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President Biden Announces A U.S. Withdrawl from Afghanistan; New Discovery Made in Egypt; A Woman in India Works to Protect People and Wildlife. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired April 15, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: A major decision concerning U.S. military forces in Afghanistan. That`s our first topic today on CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz.
Thank you for watching. On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that American combat troops would leave Afghanistan by September 11th of
this year. That will be the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the U.S. which were carried out by a group that was
allowed to live and train in Afghanistan. That`s why in 2001, the U.S. led an international alliance of countries to knock Afghanistan`s former rulers
out of power. Afghanistan`s first democratically elected leader took office in 2004 but instability remained and the conflict in Afghanistan
became the longest running war America has been involved in.
President Biden says it`s time to end it and bring U.S. troops home and as of this January, there were 2,500 American service members in Afghanistan
according to the Defense Department. And while the Biden Administration says they`ll be withdrawn by September, some U.S. troops will remain in the
country to protect American interests. Officials didn`t say how many. The decision to remove the others is both complicated and controversial. For
one thing, the Taliban, Afghanistan`s former rulers who harbored terrorists. They`re still a powerful force in the country. The U.S.
Intelligence community doesn`t think a peace deal is likely between the Taliban and the Afghan government and if American troops leave some
military officials are concerned that the government will collapse.
That could threaten security, democracy and women`s rights in Afghanistan. Like former President Barack Obama and former President Donald Trump,
President Biden promised to end American involvement in Afghanistan. In Congress, there`s bipartisan support for doing this with advocates saying
it would be a historic achievement. There`s also bipartisan opposition with critics saying it will result in an Afghan civil war. A member of the
Biden Administration who`s been involved in the decision says it`s not based on conditions in Afghanistan. President Biden reportedly thinks
conditions there could keep American troops in the country indefinitely. Analysts say he wants to focus more on foreign policy concerning China and
Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that this golden lost city is the most important discovery after the discovery of the route to (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNTRANSLATED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. What country`s national emblem features four lions? Bangladesh, Tanzania, India or Nigeria. India, a nation of 1.3
billion people is the answer.
The last remaining population of Asiatic lions can be found only in India though according to National Geographic, Africa is where you`ll find almost
all the other wild lions in the world. Some people travel thousands of miles to see lions, tigers and elephants in their native habitat. But for
those who live near them, the animals can be a nuisance, a threat to livelihoods or a constant danger. We featured a report a couple of years
ago that explored how elephants in the African nation of Botswana were responsible for scores of human deaths every year. In India, a nation of
extraordinary diversity when it comes to wildlife, there`s a conservationist who`s working to help people and animals live safely side
by side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. KRITHI KARANTH, WILD SEVE PROGRAM DIRECTOR: People who live in cities tend to romanticize living along side big animals like tigers and
elephants, when the reality is very, very different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For these farmers, life on the edge of India`s national parks is a fight for survival.
KARANTH: You live in constant fear of your crops being destroyed. Your livestock being killed and occasionally even being injured due to
confrontation with wildlife. It is not an easy life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On average, one person or more is killed by a wild animal every day in India according to the Environment Ministry.
KARANTH: India is a high wildlife, high conflict country. One of the biggest challenges is the fact that we have less than five percent of land
set aside for wildlife and there are millions of people who live adjacent to our protected areas or inside. Every time your crops are destroyed,
you`re pushed further into poverty becomes harder for your family to survive that here. We absolutely have to figure out ways that people and
wildlife can coexist.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Conservation scientist Krithi Karanth has spent 15 years studying human/wildlife conflict in India. Looking for ways to
lessen the impact on rural communities.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE TRANSLATED: They shouted a tiger has attacked your bull in the field. Come quickly. When we got here, we cried in despair.
We earned our living with those two bulls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While the government offers compensation for losses, like damage to this boar (ph) well by elephants, Karanth says it remains
out of reach for many.
KARANTH: The process to get compensation can be bureaucratic, slow and frustrating which is why most people don`t file for compensation to date.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She started the Wild Seve Program in 2015 to help communities overcome those hurdles. Farmers call a toll free number and
Karanth says Wild Seve staff respond within 48 hours assessing the damage and helping them submit the documentation needed to make a claim.
KARANTH: We`ve submitted almost 80,000 claims. People have received almost $800,000 in compensation from the government.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her work also helps protect animals from those pushed to the limit.
KARANTH: We`ve had families who`ve called us 50, 60 times and they rarely retaliate. They retaliate when a sense of frustration builds and they
don`t get the help they need in time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Finding new ways for people and wildlife to coexist has become more urgent in the face of a global pandemic. Last year,
Karanth and her team started teaching communities how to protect themselves from zoonotic disease.
KARANTH: I think the pandemic is a deep wake up call for every human on the planet which shows that you can`t endlessly tinker with nature. We
need to do more to save wildlife and wild places.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Karanth`s passion for wildlife began at a young age.
KARANTH: I had the most amazing childhood. My dad is a tiger conservationist and biologist. So I had seen my first tiger and leopard by
the time I was two years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She hopes to share that passion with the next generation through her education program which she says has reached over
20,000 children.
KARANTH: To me, they are the stewards of the environment. If we don`t get them to understand the value of this we`re going to lose the wildlife. I
have two daughters. What I hope I can do is move the needle a little bit and help people and wildlife learn to coexist. I hope to leave a better
planet than I inherited from my father to my children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: If you happen to live near a certain pizza restaurant in Houston, Texas and you really would prefer a robot to deliver your pizza, well
Dominos may have exactly what you`re looking for. It`s working with a robot company called Neuro to get the pies from the store to your driveway.
There will be no delivery person to actually knock on your door. Still, customers can keep track of their pizzas through text alerts and real time
GPS monitoring. So there will be less suspense about where exactly your order is. Will this soon be part of the pizza process in neighborhoods
worldwide? Some experts are concerned this may not work in places with heavy or fast traffic but it`s another new way in which companies are
experimenting with employing robots that go that last mile in delivery.
But is there a "pepperoneed" dough. Somebody might appreciate the extra "anchovizability". They never "sausage" a deliverer before. But if the
robots slower than a car, the idea might seem "cheesy" or "half baked". You`re not exactly comparing "pineapples" to apples and it doesn`t leave
"mushroom" for error. Hey, there is one way to get a shout out on CNN 10. You subscribe and leave a comment on our most recent show at
YouTube.com/CNN10. Bay High School did it. Hello to our viewers in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Thanks so much for watching. I`m Carl Azuz.
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