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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Strikes Back: Interview with Senator Joseph Biden (D- DW)

Aired October 11, 2001 - 07:37   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also in Washington, Capitol police have banned commercial, agricultural and recreational vehicles that weigh more than 2,500 pounds. They've banned them from a 40 block area around the U.S. Capitol. The ban imposes a security measure after terrorism threats. The restricted zone, as you see here, includes House and Senate office buildings, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and the National Mall. However, the White House is outside of that perimeter there.

Inside the Capitol, Congress busy on a number of items. And Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee with us live this morning. Senator, good morning to you.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DW), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: How are you, Bill? Good morning to you.

HEMMER: Good to see you again.

First on the security measures, Senator. Is this in response to a perceived threat or is this just a precaution?

BIDEN: Just a precaution. A lot of the things you hear and you need to report about the likelihood of attacks, the likelihood of terrorist attacks, are not specific. It's not that you have a specific notion that there's going to be a particularly attack. We just look and see what is the place that's most vulnerable and what would be a prudent thing to do. And that's in the category of being prudent.

HEMMER: Let's go overseas and follow my logic for a moment here.

BIDEN: OK.

HEMMER: For the 10 years when Afghan rebels fought the Soviets, they got about a billion dollars worth of aid through the CIA. The CIA is out in this equation. Pakistan has cut off its supply routes. Russia not in the equation, either. Is it just a question of time before the Taliban is literally starved out of supply, weapons and any sort of resupply efforts there?

BIDEN: I think so, Bill. Quite frankly, I said yesterday I think the Taliban is gone, I mean as a practical matter. Now, they're still there. We're still going to have to fight them. They're still in place. But the ability to effectively rule Afghanistan, I think, is lost, because they lost not only the financial support that you're talking about, but they've also lost regional support. They don't have any -- there isn't anyone for them anymore.

HEMMER: And Senator, if that is the case, let's take it a step further, what next, then, on the map?

BIDEN: What next is to try to figure out how to get that Northern Alliance, that group of primarily Tajiks and others who are not part of the group that makes up most of the Taliban, that is, the ethnic group in the southern part of the country, to get them into some sort of alliance. There are a number of people who are leaving and want to leave the Taliban. There are a number of people who are not part of the Taliban who want to form a coalition government.

And that's one of the reasons, Bill, we have not moved as quickly as we have on the capital, because you have these, this Northern Alliance poised to move in. We don't want them moving in these, in effect, many of them are just war lords, before we've figured out who's going to be in charge once that capital is taken.

HEMMER: And, Senator, the word from the White House now with the stepped up military cooperation that we have seen in the past 24 hours is to send a message outside of Afghanistan -- if you don't comply, we're going to hit you and hit you hard. Fair strategy?

BIDEN: I think it is a fair strategy. It doesn't mean we're going to go in there with bombing raids, but it does mean we're going to follow these tentacles of the al Qaeda group and other groups that we know to have done bad things to American interests. And we're putting all nations on notice that we expect them to cooperate with us. That doesn't mean if they don't cooperate with us we're going to invade a particular country. But it does mean that it will have consequences for how we deal with them, everything from putting them on terrorist lists to be not having normal relations with them.

HEMMER: Senator Biden, come on back, OK?

BIDEN: Thank you very much for having me.

HEMMER: Much appreciated.

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