New Vote for Afghanistan; President Obama Scolds Wall Street
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: They went under cover as pimp and prostitute to sting a grassroots group. This morning, the two go public with their story. And providing Iran nuclear fuel for civilian use, a draft agreement reached today, but will the U.S. and others sign on to the deal? Plus, a 7-year-old Florida girl and a Virginia Tech student both missing. We'll have the latest on their cases. Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. It is Wednesday, October 21st and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Tough actions, tough talk. We have a whole lot to tell you about this hour. Our Chris Lawrence is actually in Afghanistan this morning where a runoff is on, but apparently dozens of elections officials are off. So Pakistan's military also in the news this morning, pushing forward against militants in the country's northwestern region. We'll get to that as well. And stern words for Wall Street. Our Christine Romans has the president's message to CEOs. First, though, the very latest on the recall election in Afghanistan. Former Afghan foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, agreed this morning to take part in the runoff. He finished second to incumbent president, Hamid Karzai, in the first round of voting. The United Nations vows to take a closer look at polling stations in the two weeks leading up to the election. Around 200 Afghan election officials tied to vote fraud allegations are being dismissed. The U.N. also says distribution of ballots for the November 7th election is supposed to begin tomorrow. Now, these moves come one day after President Karzai accepted the idea of a runoff election. CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is in Kabul, Afghanistan this morning for more on those stories. So, Chris, what's going on there by way of preparations for this November 7th vote?</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, United Nations officials said they are going through lists of people right now, trying to identify some of the people who were in charge of overseeing these polling stations and scrubbing their names from the lists if they think they were involved in some of that fraud. Also, another big challenge with the short time frame, in a country like Afghanistan with such a low literacy rate is even just letting people know that there is going to be a runoff. So tomorrow, they are launching a major radio and TV outreach, trying to let people know that the vote is on in just a couple of weeks. In Afghanistan, getting information around the country is not easy.</s>COLLINS: Yes, I imagine. How many people even have televisions? We talked so much about all of the remote areas in this country. Is that going to be the best way to go about it?</s>LAWRENCE: Yes, that's right. And another thing -- one of the other considerations also is security for such a large country. But I'm told by a senior U.S. defense official that there are more Afghan forces on the ground now than there were just a couple of months ago for the first election. Also that they had pinpointed some problem areas, some trouble spots that they can focus on after learning from that first election. And a U.N. official says, basically, that security is going to be a big concern, though, because the Taliban has stepped up their threats, also threatening to do what they did to the first election and the mayor of Kandahar fears that more Taliban attacks are on the way. Some say it could be an opportunity, a second opportunity for the Taliban to sabotage this election. Heidi?</s>COLLINS: All right. Obviously, a whole lot of challenges and we continue to stay on top of them. Chris Lawrence, live from Kabul, Afghanistan. Thank you, Chris. President Obama gets a firsthand account of the backroom wrangling in Afghanistan today. He's set to meet with Massachusetts Senator John Kerry this morning. Kerry spent several days with Afghan president Hamid Karzai this week coaxing him to accept the runoff election. President Obama also talked about elections with Iraqi prime minister Nouri al Maliki. January's planned parliamentary vote could significantly impact plans to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq by late next year. Later, the president made a stop in New York to speak to members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We all know that we're facing a determined adversary. They are resourceful, they are resilient, they are still plotting, as we have become all too aware. No one can ever promise that there won't be another attack on American soil, but I can promise you this. I pledge to do everything in my power as president of the United States to keep the American people safe.</s>COLLINS: And President Obama scolds Wall Street during a Democratic fundraiser in New York. The president said shortsightedness led to the financial crisis and he chastised the industry for resisting tighter regulations that could prevent a repeat. Christine Romans, part of the CNN money team now, to talk a little bit for the about this. Good morning to you, Christine.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Well, you know, just a year after a record historic bailout of Wall Street, now we're talking about big payouts for pay and bonuses and the president sounding almost disgusted when he talks about where we are right now and what he says are mutual obligations that the industry isn't living up to. In particular, he's concerned, when he looks at profitability for the banks, so quickly after the system averted disaster and so many people on Main Street are still hurting. Listen to what he said.</s>OBAMA: When I hear stories about small businesses and medium- sized businesses not being able to get loans, despite Wall Street being back very profitable, that tells me that people aren't thinking about their obligations.</s>ROMANS: He said if there are members of this audience who are in the financial industry, please listen up. I would like to have new rules of the road to make sure that this never happens again, that we're not in this position ever again. He was pushing for regulation of complex derivatives. Also a new consumer money watchdog, saying that people who oppose that are opposing him and are on the wrong side here, that we do need new rules of the road. He also said that a crisis was averted because of action from the government. That's something that his -- one of his top economic advisers, Christina Romer, has said as well, that it was really the quick-thinking action of the government that helped stop a much bigger crisis. Who was he talking to, Heidi?</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>ROMANS: He was talking to people there who paid $15,200 a head to hear him speak. It was a Democratic fundraiser at the Mandarin Oriental, right here in this very building, to be quite honest.</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>ROMANS: $15,200 a head for some 200 people who heard what he had to say and he gave the financial industry a scolding. Clearly -- clearly disgusted that so many things are back to the way they were before the crisis.</s>COLLINS: Yes. It's interesting, though, what does a lot of this regulation do for -- or not do for small business owners that he mentioned?</s>ROMANS: Well, the question here is that lending for small and mid-sized business has been reined in so much because so many financial institutions are just trying to shore up their capital and shore up their own positions that that's hurting main street, even as Wall Street is showing some of these big profits. That's part of the problem here. And also, you know, quite frankly, he is looking for this new regulation and better rules and regulation and some of that momentum, many say, has slowed. So he's trying to pick up that momentum. We've been hearing from his aides, his big financial aides and top advisers over the past week or so. They're really pushing some of these new rules, but critics would say -- Eliot Spitzer, for example, this morning told "AMERICAN MORNING"...</s>COLLINS: Well, unfortunately, looks as though we not only just sort of lost Christine, but really lost Christine, unfortunately there. We will check back with her. And yes, that's right, Eliot Spitzer was actually on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning and had a few interesting things to say. Christine, I have to say, I've never seen that happened before, but I'm glad you're back.</s>ROMANS: I haven't either.</s>COLLINS: So finish that thought because it's interesting. We were talking about small businesses and trying to get loans, you know, to start them up, keep them going with regard to regulation. Eliot Spitzer had a comment?</s>ROMANS: Eliot Spitzer said something that I thought was really interesting this morning. He has been a watchdog, you know, a watchdog of Wall Street before his own sort of personal problems went to...</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>ROMANS: ... his losing his job. But what he said was that Timothy Geithner and the whole team at Treasury, that they've lost the momentum. That, look, these banks aren't doing what we want them to do in fulfilling their obligations, because nobody gave them any strings. Nobody gave them any requirements. Nobody told them what to do with the money and what those obligations were that the president is now saying that they're not living up to. So his point was that more should have been done earlier by the prior administration and this administration to make sure the banks had specific rules to live up to. The banks are only doing what they've been asked...</s>COLLINS: And enforce -- enforce them.</s>ROMANS: Exactly.</s>COLLINS: Yes, understood. All right. Christine, we'll check back later.</s>ROMANS: Sure.</s>COLLINS: Thanks so much. Appreciate it.</s>ROMANS: Yes.</s>COLLINS: Let's move on to Pakistan now. The government there has shut down all of its schools one day after suicide bombers hit a university in the capital city. Six bystanders died, 29 others were wounded in yesterday's attack at the International Islamic University in Islamabad. The Taliban has now claimed responsibility. Meanwhile, Pakistani troops are now in their fifth day of a massive offensive against the insurgents. They're targeting a tribal region along the Afghan border that has long sheltered the Taliban and al Qaeda. Rob Marciano standing by now in the severe weather center. Talking more about winter weather. Huh, Rob?</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, snow across the high plains. Good morning, Heidi. And some of that snow is turning into rain across Dallas. We have a flash flood watch in effect there. And also tropical storm Rick about to make landfall. Weather is coming up when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.