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Tractors Clear Vacated Parts of Del Rio Migrant Camp; U.S. Envoy to Haiti Quits Over 'Inhumane' Deportations; U.S.-French Tensions Cool as Top Diplomats Meet at U.N.; Climate Crisis Emerges as Key Issue Among German Voters; White House Foreign Policy Focused on Countering China; Australia's Key Role in Opposing Chinese Aggression; Haqqani: Women's Rights an 'Excuse' to Damage Afghanistan's Political System; China's Billionaire Actress Erased from Internet. Aired 12- 12:45a ET

Aired September 24, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause.

[00:00:25]

Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. After promising to undo the national shame of the past administration's approach to immigration, the Biden administration has resulted to some of the most aggressive, Trump-era tactics to clear thousands of asylum seekers to a makeshift camp on the southern border.

Making up is hard to do, but France and the United States are now talking it out. It could be a while ago, though, before France and Australia make amends. Emmanuel Macron is refusing to take calls from the Australian prime minister.

And Germany prepares for the end of Angela Merkel's steady, reliable, consistent leadership. But the frontrunners to replace her are promising more of the same.

Much like his recent predecessors, the U.S. president, Joe Biden, is now facing an immigration crisis on the southern border. And his administration's response has left many outraged, especially after he campaigned on a more humane policy with respect for human dignity.

In recent days, there's been a steady increased flow of human traffic, mostly Haitians, trying to reach the United States. This was the scene on Thursday. Mothers, carrying toddlers, children, others, all wading slowly across the Rio Grande River which marks the border between Mexico and the United States.

At one point, law enforcement on the Mexico side formed a human chain to try and prevent access to the river.

On the other's side of the border, the United States has now deported more than 1,400 migrants, flying them directly back to Haiti, while tractors cleared part of a huge camp under the Del Rio International Bridge, where more than 3,000 migrants are still living.

U.S. Democrats are fuming, and the Biden administration envoy to Haiti, has quit in protest. CNN's Melissa Bell begins our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A scathing letter of rebuke to the U.S. government and a high-level resignation. The American special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, leaving his post in protest, telling the secretary of state, Antony Blinken on Wednesday, that he will, quote, "not be associated with the United States' inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees from the U.S.-Mexico border."

It comes as chaos intensifies at the Port-au-Prince Airport. Migrants, arriving in droves from encampments at the U.S. border with Mexico. They were deported, en masse, back to Haiti by the American government.

Many longed for a better life in the U.S., desperate to escape devastating poverty, political unrest, and escalating gang violence in the Haitian capital.

The former U.S. envoy describing the situation as so dangerous that American officials in Haiti are confined to compounds.

But these Haitian citizens have nowhere to hide, forced to return to the homeland they were trying so hard to escape.

(on camera): Those words by the U.S. special envoy about the grinding poverty, the endemic violence, and the lack of basic resources here in Haiti, also reflected the assessment made by the Department of Homeland Security in the spring, when it decided to accord special protected person status to those Haitians already in the United States.

And yet, the Haitians being returned at the moment here in their hundreds every day haven't even been given the chance of applying for asylum.

(voice-over) Many return after a treacherous, sometimes deadly journey, winding through South and Central America, some crossing nearly a dozen countries, en route to the U.S.

Some of those we spoke to tell us once at the border, U.S. officials treated them more like inmates than exhausted refugees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When we got to the U.S., they closed all the access points. And we could not go to buy food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When we arrived in the U.S., the authorities put us on a bus and sent us to jail and said we would be leaving in two days. They put chains on our feet, around our stomachs, and our hands. They put us in cars and took us to the airport.

BELL: Some deportees tell us they didn't know where they were being taken when U.S. authorities ushered them onto a plane. It wasn't until landing back in Haiti that they discovered it was a return to where they'd started. A seemingly tragic end to a long and desperate journey it appears was all for naught.

[0005:03]

Melissa Bell, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Yael Schacher is a senior U.S. advocate at Refugees International, focusing on asylum, as well as the rights of refugees. Yael, thank you for being with us.

YAEL SCHACHER, SENIOR U.S. ADVOCATE, REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL: Thanks so much for having me.

VAUSE: The secretary for homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, he did the rounds on cable news Thursday. Had a fairly consistent message about why, and how, mass deportations were taking place on the southern border. Here's part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: This country, and the world, is in the midst of a pandemic. We are exercising that authority, as we are required to do, to protect the health and well- being of the migrants themselves, Our personnel, local communities, and the American public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So he's talking about the use of Title 42, a Trump-era public health order. It was controversial when it was enacted. And last week, a federal court ruled it did not authorize mass expulsions. That ruling should actually take effect, I think, about four days from now.

That statement from the secretary is misleading and seems to be deliberately so.

SCHACHER: That's right. And what the court really found is what many people in the advocacy community have been saying, public health experts have been saying. It's two things.

One, that the expulsion power that the administration is using, invoking this public health statute, is not -- does not really give the administration the power to expel. It may give the administration the power to quarantine, or to take some mitigating measures at the border to test people, to vaccinate, but it doesn't let the administration expel en masse.

And the other thing that the court said was that there are other public health measures that can be taken to sort of process people in the border in a way that would actually uphold our other obligations under our own law, under international law, under international refugee law and our laws on refugees that require that. When people come seeking protection at the border, you accord them a chance to ask for asylum and to process them.

VAUSE: And we heard from the White House on Thursday what we say is, I guess, the official change in border control. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can also convey to you that the secretary also conveyed to civil rights leaders earlier this morning that we would no longer be using horses in Del Rio. So that is something, a policy change that has been made in response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The horses aren't the problem.

SCHACHER: No. And so, the issue is, is that the -- the Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol, historically, there's been -- this is the sort of pattern of egregious treatment of people seeking asylum at the border.

This is not the first time. You know, the use of sort of, you know, a horse whip, and horses to sort of corral migrants is not -- is certainly a problem. It's really horrifying. But it's not the only tool that the Border Patrol uses and that has sort of been used. There's not a lot of oversight over the Border Patrol, in terms of how they treat migrants.

And especially asylum seekers. There's been historically a pattern of, when people come to the border to ask for asylum, there is this, you know, line. We don't give asylum anymore, or, you couldn't possibly be an asylum seeker, given the country that you're coming from, or you can -- you're basically not really believing and not really channeling asylum seekers into the, you know, asylum seeking process that we have under our laws. And that, you know, the detention standards in CBP custody have been a problem, a long-standing problem.

VAUSE: Well, after just two months in the job, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti has resigned in outrage over the way the Biden ministration has dealt with this crisis.

Here's part of the resignation: "I will not be associated with the United States' inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs in control of daily life."

Just to be clear, the Haitians applying for asylum really haven't broken any law. They have every right, under international law, to do what they're doing. If they cross the border illegally, it's a misdemeanor.

And this seems to be an especially harsh way to deal with one particular group of people, of asylum seekers. Does this eventually become sort of mainstream policy, if you like?

SCHACHER: What we see, historically, with Haitians is that this has sort of been the group that attracts a certain policy or attracts to the most -- the harshest or most extreme policy that then kind of gets generalized by another group. That happened in the 1980s when Haitians were sort of the first group

to be interdicted -- intercepted on the high seas and sent back to Haiti without screenings, sent to Guantanamo, detained in large numbers, and those were some policies that were then -- became sort of what we used for other immigrant groups.

[00:1006]

And thinking about how this -- this incident is replicating past incidents in the 1980s and the 1990s. There were, you know, legal cases going through the courts, especially in the early 1980s, saying this was discriminatory -- discriminatory treatment, particularly of Haitians. And that's the sort of pattern which, I think we're starting to see again.

VAUSE: Yael, thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

SCHACHER: Sure. Thank you.

VAUSE: Another humanitarian crisis is brewing, this time on Europe's eastern border. Poland says that more than 4,000 migrants have tried to cross from Belarus this month. That's more than ever before.

Many are from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries. They've been trying to cross from Belarus into Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania for months.

Belarus has been accused of using migrants as political pawns, helping them, illegally, to cross the borders.

Well, a week on since an American-British-Australian security deal created one of the worst diplomatic spots in U.S.-French history. It seems relations between the two countries are now on the mend.

But the French are warning there is still much to do before this fallout will be forgotten. CNN's Cyril Vanier has our report from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: France is warning that ending the diplomatic crisis with the U.S. will take time. The top diplomats from both countries, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday to discuss their way forward after presidents Macron and Biden had broken the ice with what was described as a friendly phone call.

The crisis erupted after a new security agreement between the U.S., the U.K., and Australia effectively torpedoed a multibillion-dollar submarine deal that France had been negotiating with Canberra for years.

Short term, what the French want, after feeling they were blindsided by their allies, is to be treated with the respect that, they feel they deserve, both as a close partner of the U.S. and an upper-tier military power. They got that in the form of a quasi-apology from the White House, which a French government spokesperson hailed as a victory on French radio.

GABRIEL ATTAL, FRENCH GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON (through translator): First of all, Joe Biden admitted the U.S. responsibility in the crisis. It's rather unusual that the U.S. would admit its wrongs in a written and signed press release. I think Joe Biden understood that, with us, Europe was not looking for a big brother, but a partner.

VANIER: That signals that the worst part of the diplomatic crisis is over. And it paves the way from a Macron-Biden meeting in Europe next month.

However, some diplomatic legwork might still be needed before then, as France says it wants to see concrete actions for trust to be fully restored.

Cyril Vanier, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Kurt Volker served as U.S. ambassador to NATO from 2008 to 2009. He's now a distinguished fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. He is with us this hour from Washington.

Ambassador Volker, thank you for being with us.

KURT VOLKER, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW, CENTER FOR EUROPEAN POLICY ANALYSIS: It's my pleasure. Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, we have the latest hour in the sub snub controversy. There appears to be an easing of tensions between the United States and France.

And, in many ways, this seems to be playing out like a sort of typical, garden-variety diplomatic spat. Is there more to this? Has there been some kind of turning point, a seminal moment which will or has fundamentally changed the relation between the Europe and the U.S.?

VOLKER: Well, I don't think it's a fundamental change in the relationship, but I think it's a warning shot across the bow for the Biden administration that France is trying to send.

That yes, we have concerns about China, all of us. That's why we France were trying to sell submarines to Australia, as well. We should be working together.

And the way that you, America, have handled this has been a slap in the face to us in France. And I think the French are just trying to send a warning shot, saying you can't do this. If we're going to work together, we truly have to be allies and work together.

I think that is the Biden administration's intention. I don't think they intended to stab France in the back, as was said. But at the same time, a little bit more has to be done to work together in practice. I think that's what now -- what we're beginning to see.

VAUSE: It may seem to be a difficult sell, for a U.S. president to turn up at the U.N. and preach cooperation and unity after burning traditional allies a week ago. But apparently not, at least according to the U.S. secretary of state. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What I've heard here this week, especially in the wake of the president's speech, was a very strong and -- view, almost across the board, with everyone I spoke to, about their appreciation and their support for the vision that President Biden put forward in speaking to the General Assembly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:15:02]

VAUSE: You could ask the question, how many countries are adamantly opposed to the idea of closer cooperation and unity? It's like being against motherhood in a way. And what are those diplomats not saying to Antony Blinken?

VOLKER: Right. That's a very good point. I think if you listen to what people are saying, whether it's in Central in Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Middle East, even in southeast Asia, to some extent, there's a worry that the Biden administration is saying the right things, but are they doing the right things?

And I think that is a challenge, now, for the Biden administration, to follow through. They've said the right things about confronting China, but now, you know, this arrangement with Australia and the U.K. is an opportunity to show we're doing that.

We said the right things about working with the support of our allies, but they've just been through an abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and France has now had, as they described it, a stab in the back over this deal with Australia. Where is he is on his commitment?

So there's a lot of this frustration and tension under the surface and it's really, you know, on the Biden administration now to make, you know, the actions of up to the very good words that we hear.

VAUSE: Well, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is yet to take a call from the Australian prime minister. There's no word on when or if the French ambassador in Canberra will return.

Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, has tried to publicly, at least, soothe relations with France. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: We understand the disappointment, and that is the way you manage difficult issues. It's a difficult decision. It's a very difficult decision. And of course, we had to weigh up what would be the obvious disappointment to France. But at the end of the day, as a government, we have to do what is right for Australia and serve Australia's national security interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And that's the point. Australia would not be the first country which has, you know, done the right thing by its own national security interests. I don't think any government has ever actually taken the second best national security deal, because they didn't want to hurt the feelings of another country.

VOLKER: Right. Well, it's Australia first, France first, America first, whatever you want to call it. And if you were to objectively look at the outcomes here, this is a better technological and security arrangement for Australia. It's a better arrangement for the United States. It is a quicker and more effective countering of Chinese influence in Asia.

So all of these things are true. The question here is could we not have done this in a way to bring France in? Ultimately, if you think about the meetings that NATO, that Secretary Blinken and President Biden had not that long ago, it was about trying to bring our NATO allies together so that we in the United States and Europe could be working together on a common approach toward China.

What we've done now is bring the U.K. in and push France out, which is going to make it very difficult to agree on a common approach at NATO.

So I think we have some remedial work to do now to get back to that vision that President Biden and President Blinken set out earlier this year. That we should all be working together.

And I hope that, as we go forward, yes, this is a better arrangement. The technological and security implications of this deal are better overall. But we still need to try to enfranchise France and make sure that we're all pulling in the same direction.

VAUSE: Ambassador Volker, thank you so much. We really appreciate your insight.

VOLKER: My pleasure.

VAUSE: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, the race to replace Angela Merkel appears to be tightening just days before Germans head to the polls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:20:57]

VAUSE: Africa facing a drastic shortfall in vaccine supplies. According to the World Health Organization, current shipments will need to increase sevenfold, from 20 million doses a month to 150 million a month. That is if 70 percent of the population is to be fully vaccinated a year from now.

Much of the continent is in the grip of a third pandemic wave. Notably, just 4 percent of Africans have received both vaccinations.

Well, from November 1, unvaccinated workers in Germany will not be compensated for lost wages if they're forced to quarantine because of COVID. Quarantine is required for anyone who tests positive for COVID and those returning from countries deemed high risk.

As of Thursday, nearly 64 percent of the German population has been fully vaccinated. While the shots are not mandatory in Germany, officials have been ramping up measures that make it increasingly inconvenient for the unvaccinated.

The race to determine who will succeed Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel is tightening ahead of Sunday's vote. Candidates went head to head in their final televised debate Thursday, clashing over issues like taxes, debt, and foreign policy.

Candidates from the Social Democratic Party and conservative bloc both called for a strong, sovereign Europe. Recent polls show their parties are the top contenders, followed by the Green Party.

The climate crisis has emerged as a top concern among German voters. In the coming hours, many are expected to take to the streets for a climate rally in Berlin.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen takes a look at where the candidates stand on environmental issues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It was a moment when the global climate emergency became a deadly serious issue for Germany. Flash flooding this summer in the country's west killing dozens and destroying entire towns.

The moment the environment became one of German's most pressing concerns, says Swen Hutter from Berlin's Free University.

SWEN HUTTER, FREE UNIVERSITY: We've seen now a steady rise especially after the floods now in summer where we're back to more or less 50 percent saying climate is really the top issue.

PLEITGEN: An issue that can make and break political campaigns. Christian Democratic candidate Armin Laschet dropped severely in the polls when he was caught laughing on camera while the German president spoke to flood victims. He later apologized for the incident.

Meanwhile, the Green Party topped the polls for a while and is still set for a strong showing, with its strong environmental agenda.

ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE (through translator): And for the children, for those of you who are 17, 20, it makes a massive difference who gets to lead this country in the future.

PLEITGEN: Of course, the environment hasn't suddenly become a topic for Germans. One of the largest industrial nations in the world with a massive thirst for energy, Germany has long debated a fundamental question: how to maintain the economy without destroying the ecology.

Social Democratic front runner Olaf Scholz says the time to act is now.

OLAF SCHOLZ, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: Two hundred fifty years of economic development in our country, of industrial development, is based on the use of fossils. If we would change this in 25 years, this is really a big process.

PLEITGEN: Climate activists have become more vocal in recent years, spurned by a global movement to tackle manmade climate change, calling for an end to diesel- and gasoline-powered cars and polluting industries, the bedrock of Germany's economy.

Conservative candidate Armin Laschet says his party wants to foster innovation to help curb greenhouse gases.

"For our climate policies, we want to invest in innovation and market economy mechanisms which, in our opinion, promise more than all the bans the SPD and Greens are planning," Laschet recently said.

In the 16 years that Angela Merkel governed Germany, the country enacted some environmental policies, like ditching nuclear energy and attempting to move towards renewables.

[00:25:07]

In a recent news conference, though, Merkel acknowledged not enough has been done to fight climate change in Germany. She says that goes for many other countries, as well.

HAJO FUNKE, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: Her biggest fault is knowing all about the climate crisis and not doing anything, what has to be done.

PLEITGEN: That difficult task is now left to Merkel's successor, as the German public is increasingly making clear it wants action on climate change without further delay.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: CNN has special live coverage of the German federal election. Find out who will be the next leader of the country. Join Hala Gorani, Fred Pleitgen, Salma Abdelaziz as they bring us the very latest. That's Sunday, 12 p.m. Eastern Time 5, in the afternoon in London. You'll see it only here on CNN.

So how we produce, process and consume what we eat was the focus of the first ever U.N. summit on the future of food. Right now, there are more overweight and obese people on the planet than those who are malnourished.

Globally, about a third of the food produced gets wasted. And the way we produce food contributes greatly to greenhouse gas emissions. World leaders met virtually on Thursday to discuss goals for the future. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: To achieve the sustainable development goals, including a world with zero hunger, we must ensure our global food systems are both more sustainable and more inclusive. As a global community, we must take record and far-reaching action to combat climate change while ensuring food security for a growing global population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: After remaining unchanged for five years, from 2019 to 2020, the number of undernourished people worldwide wound up by more than 100 million.

The U.S. says most of that increase is likely due to the pandemic.

Key allies will soon converge on the White House, all with one thing with common: gripes with Beijing. It's the Quad Summit. We'll tell you what they want to accomplish when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: This is the scene right now on Spain's La Palma Island, where it's 529 a.m. in the morning there. Evacuations are continuing as the volcano erupts for a fifth straight day.

Lava has destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and businesses, along with banana crops, which are the main export from the island.

Experts say the speed of the flow has now slowed to the point where it has not reached the ocean. In some places, lava walls stand as high as 12 meters, or 38 feet tall.

And so far, still no injuries, no deaths have been reported.

The leaders of the so-called Quad are getting ready to meet at the White House in the coming hours. Japan, the United States, India, and Australia, all focused on deepening their cooperation on contentious issues, as well as countering China.

[00:3009]

The Indian prime minister has been making the rounds, meeting with his Japanese counterpart on Thursday, as well as the U.S. vice president. Narendra Modi called the U.S. and India natural partners, and Kamala Harris said the two countries both understand the fragility and importance of strength in the Indo-Pacific. But so does Australia.

CNN's Anna Coren looks at its key role in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A warm Washington welcome for Australia's Scott Morrison, now firmly in Joe Biden's inner sanctum, as the White House focuses foreign policy on countering the perceived threat from China.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has no closer and more reliable ally than Australia.

COREN: Reliable enough to be trusted with the closest of secrets: nuclear propelled submarine technology. New weapons of war the U.S. and U.K. will help Australia build as a powerful deterrent to China.

MORRISON: Mister President, I want to thank you for your leadership and your focus on the Indo-Pacific region. There's no doubt, you get it.

COREN: What's to get is the sense of the pain that China has inflicted on Australia through blocks and tariffs on exported products, from wine to coal. Economic punishment, Australia says, for defying Beijing.

JOHN LEE, FORMER AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ADVISOR: Beijing calls Australia an upstart, an ungrateful upstart, and what it means is it is a small country, which it hoped would become more of a mutual state, which is a move against Beijing.

COREN: John Lee is a former adviser to Australia's foreign minister. He says China has worked hard to try to pull Australia away from the U.S.

A free trade agreement between the two countries in 2015 supercharged Australian exports. But Australia has pushed back against alleged Chinese interference in its domestic politics and angered China by calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

Intentionally, or otherwise, Australia has become a global example on how to resist Beijing.

LEE: I think what's also enraged Beijing is that a lot of other countries have taken inspiration from Australia on policy, such as banning Huawei, on foreign interference legislation, even strategic affairs.

COREN: Australia has earned a central role in U.S. efforts to counter Chinese aggression, from threats against Taiwan, to the militarization of the South China Sea. And China's reaction to the submarine deal was swift and sharp.

ZHAO LIJIAN, CHINA MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPOKESMAN (through translator): Cooperation on nuclear powered submarine technology between the U.S., the U.K., and Australia will gravely undermined regional peace and stability, aggravate an arms race, and impair international nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

COREN: Biden and Morrison joined Friday by prime ministers Narendra Modi of India and Yoshihide Suga of Japan. The four call themselves the Quad, brought together by one common concern: a more aggressive China.

Australia's place in the Quad, and its August deal with the U.S. and U.K., now threatening to transform the upstart into a new competitor for Beijing.

Anna Coren, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Another urgent warning about a looming catastrophe in Afghanistan if international aid remains on hold.

The World Health Organization says the healthcare system is facing collapse, and is urging the international community to resume financial support, which was cut off when the Taliban took control of the country.

The director-general saw the crisis firsthand when he visited Kabul and a hospital earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: There has been a surge in cases of measles and diarrhea. Almost 50 percent of children are at high -- at risk of malnutrition. The resurgence of polio is a major risk. And 2.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine remain unused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Many world leaders say Afghanistan's frozen assets should not be released until the Taliban form a more inclusive government and allow women to keep their hard-earned freedoms. But it's not clear if the Taliban are ready to do that.

Here's CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANAS HAQQANI, TALIBAN POLITICAL COMMISSION (through translator): Those who raise this issue are the ones who don't want peace, unity, and national unity in Afghanistan. They make the excuse of women, and the rights of minorities, to try to damage the system.

We, praise be to God, have religious principles, as well as national traditions. The rights Islam has given to women cannot be found in any religion or nation.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Is Afghanistan at risk, over the issue of women, of not getting its accounts unfrozen?

HAQQANI (through translator): The frozen money is the people's right. It doesn't have anything to do with the government and politics. It is the nation's right. The poor nation. With frozen money, they cannot make us copy and bring their culture here. It is in contradiction with our history, beliefs, and traditions.

[00:35:05]

ROBERTSON: This is becoming a big issue for the Afghan people. Is the money coming, or is the money not coming?

HAQQANI (through translator): We will not give up on our people's rights. We will do our utmost effort for the right of our people. The same one we did in the past 20 years. This is the right of the people. This is not the right of Biden or the right of the United States government so they can seize it to freeze it.

ROBERTSON: How long do you have before the economy really starts to hurt?

HAQQANI (through translator): If the world thinks that they can put a lot of pressure on us through this matter, that we will accept what they want us to accept they already are (ph), this is a very wrong thinking of them. It is not in the hands of Biden, Europe, Russia, or China. Thanks God, we are not panicking about this hardship. This is an affair with God Almighty.

ROBERTSON: When would you consider the war with America to be over and finished?

HAQQANI (through translator): The policy of the Islamic emirate is that we want positive diplomatic relations, with the entire world, including the United States. Now, it's up to them.

However, now the money freezing issue, or other issues, this is inciting war. This is breaking relations. The Islamic emirate wants positive relations with all.

Yesterday, we introduced and invited the United Nations to Mr. Suhail Shaheen. It means that we are ready for every positive relation that support peace and security, and is not in contradiction with our principles of religion, faith, and national traditions.

ROBERTSON: How quickly do you need that international recognition of the Taliban government? Weks, months? How long?

HAQQANI (through translator) If the world wants peace and security, it can be achieved in one day. It is beneficial to them, and it's beneficial to us, too.

If they didn't want peace and security, and they want people here to face hardship and problems, then, certainly, it may take time. However, this is in the best interests of everyone to be achieved, urgently.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: CNN's Nic Robertson, speaking to Anas Haqqani, who is part of the Taliban's critical leadership.

With that, I'll take a short break. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, right, here on CNN. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Linda Evangelista was one of the top supermodels in the history of fashion. Now, she's filed a $50 million lawsuit after a cosmetic procedure that left her permanently deformed and jobless.

In an Instagram pores, she says she was brutally disfigured after undergoing cool sculpting to reduce fat five years ago, and corrective surgeries left her unrecognizable.

As a result, she says, she suffered a deep depression that made her a recluse. She's now hoping the lawsuit will help her move forward.

[00:40:03]

Well, for a time, one of China's leading actresses and business women disappeared from the Internet. Everything about her was gone, like she never existed.

CNN's Ivan Watson explains it might just be the work of the Chinese government, turning off her star power.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) Imagine one of Hollywood's biggest celebrities erased from the Internet in a single night.

That's basically what happened to Zhao Wei, one of China's most successful actresses. A star of Chinese television and film, Zhao was also a wealthy entrepreneur who bought vineyards in France and acquired a stake in one of China's biggest film studios.

(on camera): That all changed one night in August, when Zhao suddenly, inexplicably, disappeared from the Chinese Internet. Her movies and TV shows removed from streaming sites, her social media accounts erased.

JENNIFER HSU, RESEARCH FELLOW, LOWY INSTITUTE: To imagine that someone's name, history, is eliminated from the Internet. It shows the power and the infrastructure of China's Internet architecture and who really is in power. It is a Chinese party state.

WATSON: China experts say the canceling of Zhao Wei is part of a much bigger crackdown now underway, in China.

WEN ZHAO, INDEPENDENT CHINA ANALYST: The whole entertaining industry, was targeted by Xi Jinping.

WATSON: Canada-based analyst Wen Zhao argues there's only room for one real star in today's China: Chinese President Xi Jinping.

ZHAO: Xi Jinping, elaborately is removing independent social influence, might be out of his control. He wants to take control of everything.

WATSON: This summer, Beijing issued new rules, cutting back the activities of China's wildly popular celebrity fan clubs.

Other regulations Beijing says are aimed at restoring morality ban male celebrities from appearing too effeminate on TV and limit minors to three hours of online video games a week. Meanwhile, the government introduced a new subject to the curriculum

for students of all ages, from elementary school to universities: Xi Jinping Thought, an approach that some say echoes the cult of personality of Mao Tse-Tung, the founding father of communist China.

ZHAO: People have only one voice to be heard, only one leader to worship.

WATSON: In recent months, Xi also cracked down hard on China's huge tech and private education industries, wiping out trillions of dollars in market value from some of China's biggest companies.

As Xi pushes for so-called common prosperity, and a more level economic playing field, while shipping people's minds, to his worldview.

So, where does that leave people like this canceled actress, Zhao Wei? She appears to have recently reemerged in several photos that went quickly viral. The glamorous actress, almost unrecognizable in a humble T-shirt and shorts.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I will be back at the top of the hour with another edition of CNN NEWSROOM. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT is up next.

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