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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bin Laden Could be Somewhere Along Border with Afghanistan
Aired March 11, 2003 - 05:16 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Reports out of Pakistan lead many to believe that Osama bin Laden is somewhere along the border with Afghanistan.
Our Islamabad bureau chief Ash-Har Quraishi looks at the Pakistani landscape, both geographically and politically, with an eye on bin Laden.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the arrest of al Qaeda's operations chief, there's still very little specific information about where to look for his boss. Last week, his pursuers were focusing their hunt along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Even with tens of thousands of Pakistani troops stationed there, keeping elements from crossing over may be impossible.
Hamid Gul is a former head of Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI.
HAMID GUL, FORMER PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: These borders cannot be closed because you have to understand the ethnic nature of that, the demographic of the region, the nature of the terrain and the psyche of the people. So the same tribe lives on one side and the other side.
QURAISHI: U.S. intelligence sources say pockets of al Qaeda are, in fact, hiding out in areas on the western border of Pakistan, a tribal region where the Pakistani government maintains little control.
AHMED RASHID, AUTHOR: Clearly he has some very effective supporters in Pakistan who are Pakistanis who are keeping him here and who are maintaining his support base inside Afghanistan.
QURAISHI (on camera): Why is it taking so long to find him? Pakistan's president says his government is doing all it can.
PRES. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTAN: We've apprehended more than 480 people and I don't know who's talking about this that Pakistan is dragging its feet or Pakistan is going slow. Nobody has apprehended so many.
QURAISHI (voice-over): Pakistan has been very successful nabbing some of bin Laden's top brass. Former operations chief Abu Zubaydah, accused 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh and most recently Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. But those arrests weren't made in the lawless tribal areas. They were caught in teeming cities in Pakistan's interior -- Faslabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
(on camera): Does that give any indication that it's possible that Osama bin Laden might be hiding in one of these major cities?
MUSHARRAF: No, it does not give any indication because Osama bin Laden is a different personality. He wouldn't be hiding alone or with another colleague of his in one room of a house and all that. Certainly he's a different person. I presume if he's alive, which one thinks that now with all the evidence and information we have that maybe he is alive, he would be moving with a large body of so many bodyguards.
QURAISHI: We've been here before. The high profile arrest of a top aide raises hopes of bin Laden's capture. But while intelligence activity is buzzing, nobody seems to know exactly where he is hiding, and if they do know, they're not saying just yet.
Ash-Har Quraishi, CNN, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, stay tuned for the latest in our Eye On bin Laden series. In addition to al Qaeda, was Saddam Hussein behind the attacks on the World Trade Center? That's what the White House wants you to think. A look at the suspected link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, coming up during AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN. That begins at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Afghanistan>
Aired March 11, 2003 - 05:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Reports out of Pakistan lead many to believe that Osama bin Laden is somewhere along the border with Afghanistan.
Our Islamabad bureau chief Ash-Har Quraishi looks at the Pakistani landscape, both geographically and politically, with an eye on bin Laden.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the arrest of al Qaeda's operations chief, there's still very little specific information about where to look for his boss. Last week, his pursuers were focusing their hunt along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Even with tens of thousands of Pakistani troops stationed there, keeping elements from crossing over may be impossible.
Hamid Gul is a former head of Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI.
HAMID GUL, FORMER PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: These borders cannot be closed because you have to understand the ethnic nature of that, the demographic of the region, the nature of the terrain and the psyche of the people. So the same tribe lives on one side and the other side.
QURAISHI: U.S. intelligence sources say pockets of al Qaeda are, in fact, hiding out in areas on the western border of Pakistan, a tribal region where the Pakistani government maintains little control.
AHMED RASHID, AUTHOR: Clearly he has some very effective supporters in Pakistan who are Pakistanis who are keeping him here and who are maintaining his support base inside Afghanistan.
QURAISHI (on camera): Why is it taking so long to find him? Pakistan's president says his government is doing all it can.
PRES. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTAN: We've apprehended more than 480 people and I don't know who's talking about this that Pakistan is dragging its feet or Pakistan is going slow. Nobody has apprehended so many.
QURAISHI (voice-over): Pakistan has been very successful nabbing some of bin Laden's top brass. Former operations chief Abu Zubaydah, accused 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh and most recently Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. But those arrests weren't made in the lawless tribal areas. They were caught in teeming cities in Pakistan's interior -- Faslabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
(on camera): Does that give any indication that it's possible that Osama bin Laden might be hiding in one of these major cities?
MUSHARRAF: No, it does not give any indication because Osama bin Laden is a different personality. He wouldn't be hiding alone or with another colleague of his in one room of a house and all that. Certainly he's a different person. I presume if he's alive, which one thinks that now with all the evidence and information we have that maybe he is alive, he would be moving with a large body of so many bodyguards.
QURAISHI: We've been here before. The high profile arrest of a top aide raises hopes of bin Laden's capture. But while intelligence activity is buzzing, nobody seems to know exactly where he is hiding, and if they do know, they're not saying just yet.
Ash-Har Quraishi, CNN, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, stay tuned for the latest in our Eye On bin Laden series. In addition to al Qaeda, was Saddam Hussein behind the attacks on the World Trade Center? That's what the White House wants you to think. A look at the suspected link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, coming up during AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN. That begins at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Afghanistan>
