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American Morning
U.S. Bombs Zawar Kili Camp; Afghan Women Want Jobs Along With Aid
Aired January 09, 2002 - 08:12 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn our attention back to the war in Afghanistan now. The U.S. bombing campaign continues to focus on -- in an area in the eastern part of the country, where an extensive terror training camp was discovered, and al Qaeda forces have been trying regroup.
Journalist Kamal Hyder filed this report for CNN earlier this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAMAL HYDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the past two days, the allied campaign over Khowst has intensified. This time, the target is the Zawar Kili area, where a large underground complex existed. This complex was built by the Mujahideen against the former Soviet Union, and it was being used as a -- as a safe haven for storing ammunition and for hiding men.
Today, this area is suspected to be used by terrorists from the al Qaeda organization and from the Taliban. And, once again, this morning, B-52s flying overhead doing their reconnaissance. And people on both sides of the border, villages, leaving that area with the fear that they may be accidental targets.
Kamal Hyder, CNN, Milan Sha, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Kamal, thanks so much for that report -- Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well the war in Afghanistan has brought a lot of attention to the way women were treated by the Taliban. But even after the Taliban, the years of war and oppression are still having a devastating impact on women in that country.
CNN's John Vause reports from Kabul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the cold and the dust, they wait patiently, thousands of widows gathered in what was a teacher's college. Like so many buildings in Kabul, it's been heavily bombed during the years of war. Just a few walls remain standing. They're here for their monthly rations, the most basic of supplies.
AWADIA MOHAMMED, CARE: This is wheat, here is lentil, and this is vegetable oil.
VAUSE: Awadia Mohammed runs the women's program for CARE in Afghanistan. Every month, she tries to feed 10,000 widows and their children, an estimated 60,000 hungry mouths.
(on camera): This is what they get and this is for a month, is that right?
MOHAMMED: Yes, this is for a month, and actually provides half of the food requirements for the whole month.
VAUSE: Only half?
MOHAMMED: Only half, for a family of five persons.
VAUSE (voice-over): For the rest of the month, the widows and their children are on their own. A few clean homes, others sew. But in a country where women were banned from working for the last five years, jobs are scarce.
"In the Taliban period we starved," Razea, mother of three told me. "We had no other choice. We had to stay at home."
(on camera): All these women are grateful for the food. They couldn't survive without it. But ask them what they really want and they'll tell you a job, a chance to earn a good living so they can support themselves and their families without help from anyone.
(voice-over): But when the Taliban were in power, CARE was secretly training women for work. Small groups, no more than 100 at any one time, hidden in homes across the country, taught mainly sewing, knitting, and bead making, their products sold in local markets.
Bibi Jan's husband was a shopkeeper killed in the crossfire of two warring factions almost ten years ago. She has four daughters and two sons and is one of the few women being trained to work.
"Without the project assistance, we would die. The rations are helping, but it's not enough," she says. "Hopefully in the future, I can work in a factory."
CARE is now extending its vocational training to help change the lives of some of the estimated 50,000 widows in Kabul alone. Right now, virtually all of them dependent on aid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): And the people from CARE say the lives of many widows will not improve anytime soon, even though the Taliban are gone and there's a new interim administration in place. And that's because there just isn't the jobs out there; there's no opportunity for them to work. And so what they say is that these widows will need help for many, many more months, even years to come -- Anderson.
COOPER: John, are the only jobs available for these women with relief agencies right now?
VAUSE: Well, the relief agencies employ a very, very small number of people. The main employer, if you like, for all these women are cleaning the homes of the relatively rich people here in Afghanistan, other menial jobs. They sell things on the streets; they sell eggs or whatever they can grow in their gardens. But what you also see on the streets quite a lot here are women begging.
They -- everywhere you go here the call is, "Buckchi" which is basically the call for money. There are women with burqas with their hands out, and they carry babies up to you and they show you their children and they obviously are demonstrating this child as, "This child needs food; please help me."
And that's pretty much everywhere you go on the streets of Kabul. And the jobs just aren't there for them.
COOPER: All right. John Vause, in Kabul, thanks very much for joining us this morning -- Paula.
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