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CNN Saturday Morning News
Insecurity Prevails in Afghanistan
Aired February 16, 2002 - 07:34 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: Afghanistan is today burying its minister of civil aviation. He was killed in what the government called an assassination. Yesterday, the capital city was rocked by mob violence. Both incidents point to mounting insecurity in that country.
Our Brian Palmer is in Kabul with details on both incidents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAMID KARZAI, INTERIM AFGHAN GOVERNMENT CHAIRMAN: We had a very tragic incident yesterday.
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, speaks out after two violent episodes in a city that has barely begun to heal, calling Thursday's killing of a government minister an "assassination."
All 20 suspects listed are high-ranking government and military officials. Five of the accused are from the highest reaches of power. Among them: the head of the ministry of intelligence, several generals in the armed forces and a Supreme Court member.
KARZAI: We have made some arrests. We will be making more arrests.
PALMER: Karzai denied the assassination was a political conspiracy, saying the perpetrators' motives were personal.
Dr. Abdul Rahman, minister of civil aviation and tourism, was dragged off an aircraft at Kabul Airport and stabbed to death. Initial reports said Dr. Rahman was beaten to death by religious pilgrims, angry that flights to Mecca were being delayed. Apparently the men, who killed Dr. Rahman, blended into the crowd of pilgrims to conceal themselves.
Karzai said three of the suspects escaped on planes chartered for pilgrims bound for Saudi Arabia. Kabul Airport remains under tight security.
On Friday, violence of a different sort. Crowds of men rushing the gates of the Olympic stadium and clashing with Afghan police and soldiers from the International Security Force during a soccer match dedicated to unity. ISAF soldiers and police used batons, fire extinguishers and dogs to keep the crowds at bay.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It happened, because they don't let people to go -- enter in the stadium.
PALMER (on camera): In a city accustomed to violence and starved for public entertainment, this exhibition soccer match became a focal point for the energy, both violent and peaceful, of an entire city.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: They don't have any other -- watching of other things, just the stadium. And this because they can't go to stadium to watch the football game and they live here. I am also worried that I can't go to stadium.
PALMER (voice-over): Inside, a relative harmony as the international team defeated the Afghan team in a close, exciting match, three to two.
But beyond the stadium's walls, constant reminders that often only the surface is calm here in Afghanistan.
Brian Palmer, CNN, Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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