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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Ali Jalali

Aired December 08, 2001 - 18:10   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 focus now on the search for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar with a former colonel in the Afghan army. Colonel Ali Jalali now works for the "Voice of America" in Washington and he's joining us to discuss the situation that's going on now in Afghanistan. Thank you for being with us, colonel. Let's talk ...

ALI JALALI, FORMER AFGHAN ARMY COLONEL: Good to be here.

CALLAWAY: ... let's talk first about Mullah Omar. Is he all that mysterious or just well protected, and where could he be now with the fall of Kandahar?

JALALI: Well, the period following the end of war is always a confusing period, and there are many possibilities that he can go to many places. First of all, he has many friends inside Afghanistan and supporters. He can be protected by these supporters, particularly when Mullah Naqibullah is actually in charge of certain areas in Kandahar. And he has close, you know, links with Mullah Omar.

And on the other hand, Mullah Omar has many friends across the border in Pakistan. So -- however, it will take time for him to cross the border to Pakistan. Currently, he has many places to go inside Kandahar, to Arkandav (ph) valley and also to the mountains northeast of Kandahar or even to Maruf (ph).

CALLAWAY: Do you really believe that he could have slipped through to Pakistan at this time?

JALALI: Well, it is hard to say, because it takes time for a person like Mullah Omar to cross the border in a confusing situation like you have now. However, it is a possibility that he will cross the border.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about Tora Bora and the intense air strikes that are going on now in that region. There have been a lot of things written about perhaps Osama bin Laden being in that area. What are your thoughts on that of him perhaps being in a cave somewhere in that Tora Bora region?

JALALI: Well, Tora Bora is one of the bases used in the 1980s during the Afghan guerrilla war with the Soviet Union. It has an elaborate system of caves, but most of them are natural caves. They are spread across a large area in mountainous terrain at different altitudes. So it will take a long time to go through all these caves and look for somebody who might be there. But Tora Bora is only one camp, there is another camp or cave complex about 70 kilometers southeast of Jalalabad at the Malia (ph) area.

Malia (ph) is located just on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it has a very easy access to Pakistan's tribal area where Pakistani government has little control. So Malia (ph) is another possibility.

However, if we are talking about focusing on Tora Bora -- Tora Bora is not only a cave, actually, complex. Up in the mountains there are many canyons, valleys -- very hard to reach in the Svingar (ph) Mountains, and they have access to the Kuru (ph) valley of Pakistan. Therefore, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the snow becomes a barrier in these canyons. It is easy for somebody who is in Tora Bora to go through these canyons and cross the border into Kuru (ph) valley of Pakistan, which is also a tribal area.

CALLAWAY: Well certainly that's been thought -- you know, that has -- that has been considered. So, you know, what is it going to be? Is it going to be the sooner the better in finding Mullah Omar, bin Laden, or as you said when the chaos settles down after all of this when the interim government steps in, will it be actually easier to perhaps locate them both then?

JALALI: Well this is a very confusing situation now. In a confusing situation, you know people who are in charge now in Afghanistan are preoccupied with many other things. The same way the coalition forces in Afghanistan are actually they have their hands full. So therefore this is a very confusing situation. This confusing situation can help the fugitives to go to places which, you know, the Afghan government or the coalition forces will, you know, see it very difficult to reach them. But when these people are -- you know they have the high profile people, and it's very difficult for them to, you know, to evade forever.

CALLAWAY: Right. So perhaps they're benefiting from the chaos that we're seeing right now, perhaps in Kandahar. What is happening -- what will happen to the Taliban? Certainly we're not seeing them now -- they have disappeared, but they're not gone. What will happen to the Taliban when the interim government comes into place in about a month?

JALALI: Well the Taliban as a major political and military force is no longer in existence. The regime has overthrown and the forces are broken up. However it does not mean that this is the end of the Taliban. Isolated groups of Taliban can still pose major security threats to the interim government. At the same time, they will try to spoil the peace. Well some people are talking about guerrilla war, but guerrilla war has its own conditions.

Unless guerrillas have popular support, they can not wage a long war. But if the chaos continues in Afghanistan, today the politics are local and the interim government is not fully in charge of the entire country. So if the chaos continues, a popular support can be created by, you know, elements and forces who wants to wage a guerrilla war.

CALLAWAY: All right.

JALALI: So all -- yes, so all depends on how soon the interim government can establish its authority and influence and control over the country.

CALLAWAY: Not soon enough, according to the alliance. Colonel Ali Jalali, thank you very much for joining us today.

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