U.S. Forces In Afghanistan Under Fire From Insurgents
PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips. We're at the George Washington University. And from right here to eastern Afghanistan, Barbara Starr is ON THE STORY. Barbara, you were there before, but I know this trip was very different. What I remember, I think, the most -- I asked you, "What was the most memorable moment?" And you said, "Well, I'm in the helo (ph). We're hitting the Pakistani border." And I hear, "Incoming!" And I didn't know what to think at that point.</s>STARR: It was indeed, out of all five trips to Afghanistan, the first time I heard somebody standing next to me saying the word "incoming." And that does get your attention. The cameraman I was with, he went for the camera. I went for my helmet and vest first. I went to put that on.</s>PHILLIPS: I would do the same thing.</s>STARR: It was amazing, because what we had done -- the 82nd Airborne took us right up to the Pakistani border. That is the frontline in the war on terrorism these days. Every day, U.S. troops are up there looking for insurgents, looking for Taliban, looking for Al Qaeda. We sort of found them. You don't expect that, but that is what they are dealing with. And as we saw the terror attacks in London this week, as we saw the specter of 9/11 come back and face the world again, you can't really help but stand in Afghanistan and think that, "Well, this is where the 9/11 attacks were planned." It's really quite an amazing experience.</s>PHILLIPS: A totally different feeling from prior -- we have a question from the audience. Tell us your name and your question.</s>QUESTION: My name is Farhatz al-Hayan (ph). I hail from Berkeley, California. Afghanistan hasn't been in the news much, and is now being called the forgotten war. Why do you think this is so?</s>STARR: Well, I think because Iraq has overtaken the news. We see, unfortunately, bombing attacks, violent, U.S. troops, Iraqi civilians dying everyday in Iraq in, you know, relatively large-scale numbers that none of us had really expected. In Afghanistan, you don't see that so much. Most of the violence, most of the attacks, in fact, are along the Pakistani border largely out of sight of the public. But I think that what has happened with the 9/11 attacks, with the Madrid attacks, with the London attacks that we saw this week, it remind all of us that in some way, shape or form Al Qaeda is still out there and the war on terror is still very, very hot.</s>PHILLIPS: Now, you were there also traveling with the commander of the U.S. forces.</s>STARR: General Karl Eikenberry, yes, commander of U.S. forces. He took us -- everywhere he went, we went.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. Let's take a look at your reporter's notebook.</s>STARR (voice-over): The journey moves south to Gardez. Once a Taliban stronghold, Eikenberry leaves his security detail behind and walks through the town with the local governor, meeting Afghans directly. But another reality of Afghanistan emerges. We join a combat patrol into the mountains with U.S. troops and Afghanistan militiamen. It is rough terrain. Almost immediately, the convoy stops. The Afghans worry there is an Al Qaeda ambush ahead. Soon, we get the all-clear and proceed. At this fire base, matters take another turn. Insurgents fire rockets at us. U.S. troops immediately return mortar fire. But the ultimate sign of hope: The new Afghan army. The men who fought against the Soviets, fought against the Taliban are now fighting for their country.</s>STARR: And that's what was so remarkable. When you see these Afghan troops, these Afghan soldiers, the militia that we traveled with in the mountains, these are some of the most ferocious fighters. They are very determined. They are very anti-Taliban, anti-Al Qaeda, and they are determined to take their country back. That is very much what Afghanistan is all about now.</s>PHILLIPS: Do they talk to you about Osama bin Laden?</s>STARR: Absolutely. We asked an Afghan general, you know, "How important is it to get Osama bin Laden?" And they are adamant about that. There's no P.C. politics with the Afghans. They want him. They want him bad. They want the Taliban out of their country. They want their country back.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, Barbara, you, of course, also went along the border with Pakistan. We're going to take a look now at part of that report that Barbara filed.</s>STARR: U.S. Special Forces continue to believe that Osama bin Laden is hiding somewhere in the mountains with Pakistan which lie just behind me. But it is the flow of foreign fighters and other insurgents that has U.S. troops most concerned along this dangerous border. Barbara Starr, CNN, along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.</s>PHILLIPS: You must have had quite a security detail around you.</s>STARR: Well, yes and no. I think you all saw the pictures of the Afghans we were traveling with. Those are militiamen. They are very friendly to the United States, but, in fact, those are the people that the U.S. military pays to be friendly. They are in the hire of U.S. Special Forces, and we are traveling through these mountains at their guidance. We are also traveling with the 82nd Airborne Division. They're a bunch of tough guys. When somebody says, "Incoming," the best thing to do is plaster yourself next to the guy with the most guns from the 82nd.</s>PHILLIPS: And the helmet and the flak jacket.</s>STARR: It's just the safest place to be. I'm going with him.</s>PHILLIPS: But there are a lot of positive stories that you've covered, also. You went into the schools...</s>STARR: We went to schools. We went on the streets. We talked to women. I think, for a lot of women in the west, the question still is, why do Afghan women still wear the burqa when they don't have to? And we learned a lot about that, that that is still very predominant in many parts of Afghanistan because the women of Afghanistan still do not feel safe. They are still very much afraid of violence. They're very much afraid of the violence against them.</s>PHILLIPS: Barbara, how has everyday life changed in Afghanistan?</s>STARR: I must tell you, we went -- we spent a lot of time on the streets. One of the things you do when you're a reporter -- as we all know, the best thing to do is go to the marketplace, see what's going on. It is mobbed. There are traffic jams. There are fruits and vegetables piled everywhere. That was not the case in my first trip to Afghanistan shortly after 9/11. It was still a very dark place. It was a place where there was nothing to buy, very few goods on the street. Now, piles and piles of fruits and vegetables, lots of things to buy. Still a very poor country, but they are really trying to make their way.</s>PHILLIPS: Is it going too far to call it normalcy?</s>STARR: I do want to share one last anecdote. Normal for Afghanistan -- as those rockets were coming in, the Afghan gentlemen, they all put on a pot of tea.</s>PHILLIPS: Now, let's not forget, Barbara Starr also had many marriage proposals within the city also.</s>STARR: Well, at least two.</s>PHILLIPS: Right, at least two?</s>STARR: At least two. General Eikenberry was reluctant to tell me, but as we made our way down that street, apparently, there were two inquiries. And that was about the nicest thing that's happened to me in a warzone lately.</s>PHILLIPS: No</s>PHILLIPS: Thank you, Barbara. Well, from Afghanistan, we're back ON THE STORY. A missing girl in Aruba. We're talking about Natalee Holloway. Chris Lawrence is covering that story. The backlash from the Arubans, and how the family keeps that story alive.</s>JERAS: I'm Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Weather Center. Some of the outer bands of Hurricane Dennis are intensifying now across central parts of Florida, especially along the I-4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando. We're also seeing some very heavy thunderstorms around Gainesville. Expect to see rainfall rates maybe around an inch-plus per hour, in addition to some gusty winds between 50 and 60 miles per hour. A tornado watch also remains in effect across the area. Dennis remains a powerful category-three hurricane with winds of 115 miles per hour and spreading rain all across the southeast. In fact, airport delays even in Atlanta because of the heavy showers and thunderstorms, which I pushed on in. There you can see all the statistics off to the east. Forecast track remaining the same. Tomorrow afternoon, likely somewhere to the west of Pensacola. More to come in 15 minutes.