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CNN Live Saturday

Chaos in Kandahar

Aired December 08, 2001 - 17:01   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: Well, we begin tonight in Kandahar, where CNN's Nic Robertson is the only Western journalist on the scene there. His eyewitness account reveals the chaos that's going on there, the last pockets of resistance and the struggle among rival Afghan leaders over who will control the former Taliban stronghold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Close to Kandahar, bodies litter the site of the road. Dead Arab fighters, according to anti-Taliban tribal forces. And as we drive further, signs of recent battle also scattered along the highway. Vehicles hit by airstrikes, we were told. And at the airport, evidence of intense fighting, not yet over as 200 Arab fighters, our escorts say, are holed up in the terminal building.

The fight for the airport, led by tribal commander Gul Ali (ph). His militia supported by U.S. special forces, seen here at their base cleaning weapons. Commanders say when they came to Kandahar, some Taliban had already fled. Others, they disarmed and let go. The issue now, Mullah Naquibullah, the man the Taliban surrendered the city to, is unsuitable to the tribal leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Mullah Naquibullah is not a commander. He's a member of al Qaeda. He belongs to the Taliban. He brought the Taliban to this country.

ROBERTSON: The tribal forces say they control 70 percent of Kandahar. They are backing Hamid Karzai, the head of the new interim government, in his negotiations with associates of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, trying to get Mullah Naquibullah to step down. But if the talks fail, he warns, there been could be fighting. He reserves his bitterest comments, however, for the Taliban leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He was involved in all the bloodshed of Afghanistan. He sold out all the Afghan land. He should be punished by the international law.

ROBERTSON: As for the whereabouts of Mullah Omar, the word among fighters here is that he recently fled Kandahar. Some even speculate Mullah Naquibullah may have helped.

(on camera): The anti-Taliban tribal forces say they don't want to fight and hope the talks conclude peacefully. They said it should be Afghanistan's interim government that decides who should be governor of Kandahar.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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