Refugees Flood Turkey's Border With Greece; U.S. And Taliban Sign Deal To End Forever War
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, you can't go over them. You can't go under them. You can't even go around them. No, not the tearing walls of the Old City, but these simple immovable facts of Israel's daunting political arithmetic. Yes, indeed, hello and welcome to a special coverage of a string of elections so extraordinary and so an ending that they call it the Israel's Brexit out here. I'm Becky Anderson here at Jaffa Gate and Jerusalem. And just hours from now, for the third time in a year, millions of people will have a gold finally picking a new government. We are going to connect all the important threads together for you. And that is why we are right here as ever. Keeping itself safe in what is this troubled neighborhood, always the underlying pretext of any vote, not least here in Israel. In this hour right next door, we're watching a new phase unfold in Syria's Civil War. Turkey's deadline for Russian backed government troops to withdraw from near its borders now passing. But instead of going all out on Russia, looking to leverage itself it seems elsewhere, Turkey's president opening his borders, encouraging refugees to cross into Europe through Greece. Well, Arwa Damon is on the Turkey-Greece border with refugees and she joins us now live. Arwa?</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky. And according to the IOM, there's about 13,000 of them that have made their way up to the 200 kilometer stretch of border between Turkey and Greece. Scattered throughout all of it, in some areas you find them in bigger clusters, and some areas smaller ones like you have here. And then people kind of making their way back and forth from this main road towards the border. But that is a border Becky, that is shots. And they came here hoping to be able to cross. They're being shuttled around, pushed around from one location to the next, looking for a way through.</s>DAMON: They just spent a night cold and wet out in the open. And for what? A sliver of hope sparked by Turkey saying it would no longer stop refugees crossing to Europe and facilitating their transport here to the border with Greece.</s>DAMON: They thought it was open. They thought the whole border was open. It's not. Greece is not letting anyone through. But it's quite chaotic. It's quite intense. People are just trying to bust through towards what they think is going to be a better life. Europe doesn't want them, never really has. Striking a financial aid deal with Turkey back in 2016 that it never fully paid up on to stem the refugee flooded. Turkey hosting upwards of 3.5 million refugees mostly from Syria has long threatened to open the gates if left to shoulder the refugee burden alone. And now, Turkey is even more anchored by the West's refusal to support it in Idlib with anything more than rhetoric. Many here are aware they are being used as leverage. The tear gas wafts over and mixes with smoke from multiple fires as those who are trying to stay warm. Samita's husband was killed in Iraq by ISIS. She came to Turkey with her children, elderly mother, and disabled brother. Where are we supposed to go? Then she wonders. This Syrian mother doesn't want to talk. When we ask how she's doing. She just strokes her child's face. It's all horribly reminiscent of the desperation we witnessed years ago as throngs cross through Europe. At night, we meet some of those who tried to cross the river to Greece, but failed. Greek authorities denied this, but Khalid from Idlib says the Greeks forced him back, tore up his I.D., and took his phone. He hasn't spoken to his parents in almost four weeks. And there in Idlib, there in the camps, he's worried about them. And now he has no way of getting in touch with them. This family from Afghanistan says the same thing happened to them. But even worse, they were separated from their men. Her father, your brother, her husband, are over there, and you're stuck here. They are scared, vulnerable, alone, burning discarded clothing, not knowing where to go or how to find those they love. What are they supposed to do when their misery and desperation has become little more than a political weapon?</s>ANDERSON: Arwa Damon in on the border. Arwa, thank you. Well, everything in the Middle East interlinked. While Israel watches the war and takes part in it in some ways, it's Jordan, a neighbor to both Syria and Israel that's bearing the brunt of the Syrian refugee crisis. I sat down with the country's Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, to ask him about his country's views on the conflict. Have a look at this.</s>OMAR RAZZAZ, PRIME MINISTER OF JORDAN: Jordan has been consistent on Syria, as it has been on Iraq, as it has been on Libya, as has it been on the Israeli-Palestinian. The territorial integrity is very important. Factions, opposite factions sitting around the table is very important. And really de-escalation is very important. And all of this is for the sake of the population of these countries. Jordan is at the receiving end of waves of refugees, in the case of Syria 1.3 million, mostly women and children, traumatized by this by what they have seen. And what do you think his majesty, the King's instruction was to the government and I was the Minister of Education at the time? It was no child left behind. Wherever they come from, they'd be absorbed in our schools. Immediately, this resulted in overcrowding of our schools and opening second shifts and third shifts and what have you. But the Jordanian population realize that we do this because we have -- we've done this before, we know what it's like, and this is our role. We then appeal to the countries of the world. We were not part of the Syria crisis. We are neither the regional powers that created conflict there, nor the international powers.</s>ANDERSON: I know the foreign minister tweeted recently about a meeting he had with his Russian counterpart where he applauded the economic cooperation as he called it in good relations, and said that they had -- they had talks about Syria. What is the prospect for an environment in Syria which would be suitable, as far as Jordan is concerned, to invite those Syrian refugees who are hosted here to go home?</s>RAZZAZ: When that happens, we will do everything within our means to help the Syrian refugees be rehabilitated into their own communities. We will not push them across the border. But we will do our best to create that kind of welcoming environment that would allow them to transfer.</s>ANDERSON: Well, that is Jordan's Omar Razzaz. Next out, the Prime Minister's take on Mr. Trump's Middle East peace plan. As we watch the war in Syria get worse, America's so-called forever war in Afghanistan looks to wrap up. American troops have been fighting this since 2001. Indeed, if you were born in that year, you're now more than old enough to go there as a soldier. The U.S. and the Taliban just signed a historic agreement in Doha on Saturday, paving the way or certainly setting the way for a full withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan within 14 months. And U.S. President Donald Trump says he will soon meet with Taliban leaders in a bid to end America's longest war. CNN's International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson is in Doha, where this agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan was hammered out. And Nick just described the atmosphere if you will, and indeed what happens next.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, look, I think the atmosphere was one that was full of hope. There's a lot of people who hadn't seen each other for many years, particularly with the Taliban and other interlocutors coming together here. Of course, key and all of this were the talks between the Taliban and the U.S., the agreement that the Taliban have committed to go after al-Qaeda and ISIS inside Afghanistan. The U.S. for their part, going from about 1,000 -- rather 13,000 U.S. troops at the moment over the next 135 days, dropping that down to about 8,600. A full withdrawal over the next 14 months conditional on the Taliban meeting their part. But I think instrumental in all of this as well as been the role of Qatar and providing a location for these talks. Seven years ago, they let some senior Taliban leaders released from Gitmo detention to come here, set themselves up in Qatar, and use that as a base to, in essence, sort of open shop for the Taliban. And that grew into a location for talks with U.S. officials over a year ago which grew into the outcome this signing that we've seen. And Doha does expect to continue to play a role. And why is that? Because it will be part of making sure that the Taliban keep good on that commitment after more than 20 years to turn on al-Qaeda.</s>MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, FOREIGN MINISTER, QATAR: In the agreement, there are specific criteria that shows and demonstrate how they can be able to prove that they are going to sever the ties with al-Qaeda and there is an operation which is located here in Doha that will be held jointly by the U.S., and Taliban, and the observation of Qatar, to make sure that all the parts of the agreements are adhering to these commitments.</s>ROBERTSON: What convinces you that the Taliban have changed from the people they were before who thought they could find a way to victory?</s>AL THANI: Well, it's not a matter of what's convinced us but it's really a matter of how we can make sure that within the agreement, there are clear measures that identifying how we can monitor this agreement in a way that's delivered by both parties. All of us, we have to stay watching, we have to keep our -- to keep our eyes open, and to make sure that the agreement is implemented and everyone is adhere to the commitments they puts on their selves.</s>ROBERTSON: And the role of Qatar to help oversee that, to help administer that, to help monitor that change, how would that role work?</s>AL THANI: Qatar will be a facilitator in this. We'll make sure that if there is any disagreement between the parties throughout the implementation of the negotiation, that we can look at it and advise both parties to have a solution on these disagreements and these hiccups which we expect to have in the future. But we spend a lot of time during the negotiation and making sure that the agreement is clear and the criteria are clear to be fulfilled by both parties. And when we are talking specifically about the counterterrorism criteria, which is regarding al-Qaeda and others, there are clear mechanisms for this to be monitored than to be -- to be implemented. And if there is anything goes wrong, we believe the entire agreement will be in jeopardy because all of it is connected together.</s>ROBERTSON: So high stakes there of Qatari Foreign Minister telling us that. But I've also sat down here in Doha with a member of the Taliban negotiating team, there are 19 man negotiating team negotiating over the past year or so with the United States. And I said to him, you know, have you defeated the United States? And the reason I asked that question was because that's what they've been telling their foot soldiers, this is what he told me.</s>ROBERTSON: Does the Taliban believe the United States has been defeated militarily?</s>MUHAMMED SUNAIL SHAHEEN, MEMBER OF THE TALIBAN NEGOTIATION TEAM: We Solution through talks. That means when you reach a solution through talks, that means it is a win-win situation for both sides.</s>ROBERTSON: Why should the United States trust you now when you say that you will now go after al-Qaeda and go after ISIS, because the Taliban have been allowing al-Qaeda to live inside their territory in Afghanistan for the past 20 years?</s>SHAHEEN: It is our policy that anyone who wants to use the side of Afghanistan for their goals against other country and harm our country, our people, we will not allow them.</s>ROBERTSON: When it comes to al-Qaeda, are you turning your back on your Muslim brothers of many years of many decades to support the United States, a Christian country, and their national security.</s>SHAHEEN: It is a question of our policy that if someone harm other countries from Afghanistan and on our territory, and we have declared a law that they should not do this, it means that we have to take steps to prevent them because this is law.</s>ROBERTSON: Well, Becky, the foreign minister --</s>ANDERSON: You also spoke to Qatar's foreign minister about Donald Trump's vision for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. What did he tell you?</s>ROBERTSON: Yes. He said on this issue, that he believes that the United States' commitments and efforts are good, but they have very clear line for Qataris, as he says, as the other Arab states have very clear lines on this Mideast peace plan, the so-called deal of the century. And that doesn't meet the criteria that's been laid down so far by the United States. This is how he explained it.</s>AL THANI: We thank United States and we thank all the efforts in the international communities who are trying to think a solution -- about a solution to bring peace and to end this conflict. But I think it's very important to have both parties involved when they engage in the peace proposal.</s>ROBERTSON: So your advice to the -- your advice to Palestinians is to see this as a starting point and to negotiate?</s>AL THANI: At the end of the day, it's a negotiation process. I believe everybody should welcome all the opportunities for negotiation between both the Israelis and the Palestinians. And the Palestinians, by the way, they demonstrated their commitment for direct negotiation. But unfortunately, we have been seeing that the Israeli's, time after time, they were the ones who would refuse to engage with the Palestinians directly. And we hope that after their election that they will have an engagement between both countries.</s>ROBERTSON: And if the Israeli government decides to annex the Jordan Valley?</s>AL THANI: Well, I think this will undermine the entire peace process. And I don't think -- we don't see the annexation as a legitimate move by the Israelis. We have condemned this is the international community, condemned annexation of additional territories by the Israeli's.</s>ROBERTSON: But if they do it, what happens?</s>AL THANI: If they do it, we just see it as backward and the peace process and it won't help at all. It will be a counterproductive. And we believe the United States also is encouraging the Israeli's not to -- not to start any annexation and to engage in negotiations. This is the position we are getting from them as well.</s>ROBERTSON: Well, I talked to him as well about the Israeli elections tomorrow where you are, Becky, and he said they'll be watching. But of course, this is an Israeli issue, and they know it's a tight race, but they don't think the outcome of it will particularly change things in the region. I think that's the big takeaway. Becky?</s>ANDERSON: Yes. Absolutely fascinating. Nic in Doha. Thank you, Nic. As you just heard from Qatar there, the eyes of this region and so the world, very much falling on what is about to happen here in Israel. Of course, the Israelis have got to vote on Monday, but whoever finally breaks the deadlock, does it really matter on the big issues? We'll look into that up next. And if you can't imagine a more difficult election, well, America's race to pick someone's take on Donald Trump just might be it. The latest results from South Carolina are just ahead.