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CNN Live At Daybreak
Doctors Without Borders Returns to Kabul
Aired November 14, 2001 - 05:31 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well with the fall of Kabul, international aid workers are now able to return to the capital to help its people.
Tim Pitt is head of the mission for Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan and he joins us now from Islamabad.
Thank you very much for taking time to talk with us today. Good luck to you in the process of the next couple of days of getting your people back in. As I understand it, now that Kabul has been freed from the Taliban, I understand that you have been able to get your people back into Kabul. Have you heard any reports from them yet?
TIM PITT, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Yes, we've heard that the situation on the ground is a bit fluid. People are doing their best to assess the situation. They visited one hospital today. There weren't really very many patients, so they're going to other health facilities in the area of Kabul to find out what the situation is and how we can help.
HARRIS: Now you all had actually been in Kabul before, as I understand it. Is that correct?
PITT: Personally no, I have not, but our team MSF (ph) has been working and operating in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan for over 20 years, through the Soviet fighting, through the Mujahideen, through the Taliban. So this is just another chapter of our aid assistance in Afghanistan.
HARRIS: Okay, the reason I asked you that is because I wonder if you can give us an idea of how things have changed since the last time your people were actually on the ground in Kabul. Did you find, as with the Red Cross, that perhaps that some of the equipment that you left behind had been -- had been scavenged or it actually had been stolen or confiscated or whatever -- or can you tell us anything at all about the differences between the first and last time you people were there on the ground and now?
PITT: Well we were rather fortunate to find that our stocks are still in place. We had them secured. The Taliban left us alone in that regard, so we were very pleased to find our stock still there. The situation -- let's say the change of authority in Kabul and in other parts of Afghanistan is not necessarily making a big difference immediately in the humanitarian situation. There's still the threat of disease. People still have trouble getting food. So the humanitarian situation has not changed dramatically simply with the changes politically yesterday.
HARRIS: Interesting, how about in Mazar-e-Sharif, that city has been taken over by the Northern Alliance for some days now, and yet and still, we're still hearing mixed reports about there being some instability there. Are you hearing the same exact things or have you been able to get into there yet?
PITT: Yes, the ongoing insecurity in Mazar is still preventing our teams from getting in. We -- you know, I can't say enough about the dedication and bravery of our national staff, who have been working there over these past many weeks. They're continuing as best they can, but the situation is difficult given the insecurity and the ongoing fighting that's going on.
HARRIS: Yes, but with the shift in power now, the balance now switching away from the Taliban, are you less concerned now about the safety of your people in the various points you have them around Afghanistan or is it -- has that not changed at all either?
PITT: Well we can look at this in two ways. In one sense, the forte, the expertise of Doctors Without Borders is these kinds of environment so that if we find an opening and it's safe, then we'll get in there and we'll provide the emergency assistance to those that need it the most. The situation, as it goes now, you know, it is extremely fluid, but we do assess hour by hour, day by day, how the security is, what the chances are of access, and we go like that.
HARRIS: All right, finally...
PITT: The one concern that we really do have is this blurring -- I'm sorry.
HARRIS: Oh. Go ahead, continue.
PITT: The one concern that we do have -- yes, the one concern that we do have is this blurring of this humanitarian and military line. For me it's a straight security question. You know if the war is still going on and if one side perceives that our assistance is associated with the other side politically or militarily, then of course my people are at risk. It becomes a security question.
We could be subject to attack and, let me put it this way, as a good journalist I'm sure you'll appreciate that humanitarian assistance is a bit like the freedom of the press. At the time that it's most needed, it needs to be the most free of any kind of political interference. So we're just looking for access. We're looking for a safe environment, away from the politics, so we can get to the civilians that need us the most.
HARRIS: All right, fin -- final word then, with that in mind, are you optimistic or pessimistic now about the prospects for the upcoming winter?
PITT: Well with the winter -- I mean that's one of our biggest concerns. I mean you know if you compare with Kosovo, in June when we got into Kosovo in 1999, we were already nervous about the winter at that stage. But here we are in November, the war is still going on. We don't have access to all the areas that we would like and winter is upon us. So it is one of the most pressing features of this conflict right now and is of course the one that won't stop. Winter will come one way or another.
HARRIS: Yes.
PITT: So we really do need to have the safe environment, to have the access so that we can get to the people as much as we can.
HARRIS: For those of us who have covered Kosovo, back then it sounds much the same. Tim Pitt, thank you very much for your time and as we said earlier on, good luck. We'll be watching.
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