PA: "The flags say it all.
This is an American war."
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Length: 6:51
LARGE (79.6 MB)
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SMALL (8.3 MB)
Immediately following the speech, Michael is
back at the map with John King to show the exact
line of delineation between where the NATO troops
are and where the American troops are ... and
overwhelmingly the American troops are where the
Taliban is strongest. Despite the NATO support,
"This is an American war."
Google maps also gives a good idea of the
difficulty of the terrain (at the end of the
Himalayas) that we are trying to close down and
control, and Michael asks where the discussion was
about "the neighbors" who are such important
players in this war.
WOLF
BLITZER: Let's go to John King right now. He's at the
magic map with Michael Ware. Michael has spent a lot
of time in Afghanistan.
Guys, you know this story quite well. The challenges
are daunting.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf,
you heard the president make the policy argument why
he's sending more troops. You heard him answer some
of his political supporters and his critics. Let's
take a closer look with Michael Ware at the challenge
the president outlined tonight.
Let's just begin right here. Here's your map of
Afghanistan. The capital, Kabul is here. Some of the
more dicey regions here.
Let me start by showing you the state of play right
now by bringing in the current troop levels just
quickly to refresh. About 45,000 NATO troops, about
68,000 U.S. troops now. The president says he will
add 30,000 plus to that.
And let's close it down, Michael Ware. What is most
significant just as a quick set up about this map?
You see most of the American flags down here. The
NATO forces up here.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well,
the flags say it all, John. This is an American war.
Now, whether NATO antes up with more troops or not --
which most likely it's not except in a tokenistic
sense -- look at the NATO flags. Where's the
conflict? It's not there. The conflict is down here
on the Pakistani border region.
KING: Let me jump in and illustrate as you talk. Keep
going.
WARE: That's where this war is being fought. America,
Britain, even the Aussies in Oruzgan province, that's
where the battle is. NATO isn't in it. This is an
American war. That's what that tells us.
KING: To reinforce your point, inside the line where
you saw most of the American troops, the darker the
province, the stronger the Taliban. So the greatest
Taliban presence --
WARE: And I'd even make some of these provinces
darker. Kandahar, the capital city is under siege.
Zabol, there's entire districts that are Taliban
control right at this moment. Paktika, I mean, most
of that is under Taliban influence if not control.
And remember, there's an American soldier still being
held hostage. He was taken out of this area and is
somewhere around here. So, I would make this a lot
darker.
KING: And let's reinforce the reason. You're in this
area right here. We're focusing on this side of the
border, which is Afghanistan, a huge military
challenge. But the president did make the point that
even if things go perfectly here, you still have a
giant question as to what happens in Pakistan.
WARE: Absolutely. The war in Afghanistan is not going
to be ultimately won or lost in Afghanistan. There's
a lot of other pieces. Key to that is Pakistan. These
sanctuaries, these safe havens. Now let's remember--
KING: I just want to show one view. I'll interrupt
you for one second.
Safe havens including, we believe, Osama bin Laden.
WARE: Osama bin Laden. Most likely, people say, he's
here in this region. But let's not forget there's two
Taliban. There's an Afghan Taliban, and there's a
Pakistani Taliban.
The Pakistani military right now is fighting the
Pakistani Taliban. Right? But that's not the only
sanctuary. All of this, all of it is Taliban
sanctuary. Indeed, down here in the Pakistani city of
Quetta, it's known by American intelligence, by
Ambassador Holbrooke as the home of the Taliban
Shura. So all of that is Taliban and anti-American
militant safe haven, not just the highlighted areas.
KING: I want to do one other point. I want to show
one other thing to illustrate two points. Number one,
the president talked about the past and the
under-resourcing, under- U.S. resourcing. And he
talked about mistakes that were made. He said the al
Qaeda leadership was allowed to escape.
This, of course, is Tora Bora where they believe back
in the early days, Osama bin Laden escaped into
Pakistan. Instructive not only to talk about past
mistakes, but also, Michael, the terrain. This is not
Iraq. This is not flat desert.
WARE: Absolutely not. Now a very key lesson was
learned in this battle in 2001. There, American
special forces relied on -- American special forces
relied on Afghan militia to do most of the fighting.
Well, Osama paid them more than we did. So he just
slipped through the back door, which you can see, you
know, there's a myriad of back doors.
So the next big battle in similar terrain in March,
2002, operate in Shahi-Kot, that was American-led and
fought. That was the first lesson. The second lesson.
Look at this, mate. Look at this.
This border region -- this is the end of the
Himalayas. These valleys swallow infantry divisions
whole. How on earth do you ever expect anyone, let
alone the Afghans, even the American military to seal
that? It's just not going to happen.
KING: Well, then on that point as we make this go
away, let's come back to where we are in terms of the
troops today. The president said he can send in
30,000 more. He hopes to get several thousand more
from the NATO allies. And he makes the case to the
American people tonight, you may be opposed to this.
But more now is the solution to getting out sooner.
WARE: Yes.
KING: Three years, he says, you can have the Afghans
up into training and begin to transition to hand back
them all of these difficult areas. Based on the past
experience, training the Afghans, keeping them in the
security forces once they join up, what are the
challenges?
WARE: Well, first, like you say, you've got to put
together as quickly as possible an Afghan fighting
force that whether it's held together by sticky tape
or string like the Iraqi security forces, can at
least be effective to some degree. At least that
gives you something. But it's not enough.
I mean, Kandahar, Helmand, do you know how many
Afghan troops are down there? Virtually none. They're
just token presences. You know who controls those
regions? If it's not the Taliban, it's the local
district chief. It's the local tribal chief. They're
the people America needs to reach out to, either
until the Army is built or even after. You're not
going to be able to do anything without local
partners.
KING: And as the president discussed the challenge
tonight in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, as well, you
make the case that something was missing.
WARE: Yes. Okay. We heard Pakistan mentioned. That
was a key word, but it was such a brief passing
mention. It was the rhetoric that we heard before
from previous administrations.
The true story of this Afghan war is that Saudi
Arabia is playing a hand in here. Iran is playing a
hand in here. India has enormous concern in Pakistan
because Pakistan and India are rivals. They're using
Afghanistan as yet another battlefield. So, where was
any kind of consideration from the president about
the regional approach? This broad chess game that
needs to be played to get Americans home from there?
KING: So, Campbell, we lay out there some of the
policy challenges. Michael making the case that the
president left out a few pieces of the neighborhood,
but as we showed you on the ground in Afghanistan
across the border in Pakistan, a huge military
challenge for the president. And in that speech,
Campbell, you heard full well, not only did he
outline why he made these decisions but also piece by
piece trying to address what he knows is a huge
political debate back here at home.