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CNN Live Saturday

Negotiations Under Way in Kandahar

Aired December 08, 2001 - 15:01   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to Kandahar, where tribal leaders are jockeying for power today, and CNN's Nic Robertson is the only Western journalist to get in there so far. He's joining us now by videophone -- what's the latest, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, negotiations under way at the moment -- those negotiations chaired by Afghanistan new head of its interim government, Hamid Karzai. The two forces inside Kandahar, those that back Hamid Karzai -- they are the anti- Taliban forces -- and those that back Mullah Naqib. Now, Mullah Naqib is the man that the Taliban essentially handed over Kandahar to.

Now, the problem that Hamid Karzai supporters have is they say that Mullah Naqib was essentially a supporter of the Taliban. He backed them. He was very, very close to them, and that he invited the Taliban into Kandahar in 1994, when he was a mujahideen commander.

So they say they don't want him. They say he's not the right person for Kandahar, and for that reason, they won't tolerate him. They say they hope that negotiations go peacefully, but if they don't, they predict there could be widespread fighting inside Kandahar to establish control over the city.

Just outside the city, when we were driving in, there were signs of recent fighting. There were dead bodies on the side of the road that tribal commanders, who were bringing us in here, told us that these were bodies of Arab fighters. They have been fighting -- the anti-Taliban forces have been fighting to get control of Kandahar's airport. The Arab fighters died in that process.

Now, we're also told, and we could hear as we came past the airport, gunfire going on there. We were told there are some 200 Arab fighters who are surrounded by the anti-Taliban forces at the airport. We are told that they are in the airport departure's building, but the anti-Taliban forces say they won't bomb the airport, because they don't want to destroy the building, but they say they will lay siege to those fighters until they lay down their weapons -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Nic, incredible video of arriving into Kandahar -- once you arrived inside the city, how would you describe the situation there -- chaotic perhaps?

ROBERTSON: It was dusk. There were a few people out on the streets, a few store holders (ph) open, a few people closing up their stores. It was tense. It still is tense, but it's still relatively calm. This is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and people, when we were arriving, were just taking -- breaking their fast of the day as the sun went down.

But there were people out on the streets later in the evening. We saw them sitting around in a couple of tea houses at the side of the road in one of the main squares in the city. But it is much quieter than it would normally be at this time, and certainly there is apprehension in this city about what could come next.

And we also know that looting was going on as early as this morning. CNN has an office here in the city, and our staff there told us earlier in the day that their car was stolen by armed fighters. They came and took the car away, and our staff had no choice but to let the car go away. So it's still a very precarious situation in the city -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Reports, Nic, that the tribal commanders there are saying that the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has slipped away. Can you confirm any of those reports for us?

ROBERTSON: Well, several commanders have told us that. They have told us that he was in the city Friday night, and by Saturday morning, he had gone. Now, some of Mullah Omar's closest lieutenants, closest advisers, are currently involved in those negotiations over who should run Kandahar at the moment.

Now, Mullah Omar, typically in the past, has never delegated anything so important to people far beyond his control. This is an indication, perhaps, that his trusted advisers are in negotiations -- that maybe he isn't too far away after all. Maybe he actually is in or around Kandahar somewhere, despite the rumors, despite the stories that he has actually left -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right. CNN's Nic Robertson is the only Western journalist to get inside Kandahar -- thank you, Nic, for that report.

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