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CNN Live Saturday

Pentagon Officials Deny Reports Three American Commandos Were Captured in Afghanistan

Aired September 29, 2001 - 16:05   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: A Pentagon official says there is no evidence that lends credence to the story that al-Qaeda forces have captured three American commandos and the Afghan assistants. The official says the Pentagon is no longer investigating the claims.

Arabic language al-Jazeera television says the commandos were captured in Afghanistan near the border with Iran. According to that report, the team was carrying maps of al-Qaeda camps. As we told you earlier, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban also say they don't believe the story.

A White House administration officials calls the report of captured Americans bogus and untrue.

CNN's Octavia Nasr joins us by phone now from al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar. Al-Jazeera is the Arabic language news agency reporting that story.

Octavia, give us an idea, first of all, of just who is al- Jazeera, how big an organization and their audience that they reach out to?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Martin, the al-Jazeera is the largest, most widely watched Arabic speaking all news network in the Arabic and Muslim worlds. They are a satellite channel, so they are watched all over the world. And they grabbed the spotlight a few times by airing scoops, such as statements by Mullah Omar in Afghanistan or statements by Osama bin Laden.

They are respected. They are feared. They are trusted and they are mix of all these things. It just depends on who you ask.

SAVIDGE: Would they be then the primary source of information for many people in the Arab world?

NASR: Absolutely, especially in this crisis, al-Jazeera is the only channel that has a correspondent in Kandahar, Afghanistan. They are the only channel with a correspondent in Kabul, Afghanistan. So every piece of information that will come out of that region is going through them. They are trusted. They are liked.

A lot of stuff goes to them. To their offices, statements are hand delivered to the offices to be aired. So yes, they are the main source of information from that region today.

SAVIDGE: And how has their coverage been focused? Is it on the military buildup? Is it on the terrorist attacks? Is it reaction in the Arab world? Just what is it that they're telling people?

NASR: Mainly their focus has been on the human crisis in Afghanistan. The reporters are always trying to portray what life is like inside of Afghanistan. Not so much on the military buildup. They do have the news casts are reporting what's going on, the moves by the U.S. and their allies, but mainly the humanitarian aspect. They do get a lot of reaction, especially in the talk shows from world leaders and Muslim leaders.

So it's a mix, but really not so much on the military buildup. They do have a lot of reaction also on the terrorist attacks that hit the U.S. on September 11. Condemnation, explanation of why it happened. So the focus is very much terrorism in general and the humanitarian aspect of this crisis.

SAVIDGE: Octavia Nasr. She is reporting to us from the headquarters of al-Jazeera. Thank you very much.

Some United Nations officials are saying that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan could turn out to be the worst such crisis ever.

We turn now to CNN's Nic Robertson in Quetta, Pakistan, just across the border with Afghanistan. And that's where thousands of Afghans who have fled their homes have gathered -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a little north of here in the town of Pashawa, the United Nations sent a 20 truck convoy today with some 200 tons of food on a very arduous journey. This truck convoy will be headed into the Hindu Kush mountains. Those are the foothills of the Himalayas.

And there, when they get to some of the high passes there that are about 4,000 meters high, they will be transferring those sacks of food from the trucks onto mule trains. U.N. officials say that these -- that they will be using some hundreds of mules to get the food into northern Afghanistan.

This will -- this food will go into areas controlled by the Northern Alliance. Those are the forces opposed to the Taliban. Further south here in Quetta, the U.N.H.C.R. flying in some 44 metric tons of plastic sheeting. That is enough, they say, for tents for some 50,000 families. And the world food program as well, trying to step up the food supplies that it's bringing into this region.

All the U.N. agencies at this time doing everything that they can to prepare for what they fear could be a massive outflow. But for a million refugees into Pakistan. At the moment, however, though, the borders are closed and no refugees actually allowed to come into Pakistan at this time.

So really, the U.N. trying to prepare for that eventuality -- Martin. SAVIDGE: The aid workers on trial, can you give us more insight as to exactly what is going on? It was delayed by one day now?

ROBERTSON: Well, their trial is due to resume Sunday. Now their attorney visited with them today, Saturday. He was able to visit all of the aide workers in detention in the capital Kabul. He was able to visit with the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who will be trying them, along with 22 religious and legal scholars.

He was also able to visit with foreign ministry officials. Now what happened was in early August, these aide officials from the international Cherokee Shelter now were arrested, accused of trying to convert Afghans to Christianity.

Their trial began about a week before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That precipitated a breakdown in the trial, because at that moment, their defense lawyer was supposed to come from Pakistan. And he was only able to get into Afghanistan after a two week delay. And that was Saturday today.

And he met with them for the first time. And now, the court in Afghanistan says that the defense lawyer's in place. They are ready to proceed and that the trial will proceed Sunday. It has to be said, this will not be a trial like a Western trial. This will be a trial under Islamic law and Islamic rules.

However, the aide workers do say, the detained aide workers say that they believe that they're going to get a fair trial. And when they were in open court and we were there about 2.5 weeks ago, that was what the judge was saying. And that's why they were allowing journalists into the court to view what was happening. They wanted to let everyone know that it would be a fair trial, but that is due to begin Sunday now.

SAVIDGE: All right. Thank you, Nic Robertson. That trial to be watched very carefully. Nic Robertson reporting to us from Quetta in Pakistan.

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