new CDC research indicates the rate of hospitalization for unvaccinated teens is 10 times higher than for those who are vaccinated. The data also shows hospitalizations are highest among kids under 4 and in teens between 12 and 17.
Now a White House source tells CNN that the Biden administration may have to scale back its ambitious booster plan. It was slated to roll out in less than three weeks' time. Now it may only include one vaccine, as Athena Jones explains. Athena?
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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.
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CURNOW: Meanwhile, the U.S. and China both have been using vaccines to win friends and gain advantage on the international stage. David Culver shows us how it turned into a high-stakes competition.
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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.
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CULVER (voice-over): 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.
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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CURNOW: For thousands of Afghan evacuees that have made it safely to the United States, coming up, we'll hear from one translator who's starting his new life in America but is terrified for the family he left behind. We have that story.
And new information on a terror attack at a New Zealand supermarket. What we're learning about the suspect just ahead.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to all of our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It's 30 minutes past the hour. I'm Robyn Curnow live in Atlanta.
So in Afghanistan, the Taliban are pressing their military offensive into the mountainous Panjshir Valley north of Kabul. Heavy fighting was reported between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front, a coalition of Afghan fighters long opposed to the Taliban.
Panjshir has been a stronghold of this Afghan resistance for decades. It's the only piece of the country that the Taliban have never controlled.
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CURNOW (voice-over): That was celebratory gunfire in Kabul after the Taliban claimed to have seized the Panjshir but the resistance denies it's been defeated.
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CURNOW: The U.S. President 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.
We're hearing from some, as Brynn Gingras sat down with a former Afghan translator, starting his new life in America. He's also worried about 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. 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 (voice-over): In the meantime, he and his wife are starting over with help from a resettlement agency, Journey's End Refugee Services.
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GINGRAS (voice-over): 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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CURNOW: Brynn, thanks for that.
So the Pentagon says more than 25,000 Afghan evacuees are currently being housed at several military bases across the U.S., including Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin. The state is working with a veteran aid organization called Team Rubicon to help provide necessities for those who fled with little or nothing.
We are with Art delaCruz, the CEO of Team Rubicon, and has more for us from Los Angeles.
Art, hi, good to see you. We just saw one of those evacuees who came with three backpacks.
How great is the need of people who made it here already?
ART DELACRUZ, CEO, TEAM RUBICON: Yes, I think that story is pretty common and frankly, three bags is probably on the high side of having material goods with you. So the needs are great; basic necessities, everything from clothing to footwear, undergarments, then just the basic needs are all things that are very, very real at Ft. McCoy right now.
CURNOW: So you have been helping to distribute and to also organize a lot of these donations.
Has there been a lot of goodwill, have people been giving?
DELACRUZ: Yes. It's been an incredible support from the community. And locally inside of Ft. McCoy, in the surrounding area, people have been dropping off materials that have been asked for. They understand the necessities.
We've been able to put out a list of goods that we desire to have. Additionally this Monday in Chicago, the city has an opportunity to donate goods. And they'll be transported to Ft. McCoy for all of these Afghans.
CURNOW: And just give us some more details. You say footwear and underwear and basic clothes.
What else is needed?
DELACRUZ: I think those basic necessities up front, you know, clothing especially, modest clothing, culturally appropriate. It is really, really important. Additionally for babies, there's continuing needs -- diapers, formula, all of the basic necessities continue to be present and required.
And I'm sure that list will continue to evolve. Obviously in a place like Wisconsin, the weather's going to change and they'll continue to have additional needs.
CURNOW: This is a veteran aid organization that you head up.
How much support have you had from veterans wanting to help, particularly veterans who -- who fought in Afghanistan?
DELACRUZ: Yes, I think for -- especially for Afghan veterans that fought in Afghanistan, there's an immediate connection. You know, they want to reconnect. They want to be able to be a part of the solution.
I think this has been ongoing for weeks, as we've watched the news, you know, unfold in front of us. People have wanted to find a way they could have impact. This is certainly one. So there has been a tremendous outpouring of support from Afghan military veterans that have served over there.
CURNOW: And what kind of feedback are you getting from evacuees?
DELACRUZ: You know, haven't had any direct feedback from them. But I think that last guest kind of articulated what they've done. There's a sense of relief that they escaped and there's trepidation for those they left behind.
And I think there's also anticipation of what their lives are going to be like as they move forward. Certainly we can control some of that. And I think this is where this welcome effort and making sure they have what they need to start their resettlement properly is an important piece that we can play.
CURNOW: Art delaCruz. Appreciate you joining us. Thanks for all the work that you and your team has been doing.
And you can learn more about Team Rubicon and their efforts by visiting their website at teamrubiconusa.com.
So coming up on CNN, new details on Friday's terror attack in New Zealand. A live report just ahead.
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CURNOW: I want to bring you some new details on Friday's terror attack in New Zealand.
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CURNOW (voice-over): I want to show you this panicky scene on Friday in a market near Auckland when a man grabbed a knife and went on a stabbing rampage. Police shot and killed him. The number of victims has been updated to seven wounded, five people still in hospital, three are in a critical condition.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW: For more let's go to Selina Wang in Tokyo.
What more do we know about this attacker?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we learned from the prime minister today during her press conference that the attacker was actually released from prison in July after they took every legal measure they could to keep him in custody.
Now his identity cannot be revealed because of suppression orders. But we know that he was a Sri Lankan national, that he had spent three years in prison and he was initially arrested in 2016 in the Auckland airport.
Now the prime minister has said that, after he was released, he was under intense police surveillance, requiring up to 30 police officers at any one time, because of those concerns of his violent and extremist views. Take a look at what else the prime minister had to say.
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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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WANG: The police said they were monitoring the man as closely as possible without being detected on Friday, when he went into that supermarket, and that he took the knife and stabbed shoppers before the police shot and killed him.
But police said that the fact that they reacted within 60 seconds showed that they did everything they could have within the law.
Now New Zealand, of course, has been on high alert for attacks since the 2019 Christchurch attacks in two mosques by a white supremacist gunman. And Ardern emphasized this recent attack was carried out by an individual, not by a culture, not by a faith, not by an ethnicity. 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: Last month the government had discussed strengthening the country's counterterrorism laws and that would make it illegal to plan a terror attack, whether or not it was actually carried out and Ardern said that she is vowing to get that law passed as soon as possible -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Selina Wang, thank you so much for that update there. Thank you.
So coming up on CNN, California's recall election is approaching fast. We'll look at whether some voters who helped to re-elect Gavin Newsom will decide to stay home this time.
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CURNOW: Opponents of a controversial Texas anti-abortion law won a small victory on Friday.
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CURNOW: A Texas district judge issued a temporary restraining order that bars the group Texas right to life from suing Planned Parenthood providers in the state. The law bans abortions after only six weeks and is the most restrictive in the nation. It also allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps a pregnant person seeking the procedure.
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NANCY NORTHRUP, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: What Texas has done is to off-load, you know, its responsibilities to protect the Constitution and empower individuals to be bounty hunters.
The $10,000 is a minimum. A court could impose more fees but also attorneys' fees on the people who are sued. And this was not going to be limited to abortion for the court to hold it up. It means that any constitutional individual right could be on the chopping block.
Texas could deny people the right to vote and say, but we're just going to empower private individuals to do this, or the right of kids to get education, a whole host of individual rights.
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CURNOW: Planned Parenthood said in a statement that it is, quote, "relieved" that the court acted quickly to grant the restraining order.
And 10 days from now, Californians head to the polls to decide whether to keep Governor Gavin Newsom in office or to kick him out. The Democrat is facing a recall election. As CNN's Kyung Lah reports, he's having a hard time engaging with a key demographic who helped put him in office.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gary Montana's day as a maintenance technician is so jammed, he doesn't have time to care about the upcoming California recall election. A registered independent, he carries one overriding feeling about Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
GARY MONTANA, CALIFORNIA REGISTERED INDEPENDENT VOTER: It's just that lack of -- I don't think he really understood, like the average person voted you in.
LAH (voice-over): He is most upset about Newsom dining at an exclusive restaurant in the middle of the pandemic while he worked.
It is in California's Latino communities where COVID's impact was felt the most; everyone in Montana's family got COVID.
MONTANA: I just saw a lack of leadership skills. Like, that was, to me, was like, OK. And that's what, when I thought we needed to recall the governor.
LAH (voice-over): Latinos make up an estimated 30 percent of California's voters.
KEVIN DE LEON (D), COUNCILMAN, LOS ANGELES: All roads to victory come September 14th are going to lead through every Latino neighborhood in the state of California, am I right?
LAH (voice-over): Key in whether Governor Newsom keeps his job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for your help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
LAH (voice-over): Why Democrats are blanketing Spanish language media with ads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
LAH (voice-over): As are the Republican challengers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Spanish).
LAH (voice-over): With less than two weeks to go to Recall Election Day, the drive is getting the base out to vote. Progressives have been knocking on doors through this central Los Angeles neighborhoods while some say this --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you heard about the recall? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I have not.
LAH (voice-over): And there is frustration over the governor's economic policies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are recalling Governor Newsom, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we don't want that bully (ph) there.
LAH (voice-over): Most in this predominantly Latino community say they'll vote no on recalling Newsom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will vote no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most likely we'd say keep him in office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could end up with something worse, something like Donald Trump.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Thank you, California.
LAH (voice-over): In 2018, 64 percent of Latinos voted for Newsom, part of a resounding victory, sending the Democrats to the governor's mansion. While the most recent recall poll shows Latinos support keeping Newsom, there are questions about whether those voters will even cast a ballot.
LUIS ALVARADO, CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Sometimes we show up and sometimes we just don't. It depends on what the issue is and sometimes we are the ones who can change the whole paradigm. And sometimes we just don't show up and everybody wonders what happened.
LAH (voice-over): One frustrated independent feels so disconnected, he is considering voting Republican.
MONTANA: Yes, I would rather see someone more in touch with the people.
LAH: Montana and the other voters we met in the story, none of them had actually turned in their ballots yet. That is something important to watch.
Now the governor will get some help trying to rally those voters. In addition to other Democrats in the state with some national figures, senators Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, both will be in Los Angeles this weekend, standing beside Governor Newsom, hoping to energize that Democratic base -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CURNOW: And finally, 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 Leylah Fernandez, falling in three sets. Osaka lost her cool during the match when she dropped a point and hit
a ball into the crowd.
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CURNOW: 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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CURNOW: 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.
You're watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. You can follow me on Twitter and on Instagram. The news continues.
