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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Abdullah Abdullah
Aired January 26, 2002 - 09:15 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now back to the war on terror and Afghanistan in particular. The question now is, what next for that country, which has faced so many years of tribal feuding? Speaking this week in Washington, Afghanistan's foreign minister outlined the interim government's plan to rebuild that devastated country.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah joins us live now from Washington with more on that.
Mr. Minister, thank you for being with us.
ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, FOREIGN MINISTER, AFGHANISTAN: You're welcome, sir.
O'BRIEN: What precisely do you need from the United States, money, troops, or both?
ABDULLAH: It is support as a whole. What we need is continued engagement from the United States, first of all in the war against terror, which will help the stability in Afghanistan, in the whole region, in the global peace, and also in the reconstruction efforts of our people, support for the political process, which will lead, hopefully, to the formation of fully representative, multiethnic, broad-based government...
O'BRIEN: Give us a...
ABDULLAH: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Give us a sense of how big a task lies ahead. To rebuild your country is no small task.
ABDULLAH: Yes, it is a major challenge. We are aware of it. And it is -- first of all, what is going on in political process, it is a transition from war to peace. After 23 years of war, we have to -- we have won the war, virtually, and we have to win the peace.
And then the task of reconstruction, it is simply building a state from the scratch. It is rebuilding the state from the scratch in all aspects of it, political, economical, from the infrastructure point of view, cultural, social. So it is enormous task.
But I think -- I'm sure that the Afghans will do it with the support from the international community.
O'BRIEN: I suspect many Afghans are a bit wary about all of this, given the history of the West and, for that matter, other nations abandoning Afghanistan, and leaving it to its own devices, and perhaps those tribal feuds which have persisted there for so many hundreds of years.
Are you optimistic that things are different this time around?
ABDULLAH: Yes, things are different this time around. It cannot be otherwise. Now, first of all, there is an opportunity for national solution in Afghanistan. And the political process has progressed, and just yesterday or the day before yesterday, the names for the Commission for Loya Jirga were announced.
And secondly, the international community has focused and the international community is fully aware of the consequences of abandoning Afghanistan in '80s and early '90s when the cold war had ended. That will not repeat, that tragic lesson will not repeat to us, to the world, we are sure about it, and we have been assured time and again.
O'BRIEN: You mention this Loya Jirga, or grand council, meeting of essentially all the tribal factions to try and come up with a permanent government. Your government, after all, is temporary for now. Give us a sense of the debate and how these tribes might be able to put aside some of their ancient hostilities in order to form a cohesive government. That's no small task.
ABDULLAH: Yes, it is a task. First of all, hostilities were not between different tribes. Hostilities were imposed upon Afghanistan, first in '80s, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, later on, in late '90s, Afghanistan was invaded by terrorist groups, and it was foreign interference which was the root cause of the problem.
As far as the reconciliation is concerned, you witnessed that after the fall of Taliban, there were no acts of reprisals, there were no acts of revenge, and the sense of compromise and reconciliation prevails. But it is -- to work out a system that -- the task is to work out the system so in the future all ethnic groups, all sections of the Afghan society, will be satisfied with. It could be done through Loya Jirga, emergency Loya Jirga, and five months from now, in a proper Loya Jirga in two years' time from now.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Abdullah, is it easy for you to envision a peaceful, prosperous Afghanistan? It's been so long since it has been either. It must be difficult to even conjure that up.
ABDULLAH: The opportunity is there. We were optimistic even before September 11 when there were no opportunities. And we were trying hard, struggling hard, in order to create that opportunity. But at this stage the opportunity is there. We as Afghans have to seize it and have to seize it quickly, and our friends should support us.
I think together we can make it, and it will not be far away before we see such a situation.
O'BRIEN: We will leave it on those words of optimism. We thank you very much for your time, Mr. Minister. Abdullah Abdullah is the foreign minister of the interim government in Afghanistan, joining us from Washington this morning. Thank you very much, sir.
ABDULLAH: Thank you.
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