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CNN Live Saturday

What Can U.S. Officials Learn From Taliban's Foreign Minister?

Aired February 09, 2002 - 18:01   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, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up first now, what does a former high-ranking Taliban official now in U.S. custody know? For the very latest on his reported surrender and what it could mean for the hunt for more notable faces in the world on terrorism let's turn to CNN's Jonathan Aiken who's joining us from the Pentagon. Jonathan, what's the latest from there?

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh hi there, Catherine. The military is hoping to get a lot from this man, the Taliban's Foreign Minister Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil. He surrendered to Afghan authorities on Friday and then was placed in the custody of U.S. military authorities. He is one of the many detainees who now call the U.S. Army base at Kandahar Airport home.

He is considered to be a moderate. He broke with the Taliban leadership over its refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden or kick him out of the country, one of the demands the United States had made prior to the start of bombing in this campaign on October 7. Reports also say that earlier in the war, he tried to secure a halt to U.S. bombing and in fact, may have gone to Pakistan on a secret mission to talk to Pakistani officials about ways that bin Laden could be turned over to the United States.

U.S. officials really want two things out of Muttawakil, Catherine. They're hoping first of all to learn as much as they can about the Taliban leadership, who was in exactly, and also the whereabouts of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader who is still on the run and out of reach of U.S. officials.

And the other thing they're hoping for is that his surrender, which was a negotiated deal, could inspire about two dozen other top Taliban leaders who are said to be on the fence about whether or not they want to cooperate with Afghan and U.S. authorities -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: And Jonathan, I know there's been a lot of speculation about that U.S. attack near Tora Bora last week, and whether Osama bin Laden may have been among the casualties there. What is the latest ...

AIKEN: Yes.

CALLAWAY: ... from the Pentagon?

AIKEN: Million-dollar question, isn't it? CALLAWAY: Yes.

AIKEN: Let's go back to what happened on Monday. We can tell you that about 50 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division from Kandahar had been in that region yesterday and presumably again today. They're still trying to find out who died when the unmanned CIA drone hit this convoy in a mountainous area in southeastern Afghanistan, and we have a map to show you where that is.

It's an area known as Zawar Kili. It is not far from the town of Khwost, which has been an al Qaeda center for sometime. Intelligence and military sources are saying this convoy may, in fact, have carried al Qaeda leadership. What happened was an unmanned CIA drone, similar to this one that you see, except the one used by the CIA actually has hellfire missiles on board. Those missiles were fired into a convoy that this drone had been following for some time.

The missiles scored a direct hit on a group of three men who had separated themselves from this convoy. At least one of the men described as tall, wearing white robes, and being treated with deference by others in the convoy. And that's kind of a vague description, but a lot of people have taken that to suggest it could be Osama bin Laden. The military says interesting thought, but pure speculation. Military intelligence really doesn't know who died in that attack, and that is why these soldiers were put on the ground to find out.

This attack took place on Monday. The soldiers couldn't get in until Friday because of bad weather, and military officials told us today, Catherine, that the weather turned south again. We really don't know if those 50 soldiers from the 101st are still there, whether or not they've gone and what in fact they may have found, if anything.

CALLAWAY: All right, we'll be waiting for their information and thank you Jonathan. Jonathan Aiken ...

AIKEN: OK.

CALLAWAY: ... at the Pentagon, thanks. More now for some insight into Muttawakil. Let's turn to our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. He's joining us in Washington. Peter, as you know, is the author of "Holy War Incorporated". He's interviewed the Taliban's former foreign minister. Peter, thanks for being with us.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Hello Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Hello Peter. Tell us a little bit more about who Muttawakil is. I know he's very young, very well educated, and considered a moderate.

BERGEN: Well he is considered a moderate. I think part of the reason for that is that Muttawakil in his job as foreign minister, the very nature of his job meant that he had to interact with the outside world a lot more with the Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar. Mullah Omar never even visited -- very rarely visited Kabul and almost never left Kandahar, whereas Muttawakil had contact with the outside world. He met with diplomats. He's here meeting here with Kofi Annan. He also is somebody who, you know, somebody who had to interact with journalists.

He played a rather key role in negotiating -- I don't know if you remember the Indian Airlines hijacking December of 1999, in which a group of Kashmiri separatists hijacked an Indian Airlines jet. Muttawakil was very key to the negotiations to basically get the passengers released in exchange for some Kashmiri militants who were being held in India. So he's somebody who had a much larger interaction with the outside world, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: We know that he had a relationship with Mullah Omar, but how likely is he to give information that could lead U.S. authorities to where Mullah Omar is located?

BERGEN: I think it's kind of unlikely in a sense that you need real time information. I mean it's not -- it's not very useful to know that Mullah Omar was in X place two months ago or bin Laden was in X place. I mean he obviously spent -- he was apparently somewhat intimate with Mullah Omar and we certainly know some of the history. But his -- probably his useful information is rather old at this point in terms of actually getting a pinpoint location where Mullah Omar or bin Laden might be.

On the other hand, clearly he's somebody who is involved in the Taliban, basically from the beginning. It's privy to the inner -- who is part of the inner circle, if you will, and he's somebody who must have very valuable intelligence from a historical perspective, but not necessarily very valuable intelligence in terms of getting Mullah Omar of bin Laden right now.

CALLAWAY: I know you've interview Muttawakil, and it's interesting that he actually wanted Osama bin Laden out of Afghanistan, didn't he?

BERGEN: Well when I interviewed him, he didn't make that point, but -- so "The New York Times" reports that -- has reported that he went to Pakistan and negotiated with Pakistani officials about trying to get out of this in part and maybe trying to get bin Laden expelled and in effort to basically prevent the ongoing war in Afghanistan. But you know when we use the word moderate, I mean it's kind of -- it's a relative term. I mean Muttawakil was not in the interview that -- when I met with him, I mean when he was carrying the Taliban line pretty much, and he was after all the foreign minister. So it's only retrospectively and privately that he may have changed his views.

CALLAWAY: So Peter, what kind of information could Muttawakil give the U.S.?

BERGEN: I guess he could give the following: I mean he must be aware of the various places that bin Laden or Mullah Omar might be in a general sense. He may have privy to some special information about secret hiding places that Mullah Omar or bin Laden might have. I don't -- I don't really know. I think that -- I think his -- I think his intelligence is going to be more useful in terms of a sort of a historical perspective and maybe laying out -- maybe telling American officials, which other elements in the Taliban we're interested in negotiating a deal.

CALLAWAY: All right, Peter Bergen, thank you very much for joining us and giving us an insight into Muttawakil.

BERGEN: Thank you.

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