August 5, 2002
LEROY SIEVERS and the NIGHTLINE STAFF
American troops in Afghanistan are pretty much hunkered down at their bases.
Outside of the main cities, there is no law and order, just competing warlords.
And the current government controls little outside of the capital of Kabul.
Are we letting Afghanistan slide towards anarchy?
Back when the Afghans were fighting the Soviets, we armed them, gave them support,
and when they won, we left. The war with the Soviets, that they were fighting
for themselves and for us, was over. And then Afghanistan spiraled down into
civil war, anarchy, and ultimately the victory of the Taliban. And with Taliban
control came Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Would things have been different
if we had stayed? If we had helped rebuild that country? Had given them the
aid they needed to get started again? We'll never know.
Now during the last campaign, President Bush said that nation-building, the
term for the type of help that I am talking about, was not our business. The
U.S. was not going to engage in nation-building. Well, in the wake of the war
in Afghanistan, it seems that we are faced with exactly that. Either we help
rebuild that country, or we leave, and leave it to others. At a time that the
administration is talking about going
to war with Iraq, and overthrowing the government of Saddam Hussein, there hasn't
been a lot of talk about what would happen after that war either. But clearly
it would require an occupation by U.S. forces that would last for years, and
yes, there would have to be nation-building.
We'll have a report from ABC News correspondent Josh Gerstein in Afghanistan,
and then we're going to give you a rare look at the past, which certainly bears
looking at, unless we want to repeat it. During
the war with the Soviets, the U.S. government was concerned that there wasn't
a lot of news coverage, for obvious reasons. They set up a program to train
Afghans to film their own war, footage that would then be sent out to various
news organizations. What was intended to really be a propaganda operation really
did document what was going on during the war, and its aftermath. They ended
up with 2100 hours of tape, over 100,000 still pictures, all of which are now
kept in an archive. Nightline correspondent Dave Marash is going to show you
some of that tonight. Some of it will look depressingly familiar. Chris Bury
will be anchoring tonight.
I don't think that there's any question that the U.S. can beat anyone militarily.
We have the manpower, the technology, the training. The challenge for us will
be to win the peace. Because if history is a guide, if we lose that, we'll be
back militarily again and again.
Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices