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Helmand Capital Under Pressure from Taliban; Danny Willett Wins The Masters; David Cameron Addresses Parliament Over Panama Papers Revelations; Republicans, Democrats Campaign in New York. Aired 11:00a-12:00a ET
Aired April 11, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COVERAGE OF BRITISH PARLIAMENT)
[11:20:11] BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Well, you have been listening to the British parliament grill Prime Minister David Cameron about his personal
taxes and proposed tax legislation.
Let's bring in CNN Money Europe editor Nina Dos Santos.
A spirited exchange in the House of Commons. The past hour, Nina, or so, we have witnessed
the British prime minister responding to questions raised about his personal finances. The fallout, of course, from the publishing last week
of the now infamous Panama Papers scandal.
What did you make of David Cameron's response to questions posed by opposition members of
the British parliament?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN MONEY: Well, first of all, Becky, as you can just see in the last 10 minutes or so. What we've seen in Ben Skinner of the Labour
Party being literally kicked out of the chambers by Jon Burko (ph), speaker of the house of commons because he called David Cameron, quote, unquote,
Dodgy Dave. And he wouldn't -- refused to take away that particular adjective, the word being dodgy, when he asked his question. So his
question was one of the ones that was going to remain unanswered by David Cameron. And Dennis Skinner had to be kicked out of the room.
As you can see, their tax is such a hot button issue on both sides of the House of Commons.
David Cameron making very clear here at this point that he is very keen to publish his tax return, which he's done now. He's put a lot of pressure on
not just the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, to do the same, but unfortuanetly Jeremy Corbyn it seems has lost his tax return so he's
waiting for another copy of that.
But also in the last hour or so, what we have learned is that the chancellor, Joe Josburnhas also come up with his tax return. He has
published that as well, showing that he earned a number of -- thousands of dollars in interest from dividends that he received in his family company
and also from rental income.
So again, the Labour Party very keen there to try and to pitch the Conservative Party as a party of wealth.
What has David Cameron said? Well, what they have decided to do is that they're coming out with three new initiatives to crack down not on tax
evasion because that is actually illegal, but also to crack down on aggressive tax avoidance.
Remember, the fine line between avoidance, which is legal and tax planning, but also evasion, which is illegal.
What they want to do is more -- get more information sharing with some of the overseas territories, the so-called British Crown Dependents, to try to
put forward a register of beneficiaries of these companies that are listed over there. And they also want to make really aggressive tax avoidance
illegal and put forward criminal penalties for companies that are allowing and facilitating people to try to avoid paying their fair share.
And then last but not least they've also announced the task force that's going to be set up with the help of HMRC, the tax authorities over here in
the UK, to look into the Panama Papers and see whether there was any criminal wrongdoing has been taking place as a result of them.
ANDERSON: Nina Dos Santos in London.
And the -- let's describe this as spirited exchanges, shall we, going on as we speak in the House of Commons continues. If anything else comes out of
that, we will get you to it viewers.
I want to get you now to some of the other stories that are top of our headlines tonight.
And in Afghanistan, hard fought coalition gains at Helmand Province are under threat from Taliban insurgents.
Our own Nick Paton Walsh filed this exclusive report, which looks at one reason the Afghan army seems to be losing ground to the Taliban.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know a war's going badly when an enemy's right in front of you. This white
flag is the Taliban's. They really are that close to these Afghans, defending one of the last government holdouts in Heldman Province. It used
to be NATO that shot from these positions near the vulnerable city.
(GUNFIRE)
WALSH: Hundreds of Americans and British died, many in the town where these pictures show the Afghan Army recently in heavy clashes.
(EXPLOSION)
(SHOUTING)
WALSH: But now Afghanistan is quite quickly watching Helmand fall.
(SHOUTING)
WALSH: The Taliban are winning partly because of men like these. This is a rare window into the Afghan government's worst nightmare. Soldiers from the
Afghan army, who America spent billions training, who say they've defected and joined the Taliban. They never dreamed they'd change sides.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I did 18 months of army training and took an oath to serve this country, but the situation changed. The army
let us down, so we had to come to the Taliban. They treat us like guests.
WALSH: They carry their old uniforms, I.D.s, and bank cards used to get their old army wages.
They fight where these pictures were more recently filmed. But now they use their training and experience to train the Taliban.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER (through translation): I decided to leave the army when my dad and injured comrades lay in our base, but nobody took them to
hospital. My army training is very useful now, as I am now training Taliban fighters with the same knowledge.
WALSH: Men who've seen the tide turn and voted with their feet.
(on camera): Helmand's the indisputable heartland of the south. And they've worked so hard to push the Taliban back. And here in Kabul, you can speak
to many who say it could fall at any day. That gives you a sense of how much on the offensive the Taliban are and what could happen in the summer
fighting season ahead.
(voice-over): This is the center of the key town in the Taliban's sights. Tense, yet teeming. Some visit briefly from areas the Taliban now control.
"It's a bit too soon to say whether people are happy with the Taliban. The bazaar is now full of people. That was because the security was bad. And
some people avoided the government's forces." Others fled to its outskirts from the fighting and flash points.
[11:26:33] UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): My worst memory from Sangin (ph) is how a wedding party was hit by mortar, killing a large
number of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): The bullets and rocket the followed, so I fled here.
WALSH: Just over a year since NATO stopped fighting, and here, the Taliban's white flags are closer than ever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins me now live from Kabul.
Just how bad are things, Nick, on the ground?
WALSH: Well, certainly in Helmand a police official telling us that that (inaudible) you saw there is pushed from both sides by the Taliban in five
districts of that vital -- the largest province in Afghanistan are held by that insurgency.
A very different message, though, from Afghan and U.S. officials who say clearly they're optimistic. And in fact, the acting defense minister said
this if I asked if Lashkar Gah would fall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: People can see the Taliban's flag from the outskirts of Lashkar Gah. People say to me so regularly Lashkar Gah could fall any day.
MOHAMMAD MANSOOM TANEKZAI, AFGHAN ACTING DEFENSE MINISTER: It will not fall.
WALSH: At all.
TANEKZAI: At all.
WALSH: If it does, would you resign?
TANEKZAI: It will not fall. If it falls, there is no doubt I will resign, but it will not fall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Now, optimistism there reflecting in the Afghan government perception that they need to win the war, a vision really here to get the
confidence back of the Afghan people.
I should say that the last 72 hours just here in Kabul supposed safe capital haven't looked good at all. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit
here -- well, minutes after he left the country, four explosions hit near the U.S. embassy compound. And today have been ghastly, frankly, two
education ministry employees killed when their bus was hit by an explosion in the east of the city here. Seven people injured and just now in the
previous few hours traveling east from the major city of Jalalabad there.
Afghan army recruits in a bus also hit by an explosion, 12 of them killed, and 38 people wounded. That is just a sign really I think many fear of
what's to come in the months ahead. We haven't even started the summer fighting season, which is always more violent and warmer in the climate
here. And I think the big concern is the Taliban gaining so much ground in Helmand and the lack of readiness in the Afghan army. They say they're
improving, but let's face it there's nothing like the assurances the Americans and Afghans gave before NATO began to withdraw from its combat
mission.
The state of the Afghan army may not be enough to hold the emboldened and much more radical Taliban back -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh and his report just the first of a series of exclusive reports from Nick out of Kabul this week. Thank you.
He was a brand new dad winning the green jacket and his first major title after a shocking sudden collapse on the back nine by Jordan Spieth.
The defending champ had a five-shot lead heading into the tenth tee. After back to back bogeys, he then hit two shots into the water on 12 and wound
up with a quadruple bogey.
Spieth tried to come back but was never able to fully recover.
Well, Willett meantime shot a bogey free round of five under par 67 win by three shots.
Even if you don't understand golf, this is a tremendous story.
Don Riddell was at Augusta National watching it all happen and he joins us now.
Danny Willett wasn't even expected to play at The Masters. Why is that, Don?
[11:30:22] DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this is just amazing for so many different reasons. This was only his second
Masters tournament, Becky. And you're right, he didn't even think he was going to be here. And that is because his first child, his son Zach, was
due to be born yesterday on Sunday, Master's Sunday, April 10. Luckily for him, he came at the end of March, on March 30, so that enabled him to sort
of help out at home, make sure little baby Zach was okay and then he thought, you know what, I can still make The Masters.
So he flew over here on Monday. He was the last guy in, the last one to register, and everything
has just gone right for him.
We spoke last night and we were talking about how important this new family is to him, but also how important his established family is to him. He has
got a lot of brothers. They all give each other a lot of support, but they all tease each other a lot as well and one of the really entertaining
things about watching Danny Willett do this yesterday was one of his brothers, Peter, was providing his
own live commentary on social media, on Twitter.
Some of the things he said are completely unbroadcastable, but he did come up with an absolute gem every now and again, one of which was he can now
say he's had a bath with The Masters champion. This is what Danny Willett had to say to me about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY WILLETT, 2016 MASTERS CHAMPION: There's a few pictures that could prove that, yeah, we all used to back in the day trying to save water.
That was it. One hot water bath and as many people get in as possible to try to get clean.
RIDDELL: He also said green makes you look fat. Refuse the jacket.
WILLETT: I can't say too much on that. He's a little bit porky himself. It's not really (inaudible).
RIDDELL: And Sarah, "don't ever put us through this again, Dan, I have aged 20 years."
WILLETT: That's my sister-in-law.
No, it's just nice to know they are pulling for you. I spoke to them a good bit over this last week. I'm very privileged to have a fantastic
group of family, in-laws, friends, everyone around me to keep me down to Earth, to keep me being the person I've worked hard
to be regardless if I play good golf or not, and they don't really care.
They care that I am a good person and I keep doing the right things and keep working out and any little bonuses along the way, you know, winning
golf is a bonus.
So, I'm incredibly privileged to have people around me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIDDELL: Becky, you know, you have to wonder if this whole thing was just meant to be. You know, we have talked about Zach and how he was born early
so he could be here. Today is April 11, that is Danny Willett's wife Nichole's birthday. Andshe was actually born around about the time that
another great British champion golfer Sandy Lyle was winning The Masters in '88 when he was going through his trials and tribulations on the 18th and
putting it on the bunker just before he won it. Her mom was in labor with Nicole and she was born the next day.
And so just what an amazing time of year this is for Danny Willett and all those who are close to him.
ANDERSON: And what a tremendously nice bloke we can say. Fantastic. Good story. Excellent. Don, thank you.
We're going to take a very short break here on Connect the World. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:36:22] ANDERSON: Well, you're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with
me Becky Anderson. Welcome back.
36 minutes past 7:00 here in the Middle East. And we will be staying in the Middle East for the time being where redrawing borders is never an easy
task, even if it turns out when both sides agree.
Egypt giving back two tiny islands to Saudi Arabia in what many may think is a fair deal. Nonetheless, it is stirring up an old controversy that
goes back decades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAMAL ABDEL NASSER, FRM. EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There is no way we'll forfeit our rights. These are Egyptian waters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's charismatic former president, vowing to hold on to
two tiny islands in the Red Sea back in 1956.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NASSER: The island of Tehran is Egyptian and the Sina (ph) coast is Egyptian. If we say that the regional waters are three miles long, then
they are Egyptian regional waters. If we say there are six miles long, then they are Egyptian regional waters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Quickly deploying troops after Saudi Arabia handed them over to Egypt hoping what was the Arab world's biggest military power could keep
them out of Israeli hands.
But Egypt was humiliated. Their defeated soldiers rounded up in six day war in 1967. Still, Cairo held on, Tehran and Sanafir too tempting to give
up. Nestled in the narrow waters between the two countries. Tiny and barren, but of massive strategic significance, ships passing nearby to
ports in Jordan and Israel.
Now breaking Nasser's vow is being seen as a humiliating concession in some quarters in Egypt, especially giving the timing. But Saudi Arabia's King
Salman rolled into Cairo for a lavish spending spree doling out tens of billions of dollars in investment projects.
It's also a big reversal for president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi himself. These words were put into the
constitution after he took power, quote, "in all cases, no treaty may be concluded which leads to concession of state territories," end quote.
So, it is easy to see why many in the Egyptian street are looking at it as a straight up sale, feelings that have sparked a storm on social media.
On Facebook, a group said that the president was selling out his country for nothing more
than a bag of rice.
Well known former late night TV host Bassem Youssef took to Twitter saying, quote, "come
one, come all, islands for a billion, the pyramids for $2 billion."
More group of demonstrators were arrested in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The scene of violent revolution five years ago. There's no calls against Mr.
Sisi just yet, but perhaps just as bad in this part of the world the sound of mocking laughter filling the streets
instead.
Well, these aren't the only small islands causing bit trouble around the world. Let's start with some not far from here, shall we? Abu Musa and
the Greater and Lesser Tunbs are a constant source of friction between the United Arab Emirates and Iran. The UAE uses almost any occasion to bring
up that it thinks Iran is occupying them. Iran isn't fazed by those claims, it seems.
Jumping to the South China Sea, there is a messy tangle of competing claims between a
number of countries, perhaps most significantly the United States and China often butt heads here.
Crossing over the Europe, the UK took control of Gibraltar more than 300 years ago, but Spain won't let it go, insisting the rock belongs to them.
And there are frequent diplomatic skirmishes between the two EU members.
U.S. President Barack Obama is revealing what he believes is his worst mistake in office -- it's a failing that helped create can a failed state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in
Libya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that one sentence speaks volumes. A western coalition toppled long-time Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi back in 2011. Rival
militant groups battled to fill the power vacuum plunging the country into chaos. That still exists today.
A recent article in The Atlantic says Mr. Obama views Libya as a, quote, mess, and other words not fit for public consumption.
Well, let's get some perspective now from Steven A. Cook. He's a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
His worst mistake as president, he said, was the lack of planning after toppling Moammar Gadhafi. The brunt of his criticism, though, seen
directed at the French and British leadership of the time. For a country he describes today as a total mess.
What do you make of that?
STEVEN A. COOK, CONCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Yeah, it's certainly Libya is a total mess. It has been engulfed in chaos even before this operation to
topple Moammar Gadhafi came about.
I think the problem is -- and I think what the president is eluding to is the fact that the British in particular had devised a plan for after
Gadhafi. But once it became clear how chaotic and violent the situation there was, the Brits along with the French as well as the Americans -- the
United States does not escape blame here, determined that it was just too hard and pulled back from an effort to stablize the country after Gadhafi
fell.
ANDERSON: Through the U.S. prism, he's described this as a total mess. When you live in this region, we have conversations on an almost daily
basis about the state of affairs in Libya, and it is a mess, and it's awful.
But through the state -- through the prism of Washington and the U.S., just how will this go down?
COOK: Well, I'm afraid that Libya has taken a backseat from the perspective of the United States to the fight against the Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria. I think there is a growing recognition that Libya can be this vortex of violence spilling out instability throughout North Africa
and the rest of the region. But right now, all of the United States's resources are devoted to other parts of the region.
I think people have become increasingly resigned to the fact that Libya is fragmenting and that the political process under way under the auspices of
the United Nations is really divorced from the actual situation on the ground, which is overrun by militias, extremist groups and vying competing
groups related to the Gadhafi regime and others.
It is in a resigned way thought to be somewhat of a lost cause.
ANDERSON: How does all of this fit into the Obama doctrine as laid out a in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic?
COOK: Well, I think President Obama certainly regrets the decision not to follow through on Libya. After all, the justification provided to the
American people for the intervention in Libya was to protect Libyans from Gadhafi. But almost as soon as Gadhafi fell, the United States and its
allies, the British and the French, abandoned those very same Libyans to the forces of chaos and extremism that were engulfing the country.
It is going to be a stain on President Obama's foreign policy legacy.
ANDERSON: And continues to be a stain on the reputation of Hillary Rodham Clinton who, of course, was secretary of state at the time and at the time
of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.
I wonder how you read the timing of these remarks by President Obama and how they might affect Clinton on the campaign trail.
COOK: Well, it's certainly clear as we have entered our prolonged political season opponents of Secretary Clinton have sought to use the
attack on the consulate in Benghazi and the death of four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya at the time, as a political cudgel.
I think what the president is trying to convey is that while Benghazi may have been tragic
the scandal isn't about Benghazi, his regrets -- I wouldn't go so far to suggest that it's a scandal,
no one could have predicted what had happened specifically -- but I think his regrets go to the lack of planning and lack of follow through after the
intervention in Libya undermined Gadhafi.
ANDERSON: With that we'll leave it there. We thank you for very much indeed for joining us.
Live from Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World. Coming up, Ted Cruz sweeping delegates in another U.S. state over the weekend. Why Donald
Trump is angry about how the process played out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Already home to the tallest building, the Birj Khalifa, Dubai's skyline will soon have another mammoth skyscraper, The Tower. It will top
the Birj Khalifa by a notch, we're told, and feature 360 degree views of the city and beyond.
The complex will be open by the time Dubai hosts the World Expo in 2020.
You're watching CNN and Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Welcome back.
Let's get you to the campaign trail in the U.S. And presidential candidates are campaigning today ahead of next week's big primary in New
York.
On the Republican side, front runner Donald Trump holds a rally late later in the state capital Albany.
Rival Ted Cruz is across the country in California after racking up more delegates over the weekend and sending Trump into attack mode over how
those delegates were awarded.
Phil Mattingly has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, 2016 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got a corrupt system. It's not right. We're supposed to be a democracy.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump back on the campaign trail in New York after spending four days laying low.
TRUMP: We've got to have a system where voting means something. Doesn't it have to mean something?
MATTINGLY: Criticizing the delegate system after a string of losses and state battles dominated by Ted Cruz's campaign organization and issuing a
warning to the Republican National Committee.
TRUMP: You're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people that don't like what's going on.
MATTINGLY: Trump's top adviser, Paul Manafort, echoing his boss's concerns, alleging that the Cruz campaign is threatening Trump's delegates.
PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CONVENTION MANAGER: You go to these kind of conventions, and you see the tactic, Gestapo tactics. We're going to be
filing several protests, because the reality is, they are not playing by the rules.
MATTINGLY: The Cruz campaign calls it sour grapes, writing in a statement, quote, "It's no surprise that Trump's team will lash out with falsehoods
when facing a loss to distract from their failure."
Trump taking to social media to express his frustration with the delegate fight, tweeting, "The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from
them by phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!" This back and forth coming just a day after Cruz went after Trump
over electability while courting top donors in Las Vegas.
CRUZ: If Donald is the nominee, poll after poll after poll shows him losing by double digits. We're looking at a bloodbath of Walter Mondale
proportions.
MATTINGLY: These attacks coming as Trump tries out a new strategy: playing it safe. The Republican front-runner was absent from the Sunday talk shows
yesterday for the first time in four months.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And Phil Mattingly joins me now from CNN in New York. Nobody expected him to stay quiet for more than 48 or 72 hours maybe. But it was
a very somber Trump over the weekend, but out once again.
Is he threaten ed by Ted Cruz at this point?
MATINGLY: No question about it. And I think, look, his team and Donald Trump recognized that that magic number, that 1,237 number of delegates he
needs to secure the Republican nomination is really in danger right now. And if they get to the point where they are at an open convention in
Cleveland, everything Ted Cruz and his campaign have been doing behind the scenes to secure delegates, those things that Donald Trump says should be
illegal or are unfair, they are all legal and while they might not seem fair, they are within the rules and that is very problematic for Donald
Trump when you look at what's been happening over the last couple months.
ANDERSON: Move over Ted Cruz, though, because Hillary Clinton on the Democrat side reckons that she's the one tough enough to stop Donald Trump.
She released what's known as an attack ad this weekend. Let me just have our viewers have a little look at that and then we'll chat about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: He says we should punish women who have abortions.
TRUMP: There has be to some form of punishment.
ANNOUNCER: That Mexicans who come to America are rapists.
TRUMP: They're rapists.
ANNOUNCER: And that we should ban muslims from coming here at all.
TRUMP: Total and complete shut down.
CLINTON: Donald Trump says we can solve America's problems by turning against each other. It's wrong and it goes against everything New York and
America stand for.
ANNOUNCER: With so much at stake, she's the one tough enough to stop Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And she is the only candidate strong enough to defeat the billionaire businessman in a general election matchup is what her ad
suggests.
So, where are we as far as this campaign is concerned at this point?
MATTINGLY: Becky, can you tell that Hillary Clinton is ready to get out of the primary season and into the general election?
Look, she is in a tougher race than she and her campaign ever expected with Bernie Sanders. The reality is over the last couple weeks Bernie Sanders
has rolled off a string of victories and while mathematically Hillary Clinton is in a significantly better position
than Bernie Sanders, the reality is this campaign is not ending any time soon.
This primary is going to will go until June 7. And that means Hillary Clinton can't pivot to the general election, can't make this all about
Donald Trump.
Still it doesn't mean she's not going to try, Becky. Obviously that ad coming as everybody is preparing for the New York primary. This is a
primary that Hillary Clinton is supposed to win on April 19. It's also a primary Donald Trump is supposed to win on April 19. But I think you see
both campaigns, both Trump and Clinton campaign kind of circling one another thinking that this could be the matchup here in a couple months,
trying to gauge where everybody is at right now, but still both facing tough races in their own primary no matter how much they want to try and
pivot to the general election, they still have fights on their hands, Becky.
ANDERSON: Phil Mattingly on the campaign trail for you, thank you. Out of New York this evening.
Coming up, we're going to take a look at why a football game was stopped so that a player could get a haircut. The details, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:56:51] ANDERSON: You have probably wanted to make the final cut for a sports team before. in our Parting Shots tonight, a very different kind of
final cut for one player. This video going viral right now. Despite being a few years old, and in case you didn't see it the first time here's the
replay. It shows a football player in Saudi Arabia getting his hair cut in the middle of the game. According to media reports, he had to cut it
because his hairdo was deemed to be anti-Islamic.
Walid Abdullah (ph) there playing as the goalkeeper for the national team, a game for him surely a cut above the rest.
I'm Becky Anderson. That was Connect the World. From the team here, it was a good evening.
END
