Transcripts For WETA Worldfocus 20100216 : vimarsana.com

tonight, on world focus . a major development in the war in afghanistan. the head of the military for the afghan taliban is said to have been captured. we will tell you what it means. meanwhile, it s day four of the offensive in southern afghanistan, look at america s fight for the region. and tonight s on the headline, south to a village in mexico for how life there depends on good times there. and finally, the attack of the two-ton titans, if raccoons are your biggest nuisance, take a look at what some indians have to deal with. from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts from around the world, this is world focus. major support has been broughted by roslyn p. walter. and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and dedicated to key challenges for america s future. and additional funding is brought to you by the following supporters hello, welcome to world focus. i m dx aljit dhaliwal in new york. it s a major victory in the war in taliban. reports that the second command of the afghan taliban has been captured by pakistani agents. the raid which led to the capture of mullah grader happened last week but was revealed only today by the new york times. the times agreed to be quiet about it until his interrogation. what impact if any will it have on the war in afghanistan. and did the pakistanis know where baradar was all along. we re in kabul and has the afghan reaction to this major development. translator: he was said to have been captured here in pakistan s port city of karachi. he s a number two in the afghanistan movement. he was in charge of the taliban s military operation, second only to the leader, mullah omar, and a close associate, their relationship went back years. it was mullah omar which gave him his nickname, brother, which means brother. it s the important member of the taliban. he s very close to mullah. so this is rather unusual, one of the top leaders of the taliban having been caught here. they welcomed the news of his capture. they caught a big fish is how the minister of interior announced it. it came weeks after hamid karzai had the peace plan. the former taliban officials say mullah brother was the person to speak to if serious negotiations were to take place between the afghan government and the taliban. islamabad, though, has set back the karzai peace program. officials say they could play an important role in promoting reconciliation. some suggest the strategic interest lie within maintaining the old links of the taliban with the eventual withdraw of international forces. afghan officials have called on the pakistan intelligence agency to crack down on the taliban leadership which they believe is based across the border and into a relative freedom. according to al jazeera sources, mullah baradar s arrest could be a split in the taliban movement. his involvement and negotiations in dubai may have angered hard liners who in turn gave him up to pakistani and american authority entrepreneurs. the timing of his capture is significant. it coincided with a major military operation against the taliban in the southern province of helmand. but the former chief of the pakistani intelligence agency said it would have little effect on the movement. it s not monolithic one man does not it s not like we the chief of army staff or commander in chief of a particular force. but the taliban are in banned groups and independently in each area and each province. so i don t think it is going to affect the ability of the taliban to resist the onslaught that the americans are wanting to launch. reporter: the taliban have lost commanders in the past. that is why some analysts suggest his capture, although a big blow, could weaken the taliban only temporarily. but questions are being asked on this side of the border was his capture a sign of inkresed population or to derail efforts to forge peace. as we told you earlier, the circumstances surrounding the capture of mullah baradar are raising all sort entrepreneurs of questions. here to answer them, a former official who snow with the asia society and columbia university here in new york. welcome back to the program. good to see you. thank you. what is the significance of the capture of mullah baradar. i think it s very significant. i think he for the last few years he was playing the role of the commander, in the field, on the pakistan-afghanistan border, deciding the strategy, giving out money to the commanders. he was the link between mullah omar and the secondary leadership. this is significant. this shows success of the u.s. and karzai government. it is important. there s all sorts of stories out there today. speculations, was it a capture, was it a surrender, perhaps was it an arranged surrender. what s your best guesstimate? my calculated guess is that it was an arranged surrender or something close to that. the reason is he is too big in the field. secondly, apparently some of the groups that are close to the pakistani military and intelligence in that region. we know that it s cooperating with the united states. there s the new process for negotiating the taliban. so this was a surrender in the sense that this seems to be an honorable thing for a taliban leader a taliban leader to be known to be arrested. if it is known that he actually surrendered. he loses all credibility. kind of no use. this is counterproductive. this should be seen in the larger process of this process of reaching out to taliban by u.s. afghanistan and pakistan. do you think this is a measure that is going to work? it can work. he s an important player. we have to remember there are few commanders in taliban. we don t know how they re going to practice. if we have this guess which we are talking about, this can be a surrender. if his subordinates think this is a big game going on, they re not going to be a part of this. so the commanders may have their own mind. if it s not aaliban movement, it s not a movement. this is not a modern army. this is a terrorism movement. this is a resistance movement. this is all in fun. so the field commanders may not listen to him. this is one step we should see it as one step. what do you make of the fact is it a joint operation between the pakistani and the united states agencies? i think this is a good omen. clearly if cia and pakistani intelligence and isi we know they have long old relationship. but there s a lot of skepticism in this also. if they are together in arresting the person, interrogating him, that s a good sign. thank you for joining us. thank you. that brings us to tonight s how you see it. and our question is, do you believe that the capture of the afghan taliban military chief will make life any easier for u.s. troop there is? you can tell us what you think by visiting the how you see it section of our website. that s at worldfocus.org. turning to the other big news about afghanistan, it is day four of the 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 day entrepreneurs. 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 thought it deserved some perspective. and for that, we turn to our british partner, itn, with this report from lindsey hillson. trying to wage war without losing friends and alien ating people. america s new strategy in action. 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 is the first major operation in which we will demonstrate, i think, successfully that the new elements of the strategy which combine not only security operations, but economic reform and good governance at the local and regional level with a 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 marjah and helmand in to another fallujah. in 2004, iraqi insurgents fought fiercely and the u.s. responded with overwhelming force. most civilians had left, but the u.s. assaults reduced the town pretty much to ruins. this is the mcchris tal strategy. this is the test of it. far less air power being used. far more boots on the ground which is what this is all about. much greater attention to the civilians, not to fighting the taliban but gaining control in the areas where most civilians live. reporter: american forces are focused on taking marjah, clearing the ground and getting security. the british are going to improve security around kandahar and roads to the city. secure the population central el man, and then return to kandahar to support the afghan government entrepreneurs and police. last july, the british took this part of helmand in operation of panther s claw. the idea now is to secure 70% of the population in helmand and kandahar, 2 million people leaving this population for the taliban. they said thatheir strategy of strike and escape was working. and that the operation proves that the karzai government was insincere when it said it wanted to talk peace. the operation may continue for days or weeks, after which, the government forces will declare military victory. they say they ll stay, and so will the afghan forces. the war in afghanistan 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 grew more heated today, one day after u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton said iran was becoming a military dictatorship, iran fired back. speaking with reporters in teheran, iran s foreign ministers said it is the united states that s becoming the military dictatorship, promoting conflict around the world. meanwhile in a separate appearance, iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad revealed a veiled threat of retaliation against any country to activate the military program. of course if someone wants to act against iran, our response won t be anything more. there will be a reaction that will cause regret. more of the story we told you about yesterday. today in vatican city, the pope and 24 irish bishops met for a second day, hoping to bring an end to a crisis that has engulfed a catholic church in ireland. catholics are upset over revelations of sexual abuse by clergy mep and what they regard as an effort by the church to cover it up. today the pope called the sexual abuse of children a grave sin, but took no action on the abuse by the main demand that several bishops implicated in the scandal resigned. also from europe, more on another story we ve been following closely the debt crisis in greece. they now intend to investigate complex financial schemes some believe were used by greece to hide its high levels of debt. those strategies were crafted in part with the help of some wall street funds. today in athens, a bomb exploded outside of the offices of the american financial services firm, jp 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 bring us to tonight s beyond the headlines. the amount of money being sent home by mexicans working abroad, most of them here and 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 was a human cost being paid by mexican familiar his. world focus correspondent her marcus savidge has closer look. two hours north of mexico city people have come to shop, to sell the market, and to get their money. in 2007 according to the bank of mexico, $24 billion flowed in to the country from mexicans working abroad, mostly in the united states. that money has a big impact. it wasn t always this way. people in the surrounding indian villages have been living in the same way for centuries. traditional houses were made with sticks and food but cooked over an open fire. but things changed when young people began making the journey north to begin working in the united states. money sent from the u.s. helped build everything from american style houses to new roads and town halls. from here, having a member here in the u.s. can make all of the difference in the world. maria garcia lives with her four children and extended family in the nearby village of san nicholas. when she needed surgery on her eyes, she paid the money using the money her oldest daughter earned working in a restaurant in atlanta. translator: we work in the fields. all the money we have is the money we get from corn and chilies. reporter: she s blind in within eye but she embroiders blouses at a traditional indian market. her husband earns $8 as a farm laborer. thanks to her younger daughter in america, the children get an education. translator: we talked about my daughter coming back, but she says she needs to keep working so the chirp can go to school. rob: ti reporter: times are tough, which means things are difficult for maria s daughter who stopped sending money home. dan lund is a pop ulation researcher in mexico city. we go to a village, we see less activity than we ve seen before. it makes a poor society poorer. reporter: the i of fewer dollars flowing south will extend far beyond villages like these. if that trend continues, more than 2 million families in latin america will be pushed below the poverty level, most of them here in mexico. iario has seen the economic story, good times and bad times from both sides of the border. he spent 15 years working 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 fulltime work. tran down, so i decided to come back. i could only find work for 20, maybe 25 hours a week. reporter: you drew your own plan for this? si. reporter: five years ago, ilario laid the foundation for his dream home. he paid for it with money he earned building houses in america. since work in america dried up, he acknowledges his dreams may have to wait. more than 40% of the mexican population lives in poverty. the downturn makes 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 directly and indirectly throughout the north american community. reporter: those left behind can only wait and hope for better days ahead. that was martin savidge reporting there. we want to take a different look at the remittence slowdown and the impact on mexico and the united states. for that, we turn to a professor at columbia university and writes about mexican immigration issues. thank you for joining us on the program. pleasure to be here. we just heard in that report that remittances to mexico are down by 16% from last year. how significant an impact was that having on the mexican economy? oh. it depends on how you define the economy. remittances go to families f familial consumption. they don t get invested in buildings, they don t buy new companies. they don t create jobs. they reduce familial costs, thereby reducing poverty. what it does, then, is enables the state to effecti ivively put less money for the poor. because the poor are making their money off of remittances. the people who have been affected by the slowdown of remittances, what is the mexican government then doing to help those people who have been affected. it s hard to know. they don t have much money to begin with. they have a tax system that doesn t redistribute funds anywhere near the level that one would expect. so they have programs for poverty reduction. but not as much as a country as large as mexico should have. has mexico been able to in the last couple of years generate jobs at all? has it been able to generate jobs? it s said that when the u.s. gets a cold, mexico gets pneumonia. the u.s. has a slowdown, mexico just shakes to the worst possible condition. you combine that with what i would expect to be a reduction in tourist dollars, especially along the border because of drug violence, and then the fact that one major resource that mexico has is oil, they refurz to think about privatizing any eleme to generate money and renew the oil industry. so they re suffering on all fronts. what impact is the returning home the returning home of mention call immigrants have on the u.s. economy. if these people are, let s say, for example, without jobs and they re going back home and they re not likely to return because it s once harder once you leave the united states to come back, what is it doing to the u.s. economy? given the job level 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 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 sending by going home, you reduce the amount of money that the mexicans would normally spend he united states. okay, thank you very much for joining us. my pleasure. racoons getting in to your garbage? deer eating your flowers? if you think your battle against back yard nuisances is tough, consider the plight of the unlucky residents of the state of the caroller in southern india. re squaring off against much larger foes. but now one man is riding to the rescue with a hi-fi yet low-tech solution. our partner, abc of australia has the story. reporter: it s a problem that s problemed authorities, elephants destroying houses and raiding crops lead to violent clashes as residents try to chase them away. but wild life officials called on the jungle s most feared predator for help. this is a simple device to amplify a tiger s roar to scare elephants away. i ve used simple sound recording techniques to reproduce sound. to make it handy, i used a small regulator and circuit. this experiment shows a wild elephant run back to the forest once it s switched on. it s a safer more traditional alternative to traditional methods. we cannot be sure of the efficacy of the measures we take. this equipment gives us confidence because it s 90% effective. the human conflict has led to the death of 20 people over the last three years with thousands more injured. authorities hope the method will prevent future attacks. it s for the farming community, to the forest area, and to the government. not only that, even the elephants. it s beneficial to them also. they re looking to improve the device further by adding sensors to tag the animals from a distance. that s it from us. you can find more news and perspective at worldfocus.org. drop us a line about the program. i m daljit dhaliwal in new york. see you tomorrow, bye! captions by vitac www.vitac.com