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CNN Live Sunday
What Happens in Afghanistan Without the Taliban?
Aired October 14, 2001 - 16:12 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House already thought going into -- the idea that if the Taliban does fall, what happens next in Afghanistan? It turns out one of the answers could be in Peshawar, Pakistan.
And our Rebecca MacKinnon has that story for us right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pashtuns of the Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province; an ancient people who also happen to be Afghanistan's dominant ethnic group. Some demonstrate in support of the Taliban, who are also Pashtuns. But other Pashtuns do not.
The aging leader of Pakistan's largest Pashtun political party has come out of retirement to declare support for Pakistan's alliance with the United States.
WALID KHAN, AWAMI NATIONAL PARTY: To us it's not a holy war.
MACKINNON: But he also had a warning to Washington.
KHAN: Afghanistan has suffered enough. Please stop giving instructions to Afghans; they are quite capable of looking after their liberty, their freedom. They're quite capable of looking after their own affairs.
MACKINNON: Political maneuvering over the future of this war- torn country has progressed little since the bombing started. In the inner circle of exiled King Zahir Shah, observers report a great deal of infighting.
Northern Alliance fighters hope U.S. air strikes will help them take Kabul, but because they're not ethnically Pashtun, they're not considered acceptable to the majority of Afghans.
And meanwhile, sources close to anti-Taliban forces based here say at least a dozen exiled anti-Taliban Pashtun warlords, including this man, Abdul Hakh (ph), have received U.S. funding.
(on camera): Sources here say U.S. officials have been meeting quietly here in Peshawar with exiled Afghan military commanders who they hope will help to bring down the Taliban. But some of those commanders are now saying that U.S. air strikes are making it harder for them to convince more moderate Taliban leaders to defect.
(voice-over): Afghan professor Rasul Amin, exiled since the Soviet invasion, warns destroying the Taliban is not enough.
RASUL AMIN, AFGHAN PROFESSOR: Without formation of any administration, especially for Kabul, and they started bombing. And still the people, they have become confused, you know; they don't know who is coming to capture Kabul.
If the casualties go on, I think the people gradually may join the Taliban, and they will support.
MACKINNON: Exactly how the Afghan people will get a government that can improve their lives remains as unclear as ever.
Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Peshawar, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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