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CNN Live Saturday

President Bush Follows Situation in Afghanistan

Aired September 22, 2001 - 14:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Chris Burns joins us live, via videophone, now from Northern Afghanistan with the latest on that Taliban claim that an unmanned spy plane has been shot down.

Chris, what do you hear there?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sound of intermittent tank fire tonight in the hills not far from Kabul. We're seeing -- we're hearing the evidence of rising tensions between the Taliban forces and the Northern Alliance forces, Northern Alliance saying that they are waging an offensive over the last couple of days, trying to take back territory, trying to push the Taliban back. In fact, trying to cut off one of their supply lines.

For a closer look at what this Northern Alliance is, here's a report from Ryan Chilcote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the men who've offered their assistance to the United States in its war against terrorism. Today, they are commuting to their own front lines against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban in Russian-made tanks, leftovers from a previous war.

The soldiers then move by foot, or bicycle, into the open space. There, they disappear into the war-torn landscape of the Northern Alliance's front lines, just north of the capital, Kabul.

From the control tower of an old airport, front-line commander, Babajan (ph), follows the movement of his own and the enemy, Taliban.

"We've been fighting them here for six years," he says. "You can see the dust from their cars on old Kabul road."

For those six years, the road to Kabul has been out of his reach. The army he fights for controls just a small portion of Afghanistan. General Babajan (ph) and his men lack the air power and the heavy weaponry of the Taliban. Their strongest resources, they say, are human, 15,000 men, both young and old, heavily armed with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers and a wealth of experience at fighting their enemies from the south, all valuable assets, they say, to a military force lacking intimate knowledge of fighting in Afghanistan. (on camera): The Northern Alliance says it wants to be the eyes and ears of any possible U.S. military action against the Taliban. In exchange, they say, the U.S. could be helping them win their own war.

(voice-over): Mohamed Hassin (ph) has never met an American, but he says he welcomes any U.S. strikes against the Taliban, as long as they don't hurt civilians.

General Babajan (ph) says he's already drawn up plans for bringing his men south to the capital. "Six years, after all," he says, "is a long time to be fighting a war."

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Bagram, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS: A closing note coming in here into Afghanistan, flying in, was a revelation to see how severe this geography is, how mountainous, how rugged, how forbidding it is, to show what the Taliban, what the Northern Alliance, and what U.S. forces could eventually be up against -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Chris Burns, joining us live from Afghanistan. We want to point out that that report was not over a videophone, actually over a satellite, a satellite uplink allowing stronger, more consistent communications for our reporting.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Marty, keeping a close eye on all these developments in Afghanistan and elsewhere, of course, President Bush and his national security advisers. They are meeting this weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat.

Our Kelly Wallace joins us now from Hagerstown, Maryland, which is very close to Camp David -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, and while that military planning continues, there are also movements on the diplomatic and financial fronts. We do know, earlier today, President Bush had what is described as a lengthy telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a call that lasted about 45 minutes to an hour. This, their third telephone conversation since the attack back on September 11th, the administration saying that the United States is very pleased with the cooperation it is getting from the Russians in this fight against terrorism.

We know the U.S. has been spending a lot of time reaching out to Russia. President Bush met with the Foreign Minister of Russia earlier this week. The U.S. definitely interested in getting any intelligence Russia might have on the man the U.S. calls the prime suspect in these attacks, Osama bin Laden. Also, in getting any experience Russia has had, of course, from its lengthy, lengthy fight in Afghanistan.

Now, on another front, the financial front, we also know that as early as this weekend, we are told by administration officials, President Bush expected to sign an executive order naming specific terrorists and specific terrorist organizations, and freezing their assets in the United States.

Now the official I talked with could not say if the specific terrorists that would be listed would extend beyond al Qaeda, that's the group, the terrorist organization spearheaded by the man, again who the administration calls the prime suspect, Osama bin Laden.

Also, the President is starting his day meeting with his National Security team, a little differently, we might add, the President up at Camp David, many of his advisers though back in Washington, the President chairing a meeting via video conference. Joining the President up at Camp David, his Chief of Staff, Andy Card, as well as his National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and also CIA Director George Tenet.

Judy, the rest of the weekend, we're not likely to see the president today. We will see him though tomorrow, likely to be a rather emotional moment. You know, the president ordered flags at all Federal buildings to be at half-staff ever since those attacks on September 11th. Well, at a ceremony tomorrow with members of the U.S. Marine Corps, Judy, the president will return flags on all Federal buildings to full-staff.

Judy, back to you.

WOODRUFF: Kelly, there were reports, a number of reports this week about divisions inside the administration, largely between the Pentagon and the State Department, which is arguing that there needs to be an effort, a greater effort, to achieve an alliance of support. Whereas, the Pentagon arguing that it's important to go in more quickly, and to even perhaps include states like Iraq in the target.

Where does that dispute stand now?

KELLY: Well, Judy, you're not -- you would not be surprised to know that the Senior Staffers within the West Wing trying to present a united front and trying to sort of discount any stories alleging any division. My colleague, Andrea Koppel, has done some good reporting on this.

Basically, it appears that Secretary of State Colin Powell, is one of the people who's really trying to push the diplomatic, the financial, the political parts of this campaign. Very concerned about the military aspect here. If there is a very aggressive military campaign, what impact that could have on Arab allies and other Muslim nations. The understanding is some within the Pentagon wanting a very aggressive military campaign, as you noted, and going after other targets, such as Iraq.

So again, it does appear that there may be some disagreements exactly, but, you know, from the message we're getting from the White House is, this is a united front, and the big message, Judy, we continue to hear is that, don't just focus on the military campaign. There'll be a lot of things going on behind the scenes, trying to gather intelligence, trying to choke off money going to the terrorists, focusing on the diplomatic front.

So, the message appears to be, 'Don't just focus on the military side. This is a full-pronged assault, really, against terrorists.'

Judy, back to you.

WOODRUFF: All right, Kelly, we'll try to keep all of that in mind. Thanks.

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