Transcripts For WHUT 20100217

commander in the field on the pakistan and afghanistan border, deciding the strategy and giving out money to the commanders and he was the link between mullah omar and the second-tier leadership. so this is significant and shows a policy shift in pakistan. this shows success of u.s. as well as the karzai government so this is, indeed, important. >> there are all kinds of stories out there today. speculation, was it a capture, was it a surrender, it was perhaps an arranged surrender? what's your best guesstimate? >> my calculated guess is it was an arranged surrender or something close to that and the reason is that he's too big in the field. secondly, apparently some of the groups which were close to the pakistani military or segments of the pakistani military and intelligence in that region and now we know the pakistani military is cooperating with the united states. there's this new process for negotiating with taliban. so this was a surrender in the sense that this seems to be for a taliban leader to be known to be arrested. if it is known that he actually surrendered or there's a deal in this, then he loses all credibility. he would be of no use this would be counterproductive so i think this is something arranged and this should be seen in the larger context of this process of reaching out to taliban by u.s., afghanistan and pakistan. >> do you think this is a measure that's going to work? >> it can work because he's an important player, but we should also remember that there are field commanders in taliban. there are so many insurgents and we don't know how they'll interpret this. if they have this guess which we are trying to -- which we are talking about that this can be a surrender. if his subordinates think that he -- that thiis a big game going on they will not be part of this. the field commanders feel that it is not a taliban movement and it is not an organized hierarchal movement and this is t a modern army. this is a terrorism movement and this is a resistance movement and this is all in one. so the field commanders may really not listen to him, so this is one step and we should see it as one step. >> what do you mach of t fact that this is a joint operation between the pakistani and the united states agencies? i think this is a good omen. clearly cia and pakistani side, we know they have a long and old relationship, but there's a lot of skepticism also, but in this case, if they are together in arresting the person and in interrogating him, that's a very good sign. >> okay. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> and that brings us to tonight's "how you see it." our question is do you believe that the capture of the afghan taliban military chief will make life any easier for u.s. troops there? you can tell us what you think by visiting the how you see it section of our website and that's at worldfocus.org. now turning to the other big news about afghanistan, it is day four of a massive allied offensive in the southern province of helmand where today insurgents tried, but failed to shoot down an american plane. gun battles are still taking place, but less so than in previous days. because the operation is the first big test of the new american strategy in afghanistan aimed at not just killing taliban forces, but protecting ordinary afghans, we felt it deserved some perspective and for that we turn to our british partner itn with this report from lindsay hillsome. >> trying to win a war without alienating people. that's difficult in any combat, but especially in afghanistan where any foreigner is seen as an invader and it has to be explained to the u.s. public, too. >> it isthe first major operation in which we will demonstrate, i think, successfully that the new elements of the strategy which combined not only security operations, but economic reform and good governance at the local and regional level with a much more visible presence of afghan forces will take place. >> general stanley mcchrystal, commander of u.s. and international forces in afghanistan doesn't want to turn meer in helmand into another fallujah. in 2004 iraqi insurgence and the u.s. responsed for overwhelming force. they both left for u.s. assaults and left the town pretty much to ruins. >> this is the mcchrystal strategy and this is the first big test of it. >> far less air power being used because that runs the risk of civilian casualties and far more boots on the ground and far more attention to civilians and not to fight in the taliban, but gaining control of the areas where most civilians live. >> american forces are focused on taking merger, clearing the surrounding area of taliban and rapidly installing afghan, local government and security. the british are taught to improve security around kandahar and roads into the city. secure the population of central helmand especially the district and return to kandahar to support the afghan government and police. last july, the british took parts of helmand in operation panther's claw. the idea now is to secure f the population of helmand and kandahar, 2 million people, leaving the population to the taliban. they said that their strategy of strike and escape was working. and that the operation proved that the karzai government with its foreign backers were insincere when it said it wanted to talk peace. this operation may continue for days or weeks, after which the international and government forc will declare military victory. they say they'll stay and so will the afghan forces. the war in ghanistan will be won or lost in helmand and kandahar, but victory or defeat will be hard to judge until foreign forces have withdrawn, leaving the afghan government and national army to hold the line. the war of words between the united states and iran gew more heated today. one day after u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton said that iran was becoming a dictatorship, iran fired back. speaking with reporters in hran, iran's foreign minister said that it is the united states that has become the military dictatorship, promoting conflict around the world. meanwhile in a separate appearance, mahmoud ahmadinejad issued a veiled threat of retaliation against any country that would act against its nuclear program. >> translator: of course, if someone wants to act against iran, our response will be as before. we won't explain ourselves anymore. there will be a reaction that will cause regret. >> more on a story that we told you about yesterday. today i vatican city the pope and 24 irish bishops met for a second day, hoping to bring an end to a crisis that has engulfed the catholic church in ireland. catholics there are upset over revelations of sexual abuse by clergymen and by what they regard as an effort by the church to cover it up. today the pope called the sexual abuse of children that took no action on the abuse of the main demand that several bishops implicated in the scandal resigned. also from europe, more on another story that we've been following closely, the debt crisis in greece. the officials from the european union now intend to investigate the financial schemes some believe were used by greece to hide high levels of debt. those strategies were crafted in part with the help of some wall street firms. today in athens a bomb exploded outside the offices from the american financial services firm j.p. morgan chase, one of the wall street companies that had advised the greek government, no injuries were reported. there's another financial crisis brewing a lot closer to the united states and that brings us to tonight's "beyond the headlines." according to a recent report, the amount of money being sent home by mexicans working abroad, most of them here in the united states&fell by nearly 16% last year. that is a record drop and the global recession is to blame. of course, there is a human cost being paid by mexican families. "worldfocus" special correspondent martin savidge has this close-up look at how life there depend osgood times here. saturday the bustling town, two hours north of mexico city. people have come to shop, to sell in the market and to get their money. in 2007 according to the bank of mexico, $24 billion flowed into the country from mexicans working abroa mostly in the united states. that money has a big impact. ♪ ♪ >> he wasn't always this way. people in the surrounding villages have been living in much the same way for centuries. traditional houses were made of sticks and food was cooked over an open fire, but things changed when young people began making the journey north to work in the united states. money sent from the u.s. helped build everything from american-style houses to new roads and town homes. for many here, having a family member in the u.s. can make all the difference in the world. 45-year-old maria felix garcia lives with her four children and extended family in the nearby village of san n nicholas. when she needed surgery on her eyes she paid the doctor using money her oldest daughter earned by working in a restaurant in atlanta. >> translator: we work in the fields and all the money we get is from cornnd chilies. >> although she is blind in one eye, she employs traditional indian style to work in the market. it can take her one month to finish one shirt. her husband earns $8 a day as a farm laborer. thanks to her daughter in america, the younger children get an education. >> translator: we've talked abt my daughter coming back, but she says she needs to keep working so the children can go to school. >> but now times are tough in america which means times are also more difficult for maria's daughter who has stopped sending money home. we heard stories similar to maria's all over the valley. dan lund is a public policy researcher in mexico city. >> when we go to a village we see more inactivity than we've ever seen before, makes a very poor society even poorer. the impact of fewer dollars flowing south will extend far beyond villages like these. a recent study by the interdevelopment bank found if that trend continues more will be pushed below the poverty level and most of them here in mexico. >> sarah blanco has seen the economic story, good times and the bath times from both sides of the border. she's spent 15 years in the united states, the last seven on a construction crew in florida, but he recently returned to his village because he missed his family and he had trouble finding full-time work. >> the work went down so i decided to come back. i could only find work for 20, maybe 25 hours a week. >> you drew your own plan for this? >> five years ago, e lario laid the foundation for his dream home. he paid for the materials with money he earned building houses in america, but since work in america has dried up, he acknowledges his dreams may have to wait. >> more than 40% of the mexican population already lives in poverty. the downturn in the u.s. economy will make tough times in villages like these even tougher. >> people's lives will change. some education won't take place and the consequences of that will be felt in mexico direly and then indirectly throughout e north american community. >> those left behind can only wait in hope for better days ahead. >> that was martin savidge reporting there. we want to take a deeper look at the remittance's slowdown and its impact on mexico and the united states and for that we turn to rodolfo de la garza, and writes about exin can immigration issues and thank you very much for joining us on the program. >> it's a pleasure to be here. >> we just heard in that report that remittances to mexico are down by 16% last year. how significant an impact is that having on the mexican economy? >> well, it depends on how you define the economy. remittances go to families for pham ilial consumption. they don't generate development and common sense that we use the term. they don't get invested in buildings. they don't buy new companies and they don't create jobs. they reduce pham ilial costs, thereby reducing poverty. what it does then enables the state to effectively put out less money for the poor because the poor are making their money off remittances. >> so these people who have been affected by the slowdown of remittances. what is the mexican government then doing to help those people that have been affected? >> it's really hard to know. they don't have much money to begin with and they have a tax system that doesn't redistribute funds anywhere near the level that one would expect. so they have some programs for poverty reduction, but not as much as a country as large as mexico should have. >> has mexico been able to, over the last couple of years, generate jobs at all? has it been able it create jobs? no, this is the other part of it. it is said that when mexico gets the cold, mexico gets pneumonia. when the u.s. gets a slowdown, mexico just shakes to the worst possible condition. you combine that with what you would expect would be a reduction in tourist dollars especially along the border because of drug violence and then the fact that the one major resource mexico has is oil and they refuse to think about privatizing any element to generate money and renew the oil industry. so they're suffering on all fronts. >> and what impact is the returning home of mexican immigrants having on the u.s. economy? i mean, if these people who are, say, for example, without jobs and they're going back home and they're not likely to return because it's much harder once you leave the united states and come back, what is it doing to the u.s. economy? >> well, given the job level that we have in the u.s., i don't think right now you're feeling much of a problem. you are having a problem in the agricultural area, but that's as much because they're people leave probably more because of the enforcement regulations that we're pushing harder on. you've got to be legal. employers are getting harassed. now, appropriately, if they hire undocumented. so its impact on the u.s. economy is less. these people would have money if they would spend by not having money, by going home, you reduce the amount of money that the mexicans would normally spend in the united states. >> okay. thank you very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. ♪ ♪ ♪ raccoons getting into your garbage? deer eating your flowers? if you think your battle against back yard nuisances are tough, consider the plight of the unlucky ridents of the state of karala in southern india. there they are squaring up against much larger foes that now one man is riding to the rescue with a high-fire, yet low-tech solution. our partner abc of australia has the story. >> it's a problem that's long troubled authorities in karala state. incidents of wild horses, invading crops as angry residents try to chase them away, but wild life officials have called on the jungle's most feared predator for help. this engineer has created a simple device to amplify a tiger's roar in an effort to scare the elephants away from human selements. >> i have used simple sound recording techniques to reproduce sound. to make it handy, i have used a small regulator and circuit. >> thi shows a wild elephant running back into the forest once the gaj set switched on. wild life officers agree it's a safer and more efficient alternative to traditional methods. >> translator: usually we cannot be sure of the efficacy of the measures we undertake, but this equipment gives us confidence because it's 90% effective. >> besides losses to property and crop, elephant to human conflict has led to the deaths of at least 20 people over the past three years with thousands more injured. local authorities hope the new method will prevent further attacks. >> it is much useful to the farming community, to forest officials, and also to the government. not only that, even the elephants. there it is beneficial to them also. >> created for the elephants carreying gadgets are looking at improving the devicing for thor by adding sensors that would detect the elephants from a distance. abc news. >> that's it from us, but don't forget you can find more news and perspective at worldfocus..org and weil be sure to drop us a line about the program. i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. see you tomorrow. bye. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ major support for worldfocus has been provided by rosalynn p. walter. and the peter g. peterson foundation dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future, and additional funding is provided by the following supporters.