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CNN Live Saturday
101st Airborne Division Investigates U.S. Attack on Convoy
Aired February 09, 2002 - 17:02 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: For more details on the military operation under way we are joined by CNN's Jonathan Aiken at the Pentagon.
JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.
About 50 soldiers, all part of 101st Airborne Division out of Kandahar were brought into the area yesterday, in fact, and what they are trying to do is trying to determine who exactly was killed when that convoy was hit by a CIA reconnaissance drone on Monday. Intelligence and military sources had said it is thought that some top al Qaeda leadership may have been a part if that convoy.
So let's recap briefly what happened. The incident happened, as you mentioned, in an area of southeastern Afghanistan, known as Zuarkili (ph), not far from the town of Khowst, an area where the al Qaeda has been active for some time. Now, a predator drone, one of these unmanned reconnaissance planes that check out battlefield conditions using censors and cameras -- this one operated by the CIA and somewhat similar to the one you see here moving down the runway. It's slight different. The CIA model was equipped with Hellfire missiles, whereas the military's Predator drones are not.
Well, this drone has been keeping an eye on this convoy, and it chose a particular moment to launch an attack with those Hellfires, scoring a direct hit on a group of men who had separated themselves from the convoy. The group was described as a group of three, at least one of them described as being tall, dressed in white, and treated with deference by others in the group. The general description has led some to suggest that Osama bin Laden may have been a part of that convoy. We are told that it is pure speculation. Military and intelligence sources say they don't know that bin Laden was in the region, let alone in the convoy, and they don't really know who was killed in that attack, and that is why those soldiers were brought there.
Bad weather kept those soldiers out of the area for several days. They were brought in on Friday. We were told by military officials today the weather turned south in region again, so we are not sure, Fredricka, whether or not those soldiers are there, or, in fact, how far they may have gotten in their search.
WHITFIELD: And Jonathan, what, if anything, is the Pentagon saying, anymore they might be saying about this former Taliban leader who turned himself in?
AIKEN: That's right, the top-ranking Taliban leader who is now in the hands of U.S. officials at that detention center at Kandahar Airport, the U.S. Army base now at Kandahar Airport.
The foreign minister, his name quite a mouthful here, so pardon me, Muttawakil, Minister Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil. He surrendered to Afghan officials on Friday, was turned over to the U.S. for interrogation. His surrender was a negotiated deal. He is considered a moderate, and he broke away from Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban, over, among over other issues, the relationship the Taliban had with Osama bin Laden and the Taliban's refusal to expel bin Laden in advance of U.S. military action that started in October.
Now because of his views on the al Qaeda/Taliban relationship -- he was lukewarm about it at best -- Muttawakil probably was not kept in the loop about bin Laden's strategy nor his movements, but U.S. officials are really hoping he could shed some light on Mullah Mohammed Omar, the head of the Taliban. This is a man who still has a price on his head, he is still being sought by U.S. officials, still the subject of a manhunt in the area not far from Kandahar.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Jonathan Aiken at the Pentagon.
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