Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

U.N. Delegates in Germany Work Towards Interim Afghan Government

Aired December 01, 2001 - 08:07   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Near Bonn, Germany, delegates to the Afghan talks slept in late this morning after a late night of trying to hammer out plans for an interim government in that country.

Our Bettina Luescher is covering those talks on Afghanistan's future. She joins us this morning.

And Bettina, any indication that losing sleep for those talks helped out in the long run?

BETTINA LUESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're getting together in about half an hour from now, all the Afghan delegates, together with the U.N. special representative Lakhdar Brahimi, to try to see where exactly they are. Usually they have a press conference at this hour. They've postponed it for by six hours. So there's definitely something up there.

But what they're waiting for is still word from Kabul. The team of the Northern Alliance here has more than a day ago came up with the list of names for a future administration, for a future supreme council. That list has not been approved yet by the Northern Alliance leadership in Kabul and what we are hearing is that there were signs of a rift within the Northern Alliance in Kabul.

But highly placed sources here at the talks said that the team here was willing to go ahead, if just even a majority of the leadership in Kabul would approve this list. But overnight we also heard signs from the foreign minister of the Northern Alliance that they were really trying to come up with a deal here.

Here's Abdullah Abdullah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, NORTHERN ALLIANCE FOREIGN MINISTER: We will come out of there with an agreement. We shouldn't let this chance to fail once again. And from the other side, what we expect from the international community is to also understand the problems that we are dealing with it and the problems which we are faced with while fully intending to make these talks success.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LUESCHER: And so they're looking here for ways out of this apparent hitch and apparent stalemate at the moment here at these talks. Again, the talks going into higher gear again in a few minutes from now. A U.N. spokesperson saying that they're also looking at alternatives.

So there's still a lot of issues that have to be resolved, so many details. Another issue that is not resolved is, of course, an international security force. So there's still a lot of work has to be done here. One member of the Northern Alliance here saying, you know, when asked about what would happen if President Rabbani would oppose a list of names, he said Mr. Rabbani will approve this list.

A lot of details here on the table -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Well, nobody said it was going to be easy.

Bettina Luescher joining us live from just outside Bonn this morning, thanks very much -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, building a new government for Afghanistan is dwarfed by the job of rebuilding an infrastructure destroyed by years of the war. But the United Nations is already getting involved, as CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports from Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United Nations' highest official in charge of long-term development toured Afghanistan's battered capital city to take a firsthand look at the job ahead, a job that will clearly be expensive, take a long time and will not be easy.

MARK MALLOCH BROWN, U.N. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: In the first year or so, the great bulk of activity will be in the, will be repairing infrastructure rather than rebuilding it, support into communities, work on critical, immediate issues such as demining, reintegration of refugees and returnees into communities. All of that quick impact, very urgent stuff which shows the dividend and gets communities back.

WHITBECK: Refugees returning to Kabul will find a destroyed city -- bombed out shells of buildings, virtually non-existent utilities and so far no local authority to turn to for help.

(on camera): Most of the destruction is not new. Over 20 years of war have left little infrastructure intact.

(voice-over): And previous governments have shown little interest in rebuilding. The U.N. says getting leadership into place is the first step.

MALLOCH BROWN: Well, you know, Afghans are struggling to work out what kind of country they want and yet, and that'll take time. Yet the donor interest in the country is today. And so we have to find a way of channeling that donor interest into a viable, credible plan for the reconstruction of the country over, say, the next five years.

WHITBECK: Over the next 10 years, some estimates put the price tag of rebuilding at $10 billion. Ameda (ph) knows a bit about reconstruction. Her chicken coop was destroyed by a rocket during U.S. bombings of Kabul. She says she lost 2,000 birds and the income to take care of her sick husband and seven nieces and nephews. "I thought I had lost hope," she says, "but I had no choice but to continue forward." She borrowed money to rebuild. When the U.N. came by to visit, she gave them a chicken egg laid by one of her new chickens in a coop rebuilt with the rubble of a destroyed city.

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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