Kabul, Afghanistan
By Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent
KABUL, Afghanistan – President Obama's address in Cairo sounded even better in Arabic translation, which after all was the point.
From my hotel room in Kabul I listened to Obama’s speech as it was broadcast on the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera. Often accused in Washington and by U.S. military commanders of having an anti-American bias, Al-Jazeera dedicated "special events" coverage to the Cairo speech. The network, the leading Arab broadcaster, had correspondents posted around the world to gather reaction and ran highlights of Obama’s address in every newscast.
Its reporters described Obama’s appeal to open a new page in relations with Muslims as a possible "turning point." The speech will be the focus of Al-Jazeera’s Friday analysis program Aktar Min Rai, "More Than One Opinion," which is similar to NBC’s "Meet The Press."
This is a huge break from the past. Former President George Bush was Al-Jazeera’s bête noire. Yesterday, one of the network’s guests remembered Bush as "a warmonger" who spoke "in a language of blood and killing." Another analyst compared the former president to Osama bin Laden.
"I don’t see much of a difference between Bush and Bin Laden," he said. "Both say, ‘You are either with us or against us.’"
In contrast, Al-Jazeera described Obama’s speech as "honest," "historic" and "deeply respectful."
I suspect a main reason Obama was so well received was that he – either by design or coincidence – successfully used the tools of Arabic rhetoric: flattery, history and religion. Simply put, Obama translated well into Arabic.
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As the war in Afghanistan morphs into a drug war, the U.S. is shifting its tactics by trying to develop alternative crop programs for the world's top opium producer. NBC News' Jim Maceda reports.
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Fighting the Taliban now includes a concerted effort to cut the organization's financial lifeline: the illegal drug trade. NBC News' Jim Maceda goes behind the scenes in Afghanistan as a U.S. DEA team carries out drug raids.
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KABUL For centuries, the women of Afghanistan have had to walk behind men, their faces hidden, their dreams denied. They have often been forced to live a harsh life in a place where most women are illiterate, forced into marriages, and beaten by their husbands.
In a rare protest, nearly 300 women gathered Wednesday to demand equality and the repeal of a new law imposing even more restrictions on their rights.
NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports on a women's shelter in Kabul where Afghan women fleeing violent homes can find safe shelter.
Reporter's Notebook
By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – It took us an hour to get past the heavily-armed guards and bomb-sniffing dogs and through the gate of the U.S. Embassy. A few days earlier, a suicide bomber had blown up himself and his car, killing at least two civilians, only 50 yards from the building.
But now we were inside the embassy and interviewing Loren Stoddard, a top official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It was a surreal time and place to be talking about pomegranates.
"You see this?" asked the sharp, jovial Stoddard, reaching for a ruby red fruit the size of a grapefruit. "You know the one main thing that's been lacking in Afghanistan is hope. Hope in a successful, productive, prosperous future. Well, this pomegranate represents hope to all Afghan farmers."
Stoddard explained how this traditional Afghan fruit – so popular these days in the U.S. and Europe for its elixir-like effects – was skyrocketing in price and capable of even replacing opium poppy as Afghanistan's chief cash crop.
Then he held up an even bigger, and ruddier, fruit. "And this is the ‘Kandahari’ from Kandahar, one of the best pomegranates in the world. At least in this part of the world, it's its own brand name.''
A light went off in my mind: A brand name? Just what Afghanistan needs.
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By Carol Grisanti, NBC News Producer
KABUL, Afghanistan – Alberto Cairo describes himself as moody, temperamental, impatient and pushy. But to the disabled patients he has treated for 19 years at the Red Cross Rehabilitation Center – most of them victims of violence in this war-torn country – he is an angel of mercy.
"If you see someone coming here depressed, and you see if after a few minutes he’s a little less depressed, and then after a few days he’s even better, and then he starts smiling again – that’s a huge reward," Cairo said. "What can you expect, more than that?" he asked.
In a back corner of the Red Cross center’s male ward, 12-year-old Mohammed smiled broadly as Cairo walked over to him. Mohammed was sitting with his younger brother, Ahmad, on the edge of a cot. His one good foot, shod in a torn shoe, dangled down.
"Look at him," Cairo said to me. "Sometimes he uses his prostheses and sometimes he doesn’t. He’s a naughty boy, but no one at home is really taking care of him," he said.
The lanky Cairo inspected the stump of Mohammed’s amputated leg and affectionately ruffled his younger brother’s hair before moving on through the ward, dashing in and out of the center’s therapy rooms in his mid-length Red Cross smock.
The gray-haired Italian lawyer turned physiotherapist, teased and scolded the male patients in fluent Dari, their native language. He hugged the kids and then bicycled over to the female area to chat with the women. Cairo, 51, seemed to be everywhere at once, the driving force at the clinic, which is the largest orthopedic center in the world for disabled persons.
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By NBC News' Iqbal Sapand
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – There were no all night parties or victory celebrations in Kabul to celebrate Barack Obama's win, but for Afghans here an Obama presidency raises expectations and for many brings new hopes.
President Hamid Karzai wasted no time congratulating the president-elect. But, he also used the opportunity to send a strong message that Afghans can no longer tolerate the high toll of civilian casualties from indiscriminate bombings by U.S. and NATO forces. "We cannot win the fight against terrorism with airstrikes," Karzai said. "This is my first demand of the new president of the United States – to put an end to civilian casualties."
Karzai was referring to airstrikes Tuesday against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar which hit a wedding party and killed a number of civilians.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef , was quick to condemn the United States. "You see," Yousef said, "his (Obama's) victory was welcomed with more innocent people losing their lives." "Obama has already said he will send even more troops to Afghanistan," Yousef said. "More troops will mean more innocent people dying; it is not the solution for Afghanistan."
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By Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent
JALALABAD, Afghanistan – U.S. military officials don’t talk about our secret war in Pakistan.
Don’t even ask, I was told, on U.S. military bases in Afghanistan at Bagram and Jalalabad.
Don’t ask about the remotely-controlled American drones armed with missiles that are now hunting across the Pakistani border, searching through the mountain peaks, valleys and dusty villages inside Pakistan for the leaders of a few dozen networks of al-Qaida fighters, Taliban militants, warlords, weapons smugglers and opium traffickers.
And certainly don’t ask about the troops on bases here in Afghanistan who don’t wear uniforms, have long beards (so they can better blend in during covert operations), tattoos and don’t mingle with regular soldiers.
They eat in their own chow halls, plan their own missions and don’t talk much. They don’t talk at all to the media. They’re the men who have been called in to cross into Pakistan when the drones can’t get deep enough to find and kill their targets.
They are elite Special Operations Forces, the most-highly trained and covert of the U.S. military. They are America’s ghost warriors. According to Pakistani villagers who claim to have witnessed their operations, the "Special Ops" work in small teams, fast roping out of helicopters, air assaulting their objective before the enemy can re-group.
Their strengths are rapid violence, stealth, mobility and surprise. The Special Operations Forces don’t receive much attention or credit in the media, but they’re leading America’s secret war inside Pakistan, at least for now.
The Army Times, a military newspaper, recently reported that the U.S. will temporarily halt ground incursions into Pakistan. The newspaper quoted an unnamed Pentagon official as saying, "We are now working with the Pakistanis to make sure that those types of ground-type insertions do not happen, at least for a period of time to give them an opportunity to do what they claim they are desiring to do." The newspaper said the halt did not apply to the incursions by drones.
U.S. perspective
While details of American operations in Pakistan are sparse, several commanders have helped me understand the American motivation for the raids.
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By Iqbal Sapand, NBC Producer in Kabul
"I thought American forces were in Afghanistan for our security," said Attiqullah, his voice trembling. "I could never have imagined that they would bomb my wedding party. They killed my entire family. I will never forgive them."
I sat with Attiqullah, who gives his age as around 15, near the graves where his family members are buried. He described what happened the day of July 6, 2008 -- his wedding day -- when his bride, two of his brothers and a sister, along with 45 relatives, were killed by a U.S. air strike on the remote village of Oghaza, in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan.
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| Attiqullah / NBC News |
| Attiqullah points out the bomb site |
Attiqullah’s father had sent the entire family to the bride’s house the night before the wedding ceremony, as per Afghan custom. "The women were playing musical instruments and everyone was singing and dancing," Attiqullah said. "Then, according to our tradition, the entire groom’s family must escort the bride from her house to meet the groom. Early the next morning everyone set out on the way to my house, walking in a kind of procession through a mountain pass. And then, the unimaginable happened."
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U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan William Wood discusses on opium production, the Taliban, and the challenges facing the country with NBC News' Jim Maceda.
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