TSR: "...engaging the
tribes to attack the Taliban and keep them out of their
area."
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Length: 5:14
LARGE (60.5 MB)
-----
SMALL (6.4 MB)
A preview of the piece to air on AC360
tonight, as Michael travels through Kandahar to see
how the city has changed since he left it to go to
Iraq.
WOLF
BLITZER: The stakes have never been higher in
Afghanistan, where the situation looks increasingly
shaking. The government is accused of outright
election fraud. American casualties right now are on
the rise. And Taliban insurgents are making a bloody
comeback.
CNN has deployed its full resources to the war zone.
Our Michael Ware has been to Kandahar, a strategic
city which remains right on the edge of Taliban
territory. It's a city Michael used to know very,
very well. Here's his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How does that make
people feel here in Kandahar?
(voice-over): I wanted to see what had happened to
this place since I had left. Kandahar: it's the
birthplace of the Taliban and the capital of the
south, the fiercest combat zone. I once lived here,
before Iraq and after the fall of the Taliban.
(on camera): So much has changed here in Kandahar.
There's new buildings. There's new roads. There's new
tree lines. But there's also a new Taliban. There's a
Taliban here that wasn't here just a few years ago
and this city now lives in the shadow of the Taliban.
The Taliban control neighborhoods here. In fact, this
is a Taliban neighborhood. These police are from a
police station right in the midst of a Taliban
stronghold. They're very much on the front lines
guarding the gates to Kandahar.
(voice-over): In fact, here in this marketplace, the
mood among shopkeepers is anxious. "Everyone in
Kandahar is saying the city is surrounded," this
businessman says. "There's something like 200 men
standing here. Go. Ask them -- is there Taliban or
not?"
Here, the sense of a city under siege goes much
deeper than just hurting business. Even here in the
city, you cannot speak out against the Taliban.
"Those who do speak up face a terrible conclusion,"
this shopkeeper says. I found, for many, these fears
are growing -- even though a major U.S. and Canadian
base is located at Kandahar's air field, just outside
the city limits -- their vehicles in the city
streets.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
BLITZER: And Michael Ware is joining us live now from
Kabul. Amazing stuff you've been working on, Michael,
over there. But tell us once again why Kandahar --
what happens in Kandahar could be a barometer for
what happens in all of Afghanistan.
WARE: Well, it's certainly going to tell us what's
happening with the Taliban itself -- the foremost
enemy of coalition troops here. Let's not forget,
Kandahar is the second largest city in the country.
It's the capital of the south. It's the old imperial
capital. And it's the birthplace of the Taliban.
So what goes down on the streets of Kandahar will
tell you so much about which way goes the south of
the country.
Obviously, there's different issues to the north and
to the east, as you approach -- to the west as you
approach Iran. But Kandahar gives you a very good
measure of how President Obama's war against the
Taliban is faring. And, quite frankly, Wolf, that
measure right now is not a good one. It's something
to worry about -- Wolf.
BLITZER: It seems, to a lot of experts out there --
and you're one of them, Michael -- that all the
options before the U.S. right now -- and there are
several different options, including sending
thousands of additional troops -- all the options are
pretty bad right now.
Are there any good options?
WARE: Well, there is one element that's been missing
from the mix, according to a lot of the major players
I've spoken to in Kandahar. Many of them have been
telling me, you know, when I first arrived eight
years ago: you're never ever going to have enough
international troops, American or otherwise, to get
the job done here. And you probably won't get enough
Afghan Army troops either -- certainly not in the
time frame that the American public is allowing
President Obama.
So you've got to start looking for other solutions.
Now apart from negotiations and political solutions
that could lead to an end to the conflict by dealing
with the Taliban, there's something else, as well.
It's learning from the lessons of Iraq and
transporting them here. It's engaging the tribes to
attack the Taliban and keep them out of their area,
to arm militias -- in many ways turning back to the
old warlords, who won the Soviet war here in
Afghanistan in the '80s -- some of whom have returned
to the Taliban not because they believe in the
Taliban cause, but because they're so disenchanted
with the Afghan government and the American mission.
And I can tell you, the Karzai family is calling for
a return to tribal militias. And there is some
interest within the U.S. military to look at this
option because of the successes we saw in Iraq. That
could be the missing element -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And General David Petraeus, who's the U.S.
military commander for the Central Command, which
overseas Iraq and Afghanistan, he certainly
understands this situation well.
Michael Ware, be careful over there.