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CNN Live Event/Special

America Strikes Back: Latest on Allied Campaign in Northern Afghanistan

Aired October 24, 2001 - 05:15   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we'll work on finding out what those pictures are instead of just throwing up pictures and not giving information. Right now let's give the latest developments on the war on terrorism, starting with the anthrax scare, which is widening. Anthrax spores have been found at a mail facility that processes mail for the White House. But President Bush says he is confident he'll be safe when he goes to work this morning.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Tests confirm two D.C. postal workers died of inhaled anthrax earlier this week. Two others in suburban Virginia are being hospitalized right now with it. Thousands of postal workers are taking antibiotics right now and final tests show that the U.S. Capitol Building is free from anthrax contamination and exposure.

KAGAN: Understandable that during these times there are claims, some are true, some are not, and there are claims that the U.S.-led air strikes have missed their targets at least two times in recent days and hit civilians.

HARRIS: And, in fact, we were trying to get some independent confirmation of some of those claims by the Taliban, but we've just learned that correspondent Yusef Ali-Shuli (ph), who is with the Al Jazeera television network, and he's in Kandahar, and we were hoping to talk with him this morning but we understand now that he's been told by the Taliban that he can no longer report here on CNN. So we're going to check and see what that's up -- what's up with that, what that's all about, what's going on with that, rather.

But in the meantime, let's check in now with our Matthew Chance, who is standing by now live in northern Afghanistan, as he has been -- Matthew, good morning, or good afternoon to you.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

That's right, and at a very forward position you join me on, in fact, just north of the Shamali Plains. In fact, on the Shamali Plains north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, overlooking the positions of the front lines, rather, where the Taliban forces and the forces of the Northern Alliance literally stand off against each other back there. Kabul just about 45 kilometers from where we're standing right now. It's also the place where in the past three days we've been witnessing U.S.-led war plane attacks against those Taliban front line positions over there. So obviously we're in a good vantage point here to bring you the latest developments on those should they happen throughout the course of today.

I can tell you so far, though, it's been relatively quiet. We heard a jet fly over about an hour ago, but no indication from here about what it was, what its mission was. But let me give you an idea, though, of exactly where we are right now. Let me just ask the cameraman to pan over there. This line here, that's, this road, rather, that's the road to Kabul. As I say, Kabul about 45 kilometers from where we are now. Obviously this bit of the road is in the territory controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance forces. But just 10 kilometers down there, that's Taliban controlled territory and obviously there's a lot of road in between there and here, which is no man's land where a lot of people, where people just can't venture down that road.

Of course, a lot of the inhabitants of this village have already left, moved away because this area comes under such intensive bombardment on occasion. It's changed hands in the past five years three times between the Taliban and the forces of the Northern Alliance. So it is quite a volatile place. But hopefully it will give us a good vantage point to show you the latest developments as they unfold -- back to you.

HARRIS: All right, Matthew, speaking of the latest developments, what's the reaction there among the Northern Alliance troops that you've been traveling with to this latest round of air strikes there? I mean lots of folks have been waiting to see just how far forward they would be moving, taking advantage of any openings that these air strikes have made in the Taliban troops there.

CHANCE: I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you repeat the question.

HARRIS: OK. The question is what's the reaction there this morning amongst the Northern Alliance troops as they've been watching these air strikes? Many people have been sitting back watching to see just how much advantage they would be trying to take of any openings. Any sense that there is any forward movement that's in the offing here?

CHANCE: Yes, I've got you this time. Yes, no sense at all at this point. There has been frustration expressed by the Northern Alliance commanders that the air strikes from the United States-led coalition have focused too much on targets deep inside Afghanistan and not enough on those front line positions. Nevertheless, they have welcomed the latest round of strikes on that Taliban, on those Taliban front line positions. But still no indication of any movement as yet from these front line positions of the Northern Alliance to push towards the Afghan capital, Kabul. Even though Northern Alliance commanders say they do have a battle plan ultimately to do that, we haven't seen any sign of it yet, though -- back to you. HARRIS: Well, Matthew, as you've been moving closer and closer to what's being called the front lines there, give us an idea of the kind of conditions that you've been observing there amongst the people who are still there and have not evacuated. What are living conditions like there?

CHANCE: The conditions are pretty bad. This is one of the poorest countries in the world and of course it's been wracked by conflict for more than two decades now. So the living conditions of the people is extremely poor. The infrastructure of this country is virtually nonexistent. The roads -- this is the only tarmaced road, for instance, that I've seen in the several weeks that I've been here.

The houses are built of mud. The sanitation is extremely poor. The food is in extremely short supply. There's a million displaced people across Afghanistan. Many of them have absolutely no income whatsoever and depend for their survival on the handouts of international aid agencies.

So very harsh conditions for the vast majority of people in Afghanistan and those conditions set to get worse because in just a few weeks from now winter is expected to set in and there regularly temperatures plunge well below zero, making every day life there that much harder.

HARRIS: Yes, speaking of the food, Matthew, I'm just curious after hearing you say that, where have you been getting your food? What have you been eating lately, you and the crew that's traveling with you?

CHANCE: Yes, we brought a lot of supplies in with us, a lot of canned food from Russia, where we came in from, the Russian side to here. We've also been resupplied at some point by lorries, trucks that have been in convoy coming across the very high mountains from Tajikistan. But those mountain passes are closed as soon as the winter sets in. Snow blocks all the roads.

So what we're doing, we're living the same way as -- well, we're getting whatever food we can from the local market. The advantage we have, of course, is that we have money. We have money to buy goats and cows and vegetables and rice and people to cook that for us. But as I say, the vast majority of people here have no money. They survive on handouts from aid agencies. So we're the lucky ones, really.

HARRIS: Yes, interesting. You're going to have some stories to tell when you get back here, pal.

Matthew Chance, thank you very much. Be safe and we'll talk with you later on.

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