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American Morning

Exclusive Footage of Capture of Key Al Qaeda Leader

Aired March 27, 2002 - 07:02   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, though, exclusive footage of the capture of a key al Qaeda leader. In a lightning-fast operation just this morning, U.S. Special Forces descended on an area on the Bamiyan region, taking nearly 30 men into custody.

CNN's Nic Robertson was there when it happened. He joins us now with a recap -- good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, it all began unfolding here about seven hours ago. About 12 or perhaps a few more U.S. Special Forces operatives came to a compound in the city of Bamiyan here. They were accompanied by perhaps about two dozen U.S. service personnel in regular Army uniform.

They went into a compound. They secured the compound area. They left, and then a few hours later, came back to the same compound. They took out two men from that compound. Both men had plastic bags over their heads. Both men were shuffling along and had their hands apparently tied behind their backs.

Now, we are told, according to local Afghan officials here, that both men were Pakistanis. They were non-Afghans. It is not known yet how senior they were either in the Taliban or the al Qaeda organization.

But as part of the operation here in Bamiyan today, the U.S. Special Forces and Army operatives also went to another compound. This was a prison compound, where there are some approximately 30 Taliban Afghan prisoners being held there. They went through this compound. They photographed every one of the prisoners. They also took a hair sample. The prisoners we have talked to said they took a hair sample from the side of their head. They were all questioned about their names, about where they were captured, about how long they had been in detention.

Now, approximately half of those prisoners were taken away, and just a couple of hours ago, they were all loaded onto a Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters and taken away out of Bamiyan, we are told to Bagram Air Base, which is the main operational base of part of the U.S. forces here in Afghanistan -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Nic, give us the latest, too, about what you are hearing about any potential sightings of Osama bin Laden and any other key al Qaeda leaders.

ROBERTSON: Well, we asked some of the detainees in the prison, had they got any information about Osama bin Laden? They said, look, no, we shouldn't be here. We are just poor Taliban fighters. We were forced to fight. We have no information. We don't even know about the nationality of these other people who were arrested.

So from the people we have talked to in prison, they seem very reticent about giving us information. They say they have been for four or five months, and they claim to have no information of Osama bin Laden.

It is quite typical across Afghanistan, however, to find a lot of people willing to come forward, either commanders or local villagers, who want to give you information about Osama bin Laden. Sometimes that information they are giving honestly, that they think it may be helpful and may be useful. We have talked to commanders in the last six weeks traveling across the country who have said even to us that they had Osama bin Laden under surveillance in certain areas. This is unverifiable information.

And on occasions, it has proven that some information given by Afghan commanders has proven to be erroneous, and there is certainly in some areas, particularly in the east of this country, competition between local Afghan commanders to draw U.S. attention and U.S. support to them to help bolster their positions in the local community -- Paula.

ZAHN: And, Nic, there was a report that got some attention in local radio news today suggesting that one of the soldiers captured might have indicated to authorities that he was instructed to try to build a whole new complex of caves to hide some of these men who have survived American attacks so far. Have you heard anybody over there confirm that there is any ongoing construction of caves?

ROBERTSON: We haven't been told about ongoing construction of caves. The caves we have been told about here around Afghanistan were mostly constructed during the Soviet occupation by the mujahideen forces. However, some of the hills here and mountains are made of a type of shaly (ph) rock, and it's quite easy to make caves in those mountains.

It is entirely possible that in some places, if numbers of al Qaeda or Taliban are getting together, they might seek to hide that way. It is more probable that they would likely try and get back into small Afghan communities in remote places like the mountains here and try and hide that way -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much for that update -- we appreciate it very much.

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