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Taliban American John Walker May be Moving to Kandahar

Aired January 22, 2002 - 10:32   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: For more on the movement of John Walker as he makes his way from Afghanistan, from the Arabian Sea back here to the U.S., let's go to Afghanistan. Our Martin Savidge standing by at Kandahar.

Marty, hello.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

The officials here, that being members of the U.S. Army which are now in control of the Kandahar Airport, are saying that John Walker is not here now. They deny the report that comes across the wire services. They say that he is not here. However, that is not to rule out the prospect that he could be coming here.

Quite frankly, the Army has maintained that they are not going to say anything about the whereabouts of John Walker, and it is unlikely that they would say anything until after, if he does come here, he departed.

So that's pretty much what the circumstances are with him. It would be noted that if he were to come into this base, it would probably occur by a helicopter, touch down here, and then he could be transferred onto a C-17 or he could be transferred onto a C-130.

Now you may be asking, why don't you go out on the runway and take a look? We have to point out that our movements here, especially since the Army came in, have been greatly restricted. Almost everywhere if we wanted to go, we need an escort. That includes, technically, going to the bathroom. So it is not possibly to go out on the runway, plus, it's pitch dark. They operate under wartime conditions here, which is what it is. And so it is pitch black out on the runway. There would be no way that you could visually try to ascertain.

We are working to have the army come forward to tell us whether or not he will transit through here. That's the latest, pretty much, Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, well, if and when you get the word from the Army, we will check back with you. Meanwhile, we will not suggest that you just go out on the runway on those very dangerous and restricted conditions and check. But we will check back with you.

Martin Savidge in Kandahar, thank you very much.

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