TSR: "But for us, it's
just the less attention that you attract, that's that
little bit safer that you are."
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Length: 5:40
LARGE (65.5 MB)
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SMALL (6.9 MB)
Wolf Blitzer asks Michael about the current
status of the war in Afghanistan, and also asks him
about a close call he had last week when the truck
he and his cameraman were riding in struck an IED.
(The full story and video of that night will be on
AC360 tonight.)
WOLF
BLITZER: Four American troops died in Afghanistan
today, 13 so far this month. And August brought a
record death toll of 52.
CNN is on the scene of this increasingly bloody war
with enormous ramifications for the United States.
Let's go live to the scene.
CNN's Michael Ware is joining us right now. Michael,
I'll ask the blunt question to you: is Afghanistan
falling apart?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's very
simple answer to that, Wolf, and that would roughly
be, yes.
Has it gone beyond the point of no return?
No. It can still be salvaged. But there would be very
few in the U.S. command or the U.S. mission here that
would deny the fact that the mission is in crisis.
Let's look at the big picture here. Politically, this
country is now in limbo. They haven't even determined
the outcome of last month's elections because of this
storm of corruption allegations that we've just been
talking about.
Now, everyone expected there to be some corruption,
but had it been clean and swift and it had been done,
that would have been better than this drawn out
situation that we have now.
Militarily, as you say, 13 U.S. service personnel
killed this month. That's in just eight days alone.
The combat continues right now. And the entire war
plan is under review. So politically and militarily,
the mission is in limbo -- Wolf.
BLITZER: There could be a recommendation from the
commanders -- the military commanders to the
president of the United States, the
commander-in-chief, Michael, for thousands of
additional U.S. troops to be dispatched -- deployed
to Afghanistan.
Would that really make a difference?
WARE: Well, it depends if America wants to actually
fight this war or not, because right now, certainly
it isn't. I mean, this massive offensive that's
underway in Helmand Province, where so many American
and British and other troops are dying, is really
just taking a very tiny bite out of a very large
apple.
No one disputes the fact that none of the operations
at the moment have any prospect of breaking the back
of the Taliban. The Taliban war machine remains
untouched -- its supplies lines, its sanctuaries in
Pakistan, its command, its control, its ability to
regenerate and replace its fighters. So troops are
needed if America wants to apply anything close to
real military pressure here -- Wolf.
BLITZER: You were just on a night patrol with U.S.
forces on the edge of Taliban territory and you had a
close call.
Tell us what happened.
WARE: Yes, Wolf, actually it wasn't with U.S. forces.
We were with an Afghan police patrol in the southern
city of Kandahar one evening last week, patrolling a
Taliban neighborhood. And, unfortunately, the gun
truck that cameraman Sarmad Qasiri and I were
traveling in was struck by an IED -- a roadside bomb
planted by the Taliban.
Fortunately, it was mistimed just by a nanosecond.
Otherwise we might not be here to talking about this.
And, unfortunately, we've received a call from that
Afghan police unit just earlier this evening. And
less than 12 years ago [I
think he meant 12 hours ago] on the
same road in the same place, that patrol was hit
again. However, this time two of the police officers
had their legs shredded. One of them has serious
facial injuries and may be blinded -- Wolf.
BLITZER: We saw you wearing traditional Afghan garb,
Michael, and you've grown a beard. Are you trying to
blend in? Is that the theory?
WARE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) I mean down
here, the less visible you are, the safer you are.
Nothing can ultimately protect you, whether you're in
uniform or out of uniform. But for us, it's just the
less attention that you attract, that's that little
bit safer that you are. So if a bit of facial hair
and what they call a mandress or a salwar kameez
means it helps us get away with that, helps us to
stay one step ahead, then I'll do it. I'll dress up
in drag, Wolf, no problems.
BLITZER: Michael Ware, be careful over there. Stand
by. We're going to be continuing to talk with you
throughout this special week of our coverage.
By the way, tonight, an AC360
special
report, "Afghanistan Elections: The Taliban
Resurgence and Mounting American Casualties." It's a
critical moment for the entire region. Anderson
Cooper takes you inside Afghanistan "Live from The
Battle Zone," all this week at 10:00 p.m. Eastern,
only on CNN, the worldwide leader in news.
We'll be speaking live with Anderson, by the way, in
the next hour.
Let's go to Jack Cafferty right now.
He's got The Cafferty File.
I guess it's easier for Michael Ware to grow a beard
and blend in than Anderson Cooper. He doesn't
necessarily blend in in that Afghan society all that
well.
CAFFERTY: What's your excuse?
BLITZER: I don't think I would blend in either.
CAFFERTY: You have the beard.
BLITZER: I've got the beard, though.
CAFFERTY: Why is it nobody else can cover the war in
Afghanistan or the war in Iraq the way we can with
Michael Ware?
BLITZER: We have incredible resources.
CAFFERTY: Well, we have Michael Ware.
BLITZER: And we have courageous, brave
correspondents...
CAFFERTY: Oh.
BLITZER: ...who are willing to literally risk their
lives, as we see.
CAFFERTY: And can you tell watching his stuff that he
-- there's a part of him that thrives on the danger
and the adventure and the sense of...
BLITZER: Yeah, whether in Afghanistan or Iraq...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
BLITZER: ...or in Mexico.
CAFFERTY: Yeah.
BLITZER: He did some great reporting from Mexico.
CAFFERTY: Or Brooklyn, where he lives.
BLITZER: Yeah.
CAFFERTY: Okay.