Q&A with Christiane Amanpour of CNN and ABC

Journalist Christiane AmanpourChristiane Amanpour is the host of CNN's "Amanpour" and the global affairs anchor for ABC News.

Q: How have relations between the press and the military changed during the time you've been covering wars and other conflicts?

A: The relationship has become much more controlled and P.R. oriented on the part of the military. It is much more difficult to get to cover a military operation or just a day in the life of a military unit. It is much more difficult to have on the record conversations with the military from the grunt up to the general. Almost every encounter with the U.S. military these days comes in the framework of an "embed." There are of course notable exceptions, mainly in print where you can spend longer and be less obtrusive. For TV, all the gear and the team make it harder to be invisible.

Q: How have changing technologies made it easier to report from the battlefield? Are there ways in which it's become more difficult?

A: Technologies have made it much easier to gather and disseminate news, pictures and video. It has been a huge advance and advantage. 

However it can also be a drawback because it has accustomed news organizations to a much lighter and cheaper operation, when sometimes you really need to go in with the best bulkier camera equipment and larger teams. 

Q: In your opinion, have U.S. policymakers been affected by the legacy of the Vietnam War when it comes to sending troops into battle?

A: I also believe that the rapid fire technological advances whereby people can access their news and information on ever smaller devices, in ever shorter bytes, has the unintended consequence of "miniaturizing the event" and then passing over that event much more rapidly than before. If the news cycle on everything, even serious events, gets shorter and shorter, then so does the policy-making cycle. Hence my feeling that policy making today is very reactive and therefore has a short-shelf life. This has a negative cumulative effect on conflict resolution and lessens the chance of fashioning a lasting progressive future.

Q: What has and hasn't changed for women war correspondents over the course of your career?

A: I was part of the first generation of the "female wave" of war correspondents. In every field this wave has just grown bigger. On the ground there are women everywhere and that is good. Now, for a woman at the very top of a TV news organization!

Q: What would you see as a "good enough" outcome in Afghanistan?

A: A good outcome in Afghanistan would have been one in which the U.S. had not taken its eye off the ball after the initial success of beating the Taliban and Al Qaeda back in 2001. It is common knowledge that all the important indicators in Afghanistan were in a positive direction until President George W. Bush switched focus to Iraq. Since then America's fight has been mostly reactive, infighting over policy and personality within the Obama Administration, with the aim of getting out come-what-may, has negatively affected the future state of Afghanistan.  Even U.S. reconstruction and governance efforts have been incoherent in strategy and aim, despite the billions of dollars and thousands of good lives that have been spent.

A good outcome would have been to build a realistically competent national Afghan army for basic internal security. 

Realistic efforts at nation building, which did not seek to build a little America but a reasonably secure state with a mix of national and regional government, and a strong constitution guaranteeing rights for all. A functioning national electricity and water grid, the promise of education for all.

Afghanistan is rich in natural resources (minerals and gems) and blessed with a potentially rich agricultural sector. Instead of building high-tech projects that had no chance of lasting once international forces left, the effort should have been on building a base to bolster Afghanistan's natural ability and productivity.

Lastly, when the U.S. and the west first intervened after 9/11, they were blessed with massive and genuine support from the majority of the Afghan people. Building upon that would have been the best outcome. Squandering it is the biggest danger.

Interview with Deborah Kalb, co-author of Haunting Legacy.