Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Former Taliban Foreign Minister in U.S. Hands

Aired February 09, 2002 - 22:06   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY: Well, joining us tonight from Washington with his view on how this war on terrorism is going is our military analyst, retired Air Force Major General Don Sheperd.

Thank you for being with us tonight.

DON SHEPERD, RETIRED MAJ. GEN.: Hi, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Hi. First, lots to talk about tonight. But let's begin with Meta Wakil (ph), the high ranking Taliban official who surrendered to authorities. You know, I spoke with CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen earlier tonight. And he said he's not likely to give up very much information because he would not have been privy to some of the latest information with his relationship with Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden.

What do you think that Meta Wakil can give the U.S. that will be beneficial in this?

SHEPERD: Well, I tell you what. Meta Wakil knows that we want to know. He has met numerous times with Omar and numerous times with bin Laden. Now reportedly he was a moderate. In fact, he even reportedly traveled to Pakistan about possibly negotiating for handing over bin Laden. That's not been confirmed, but at least reported.

On the other hand, he knows what these guys think like, where they travel. And he knows where he has met with them. I doubt if he knows where they are right now, but he can shed a lot of light on the patterns of these people and their travel if he will.

CALLAWAY: And could he not also give a lot of information on where he's been and whether other Taliban high ranking officials may be?

SHEPERD: Yes, of course. He can give lots of other names and lots of other locations and methods of operation, if he will. It all fits into the pattern and pieces of information they were getting from interrogation of the prisoners, interrogation of anybody we can get our hands on and talk to. So it all fits together in a big puzzle that we're putting pieces together to go places all over the world, not just Afghanistan, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: We're not getting a lot of information on the type of so-called "deal" that was reached in his surrender. What would the U.S. agree to? Certainly, they wouldn't agree to not getting any information from him?

SHEPERD: No, not at all. I suspect they may have made some deals about how he was to be handled, whether or not he was to be put in prison garb and shackled like the other prisoners that were detainees caught, if you will, in combat. So until we get the details of this, we won't know. But I suspect he'll be handled differently.

CALLAWAY: And general, this is a high ranking Taliban official, the highest ever. So where will he go when he leaves Afghanistan?

SHEPERD: Yes, don't know that he'll leave Afghanistan. Again, that's to be worked out. He could be detained for questioning and then released back to the Afghan interim government themselves.

This is going to be worked out over a long period of time, how we're going to handle this man and people like him.

CALLAWAY: Let's go now to the CIA drone attack in the Tora Bora region earlier this week. That drone firing on a group believed to be suspected Taliban or al Qaeda members. The U.S. military not there yet to be able to tell us what exactly was hit.

Tell us about this region on who could be there and how long it would before the military would actually be able to determine who was among that group?

SHEPERD: Yes, well, actually the military is there. This is a Zawar Kili area in the Paknia province in southwest of Khowst, the town of Khowst. We bombed the snot out of it for several weeks. And reportedly, these people are going back in these caves to take the weapons that have been uncovered by our bombing. And we caught them in the act, if you will, with the Hellfire missile fired from a predator by the CIA.

Now the teams are going back there in 3C-47s or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about 50. And they're going to be looking for evidence, just like a crime scene. Body parts, documents, weapons left behind, vehicles left behind, to determine if they can -- who was there.

Again, lots of questions to ask. One thing you got to be careful of, the weather's bad there. You don't want to get a bunch of people on the ground and trapped and have them attack.

And then also the U.S. and Pakistan have brokered this defense deal. What does that mean for Pakistan-U.S. relations?

SHEPERD: Yes, this is real important. It's a part of the ongoing story of improved relations in the entire southwest Asia area, as a result of our war on terrorism.

Reportedly, a deal's been brokered for continuing use of bases and joint exercises. Remember, we had economic sanctions on Pakistan and no relations between us and their military until this war with Afghanistan broke out.

Now we're improving them. The sanctions are off. And also, it's very, very important that our relations with Pakistan contribute to stability in the area being that if Pakistan and India both have nuclear weapons. And if Pakistan feels threatened by a much larger India, and their independence threatened, then the idea of the United States being in there to balance things and help the security in the area would be very, very useful.

So this is an important step that will lead to lots of good things in the future, I predict.

CALLAWAY: And before you leave, general, I have to ask you about the Daniel Pearl story, "The Wall Street Journal" reporter, who was apparently -- now we're getting word was the victim of a well-planned kidnapping. What is the likelihood that he will be found?

SHEPERD: I can't tell you that. We're all praying and hoping. But I tell you, this is magnificent police work on the behalf of the Pakistan government. This is not military, although both our military and the Pakistan military undoubtedly contributing intelligence. On the other hand, this is really good police work.

They found out. They believed who did it. Basically, zeroing in on a man named -- that they are calling Omar Sheik, if you will. Who was released and prisoned in India and released by hijackers that bartered for his freedom about three years ago.

Reportedly, he's the man they're zeroing in on, who's responsible for this. They're closing in on him. But whether or not Pearl is still alive, we're only guessing. We sure hope so.

CALLAWAY: Yes.

SHEPERD: But this is great police work.

CALLAWAY: Yes, it is. General Don Sheperd, thank you again for being with us on this Saturday night.

SHEPERD: My pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com