Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Afghan-American Hopes to Help Rebuild Homeland

Aired December 16, 2001 - 08:43   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: Afghans in America, living here, closely monitoring the political and social changes that are taking place back in their homeland. One New York woman is taking it a step further, asking that Afghan-Americans have a role in rebuilding Afghanistan.

CNN's Brian Palmer has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I think that there's an extremely role for those of us that are grown up primarily outside of Afghanistan, to play a role in reconstruction efforts.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Only 23-years-old, Afghan-American Mussudan Sultan (ph) is taking the plunge into international politics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Upon her return to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in August 2001, she co-founded, then, the Afghan World Alliance.

PALMER: Even learning to talk about herself in the third person at press conferences. She's a member of half a dozen Afghan-American groups and a representative of a newly organized electoral college, angling for a role in choosing a permanent Afghan government.

Sultan left Kandahar with her family when she was five. Now she and other Afghans living in the U.S. are searching for ways to rebuild a country devastated by war and neglect.

VIKRAM PAREKH, AFGHANISTAN RESEARCHER: One thing to bear in mind is that Afghanistan itself was a largely underdeveloped rural society for the most part. And some parts of the country had been marginalized by the central administrations over -- you know, since the beginning of the Afghan state.

PALMER: Breaking the Ramadan fast at an Afghan restaurant in New York City's East Village, Sultan and her peers talk about the interim government now in place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I really, truly hope that our people, especially the leaders, especially the ones who have been given power, are going to take advantage of this and not ruin it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need a Marshall Plan. We need a mini- Marshall Plan.

PALMER: Afghanistan needs people with technical skills. Engineers to build roads and water plants, doctors to run hospitals. But Sultan, who holds a degree in economics, says that's not all the country needs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, it's a question of where we can be most effective. I give the example of, I can go to Afghanistan and hand out supplies to people. Or maybe I'm most effective here, lobbying for money or running a business and contributing my funds to having 20 people, 30 people, whatever hand out those same supplies.

PALMER: Whichever route Sultan chooses, it's clear Afghanistan will need whatever help it can get.

Brian Palmer, CNN, New York.

(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