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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hamid Karzai Announcing Cabinet Today

Aired June 19, 2002 - 06:07   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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are traveling the globe this morning. Now, it's time to head to Afghanistan. The capital city of Kabul has come under rocket attack, and newly elected president Hamid Karzai is announcing his cabinet today. Any connection?

Well, our Gary Tuchman joins us live from Kabul with details on that and other developments.

Good morning.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you.

The city of Kabul, Afghanistan is on alert at all times. There is a curfew here each and every night. Wander out past 11:00, you are in trouble. The security has been especially acute the last week, but thousands of people here for the Loya Jirga, this grand assembly. So that's why, while it was a little startling, it wasn't necessarily shocking when we heard two explosions in the sky last night.

It turns out they were two rockets fired from hills north of the city. One of the rockets landed in a bakery about 30 feet away from a Soviet-built housing project. The other rocket landed in some trees nearby. There were no casualties. Nobody was hurt. But if that first rocked had landed 30 feet over, it would have landed in a full housing project.

In addition, two rockets that were unlaunched were found in those hills. That's why they know where the rockets were launched from.

Now, international troops' spokespeople here believe that it's possible that this was al Qaeda or Taliban related. However, Afghan officials are saying today they believe this is the work of allies, of fundamentalist warlord Gobuden Hakhmatir (ph). Hakhmatir (ph) hasn't been seen for years. He's a sworn enemy of the Northern Alliance. He had ideas that the Taliban instituted when they took over in 1996.

We should tell you that obviously the bakery was not a target. One mile away sits the U.S. Embassy.

Meanwhile, where we are a few miles, this is the Loya Jirga tent. We don't know if this has any relation to the Loya Jirga, but this is day nine of this grand assembly. And this is a very important day, because the president-elect of this nation, Hamid Karzai, will be announcing today who he wants in his cabinet. Depending on the ethnic groups he puts in his cabinet, it could be the difference between peace and violence.

He was supposed to make this announcement last night. He took to the podium. Everyone was waiting. It was the moment of truth. And Karzai said, I'm not ready to make the announcement. Give me 24 hours to take a rest.

Now, initially Karzai said he was not going to seek the approval of the 1,650 delegates who have come here. However, the Bonn agreement, which led to this Loya Jirga, states delegates will approve key personnel of the transitional administration. Well, Karzai and his people have changed their mind. They will seek the approval of delegates, and that should make things a lot easier.

We expected to see a lot of tension, a lot of yelling and a lot of problems if the delegates weren't asked to give their approval to this cabinet.

One other thing. On day three of the Loya Jirga, the delegates here elected Karzai as their transitional president for up to two years. So today, Karzai will take the oath of office. Even though it wasn't the whole nation that voted, he is the first elected president in the history of the modern nation of Afghanistan.

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: I was just wondering about something. The new government here, is it more afraid of the warlords or the remnants of the Taliban?

TUCHMAN: Carol, I am sorry. Can you repeat that question? It was kind of hard for me to hear that.

COSTELLO: Is the new government of Afghanistan more afraid of the warlords, or is it more afraid of the remnants of the Taliban?

TUCHMAN: That's a very good question. I can tell you that most people here are not afraid of the Taliban. They think the Taliban are gone. There are obviously Taliban supporters still in much of this country, particularly in the southeastern part of this country. But people think they are a part of the past.

However, regarding the warlords, there are many warlords in this nation who are participating in the Loya Jirga in the tent behind me. So there are many people here, including the delegates here, who say they are intimidated, they are afraid to speak their mind inside that tent, because they have to go home and the warlords in many cases are the people who run their provinces.

So, yes, there are fear -- there is fear among many of the delegates here of the warlords who are still quite active in this nation.

COSTELLO: They've got so many problems there. Thank you.

Gary Tuchman reporting live for us from Afghanistan this morning.

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