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CNN Live Saturday

Will $320 Million in U.S. Aid to Afghan Refugees Suffice?

Aired October 06, 2001 - 14:18   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of Afghan refugees are converging on northern Afghanistan, creating a potential humanitarian crisis. Now President Bush has approved $320 million in humanitarian assistance, but will it be enough?

CNN's Chris Burns is joining us now live from northern Afghanistan with more on the relief efforts there -- Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, the worry is that no matter how much money is pledged, what President Bush pledged, as well as the donors conference in Geneva that pledged altogether $600 million, including the U.S. pledge, still the worry is how quickly will it get into northern Afghanistan?

One problem is, that there are very few expatriates working for these relief agencies here. They all evacuated after the September 11 attacks.

And we went up to a refugee camp about an hour north of here in the Panshir Valley, where 6,000 people have taken refuge. About one- third of them arrived since the September 11 attacks. Many of them fearing reprisals among the Taliban, and also fearing U.S. attacks themselves.

And the fear there is that they're not going to get what they need when winter comes in about a month. But we talked to one family that had arrived four days earlier from Kabul, a man who is a bazaar merchant, who came with his eight children, wife and his 85-year-old father. He said he'd rather starve to death in that refugee camp than to die at the hands of the Taliban.

So there is that fear among some of the refugees who did flee. We did see others who are living off of bread and water. That is an example of what is going on among others in the north.

The United Nations says that some 400,000 people in the north could run out of food within a week if more is not done. And that is the worry is, no matter how much money you pledge, how quickly will it get in?

The fighting does go on. We heard some of the sporadic shelling this afternoon between here and the front line between here and Kabul, where the front line is. Thousands of Taliban troops are facing off with thousands of Northern Alliance troops. That shelling didn't seem to move much. But there is fighting going on in the north.

And the north is where the supply lines, very key supply lines, are, where the Northern Alliance has just this evening says that they seized five more villages in the road to Muzarrisharif (ph). That is a Taliban-held stronghold in the north and very close to a supply line.

If they seize that supply line, they could -- the Northern Alliance could cut off Muzarrisharif (ph), and that would be a major victory for the Northern Alliance.

However, in the east of -- in northeast Afghanistan, there's another area, Talican (ph) province, where fighting has raged into recent days. That is where the Northern Alliance lost their key supply line to the Taliban forces last year. They're fighting desperately to get that back, because when winter sets in within a month, that supply line will be very, very key in providing their needs during the dead of winter. And that's only about a month away -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Chris, as you mentioned, it really doesn't matter how much money is pledged for aid. We know that President Bush is pledging some $320 million, but it would be have to be an enormous task just getting what the refugees need to them?

BURNS: Absolutely, because if you look at just the geography, the topography of northern Afghanistan, we're talking about the western Himalayas. We're talking about peaks that reach some 20,000 feet or so in the air. It's very, very rugged terrain.

In fact, there are thousands of mules that are being used to bring in some of the supplies, because it's impossible to drive through some of these roads. They're just gravel. There are no paved roads up in the north. It's very, very difficult to bring anything in.

Helicopter assistance is very limited in part, because it's just extremely expensive. The other is that there are just so few helicopters belonging to the Northern Alliance. That is why U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has talked this week about air drops, but he's worried that those air drops could be vulnerable to Stinger missile attacks by the Taliban.

So there are a lot of concerns here that have to be overcome in the next few weeks, if a lot of people don't starve to death, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, Chris Burn, giving us the latest from northern Afghanistan. Thank you, Chris.

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