Nightline 5/25: Afghanistan, the forgotten war

[Bozita]

 
Nightline Daily E-Mail
May 25, 2004


TONIGHT'S FOCUS: With all the attention these days being focused on Iraq, there are still American and other soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. And while our tactics have changed, learning from experience, the same is true for al Qaeda. And the war has had an unintended effect on the world heroin market too.

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There is a disturbing study out today from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a well-respected London-based think tank. It says that al Qaeda has more than 18,000 members ready to strike around the world. And the study finds that the war in Iraq, often billed as part of the war against terrorism, has actually made it easier for al Qaeda to recruit new members. And Osama bin Laden remains a powerful figure around the world. The war in Afghanistan hurt al Qaeda, but didn't destroy it, and that war goes on today.

Tonight we'll take you to one of the far outposts in that war, a distant base in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, a region where the Taliban and al Qaeda are both active, and both have popular support. A freelance producer named Richard MacKenzie spent the last couple of months in Afghanistan, and we'll have some of his work tonight. One of the other consequences of the war in Afghanistan has been an explosion in the growth of opium poppies. In a country devastated by war, farmers can earn a small fortune by growing poppies. No other crop comes close. And the money fuels the warlords and their private armies, which fuels conflict and instability, and so on. Afghanistan is expected to produce three-fourths of the world's heroin now. ABC News correspondent Mark Litke will report from Afghanistan.

Ted will anchor tonight, and he'll be talking to one of the authors of that study on al Qaeda. If we get to the point of actually calling Afghanistan "The Forgotten War," which some already do, I think it's worth pointing out that we ignore it, or forget it, at our peril. I hope you'll join us tonight.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
ABCNEWS Washington D.C.

 

[anarchy1999]

1. Will Ted cover Jamie Dolan's Film?

n/t I just want to know. How much honest coverage is Ted going to give us tonight? Anyone remember that Spann guy? Hey Ted, talk to Dolan! Let us get some real honest coverage. Not "embedded".