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CNN Live Saturday
U.S. Wants to Pull Troops Out of Unsafe Areas of Afghanistan
Aired December 13, 2003 - 18:05 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to international news. The U.N. says it has not intention on leaving Afghanistan but wants to pull its people out of unsafe areas. President Bush is focusing on the continuing danger there as well as in Iraq. He is looking at what needs to be accomplished in the war on terror. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush wants more troops, more money and more diplomatic support from world leaders in his war on terror. Monday he will spend his special envoy former Secretary of State James Baker to Europe to try to squeeze it out. But on the war's central front, Afghanistan and Iraq, conditions on the ground have become so dangerous even Mr. Bush's allies are suggesting it may no longer be worth it to stay. The U.N.'s top official in Afghanistan Lakdar Brahimi called fro more foreign troops.
LAKDAR BRAHIMI, U.N. ENVOY TO AFGHANISTAN: They seem to think that our presence is important here when if they do then I think they have got to make sure that conditions for us to be here are there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if not.
BRAHIMI: If not, we will go away.
MALVEAUX: The U.N. has already pulled out of Iraq. Its Secretary General Kofi Annan said as recently as last week, it is still too dangerous to go back in. A U.N. retreat out of Afghanistan would be a big symbolic blow to the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it certainly hurts us in a broader sense in terms of international credibility and the willingness of other countries to come and help.
MALVEAUX: That's why the White House is trying to response so hard to hold on to the support it does have.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: ... what's going on there. They have been playing an important role and we hope they will continue to.
MALVEAUX: Saturday, Brahimi backed off, saying the U.N. has no plans to pull out of the country, but there may be some areas it withdraws from if security doesn't improve. German's defense minister said part of the problem is the American troops. He says the U.S. soldiers are good combat troops but are not sufficiently prepared for the task associated with nation building, setting up democratic and economic structures. Germany has nearly 2,000 troops who are part of NATO's international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan's capital Kabul. But Germany refuses to send any of its soldiers to Iraq.
(on camera): The White House had no comment for the German defense minister's remarks. The president in his weekly radio address to the American people did say that the country stands by its men and women of the armed forces in their liberating Iraq and the reconstruction there and in Afghanistan. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Afghanistan>
Aired December 13, 2003 - 18:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to international news. The U.N. says it has not intention on leaving Afghanistan but wants to pull its people out of unsafe areas. President Bush is focusing on the continuing danger there as well as in Iraq. He is looking at what needs to be accomplished in the war on terror. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush wants more troops, more money and more diplomatic support from world leaders in his war on terror. Monday he will spend his special envoy former Secretary of State James Baker to Europe to try to squeeze it out. But on the war's central front, Afghanistan and Iraq, conditions on the ground have become so dangerous even Mr. Bush's allies are suggesting it may no longer be worth it to stay. The U.N.'s top official in Afghanistan Lakdar Brahimi called fro more foreign troops.
LAKDAR BRAHIMI, U.N. ENVOY TO AFGHANISTAN: They seem to think that our presence is important here when if they do then I think they have got to make sure that conditions for us to be here are there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if not.
BRAHIMI: If not, we will go away.
MALVEAUX: The U.N. has already pulled out of Iraq. Its Secretary General Kofi Annan said as recently as last week, it is still too dangerous to go back in. A U.N. retreat out of Afghanistan would be a big symbolic blow to the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it certainly hurts us in a broader sense in terms of international credibility and the willingness of other countries to come and help.
MALVEAUX: That's why the White House is trying to response so hard to hold on to the support it does have.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: ... what's going on there. They have been playing an important role and we hope they will continue to.
MALVEAUX: Saturday, Brahimi backed off, saying the U.N. has no plans to pull out of the country, but there may be some areas it withdraws from if security doesn't improve. German's defense minister said part of the problem is the American troops. He says the U.S. soldiers are good combat troops but are not sufficiently prepared for the task associated with nation building, setting up democratic and economic structures. Germany has nearly 2,000 troops who are part of NATO's international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan's capital Kabul. But Germany refuses to send any of its soldiers to Iraq.
(on camera): The White House had no comment for the German defense minister's remarks. The president in his weekly radio address to the American people did say that the country stands by its men and women of the armed forces in their liberating Iraq and the reconstruction there and in Afghanistan. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Afghanistan>
