Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Life Returning to Normal in Kandahar, Despite Collateral Damage

Aired October 31, 2001 - 10:31   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now the view from inside Afghanistan on the ground there. CNN's Nic Robertson filed a report a few moments ago by way of video phone. He's in the town of Kandahar, again a target of overnight attacks there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Kandahar, at least its been a relatively quiet day. A few jet aircraft burst around over the city but no bombs were dropped. The Taliban have taken a group of 26 journalists, including CNN, to see various sites in Kandahar. The first site we were shown was the ministry of the religious police that had been completely destroyed in downtown Kandahar. Also, next to that, two other ministries had been destroyed.

Now, the Taliban did want to show us they had been destroyed, but they also wanted to show us, across the road, collateral damage. We were taken to what had been a tailor shop, where we talked to several people who told us that various friends and relatives died in the bombing there in that collateral damage.

We were also able to travel outside of the city into the surrounding countryside and visit some villages there. We are not allowed to visit military sites. However, while we've been touring around, we've been able to see evidence of what the Taliban say they will not meet the United States head-on militarily. They say what they will do is to disperse their military hardware around the countryside. And that's what we have seen today. Anti-aircraft guns, armored personnel carriers, either in the mountains or in trees but hidden around the countryside. And this is very much in line with what the Taliban have been saying on how they will deal with the current air bombardment.

Did also see downtown one destroyed armored personnel carrier. We are told that was destroyed by American fighter jets a few weeks ago. But relatively speaking the city of Kandahar appears to be returning to normal. The stores are open. There are a lot of people out on the streets and we are told that within the last ten days, people have been returning to the city.

People who were initially very afraid of the heavy bombardment in the early days of the air campaign are now coming back to the city. The city is without electricity and without running water. But the stores are open. There is a lot of traffic on the road and we are told the city is returning to normal. Certainly, from our view, from what we have seen before the air campaign, and before the September 11th attacks, it is not as busy as Kandahar would have been then, but there still is a lot of people on the streets here. Nic Robertson, CNN, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

HEMMER: Once again, Nic working his way in with a few other Western reporters into the southern city of Kandahar.

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