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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: Pakistan Holds News Conference

Aired September 19, 2001 - 07:34   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Pakistan, of course, continuing to play a critical role this morning. As you know, a high level delegation traveling to Afghanistan two days ago to demand that the Taliban turn over Osama bin Laden to its delegation.

Let's check in now with Christiane Amanpour, who has just attended a briefing by Pakistan's foreign minister -- what did you hear, Christiane? Good morning.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, we've been listening to that briefing, but from other government officials I can tell you that the Pakistan delegation came back yesterday, that they took a letter and a very forceful message to the leader of the Taliban. He's called Mullah Omar. Apparently Mullah Omar made no comment. We're told he listened attentively to the very serious and forceful message that the Pakistanis say they conveyed. We're told that they then decided that in order to make a decision they would first have to hold this meeting of Islamic clerics, the Taliban clerics, in Afghanistan. And we have no idea when that meeting will start and when it will end and what decision they will come to.

Now, in addition, the Pakistani president, General Musharraf, early on decided to stand with the United States and he is in the process right now of consolidating what he hopes will be a nationwide consensus in that stance with the United States.

The leadership itself has decided that the cost of not standing with the United States would simply be too high, would condemn Pakistan in perpetuity to pariah status, leaving Pakistan to stand alone against the world with the Taliban as allies.

They have said this is not a tenable situation and therefore they will stand with the United States. They, as you know, have pledged all sorts of assistance, we know intelligence assistance, to make their air space available and an unspecified, open-ended, we're told, support for logistical assistance. They do not know what that will mean. They say they've had no specific requests from the United States and we heard at the briefing today from the foreign ministry spokesman that they have not been informed of any imminent plans for any operations, military operations, anywhere around the world at this time -- Paula. ZAHN: Christiane, you mentioned that it's not clear when those meetings will start, when those meetings will end among the Islamic clerics that will be getting together. If that's the case, what then has happened to the demand of the Pakistanis that Osama bin Laden be returned within three days?

AMANPOUR: This was misinformation. We're told that there was no such deadline out on any message that was delivered to the Taliban. We're even told that they did not actually demand that Osama bin Laden be turned over because what they say is they conveyed what the international community wants right now, and that is the turning over of Osama bin Laden, but they felt in their negotiations -- not negotiations, discussions with the Taliban, that they could not make direct demands because that would push them into a corner.

You know, the way of talking in this part of the world is somewhat different, perhaps, to the way of talking in the West. They did convey a very serious message from the West. And in addition, the president here is planning a nationwide address to convince the Pakistani people that his stance in support of the United States is the correct one.

ZAHN: It's interests that there has been so much confusion over that, Christiane. I know in an interview I did with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, she said this is all a play on words, whether it's a demand or an ultimatum. But what you're confirming this morning, then, is, in fact, these distinctions are very important. There never was an ultimatum.

AMANPOUR: Well, you know, this distinction is perhaps not important because the message that we're told is being conveyed is the message and the serious mood that prevails in the United States and around the world. The Taliban would have to be deaf, dumb, blind and completely ridiculous not to know what the world is saying right now and we're told by the Pakistanis that they delivered to the Taliban, without themselves issuing a specific demand, they delivered the very forceful message from their president that the president expects the Taliban to act in the best interests of afghans and Afghanistan and to do its utmost and everything it can to meet the demands of the United States.

That is a very clear message that has been sent to the Taliban.

Now, this idea about a deadline, this was misinformation. It was wrong. There wasn't a deadline. Simply that they had to do it immediately, soon and they just simply had to do it. But there was no specific deadline of 48 hours or two or three or four days or whatever. They just had to do it quickly.

Now, the way the Taliban operates in these kinds of situations is that it gives itself cover, religious cover, maybe, by calling these great big meetings of hundreds of Islamic leaders. This, as you can imagine, is an unwieldy process. They have to gather these people from all over Afghanistan, Afghanistan, which doesn't have proper roads, bridges, proper transportation links, and this takes time. So the entire matter, when you look at it from the Afghanistan point of view, is a very lengthy one. Will that make any difference to the West, to the rest of the world, who are determined to build this coalition and take necessary action? That remains to be seen.

But also, another piece of information that needs to be clarified is that there have been reports that the Taliban made conditions to the Pakistanis for handing over Osama bin Laden. We're told categorically that no conditions were made by the Taliban. In fact, they didn't say anything to the Pakistanis. They simply listened and promised to make a decision when, if ever, this clerical meeting happens and gets under way and ends with a decision.

ZAHN: So there again, you have a story that was widely reported that the Taliban was demanding evidence from the U.S. that would definitively link Osama bin Laden to these terrorist attacks in the U.S. That never happened?

AMANPOUR: They didn't say that to the Pakistanis. They have said that in their own radio addresses and they've said that through their leader, their ambassador, their representative here to Islamabad. But in terms of other conditions or any conditions, they did not make any demands, we're told, by the Pakistanis. They did not make any demands in those face to face talks between the head of the Pakistani intelligence service and the head of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, in Afghanistan yesterday and the day before.

ZAHN: All right, Christiane Amanpour, thank you very much for clearing up a lot of that confusion. Appreciate that report. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning.

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