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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anticipation of Conclusion of Talks in Bonn Runs High

Aired November 30, 2001 - 06:15   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: We want to go now to Afghanistan, and check in with Christiane Amanpour. And, Christiane, even though you are on the ground there in Kabul, I imagine there is much interest about what is taking place just outside of Bonn, Germany, about the efforts to set up a transitional government in Afghanistan.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed much interest, and indeed a lot of information. The senior Taliban -- rather the senior Northern Alliance leaders are here in Kabul, and they've been telling us quite sometimes ahead of what's coming out of Bonn of the way things are going there.

And it appears that the various factions there are getting along quite well at the table at Bonn. They apparently seem to be close to nailing down an interim government to deal with the situation here. They've already said that they will accept a multinational peacekeeping force here, and so everybody is waiting to see what the actual final outcome will be of these talks, and they may be wrapping up today or tomorrow.

Now, at the same time, of course, people in Afghanistan, the civilians, are desperately hoping that something good comes out of these talks, because they want a decent, better life with more security and only in peace. And every day, we measure little ways, big ways, in which life is changing and getting better for the people here. We've seen everything from refugees who are coming back from different countries they fled, coming back to Afghanistan. And even here in the country and in the city, we're noticing things like televisions, films, all sorts of things that were banned under the Taliban are now coming back to life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): The lights are out, cloth covers the windows, and about a dozen people watch closely as the TV flickers on the wall.

With all representations of the human form banned under the Taliban, this matinee crowd in Kabul is getting an eyeful.

"Perhaps the Taliban would have given me a severe beating," says Abdullah, who owns this video salon. "And perhaps they would have sent me to jail."

That, after smashing his TV. Instead, today, Abdullah is making a killing, about $10 a day at his storefront video theater.

"They are showing us a very interesting American film," says Kali Lolah (ph).

He and the others say they are happy, and they like their freedom.

So, too, at the Kabul's TV station. We arrived as engineers were taking their live broadcasting vans out of five-year storage, dusting off the console, setting up their cameras, eager to be back on the job after five years in the professional wilderness.

"Today, I am very lucky that I am standing behind my camera again," says Fayed Mohammed (ph), "to record the smiles of my countrymen instead of their sorrows."

He and his colleagues show us their Taliban I.D. cards, when they had to wear turbans and full beards.

"During the Taliban years, we just recorded with our eyes," laughs En Ayatollah (ph).

Technology has passed them by, but they say they can't wait to broadcast again. Music and soccer matches, even the next loya jurga, the grand council, they hope, will sort out Afghanistan's fractious politics.

Under the Taliban, people who dared own satellite dishes would bring them out secretly at night. Now, new ones are being churned out by the day, covered in whatever sheet metal they find. Those who can't afford one make do with an old antenna. Anything will do for a city, a people, eager to catch up on the years they've missed.

TV repair shops are trying to keep up with demand. Some workers remember the times they were hauled off to jail.

Here, they tell us, the Taliban's favorite punishment for TV watchers, painting their faces black, dragging them through the marketplace and forcing offenders to call themselves criminals.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Now, today is Friday, which is the day of prayer in the Muslim world. And what we've been hearing as we've been watching people going into the mosque is that today, for the first time in a long time, people are going into the mosque because they want to, not because they were forced to. This is, of course, a deeply religious society, but religion had never been thrust at them as it was under the Taliban regime, so things really are changing here, Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour, a fascinating piece -- thank you for bringing that to us from Kabul.

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