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American Morning

America's New War: Travel Author Describes Friendliness of Afghan People

Aired September 25, 2001 - 09:39   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.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Few Americans know firsthand what life is like inside Afghanistan. Robert Young Pelton does. He traveled there for his book, "The World's Most Dangerous Places," which might say something about his experiences there.

Mr. Pelton joins us this morning, live from Los Angeles.

Thank you, sir. Welcome.

PELTON ROBERT YOUNG PELTON, "THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS PLACES": Good morning.

KING: Help the American people and our viewers around the world understand from your experiences inside the country. Assume there is some U.S. military campaign ends up toppling the Taliban regime. Is there indigenously within Afghanistan a coalition that would be able to take power, in your view?

PELTON: The problem with Afghanistan has always been that once there's peace, the warring factions break out. There was a period in the '70s when Afghanistan was doing fine. It descended into war after the Russians invaded. But even when the Russians left, there was a coalition of the same Northern Alliance that were working but began warring on each other in Kabul.

KING: Tell us about the people themselves. Our coverage focuses on the Taliban, and we have seen coverage from our correspondents in northern Afghanistan of the Northern Alliance, the opposition, As you went through country, sir, are those the two sides, or do the everyday people care about this fighting at all?

PELTON: Afghanistan has natural geographic and ethnic divisions. There's Hazaris, which are Shiites, in the northwest. There are Tajiks in the north and northeast. You have Pakhtuns in the south. The problem we are going to have that it's fairly easy militarily to defeat the Taliban, but then what you do after your have won the war.

KING: You say this is one of favorite places. You have been to 90 places around the world chronicling your travels. You say this is one of your favorites. Explain what you mean by that.

PELTON: The extraordinary thing about Afghanistan is they've been fighting two decades of war, and everywhere I went, I was welcomed into people's homes. They were very, very generous with me, very open to my ideas. They shared everything they had with me. And these are people who were just devastated by a number of natural calamities and, of course, manmade calamities. I think the thing that our the soldiers and people that are over there now will find out is that every Afghan welcomes outsiders if they come with open hand.

KING: If those outsiders include armed U.S. troops, do you think there will be a welcome, sir?

PELTON: They're not anti-American. I never found any anti- American sentiment amongst either the Talibs or the north. I think what they're against is irrational attacks on their infrastructure and certain groups inside the country. The Afghans really would welcome the Americans at least to assist them -- not to run their country, but to help them come out of this two decades of warfare.

KING: I see you say in your writings that I've reviewed here that you never saw Osama bin Laden, but could tell when he or those close to him had been around. Explain.

PELTON: I was in Jalalabad a couple of years ago, and I was just up the road from his farm, on the west side of town. And you I kind of compare him to Frank Sinatra; everyone has seen him, but nobody has actually talked to him. He travels in a convoy with red Land Cruisers and white pickup trucks. You can tell because he's surrounded by Arabs. and Arabs wear the kaffiyeh, either black-and-white checked or red-and-black checked headdresses.

KING: Robert Young Pelton, author of "The World's Most Dangerous Places," we thank you for your thoughts today, sir, helping educate the American people about life in Afghanistan.

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