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American Morning

America's New War: Former Peace Corps Volunteer Discuss Life in Afghanistan Before Taliban

Aired September 27, 2001 - 09:32   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: As we have throughout the past few weeks, we're trying to bring you more information on just what life is like inside Afghanistan.

We have the privilege this morning of being joined by a special guest, Thomas Gouttierre. He is the dean of international studies and programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. More importantly -- to us at the moment, sir -- is that he lived for 10 years inside Afghanistan as a volunteer for the Peace Corps, as a Fullbright scholar, and even as coach as the Afghan national basketball team.

Thank you, sir, for joining us this morning.

I was -- in reading some of your writings I notice you refer to Afghanistan now as a "religious concentration camp."

Explain what you mean, sir.

THOMAS GOUTTIERRE, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA OMAHA: Well, the lifestyle of the Afghans, unfortunately under the Taliban period the last seven years, has really been so restrictive that the women can't appear in public without wearing vials, most people can't go to school, girls, of course, are not permitted to go to school throughout most of the country. There's very, very poor medical health. There's no real education going on in the major cities. Men can't wear ties, they can't shave. There's no dancing, no music, no radios, no tapes. It's so unlike what it was when I lived in Afghanistan during the years that you described. And it really sounds to me, and I've been during the time that I was with the U.N., that, you know, it really is kind of like living in a religious concentration camp.

KING: You were asked, sir, to come to the State Department in recent days for some conversations. I know you're reluctant to discuss details of them, but we've seen in recent days outreach by the administration to the Northern Alliance, outreach to the exiled king of Afghanistan. Many believe that a goal of this operation is not only to either capture or kill Osama bin Laden, but to knock the Taliban from power. Was that the subject of those discussions? And do you believe, sir, that that is the necessary goal of this operation?

GOUTTIERRE: Well, I think that the United States is studying what is required right now to make Afghanistan a stabile country after this period passes, and that probably looks at perhaps a broader-based government for Afghanistan than the kind that obviously is so restricted in Afghanistan today.

So when they're going to the Northern Alliance and they're going to the king -- but I think we're also as a nation in a government going to other parts of Afghanistan so that when there is a time for the Afghans to be able to reconstruct their nation, everyone, every part of the Afghan population can be included in that, unlike the case of today.

KING: It is not a country many Americans are familiar with. We have increasingly tried to inform them about Osama bin Laden, increasingly about the Taliban. In the time we have left, sir, tell us your reflections on the Afghan people.

GOUTTIERRE: Well, the Afghan people are so engaging and I think their greatest quality is their hospitality. These are not things that, of course, come through during the situation today. But it is really a nation where one is drawn because, and here's a picture of myself with some of my former Peace Corps volunteer buddies during -- in that stadium where today only people are publicly executed. This is me when I had more hair and less weight with my first son. As you get older those are the things that happen.

But in any case, I think that anybody who has in served in Afghanistan -- and this picture here, by the way, is me standing before one of those Buddhas that was destroyed earlier this year by the Taliban, who have no idea, really, of the traditions or history of their own country. And here I am with one of the leaders of the Hazarijot (ph), the people in central Afghanistan, and I'm wearing the white hat, and the fellow in the center is our ambassador when I with the U.N. special mission there. And here I am with Ahmed Shah Masood, he's the fellow to my your left, to your right, with the hat on in the picture, the recently assassinated leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance.

I didn't finish up by saying -- you know, Afghanistan is a great place to have been as a Peace Corps volunteer and to have worked in any way just mainly because of the people. They are very diverse, but very, very hospitable, very, very welcoming. And they're proud of their history and their traditions.

KING: And, sir, we have had reports from our correspondents in recent days from the Northern Alliance, the fighting continuing. Obviously the United States reaching out to them, urging the Russians to help them. Your skeptical, though, about their ability, at least, alone to serve as alternative, is that correct?

GOUTTIERRE: Yes. I think that that type of alternative is too narrow. Certainly, they would be a part of any, you know, future government of Afghanistan. They've been carrying on the struggle against Osama bin Laden and those Pakistanis who have been volunteering and joining with him to help the Taliban. And so it's important that they have a role in the future. But any future government in Afghanistan has to be proportionally representative, truly proportionally representative of all the people in Afghanistan, and that will be the biggest challenge for the Afghans themselves, to put together a group of people, a grand assembly, that truly represents the sectors of Afghanistan and the proportions that they constitute the population of Afghanistan.

KING: Thomas Gouttierre of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, we thank you, sir, for your thoughts this morning, for you reflections and you pictures of life and time in Afghanistan, as well.

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