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CNN Live Today

White House Confirms Man Captured in Pakistan Top Aide to Bin Laden

Aired April 02, 2002 - 12:17   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the U.S. war on terror. Today, the White House confirmed that a man captured in Pakistan, and now in U.S. custody is indeed a top aide to Osama bin Laden, and also today, reports that Pakistan has rounded up another group of suspected Al Qaeda militants.

With more on this, CNN national security correspondent David Ensor.

And, David, progress being made there?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, quite major progress. U.S. officials confirming that there are ongoing operations in Pakistan, and confirming that Abu Zubaydah, the man that they thought was Abu Zubaydah is in fact now talking, and has confirmed that he is Abu Zubaydah, and he is the operations chief of Al Qaeda. This is a major coup for U.S. intelligence to have him in their hands. This is a man that ran recruiting for Al Qaeda. He should have in his head the names, the faces and even perhaps in some cases locations of key Al Qaeda operatives.

U.S. Officials are keen to start interviewing him, interrogating him as soon as possible. It may already be underway. They are saying. Obviously, they want to try to stop any terrorism that might be planned in the coming days. That's the first priority. But he is a man who has a lot of information. We can confirm that he is confirming who he is, but that's a major breakthrough. They will obviously want to get further with him.

He was wounded badly during the arrest during, the raid by Pakistani police, who were accompanied by the CIA and FBI representatives. He was hit in the thigh, in the groin, and in the stomach and was not unable to talk initially, but he is now confirming he is Abu Zubaydah, and that's quite a breakthrough, Carol.

LIN: Why are they being so secretive about his location? What do U.S. agents worry about the most here?

ENSOR: Well, there are any number of concerns, Carol. Obviously the security of the place where he is being held would be of concern. They don't want to tip off other members of Al Qaeda as to where is, or even some of the details as to how they found out where he was in Pakistan, so they are being circumspect about their information, they want to get what they can out of him, and use it as quickly as possible to prevent further terrorism. The key now is secret information being used by law enforcement, rather than public information going out to all the rest us.

LIN: Makes sense indeed. Speaking of secret operations, why specifically. I am going to turn you now to the conflict in the Mideast, why specifically is the CIA so worried about military action, the Israeli action in Ramallah?

ENSOR: Carol, George Tenet spent the whole day at the White House yesterday, and the topic, I am told, was almost entirely the Middle East. You can imagine that with the headquarters we are seeing of Mr. Rajoub, the security chief in Ramallah, under siege yesterday. This is a man with whom Mr. Tenet has had a lot of dealings,. and the CIA has acted as a broker, arranging talks between Palestinian and Israeli security.

Over the years, the CIA and other U.S. officials have tried to build up the credibility of so-called moderates in the Palestinian security services. Mr. Rajoub was seen as one of those, and there was a great deal of concern that his life may be in danger, and that other key Palestinians who the U.S. thinks could be key to a cease-fire, to peace in the future, that their lives might be endangered by the activities, the siege, that we gather now may be over.

So a lot of attention being paid to the way the Israelis are conducting these raids. And some officials are saying privately, they think that the Israelis went quite a bit too far, in their view -- Carol.

LIN: Well, the international community is chiming in there.

Thank you very much, David Ensor, reporting live on developments in the Mideast and Central Asia.

And now we're going to move back to Central Asia.

As we reported earlier, Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf is praising his security forces today for the recent capture in Pakistan of quite a few suspects in the war on terrorism. General Musharraf's words came in his first trip to Afghanistan.

For more on the story, we're going to live to CNN's Walt Rodgers. He's in the Afghan capital today.

Good morning. Good evening to you there?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol,

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf was indeed here in Kabul today, and gave more details of the success and progress in the war against terror in this part of the world. Pakistani president said that in the last week, in addition to Abu Zubaydah, his police, his security forces, have rounded up, arrested some 40 to 50 Al Qaeda suspects. Again in two different Pakistani cities which he would identify, he had the highest praise for Pakistani intelligence, that means that the ISI and the Pakistani police forces.

And as for the fate of those 40 to 50 Al Qaeda suspects, he said they are now in the hands of the United States. Pakistan turned them over to the U.S. for interrogation, and now there follows the logical question from all of this, what if Osama bin Laden is also in Pakistan, Mr. Musharraf seemed to suggest that's the not the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTAN: I thought he would like to move with his personal security, with all the Al Qaeda people around him. Certainly, he would not likely to go with the entourage of thousands of Al Qaeda people around in other countries, he would be too obvious, he would be located, and therefore, it would not be practical for him; therefore, I thought probably he is here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: President Musharraf has long speculated that Osama bin Laden may already be dead, killed in the Tora Bora Christmas bombing campaign, U.S. led coalition military officers in this part of the world, however, still believe bin Laden is alive and needs to be run to ground -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much. Walt Rodgers, reporting live from Kabul, Afghanistan.

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