Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Taliban Floods Journalists With Information and Images

Aired November 05, 2001 - 05:41   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For the last couple of weeks, we've been receiving reports from CNN correspondent Nic Robertson from inside of Afghanistan. Nic has been escorted by Taliban officials for most of his report.

In this "Reporter's Notebook," Nic gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges he faces, while traveling with the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out in the desert, it's a sure-fire way of getting attention. The Taliban have their own way of hurrying journalists along. Each stop feels more rushed than the last, and there never seems enough time to fully explore.

But all is not as it seems. Our guard, provided to protect us, we are told, gladly hands over his gun to a trigger-happy journalist. Wiser officials intervene to stop the frivolity, but the action is indicative of this Taliban tour.

Surprisingly, given they're under attack, no heavy-handed enforcement of rigid rules; rather a chaotic confusion, created by the Taliban's apparent lack of understanding of how journalists need to work. Our needs, clashing with their orders, to make sure we get through the list of sites deemed by Taliban leaders to be necessary for us to report about civilian suffering.

The message the Taliban want to get out is clear: That civilians suffer and the country is united behind them. But in their eagerness to provide what they see as proof of their viewpoint, the Taliban's deluge of images, after what, for these journalists, has been a drought of information, cooped up in hotels in neighboring Pakistan, all but sweeps most off of their feet.

Before the end of the first day, some were begging to be allowed to go and file their stories. But still, the information kept coming -- a late-evening press conference by the foreign minister, almost causing some journalists to miss deadlines.

By working to dawn, we put out, what we believe, to be a balanced report, reflecting not just what we were shown, but more importantly, what we saw for ourselves en route to the designated sites. A chaotic chase across the dusty desert started day two, much as day one had ended. Only now, the hours in the car, much needed for sleep, to compensate for the token shut-eye we've had in bed. Mercifully, our Taliban guides were lost and forced to ask directions at each village, buying us more slumber time, until we arrived at the place, they said, 92 civilians died.

Faced with rubble and little else to go on, we demanded and got the time to thoroughly look around. However, that alone could not verify the Taliban claims. Destruction, yes; deaths, likely. But who and how many? The verdict has to be unknown.

In the city market a day later, and free from Taliban officials, we were able to garner plenty of opinions, as many seemed delighted to talk with us.

"Send in the ground troops," he says, "we'll be ready for them."

"Why are the Americans bombing us?" she says. "Don't they know the Taliban and Arabs are out of town?"

But push anyone on who they'll back, and most will say the Taliban. And while civilian deaths appear to have driven them behind the hard-line Islamic rulers for now, they are still friendly to CNN and other journalists.

Next stop, the city hospital, and we find the regional governor visiting with patients. It smacked of a photo-op, but we had gone there of our own free will at a time of our choosing. And for a country without television, and a leader, whose sophistication is best described by those who have met him as rural, maybe, just maybe, the Taliban were getting savvy about media manipulation; but maybe not, because the other two big broadcasters on the trip chose not to go to the hospital, and missed the access to a key official.

Most of the Taliban, and the name means student, got their education in remote religious schools. Without the gun, their childlike quality could be likable. Their commanders, however, appear somewhat wiser, but equally friendly. This one invited us in for a snack, which at our request, turned into an interview.

Keen to get themselves on camera, fighters pose with CNN cameraman, Alfredo DeLaura. His beard, a personal investment and cultural capital, paying dividends in access and insights. It's at this point, their hard image somewhat softens. That is, until you listen to what their commanders say about fighting until the last drop of blood.

(on camera): By the end of our four-day tour, we had had little real freedom, not even been allowed to have our passports. However, we did, we believe, report our story, not theirs. We parlayed a government tour into an independent, if somewhat limited, snapshot of the thinking and mood on the other side of the border.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Quetta, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: In a footnote to Nic's "Reporter's Notebook," the Taliban regime in Afghanistan continues to harbor terrorists, who have praised the September 11 attacks that killed close to 5,000 innocent people here in the U.S.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.