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CNN Sunday Morning
The Struggle for Subsistence in the Panjshir Valley
Aired November 04, 2001 - 07:40 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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: As winter draws near, food could grow scarce in some isolated valleys of Northern Afghanistan.
But Reporter Alex Thompson from Channel Four in London tells us that something is being done about that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX THOMPSON, CHANNEL FOUR REPORTER (voice-over): There is only one land route into the Panjshir Valley. A three-day slog over the Endomen (ph) Pass. Even before the snows, not everybody makes it. And soon, it, too, will close in the winter blizzards of the Hindu Kush. And then, sealed by the snow to the north, by the Taliban to the south, the Panjshir Valley will be on its own.
Already, eight organizations up and down the valley have their rice stores in place, should there be a food emergency.
PIERRE JUNOD, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE RED CROSS: To avoid -- to have an emergency situation because, as you know, it's extremely difficult to bring a lot of food very quickly in this region. In maybe two weeks, three weeks time, the pass might be blocked. And if the front lines don't move, then there will be virtually no possibility for us to bring big quantities of food into this region.
THOMPSON: So the abundance of food in the valley now, from the bazaars, to people drawing (ph) a harvest on their roofs, could be deceptive.
Four weeks on from the killing of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Panjshir's legendary commander against the Taliban, they're remembering him at prayers in the mosque at his home village. And afterwards, a meal for all the villagers laid on my Massoud's father- in-law and handed out along the main street.
But 20 years of civil war here have taken their toll. The food we're invited to eat is not produced in the Panjshir.
THOMPSON (on camera): It is, for the moment, something of the land of plenty in the Panjshir Valley. And that makes this area of Afghanistan a big exception to the rule.
But what we're eating now, this berry viriani (ph), illustrates the problems in this part of the world. Once the pass is closed, we're going to have to rely on food like this. In this case, it's rice imported from Pakistan and smuggled north through the Taliban lines.
(voice-over): In the bazaars, prices are inflated. Smugglers, as ever, charge over the odds. Not least, because they in turn have to pass on a lot of money to the Taliban to allow things through.
AZZIMULLAH (through translator): It's impossible to manage without smuggling. Supplies don't fall out of the sky or grow on trees.
THOMPSON: The point is, Azzimullah told me, it's been this way for 20 years or more. Most of his stock is smuggled from Pakistan and Iran by the Taliban lines.
Of course, there is a certain amount of locally produced meat and vegetables. But other essentials, like fuel, will soon virtually all be smuggled in once the snow comes; expensive and impure.
MOHAMMED HABIB (through translator): The price is going very high, and they're mixing the petrol with diesel.
THOMPSON: As winter threatens the Panjshir's road, the World Food Programme is, this week, talking about providing snowplows to keep the trucks rolling -- well, perhaps.
But the problems here go far deeper than winter. The industrial economy of the Panjshir is destroyed by war. The cement works and textile mills which once employed over 10,000 people are now empty, shattered ruins, which has thrown people in the valley back to subsistence farming.
Musorrab Shar (ph) is plowing in his wheat this week. His fields, right next to the river Panjshir, still function. But the drought here has dried the upper springs, and the terrorist fields above are dust, unworkable.
As the children play in the still-warm sunshine, winter is closing in. It will be harsh; it could be disastrous. But ultimately, the Panjshir has her river, her smugglers, a way of getting by, perhaps.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, beyond the reach of the cameras, starvation and catastrophe has already set in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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