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American Morning
Situation in Afghanistan
Aired September 08, 2003 - 07:37 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: Part of that speech last night included a new request from the president that would direct about $2 billion to Afghanistan. That's roughly twice the current amount of U.S. aid. All this coming at a time when the government of Hamid Karzai facing a renewed threat from the Taliban.
"New York Times" correspondent Carlotta Gall is in Kabul and joins us now to talk about where the situation stands today in that country.
Welcome.
Appreciate your time here.
I'm wondering about this $2 billion price tag in a country that needs just about everything. How would this money help there in Afghanistan?
CARLOTTA GALL, "NEW YORK TIMES": Well, American officials have said that the priority will be to use it for security. They have a plan to train 19,000 police around the country, something that hasn't been done to date. They've only trained some policemen in Kabul. That will help security countrywide, they hope.
They'll also spend a lot of money on the Afghan national army, which they're building up, but is only 5,000 strong so far. It needs to be much bigger and stronger if it's going to cope with security on its own.
So security is the priority, but there's also plans for the big infrastructure projects which the Afghan people so desperately want to see -- roads, bridges, big engineering projects that'll bring in jobs and increase security, but also prosperity.
HEMMER: I want to steal and article from a competing newspaper. The "Washington Post" today talks about the U.S. in Afghanistan making progress and taking a toll on the Taliban. In the southern part of Afghanistan, in the eastern part of that country near Pakistan, how much regrouping has been spotted and seen by the Taliban forces?
GALL: Well, I think it's very serious. My colleague on the "New York Times" yesterday talked to the chief American commander, General Vines. He said there were up to 1,000 active in this latest fighting, 1,000 Taliban. That's an enormous number. Up until recent months, we've only seen small groups of five, 10, 20 at the most. This is a major concentration that they discovered up in the mountains. Some of the Afghan commanders said they'd been there for months. So I think it shows the very serious groupings of Taliban. They're quickly dispersed. The American air strikes are extraordinarily powerful and in two weeks they dislodged them and sent some fleeing and they killed, we reckon, 100 Taliban. So it can be dealt with. But they're popping up all over the place. We had two American soldiers injured overnight.
So it's really a big and growing problem, and perhaps more importantly, it's turning the people against the government, or it losing -- to make them lose confidence in the government of President Karzai. And they're now wondering who's going to win? Are the Taliban going to come back? So there's a really considerable problem ahead for both the government of Afghanistan and the American forces here.
HEMMER: Now, finally, Carlotta, and quickly, if we could, how much talk is there about Osama bin Laden today in Kabul on the streets and among the people?
GALL: Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. How much...
HEMMER: The question was about...
GALL: ... do we hear about him?
HEMMER: Yes. The question was about Osama bin Laden. How much talk is there about wondering where he is and what he is doing and whether or not he might be located, if, indeed, alive?
GALL: I think the general opinion here in Afghanistan is that he's hiding just over the border in Pakistan and there's great antipathy here for the Pakistanis, that they haven't dealt with the Taliban and with the al Qaeda people who fled across the border. And the feeling is that they're there and they're now encouraging the Taliban to regroup and helping fund them. And I think it's very much still a menace. And enough, the people of Afghanistan and the officials here are very bitter that America hasn't put more pressure on Pakistan to deal with the problem there.
And I think they feel he's still there and he's still a danger.
HEMMER: That's Carlotta Gall, a writer for the "New York Times," with us live in Kabul, the capital city in Afghanistan.
Thanks for sharing with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 8, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Part of that speech last night included a new request from the president that would direct about $2 billion to Afghanistan. That's roughly twice the current amount of U.S. aid. All this coming at a time when the government of Hamid Karzai facing a renewed threat from the Taliban.
"New York Times" correspondent Carlotta Gall is in Kabul and joins us now to talk about where the situation stands today in that country.
Welcome.
Appreciate your time here.
I'm wondering about this $2 billion price tag in a country that needs just about everything. How would this money help there in Afghanistan?
CARLOTTA GALL, "NEW YORK TIMES": Well, American officials have said that the priority will be to use it for security. They have a plan to train 19,000 police around the country, something that hasn't been done to date. They've only trained some policemen in Kabul. That will help security countrywide, they hope.
They'll also spend a lot of money on the Afghan national army, which they're building up, but is only 5,000 strong so far. It needs to be much bigger and stronger if it's going to cope with security on its own.
So security is the priority, but there's also plans for the big infrastructure projects which the Afghan people so desperately want to see -- roads, bridges, big engineering projects that'll bring in jobs and increase security, but also prosperity.
HEMMER: I want to steal and article from a competing newspaper. The "Washington Post" today talks about the U.S. in Afghanistan making progress and taking a toll on the Taliban. In the southern part of Afghanistan, in the eastern part of that country near Pakistan, how much regrouping has been spotted and seen by the Taliban forces?
GALL: Well, I think it's very serious. My colleague on the "New York Times" yesterday talked to the chief American commander, General Vines. He said there were up to 1,000 active in this latest fighting, 1,000 Taliban. That's an enormous number. Up until recent months, we've only seen small groups of five, 10, 20 at the most. This is a major concentration that they discovered up in the mountains. Some of the Afghan commanders said they'd been there for months. So I think it shows the very serious groupings of Taliban. They're quickly dispersed. The American air strikes are extraordinarily powerful and in two weeks they dislodged them and sent some fleeing and they killed, we reckon, 100 Taliban. So it can be dealt with. But they're popping up all over the place. We had two American soldiers injured overnight.
So it's really a big and growing problem, and perhaps more importantly, it's turning the people against the government, or it losing -- to make them lose confidence in the government of President Karzai. And they're now wondering who's going to win? Are the Taliban going to come back? So there's a really considerable problem ahead for both the government of Afghanistan and the American forces here.
HEMMER: Now, finally, Carlotta, and quickly, if we could, how much talk is there about Osama bin Laden today in Kabul on the streets and among the people?
GALL: Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. How much...
HEMMER: The question was about...
GALL: ... do we hear about him?
HEMMER: Yes. The question was about Osama bin Laden. How much talk is there about wondering where he is and what he is doing and whether or not he might be located, if, indeed, alive?
GALL: I think the general opinion here in Afghanistan is that he's hiding just over the border in Pakistan and there's great antipathy here for the Pakistanis, that they haven't dealt with the Taliban and with the al Qaeda people who fled across the border. And the feeling is that they're there and they're now encouraging the Taliban to regroup and helping fund them. And I think it's very much still a menace. And enough, the people of Afghanistan and the officials here are very bitter that America hasn't put more pressure on Pakistan to deal with the problem there.
And I think they feel he's still there and he's still a danger.
HEMMER: That's Carlotta Gall, a writer for the "New York Times," with us live in Kabul, the capital city in Afghanistan.
Thanks for sharing with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
